Cadence Unbridled (Sections 1 & 2)

by Flikaline

Arrival At Canterlot

Arrival At Canterlot

It was a dark and stormy evening. Princess Celestia was having trouble concentrating on her paperwork due to the frequent, distracting strikes of thunder and lightning outside. On pausing for a moment, she thought of her sister. She gave a slow sad sigh.

She raised her quill again only to be distracted again by a gale which was howling outside. She took a moment to think of her subjects, and hoped that they were all inside with their friends and family rather than out in the raging storm. A moment later, somepony knocked at the door. A servant entered.

‘A filly’s just arrived who requests an audience with you,’

‘A filly?’ replied the princess, startled, ‘She surely didn’t come through this storm?’

‘She seems to have travelled a long way,’ the servant added, ‘there’s a group trying to dry her off.’

‘What is this filly?’ Celestia asked.

‘A unicorn, I think,’ the servant answered. Celestia nodded. ‘Shall I bring her in?’ Celestia nodded again. As she waited, Celestia wondered who this filly could be and why she wanted to see her. Celestia also thought that the filly must be pretty strong willed to be able to brace the elements outside.

The pale pink filly was escorted in by the servant and another pony, the only mare in the Royal Guard at the time. The filly looked very nervous and had a towel wrapped around her middle, an attempt to dry her off. The servant was carrying another towel and was trying to dry other parts of her as they walked along, while the guard was trying to give the filly reassurance. No-pony could have avoided noticing that the nervous filly, who was in her early teens, was very pretty. Celestia wished that she could do something to calm the filly’s nerves.

The servant removed the towel from the filly’s middle, then dropped it in surprise. Wings! This filly was an alicorn! A mortal one, Celestia knew, for she would have sensed immortality immediately, but, never the less, an alicorn.

After recovering from this discovery, the servant urged the filly forward. The filly slowly walked forward with a nervous but determined look on her face.

‘You wanted to speak with me?’ Celestia asked gently. The filly swallowed and nodded slowly. ‘What is your name?’

‘Mi Amore Cadenza,’ the filly replied.

‘And what is it you wanted to speak with me about?’

‘I, well, I . . . I need your help, more advice, really, I have no-pony else to turn to,’ The filly paused, and Celestia waited for more. ‘My father was a pegasus pony, his name was Clef, but he died during a landslide. My mother was an alicorn, an immortal one; her name was Pulchra . . .’

Celestia’s eyes widened. She recognized that alicorn’s name. A cousin, perhaps? No, a half-sister? Yes, she was something like a half-sister. Now she thought about it, she certainly did remember at least a couple of things: Pulchra was renowned for being very beautiful and her special talent seemed to be rejuvenation.

‘She’s not,’ Celestia began, aghast, ‘she’s not dead, is she?’ The idea of an immortal alicorn dying seemed so unnatural.

‘I don’t exactly know,’ said Mi Amore Cadenza, ‘at least, the doctor said that she was dying and that there was nothing I could do to help her. The last time I saw her she seemed to be in some sort of coma and her eyes were all funny, then the doctor sent me away.’

She was unable to hold back her tears any longer. Celestia put a foreleg around her. Celestia decided that the doctor had sent the filly away assuming that she would go to her father, but these circumstances, they did seem a bit odd to say the least.

‘Did you notice anything odd about your mother’s behavior prior to this?’ Celestia asked. The filly nodded tearfully.

‘She kept saying she’d seen my father,’ the filly told her. Celestia stared. ‘But not just that, she’d go out and meet him. And when she returned, it really seemed like she had.’ This keeps getting weirder and weirder, Celestia thought.

‘Why have you come to see me?’ Celestia inquired.

‘I don’t know what to do,’ the filly admitted, ‘my mother always said I would have to leave her but she never had the chance to tell me what I need to know about my future or about life. I was hoping you could give me some advice like where I should go to apply for a job, or . . .’

‘You will do no such thing,’ Celestia told her, ‘you will live here and I will look after you.’ The filly’s eyes widened and brightened.

‘Really?’ she asked.

‘Really,’ Celestia responded. Before Celestia knew what was happening, she was being hugged by the filly.

‘Oh, thank you, thank you!’ Mi Amore Cadenza cried, ‘Thank you so much!’

‘It’s nothing, really,’ Celestia replied, feeling both surprised and complimented but she also couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty. She well knew that her actions were partly due to her own loneliness without her sister and that also the filly would distract her from thinking about Luna. But as she looked down at the filly, she knew she had done the right thing for her half-sister’s foal, and realized, also, that she had already become quite fond of her.

*

‘My special talent is love,’ Mi Amore Cadenza explained, ‘I can mend broken relationships and things like that. May I ask . . ?’

‘I raise the sun,’ Celestia replied.

‘Every day?’ Mi Amore Cadenza asked.

‘Every day,’ Celestia told her, ‘I raise the moon too . . . but . . . well . . . that’s not supposed to be my job . . .’ She decided this wasn’t the time to tell her about Luna. Luckily, Mi Amore Cadenza, didn’t ask.

‘That sounds like a lot of work,’ the filly said, ‘and rather restricting.’ Celestia nodded. ‘May I ask how you became a princess?’ she continued. Celestia looked a little surprised.

‘It’s quite simple really,’ Celestia began, ‘alicorns tend to move around, helping ponies with problems that they can solve, generally by using their special talent. Those who settle, become royalty automatically. You’re a princess now too.’ It was Mi Amore Cadenza’s turn to look surprised. ‘There’s a small issue with your name,’ Celestia said carefully, ‘it’s just that it is, well, it’s still a bit . . .’

‘A bit of a mouthful?’ the filly suggested with a small smile.

‘Well, yes,’ Celestia replied slightly hesitantly, ‘we need a way of shortening it or a nickname.’

‘My mother always called me just ‘Mi Amore’,’ the filly responded with a shrug, ‘I never, really, thought about how much I actually liked it.’ Celestia thought for a moment.

‘What about using the other part of your name?’ suggested Celestia, ‘What about ‘Cadence’, like the music term?’ The filly nodded. ‘I will try to see you as much as possible,’ Celestia continued, ‘but I am often very busy so it may be difficult.’

‘I will appreciate any time you can spare for me,’ Cadence answered, ‘thank you so much for everything.’

Author's Note:

Start of Section 1

I should have mentioned this before but I think it's only fair to mention a couple of things:

My target audience with this story is the same as the target audience of the show (family and children) so just keep that in mind before you make quick judgments.

I should also mention that this fan-fiction is only planned mentally, there is no written planning apart from ordering a few titles which means it might not be as good as it could be and dialogue is not as thought through as it could be.

(I will be correcting 'Alicorn History' in due course as it's a bit hard to read for everypony except me.)

Sections 3 & 4 will be in a separate story, as will the ultimate finale, which comes after section 4. (I will repeat this information in the author's notes at the end of section 2 so no-pony misses it.

Comments

[Draco Dei]

I am liking this so far.

There is a bit of "telling" when you should be "showing", and it is never explained how Cadance managed to swing an audience with the ruler of an entire country on short notice without those showing her in knowing EXACTLY what the situation was.

[Lord Vinder]

Is there a reason you are using ' and ' rather then " and "?