//------------------------------// // 233. Never Stops Being Painful // Story: Azure Edge // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// As much as Pinkie wanted to spend all day with her sisters, she respected that they needed some time to themselves to get situated into this new environment, and plus she was gonna spend a lot of time with Maud once they got to the Crystal Empire anyway. Hopefully Pinkie’s party would be heading there soon… That said, Pinkie wasn’t exactly relishing the idea of spending more time with Trixie, but for now she put that out of her mind. The point was, she had another date that she needed to attend. “Tempest Shadow!” Pinkie called out as she reached the wee table situated in an outside eating and drinking area of a quaint little coffee shop. Tempest was dressed in casual clothes— sweat pants, baggy shirt, leather jacket; all black of course, and she looked hot as HELL. While parts of her were still covered in bandages, she looked like she was doing okay. She smiled at Pinkie when she heard Pinkie’s voice, and Pinkie’s heart hammered in her chest like a ping pong ball in an echo chamber. “Pinkie Pie,” Tempest said warmly. “I’m glad you could make it.” “Wouldn’t miss it!” Pinkie beamed as she hopped up onto the chair opposite Tempest, cooing— in a way that was hopefully unobtrusive— about how pretty Tempest was. “How’ve you been holding up?” “I’m okay,” Tempest chuckled and took a sip of her drink. “Believe it or not, this isn’t even close to the worst injuries I’ve gotten on the job.” “I do believe it,” Pinkie nodded. She really wanted to steer clear of talking about Tempest’s ‘job’ if she could though. “I’m glad that you’re safe,” Tempest said softly, and Pinkie beamed at her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to—” “Bupbup!” Pinkie held up her hand and reached across the table to put it on Tempest’s snoot. “You did everything you could, and no one was seriously hurt. Everypony wins!” “I suppose you’re right,” Tempest hummed, tapping her nails against the glass table. Something was on her mind, and Pinkie had an ominous feeling in her gut. “Can I ask you something though?” “Uhhhh,” Pinkie pondered for a sec. There was no reason why she couldn’t answer a question, but she still felt queasy about it. “Yes! Yes you can, go for it!” Tempest took a deep breath; Pinkie recognized that motion, she was trying to center herself. Frankly, Pinkie needed to do the same, so she mirrored Tempest’s breathing and waited for the mare to speak up. “Okay,” Tempest said clearly. “I want to ask you, who the hell is ‘Fluttershy’?” Pinkie felt like she was suddenly stuck on the track staring down an oncoming train as the world spun around her. Was that too many metaphors? Were those even metaphors? Not really important right now actually. She knew what Tempest meant, she knew exactly what Tempest meant. She remembered it so clearly, standing defensively in front of Tempest, between her and Fluttershy, and calling out the dragon’s name. Pinkie remained silent for an awful long time, which wasn’t a great situation to be in. Maybe it was Applejack’s fault, but lying just wasn’t something Pinkie was super good at, but she also couldn’t give Tempest the truth either. “Pinkie Pie,” Tempest said sternly, her patience for Pinkie’s silence likely wearing thin, “are you harboring dragons?” Pinkie suddenly had a bolt of inspiration; she couldn’t tell Tempest all of the truth, but she could give her some of it to cover herself. “No,” Pinkie shook her head, “it’s not that. Fluttershy saved me, in Bitsburgh. You heard the rumors, right?” Fluttershy had saved her, she was in Bitsburgh… even if those two things weren’t related, Tempest didn’t need to know that. “Two dragons fought each other in the skies over Bitsburgh,” Tempest grit her teeth. “Of course I heard the rumors, it’s my job as a Slayer to keep informed about such things. And you should know this, you were the one who chided me about grilling Rarity over it!” “Oh,” Pinkie had forgotten that little detail. “Okay, I forgot about that, but—” “So you knew,” Tempest growled. “When I was grilling Rarity, and you were telling me to back off, you knew what I needed to hear, and you kept it from me? To cape for that dragon?!” “The Slayers are wrong about dragons, Tempest,” Pinkie said firmly. “The stuff Celestia’s been saying this whole time? It’s wrong. Dragons aren’t monsters or animals, they’re just like—” Tempest stood up with a start, and Pinkie looked her dead in the eye with a scowl across her face, even if she was like one step away from melting into a puddle out of fear. “I don’t want to hear this,” Tempest barked. “Of course you don’t,” Pinkie said. “No one ever wants to hear that they were wrong. But if you truly care about doing the right thing, you can’t stick your head in the sand just cuz you’re uncomfortable. You gotta face the truth head-on, no matter how much it hurts. There’s no other way to do it.” Tempest fumed and clicked her tongue. “That kind of thinking will land you in an early grave someday,” Tempest spat. “You think so?” Pinkie giggled. Truth was, she never felt safer than after she’d broken free of the illusion she’d been sold. Tempest shook her head and slammed her hands on the glass table, glaring at Pinkie who kept a smile on her face the whole time, even though she was MIND NUMBINGLY TERRIFIED. Tempest was way scarier than Trixie ever could’ve been. Lucky for Pinkie though, Tempest stormed off right after. Go figure she didn’t have much to say to defend her wrongness. Pinkie flomped onto the table, burying her face in her arms and weeping— softly, so she didn’t make a scene. Maybe there was some way of getting through to Tempest, but it wouldn’t be done by some magical debate club speech or perfectly crafted series of words. The only way to change a bigot’s mind was through unflinching exposure to the truth. Or, more commonly, force. You can’t hold onto a belief system that keeps getting you punched in the head, at least not if you don’t wanna get punched in the head all the time. But Pinkie wasn’t in a place to do either of those things, and while she would’ve loved to have helped Tempest realize how wrong she was, and how she was poisoning herself with her own bigotry, it wouldn’t do to slam Pinkie’s own head against that wall for however long it took. Still though… that didn’t mean Pinkie couldn’t be hurt. Finding someone you think is cool, only to realize how wrong you are, never stops being painful.