Clutzy and I have found ourselves in a compromising situation. We're heading down a dark path through a heavily forested part of a state park at night with nothing but the moon illuminating our way when it's not shrouded by clouds. Now that my little spectral spy buddy has pointed it out, I notice a set or maybe even two sets of hooves slowly creeping up on us. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't freaked out by this.

I've mentioned before, I'm of below average size for an adult mare and as such, I'm not very physically strong and even prison couldn't teach me how to fight and hold my own. In a dark forest where nopony can hear me scream, I'm extremely vulnerable to being attacked, and being negatively well known in this area, I'm no stranger to death threats. I can't see who or what is following me but I don't want to stick around to find out. Clutzy won't be able to help me should I be attacked, so we're getting the hell out of here before I get mugged, stabbed, raped, or whatever my stalker or stalkers wanted with me.

I've already been raped while I was in prison...twice. I'd rather die than let it happen again. I felt so low after the fact and I never truly got over it. I don't think I ever will. Well, I'm booking it and not hanging around to let anything happen. The mere thought of being pinned down and taken advantage of again was more than enough to give me an adrenaline kick and trigger my fight or flight response and I dashed away as fast as my legs could carry me away from my stalkers with Clutzy in tow.

Sure enough, in response to my sudden bolting, I could hear two sets of hooves behind me but much to my fortune, I was putting a decent amount of distance between them and myself. As expected, the sets of hooves behind me broke into a full on gallop as I had and as I dashed off towards the main road where there would at least be street lights or possibly somepony driving by who could intervene should something happen. Occasionally, you can find a park police officer sitting around in his or her patrol car but very seldom are they there when you need them. It was so dark but even if I did have it in me to look back at my pursuers, judging by the sounds of their hooves clicking and clacking against the pavement, I could tell that I was failing to put distance between us.

After a minute or so, I've reached the sidewalk on the main road with the nearby bus stop still a few hundred yards away and though the street lamps are lit, I still don't feel inclined to slow down just to see who my stalkers are. I need to focus on giving them the slip. At the bus stop, I at least have a high likelihood of there being other ponies there, hopefully good samaritans who could help should they witness me being attacked.

I'm starting to get tired and I can hear the panting of the two ponies behind me which means that they are now getting closer. As I start to slow down from exhaustion, I can make out that the panting and gasping of the two behind me sound almost...female. Granted I was taken advantage of by females while locked up, one an inmate and the other a guard, I was unsure now a little more unsure of what the two ponies chasing me wanted to do with me, not that it's not still a possibility. It was what happened next that made me really second guess what was really going on.

"Creampuff! *gasp* Wait!" The familiar voice called out behind me causing me to screech to an abrupt halt. Clutzy followed suit and floated there by my side as the two now exhausted ponies slowly approached under the glow of a street lamp. It can't be...could it?"

I was immensely confused to be approached by Crystal and Gem, two mares who were once my closest friends whom had severed ties with me about a month and a half prior. It was like a bullet to my heart when they trotted past me and made it clear that they wanted fuck all to do with me that day. As they tried to catch their breath, they gave me a strange look. It looked to me like the look of sorrow of which I was no stranger to and they were on the verge of tears. I had to get street smart while I was in the joint so I quickly learned how to really read ponies as often my life depended on it. We stood there awkwardly as we faced each other until they finally broke the tense silence.

"Creampuff?" Gem said, her voice quivering. "We...we're so sorry..."

I didn't know what to make of this one. I held nothing against them for abandoning me like that and outright dropping me as their friend. Nonetheless, I wondered if I could trust them. Though I did something I and many others would consider unforgivable, to ditch me without a second thought was the biggest blow to my trust I have ever received and it will most likely never be topped. Could they be planning something against me? Even Clutzy looked on edge and hesitant to believe them. Still, I needed to find out for sure. If they're being genuine, this could really turn my life around.

"F-for what?" I asked, fulling know why they would say that.

"For kicking you while you were down and needed us most." Crystal replied as she hung her head and created a small puddle of tears on the ground. "Creampuff, we've heard horrible things and we're worried about you."

Crystal and Gem took a step towards me and I responded by taking one back. As a response to that, they too took a step back as if to show they had no intentions of harming me. I think this might be the real deal and I might be able to have some of my friends back. My emotions are running wild right now but I need to keep a level head and let logic be my guide here. Clutzy seems to be calming down as he curiously hovers around Crystal and Gem.

