Tempest's School Days part 5

After renewing her fog bank, Tempest sat down and replayed the events that led to her self-imposed exile for the umpteenth time.
“I truly do not understand you sometimes,” said the Storm Queen.
“Huh?” Tempest grunted in reply, only half listening.
“You proved your superiority and had your inferiors cowering in terror, yet you ran and hid. Why did you not use this newfound respect to begin building your power base?”
“Power base?! You really don’t understand me, do you? I’m sick of listening to you constantly trying to turn me into some kind of tyrant. Leave me alone.”
“I am only trying-”
“Leave. Me. Alone,” Tempest interrupted, eyes blazing.
“As you command,” the Storm Queen answered with a sneer, before fading away.

Some time later, after a lot of emotion-bottling, Tempest heard hoofsteps. Who could possibly be out in the fogged part of the woods?
“Tempest? Is that you?”
Tempest felt a cold chill of terror that she’d been discovered, but this subsided a bit once she recognized the voice. Darksun? Why is he here? She turned and looked. Sure enough, it was him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Why is he here if he didn’t know I’d be here? Nopony comes here except me.
“I could ask the same. I just want to be left alone,” she replied out loud.
“Oh.”
“Hello, ma’am,” came a new voice from the fog.
The terror was back for a brief instant when Tempest saw the pair of blue eyes emerging from the fog, and though the masculine voice and pure white body settled those fears, new ones took their place when she saw the white pony was transparent.
“H- h- h- hello…” she replied.
“Brrr. Is it getting colder out here?” Darksun remarked.
“Is it? Sorry, that’s probably my fault.” Tempest said apologetically.
“How’s that possible?”
“My powers respond to emotions. My emotions. It’s why I try so hard not to feel anything,” Tempest tried to explain.
“That doesn’t seem very healthy to me,” the spectral pony chimed in.
“Maybe not, but it’s healthier for everypony else. Do you want to know why I transferred into Pony Highschool? It’s because my old school’s closed for a year to fix the damage I caused. Even when I try to bottle it up inside, some still gets out. That’s why it’s best for everypony I just stay here, where the stones won’t let my power hurt anypony else.”
“So you’re just going to give up? Spend the rest of your life out here, hiding from the world?” Darksun asked.
“Yes. It’s better this way. You should go now.”
“Such a lonely life would be a living death,” the white pony said.
“Don’t you think I know that? It’s still a life I’d resigned myself to. I just wanted to make it through high school so my parents wouldn’t worry so much when I went off ‘to college’. Obviously, that didn’t work out. Now go away. You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not leaving until you agree to come back with me,” Darksun stated adamantly.
“Why? Just being here puts you in danger! Why won’t you just go away?!” Tempest’s emotionless façade cracked and shattered, tears threatening to stream down her face. It began to rain.
“I just want to be left alone where I can’t hurt anypony,” she continued as her tears began to flow. She fell onto her haunches as the rain turned into a downpour.
“I just don’t want anypony else to get hurt because of me.” This last sobbed statement was barely audible over the rain.
Tempest felt a hoof on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw a thoroughly soaked Darksun standing next to her.
“I’m not leaving because you’re my friend, and friends don’t let friends suffer like this,” he said earnestly.
“D’you really mean that?” Tempest asked between sniffles. “Are we really friends?”
“Of course we are!”
“How can you stand to be friends with a walking catastrophe like me?”
“Tempest, you’re a good person. Anypony would be lucky to be friends with you.”
After a bit more sobbing and sniffling, Tempest’s tears (and the rain) finally dried up.
“I think I really needed that.”
“You ready to go back now?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
“You coming too, Whitelight? Whitelight?”
“I don’t see him anywhere. Who was he?”
“My brother…”
“So your brother’s a ghost?”
“Well, see it’s like this…” Darksun said before explaining how his brother died fighting King Sombra’s tyranny as they made their way out of the forest.
Just before going their separate ways, Darksun promised to help Tempest catch up on the schoolwork she’d missed.
“Darksun?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks…” For everything.
“Welcome, my lady.”
Tempest blushed a little at that last reply, but thankfully Darksun had already turned away and didn’t notice.

When Tempest walked in the door of her house, her parents immediately dropped what they were doing and embraced her, holding her for far longer than was comfortable.
“Oh, where were you? You know how much we worry when you disappear like that.”
“Please don’t scare us like that again. I don’t know what we’d do if we lost you.”
“Can’t… breathe…” Tempest wheezed.
Her parents finally released her, though her mom gave her one last squeeze first.
“Now, we’ll make some dinner and then we can talk about how long you’re grounded for.”
Tempest swore in her head, but mostly out of reflex, not any real anger. She was just happy to be home.