Celestia idly sipped her tea as she observed the unicorn with the broken horn before her. Said unicorn idly stirred the tea in her cup with her hooves, her chains clinking against the table as she sat un otherwise perfect silence. The rest of the guards in the room watched over her, filling the atmosphere with a level of tenseness, as if she could suddenly pop out of her chair and start a fight at any moment.

"You haven't eaten anything." Celestia noted, glancing over at the spread of food laid out before both her and the mulberry unicorn before her.

No response.

"You know, these aren't meant to be hostile. We can speak of anything you wish. More than anything, I just want to understand why you did it- why you attacked Equestria." Celestia continued, a perfectly level look in her eyes.

Again, there was no response.

"Why attack your home? Was it because of something somepony did to you? Was it because somepony broke your horn and you wanted revenge?" Celestia pressed, before calmly taking a sip of her tea.

Yet again, she was met with utter silence from the unicorn before her. The utter lack of any response whatsoever made the already tense air in the room just that much more volatile. Several of the guards tightened their grips on their respective weapons as the seconds ticked by.

Just when the silence became unbearable, Tempest took to stirring her tea once more. The scraping sound of her spoon against the ceramic of her cup was only drowned out by the sound of her chains clinking against one another and the table. Raising an eyebrow slightly at the sight before her, Celestia ignited her horn. The sudden sight of bright, glowing, yellow light made Tempest pause in her stirring, her eyes gazing over to the chains themselves as a similar golden aura encompassed them. The cuffs unlocked, allowing the chains to simply slide off of her hooves and fall to the ground below, clattering amongst themselves.

"Better?" Celestia asked, gently.

Tempest rubbed the sore spots on her forelegs where the chains had dug into her coat. A rather thick indentation into her hooves revealed itself as she tended to the tender flesh.

"Better." Tempest finally spoke, her voice nearly a whisper.

"If you wanted those off, you could have just asked. No need to play silly games to prove how tough you are. We're all well aware. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have so many guards in here to watch you." Celestia chuckled.

Tempest softly snorted as she reached over and grasped her cup between her hooves. With glacial speed, she brought the cup over to her lips and took a gentle sip, taking in the ginger taste with a gentle sigh. Celestia chuckled at her actions, levitating her own cup back to her lips to take another sip.

"You know, you can tell a lot about a pony by how they drink their tea. I recall when I had tea with Chrysalis for the first time. Quite the reserved mare, that one. She's a bit like you. She likes to take her time, savoring the taste. Can't have it too hot, nor too cold. It has to be the perfect temperature. I've seen her reheating tea with her magic during our tea times because she simply takes too long to enjoy it all before it's too cold." Celestia chuckled, daintily covering her muzzle with her hoof.

"Doubt I'll be warming this up any time soon." Tempest replied, glancing up to her broken horn, and the mana ring securely fastened around the base.

Celestia nodded, "True as that may be, I can heat your tea for you. My sister tells me its my second special talent. I always know exactly how hot ponies prefer it." She tittered.

Tempest absentmindedly nodded, "So what do you want to talk about today?" She asked, taking another small sip of her tea.

"Well I did give you a list of questions that I would like answers to, if you recall." Celestia answered, patiently.

Tempest snorted in amusement, "Ah, yes. The 'why' I betrayed my kind and tried to lead an invasion to attack Canterlot. Considering the fact that you knew we were coming, I think you already know all the relevant information." She muttered.

Celestia calmly shook her head, "I know all the military details, sure. What I still don't know or understand is your story. I've had Luna and Twilight scouring the archives all week to find any mention of a mare named 'Tempest Shadow' and they cannot find anything. So I'm only left to assume that you're lying about your name and place of origin. Broken horns are extremely rare, so unless this happened outside of Equestria, I'm disinclined to believe that you were injured in your youth and nopony ever found out or took you to a hospital." She rebutted, giving Tempest a sympathetic look.

