//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Adventures of Color Splash 
// by Penguifyer 
//------------------------------//

Cadence’s hooves glided against the keyboard, pressing the keys without touching them. To an onlooker, the piano looked as if it was playing itself considering she was an Earth pony. After finishing 'Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este' by Franz Lizst, a piece only possible to a skilled unicorn or human pianist, she stood up, bowed to a roaring audience, and walked offstage. Behind the curtain, two bracelets around her forelegs disappeared as she recalled her Fate Dance.
“Ms. Cadence?” asked an orange stallion, covered in bruises and dirt.
Just looking at him, she knew they weren’t successful. “She’s Flurry Heart, Rusty. I wouldn’t beat yourself up. Where’s Headset?”
“She got knocked out. Guards took her to the castle.”
“I can work with that. Rather her than you.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry about it. What did Flurry do to you?”
He looked away and paused. “It wasn’t just her, actually.”
“Saul?”
“Uh… no. The bait worked.”
“Then who was it?”
“Her friend.”
Cadence grabbed a glass of water from an assistant standing by. “Does she happen to be a Fate Dancer?”
“No.” He paused, unsure of what to say. “It felt like human magic.”
“That’s odd,” she said, taking a sip of water. None of them expected Color to do anything, but Cadence saw it as only a minor speed bump in their plans. “They back in the castle?”
“Yes.”
“Head just outside of it; Slip is already inside. I know what to do next.”
She set her cup down as Rusty nodded and jogged away. She didn’t expect the ambush to work with how simple the plan was. It would, however, set the stage for tonight.
“Need my help?” interjected a man behind her, leaning against the wall. His black hair and pale skin, accented by his black and white trench coat and trousers, looked unnatural and stood out compared to other humans.
Cadence didn’t turn to look at him, eyeing him with her peripheral vision. “I don’t think I can handle Saul, honestly. I don’t have that kind of Fate Dance.”
“I can keep him busy for you.”
She paused. “Midnight, outside the castle.”
He nodded and slipped out the door. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Cadence sighed. She didn’t want to rely on him or the group that sent him. Hell, she barely knew who they were. But she couldn’t deny the insight he had on Fate Dances. She wouldn’t have her’s if it wasn’t for him.

