Cadance looked outside the window of Canterlot Castle, wondering how long it would take Princess Celestia to realize that she had wandered away from the throne room. Someday, she would become a real princess, but for now, she was just a unicorn commoner who had received the chance of a lifetime. Canterlot’s city system had no orphanages, so those fillies and colts like her were taken to the royal estate to be cared for. Many of these orphans were trained to become minor attendants and common hands, but a few lucky candidates were chosen for the opportunity to become members of the royal family. She was lucky not just because she was chosen, but because both her and her twin sister Amore had been. Amore was the only thing she had left, so she gave thanks every day that fate had not chosen to separate them.

Yelling could be heard from another side of the foyer, and at first Cadance began to worry that someone had found her. She ran straight back to the throne room when she ran into a muddy figure.

“What have you been doing, Amore?!” she questioned. While she sounded stern, she was honestly just trying to suppress laughter. Laughter would encourage such behavior, which (in the world of royalty) was definitely a no-no.

“I was just seeing if I could control the rain with my magic,” her sister answered innocently. “I was thinking that maybe that’s my alicorn power. Her Highness would control the sunny days, and I’d handle the cloudy ones.”

“But you already know you have love magic, like me,” Cadance tried to explain. “We even have the same cutie mark, so why would you be able to control weather?”

“Making people fall in love is no fun,” Amore pouted. “Nopony takes us seriously because we don’t have a cool power. Really, if you can control wind or lightning or something like that, our magic really does seem unimportant. How does that help when you become a princess?!”

“It could work for diplomatic purposes. Say another kingdom wants to take you over—that’s when you use it. Then you could negotiate treaties and help with foreign relations.”

“That’s right,” replied another voice. Cadance had barely noticed that Princess Celestia was approaching them. How much could she have heard?

“Sorry, Your Highness,” both fillies chorused.

“You know, Cadance does have a point,” Princess Celestia began. “Being a princess isn’t just about intimidating everypony you see. My subjects don’t listen to me because I move the sun. They do it because they trust me to make the right decisions. And someday, if you learn the right way to convince ponies about the right sort of things, they’ll trust you too. Nopony actually really gives the powers any attention in the long run, not to mention that every unicorn’s power has a special, important purpose. Proving yourself too much means that you might have to wash up.”

Amore, having received the hint, went towards the washroom, and no more was said about this encounter. But it was one that Cadance would remember well in the times to come.

****

Now, it was finally time to determine which of the candidates would receive a legitimate coronation into the royal family. Only Amore and her sister were left. Cadance would have given up everything, even becoming a princess, for the sake of her sister’s happiness, and that was what she intended to do. But Amore had other plans.

“Cadance,” she said to her sister one day, “I’m dropping out of the competition. I don’t want to be a princess.”

“Are you crazy?!” the pink unicorn replied. “How could you not want to be one? It’s everything we’ve been working for! You’re the one who wanted to become more powerful, after all.”

“I didn’t just want to become more powerful,” Amore answered with a shake of her head. “I’m not that greedy, you know. I thought I belonged here…but it turns out that I don’t. It was never about us becoming princesses, Cadance. The only reason Celestia put us into that deal was so that she could use us to extend her own life span.”

As Cadance looked on in shock, Amore continued, “Oh, I’m not just making this up; I actually overheard someone talking about it. Every thousand years, Her Highness has to find another princess. If she succeeds, she’ll be able to summon a potion during the coronation that allows her to live for another thousand years. It never mattered which one of us she chose. No matter what happened, she’d still get her share of the bargain. But that isn’t going to happen, because we aren’t going to be her pawns anymore. Tomorrow night, we’re leaving.”

“But where would we go? We’ve never known anywhere other than Canterlot and the castle. There are a lot of worse creatures than Celestia in the beyond. What if it’s too much?”

“It won’t be,” Amore growled. “We could do anything in Equestria if we really wanted to. We could beat Celestia. You’re just afraid.”

“This place is everything to me,” Cadance sighed. “I know that there’s more in the princess’s heart than just selfish desires. I know because I can feel it. She wants to live in harmony with us. She wants to show that commoners really can change Equestria. And won’t you regret your decisions years down the road, when you know that you can’t continue on much longer? You’re turning down immortality.”

“I’m not turning it down,” Amore whispered. “I’m going to find another way to achieve it. And once I do, I’ll find you, and then our lives will finally be the way we wanted them to be…together. You’re the only one I ever loved, Cadance. Everypony else…I only felt indifference towards them. When you begin to really study it, love is so flawed at times. It makes ponies turn towards paths they would never follow, and so often, the ones they care the most about never realize it. All I ever wanted was a power I could understand. When you read about rain, or the sun, or the stars, you can look as hard as you can and find an answer. But as for us, it isn’t as easy. When I heard about what Celestia really wanted from us, that was when I finally realized—I barely even believe in love at all. And even if I wanted to rule the kingdom, what type of princess would I be if I didn’t even believe in my own magic?”

With that final whisper, Amore activated her horn and simply vanished. Just as she had left, Princess Celestia appeared.

“You heard everything, didn’t you?” Cadance muttered to the princess. “Aren’t you going to save her?”

“Nopony can stop fate,” Princess Celestia replied. “You know, it’s a very rare case indeed for two ponies to be born with the same cutie mark. And when that happens, it never ends well. It’s one of the worst curses in Equestria.”

“Why couldn’t you have told me that before?” Cadance sobbed. “If I would’ve known, I would’ve tried to find a way to break it. Even if it’s never been broken before, I could’ve tried for Amore. For my only remaining family.”

