The Princess was lying.
That thought was the only thing that kept the angry words behind Tempest’s teeth from escaping.
“... whoever left you behind left no sort of note during the night; that meant there was no one to witness -”
“I understand.”
The curt, cold answer seemed to stun everyone in the room; at her side, Twilight Sparkle fidgeted nervously, offering the princess a wide, uncertain smile.
“What Tempest really means is, uh, Your Majesty, is that - she’s really quite grateful for all of your help, and your - helpful advice, and she’s not had a chance to properly -”
“I appreciate your kindness, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia’s voice was poised, pointedly formal, and just this side of icy, “but I did not finish my explanation.”
Twilight gulped, visibly, and gave a small, apologetic nod.
Princess Celestia returned her gaze to Tempest Shadow’s face, and this time, it was much more difficult for Tempest to detect the lie. “As I was explaining, although it was exceedingly difficult to find your parents, we did manage to do so.”
Tempest Shadow’s eyelids fluttered once, twice, three times in rapid succession, and she narrowed the pair as she frowned up at Princess Celestia. “Excuse me?”
“There are many skilled unicorns in our schools here in Canterlot, and through great concentrated effort, they managed to find a thread of your magic flowing back into the bloodlines; it was incredibly difficult, because your mother was … not a unicorn.”
Twilight gasped; Tempest’s frown didn’t move.
“We have brought her here, today, if you would like to meet her.” Princess Celestia finished, her tone much warmer, and gentler now; it was the tone Twilight was used to hearing, and she found herself relaxing into it, relieved at last.
Tempest stood stock still for a few more heartbeats, and finally nodded, small and stiff.
With a grand, graceful gesture of her wings, Princess Celestia stepped away from where she stood, and her snowy pegasus guards ushered a small, nervous figure into the room. She was plump, and soft, with a curly bouffant of pink hair, and gentle eyes that landed on Tempest with great nervousness - and hope.
Tempest wasn’t buying it.
“Mrs. Cake?” Twilight gasped, clapping a hoof over her mouth.
“Ah, hello Twilight!” the mare greeted her, and offered Tempest Shadow a small, relieved smile. “You must be my little Fizzy - Fizzlepop Berrytwist, I mean.”
A muscle spasmed in Tempest’s cheek, just beneath her scarred eye.
“I - I know you must be terribly angry at me, and - and I don’t blame you, for being angry.” Mrs. Cake continued, and her hopeful expression faded, replaced with a deep sadness. “I never meant to hurt you. When I left you in the care of the Home for Little Unicorns, I thought you would be happier, in a place with other little ones like you, with ponies who knew how to take care of you. I was so young, and after your father ran off, I - I didn’t know how to take care of a foal, and when your magic started emerging, I -” Mrs. Cake cut off, choked by tears, and she gratefully dabbed at her eyes with a hankie that Celestia held out to her.
“I know it’s too late, but - but I thought, when Princess Celestia told me you were looking for your family…” Mrs. Cake trailed off a little hopefully, offering Tempest a watery smile.
Tempest had to give her credit; she was an incredible actress.
“If you would be willing,” Princess Celestia cut in gently, giving Mrs. Cake a moment to blow her nose, “the Cakes are willing to give you a place to live in their home, starting immediately. It might be more pleasant for you than the barracks.”
Ah, the barracks. The overrun rooms, the bunk beds shared with the large, hairy army who had sought sanctuary in Canterlot after the fall of the Storm King, the smell. Lie or not, this was an easy decision.
“Very well. I accept your offer, Mrs. Cake.” Tempest stated formally, but froze up as Mrs. Cake all but flew to her side, wrapping her up in a tight, motherly hug.
“Oh, you can call me Cup, if you want. Or - well, just Cuppy is fine for now, dear.” Mrs. Cake sniffed, smiling up at her wetly. “I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“Thank you… Mother.” Tempest Shadow smiled, through gritted teeth, maintaining eye contact with the princess as Mrs. Cake simpered.
