Throw Caution To The Winds : Part 2
Cadence gave a shiver. The last time she had been lost was when Thora and Lightning Dust had played that nasty trick on her. Starburst noticed this and was rather concerned. He put a foreleg around her.
‘Don’t worry, Cadence, we’ll be alright,’ Starburst told her soothingly, ‘we’ll get out of this.’
Cadence tried to smile. Fleur de Lis looked on rather jealously.
‘We’ll get to a settlement sooner or later,’ Starburst continued, ‘and, I suppose, I might, I could ask for directions.’
He didn’t sound too keen on the idea. Cadence quickly realized that Starburst was naturally very shy.
‘I knew Starburst would save us!’ Fleur de Lis cried, jumping up in the air. Cadence gave a snort and rolled her eyes.
*
It seemed like they had been walking for ages. Starburst had flown up at least a few times to try and gauge which direction they should go in. He wished it had occurred to him to bring a compass or a map. Cadence sighed heavily. She hadn’t lost faith in Starburst but she was tired and hungry.
The air suddenly became very cold.
‘There’s snow up ahead,’ Starburst remarked in surprise.
Cadence stared. They couldn’t be as far as the arctic north surely? No, they couldn’t be. They would have passed Crystal Town, and the weather conditions had changed far too drastically in far too short a time. So where were they?
The three of them sat down for a moment under an almost bare tree, each as puzzled as each other. As they sat there, Cadence thought she heard something move. She looked back. Nothing. The other two were too deep in thought to notice her movement, or anything else for that matter.
Another sound. Perhaps a cracking branch, but it was closer this time. Cadence looked again. No-pony was there. She looked at her hooves. If there was somepony there, then they were probably hiding after each noise they made. She needed to catch them off guard. She turned her head a third time. Three foal-sized shapes stopped in their tracks. Cadence was overcome by a fearful impulse.
‘Goblins!’ Cadence yelled.
Starburst and Fleur de Lis were instantly on their hooves. Cadence wanted to get as far away as possible, as soon as possible.
‘Wait!’ a desperate female voice yelled, ‘we won’t hurt you!’
‘We’re not goblins!’ a second female voice shouted, ‘we’re elves!’
‘What’s the difference?’ Cadence inquired nervously.
‘We may be the same size,’ a male voice said, ‘but apart from that, we are complete opposites. Goblins are our worst enemies!’
They could now see the three creatures a lot more clearly, and it now really showed how different these creatures actually were from goblins. Cadence really wished she had managed to finish that book she had been reading the day she had met those goblins. She probably would have known about elves. Of course, paying more attention in in her classes might have been of help (not that she considered it her fault that many of her lectures were so dull and boring, not to mention long).
The elves seemed to be various shades of light brown with a slightly grayish hue about them; their faces looked like those of very old ponies: there were quite a few layers of baggy skin and a large amount of smile lines and wrinkles. Their eyes were slightly smaller than those of a pony and the ears were longer and thinner than most ponies’, dropping down to various extents. What little there was of a mane and tail was rather short and very thin. Cadence wouldn’t have been surprised if these creatures often forgot they had manes and tails at all. Other parts of their bodies did look rather aged and fragile, but no-where near as old as their faces looked. Now Cadence thought about it, they did have rather kindly faces.
‘We didn’t mean to scare you,’ the male elf continued, ‘we were wondering if you could help us.’
Cadence started to feel suspicious again, remembering how nice those goblins had been to her at first.
‘We couldn’t help noticing that crown on your head,’ said the first female elf.
Cadence jumped. So did Fleur de Lis. She had been too occupied with gazing at Starburst to notice Cadence’s crown and Cadence had completely forgotten about it.
‘I’m afraid I may not be of much use to you,’ Cadence told them feebly, ‘it was my aunt that overcame the goblins. I’m only wearing this crown for protection purposes.’
Cadence then realized that, of course, she should have known they weren’t goblins. If they had been, they would never have dared to approach her in the first place.