"We ditched you when you needed us most..." Gem sobbed as she and Crystal hung their heads in shame. "We're no better than the community made you out to be..."

"Girls, don't..." I began as I too turned on the waterworks and took a couple steps towards them. "I don't want to see you two cry for me..."

Is this the real deal? Am I really about to give my friends back? This just seems to good to be true. I haven't felt such joy since that fateful day. I can't help but clench my teeth as I look at them before throwing myself at them, my arms around their necks and hug them for the first time since the several months before I went to prison. They need say no more, I forgive them without a second thought.

I don't even know how long the three of us just stood there and held each other close and soaked each other with our tears. At this point, I no longer have any doubt in their intentions. They truly felt awful for abandoning me and I quickly put their feelings of guilt to rest. I could never hold it against them as I still to this day felt that I deserved a lot of what was coming to me.

With some convincing, I decided against the bus ride home and wasted no time catching up with my friends and making up for lost time. We were supposed to see a movie together the day I destroyed my community and they didn't need to ask me twice to join them do to what we were supposed to over a year ago. Tonight, the new "Inspector Kinkajou" was playing at the theatre in Aquatown a half hour drive North and I was delighted to join them, Clutzy still by my side and supporting me the whole ride there.

"You're still driving this old bucket?" I asked with a chuckle as my friends and I rode to the mall with Crystal driving, myself in the front passenger seat and Gem in the back. Clutzy was next to Gem, but I was the only one who knew it. Surprisingly, he refrained from trying anything funny.

"Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Crystal replied with a smirk and dismissive wave of her hoof.

"You've been spending more time fixing this clunker than driving it." Gem said from the back seat with a laugh. "This thing's older than all of us put together!"

"It's an '87 model, Gem, learn some math."

We always bickered about this old car Crystal drove whenever we all went somewhere together and the fond memories were coming back. One funny memory I can recall was that occasionally when we go over a bump of a pothole in the road, the glovebox in front of me would pop open and reveal the so called "CCW" Crystal kept in there. She would always blush as she reached over to slam it shut again sending myself, Gem, and this time Clutzy into a fit of laughter. It's pretty easy to get a concealed carry permit around here and Crystal's uncle is a judge in a nearby town, so she was pretty much guaranteed. That revolver she keeps in there is probably worth more than this car.

The four of us really enjoyed the movie for which my friends paid for my ticket as I was just about out of money and afterwards, we all enjoyed a nice casual dinner at the Crapplebees on Arsonist Street, which is the main drag in Aquatown. After that, we enjoyed our ride back down and inevitably, the events that left my life in the state it's found itself in were brought up but I was feeling more up to talking about it at this point.

The girls were dumbfounded when I told them that I ran Clutzy over mere moments before I was to meet them for our trip, just as they were leaving me behind. There were a few minutes of awkward silence between us until Gem and Crystal broke it with the sounds of their sobbing. Crystal even hung her head as she created a puddle of tears on her lap to the point where we were jarred out of the moment by the sound of a car laying on its horn from the lane next to us. Crystal had apparently taken her focus off the road and drifted partway into the other lane nearly sideswiping another driver whom responded by sticking her hoof out the window. Yup, classic Upstate Manehattan greeting.

Once we took the Trottski exit and soon pulled into my parents' driveway, we all excited the car and stood to chat for a little while longer before I went back inside to be with my mom and dad. We shared more laughs and tears together and the girls even told me that they began to blame themselves for what happened after what I had told them which made them feel even worse for ditching me. Well, they weren't the ones who decided to drive past a school bus as a kid hopped off, so I promptly put those worries to rest. Though I hate myself a little less than before, until I'm put in my grave, I must keep in mind that I have nopony to blame but myself. I refuse to try to shift it on somepony else or look for a pity party.

It was getting late and I was getting really tired, so we all had one last group hug while my parents watched from the the front porch as they poked their heads out the door, probably to make sure I wasn't getting picked on. We made plans to see each other again very soon and I could return to my parents with the wonderful news that I had gotten my closest friends back, which Mom and Dad were delighted to hear about. Tonight, I could go to sleep with high hopes for the future as things have been on the uptick lately.

