Meanwhile, at the Canterlot Train Station, the Friendship Express chugged its way through the rails before halting at the depot. A walking sound came from the train and onto the Station. It then chugged backwards to reveal none other than the wolf.

He stepped down the stairs of the depot and strolled across the dirt roads of Canterlot, all with tightened fists and a determined look in his eyes. But something didn't look right. Everypony had their eyes locked on him and whispered under their breaths. Some covered themselves up, while others just stood there, quivering with chattering teeth as he walked by.

Why are they all looking at him like that?

However, the wolf's thoughts got interrupted when he turned his head forward, spotting the group strutting straight towards him. "You...!" Glaring his eyes, he quickly crouched down and clenched his fists.

"Wait!" Twilight shouted. "We're not here to fight, we just want to talk."

"Yeah, right! Why should I trust you, you e–?"

"Because we know about the seer," Starlight said, stepping forward.

The wolf's eyebrow raised. "Huh? N-No. This has gotta be a lie!"

"It's not," Applejack said. "We're telling you the truth."

"Yeah, right!" The wolf chuckled. "How'd you even find out? I never even once told you about the seer."

"You didn't have to," Twilight replied. "You have to come with us. There's something you should know about her."

"No tricks or lies?"

"Pinkie Promise," Pinkie Pie said, crossing her hoof on her chest and poking her eye.

"Okay, then..." The wolf glared at the group before following close behind them as they made their way back to the Royal Castle. Twilight simply rolled her eyes along the way.

At the Royal Castle, the group pushed the doors open. Celestia and Luna jerked their heads up as they saw the group walking towards them with the wolf.

"Back already?" Luna asked.

"And you've brought the wolf with you as well?" Celestia added.

"Yes, but don't worry. He's here to listen, not to fight." Twilight replied.

"But that doesn't mean I trust you guys, though." The wolf said.

"But, can you at least tell us your name?" Celestia asked.

The wolf glanced at both the Princesses and the group. After a few seconds, he sighed and stepped forward. Sweat slid down his fur as he stared at the Princesses' faces. "My name is Odium -- Odium Sui, your majesties," Finally answering.

"Good," Luna said. "Now listen closely."

Together, both Luna and Celestia's horns glowed their respective auras as they flipped open the book. Odium stared at them with an eyebrow raised again. As soon as they stopped turning the pages, they both showed him the stained-glass picture of the seer.

"Huh?" Odium's eyes widened the moment he looked at the picture. "Is that–?"

"Yes, it is," Celestia said. "That's the seer, Gabriella."

"B-but—!" He stuttered.

"And that's not all of it," Luna added, levitating the book in front of him. "Here's her history,"

Odium skimmed his finger through the page, quietly reading to himself. However, once he stopped reading, his face dropped. All he could do was take a step back as the book floated back to the two sisters. "No... N-No, i-it can't be true...!"

"I'm afraid it is," Celestia replied.

"B-but... How did you...? Why didn't I...? This can't...?"

"Uh... Are you okay?"

But it didn't take long for them to find out the answer, though. Because once he was done rubbing on the back on his neck, his eyes looked like hot tears were going to form. Not being able to take this anymore, Odium dashed past the rest of the group without saying a single word.

"Odium, wait!" Twilight shouted. But it was already too late. Odium slammed the door behind him.

"C'mon! After him!" Twilight and the others, sans Fluttershy, galloped through the hallway.

"Oh, dear," Fluttershy said, following close behind. The door also slammed behind them while the Princesses watched in concern.

The group panted as they ran across the streets of Canterlot. They soon halted, scanning the area for signs of where Odium could be, but to no avail.

"Has anypony seen a tall, gray wolf with a brown jacket run down here?!" Applejack shouted.

"I did," A random pony replied. The group galloped towards the random pony.

"Really? Where did he go?" Twilight asked.

The random pony pointed to a dark alley with paw prints leading to the inside.

"Thanks," Rainbow Dash said.

Following the footprints towards the dark alley, the group finally found Odium down on his knees with his ears folded in total silence. They slowly approached him with Starlight reaching her hoof out to try to console him.

"Odium? what's wrong?" Starlight asked.

However, as soon as her hoof became close to Odium's shoulder, he looked back at the group with gritted teeth. Eyes were bloodshot red as he continued sobbing. The group flinched back from the wolf's depressed state.

