Storm Shield

Tempest was asleep in her new bed waiting for lunch. While she slept there came a gentle knocking on the doors to her room. Slowly she blinked her eyes open and craned her neck to look back at the doors. She rolled over until her legs dangled off the side of the bed where she slid herself off the side. Her hooves made contact with the ground making a light clanking noise against the hard crystal. Slowly she waddled forward towards the door. With her hoof she grabbed hold of the turn handle and opened the door revealing Starlight Glimmer.

The two unicorns smiled and without a word Starlight reached through to give her friend a hug.

“Tempest! I heard you just got to town!” Starlight said, excitedly bouncing.

“Yes, Celeano and I got here and are ready to take on our new jobs. All that aside, how have you been Starlight? How’s Trixie and Maud?” Tempest asked, allowing Starlight entry into the room.

Starlight entered the room looking around and took a seat near the vanity. She turned to face Tempest who hopped back on the bed and laid on her belly like a cat, while looking down at Starlight from her elevated position.

“Trixie and Maud are doing great! We recently went to Maud’s home to visit her family,” Starlight said, magically conjuring a photo.

Tempest leaned closer from the bed to see the ponies in the picture. In the front of the group was Starlight flanked by Trixie and Maud. Behind them were four other ponies Tempest didn’t recognize. One was an old stallion, mustard fur and a grey mane that was styled with long sideburns that were undoubtedly older than he was. Next to him was a mare light grey with an even darker grey and white streaked mane tied back in a neat bun with large glasses on the ridge of her snout.

“These two elderly ponies here are Igneous and Cloudy Quartz, they are Maud's parents,” Starlight said, pointing to the two ponies.

She then pointed to the other two ponies on the right of the picture. They were younger mares one with a soft timid expression, the other had a rough almost angry expression on her mug. Tempest couldn’t help but crack a smile at the angry looking mare in the picture.

“I like her,” Tempest said, joyfully, pointing at angry pony.

Starlight giggled taking the photo back and looked at pony in the picture.

“Yeah, I figured you would. I feel you two would get along,” Starlight said, teleporting the picture away. “Well, wanna go get lunch? Twilight sent me to get you when it was ready.”

“Yeah, I’m starving. Lead the way Starlight.”

Tempest once more rolled off the bed and followed Starlight out of the room and into the hall. Tempest took care to lock her room behind her. She did not do it out of paranoia but out of habit. Growing up in the Badlands taught her many things. One such lesson was you can never be too careful with your belongings, even if it's in the safety of one's home.

Once she was sure her room was secure Tempest followed Starlight through the castle. Its many halls were annoyingly similar that she knew it would take time to learn the castles layout. Hall after hall the two mares walked on with Starlight leading, and for the longest time Tempest was sure they were walking in circles. With the castle being made of crystal and lack of interior decor it was difficult nigh impossible for Tempest to determine if they really were going in circles or not.

After what felt like an eternity Starlight turned a corner to a new hall that had a more defined look. It was a straight hall with six doors, three on either side, going down its length. Beside each door was a mirror each distinctly different from the other. Each mirror had a single color and a small plaque that had what Tempest could only guess were cutie marks. She recognized Twilight Sparkles on a purple mirror in the middle row on the right side of the all of the mirrors. She then remembered these cutie marks were Twilight Sparkle’s friends cutie marks.

Tempest noticed Starlight didn’t stop and continued after the young mare. Though with some reluctance she did so. Her curiosity caused her to glance at each picture when she passed them wondering what it was. Not long afterwards they entered the throne room where Twilight Sparkle was overlooking several documents and was sorting them into three neat piles as tall as three full grown stallions high. The busy Princess had heavy bags under her eyes as she seemed to mindlessly zombie through the mass of papers with her magic. Tempest noticed there was a group of ponies leaving as the doors were closed by Thunderclap.

Starlight walked around the table and behind the massive thrones slowly making her way towards Twilight. Thunderclap watched the young mare as she got closer to Twilight almost as if she were expecting something to happen. Tempest watched the scene unfold and noticed a few odd things about Thunderclap.

