Cadence Unbridled (Sections 1 & 2)

by Flikaline

Beneath The Depths : Part 1

Beneath The Depths : Part 1

Why hadn’t Cadence realized before? Her mother’s soul being underwater was so obvious now she thought about it, and Cadence was almost certain which area of water too.

Cadence tried her best not to let on to the others that she was in a major hurry. Once she had finally got back to Canterlot, Cadence rushed off while Steamer, Tex and Shining Armor weren’t looking.

The small river, Cadence knew, led to a lake hidden in the mountainside. Not many ponies would know about the lake. The Empress could have reached it without being spotted with relative ease, and now, able to fly again, Cadence could too. She hoped it wouldn’t take too long. It was only a few hours until dinner time. Cadence didn’t particularly want to look like she’d been up to something, or worry her aunt.

Cadence did what she thought was the sensible thing and simply followed the river. She followed it through a crack in the rock. It was a bit of a tight squeeze. It was dark. The narrow crack in the rock was the only real light source. She could only just make out the lake. Cadence lit up her horn.

There were ripples on the water and Cadence could now see that the lake was very deep. How was she going to breath? Her clue after all had been that she wouldn’t be able to breathe where her mother’s soul was. She looked around aimlessly. Her mother’s soul, Cadence decided, would be very deep down, and certainly out of sight. Cadence pondered this slight inconvenience while staring at the lake.

She suddenly realized there was something moving in the water below. Something big. As big as Cadence, if not bigger. It was rising to the surface at a rapid speed. It looked a lot like some kind of fish, but it also looked a lot like a pony too. A pony-like head popped out of the water.

‘Hello Princess Cadence,’ the creature said, ‘I wondered when you would turn up.’

The creature was rather beautiful and was wearing a crown made of seashells.

‘So she is here!’ Cadence blurted out.

The creature nodded, before pushing a strand of her damp mane off her face.

‘What are you?’ Cadence asked curiously.

‘A seapony,’ she replied, ‘and a princess. My name is Oceania.’

Cadence had seen seaponies before, well, their heads at least, in the small river, but Oceania’s hooves had confused her. Oceania noticed that Cadence was staring at her hooves.

‘Seaponies only have hooves instead of fins if they become a prince or princess,’ Oceania explained.

Cadence wondered if the process was anything like becoming an alicorn.

‘Can you get my mother’s soul for me?’ Cadence inquired.

‘No,’ Oceania responded, ‘but I can allow you to breathe underwater. I should warn you though, it’s quite dangerous down here, and you won’t be able to talk while you’re underwater.’

‘How long will I have?’ Cadence asked.

‘As long as you need,’ Oceania told her, ‘but once you return to the surface, the spell will be broken. I’ll explain more when you’re under.’

Cadence nodded and gingerly placed a hoof in the water. It was unexpectantly warm, and Cadence waded in until she felt the ground disappear from beneath her hooves.

‘Touch my hoof,’ Oceania instructed her, ‘my magic doesn’t work unless I’m touching the object or creature I’m casting the spell on.’

After a few moments, Cadence found herself being dragged beneath the water. At first, Cadence was worried, thinking she might’ve been tricked and it had all been a trap set for her by the Empress, but then, Cadence realized she was breathing.

‘Sorry about that,’ Oceania said, ‘I suddenly realized that you would start suffocating unless I got you under water. I gave you gills and temporarily stopped your lungs from working so you would have stopped taking in oxygen in the air.’

Cadence was about to say something, when she remembered she couldn’t speak under water.

‘I assume you can swim?’ Oceania inquired.

Cadence nodded.

‘Good,’ Oceania continued, ‘I can’t come very far with you I’m afraid. The merponies would certainly take the advantage to attack if I left my part of the lake.’

She paused for a moment.

‘Merponies are dangerous,’ Oceania went on, seeing Cadence’s baffled expression, ‘they work for the kelpie. They often trick seapony foals into thinking they are also seaponies and end up feeding them to the kelpie. He can live on plants, but he craves meat, that kelpie does. If this lake were more open, he’d go after land foals himself.’

Cadence could tell that Oceania was struggling to repress her anger.

