A short while later Twilight and Mayhem returned back to the castle with the last of the parents, except for Cadance and Shining. They each sat down, their children hopping up on their laps.

“So,” said Cup. “What’s this all about? Surely this isn’t normal to summon the parents of the children when you could just drop them off.”

Mayhem hopped off Twilight’s back. “Well, I have some good news and some not as good news.”

Cup’s eyebrow went up as she crossed her front legs. “Well, this should be good. I finally gave in to my children pestering me to be able to join you for a wish adventure, and already something has happened.”

“Well, something did indeed happen, but your children weren't put in danger.”

Carrot tapped his hoof on the floor. “Well, get on with it then. The parents of the other children certainly don’t look too thrilled over there.”

“That’s because after what happened I finally had the courage to fill them in on my past.”

Cup blinked. “Really?” she said with a hint of suspicion.

“I can guess what you’re thinking, but I didn’t skew the truth to paint myself in a better light. I fully explained to them about what happened when I took over your children, and what went down during the superhero adventure.”

It was quiet for a short time as the parents digested this information, then Peppermint’s mom said, “Well, what is it? What happened?”

“Today, the day I had all eleven of my friends, Spring Meadow suggested that we fight Sombra for real in this adventure. Considering all this time we’ve been using Sombra as our code word for our inner feelings intruding into our happiness I went a little too far when I created him.

“I never intended to do it, but I made another me bearing all my self-hatred and regrets.”

“Excuse me?” Tree Leaf’s mom said. “There’s another one of you now?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Not anymore, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.

“This other half, which Twilight named Nega, hated me. He desired nothing more than to punish me for the mistakes I had made in the past.

“He also had all of my memories, and so he held himself back from being overly destructive simply because he didn’t want to risk the others getting caught in the crossfire.

“It was a tough, scary battle, but in the end I was able to fight back against that inner darkness to find my willpower. I did find happiness in granting wishes and getting my old friends back, but I never did actually settle my issues. I feel like I’m in a better place now.”

He lifted up a claw. “With your permission I’d like to share my memories with you.”

The parents looked around uncertainly, unsure of whether they wanted to see what he wanted to show them.

“It’s okay,” said Spring. “Yeah, it was a little scary, but all of us truly showed the magic of friendship, and no one besides Mayhem got hurt by Nega.”

'Well, if you don't count him decking me,' thought Twilight,

Cup shrugged, then said, “Fine. Words are cheap, and I want to see how this all went down for myself so I can make my decision on how I feel about this. After all, this could affect my children, and that’s reason enough to face it.”

The other parents couldn’t argue with that logic, and they all agreed as well.

Now that he had their agreement he snapped, letting them see the whole adventure from Nega’s accidental creation to his dispersal.

They all needed a little time to process those memories for themselves.

“Words really don’t do it justice,” said Sweet Pea’s mom. “Disregarding Nega, are all of your adventures as crazy as this?”

“Not all of them,” said Sweet Pea. “But we all make some wacky wishes. That’s what makes it fun.”

Plum’s mom gently shook her head. “I guess… I can understand a little more about why the kids would agree to stay in Mayhem’s world if every day could be like that.”

“Well,” said Flash’s dad, “games aren’t the concern here. It’s about what Mayhem created.”

“That’s true,” said Mayhem. “I brought all my deep down feelings to the surface, and put them into a real person. When I created the Sombra for the game I thought it would be like any of my other creations, but it turns out it could actually feel.

“It took me a while to understand what exactly Nega was, but the only way to conquer him was to defeat the feelings holding me back from my best self.

“Because my willpower was lacking I went in the wrong direction, getting myself hurt and my friends as well when they had to see what Nega was doing to me.

“Things are different now. I understand my importance. I understand my value. I understand that I can’t keep beating myself up over past mistakes. As Twilight said, just beating myself up isn’t going to make everything better. And like Cup said, time passing is insignificant. The only way to prove that I’ve changed is to keep walking forward and doing all I can to help others.”

