//------------------------------//
// Eleven 
// Story: The Armada Trilogy I: The Lieutenant 
// by TheMysteryMuffin 
//------------------------------//

Behind the building that Tempest had just been dragged out were hundreds and hundreds of ponies all tied up together wearing masks over their muzzles. They were all lining up to board onto parked skiffs that had the Storm King's logo plastered all over its main body and were being patrolled by many of the Storm King's frightening guards. The ponies and creatures that were attached to the long line of chains couldn't look up, due to the fact that their masks were attached to the chains. 

The ground of the Storm King's harbour was covered with pony faeces and rubbish that had been blown by the wind, throwing away all traces of colour. The cries of ponies being separated from their loved ones and best friends haunted Tempest, as the Storm King took her to his skiff, that was parked ready for boarding. He grabbed hold of Tempest's hoof and dragged her onto the skiff, who was then followed by gangs of the Storm soldiers and the rest of the slaves. Tempest could only look back and see the scared expressions of the slaves, who could only look back at her. 

The Storm King led Tempest through the inside of the skiff until he reached the control room of the skiff. Inside was Celaeno, the parrot pirate, who looked as if she had been badly beaten by the guards. She was sitting on the floor with her back to the wall and watching everything that was happening around her. There were chains around her ankles and cuts all over her face. Tempest was thankful that Celaeno wasn't blinded by whatever type of blade attempted to scar her completely, but before she could call out to say hello, the Storm King placed Tempest into a large chair and then sat down in his thrown.

"So, Miss Tempest Shadow," the Storm King began, "I hear that you are not from Klugetown, the central market town outside of Equestria. You seem very educated to be a non-equestrian. It says here on your documents that you've been taught Latin, Ponyish, English, Equestrian and Icelantic; that's impressive, as many of my troops can only speak English or, very rarely, Equestrian. Where exactly are you from?"

Tempest breathed in some air whilst thinking of an answer. 

"I'm not from Equestria, your Highness," she replied, "I'm from a tiny village with no name. It was lost in translation years before I was born. My parents are also unicorns and I'm the only filly in the cottage."

"I see," the Storm King said. He rubbed his long white beard whilst thinking of what to say next. He glanced over at a globe that was sitting next to his desk, which was torn and ripped by what seemed to be claws. Eventually, he looked back at his guest. "Many of those who have worked for me are not so... clever. For example, that hedgehog of Capper's isn't the brightest, but he sure knows how to talk to the lower classes of ponies. I do want a pony to help me order my army to attack in ten years or so the land of Equestria and even the grand city of Canterlot."

Tempest gasped, before falling to her knees.

"Your highness, Equestria hasn't even attempted to invade your land!" the crimson unicorn cried, "You can't invade it. Princess Celestia wouldn't allow it!"

The Storm King burst into laughter before banging his fist on his desk. Tempest backed away, before falling onto her flank. The fury soon came into the Storm King's voice as he got to his feet and snapped his jaws at Tempest.

"There is no creature in Equestria that can tell me what to do! You are one of those who dares attempt to get in my way. I will take you to one of my training camps, which I'm sure will drill some sense into you and turn you into a great soldier of mine!"

Tempest gulped. She was no match for training camps, especially if it was going to be run by a complete maniac, such as the Storm King. Shouting, manual labour, weapons, blood, sweat, tears and the like. 

"But sir, I am merely a student. I'm no match for your training camps."

The Storm King laughed loudly.

"Oh, Tempest! You can make me really laugh, you know that? Every creature that has worked for me has overcome their weaknesses and have become great leaders such as myself. Soon, every stretch of land will be ruled by me and together, we will become the most powerful creatures to have ever lived and we will get rid of Celestia once and for all!"

Tempest opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out.

"I think that you will make a great soldier in my army," the Storm King continued, "however you will need to be trained by my Commander and other squadrons. So far, judging by the injuries that you possess, I think that you are no match for what lies ahead. You will be taught to defend yourself, but as you are only ten years old, I will go easy on you... for now."

The Storm King looked through piles of paperwork, including Tempest's identification documents. Tempest managed to completely change her identity in the last few days that she had been living in Kludgetown with Capper. The photograph clearly showed her broken horn (which Tempest first refused when asked to remove her hood for the photo) and the scar over her eye, which was healing very slowly. Tempest was thankful that the EHS managed to cover the costs for her treatment back in her home village, but she would still feel the odd burn of flesh when she was exposed to the sun.

"You will have disability cover costs whilst training with me," the Storm King explained, "I will alter the training as well. You will have a partner to work with, which will be Miss Celaeno, the anthropomorphic parrot. As you took the place of the hippogriff princess known as Skystar,  you will take her role as a private in the army. Who knows? Maybe I could promote you."

"If you promise not to hurt my family," Tempest said, "then you have my word."

The Storm King then looked up in thought, thinking of something that came to his brain. He then looked down at Tempest and grinned.

"I can promise you another thing as well, Tempest," the Storm King said, "if you help me attack Canterlot in the near future, then I will use the magic that I possess there to fix that horn of yours, so that you will become "whole" again like any other unicorn. However, this will be a long-term event, one which will involve some work that will go towards this. You will be given a magic mask, just like the other unicorns training alongside me, and you will go through the different stages of training at one of my camps."

"But I have no magic, sir."

"You are still a unicorn and you will have to wear the mask."

Tempest wasn't in the mood to argue with her leader. Besides, she had gotten this far. She couldn't go back home now, surely? Not after what had happened.

