I'll Do Anything for You

by The Abyss


A Perfect Storm

Cadence felt her heart drop into her stomach as her head whipped up to see her balcony door whip open. There stood Brick, a knife held in his hoof. Her mouth went dry as a cold shiver ran down her back. Cold air flooded the room. Before she could turn to face their attacker, Brick reared back and hurled the knife at Scootaloo with all his might. Cadence looked at Twilight for a split-second only to hear her scream, “No!” She hoped that she wouldn’t use her magic in her weakened state, for if she did, it would surely mean the loss of her magic. Hoping to protect them with her own magic, Cadence released her spell a millisecond after Twilight and Rainbow winked out of existence with a bright flash of white light.

A light-blue shimmering wall erupted from the ground, separating Brick from everypony else and stopping the knife in its path. The sounds of yelling and hoofsteps filled the room behind her as guards rushed into the room. Brick’s stance lowered as he snarled, poised to attack again. His gaze flicked between her and the knife a couple of times before he threw himself out the open balcony door.

The shield wall popped like a bubble as Cadence stepped forward, her horn still lit. “Oh, no you don’t,” she softly uttered. Before Brick disappeared into the clouds, Cadence’s magic appeared on his tail and held him in place. A satisfied smirk appeared on her lips as she pulled him back towards them. Brick struggled to free himself and flapped as hard as he could. He pulled so hard against her spell that she felt the tension on some of his tail hairs disappear as they pulled free of his rear end. Shining and several guards rushed past her and stood next to the open door, ready to arrest him.

Brick finally gave up as he neared the balcony. He hung upside down from his tail, a horrific scowl on his face. He tried to bite one of the guards as he passed overhead. With a nod from her husband, Cadence let her magic fade and unceremoniously dropped Brick on his head in between all of the guards. They pounced on him like a tiger on its prey, giving him no quarter and no chance to escape. She stood aside and used her right wing to keep Scootaloo and Spike from seeing the guards drag Brick out of the room. 

Cadence took a deep breath and let it out to slow her racing heart. While she was glad that Brick was no longer a threat, her night was anything but over. She looked down at where Twilight and Rainbow had stood just moments ago, the sound of them teleporting away still echoing in her mind. Once she made sure that Scootaloo and Spike were okay, she had a pair of guards escort them back to their bedroom. The sounds of Scootaloo’s sobs echoed down the hall, each cry a separate dagger plunging into her heart. 

Cadence darted after them. “Guards!” she called out as she caught up to them. Feeling guilty that she didn’t first think to bring them back herself, she knelt down to let Scootaloo and Spike climb up on her back.  The guards nodded then fell into step behind her as she trotted away from her bedroom.

“W-Where are they?” Scootaloo finally asked in between sobs. “Are they d-d-d–”

“No, they aren’t,” Cadence said. “They’re just… missing. We’re going to find them, I promise.” As they neared the little one’s bedroom, she felt Spike push himself off of her back. He ran out in front of her and stopped, a fierce look on his face.

“Do you really think we’re going to go to bed after all that?” Spike asked. “I’m not going to go to sleep! Twilight and Rainbow are in danger and they need our help!”

“Y-Yeah!” Scootaloo piped up from her back.

“So what are we going to do? Let me remind you that you named me the great and honorable Spike, brave and glorious! Surely I, uh…” He shot a look up at Scootaloo. “We can be of help, right? Plus the danger is gone; all we have to worry about is finding them!”

“I suppose you’re right,” Cadence said after a few seconds of thought. “But you will stay with a guard escort at all times.” The sound of hoofsteps beating against the floor made her ears cock towards the sound. She turned her head just in time to see one of her guards galloping towards them.

He stopped in front of them, saluted, then stated, “My Princess, Princess Celestia has arrived with reinforcements. She waits for you in the throne room.”

“That is good news, thank you,” Cadence replied. “Please inform her I have one matter to attend to before I’m able to welcome her into my home. I won’t keep her waiting long.” With a curt nod, the soldier turned and trotted back from where he came. Looking back at the little ones, Cadence said, “Your help would be most welcome in the search. I don’t think Twilight would have teleported the two of them too far so they should be pretty easy to find.”

“Knowing Twilight…” Spike grumbled, the rest of his words lost. “She could be anywhere in this huge place.”

“Good thing you have the fastest filly around!” Scootaloo said as she slid off of Cadence’s back.

“Exactly,” Cadence said with a warm smile. “Now why don’t you go greet Princess Celestia? I’m sure she would be happy to have your help searching the castle.”

Scootaloo’s eyes lit up at that. “Sure!” she exclaimed. “Come on, Spike!” 

