Tempest felt an aching pain coming from her horn followed by a heavy heat growing around her eyes. She instantly woke up to see it was still somewhat dark the sun not quite ready to be awoken by Celestia quite yet. The only light in the room eminating from the hole in the stub of her horn as it fizzled & popped. "Oh, no no no!" Tempest paniced as she ran towards the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and saw her stub flaring as energy welled up sparks fizzing more intensly. "Damn it, I thought I was over this." She hissed as she looked around for something she could use to contain her unintentional erruption of magical energy. She finally settled on a nearbye aluminum waste basket and held it atop her horn as the built-up magic released and sparked and bounced inside the trash container warping itself until it fizzled out completly.

Tempest just stared at the now deformed trash recepticle and let out a sad low moan. Over the years she had learned to control the magic that flared from what remained of her horn for the most part, but once in a blue moon she would have flair-ups that despite herself she just could not contain. "Well this is a bucking fine way to start the day." Tempest huffed as she turned around and decided to go ahead and take a shower given she was already up. She turned the knob with her hoof hoping the warm water would relieve her only to be hit with a cold spree of droplettes. "Ugg, wrong one." she hissed as she quickly moved her hoof to turn it off and turn on the right one. Relieved when the warm water began to flow down over her mane. "It's ok Fizzy, today is going to be good you'll see she told herself as she looked at her reflection in the crysteline tile. "You are strong, you are a Tempest, you can do this. Waking up on the wrong side of the bed is nothing. Happens to everyone." She reassured herself.

Spike yawned as he walked down the hall towards the kitchen, looking out the windows as he did so seeing Celestia's sun begining to peak up over the horizon as Luna's moon sunk and the stars returned to their rest. He sighed as he had a sinking feeling that today was going to be a long day. All of a sudden he felt himself bump into something cold & metal. He looked up and saw that he had bumped into Tempest already wide awake and wearing her armor.

"Uhh, hey Tempest, you're up early." He said in a akward and confused manner looking up at the unicorn mare.

"Yes, well I was having a bit of trouble staying asleep so I figured I would get ready and make my morning rounds before the princess woke up." She replied her voice somewhat more raspy then usual.

"Uh huh, well i'm off to get breakfast started." Anything in particular you would care for?" Spike asked as politley as a still groggy dragon could.

"No, anything you feel like preparing is fine. I'll go wake Grubber and tell him to get ready. I have a feeling today is going to be a long day." Tempest sighed.

"Haha, you and me both." Spike laughed as he continued his trek towards the kitchen.

Twilight yawned as she did every morning as she spread her wings and stretched her neck. She looked around her room and used her horn to levitate her crown off the nightstand on to her head. She looked at the clock on her wall and realizes she had overslept by a good hour. "Oh my, I was tired." She thought to herself. As she headed out and went to join the others who were no doubt already eating breakfast.

Twilight approached the dining room and saw that unsurprisingly Grubber was already stuffing his face as was Spike. Tempest however set as still as a stone at attention next to Twilight's chair.

"Good morning Tempest." She smiled.

"Good morning princess" Tempest replied.

"Not hungry?" Twilight asked "Are you feeling ok?" Twilight asked a concerned look on her face as she stared at the mare.

"I am fine princess, I just felt it inapropriate for a guard such as myself to eat before her princess." Tempest replied in a calm but stern tone.

"Well I appriciate your concern but I promise I wouldn't be offended if you didn't wait. Afterall I can't have my royal guard passing out from hunger now can I?" She chuckled giving Tempest a playful wink.

Tempest merely nodded in agreement.

The town of Ponyville was not much different then the morning before. Ponies up bright and early as they headed to work or to the Sugarcube corner or a nearbye bistro to pick up some breakfast. Ponies sipping coffee as they read the days paper. And leaves falling off the trees as a chilly wind blew through the small borough.

"So what's on the docket today Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Well, I was supposed to fill out some zoning documents for Celestia and the Mayor today but things got held-up on the Neigh Jersy end of things so I probably won't get what I need for another couple of days. So I guess today is just restock." She smiled.

"Huh?" Grubber asked. A confused look on his face.

"She means we're going to be running errands all day." Spike huffed.

"Aww, bummer." Grubber sighed

"C'mon it's just a couple of errands. How bad could it be?" Tempest thought to herself. A thought she would soon regret.

The errands didn't get off to the best start to say the least. Twilight's first stop was the Parchement shop where she came to pick up a rather large order of quills, ink and of course parchment. The unicorn running the shop being busy talking to the princess instinctivly levitateted the sacks towards Tempest most likely expecting her to catch them with her magic. Before she could alert the sellspony though the magic around the bags dissipated and they fell to the floor, the contents dumping out on the ground.
The shop keep and Twilight looked towards the sound and saw Tempest doing her best to pick things up with her hooves and the shop keep apologized as he finally noticed Tempest's broken horn. Twilight said it was fine and levitated the remaining contents back into their bags and handed them to Spike. Tempest just blushed, emberrased with Twilight just giving her one of those "hey, its ok" looks in return. This incident alone wouldn't be too bad had it been the only emberassment of the day. Sadly however that was not the case.

