Cadence for a Shy Alicorn

by KodyMcQ

Ground Zero

Celestia was disappointed. She thought that her niece would’ve taken to the news lightly, and had tried to be as calm as she could for the young Alicorn. She was hoping that Fluttershy would take the news joyfully, and bask in her new abilities, and history. But instead she took the pessimistic side, and regarded her life as a lie, her parents unreal and refused to believe the reality.

Celestia’s disappointment grew when Fluttershy left her family in the Royal Courtroom, running and crying. She had blatantly refused to believe that Liberta and Lues were her parents, and Cadence her sister.

“I’m sorry, I thought she would take this better.” Celestia said, to the saddened family.

“Take this better? Take this better!” Liberta exclaimed, waving her horn in fury, “Please tell me, ‘your highness’ that you expected my daughter to take this lightly! Do you not remember YOUR changing years, how moody and powerful you become? The poor mare, she’s probably ruined! You should’ve let her into our society slowly!”

Liberta stormed out of the room with a ‘Hmpf’, followed by her obedient and slightly resilient husband. Yet the words still rang through Celestia’s head, like a bell had just smacked her and she flew across Equestria. Cadence slowly bowed her head and marched out of the room, probably to go meet her husband somewhere waiting for their honeymoon.

Celestia was slowly met by the darkness of Luna’s moon, the only companion she had in the stiff, cold Royal Courtroom. She slowly let out a few tears, letting go of her royal appearance and settling in to the Alicorn phase. Celestia slowly trotted down the halls of the castle, past the royal guards, who gave each other confused looks.

Celestia slowly walked up the spiral staircase, in one of the corner turrets of the castle. Her mind wandered about what she would say to Fluttershy when she got up there, if she’d say she was sorry, if she’d say she wanted to apologize, if she should just give the crying Fluttershy a friendly hug or... She opened the door.

Celestia’s eyes dropped and her mind spun when she found Fluttershy’s room empty. Celestia quickly galloped up and down the room, looking for the young and confused Alicorn. Then she saw the open window. Then a bright boom and a flash from the direction of Ponyville.

“Oh no...”

Fluttershy woke with a jolt, looking around the once-was Ponyville. She was in a brown, earthy crater, filled with hunks of rock and debris raining from the sky. She slowly paced herself, getting up one hoof at a time, and eventually rose out of the barren hole. What she saw wasn’t pretty, making her wish she hadn’t even woke up this morning.

Ponyville was in ruins, fires burning down towns, large rocks thrown directly into homes, practically totaling them. It looked like someone had taken a perfectly good pastel colored rainbow and dragged it through a gravel road, snagging it on huge rocks and carrying them along.

Fluttershy could barely remember what had happened, it all went so fast. She had left the Royal Court running and weeping, and then leapt out her window and flew to Ponyville, to talk to...

“Twilight!” Fluttershy screamed out, bringing attention of a few ponies scurrying through the wreckage. They took double takes when they realized that she was an Alicorn, before resuming their work of sifting through wreckage.

The once-was Ponyville Library, home to Twilight and Spike, was nowhere to be found in the giant crater where it used to be, and nor any remains of the owners. Nothing to show where they had gone, where they are, if they died, if they lived, injuries, nothing. It made Fluttershy sad. One of her last pieces of being a Pegasus, her FRIENDS, was now destroyed, by her hope to return her youth to her.

She let the tears flow, staring at the presumably dead remains of Twilight. She had killed her friend, who was only trying to help her. Fluttershy had just killed one of Equestria’s most powerful non-Alicorn Unicorns, if not the most powerful. Just to return to what everything used to be. Fluttershy let it go. She let her Alicorn instinct run wild. The rocks and dirt in front of her began to spin in her whirlwind of magic.

The earth turned and twisted, bringing along all of its stones and minerals with it. She began to make a mould of Twilight’s face, in stones, above her and the crater. The rocks slowly bent and twisted, cracked and melted, until finally Fluttershy was satisfied. She rose the earth from under her, letting beautiful green grass lock around her hooves and saplings pounce from the ground.

She laid the statue of her deceased friend in the middle, as a memoriam of the great unicorn. ‘Life is over. There is no more Fluttershy.’

“Over here!” A female voice cried out, soon followed by a speeding pegasi in a blue uniform. It was a wonderbolt, most likely Spitfire by the hairdo. “What’s your name, Princess?”

“My name is Flutter-” She cut herself off. She gave her act up. She gave up trying to give rebirth to her old Pegasi self. “My name is Venus.”

