Chapter One : Rescued!
The time of twilight stole the vibrant greens of the lakeside reeds, leaving behind a sombre shade that faded into monochrome. The myriad of browns that were the shoreline stones became the same shade as the faded paved route that lay cold and silent behind a pony flanked by two strong stallions. The heat of the day ebbed as the sun sank to the horizon, kissing the sky a warm peach hue.
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence as she preferred to be addressed as, made her way towards the intimidating shadows of Canterlot Castle, the place where her Aunt Celestia had offered her a home. She had just come from a long walk in the nearby park, losing all sense of time whilst playing with the fillies and colts, not that she would normally call getting bossed around by the spoiled foals of upper Canterlot 'playing'.
She was accompanied by her personal guards, Overwatch and Stiff Sword, they were diligent and protective, chosen by her adoptive aunt personally to protect her. Not that Cadenza needed protecting, of course.
Just a few corners before the grand gates of the castle could be seen, the Princess of Love stopped dead in her tracks, flicking her ears around, her companions halting and gazing at her questioningly as she made for the side of the street towards a dark alley way.
"Your Highness, please, do not venture too close to th-" Stiff Sword fluttered his wings nervously as he was cut off by a pink hoof.
The princess had heard a small disturbance in the perfect silence. It had sounded like sobbing, muffled by the wind and their hoofsteps.
Overwatch reluctantly gestured to her partner, telling him to keep up with the newest princess, before stepping in front of her charge and lighting up her horn. She had no choice but to comply with her princess' orders, it wasn't that she was physically forced, no, she was allowed to disobey direct orders if the safety of their princesses were at stake whether they wanted it or not. Rather, it was that she knew that even if she didn't allow for Princess Mi Amore Cadenza to do what she wanted, she would find a way to sneak out on her own. Unguarded. And that was often worse.
The princess cautiously made her way into the damp alley way, her own horn bright with a flickering blue light. She was still learning to use her magic and taking classes from Princess Celestia, the village where she had been found had a mostly earth pony and pegasus population, Celestia had found her as an incredibly rare, orphaned winged unicorn, and offered to adopt her as the royal niece.
The three ponies made it to the end of the alley, it was dimly lit and wet. There was no sign of life until--
Suddenly, five hooded stallions appeared, surrounding the trio with victorious grins. The guards circled their charge defensively, wings flared and horns lowered.
The only pony wearing a red coat nodded to his comrades, and they seemed to get the hint.
They rounded up on the guards. Although the unicorn put up a good fight, Overwatch was outnumbered three to one, and the mysterious figures were able to slip a strong restraining ring around her horn and knock her unconscious. Stiff Sword was doing no better, while he was good with a spear, his weapon was quickly confiscated by a tall, black hooded pony, and he, too, was knocked out, just after shooting a fearful glance at his princess.
The leader of the group approached the pink winged unicorn with a cheshire grin, moving slowly as Cadenza fell on her haunches and scampered backwards until her back was pressed against the wall.
"Hmmm... A pretty one... Niece of the princess as well... Wonder how much we can get off you? But first... let me have some fun..." The stallion licked his dry lips and had his eye on her flank, nearing the princess with every step while she shrunk under his gaze, trembling and feeling the tears threatening to spill.
Come on Cadence, think about that shield spell Aunty showed you yesterday! Oh how do you draw the runes again?
A muffled grunt caught the attention of Cadence and her tormentors. It came from the corner of the alley way, and what the Princess of Love saw disgusted her, she let out a gasp.
Hidden in the corner of the room was a lavender unicorn filly, bruised and tattered. She wore a powerful magic restraining ring and had a thin loop of metal around her neck. The filly was bound to the wall by red magic bands restraining her movement and she had tears streaming down her cheeks.
"P-please!" She choked out, "Let her go! I'll do anything! I'll read that book! Please!" The lavender bundle of fur strained against her restraints, horn spluttering uselessly against the golden ring at the base of her horn.
Cadence's mouth was held agape, how could these ponies be so horrible to a foal? She was thin and clearly maltreated, her violet eyes were wide and blurred by tears, she shot an angered glare at the now laughing cloaked unicorns.
The leader was giving her a cold grin, sending shivers up the princess' spine, he mocked the filly "Oh I'll do anything!" the unicorn echoed, earning more hysterical laughter from his peers, "You are going to read that book anyways. If you won't do it willingly, I'll make you!"
The pink winged unicorn was confused. 'What book? What was a foal doing here?' Her train of thoughts ended when she spotted the unicorn lighting up his horn, her caution turned to horror as she witnessed the filly's neck band glow red, then she fell to her side writhing in pain and stifling her yells.
"What did you do to her?" Cadence demanded, trying to hurry over but was tied to the ground by the same red strings, strong and unbreakable.
"Quiet you pest!" The leader growled to the filly, the edges of his red cloak flapped up, revealing part of his dark coat, he regarded Cadence and sneered, "You shouldn't worry about her, she was misbehaving, but we won't have any problems like that will we?"
The unicorn sat on top of the underside of Cadence's body as she let out a shriek, "H-Help!" She tried to shout, only for the group to be covered in a soundproofing dome.
"Get off her!" Everypony clenched their eyes shut when a bright light enveloped the entire alley way. Cadence felt the stallion's weight leave her as he was flung across the alley along with his companions.
They recovered and readjusted their vision to see the small lavender foal, standing protectively in front of Cadence, trying to remove her restraining ring and facing the hissing unicorns.
They all stared, wide eyed, as the golden circle around her horn melted, and the aura around her pointed appendage flared, turning from a magenta color to a light indigo as she fed it more power.
