The Armada Trilogy II: Beautiful Eyes

by TheMysteryMuffin

Chapter 04

Tempest's jaw opened like a trapdoor that had come off its hinges, but did so in silence, for she was too shocked to find any words that would make sense or relate to what Luna had just said, to come out of her red lips. The topic had suddenly become something that was beyond toxic to Tempest, as she would never think that the princesses of Equestria would be interested with the land that was outside of the country's border lines. However, remembering that after the defeat of the Armada, the lands that were occupied by the Storm King had become independent and were rumouring that they wanted to join the Kingdom of Equestria at some point, then again that wasn't important at that particular time. This was about her birthplace... the one place that for many years she wished that she never went back to, but at that particular time, there was something in her mind that made her think of perhaps seeing what was left of the village that she was raised in before she was taken in as a slave to the Storm King.

"My... my home?" Tempest repeated back, "but, why?! It's just a tiny village in the middle of nowhere! Why do they want to join the Kingdom of Equestria? There's nothing there; we don't do anything for anypony."

Luna looked at Celestia almost anxiously after Tempest's reply, pulling a concerned expression on her face. They were finding out for themselves that this was going to be quite a difficult meeting for them with Tempest. The only hope, or "Plan B" in another point of view, was Twilight herself. Then again, was Twilight any part of this? If then, Tempest knew that she was completely outnumbered in the argument. However, despite the friction that was waving through the room, Princess Celestia simply continued talking on.

"Your village does have history, Tempest, but only a small amount of it," Celestia explained, "you see, a few years after you left, the village wanted to send a message across to the Kingdom of Equestria that they wanted our laws to protect the injured and... well, cursed. This means that any citizen is entitled to be protected from any form of discrimination or harm from another creature... or an invasion from another nation."

There was a short pause, but Tempest quickly responded.

"Right... I see. Strange; I thought everypony would have left there by now. I thought it had become a ghost town years and years ago. There shouldn't be anything left. I thought its civilisation either simply died out or moved on."

Luna shook her head back.

"No, Tempest. Luna can see that there is still life. Luna has seen in a vision that Tempest's village remains alive and well. Its residents still live there and have made more citizens over the last fourteen years. Both your parents are also still alive and are both well."

Tempest's eyes grew wide, stretching out as far as they could. Her right eye, though, began to hurt from stretching, as its scar was being pulled in both directions. Tempest quickly placed a hoof over her eye, trying to stop and ignore the pain, but the stinging continued and caused Tempest to groan. Twilight quickly grabbed some pieces of ice from her glass of water and wrapped the pieces into a thin cloth that was sitting on the table and placed it over Tempest's eyes, before finding a long strip of material and tied the ice pack over her scar. Tempest hissed like a sinister snake at the pain when the ice and the scar connected with each other, but bit her tongue in order not to swear, especially in the presence of the princesses of Equestria.

"Well, that's nice to know, your highness," Tempest replied back, in a sarcastic manner, "but I'm sure that my parents won't want to see me anymore, and if I'm going to be bluntly honest, I don't want to go back to my birthplace, because I know that no pony would want to see me. And if they do, I feel that there's a very high chance that I'll be stoned to death by the residents for my crimes committed when I was working for the Armada for the previous fourteen years. But then, would they have heard of the Armada? The Storm King never went that far, thankfully, so the name of the Armada may never be known in that area outside of Equestria."

Twilight blushed at Tempest's rudeness to Luna, trying to lighten the atmosphere in the room. However, Spike, who was happily eating away at the food on the tiny table that they were all sitting around, stopped and frowned at Tempest with disappointment.

"How dare you talk to the Princess of the Night with such ruddiness! You are a mere mortal, and you dare talk to a goddess like me?!"

Tempest and Luna looked at each other's pair of eyes and glared back. Twilight gulped and sunk down in her chair trying not to get involved. However, the tension soon lifted, when Celestia cleared her throat and gained everypony's attention, making Tempest and Luna lose eye-contact with each other.