— — — 

“Well, it’s not broken.”
“That’s good news,” Color replied as the medic pony’s magical aurora enveloped her right foreleg.
“Not even fractured, too.”
Color raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s… actually odd.”
The medic pony prodded her leg, touching a painful spot and making Color flinch. “Jeeze, give me a heads up.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry, your muscles are torn to hell.”
“Oh.” She stared at her foreleg. “That makes sense.”
The medic pony gently set her foreleg on a table before recalling his aurora and trotting to the cabinets. “I can brace it for now, although you should try to keep your weight off of it.” He levitated a leg brace out of a cabinet and brought it to Color. “A good doctor can accelerate the healing process. Unfortunately, this is all I can do.”
He strapped the brace around Color’s right foreleg, adjusting it to keep the leg slightly bent while matching the height of her other leg. Color took a few steps with the brace. It felt like walking with a peg leg.
“Find a doctor as soon as Flurry lets you out of this castle,” the medic pony added as Color turned to the door.
“She will,” Saul interjected, standing in the doorway. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Color wobbled to Saul, only using her right leg to stabilize herself.
Saul let her through, guiding her down the hall. “Need help?”
“I’m getting the hang of it,” Color assured as she slipped. Saul caught her with his foot, giving her a moment to replant herself. “Thanks. By the way, I thought Flurry said she’d send some guards to come get me.”
Saul walked just ahead of her. “If you want something done right, do it yourself. Also, with what happened earlier, I guarantee they’d take advantage of your injury.” He stopped at an intersection in the hallway, peeking around the corner. “I wouldn’t trust anyone we don’t personally know right now.”
“That's like you, me, and Flurry?”
“Precisely,” he said, continuing down the hall.
Color followed him down hallways as he stopped and peeked around each corner before continuing. His path seemed random, zig-zagging through the corridors of the castle.
“So, what’s going on?”
Saul held a finger to her lips and shushed, whispering, “We’re being followed.”
He dragged around another corner and down a hallway. Hoofsteps echoed along the walls, closing in on their position.
Turning around a corner revealed a group of guards coming toward them. Saul dragged her the other way and turned another corner. Another group of guards approached them.
Dashing down the last open hallway, more guards poked out and blocked the hallway, trapping Color and Saul.
The guards surrounded them, blocking both ends of the hallway. Saul put a hand across Color, speaking up to the guards. “Any problems here, boys?”
One guard, presumably the captain, stepped forward and removed his helmet. “We’re under orders from Flurry to escort Color and you to a safe place.”
Saul withdrew his hand from Color, relaxing his posture. “Oh, you should’ve just said so.” The guards nodded in response with the captain putting his helmet back on.
Color looked at Saul confused. Did he just go back on what he said?
As the group started down the hallway, Color trailed behind Saul unsure of what to do. She didn’t even remember what happened to the glove after the spar with the other Fate Dancers. 
“Saul, did you happen to grab the gl…”
“It’s in my pocket. I grabbed it after carrying you back to the castle. Also, be careful what you say around…”
A silver blur swooped beside him. At the last second, he stepped to the side as the blur slashed his thigh.
The blur circled around and aimed for his chest, but Saul held out his hand, electrified his fingers, and sent a bolt of electricity into the blur.
He stepped back, panted, and looked around at the guards. They stared back at him, unsure what just happened.
“Who did that?” Saul asked, gripping his side.
The guards looked around in confusion, remaining silent.
Saul pressed further. “Did any of you even see that?”
A guard behind spoke up. “I think I saw something fly through the air. Couldn’t tell what it was, though.”
“At least it’s not a no,” Saul scoffed. “Doesn’t really help, tho…”
Another blur flew towards Saul’s side. He planted his feet and deflected the blur upward, causing it to smash into the ceiling. For a brief moment, Color recognized it as a steel cable before it retracted among the guards.
“Form up, we’re under attack!” the captain shouted as the guards grouped together blocked the hallways.
Another blur from the cable popped out and swooped toward Color’s side. She dived to the ground as the cable nicked her tail. It curved around and lurched toward her before she could get up.
Right before it struck her, Saul jumped over and deflected the cable away. Color whispered a faint “thanks” as she stumbled to her legs, catching a glimpse of the cable retracting among the guards.
“Where the hell is it coming from?” Saul muttered, looking around at the guards. “Did any of you see anything!?”
A few of the guards trembled. One of them whispered, “no-no sir.”
“Saul, I keep seeing it retract among the guards,” Color noted.
Saul nodded. “That’d make sense. The closest corner is about ten meters in either direction, plus these walls are bare.” He turned toward the captain. “How long have these guards been with you.”
“Several years, minimum. I can vouch for them all,” the captain replied.
Saul turned back towards Color disappointed.
A laugh emanated throughout the hallway, causing several guards to shiver. A voice followed. “Even if you looked straight at me, with my Evaded Eyes, your eyes would grace right over me. I’m practically invisible!”
A guard dropped his spear.
“Oh yes! I’m among you now and I won’t stop until I take out each of you one by one.”
In front of them, A guard dashed down the hallway. The cable followed him, swooped up, and smashed him down into the floor. The other guards froze, sweating profusely.
Color nudged Saul. “Give me the glove.”
“Look at your leg, you can’t control it yet,” he asserted back. “You hurt yourself any more and I’ll have to carry you out.”
“But I could do something.”
“Do what?”
Color stood in silence. She had no plan. “I don’t know.”
Saul sighed. “When you’re in a situation like this, the best thing you can do is calm yourself and analyze the situation. Every enemy has a weakness, even if you can’t see it.”
The voice burst into laughter. “Don’t even think your human magic can save you. I can see it glow when you use it.”
“Is that so?” Saul noted. Color noticed a circle on the back of his hand glowing as he stretched it out down the hallway. "What do you see?"
“Huh? What are you talking about?” the voice asked.
Color realized he couldn’t see the back of Saul’s hands. He must be in front of Saul.
Saul tilted his head. “Captain?”
Shivering, the captain’s head turned.“Uh-uh, what?”
“Is that armor actually made of gold?”
“No, it’s just gold plated steel. Gold is too soft for armor.”
Saul smiled. “Perfect.”
With his right hand, Saul grabbed a chain on his neck, snapped it off, and wrapped it around his forearm with a whip. His dog tags fell to the ground. Grabbing one end of the chain with his right hand and the other with his left, the backs of his hands glowed with yellow light.
The cable lurched towards him, but he dodged it with a quick hop to the side.
“A funny thing happens when you pass a current through a coil of wire,” Saul taunted as he scanned the guards with his arm. A couple of seconds later, he stopped, grinned, and braced his legs. The glowing circles intensified, causing sparks to fly through the chain. “You create a magnetic field.”
A single guard flew towards him, landing right in front of him. Saul dropped the chain, now glowing red hot, next to his feet.
“How the…” the false guard panted, turning out to be a black stallion with a grey mane. The steel cable wrapped around his barrel. “How the hell did you know!?”
“Your wording earlier was quite specific, as if your Fate Dance isn’t strong enough to blind us to you. You still need to dress up and ‘blend in,’ I presume?”
The stallion struggled to his forelegs as Saul placed a foot on his back. “I figured if I couldn’t see you, I could at least feel you. So I created an inductor with the chain for my dog tags, scanned the guards, and pulled you out once I felt something I couldn’t see.”
Saul removed his foot but the stallion didn’t move. He knew he got outplayed. Instead, he looked up crying and pleaded. “Please don’t hurt me! I only joined Cadence because I was desperate and couldn’t find work. She promised me money and a spot among her royal guard commanders.”
“Please, don’t play this game with me,” Saul sneered, stepping aside and revealing a wiggling cable within his grasp. “I’m already holding the cable you sent behind me.”
“EEEEEEEEEEEK!” the stallion screamed. Sparks flared out of Saul’s hand, traveling down the cable and wrapping around the stallion, causing him to jolt and convulse. A second later and he collapsed to the ground.
Saul crouched and picked his dog tags off the ground. Standing back up, he winced and grabbed his thigh before turning toward Color. He reached into his pocket and handed Color the glove. “I’m not as beat up as you, but I think you should have it now, just in case.”
Color took it and stuffed it in her leg brace. “You weren’t wrong earlier, you know.”
“‘Utilize your strengths; mitigate your weaknesses.’ That’s all I did,” he chuckled. “Although I never know where that will take me.”
“Well, I can use that momentum spell thingy. That’s about it.”
Saul smiled. “You sure?”
Color looked away. “I can paint if that’s worth anything.”
“You’ll be surprised,” he assured.
The captain trotted up to the two of them, scratching his head. “So, um, I see you two don’t need our help.”
“Actually,” Saul replied. “I have no idea where I am.”

