The Armada Trilogy I: The Lieutenant

by TheMysteryMuffin

Four

Canterlot, present time

Twilight dropped two lumps of sugar into a cup of tea and stirred the contents with a small silver spoon. The sugar lumps floated in the tiny pool of tea and were tossed and turned by Twilight's spoon. The tea was splashed about and mixed with the flavour of the sugar. Then, she grabbed hold of the jug of milk and poured it into the cup. Afterwards, she took a sip and sighed with relief.

Tempest remained sitting in the comfy chair that she had been sitting in for quite some time now. She was beginning to feel too relaxed, but that didn't stop her from talking about her story.

"Wow, Fizzlepop" Twilight said in awe, "it's amazing to hear about life outside of Equestria. I never really understood it when we were travelling around in the previous months, but I'm surprised to know that there were functioning towns and cities."

By this point, Grubber had fallen asleep on Twilight's sofa and was resting on her favourite cushions. His mouth was wide open, resulting in his saliva to pour all over the cushion and onto the floor. Twilight cringed at the sight and regained her attention towards Tempest.

"It was a town for local ponies only," the crimson unicorn explained, "we rarely had a visitors. Not even Princess Celestia ever came close to the area that we lived in. But then, it was an advantage from invaders looking for new land to conquer."

"Her town was famous for being a pit stop for travelling ponies who were walking long distances," Grubber added, "no royalty ever went there, but then again they didn't need to. Other towns were designed for tourists and had accommodation for them to use. Her town was really just any other town."

"Were there dragons in the area?" Spike asked, eating a gem cupcake.

"None whatsoever, Spike" Tempest replied, "no other beings. Only ponies."

"Being the only child, were you ever lonely?" Twilight asked.

"Never!" Tempest answered, "I had friends, remember. We would do things together, such as buying new furniture or just hanging about on the pavements. And there were the school trips around the wastelands of Equestria. I remember visiting Manhattan when I was eight. It was the furthest I had ever travelled and going to see Manedonna on stage at the royal theatre. The first artist that I fell in love with!"

"Her school was well known outside of Equestria, which was why they managed to raise enough funds to go over all the way to Manehatten and stay there for around a week or so" Grubber explained, "that was the first time in a long period when Equestria had seen that there was life on the outside, including in the wastelands."

Grubber grabbed hold of a small cupcake and tossed it into his mouth. He swallowed it whole and then burped afterwards. The rest of the group looked at him deadpanned.

"Do you have to be disgusting all the time, Grubber?" Tempest asked her companion.

"Ah, sorry boss. I'm just hungry."

"You're always hungry."

"Going back to the conversation," Twilight said, butting in, "you described your home being a pit stop in the wastelands. Did you witness any form of crime or disharmony?"

"Oh, where do I begin?" Tempest exclaimed, "There was crime nearly every week in the wastelands. There would be thugs awaiting for the inexperienced and slavery was, of course, popular not so long ago. It was really when you, Twilight, came to power when it started to fade away. Still, we needed to be careful who we talked to. You could tell who was a local and who wasn't, which was why we never left the village by ourselves. We had a guardian to protect us and let the village know when we would return home."

"Like a babysitter, then?" Spike asked.

"Well, yes, but with a sword or something like that."

"And there was rarely any contact outside the village?" Twilight asked.

"Barely. We were a village that depended on itself. No pony else."

No pony talked for a while, which gave Tempest a chance to sip her tea and grab a small cupcake that Pinkie had made the other day for Twilight. She bit the cake and tasted the rich raspberry flavour that came out. Tempest never had raspberry before in her whole life. She loved it.

"Pinkie's made loads," Twilight said, "just ask and I'm sure she can give you a box full of them."

"Thanks, Twilight, I would love that!" Tempest said, "Isn't Pinkie the one who believes that her tail can explain what is to come in the near future?" Twilight laughed.

"That's the one!" she replied, "Pinkie's one of Ponyville's friendliest residents."

"Well, I'm glad that there is indeed happiness in Equestria again!" Tempest laughed, "And I'm sure she'll spread it all around."

"We're going to be organising trips to the outskirts of Equestria," Twilight explained, "we want to spread friendship as far as possible and make every creature feel that they are at peace rather than at war with us. The concept is that we make sure we bring all creatures together and help grow the outside of Equestria with new advantages, rather than staying with old techniques that our ancestors used years previously."

"Princess Cadence has been writing to her officials in the Crystal Empire to come and join us to head back over to the places we visited not too long ago now," Spike added, "I'll also be joining with some of them so that we can talk about trade."

