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"How about we start with your complete and total surrender?"

The story of Tempest Shadow's past begins with a tragedy. Her father was an earth pony rogue that neither knows nor cares of her existence, and her mother, a kindly, if timid unicorn mare, died suddenly of illness when Tempest had barely begun to form proper sentences. Young Tempest was found in their small cottage a few days later, curled up against her mother's body, unsure why Mommy wouldn't wake up, but afraid to leave her. When the ponies came to take her away, Tempest fought to stay with Mommy, biting and struggling her hardest, but still, she was taken. She never saw her mother again.

Now on her own at an orphanage, Tempest's silence and refusal to play with the other foals concerned the administrators in charge. Tempest avoided physical contact and refused to open up to anyone, expressing herself only through crayon drawings of surly storm clouds. This unsettling, antisocial behavior warded off many potential guardians that visited the orphanage, looking for a sweet ball of sunshine to adopt.....dark, gloomy Tempest simply didn't fit the bill, and she watched her peers get adopted out, one by one.

One day, however, an old mare visits the orphanage, and she fixes her gaze of the quiet filly sitting alone in the corner. Although the staff warn her away, the mare approaches Tempest anyway, and softly introduces herself as Nana Cookie. Tempest says nothing. Cookie begins talking about what seems like nonsense- comments about the weather, items she's forgotten to add to her grocery list, the titchy diet of her grumpy pet cat....

Little Tempest is growing increasingly annoyed, and is maybe considering biting the old mare. But Cookie suddenly goes quiet for a long time, looking around the room.....then comments that the orphanage hasn't changed a bit since she was a filly. The comment catches Tempest's attention.

Nana Cookie eventually dodders on home, but she comes back the next day. And the next day. And the next. Always with a strange, rambling story for Tempest. Sometimes with a fresh baked treat. Always with a lopsided, wrinkly old smile. Despite herself, Tempest finds herself listening to these kooky tales, and even finds herself nibbling at one of Nana's lemon wafers. Tempest doesn't ever talk back, but Nana doesn't seem to mind- and she certainly talks enough for both of them. One day, when Tempest is chewing a snickerdoodle, listening faintly to one of Nana's partly exaggerated tales of taming a manticore during her circus days- when Nana asks if Tempest would like to learn how to bake one of the cookies she's enjoying so much. Tempest pauses....then surprises Nana, and everypony in the room, when she says her very first word in months. "Yes."

An easy bond grows between little Tempest and Nana. Little Tempest finds herself awaiting Nana everyday, her tail waggling at the thought of losing yet another day in Nana's bakery. Baking together, working the taffy-pulling machine, listening to more stories, catching a nap with Nana's old cat. Tempest begins to smile again. She tolerates a hug or six. Nana knits a blanket for her, and Tempest makes sure to keep it safe and treasured.

When Nana asks Tempest if she'd like to go home with her, forever, Tempest again surprises everyone when she rears up, leaps into the elderly mare's arms, and practically squeals, "Yes!"

Life is good. Tempest begins school, and she even makes friends, overcoming her shyness. And everyday, of course, Nana has dinner waiting. Tempest is best friends with a squad of adventurous fillies, and they all adore one another. She earns her cutie mark making sweets in Nana's kitchen, and can hardly stop bouncing in excitement long enough to show Nana. Her marks in school are impressive, and there's talks among the teachers about a formal recommendation to Celestia's private school in Canterlot. Nana Cookie couldn't possibly be prouder. Things are wonderful.

One day, Tempest is out playing with her friends, when their ball rolls far, into an abandoned cave. Tempest wanders inside to retrieve it, and in just a few moments, her life changes forever.

The Ursa Minor attack leaves her bleeding and broken, clinging to life. A single blow from the bear shattered her horn, breaking the bone core beyond repair. It could never grow back, not after damage like that.

The loss of a horn is a unimaginable to unicorns, many of whom depend on their horns for their livelihood and success. Many would rather lose a limb. As Tempest rested in bed, Nana tried to assure her that the loss could be overcome, but still, the little filly wept, and all Nana could do was hug her and hold back tears of her own.

