Shattered Magic

Chapters

Everything That Falls Away
Cracks Amidst the Bedrock
Darkness Under the Sun
Nightmares Locked Away
Mark of Life Anew
Echo Chambers of Magic

Everything That Falls Away

She saw them mourn her.

She saw them lower her coffin into the ground and read out their speeches, crying the entire time amidst the dim, rainy skies.

She saw them talk to each other, all of them lost in a sense, their friend, their sister, their daughter, their beloved student, now just... gone. Forever.

She had given herself for them, as well as everyone else in the world that would've died because of the Storm King.

Tempest Shadow made sure nobody ever would've in the future.

The broken Unicorn watched Twilight Sparkle's friends leave her grave, barely able to pull their eyes away through their tears. They were clearly regretful; the last time they saw her, they weren't on the best of terms after she betrayed their trust, but now they wanted nothing for her to be back.

Her parents were next to leave, holding onto each other as they hid under their umbrella. They must've had barely any context for why their child died, and knew that she should've outlived them, but fate had other plans.

Next was Celestia, the mask that hid her emotions utterly shattered by what had transpired. The Alicorn definitely had greater plans for the mare she saw as a daughter, but those were never going to come to fruition.

Finally, there was just one creature left: Luna. She was the one to do the proceedings, as nobody else could possibly hold themselves together through it, but the Mare of the Night could. She was still clearly despondent and mourning, but it seems almost like she was expecting Twilight's life to get cut short, based on how much quicker she seemed to grapple with it all. Now, she was just standing before the filly's grave, hanging her head down as rain pulled her mane and tail to the grass, the stars and constellations that usually lifted it up now just painted across them.

Tempest stepped out from the shadow of the tree she was under, a ways away from the gravesite. She knew her presence would've interrupted things, and everyone there deserved better than to deal with her. At this point though, with just Luna remaining and clearly not moving any time soon, she decided to head over.

The rain drowned out her steps, but she could Luna already was aware of her presence--in all honesty, she probably knew she was there from the moment she arrived. For several seconds, the air was just filled with those noises as Tempest walked forward, even the chilly breeze that blew along her exposed coat being nearly inaudible underneath everything.

When she finally reached Twilight's grave, Tempest just moved to stand next to Luna before it, and saw the epitaph.

Twilight Sparkle
985 A.N. - 1005 A.N.

Friend to everyone, everywhere.

"She was far too young for this."

Tempest looked over at the Princess after she spoke, her words ringing utterly true in the Unicorn's mind. "It really shouldn't have been her. She..." She sighed out a deep, chilly breath, "She shouldn't have to have dealt with any of this stuff."

Luna nodded slowly and looked up at the grave as well. "One could certainly blame my sister for that. She's always had a bad habit of not being able to accept that she's wrong."

Watching the rain pour down the Alicorn's inexpressive face, Tempest asked, "Do you? Blame your sister, that is?"

"...Somewhat." Luna looked back at the other mare and elaborated, "'Tia kept Twilight close in her Palace for longer than she should've. She encouraged the filly to go out and make friends, but never forced her to until I nearly killed them." Taking a deep breath, likely from the guilt she felt in that statement, she then continued, "She kept pushing her to improve and learn more, but she was still far from ready to rule alongside us like my sister wanted."

Tempest silently nodded, recalling the irrationality the young mare displayed in her time as prisoner under the Storm King and the general foolishness she knew of long before then. Obviously, that triarchy would've still been decades away, and she doubted the efficacy of turning a nerdy goody-four-shoes into a Princess, but there was something else weighing more on her mind.

"Do you blame me?"

Luna paused at the question, having to close her eyes in thought for several seconds before opening them back up to reply, "...You were in a terrible place, and your hoof was forced by him. He's the one that wrought all of this, and you weren't able to stop it from happening." Turning her head to look at the Unicorn once more, she carefully added, "I can't say I enjoy being around you, Tempest, but to not at least be cordial about this... would both be disrespectful and hypocritical."

Tempest simply slowly nodded her head in response; she knew the other mare already knew she kept her distance for those same reasons.

"Do you blame yourself?"

Tempest didn't know how to respond to that, though. She froze on the spot in indecision and surprise, even as Luna continued to watch her with the same conflicted expression. Pulling her head away, the former Commander tried to think; she remembered the conversations she had with Twilight in harsh vividness, from her own taunting to understanding and freeing her after the Storm King showed his true colours, and she could recall the determination clear the younger mare's voice as she spoke about how she was going to stop him, no matter what. Tempest just didn't realize at the time she was willing to go that far on that promise.

In fact, it was that realization about how badly she messed up, both in her trust of the Storm King and misunderstanding of Twilight's willpower, that made her avenge the mare in question.

"...I don't know how much that matters," She finally replied, still looking away. "She made her choice, and I've made mine. There's no changing any of that."

"...But you still feel the need to make things right by her," Luna finished, drawing Tempest's gaze back up her. She really shouldn't have been surprised, with the Alicorn's own sins giving her more than enough empathy.

"You're a good mare, Tempest. You never deserved to be put in these situations either, and you can still make amends with everyone that knew her."

Tempest smiled wryly and replied, "Oh, don't tell me you're all going to try and 'reform' me like I'm some fool that just 'made some poor choices'."

Smiling with humour as well while she turned to look forward again, Luna responded with, "I know. I understand you're far more than that, and the forge that made you into what many would call a monster has also made you far stronger than them. No matter what the Elements have faced, they're still quite naïve."

Neither of them said anything for a moment after that, Tempest looking back to the grave and thinking on the Princess's words; she knew most ponies wouldn't be able to see past the sins she had done, and it was refreshing to speak with someone that knew better. But, as she recalled the ponies she had wronged, she was reminded of an oddity at the funeral...

"I'm surprised Cadanza wasn't here."

She heard Luna suck in a breath and seem to consider her words for a moment before answering the implied question with another, "Twilight's brother did not show up either." That distinctly pulled Tempest's sight over to her, letting her cautiously continue, "Her brother, Captain Shining Armour, if you recall him," She glanced over to see the nod of comprehension on the former Commander's face, "Was far too distraught with his sister's untimely death. He's been in denial ever since, and has delved deep into his work and tries obsessively hard to keep Equestria secure, and his wife is doing her best to keep him from doing something rash."

"...That's going to be all the more difficult for him since he hasn't come here yet," Tempest noted, looking back toward the grave once again.

Grunting and nodding slowly in agreement, Luna remained looking at the grave for several seconds, seemingly pondering something before finally saying, "I believe a lot of Equestria is going to be affected by this, and I do hope Cadance can keep the military in control while her husband remains in pain."

"How so?" Tempest asked in response, though already had a hunch of where it was going.

Taking a deep breath, Luna then spoke, "While other nations may try something against us while we're weakened, most will still respect our mourning. Internal politics will be more complicated, though; my sister has already tried to put things in place to give Twilight some hold in our government, and while I've prevented most of it from going into effect, there are still a few things--mostly just some flexibility in the numbers of Princesses and necessities for Twilight's presence in the Palace--that will need to be amended."

Tempest hummed in understanding, though it did make her ask, "I imagine you wanted to save that other stuff for later, correct?"

"..Somewhat," Luna replied with a second of hesitation. "But I was always aware that this may happen as well. With all of what they get up to and all that they face, I am honestly surprised it took this long for one of them to perish."

"Yeah, you did seem to be expecting this..." Tempest mused, but knew of everyone else's expressions as well, and added, "I don't think the others were at all, though."

"Well, as I said, they are quite naïve." Luna's tone became a bit more somber than normal as she continued, "They may all view me as cynical and a 'fun-killer', but I simply prefer being realistic. My sister's optimism and Cadance's enthusiasm may help with diplomacy, but in the possibility of war, my strict adherence to logic and honour is what keeps us on top."

Tempest gave a bit of a lopsided smirk as she recalled, "Well, that didn't seem to prove too helpful during our invasion, huh?"

Smiling a little as well, Luna looked over and responded, "Well, perhaps if we could have a proper fight instead of cheating with dark magic, then we could truly see who's better."

Turning to look back at the Princess as well, Tempest replied, "That'd be cool; I'd like to see someone that can match me in combat, too."

Turning back to the grave before them, their emotions fell away as something else became more prevalent in their minds.

"I always despise this feeling..." Luna begun slowly, considering her words as she looked at the grave with an almost apathetic expression, "Of someone with a full life and so much possibility getting killed. I've dealt with it countless times, yet it always feels underwhelming and... unfair, really."