"Sounds adventurous!" Grubber exclaimed.

"Not really," Spike replied, "It's rather boring, actually."

"Anyway, let's not bore ourselves with Equestrian politics!" Twilight said, "Let's hear more about you fillyhood."

Tempest put her cup of tea down on the table next to her and started again on her journey.

"So it was Hearth's Warming Day and myself and my friends were heading out to play hoofball..."

---

Fourteen years previously...

There was a loud knock on the Berrytwist's door on the morning of Hearth's Warming, which distracted Sandals from doing work on the Hearth's Warming meal and Mrs Berrytwist from decorating the table ivy and red berries.

"I've got it, mummy!"

Fizzlepop called out to her mother as she ran down the stairs to the front door. She had just finished getting her mane ready to leave and she was wearing a dark blue dress over her crimson body. She was even wearing lipstick over her smooth, thin lips and had her eyelashes curled.

"Are you even ready, pudding?" Mrs Berrytwist asked her daughter. She blocked Fizzlepop from getting to the door and went over to her to check if she looked smart enough to go out. Fizzlepop's mother tightened her dress and horseshoes and cleaned off some of the grime that had landed on some of her jewellery. She brushed off some dust and pony fur that had stuck itself from previous fittings and checked if Fizzlepop's hooves were shiny enough to be presented.

"Have you washed?" Mrs Berrytwist asked.

"I have, mummy" Fizzlepop replied.

"Ok, go on." Fizzlepop walked her way over to the door and opened it with her horn. There on the porch were her two friends wearing winter clothing and holding some presents for the Berrytwist family.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Fizzlepop!" the lime-green unicorn said, "I have something for each of you."

"Thanks, Avon, you're awesome!" Fizzlepop replied, "Please come in, both of you!"

Avon and the blue stallion walked into Fizzlepop's house and gave their presents to each of the ponies. Afterwards, Fizzlepop gave them each a present as well.

"Look mummy!" Fizzlepop said cheerfully, "Avon and Star Myth have given us presents!" Mrs Berrytwist smiled and went over to the unicorn fillies and colt.

"Why thank you, Avon!" she said, "That's so nice of you. You too, Star Myth."

"It was nothing, really!" Star Myth said, chuffed. "We just wanted to wish you a happy Hearth's Warming, that's all!"

"Aren't you kids going to spend the day with your families?" Sandals asked, coming in to join the group.

"They're alright," Avon replied, "neither of our families are doing anything that interesting, so we thought that we can spend the day with Fizzlepop if that's alright with you two."

"Don't worry kids," Sandals said, "we have talked about this with Fizzlepop. She can join you guys, but make sure you're back at your homes for your Hearth's Warming meals."

"We will, Mr Berrytwist," Star Myth said, "we'll be fine."

"Before you kids go off, we have some presents to give you two." Mrs Berrytwist said.

Fizzlepop's mother went off to pick up two large red presents from under the Hearth's Warming tree and gave one each to Avon and Star Myth.

"Wow, thanks, Mrs Berrytwist!" Avon and Star Myth said together.

"You're very welcome dears," Mrs Berrytwist replied, "now go out and enjoy yourselves!"

"Thanks, mummy!" Fizzlepop replied, "See you guys later, right?"

"Have fun!" Sandals said. Fizzlepop and her friends went outside and closed the door behind themselves. Mrs Berrytwist watched them leave and waved at her daughter. Afterward, the group of fillies were had left under her watchful eye, Mrs Berrytwist went back to sort out the rest of the stuff for Hearth's Warming and then back to cook the food.

"Are you sure that they'll be fine, honey?" Sandals asked his wife.

"I'm sure that they'll be fine," Mrs Berrytwist replied, "I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"

---

After ten minutes of trotting along the snowy path, Fizzlepop and her friends reached a field where they could play hoofball. Star Myth pulled out their favourite hoofball and started bouncing it along as they walked from the pavement to the field. Avon pulled out a blanket to sit on and Fizzlepop started making a snow pony. Soon, they were starting to relax and just do something that wasn't related to studying. Avon looked through her picnic basket and picked out a few treats to have and placed them on a tiny foldable table.

"Please do not tell me I've forgotten the cucumber sandwiches!" she exclaimed, "I swear to Celestia, if I have, I will be damned!"

Fizzlepop was just putting on the head of her snow pony when she noticed that it was missing a tail at the back. So, attempting to not get her beautiful dress covered with snow and ice, she leaned down and packed a log shaped pile of snow. Afterwards, with her magic, she attached it to the snow pony.

