Tempest Shadow slowly and groggily stretched her body as she slowly opened her eyes. As her vision came into focus she let out a sigh if relief. It had'nt been a dream she really was where she wanted to be. She looked around the bedroom she had been given with a soft smile. Like every other room in the castle it seemed to be made of the same crystal, yet it didn't make the room feel cold "must be the magic of the tree it bore from keeping it the right temperature at all times." She thought to herself as she slowly set up and got out of bed. Stretching her hooves as she did so to prevent any cramps. She looked down and noticed her companion Grubber still quite out of it despite his small bed which honestly looked like something a pet dog would sleep in being right under a window with Celestia's morning sun shining in.

"Wake up now little one" Tempest chuckled as she softly nudged the little beast on the side with her hoof.

"Just 5 more minutes mah" he yawned" I almost got the high score...." Grubber mumbled still asleep slowly tossing over to the other side. Tempest just rolled her eyes.

"Fine, stay in bed. More breakfast for me then" Tempest whispered into his ear and slowly got up and began walking towards the door. "3....2...1" she counted down in her head.

"Did somebody say breakfast? Cause you know I could really go for an omellette right now!" Grubber replied as he jumped up and jumped out of bed.

"I figured that would work." Tempest chuckled. Now lets get cleaned up and get ready. It would be unfitting for us to be late on our first day." Tempest stated in a calm yet serious manner.

After finishing her shower and making sure both she and Grubber were quite clean Tempest stared at herself in the restroom mirror. She wasn't a vain pony mind you but she did want to make sure she looked presentable for the Princess. Sadly all she could do was let out a sad sigh.

"Whats wrong now?" Grubber asked as he shook trying to get the lingering water out of his fur.

"Honestly, i'm still....a bit nervous" Tempest stuttered in reply holding her right hoof up to her chest clinching the edge of the left one. "What if I mess up, what if i'm not really good enough to be a guardspony. What if people think less of the princess for having a guard with a broken horn, or....." Tempest began to ramble on.

Grubber jumped up on the sink and put his hand on tempest muzzle. "Or, and hear me out, what if you're awesome!? Cause I think we're gonna be awesome." Grubber said with a smile wide upon his face.

Tempest just looked at her friend and smiled doing her best to calm herself. "Fine, have it your way, we'll be awesome. Now lets finish getting ready before we're late." Tempest chuckled playfully pushing the little beast off the sink.

Spike hummed the latest Songbird Serenade single as he set the table for breakfast making sure everything was in order before running back towards the kitchen. "Hey Starlight, Trixie, are those pancakes ready yet?" The dragon asked as he ran through the kitchen doors.

"Almost Spike. I think we have enough here for everypony. Right Trix?" Starlight said looking over at her friend.

"We were supposed to make pancakes? I thought you said waffles?" The showmare replied

"What!?" Starlight & Spike shouted nervously.

"Kidding, Kidding" Trixie chuckled as she turned her stack of waffles back into pancakes. "Man I love that transmogrification spell!" She smiled. Spike and Starlight just looked at each other & sighed.

"Well hurry up, Twilight & Tempest will be up any second!" Spike chimed in. "Lets do Twy proud and show our new roommate some good old fashioned Ponyville hospitality!"

Twilight slowly trotted down the halls yawning as she did. Last night had been a success as far as she was concerned and she hoped Tempest felt the same. She looked out the Windows as she trotted along watching Celestia's morning sun dance across the sky down to the earth below revealing the subtle beauty of the Fall day as leaves slowly fell from trees and what was no doubt a cold wind blew across catching the leaves as if asking them to join in on the dance. "Hmm, looks chilly, i'll have to be sure and remember to wear a scarf today." The alicorn mare said to herself as she entered the dining room seeing Spike and the others already there with a large batch of fresh and fluffy pancakes sitting in the middle of the table. Twilight licked her lips. "Mmm, looks delicious" She exclaimed. "I'm sure Tempest will love it. Speaking of which, where is she?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, i'm sure she'll be along any second now." Spike replied.

Tempest did her best to remain calm, breathing slow and heavy as she slowly trotted towards the dining room, Grubber by her side.

