It had finally happened. After so much time running, Tempest Shadow, the Unicorn with the broken horn, and an army at her back, had finally managed to capture Night Mist. She had locked him away in one of the cages aboard her zeppelin, where even his skills would be useless to free him.
"Oh, how the tables have turned Night Mist, I had so hoped I'd be the one to catch you," Tempest said as she revealed herself to him.
"Why didn't you just have me destroyed? Would have been easier for you. I'm not going to help the Storm King again," Night Mist spat.
"Oh, I think you will, and the Storm King has plans for you. I mean look at you now. An Alicorn Prince of Equestria. No doubt a gift from those weak princesses who fancy themselves deities among our kind," Tempest scoffed.
"At least I was able to redeem myself. Let ponies trust me again. Granted I was still a kid when I returned to Equestria," Night Mist admitted.
"But do you trust them? I feel your trust is still a little shaken among the ponies you are a prince of now," Tempest implies.
"It's true, while I am trying to win their trust for me, I also keep my guard up, but there are those among the Equestrians I know I can trust, including my new mother and aunts," Night Mist says.
"It's best not to trust anyone in this or any other land Night Mist. You became weak in mind, and that's why you left the Storm King," Tempest accused Night Mist.
"Tempest, have you become so shallow that you think that's why I left. Because I was weak, and let myself trust ponies again?" Night Mist inquired.
"You left me alone Night Mist. After your betrayal...," Tempest was cut short as Night Mist interrupted, "You say it's best not to trust anyone, Tempest, yet you don't heed your own advice."
Temepst trotted a couple steps back. "What? I haven't trusted anyone since you left me alone," She assured him.
"No, that's not true. You trust the Storm King, so much so, he's turned you into something you're not," Night Mist pointed out.
"He's the only one who ever saw anything in me.... in us Night Mist, and you betrayed him and me," Tempest defended.
"What did he promise you in exchange for helping him? Hm? Tell me," Night Mist rquested.
Tempest went silent for a moment, then spoke, "He's the only one who can restore my horn, so I have full control over my magic."
Night Mist chuckled, "Oh Tempest, he has you hook, line and sinker. You took his bait."
"What?! He didn't bait me," Tempest bellowed.
"Tempest. This was the reason I left. He was using us, for his own selfish gains. He lied," Night Mist told her.
"No he didn't. He wouldn't do such a thing," Tempest tried to convince herself.
"Tempest, just like he offered you the restoring of your horn, he offered me something I desperately wanted. Respect from my fellow ponies. And I know that's something you wanted as well, after what happened to you. But I learned the truth. You remember that I had a specialty at my young age to be stealthy and agile, along with making surprise attacks. Well, one night I used those skills to sneak into a private meeting the Storm King was having with his hench, um, whatever you called those things again. And I learned something I wish I hadn't. The Storm King was planning to toss us aside once he had control of Equestria. Neither of us would get what he had promised. And I had realized something. For so long, after my parents died, I felt Equestria had betrayed me when I ran away, but that night, I realized, I was a far larger traitor to Equestria, and would continue to be so, had I stayed in the Storm King's service," Night Mist confessed.
"W-Why didn't you tell me this when you were still there. Why did you leave me behind?" Tempest demanded to know.
"I wanted to tell you Tempest. I really did, but on that night, I saw how much you already had trust in the Storm King, as you spoke with members of his army. You were in too deep of an abyss for me to reach you. Had I told you anything, you would have thought me a liar, and the Storm King would have convinced you to ensure you believed me a liar," Night Mist answered.
"B-but," Tempest was at a loss for words.
"Tempest, listen. When I learned of the Storm King's treachery, I also remembered something my late mother had told me before her passing. She told me 'Don't let the hatred win, keep your eyes open to the truth'. I thought she meant don't let those who hate me rule my life, but I realized that night, she was telling me to not let my hatred win over. For a while it had, but this discovery of the Storm King's true ambitions helped me win over the hatred. I left you a letter explaining why I left, but I know you never got it, when I saw the storm king head for our tent I left it in, and I couldn't exactly go back so I kept going. I had planned to come back to find you when I got older, but everywhere I looked, you were always two gallops ahead of me. I had warned the Princesses of what was coming from the Storm King, but when the threat seemed to never come, I, along with the Princesses eventually let our guard down on the threat. We thought perhaps the Storm King backed out of his ambition to take over Equestria. That's why I gave myself up so easily Tempest. Because I knew the only one smart enough to best Equestria the way you were, was, ironically enough, you. That's why I am here, so I could finally find you," Night Mist said.
Tempest stood there for a long time silent, processing everything in her head. Then, she finally spoke, "Alright, I believe you. But we need a plan to get these zeppelins to be destroyed, before we make a break for it."
"Luckily. While we've been talking, I had come with backup," Night Mist smirked.
Just then, the wall on the starboard side of the zeppelin holding them shattered to let light into the caged room. There standing before them were the Princesses of Day and Night, The Princess of Love, Night Mist's brother Peanut Butter, and the Council of Friendship standing aboard. They were about to attack Tempest when Night Mist yelled, "Wait! Don't hurt her! She's on our side now."