Over the next couple of weeks, I managed to get a lot done and have been mingling with neighbors more. Slowly but surely, local ponies are starting to tolerate me being around a bit more readily than before. Some have even reached out to me as I've made my way around town. Weather it be just to make small talk, just see in general how I was doing, ponies are being much more kind to me as of late. I never held it against any of them for acting hostile towards me before, but that certainly doesn't mean I liked it.

One thing I was glad to have accomplished was to finally get rid of the old Coltzwagen in the garage. I called up a local wrecker to have it towed away for scrap and even managed to get a hundred bits in exchange. It was my first car and I made a lot of great memories with it but it was time to let it go as it was just another reminder of what happened. I made sure to look away as the guy who showed up pulled away with it hooked to his truck by the back bumper as I couldn't stand to look at the obvious dent in the front end. I'm sure it's no mystery how that got there.

Finally the day Clutzy and I would take out bus to Rockchester came and we boarded the bus bright and early in the morning destined for the college I went to as to obtain my diploma and take another step towards getting my life back on track. At this point, Clutzy and I have our little communication system down pat and for good measure, I made sure to buy myself a new newspaper every day to avoid arousing suspicion in others around me with one that has been outdated for several weeks.

When I started actually reading the newspaper to pass the time, I flipped the page over and I couldn't believe what I saw next. It was a picture of a familiar a few familiar faces and much like I once had to do these three mares were posing as they stood against a well marked to show their height. In their hooves they were each holding a small card with the date, time, police agency, and their own names under a headline that read "Guards jailed for inmate abuse: Prison under investigation".

It was the three horrible corrections officers whom I had to deal with while I was locked up, including the one who...violated me, to put it lightly. I know that what I did was understandably hard to forgive not only did they abuse me, I had to witness them beating the shit out of and breaking bones of other mares I was locked up with. To see their mugshots in this paper and to know that they were finally being brought to justice for what they've done to so many ponies was almost enough to make me squeal with joy. I made sure to refrain of course, as to avoid attracting attention and give ponies a reason to think I'm as crazy as they probably already think I am. On the plus side, I don't see a single pony I recognize from Trottski on this bus.

Still can't be too careful though, and our system seemed to work well for us. Clutzy was able to talk normally to me as I was the only one who could see him and I would respond by pointing at letters with a pencil in my mouth to spell out my sentences. If he asked me a question that called for a yes or no answer, I'd simply blink once for yes and twice for no. Everypony around was none the wiser.

The two and a half hour ride dragged by agonizingly slowly and my legs felt like wet noodles from sitting on my ass for so long. Finally, we reached the bus stop near the college where I would then head to the dean's office where my appointment to receive my diploma had been scheduled. It really brought back a lot of memories to have trotted through the halls past all the lecture rooms I used to attend. It was yet another one of the many things that gave me very welcome feelings of warmth and fond nostalgia. I was right on time by the time I had arrived as a familiar face stood waiting for me at our little rendezvous point we had discussed prior.

"Creampuff! So nice to see you again!" The middle aged mare, the college dean beamed as we both rushed towards each other for a nice, warm hug. I was one of her favorite students as a valedictorian and she gives me such a warm welcome back despite that she knows exactly why I was unable to make it to the graduation ceremony. Pretty much the entire state, maybe even all of Equestria knows about it.

"I've missed everypony here so much!" I beamed in response. "After I...ahem, got out, I sort of lost the motivation to get anything done but I made a friend who gave me the kick in the butt I needed, you know?"

"Oh, that's great, hon, I know what happened was very sad, but if ponies would have gotten to know the real you like I did, they'd understand that you're still an amazing pony with a heart of gold..." The dean then reaches for the door handle to her office and slowly starts to push the door open. "...and there's someponies here with me who feel the same way and want to meet you."

I was intrigued by what the dean had just told me and wondered who would be waiting for me in her office. When the door slowly opened and the dean led me in, I was utterly dumbfounded by the sight of a butter yellow coated pegasus and a much taller white coated mare with both a horn and a set of wings standing next to her. I'm speechless, Clutzy and I both were. I was supposed to meet them in person on the day of graduation but I was never able to as I was in the process of being put in prison. Now, over a year later, they dropped everything that they would otherwise be doing to make good on that promise.

