The Armada Trilogy I: The Lieutenant

by TheMysteryMuffin

Seven

Canterlot, present day

"Woah, woah, woah!" Spike said, interrupting Tempest's story. Twilight was just about to dip a chocolate chip cookie, but thanks to the sudden outburst from her trusted companion, a piece of her delicacy fell into her cup of hot chocolate and began dissolving into tiny pieces of crumbs. Twilight frowned, but soon came to her senses when she wondered what made Spike interrupt what Tempest was on about.

"What about your friends? What about leaving town? What about-?"

Tempest raised her hoof in the air, causing Spike to halt his collection of questions.

"I can assure you, that I will get onto that very soon."

Twilight lifted up the stand of trays that held scones and jam buns and placed it near to her, where she picked up one of the scones. She started eating the tasty treat, whilst listening to Tempest.

"There were many other days that I can't remember or were just like any other day that I experienced before I lost my horn to the Ursa," Tempest explained, "probably because those were days doing homework or just studying back in school, with a hood on all the time. Thankfully, no pony knew about the loss of my horn, apart from Avon, Star Myth and the headmistress of course."

The group were already on their third cup of tea and Twilight had to turn onto the fifth page in her notebook, for she was writing down notes about the history that Tempest had given in her story so far. She wanted to, at a later date, to reference the notes on history on the outside of Equestria twenty-five to thirty years ago. Even though both she and Tempest hadn't lived that long, the description Tempest gave was what it still would have been before she was born. There were history books in her library, including the one at the Castle of the Two Sisters, which proved this. After all, Tempest didn't lie anymore.

"You should get to the bit where I come in!" Grubber said, nudging Tempest. The unicorn sighed, before placing an arm over her assistance.

"Yes, I will," Tempest said, "I would never forget about you, Grubber. But I'm still talking about my fillyhood home at the moment. I'll save the adventures for last."

"I'm sure you've had many amazing adventures across Equestria, Tempest!" Spike added, "And I also can't believe that you met Princess Luna as well, but I thought that she was banished during that time?"

"Luna said that she could still access dreams for a short period of time," Tempest explained, "she is an alicorn princess after all."

"Celestia can only use her magic in Equestria, so that meant the outskirts of the land was an easy target for her younger sister," Grubber added, "besides, she was one of Tempest's only friends back then."

After a quick scowl from Tempest, Grubber stopped talking, allowing a chance for the others to eat more of Twilight's delicacies.

Twilight then put the tray of scones onto another table and then pulled out a box of colourful cupcakes, which had a stamp placed on top of the lid.

Delivery for her majesty and royal highness Princess Twilight Sparkle. With love from all at Sugar Cube Corner.

"Let me guess, Pinkie Pie?" Tempest asked. Twilight grinned in response, along with a chuckling baby dragon sitting next to her.

"Yep, probably the nicest and friendliest pony in all of Equestria!" the princess replied, "Here, have a cupcake or two."

Tempest reached out both her hooves and picked up a pink cupcake. She smiled, for she hadn't seen food that had been presented so beautifully. The Storm King rarely lived on fine food back in his ruling days, except when he invaded a wealthy part of the world, like Canterlot for example. In fact, Tempest had never seen a banana before either.

The unicorn leaned forward towards the yellow boomerang shaped fruit and gave it a sniff. She picked it up and tried to see how she would eat this peculiar fruit. Tempest started biting the banana with her teeth but found the taste disgusting. She gave it to Twilight, who happily peeled the skin off the banana, before giving it back to Tempest.

"What do you call this thing?" Tempest asked.

"We call it a banana," Twilight replied, "you eat the stuff inside, not the skin."

Tempest gave one bite of the banana and then spent a while chewing on the same piece of fruit for a while. She licked her lips, not noticing the pieces of fruit getting stuck on the outside of her mouth. Spike cringed, before nudging Twilight to tell Tempest about her eating habits. Being a good friend, Twilight picked up a napkin and wiped the mess off from Tempest's lips. Tempest blushed, turning a shade of bright pink.

"I like this thing that you call a 'banana'," she said, "remind me, Grubber, to visit the market later today to buy some on the way back to our quarters."

"Will do, Lieutenant."

Twilight then pulled out her notebook again and started writing more notes. Spike noticed that she was struggling to read what she was writing and then picked up her glasses case and handed it over to her.

"I don't like wearing them, Spike!" Twilight snapped, "They make me look like a nerd!"

Spike pulled a blank expression, before becoming deadpan.

"You're already a nerd, Twilight."

Twilight giggled and then placed her glasses on her nose. Immediately, her vision became better and she went back to writing. Her quill wrote at great speed, too quickly for Tempest to keep up on. She didn't bother to ask Twilight what she was writing about, so she remained sitting down and eating more of Pinkie's cupcakes. Another cup of tea was required to help her finish the cupcake she was eating, before continuing her story.

"I have more to say," Tempest said, "more about my hometown. The last day over there."

"Of course," Twilight replied, "please continue, Tempest."

Tempest cleared her throat and took another sip of tea before she carried on her story.

"So it was the next day and my friends asked me if I would join them for another picnic, but this time away from any Ursaes. My parents agreed, as long as we stayed in the village, so I packed my things up in my bedroom and got myself ready in a plainer dress than the one I wore before..."

Author's Note:

I know this chapter was short, but again I wanted to give you guys something.

Next chapter will go back into Tempest/Fizzlepop's past (again). I want to get the story moving on from this point on, so chapters will be longer from now on.

Stay awesome and remember, Twilight loves you all!