Chilly wind swayed the flowers around, only tottering individual stems of grass the same way it did to tress or lesser plants that still possessed a significant size. Dead leaves together with petals and dust - mostly salt from the ocean and other tiny debris - easily flew into the eyes. It blemished the peaceful ambiance and anything positive that could have been felt by immersing oneself in nature.

But, it was lavish anyway considering how high she was. The garden wasn’t grand, but it would be insulting to those who made it to call it small. It was semicircular and served the function of a balcony. There were two entrances placed on the furthest points of the semi-circle; all because of a small waterfall that created a wavy forded brook, about two and a half meters wide. It was artificial and went down the rocks, all the way from its source. The brook cut the garden into two unequal pieces.

The Storm Fortress she was in, was partly built on a mountain’s elevation which climbed up to the heavens that with a few others composed a short mountain range. In between the mountains were two lakes constantly refilled with endlessly pouring rain coming from clouds that hung there due to magic. That is also where the waterfall had its source. The topic of magic on the archipelago and how it was connected to the two races inhabiting it intrigued her, but she never looked deeper into it.

Magic was something uncatchable for her at the moment. It will change soon though, in a week's time, she will be on her last straight path to regaining the abilities she lost in her childhood.

The peak of the stone massif was torn by powerful lighting, to create room for laying fundaments for a structure. Said structure was a tower which purpose was entirely dedicated to casting advanced magical spells and plenty of other magical actions. On the other peaks, there too were structures, but those peaks were not destroyed as there was no need for it.

The road to the fortress was preceded by a small village, where lived the staff, since they couldn’t sleep at the fortress or rest there for long periods of time. The relation of the village with the fortress was the same as that of a castle and its castle town, or fief of an abbey. The village possessed about three thousand inhabitants. Specialists had their homes there as well, their duty was to maintain the fortress most vital parts and were ready to fix it up in case someone went into a tantrum. Lower-class delegates who had interests with the bureaucratic elites or came for an audience after a long wait slept in hotels slightly above the village. Local barracks were situated there as well, so, not everyone was a traditional staff member.

One-third of the fortress was built inside the mountain. A few elements (like the balcony) stuck out with a view on the city of Thor, from the side of the Trident Bay. The city was more of a complex composed of civilian and military buildings; manufactories, workshops, schools for lesser magic, alchemical colleges, and institutes teaching the art of mechanical engineering. Education in such schools was oriented towards the militaristic effort. The state prepared for a potential long-lasting war with Equestria in case not everything goes to plan.

The ethnic population characteristic of this side of the archipelago dominated the “old town” district. It once was known as a separate settlement of about thirty thousand inhabitants occupying a large chunk of land so that everyone had their own few acres of land. It was the capital of the island. To this day, the region's center of administration is settled in that district. That slice of the city was cut off from the rest by a thin, fair grey ornamented wall, that separated poverty from wealth. Now, its population was greater due to migration.

The access to culture was strictly in the hands of the ethnic population and the distinguished official caste from overseas ruling in the new colonies or controlled directly or indirectly regions.

The entire local elite and the political base for it on the island could be traced back to this part of the city. The rest of the archipelago was also infected with functionaries from this city, but to a lesser extent. Only the settlements close to the island in other parts of the archipelago were dominated by officials from here.

It could be said to be a place of privileged individuals, apparatchiks, and power wannabes, riding on money from a previous era that never left the family's doorstep. She knew that coteries financed diplomas and certificates for talentless relatives drifting on a fragile foundation - prestige - looking for any reason just to avoid being sent to the front like their fellows from other towns and villages on the archipelago.

She was writhing internally on the mere thought that they get away with it easily. She had a few perks from that herself. Her position in the army was easily achieved thanks to corruption and favors. All this was possible thanks to her “master” and his laziness; here he started his career.

“Tempest!!!”

Her ears lay back, she glanced at last at the ground, drawing a pattern without order or sens with her hoof in the dirt beneath her.