“We’ve got a princess over here!” Spitfire then shouted, bringing the attention of 2 other wonderbolts. They slowly carried the Alicorn over under a tree, where they had a few stations set up for people saved from the wreckage.

“Princess... Venus was it?” One asked. Fluttershy simply nodded. “Okay, what were you doing in Ponyville? No offense, but didn’t you have some special duty to do in Canterlot?”

Fluttershy began to weep. Staring down at her hooves. Long, sorrowful, sobbing. The Wonderbolts gave each other solemn shrugs and backed away, leaving the crying princess be. She looked up at the remains of Ponyville. She had caused this chaos. She had killed hundreds, probably thousands of ponies. And why?

Fluttershy couldn’t answer the last question. The one that rang through her mind the most. Why did she do it? Why did she want to give up a main part of who she was, to bring back an imaginary part of her? Did the truth hurt her that much, that she was willing to live her life as a lie, to suit her dreams?

The only part of her that remained from her past was her name. Fluttershy. She could take a move like Princess Cadence, and use Fluttershy as her unofficial name, while being Venus Cadenza in royalty. They both had a nice ring to them, but Fluttershy didn’t care. She didn’t want change. She wanted everything to be normal. But now, she had just slaughtered her hometown in the quest to find her past self, and most likely killing her friends with it. There was no more Fluttershy. There was only Venus Cadenza, niece of Celestia.

But what if she didn’t want there to be a Venus Cadenza? What if she wanted to keep Fluttershy, and her friends? It was too late to change. Fluttershy finally zoned back to reality, out of her comatose thinking state. Slowly, the towering town hall in the center of the town collapsed. And with it, Fluttershy’s soul. Her princess-ly instincts had taken the body and mind.

“Fluttershy!” An old voice called to her, snapping her out of her zone, again. “Fluttershy! What happened to Ponyville? Are you alright?”

Celestia stood, towering over the sleek form of Venus.

“I’d like it if you do not call me that, Aunt. I’m trying to forget the past, and live in the
present and future.” Venus simply responded, taking Celestia by surprise. This couldn’t have been Fluttershy, the shy, innocent Alicorn who barely wanted to meet Celestia herself. Yet here stood, in Fluttershy’s body, a confident mare Alicorn, who spoke with as much grace and dignity as Celestia herself.

“Fluttershy, what happened?” Celestia let go of the princess-ly attitude. Normally she
wouldn’t do this in front of many loyal subjects, especially in a disaster, but this was a special occasion. And the severity of her tone struck back the kind, loving Fluttershy.

“I just can’t do it! I know I have no hope of returning to my old Pegasi self, especially after...” She took a long, deep, sorrowful sob and began to explain slowly. “I... I went to Twilight to try and see if she had a spell that could return me to what I was before. But the spell went wrong and...” She began weeping again, crumpling up into a small ball in the shade of the tree, glancing off into the distance.

Celestia understood. A freak accident spell had... Killed Twilight Sparkle, and ruined Ponyville. Glancing in the direction Fluttershy was staring, she saw the statue of Twilight’s head, surrounded by natural beauty.

“Fluttershy, did you make that?” She sat herself down beside the still crumpled form of Fluttershy.

“Ye...Yes. I made it when I realized Twilight was gone. I... I just let my horn take over.” She managed to choke out through wheezing sobs.

Celestia simply sat there, admiring Fluttershy’s work on the statue. The grass spread out equally, slowly rising up around the head of the statue, which had lavender flowers growing around it, and vines rising up to the top.

They sat there for hours, in the shade of Luna’s moon. Celestia hoped Luna could handle the responsibility of raising the sun, as she didn’t want to leave the side of the poor, broken Alicorn.

They watched the Wonderbolts scurry left and right, as wizards from the Canterlot Court proceeded to lift debris of homes and buildings up and around. They carried hundreds of ponies out on stretchers, some covered by blankets, others not. It continued forever, the searching. And all the Royalty could do was watch.

“Celestia, what do I do?” Fluttershy finally asked, breaking almost 5 hours of silence and watching.

“Well, I suppose you could live in the Canterlot Castle if you wanted, but that decision is all yours. I realized I may have been too pressing on you to live there, but it is honestly your choice.” Celestia answered, patting Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“Do I have a choice? My home is most likely destroyed. My friends are most likely dead. I have no choice but to start out fresh.” Fluttershy retorted, slowly beginning to cry again.

Celestia never had to go through this as a filly, and had no clue where to start for comforting her niece. She simply sat there, and stared at the statue, her royal subjects, who must’ve by now noticed that she was sitting there with a weeping Alicorn. In the next few hours, they continued to sit. Fluttershy’s mind raced and repeated with questions, arguing with her inner self. Celestia simply continued to sit there, until Fluttershy had finally stopped crying, and began to sleep.

