Cadence Unbridled (Sections 1 & 2)

by Flikaline

Alicorn : Part 1

Alicorn : Part 1

It had been such a short time since the new princess, a niece of Princess Celestia’s (as that was the easiest term to use), had arrived in Canterlot, however, she had already made a distinct impression. She was described by those at the old ponies’ home as ‘an angel’, perplexed the servants by her frequent offers to help them and assisted earth ponies by carrying their heavy or inconvenient loads by magic, among other things.

Celestia first got wind of her niece’s activities when she found out she had begun foalsitting. Celestia had been concerned that Cadence didn’t realize that they could easily afford nearly anything, that was until she found out that Cadence was doing it free of charge, not only that, but she was loved by the foals she looked after and she was even trying to make it up to those ponies who were losing out due to her offering her services for free. Celestia had also received a large amount of positive feedback about Cadence from many ponies.

It was midmorning now, and Celestia was waiting for Cadence who hurriedly entered the room slightly out of breath.

‘Sorry I’m late, Auntie Tia,’ Cadence puffed, ‘one of the servants is rather sick so I decided to bring him some breakfast in bed.’

‘That’s alright,’ Celestia said, ‘but you do know you don’t have to do so much for others.’

‘Oh, but I want to, I like helping others, which reminds me, I said I’d foalsit Twinkleshine a little later on.’ Cadence responded.

‘That’s fine, Cadence, but before I forget, I will not be here tonight,’ Celestia told her, ‘I am making a journey and will return in time to raise the sun tomorrow.’ Cadence nodded.

Celestia was glad, especially as Cadence seemed to often be rather curious, as she didn’t want to raise Cadence’s hopes. Celestia had decided to go and find out what had happened to her half-sister and thought there might be a small possibility of saving her.

‘Now,’ continued Celestia, ‘is there anything that is bothering you?’

‘There is one thing,’ Cadence said slowly. Celestia waited. ‘There’s this filly, one of the ones disadvantaged by my foalsitting, but unlike the others, she hasn’t warmed to me at all. Whatever I try, it doesn’t work. I think she may downright dislike me . . .’

‘Maybe you’re trying too hard,’ Celestia suggested in a comforting tone, ‘perhaps if you are just polite to her; it’s possible your actions are annoying her.’ Cadence nodded.

‘May I take a book with me outside to read?’ Cadence asked.

‘Of course,’ Celestia replied. As Cadence hurried off, a servant approached Celestia.

‘We seem to have a small infestation of goblins,’ the servant told Celestia, ‘no-pony’s discovered where they’re based yet.’ Celestia was rather concerned.

Goblins looked like ponies in some ways, but were generally not much bigger than the average foal. They travelled in groups of three to five normally, but would split up once decided on an area. Although a large amount of these small groups lived together, they were not much of a threat in that sense because they never had a leader. The way they were a threat was that a single goblin could easily attack a foal, and would if they got the opportunity, and, a small group, if they dared, could do a lot worse.

‘We can’t have them settling here,’ Celestia stated, ‘I’ll assign some of the Royal Guard to tracking down their base. All the ponies in Canterlot must be warned about them and take precautions.’

*

Cadence was lying down near a small river, the place she had arranged to meet Twinkleshine’s parents, reading a book while the occasional seapony bopped up from the riverbed to greet her and to enjoy the sun and shade. Cadence paused at a section titled ‘Malcontents’.

According to this book, these malcontents were a group of ponies who were dissatisfied with their lot in life, generally caused by a dislike of what their cutie mark meant for them to do. These ponies could pop up in any town and any family. These malcontents were a reason ponies often told their foals not to try to rush their cutie mark. Ponies in this group were on a spectrum with the least effected merely more inclined to resentment and the most resulting to defying their cutie mark which often led to otherwise unexplainable acts of evil, which often led to slight changes in appearance.

Cadence’s reading was interrupted by a young seapony asking if there was anything in her book about them, and then by the arrival of Twinkleshine and her parents. As Cadence foalsat Twinkleshine, she was unaware that she was being watched by a pair of red eyes, which, a little later, disappeared, and was replaced, by three pairs. The eyes belonged to three small pony-like creatures, three goblins.

‘Do you see what I see?’ hissed the one in the middle, (whose horn, if he had been a pony, would have looked like it had been broken off,) digging his claws, (which began on all of them partly down the forelegs and ended around the hooves), into the ground in excitement.

‘A pony maybe?’ came the sarcastic tone of the one who had what looked like small dragon wings. The horned goblin scowled, and the third, who had what looked like thorns sticking out of his back legs, sniggered.

‘You foals!’ spluttered the horned goblin, ‘That pony’s an alicorn! Don’t you know how much an alicorn’s horn is worth even at that size! And what luck when alicorns are so rare, to find one that is actually small enough to take!’

Twinkleshine had now been joined by two other foals, Tex and Serviet. Cadence laughed happily, enjoying the company of the foals who were now running around her playing tag.

‘Should we try to grab her then?’ the winged goblin asked the horned goblin.

‘Of course not,’ the horned goblin replied, ‘especially not with those foals around. We can’t afford any hindrances.’ The three of them glanced over at the foals who were now looking at Cadence in adoration.

‘Uh, then what do we do?’ inquired the earth goblin.

‘We lie low and watch her,’ the horned goblin responded, ‘we find her weakness and then we trick her!’

