-EQUUS, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE-
It was now nightfall in The Empire as Tempest Shadow was currently within a bar and sat alone on a table. She took another sip of her wine that was positioned in front of her. The broken unicorn’s mind was absolutely shaken to the core as she says to herself in a hushed tone:
“I can’t bucking believe it… we managed to trick The Hivemind. Heh, it’s a good thing that Princess Luna had the foresight to hide certain events from Ocram with that fancy spell of hers. Then again, no surprise considering that she’s the Princess Of The Night. Now then, everyone else is playing the part and all we need to do now is to play along. That reminds me, Princess Luna called someone else to meet me here but I-” Suddenly, her eyes widened in shock as she saw an earth pony mare enter the bar.
The pony had a tan body with a brown mane and green eyes as they were donned in the armor forged from the Demonite Ore, likely a gift from Princess Luna as to allow this pony to combat against the infection. Incidentally, the mare seemed to have another piece of clothing strapped to her as it was properly folded and stored onto the pony’s right side. Her cutie mark is a black and white rose of winds although it was only noticeable on her right flank. As for her left flank, the burn marks that were present are so bad that the cutie mark that should’ve been there was gone. In addition, her hind legs were covered from the armor but one could only imagine the burn marks that must’ve been present on the left hindlimb.
Tempest was so shocked by the appearance of this pony that she wanted to run and hide within one of the private stalls that were available but for more wealthy customers. With a hushed tone she mutters:
“Tzana?... Journey Joy... No, this can’t be.” The broken unicorn then lowers herself and hides beneath her table in order to remain hidden from Tzana’s sight.
“Excuse me, barkeep. I was looking for somepony that I was supposed to meet here on behalf of The Princess?”
“Who’s the pony?” The barkeep replies.
“Heh, would you believe me if I told you that even I don’t know? Princess Luna just informed me that I’d know who they were when I see them.”
“Well, we’ve been getting some strange customers thanks to The Coalition but I did see a rather peculiar mare. She should still be here, I think. Keep an eye out too, apparently we’ve got some traitors in our midst. The princesses and the other leaders are taking this very seriously so report to them directly if you’ve seen anything. Head on in and I’ll come take your order if you’re up for a drink.”
“Oh trust me usually I’d just love to drink. For now though, I’m good but thank you for the offer and yes, princess Luna had informed me about that. Um, what was your name?”
“Ah! My apologies. My name is: Ross Bosman, the barkeeper. That last part was something ponies around here have been calling me so I stuck with it.”
Tzana simply nods in response as she makes her way towards a particular table that practically called out to her. As fate would have it, this is where Tempest was once seated.
The broken unicorn stealthily hid behind the other tables and moved in tandem with Tzana who was currently starting to draw near her targeted table. Ross took notice of this and was about to voice what Tempest knew had to be along the lines of: What the buck are you doing? With a raised hoof to her muzzle, she gestures for him to remain silent and act as if he saw nothing. Not wanting to get involved with whatever was going on he simply turns away and goes to clean some glasses. With a hushed tone he says:
“Nope, I can see where this is going. Nothing worse than two hardcore mares duking it out in my bar, judging by them scars they both have.”
Tzana finally sat down on her table but noticed that the exact spot she sat on was warm as if someone else had just been there mere moments ago. Fate was truly playing with her as she sat in the exact same spot as Tempest did.
Tempest was now drawing near the exit, Ross still acting oblivious to it, as she was mere moments from successfully sneaking away from Tzana. Unfortunately, a certain trio of crusaders entered the establishment as they took notice of the broken unicorn.
“Tempest!” The cutie mark crusaders shouts in unison as the world goes into slow motion for the broken unicorn. A drop of sweat impacts the earth below Tempest as she slowly turns her gaze towards the very being she just spent the last few minutes trying to avoid: Tzana.
Both of their eyes met and in that very moment, thousands upon thousands of questions and reactions went through their minds. The world stops to slow down for the two as the two mares says in unison:
“Tem...pest?”
“Oh buck…”
They simply stare at each other for a few more moments, much to The Crusaders confusion, as Tempest turns her head towards the exit and runs for it.
“You get the buck back here!” Tzana roars out as she gets off her table with lightning speed and takes off after the broken unicorn, leaving behind a heavily confused Cutie Mark crusaders.
“Get your flank back here, Tempest!” Tzana roars out as she fully displays her earth pony might and physical attributes. The two mares embark on a chase throughout The Empire as Tempest performs various feats of parkour in an attempt to escape the earth pony who wasn’t very far behind her. In fact, should Tempest miscalculate even once during this chase, Tzana will catch her within the earth pony’s grasp.
“Stop following me, please!” Tempest roars back as she hops over warriors obstacles throughout the empire. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to affect her pursuer at all as they match Tempest’s finesse.
“Are you bucking kidding me?! I thought you were dead!” Tzana roars out in response. “I can’t believe that you are the one Princess Luna told me to meet up with! Tempest!”
As this is going on, the bystanders who witnessed this are jumping out of their way while also letting out various exclamations such as:
“Watch where you’re going!”
“What’s up with those two?!”
“Where are the guardsponies when you need them?!”
“Stop running from me, Fizzlepop Berrytwist!” Tzana roars out as she relentlessly keeps up with Tempest.
-Celestia damn it all, I’ve got to change things up or I’m never going to lose her- Tempest says internally as she suddenly hops onto a nearby building and starts to scale it.
“You underestimate me, Tempest! I thought you knew me better than that?!” Tzana shouts as she too climbs up the structure and to Tempest’s horror, she was faster.
“Heh, good to see you’re still in top shape, Tzana!”
“You assumed otherwise? You’ve just earned yourself an ass kicking!”
“You were going to do that regardless!”
