Cadance and The Shadowbolts
We all know the story of how Nightmare Moon was defeated. Six mares, connected by a bond none of them knew existed between them until the night that almost never ended.
This is not that story.
Much of our history remains the same. 1000 years ago the youngest of the Royal Sisters fell to darkness and sought to plunge the world into eternal night, but was stopped by the eldest wielding the Elements of Harmony.
But there the similarities end.
The eldest, grieving for the loss of her sister, was angered by how fast Equestria demonized her sister. Proclaiming that Luna would not be forgotten, she proclaimed that the day of her fall would be a national day of mourning so that Equestria would always remember.
Remember how much they had failed their princess, and how this day should never have come to pass.
Any who attempted to anyway were tried as traitors to the Crown. Nightmare Night was outlawed and any attempt to celebrate this night was condemned as stupidity of the highest order.
With that, the eldest more and more withdrew from the public eye. The School for Gifted Unicorns was opened soon after in the hopes that one would one day be found to bear the Element of Magic.
And undo what she had been forced to do.
For over 900 years Equestria continued to grow and prosper. Almost a century ago Ponyville was founded by the Apple Family. Celestia granted the land freely for she could see the determination in their eyes.
She also knew that the time was fast approaching when the 1000 year banishment would end and hoped that a settlement near the Elements of Harmony would attract those who might be able to wield them.
Unknown to Princess Celestia however all her hard work and planning had not taken into account everything there was. For another element had been thrown in.
And Harmony detests those who try and manipulate it.
In a small corner of the Unicorn Range there lies a small village made up of earth ponies. Being so far out they received few visitors, but always welcome those few who do pass through.
Imagine the shock then when two of the village, unable to have children of their own, found a Pegasus filly lost and alone in the forest surrounding the village.
Unwilling to abandon the poor dear, they took and raised her as their own. As she grew ponies noticed the love and warmth she radiated. It helped her earn her name. Mi Amore Cadenza. Or Cadance as she preferred.
Though she was loved by all the village and was never shunned by the other fillies and colts for being different, Cadance always felt she was different from the others in more ways than the obvious.
And then came a time when she found out how special she really was.
Unknown to all, at the same time another was finding her destiny as well.
And fate's hand changed forever.
"""
Very few things could shock Princess Celestia anymore. In her long life, she had seen and heard it all at least several times. Even those things that would shock others barely phased her anymore.
So when she felt someone enter the Astral Plane, it was a shock more massive than she'd had in many a year. Only she and Luna had ever visited the plane. She had never thought any other could.
As she was about to cast the spell that would send her to the plane, Canterlot Castle was rocked by a sonic boom. But not just any kind of sonic boom. Celestia felt her mouth drop. "That was a Sonic Rainboom," she said to nopony in particular. She of course knew of the feat but had always thought it nothing more than a story. But something else caught her eye as well.
"This can't be right." She mumbled. There was a distinct feeling of unicorn magic to the boom. But that didn't make any sense. All she had heard of the feat said that only a Pegasus could do it.
It was while she was mulling this over that she felt another presence enter the Astral Plane. Celestia shook her head. Whatever was going on, she had to get to the two who had entered that.
She had no idea what effect it would have on a mortal pony. Let alone two. And worried her. Her brow furrowed, she cast the spell and was whisked away from the Throne Room.
***
Cadance had never been so confused in her young life.
One moment she had just received a beautiful crystal necklace from Prismia, who she had talked away from her evil ways and had returned all the love to the village. And the next she was in some void filled with stars. Though she admitted it was a pretty sight. "Um. Hello. Is anypony out there?" She called out.
"Oh good." Came a voice that didn't sound much older than Cadance herself. "I'm not the only pony here. Maybe we can figure a way out of here."
She blinked as another figure came into view. She was a filly, not much younger than herself. Her lavender coat stood out in the starry background, and her midnight blue mane and tail with pink and purple stripes in them almost blended in with it.
