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


Cadence could hardly see a thing as she moved carefully along. She could only vaguely see her hooves as she placed one in front of the other. At first, the only thing she could hear was her hooves as she walked, but then, she became aware of the sound of a few voices up ahead. She wasn’t close enough to work out what they were saying though. As she began to see light, the voices faded away.

She took a deep breath and cautiously looked into the chamber she was in. She must’ve been heading a lot more downhill than she had thought, either that, or some sort of magic had been performed on the chamber as it was very large overall and the ceiling was very high.

The chamber seemed to have multiple levels with small rock paths, only just rough enough to use, leading to various large platforms at different heights which had different purposes, and some which had entrances to other areas. The walls, unlike the ones she had seen before, seemed to be made up of rock and crystal.

At the center of the chamber was a large, white crystal, at least, it was large in comparison with all the other, ordinary crystals Cadence had seen at this point in her life. The foals were all standing very close together around the crystal and seemed to be attracted to it somehow. The crystal was being held up by three sharp pieces of rock which formed a sort of tripod. 

It was hard to see, and Cadence couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but there seemed to be something else a bit odd about the foals besides the fact they were attracted to the crystal. Some of their hooves were a bit raggedy; the body and hair colors of others were a bit faded. Were these creatures stealing away their color or something? Cadence had heard of a creature that did that but it was not likely to be the case here as that was not the whole problem.

Should she risk getting a closer look at the poor foals, a large amount of whom she had foalsat at least once? She looked around swiftly. None of those creatures were in sight but she knew some could arrive at any moment. She swiftly approached the back of the group. She forced Soarin’, a colt not much younger than her, to turn his head. Cadence stared.

He hadn’t aged, and nor had the others as they hadn’t become taller or changed appearance in that way, but he looked so old. His youth was gone almost entirely. Cadence also noticed that his eyes were wide and clouded over. The crystal was sucking all the youth out of those affected by it. Cadence now realized what Shining Armor had realized some time ago, once the youth was completely drained, the foals would die, as if of old age.

Shining Armor had awoken very early that morning to go out with the other Royal Guards for most of the day, however, he had awoken at the time the foals, or, at least, Twilight Sparkle, had been affected, and he had decided to follow her. He had managed to remain unnoticed by the creatures, and, once they had gone, he had tried every spell he could think of in an attempt to destroy the crystal but none of them had worked. He was now standing close to his sister, very deep in thought.

If he hadn’t been so deep in thought, he probably would have noticed that Cadence was there. As he was near the front, looking forward and slouching so that he was less likely to be noticed, Cadence didn’t realize he was there either. Of course, her own worry, thinking hard, and the fact that, like everypony else, she thought that Shining Armor had left with the other guards that morning, didn’t help.

Cadence suddenly realized, too late, that she shouldn’t be just standing there thinking in the open. She turned back towards the hole to find her path blocked. The fact that she had been able to turn away from the crystal, left no doubt that she wasn’t under its influence. 

Cadence stared at the creature fearfully; the creature watched her with a small smile on his face, but at the same time, looked a bit shocked and confused. The creature slowly moved closer, Cadence backed away towards one of the rock paths.

‘What’s going on down there?’ asked a voice. A number of creatures were now appearing around the chamber. Arion was the one who had spoken.

‘I’m not sure, sir,’ the creature in front of Cadence replied.

Arion was next to him within a few seconds. He looked at Cadence and gave a nasty smile. Cadence turned and ran blindly up the path. Two thoughts went through her head as she ran. First, that that second creature seemed to know something that she didn’t, and then . . . Why wasn’t she being followed?

Suddenly, Cadence crashed into something. Something quite tall and thin, with rather hairy hooves. The shapes of the bones showed very evidently from under the skin, if it was skin; and the mane and tail were very reminiscent of flames. Cadence’s eyes were wide. The empress was thrilled.

‘What a lovely surprise!’ the empress exclaimed, watching Cadence with a gleeful expression, ‘I would have set up a trap if I’d thought you’d be back so soon.’

‘So you’re in charge here!’ Cadence said, a little shakily, in a defiant tone, ‘Give those foals back their youth and let them go right now!’

Shining Armor was unable to resist the urge to turn his head any longer. He was horrified to find his suspicions and fears were correct. He had overheard earlier what the empress was planning and knew that Cadence had got herself into the worst possible position. He felt awful. He knew there was no way he could help her.