"Princesses and companions, please. Can we all just calm down for a moment? I understand that we are in a stressful situation. There is no need for throwing threats at each other and blaming ourselves for things that have happened in the past. We can't move on from events that have happened if we can't hold a peaceful discussion with each other! I know that Equestria is still is despair from the invasion of the Storm Armada and the Storm King, but we can't just sit on our flanks and blame each other for things that we barely have done. As the ruler of Equestria, I have come to the decision that Princess Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Brave and Glorious, Lieutenant Tempest Shadow and Grubber will come along with me to Tempest's old village and make something work for her village and the Equestrian Kingdom. We will meet up with the current leader of the village or land that it occupies and we will make an agreement of some form. I don't know why this has to be so hard for you all to understand what I'm trying to say!"

Celestia was thankful that her outburst had finally brought silence and peace to everyone who was sitting around the table, however, it was perhaps a silence that was not as pleasant as it could have been. Nevertheless, Celestia was thankful that the arguing had, at least, come to a halt while she was trying to discuss on what she was intending.

"Now, my decision that those who I have named who will come along with me on this journey is final. Luna and Cadance will stay here and look after the kingdom while I'm gone. I understand that usually, Twilight would bring her other friends along with her on trips like these, but I feel that their presence is irrelevant for this particular journey. We will leave tomorrow morning at daybreak so that when we're wondering out in the desert, it will be cool enough to walk through. So then, on the second day, we can walk the last few miles to Tempest's home before the heat is at its worst at midday."

Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof in thought, thinking of all the possible calculations that could be made whilst attempting this journey to Tempest's birthplace. She also wondered why on earth Tempest's village wanted to be part of the Equestrian Kingdom. Wouldn't that mean they would have to follow under the rules, laws and reconciliations of Princess Celestia instead of their own? Then again, Equestria was one of the few places in the world that weren't completely consumed by war or destruction. Who was even in charge of this village? If its citizens wanted to be part of the Kingdom, then the village would have easily expanded and become well known over the last fourteen years. But surely there was something on a much larger scale than just the thought to be part of a kingdom?

"The weather in the desert won't be pleasant, princess," Twilight said, trying not to be rude, "it's sandstorm season and there could be bounty hunters out there."

Celestia raised an eyebrow, before getting up from her seat and standing up to her full height. She towered over Twilight, Luna, Cadance, Tempest, Spike and Grubber like a bear on its hind legs and glared back at her formal student.

"We have to go back, Twilight. If I am to sort out this business with Tempest's birthplace, then we must travel, regardless of its obstacles. My decision is final."

Author's Note:

Comments

[Texus]

"How dare you talk to the Princess of the Night with such ruddiness! You are a mere mortal, and you dare talk to a goddess like me?!"

goddess of stupidness

I don't remember if that is Tempest job or something, but I don't like the way they force her to go there. I'm mostly against everything that happens against the main chars will. Especially if the princesses do that kind of stuff.

This is more or less about how they did it.

[TheMysteryMuffin]

8997286
I feel that adds the suspense of the premise of the story. I would like to develop this more later on in the story.

[Silentwoodfire]

Realistically they're talking about a rather large undertaking... Any lands/territories that join up will need to be brought up to spec with Equestrian norms. That means new infrastructure being built, ideally to begin a rail-line leading to these places with associated facilities, equipment and staff either trained on-site or pulled form in-country. That first step alone would allow materials, ease of transportation, and whatnot from the heartlands to the outer reaches. From there it quickly speeds up once those simple facilities are in place, starting with potentially beating back the desert with a earth pony or twelve and reclaiming more land for living/farming. Other aspects like healthcare and trade would see a boon from such being implemented with ridiculous ease. You mentioned Nurse Redheart, so either the EHS already has a firm enough outer presence that they would merely benefit from lower shipping costs of medical supplies, and ease of staff rotations.

I can't wait to see what you do though