Magic surges are common to young unicorn foals, and Tempest was no exception. But without her horn to channel the energy, the surges instead were released randomly, in powerful bursts of lightning. Attempts to use even simple spells ended explosively. Tempest could not control her magic, and the volatile power surges began to frighten her friends. A bit of innocent roughhousing ends with a blinding blast from Tempest's horn- and when the smoke clears, Tempest is terrified to find one of her friends has been badly burned. Eventually, Tempest was ruled to dangerous to allow in a school with other foals.

Nana tried to cheer her up- homeschooling wouldn't be so bad. And Tempest tried to be positive, but it hurt the way her friends began to come around less and less. The way they'd flinch away from her when she approached to play. How could they, after they'd been the ones to urge her to retrieve that stupid ball in the first place?

As the months goes by, Tempest begins to withdraw, returning to her former quiet, angry self. She watches her friends play outside, as though she never even mattered- and it hurts. Her dreams of attending Celestia's School For Gifted have gone up in smoke. She can't even bake with Nana in the kitchen anymore- her last attempt led to a magic surge that resulted in a fire, nearly killing them both. Nana, sick and hoarse from smoke inhalation, can barely rise out of bed. Tempest, wracked with guilt, brings her meals, and tries to tell the same silly stories Nana used to tell, but the old mare's smiles aren't quite reaching her eyes anymore.

One day, Tempest comes home to find a stranger in the bakery- an administrator from the orphanage- talking in hushed voices with Nana. Tempest eavesdrops from behind a counter, listening the whispers- and her ears prick at the sound of Nana Cookie coughing, and a fragment of a sentence-

"-not sure how well I can care for her anymore-

Terror licks Tempest's gut. Nana is going to give her back to the orphanage.

The feelings of betrayal, pain, anger, and fear are overwhelming, and Tempest's eyes well up with tears. Everypony- every single stupid pony- chooses to abandon her in the end. her mother, her friends, and now, even Nana. Betrayers, all of them!

Blinded by tears, Tempest doesn't bother staying to hear the rest of the conversation. She won't give anypony the chance to hurt her, never again. She doesn't even bother packing. All that matters is running away, to anywhere but here.

It's hard living for a filly on the run. Tempest is forced to learn to hide and fight and steal food. As the years go by, and Tempest watches the ponies of Equestria, so happy and content with their asinine parties and cloying talk of love and harmony and friendship- jealously ignites in her heart, and she begins to hate them. Every wretched one of them. They didn't deserve their happiness. Not when she was so wretchedly alone and miserable.

When the Storm King rises to power, Tempest barely hesitates to sell out her country to get her horn back. A part of her feels that if she could only restore her horn, perhaps her happiness, long ago snuffed out, could finally return to her. So she makes a deal with the devil. She trains ruthlessly, conquers pathetic nation after nation, and when the time comes, she takes down the Princesses of Equestria before they can even blink.

Of course, justice prevails in the end, the Storm King is defeated, and Tempest is beaten by the most naive and friendship-worshiping pony of them all, Princess Twilight Sparkle. The Storm King's betrayal, and the raw realization that she'll never get her horn back bring Tempest to her lowest. There's a party- Canterlot is celebrating its victory- but Tempest is still an outsider. Still broken. Still alone. It's here that she's approached by Princess Twilight, so blind and stupid and wretchedly forgiving....

Twilight will never know it, but she really did save Tempest's life, in more ways than one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

notes

-Tempest's birth name is indeed FizzlePop BerryTwist. She changed it when she became The Storm King's commander, as a show of loyalty to her new boss.

-Nana Cookie never intended to give Tempest away. She'd only been concerned over how well she, an elderly, sick mare, could accommodate Tempest's many special needs. She was devastated when she found out her filly had run away, and galloped into the wilderness, leading a search party through a thunderstorm, eventually nearly succumbing to pneumonia.

