Tempest Shadow lay on her back underneath the covers. She sighed, gazing upwards at the ceiling, her mind wandering to places, to memories, she'd really prefer to forget.
"I'm so sorry you felt so alone..."
"I saw the truth. My "friends" abandoned me when times got tough."
She glanced over to Twilight, smirking.
"Looks like I'm not the only one."
Twilight averted her gaze downwards, only giving her more satisfaction.
"Face it, princess. Friendship has failed you, too."
Tempest closed her eyes in an attempt to stop a few stray tears from falling down her face. She kept reminding herself of how she didn't deserve the treatment she received. All Twilight and her friends had ever done since after the attack is show her a kindness, compassion and love she had never thought possible. Tempest was given a warm bed, 6 welcoming and loving friends, food on the table, a castle, for Celestia's sake!
And she had convinced herself that she deserved none of it. The amount of suffering, pain and loss she and her army caused was indescribable. She'd turned from a fierce leader, capable of commanding thousands of troops to do whatever she saw fit - somepony who was confident and with a clear, set goal - into a confused and, quite frankly, scared pony.
Tempest had never been a pony for "feelings" or "emotions" - she'd always considered it stupid to waste time on such petty matters - but Twilight and her friends had shown her that sometimes it's great to be able to talk to other ponies, to not be afraid to be you.
Fizzlepop glanced over to the clock beside her.
00:39
She let out an elongated sigh, hesitating for a few moments, before pushing herself off the bed and slowly trotting over to the doors. Her horn lit up momentarily, and the doors slowly creaked open. Tempest peeked her head out the door, checking left and right to see if the coast was clear. She perked her ears up, checking for any sound. When there was none, she walked up the corridor, taking a left to the balcony.
Upon arriving, she had noticed a small telescope to her right.
"Huh. Maybe Twilight's into stargazing." She thought to herself, smiling. "Maybe... I could have a look."
She glanced behind her, looking as if she was about to commit some crime against ponykind, and then averted her gaze back towards the telescope. Tempest trotted up to it slowly, closing one of her eyes and pressing the other to the lens. Adjusting it, she let out a small gasp of amazement as she gazed upon a particularly bright star. It was beautiful
She jumped suddenly, letting out a gasp as she heard a voice.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
She recognized that voice. Tempest quickly turned around, pushing the telescope back to its place prior with her rear hoof.
"T-Twilight! I was just, um... er... getting some fresh air!" Tempest stammered, averting her gaze downwards - anywhere to avoid eye contact.
Twilight giggled in amusement, trotting beside Tempest and laying down, looking up at her and patting the space beside her.
"Come. Sit."
It was more of an offer than a command - an offer to which Tempest happily obliged. She sat down beside Twilight, gazing up into the night sky.
A few minutes of silence passed between the two. Not awkward, silence, however. More of a serene, peaceful silence. Tempest stared downwards at the concrete of the balcony, inhaling slowly before speaking.
"You're not mad at me about the telescope, are you?" Tempest asked, a red tint appearing on her muzzle.
Twilight giggled, averting her gaze towards her purple friend.
"Of course not, silly," Twilight smiled "It wasn't really being used much, anyway. Spike and I used to stargze a lot. We... don't do it so much anymore."
Twilight's smile faltered slightly. Now it was her turn to stare down at the concrete. The memory had obviously made her a bit disappointed.
The silence eneveloped them both again, this time slightly more awkward than last time. Twilight continued to stare at the concrete, Tempest gazing over to her and giving a small frown.
"Have you asked Spike about, maybe, doing it more often?" Fizzle queried.
Twilight shook her head.
"I don't want to force him to do something if he doesn't enjoy it. I always wait for him to ask me, first."
Fizzlepop smiled.
"Well, maybe he thinks you're not enjoying it. Maybe he's waiting for you to ask him first?"
There was a moment of silence between the two before Twilight spoke.
"You're right." Twilight smiled up at Tempest "Thank you."
Tempest just shrugged, blushing slightly and looking downwards.
"Why do you always have that armor on?" Twilight blurted out, albeit in an understanding tone.
Tempest turned to face Twilight, looking down at her armor and sighing.
"It's... um..." Tempest stammered, "more of a... 'protective' thing, you know? I feel a bit vulnerable without the armor on."
A few seconds of silence,
"Do you... trust me?"
Fizzle looked up to Twilight, locking gazes with her. She could only assume she was asking if she trusted her enough to take her armor off. She stammered, before falling silent. The pair lay there, gazing into each other's eyes. Tempest's gaze was defensive - hostile, even - whereas Twilight's was full of understanding and empathy.
Noticing this, Tempest's gaze softened and she looked downwards slowly, looking deep in thought. Fizzlepop had no reason not to trust her. She could have harmed her so many times, but didn't. She took her in, looked after her. But somehow this seemed different. It was almost like Tempest was opening up to her completely.
"I've never taken my armor off for anypony before." Tempest had said in an unusually vulnerable tone.
"You don't need to. I'm not forcing you. I just want to show you that you can trust me."
Twilight's voice had no sign of hostility in it. Instead, it was pure understanding and caring. Fizzlepop slowly reached a hoof up to the breastplate of her armor, hesitating for a few moments before, bit by bit, taking it off, revealing the patch of fur underneath it. Tempest stared downwards, clearly trying to mask the fearfulness on her face at being in such a vulnerable position.
Twilight reached a hoof over her friend, slowly pulling her into a tight hug. A few seconds passed and Tempest had remained stock still. Fearing she had crossed the line, she slowly began to recoil from the hug, before Fizzlepop held her hoof there with her own.
"Twilight... why?" She had managed to blurt out.
She cocked her head to the side, frowning.
"Why... what?"
Tempest sighed, averting her gaze downwards.
"I... don't deserve any of this. I helped the Storm King. I brought an entire army to attack Ponyville, I locked you in a cage, I froze 3 of the 4 princesses in stone! And for what? All for my own selfish reasons. All to get my horn back!"
Twilight didn't say anything. Instead, she reached her hooves around the few remaining pieces of armor, slowly removing them one by one. She nuzzled gently into Fizzlepop's fluffy side, resting her head there. After a few moments, she began to speak.
"That may be true. You might have done all of those things. But after everything you did, you were going to sacrifice yourself so we could save every pony. You realized the wrong in your actions and did your best to resolve them. That is good enough for me. All I ask is that you-"
"Don't go mad with power, team up with a supervillian, freeze the princesses, attack cities and enslave ponies just so I can get my horn back?"
Twilight smiled at her, shaking her head slowly.
"Yes, that. But I also ask that you try to move foward. You're never going to be able to move on from things if you're stuck in the past, right?"
"Yeah, I... I guess you're right." Tempest responded.
Twilight slowly removed her head from Tempest's side, crawling upwards so that they were next to each other. She placed her hoof on top of Fizzlepop's, nuzzling into her neck gently. She responded by resting her head on top of her's. Twilight rubbed her hoof gently.
"I..." Tempest began
"I do too, you silly pony~..."
Author's Note
Woot! Story done - check! Proof read - check! Still no idea if the pacing was crap - check!
Hope you enjoyed this lil story. It took me about an hour and a half to make. I'm fully aware I'm not the best story writer, so any constructive criticism is grealty appreciated1
Thanks!