Out of Love
Celestia had been sitting by her fireplace, relaxing after another taxing day and was finally able to set aside her burden to its accustomed bust for the night which glinted faintly in the ruddy glow that spread throughout the room. It had been close to a month since a certain incident had occurred and felt that the newest resident in her Royal suite deserved to be given more attention than she had been getting. That caused her considerable ire to stir ever so slightly, though she was careful to not disturb her small companion who was sleeping by her side for the time. She would have to give rule over to her most trusted advisers for a while so that she had time for her adoptive niece, she owed it to her parents...
Celestia was in the middle of Day court when a sudden swirling of pearly-white light began to swirl around her and disappeared with a blinding flash of light. Suddenly finding herself floating among the strange backdrop of alicorn space caused her great distress. It was not everyday that she found herself here and now that somepony was deemed worthy of Ascension, she had no inkling as to who this worthy pony was or would be like. She slowly walked, guided by some mysterious force to the source of her being here, finally she saw the pony a short distance ahead of her.
It's a little filly. Celestia thought wondrously.
It was a little pegasus filly, to be precise, who appeared to be asleep as well.
She was flanked by two ethereal shapes that she hadn't noticed until she was standing directly in front of the filly. They gazed down adoringly at the filly, their very faint light radiating a love so suffusing that even Celestia felt the power of their emotions. As she looked on, the shapes resolved into a pegasus mare and a unicorn stallion. The stallion possessed a rose colored mane and tail with a navy blue coat while the mare had a golden mane and tail with a black coat. As Celestia inspected the filly, she saw that she had a navy blue mane and tail with a light pink coat.
“Hello~” Said the mare who had just looked up.
“Hello.” Celestia responded. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“We saved our little one~” The stallion said with no small hint of pride as he too looked to Celestia.
“Saved?” Celestia asked curiously.
“There was an earthquake~” The mare began.
“It happened so suddenly that we only thought to protect our daughter~” The stallion continued. “We found her and tried to get her outside, into the open where it would have been safer~”
“But the side of the house collapsed suddenly~” The mare said as she took up the tale. “We thought nothing for ourselves~~”
“As long as she survived~” The stallion said.
“As long as she was safe, healthy~” The mare said.
“As long as she was loved~” They said in unison as they glanced down at the little filly.
“She will be all of that and more, I promise you.” Celestia said comfortingly.
“Thank you, Princess~” The stallion replied gratefully.
“What are your names?” She asked.
“Amorous Breeze~” Replied the mare.
“Miracle Worker~” Replied the stallion.
“Cadence~” They said as they looked down lovingly at the sleeping filly.
“Do you know what you two and your daughter are doing here?” Celestia asked slightly worried that they thought their daughter may have passed on with them.
“We know, Princess~” Amorous replied.
“We also know that we were granted one last request in this place, and we've talked this over between the two of us~” Miracle said.
“We would like for our daughters mane and tail to share our colors~” Amorous said.
“Not so that we would have such a vain memorial, to be carried by our daughter~” Miracle said scornfully at the very thought, though he likely thought it would be what other ponies might think.
“No~ We wish this to be a reminder to Cadence that her parents had always loved her~” Amorous said, tears slowly gathering.
“So that every time she sees herself, she will see love reflected back~” Miracle said, the very emotion almost a physical presence to Celestia.
“I will be sure that she knows of your sacrifice.” Celestia said with a smile that quickly disappeared at their combined glares.
“No, Celestia~” Amorous said almost angrily.
“It is never a sacrifice to save one you love~” Miracle continued.
“I'm very sorry.” She apologized.
“It's fine~ Not everypony understands that, but we do~” Amorous said consolingly.
“Thank you for that very important lesson...” Celestia said, trailing off as a feeling of finality began to come into focus. “It is time... I am truly honored and humbled to meet the parents of such a special filly. I will ensure that she will know about all the different kinds of love there are in the world, because I know you two have given her more than the world itself... You've given her the love only her parents could give...”
With her final words, a similar effervescent light began to swirl around the filly while the ethereal forms of her parents became nothing more that a rose and golden colored motes of light. The motes gently touched her once on her head and once on her tail, each causing the hairs they touched to slowly change color. As the navy blue washed out of her mane, the tips of her feathers took on a similar tint as though to counterbalance the color she was loosing. With a final coalescing of light, it was over and Celestia found herself just outside the ruins of a cottage sitting on the side of a mountain, a small village off in the distance. Celestia ignited her horn to clear away the rubble, finally stopping once a faint blue light shone brightly. Easing herself gently into the ruins, she saw the physical bodies of Cadences parents, broken and lifeless; their shattered forms every line still radiating their need to protect the precious treasure between them. Celestia set up a dome of magic to protect them from any possible danger from the cottage around them and allowed herself a time to mourn the loss of two truly special ponies whose love for their daughter would never leave the world, plain for all to see.
Some time later, Celestia dried her tears and slowly got to her hooves. She would have to return to Canterlot as soon as possible, though she would have to visit the village to explain what had happened to the small family that had once lived upon the mountainside. Levitating the sleeping filly onto her back, Celestia cast a preservation spell upon the fallen ponies and made her way quickly to the village to inform their Mayor of the news, both sad and happy. Some while later, after dealing with a very flustered town that was only compounded by Celestia's sudden appearance, she made the arrangements for Cadences parents along with commissioning their headstones to be made out of the finest stone available. “Never a sacrifice to one you love” was Celestia's sole request to be engraved upon the monuments. She made her farewells, making sure that the Mayor would inform the relatives of little Cadence about everything and walked some short distance before teleporting back to the throne room which was empty at the time. Opening the large double doors, Celestia found a pair of Guards looking slightly worried though their shocked expressions turned to joy at seeing their monarch return.
“Princess!” One exclaimed in joy.
“What happened?” The other asked.
“A tragedy and a miracle, my little ponies.” She said sadly. “Please inform the nobles that I apologize for my sudden disappearance and that court will resume in five days time.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” They replied together.
“Unless it is a matter of national security, I am not to be disturbed except for meals.” She replied. “Tell the staff that it will be for two from now on.”
“We'll get right on it, Your Highness.” They replied once again in sync.
Celestia was brought back to the present though as a small form shifted comfortably beside her, murmuring in her sleep. An unexpected smile came upon Celestia at the sight and felt her heart swell to bursting with adoration for the little alicorn. It had taken Celestia the better part of the month that Cadence had been here to work out an official royal name for her, but she thought she finally had one.
“Mi Amore Cadenza...” She said softly, testing it out. It has a certain... ring to it. She thought, proud that she could bring even a portion of Cadences parents' names to the tongues of ponies both high and low.