Author's Note

Interlude I goes before this chapter. There was a colossal accident when editing stuff for drafts and the interlude got deleted before this. Apologies in advanced, no idea how to make the organization stay the way I want it.

Ch 4: Now About Alicorns

The contemplative silence was eventually broken by the following question. "You intend to allow half of these intruders stay for the rest of this meeting?"

"After your previous actions, you will forgive us Nightmare Moon for allowing our soldiers to keep themselves ready for a retaliation. Is this a problem?" Trixie asked, a single brow quirking up.

She chuckled. "Of course not. It matters little of what you do. One way or another we will have what we desire. Princesses Twilight Sparkle and Cadence will follow the terms per our agreement or are We to be mistaken of this assumption?"

"No", Twilight responded. "Nothing's changed." Her eyes slightly narrowed. "So long as you don't actually attempt to harm any of my family or friends again. Prince Blueblood may have taken a very dumb" she shot the stallion a glare and in return Fluttershy who sat by him shot a disapproving frown back while the prince's pegasus companion on his right shot a glare back, "risk" she continued. "However we won't tolerate any other attempts like that again Nightmare Moon. You've already hurt Lord Shining, the third time you attack anypony else will" she stomped, "be the last."

"The first should have been the final. Do as you wish, little one. Tis not our place to correct thine new ways."

The purple alicorn scowled but said nothing more.

"Moving on", the alicorn stated as the slits became round, returning to their natural form. "We have answered as much as we shall about the figure, Aoi Ioa. We move on to the next question."

The guards all nodded as they took position by the door.

"The second question", the alicorn resumed, "as we said will be the most important. You have provided us the answer to how the Elements were re-awakened in absence. Now, this next question will be posed to all of you." A dramatic pause was followed not long by: "What do you know of alicorns?"

Which after several seconds caused the whole room to exchange glances or expressions.

Noticing the train of glances between the Ladies of Equestria that were directed at Twilight, the alicorn then exchanged a glance with Sunset, who then glanced at Princess Cadence nearby the recovering Shining Armor, who ignored the look and chose to whisper softly into the ear of her disoriented husband.

"Right. Um," the muzzle scrunched up as she began to think. "I...know in history, there are some accounts of other alicorns that survived the Age of Chaos, like Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Though there aren't many records of all of them" she glanced at Sunset who slowly nodded, "as far as we know of. And any archeological discoveries that were made in theory to the origins of alicorn culture or civilization, are still just theory and speculation often debated among historians.

"The most knowledge we have relating to the beginning of when alicorns are mentioned to have interacted with the three tribes only go as far back to the Ancient Period; the first mentions of alicorn interaction. Though the more credential figures are in the Recreational Period after Discord's defeat; where a few alicorns are historically known to have permanently indoctrined themselves into various civilizations to oversee the remaining problems that remained after the end of Discord's reign. Those accounts are I believe, either two thousand years old or more since the documentaries of time were still being worked out in the early stages after the Chaos period fell. Because of this many of them are looked at with a grain of salt due to the uncertainty of the writings and what actual facts were real."

Nightmare Moon raised a brow at the idiom and Twilight stared back with blank obliviousness before she blinked and realized the reason.

"I-it's um...a figure of speech", she blushed.

Shaking her head the alicorn moved on. "What of geographically? What knowledge do you know of based off nations alone?"

This gave Twilight a pause where Trixie stepped in.

"Trixie believes she can answer this", she smiled and when the alicorn nodded she spoke. "Equestria is the one continent that holds the most historic alicorn accounts, however Trixie believes we also hold the most mysteries as to what happened to these historic figures. Until most recently," and she briefly glanced in the sitting alicorn's direction, "the most popular was the legendary disappearance of Princess Luna and her possible death at the hooves of the unknown leader that attacked Castle Everfree." When the Nightmare did not interrupt or say anything, Trixie continued.

"Historically, there have been eight known alicorns in total, at least if we combine both Equestria and Southern Equestria's historic accounts."

"In Equestria, there have been only six historic alicorn figures. Southern Equestria had two. Obviously we are excluding Twilight, Cadence," he glanced at one particular decorated window, "and Starlight Glimmer." Pausing he took a sip of the water Fluttershy held to him. "Aunty Celestia and Luna already take the spots for Equestria." Prince Blueblood concluded.

Sunset nodded, "True. The other four were..." her ears splayed as the signs of a frown touched her lips. "Weren't they...from the Crystal Empire?"

"The Diamond Facet."

Nightmare Moon's eyes locked onto to the pink alicorn pressed firmly by her husband's side as Moondancer had the wincing Shining Armor drink a materialized glass of water.

