My Little Pony: Rise of Cadance | |
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Published: | January 29, 2025 |
Writer: | Christina Rice |
Artist: | Abby Bulmer |
Colorist: | Heather Breckel |
Letterer: | Neil Uyetake |
Editor: | Bixie Mathieu |
See also | |
Credits • Gallery • Allusions | |
Issue guide | |
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My Little Pony: Rise of Cadance is a special-edition comic released by IDW Publishing. It tells the origin of how Princess Cadance transformed from a Pegasus to an Alicorn, expanding on her backstory first mentioned in the chapter book Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell.
Summary[]
In the Crystal Empire one evening, Princess Cadance walks onto the castle balcony to watch the sun rise, pondering on how her humble beginnings led to her becoming a ruler of a kingdom.
In a flashback, an infant Cadance is discovered in a baby basket by a group of Earth ponies on the edge of the forest. The ponies adopt the seemingly abandoned infant, name her "Mi Amore Cadenza" ("Cadance" for short), and take her back to their village. As the only Pegasus in the village, Cadance was loved by everyone as she did good deeds and feats that the Earth ponies could not do. One day, however, the love Cadance felt from the other ponies was suddenly gone, replaced with apathy and depression.
Alloro Legarra, one of the ponies who found Cadance as a baby, tells her that an evil unicorn sorceress named Prismia has returned, having been drawn by the love surrounding Cadance and siphoning that love to fuel her magic necklace. Fearing that Prismia could turn the power of Cadance's love into a weapon against others, Alloro suggests they leave the village, but Prismia discovers them. After draining Alloro of her energy, Prismia attempts to do the same to Cadance, but the love inside Cadance is so great that it overwhelms Prismia's dark magic and defeats her.
Princess Celestia appears in time to witness Prismia's defeat and prepares to punish her with imprisonment in Tartarus for her crimes. However, Cadance notices the fear and loneliness in Prismia and asks that Celestia show mercy on her. She offers to have the village take responsibility for Prismia and share their love with her so that she does not need to forcibly steal it. Celestia and Alloro agree, and Prismia thanks Cadance for the mercy she has shown, relinquishing ownership of her necklace to Cadance out of gratitude.
As a result of her accomplishment, Cadance acquires her cutie mark: a crystal heart. Celestia is noticeably shocked by this, and after a brief private talk with Alloro, she tells Cadance that she must come with her to live in Canterlot. Cadance is upset over having to leave her village home, but she respects Celestia's wishes.
After relocating to Canterlot, Cadance quickly adjusts to her new life. Over the next several years, she takes classes at the School for Gifted Unicorns (despite not being a unicorn), practices flying with the royal guards, spends time with preschool-aged unicorns, and even joins Celestia on royal business and learns royal protocol and etiquette. Whenever Cadance questions Celestia about the purpose of all this, Celestia would always say Cadance would know "when she is ready".
One night, Canterlot comes under sudden attack by a swarm of dragons. After Cadance briefly attempts to combat the dragons and fails, Celestia tasks her with leading the younger foals out of the city. Cadance guides the foals away from the destruction, but they are stopped by the leader of the dragon swarm, Liebe. As the dragon leader rages about her long-awaited "revenge", Cadance senses she is carrying a lot of pain inside her. She appeals to Liebe's inner pain, apologizes for whatever ponies did to her in the past, and encourages her to let go of her hate.
Liebe, shocked that a pony has shown her sympathy and moved to tears, agrees to call off the dragon invasion. Princess Celestia arrives ready to battle Liebe, but to her surprise, Liebe announces she is calling off the attack and departs, noting it was Cadance's words that convinced her. For this latest accomplishment, Celestia tells Cadance that she is ready to fulfill her destiny. Cadance is suddenly washed in light, and in a burst of light shaped like her cutie mark, she transforms into an Alicorn.
Celestia explains that when she first saw Cadance's cutie mark, she realized Cadance was the descendant of Princess Amore, the first ruler of the Crystal Empire, thus making Cadance the heir to Amore's throne. Celestia reasons that Cadance's birth parents left her as a baby outside the village where she was found in order to protect her from her destiny and the challenges that were sure to come with it. However, Cadance has now proven that she is more than up to the task of facing such challenges. Though Cadance's new responsibilities mean she can no longer spend time with the preschool foals, Celestia does mention a young unicorn who occasionally needs a foal-sitter, and she introduces Cadance to a young Twilight Sparkle.