If he had been a pegasus pony, he might have stood a chance, but as a unicorn, he would have to struggle out of the group of foals, fight a large amount of the creatures that were in the chamber, which he strongly doubted he could do completely alone, get up the path, and not to mention that he would be noticed as soon as he tried to move. There was also the fact that he might have made things worse for her even if he hadn’t been completely helpless, and it could still happen in any case if he was noticed. What if they tried to use him to force Cadence to give in?

The empress laughed at Cadence.

‘I don’t think so,’ the empress replied, ‘and I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands, Cadenza!’

‘How do you know my name?’ Cadence asked a little anxiously. The empress gave a superior smirk.

‘I know much more than that, my darling. Your mother called you ‘Mi Amore’ most of the time, for example.’

‘You knew my mother!’ Cadence gasped.

‘I know your mother,’ the empress responded with a broad grin, ‘I was the one who finished her off!’ 

Cadence glared furiously, tears pricking her eyes.

‘You were supposed to go the same way, Cadenza,’ the empress continued, ‘but you somehow managed to escape. I’ve been looking for you everywhere I went. I didn’t realize you were here until yesterday. What a piece of luck . . .’

‘What do you want here!’ Cadence demanded, ‘why are you stealing all the foals’ youth!’

The empress seemed almost complimented by the questions.

‘It’s really quite simple, Cadenza,’ the empress began, her flame-like hair seeming to flicker, ‘the youth from the foals acts as nourishment and makes us powerful which will aid us in taking Equestria. When it comes to those who haven’t been affected and died from their youth being drained, we gain power by stealing their souls.’

Cadence stared in horror.

‘I’ll be taking yours first, princess!’ the empress sneered, enjoying the impact it was having. ‘You’ll be nothing but a trapped ghostly spirit for all eternity, just like your dear mother!’

‘Where is she!’ Cadence cried, ‘what have you done with my mother!’

‘Don’t worry, Cadenza,’ the empress told her with a small snigger, ‘you’ll soon be joining her! Hoof yourself over now or I’ll make it more painful. The procedure is very delicate after all . . .’

She tried to grab the filly but Cadence jumped out of the way.

‘You’re only putting off the inevitable, Cadenza, give yourself up!’ the empress snarled.

‘Not likely!’ Cadence retorted. She turned and ran through an entrance, into a corridor.

‘I do love chases!’ the empress said to herself with a smile, before pursuing Cadence who was determined not to be caught.

She was so unlikely to be rescued it wasn’t even worth considering it a possibility and it was very likely she was the foals’ only hope. She was certainly her mother’s only hope. If she couldn’t save herself, there was no way she could save them, and if the foals couldn’t be saved, Equestria, and everypony in it, was almost certainly doomed.

She didn’t know where she was going. All she knew was that she had to keep running and not be caught under any circumstances. She considered it her own good luck that that creature with incredible speed had not been sent after her or she would already be in their clutches. She thought hard.

She knew she didn’t have much time. That crystal! She had to break it! That was where the creatures were getting their power from and that was the only way to save the foals! The question was how could it be broken? Very few spells she had learned had any destructive qualities, so it was very unlikely that any magic she performed could cause it to break. It would be ideal to break it, and it might contain more of their power, they might even keep it all there, but was there any way that the foals’ youth could be freed without breaking it?

When the creatures’ hooves touched the ground, they made no sound. This silence, to a certain extent, made things more frightening for Cadence, for she had no way of telling, unless she turned her head, which she was too scared to do, how close the creature pursuing her was. She could be grabbed at any moment. Cadence forced back fearful tears and raced on.

One thing was for sure, she needed to get back to that chamber if she was ever going to have the chance to break that crystal. Could she find a way to head back the way she had come? She doubted it, and it would be rather risky. There had been other entrances in that chamber leading to other areas; perhaps if she could find one of those . . . But by that time she would probably have already needed to figure out a way to break the crystal. Knocking it off its stand was very unlikely to break it and she doubted, even if she had been strong enough to lift it, that from quite a height it could be broken.

Cadence suddenly felt panicked and took to her wings. Her instincts had been right. As she took flight, she dared to look behind. The empress had tried to grab her; Cadence had only just evaded her grasp. Cadence was relieved, but also felt a little annoyed with herself, her fear of turning to look behind her had almost been her undoing. She needed to keep looking behind in order to pace herself.

Cadence also quickly realized that she should only take to the air to rest her hooves or to evade capture, and not stay there too long if she did. She had noticed that she had generally weak wings, whether it was due to being a mortal alicorn, or because she didn’t use her wings much, she might work out later. 