"You know of them?" tone of interest and intrigue, though she did not get a verbal response but a curt nod. "Then speak."

All eyes were on Cadence as she rose slowly. Kissing her husband on the cheek as he offered a small smile back, the alicorn gave the captain of the Cosmic Storm a small smile before her expression became neutral as she turned and moved to stand in front of her allies. "Why do you care?"

"It is important for you all to share what you know, lest it jogs the memory of one's fellow allies. We will not settle for half way answers or incomplete truths before we reach the question of Celestia's defeat and who he" she did not need to point merely glancing at the armored unicorn depicted in the glass was enough, "is, you will inform me of anything I wish to know that will aid me in understanding the time passed in absence." Nightmare Moon said with finality. "It was our agreeement, thus you shall answer me."

The neutral mask broke just a smidge as Cadence glared, lips pulling back in a scowl as sparks began to fly from her horn and wings twitched with growing anger, but just before things took a turn, she relented. Her tense posture deflating, body language defeated.

In that moment, Nightmare Moon smiled a genuine smile for the first time.

"Alright, fine." Closed eyes became lidded as the pink alicorn looked at the ground with a melancholy expression. Taking a seat just as she was working herself into getting started Cadence felt a touch. Turning she saw Pinkie shuffle up beside her. Sparing a moment to share a small smile between them as the earth pony came flank to flank, Princess Cadence's took a deep breath, let it all out, opened her eyes and looked Nightmare Moon in the eye.

"The Diamond Facet, the founders of the Crystal Empire. Or at least that's what I was told."

"By Celestia no doubt."

She nodded.

"There were four of them and I only learned of them after we took back the Crystal Empire. Any knowledge we had on the empire as I'm sure you are aware was significantly...small. Princess Celestia was helping me get accustomed to my position but even then connecting with the Crystal ponies and the rest of its citizens hadn't been easy and we knew breaking them out of the trauma Sombra had inflicted would take time. So I tried to do some research and Aunty guided me for a while. Filled me in on the things I needed to know about their culture, and the things that they once treasured before Sombra's madness drove him to tyranny." Here she took a deep breath as she continued. "I first learned about them from the old scrolls that were being preserved in a locked wing of the library. I don't know why, but I'd have thought Sombra would have destroyed any past records of all the previous rulers."

And to this Nightmare Moon snorted. "Sombra was no fool. Quick of temper, yes. But he cherished his history before his falling."

Staring at the alicorn with a bemused expression Cadence continued.

"Yes, well, he certainly did a good job. It took Twilight, me and Starlight a while to break through the locks he kept on the castle's archives along with the traps."

"Mmm", Nightmare hummed, "yes, that does sound like something he would do", she chuckled.

"So what did the Princess tell you about the Diamond Facet?" Flash Sentry asked.

"Why don't we check with the empress?" Cadence said with a smile. A smile that persisted as the alicorn's own pompous grin faded into a neutral blank stare. "There's a few notes I found in that library regarding the relationship between the empire and Equestria. Apparently before the Facet, the empire was made up of states, small ones that shared the same regions as Equestria. As you can guess, this caused some friction between the nobility of Equestria and the council of governors of the Crystal States. It didn't help that tensions were still being settled between the three tribes and the conflicts between the Deer kingdoms and Bison tribes that lived in some of these parts didn't help matters. So when it came to managing the political relationships between them and the crystal ponies, things--"

"Just got more tense because they weren't just competition, but they weren't considered part of any of the three tribes, were they?" Spike supplied.

"Yes," Cadence grimly nodded. "They were seen as obstacles for most of the nobility to expand their power and influence, though from what I found of the old council's notes they didn't think highly of the nobles either. It didn't get better even when the relationship between the three tribes slowly started to mend. It was actually worse after Discord came because he made it impossible to ignore a lot of the problems between them and us. Even after he lost, the main powers governing the seven Crystal States refused to work with Equestria's head figures." Cadence looked at Nightmare Moon, her eyes piercing through the dark alicorn's as if trying to look into a pit and trying to find the source of a missing flashlight. "That is till you and Aunty Celestia came and took over, things slowly changed. The Crystal Empire and a lot of the other races that lived here were never on good terms with Equestria until after the Diarchy began taking over. Princess Celestia told me herself, the governors in charge wanted nothing to do with the royal crown of the nation and before then, period."

"But after Discord was defeated and the Princesses married into royalty, that changed. Didn't it?" Sunset looked at Nightmare Moon.

She nodded, once.

"Why?" Spike asked. "Even when the Princesses did become part of the royal family it took them a entire century before they had enough influence to do anything major. What could have changed?"

