Tempest and Grubber were making their way through Clydesvale, out to pick up groceries for the week. Most of the town's inhabitants had grown used to Tempest's presence, nodding or even waving as she passed by. In return, Tempest gave one or two of them a curt nod, with Grubber providing the waves.
"Come on, Grubber." Tempest urged. "We have a lot to pick up today, so you need to pick up the pace."
"You know, you wouldn't have to wait for me to catch up if you'd just carry me." Grubber pointed out.
"Duly noted." Tempest said flatly. "But I'm not carrying you on top of all the groceries."
"That's okay, I'll carry the groceries for ya!" Grubber offered.
"That doesn't really solve the problem." Tempest pointed out.
As they continued on their way to the market, they crossed paths with Glitter Drops and Spring Rain. This was a fairly regular occurrence, considering the town's small size. Whenever it happened, the two would make small talk with Tempest, with Tempest making only a token effort to play along. She hadn't exactly forgotten what she'd promised Twilight, but letting go of the past was proving harder for Tempest than she'd thought.
"Hello, Fizzlepop." Glitter Drops declared.
"Hello, girls." Tempest said flatly.
"...How are you today?" Spring Rain asked.
"I'm fine, thanks." Tempest said curtly.
"Any... Plans for the day?" Glitter Drops inquired.
"Grubber and I are just heading down to the market." Tempest announced.
"Oh." Spring Rain said awkwardly. "If you're not doing anything afterwards, maybe you could hang out with me and Glitter Drops over at my place?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I really can't." Tempest shrugged. "My day's kind of packed."
"Say wha-?" Grubber started, before Tempest covered his mouth with a hoof.
"So we really should be going." Tempest continued, pushing Grubber along as she moved away from her childhood friends. "Can't even afford the time to talk. Bye."
"Oh, okay." Spring Rain said glumly.
"Have a nice day, I guess..." Glitter Drops added dejectedly.
Barely acknowledging the farewells, Tempest continued on the way to the market. Grubber was noticeably lagging behind.
"Grubber, you're falling behind again." Tempest declared. "And you know I don't like to repeat myself."
"...You should've gone with 'em, Tempest." Grubber announced. "They're your friends."
"They were my friends." Tempest retorted. "A long time ago. We barely even know each other now. And I'm not exactly in the mood to spend the rest of the day with strangers."
"There's nothin' stoppin' ya from gettin' to know them right now." Grubber pointed out.
"Another time, maybe." Tempest shrugged. "For now, there's groceries to buy."
Grubber thought it over for a moment, then spoke up once more.
"I'll get the groceries." He suggested. "That'll give you plenty of time to spend with Glitter Drops and Spring Rain."
"You... You don't have to do that, Grubber." Tempest declared, temporarily taken aback by Grubber's offer.
"Oh, but I insist." Grubber smiled brightly.
"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood today." Tempest said stubbornly.
"Tempest, you've gotta do this." Grubber urged.
"No, I don't." Tempest retorted.
"What, you're gonna just have these awkward li'l meetings with them for the rest of your life?" Grubber demanded.
"Beats the alternative." Tempest shrugged.
"You won't know until you try." Grubber pointed out. "So give it a try."
"And if I fon't?" Tempest challenged.
"Then I'll just head back home right now." Grubber declared. "And you'll have to carry all the groceries back by yourself."
"Seriously?" Tempest scoffed. "Is that the best you've got?"
"I'll also stop making my chocolate muffins for dessert whenever it's my turn to cook." Grubber added deviously. "I know how much you like 'em..."
"...Okay, I'll go." Tempest groaned. "But in return, you're making me double helpings tonight."
"Great!" Grubber smiled. "And in the meantime, I'll pick up the groceries, just like I promised. Have fun!"
"Sure I will..." Tempest rolled her eyes.
Tempest quickly doubled back, catching up to Glitter Drops and Spring Rain, who were chatting amongst themselves, and steeling herself for what was to come.
"Hey, girls." She said unenthusiastically.
"Fizzlepop?" Glitter Drops frowned. "What are you doing back here?"
