//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: All I Ever Wanted // Story: A Place to Call Home // by CrimsonWolf360 //------------------------------// Tempest sighed for what must have been the tenth time in her short walk away from the marketplace. A booming voice in her head told her that they were right to fear her, that they should know their place beneath her might, and that if they dared to treat her like an outsider any longer that she would personally break their doors down and enslave them again. Another voice told her that she was crazy for even thinking that way anymore. She was a changed mare now. She had a new life, and thinking like that was corrosive and wrong. In the end, what won out was not a single voice in her head, but rather, a sickening feeling in her heart. A feeling of complete rejection and ostracization enveloped in her chest and made a knot form in the back of her throat. It shouldn't have come as a surprise at all. She expected this kind of reaction after all. So why did it still hurt so much? As Tempest pondered why her heart stung like it was just stabbed, Rarity and Pinkie followed behind her at a distance. Despite their reservations, they knew that they had to do something to help make Tempest feel better, lest she devolve back into her old ways and decide that friendship was a lost cause. They shared a look and took a deep breath before pressing forward and arriving alongside Tempest as she continued to walk. "So... Uh... Darling, I'm sure what happened back there was simply a misunderstanding. The ponies in Canterlot just don't know you as well as we do... a-and... they might still be a little standoffish, sure, but I promise you-" Rarity began to explain, only for Tempest to cut her off. "Rarity, I don't need a recap. It's exactly like I expected. They still hate me... And they have every right to. I don't have any reason to be upset. I'm just trying to get to the stadium before anymore ponies notice me." She explained with a noticeable edge in her voice. "Yeah, but you don't have to hide out and away from everypony! Sure, you tried to take over and enslave Equestria, but that's all in the past now! I bet those ponies were just scared of something that sounded like 'Tempest'. Like... a... a DENTIST!" Pinkie excitedly exclaimed. "Pinkie... Just... don't." Tempest seethed. Both Rarity and Pinkie cringed at her tone. Another quick glance told each other to tread lightly with their next attempt at cheering up the scariest pony they'd ever met. "Well, perhaps the show itself will serve as a welcome distraction to the day's unpleasantness..." Rarity offered. Tempest did not respond as they continued to walk to the stadium. Pinkie and Rarity again shared a look before hesitantly following behind her until they arrived at the stadium. Contrary to the marketplace, the stadium was teeming with life, and the three ponies heard it long before they were able to actually see it. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Tempest wouldn't feel like an outcast once more, and found a slight bounce in her step while they approached. The massive stadium bore an equally massive banner on the side of that read 'WonderBolts' in fiery lettering. Even standing at over four stories tall, and with a completely roofless construction specifically for WonderBolts shows, the stadium was packed with thousands of ponies form all over Equestria that had made the journey to watch. The sound of so many ponies cheering and celebrating was enough of a distraction to bring a small smile to even Tempest's face. The group approached the front door to find the ticket pony ushering the last ponies before them. "-Alright folks, just head on up to row seven and you'll find your seats," He finished addressing them before turning to Tempest's group, "Hi, welcome to... the..." He trailed off upon noticing her. The ticket pony audibly gulped upon his brain registering just who he was addressing, and a thin bead of sweat quickly began to form on his brow. "We're here for the show. Can you just let us in and then you won't have to see me anymore." Tempest deadpanned. "Uh.. R-right. Uh, thank you..." He took their tickets, albeit with massive hesitation upon taking Tempest's, and motioned to the door, "Um... Just proceed down the hall and over to row three... You'll find your seats there..." "Thank you." Tempest replied, proceeding in without giving him a second look. "Yes, thank you, darling." Rarity said, following behind Tempest as quickly as she could. "Thank you!" Pinkie cheered, doing the same. The trio made their way to into the stadium until they arrived at the end of the dark hallway. The bright lights blinded them momentarily, but once their eyes adjusted, they fell on a stadium filled to the brim with thousands of ponies from every walk of life. The sound of cheering and hooves stomping was almost unbearably loud as the WonderBolts zoomed in from overhead. Tempest gazed around to find that the ponies around her paid her no notice. They only held their heads skyward, their attention completely focused on the electric trails of the WonderBolts. It was enough to make a genuine smile appear on her face. A tap on her shoulder made her swivel her head back to find Rarity looking at her with a warm smile. "Feeling any better!?" She shouted over the crowd. "Honestly... A little!" Tempest yelled back. "Why are we yelling!?" Pinkie interjected. Rarity and Tempest gave her a lopsided look before turning around and making their way over to their row. "What!? Was it something I said!?" Pinkie shouted after them. Tempest took her seat with Rarity sitting right next to her. A moment later, a pink blur zoomed past her and took the opposite seat next to her. Tempest rolled her eyes at the pink party pony's eccentricities before the sound of lightning caught her attention and she turned her head to the sky. The WonderBolts, sporting their trademarked sky blue uniforms, easily distinguishable by the yellow lighting bolt running down their chests and stomachs, took their places on a lone cloud floating