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?