‘Our problem is this,’ the male elf began, ‘Elves and goblins are ultimate foes. Nothing can change that. It basically comes down to the fact that elves will always be good, and goblins will always be evil. A bunch of goblins took it upon themselves to set up camp in our land.’
‘But goblins can’t live in Equestria,’ Cadence exclaimed, ‘my aunt made a point of making it a law after the trouble we had with them!’
Cadence had found out recently that she had been far from the only one affected by the goblins’ intrusion.
‘This bunch can’t have known that,’ said the second female elf, ‘they would never have dared enter if they had.’
‘The hate between us and the goblins has attracted the attention of windigos,’ explained the first female elf.
‘There are two schools of thought concerning what should be done about the situation,’ the male elf told Cadence, ‘the first says getting rid of the goblins as soon as possible is the answer. The main points against this are our numbers are quite evenly matched, which means a big battle potentially, and also that many believe that the goblins actually want to leave but can’t because of the windigos’ weather. The second says we should deal with the windigos first, as they are causing the most damage. Main points against this are that we need to get rid of the goblins anyway, if we don’t get rid of the goblins fast enough more windigos will probably turn up, and, of course, we’d need some sort of love source to have a chance of getting rid of them . . .’
‘But I can help,’ Cadence exclaimed, ‘love is my special talent!’
The elves gawped at her, then looked delighted.
*
The elves lived deep underground, beneath large tree roots. Cadence couldn’t help but notice the foals running around, who only had very small lines on their faces. The foals seemed to be fascinated with Cadence’s hair.
‘It’s so thick and silky!’ cried out one foal in delight.
‘However do you keep it like that!’ asked another.
Cadence felt rather sorry for them and their small amount of thin hair. The large amount of blankets around the place made it evident that it wasn’t normally this cold, even so deep underground. Apparently, several entrances were also blocked by snow. Cadence kept being brought drinks by various enthusiastic elves.
‘Would you be able to help us get back to Canterlot after this?’ Fleur de Lis asked the male elf, ‘we are rather lost.’
‘Are you sure about this?’ Starburst, who was sitting next to Cadence, asked her with concern. Cadence gave a nod.
‘Would your dad like a drink too?’ the second female elf asked Cadence, who was, momentarily, confused.
‘Oh, he’s not my dad,’ Cadence told her, ‘Starburst is . . .’ But Cadence wasn’t really sure what Starburst actually was to her.
Fleur de Lis was rather annoyed at the idea that those elves thought her crush was old enough to be Cadence’s father.
‘Well, I must say,’ the first female elf commented, ‘they don’t look much like each other at all, now I think about it.’
‘Do you know where the windigos are based at?’ Cadence inquired.
‘There’s an old house near the edge of our territory,’ the male elf told her, ‘the last time we saw them, they were circling a small distance above it. You would probably need to get inside the house, get into the attic, and then onto the roof.’
Cadence decided she’d better enter the house alone, as going in by herself meant a much larger likelihood of retaining the element of surprise, which could be vital.
‘I’ll walk you there,’ Starburst offered, once they had studied the town map.
*
‘We seem to be doing a lot of walking today,’ Starburst commented.
‘I’m sorry about Lis,’ Cadence told Starburst, ‘she’s just a bit . . .’
‘Crazy?’ Starburst suggested, ‘some fillies do act a bit strange when they get a crush. I just wish she’d take the hint that I’m not interested.’
‘So do I,’ Cadence replied with a smile, ‘her swooning gets very irritating, very quickly.’
They had reached the gate that led up to the house. The house itself was almost completely covered in a thick layer of snow. With a great amount of effort on Starburst’s and Cadence’s part, they managed to open the gate. Fortunately, the windigos, circling above, appeared not to notice. Cadence moved forward.
The snow was very cold beneath Cadence’s hooves as she walked up, what she guessed, was the path, as quietly as she could. The only sound that she could hear was the icy wind blowing, but apart from that, there was utter silence. She couldn’t help but worry about this. The snow could easily make a crunching noise as she walked, getting noticed before she was anywhere near enough to aim or have any impact on the creatures.
