Some time ago...

The ladybugs fled from the pegasus who wanted to catch them, the little pegasus pouted sadly as the ladybugs fled from her sight. The night approached in Equestria, Cadance climbed a tree and admired a night Canterlot, from afar she saw how Princess Celestia was raising the moon, the pegasus' eyes shone with the constellations, bright, but melancholic.... Cadance was so eager and happy to finally be able to meet Princess Celestia personally, after two days ago, an unexpected letter arrived at the pegasus' home, her adoptive family was shocked to see what the letter said.

"Princess Celestia asks to see Cadance personally?!!!" had exclaimed Cadance's mother, the little pegasus smiled thoughtfully.

"W-why?" stuttered the supposed father, he was a rather distrustful stallion in front of the other ponies, and noticing Cadance smiling excitedly and jumping with happiness he didn't have too many options, they agreed.

When the sun rose, Cadance trotted excitedly to the princess's castle, this time, she went alone, for a strange reason the princess asked to deliver Cadance alone, without her parents. Cadance thought of a million things the princess would say to her, would she ask her to be her pupil? Even better, to be a princess?

Cadance let out a giggle, it was impossible. She could never be a... Princess.

The doors opened before her, the guards glared at her seriously, Cadance shuddered.Cadance walked down the long hallway to the throne, he noticed that there were paintings on the glass on its sides. She saw an alicorn painted on the largest window, who would she be? Suddenly, the beautiful figure of Princess Celestia came into view sitting on the throne, Cadance clenched her wings.

"Come closer, sweet pegasus" said Celestia, Cadance hurried to stand close to the princess, admiring her. Celestia was serious on her throne, looking at the pegasus with utmost annoyance, then she smiled, "I have a mission for you, I have seen your great gifts with the ponies, you are kind, generous and even fill with love with your presence everywhere." Cadance spread her wings a little excited, she didn't want to say anything, but she wanted to jump up and hug the princess.

Cadance couldn't hold back too much." What is my mission, princess? " she exclaimed. Celestia spread her wing and pushed Cadance a little to follow her, she walked behind the princess.

Princess Celestia opened a portal under the ground from where they were standing, the portal showed stairs.... And darkness. Celestia went through first, signaling with her left wing for Cadance to move forward, the pegasus went down the steps hesitantly, this is not the way the sun princess would behave....

When they finished descending the steps, the sound of a falling coin came out. Cadance shrieked in fear, watching as the princess opened a door. As they stepped through the door, millions of books came into view, Cadance's curiosity peeked. She collided with the princess's helmet, jumping backwards.

Celestia arched an eyebrow. "Your mission is to spy for a lost Empire, study about it, go to it. Could you do it?"

An empire? Cadance thought, the pegasus kept silent, she didn't want to disappoint Princess Celestia herself, but her intuition told her it was the wrong plan. Princess Celestia kept looking at her, until Cadance raised her eyes to her.

"Where do we start?"

Celestia smiled.

Destroyed.

Destroyed.

Destroyed...

Cadance's head hurt too much.

She couldn't feel her body, she could barely open her eyes. Slowly, her mind cleared and with that her thoughts, she wanted to open her eyes, but she could not. Her ears twitched as she felt sound, it seemed to be hooves moving, someone was walking near Cadance. Flashes of colors appeared in Cadance's eyes when she opened them a little, dazed she cleared her sight. She was chained again.

But, it's not a cell.

She was next to Crystal's heart, it was glowing in her hooves. She... Was she able to retrieve the heart?

At what cost?

She tried to recover her memory, what had happened after she fell to the ground? Her body hurt too much, to which it was safe to say that she fell to the ground, (considering that dark magic had also hit her), Cadance could not wander in her mind anymore.

A headache loomed, stunning the princess. She had a very strange dream, she remembered when Princess Celestia called her to discover the Crystal Empire. She remembered how she had led her to those terrifying stairs; and telling her what her mission was.

There were nights when Cadance wondered if that mission it was worth it . Well, she was an alicorn now, but at what cost?

"At what cost...?" she murmured, Cadance could speak. She was surprised herself, her weakness was remembering the past, a terrible past. Cadance didn't want to do it, she didn't want to go to the Crystal Empire, if only she had heeded her intuition....

That would not have happened.

She remembered when Celestia told her that her new title had to be Mi Amore Cadenza. Celestia explained that this title was made especially and only for Cadance, but the tyrant of the Sombra King had told her that there had been another princess, Amore.

Was he lying?

Celestia would never keep a secret from him...

Or yes...?

But her sister's did, when a new alicorn, princess of the moon, appeared. Cadance had never heard of her, only in that window, when she saw her painting... The princess of love felt betrayed.

And then when Twilight appeared in her life, Princess Celestia asked her to be her nanny for a while, Cadance gladly accepted, the two were growing together, Cadance learned a lot with Twilight, and Twilight with Cadance. But then, Cadance had to leave Twilight's life, when Princess Celestia called her to fulfill that mission, a mission she had been preparing for years.

