Princess Cadence - 5/16/2018
Canterlot Streets - Canterlot, Equestria
The lime-green mare before Cadence stood on her hind legs, wings flared to keep her balance, spent crossbow held ready to reload. Silver eyes stared into purple eyes with a fury Cadence recognized all too well. The look of a patriot who was happy to kill for their country. A look she had given hundreds of people in the past.
Cadence knew the agent couldn’t have the crossbow as her only weapon. At the very least she would have another quarrel. The pegasus had a small satchel over one shoulder. Her weapons would be in there.
The mare’s eyes narrowed as she probed Cadence’s stance, seeking out a weakness. Cadence smiled coldly. A little warning tingled in the back of her mind. Something simple, something basic, even foundational.
I have absolutely no idea how to fight in this body and human martial arts do not work when you don't have hands to shape into fists, blades, or spears… BUCK!
Cadence’s eyes flicked over to Harley’s bags. Her weapons were stored away in them. The straps were buckled. Obtaining one wouldn't be a quick process.
Screw it, I’ll improvise!
Cadence ducked down, bunching her legs beneath her and jumped, seemingly aiming for the pegasus’s hips. The pegasus pivoted on one hoof, flaring her wings to keep her balance as she spun ninety degrees. Her hoof sliced down in a chopping motion, ready to deflect a blow that wasn't there.
Cadence plowed chest first into the ground, intentionally sliding into the pegasi’s hind legs. The mare yelped as Cadence bowled her over, flapping her wings rapidly. Cadence rolled, swinging her foreleg like a club to smash into the mare. Her hoof hit the cobblestones with a sharp crash.
The mare hovered overhead, having turned her fall into an impromptu takeoff. Cadence rolled over onto her hooves and stood up, looking around for her opponent. The pegasus dropped, landing hoof first on Cadence’s back.
Stars flashed in Cadence’s eyes as her head slammed into the pavement. The pegasus mare reached back into her satchel. “I said, you’re under arrest!”
Cadence wrenched her hips to the left, throwing the mare off her. The Pegasus slid across the pavement, a small crystal-radio, a pair of hoofcuffs, and an odd silver bracelet slid out of her bag, skittering along the cobblestones.
Cadence stood back up and threw a short jab at the air, a quick experiment to see how well this body could punch. The answer was something just a bit shy of a human capabilities, but still good enough.
The pegasus rolled onto her side just in time to see Cadence’s quick test of her abilities, and raised an eyebrow. “So, shapechanging bugs think an alicorn would fight with punches. You’re a special kind of stupid, aren't you?”
Cadence frowned, then internalized all of her anger. Rather than facehoofing, all of her anger came out in one growled sentence. “Oh, yeah. Magic!”
Cadence focused herself, and cast the first spell which came to mind. Her horn pulsed once and Cadence felt a rush of magic race through her body to her hooves. The pegasus smiled and charged, thinking Cadence’s spell had flopped.
Cadence swept her hoof in front of her with a savage swing, catching the mare’s right side. Sparks of blue magic exploded out from the point of contact, and the mare came to a dead-stop as the spell took hold.
The pegasus’ irises began to glow a light blue, and so did a random cobblestone. The pegasus turned her head, staring at the stone as if it were a lump of gold. As weak a spell as touch of fascination was, her training had not included ‘How to resist mental compulsions from an alicorn-tier caster’.
“It’s… so… pretty…” The lime colored mare whispered to herself.
Cadence turned around and kicked out with her rear left leg. Her hoof smashed into the pegasus' left shoulder, sending her tumbling down the street next to her pile of dropped items. The blow shook her out of her trance and the glow vanished from her eyes.
Realizing she’d been compelled, the mare reached out and snatched the bracelet from the ground, slipping it onto her right hoof just as Cadence cast her next spell.
A tightly focused ray of blue light with a green core lanced from Cadence’s horn and struck the pegasus on her cutie mark. The mare went limp as Askew Balance switched her nerves off for a split-second.
Cadence stepped over the mare and raised her hoof to smash it down against the back of her head, seeking to knock her out. The mare regained control of her body and rolled onto her back. Cadence’s hoof met stone with a sharp crack.
