Princess Cadance

Princess Cadence is a Pegasus unicorn pony who is first featured in the season two finale A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, alongside Shining Armor, her fiancé. She was once Twilight Sparkle's foal-sitter and eventually gains her as a sister-in-law after marrying Shining Armor in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2. Various promotional materials, including a New York Times ad, A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1's Hubworld, iTunes, and Netflix summaries, the back cover of the DVD Royal Pony Wedding, and the home page of Treehouse TV's Royal Wedding Contest site, state that she is the niece of Princess Celestia. A blurb on one of the toy sets featuring Cadence says that she and Shining Armor "lead the Crystal Empire together!"

Production and development
Lauren Faust was involved in the inception of the story in which a Princess named Cadence appears. At that point in development, she was not designed as a Pegasus unicorn, and Faust was surprised to see her as such; the decision was made after she was no longer working on the show. Faust intended Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to be the only Pegasus unicorns.

Name
Cadence is a musical term of Italian origin meaning modulation, inflection rhythm, or the closing sequence of a musical phrase. The term, relative to horses, refers to the animal's natural rhythm made by it's hooves when it's walking, trotting or galloping.

The Princess was named after Cadince, the daughter of executive producer Stephen Davis. The original spelling "Cadence" was used by Hasbro in early publicity material and the credits of the first two episodes of season 3, while the later variation "Cadance" is now used exclusively and prominently in publicity material and all products, one of which used "Cadence" in its unreleased version but used "Cadance" in its released version. Prior to the episodes' airing, a New York Times ad gave Cadance's full title as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, mi amore cadenza being Italian for my love cadence.

Cutie mark
Cadence's cutie mark switches between two different designs throughout A Canterlot Wedding. The cutie mark, a crystal heart, is sometimes depicted with a single mirror-like facet at its center, and sometimes with multiple facets around its center. The Cadence toys use the single-facet version, embedded in a gilded decorated frame. Her cutie mark bears a strong resemblance to the Crystal Heart from The Crystal Empire parts 1 and 2.

Wedding invitation
Cadence is first mentioned by Twilight Sparkle in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 when Twilight reads aloud the wedding invitation sent to her from Princess Celestia. Twilight is invited to "the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and... Twilight's brother", Shining Armor. Twilight immediately resents the situation for not being told about it personally by her brother, and doesn't recognize the name "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza". When Twilight gets to Canterlot and confronts her brother about the wedding, he tells her that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is Cadence, her old foalsitter, and Twilight gleefully calls her "the greatest foalsitter in all the history of foalsitters" then goes on to praise her as "beautiful", "caring", and "kind" in her voiceover of a flashback of her childhood where she is foal-sat by Cadence.

Twilight's flashback
Cadence, as Twilight describes, is caring and kind in the flashback. It kind of shows her as fun-loving. She greets Twilight with a hug, bandages her and wipes her tears when she's hurt, plays with her on a swing-set, tells Twilight she feels lucky to be her foal-sitter, and does a little song-and-dance with her. Twilight's voiceover says Cadance spreads love wherever she goes, while a brief scene shows Cadance casting a spell that quells an argument between two ponies. Twilight mentions in the flashback that Cadance is a princess.

Impostor Cadence
Immediately after the flashback, Cadence joins Twilight and Shining Armor. Twilight enthusiastically greets her with the song-and-dance from the flashback, but Cadence coldly rebuffs her. Throughout the episode, Cadence raises Twilight's suspicions with her "demanding", "totally insincere", and "rude" behavior, as she tells her friends. She tries to broach the subject to Shining Armor, but Cadence interrupts before they have a chance to talk and takes Shining Armor into another room. Twilight, peeking through the door, sees Cadence casting a spell on Shining Armor, and concludes that she's "downright evil" then runs off.

Twilight then confronts Cadence at the wedding rehearsal, in front of Princess Celestia and the rest of the attendants, which makes Cadence run away from the rehearsal in distress. Shining Armor explains that the spell Cadence used on him is meant to ease his headaches, and excuses Cadence's behavior as stress from the wedding preparations. Rebuked, Twilight is left alone to regret her accusation and strained relations with her brother in a short reprise of the song B.B.B.F.F. Cadence returns and trods on a toy-like image of Twilight from the song sequence; Cadence at first looks down compassionately at Twilight, but then her eyes shine green, her face becomes cruel and she encircles Twilight in green flames, which pull her into the ground as the scene fades to black and the episode ends.