— — — 

Cadence stepped into the throne room of the Crystal Castle. Behind her, Rusty lugged an electronic keyboard, shivering with each step, while the human dressed in black and white trailed behind him. Flurry slept on the throne, curled up in a ball with Headset to her side, stroking Flurry’s mane.
“I see you’re trustworthy,” Cadence commented.
“Imperfect Words is best when used subtly,” noted Headset. “First on a guard, then on Flurry without her knowing.” She hopped down and joined the group. “It’s pretty useless in combat, unfortunately.”
The human walked up to Cadence and placed a hand on her shoulder. “So, ready to do your thing?”
Cadence nodded, trotting up to the throne with Rusty trailing behind her. The human inserted earplugs into his ears, handing a couple to Headset too as Rusty set up the keyboard. Once he finished, Rusty joined the group and inserted earplugs into his own ears.
As Cadence sat down at the keyboard, bracelets materialized on her forelegs. She glided up and down the keys, getting a feel for the instrument. Headset’s Imperfect Words might be able to suggest, but Cadence’s Perfect Melody could go further and alter the ideals and beliefs to those who listen.
This was the next step in ambition. She had the Fate Dance; she had the name. All she had to do was tilt the right scales in order to pave a path: a path to becoming the ruler of the Crystal Empire.
Her hooves darted around the keyboard as music filled the room. At that moment, Color and Saul turned the corner to the throne room.