“You know, I’m your family too, Cadance,” Celestia soothed. “I know what it’s like to lose a sister. The reason I wanted to use you two was so that I could save mine. Her exile as Nightmare Moon was meant to last a thousand years, which would mean that even if she was restored to good, she would only have a few months, or perhaps even a few days, to live. I wanted to save the thousand-year spell that I would use on myself for when she became a princess again. I was so traumatized when it happened that I didn’t want any other princesses in Canterlot other than her. Luna was all that mattered to me.” She smiled and answered, “But then I met you.”

“I really mean that much to you?” Cadance questioned.

“Yes,” Celestia answered. “I could never have had a daughter, with all the responsibilities I had to carry out and all. For some reason, I always had a feeling, even from the beginning, that you would be the next princess. But I want you to know that you weren’t just some sacrifice. I’ve always seen you as a daughter, and as a friend.”

Cadance looked at Celestia in admiration and thanks for a few moments, until she felt a tiny unicorn jump onto her back.

“Princess!” the young filly yelled. “Can we be friends? Pleeeeease?”

Another unicorn, one of the royal guards, gently pulled on the filly’s tail to bring her to the ground.

“So sorry, future highness,” he replied. “My little sister here was just excited about the coronation. She’s been looking forward to it for a while.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t bring my notebook!” the filly realized. “How am I going to take notes on all the ceremonies of a traditional coronation now?! What kind of apprentice am I?!”

“A very good one who needs to understand that you don’t have to take notes on everything,” Celestia answered with a chuckle. “I’m giving you the day off tomorrow, after all, so you can be with the new princess.”

“Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!” the filly replied, prancing around Cadance. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and I want to know as much about you—and about just about everything—as possible! First question: when you write a bibliography, do you prefer MLA or APA formatting?” Twilight Sparkle gave a huge smile to Cadance, eagerly awaiting her answer.

“Um, whichever one makes you happy?” Cadance answered nervously.

“Hooray! You’re my new pegasister!” Twilight lovingly nuzzled one of her front legs for several minutes.

Even though I’ll miss you like crazy, Amore, Cadance thought to herself, you were wrong. Love is all around you, and even if you lose it from somepony, you’ll just end up gaining it back. This is the life I’ve chosen: not just because it’s the prosperous life, but because it means being surrounded by those I care about—my true, living family.

~~~
After Twilight Sparkle’s coronation, several years later
~~~

Princess Cadance sighed to herself, having finally received her first elixir of immortality for choosing Twilight Sparkle, now her beloved sister-in-law, to be the next princess of Canterlot.

Now this day was really perfect, she thought to herself, only to find her tail and ears beginning to droop. Except you weren’t there, Amore. As much as I love Twilight, I’d always hung onto a single shred of faith that I could save you like Celestia did with Luna. But now I finally have to acknowledge that the way you found to rule means that the ‘you’ I knew back then can never return. You drowned that past to become Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Empire. They say that once you become a changeling, you can’t turn back. That’s why you trapped me in the caves. You never wanted anyone to remind you of that past. But I’m different; I embrace my past. That’s why I changed my name to “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza”: so that I’d always remember you.

Cadance shook those thoughts aside. She wasn’t going to let her husband, Shining Armor, be taken away from her as Amore had. She had decided at the last minute that this was the way things had to be. She would find her own way to survive later.

And with that, she poured her potion into Shining Armor’s glass at the post-coronation banquet.

~~~
Later that night
~~~

“Can’t believe I just stopped cr—liquid priding a few minutes ago,” Shining Armor muttered as he came into the guest wing of the castle, where he would stay for a few days before returning to the Crystal Empire. Having realized something he’d forgotten to do with all the day’s pomp and circumstance, he then yelled to his wife, “Cadance, sweetie, are you using the restroom? I almost forgot to shave!”

“No,” Cadance muttered tiredly.

A few seconds passed, and she began to realize that Shining Armor was muttering very audibly in the bathroom. With a simple sigh of “husbands,” she was about to let it go until she realized what he would see in the mirror.

“Who’s a handsome stallion?” Shining Armor questioned. “Now that those stray hairs are out of the way, you are the prince of handsomen—wait, what?! WHERE DID THESE WINGS COME FROM?! WHY AM I AN ALICORN?!?!”

“I guess I accidentally spilled my elixir of immortality into your goblet!” Cadance replied from in front of the door.

“Really, Cadance?” Shining Armor replied. “’Accidentally?’”

“Fine, I turned you into an alicorn on purpose,” Cadance sighed. “But I was beginning to realize that I would end up outliving you, and I couldn’t take that. I love you more than anyone, so you have no idea how lonely I’d be without you.”

“But now what will you do?” Shining Armor sighed. “Now you’re going to die before I will. But now that we’re going to be together for a thousand years, I’m going to travel Equestria to find another princess. It doesn’t matter if it takes up all our time. I have to.”

“You don’t need to find a new royal,” Cadance spoke. “There’s a perfect one right here. I’m not sure if it’s a filly or a colt yet, but—“

“Wait, wait, wait,” Shining Armor shouted. “You don’t mean—“

“Yes,” Cadance confirmed with the most joy she’d ever had. “Shiny, you’re going to be a father very, very soon…”

Author's Notes:

Hope you enjoyed this! Oh, I'm planning a new, follow-up series to this in which Cadance's new daughter, Skyla, is kidnapped by the Changelings as a way of trying to get an immortality potion to Chrysalis. However, the Changeling she is replaced with, Haine, is not only Chrysalis's daughter and therefore Skyla's elemental opposite, but begins to find that she never wanted this fate, that all she ever wanted was to be a pony rather than a monster...