Cristalli Crescenti: The Growth of a Crystal

by Aquilamarch

Rating: everyone
Tags: Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Princess Cadance
Length: 2647

1,000 years ago, after the banishment of Dictator (or King,) Sombra, Princess Cadence is left an orphan. She ends up staying in Canterlot with her aunt, Princess Celestia and her life is forever changed.

We don't know a lot about the pink-coated and multi-hued mane princess; we know that she is the Crystal Princess and that she was Twilight Sparkle's foalsitter. What we don't know, however, is what happened from the time after Sombra was banished to present day Equestria... So what did happen?

Published 2013-01-11 08:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-01-13 02:15:11 UTC

Only The Beginning

My dearest niece Cadence,

I am terribly sorry for your loss. Your mother, Empress Cristyllo Di Curore, was a kind-hearted mare who died selflessly. I am sure that you are very devastated as you were very close to your mom, however, your mom and dad would want you to be happy. I would like you to move to the country of Equestria, where Luna and I co-rule. We both thought that you would like to stay close to us until you are of age and your empire returns. Please do not worry of your past; everyone in Canterlot will warmly welcome you. If you would like to stay with somepony else, please let us know.

-Your Auntie,

Princess Celestia of Equestria

Cristalli Crescenti
The Growth of a Crystal

It had been two days after the downfall of Dictator Sombra and his tyrannical rule, a young Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was still recovering from the shock of her mother’s death. She could not get over the fact that she was now an orphan. Her father had died two months after her mother had assumed the throne; the emperor’s funeral took place a couple of weeks after his death. Despite her husband’s death, Empress Cristyllo Di Curore was still a strong ruler and she loved her subjects as she loved her daughter Cadenza. They were very close and despite the empress’s busy schedule, she still managed to find some time to spend with her daughter.

Although they spent a lot of time together, Cadenza always saw that her mother’s eyes were always filled with sadness and regret. Cadenza was much too young to figure out why. After years and years of Empress Cristyllo’s rule, a dark shadow-like creature erupted from nowhere and took over the Crystal Empire. This shadow-like creature took the form of a stallion and declared himself Emperor Sombra, forcefully taking the empress as his wife. Sombra treated his subjects like slaves, forcing them to mine more crystals from the mines to fuel his power. He locked the Crystal Heart away in the tallest tower so that nopony would dare overthrow him.

Eleven months passed under his rule, and Empress Cristyllo understood that she had to take action, or else the crystal ponies would suffer even more under Sombra’s rule. She decided to contact the princess of Equestria, but Sombra eventually found out about his wife’s treason. Empress Cristyllo tried to fight off Sombra as the royal guards evacuated everyone from the empire; however, Dictator Sombra won without difficulty. The princesses of Equestria came and banished Sombra away, trapping him deep into the ice of the Artic North. Princess Celestia and Luna were too late though, as Empress Cristyllo had already passed away. The princess carried Cadenza away with them as they watched the Crystal Empire and the crystal ponies disappeared into thin air.

My Auntie Celestia,

Thank you for inviting me to stay in Canterlot, I have decided to move into the castle with you and Luna. Please do not worry about me; you have important things that you have to attend to. I will come tomorrow morning and I look forward to seeing you again.

-Your niece,

Mi Amore Cadenza

The very next morning, Cadenza arrived in Canterlot Castle safely. She got off the carriage and was escorted to the throne room. Cadenza looked around the throne room; it was filled with stained glass that depicted several important events in Equestria. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and there was a throne at the end of the room. The guards closed the grand doors and stood behind Cadenza.

“Princess Cadence, welcome to Canterlot Castle,” Princess Celestia said, with a warm smile. “Guards, do you mind standing outside?” Celestia dismissed the guards and the doors were closed yet again. “Please, come,” she said, gesturing Cadenza to come closer. Cadenza walked over to Celestia’s side.

“Hello Auntie,” Cadenza smiled, “Do you have something to tell me?” Celestia offered Cadenza a seat.

“Cadence, please, you do not have to talk so formally with me, I am your aunt after all. I want you to be comfortable here. I just wanted to tell you that you do not have to worry about anything here, please leave all of the worrying to me. I wanted to tell you that as a princess, you need to have a job. It is part of your studies as a princess. I want you to learn how to treat your future subjects with respect,” Celestia said. Cadenza fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. “Do not worry; you won’t have a job until you are physically a teenager. We cannot have a kid working now, right?” Celestia winked. “You can go to your new room now Cadence, you need to get some rest after your long trip here.”

