“Pinkie Pie, I’m sorry but that just isn’t possible,” the winged unicorn said with a halfhearted smile, “I, I mean… I was alone before Aunt Celestia found me. Without a place to start, there’s no way to tell what end you have found is right.”
Pinkie Pie and Princess Cadence looked at each other as they sat at the freshly polished crystal table in the secluded room from the Crystal Castle, the premier pink party pony smiling and grinning in her usual manner. Mi Amore Cadenza levitated her tea cup towards the kettle, poured herself some ginseng tea, and then returned the cup towards her before setting the kettle down, all in one fluid motion. The princess of love stared at her tea cup and her reflection in it before she lifted her head to see Pinkie Pie had moved her cushion closer to her.
“Aww, come on.” Pinkie Pie said with a quick happy grin. “I know it’s all odd, but I found out, well kinda sorta maybe perhaps in some weird fashion down the line of ‘gena-whosits’ stuff that’s hard to grasp for me because it’s WAAAAAYYYYY over my head, that there’s a slim chance I might be related to you. Isn’t it exciting?! I know I’m excited.”
“Pinkie, I understand you’re always enthusiastic, but I don’t think you understand what the word ‘orphaned’ means. Being an orphan means my parents are gone. I don’t know if they passed away, if they abandoned me, I was lost, or what you would like to call it. It happened when I was young. I don’t even remember their faces.” Princess Cadence said as her eyes began to water. “I’m glad to have Shining as my Family now, and—“
“And?” Pinkie Pie was quick to turn to the princess and stare at her. “And what? Is there something going on?”
Princess Cadence smiled at the Pink pony and then turned away. “And… well, something I’ll talk about later. I’m glad you found more family Ms. Pinkie Pie—“
“No! No, no, no, no, no! We ‘are’ related! Just call me Pinkie.”
“Ok, ‘Pinkie.’ Would you be able to show me what leads you to believe you and I are related?” Princess Cadence said. With the book in front of her, the mare levitated it close and read through each page that showed detailed origins of Equestrian Royalty. “Tha… That… How? This happened well over 700 years ago. I was found only twenty years ago as a small pegasus.”
In front of the alicorn mare was the image of two royals, Prince Sheath and Princess Polvere Di Stelle. Both ponies were born of royal heritage and betrothed to each other, wed to one another by Princess Celestia. The two ponies ruled over a secluded area of Equestria 700 years before the return of Princess Luna.
“See, see, see, see! That’s what I thought was weird because it talks about them having two babies. One was my ancestor who was born Prince Stella Cometa Pietra, but changed his name to Kamacite Pie. He wanted to “mingle” with regular ponies to see how they lived, or so the story goes that was passed down in my family. I thought it was a bunch of hooey that we could be related to royalty, but this book proves it. The other was a small foal that ‘mysteriously’ disappeared. She was called—“
“—Cadenza” The winged unicorn said as her face grew pale. “This can’t be. How can I be over seven hundred years old?”
“You don’t look a day over twenty, my love.” Shining Armor said as he entered into the room. The unicorn levitated a pillow close to his wife and sat down after he gave a kind smooch on Princess Cadence’s cheek. “This may not sound kind, but I don’t care about what some book says. I care about ‘you’ and the ‘you’ I fell in love with. Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but wasn’t that time plagued with numerous ponies that wanted to claim lineage for rights to the throne of that kingdom. They wanted to get in better standing with Princess Celestia? I remember from my early studies that historians called that era the time of disbelief.”
“O, right. I see…” Pinkie Pie said with a frown. Her ears lowered. The party pony gazed at the reflection in the tea cup in front of her before her eyes fixated on the polished crystal floor. In a melancholic tone that reflected her expression, the pink earth pony said, “Sorry, I was just a little excited. I see that I got carried away, again. I thought that if I was related to Cadence, I would be related to Twilight too. I would have even more ponies to have fun with and be part of an even bigger family.”
The pink earth pony twirled her hoof on the ground before she stared at the reflection in her cup once again, similar to Princess Cadence. Shining Armor sat near his wife and let out a slight cough before he nuzzled the alicorn mare’s tender neck. With a sheepish grin, the princess of love used her wing to pull Pinkie Pie closer to her for a gentle hug.
“Pinkie, you are just as close to me as the others, including Twilight. You promise not to tell any other pony if I give you a secret? This is a really ‘special’ secret that me and Shining have kept to ourselves.” Princess Cadence said.
“Sure, I promise.” Pinkie Pie said in a quiet tone.
“You promise? I mean you ‘really’ promise to keep it a secret? It’s something that I haven’t told anypony else, not even Aunt Celestia. I need a pony that I can trust with this secret.” Princess Cadence smirked towards the earth pony. “It’s a secret I would only trust with a relative.”
Pinkie Pie’s ears picked up as she heard the word ‘relative’ and recited her Pinkie Pie promise. As she ended with “cupcake in my eye,” the pink princess looked around before she whispered into the earth pony’s right ear. Pinkie Pie’s eyes dilated for a quick second. She sat on her cushion in shock before she leaned in close to Princess Cadence, “Really?”
The alicorn mare nodded to the pony who sat beside her. As Pinkie Pie prepared to shout, she covered her mouth, and then zipped it closed.
“Now remember my ‘relative,’ no pony is to hear a word of this. As I said, we haven’t even told Aunt Celestia about it yet, or Aunt Luna. That secret is a big responsibility to handle and I trust it to you.”
“Thanks…” the Pinkie earth pony said in a soft tone while a tear slipped from her left eye and landed on her cushion. She darted towards Princess Cadence and hugged her, “…relative.”
“O boy, I’ll get an ear full of this from Twily. I just know it.” Shining Armor said with a quip before he caught a glimpse of the stare from his wife. “I didn’t say anything. I’m just, ‘thinking out loud.’ I’ll be off. I need to return to the troops to strengthen our defenses. Goodbye honey…”
“You too, honey…” Princess Cadence said with a devilish smile before he left. “I’ll get you back in the months to come.”
Pinkie Pie and Princess Cadence sipped on their tea and made polite conversation. The crystal princess escorted her family out of the castle and towards the train station, seeing Pinkie Pie off safely.
“Remember, not a word to anypony.” Princess Cadence said as the train’s wheels began to spin, releasing a blast of steam.
“I promise.” Pinkie Pie said with a quick shout, ending in a hearty grin. The premier party pony waved with both her hooves towards Princess Cadence as the train sped down the track towards Ponyville. After she sat in her soft seat in the empty train car, Pinkie Pie’s mind began to wander in its usual fashion. “Now, I just need to think of what to bring for my next visit – wait, if I’m related to Princess Cadence, and she calls Princess Celestia her aunt, does that mean I’m related to Princess Celestia? Am I related to Princess Luna too? O. My. GOSH! I need to throw a huge princess extravaganza supreme party!”