-Tempest was imprisoned briefly for her act of treason against her country. Queen Luna was especially adamant about the miserable traitor being served justice (perhaps more than a little embarrassed about how easily Tempest had taken her down during the assault on Canterlot). Tempest was resigned to this fate, but Twilight fought for her, and was eventually able to take Tempest under her royal guardianship as a candidate for reformation.

-Due to her remarkable fighting ability, Twilight suggests that Tempest be utilized by the royal guard. Luna scoffs at the idea, and grants Tempest a position as a janitor in the Canterlot royal guard. Tempest, fueled entirely by spite, quickly rises through the ranks, eventually earning the title of Captain. Although she's come to genuinely enjoy the work, she especially loves standing proudly at her guard post and sticking her tongue out at Luna when the night queen walks past. Their terse relationship eventually explodes into rivalry when Luna indignantly challenges Tempest to a duel, and surprisingly, finds herself enjoying the fight. More duels are issued, tension builds between them. Feelings of fondness begin to bubble up, and are hotly denied. Certainly nopony believes the night guard that claims to have caught the pair making out in a storage closet after a duel, no sir. Never happened.

-Tempest didn't know it at the time, but she did have a true friend in Grubber, who always made sure to toss a blanket over her when she fell asleep at her planning desk, or badger her to eat a meal for once. After her reformation, Grubber becomes her second in command within the royal guard, and she secretly bakes him his beloved spongecake every now and then.

-Tempest finds a surprising friend in Pinkie Pie, who encourages her long-buried love of making sweets. Eventually, Tempest opens up to Twilight and Pinkie about her past- the ponies are shocked that Tempest has always been too afraid to go looking for Nana Cookie. They accompany her on a long journey back to Tempest's childhood village. Although Tempest secretly fears the worst- after all, how long could a mare possibly live- they do manage to track her down, and the joyous squeal of Nana Cookie is like an old mare becoming a filly again. Tempest finds herself blubbering apologies into her surrogate mother's apron, and Nana holds her daughter steady and murmurs that she is forgiven, and that she is loved, always.

-Artemis is the only child of Luna. As a foal, it took Artemis a very, very long time to accept the fact that their moon mummy was in love with Tempest. They may have challenged the scarred unicorn to secret duels and battles to the death to defend their mother's honor. Their pride may have been quite hurt when Tempest defeated them with nothing but a gentle hoof holding them down until their enraged chirps and howls for blood quieted down. They may have started looking forward to these secret battles more and more over time...so sure that THIS time they would finally conquer the intruder....eventually, before Artemis realized what happened, the heir to the night started having fun trying to defeat Tempest. They'll forever insist that their eventual love for their step mom started with a respect for her fighting skills, but yeah, really the little dork was having a blast "fighting" her, and was very excited when Tempest finally asked them if they wanted her to train them. As an adult Tempest is still Artemis' favorite fighting instructor besides Shining Armor, but they have a strong bond outside of violence and blood. Tempest may be the only pony beside their mother and aunty that can give Artemis their much loved forehead kissus but that's a secret.

I imagined another key scene in their bonding where poor young Artie has a nightmare. Bolting out of bed to go find their mother, Artie is dismayed to find that Luna is away on royal duties. Art finds Tempest and shakes her awake, insisting that as Luna's private guard, it's her duty to tend to Artie's demands as well! Artemis fearfully boldly orders Tempest to check under their bed and in their closet for any monsters, and tuck them back into bed. Tempest grumbles as she does all this, but when Artie timidly asks to hold her hoof until their able to fall asleep....she obeys without a hint of mockery. Even after Artie falls asleep, she can't quite bring herself to leave, and curls up in a nearby armchair. Just in case Artie needs her again.

UPDATE: Have a doodle of Nana Cookie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Headcanon about Tempest Shadow, as promised on my patreon for meeting the first funding goal!

woof, i thought i didn't have much to say about tempest but i ended up writing ya'll a whole book, sorry

Related:

More from my headcanon series:

Enjoy my content? Consider supporting me on Patreon! It has rewards, sneak peeks, and early viewing of finished art for patrons! Also, for each funding goal met, I produce a new promised art and story reward!

Support on PATREON!