Quotes[]
- Princess Cadance: [narrating] I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! Princess Cadance. I repelled the Queen of the Changelings! Defeated an ancient and evil King Sombra! Helped rear the Princess of Friendship! Am ruler of the Crystal Empire! But before all that...
- Village Pony 1: For the love of Celestia! It is a foal.
- Village Pony 2: There are no pony villages anywhere near here! Whoever left her here had to have known we would find her.
- Alloro Legarra: It looks like we'll be adding a new pony to our village family!
- Village Pony 1: Look how she dances in the air!
- Village Pony 2: Why, she's like...a cadenza in a song!
- Alloro Legarra: Mi amore! Mi Amore Cadenza! That's what we'll call her.
- Princess Cadance: [narrating] And so, I became an Earth pony. An Earth pony with wings!
- Young Cadance: Hey, don't you want to play ball?
- Village Foal: Meh.
- Alloro Legarra: Prismia! You've been told to leave our peaceful village alone!
- Prismia: Oh Alloro Legarra, when have I ever answered to you simple ponies?
- Young Cadance: What do you have against these ponies who have shown Equestria nothing but love? Shown everypony love?
- Prismia: Meh. After all these years... they bore me.
- Princess Celestia: Well, Prismia, I see you could not leave the village alone. Even though you were warned.
- Prismia: [whimper]
- Princess Celestia: Maybe a stay in Tartarus will cure you.
- Prismia: No!
- Young Cadance: Please, show Prismia mercy and the village will assume the responsibility of reforming her.
- Princess Celestia, Alloro Legarra, and Prismia: WHAT??
- Young Cadance: If the ponies of this village were able to share their love with a Pegasus abandoned in the forest... they can do the same for the sorceress Prismia.
- Prismia: I don't understand. But... thank you.
- Princess Celestia: You will need to relinquish that necklace.
- Prismia: I don't think this necklace will be much use for anypony now, but okay. I do have one request.
- Alloro Legarra: A request? Seriously?
- Prismia: That it become the property of this Pegasus.
- Alloro Legarra: Mi Amore Cadenza. You're still so young and have much to learn. But our village is too small for you. I need you to trust me and go with the princess.
- Young Cadance: I--I don't want to... but I will do as you wish.
- Joe: Morning, Cadance! Donut to start your school day?
- Princess Cadance: [narrating] Why was I taking magic classes at the School for Gifted Unicorns when I didn't have a horn? [...] And while my classmates were always very nice to me... I know they wondered the same thing.
- Princess Celestia: It's important for you to know these things. "Why" will be revealed when you are ready.
- Liebe: I am Liebe, the leader of this dragon swarm. And at long last, the time for my revenge has come!
- Young Cadance: I don't know what the ponies of this land did to you so long ago. But I suspect it involved younglings. Was it something terrible?
- Liebe: It was...
- Young Cadance: I can't change what the ponies before me have done. But what I can say is... I'm so very sorry.
- Liebe: Do you realize how long I have waited for this day? How long it has taken me to build a dragon army strong enough to take on Canterlot?
- Young Cadance: Please. Perpetuating this hate will solve nothing. And I will convince Celestia to let you all leave in peace. Let go of the hate and fill yourself with love. Even if it is the love of a memory. For I too know how powerful memory can be.
- Liebe: Thank you for doing something nopony before you has done. Understand the pain of my loss.
- Princess Celestia: At last, you're ready.
- Young Cadance: Ready? Ready for what?
- Princess Celestia: Time to fulfill your destiny!
- Princess Celestia: From the moment I saw your cutie mark, I knew who you were. The descendant of Amore, the first princess of the Crystal Empire. And you are heir to her throne.
- Young Cadance: What?! You knew this and didn't tell me?
- Princess Celestia: You're so young, Cadance. And I know how much leaving the village broke your heart. But I suspect your parents knew the challenges you were destined to face... and tried to hide you from the world by leaving you near that village. Hide you from your destiny.
- Princess Celestia: Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to introduce you to Cadance.
- Young Twilight Sparkle: Princess Celestia? Introducing me to the new Alicorn?! Did I do something wrong? Is this something I should have been studying for? Breathe, Twilight, breathe!!!
- Young Cadance: Twilight, it's okay! And I'm so happy to meet you! The foals I used to teach have a special chant to calm them down. We can have one too! Let's start with "sunshine, sunshine..."