Tempest Shadow never thought she’d be envious of any other pony in the world, considering who she was and all, but here she sat on the outskirts of her old village too afraid to move one more step inside the town’s borders. She sighed to herself, any other pony probably would have just taken those next few steps into the town easily enough, but Tem-No, Fizzlepop found herself unable to do so.
It was a force of habit really, Fizzlepop continuously referring to herself by the name she’d chosen for herself after she left her hometown and her past behind. She was trying to break it, and slowly but surely she was managing to succeed in that endeavor. She wanted to at least put in some effort into becoming like her old self again, but Fizzlepop had high doubts that would ever happen… completely at least.
Her time under the Storm King’s thumb, well it had molded and crafted her into something that was almost a far cry from the pony she once was. It had started shortly before the Storm King found her, when that folly of protecting herself against an Ursa Minor had cost her that horn of hers, and by extension the ability to do magic leaving her a simple shadow of her former self.
Tempest Shadow, that’s why she’d picked out that name in hindsight. She was a shadow of her former self, surly and closed off to the world, only when pressed she’d unleash a broiling torrent of rage. A tempest that was nigh-impossible to quell. Life experiences had steeled her, forged her into something entirely new that in hindsight while she thought made her ready to face the world ahead, had instead in fact made her grow up far too fast.
It would have taken a miracle for someone to even break through the shell Tempest had forged for herself really, and yet by honest to Celestia chance Twilight had. Fizzlepop cursed herself, there she was again, calling herself by that name. It would be a slow, but steady transition to be sure, becoming a working fully functioning member of pony society once more. She honestly didn’t even know what her place in life was right now. Twilight had offered to place her as captain of her personal guard, but Fizzlepop had declined saying she wasn’t quite sure if she was ready to put on any form of armor once more, even if to defend this time instead of to help conquer.
Fizzlepop had wanted to distance herself from that part of her past as much as she could, and Twilight honestly couldn’t have blamed her. Fizzlepop smiled, a tear slowly rolling down her face before she wiped it away before anyone could see it. That mare, she thought, she was far too kind for her own good. Twilight should have just let her fall, would have done the world a bit of a favor. One less madmare for it to contend with, and the most feared pony in generations would have simply faded away in Equestria’s memory. And yet Twilight, damn her, would have none of that.
If a psychiatrist could peer open into Fizzlepop’s head, just look inside they would have been aghast at what they would have seen, terrified for her and her future. Fizzlepop was a mess, and she knew it. It would have been more surprising to a psychiatrist if Fizzlepop was a mare who could be called completely normal in the psychological department. Fizzlepop chuckled, normal was overrated anyhow. Least that’s what that pink thing loved to spout off. Fizzlepop rarely listened to her, with Pinkie being far too hyperactive and cheery for her tastes but in this case she had. Normality, she had to admit, was fairly boring.
Taking a deep shuddering breath and mustering up all of her courage, Fizzlepop slowly stepped into her village. She took another step, and then another knowing all eyes were on her. Maybe they didn’t recognize her, Fizzlepop hoped they didn’t. Last thing she needed were fearful ponies backing away from her and slamming their front doors shut in terror of her, when all she was trying to do was making a new life for herself. Or at least trying to do so anyways.
Fizzlepop knew she didn’t have to go this alone, Twilight’s former student Starlight something or other -Fizzlepop didn’t bother to remember every name she ever came across, only the ones she deemed important- had offered to come with her. Starlight had said she too knew exactly what it was like having trouble facing one’s past. She said she could easily offer emotional support whenever needed. But Fizzlepop had declined saying this was something she simply had to do alone, and Starlight had backed off with a simple nod of understanding.