"Creampuff Lime, It's so wonderful to finally meet you." The tall alicorn whom was none other than Princess Celestia said warmly as the dean and I trotted in with an equally as surprised Clutzy behind me.

"I hope everything is well with you." The other mare, the very authority of Equestrian veterinary care and element of kindness Doctor Fluttershy said in her trademark soft, sweet tone.

Much to their innocent amusement, was unable to do much more than stand their a gawk. I couldn't believe they were taking time out of their busy schedules just to come and meet me while I was given my diploma and the graduation ceremony I was denied last year. Both Clutzy and I are at a loss for words. It was when the dean then hoofed a cap and gown to me that I turned on the waterworks again.

Princess Celestia was the one to do the honors of personally hoofing my diploma over to me on which she and Doctor Fluttershy had adorned with their signatures. I was even presented with a beautiful custom made golden frame to hang it on my wall with along with a signed letter of recognition written by them personally. This seems to good to be true. I feel like I'm trotting on air just like I did when I had just gotten back to my parents' place at the start of Spring break last year. I truly don't know what to say.

Princess Celestia, Doctor Fluttershy, the dean, and myself later enjoyed a nice lunch together at one of the finer restaurants in the area while Clutzy enjoyed vicariously. We spent a fews hours getting to know each other and Celestia nor Fluttershy were strangers to seeing my mugshot on the news and why I was made to take it to begin with. They were also fully aware of my struggles in the joint once the investigations revealed that the guards of some correctional facilities have been abusing inmates and Celestia had initiated a campaign to crack down on it. Not to mention, solitary confinement has actually been illegal in all of Equestria for decades and she intended on holding prison officials accountable for allowing it to occur.

We all ended up spending nearly four hours together and had an amazing time. I haven't felt this great in well over a year, and much like everything before the accident, everything is on the uptick. I have my little buddy Clutzy to thank for that. Not only did he save my life from my own self, he stayed by my side to help improve my life as a whole. I am forever indebted to him and I'll never forget this.

The ride home went by without a hitch as well, and we managed to completely avoid drawing any unwanted attention while at the same time holding a conversation. Like I said before, you know you have true friendship with somepony when you can carry out a conversation without actually saying a word. On the trot back to my parents' place from the bus stop however, we could take a break from subtle hints like blinking and tapping my hoof on the ground and actually speak as it was getting late and there was nopony around to catch me talking to myself. It was what Clutzy and I saw crowded around my parents' driveway and on the curb around their house that threw us for a loop that neither of us were expecting.

"Were all those cars parked around your parents' house before?" A confused Clutzy asked as he hovered next to as while we stared curiously at several parked cars before us.

"Uh...no, and this doesn't happen often at all." I replied, equally as confused.

There must have been well over a dozen or so cars parked around the house and on the side of the road and I recognized them all as belonging to neighbors, one of them a village police car and one of them even belonging to our mayor. Weird, what's going on here? Well, there was only one way to find out so Clutzy and I made our ways to the front door where he passed through before I opened it and came close behind him.

"Oh, she's here!" One of the many neighbors inside the house said, calling my parents into the room.

The house was absolutely packed to the brim with dozens of local ponies from around town and sure enough the police chief was here and seated at our dining room table next to the mayor with two other local officers I recognized standing next to them. Crystal and Gem were there too. What was even more confusing was that every single pony in the house looked as if they were attending a funeral. Something's not right and I'm about to find out exactly what.

"Creampuff, please have a seat." Mayor Max said in his usual soft tone as he gestured towards a chair pulled out on the opposite side of the table.

"w-what um...what's going on, everypony?" I asked, perplexed as I sat down across from a very sad looking mayor, police chief and my parents who looked more distraught and disheveled than anything.

"Creampuff, your parents and the rest of us are very..." Chief Bluestreak began. ...very concerned about some things that we've seen and heard lately. Your mom and dad have reached out to us to discuss this and see what we can do to help you."

Oh no. All those times I was seen talking to Clutzy and laughing at his jokes have caught up to me and I've just trotted into an intervention! Shit! There's no way I can back pedal at this point and convince anypony that I'm okay! I mean, it's not out of the question for me to be seeing a therapist, I guess. Despite the fact that things have been getting better, it couldn't hurt to see a doctor about the issues I still have. Could it?

