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Characters / Friendship Is Magic: The Princesses

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Main Index
The Main Cast: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders
Supporting Cast: The Princesses (Princess Celestia, Princess Luna), Mane Family Members, the School of Friendship, Ponyville, Other Locations, Animal Companions
Antagonists: Major Villains (Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow), Dangerous Creatures, Jerks and Bullies, Redeemed Antagonists (Discord)
World of Equestria: Races, Historical Figures, The 2017 Movie, Expanded Universe, Toyline Exclusive, Miscellaneous
Minor Characters: One-Shots, Other Characters, Background Ponies (Common Background Ponies, Special Background Ponies, Other Background Ponies)
Equestria Girls: Heroines (Sunset Shimmer), Villains, Supporting Cast

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    In General 
  • Badass Family: They're both royalty and members of an extremely rare and powerful race. They're also all related in some way:
  • Big Fancy Castle: Celestia and Luna formally lived in a castle that was destroyed by Nightmare Moon. Celestia then lives in the Canterlot Castle, along with Luna after her return. At the end of the series, Twilight moves into that castle. Cadance and Flurry Heart live in the Crystal Empire Castle. Twilight gets her own castle in the season four finale.
  • Hufflepuff House: Despite the Princesses role in leading Equestria; there is very little stock even put into them as Alicorns compared to the other Three Tribes of Ponies who have their own established cultures. Even the brief mention of the Alicorns that Celestia and Luna once lived with before coming to Equestria is never elaborated upon.
  • Large and in Charge: A side effect of them being alicorns is that they’re taller than the average pony. Twilight gains a few inches after becoming one and becomes the height of Celestia in the finale and Flurry Heart is larger than other babies, especially in her wings.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Celestia's name derives from "celestial". This means "relating to the sky" which references her job of raising the sun.
    • Luna's name means "moon" in multiple languages, and is the scientific name of the moon when it's necessary to distinguish between it and other moons (similar to the sun being called Sol).
    • Cadance's full name, in English, roughly translates to "My Love Cadance". This references how she can spread love wherever she goes.
    • Twilight Sparkle has loads of meaning behind her name:
      • Her name relates to stars, which is associated with magic. This also represents her title as Princess of Friendship, because, well, friendship is magic!
      • In the series premiere, she brought peace between the princesses of the day and night... what is one of the phases between day and night called? Twilight.
    • Flurry Heart was named because she caused a flurry after breaking the Crystal Heart.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: The fact that they’re princesses doesn’t stop them from fighting whatever danger comes their way. Even Flurry Heart is implied to be this, as she did something as a grown-up that was important enough to warrant a stained glass window to be added.
  • Universally Beloved Leader: Their subjects are happy with Celestia and Cadance’s rule, were pleased with Luna’s return, and were delighted to welcome Twilight and Flurry Heart as new princesses.
  • Winged Unicorn: They're alicorns, ponies who combine in themselves all three pony tribes and, as a result, have both a unicorn horn and a pair of pegasus wings.