Cadence had worked out one thing though, most of the place these creatures lived in, was reinforced by walls which were made of something hard like brick, and had been painted white. There may be other things painted on the wall, such as the white crystal itself, (but nothing about it, Cadence had noticed with a sigh) and there was the occasional pipe or something, however, in that chamber, and the area near to it, the walls were made of rock and crystal. Once she saw traces of that, she would know which way to go.

The adults were probably still trying to find a way in, and with these creatures getting more powerful every moment, time was running out.

Cadence may have felt a little annoyed with herself, but that was nothing compared with how the empress was feeling. She was getting rather bored with chasing her victim around now, and was beginning to feel ever so slightly worried that the filly was more capable of ruining her plans than she had previously thought. 

It was all very frustrating. The filly’s fear wasn’t enough anymore, she wanted to, no, needed to hurt her. At least a few screams would improve her mood a bit.

Cadence turned her head to see the creature sending dark blue magic towards her through her eyes. Cadence jumped out of the way just in time. The beams of magic hit one of the walls, creating a large crack in it. Cadence gasped. If that magic could do that to the wall, what could it do to her?

Cadence could barely watch where she was going. She had to keep watching the magic that was being aimed at her. Not only would that magic do something horrible to her if it hit her, but there was no doubt that if it did hit her, that creature would catch her. She was simple too close, and the magic would be too effective to give Cadence any chance of escaping. And if she was caught, Cadence knew she wouldn’t be able to escape, the creature was simply too powerful. 

As Cadence turned a corner, she saw the walls beginning to change, she was nearing the chamber. She raced down the corridors, watching the walls, which were now showing her where to go. 

Cadence turned into a side corridor just before some magic was about to hit her. Cadence had noticed that as the creature became more powerful, and more angry, the magic became more powerful, however, when the magic hit the crystal areas of the walls, it both smashed them and reflected off them. Cadence was rather surprised, and glad she hadn’t been in that corridor when it happened.

The empress had evidently been surprised too for she hadn’t noticed where Cadence had gone. Cadence stood by the wall in the corridor she had turned into, thinking and trying to catch her breath.

‘There’s no point in hiding, princess,’ came the empress’s chilling tone, ‘I can easily find you, I can smell your soul, I can almost taste it . . .’

Cadence knew what she had to do, she just hoped there was still time. She had to do it, she had to be brave. She poked her head round into the corridor.

‘If your sense of smell is so good,’ Cadence shouted, ‘how come you haven’t noticed that your breath stinks?’ 

The empress growled furiously.

‘Why you little . . !’

‘What are you waiting for, slow poke!’ Cadence continued, trying to ignore the gnashing teeth and the ferocious tone of the empress, ‘come and get me!’

Cadence turned and ran as fast as she could.

*

Shining Armor deeply regretted not doing anything. He knew he could’ve made things worse but how much worse could they possibly be compared to now. Cadence had run for it and he had done nothing. That creature probably had Cadence’s soul by now. And he had done absolutely nothing. He knew he couldn’t have predicted what happened but he hadn’t even tried, well, maybe he had but not enough, and he should’ve. 

But would Cadence have run if she had known he was there? Maybe he had done the sensible thing, maybe, whatever he had done, would have been wrong to a certain extent. But he felt so guilty. She had needed him.

Suddenly, Cadence was rushing down one of the rock paths, followed by the empress who was evidently in a rage.

‘Come on,’ Cadence yelled breathlessly, ‘give me your best shot!’

‘I’ll show you what pain is, Princess!’ the empress spat. 

The rest of the creatures in the chamber stood still and looked at each other, knowing it wasn’t their place to interfere unless specifically ordered to. Cadence gasped, finding herself trapped in a corner of the room.

‘I have you now, Cadenza!’ the empress jeered.

Shining Armor wasn’t sure what to make of it. It looked like Cadence was in trouble, but she wasn’t the type to wind somepony up for no reason. Still, there was one thing he could risk doing.

‘Don’t look her in the eye!’ Shining Armor shouted. 

Cadence was the only one who heard him, but she was concentrating so hard that she didn’t realize it was his voice. The creatures were too involved in the scene in front of them to notice and the empress was in too much of a passion. 

Cadence looked scared, and she was, but she knew something the empress didn’t. As the empress prepared to send magic at her again, Cadence jumped up. Thinking that Cadence was about to take flight to try and escape again, the empress aimed where Cadence jumped. The magic hit the crystals on the wall at exactly the right angle. 

The magic hit the crystals on the wall at exactly the right angle. The magic reflected off and hit the white crystal in the center of the chamber, breaking it in two. The empress stared at the white crystal. She stared at Cadence. Cadence gave a small smile. 

