Cadence was sore, she could feel the stiffness trailing up into her legs and across her back. She shifted uneasily after a faintly annoying nudge poking her somewhere along her left side while she kept her eyes shut tight. “Quit it...” She mumbled, still clinging to sleep. The nudge came again and with it a bit more wakefulness begrudgingly forced itself onto her consciousness.
It was only when a voice was paired with the nudge that she began to realize where she was and who was with her. “Cadence, its time for our watch.” That was Shining Armor. She'd have been more happy to know he was with her if he wasn't currently trying to wake her up.
“Five more minutes...” She mumbled, still sleepy but no longer able to so easily roll back over and return to unconsciousness.
Shining Armor was insistent and even had the gall to softly laugh at her complaint. “You volunteered for this you know.”
That was true. Damnit. “Fine...fine.” Cadence relented and forced herself up into a sleeping position. She was sure her mane looked like a rat's nest by the curled and disheveled parts she could already see. It was still fairly dark, only the hints of daylight coming on as she looked around and made out the sleeping forms of the rest of their group.
Shining Armor looked remarkably bright and cheerful, watching her as she woke up. “You sure you're up?” He asked while Cadence couldn't help but wonder how he managed to be so awake and happy. Didn't he know it was still technically night?
She nodded, stretching out her joints that had stiffened up while she slept. Apparently she was even less use to a hard days travel then she had thought. “Yes. I need to get ready though...” There were any number of things she wanted and needed to do and she didn't want Shining Armor watching her for any of them. A lady should have her privacy.
“Oh uh, alright. I'll just be over that way starting the watch.” Shining said, in that infectiously cheery way. She'd probably think it was cuter after she didn't feel like falling over back to sleep.
A short five minutes later of brushing her hair and making herself proper for the rest of the day Cadence found Shining Armor sitting next to a fallen over tree and looking towards the horizon. The sun was steadily making headway up against the line of trees with greater and greater illumination every moment.
She moved over and sat right next to him, Shining glancing her way but saying nothing. “Its really peaceful, isn't it?” Cadence asked.
“Actually I've been told that sunrise is the time when you're most likely to be attacked.” He commented, still looking towards the treeline.
She blinked at that. “What? Really?”
Nodding, Shining shrugged. “Yeah, but I don't think we're going to be. I tried to walk out a little further to check around us and bumped into a bunch of hidden protection wards. I think the Professors put them up before we went to bed.”
“You mean we didn't really have to go take watch?” Cadence couldn’t help but ask with a touch of incredulity.
Shining Armor gave another shrug, turning slightly to face her. “Probably. I guess it didn't hurt, besides us all being a little more tired. How are you feeling by the way?”
At the moment Cadence was feeling annoyed at the minor amount of trickery displayed in allowing the guards and themselves keep a pointless watch. She rather enjoyed her beauty sleep after all but...she took a deep breath and let go. “Sore. I didn't know walking could be so hard.”
“When you do it enough it is. You might want to stretch before we head out after breakfast.”
They paused in their conversation to watch the final entrance of the sun over the trees. It was awe inspiring and bright as it always was but they appreciated it all the same. The appreciation didn't last long, however, as the camp suddenly burst into a cacophony of noise. Popping sounds like fireworks going off and a long screeching whistle.
Cadence fell over in surprise, worried that her heart might have stopped. She was pretty sure she heard a sound akin to a goat bleat but had more on her mind then to worry where it came from. Shining Armor's reaction was a little better, hopping up quickly and facing the other direction with an intent look ready for action at a moments notice.
That was unnecessary as the falsely cheery voice of Ivory Tower broke through the second the unbearably loud sounds ended. “Rise and shine, little ponies. We head out in twenty minutes.” He said to the bewildered mass of formerly sleeping ponies who'd tangled themselves up in all of their sleeping bags to try and face the terrible monster they'd been sure was about to eat them just a moment ago.
To Cadence they didn't look so much like a small army but a murderous mob as all eyes were on Ivory Tower. He'd started a small fire with a pot of coffee already bubbling away. “Nineteen minutes, thirty seconds.” He said, which got the entire group moving.
“You see what I've had to put up with.” Shining Armor said to her while helping her back up to her hooves.
She was starting to see his point, less then amused at the near heart attack that she'd just had. But she supposed it was one of the ways to go about getting ponies up in a hurry. Other fires were started, sleep rubbed out of eyes and a quickly heated up meal had the camp ready to go in fifteen minutes with about four to spare.
“I look absolutely dreadful. I think I have twigs in my hair.” Blueblood complained, rubbing at his mane.
