A Journey Unthought Of: Revival of Chaos

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 38 - Cadence, Fancy Pants

Meeting a stranger in a large city like Trottingham was essentially a daily occurrence. For its denizens, that meant that sticking close to those you knew could mean the difference between life and death nowadays. Since the beginning of the civil conflict three months ago, the death toll was now approaching seventy. Any attempt by the authorities to maintain order was essentially a joke to the marauding gangs on the streets. The best the police could do was contain the violence within the city itself and heavily question traffic coming in and out of it. There were of course some gaps in this citywide blockade, which both sides used to bring in further reinforcements for themsevles, making the bloody conflict’s body count swell to even greater numbers. Two newcomers, a mare and a stallion in large dark grey cloaks, had made their way through one of these security gaps, and slipped into the city unnoticed. They made their way through the outskirts of the interior city, looking for any sort of place to stay for the night before dusk fell. As they passed through a section of housing on the famous Upton Street, a door quietly opened to their right, and a nervous stallion poked his head out.

“Oi, you two,” he whispered as loudly as he could, “What the hay’re you doin’, trying to get yerself killed?”

“We were looking for some place to stay,” the stallion called back, “Do you know of somewhere we could lie down for the night?”

Further down the street there was a growing light which all three of the ponies saw; loud shouts and clanging noises accompanied the disturbing light as it made its way towards them. Without any hesitation, the stallion hurriedly gestured with his hoof, “Get inside, quick!”

The cloaked stallion and mare glanced momentarily at each other before they dashed for the stranger’s house.

Closing and locking the door behind them, the earth pony stallion who owned the home exhaled nervously, “You lot just had the luckiest moment in your entire lives.”

“Thank you so much for your hospitality,” the mare curtsied slightly from underneath her robe.

Confused by the archaic greeting method, the stallion shrugged, “Oh, it’s nuthin’. Harmony may be dead, but that don’t mean common decency has to die with it.”

The lights and mayhem began to pass by in the street, and the owner of the home ducked away from the nearby room’s windows looking out into the neighborhood, with his guests following suit. “They’re huntin’ ponies on the streets like a plague of Parasprites, swallowin’um whole. Now you’re obviously outa’towners, so allow me to politely ask who you are and what the ruddy hell you were thinkin’ comin’ to this of all places in Equestria.”

The mare and the stallion turned away from the earth pony to whisper to each other.

“Do you think he can be trusted?” the mare asked.

“It’s up to your judgment,” the stallion replied.

The mare paused, before turning back to the earth pony and unveiling her face with her magic. The stallion took a step back in awe, “By all the stars in the sky!”

Princess Cadence’s beauty may have been dulled by her seclusion in the Everfree, but she still retained her regality even with her hair shoddily tossed up into a ponytail, “I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can call me Cadence.”

The stallion lifted his own hood revealing a clean shaven and shorthaired white unicorn, “And I am Prince Fancy Pants, Equestrian Financial Minister. Thank you once again for inviting us into your home.”

“Believe me,” the earth pony gulped slightly, “The pleasure’s completely mine. I’m Gearhead. It is such an honor to meet you both!”

“We don’t wish to seem demanding,” Fancy Pants interrupted, “but do you have any food to spare? We’ve been traveling without a chance to eat all day.”

Gearhead’s eyes lit up in semi-panic, “Of course! Of course! Let me just quick prepare some supper!”

The earth pony made his way back into the small kitchen area in his home at a half gallop and feverishly began throwing something together. Cadence and Fancy Pants walked in just behind Gearhead as he began to toss small bowls on the table for the soup he had prepared earlier that evening for himself.

“Sorry if it’s not up to your usual standards,” Gearhead sheepishly grinned, “I’m a rubbish cook.”

“Compared to what we’ve had to make due with,” Cadence eyed the soup longingly as she chuckled, “This will be like a feast.”

---

“The whole country’s gone to Tartarus since you disappeared,” Gearhead began after moving the plates from the table, “Prince Shining Armor is trying to do what he can, but he’s no Princess Celestia. Word comin’ from the outside said you’d been kidnapped by some unicorn faction. I know this may sound impertinent, Yer Majesty, but where the hell have you been?”

Cadence was heartbroken by Gearhead’s appeals to her. Trottingham’s every citizen was in this same form of anguish, left directionless without any solid lasting institution to rely on. Everything had changed, she began to realize; even the most basic ideas of law and order had been stripped of her ponies, leaving them naked, helpless against an unseen and near untouchable enemy. Perhaps she had been wrong to have left Canterlot, even if it was to protect her husband and the Royal Family.