After the parchment store, next up was the book shop where the annoying old earthpony mare that ran it kept asking Tempest the same questions over & over. If she was new in town, what her name was, what happened to her horn. If she knew where the old mare had left her hearing aid. Sufficed to say it was an aggrivating experience and Tempest was glad when they finally left

Next they went to the convenient store where Tempest ran into and tripped over a display of canned pumpkins in the middle of the isle due to the fact she had been preoccupied talking to Grubber. She looked up to see a very disgruntled employee staring up at her. She merely stood up, dusted off her armor and told the pony not to worry, She & Grubber would clean up the mess. This thankfully seemed to appease the store clerk abit as he shrugged and trotted off.

The worst part however was lunch. Princess Twilight had suggested Hay Burger, not the best place to eat but Tempest was in no posistion to disagree. As they waited in line Tempest heard a young filly ask her mother over & over why the pony in front of them didn't have a cutie mark. The mother merely replied by telling the filly to hush but the curious child would not relent. Shortly after they had finally gotten their order and set down Tempest's horn began to flare up again. She ran to the public restroom and stuck her head in the sink as bursts of energy bounced around one jumping out and zapping a pony in the stall behind Tempest.

Tempest moaned in despair as she trotted alongside Twilight and the others doing her best to keep her head held high and not show any signs of weakness as not to put the princess in jepordy.

"Its ok Tempest, everypony has an off day. Its nothing to worry about, really." Twilight said trying to reassure her friend. "Oh, I bet I know what will cheer you up. We could go to the comic shop. Spike loves to go there and I bet you and Grubber would enjoy it too!" Twilight smiled. "And just between you and me, i'm kind of a fan of the Power Ponies comics myself now thanks to Spike." She chuckled.

"Sure, why not." Tempest replied. "Not like my day could get any worse." She huffed.

Thankfully it seemed the group was given a brief respite as the comic shop did turn out to be an enjoyable outing. The young fillies and colts were in awe at Tempest and asked if she was cosplaying as some new anti-hero, and even more amazed to find out she was a actual royal guard. Meanwhile Grubber was playing a game of ogres & obulettes with a group of ponies at the table in the back and Spike and Twilight were busy looking through the Power Ponies & Daring-Do comics.

Some hours later the group finally left the shop as they realized they had been there for hours and the shop keep was getting ready to close-up.

"See, the day wasn't all bad, was it?" Twilight asked with a knowing smile.

"I guess not. But did you really have to buy an entire cart full of comics?" Tempest asked pointing to Grubber & Spike pulling a large cart behind them . "Of course we did." Spike replied. "Totally worth it."

The group chuckled but soon an old Earth pony stallion came bolting towards them.

"Princess Twilight. There's some kind of hooplah going on in the Farmer's Market. Think you could come help us out?" The tired old pony asked.

Twilight looked at the old pony, obviously he was quite nervous. "Of course we can help. C'mon Tempest, Spike, let's go." She said as she went to follow the old pony to the market.

"Finally, some action!" Tempest thought to herself as she followed behind the princess in earnest.

Grubber just watched as the others ran off. "Ok, yea, whatever, i'll just stay here and read some comics I guess."

As the group arrived at the Farmer's Market Twilight saw what the problem was. Three large brutish Pegasi stallions were taunting and tormenting a Unicorn Stallion who was cowering down his hooves over his head.

"Ugg, those three" Twilight hissed in disgust

"You know them princess?" Tempest asked

"Yes, they are a trio of pegasi that constantly harrased my friends Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash when they were fillies. And it seems they never learned that such behavior is inaporopriate." Twilight scowled.

"Then perhaps its time to teach them a lesson." Tempest chuckled as she moved forward towards the pack of stallions.

"Excuse me gentlemen, it seems you are causing quite the scene here. Perhaps you should move on." Tempest said in a intemidating of a voice as possible. The trio turned around and looked at the guardpony. "Yea, and what are yea gonna do if we don't?" The middle one asked.

"Oh you don't want to know" Tempest chuckled emiting a small fritz from her stub.

"Ha, big talk for a unicorn with no horn!" The shorter one on the left exclaimed as he flew over to her side. And look, she ain't got no cutie mark neither!" He exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Haha, weak!" The last one laughed

"Bite your tounges!" Tempest shouted, ready to attack, sparks fizzing above her.

"Hey, loser, catch!" The tall bulky one said throwing a tomato smack dab in the middle of her horn. Tempest paniced and the magic reacted to the fruit causing it to explode and hot tomato juice fell all over her face runing down into and burning her eyes.

The three pegasi laughed.

All of a sudden a loud voice boomed.

"HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY FRIEND!" The voice wailed

The three Pegasi looked to see Princess Twilight her eyes glowing pure white her horn eminating a powerful glow. The three bullies froze where they stood.

"LEAVE, NOW!" Twilight shouted in the loudest royal voice she could muster. The Pegesai obeyed soaring off as fast as they could. And the crowd of ponies cheered.

Twilight didn't care about that though as she saw the red juice on Tempest's face, the pony holding her eyes closed obviously trying to hold back her tears. As if out of instinct Twilight grabbed Tempest and Spike with her wings and teleported them all back to the castle.