With the guards trailing the little ones to the throne room, Cadence stood alone. As the sound of their hoofsteps faded away into nothingness, she steeled her heart for what was surely to be a nightmarish experience. She let her smile fade away as she made her way downstairs, passing a mixture of her guards and Celestia’s as she neared the entrance to what used to be King Sombra’s dungeons. 

A solid oak door stood in front of her. Heavy chains that had locked the door shut from prying eyes lay on either side of the doorway. She felt a tingle as she stepped close, almost as if the air was electrified. “Open it,” she ordered. Two of the six guards nodded and obeyed, pulling the door open for her to reveal a swirling black portal. A rancid stench filled the room, making most of her guards wince and cover their noses. 

She steeled her nerves as she extended her right hoof forward. As soon as she touched the black nothingness, all warmth was drained from her body as she was teleported from the room, reappearing in a tunnel carved from rock deep below the castle. She couldn’t help but shudder. Dark magic ran deep through the uneven walls, magic that still hung in the air like a bitter aftertaste. Even the air smelled of things nopony should have to smell. The hallway was lit by dim torches that burned without producing any heat.

A fitting place for Brick… Cadence thought. She blinked a few times as she let her eyes adjust to the darkness. “Shining?” she called out.

“Right here, Cady,” he said, a few feet behind her. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m doing well, thanks,” she said as she nuzzled his cheek. “And you?”

“About the same. Just worried.”

“Me too. Has our prisoner said anything?”

Shining shook his head. “I’m afraid not. So they haven’t been found?”

Cadence shook her head. “No. I do bear some good news, though. Princess Celestia has arrived with more guards.”

“Good. They’ll be a huge help in the search. What about Spike and Scootaloo? How are they holding up?”

“As well as anyone, I suppose. They were adamant in helping search for Twilight and Rainbow. I don’t think they would have been able to sleep even if we locked them in their room.”

“So… will you try your hoof at interrogating Brick?”

“Yes, I think I shall.”

“Okay. I'll welcome Celestia and help coordinate search parties with her.”

“Very well. I shouldn’t be too long. I only wish to impress upon him the seriousness of his situation,” she said. Once Shining had winked away in the same way that she’d just entered the dungeon, she walked down the tunnel until she found Brick’s cell. She turned the key with a hoof and pulled the heavy wooden door open wide. “You’re not that smart, aren’t you?” Cadence’s question sounded more like a statement as she stood in the doorway, the single torch in the hallway behind her casting her shadow over him. Brick sat on the floor, his wings bound in heavy rusting chains. He sullenly looked through her as if she wasn’t even there, seemingly uncaring to the world.

“You could have gone anywhere in the world; you were free,” Cadence slowly said as she tried to understand Brick’s motives. “Why would you come here?” She eyed the poor excuse of a pony in front of her and felt dark thoughts leech into her mind, poisoning it with things she would never think of. Her gaze softened as she pushed those dark thoughts away. She sighed with disapproval and stared at him until he looked up at her with a curious yet cautious gaze. “Do you not speak?”

Brick laughed at that. “You think I’m going to talk to you?”

“Oh, I think you’ll talk. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but we’ll see how long you last.”

“How long I’ll last?” he finally asked as she walked out of the cell. As the door clanged shut behind her, he asked once more, “What do you mean? Hey, wait!”

Cadence pulled the door back open just enough for him to see her. “Do you not realize where you are? You’re in King Sombra’s dungeon. Surely you’ve heard the tales of his prisoners who went mad during their stay here. Don’t you feel his influence pressing in on your mind? That isn’t us. It’s him.” She closed the door to his cell then locked it. “You can try to resist, though most don’t last more than a week. All succumb eventually,” she softly said. 

Ignoring her prisoner’s protests, she made her way out of the dungeon and found her husband organizing search parties in cold weather gear. “Hey dear, how goes the search?” she cautiously asked.

“There you are!” Shining said. “Where have you been?”

“What do you mean? I was down there for five or six minutes.”

“Cady, you were gone for over an hour. I was about to go back down there to find you; are you okay?” 

“Yes, I’m fine. An hour? That’s preposterous,” she said, taken aback.

“Is it? What if time moves differently down there? I doubt we’ll ever know the full extent of what King Sombra did. We’re most likely going to have to move Brick to a different holding cell soon if we want him to be able to talk. I think I overheard Celestia say that she wants to move him to Canterlot.”

She sighed. “Very well. You may inform Celestia that Brick can be placed into her custody if she wishes. The magic down there… it’s different. Almost makes me sick to my stomach.” Cadence took a deep, shuddering breath. “So… still no sign of Twilight or Rainbow?”

Shining shook his head. “We swept the whole castle three times already. They aren’t anywhere inside.”

“You think they teleported outside?”

Shining nodded. “There isn’t any other answer. The temperature is well below freezing and it keeps dropping. With this snowstorm, I don’t know if anypony can last out there.”