MLP Theory/Headcanon: Cadence’s Mother
Now when it came to MLP FIM royalty, easily the most underrated princess out of the four is Cadence. In show canon, she marries Shining Armor, rules over the Crystal Empire, and had Flurry Heart but that’s pretty much it. She gets more development in the supplement material such as the books and the comics. All the backstory that we had on Cadence was that according to the books she was found as a baby pegasus by an Earth pony couple, but she had a high tolerance for love and she defeated a sorceress with the power of love and Celestia found her and was transformed into an alicorn as Twilight was. She was then taken on as her niece and went to Celestia’s school. So she’s been labeled as an orphan until the comic Siege of the Crystal Empire, where it’s revealed that she could’ve been possibly related to Princess Amore, the first princess of the Crystal Empire.
Now it’s been stated that Cadence is “distantly related” to Amore, but going back through the IDW comics, books, and other material gives me an idea that Cadence could possibly be Amore’s long lost daughter, rather than a distant descendant.
So in the book Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, Cadence finally gets an origin story and honestly gives us more information on Cadence than her entire runtime on the show.
Cadence was originally found as a baby pegasus in a forest
She was taken in by an Earth Pony couple in a nearby village and raised Cadence
As she grew up, her love and compassion had a positive affect on the villagers who were filled with warmth and an urge to protect her
A young Cadence defeated an enchantress named Prismia who was jealous of other ponies and took the love of the other villagers for herself
Cadence defeated Prismia with her compassion and Prismia vowed to change her ways and Cadence was magically teleported to the same “ascension” realm that Twilight was in with Celestia in the Season 3 finale
Celestia found Cadence and immediately took her in as her adopted niece and raised her in Canterlot
She found her special talent in spreading love which presumably got her cutie mark of her crystal heart
She was also a student of Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns and in her final exam, she made two Canterlot feuding families become friends
Yeah, 10 times more information on Cadence than the show, but the main points is that she was a baby pegasus found in a forest before being raised by Earth Ponies in the village, all the way up to her success against Prismia and her accession to being an alicorn and taken in by Celestia as her niece and moved to Canterlot.
Now Celestia took in Cadence as her own niece, and continued to raise her in Canterlot. Cadence studied under Celestia, went to her school and had her final exam as well as went to Canterlot Academy being the high school. Now Celestia met Cadence sometime during Luna’s banishment and continued to raise her and even officiated her wedding. The interesting word to note is adopted niece. For Celestia to regard Cadence as her niece or even adopted niece is that Luna would’ve had to have been Cadence’s mother or something happened to Luna and Celestia took Cadence in since she’s Luna’s daughter but neither of those are the case since Luna didn’t even meet Cadence until after her 1,000 year banishment so that’s off the table but not necessarily Cadence being an adopted niece of Celestia.
Now the next step in Cadence’s journey is that after her and Shining Armor get married, they end up moving to the Crystal Empire, a kingdom that was cursed to be banished from existence over 1,000 years due to King Sombra. The Crystal Empire is where Cadence is most connected to: her cutie mark is the Crystal Heart, her magic is able to keep out Sombra like the Crystal Heart, one of the residence refers to her as the Crystal Princess despite being gone for 1,000 years. Show wise nothing gets elaborated on Cadence’s connections aside from the premiere episode, but there are some interesting things to take away from the premiere:
Cadence with her own magic surrounds the entire empire with a magical barrier that also serves as an illusion barrier that kept Sombra out of the empire
She’s stated as the new ruler of the Crystal Empire by her title of “Crystal Princess” to the Crystal Ponies
Cadence’s barrier is so powerful that Sombra got his horn cut off as he tried to get in the empire and he had to wait until Cadence was drained of her magic in order to get inside of the barrier
Cadence was able connect with the Crystal Heart with her cutie mark glowing as she visually sensed the heart
Now the interesting thing is that we get more information about Cadence in the Siege of the Crystal Empire comic by different characters. Siege of the Crystal Empire is about how Sombra returns from being destroyed following the events of The Crystal Empire and takes revenge on The Crystal Empire and is also tied in with Sombra’s origin story from the Fiendship comics. For Cadence, some information is learned about her:
She officially addresses herself as an orphan
Radiant Hope (a crystal unicorn who managed to escape the banishment of the Crystal Empire that happened over 1,000 years ago) noted that Cadence looked like Princess Amore who was the former ruler of the Crystal Empire before Sombra got to her.
The true antagonist of the comic, Rabia who is the leader Umbrum or Shadow ponies and Sombra’s mother notes that Cadence has the same magic as Princess Amore who was responsible for turning the Crystal Heart into a weapon and was the one to imprison the Umbrum ponies over 1,000 years ago and Amore’s magic is harmful to the Umbrum ponies (like how Cadence was able to harm Sombra with her magic barrier)
Now I bring those up because both Rabia and Radiant regard Cadence as being similar to Amore in terms of looks and power and they’re both over 1,000 years old and have seen and battled Amore in the past.