"Nighty, she laid siege to Equestria, and pony-napped you. She's a traitorous threat," Luna spat.
"No, she just trotted down the wrong road for a while. She was blinded by a lie. But she know's the truth now. She's one of us. And she's an old friend of mine," Night Mist stated.
Tempest smiled in thanks that Night Mist trusted her, and unlocked the lock that kept him caged. Night Mist then hugged her. "Uh, escape from wreck first, hugging later," Rainbow Dash pointed out.
Soon everyone made it to the safety of the ground, along with the minions of the Storm King who were now agreeing to help defend Equestria against the Storm King, which didn't take much, now that they realized he was powerless without the help of Tempest and Night Mist. After they all reasoned together, Night Mist turned to Tempest and said, "Come on Tempest, I want you to meet my family, and some of my close friends."
They trotted forward and Peanut Butter said, "Anypony who's a friend of Nighty is a friend of mine. Welcome to Equestria Tempest."
"Actually that's not my real name," Tempest admitted.
"Huh, but that's the only name you gave me when we met," Night Mist stated.
"Well, I wanted you to think I was a tough filly, since your appearance already made you look fierce," Tempest pointed out.
Night Mist thought for a moment about that statement and replied, "I suppose that's fair. I mean Tempest Shadow does sound pretty fierce upon first hearing that kind of name..... so, what's your real name?"
She trotted over closer to Night Mist and said as everypony leaned in to hear her say, "It's Fizzlepop Berrytwist."
Night Mist's eyes when wide and his silted pupils became so small, they were almost the size of a pin. "...... Okay, that is like, the coolest name I have ever heard," Night Mist finally stated.
"Seconded, just as awesome as my name," Rainbow Dash gloated.
Everypony had a laugh, and soon, they trotted back towards the castle to prepare for the upcoming battle with the Storm King and his minions who were still blindly loyal to him. The battle didn't last long though, as Night Mist and Tempest teamed up, and stopped the Storm King stone cold, quite literally, and the rest of the Minions surrendered, including the short one. This soon caught the attention of other creatures who had been oppressed by the Strom King. From Celestia's old friend Queen Novo of the Hippogriffs, and the Pirate Birds who used to plunder abandoned treasures, and had once retrieved ancient relics for the Equestrian Princesses before the Storm King's oppression.
Soon, everyone made repairs to the party damages for the Festival of Friendship, and soon, the party was back on again. Night Mist watched as enemies became friends to his kind, and everyone was happy, instead of cowering in fear. He then spotted Fizzlepop standing alone by herself, and trotted over. "What's the matter Fizzy?" he nicknamed her.
Fizzlepop sighed, "I just don't know Night Mist. I mean, how can ponies ever trust me, after all the things I did?"
Night Mist then lit his horn and zapped Fizzlepop. "OW! Jeez! What in Equestria was that for?!"
"It doesn't matter, it's in the past," Night Mist laughed.
"Yeah, but it still hurts," Fizzlepop admitted.
"Yes, Fizzlepop, the past can hurt," Luna budded in.
"But, you can either run from it.... or learn from it," Peanut Butter added.
Night Mist charged his horn again and missed zapping Fizzlepop. "Ha, you see? Ponies know you learned from your mistake, and forgave you for it. I mean look at Discord. He's the Lord of Chaos, and he'd made many friends since he reformed.... and I hear he's secretly dating my Aunt Tia," Night Mist whispered at the end of his little lesson.
Fizzlepop snickered a bit at the last notion. "But. What of my horn?" Fizzlepop inquired.
"Oh that, no problem dear. I'm surprised you didn't see us sooner about this," Luna sated as she and Celestia charged their horns.
When the dust settled, Night Mist saw Fizzlepop's horn restored. "Well, it's an improvement, but you were already a great and powerful unicorn before you got your new horn," Night Mist stated before kissing Fizzlepop on the cheek, making her blush so much, almost her entire face went red as an apple.
"Did somepony say 'Grrreat and Powerful'?" inquired a voice all too familiar to the council of friendship.
Night Mist face-hoofed himself as Fizzlepop asked, "Is that pony always like that?"
"Worse," Night Mist and Twilight stated together as the mare known as Trixie trotted towards them to see what all the fuss was about.
Author's Note
End of this one-shot, I hoped you enjoyed reading it as I had writing it. I'll admit, Tempest caught my attention, and I wanted throw a small bit of romance in at the end with her. Also know that she may pop up eleswhere in the future. I won't say where, just know she'll be appearing.
Also, I do not take credit for the lines I added in from The Lion King near the end. I stated this to avoid claims of plagiarism and give full credit to Disney and the creators of the Lion King for making those lines.
Anyways, let me kwow what you thought of the story. It's always great to get supportive comments and constructive criticism.
And before anyone asks me in the comments, this story is a one chapter story, so do not ask for more chapters to be added. Thank you and have a good day/night.