“So I am convinced that the best course of action is to increase controls between countries, they have to move somehow.” Reddace said.

The council had been meeting for too many hours to discuss a worrying situation.
A group of Storm king's former supporters were trying to regain power by kidnapping prominent figures such as magistrates and mayors.

"It does not make sense! We'll have to go house to house to flush out those bastards!”
As usual the minotaur preferred to use strong methods.

“We can't, that would mean infringing the freedom of the subjects.” Reddace retorted in his usual calm tone.

But Minox was stubborn.
"And who cares?! If they have nothing to hide then they will let us in!”

Reddace put a paw on his face and sighed.
It was really difficult to converse with a minotaur.

“Tempest, what do you think?”
In those cases the best thing to do was to let the empress decide.

The council turned its gaze to Tempest but the scarred alicorn didn't seem to react. She had a blank look and her head tilted slightly forward.

“Tempest?” repeated Galileo.

Again nothing.

The manticore placed a paw on Tempest's shoulder and gave her a shake.

Immediately the empress straightened up.

"Yes?" she said confused.

“Are you okay Tempest?” Hori asked, she too was worried like the rest of the council. They had never seen the empress be so careless.
She in fact looked like she hadn't rested well in quite some time.

She had noticeable dark circles under her eyes, her voice was hoarse and her posture was sloppy.

“I'm fine, let's continue.” Tempest said in the most convincing voice she could muster.

Obviously her friends didn't fall for it.
“You should get some rest.” proposed Reddace.

“I don't need it, and I also can't afford to waste time sleeping while the empire needs us.”

The councilors looked at each other. Tempest could be more stubborn than all the minotaurs.

Galileo positioned himself as the voice of reason.

“The empire needs shrewd, well-rested leaders, and right now it seems like you're having a hard time keeping your eyes open.”

“Maybe it's time for you to take a vacation.” added Reddace.

“Are you trying to send me away?” Tempest said raising an eyebrow.

"Absolutely not! It's just that you've been working tirelessly for too long, it's right that you take a break every now and then too."

The empress contemplated the manticore's words and sighed.

It was true that she had never taken a holiday, usually that was enough for her.
She spent her days working and then in the evening she spoke to Celestia through letters.

Sometimes the princess would come to visit her alone and they would spend the night having fun and the next morning Celestia would return to Canterlot at supersonic speed.

It had been over a year since they had become a couple and yet she had never visited Celestia in Canterlot. That was the right opportunity.

“You're right, I'm going to take a week's vacation.”

The council was happy to hear that they had managed to convince her.

“You have nothing to worry about.” Galileo reassured on behalf of all the councilors who nodded in agreement.

The seven quickly finished the session and then Tempest made sure to say some last words to everyone.

Once that was done she didn't even waste time packing her bags since she needed practically nothing, she would be traveling on an airship and she was sure that if she really needed something in Equestria then the princess could provide it for her.

The only thing she made sure to always have with her was the bag full of gems, you could never be sure that there was always food available and this way of thinking had saved her many times.

She headed briskly towards the private pier of the imperial palace, there were often docked a couple of airships of different sizes, they always had to be ready for any need so she didn't have to worry about finding the crew.

Tempest smiled bitterly.

Whenever she traveled on an airship she couldn't help but think of the Seashark and it's crew.
As many adventures as they had together, they had practically become a family.

She had sworn that she would let them go, that she would honor their sacrifice by continuing to live as if they were still there with her.
But they weren't there, and she was the last one left of that pack of hardened lunatics disappointed by the world.

Tempest arrived at the dock and as usual she avoided the larger airships, they were majestic and powerful but not for her. She needed fast and discreet transportation, she certainly didn't want to spread terror in Equestria by flying around an armored airship ready for war.

So she chose a corvette, that type of airship was her favorite, it was sleek, fast and adequately armed in case of a small skirmish.

When she boarded the airship she was surprised to see who the captain was.

“Welcome my empress! Captain Cooper at your service!”

The young orange pegasus had changed a bit since the last time she had seen him. Now he seemed more confident, more cunning and autonomous.

Becoming captain had forced him to become a leader. Being able to direct your crew was of utmost importance in dangerous situations, or you could get yourself and everyone on board killed.

“Captain Cooper, it's good to see you again.” said the empress, placing a hoof on the pegasus' shoulder.

“I need to head to Canterlot, will you be up to it?”

“Yes my empress!”

The captain didn't hesitate for a second to answer and Tempest liked this very much.

