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The land of Equestria is not ruled by a king or queen, but by a pair of beautiful Princesses. Celestia, the elder, is responsible for raising the Sun at dawn, and the younger Luna is responsible for bringing out the night at dusk. Together, they rule the land in harmony for all the different types of ponies.

Celestia also has a niece with the title of "Princess" named Mi Amore Cadenza, who prefers to be called Cadance. Her special talent is inducing romantic love between ponies, though she is quite young and doesn't seem to be as powerful as the ruling sisters.

All the princesses are alicorns^note, which are rare among ponies and denotes their regal status (the only other ponies seen are Pegasi (winged ponies), unicorns (can wield magic), or Earth ponies (bless the land, generally stronger and more enduring)).

For Twilight Sparkle (who is listed as royalty on trading cards and is coronated as a princess in the third Season Finale "Magical Mystery Cure"), see The Mane Cast page and the Twilight Sparkle page; for Prince Blueblood (the sisters' far removed nephew), see the One Shots page; for Princess Platinum (one of the founders of Equestria), see the Other Characters page; for Princess Skyla (who has only appeared in the toyline), see the Toyline Exclusive page; for King Leo and L�on (Canon Foreigner cousins of Celestia's and presumably Luna's), see the Expanded Universe page.

Return to the character index here.

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Tropes shared by Celestia and Luna

"Reluctantly the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since."

All There in the Manual: Before "The Crystal Empire - Part 1", the Crystal Princess Ponies Collection's box revealed that "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna believe that Princess Cadance will bring happiness to the Crystal Empire!"
All Your Powers Combined: Though trading cards list the sisters and Cadance as being Pegasi and unicorns but not Earth ponies, the later Tie-In Novel Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell establishes that an Alicorn is "a special breed of pony" "able to harness the magical powers of the Unicorns, the flight abilities of the Pegasi, and the strength of a good, true heart of an Earth Pony."
Authority Equals Asskicking: Compared to Celestia, Luna shows off her powers a lot more, and from what we see they appear to be impressive even outside of her Nightmare Moon incarnation. Control of weather with lightning galore seems to be one of her favorite tricks, but she also displays various other powers, such as turning toy spiders into actual huge spiders. However, it appears that Celestia is not one to be underestimated either: she is able to instantly revert all the effects caused by Twilight Sparkle's burst of wild magic, to dispel the Want It Need It spell from the entire population of Ponyville, and face off against Queen Chrysalis, not even getting into allegedly wielding the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon on her own.
Badass: Not only were they able to harness the greatest magic known to ponydom before the Mane Six, they used it to defeat Discord.
- Badass Princesses: They're Retired Badasses who have saved Equestria at least twice in the past.
- Badass Family: Luna and Celestia are both badasses, and their niece Cadance reveals herself to be a Badass Princess in her own right. Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle became a part of the Badass Family thanks to Shining Armor's marriage to Cadance, and have since been granted their own titles as Prince and Princess.
- Bodyguarding A Badass: They both have their own guards despite possibly being the most powerful beings in the world. They seem to be there partly because it's traditional, and partly to handle to small stuff (they appear to be practically useless against real threats).
- Retired Badass: Both of them. Back when they could use the Elements of Harmony, they saved Equestria together at least once and then Celestia had to save it from Luna/Nightmare Moon. Celestia is still pretty Badass, but she lets Twilight and the rest of the Mane Cast do the world saving now. At least unless a threat to Equestria uncloaks right in front of her.
Bishie Sparkle: Both princesses give off a sparkle at all times.
Cain and Abel: While Luna was Nightmare Moon, anyway.