"Calm down Tempest, I already told you, you got this. Now pick up the pace, I smell food!" He cheered clapping his claws and licking his lips. Tempest just let out an annoyed chorttle and rolled her eyes. "Food is all this one ever thinks about." She thought as they made their final approach.

Opening the doors to the dining room Tempest could see Twilight, Spike and the others already sitting down. She steadily trotted up to the Princess & bowed. "Apologies for my tardiness Princess. My morning preperations took slightly longer then I expected" She stated.

"Oh, no need for apologies, I actually just got her myself." Twilight Chuckled. "But now that you're here, how do pancakes sound?" She asked.

Tempest rose up and with a soft smile replied. "They sound lovely princess."

"Good, now lets dig in, i'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" Grubber exclaimed as he grabbed a clawful of pancakes as the others just stared at him with confusion and disgust over the saying.

"What am I going to do with you?" Tempest huffed under her breath.

The morning air was indeed cold as Twilight predicted. She was glad she brought her scarf and booties with her. She looked to her left to see Spike shivering despite also being scarved. "You know you could have stayed in the castle if you wanted" she told Spike, a concerned look on her face. "A, and miss you impress p, ponyville w, with your awesome new royal guard? N, no way" He replied his teeth chatering. Twilight just sighed and turned her attention to Grubber & Tempest over to her right. "What about you two, are you ok, not too cold?" She asked

"Naw i'm cool, I got like, loads of insulation and stuff" He chuckled as he boastfully patted his belly.

"And you Tempest?" Twilight asked.

"I an fine Princess. You need not concern yourself with my personal comfort. I am your guard my duty is to protect you, all else is irrelivent" She stated non-chelantly

"Oh, uh, ok." Twilight replied looking a bit disheartened by the reply.

The truth however was quite different. Tempest was quite chilled by the cold air of the Fall's morning breeze and the cold steel armor and boots didn't help things, but it was her job as the Princess's bodyguard to protect her and make her worry less, not more.

The group arrived in Ponyville and found the small village to be quite lively despite the chill in the air. Papercolts were selling the latest copy of the Ponyville Gazette & Canterlot Chronicle. Vendors were setting-up their stands and the few remaining songbirds still waiting to migrate sang in the trees.

"So, where shall we go first Princess?" Tempest asked.

"Well, I don't have to be at my appointment with the Mayor till noon so I thought i'd kill some time at Sugarcube Corner and see if Pinkie needs any help with the morning rush" She replied with a smile.

"Very well, lead the way Princess" Tempest responded as she followed by her side.

The inside of the colorful confectionary was brimming with life as ponies set at tables talking and enjoying their sweet treats. Tempest noticed one mare in particular a crosseyed Pegasus was quite enjoying her plate of muffins.

"Hiya Twilight! Fizzy!" Pinkie exclaimed as she once again seemed to appear out of nowhere and embraced the two in a hug. "What yea doin this fine autumn morn?" She asked with a chuckle, still holding the two tightly.

"We came to help you with the morning rush." Twilight exclaimed using her magic to pry the pink pony off of them.

"Oh goody! You're just in time!" Pinkie cheered.

"In time for what?" Spike asked.

"Just in time to help me deliver the four dozen doughnuts to Cheeriee's schoolhouse!" She replied in glee

"Four dozen doughnuts?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Four dozen doughnuts." Grubber aped droll forming around his mouth.

"Well yea, you see Twist recently won the regional Jr Eggheads Spelling Bee and Ms. Cheerilee wants to celebrate with the class so she placed an order for four dozen doughnuts to be delivered today. Think you could do it?" Pink asksplained with a chuckle.

"Of course Pinkie, we'd love to. Right Tempest?" Twilight asked looking over at her guard.

Tempest nodded in agreement. "It would be our honor Ms. Pie."

Pinkie squeed with happiness "OK great, i'll go get the doughnuts, be right back." She smiled as she sped off.

Cheerilee looked at her students sitting at their desks staring at her with anticipation. "Well class I want to congradulate you all again for your heart work at the spelling bee last week and of course Twist for helping us bring home 1st prize!" Cheerilee exclaimed pointing her hoof at Twist as the rest of the class cheered. The young filly blushing in kind. "Aww schucks, it was nothin" she spat.

All of a sudden there was a knock on the schoolhouse door. Cheerilee opened it to see Twilight there levitating the boxes of doughnuts above her head. And a rather intimidating guardsmare by her side.