"Then it's a deal, sir."

The Storm King grinned, before getting back on his two feet. He walked over to Tempest and grabbed hold of her mane, which made the unicorn yelp with pain. The Storm King's claws dug into her skin, causing a small amount of blood to pour out of the tiny holes where his nails dug into. He simply, without a struggle, dragged Tempest along the floor over to his office door, where he walked through the sea of Storm guards and prisoners.

Because Tempest's hood was off, she did grab lots of attention from the other ponies who were being led onto the skiffs ready to be transported to the central base of the Storm King Armada. It was also rare to see the Storm King out of his office helping his troops gather up prisoners. 

The Storm King dumped Tempest in a small pen, which contained unicorns and other non-pony creatures. Celaeno was also sitting down, slumped up against the wall. She was badly injured, with scars and scratches. But alive at least. Tempest was thankful that she wasn't dead and rotting in a pit somewhere. She was about to ask Celaeno if she was alright, but then she was grabbed hold by the neck and a unicorn mask was placed over her muzzle. Tempest groaned but soon gave in, as her magic was no match for the mask or the Storm King's magic. She was then thrown into the pit and tied up against the wall by one of the guards. 

"You will hold great power," the Storm King said to Tempest, "but first, you must ask yourself, are you a soldier or simply a pony?"

The gate closed behind the Storm King and the room was fallen into darkness.

The tiny glow of a unicorn's horn only managed to light up the eyes of their own and another's next to them. When they understood the message, they too lit up their horn. Soon, every unicorn (apart from Tempest, of course) had their horn glowing dimly, allowing Celaeno to look at Tempest.

"What... what are you doing here?" she asked her.

Tempest could only sigh at first. She was so tired and barely had any energy to talk. Her horn sparked a few flakes of magic, but she just didn't have the strength to produce any spells. Not just yet.

"I took Princess Skystar's place."

There were gasps and murmurs across the room. Tempest could tell that they were the voices of various ages and sexes. One of which was a little filly and the other was an older stallion. Celaeno edged a little closer, trying not to put too much pressure on her chains. The raw metal was digging into her flesh and the smell of old blood lifted the room. But no one dared to be sick, as that would make the situation that they were already in even worse.

"You... didn't..."

That was all Celaeno could say with her scarred mouth. She coughed up some blood, but nopony attempted to help her. No one was a doctor or knew what to do. Celaeno then looked back up and looked into Tempest's eyes.

"Open up your eyes, Tempest. Who's side are you on?"

Tempest couldn't answer that question. Technically, she was still on the rebels' side. However, she saw what the Storm Armada could do; they had the power to torture and enslave those who got in their way. She had a choice to make; join the Storm King and live in harmony, but yet torture her friends or be tortured alongside the innocent, but yet die painfully as nothing but a mear slave.

"I... I just wanted to help the princess..."

Tears started to fall from Tempest's eyes. They were dirty and salty, nothing like what they were back when she was still living in her home village. The pain from her scars and hurtful feelings attacked Tempest like a storm, battering against her without caring where it hit her. All she wanted to do was find someone to help her get her horn back and now she was a slave to a fearless ruler, who seemed to only care about taking over Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria. 

"You did help her," Celaeno added, "but you didn't help yourself. You don't seem to be as heartless as I originally thought you were to be."

Tempest looked directly at Celaeno, fury coming to her senses and the urge to swear back at her was uncontrollable.

"Well... I didn't want to go back to that hell-hole, anyway! Quit being an ass, will you? We're going to be helping the Storm King, aren't we? At least we're not being executed!" 

The room fell silent from her outburst, which made Tempest regret her actions towards Celaeno. There were a few mumbles and grumbles from the other prisoners, which made Tempest hideaway in the corner, crying quietly. 

"I miss my mummy..."





Canterlot, present day

A tear came to Twilight's eye after Tempest finished her sentence. Grubber and Spike were both doing the same, pulling out hankies and wiping their eyes. Twilight was on her third cup of tea and was trying her hardest not to take another cookie, as she was on a strict diet from her doctor after she was reported to be going obese. 

"That's... awful..."

Twilight's words were tangled up with her sadness and fear. Spike tapped Twilight on the shoulder. Twilight looked at him and smiled, before picking him up and sitting Spike on her lap. Spike laughed and grabbed hold of another cookie and started nibbling on it. 

Tempest raised her hoof and smiled.

"I know it was hell for me and everypony else," she replied, "however I was trained by some of the best ponies and monsters in citizen service. The army did me good and at least I was trained to kill... oh wait, that's not something that friends do, right?"

Twilight froze with a frightened expression on her face. 

"No, not really," the alicorn said, "however, Tempest, by judging that you're still here talking to us, you survived the training at the Armada. What is that anyway?"

Tempest and Grubber looked at each other and gave each other a grin before Tempest began explaining.

"The Armada is the futuristic army which was originally going to rule Canterlot and the rest of Equestria in ten years time or something. They were the future of Equestria, turning everywhere into an industrial state. Despite the defeat of the Storm King, there are a few still roaming around Equestria, who are still to this day planning to destroy Canterlot and it's monarchy, replacing it with a president." 

Twilight and Spike looked at each other again.

"Is this true?" Spike asked, "So, what happened next?"

Tempest put down her cup and saucer and then sat up straight.

"Okay, so I'm going to skip some years here. I think I was about eighteen when myself and Celaeno were promoted by the Storm King himself. He also told me, in secret, his real name..."