Gentle August was finishing off a canteen, sitting next to him and gave him a long look. “You should be happy then. Perhaps it will give you enough camouflage to avoid any attackers.”
Blueblood shot him a dirty look but said nothing while their allowed for twenty minutes expired. Very quickly they were back up and on the march. To Cadence it appeared they were moving even quicker, a shadow falling over them as they began to pass the first of incredibly high peaked, steep mountains.
She tried to crane her neck high enough to see their tops but couldn't quite manage to make them out beyond snowy looking pointed caps. For a second she thought she saw a flicker of movement high up at what had to be almost a thousand meters up but brushed it off as snow or a rock jostled loose on the wind.
“Princess Cadence, I’ve got a question.” That was Soarin, dipping in low to speak to her. He'd put himself directly over the top of the group with the rest of his squadron flying on either side.
“Yes Soarin?” She asked, curious as he'd become far more serious in his demeanor since they'd headed out. Almost everypony had, actually, she was reminded that most of them were fairly well trained or full members of the Guard. It was comforting to know that they were all ready for the task and not just playing pretend.
“You can fly right? You've got wings but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you actually take off.”
Oh. That question. “Well...I can.” She said, her hesitant answer catching Shining Armor's attention who was looking at her curiously. “I just don't fly very often anymore. Its personal.”
Soarin winced, catching on that he'd drudged up unpleasant memories. “Sorry, then. I didn't mean.”
“Its okay, you didn't know.” She said quickly, not wanting to expand on it even for a moment.
She hadn't flown much more then a few minutes collectively since the day her father died. Even just thinking about it in those terms was more then she wanted to think. The moment was awkward now, with Shining Armor looking concerned and Soarin apologetic.
Only the steady sound of the wagon wheels turning against the grass and the hoof-falls of the group was now filling up the silence. Cadence wasn't sure if perhaps she should get it over with and tell them regardless of her reservations when Ivory Tower spoke up. “We're making good time for a change. We should be over the north edge of Tartarus in a hour.”
It wasn't a few moments after he spoke that Cadence saw a pegasi guard's head snap up and dodge a falling boulder that would have squashed him flat. “We're under attack!” Was his cry, another enormous rock falling and forcing another guard to twist out of the way or be crushed.
A few seconds passed, the loud thuds of continuously falling boulders filling the ravine and the clattering sound of their descent along the sides of the cliffs before the group sprung into action. They started running forward, trying to get out of path of the falling rocks.
“Couldn't this just be an avalanche?” She heard herself ask as they were darting forward.
“No! I saw-” The pegasi guard who'd raised the alarm said before a spear sliced its way down into his left wing. He gave a cry of pain, slamming down into the ground with a thud and twisting into a roll.
Then there was a terrible screeching noise high above them and Cadence looked. There were well over a dozen awful looking creatures. They appeared to have the bodies of ponies but their bottom hooves ended in sharp looking bird talons. Their forelegs were ended with expansive looking wings and their muzzles had a clear beak instead of a softer nose. In many of their talons were clutched spears similar to the one that had injured the guard.
“Harpies!” Was a cry from Professor Puppet Strings. The remaining pegasi guards rushing high up into the air to meet their attackers.
“We have to keep moving! They're going to crush us!” For once Blueblood wasn't totally wrong. Frozen now, unable to budge her hooves, Cadence looked up and could clearly see that more harpies were hard at work dislodging boulders to fall down on the vulnerable group.
Shining Armor shook his head, angling his horn and sending off a bright violet bolt of energy towards one of the closer harpies. “We're not leaving wounded behind!”
All around Cadence was sounds of battle. The pegasi guards, led by Soarin had begun a aerial fight that was trailing up and around at incredible speeds. She saw one of the fighting pegasi take a scratch along their flank before they slammed a hoof into the beak of the harpy she was fighting. Soarin was dodging the thrusts of a spear while the ground-bound unicorns were firing up bolts of magic to aid the pegasi. Their aim appeared to be off, or the bolts too slow as few even came close to connecting.
She was stuck right where she was, her breathing picking up and the sound of whistling wind passing her ears when she heard the pained sounds of the pegasi guard who'd been stabbed clean through the wing. Finally she found the strength to move, darting away from Shining Armor's side to come to the aid of the guard still laying on the ground. “Cadence!” She heard Shining call after her but ignored it, having found something she could do.
The guard on the ground was more or less stuck. The spear was long and had cleared right through his wing. There were a mess of feathers and the drip of blood while the wounded guard tried to get back up to his hooves. She knelt down and began to help when he started to shake his head.
“I'll be fine, I just can't fly.” He complained, his voice wobbling slightly in pain. Cadence knew how sensitive a pegasi's wings could be and thought the guard in question was holding up remarkably well.