Description

"How about we start with your complete and total surrender?"

The story of Tempest Shadow's past begins with a tragedy. Her father was an earth pony rogue that neither knows nor cares of her existence, and her mother, a kindly, if timid unicorn mare, died suddenly of illness when Tempest had barely begun to form proper sentences. Young Tempest was found in their small cottage a few days later, curled up against her mother's body, unsure why Mommy wouldn't wake up, but afraid to leave her. When the ponies came to take her away, Tempest fought to stay with Mommy, biting and struggling her hardest, but still, she was taken. She never saw her mother again.

Now on her own at an orphanage, Tempest's silence and refusal to play with the other foals concerned the administrators in charge. Tempest avoided physical contact and refused to open up to anyone, expressing herself only through crayon drawings of surly storm clouds. This unsettling, antisocial behavior warded off many potential guardians that visited the orphanage, looking for a sweet ball of sunshine to adopt.....dark, gloomy Tempest simply didn't fit the bill, and she watched her peers get adopted out, one by one.

One day, however, an old mare visits the orphanage, and she fixes her gaze of the quiet filly sitting alone in the corner. Although the staff warn her away, the mare approaches Tempest anyway, and softly introduces herself as Nana Cookie. Tempest says nothing. Cookie begins talking about what seems like nonsense- comments about the weather, items she's forgotten to add to her grocery list, the titchy diet of her grumpy pet cat....

Little Tempest is growing increasingly annoyed, and is maybe considering biting the old mare. But Cookie suddenly goes quiet for a long time, looking around the room.....then comments that the orphanage hasn't changed a bit since she was a filly. The comment catches Tempest's attention.

Nana Cookie eventually dodders on home, but she comes back the next day. And the next day. And the next. Always with a strange, rambling story for Tempest. Sometimes with a fresh baked treat. Always with a lopsided, wrinkly old smile. Despite herself, Tempest finds herself listening to these kooky tales, and even finds herself nibbling at one of Nana's lemon wafers. Tempest doesn't ever talk back, but Nana doesn't seem to mind- and she certainly talks enough for both of them. One day, when Tempest is chewing a snickerdoodle, listening faintly to one of Nana's partly exaggerated tales of taming a manticore during her circus days- when Nana asks if Tempest would like to learn how to bake one of the cookies she's enjoying so much. Tempest pauses....then surprises Nana, and everypony in the room, when she says her very first word in months. "Yes."

An easy bond grows between little Tempest and Nana. Little Tempest finds herself awaiting Nana everyday, her tail waggling at the thought of losing yet another day in Nana's bakery. Baking together, working the taffy-pulling machine, listening to more stories, catching a nap with Nana's old cat. Tempest begins to smile again. She tolerates a hug or six. Nana knits a blanket for her, and Tempest makes sure to keep it safe and treasured.

When Nana asks Tempest if she'd like to go home with her, forever, Tempest again surprises everyone when she rears up, leaps into the elderly mare's arms, and practically squeals, "Yes!"

Life is good. Tempest begins school, and she even makes friends, overcoming her shyness. And everyday, of course, Nana has dinner waiting. Tempest is best friends with a squad of adventurous fillies, and they all adore one another. She earns her cutie mark making sweets in Nana's kitchen, and can hardly stop bouncing in excitement long enough to show Nana. Her marks in school are impressive, and there's talks among the teachers about a formal recommendation to Celestia's private school in Canterlot. Nana Cookie couldn't possibly be prouder. Things are wonderful.

One day, Tempest is out playing with her friends, when their ball rolls far, into an abandoned cave. Tempest wanders inside to retrieve it, and in just a few moments, her life changes forever.

The Ursa Minor attack leaves her bleeding and broken, clinging to life. A single blow from the bear shattered her horn, breaking the bone core beyond repair. It could never grow back, not after damage like that.

The loss of a horn is a unimaginable to unicorns, many of whom depend on their horns for their livelihood and success. Many would rather lose a limb. As Tempest rested in bed, Nana tried to assure her that the loss could be overcome, but still, the little filly wept, and all Nana could do was hug her and hold back tears of her own.

