“So this is all mine now?” Tempest asked breathlessly as she looked around her new room. While shattered glass from the windows still covered the floor, Tempest knew all of that could be fixed with relative ease. Thick purple curtains lay on either side of the two windows; thankfully they looked like they were untouched by her former army. The stained glass door leading out onto her small balcony had a long, single crack that marred its beauty.
Much to her disbelief, instead of getting tattered hand-me-downs like she had expected, Twilight had bestowed upon her a beautiful set of white silk sheets plus four of the fluffiest pillows that she’d ever seen. Her bed was large enough to comfortably fit at least three ponies side by side, and to top it all of, there was a thick fleece blanket folded neatly at the base of her new bed.
“Yes, it is!” Twilight said with an earnest grin.
“I... I don’t know what to say,” Tempest said. “I feel like saying thank you just isn’t enough.”
“Well, you are most welcome!” Twilight said. She pointed a single feather at the bed. “Go on, try it out! I’m sure you’ll love it!”
“The bed?” Tempest prodded it with a hoof, then flopped stomach-first on top of the mattress with a giggle. “Oh... my... gosh...” she said as she sunk down into the sheets. “What is this? It’s so soft...” She laid her head between her forelegs, the softness of the silk caressing her muzzle. She held herself back from humming in content.
“A cloud bed,” Twilight said, her grin widening. “They’re the most expensive beds around. You will never find something softer and more comfortable than that. I’ve outfitted nearly every bed in the castle with them. Starlight prefers firm beds, so I made sure to have a few traditional mattresses laying around, too.”
“How can you afford so many of these beds?” she asked, rolling over onto her side.
“Perks of being a princess,” Twilight said with a giggle as she stood up. “So you coming? We have a lot of work to do!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Tempest pushed herself off the bed, shooting a wistful glance at it. Soon... she thought. Her body wanted nothing more than to slip under the sheets and take the rest of the day off, but her mind advised otherwise. “Say, is there some spell you could use to fix the windows? Feeding everypony should definitely be top priority, but, um... maybe we could clean the castle up afterwards?”
“That might be a good idea. And yeah, I do know a spell that can fix the windows. It takes a lot of energy to do it, but it should work so long as all the pieces are here.” She lit her horn and focused her magic on the broken glass.
Tempest watched in amazement as all of the glass shards rose up into the air, each piece flying towards the windows. Seconds later, each piece fell into place. As Twilight’s magic faded away, Tempest trotted up to both windows and inspected them. “They’re flawless...” she muttered. “Almost like they weren’t broken in the first place.”
“Heh, thanks. I’ll repair the rest of the windows here when we get back. If I’m not exhausted, that is.” Twilight wiped her brow with a hoof. “So now that we’ve got you settled in here, our friends need us down at the farm!”
Our friends? Tempest’s heart warmed at the thought. I like the sound of that. Guilt forced its way into the front of her mind, making her ears droop. She saw Twilight turn towards the door, so with a nervous flick of her mane, Tempest trotted past her and locked them in. “Before we go... I need to talk to you. In private.”
Twilight cocked her head to the side, then her eyes widened for just a brief moment.“Very well.” She sat down and flicked her tail around her side, then fluffed her wings.
“I must ask... Why? Why am I getting all of this nice stuff? Why are you being so nice to me? I was absolutely horrible to you.”
Twilight pursed her lips, then relaxed. “Well... yes, you were pretty mean. However, I believe in second cha—”
“Stop saying that; you’ll give me a headache.” Tempest huffed, then started pacing around the room. “I still can’t wrap my mind around all of this. I invaded Equestria. I enslaved everyone and led them around in chains. I humiliated the alicorn princesses and welcomed the Storm King into the Royal Palace. In the land of the late Storm King, we would have treated those who committed crimes such as these as war criminals, worthy of neither my forgiveness or trust; never my friendship! And yet you welcome me into your town and among your citizens, for whose troubles I am responsible. You give me a bed in your own home with the finest of sheets, and you dare to give me a place amongst your circle of friends? After I had chased and hunted you to the ends of Equestria with your home and your capital in ruins, how can you even begin to think of calling me a friend?!” she demanded, her entire body trembling with anger.
“I—”
“I took what was most precious to you in a stupid, brainless attempt to get my horn back! Because of me, my army ruined your home and destroyed your most cherished possessions!” Tempest stormed up to Twilight and planted her hooves into the carpet. “And I get forgiveness and friendship?! Where’s the sense in that?” Tempest screamed, staring Twilight dead in the eyes. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but she closed it a few moments later as she glanced away, unable to hold her piercing gaze.
Tempest rolled her eyes as she stormed off. “I’m a worthless, no-good, criminal!” she grunted, sitting down in the middle of the room. “I don’t deserve any of this; I’ve hurt way too many to make amends. I’m an outcast. Always have been... always will.”
“Not anymore! All of that’s in the past!” Twilight said, shaking her head as she moved to sit down in front of her. Gently lifting Tempest’s head with a few feathers, Twilight shot her a warm smile. “If it helps, I want you to know I have forgiven you,” she said, folding her wing back to her side.
“W-What? You do? Why?” Tempest wiped the tears from her eyes with a hoof as she blinked.
“Because that’s who I am.” Twilight stepped forward and pulled her into a tight hug. She wrapped her wings around Tempest’s back, then nuzzled her cheek a few times for good measure. “Stop tormenting yourself, Tempest, just... stop. I believe in you, so you should believe in yourself.”
