Author's Note

Have fun!
Some light clop in this chapter

Edit: It's CADANCE! Not Cadenza, not Cadence, it's CADANCE!

Complicated Relationship

Complicated Relationship

“Why would somepony steal this magical communication pool?” Celestia asked, her gaze never leaving Tempest as she wandered around the throne room.

Twilight and Tempest had quickly informed the other princesses about the case. The information was not well received.

“It can be used to contact Storm Harbour or any of the other cities under the rule of the Storm King,” Tempest explained. “And if they do, we could face a new war. It would be–”

Luna spoke up, interrupting her next words. “Twilight Sparkle, are you sure that you never left Tempest Shadow alone? Are you sure she can’t be responsible for this?”

The glare Twilight directed towards Luna would’ve been enough to melt even the strongest armor. “She is innocent, Princess. Isn’t it enough that my dear brother tries everything to get her thrown in jail; but now you try to as well?”

“I merely wish to look at every option possible. We can’t let–”

“Can’t let what? I’m sick of everypony acting like she’s a monster. Nopony in this room is without shame or a troubled past!” Twilight spat back, not even letting Luna finish.

Cadance raised her hoof.

“Love spell accident in Canterlot?”

Cadance lowered her hoof.

“I rest my case. The fact is nopony here is without sin, and just because Tempest’s are more recent than the rest doesn’t mean she is a bad pony!”

“She did everything willingly!” Luna cried. “It was neither accident nor forced! She willingly helped the Storm King just to restore her horn, killing and endangering thousands in the process!”

Tempest looked away with a scowl on her face. Even though she knew things were different now, Luna’s retort struck a chord. She sighed. “She’s right, Twilight.”

The reply Twilight had prepared for Luna was stopped before it even began. She stared at the broken unicorn with her maw open. “Tempest...:”

“I hurt ponies solely for my own personal gain. I ruined lives, families, entire villages, just to try and make myself whole again. But that’s NOT who I am anymore. You and your friends showed me I could be something more.” She snorted, before staring at Luna. “But YOU, Princess, judge not lest ye be judged. As a filly and across the reaches of Equestria, even I knew the tale of Nightmare Moon. But I don’t believe that to be you. Not now! But wasn’t that a choice you made? Even if the Nightmare overtook you, it could not have done so without you welcoming it into your heart. So I ask you, if YOU could change, can’t I?”

“You dare say those words to me?” Luna asked coldly, her eyes widening as she stepped forwards. “You, foal, know nothing of my past. Nothing of my pain! Don’t you dare try to compare us to each other!”

“That is enough, you two!” Celestia shouted, her stomping hoof leaving a crack in the floor. “This bickering won’t help us!”

“I am merely stating the facts and defending myself against this criminal scum, sister.”

“I said it is enough. Let us act like reasonable mares in this matter!”

Twilight snorted. “I’ve seen how reasonable everypony is over the last few days!”

“Twilight…” Luna started, just to be cut off by Twilight again.

“No, I’m sick of it! I can really, truly see that Tempest wants to change, and she is doing everything to avoid disaster. Why am I the only pony giving her a chance? What are you afraid of?”

“Twilight Sparkle, We certainly are not afraid of this foal!”

“Who are you calling a foal? I bet I’ve got more hoof to hoof combat experience than you!” Tempest cut in.

“Please, be calm,” Cadance tried to reason. “We don’t need a useless fight!”

Tempest snorted. “As if it would be useless. Without her magic I would kick her flank faster than she could react!”

“Please repeat that,” Luna growled.

“I said, I’m going to kick your flank.”

Before Tempest could taunt her more, Luna shot a beam of magic at her, that was halted mere inches away by a purple shield, dissipating the energy effectively.

“Sister!” Celestia shouted while Twilight growled at Luna, louder and louder.

The bubble of magic surrounding Tempest rapidly grew outward, quickly encompassing the whole room. Luna’s spell quickly died as the wave of purple magic passed through her. “Twilight… Sister… I… She… I couldn’t…” Luna sunk to the floor. Her magic and strength had left her, but not through any action of Twilight’s. Small sobs began to escape her lips, and a glistening appeared in her eyes. She began to weep.

“Sister, Twilight, I’m so, so sorry.” She bowed her head as she spoke between sobs. “I was so focussed on Tempest being everything I was afraid of I let my anger get the better of me. I am no better than she that I feared Tempest would still be.”

“I think we’re done here,” Twilight snarled. “Tempest, we have work to do.”

The two mares left the room, leaving two princesses with open jaws and one sobbing on the floor, neither sharing a glance back.

“Twilight?”

“Not now.”

“Please, Twilight.”

“I said not now.”

Tempest gently leaned into Twilight, nuzzling along her muzzle. The alicorn tried to stay neutral, but soon melted into the touch, sighing.

