Chapter 1: First Offenses
Author's Note
The concept of forgiveness has been a subject of great interest to me, something I seem to have an almost instinctive knowledge of, with reminders of how it should and should not work; and more especially because of recent developments. It seems to me that the events involving ToonKriticY2K represent the greatest test the fandom of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic has faced thus far. And, considering bronies and pegasisters are generally not strictly fans of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, what happens to this fandom could reflect on other fandoms as well.
So, this is my offering to the fandom and others who choose to read this story. You don't have to take my word for which is the correct course of action. You can pray, and God will let you know.
So, here it is.
Chapter 1: First Offenses
Fluttershy's Cottage
Rainbow Dash had little understanding why she was there when she knocked at the door, then waited for a response. All she knew was that her fellow pegasa had wanted her to come as soon as possible, and she was in a panic. After waiting for a minute and not even hearing any sounds, she knocked again, this time calling out, “Fluttershy, are you there?”
It took another minute, but the door opened. The yellow pegasa, on the other side of the door, opened it just enough to admit the azure pegasa. Worriedly but invitingly, the yellow one gestured to her azure friend and said, “Please come in.”
Obediently, Rainbow Dash entered, asking, “So, why did you want me to come?” And, before she was finished asking the question, she began to sense that something was wrong.
Fluttershy had clearly been crying, and there was an odd scent in the air, one that bothered the azure pegasa more than the worry she was seeing on the face of the yellow one, who stammered, “P-p-please, f-f-follow m-me.” And, the two pegasae proceeded into the kitchen.
As soon as Rainbow Dash entered the room, she saw something she never expected to see, something that almost made her sick.
In the middle of the table was a white rabbit, dark red markings unnaturally on his chest, and red liquid leaking from his mouth.
The azure pegasa stepped past her yellow friend and, focused on the white rabbit, asked, “Fluttershy, what did you do?”
The representative of kindness started sobbing, further alarming her azure friend. After a few seconds, she cried, “I didn't mean to. I was just getting dinner ready, and suddenly there he was. I didn't even know I'd hurt him until I moved the carrot out of the way, and, … and, …” Unable to speak anymore, she went back to sobbing.
Presently, Rainbow Dash turned and glared at her yellow friend and growled, “You stabbed Angel?”
Pleading, Fluttershy said, “Like I said, I didn't mean to. I didn't even know about it until …”
Rainbow Dash marched toward her yellow friend, intruding on her personal space and causing her to back away, as she said, “You were the one that introduced me to Tank. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have a pet. Then, you go and try to kill your own?” She didn't continue until she had her fellow pegasa backed up against a wall. At that point, she sighed before continuing, “Do you have any idea how hard it's gonna be for me to forgive you for this?”
Terrified, the yellow pegasa said, “I called you here so you could help me. I can still …”
The azure one interrupted, “Help you with what, huh? You know more about taking care of these critters than I do.” She then turned away from the representative of kindness and, sighing, said, “You better be sure your pet doesn't die. I gotta get out of here.” She made her way to the entrance to the kitchen before turning to the yellow pegasa and concluding, “I thought I knew you. I guess I don't after all.” And, with that, she made her way to the front door and exited, slamming the door behind her.
Too scared and distraught to do anything else, Fluttershy collapsed into a sphinx-style position, buried her face in her forelimbs, and sobbed.
Golden Oak Library
Rarity entered through the front door and called out, “Twilight, are you there?”
From the upper floor, Spike answered back, “Rarity, is that you?”
The white unicorn started, then made her way through the front room into one of the main rooms, then looked up and saw the purple dragon. Sighing and relaxing, she smiled and said, “Hello, Spikey-wikey. Do you know where Twilight is?”
Spike answered, “She's in the kitchen.”
Before the little dragon could say anything more, Rarity said, “Thanks. I'll go right in.” And, she made her way to and into the kitchen.
Twilight didn't turn when she heard the door between the main room of the library and the kitchen open. Thinking that it was her assistant, Twilight said, “This is your day off, remember, Spike? I'm making dinner tonight, remember?”
The white unicorn forced a chuckle before saying, “Actually, Twilight, it's me.”
Startled, the purple unicorn spun around to see the representative of generosity there in the doorway. Presently, she said, “Oh, Rarity, I'm sorry. I thought you were Spike.”
Again the white unicorn forced a chuckle, then ambled to the table. Sighing, she sat human-style, with her front hooves resting on the table, then said, “I-I-I … have something I n-need to talk about with you.”
Noticing that her friend was trembling, Twilight used her magic to move the pot she was cooking in to the side, away from the flame, then took a few steps to the table and sat canine-style, opposite the white unicorn. Tilting her head in curiosity, she asked, “Rarity, what's wrong?”
For a few seconds, the representative of generosity was silent; then she burst into her dramatic sobs. Planting her face on the table between her hooves, she bawled, “Oh, Twilight, I've done something horrible!”
