The Eight Story: "By Shades"
“By Shades”
Written by The Descendant
Based on a concept advanced by Duplex Fields
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Problem: Alicorns are either a.) Immortal, b.) Long-lived, c.) Or seemingly immortal.
Problem: Cadance is first seen as a young mare, and is growing through the series.
Problem: She is “The Crystal Princess” (whatever that means), and is known to ponies that have been sealed away beyond thought for millennia.
Problem: She’s married to an entirely mortal unicorn. Meaning she'll possibly outlive him by centuries.
Possible Answer: As follows…
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“You were born a child of light’s wonderful secret - you return to the beauty you have always been.”
-Aberjhani, Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black
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The room smelt of slow death, of lingering sickness. It smelt of tuberculosis, pneumonia, or any of the myriad illnesses that take their victims in small, unforgiving increments.
They all smelled the same, and she hated them each. She hated losing her like this. Hated it. Hated it.
Celestia dwelt on the smell as she peeked around the curtain, watching as the daughter leaned forward. As she watched the daughter wiped a washcloth across an unseen head that lay hidden deep in the pillows. A small sigh left her as a dearly familiar foreleg came up, wiping back and forth across the daughter until settling against the cheek of the loved one.
“Mother?” the daughter spoke, the voice wafting quietly around the room, settling among the medicines, blankets, and single bobbing lantern. “Mother? Auntie has come… your auntie is here, will you see her?”
Celestia felt her guards move behind her, making room, and soon there was the gentle feel of a foal beneath her legs.
She looked down and found that the filly’s eyes were set on the bed as well. Even as Celestia relished the nearness of the child she still had to blink twice. She had to remind herself that this little one touching to her for comfort was the great-granddaughter, and not the granddaughter, of the dear form upon the bed.
Celestia lifted her head. As she did the mare who had been running the washcloth bowed before her.
“No, dear, no,” Celestia said, raising the daughter’s head with her own muzzle. “Never… never to your great auntie like that…”
The princess held her as close as she could, reaching down far so that the mare could lay her head to her neck and give a few sniffles. Soon they parted, and as Celestia entered the room she heard the little filly that had stood beneath her ask, “Grandma, is Ga-ga okay? Is she gonna get better soon?”
No one there before the door had the heart to answer her, to let her know the truth.
She approached the bed, sitting herself beside it. As she did Celestia looked down into a dearly familiar set of eyes…
… eyes surrounded by a face and body that were only slightly less familiar by shades.
“You’re leaving me again. To where are you going, my lovely niece?” Celestia said softly as she laid her head upon the bed, pressing against to the hoof that lay there. “Did I grant you leave?”
The old, grey mare upon the bed wheezed a small laugh. Even the sickness and age could not hide the beauty that still lingered in the frame.
“Forgive me, Auntie, but even you can not keep me from this appointment,” the mare said as she laughed weakly, her wings fluttering in tune with her breath. As Celestia stroked her foreleg the mare’s horn came alight, and her breath raced as she attempted to gather something from across the darkened room in the dim currents of her failing magic.
“Let me, dear,” Celestia said as she walked the short distance.
Nearby she found a small painting of the husband, the stallion who had already found his way to the Well of Souls.
She stared down into the familiar eyes, eyes she had seen a hundred times before…
…and upon the body only less familiar by shades.
She brought the memento back over to the bed. There the two sat, not talking, Celestia simply watching her niece look deep into the eyes of the stallion in the picture.
“He was handsome,” the mare said after a time, laying the picture to her chest as the wheezing grew worse. “He’s always so handsome… so loving. I miss him so. I-I miss him so.”
Celestia stood, still stroking the foreleg of the mare even as she looked over the fading form of the lesser alicorn beneath her. She looked deep into her eyes, memorizing them once again for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Yes,” she answered, lifting her head as a few tears began running down her face. “You are always so beautiful, too. You’ll be with him again, and someday you will be re-united with your ponies, and your empire will be yours again. Soon… soon, you will explore the magic of love in all of its meanings once more.”
Celestia had thought the words would bring comfort, but all that the aged, sickly mare upon the bed could do was stare at the painting and fight for breath.
“Your auntie loves you,” the undying alicorn said as she leaned down and kissed her niece goodbye. “Until then… rest until then…”
Years, decades, centuries… they washed by her and around her as they always had. As Celestia walked down the great wide beach that was her life the waves lapped at her hoofprints, the generations washing over them as they always had.
