"The Crystal Heart Spell" · 3:28am Mar 9th, 2013
For those of you that do not know, The Crystal Heart Spell is a lovely little 130-page, 100-words-per-page book that was recently available at many elementary school Book Fairs, and will be released on Amazon on April 2nd. My little sister bought it for me (See also: Best little sister ever). It's nothing special, but it feels very episodey, is pleasantly written, and has several brony-specific jokes, including a brief appearance by an unnamed Derpy Hooves, mention of Berry Punch, and other such lovely tidbits.
That's all well and good, of course, but the real reason I'm making this post about it is that it contains some very... interesting backstory for Princess Cadance. Note that whether or not this book is canon is highly debatable - it takes place after Twilight's coronation, but Trixie is shown as still being bitter towards Twilight for embarrassing her in "Boast Busters", so it obviously ignores the events of other Season 3 episodes like "Magic Duel".
With that said, I found the scene very interesting, and will transcribe it for you below. If you don't like having maybe-or-maybe-not-canon spoilers, then stop reading right now, and go read something else instead. Like, perhaps... this! People have told me it's very good.
(Self, people that are watching you, and reading this blog post, have probably already read it.)
(Shut up, you.)
Twilight has gone to the Crystal Empire to see Cadance, seeking advice about how to be a good princess, and has just watched her greet several dozen subjects by name, and other such princessy things:
"You're such a great princess, Cadance," Twilight said. They approached a young Crystal pony couple, who smiled and bowed as the princesses passed them. "I wish I could be like you. I feel so lost."
"You know," Cadance offered, "I didn't always feel so confident."
"You didn't?" Twilight asked, trying to think of a time when Cadance had seemed as lost as she felt now.
"When I was found as a baby Pegasus, in a forest far, far away..." Cadance began the familiar tale. Twilight listened intently as Cadance recounted her path to becoming the great pony leader she was today.
Cadance told her how some Earth Ponies from a nearby village took her in as their own little filly. And as she grew up, the natural love and compassion she had for others filled everypony with warmth and the urge to protect her. Cadance was definitely special.
But all was not well for long.
An evil pony enchantress named Prismia lived alone nearby. She rarely came out of her cottage because she felt nothing but jealousy for the other ponies in the village - the way they loved and took care of one another. And yet, she had nopony who cared for her. Prismia always wore a powerful necklace, which she cared for more than anything else in the world, and it served to amplify the evil and jealousy within her own heart. When Prismia's bad feelings and the power of the necklace finally overtook her, she cast a spell on the villagers that leeched all the love from their homes. She hoped to capture some of that love for herself. Everypony was distraught and sad.
Cadance decided that she couldn't let that happen, so she went to see Prismia. Luckily, the enchantress's powerful necklace also amplified the power of Cadance's love, and she soon defeated Prismia with her incredible gift of compassion. Once Prismia changed her horrible ways, Cadance was surrounded by magical energy and transported to a strange place - a place that nopony except Princess Celestia has ever been! So when Celestia discovered special little Cadance in that mysterious location, her fate was sealed. The princess brought her back to Canterlot to raise her as her very own royal niece - the special and loving young Princess Cadance.
Princess Cadance's special talent had always been her amazing ability to spread love wherever she went - settling conflicts and bringing ponies of all kinds together. In her final exam at Celestia's school of magic, Cadance was even able to make two known rival pony families of Canterlot become best friends for life.
"So I spent a long time in Canterlot just resolving conflicts whenever I was needed and helping other ponies find love. I never really experienced it for myself." Cadance blushed a little and giggled. "Even though I did have a crush on your brother."
Twilight made a disgusted face. "Yuck."
...And the plot of the book goes on from there, but it was far less interesting to me than the above few paragraphs.
I don't have any thoughts on it that I can get into particular detail about, but revealing this information almost a month ahead of time makes me feel like some kind of really amazing underground reporter, so I'm doing it anyway. 
Other facts of note:
- San Franciscolt.
- Berry Punch just bought a new house.
- Derpy still loves muffins.
- Twilight has remained as the town organizer of Winter Wrap-Up.
- Fluttershy has a pet fruit bat named Toby.
- The Crystal Heart (and an old necklace of Cadance's) is made of a special kind of gemstone called Cosmic Spectrum, which absorbs and re-emanates both positive and negative emotions. Which isn't really news, so much as awesome.
- Gilda and Trixie are the worst con-ponies ever.
For those of you worrying about how these revelations might negatively affect The Life of Fear, which is probably just me, and maybe Kolwynia, and a few other people: It won't, really. It's just... changed some things, and some of those things have changed for the better.
MY HEADCANON IS INVINCIBLE! AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! 
o_o That certainly changes some of my plans for the canon of Princess Cadence in the universe of Of Sunshine and Laughter but not what Harmony has been planning... Muahahahahaha! Yes... her plans will succeed...
Thanks for the post! Normally I can't stand spoilers, but I was too curious not to read it! I'm glad your story won't be negatively affected. (Neither will mine, incidentally. I was going to have her start out as a pegasus anyway!
)
Are you reading the MLP comic by any chance? That doesn't really affect the backstory of the MLP universe so much, but there is some interesting stuff in there for worldbuilding.
Anyway, I'm totally picking up The Crystal Heart Spell when it comes out. Thanks for the heads up!
902291
I have the first issue of the comic, but I haven't been able to pick up any of the others as of yet, not having money and all. From the photoshopped memes on My Little Brony that I've seen, though, I'm looking forward to them. The changelings don't really play much of a part in my current stories, so I'm hoping I can get away with ignorance until then.
That looks like a neat little book. Gonna have top find a way to get my hands on it.
903809
I ordered it from amazon. I hope it arrives by Wednesday.
904702
Doesn't come out on Amazon until April 2nd, I'm afraid. But at least you've got it pre-ordered.
904968
Oh yeah, I actually forgot about that.
I actually just heard about this a couple days ago. This segment was incredibly helpful in allowing me to direct my head canon for a piece.
Thank you.
1141917
No problem!
Wish I could buy a book like that