If there was one thing Tempest loved it was being able to take a refreshing bath or shower after a tiring day.
She preferred the water not to be too hot as it bothered her especially where the scars were.

Tempest looked around to make sure one last time that everything was okay.

Not that there was much since the only thing they had with them were pieces of wood and supplies of food and water.

They decided that before washing themselves it was better to fill their water bottles to avoid drinking dirty water, even a little.
The water seemed clean enough, it wasn't perfectly crystal clear but they couldn't complain, furthermore their bodies didn't run any risk from drinking slightly dirty water.

The first to dive into the water were the subordinates since they were the ones who had struggled the most, both because they were all wearing armor and also did not have the physical resistance of alicorns.

After they were done they stayed to dry off and then went to do their chores and rest.

Now only Tempest, Celestia and her faithful student were missing.

“What are you waiting for?”

Tempest heard Twilight's voice calling out to her.

The princess of friendship had already immersed herself in the water and now she was splashing in the pond.

However, Tempest was standing on the shore watching the water.

She was undecided whether to take a bath with her suit and armor on but she understood that it wasn't a good idea, after all the purpose was to clean herself up and remove the sand from her body.

Tempest wasn't used to being seen without anything on, the only ones who had seen her undressed after she acquired the armor were the crew of the Seashark and her assistant Grubbering her when he helped her get dressed .

"There is something wrong?"

Tempest was brought out of her thoughts as soon as she heard Celestia's voice.

The white alicorn was waiting on the shore next to her and was now looking at her as if she knew about Tempest's worries.

Oh right... since yesterday Celestia and Twilight had also seen her "in all her glory".

What difference did it make now? There was nothing left to hide, at least not from those two.

“Nothing, I was just thinking.”
With that said, Tempest quickly took off the obsidian plates and then the suit.
Then she took all the clothes and put them aside, later she would give them a clean.

As she was about to dive into the water she saw that Celestia was still on the edge of the water and was looking at the pond as if it might attack her at any moment.

In that moment Tempest realized that she wasn't the only one having second thoughts.

“Afraid of water?”

Celestia turned her gaze towards the magenta alicorn.
Tempest immediately felt uncomfortable knowing Celestia's gaze was on her and wished she had dipped into the water first.

"Of course not! I was just evaluating whether the water was deep enough!”
Celestia said quickly as a light blush formed on her cheeks.

Seeing this, Tempest forgot her discomfort. She hadn't expected such a reaction from the white alicorn at all.

Tempest gave her a look as if to sarcastically say “Of course I believe you.” and Celestia pouted childishly and turned her head away.

At that moment Tempest couldn't help but think that Celestia was the cutest and most charming creature on the planet.

What was she worrying about?!

Tempest walked up to Celestia with a smile.

“If you want, I'll hold your paw.” she proposed even though she had doubts whether the water was deep enough for the tall white alicorn.

Celestia said nothing and smiled gratefully.

The two approached the water and then slowly immersed themselves.

As they advanced towards the center of the pond they felt the water slowly rising.
The temperature was a little warm by Tempest standards but that was to be expected given how hot it was in the desert.

Celestia's eyes were wide and staring as if she expected to be attacked at any moment.

“Bad experiences with water?” Tempest asked as they approached the center of the pond.

Celestia nodded as she got closer and closer to Tempest to the point that their hips were touching.

Tempest immediately felt the temperature of the water rising dramatically.

“Do you want to tell a story?” Tempest said although she didn't know if she was trying to distract Celestia or herself from the situation.

“I'll tell you if you promise not to laugh.” Celestia stated her condition as a light blush reappeared on her cheeks.

Tempest swore her heart could melt at any moment.

“I swear I won't laugh at you.” she announced solemnly but still in a friendly tone.

"All right." Celestia sighed.

“When I was little my family and I often went to the lake near the castle to take a bath, however one day it happened that news reached the palace of a pony that was attacked by a shark in the sea.”

“Knowing this I began to be afraid of sharks but my parents told me that there were no sharks in the lake, I was relieved and didn't think about it anymore”

Tempest was listening intently as Celestia spoke.

“A couple of days later we went to the lake as usual and while I was swimming I thought I saw a fin emerge from the surface of the water.
At first I thought I was hallucinating but then it came back.”
Celestia was getting chills remembering that scary moment.

“I got really scared and ran out of the water but when I turned to see if there really was a shark I saw my sister with a fake fin on her back.”

Celestia finished the sentence by letting out a sigh of defeat but then she smiled slightly thinking about that day and how she had gone to complain to her mother about her.