"O-okay, what's the problem?" I asked, fully knowing exactly what was wrong.

"W-we were just..." One of the neighbors began with glossy eyes and his lips quivering. "We were all just so angry about the accident that we...we never gave any thought to how you were affected by it."

"We lost sight of the big picture." Another pony from the town interjected. "We wasted so much of our breath trying to tear you down that we never thought about the guilt you had to live with."

"Instead of helping anything, we've turned you into a victim too." Yet another neighbor said as she hung her head and quietly began to sob.

I think I'm understanding what's going on here. At long last, I'm finally about to be accepted by my community once again as they have all opened their hearts and have come back to my side. I truly am at a loss for words. I never held it against any of them for being angry with me but now it looks as if I finally have all of my friends and neighbors back. I was about to get another surprise in the form of a knock at the door that I really didn't see coming and saw two ponies I haven't seen since my town was shattered by me.

"Where is she?" A mare slightly younger than my parents said frantically as she galloped through the front door with a stallion about the same age in tow.

I had to double take and then triple take. I simply couldn't believe who it was who had just come to join the intervention and I was soon taken over by a feeling of lightheadedness and nervousness as they pushed through the sea of ponies and ultimately stood before me.

"Mom! Dad!" Clutzy gasped.

I was sitting before none other than Clutzy's parents who gave me the similar sad look everypony else had on their faces. I was very nervous and my heart began to bleed again as I looked at them...figuratively speaking of course. How could I not feel awkward about this, these are the parents of the innocent ten year old colt whose life I snuffed out last year and we were looking each other square in the eyes. My heart rate quickly picks up as I start to sweat nervously. What do they have to say?

"Creampuff, we're so sorry..." Clutzy's mother sobbed as she wrapped her arms around me much to my shock. "Sweetie, if we knew things were getting this bad, we would have reached out to you sooner!"

"Creampuff, we just..." Clutzy's father began with watery eyes, his voice quivering quite a lot. "We just want you to know that we never hated you!"

"The accident was hard on all of us and you were no exception!"

"If we knew how sick you were getting, we would have said something!"

To say I was speechless would be a massive understatement. Literally, I physically could not move my mouth and my vocal cords to get any words out. Clutzy just floated above his parents with glossy eyes and the look of pride that he so deserves so much to adorne. Never in my life have I been subjected to such genuine kindness and I too had trouble keeping my eyes dry. If I thought things were going to be just fine before, I felt so blessed to be a member of a community who could finally give me the forgiveness I still think I didn't deserve. I was about to find out though that not all was well as it seemed to be.

"Puff Puff, sweetie, we really need to talk about something very serious." My dad said somberly as he too turned on waterworks of his own. "We're just going to come out with it. You've been seen talking to somepony who isn't there by dozens of ponies around town and we haven't forgotten that you told us that you have seen...th-that you have been talking to Clutzy's ghost."

"Mom, Dad, I..." I stammered. "I'm sorry I made you worry, I just..."

"No, no, don't apologize to us, we have every right to worry about you!" My mom loudly interjected as she trotted back over with a piece of paper that appeared to have crumpled up and flattened out again before slapping it down on the table for all to see. "The talking to yourself is the least of our worries because we found this in your room!"

It was a letter previously written by me and it read...

To my beloved parents, friends, neighbors, and members of my community I love so dearly:

Words cannot express how sorry I am for what I did last year and I understand why you all hate me. I have tried to give back to my community in what ways I had the means but I'm so sorry to say that I have nothing left to give and that by sticking around, I will just be a burden to you all. I wish so badly I could bring Clutzy back but I can't. I have decided that the only way I can truly pay my debt to society for what I have done is to end my own life tonight. I plan to climb to the top of the new apartment high rise in Trottski and fall to the parking lot below. I simply can't live with this guilt anymore and this will be for the absolute best as I hope that it will put everypony at ease and bring much needed closure. Just know that no matter what happens, I love each and every one of you so much and that I never held any hard feelings against any of you. Mom, Dad, I'm so sorry for letting you and everypony else down. It is my hope that I may be forgotten about so everypony can move on. Goodbye and Faust bless.

Creampuff Lime

Oh, Faust no, it's my suicide note!!

Author's Note

The cat's outta the bag now. The residents of Trottski are realizing the damage they have done and are about to begin attoning for it.