Guess I'm not the only one who was too damn stubborn to die. -Tempest Knight

The wind howled past me and my new team as I watched Gladius look back at me with his single eye. I stared back as I caught my breath, summoning the spirit of his daughter had taken much of my energy. Snorting flames as I slowly started towards the old soldier ghoul, my team following behind me. I stopped and motioned to them to stay put before walking past Deathbloom and up to Gladius.

He looked at me a gave a single nod before starting towards the ruins of the largest building in town. The building had a massive hole in the upper front that caused it to collapse for the most part.

"What happened here Gladius?" I asked as I turned my attention to the ghoul who was digging through the rubble.

He didn't bother responding, instead he chose to continue digging into the ruins. As I approached him he stopped for just a moment and regarded me before he stamped upon a large piece of debris, shattering it and revealing a bent inwards door. He then gripped the nob and turned it as he attempted to open the heavy metal door.

"Stand aside my friend." I calmly stated as I put a hoof to the metal door.

He looked and me and gave a single nod before stepping back to watch what I was to do. Placing my left hoof on the door I activated its magnet and locked it to the surface of the metal. Giving a mighty pull and a deep grunt I ripped the door clean off of its frame and set it down next to us. Gladius gave me a nod before taking point, and I, deciding it unsafe to wear my armor down there removed said armor and paced it to the side. Turning I could see a light emerge from the room below me, suggesting that the ghoul had found the light switch.

Walking my stark hide down the steps and listening to them moan and creak wearily under my mass worried me, since I was standing below a ruined building after all. My worries vanished when I saw Gladius standing in what appeared to be an old cellar that was filled with old photos and memorabilia.

"I see you have removed your armor General." he quietly said as he inspected my grayed out fur.

"And I see that we have much in common my friend, though why you would hold a grudge against a colt is beyond my reasoning." I replied as I ducked under a support beam and stood next to him.

"I hold a grudge against that colt General, because it is he and his family that shot my friend Dark Lightning in the back and ran off with a filly he'd brought with him." Gladius replied coldly, sifting through more of the rubble that had fallen from the ceiling until he came to a small table with a box hidden away underneath.

I watched him, shaking my head for even he should've known the colt had no choice but to go with what his family did and was innocent as he secured the box from its small hiding place. He brushed it off, sending little bits of rubble and small plumes of dust to indicate that this box had been here for a long time. Walking over to me, he paused a few steps away and held it out for me to take.

"What is this exactly Gladius?" I asked, taking the box.

"Open it General, and you will know." He answered back.

Eyeing the box carefully, I pulled the top of it off slowly. What was inside it was shocking somewhat to me, as sitting at the bottom of this box was a perfectly preserved framed photo. Unlike all the others, which were lining the walls and were of a military nature; this one showed a very much younger, less grotesquely mutilated version of Gladius. Still dressed in only his military uniform, he was caught in the camera snap rolling on the floor of a cloud house with what seemed like a filly version of my love Rainbow Dash held above him. They were smiling. Laughing. Happy.

"What does this mean?" I thought to myself.

In seconds, Gladius seemed to know my question as he answered softly from across the room; by that same old uniform to be exact. "Long before the war began, when Rainbow Dash was born. She was born to my sister and her husband, which made me an uncle at the age of sixteen. Even fresh out of Boot, I still made as much time as I could upon hearing the news of her and almost every week I visited to see my little niece." Gladius smiled somewhat as he glanced back at me. "She loved me so much, and I cared for her more than the world itself. She grew up though and the coming war split us apart. But she found somepony who I knew I could trust her to. You, General. And that's why I'm trusting this to you now, since I still remember just how special you were to my little Dashie."

A single tear fell to the floor, it was from him as he rose up on his hind legs and gently lifted the uniform off its hooks. I still remained transfixed, staring at the photo with confusion. But, regardless of my emotions, and what this meant, I spoke up as he was slipping into his trousers and putting on his undershirt. "She's not dead Gladius." Turning to me, he gave his own confused look before I explained what I meant. "She's in The Hoof. Or, at least above it. As far as I know, she's been in a cryopod for the entirety of these years. She's not gone, and I'm on a mission to get her back."

Before I could even ask, he answered sharply. "Say no more General, I'm in."

I chuckled softly in response, watching as he slid on his desert brown trench coat and his hind legs into boots that he quickly laced. However, what was surprising was he took his autocannon and instead strapped it to his left foreleg; and it was then that he slid on his bulletproof vest. Before going any further, he tore off his Sergeant's insignia on his shoulder guard and replaced it instead with another, familiar emblem as he walked over to some ammo canisters. Loading his autocannon, he test fired it to ensure the old weapon worker properly before smiling and muttering to himself, "Back in the Saddle then."

"Indeed, it seems so." I said, getting a chuckle out of him before asking a question that had been on my mind for a bit. "You mentioned Dark Lightning earlier Gladius. You said he was a friend. Do you know where he and Applebits are?"

"MIA." He replied, shaking his head sadly. "Lightning went to look for her after some Steel Rangers attacked and carried her off."

In an instant, I felt my blood beginning to boil at the thought that my friends were in danger and captured. Before I could voice my anger, there was the terrified shrieks of the colt and the sound of rifle fire as I heard Deathbloom shouting for him to get in the house and find us.

Author's Notes:

And thus Tempest has not only found a new old friend, but is closer to finding his team. And what the Hell is happening to his new team above them? Find out when we return!!!