    Shared Tropes - Celestia and Luna 
  • The Ageless: They're over a thousand years old each and don't seem to have grown noticeably older in that time. Even when they retire, they don't seem to be concerned about old age catching up with them anytime soon.
  • God-Emperor: They are immortal rulers of the story's main setting and raise the sun and moon every day and night. That said, they're not worshipped outside of phrases like "Thank Celestia."
  • Lady of War: Not in the present, since Equestria is in an era of peace, but there are implications that they used to be a lot more warlike, and are still willing to fight for their kingdom. They fought both Discord and Sombra personally, and in the Bad Future where Sombra returns, Celestia fights on the front lines with her soldiers. This is more prominent in the comics, where they are several times shown donning armor and taking to the battlefield against monsters and hostile powers.
  • Mysterious Past: Being as old as they are, there are of course a lot of questions regarding Celestia and Luna's lives. Very little is known about their early reign, or the thousand years Celestia ruled alone, and nothing is known about their origin. The show especially likes playing coy about the question of whether the sisters were born alicorns, or ascended like Cadance and Twilight. Journal of the Royal Sisters and A New Generation leans towards them being naturalborn alicorns, but both's canonicity is questionnable (and the flashback in A New Generation that shows them as alicorn children also comes from an Unreliable Expositor). Luna claims that Equestria has never seen a naturalborn alicorn before Flurry Heart and that such an event is beyond their knowledge, but that could be a case of Exact Words since they were almost certainly born before Equestria was founded, and if they are naturalborn, are the Last of Their Kind, so wouldn't have much knowledge of alicorn births. Ultimately, the show leaves this question a Riddle for the Ages.
  • Night and Day Duo: Celestia rules during the day and controls the movement of the sun, represented by both her cutiemark and her coat being bright white. Luna rules during the night and controls the movement of the moon and stars, represented by her cutiemark, her dark blue coat, and her mane that looks like a starry sky.
  • Siblings Share the Throne: Prior to Luna's banishment and after her return, Celestia and Luna are both considered Equestria's rulers and hold equal power, though different responsibilities; Celestia holds court and handles the day-to-day bureaucracy of running a kingdom, while Luna defends the denizens during the night from nightmares and monsters. Ironically, for most of the series, Celestia's throne was much larger and more prominent than Luna's.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Extremely so;
    • Their domains are respectively the day and night, Celestia raising the sun and Luna raising the moon. This is also reflected in their colour schemes, Celestia being white and gold, and Luna blue and black.
    • In terms of responsibilities to the kingdom, Celestia is a more traditional ruler who runs the kingdom through bureaucracy, while Luna takes a more direct approach in protecting their subjects from the terrors of the night.
    • As a result of the above, their relationships with their subjects are also different; Celestia stands as a larger-than-life monarch, motherly but distant. Luna, by contrast, is a lot more close and personal, interacting directly with their subjects in their dreams and acting more like a caring older sister.
    • A subtle detail in the Siege of the Crystal Empire comics also shows how they react to news of the Empire's fall and Amore's (apparent) death. Celestia looks horrified and concerned, while Luna looks angry and ready to fight.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: Luna is the only one who gave into hers, but both have this. Specifically, Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker embody the sisters at their absolute worst and most self-obsessed; Nightmare Moon is consumed by her loneliness and desperate need for attention to the point that she's willing to force the issue, while Daybreaker is consumed by her ego and belief that she is better than everyone else to the point where she causes destruction just because she can.
  • Vague Age: This applies to everyone in the show, but the sisters' immortality and completely unknown past makes it impossible to tell how old they are supposed to be. They were adults and already ruling Equestria a thousand years ago, and had for some time, but for how long is unclear. They did not found Equestria themselves, but took the throne shortly enough after the founding that they knew the founders (or at least one of their contemporaries, Starswirl the Bearded) personally. Of course, how long ago the founding was is another question that remains unanswered.

Character-Specific Pages

    Princess Cadance 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princess_cadance_by_90sigma-d4w3sjo2_8536.png
The greatest foalsitter in all the history of foalsitters!

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

Debut: "A Canterlot Wedding – Part 1"

Voiced by: Britt McKillip; Ayahi Takagaki [Season 2], Kanako Ikegaya [Season 3-onwards] (Japanese), Katarzyna Łaska[Polish]


Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, better known as Princess Cadance, is a pretty pearl pink princess pony and adopted niece of Princess Celestia. She is well acquainted with Twilight Sparkle, whom she used to foal-sit years ago. They ended up becoming sisters-in-law after Cadance married Twilight's brother, Shining Armor. Her main talent is bringing love to others, making her the perfect fit to govern the Crystal Empire, a regal city that spreads her love across Equestria.

Like Twilight Sparkle, she was not born as an alicorn. She was a Pegasus raised by Earth ponies until she reversed a love-stealing spell and was adopted by Celestia as her niece.

For her husband, Prince Shining Armor, see the Mane Family Members page.

