//------------------------------// // Deliverance // Story: Back and Forth // by adcoon //------------------------------// The mother of the two fillies had been looking at Cadance since she woke, but had so far been silent. Cadance was happy to see that she was already doing better than when she had found her, nonetheless. “What is your name?” she asked and looked at the mare. “Your Highness,” she blurted out, but quickly composed herself. “My name is White Rose, whenever the wolves aren’t close enough to hear it.” Cadance smiled and watched the two enthusiastic fillies drawing and writing with the precious glitter they had made, on crude paper which was every bit as precious to them. “To think, I was almost ready to ban all glitter from the empire, and now it just might help them save the empire. Feels like a strange irony.” White Rose looked up at Cadance. “Why would you ban such a thing, Your Majesty?” Her voice had been robbed of its strength and never rose above a whisper. “Too much of a good thing …” Cadance said and closed her eyes for a moment of rest. She hadn’t slept since leaving the castle, and she was beginning to feel the effects of it. She wouldn’t be able to afford much rest, however. “It feels like just the other day I was reading all those letters,” she muttered. “Each one glittering with more crystal dust than the one before it.” “Must have been a wondrous place to live in,” the mare said and hung her head. "So much light and so many colors. I never knew any of that, but my grandmother told me stories." Cadance opened her eyes and stared at the gray rocks. “I’m glad I could be here, no matter what will happen next.” “I knew you would come,” the mare turned her weary eyes back on her daughters and their sparkling work. “I didn’t dare hope it would happen in my lifetime, but I knew you would come here one day.” “Why?” Cadance looked into her brown eyes. “Because of the message you wrote on the stone,” the mare said and looked up at Cadance. “The ponies living here settled in this place because of that message. Those who’ve lived here since Fenris broke free always hoped that you would return one day, but many have since lost that hope.” “I—” Cadance stopped herself and thought back. “I see. I assume you speak of the stone in the middle of the lake, in your village?” She nodded. “There’s an even older message there, but it’s all worn off by time. No one’s ever been able to read it. My grandmother told me once that it was written by Clover the Clever. She always thought it was something to do with time, like the time when you’d return or something. A prophecy or the like, but nopony ever knew.” “We may never know what Clover wrote,” Cadance admitted, thinking how much of a shame that was. “But I’m starting to think your grandmother could have been on to something. Clover was the student of Starswirl himself, after all. And Starswirl worked out a lot of the theory and practice of time spells. Clover must have known something about this place and its history.” “Princess, princess!” Silene bounded up to her with the glittery letter in her teeth. Silica followed behind, hooves and face covered in glitter from the grinding and writing she had done. She was smiling more brightly than all the glitter combined. “We finished our letter, princess!” Cadance smiled and picked up the letter. “We used almost half of the glitter to get it just right, though,” Silica said and bit her glittery lips. “And we only have two more sheets of paper left too,” Silene mumbled and scraped the ground with a hoof. “Don’t worry about any of that,” Cadance said and gave them each a smile. “It’s a very, very fine drawing. You have done really well, both of you.” “We used both sides!” Silene chirped and reached out to flip the paper over, eager to show the princess all their hard work. Cadance turned the paper and read the letter. Their mother leaned over to join her, smiling proudly at her two fillies. “This is excellent,” Cadance said and looked back up at the two. “So who should we send it to? Who should get the very first letter?” The two fillies looked at their mother before answering. “Our uncle, um, if that's okay,” Silica said and looked back at Cadance and the letter. “We wrote it for him.” Cadance nodded. “What’s his name?” “Names aren’t allowed,” Silica muttered. “But we call him Grainy Grin,” Silene added with a blush to her cheeks, " 'Cause he once had a grain stuck between his front teeth for a whole day before he noticed." Cadance chuckled. “I see,” she said and hummed in thought as she glanced back at the opening of the cave. “Can you describe where he lives?” “He lives at the end of the same street as our house, last house on the other side,” White Rose explained. “Are you sure you can get this letter to him safely?” “It’s a bit tricky when it’s somepony I don’t know and have no established contact with,” Cadance admitted. “But it should work the same.” She took the letter carefully and trotted towards the entrance of the cave. The two fillies and their mother followed, watching as she