On reaching the old and battered door, Cadence managed to squeeze through a large hole in it. Once inside, Cadence tried to shake the water out of her coat and wring it out of her mane and tail as best she could,
Right, she was in. Now all she had to do was make her way to the attic, which she would most likely have to do mainly by touch. A light switch being flicked on or even her horn glowing might attract unwanted attention. The only sources of light came from the hole in the door and the occasional window.
Cadence stood still, allowing her eyes to get used to the dark. Cadence found a staircase sooner than she had expected and hoped the steps wouldn’t creak as she ascended them. She placed her right front hoof carefully on the first step. No sound. She did the same for the other steps as she went up, and ending up jumping the last one, which she was sure would have made a noise.
Cadence couldn’t prevent herself from feeling rather sad. This house was so much like her old home with her mother. Was it in a similar state to this house now? Was it worse? Cadence wondered how long it had taken ponies to realize that her and her mom were gone. Or, she had gone, at least. Now she thought about it, her mother had still been alive and lying there when she had last seen her. Cadence hadn’t really thought about it since that night until now.
She told me to run, Cadence remembered abruptly, she was so near to death yet she told me to run. But what had she been meant to be running from?
Cadence’s attention snapped back. As far as she knew, her old home had not had an attic, so the similarities weren’t of much help. Cadence shivered. It was so cold. It was so draughty. The rooms were filled with cobwebs and everything was covered in dust. As Cadence looked into one of the neglected rooms, a bedroom, it looked like, she noticed a large panel in the ceiling. That must be the entrance to the attic. She entered the room. It would’ve been easy to get up there if she were able to fly.
As Cadence was trying to think of the best way to move the panel and get up to the attic, a slightly open drawer caught her eye. As if drawn to it, she went over without a second thought. When she opened the drawer, she found a very old piece of paper, so old that it could’ve been a thousand years old. It was rolled up and Cadence thought that it was most likely an unsent letter. It was a miracle it had survived so long. Intrigued, and completely forgetting about the windigos, Cadence took the piece of paper out and unrolled it. She then went over to a window so she could read it more easily.
Dear [ink too smudged to read name]
It is very important you don’t put this down upon seeing that it is I who wrote it. I know your feelings changed after what I did to you, and I know you never cared for her, but you also never really knew her, and you were still her father. She is the reason for me writing this letter. Our daughter is dead. I could do nothing for her. It was He who was responsible, you know who I mean. Very few ponies know what has become of her and the funeral is to be held secretly. There is nothing you can do for me but you and your fiancée are welcome to come if you desire.
Agalma
Cadence stared. Agalma? Agalma! The fact such the letter had survived was one thing, but the fact it was from her mortal alicorn hating grandmother . . ! It was far, far too old to be about her own mother’s death, Cadence decided. But that must mean that Agalma had had another daughter who had died, and she had been murdered, Cadence realized. Why had no-pony told her? This immortal alicorn would have been another aunt to her. She would have thought she would have been told of an immortal alicorn death as close to her as this.
And who was this ‘He’? The only ‘He’ Cadence knew of was King Sombra, but Cadence doubted that even he could manage to kill an immortal alicorn.
Cadence suddenly remembered the windigos. She took one last glance at the letter. She would take it with her later if she got the chance, and give it to Celestia when she got back to Canterlot. Cadence closed the drawer, and began to push the chest of drawers towards the attic entrance. Luckily, it was surprisingly light.
When she had got it where she wanted it, Cadence climbed onto the bed, and then, onto the chest of drawers. Balancing mainly on her back legs, Cadence used her forelegs to reach up and move the panel above. With more effort still, Cadence pulled herself up into the attic above. She gasped for breath. Even if they had had the needed love source, no elf could have got this far alone.
Cadence picked herself up and looked around for access to the roof. She had expected it to be a window, but then she caught sight of a ladder. She went up it, and found a small trap door at the top, which had a firm bolt on it. Using magic, Cadence unbolted it and was quickly subject to a powerful, icy wind. She hurried outside.