"On closer inspection, I realized I do have some free time." Tempest lied. "So I've decided to take you up on your offer."
"That's wonderful." Spring Rain smiled. "You won't regret this, Fizzy. We're going to have so much fun!"
"It'll be just like old times." Glitter Drops grinned.
"Sure it will." Tempest gave them a half-hearted smile. "So, over to your place?" She asked Spring Rain.
"That's the plan." Spring Rain nodded.
The three of them made their way to the west side of town, where Spring Rain's cottage was located. The interior was brightly decorated, the walls covered in pictures of Spring Rain's family and Glitter Drops, a dark blue couch, and several cloud-shaped ornaments on the shelves.
"Well?" Spring Rain asked. "What do you think?"
"...Nice place." Tempest said flatly. "Definitely seen worse..."
"Let's have a little sit down." Glitter Drops suggested. "I don't know about you gals, but my hooves could do with a rest."
"Why not?" Tempest shrugged. "Beats standing..."
Both Tempest and Glitter Drops sat on the couch.
"I'll go get us some nice ice tea." Spring Rain declared. "Try not to have too much fun without me."
"We'll try." Glitter Drops joked as Spring Rain headed into the kitchen.
Tempest rolled her eyes irritably.
"I saw that." Glitter Drops pouted. "Come on, Fizzlepop, lighten up a little."
"I'll try... as long as you keep the bad jokes to a minimum." Tempest shot back.
"Deal." Glitter Drops nodded.
Spring Rain returned to the room moments later, carrying a tray with glasses of iced tea with her magic.
"Anypony thirsty?" She announced.
"No question here." Glitter Drops used her own magic to move a glass over to her.
"Here you go, Fizzy." Spring Rain moved one of the remaining two glasses over to Tempest.
"Thanks." Tempest said bluntly, grasping the glass with one hoof.
Taking the remaining glass for herself, Spring Rain joined her friends on the couch.
"Mmm." Glitter Drops took a sip from her glass. "You make the best iced tea, Rainy."
"Thanks." Spring Rain beamed. "I added a touch of lemon, and a hint of lime. She saw that Tempest hadn't had any of hers yet. "Aren't you going to try some, Fizzy."
"Yeah, yeah..." Tempest muttered, annoyed at being called "Fizzy" again. She reluctantly took a sip, and was surprised to see that the drink tasted quite good. "This isn't half bad." She admitted.
"I'm so glad you like it." Spring Rain grinned. "Just let me know if you want a refill."
"I brought some cookies along for the walk this morning." Glitter Drops opened up her saddlebag, lifting up several heart-shaped treats. "Want some?"
"Yes, please!" Spring Rain nodded.
"Why not?" Tempest shrugged, grabbing one of the cookies with her free hoof. She took a bite, and acknowledged that they tasted nearly as good as the iced tea.
"This is nice, isn't it?" Glitter Drops asked. "Three old friends, hanging out together..."
"Yeah, sure." Tempest declared. "Though I'm not really seeing any hints of the 'fun' you mentioned earlier. Not that I'm complaining..."
"Oh, I've got some fun planned.." Spring Rain giggled. She walked over to a desk at the side of the couch, pulled open a drawer, and extracted a book of some sort.
"Oh, here we go." Glitter Drops smirked.
"What?" Tempest frowned. "Are we going to start some kind of book club?"
"Not exactly." Spring Rain grinned. She opened the book, revealing it to be a photo album. "I thought we could take a trip down memory lane first."
"Oh... great." Tempest said flatly.
"Remember this?" Spring Rain pointed to a photo of herself, Glitter Drops and Tempest as fillies, all wearing flower costumes.
"The time we got the lead roles in the school play!" Glitter Drops grinned. "How could I forget? I kept getting my lines wrong!"
"It was still a lot of fun, though, wasn't it?" Spring Rain pointed.
"Yeah, fun." Tempest snorted. "Wearing a stupid-looking, itchy costume, making a fool of myself in front of the whole school..."
