It might have been more then an hour later, but to Firo it felt like minuets. The time had passed quickly with the mares telling the horrendous story about Queen Chrysalis in full. All the awful things she did for power, how she trapped Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Cadence. The Queen reminded Firo of her mother and the trials she was put through to find a form of solace from her mother. Mothers were suppose to radiate gentleness and love, but Firo had that tradition taken away from her.
"Firo, if what you witnessed was Queen Chrysalis, which seems to be the most plausible answer, then she holds the key into turning you back into a pony." Princess Twilight gave her theory. Firo balled her hands in her lap and wished Twilight to be right. She wanted so bad to be let back into life. Every inch of her body felt shaken with the thought of being alienated. Sure, the mares that sat around her seemed to accept her, but could everypony be just as accepting? She couldn't no for sure, but she didn't want to find out. Every part of her wanted to be normal again.
"Where is this Queen of Mischief?" Firo asked intrigued to know the answer. If it was true that the Queen held the key to her freedom, then she could finally be accepted and start a life; maybe start a life here in Ponyville.
Princess Twilight huffed at Firo and shook her head in frustration. "I don't know and I don't want to. The farther away from her I am, the more exultant I will be."
"Twilight, dear, we all understand how you feel about the Queen, but this is Firo's future we are talking about." Rarity spoke in a calming voice. "Queen Chrysalis may be the only way to help her."
"What about Princess Celestia?" Applejack suggests.
"That's a crazy-lazy idea!" Pinkie squealed in excitement. "We should shoot for that one, yeah! Oooo, maybe Princess Celestia will let us all turn into a hairless creature. I wonder what it feels like to be hairless. Does anypony here know what it's like to be hairless?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and answered heavy. "I don't know where, Pinkie, maybe you should ask the only hairless creature in here. That might answer your question."
Pinkie gasped, illusive to Rainbow's sarcasm. "That would answer my question, thanks Dashie! Firo, what's it like to be without hair."
Firo rubbed her arms awkwardly under Pinkies glossy stare. She was filled with a happiness Firo could only dream of. "I have hair, it's just not very dense. Well, except the hairs on my head." Firo's voice got quite when Twilight stared intensely at her.
"Satisfied, Pinkie?" Twilight asked without emotion.
"I have a billio-kajillion more questions I would love to ask! How do you work those things on the end of your hooves separately? And where are your ears? Oooo! What about-" Rainbow Dash shoved a hoof into Pinkies mouth making her next question muffled.
"I think one question is good for now," Dash said. "We have more important topics to talk about right now."
"Well, a question a day keeps the chillies away." Pinkie smiled and bounced around the cottage chasing Angel around.
Firo chewed on her lip to settle her nerves. There was a sense of unease floating in the air between the mares and Firo. She went through her limited memory of Celestia and couldn't figure out what was itching the back of her mind. The pieces didn't add up; not completely. What was she not seeing? Yet, it was in front of her the whole time. It was pointed out before and processed, but not thoroughly. The answers to all of their questions seemed to dance in front of them before fleeing out of reach. The crush of time sat heavy on Firo's shoulders, if Celestia found her, no pony knows what would happen to her.
"Do you know of any other pony that could help possibly turn me back?" Firo asked, hopeful.
"Well, there's the Tree of Harmony," Applejack posed.
"I don't think we should try that right away," Twilight mused. "We could try the other Princesses."
Rarity nodded hesitantly. "Yes, we should, but we should also keep Celestia out of this."
Twilight gasped, "no! Rarity that's crazy we have to let her know of any threats."
"Firo isn't a threat, actually I think she's pretty awesome." Rainbow Dash joined in on the conversation.
"I agree with Dash," Applejack said. "Celestia maybe our enemy in this mess. I wish it weren't so, but Twilight, it don't make sense for Firo to be our enemy. Sure we don't know where she came from, but I know honesty when I see it, and I can see it all over her."
"Then you need to get your eyes checked, Jack." Twilight paced back and forth in frustration. "All of you do! You're all just as blind as Fluttershy is with Discord."
Fluttershy whispered from the corner of the room, barely heard over Twilights anger. "I'm not blind with Discord... Um... He just needs a friend..."
"If we need anypony to help us it's going to have to be Celestia. Face it, she's always helped us when we needed her. We can't hide this thing from her." Twilight threw up a hoof at Firo singling her out.
Rarity stomped a hoof on the ground in protest. "Twilight, you need to calm down. There is no reason to this outburst. I understand that your scared of the mystery Firo brings, but it does not condone this type of behavior. And you are the one that needs to get your eyes checked, Twilight. Where was Celestia when you saw the coming of Nightmare moon? Where was Celestia when you were locked in that cave by Queen Chrysalis?"
"Where were you?" Twilight yelled. The room fell silent and no pony moved a muscle. Every one of the mares felt guilty for their own reasons, but Firo had no connection to their feelings. She wanted to get fixed, it was a determination programmed into her brain for the longest time now.
"Princess Twilight," Firo said breaking the silence. "I can tell you have great respect for Celestia, but if we go to her, how can we tell if she's the real one. If it was the real Celestia behind whatever happened to me, then you can no longer trust me. Look at me, do I look like a threat to you? Please tell me. If I do then I'll go out and face this on my own, but for right now I need some sign of solace from you that you will be able to trust me. Please."
Firo pleaded with sad eyes filled with all the pain she's been through. The loneliness of living in a castle isolated from any sign of life, the fear of being forever alone, and the frustration of being turned into something she couldn't dream to understand. She needed Twilight to believe her, she needed it desperately. Firo couldn't imagine what it would do to her heart if she continued to be alienated over and over again. She feared it would take her to her grave.
Twilight seemed lost in thought, thinking about a memory that appeared to change her mind on the whole argument. "Yes. I won't go to Celestia, but we are going to meet up with Princess Cadence and Princess Luna. Before we do that can somepony please bring Zacora here? If you say that Celestia is after you, then she could very well still be in the Everfree forest. We need to get away from here. And Fluttershy, do not tell Discord where you are going. I don't want him messing with our plans." Twilight stared dead on at Firo. "If it turns out that you were our enemy this whole time you will regret your very existence."
I already do, she thought to herself with a nod to Twilight. The answers were still too slippery to catch, but Firo was content to be moving and heading towards a new hope. Why am I the one that has to be caught up in all of this? I was always a kind filly to others, I never told a lie, so what did I do to deserve this? My mother would've said that it was because I was such a pushover, but I can't except that answer. Was I meant to do something great with my life? If so what is it? Firo rubbed her nose to stop the itchy feeling creeping up on it. All she wanted was a normal life with a normal family, now she was in a huge crossfire between friends. It would seem from that, that her hope would be lost from her, but it still clung on with slippery hands. It was starting to let go, but there was no way she was going to let her hope die all together. A small part if her could still be crushed and it was the only sense of normal that she could still feel.
Firo loved that.