//------------------------------// // A Princess's Heritage // Story: Tartarus Forged Friendship // by Mystic Sunrise //------------------------------// Twilight wasn't sure why she had been called away as she had. It wasn't that she didn't mind spending time with Diamanda. The mare was a window to a world she was only just beginning to understand. When she wasn't helping Cadance learn as much as she could about the Crystal Empire and all it took to run it, the former queen was usually out and about in the city, helping the regular ponies as much as she could. While Sombra's hold over them had been broken, not all wounds were visible. Many still bore the psychological wounds from years of forced slavery under the tyrant. "It will be a long time before all wounds heal," is how one pony, Rose Quartz, had explained it to Twilight. When Twilight had asked what she could do to help, Rose had only smiled. "Just do what you have been. It's helping more than you know." Twilight had been forced to concede the point. She could see it if she looked hard enough on the ponies around her. So she did the only thing she could do in this situation. She was as friendly and outgoing as she could be. And it seemed to be working. Or at least she thought it was. She hoped it was. But as she walked toward Diamanda's room, Twilight could only wonder why she had been asked to come. While she was always happy to spend time with the older mare, something told her that this wasn't a social call. As she came to the room, Twilight steadied her breathing before poking her head through the open door. Diamanda was standing next to an open window, its view showing the city beyond. She cleared her throat. "You wanted to see me?" Dia turned with a smile. "I did Twilight. Come in." Twilight trotted in. The room wasn't much at first glance. A bed along one wall while on the other a bookcase stood partly empty. Twilight recognized some of the books from the Crystal Library. She shook the thoughts from her mind as she focused on the here and now. "So what's up?" Dia smile grew. Her sister had influenced Twilight more than either realized it seemed, but that was for a later day. "While I have many questions, maybe you can help me with this. It's about a pony you know rather well here in the empire." Twilight had an idea of who she meant. "Cadance?" Dia nodded. "There is something about her. I don't know what it is, but it is there. What do you know of her? I know Celestia adopted her as her niece." Twilight nodded as her ears fell. "Cadance was an orphan. An earth pony family found her abandoned and all alone as a pegasus filly. They raised her as their own. The village where they lived was way out in the middle of nowhere, so her origins were even odder." She smiled though as she remembered the tale she had been told. "But despite being the only Pegasus in an earth pony village, they never shunned her. She was loved by everypony." Dia smiled at the story. It was always nice to hear more of that, for she remembered a time when the very idea of that was anathema to all ponies. Equestria really had moved on since that time. Twilight's smile fell though. "But one day, a pony named Prismia began to steal all the love from the village. She had some kind of charm or necklace that stole all love from those around her." Her gaze looked out the window toward the south and Equestria. "Cadance couldn't stand to watch her family, her friends, rip themselves apart through hatred, so she confronted Prismia. She eventually broke through Prismia's hate and showed her what love really meant." She chuckled as she looked at her own horn. "The next thing she knew, she was in what Princess Celestia calls the Astral Plane. Celestia herself was shocked to find anypony there, let alone somepony so young." Dia chuckled as well. "I bet. Very few have ever been there before. Few have earned the right to see the Astral Plane. Only those who have done great deads ever see it." Twilight nodded. "Cadance became an alicorn that day. When she had learned the full story of where she came from and that she was an orphan, Celestia adopted her as her neice." She smiled sheepishly. "And the greatest foalsitter in the history of foalsitters." Dia smile slyly. "I assume that is how she met your brother Shining Armor?" Twilight nodded. "Yep. You'll have to ask them that story." Her brows creased though as a question came to mind. "Why? Do you know more about her?" Dia shook her head. "I do not know. Cadance reminds me so much of my granddaughter. They even look alike. But your story raises even more questions than it answers." Twilight stepped closer. "You said nopony knows what happened to her. Maybe she's descended from her?" Dia smiled slightly. "Maybe. I will not pressure her though. I will not force on her a pony she isn't. That wouldn't be right of me. We barely know one another." Twilight placed a hoof on her. "Cadance is a loving pony. I'm sure you two can always be friends, even if there is nothing there." Dia nodded, before smiling again. "You are wise beyond your years Twilight. Celestia will need to keep up, or you'll leave her in the dust when it comes to wisdom." Both chuckled at the idea before falling into silence for a time. *** Unnoticed, Cadance had heard everything Twilight and Diamanda had spoken of, and it had her wondering as well. She would always love the family that had raised her before she came to Canterlot with Princess Celestia. Somedays she missed the days when she had been just a regular Pegasus whose only worry was that her mom wouldn't make something icky for dinner. But now, as she silently left the room behind, her mind began to wonder about things. And questions she had not asked herself in a long time, came back to her mind.