//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: The Armada Trilogy II: Beautiful Eyes // by TheMysteryMuffin //------------------------------// Celestia gasped for air, as her head popped out of the sand, looking around to see the remains of the destroyed skiff. Rumble poked out from the mounds of sand, appearing around her, and the sound of the engines flickering away at what power remained in their circuits. Sparks shot out and the sound of electrical waves hovered around in the air. Trying to get away, Celestia fought her way through the thick sand but failed to notice that she was on top of a tall mountain of sand. When she leaned forwards, Celestia was dragged down by the sand and thrown down to the bottom of the mound. Shooting the sand with her magic, Celestia jumped out and collapsed, sliding down the hill along with the loose sand where she popped up from. Celestia slid down and eventually stopped when she reached flat and more level sand. She placed her hoof and then her whole body weight onto the sand, and discovered that it was actually solid enough to walk across. Looking back behind her, Celestia saw the destruction of the skiff, suddenly realising what she had done. The skiff was now a wreck, leaving nothing but the metal skeleton and its frames that once held everything in place. The walls were scorched with burnt marks and it smelt of fire. Despite her efforts, Celestia couldn't do anything to save the skiff. She jumped into the air, flapped her wings and landed on some solid sand. Twilight then used her magic to lift Spike, Tempest, Grubber, Capper, Skystar and Celaeno, and place them on some sand. Twilight tried to go back to the skiff, but another explosion from the engine appeared and forced the Princess of Friendship to stay back. "Ugh... is... anypony there?" Twilight asked. At first, there was a brief silence. But then, a green head appeared from the sand, followed by a pair of claws and the scales of a young dragon. Twilight sighed with relief, as she rushed over to Spike, picking him up in her hooves. "Spike! Oh, thank goodness! Are you okay?!" Hearing Twilight's voice, Spike responded, slowly moving his head. He coughed and grasped onto Twilight like a small child not wanting to leave his mother. Twilight gasped and smiled, before leaning in closer and giving Spike a hug, crying with relief that her life-long friend was okay. "Yeah... I'm... okay, Twi." Twilight giggled, crying more tears. She held Spike close to her as he was a soft toy that she could never give away. Twilight looked around and tried to recognise any other forms of movement in the chaos that surrounded them. For a while, nothing moved, apart from the odd piece of fabric that was blowing around in the wind. "Oh, Spike... how could this have happened?! Who did-?!" Twilight suddenly cut herself off, as she realised the two missing ponies, Celestia and Tempest, including Capper, Grubber and Skystar, were somewhere buried in the sand and just underneath the wreckage of the skiff. Twilight, who was frantically looking to see if any of her friends were okay, noticed some arms poking out from some of the wreckage. Using her magic, Twilight tried to pull one of them out. It was hard work, as the metal frame was heavy and was weighed down by other wreckage. Twilight then swung round and threw the metal frame to the side, to reveal a slightly dusty and shaken Capper. Twilight helped Capper climb out and then went over the remainder of the wreckage to find the remainder of her friends. She managed to uncover Skystar trapped deep in a hole and then found Grubber with his head trapped in a container. After she pulled them back onto the steady ground, Twilight then tried to look for Celestia and Tempest, who were still missing under the large mess that they had caused. "Princess Celestia?!" Twilight cried. No reply. "Tempest, where are you?! Is everypony alright?!" There was still no response from underneath the rubble. Panicking, Twilight rubbed her hooves over her face, only to suddenly realised that she had spread some drops of blood, although thankfully the sight wasn't too gruesome. Twilight collapsed again and was dragged down by the large mounds of sand. Trapped underneath a thick layer of sand, Twilight looked up and noticed the top of Celestia's horn appearing from above the sand. It was still, lifeless and looked more like a monument rather than something from a living creature. "Is that... her?" Skystar asked, pointing towards Celestia. Twilight galloped over and dug her hooves into the sand, rummaging around, trying to dig out as much as Celestia's body as she could. Twilight's friends helped her dig out what was Celestia's head and tried to pull her out from the thick, sinking sand that was slowly