Cool Carriage/Flying Carriage: It isn't as if they need them, but Celestia and Luna use their own Pegasus-drawn carriages almost always when they need to fly to certain parts of Equestria. While Celestia's royal carriage is very beautiful and graceful, Luna's carriage looks like a funeral carriage, full of spikes and chains and pulled by two really sinister-looking Pegasi.
- Luna's sinister carriage must have been designed that way Just for Pun, since another name for a funeral carriage is "Hearse", which means that Luna (a winged unicorn) is a Flying Horse on a Flying Hearse.
Cool Crown: Both have one fitting their light and darkness motif.
Creation Myth: Told at the beginning of episode one and expanded on with them defeating Discord in the past.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Celestia and Luna defeated Discord in ancient times with the Elements of Harmony, despite him being much stronger than them even then.
Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: It's hard to do most of the time, but do not get them mad. They're both extremely powerful Physical Goddesses and are not to be taken lightly (except for Discord, but he's on a higher plane than both of them and paid for it in the end regardless). This is clearer with Princess Luna, who is far less reserved in showing off her power.
Deus Exit Machina: While the full extent of their power isn't clear, Celestia and Luna are obviously the most powerful good guys in the setting. Yet whenever a serious threat rears its head, they never help out as much you'd think they could. Celestia is usually given an excuse for this, but Luna is rarely acknowledged at all. Though that can be blamed on a whole other problem.
Everything's Better with Princesses: Justified since they rule together and you cannot have two queens; also enforced by the Hasbro execs, who wanted the rulers to be princesses since many young girls (the target demographic) still equate queens with evil.
Fantasy Pantheon: While so far it consists of only three or four if you count Twilight Physical Goddesses and maybe Discord, still counts.
Fish Eyes: In the toys, they both tend to suffer from this.
Fleur de Lis: The ornament on their hooves.
God Empresses: They both control a cosmic force and are only exceeded in power by Discord and a The Power of Love-supercharged Queen Chrysalis.
A Goddess I Am Not: As powerful and royal as they may be, they'd both much rather relate to their subjects on a personal level and forgo protocol.
Inexplicably Awesome: They're Goddesses by the standard qualifications, but their origins are never touched on. Presumably, the royal family was/is larger than just the three princesses, but these also are unmentioned. Where Alicorns came from, if other Princes or Princesses raised the sun and moon before them, and many other questions will likely remain staunchly in Wild Mass Guessing territory.
Large and in Charge: They're considerably larger than most of their subjects, with Celestia, as the older sister, being the larger of the two.
Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: A fairly literal example.
Meaningful Names: Celestia is based off Celestial and Luna is... well, the moon.
Magic Hair: Both sisters have a mane and tail that sparkles and has an ethereal glow about it, and drifts about as if unaffected by gravity.
Older Than They Look: More noticeable on Princess Luna, who looks younger than she actually is. A standing theory for this is that when Luna became Nightmare Moon, she stopped aging as Luna, which explains why she became younger when she reverted back.
- Of course, Celestia was described as the elder sister, so it's possible they always looked that different. We have no idea how many years (even centuries) she is older by.
Permanent Elected Officials: The sisters have been ruling Equestria for more than a thousand years.^note Seeing that their government is some form of monarchy and the fact that they are practically immortal (or at least just very long lived), Equestria won't be seeing a new ruler anytime soon. The ponies don't seem to mind, though.
Personality Powers: Inverted by both sisters. Celestia, who controls the sun, has a calm, sensible personality. Luna, who controls the moon, has a bombastic, intimidating personality.
Precursor Heroes: They were the wielders of the Elements of Harmony before the mane cast over one thousand years ago.
Physical Goddess: Frequently taken Up to Eleven in fan works (especially the "goddess" part, which has taken firm root in fanon despite remaining canonically unconfirmed well into the third season by now), rather less so on the actual show itself. Still, they're both magical unicorn princesses with power over the sun and the moon respectively and both at least centuries if not millennia old, so... close enough. Luna's appearances normally play this up a bit more though, as she seems much less restrained with her power.
Princesses Rule: Word Of God says Executive Veto is the only reason Celestia's not Queen. According to the execs at Hasbro, little girls now associate Queens with evil and Princesses with good.
Queens Of All Cosmos: Both princesses are Physical Goddesses who have their quirks. Celestia has a surprisingly mischievous sense of humor while Luna is quick-tempered and socially awkward.
Really 700 Years Old: Both being over a thousand years old and part of the Creation Myth, with Luna being the younger of the two.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Contrary to what was popular belief before "Luna Eclipsed", Luna is the Red while Celestia's the Blue.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Celestia is in charge of bringing forth daytime while Luna brings forth the night. Besides attending her royal duties, Celestia regularly visits her people and goes to their aid whenever the need arises (such as a Parasprite infestation in Fillydelphia). She has also been raising and lowering both the freaking Sun and the Moon on a daily basis for a millennium after Luna's banishment. "Sleepless in Ponyville" reveals part of Luna's duty is to patrol the dream world and help her subjects conquer their nightmares.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Celestia represents the sun while Luna represents the moon. Also, Celestia is rather more laid back, friendly, and even-tempered than Luna, though that might be a result of Luna's outdated ideas of royal protocol (although she's pretty hammy without them).
Sorceress Queens: Both of them qualify.
Supernatural Elite: Being both the rulers of Equestria and Physical Goddesses.
The Usurpers: The Season 2 premiere reveals that Celestia and Luna stole the throne from Discord and appointed themselves as the new rulers of Equestria after trapping him in stone. Of course, this was a good change, as Discord's reign was a never-ending nightmare of chaos and suffering, which was the reason they rose up against him in the first place.
Too Important To Fly: See Cool Carriage/Flying Carriage above.
True Blue Femininity: Both of their manes qualify them for this.
Vertebrates With Extra Limbs
Winged Unicorns: The sisters and their niece Cadance and Twilight are notably the only Winged Unicorns to appear in the flesh on the show (animation errors aside). What being a Winged Unicorn actually means in this setting is somewhat of a mystery, which, coupled with their extreme rarity, fuels a lot of speculation for fans.
Yin Yang Bomb: Are seen crossing their horns and blasting King Sombra with their combined magic to defeat him a thousand years ago.
You Don't Look Like You: Infamously, Celestia's earlier toys were extremely pink, though this was later fixed (most likely to avoid confusion with Princess Cadance, who actually is pink). Luna's toys and collector cards give her a coat closer to Twilight Sparkle's shade of purple and a mane and tail of Multicolored Hair. Luna's Design-A-Pony toy depicts her as a Palette Swap of Cadance (while Cadance herself doesn't have a Design-A-Pony toy). Additionally, Luna's original Playful Ponies-class (the standard-size ponies) toys were simply standard unicorn heads on a standard pegasus bodies (this flaw still applies to the Fashion Style versions of her and Celestia & Cadance). Fortunately, thanks to Cadance (who shares a lot of her design) getting her own Playful Ponies-class mold made, Luna now has new toys at that size which are the correct shape and closer to the correct colours.

Princess Celestia

"I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart."

Don't ask us how she brushes that mane.

First Mention: "Friendship Is Magic - Part 1" ("Mare in the Moon")
Full Debut: "Friendship Is Magic - Part 2" ("Elements of Harmony")

Voiced by: Nicole Oliver

Ruler of Equestria. According to the Creation Myth, she governs both the sun and the moon, though she originally commanded "merely" the former and only assumed control of the latter after a disagreement with her sister pony-goddess. A white winged unicorn with a multicolored, ethereal mane, she is noticeably taller and more slender than her subjects.

100% Adoration Rating: Her people absolutely love her.
All There in the Manual: The Crystal Princess Celebration toyline's description◊ of Sunset Shimmer includes the sentence "Years ago, she was also a student of Princess Celestia." Word Of God has suggested that this won't be coming up in Season 4.
Badass: In the Season 2 finale, y'know how Chrysalis was both a changeling equivalent to the princess, AND powered by all the love in Canterlot? In the ensuing Beam Of War Chrysalis cringed in preparation of being fried. She was as surprised as anyone that she won.
Badass Teacher: She's Twilight's personal mentor in the Magic of Friendship.
Berserk Button:
- Threatening her domain and causing trouble for her subjects do not please her.
- The misuse of magic really makes her mad, such as the incidents with Discord or Twilight Sparkle in "Lesson Zero".
Beware the Nice Ones: She is a kind, gentle and benevolent lady who put down two gods and a unicorn tyrant.
Big Eater: "Ponyville Confidential" caught her indulging on mountains of cake. Possibly justified in that she is over twice the size of most of her subjects.
Big Fancy Castle: An homage to Minas Tirith.
Big Good: Twilight's mentor and the one who more often than not tells the mane six they need to save Equestria.
Broken Ace: She's powerful and beloved by all of the ponies she cares for in the kingdom, but her inability to constantly protect them, as in the cases with Discord and Queen Chrysalis weighs down on her heart.
The Cape: She's seen as The Paragon of virtue and always puts her subjects' well-being at heart. With her immense magical power, she's going to take action when they're threatened.
Casting a Shadow: Celestia is capable of using King Sombra's dark magic to this effect. Dark Is Not Evil because she does it as a demonstration for Twilight before sending her to stop him.
Catchphrase:
- "That's quite alright."
- When addressing multiple ponies at the same time, she usually refers to them as "My Little Ponies" *
  Justified, perhaps, since she's one of few full-size horses in the series
  . Note that "My little ponies" seems to be a pretty common way in Equestria for adult mares/stallions to address younger fillies/colts. Couple this with how often rulers and gods tend to refer to their subjects as "my sons", "my children", or another similar formula...
Characterization Marches On: Season 2 has been showing a more serious and strict side of Celestia, contrasting with her ever calm and relaxed personality from Season 1. Now we get to see that yes, it IS possible to see Celestia fallible, vulnerable, and overwhelmed. She can also get scared, upset, or even angry. Ohh boy, you don't want to see Celestia getting angry.
The Chessmaster: She used her god-like power to defeats her enemies in the backstory. In the main narrative she wins through clever planning. The pilot, the first season finale, and the two-part Season 2 opening.
Color-Coded Wizardry: As of Season 2, her horn and objects affected by her magic have a bright yellow glow.
Cool Big Sis: It's obvious Celestia adores Luna after she gets reverted from being Nightmare Moon, and Part 1 of "The Return of Harmony" confirms they were good friends before that (sharing the Elements of Harmony).
Cool Pet: Her sickly pet bird Philomena, who is actually a Phoenix near her rebirth phase and a prankster too appropriately enough, given the later entry.
Cool Teacher: To Twilight Sparkle. Her idea of the 'best night ever' is talking with Celestia all night.
Disproportionate Retribution: Completely averted by what we've seen but some of her subjects (Twilight in particular, who should really know her better) seem to fear she will engage in this for minor infractions like looking after her pet without permission or missing a school assignment. Given the positive reception her subjects have toward her, it's possible that her subjects are more worried about disappointing or upsetting her than they are being punished by her.
Eccentric Mentor: She's got a mischievous sense of humor for a Physical Goddess.
Ermine Cape Effect: While not to the tacky extreme seen in other girl shows, she is constantly dressed in impeccable finery and a tiara every time she appears. There's also her rainbow-colored gravity-defying hair.
- For Twilight's coronation ceremony in "Magical Mystery Cure", we see her in full regalia for the first time, including an ermine-trimmed crown instead of her usual tiara.
Failure Knight: She was unable to prevent her younger sister Princess Luna from being corrupted and turning into Nightmare Moon, which haunted her for over 1000 years. Then Discord comes back and leaves her powerless to stop him from terrorizing the kingdom. Next Queen Chrysalis successfully infiltrates her niece Cadance's wedding and defeats her in direct combat.
Flying Firepower: The "Flying" comes from her wings; the "Firepower" comes from the ability to shoot beams of solar energy from her horn.
For Happiness: and Friendship and Magic and cakes.
Friend to All Living Things: She tells Fluttershy that she also cares for animals in the episode "A Bird In The Hoof".
- Friend to Bugs: She even seemed fond of the parasprites.