Fluttershy was beaming. Mayhem had grown so much in the past few hours, and she felt so proud of him.

Discord felt the same.

Cup could feel his inner strength pouring off of him. He really had vanquished his fears and doubts.

“You’re Cup, right?” said Chocolate’s dad.

Cup took her eyes off Mayhem to focus on him. “Yes I am.”

“As we found out today Mayhem went pretty far off the deep end in the past, and we’re only hearing about this today. As a parent I’d like to hear your perspective about why you allowed your children near him again after what he did in the past.

“We’ve heard a little of it from Twilight and Mayhem, but I want to hear it from you.”

Cup shook her head. “I scolded Twilight over keeping his past a secret, but she justified it by saying she’d always be there to observe. I wouldn’t have just said yes to it if I knew beforehand.

“I’ve told Mayhem this, but there’s only two reasons I agreed to give him another chance. The first was that my children have a strong bond with him that they didn’t want to let go of. So it was more for their happiness than because I genuinely trusted him. I’ve told him I’d have been happier if he was out of our lives.

“And the bigger reason is simply his mental age. He thinks and acts around the level of my children, and he doesn’t yet have the capacity to truly understand the depths of his actions in the way an adult would. He thinks in a very narrow, in the moment, way.

“And thus, even if he still makes me a bit uncomfortable. I’m willing to allow him to prove himself to me so long as Twilight is there in case he gets out of control.”

“Things have been very peaceful,” said Carrot. “Even understanding that he has a childish mind that simply has too much power, it took us quite a while before we could look past that to actually really acknowledge he’s a child that can’t be measured to the standards we would expect for someone older.

“Now that he’s come back into our lives he hasn’t done anything suspicious. Quite the opposite. As a gesture of respect for our reasonable uncertainty he puts us in control of his magic when he visits. And by that I mean he always informs us and asks permission before using his powers.”

“Not that we assume his next snap will mean trouble when he’s clearly content, but it is an example of how he’s taking the feelings of others into considering before acting. A far cry from the boy who selfishly put himself before everyone else just because he was bored.”

“It’s probably the same for the rest of us,” said Peppermint’s dad. “We’re still not there yet. We’re mainly okay with this because Twilight is there observing. If not for that I wouldn’t feel ready for him to be around my child, harmless or not.

“It’s clear through his experiences today that Mayhem has grown, but for a few moments there at the start this other half of him was willing to get others involved because they were trying to protect the object of his grudge.”

“Exactly,” said her mother. “As soon as he recognized them he immediately abandoned the attack and begged for forgiveness, but, as Twilight pointed out if those hadn’t been his friends he wouldn’t have stopped his assault.

“Of course, we can say that it was a byproduct of Nega having just been created and following his ‘programming,’ but things could have gone as badly as they did at the superhero world.”

“I don’t know if I quite agree with that,” said Masky’s mom. “It seems like the opposite. Nega rejected his ‘program’ when it would lead to others getting hurt that he cared about. And now Nega doesn’t exist anymore, so whatever threat he posed is gone with him.”

“Well,” said Tree Leaf’s mom, “Mayhem was the one who was feeding his darkness in the first place. It was his inability to get past his inner issues that put them him in danger, and by extension possibly the others around him.”

“Hmph!” said Cup. “Exactly! Twilight already said it all, but what were all of you thinking when you thought about attacking someone out of control with rage? Did you honestly believe that would go well, even if all of you had some of his magic?”

Pound sighed. “Well… we know now that it was a dumb decision, but we just really wanted to protect our friend.”

“Fair enough that Twilight didn’t tell you some things,” said Carrot, “but you didn’t even stop to think about how Nega was deliberately not firing in your direction despite his hatred for Mayhem, solely because he didn’t trust he wouldn’t get you caught in the crossfire?”

