“Thank you so much for your help today,” Twilight Sparkle said as she put books away.

“No problem,” Tempest Shadow replied, carefully returning her own books to their spots. She was very careful in using her magic to move them. Even after years of practice, her broken horn still sometimes caused random magical fluctuations, which at best would lead to her dropping something and at worst would blow up whatever she was carrying. She remained calm though, and soon everything was put away properly. “Did you learn what you needed to?”

“I did. With the Storm King gone, his old troops will need help recreating their societies, but I think I've learned enough about their civilization to help them get things back to normal.”

Tempest nodded. “His ape... sorry, storm creature, soldiers have been with him for years. Every single member of the species was 'recruited' into his army. Some don't even remember their old lives. I hope they're able to adjust to their new freedom.”

“I hope so too. And we'll be here to help them with whatever they need.” Twilight put the last book away and trotted over to her desk, picking up her notes and organizing them. “I may need to consult you on this again. You've lived among them, you know more about them than any of us.”

“Heh, yeah, a little too much about them to be honest.” Tempest chuckled. “But I'm here if you need me.” She began to look toward the door, sure that Twilight was about to dismiss her.

“Some of my other friends are coming over for dinner today,” Twilight said. “I'd like if you joined us.”

Tempest's ears went up. “Oh! Well, I...” She definitely didn't have any other plans, but it's been a while since she spent time around Twilight's other friends and she was a bit nervous. She did like them though, and was interested in getting to know them better. “Sure, I can stay.”

Twilight smiled. “Great! Wanna help me cook?”

Tempest chuckled at that. Twilight wasn't that great at cooking, but at least she was better than Starlight. Last time Tempest had a meal made by Starlight she had stomach pains for a week. Still, she supposed it was better than the slop the Storm King's army used to make. No pony should ever have to gag down bug goo.

She followed Twilight to the kitchen to help her.

An hour later, the two were setting out plates of spaghetti, made with homemade wheat noodles and tomato sauce. The tomatoes were still a little chunky but Twilight assured Tempest that no one would mind.

They also made garlic bread, which was an experience, as Twilight tended to use too much garlic powder. But finally they got it evenly spread out on the pieces of bread and Tempest filled a basket with the pieces, setting it out on the table.

They were cleaning up the kitchen when Spike jogged in to inform them that the first of their friends had arrived.

To no one's surprise, it was Rainbow Dash.

“What's up, everypony?” she called as she flew into the room.

“We just got done making dinner, if you want to head to the dining room,” Twilight said.

“Got it. Hey, Tempest, it's been a while!” Rainbow swooped down to fly next to Tempest as they left the kitchen. “How's it going?”

“Oh, you know,” Tempest replied. “I've mostly just been trying to get used to living a normal life, not following the Storm King. I... still haven't quite settled down at any one job, but I'm working on it.”

“Weren't you helping out at Sugarcube Corner?” Rainbow asked.

“Heh, yeah, but turns out I'm not very good at customer service,” Tempest replied, rubbing her foreleg awkwardly.

“Ah, sorry to hear that. But you'll find your place! Everypony has a place where they belong!” Rainbow gave her a friendly pat on the back. Then she glanced at Tempest's flank, hesitated, and said, “So um, I guess you also still haven't gotten your cutie mark?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight snapped.

Rainbow turned forward. “What? It's just so weird seeing an adult pony without-”

“But you don't need to bring it up!”

“Hey, guys, it's okay,” Tempest said quickly. “I knew as soon as I stopped wearing my armor, people would ask about it. I get it, there aren't a lot of ponies my age without a cutie mark. But it's no big deal. I never really got a chance to find my special talent when I ran away from home, and to be honest, it doesn't matter to me. If I do find it one day, that's okay, but if I don't, it won't bother me. I just want to be me.”

Twilight smiled. “That's very humble of you. I think I and all our friends admire you anyway, with or without a cutie mark. It's who you are that makes you special, not the marking on your flanks.”

Tempest smiled in return, briefly leaning against her. Twilight wrapped a wing around her in a hug.

They got settled in the dining room but didn't start eating yet, waiting for the rest of their friends. Pinkie Pie and Applejack walked in together, laughing at one of Pinkie's jokes. Then Pinkie bounded over to greet Tempest. “Ooh, it's great to see you, Fizzlepop!”

