Tempest hurt. She didn't know why but everything hurt. Her horn, her eyes, her chest, her lungs. She opened her eyes to everything being a blur. She blinked until her surroundings slowly came into focus. As her facilties returned to her she quickly realized that she was not in her bedroom. The bed she was lying on was much larger and more exquisite. The sheets a smooth soft satin and much more ornaite designs and decorations on the bedding and the walls. And books everywhere, on the floor, on shelves and on a nearbye desk. There was no doubt about it. This was Princess Twilight's bedroom.

"But what am I doing in..." she began to whisper as the memories of last night came flooding back instantaniously. The horrible revelation of the fate of her parents, her past. How she had spent all night sobbing under the princess's wing until she finally had cried herself to sleep. "But, where is she now?" Tempest rasped.

"Probably off looking for a royal guard that is actually worth something." A voice growled angrily.

Tempest looked around, surprised, but saw no one. "Who's there? Show yourself!" She muttered. "Oh you silly little foal, there's no one here but me, myself and,I" the voice chuckled." Suddenly Tempest recognized the voice, it was her's. She looked and in the reflection of the crystal walls saw Commander Tempest full Storm King armor and all staring at her, that same menacing smile she used to make, mocking her.

"NO!" She shouted jumping off the bed stomping her hooves as hard as she could. And just like that the apparition was gone. Tempest breathed heavily. She looked at the door and trotted out as fast as she could.

Tempest ran through the castle looking for Twilight, but she was not in the study, the library, or the map room. Finally Tempest slowly trotted towards the dining room, hoping that maybe she would be there. She opened the door, but sadly no princess. Only a lone Grubber chowing down on a bag of apple chips.

"Oh, hey Tempest, sup?" The little beast said as he gobbled down his snack.

"Where's the princess?" Tempest asked.

"Dunno" Grubber responded as he continued eating his chips. "Thanks for leaving me behind yesterday by the way. Not like I spent hours waiting by a cart full of comics until some big red stallion dude offered to help me pull them back to the castle, nah i'm totally fine." He huffed.

"Sorry" Tempest softly replied.

She walked to her seat and noticed a letter on the table infront of her chair. She opened the seal and began to read.

Dear Tempest.

I'm so sorry. I know I should be there to comfort you, but Celestia has called a mandatory council meeting. Apperantly the efforts to repair the lands broken by the Storm King is going to be a greater task then previously imagined. I will be meeting with the other Princcesses and our allies leaders to help them re-evaluate Equestria's approach to helping restore the lands beyond our borders. I should be back by Sunset. And remember, you are not alone and if you need anything at all I am sure Starlight will be happy to oblige.

Sincerly, your dear friend: Princess Twilight Sparkle

"Well, looks like we have the day off." Tempest sighed.

"Noice" Exclaimed Grubber. "In that case, i'm going back to bed!" He smiled as he jumped out of the seat and ran out the door back to their bedroom.

Tempest looked back at the letter and let out a low sad moan. She understood the princess had a responsibilty to Equestria, but the thought of not seeing her all day made the mare's already heavy heart feel even more weighted down.

"Oh, there you are." A perky upbeat voice chimed. Tempest looked up and saw Starlight Glimmer with two rather large saddlebags on her side prance toward her with a smile.

"Oh, hello Ms. Glimmer." Tempest weakly greeted as the pony approached her.

"So, I ah, I heard about yesterday. Are you ok?" Starlight asked nervously.

"You what!?" Tempest responded in a panic.

"Yeah, sorry, I know you probably don't want to talk about it. But hey, it's nothing to feel bad about, we've all dealt with jerky stallions at one point or another." Starlight tried to reassure her.

"Oh that." Tempest sighed, relieved that Starlight was not aware of the true reason for her current less then steller state of being.

"Yea, so....anyway, I was going to go fly kites with the girls today? You wanna come along?" Starlight asked. A nervous smile on her face.

"I appriciate the offer Ms. Glimmer, but truthfully I do not know if I have the strength to face the world today." Tempest replied, her ears falling further down than before.

Starlight took a deep breath. "OK, listen. I know you're in a bad place right now. Yesterday wasn't so great for you. But trust me, staying here in the castle all day sulking won't do you any good. Trust me, I know from experience." She chuckled.