Immediately it was apparent when Starlight, or any stranger was near Princess Twilight, Thunderclap got very tense and rigid. Her tail twitched to the left and her eyes would narrow, similar to how Tempest was. It was a clear nervous twitch that showed this mare had been around the block as a guard. Tempest also noticed Thunderclap slightly bent her legs as if readying to sprint at a moments notice all the while the mare kept a critical eye on Starlight. If Tempest didn’t know any better she would have called the mare paranoid. Starlight herself was prancing along with a smile on her face and no fear or paranoia whatsoever.

Starlight approached Twilight from the right and closed in never losing her smile as Thunderclap continued to watch like a hawk would its prey. The rhythmic clapping of her hooves managed to pull tear Twilight’s gaze away from the papers long enough to give her former student a big smile as the distance between them closed.

“Starlight! Good morning!” Twilight said, hugging Starlight.

Starlight practically hopped into Twilight’s arms and the two shared a warm hug complemented with girly giggles. Tempest noticed Thunderclap gag at the sight. Guess she’s not the touchy freely type of mare. Tempest thought. She was so fixated on Thunderclap she didn’t notice a purple pony princess until she was abruptly hugged from the front. Tempest visibly flinched and jumped by instinct but Twilight was a lot stronger than she looked and held the strong mare down.

The purple pony had a strong grip around her neck and nuzzled her friends cheek. “Tempest!” Twilight chirped happily.

“Greetings your majesty,” Tempest replied trying to figure out what to do about the awkward hug.

Suddenly she got a cold chill down her spine. From the corner of her eye she noticed Thunderclap was glaring right at her. Hoping to break from the angry glare Tempest resided to pat the Princess on the back, it felt like a safer option.

“Tempest, come on I told you, please call me Twilight,” Twilight requested of her friend. “I don’t like being called something so formal by my friends.”

Tempest was slightly shocked by Twilight’s forwardness on this subject. She knew the mare preferred to be called by her name rather than title, but Tempest never expected she would demand that of her personal guards. For someone like Tempest she felt it was unprofessional to fraternize with royalty as a guard, but then again Twilight wasn’t like other pony nobility or royalty. Therefore Tempest decided to make her best attempt to be more open to this idea of familiarity with Twilight as a pony and not just as royalty.

“I think I understand I’m just not comfortable with this level of intimacy. Especially due to the fact that I'll be one of your guards,” Tempest said.

“I understand Tempest, and believe me I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable,” Twilight walked over to her throne and sitting in it. “You can call me what you like until you get use to working here.”

The alicorn gestures for Tempest and Starlight to join her. As they did Spike came into the room with three other unicorn pony maids carrying plates of food to the crystal map. Starlight waved to Spike, who waved back, while the little dragon placed three table mats down and the maid ponies placed the plates of food down on each one for the three ponies. Spike then followed the ponies out but was stopped when Twilight called out to him.

“Spike!”

The little dragon stopped at the door and turned back and ran back to Twilight’s side. It wasn’t a fast pace run but a casual job if anything. Tempest thought it was mildly cute the way he almost bounced with each step. She then noticed tiny wings on his side. I wonder how long he had those? She thought to herself as Twilight chatted with Spike briefly.

“Spike, why don’t you join us for lunch? You’ve been working so hard these last few days. You deserve a break for all your hard work,” Twilight said, rubbing the little dragons head.

Spike chuckled taking Twilight’s hoof in his claws and held it for a moment.

“Thanks, but I got one last thing to do then I’m going to meet Big Mac, and Discord later for your game night,” Spike said, to his older sibling.

“I’m glad you are getting out and having a good time, Spike. Will you be home tonight or are you staying at Sweet Apple Acres?” She asked Spike.

“I’ll be staying. Big Mac has a room for me at the house so I won’t be sleeping in the barn if you’re worried,” Spike let go of Twilight’s hoof and taking his leave.

“See you tomorrow!” Spike called back waving to the three mares.

