A Princess's Trials
by Present Perfect

Part 1: Call of the Hippogriffs

"What did you say?"

Hippogriffs were some of the few creatures who could actually look down at Tempest. Regardless, she glared at the guard, her rear legs tensed and head lowered the slightest bit.

"Tempest..." said Twilight, a note of warning in her voice.

The guard's voice rang strong and clear across the crystal walls of Friendship Castle. "Princess Twilight Sparkle has been found guilty of theft, lèse-majesté and crimes against the Crown of Mount Aris and its peoples. She will be taken to Mount Aris immediately to face sentence. Any attempt to interfere with this process will have catastrophic repercussions on the peaceful friendship between Mount Aris and Equestria."

The last was accompanied with narrowed eyes and a dour scowl. Tempest lowered her head and ears even more.

"Just watch me interfere," she said, voice in her chest.

A bolt of panic shot through Twilight's nerves, accompanied by flashes of angry yak eyes. She fought it back only with clear focus. Squaring her shoulders, she intoned, "Stand down, Captain!"

To her credit, Tempest immediately relaxed, snapping her head up and retreating to Twilight's side.

"Apologies, Your Highness," she murmured.

Twilight was at last able to relax as well. "It's fine."

"We are ready to depart, Your Highness," said the second guard. "If you will follow us."

With a nervous grunt, Twilight craned her head around to look at the castle doors. "My friends should be here any second..."

"Don't tell me you're actually letting these... interlopers spirit you away from your own castle," Tempest growled.

"Tempest." Twilight put a hoof to Tempest's chest, locking eyes with her and imploring understanding with her gaze. "Please, let's not have a fight. I talked to them before you arrived, and I'm giving myself up quietly. I know it came as a big shock when I first heard, too, but everything's going to be all right. Just trust me."

Worry and frustration flashed through Tempest's eyes. When it seemed like the storm in her mind might break, she turned away from Twilight. "As you wish."

At that moment, there was a flash and crash of teleportation magic as Starlight and the rest of Twilight's friends appeared in the foyer.

"All here!" Starlight said, cheerful despite collapsing immediately to her stomach, sweat pouring down her face and breaths heaving.

"Sorry we're late," said Rainbow Dash. "Kinda caught me in the middle of storm training with the weather team."

"But now that we are here," said Rarity, "just what is all the fuss about, Twilight?"

"I'm going away for a while." Twilight strode toward them, meeting eyes with each one in turn. "I'm not sure how long for."

She tore her gaze away from them, as one by one they steadily grew more concerned. It ate at her.

"I'm going to Mount Aris," she said quietly, squeezing her eyelids shut. "You all know I don't like bringing it up, but... It's time for me to face what I did there."

There was a collective gasp.

"Twilight!" cried Pinkie, rushing to her side. "You don't mean..."

"I do."

Her friends crowded around her, worries and fears percolating from their lips.

"We're coming with you!" said Rainbow Dash, hovering over Twilight and getting in her face.

"No, Rainbow," Twilight said quietly. "I need to do this alone. I can't drag you all through what I'm about to do. Not again."

Rainbow pointed with both hooves over to Tempest, standing aloof and silent. "Well, you're at least taking Tempest, right?"

"No one could stop me from coming," said Tempest with stoic finality.

"I..." Twilight stopped herself, smiling. She couldn't quite explain the feeling to herself, not beyond the satisfaction that came with knowing her friends understood and supported her decisions. She looked to Tempest, who returned the look just as stoically. "Of course. Thank you, Captain."

"Then it's settled," said Applejack, exchanging satisfied grins with Rainbow.

"We will miss you, Twilight," Fluttershy said, giving her a quick hug. Rarity produced a kerchief from somewhere and dabbed at her eyes as the others filed in for a last embrace.

"Don't worry," said Twilight, giving a smile she wasn't quite feeling up to. "I've arranged with Starlight and Spike to look after the castle. And each other." Starlight waved from her place on the floor. "You can all come give them a hoof if you feel like it. Otherwise, I have c..." Her voice caught in her throat. "Complete faith in their ability to get along without me."

Starlight gave her a sad frown but said nothing.

Shaking herself, Twilight turned to the hippogriffs. "If you're ready, gentlecolts, we're prepared."

"Very well." The lead guard moved ahead of Twilight and Tempest as the other brought up the rear. "Our Queen will doubtless have words for the Conqueror's right hoof." He narrowed his eyes at Tempest, who returned the gaze.

Her friends waved final goodbyes, and Twilight watched them leave with sadness and a little confusion written across their faces. She couldn't help feeling like she was tearing apart their friendship all over again.