To become empress of the Crystal Empire, Cadance had to work hard, with only being a pegasus, she had to face King Sombra. Her royal guard, Shining Armor, became horribly ill when Sombra's dark magic affected the horn of Shining Armor ,he was passed out for hours. Cadance had almost given up hope, were it not for Twilight and her friends, including the dragon, arriving to save the day.

When Crystal's heart was thrown by Twilight from the top of the Empire, Spike couldn't catch it. Cadance, ran from where she was and launched herself from the air, her little energy made her almost fall, she managed to grab the heart and catch Spike and put him on his back. They both flew through the Empire.

The Empire had been saved.

To then relapse again, without the heart of Cristal in the Empire, the curse of Sombra would spread again. There was not much time.

Cadance felt like she was losing her mind, it had only been a few weeks. How soon could she lose her mind?

She wanted to feel the sun's rays on her face again, she imagined herself in Canterlot, home again.

She felt footsteps around her, darkness washed over the walls, she couldn't see who it was. An idea crossed Cadance's mind, what if she ran away? She had the heart of Crystal, she only lacked the strength, destroy the walls, run and fly to the Empire. It sounded easy.

"Are you awake?" she heard a voice ask, it sounded sweet.

Cadance shook her head, not knowing where to look. Suddenly, the figure of a mare appeared, it was Radiant Hope. She pushed some water at Cadance with her muzzle, Cadance rejected the water, she couldn't even sigh.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen, princess. I didn't want you to be in any pain or...".

"Stop it."

Radiant Hope was startled at Cadance's sudden change in mood. The princess immediately tried to remedy the mistake, she didn't want Radiant Hope to get the wrong idea about her.

"I-I appreciate your intentions, Radiant. But you were wrong to steal the heart, you stole the heart, and you even gave it to the Sombra King, why him?" asked Cadance, squeezing Crystal's heart, this time she would not leave her hooves, not anymore.

"Sombra... He's not evil, he...he...he..." the Radiant's voice cut off as her sobs grew louder.

Cadance looked at her intently. "You mentioned that you had betrayed him once." Cadance remembered, the mare looked at her.

"We were friends, as foals, the other crystal ponies made fun of the two of us, until we bonded and were inseparable" Cadance was amazed as the unicorn opened up to her emotionally, she listened to her silently. "I remember Sombra was always getting sick at the crystallizations, he never got to see one. Now I understand why. But before, Sombra....destroyed the princess....

"Amore?" the question from Cadance came out suddenly.

Radiant nodded slowly, sitting down on the ground. "Sombra transformed his own darkness into dark magic, because he is an Umbrum."

"Wait, did you say Umbrum? What are they really?" rambled Cadance, stretching out one of his hooves.

"I...I can't tell you, I'm sorry." Cadance nodded sadly, but she understood, the mare had no ill intentions, she would probably have to keep listening to Radiant Hope's story, she waited. "As I was saying, Sombra proclaimed himself as king, and even offered me to be the empress of the Crystal Empire, but.... I didn't want to. It wasn't my destiny, the next princess of the Empire was supposed to be me...but I could never fulfill my destiny.

Cadance's mouth fell open, Radiant looked at her in confusion. The princess of love's mind was full of chaos, thinking and thinking. "Princess of the Empire?! but.... She's supposed to...oh, no."

"My magic is peculiar, it's healing. Not many are supposed to have or had my power, to what makes it powerful. The heart revealed to me that I would be a princess, after Amore I would be the ruler of the Empire, but seeing what Sombra did, I fled. I blamed myself when I saw how Sombra had put a curse on the Empire because of me, then I went to the princesses, and told them everything.

Cadance could only listen attentively, she felt like an intruder, Cadance should not be ruling the Empire.

"I took your destiny away from you, didn't I?" mused Cadance, feeling guilty. Radiant Hope shook her head many times.

"No, no, no. Princess, I altered my destiny myself, I walked another path. Besides, you have I insist survivor, you are a great ruler..." empathized the unicorn.

Cadance smiled, but another question crossed her mind. "I don't understand, what kind of relationship do you have with Sombra, are you his mate?" she asked.

Radiant Hope startled again, shaking her head, a small blush distinguishable on her pink cheeks. "We're best friends, like brothers I would say, he's my family."

Cadance smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that, but remember he's an evil, manipulative being, Radiant. I'm still in chains..." rushed Cadance, Radiant lifted a hoof in concern.

"Oh, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do. I don't want to betray Sombra, or his family. But we couldn't separate you from the crystal heart, for a moment we thought you were destroyed but...

"What happened?" asked Cadance.

"There was a crystallization, but only for you, the heart glowed and pierced the dark magic, it attached itself to you and glowed. Your body began to crystallize..." he commented, Cadance could not breathe well.

She looked at Crystal's heart, and smiled. Something strange had happened, Cadance couldn't tell what.

Radiant Hope left the dark room. Cadance was left alone with Crystal's heart, staring at the door, seeing how red eyes had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

Author's Note

Cadance's childhood is quite peculiar because it has not been presented, yet. I wanted to make a presentation of how Princess Celestia and Cadance had met.

Aside from the fact that Sombra's past has been heard by Cadance, how will she see him from now on? What are the Umbrum after all? Radiant Hope was going to be a princess...?

We'll see in the next chapter!