The mane six looked at Shining Armor in confusion. "Well yeah, because Cadence is an alicorn. It makes sense. What's the problem?" Asked Rainbow Dash. "Well, alicorns aren't supposed to be born, they have to earn their alicorn status." Twilight was shocked. "But what about Celestia and Luna? And what about Cadence?" "None of us were born that way, Twilight." Everyone turned to where the voice had come from Celestia had flown in unnoticed. "Twilight, I must speak with you in private." Nervously, twilight followed her mentor down the hall into the library. "Twilight, I must apologize. I was supposed to tell you about how the rest of us became who we are once you became an alicorn. Unfortunately, the amount of invasions occurring has caused me to put it on hold. Now, I believe, is a good time." Twilight was now sitting straight up, very interested in the idea of the new alicorn culture she was about to learn. "You see Twilight, In order to become an alicorn, one must master an element of magic. You, for instance, mastered friendship." Here is my story...

Celestia stared into the eyes of her parents. They looked at her with kind eyes. Although she didn't know them, she wasn't afraid. They looked so loving. "Look at her!" They said. "She's perfect." "And look at her wings! They're so majestic!" They picked her up and hugged her gently. Then, they carried their newborn foal, their Celestia, to their home.

Five years later, Celestia could be found playing tag with her friends at her fifth birthday party. "Your parents are awesome!" Said one of the ponies, Daisydear. "Yeah, you get to have a party at the beach." Said Yo-Yo. She liked all of her friends. Later that day, they were talking about cutie marks. None of them had cutie marks, except WaterLily. She was seven, and she had a really pretty cutie mark. "What cutie mark do you think you'll have, Celestia?" Asked Disco. "I don't know, I really like dolphins, maybe a dolphin cutie mark would be cool." Celestia replied. It was then that her parents called the girls over. It was time to open presents. Celestia opened all of them until there was only one left, the one from her parents. The two ponies smiled at their daughter. "We have a surprise for you, Celestia." The young pony looked at them eagerly. "You're going to be a big sister!" It took a moment for the news to sink in. When it did, Celestia smiled, squealed with joy, and hugged her parents. "Thank you! This is the best present ever."

Being a big sister was really awesome, but it was also hard work, Especially since little Luna was a unicorn, and not a Pegasus like Celestia. When Luna was five and Celestia was ten, both of them went to a class taught by an old alicorn. They learned a lot from him. One day, at this class, the two young ponies found out that their teacher was responsible for raising the sun and the moon. They became quite close to their mentor. Two years later, he pulled Celestia aside. "My dear," he said. "I believe you are destined for great things. I won't be here much longer, but I want you to remember all that I taught you. Never lose hope, and I will always be with you." Celestia didn't understand what he meant, but she was very sad to learn the next day that her teacher had died. For the first time in 10,000 years, all of Equestria was plunged into darkness without any alicorn magic. Celestia remembered what her mentor had told her, and so she continued to study magic, although she could not do any without a horn, and she never lost hope. This went on for a year. Ponies everywhere were sad and depressed in what seemed to be an eternal night. Celestia, however, stayed hopeful. In doing so, she brightened the spirits of those around her. It was when a new earth pony was born, and cried out in fear at the overwhelming darkness, that Celestia could not sit by and let this go on any longer. With the hope of one-thousand suns, she flew up and saw her mentor. He smiled and said, "Well done, you have set the ponies free." With that, Celestia was surround by light, and became an alicorn, with a cutie mark.

Luna admired her sister greatly. She was, after all, an alicorn. She controlled the sun and the moon with her strong magic. Luna did find that she was always outshined by Celestia. Whenever Luna introduced herself, ponies would say, "Oh, you're the alicorn's sister, aren't you!" For a while, she thought that was all she'd ever be, the alicorn's sister who hadn't even earned her cutie mark yet. But then, Luna made a friend. Some pony who wanted to know her, not just her sister. Luna's friend was named SkyWishes. They were the best of friends. Her sister was the earth pony that was born just before the end of the year of darkness. When SkyWishes introduced Luna to her Pegasus friend, StarCatcher, they became friends too. Now they were a group of earth pony, unicorn, and Pegasus. All three of them were on a mission: to get their cutie marks.