Princess Celestia’s eyes narrowed.
***
“And this is your room!” Mr. Cake chirped, pushing the door open with one long, gangly foreleg.
Tempest Shadow peered inside; one wall was a series of racks filled with various size baking pans, and another wall was just bags and bags of flour. A small bed had been hastily shoved into a corner, and between the flour sacks was a desk, with a hoofful of books stacked neatly on top. Overall, it looked more like a storeroom than a bedroom, but at least it didn’t smell like the Storm King’s troops.
“We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, once Princess Celestia told us the news, but - we’re both just terribly excited to have you here with us!” Mr. Cake smiled, a little awkwardly, but the emotion seemed genuine.
Then again, who could be called genuine in this situation?
“Thank you… Father.” Tempest said coolly as she entered, looking around, tapping a baking pan here and there. Mr. Cake cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Tempest turned to face him, her expression blank. “You do not want me to call you that?”
“Oh, no! No, no, not at all! - Well I mean, yes! Yes, it’s - it’s fine!” Mr. Cake sputtered, and cleared his throat again, visibly sweating. If only the princess had been this easily compromised, Tempest would be a lot further along in finding her real parents.
“What I mean is … Although I’m not your real father, I do… care about you.” Mr. Cake offered her a small, nervous smile, and he tugged his hat from his head, nervously flattening it beneath his hooves. “Cuppy’s my whole world, you know, and - if you’re her daughter, then that makes you my daughter, too. That’s how I feel, anyway. You don’t - if you don’t like that, then that’s alright, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, I just - I want you to know that … you’re wanted. With us.”
Something stirred in Tempest’s chest, and she rapidly crushed it.
“Thank you. I do - appreciate that kindness.” Tempest managed a smile, but when it came out as a rigid rictus, she twisted her face away from him abruptly to look at the books.
Mr. Cake must have interpreted it as embarrassment, because when he spoke again, it was much gentler. “Cuppy found you those, they’re books from the School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot. She thought - well, Celestia told her a little about you, and she thought … you might want to read them.”
It took all of Tempest’s willpower to stop herself from blasting the entire desk to Kludgetown, but she managed to hide the weak fizzling of her magic by keeping her face turned away from him. “That was… very kind of her.”
“Yeah, that’s my Cuppy.” Mr. Cake smiled blithely, unaware of the rage radiating off of the unicorn. “She never told me about you, I think because she felt so badly about leaving you like she did. I’m just glad we’re all here now, together.”
“Yes,” Tempest Shadow said softly, sparks falling from her horn as she ground out her words, “me too.”
***
Time passed painfully slowly for Tempest, now renamed Fizzlepop Berrytwist, much to her chagrin. She had to play the part of dutiful, happy daughter while she sought out her real family, but that meant spending all of her time in the bakery, assisting her supposed parents with their labor. The pink one lived upstairs, apparently, and she was constantly underhoof with laughter, inexplicably large props, and confetti. By the Horn, where did she get all of that confetti?!
Sure, Tempest/Fizzlepop wasn’t as cold as she had been before the fall of the Storm King, but one didn’t simply shrug off years of abandonment and anger like one shrugged off one of Pinkie Pie’s many outlandish costumes. Yes, she understood that friendship was not always doomed to end in betrayal and pain, but … she wasn’t sure exactly how one went from where she was to where Twilight Sparkle was. It was something she would have time to figure out after she found her real parents. That was the whole reason she had asked for Princess Celestia’s aid in finding her real family in the first place. Parents were supposed to love you unconditionally, as she understood it, which meant that when she found them, it would be like no time had passed, and nothing she had done or said would affect them.
What weighed on her wouldn’t weigh on them; this she knew. They would not look at her horn and see what was lacking.
Twilight Sparkle visited, several times in fact, and each time Fizzlepop gave her the answers she was looking for. Yes, she was so very happy to be returned to her family, and they were all so very happy together, and gee, she was just too busy helping in the bakery to come spend time with her and her friends! So sad, maybe next time!
