A quick drawing of an AU Cadence. We’ve seen an evil Luna, Hasbro is introducing (what appears to be) an evil Celestia in the TCG, so Dan and I started tossing around the idea of an evil Cadence. Using his Elements of Destruction, of course.

This version of Cadence would basically take the place of the over-arcing villain of Dan’s sequel stories- Blight Heart. When the Elements of Destruction were scattered after the final battle with the Elements of Harmony, Hatred found itself in the hooves of Princess Cadence (this is BEFORE her wedding to Shining Armor). Weakened and full of anger towards Dark Star, the amulet bided it’s time, getting close to Cadence and giving her a “person” to talk to about her frustrations and anxieties. When Cadence was captured by Chrysalis and imprisoned underneath the castle, she was wearing the Amulet, who by this time had become a valued confidant to the Princess. Distraught, furious, and full of hatred towards Chrysalis, Cadence unknowingly began feeding the Amulet and making it more powerful.

When it had regained much of its lost strength, the Amulet reached out to Cadence, offering her a way out of her crystal prison and a way to regain what she had lost. Without anyone else to turn to and feeling hopeless, Cadence readily agrees, not fully understanding what she is giving in to. With a hold on her heart, the Amulet begins to take control of Cadence- making her more powerful, as it had promised, but also beginning to change her. Cadence escapes and defeats Chrysalis- whether she kills Chrysalis is up in the air at the moment- but instead of returning to Shining Armor and marrying him, she escapes in the chaos of the thwarted Changeling invasion, fleeing north. She only stops to tell Shining that she is unable to marry him at this time.

Once in the north, she finds that the Crystal Empire has returned. Fueled with hatred for the ruler- King Sombra- and the way he treats the ponies of the Crystal Empire, she uses the power of the Amulet and destroys Sombra. Freed from his tyranny, the Crystal Ponies pledge allegiance to Princess Cadence and she assumes the throne of the Crystal Kingdom. Around the same time, she changes her name to Mi Amour Brisé- loosely translated it means “my broken heart” or “my bleeding heart”- calling herself Princess Amour for short. By this point, her body has gone through a much more dramatic change- her cutie mark and even her coat and mane have changed, if only slightly. Her cutie mark is now a red crystal heart with a crack down the middle and her colors have all darkened significantly. Most striking of all, her eyes are a brilliant gold. Now that the Amulet has given Amour what she thinks she wanted, it waits.

Unbeknownst to Princess Amour, the Amulet has been slowly manipulating her towards Dark Star. She believes he’s the only pony who can understand what it’s like to wield the power of the Amulet- and thus the only pony who can fully understand and love her- and she becomes obsessed with meeting him. The Amulet, however, is seeking revenge. It wants revenge on the pony who created and then betrayed it.

But in his travels, Dark Star never ventures far enough north to reach the Crystal Empire.

Pushed passed its limited patience, the Amulet convinces Amour that the only way to meet Dark Star is to bring the one pony Dark wishes to see to the Crystal Empire… forcibly, if need be.

Aaaaand that’s where I’m leaving that. There are a few minor details I left out- like Dark encountering the other three Elements- but this would basically be the new time line. It’s an AU of an AU and I’m probably not going to do anything else with this, but it was fun to envision evil Cadence :3

If it wasn’t clear, it’s her eyes and the Amulet that are glowing.