Gentle Giant: Much bigger than the ponies and just as benevolent.
Goddess Job: Bringing the Sun and the Moon up every day for a thousand years until Luna was redeemed, and the Sun alone for some while before.
Goddess Of Good: While her overt role is being the goddess of the sun, she fills most other qualities and in the creation story she's heavily connected to the Elements of Harmony.
God Is Good: She makes the sun rise, she's involved in the creation myth, her subjects say things like 'as Celestia is my witness' etc.
Gold Makes Everything Shiny: All of her accessories are gold.
- Gold And White Are Divine: Her coat is white and she is a Physical Goddess.
Good Is Not Soft: She's a genuinely good pony who cares about her subjects and sister with all her heart. That said, she shows no mercy to a truly evil villain like Discord (twice) and was willing to seal her own sister away when she turned into Nightmare Moon.
Guile Heroine: She's more than willing to resort to sneaky plans to lead the heroes to victory. She masterminded Discord's defeat simply by sending Twilight Sparkle all of the friendship letters she'd sent the entire first season.
Hero of Another Story: The Idw comics show her going on her own saving Equestria adventures while the mane six go on theirs.
Hidden Depths: She comes across mostly as a formal and regal High Queen, and it comes across stronger to her subjects. Now observe her mischievous side.
The High Queen: Most everypony around her treats her like this, but it's implied she'd prefer a more relaxed approach.
Hot Goddess: She is drawn more aesthetically... more clean, shiny, "beautiful", and pretty... compared to the rest of the cast. It's implied that she is (or fits) the ideal for equine beauty in Equestria; for example, the beauty parlor in Ponyville has a picture of a pony with her tall and slender proportions.

