User blog comment:FairyRaven/Fairy Tail Chapter 348: Return of the Demon, Review and Commentary/@comment-7418318-20130823094049/@comment-5268982-20130823110721

I agree that there is certainly a realistic explanation for those actions, but I find it impossible for someone to do a complete 180 turn in such a short amount of time. Even if Flare became what she became because of peer pressure, abuse, fear or whatever, it shouldn't have been so easy for her to change. Same for some other former villains, like Laxus or Gajeel.