“Great, let's leave immediately."

Tempest said nothing more and headed below deck to reach the quarters.

She didn't need to ask since the captains knew that when their superior was on board they had to give up their cabin to the guest.
It was not a rule of the imperial navy but a form of respect, those who respected tradition were more likely to get a promotion.

Tempest entered the accommodation, as always it was well kept, there weren't too many things scattered around, only the necessary things such as maps and navigation tools.

She went to the large window at the stern of the airship and looked out.
The sailors had already untied the hawsers, the engine started and in a short time they took off..

Now all that remained was to wait for their arrival at their destination.

Tempest glanced at the bookcase and picked up a book that caught her attention, lay down on the guest bed and began reading.

“Tock-tock!”

Tempest opened her eyes suddenly.

The clock on the bedside table read ten in the morning.

Lately she only woke up so late after spending a night of wild sex with Celestia.

Maybe Galileo was right, she needed to take a break.

"A moment!" Tempest said loudly as she got up from the bed.

She put on her suit and then her armor plates. When she was ready she went to sit at the desk and adjusted her posture.

“Come in.”

Entering was Captain Cooper. Tempest expected it to be a sailor come to tell her that they would be arriving soon, they had been traveling for over two days now.

“My empress, we must arrive in Canterlot in an hour.”

“Thank you captain, you didn't need to bother telling me in person, you could have sent a subordinate.”

Captain Cooper took a step forward.

“You are right my empress, however I wanted to be the one to do it just like it was when I was an ensign. I also wanted to thank you again for giving me a promotion.” said the pegasus, bowing his head.

Tempest smiled, it rarely happened that any subordinate bothered to talk to her except for strictly professional things.

“Captain Cooper, there is no need to thank me, that day a year ago you proved yourself to be brave and capable, the Imperial Navy needs captains like you.”

“Thank you your majesty.” Having said this, the captain saluted and left, closing the door behind him.

Tempest sat there thinking, she was about to arrive in Canterlot, the home of her fiancée.

Tempest smiled, Princess Celestia was her fiancé.
They hadn't made it official yet but by now almost everyone in the imperial palace knew it.

The rumors had started when the guards began to hear moans coming from her room. It didn't take long for the suspicions to grow stronger and one day, during one of The council sessions, Hori had the courage to ask her if she was seeing anyone.

Initially she would have denied it but then she realized that it would be of no use, she was the empress and had the right to have a relationship with whoever she wanted.
Plus she liked the relationship she was having with Celestia, she was so happy about it that she wanted to shout it out so everyone would know.

Tempest told the councilors everything, obviously omitting the most spicy parts.
They had been happy to hear that she was having an affair with someone since they had never seen her be interested in anyone.

Some in the palace even believed she was asexual.

Furthermore, having a relationship with a princess of Equestria could do nothing but good to solidify their alliance.

Galileo had asked her if they intended to get married. Tempest wasn't sure how to respond.

At the time she and Celestia had only known each other for a couple of months and it seemed too rushed to plan a wedding, but now it wouldn't be so inconvenient.

She would have to talk to Celestia about it sooner or later, and she really hoped that she would want to be her wife too.

And after that?

Tempest wasn't the type of person who thought about a possible wife just so she could have a descendant, yet she wouldn't even mind.

The scarred alicorn knew it wasn't impossible even though they were both mares.

One night Celestia had wanted to do an experiment, she had used transfiguration magic on herself and had temporarily grown a penis.

Suffice it to say, Tempest had been walking strangely for a couple of days.
Even now Minox jokes about it.

The empress was torn from her bright thoughts by the constant ringing of a bell.
It meant they had arrived at the port of Canterlot.

Tempest quickly exited the cabin, climbed the stairs and reached the main deck.
As usual the sailors moved from side to side while the captain gave the orders.

The scarred alicorn walked to the bow to observe.

Before then she didn't really know what Canterlot was like, Celestia had told her that the castle was perched on the slope of a mountain while the city developed on a plateau.

Tempest assumed that the city couldn't be very large but she was proven wrong as soon as she saw the capital of Equestria with her own eyes.

Canterlot was much larger than she expected. It was still a tenth the size of New Metropolis but it seemed densely populated.

Canterlot showed signs of being a very old city, the streets were narrow, the stone buildings covered in mortar, and there was no public transport such as trams or subways.

But there was one thing that struck Tempest the most, it was all too damn colourful!