As Cadence looked up, staring at the windigos, she realized she had made no plans what so ever for tackling them. The windigos stopped their circling, and stared down at her, narrowing their eyes. Suddenly, one of the windigos reared up angrily, and motioned its head towards Cadence’s cutie mark. The others reacted angrily too now, their eyes glowing red.
There was only one thing for it, Cadence would have to cast at the windigos, and hope for the best. A sudden nervousness and panic caused her first vital shot to miss. In a powerful fury, the windigos raced at her, their eyes, icy cold. Cadence gave a scream, scrunched up her eyes, and cast again. The spell hit one of the windigos, but all of them reacted as if they’d been hit. Cadence quickly understood that hitting one of them had the same result as hitting all of them. This made her confidence rise, all she needed to do was go for the easiest target. The windigos seemed to figure this out too, and became even more determined to harm the filly.
‘Break her neck, you foals!’ came a sharp, male voice that Cadence had never heard before, and which made her feel like she was being cut with a knife.
Bewildered, Cadence tried to locate the owner of that grimy sounding voice. A windigo was suddenly on her chest, pushing her down into the snowy, icy, flat roof. Her face was then being pushed down, into it, making it hard to breathe. With a huge amount of concentration, Cadence sent the spell at the windigos backwards. In surprise, the windigo hold her down, let go of Cadence, who struggled to her hooves spluttering.
‘Smother her! Throw her off the roof!’ the voice continued menacingly, ‘rip Dusk’s grandfoal wing from wing!’
His last remark startled Cadence, but she would dwell on it later, preferably while she was not engaged in battle.
‘Unless she’d rather become my servant forever, of course,’ the voice added.
‘No way!’ Cadence retorted, sending another spell at the nearest windigo.
What was with all these creatures? One wants to turn her into soup, another wants to marry her, and this one wants her to become his servant! She half wondered if he was just trying to distract her. Maybe she should try to distract him.
‘Why can’t I see you?’ Cadence demanded.
‘Wouldn’t you like to know!’ the voice sneered, filled with self-importance. He clearly liked talking about himself.
Cadence managed to hit another windigo.
‘Are you even here?’ Cadence inquired, ‘or are you just a disembodied voice?’
Suddenly, Cadence felt a foreleg squeezing her neck.
‘Oh, I’m here, little filly,’ the voice hissed in her ear, ‘mostly, only the dead can see me.’
Cadence realized all of a sudden that, despite the fact he was squeezing her neck, she could still breathe perfectly well. If she cast a large amount of spells now, it would take him by surprise and she might just manage to defeat the windigos.
She cast. She hit the windigos. The windigos seemed to melt away and disappear. The snow was staring to turn into water. Cadence didn’t exactly know what happened, but it seemed that her defeating the windigos caused the owner of the voice to lose his power.
‘Curse you, living filth!’ the voice hollered as it began to fade away, ‘You got lucky, but it won’t happen again!’
*
‘So you met Slicer then. I think it would be better if Dusk told you about him, Cadence,’ Celestia told her, ‘he is his nemesis after all.’
Cadence nodded.
‘As to the letter,’ Celestia went on, ‘there’s only so much I can say. If Agalma had had another immortal foal before your mother, every immortal alicorn would have known about it.’
‘What does it mean?’ Cadence asked.
‘It means that, if the Agalma we know is indeed the pony that wrote this letter, then this foal of hers must have been mortal.’ Celestia explained.
Cadence stared.
‘It would be very understandable that she kept it secret if that was the case,’ Celestia continued, ‘an immortal alicorn having a mortal foal was very much frowned upon in those days, judging by the paper.’
Starburst seemed to think this was the best time to leave the room.
‘Starburst, wait,’ said Celestia, ‘I need to give you a cheque.’
‘But I didn’t do anything much,’ Starburst objected.
‘You need the money,’ Celestia told him, ‘and, in any case, the way I see it is that Cadence employed you as her body guard, so you were doing work.’
Starburst gave a weary smile and sat down next to Cadence, to wait.