"Yeah, this could've turned out countless other ways, but you could say that about just about anything she's dealt with..." Tempest mused in return. "I guess her luck just ran out, and... well," She laughed a bit to herself, looking up at the rainy sky above, "It's not like she didn't go out with a bang."

Nodding and grunting in agreement, Luna still saw fit to add, "I do suppose it's quite poetic. She was brought into power by little more than an accident, being in the right place at the right time..." Glancing over at the Unicorn to read the look of familiarity she had with the story, "And she was taken out of it in just the same way."

Cracks Amidst the Bedrock

Tempest Shadow sighed in disgust and disappointment. “Is that really what they called it?”

Princess Luna couldn’t hold back a scoff and replied simply, “Indeed they did.”

Sighing once again, Tempest walked through the threshold of what should’ve been a large and imposing Palace, but was instead awkwardly placed and stuck with the name of ‘Friendship Castle’. Luna followed just next to her, closing the massive main doors behind them with a loud noise that echoed across the crystalline main hall for several seconds.

“...They really don’t have much respect for anything, do they?”

Luna looked back to the irate Unicorn near her, then around at the... well, somewhat garish architecture, and commented back, “I believe that they value friendship more than anything else, so that would be a respectful name to them.”

Tempest rolled her eyes and shifted her head a bit uncomfortably. “...I guess.”

“Still, if you suppose that this place is some manner of sacred to them, then perhaps we are tainting it with our mere presence.”

Stopping in place as both mares were about halfway down the hall, Tempest gave a slight smirk over to the Alicorn, who stopped beside her, and said, “They said they believed in friendship in the face of everything, even literal Demons, Nightmares, and Gods, so...” Looking down the hall ahead of them to the main area, with the supposed ‘Friendship Map’ in the center of six thrones, she grimaced in jealousy and further disappointment, “...I guess they only care about their friendship remaining the same as it ever was.”

Luna paused for a moment to think, and eventually took a deep breath and spoke, “I have heard of some others they’ve attempted to add, but they are no less destructive than those seven alone, and such relations were always superficial in comparison, and never truly lasted.”

Lowering her gaze to the all-too-clean floor, Tempest soon responded wryly with, “They always keep brushing my ideology under the Storm King to the side, believing it to be completely wrong, but if their friendship is based on all this shit,” She gestured to the thrones ahead of her, and to the castle at large, “Then I clearly wasn’t completely wrong with believing friendship to be bullshit.”

Slowly nodding and starting to walk forward, letting the Unicorn raise her head and follow just behind, Luna replied succinctly, “But you’re not completely correct, either.” Letting the silence reign for several seconds as they trotted through the hall, their steps echoing about as they pondered their new circumstances, she eventually turned her head back to see and address the other mare, “They always like simplifying things, but... I always know better than that.

“I have always been the ‘odd one out’, as they say, in our relationships,” The Lunar Princess continued, getting closer to the thrones, “I am one thousand years behind this world’s society, I am nocturnal and find kinship with Thestrals, I am reserved and concise with my words, never wanting to ramble on and on... and above all else, I understand war. They--” She slowed down and turned around to face Tempest, though still kept moving backward towards the thrones, “--My friends, my sister, and everyone else, they all want peace. They want this world to be a utopia where no-one, not a single creature has to suffer for any reason, and no creature has to truly deal with the ramifications of their actions.

“But that’s not how the world works. I know that. You know that. And that’s what makes us different.”

Stopping next to the thrones, both mares put on hold their dialogue to observe the crystalline furniture, it seeming to be attached or grown out of the floor itself, and each throne beheld a carved image of the mark upon each of the Element’s flanks. There was a bolt from the blue, some balloons and confetti, peaceful butterflies, shiny apples, sparkling diamonds, and--

“...That’s not supposed to be like that, is it?”

Luna shook her head, staring at the six-pointed star upon Twilight’ throne, but the carving that was her mark now seemed as though it was improperly made, with cracks stringing out from multiple parts of it, webbing out lightly across the top section of the throne. “I fear...” She soon spoke, hesitant and wary, “That this entire building may eventually collapse because of...”

“Her death, yeah...” Tempest finished, though with her limited knowledge about the magic of friendship, she was uncertain about much at that moment.

“..No, actually,” Luna then amended, sharply bringing the other pony’s focus to her, “I mean, yes, that was the catalyst, but this is due to her friends falling away and there not being someone in her place to keep them together.”

“...I see,” The Unicorn replied at length, clearly annoyed and yet further disappointed.

Looking at the mare beside her as she turned her attention back to the cracked throne, Luna tapped a hoof idly in thought for several seconds, then looked over at the thrones to ponder something, finally beginning with, “She was the one that begun their friendship, out of circumstance and with a magical bond between them. The Elements themselves will not be able to function without all of their Bearers, and the Bearers are falling apart due to one of them being lost. These are facts.”

Tempest Shadow looked back to the Princess at the same time she turned to address the Unicorn, but a response made her pause; “...Are they?”

Squinting and pursing her lips in intrigue, Luna gestured with her head for the other mare to continue, allowing Tempest to preface, “I know their friendship is supposed to be related to this ‘Elements’ and saving the nation all the time, but... you know them. Did their friendship ever seem like it was forced due to these things? Due to straight-up needing to be friends?”

Genuinely taken aback, Luna turned her head upward in thought, and recalled the occasions she spent with the Elements and the many, many times she had heard of their deeds, both heroic and chaotic. “...I know they have forgiven each other for a great many things,” She eventually answered, turning her gaze back down, “Even horrible offenses like abandoning each other due to naïveté or greed have been gotten past. However, I do believe they had an obligation to each other due to their totality and happiness that they do not now. Now, they wish to suffer and mourn alone, forgoing their friendship as they never wish to deal with that hole in their hearts they have been left with.

“This may end up degrading their relationships without someone there to help, turning them into little more than strangers to each other that will be unable to save this world when the time inevitably comes once more.”

“...That sounds very ‘worst case scenario’.”

Luna smirked. “Indeed, it’s very unlikely.” Her expression turning more serious, she sat down on the floor, gesturing for the Unicorn to do the same, and she continued, “They all have friends and family that will help them through this, and they will retain some level of friendship, but never at the level it once was, and the Elements will still be unusable. In order to amend that, one would need to... replace Twilight Sparkle,” She finished, her tone turning somber and slightly bitter at the end.

Tempest, having sat down before the Princess and looking back at her with a hesitant look on her own face, took a moment to reply, “...That is something that needs to happen, though, isn’t it?”

Taking a deep sigh of defeat, Luna nodded. “I... have already thought about this to some degree, but the throne tells us we may be under a time limit. My mind first went to Starlight Glimmer, as she is quiet similar to Twilight, especially Twilight’s younger, more foolish self, but her relationship with the rest of the Elements are already quite... strained due to her issues.”

“I don’t believe I’ve met her,” Tempest added, slightly concerned about a mare that even the destructive and forgiving Elements considered problematic.

“I do not think you have seen her either,” Luna commented, glancing down for a moment to recall something, “I believe she was out of town at the time of your arrival with another mare, Trixie Lulamoon, who I have also considered as a potential.. replacement, but...” Taking another deep sigh, she finished, “I’m not certain how truly magically-inclined Trixie is. She is creative and more than able to hold her own, but she is very... slippery, and difficult to properly trust.”

Looking back towards the thrones, Tempest took a moment before asking, “..So what will you do about it now?”

Musing for a second herself, Luna then stated, “We need a replacement at some point; of that we are certain. We don’t know the time by which it must be done, but we do know, in some essence, what we are looking for.” The other mare’s head went back to her, letting her add, “While we may wish for an optimistic creature with immense magical power like Twilight Sparkle, I am realistic enough to know that instead, we require someone that is intelligent and capable, with the will to continue on in the face of death itself and the ability to command forces otherwise beyond their control...

“Someone like yourself.”

Tempest stared back at her, her expression emotionless. “Me.”

“Yes, you.”

After multiple more seconds of their staring at each other, trying to gauge the other’s emotions, Tempest sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “I assume you thought of this before we entered?” She asked of the other mare.

“But a few stray thoughts,” Luna explained, her words slow and cautious as she observed the hesitant Unicorn before her. “‘Twas only this new development that made me truly ask myself this.”