“Don't worry, I’ll get you to safety.” She assured him, the Princess didn't know any spells for medical care and couldn't begin to think of removing the spear itself. Instead, she enveloped him in her telekinesis and gingerly started to lift him.
The guard accepted being lifted without complaint, looking up for a second and his eyes widening. “Look out!”
A boulder was falling directly towards them, it looked massive and there was nothing Cadence could do about it. She winced and shut her eyes when she heard a crashing sound just above her. Not crushed to death, she opened her eyes to see the now cracked and split up boulder falling against a solid wall of violet energy.
Just behind her was Shining Armor, projecting a bubble around not only Cadence and the guard but the entire group still on the ground. He gave her a confident grin, his horn still alight while the boulders that had started to find their marks crashed uselessly against his shield which didn't budge. “Are you alright?” He asked her.
She nodded, still shaken from what had appeared to be certain death. The guard nodded too, even though he hadn't been the focus of Shining's question. There were still the sounds of battle raging above them. A harpy slammed against Shining's shield, sent by one of Soarin's pegasi's kick.
Thankfully none of the other guards were laying on the ground or out of the fight. But to Cadence they looked more then a little ragged and scratched up with the exception for Soarin, who had darted up high and then turned back around to drill a harpy right into its side while it had been about to spear one of his squad mates. She had to look away to help the guard back to the center of the group of unicorns who were no longer shooting magic up at the harpies.
“Shining, keep the shield up. Soarin get inside of the bubble” Ivory Tower called, not looking particularly hassled so much as determined. Apparently magic couldn't pass outside of the shield anymore then the boulders or harpies could get in.
Shining just nodded at the instruction and turned to directly focus on his shield. The five pegasi began to quickly work themselves back towards the shield and were able to pass through easily. The same was not said for the harpies. One of the over enthusiastic ones had built up a terminal amount of velocity from on high and managed to splat itself against the still very solid shield and almost comically slid along its surface to the ground.
The squadron of guards who'd been fighting were all breathing heavily. With the exception of Soarin they were all scratched or injured lightly in some way. There were bright red talon marks along flanks, one pegasus mare had a slash on her muzzle that looked painful.
Soarin, now on the ground for a change, quickly trotted up to the guard who had his wing perforated. “Tornado are you alright?” He asked, out of breath.
Tornado nodded quickly, looking more upset then anything. “Sorry for-.”
Soarin cut him off with a shake of his head. “Not your fault, no time for apologies either. Can anypony patch him up?” He asked, Professor Butter Up stepped forward.
“I've had some experience with medical spells. But I’m not sure if this is the best place, its not sterile and-.”
It was Ivory Tower who spoke up. “It doesn't matter if its sterile, get him patched up. We won't have this shield forever.”
Shining Armor shot his mentor a look of annoyance. “I'm fine holding this up.”
He certainly looked fine, even as boulders continued to rain again and again on the shield. Even though most of the first attacking wave was still laying on the ground stunned and out of the fight thanks to the Pegasi there were now more and more of the ugly looking monsters screeching and cawing down at them.
They'd likely rush in the second that the defense was lowered. The only thing slowing down the boulders appeared to being the harpies having difficulty finding them now that they'd thrown so many. Looking up at the attackers, who were clearly trying to provoke them, Ivory Tower gave Shining a pointed look. “They're not likely to leave us alone until we're through their territory. We've still got hours before that. You're fine now, but we'll see about then.”
There was a sharp yelp of pain as Professor Butter Up pulled the spear free from the wing of Tornado, his injured wing looking like a mess of mangled feather with a bloody hole punched threw tissue. Gentle August was next to the Professor helping wrap a tight gauze bandage around the limb. The pegasi looked grateful at the two of them even as he swore at the pain.
Soarin had been checking the rest of his squadron and didn't look happy. “We can still fight, but it'd be better if we had a little time to rest. All these harpies...I don't know if we'd be able to keep you all safe.”
“We can defend ourselves if it comes to that.” Ivory Tower said, surveying the group and nodding. “Alright, we have to move out again. Breaks over.”
“A break he says...” She heard Professor Puppet Strings grumble, clearly more then a little shaken up at the attack.
She was too, for that matter, and wishing she could have done more to help. Wasn't she suppose to be powerful? It'd been so fast and chaotic though. All of those harpies intended to kill them and probably have them for dinner, were still
wanting that. The group got off to a shaky start but generally picked up steam. Tornado insisted he could still walk but there was a bright red spot on the white bandage around his wing and he had another pegasi next to him helping him walk along.