Interspecies Adoption: Lauren Faust at one point stated that it was Celestia that adopted and raised Spike (who is a dragon, no less) after he hatched from his egg. If the way he turned out is any indication, Celestia seemed to know what she was doing in raising him.
It's Personal: While we don't learn exactly what he did, it's clear from how she reacts to Discord that she hates him with a passion.
Lady of War: Retains a refined air even when firing a deadly solar beam that comes this close to reducing Chrysalis to ashes.
Light is Good: Is the Big Good and represents the sun.
Lonely at the Top: She suffers a small degree of this, though it may have been cured after her reunion with her sister.
Mama Bear: The Changeling Queen almost learns this the hard way when she reveals her plans to ruin the wedding.
- Auntie Bear: She was extremely mad at Twilight for calling out her niece Princess Cadance (who was really Queen Chrysalis in disguise) during the wedding rehearsal, even though poor Twilight ended up being right about something being wrong in the first place.
Modest Royalty: She is very social and prefers livelier, more personal get-togethers over extravagant soirees. It turns out this is one of the major reasons she invites Twilight and her friends to the Grand Galloping Gala. She hates how dull the event usually is since she effectively spends the whole Gala welcoming guests and doesn't get to enjoy it, and she's hoping the girls will liven things up a bit. They do.
Multicolored Hair: Rainbow pastels.
Ms. Exposition: Many of her appearances in the series boil down to being this, mainly describing how creatures and artifacts work.
My Greatest Failure:
- It tore her up when she had to exile her sister to the moon, and the plot of the pilot is to remedy this.
- She also feels guilty about not realizing the seal keeping Discord imprisoned has been broken until it's too late.
- She also is upset when she is defeated by Queen Chrysalis in their beam collision.
No Nonsense Nemesis: Her reaction to Discord's escape. She calls the Mane Cast in and outright tells them to use the Elements Of Harmony to take Discord out ASAP. Unfortunately, Discord is more Genre Savvy, but she earns points for trying. Justified as she was there the last time he was free and knows just how dangerous he really is.
The Obi-Wan: She is the age-old mentor who helps Twilight get started on her trip to Ponyville.
One-Hour Work Week: Averted. In all her appearances, she is shown to be at work, giving work, going to work, or being called immediately to work either directly to the government or trying to keep the realm happy and safe.
OOC Is Serious Business:
- Her behavior in the Season 2 premiere is at odds with her normally relaxed manner in the first season, which serves to underline how serious a threat Discord is. To compare, when dealing with Nightmare Moon, she lets Twilight stumble upon the answer. Here, she calls the Mane Six and straight up tells them to take Discord out.
- Also, the Season 2 premiere is the first time when Celestia is shown to be vulnerable and fallible: She is unable to wield the power of the Elements of Harmony, Discord outsmarts her by stealing the Elements out from under her nose, and rather than resort to an alternate plan, Celestia's only reaction is to jaw-drop and stand there with an Oh Crap expression on her face. Yes; Discord is that much of a menace.
- "Lesson Zero" also showed us the first time Celestia gets visibly upset at Twilight's irresponsible use of magic; the Oh Crap look on Twilight and her friends was worth a thousand words.
- In "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1", she's obviously pissed at Twilight after the latter confronts the fake Cadance at the wedding rehearsal. In Part 2, she goes straight-up Lady of War on the revealed Queen Chrysalis... right before getting worfed.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Her "hobo" outfit in the Sparkle Word comic is just a rangy hood and sunglasses, never mind that fact she's twice the size of anypony.
Parental Substitute: Word of God mentions that Spike was raised by Celestia.
Peek-A-Bangs: Her mane often covers one of her eyes.
Playing with Fire:
- Considering she's a sun goddess, this goes without saying.
- This is taken to literal measures when she's with her pet phoenix Philomena.
The Power of the Sun: Is the goddess of the sun and her magic normally involves light.
The Prankster: Mostly according to Fanon, but "A Bird in the Hoof" and "The Best Night Ever" shows her engaging in lighthearted mischief at her subjects' expense.
Princesses Prefer Pink:
- Downplayed in-show, as she has pink in her Multicolored Hair and has pink outlines but is mostly white. However, most toys based off her were Enforced into becoming this, as toy retailers would only sell it in pink despite the fact that she's shown as white on the box (and in the commercials).
- Played straight in the episode "Magical Mystery Cure", where she wears a pink Pimped Out Dress during Twilight Sparkle's coronation ceremony.
- Pink Means Feminine: Her mane and tail qualify her for this.
Reasonable Authority Figure: She's willing to listen to her subjects and is generally understanding and forgiving... unless you're irredeemably evil. In that case you're sealed away for a thousand years.
Renowned Selective Mentor: Is this for Twilight Sparkle. She hasn't chosen a personal pupils for ages.
Requisite Royal Regalia: Not really necessary, but she is always adorned with a golden tiara, a golden necklace, and golden shoes.
Rose-Maned Mare:
- The show's Storybook Opening depicts her as this.
- Following the Storybook Opening's example, fan-works tend to depict her as being pink-haired when she was younger and gaining her Multicolored Hair as she matured; if the fan-designed licensed shirts Old School Cutie Mark and Celestia Last Stand are to be believed, filly Celestia had Multicolored Hair at some point before she and Luna found their cutie marks and had pink hair at some point after she found her cutie mark.
Royals Who Actually Do Something:
- She maintains life in Equestria.
- She put down Discord, Nightmare Moon, and King Sombra.
- Apparently, she also seems to be the source (or a catalyst) of many of the magical properties in Equestria.
Silk Hiding Steel: Celestia generally desires a less formal relationship with her subjects and has a rather puckish sense of humor, but she clearly is a mare of great elegance and refinement. At the same time, when the chips are down, the steel comes out, as when she orders the Mane Six to do away with Discord.
- She goes horn-to-horn with Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings in order to keep her kingdom safe.
- While a downplayed example, Celestia has twice shown to be able to easily undo the damage caused by Twilight's magic in "Lesson Zero" and "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", showing that her own magic power remains superior to that of most (if not all) unicorns.
- We find out later that she and Luna condemned King Sombra to a Fate Worse Than Death for his horrific crimes against his subjects.
Socialite: Averted. She prefers more casual reunions and is so bored by the biggest and most important social event in the country that she is ecstatic when the core group trashes her ball room because it livens things up. She prefers the casual reunion in the small donut shop with her student and friends.
So Proud of You: Her reaction when Twilight finishes Star Swirl the Bearded's last spell, and becomes a princess.
Standard Royal Court: Or more standard-ish than the rest of the incarnations. So far, there have been nobles, guards, a few royal positions, and the Mayor as a model of government.
Stern Teacher:
- In "Lesson Zero", she gives Twilight an extremely stern look and an equally stern order for Twilight to "meet her in the library". Absolutely justifiable considering the chaos Twilight caused and the fact that Celestia had to fix it.
- She does it again in "A Canterlot Wedding" after Twilight calls out Cadance for being "evil". Unfortunately, this time Twilight was right, sort of: Cadance isn't evil, her imposter is. Regardless, it still counts that Twilight was right.
Stop Worshipping Me: iIn many of her appearances, she's shown to be quite uncomfortable with all the genuflection and adoration (or fear) her subjects display. This could also explain why she takes so much interest in Twilight's lessons and letters and why she enjoys the meetings between her and the core cast so much.
Sweet Tooth: "Ponyville Confidential" and "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" both imply she has a weakness for pastries.
Team Mom: To Twilight and her friends; being their goddess, they're in awe of her.
Teleporters and Transporters: "Lesson Zero" revealed that Celestia can teleport at will... possibly over a far greater distance than Twilight can. She implicitly came directly from her castle, a distance Twilight is shown to match only under extreme emergency, and that only once so far. This can explain why she literally appeared out from nowhere during Season 1 to deliver her advice to Twilight and friends.

This Means War!: The actions of Discord upon his return angered her. Until that moment, nobody knew she could get angry. Her explanation of what happened over 1000 years ago and what we see Discord do in the present imply she has very good reason to hate him.
Trickster Mentor: She occasionally manipulates Twilight Sparkle in order to teach her a valuable lesson or encourage her to do something exceptional. Usually. See below for when it's for personal reasons.
Unmoving Plaid: The colors of her mane wave... just not in the same way that the mane itself moves. It might have something to do with her being a Physical God.
Welcome Back Traitor: In the pilot episode, she allows her sister, Luna, to be her co-ruler again. Also, in the wedding episode, she allows Twilight to be her student again after the latter accuses Princess Cadance as evil when in reality, it was the Changeling Queen in disguise. In return, Twilight still wants Celestia to be her mentor, even when Celestia herself was the one who walked out on Twilight first, along with her other friends and her brother.
Woman in White: Emphasizing how Light is Good.
The Mare Wearing the Princess-ly Mask:
- A far more benign example, but Celestia shows a great desire to be in a closer and more personal relationship with her subjects instead of the adoration, noble politeness, praise, and nervousness she causes wherever she goes, and she holds extremely dear her informal relationship with her star student.
- We also see signs of this in her disdain for the Grand Galloping Gala, though given that she seems to spend much of it greeting the numerous guests, it's not hard to imagine why she says that it's always awful.
The Worf Effect: The Changeling Queen defeats her at the Royal Wedding, since the Changeling Queen had absorbed enough power from Shining Armor's love at that point. Though it should be noted, even with her massive power boost, Queen Chrysalis was visibly straining against Celestia's power and was as shocked as everyone else when she actually won, so Celestia didn't lose that easily.
- Worf Had The Flu: Her defeat is justified by Queen Chrysalis having gorged herself on an ungodly amount of love from Shining Armor and possibly Princess Cadance.
- Possibly due to Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality: Celestia can control the sun. Imagine how horrific that would look in a fight, and you see why she will never be shown to do it in the show.
You Kill It, You Bought It: The Season 2 premiere indicates she and Luna became Equestria's rulers after deposing the land's Evil Overlord, Discord, and turning him to stone.

Princess Luna

"You no longer have reason to fear us. Screams of delight is what your princess desires... not screams of terror."

The ensemble darkhorse, literally!