One day, Celestia came to her and said, "Mom is really sick, I don't think she has a lot of time left. She's asking for you." Luna went to her, and cried, "Please mom, don't leave me!" Luna's mother looked at her and said softly, "My dear Luna, you must have courage. I must leave you, but you will never be alone. You have your father and your sister, and I will always be with you in your heart. But just remember, you must have courage. I sense a great darkness coming, and only you can stop it." Luna, sobbing now, said, "But mother, Celestia is the one who's powerful. I'm just... Me!" "Luna, you are just as powerful as your sister, and Equestria needs you too. Promise me you'll have courage." Luna promised, and then went out to give her some rest. Luna and Celestia's mother died later that night. Her death was a huge blow to the whole family. Luna, much like Celestia had done, studied magic in her time of grief. Luna withdrew from her friends, who both had cutie marks, and poured over her books. Four years pass, and Luna continues to study magic. Then, out of the shadows, came a beast, a dragon. This dragon was huge and powerful, and was hauling a chariot carrying three "mini dragons?", three sirens. For three days, they wreaked havoc on Equestria, hypnotizing ponies and making them angry and bitter. Luna helped all she could, but they were getting more powerful. Then, they stopped. Luna saw them get in their chariot, and fly away, to Celestia's castle! Luna knew that the time for courage had come. She focused all her magic, and teleported to the castle. One of the sirens, Adagio, had pinned Celestia down. Dazzle, the lead Siren, raised her arms, ready to cast a spell that would surely be deadly. "No!" Came a voice. It was Luna, who threw herself in the path of the spell, blocking Celestia. A whirl of green surrounded Luna. Luna was scared, until she remembered her mother's words. Now she had courage, and she relaxed. Suddenly, her horn started to glow, brighter and brighter. There was a flash, then silence. Luna opened her eyes. She was in the clouds, and there was her mother! "Well done Luna, you had courage. I'm so proud of you." She said. "Remember, I'll always love you." With that, Luna felt herself falling. She shut her eyes, but no thud came. She opened her eyes. Now Luna was sitting in Celestia's castle. "Luna! Are you okay?" Said Celestia. "Yeah, I think so." "Oh Luna, you saved me! Thank you!" "It was nothing." Said Luna shyly. "Our mother didn't think so." Celestia said, pointing her hoof at her. Luna looked, and saw that she had wings. She gasped, looking at her horn. "I'm an alicorn!" Then Luna saw that she also had a cutie mark!" Luna hugged her sister. "We're both alicorns!" She said. "But, why? We can't both raise the sun." "Well," said Celestia. "I can raise the sun, and you can raise the moon! That is what your cutie mark is after all." Luna smiled. "It will be so awesome to be princesses together. Will there be a coronation?" "Of course, we will have a big party." Luna's smile got bigger, then faded slightly. She turned around and looked at the sirens. "What will we do with them?" "They'll go to Tartarus." Luna looked around. "Where's the dragon?" Celestia looked around. "There he is, going into a cave near PonyVille. We won't have to worry about him, dragons can sleep forever!" Luna and Celestia hugged again. In the back of their minds, they knew a lot of cleaning up had to be done, but they knew they could could do it, together.

NightmareMoon stared bitterly into the darkness. Being imprisoned on the moon was not part of her plan. She hated that her sister had just, used the elements on her. "No matter, I never liked her anyway." NightmareMoon was slightly saddened by the fact that no one loved her, and that she was all alone. Then, she remembered something, someone she couldn't quite recall in her darkened state. "A great darkness is coming and only you can stop it." "I'm so proud of you, and I'll always love you." These things that were by someone long ago brought comfort to her blackened heart. Maybe someday, she would be free.