Mrs. Cake hovered, but not obnoxiously so; if she was an actress, she had to be an incredibly convincing one, or Celestia had somehow tricked her into believing the lie. It seemed unlikely that she would be able to convince her she’d had a baby if she hadn’t, but Celestia possessed powerful magic; that was why Fizzlepop had to go undercover in the first place. If she wanted to find out the truth, and Celestia didn’t want her to, it would take all of her cunning to be able to work under her watchful eye without ending up imprisoned. But she had trained under the worst: if she could survive the Storm King, she could survive Celestia.
The nightmares still came; the great, terrible blue paw, and then searing, skull-shattering pain. She still awoke in a cold sweat, and she was still just as alone when she awoke. The nightmares were the only familiar thing in her life, anymore.
The Cakes had suggested, very gently, finding some of her old friends; but for all that she thought she hid her true emotions, they backed off from the idea quickly, and didn’t bring it up again. No matter; she no longer had anything in common with Spring Rain or Glitter Drops, and it would be fruitless to pursue her hunt for her parentage there. The fact that the mere mention of them made her heart boil with rage was unrelated - and irrelevant.
As she spent more time in Ponyville, instead of the densely-populated city of Canterlot, she began to feel the unfamiliar push-and-pull of magic around her. Unicorns were like tiny candles of magical energy, and despite her own broken horn, she could feel their brightness every time they came close. Twilight Sparkle shone like a brazier, burning brightly with her power, while Rarity was more sedate, like a tall candle you burned late in the winter. There were other unicorns around her, like baby Pumpkin Cake who shone like a tiny birthday candle, but unlike in Canterlot, their magic didn’t all blend together and form a sort of background wash of energy that dulled the senses. There were so few of them that she could tell when one moved away and one moved closer, even.
It was only after a fortnight in Ponyville that she realized there was one steady pulse of energy from somewhere near the town that never moved. She tested it while running errands for Mrs. Cake, and no matter where she traveled in the small town, the pulse remained constant in the same place. It burned brightly, bright enough that even at a distance she could feel it flickering, and it tugged at something deep inside of her. What - or who - was this candle? The lie that Celestia had told her still burned in her gut, weeks later, and lying in bed one night she had a realization: what if the never-moving candle had something to do with her real parents?
The thought that her parents might be out there, close enough to reach - perhaps even trapped, in need of rescue - finally forced Tempest Shadow’s hoof.
The next night, Fizzlepop Berrytwist decided to go see who was burning.
***
As bakers, the Cakes slept and rose early, so Tempest knew she didn’t have a lot of time to hunt down the brightly-burning candle. Whoever it was might have a link back to her family, or might even be her family if she allowed herself to hope. Or - far off in the realm of possibilities - might be able to mend her horn. She waited until she could hear Mr. Cake’s snoring through the wall, and rose on silent hooves, vanishing into the night.
The energy drew her further and further into the Everfree Forest, fearless of the dangers within. She had seen and faced much worse; she had even been much worse. Nothing in this little nothing of a town could frighten her, not anymore.
The memory of her nightmare rose at the back of her mind, but she fiercely quashed it. She wasn’t a child anymore, and dark caves didn’t frighten her. Not even when they held terrible things inside of them, she thought angrily, giving a nearby tree a particularly vindictive kick.
She listened to the leaves as they rattled, and gradually came to a stop; as she lifted her foreleg to start moving again, she heard something behind her - a voice.
Tempest Shadow darted away from the sound, galloping along the path until she found an opening in the trees. The magic felt like it was flooding her senses, making the stump of her horn tingle as she drew closer and closer to the source of the candle. Where was it?
As she burst out of the foliage, Tempest found herself face to face with a sheer rock face, a cliff that rose far above her head, with a great, yawning mouth in the center of it. Despite the burning warmth of the magic flooding her senses, a cold panic seized her, flooding her veins with ice. The cave. The blue paw. The shattering, screaming pain. She stumbled to her left, and all but fell into a cluster of bushes beside the mouth of the cave.
