This was gonna be part of a larger Love Letter character study, but I got impatient lol

Love is the first ruler to bring back execution as capital punishment, since King Sombra. It's a very controversial decision, but as Queen she technically has the power to enforce whatever rules she wants. There is no court in the Empire, and no other governmental branches, because the Crystal Ponies put their complete trust into Cadence's leadership (and by association, her daughter Love Letter). Cadence genuinely trusted her daughter with the responsibility of the throne, but her early resignation as queen leads to a domino effect of tragedies. Flurry Heart, once she returns from her travels, is one of the first to openly challenge her sister's new procedures, but there's not much she can do about it.

Love has a deeply loyal guard squad. They are the first to know her true intentions with the crown, and her first supporters. She guarantees that all she wants is to "free" the Crystal Ponies from Cadence's control, and she rationalizes her actions by affirming that a ruler must make difficult decisions for the benefit of her citizens. But once Love has a taste for true power, her original intentions start to blow way out of proportion. She is a narcissist, so anyone who questions her judgement or challenges her policies is silenced. She cuts Flurry Heart a little slack, because in all honesty she perceives Flurry as pathetic, completely incapable of holding the burden of royalty. Not really worth her time. Flurry's not even remotely a threat to her.

Love really does take things way too far though, and considering her guard is completely faithful to her, there's no one to really keep her in check. Cadence is still in the picture (as in, living in the Empire), but Cadence never really recovered from Flurry Heart's injury. She's aware things are going south for the Empire, and fast, but it's almost like she can't bring herself to do anything about it. Besides, she did step down, and deep down she's embarrassed and ashamed that her resignation led to all this chaos. She blames herself for nearly everything that's gone wrong. Love counts on that to make sure her mother stays out of the way. Love also keeps things in check just enough so that if asked, she always has a rationalization at the ready.

She's really condescending. After all, she does view herself very highly, and perceives everyone else to be inferior. That's why she believes it's her purpose to rule. She's also got her winter mane here, which she inherited from Twilight. Some sources say the Crystal Empire is at the top of the Equestrian map, so I'd like to think she's known as the Queen of the north.