She made her long journey her ears were up, always listening to the sound the foam made as it washed around her hooves. She studied each wave, always searching for the glance of those eyes once again.
The news had come to her long before she arrived at the fine house.
Court mages had long known it was soon to happen, and scribes had long made their calculations.
But, this time, it surprised her.
This time there was no long journey to the far corners of Equestria. This time there was no long trek to a humble house or ramshackle fishing village on the distant coasts. This time there was no arrival at some hidden, humble farm deep in the interior.
This time she’d barely left the palace before balloons and a great banner announced what the family within was celebrating.
The mare was one of her own courtiers, and the stallion was an ambassador. They were wealthy, powerful… and now they were humbled by what lay in the crib in their living room.
“La mia principessa, my princess,” said the stallion, his eyes wide in wonder. The alicorn waited patiently as he steadied his wife, the mare only having come home from the hospital an hour or so before. Celestia smiled over them, noting how the language of the land in which he had served as a diplomat still clung to him.
“The mage. He said that, that il nostro piccolo, our little one might be… C-Could we be so blessed?” he asked as he gathered his wife to himself. The princess waited as the mare made slow progress across the room. The princess smiled down over them happily as they settled near the crib, staring awestruck over at the fruit of their implore to the deep magic and their love for one another.
He leaned forward, kissed his wife, and then brought Celestia to where their joy lay wrapped in a bundle.
She approached the bassinet, sitting beside it. She took a small breath, and as she did the smells of hospitals, new blankets, and newborn foal filled her perceptions.
She stared down into the familiar eyes, eyes she had seen a hundred times before…
…and upon the body only less familiar by shades.
She reached down into the crib with her magic, and gathered the infant to herself.
As the newborn settled into her forelegs Celestia felt the babe lifting a tiny hoof. As it played with her hair Celestia could only keep looking down into the eyes.
“Hello,” she whispered, gathering the child closer to herself. “Welcome back, my beautiful niece. Auntie has missed you so much. Auntie loves you so much.”
As she sat she lifted her head to the parents even as the infant still drew its hoof through her mane.
“I am quite sorry,” Celestia said. “You spoke the name, but it was so unique that it did not settle into my mind all at once. Would you tell it to me once again?”
“Mi Amore Cadenza, Highness,” the stallion said, his chest inflating as he spoke the exotic words. “Is it not just so bellissimo? They have such a way with words, in the land where I served you, Majesty, and I could find none more beautiful…”
The Daybringer smiled to them. The parents were always so proud.
“She came to you to explore familial love, and you are blessed. Love her for who she is, and in time she will become all that your hearts hope for her,” Celestia said, watching them beam over their child.
With that she leaned her head forward, gently kissing the tiny alicorn in the space beneath the small nub of a horn. As she did the petite wings came open for the first time, and the parents cooed in delight…
… just like all of their predecessors had.
Celestia looked the birth announcement over as she and her guards made their way back to the palace. She was glad to see that they had chosen to let her have a more typical Equestrian given name, one to wear everyday.
She ran her eyes over it again and gave a small chuckle.
They had misspelled “cadence”.
Celestia passed the note to one of the guards, and he folded it into the saddlebag. Soon it would join a half-dozen others just like it in a silver box in her study… and nearly as many mourning cards. The cycle had begun again.
As the alicorn and her two strong guards passed out of the home they stood for an instant at the doorway, greeting her little ponies as they bowed to her, as they presented her with flowers, or simply looked upon her.
Her thoughts though were still on the child they had just left.
Why here, my niece? she thought to herself, Such grandeur, power, and decadence does not suite you. What lesson are you trying to learn here, in my capital? Why were you resurrected in the seat of power this time instead of among more humb…
There was the scream of a mare, and the same voice immediately lifted in a plea for help that filled the street.
To their consternation, the guards could only follow their princess as she ran towards the apparent danger, and instead of away from it.
A unicorn mare darted up and down a cobblestone side street. Her blue eyes panned the wide branches of an ancient oak overhead.
“Child,” the princess asked, looking across the mane and tail that flew around in a flurry of lavender and white as the mare searched the high branches, “whatever is the matter?”
“My son went up the tree!” the mare replied, in a high tone, her eyes fixed on the uppermost limbs. “He’s not even out of diapers yet and he went all the way up the tree!”