“Princess, I can take it from here. You have a kingdom to take care of.” Cadence had appeared behind them, and was already slowly shifting Fluttershy’s weight on to her own shoulder.

Celestia simply gave a thankful nod and flew away, back to Canterlot, where she had to continue her royal duties, no matter what horrifying devastation was going on below. Celestia had to live in the present, not dwell on the chaos of the past.

Cadence began to softly sing, a lullaby sung to her by their mother when she was a filly.

“Here you are sleeping on my shoulder, Auntie’s sun is gleaming dimly from your hair. Your life suddenly upside down, your smile randomly turned around, and you just don’t know that all you’d need is love~”
-SUNG TO THE THEME OF ‘THIS DAY ARIA’-
“Here you are sleeping on my shoulder, Luna’s moon is giving off a faded glow, your cares are not to share, you are filled with your warfare, and you just don’t know that all you’d need is love~”

Fluttershy stirred in her sleep, causing Cadence to stop. She watched her younger sister nuzzle her face into her shoulder, and then stop stirring. Cadence had to admit, their mother might’ve been a little pessimistic, but she knew how to make some good kids. The Alicorn Princess of Love and the Alicorn Princess of Nature. Niamore and Venus. Or Cadence and Fluttershy.

She smiled at her little sister, proud of what she’d become. Fluttershy might not remember it, heck, Cadence would be surprised if she did, how young she was. Cadence had brought Fluttershy over to Twilight’s so they could have a playdate, while the big brother and the foal sitter made out on the couch. Those two were the best of friends, since they were just little toddlers. And now, one was dead, while the other hit puberty. Cadence’s smile faded.

Rainbow Dash almost made her cloud go brown when she heard the deafening boom come from Ponyville. She definitely knew it couldn’t be good, as a shockwave soon came and tore apart her perfect little sleeping cloud. What worried Rainbow Dash the most is that Ponyville was on the other side of the horizon, and it couldn’t have been some pretty sonic rainboom to cause that earth shattering boom.

She flew in place and watched the horizon for a while, looking for a mushroom cloud. She expected the worst from Ponyville, and considering Fluttershy had gone all Alicorn on her, she figured it was about time something exploded. She sat there for 10 seconds after the explosion, when another shattered the earth, this time uprooting trees and sending rocks, birds, and water up into the sky.

‘Ponyville just exploded twice. Maaaybbee Spike was onto something.” Dash thought, then with a burst of speed, a dash of awesome, and a sprinkle of rainbow, began flying mach 5 into the town, setting off a few rainbooms. ‘No time to be egoistic, your town just exploded.’ Simple, to the point, and true. Rainbow approved.

When she arrived to the scene, her eyes began to water. Ponyville was all but decimated, the epicenter being Twilight’s Library. Rainbow landed on the ground gently, placing her wings to the side, and sorrowfully walked over to the crater. It was a terrifying sight. She walked through streets she’d grown up in, pastel colored buildings left and right. She’d even been able to label a few of them as she passed their remains.

Some burnt, some were falling. Some were missing supports, and most looked like swiss cheese, from high speed boulders crashing through them. The town was a complete disaster. And most likely, Rainbow assumed, Twilight had caused it. ‘Twilight, what in the hoof did you do this time?!’

When she finally stepped foot on the barren soil around the crater, she looked down and recoiled. Inside was Fluttershy, in a very awkward position, slumped up against a rock, her wings bent off the the sides and her forehooves behind her back. Rainbow teared up. No matter how much the Athlete pony tried to keep her cool, she was looking at a most likely dead body of her friend. And she hated every minute of it.

“Going somewhere, Rainbow Dash?” A familiar voice whispered, almost as if it was right in her ear.

“Twilight?”

Rainbow looked over her shoulder, and gasped.

She wasn’t looking at Twilight, she couldn’t have been. It looked like Twilight, mane colors and all, but... She was staring at a sleek, deep lavender Alicorn, with a horn that stood a few feet off her head. Her wings were almost the same size as her towering body, most likely taller than Celestia herself. Her sleek legs and long neck reminded her of Chrysalis, but yet, it seemed so close to Twilight. Around her neck hung a golden pendant, that seemed to have some form of Obsidian artwork on it. A closer look, and Rainbow realized it was an exploding star, with rubies depicting flames.

“Hello, dear Rainbow Dash. Answer my question?” The Alicorn asked again, taking a menacing step towards the blue pony, causing Rainbow to back up and fall in the crater, spraining one of her wings.