His voice started cracking. "Nothing...! Just leave me alone...!"

"Odium, please," Twilight bade, approaching him. "We only want to help you."

"Why...?"

"Because that's what we do. We help others in need, including creatures like you." Twilight replied.

"Twilight's right," Starlight said. "But we can't do that if you don't let us in."

Twilight stretched her hoof in front of Odium. "Now, what happened? What did Gabriella do to you? And why were you so angry with us earlier?"

Odium gazed at the hoof. His eyes darted away for a bit. Should he do it? Should he try to show them what happened? Not a very tough choice, but still something for him to think about.

"Thanks, Discord," Fluttershy said.

"My pleasure."

The group, minus Odium, studied the area around them. The black trees seemed to shift along with their vision as if they're being watched from all angles. Jitters from their pulses began to build up in response to that.

As soon as she backed away, a slight squishing sound hit Rarity's ears from close by. "Huh?" She darted downward, recoiling back from a cold, muddy puddle as it dripped beneath her hoof. "Eewww!"

They gazed upward. Thick, grey clouds loomed overhead, covering the entire area in a never-ending shade. A deep, narrow path stretched in front of them, laced with brown moss.

"Odium, where are we?" Twilight asked.

"The Black Tree Forest," He answered. "Don't worry. It's not completely bad, though."

"Speak for yourself!" Rarity complained, shaking the mud off.

"So, this is the country that you used to live in?" Starlight asked.

Odium nodded. "C'mon. Let me show you around." Odium took a fixed step forward, completely halting once he glanced at the inside of a large, rocky cave. Suddenly, his head started throbbing, causing him to hold onto it with a "grunt".

"Odium!" Twilight shouted. "What's wrong?!"

Images quickly flashed in his mind. He soon dropped to his knees and clenched his teeth. The group bolted over to him. "Odium, snap out of it! Are you okay?!" Starlight shouted.

"Huh?" Odium hyperventilated. "Oh. I'm fine. We should keep going." Odium blushed as he continued strolling. The group glanced at each other, but then shrugged and went along with him. Whatever happened inside that cave must've been extremely horrible and painful for him.

The group coughed and winced after stepping out of a large fog.

"Finally! And here I thought we'd never make it out of there," Discord coughed.

Unfortunately, once they got their vision back, they all soon gasped and recoiled at what was in front of them. The path and clouds stretched across a large town, or at least what was left of it.

"No...!" The group roamed through the path, avoiding large piles of dust, dirt, and debris that littered the ground.

As they moved forward, they glanced around. Many of the buildings towering over them looked collapsed. Some had missing roofs, while others had a lot of cracks on top of them. There were doors and windows that were either boarded-up or broken. Dry grass, vines, weeds and other unwelcoming vegetation wrapped themselves around said buildings like snakes would to their victims, and nobody was there to greet them... at all. This town seemed completely unrecognizable, at least in Odium's eyes.

"My word! What is this horrible place?!" Rarity asked.

"Rogue Town. My old home," Odium replied. "It wasn't really the best place to live in when I was younger, but it barely looked anything like this."

"Goodness!" Fluttershy said. "I wonder what happened to it that made it this way."

Odium darted back and forth before gasping once he caught a glimpse at one of the buildings. It looked very similar to all the others, except shorter and had a sign that said 'We're always there to help you'.

"My old house...!" Odium ran towards his house and pried the broken door away. All he could see from the inside was darkness and messed-up furniture. "Where are they?!"

"Where's who?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"My family!" Odium rummaged through the furniture. "I was sure that they would still be here! I wanted to check and see if they were okay, but...!"

"Don't worry," Fluttershy bade. "I'm sure they're still out there somewhere."

That wasn't enough to make Odium feel better, but it was a good possibility. "It's just that... they've taught me so much about justice, and helping others, as well as cared for both me, the family, and others, and it made me feel loved and motivated."

Suddenly, the sound of broken glass filled Odium's ears from nearby. He soon looked down to see a ruined picture frame of a younger, rounder, more innocent version of himself hugging his family together underneath his foot. A tear fell on the photo as Odium picked it up... his tear.

Twilight approached him. "I'm sorry. They sound like a really great family..."