A shrill sound of worry went through the unicorn, and with that she turned to look upon the stranger who had joined her.
“Please!” the mare called as worry only grew in her voice. “Please, please! My magic can’t go…”
As the unicorn spun to look at her, Celestia saw her realize whom she’d been addressing.
“Majesty!” the unicorn called, leaping forward, the guards startling. “Majesty, please! My baby boy is up there, somewhere, please, I can’t see him!”
The maternal fear dropped out of her, and the visions of sunlit days drifted across her.
“Calm, calm, my child,” Celestia said, lifting her head from that of the worried mother, “of course I will help you. Now, let us see what we can see.”
Celestia lifted her head to the tree, but it was not her vision that she called upon.
Her deep magic lifted around the tree, and at once the sacred oak responded to the one that filled its leaves with sunlight. There, in the topmost branches, something moved.
Her mind focused on it through the magic, and a baffling image sat in her eyes. A colt hovered over a bird, and was gripping it. Was… was he torturing it?!
No… no, his hooves moved gently, seeming to be unwrapping the creature from something. It was a jackdaw, a curious bird, and one that had gotten itself into trouble. Even as she watched a discarded brass ring fell from the bird, and now the inquisitive creature had been freed from its folly and was free to fly once more.
He had saved it. A tiny colt, still in diapers… had climbed the tree to save the bird.
Aren’t you the brave one, she thought as her magic lifted into the limbs.
“Aren’t we a gentlecolt? Why, going all the way up there to save a little birdy!” she laughed, lowering the foal into his mother’s outstretched forelegs. The mother moved closer, her tearful eyes looking up into her sovereign’s benign presence.
“Majesty, thank you so much. Thank you so very much,” she said, nuzzling her child. “Please, do meet my boy, and bless him if you would, Majesty.”
Celestia looked down at the little white foal, his mane a tangle of all sorts of blues. A great glow of understanding came alive in the Daybringer, and in an instant she knew who he was.
She stared down into the familiar eyes, eyes she had seen a hundred times before…
…and upon the body only less familiar by shades.
He is right next door! You clever, wonderful girl! He is right next door!
“And who are we?” the alicorn asked, gathering the large, healthy colt into her forelegs.
“My little Shining Armor, Majesty,” concluded the unicorn, finally remembering to bow before her sovereign.
With that the Firstborn Alicorn blessed him, kissing him in the space beneath his horn. As she lowered him back to his mother she felt the deep magic fall around the two houses, and the cycle that draped itself around the two continued onward towards whatever fates awaited them once again.
End.
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Somehow I guessed Reincarnation right from the start.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Can't help but be reminded of the Abbot out of Thief of Time. Can't get the hang of circular aging? Go for serial reincarnation, which is more of a nuisance.
Alla same, very nice. Very interestin'
A very good theory. This is pleasing to me.
yey dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/lolface_Celestia.png This gave me happies
P.S....you know what I'm going to ask for...
1617087
You, sir, are a learned fellow!
1617103
Indeed!
1617165
I'm glad that it was interesting for you!
1617293>>1617461
Uh oh! I've forgotten!
Do please remind me!
1617495 The sonnet about Pinkie's socks???? How could you have forgotten, man? dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Soarin_dayum.png
1617501
2,500 Comments, Faves, Watches, and Replies that I had to thank everyone for over the last four days?
1617521 ......fair enough dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png
I was beginning to wonder how Cadence would fit into your universe that you have been developing these past couple of years. I'm glad to see that you didn't disappoint. Well done!
1617521 You didn't have to thank everyone for their actions. You are choosing to and this is why we love you TD. You care about all of your readers to reply to all of our comments. It would be a flat out lie for me to say that we (taking some liberties here) don't appreciate it, even if your reply is just a simple 'Thank you'. In fact, seeing a notification that says that you replied always brings a smile to my face.
Just wanted you to know this in case you were not away.
So I'm just wondering: you've got a hell of a lot of great character and background mythology sketches here, what are you planning to do with them? Surely such works inevitably precede a greater epic, as works of their kind always have in the past?
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote an famous amount of sketches before writing The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
James Joyce wrote an equally considerable amount before beginning the infamous Finnegan's Wake (in fact it is said every word written in that legendary enigma first appeared in his notes).
So surely, after you finish filling in the canon gaps and creating your own highly developed fanon, you plan on constructing an impressive tome?
