Written by: Rainbow Double Dash
Slightly under a thousand years ago, an alicorn makes her way to Canterlot, seeking to reclaim the throne that is her apparent birthright as the reborn Celestia.
Tropes:
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Luna wiped Cadence's mind and suppressed her alicorn powers because she felt she'd be unable to raise a foal and knit the broken Equestria back together.
- Does Not Like Spam: Cadenza hates peas. Hate hate hates 'em. Apparently, on first being declared princess, her first thought was having every pea farm in Cavallia destroyed, until she realized this was maybe an overreaction. But she's not eating any ever again.
- Didn't Think This Through: Luna spent a thousand years thinking she could hide her feelings from Cadence, whose special talent we remind you is love. Cadence figured it out pretty quickly, she just never said.
- Distant Finale: The last chapter is set in the modern day (shortly after "Boast Busted").
- Dramatic Irony: The reader knows right from the off that Cadenza is demonstrably not Celestia in any way, shape or form, even though she doesn't. The trick is finding out what she is.
- Foreshadowing: As part of her test, Luna takes Cadenza to the deserted island of Tambelon.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After having to give up Cadence, the first thing Luna did was find a nearby town and demand as much booze as she could drink. Loudly.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Luna doesn't tell Cadence because she thinks the mare would hate her for what she did.
- Mythology Gag: The opening chapter has Cadenza singing a modified version of "This Day".
- No Indoor Voice: The Royal Canterlot Voice rears its head with the Celestia imposters. Thanks to them, Luna (who does not use it any more) is becoming less and less enamoured with each passing second.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Some of the Celestia imposters are woefully bad, not being the right tribe, the right size, and in one particular case, the right gender.
- Pardon My Klingon: Cadenza gets away with a few Cavallian (read: Italian) cusses here and there.
- Poke the Poodle: Meeting with an irate shopkeeper, Cadenza threatens her harshest punishment on him - she'll give him a bad review. He retorts that if she really were Celestia, as she claims, she'd burn his store down.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The actual Celestia is stuck in the sun, and despite some very spirited threats to Cadenza, she ain't getting out any time soon.
- Ship Tease: In the last chapter, Cadence and Shining Armor meet, and start flirting heavily.
- Ye Olde Butchered English: Most of the story is set a thousand years ago, so there's "thees" flying hither and yon, though some ponies speak in less fancy tones, such as the shopkeeper Cadenza meets early on.