Years Later
After the banishment of Nightmare Moon…

Princess Celestia locked the Elements of Harmony away in a jeweled chest. She walked and sat down in front of the stained glass that depicted of her and her sister. Princess Cadence had walked pass and stopped to see how her aunt was faring. “Auntie…?” She quietly asked, but it was still loud enough for Celestia to hear her. Princess Celestia smiled weakly.

“Please, it is okay for you to come,” Celestia said. Cadence walked and sat next to her aunt and looked at the stained glass.

“I am afraid that you are not alright, please cheer up auntie...,” Cadence said with a smile. “You remind me of my mom after my dad passed away.” Celestia cleared her throat and smiled as brightly as she could.

“Don’t worry Cadence, I’m just not used to Luna… being away. I love my sister, and I was blind not to notice how sad she was. I’m a terrible older sister,” Celestia admitted. Cadence hugged her aunt.

“Please do not think of yourself as a terrible pony, you were kind enough to let me stay with you. Luna is strong, and she will not stay on the moon. She will fight her way back here and she will come back,” Cadence smiled. “She can always change, change for the better. Please do not fret, your subjects need you.” Celestia hugged Cadence back. They embraced for a while as Celestia sobbed on Cadence’s shoulder.

Worries and Comfort

The Crystal Princess took a stroll around the castle after comforting her aunt. She walked from grand corridor to grand corridor. She looked out the windows and saw a beautiful sun greeting her outside. She bowed her head and continued walking. Cadence kept on remembering about how depressed her mom was, yet how her mom still smiled. The loss of her father was devastating, and nopony knew how he had passed away. She could understand why her mom would be so sad though because her mother was the empress of love. She was taught that when a loved one dies in the royal family, there was the danger of falling into a deep depression. It was always a curse.

Cadence continued to sulk around the castle, until she caught the attention of a maid. The maid was using her magic, levitating a feather duster, and dusting the furniture around the castle, when she saw Princess Cadence. Of course, the maid was much too shy to approach the princess, so she dismissed it. It was until after it was in the late afternoon that Princess Cadence went to her bedroom. She opened the balcony door and walked outside. She saw that her aunt was about to set the sun and start the moonrise for the first time.

“The night that Celestia brought was beautiful,” Cadence though, “but it’s not as beautiful as Luna’s.” She looked up and saw a mare-like shadow on the moon. She sighed and decided that it was time to sleep, as she had been spending the entire day walking around the castle. She used her magic to take off her crown, necklace, and shoes, and proceeded to lie down on her comfortable bed. She took a quick glance around her new room, it was painted a light purple with little pink hearts that seemed to fly from wall to wall. There was a grand chandelier in the center and there was a seating area with 4 chairs and a glass table. Her bed was a gorgeous pink and gold with transparent curtains that were cyan. She used her magic to cover herself with her down comforter and she quickly fell asleep.

Cadence could hear a deep voice chuckle, which quickly turned into evil laughter. She was trapped within the Crystal mines and it was extremely dark. She couldn’t even see her own hoof in front of her face, until there was a sudden blast of bright light. She looked in the direction of where it came from and saw that it was the Crystal Heart, the one that had been missing for years. She tried to grab it, but it shattered at her touch.

“You are not suit to become the Crystal Empresssss…” A voice whispered, “Who are you to take my placccceeeee…?” Cadence gulped and shouted back.

“And who are you to tell me what I should become? Show yourself!” Shortly after Cadence replied, a stallion whose coat was as dark as shadows and eyes as red as blood was right in front of her. He evilly grinned.

“Have you forgotten about me sssssoooo sssssooon? I am the Crystal Emperor, and I will not tolerate you or your little pretty princesss auntssss…” Soon, she was out of the mines and was outside of the Crystal Palace. She looked around, the skies were a deep orange, and the crystal ponies’ coats were dull. Quickly after that, she was teleported to the royal throne room.

“Sombra! Who do you think you are, trying to steal our Crystal Heart?” Cadence turned around and saw her mom, trying to fight off Emperor Sombra. Sombra, with glowing purple flames from his eyes, maniacally laughed. He turned to face the empress and used his dark magic to lift up the Crystal Heart.