  • Accidental Pun: Her full name is (poorly spelled) Italian, and since "alicorn" became the official term for the kind of pony she is, she could be called an Italicorn.
  • Action Girl: She dispels Chrysalis' mind-control on Shining Armor and uses The Power of Love to restore his strength and create a massive explosion of energy that defeats Chrysalis and her entire army in her debut episode. Then she holds off King Sombra for days on end with her love-powered shields through sheer willpower alone and later saves Spike from King Sombra and then uses the Crystal Heart to destroy him. Finally, she helps Twilight defeat the Tatlzwurm with her Projectile Spell magic and protects her from its disease-inducing sneeze with her barriers.
  • Action Mom: She gives birth to her daughter at the beginning of Season 6, and she's still as tough as ever.
  • All Amazons Want Hercules: Cadance, a Love Goddess alicorn and Thrill Seeker, married Shining Armor, a Magic Knight who was Captain of the Royal Guard before their wedding. The two of them perform well as a Battle Couple, defeating Queen Chrysalis and saving Spike from Sombra. Cadance herself is reminded of why she fell for Shining in Best Gift Ever, when after she steps in to save Rarity on the grounds she can fly, Shining proceeds to one-up her by getting himself and Flurry to safety with his own skills, leaving Cadance blushing and giggling over him, with the two even exchanging flirting remarks.
  • All There in the Manual:
  • All-Loving Hero: Zigzagged. She certainly is a highly compassionate pony, easily getting along with just about anyone. However, she's more than willing to stand up for herself with force if she has to, and she doesn't allow herself to be blinded by her compassion. This is most notable in the Loose Canon My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic issue dealing with Sombra, where she shows none of the sympathy for Sombra that even Twilight Sparkle does upon reading the deceased Tyrant's diary.
    • Played with after Sombra's resurrection. While she's unflinching on the subject of Sombra being evil and that trusting in his redemption is a long shot, she is still willing to hear Radiant Heart out and doesn't allow herself to be blinded by anger like Twilight.
  • Babysitter Friendship: She was Twilight's foal-sitter, and described as "the greatest foalsitter in the history of foalsitters." The two eventually become sisters-in-law through Cadance's marriage to Shining Armor.
  • Badass in Distress: Subjected to this in her debut appearance, as well as in "Twilight's Kingdom", "To Where and Back Again", and The Movie. Surprisingly however, she's this trope less often than her more powerful aunts.
  • Badass Pacifist: Surprisingly so, given that she's something of a love goddess. She actually finds running the Crystal Empire boring enough that she considers fighting a huge land wurm to be a nice break from the tedium.
  • 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 Armor, it takes constant effort for her to maintain the spell, resulting in sleep-deprivation. It comes up again in "Three's a Crowd" when she uses a health bubble to keep herself and Twilight from catching Discord's "blue flu". At the end of the episode, it proves strong enough to withstand a Tatzlwurm sneeze, which was so potent that even Discord got sick from it.
  • 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.. During King Sombra's attack in the Season 3 premiere, Shining Armor quite literally lifts up and throws a severely weakened Cadance into the air with incredible force so that she can retrieve the Crystal Heart and use its power to defeat King Sombra.
  • Benevolent Mage Ruler: Just like Celestia and Luna; specifically, she's the Sorceress princess of the Crystal Empire.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Queen Chrysalis learned this the hard way and so did King Sombra.
  • Black Magic: She mentioned off-handedly in Siege of the Crystal Empire that she's been practicing the spell that opens Sombra's personal chambers "a hundred times" though couldn't figure it out until the events of that comic.
  • Bridezilla: Everyone assumed this is why she was so unpleasant before the wedding. However, it was Queen Chrysalis disguised as Cadance and failing to imitate her accurately. The real Cadance averts this.
  • 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 impostor because 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 this role when they're reunited, doubly so once she becomes Twilight's sister-in-law.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Her eyes match part of her 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. She also ends up in this position again when imprisoned by Lord Tirek in the Season 4 finale, Twilight's Kingdom, along with the Royal Sisters. Then in the Season 6 finale, To Where and Back Again, she is kidnapped by Chrysalis again, along with her husband, daughter, the Royal Sisters, and the Mane Six. In The Movie, she is turned to stone by Tempest Shadow, and in "The Beginning of the End", King Sombra captures her and Shining Armor by holding Flurry Heart hostage.