The real Cadence
The story resumes with A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2. Underground, in "the caves beneath Canterlot", the imposter Cadence taunts Twilight through apparitions in the caves' crystals. She tells Twilight that the caves are the ideal place to keep those who try to interfere with her plans. Twilight attacks the apparitions with blasts of magical energy from her horn, and eventually breaks open a passage to find a scuffed and scared Cadence who almost immediately recognizes Twilight and tells her she's been imprisoned by the impostor Cadence. She does the song-and-dance from Twilight's flashback, proving her identity, and the two ponies warmly hug.

Cadence and her impostor share a song sequence, This Day Aria, with Cadence and Twilight making their way out of the caves while the impostor prepares for the wedding and begins the wedding ceremony. After the song, Twilight and Cadence are confronted by the three former bridesmaids Lyra, Minuette and Twinkleshine, who block their way out of the caves. The scene cuts to the impostor and Shining Armor almost completing their wedding ceremony, when Twilight and Cadence interrupt the wedding, and a brief flashback shows Cadence throwing a small bouquet to distract the bridesmaids. Cadence declares that the impostor is a changeling, and the impostor reveals herself as queen of the changelings, who is named Queen Chrysalis in the episode's script but not on-screen. Cadence charges the queen, but backs off when the queen threatens to send her back to the caves. Princess Celestia tries to overpower the queen with her magic, but is defeated, surprising everyone, including the Changeling Queen. Celestia sends Twilight and her friends to get the Elements of Harmony, but they are captured by the Changeling Queen's minions and brought back to the wedding hall, where Celestia is imprisoned in a cocoon and Cadence's hooves are glued to the floor.

Love conquers all
Twilight takes the opportunity, when the queen is preoccupied, to free Cadence so she can reunite with Shining Armor, and her magic snaps him out of his trance. Shining Armor tries to perform a spell to repel the changelings, but he doesn't have the strength to repel them. Cadence tells Shining Armor that her love will give him strength, and their magic spreads outward and repels all the changelings and their queen off into the horizon.

Twilight and her friends help Cadence put together her wedding, with arrangements meeting her enthusiastic approval, and Shining Armor jokes that Cadence agreed to marry him after he told her she'd be gaining Twilight as her sister. At the wedding, Celestia proclaims that the power of Cadence and Shining Armor's love is undeniable, and pronounces them "mare and colt". The couple look onto the castle courtyard and wave to the cheering crowds, then kiss.

After a wedding reception montage, Cadence and Shining Armor enter their chariot and Cadence tosses a bouquet, which Rarity violently catches. The happy couple then ride off into the night, presumably going on their honeymoon.

The Crystal Empire
Princess Cadence returns in the two-part episode The Crystal Empire at the beginning of season three. She is mentioned in the song Ballad of the Crystal Ponies. During both episodes Cadence was seen using her magic full of hope and love to shield the Crystal Empire from King Sombra.

When the Crystal Heart is retrieved by Spike, Cadence manages to power it along with the Crystal Ponies, defeating King Sombra.

One Crystal Pony hollers out 'The Crystal Princess!', which may be saying she is the 'princess/leader' of the Crystal Empire.

Toys
Cadance is featured in a number of products, among them:
 * A "Pony Princess Wedding Castle" playset featuring a plastic castle, a Shining Armor playful pony, and a Princess Cadance Playful Pony.
 * A playset with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance Fashion Style ponies, which states the couple "lead the Crystal Empire together".


 * A large talking Princess Cadance toy that says phrases when you press her cutie mark.
 * A Princess Cadance miniature figurine which comes as part of the fifth wave of mystery packs.
 * As part of the Miniature Collection, Princess Cadance is included in a pack with Shining Armor and Twilight, this version is closer to the show model then the mystery pack version and is shown on the right.
 * A 3-pack that comes with normal sized Princess Luna, normal sized Princess Celestia, and Cadance. They are brushable, and come with a few accessories.

Trading cards
Princess Cadance is listed as possessing a seventh Element of Harmony, Love, in the 2012 My Little Pony trading cards. The element is also attributed to Shining Armor; the initial release additionally lists it as his pet.

Gallery

 * Princess Cadence image gallery