“My dear empressss, what do you think I am doing? This Crystal Heart is the key component to kicking me out of my throne! You may think you have the sssstrength to beat me, but you are terribly wrong…” He laughed as he sent the Crystal Heart away. “I have hid it away, where nopony will ever find it. Ssssurrender now or you will sssoon sssee what my power is capable of.” Cadence watched as her mom fought with much effort; however, her mom’s magic was not strong enough compared to Sombra’s.

“You won’t win Sombra, and you never will! Not as long as the royal bloodline lives! You may be able to defeat me, but you can’t live without fulfilling your desire for crystals, and you will become weak. The crystal citizens are escaping now, and soon the princesses of Equestria will defeat you.” Sombra walked closer to Empress Cristyllo and stomped his hoof on her battered torso. He used his magic to finish her off and Cadence looked away at this moment. Not long afterwards, Princess Celestia and Luna came with the Elements of Harmony and, just barely, banished Emperor Sombra. Soon, the palace was starting to fade away, and Princess Celestia hurried to find Princess Cadence and carried her away.

“Mom… No, the Crystal Empire! The people need to be saved; my mom needs to be saved! Where are we going auntie?” The young Cadence frantically asked, but the princesses did not answer. All she could see was the sight of the Crystal Empire fading away, along with her mother and all of the crystal citizens. Soon, they flew so far high into the air, that Cadence could not see her empire anymore, but could only see nothing but sky and clouds.

“No…” Cadence groaned aloud, “No!” She woke up and saw that she was still safe in her bedroom at Canterlot, and that everything was just a dream. She caught her breath and wiped away the tears in her eyes. Soon, the maid from earlier came inside.

“Princess, are you all right? I heard you screaming in your bedroom, and I was worried that something had happened…” Cadence smiled and told her that it was just a bad dream. The maid quickly dismissed herself and said that she would retrieve Princess Celestia.

“No, please, it’s alright. I wouldn’t want Celestia to get worried about me. After all, she still has to cope with Luna being gone. I wouldn’t want to put too much weight on her wings.” Cadence told the maid, and the maid promised to keep this conversation a secret. “What is your name?” Cadence asked.

“My full name is Joybloom, but ponies just call me Joy,” the maid politely replied.

“What a nice name Joy, I’m sure you’ve heard of my name. You can call me Cadence; I wouldn’t want you to be intimidated by my royal title.” She bid the maid farewell and she closed the door. The princess looked outside and saw that it was still dark out. “Might as well wake up anyway, after all, I can’t sleep with the thought of the empire on my mind.” Cadence used her magic to put on her crown, necklace, and shoes and headed outside. As far as she knew, Joybloom and a couple of other maids were the only ponies awake at this time. There were even some guards falling asleep during their nightly shift. She walked into the grand sitting area of the castle and saw that some other pony was not asleep as well. A white coated mare with a colorful flowing mane was still up late at night.

“Aunt Celestia, why are you up so late? Shouldn’t you be in bed so you can be on time when you raise the sun?” Cadence asked, as she walked to her aunt’s side. Her aunt warmly chuckled.

“Dear Cadence, I should ask you the same. I just came out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. The bedrooms are quite stuffy here, and I plan to renovate them soon,” Celestia looked up to the sky. “Isn’t the night beautiful? Of course, it’s not as beautiful as my sister’s.”

“I had a bad dream,” Cadence told her aunt, “I’m guessing you did too?” Celestia looked at Cadence and sat down to meet her niece’s height.

“My sister is the princess of the night, therefore she handles with dreams. Or at least, she used to. I have been having trouble sleeping ever since her banishment,” Celestia answered Cadence. “Please Cadence, is there something troubling you too?” Cadence shook her head.

“I’m fine,” the pink coated princess lied, “I am more worried about you. I’ve heard that you haven’t been going to your royal meetings lately. The ponies of Equestria are worried about you too. I am the princess of love, like my mom, I understand how hard it is to lose somepony.”

Princess Celestia smiled and said, “I believe we have already gone over this topic, dear niece. I do miss Luna, but there are things much more important. I regret what I have done, but there was no choice and we must move on, right?” Princess Cadence’s worries vanished when she saw her smiling aunt. “It’s time to raise the sun, would you like to come along with me?” Cadence nodded and hopped onto her aunt’s back. Celestia pretended to stumble around, “You’re so heavy now for a little filly! I don’t think I can carry you down!”

“Heeey! I am not that heavy!” Cadence stated, as Celestia laughed and soon, Cadence joined her aunt in laughter.

Author's Note

Hopefully this is as well written as my first chapter, or better. I like ending my chapters on a light note, if you haven't noticed.

^_^