It was midnight in Canterlot. All lights were off, aside from the street lights. Since it was raining so heavily, there was nopony in the streets, they were all in their houses. All, except one.
One lonely figure walked slowly through the streets. It was wearing a full body cape, with a hood over its head, and carried a basket with its magic, silently watching to not letting its content get wet. It was a pony, a unicorn, much more precisely a mare. Her hooves clapping against the tiling was the only sound that could be heard at that moment, besides the rain.
She stopped as she passed next to the gates of the royal castle. All lights were off too, there even weren’t any guards outside, guarding the door. The cloaked mare looked at the gates for a moment before walking to them, watching to not make any noise. Slowly, with all the care in the world, she left the basket she was carrying on the stairs.
Inside the basket something moved. The mare took a bit of the blanket in it off, revealing a sleeping baby in it. Lovingly, she kissed the little filly on the forehead, like only a mother would do. When she stood up again, some drips stained the soft pink of the blanket, although these were not raindrops, but tears.
“I’m so sorry, my dear. I hope you can live here the life I can’t give you.”
The filly squirmed a bit, but remained asleep. Choking back more tears, the mare lifted a hoof, knocked the door six times, and ran away.
Celestia couldn’t sleep. She had gone to bed after a day of royal duties and managed to fall asleep, but an hour ago she had just woken up, and since then sleep had evaded her. She had tried everything that came to her mind; she had tried drinking warm milk, counting sheep, and even meditating for a while (a pair of zebra ambassadors had taught her this a while back), but nothing had worked. She was now taking a walk through the castle, maybe some fresh air would help her.
Suddenly, she heard three faint knocks. ‘Huh? What was that?’ She raised her head, trying to detect were the sound had come from.
Knock, knock, knock.
‘There, again! It came from the door. I wonder who could be at this hour.’ Celestia walked down the hallway until she reached the door, and opened it. When she peeked outside, there was nopony there, not even in the streets. “Hello? Anypony there?” she called, but heard no answer. ‘Now, who would go out with this rain at this hour and just call to run away?’ She was about to close the door when a faint noise took her attention, and looked down.
Just next to her hooves, there was a little basket with some blankets in it, under the blankets there was the most beautiful baby Celestia had ever seen. The little filly had a soft pink coat, and a cute multicolored mane. A little horn was sprouting form her forehead. There also was a note on a side of the basket, lined up so Celestia could see it: Please give her a good home. I can’t.
“The little girl was abandoned? It must have been heartbreaking for her mother.” Celestia said in loud voice. The baby squirmed and opened her purple eyes. She took a glance at her surroundings, and slowly started to cry. Before it happened Celestia picked the basket up.
“Sshh, don’t cry, don’t cry.” The Princess tried to calm down the filly as she closed the door and went to her bedroom. It seemed ineffective, until the baby looked straight at Celestia’s eyes, the filly stopped crying almost immediately. Instead, she smiled. Celestia smiled back.
“Are you hungry, sweetie? Let’s go to the kitchen to get you some milk.”
Watching out not to wake up anypony, Celestia took the filly to the kitchen. There, she looked for a proper bottle, warmed it up with milk, and gave it to the baby. The filly drank it incredibly quick, and Celestia helped her burp. With that done, the Princess went back to her room, just when the filly was falling asleep.
‘What do I do with this filly? I can’t take care of her, I have duties. But on the other side…’ Celestia looked back at the baby, who just yawned and moved in her sleep. She couldn’t take such task, she was the ruler of a whole kingdom! Yet, something also stopped her from taking another decision. She thought back, how many times she had seen mothers with their children, and had wished she could be the one there? How many times she had secretly wished to have a child, knowing that it would never happen? This may be her only opportunity, and she knew it.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on the door, and Paperwork, Celestia’s royal advisor, entered the room. “Your Majesty? What are you doing up so late…?” He trailed off when he saw the little filly in Celestia’s arms. He almost fainted at the sight.
“Sshh, you’ll wake her up.” She tried to calm him down, but to no avail.
“W-What’s that? What’s happening? Why do you have a baby in your room?” The gray coated unicorn said almost yelling.
Some other servants started to come, due to the advisor’s yelling.