“Come on, Dad,” said Pumpkin. “Cut us a break here. We were all scared. We didn’t have time to think about stuff like that.

“All we saw from him is someone hating and attacking a friend, doing a great job of getting in character as the villain, and then attacking and hurting him again. We didn’t get to see any of Nega’s better sides because Twilight never told us about them.”

“That may be true,” said Cup, “but that doesn’t excuse your behavior. If things were going to escalate to a battle then that is Twilight’s responsibility, not yours. Even if what she said did go a little too far, she was right to yell at you for being so foolish and putting your lives at risk.”

“We were scared Mayhem was going to die,” said Pound. “He had already been knocked out once.”

“And?” she said angrily. “That still doesn’t excuse you kids trying to jump into the fray in a real battle and not leaving it to Twilight to deal with.”

Peppermint rubbed her hooves in a circle. “B-but… Twilight said if she had to step in then it would mean having to destroy Mayhem.”

“That’s not going to work!” said her mother. “She didn’t tell you that until after you had tried that. Extra abilities or not it’s still a darn fool thing to think of assaulting someone who’s so full of rage they have no control of themselves and they’re destroying everything in sight.”

“Exactly!” said Cup. “I can’t even blame Mayhem for this one. Of all the choices you could have made in that situation you decided violence was the best one?” She let out a big huff. “You know what? Twilight already said it all, and you came to understand your foolishness, so I’m not going to keep harping on about it.”

Peppermint’s mom shook her head. “Fair point.”

“So… where do we go from here?” asked Plum’s mom.

Plum looked up at her mother. “I know you might need some time to think about things and make your decision, but I want to keep being friends with Mayhem.”

“Same!” said Flash. “Mayhem needs as many connections as he can get. It took all of us combined, and a lot of explanation from Twilight, for Mayhem to conquer the darkness in his heart.”

A tear came down Sweet Pea’s face. “All of us helped save a friend today, and I know I’m proud of that.

“Mayhem has become a new person because he had friends to lift up his heart.”

Chocolate said, “I finally understand why Mayhem freaked out so bad when I first asked him for a superhero adventure the day we met.

“Nobody here ever wants to see Mayhem go back to his bad self. That’s why he needs us.”

Tears formed in his eyes. “We all made made an important promise to him that we’d stay by his side and keep his heart strong. I want to keep that promise. It not only keeps Mayhem safe, but, just by being a good friend, it also helps to protect Equestria.”

"Exactly," said Plum. "Now that we know everything about his past I understand why Twilight said it was so vital for him to have friends around.

“Kitten Mayhem for life!” She pumped a hoof.

“Huh?” said her mother.

“The day we met Twilight us a little bit about his past. She explained to us why we were there. Normally Mayhem is like a sweet little kitten, completely harmless. But when his boredom gets out of control he turns into a tiger, vicious and scary.”

“We all want to see him remain kitten Mayhem,” said Chocolate. “That’s why we made our Pinkie Promises.”

“Same here,” said Sweet Pea. “His past is pretty scary, and that’s why we have to make sure he stays in his kitten form.”

“Our promises didn’t just stop mattering now that we know his past,” said Flash. “Pound and Pumpkin said that a Pinkie Promise is something you make with your whole heart and soul, knowing that once you say the words and do the gestures you can never take it back.

“I know I’m going to keep my promise, because being there for those I love has always been what matters most to me.”

“We’ve been having these adventures for six months now,” said Spring, “and we’ve never once seen tiger Mayhem return. Even Nega wasn’t really a tiger. He was just hurting so much because Mayhem accidentally made him feel all of his buried feelings.

“Things only became so out of control because we didn’t know everything. If we had understood what Nega was earlier we could have helped him right from the start.”

Chocolate looked up at his parents. “So what do you have to say about all this?”

Chocolate’s mom had a distant look on her face. “I… don’t really know what to say. This is some pretty heavy stuff to just throw in our laps, and now it feels like it’s too late to do anything about it. You’ve grown too attached to one another.”

