Home is where your heart is, unfortunately I have no heart. - Tempest Knight

I landed in a field that stretched all the way to the base of the Canterlot mountain. My target not inside of the city, but at the base of the mountain itself. The night air was chilling to the bone as it began to rain, did I ever mention how much I hate the rain? The dead grass below my armored hooves quickly began to sink beneath me as I stood there catching my breath. I began to walk, each step I took made a squishing sound as my hoof sunk into the ground about two lengths, and I heard a screeching sound and the beating of large wings. I looked up to see a bat like creature fly into the darkness around me.

I snorted flames in an effort to not only stay warm, but keep the mutated beasts away so I could reach the waterfall and find a way into my chamber that didn't involve me swimming. As I came to the top of the hill the sky began to grow lighter as the sun was rising, even with the cloud cover light could get down here with what little warmth it offered. I looked behind me to see the bats that had been following me retreat elsewhere much to my delight since I had a greater task ahead of me. The city that stood as the center of Equestria was not well, pink mist emanating out of its water and structures which seemed to grow worse as the sun continued to rise behind the clouds. Curious about it as I was there was no amount of bits that would encourage me to take the plunge and discover first hoof.

That aside I looked for one of my hidden passages which would allow me access without, hopefully, going through the mist. Slightly off to my right I could see an old cave that was half hidden by dirt and as I approached it I stopped cold. My EFS was picking up a single hostile inside, unfortunately for me I was both physically and mentally exhausted and unable tap into my magical gem and to top it all off I was still out of ammo for my cannons. Sighing I began to approach the cave entrance to stop a few hooves away, inside I could hear a low growl that sounded familiar.

I was then greeted by a very large and mutated Manticor as it dug it scorpion tail into my right side, luckily for me it only managed to pierce my cannon, Duty, and rip it off my harness. I spewed red flames which seemed to only tick this thing off more as it reared its ugly head and tried to bite down on my helmet. I struggled to get it off me as I flapped my wings and took off, it not wanting to lose me also began to fly, so I did the next best thing. Once we were both off the ground I did a trick I once watched alligators use which was later called a death roll, spinning in mid air I managed to pull off my helmet which exposed my head as I cut lose more flames which quickly died out causing me to heave smoke from my muzzle.

Diving down I drew Vengeance with my mouth and rolled over as I cut the Manticor's eye out. Flipping just in time to land on my hooves I jumped to the side and stabbed the beast in its tail, cutting off the deadly spike at its end. It wailed in pain before swiping at me with its lion claws, to which I dropped my sword and jumped back. Trying my fire again and only having smoke come out I frowned as I drew my last weapon, Justice, from its scabbard. Roaring a battle cry I charged the beast and stabbed it in the head, driving my blade to the guard before the Manticor swiped at me and shredded my left wing. I yelped in pain before charging once more and diving down on my blades hilt with my forehooves driving it inside the beast.

With a bone shattering crack and a thud I knew the Manticor was dead as the sun warmed the area around me further. I smiled as such sport in my days as a squire were often favored by the knights of old, and I let out a chuckle as I found that the mere thought of hunting a Manticor for any reason seemed foolhardy. My stomach growled at the sight of fresh meat and I remembered how good the Manticors tasted with my blood father's recipe. Retrieving my weapons I then dragged the carcass into the cave and down into the depths, careful to avoid booby traps as I did so.

After about an hour or so I arrived at the preamble to my chamber, my courtyard. Two hundred years of negligence really didn't do well for the place. Cracks had formed about the once grand scenery and statues of great generals, and friends, rested broken upon the ground. I left my dinner near the entrance since I considered this place as sacred. Walking down the broken stone path I recited each name of every monument, even if it had been reduced to nothing but rubble.

"Thunder Wing, Starlight, Hannibal, and Razor Claw." I said remembering all four of my friends names, the pegasus, unicorn, minotaur, and griffon that I fought alongside of for a long time and even against at times.

It would be a lie to say that I am not looking forward to my death so I may join them in the halls of Valhalla if I beith worthy, but a part of me world regret not seeing my new friends through to the end. I smiled as I turned to the wooden gates and pushed them open to lay eyes upon my home for the first time in two centuries. It was just as I left it, even the cake I had on my table was still there, though probably no good as I baked it, yes I can cook, the night I left for the final confrontation of the war. I read what was on the cake, "Marry me?" and a lone tear dropped before my stomach once more growled in a reminder that I had fresh meat that was spoiling in the other room.

I walked over to the large oven in the left corner of my chamber and fired it up using spark rocks with my hooves since I didn't want to try using my fire. I then went outside and moved the remaining statues out of the way of my path before bringing in my well earned prize and putting it on the fire. I looked at my mirror as I laid on my bed nestled in the jaws of my father Logantis, for a time it only reflected my image before flashing to life and showing me a location. I cocked my head in confusion as It showed mostly the clouds above a large city, upon a closer look I realized the city was Hoofington. The mirror then flashed again and showed a stasis pod inside of a cloud with, but that wasn't possible, a badly injured Rainbow Dash inside.

I shook my head as the mirror flashed again and returned to its normal state, really that thing sometimes made me wonder but since it was a gift from Luna I suppose that she thought of everything. Looking over to my workbench I smiled like a madpony when I saw my final prototype armor sitting in pieces. I could remember that I had finished and tested each piece and that all I needed to do was put it together for use, alas the war ended before I could. I slowly walked up to it and began putting it together, deciding to name my new weapons after my old ones just with a II behind them.

The armor was simply put based off of my dragon heritage with dragon spikes going down the center line and a cybernetic spiked dragons tail. On its battle saddle were two rail guns named Fury II and Judgement II, and below them each were the final, much more accurate, versions of my auto cannons named Duty II and Honor II. In front of them and on my shoulders were the two built in scabbards for my two broadswords, and behind the weapons were two armored compartments marked with a crescent moon below a star upon a black field, the symbol of the First Army. I stepped back and smiled at my work as I smelled my dinner from the open flame on the other side of the chamber.

I ate the entire beast and at long last my stomach felt full. Rubbing my stomach I walked over to my power armor and began transferring my supplies from my bags into its compartments before a glow caught my eye. Next to my bed sat a pedestal with a cover encasing the silver necklace endowed with a red gem that seemed to pulse with my heartbeat. Deciding that it would probably be best I gently removed it from its cover and placed it inside of a case before setting it into my compartment. I took my pip-buck off and installed it inside of the armors left fore leg with the screen exposed and went to bed after treating my wounds.

Author's Notes:

Here we have a battle between a weary Tempest and a mutated beast, and also learn that Tempest can eat meat (omnivore FTW) since he is half dragon after all. He also gets a new suit since his old one is effectively destroyed, though I do intend on keeping it as the picture in the cover art.

Speaking of cover art if you are still reading this then you are one of the seven people who gave it a like and I would like to know if you would be willing to give everypony their proper armor in either a digital (preferred) or hand drawn in color matching the theme of the one I made (and am still working on editing), if interested in helping me out just send me a message and I will respond as soon as I can for discussion . I will also be adding a credit to whomever makes the art and a link (if possible) to their DeviantArt for prosperity's sake.

Stay brony everypony!!!