“Um... No?” Rainbow replied, getting up and brushing off her sprained wing.

“Didn’t think so.”

And she snapped the neck of the small, fragile, blue pony.

Fluttershy jolted upwards from the dream. It seemed so real, as if she was Rainbow Dash herself. Did that really happen, or-

“Fluttershy! Calm down, what happened?” Cadence asked, pushing her little Alicorn sister to the ground, brushing her wild mane.

“I.. I..” Fluttershy began to cry again. “I had... A dream... And Rainbow... Rainbow was killed by... Twilight killed Rainbow Cadence! Twilight’s not dead, Twilight is an Alicorn, but she’s... Evil. A big, evil, mean, scary Alicorn!”

Cadence pondered. It didn’t make sense to her. Surely it didn’t have to do with the Old Alicorn Lore, did it? The stories of the Sight-Seeing Alicorn and the Princess of Darkness? Surely no, that would mean the return of the dormant Alicorn Republic. That couldn’t happen, could it?

“Fluttershy, have you had any other weird dreams lately? Of Alicorns, in particular?” Cadence asked, whistling to a few guards, to prepare the chariot back to Canterlot.

“Um... Yes..? There were... Alicorns and they...” Fluttershy’s Alicorn self seemed to stammer a lot more than she wished, especially through torn sobs. “They took over Equestria, and... Re shaped it?”

“Fluttershy, you’ve just become the single most important Alicorn in history.” Cadence whispered in her ear, before turning to the guards and yelling: “HEY! Hurry it up! We need to get to Canterlot, now!”

Celestia wandered the halls of the Royal Canterlot Castle. She wished she could be there for her niece, who desperately needed some loving, but she had important matters to stop. She had cancelled the Royal Court, and any other activities that might involve her, or her nocturnal sister Luna. She had to wonder though, did Twilight really die? She had to doubt it. The Alicorn species is immortal. Was it a simple miscommunication, and Twilight rose from the crater in the early morning, as an Alicorn?

And more specifically, what would Twilight be doing with that kind of power? Her Unicorn self had almost as much power as a regular Alicorn, but if that power was transmitted to an Alicorn’s body?

Celestia shuddered to think. The last time something like that happened was Luna and the Alicorn Republic. She didn’t want to have to banish her student to the moon, but that kind of power can corrupt a pony quite easily. Especially an Alicorn, the only immortal species in Equestria. She had to wonder, how was the Alicorn Republic doing, having been banished into deep space, where only fate could decide their end?

Celestia tiptoed past Luna’s room. Round 97 around the castle. She’d paced around the whole castle 97 times. All thinking about what was going on. This was her kingdom, Equestria, why did she not understand what was happening in it? Why couldn’t it be the Griffins or the Changelings who got the problems? Why was it always Equestria that got the problems?

Celestia finally sighed, and shoved open the door to her room. She walked past the pastel white walls, and into a golden room, with a blanket that seemed to almost be made of the sun itself. Celestia closed her eyes, and thought of a happy kingdom, with a Queen and King, complete and total harmony, no need for the citizens to wield the Elements of Harmony...

Her room burst open, revealing Cadence dragging Fluttershy along behind.

“Aunt Celestia, show her the Old Alicorn Testaments. Book 218.”

Celestia nodded. She figured it was time for this. The rise, the fall. The end.

BOOK 218, ALICORN TESTAMENT.

Prophet Whooves, Year 190

"It is time for the land to cool down. Peace can live, surely, for 1000 years. But then, only three warnings will be given, until Lord Crisis will rise again. The Alicorn of Foresight, the Princess of Mars. Creating the sole destruction of all she loves. The Princess of Power, dark as the sky, will rise from the earth, and bring back Time's old Enemy. Royalty will lose, time will stop, all for the love, of a lifeless rock."

Comments

[SpeedyAstro]

AMAZINF!

[MaxMounty]

That prophesy amazing kant wait to see more

[BarrenBaron]

wow dark twist.

niceee

[Low-quality memes]

OH SHI-

[freezingflame]

LOL You are now the most important alicorn ever. Way to put it lightly.

[Thespurgin]

594716 and she said it to THE MLP deity of shrinking violets... Cadence Y U so clueless?

[viowolf]

prophet whooves haha lol

[NocturneD85]

I dunno... I'm not really convinced on Cadence's role in this chapter or story so far. She's just kinda there and the connection between her and Fluttershy doesn't seem all that strong to begin with. It's just kinda "BOOM" accept it. The story is not bad so far really.

[Dudofall]

Wow, that certainly took a turn!

Onward!