"Princess Celestia wouldn't tell me everything, I don't know how much the Facet changed or how they convinced the council of the Crystal States to do what they did. All I know is that at some point they managed to unite the Crystal States, developed titles and formed the Crystal Empire. How the Princesses managed to work something out with the Facet is anypony's guess. But" she turned her attention back to Nightmare Moon. "I have some ideas as to how they did it."

Bluntly, "And that would be?" the Nightmare asked.

"You knew them." Cadence replied simply.

Nightmare Moon snorted, a derisive sound that came from her throat and shook her form. "How? Each and every nation had their own problems to deal with, Equestria was no different."

"You said it yourself. Alicorns were forced out of their own civilizations when Discord rose to power. You wouldn't leave to fight with someone you didn't trust you could work with if you didn't have some manner of interacting with them. Maybe", and Cadence paused here, "you and Princess Celestia had fortune on your side. Met some old friends. Managed to work something out for your new homes."

The blank stare returned. "What exactly are you implying here, Princess Cadence?"

She shrugged. "Why would you assume I'm implying something. I'm checking with you what the Princess told me."

"Did she tell you she knew them?"

"No--"

"Then your line of questioning is of no use. Are you suggesting you intend to check every detail with me before coming to a conclusion of your own?"

"I never said that." Was the nonchalant response.

"It seems you are trying to say something", Nightmare Moon replied sternly, "and it would be in the interests of everyone in this hall if you simply spit it out."

"Did you know the Facets before they unified the Crystal Empire?"

Glaring Nightmare Moon replied "No."

Immediately Cadence shot back, "Then how did you and the alicorns ruling the Crystal Empire do it?" she pressed. "How did you work something out so easily when neither side was willing to work together at the start? The princesses had to convince the nobility before--"

Immediately the dark alicorn rose to her full height, the guards visibly tensed behind her as she stood with some even igniting their horns. "Your boldness will be your grave, Princess." She stated, all while standing her ground. "What is buried will remain buried, unless you desire to challenge my right to withhold this information", her horn flared to life, "then there is no point we continue this line of discussion. We desired incite into the knowledge you hold of alicorns, not of our own."

Bodies tensed, multiple horns were ignited. Hooves could be heard shuffling. Out of the corner of her eye, Cadence could see both Pinkie and Rainbow Dash fiddling with their Elements, trying to get them to work.

"Cadence," there was a unspoken question in that tone. Turning her head slightly, glancing at her sister-in-law, Cadence shook her head with a barely perceptible move and a narrow of her eyes. "Nightmare Moon", she spoke softly, and the alicorn's corona grew a bit brighter as the posture shifted into a battle ready stance "we all need to just calm down. Everypony needs to relax." Her voice gentle.

"Empress", she gave the poised alicorn her full attention. "All I want is answers, just like you... I'm sure you know how Aunty was", the brief touch of a sad smile graced her features, "always keeping secrets or hiding things or giving out enough but not giving out everything. It helped sometimes, but other times it just made things difficult."

"That is not my concern" was her cold reply. "The Celestia We knew was never much of a planner. She was better working in the moment of things, coming up with plans on the fly was where she worked best. Any plans she came up with she adapted along the way, it was what she was good at. Seeing a problem when it presented itself before her and adjusting to handle it immediately...but... We suppose the absence of our presence forced her to..." she stopped. Saying nothing more after but a few seconds the aura of her horn vanished.

The guards behind her however did not relax so easily.

Awkward silence settled in after a full minute waltzed by and seeking to clear the lingering tension Cadence switched back to the topic with a clear of her throat.

"All I know outside of what I learned, is what the Princess was willing to discuss with me" she said upon the narrow-eyed glare she was recieving. "The empire formed before the Diarchy. Princesses Pearl and Finesse, as well as Princes Light and Dawn brought the governors of the states together and established a council. Under their rule and your growing power the Crystal empire and Equestria were able to settle their border hositilities and form an alliance. Princess Celestia told me that your interactions were few. The storms that often occured around the States blew in from the sea, often making it extremely dangerous and difficult to send messengers back and forth between the kingdoms. And while I don't know the details of what happened to them, I know you and Aunty Celestia did everything you could to help their subjects in the time they lived. I also know that whatever happened, they didn't leave the empire defenseless."

The rigid posture of the alicorn faded, and slowly Nightmare Moon's position was less aggressive. "So it's true, you really did retrieve the Crystal Heart. We had thought Sombra may have done something to it once we had learned of the war."

Cadence shook her head. "No", was her simple response. "It's fine. He locked it away, but never did anything else."