engulfing her. Skystar, Capper and Spike tried to pull Celestia out of the sand. After doing so, they carried the princess over to some of the wreckage of the skiff, hiding her from the heat of the sun, and made her lie down on the soft sand. "Celestia? Are you okay? Please, say something!" There was no response from Celestia whatsoever. Capper tried to find a pulse around Celestia's neck, hoping that he could still feel a heartbeat. After a moment of silence, Capper sighed with relief. "She's fine... she's just unconscious." Everypony else, especially Twilight, sighed happily. Skystar and Celaeno then went over to Celestia and held up a sheet of cloth above her head, hoping that it would provide some shade from the sun. "If only she could use her magic to bring down the sun," Capper said, tapping a paw against his chin, "unfortunately, Luna has the power to raise the moon and she's in Canterlot. So we're just going to have to wait for when it's dark before we can carry on." Another spark shot out from the smashed skiff, making every creature jump. The skiff continued to burn, with fire shooting out of its engines. "Clearly, we won't be travelling in the skiff any longer," Spike added, pointing his claw towards the wreckage. Twilight shook her head. "I may be no mechanic, Spike, but that skiff looks like it's going nowhere." Celaeno walked around the wreckage of the skiff, looking around and squinted into the distance. Everywhere looked the same, apart from the horizon which went into the sunset, where a thin trail of hooves wandered off to where no naked eye could see. Peering down at the tracks, Celaeno recognised them to be the tracks of hooves. The hoofprints of a pony. "No sign of Tempest?" Celaeno turned around and saw Skystar behind her. The hippogriff walked up beside Celaeno and both stared into the distance. It wasn't until Celaeno pointed towards the tracks, that Skystar knew what she was on about. "Well... maybe just one sign..." Twilight got up and went to see what Celaeno and Skystar were looking at. Once she recognised it as hoofprints, she turned around and went to check on Celestia. Grubber was helping Spike to try and make Celestia as comfortable as possible. Grubber wrapped Celestia in some cloth, before adding more cushioning to rest her head. "I guess we should follow her, then," Twilight said, "...Tempest knows where her village is anyways." "One... last... hill..." Suddenly, Tempest noticed that the sand was slowly turning to a grey rock and that the surface was solid. She stumbled a little, but eventually, she made it to the rocky ground. Placing one hoof before the other, Tempest slowly made her way across the dead valley towards a patch of greenery, where all of a sudden the ground suddenly became wet and moist. It felt as if it had recently rained and there were giant puddles which looked more to be tiny ponds. Frogs hopped around, enjoying the wet territory, and it was then when Tempest could hear the rain coming down, hard and fast. "Great..." Tempest thought, "...that's all I need now." The willows were tall and their branches hung down like long arms protecting something below. They dripped heavy droplets of water and made the ground below wet and slippery. The mud was easy to turn from something solid into a brown liquid and what looked like a dirty stream of water. The rain hit the flowers that poked out of the ground like cannonballs trying to destroy something, but yet the flowers remained standing and refused to come down so easily. The temperature was warm and moist; it was like inside a greenhouse, but yet it was outside. A cricket's tune could be heard from about a few metres away. It was soothing, yet reminded Tempest of a tropical rainforest. She had forgotten the exotic scenery that surrounded her home. After all, it had been fourteen years. While looking around, though, Tempest noticed that not much had changed. Sure, there were a new few trees that had grown over the last fourteen years and some areas were heavily overgrown, but Tempest could recognise the same path that would eventually end up at her hometown. There were hoofprints in the original path, all of which belonged to the ponies who lived in the village. Tempest saw some that went towards the village and away, while others went to the left and then to the right, some going up and some going down, some going on forever and some that just stop somewhere, indicating that the pony who owned those tracks didn't finish their journey. Tempest lifted her mane out of her face and looked straight ahead. There, in the distance, was a tower of smoke, appearing from a hidden valley. There was mist covering the rest of the town, keeping it hidden from Tempest's view. She wondered if it really was her