Magic surges are common to young unicorn foals, and Tempest was no exception. But without her horn to channel the energy, the surges instead were released randomly, in powerful bursts of lightning. Attempts to use even simple spells ended explosively. Tempest could not control her magic, and the volatile power surges began to frighten her friends. A bit of innocent roughhousing ends with a blinding blast from Tempest's horn- and when the smoke clears, Tempest is terrified to find one of her friends has been badly burned. Eventually, Tempest was ruled to dangerous to allow in a school with other foals.

Nana tried to cheer her up- homeschooling wouldn't be so bad. And Tempest tried to be positive, but it hurt the way her friends began to come around less and less. The way they'd flinch away from her when she approached to play. How could they, after they'd been the ones to urge her to retrieve that stupid ball in the first place?

As the months goes by, Tempest begins to withdraw, returning to her former quiet, angry self. She watches her friends play outside, as though she never even mattered- and it hurts. Her dreams of attending Celestia's School For Gifted have gone up in smoke. She can't even bake with Nana in the kitchen anymore- her last attempt led to a magic surge that resulted in a fire, nearly killing them both. Nana, sick and hoarse from smoke inhalation, can barely rise out of bed. Tempest, wracked with guilt, brings her meals, and tries to tell the same silly stories Nana used to tell, but the old mare's smiles aren't quite reaching her eyes anymore.

One day, Tempest comes home to find a stranger in the bakery- an administrator from the orphanage- talking in hushed voices with Nana. Tempest eavesdrops from behind a counter, listening the whispers- and her ears prick at the sound of Nana Cookie coughing, and a fragment of a sentence-

"-not sure how well I can care for her anymore-

Terror licks Tempest's gut. Nana is going to give her back to the orphanage.

The feelings of betrayal, pain, anger, and fear are overwhelming, and Tempest's eyes well up with tears. Everypony- every single stupid pony- chooses to abandon her in the end. her mother, her friends, and now, even Nana. Betrayers, all of them!

Blinded by tears, Tempest doesn't bother staying to hear the rest of the conversation. She won't give anypony the chance to hurt her, never again. She doesn't even bother packing. All that matters is running away, to anywhere but here.

It's hard living for a filly on the run. Tempest is forced to learn to hide and fight and steal food. As the years go by, and Tempest watches the ponies of Equestria, so happy and content with their asinine parties and cloying talk of love and harmony and friendship- jealously ignites in her heart, and she begins to hate them. Every wretched one of them. They didn't deserve their happiness. Not when she was so wretchedly alone and miserable.

When the Storm King rises to power, Tempest barely hesitates to sell out her country to get her horn back. A part of her feels that if she could only restore her horn, perhaps her happiness, long ago snuffed out, could finally return to her. So she makes a deal with the devil. She trains ruthlessly, conquers pathetic nation after nation, and when the time comes, she takes down the Princesses of Equestria before they can even blink.

Of course, justice prevails in the end, the Storm King is defeated, and Tempest is beaten by the most naive and friendship-worshiping pony of them all, Princess Twilight Sparkle. The Storm King's betrayal, and the raw realization that she'll never get her horn back bring Tempest to her lowest. There's a party- Canterlot is celebrating its victory- but Tempest is still an outsider. Still broken. Still alone. It's here that she's approached by Princess Twilight, so blind and stupid and wretchedly forgiving....

Twilight will never know it, but she really did save Tempest's life, in more ways than one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

notes

-Tempest's birth name is indeed FizzlePop BerryTwist. She changed it when she became The Storm King's commander, as a show of loyalty to her new boss.

-Nana Cookie never intended to give Tempest away. She'd only been concerned over how well she, an elderly, sick mare, could accommodate Tempest's many special needs. She was devastated when she found out her filly had run away, and galloped into the wilderness, leading a search party through a thunderstorm, eventually nearly succumbing to pneumonia.