"Uh, I hate to ruin the moment, but you'd mind tellin' us what Gabriella did to you?" Applejack asked.

"I was saving that for last." Odium replied, wiping the tear.

They all made it back to the cave, walking to the inside. All that was there was a white crystal ball sitting on top of a rocky pedestal and a large pile of dust on the ground.

"Where's Gabriella?" Starlight asked.

Odium sighed. "This is Gabriella..." He pointed at the dust. "Or at least what she is now."

"What happened to her?" Fluttershy chimed.

"A long time ago, after I moved out of my family's house, she took me in from the cold air for a few days before training and planning with me for years."

"But why would she do that?" She continued.

"She said that she and others needed my help from you guys."

"What did we do?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I'll show you," Odium tapped on the crystal ball, hoping that it still worked. It then started glitching before showing a series of images of every misdeed and fault that most of the group has done: Twilight heckling Trixie and almost driving her to suicide, Starlight's fascist philosophy and acts of messing with time when she was still a villain, and of course, Discord's overall plan of disguising himself as Grogar and uniting the Legion of Doom.

The entire group all blushed in embarrassment as they continued to watch the images.

"She made me watch these visions every day for those years just to help me with my focus on you guys. After that, she gave me the staff before..." Odium explained, biting on his bottom lip. "Painfully and horrifically turning into dust right in front of me."

"Odium. She tricked you the whole time," Twilight said. "All those events were fixed and solved... by us. Plus, we've saved Equestria multiple times and did a lot of other good things, too."

"Twilight's right," Applejack chimed. "What she did to you was wrong, but that still doesn't excuse you attackin' and tryin' to hurt us."

All of a sudden, more images popped up on the crystal ball. Odium and the group watched carefully at all of them. There was one image of Timothy being spanked, and both physically and verbally abused by his parents that he found, one of the giant rock monster crying while its siblings hugged it, and two more of an old lady laughing at some random items and the two crooks growling under their breaths. "That wolf's gonna pay for letting that old hag steal all our stuff!"

Afterwards, one last image popped up on the ball, showing Gabriella watching through an image-version of it while an image-version of Odium slept on the other side of the cave. "Several years spent in this horrible cave and yet it already feels like an eternity has gone by." She then let out a deep, quiet sigh before perking back up. "No matter. Because as long as this wolf's willing to help me with my plan, I don't care what happens to me. And if I have to die in order for it to be complete, then so be it."

And with that, the entire group, minus Odium, all gasped in horror at the lengths that Gabriella is willing to take in order to accomplish her goal. Now realizing the truth, Odium just stood there, doing nothing, but hanging his head low.

"We're so sorry that this happened to you, Odium," Twilight said, tredging through the mucky puddles to reach out to him.

"Yeah. I cannot believe that that no good, Gabriella character made you do all of this." Rarity chimed.

"And didn't even care what would happen to either you or herself in the process. That definitely wasn't right."

Odium sighed. "No, it's all my fault. I'm the one you should be blaming."

"That's not true. How were you supposed to know that all of this would happen?"

"Because I was given the chance to ignore her, to not give into my own hatred and idiocy and move on with my life. But... I didn't take it. So, it's my fault that all of this happened, not Gabriella."

"Odium, it's gonna be okay," Starlight said. "You can start over, make up for your mistakes."

Odium darted his head away from the group, who then stood next to him. Odium continued to dart his head away in distress, but that didn't stop them. They soon reached their hooves out to Odium. After a few seconds, Odium grabs onto the hooves.

"Now, c'mon. Let's go back to Equestria," Fluttershy said. And with that, Discord instantly teleported the group away.

Author's Note

The reason why I added that scene of Odium losing everything and having all his good deeds turn out for the worst wasn't for empathy or shock value, but for giving him a proper punishment for his actions if it seemed like he got off too easily or anyone didn't like him. Sorry for the melodrama and if I was being too harsh, though.

Also, it's not the backstory itself that supposed to be sympathetic (despite what I've been trying to do with it and my attempts with it), but Odium's extreme guilt, self-hatred, and pain for his actions since he genuinely based his entire life and self-worth around morality in spite his hatred and determination to punish injustice.

Also, also, most of this entire backstory happened before the series started, while the training and planning happened from before the start of the series all the way until after the penultimate episode. The entire backstory happened on the other side of the planet for years.