When Celestia finished remembering she saw that Tempest was also smiling as if she was imagining the scene.

However, that slight smile soon turned into a frown of melancholy.

"Everything OK?" She asked Celestia worriedly, she knew well what was happening since that was the face of someone who longed for what could have been.

“No… I'm fine. I'm just happy you had such a fun childhood." Tempest replied with a slightly forced smile.

“You don't need to pretend, I lost my parents when I was young too.”

Celestia saw that something had clicked in Tempest's soul, was it empathy?
Whatever it was, she realized that now was the best time to find out more about the mysterious scarred alicorn.

Meanwhile, once again, they didn't notice that Twilight was hiding behind a rock and was finally about to get answers to her questions.

"When did it happen?" Celestia asked kindly.

Normally Tempest wouldn't have told her story so easily but as she continued to deal with Celestia she couldn't help but feel safe, free to be herself, free to remember and suffer accordingly.

So Tempest decided to tell her everything about her starting from her childhood, the day her wings were torn off, her hasty escape and how she had arrived in Midgard thanks to a stroke of luck.

Celestia and Twilight listened to the tragic story and felt the weight of such a terrible and unjust fate on their hearts.

Although Tempest was initially hesitant to confess, but then she felt as if her body had become a little lighter.

When she came back to reality she saw that Celestia had placed a wing on her back just like the night before and there was no embarrassment or judgement, just a warm and affectionate hug and two souls full of regrets.

The two remained embraced until they felt that the water was becoming cold and the sun was about to disappear on the horizon.

Before exiting the pond Tempest gave her suit a quick rinse and as she handled it she saw that Celestia was also immersing the golden yoke that she usually kept around her neck in the water.

Even though Tempest hadn't paid much attention to it before, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed seeing Celestia without it for the first time.

It was as if she were "naked", she thought, remembering a word that anthropomorphs tended to use.

When Celestia noticed Tempest staring at her she blushed again.

In the same way that Tempest felt vulnerable without armor, she too missed the familiar weight around her neck..

Maybe they were really more similar than one might think.

On the other hand, Twilight again felt that hint of jealousy protruding from the depths of her most intimate thoughts.

However, after hearing the heartbreaking story, she couldn't in her heart wish Tempest any harm.
Rather, that sense of jealousy turned into something else.

Seeing that the two mares had a very sad past in common, she felt as if she were a stranger, that she had not been through enough trauma to be able to empathize with them and therefore understand each other.

In reality, there was already a similar feeling before when Celestia treated her like a student and in the best cases like a daughter.
There was a very strong relationship between them but still different from what she wanted.

What was missing?

Twilight continued to worry about all the types of relationships she had and before long she finally understood what was really bothering her.

Twilight understood that what was missing in her relationship with Celestia was lightness, closeness, elasticity, light-heartedness, the freedom to express herself without fear of disappointing.

All this was common to something that Twilight knew very well: friendship.

As soon as she realized this Twilight felt a profound ineptitude and irony at the same time.

She was the princess of friendship and yet the person she had known the longest of all, aside from her family, wasn't exactly her friend.

Twilight felt like she could collapse into herself at any moment but she was stopped before she did.

“Twilight?”

In the distance Celestia called her, she was tempted not to answer to stay and regret herself near the pond but the rational part of her told her that she couldn't ignore Princess Celestia, otherwise she would be a terrible faithful student.

Twilight quickly hid those dark feelings and moved to approach the hearth around which everyone else was gathered.

While they were around the fire, the equestrians and the imperials spoke amicably and exchanged information about their respective nations, occasionally laughter broke out and sometimes there was silence.

However, the air became more tense when the equestrians saw for the first time that the imperials were eating something that looked nothing like vegetables.

The day before everyone had eaten on their own, both because some had to guard the perimeter and also because they didn't know each other well enough.

However, today they were gathered around the hearth and could clearly see what each other was eating.

Twilight was initially stunned to see a pony eating gems for the first time.

In fact, Tempest had forgotten to feed the night before as she was busy wetting Princess Celestia's fur with her tears.

Remembering this, Twilight felt for a brief moment as if she had suffered a defeat but it was immediately replaced by the excitement of seeing Tempest chew the precious stones like they were candy.

Twilight had studied well what is scientifically called gemmophagy since she had to feed a certain personal assistant dragon but she had never thought that even a pony could do such a thing.

She watched with wide eyes until her nostrils were flooded with an unfamiliar and unpleasant odor.

The same thing had also happened to the two equestrian guards.

The three sniffed the air insistently to understand where the pungent smell was coming from and their attention rested on something that Cooper and Ryker were holding between their paws.

