Hello, everypony. My name is Princess Sonata Cavatina. I'm a white unicorn mare with a dark blue mane and tail, both of which have a light blue stripe. Ponies always tell me that I look just like my father, except for my eyes, which are the exact replica of my mother's. You might have heard of my parents. My mother is Emperess Mi Amore Cadenza, better known as Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire. My father, as you might have guessed, is Shining Armor, the Emperor/Prince Consort of the Crystal Empire, but his, for lack of a better term, day job, is Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. You wouldn't believe how proud he was of me when I... well, that part might be best saved for a later date.
Let's start with the story of how I was born...
~
Princess Celestia's sun shined through the windows of the master bedroom of the Crystal Palace. Lying in their bed, the sheets of which were all askew, was a unicorn stallion with a white coat and a blue mane and tail with the image of a blue sheild with a pink star in the middle on his flank. Beside him was a pink alicorn mare with a tri-colored mane and tail and the image of a crystal heart on her flank. The stallion was named Shining Armor, Emperor/Prince Consort of the Crystal Empire and Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. The mare was Emperess Mi Amore Cadenza, better known as Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire.
Shining Armor opened his eyes and looked at Cadence. He wished he could just lie here and spend all day with his beautiful, wonderful, wife. But, he couldn't. He had to catch the train and get to Canterlot, so he could attend the graduation of this year's Academy ROTC class.
As her husband got up and pulled away from her, Cadence muttered, "No, don't go."
"Sorry, honey. But, I have to go get the train. Today's the Academy ROTC graduation," said Shining Armor.
But, Cadence apparently didn't hear him, and fell back asleep.
Shining Armor looked down at his wife and smiled. He remembered all the hairbrained schemes he, Gizmo Poindexter, 8-Bit, and an old friend he'd forgotten the name of for some reason, had concocted in order to get him and Cadence together. His smile grew even wider as he recalled that Cadence, despite his being a total geek and a nerd, whereas she was popular, talented, and voted most likely to suceed, had quite a crush on him as well.
Shining Armor chuckled as he recalled learning that Cadence had even recruited his baby sister, Twilight, who had been no more than a unicorn filly at the time, to help her.
All in all, Shining Armor had everything he could ever want. His dream girl, captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, even a kingdom.
"See you tonight, my love," whispered Shining Armor as he donned his Guard's Armor, and left.
~
As a few months passed, Shining Armor couldn't help but notice that Cadence was starting to act a little... odd. She started to vomit, get weird cravings, and have weird mood swings. So, at Shining's insistance, Cadence went and got herself checked out at the Doctor's, although Cadence was sure it was just a minor bug, nothing serious.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
As the doctor came back into the room, he said, "So, have you and the Prince decided on any names?"
Cadence raised an eyebrow. "Names for what?" she asked.
The doctor explained to Cadence what he meant in three simple words.
~
"So, how'd it go?" asked Shining Armor as Cadence entered the living quarters of the Crystal Palace.
Cadence had a worried look on her face. "Shining Armor... I..." she said.
"Cadence, what's wrong?" asked Shining Armor, a note of worry in his voice.
"W-well... something wonderful has happened to us," said Cadence. Finally, Cadence swallowed her pride and said four words that she knew would change her and her husband's lives forever.
"Shining Armor, I'm pregnant."
"Wha...? You're pregnant?!" cried Shining Armor in shock, before his face broke into a huge grin. "I don't believe it! I'm going to be a father!" he yelled with glee.
"I know! We've gotta start getting the baby's room ready!" said Cadence.
~
So, the new parents spent much of the next two months getting a spare room ready for their new foal. It was nothing short of perfect by the time they were finished.
And then, finally, Cadence went into labor and was rushed to the Empire Hospital.
Outside the delivery room his wife was in, Shining Armor paced the floor as Twilight arrived.
"You know, you'll put a rut in the floor if you keep doing that," said Twilight.
Shining Armor looked up at his sister. "I know, Twily... it's just that... I'm so nervous about being a father! I mean... what if I'm not good at it?" he said.
Twilight smiled. "Come on, Shiny. You know that's just crazy talk. If you could be as a good B.B.B.F.F. ad you were to me, and rule the Crystal Empire as well as you have, then I am absoulutely certain that you can be a wonderful father," she said.