Very nicely done. It would figure that the alicorn that represents love would be born, grow, marry, bear children and finally pass away in an unending cycle. How else could one know each of the variances of love through each stage of life? This kind of cyclic life is just the kind of explanation I would expect you to come up with to keep the wonderful world building you've been doing from being cracked wide open by another alicorn. And Shining being reincarnated every time with her? Perfect symmetry, the kind you would expect from high fantasy.
Heh, even a great excuse as to just why Cadance would foalsit Twilight!
1617495
Thank you!
Congratulations, you have now reached the point where your fanfics make canon stories look bland and boring.
I hope you're proud of yourself.
Because you should.
That there is a very, very interesting take on the situation. I don't know how it would work out psychologically in the long run (I read a story once where everyone was reincarnated; it ended up being one of the most nightmarish situations I've ever read about), but for this little taste it was beautiful. Not enough to alter my own headcanon (ponies are made in C&L's image; Cadance is a winged unicorn, not an alicorn, and while more powerful than usual is still just mortal and not even semi divine), but definitely intriguing. I like how the avatar/warden/whatever of love is mortal, while avatars of the sun and moon are not; love is something that is strictly limited to living things, and is tied in very strongly with mortality and loss, so having it's avatar be immortal and semi-unapproachable wouldn't work. I don't like that Shining is similarly reincarnated, though. He doesn't appear to be anything other than vanilla mortal based on the show, so it doesn't seem to fit as well (unless they take turns, or something? could work).
1618404 I wanna agree with the king of Sparta here. You really go above and beyond for your fans; don't think we don't appreciate it.
I love it!
Makes me wonder if Twilight with all her potential was just a happy accident in the same family, or if something deeper is going on. With the lore established for pony reproduction in A Sweet Taste of Cake, I'm inclined to go with the latter.
That certainly works. Makes me wonder how much influence Cadence's soul has over the circumstances for her next incarnation when between lives, and with whom she arranges them.
1618404
I had to make her work in my fanon somehow... she unfortunately doesn't seem to be going away!
Ya' know that I love to hear back from you guys and comment and all of that. I am, and remain, a huge fan of my readers!
1618735
Oddly, I consider my entire body of work to be shards of a larger story, with echoes of everything falling around one another. Yes, some works will play upon it more than others, but I can't honestly say that I have one single work that will define my whole fanon. I'm very glad that you're interested in my "head-canon", and that you find it appealing. Thanks so much!
1619171
It's a very intriguing concept... and I had to do something to make these two interesting!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Ry!
1620619
I'm very glad that you think that I've created something so interesting. I have to admit, though, that I'm just one of dozens of such authors in the fandom, each with engaging takes on fanon.
I am quite proud, though!
1620931
I guess that in my vision, the being that Shining Armor is the most recent incarnation of is blessed "Divine Unknowing". He doesn't represent anything other than being the one true love of the alicorn-spirit Cadence is the current avatar of. Therefore, he just lives a normal life until his feelings for her develop.
Oh, I'm so very appreciative of your appreciation!
1621402
...
The Deep Magic has it's own purposes...
1621577
An intriguing question, and one that might be worth exploring if I ever make this a stand-alone story!
1645186
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/Twilight_blush.gif?1311711241
I am curious whether you have any thought on Doctor Hooves? The Well of Souls sounds exactly like The Loom of the Time Lords that on death their memories, emotions, and collected experience is added to it and in time a new Galifreyan is born who may grow to pass the academy and become a Time Lord. Most of the shows don't act like it but he does have the potential to be much like your depiction of Celestia seeing possibilities sensing the flow of time and space and being guided to where he is needed. That it now seems the Well allows for reincarnation must, for Celestia and other ageless beings, be a bittersweet thing meeting of an old friend or as it said here "only less familiar by shades" but for one whom time is not linear, knowing of the present individual before befriending one in the past and knowing that this dear friend must meet their end in some way for the cycle to continue. But here is where his being guided by fate turns dark. If some pony in the present is needed for some event, such as to be reborn as a wielder of an Element of Harmony, it is entirely possible that with the terrible dangers The Doctor faces and his propensity for gathering companions that he may by what coincidence exists bring friends on journeys that despite his best efforts end with there lives being lost. That his purpose becomes ensuring that certain ponies find there way to the well of souls at the proper time that they may be reborn when needed. If he ever became aware of such a cycle I wonder whether he could bring himself to keep fighting, or if he would choose to cherish those lives he does touch. It seems a rather sad way of living.