"You seemed like you were having fun at the time." Glitter Drops frowned.
"In hindsight, not so much." Tempest scowled.
"Let's move on to the next picture, shall we?" Spring Rain said awkwardly. She turned to the next page. "Oh-ho! Look at this!"
Tempest looked downwards. The photo Spring Rain was referring to was of the three of them as fillies wearing costumes.
"Our first Nightmare Night together." Glitter Drops smiled. "Look at us..."
In the photo, the young Glitter Drops was dressed as a witch, the young Spring Rain was wearing a bird costume... and the young Tempest was wearing a frilly pink princess outfit.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." Tempest said under her breath, mortified by her younger self's appearance.
"We all looked so cute back then, didn't we?" Spring Rain cooed. "Especially you, Fizzy!"
"Yeah, I was really cute." Tempest grimaced. "Can we move on to the next photo please?"
"You really loving wearing that princess dress." Glitter Drops grinned, seemingly deaf to Tempest's request. "And why wouldn't you? Back then, you were always talking about you wanted to be a Princess one day!"
"I was a little kid back then." Tempest said sourly. "A stupid, naive little kid, who thought life could be like a fairy tale..."
Both Glitter Drops and Spring Rain were unnerved by Tempest's statement.
"Okay, next picture..." Spring Rain said finally.
The next picture was of the three of them on a picnic blanket, sharing lunch. The picture after that was of the three of them at a sleepover together, flashing cheesy grins at the camera while wearing pajamas. The one after that depicted them at Tempest's tenth birthday party, Glitter Drops and Spring Rain hugging the ecstatic birthday girl.
Glitter Drops and Spring Rain continued cooing and gushing over the old memories. To them, they were happy moments from the past, but to Tempest, they were nothing but painful reminders of what her life used to be like, before it all went wrong; before she lost her horn, and fell into a downward spiral that culminated in her betraying her own homeland.
"Oh, look at this one!" Glitter Drops smiled, as they reached a photo which showed the three of them playing catch together, the ball being held in the magic of Tempest's not-yet-broken horn. "Boy, that takes me back."
"Those were the days, weren't they?" Spring Rain beamed.
"Yes, they were." Tempest cast a cold look at the scene, which brought back memories of the terrible day she'd lost her horn. "Until one lost ball ruined everything. After that, you two didn't seem so keen on playing catch with me anymore."
Another awkward silence filled the room.
"How about we put aside the photo album for now?" Glitter Drops suggested.
"Good idea." Tempest said flatly.
"Let's try something else." Spring Rain agreed. "It's a lovely day. Maybe we could go out and have a picnic together?"
"Thanks, but I'm good." Tempest replied. "Those cookies are really filling. Besides, I've had enough of eating outside to last a lifetime..."
"Okay... then how about we go out and play catch, like we used to?" Glitter Drops offered.
"You do realize I'll be at something of a disadvantage, right?" Tempest pointed to her broken horn.
"Oh, right." Glitter Drops cringed awkwardly.
"Maybe I should just go." Tempest nodded.
"No, come on, you should stay!" Spring Rain offered. "Stay for dinner! In fact, why don't you stay the night?"
"Great idea, Spring!" Glitter Drops agreed. "We could have a sleepover!"
"'Sleepover'?" Tempest screwed up her face in distaste. "We're grown mares!"
"You're never too old to stay over at a friend's house." Spring Rain insisted.
"Think of it, Fizzy." Glitter Drops smiled. "The three of us hanging out together, styling each other's manes, giving each other hooficures... it'll be so much fun!"
"Really, I-!" Tempest started.
"Pretty soon, it'll be just like old times between us." Spring Rain grinned. "Won't that be great?"
"...NO!!" Tempest suddenly yelled.
Glitter Drops and Spring Rain froze up.
"You think I don't see what's happening here?" Tempest scowled. "What you're trying to do?"
"We're just trying to make you feel like you're part of the group again." Glitter Drops declared. "The three of us together."
"Just like it used to be." Spring Rain added. "The way things were... Before."