"I see... There may have been a piece of that perverted fool of a prince still in there after all..."

".... Princess Celestia once said you and Princess Amore were very close..." Cadence finally said after a few moments of silence.

"Yes...a long time ago, we were."

"Do you still feel that way?"

Nightmare Moon didn't respond to that. No twitch of the tail, no drooping or rising of the ears, no change in the stone like expression she wore. There was no flare of the nostrils which would have been a clear give away, the semi-tangible mane did not waver but billowed naturally without a sign of distortion, the wings did not twitch nor did the temperature drop around them. There were no holes to truly decipher how she was feeling or if she could even feel anything at all. There was no way to tell if the demon was the source of the indifference or if it was just a perfectly sculpted mask. There were no clues at the moment if it was Luna or a spirit she was speaking to or if this was all some sort of mind game the spirit was playing. No way of knowing if Luna was in control or if she was being manipulated.

Had it not been for her mark, Cadence felt she might not be able to feel how the alicorn truly felt at all. But feel she could. Somewhere. Somewhere deep, she could sense the longing. The emptiness, the anger, the hurt.

Peering at the other alicorn again, trying to read above the superficial, Cadence offered a small sad but caring smile. "Empress... I never did tell you my full name, did I?" she asked softly.

Nightmare Moon raised a disdainful brow. The look alone spoke for itself. 'What the heck are you talking about?' it seemed to say. It made Cadence lift a hoof to stiffle her smile.

"My name," she tried after wiping her grin away, "my actual name is... Cadenza."

"And...your full name?"

She said it. The dark alicorn didn't move but her barrel expanded greatly as if she had just gasped.

The empress looked to Shining Armor, a twinkle of hope in her azure eyes surrounded by swirls of violet, orange and red. "And he is..." her words spoken slowly as they trailed off. "Is he...Sombra's...?"

Cadence shook her head sadly. "No...I'm sorry. Shining Armor is my sister-in-law, Princess Twilight's older brother, and my husband. Whatever happened to Sombra's descendants, I'm afraid we don't know and the Princess...well she never brought it up."

Closing her eyes then reopening them, sitting slowly, Nightmare Moon looked at Cadence one more time. Seeing for the first time all the things she hadn't seen that were clearly there now. The mane, that specific coat color, the eyes, the muzzle, the neck, the colors even if they weren't exactly all accurate she could see the resemblance now clearly.

As if a force drew her eyes over, she looked at Blueblood her distant forgotten son, Royal Bronze, lived on through his surviving descendant.

It surprised her how she'd been so blind to have not seen it earlier. To have not immediately seen the similarities between Cadence and Amore.

Then again, they hadn't seen another living soul in over a millenia. It was a miracle this was not all some hallucination she was suffering on the moon right now.

Shaking her head, smilingly sadly, unable to believe that this much had come to pass in their absence, the alicorn just sat down. To have met the descendants of those she was once close to in what seemed like a blink of an eye and not be there to see their stories unfold. It ached. Ached in a place she'd long since shut away.

Her ears twitched when she heard the steps of another approaching her. Instantly Nightmare Moon's horn sparked to life and her pupils turned to slits of rage, her irises flashed red and without even thinking, just aiming--

A hole appeared within a second of where her telekinesis had slammed into the floor. Cracks and steam rose from the impact point and the interior glowed a fading orange. There was a bark from somewhere and before any pony could do anything--

"Leave her." Cadence commanded immediately, her eyes shifting slightly to the right.

"But, Empress Cadence--"

"Leave her." Cadence commanded again with a wing raised for silence.

Flash Sentry shot a look to his second in command, and without wasting a second after, she stomped hard- the Crystal Solitaire backed down wordlessly as did the other guards relieve their offensive positions when their own officers gave them their own silent commands.

With her attention fully returned to the Nightmare, Cadence frowned and stopped her movement forward, taking steps back as the unblinking wide-eyes never left her till she retreated fully before the dark alicorn blinked again and relaxed.

"Leave us in silence." The alicorn said in a whisper. "Just a moment of silence. That's all we need..."

"There is a reason We asked of your knowledge relating to alicorns" she said at last. The rays of morning day had shifted as the sun had set and she could sense the afternoon begin. Though as she opened her eyes, she saw no horn ignited nor a soul missing to lift the Sun.

How?

"And what reason would that be?" Rainbow Dash asked drawing them back from their observations.

"To see if Celestia may have found one of our own; alicorn foals she kept under her wing. Though in our time here since Our return, I've come to narrow those beliefs significantly by reading your papers."

"Princess--" she winced at the look, Trixie tried again, "Empress, please clarify what you mean?"

