I had called Tempest to my study today for a very special event, one that she had no doubt been looking forward to. The return of her horn. Albeit, I imagine she was hesitant, since I had never allowed anyone into the study. I had cleaned up what I could before her visit, stowing away notes and schematics and blueprints in drawers and any places I could stuff them, and most of the dangerous chemicals I was concocting with the lab equipment was safely put away. I had the horn of a certain farm animal on the desk, the animal itself being a variation of a goat called Weathered Climber. The horn was a jet black, but I'm certain Ventus would be able to make it the right color once she started to repair Tempest's horn.

I looked to the door as Tempest knocked on it, and stood up, walking over to open it. Once it slid open, I gestured for her to enter. I was right, she was hesitant, but also curious, if how she was drinking in every aspect of the room was any indication.

"This is... Well, it's honestly fascinating," Tempest complimented. I shrugged.

"Eh, it's not complete yet. Still got more to add, but thanks," I said, before walking over to the desk. Ventus appeared by my head. "So, ready to get your horn back?" Tempest nodded firmly, but with no less eagerness in the motion. I smiled. "Good, now, the process will be slow, and not to mention painful, since Ventus will be essentially regrowing nerve endings and bone to remake your horn. Are you ready for that?" she nodded again, steel in her sea green eyes.

"Yes, Your Highness. I am fully prepared," she said determinedly. I nodded.

"Good," I turned to Ventus. "Ventus, go ahead and start." Ventus bobbed in a mimic of a nod, before taking the black horn on the desk in her own brand of telekinesis, and breaking it down, storing the material in her banks. It took a good five or ten minutes for her to do this, but when she was done, she turned back to Tempest.

"Ready?" she asked the mare. Tempest nodded again. "Alright, let's do this then." She then shot a beam of light right at the stump of Tempest's horn, and Tempest flinched at the action. Then, she grit her teeth hard as a shape started to build on the stump, growing slowly. The process was very slow, and I knew that was because creating nervous tissue was a very delicate process, even if it was only the endings.

Tempest was trembling now, trying her best to not cry out in pain, but there were tears of that obvious pain in her eyes as her new horn took it's shape. I saw it grow and grow, Ventus carefully creating more and more of it at a steady yet slow pace. Tempest was crying in pain fully now, but she wasn't making any real sounds besides muffled whimpers, like she was biting her tongue.

Finally, after twenty agonizing minutes for the mare, the horn was finished, the glow receded, and Tempest was now sporting a horn equally as majestic as either of the pony princesses, albeit shorter than theirs by just a few centimeters, if I had to guess.

Tempest panted hard, trying to wipe away the tears that had matted her fur and muzzle. "Th...that...bucking...hurt...!" she panted.

"That's bound to happen when you remake nervous tissue, especially while the patient is awake and not sedated," Ventus explained.

"Sadly, we don't have strong enough sedatives yet, so we had to go with what we could," I said with a shrug. I walked over to the maroon mare, patting her shoulder. "But hey, you got a kick ass horn now, so it's worth it, right?"

Tempest glanced up to her horn, slowly reaching a hoof up to touch it in disbelief, but quickly retracted it after her hoof made contact, flinching from the pain.

"Yeah, it's gonna be sore for a few days, so be careful with it, and keep magic casting to a minimum," Ventus told her. Tempest slowly nodded, but smiled wide.

"...Thank you, My Queen. Thank you so much," she said happily. I smiled, patting her shoulder again.

"Of course. Gotta make sure my advisor is taken care of, after all," I replied, before walking over to the desk again. "Or, should I say, advisor and leader of the new Vanguard?" Tempest blinked. Once. twice.

"...What?" she asked slowly, surprised. I chuckled, opening a drawer and pulling out two shortswords, both styled like a certain pair of daggers my brother adored.

Unlike the daggers, these were longer, long enough to be considered shortswords, and they were made of an alloy of titanium and the few bits of Relic Iron that Ventus had in storage from when I was breaking down the armor pieces I had in my inventory. Still don't know why I had armor pieces that were so weak when I got here, but it turned out for the better.

Anyways, the alloy that resulted from it was tough as hell, but lightweight enough that it wouldn't be a problem to swing around easily. Sure, it meant I had no more Relic Iron now, but I could live without it.

Tempest 's eyes were wide as she took the blades in her magical grasp, wincing a bit from the sudden use of magic, but she seemed too engrossed in looking over her new weapons to care. The metal of the blades was a color similar to White Bronze, the hilt wrapped with thick, wet-blue chrome-tanned leather. On one of the blades was the symbol for Void Light, glowing a faint dark purple, and on the other, the Arc Light symbol, glowing a faint electric blue. She marveled over the craftmanship.

"Amazing..." She breathed. I smirked.

"Me and Ventus slaved over those blades for the better part of the past week," I explained. "Even went to the trouble of adding a more special project I've been working on for the past month. Light Runes."

"I'm glad you seem to like it!" Ventus chirped. "Channeling the Light into those was really hard, but as far we can tell, they should work well!"

"It's beautiful, your highness, but why-" Tempest began, before I stopped her with a hand.