“Think you’re cute?” The mare growled as she raised her foreleg towards Cadence.
“Sadly, yes,” Cadence deadpanned.
The pegasus invoked her bracelet’s enchantment. The plain silver band shimmered slightly as a small, fluffy, white cloud formed around her hoof. Cadence raised an eyebrow, shrugged her wings, then ran forward to land a punch on the mare’s nose.
The pegasus flexed her hoof, sending a pulse of her own magic into the cloud. The cloud transformed in the blink of an eye. A bolt of purple-tinged lightning sizzled past Cadence’s head, singing her mane before blasting several bricks out of the wall of a shop.
Cadence’s eyes widened in horror as she finally remembered what pegasi could do.
The mare as she began to throw bolt after bolt of lightning down the hallway, convinced the only way to avoid the surprisingly powerful “changeling’s” spells was to give her no chance to concentrate.
A bolt detonated the cobblestone beneath Cadence. She jumped to the left, her wing striking the wall as she flapped instinctively. “Ponyfea—”
A bolt slammed into Cadence’s barrel. Her natural wards sparked and sizzled, sending showers of orange sparks flying every which way. The burning-hot bolt of plasma pierced her outer wards, managing to scorch a hoof sized patch of skin over her heart clean off. “OW! Bucking—”
Another bolt blasted the wall next to her head. Shards of stone pinged off the alleyway like shrapnel from a grenade. “Horseapp—”
The pegasus smiled grimly. “Yeah! How do you like—” the mare stopped mid sentence as Harley popped a wheelie to force her bags to slide off her frame. “What?”
Cadence took the chance and charged. The mare flexed her hoof. A bolt of lightning blasted Cadence across the alley into the wall. A sharp crack echoed through the streets as her back popped a few bricks free form the wall. Cadence moaned and slid down the wall, landing in a heap.
The pegasus spared one more glance at the bike. It wasn’t moving. Clearly the changeling had tried to throw it at her with telekinesis. She turned back to her dazed opponent.
Green fire blazed behind the lime mare, and Harley’s metallic form twisted beneath the flames. Cadence’s eyes focused on the emerald light and the alicorn snapped back to reality. Her opponent was standing over her, leg extended, her thundercloud crackling, ready to kill.
Cadence gathered her hind legs beneath her and kicked out, catching the mare in her barrel and throwing her across the alley. Pegasus magic lashed out chaotic as the mare struck the cobblestones hips first, sending smaller bolts of lightning flying every which way.
Harley, now in changeling form, ripped the saddlebags open and grabbed the first weapon she could find. Sliding it out of the bag she turned around and whistled. “Mom! Catch!”
Cadence caught a flash of gray and white out of the corner of her eye. She turned, hooves extended to grab whatever had been thrown her way. Plastic clicked against her hooves, their magical grip latched onto the weapon, and Cadence found herself holding a Mark IV Phaser rifle.
The lime pegasus hopped up, ready to continue the fight, only to see not just one, but two changelings, as well as the barrel of what was clearly a weapon. Her ears drooped. “You guys can do objects too? Buck! Game over…”
Cadence nodded. “They can. Shame you won't believe me when I say I’m the original and this changeling is a defector. Have a nice nap.”
She pulled the trigger. The former prop weapon reached out to its users magic, took a deep swig, and spat a violently-yellow ray with a loud shriek. The Lime mare collapsed in a heap as the proper-alicorn level stun spell burned through her body.
Cadence set her weapon down and groaned. Firing the phaser rifle had drained way more of her energy than she thought it would. “Crap… I need a moment. Harley, is she alive?”
The changeling trotted over to the downed mare and gently pressed a hoof against her neck to check her pulse. “Yes,” she said with an uncaring, almost bored expression, which inverted into one of maximum worry as she turned towards her adopted mother. “Are you okay? How is your chest? Do you want me to take you to a hospital?”
Cadence shook her head and took a deep breath. “No. There’s more to do… Go back to bike form, we don't want someone to see you.”