“It is cute and nice and all that you defended me Twilight, but don’t you think it was a bit stupid to do so against Luna?”

Sighing again, Twilight withdrew, trying to maintain some distance between her and Tempest. “I don’t know. I’m not acting rationally when it’s about you.” She stopped and turned to Tempest. “What are we? Friends with benefits? Lovers? Marefriends? I don’t know anything about those; I don’t know what to do…”

“I don’t know about it either,” Tempest answered, a slight blush on her muzzle. “Lovers, yes. Even simple sex partners here and there. But never more.”

“This is so frustrating! Every time I try to think about it logically and calmly, I can’t! I think about you and it feels like my heart is banging against my chest and my brain is shutting down. My stomach feels aloft and my hooves are getting weak! I can’t explain this, even after Cadance explained it to me a thousand times while foalsitting me.” Twilight stopped and looked down. “I know what it is, but at the same time, I do not.”

“Cadance foalsat for you?” Tempest blinked.

Twilight giggled daintily “She’s a lot older than you think. All the princesses are. Well, except me.”

“Really? You all look so young. Sure you didn’t already celebrate your thousandth birthday?”

“Hardy-Har,” the alicorn replied, cuffing Tempest with a hoof. “I’m twenty-three you jokester. I was nineteen when I moved to Ponyville.”

“I’m older than you…?”

“I don’t know? How old are you?”

Tempest mumbled something.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that.”

“Twenty-seven,” she grumbled louder.

“That’s not really older.”

“Still four years,” Tempest chuckled.

Twilight just rolled her eyes. “We should start looking for any leads. The magic communication pool was cut clean from the deck. What do you think?”

“That it was a unicorn.”

“Or a thestral,” a new voice cut in.

Both mares turned their heads as Moon Shield landed behind them, a soft smile on her face. “Twilight Sparkle, you really did a number on Luna today.”

“What do you mean a thestral? How could they do it?” Twilight asked, ignoring the comment.

In answer, Moon Shield flexed her wings, revealing the blades on the metal skeleton covering them. “Wingblades. I’ve seen the hole on the ship. It was definitely cut with wingblades.”

“So couldn’t it also have been a pegasus?” Tempest cut in.

“No. Wingblades for pegasi are rare, and are much bigger. That hole was cut with wingblades made for a thestral. I would think a mare; stallion thestral blades would have a larger overall pattern to them.” Moon Shield sighed and folded her wings again. “There is just one problem.”

“Which one would that be?” Twilight asked curiously.

“There are no known thestrals outside of Luna’s reign and guard. I’m pretty sure this was a Night Guard.”

Tempest snorted. “Why are you always saying thestral? I thought batponies was the correct term?”

“Only for fools that believe old fairy tales,” Moon growled back, showing off her fangs.

“So we are hunting a Night Guard?” Twilight winced. “Luna will be so happy…”

“Really?”

“Sarcasm, Tempest. Sarcasm. We’re royally bucked.”

Moon grinned. “Well, not all hope is lost. We just need a list of all the thestral mares who were off duty in the last 3 hours. Because at the time Luna tore the ship apart, the pool was still there.”

“And that time-span leaves us with how many candidates? A hundred?” Twilight facehoofed. “This will be really hard.”

“Well, you have me on board!” Moon smiled. “It will be a piece of cake!”

“I have a really bad feeling about this…”

“That mare is weird,” Tempest stated, climbing the stairs to Twilight’s tower. “I mean, one second she says it will be quick and easy, and another she shoos us off to relax.”

“Maybe she’s just doing that because internal Night Guard business will be easier to look into on her own?” Twilight leaned in closer to Tempest as they walked, brushing her coat against the unicorn’s and teasing her flank with a wing tip. “Besides,” she said with a smirk, “are you really going to complain about us having some alone time to relax?”

Tempest frowned slightly. “I don’t know. Should I complain because a certain princess made a fuss about not knowing anything about her feelings not so long ago?”

“Well, alone time can only help me figure it out, don’t you think?” Twilight actually sounded hurt. “Not knowing about it doesn’t mean I don’t want to spend time with you or explore this.”

“Twilight,” Tempest paused and looked over at her. “This is something you need to tread lightly with. I agreed to continue this and to teach you. But that’s what this is. That’s all this is. You don’t even know what you want. Despite everything, I don’t want to hurt you with this either.”

“And you can’t tell me that this is only sex!” Twilight raised her voice. “Tell me straight into my face that this doesn’t mean anything! Tell me that there isn’t more!”

Tempest hesitated for a long time, the pair nearly at the door until she spoke up again. “It isn’t, Twilight. Right now this is only sex, and as long as you don’t know what you want it can’t be more, because I really don’t want to hurt you. Even with what this is right now, I’m worried this will be more than you can handle. That you won’t be able to tell the difference between feelings and lust, or between real and physical emotions.”