“...But you definitely know there’s more to it than just those qualities,” Tempest retorted firmly, opening her eyes back up to nearly glare at the Alicorn. “I’m not magical, and I’m nowhere near friendly. Some would say I’m a monster, and they’re hardly wrong to. But your friends, your family, and these Elements... they all hate me, and being forced to befriend me for the sake of the world would only make them hate me more.”

“I am aware.”

“Yet you sound completely affirmed in your decision.”

“I am.”

Tempest started to truly glare at the Alicorn. “Why?”

Pausing for a moment, and guiding both their gazes back to the thrones, Luna explained with confidence, “You are a unique case in this world, Tempest Shadow. You do not believe in blithe friendship or blissful happiness, nor do you sing and dance and party and forget all the issues around you. You, like myself, are quite cynical and see the world as the messy maelstrom that it truly is, and will tear everyone’s eyes so they can look back and see the foolish shell of a creature they’ve made themselves into.

“To resume my previous thoughts,” She continued, recalling their conversation before they discovered the cracks within the Twilight’s throne, “We know that a perfect world is impossible by its very nature, and we want everyone else to understand that as well. The Elements’ friendship was always frail to a degree, and has been pressured before by seeing the horrors of reality before them, but their ignorance let time mend those wounds. Death and suffering to others has meant nothing to them, and they do not go out of their way to help others unless they see it.

“They’ve nearly destroyed this town so often...” Luna’s voice dripped with disappointment as she looked up and around at the castle they sat within, “They’ve left friends by the wayside for themselves and never bother to go out and forgive them, ruined others’ lives to some degree amidst their self-righteous chaos and never looked back, and even gotten almost each other killed on some occasions and haven’t thought to perhaps get a hold of themselves. They may ‘go to Tartarus and back’, I suppose, for their friends and those they see suffering, but in terms of truly trying their damnedest to help this world and its creatures, they could be doing so much better.”

Looking back to the mare beside her for some seconds, letting her think before turning back herself, Luna then begun, “As of this moment, we are in a perfect position to change things. To right their wrongs and make them better. To truly make them good creatures and not just ‘heroes’. And perhaps... you may even help yourself in the process, and earn back your true identity.”

Her mind stewing in silence for quite some time, when Tempest finally collected her thoughts, a small, wry grin appeared on her face. “I’m not quite like you, Princess Luna. This version of myself... it’s not a Nightmare.” Her expression falling back down into a sorrowful frown, she elaborated, “I can’t just call myself a different name and run away from my problems. Fizzlepop, that innocent filly, died several years ago and there’s no bringing her back.”

“...I know,” Luna replied with regret and understanding.

“You want me to be happy,” Tempest said, cutting off any elaboration as she looked at the Princess with somberness and determination, “But don’t forget why you wanted me to join these ‘Elements’ in the first place. I am Tempest Shadow, and I’m needed more than ever to fix things, but I have made so many mistakes of my own, ones that I can not and will not ignore until I have atoned for them. Maybe I’ll make some friends along the way, and maybe I’ll manage to do so with the Elements, but I won’t force it, and if they don’t try to help me in the face of their own problems and they don’t bother to help themselves, then... I won’t be friends with them, even if it means the Elements will be unusable.”

Luna at that last comment, truly taken aback. “You--” She tried to start, but paused and thought--truly thought about the decision for some time. “...It’s your.. dignity, and honour, that you are concerned with.” Smiling a bit and laughing quietly, she nodded at the Unicorn. “I can respect that.”

“You ought to,” Tempest replied with a sidelong smirk of her own, “If you and all the rest of the ‘heroes’ keep trying to use the Elements as a crutch, I will lose any last shred of respect I have for all of you.”

Darkness Under the Sun

“Your security is still terrible.”

Those just had to be the first words she heard from that mare after everything, didn’t they?

Celestia sighed as she stood on the balcony adjacent to her room, slightly tired after raising the Sun while Tempest Shadow trotted over, bereft of armor yet having defeated no less than a dozen guards to get into her room uninvited.

“I’d ask you what is so urgent, but... I know this was barely a trouble for you.”

“It really shouldn’t have been,” Tempest stated as she arrived at the side of sovereign Sun, only somewhat winded herself. “But... I did want to ask you something. Something that’s... been on my mind for a while.”

Celestia’s eyes went over to the mare and she saw the deep questioning look on her face, and to her, it was all too familiar. “Fourteen years ago, you pleaded for me to restore your horn. I turned you away.”

“..Why?” The Unicorn responded firmly, hardly sounding surprised at the recollection.

Looking between each other for a moment, Celestia then just looked away and replied, “There wasn’t--and still isn’t--any way I’m fully aware of to fix one’s shattered horn.”

Of course, Tempest easily caught the subtext of it all. “There are ways though, aren’t there?” There wasn’t an immediate response, so she continued pressing, “Even if you didn’t want to actually fix my horn, you still could’ve done something. Maybe some sort of augment to fill in what’s missing, or just let me stay here for a while so that a literal staving foal wouldn’t have to get kicked out of the Palace and live on the streets, scrouging for scraps and--”

“I KNOW!”

Tempest flinched back at the sudden shout, with Celestia glaring back at her, but with eyes not full of rage, but instead aguish.

“I... I know how much of a mistake that was, especially because have been put through the consequences of that just recently!” Celestia elaborated, the added defeat and sorrow clear in her faltering poise.

“...Twilight Sparkle,” The Unicorn paused a moment before stating, and watched as the immortal before her flinched at the name alone.

Taking a heavy breath in, hardly able to hide the tears in her voice, Celestia tried to respond, “I’ve dealt with consequences for so long... even the tiniest of mistakes can slowly build into something I can’t stop after I’ve finally noticed it. It’s happened so many times... my sister, the Changelings, Discord, and now you...”

Letting a beat pass in thought, Tempest then asked, “And how many of them could’ve been stopped if you went out of your way early to fix them?”

Celestia didn’t reply—verbally, at least. It was all too obvious in her wide, unfocused eyes, however, that most of those ‘tiniest’ mistakes were indeed a series of major failings to actually hold the livelihood of other creatures that may be suffering in high regard.

“I do hope that this will now finally make you realize how essential looking out for those you’ve failed truly is.”

The Alicorn gulped in response, tears now visible in her eyes as her breathing only became more heavy and despondent.

“Now, tell me, Celestia,” Tempest spoke, returning the conversation back before the tangent, “Are there ways to fix a horn as broken as mine?”

It took several seconds of uncomfortable silence, marred only by the worn breaths of the anguished Alicorn, before she hesitantly replied, “..Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me back then?” Tempest asked, a tint of rage underneath her firm, but well-controlled mannerisms.

Sighing in a way that was almost desperate, Celestia eventually answered, “The process of healing something so tied to one’s magic... requires dark magic.”

“And why did you not tell me, or try to do anything else to help me?” The Unicorn’s voice was still carrying that undercurrent, but she now spoke with some level of comprehension.

“Because...” Celestia tried, her voice waning as the tears in her eyes only flowed faster, “Because I had made another terrible mistake before you came to me.”

Keeping her silence for some time, Tempest started to understand the root of the problem, and let the other mare stew in her horrid memories before eventually resuming.

“I-I am not... trying to excuse myself from what I forced you into to... but...” Celestia spoke with her frail voice, and had to avert her eyes in regret as she started to elaborate, “My previous student... before Twilight, was...” Her head lowered as she clenched her eyes, more tears pouring out. “S-she suffered because I couldn’t... see her properly. She had... issues, but she was...”

As the other mare trailed off, unable to finish her statement, Tempest decided to say the harsh truth; “You were manipulating her, and unlike Twilight, she wasn’t gullible enough to fall for it. When she called you out...” She paused for a moment as the Alicorn shivered in horrible understanding, “You denied it, and she used what you taught her against you.”

Celestia nodded wearily, and replied, “She was learning about dark magic. ...Behind my back, she learned about the power I was keeping from her, and when I denied it from her...” She laughed, short and dry and utterly mirthless, “She timed that all just right, and went through a portal to another place I couldn’t follow.”

Tempest kept her steel gaze on her for some more seconds, debating how to respond to such massive mistakes on the Princess’s part, but she knew one thing; “And from there, you couldn’t trust anyone you couldn’t control.”

Wincing at the accusation, Celestia took a breath and shook her head. “N-not quite. I was afraid of Twilight falling into darkness for a while too...”

“...And I can guess,” Tempest continued, with the other mare closing her eyes to brace herself, “That that fear is what led to you keeping her by your side so heavily, and not urging to get out until it was nearly too late.”

