It had only been a few days since Princess Luna had her emotional breakthrough. All those years of tormenting herself with the Tantabus had certainly taken its toll on the Princess of the Night. Had it not been for this breakthrough, she would never have understood that there were ponies who looked up to her, despite the horrors of her actions as Nightmare Moon.
As this little story would go on, she would help a pony that was once just like her.
One night, Luna was doing what she had been doing since her return from the moon, patrolling Equestria and monitoring just exactly who needed her help. For the past few months, she had been mentoring Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and more recently, Babs Seed in helping them deal with their struggles of getting their cutie marks as well as just living their everyday lives.
Suddenly, as Luna was flying over Manehattan, she saw something that was out of the ordinary. It was a young pony with a greenish gray coating with a vermillion mane and tail that was short and disheveled. He was standing on the edge of the bridge that crossed the river.
"Something is not right with this poor soul," she thought to herself. "He looks to be doing something that can make anypony feel very uncomfortable with themselves. Then again, he seems to be making me uncomfortable."
Luna flew down for a closer inspection and saw with a closer view that the pony was clearly not himself. She could see the tear stained at the corners of his eyes and there were scrapes and scratches all over his body. This pony needed her help, but Luna didn't want to surprise him and scare him, so she landed quietly. What was more, Luna needed to act quickly in terms that this bridge was what the Friendship Express crossed over to get into Manehattan and who wonders when the next train would come.
"Who's there?" cried the pony, his voice quivering with fear. "Whoever you are, go away and leave me alone! My life is not worth living after all I had done! I can't live in Equestria anymore, so go away!"
As she landed, Luna could see that this pony needed to be helped. She couldn't bear to see the pain that was on his face and that Equestria had seen enough ponies that had self-harmed themselves for a lifetime.
"Why should you harm yourself in such a manner?" Luna asked as she approached the pony. "There are more important things in life than what you are doing now, my friend."
"Because I made stupid mistakes," cried the pony, still looking down at the water below. "I put myself ahead of other ponies and I let my greed and self-goals get in the way. Now, they won't have to worry about it anymore, since I am going to end it all right here!"
"Is it really worth it?" wondered Luna as she came up and placed a hoof on the pony's right shoulder. "There are ponies who are probably worried sick about you. Think of them before you decide to do anything rash."
For a moment, the pony wondered just exactly who was talking to him. He felt as though he had met Luna before, but he never did. The tone of her voice had made him wonder just exactly who this pony was, but the judgment that was going through his mind had clouded his thoughts.
"Nopony cares about me," cried the pony. "Why should I decide to live my life after all I had done? I took a pony named Coloratura under my wing and instead of caring about her, I cared about myself while turning her into a Countess! Why didn't I do what I did? She is better off without me along with the rest of Equestria! So, whoever you are, go away and leave me alone!"
But, Luna didn't move and this remark by the pony had only added fuel to the fires that were growing inside of her. Luna could see that this pony was going to make a foolish and a very stupid mistake that was not erasable if she didn't act now.
"I am not going to leave you," replied Luna, firmly. "I want you to understand that I was once a pony like you, somepony who wanted attention and fame that I never got, because nopony would be willing to see it. I became cruel and gave myself the face that everypony associated with me for a thousand years."
"You must have had it rough," remarked the pony, knowing that his time was running out. "So, have I and now, the pain will end right here and right now. Nopony will have to worry about Svengallop and his diva personality anymore because he is going to be putting himself out of his misery!"
At that moment, Svengallop placed all his legs on the edge and closed his eyes, preparing to take the leap that would take his soul out of Equestria for good. With one giant gasp of air, he started to leap towards his end in the river below and Luna knew she needed to act. Using her magic, she caught Svengallop and pulled him back towards the bridge as he struggled against his magical bonds.
"Let go of me, whoever you are!" cried Svengallop. "Don't you understand that my life isn't worth living anymore?"
"I don't," replied Luna as she pulled Svengallop towards her. "And what you are doing is making the same mistake that I did. Look at me and see the pony who was once like you!"
Svengallop felt himself being pulled towards Luna and for the first time, the light of the moon revealed the Princess of the Night looking down at him with a cold, yet sympathetic stare. Looking up at Luna, Svengallop shivered at the menace that Luna was associated with.
"I was a pony who had punished myself with self-harm because of my actions, Svengallop," said Luna, firmly, her eyes locked onto Svengallop's eyes as she clutched him tightly with her magic. "When I was confronted with the feelings by the ponies and subjects who were close to me, I realized that there is good inside of me and it has helped me into becoming the pony I am today! You must look inside yourself, Svengallop and understand of what you are doing. You can change your outlook, my friend, but this is not how it is done! If you jump to your doom, then the pain of your actions will never go away, they will only get worse with time. There are ponies who care about you, Svengallop. But, right here and right now, you have to abandon your selfish ways forever!"
"How can I abandon my selfish ways?" cried Svengallop, tears forming in his eyes as the sounds of Luna's words echoed in his ears. "I don't know if I could abandon my selfish ways!"
"You can start by realizing that there is more to life in Equestria than just the perks that comes with being famous," explained Luna as she released Svengallop from her magical bonds. "Repent your actions and understand that the world doesn't revolve around you, Svengallop! It revolves around everypony and there is no better time to understand than now! Go now to the ponies who had suffered because of you and atone for your actions!"
Just then, Luna began to pull back from Svengallop and the ex-manager of Countess Coloratura could see that he needed to do just what Luna had told him. Stepping off of the side of the bridge, Svengallop then began to feel something inside of him, something that he had never even felt before until now. He felt a pony who shared the same sympathy and feelings as him and who knew if he would be able to fully atone for his actions.
As she returned to her duties, Luna began to feel tears forming in her eyes. But they weren't tears of sadness, they were tears of accomplishment over the fact that she had helped a pony that was once like her and the words that Twilight spoke during her breakthrough echoed through Luna's mind like a broken record, playing over and over and over again.
"I will never allow to see anypony who was once like me," she thought to herself. "Everypony has a life worth living and as long as I remain Princess of the Night, it will be my duty to make sure nopony rids themselves of Equestria!"
Although Luna was not realizing it, she was becoming more than just a princess, she was becoming a saint, a Saint of Equestria….
