Hearts & Hooves Day Disaster : Part 3
It seemed like it had been so long since Cadence could breathe in fresh air. She tried to shake the water off and looked around. There were two things she had to do. She had to find a pony to help her and avoid being found by Goody Four-Shoes. She also needed a chance to think things through so she quickly crossed the road and headed for a more woodland area where she wasn’t likely to be seen by Goody Four-Shoes and less likely to be trampled on by ignorant ponies.
It had also occurred to her that, in a busy area, she was less likely to be heard and that anypony who she did try to speak to, would presume it was one of the other ponies. Cadence suddenly found herself being picked up by a pair of hooves. Panicked, she struggled.
‘It’s okay, little bunny. I’m not going to hurt you,’ came a soft and gentle voice.
Cadence looked up to find herself in the hooves of a yellow pegasus foal with three butterflies for a cutie mark.
‘I’ve never seen a pink rabbit before, but then, I’ve only been here a very short time . . .’ the little yellow filly continued half to herself.
Cadence opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. Maybe she hadn’t been too frightened to speak before after all, she couldn’t speak at all! Now what was she going to do! Cadence began to cry.
‘Oh, no! Don’t cry, little bunny!’ said the yellow foal in a quiet and concerned voice, ‘don’t worry, I’ll feed you and give you a nice bath and have you feeling better in no time.’
*
‘You really care about this filly, don’t you?’ the café owner said.
‘I think something awful may have happened to her,’ Shining Armor admitted miserably, on the verge of tears, ‘you didn’t see anything did you?’ he asked.
‘I wasn’t really paying attention to who the customers were,’ replied the café owner, ‘I’m sorry,’
‘Is there anywhere she could have gone without leaving?’ Shining Armor inquired, ‘and is there anypony who works here who might have seen something?’
‘The only place she could have gone is the basement,’ the café owner responded, ‘I don’t know any reason she would have gone down there except maybe curiosity.’ Cadence is rather curious, thought Shining Armor.
‘What’s down there?’ he asked.
‘It’s part store room, part residential,’ the café owner explained, ‘it’s occupied by two workers, a brother and sister. There’s a colt named Joe who has a donut for a cutie mark, and a mare with a ballet shoe for a cutie mark, goes by the name of Goody Four-Shoes.’ He gave a shiver.
‘What’s wrong?’ Shining Armor inquired.
‘Call me crazy,’ said the café owner, ‘but that mare gives me the creeps. No idea why. Anyway, you’re welcome to go down there and have a look around and ask them some questions.’
‘Thank you,’ Shining Armor breathed.
The café owner lent him a small bag which went around his middle to carry the necklace in while he searched.
‘Thank you again,’ Shining Armor mumbled.
‘It’s not your fault, you know,’ the café owner told him.
‘Yes it is,’ replied Shining Armor, ‘I was the one who invited her here. She’s never been to Ponyville before,’
‘Then there’s a possibility that she just went out for air and got lost,’ the café owner said encouragingly. Shining Armor gave a weak and hopeful smile.
Shining Armor looked around the large and somewhat eerie basement. On hearing the sound of hooves, he turned to see another colt coming towards him with a panicked expression on his face.
‘Are you Joe?’ Shining Armor asked.
‘You shouldn’t be down here,’ Joe told him hurriedly, ‘get back upstairs before Goody Four-Shoes comes back!’
‘She’s not here? Where did she go?’ Shining Armor inquired.
‘She went, um, out,’ Joe replied a little unnaturally.
‘I just wanted to ask you,’ Shining Armor explained, ‘if you’d seen a pale pink alicorn filly.’
‘Not recently, I saw one up in the café some time ago,’ Joe responded.
Shining Armor got the impression that Joe wasn’t telling the whole truth but decided to leave it and go and look for Goody Four-Shoes. Maybe she knew something.
*
The little yellow filly couldn’t understand it. Whatever she did, the pale pink bunny rabbit still remained very sad. She began to wonder whether it was something that had happened rather than something that she needed. It was quite a small rabbit, maybe she had lost her parents or something.
‘Excuse me,’ came the voice of a colt, causing the yellow foal to turn, ‘I’m sorry to bother you but do you know a pony named Goody Four-Shoes? She has a ballet shoe for a cutie mark.’
The yellow foal shook her head. Cadence had looked up on hearing the name, but all thoughts of her vanished in an instant when she saw who had spoken. She couldn’t believe it. It was Shining Armor! She did the only thing she could think of. She jumped from the small yellow filly’s grasp and clutched the colt’s right foreleg desperately, looking up at him, willing him to recognize her. Neither pony knew what to make of it.