  • 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 her and Shining Armor's love is used to power a combined spell that defeats Chrysalis.
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": Brought up but downplayed in the book Princess Cadance and the Spring Hearts Garden, where Shining Armor calls her "Mi Amore" at one point. Cadance doesn't get angry, but she replies firmly with "You know I don't like to be called that name."
  • Doom Magnet: Poor Cadance. Every time Twilight tried to visit her (or vice versa), something or someone always got in the way. This included her wedding, the return of the Crystal Empire, the arrival of the Equestria Games inspector, the Princess Summit, just plain trying to relax with her sister-in-law, and celebrating the birth of her first child, Flurry Heart. Rarity pretty much sums it up:
    Rarity: The fate of Equestria has hung in the balance during most of your visits with her.
  • Flying Firepower: Like the other princesses.
  • Foil: To Chrysalis; it's most apparent in their duet, "This Day Aria" which uses contrasting lyrics.
  • Gemstone Assault: As "Princess Spike" revealed, she has the ability to conjure up magical crystals.
  • Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her eyes are purple, her hair has a lot of purple in it, and her wings have a pink to purple gradient. This, together with her generally composed and classy bearing, lets her hit the major notes for a pink, blue, and purple female character.
  • Good Is Not Soft: She's literally one of the most loving characters in canon. Doesn't mean she won't kick flank if she feels a need to do so.
  • Happily Married: To Shining Armor. Her lyrics in "This Day Aria" includes lines such as "loving and cherishing him each day". In every appearance after her wedding, she's doing just that.
  • Heart Beat-Down: She delivers one to Chrysalis with Shining Armor's help in "A Canterlot Wedding", using the power of love to vanquish Chrysalis and the changelings from the city in one magical blast.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Compared to commanding the sun and moon and the Physical Goddess level powers Celestia and Luna show, the vast repertoire of spells and magic that Twilight has at her disposal and even Flurry Heart's extremely destructive magical tantrums and outbursts, control over love doesn't seem that impressive but it really 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 Chrysalis' 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 Chrysalis who at that point has absorbed enough love to become even more powerful than Celestia
    • She uses it to keep King Sombra out of the Crystal Empire. Her barrier cut his horn clean off.
  • Heroic Resolve: She is strongly implied to have maintained her shield spell — which requires constant effort — for several days.
  • 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.
  • The Immune: In the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc of the comics, she uses Black Magic once, having practiced it previously but never figured it out until then. Strangely, it doesn't seem to affect her at all, despite it usually causing Twilight (who's much more skilled in all sorts of magic) headaches.
    Radiant Hope: Tell me, Cadance, is your head hurting now?
    Cadance: No. I feel fine.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: "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"). invoked
  • 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.
  • Lonely at the Top: Averted. Although an alicorn, Cadance seems to identify much more closely with normal ponies than she does her fellow rulers: In "Games Ponies Play", she refers to the Mane Six as "my girls", and in Equestria Girls she can be seen waiting for Twilight alongside them, instead of with Luna and Celestia.
  • Lovable Nerd: You wouldn't think so at first glance, but it comes out sometimes when she's around Twilight. The first time she babysat Twilight (according to the comics), she brought a label maker, an abacus, and academy-ruled paper and they spent the entire night making comparative charts and graphs to determine her compatibility with Shining Armor. And in "Three's a Crowd" she seemed just as interested in the Star Swirl the Bearded exhibit as Twilight was.
  • Love at First Sight: In the IDW comics, she fell head-over-heels for Shining Armor the first time she saw him.
