//------------------------------//
// Alicorn : Part 3 
// Story: Cadence Unbridled (Sections 1 & 2) 
// by Flikaline 
//------------------------------//


Alicorn : Part 3



Cadence opened her eyes. It seemed to be rather dark as the area was covered, the main light source coming from what one side of a field might look like with a small wooden gate, but that wasn’t the only reason. She soon discovered she was wearing blinkers. Probably to make it harder for me to try to escape, Cadence thought bitterly.

She soon discovered there was also a rope around her muzzle, and another around her neck which was tying her to a stake in the ground. She suddenly remembered the colt who had tried to save her. It was miserably unfair, such bad luck. He should have won so easily; so strong and so brave . . . 

Her attention snapped back as the three goblins came through the gate and leered at her. Cadence pawed at the ground defiantly.

‘She’s a bit stubborn, isn’t she?’ said the winged goblin.

‘Nothing a little training can’t fix . . .’ answered the horned goblin with a small smile. He walked up to the glaring pony. ‘We will whip you if you don’t behave,’ he said smoothly. The other two hurried over and began studying her.

‘She should fit the wagon,’ the earth goblin told the other two. Cadence aimed a kick at him. The horned goblin slapped her across the face, bringing angry tears to her eyes. The horned goblin seemed satisfied for the moment.

‘Let’s go finish our packing,’ said the winged goblin. The other two nodded and the three of them hurried off leaving Cadence determined to escape. She wasn’t going to give them their satisfaction, and if they did take her to the mountains, she would have no chance of being rescued.

She looked around as best she could and her attention focused on the stake. She went over to it and began to dig relentlessly. She did not see the flashing, nor did she hear the shouts of goblins.

*

‘Where is she?’ Celestia growled.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ spluttered a goblin, terrified by the pony’s strength and size.

‘He wasn’t one of the ones involved,’ Shining Armor told her while fighting the very few goblins which were actually trying to attack.

‘I happen to know,’ Celestia told the goblin fiercely, ‘that three of your number stole my niece and brought her here!’ She sent magical fireworks into the sky which let off loud noises, causing a large amount of the goblins to yell and cower. ‘I also want to know who’s responsible!’

‘I’d tell you if I knew!’ whimpered the goblin before running away as fast as he could. 

Cadence had managed to free herself but was having to pull the stake along behind her. She knew she must look a complete mess; her hair probably looked something like a haystack and her front hooves were covered in dirt. She now stared out as goblins ran about in a panicked frenzy. Amongst the chaos, she caught sight of something. It was that colt, the one that had come to rescue her, he had come back for her. She hurried over as best she could. The goblins he had been fighting had turned to flee a few seconds before she reached him. Cadence tapped him on the shoulder. Shining Armor turned; his eyes went from delight on seeing her and that she was okay, to becoming full of pity. Cadence felt rather embarrassed about her appearance.

‘Oh, you poor thing! Here, let me help you . . .’ He bit through most of the rope and removed it and the blinkers using magic. Cadence looked around anxiously. ‘It’s okay,’ Shining Armor said reassuringly, ‘you’re in safe hooves now.’ 

Cadence gave a small smile, not quite making eye contact. A loud noise made them both turn, Cadence was delighted.

‘I’m warning you,’ Celestia was telling four goblins that were slowly backing away, ‘if I find she’s been harmed in any way . . !’

‘Auntie Tia!’ Cadence called, hurrying over. Celestia turned her head to see her precious niece galloping towards her. She let out a sigh of relief and embraced her lovingly, before turning back to the goblins.

‘Who were the three of you who were responsible for this!’ Celestia demanded.

‘It was them!’ shouted Shining Armor, pointing at the three goblins who were trying to sneak away. Celestia summoned them over using magic while keeping a protective foreleg around Cadence. The goblins yelled out of fear and surprise.

‘What did you want with my niece!’ Celestia snarled.

‘Oh, she’s your niece, is she?’ said the winged goblin.

‘We didn’t know!’ added the earth goblin.

‘You had no right to take anypony, and that doesn’t answer the question!’ Celestia replied angrily.

‘Oh, nothing much really . . .’ the horned goblin responded innocently.

‘I’ll tell you, Auntie Tia,’ said Cadence with a sigh.

‘DON’T TELL HER!’ the three goblins yelled at once.

‘I can gather from your reaction,’ Celestia said coldly, ‘that it was something most unpleasant.’

‘It was all Menace’s idea!’ the earth and winged goblin exclaimed. The horned goblin glared at them. 

‘I’m quite sure you two were only too happy to go through with whatever awful plan he had come up with.’ Celestia responded. 

By this time, all the other goblins were angry, angry that those three had brought the pony there and caused all this trouble for them. Celestia addressed all the goblins,

‘This land is Equestria; you have no right to be occupying it. It seems like your reputation preceding you wasn’t enough for you to show me that I must get rid of you, I am therefore asking you to gather the things you have collected and get out of this land and never come back. If you do not leave, I will make you leave!’

For a few moments, there was only silence.

‘Come on!’ a goblin said suddenly, ‘let’s get out of here before she changes her mind!’ Suddenly, the goblins were rushing about at a high speed collecting the very small amount that belonged to them, and, the much larger amount that didn’t.

‘Are you going to let us go?’ asked the earth goblin timidly. Celestia turned to her niece.

‘What do you think, Cadence?’ Celestia asked, ‘should I let them go?’ The goblins were horrified. After a few moments, Cadence nodded. ‘Consider yourselves lucky,’ Celestia told them, ‘that Cadence has such a kind heart.’ They hurried off as fast as they could.

