The way Cadance framed it makes me wonder how many times throughout history somepony ascended themselves by reaching the ultimate expression of their special talent… and there was no Alicorn around to catch them, so as far as anyone around them knew, they just exploded at the moment of their greatest triumph and left a cutie mark shaped stain on the ground when they died.

@TexasUberAlles Oh yeah! I remember that book. Thanks for the clear up.

@MK Pony Mod  
In one of the first chapter books, Cadance was an orphaned Pegasus being raised in a hidden Earth Pony village when she pulled off a power move big enough to tip her over into the Celestial Realm, where Celestia found her and brought her back to Equestria as an Alicorn, then adopted her “as her niece”. They’re not directly related in canon, although there are fanfics and headcanons that they (and Twilight) are distant relatives.

@Derpyfan Probably. But still, even if she is, she still would’ve had a birth mother.

@MK Pony Mod  
I recall hearing that she’s an orphan.

Well, it wouldn’t have been Luna, because Cadance was a teenager when Twilight was a filly, and Luna was still in the moon when Twilight was a filly.
 
So who’s Cadance’s mom?

@justanotherponi  
Ah, I don’t read that book.

@Background Pony #CD97
 
I believe that was a Game of Thrones reference.

@Ferrotter  
What?

repeating whatever one else is saying, Cadence is adopted, and was a Pegasus before she pretty much hugged a bad guy into oblivion.

It didn’t occur to anyone that maybe she’s Princess in the North because her last name is Snow? There’s no way Celestia could acknowledge Cadance as her daughter.

cadence was a pegasus before, she beated a witch and became an alicorn. I think she is also a kind-of-familiar of princess amore

Or she’s her niece as employed by the definition used by royal families. Blood was not always a factor to royal families.

It seems fairly obvious to me that Celestia adopted the newly-ascended Cadance as her long-lost “niece” to claim her as a relative for royalty purposes and thereby avoid the question of where a spankin’ new Alicorn came from. If they are related it’s so far back as to be functionally irrelevant to somepony like Cadance, who’s demonstrably more mortal than The Sisters.

Princess Cadance and Prince Blueblood are likely descendants, far removed from Princess Celestia.

not necessarily, Cadance is Celestia’s “adoptive” niece which doesn’t make any sense at all (unless there’s something i’m missing which I think is highly unlikely). I see Cadance more as Celestia’s adoptive daughter simply because the only sibling Celly has (so far till the series ends) is Luna which became Nighmare Moon before then & was sent to the moon & Cady only met Celly when she was a little filly. another thing is that a niece & nephew are basically your sibling’s children so why was Cadance written as Celestia’s adoptive niece & not adoptive daughter?
 
the more I think about it which I have been for months now, the more I think the writer’s didn’t think this through but that’s just me, I don’t know about everyone else

No she’s adopted.

@President of the Ohio  
She was a pegasus.

If I remember correctly, Cadence was once a unicorn but, after using a powerful love spell, earned Celestia’s attention, and became an alicorn as well as Celestia’s adopted niece.

Well, she does, it’s Princess Luna. …wait.