Debut: "Friendship Is Magic - Part 2" ("Elements of Harmony") (separate from Nightmare Moon)

Voiced by: Tabitha St Germain

Princess Celestia's younger sister. She co-rules Equestria alongside her older sister. According to the Creation Myth, she used to govern nighttime, but grew jealous of her sister and wound up sealed away for a thousand years as the Mare in the Moon. After being defeated by the reformed Elements of Harmony, she Heel Face Turns and becomes Princess Luna again, resuming her nighttime duties.

For her "corrupted" form, Nightmare Moon, see here.

0% Approval Rating: Princess Luna's bitterness turned her into Nightmare Moon because she thought that absolutely nobody liked her. Ironically, her actions as Nightmare Moon made sure that nobody liked her for real. The meteor shower scene in "Owl's Well and Ends Well" is a testament that ponies do enjoy her night and thus her fears were groundless. Interestingly, she agrees her Nightmare Moon self should be feared and hated.
- Word Of God states that Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon was because of evil magic and may not have been entirely her fault or choice. It doesn't help that she has a bit of a temper.
- Quite a few ponies are still scared of her in the present day due to a thousand years of rumors that built up around Nightmare Moon's "Nightmare Night". She's working on her reputation. By "Sleepless in Ponyville", she'd succeeded as Scootaloo isn't scared of her and is instead happy to see her.
Adaptation Name Change: The single-volume storybook adaptation of the pilot episodes refers to her as Selena; Word Of God says "Her name was Selena for a short time, but there were legal problems with it. Guess the book writer didn't get the info."
Adorkable:
- When she starts moving out of her old princess mode, Luna is macabre yet cute and a bit nerdy, much like a character escaped from a Tim Burton movie. Even in her old princess mode she be endearingly awkward, if loud.
- Looking closely at the wedding reception near the end of "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2" shows her rocking out to the music in the background.
And I Must Scream: Stuck in her Superpowered Evil Side for a thousand years. There was nothing she could do to change back when she was banished to the moon.
Art Evolution: Her old design◊ in her brief de-corrupted appearance at the end of the second episode had her with a shorter, light-blue mane that looked normal, as well as matching hooves. Her current design as of "Luna Eclipsed", seen above, has an ethereal mane and tail like her big sister with the texture of Nightmare Moon's smoke, as well as a slightly darker coat and silver-colored hooves.
- Lauren Faust says that it represents her regaining her powers that she lost when she was defeated as Nightmare Moon, explaining that it took her time for her "good" powers... represented by her magic mane... to come back. She also admits that she just made that up on the spot and doesn't know how the new show runners would explain it. They don't, so it's as good an explanation as any.
- It might be accidental or not, but this explanation is supported in the show. Several◊ shots◊ of her show that a few locks of the mane retain the Season 1 light-blue coloration.
The Atoner: She tries to make amends for her stint as Nightmare Moon so her pony subjects won't be so frightened of her. Her first attempt was on Nightmare Night which is probably not the best night to prove you're not scary, but still she's trying.
Badass: As mentioned above, she took down Discord and King Sombra alongside Celestia years ago. It's also her job to patrol her subjects' dreams and deal with their nightmares. The one time we've seen her do this, she vaporizes the monster in it.
Big Entrance:
- How she enters in "Luna Eclipsed". Descending from the high sky in a chariot drawn by drago-pegasi then leaping to the ground as her Black Cloak disperses into a flock of bats. It also qualifies as a Not What It Looks Like moment for her because it made everyone think Nightmare Moon was back.
- Also makes one in "Sleepless in Ponyville", though this one is much more heroic; appear in a flash of light and zap a monster.
Broken Pedestal: Helped save Equestria from Discord and then maintain Harmony all over the land, only to later turn into a villain herself. After her Heel Face Turn, she's trying to become a Rebuilt Pedestal after being this trope for a thousand years in her people's eyes.
Characterization Marches On: Her brief initial appearance isn't much to go on, but definitely was not the Large Ham she showed up as later in Luna Eclipse
- Her appearance in A Canterlot Wedding parts 1 and 2 shows that she's gotten much more used to speaking in what passes for a 'normal' tone of voice among modern ponies, and she uses more modern lexicon as well.
- Her speech in "Sleepless in Ponyville" is even better. Notably, it's become much like Celestia's, carrying all the weight and refinement you'd expect from a Princess, but no longer an intimidating shout-down to listen to. It's the best indicator that she's learning how to fit in, as when she first tried to speak in a "normal" voice, the result sounded frightened and unsure.
Color-Coded Wizardry: Her magic aura is blue.
Cool Big Sis: If Celestia could be considered the mother of all Equestrian ponies, Luna is developing to be their Big Sister (as we saw at the end of Luna Eclipsed, and helping Scootaloo in Sleepless in Ponyville).
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite riding a spiked chariot pulled by bat winged guards into town, Luna just wishes for the acceptance of her subjects once again.
- Dark Is Evil: Out-of-universe, this trope is a key reason why she didn't show up again in Season 1. Strangely, Luna is even darker (color-wise) when she returns, so they apparently got over it.