All of the pegasi were walking, Shining's shield following along with a number of meters of clearance around them. Cadence watched him closely and had to admit he looked completely resolute. His horn was still alight and he was
inspecting every inch of the shield he was maintaining. Most of the harpies were following and rocks were still raining down onto the shield.
Shining's gaze moved from the shield to her and he actually smiled. “You did great, Cadence.” He said, falling in next to her.
“No I didn't. I couldn't move.” She tried to protest. Shining had been the amazing one, while everyone else was now resting he was keeping them all safe all by himself.
Shining tilted his head. “But you did move, you got a pony out of danger and saved his life.”
Cadence certainly felt better but wanted to protest. She'd only done what made sense. “But you-”
Shining cut her off, not going to let her denigrate what she'd done. “He'd probably have been crushed by the boulder if I wasn't watching you. You saved his life. Don't be so harsh on yourself.”
He was probably right, no, he was definitely right. The danger was past for the moment and the adrenaline wearing off was making her feel a mixture of exhausted and twitchy all at the same time. It didn't help that the screeching noise of the harpies was still trailing them.
They had to continue on like that for hours. The group looking far more weary as they made their way deeper through the ravine. Cadence saw what appeared to be skeletons along their path. She was glad that none of them looked like ponies at least, her guess that the harpies were carnivores appeared to be more then correct.
They passed through the shadow of one of the mountain's and the cawing of the harpies stopped completely. The group was suddenly completely alone. Cadence heard a distant rumble similar to thunder and the air became a great deal more cold. A deathly silence hung around them now, she glanced around every which way and tried to look for the new threat that had to be upon them. Shining's violet shield was still up and that was incredibly comforting to her to still see.
Instinctively she brushed right up against Shining, pressing into his side for comfort. He stiffened a bit at the sudden embrace, but for reasons Cadence couldn't entirely explain she was suddenly far more afraid then she'd been just moments ago.
“Cadence are you alright?” He asked, though glancing around Shining looked a bit troubled himself.
“I can imagine she feels it better than any of us.” Ivory Tower said, turning to face the group. “That feeling on the back of your necks are the Taraxippus. These are the spirits of the dead, escaped or having not quite made it to Tartarus. We're stopping for the evening. As it is you're going to have bad dreams while you sleep but while we're traveling through this next area we can absolutely not rest. These spirits of the dead are harmless until you do and will possess you if you nod off for even a moment. I can assure you that is something you do not want.”
Cadence shivered at the explanation. She'd heard stories about the Taraxippus when she was just a little filly. Every time you were by yourself or felt suddenly frightened was suppose to be a Taraxippoi who had just visited you.
“Should I keep my shield up, just in case?” Shining Armor asked, these past few hours he'd kept up a brave face for the sake of the group but some of his fatigue was apparent now. The shield had never wavered once and his command of defensive magic was almost awe inspiring. The Harpies had appeared to be trying to bring the whole mountain down on them but the perfectly smooth shield hadn't even flickered after thousands of tons of rock had fallen on them. Cadence had hoped that meant that Shining could do anything, could keep a shield like that up indefinitely, but knew that everyone had their limits.
“That won't be needed. We're in a relatively safe spot. The harpies won't enter into this region and we should be just out of the domain of the evil spirits. Sleep if you can, I don't even know know how long we'll be walking through this area.”
The group sagged once they were told they could relax. The pegasi guards were particularly quick to find a patch of comfortable looking ground to fall down and rest. Tornado was helped by the mare whose muzzle had been scratched up and the squadron were speaking softly together. The Professors had put their heads together to speak quietly as well.
Shining hadn't relaxed, though, the shield still up as he glanced towards Cadence for a long moment. It almost appeared that he was asking for her permission first, the Princess nodded even as she continued to lightly shiver. “Its okay Shining, you should keep your strength.”
Not looking particularly happy to do so he relented and dropped the violet sphere and let out a relieved sigh. Cadence was happy that she didn't feel more frightened then she already did. She was still directly brushed up against him, Cadence was almost certain she could hear the sound of whispering voices that were obviously not coming from anyone in the group.
Blueblood and Gentle August approached. Blueblood looked frightened too, glancing off to the side and frowning uneasily, his haughtiness gone. He'd done better then Cadence might have thought if she was being uncharitable in her opinion of him, firing back at the harpies as much as anyone.
“Are you alright Princess?” That was Gentle August, looking concerned nearly as much as Shining, who'd thrown a hoof around her shoulders for comfort. Even Blueblood gave her a look of concern, her sudden apparent fright much more extreme then any of the others.