Only moments later, Twilight Sparkle and her merry band of troublemakers burst into the same forest clearing, six sets of eyes darting in six different directions.
“She must have gone to the right, there’s a river that way, she-”
“-must have gone up the cliff, there’s vines she could have climbed up! And then -”
“-she went back the same way she came, because she wanted to go home to her nice, cozy bed!”
“Quiet!!” Twilight bellowed, and immediately quieted herself, realizing how eerily still the forest was around them. “Quiet! If she’s nearby, she’ll hear you and know we’re following her!”
“Well, it seems like she would think we were anyway,” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically, “seeing as she’s spent all of her time in Ponyville avoiding us and acting suspicious.”
“You don’t know that!” Fluttershy interjected, her soft voice raised in protest. “She’s had a very hard life, and she’s still new here! She’s just shy, that’s all. She’ll figure out we just want to be her friends soon, I know it!”
“Yeah!” Twilight Sparkle agreed, and from her hiding place, Tempest could see Rainbow Dash roll her eyes.“She’s had a lot to absorb, and now she’s got a whole new family, too! She just - needs more time.”
“More time to vanish into the mysterious Everfree Forest for nefarious reasons, you mean?” Rarity piped up, her elegant brows furrowed in suspicion.
“I’m sure she had good reasons for being out here!” Twilight insisted.
“Like what, Twilight?” Applejack drawled, tugging at her hat in agitation. “You told me yourself that she broke her horn during a run-in with an Ursa Minor - why would she come right back to one of their caves?”
“Well…” Twilight Sparkle trailed off, her certainty flickering. “Maybe she wanted to … face her fears.”
“Consarn it, Twilight!” Applejack snapped, frowning at her friend. “You should know better than that! The princess herself told you to keep an eye on her, and that means she’s up to somethin’!”
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight Sparkle said, her voice rising sharply, “would tell me if she thought that!”
The small clearing rung with the sound of their raised voices for a moment, and then quieted, leaving the group staring at one another in the darkness.
“Let’s just… keep looking.” Twilight Sparkle said after a moment, and turned away, slowly walking along the path. The others followed her, each lost in their own thoughts.
***
Once the sound of their hoofbeats had faded, Tempest emerged from her hiding place and galloped the whole way home, replaying their words in her mind. She was so wrapped up in dissecting their conversation that she didn’t hear the sounds from the kitchen until she very nearly stumbled upon Mrs. Cake.
“Mrs. - Cuppy, what are you doing up?” Tempest asked, her voice sharp with surprise, although she rapidly tempered it into the more demure and meek voice she tried to use around the Ponyville residents.
“Oh, couldn’t sleep, dearie!” Mrs. Cake smiled to Tempest cheerfully, although the cup of coffee by her hoof seemed a strange choice if that was true. The dark circles under her eyes, at least, clearly showed that she wasn’t lying about the sleeplessness. “What are you doing up so late?”
“I, uh… took a walk.” Tempest hedged, adding a moment later, “To clear my head.”
“I see, I see.” Mrs. Cake nodded knowingly. “When I have a lot on my mind, I bake. How about we whip up some cinnamon rolls? You’re a Cake now, so no time like the present to learn some old family recipes!”
Mrs. Cake’s tone brooked no disagreement, and so Tempest set to work, scooping dry ingredients and pouring wet ones in turn. Soon enough, she had a wet, mushy ball of dough rolling between her hooves, which she worked at roughly while Mrs. Cake elegantly rolled her own perfect, lumpless dough beside her.
“So what’s on your mind, Fizzy?”
The sudden question, no matter how gently it was asked, dragged Tempest out of the almost-relaxed mindset of the past fifteen minutes. “Oh - lots of things.” Twilight’s words sprang suddenly to mind. “Just a lot to absorb.”