Fizzlepop smiled in remembrance. It seemed for her village, time had stood still. It had barely changed at all really. Sure, a few more vines creeped up the stone walls of some of the cottages and some of the ponies looked that just little bit older but for the most part, nothing seemed to have really majorly changed. The same mom and pop stores were still here, ponies still went about their day to day business as ever worried about the same old things as ever and that forest that hide that fateful cave was still there. Granted, Fizzlepop had heard a few years back Princess Celestia -bless her soul- had heard of the Ursa Minor residing dangerously close to the village and its ponies and had taken action personally driving it out of the cave and to some forest in some far off land so it was no longer an issue. Tempest wiped another tear away from her face, smiling at the fact that particular member of the species would never trouble anyone ever again, never ruin another single pony life as long as it lived. Tempest took a personal satisfaction in that at least one nightmare for her, was long gone.
By pure chance, Fizzlepop found herself wandering into this store she and her friends often visited in her youth. It was this general store, with home-made confections that could probably -at least in her mind- beat those sold by either Bon-Bon or the Cakes. She didn’t know, she might have been biased Fizzlepop thought with a small smile.
The store, it had always been run by this kind stallion who always worried about everypony’s business, like whether they needed help rooting out a mole infestation or needed a little bit of extra food and always helped out whenever someone needed it. Fizzlepop sighed, during her time as the Storm King’s right-hand mare, the stallion was one of the few parts of her past she always allowed herself to drift off to. She regretfully admitted perhaps, just perhaps leaving town and leaving him to worry was always some sort of mistake even back when she was Tempest. But then her thoughts always drifted back to her fillyhood friends, and the fear along with they and the rest of the townsponies had always shown whenever she tried to do magic but always ended up firing off these erratic blasts of sparks and lightning.
Fizzlepop shook her head, that was in the past, she came here to face it yes but she also had to look towards the future. She was a changed mare now, wasn’t she? She chuckled as she saw an older -far older in fact- version of the stallion come out from behind the countertop exiting the storeroom. She had always forgotten whenever he heard the ring of that bell above the door he always came out eager to meet his customer’s needs. Tartarus, she’d forgotten about the bell to begin with.
“H-Hello?” the old stallion asked, the lines and wrinkles on his face showing the passing of many a year. 25 years, in fact.
“Sugar Staff?” Fizzlepop breathed out.
“Yes, who are you?” Sugar Staff asked, his sea-blue eyes watching Fizzlepop as she wandered about the store, breathing in old smells and taking in the atmosphere. “You… You know,” Sugar continued his voice shaky and rattley from age, now having to walk with a cane. Fizzlepop not for the first time felt a pang of guilt rush through her like a torrent. She should have checked up on Sugar sooner, she knew it. All the while, the aging stallion continued. “You look like this filly that used to come in here with her friends. Sweet girl really, always excited about everything. Always commented on how she was going to make it big one day, get accepted into Celestia’s personal school for extremely gifted unicorns.”
“I’d… I’d almost forgotten.” Fizzlepop whispered out in a tone of voice far too soft for anyone to hear.
“Never knew what happened to her really,” Sugar whispered sadly. “Soon as she just up and vanished, I think some of the life of the town just went with her.”
Fizzlepop’s eyes widened. The town… even after she became this freak of ponykind, it missed her? It actually missed her?
“By the way, you never told me who you were. I do like to know the names of whoever passes through the town after all. I like to think, anyone who passes through, well they always bring new charm and new memories into this place, this town,” Sugar continued and Fizzle smiled.
“Just a pony. Nothing more, and nothing less,” Fizzlepop replied not sure if she should give up her real name just yet. “Just a pony who’s passing through.”
“Just a pony huh?” Sugar remarked. “I’ll be sure to remember that. So, why’d you stop here in town anyways? Not like we’re particularly well known, most don’t think of us far away from the capitol as we are. Beyond us, there’s only Sire’s Hollow and then just nothingness except for the wilds.” he sighed sadly.
“I used to live here, just catching up on old memories and seeing how the town’s changed. Glad to see it hasn’t, not really,” Fizzlepop replied.
“Used to live here huh? Huh, you’d think I’d have remembered a mare such as unique as your…” Sugar trailed off before his eyes widened in recognition and his expression looked haunted. “F-Fizzlepop?” he breathed out scarcely able to believe it.
“Yeah, it’s me Sugar,” Fizzlepop replied bringing him into a hug. “I’ve missed you, you know that right?”