“Paperwork, please calm down, okay? We can talk about this as civilized ponies… alone.” Celestia finished looking at the maids and guards that had gathered around the door. Paperwork closed the door (which not discouraged the servants, who put their ears on it) and stood in front of Celestia.
“Okay, first of all: how did that filly get in here?” He was still a bit agitated, but kept his composure.
“I found her outside, just in front of the castle gates.” Celestia answered and pointed at the basket. “It seems that her mother abandoned her.” She added rather sadly.
“Okay.” Paperwork replied, now much more calm. He took a breath and continued. “Okay, this is what we’ll do, Your Majesty: We’ll keep her for tonight, and tomorrow morning we’ll take her to an orphanage or find her a good home. Is that okay to you?”
“Actually, I have already taken a decision. I’m keeping her.” Paperwork gaped at what Celestia had said.
“WHAT?! B-But… Your Majesty! You can’t be serious!”
“Paperwork, there are few things that I have never been more sure about than this.” Although her tone was calm, it was firm. Celestia wouldn’t change her mind, and nothing her advisor told her would do it. She turned to the filly. “I’m well aware of the efforts and risks that taking care of a baby mean. But when I see her, it’s like she was made for me. I don’t think you understand.”
“Honestly, Your Majesty, I completely understand.” Paperwork’s tone was calm, almost emotional. “I’m a father too, and I know how it feels when you see them, and have them in your arms.” He sighed. "Okay then, but please let me help you in this. It won’t be easy.” He smiled, something not very common on him.
Celestia smiled. “Thank you, Paperwork. I’m sure I’ll appreciate you help.”
As Paperwork had said, it hadn’t been easy. The filly demanded a lot of attention, and while many of the maids offered to take care of her, Celestia almost always declined. However, the Princess never complained, and always looked for time to play with the little baby. Hearing her laugh was enough prize for Celestia.
The following day, Celestia had already picked a name for her. “How about Cadenza? Do you like it?” The filly smiled and laughed at it, she seemed to like it. “Oh, you like it, mi amore.” ‘Mi Amore’ was how the Princess used to call her new daughter, something she had heard a foreigner pony call his own foal. Celestia nuzzled the filly. “But maybe Cadance is enough? Less exotic.” The filly clapped her hooves, and so she was called Cadance from now then.
Little Cadance was growing up fast, in no time she was crawling everywhere, sometimes disappearing for short times, scaring Celestia, Paperwork, and the rest of the servants. Fortunately, she never put herself in danger, and when there was nopony to look after her, Celestia left her pet Philomina in charge. The smart phoenix never lost sight of the filly. She also had some magic sprouts, causing some problems, but nothing too serious.
The word had spread quickly in the first week, and soon everypony knew that Celestia had adopted a daughter. Although the real mother was searched for, she was never found. Not many ponies really disagreed with her decision, but if there was something all citizens, servants, and even Paperwork agreed, it was that they had never seen Princess Celestia so happy in their whole lives. The Princess seemed tired sometimes, but for her, it was the most beautiful thing that had happened in her whole life.
Happiness, however, does not come without pain.
Three months had passed since she had found little Cadance in the street. Celestia woke up from a much needed rest. Usually, she didn’t sleep all night long lately, mostly because the baby would wake her up, crying for something. But this was different, Cadance had been quiet all the night. Strangely quiet.
“Good morning, mi amore. How did you sleep?” Celestia looked at her baby, and saw that something was wrong. Cadance seemed restless, and was covered in sweat. Celestia put a hoof on her forehead; she was burning with fever.
“Oh no. Guards! GUARDS!” One guard came rushing into the room.
“Your Majesty! What’s going…?”
“Call a doctor! NOW!” Celestia was getting more and more frantic and worried at each moment that passed. The guard left as fast as he could, and in some minutes a unicorn doctor came in, followed by Paperwork too. During that, Celestia had tried to lower Cadance’s fever, but she hadn’t been successful.
The doctor took everypony out, to inspect the filly. After some minutes he came back, the sad look on his face said everything that needed to be said.
“How is she?” Asked Celestia, almost dreading the answer. “Is she going to be alright?”