Growing more concerned by the second, Twilight asked, “Well, tell me, what was it?”
Through her sobs, Rarity moved her head so her chin was resting between her front hooves before saying, “Well, you see, back in Carousel Boutique, I caught Sweetie Belle with one of the dresses I was making for a customer. I know she hadn't meant to, but she dropped something on it, I don't know, berry juice or something like that.
“I got angry about it, but I decided to let it go, just give her a warning, you know. I told her to leave so I could fix the dress. Then, when she was leaving in front of me, she said she could clean the mess herself. I just meant to point her out of my room so I could have my privacy while I made the repairs. But, instead, I … I …”
Shrugging, Twilight asked, “You, what?”
Rarity raised her head and pointed it to the ceiling and sobbed, “I hit my little sister!” And, again she hid her face between her front hooves as she continued to sob.
At this point, Twilight rose to all fours again and strolled around the table to her white friend. As soon as she was close enough, she reached out her closest front hoof and stroked her friend's back as she said, “Is that all? Well then, you're perfectly alright.”
Rarity turned and looked at her fellow unicorn, then, still sobbing, she asked, “I am?” She continued, “B-but, you don't understand. I was angry with my little sister, and I took my anger out on her.”
Twilight continued to stroke her friend's back as she said, “I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Trust me, you aren't in any trouble with your little sister. Why, I'm sure she's already forgiven you by now. The two of you are gonna be just fine.”
Still a little nervous, but no longer sobbing, Rarity said, “W-well, if you say so.” And, she got up from the table.
Smiling, Twilight retracted her forelimb, allowing her friend to rise to all fours and turn and make her way to the door to the kitchen, as she said, “Trust me. You two are sisters. This won't affect your relationship at all. Everything'll be just fine.”
Before leaving through the kitchen door, Rarity turned one last time to the purple unicorn and said, “Well, thanks for listening, Twilight.” And, she made her way silently through the library and back outside.
In the mean time, back in the library kitchen, a curious and concerned Spike walked in and, seeing his mother figure returning to cooking, asked, “So, what was wrong with Rarity?”
Turning her head to smile at her assistant, Twilight answered, “Oh, it was nothing to worry about.” And, she turned and went back to her cooking.
Sugar Cube Corner
Applejack ambled through the doors, apparently focused on something inches in front of her, made her way to the table, and collapsed into a canine position.
As if on cue, Pinkie Pie bounced into the main room from the kitchen and on next to her fellow earth mare. Smiling, she said, “Hi, Applejack! Everything okie dokie?”
All it took was for the orange earth mare to look up at her, and Pinkie knew what her answer was going to be. Then, as if to reinforce what Pinkie already knew, the representative of honesty shook her head and answered, “No, Pinkie, it ain't alright.” She then turned and rested her chin on the table in front of her, sighed, and added, “Not even close.”
For a split second Pinkie gasped. Then, she said, “I know just what to do.” Focused on her orange friend, she said, “Just wait here. I'll be right back.” And, she disappeared, leaving a Pinkie-shaped cloud of dust in her place.
Applejack only turned enough to watch the cloud dissipate. Not feeling like saying anything, she just kept silent.
Within a minute, Pinkie was back with a tray balanced on her head.
On the tray were two slices of cake, each on a plate, and two cups filled with what appeared to be chocolate milk. Most likely, that's what it was.
Pinkie slid the tray from her head to the table, somehow managing to keep even the chocolate milk from being disturbed and at the same time keeping the front curl of her mane from being caught underneath the tray. She then took one of the pieces of cake and one of the cups of chocolate milk and placed them in front of her friend, then took the last of each and placed them in front of herself.
Only moving her eyes to look at the two items, Applejack said, “Pinkie, Ah really don't think cake 'n' a drink're a-gonna fix m' problems.”
Still smiling, Pinkie lightly chuckled and said, “Of course not, silly. But, talking about your problems might. Or, at least it'd help.”
At this point, Applejack raised her head just enough so that her chin was no longer resting on the table. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly, then said, “Well, alright, Ah guess it's worth shot.” She then turned to the representative of laughter and said, “Over at th' school, m' little sis 'n' th' other fillies 'n' colts was told t' make science project f'r their 'sign-a-ment. M' little sis came t' me f'r help, but Ah de-cided m' time'd be better spent harvestin' apples. So, that's what Ah did. Ah didn't lie t' m' little sis, Ah jes' made m' excuse.
“Well, m' little sis did her own science project, somethin' 'bout how volcano works. 'Cept, 'stead o' bakin' soda, she used dirt; so, her volcano didn't work none; 'n', she ended up a-failin' her 'sign-a-ment.”
Sympathetically worried, Pinkie concluded, “And, you feel responsible for Applebloom failing her assignment, is that right?”
