Bubblegum Stargazer inhaled deeply, taking in as much steam from her teacup as she could. It felt good, soothing her nose and throat which had been cracked raw from all her crying in the past few days. It had been rough on her, she couldn’t imagine how Fizzlepop was taking it.
At the very least, it was sunny and nice today, so she could go out and try to play with her friends. She needed that. With any luck, going and playing with all the foals in town would bring her back to some sense of normality. Fizzlepop had hardly even cried while they were in the hospital, even when the news was broken to them about how bleak the options looked. Maybe she was strong, Bubblegum hoped. Maybe she’s just taking it very well for somepony her age. Somepony of any age, really. Even the doctor seemed to be holding back at least a few tears as she skirted around the issue as carefully as she could.
Just as she took her first sip and let the delightfully warm liquid cascade down her throat and warm her from the inside, the door burst open and in the blink of an eye, something had her leg in a vicegrip.
As she used her magic to close the front door, she looked down and saw Fizzlepop clutching her back leg and bawling into it, quickly soaking her fur and causing salty tears to spill onto the floor.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” Bubblegum smiled tentatively. “Is everything okay?”
“Everypony thinks I’m a freak!” she shouted, clutching her mother’s leg even tighter. “Nopony wants to play with me anymore!”
“I’m sure they just need some time to get used to the fact that you can’t perform magic with them anymore.” After putting her tea onto the end table, she picked her daughter up and held her close. “I don’t think they see you as a freak.”
“Sparklehooves and Twinkletail just went to play with Starsong when they found out I couldn’t play ball with them anymore.” Even her biggest sniffle couldn’t stop a large gob of snot from falling on Bubblegum’s lap.
“They probably just need to think of some way to play with you that doesn’t involve their magic.” Gently, she began rubbing Fizzlepop’s back. “If you were an earth pony, do you think they wouldn’t want to play with you just because you can’t do any magic? They would just figure out a way to still play with you and be your friend.”
“But I’m not an earth pony!” she yelled. “I’m a unicorn, and unicorns are supposed to have magic! I don’t even know what I am now!”
“You’re still a unicorn,” Bubblegum asserted. “There are plenty of unicorns out there who aren’t very good at magic, and they still can live full lives. Who you are inside hasn’t changed at all, my little firework. You’re still the same friend Sparklehooves and Twinkletail have always had, and you’re still my special little filly. Losing your horn won’t ever change that.”
Fizzlepop said nothing in response, instead just trying to control her breathing. When it became less sporadic and the tears on her face dried up, caking her fur in salt, Bubblegum gently stroked her mane. “Do you want to have some ice cream?” she asked. “I got strawberry, I know that’s your favorite.”
Fizzlepop didn’t respond, but Bubblegum could see a tiny sparkle in her eye. She always knew how to make her special little filly feel better. No amount of ice cream could make her situation better, but could anything? Not at the moment, at least. Maybe sometime in the future. Hopefully, there would come a day where she wouldn’t even remember having a horn. The coming days, weeks, months, possibly even years, would be the most difficult. Her daughter was strong, though, she knew that. They both knew that. She immediately bounced back from the scar over her eye, beaming because it made her look tough and cool and gushing about how she couldn’t wait to show all her friends.
“Why don’t I go get us a few bowls?” she suggested as she took Fizzlepop off her lap. “Just stay here, I’ll go and get them.”
As she entered the kitchen and began pulling out small bowls, she turned her head so to look at her daughter out of the corner of her eye. She was staring right at her, and it looked like she was going to cry again. With a sad sigh, she grabbed her ice cream scoop with her mouth and set it on the counter before opening the icebox and rooting around with her hooves for the new pint she had bought just the other day. Her hooves were freezing and she would probably make a mess trying to serve the dessert without using her magic, but it was the least she felt she could do. Fizzlepop had been so excited to learn magic, so coming to terms with the fact that she will never be able to again must have just devastated her. Maybe by cutting back on magic use herself, she could show her that it wasn’t that bad after all.
After much more time than it normally took to serve up two bowls of pale pink ice cream, she grabbed the two of them in her mouth and took tiny steps back to the couch, taking extreme caution to not drop them. If the one time Fizzlepop had ever seen her mother try something mundane without magic was a disaster, she surely would never feel good again.
Almost as soon as she set the bowls down on the coffee table so she could get settled, Fizzlepop grabbed one of them and began shoveling ice cream into her mouth.
“You’re going to get brain freeze,” she laughed as she took the other bowl in her own hooves and tried to remember how to use a spoon without magic. “Slow down.”
Right on cue, she dropped her spoon into the nearly-empty bowl and clutched her temples while slamming her eyes shut. Bubblegum laughed almost unnoticeably when she brought her hooves down and opened her eyes again.
“Hurts, huh?”
She said nothing, just taking the bowl and putting it back on the coffee table. Normally, whenever one of them got brain freeze, they would laugh about it so long that everything would be melted by the time they could control themselves. Not today, it would seem.
“I think I want to go for a walk,” Fizzlepop mumbled.
“Sure,” Bubblegum answered as she got off the couch, “just let me put these in the icebox so they don’t turn into soup while we’re gone.”
