After the Fireworks
Tempest Shadow stood on the edge of the festival, watching her fireworks fade with Twilight Sparkle and her friends beside her. Fizzlepop Berrytwist, she corrected herself. She had been Tempest Shadow for so long, it was hard to think of herself as anything else. That would have to change.
"That was amazing!" Pinkie Pie said, jumping into the air splay-legged with her typical exuberance, "Where did you learn to do that?"
Fizzlepop Berrytwist smiled, a little sadly. "I taught myself," she said, "For awhile, I tried to bring my magic under control but... light shows were all I could manage."
"Well, I think it's pretty incredible," Twilight said, patting Fizzlepop on the shoulder.
"Wasn't much use under the Storm King," Fizzlepop said, staring at the spot where the light show had been, "Reveals your location to the enemy without conferring any tactical advantage." She glanced aside at Rainbow Dash, but held her tongue. She had no right to criticize the other pony.
"You mean laik a Sonic Rainboom?" Apple Jack said instead in her country drawl.
"Yeah, yeah," Rainbow Dash said, dismissing the issue, "It all worked out for the best, right?"
"Yes, but maybe things would have gone more smoothly if you had listened to Twilight," Fluttershy said quietly.
Fizzlepop noticed that Twilight seemed to be trying not to say something herself. It was comforting to know that even the Princess of Friendship struggled at times.
"Perhaps," Fizzlepop said, "I wouldn't have found you, and Celeano and her crew would have been with you all the way to the Hippogriffs." She sighed. "And I suppose if I had had more faith in Spring Rain and Glitter Drops's friendship, none of this would have had to happen."
A high-pitched whine suddenly filled the air. The other ponies immediately looked to the source, and Fizzlepop followed their gaze to see Pinkie Pie, looking fit to burst.
"WaithereI'llberightbackthis'llbesogreat!" she said all once before vanishing faster than Fizzlepop would have thought a pony could move.
"There she goes again," Applejack said, looking after her friend, "I wonder what set her off this time?"
"Who know with her?" Rarity said, "But besides all that, Trixie's magic show is about to start. I would hate for us to miss my stunning costumes." Everypony looked askance at Rarity.
"Ahem. And her performance, of course," Rarity added abashedly.
"But didn't Pinkie Pie ask us to wait here?" Fizzlepop asked.
"Did she?" Rainbow Dash said, "I couldn't make it out."
"Oh, it'll be fine darling," Rarity said with a dismissive wave, "If I know Pinkie Pie, she'll find us no matter where we go."
Fizzlepop was uncertain if that was a good thing, but went along with the group.
Some time later, after the magic show ended, the plaza looked empty. There were still a few ponies milling about, mostly coming from the magic show, but by and large sleepiness had finally overwhelmed the festive atmosphere and ponies had turned in for the night.
Twilight was waiting on a purple unicorn that Fizzlepop had yet to meet. Said unicorn was speaking with the magician.
"Thanks for the offer," the magician said with a yawn, "But the Fatigued and Groggy Trixie will be more comfortable in her wagon."
It was at this point that Fizzlepop's peripheral vision detected a fast-moving object coming right at her. Instinctively, she spun to face it, moving slightly out of the way in the process, and charged magic to the stump of her horn.
Pinkie Pie skidded to a stop, her eyes going wide. Fizzlepop immediately stopped the magic, a few stray sparks falling. Her own eyes widened, but in shame rather than shock.
"I am so sorry!" she said, "I never meant to..."
"Oh, it's ok," Pinkie Pie said with a grin, every trace of fear gone from her face, "But guess who I fo~und?"
Breathlessly running to catch up were a light blue unicorn and a bright green unicorn. Fizzlepop's eyes slowly widened as she recognized them. It had been years, but it was unmistakably her so-called... Fizzlepop caught herself again... her FILLYHOOD friends.
"Fizzlepop!" Spring Rain said as the two of them threw their forehooves around the dark purple pony.
Fizzlepop stood their stunned. Slowly, hesitantly, she returned their embrace.
"I'll just leave you three to catch up," Pinkie Pie said with a grin. "La la la," she sang as she bounded away.
After several minutes, Spring Rain and Glitter Drops pulled back. Tempest (Fizzlepop!) saw tears forming in Spring Rain's eyes and shamefully looked away. But she was surprised by what she heard next.
"We were so worried!" Spring Rain said, "It's so good to see that you're alright!"
"Not just us," Glitter Drops said, her voice tinged with anger, "Your parents, the teachers... everyone in town! We looked all over, but when we couldn't find you we..." Glitter Drops hesitated and Fizzlepop looked up. Glitter Drops was looking down, her teeth clenched. "We feared the worst," Glitter Drops finally finished.
"...Sorry," Fizzlepop said weakly.
"When we heard the armies were lead by a purple unicorn with a broken horn, we thought it might be you!" Spring Rain said, "But we couldn't get close enough to tell!"
"Err, sorry," Fizzlepop said again. It was becoming a habit. She looked up. "I... can't make up for that," she said, "And I won't ask you to forgive me, but I do wish I hadn't served the Storm King."