His dad sighed. “This information is too big to just make up our minds on the spot. Based on the evidence we’ve seen Mayhem really has grown more mature and moved on from the person he was back then, but having that past sprung on us like this…

“It’s clear you value each other, and I don’t dispute that having all of you around helped him move on, but right now I just really need some time to process everything.”

“Same, basically,” said Plum’s mom. “Mayhem’s reformation does appear to be genuine, so I see no reason to permanently separate you from him, but for now I’d say you’re not going to be around for at least next week’s session.”

“I’d say the same,” said Flash’s dad.

Flash bit his lip. “I guess that’s fair. I want to argue, but I understand you don’t know Mayhem as well as we do.”

“Right,” said Chocolate. “I just hope it’s not too long of a separation.”

“Same,” said Plum.

Sweet Pea’s mother turned to Spring’s parents. “You’ve been pretty quiet about things. You don’t really seem surprised.” Before they could respond she got a curious look on her face. “Wait. In that rush of memories Twilight said something about how Mayhem explained his past to Spring because he identified with her feelings and wanted to see her improve.”

Clear nodded. “That’s right. We were pretty angry at the time, but, as our daughter pointed out, Mayhem still being around got us our son back. It also let us see how much hurt she was carrying inside and how we weren’t paying as much attention to her as we should have been.

“We owe him a great deal for the good that he caused.”

“Oh, Twilight?” Cup said with an edge in her voice.

“Yes?” she replied.

“I remember that conversation about the will to live too, and now that I’m thinking about it there’s one very curious line in there.

“So what’s all this about Mayhem sneaking into Flurry’s cutecenera?”

Panic crossed the faces of Mayhem's old friends, as well as Twilight and Fluttershy. None of them had thought about that line.

Fluttershy felt her heart pounding as she set Discord down next to her and got up.

Mayhem squirmed. How could he have been so dumb? Now they were going to get mad at her.

He couldn’t stop her. It would be dishonest to claim he had done it on his own when she was the one that had encouraged him.

She bowed to the parents. “Please forgive me, but that was my fault.”

“Your fault?” said Peppermint’s mom.

“Yes. Mayhem was still burning with guilt the week after the superhero adventure. When he found out that Flurry got her cutie mark because of it he was afraid she was gonna be miserable over it.

“Since he wanted to talk to her and make sure she was okay, and because a cutecenera is a once in a lifetime event for each pony, I brought him along with me.”

“So you just decided that your ‘child’s’ feelings were more important than the rules we put down?” Tree Leaf’s mother asked angrily.

Mayhem groaned. He didn’t like to see anyone getting angry at his mom, but he knew they had every reason to be.

Fluttershy got up from her bowing position. “I didn’t intend to defy your rules. I brought Mayhem along, but I told him he wasn’t allowed to actually play with his friends. He could talk to Flurry about her feelings for her cutie mark, but that was it.

“However, things went wrong after that. Flurry completely lost her party spirit, constantly staring at Mayhem after he left. I didn’t want to ruin her once in a lifetime event, so I tried compromising. He could play with them, but he had to keep his identity a secret.”

“Hmmm,” said Cup. “Now that I think about it, I remember a shy pony hiding from me that looked just like a pony version of Mayhem. Hmph. I don’t know how I missed making that connection.

“And what about you, Twilight? How did you come to know this?”

“I didn’t know until the meeting with Spring,” she replied.

“And you thought that was okay?” asked Masky’s dad. “You sure informed us about the worse stuff, which I do appreciate, but the little stuff is just fine to be overlooked?”

She sighed. “I was put in a tough position when I heard that news. Dealing with Spring’s heartache was the bigger priority at the time.

“After we had done what we could for her and I dropped him back off I decided to let it go because it was dangerous knowledge.”

“Dangerous?” said Peppermint’s mom flatly.