“Bye Spike!” Twilight and Starlight called waving.

Spike gave one last goodbye to the mares before leaving them to enjoy their meal. The lunch was a simple one consisting of daisy sandwiches and salads with orange juice for everyone. Tempest thought it was quaint but made no complaints considering it was so late in the afternoon. In a lot of ways it reminded her of her foal hood back in her home town before she ran away. After playing with her friends all day she would prance home to the prospect of sandwiches, soup, and grape juice just for her.

As she ate the last of her sandwiches she moved on to the salad. She took one bite then looked around taking notice that Celeano wasn’t here. Wondering where her lover was she glanced around which Twilight and Starlight took note of. Twilight swallowed the last of food and wiped her mouth followed by a quick sip of her juice. She then cleared her throat to get the unicorns attention. Hearing the princess clear her throat Tempest and even Starlight gave her their full attention as she took all the empty plates and placed them into a neat stack to the side.

“Well, now that we’ve had some time to eat and get reacquainted let's talk about why you’re here Tempest Shadow,” Twilight rested her front legs on the table and leaned into them.

“Yes, please let’s."

The mare adjusted her posture to sit upright and became rather stiff like a statue. Twilight thought it looked like Tempest was trying to sit at attention. It was amusing to her and she couldn’t help but crack a smile. Tempest despite knowing this would most likely be an informal meeting felt a bit nervous about the conversation to come. She wasn’t worried she wouldn’t get the positions, she was more than qualified. She was more worried about what the Princess would have her do than anything else. If she knew anything about Twilight was that she had a very different view on the world around her than Tempest did, and that was the source of her worry.

Twilight for her part looked rather relaxed. She seemed to dislike the position she was in and rested back into her throne and Starlight did the same.

“So Tempest, I want to start by saying thank you for accepting the position of a Royal Guard. I’m glad to know you’ll be in the ranks, and I hope you’ll help bring some experience to the table aside from Captain Thunderclap,” Twilight said, with a smile.

Tempest felt slightly better hearing that. At least there wouldn’t be a long interrogation to go with this meeting.

“This also isn’t an interview in case you’re wondering,” Twilight explained waving a hoof. “I’m more than aware of your qualifications considering what happened in the past between us.”

Tempest suddenly felt her heart sank a bit and as tern glare and snort came from Thunderclap. Twilight hushed the guardsmare with a harsh hiss and a wave of her hoof. Thunderclap nodded politely to her princess and continued to watch over the group.

Tempest felt a little better seeing Twilight defended her, but she still felt a sting in her heart for what she did to the mare and her friends. While Tempest did make peace with the alicorn princess for her past encounters it still made her feel small when she was reminded of her time as the Storm King's right hand. She was supreme commander of his forces and she committed horrible atrocities in that time. She was glad to now work for a more benevolent ruler.

“To that end this will be more of an orientation. Celeano was already here with us while you slept and is off on her first assignment which you too will partake in once this orientation is finished,” Twilight explained clapping her hooves.

At the sound of the alicorns hooves clapping Thunderclap walked over and magically levitate scroll to Tempest Shadow. Tempest nodded other mare but got a grunt in response. Thunderclap immediately turned about face and walked back to her post near the door watching over the meeting. Her eyes scanned the room tentatively, which Tempest could respect. You can’t be too careful these days.

“So, as you know I’m Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. That isn’t just a title I have, I live by that title. I help spread the magic of friendship to all creatures in hopes to help bring a brighter tomorrow for all creatures and nations. You will be part of my Guards of Friendship under Captain Thunderclap. I believe you noticed my School of Friendship on the mountain nearby as you came in?” Twilight gestured to the wall, but tempest knew what she was implying.

“Yes, I saw it and some other creatures including a dragon and a hippogriff when Celeano and I arrived,” She said, nodding.

So I was right, it is a school. Tempest thought to herself.

“Great! Did you meet any of the students?” Twilight asked grinning.

Tempest shook her head which made Twilight deflate slightly, but she didn’t lose her smile or upbeat attitude.