Tears welling up in her eyes, Applejack confirmed, “That's exactly right!” She then turned and rested her chin on the table again as she concluded, “Now, m' little sis won't even talk t' me no more. Ah wanna make it up t' her, but Ah don't know what Ah c'n do.”
After a few seconds, focusing on the orange earth mare, Pinkie said, “Applejack, what you did was not acceptable.”
Applejack only looked at the pink earth mare with her eyes. Overcome with emotion, she found herself unable to speak.
Pinkie continued, more softly, “But, the bond between two sisters is too important to lose over something like this. So, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm gonna help you make it up to Applebloom, and then you can be sisters again.”
Raising her head, Applejack turned and smiled at her fellow earth mare and asked, “You'd do that f'r me?”
Pinkie nodded as she said, “We'll work on the plan together.” Then, nudging toward the cake in front of the orange earth mare, she said, “Now, let's have our cake and chocolate milk, and we can talk about what we can do to get you two back together.”
Smiling more sincerely now, Applejack said, “Why, thank yeh, Pinkie.”
The two earth mares shared a hug, then went to eating their cake, drinking their chocolate milk, and talking about how Applejack was going to make up for what she'd done, or neglected to do, to her little sister.
Fluttershy's Cottage
It'd been a week or so since Angel's death, and a few days since she'd seen her fellow pegasa. More out of curiosity than anything else, Rainbow Dash had come down to pay Fluttershy a visit.
She knocked at the door, then waited for a response from the yellow pegasa. After a minute or so, when she didn't get one, she knocked again, this time calling out, “Fluttershy, are you there?” A few more minutes passed, and the silence started to worry the azure pegasa. Again she knocked, this time calling out, “Come on, Fluttershy, this isn't funny anymore! If I have to knock one more time, I'm gonna kick the door down!”
Another few minutes passed, and there was still nothing but silence.
Figuring she'd waited long enough, Rainbow Dash made her decision. Turning her back to the door and getting into position, she called out, “Alright, Flutters, you asked for it!” Then, using all the strength she could muster, she kicked the door.
In response, the door exploded into a cloud of splinters.
When the cloud settled, the azure pegasa stepped into the house, to be greeted by complete darkness and the scent of urine and feces. Frightened, she called out, “Fluttershy, are you in here?” She had to stumble around for a bit before she found a candle and a mechanism to light it. Holding the now lit candle in one wing, she looked around the front room until she found the yellow pegasa, hanging in the middle of the room from a rope hanging from the ceiling.
For a minute Rainbow Dash circled the remains of the representative of kindness, even reached out with a front hoof, behind the yellow pegasa, to touch her on the neck. When she'd made a complete circle around the corpse, she turned to her again before opening her mouth and saying, “Really, Fluttershy? Really?” Tossing the candle aside, she continued, “And, here I thought Rarity was a drama queen. I knew you didn't like being around other ponies, but I didn't think you were so cowardly that you couldn't even face what you did to your own pet!” After panting for a few seconds, she turned away from the hanging corpse and concluded, “You know what, 'disgrace' is almost a compliment to you. I don't have any words for this. I'm outta here.” And, she ambled out through the front door before flying away from the cottage, never to return.
Canterlot Dungeon
A grieving Twilight Sparkle approached the two guards in front of the door to the dungeon and signaled to them to allow her to enter, which they did. She then made her way to the cell where her fellow unicorn was being kept. When she was in front of the door, she sat canine-style and asked, “Rarity, what happened? Why did you kill your own sister?”
On the other side of the door, Rarity didn't answer at first. After a few seconds, when she did, she said, “You said it didn't matter what I did. You said we'd be fine, not matter what.”
Presently, the purple unicorn said, “I never gave you the right to kill your little sister. I only said you were making too much of the situation. I meant, I said, that your sister would forgive you.”
The representative of generosity snorted before saying, “Isn't that the problem? I told you I'd hit my little sister in anger, and you said it wasn't a big deal, that I shouldn't worry about it. You suggested that I couldn't hurt my little sister at all. And, now look what happened. I don't have a little sister anymore, I don't even have my business, or my freedom, anymore. Why did you tell me I was going to be alright, that we were going to be alright?”
Immediately Twilight said, “I didn't think you were going to …” Then, she realized she couldn't finish her response.
After a few seconds, Rarity asked, “You didn't think I was going to what? Do you know what I did when I got back to the boutique?” Not waiting for an answer, she continued, “I brought my little sister into my room with me, took the stain out of that dress, and made her eat it. Then, I told her to come back when she was finished with the stain, and tossed her out of my room. And, when I was finished repairing that dress, I left my room to see how she was doing, and I saw her at the bottom of the stairs, …”
Twilight again opened her mouth to speak. But, this time, so choked with emotion was she that she could only squeak out, “I … I know …”
The white unicorn continued, “You've never had a little sister. So, you can never know what it's like to lose one. I had a little sister, and I killed her. I … I hope you never … have to know … what that feels like. Just leave now. We have ... nothing more ... to talk about.”