  • 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 joined her magic to Shining Armor's and 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.
  • Mama Bear: To her daughter Flurry Heart being in danger when King Sombra returns to reclaim the Crystal Empire in the Season 9 premiere and takes Flurry hostage. Once the Mane Six manage to free both Shining Armor and her, she makes her way back to throne room ready to enact retribution. Honestly, a good thing Sombra did leave by that point or Cadance would've floored him right then and there, powerful magic or no.
  • 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", while "Cadenza" means "Cadence", which is, in turn, the rate and speed at which something is spoken or sung. Her full name translates to "My love Cadence"note .
  • Modest Royalty: She doesn't even think being a member of the royal family is a big deal.
  • My Nayme Is: Cadance, not cadence. The same applies to Cadince Davis, whom she was named after (see Tuckerization).
  • Nice Girl: Very much so. She even takes the news that Discord's faking his illness and interrupted her day with Twilight with a grain of salt.
  • Nice to the Waiter: She is genuinely appreciative of anypony and considers nopony beneath her. In her younger days she was a foalsitter to Twilight and others and apparently enjoyed the job.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: A mild example. In "Three's a Crowd" she notes that ruling the Crystal Empire is actually kinda boring and that she enjoyed traveling to the edge of Equestria and fighting a giant worm because it gave her something fun to do. In the comics, she also mentions having practiced Black Magic in her off-time.
  • Official Couple: With Shining Armor. Their wedding was the focus of Season 2's finale, and the two have since had a daughter together.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Her full name is Mi Amore Cadenza, but she's known as Cadance to everyone. Even Twilight, who has known Cadance since 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.
  • Pink Means Feminine: In contrast to her cosmic aunts, her magic revolves around love, and her introductory episode is about her wedding.
  • Physical Goddess: Within the right circumstances, her The Power of Love magic can become strong enough to create a massive shockwave that can easily defeat Full Power Chrysalis and her entire swarm of changelings. She's also powerful enough to put up a protective field of love around the city of the Crystal Empire and strong enough to keep King Sombra at bay even when heavily fatigued. In addition, her power, combined with her aunts' and Princess Twilight's, was enough to match Tirek when he was powered up by the combined magic of all of Equestria plus Discord.
  • 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.
  • Princesses Prefer Pink: She's one positively pink pony princess. Her toys are just as pink as Pinklestia, if not more so.
  • Projectile Spell: While The Power of Love is her specialty, she also knows straight-up offensive spells. She helps Twilight defeat a giant worm monster with this.
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: She finally appears in the opening during season 8, receiving the letter from Twilight along with the rest of the Royal Family.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: According to Twilight, she was the greatest foalsitter ever. She runs the Crystal Empire with a light hoof too, always looking out for its best interest.
  • Remember the New Guy?: She's a Cool Big Sis to someone with a Friendless Background so her existence is a surprise.
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: Warm and compassionate subtype.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something:
    • When she was a teenager, she foalsat 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.
    • She even takes time out of her duties to the Empire to spend quality time with her sister-in-law, even if that quality time was spent helping Discord...
    • In the Season 6 premiere, with the birth of her new daughter, Flurry Heart, Cadance finds her hands full when the Empire is besieged by the threat of eternal winter along with Flurry Heart not having control over her own Alicorn magic yet, which shatters the Crystal Heart as well, leaving it up to her, her aunts, her husband, and her sister-in-law and her friends, to try and save the Empire. It is thanks to the timely knowledge of one of Celestia's former students that the Crystal Heart is restored and the Empire is saved, giving Cadance the inspiration for Flurry Heart's name.
    • In "The Times They Are A Changeling," when Cadance gets word that a Changeling is in the Crystal Empire, she wants it found and captured as much as her husband due to her past trauma with Chrysalis and her Swarm nearly ruining her wedding, and worried that it was after Flurry Heart as well.