3. Cadence and Amore Parallels
Cadence and Amore share similar parallels to each other outside of having pink/purple manes and being rulers of the Crystal Empire.
Both got their princess statuses at a young age as well as their cutie marks
Cadence got her status as princess and her cutie mark by defeating Prismia with compassion and love where she became an alicorn and got her cutie mark
Amore got her title as Princess for founding the Crystal Empire and using her love magic to fuel the Crystal Heart and she also got her cutie mark because of it
Both attempted to protect the Crystal Empire with their natural magic when the Crystal Heart was missing
Both are able to restore the Crystal Heart with their magic
Both have the same love magic
Both have love magic strong enough that is able to hold off the Umbrum ponies and harm them
Both ended up being physically affected by Sombra
Sombra ended up turning Amore to dark crystal and then shattered her body around parts of Equestria
Due to Sombra’s actions in the past, Cadence had to use her magic to protect the Crystal Empire and it physically weakened her
4. Princess Amore Backstory
To break away from Cadence for a minute, Princess Amore herself has an interesting backstory for a supplemental character. Her backstory mainly comes from The Journal of the Two Sisters but she’s also expanded upon in the comics, specifically Fiendship is Magic #1 and MLP Issues #34-37 Siege of The Crystal Empire. So from all of that here is an official timeline of events based around Princess Amore and The Crystal Empire itself.
A group of Crystal ponies began mining in the Crystalline Mountains up in Northern Equestria, where they came across cave of gems which ended up being the hoard of a dormant dragon. Since the dragon was dormant, the Crystal ponies saw no issue in taking the gems for themselves, one of which was the Crystal Heart. (The Journal of the Two Sisters pg. 96)
A young unicorn named Amore was a pony filled with love in heart and felt a connection with the Crystal Heart, so she used her magic to send her positive emotions into the Crystal Heart which spread across the land which became known as The Crystal Empire. (The Journal of the Two Sisters pg. 93)
Amore got her cutie mark which was a blue crystalline heart/snowflake and became the first ruler of The Crystal Empire as it’s princess
Centuries later, she meets a blank flanked Celestia and Luna who had recently been crowned and as Princesses of Equestria. The three princesses had good relations with each other and Princess Amore respected that Celestia and Luna were the princesses of Equestria who protected the lands overall, while she specifically ruled over The Crystal Empire. The sisters could call on Amore if they needed help and vice versa.
Amore enlisted aid from Celestia and Luna years later, when the Crystal Heart was taken by the former dormant dragon which weakened the Crystal Empire. Amore tried to use her own magic to stabilize the Crystal Empire, but her unicorn magic was completely depleted.
Celestia and Luna managed to get the Crystal Heart back from the dragon and she was replenished with her magic. As thanks, she announced the first Crystal Fair in honor of the occasion and everyone celebrated.
During the years, Amore protected the Crystal Empire from ongoing threats and trained her crystal ponies to be prepared for battle against threats so she created many spells and enchantments in the Crystal Caverns in the event the empire needed to be protected but those spells were protected by an enchantment by her own design
Years later, Amore and the Crystal Ponies faced an unknown threat known as the Umbrum ponies, shadow ponies that feed off hatred and fear. These creatures made their way to the Empire before and managed to get to the Crystal Ponies but Amore used the magic of the Crystal Heart to seal them away into a dimensional prison where they couldn’t escape and were said prison was banished to the frozen north outside the empire where the Umbrum couldn’t escape.
Unknown to her however, the Umbrum devised a plan by having one of their own infiltrate The Crystal Empire under the disguise of a pony, who ended up being a young Sombra who her guards found outside the empire passed out
Amore had her guards take Sombra to the Crystal Empire Orphanage and she kept a watch on Sombra due to knowing the truth about what he was
Amore encountered Sombra and his friend Radiant Hope looking at the Crystal Heart and told them that the Crystal Heart has properties that allow one to see their destiny and she believed that despite what the Heart showed them, they had the power to change their destinies.
Years later one night, she encounters an older Sombra trying to steal the Crystal Heart and tells him that it’s not too late to change and how he doesn’t have to be like one of the Umbrum, revealing that she knew what Sombra actually was but hid the truth from him and made him suffer during the Crystal Fair due to the light and love destroying him.
For this, Amore was turned into dark crystal and shattered across Equestria due to Sombra’s anger and that was the last of Princess Amore
5. The Crystalling (not the episode but the actual event)
I briefly want to talk about The Crystalling but not the episode itself but more about the event in The Crystal Empire. From what Spike describes in the episode is that when a baby is born in the Crystal Empire, there’s a Crystalling ceremony held where a crystaller is chosen who picks out the purest shard of crystal and the light and love of the ceremony spreads throughout the empire. Now the one line that stands out to me is when Spike says this:
"And this is going to be a royal Crystalling, so pretty much the whole empire will show up. "- Spike, The Crystalling.