“Oh, these old bones…” Sugar commented after being released from the hug and wiped away a tear from his eye. “Not sure they’d be able to take another hug like that, brittle as they are. But it’s so good to see you again. It’s so good. Never thought…”
“Yeah, neither did I… Dad,” Fizzlepop smiled. “It’s so good to be home.”
“So, I assume you’re here for more than just to catch up with this old buck, right?” Sugar Staff asked. “You’re here to look for them aren’t you?”
Fizzlepop’s eyes widened.
“Oh, don’t give me that look,” her father replied. “I know you all too well Fizzy, I’m your father after all.”
“Yeah…” Fizzlepop sighed, shuffling her hooves. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry for running off on them like I did, and maybe… just maybe find out what happened to them. Hoped that maybe, they might help me find my place in this world. Been wanting one of those lately.” she chuckled.
“They’re still in town, you know. They never left,” Sugar replied. “Always held out hope that you would return, even as the years passed and that hope grew dimmer still.”
“B-But,” Tempest stammered out. “Last time I saw them, they were afraid of me! Tartarus, aside from you, the whole town was!”
“And I gave them a right chewing out for it, I did,” Sugar replied. “Felt mighty ashamed of themselves after that. They were kids, so I couldn’t blame them. Kids, they’re afraid of what they don’t understand. But that horn of yours, Fizzy?” Sugar asked, placing a hoof on top of it. “That’s what makes you… you. It’s what makes you a very special pony. Normally, a pony with your condition, they would have thrown in the towel long ago. But you, it seems you just kept soldering on.”
“Yeah…” Fizzlepop replied. “Yeah, guess I did. So… I have to ask, what happened to Spring Rain, and to Glimmer?”
“Ah well, time goes by and ponies change. In some ways you might have expected, in others you might not have,” Sugar replied. “But I suppose it’s best you see them for yourself am I right Fizzle? That is what you came here for right?” he asked with a small wink.
“Yeah… Yeah, it is. Thank you Dad.”
“Anytime.”
Fizzle found herself wandering through the town, remembering the old cobblestone streets and dirt paths and every which way they led. She never really was one to comment on beauty she supposed, but even she had to admit nothing could really encapture the wonder of what came after a summer storm. Rain puddles glistening and glimmering in the sun, shining bright as it just peeked through the clouds touching everything it could with its rays. By chance, or perhaps not Tempest found herself right in front of Rain’s old home. She smiled, it hadn’t changed a bit. Sure, it had worn with age like everything else but for the most part it was exactly how she remembered it.
A small brief string of fear ran through her as she knocked on the door, wondering if Spring had heard exactly of what Fizzlepop had done after she’d ran from the town and become Commander Tempest Shadow. Would he reject her? Would he tell her to just run away, and never return? Tartarus, would he even remember her? It had been so long after all.
Sure, what they did was cruel, and heartless it could probably be said Fizzlepop thought to herself, but did she really have any place to lecture anypony on that she wondered. After all, given what she’d done since then she probably could be called much worse. Kids could be forgiven after all, what she did could never be.
Steeling herself, Fizzlepop was ready. Or at least she thought she was before the very familiar form of Spring Rain opened the door, eyes briefly widening in shock before he pulled her into a hug.
“Fizzle?” Spring asked, his eyes welling with tears seemingly harboring no ill will towards her. In the back of her mind, a nasty little voice said to Fizzle maybe he hadn’t heard of what she’d done yet. Maybe once he did, things would change between them. “Is...Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me Springy,” Fizzle replied using a almost long forgotten fillyhood nickname, her eyes a little moist as well loathe as she was to admit it. “I’m home.”
No running, Fizzlepop told herself. No running away now. She had to face her demons head on.
Spring Rain’s ears drooped, and he sat himself on his haunches not even bearing to look at Fizzlepop. Her eyes widened in shock. It was almost like he was… ashamed? Of all the things Fizzlepop had been expected, this was certainly pretty low on the totem pole as it were. Spring Rain was slouching his shoulders, his head hung low staring directly at the ground. “I… I thought I’d never see you again. Me or Glitter.” he whispered.
