Princess Preparatory

by Melody Song

You're Perfect

"What?" Pharynx asked, and Tempest pulled away from him.

The others had come back, both to get Pharynx so they could eat with the kids and ask Tempest if she was feeling up to joining them. Celestia held out her hand when they saw the two talking and halted them. Tempest crossed her arms and glared down at the bedsheets.

"I said no. I-I'm not a good person, Pharynx."

"Temp..."

"A-A good person wouldn't work for a tyrant King just for a false promise and a good person wouldn't spy on the only people who considered her a friend." Tempest said

"Wait, back up. 'False promise'?" Pharynx laid a hand on hers. Tempest looked down.

"...The reason I worked for King Storm was that he promised me the freedom to leave. Before then I was only allowed out of the kingdom for missions. He also promised to get me anything I could ever want. But I only wanted respect."

"And the friend part?" Pharynx prompted

"...The Shadow Lands aren't a good place to live. Ever since I got there the only way people would pay attention to me was when they disrespected me because of my gender." Tempest mumbled. "And back in my old town, before I ended up in the Shadow Lands... well, the friends I had there abandoned me when times got hard."

"Temp, I may be the only one besides you that's not all touchy-feely like the others." Pharynx said, squeezing her hand gently. "But I do know that we all care about you. We all feel your anger, your sadness..."

Pharynx put a hand on the wound on her arm. She looked up at him. He smiled softly.

"Your pain. We know you're not perfect, Temp. But we also know you're kind, strong, brave, and loyal. And that's what matters."

Tempest opened her mouth to respond, but Pharynx cut her off.

"I can tell you don't think you have any friends. That you don't deserve them." Pharynx reached and stroked her cheek, smiling. "But you've got five great friends with me and the others."

"Phar..." Tempest sighed.

"Tempest?"

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm still not a good person." Tempest pulled her hand away, looking at the wall. "And I never will be."

"Temp, who told you you weren't a good person?" Pharynx asked, seeming concerned.

"Remember when I stepped away to take a call during the winter ball...?"

"Yes... wait, was that-?" Pharynx asked, beginning to piece things together.

"It was King Storm, yes."

"Temp, why didn't you say any-"

"It was before he unveiled his plan, Phar. I still believed him at the time. But... during the call, he told me that he was 'glad I wasn't a hero'. It wasn't meant in that context but I know in another situation he would have said the same." Tempest mumbled, hanging her head.

"Temp, you shouldn't believe anything he says, not if he did this." Pharynx gestured to her injuries. Tempest clenched her fists.

"But he's right, Pharynx! It doesn't matter who said it, what matters is it's true!" Tempest leaned forwards and buried her head in her hands. "I'm a bad person, Pharynx..."

"Of course you aren't..." Pharynx bit his bottom lip and rubbed his arm nervously.

"Come on, where'd Romeo go?" Luna muttered from the doorway, making Ember snort in amusement.

Tempest sighed and looked away from Pharynx, who leaned over. He reached and touched the scar that ran down her eye, fingers grazing the base of it. The touch made Tempest look up, startled.

"You see this?" he asked her in a low voice, and she rolled her eyes.

"How could I not?"

"Well, it may look intimidating, but it's the best part about you, Temp. It shows me that you're tough, and that you can come back from a tragedy twice as strong. And that what makes you so great in my eyes." Pharynx gave her a small smile. "Tempest, you spent so much time worrying if you were good, but you were already good enough. You just have to look past the outer appearance and see inside... see what I see."

Tempest turned red and reached up, then punched him in the shoulder. They both began laughing.

"Aw come on!!!" Luna cried out, stomping a foot on the floor.

"Guys!" Pharynx yelled blushing as he realized they were there.

"Can you really complain? I wanna see you kiss!" Luna whined

"...Fine." Tempest said, shrugging.

"What?!" Pharynx turned to her. "Tempest, we're seriously just going to-"

Tempest put a hand over his mouth, then leaned over and whispered something to him.

"...Oh, okay." he smiled at her. "Fine guys, you can see us kiss."

"Really?" Thorax asked eagerly.

"Yeah... you can watch us make you kiss the dust." Tempest grinned

"Uh-oh." Luna said, as they all turned to glare at her. "What?"

"This is your fault Lulu..." Celestia hissed

"And?"

"And..." Celestia hesitated, then took off running. "Everyone for themselves!"

"Eek!" Thorax squealed and took off in the other direction, grabbing Ember's hand and pulling her along with him.

Luna looked around, then turned and ran after Celestia, and down the stairs.

"Ha! We've got to do that more often!" Pharynx laughed

"Yeah." Tempest agreed, snickering. "But... would you really have kissed me if you had to? Y-You know, hypothetically?"

"...In this hypothetical situation, would they still be standing there?"

"Say they weren't, hypothetically speaking, of course."

"Of course. But, in that case..." Pharynx shifted and looked over at her. "If nothing were stopping me, hypothetically... I might..."

"There's the answer I was looking for." Tempest breathed.

Tempest leaned over, tilting her head up slightly to reach his eye level. Pharynx closed his eyes, pulling her in with one hand. Their lips met, and Pharynx wrapped his arms around her. They broke apart after a minute, and Pharynx smiled at her.

"That was perfect."

"Mm-hmm." Tempest hummed, glancing around. "They probably won't be back for a while, y'know."

"Hypothetically, if there were no one else around... would you do that again sometime?" Pharynx asked

"I think you know the answer to that." Tempest whispered, smiling as their lips met again.

Comments

[Melody Song]

10515537
I know they're the same person, I don't remember calling them two different people...

[Pastel_Crystal]

are you gonna update

[Melody Song]

10522655
Yes, soon

[InfernalGuacamolePony]

The amount of hypotheticals made me default voice it to Ben Shapiro, which is funny hearing his voice as a crazy person.