"Why do you keep fixating on my horn. For all you know, I'm just evil. Rotten to the core and mad with a lust for power. Maybe I just wanted to take over Equestria and enslave you all for my own amusement. Did that thought ever cross your thousand-year-old mind?" Tempest shot back.

Celestia gave her a sad look, "Tempest, I think we both know that's not the case."

"Don't you have changelings infiltrating every corner of the world right now? Surely there was at least one on my ship. I'm sure you got any answers you needed from them." Tempest huffed, before taking another quick sip of her tea.

Celestia held her gaze for a few moments, an otherwise blank look on her regal face as she stared right back into Tempest's defiant turquoise eyes. Once again, the tension in the room slowly increased, making the air feel thick and heavy. Some of the guards nervously gulped and adjusted their postures or the grips they had on their weapons. Then, a loud ding echoed from a speaker somewhere in the ceiling, making almost everypony in the room jump; everypony except Tempest and Celestia.

"It appears I've struck something of a nerve. I apologize, Tempest. Offending you was never my intent. For now, Could you excuse me a moment. I have something to take care of." Celestia politely announced, getting out of her chair and heading to the door without a word.

Tempest watched her go, taking another sip of her tea as she observed. The solar alicorn approached a door that instantly opened for her, revealing a small hallway that she couldn't quite see into. Within seconds, the door closed, leaving her alone in the room with nopony but the guards as company. The tension in the air rose once again.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Celestia hooked an immediate left, walking up to another set of closed doors that opened upon her arrival. Standing there to greet her, his arms crossed as he stared through the one-way wall, was Anon.

"So, what do you think?" Anon asked, glancing over his shoulder as she walked up to his side.

"Her horn is absolutely the reason for her betrayal. I could practically taste the vitriol and resentment she feels for every pony around her with a horn atop their head." Celestia replied, before a flash of green flames erupted around her, revealing Chrysalis.

Anon, now having grown very used to the changeling transformation, didn't flinch as Chrysalis revealed her natural form.

"You think someone did it to her? And she's just trying to get revenge on the entire species or something?" Anon suggested.

Chrysalis shook her head, "I don't think it's quite that diabolical. I think she was a scared little filly when whatever happened to her, happened, and she's spent the rest of her life trying to show the world that she's a big strong mare that can take care of herself. I think taking Canterlot and all the magic of the Equestrian royalty was just her magnum opus." She replied.

Anon shook his head and sighed, "I think we need to move on to good cop/bad cop."

"You don't think this method is working?" Chrysalis inquired.

"Swan said it was the best way to get information and usually I'm inclined to agree. Treating the prisoner well and making sure they're well fed always tends to get them to just... give up whatever information they have. Thing is, she's not really cracking."

Chrysalis nodded, "Well, if you want, we can always try the good cop/bad cop approach. To be honest, I'm surprised as well. Even on these little tea times I keep doing with her, she doesn't want to talk about anything. Two weeks later and all we know is what I suspected from the start."

Anon turned toward the door, "Well, I'm game. I call bad cop."

Chrysalis snickered, "Anon, honey... maybe you should leave the menacing 'bad cop' routine to me?"

"Aww, I never get to be the bad cop. I can be intimidating too, ya know." Anon pouted.

"Normally I'd agree with you, however... this mare is something else. She isn't intimidated by any of us. Even me." Chrysalis replied, following him to the door.

Anon sighed as he rounded the corner and reached the doorway leading into the interrogation room, "Alright, alright. Fine. We'll do the usual routine."

With that, Anon pounded on the door three times, prompting one of the guards inside to quickly rush to the door and opened it. Instantly, Tempest's eyes were upon him and Chrysalis, scrutinizing them both as they entered the room and sat on the opposite side of the table from her.

"Tempest. How are you holding up in here?" Anon asked, politely.

"Fine." Tempest replied, simply.

Anon nodded, glancing to Chrysalis for a brief moment, "You know, if you gave us the information we need, you would be out of here already. Instead you continue to play these ridiculous games. Just tell us what we want to know and you'll be free from this place." Chrysalis asserted, giving a scowl to the mare before her.