Again the representative of magic tried to speak. But, it was as though the ability had been taken from her. After a minute, she shakily rose to all fours and started slowly ambling back to the doors to the dungeon. When she got there, she couldn't even call to the guards to let them know she was ready to leave. As she reached for the door, her strength failed her. Collapsing on one side, she let her emotions flow out of her.
On the other side of the door, the guards, worried about the sounds of sobbing, quickly opened the door to find out what had happened. Seeing the purple unicorn, one guard moved to her right side and the other to her left; and they helped her to her hooves again and guided her out of the dungeon hallway.
The School Playground
It'd been a week since Applejack and Pinkie Pie, along with Applebloom, had approached Cheerilee and asked for a make up assignment for the little earth filly.
Cheerilee had agreed, on the condition that they, that is Applejack and Applebloom, work together on another volcano project. And, with the assistance of Applejack and the encouragement of Pinkie Pie, the yellow earth filly had completed the new model for the volcano in a few days. The representative of honesty had even demonstrated that the best way to produce an eruption would be with vinegar and baking soda, as well as some food coloring to make it look right, all of which they'd borrowed from Pinkie Pie at Sugar Cube Corner.
Now, at a table set up in the playground of the school, Applebloom was propped up in front of the table, while Applejack, on all fours, smiled sincerely to the right side.
In front of their audience, Applebloom talked about how a volcano works, then poured the colored vinegar into the mouth of the volcano.
Inside, the vinegar reacted with the baking soda; and the resulting foam moved up the cylindrical column and out the mouth, flowing over the sides of the home-made, cone-shaped, miniature mountain.
In response, the audience, mostly consisting of foals but also including two earth mares, rose and cheered, save for two fillies who turned up their noses and strolled off, one of them saying something about it being a waste of their time.
The original agreement had been that if the two Apples could succeed in making and demonstrating a fully-functional volcano, the final grade would be the average of the old and new scores. But, seeing how pleased the audience had been with the result, Cheerilee decided to be more generous, and replaced the old score with the new one. Thus, Applebloom had more than passed on her project. Her grade on the project wasn't quite an A, but her B+ still made her feel like a success.
After the demonstration, Pinkie Pie approached the two sisters and asked, “So, are you two back to being sisters again?”
Applebloom giggled before saying, “Ah, we was always sisters.” She then hugged the orange earth mare's closest forelimb as she added, “But, m' big sis proved she's sorry fer not helpin' me a-fore, 'N' she helped me make th' volcano project a big success. So, Ah fergive 'er.”
Restrained by her little sister, Applejack was unable to approach her fellow earth mare. But, as the representative of laughter approached her, the orange earth mare reached out with her free forelimb and said, “Ah wanna thank yeh fer yer help, Pinkie. Without it, Applebloom, here, 'd still be anger'd with me.”
The pink party pony smiled in return and said, “Aww, I just gave you advice. I helped, but only because you asked for it.”
The representative of honesty chuckled before replying, “Well, yeh gave great advice, and great help. Thank yeh, Pinkie.”
The two mares hugged for a few seconds before separating.
Then, Applebloom finally let go of her big sister's forelimb and, approaching the pink earth mare, asked, “Could Ah have a hug, too?”
Pinkie giggled as she sat down human style and stretched her forelimbs to the yellow filly. Gesturing, she answered, “Sure, Applebloom. Come here.”
Accepting the invitation, the little earth filly jumped into Pinkie's chest, knocking her over. The two hugged and giggled for a few seconds before Pinkie rolled to one side, allowing Applebloom to roll off of her. She then got back up to all-fours position and, dividing her focus between the two Apples, said, “There, you see? I knew I could get you two to smile again, and at each other.” And, she turned and bounced back to Sugar Cube Corner.
Author's Note
Let me just say, right now, that I don't hate Rainbow Dash, nor do I hate any of the pegasi. My Flanderizing a certain aspect of the azure pegasa's personality was to demonstrate an extreme, a possible worst-case scenario.
I will admit that I am biased in favor of earth ponies, mainly because I agree with A_Mormon Brony, that, if indeed all that a pony needs to become an alicorn is a horn and a pair of wings, then earth ponies have the greatest potential to be the most powerful of alicorns. And, my favorite of the Mane Six is Pinkie Pie.
As I noted in the first chapter, I believe that the principle of forgiveness is flexible. Simply put, if trust is being regained between you and the one who offended you, then you are truly demonstrating forgiveness. At least, that's what I've come to believe.
So, as my final question for those of you who read this story, which of these three do you think most effectively demonstrated, or assisted with, forgiveness: Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, or Pinkie Pie?