Fizzlepop didn’t reply. After all, how could she? She certainly wasn’t expecting shame as a reaction.
With a hoof, Fizzle lifted Sping Rain’s head up to look at hers, eyes meeting. “It’s okay, I forgive you. Goddess knows I shouldn’t but… I do. What you did, well it hurt yes, but you and Glitter, you were just kids then. You couldn’t have known any better. Neither could have I, when I ran. I did what I thought was best at the time, I let my emotions get the better of me.”
With that, she returned the hug Spring had initiated. “Please, can I come in?” Fizzle requested. “I’d… I’d like to see how life’s been treating you.”
Spring smiled. “Please, it’d be my honor. After all, what less can I do than to accept a request from a hero of Equestria?”
Fizzle’s eyes widened in abject shock. “Me… Me a hero?” she asked, the words sounding hollow, wrong in her mouth. She was certainly no hero, not after all she’d done.
“I know what you’re thinking Fizzle. But trust me, I think of you as a hero,” Spring replied. “Sure, you made mistakes, just like me and Glitter, but you turned yourself around. And if Princess Twilight likes you, can I do no less? To be honest... “ he sighed. “You’re a lot better of a pony than I am.”
“What…?” Fizzle replied. “But-”
“I chased you away, me and Glitter,” Spring replied as he and Fizzle found themselves sitting on the living room couch. “I turned you into that pony. For that, I’m sorry.”
“What you did, you did it out of simple fear,” Fizzlepop replied. “There’s no sense in beating yourself up over it!”
“How… How can you be so kind?” Spring asked.
“Because I understand life now. I’m older and wiser now, nor so much full of rage as I once was.”
A familiar voice joined Spring’s. Someone Fizzlepop thought she’d never hear ever again, and at one point in her lift thought she never would want to for that matter. “It didn’t take long for us to realize what we did, Fizzle,” Glitter Drops said as she sat down besides her husband. It wasn’t that hard to figure out. Fizzle had noticed the photograph of the two atop the mantel smiling happily. So how times changed, she thought, realizing what her father meant now. “We searched for weeks Fizzle, the whole town did. Me and Spring, we felt sick to our stomachs realizing just how much we hurt you, and even though we never found a trace of you…” she continued resting a hoof on Fizzle’s shoulder. “We never lost hope. Even when we heard about the mare you became, we always hoped that a small part of you survived inside that shell you built for yourself. The one you created to hide all the pain, all the hurt.”
“T-Thank you…” Fizzlepop whispered. “No, thank you. Thank you for believing in me when even I couldn’t believe in myself. ...Celestia above, that sounded so corny.”
“Well, you have been spending time around Princess Twilight…” Glitter laughed, and Fizzlepop returned it.
“Yeah, perhaps I have.”
The threesome exchanged stories long into the evening, catching up on how life had treated them. To Fizzlepop’s great surprise and joy, as it turned out Glitter was pregnant with her first child. Although she didn’t know if it was going to be a filly or a colt yet, she wanted nothing more than Fizzlepop to be the child’s godmother.
When Fizzlepop heard, she nearly burst into tears of happiness right then and there. “It… It would be my honor.”
She then slapped a hoof to her face. What the Tartarus did she know about taking care of a child? Noticing Fizzlepop’s worry, Glitter smiled and said this.
“Neither do I, but I’ve heard no mare every really does. It’s just something you pick up along the way,” she told her old friend reassuringly. “It’s alright Fizzy, we’ll be alright. I can still call you that right?” she asked worriedly. Fizzlepop knew the reason for her worry, it was the same worry Spring Rain shared. Shame for not being eligible to even call her by her fillyhood nickname after what both of them did.
“I… I suppose you’re right,” Fizzlepop smiled at her old friend for perhaps the first time in what felt like forever. “And yeah, you can still call me that. You never lost the right to. Like I said, I’m older and wiser now, not so full of hate. I think we’re all a little wiser now aren’t we?”