"Hello," Cadance ventured first. Normally she was much more friendly with ponies but this whole thing was confusing and muddling her brain. "What's your name?"
"Twilight Sparkle," her companion replied.
Cadance smiled. "That's a nice name. My friends call me Cadance."
Twilight tilted her head. "You mean like in music?"
Cadance chuckled. "Yeah. I do love to sing. My parents said it was singing that led them to find me."
Twilight gasped. "You're adopted?"
Cadance's ears drooped a little. "Yeah." Though she loved her parents as much as any child would, a part of her always wondered why her real parents had abandoned her.
Twilight must have noticed her mood because she quickly changed the subject. "So how did you get here?"
Cadance felt her smile return. "I helped a pony rediscover the love she lost a long time ago." She pointed at her necklace. "She gave me this as a thank you. Next thing I know I'm here." She looked back at Twilight. "What about you?"
She noticed that Twilight had been looking at her wings longingly. "I've always wanted to fly. When you live in Canterlot, there's not a lot of pegasi around. I always begged mom and dad to take me to Wonderbolts shows. Other ponies thought I was crazy."
Cadance winced. She knew the feeling to an extent. There were times when she had wished she was an Earth Pony. The fillies and colts of the village had never excluded her from their fun and games for being a Pegasus. But there were still things they could do that she couldn't. And she had felt left out of it even though they tried to accommodate her and never excluded her. And she knew sometimes they wished they could join her in things she could do only as a Pegasus. But it had never driven a rift between them, but it hurt her to see it.
Twilight must have noticed it too for she smiled slightly. "Then I saw Princess Celestia at the Summer Sun Celebration earlier this year and I fell in love with magic. But my first love remained." She paused a moment before continuing. "So I started looking for a way to combine them. And I found one."
Now Cadance was intrigued. She didn't know much about magic outside what allowed her to cloudwalk and play with the weather, but this was new to her. "How?" She asked.
"By finding an old obscure spell that would give non-Pegasi wings for 24 hours," Twilight replied. "The only downside was that they would melt in the sun. So I worked long and hard to find a way to make them more solid."
"And did you?" Cadance asked.
Twilight beamed. "Yep! Just finished it this morning. So jogged to the top of the Canterhorn. And jumped."
Cadance gasped. "Weren't you scared?"
Twilight nodded. "Out of my mind. But I did all the variables and I knew that I could level out before I hit the city." Her brow creased in confusion and paused a moment before she continued. "But something was happening as I did. The air pressure was forming a cone around me. Just as I was about to reach the top of Canterlot Castle." She motioned Cadance closer, who leaned over.
"BOOM!!!" Twilight let out with an excited yelp making Cadance jump. "I was going so fast I created my own sonic boom. I rocketed out over the city and into the sky. I looked back and I left a lavender star in the sky."
She slumped to the ground. "Next thing I know I'm here."
"Wherever here is," Cadance said.
"A special place. One few ponies have ever visited." Came a new voice, one that Twilight instantly recognized. Even Cadance could feel the power and majesty it radiated. From the mists came...
"P. Princess Celestia?!" They both exclaimed, followed by a small sounding meep from Cadance who had never seen the Solar Diarach and never really thought she ever would.
***
Princess Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable sight before her. Even as she tried to keep her face motherly and serene she tried to make sense of what she had found.
Two fillies, not much older than each other, were looking at her with wide and surprised eyes. But what really stood out were the glows around their auras. One only she could see.
The unicorn's aura told of great magic hidden within her only waiting to be let out. It almost matched the Element of Magic's perfectly. But even as she watched, it began to change. To the last she ever expected.
Her companion's aura didn't match any of the Elements of Harmony as she knew them. But it was still a force she knew well. Love. And not just any kind of love. It was a type not seen since the fall of the Crystal Empire.
"Could she be? No. Amore didn't have any children. But this aura. It matches the Crystal Heart's almost exactly. There is a connection there between them," Celestia thought.