    • 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.
    • She uses Shining Armor's shield spell to cover the entire Crystal Empire (which is larger than Canterlot) from Sombra, and maintains it for several days without sleep, along with an illusion that prevents the Crystal Ponies from realizing that Sombra is still out there.
    • In the Season 8 finale, even with her magic being slowly drained away by Cozy Glow's spell, Cadance makes certain that she is able to keep everypony in the Crystal Empire from panicking because of it while the Royal Sisters focus on things in Canterlot and the Mane Six go to investigate Tartarus to see if Lord Tirek is responsible for what's happening.
    • She's popularly believed to be the roller derby pony Shining Harmer from the Friends Forever comics, thanks to that name and having a similar design. The issue's artist has been deliberately vague about it.
  • Satellite Character: Her personality primarily revolves around her relationships with Twilight, Shining, and Flurry Heart. If the episode doesn't focus on her interacting with one of them, she just sits in the background as the third princess. She's given more development in the comics with an entire issue devoted to her concern about this.
  • Secret Handshake: The "Sunshine" rhyme and its little dance qualify, since the real Cadance uses it to prove her identity to an angry Twilight. (And of course they do it at almost every meeting thereafter.)
    Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake.
    Clap your hooves and do a little shake!
  • Silk Hiding Steel: Just like her aunts, she's normally extremely kind and even foalsat 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. So did the land wurm when it tried to harm Twilight.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Her marriage to Shining Armor certainly counts; if Twilight's adoration of him is any indication, he's always been a terrific guy.
  • 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", whereupon 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).
  • Thrill Seeker: She has shown that whenever she finds herself in an adventure or exciting situation, she not only handles herself well, she actually enjoyed herself afterwards.
    • She initially planned to have a relaxing visit with Twilight in "Three's a Crowd", but after Discord butts in and makes them go on a quest to cure his (fake) sickness she says that his interference didn't ruin her visit at all. According to her, life in the Crystal Empire has gotten a bit boring, so she was glad she got to go on an exciting adventure instead of just experiencing more relaxing.
    • When she comes to Ponyville with Shining Armor and Flurry Heart in "Best Gift Ever" to spend Hearth's Warming with Twilight and her friends, they end up getting attacked by magical pudding and a giant Winterzilla due to a series of events from the Mane Six. She and Shining get to demonstrate themselves as a Battle Couple during this (and get some flirting in), and afterwards while Applejack calls the whole event a "disaster", Cadance just says that "Ponyville always seems to have way more exciting holidays than the Crystal Empire".
  • 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.
    • In "Three's a Crowd", she shows a huge land worm that her offensive spellcasting ability is something to be wary of.
  • 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.
  • Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Being an alicorn.
  • Victory Is Boring: In "Three's a Crowd", she admits to Twilight that she's a little bored with her safe life as the Crystal Princess (she's even fallen out of practice flying even more notable since she was originally a pegasus). It seems she's developed a taste for adventure.
  • 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. She can also create a "Magic Health Bubble" that keeps illness from anypony inside. Also, her offensive abilities are nothing to sneeze at.
  • 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 shapes 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 by redeeming a villain. invoked
  • The Worf Effect: In the Season 6 finale, Cadance is kidnapped by Chrysalis again, this time with her husband, daughter, the Royal Sisters, and the Mane Six, all replaced by Changeling imposters. No one except Sunburst knows how this happened.
  • Wrong Girl First: When we first meet Cadance (outside of flashbacks), the "Cadance" we're introduced to is really Queen Chrysalis in disguise. The real Cadance is introduced trapped in a cave.
  • You Don't Look Like You:
    • Her cutie mark looks a bit different in most merchandise than it does in the show.
    • Some of her toys are dark pink, as opposed to the show, where she is pale pink.