"I'm sure you're eager to throw me into another hole and throw away the key." Tempest muttered.

"While we... energetically debated placing you in Alcatrotz, the fact of the matter is that it simply doesn't exist anymore. Having said that, truth be told, you do have some value to us. That's why I've tried to reason with you and offer you something of a deal but you aren't really making it easy for me, Tempest. I want to help you, I do. I don't believe you're a bad pony, but you've gotta help me so I can help you." Anon offered, giving his most placating, genuine tone.

"That's a load of horseapples and you know it. The information you want doesn't even make sense anyway. What does me doing what I did have to do with anything. I did what I did. I lost. Here I am. What difference does the why make." Tempest shot back.

Chrysalis slammed her hooves on the table and leaned over it until her muzzle was just a few inches from Tempest's, "You're lucky you aren't rotting in Tartarus. Don't forget who you're speaking to, whelp."

Shocking to Anon, Tempest's expression remained unfazed, "Of course. Where are my manners, your highness." She replied.

Anon cleared his throat as Chrysalis sat back on her chair, "Tempest, as my wife has told you many times. We just want to help you. I think that you telling us the 'why' is extremely helpful for that cause. As far as the Storm King is concerned, we have all the information we need to deal with him, should he present a threat again anyway. That said, if you're willing to share anything else with us that we might have missed, it would go a long way to building some trust here and giving me some good reasons to get you out of that cell. Don't tell me you like sleeping in a damp, cold dungeon every night." He reasoned, clasping his hands together on the table.

"I've had worse." Tempest replied, quietly.

Anon held her gaze for a few moments, his lips pursed in thought as he observed the mare before him.

"You know, neither of us are getting any younger, Tempest. You sure you want to waste away in a cell a and waste my time? I've got kids to look after. I don't have to spend my afternoons down here with you, but I believe that there's good in all of you ponies. I just don't understand why you're so insistent on denying yours." Anon sighed.

"You wouldn't understand." Tempest quietly muttered.

"Try me." Anon shot back, quickly.

Rather than reply, Tempest appeared to shut down completely. She failed to meet his gaze and failed to respond verbally. Anon waited nearly five entire minutes in perfect silence before shaking his head.

"Well if you feel that way, then I don't believe there's really anything more for us to discuss here, today." He replied with a sigh as he slid his chair out and got to his feet.

Chrysalis quickly followed suite, the action prompting several guards to hurry over to Tempest's side and re-cuff her in her shackles. Without so much as a word, they ushered her our of the room and back in the direction of her cell. She maintained complete and utter silence the entire time, no so much as looking where she was going as she was led back down to the cold, damp dungeon.

As the door closed behind her, she was left with just the pair of royal guards who'd escorted her to the interrogation room in the first place. Both of them flanked her on either side, ensuring that she had no room to maneuver or run in the narrow hallway. The long walk back to the cell passed her by faster than she cared to admit, and sooner rather than later, she found herself walking back to the same cell that she'd come to call home for the past two weeks.

As they had before, the guards unlocked the door, the clinking of metal keys ringing out in the otherwise nearly-silent hall. The slow and steady drip of cold water on cobblestone floors fought for some measure of dominance in the eerily quiet hall, but soon enough both were surpassed by the scraping of the metal door opening and the creaking of the hinges. Tempest stepped inside automatically, turning around as the guards closed the door behind her. Without a word, she held her hooves up to the food opening, allowing the guards to unlock the shackles on her forelegs. Once that was done, they she turned back around, allowing the unicorn to unlock her hind legs.

Now free to at least move around once more, Tempest did the only thing she could and laid back down on her meager cot. The mattress sagged as it accepted her weight with a creak and groan. With her back turned to the guards once more, she curled back up into a ball much like how they'd found her earlier, her tail moving to cover her barrel as some semblance of warmth against the chill of the cold dungeon air.