"Are we in trouble princess?" Twilight asked, breaking Celestia out of her thoughts. Putting on her best smile, meant to reassure and comfort, she shook her head.
"No young ones. You are not in trouble. Far from it in fact," she replied.
"But you said that only a few ponies have ever been here," Cadance replied.
She nodded. "Indeed. But each and every one of them were brought here for a reason." She nodded to Twilight. "You young one have done something thought just a myth." Her smile grew. "And by a unicorn no less. That is a true achievement."
***
Twilight's smile took up most of her face hearing that. To have the princess praise you was something that all ponies wanted.
"And me?" Cadance asked.
Celestia turned back to her, her smile growing. "You brought love to someone who had given up on it completely, and helped her see the light again." Her smile faltered. "I knew of Prismia, but I never thought she would become what she did." Celestia let her tears flow at what came next. "Just like Luna."
Cadance couldn't help it, she hated seeing others cry. So though a part of her told her it was wrong, she ran up and gave Princess Celestia the biggest hug she could.
Celestia blinked in surprise at the feeling of a filly hugging her leg like she was. But the feeling evaporated feeling the love radiated. "Thank you," She whispered, returning the hug.
Cadance nodded, looking up and smiling at her even as she felt a tingling beginning to form on her forehead.
Twilight began to feel funny too. But for her, it was itching on her back that was driving her crazy.
Celestia noticed it as well as both began to glow and float off the ground. Twilight shot her a glance. There was panic in her eyes.
"Princess. What's happening to us?" She asked.
Celestia was shocked as well. She recognized the magic being released at the moment and what it meant. Something she thought would never happen.
"Something magical," she said as Twilight and Cadance's auras began to merge into one. Without knowing it seemed, the two of them held on to each other as the light grew more and more intense, to the point even Celestia had to shield her eyes.
Soon the light faded letting the of them return to the ground. Celestia looked on with a mixture of pride and shock.
Twilight couldn't understand why though. She had never felt this good. Ever. She felt lighter than a feather, yet as strong as a boulder. Yet something ticklish was on her back.
POMF!
Twilight jumped as she felt something extend from her back. Looking back, her face split into a massive grin at what she saw. Wings. Real flesh and blood wings. She could feel them. They felt as natural as her horn or her magic. Best. Day. Ever! She thought.
Cadance meanwhile was gawking at what had happened to Twilight. She too felt stronger than she had a few minutes ago. But now there was a weight on top of her head, right below her mane. When she went to touch it, she felt something hard bump into her hoof. Twilight noticed it too and her grin grew even bigger.
"Cadance. You have a horn!" She exclaimed.
Cadance was flabbergasted. Poking at the lump, she could that it was indeed a horn. About the same size as Twilight's own. She cast a very confused glance at Princess Celestia. "What happened to us?" She asked.
That knocked Celestia out of her shock. "Something never seen before. You both have transcended. You are now neither just a unicorn or a Pegasus, but all three tribes together."
Twilight was the first to connect the dots. "You mean?" She asked, her eyes twinkling.
Celestia nodded, her smile returning. "You are now both alicorns."
**
Nopony said anything for a moment. Cadance and Twilight were still trying to process what they had just been told. And more.
Neither would deny that they had sometimes dreamed of this. For Twilight, living in Canterlot as she did and seeing the princess so much, it had been something she had once dreamed of. But no more.
Cadance meanwhile felt much the same. She could remember the times when she had dressed up as a princess and pretended to hold court with her stuffed animals.
But neither would have ever thought this was possible. But there it was. They could all feel it. They were no longer normal by any standard. What that meant for the future was anypony's guess though.
Princess Celestia meanwhile was taking stock of the changes only she felt. She too knew that Twilight and Cadance were now full-blooded alicorns like her and Luna. But that wasn't all she felt.
In the time they had been ascending, she felt too of the Elements of Harmony reach out and, effectively, meld themselves to the fillies. It wasn't which two she was too surprised about. But who they had melded with that shocked her.