Harley nodded once and transformed back with the usual blaze of green light. <I know… But she was going to kill you!>
Cadence gently patted Harley on her front fender. “I’m not mad at you. Thank you, sweetie.”
Cadence trotted over to the unconscious mare and dragged her behind a nearby group of trash cans. By her logic, if the sound of their fight hadn't brought ponies running yet, they somehow hadn't been discovered. Nor did this mare have any backup.
I expressly ordered everyone to work in teams… Either the impostor countered my orders or this agent is an idiot and let their partner wander off.
Cadence looked across the alley and picked the mare’s dropped hoofcuffs up with her magic and pulled them toward her. The dropped crystal radio caught her eye, and it joined the hoof cuffs in floating over to Cadence.
As soon as they were in her hooves grasp, Cadence cuffed the pegasus with her forelegs behind her back, then emptied the trash can over her. With her opponent's unconscious body disguised as a pile of garbage, Cadence turned her attention to the radio.
The device looked much like a banana shaped chunk of purple crystal attached to a brass speaker-grill with a small bowl filled with intricately carved glowing runes inside. A small clip on the back would allow a pony to attach it to clothing, saddlebags, or a strap, and the front was clearly also a button as it could be pushed down slightly, which made the crystal glow blue.
Cadence nodded to herself and pulled Harley’s saddlebags over to her, looking through them for a weapon which wouldn’t drain a noticeable amount of her energy per shot.
Inside the bags she found some of her old replica weapons. Her old replica M-60, Armat M41A Pulse Rifle, and M-79 Grenade Launcher lay atop the motorcycle jacket Shining had gotten her, with a small scroll stamped with Celestia’s seal laying almost on top of them.
Cadence reached in and fished out the scroll, popped the seal and quickly read it.
Dear Cadence,
I have enchanted these as well as I am able. Given the short amount of time available to me, I could not make the weapons “select fire”. They have been calibrated for use by an alicorn against an alicorn. Their draw on our magic will be quite substantial, as is necessary for ending a threat of Chrysalis’ size. Please be exceedingly careful with them, the potential for collateral damage is immense and I will not tolerate any more harm to my little ponies than necessary.
The M60 will fire a rapid spray of disruper bolts. This is useful for wearing down an opponent's shields, or keeping them from casting a spell. It will not kill, do not rely on it alone.
The Phaser Rifle will stun your targets, please attempt to bring Chrysalis down with it. I would prefer her to serve jail time. If this is not possible, I understand.
The Armat M41A will fire bursts of spellbolts, your basic attack spell. Only it will fire them at your strength. This weapon will be more than capable of putting holes in armor and flesh alike. Please be careful when using it. A normal pony struck by one of these bolts will lose a limb in the best case scenario.
At Shining’s insistence, I included the grenade launcher. It works as you would expect. Please use it with all due caution and restraint.
I have included your jacket in the bag for several purposes. Firstly, it’s slightly enchanted with a protection charm already. The jacket is not a substitute for armor, but it should help a little against glancing hits from spells as well as shrapnel. More importantly, there is only one of these jackets. It is unique, as all most all Equestrian clothing is made to order.
Only I knew it was in your bag, and only Shining and I know you own such a jacket. Therefore, the jacket can be used to identify the real you. This will help me avoid a “Which one do I shoot?” scenario in the event of that particular emergency. A scenario which is highly likely since you have had to access this stash.
Good luck.
Yours Truly,
Princess Celestia
Cadence’s ears drooped as she read the overview of her arcane weapons. Looks like I am out of luck… I won't have the right tools for this job.
She turned and glanced at the trash pile hiding the unconscious mare. It’s best if I assume every pony can be that dangerous. Worse than that, Changelings will be indistinguishable from ponies. This is the real terror of shifters. I have no idea if I’d be killing my own side or not… I will need to strike first and use surprise with non-lethal tactics when possible.
Cadence closed her eyes, focused herself, and put her jacket on with her magic. As soon as she zipped it up, the radio caught her eye again. Her biker caused distraction wasn’t in effect yet, but once it was, she could use this radio to sow a little extra chaos. Maybe even bring ponies back to her side.