From the beginning, Cadence was a bright, happy pony. She lived with her parents in Canterlot, and she had lots of friends. For the first ten years of her life, the only thing that would upset her was when some of her schoolmates teased her about being an earth pony, since she was the only one in the class. When she told her mother, CherrySun, about it, she just said, "Oh Cadence, they're just jealous because you have your cutie mark already." It was true, her cutie mark was a diamond heart, but Cadence didn't quite know what it meant yet. All was going well, until she turned eleven. It was around that time that her parents began fighting. "Storm! What did I tell you about..." She would hear her mother yell. "Well you wouldn't even have these nice things if weren't for me!" Her father would shout back. Cadence lay in her bed, trying to block it out. She thought it would never end. During the day, Cadence went to a special class taught by StarSwirl the Bearded. After he had sent the sirens into another dimension, every pony wanted to learn from him. StarSwirl had only chosen two ponies to be in his class, Coconut Mist, Cadence's older sister and Sunset Shimmer. Cadence was, of course, an earth pony, but she still loved learning from him. When StarSwirl decided to take his students to see Princess Celestia, he gave Cadence permission to come as well. She was very excited to meet the princess. Her mother bought her and her sister new dresses to wear. When they arrived at the palace, StarSwirl, SunsetShimmer, CoconutMist, and Cadence were escorted to the princess, where they were to have dinner with her. Cadence admired Princess Celestia very much. She was sweet, kind, and everything Cadence hoped to be someday. Celestia was fascinated by an earth pony wanting to learn magic, since it was very rare. "So, StarSwirl, how are your students progressing?" "They are doing very well. SunsetShimmer, I think, is starting to get too advanced for me to teach her much longer." "Well," began Celestia. "I can take on her teaching. She is a very brilliant unicorn." They talked longer, and by the time dinner was over, SunsetShimmer was to continue her studies with the princess herself. Cadence had a feeling she was watching history in the making.

Things changed after that. CoconutMist was still friends with SunsetShimmer, but then she began to change. Over the course of a few years, She started hinting that she felt like CoconutMist was not a worthy friend, not for a student of the princess. One day, SunsetShimmer flat out told CoconutMist and Cadence that their friendship was over. "I have better things to do than hanging out with ponies who don't deserve me." CoconutMist was heartbroken. She stayed in her room for days. Cadence came in to cheer her up, but nothing worked. "CoconutMist, I'm worried about you. Please, come outside." Cadence pleaded. "No, I'm staying in here, forever." "Coconut, you have to come; SunsetShimmer was just being arrogant." "No, she's right. I don't deserve to have friends." "You still have friends, like me! I'm your sister, and I love you." Cadence threw her hooves around her sister and hugged her. CoconutMist was surprised at first, but then she smiled a little. Suddenly, there was a glow in the room, and you what happened next.

Of course, there was a ceremony, and Cadence became a princess, but she didn't quite know why. She wasn't really princess of anything. Cadence was feeling lost, and lonely. Her parents still fought, and CoconutMist became some kind of secret agent with her new friend, SweetieDrops. Cadence decided to pass the time by getting a job, as a foal-sitter. Cadence thought that since she was the "Princess of love" she would be good with children. After weeks of trying, she finally got her first regular job, foal-sitting a little unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. Cadence had to admit it was fun. She grew to love Twilight Sparkle, and she loved to encourage her when she was sad. They even came up with a special rhyme for them. Even if Cadence could sense she was meant for something bigger, this was good for now. On a picnic with Twilight, Cadence spotted SunsetShimmer sitting on a bench. While she was glaring, Twilight said, "Oh Cadence, this is my brother, Shining Armor." Cadence turned and their eyes met. Cadence knew it was meant to be.

Twilight Sparkle looked at Celestia in awe. "And now you know all our stories." Twilight was still trying to process it all when she continued, "You see, every pony has to earn the right to be an alicorn princess. I mastered hope, Luna courage, Cadence love, and you friendship. Now, a pony is born an alicorn." "This has never happened before?" Asked Twilight. Celestia got a dark look in her eyes. "Once, a long time ago." "When? And who was it? What became of them?" Twilight asked. Celestia closed her eyes. "It was my brother, DarkSun."