A small, shaky nod was all Celestia could reply with, though the tears still flowed down her face.

The Unicorn pulled her own gaze away to stare out across the capital of Equestria laid out before her, keeping silent for a while. Eventually though, she had to ask, “How long?”

At Celestia’s look back over at her, confusion clear in her expression, Tempest clarified, “How long did it take for you to actually trust Twilight?”

The Alicorn’s mouth popped open, but she didn’t have an answer ready. She had to look away and reflect for a few seconds, but then... “I never did.”

Tempest jerked her attention over in surprise. “What?”

“I...” Celestia tried, but shook her head and grunted, all her emotions getting the better of her, even more than before she admitted herself. “Have you...” She pivoted, looking back at the other mare, “Have you heard of what happened at the Royal Wedding?”

Tempest nodded, intrigued and worried. “The Changelings, yes. You were nearly all captured if not for your sister.”

Nodding and wiping her tears with a foreleg, Celestia smiled for a moment, more genuine as she replied, “Yes, my sister is a hundred times the warrior I am now...” But her smile quickly faded and was replaced by her guilt and horror, and she stated, “But she wouldn’t have needed to do as much as she did if I actually trusted Twilight. She had her suspicions about Cadance, and I brushed them off, thinking the stress and paranoia about the Changelings was getting to the both of them, but all I really needed to do to stop their invasion was just... check.”

Tempest left the silence for a moment before asking, “I was wondering about everything there, and why you simply didn’t delay the wedding if there was the threat of a Changeling invasion upon you all.”

“Cadance—or, Chrysalis, really—was insistent that it go on, and really should’ve thrown me off, but...” Celestia answered, grimacing and glaring down at the floor, clearly angry at herself, “I trusted Cadance’s appearance more than Twilight’s words.”

“...How about your sister?”

“Luna...” The Solar mare’s expression shifted into something less readable, but she seemed to be thinking. “Luna was out, watching over the city to make sure there weren’t Changelings about. I didn’t want to distract her...”

Tempest shrugged, assent that that reasoning was more sound than the rest of her logic thus far. However, that one event was hardly all there was to Twilight, so she asked, “And how did you feel about Twilight after her ascension?”

Celestia blinked, the silence remaining for a while as her face remained completely unreadable except for the fact that she was in deep thought. “I...” She eventually started weakly, though her expression didn’t change, “I was... still afraid of her to a degree.”

“That she might use her new power to betray you?”

Celestia nodded in affirmation. “I was that way with Cadance for a while, but it was more complicated with her.” Looking back at the other pony, she elaborated, “Because Luna wasn’t there, and I was... both more afraid of a new Alicorn, but also trying to cope with my sister by using Cadance.”

Raising an eyebrow, Tempest just shot back, “Well that didn’t end up amounting to a lot, given how it took another Kingdom appearing out of thin air before you installed her as your puppet there.”

“I—” Celestia glared harshly at the Unicorn. “That is not what she was!”

“Well, you clearly haven’t noticed, ‘Princess’,” Tempest retorted, keeping her own expression level despite the venom in her words, “Just how eager she is to please you, so any decision she makes is always going to be filtered through, or at least based off of you, so she might as well be another power grab over a Kingdom that you can’t properly understand the needs of.”

Celestia just growled at her, flaring her horn. “I’m already angry at myself for losing Twilight due to my uselessness in a fight. You don’t want to kick me while I’m already down.”

“That’s right, Luna had to buy Twilight and her friends some time to get away...” Tempest muttered in response, not even flinching at the power aimed straight at her head that only grew with the anger her statement incited. “I suppose her return and everything she’s done has just shown how far you’ve fallen in her absence, and how badly you need her to balance yourself out now that she’s back.”

Tempest closed her eyes and took a deep sigh, then looked back at the rageful mare before her and stated, “Look. All I’m trying to say here is that no creature is perfect and we’ve all made mistakes, some far worse than others, and some of those mistakes truly cannot be fixed. So, what we must do instead is atone for them and make the best of what we have now. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Celestia, but...” She lowered her head, the cracked stump of her broken horn shimmering lightly in the light of dawn, “I’ve fucked up a lot, too.”

Author's Note

I’ve heard of the possibility that Tempest went to the Storm King and attacked Equestria specifically because Celestia didn’t fix her horn back when she was a filly.
It’s an interesting possibility, but I doubt she’d be the one to filly make a plan to get back at Celestia like that, with that major decision falling to the Storm King.

Of course, that hardly stops the possibility of Tempest at least trying to see if Celestia can fix her horn, where I clearly have some reasons why she won’t other than a really basic ‘she’s not able to’.
And I had a thought there that there could be a good reason why Celestia wouldn’t want to use dangerous magic with a filly; Sunset Shimmer.
I’m not sure how well the timeline maps there, and the number of years I gave—14—seems like the best estimate that works with Tempest’s age, Sunset’s age when she left, and the timing of the movie as a whole.

A few other things with Luna though, and how she acted differently in this world.
The random miracle of hyper-powerful love blast that kicked away the Changelings was replaced by Luna and her army of Thestrals, and I really feel like that would’ve helped her character arc in the show as well. She doesn’t really help the world on her own much at all there, so seeing her being a warrior that can defeat a threat even Celestia couldn’t would be awesome.
And I also had the Princesses put up more of a fight against the Storm King’s army in general, with Luna being the last of the main three to get captured, fighting them off for as long as possible so Twilight and her friends could escape.

I do play very fast and loose with canon, and while there are quite a few things that still need to be in this universe to make these events transpire in the first place, some alterations to actually make characters worth something is something I’m very willing to do.

Nightmares Locked Away

It was clear from the moment Tempest Shadow laid eyes upon it that it was a losing battle.

Twilight Sparkle, the youngest and most inexperienced of the Alicorns, was fighting against the whole might of them all wielded by a tyrannical madman in the Storm King, who had decades of tyranny and death under his belt.

The power of the blasts was evidence enough, and no fine control over more complex spells that Twilight could pull off was going to save her from that.

They were fighting atop a massive spire within Canterlot Palace, massive chunks of the building already blasted away by the Storm King’s army and only further broken down by the stray bolts and spells flung at the current moment, and all the debris lay under a thick fog of ash and dust.

This was not the Canterlot that Tempest remembered—it was a warzone, one created in part by herself, all to try and regain her own horn...

Which in the end, never ended up happening at all.

Tempest was hardly sure how long the battle lasted at the top of world and at the possible end of Equestria, but it ended with an explosion between the two foes, both blasted away and struggling to get back up.

Galloping her way across the massive, debris-filled floorspace, Tempest knelt before Twilight and shouted her name, and while Twilight’s gaze was hazy and unfocused, though she still turned to her and weakly replied with Tempest’s own.

They tried to talk, but there was nothing to say. Not until Tempest looked back to the Storm King and saw that he was still far from done. Tempest swore on her life to Twilight that he would be by the time the day was over.

And so, Tempest turned on her former master and fought him for what must’ve been hours, with blasts of broken and stolen magic continuing to light up the spire, casting bruises, slashing fur, cracking armor, and breaking bones of both enemies, but... the Storm King was still too powerful.

Blood pounded through Tempest’s head as she felt her death oncoming, and it was only was only with the luck of Faust herself upon the mare that she found the Obsidian Orb she led the first assault on Canterlot with. She didn’t have time to flee the Orb’s effects, and so smashed it between herself and the Storm King, petrifying them both as they glared deep into each other’s souls.

Time passed, though with her mind frozen in volcanic glass, Tempest Shadow had no clue how much. The Sun was still blotted out, and the Stars were kept from her gaze, so no help came from the skies. Her heart didn’t beat, and her lungs didn’t breathe, so she couldn’t count from her own body. But she could still see and still feel when someone finally arrived at the statues.

She could see the white mare with the mane of an aurora kept a steely gaze as she viewed both of them, and with barely a moment of hesitation, threw them both off the spire.

She could feel the fear as her petrified form fell to the ground far below unable to stop herself as she accepted her death, all of the moments that led up to flying through her mind; her friends, their betrayal, the Storm King’s promise, all her efforts to fulfill, and how he ultimately broke it. He was the monster, but she was just his weapon, and had no more potential left in this world, so why remain within it?

Death could only come soon enough...

Except it didn’t.

