Agent Deep Mind’s preliminary psychological evaluation of the Crystal Empire:
Dear Princess Celestia,
As I write this I am in my extraction carriage leaving the Empire after completing my reconnaissance assignment.
This is my early report.
I was at first surprised by the exuberant nature of the Crystal ponies. I had honestly been dubious of my prescribed disguise, wondering why I was to disguise myself as a tourist, when from my understanding, the Empire was going to be a horrifying necropolis of slavery and corrupting dark magic.
Rather than this bleak picture, when I arrived I was greeted with a populace in carefree celebration. I would later discover this to be partially due to the defeat of their long time captor Sombra, and moreso due to a collective amnesia which had helped to reduce the mental and emotional scarring wrought by his rule.
It is my professional assessment that this amnesia is too widespread and regular to be natural, and is instead likely due to a sudeeffect of the magic that had held the Empire for a thousand years. If this is the case, I would recommend testing to see if the amnesia will wear off with time. Should it be the case that the memories lost to the Crystal Ponies will return, it is my suggestion that steps be taken to prevent this.
Though the public consensus is to not speak of or try to remember any of their captivity under Sombra, I fear for the stability and productivity of the Empire should the citizenry become re-afflicted with the mental traumas no doubt inflicted during their enslavement.
On the surface they all appear happy, but upon keener inspection the signs of coping mechanisms can be seen. Though they were ostensibly celebrating, the majority of the drinking that was occurring in the many converted beer-halls had the signs of stress drinking.
Should it become necessary, and should any more subtle means be deemed non-viable, I feel strongly that the citizens would voluntarily subject themselves to memory suppressing magics rather than face their pasts.
Moving on to the other matter I was assigned to address. Though a more nuanced thing to assess, the aforementioned joviality and alcohol consumption proved a boon for my reconnaissance.
In a direct response to the question posed: No, the Crystal Ponies are not receptive to Princess Cadance’s rule.
At least not currently.
It is my assessment that the Crystal Ponies prefer the yet-unknown rule of Cadance infinitely more than the barely-forgotten rule of Sombra, but that there is still at least a serious resentment underneath.
No pony would outright say so, at least not without being so dosed in alcohol as to be out of coherent thought, but there were three major reasons for their resentment and fear.
The first reason, and the one that the ponies I interviewed most easily shared, was a general uneasiness of being ruled by someone they did not know. They can tell from her cutiemark and alicorn-hood that she is likely fit for the role, but knowing nothing about her has many concerned.
For this I would simply recommend a PR campaign, and a subtle influx of media that can promote her merits.
The next issue was harder to get out of them but it was clearly there nonetheless, and that was a resentment for having their last unwanted foreign ruler replaced by another mostly without their consent. Largely they feel a loss of self-determination because they didn’t bestow the crown to her, she just kind of “showed up and took it as if it was hers”.
I am confident that these feelings will mostly fade with time, and that no action on our part is particularly necessary, but if these feelings do not fade, they could lead to problems later on. I would recommend monitoring this.
The final issue was one which I only had one individual actually say, but that others seemed to feel similarly too. This was the fear that Cadance’s ties to Equestria, and particularly to you, princess, mean that the Empire is being annexed by Equestria.
The fear is that after thousands of years, surviving the Windagos, Discord, countless conflicts, and even Sombra, that the Empire is finally going to fall. Losing its independence as the cost of being saved.
For this I can only recommend publicly distancing Cadance from Equestria. Having her somehow show her commitment to the Empire first and foremost may foster positive popular opinion behind her which could place her firmly in the position of Empress that they actually do want her to fulfill.
Overall my assessment of the Crystal Empire places it on its way to recovery, but in my professional opinion it will take time and effort to foster the kind of environment we have in Equestria.