Something was off.
Twilight Sparkle was sure of that. But…
Just a few hours after defeating the Queen of Changelings and starting the preparations for the wedding of the real Princess Cadance one would think that Twilight should have no reason to complain any longer. Everything was alright, Cadance was just like she remembered her and everypony was happy.
Yet against all of that, there was still this feeling, and Twilight simply couldn’t let it go. There had to be something she forgot. Some little detail that still hasn't been fixed.
She groaned. How she wished she had a checklist right now so she could simply read the thing without having to hopelessly attempt to remember! Of course: she had dozens of checklists. The problem was that the thing that worried her most certainly wasn’t on them.
“Oh well, if I didn’t bother to write it down then it couldn’t be so important,” she tried to tell herself, but it didn’t work. She couldn’t get rid of it so easily.
And she knew that if she doesn't figure it out, it will bother her throughout the rest of the wedding.
As she watched the ponies running around her, fixing things that were destroyed by the Changelings, her eyes slowly become blind to her surroundings and her thoughts drifted to her fillyhood days.
A little purple unicorn and pink alicorn with tricolored mane were lying next to each other on a large balcony, which belonged to her parents’ house, watching the stars. Here and there, one of them raised her hoof and pointed to a constellation or to a very bright star on the sky above them. Cadance was trying Twilight’s knowledge of stars’ names because the little filly loved to show off her skills.
“And what is name of that constellation over there?” asked Cadance.
“Which one? That?” Twilight pointed at one of them. “That’s Orion, of course!” She giggled.
Why of the all things in Equestria did she remember this pointless memory? Not that she was ungrateful for the time she had spend with Cadance, but thinking about the past wasn’t going to solve her present problem.
Just as she was about to dismiss the memory, something stopped her. Something about that long gone moment.
They were quiet for a while, just admiring the sky. Then Twilight spoke up: “Cadance?”
“Yes?”
“If Princess Celestia has control of both, the sun and the moon, how come her cutie mark is still only the sun? I mean,” she blushed slightly, “it seems just a little unfair towards the moon.”
Her foalsitter looked at her with amusement: “Really, Twilight? That’s what you think about when you don’t have to name stars?”
When the filly responded only with awkward silence, Cadance continued, “Honestly, I haven't been around long enough to know for myself and I never asked her about how she got her cutie mark. Maybe it's because she’s the ruler of this land and I found it just slightly uncomfortable to question the picture on the flank of royalty - ” By then, Twilight was sure that she was the worst pony in Equestria, even though Cadance was laughing " - but you know what? You’re right. You should definitely ask her about it.”
The alicorn next to her probably didn’t mean it, but Twilight still felt horrible that she even thought about Princess’s cutie mark. And she never asked her mentor about it.
In the end she didn’t need to. The return of Princess Luna explained everything.
But as comfortable as it was to think about the Princesses – Cadance included – the memory didn’t help her as she thought it would.
For the love of Celestia, what was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she just place her hoof on the thing that seemed off? Why did she feel like something Cadance had said was important?
Wait a second…
“I haven't been around long enough to know for myself...”
How long has she been around?
That was it! Twilight almost started jumping happily, because she was finally sure of what was off. Instead, she turned around and headed into the castle to find Cadance.
She found her trying out a new dress that Rarity had made for her and she quickly made sure that nopony was around. She wanted to be alone with her old foalsitter when she was about to ask personal questions.
Just the sight of Cadance filled her with an odd feeling. But it wasn’t like before, when she believed that Cadance had become some evil parody of herself. What felt so strange now was the thought of Cadance being older.
When Twilight looked at her, she saw someone much older than the girl that used to look after her. She was an adult now. She aged just as much as Twilight has. But it couldn’t be…
Princess Celestia never got old. She never changed and never grew up. And all that was because she was an alicorn.
“Cadance?” Twilight said quietly, making the pony notice her for the first time.
“Oh, Twilight, I didn’t see you there. How is it going?”
Twilight decided to ignore the question, because she wanted to have the problem solved already. “Can I talk to you for a moment? There is something bothering me…”
Cadance’s eyes filled with concern. “Sure, what is it?”
“Since you’re an alicorn,” Twilight started uneasily, “I was thinking that it’s maybe, just maybe a little strange for you to grow up just like me. I mean, everypony knows that Princess Celestia never changes, never grows old. And we all know why: some call it the gift of alicorns. Immortality. Princess Celestia won’t grow old, because she’s an alicorn. Because she’s immortal and so her body doesn’t change. So, if you don’t mind me asking, where does that leave you?”
As she spoke Cadance’s expression turned to bitter sadness. While still listening to the unicorn’s words, she levitated the dress off of herself and placed it on one of the figurines. Then she turned back to Twilight, who was now waiting impatiently for her answer.
“Mortal,” was her simple answer.
Twilight made a few steps towards her, eyes wide with disbelief, “Pardon?”
“I’m mortal. I don’t have the gift of alicorns.” She lowered her head. “Because I am not actually one of them.”
Twilight was now close enough to touch her. She felt pretty strange about all of this, but this was definitely something she wasn’t prepared for. Ever since she understood what “immortality” means she thought of Cadance as one of immortal alicorns and though she hated to admit it, she was maybe even a little jealous of her.
“What you’re saying right now is nonsense,” she pointed out. “You are an alicorn. You have the wings and the horn. You can’t just pretend that you don’t.”
Her friend smiled slightly, “I’m not pretending that I don’t, Twilight. But as you already said, the wings and the horn aren’t what make an alicorn. It’s the immortality. And I don’t have that.”
“Why not? How do you know? You can’t be sure of that!” Twilight never thought of her own death, but thinking about Cadance’s made her head hurt. She couldn’t lose her friend! Not ever!
Cadance spread out her wing and put it on Twilight’s shoulder. It felt funny, but Twilight didn’t mind.
“I’m sorry,” said the Princess, as she began explaining, “I should have told you sooner so you wouldn’t have to ask me about it now. See, alicorns are creatures created by universe itself. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don’t have any real parents. But, and here’s the difference, I do. And, as you probably can guess, my parents were from different species – my father was a pegasus and my mother a unicorn. It’s very, very rare when a foal ends up with enough genes from each to have marks of both species, but as you see, I was the case. But that never made me an alicorn. I've been and always will be mortal.”
Twilight tried to speak, but couldn’t find words. It was so obvious! Why haven’t she thought of it? But as happy as she was to have the problem solved, there was still the thought of Cadance’s death. Having her foalish dreams about Cadance’s immortality torn apart, she wasn’t sure what to think now.
Cadance probably read in her eyes about her confusion and so she added quietly: “Princess Celestia once told me, that I should be happy I’m mortal. And I think she’s right. As much as it may one day hurt to have to go, I’m happy that I won’t have to stay in this world long after all of my friends pass away.”
Twilight felt tears coming to her eyes, so she quickly fought them back. All the talking about mortality and immortality was just making her want to stop time.
The alicorn – no, wait, not the alicorn, just the pony with wings and horn – standing next to her suddenly took her wing off of her shoulder and smiled warmly at her.
“Oh, Twilight, don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere any time soon and neither are any of our friends. Come, let’s have a great wedding. I don’t want to be sad today and I don’t want any of my friends to be.”
Twilight tried to smile too. Just for Cadance. For she wasn’t, against all of her dreams, going to live forever.
The only thing she could do was be happy as long as she could.
Author's Note
Grammar fixed on March 19th 2016