held the paper up carefully in her magic. The glow reflected and sparkled in all the glitter, creating stars in many colors on the walls of the cave. “Here we go,” she said and lowered her horn, letting the magic consume the letter. In a flash of pink and purple flames, the letter vanished into smoke, drifting swiftly off towards the village and its hopeful target. “Wow,” the two fillies gaped at the vanishing letter. “Alright, kids,” their mother said and nudged them back into the cave. “It’s way past your bedtime now. You need your rest if you’re to write any more letters tomorrow.” “Aww,” the two looked at Cadance with big, hopeful eyes. “But we’re not tired at all! Can't we stay up just a little longer?” Cadance just smiled and nuzzled them both. “Your mother is right. Think of the dreams you will have. I am sure they will be something worth writing about tomorrow.” As the two were ushered back into the cave, Cadance turned and looked out at the gray skies outside. * * * Cadance hurried through the dark valley as quickly and quietly as possible. She stopped and turned around, making sure nothing was following her trail. The gorge was a maze to navigate with its narrow crags and winding paths, and the darkness of night did nothing to help her. She hoped the two fillies and their mother would be safe in the cavern while she was out. She wished she could remain with them, but she knew she couldn’t sit around when there was work to do. If their plan was going to work, they would need more paper and glitter dust. That meant wood and crystals, both of which the wolves had monopolized. Cadance took a moment to collect her breath before hurrying on, moving on light hooves through the dark. Throughout the gorge, the wolves filled the night with their cries. What had been a few lonely howls was now a near constant choir accompanying her flight through the gorge. Word of her appearance must have spread, and now every wolf out there would be looking for her. The landscape began to rise, and bits of grey grass stuck out from the rocky ground in ragged tufts. Cadance spread her wings and lifted into the air, gliding close to the ground as she cut through the mist towards what looked like a patch of barren trees at the edge of the gorge. A small rock rolled down the hill somewhere behind her, creating a noise. Cadance quickly dove behind a scraggly bush and held her breath, peeking out from hiding at the path behind her. For a few seconds the landscape was empty, and Cadance wondered if maybe it had been nothing after all. Then a wolf appeared from one of the many maze-like paths and lifted its head to scan its surroundings. It skulked along the path Cadance had followed, its cruel eyes searching the shadows. Cadance made herself as small as possible in the shadow of the bush as she waited and held her breath. She felt confident that she could take on the wolf, especially with the advantage of surprise, but it might cause a stir and draw attention to where she was. Instead she kept her eyes on the shadow crawling up the hill, slowly making its way towards her. Her lungs ached for breath as it got closer, walking past the bush where she was hiding. It showed no signs of noticing her presence as it continued towards the trees. Cadance watched until it had disappeared from sight, then finally released her breath and slowly snuck back out of the shadows. She took a moment to look around, then made to follow. She crested the hill and quickly dropped down behind a tree at the edge of the small forest. Further in, a large wooden palisade had been raised. Several wolves were guarding the gate and patrolling the woods around it. Cadance caught a glance through the gate where pieces of firewood were piled high in stacks. A few ponies were slaving away, chopping up the trees and carrying the heavy wood into the palisade under the watchful eyes of the wolves. Cadance settled down to observe the wolves. There were more than she wanted to take on, and possibly even more that she couldn’t see. There was also still the risk of drawing unwanted attention to herself. Ideally, she would get in there, grab all the wood she could carry, and slip back out without any wolves being the wiser. Her eyes scanned the palisade and its defenses, trying to find some way to get the wolves out of the way. All the wolves looked bored and on edge, as if they would rather be out hunting for her than sit around to watch a few ponies. Cadance watched as one of the wolves patrolling the wall sauntered up to the gate and leered at a female wolf stationed there. “Hey there, sweet cheeks,” he said as he circled her. “My my,” she said and winked at him. “It’s been a whole five minutes.” “You know I can’t stay away from you, baby,” he grinned and leaned on her, nibbling her ear. “How about we leave this dump and have some fun, hmm? I know a few things we could do.” She snapped her jaw playfully at him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He gave her a guilty grin and licked his chops. “Get back to work, you lazy beast,” she barked