Cadence Unbridled (Sections 1 & 2)

by Flikaline

Past & Present : Part 2

Past & Present : Part 2

Celestia looked rather embarrassed by Cadence’s lateness. Hawk Talons looked over at Cadence as she approached with some interest. Cadence thought he looked decidedly odd. His coat was comprised of at least three different colors, his legs looked like they could’ve belonged to two different ponies, his curved horn reminded Cadence of King Sombra, and, his face was ever so slightly familiar. She couldn’t help herself staring at him.

‘Cadence,’ Celestia exclaimed, ‘you’re almost ten minutes late!’

Cadence didn’t regret her actions one bit, but kind of wished she hadn’t caused her aunt embarrassment. Celestia turned to Hawk Talons.

‘I’m sorry she kept us waiting,’ Celestia said, ‘I told her to be here in twenty minutes. She must’ve forgotten about the time.’

Cadence couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty that Celestia was apologizing for her, but very much wished she hadn’t. This stallion didn’t deserve an apology.

‘No apology necessary,’ Hawk Talons replied with an air of confidence that Cadence did not at all like, ‘I’m sure she has lots to do.’

Cadence couldn’t help but wonder if he knew very well that she had been bored, lonely, and had had nothing to do. She continued to stare at him. He probably looked even stranger without his armor on.

‘I had a little accident,’ Hawk Talons explained with an innocent smile, noticing that Cadence was staring at him.

Cadence scowled at him.

‘Why are you called Hawk Talons anyway?’ Cadence asked him abruptly.

Hawk Talons’s smile broadened. Suddenly, sharp, bird like talons appeared, slightly above his hooves, on his forelegs. Cadence almost jumped.

‘That’s why,’ Hawk Talons replied, displaying a foreleg quite close to her face, ‘they can be very useful.’

Cadence wasn’t sure whether she was being threatened or not. Celestia didn’t seem to think so. He made his talons disappear again, and looked back at Cadence, who continued to scowl at him.

‘I think,’ Hawk Talons said slowly, ‘I think you and I are going to be great friends. Don’t you think so, Princess?’

Cadence seriously doubted it, but made no reply. His phony charm made Cadence feel a bit sick, and she could barely believe that her aunt couldn’t see through it. The captain obviously hadn’t either. He couldn’t have picked a worse stallion for the job.

Cadence got away as soon as she had the opportunity. As she hurried off, she just made out Celestia telling Hawk Talons how the captain was taking a group of guards out the day after tomorrow, and that he would be in charge of most of the security that day. Cadence shuddered at the thought, and, once out of sight, gave a sigh before trying to catch her breath. She hadn’t noticed the creepy way Hawk Talons had looked at her.

What should Cadence do? Maybe she should think about what somepony else would do. Celestia? Well Cadence knew what she was doing! Who else? Starburst? She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure what most ponies she knew would do. True Star? Cadence barely knew her, but she did know she was very brave. So what was the brave thing to do? Keep an eye on him. See what he was up to and what he was really like. Maybe she could even gain enough evidence that Celestia would agree with her rather than thinking she was just angry Shining Armor hadn’t got the position.

She’d better keep out of sight though. If Cadence was completely right about Hawk Talons, he wouldn’t take at all kindly to being spied on. She decided to tell Shining Armor what she was planning to do in case he spotted her in action. When she told him, she could tell he was worried.

‘I should warn you,’ Shining Armor said quietly, ‘that Hawk Talons doesn’t like me very much. He seems jealous. Don’t know why though. He’s already taken my job, what more does he want?’

‘He’s probably jealous because you’re better than him,’ Cadence responded, ‘probably realizes you should have got the job rather than him.’

Shining Armor gave a small sigh.

Cadence didn’t like spying on Hawk Talons. Her instincts were telling her to get as far away from him as possible and she was having to get pretty close to see what was going on and hear what he was saying. She very quickly realized that she had no idea when or where various training sessions were held. Shining Armor only knew when his own were. Cadence would be very lucky to locate Hawk Talons while he was occupied unless she could obtain some sort of timetable.

If Hawk Talons had an office or something, she knew where it would be. There was a large room where off-duty guards would often come to relax. Cadence knew about this room because she had often gone there to look for Shining Armor. This would be an advantage to her as being there wouldn’t look in the least bit suspicious, plus, maybe she could overhear what some of the other guards thought of Hawk Talons.

Heading off this room were several corridors, leading to other rooms. Cadence took a saddlebag, placing a notebook and pen inside, then, to reduce suspicion, she added several other objects, including her necklace, a spare hair ribbon and a packet of tissues.

It was early morning now. Cadence had been awake half the night thinking about it. Her eyes felt heavy with tiredness and she had a slight horn ache as she entered the room uneasily. She couldn’t help but feel a little worried that somepony might unwittingly become an obstacle if they stopped her to chat. She hadn’t even mentioned this part of the spying idea to Shining Armor but, at least, she was almost certain that he would have left the room.

A couple of guards greeted Cadence, used to her coming in to find Shining Armor or to check his timetable. Unfortunately, the timetables on display only had when various groups were training, but not who would be in charge or who was in each group. Cadence had half expected this. She must get going before the crowd died down even more.

Cadence turned into the corridor, labeled ‘offices’, as casually as she could. She could feel her heart rate increasing as she walked along hurriedly. There were three possibilities: he didn’t have an office so she would have to follow him all day or hope there was something in the captain’s office; he was in his office; or he wasn’t in his office. If he wasn’t in there, she’d have to be very quick as he could arrive at any time.