"That hasn't happened in millennia!"- Spike, The Crystalling
So what Spike is saying is that a royal Crystalling in The Crystal Empire hasn’t happened in a millennia AKA 1,000 years. This one fact has a few interesting notes about it:
According to Spike, a Royal Crystalling is when the royal family has a baby and they go through the Crystalling ceremony.
A Royal Crystalling has only happened once in 1,000 years
6. My Timeline/Speculation
So, I’m going to give a possible timeline and speculate how Cadence could simply be Amore’s “long lost” daughter and how she survived/escaped the banishment of The Crystal Empire. This would take place a bit before Sombra comes into play but at the same type during his time of growing up alongside Radiant Hope
A few centuries after the initial defeat of the Umbrum, Princess Amore ruled The Crystal Empire in peace as the Princess of Love, but she was lonely, she was always compassionate and was loved by her subjects and used her love to protect her subjects and strengthen the Crystal Empire but she never knew about personal love and relationships. She was close with the Royal Siblings of Equestria to the point where they were her “honorary sisters” but she never experienced love for herself.
Over , she ended up meeting a visiting pegasus stallion by the name of Alto Harmony who came from a cloud city. He was a painter, who liked to take his time and enjoy the scenery and what he paints. Amore took a liking to him and enjoyed each other’s company, and eventually fell in love with each other.
Due to not wanting to start a panic with her subjects due to being a princess, she had a private wedding and Celestia and Luna attended as Amore’s mare of honor and the two went on their honeymoon
Months later while her husband was visiting, Amore found out that she was having a foal, but she wanted to keep it hidden from the public
To not raise suspicion, she uses an duplication spell, to create an duplicate of her current appearance to keep up appearances
Before she created her duplicate she was walking around the Crystal Castle and noticed a young Sombra and young Radiant Hope looking at the Crystal Heart and she encouraged them about destiny and choice
About a year later, Amore and her husband had a pegasus filly by the name of Mi Amore Cadenza, but Amore shortened it to Cadence and she was born on the day of the Crystal Fair (the same fair where Sombra started to get sick)
3 years later, little Cadence grew into a toddler and Amore and Alto agreed that it was time that the public knew of Amore’s relationship and the first Royal Crystalling
That afternoon the celebration was held and the Crystal Ponies were ecstatic with joy and Alto was crowned Prince consort to Princess Amore and due to The Crystalling and the Fair on the same day the light and love magnified across the empire (the same event which caused Sombra to nearly shatter and Hope saving him and earning her cutie mark)
The following day, Amore received word that Radiant Hope got her cutie mark and her special talent was in healing which was really rare for a form of magic and she sent a letter of recommendation to Celestia and Luna to take her under their wing to become a princess so that her healing magic could be put to good use but she held concern about Sombra and his destiny
Alto had family business to take care of in his hometown so he had to leave, and Amore’s maidens took care of Cadence while Amore had her royal duties to take care of.
That night Amore went out for a nightly stroll and saw a hooded figure trying to steal the Crystal Heart, but she knew it was a teenage Sombra and tried to reason with him about his destiny and bout how she knew about his origins but he was too enraged and activated his horn and before he blasted her, she used her magic to send a beacon to her maidens before she was turned into dark crystal
The maidens saw the signal and while the guards went to apprehend Sombra and Radiant Hope left to find the Royal Siblings, the maidens took Cadence to a magical stasis crystal where little Cadence was put inside along with a blanket with her nickname embroidered on it and once inside the crystal teleported off across Equestria
The Crystal Empire fell that day due to Sombra banishing the kingdom for 1,000 years and Celestia and Luna could do nothing to stop it
Celestia and Luna decided not to hide the loss of The Crystal Empire from their subjects
Meanwhile, Cadence’s crystal landed in a forest and turned invisible and remained there for over 1,000 years
Over 1,000 years later after Sombra and Nightmare were banished an earth pony village was formed by the White Tail Woods Forest, and an earth pony couple was in the forest and they stumbled upon the stasis crystal which revealed Cadence inside and the two immediately took her in to their village and raised her as their own
Cadence was raised from a toddler to a pre-teen and was loved by the villagers due to her compassion and love
Cadence defeated Prismia, though her compassion and was brought to the accession place and met with Princess Celestia for the first time
Celestia noticed Cadence’s cutie mark being a crystallized heart and her compassion for love had turned her into an alicorn and Celestia decided to personally raise Cadence as her adopted niece and had her live in Canterlot with her
Cadence was then Celestia’s pupil at the School of Unicorns as well as attending Canterlot Academy High School when she was in her teenage years
Cadence fell in love with Shining Armor and met a young Twilight Sparkle when she fillysat for her for the first time during high school
Cadence graduated high school and she helped out around Canterlot to help ponies find love in her young adult years
She got engaged to Shining Armor and the rest was history
So that’s my timeline on how Cadence was Amore’s daughter and escaped Sombra’s banishment of The Crystal Empire.