Ryker brought the unknown object to his mouth and chewed it spontaneously.

“What are you eating?” Twilight asked the two perplexed.

Since Ryker was chewing it was Cooper who answered.

“Oh this?” he said, pointing to what he was holding with his left hoof.

“It's a slice of dried meat, do you want to try it?”
Cooper brought the piece of beef jerky to Twilight nonchalantly.

“AHHHHH! MEAT!!"
The three equestrians screamed and jumped back in horror.

Tempest and the other two froze as they saw the frightened reaction of Twilight and the two stallions in golden armor.

"MEAT!? ARE YOU MAD!'” Twilight shouted, keeping two meters away from the horrible piece of ex-living being.

Cooper and Ryker looked at each other not knowing what was wrong.

“HOW CAN YOU EAT MEAT?! IT IS A TOTALLY IMMORAL THING! YOU ARE ABOMINABLE!" continued Twilight, seeing that the Imperials didn't seem to understand their crime.

"I do not know what to tell you." Cooper said as he continued to chew the tasty food. “I like meat and have always eaten it.”

“Dried meat keeps well and long-term and is an excellent source of protein and energy.” added Captain Ryker, putting another piece in his mouth.

The three were shocked and speechless when they saw how casually they ate that horrible food.

The white stallion was so disgusted that he walked away to vomit while the gray one could barely contain himself.

Twilight on the other hand was astonished at such barbarity and incivility.

Seeing that the two groups didn't seem to understand each other, Celestia decided to intervene.

“Please forgive the words of my subjects.” she began to speak in a calm voice and as she did so she glared at Twilight which she responded by making a look as if to say "how can you not be outraged by that?!".

“In Equestria the ponies have always followed a strictly vegan diet and for us eating the flesh of a living being is considered taboo. So for them, seeing someone eat meat is unconscionable and considered a crime.”

Then Celestia turned her full attention to Twilight and her guards.
“Yet this does not give us the right to call those who have different customs ABOMMINABLE.” and she concluded with a strong tone of disapproval and reproach.

Immediately the three felt like when they were little they were caught by their mothers doing something wrong and they were stared at.

The three didn't say anything but sat down again with their ears lowered and their gaze fixed on their hooves, it seemed as if they were punished.

Tempest witnessed all this and saw something very familiar in it.

It was the same reaction Grubber had when she scolded him.

From that interaction Tempest understood that Celestia had a somewhat different approach to her subordinates.

Usually the empress's soldiers were afraid of making mistakes for fear of repercussions while the princess's subjects were afraid of making mistakes so as not to displease and disappoint.

Although the difference was slight, it was indicative of the fact that Tempest was more of a leader while Celestia was a loving and maternal ruler.
And she damn well liked that.

"Thank you for the explanation but I assure you that there was no offense." Tempest said to lighten the blame on the three equestrians.

Ryker and Cooper nodded in agreement with her.

Once the argument was resolved they decided that they would go to sleep and Tempest would take the first watch since she hadn't done so the night before even though Captain Ryker insisted on letting his empress rest.

Even though Tempest had proposed to take the first watch, she was now sitting on the edge of the pond staring at the horizon.
She still kept an ear out in case something was wrong but she doubted anything could happen in the desert in the middle of nowhere.

Tempest was absorbed in many thoughts while her gaze was captured by the atypical landscape.

In fact, like the night before, the sky was clearly visible due to the lack of clouds.

She could perfectly see every star in the firmament while her face was illuminated by the moon.
Furthermore, the still water of the pond reflected the light of the stars, making it seem as if the night could also invade the earth.

Tempest's ears heard footsteps approaching but they were almost inaudible as the sand muffled all sounds but she had already figured out who she was.

Over the two days she had heard and memorized that now familiar rhythm of footsteps.

Celestia walked over and sat next to Tempest to admire the view.

“You're right, your sister's night is really wonderful.” Tempest said, responding to the statement from the night before.

"I totally agree, I only wish I had realized this a thousand years ago."

Again the memories brought with them a terrible remorse that had been eating away at her soul for centuries.

“Do you want to be the one to tell the story this time?” Tempest proposed shyly.
“Obviously you don't have to! I know it's difficult but you listened to me and consoled me so I thought you could lighten your burden too.” Tempest concluded as she tried not to stutter.

What's wrong with you Tempest?!

Celestia noticed this and smiled as she noticed how much effort the magenta alicorn was having to express herself. The difficult life and the constant need to keep her guard up had made her emotionally constipated and incapable of having a heart-to-heart discussion.