    Princess Flurry Heart 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flurry_heart.png
That's one heck of a wingspan.

Mama!

Debut: "The Crystalling – Part 1"

Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain

The newborn daughter of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, and the niece of Twilight Sparkle. Flurry Heart is the first pony born as an alicorn in Equestria. She debuts in the sixth season opener, "The Crystalling".

  • The Baby of the Bunch: She's the youngest member of the Equestrian royal family.
  • Badass Adorable:
    • She might be a baby who is less than a year old, but she's also the first natural alicorn to be born in Equestria and is just as angry with Chrysalis and ready to fight her along with the rest of her family and the Friendship Council in "To Where and Back Again – Part 2".
    • During "The Beginning of the End - Part 1", she doesn't put up with Sombra during his brief reign over the Crystal Empire at all. Even while he is holding her in his magic or has her chained, muzzled, and imprisoned along with her parents, she bites at him, refuses to kneel to him, and shoots magic at him and his slaves several times.
  • Barrier Warrior: She seems to have inherited her father's powerful protection magic. Flurry instinctively forms a protective magic bubble around herself whenever she is frightened.
  • Brainy Baby: Flurry shows a surprising amount of intelligence likely inherited from her aunt. She's able to understand most of what Twilight says and what others are doing around her, and she mounts a quick and thorough search of the hospital once she realizes she's lost her Whammy.
  • Cheerful Child: Most of the time, she's very cheerful and playful.
  • Child Prodigy: Despite being a newborn foal, she's already more powerful than some adult ponies; she can teleport at will, is a fast enough flyer that she can zip around at near-Rainbow Dash speed levels, is strong enough to carry Pinkie Pie, she launches bolts of magic powerful enough to blast through multiple floors of her parents' castle when she sneezes... in the end, she's so powerful that her parents consent to magically restraining her powers until she grows up enough to be able to try and control them.
  • Color-Coded Wizardry: She's not old enough to properly use magic yet, but when she sneezes in "The Crystalling", she accidentally fires a pink and yellow laser beam from her horn. Later episodes consistently show her with a yellow magic aura.
  • Damsel in Distress:
    • For all her magic potential, Flurry Heart is kidnapped with her parents, the Royal Sisters, and the Mane Six, by Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings. Only Sunburst knows what happened and sends Thorax to get help to save them.
    • In the Season 9 premiere, she's held hostage by King Sombra, and later muzzled.
  • Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Because she is a baby, she can't completely control her own alicorn magic yet. She accidentally destroys the Crystal Heart by crying and almost hurt several foals and hospital staff while looking for her Whammy.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": She was always referred to as "the Baby" or "Shining Armor and Cadance's Baby" for the entire two-part season 6 premiere, even by her parents. She isn't named until the very end of the second-part after Twilight Velvet asks if she will ever be named or if they're just going to keep calling her "the Baby".
  • Evil-Detecting Baby: Inverted in "The Times They Are a Changeling". She smiles and giggles whenever she's in the presence of the reformed changeling Thorax, proving that he really is a good guy.
  • Expy:
  • Flashy Teleportation: Apparently got her aunt's teleportation skills, and like her, there's a light show on entrance and exit.
  • Goo-Goo-Godlike: A baby alicorn with the powers to match, including flight, laser beams, teleportation, and destructive screaming.
  • Head Pet: She's shown to like being perched atop her mother's head in "Road to Friendship".
  • Hero of Another Story: "The Last Problem" shows a stained glass window in the Canterlot throne room, the kind reserved for commemorating great victories achieved by Equestria's heroes, depicting an adult Flurry doing something with the Crystal Heart, implying she went on to have her own adventures after the time of the show.
  • High-Pressure Emotion: When Flurry Heart gets upset about being ignored at the hospital and throws a tantrum, her face turns red with anger.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Something inherited from her father.
  • Lamarck Was Right: Zigzagged; according to the (admittedly Loose Canon) novels, her mother was a pegasus who ascended to alicorndom, whilst Flurry Heart is born an alicorn, so at first glance, this seems played straight. Especially seeing as how her great-aunts Celestia and Luna comment on how they've never seen a baby alicorn before, implying the canonicity of Cadance's "ascended pony" origin. On the other hand, her father also comes from a line talented enough to produce a unicorn who became an alicorn, in the form of her paternal aunt Twilight Sparkle, and he's pretty damn powerful in his own right, so her getting just the right combination of genes to be born an alicorn isn't really that much of a stretch.