Defeat Means Friendship: After the Mane Six defeat her with The Power of Friendship, she's accepted back into Equestrian royalty by both her sister and subjects. The subjects are still somewhat scared of her though.
Desperately Craves Affection: Since she spent a thousand years as Equestria's Boogey Mare she works hard to earn her subjects' love and admiration once again, with little initial success.
Dramatic Thunder: A signature feature of hers. The weather reflects her mood, or more precisely, her anger and excitement.
Dream Walker: One of Luna's duties as the Princess of the Night is to check on her subjects' dreams and guard them from nightmares, as well as help them overcome them.
Establishing Character Moment: All thoughts of Luna being a mere Woobie are shattered when she makes her big entrance in Luna Eclipsed as PRINCESS OF THE NIIIIIGHT!!! Immediately following that grand entrance, Luna is utterly perplexed by everypony's frightened reactions and storms off in a huff.
Eye Color Change: Luna has normal pony eyes, but when she's in her Nightmare Moon persona (or possessed, it's never entirely clear), she has reptile eyes with slit pupils.
Face Heel Turn: Princess Luna turning into Nightmare Moon in the Creation Myth.
- Heel Face Turn: Once the Mane Six defeat Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony she turns back into Luna.
Fallen Heroine: Helped save Equestria from Discord before becoming so bitter (and corrupted by something) that she turned into Nightmare Moon and took over the villain role herself. Thankfully, she's back on the good side now.
Fandom Nod: Her solo trading card included a very clever one: her character's bio is divided into 5 paragraphs. If you put together the first letters of the 5 paragraphs, they spell "W-O-O-N-A" which is the affectionate nickname the fandom gave to her.
Fish Out of Temporal Water: Part of the reason Luna is received so poorly on Nightmare Night; while it seems to everypony else that she's still acting evil, in reality she's presenting herself with outdated royal etiquette. This involves using No Indoor Voice, Royal "We" and Antiquated Linguistics. Given the occasion, it's not altogether clear how much of that behavior is the "real" Luna and how much just her hamming it up on purpose in order to fit in; either way, it helps drive home the point just how long she's been trapped in the moon.
Flowery Elizabethan English: As seen in "Luna Eclipsed", underscoring her Fish Out of Temporal Water status. All her other appearances both before (in the series pilot) and since have her speaking modern English.
Friend To All Children: She seems to like kids a lot and wants to make sure they have a fun Nightmare Night but she has trouble doing so initially.
- She immediately saves Pip when he falls in the water tank.
- She also helps Scootaloo with her nightmares (by vaporizing the monster in it, no less), and telling the filly the real reason she was having them.
- This makes sense when you realize her duties as Princess of the Night implies she guards the dreams of her subjects: who would need the most protection from nightmares?
Full Name Basis: She always calls Twilight Sparkle by her full name.
- In the case of single-named, full-grown ponies, Luna goes around that limitation by calling them "Fair Applejack" and "Dear Fluttershy." She doesn't do it with Scootaloo so maybe she's broken the habit..
Gale Force Sound/Make Me Wanna Shout: Her magically-enhanced yelling (or even just talking) borders on this.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Brings these out occasionally when she's being theatrical or feeling frustrated.
Good Counterpart: Her normal form is remarkably similar to a non-evil version of Nightmare Moon; Large Ham, Dramatic Thunder, and all.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: As Nightmare Moon, her wings were somewhat solid and batlike. As Luna, her wings have a softer feathery outline like Celestia's.
Goth: Her chariot, the look of her guards, and cloak that disappears in the form of bats certainly indicate a dark aesthetic sense.
Heavy Sleeper: Apparently slept straight through Queen Chrysalis' and the changelings' attempted takeover of Canterlot, explosions and all. How she managed that, we have no idea. On the other hand, she passed through the force field when relieving Celestia's watch duty so it's possible that she doesn't reside within Canterlot. This would explain how she doesn't know anything about modern customs in "Luna Eclipsed".
Hero with an F in Good: Luna really wants to be liked and redeem her image in the eyes of the common-folk, but she comes off as incredibly intimidating without trying. One thousand years of scary stories about her being a Chaotic Evil harbinger of doom, and then of being a cannibal predator that must be fooled with disguises and placated with tribute, is hard to live down. She's gotten better by "Sleepless in Ponyville" because Scootaloo is happy to see her.
Historical Villain Upgrade: In actual events, she was turned into Nightmare Moon due to some outside influence and simply wanted to bring everlasting night. In legends, she turned evil out of resentment and ate ponies.
Hot Goddess: Though not as much as her older sister she still counts as this, especially for a great deal of the fandom.
I Just Want to Have Friends: She really wants to be accepted and to see ponies having fun in her night, but she comes off as intimidating.
Jekyll and Hyde: Luna/Nightmare Moon.
Large Ham: During Luna Eclipsed this can be attributed as part of the royal Canterlot tradition of speaking. She spent the episode learning to take the ham down a notch so she didn't scare people.
- This is taken further by the fact that she's far more assertive and liberal in her use of Royal-Winged-Unicorn-godpower than her sister. Thunder and lightning punctuate her sentences and she flies into the air when making her dramatic proclamations.
Leitmotif: Nightmare Moon's theme accompanies Luna's return in "Luna Eclipsed". A brief variation of it also plays when she relieves Celestia in "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1".
Lunacy: Goddess of the moon.
Modest Royalty: Much like her sister, she would rather have ponies just call her Luna and view her as just another pony.
Nice Girl: Deep inside, she is very nice, but she comes off as intimidating at first.
Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Luna tries to be friendly; unfortunately, she has somewhat macabre tastes, is gothic and sinister in presence, and perpetually speaks in a booming echo of a voice. Nearly every pony is reduced to a trembling wreck before her.
- She's gotten better by "Sleepless in Ponyville", but still has some scary traits. Ironically, her job is to help ponies with their nightmares.
No Indoor Voice: PRINCESS LUNA TALKS LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME, because her (outdated) royal protocol says so. It takes her a while to realize she's scaring everypony to death before settling for a (much) softer, mellow voice, but she quickly REVERTS TO TALKING LIKE THIS WHEN SHE GETS UPSET, EXCITED, OR VERY HAPPY.
No Social Skills: Luna's obsession with (outdated) royal protocol and brutal lack of tact are extreme. This is mostly Played for Laughs, as she doesn't even know the meaning of the word "fun." Justified by the fact that the word "fun" is only about 300 years old in real life, meaning that the word could literally have not existed before she was banished.
- She seems to have improved during the Royal Canterlot Wedding two-parter and then got much better by Season 3. Although there's still the occasionally lapse into hamminess when speaking as the PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!
Not What It Looks Like: Everything she does in "Luna Eclipsed". She appears to be touting her old hammy evil routine, but she's really just out of touch with modern etiquette. Her Big Entrance is of particular note.
OC Stand In: Between appearances, Luna was the show's most common pony in fanfiction, and mention of her hiding in her sister's shadow and cuddling with an abacus was treated as de facto interpretation. On the other hoof, a few of those fics got a few details right.
Perky Goth: Luna is now devoid of malice, but her personal tastes still look like something escaped from a horror movie, starting with her macabre royal chariot, her demonic-looking royal guards, and the idea that animating a group of giant, hairy spiders would be "fun" for everyone else.
- Ironically, it was realizing people liked being scared on Nightmare Night that let her win over her subjects.
Perpetual Frowner: Slowly became this to Twilight Sparkle in "The Crystal Empire", though she might have been worried about Twilight or was more serious about the situation.
Power Echoes: Whenever she's using her loud voice.
Power Incontinence: She exhibits a touch of this when she gets worked up, given the Dramatic Thunder and gathering stormclouds that kick in every so often.
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: In her "grown" form from "Luna Eclipsed", she has a significantly longer mane and tail than immediately after she was rescued from being Nightmare Moon. Power also makes your hair ethereal, it seems.
- Lauren Faust has suggested after the events of "Elements of Harmony", Luna's magical powers were completely exhausted. It was only after she was able to rest and recuperate that her magical mane returned.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "A warm welcome to you, Scootaloo."
Royal "We": Her manner of speech, because it's dictated by protocol. See No Indoor Voice.
- She Seems to have overcome it by "Canterlot Wedding" and "Sleepless in Ponyville" and she still sounds quite regal.
The Sacred Darkness: While Nightmare Moon is an example of the "corrupted" type of darkness, Luna is the "pure" type because she co-ruled alongside her sister. The Creation Myth shows the two of them in a yin-yang design.
Shock and Awe / Lightning Can Do Anything: De-corrupted, her magical beams take the form of lightning.
Silent Snarker: Her facial expressions during the introduction of Season 3's "The Crystal Empire".