‘Oh, Auntie Tia, I’m so sorry!’ Cadence said a little tearfully.

‘Don’t you know you can’t trust goblins?’ Celestia responded.

‘I know I was an utter foal . . .’ Cadence told her miserably. Celestia embraced her again.

‘What matters is that you’re safe,’ Celestia told her.

‘Thank you so much for coming to rescue me.’ Cadence said.

‘Thank this colt for coming to tell me that you were in trouble!’ Celestia answered. Shining Armor felt a little embarrassed. As Cadence walked over to him, he could feel his face beginning to redden slightly. She stopped in front of him. She was looking at him with those big, beautiful eyes of hers.

‘It’s, uh, Cadence, right?’ he murmured.

‘Yes, well, my real name’s Mi Amore Cadenza, but most ponies call me Cadence,’ Cadence replied, ‘and your name is?’ 

‘Oh, it’s Arning Shmor, I mean, Shining Armor.’

‘Seems appropriate,’ Cadence said with a blushing smile, ‘I think I’ve heard that name somewhere before. Are you Twilight Sparkle’s brother? I foalsit her.’

Shining Armor had temporarily forgotten how to speak so he nodded vigorously. He now remembered that his parents had mentioned her and his sister had mentioned her several times, but no-pony had told him how gorgeous she was. Celestia gave a knowing smile before coming over.

‘Was it my imagination,’ Celestia asked, ‘or was your flank blank a few minutes ago?’ Shining Armor was surprised, and was even more surprised to find his cutie mark had finally appeared.

‘Well done,’ Cadence said, making him blush again, ‘by the way, why were you out so early?’

‘Well, I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go out and do some training. I want to get into the Royal Guard you see . . .’

‘Want to be like your famous uncle then, do you?’ Celestia asked. Shining Armor nodded.

‘You just had to bring her here, didn’t you?’ a female goblin muttered to the three goblins who were angry and bitter but considered themselves lucky to be alive.

Quite quickly, the place was deserted. Celestia performed a spell to check, which confirmed there were no living creatures in the area apart from the three of them and one other thing. Celestia searched around and found, to her surprise, a lilac dragon egg with purple spots on. 

‘Shouldn’t we check to see if they’ve left anything else behind?’ Shining Armor asked. Other things had been left behind. The goblins had left in such a panic and a rush.

‘Two words sum up goblins,’ Celestia said, ‘cunning and cowardly.’ 

They didn’t come across much until Cadence stumbled upon some sort of shed, which, when opened, was reveal to contain a wagon full of goblin treasure. They all stared.

‘Do you think they’ll be back for it?’ Cadence inquired.

‘They’d be too scared of meeting your aunt again!’ Shining Armor replied with a grin, but he felt sad. He had known it really since Celestia had told him Cadence was her niece, maybe even really when he realized she was an alicorn. What chance did he stand with a princess? And one that couldn’t be more perfect?

After finding nothing else of particular use, they put the dragon egg in the wagon along with the treasure, and Shining Armor put himself into the harness of the wagon and pulled it along as the three of them walked on.

‘Those spells I performed could never have hurt the goblins,’ Celestia explained as they walked along, ‘they are normally used for aerial display; I was using them to give those creatures a good scare.’

‘Well that plan certainly worked,’ Cadence replied quietly with a small smile.

‘What did they want with you, Cadence?’ Celestia asked.

‘Well,’ Cadence began rather shakily, ‘they were primarily after my horn, but they were also planning to enslave me, skin me; they seemed to think my mane, tail, wings and even my teeth may have some value. They were going to eat whatever was left of me!’ She couldn’t hold back tears any longer. Celestia wiped her eyes and stroked her mane with a hoof.

‘I’m sorry I wasn’t much use earlier,’ Shining Armor mumbled while looking at the ground.

‘That wasn’t your fault though,’ Cadence exclaimed, ‘that was tremendous bad luck!’ There was silence for a moment. ‘I still haven’t thanked you for what you did, have I?’

‘You don’t need to!’ Shining Armor replied quickly, almost stumbling over his words.

‘Perhaps you should take some of this treasure for yourself.’ Celestia suggested.

‘I couldn’t take a reward for such a thing!’ Shining Armor exclaimed, ‘It wouldn’t be right! And besides, knowing that Cadence is safe is reward enough.’

‘At least come and join us for breakfast.’ Celestia said.

‘Well, I suppose I can’t refuse that,’ Shining Armor responded with a smile, ‘but I can’t stay too long. I promised my sister, I’d teach her how to fly a kite today.’

*

Shining Armor’s cutie mark had got him a lot more attention than he had been expecting. Any other day he would have probably enjoyed this, but now it didn’t seem to matter, nor did the way his ex-fillyfriend had dumped him, he had other things on his mind now.

Very few ponies suspected any connection between Shining Armor’s cutie mark and the fact that the goblin threat had vanished. It seemed best to keep what had happened quiet to some extent so that Cadence wouldn’t be questioned about it.

Shining Armor had been expecting the reaction of his sister and his parents, but they were left to presume that his cutie mark was the result of his early morning training. His parents, however, were more concerned about Shining Armor’s sudden state of mind change. He seemed so much happier all of a sudden, almost elated at times, and he kept daydreaming. It was only later in the day, when Night Light had overheard Shining Armor telling Twilight Sparkle that he had met her foalsitter, that the explanation became clear. Night Light turned to his wife.

‘Velvet, I’ve figured out what’s up with Shining Armor,’ he told her.

‘What is it, Night Light?’ Twilight Velvet asked.

‘You know that princess that foalsits Twilight?’ he said, ‘Shining Armor’s fallen head over hooves in love with her.’