"I think she thought when we met we were..." Twilight made a face looking for the most non-offensive way to put this, "...like the ancient alicorns?"

"You thought Twilight was born an alicorn back when you first met her and Princess Cadence at Twilight's castle?" Fluttershy cut in.

"No. We had believed that Princess Twilight and Cadence were."

For a moment, there was a shift in the room after those words had been uttered. A chill existing only in the social form that was drowned out by the confused looks many of the occupants save a few shared. However it lasted only a moment. It was washed away as Nightmare Moon went on unabated.

"Imagine my surprise. Other alicorns after all this time? It wasn't impossible, I couldn't rule it out that somewhere some place in some corner of the world some of us had carved out a home and managed to survive. It was plausible. So imagine my astonishment seeing two other alicorns before me. It made us pause. It made me think after our agreement."

"After Our escort of the Lunar tower had been completed, we studied the changes of this world. Learned as much as we could and eventually I eliminated Princess Twilight Sparkle from the possibilties, as well as this Princess Starlight Glimmer."

"Because of the Elements." Applejack pitched.

"No, their coronations." Which just made the purple ears fold at the memory. "But you are correct, the Elements were my belief but not one we were certain of till we came here."

"Given the context of our previous discussion I believe I could understand how that could seem...possible." Rarity gently stated.

"But why Cadence specifically? If you read the papers you'd know she was--" Tempest Shadow asked.

"Celestia adopted an alicorn filly." She looked around "Did you know that?" the question was rhetorical. Of course they knew. Everyone in Equestria and every other surface of the globe knew. "I checked, cross-checked, looked through every paper and every article and there was so little I could find. Just a name and the vague mention of some place she was from."

"I thought more about the possibilities," her speech getting faster, "the implications of it all and with it my research broadened. I began looking all over, not just in Equestria but other nations. Celestia was no fool. No, she was a quick thinker, but she was not completely ignorant. Questions would be asked: 'is she really your relative', 'where is she from', 'who are her parents', 'are there others like her?'" Nightmare Moon abruptly stopped. Looked at Cadence, then repeated those very same lines word for word. Whether she read them or whether she knew the now late Solar Princess that well was trivial.

"She is a distant relative."

"I will not be answering that but she is the daughter of an old friend."

"I cannot disclose her birthplace out of respect to her family's privacy and their wishes."

"Yes, she is my niece."

"Any questions relating to Princess Cadence shall be answered by me, so I ask kindly you leave her be."

"I am increasing security around Princess Cadence's villa as we have become aware of intrusions by those trying to get her picture. I am not happy with this behavior. I respectfully ask you give my niece the privacy you so personally cherish that she also deserves."

If a pin were dropped it would echo. The room shifted, stirred, there was confusion in the air and many of the individuals in the room didn't get it. Where was this going? Why did this matter? Why the focus on Cadence? If the lunar empress had actually done her research she already knew the answer.

Cadence had always been an alicorn. What was the point of asking a question you already knew the answer to?

What most had failed to notice was Nightmare Moon's eyes had always found their way back to Cadence the entire time, and all the pink one did was just stare back with a neutral expression.

"I think--" Pinkie began.

"Silence." A flick of her horn and the party planner was frozen in place. Horn never dimming, Nightmare Moon continued.

"It does my dark heart well to know that after all this time", she finally said, the hints of a grin tracing her lips, "she still can't help but meddle in every thing she feels requires her attention. Those distractions", her grin got wider when Cadence's tail flicked and the wings twitched as the nostrils flared, "might satisfy the press for a time, but not us."

Shining Armor chuckled, winced then said: "Look, I don't see the point of this--"

"--we should maybe try to..." Pinkie stopped, frowning as she looked around. "Wait..."

"Oh but you will." The Nightmare evenly returned, her sneer evident. "Because you know it too. Don't you?"

Tempest Shadow narrowed an eye then glanced between the unicorn and the alicorn. "... What are you hiding from us? What does this have to.do with Cadence?"

"It was not up to us to say it." Sunset replied cooly, her eyes never leaving that smug, pleased look on Nightmare Moon's face. "The Princess made us all swear, and you know the saying."

Trixie closed her eyes, recited the mantra: "When the Princess asks, you listen."

"Now that I know you are of Amore's line there is no longer a need to continue the search." Nightmare Moon picked up where she'd left off, ignoring the saying but letting it hang in the air for but a few seconds. "There is but one question we desire answered, however."

"And what would that be?" the pink alicorn smiled, a practiced expression.

Nightmare Moon smiled also. Then the lunar empress asked--

"How did you ascend without the Elements of Harmony?"