It was like being in a wonderland, the colors were all saturated and brilliant, the sky was perfectly clear, and in the streets there were thousands of ponies all dressed in equally colorful and sumptuous clothes.

Tempest wouldn't say she was disgusted by it but she preferred New Metropolis much more.
Here everything seemed dedicated to beauty and little to utility.

The walls were too low and thin, the anti-aircraft defenses insufficient, and the guards sloppily positioned, serving only to make their presence known.

At least the castle was easily defensible as it could only be accessed from one side, however once placed under siege it was impossible for those who couldn't fly to escape.

As soon as she met Celestia she would make sure to scold her properly.

The pier was located in the east of the city, diametrically opposite to where the castle was located.

The corvette slowly approached one of the free docking platforms and when they were a few meters from touching the ground the sailors began to throw the hawsers towards other sailors who had arrived flying shortly before.

When the airship was perfectly docked, the crew lowered the landing ramp onto the side of the hull and shortly afterwards Tempest and Captain Cooper emerged.

"it's a lot …. colored." said the pegasus making a strange expression.

"Really?" Tempest replied sarcastically.

The two were stopped after a few meters by what appeared to be the port captain.

“Declare yourselves!” the stallion said simply.

Tempest deduced that the equestrian had never seen an airship with the imperial coat of arms, otherwise he would have understood that it was a diplomatic vessel.

“We're just here to refuel.” Tempest replied.

Captain Cooper gave her a look as if to ask why she had lied.

Tempest was up to something.

The port captain carefully observed the two foreigners, he saw that they were wearing armor, which was very suspicious.

If he had been a good port captain he would have had the two arrested on the spot but since he wasn't paid enough to handle these problems he simply chose to ignore them, his job was only to make sure that those who docked at the port paid.

The rest was the royal guard's problem.

“Two silver coins.” he said, holding out a hoof.

Tempest smiled and then motioned for Captain Cooper to pay.

“Thank you, welcome to Canterlot, have a good day.” and without another word the stallion walked away.

“What do you want us to do?” Cooper asked behind her.

Tempes turned.

“Nothing, enjoy the city and rest but make sure that if necessary the airship can take off quickly.”

The captain was amazed by the empress's response, in practice she had given the crew an unscheduled leave, surely his subordinates would have been very happy about it.

“Thank you your majesty!” the captain thanked her by bowing.

“You're welcome, I should stay here for at least a week, you're free to go.”

And with that Tempest turned and headed towards the castle.

As she walked through the streets of the city she noticed that she attracted several curious and some fearful glances.

She imagined that a tall unicorn with a broken horn and black armor would stand out in a city full of snobs with perfectly groomed fur and a mane so brushed it looked like silk.

That's right, it didn't take Tempest long to realize that it was a city full of nobles.

Practically only unicorns walked the streets and earth ponies and pegasi were rarely seen. While there was absolutely no sign of other species.

As she walked she observed the various buildings, most of them were shops selling various items such as clothes, jewelry and accessories such as bags, hats, umbrellas and much more.

They all had one thing in common: they were extremely expensive.

The city was finely decorated with white marble and golden frames, every twenty meters there was a statue or a fountain spraying clear water.

Tempest wanted to vomit seeing all that excessive opulence but she stopped herself out of respect for the city and Celestia.

Suddenly something came at her.
The empress didn't move an inch but the unicorn stallion fell backwards with a loud thud.

The unicorn had white fur, was blond with blue eyes, wore a blue bow tie and had the design of a compass rose on his hips.

"Are you OK?" Tempest asked, offering him a hoof.

“STAY BACK YOU MONSTER!” the stallion screamed as he slapped her paw and stood up in a less than dignified manner.

“HOW DARE YOU GET IN MY WAY, YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM?!!”

His voice was very haughty and equally annoying.

Tempest wasn't intimidated at all, that interaction was enough for her to understand what kind of worm she was dealing with.

She decided not to waste even a second of her time, she ignored him and continued walking while the blonde unicorn continued to curse and hurl insults at her.

After another few minutes of walking Tempest finally arrived in front of the castle entrance.
There was a large black iron door with golden spikes on top, it was guarded by two royal guards wearing the usual armor.

Tempest approached the one on the right.

“Stop! Identifiers!"

“Tempest Shadow, I am here to meet Princess Celestia.”

“Do you have an invitation with the royal seal?”

Of course, Tempest didn't have an invitation.

“Then we can't let you in!” the guard said loudly.

Tempest didn't even try to dissuade him so she walked away until she was out of their sight.