"Is your mother okay with you wearing that dress in the snow?" Star Myth asked. Fizzlepop turned her head round to face him, as well as holding the leg of the snow pony in place.

"Mummy does care too much on how I look in public," Fizzlepop explained, "so if anything, she would make sure that I had even more beauty to show off."

"I see..." the colt said, trailing off in thought. Avon got on all four hooves and then gave out some ginger beer to her friends.

"Thanks, Avon" Fizzlepop said to her friend, "I believe you made this by yourself, is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Avon replied, "but your mum gave me the recipe."

"How does your mum organise so much in so little time?" Star Myth asked, pausing from playing with his hoofball. He discovered that the ground wasn't so good for bouncing his ball, so instead, he put it down on the blanket.

"She's just... very good at it, I guess?" Fizzlepop replied, "She's the most organised pony in our house. That's what she's talented most at."

"I can't argue with that," the colt said, "if you don't mind Avon, I always wanted to see how your school project for next year's going to be." The filly laughed.

"I'm afraid it's too early to say!" Avon replied, "That's also very out-of-the-blue, don't you think?"

"I guess."

"You're always saying things randomly!" Fizzlepop laughed.

"Thanks(!)" Star Myth replied, rolling his eyes like they were loose marbles. He restarted bouncing his ball and counted how many times he could keep the ball in the air.

Just as he was reaching 40 kicks, Avon threw a snowball into Star Myth's eye which caused him to lose control of the ball and let it roll down the snowy hill.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Avon cried, "I didn't mean-!"

"It's okay, Avon," Star Myth said, "I'll get it."

"I'll help!" Fizzlepop added.

The three little ponies trotted down the snowy hill to where the ball went off to. It was slippery and sometimes too difficult to stay on four legs, but that didn't stop them from getting to the bottom.

They stopped as they saw that their ball had gone into a small, dark cave that was surrounded by signs warning ponies that there was a large bear inside. Fizzlepop looked at the signs and wooden boards that covered the entrance of the cave, but that didn't stop her from walking in. But Avon had a different idea.

"Don't go in there, Fizzlepop!" she whispered, "There's a bear hiding in there. Maybe we should get an older pony to help us retrieve it."

"We can do this on our own, Avon!" Star Myth said to her, "We're not babies anymore!"

"There's a sleeping Ursa in there!" Avon warned him, "It's just too dangerous. The ball's alright, the bear will roll it out."

"Fine..." Star Myth snapped. Avon smiled and began to turn back. "Fizzlepop will get it then."

Fizzlepop and Avon froze still at the response to Star Myth's comment. They couldn't believe what he had just said. Their best friend was making them head into a tricky situation to just get a ball.

"It's too dangerous!" Avon added. Fizzlepop had a moment's though, before making up her decision.

"I'm going in," she said, "you don't have to follow me." The crimson unicorn walked on, leaving the other two behind her.

Fizzlepop looked around at the state of the cave. It smelt of faeces and rotting meat that the creature inside had eaten in the past. She didn't dare light up the cave, for she feared that the creature would wake up. After a feel around on the floor, she found the ball and picked it up.

"That wasn't so hard," she said to herself, "I don't know what Avon was talking about."

Fizzlepop began her way out of the cave, only to stop at the sound of an approaching a baby Ursa, a transparent giant bear. The bear walked right up to the little filly and raised its huge paw into the air. In fact, because the creature was so big, it's paw was scraping the ceiling as it swung forwards towards Fizzlepop.

The little pony gasped and then attempted to stop the beast with her horn. She attempted to cast a stunning spell that would prevent the Ursa from attacking her and throw it back into its cave. Then, she would escape. But that didn't follow to plan, as the Ursa scraped its paw across Fizzlepop's head and smashed into her horn, causing magical currents to light up the whole cave and frighten both Fizzlepop and the creature.

The Ursa screeched before rising up onto its hind legs and started waving its arms about. Too frightened to move, Fizzlepop remained lying on the floor. She watched as the creature went berserk and stomped on the ground in fear. The only hope that the little unicorn had left was her two friends.

"Sweet mother of Luna!" Avon cried. She and Star Myth had trotted into the cave to find out what the commotion was all about, to discover a baby Ursa attacking their best friend. Fizzlepop looked up from the floor and saw her friends.

"What are you waiting for, Fizzlepop?" Star Myth shouted in confusion at his friend. "You have to run!"