Twilight nodded. “Yes. Mayhem’s reason for fighting was to improve himself for the sake of eventually seeing his friends again. If I spilled that information it could have spiraled out of control. If he lost his friends for good his heart would have crumbled, and I didn’t know what he would do after that.

“Perhaps he would have become like Spring and just spend all his days being depressed and giving up on life. Or perhaps he'd become so wrapped up in that pain that he would have become a hateful being. If he came to believe that his good actions no longer mattered, he could very well decide he might as well be bad and take out his pain on everyone around him.

“Bringing him along for such a special occasion made sense, and as long as he didn’t decide to make a habit of going against your wishes I decided to let things slide one time.”

“So,” said Carrot. “Is there anything else that’s been kept from us since everything’s being put out in the open?”

Mayhem shook his head. “No. That was a one time thing. I didn’t want to sneak around behind anyone’s back. I just really wanted to talk to Flurry and then keep my distance. Mommy just felt bad for us.”

“Of course she did,” said Cup. “Because you always attract trouble for those around you.”

For a moment Mayhem felt sadness creeping in, but it was quickly replaced by anger. “You know what? No! I’m not letting that stand!”

Cup blinked “Excuse me?”

He glared at her. “I acknowledge that I had some bad days, but don’t act like I’m constantly causing problems just because you’re letting my bad moments completely overshadow my good ones. Those bad days were months apart from each other, and along the way we had some great times together.

“Even after what happened the day I was 'born' you let me run around with your kids. You accepted my first apology. You let me in your house. You frequently let me play with your children. You let me sleep in Pound and Pumpkin’s room without supervision. You had a blast joining in with the snowball fight I created.

“After the superhero adventure, when you finally gave me another chance, I was moved by your sadness and tried to give you more time to get past your fears, and you were the one who insisted you wanted me to come over so you could observe me.

“When I come visit I’m always respectful of your fear of me by telling you my intentions when I snap and asking permission first.

“Even that first day you told me your path of forgiveness wasn’t just pebbles because you saw how different I was.”

He took a step forward. “I know a made a big mistake and lost control of myself, but that error taught me so many things I never would have known about the importance of friendship and love, and I’ve strived every day not to ever become that person ever again.

“So don’t try and act like I’m nothing but trouble and causing problems every other day, because it’s a flat out lie and I don't appreciate the accusation!”

Fluttershy blinked. She was happy to see Mayhem standing up for himself from an unjust generalization.

Twilight felt the same. More than anything else it truly convinced her that he had truly put his past behind him.

Pound and Pumpkin were also impressed that he was standing up to their mom considering how afraid of her he had been in the past.

They looked up at her to see how she was going to react. She didn’t quite look mad. They couldn’t really tell what she was feeling.

After a time she picked up Pound and stood up, sitting him back on the chair.

As Cup approached him Twilight debated saying something. She didn’t want Cup and Mayhem getting into a shouting match.

When she was in front of him she surprised all of them by bowing to him. “You’re right. I’m sorry for my inappropriate words.”

Mayhem’s glare left his face, replaced with surprise. He certainly hadn’t expected that. “Um… it’s okay.”

Cup rose. “It’s just… I really hope this is the last of the ‘bigs’ with you.”

His head tilted. “The bigs?” he said confusedly.

“It may be true that you have quite a few positive qualities, and have done a lot of nice things, but about every six months or so something big happens. When trouble arises with you it always comes big. The day of Fluttershy’s birthday, then the superhero adventure, and now this thing with Nega.

“I’d really rather you caused trouble in smaller but more frequent doses than all these explosive doses. Now that you’ve confronted the past hopefully there aren’t going to be any more of these huge events.”

Mayhem let out a slow breath. “Me too. Me too. I enjoy chaos, but it needs to be in moderation.”

Cup glanced over at Fluttershy for a moment before turning her gaze back at him. “Considering it was Fluttershy’s idea in the first place I’m choosing not to hold that defiance against you.”