1650059
I must admit that I haven't given much thought to Doctor Whooves, apart from an appearance in an upcoming fic that doesn't really get into much of his backstory. I suppose that I'm not overly concerned with it, I'm sad to say.
Resurrection is reserved for a few in my fanon, and the Well of Souls is a far more expansive place than I've let on in my stories to this point. I'm glad that you'd value my opinion on the subject, I just wish that I had more to offer you!
1828836
Very glad to fuels some favored memories!
1900874
Heh, he comes home crying and they make him some tea. As his voice booms out over Ponyville he tells them about how he went out on a limb at the pub to talk to this nice piece of ash, but it turns out she was a real birch...
Anywho, glad you liked it!
1965804
Heh, indeed!
THIS.
reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/youre-awesome.gif
this and chapter 8 (the seventh story) are both my faves XD
no idea why it took me so long to get through this set of stories this time, but i definitely enjoyed them all
1966143
I'm very glad that you eventually got around to them, and that you enjoyed them!
1970506 oh heyl yeah
are they on a sporadic 'as and when' kinda update thingy or do you have a specific schedule where you update the chapters?
1972041
These are just little ideas, one that aren't ready to be made into complete narratives. They "just kinda happen" from time to time.
1978015 they're still pretty friggen awesome!
do any of them have full stories linked to them?
I realise that 'to change a heart' has some links to the universe that chapter one was based in, but do any of them have sequels/prequels in the mix or are they meant to stay as stand-alones?
cause that would be totally dash
1981506
These are just ideas that flashed through my head, but they are all in tune with my "personal fanon". I'm glad that you enjoyed them!
2114724
I'm glad I could bring some of those memories back for you!
2133003>>2133069
I'm glad that you're enjoying these pieces! Thanks for the upvotes!
2317734
Heh, thanks!
well slap me silly and take my addled brain for a ride, that was one of the most bittersweet one shots I ever read.
2417792
2417829
I'm glad you are enjoying these little stories!
2538434
Chance had a slightly different fate... you can read about him in To Change a Heart, one of my other stories. Law's pose would be stoic. In my mind, Discord was the only draconequi who was a mashup of creatures. All others were simply a dragon's body and a pony's head. Law was more grey, and Chance more brown.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
2867500
Yeah, I had a lot riding on Discord. Too bad they made him "good"... I had some "real" mischief planned for him. Oh well!
2867549
I think someone described The Singular Constant the best when they said it was as close to a "trollfic" as they ever expect that I would write. It's okay f one doesn't sit well with you... they can't all be gold, after all!
2867576
I like to keep a touch of the mystical in my works. They are magic ponies, after all!
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Thanks for the grammar catch. So, ummm... how about, T.D., then?
I'm glad that you found my style suited to the subject at hand! Errr... hoof!
Heh, I'm glad that you caught something of my style buried in the oddity of that work! If you do figure it out on subsequent readings, please do let me know, as I need someone to explain it to me!
Ahhhhhh! Well caught. Will change at first opportunity.
Children's books stay with us for a great long while. I'm glad I was able to bring you some memories.
Sorry about that error. These things never really got the editing they deserved.
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3193846
I'm very glad you found the message so moving in that little story. I appreciate the comments, and I'm very glad that you have found me and my works. Thanks for reading and commenting!
3196346
Heh, I know it has influenced me!
3277833
It's more than a year later... the ponies are still in my brain!
3277999
Well, I know that was Word of Faust, but the series seems to have done away with the idea that Spike sees Celestia as a "Mom". She hasn't had two words with him, she refers to him as "Your friend Spike" as though she doesn't know him, and Twilight said that Spike was given to her inDragonquest. So, yeah, poor Tia... in my mind, she's never had a child of any kind...
3278395
Heh, we all do. It makes me wanna drive three hours just to go see my mom for no reason other than to give her a hug.
3278609
Indeed.
3279300
Heh... I never get to use A.J. enough.
3281387
I just read one of these stories again last week. I was chuckling to myself the whole time. I hope I caught Numeroff's style well!
3281449
Heh, he had quite a day!
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3373403
Heh, wow! I'm glad that this little collection gave you an opportunity to use so many emoticons!
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3911087
I terrify myself sometimes.
Ow....you blew my mind.
3913325
I'm glad that you are finding some gems hidden in here.