Fizzlepop got the message and ran towards the exit of the cave. She collapsed into the arms of her friends and was dragged outside into the open. Avon and Star Myth gasped at the sight of the unicorn's broken horn, before taking her as far away as possible from the Ursa. The damning creature roared like a lion and clawed up pieces of dirt while trying to catch the three little ponies.

"I think we're losing him!" Avon cried with joy, "Quickly, we need to get you to your home at once!"

After a short while, the two ponies galloped into a run and carried Fizzlepop all the way back to the village.

---

Mrs Berrytwist had herself distracted by hanging up the laundry whilst Mr Berrytwist was working around the back of the small cottage on some fencing that needed to be put up. They were both in different worlds at the time they were doing those jobs, so both forgot that their daughter and her friends were out on Hearth's Warming Day.

The winter breeze then swept through like thought and alerted Mrs Berrytwist to put her scarf on before she caught a cold. After she did that, Mrs Berrytwist continued hanging up the remainder of the laundry but soon realised that some pony wasn't where she was meant to be. She called out to her husband.

"Sandals? Do you know when Fizzlepop and her friends will be returning?"

Sandals Berrytwist stopped fixing the cottage's fence and looked at Mrs Berrytwist.

"They should be coming around now," he replied, "I'm sure they'll be back soon." Both unicorns continued working on what they were doing, with Mrs Berrytwist looking out every so often, just to have a glance at the street to see if her daughter was coming up. It wasn't until around midday when the couple soon saw a small group of three unicorns coming up, two holding one on each shoulder and dragging them as they walked towards the Berrytwist's cottage.

Mrs Berrytwist became concerned and walked towards the group to investigate. Once she was close enough to see, she sprinted towards her daughter like a gazelle and gave her a giant hug.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried, "Honey, what happened?" Fizzlepop couldn't answer, for she was in too much shock. Her expression had turned grey and lifeless. Only her friends bothered to answer.

"It was an Ursa, Miss" Avon explained, "It attacked Fizzlepop. We were playing hoofball and the ball went into its cave and Fizzlepop went inside and the creature sliced her horn off her head." Sandals Berrytwist looked directly at Avon like a still statue.

"Did you just say that there was a sleeping Ursa, here in this village?" he asked.

"That's correct, sir," Avon responded. The Berrytwist couple couldn't believe what they were listening to. "It was an accident sir, honest." Mrs Berrytwist sighed.

"It's okay, kids," she said, "you guys head home and spend Hearth's Warming with your families. I guess it looks like we'll be taking Fizzlepop to the hospital this afternoon." Sandals Berrytwist groaned and took Fizzlepop inside, whilst Mrs Berrytwist watched Avon and Star Myth walk home in embarrassment and shame.

---

The waiting room in the hospital was empty, for once, and the atmosphere inside was cold and very white. White indeed, for the walls were colourless and had no life. Fizzlepop found this a tad haunting as she waited on a tiny seat with her parents for her doctor to appear. No pictures of adorable cats or puppies, no colouring sheets, no books. Just a large fish tank placed directly opposite to around twelve or thirteen fish swimming about without a care in the world. Fizzlepop tried to focus on that rather than feeling the throbbing pain that was going through her horn and the sheer embarrassment that she was going through with her parents. Was she the first known unicorn to have lost her horn and have it shattered into pieces?

It didn't take too long for a light-brown Pegasus mare to come out of one of the surgeries.

"Fizzlepop Berrytwist?" she called out. The Berrytwist family went through into the Pegasus' surgery and sat down on yet another row of tiny plastic chairs.

"Wow," Mrs Berrytwist whispered to Sandals, "the EHS* is really going cheap this year!" The Pegasus went over to Fizzlepop and stroked her mane.

"Oh you poor thing!" she said, "Are you okay, Fizzlepop?" Her patient hissed as the Pegasus touched Fizzlepop's head.

"Yeah, I'm..." Fizzlepop groaned, "...okay, but my horn feels really weird. It's like a massive hole in my head and all I feel is my magic getting stirred up. I didn't know that unicorn horns are delicate enough to smash through." The Pegasus used a magnifying glass to look closer to at Fizzlepop's horn.

"I'm afraid so, dear" the doctor replied, "they are more vulnerable than the heart of a unicorn. They are what makes a pony a unicorn. I must say that I have seen damaged horns before, but never have I seen one that has been smashed to pieces. In order to know what I need to do, I must ask you how this actually happened."

For a short while, there was a bitter silence before Fizzlepop started her story.

"Well, myself and my two friends were playing hoofball, you see?" she began, "I was going to kick it back, but the ball rolled down a small hill and went into a large cave. My friends didn't want to go in, so I volunteered to retrieve the ball. Once so, I picked it up and saw a... a..."