*

The three foals were lying down, jealously guarding Cadence, who had just finished telling them a story about a pony named Pink Pearl who had found some magic crystals in a cave in the side of a volcano. They had wanted her to tell them another story but then Twinkleshine’s parents, Serviet’s mother, and Tex’s father had turned up, the latter two had been wondering where their foals had disappeared to and were relieved to find them in Cadence’s care.

The foals were rather disappointed that they had to leave. Once the foals and their parents had gone, the horned goblin turned to the other two.

‘Right, she’s alone,’ he sneered, ‘let’s go!’ It was almost evening now, and Cadence was wondering if she should head back before the pixie ponies (small pony-like creatures which came out and night which were the size of fireflies and had antennae which glowed yellow, making their whole body look that color) came out when she heard a shout.

Was that a cry for help? Cadence galloped towards the noise. She halted at the edge of a cliff, sending a little debris over the side. Cadence looked down and gasped. Three goblins were hanging onto parts of the cliff.

‘Please help us!’ said the winged goblin.

‘We’ve been holding on for so long!’ exclaimed the earth goblin (they had been holding on for about twenty seconds). It was instinctive for a pony to run away after seeing a goblin whatever the situation, however, Cadence’s instinct for care and kindness got the better of her.

‘How can I help you?’ asked the anxious princess, ‘can’t you pull yourselves up?’

‘We’re too weak!’ the horned goblin said.

‘And my wing got damaged!’ the winged goblin told her.

‘Don’t worry,’ Cadence told them hurriedly and reassuringly, ‘just grab onto me and everything will be alright.’ The three goblins grabbed onto her once she had lowered herself, the earth goblin deliberately digging his claws into one of Cadence’s wings, hoping to damage it enough that she would be unable to fly for a few days. Despite the pain this caused her, Cadence still managed, through a grimace, to pull the three goblins up. After achieving this, Cadence took a few minutes to catch her breath.

‘Thank you so much!’ said the winged goblin.

‘You saved our lives!’ added the horned goblin.

‘Sorry about your wing . . .’ said the earth goblin.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Cadence said kindly, looking at her wing with a little concern, ‘it will be alright.’

‘Of course it will be,’ said the horned goblin, placing a hoof on her shoulder. Cadence tried her best not to show how uncomfortable she was with this. ‘Spite,’ The winged goblin looked up, ‘our savior will be in need of a drink . . .’ the horned goblin continued.

The winged goblin hurried off. He turned to the earth goblin.

‘Cunning, we will need something to bandage her wing.’ The earth goblin hurried off too. ‘I’m so sorry, we don’t know your name,’ the horned goblin said, through a smile which showed all his bright yellow, slightly sharp, teeth.

‘It’s Cadence,’ the princess replied, still feeling uncomfortable.

‘And what is your special talent?’ asked the horned goblin, pretending to be interested in her, ‘Is it music by any chance?’

‘No,’ Cadence responded, beginning to feel a little more comfortable, ‘although that was a pretty good guess; it’s love.’

‘Are you a crystal pony by any chance?’

‘What’s a crystal pony?’ Cadence asked but at that moment the other two returned.

The winged goblin was carrying a bucket of water which he placed in front of Cadence. At the same time, the earth goblin and the horned goblin were binding her wing.

‘Drink as much as you want,’ the winged goblin told her, ‘I can always get more.’

‘Thank you,’ Cadence responded, ‘thank you very much.’

‘Are you a princess?’ inquired the earth goblin.

‘Of course she is,’ the winged goblin exclaimed, ‘could any ordinary pony be so beautiful!’ Cadence’s face went slightly pinker and she gave a small smile. Perhaps the stories that she had heard about goblins had been exaggerated.

‘It’s beginning to get chilly,’ came the voice of the horned goblin, ‘we must keep our princess warm.’ He quickly summoned some fallen branches and some small rocks by magic. Soon, there was a small fire giving off purplely-black flames. ‘Is that better?’ he asked Cadence, who had only just realized how dark it was and how late it was getting. She hesitated.

‘It is better, but I didn’t realize how late it was getting; I had better head back.’ Cadence explained, feeling a little guilty. The goblins seemed rather disheartened by her response.

‘Oh, please don’t go,’ the winged goblin pleaded.

‘Couldn’t you stay here with us just for the night?’ asked the horned goblin, blocking her path.

‘We can provide everything you need,’ the winged goblin added quickly.

‘I – I dunno . . .’ Cadence mumbled, ‘I’ll be missed and . . .’ But as she said this, and as she looked at the faces of the somewhat desperate goblins, the thought that Princess Celestia would have left now and wouldn’t be back until dawn crossed her mind.

‘You’re in perfectly safe and capable hooves,’ added the earth goblin in a reassuring tone.

‘Well . . .’ Cadence replied slowly and hesitantly, ‘I guess . . . alright I’ll stay.’

The goblins seemed very happy with this result and quickly set to work. Cadence did feel rather guilty about telling no-pony what she was doing but she knew that if she did tell anypony, they would probably not allow her to do it.

The goblins appeared to put their best efforts into making camp and making Cadence feel as comfortable as possible. They provided her with a good meal too. At first, she was concerned that they weren’t eating too but they claimed that they preferred to eat later in the evening. She soon settled down to sleep. She was slightly worried about going to sleep with goblins so close by, but then, she thought, even if they were as bad as they had been made out to be, surely these three wouldn’t dream of harming her after she had saved their lives.

After they had said goodnight to her, the three goblins walked back over to the fire, exchanging nasty grins.