Like Fireworks in the Sky

by SpyroForLife

15. Apologies

When it came to digging out the quarry, the storm creatures had very few problems. Under Tempest, and then Curly's, guidance, they learned to cooperate and find resolutions without having to elevate it. Tempest would walk by them while they were on break and see them talking and laughing together in groups, no longer trying to avoid each other.

In the town, they shared with each other, helping each other build, and a few storm creatures even began a community garden to tend to in their spare time. Not many plants could survive the dry conditions, but they planted various species of cacti that grew fruit, as well as beans and sweet potatoes. And there was a side area devoted to various flowers, including big dandelions that seemed to thrive in the weather.

Tempest picked one out with the permission of the gardeners, carrying it along with her as she went to greet Discord, who was painting fabulous swirling designs along the side of the well. “Hey,” she called.

“Hello!” he replied, turning to look at her.

Tempest offered him the dandelion. “Here.”

“Oh, for me?” He took it, twirling it around. “How thoughtful.”

“Happy one month of being in Klugetown,” she said. She bumped her hip against his. “Make a wish.”

He snickered, and blew the seeds from the dandelion. They were whisked away by the wind, and he rested his hand on Tempest's back as he watched them fly.

“So, what'd you wish for?” Tempest asked.

“I can't tell you, then it won't come true,” Discord replied.

“Pft, come on. You can make anything happen.”

“Not anything. Some things are only possible if others will them to be so, no matter how much I may want them.” Discord got back to his painting. “But if you really want to know... I simply wished that I would always have friends like you and Fluttershy.”

Tempest smiled, and picked up a brush to join him. “And you will.”

With the storm creatures quite capable of digging out the quarry on their own, Tempest focused her attention toward making sure they were cooperating with the other Klugetown residents at the airship docks. They were managing it, but there was still tension. They were mocked by their coworkers, looked upon with distrust, and some of the storm creatures were feeling disillusioned by it. So Tempest was going to talk to the dock workers about it.

She made her way up to them one day while they were at lunch, and they immediately tensed, watching her closely.

“Hello,” she said, bowing her head. “I'm Tempest Shadow.”

“We know who you are,” one of them replied. “You and your white-furred lackies tore our town apart looking for that pony princess.”

“I understand, what I and the Storm King's soldiers did was wrong,” Tempest said. “We want to make up for it now. If you don't want to forgive us, that's fine. But please, let us show you we've changed.”

They looked at each other, then back at her.

“Even if you're trying to be good now, it doesn't change what you've done,” another fish person said.

“I know. And I'm sorry.” Tempest approached him in particular, and gestured for the storm creature workers to join her. “We're all sorry. Can't we make it up to you?”

He stared at her for a bit. Then he said, “Maybe in time, you can make up for it with hard work and useful contributions to our town. But until you do, don't expect us to trust you.”

Tempest bit her lip to keep from snapping at him. “I suppose that's the best we can ask for. But could you refrain from all the mocking? It's making this work environment more hostile than it needs to be.”

“Oh I'm sorry, is our teasing hurting your friends' feelings? Oh, what a tragedy, whatever will those battle-hardened soldiers do.”

Tempest sighed. “They may be tough, but being put down every day tends to wear on a person, no matter who they are. Seriously, can't you just focus on the job, and leave the drama for when you're at home?”

They laughed and traded some snide comments, before one said, “Oh sure, little pony.” He patted her head, messing up her mane in the process. “I suppose I don't want to deal with people crying at work.”

Tempest nodded and turned away from him. “Keep your chins up, guys,” she said to her friends. “They'll move on one day. Just keep working hard and don't let anything they say get to you. If you ever need to talk, come find me.” She walked away, sighing. She wondered how Twilight was able to do this so easily. Then again, ponies were known to be one of the most agreeable species on the planet. The people of Klugetown were much harder to compromise with. But she would do what she could.

She decided to stop in with the dock supervisor though, hoping they would be more understanding. The supervisor looked like a great white shark and had very sharp, very numerous teeth, but her grin was kind and she had a lively personality.

“I've definitely seen the tension between my employees,” she said, as Tempest sat awkwardly in her small office, in a seat that was clearly meant for much bigger creatures than her. The supervisor casually picked up and cleaned her name placard, and when she set it back down, Tempest checked her name. Karchara. “I've done what I can to make the storm creatures feel welcome, and I stop the harassment when I can, but I can't be out there with them constantly. I have been putting together an anti-discrimination training session though. They hate that kind of training but it needs to be done.”

Tempest's ears perked up. “Oh, that sounds wonderful! Do you need any help with it?”

“Haha, I appreciate the offer but I've been doing this for years, I've got it covered. But thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention. I promise I'll take care of this.” Karchara offered Tempest a small bowl of candy she had on her desk, and Tempest looked through it before accepting a caramel. “If it makes you feel any better, the storm creatures have been model employees. They're hard workers and have already increased productivity by about 58%!” Karchara pulled out some graphs. “We strive to get airships in and out of the docks as quickly as possible while still providing quality service, and thanks to your friends, we've met our quotas every single day for the past two weeks! If you really want to get into the details...”

Tempest's ears went down when she saw how extensive the graphs were, and she quickly said, “Oh, no need for that, I'm just happy to hear they're good employees. In fact, I er...” She checked her wrist despite not having a watch. “I need to get going, but thank you for meeting with me.”

“No problem!” Karchara reached across the desk to vigorously shake her hoof. “I gotta head out to see the arrival of the Altostratus. They're our traders from the griffin lands, definitely wanna make sure nothing goes wrong. Griffins can be very temperamental.”