Tempest blushed and rubbed her neck. “You're never going to forget my birth name, are you?”

“It's just so cute! But oh, I guess you prefer Tempest, huh?”

“At this point, I kinda do. I know I made it up to sound more menacing to the Storm King, but... well, it's grown on me.”

“It's a great name! I'll call you Tempest then!” Pinkie gave her a hug in greeting and flopped into her seat. Applejack nodded politely to Tempest and said hello to her as she sat down too.

Rarity was next to come in, sporting a lovely hat with a big feather sticking out of the band. She said hello to everyone and sat next to Spike, who blushed and stammered out a greeting. Tempest couldn't help but snort with amusement. He really needed to ask her out already.

“Have any of you seen Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

Most of them shook their heads, but Pinkie said, “I think I saw her doing some shopping earlier. She said she would come to dinner though.”

“I'm sure she's just running a little late,” Twilight said. “That's okay, who wants drinks while we wait for her?”

The others agreed to that and started pouring their drinks from the various cartons Twilight had set out. While they were doing that, Fluttershy came in.

“Hey everypony, I hope I'm not late,” she said hastily.

“You're fine, there's no real start time for dinner,” Twilight laughed. “I'm glad you could make it.”

“Oh, thank you. But, I hope you don't mind, I um... I was on my way over and bumped into someone who... wanted to come too.” Fluttershy hid her face slightly in her mane. “So do we have room for one more? I couldn't say no to him.”

“Of course we have room for one more, anypony is welcome here,” Twilight said. “Who was it-”

A booming voice came from the doorway as a tall creature swept inside. “Good afternoon, it's good to see all your bright, happy faces!”

Twilight forced a grin. “Oh, hi, Discord.” Discord gave a bow and followed Fluttershy in, and Twilight got up. “I'll go fetch you another plate.”

“No need, I assume the food is in the kitchen?” he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he snapped his fingers, and another plate appeared and settled next to Fluttershy's, stacked with food.

Twilight sat back down. Tempest, however, got a good look at Discord and abruptly jumped up, stumbling back. “What the?!”

Everyone turned to stare at her, and Discord, who was about to sit down, paused. “Who's this?” he asked, looking Tempest over.

“This is Tempest Shadow,” Twilight said. “She invaded Canterlot with the Storm King, remember?”

“Tempest, Tempest... oh yes, the edgy one.” Discord snickered and straightened, approaching Tempest.

“Edgy?” she demanded.

Discord offered his lion-like hand. “Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you!”

She glared at him, horn sparking. “I've heard of you. Draconequus are incredibly powerful and unpredictable, and you are the most powerful of your kind.”

“Oh, you flatter me!” Discord batted his eyelashes.

Tempest kept her distance, planting her hooves and looking him in the eye. If Discord was friends with Fluttershy, surely he was a decent person. But she wasn't sure. Could a draconequus be trusted?

Discord regarded her thoughtfully, resting his head in his hand. His eyes went to her horn for a moment as magic sparked around it. Then his expression brightened. He raised his hand, and she started to tense, but he just snapped his fingers. There was a sort of pop, and a strange feeling tingled on her forehead. Tempest jerked back, blinking and going cross-eyed as she tried to look at her horn. It felt different. She raised her hoof to it, and went rigid. It was longer than it was before. A few pats confirmed it; it was restored. She had a full, pointed horn.

The others gasped, and Discord crossed his arms with a smug expression. “There, that was the entire reason for your descent into darkness, right?”

Tempest put her hoof down, staring at him. “Y-you... you just...” How was this possible? No doctors were able to reattach her horn, no princess was able to regrow it, yet with an effortless snap of his fingers, Discord just fixed it.

He gave her a kinder look. “No need to thank me, restoring extremities is a snap, my little-”

Tempest trotted forward, jumping up and embracing him. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Discord stared at her, shocked at suddenly being grabbed. But thanks to his friendship with Fluttershy, he's grown used to it, and he found himself hugging her back, holding her against his chest. “You're welcome.”

“Aww,” the others cooed.