"I appreciate your efforts, but the fact is, things between us can never go back to the way they were!" Tempest announced.
"Fizzy-" Glitter Drops frowned.
"So maybe you shouldn't call me 'Fizzy' like we're still nine years old!" Tempest scowled. "Or invite me to play catch, go on picnics... And join you for a sleepover! I mean, really?"
"I was just trying to-" Spring Rain started.
"Act like we're still foals?" Tempest interrupted. "Like we were before the Ursa Minor? Before I lost my horn? Before you abandoned me?!"
"You're starting on this again?" Glitter Drops scowled. "Seriously? Who's really living in the past here?"
"Glitter, don't." Spring Rain said sternly.
"You know it's true, Spring." Glitter Drops snorted. "She's never going to let this go! She'll always hold it against us! I tried to tolerate it, but there's only so much recrimination I can take!"
"You know what?" Tempest scowled. "This whole thing was a mistake! We should all just stop trying. You go your own way, and I'll go mine. It's better than awkward afternoons spent trying to relive a past I'd rather forget."
"Fizzlepop..." Spring Rain started.
"I'm outta here." Tempest stomped out of the house.
"Good riddance." Glitter Drops snorted.
"You can't mean that, Glitter." Spring Rain scolded her. "She's our friend!"
"Was our friend." Glitter Drops retorted. "We invited her over here to hang out and reminisce, and she just threw it back in our faces! If she wants nothing more to do with us, I can live with that."
"Can you?" Spring Rain demanded. "You seemed like you were having fun when we were sitting here, looking over our old pictures, all the good times..."
"Maybe a little..." Glitter Drops admitted, glancing at the photo album.
"And do you really want us to lose Fizzlepop again, after she just came back into our lives?" Spring Rain prompted.
Glitter Drops on one particular picture, which the three fillies hugging each other, happy smiles on their faces.
"...No." She admitted. "But you heard her. She thinks we'd be better off apart."
"Then we've got to convince her otherwise." Spring Rain declared. "Come on."
Both mares left the house, intent on finding their friend.
Not too far away, Tempest was walking down the streets, sulking. She was in no real hurry to go home, knowing that she'd have to explain to Grubber how bad things went. And she was in no mood to relive the experience.
At the same time, she was fuming over what had happened.
"Acting like we're still foals." She muttered to herself. "Then Glitter Drops had the nerve to accuse me of living in the past. Like she can talk..."
Tempest stopped by a tree, trying to take a moment to calm down. Her anger began to give way to a deep sense of failure, due to a promise left unfulfilled.
"I'm sorry, Twilight." She apologized. "I tried..."
Out of sheer frustration, Tempest kicked the tree's trunk as hard as she could. She then leaned her head against its overcome by self-recrimination.
"Fizzlepop?" Spring Rain's voice asked.
"Oh, great..." Tempest groaned. She turned to face her old friends. "Now what?"
"Fizzlepop... You were right." Glitter Drops admitted. "Things between us can never go back to the way they were."
"But they don't have to." Spring Rain added.
"What do you mean?" Tempest frowned.
"She means that's exactly what we've been doing wrong." Glitter Drops declared. "Why this hasn't been working. We've all been focusing so much on the past."
"In my case, it's hard not to." Tempest said sourly.
"In our case, we've been trying to pick up where we left off." Glitter Drops admitted. "Before... Y'know..."
"Yes, I know." Tempest glared.
"But that's never going to work." Spring Rain declared. "Because we're not foals anymore. We're all grown mares. We should be starting fresh, getting to know each other as adults, not trying to relive days gone by."
"It's those days that are the problem." Tempest retorted. "A certain set of days in particular..."
"We can't change what happened in the past." Glitter Drops admitted. "Any of us. We can apologize for what happened with you a thousand times, but it won't change the fact that it did happen. Same with what you did up in Canterlot. You've apologized, and you're sorry for everything you've done, but that doesn't mean it never happened."
Tempest lowered her head, silently acknowledging the point.