"Oh, I'm not done yet. You're getting a final present," I said, before going back to the desk, towards a locked drawer. I unlocked it with a key I pulled from my pocket, then opened it. I then retrieved something I was slaving away on since I first came here and was labeled Queen. A gun. Specifically a flip revolver.

It had a handle made of that same goat's other horn, wrapped with the same wet-blue chrome-tanned leather. The horn, like the other, was black, but that wasn't the real feature. The real feature was the black scaled, saphire-eyed dragon running the length of the barrel, it's wings covering part of the trigger and cascading down either side, and it's tail resting in front of the hammer. It's maw stopped just shy of the end of the barrel. The scales were real, too, taken straight from a baby Alpha Cragadile.

Tempest marveled over this weapon as well as I handed it to her, and with good reason. I put a helluva lot of work into making it both function amazingly well, and look badass. Needed my Second-In-Command to have some intimidating and awesome gear, after all, to compliment me.

"This is... It's beyond words..." she marveled. She slowly looked up to me. "But... What does it do? And why are you giving me this?"

I smiled, patting my own gun on my hip. "Well, first, that weapon is essentially what this one right here is, a gun. It'll easily rip through and pierce any tough hide or plates of armor like they were paper, and, like mine, yours has some perks besides looks."

"We added some perks with smaller but permanently charged Light Runes, like making each round explode, giving you a small speed boost after a kill, and two others that we'll leave for you to find out," Ventus continued.

"As for your second question, I'm promoting you to the Commander-In-Chief of the Vanguard, which is what I'm calling the collection of new elite soldiers, like the Darkstriders, the Lightbearers, and the Legion of the Betwixt," I finished, leaning with one arm against the desk, shooting her a toothy grin.

"B-But those units aren't even close to ready yet! You said so yourself!" Tempest tried to argue. I chuckled.

"Tempest, it's not going to take long at all for me to whip them into shape," I said, before walking over and wrapping an arm around her. "Especially not with you helping out, Vanguard Commander." I winked at her. Tempest was, understandably, shocked. I removed my arm from her. "If you need time, take it. Just know that I'm giving you all this because you have proven yourself to be worthy. You followed my orders with little to no question, followed them to the letter, helped manage all of these new projects, helped me get my feet under me in this place... You've more than earned all this, as well as my respect."

Tempest was silent for a very long time. I just walked back over to the desk and sat down in it's accompanying chair, sipping some of the remaining Storm Fruit juice from a mug I always left in here. A good, solid fifteen minutes passed of her thinking, me occasionally glancing over to her while at the same time going over other notes and schematics.

Finally, she spoke, looking towards me with more determination in her eyes than I'd ever seen. And perhaps a bit of gratefulness. "I accept, and I promise, I won't let you down, Your Highness." I smiled, taking a quick sip before putting the mug down.

"Great to hear. Oh, and Tempest, when it's just you and me, call me Lucy. You've earned that much," I said. She smiled as well.

"You got it, Your-I mean, Lucy," she replied firmly. I kept my smile.

Things were starting to show promise around here.

Meanwhile, in Equestria, news had spread of the alliance and the old tyrant. In Manehattan, ponies were working on shipping goods, both to those around their nation, and the other nations, with the addition of the Island of Storms. They shipped many things, like silks and cloths, precious metals, gems, foods, and much more. The shipping of these goods to the Island was particularly dangerous, what with the perpetual storm and abundance of pirates and bandits. Thus, an eruption of mercenary groups had come to pass. This had also led to a power struggle between these new mercenary groups, and crime thus began to rise.

In Canterlot, the Princesses now had to deal with the press and the nobles both trying to find out why their leaders had done essentially nothing while the old tyrant Storm King conquered lands closer and closer to Equestria all those months ago. Of course, Celestia took the brunt of it, having many a headache after each Day Court. Luna, though, wasn't much better, having to, for once, deal with almost the same daily flow of noble trifles her sister did, as there was just so many worries to tend to.

In Ponyville, The Princess of Friendship was trying to figure out how to make friends with The Storm Queen. She secluded herself in her study most nights, going over notes she'd made when she was there, as well as new ones she drafted, all to figure out how to get the reclusive Queen to open up. Her friends were worried, but she didn't seem to notice. Spike was beginning to wonder if his surrogate sister was obsessed, and the same went for Starlight.

In the Crystal Empire, Cadance and Shining were overseeing the new trade of crystals to the Island of Storms, and Shining was also working on beefing up his military. It was a slow process, as the Guard were lazy and not as proficient at fighting as he'd have liked them to be. Cadance tried to soothe his worries, but he continued his project despite it all.

And deep under Canterlot, a certain stout figure was reading a newspaper he'd... appropriated, from a wayward miner. He leaned back in his stone, segmented chair, a look of hope on his face.

"Could it really be you...?" he wondered idly as he looked at the picture of The Storm Queen shaking the hoof of Princess Celestia.

Much was in motion now. Only time could tell what might happen in the future.

EDIT: Added a new, better intro, complete with a new, more fitting song.

EDIT: Fixed some grammar errors. Added an intro, complete with a song.

Alright, this is one of the three chapters made to set the stage for some of the bigger issues and such in the story's future, so I only hope you all enjoy it. I know I did.

Thanks for reading, my lovelies.

-Timeless Celestial