They stopped in front of Twilight’s chamber door. The alicorn’s eyes narrowed as she looked through Tempest. With a blast of magic, the door flew open and Tempest was wrapped in the lavender glow of Twilight’s magic. She was lifted from the ground and flung through the door and onto the bed.

“That I won’t be able to tell the difference!?” Twilight practically shouted at the unicorn. Tempest’s eyes grew wide as she was flung across the room as the princess unleashed her power. “Let me tell you something, missy,” Twilight quickly closed the distance between the two until they were muzzle to muzzle. “It doesn’t matter what you think I feel, all that matters is what I know is going through my head. And you do NOT get to control the way I think.” With her magic still pinning Tempest against the bed she leaned in and kissed the mare hard, biting her lip as she pulled away. “The fact that you have the… the… audacity to try and control my thoughts on this! This won’t stand.” Her magic quickly stripped the unicorn of her armor as she hopped onto the bed to stand over the helpless unicorn.

Tempest had never seen this sort of power from Twilight. She knew the mare as the timid princess who only stepped up in the most dire of situations. This was something she wasn’t sure how to handle.

“Twilight, I–”

“Did I say you could talk?” Twilight asked, her magic quickly shutting the unicorn’s muzzle. “I will show you pure lust, since that is apparently what you want!”

With that, Twilight abandoned any hesitation left, smashing their lips together while prying Tempest’s legs open, quickly filling the void with her own body, rubbing fur against fur furiously.

Despite still being both confused and surprised, Tempest couldn’t help but lean into the touch, letting loose soft moans that made Twilight’s ears perk up. An evil smile crossed her face as she leaned in and nibbled on Tempest’s ear. “That’s what I thought.” She leaned lower and bit down on the unicorn’s neck before pressing harder against the helpless mare. Taking her leg and rubbing up and down she pressed in harder. Tempest’s eyes closed as she moaned harder. Twilight’s magic quickly enveloped the drapes in her room and withdrew the pull cord. Slowly, she levitated the gold silk rope to the bed before wrapping it around Tempest’s forehooves and tying them together at the head of the bed.

The usually-dominant mare’s eyes shot open. “Twilight!? What are you doing?”

“Taking what I want.”

She kissed down Tempest’s neck to her chest, teasing the tuft of fur sticking out, before continuing downward. Tempest squirmed and fought against the enchanted rope with no success.

“What’s wrong? My little bird trying to escape? You wanted pure lust and I’m delivering it. Now take it like a mare!”

By now, Tempest had to admit that she had slightly started to panic. This was nothing like the Twilight she knew, nothing at all. This was a mare with no restrictions and nothing but sex on her mind. At all costs.

The lavender alicorn licked up and down her sex before leaning back up and rubbing her body against the mare. She brought her forehoof forward again and pressed into her as far as she could go, making the mare scream in ecstasy, a maniacal grin gracing her face.

“You are mine! I’m going to buck you so hard, you will–” Twilight stopped, ears perking up. “Did you hear that?”

“Oh fuck!”

Unbeknown to the two, not too far above them on a ledge, Moon Shield watched the two lovers with a fanged grin on her muzzle and a hoof between her legs.

She was nearly caught as Twilight pulled the pull cord from the drapes, making her lose balance for a second.

From Moon’s viewpoint, Tempest’s panic seemed to grow, trying to thrash against the bindings as Twilight used the pull cord to tie her hooves to the headboard. “Twilight!? What are you doing?”

“Taking what I want.”

Seeing the young princess so dominant, so aggressive, Moon had to admit it made her wet. A lot. Luna had always described the lavender mare as bookish and shy, and not very outgoing in new situations. From that description, it seemed unbelievable that Twilight was able to have sex at all.

Yet there she was, ravaging another mare easily.

“What’s wrong? My little bird trying to escape? You wanted pure lust and I’m delivering it. Now take it like a mare!”

Moon couldn’t help herself. At that sentence, her own hoof spread her lips, gently penetrating and smearing her juices around, creating the perfect lubricant to clop even harder.

Sadly, that created noises Moon didn’t notice at first.

But a certain Alicorn did.

“You are mine! I’m going to buck you so hard, you will–” Silence. “Did you hear that?”

Moon had no time to jump through the window. Uttering a quick, “Oh fuck!”, she was quickly pulled by a wave of purple magic, sending her crashing down next to Twilight’s bed. “Ow.”

“Moon? What the mppfffhhh!” Tempest asked, but was quickly muffled as Twilight shut her muzzle, glaring at the intrusive thestral.

“You will pay for that!”

Moon Shield gulped as Twilight’s magic enveloped her, restraining and pulling her up onto the bed. She had no idea of the consequences.