"We know, it was to fix your horn," Spring Rain said, "But..."
"I'm not mad about that," Glitter Drops interrupted, looking Fizzlepop in the eye, tears now falling from her own eye, "I'm mad because you let us think you were dead!" Glitter Drops started to sob. Fizzlepop began to reach out a hoof, then pulled back. Spring Rain put her own hoof around Glitter Drops' shoulders. Fizzlepop was about to say sorry again, but it would have seemed hollow.
"It was hard," she said somberly. Then she brightened up, "But we always hoped. And here you are! Safe and..." Spring Rain looked up at Fizzlepop's horn. "Well, mostly sound," she finished abashedly.
"It's... ok," Fizzlepop said slowly, "For a long time it wasn't, but I think it really is now."
"Yes, but that's the best part!" Spring Rain said, "You see, after you left, we went to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns..."
"I know that," Fizzlepop said, a bit irritated. She knew she had no right to be, but old habits died hard.
"Yeah, but after you left we reached a decision," Glitter Drops said.
Spring Rain nodded. "We decided that..." Spring Rain paused for dramatic effect.
"We would devote our studies to ways to fix broken unicorn horns," Glitter Drops dropped into the silence. Spring Rain looked irritated at having her thunder stolen, but she nodded.
"You... you did that, for me?" Fizzlepop said.
"Well of course!" Spring Rain said, "If your magic wasn't going to get better on its own, then we were going to help you! Even if we didn't know where you were, we had faith that we'd see you again some day."
"And a little thing like you being missing wasn't going to stop us being friends," Glitter Drops said, smiling for the first time since she arrived.
Tears welled up in Fizzlepop's eyes. The stern facade that even the Storm King's betrayal and Twilight Sparkle's forgiveness had barely dented fell at last. Fizzlepop threw her hooves around her friends and wept with abandon.
The three just sat there for a time, until Fizzlepop's tears slowed. Then Glitter Drops patted Fizzlepop on the back.
"Hey, not to start things up again," she said gently, "But you haven't even heard the good part yet."
"*hic* huh?" Fizzlepop said, wiping her eyes. Spring Rain handed her a handkerchief.
"Courtesy of Pinkie Pie," she said by way of explanation.
As Fizzlepop wiped her face, the other two began their story.
"In Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns," Glitter Drops began, "We knew we wanted to find a way to fix broken horns, but little more than that. At first, we had no idea how to even start to do that. Magic was always an option, of course, but that was too broad to be of much help."
"But, as we progressed, we let our teachers know what we wanted to do," Spring Rain said, "Though we didn't tell them the WHOLE story. Anyway, healing magic was the obvious route..."
"But I had no talent for it," Glitter Drops cut in, "Thankfully, there was a newer path. Prosthetics. Peg legs have been around for centuries, of course, but recently fully functional legs and even wings have become a possibility. A little magic can make them even better, but for Earth Ponies and Pegasi that's of limited help."
"In those," Spring Rain said, "A little healing magic can prevent rejection, but it's only used when the pony is first fitted. So while at first I studied ways to reattach legs, wings, or horns, we didn't have your horn to work with..."
"That left me," Glitter Drops said, "After graduation, Spring Rain here continued to hone her skill with the attachment aspect of healing magic, while I went into cutting-edge research on magic artifacts. I realized that there were plenty of stories of ancient artifacts that could act as a conduit of magic, even if the method of creating them was lost. You can't exactly deconstruct an ancient treasure every day, but I kept an eye out."
"I don't know if you've heard," Spring Rain put in, "But we've had a lot of invasions since you left..."
"Huh. That might explain why everyone is so accepting," Fizzlepop said, pondering. Her stoic expression was already starting to reform, but now her friends knew that was not all she was.
"Maybe. I mean, blowing Canterlot apart was pretty bad, but so was creating floating checkered orbs and chocolate rain! And Discord's kind of a celebrity now," Spring Rain said.
"Word of Discord's return reached out even to where I was," Fizzlepop said, "Though I'm a bit fuzzy on the details."
"We'll fill you in later," Glitter Drops said, "The point is, one of those involved a Centaur, much like the Storm King. Only this one could steal magic on his own. When it was over, Princess Celestia asked my team to study it, and maybe find a way to prevent it from happening in the future. We didn't manage that, but we did find what I really wanted to find... A way to channel magic through a foreign object as if it were a horn."
Fizzlepop's eyes lit up. Spring Rain and Glitter Drops both broke into huge grins.
"That's right!" Spring Rain said, "Just this moon, Glitter Drops put the finishing touches on the artificial Unicorn Horn!"
"Now, we haven't tried it on a unicorn with no horn yet," Glitter Drops said with a tone of caution, "But now that you're back, and with the fragments of that staff to study... well, I'd say we can have you fitted before the year's out!"
Fizzlepop's eye teared up again, this time in pure joy. She swept her friends into a big hug once more. As she looked up at the stars, a smile on her face, Fizzlepop felt truly happy for what felt like the first time in forever.