“Make a friend?” Tempest asked nervously. She glanced around at the ponies dancing during Songbird Serenades performance. Her eyes eventually fall back on her most recent, and currently only friend, Twilight Sparkle.
The purple alicorn grinned at her new friend. “Yep! The more the merrier! And I feel like the friendship festival is a great place to start.” she said, gesturing to the dancing ponies. “Now, I’ve got a few things to do, and also catch the princesses up on what exactly happened the past three days. Good luck!”
With that, Twilight took to the sky in search of the other princesses, waving back to Tempest as she did.
“Make a friend...” Tempest said to herself. She looked up to the stage to see that Songbird was flying around above the partying ponies, singing with such a projection and flying with such practiced grace. To say that Tempest was impressed was an understatement.
As she watched the rest of the performance, she lost sight of the ponies around her and primarily focused on Songbird, completely entranced by her show. “Wow...” she said to herself.
She found it so beautiful that she wanted to give her a personal compliment. So, weaving through the dense crowd of oblivious ponies, she made her way to the side of the stage to wait for Songbird.
“Thank you so much everypony! You all have been great!” The crowd cheered at Songbird’s words. “As much as I want to stay and perform for you all night, I must get going.” To this the crowd had a mix of ‘aww’s and cheers. “Good night everypony!”
At that, she took her leave. Right towards Tempest, or at least, the side of the stage Tempest was on.
As Songbird stepped down, Tempest took a step towards her. “Um, Miss Serenade?” she said as her bodyguards quickly stepped in between her and Songbird making Tempest take a small step back.
“Easy there boys,” Songbird says, parting the guards and stepping in front of them. “What’s up?” she asked.
Tempest looked at her for a few seconds before coming to her senses. “Oh, um, sorry. I just wanted to say that your show was absolutely stunning, I could watch it for days.”
Songbird appeared to look her up and down with a sly smile “You too, love.” she said as she trotted past Tempest, bringing her wing up to stroke Tempest’s jaw. “Walk with me, will you? It’s a bit of a travel to the hotel.”
“Go ahead back to the hotel, boys. I’ll be fine.” She told her guards. They looked at eachother knowingly before nodding and walking away.
Tempest, now slack-jawed, only nodded as she trotted up beside Songbird. After a few seconds, she finally brought her mouth closed. Songbird giggled. “I was wondering when you’d regain control of your mouth, it’s better that way.” she said in a voice Tempest couldn’t quite place.
After about a minute of silence, Songbird spoke. “So, how did someone like you get into the whole ‘caging ponies up and working for an evil monkey’ business?”
Tempest winced. “Well, when I was a filly I ran into a cave to get a ball for my friends. Unfortunately there happened to be an Ursa Minor in there with me… He gave me this scar and broke my horn… My friends never treated me the same since.” Tempest sighed. “Like the emotional filly I was, I ran away. Living alone, I never trusted anyone, I never felt I could. I grew cold, distant."
"I stopped caring about ponies and friendship. All I wanted at that point was to get back what was mine, by any means necessary. For years it was like that, and it brought me to the Storm King and his fake promises. I was so desperate that I just didn't care. I forgot what it meant to have a friend and, well, you know the rest..."
Suddenly, Tempest felt a soft appendage on her back and pull her closer to the pegasus. The wing hug was comforting to say the least. Songbird spoke “I’m so sorry that your friends treated you differently because of that. If you want my opinion, I think it looks rather cute.”
Tempest blushed, “Cute?” Songbird nodded, smiling softly. “No one has ever called me cute before… At least not in recent memory.”
Songbird squeezed Tempest with her wing again. “Well I just did.” Tempest smiled. They both checked their surroundings. The area was dimly lit and unrecognizable to either pony. “It appears we went straight where we should’ve taken a turn. Guess we got a bit too caught up in our chat.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.” Tempest apologized. Songbird scoffed, “It’s no problem, I like spending time with a pretty mare” This made Tempest blush again.
As they began retracing their steps, Songbird spoke up. “I really like Canterlot. I’ve only been a few times when I was a filly. It’s just as beautiful as I remember.”
Tempest took a look around, eyeing the architecture. “It is rather clean. Has a certain aesthetic that I can appreciate.” Songbird nudged her, giggling. “Come on, it’s more than that. Being here just feels… Magical...”
Tempest smiled and took another look around. They were heading back into areas a bit more populated. The smiling ponies, the general good mood surrounding them, the vastness of the mountain city as a whole, it gave off an energy that just spoke ‘magic’. “I guess you’re right.”
They walked for a bit longer in comfortable silence, despite some of the ponies eyeing Tempest with an obvious look of caution. The hotel became visible in the distance and Songbird looked to her companion, noticing her discomfort at the stares she was receiving.
“You can walk up to my room with me if you want. It’ll give us a little more time to talk.” The pegasus suggested.
Receiving a smile and a nod from Tempest, she smiled and trotted towards the door to the hotel, unicorn in tow. Entering the hotel gather a few more stares, but Tempest was more focused on the mare in front of her. ‘Is she swaying her hips?’ Tempest thought as she followed Songbird to the stairway.
Reaching the top floor, they made their way down the hall towards the door on the end that looked more detailed and grand than the others. “So, how long are you in Canterlot for?” Songbird asked.
Tempest honestly hadn’t thought about it. “I don’t know, I don’t really have anywhere to go right now.” she answered.
The pegasus hummed, “Well, if you’re still here tomorrow evening, we should go grab a drink. Say, around eight?”
Tempest’s face flushed profusely, “Um, i-if you’re sure you don’t mind, t-that sounds fun.”
Songbird smiled slyly, “It’s a date.” she said, turning around and flicking tempests jaw with her tail as she made her way into her room, shutting the door with a wing.
“A what?!” Tempest whisper-shouted to herself. Shocked, she began her trek back towards the stairs. “I don’t think this is what Twilight had in mind when she told me to make a friend.” She told herself. “Now I’ve got a date with Songbird Serenade…”
Making her way into the streets of Canterlot, she began towards the castle. “I hope Twilight is finished with the princesses, because I could use someone to help me figure out what the buck just happened...”