Tempest Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
“Really Starswirl, I’m certain I can pop back to my castle and find a cure!”
“Twilight…”
“- Starlight’s had experience in sensory manipulation, she'd be happy to help!”
“Twilight…”
“Maybe Fluttershy can chip in too, she said that Angel’s had this problem before and-”
“Princess Twilight!” The response from Starswirl had a touch more bark than he’d wanted. He had to get Twilight back on track, though. “I did not actually mean it when I said I had to have suffered ‘a trick of the ears’! Just…” He took a deep breath. “Start from the top again. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
The alicorn blinked. “Well, alright. S-since you’re the greatest unicorn of ancient times-”
“A bit lofty a title, but continue.”
“-and you’ve likely had scenarios around what might happen if your magic was vamoosed…”
Starswirl fought down a pang of dread as he answered in the affirmative. “Vamoosed?” he tentatively added.
“Pinkie’s words, not mine. Sorry. So now, with Fizzl- I mean Tempest, free from the Storm King’s influence, surely you’ve got a way to bring back her hor-!”
“Aaaaaaaaand stop.” So Starswirl hadn’t misheard. The alicorn before her had just gone completely senile. That was it. He thought for a minute of tagging in Mistmane. No, no. We’ve gone through too much: from her, its charming.
Princess Twilight was undeterred, however. “Please, Starswirl! Even at the festival, you said she was a victim!”
“Yes – entitling her to counsel, comfort, one of my kidneys if need be. Magic, however, is an imposition.”
“But-“
“I am not giving a betrayer of Equestria a magic horn.”
Twilight had a counter ready. “But she was being forced to act that way by the Storm King!”
“I am not giving a brainwashed betrayer of Equestria a magic horn.”
“And she lost her horn before meeting the Storm King!” Surely that would change his mind!
Starswirl’s eyes narrowed. “Well then, Miss Sparkle, allow me to rethink.” Barely five seconds passed before he handed down his verdict. "And the answer is: I am not giving a brain-damaged and brain-washed betrayer of Equestria a magic horn.”
Just dig yourself deeper, why don't you Twilight? She had to try again. “I can watch over her! Make sure she doesn’t abuse the power again.”
Starswirl pointed to the vast expanse of nothing next to the princess. “Twilight, that you are here, and Tempest is not, means one of two things. That Tempest is too guilty to show up here – guilt which I will not interrupt her procession of - or that you did this behind her back, which I will not enable by agreeing to.”
The response from the desperate alicorn perked Starswirl’s eyes – and ears – up. “Look, Starswirl! I… I have to do right by her. Equestria failed her so many times. And just because she prefers to keep her silence, doesn’t mean I have to! Please, for my sake… if not hers.”
Starswirl sighed heavily. ”Fine, Twilight. Know this: Tempest’s actions fly against everything I fought for. But you wish to show she is worthy even if she is not here. I am not so... heartless as to ignore such a selfless gesture. But not without seeing how far your vigilance goes in service to the fallout from this action. So I will present my arguments and you yours - our three best reasons.”
Goodness, Celestia could start raising Twilight every morning with how she beamed.
“Without speaking.”
And Tirek had to be wondering why her dropped jaw had burst through his bathroom’s ceiling. ”B-but why, Starswirl?” she stuttered.
“If Tempest's voice cannot reach me for an act that benefits her, neither will yours.” Certainly, thought Starswirl, it did sound a touch better than ‘Keeping the throat fresh for a yodeling contest in Yakyakistan’. Greatest unicorns of the millennium still had social lives to keep, after all. “Beginning now.”
The alicorn, eyes still wide, clamped her jaw shut. Starswirl swallowed thickly, restraint from assuaging Twilight holding firm. She was a princess, if she couldn’t read the bodies and actions of a pony, her promise to keep Tempest on the straight and narrow wouldn’t hold water. Beginning with a simple show, three ruby gems flashed before him. Both he and Twilight knew what creature used these. What better way to show power corrupts? Honestly, handing her a horn may as well be giving Adagio her fourth Siren!