home, though. Everything looked so different and... wrong. Everything seemed to be overgrown and untouched for perhaps during the time she had been away. Things looked so simpler when she was a ten-year-old filly, but now they looked so mysterious and different. Staring straight ahead, Tempest couldn't see much, but the thick, white mist that lay before her. She placed one hoof in front of her. Squelch! It was so wet and mucky. Tempest lifted her hoof and saw that it was now covered in a dull green clay. It dripped from her hoof and splatted back on the ground. Unknowing of what was actually there, Tempest simply stood still and refused to continue onward. She thought about turning back and seeing if her friends were okay, especially Princess Celestia. Turning her head around, Tempest looked back and saw the small hole that escaped back the way she came. It was the last bit of land that she felt was free and not a dark, dangerous labyrinth of dangers that lay ahead. But something held Tempest back from returning to her friends. "I'm almost there. I know that I'm almost there." Tempest voice shivered in the cold weather. The hot temperature of the desert was far behind her and though it was easy to think and focus, Tempest struggled against the cold wind that blew against her fur. It hurt so much. The urge to just give up was playing on Tempest's mind, but she refused. She could see the tower of smoke rising in the distance; it was black and consumed most of the sky, including its clouds that were producing more rain than ever. Just as she neared the civilisation in the near distance, Tempest froze as she spotted a figure wrapped around in a brown, scruffy cloak, standing still just ahead of her. The figure was clearly a pony, but most of their features were hidden from underneath the cloak, including its face. As Tempest trotted closer, she noticed that the pony was busy digging up the ground with its hooves. Then, using its magic, the pony pulled out some potatoes from the ground and placed them into a sack. Tempest clearly knew then that this pony was a unicorn; she remembered that the majority of residents at her birthplace were unicorns. For a while, the pony didn't notice Tempest watching it and continued doing its daily business. It wasn't when Tempest backed up behind a rock when she stepped on a branch, which snapped loudly. Shocked by her own disruption, Tempest hid from the pony, who turned its head back and looked around. "WHO'S THERE?!" Tempest shuddered at the pony's voice. It was sharp and sounded disturbed. Although, something was oddly similar about her voice that Tempest noticed. It suddenly reacted a memory in her head as soon as she heard it. Where did she hear that voice before? Hiding behind the rock, Tempest responded back. "It's okay..." Tempest replied, trying to find the words, "...I'm harmless, I swear. I have no weapons on me. Besides... my magic doesn't work anyways." There was a brief pause. The cloaked mare inched forwards, as if curious of Tempest. She lowered herself to the ground on her hooves and tried to look larger than she really was. Tempest lifted the hood of her cloak up and tried to hide her face as well. She didn't want to scare this pony by showing the face of one of Equestria's ex-criminals towards an innocent pony. Hiding behind the rock, Tempest waited for the other pony to speak. "What are you doing here?! No creature has ever set hoof in this town for years. There hasn't been a single resident for the last fourteen years." Tempest swallowed the nerves down her throat, feeling the stinging inside her body and causing her to panic slightly. Though this pony looked quite ancient at first site, Tempest was beginning to sense that could be strong enough to throw her out of this vast wilderness. She was threatening and seemed as if she was business. "I'm... it's complicated..." Tempest explained, "I've come from Equestria on behalf of Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia. They had been asked to come to a village near here to discuss some political matters. I swear that I am a meer companion, with no intention to harm to you or to anypony." Peering to the side of the rock, Tempest noticed that the pony had underneath its cloak a small knife that was pointing towards her, whilst being levitated by the pony's magic. She had to come in slow and seem like an innocent traveller, rather than a threat. "Where are Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia, then? If you say that the ruler of Equestria is coming, then why isn't she here... with you?" The regrets of her actions brought a tear to Tempest's eye. If she had just remained calm whilst facing against Celestia on the skiff, then none of this mess would have happened. "We crashed... a