Both guards observed her for a moment as she got comfortable, the duo sharing a look of confusion before shrugging and turning around to head back to the surface. As they walked, the clopping of their hooves echoed through the hall, combating the dripping water for dominance as the loudest sound within earshot.

"Welp, how much longer do you think she's gonna keep this up?" The unicorn asked.

"I dunno. She's lost some weight since the Princesses had her placed down here. She isn't hardly eating anything that we bring her and she only sips the tea Princess Celestia lays out for her every time she wants to see her. She's either gonna starve or cave at this rate. My bits are on her singing like a canary before long." The earth pony shrugged.

The duo rounded the corner, the last visages of Tempest's cell block fading behind the cobblestone wall as they proceeded.

"I hope she cracks sooner rather than later. Prince Anon was right. He isn't getting any younger and I'd hate for him to spend all his days trying to convince her to reform like he managed with Chrysalis."

"Oh, didn't you hear? Moonglow and Synth Wave were on duty a couple weeks ago and apparently Prince Anon has Princess Twilight looking into some way to grant him immortality. We just might have an immortal human prince if she can find something."

"Really? That's awesome! Though... if Princess Twilight of all ponies hasn't found something yet, there might not be anything. She's the most studious mare in all of Equestria."

"I'm sure she'll find something. Besides, it's only been two weeks. Not two months."

The pair shared a chuckle as they ascended the staircase heading back to the castle. Unbeknownst to them, back down the path of the dungeon, laying on her cot with her ear pressed against a small piece of metal tubing she'd pried off of her plumbing, Tempest smirked.

Celestia sighed as the last petitioner for Day Court exited, leaving her alone with just Raven and Captain Valorant to keep her company in the otherwise empty throne room.

"My, it has been quite a day, hasn't it?" Celestia replied, sagging into her chair slightly.

"Not moreso than usual, I'd say. Eighty seven petitioners today is hardly a record. Remember that fiasco a couple years ago when there were well over two hundred?" Raven smirked.

Celestia chuckled, "How could I forget. That fateful morning led to more happiness and fulfilment in my life than I'd ever thought possible."

"More trouble and headache too." Valorant contributed, snorting in amusement.

Celestia giggled into her hoof, "True, but all well worth it in the end. Who'd have thought that humans and alicorns were compatible? Certainly not I. Now, seeing as the sun is due to set soon, I do believe I have time to go have dinner with my family." She practically beamed, the prospect of seeing her daughter and husband making her practically giddy.

All tiredness and soreness left her body almost immediately as Celestia rose to her hooves and hopped from the throne. Her wings spread wide, catching wind under her feathers and slowing her descent into a gentle glide. She landed just a few steps in front of Raven and headed for the door, both the secretary mare and Captain of the Guard falling into step behind her. The group exited the throne room doors and made their way through the castle until they arrived at the royal dining room, finding both Chrysalis and Anon already waiting for them. Held in Anon's arms and riding atop Chrysalis's back, were the adorable forms of Artemis and Dawn.

"There's my beautiful ray of sunshine right there." Anon smiled, glancing up to his wife as she entered the room.

"Nonny!" Celestia beamed, trotting over to him like an overly excited filly.

She quickly pulled him into a tight hug, careful not to squish her daughter before she pulled away and planted a deep, longing kiss on Anon's lips.

"Long day?" Anon asked, sensing the eagerness behind the kiss.

Celestia snickered, "How can you always tell?"

"You always need some more love and attention than usual when its been a long day. The kisses last just a tad longer than normal." Anon smirked, adjusting Dawn slightly so she was supported better in his arms.

Celestia blinked owlishly at him for a moment before glancing over to Chrysalis.

"He's spot on. Even by my standards, that's impressive that he can read you so well." Chrysalis grinned, walking over to Anon's side.