Tempest Shadow’s form was caught as she felt by the Princess of the Night herself, and those haunting cobalt eyes felt anything but in that moment as she pressed a hoof to the broken Unicorn’s chest, and freed her.

Tempest gasped in shock as she felt her mind fully return to her and her eyes darted around, finding herself still within the grasp of Princess Luna, but now flying through the crisp and clear skies of dawn.

“Tempest,” Luna spoke, her words clear and reverberating through the other mare’s mind.

“L-Luna...” Tempest gasped out in return, with the sudden shock of clarity rendering her unable to say more.

“I would like to hope that this isn’t what would happen if my sister got to you first,” The Mistress of Dreams spoke, though couldn’t help but add candidly, “But...”

The Unicorn took a deep breath to calm herself and nodded in understanding, “She has every reason to hate me after everything I did.”

Eyes trailing up and rolling over the dreamscape, Luna soon spotted and headed for a floating island, letting the indeterminate amount of silence settle in before she landed upon its lush, green hill, and set the other mare down so they could both stand before the large cherry blossom tree in the center.

“My sister is hardly one to cross that line,” Luna spoke as she returned her gaze to Tempest, “But even I did not know how hard she would take this death in particular.”

Tempest looked around at the strange sky island amidst the vibrant sky for a moment, and soon replied, “You would’ve hesitated even less if you weren’t prepared for it, I imagine.”

“Such differences are mutually exclusive, truly,” The Princess returned sagely, stepping forward and turning around to sit within the wide shade of the tree, with no visible Sun to give it any direction. “If I were not the warrior I am, I would not have been so resilient in the face of such tragedy.”

Tempest shrugged as she trotted over to the shade as well, sitting down a short distance away from the Alicorn. “Point, I suppose.”

“It is far more than just that, however,” Luna quickly added, letting her gaze stray out to the open sky, stars starting to become visible even through the daylight. “With the power I hold in this realm, I must have the truest sense of honour. There may be ways to keep oneself from dreaming, but even the spirits just succumbed to the Sandmare are within my sight.”

Quickly looking back at the other mare, Tempest responded with a raised eyebrow, “I thought you were the Sandmare.”

“In some ways, I am,” Luna replied with a light smirk, turning her eyes back the other pony, “But, such legends distort with time until they hardly resemble the reality they spawned from.

“But, such legends are also quite understandable given mine power,” The Princess spoke, continuing the previous train of thought, and pulled her gaze away to look up at the tree they sat under on an impossible island. “I can find myself in these realms, all made by the minds of others, of their deepest thoughts, desires, and fears, and I can see every lie they tell to others, and even themselves.” Her head leveled, her eyes staring out at nothing while she kept going, “I can torment them where they can never escape, either with the paranoia of my simple presence and knowledge of their innermost thoughts, or perhaps in a more active manner...”

Tempest looked on, her typically unshakable persona quite perturbed by the knowledge bestowed upon her, but Luna stoically continued on, “With this power, I can become the arbiter of all truths within the world, able to shatter bonds between creatures with the lies they tell each other, wreak fear into the invincible at the top of the world, and tear down nations that by all rights ought to be indestructible. There are many stories about the power my sister holds with the ability to wield the Sun itself as a weapon, but...” Her head turned slowly, the deep, empty wells of her eyes focusing upon the broken Unicorn beside her, who couldn’t help but gulp in instinctive terror at the sight, “Such physical power always has its limits, whereas the power I hold does not.”

The diarch then blinked, her eyes returning to a calm teal sea as the let the air fade into a only slightly unnerved silence, which was quickly broken by quiet whooshes of winds and light chirps of birds. Tempest Shadow had to tear her eyes away from the other mare for a moment, looking out into the endless blue sky that lay within her own mind, which now also played host to what may as well be a Goddess amidst its ephemerality.

“I do not mean to tell this to you to frighten you, Tempest Shadow,” Luna addressed her host, letting her ears flick towards her while her eyes remained looking outwards, “I say this all as preface, to truly show how important my honour is. It is something I’ve developed as I myself have realized what I am truly capable of, and none more than myself fear mine power.”

Turning away as well, and letting the wind blow to fill the silence, cherry blossoms from the tree flitting about through the air around them, the Alicorn took a deep breath and continued, “I do not speak of one’s dreams to anyone but their host themselves, not even in the direst of emergencies. I quite readily comply with requests to leave one’s dreams to oneself, as privacy is a right I shan’t infringe upon. I have taken drastic measures to keep myself in line whenever I feel myself falling to temptation... with two quite notable events being the result of these measures.”

The quiet returned for a time, Tempest having to take it in to let the words stew within her head for a time. Eventually though, she asked of the Princess, “The Nightmare being one of these events, I presume?”

“Indeed.” Luna sighed deeply, eyes flitting around the expanse before them, her mien pensive and troubled. “There were... many reasons for that, but the ability to control mine subjects, make them obey me through fear otherwise incapable...” She shook her head of the thoughts, looking back out to see the dawnlight having noticeably darkened around them. “I fell pray to these temptations, and so many more, back then, and I became ruled by my emotions and desires rather than my truest beliefs and duties. Many think the Nightmare was something else in control of me, but truly it was just me, and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy what I did as her.

“Everyone says the Nightmare is a separate entity to convince themselves that I am completely incapable of doing bad things, but...” Her head turned to the pony beside her, who flicked her eyes to the side to look back, “You of all creatures should know that no creature is ever perfect, and good creatures are quite capable of doing bad things.”

Luna’s gaze fell for a moment in thought, and she sighed before speaking again, “I was quite aware of the horrible things I was capable of after I was cleansed and had a chance to reflect. However, I was truly accepting of myself, and made something to punish me and keep me in line. I called it... the Tantabus.”

Tempest nodded slowly in acknowledgement, though added, “I can’t say I’ve heard of that one, despite all the stories flowing about all the time.”

“Twilight Sparkle was involved,” Luna commented, but went on to explain, “The Tantabus was meant to simply be within mine own dreamscape, to torment and teach me, but as a magical and semi-sentient creature in its own right, it eventually wanted freedom, and the only way to stop it from wreaking havoc upon all dreams was to accept that I have made mistakes and accept that I was imperfect and that I needed to move on.”

Nodding more heartily while closing her eyes in understanding, Tempest turned head to the other mare and asked, “And I suppose this is where we circle back around to me.”

“We can,” Luna mused with a smirk, humour clear in her tone, “Though I was primarily speaking of how I shan’t speak of these events to any other creature for any possible reason.”

“I appreciate it,” The Unicorn replied with small smile of her own, though rolled her eyes a bit and said, “Though that was hardly much of what you actually talked about.”

“Well, I do believe I’ve already said enough to get my point to you across, no?” The other pony retorted with a raised eyebrow, getting a shrug and a curt nod from Tempest. “It is bound to be difficult, no doubt.”

Tempest cut her off a laugh. “You’re personally not making it seem like that. I’m pretty at ease with you, since you’re so understanding of.. everything.” Her expression fell, and she looked away, “Everyone else, though...”

The quiet returned once more, and neither sought to soon break it, with Luna turning her gaze away as well to look out amongst the returning dawnlight. Birds chirped, wind blew, cherry blossomed fell and flitted about, and the floating island slowly moved about through the endless sky, with the two mares sitting upon one of them simply basking in it all for the time being.

“I believe you can do it, Tempest Shadow,” Luna eventually spoke, getting the other pony to look over at her. “You’ve shown more aptitude towards dealing with pain than nearly any living creature I have seen. Most creatures simply go along with their communities, and heroes that emerge are either acting on vengeance or ignorance. And yes,” She quickly added, glancing over at Tempest, “I am including the Elements.”

The Unicorn snorted in response. “I figured that. They are pretty foalish.”

“Mm,” Luna grunted in agreement, “I really do wonder why so many ponies consider them heroes, given all the chaos they wreak. Truthfully, I do believe many other groups of friends could have fit the Elements’ virtues, and most of them would be better suited for the task, as they’d actually be mature. Actual adults that act like adults... They are good friends, both to each other and to everyone else, but they still acted nearly the same just before Twilight died and back when they first met her.”

“That’s pretty ridiculous, honestly,” Tempest added, bemused. “I thought their constant adventures would’ve forced them into worse scenarios and made them more mature, but I think all it did was give them a reason to keep on going on foalish adventures and stop from them actually growing up.”