Mrs. Cake’s gaze shifted to one of gentle concern, tinged with sadness - but perhaps Tempest was imagining that part. “Ah, I see. That makes sense. So many years on your own, and suddenly you have a new family, and a new home - and two little siblings, too.” Mrs. Cake smiled down at her dough as she rolled it, kneading it with patient, gentle hooves. “I know they can be a bit of a handful, but maybe someday you could help Pumpkin learn to do her magic!”
Tempest smacked her cinnamon dough hard enough to splatter some on her face, and she hastily wiped it clean, hoping that Mrs. Cake hadn’t noticed. “I don’t know if I’d be the best teacher for her,” she said at last, her voice tight.
“I don’t know about that.” Mrs. Cake replied gently, and as she continued rolling her dough, she turned to consider Tempest. “I think that you are a very capable young mare, Fizzy. I think no matter what you want to do… you will be good at it. But I think,” she continued, her voice gentling, “that you should think about what you want to do, and not what you think you should do.”
Tempest looked at her oddly, not bothering to try and school the expression into something that more closely resembled one that Fizzlepop Berrytwist might make.
“You don’t need the Canterlot school to know you are talented. I already know you are.” Mrs. Cake smiled at her, warm with affection despite the dark circles. “And I know you have a good heart. And I’m not just saying that because I’m your mom.” Mrs. Cake chuckled gently, folding the dough in her hooves.
Tempest didn’t answer, uncertain what to say; she didn’t really know what mothers were supposed to say about their children. But when she glanced at Mrs. Cake out of the edge of her eyes a moment later, she found her looking at her, her pink brows crinkled, and her expression unreadable.
“What?” Tempest asked, a little brusquely; a moment later, Fizzy added in a gentler tone, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, dearie.” Mrs. Cake smiled at Tempest, and reached out to her a little suddenly. Tempest Shadow froze, surprised by the attack; but the forelegs that looped around her shoulders were gentle, and she found herself pulled into a hug. Her body was stiff and angular against Mrs. Cake’s soft, plump form, but she still held on.
“Just promise me you’ll be safe, Fizzy.”
***
Tempest knew she had been discovered. If the overheard conversation in the forest didn’t convince her, the entire group of Twilight Sparkle’s friends just ‘happening’ to stop by the bakery the next day did. They sat in a corner, quietly talking amongst themselves and staring Tempest down behind the counter for several hours, continuing to order various pastries and sweets so it wouldn’t seem suspicious. As if, Tempest thought to herself angrily, six ponies sitting in a small town’s small bakery just chit-chatting for literal hours couldn’t seem suspicious. Yet again, Tempest Shadow wondered how these bumblers had ever managed to overthrow the Storm King; anymore, it just seemed like pure dumb luck.
“Can I get you ladies anything else?” Tempest Shadow asked coolly after they’d crossed the first hour mark.
“Yeah, you can tell us what you’re really pla-” Rainbow Dash started, and found her mouth immediately stuffed with no less than three pastries.
“Oh, gee! We’re all outta doughnuts! Could you be a peach and get us another dozen?” Pinkie Pie chirped, eyes agleam as she beamed at Tempest. “Thank youuuuu!”
“Right.” Tempest replied, and turned away, returning to the kitchen. The kitchen where Pinkie Pie worked, as an apparently incredible baker apprenticed to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who could have simply made her own dozen doughnuts if she so chose. Not suspicious at all.
That night, Tempest made her move.
***
Her first move, that is. Her first trip was to walk to the edge of town just after dark, and look around sullenly for awhile. She waited until she could hear the six ponies obviously following her start whispering among themselves before she spoke her prepared lines.
“OH,” Tempest Shadow intoned, loud enough for the would-be stalkers hiding behind the barrels in a nearby alleyway to hear her, “I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS WHERE I BELONG. BUT … MY HEART, IT’S BECOMING SO FULL OF THIS STRANGE NEW EMOTION.”