  • Like Parent, Like Child: Flurry has inherited Shining Armor's bubble-shield magic, although she can only make them big enough for herself so far.
  • Meaningful Name: She got her name from the snowstorm she inadvertently showered the Empire with. The poor filly is always reminded of that.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Her name wouldn't be misplaced on an absurdly powerful villain who tried to encase the world in ice. Despite this, she really is a sweet little foal.
  • Nice Girl: Already showing signs of this. When she sees the Cake twins fighting over a toy, she tries to get them to make peace. Unfortunately, her solution is to split the toy in half, leaving both of them with a broken toy and angry at her.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: She was born with a horn and wings more appropriately sized for an adult pony, and she has a different design than other infant foals seen on the show, having much larger eyes.
  • Palette Swap: She uses the same model as Applejack's baby self in her birth certificate, with the obvious addition of a horn and wings.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's a baby no more than a few days old, yet her power surges are strong enough to blast through castle walls and shatter the Crystal Heart. She can also drag a full-grown pony while flying, which barely slows her down.
  • Power Incontinence: Baby + god-like power = holes in the castle wall when she sneezes, and a busted Crystal Heart when she throws a tantrum.
  • Power Limiter: At the end of her two-parter introductory episode, Sunburst gives Cadance and Shining Armor a spell to keep her power in check, preventing further random bursts. Given just how powerful she is, it's more than warranted.
  • Projectile Spell: Many of her magical surges manifest as firing these off.
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: She appears in the opening during season 8, receiving the letter from Twilight along with the rest of the Royal Family.
  • Riddle for the Ages: It has never been explained how or why she was born an alicorn, when the usual process of becoming an alicorn involves an ordinary pony doing "some great princess-worthy deed".
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Sweet Celestia, just look at her!
  • Security Blanket: A plush snail that she calls "Whammy". Cadance says it is the most important thing of all when taking care of Flurry Heart and that it calms her down right away. Once Flurry realizes she has lost it after a tantrum, she almost has a panic attack trying to find it.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: She's basically a baby version of Cadance, including the wings, though with her father's eyes, plus she has seemingly inherited her aunt's intellect. Her hair, however, comes from both parents, both of them have at least two colors and she gets one from each.
  • Suddenly Voiced: After a bunch of gurgling in the previous seasons, she says her first word "Mama!" in the Season 9 premiere while in the clutches of a resurrected King Sombra.
  • Super Powerful Genetics: Her mother is an alicorn, her father is a prodigiously powerful unicorn, and her paternal aunt is an even stronger unicorn who was elevated to alicorndom in part because of her proficiency with magic.
  • Super-Scream: As an infant, she's able to let out powerful screams when upset — in fact, her baby wailing is how she destroys the Crystal Heart.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: She has shown to be a Brainy Baby and Pint-Sized Powerhouse, but she has the same limits as a baby who hasn't developed yet. She has trouble physically standing up and winking, both requiring coordination difficult for someone of her age. She doesn't understand that her actions have consequences, like trying to end the Cake twins' fight or playing when her aunt is busy. She also doesn't understand that her Aunt Twilight can be mad at her but still love her.
  • The Unreveal: It is never explained how or why she was born an alicorn. This caused a bit of shock among the main characters when they first see her, and Celestia and Luna say even they don't understand how this could happen. But after this brief moment of confusion everyone completely accepts her and everyone else who learns she is an alicorn don't even question it at all and the question is never brought up again.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: As would be expected of an infant, she does not yet have a full grasp on her immense powers. Her efforts to make a toy bear dance using telekinesis after watching Twilight do so are noticeably less coordinated.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Nearly destroys the Crystal Empire by shattering the Crystal Heart with her crying.
  • Winged Unicorn: The first to have been born as one in Equestrianote . However, neither Celestia or Luna have experienced an Alicorn birth in Equestria until now, making them the only Alicorns by birthright for who knows how many centuries or millennia. It should be noted that her mother is a pegasus by birth and father a unicorn, so theoretically she could be a some sort of crazy hybrid. Still, this is clearly not a normal occurrence.
  • Wrong Context Magic: The first foal in Equestria to be born an alicorn. Even her parents aren't sure how that happened.

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