For once, the leader of the group of unicorns was at a loss for words as he got up to his hooves quickly, "Wha- How did yo- What hav-", he spluttered, trying to make sense of the situation as he lit his horn with an offensive spell, pointing it at the filly threateningly.
He fired the shot. A huge red ball of energy was headed towards the winged unicorn and the lavender filly. There was nowhere to run to. Cadence shut her eyes, tears collecting into a puddle under her. Twilight stood before her, staring at the incoming ball and flaring her horn.
Three. Four. Five. Six. Sev-
Cadence dared to open her eyes, where was the pain? She gasped as the remarkable tiny foal wrapped the two of them within a shield, wavering with pure magical energy and not even baring a crack when the offending shot came into contact.
The stallions all retreated quickly save for their leader, who was still gazing at the lavender foal in disbelief.
The filly in question looked back at Cadence, "Ar-Are you alright Miss?" receiving a nod, she continued, "You have to r-run! I'll make an opening for you!"
Princess Cadenza gaped at the foal before her and exclaimed, "What? I can't leave you here alone!"
Cadence was met with a strained smile, "S-Sorry Miss, I have to stay here, my p-" The filly clutched at her neck abruptly, her features contorting into a pained expression as she desperately grabbed at the neck band, now sending off sparks.
The Princess of Love grabbed her small, trembling body to her chest, she felt the offender's strikes against the indestructible dome and held the frail figure tighter. 'How could that monster hurt a child so awfully?'
The filly thrashed in the embrace, sobbing and whimpering, "Please! Make it stop! M-Make it stop! P-Please!". Despite this, the shield held strong, and in an effort of pure willpower, she fired up into the air.
Sparks of lavender magic flew out of her horn towards the night sky continuously, each orb exploding and darting towards the castle.
'Emergency sparks!' Cadence's mind supplied, she mentally berated herself, how could she have not thought of those? She panicked as she felt the small body between her forehooves go limp, and was astounded when the orb of power around her did not even falter. "It's okay," Cadence wrapped the lavender filly up with her wings, careful to avoid the horn, "You're going to be okay."
After a few minutes of rocking and murmuring, the Princess of Love could feel no more vibrations from the dome, instead, a familiar, panicked voice rang into her ears.
"Cadence? Cadence? Are you in there? Cadence!"
Princess Cadenza yelled, "Shining! Shining Armor! I'm here!"
She heard a gasp of relief before his reply came, "Cady! Are you hurt? Are you okay? Dispel the shield!"
"I can't!" Cadence called out, "I'm fine! Do you have medics? Can you break the shield?"
Her coltfriend, Shining Armor, could save them, Cadence was sure, his special talent was shields after all. But after a long stretch of silence broken only by several grunts and powerful shots fired at the orb, her hopes plummeted as they did not even make a scratch.
"I- I- How can I not be able to break this shield?" Shining, the Captain of the Royal Guard, asked, frustrated, "How did you design such a powerful one?"
"Long story! It wasn't me! I have a pony in here with me! She needs medical help!"
Cadence's hopes soared once more as a second voice made itself known, "Cadence? Are you in there? What happened?"
"Aunty!" The Princess of Love listened as the Captain explained what he knew to the princess in a frantic tone.
"Alright, hold on Cadence!" Celestia called out and shot an opaque beam of magic at the shield, it was unbelievably strong and was created from the power of the sun itself, but to everypony's shock, it only created a hairline fracture across the smooth surface.
"What?" Cadence could hear her aunt fire off more power until finally, the opaque shield cracked and shattered, sending a warm wave of energy across the ponies.
The pink princess opened her eyes to reveal a full squad of guards cramped in the alleyway with Celestia and Shining Armor right at the front, but that wasn't all. There were dozens of tiny orbs of lavender lights crowding around her and the filly, in a whirl of purple, the pinpricks of light raced towards the lump under Cadence's wing.
"Cadence!" Shining yelped, diving and scooping her up, "I was so worried!"
The newest princess wiped her own tears away, "I'm perfectly fine, where are the medics?"
Princess Celestia gave a sigh of relief, "Oh Cadence, you're alright," she turned to look at one of the guards behind her, "Medics, where are they?"
Shining Armor looked over her marefriend in concern, "Medics?" he questioned, "I thought you were unharmed?"
Cadence looked to her Aunt instead, "Aunty Celestia!" she unfurled her wing, revealing a trembling, lavender filly still pawing at her neck, drenched in the tears still flowing from her eyes, "The ring around her neck! Can you get rid of it?"
Celestia lost her composure for a moment, simply gaping at the tiny filly, "The shield- Did she- The ring, of course, I may be able to remove it." She stepped forward, her horn pointed towards the glowing band.
Her eyes widened and she pulled backwards, staring at the ring in disgust. When her Captain asked her what the matter was, she spat two words, "Dark Magic"
The only ones who heard were Cadence and Shining, they both gasped and stared at Celestia as if she was mad, "Dark Magic?" They echoed.
The Princess of the Sun flared her wings and the temperature around her rose as she bent down over the limp, lavender body once again, charging her horn and crumbling the metal band, the filly's tears finally ceasing.
"The Euthros Band is an atrocious device, the 'master' controls the ring, and can deal pain to the wearer whenever they wish to punish them, it was a means to educate slaves in the Dark Ages, but they are now banned." Princess Celestia murmured, gaze still resting on the pile of rubble which used to be the Euthros.
The two Princesses, the Captain of the Royal Guard along with the detachment of guards, made their way towards to Canterlot Castle after the medics who had rushed the powerful filly to the Royal Hospital Wing.
Author's Note
This is a new chapter story I'm doing, I have no idea if I really like where this is heading or if I like the storyline in the first place, so suggestions are welcome.
If viewers don't really like this, I can always cancel the story, no big deal.
-Meowofy
