//------------------------------//
// Chapter 03 
// Story: The Armada Trilogy II: Beautiful Eyes 
// by TheMysteryMuffin 
//------------------------------//

Celestia's Quarters

Knock! Knock!

The door to her majesty's royal quarters rattled against the fist of Spike the Dragon1 as he banged on the hard gold that the door was decorated with and then stopped, waiting for a response from the other side where Princess Celestia and her relatives were. Spike expected when he and Twilight arrived that there would be a delay before somepony would come and serve them, as Princess Cadance was really the central guest for the day. But thankfully, their wait wasn't too long, as the door eventually opened to reveal a white stallion in golden armour. He bowed before Twilight and then stood to the side, opening the door wider for her to come in.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," the stallion said, "and Spike the Dragon; please come in. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are both expecting you. They also have Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire inside."

Twilight and Spike slowly walked past the guard and into the royal quarters of Princess Celestia. More servants went over to them and cleaned off the dirt and dried up their wet overalls, throwing off the loose water and letting it run into the drains that were embedded into the marble floor. 

"Thanks," Twilight began, "but really, we're-"

She, unfortunately, didn't have a chance to finish though, as the servants took off Twilight and Spike's cloaks and took them into a steam room. They then wrapped them up in white fluffy dressing gowns, before making them sit down in a chair; one for each of them. Then, a young mare tied up Twilight's mane into two pigtails and then placed two small pink bows into the knot, and another mare brushed Spike's scales until they shone brightly in the light of the room. Before they finished, the mares used a pair of scissors each to trim at Twilight's mane and Spike's hairy chin (after all, he was growing up). After a quick look in the mirror, both Twilight and Spike turned a shade of crimson.

"Oh, my... you really didn't need to do that," Twilight said, "but thanks anyway."

The maids giggled quietly, covering their mouths with their hooves trying not to show their cheeky smiles. Spike also laughed nervously, but then stopped when Twilight gave him what could perhaps be described as the "stare of doom", which made Spike gulp in embarrassment. Thinking that she had perhaps put too much fear into her loving companion and friend, Twilight removed her expression and replaced it with a frown. The maids saw how disappointed their "customers" were and suddenly turned apologetic.

"Sorry, princess," one said, "it was Celestia's idea, not ours."

Twilight rolled her beautiful, lavender eyes before getting out of her chair and picking up Spike with her magic and placing him next to her, before setting off to where the princesses were, knowing that the maids would be trying to stop her from running off while blowing perfume and other bizarre beauty products. Eventually, though, the ponies gave up chasing after her and allowed Twilight and Spike to run off to Celestia's living quarters, trying to dodge past more servent ponies, who turned out to be pegasi, offering tiny samples of food placed on silver trays that they were balancing on their wings. Twilight soon found herself running through the huge maze of corridors that she was faced with and started panting for air. But thankfully, they didn't need to run for too long, as Twilight and Spike arrived at the doors to the room where Celestia, Luna and Cadance were in. Twilight suddenly stopped without warning, making Spike fly off her back and slam into the pair of doors in front of them.

"Ow!"

Spike collapsed to the floor face-first, before getting up again and looking up at the giant, golden doors that were closed in front of him and Twilight. After coming to his senses, Spike knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Twilight, on the other hoof, was a little embarrassed about throwing her companion into a door and was about to apologise before Spike turned around and gave a cheeky laugh.

"It's okay, Twilight. I'm not hurt!"

Twilight smiled, but then straightened her face when the door opened to reveal Princess Cadance, which was unexpected as usually there would be a guard or servant who would answer the door to any guest. Still, it was nice to see her old foal sitter once more.

"Twilight! There you are! Oh, and Spike of course! I'm so glad you two could make it! Please, come in and rest. You both look pretty tired."

Twilight nodded quickly.

"I've been so busy with important legal documents on how Mount Aris and Seaquestria are wanting to join the Kingdom of Equestria back at my apartment. Princess Celestia, I'm sure, is pretty exhausted with all of this, and I've heard that she particularly doesn't want Kludgetown to join the kingdom at the moment. All this political madness has drained all of our energy and patience, to pretty much a point where we can't continue doing this any longer. I just hope that Tempest Shadow has some ideas on her mind."

Cadance made a dissatisfied expression after hearing Twilight's comment. It was clear that each and every ruler in and out of Equestria were all up to their necks with work on how to fix their worlds after the invasion of the Storm Armada, thanks to the insane plan of the Storm King and his Storm Creatures. But before she could make a threatening statement towards the Armada, Cadance remembered that two of those who worked for the Storm King were both now living in Canterlot, very close to where her aunt and Luna were staying.