Tempest’s eyes slid shut as she awkwardly wrapped her forelegs around Twilight, her heart bursting into warmth as she nuzzled her back. “So this is how you’re supposed to hug somepony?” she asked with a short chuckle, hoping to break the tense silence.
“Mhm.”
“I could probably learn a thing or two, right?”
“Oh yeah.”
Tempest woke up with a start, her warm sheets drenched with sweat. She threw them off of her as she pushed herself out of bed. Tempest trotted around the room, shaking her head to and fro as she fought to release herself from the terrifying grasp of her nightmare. Slowly fading thoughts of the Storm King trying to end her life slipped away, leaving her with nothing more than a sense of dread. “Why, why, why!” she groaned as she ground her right hoof into the carpet. After such a long day of working, she’d thought that she would have been able to get a good night’s rest, but she was not so lucky.
She heard an off-pitch groan that made her ears perk up. Tempest cocked her ears in every direction until she heard the sound again. “Where’s it coming from?” she muttered, walking up to one of her windows. She pressed her left ear against it and waited several moments. “Not coming from outside... Wait, could it be coming from Twilight’s room?” Tempest trotted up to their shared wall and pressed her other ear up against it, hearing soft moans and groans coming from the other side. Is she having another nightmare? she thought, her ears flicking back. She tapped on the wall a few times, hoping that it’d wake her up. When she heard a louder groan, her shoulders slumped down in defeat. “Hm...”
Pushing open her bedroom door, Tempest trotted up to Twilight’s door, then rapped on it a few times. “Twilight?” she softly called out. She placed her hoof on the doorknob and was surprised to discover that it was unlocked. Hearing another groan, she pushed the door open and shut it as quietly as she could behind her, using the moonlight streaming in through the windows to guide her towards the bed. Twilight’s sheets had slipped from her trembling form, laying at a crumpled heap at the end of her bed. She twitched in her sleep, muttering things that Tempest couldn’t make out.
“Twilight?” Tempest asked again, shaking her with a hoof. “Twilight, wake up,” she said a little louder. She waited a few seconds, but Twilight still remained asleep. “Oh, right... she said she was going to use a sleeping spell...” she muttered. “Fantastic!”
She started pacing around the room. Minutes passed as she threw away idea after idea, each no better than the last. Tempest sat down next to Twilight’s bed and stared at her, hating the fact that she was unable to help the one who treated her with the utmost kindness and respect. Suddenly, a memory that she hadn’t thought of for years popped into her mind.
”Mommy?” Tempest asked, pushing open her parents’ bedroom door with her muzzle. Her ears flicked back as fresh tears sprang to her eyes. She squeezed her stuffed bunny rabbit tighter as she took a few hesitant steps towards their bed. The sheets on the bed moved, then she spotted her mother’s horn light up. Tempest rose up into the air, a smile of relief gracing her lips as she floated towards her parents.
“What’s wrong, little one? Another nightmare?” her mother softly asked as she rubbed her eyes with a hoof.
Tempest nodded, her grasp on her stuffed animal tightening. Mr. Fluffikins was always there for her when she needed him most, but the comfort he gave her was nowhere near what she needed right now.
“What was it about this time?” She let the magic fade away from her horn as she placed her daughter beside her.
“I... In my nightmare, you said you couldn’t love me anymore because of my broken horn. You wanted me to leave and n-never come back,” Tempest squeaked out, looking up into her mother’s loving gaze, praying that the words she had spoken were not true.
“Oh, heavens no! Nothing in all of Equestria could ever stop me from loving you, sweetie! Horn or no, your father and I will always love you.” She planted a kiss at the base of her horn and pulled her up against her side with a hoof. “And don’t forget, snuggling with someone will always keep the nightmares away!” she said, nuzzling her daughter’s cheek.
Tempest wiped the tears from her eyes as she curled up against her mother’s side, laying her head on her foreleg. She closed her eyes as she felt her mother pull the blankets back up, then felt a tender hoof rub her back, making a content smile grow upon her face. “Sweet dreams, Mommy...” she whispered as she felt sleep tug at her eyes.
“Sweet dreams, little one.”
Tempest flicked her gaze back up to rest on Twilight. “Could it work?” She stood up and placed a tentative hoof on the edge of the bed, pausing when Twilight twitched again and moaned something that sounded like her name. Feelings of guilt once again rose to the front of her mind. I told her that I would do anything to make things right... Gods above, this is going to be awkward... She pushed herself up onto the bed and lay down next to Twilight, her tail nervously swishing about on the sheets.
Knowing that she hadn’t snuggled anypony in well over a decade, she rolled onto her side and tugged the sheets up over them. Fluffing up a pillow with her other hoof, Tempest scooted forward until her belly touched Twilight’s wings. She was never the type of pony to do things halfway, so after a deep breath, she wrapped her left foreleg under Twilight’s forelegs and pulled her into her grasp.
A minute passed as Tempest felt her chest floof grow warm from Twilight’s body heat. It was a rather pleasant sensation, one that Tempest felt that she could grow accustomed to. Her friend’s twitches, moans, and groans gradually stilled. Tempest felt Twilight gently wrap a hoof around her foreleg, and as the minutes passed in a peaceful silence, it appeared Twilight had slipped into the sweetest and most deepest of slumbers. A smile grew on Tempest’s face as she nuzzled Twilight between her ears. “Sweet dreams, Twilight...” she whispered, tucking her head in around Twilight’s. Gotta make sure I wake up and get out of here before Twilight wakes up...