-Tempest was imprisoned briefly for her act of treason against her country. Queen Luna was especially adamant about the miserable traitor being served justice (perhaps more than a little embarrassed about how easily Tempest had taken her down during the assault on Canterlot). Tempest was resigned to this fate, but Twilight fought for her, and was eventually able to take Tempest under her royal guardianship as a candidate for reformation.

-Due to her remarkable fighting ability, Twilight suggests that Tempest be utilized by the royal guard. Luna scoffs at the idea, and grants Tempest a position as a janitor in the Canterlot royal guard. Tempest, fueled entirely by spite, quickly rises through the ranks, eventually earning the title of Captain. Although she's come to genuinely enjoy the work, she especially loves standing proudly at her guard post and sticking her tongue out at Luna when the night queen walks past. Their terse relationship eventually explodes into rivalry when Luna indignantly challenges Tempest to a duel, and surprisingly, finds herself enjoying the fight. More duels are issued, tension builds between them. Feelings of fondness begin to bubble up, and are hotly denied. Certainly nopony believes the night guard that claims to have caught the pair making out in a storage closet after a duel, no sir. Never happened.

-Tempest didn't know it at the time, but she did have a true friend in Grubber, who always made sure to toss a blanket over her when she fell asleep at her planning desk, or badger her to eat a meal for once. After her reformation, Grubber becomes her second in command within the royal guard, and she secretly bakes him his beloved spongecake every now and then.

-Tempest finds a surprising friend in Pinkie Pie, who encourages her long-buried love of making sweets. Eventually, Tempest opens up to Twilight and Pinkie about her past- the ponies are shocked that Tempest has always been too afraid to go looking for Nana Cookie. They accompany her on a long journey back to Tempest's childhood village. Although Tempest secretly fears the worst- after all, how long could a mare possibly live- they do manage to track her down, and the joyous squeal of Nana Cookie is like an old mare becoming a filly again. Tempest finds herself blubbering apologies into her surrogate mother's apron, and Nana holds her daughter steady and murmurs that she is forgiven, and that she is loved, always.

-Artemis is the only child of Luna. As a foal, it took Artemis a very, very long time to accept the fact that their moon mummy was in love with Tempest. They may have challenged the scarred unicorn to secret duels and battles to the death to defend their mother's honor. Their pride may have been quite hurt when Tempest defeated them with nothing but a gentle hoof holding them down until their enraged chirps and howls for blood quieted down. They may have started looking forward to these secret battles more and more over time...so sure that THIS time they would finally conquer the intruder....eventually, before Artemis realized what happened, the heir to the night started having fun trying to defeat Tempest. They'll forever insist that their eventual love for their step mom started with a respect for her fighting skills, but yeah, really the little dork was having a blast "fighting" her, and was very excited when Tempest finally asked them if they wanted her to train them. As an adult Tempest is still Artemis' favorite fighting instructor besides Shining Armor, but they have a strong bond outside of violence and blood. Tempest may be the only pony beside their mother and aunty that can give Artemis their much loved forehead kissus but that's a secret.

I imagined another key scene in their bonding where poor young Artie has a nightmare. Bolting out of bed to go find their mother, Artie is dismayed to find that Luna is away on royal duties. Art finds Tempest and shakes her awake, insisting that as Luna's private guard, it's her duty to tend to Artie's demands as well! Artemis fearfully boldly orders Tempest to check under their bed and in their closet for any monsters, and tuck them back into bed. Tempest grumbles as she does all this, but when Artie timidly asks to hold her hoof until their able to fall asleep....she obeys without a hint of mockery. Even after Artie falls asleep, she can't quite bring herself to leave, and curls up in a nearby armchair. Just in case Artie needs her again.

UPDATE: Have a doodle of Nana Cookie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Headcanon about Tempest Shadow, as promised on my patreon for meeting the first funding goal!

woof, i thought i didn't have much to say about tempest but i ended up writing ya'll a whole book, sorry

Related:

More from my headcanon series:

Enjoy my content? Consider supporting me on Patreon! It has rewards, sneak peeks, and early viewing of finished art for patrons! Also, for each funding goal met, I produce a new promised art and story reward!

Support on PATREON!