The Element of Magic was no surprise of course. But she had been barely able to hide her shock when it had melded with Cadance. Their bond slept for now, but in time it would surpass even what she'd had.
The Element of Loyalty was even more surprising. It had melded with Twilight. What that might mean she didn't fully know. But that it had, spoke far more than it appeared.
All the Elements shared a deep bond of course. But within that, there was another web of bonds that connected one to another. One that transcended what the six together shared.
Magic and Loyalty, Kindness and Laughter, Honesty and Generosity. In those three, the bonds between the two ran far deeper than any knew. What that meant Celestia didn't know. She and Luna had never thought to look that deep. But it might explain why they had severed their bond with her after her battle with Nightmare Moon.
"So what does that mean for us?" Twilight asked.
Celestia pushed those thoughts aside for now and put on her best motherly smile. "It means that I'm going to have two new students."
Twilight and Cadance blinked in unison.
Celestia chuckled. "The two of you have just come into powers and magic that need guidance for you to properly use. And they can be dangerous if you lose control."
Twilight held back a large smile. Of course, she wanted to study magic. It had been her second lifelong goal. And she already lived in Canterlot, so that would help.
Cadance was worried though. Of course, she didn't want to hurt anyone, and the princess did seem to know more about this than either of them. But what would that mean for her family and village? She didn't want to leave them.
Celestia seemed to guess her thoughts for her smile grew softer. "I will not take you from your family Cadance if you do not want to. I will not separate a filly from those she loves."
She nodded. "Do you need an answer now?"
Celestia shook her head. "No. But I would like to visit your home. I admit that I've never been to that part of Equestria before. Yet it sounds like a pleasant place to live. If you will have me?"
Cadance nodded eagerly. She had just one question though. How was she going to explain this to her parents?
Author's Note
First off, I need to thank Diana173076 for letting me use the cover art. The story was 100% based on it the first time I saw it, and the other pics she did for this universe. Won't say more though.
And as for Celestia acting as she did after banishing Nightmare Moon? She was not in the best mood at the time. Ponies were much more vocal about their disdain for Luna, and other unpleasant things were said about her. Celestia finally snapped and put in place the laws mentioned. The punishments were only enacted a few times before Equestria got the message that Princess Celestia was not joking. Celestia does regret acting the way she did now. But she won't change the laws. For Luna's sake.
And I swear there was another story where Celestia did the same thing I did here following her battle with Nightmare Moon. I could be wrong though.
Cadance and The Shadowbolts
"... And the next thing I know I have a horn and Twilight has wings," Cadance finished explaining to her parents.
She had returned from the Astral Plane a short while ago. Her parents had been worried sick of course when she had run off to confront Prismia. But when she had come back with not just a horn, but the story to go with it, they had been shocked, to say the least.
"Oh, honey. We knew you were special, but I never expected this," her mother Bright Glow said as she hugged her.
"I didn't think it was even possible," her father Steel Haze added. He gave her a look. "So what does this mean for you?"
Cadance slumped. "Princess Celestia wants to take me and Twilight on as her students." She tapped her horn. Even having it for such a short time now, she couldn't imagine not having it.
"Is that such a bad thing?" Bright Glow asked. "There's no one in the village who could help you."
"I know. But I don't want to leave. This is my home," she hugged her mother tightly. "I don't want to leave you."
Her dad joined the family. "Honey. You know we love you and that we'd support you no matter what you did."
"But this is a big chance for you." Bright Glow added. "Maybe Princess Celestia can even help you find your real parents."
Cadance sniffed. "You think she might?"
"Maybe," Steel Haze said. "But also think about this. You and Twilight are friends right?" She nodded. "Do you really want her to be alone when she's the student of the princess?"
Cadance stopped for a moment. Her dad has a point. What would that be like? Twilight lived in Canterlot of course, but living with the princess was a whole other thing. She knew she'd want a friend there alongside her. And she'd be lying if she said she hadn't ever wanted to see the capital of Equestria.