Shining Armor smiled. "Thanks, Twily," he said.
At that moment, the doctor came out and looked Shining Armor right in the eye. After a tense moment, the doctor smiled. "Congratulations, my liege. You have a very healthy baby filly," he said.
Shining Armor's jaw dropped as he felt his knees start to get wobbly. "A f-f-filly?" he babbled as the words I have a daughter bounced around in his head.
"Can we go see them?" asked Twilight.
"Sure, but keep it brief. Princess Cadence and the baby need to rest," said the doctor.
Shining Armor made his very wobbly way to the delivery room door and opened it.
There, on the hospital bed, was Princess Cadence, and sleeping in her hooves, was a newborn filly that was the spitting image of Shining Armor.
Shining Armor felt the same way he did when he first met Cadence at the Canterlot Academy all those years ago. Speechless as the sight of one of Faust's angels stood before him.
"Is that...?" muttered Shining Armor.
Cadence, who was looking very tired after the long labor, smiled at Shining Armor. "This is our baby, Shining," she said.
Then, as if on cue, Princesses Celestia and Luna... more or less fell through the door. Streightening themselves up, the Royal Sisters looked down at their great-niece. Tender and warm smiles came to their faces milliseconds later.
"She looks just like her father," whispered Celestia.
Luna's smile turned devious. "Five bits says she has her mother's eyes," she whispered to her elder sister.
"You're on. But, onto more serious matters. Have you two picked out a name?" asked Celestia.
Cadence and Shining Armor looked at each other, before two words came out of Cadence's mouth.
"Sonata Cavatina."
It was about two months after Sonata was born. So far, she had been a pretty docile child, save for a few normal quirks, like pounding things and trying to eat inedible things.
Boy, did that change in a hurry.
"No, Sonata, we don't use magic to adjust the crystals so they make the sunlight blind Daddy," said Cadence as Shining Armor rubbed his eyes after getting a faceful of reflected sunlight.
Sonata just giggled and clapped her hooves together, before babbling a little bit in baby talk.
~
"No, Sonata, come back down here! There's all kinds of pointy crystals up there!" called Shining Armor as he ran after Sonata, who was using her magic to levitate herself through the air.
"Whee!" cried Sonata as she flew like a bird, before her magic fizzled out. Shining Armor, luckily managed to catch his daughter before she hit the ground.
~
"Holy Faust in Elysium, this parenting stuff is really, really, hard!" groaned Shining Armor after he and Cadence had gotten Sonata down for her nap.
"Well, nopony said raising a foal was easy," pointed out Cadence.
"I know... but, if this is what she's like when she's only two months old, I hate to think what the terrible twos are going to be like," said Shining Armor.
"If you think two years old is terrible, just wait until she's three. That's what I hate to think about," said Cadence.
Just then, Sonata started to cry.
"I'm on it," said Shining Armor, sighing as he got up.
"No, it's feeding time, anyway. I got this," said Cadence.
With that, Cadence walked off to feed her daughter. Once she was out of the room, Shining Armor's head hit the table as he fell asleep.
~
"Happy birthday, Sonata!" said the gathered ponies at Princess Sonata's first birthday party.
Naturally, being royalty, Sonata got quite the haul. She got a new swing, a bouncy seat, several new stuffed animals, which ranged from monkeys to giraffes, elephants, and crocodiles. And of course, from Auntie Twilight, the latest edition of the My Foal Can Read! phonics series.
Which we'll probably never use anyway, thought Shining Armor.
~
While Sonata took her nap, Shining Armor, Cadence, and Twilight had a little chat.
"So, have you two thought about where you want to send little Tina when she's old enough?" asked Twilight, drinking her cup of coffee.
Cadence and Shining Armor looked at each other. School? was exactly the thought that was on both of their minds.
Cadence was the first one who spoke up. "Well, we still have plenty of time until then, right?"
Twilight gasped and went on a mile long lecture about how important it was to start thinking about their child's future and so on.
~
Yeah, that Aunt Twilight of mine really was concerned that I got the best education. And on that topic, we enter my elementary school years...