in the center of the stadium. From Tempest's position, she could just barely make out a rainbow mane and tail in the center of the group. A moment later, a canon fired, and the seven WonderBolts took off from the cloud. It was a slow start, with the group flying in a "V" formation and doing slow aileron rolls around Rainbow Dash while she flew in a slowly ascending arc. The smoke trails formed by each member of the team created a unique spiraling effect as the formation quickly accelerated into a straight vertical climb. Within seconds, they were nearly a thousand feet above the stadium, and seemed to pause mid-air. Only a moment later, they fanned out and arched back towards the ground. Once more, the smoke trail effect behind the six outward 'Bolts gave off a mesmerizing spiral effect that soon intertwined with their original trail, creating a double helix in mid air. Several ponies stared in awe at the sight before the WonderBolts theme music began to pick up on the speakers, and the pegasi themselves picked up their pace. They quickly accelerated until they were only a yellow-bluish blur streaking through the sky, leaving a prismatic trail of smoke in their wake. Ponies began to cheer and chant as the lighting fast pegasi began to circle above the stadium over and over again until they seemed to blur together into the shape of a floating ring. Just when the ring seemed to be spinning at it's maximum velocity, a rainbow blur broke off from the segment and arced skyward. Ponies stared in awe at the prismatic trail as it soared straight vertically into the sky. Within seconds, it was several thousand feet in the air again, before quickly arcing back toward the ground and diving for the ring. It quickly picked up speed, forming a cone of air resistance around its form as it plummeted down toward the stadium. Ponies gasped in shock as it blazed downward with no signs of slowing down; in fact, it only fell faster. Shocked cries of alarm rang out throughout the crowd for a few moments before the prismatic blur of lighting speed reached the spinning circle in the air and broke the sound barrier. A deafeningly loud crack filled the air as rainbow waves of energy pulsed outward from the center of the explosion, and the six spinning WonderBolts ricocheted off the momentum into a dazzling pattern of spiraling smoke throughout the circular multi-colored wave of energy. Only a moment later, did anypony notice the rainbow trail heading straight back up into the sky and ending on a cloud thousands of feet above the stadium. All throughout the crowd, ponies cheered and shouted their praise at the marvelous display of aerial prowess and acrobatics. The deafeningly loud shouting was enough to rock the entire building, and nowhere in its concrete walls was free from the powerful vibrations of excited ponies stomping their hooves in approval on every row. With the crowd thundering around her, and all eyes skyward, Tempest allowed herself a small moment to smile - to simply enjoy the serenity of it all. With no ponies screaming in terror, and instead cheering in celebration, she felt the warm feeling of bliss wash over her entire body and sighed a deep, pleasant sigh. It was the most at peace she'd felt in a long, long time. That moment would be her undoing. As the ponies around her began to calm and settle from their explosive uproar or applause, more and more eyes began to drift down to the ruby red mohawk and black armor they all knew and feared. It was slow at first, but as more and more gasps of fear began to ring out though the stadium, it grew more and more obvious that there was something scaring the ponies around her. Tempest swiveled her head back and forth to find the ponies around her backing away and screaming. A feeling of dread welled up in her heart as ponies began fearfully scrambling to get away from her. Despite the world around her descending into one of complete chaos, the only thing Tempest could do was lower her head and quietly sigh to herself. Rarity and Pinkie desperately tried to reassure the ponies around them that she was not a threat, and should be given a chance, but she already knew it was all for naught. She slowly allowed her gaze to rise from the seat in front of her to find that the show had completely stopped, and that even the WonderBolts themselves were staring at her with mixed emotions visible on their faces. Further down the row, Twilight, AppleJack, Fluttershy, and Spike stepped through the tunnel leading into the stadium to find the fearful screams of the masses suddenly turning into screams of hate and anger. Twilight frowned and turned her head to find Tempest sitting at the end of her row with her head hung low. The empty seats around her told the story quickly enough, but before the lavender alicorn could even attempt to make her way over there to comfort her friend, she witnessed something that ripped a hole in her heart. A shiny tomato, soared through the air and struck Tempest's face, spattering red all over the seats next to her. For a brief moment, all sound in the air died, and everypony stilled. Complete, dreadful, and frankly terrifying silence took hold of the entire stadium, making every living creature freeze from the overpowering lack of sound present. Tempest visibly recoiled from the shock before bringing her hoof up to her cheek and wiping the sticky mess off her coat as best as she could. Her expression was one of surprise, pain, and for the first time in a long time, fear. It didn't take long for the masses to pick up on her weakness, and before she could react, a second tomato slammed into the back of her head. Then another struck her wither, and another hit her barrel. Within seconds, the entire stadium seemed to unanimously declare in one voice that she was not welcome there, and she would be reminded of it by any means. Tempest quickly scrambled to her hooves and galloped for the doorway to her right while food and other choice items were thrown at her. Her metallic hoofsteps echoed in the long hallway, and she silently thanked whatever luck