Luna laughed a bit while Tempest smiled. “And how few ponies—nay, creatures, actually admit that the Elements are hardly epic heroes. Beasts though they’ve slain, I do believe it primarily a matter of happenstance and miracles, rather than the blood, sweat, and tears you and I have shed over the years.”

“And that’s I’m so at ease with you!” The Unicorn retorted, laughing a bit herself. “You have got to be the only.. creature that actually puts in the effort to be called a hero and actually understand that all the rest are just a bunch of idiots.”

Mark of Life Anew

“Thanks, Miss Berrytwist!”

“...It’s still Shadow...” Tempest replied weakly, though the foal had already left the store. She shook her head and looked out around the rest of the store, which had some seats and tables lying around, a few ponies sitting at them, amounting to a few less than the other days she had been at the store as a customer. It was hardly surprising, though still a bit disheartening to see...

Of course, most ponies wouldn’t expect her to have a job in a sweets shop of all places, but once they saw her Mark, it was difficult to argue with.

She looked back down at it herself, almost on instinct, and saw the pink cup on her flank, chilled white foam pouring out of it with a straw and a berry atop it, and a pair of hearts just above. It was certainly an odd mark for one with a history like hers, but she was never a complete slave to the Storm King’s whims, and her Mark was really the greatest indication of that.

Taking another glance around the room to make sure she wasn’t missing any customers, Tempest paused to reflect, and she recalled the time she got her Mark some time into her service under the Storm King. It was a independent scouting mission in the depths of winter, and she had holed up in a dense forest to help protect from the cold while also giving her access to more edible things than just grass and flowers.

She had always had a passing interest with berries and had gone foraging for them near Klugetown in her foalhood sometimes, so when it really was her life on the line, she did a lot of experimentation with which berries were best for her health and which just tasted best. And given the snow all around at the time, she put the berries and snow together to help refreshen her and test some ideas and... next thing she new, she had her Mark.

Smiling a little to herself, she also remembered how pissed the Storm King was when he found out that that was her Mark—not anything to do with leadership, or combat, or physical strength; no, it was fucking frozen sweets. He didn’t lash out at her though, as she had already proven her capability as a Lieutenant at the time without a Mark, so he just made sure that she didn’t try and get distracted by it, which she obeyed.

Obviously though, now that he was dead, Tempest was free to do whatever she truly wanted, and with her Mark’s potential quite untapped and little else to do to occupy her time, she found herself working with Bon-Bon to help her little shop’s production. She hadn’t been there long enough to ask for any of the extra equipment that would help make her types of sweets, but there was still a big freezer and a blender, and with the book she acquired after an... uncomfortable conversation with Spike, who was left to tend the Friendship Castle’s library, she had everything she really needed to make some new stuff.

Taking one more look around the quiet and quaint room, she pulled up a little sign from under the counter and placed it on top, letting any new customer know to ring the nearby bell for her if they needed to while she turned around and headed into the back room, which was just Bon-Bon’s kitchen. She quickly went around the central counter to the side wall, where the tall and wide refrigerator/freezer stood, the top third being equipped for the former utility and the rest for the latter, which she promptly opened up with a hoof.

Inside the expansive frozen space were some essential foods like frozen green beans and corn, a few ice cube trays, a bin of sorts to keep the made ice cubes, and about a dozen and a half glasses of different mixes of berry juices, which were frozen into ice and then crushed into slush, and left with a straw and a few berries on top for good measure before getting stuffed in the freezer. It was hardly professionally made, but it tasted really nice in her (obviously unbiased) opinion, and that was good enough for a town like Ponyville.

...Well, for most of the creatures living there, anyway. Twilight’s friends were still avoiding her at every turn possible, and she could hardly blame them, so when she was told it would be a good idea to get back in touch with her Mark—by Pinkie and the the younger sisters of three of Twilight’s friends, oddly enough—she turned down the first idea to pop up, which was to work at Sugarcube Corner. Tempest knew those friends liked to go there, so she didn’t want to break a place they found so important to them, and instead went with the other shop she could work at.

It was only later that she realized her employer was a secret agent, and her marefriend was kind of crazy.

And of course, such business decided to rear its head now of all times, so with the composed ~~Sweetie Drops~~ Bon-Bon out of the shop, she was left with Lyra Heartstrings.

And, as she heard some hoofsteps prancing on down the stairs in the other room, she knew she shouldn’t have dared to invoke that mare’s name.

“Oh!” Lyra gasped out as she spotted Tempest herself, still looking into the freezer with the open door between herself and the other mare, “Hey Fizzy!”

The broken Unicorn sighed. “...It’s still Tempest.”

“Doesn’t matter! Now wachya up to?” Lyra returned without missing a beat.

“Just checking on the ..’slushies’,” Tempest answered tersely, though hesitated for a moment, unfamiliar with the foalish term.

“Ooh! They’re ready!?” The other mare squealed in turn, quickly trotting in place in a way that Tempest wasn’t quite sure of the name of yet, though had already seen it plenty.

However, such happiness wasn’t nearly as contagious as it was to other creatures. “Just because I am checking on them doesn’t mean they’re ready yet, Lyra. I’ve already told you this twice before.” She didn’t need to look over the door to know that Lyra had stopped moving, only tilting her head a bid in sadness and confusion. “But, yes,” She assented with a quiet sigh, “They are ready now.”

Reaching inside the freezer and promptly ignoring the other Unicorn’s cheering, Tempest grabbed the blue and purple one of the drinks with her hoof, pulled back out of the freezer and turned around to put the glass on the central counter, then looked back at the open door for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she channeled her magic up through the cracked stump of her horn, the arcane energies sparking and zapping about as she reached it towards the door, grabbed it as tenderly as she could while keeping a grip on it, then pushed it closed.

WHAM!

Wincing at the noise, Tempest was at least thankful that both she didn’t break the door, and that there weren’t any more noises from inside that signified that something inside ended up falling over or breaking from the force, either. Turning her head back around, she looked back at the blueberry-and-grape slushie she left on the table... only to find it wasn’t there any more.

However, with the loud shl-l-l-lrping noise from just to the side, she found that it was instead held aloft casually in Lyra’s magic, part of it already sucked away through the straw into the minty mare’s maw. Her expression was as blithe as ever, curiously peering down at the icy drink in her hold as she continued sucking it down, unaware, or perhaps just uncaring, for the other Unicorn’s more ticked off stare at her.

Soon enough though, Lyra took the straw out of her mouth and smiled gleefully at the other mare. “It’s really good!” She chirped, hopping a bit in place, “It’s got some juice and it’s not as consistent as the machine-made stuff, but it’s very tasty!”

Blinking expressionlessly for a second, Tempest watched as the other Unicorn returned to slurping up the slushie. “...Thank you,” She eventually said, trying to shake off the bewilderment of the strong emotions shown so openly, and still kind of mixed on how eagerly Lyra was putting down the chilly drink.

“Owf!”

...For multiple reasons.

Lyra quickly returned the slushie back onto the counter as she pressed a hoof to her head, clearly getting ‘brain-freeze’, as Tempest recently learned it was called, though was quite familiar with the feeling itself back when she got her Mark. “Ow ow ow owowow...”

Tempest looked at her for a moment, tilting her head in thought for even longer, and then smirked playfully. “Serves you right for drinking so much of my stuff.”

“Eeeeeenh!” Lyra whined pitifully in response, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow in pain, then shook her head quickly to try and abate it. “Why’s it taste so good and then it does this?! Traitorzzz!!” She cried, not watching how the other Pony flinched slightly at the word.

Sucking in a deep breath through her teeth, Tempest recalled how she’d been referred to as a traitor so many times before, the Ponies within the ruined Canterlot being especially brutal to her. For all the sorrow the Ponies felt for Twilight’s death, there was even more rage for the mare that caused it all, and some even went as far as to demand execution.

Of course, Ponyville was more relaxed about everything, and its atmosphere was only somewhat dreary compared to what she was told it was usually like, but the actual sentence impressed upon her by Princess Luna was the thing that really got her to stop fretting about everypony so much. Primarily a bunch of community serve and reports to Luna herself about her progress, and some occasional check-ins just to make sure she wasn’t up to anything.

She barely even understood why she did everything back then, anyway. Yes, losing her horn was the catalyst and main driving force the entire time, with the Storm King’s various and extensive manipulations all hammering that home and building off of it, making her into nothing short of a monster. Her lines of logic when taking over Canterlot and trapping Twilight seemed so desperate, with the takeover supposedly making everything better, actually, as then it would be under a stronger Empire, despite the horrid conditions they’d live under.