"Well, this is a surprise indeed. It seems class we not only get doughnuts and punch today but a visit from Princess Twilight as well. Cheerilee exclaimed as the schoolponies cheered.

"Good morning everypony" Twilight beamed as she carefully set the boxes of sweet treats on Cheerilee's desk. "I heard somepony won a spelling bee, congratulations!" She cheered, but the room was silent. Twilight looked around and suddenly realized all the children were staring at Tempest.

"Who's that?" Snips asked

"Yeah, she looks scary" Snails chimmed in.

Tempest took a step forward. "I am Tempest Shadow of the Royal Guard. I was assigned by Celestia to protect the Princess of Friendship from harm." She stated in a serious yet confident tone.

"Wow, you have your own royal guard now?" Diamond Tiara asked in awe.

"That is so cool!" Silver Spoon squeed.

"But ah, what happened to her horn? Rumble asked. Pointing at the chipped, broken appendage on top of the guardpony's head.

"Rumble, what the hay is wrong with you!?" Scootaloo shouted slapping the colt in the back of the head. "You can't just ask ponies personal questions out of the blue like that!" The orange pegasus filly exclaimed.

"Yea, rude much." Sweetie Belle chimmed in.

"Uh huh." Applebloom agreed.

"Jeez, fine, i'm sorry." Rumble huffed, rubbing the back of his head

"Hehe, you kind of trotted into that one." Pip chuckled.

"OK, ok class, calm down. I'm sure Ms. Tempest here has better things to do then listen to you children squabble. Now, who wants a doughnut?" Cheerilee asked.

"Oh Me!" The class all replied in unison. Twilight just chuckled as she watched the fillies & colts run towards the boxes of sweets like their was no tomorow. Tempest however just frowned as she touched her broken horn.

Later at Mayor Mare's office Twilight set in the waiting room along with Tempest, Spike & Grubber.

"Ugg, this is soo boring, we've been sitting here for half an hour!" Spike whinned. "Yeah, totally boring." Grubber agreed

"Well the Mayor is still setting things-up, she needs me to help her conienvce a large contracter to build a fancy new hotel here in Ponyville for half the usual price. She just wants everything to be perfect." Twilight explained. Though I guess it is taking a bit long, huh Tempest." Twilight sighed looking back at the guardspony. Tempest however seemed to be lost in thought in her own little world.

Tempest poked her broken horn. She hated to admit it but the young pegasus colt's question had gotten to her more then it should have. Then there was the fact ponies would look at her walking alongside Twilight and begin to whisper. Given she had no proof they were talking about her horn, or blank flank or one of her various other aspects she viewed as personal imperfections, but still.

"Earth to tempest, you in there?" She heard Twilight ask.

Tempest snapped back to her senses. "Ah, yes, apologies Princess, you were saying?"

"Well I was just asking if...." But before Twilight could finish the door swung open. "Mayor Mare will see you now" the secretary exclaimed.

"Finally!" Spike cheered as he and Grubber hoped up and ran towards the office door.

"Let the negotiations begin." Twilight chuckled.

Twilight huffed exhausted on her way back to the palace. Six hours of intense negotiation and she only managed to get the contracters to agree to drop their price by 30%. "Not the half price deal the Mayor wanted, but better then nothing I suppose." Twilight said to herself.

"Man I never knew negotiating could be so intense." Grubber huffed.

"And that Mr. Coldstone had quite the mouth on him" Tempest chimed in.

"Eh. Thats a Neigh Jersey pony for yea." Spike replied.

"Well I just hope Starlight & Trixe have dinner ready. I'm starved!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes, a warm meal does sound nice." Tempest agreed. Overall it had been a good, if not somewhat uneventful first day on duty she thought to herself. And despite a few lingering insecurities and a slightly rude child and mouthy business pony things had gone off without a hitch. Maybe this was going to be a good turn around for her and Grubber after all.

Little did she know that the next day would not be a good one for her, infact things were about to get very, very bad.

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading. Sorry for a kind of boring chapter, but you gotta have a calm before the storm. Hope you enjoyed none the less. And get ready cause next time things get sad, and full of feels, oh so many heart-tugging feels!