"That's something else we're all guilty of." Spring Rain pointed out. "We've been so focused on the mistakes we've made in the past that we've been letting them consume us, hold us back."
"The only thing from the past we should hold onto is that we're friends." Glitter Drops smiled.
"And we'll always be your friends, Fizzlepop." Spring Rain pledged. "No matter what happens. Even if you don't want to be friends with us anymore."
"You will?" Tempest asked, touched by the gesture.
"So what do you say?" Glitter Drops asked. "Shall we try to get to know each other in the now?"
"I guess it would be better than looking at old photos." Tempest admitted. "So, what have you been up to lately?"
"Well, I've been practicing badminton these last few years." Spring Rain announced. "And yoga. It's very relaxing."
"I could use some relaxation." Tempest admitted. "I've been wound pretty tight lately. For a number of reasons..."
"I'd be happy to show you how it's done." Spring Rain offered.
"Thanks." Tempest smiled.
"I've been kind of getting into hoofball lately." Glitter Drops admitted. "Why don't we play a round?"
"An offer you may end up regretting." Tempest smirked. "Not to brag, but I've got quite the kick on me."
"We'll see about that." Glitter Drops retorted. "Let's head over to my place, and I'll show you just how good I am."
"I look forward to it." Tempest nodded.
Tempest spent the rest of the day with her old friends, as they all got to know each other as they were in the present, and not how they were in the past. Tempest learned about all of Glitter Drops and Spring Rain's new interests, and in return, she showed them a few things she'd learned during her time away from Equestria, even teaching them one of her fighting moves.
As the day headed it's end, Tempest finally parted ways with Glitter Drops and Spring Rain.
"I don't know about you, girls, but this was the most fun I've had in a long time." Spring Rain smiled.
"That's putting it mildly." Glitter Drops said breathlessly, still weary from the hoofball game.
"I told you I had some moves." Tempest teased.
"I was going easy on you." Glitter Drops claimed. "Next time, I won't hold back."
"You'd better not." Tempest grinned. "And 'next time' should be sooner rather than later?"
"You really mean that, Fizzlepop?" Spring Rain asked hopefully.
"I do." Tempest smiled warmly. "Like you girls said, we've all been living in the past. No more of that. From now on, we move forward."
"Now that's something we can all agree on." Glitter Drops agreed.
"See you soon, Fizzlepop." Spring Rain declared.
"Count on it." Tempest smiled.
As she returned home, Tempest walked with a new spring in her step. She entered the cottage to find Grubber sitting in the front room.
"You're back." Grubber noted. "So... how'd it go?" He asked tentatively.
"We had a rough start." Tempest admitted. "But things got better after we stopped focusing so much on the past. I actually had... fun."
"Now that's what I'm talkin' about." Grubber smiled. "I told ya it was for your good."
"And you were right." Tempest said grudgingly. "Just don't let it go to your head, okay?"
"Perish the thought." Grubber smirked.
"And don't forget, you owe me extra servings of muffins tonight." Tempest pointed out.
"A deal's a deal." Grubber nodded. "And hey, if you ever wanna invite your pals around for dinner, I'd be happy to cook for them too."
"Lucky for you, they really like the sweet stuff." Tempest announced. "Which reminds me: we should get some ice tea and cookies on our next trip to the market."
"Yeah, we should." Grubber grinned. "Soon, we're all going to be one big group of friends. Some old, some new."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Tempest told him. "How about we take it one day at a time?"
"Can do, roomie." Grubber nodded. "Hmm. Think I'll get a start on dinner. Especially since I have extra muffins to bake."
"A deal's a deal." Tempest echoed his words playfully.
It had taken a while, but Tempest had finally followed Twilight's advice, letting go of her past with Glitter Drops and Spring Rain, so that they could all move into the future together. Now, she no longer saw them as just the fillies who had once been her friends, but as the mares she had finally reconciled with.
For the first time since she had returned to Clydesvale, Tempest felt as if she could truly leave her past behind, and make a fresh start. Whatever the future held, she planned to embrace it. It was, after all, better than holding on to the past...
The End... For Now.