few miles back... I... I escaped and continued on hoof. I just want somewhere to stay for a while. I hear that you're from a town. It's not far from here, is it? Could it be the town that I have been seeking?" There was a moment's silence. The only sound was in the background, where Tempest could hear the sound of the rushing wind and the drops of rain. She waited for a response, but the pony didn't reply. Trying to prove her innocence, Tempest lifted her two front hooves in the air, just above the rock she was behind. "It could be..." the mare replied, "...how can I know that I can trust you..." Slightly frustrated by not being trusted, Tempest huffed and kept her front hooves in the air, still behind the rock. "See? I have nothing on me. I'm just a simple traveller. I don't even have my magic anymore, well, what it used to be. It's a complicated story. My horn... it's-" "COME OUT WITH YOUR HOOVES EMPTY!" the mare interrupted, her horn lighting up, ready to attack. Tempest slowly got up onto her hooves and sneaked around from behind the boulder, still with her hood up and the features of the top half of her face hidden away. She trotted out and then stood a distance of five metres away from the pony she was encountering with. "See?! I'm just a pony. A simple mare travelling somewhere. I mean no danger or offence to you or to anypony here. Please let me pass. I need to find... somepony." Unexpectantly, the mare then tilted her head to the side, as if examining Tempest. She showed an expression, that somehow, showed as if she had seen Tempest before. The mare looked down, seeing the crimson (now rather muddy) hooves and looked as if a memory was suddenly falling into place. She suddenly dropped back and looked as if she had seen a ghost. The mare was speechless but managed to release a breath. "Yeah, I expected that. Everypony hates me, don't they? I'm trying to sort things out that I messed up. It will be very kind of you if you stopped threatening me and took me to the place that I have been looking for with my other friends back there. I left them behind, though, and... after this, I need to go back and get them." The mare staggered back and Tempest frowned. She didn't look scared or terrified, but rather surprised. However, this surprise looked as if this mare could recognise Tempest like... like she knew her from somewhere. Tempest, now rather worried, stepped a hoof back and closed her jaw shut. She breathed through her nostrils and shuddered in fear. Tempest was now afraid that this mare could run off and cause an alarm or try to find something to take her down. After all, now that she wasn't fighting anymore, Tempest had lost some of her strength and could only last for a small fight before she was taken down. "Why...? Why are you looking at me like that?" Tempest asked, "I'm... I'm not a freak you know! I'M NOT A FREAK! I get it now; YOU ALL HATE ME! But I'm not a freak!" Tears started to well in Tempest's eyes, turning into streams of dirty water and dropping into the ground, disappearing forever. Tempest whimpered, before starting to cry properly now. Her lips shuddered as if they had lost control and were panicking in this rather emotional situation. Everything suddenly felt as if it was all closing into Tempest, hunting her down and pinning her to the last point. Tempest then sat on her flank and cried, like a filly who had lost her mother and couldn't find her. Except, that was exactly the case for Tempest. Unless. Unless. Unless. "You're not a freak, Fizzlepop. And you most certainly are not a monster." Tempest then froze at the sound of her real name being said. She removed her hooves from her face and looked up towards the other mare. At first, the emotion and thickness of the tears in her eyes prevented Tempest from recognising the pony she was looking at, but when the mare removed the hood from her head, Tempest's heart suddenly stopped. The mare was a slightly darker crimson to Tempest's fur but looked rather similar, as if it were somehow connected in some way or another. Her mane was short and hung just above the mare's beautiful eyes, a bright red that somehow reflected in the light of the sun. She looked like she was in her mid forties, but yet somehow her skin showed no wrinkles or signs of ageing. When the mare moved in front of the sun and blocked its sunlight, Tempest saw certainly knew who exactly was standing in front of her. "You look beautiful." Those words freed Tempest from her trance, making her stand on her hooves again and looking directly at the mare's face. There was no need to speak, no need to cause any action and there was no need to make a sound. But Tempest couldn't hold the word back, which had been at the tip of her tongue for fourteen years. "Mum?"