Her plate armor which tightly fitted to her body didn’t capture a good portion of the charms of a female figure typical of an adult mare. She had a simple somewhat rectangular male appearance in her armor. Her sex was betrayed only by one vital component of her armor, her breastplate. The armor lacked two bulges on the chest for her breasts as the forge workers took a different and therefore more realistic approach. There was a sort of ridge running through the middle to the navel region, which extended the armor forward to form a triangle-like shape, with the underside facing up; as it progressed towards the tip it got shallower. This created an extra part for the gorget, where the edges of the underside were thick and forwarded, making it possible for a sword to be blocked if somepony desired to strike her by executing an undercut.

Tempest was lucky, when looking from a practical standpoint, that her breasts were just about average and allowed the walls of the protrusion and the angles between them to be soft, making the surface slippery for any weapon or missile.

But she wasn’t totally androgynous in her armor. No one would notice this in normal circumstances, but if behind her was something bright, then it would be possible to see that she still possessed some of her curves.

She went through the portal, poorly decorated, as if three rims were put inside each other. Doors that were used to close the entrances were metallic. Metal lines created the images of flowers and vines in interesting intricate shapes. In between the empty space was thick glass.

The interior floor of the throne room had a checkerboard pattern, the black tiles were made of obsidian, and the white tiles were made of some kind of stone that had an almost imperceptible baby blue hue in it. A wide red carpet ran through the middle, clearly conspicuous. The throne room was simple, very few things were inside. Columns were made from granite and placed there only to hold torches, with veteran guardsmen in pairs standing with halberds opposite each other clothed fully in armor, unlike regular shock infantry. The walls were dark and looked like were pure clean-cut basalt.

The throne was atop an alabaster pedestal placed under the wall facing the entrance, which ran along its length. Since rectangular shapes only would make it all bland, the inclusion was made in for of an isosceles trapezoid. To climb the stairs one had to take great steps forward as they were not for ponies or other “medium-sized” creatures. However, on the right side, there were steps she could climb effortlessly, made for "guests" and servants.

On the throne, sat the infamous warlord.

Storm King with his Staff of Sacanas in his hands.

"My dear, tell me how the preparations are going? I hope there are no delays."

"Yes, my lord," She said firmly and respectfully "Three armadas, five fleets each along with the landing forces are almost ready. "

He turned his ape-like face to her. His cerulean eyes stared at her intensely as a smile broke out on his face and yellowed teeth slipped out from behind his lips. Gross.

"And our puppets?"

"They chose to pay tributes."

He humphed and drummed his fingers on the floor as he lay across the throne. For those outsides the realm of oriental politics, tribute meant payment in the form of silver or gold as common sense suggested. Indeed, so did too the satellite lands of the Storm King’s dominion pay most of the time, however, extra resources and “workers” were accepted and preferred due to a storm brewing. They’d turn out to be far more useful than coins. The Storm King wasn’t stupid, although many could interpret him as being so, and allowed his subordinates to send regular military help instead.

Ambitious males of all races proud and loaded with hormones, carried by false smoldering hope set by their elders, thinking they’d learn something and use it in insurrections would perish when turned to dust from the raw unicorn magic, or turned to mush after being dropped by the pegasi, or die from injuries by fighting strong earth-ponies.

“Cowards” He simply commented and shrugged. He quickly turned towards her with excitement “What about our agents?” He chimed joyfully.

“ Everything is in its last stage.”

“It better be over when we arrive at Canterlot!” He raised his voice, but still remained in good mood.

“Do not worry, my lord, equipment will be shipped to Canterlot just before the invasion. The Intelligence Bureau and the Special Forces Bureau are sure of it. Your troops are going to be provided with the necessary material support to crush the resistance in the city.”

Storm King languidly stood up. He was a tall creature with a white coat and cold blue-grey skin. His armor was not far from Tempest’s schematic wise, with the difference that he had his leg and shoulder protection always off.