“That's what I've heard, though Twilight has told me about a griffin student at her school named Gallus who's making great strides toward being friendly,” Tempest said. “Even if he is a bit... snarky at times.”

“Well if anyone can get the griffins to calm down a bit, it's the Princess of Friendship,” Karchara replied. She got up, showing Tempest to the door. “Alright, I'm going out to dock 2. Have a nice day, Ms. Shadow.”

“Heh, you too,” Tempest said, stepping out. She watched the supervisor walk away, and turned to head back into town, wondering what else she should do today. She wandered around, checking out the market and a few stores. She briefly examined a stand selling tomatoes, her stomach growling. She should get lunch. She was so hungry she was almost tempted by a nearby seafood stand selling crab legs. But she passed it up in favor of going to a small restaurant and buying a baked potato and salad.

She got a window seat, watching people walk by outside as she ate. She saw the sand globe seller who had hassled her at the train station nearby, running a booth. She found herself chuckling at his enthusiasm as he talked to passersby, but then she felt bad about how she had treated him.

Once she was done eating, she paid and went outside, approaching his stand. He immediately grew quiet when she got close, instead looking away and pretending to tidy up the globes.

“Hey, you open?” she asked.

He glanced at her nervously. “Y-yeah.”

“Oh, good.” Tempest examined the globes. “So, do you make these yourself?”

Slowly he relaxed, setting a hand protectively on one of the globes. “I sure do. It's a family business.”

“They look lovely.” Tempest found one that had a prancing purple unicorn in it. “Sorry for yelling at you. You know, back at the train station.”

“Heh, well... I don't blame you, I was getting in your way. But it's hard these days for a merchant in Klugetown, you really gotta make your wares desirable. But that's no excuse for being pushy.”

“I understand. It's okay.” Tempest tapped the globe with the unicorn. “How much is this one?”

“She's thirty bits,” he replied.

Tempest considered. Then she took a pouch out of her saddlebags and said, “Alright, I'll take it.”

The merchant stared at her as she counted out the money. Then he smiled and said, “Of course, miss.” He wrapped up the globe in paper and carefully slid it into a bag, passing it to her while she gave him the bits. “Enjoy.”

“Thank you. And sorry again about threatening you.” Tempest used her magic to carefully move the globe into one of her bags.

“Oh, trust me, you weren't the first, and you won't be the last. But thank you for apologizing anyway.”

Tempest said goodbye and walked away, deciding to go see what Discord was up to. He wasn't at the well anymore, but she took a few moments to examine the designs. What had started out as simple curls had become very complex fractals while she was gone, and she knelt down to stare more closely. It was almost mesmerizing to look at, and it took someone tapping her on the shoulder for her to tear herself away.

“Hey, buddy,” Grubber said.

“Oh, Grubber.” Tempest shook her head and looked at him. “What's up?”

“Nothing much.” He was munching on an apple, checking out the well too. “Discord did a good job with the painting, huh? Honestly I tried to tell him that it was a well, it didn't need to be pretty, but he insisted on sprucing it up. And look how extra this is.”

“That's Discord, alright. Super extra,” Tempest replied.

“Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if these patterns contain the secret to life itself.” Grubber ran his fingers along one of the swirls, then said, “Well, anyway. So Curly and I were talking about ordering glass so we can finally get some proper windows, think you could help us with the measurements?”

Tempest wasn't that fond of math but she did want to help, so she agreed. “Sure. Is Discord around?”

“Discord flew to Sunny Oasis to map out the road,” Grubber said as he led her to the town hall. “We're going to start properly paving it soon, since right now it's just a slightly stamped down path through the desert and that's not going to last very long. He should be back soon, though.”

“Gotcha.” Tempest figured it wouldn't take him long. Discord could fly very fast when he wanted to, and once he got to the other town, he could just teleport back. “When do you plan to start paving?”

“I don't know. We're waiting to get more sandstone dug up so we can use that in the road, so um... in a few days, maybe? It depends.” Grubber pulled open the door and let Tempest in. “But it'll be so convenient once it gets built. The storm creatures will be able to visit each other whenever! I think we're also going to build a motel along the road, you never know when a sandstorm will roll in and after seeing what those sand wyrms are capable of, I want to make sure there's shelter.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Tempest said. “A motel, maybe even a store, and a restaurant... it could be a great trade route.”

“I know, right? The possibilities are endless.”

They entered their usual meeting room, and Tempest greeted Curly, who came over to give her the usual hug.

“So, you're going to help us measure windows?” Curly asked, gathering up some tools.

Tempest gave an awkward smile. “I suppose so.”

“Aww yeah, time to do some math,” Grubber said, grabbing a ruler for himself. “You're about to find out why they're called window pains!”

Tempest groaned. “Please don't.”

“Sorry.”

“Let's not waste any time,” Curly said. “First let's get the dimensions of the town hall windows and then we can head out from there.”

As they went back out into the entrance hall, Tempest commented, “So, has Grubber told you about his ideas for the road to Sunny Oasis? Because I think he's really onto something.”

“Oh, really?” Curly looked at Grubber with a smile. “Do share.”

He laughed nervously. “Oh, right now? Okay, so like... picture a gleaming desert-themed motel...”

Comments

[lazyreader19]

“Let's not waste any time,” Curly said. “First let's get the dimensions of the town hall windows and then we can head out from there.”

That's easy, three dimensions :p

[NmB]

Ok, the story is a fine slice of life. My only concern is that you are confusing Friendly with Submissive. Remember that trying to make friends doesn’t mean you need to take shit from anyone.