After a few moments, Tempest leaned back and cleared her throat, clambering out of his arms. “I um... I had accepted what happened to me,” she said, looking away. “I learned that I was strong regardless of my wound. But some small part of me has still wanted to see my horn whole again. So thank you. You have some impressive magic.”

Discord nodded. “Yes, yes, I know. Honestly Tempest, you should have come to me years ago instead of those weak princesses.”

“Hey,” Twilight said.

“Except years ago, you were frozen in stone, weren't you?” Tempest asked.

“Ah, yes. I suppose I wasn't an option, then.”

The two took their seats.

“Wow Discord, that was so nice of you,” Fluttershy said, patting her friend's arm.

Discord tried to wave her off. “Oh, you know, it was nothing. I would have done it for anyone.”

“Well you did a mighty fine job,” Applejack said, looking at Tempest's horn. “It looks like her horn was never broken.”

“I mean, she looked like she wanted to fight me, I had to show her I was nice,” Discord replied. “-Ish,” he added as an afterthought.

“You've gotten so soft,” Rainbow commented.

“Excuse me?” he demanded.

“You heard me, Fluffcord.”

“Fluffcord, oh wow, is that the best you could come up with?”

“So, how's the spaghetti?” Twilight asked loudly, trying to defuse the situation.

After a moment, everyone dug into their plates and then complimented her cooking. Discord dropped the argument, more interested in eating. Tempest took a few bites, but then grew interested in lifting objects with her magic. Though she has conditioned herself to push through it, there was always a resistance to casting spells before. As if there was a wall around her horn that she had to shove through. Now it was effortless, and as she lifted her fork, it didn't twitch at all. Her magic responded to her easily. An examination when she was younger had told her that the nerves in her horn responsible for directing magic had been severed, causing her spells to fluctuate and become unstable. It took years learning to work with it. She learned to go with it, creating incredible explosions that few others were capable of. And now those nerves were healed. It almost felt strange. She'll have to get used to it.

She tuned in to the conversation, chatting with the others about their day to day lives, and Twilight brought up her research into the storm creatures' old way of life. Everyone agreed that they would help her and the creatures if needed.

“I still can't believe I ever let the Storm King sucker me into helping him,” Tempest sighed. “I should have known he was never going to actually heal me. He just used me.”

“You're not the only one who put your trust in the wrong person,” Discord said. “Even I have followed someone I believed wanted to help me. And my friends paid dearly for it. But I understood my mistake, and so did you. Now you just have to move on.”

She blinked, and glanced at the others. They nodded, murmuring to each other. She caught the name Tirek and wondered who that was and what happened. But obviously whatever it was, they were all okay now. She looked back at Discord. “You're right. And I have moved on. I just, heh, I just feel foolish sometimes looking back on it. And I want to help repair the damage I've done. The Storm King's reign has hurt so many people and I have to accept my part of the blame.”

He shrugged. “Do as you like. These ponies are so loving and forgiving though, all you have to do is say you're sorry and all your crimes are forgotten.”

A few of the other ponies groaned and Twilight awkwardly scuffed at the table with her hoof.

“He's not wrong,” Spike commented.

Tempest placed her front hooves down firmly. “Well, saying an apology isn't enough for me. I'm going to work to make things better. It's the least I can do.”

“That's very honest of you,” Applejack said. “I appreciate that.”

“Yes, and I'm sure you'll do amazing work, darling,” Rarity agreed.

Rainbow clapped Tempest on the shoulder and Fluttershy clapped lightly for her, and Pinkie said, “I'm sure Twilight can find some work for you!”

Tempest looked at Twilight, who considered it before saying, “Well, I am going to need someone to lead a team back to Abyssinia to help them rebuild...” Tempest perked up at that, and Twilight continued, “But I will need some time to get all the details together.”

“I'll do it,” Tempest said. “I want to help. And the storm creatures trust me, I can help them.”

“I know you can. Then it's settled. You'll be my ambassador, and I'll get a team together to go with you. But I won't be sending you off for a while.” Twilight picked up a piece of garlic bread. “Hey, how does everypony feel about ice cream after this?”

She was met with cheers, and Tempest looked down at her plate, setting her expression. She was finally going to make some positive change in the world.