Chapter 42: "Bloodsuckers and Extortionists"
Celestia and Luna were delighted that the Storm Creatures were now talking, but before they could focus their attention on Tempest Shadow reconciling with her friends, a guard came rushing into the throne room with another scroll from another interrogation. "Your highnesses," He panted, hoofing the scroll to them. "You aren't going to believe what one of the prisoners has given to us!"
Taking the scroll, Celestia unfurled it to see that it wasn't a scroll at all…but a newspaper with very disturbed writing written on it. In addition, the newspaper had a picture of all four Princesses on the cover with the words "BLOODSUCKERS AND EXTORTIONISTS" written on the top, beneath the title of the newspaper called "The Attacker." This made her feel very angry in a way that very few things could. "Get this out of my sight," She hissed icily, throwing the paper onto the ground. The he guard did as he was told. "How dare these creatures write up such a thing about us!"
"Or more likely, the Storm King told somepony to write this," Luna remarked, calmly picking up the paper. "Either way, the Storm King…"
"Was telling lies about Equestria, all to justify his assault!" Celestia snapped, her body filled with rage as she began to pace back and forth, trying to process what had been written on the paper. "Luna…this was something…that was…ugh! You know what? I can't even describe it! This was discrimination against us!"
"As in the Storm King…" Luna began.
"Trying to portray us as dictators!" Celestia shouted, her loud voice shaking the throne room slightly. "We were never dictators to begin with, Luna! I was never a dictator to begin with! I’d rather die than stoop to such a level!"
"And you weren't," Luna reassured her sister, trying to stay calm herself. "We can't believe everything we read…"
"That's easy for you to say!" Celestia snapped, her ice-cold voice pushing Luna back. "I don't like it when others tell lies about us and publish them to the rest of the world! This was what the Storm King was trying to do, Luna! Trying to motivate his forces into attacking Canterlot, because according to him we are 'bloodsuckers and extortionists'!" Celestia waved the paper in front of Luna's face and slammed it down to the ground!
Picking up the paper, Luna looked at it and began to think back to when the Foal Free Press had written a negative article about her being unhappy with a student fundraiser that would’ve caused them to not go on their field trip (had it not been for Celestia’s intervention the next day). "This must be how he brainwashed Fizzlepop Berrytwist into attacking Equestria," Luna thought to herself. "He took advantage of her sadness after her accident and turned her into nothing more than a mindless minion. I wonder if Grubber knows about this."
Leaving Celestia to gather her thoughts together, Luna raced down to the kitchen to show Grubber and Hannibal the newspaper.
"Well, I can't really say I'm surprised," Grubber sighed, as he looked at the newspaper, before handing it back to Luna and returning to his work. "This is how the Storm King operated, I'm afraid. Not the best way of describing a peaceful nation, but that was how we operated. You kept your mouth shut and did as you were told to do. If you disobeyed, you’d be lucky if the Storm King didn’t blast you to pieces."
"Were there any other nations that he called such derogatory words towards?" Luna asked.
"Hippogriffia, Griffonstone, pretty much every nation on the planet," Grubber sighed again. "The Storm King had a goal in mind: to rule the world under his own will. He wanted all of us to trample over the rights of others and he would get all the glory."
"Then why didn't you stand up for yourself when you had the chance?" Luna demanded of Grubber. "I know you were forced to do as you were told, but still…"
"Storm King said to just do as we were told," Hannibal interrupted. "I didn't want to take part, but me had no other choice."
"Which is why he made you wear those masks, I suppose?" Luna guessed, thinking about the large masks that the Storm Creatures had worn during the invasion. "But, Grubber, neither you or Fizzlepop were wearing a mask."
"Because Tempest was somepony who would be obedient in what the Storm King would say to her," Grubber explained, stopping what he was doing. "As for myself…there wasn't a mask big enough for me to wear. Guess that was the advantage of being the smallest guy in the forces."
"But, you tried to stop the invasion, Grubber and you weren't forced to wear a mask." Luna commented.
"That was because I was threatened with death, remember?” Grubber reminded Luna. “Storm King was going to kill me if I disobeyed him, so what was I supposed to do? I'm not a monster like he is and neither is Tempest. But, Tempest was so caught up in getting her horn back, I guess she didn't realize that he had ideals surrounding his own judgment."
Luna couldn't help but think of what Grubber had said as she returned to the throne room a few moments later "That's all there is to it, sister," She sighed to Celestia. "This paper tells all that the Storm King was planning to do. It also confirms what we saw in his former homeland with the mass graves and all. We're dealing with somepony who had warped ideologies and intended to rule the world under his own order."
"Then we need to keep getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth," Celestia ordered. "Tell the guards to keep up the questioning, talk them down if they have to. But, I want answers!" The sounds of Celestia's angry voice made Luna tremble, but nevertheless the guards obeyed. If there were more answers to be sought, now was the time to get them.
Back in the Crystal Empire, Tempest nervously walked into the throne room and there she saw them…the very unicorns who had abandoned her as a filly standing next to Twilight and Cadence. "What are you all doing here?" She asked in a bitter voice. She was not in any mood to see them at the moment.