‘Make sure you avoid him and be careful. His merpony spies are everywhere. If he found out, he wouldn’t pass up a snack like you.’

Cadence had nearly been eaten all too recently and didn’t plan for it to happen again. She gave a small sigh.

‘If you are unlucky enough to meet him, whatever you do don’t let him touch you. His coat is so sticky that you’ll never be able to free yourself,’ Oceania continued, ‘only a land pony can open the door which the souls are trapped behind and remove the balls and chains. You should be able to hear a ghostly moan which will get louder the closer you get.’

Cadence suddenly noticed that Oceania looked a lot weaker than she had while Cadence was on land.

‘It’s nothing,’ Oceania said, noticing Cadence’s look, ‘it was a very powerful spell. I’ll recover. Could I ask you a favor though?’

Cadence nodded.

‘If you are unlucky enough to meet merponies or the kelpie, don’t let on that you have seen me or that I am weakened,’ Oceania told her, ‘I know you can’t speak but he’ll just get you to write it down or nod or shake your head. He rather has it in for me. He’s desperate to get his hooves on the seapony part of the lake.’

Cadence nodded vigorously.

‘Thank you,’ Oceania responded.

Oceania was suddenly alert and afraid.

‘Go,’ she whispered urgently, ‘hurry.’

Cadence hesitated.

‘Please,’ Oceania pleaded.

Filled with guilt and fear, Cadence swam for it. After a short distance, Cadence heard a scream. She trod water for a moment, her heart thumping. She wanted to go back. She wanted to help, but she forced herself to not look back and to carry on. If Oceania was dead this was certainly the only chance she had to get her mother’s soul. But Oceania wasn’t dead, she couldn’t be dead. But it had sounded an awful lot like that that scream had belonged to her.

Cadence increased her speed. If Oceania had been attacked, and it seemed very likely she had been, her attacker might be coming after Cadence. Had that kelpie got Oceania? Cadence gave a shiver and really hoped that wasn’t the case. Oceania really didn’t deserve that. Cadence found herself swimming further and further down. She decided it was a good idea to conceal herself among the foliage at the bottom of the lake, and she stopped to listen for the ghostly moan Oceania had mentioned, hoping she hadn’t been swimming in the completely wrong direction all this time.

For a few moments, Cadence heard nothing but the underwater ambiance. She listened harder, and began to feel anxious. Even if she saw anypony she wouldn’t be able to ask them, and Oceania wasn’t here to help. Cadence’s ears suddenly pricked. She had heard something that was distinctly odd. Cadence hurried in the direction it had come from, frequently having to remind herself to be cautious and keep hidden.

Cadence caught sight of some creatures ahead. She was about to approach them when it occurred to her that she didn’t know how to tell seaponies and merponies apart, after all, if foals could be tricked, merponies and seaponies must look quite similar. These creatures could be either. She sighed inwardly, and swam carefully away, following the ghostly sound.

Cadence wondered how the creatures put up with that sound all the time, but then, could they actually hear it? Oceania had known about it but she never said she could hear it. She could’ve simply known that Cadence would be able to hear it.

Cadence couldn’t help but feel that the further she went, the more dangerous it became. The water was becoming murkier too, and the foliage around her looked rather dead, but the ghostly moan was definitely becoming louder and clearer the further she went, so she was heading in the right direction. At least she could see more clearly now she had got used to having her eyes open underwater. Cadence tried to ignore the various skeletons of fish which were hanging around.

Suddenly, Cadence felt something being thrown over her. It was seaweed. She quickly managed to wriggle free and took off as fast as she could. There were two creatures pursuing her, Cadence knew, and they were fast swimmers, beating the water at a rapid pace. Cadence found several pieces of seaweed being flung over her and tightening around her body. As she looked over at her captors, Cadence realized the creatures she had seen before had definitely been seaponies. These two merponies were a lot taller and thinner. Their coats and eyes were tonally different. Their fins were a lot more angular compared to the rounded fins of the seaponies.

‘Got her,’ muttered the first merpony, a note of satisfaction in his voice.

‘Let’s take her to the kelpie!’ came the enthusiastic tone of the second; a young mare who Cadence thought was probably the first merpony’s sister.

‘I’m sure he’ll be very interested in her,’ the stallion replied.