"I appriciate your concern, but I promise you I am quite alright." Tempest replied.

"Liar!" She heard a small filly's voice shout.

"What was...?" Tempest asked looking around seeing no one but Starlight in the room.

"Uh, are you sure you're ok?" Starlight asked a confused look upon her face.

Tempest paused. "On second thought Ms. Glimmer, perhaps getting out of the castle isn't such a bad idea after all."

"Oh great. I just know Maud & Trixie are gonna love you!" Starlight smiled as she happily pranced out the door.

Tempest trotted slowly behind Starlight on their way to Trixie's wagon. Tempest was glad to find out that the pony lived on the outskirts of town as she was not certain that she felt like walking through the village again after all she had been through yesterday. So taking the scienic route around the town on the outskirts of the white-tail woods was a much more relaxing and enjoyable experience.

"Welp, looks like we're here." Starlight gleefully announced. Tempest looked down and saw a somewhat rundown carriage at the bottom of the hill. "C'mon, lets go!" Starlight said with a smile.

Down at the carriage Trixie lazily walked out, still in her nightcap despite it being almost 11:00 at this point. Starlight noticed this and taunted the showmare for being so lazy. Trixie respponded with a witty retort before pausing and noticing that Tempest had come along with her friend.

"What's she doing here?" Trixie asked.

"Well, Tempest has the day off while Twilight's away in Canterlot. So I said she could join us. Is, is that ok?" Starlight asked a sheepish grin on her face.

"I suppose. Just don't expect me to share any of my nuts with her." She huffed.

"What?" Tempest asked, somewhat confused by the statement.

"Hehe, ah, inside joke. Don't worry about it." Starlight chuckled.

Later after picking up Starlight's second friend Maud Pie, the group made their way to the park. Tempest still didn't feel comfortable walking through the town, but at least she wasn't alone, which was good, she guessed.

As they reached the entrence of the park Tempest looked around. Thankfully there weren't many other ponies there. Just a old earth pony couple throwing out seed for the birds and two twin pegasus mares out for a jog. "Ok, let's find a good place to set-up and get to making those kites!" Starlight squeed.

"We, have to make our own kites?" Tempest asked, somewhat confused.

"Oh yea, that's part of the fun. And I have all the materials I need here in my saddlebags." She squeed again.

"How should we design them?" Tempest asked. "Oh anyway you want." Starlight replied. "You can make them any shape and color and use any design or image. You could add a picture of your favorite food or singer or book or maybe you're cutie ma...." Starlight paused staring at Tempest rembering the unicorn was still a blank flank "ma, ma, a picture of a cute mare or stallion you like." She akwardly stammered.

"Oh, smooth save there, Star" Trixie taunted.

"I don't know. I found it to be a bit of a rocky transistion." Maud chimed in with her ever monotone sardonic wit. The rest just staring at her silently.

"OK, anyway let's get started." Starlight replied removing the wood, string and fabric from her saddlebags.

Sometime later the four ponies had finished their kites. Maud having a simple grey kite with a picture of her pet rock Boulder on it. Trixie making her's look like herself. And Starlight going for a more complex lantern style design with the faces of all her friends on it. And Tempest, well....

"Is that a purple kite with a large picture of Twilight's cutie mark on it?" Trixie asked in disgust.

"Um' yes." Tempest blushed.

"And it is a perfectly fine kite. Isn't it Trixie." Starlight interjected.

"Oh yea, sure. Doesn't at all scream i'm a shameless Princess Twilight fangirl" Trixie chuckled. Starlight angrily jabbing her in the side.

"Ok, enough small talk, lets get these girls airborn." Maud monotonaly stated.

"Good idea." Starlight replied. Lifting the kites with her magic until they were at a point the wind took hold.

It took awhile but Tempest eventually got the hang of flying a kite. As she steadied it at the proper altitude she watched it waft in the breeze. "Maybe getting out of the castle was a good idea after all." She said to herself. "Yeah, this is fun!" She heard a filly's voice say. Tempest looked around but saw nothing but herself and the others. She shook her head. "Must have just been the wind." She told herself as she turned her attention back to her kite.