She started sniffling again. “I just want to be alone.”
“You don’t need to be alone, honey.” She gave the warmest smile she could, something easier said than done. “I’m always here for you.”
“I just want to be alone,” she repeated.
“Well, just be safe and come back before it gets dark.” After a few seconds of tense silence, she walked over and kissed Fizzlepop on her forehead. “I love you so very much, Fizzlepop Berrytwist. And nothing will ever change that.”
She waited a few seconds for a response, but instead got the sight of her daughter turning around and walking out of their home.
“I love you so much, Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” she repeated, heavy tears spilling out of her eyes. “And nothing will ever change that.”
Not even the warm light of Celestia’s setting sun could make Fizzlepop feel less cold. She didn’t know what it was; normally she loved the sunset, adored watching the way it lit up the sky in orange and purple and every other color imaginable.
But today, it felt empty.
It was the first sunset she had seen since the accident with the Ursa Minor. Whatever medicines they had given her turned her memory of the rest of that day into a fog, and by the time she woke up the next morning, it was raining. And it rained for days, the entire time she was in the hospital. It was nice at night, for she always loved listening to the rain fall on the window panes and falling asleep to it. Or rather, it should have been nice. Just like the sunset she was witnessing, it felt empty. She didn’t know what that meant, only what it felt like.
After a few minutes had passed, she turned to face the forest and walked in. She had been warned countless times about going into it alone, and maybe if she had listened just once, she wouldn’t be the only hornless unicorn in all of Equestria. But now, what else could the forest do to her? It had already broken her beyond repair, it had thrown everything it had at her. Maybe it might even knock some things back into place, like when her mother would get frustrated at the toaster and whack it a few times before her toast came out.
Maybe being knocked back into place wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. Maybe Sparklehooves and Twinkletail would want to play with her again. They didn’t seem interested in just throwing the ball back and forth like they used to before any of them were good with magic. They’d rather find somepony else to play with than have to stoop down to her level.
Thunder rumbled overhead, causing her to look up at the sky. It was pitch black, much different than it had been mere moments before. Did the weather ponies schedule a thunderstorm for tonight she didn’t know about? Or maybe they were just stopping here for the night before moving it to where it needed to go in the morning. Since no pegasi lived anywhere nearby, that happened a lot. Their town was just a good stopping point for the night.
The sound of cracking wood ahead of her caused her ears to perk up. Normally, she would turn around and run, tail between her legs, afraid of whatever was causing so much damage. Instead, she walked towards it. What was it going to do to her, break her horn? It it wanted to do that, it showed up too late.
Before long, she came to the edge of a clearing that didn’t look natural: snapped and burnt tree stumps littered the area, and the wind was stronger here than it was anywhere else. Maybe this is the worst part of the storm, she thought. The center of the tempest.
“Not strong enough!” a voice yelled from somewhere out of sight. “Needs more power...the hippogriffs, perhaps?”
“Hello?” Fizzlepop called out. “Who’s there?”
Thunderous steps came from her right side, and when they stopped, Fizzlepop had to crane her neck to look at the massive creature standing over her, a long stick in his hand.
“And who might you be?” he asked slowly, clutching his staff tighter.
“I’m Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” she responded. “Who are you?”
“You can just call me The Storm King,” he smiled. Placing his staff in the ground, he bent down and put his hands around her head. “What happened to your horn, little pony?”
“It got broken,” she responded hollowly. “The doctor said it’s never going to come back.”
“Never going to come back?” he responded. Unlike the doctor and her mother, Fizzlepop detected something...off in his voice. Almost like he was happy to hear that.
“Nopony wants to play with me,” she continued. “They probably all think I’m a freak.”
“I can see where they might think that.” He moved one of his hands up her forehead, then grazed his thumb over the cracked remains of what had once been her horn. A massive chill, unlike one she had ever felt, shot through her body. She hadn’t realized just how sensitive that area was. “I would imagine you would like your horn back, no?”
“They said there was nothing we could do. That I just had to learn how to live life without it and without magic.”
“A unicorn without a horn?” he questioned. “Whoever has heard of such a thing? I simply cannot let you continue your life like this. What would you say if I offered to fix your horn for you?”
“You’d do that?” she nearly screamed.
“I would,” he smiled. “Although, there is a slight...problem with that.”
“Problem?” she echoed. “Do you need me to do something?”
His smile grew, and something dark appeared in his eyes. “I’m so very glad you asked. Yes, my little pony, there is something you can do. I would love to help you and give you your horn back, although I am simply not powerful enough right now. However, if you would help me, I could become powerful enough to where I could fix everything about you.”
“I’d love to!” she replied, the smile she had been holding back manifesting itself on her face.
“Excellent.” He took her hands off her head and stood up, taking his staff back in his hands. “Although, your name...Fizzlepop Berrytwist, was it? A bit of a mouthful, if you ask me.” He scoffed. “And too cute. What do you say to Tempest Shadow, hm? A powerful name for a powerful pony.”
“Tempest Shadow,” Fizzlepop replied, testing the name out. “Tempest Shadow.”
“So, what do you say, Tempest Shadow? Let us get both my power and your horn back.”
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” Tempest Shadow responded.