The scarred alicorn took a look at the walls surrounding the castle, it could have easily climbed over them as there were very few guards.

Tempest chose a place to enter and then climbed until she reached the other side.

She found herself in a garden full of hedges, there were also statues of all different shapes that represented strange creatures. Tempest approached the larger one.

“A draconequus?”

It vaguely resembled Master Kaos.

If she remembered correctly he had told her that he had had a bad brother who had been defeated by two sisters.

Could it be him?

Nah, it was just a coincidence. Surely that statue couldn't be a petrified evil god.

Tempest passed the strange statue and arrived in front of one of the castle windows.

The alicorn let out a sigh of disappointment when she saw that the window wasn't even locked and all she had to do was push it up to open it.

She really should have trained Celestia on how to maintain proper security.

Tempest snuck in, this time she had come across a long corridor, also unguarded.

Before continuing she took off her armored horseshoes and clipped them to her armor, so she would make less noise while walking.

Tempest wandered through the various corridors and rooms avoiding the occasional guards and attendants until she came to a pair of large doors about thirty feet high.

She peeked through the keyhole and finally saw her prize.

Celestia sat on the throne looking bored as she listened to a noble complain about something. Next to her was a gray female unicorn holding a clipboard.

In the room there were a dozen guards arranged in two rows of six on the sides of the red carpet that reached up to the base on which the two thrones were placed.

Tempest took another look at the noble who was talking continuously without ever stopping.

He was the fattest pony she had ever seen, so obese that she wondered if he was capable of standing on his own legs, in fact he was lying on a sedan chair supported by four earth ponies who, even though they were very muscular, struggled to support all that weight.

From what she could hear the unicorn called himself Lord Brilliant and complained that the mayor of Manehattan prevented him from turning Central Park into an industrial area.

He later claimed to have more power than the mayor, who had been democratically elected, since he was a descendant of an ancient house that had helped the two sisters millennia ago.

Tempest had a great dislike for those who used the name of their ancestors to claim prestige and privilege.

In her empire no nobility no longer existed, Storm King had defeated them all to accumulate all the power in his hands.

But the empress would never, for any reason in the world, reinstitute the noble class again.

In her empire there was only room for meritocracy.

While Lord Brilliant continued to talk nonsense, Princess Celestia pretended to listen, every now and then she nodded or said some useless words to make it seem like she was paying attention.

When the unicorn finished speaking, Celestia let out a sigh of boredom and straightened her posture

“Thank you Lord Brilliant, I will consider your complaint, we will contact you when we have resolved the problem.” she said in a monotone voice, it seemed like a phrase she said to every annoyance that came in front of her.

“I hope so!” Lord Brilliant retorted, then slammed his hoof on the wood of the sedan chair.
The four earth ponies lifted him very laboriously and then slowly headed towards the exit.

Tempest stepped aside when the great doors opened and let Lord Brilliant pass through, who hadn't noticed her in the slightest.

The great doors closed soon after and Tempest began peering through the keyhole again.

Celestia was still sitting on the throne and was running a paw over her face to chase away boredom and drowsiness.

Then she turned to the gray mare beside her.

“Domo, I'm done for today, I'll be in my rooms.”

Domo nodded and bowed as the princess stood up and walked out of a door next to the platform where the two thrones stood.

Tempest saw her opportunity, passed through an adjacent corridor and followed her fiancée without being seen.

After a few minutes of tailgating they finally arrived at the royal suite.

Celestia entered through the door normally while Tempest passed through the window.

The scarred alicorn had now reached her prey.

Celestia had her back turned while Tempest approached with a feline pace, when she was a few centimeters away she decided to make her move.

She raised her paw above her head and then spanked Celestia's ass with all her strength.

“SLAP!!!”

“AHHHHHH!!!” Celestia let out a scream, jumping forward, she suddenly turned to see who had attacked her and was amazed to see Tempest wriggling on the ground and laughing at her.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“TEMPEST?!” the princess had no time to say anything else before the doors to her room flew open and a horde of royal guards entered.

“PRINCESS CELESTIA!” the nearest guard shouted.

Before the situation could escalate Celestia had the guards calm down.

“I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about, you can go back to your positions.” her voice was more than a little shaky given the shock and she felt the burning on her bottom where Tempest had spanked her.

The guard wanted to comment on the presence of the tall scarred unicorn but the princess glared at him.

"Of course princess, we'll leave you to your business."

The stallion bowed and then the guards quickly cleared the room.