Fizzlepop trailed off, which caught the doctor's attention.

"What did you see, Fizzlepop?" the Pegasus asked.

"A baby Ursa." The doctor froze.

"Sweet mercy..." she whispered, "...those creatures haven't been seen in the area in the last twenty years or so. Did you do something to wake it up?"

"No, ma'am, I just went in to get our ball back" Fizzlepop replied, "my movement must have woken it from its sleep."

The Pegasus started writing down some notes on some sheets of paper on her desk. The sound of her pencil was the only thing that Fizzlepop dared to listen to, instead of listening to other ponies walking and talking through the corridors of the hospital that made the place less peaceful than it should've been. But then again, were hospitals meant to be some sort of holiday resort? Not really. Deciding not to complain, Fizzlepop remained sitting still and waited patiently for the doctor to do something.

"Okay, Fizzlepop," the Pegasus said, "I'm going to bandage your horn up and stitch up your scars. In about a month's time, I'll take the bandages and stitches out. Is that okay with you?"

Fizzlepop remained silent for a while, before answering the doctor's question.

"That's fine, thank you." The Pegasus then left her and closed the door behind her.

---

Mr and Mrs Berrytwist waited on the tiny plastic chairs for their daughter to come out. They had distracted themselves with leftover magazines that previous patients had left behind, but their distraction soon ended when they saw Fizzlepop's doctor walk out. In response, both parents got up onto all four hooves.

"How is she?" Mrs Berrytwist asked. The doctor rearranged her glasses before replying back.

"She will live, but her horn is completely smashed" she explained, "I can't save that, unfortunately, but I can clean up the wounds and stitch up the cuts over her eye and face. She is lucky to live. I recommend that she stays at home until she's completely healed up again." Mr Berrytwist looked concerned.

"Does this mean she'll have to leave her school then, for unicorns?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so," the doctor replied, "but I'm sure that she can study somewhere else. I know that she's a smart unicorn; perhaps the library? She says that she has a taste for myths and spy stories."

"Oh, she sure does!" Mrs Berrytwist said, "It's about time that she got herself a small job. I think we could go for that. Can we see her?" The Pegasus shook her head.

"Not yet," she replied, "after the stitches are done and she's been cleaned up. We'll give her some new clothes to wear, as the ones she was wearing have been soaked with unicorn blood." The Berrytwist couple looked at each other, before turning round to sit back down on the plastic chairs again. They knew that it would be a long while until their daughter would be able to come out of the hospital. All they could do was just pray that their daughter would be fine.

Meanwhile, the Pegasus doctor was busy cleaning up Fizzlepop's wounds and had the stitching ready. She used a soaked sponge to wipe away the blood and had tweezers to pick out the broken shards of horn that had bedded itself into her patient's skin. Fizzlepop felt no pain, thanks to the medicine that her doctor had given her. It took around twenty minutes to get all the pieces of horn out of Fizzlepop's skin and lots of paper towels to put them in. The doctor distracted Fizzlepop by asking some questions.

"So, what do you want to be when you grow up?" she asked her. Fizzlepop thought for a moment.

"A travel writer or join the army," she replied, "it depends which army though."

"I see." The Pegasus poked some of Fizzlepop's flesh and worked her way through her head, reaching as far down to her skull. The pieces of horn and other debris were put into a pot for further investigation. Afterwards, the Pegasus then started cleaning more of the wound and stitched up the exposed areas of the head. Then, she cleaned up the scars on Fizzlepop's face and neck and started stitching them up as well.

"How do you feel?" the Pegasus asked. Fizzlepop breathed.

"Fine," she replied, "I feel no pain."

"That's good dear," the Pegasus said, "I promise, Fizzlepop, you'll be fine. In a week, I'll remove the snitching and everything will be healed. I promise."

You promise, Fizzlepop thought to herself, I trust you.

Author's Note:

*EHS is a joke referring to NHS that we have in the United Kingdom. It's meant to stand for Equestria's Health Service. I thought I may address that.

Comments

[TheMysteryMuffin]

8646466
Opps, thanks for letting me know! Please, I'm happy for you or anyone to alert me on misspelt words. It will really help me!

Stay awesome and keep on rocking!

[TheMysteryMuffin]

8646492
Yep, just heard that from another reader. Thanks anyway for letting me know. I've addressed that mistake on all references to the place in question. Please tell me if something's wrong; it will make my life easier when publishing future chapters.