“I exiled myself,” she said softly, “I was never kidnapped. The Changelings made an attempt on my life, which Fancy Pants here helped to subvert,” she gestured to her guide and bodyguard, “We’ve been living in the Everfree Forest for the past season, assuming that the Changelings would be actively hunting me. Now I wonder if my ‘vacation’ was their plan all along; never to kill me, but to keep me out of the way.”

“The threat may seem like it is the Solar Empiricists or Lunar Republicans,” Fancy Pants interjected as he laid his hoof on the table, “but the truth is both are sham causes. Each is the instrument of the Changelings to divide Equestria and sow hatred and fear among us.”

“But why are they doin’ this?” Gearhead shook his head slowly, which he then placed in his hooves, “What have we ever done to deserve this? First they were just old wives’ tales, and now they’re our wakin’ nightmares? Why are they tearing us down?”

“I don’t know,” Princess Cadence laid her face down on her hooves, “The idea that somepony could hate somepony else like this so impersonally for such a long time, I don’t think I can understand it: it’s just not in my nature to be like that.”

“What news is there from the other parts of the country?” Fancy Pants urged Gearhead, “What about the Elements of Harmony?”

“The Elements?” the earth pony asked “The ones in Ponyville? Last I heard they were somehow remaining neutral in all this. Don’t know how personally, but they ‘ve dun it so far, though there was talk of, if you’ll pardon the mechanic’s vernacular, galvanizing that neutrality.”

“What exactly do you mean?” Fancy Pants asked uneasily.

“Some earth pony named Bon Bon delivered this firebrand speech that we all need to ‘return Equestria to the way it was’. Those who agree with her are goin’ to be marchin’ on Canterlot to show their commitment to the cause soon.”

Gearhead sighed, “I’d love to believe that it’s still possible, returnin’ Equestria to the way it was, but after everthin’ I’ve seen in this city with the arson, the gangs, and the killin’s.” He fell quiet and leaned his head on his left hoof, “There hasn’t been a true homicide in this city for as long as I can remember, and now it’s like all the sense in ponies is gone, and all that’s left is madness.”

Cadence had remained quiet for a time as she processed all the information at her disposal. She believed that whoever this Bon Bon was, it sounded like she had a good head on her shoulders. She could believe that Twilight would somehow be involved with this movement, and she absolutely trusted her sister-in-law’s judgment. She realized she owed it to all of Equestria to be there for this neutral movement, and to not let them down as she had unintentionally done when she had run away. She breathed in, and her determination was palatable: she was not going to back down again.

“Harmony’s not dead,” Cadence firmly intoned.

“Cadence?” Fancy Pants turned to the alicorn princess.

“We’ll make our way to Ponyville at dawn. Where’s the nearest railway line to there from here?”

“Princess, I’m not sure that is the wisest course of action,” the white unicorn cautioned, “Going to Ponyville will attract undue attention from the Changelings as well as from the two factions. Your safety is paramount, and that is next to impossible in any crowd.”

“The herd is who is most important,” Cadence replied with a passionate fire in her eyes, “No Princess or Prince changes that. My life is not worth any more than anyone else’s. I have a chance to serve and help, and that is what I am meant to do.”

“You cannot just throw your life around like you are no more different than anypony else anymore!” Fancy Pants angrily declared as he slammed his hoof on the table, “If anything happens to you the world is thrown out of balance, spelling doom for all races of this world! The fact that you were somehow able to find a way to raise both the sun and moon is a miracle, and that cannot be squandered. We must stay in hiding for the sake of everyone!”

The room became deathly silent, with the two royals staring each other down. Gearhead was doing his best to remain absolutely still, in the hopes that he would not be caught in the range of their mutual death glares.

“I will be leaving tomorrow morning,” Cadence declared in a practiced tone to control her anger, “If you wish to stay behind, then you may: I’m needed in Ponyville, and nothing can change my mind about going.”

In almost an instant, Cadence’s eyes unfocused, and her face gained a green pallor. She quickly got up from her chair, and before either of the males could react, she began to dry heave over the nearby sink.

“Princess!” Gearhead exclaimed in a panic, “Are you alright?”

“Felt better,” she managed to wheeze out before the next round of vertigo and nausea hit her, “We’re going. That’s final.”

“What’s happenin’ to her?” Gearhead turned to Fancy Pants frantically.

The nobleman’s brow furrowed, “I’m seriously praying it’s not what I believe it to be.”

Comments

[Alan Smithee]

Yay! Cadence!