Princess Cadance
Princess Cadance in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2
Kind	Pegasus unicorn
Sex	Female
Occupation	Co-leader of the Crystal Empire Foal-sitter of Twilight Sparkle (in Twilight's flashback)

More info
Eyes	Grayish purple
Mane	Dark violet with moderate rose and pale gold streaks
Coat	Pale, light grayish cerise
Magic aura	Very light cornflower blue
Relatives	Princess Celestia (Aunt) Shining Armor (Husband) Twilight Sparkle (Sister-in-law) Princess Luna (Aunt)
Cutie mark Teal crystal heart within gold lace
Voice	Britt McKillip[1]

Princess Cadance 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^[2] and official episode summaries, state that she is the niece of Princess Celestia. A blurb on one of the toy sets featuring Cadance says that she and Shining Armor "lead the Crystal Empire together!"

Contents 1 Development 1.1 Name 2 Depiction in the series 2.1 Wedding invitation 2.2 Twilight's flashback 2.3 Impostor Cadance 2.4 The real Cadance 2.5 Love conquers all 2.6 Future appearances 3 Other depictions 3.1 Toys 3.2 Trading cards 4 Gallery 5 Notes 6 References 7 See also 8 Comments

Development

Lauren Faust was involved in the inception of the story in which a Princess named Cadance 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.^[3]

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 the hoofs when it's walking, trotting or galloping.

The Princess was named after Cadince, the daughter of a Hasbro Studios executive.^[4] The original spelling "Cadence" was used by Hasbro in early publicity material and some products, but the later variation "Cadance" is now used exclusively and prominently in publicity material and products.^{[note 1]} Prior to the episodes' airing, a New York Times ad gave Cadance's full title as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,^[2] mi amore cadenza being Italian for my love cadence.

Depiction in the series

Wedding invitation

Cadance 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 Cadance, 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 Cadance.

Twilight's flashback

Cadance, 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 Cadance

Immediately after the flashback, Cadance joins Twilight and Shining Armor. Twilight enthusiastically greets her with the song-and-dance from the flashback, but Cadance coldly rebuffs her. Throughout the episode, Cadance 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 Cadance interrupts before they have a chance to talk and takes Shining Armor into another room. Twilight, peeking through the door, sees Cadance casting a spell on Shining Armor, and concludes that she's "downright evil" then runs off. Twilight confronts Cadance at the wedding rehearsal, in front of Princess Celestia and the rest of the attendants, which makes Cadance run away from the rehearsal in distress. Shining Armor explains that the spell Cadance used on him is meant to ease his headaches, and excuses Cadance'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. Cadance returns and trods on a toy-like image of Twilight from the song sequence; Cadance 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 Cadance

The story resumes with A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2. Underground, in "the caves beneath Canterlot", the imposter Cadance 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 Cadance who almost immediately recognizes Twilight and tells her she's been imprisoned by the impostor Cadance. She does the song-and-dance from Twilight's flashback, proving her identity, and the two ponies hug warmly.

Cadance and her impostor share a song sequence, This Day Aria, with Cadance 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 Cadance 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 Cadance interrupt the wedding, and a brief flashback shows Cadance throwing a small bouquet to distract the bridesmaids. Cadance 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. Cadance charges the queen, but she backs of 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 Cadance's hooves are glued to the floor.

Love conquers all

Twilight takes the opportunity, when the queen is preoccupied, to free Cadance 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. Cadance tells Shining Armor that her love will give him strength, and the two's magic spreads outward and repels all the changelings and their queen off into the horizon.

Twilight and her friends help Cadance put together her wedding, with arrangements meeting her enthusiastic approval, and Shining Armor jokes that Cadance 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 Cadance 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, Cadance and Shining Armor enter their chariot and Cadance tosses a bouquet, which Rarity violently catches. The happy couple then ride off into the night, presumably going on their honeymoon.

Future appearances

File:Adventures In The Crystal Empire Region 1 DVD Cover.jpg

Princess Cadance has been confirmed to return in the Season 3 episode The Crystal Empire^[5], as well as being mentioned in the song, "Ballad of the Crystal Ponies" when Hasbro publicly released an episode clip featuring the song during the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International.

Other depictions

Most merchandise depicting Princess Cadance uses a slightly different cutie mark design and mane style.

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 Playful 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.

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 listed as Shining Armor's pet.

Gallery

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Princess Cadance image gallery

Notes

1. ↑ A discussion regarding the spelling on the wiki concluded that the new spelling, Cadance, is probably not a mistake as it now appears in all new promotional material and toys.

References

1. ↑ Daniel Ingram confirming the voice actress for Princess Cadance. Retrieved on 2012 April 21.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Hillary Busis (2012-04-13). Saddle up: You're invited to a 'My Little Pony' royal wedding. PopWatch. Retrieved on 2012 April 14. Archived locally
3. ↑ Lauren Faust's comment on her deviantArt page (2012-02-12). Retrieved on 2012 February 13.
4. ↑ Sethisto (2012-04-15). Inside the My Little Pony Royal Wedding Event. Equestria Daily. Retrieved on 2012 April 16.
5. ↑ Crystal Empire DVD Information Released! (2012-09-10). Retrieved on 2012 September 14.

See also

• This Day Aria
• Queen Chrysalis, who impersonated Princess Cadance

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