Playfully rolling her eyes, Celestia leaned in and planted an equally loving kiss on the changeling Queen's lips. Artemies, seeing an opportunity to fly again, flapped his little alicorn wings to hop off of Chrysalis's back and land atop of Celestia's. The sudden added weight to her back, startled Celestia enough to break the kiss and look over her wither at the little colt now playing with her mane.

"Oh? Hello there, Artemis." Celestia giggled, before leaning in close and nuzzling his cheek.

"Wanna hold her? She's been practically begging to see her mommy all day." Anon teased, bringing Dawn just a bit closer to his wife.

Celestia turned to her daughter and gave her a loving nuzzle as well, before levitating her onto her back beside her brother. The two siblings instantly dove into her mane, the rich colors and flowing nature of the hair captivating their little infant minds in an instant.

"Oh, foals." Chrysalis snorted in amusement.

The group shared a small chuckle as the dining room doors opened, revealing both Twilight and Luna.

"-so I was hoping that if I showed this to everypony, we could-" Twilight spoke, only pausing as Luna cleared her throat.

"We're here, Twilight. Why don't you tell everypony else what you were just explaining to me?" Luna suggested, prompting Twilight to follow her gaze.

"Oh! Of course! Hello, Celestia, Chrysalis, Anon. Oh! Little Artemis and Dawn!" Twilight squee'd, quickly trotting over to Celestia.

Both filly and colt giggled as Twilight came within jumping distance and leapt onto her, nearly catching her by surprise. Being the quick alicorn that she was, however, Celestia caught them both with her magic and slowly levitated them onto Twilight's back, much to her happiness. Much as they had with her, both of the twins took to playing with and in Twilight's mane, much to her amusement.

"Oh, I love these two. They're starting to make me want to have one of my own." Twilight giggled into her hoof while Artemis climbed onto her head.

Celestia laughed, "They tend to have that effect on ponies."

Anon playfully elbowed Raven, "Hehe, she's talking about you." He teased.

Raven rolled her eyes and lighted smacked the back of Anon's head, prompting him to stand back up to his normal height.

"Anyway, yes. I have some news that I need to tell all of you. I was discussing it with Luna on the way over here and it's just too promising to not share with you." Twilight explained.

"What news, Twilight?" Celestia quirked her head to the side.

"It's a bit of a long shot even still, but there's an ancient artifact, even older than Celestia and Luna. It's called the Elixir of Magicae. As far as I can tell from the tombs I've read, Starswirl the Bearded discovered tales of it during his travels to the Fillyppines and the Bone Dry Desert!" Twilight explained, a growing smile on her face as she explained.

"I'm sorry, where?" Anon did a double take.

"Even I've never heard of that place." Chrysalis shook her head.

"The information is from the Fillyppines, but according to what Starswirl wrote, the elixir resides in the Hall of Unity at the end of the Desolate Wild, after you climb the Peaks of Peril. It's somewhere in that mountain range. That isn't even the best part though!" Twilight beamed.

"What is?" Luna pressed.

"A lot of the information was lost to time-" Twilight began.

"How is that the best part?" Anon cut in. Chrysalis smacked him with her wing.

Twilight gave him a deadpan stare, "I was getting there. A lot of the information has been lost to time, but not all of it. Starswirl specifically states in his memoirs from forty two post Nightmare Moon, that all of the information he's found points him directly to the Crystal Empire! He just couldn't go there because King Sombra took the entire empire with him when he disappeared! Only nooooow..." Twilight trailed off, motioning for Celestia to continue for her.

"The... Empire has returned... and that monster has been defeated... Twilight, you're amazing!" Celestia exclaimed, quickly leaning in and nuzzling her prized pupil.

"This is most wonderful news... though, we still don't have a clear answer on whether Anon even wants immortality in the first place." Luna countered, halting all the mirth spreading through the room.

All eyes darted to the man in question as he held his hands in his pockets and rolled his tongue on his mouth. The air suddenly felt very thick and heavy as they all stared at him, expectantly.

Author's Note

I seem to have a thing for interrogation scenes... anyway, hope you guys like this one.