She clipped the radio onto her jacket’s collar, then went to put the saddlebags on her back only to pause. She knew the bags were magic, they were much smaller on the outside than the inside after all. The real question was if that enchantment was standard on all pony-made pockets.
Cadence picked up her phaser rifle with her magic and experimental pushed the barrel into her jacket’s bottom right pocket. The weapon slipped inside without difficulty, though it did click against something plastic.
Cadence frowned and reached into the pocket, fishing out a pair of squarish sunglasses. They were the kind she liked, and she knew Shining knew she preferred to wear sunglasses while biking. The bonus gift her stallion had gotten her brought a flutter of joy to her heart. A flutter of joy which was immediately squashed when she noticed the brand name written on the arm in small silver letters.
“Neigh-Bans? Seriously?” Cadence groaned.
<That pun is just… bad…> Harley agreed, her suspension creaking as the bike-bug couldn’t help but wince.
The simple fact that Harley could tell the name was a pun meant she could see the sunglasses. This prompted a very important question. “How… How can you see things right now?”
<Well, I— Uh… Hmm… Good question! How am I seeing things? Wait, I’m seeing in a three sixty bubble right now. That’s better than my normal— Uhhh… Um… Help?> Harley’s frame cracked in response to her discomfort.
Cadence shook her head. “Whatever…” She slipped the glasses on, a small part of her excited to see if they possessed any sort of magical abilities.
They did not.
Slightly disappointed in this revelation, Cadence silently slipped the rest of her weapons into her jacket’s various pockets. Cadence ran out of pockets by the time she reached her grenade launcher, and decided to simply sling the weapon over her shoulder via the strap. As she was fiddling with a way to get the weapon to lay comfortably on her back in a way which wouldn’t mess with her wings, the party started.
Cadence yelped and raced for Harley, vaulting onto the bike in one fluid motion. Harley started herself and moved in the general direction of the palace.
<What’s your plan?> Harley asked as she pulled out of the ally and onto the main road.
“Find Shining, get him out, squash a bug.”
<Yes, but how? What should I do? How can I help?>
Cadence frowned and turned Harley’s handlebars to steer towards a side street which would take them to one of the palace’s secondary gates. “After I get into the palace itself, I want you to blend in with the Hay’s Angels bikes and hide. Stick with them. I may need an escape route. If they somehow get pushed out of the city, go back to the Hall and wait for me there.”
The side gate seemed to rush towards the pair as Cadence spoke. The gate seemed to be open, but Cadence could see guards working to close it. She frowned, wondering if they could make it before the heavy timber door closed.
<Okay, but what about you? What’s your plan?>
Cadence bit her lip. In truth, she didn’t have much of a plan. Field agents didn’t come up with the plan, they came up with the way to make the plan work once they were the boots on the ground.
“I need to find Twilight. Not the real one, but the one in the palace. I know that’s a changeling. I’ll make it talk. If it cant tell me where Shining is, it will lead me up the chain to someone who does. I’ll secure him, then…” Cadence reached up with her magic to adjust her grenade launcher. “Then I’ll make it rain bug bits.”
Harley was silent for a few seconds, allowing the gate to get closer. <I would prefer it if you had a better plan.>
Cadence squinted at the gate. She could tell it was most definitely being closed now. “No time! We need to get into that gate.”
<On it!>
Harley kicked herself into high gear, nearly launching Cadence off her seat as she popped a wheelie and shot forward like a rocket. There wasn’t much time, the gate was nearly closed, and judging by the loud music, cheers, chanting, and splintering wood, Cadence’s distraction was in full swing.
The palace’s south-east gate was notorious amongst the palace guard. For the last seven hundred years the ancient gate had remained open. Over the centuries its hinges had rusted terribly, and the wood had warped. The gate had been thought to be well and truly stuck open for as long as anypony could remember.
Maintenance was supposed to have fixed the gate hundreds of times, but no pony had ever actually come out to work on it. There was always something much more important to repair than the gate. Ambassadors needed hot water in their rooms. The Princesses’s bedchamber floors need to be squeak free. The palace’s sculptures and frescoes needed upkeep.