"Fizzlepop, we've come to apologize to you," Lemon Lime sighed. "It was wrong of us to turn our backs on you."
"Is that all?" Tempest bitterly remarked. "You all came to apologize to me after all you’ve done to me? Including the fact that you turned me away in my darkest hour?"
"Tempest, we are all to blame for our faults," Irish Spring pleaded. "All we want is to forgive one another and move on with our lives. Can't you just accept what we did was wrong and allow us all to start over again?"
All Tempest could do was stand there, and one could wonder if she would ever apologize to these ponies…?
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m8 if you think that sort of "hey forgive us please thank you okay bye I have a cake in the oven I can't stay long don't forget to forgive us thanks" attitude is gonna get you forgiven that quick you're dead wrong - a better way of phrasing that would've been "hey uh listen I know simple apologies won't work in this case because yeah we definitely fucked up - you don't have to forgive us instantly, that's understandable, but... do you think we can start again?"
I don't get why these ponies can't seem to understand that not every problem can be solved with a simple "sorry", sending someone down a spiral of depression =/= "yeah sorry we did that" - but shit that's how it works in the show for whatever reason
yeah no fucking shit - this honestly sounds like something a child would say after they were caught doing something wrong and were made to apologize by their parents, very ungenuine - you gotta be sincere, especially considering what their actions would do to Tempest in the long run, they made the genesis of a villain and all they can say is "yeah sorry heh"
again, going back to Sunburst, he put the effort into apologizing to Starlight because of their misunderstanding, and likewise - not all this get-in-get-out mess Tempest's "friends" want to try and do
Tempest doesn't deserve this shit
What I think would be fair, if Fizzlepops former friends would publically admit their part in sending her onto a dark path. That would take some of the blame that the rest of Equestria hurls onto her off of Fizzlepops back and make it a bit easier for her.
8663217 Might be something to consider down the line. Thanks!
8663151
Tempest led an invasion force of would-be foreign conquerors. She totally deserves this shit. She's lucky to be walking around free, let alone getting the VIP treatment, instead of rotting in a cell next to her troops. Also, she's an adult and responsible for her own decisions, unlike her terrible idiot childhood friends.
8663559
let me rephrase that since you're right, it did sound a bit dodgy: Tempest doesn't deserve half-hearted apologies from her "friends" and being guilt-tripped into just shrugging off the past - okay sure, maybe a bit of trepidation and wariness from ponies around her ala Sunset Shimmer in Rainbow Rocks, but if you're going to apologize, make it fucking sincere
also if we're talking about rightful punishment, then what about Starlight Glimmer, the mare who nearly tore the fabric of time itself for petty revenge for being defeated and rightfully evicted from "her" town who then became Twilight's student because she's one damn powerful pony huh?
now don't get me wrong, I've grown to like Starlight, she's been at her best form in the S6 finale, her EqG appearance plus the S7 premiere and the finale when she rightfully questions Twilight's motives for bringing the Pillars back from limbo, but initially I could not wrap my head around Twilight's reasoning for that - yes, she's powerful, but as proven by Every Little Thing She Does, it's not necessarily good
but on that note, no one apart from Twilight and her circle of friends and Sunburst knows what she did - although if this was a widespread issue that Equestria was aware of, I'm sure there'd be a lot more trepidation and legal bullshit
but Equestria knows what Tempest did
again, a bit of unease is understandable, and I'm sure Tempest is aware of that, and that's a whole other issue this fic needs to resolve - but again, getting a half-hearted fucking apology from the ponies who made you into what you were in the first place? being guilt-tripped into letting the past go without a fucking passing glance otherwise "you'll be spooked/you will break me because I am a fragile crown"? fuck the fuck off - my previous comment on the last chapter went my reasons for why I think that's bullshit too
8663598
I'll be honest: I'm pretty sick of the way the fandom throws a pity party for every ex-villain and excuses their actions. This thing with Tempest? We've already done this song and dance with Luna, Sunset Shimmer, and even Chrysalis (even though she's still a villain).
Tempest is an adult; the responsibility for her actions rests on her and her alone. She did what she did knowingly and willingly and no amount of detouring into plot cul-de-sacs to focus on other peoples' jerkassery can erase the fact of her guilt.
I will say that I agree that she's under no obligation to forgive anyone. She's well within her rights to curse a blue streak at them and shut them out of her life forever. I'm not even sure why Twilight bothered dredging them up; Tempest hasn't even seen them in like, what, twenty years? It's probably been years since they even thought about each other. They're complete strangers at this point.
Please oh please oh please have Tempest forgive them!
8663750
because friendship is magic and everything can obviously be forgiven with a simple sorry as I've moaned about earlier
Slander, not discrimination. Propaganda works too.
How is it easy for Luna to say? Is Celestia the only one being slandered?
I love how everytime something new comes up they go check with Grubber who was all too aware of everything going on.... Yet theyre torturing others for answers when they could have gotten literally everything they learned from him... Like... maybe just ask him to tell everything.
Get rid of the “he” at the end