The Redemption of Tempest Shadow

by twilightsparkle3562

Chapter 22: "Starting Her Sentence"

Tempest arrived in Canterlot under heavy guard and immediately was put to work in continuing to clean up her mess that she had made. "Now…we fix everything," Tempest whispered to herself, as she aided several construction ponies in fixing the damages to a severely damaged building. As she worked, however, her presence had caught the attention of Jet Set and Upper Crust, who were among the ponies still hostile towards her.

"What is she doing here?" Upper Crust sneered. "Imagine, a pony that betrays her kind and gets off scot free, just because the princesses take pity on her."

"I think it's an insult, dear," Jet Set frowned. "How could the princesses not sentence this…monster to her doom? Trust me, we love all the princesses, but they can be too lenient, can't they? Even to monsters like…Tempest Shadow. She doesn’t deserve mercy, not after what she’s done!"

"Well, I can assure you both," Another upper class pony added. "That this is a monster, not a pony. I hope she dies a slow, painful death one day. That is justice."

This caused Tempest to stop what she was doing and look back towards the bitter upper class ponies as they walked off. She felt tears forming in her eyes, but remained composed as she simply carried on with the task at hand. Still, she had her feelings. And in her mind, she wondered how anyone could still be so cruel to her, when she’d finally shown a willingness to atone for her mistakes? She wasn’t asking to be forgiven, but was it really too much to ask for ponies to let go of their hate? "Twilight is right," Tempest thought to herself. "Not everypony is going to forgive me for what I've done. But, I need to make the most of this second chance that has been given to me. I have to prove to everypony, that I’m NOT a monster!"

At that moment, Moondancer was making her way back from the library and saw Tempest working.This made the former anti-social unicorn walk over and see what was happening, for she knew that after what had happened a few days ago, Tempest wouldn’t willingly just set hoof in Canterlot.

However, Moondancer was stopped by the guards before she could go any further towards the repairs. They told her quite clearly. “No one may go near the convict, no matter what.”

"Excuse me, sirs, I've only come to see the prisoner," Moondancer insisted, her voice filled with slight insultation. "I mean you no harm."

"The convicted is not to be disturbed, young mare," One of the guards protested. "Now go away."

"But, but…I am a friend of the convicted!" Moon Dancer stammered, trying to get a good view of Tempest. "I happen to live next door to her sister!"

"A likely story,” The other guard frowned. “Now go, and don’t come back!!"

Not wanting to invoke an argument with the guards, Moondancer reluctantly did as she was told. But not before looking back to see the clearly remorseful Tempest Shadow continuing her community service.

Heading back to her house by Canterlot Stadium, Moondancer looked over towards the ramshackle home of Tempest Shadow's family. "Guess I'd better go check on Razzle Fizzle, just to see if she’s heard the news." She thought to herself, as she walked over towards the home.

Knocking on the door, Moondancer waited for Razzle Fizzle to open it. However, there was no answer, and Moondancer began to worry. "Razzle Fizzle?! It's me, Moondancer. Are you home?" But, there was nothing but silence. Moondancer only knocked harder as a result. "Razzle?! Razzle?!" She cried!

Then, all of a sudden, the door opened, and Moondancer saw the roughened pony allow her inside. Moondancer was shocked by her appearance. "Razzle, what happened?! Why do you look a mess?!"

"Because I've been reflecting, Moondancer," Razzle Fizzle answered, allowing Moondancer inside the home, even as her messy mane and tail indicated she wasn’t in a good mood. "I can't believe that I struck my sister in such a manner. I know that I’m angry at her, but…"

"Look, Razzle, you were just angry," Moondancer commented. "Everypony has a right to unleash their anger every now and again. Who knows? Maybe your anger convinced Fizzlepop to owe up to her crimes."

"Maybe it did. But, I wish I can just apologize to Fizzlepop, take back some of what I said. But I can't. The anger I showed to Fizzlepop was justified, Moondancer!" Razzle complained.

"And supposedly you succeeded at that, Razzle," Moondancer replied, as they sat down on the sofa. "I was in the center of Canterlot today and I saw Tempest helping out with restoring and repairing a building that was damaged during the invasion. Maybe it would do you some good if you saw Fizzlepop for yourself, and see that she is truly sorry for what she did."

"How can you be so sure? How do I know it’s not an act?" Razzle questioned.

"Because I saw her remorsefulness in her body language,” Moondancer told Razzle in no uncertain terms. “Come see for yourself, Razzle Fizzle. Come see her at least do some good for once!"

But Razzle was very hesitant to consider such an offer, for all she knew this was just a ruse. All the same, she had a very difficult decision to make, about whether to show herself in public, and look into the eyes of the pony who’d betrayed her family and her home. "I... need time to think about it, Moondancer," Razzle Fizzle said at last, turning away. "Please, I need time."

Sighing heavily, Moondancer got up from the sofa and walked over towards the door. She reluctantly realized that this was going to be a decision that Razzle Fizzle would have to make on her own.

---

Meanwhile, at their clubhouse at Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were starting to get their bearings back together in the wake of the Canterlot attack.

"Look, I can't help but wonder, y'all," Apple Bloom commented, as the Crusaders sat in their clubhouse, still trying to come to terms with what they had been through. "Why would a pony with a broken horn come back to Equestria and treat us so horribly?"

"I still have nightmares of being in the cages, Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle cried, her normally cheerful, squeaky voice filled with raw emotion. "In fact, I haven't been able to sleep since the festival."

"None of us have, but I can't just brand Tempest Shadow as a monster," Scootaloo sighed, looking out towards the sun. "We wouldn't do that to anypony else. Yeah, I know Tempest threw the three of us in cages, but even then, I still felt some kind of sympathy for her."

"Why?!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both asked at once.

"Because, I know what it’s like to have a disability," Scootaloo sharply commented, looking at her fellow crusaders. "A pegasus not being able to fly is one thing, but a unicorn with a broken horn? I can understand the pain and I can relate to her. Maybe my wings aren’t as useless as a broken horn, and maybe someday I’ll actually be able to fly with them, but that doesn’t matter. Perhaps, maybe if I can tell Tempest how I feel the same way she does then…"

"They won't let you near her, Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom cried out, as Scootaloo headed towards the entrance to the clubhouse.

"I need to try! Rainbow Dash would do the same thing!" Scootaloo protested, darting out of the clubhouse, and leaving a bewildered Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom to wonder just what Scootaloo was planning to do.

Comments

[OminousBrony]

Celestia, you need to have a word with your guards. Won't let somepony who knows Tempest get anywhere near but will let ponies who are likely to incite a lynch mob get easily within hearing distance? Those are the kind of guards you need GONE.

[PonyPuffy 2012]

8596296
To be fair, any pony wishing to hurt Tempest or worst try to kill her would likely use the same reasoning as Moondancer. So the guards are in the right to not allow her to get close to Tempest.

[XFangHeartX]

What is Scootaloo up to?

[SuperPinkBrony12]

8596310 All the same, they could do more to silence the likes of Jet Set and Upper Crust. I don't see them chipping in time or money to held rebuild Canterlot.

[MixMassBasher]

I can't wait to see Capper and the pirate crew in the next few chapters. Tempest still needs to fix the pirates ship. Furthermore, itll be nice to see the other characters from the movie

[twilightsparkle3562]

8596603 So people can see that I write at these conventions, that's all.