There had been a million and one better things to do than ensure a public pathway could be closed when it hadn’t been closed for centuries.
Then Princess Cadence had ordered the palace ground sealed to round up the Biker gang that invaded her wedding.
Private Kiwi was the poor bastard stuck with the task of closing the south-east gate.
Kiwi was an earth pony. A short, slightly round, decently strong earth pony who was neither green, nor had any ancestors who had ever so much as eaten a kiwi. The young guard was currently sitting in the path outside the palace, nursing his recently dislocated and relocated shoulder.
Fortunately for Private Kiwi, Kettlebelle, Canterlot’s champion strongmare, had been en route to the wedding to admire her third cousin’s dressmaking skills. The huge, well muscled, white furred mare had been planning only on attending the reception, but had been attracted to the rather unusual sounding festivities.
Much to Kiwi’s luck, she felt more than up to the task of closing the gate.
Their task turned into a proper challenge after it proved impossible to accomplish by pulling from the inside. The two ponies were currently seeing if the door could be pushed shut from the outside when the loud roar of an approaching engine managed to pierce the wall of chaotic sounds blasting out form the palace.
Kettlebelle looked up at the sound of an approaching engine and spotted a large pink unicorn mare on a red and black bike gunning it for the gate. For a brief second she swore she was looking at Princess Cadence, but shook that off. She’s seen Cadence inside in her wedding dress a mere five minutes ago.
Kettlebelle narrowed her eyes as she realized the mare wasn’t going to stop. At last, a challenge!
She put her back against the ancient door and pushed with all her might! The door creaked, groaned, and slid millimeter by millimeter under the strength of the mare who had once bench pressed a fully grown dragon.
Her powerful muscles bulged and stretched. Sinue popped. Tendons creaked along with timber creaked. Kettlebelle growled under the strain of the herculean task before her.
Harley’s engine roared as Cadence shot past the gate into the palace grounds, kicking up a ploom of earth as she rode into the palace grounds.
The strongmare’s ears drooped as she slumped do the ground. “Awww, butts! Sorry, Kiwi.”
Kiwi sighed and trotted around to the other side of the door. “We can make sure no others get in. Come on if you push and I pull we can maybe get this thing closed be...fore… Oh…”
The young soldiers eyes had spotted a small rut carved into the earth at the base of the gate, locating its source.
Kettle looked up in alarm. “What is it? Are the bikers gonna try and take the gate?”
Kiwi pushed the gate towards Kettle, it swung open easily, with but a single creak of protest. He reached down to where the gate had been resting and pulled an ancient door stop out from the ground it had been embedded into.
It was a simple, ordinary wedge made from iron. With a single rune carved into the back which glowed in a dim shade of peach.
Kettle’s ears flicked back. “Is that a magic doorstop?”
Kiwi sighed and looked at the ground in total embarrassment. “Y— Yeah…”
Kettle gently picked the stallion up, tucked him beneath her left foreleg, stepped inside the palace grounds, and closed the gate behind her. “We’re going to confiscate some of their beer.”
“I’m okay with this.”
Kettle shook her head and threw the doorstop over her shoulder. Nopony noticed as it flew clean back under the gate as if guided by magic.
The first thing Cadence saw as she drove into the palace grounds was a beer keg flying through a second floor window. It emerged from the reception hall trailing glass behind it like the smoke from a canon. For a brief glorious moment she remembered her old college fraternity.
Cadence smiled. The guys would have loved this one.
Her reminiscing was smashed aside as a pair of guards came flying through the air, nearly smashing her off her bike.
“Sod off! This party is her highness’s will!” Somepony big and gruff bellowed.
Bellowed loudly enough to be heard over the blaring music and everpresenent shouts of jubilation and terror.
The palace grounds had been flooded by pure chaos. The edges of the party were a war zone. The Hay’s Angels number included a fair number of retired veterans, who were able to hold the line against the soft ceremonial troops stations at the place. There was even an actual line to hold.