Cadence was aiming to get there before Hawk Talons did, that’s why she’d come early in the morning. She was so deep in thought that she almost walked straight past it. He wasn’t in there. She glanced around. There was no-pony who might see her. Cadence rushed inside. The office was very untidy despite the fact that Hawk Talons had only been given the position the previous day. Cadence felt certain that, despite his age, Shining Armor would’ve been much more able to keep up to date with his paperwork. There wasn’t a huge amount of paper, but it still managed to cover a large amount of the desk and floor.

Cadence began to rummage through the mess as quickly as she could. After a few moments, she found what she was looking for. She took off the saddlebag and summoned the notepad and pen, before beginning to copy down the timetable. She had just finished when she heard an urgent male voice.

‘Get out! Hurry! He’s coming!’

Cadence didn’t think twice. She shoved the notebook and pen into the saddlebag, before grabbing it in her mouth. She didn’t even know who had spoken until she got out of the room.

As soon as Cadence got out the room, she crashed into Starburst. Within a few seconds, Hawk Talons had turned the corner, and was charging towards them. The items in Cadence’s bag had been scattered across the floor when she crashed into Starburst. In a clumsy panic, Cadence tried to grab them and put them back in the bag as fast as she could.

As she looked around for her necklace, Cadence saw hooves in front of her. She looked up to see Hawk Talons towering above her. He did not look pleased. He looked very much like he wanted to strike her. Cadence could tell that Hawk Talons knew she had been in his office. They both caught sight of the necklace at the same time. Cadence got a very bad feeling from the glint in Hawk Talons’s eye.

Before either of them could act, however, Starburst had summoned Cadence’s necklace. Hawk Talons glared at him. Starburst glared back. For a moment, Cadence got the distinct impression that they somehow knew each other. Starburst gave Cadence’s necklace back to her. Hawk Talons looked furious. As Cadence did up her saddlebag, her hooves shaking slightly, Starburst put a protective wing over her. Hawk Talons turned and walked off. Once he was gone, Starburst turned back to Cadence.

‘Are you alright?’ Starburst inquired anxiously. Cadence nodded slowly.

‘Do you know him?’ Cadence asked after a moment.

‘I don’t think so,’ Starburst replied, ‘but I don’t like him at all.’

‘Do you think he would’ve struck me?’ Cadence inquired nervously.

‘I don’t know,’ Starburst responded in a slightly thoughtful and miserable tone.

‘May I come and do some dusting for you?’ Cadence asked abruptly.

Starburst looked a little surprised.

‘Just to say thank you?’ Cadence continued, ‘I couldn’t help noticing the place . . .’

Starburst gave a small smile.

*

Cadence gave a sneeze and Starburst passed her a tissue.

‘I really appreciate this,’ Starburst told Cadence for the fifth time, ‘I’m afraid I rather struggle to cope with things.’

‘It’s not surprising after what happened,’ Cadence replied.

‘You know about that?’ Starburst gasped.

‘Well, no,’ Cadence mumbled, ‘but it must’ve been bad if you had to give up your job and chances.’

‘You have no idea . . .’ Starburst said croakily.

For a moment, Cadence thought he was going to burst into tears. She suddenly remembered the picture on the mirror. Before she caught sight of it, however, Starburst had snatched it away. Cadence was slightly startled.

‘I’m sorry,’ Starburst said when he noticed, ‘this is private, very personal . . .’

Cadence gave an understanding nod as Starburst clutched the picture to him.

‘I’m trying my best to find a way to get rid of Hawk Talons,’ Cadence told him after a while, ‘he should never have got the position.’

‘Nice to know it’s not just me and Shining Armor who think that,’ Starburst replied, ‘so that’s what you were doing in there, gathering evidence against him.’

‘Actually, I was copying down his timetable so I could more effectively spy on him,’ Cadence told him shyly.

‘Don’t worry,’ Starburst responded quietly, ‘I won’t tell anypony.’

‘Problem is,’ Cadence said with a sigh, ‘I need evidence that isn’t anywhere near personal. Auntie Tia is convinced that I’m only angry that Shining Armor didn’t get the position.’

‘Well, I can tell you what I’ve heard from the other guards,’ Starburst responded, ‘first, he’s very controlling and seems to enjoy giving out punishments; secondly, he treats no-pony with any respect unless they’re important, then he acts all charming. Oh, and a lot of the guards seem to, at least, be a little afraid of him.’

*

Starburst had turned out to be more or less correct about Hawk Talons. Cadence managed to note down quite a number of examples of his behavior. Early the next morning, she hurried to her aunt’s room and presented what Cadence thought was a very good case. She was disappointed when Celestia told her she would ‘think about it’. Cadence wondered if she had just said that so Cadence would stop pestering her. At any rate, Cadence knew the longer Hawk Talons stayed, the less the likelihood of getting rid of him was.

Cadence wasn’t really watching where she was going, and crashed right into Hawk Talons.

‘Good morning, Princess,’ Hawk Talons said casually with a small smile.

He seemed very happy about something. Cadence hated to think what.

‘Won’t you join me for breakfast?’ Hawk Talons added.

‘No thank you,’ Cadence replied coldly, ‘your company would rather put me off my food.’

Hawk Talons gave a high laugh, which gave Cadence the shivers.

‘Come now, sweetheart,’ Hawk Talons continued, turning his head way, a small smirk on his face, ‘I’m not that bad, am I?’

Cadence’s eyes widened, her mouth slightly open. As Hawk Talons walked off, Cadence stared after him, frozen to the spot, seeing him as he really was. As she slowly became able to move again, she could feel herself shaking. She knew why his face had seemed familiar. A large part of her wanted to scream for help. She had to tell somepony. She needed help. Auntie Tia! She would have to believe her now, now that she knew what was really wrong, why Hawk Talons was here!

But Celestia would be leaving at any moment! And so would a large amount of the Royal Guard! And Hawk Talons would be left in charge of a large amount of security!

Raven Mocker would be left in charge of a large amount of security.