She did have her points back when arguing with Twilight, notably about how the blitheness of Equestria made it so damn easy to capture that she honestly thought there was some trap laying it wait for a while. But even with that, she still shirked trying to point out and test the weak points so that Equestria would become better, and instead tore down the nation with no regard for its citizen’s wellnesses.

All things considered, she would’ve been alright with that capital punishment, as it was pretty deserved, but all the time spent with the Ponies she had just made suffer made her aware that she still had potential in her, and the ability to improve Equestria in a way that nopony else could.

“Fizzlepop!”

Tempest Shadow jerked back to attention, awareness swiftly returning to the world around her and shooting her into a fighting stance, body lowered a bit with her hooves spread out further, eyes shrunken and sharpened, her focus quickly darting around the room, observing every detail in instinctual attention-to-detail so that she would have the best advantage against an opponent... until she actually realized where she was.

“Oh...” She muttered shamefully, looking back at Lyra for a moment, who was pulled back, no doubt shocked by the harsh reaction out of the broken Unicorn. “Sorry... you startled me,” She added while returned to a more normal pose, albeit one that was still more stiff and held higher than the casual mare before her.

“Are you alright?” Lyra asked, tilting her head a bit in polite concern.

Looking back at the other mare, Tempest couldn’t help but feel some envy at her innocence; even with all the mayhem she had heard of happening within this town, it was nothing compared to the constant forms of pain she’d dealt with under the Storm King. But at the same time, she was grateful for everything that had been done for her, not just by Lyra and Bon-Bon, but by all the Ponies of Ponyville along with Princess Luna, as she would likely be suffering even more without their charity.

Casting her gaze around the kitchen, the broken Unicorn and former Commander observed the pleasant pastels painted across the walls, the quaint, yet respectable furnishings and appliances that let her do her work without getting in the way, and the windows that showed the small, humble, yet resilient town beyond that never gave up hope. It was picturesque, something out of a foal’s book, and continued to feel surreal no longer how long she stayed there, and while she knew very well it was hardly something she deserved... she also knew she had every opportunity to give back and earn her place.

“Yeah,” Tempest answered, not taking her eyes off the scenery as a small, yet genuine smile grew on her face, “I’m doing alright.”

Author's Note

One of the more interesting story threads with Tempest is how awkward she’d be integrating into Equestrian society, though I haven’t seen it done it a way I’m super keen on.
The chapters before this one haven’t really gone into that at all, but I’ve still kept Tempest as a quiet and composed individual, minding her words as she spoke with other individuals, mostly being Luna, who is quite respectful and careful with her own words.
Celestia’s really the only exception, and even there, I had Tempest keep her distance in her speech.

However, in this chapter, I truly wanted to show the oddities that come up when Tempest tries to live in Equestria, though here it’s obviously tainted by Twilight’s death.
Tempest is kind of awkward and doesn’t do any small talk, and while she’s prone to harsh reactions when startled, she also takes her time to think about things that aren’t really meant to have a deep answer.
Luckily, Ponyville is pretty accepting and there isn’t a ton of issues letting her live there, but there’s always things to deal with; her crimes against the nation, for one, but also Twilight’s friends, who obviously would never want to deal with Tempest again.

Echo Chambers of Magic

Tempest Shadow was thankful Spike had already left the Castle for the day, as she was sure he didn’t want to deal with her all that much, but his absence did have some side effects; the absolute silence of the building itself, and not having much of a clue where she was going within it.

As such, she was left to wander through the massive crystal halls, only able to hear the loud echos of her own hoof-steps amidst the lack of any ambient noise, which left her somewhat unsettled and constantly on guard. There were many doors strewn about the sides of the halls, and while she could safely rule out the singles and smaller pairs that likely let to random closets, bedrooms, and whatever else, there were still many larger pairs she had to check to find what she was looking for.

Soon enough, she came upon another one of them, this pair looking no different than the twenty-odd she had before, and so she grabbed of the doors’ handles with a resigned sigh, then opened it to see...

“Oh, finally...”

The Library. With a capital ‘L’, as from what Tempest knew of Twilight, she would give that much honour to this room.

Still, Tempest wasn’t particularly sure if the current (sort of-) owner of the Castle cared for such distinction, but... perhaps there was another Pony that would, she realized as she spotted another Unicorn in the room, her mane and tail done in quite a similar way to Twilight Sparkle, but with differing colours. This Pony, still a Unicorn mare, as best as Tempest could tell from the distance between the two of them, had a pale yellow coat, crimson mane with a purple accent, and she wore a frizzy black sweater, though her Mark of a crescent moon remained clearly visible from her position on a ladder leaning against one of the tall bookshelves.

“Hello,” Tempest called out to her carefully, though still ended up getting a startled jump as the other Pony jerked her head back to look at her. After a second of silence passing between them, her own hooves continuing to carry her into the room while the other Unicorn didn’t move at all, she tentatively asked, “...Are you alright?”

The other mare blinked for a second, then nodded. “Um, y-yes,” She stuttered out in response, then turned head back to the shelf before sliding down the ladder to the floor, then stepped away from it before finally turning back around to look at the other mare. “Hi...” She started uncertainly, her eyes unable to look at Tempest for more than a moment before flitting back away, “Y-you’re.. Tempest Shadow, right?”

“That’s correct,” Tempest affirmed with a nod, still crossing the massive room towards the other mare, but she did still ask in response, “And you are?”

Sucking in a breath through her nose, the other Unicorn had an even harder time keeping her gaze on Tempest for a second, but she still uttered back, “U-uh, I’m.. Moondancer...”

Nodding again in understanding, Tempest still had her questions; this mare was clearly somewhat afraid of her, but also showed signs of something more... innate, as if she simply had no clue what she was doing.

...Then again, Tempest didn’t have much room to judge, she suddenly realized, as the awkward silence resumed, only broken by her hoof-steps.

When she finally arrived at a healthy distance from Moondancer, she stopped moving and decided to break the silence by asking, “..May I ask why your mane looks so much like Twilight’s?” However, the blank mix of emotions she got in response didn’t really tell her much immediately... or during the several seconds that passed after she spoke. “Were you a friend of hers?” She replaced her question with something hopefully easier to answer for the other Unicorn.

Thankfully, Moondancer did respond, this time with a tentative nod and muttering, “S-something like that...”

“It’s complicated?” Tempest guessed with raised eyebrow; that did seem to the default response when Ponies weren’t sure how to describe all the aspects of a relationship.

“Yeah...” Moondancer replied with a sigh and another nod, sitting down and running a hoof down the back part of her mane, seemingly embarrassed by it, if that motion and the light blush on her face were any indication. “It’s...” She started, but trailed off as she looked around the massive library, and her expression fell, “I barely even know... w-what to make of... this, everything.”

Luckily, Tempest had a guess; “You’re jealous of her?”

The other Unicorn pulled her forelegs up and hugged herself, seemingly even more embarrassed by that fact as she nodded in response, though her expression fell further instead of regaining her blush. “..Yeah. But, more, um... all of the stuff she got, n-not just the Castle.”

Sitting down before the other mare, Tempest recalled everything she heard the deceased mare had gained, her friends, her power, her new home, and then she spoke tentatively, “I get that, but given everything she’s done, I’m under the impression that it’s relatively deserved.”

Moondancer quietly snorted at that, but the sound was clear in the large, silent, and echo-y room. “I don’t really think that,” She spoke, her eyes more focused as she stared at the floor, but then she winced, closed her eyes, and hesitantly corrected, “W-well, no, m-more like...” She trailed off, but she pursed her lips and she seemed to be thinking intensely for several silent seconds before finishing firmly, “She was a hero, but others could’ve done the same in her position.”

Tempest pulled back a bit in bewilderment, and she tilted her head at the other Pony. “What makes you say that?”

Her brows furrowing for a moment, Moondancer soon opened eyes and glared at the other Unicorn, though her anger didn’t seem directed at her, and she spoke, “I was in a group of friends with Twilight before, or.. sort of,” She faltered slightly, looked away and sighed in annoyance, planted her forehooves back on the floor and relaxed her posture before continuing, “Twilight didn’t really reciprocate all our attempts to be friends with her.”

Letting out a breath of surprise and sudden understanding, Tempest quickly replied, “You believe you and your friends could’ve been the Elements instead?”