“Bucking right I am! What part of ‘I thought you died’, did you not understand?! But that’s not the only reason I’m going to buck your ass sideways!”
The two mares were now on the roof as they successfully reached the building’s summit during their conversation. Tempest seemed to be trapped as she looked around in order to find any way for her to escape.
“You’re not going anywhere, Fizzlepop... Tempest… Commander of The Storm King’s army!”
Tempest’s eyes widened in a mix of shock and horror as she was not expecting for Tzana to know about that.
“Journey Joy… please, wait.”
“Oh don’t you dare try to use my real name with me! Do you have any idea how much pain I went through only to find out that you’re still alive?! I thought I killed you?! The guilt ate at me every single day!”
“If you would just let me explain.”
[STOMP]
The entire roof began to shake as Tzana reared up and stomped onto it with her forehooves. The earth pony continues to draw closer as the broken unicorn becomes increasingly nervous with every step they take.
“You know what’s even worse? I looked into the whole Storm King’s invasion fiasco and reports told me that a purple unicorn with a broken horn led them. I thought: ‘There’s no way, she died because of what I did! I killed the one pony who was more important to me than even she knew.’ I didn’t want to believe it, I refused to believe it. If you truly were alive then you’d come back to tell me but you didn’t!” Tzana now stood before the broken unicorn and if one were to take a moment to comprehend her size, Tzana’s height could even match Big Mac. Despite this height however, she had a build that was somewhere in between Twilight and Tempest. The earth pony looks down upon Tempest with her sleight height advantage and says:
“And now here you are… alive and kicking but even worse, you abandoned me to go join up with that monkey.”
“Please, I know I messed up but-”
[WHAM]
“AURGH!” Tempest cries out in pain as Tzana strikes her across the face with her left front hoof, sending the broken unicorn falling to the surface of the roof and skiing across a small ways before coming to a stop.
Tempest’s world was literally spinning in circles as she tried to regain her composure. Spitting out blood, the unicorn lifts her head to face Tzana with her right eye blackened and a bleeding nose.
“I’m… sorry…”
“Not as sorry as you made me when you abandoned me, made me think that I murdered you in that explosion. I thought I accidentally killed you during that mission… you were marked as MIA by The Mercenaries Guild… but now it all makes sense. You abandoned me during that mission, didn’t you?.”
Upon hearing Tzana’a inquiry, Tempest’s face was filled with regret to go along with her physical pain. She sighs in utter defeat as she says:
“I always wanted to take you with me, when I joined the guild to prove myself to The Storm King. After some time, I finally got a message from him which informed me that I was indeed worthy. Coincidentally, we were on that mission at the time. I wasn’t there for the mission’s briefing but what I did know was that you were meant to destroy something with explosives. It was the perfect cover for me to disappear.”
“You just assumed that I wouldn’t go with you? Did our time together mean nothing to you at all that you’d make such a stupid assumption?”
“I realize that now… I was wrong to do what I did… and I was a hypocrite. I went on and on about being abandoned by my friends because of my broken horn. Yet, I was the one who abandoned somepony who was truly my friend. I was so blinded by my desire to restore my horn… that I tossed you aside. I know that you probably won’t forgive me, I certainly wouldn’t blame you. But… trust me when I say that I am a different mare now. I would never toss you aside like that again. If you would just give me a chance to show you… I can.”
The earth pony simply looked at the downed unicorn with an expression that easily translated to her being at war with herself. On one hoof, she was still burning with rage. On the other, she felt slightly relieved to hear those words. Unfortunately, that was still being overshadowed by her anger.
“We wish for thou not to harm our agent any further, Tzana,” A new yet familiar voice comments as a shadowy entity starts to appear from the dark corners of the roof.
“Princess Luna.” Tzana says respectfully as she bows in respect towards the dark alicorn.
“Thou may rise, Journey Joy. We hath been waiting for ye both at the bar but we caught word of thy commotion. Tempest Shadow is the contact that I sent you to meet with. However, we would like to apologize for our trickery. We feared that hath thou known of thy contact’s identity… thou wouldst decline our proposal.”
“Well… I certainly don’t think too highly of her…” Tzana says as she glances angrily towards the broken unicorn who in turn managed to get back onto her hooves during their conversation.
“We art sure that the past between thy duo is one of pain, loss, and betrayal. However, we respectfully ask you to push them aside for the time being. Now then, we hath a mission for you, Tzana.”
“Speak your will, Princess, and it shall be done.”
“You will be our last defence against any potential schemers within our midst. We hath informed ye about Tempest and the other agents we hath chosen to infiltrate our enemy’s ranks. However, you will be an additional member that not even the others know about, only Tempest Shadow knows of you joining our little game with The Corruption.”
“The others are currently spread throughout The Empire and are aiding Blueblood with his own plans. Keep appearances up and all that.” Tempest Comments.
“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Tzana responds coldly. The earth pony then sighs before saying: “For the sake of the mission, I’ll put that aside for now. But make no mistake, Tempest… you and I will have a proper talk.”
“Yes… you deserve that at the very least.”
“And you deserve another hoof across your face.”
“If thy argumentative couple art-”
“We aren’t a couple!” Tzana shouts in embarrassment as she cuts off Luna’s words.
The dark alicorn chuckles in response before she continues:
“We hath another mission to reveal to thee, Tzana. As the modern saying would go, let us give it to you simply: The Coalition shall attack Canterlot in full force within the next few days. It will be a dangerous task and we hath no doubt that many lives will be lost. Our chances of winning, even though we hath no doubt, is also questionable. Doth ye hath any questions or objections?”
“No, princess Luna.” Tempest responds.
Tzana suddenly takes on a confident expression as she says:
“Certainty of death, small chance of success… what are we waiting for?”