Twilight's eyes widened at the jewels before her. After a short moment, her hooves went to her own horn, fizzling even though no specific object was summoned forth.
Well, yes Twilight does have magic - lots of it, in fact- but that wasn’t enough to stop the Sirens, though! No, but it was... a tool! Like these gems. Perhaps that was Twilight’s point – that it wasn’t the power, but the pony, that determined how it was used. And Twilight’s journeys through Equestria left her with more than enough allies to counter Tempest! Starlight’s redemption proved that much!
Twilight had come out strong. But Starswirl’s next motion would right these scales, so certain was he. A slight nod from the unicorn set Twilight's heart at ease - only for it to lurch again as Chrysalis materialized before him, the facsimile for the ex-queen of the changelings lying atop a giant throne making her take several steps back. To its side, Starswirl grimly pointed to it.
The Storm King is far from the only threat in Equestria, and if somepony like Tempest falls to their whims… or worse, someone uses her form to get close to you? How could Starswirl introduce that much risk to such a prodigious princess? Best for her and Tempest’s sake he did not hand out another knife fit for Twilight’s back.
Realizing Twilight’s gnawing worry, another flash of his horn sent the statue whipping away into a portal. Starswirl drew up to his full height. Twilight, however, could only jab her hooves at the shelf closest to Starswirl. Filling its endless shelves were several dozen thick books, the largest tomes obscured but a table with paper bags folding in a stack above it. Just in case one of them needed to be taken out while keeping it safe from the elements.
Current company excluded.
It took Starswirl moments to realize just what Twilight had to be pointing at. It was a ledger on the Rainbow of Darkness. Before, it was one of the many things that Tirek had used to overtake the world in his time, and…. There was nopony around to stop him from getting it. He’d come so close to domination, and there almost weren’t enough ponies to stop him. And here sat Starswirl the Belligerent, about to starve Equestria of mares of action again? Nay, he thought. If I refuse, it cannot be because of my own fears.
Starswirl, after a moment of contemplation, went for his third silent motion. With an indigo flash from his igniting horn, a small ficus tree in a pottery jar appeared before him. Pointing to it, Starswirl awaited Twilight’s response, futile as he believed it would be.
Surely Twilight will understand now, he thought, studying its freshly trimmed leaves. Every part of this plant represents the lush life of Equestria, all its promise and providence… and all that Tempest Shadow nearly let the Storm King destroy, even without magic! Princess Twilight is forgiving, but not that forgiving – the Storm King’s fate has proven that!
But just as Twilight’s mouth threatened to open, the door behind her did, another quadruped bounding into the library. “Um, sorry Twilight. I've just got called by Somnam to help fill in for her next class! I brought you your hay fries before I g–oh!”
Starswirl’s eyes widened at the new pony that had entered the library. After those eyes returned to Twilight, the alicorn shivered, looking like she’d jump out of her coat. The newest entry into the study was undeterred. “So… do you want me to leave this here or….”
Starswirl finally spoke, a break in the din overtaking the room. “I… can see why you’re a Princess now, Twilight. All over again. To think, I started this off complaining of the power given to an unstable unicorn, and… then you show me him. To remind me of my hubris. I’d… done so much damage to his life because of a misunderstanding. All of us Pillars did.” His eyes turned downward, pearl-white beard tickling at his forelegs. “Very well, Miss Sparkle. If the pony before me was worth a second chance, so is the one you know of now. Tell Tempest…. I’ll need time to work out something for her. I must set to work now.”
“T-thank you, Starswirl.” Twilight, despite being rooted to the floor in shock, was sure Rainbow Dash could knock her over with a feather.
She’d won.
She’d won!
She’d out-argued Starswirl the Bearded! She’d only dared to dress up like him so many Nightmare Nights ago, and here she was, in his study, butting heads!
Well not literally. They had horns and all, and “Princess Impales Brightest Mind in Equestria Because Reasons” wouldn’t look good in an autobiography. Spike would write it anyways, but still.