“That’s fine! You’ll meet them in time. But that leads to my next point, as my personal guard you’ll have many duties that come with this position,” Twilight unrolled a scroll which was identical to the one Tempest was given, so she opened hers too. “Now aside from your typical duties as a guard you’ll have “friendship patrol” duties as well.”

This table we are at is a magical map that calls others to help solve friendship matters all over the world. So, from time to time I may not be here. Should I not be present it is up to my Guards of Friendship to uphold peace and order in Ponyville as well as the magic of friendship in my absence or as the need arises. Any questions so far?” Twilight asked.

Twilight pulled out a single parchment and showed a diagram and list to Tempest. Tempest could not believe what she was hearing. She was well aware of the magic of friendship was a real thing, but a gourd of friendship? That seemed rather outlandish and a bit necessary. She wanted to speak these thoughts but she knew better than to ask questions she knew the answers too. She just thought it was odd, but everything was making sense so far. So in response to Princess Twilight’s inquiry she nodded her head saying, “Yes Princess.”

“Good, good. So now that that’s been made clear your duties are as follows,” She looked at her scroll and cleared her throat. “As a Guard of Friendship you, Tempest Shadow, will uphold the tenets of friendship as stated in your copy of the Journal of Friendship. In addition you are a representative of friendship as well as a guard and must keep this in mind while you conduct yourself in Ponyville and your daily duties.”

“Should a conflict arise you will act accordingly to the situation. If it is a friendship dispute you will uphold the Magic of Friendship and help the citizens as needed to the best of your ability. If you come across a law breaking citizen or such you shall act accordingly in line with the Royal Guards code of conduct but you WILL uphold friendship at all times for every creature. Is that clear Tempest?” Twilight asked in a kind tone trying not to sound too authoritative.

Tempest nodded. “Yes, I understand.” She said, looking at Starlight across the table.

The mare was munching on a large helping of food, and though the puffed cheeks waved to her unicorn friend. Tempest waved back smiling before returning her attention to Twilight.

“Anything else Princess?” Tempest asked taking another bite of her sandwich.

“Nope! That covers everything for now! Now let’s talk about your assignment!” Twilight bellowed.

The alicorn princess had such enthusiasm it was contagious. Tempest felt herself smiling at the overly excited mare. Tempest sat waiting patiently as Twilight calmed herself. Tempest observed Thunderclap watching Twilight closely as if she was expecting something to happen. Her body was stiff and she seemed to be ready to pounce on a moments notice. After a few seconds when nothing happened the guardsmare relaxed and resumed taking a casual pose.

Twilight sighed never losing her smile. Tempest waited patiently as Twilight summoned another scroll with her magic and levitated it over to Tempest who took it in hoof. Tempest examined the scroll unraveling and reading the contents. She donned a look of surprise as she read it twice over to make sure she understood it. It was the details of her first assignment that Twilight was talking about, and she could not believe what she was reading.

“Princess, is this-”

“Yeup, it’s your first assignment. All you have to do is do your duties, get accustomed to Ponyville, and make a new friend by the end of the week! Simple, right?” Twilight said, cheerfully.

“Y-yeah, easy." Tempest felt uneasy.

Being a guard, simple. Make a friend by the end of the week? This posting seemed more absurd the more Tempest thought about it. Sure she was able to make friends herself, but to actively seek one out? Was that really a thing?

Again doubt reeled its ugly head in Tempest Shadow’s heart making her feel unsure of herself. What was wrong with me? She thought to herself. I can lead an army against an enemy force with nothing but my armor and hooves, chase a alicorn across the world, and face terrible odds against overwhelming foes, but why is the thought of actively making friends such a scary thought to me? She wondered.

She pressed back the thoughts and feelings and tried to see the positive side of the assignment, She made friends with several ponies already including Starlight, Maud, and even Trixie after all these years. She was friends with Princess Twilight and company, why should it be difficult? Then again, she was a guard to the Princess of Friendship, so maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad?