//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 - Cadence, Fancy Pants // Story: A Journey Unthought Of: Revival of Chaos // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// After being hastily ushered into Canterlot Castle by the Royal Guard, Princess Cadence had begun to ask questions almost nonstop in order to get up to speed with the most current events. “This open hostility has sprung up almost overnight,” one of her two guards said as they began the trek back to her’s and her husband’s new married suite, “One or two ponies started rumors of conspiracy beyond what was officially released by Princess Luna, and now everypony is caught up in both panic and anger.” Princess Cadence shook her head as she tried to comprehend everything she had just heard, “I’ve never felt so much of it all at one time. It was like a writhing creature, reaching out through everypony. There was fear driving that anger, and I think we all have a right to be a little afraid after the Changelings.” The second guard cleared his throat, “Ever since Princess Luna declared war on them, everyone has been paranoid, looking for signs if their neighbors might not be who they seem. We’re already getting reports of witchhunts from the outer regions, which must have started around the time the report of Canterlot’s attack made it to print.” “Have there been any casualties?” Princess Cadence murmured as she took a shuddering breath. “None so far as we know. Those that have been accused were being kept under twenty-four hour surveillance in any sort of secure areas available; banks, hospitals, even some of the old jails have seen recommissioning in this nightmare.” The small entourage passed into a large room with two sets of spiraling staircases that lead up to a balcony which looked out across the whole of the north of Equestria through large sets of glass windows and two doors that lead out to a smaller balcony area. The sun had continued down past the horizon, but no one had given it the command to do so. Princess Cadence was unsure if Aunt Luna had placed some contingency to allow the sun and moon passage through the outer ether without her influence, until such a time as her niece was ready to take the job. Her innate sensory of the order of universe told her that this was not the case, and that she needed to find a solution to this predicament very soon, before things would take a turn for the worse in the cosmic sense, and not just the geopolitical. Without any warning whatsoever, three dark forms crashed through the now magenta hued glass paneling. Three very deranged looking pegasi introduced themselves to Princess Cadence and her guards by barreling into them headfirst, ramming the lot of them against the wall. The guards struggled against their opponents, but the traitorous ponies picked them up by their midsections, carried them through the now broken glass panorama, and tossed them out to a long fall down the mountainside. “No, stop!” the Princess screamed, but her captor simply doubled the effort that he was putting into keeping her pinned to the wall. The two pegasi that had just accomplished their bloody task returned, and produced swords from the sheaths they had had tied around their bodies. “Not everypony is going to choose the two most popular sides in the upcoming war,” one of the approaching assassins said through her teeth and around her sword, “Death comes to all tyrants!” Princess Cadence’s horn pulsed blue as she pushed her attackers away, but before she could make a run for it, a vial that had been thrown in her direction exploded in front of her, releasing a magically potent sleeping drought. She coughed violently to try and expel the potion’s vapors from her lungs, but she could already feel its effect on her system. The edges of her eyesight began to fade slowly as she struggled up the nearby set of stairs. Her strength was leaving her, as was her consciousness of her surroundings. The pegasi weren’t far behind as they followed her, only a few hoofsteps away at any time. There had been enough potion in the small container to knock out an elephant. While Princess Cadence’s body would filter the drought very quickly, she was by no means immune. The leader of the group raised her sword once again to harm the now unconscious Princess, when a nearby set of double doors were flung open into the room. Out of the darkness of a hallway nearby the balcony where the four ponies stood strode Fancy Pants. His face was devoid of his usual amusement, and he held a magically created rapier in his telekinetic grip. “Back away from the Princess,” he said firmly, “or I will make things unpleasant for all of us.” He aggressively twirled his sword to offer emphasis to his threat, before bringing its point towards the three intruders. They looked at each other for a moment to confirm what each of the others was thinking, and then they slowly began to smile. The three pegasi slowly began to edge toward Fancy Pants, splitting into a three pronged attack formation as they did. Fancy Pants watched each of them in turn as he did his best to account for each of their movements. Three on one wasn’t exactly sporting, and the odds statistically were not in his favor. He would have to be enough. Please wake up soon Princess, he nervously thought to himself, I could truly use a hoof here. Princess Cadence found herself in a small garden, sitting comfortably under the shade of a cherry blossom tree, and near the edge of a small but beautiful pond. She knew she was dreaming from the instant that she first remembered being here; her dark aunt had taught her much of the functions of the mind in the past few years. While she naturally was drawn into the elegance of the surrounding dreamscape, the matters of the waking world were decidedly more pressing on her thoughts. She did her best to will herself awake, but she found she was being blocked by some presence. “Aunt Luna?” she called out to the pink and grey overcast clouds up above, “Is that you?” From out of the sky came a voice unlike any Cadence had ever heard in her life, “Hello Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Canterlot.” “Who are you?” she asked as she looked all around for the voice’s source, “Why are you keeping me here? My life is in danger if you do not let me go now!” “Be at peace,” the disembodied voice soothed, “You will not come to harm here nor there. I am holding you here because you wish to bring order to a world out of balance. You desire knowledge of how to move the sun and the moon while Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are elsewhere. I can give that knowledge to you. Listen closely to me, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and you will know that which you seek.” Blue sparks cascaded off the two swords Fancy Pants had conjured. While he had been able to block almost all of the blows of his three dishonorable opponents, they were dividing his focus, and the several slices through his suit made it obvious that his defense was beginning to deteriorate, despite his second sword’s work. They had not given him any amount of respite, but of course he had not expected them too really. Five minutes which had seemed like an eternity had passed since the duel had begun, and it was becoming quite apparent that the battle would be over very shortly. Through his gasps for air, Fancy Pants saw that his opponents weren’t even breaking a sweat as they each took their turns with him. It was then that he realized that they had been toying with him from the very start. “You can drop this charade now,” he said breathlessly as he parried one last blow, “You could’ve done me in minutes ago. My question is why you are bothering to fight me at all?” The three pegasi assassins lowered their swords and looked at each other. The leader of the group, the female, stepped forward to engage Fancy Pants in single combat. She lunged at him, and Fancy Pants instinctively sidestepped, slashing his sword horizontally along his opponent’s side. She didn’t even grunt in pain as she immediately came to a stop next to the Equestrian Prince. The gash in the mare’s side oozed green sludge, before it slowly cauterized itself shut with eerie green flames. Fancy Pants looked on, horrified at the realization of what his opponent was. The mare’s pupil’s flashed emerald in color, and she put a hoof to her mouth. “Shh,” she quietly hushed him, before a large extrusion came out of her body, knocking the stallion to the floor. Picking him up with her forehooves, the mare led the other two disguised Changelings to the broken window below. The form of Princess Cadence stirred. As she got to her hooves and shook off the last of the sleeping potion, she saw that her would-be murderers were about to throw Fancy Pants to his death. Leaping over the balcony to the floor below, she galloped towards them, “Leave him alone!” Fancy Pants struggled to leave the forelegs of his opponents, but they tossed him out of the window all the same. The Princess leapt over the three pegasi, and began to dive towards the falling form of her attempted rescuer. Fancy Pants did his best to provide an upward force with his magic to slow his fall, but he was exhausted from his battle, and so he simply spread his forelegs out in an "X" formation, hoping that the Princess would catch him before he hit the ground. Speeding like a pink and purple bullet towards her target, Princess Cadence grabbed him by the forelegs and pulled up, bringing them out of the dive to glide away from the unforgiving rock face below and towards the dark waters of the lake below Canterlot. “We can’t go back,” Fancy Pants yelled over his shoulder to the Princess, “Those three were Changelings in disguise! If you stay in Canterlot, they will keep trying to kill you.” The Princess vehemently shook her head, “No! I can’t abandon Equestria. I’m the head of this nation now!” “We can’t risk the lives of the other nobles, especially those who are more familiar with the protocols of governance!” Fancy Pants looked back at the Princess, right in the eye, “Are you willing to risk their lives, or worse, Shining Armor’s life against those monsters?” Shuttering at the thought of what the Changelings might do to her husband as revenge against her, Princess Cadence and Fancy Pants dejectedly flew away from Canterlot into the west, and into the darkness of the oncoming night. Far up above, the Changeling Candidate named Papillion watched them leave with her two subordinates. Taking flight, the three veered toward the north, satisfied in the fact that their mission was complete, and that all was going according to plan.