But Starswirl blinked! He blinked! She should've been victory dancing in front of Cadance right now!
So why was her stomach still acting like a jar of Zap Apple Jam had been upended in it?
Mentally, Twilight also reminded herself to make definitely, absolutely sure she never had a drinking contest with Dash again. Totally unrelated. Totally.
As the legendary wizard of Equestria nodded one last time to Twilight, the pony beside her blinked. Once. Twice. “W…want to tell me what that was about?”
Twilight waited until the echoes of Starswirl’s hooves disappeared into his study before responding. “I’ll… tell you later. And thanks.”
The pony beside her raised an eyebrow. “Is this a ‘wait till I’m older’ thing? Because I’d like to remind you I’m technical-”
“Yes yes I get it let’sgetgoingthankyou!” Twilight’s flight back to Ponyville soil could have set a land-speed record. But for once, the grateful alicorn was not looking to be in a book. Some victories didn’t need posterity.
“An’ he agreed just like that?”
“Just like that.” Twilight replicated the same hoofclap that Applejack did. Rarity raised an eyebrow at this, her forelimbs busy with readjusting Applejack’s freshly washed hair into a braid once again. “But I know how it went at first!”
“Do explain, Twilight.” An eyebrow curled up as Tempest Shadow made her request. Next to her, Rarity’s hooves were like knitting needles, jutting back and forth with surgical precision as she weaved the blond strands before her together.
“Well…” Twilight rubbed at her chin. “First Starswirl said that he was going to destroy Tempest, like Sunset and I destroyed the Sirens’ gems, and... I couldn’t let that happen! Tempest is not Adagio! She’s not even like Discord!”
“I’m second in your mind now? So hurtful with your words, Princess Highlights!”
Twilight tried her best to pretend that disembodied voice ringing through the Carousel Boutique didn’t exist. Or that it might have been here since she burst into there hyperventilating just two minutes ago.
“Also, 'euuugh, euuugh, euuugh' is such a strange way to say ‘make this my castle’s doorbell chime’, but I live to serve, Twilight!”
… nevermind, who needed a whole door in their house anyway? It was just a sparkling crystal fortress, she was sure Celestia had more at home.
“I… would not blame him for seeking such an extreme option. He has long ago given himself and his Pillars’ lives for the safety of this world. It would only be natural that he would not take it… my actions well.” Tempest Shadow’s reply was as curt as it was chilling.
“Yeah well, that makes one of us! The bonds of our friendship are what let us shatter the plans of that Storm King!” Twilight pointed out. “And I pointed to the very thing I’d use to make sure you stayed on our side!” Her hooves again went to her horn.
Tempest Shadow’s head drooped. It looked like a bow at first, but even the purple alicorn could see the smile tugging at her lips. “I’m… touched, Twilight. You are as virtuous as your fellow princesses claim.”
Rarity stopped her ministrations with Applejack’s mane for a brief second. “Oh dear, what happened next?”
Twilight beamed. “Well, then Starswirl… he motioned that he could just use magic to turn back time and wipe Tempest from existence! I mean, I know of the damage her invasion caused, but this can’t be the way we use magic to undo it!“
“An’ ya managed to respond that usin’ that fancy sign language?” “Ah’m impressed, Twilight.”
Twilight's furious facial flush returned full force. “N-no! I tried to point toward a paper bag for me to hurl in, Applejack! That decision was insane! Thank goodness Starswirl agreed!”
As Twilight's stress fell from her in pants, Rarity slipped the Stetson hat over Applejack's head, her braiding completed. “Well then, darling, it must've been the last thing that helped you out – the last part of your silent vigil that broke through,” the albino-coated fashionista suggested. “Tell us, Twilight, what was it that got one of Equestria’s finest to help Miss Shadow?”
The Princess of Friendship shifted in her seat. Even now, the next four words of hers were never easy to utter. “I… have no idea.”
Twilight Sparkle, after several seconds, audibly gulped.
“He pulled out his lunch… then Stygian brought me mine.”