“You’re not going to be mad at her, are you?”

She sighed. “What would that do? Fluttershy has always been a softie. It’s just too ingrained in her character to be sympathetic to hold a grudge over it, especially when she was the one who brought my children home back when they ran away.”

Mayhem let out a sigh of relief.

He hugged Cup’s leg. “I want to thank you, Cup. I know that you told me you only gave me another chance for your kids happiness and not for me, but none of this would have been possible without you.

“Flurry’s parents were always going to give me another chance because of Starlight’s turn to good, but she lives so far away and doesn’t have as many chances to visit. If you had shut that door for good I would have lost part of my motivation for staying good in the first place, and I couldn’t have won today.

“Even if I had the other four it wouldn’t have been enough. Knowing that Pound and Pumpkin would always be left out of our adventures would have only made me feel guilty. I couldn’t have found the will to live with that weight on me when I barely won as it is.”

He nuzzled her leg. “Even after what I did you still cared enough to give me advice about being more honest about my feelings, and thought about how I might get some fake friends who only wanted to use me for my powers.”

A happy tear came down his eye. “I think you’re an awesome mom and pony, and from today on I’ll continue to make my redemption feel earned, so I never hurt you like that again.”

Cup took in a slow breath, unsure of how she wanted to respond. She had certainly not expected his expression of gratitude.

“I’m… happy that you’ve progressed to this point, but I’m still not ready to say that I’ve forgiven you for what you pulled. There’s still a ways to go before I’ll be ready to say those words genuinely.”

After a short time she picked him up and gave him a hug. “I do want to at least acknowledge the effort you’ve put in for it. Keep up the good work.”

Mayhem hugged her back. “I will! Thank you!”

As Cup set him back down he let out a content sigh.

He looked at the other parents. "So what do you have to say about this?"

"Cup isn't exactly wrong," said Tree Leaf's mom. "The initial idea was Fluttershy's, not yours, and she did at least try to be respectful of our wishes while still caring for you."

"Well," said his dad, "after she's saved all our flanks from the likes of Tirek and bugbears and other crazy monsters I think we can cut a national hero a break."

"Fair point," said Peppermint's mom. "She was put in an awkward position. If it really was just the one time then I'm willing to let it go."

"Same," said her dad. "I am still a bit annoyed, but it's not something I'm going to hold onto."

"Now that I think about it," said Masky's mom, "You were of great help to our son. He trusted you enough to open up to you about all his hidden feelings, and that in turn led to him opening up to us."

"Since that time he's been so much happier," said his dad. "so we can't stay mad either."

Fluttershy bowed to them again. "I'm truly sorry. Thank you for forgiving me."

The relief Mayhem felt was immense. He had totally forgotten about keeping that part secret. He really didn't want to see Twilight or Fluttershy get in trouble because of him. Even If Fluttershy was the one to suggest it he had been the one to agree, so it was still partly his fault.

Things had gone better than he ever could have hoped for. The parents of his new friends were upset, but not irreversibly so. They would need a few weeks, which he could take. He could still talk to them through the notebook to fill them in.

The parents of his old friends didn't hold him sneaking into the cutecenera against any of them.

He had brought his self-confidence up enough he defended himself from a wrongful accusation.

He smiled, feeling so happy with life.

Spring noticed the pure joy on his face and how relaxed he was. He truly had come far from who he was a few months ago. An odd feeling began to blossom inside her.

Mayhem’s head spun around as Spring Meadow suddenly began sobbing. “Hey, hey!” he said nervously. “What’s wrong?”

Sweet Pea sat next to her friend as Spring fell to her knees, still crying heavily. She was quickly joined by her parents and brother.

No one knew what had set Spring off, so all they could do was wait for her to come down so she could explain herself.

Author's Notes:

I think we all have an idea of why Spring is crying, but I do want to separate Mayhem's arc from the start of Spring's so this feels like a good place to end it.