Plus from what more Twilight had told her before they had gone their separate ways, Twilight didn't have any friends at all. Outside her parents at least. "Fine," she grumbled in a way that told her parents she had given in. "I'll have an answer when the princess gets here."
"Did she say when she was coming?" Her dad asked.
Cadance shook her head. "In a few days, I think. Something about us living in the middle of nowhere, plus she wanted to meet Twilight's parents first."
"I wonder how that is going?" Bright Glow asked.
Cadance nodded. She didn't mention though the strange feeling that weld up inside her every time she thought of the unicorn. Maybe Princess Celestia would have a better idea. Whatever it was, Cadance knew one thing.
She didn't want it to end.
***
"... And the next I know I have wings and Cadance has a horn," Twilight finished explaining with a large grin.
Her parents were taking it as well as could be expected. Her mother, Twilight Velvet, sat on the Living Room's sofa with a slightly glazed look to her eyes, while her dad, Night Light was still trying to process it all.
"That is not the full reason." Princess Celestia said in her best calming voice. "But it is hard to explain otherwise."
"So then what do we do about this?" Velvet asked.
Celestia sighed. "Right now, Twilight's magic is very unpredictable. Since she and Cadance are the first ponies to ever ascend to alicorn status, we can't know for sure how it will grow."
"What about the School for Gifted Unicorns?" Night Light asked.
Celestia shook her head. "The teachers there are among the best in their fields, but none have ever dealt with a young alicorn before." She chuckled. "If Starswirl were here today, he could tell you about trying to deal with two of them. There were some days he wished he hadn't become our teacher. I believe that had some relevance as to why he joined the Pillars."
That seemed to lighten the mood a little. "So then, what is your plan?" Velvet asked.
Celestia looked at Twilight expectantly. "I want to make both Twilight and Cadance as my personal students. To help them grow into their newfound magic, and for them to help each other."
Twilight cocked her head. "How are you supposed to do that?"
Celestia smiled. "Simple. You are more at ease with magic than Cadance is at the moment. She could use someone to teach her everything she needs to know about her Unicorn Magic." Her gaze drifted toward her wings. "And while you have pulled off something that most thought impossible, those were only temporary wings." She brushed one of her own against Twilights, who giggled at the sensation. "Now that you have real flesh and blood wings, you now have everything a Pegasus does. But you have no idea of how to control them."
Twilight had to admit the princess had a point. And maybe she could explain the funny feeling she got every time she thought of Cadance. It didn't make any sense. But it felt right all the same. And she never wanted it to stop. She looked at her mom and dad and put on her best puppy dog eyes. "Please?"
To this day, Princess Celestia would classify that look as weapons-grade adorable and it just wasn't fair/ And she wasn't even being aimed at.
Twilight Velvet and Night Light, despite years of being subjected to the same, could not say no to their daughter when she was like this.
As the three of them were going over future plans later, Celestia's mind turned toward Cadance and the other part of this to come.
Author's Note
Time for the hard part for Princess Celestia. Twilight has it easy since she lives in Canterlot. Not so much for Cadance, since she lives so far away from Equestria's capital. And since I'm feeling extra nice today (since it's all but an actual holiday here in my home state of Indiana with the Indianapolis 500 now 53 laps old). Here are the full Elements of Harmony lineup.
Cadance: Element of Magic.
Twilight Sparkle: Element of Loyalty.
Sour Sweet: Element of Laughter.
Sunny Flare: Element of Generosity.
Indigo Zap: Element of Honesty.
Lemon Zest: Element of Kindness.
Edit: And a big congratulations to Hélio Castroneves of São Paulo, Brazil in winning his 4th Indianapolis 500 (2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021). Joining A.J. Foyt (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977), Al Unser (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987), and Rick Mears, (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) in the four-time winner club.
Also a big congratulations to Max Verstappen of Hasselt, Belgium for winning the Monaco Grand Prix, and to Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, California for winning the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina. They all deserved the win. Even if I didn't watch all three races.