Sometime later after everypony had their fill of Starlight's prefered activity the group gathered around a small picnic area and enjoyed a late lunch of carrot dogs and cinnamon roasted nuts they had gotten from a nearbye foodstand. Tempest took a bite of the carrotdog, a bit sour, but not too bad, but needed a sip of soda to help balance out the flavor.

"So, what now?" Tempest asked as she swallowed her food.

"Well, it's only 3:30. We still have plenty of time to enjoy the park." Starlight replied.

"Boulder and I are going to find a good place to meditate." Maud replied.

"Trixie thinks she will take a dip in the lake." She responded in a sultry tone. "Care to join us Starlight?" Starlight just blushed and let out a nervous laugh.

"Well, I think i'll just find a nice place to sit and collect my thoughts for awhile." Tempest sighed, looking at a nearbye tree that still had quite afew leaves on it.

Tempest walked over to the tree and made herself comfortable. She closed her eyes and began to slowly focus on her breathing. Before she knew it, though not intentional, she found herself fast asleep.

Darkness, only darkness. No matter which way she looked all she could see was nothing. All of a sudden she heard a cruel yet familiar laugh. Around her the world started to form. She found her self in a cage, just like the one she had put Princess Twilight in not to long ago. Outside it she saw herself. Or the pony she used to be. Commander Tempest stood outside her cage, staring at her with a cruel mocking smile. "Hello little one? Are we comfy?" She cackled.

"What is this?" Tempest paniced as the dark copy of herself slowly walked around the cage like a lion circiling its prey.

"Oh, this is just me coming to tell you how weak and pathetic you are." Commander Tempest laughed. "How you are nothing without your armies, without the Storm King, and ecspecially without your horn." The old Tempest hissed.

"No, that's not true, Twilight said that..."

"Twilight said, Twilight said" The Commander mocked. "You could have had it all. You had the most powerful army at your command. You helped conquer and destroy nations. You could have easily stabbed that idiotic monkey king in the back and taken the staff for yourself. With all of it's magic not only could you have restored your horn but ruled over this world with an iron hoof. But you gave it all up. And for what?" Commander Tempest hissed.

"F, for friendship" Tempest stuttered.

"Well, fat load of good that's done you" The Commander scoffed. "Face it, you're weak, you're a failure. Just a sad little filly that runs away. A sad little filly that lets her parents die of broken hearts. A sad little filly that can't even protect herself from a tomato, why would Princess Twilight ever care about you!?" The Commander asked, laughing maniacly.

"Sh, shut-up, that's not true, that's not true!" Tempest shouted.

But the commander just lunged towards the cage. "Yes it is!" She scowled. "Open up your eyes!" She sang as Tempest looked inside seeing in their reflection herself as a small filly, as little Fizzypop all alone & crying.

"NO!" Tempest shouted as she woke-up in a panic. She looked around to see that she was safe. Still at the park under the tree. She could see the sun setting as Starlight and Trixie were lying on the sand at the edge of the lake and Maud was skipping stones across the water.

"A dream, just a dream" she wheezed. Lying back down to catch her breath. Soon however she heard a voice in the distance.

"See Spike, I told you they'd still be here."

Tempest looked around and saw Spike & Princess Twilight walking towards them. Tempest quickly got up and with out thinking ran towards Twilight. "Princess, you're back!" Tempest joyfully shouted as she stopped with a skid bowing right at Twilight's hoof.

"Well, somepony's happy to see you." Spike chuckled. Tempest just blushed. "So, um, how was your meeting." She asked.

"Uhgg, Exhausting!" Twilight huffed. "I'm just glad that it's over and I can spend a relaxing evening with some of my friends." Twilight replied as she wrapped her wing around Tempest. Tempest's heart just skipped a beat as a wave of happiness washed over her and in the back of her mind a small filly cheered exclaiming "Yay, Mama's home!"

Author's Notes:

Welp, seems like Tempest might have a few extra ponies knocking aroud upstairs.... don't worry, i'm sure it'll be fine...maybe. Hopefully.

And I know I said I was gonna wait till Sunday before another update, but I just couldn't help myself. Sorry. Will try to slow down abit so I don't wear myself or you guys out.

Anywho still lots of ground to cover. Next time more actual guardsponying, some annoyed ponies and maybe some feels.

Beyond that, maybe see what Fizzypop's Fillyhood friends have been up to. Maybe they were never quite as innocent as they seemed.