Superpowered Evil Side: Nightmare Moon, of course.
Took a Level in Badass: When she's not fresh off the Rainbow of Light and traumatized after a thousand years of exile, she's a capable leader of mares. She makes her entrance in "Sleepless in Ponyville" by vaporizing the monster in Scootaloo's nightmare.
Tsundere: Those mood swings paint her as such when only the audience (and then Twilight) get to see how hurt she really feels.
The Unfavorite: How she thought the kingdom viewed her compared to her sister.
Used To Be A Sweet Filly: She was very nice until she was transformed into Nightmare Moon.
Vague Age: Even though she's an immortal moon goddess and only slightly younger than her adult sister, her true form's biological age is ambiguous. It's made even more confusing as of "Luna Eclipsed", where Luna's colors are slightly different and her mane flows like Celestia's, though Word Of God has given an (on-the-spot) explanation as to how it could have happened.
- Word Of God says that "Luna is not yet full grown."
Villain Decay: In-Universe. Nightmare Moon is a Mad God who tried twice to plunge the world into eternal night and presumably almost succeeded both times. "Luna Eclipsed" showed that the public perception of Nightmare Moon is that she's a cannibal who young ponies can placate with their candy.
Voice of the Legion: Her "royal voice".
Voluntary Shapeshifting: She can assume her Nightmare Moon form at will, though whether it's a true transformation or just an illusion remains to be seen. Interestingly, despite these magical special effects, she still has to wear fake pointy teeth to replicate the appearance shown in Zecora's illusions.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After powering down and being forgiven by her sister, the younger princess is embraced by Ponyville at large and taken back to the castle to live with Celestia. She doesn't show up again until the Season 2 episode "Luna Eclipsed", and after that only gets short appearances in "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1" and "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2", which finally explain why she rarely shows up (she's active at night and asleep during the day).
- She gets more screen time in Season 3; appearing in both parts of the season premiere and with a pivotal role in "Sleepless in Ponyville".
Woman in Black: Dark fur to contrast her sister. Again, Dark Is Not Evil.
The Mare Wearing the Princess-ly Mask: Of a different variety then her sis. She seems to think behaving in a grandiose and intimidating demeanor is how royalty is supposed to act, when she's a pretty sensitive and empathic pony.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Luna in a nutshell. Fortunately, she gets reasonably better near the end of her debut episode.
Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Averted. She uses "thou", "thee", and "thy" only when addressing single ponies and "you" and "your" when speaking to multiple ponies. Also, when speaking to single ponies, she attaches the "-est" suffix only to verbs where the listener is the subject.
- She slips up at least once in the episode of "Luna Eclipsed" when she awkwardly changes subjects mid-sentence.
You Were Trying Too Hard: She ends up coming off as far more forceful and intimidating than she realizes partly due to this. Once Twilight helps calm her down and make everyone more relaxed around Luna, things go much better.

Princess Cadance

"This day was going to be perfect. The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small."

The greatest foalsitter in all the history of foalsitters!

Debut: "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1"

Voiced by: Britt McKillip

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, better known as Princess Cadance, is a pretty pearl pink princess pony and niece of Princess Celestia (and probably Luna's). She had been acquainted with Twilight Sparkle, as she was her foal-sitter when she was really small. It was also back then that she met the colt who would eventually become her husband, Shining Armor. Her main talent appears to be bringing love to others. However, she had not been acting as herself in the days coming up to her wedding...