He didn’t wear it at the moment, it was placed on a rack in the corner, instead, he was wearing formal apparel with golden lining consisting of two parts; a tunic that resembled a doublet and matching pants. The collar of his outfit was stiff and standing like that of a coat, it was applique with golden threads with the pistils being white shiny gems, as well as were the filigrees styled buttons designed to resemble stereotypically depicted crowns. Around his waist was a sash wrapped around his waist which ends went over it from the bottom and hang freely by the side.

“You know that it's not the equipment we should worry about, Tempest.”

Indeed, what the Storm King had in mind were magical stones. These rocks were infused with magic from the archipelago, gathered by the structures on the mountain peaks. They would provide the troops with their natural endurance and strength, which withered away the more time they spent without in touch with magic native to the island.

What they shipped through the months to Equestria was not enough to make the troops capable of carrying out the most simple magical performances.

Fun fact; this is why the crest of the Storm Kings dominion had a cerulean shade. It was, so to say, the most sacred color as magical energy had that color on the island.

The symbols on the armors of all Storm King’s servants that were natives and ruling supreme race overseas in the new and old colonies had the symbol made from said rock embedded into the metal plate.

The dominion’s symbol that covered her cutie mark, and those on the armor sets of the non-native creatures who served in the military, was painted.

“It would be a shame to lose so much of it.” He said, changing his tone of voice to one that didn’t know what “protest” meant.

He neared her and came closer to her face. She hated him doing this, she felt the hot air coming from his nose, hitting her face, but she remained stoic, although the warmth sent a cold zap down her spine from the discomfort she was experiencing.

“Consequences would be - “ He paused and placed his left hand on her shoulder, carefully embracing it with his paw. He smacked his lips looking for a word “ - horrifying, you know.” He whispered softly putting more pressure on her shoulder.

He walked over and found himself behind her, placing his second hand on her shoulder, he and she gazed at the silver throne.

“The punishment delivered to those who would fail…” He drawled the words, speaking in half-whisper, almost hissing like a vicious viper. “...Would put the whole world into stupefaction. “

The silver throne of the Storm King, didn’t differ much in terms of the seat itself. It was what was behind it, that focused all attention on it.

“Is that clear?”

She felt the steam from his mouth wash over the back of her head, she wanted to go away, but he held her firmly by her shoulder. The sore raucousness of his tone, the deepness of each letter, was like a growl. Zealous ire held the harness.

“Yes” Although airy, her answer held serious gravitas.

He rested his chin on her head, while she stood in place like a pillar of salt. He slowly retreated his strength and his fingers to the point where only his claws remained in touch with her body.

“For the conference…” He amended the texture of his voice, sounding soft and caring, while he drew circles on her body. “...You should wear something elegant.”

He stopped and took his first steps towards the throne.

No.

She wouldn’t.

The nauseating smile of her inferior position was like a spark that set the explosion of her hatred. Her horn started to crack and zip as azure threads of electricity flickered in random directions.

“You’re dismissed” He waved his hand as he said it.

She immediately took control of herself and rotated on her heel to start storming out of the throne room. As she took the first step, the abrasion of her metal shoes against the floor let out a soul-piercing screech.

The Storm King flinched and with a scowl turned “Tempest!”

She stopped, the same effect followed, this time the Storm King only closed his eyes.

“What did I tell you about walking in here and making that damned noise?!”

She mustered herself to act like a well-trained actor, she swallowed her emotions, and used the aching feeling coming from restraining them as fuel for her play. She staged a false image of her being sorry, as she responded:

“Pardon me, my lord”

He scoffed and turned away from her. She continued this time without any provocation.

Author's Note

Ok, I know I said it would take some time until another update, but a smaller chapter is something I think would be a nice kick to start introducing the other main character of my story.
Besides, I think I owed you a little more.

Then again, a story, be it fanfiction or just regular fiction, gains autonomy when the light of a foreign eye shines upon it and can convey a message the author himself didn't know was possible for it to show.

I'll try and make the future chapters longer (about 5k to 6k words).

Leave a comment if you see an error or just would like to show support!

Please have in mind the official book written by John Helfers was read by me, I'll use it as a reference. Green text means that the following part is true about Ardania and can be found in the book.