The doctor lowered his head, unable to look at the Princess at the eyes. “I’m sorry, Princess. I’m so sorry.”
“How bad it is?”
“It’s terminal. There’s nothing that can be done.”
Terminal. Celestia felt her legs trembling, and had to sit down. The shock was too much that no tears came to her eyes.
“How… How much time does she have?”
“I think she has until sunset. I have done my best to stabilize her.”
Finally, Celestia’s body started reacting, and tears filled her eyes and streamed down her face. She covered her face with a hoof.
“Why I didn’t notice?”
“It’s an incredibly rare disease.” The doctor spoke, sincerely sad. “It only affects one pony in a million. There’s no way to diagnose it until it’s too late. I’m so sorry, Your Majesty.”
Paperwork dismissed the medic. Celestia entered her room and looked at Cadance, now asleep in her cradle. The Princess sat in her bed, and cried all the tears she had tried to hold. Paperwork sat next to her, and without thinking he gave her a hug. Celestia hugged him back.
“I’m so sorry, Princess. Please don’t feel guilty, you couldn’t have known.” For the first time in his life, the advisor didn’t know what else to say, but he felt the same pain as Celestia. The pain you suffer when you lose a child.
Celestia broke the embrace and looked at him in the eye. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Thank you, Paperwork. Thank you for staying by my side every moment I needed it.”
That day Princess Celestia cancelled all her duties and meetings, and locked herself in her room with Cadance. She wanted to spend with her daughter as much as she could.
Once again, word spread quickly. Everything stopped, schools, banks, theatres. Everypony in Equestria mourned that day, the day when all light of happiness in Princess Celestia would vanish, maybe forever.
Sunset was coming, a moment so beautiful, yet today it would be so sad. After an hour of playing, Celestia put cadence in her cradle. The baby giggled a bit more, but then yawned and started to fall asleep, as her tiny body was finally starting to shut down.
“Goodnight, my baby, sleep well.” Said Celestia, almost in tears, and nuzzled her daughter
The filly had her eyes half closed, and yet she raised her hooves to hug her mother’s muzzle. “Mo-Mommy.” She finally said weakly, before falling asleep.
‘Her first words. She called me Mommy.’
Celestia just lost it. When she saw her daughter closing her eyes, she felt something inside her dying too. All light, all happiness, left the Princess, leaving her cold, numb, and empty. She cried openly, not caring about nothing more. What else would matter now?
Crying, she looked at her daughter one last time. The filly was still breathing, although really weakly, she seemed to be just sleeping.
‘Maybe…Maybe there can be something.’
Wiping her tears, she lowered he horn at Cadance, and focused. Maybe she could cure her. She was one of the most powerful beings in Equestria, maybe in the whole world! She had to try!
Celestia focused as she never had before. All the magic she could gather, she pointed at the agonizing filly. But nothing was happening. Her magic was bathing and filling Cadance, but it could not revive her or cure her.
Suddenly, something odd started to happen. All the magic Celestia had gathered in her horn, she started to lose feeling on it, as it was somehow leaving her own body. Cadance’s body started to lift off, still enveloped in Celestia’s golden magic.
Celestia tried stopping, but to no avail, all the magic gathered left her horn and was absorbed by the filly. It wasn’t too much for Celestia, comparing to the real amount of power she had, but still it was an incredibly huge amount of magic. The Princess feared that the little filly couldn’t take it.
But she did. Finally, Cadance stopped shining and slowly fell into her cradle. A moment passed, and she opened her eyes and started crying.
“Sshh, it’s okay, mi amore. Don’t cry.” Celestia lifted and hugged her daughter, crying with tears of joy. That didn’t stop her from noticing the new appearance of the filly.
‘She has WINGS?!’ Indeed, two tiny wings now sprouted form the baby’s back. Cadance didn’t seem to mind. ‘Maybe all the power that I had gathered, somehow it left me and entered in her body. That's what cured her. Does that make her half alicorn now?’
There were more questions than answers about what had happened. How the baby's body would react to the magic, aside from the wings? Would she become immortal, or Celestia's power would only make her live longer?
But Celestia didn’t care about that now. For now, she had her daughter back. And nothing could change that.