‘Oh, my,’ said the little yellow filly in a low voice, ‘maybe, maybe she wants to go with you, maybe you should take her . . .’ The pink bunny rabbit nodded vigorously.
‘I suppose, I suppose I could take her,’ said Shining Armor thoughtfully, picking her up and placing her on his shoulder.
Shining Armor had not been very successful so far and felt rather down. The café owner had been the only one to believe he hadn’t just been stood up and wouldn’t accept it, except for maybe Big Macintosh, but it was hard to tell with him when he normally just responded with ‘yep’ or ‘nope’ to every question, besides, he had been occupied by the fact his sister had returned, and, on returning, had earned her cutie mark.
Shining Armor felt so incredibly worried. What could’ve happened to Cadence? Those goblins wouldn’t have dared return and take her, would they? Could some creature have taken her and be holding her for ransom? Had she been ponynapped or beaten up and left for dead? What if . . ? No, Thora would never . . . Would she?
He really wished he had somepony to talk to, and, as he only had a rabbit for company, despite the fact he very much doubted she would be able to understand, he decided to talk to her.
‘I’m looking for somepony,’ Shining Armor began, ‘somepony very dear to my heart. She, well, it’s hard to describe her, really. She’s kind and caring and the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. I was supposed to meet her today in a café but she disappeared. I know she was there because I found her necklace, the one I gave her. I’m sick with worry about her. I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t find her, but I will, I won’t stop searching until I do. I . . . I think I may really, truly love her . . . I left her a parcel and attached a note I wrote . . .’
He stopped. The pink bunny rabbit’s face was bright red. But Cadence had also realized something, she may be a rabbit, but she could still write. To Shining Armor’s surprise, the pink bunny rabbit jumped off his shoulder, and began to make marks in the sandy path. He gasped as he saw the marks making letters, and the letters, forming words:
I AM NOT REALLY A RABBIT
Shining Armor stared.
I AM A PONY
‘How did this happen?’ Shining Armor asked in an amazed and shocked tone.
The rabbit drew a picture of a unicorn’s horn.
‘Do I know you?’ Shining Armor inquired, remembering how desperately the bunny had clung to him.
The rabbit nodded.
‘Who are you?’ Shining Armor asked, but a moment after asking, he knew, ‘Cadence?’
The bunny rabbit nodded rapidly, a small smile forming on her face and tears of relief trickling down her cheeks.
‘Oh, Cadence,’ Shining Armor exclaimed, his voice full of pity, ‘Who did this to you?’
Cadence drew a picture of a ballet shoe. Shining Armor knew what it meant.
‘We need to find a way to change you back,’ Shining Armor said, ‘there’s a library not too far away . . .’
Cadence would have screamed if she had had a voice. She instinctively thumped her foot rapidly. Shining Armor turned.
‘Oh, you found my bunny rabbit. I’ve been looking for her everywhere!’ It was Goody Four-Shoes. Her voice sent chills down their spines.
‘She’s not yours and you can’t have her!’ Shining Armor snarled.
‘If you don’t give her to me,’ said Goody Four-Shoes in a dangerously low voice, ‘you will pay a very heavy price, colt!’
Shining Armor was very frightened but he stood firm and glared at her while Cadence clung to his left foreleg nervously.
‘Give me that rabbit now or I’ll rip you to shreds!’ Goody Four-Shoes said in a soft and very threatening tone.
‘Never!’ said Shining Armor fiercely. He quickly picked Cadence up and put her on his back, ‘hold tightly onto my mane,’ he told her. He galloped off as fast as he could.
‘I’ll get you for this!’ Goody Four-Shoes shrieked.
The streets were almost completely deserted which was both a good thing and a bad thing. He could hear Goody Four-Shoes’s rage only a short distance off. He thought, despite her size, that he could probably beat Goody Four-Shoes in a fight but he couldn’t take the chance of losing.
He headed for the library. He dived through the open door and proceeded to block the doorway with various things around the room, and put the bag he was wearing down, before hurrying to the bookshelves and looking through the most likely books. He heard a noise outside and summoned a large amount of other things to block the door. Cadence waited on the floor anxiously.
Just when Shining Armor was thinking that Goody Four-Shoes would very soon break through the blockage, he found the spell he was looking for. He hurried down, double checked the instructions, and performed the spell. It used more effort than he thought it would but he was successful.
‘Oh, thank you, Shining Armor, thank you!’ said a very grateful Cadence who was glad to be able to speak again.