“Yeah… Yeah, I think we are,” Glitter replied old wounds slowly beginning to mend themselves bit by bit, all the pain and the hurt being replaced by something far more wonderful. Memories of her old life slowly returned to Fizzlepop, this time not so despised. This time, she only too happily embraced them for what they were.
The parts of her life that helped shape her into the mare she was today. The Storm King wasn’t entirely responsible for making her grow into the powerful mare she liked to think herself as after all. No, these two, they were as well. Good times and the bad ones they shared together, Spring Rain and Glitter Drops helped turn Fizzlepop into who she was today.
And for that, she actually would have to thank them. They’d probably never believe her if she said it, but she did want to thank them for everything they did. Even that. Pain, after all, could be a gift if you looked at it the right way. After all, without the capacity for pain, nopony could ever feel the hurt they ever inflicted unknowingly or otherwise.
“And maybe I do know a thing or two about taking care of a child,” Fizzlepop replied. “After all, there’s Grubber.”
“The hedgehog?” Spring Rain blinked, still unable to get over the fact that one of Fizzlepop’s best friends was a hedgehog with a love for sponge cake of all things.
“Yeah. When I found him, he was just as young as I was. I had to practically raise him. Two misfits, together. No, he’s more than just a best friend, he’s like my little brother I never knew I wanted. I’d never say that aloud, at least to his face anyways, but that’s what he’s like to me.”
“That’s… That’s wonderful Fizzy,” Glitter smiled before her face fell.
“What’s wrong?” Fizzlepop asked.
“It’s just… Well, I know it’s getting late and I know you’ll have to leave soon if you want to make Ponyville by tomorrow but before you go… Well, we want you to have something,” Glitter replied before going into another room and returning a very familiar yellow ball in hoof.
“That’s…” Fizzlepop started, her breath catching itself in her throat.
“I know,” Spring Rain replied. “You don’t have to take it, not if you don’t want to. Only reason we kept this, well we kept it as a reminder. Just to remind ourselves every day of all the pain and hurt we inflicted upon you. I know… By Celestia I know this thing holds nothing but bad memories for you, but will you take it? As a token of our friendship -our true friendship- and our forgiveness?” Spring asked, in this pleading tone of voice.
Tempest, at a time would have wanted nothing better than to never see that damned thing ever again. She would have probably zapped it to pieces upon the first sight of it, a few years ago. But now? She just couldn’t find it in herself to do such a thing. After all, this was still an important object for her, a symbol of memories long since past that had forged her like fire into the mare she was today.
“I’ll do you one better,” Fizzlepop replied after what seemed like a eternity. “Here, catch!”
With that, she threw the ball towards Spring, who smiled upon catching it and kicked it back towards Fizzlepop.
“Two points, and she scores!” Glitter cheered. “Thank you Fizzle, thank you.”
“No,” Fizzlepop corrected with a smile as she saw a heart glowing on her flank. A heart with a bandage across it, the sign of forgiveness. “Thank you. After all these years, I finally know my place.”
After waving both Glitter and Spring goodbye, and promising to write Fizzle set back on the long road home, a changed mare now more than ready to face the future and whatever came with it.
The End.
Author's Note
You know, I never thought I'd be returning to writing Fizzlepop again, not after Destiny's Play, but this idea... well, it came upon me and honestly it just wouldn't leave me until I did something about it.
Plus, I was looking for an excuse to move away from Toku type stories anyways, and writing one of my favorite new MLP characters is always fun. Wasn't as hard to write this time around, Tempest's unique mindset. Then again, I guess I've had more experience since "She Smells of Berries."
I really have to thank Whinifree and his story "I Hear the Stars" for providing me major inspiration on how to write the final act of this story, so thank you man. Seriously, thank you. Always a bundle of fun, you are. And thank you to Seriff Pilcrow for providing me the names to Fizzlepop's childhood friends and thank you to Fourshadow for giving me the name for Fizzle's daddy, who I based off of Gibbs Senior from NCIS for the record. Interesting fact? Turns out Fizzlepop originated in G3 of all places, as a pony named Fizzy Pop, who bore an identical color scheme and a love for fireworks. Huh. More you know right?
Anyways, comments and thoughts are welcomed as always.