Nodding in affirmation, Moondancer looked back at the other Pony and said, “Twilight told me about everything that happened on that fateful day, and... she said she wasn’t even friends with those Ponies before she realized friendship was needed to power the actual Elements.”

“Interesting...” Tempest mused, looking down at the floor for a moment in thought, “I was always under the impression that they were friends before all of that, but I had never asked any of them...”

“...Why not?” The other mare asked curiously.

Looking back at her with a mildly deadpan expression, Tempest just answered, “Well, you should be able to imagine that we’re not on the best of terms.”

“Why—oh,” Moondancer started, though swiftly cut herself off when she realized, then turned her head away and nodded in embarrassed understanding. “S-sorry, I, uh...”

“It’s, alright,” The former Commander waved her off with a hoof, and turned the conversation back to ask, “But, as for the Elements, I also was under the assumption they exemplify their respective virtues better than... well, basically any other creature, so... do you know if they were like that before the Nightmare, too?”

Pursing her lips for a moment, Moondancer shrugged and replied, “Not sure. But, I think they were more normal back then, based on what I’ve heard.”

“And your own friends?” Tempest added, pulling the conversation back even further.

“...They’re pretty varied, too,” The other Pony responded, though with a confident tone despite her vague words.

“..And you believe their pre-existing friendship could work better than the current Elements flame-forged one?”

“...In some ways.” At Tempest’s head-tilt of confusion, Moondancer sighed and took a second to think before elaborating, “Twilight’s friends were good friends with each other, but we always had other friends outside of our group.”

Nodding slowly in comprehension, Tempest recalled, “And that’s why Twilight’s friendships with other creatures are always so complicated, correct?”

Expression furrowing back into annoyance, Moondancer replied curtly, “Yeah. But,” She went on to explain, “We have more friends and relationships. Minuette’s got a lot of friends, Twinkle and Lemon know a bunch of Ponies up in Canterlot, and Lyra’s got a marefriend. The Elements are...” She paused for a moment, but then just rolled her eyes in irritation and spat out, “Dumb and stale. They’ve caused a lot of problems, and don’t care about how much it hurts others. They don’t ever go out of their way to help others, not unless the problem’s shoved in their face. That’s the only reason I even know about all of this.”

Tempest reared back in surprise. “I thought you at least considered her a friend!”

“I don’t,” Moondancer replied firmly, but her expression quickly broke, and her gaze fell to the floor as she shook. Tears started to form in her eyes as she fumed, “I wanted to, and I wanted to be more than that, but..!” Huffing in anger, she continued to spit, “It took her until she became an Alicorn before she found me again, and even then she just randomly bumped into me while in Canterlot. Sure we made amends, s-sort of, but she never even thought to come back after everything. She just... abandoned me.”

Tempest watched her carefully, starting to truly understand why the other mare was so conflicted when it came to Twilight. “And—” She got cut off by Moondancer’s sudden return to her rageful ramblings.

“And then she goes and makes friends with a bunch of Ponies I’ve never heard, and they all get their dreams fulfilled over the years, including a bunch of shit they never even thought they wanted, and they go on adventures and make friends, and get everything given to them, and everypony loves them, and I GET NOTHING!” She slammed her forehooves into the floor in indignant rage, and tears were starting to trail down her face as she kept fuming. “But now.....”

“...Now she’s dead,” Tempest finished hesitantly, wary of the other Pony’s fury.

Nodding silently, Moondancer didn’t move as she continued, “Now she’s solidified as a hero, and I can’t hate her for sacrificing herself, now can I? And it’s not like any other creature in existence could’ve done that in her place. Surely it’s unique to her, and nobody else that could’ve gone through her journey would’ve done the same...”

Tempest paused for a moment, considering it. “..You do have a point,” She conceded carefully, “But I still believe there is more to Twilight than that. She did save my life, and sacrificed her own, and that most definitely not something to undersell.”

“I know...” Moondancer muttered in response, then looked back to the other mare and said, “But that’s not my point. Not quite, I-I just mean... if there’s at least one pony who could, then it’s at least partially just happenstance. Like—” Her eyes flitted off to the side for a moment, and she seemed to stumble over her thoughts before regaining her sense and adding, “Take Sunset Shimmer for example.”

“Sunset Shimmer?” The other Unicorn asked, unfamiliar with the name.

“Uh, yeah; she was Cel—Princess Celestia’s previous student before Twilight,” Moondancer clarified.

Tempest gasped faintly; “Oh, I know of her, then. Celestia mentioned her to me.”

“Oh?” Moondancer responded curiously, titling her head, but then shook it and continued, “W-well, Sunset would’ve likely been in the same position Twilight was in if she stuck around. Now, obviously, you know that she wasn’t... the best Pony to be around—” She got a nod from the other mare at that, “—But, neither was Twilight, really... So, Sunset could’ve gone on all those journeys instead of her, and it’d really just be the same idea as what really happened.”

“I’m not certain about that,” Tempest retorted darkly, getting another quizzical head-tilt from the other Unicorn, “Twilight was generally described as anti-social and simply didn’t understand the point of friendship, but Sunset... She was more active and megalomaniacal, and I don’t doubt she would’ve tried to usurp Celestia if given the chance via those Elements.”

Pausing for a second, Moondancer then tilted her head from side to side, and replied uncertainly, “W-well, if she used the Elements, then she’d have to have friends, right? That’s the whole.. point.”

“Of course, but that doesn’t preclude her from being malicious,” The former Commander answered, then went on, “Friends are important, but they alone won’t make someone better. Trust me, I’m very aware of that.”

Moondancer’s eyes stayed on the other mare for a moment in contemplation, then fell back to the floor, and she started to mutter to herself, “Well, maybe, but... How would that work..? Friends are good, keep you grounded, so...” Her eyes widened for a moment, then she blinked a few times before wiping the lingering tears from them with a hoof, where she next jerked her head to look at the other mare again and said, “Unless her friends were like her, too.”

Tempest eyed her oddly for a moment; “You really think six malicious creatures would figure out any semblance of friendship in the mere moments before their impending doom at the Nightmare?”

“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds stupid...” The other mare grumbled, but shook her head again and explained, “I mean, just... with how Twilight’s friends are, being so... chaotic, and causing tons of problems, they were never really ideal for the whole friendship thing. And yet, here they are.”

“Here they are...” Tempest uttered back in a level of assent, having heard of the ‘adventures’ those Ponies have gone on, and the things that have been spoken of them. A few instances in particular... “I believe if they were tempered and disciplined, even a little, then such chaos wouldn’t have happened. Nobody ever wishes to speak out against the heroes, and Celestia always stays by their side, even during their worst moments. The Gala, the Rainbow Factory, the Want-it-Need-it spell...” She sighed deeply, looking down for just a moment, “I couldn’t have imagined such madness being caused by the timid, yet heroic mare that sacrificed herself so, but now I understand that they were only truly heroic in the face of true danger. And without that danger, they had to create it themselves.”

Moondancer pulled back a bit, surprised and wary. “Y-you’re not suggesting they meant to cause problems, just to solve them, and to fluff up their ego and public perception..?”

“No,” Tempest scoffed lightly, “They’re not that smart.” Looking intently into the other Unicorn’s eyes, she finished, “They are good creatures, but they just needed better teachers.”

Author's Note

I saw an image on Tumblr at one point, depicting Moondancer finding out about the new Princess of Friendship, and finding that it happened to be the mare that abandoned her years earlier and never bothered to return.
That image, that idea, really stuck with me, as it really made me question how exactly Twilight’s ‘friendship’ actually works, as it truly can’t be objectively true friendship to everyone everywhere.
That hardly means she’s not trying, but she definitely isn’t trying hard enough, with Moondancer as the perfect example of that.

Now, I don’t really have much to say about the idea that Twilight’s previous ‘friend’ group could’ve became the Elements instead, but I do think the whole nature of the Elements is at least somewhat happenstance, as the tenants they embody could easily be done by others as well, and in a more complex, deep way than, ‘Oh, Fluttershy is a kind veterinarian’ or ‘Pinkie Pie likes making others laugh’.
Other AUs dealing with different Elements are generally a good example of that, like the Lunaverse, as well as one that actually did have Moondancer and her friends as the Elements.

Still, the whole idea of Twilight’s friends getting so much power of all sorts, and getting off the hook has always aggravated me, and I know I’m not the only one, as that’s like the basis for a tenth of the stuff created in fanworks for MLP, including PrinceWhatever’s Friends in High Places, which partially inspired me to write this chapter.