The voices behind the barrels sharply quieted, listening keenly for her next words.
“I THINK … I’M GOING TO GIVE PONYVILLE ONE MORE TRY.” Tempest Shadow said, with as much gravitas as she could manage, and heaved an overdramatic sniffle as she rubbed beneath one eye. “I THINK I’M GOING TO GIVE LOVE … ONE MORE TRY.”
“I knew it!” came a soft voice from behind the barrel, which was rapidly shushed by five other voices.
Tempest pointedly ignored them as she turned around, her head held high as she made her way back to the bakery, doing her best to emote ‘stoic yet barely holding back tears.’
Once she made it back to her bedroom, the facade dropped and she set to work. Within an hour she had her satchel packed with a few necessities; some food taken from the fridge, the last of her remaining belongings (there had never been much to begin with), and a blanket. She paused to consider the books from Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and plucked the one titled Advanced Casting and shoved it into her pack. If nothing else, it would make good kindling.
As she shoved the books aside to make room in her pack, one of the books slid to the floor, popping open to the front cover. She wouldn’t have taken notice of it, except there was something written inside the front cover, and it drew her eye.
“My dearest Fizzy -
I hope you will enjoy these books! You’re so clever and so talented, I have no doubt that any school would be lucky to have you. But there will always be a spot for you in my kitchen if you want it!
All my love,
Mom”
Tempest Shadow snorted, but she found her throat closing up on itself, for some strange reason. Pure saccharine waste! Pastel pony garbage! These ponies knew nothing of hardship, of heartbreak! Why was this stupid message getting to her now, on the brink of her escape?
She kicked the book under her small bed viciously, and sat in the center of the mattress as she waited for the hours to pass. Finally, when the moon rose high overhead in the sky, Tempest Shadow made her exit from the bakery.
She followed the feeling of the brightly-burning candle as she strode through the Everfree Forest, the flame burning brighter and brighter with each step she took towards it. By the time she reached the cave, it burned so brightly it felt as if the trees themselves should be on fire, eclipsed in a wildfire of magical energy. The dark void of the cave still sent shivers down her coat, but she continued forward all the same, refusing to be stopped. Whatever - or whoever - burned brightly was within the cave, waiting for her to find them.
Despite the brightly-shining moon and stars, the cave was pitch-black, and Tempest Shadow lit her horn in a shower of sparks to illuminate it. It was a large cave, fairly standard - but at the back of the cavern, something glimmered and shone. The candle!
Tempest Shadow took a cautious step forward. In the back of the cave, something else moved, too, and she froze for a moment in fear. When it didn’t move to attack, she took another step forward, coming closer to the glimmer in the distance.
“Hello?” she called, but only her own voice echoed back to her. Perhaps it was shy.
The cave was dimly lit with only her sparking horn to light it, but as she came closer, she could see a shadowy figure ahead of her, too, mirroring her steps as she approached. After a few steps, she realized that it was quadrupedal in shape - it was another pony.
“I knew you were here!” Tempest Shadow called, despite herself, her breath suddenly coming fast in her chest, her heart in her throat. “I knew there had to be somepony out there, somepony Celestia didn’t want me to find! I’ve been looking for you for so long, I -”
She skidded to a halt in front of her own reflection, reflected back in a towering, tarnished silver mirror in a gilt frame.
“No! but I - but I saw you, you were -” Tempest insisted brokenly, whirling in place, but only her own shadow danced on the wall now. “You were here!”
You were here, her voice echoed back to her, vanishing into the cavernous depths.
The candle burned brightly in front of her; she pulled the mirror away from the cavern’s wall, and found nothing behind it. The mirror was the candle; undoubtedly some kind of ancient and useless artifact, it was filled with centuries of magic, and so it shone as brightly in her mind’s eye as if it was another unicorn.