“You're right Tempest, you trusted me so it's only right that I trust you too.” Celestia said before starting with her story.

“Unlike you, I was lucky enough to have a peaceful and comfortable childhood, my mother was an alicorn and my father a pegasus and they loved me and my sister so much.
We lived happily and carefree in the castle outside the capital, Luna and I were very close and we spent every day together studying or playing.”

Tempest had long understood that the thing that hurt her most was talking about her sister.

“However, time passed and we grew up, on Luna's twentieth birthday we ascended the throne to replace our parents, we were happy but I never imagined what would happen in the future.
As the years passed I gained more and more popularity and support from the nobles while my sister preferred to remain humble, she governed by remaining on the sidelines and in the meantime she did everything to help the people.“

“Back then the ruling class were the noble unicorns and I stupidly listened to them so that they worshiped me even if I didn't realize I was playing their game.
On the other hand, earth ponies and pegasus were exploited as soldiers and farmers. Luna realized this before me and she did everything she could to bring fairness to Equestria.”

“However, she was an inconvenient figure for the nobility so they slowly managed to convince me to go against my sister.
When Luna wasn't at the palace the court whispered lies that my sister wanted to take the throne all for herself and I obviously fell for it.”

Celestia hated herself for how naively she had believed the words of those greedy and haughty unicorns, if only she could go back in time...

“I began to treat my sister badly, I ignored her bills and laughed along with the nobles when she talked about wanting to make Equestria a better place.
The resentment in Luna's heart grew until it was too late."

A couple of tears were slowly falling on Celestia's cheeks and seeing this Tempest did what the white halcyon had also done for her.
Slowly she walked over and rested her shoulder against Celestia's.

Since Tempest didn't have wings, surprisingly it was Celestia who grabbed the scarred alicorn and brought her close.
Tempest was shocked but she couldn't have her usual prying thoughts, now all she mattered was listening to Celestia.

“I had underestimated how powerful feelings could be for us alicorns and I didn't realize that my sister's anguish and hatred had personified itself and replaced my sister with Nightmare Moon.
That day my sister refused to lower the moon and we ended up fighting fiercely. However Nightmare Moon was still too weak and she ran away.”

“I didn't know that things would only get worse from there on.
A few months later my sister declared war on me along with millions of other ponies tired and dissatisfied with me and the nobility.
The war barely lasted a year but it was ferocious and brutal, in less than six months a third of the population was dead and the nobles were on the verge of extinction.”

As much as Celestia dreamed every day that things would be different, she had to resign herself to the fact that the ending of the story had already been written.

“In a fit of anger and desperation I chose to use the elements of harmony but in doing so I did not foresee their power.
Before I knew it, I had banished my sister to the moon and lost the only person who truly loved me, the last remaining member of my family.
For the next few years I regretted that horrible crime.”

Celestia's tears weren't enough to bear witness to the sadness and desperation she felt, they couldn't bring back the lost years where she could have been happy with Luna just like when they were children.

And they certainly couldn't express the centuries of loneliness and isolation she had suffered.

Celestia wiped her tears with her hoof and then looked at the moon with a smile.

“But now Nightmare Moon has been defeated and my sister has returned to me.”
She turned her head and looked at Twilight who was dozing near the smoking remains of the hearth.
“And this is thanks to six courageous mares who knew how to use the elements of harmony in the correct way.”

Not like she did when she betrayed her sister, when she mocked her, when she didn't have the honesty to admit her weaknesses, when she treated her with hatred..."

As Tempest had said, Celestia's heart was hurt but she felt a little lighter, as if she had emerged from a long period of sleepiness.

“I'm happy you're reunited with your sister, I really hope you can make up for the lost years.”
Tempest really thought so, if there was anyone who deserved a little happiness it was certainly the white alicorn.

"Thank you." was all Celestia said.

What else was there to say? Sometimes you just need to listen and share your burden.

“I think it's time to go to sleep,” Tempest said, holding back a yawn.

Celestia was tempted to stay and admire the stars but she knew they would have to leave early tomorrow.

"I agree." With that said Celestia went towards the hearth while Tempest went to wake Ensign Cooper for his watch.

Once that was done Tempest lay down near the hearth, she was about to close her eyes when she felt something soft touch her side.

Celestia had laid down next to her causing Tempest to become very confused and warm.
However, the white alicorn said nothing and rested her head between her front paws.

That night Tempest would have a hard time falling asleep.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
As always, I remind you that there may have been syntax or grammatical errors so I ask you to report them in the comments and if possible to interpret the events.

Thank you.