and smirked as he scampered off, throwing her a wink over his shoulder. Cadance watched him return to his patrol. Even though wolves were very different from ponies in their sense of romance, she recognized a pair of lovers teasing each other when she saw it. She turned her gaze to the second wolf keeping watch of the gate. A male, looking bored out of his mind and ready to do just about anything to relieve that boredom. Cadance glanced around at the other wolves. There was a good mix, she thought and smiled. What these wolves needed was a little dash of love to distract them from the doldrums of their work. Cadance hid herself in the shadows of the tree and tried to cover the glow of her horn as she directed it at one wolf after another. Each wolf in turn blinked their eyes, and their gaze began to drift towards their fellows, just a glance, and another … Cadance kept herself from giggling behind the tree as new ideas and feelings began to bubble up in the hearts of the wolves. The wolf at the gate glanced at the other wolf by his side and grinned, leaning over to say something in her ear. She looked at him and smiled. Cadance could almost see the lust in their eyes. Other wolves were sharing much the same looks. It didn’t take long for a certain other he-wolf to notice his lady wolf drooling over the hunk of a wolf she was supposed to guard the gate with. It took even less time for the floodgates to burst and the fighting and confusion to break out. Cadance reminded herself that this was war, and everything was fair in love and war. The ponies slaving away on the wood stopped their work and backed away from the quarreling wolves, eyes wide and fearful. Cadance moved swiftly from tree to tree as the wolves fought, getting close to the palisade and the ponies working there without being seen. “Psst!” she hissed to get their attention. One of the ponies jumped and spun around at the sound, only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw Cadance. Her eyes grew in size at the sight, and her mouth hung open. Other ponies quickly looked around and joined her in stunned silence. Cadance didn’t have the time to waste with explanations or assurances, much less planning what she was going to do. She had to act before the wolves noticed. Hurrying up to a pile of wood, she began calling out orders in a hushed voice. “Grab any wood you can and follow me! Move move move! Before the wolves see us!” She grabbed several pieces of wood in her magic and distributed it among the stunned and confused ponies. Some of them picked up on what was going on more quickly than others, and soon the ponies were grabbing wood and lining up around Cadance, loaded with as much as they could carry in a hurry and giving the rest to those who were less quick on the uptake. Cadance glanced back at the wolves as she shushed the frightened ponies down the hill under the cover of the trees and rocks. There would not be much time before the wolves noticed something was amiss, and then they’d be right on their trail. She hurried after the last pony, urging them to go faster. They made it as far as the edge of the forest before the cries of surprise and howls of anger began behind them. Cadance cursed herself as she heard the wolves and looked back to see their shadows moving among the trees. All this trouble to not draw attention, and then she went and did this. She should have snuck in, grabbed as much wood as she could, and snuck back out without alerting wolves or ponies to what was going on. But she just didn’t have the heart to leave the ponies behind with the wolves. “Run!” she called, and looked with worry at the barren hills and plains full of rocks. There was no point hiding now. The group of ponies galloped as hard as they could down the hill, loaded down with wood. Behind them, the wolves burst out of the forest and came after them in snarling pursuit. “I’m such a fool!” she cursed herself under her breath. She had been a weak-hearted fool, and because of that she had put these ponies in worse danger than they had been in before. She swore out loud and spun around, putting herself directly in the line of the charging wolves. “Keep running! Hide!” She yelled at the ponies behind her, hoping they would listen and obey. She had no time to make sure they did before the wolves were upon her, charging and leaping at her from all sides. Her horn flared to life, striking a wolf with a blast of magic and lifting another into the air. She spread her wings to take flight and struck another wolf down in mid-pounce. Her hooves lifted off the ground as she threw the wolf at another. Her eyes darted around at the beasts all around her, trying to keep track of them all. In the confusion, she didn’t see the wolf on her right before it hit her. Cadance cried out in shock and pain as she hit the ground and twisted her wing against the sharp stones. The wolf’s savage jaws closed tight around her neck, its sharp teeth sinking deep into her throat. Cadance choked out a last bleat as the rest of the pack closed in on all sides.