Tempest Shadow was not the sort of pony who often found herself in a daze. She was sharp, sharper than most in Ponyville, always aware of her surroundings and frequently calculating the entry and defensive points of whatever building she was in. Her job was and always had been vigilance. Neither warlord nor princess would prize a guard captain unable to maintain awareness at all times.

This was why she remained quiet as the hippogriff guards loaded her and her liege onto the cramped and somewhat rickety sky carriage ahead of their flight to Mount Aris. She simply had no idea what to do when dazed, and things were happening too fast, too outside her own sphere of influence, for her to catch up with them.

They waved goodbye to the gathered ponies below as they lifted into the air. Twilight's friends faded into pinpricks of color. Ponyville became a smear of light green against the darker foliage of the Whitetail Woods. And they were on their way.

Well past the point when she could likely actually see them, Twilight kept her eyes focused on where her friends had been, her brow growing heavier minute by minute. At last, her head drooped, and she heaved a long sigh. Tempest reached her hoof toward her, hesitated, and dropped it.

"Are you all right, Princess?" she asked, voice low.

"Yes. No." Twilight sighed again. "I don't know. Doing the right thing is rarely easy, you know?"

Tempest snorted. "If you don't mind my saying so, Your Highness, I have to wonder why you are doing this at all. Why let them take you?"

A noise of disgust grated out of Twilight's throat. "Like I said, it's the right thing to do. I just wish that some princess had notified me sooner that she'd been talking with a certain queen about renewing extradition treaties!"

At that final, shrill word, one of the hippogriffs craned his head back and barked, "The prisoners will be silent during transport!"

Tempest's brow furrowed. She might not know what to make of being suddenly and unceremoniously whisked away on a prison flight, but she definitely knew how to handle a challenge.

With a voice that could freeze a lake in summer, she barked back, "The escorts will mind their own business."

The guard locked eyes with her, daring her to try anything to follow up the unspoken threat. They glared at one another for fifteen wingbeats as clouds soared past the chariot. The guard turned back to the fore, undoubtedly preferring to keep an eye on where he was flying.

Tempest grunted.

"Well, at least Rainbow Dash was right."

She looked down at Twilight as a hoof brushed against her foreleg. The Princess smiled up at her. "I'm glad I don't actually have to face this alone."

"But why, Princess?" Tempest shook her head slowly. "You owe these hippogriffs nothing."

Letting out a breath, Twilight sat back on the bench and dropped her chin to her hooves. "I wronged them, Tempest. In a moment of weakness, I stole something precious which belonged to them."

And Twilight told Tempest all about what had happened during her first visit to Mount Aris. Toward the end of Twilight's story, her eyes widened. "At least, I hope that's all this is about."

A twisting mass formed in Tempest's stomach, as though something were trying to sprout up her throat.

"The point is, the hippogriffs are friends of Equestria, and as a Princess of Equestria, it's my duty to do right by them and face their justice."

Twilight looked through the porthole at her side, shuddered, and returned her gaze to the floor. "If I'm being honest, I didn't want any of my other friends to come because... That whole incident is still kind of a sore spot between us. I don't like thinking about it. One more reason I'm glad it's you who came along."

Twilight's intent was immediate, but Tempest couldn't help feeling just a bit stung. Add that to the list of things that had happened in the past hour she didn't quite know how to deal with. Maybe, if the idea that she lacked some shared experience with Twilight that Rainbow Dash and the others had, however negative or painful, then this whole 'friendship' thing actually was something she wanted.

"Are you all right, Tempest?" Twilight placed a hoof on Tempest's leg, and she jumped slightly, rocking the carriage. "You went quiet all of a sudden."

"I do that," was Tempest's immediate reply, but she shook her head. "Forgive me. I cannot help feeling that, what you and your friends went through wouldn't have happened if not for me. That, however partial, however indirect, it was my fault."

She could not meet her Princess's gaze.

"Tempest..."

Strong hooves wrapped around Tempest in a hug that felt like fire, then ice. Tempest could only accept it; she had no other choice. Perhaps it was what she needed. She would ever admit if it were.

"If it helps," said Twilight softly, "I forgive you. I'd forgive you ten times over before I forgave myself."

Tempest couldn't help but smile. "I know that feeling all too well, Your Highness."

Yes, maybe Tempest was on the right path after all.

However many stones that path might hold.

Author's Notes:

Just a quick reminder that Shadow Play and seasons eight and nine are NOT canon to this story! Canon events that occur after the movie will appear in this story only if I want them to! This is just gonna be a big pile of dealing with things the movie dumped on us, so buckle in!