she still had that there were no more ponies in her way before she would be able to completely leave the stadium. Meanwhile, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, AppleJack, Fluttershy, and Spike all chased after the broken unicorn while dodging wayward food and other items that were lobbed their way just by proximity. They hurriedly galloped into the hallway they saw Tempest head through and followed behind, the stadium cheering uproariously for having vanquished the threat, behind them. They all darted out from the stadium to find an empty street with no sign of Tempest to be found. Twilight swiveled her head back and forth but could find no trace of the broken unicorn. When it became apparent that she was already gone, she turned back to her friends, finding them reaching similar conclusions. "We need to find her. Let's split up and search the city. She couldn't have gone too far yet." Twilight announced. "I'll take the upper district with Pinkie." Rarity declared. "Ah'll search the lower district with Fluttershy." AppleJack decided. "And we'll search the middle district." Spike asserted. Each pony in the group nodded in agreement before breaking into teams of two, and fanning out into the city. Twilight trotted through her district with spike flying just behind her. Her gaze frantically searched from building to building with only one thought on her mind. "Oh I just hope she's okay..." "I got that ponies in Canterlot were slow to forgive, but that was ridiculous... I mean, why did they have to start throwing food and trash at her?" Spike questioned, more to himself than to Twilight. "I'm not sure, Spike. If we can find her, then I'm sure we can get to the bottom of things... But if what that pony back in the marketplace told us is right... then I don't think Tempest did anything... They're just still angry at her." Twilight replied, sadly. "I can't believe that! I mean, yeah she did some bad things, but if any of these ponies took the time to get to know her just a little bit, they'd see that she's not that bad..." Spike asserted, frowning deeply. "I know, Spike. Listen... if none of us end up finding her... We'll need to go to Princess Celestia and have a search party organized. I know a bunch of guards are the last thing that Tempest will want to see right now, but Celestia told me that if I ever lost track of her, then I'd need to alert her... It was part of her agreement in avoiding time in the dungeons." Spike gave her an odd look, "Wait, really? Then what about the last year while she was gone?" He asked. "She was never alone. Celestia made sure to keep at least one pair of eyes on her the entire year. Knowing Tempest... She probably knew the whole time too." Twilight replied. "Woah... I didn't think anypony would try to keep track of her like that for a whole year." "I hate to say it... But the ponies of Canterlot have very valid reasons to dislike Tempest. It only made sense for Celestia and Luna to keep track of her in case something like this or worse happened." "Right. Well, let's find her then. No need to call the guard if we get her back first, right?" Spike said, flying ahead. "Right." Twilight replied, galloping after him. . . . . . Tempest trudged through the gateway leading into Canterlot with her head hung low. The red stains of wiped away tomatoes left her coat matted and sticky, and her once intimidatingly well kept armor was now covered in a thin layer of crimson juices. She hardly cared. Her eyes were trained to the ground, and they would stay that way until she had a reason to look forward again. Even her ears carried a faint ringing sensation that didn't seem to want to go away any time soon. Thoughts ran through her mind as to what went wrong, but no matter what rationale she tried to use, she kept coming back to the same conclusion: she was bad, rotten and evil, all the way to her core. No amount of apologies and good deeds were ever going to fix that. She sighed as the road in front of her turned from pavement to gravel, and again as it turned to dirt. The sun quickly rotated through the sky and before she knew it, it was already beginning to set. After quite some time, she found grass under her hooves, and for the first time since she started walking, she brought her gaze up just high enough to properly see what was in front of her. She was surprised to find a cliff not twenty feet in front of her. A couple boulders were scattered here and there, but the edge of the cliff was unmistakable. After a moment, she realized that she could hear the sound of rushing water. The ringing in her ears quickly dissipated and for the first time in a while, she could hear clearly. Cool wind breezed past her and wisped at her mane while her tail freely flowed with the rushing air. With the sun setting on the horizon, it was honestly one of the most beautiful sights she'd seen in a long time. "Wow..." Tempest breathlessly whispered to herself. She took another tentative step forward, then another, and another. Her pace was slow, and measured, and she eventually found herself just one step away from stepping off the cliff-side. She paused at the last step and cast her gaze downward. The cliff was littered with jagged rocks and a long draw that eventually tapered off into several rushing waterfalls. Clouds gently floated about in the empty air space between her and the bottom of the cliff, and framed the pooling lake at the bottom as an inviting vacation from the stresses of life. With her eyes glued to the bottom of the cliff, and her senses dulled to the point of blurring into a mess of disinterest, she slowly took a step forward. "Hey!" A voice called out from behind, the shock making her retract her hoof and swivel her head around. Standing just ten feet behind her, was a crimson pegasus, with a soft, almost golden brown mane and tail. His features were friendly and charming, although his chocolate brown eyes conveyed a sense of alarm and fear. Tempest took a step back from the edge before turning around and properly addressing the stallion. "Who... Who are you?"