Tempest Shadow stood in front of the mirror, and stared for a long time at the haggard, starkly-lit face of the broken-horned unicorn in the mirror, until she couldn’t recognize her own face. A fool stared back at her. A fool who had believed in a child’s dreams like missing parents who searched and longed for them, and magical trails that would lead them back to one another.
“You are nothing!” Tempest screamed at the mirror.
Behind her, the Ursa Minor screamed its reply.
***
Tempest Shadow whirled as the screaming roar echoed around the cave walls. The massive blue beast rose above her, just like in her nightmares, and swiped its jagged claws through the air.
She stood below it, so very far below it, and watched as her death gnashed its glistening fangs in rage at being disturbed. She had been lucky to escape as a filly, probably because she was so small; this time, she would not be so lucky. Her horn sparked uselessly, then fizzled out to nothing as she froze, only the dimly glowing bear now lighting the cavern.
As its roaring slowly came to a halt, the immense beast dropped to all four feet, glaring down at Tempest. An enormous paw reached back, hauling back for a powerful swipe; the frozen Tempest could only watch as her murderer wound up its killing blow.
Then, from the mouth of the cave, a cacophonous banging suddenly arose. The sound echoed and reverberated, and at the back of the cave, it sharpened and wheeled into vicious, ear-splitting shrieks of metal-on-metal. Tempest remained frozen as the sound assaulted her ears, but the Ursa Minor thrashed in pain, attempting to scratch at its head as the noise shrieked in its ears.
The sound grew, and grew, echoing and redoubling upon itself, and finally it became too much for the Ursa Minor to bear. The animal roared its displeasure and swiped at nothing; eyes closed, it slammed headfirst into a wall, squealing in pain. It opened its eyes in a pained squint, and took off at a gallop, its dimly glowing coat vanishing down a side tunnel. Soon, it had faded into nothing.
The frozen clench of panic that had seized Tempest Shadow began to gradually fade, and as the clanging faded away, she could almost hear voices. No - she could definitely hear voices, and they were calling her name.
“Tempest! Tempest, where are you?”
“I’m - here.” Came the strangled reply, as Tempest gradually regained control of her body, slowly taking wobbly steps towards the mouth of the cave.
“Tempest! Thank Celestia, thank Celestia!” sobbed a voice, surprisingly familiar. Ahead of her, a lantern bobbed and weaved in the darkness, and she was soon overtaken by the weeping Mrs. Cake, a lantern tied to her middle.
“We have to get out of here before that - thing comes back!” she insisted, dragging Tempest out of the cave, away from the mirror.
“But - the mirror -” Pieces of the story weren’t fitting together right, and Tempest kept looking back over her shoulder, trying to understand why an ancient relic would have ended up here, of all places.
“It doesn’t matter - you are what matters!”
Tempest Shadow was too stunned by the tearfully effusive words to protest further, and allowed herself to be dragged back out into the dark night.
Mr. Cake stood anxiously by the mouth of the cave, surrounded by a semicircle of baking pans and metal ladles. “Pookie, is she alright?” he called as they got closer, looking the pair over. “Are you alright?”
“We’re okay! That - thing ran off, but it’ll be back soon!” Mrs. Cake snuffled, and wrapped her husband up in a tight hug. “You were so brave!”
“Why did you do that?” Tempest Shadow asked, hollowly, but she soon found herself shouting. “You could have been killed! It would have killed all of us, and for what? I’m not even your daughter!”
“You think that matters to me?” Mrs. Cake barked sharply, and reached out, releasing her husband for a moment to drag Tempest into a tight, tight hug. The hug was tight enough that it must have squeezed out a few tears, since Tempest would never have allowed herself to cry otherwise.
“It doesn’t matter to me.” Mrs. Cake repeated softer the second time, her voice muffled in Tempest Shadow’s mane, tremulous with tears. “I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you.”
“But - I’m not -” Tempest tried to speak, but found her throat uncomfortably tight.
“It doesn’t mean I can’t love you.” Mrs. Cake sniffled, and smoothed down some of Tempest’s wild mane. “My poor girl, did you come out all this way because you didn’t know that?”