"I'm so sorry to hear that you have so much on your hooves at the moment," Cadance said, thoughtfully, "I am sure that after we have found a way that we can fix everything that has been destroyed by the invasion, then we can help tie up wounds that we are all suffering at the moment and move on to a bright future in and out of Equestria. I wish that someday we will all live in peace and there will be no hate or discord, not referring to our friend here, within our lands."

They kept walking on until they reached where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were. Princess Cadance opened the doors to the room and bowed before her relatives.

"Auntie, Luna, Princess Twilight and Spike the Brave and Glorious have both arrived."

Twilight and Spike appeared from behind Cadance before walking over to Celestia and Luna. Both Celestia and Luna placed a smile on their faces, trying hard to hide away their disgusted expressions towards each other, however as the Princess of Friendship, Twilight knew very well that they were arguing again. Celestia went over to Twilight and gave her a hug.

"It's good to see you again, Twilight. And it's also nice to see you as well, Spike."

Celestia then pulled away from Twilight and trotted backwards a few feet, before stopping.

"It's good to see you too, princess," Twilight replied, "but I don't get this... er... fashion that you've put me into. Putting my mane into two pigtails and adding bowes as well? Rather strange if you ask me."

Both Celestia, Luna and Cadance giggled.

"Sorry about that, Twilight," Luna said, joining the conversation, "it's just something that we wanted to try. We have thought of having mares and fillies put their manes into pigtails and having all stallions, colts and other male species shaved so that at least every guest looks formal enough to attend these sort-of meetings, let's say."

Twilight raised her left eyebrow.

"Right. Say, when are Tempest and Grubber arriving?"

"Soon," Luna replied, "however, I heard that the traffic is terrible in Canterlot at the moment. It's become worse ever since peace had been restored in Equestria. Again, many of the nations have been demanding a change in their position in the country and wanting to extend the kingdom further and further. We are expecting a referendum soon for the civilians so that we know which lands to include and leave outside of Equestria. Things were simpler when mummy and father were ruling the kingdom, but ever since they passed away, peace has always been a fantasy in and out of Equestria. Both Celestia and I are now old, while you, Twilight are young and wise."

Both Twilight and Spike placed a nervous look on their faces, suddenly feeling worried about what would be happening for the remainder of the day. But before they could protest against Luna, there was another knock on the door. Another guard went over to answer who was knocking and opened, to reveal Tempest Shadow and Grubber standing in the doorway. There was a moment's pause when Twilight and Tempest saw that they both had the same style of mane and accessories that came along with it. Tempest was speechless, but Twilight was able to talk first.

"I see that there's a fashion trend happening here?"

Celestia nodded behind her back.

"Yes, Twilight. I thought it would be nice to see the both of you done up this way. It reminds me of when both Luna and I were young and our deceased mother used to dress us up in these designs of dresses and make up our manes the way that you have yours now. I'm sure you girls won't mind."

Twilight particularly didn't mind, but she could tell by looking at Tempest's facial expressions that she wasn't too pleased about it all. After Twilight gave her a reassuring wink, Tempest grinned back and tried to play along Celestia's vision for the pair of them. Tempest just hoped, though, that that would be the last embarrassing thing that Celestia would do to them.

"So, er, why have you asked me to come here, exactly?" Tempest asked Celestia.

"Come and sit with us, and I will explain why Tempest."

Tempest didn't argue back at Celestia. She trotted over to a large sofa and laid down, stretching her back legs out into the air, leaving room for Grubber to sit at the end. Tempest then turned her head to look at everypony in the room and waited for one of them to start.

"As you know, I have asked all four of you to come and see both myself, Luna and Cadance for an important meeting. I wanted just for a moment to discuss how we are going to nationalise Equestria and which lands should be included in our country. I have heard rumours that Seaquestria wants to be included in the kingdom, under the word of her majesty Queen Novo and her daughter Princess Skystar. However, that is not the only land that wants to be part of the Equestrian Kingdom, as I found out last night."

Twilight and Tempest both looked at each other with confusion.

"And what land wants to be part of the Equestrian Kingdom, your highness?" Tempest asked.

Luna suddenly gulped, catching everyone's attention, before answering the question.

"Well... er... shockingly enough, Tempest... it's your birthplace."