Once the situation had calmed down the princess turned back to Tempest who had meanwhile gotten up from the ground.

"Why did you do that?!" she asked, frowning.

“I wanted to teach a lesson.” Tempest replied smirking.

Celestia raised an eyebrow as if asking for further explanation.

“I came to visit you but I was very disappointed by the poor level of security, so I pretended to be an attacker."

Tempest's smile faded and was replaced by a serious look.

“If I really had been, you would be dead now.”

Celestia didn't know how to respond, she knew that the castle's security wasn't as tight as it should be but she didn't expect that someone would be able to sneak into her rooms and hit her.

Celestia's irritation was replaced by the joy of having her beloved there with her.

The princess brought her muzzle close to the empress's and then the two exchanged an affectionate kiss.

"I missed you." Tempest said putting away her disappointment.

"You too." Celestia replied and then they kissed once more.

The two could have started to fornicate right then but Celestia broke the kiss and took a step back with a devilish smirk.

“Do you think I forgot what you did? You'll have to wait."

Tempest rolled her eyes, if she wanted she could have jumped on her and Celestia certainly wouldn't have resisted, however she decided to play along for a while.

"As you wish, Princess Sunbutt." Tempest said, giving a ridiculously exaggerated bow. .

Celestia laughed at the nickname she had given her, if it had been anyone else she would have had him locked up for disrespect, but when it was Tempest who said it it made her feel hot under her tail.

Tempest stood up and Celestia invited her to lie down on her bed next to her to talk.

"Why are you here?" Celestia finally asked her beloved.

“A holiday so to speak, the council required me to take a break.”

“Strange, I didn't think Empress Tempest Shadow was capable of relaxing.”

The princess's sarcasm was evident.

“I took this opportunity to be able to come and visit you here in Canterlot.”

"Oh yes? And how did you like the city?” Celestia asked curious to know what she thought.

“It's a wonderful city."

Celestia raised an eyebrow, apparently she had immediately realized that she was lying. The too fast response, the fake smile and the somewhat high-pitched tone were some of the clues about it.

“You don't need to lie to me, I'm not offended at all.”

Tempest sighed in defeat, it was impossible for her to lie to her fiancée.

“You're right, I think Canterlot is a rotten city filled only with snobbish nobles who are all unicorns, they are arrogant and presumptuous and from what little I have seen they are also useless.”

Her sentence came out with more anger than she had intended but she didn't mind.

Celestia wasn't angry at all

“I can't blame you, I know well what kind of cancer nobles are, if I could I would eradicate them all but among them there are also some worthy people who work hard, who are altruistic and capable of great things.”

Tempest knew that wasn't the only reason. The nobles owned land and industries, eliminating them would have brought instability to the kingdom.
Furthermore, Celestia had positioned herself as a just and compassionate ruler, if she had arbitrarily punished an entire social class she would have been branded as a despot.

“And then in no less than a century they will all have died of old age, for us it is just the blink of an eye in our long life.” Celestia added.

Tempest still struggled to realize that she would live virtually forever until she was killed or died of other causes.
On the other hand, Celestia existed for a long time before her and knew well what the imperturbable passage of time meant.

How much lonely she must have felt without someone close to her, Tempest couldn't imagine living centuries without Celestia.

The scarred alicorn moved closer to the princess, gave her a kiss and then hugged her.

"Thank you." Celestia said.

Sometimes it happened that an accidental phrase evoked sad and melancholy memories, luckily today she had her beloved here ready to cheer her up.

The two remained embraced for a while until they heard the bells ringing.

"It's midday, do you want to have lunch?" Celestia asked.

"Certainly."

The two got out of bed and left Celestia's room.

The white alicorn led the way as Tempest had never been to Canterlot Castle before.

They finally arrived in front of the dining room doors which were guarded by two guards.

Celestia greeted them with a nod and then opened the large doors using her magic.

Upon entering they saw that they were not the only two.

In fact, sitting at the table were also Princess Twilight, a blue alicorn that Tempest assumed was Princess Luna, and another pink alicorn totally unknown to her.

Before Tempest could introduce herself, Princess Luna suddenly stood up from her chair and pointed a hoof at her.

“SO IT'S YOU WHO FUCKS MY SISTER!”

Author's Note

I want to apologize and thank Aldea Donder for using some characters from his story "Alicorn".
When I read your story I laughed so much reading the description of Lord Brilliant so I decided to introduce him into my alternative universe too.

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.