“I thought - I thought it might …” Tempest fell silent for a long time, and allowed Mrs. Cake to guide her away from the cave, carrying the softly-clanking baking pants with them. “I thought it might lead me to my parents.”
Mrs. Cake looked at Mr. Cake, and gently brought them to a halt in one of the moonlit clearings of the Everfree Forest, away from the cave. “Your parents… aren’t going to be found, Tempest.”
Tempest Shadow frowned at Mrs. Cake, but it wasn’t nearly as venomous as it might have been twelve hours before; it was tired, and confused.
“What I mean is - you weren’t born like most little unicorns.” Mrs. Cake explained gently, and laid her hoof against Tempest’s shoulder, steadying her. “The mirror you found in that cave - it was hidden for a reason. Somepony looked into that mirror and pulled you out. Celestia told us that many centuries ago, in the reign of a queen called Majesty, it wasn’t uncommon for foalless families to come to the mirror and ask for a child. But - there was a great tragedy, and the mirror was locked away. The mirror has been forgotten to all but those of the royal line, because of the risk that it might be used again. At least - that’s what they thought, until the mirror was stolen from the treasury, and used to create… you.”
Tempest Shadow stared at Mrs. Cake, hard, and turned her gaze towards Mr. Cake. “You can’t expect me to believe that.”
“I know it sounds incredible. But - that’s what the princesses told us, when they asked for our help in adopting you.” Mrs. Cake nodded gently, pink brows furrowed in concern. “I thought she had to be kidding, but … well, I wasn’t going to turn my back on somepony who needed a home because I thought the story sounded silly.”
Tempest Shadow looked down at her hooves, embarrassed. “I don’t need a home.” she muttered, mostly to herself.
Mrs. Cake watched her for a moment, then gave her shoulder a light, steadying touch. “Well… would you like one?”
Tempest looked up at her, her eyes dark and distrusting under heavy brows.
“We can call you Tempest, and you don’t have to pretend to be our daughter, if you don’t want to.” Mrs. Cake said gently, offering her a small, wet smile, brushing away a few stray tears as she spoke.
“I’d sure miss you if you left, but - we want what’s best for you.” Mr. Cake agreed softly, and reached out to give her other shoulder a little pat, too. “If you’d be happier somewhere else, we’ll help you find a good place to live.”
Tempest Shadow considered her hooves for a few moments, and then replied, in a very small voice, “I didn’t mind being Fizzy.”
Mrs. Cake stared at her for a moment, then burst into tearful laughter as she wrapped her up in a tight hug. “I enjoy having her around, too.” After a moment, Mr. Cake added his forelegs to the hug, and the trio held one another snugly. In a way, Tempest thought, she had come to the forest and found her parents; it just hadn’t worked out exactly the way she expected it to.
The trio of tearful bakers, now a family in more than just name, vanished under the canopy of trees as they made their way towards home, and out of the sight of a pony who stood atop the cliff. Another pony soon joined her, dropping down on powerful, silent wings.
“I trust you found the Ursa Minor,” Princess Celestia spoke lowly to her sister, her eyes still locked on the canopy.
“I did. He was frightened, but no lasting harm done.” Princess Luna nodded, following her sister’s gaze out into the forest.
“Good. It would not do to leave the mirror unprotected.” Princess Celestia’s voice dropped off, becoming less mellow, and more haggard. “Not after last time.”
A chill ran through Princess Luna, and she nodded, grateful that she could catch no sign of Tempest Shadow or the Cakes through the trees.
“Will it be safe?” Luna asked after a moment, unable to keep her eyes away from her sister’s face for long, her own filled with fear. “For them to know?”
“They think it is a myth, a fairy tale meant to frighten foals; let them believe that. It is a kindness to them.” Princess Celestia spread her wings sharply, and dropped from the cliff, taking flight. Princess Luna followed, and the pair disappeared into the dark night, the moon shining on their wings.