Royal guard halberds clashed against improvised shields. Steel clanged against hubcaps, thudded into wood, and sparked off magical barriers. Knives, shovels, pipes, and other gardening implements parried, blocked, and deflected what the shields didn’t stop.
The guards did their best, but the Royal Guard wasn’t anywhere near well as trained as the collection of former Rangers, Pathfinders, and Special Air Service members they faced. Golden armor gleamed in the hot sun, shimmering as sweat rolled down the smooth metal. Unicorns threw spells, struggling to overcome the biker gang’s counterspells.
War cries flew back and forth almost like arrows. Cadence couldn’t help but smile at some of them.
“SUN AND MOON!”
“FOR EQUESTRIA!”
“HAIL BIKE PRINCESS!”
"PRAISE THE SUN!"
“I’M ALSO YELLING!”
“BY THE SUN’S FIRE!”
“MOONLIGHT FALLS UPON YOU!”
“FOR CADENCE!”
“LOUD NOISES!”
The glorious battle would be memorialized in the form of a stained-glass window in Luna’s study. Even though it couldn’t truly be called a battle as not one of the Angels counter attacked.
They held the line, and nothing else. A purely defensive action. One which let the party burn like the fire in the heart of a foundry a mere meter behind them.
The party itself was indescribable as a whole. It could only be understood as a series of moments. Cadence wove through the ever shifting clouds of ponies. They danced, they sang, drank, made out, and brawled all across the gardens.
DJ Pon-3 and Doctor Wubs clashed with Iron Mare and Wyld Stallyns as multiple bands had a musical battle atop the reception hall. The ancient building visibly shook as the two bands struggled for dominance. Dust fell from crevices the wind hadn’t been able to penetrate in centuries and fell over the party below like confetti.
Giggling mares followed stallions into the palace’s bushes for private moments. Cadence swore she saw Belt snuggled up with Shining's friend Gaffer on top of a snack table. Bike engines revved for no apparent reason. A group of crowd surfing pegasus held an intense match of beer-pong as they rode across the party. Rolls of toilet paper flew everywhere, creating streamers which covered everything in sight.
A river of beer frothed and foamed as it flowed down the palace steps towards the main gate. Several ponies were riding down it in inner tubes they got from Luna knows where. Somewhere within the dense crowd the crack and splintering of wood betrayed the presence of either a jousting match or a lance breaking contest.
Cadence stopped driving across the lawn, her jaw hanging slack as she looked around at the absolute chaos which had been unleashed by her command. Her left ear drooped while her right ear perked up. Her wings twitched behind her as she attempted to process how exactly this madness had unfolded so quickly.
“But… But it hasn’t even been ten whole minutes!”
A flash of pink blurred across Cadence’s vision as a ball of hyperactivity and sugar jumped onto Harley’s handlebars and hugged her. Cadence almost screamed until she recognized the smell of baked goods and breakfast cereals as belonging to her reception’s planner, Pinkie Pie.
The Pink and even more pink mare had wrapped herself in a white bedsheet to make a crude toga, and was grinning ear to ear. Just like the last time Cadence had seen her. Only, an even more manic gleam twinkled in her eyes.
Pinkie hopped off Harley and laughed. “Silly, Cadie! You should have told me this is the kind of party you like! Twilight said to just get balloons and stuff. If I had known you wanted something like this I wouldn't have had to improvise the last ten minutes! Don’t worry, I’ve got a whole truck full of pies expressly for throwing at ponies on the way!”
Cadence’s jaw dropped even more. Harley rolled a tire-’s length back in shock. Cadence’s face went pale. “Y— You mean you pulled all of this out of your ass?!”
Pinkie blinked. “No? Is it supposed to be a sexy party too? No problem! I’ll be back in a sec!”
Cadence yelped and reached out, grabbing Pinkie by the shoulder before she vanished. “Wait! Where’s Twilight?”
Pinkie tilted her head. “Which one? Twilight Twilight, or Bug Twilight?”
Cadence’s ears lay back in a mixture of fear and anger. They have Pinkie too!
“How do you know—”
Pinkie giggled. “That evil shapechangers are trying to take over Equestria and replaced you and Twilight? Just my Pinkie sense. I know things! Bug Twilight is in the library, if you hurry you can catch her!”