Accidental Pun: Her full name is Italian, and since "alicorn" became the official term for the kind of pony she is, she could be called an Italicorn.
All There in the Manual:
- Her being Celestia's niece has only been mentioned in episode synopses and other promotional materials. However, as it turns out they're not really related.
- The European version of her Wave 5 collector card◊ reveals that she "loves tiaras." It should be noted she shows no such interest in the show.
- Her and Shining Armor's trading cards list Love as their Element of Harmony (which isn't part of the cards' Official Fan Submitted Content).
- The Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell book reveals her backstory; she was originally a pegasus orphan who saved an Earth Pony village from a villain wielding a magical necklace. After doing this, she meets Princess Celestia who adopts Cadance as her niece and makes her an alicorn.
Badass Princess: She vanquishes Chrysalis' brainwashed bridesmaids, dispels Chrysalis' brainwashing spell on Shining Armor, and together with him, banishes the evil Queen and all of her changeling swarms far away from Equestria with a powerful magic blast.
Barrier Warrior: She copies Shining Armor from the wedding by projecting a protective field of love around the Crystal Empire to keep King Sombra at bay. Unlike Shining, it takes constant effort for her to maintain the spell, resulting in sleep-deprivation.
Battle Couple: With Magic Knight and captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor. The first time we see the real Cadance with him as a couple, they kick Queen Chrysalis' flank.
Berserk Button: Never, ever, threaten her husband Shining Armor or anyone else she cares about, or else...
Beware the Nice Ones: Queen Chrysalis learned this the hard way and so did King Sombra.
Bridezilla: Everyone assumed this is why she was so unpleasant before the wedding. However, it was Queen Chrysalis disguised as Cadance. The real Cadance averts this.
Childhood Marriage Promise: Her lyrics in the 'This Day Aria' suggests that she wanted to marry Shining Armor since she was a filly.
Color-Coded Wizardry: Her magic aura is a bright cyan, the same color as the heart in her cutie mark. This is an early indicator that the first Cadance is an imposter is that her magical aura is green.
Cool Big Sis: Was this to Twilight when she was a filly and Cadance was her foalsitter. Twilight says she is 'greatest foal sitter in the history of foalsitters'. She returns to being this when they're reunited, doubly so once she becomes Twilight's sister-in-law.
Curtains Match the Window: Her eyes match part of her Multicolored Hair (the main part, judging by the color of its outline).
Damsel in Distress: Queen Chrysalis imprisons her under Canterlot until she's rescued by Twilight Sparkle. However, once freed, she shows she can handle herself pretty damn well.
- Badass Damsel: The ever kind and gentle princess rescues her Shinning Armor.
Dark Secret: Subverted in that the real Cadance doesn't have one, her impostor does.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Returns the favor to Queen Chrysalis for doing this to her aunt when she and Shining Armor's love is used to power a combined spell that defeats Chrysalis.
Everything's Better with Princesses: She is the third princess introduced and the third Alicorn. How she came into this role isn't explained in the episode but in the comics.
Foil: To Chrysalis; it's most apparent in their duet, "This Day Aria" which uses contrasting lyrics.
Hair Decorations: She tied her mane and tail back with blue ribbons as a teenager, and her mane is decorated and styled elaborately with crystals into a ceremonial headdress for the Equestrian Games.
Happily Married: To Shining Armor. Her lyrics in "This Day Aria" includes lines such as 'loving and cherishing each day'. In every apperance after her wedding, she's doing just that.
Heart Beat Down / The Power of Love: This is her form of magic; renewing love in others, creating love powered force fields, breaking mind control with hearts etc. She even has a heart-shaped jewel as her cutie mark.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Compared to commanding the sun and moon and the Physical Goddess level powers her aunts show, control over love doesn't seem that impressive but it is. The Power of Friendship may be the most powerful magic in Equestria but underestimating its close cousin is still a very bad idea.
- She uses the power of love to break Chrystalis' mind control, thus a level of Anti-Magic.
- Then she weaponizes The Power of Love alongside her husband to give a Heart Beat Down to Queen Chrystalis.
- She uses it to keep King Sombra out of the Crystal Empire. Her barrier cut his horn clean off.
Hot Goddess: For the same reason as her aunts mentioned above.
Humble Heroine: She and Shining Armor save Canterlot and proceed with their wedding as planned.
Lady and Knight: The Bright Lady to Shining Armor's White Knight; she's a kind princess whose love extends to an entire empire of strangers.
Love Goddess: While never stated, this seems to fit her and is her special talent. In a flashback, she uses her magic to quiet an arguing couple and help them remember their love for each other. Then she and Shining Armor's magic repelled the changelings.
Luke, I Am Your Father: Meta-example; she was showcased months before her relationship to Celestia was revealed, but it's only mentioned in an episode synopsis and not the show itself.
Magical Nanny: Cadance and Shining Armor first met when Cadance would foal-sit for Twilight Sparkle.
Martial Pacifist: Being a Love Goddess means she clearly doesn't like to fight, but she can hold her own in a fight if she has to.
Meaningful Name: "Amore" is Italian for "Love".
Modest Royalty: Doesn't even think being a member of the royal family is a big deal.
Multicolored Hair
My Nayme Is: Cadance, not cadence (see Spell My Name with an S). The same applies to Cadince Davis, whom she was named after (see Tuckerization).
Only Known By Her Nickname/Some Call Me Tim: Her full name is Mi Amore Cadenza, but she's known as Cadance; it must be easier to remember. Twilight, who has known her from childhood, never knew her real name until Shining Armor told her in "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1".
Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The pink to Shining Armor's blue.
Physical Goddess: She's powerful enough to put up a protective field of love around the the city of the Crystal Empire and strong enough to keep King Sombra at bay even when heavily fatigued from sleep deprivation.
Princesses Prefer Pink: She's one positively pink pony princess. Her toys are just as pink as Pinklestia, if not moreso.
- Pink Means Feminine: In contrast to her cosmic aunts, her magic revolves around love and marries in her introduction.
Reasonable Authority Figure: To Twilight Sparkle when she was a foal, she was the greatest foalsitter ever.
Remember the New Guy: She's a Cool Big Sis to someone with a Friendless Background so her existence is a surprise.
Rose-Maned Mare: Warm and compassionate subtype.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: When she was a teenager, she babysat Twilight before Twilight became Princess Celestia's student.
- She and Shining Armor saved Canterlot from Queen Chrysalis with a love-powered magic spell!
- She puts a field of love around the Crystal Empire to keep out King Sombra.
Silk Hiding Steel: Just like her aunts, she's normally extremely kind and even babysat when she was younger, but she is more than willing to use force to protect those in her care. Chrysalis and King Sombra both found this out the hard way.
Single Mare Seeks Good Stallion: Her marriage to Shining Armor certainly counts; if Twilight's adoration of him is any indication, he's always been a terrific guy.
Sorceress Queen: Just like Celestia and Luna, Specifically she's the Sorceress princess of the Crystal Empire.
Spell My Name with an S: "Cadance" is the officially trademarked spelling and is used by the vast majority of official materials (including a few that specifically switched from "Cadence" to "Cadance"), but the What Could Have Been spelling "Cadence" still sees a small amount of official use, most prominently by the in-show credits of the episodes "The Crystal Empire - Part 1" and "The Crystal Empire - Part 2" (unlike the credits of the later episode "Games Ponies Play", in which it's "Cadance").
Spoiled Sweet: Implied. Even though Cadance is a princess, she still foal-sat Twilight Sparkle and thoroughly enjoyed it. Twilight has very fond memories of her, which is why her cold, superior attitude upon meeting her again immediately sets off some alarm bells in her head. She's right — that Cadance is not the real one, but a Changeling imposter.
- This is made more evident in "Games Ponies Play", where upon receiving the news that her personal mane stylist is out sick and can't come in to style Cadance's mane into the ceremonial headdress, Cadance's first thought is hoping that she's better soon.
Stealth Pun: Celestia looks after the day, Luna looks after the night, and Cadance looked after Twilight (Sparkle).
Took a Level in Badass:
- Her teaming up with Shining Armor to defeat Queen Chrysalis definitely qualifies because she was introduced as a Damsel in Distress.
- In the Crystal Empire, she finally shows how powerful she really is, by keeping King Sombra at bay with The Power of Love, even when severely weakened from lack of sleep.
True Blue Femininity: Her cutie mark includes a blue heart-shaped jewel. She also wore blue ribbons on her mane and tail as a teenager, and she has a light blue magic glow.
Tuckerization: Named after Cadince, the◊ daughter◊ of Stephen Davis (executive producer of the show and president of Hasbro Studios).
Undying Loyalty: To Shining Armor (husband) and Twilight Sparkle (surrogate little sister).
Unkempt Beauty: Despite being locked and dirtied in a cave for Celestia-doesn't-know how long, she's still quite the stunner when she is found.
Unmoving Plaid: When she performs a Power of Love-fueled spell with Shining Armor, her mane begins to flow just like Celestia's for a short time, only to settle back into a solid form when it's all done. That sort of flowing mane might be an indication of power among Winged Unicorns.
White Mage: Cadance removed Chrysalis' brainwashing from Shining Armor, restored his vitality, and then boosted the power of his shield spell, all of which are hallmarks of the White Mage archetype.
Winged Unicorn: Flashbacks demonstrate that she's about the same age as Shining Armor is. She was originally going to be a regular pony (most likely an unwinged unicorn), but it was changed somewhere along the line.
- The reason for the change appears to have been for the benefit of fans who buy into the toyline: Cadance's wings and body are the same shape as Luna's. This allowed them to reuse her molds to make a more accurate Luna (the original had simply been a standard unicorn head on a standard pegasus body).
- In Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, she is revealed to have originally been a normal pegasus, who earned her alicorn status much the same way as Twilight.
Wing Pull: Justified. Being in an underground cave, her wings aren't much use and are kept tucked in close to her sides while escape attempts are made but when she and Twilight aren't going to make a long jump, they finally come out in full force.
- Even more awesomely used in "The Crystal Empire - Part 2"; Cadance is both mentally and physically exhausted from maintaining the shield around the Crystal Empire to where Shining Armor has to support her to stand up. King Sombra is racing towards the center castle, and Spike, entrusted to the Crystal Heart by Twilight, has just fallen off from a high altitude. Shining Armor tosses his wife towards Spike, snagging the dragon and the Crystal Heart from Sombra's reach, and then glides herself safely down to activate the Heart in time.
Woman in White: Justified, as it is her wedding day in her debut episode.
You Don't Look Like You: Her cutie mark looks a bit different in most merchandise than it does in the show.