Chattering could very quickly be heard as the foals woke up and their youth was restored. Shining Armor felt relieved and very impressed. Cadence suddenly felt very tired and weak but very happy. Twilight Sparkle hugged Shining Armor. The empress was furious. 

A tired and weak Cadence quickly realized that she hadn’t planned for this, she had only thought as far as saving the foals. The empress still had her trapped in a corner.

‘You may have taken our youth power supply,’ the empress said in a dangerous tone, ‘but that doesn’t mean I can’t take your soul. Nor does it mean I can’t severely injure you, torture you, or maim you! And that is exactly what I am going to do!’

The empress raised a hoof. Cadence covered her face, too exhausted to defend herself. Cadence waited for the first blow, but it never came. Many of the foals already loved Cadence, but also, they didn’t know exactly what had happened, but they knew one thing, that Cadence had saved them.

Cadence looked up. Soarin’, and his very close friend, Spitfire, being very fast flyers, had been the first to reach her. They glared angrily at the empress, who was both shocked and enraged. Shining Armor arrived next, placing himself on top of Cadence protectively. All the others followed in small groups without hesitation. The empress turned her head to the other creatures in the chamber.

‘Get ready to leave,’ the empress snapped. 

The foals cheered.

‘Shut up!’ the empress spat.

The foals paid no attention to her what so ever. The empress was very reluctant to leave, but she knew about the pones outside and also knew that they had been using youth power to keep the entrances inaccessible. The other ponies would easily be able to get in now. They had to leave.

‘Don’t think this is over, Cadenza, because it’s not!’ the empress sneered, her tone filled with spite and resentment, ‘I’ll be back for you and I can tell you it will be far from pleasant! And as for your mother, you’ll never find her soul! You wouldn’t be able to breathe where she is!’

With that, the empress marched off, leaving Cadence shaking slightly under Shining Armor’s warm body. The foals were jumping around and cheering, most of them having already the empress’s last words, or, at least, had not really understood what they meant. 

‘Are you alright, Cadence?’ Shining Armor asked, standing up and stepping aside.

‘I’ll be alright in a moment,’ Cadence replied quietly, ‘it was you who called out earlier, wasn’t it? Why shouldn’t I look at her eyes? And why were you here in the first place?’ Cadence asked, standing up too.

‘I followed Twilight this morning,’ he explained, ‘and the eye thing, well, her power comes through her eyes but also the easiest way to the soul is through your eyes so . . .’ 

Cadence nodded nervously.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t help you,’ Shining Armor continued, ‘I thought, well, I thought a lot of things, that was the problem . . .’

‘It was probably best that you didn’t,’ Cadence responded, ‘considering your brief history with them.’ 

Shining Armor suddenly felt so much better.

‘I was really impressed with that trick of yours with the crystal!’ Shining Armor blurted out, ‘it was pretty clever and you were so brave!’

Cadence smiled and blushed severely.

‘Well, what else could I have done?’ Cadence inquired shyly. 

They drew closer.

‘Hey, you two!’ It was Twilight Sparkle. ‘Are you coming or not?’

They laughed and followed her out through the hole. The first thing that Cadence saw when she got outside was Princess Celestia. Cadence gave a sigh and braced herself for a lecture.

‘Cadence,’ said Celestia, in a slightly shocked tone, ‘did you really save all the foals?’

‘Well, yes,’ Cadence replied nervously.

‘Cadence,’ Celestia began, ‘you need to be more careful and less impulsive, but . . .’ There was a moment of silence. ‘I can’t deny that I’m impressed and, I’m sorry. I was too harsh on you yesterday . . .’

Cadence was almost shocked, she hadn’t been expecting this, nor did she expect the hug she received, which she was more willing to return this time. 

It was lovely to see all the foals reunited with their parents which Celestia, Shining Armor and Cadence saw a lot of as they headed towards the castle. The Royal Guards were beginning to return, anxious for news.

‘You two haven’t forgotten about enduring the Grand Galloping Gala tonight?’ Celestia asked with a small smile, ‘even an immortal alicorn like myself can’t endure it alone, you know!’

‘It’s a bit hard to forget even in the most trying of circumstances,’ Shining Armor said with a laugh, ‘believe me, I’ve tried!’

Cadence smiled, but her thoughts were on her mother, somehow, she had to find her soul.

Celestia’s thoughts were on other things too. She knew she couldn’t deny it anymore, and Cadence had to know. And Celestia would take her and tell her there, at the Union of the Alicorns.