Do you ever just get all…. I really want to draw thing A. But thing A would really benefit from thing B drawn alongside it to explain it. But thing B needs thing C drawn before it or it won’t make any sense. And thing C is much more interesting if thing D is explained. And thing D would really benefit from thing E before it….
 
(And this is the point where I reveal my last Sombra/Crystal Empire headcanon was almost twice as long, before I split it into two parts. Also, be prepared that some things here make zero sense without the context of that one.)
 
See, I wanted to draw Cadance’s adoptive parents. But I also wanted to draw her birth-mother and give a bit of backstory there, as I’ve previously stated that in my nextgen ‘verse, she’s a descendant of Princess Amore. And therefore, I wanted to draw how and why Cadance came to be adopted in the first place. But to do that, I needed to explain a bit of my backstory of the lost Crystal Empire and the prophecy of its return. And that would really benefit me explaining Sombra’s rule over said Empire. And that, in turn, I think would be better if I explained how and why he seized power. Which in turn needs an explanation of my headcanon of the previous rulers over the Empire. Oh, and what do you know, a simple image turned into me desperately wanting to draw a full on headcanon series on the Empire and Cadance. And so… here we are =P
 

 
Let’s start where we left of, with Tesoro! I mentioned him in the Empire headcanon, but only actually drew him in his dimmed/cloudy state when he was leaving the Empire with Hope and the others. So I wanted to draw him what he looks like when not fleeing for his life. After getting to Equestria, he was officially adopted by the couple he’d been hiding with during Sombra’s reign, who’d also fled when he left. He later met and married a pegasus, and they had several children together. He never really forgot his birthplace, and even wears a gem on his forehead in the traditional style of the Crystal Empire -like the one his mother wore, in honor of her. He is aware that she wasn’t the nicest person, but she was his mom, and death tends to scrub people’s flaws away in our memory. But he has found peace with what happened, and only feels nostalgic and sad when telling the story of the lost Empire to his kids, as opposed to the overwhelming sorrow they’d all felt in the beginning when talking about their homeland.
 
For Hope’s part, after she failed to convince the Princesses to do more regarding Sombra, she left alone for some unknown village in Equestria. Tesoro only saw her once after, spotting her across a market… alongside a greyish-purple colt with a black mane. He froze at the sight, and by the time he thought to approach then, he’d lost them in the crowd. He never saw either of them after that.

 
Mi Dolcezza (After unknown generations of living in Equestria, the family started to get the various neo-minotaurus languages mixed up -hence Mi Dolcezza rather than Mia Dolcezza) was one of Tesoro’s descendants. She knew of the prophecy, but hadn’t really thought about it ever since she was first told it -it just wasn’t relevant to her life.
 
Her talent was one of the more uncommon ones, namely parenting. She got it when she was babysitting her cousins as a teen, and since then had planned to have a big family when she grew up. She was mainly wanting to adopt kids, but didn’t mind having bio ones if that’s what her possible partner wanted. Though, she wasn’t all that fussy when it came to having a partner -mostly, she’d just want another adult pony to help support and parent the future children.
 
So the eventual marriage she entered into suited her just fine -with a noble who currently was a lieutenant in the royal guard, named Loyal March. He had quite a bit of money from his family name, and wanted an heir, but didn’t much care about marriage and children aside from that. So she’d be able to be a full time mom and have basically as many kids as she wanted, without having to worry about money. And he’d get an heir and didn’t actually have to do much of the raising himself. They both saw it as a win-win, and set out to actually make said heir.
 
Mi Dolcezza was home alone when the baby was born a few weeks early, and the actual delivery went quickly enough that she didn’t have time to get herself some help. So completely alone, she gave birth and… the filly was a pink pegasus. And the prophecy came rushing back to her.
 
It was absolute nonsense, it had to be. There was no way her infant daughter hailed the return of the Tyrant King. But… she knew the Princess believed it. And she knew her husband would report this to her; his first priority has been and always will be to the crown. That had been perfectly fine for her -until now, when it could put their daughter in danger. Who knew what the Princess would do in her attempt to prepare her daughter?
 
And also… what if it wasn’t nonsense? Her baby, forced into battle againt a dragon and the Tyrant.
 
So, what’s a panicked new mother to do? In her case, run apparently.
 
She left a note to her husband, basically saying that she’d given birth to an earth pony filly. But, while she had been hoping to hide it, it was obvious the filly was not his. So Dolcezza had taken the foal who she only referred to as her little Amore and left. She’d be staying with her friend in Saddle Arabia for a little while, so she’d be perfectly safe. She left all her belongings to him, including her wedding ring, and a signed copy of a divorce agreement. She would take a new name and get a new start; please don’t look for her.
 
Meanwhile, she sent a letter via a really, extremely, expensive vial of dragonflame to said friend in Saddle Arabia. They used to be good friends in university, and they owed her a favour. Which she now cashed, asking them to cover for her -if her husband or anyone else asked, she’d been there with an earth pony filly. But if they came in person, she’d left just a little while ago, to an unknown location.
 
She then grabbed her foal and ran in the opposite direction.

 
Chanterelle ran the local inn, where he served food, alcohol and almost never actually rented out any rooms. They didn’t get many visitors, and those who did usually knew someone in the village they’d just overnight with.
 
Flicker Wick was a candle maker by passion, and helped run the inn by the necessity of money. They didn’t actually mind -it was enjoyable to work with their husband -but they secretly lamented how good the villagers were at preserving candles. And not seeing the absolute necessity of scented candles. As is, the inn was smothered in the scent of cinnamon and vanilla, and the tables almost had more candles than space.
 
They had actually been wanting and waiting to adopt a child for quite a while when Chanterelle found the mare and foal in the forest; not many foals actually get put up for adoption in the area, as there’s almost always some family in a neighbouring village to take any orphans in. So they were starting to think that they might have to use the money they saved for the adoption and foal care on a surrogate and save up even more. But then this situation happened, and the authorities decided to ask them if they wanted to take the foal in. They agreed, and the adoption officially went through one year after -to give potential blood relatives time to find out what had happened -but they fostered her from the second week she’d spent in the village.
 
She spent most of her time screaming, eating, crying, sleeping and wailing. Flick and Chanterelle didn’t much blame her considering what she’d gone through in her short life. But they did joke to each other that, considering those lungs, her talent had to have something to do with singing. So they named her Cadenza. Later shortened to Cadance upon her insistence.
 
So, that’s where Cadance grew up; in a village where everyone knew everyone, and with her Papa and Baba being extremely loving and supportive parents. She didn’t remember her mother, but her parents took her to see her grave whenever she asked, and made sure to tell her what little they knew of her.