Cadence gripped Pinkie’s shoulder harder and narrowed her eyes. “If you’re on our side, and you know this, why didn’t you tell anypony?”
Pinkie frowned. “I did… But this isn’t Ponyville. Nopony believes me when I tell them I know what’s going to happen. Don’t worry! I’m sure it will be okay in the end. It always is!” Pinkie’s face transformed in an instant from hyperactive and bubbly to deadly serious. “I can’t keep this distraction going forever. Even my talent has limits. You should go.”
Pinkie’s face popped back to normal as if it hadn’t even changed at all. “I’ll be right back and get that sexy part of the party started!”
Pinkie squirmed free of Cadence’s grip and vanished into the crowd. Cadence stared after her wide-eyed. In that split-second Pinkie had shown her serious side, Cadence had learned all she ever needed to know about the party mare. You did not buck with the party mare.
Harley revved her engine. <We should go.>
“Yeah. Let’s go before…” Cadence’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what might happen in the next ten minutes given Pinkie Pie’s new ‘Instructions’. “AAA! DRIVE, HARLEY, DRIVE!”
Harley needed no further prompting. The bike-bug punched herself into her highest gear and shot across the palace grounds. She raced towards the ivory and gold building at suicidal speeds. Cadence’s eyes widened in terror, she tried to turn the handlebars to swerve away from the solid wall, but Harley pushed back, keeping them on course.
“What the buck are you doing?!” Cadence screamed.
<Guards are on the first floor to keep the party out of the palace. Look in a window. I have a plan!>
The wall flew towards them. Cadence’s heart stopped, she bunched her hind legs, getting ready to jump off before the changeling killed them both. Harley popped a wheelie just before Cadence jumped. Her tire hit the wall and pulled against it, producing just enough traction for her to climb up the wall a few meters.
Cadence froze, confused by her bike’s actions. Harley twisted, sweeping herself around, using her handlebars as a pivot. Cadence flew off Harley like a ball thrown by a foal. The transformed Changeling’s headlight glowed with green arcane light as Harley readied a spell and cast it before plummeting to the ground.
Cadence flew into a second story window, crashing through it with the unmistakable sound of shattering glass. Harley’s spell hit her as she went through the window, wrapping Cadence in an illusion, making her appear to be an ordinary pink unicorn at first glance.
Cadence hit the floor of the second story reading room with a thud and immediately scrambled up onto her hooves. Harley’s voice called out to her as she stood up. <I put an illusion on you. You should look like a random unicorn mare to anypony who doesn't look too hard at you, or isn’t specifically looking for you… Not too helpful for avoiding changelings, but the nobles shouldn’t notice you. Uh, my spell won’t last long. I’m not too good at this. Good luck, mom! I love you.>
Cadence smiled. “That is amazingly helpful, thank you, Harley. I love you too. Be safe.”
Cadence dusted a few shards of glass off her jacket, adjusted her grenade launcher and fast-walked out of the room, knowing somepony would be along to investigate the sound of breaking glass soon.
The library was on the other side of the palace. Quite the walk. Cadence frowned as she began to trot down the gilded corridor. Even with the chaos outside and the still quite loud thumping music which permeated the palace, Chrysalis changelings would still be swarming the palace looking for her. The queen had to know that the party was a distraction.
I need a distraction for my distraction. Cadence reached up to the radio pinned to her collar and pressed down on the button. “Hey, ‘New Cadence’. How’s it going? It’s me. Cadence Classic. I just want you to know that I really don’t appreciate you trying to steal my throne out from under me.”
Cadence quickly reached into her jacket pocket to retrieve her pulse rifle. She levitated the rifle’s underslung shotgun as close to the radio as she could and pumped the action to rack a shell into the barrel. The sharp metallic sound echoed through the hallway, even with the dull thumping music. “My friends Smith and Wesson don’t appreciate it either. Yipikayay, motherbucker.”
Cadence let go of the radio, put her pulse rifle away, and began to jog wards the library. I’m coming Shiny! It will all be okay soon.