Tempest sighed. She had accepted Twilight’s friendship, but she just felt out of place. The past several months she had been staying in a rather secure wing of the castle in Canterlot, learning about how Equestria had changed, doing paperwork and assessments, getting her copious amount of ‘papers’ in order and transitioning, legally, from a runaway outlaw to a citizen of Equestria. And writing her resume, for when she applied for work.
Tempest had her eye on the guard. It sounded like a good idea for someone who formerly commanded an army. Or maybe the army. Maybe she could be a contracting security pony. She had fought hoof and tooth to keep her armor, albeit with the storm king’s logo covered over, and she wanted to use it. Hopefully Equestria wasn’t too peaceful for that sort of thing.
Thinking back to her last few months, Tempest mulled over how much her life had improved. She was still treated very, very suspiciously and had not been let out of the castle for any reason other than exercise with the guards, but things had been much better for her. She had had pony food instead of the horrible glop and occasional meat (that had taken some getting used to), her accommodations felt huge with a bedroom, small living area and bathroom compared to her shoebox room on the airship and over the past few months many scars, persistent bruises and aches had faded. Her coat and mane were now soft and smooth instead of matted and greasy. Amusingly, her mane actually flopped over a little bit because it wasn’t stiff with grease and other scurf.
Tempest had improved mentally too. She had shifted from her constant pressured toughness to a slightly softer personality, her guard had shifted from constantly up to trusting ponies a bit more and now she was even a little shy and regretful of her actions.
Now, she had been invited to Ponyville by Twilight, the Princess of Friendship. They had met a couple of times before, had a few conversations about her future, discussed the possible reactions of her leaving the castle, and this was it. She was going to be transitioning from her quiet castle life to Ponyville, and the last time Twilight had visited they had set some objectives for her.
The first was to make a friend. Of course. The second was to find a job, so she could support herself financially and the third was to find some hobbies so she could enjoy herself and find some purpose. There was fourth goal, find a home, but that was long term and they had agreed to put that goal off until Tempest had explored a little and become more familiar with the rest of Equestria.
Now looking about an overly glitzy suite in the Castle of Friendship, Tempest wondered if she had made the right decision. Even upon walking in ponies had been giving her weird glances, as though she were some kind of… invader. To be completely fair, she had invaded Canterlot and almost succeeded, but that was in the past, right? Didn’t ponies forgive and forget easy around here? Tempest resigned to admit it must be in her appearance. 20 minutes later she looked in the huge mirror. She looked somewhat different without the body armor and the silky black garment which she had worn underneath it. She couldn’t bring herself to leave the hoof guards behind though. There was something about them that she loved… and walking about without the sounds of metal clinking on the floor would be strange.
Tempest walked through the castle. It was massive. A lot of bumbling about the hallways later she found the balcony overlooking Ponyville. Her hooves clinked against the crystal floor as she walked out and gazed over the ponies that had been so fearful. She lowered her head in quiet shame. I have a way to go before I am accepted by ponies here…
Tempest looked up at the sound of quiet hoofsteps. She looked up to see a light purple pony looking concernedly at her.
“Hi, I’m Tempest… As you have probably heard.”
The pony looked thoughtfully at her for a moment. “Not really actually, I just heard today that you were going to be staying here for a while. I’m Starlight Glimmer, and I am- Used to be Twilight’s student. I now work as a counsellor at her school.”
“Twilight has a school? What sort of school?” Tempest looked at Starlight. Starlight was a grown mare, not a filly. “You were her student? Did you attend her school?”
Starlight gave Tempest a brief and quizzical look. “When she took me on, the school didn’t exist. It’s thanks to your recent chasing her about Equestria that she realized that she needed a place to teach friendship.”
“Oh… so something good came of my conquest…”
“Don’t think of it that way! The Storm King manipulated you into doing what he wanted using a hollow promise. You came around in the end, and that’s what matters now… who you are now.”
At this, Tempest blushed just a little and became a bit shy. “It’s nice that someone thinks that. It’s very hard for me to leave the past in the past… When my horn broke, I was so focused on fixing it that it blinded my every other sense. I couldn’t see that I could try to fit in until I got it back… If that makes any sense. Anyhow, it seems I have missed a lot on my journeys outside of Equestria. Can you fill me in? Maybe show me about Ponyville?
Starlight grinned. “Sure thing. What do you want to know first? I have always wanted to practice my history lecture skills with somepony…”
For a second, Tempest thought about just saying no and going to explore on her own. But Starlight interested her. There was something about her that said she was not just another pony. Starlight seemed to have her own story.
“Okay, Starlight, I want to know everything.”