She shook her head a little, trying to deliberately ignore the creepy crawling feeling that was leaving her on edge. “I can feel...its what the Professor said. This place is wrong, bad.” She tried to explain and mostly failed. It appeared her natural sense of empathy was picking up on the dark emotions and pain of the dead.
She suddenly felt a surge of far more positive emotions, drowning out the feeling of dread which quieted her light shivering. Cadence had shut her eyes and opened them to realize that Shining Armor was still holding her rather tightly. “It'll be alright Cadence. We'll be with you. I'll be with you.”
That was more then enough to set her at ease. She was even surprised at the sheer amount of...affection she was feeling. It was all for her and if they weren’t in such a precarious situation she might even have blushed at the raw emotion she could feel. She nodded, her face pressed up into his neck and found it rather comfortable.
Gentle August coughed lightly, having watched the personal moment. “Lets get something to eat, its been a long day.” He said, Blueblood nodding without saying anything. The Prince looked far less neutral on the matter and gave Shining a disgruntled look before turning away.
“Come on Cadence, we should probably eat too and try and get some sleep.” Shining said gently to her. She nodded, pulling back and not finding herself quite so frightened anymore.
Dinner passed in complete silence. The crackle of the fire was the only source of sound. The wind was breaking over the mountain tops high above and made a howling whistle sound that certainly didn't help in adding to the sense of unease. While none of the group were natural empaths like her, Cadence could tell that the effect of the nearby spirits were taking a toll.
In the middle of their meal Ivory Tower took a seat next to Cadence and Shining. The Professor for his part didn't look off center. If anything he looked more lively and motivated then he'd been. Atleast one pony was still focus'd on their goal. He looked the two over for a second and then grabbed some of the food that had been prepared by one of the earth pony guards who had mentioned while cooking that he enjoyed doing so.
“You could help us, Princess.” Ivory Tower remarked, taking a spoonful of the soup that had been made.
Confused, she'd been broken out of her idle thoughts. “I can?”
The Professor nodded quickly. “I don't think we all have to be made to feel boundless love, but if you cast a spell to make us feel better we would likely sleep better. At the same time, tomorrow I want you to make us all feel alert and unable to sleep. Can you do that?”
Cadence hesitated, not sure how Ivory Tower knew so much about her particular specialty with magic. She'd had many conversations in the past with Princess Celestia about the ethics of influencing the emotions of other ponies. She warned about the possibility of it not becoming too different then mind control. If Cadence wanted too she could literally make other ponies love her. Almost like if she had used the Want-It-Need-It spell. She could also make ponies feel any emotion she liked, her limitation only the willpower and awareness of the pony she was using it on.
“I can...” She said slowly, not finding anything particularly objectionable to what he'd asked. There was even a clear need for them to be well rested and even more clear need to not fall asleep.
Ivory Tower nodded, glancing around. He'd kept his voice low enough that none of the rest besides the three of them had heard. “If the group knew that you were doing that it would weaken the effect of the spell, wouldn't it?”
Cadence frowned at that, it was clear that Ivory Tower knew a great deal about her now. Did Princess Celestia tell him? “Alright...” She licked her lips and pulled away from Shining enough to be sitting straight up.
Shining hadn't said anything, only looked at her curiously. Apparently he hadn't wanted to interfere one way or the other on this and for that she was very grateful. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she let the magic that was her special talent well up to the surface. She took special care to keep the glow on her horn from showing too brightly and the wisps of magic fanned out to lightly touch each pony in the group on the forehead.
Almost immediately the group began to more fully relax. She could see smiles forming and one of the guards nudge the other and make a soft joke which earned a chuckle. Cadence had also used her magic on Shining Armor who blinked a bit at the calming wash of emotive magic fall on him. “That’s really neat.” He commented, rubbing at the spot just below his horn.
Ivory Tower had lifted a hoof up and dissipated the wisp of magic that had been about to touch his forehead. “Not for me. I have some wards to set up.” He stood and departed from the two.
“Feeling better?” Cadence asked as she settled back in against Shining Armor who hadn't even so much as flinched at the closeness this time.
He nodded, lowering his hoof and smiling. “I do actually, how about you?”
Cadence shook her head. “I can't use magic like that on myself. Its too dangerous.” She answered, sighing contently anyway and feeling her fatigue catching up with her.
It was true that she couldn't influence her own emotions. But she was pretty sure she had something much better anyway. That warm fountain of affection emanating from Shining, meant only for her, was a lot better then any artificial manipulation of feelings. The Princess was falling asleep already and would sleep as well as anyone else, more then happy that Shining Armor was right next to her. He'd given his word that he would protect her and that was enough to set her mind at ease.