Back at the castle of friendship Twilight set with Tempest in the study. Her armor off to the side on the floor and the mare trying to hold back her tears as Twilight cleaned her face with a cool washcloth. "I'm so sorry Tempest, i'm so so sorry" Twilight said but the guardspony didn't reply and just stared forward trying to retain what little composer she had left.

All of a sudden there was a knock on the study door and the two looked at each other. Slowly the door opened and a thestral wearing sunglasses slowly walked in.

"May I help you?" Twilight asked, somewhat confused.

The batpony mare took off her sunglasses and replied. " i'm Lavender Nightsbane with the intel corps. I am here to relay the information about Guard Tempest Shadow's friends and family that we have acquired on the behest of Princess Luna." The batpony stated, looking at the two. "Did I come at a bad time?" She asked.

"You could say that." Twilight chuckled. "But i'm glad you're here. We could use some good news." She sighed.

"Oh really?" The batpony gulped. She really had come at a bad time.

The batpony sat across from Tempest & Twilight and explained they had visited many small towns around Canterlot and beyond. They had discovered the town Tempest came from had been abandoned some time ago and that many of the residents had moved off to different towns and cities. One pony they believed to have been Tempest's friend a yellow unicorn mare had moved off to Manehatten and started a bakery. The other a blue colt had moved to Trottingham to start a clock repair business.

"Well I am glad to hear they are doing well I suppose. Despite what they did to me." Tempest sighed. "Thank you for letting me know."

"Of course." The batpony replied.

"But what of, what of my parents? My birth cirtificate?" Tempest asked.

"Well, you see..." The thestral paused as she sipped her tea. "The village you came from, Prancesen. It was quite small, it only had a population of 120 ponies, smaller even then Ponyville or the rock farms. It, didn't have the most effecent record keeping" The pony nervously replied.

"And, my parents." Tempest asked. Did you find them?" Tempest asked, quite anxious at this point.

The bat pony froze. Her entire body seemed to shake with fear.

"Um' are you ok?" Twilight asked.

The theastral took a deep breath. "Your parents, they were co-Mayors of the village. Your father's name was Tangy Pop and your mother was Cherry Fizzle." She stuttered.

"What do you mean by were and was? " Tempest asked quite nervous at this point.

The batpony took one final gulp of her tea, knowing no matter how she worded this, the band-aid would hurt like Tartarus when she ripped it off.

"Your parents looked for you for many moons, when they could not find you, they feared the worst. With such a feeling of loss and grief ponies can do crazy things. They burned their manor, your home to the ground, with themselves and what we believe to have been the only copy of your birth cirtificate still inside. I, i'm sorry." The thestral replied.

Tempest entire body froze as she felt something inside her break completly and all higher functions shut down.

"I should go" the bat pony gulped as she sped out through one of the window's above.

"Tempest?" Twilight said as she looked at her friend who rose out of her seat and just stood there.

"Tempest, I, i'm so sorry I...." But before Twilight could finish the distraught mare began to dry heave as tears rolled down her eyes.

"Ma, ma, mama." Tempest sobbed tears running down her face. "M, my mother, my father, d, dead, because of me i, i, i, i'll never see them again." Tempest bawled.

"T, town, home, gone, abandoned, and for what? A, a horn i'll never get ba, back. Everything gone everyone gone because of m,m,me." She sobbed wet, warm tears rolling down her eyes.

"Tempest, that's not...." Twilight tried to consule her friend but only had her hoof slapped away.

"All the things I did, all the things the Storm King made me do, the innocents I hurt, and for what. I have no horn, no family, no past. My legacy is nothing but death, despair and pain." The unicorn sobbed.

"TEMPEST!" Twilight tried to interject. As the mare still sobbed.

"I, i'm nothing, i'm worthless, i'd be better off dead!" She cried.

"FIZZLEPOP BERRYTWIST YOU BE QUITE RIGHT NOW!!" Twilight boomed in her royal voice.

Tempest looked at Twilight as the alicorn wrapped her wings around the sad pony and embraced her in a hug.

"Don't say that. Don't you ever say that again." Twilight sobbed. "You made mistakes, you were young and scared & angry. You had no idea what would happen. Its not your fault, its not your fault. Your parents made their choice, that is on them, not you. Don't ever forget that." She said as she gently stroked the sobbing mares back. "And never forget that you are not alone, you are loved. By me, by Spike & Grubber and i'm sure so many more then you can ever imagine. Your old home may be gone. But you have one here now." Twilight softly spoke as she let Tempest finish up.

Tempest absorbed Twilight's words like a sponge. She was right, as long as she had Twilight she had purpose. Twilight was all that mattered now, Twilight was her world.

Author's Notes:

Ok, last chapter this week, i'm exhausted! More this Sunday though.

And yes I know, poor Grubber got left behind. Don't worry, i'm sure he'll be fine.

As for Starlight, she was off doing Startrix stuff obviously.

Well hope you enjoyed. This was a long one, i'll come back and fix spelling errors and stuff later. :p