A loud noise made them turn. Goody Four-Shoes had broken through the barricade. She dived at Shining Armor and pinned him to the ground. She was incredibly strong for a mare, a lot stronger than he had expected, plus, her rage was making her even stronger. Shining Armor had been caught off guard, as he had expected her to go for Cadence rather than him, and now was struggling and trying to push the mare away.
‘I told you I would make you pay a heavy price, colt,’ said Goody Four-Shoes savagely, ‘and now, you’re going to pay!’ She punched him as hard as she could, and continued to strike him, any pity she had only reserved for herself.
‘Leave him alone!’ Cadence shouted, hurrying over, but found herself being kicked back into one of the bookshelves.
Shining Armor was unable to fight back as he didn’t have time to recover from one blow before the next one came at him. He was kicked hard against the wall. Cadence galloped towards him. Goody Four-Shoes was about to stab him with her sharp horn when Cadence got there and placed herself over him. She glared at Goody Four-Shoes. Shining Armor looked up, surprised the next blow hadn’t come.
‘Move aside, you pathetic filly!’ spat Goody Four-Shoes.
‘Never!’ cried Cadence, angry and frightened tears flowing down her face both for herself and Shining Armor, ‘It’s me you really want, isn’t it!’
‘Cadence,’ Shining Armor murmured, ‘don’t do it!’
‘If you’re going to beat up anypony,’ Cadence continued, ‘it should be me!’
A noise at the door made the three ponies turn. It was Joe, making his way through what remained of the blockage.
‘I told you to stay at the café!’ Goody Four-Shoes snapped.
‘I’m not listening to you anymore,’ Joe stuttered, ‘if I wasn’t such a scaredy pony, I would have turned against you before!’
Goody Four-Shoes advanced towards him, grinding her teeth furiously, fortunately, Shining Armor had now had a chance to recover. Joe flattened himself against the wall with a terrified expression on his face, but was determined not to run away.
Cadence and Shining Armor attacked Goody Four-Shoes before she had a chance to lay hoof upon her younger brother. Joe tried to help them but got fiercely kicked back. Goody Four-Shoes was even more enraged.
‘I’m going to make you two suffer!’ Goody Four-Shoes snarled ferociously, ‘I’ll turn you both into bugs!’ She got ready to cast the spell.
‘Shining Armor,’ said Cadence urgently, ‘put up your repelling shield!’
Shining Armor managed to put it up just before the spell was supposed to hit them. It rebounded, and hit Goody Four-Shoes. Within a few seconds, all that remained was a small beetle on the floor. Joe quickly summoned a screw top jar and placed the beetle in it. For a few moments, there was only silence.
‘She’s gone . . .’ said Joe quietly, ‘she’s gone!’ he shouted joyfully, starting to cartwheel around the room, ‘wahoo! I’m free, I’m free! I can finally do what I want and not live in fear of her any longer! This is the greatest day ever!’ The other two ponies laughed before turning to each other.
‘Are you alright?’ Cadence inquired.
‘Nothing I won’t recover from. I’m sorry I wasted your day,’ Shining Armor said, ‘I shouldn’t have asked you here.’
‘It wasn’t your fault, Shining Armor,’ Cadence replied.
‘Yeah,’ added Joe, ‘it was all Goody No-Shoes’s fault! She can’t wear shoes now!’
‘And besides,’ Cadence continued, ‘Hearts & Hooves Day isn’t over yet!’
There was a pause.
‘Did you – did you really mean those things you said about me?’ Cadence asked shyly, not quite looking at him. Shining Armor’s face reddened.
‘Well, yeah . . .’ Shining Armor responded, looking at the floor and feeling incredibly embarrassed. Cadence gave a beautiful smile and blushed furiously. ‘Uh, here . . .’ he continued, going over to the bag and fetching the necklace he had given her. He hurried back to Cadence, but still wouldn’t look at her.
‘I hoped it was you,’ Cadence told him quietly, looking down and gazing into his eyes.
Shining Armor looked up both in slight surprise and in order to put her necklace back on her using magic. Joe smiled as he watched. Shining Armor was even more surprised to find Cadence leaning her head against his shoulder.
‘You were very brave,’ she said.
‘So were you!’ Shining Armor responded, ‘I just wish this day hadn’t been such a disaster.’
‘Maybe it won’t have been,’ Cadence replied, ‘once it’s over.’
At last, Cadence dared to do what she had been tempted to do several times before. Shining Armor grinned as Cadence planted a kiss on his cheek.