//------------------------------//
// Chapter 40: "Coming to Make Amends" 
// Story: The Redemption of Tempest Shadow 
// by twilightsparkle3562 
//------------------------------//

Tempest Shadow returned to her training with the mindset that the ponies who had turned her away were coming to apologize. Her frustration was taken out on the training session she was currently undergoing, and it showed towards Shining Armor when they did another practice joust, which Tempest managed to best him at it.

"I can't believe they would show their faces, Shining Armor," Tempest remarked, as she took off her helmet and threw it to the ground. "Why would they even come back after all that they did to me?"

"Perhaps maybe you aren't given them a chance, Tempest," Shining Armor suggested. "If they're truly sorry for turning their backs on you, then let them show it to you."

This made Tempest turn sharply towards him. "How should you know?" She hissed. "You know nothing!"

" Believe me, I've been where you are now, and let me tell you, it's the most awkward feeling in the world, being called out for something that you did." Shining replied.

"Easy for you to say, Shining Armor," Tempest remarked, as she prepared to undergo the obstacle course. "I mean, why should I forgive my friends? They made me into the pony I am today: cold, bitter and hurt. They all got their horns and they graduated from Celestia's school for gifted unicorns to do things that I could never do."

"Because holding grudges only makes your problems worse, Tempest," Shining said with a shake of his head. "I learned that the hard way with Thorax. Besides, I don't think your friends meant for any of this to happen."

"They didn't mean for this to happen?!" Tempest snapped. "How could you say that?! You weren't there when they turned their backs on me!" Then, Tempest noticed the frown that Shining Armor had on his face. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked.

"Because you need to listen to yourself for a second, that's why," Shining explained. "A wise pony once told me that two wrongs don't make a right. Everything you did was all your doing, Tempest. Perhaps your friends were concerned for your well being after the accident.

"Liar!" Tempest snarled, hissing at her trainer, before turning her attention towards the obstacle course!





Meanwhile, on one of the trains, Starlight was listening to one of Tempest's friends tell his side of the story about Tempest's accident.

"We were just foals," A light blue colored female unicorn pony explained. "We were simply playing another round of catch when the ball just went over to the cave. Fizzlepop went to retrieve it, and had that encounter with the Ursa Minor. We ran away not because Tempest was different, but because we were scared."

"I understand what you're saying, Snow Frost," Starlight Glimmer sighed. "But, why couldn't you just admit you were scared to Fizzlepop right then and there?"

"Because we were scared of how Fizzlepop would react when we told her that unicorn horns can never be fixed," Snow Frost commented. "Ever since the accident, Fizzlepop was, I don't know, different to us."

"In what way?" Starlight asked.

"She became more bitter and angry towards us, and to others. We became scared of her," Snow Frost explained. "None of us wanted to be targets of anypony's rage, especially Fizzlepop's."

"Did anypony try to talk to her?" Starlight inquired, hoping beyond hope for any answer but no.

Snow Frost shook her head. "No, we were too scared to even approach her. But, I knew that something needed to be done. She needed to know the truth. But before we could agree on a plan to confront her about it, she disappeared. When she didn't return within a week, we assumed she'd left for good and wasn't coming back. We had no idea she would turn her back on her home land."

"Then, you need to do what you failed to do before, and confront Tempest," Starlight suggested. "Let her know how you feel and what you tried to do to help her, both you and your friend, Irish Spring."





On the other train bound for the Crystal Empire, Sweetheart was giving the same pep talk to Tempest's other friend, a light green colored unicorn mare named Irish Spring.

"Do you think she will listen?" Irish Spring asked in her thick accent.

"She needs to hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth," Sweetheart advised. "Otherwise, the pain is just going to continue to grow and grow. I've done everything I can to help her, the rest is up to you."

"Easier said than done," Irish Spring sighed, looking down at the floor of the train car. "Fizzlepop will just turn us away. She's so bullheaded and so in denial, it's unbelievable."

"Perhaps," Sweetheart began, taking in a deep sigh. "But, dealing with ponies who are bullheaded and in denial is just another phase of life. The only pony who can lose the bullheadedness and no longer be in denial, are the bullheaded ponies themselves. But, in order to do that, they need to hear the truth. They need to be given closure, a chance to confront the the perceived source of their agony and make amends."

Both Irish Spring and Snow Frost were very reluctant in hearing this. However, as the trains each pulled into the station, neither unicorn was prepared for the inevitable outcome that was about to transpire...

...

Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, the captured soldiers of the Storm King were beginning to open up about their leader's true intentions. Both Celestia and Luna paced around the throne room waiting for news. At last, a guardspony came in.

"Your highnesses," he said, holding a scroll and catching the sisters' attention. "I have here some information that is going to deeply interest you both."

Taking the scroll, they read what the creatures had confessed.

"Needless to say," said Celestia to Luna, rolling the scroll back up. "I'm not surprised by this. It seems like everything they are now saying is just what we thought they were going to say."

"At least they are opening up about it, sister," sighed Luna, thinking back to when she had her encounter with their mother. "Mother was right. Our methods were wrong in trying to obtain the information we need."

"Perhaps now we can get the answers we have been looking for about the Storm King."

Soon, both sides would soon get their answers in due time…