Cadence waited on the roof of Jamie Bennet's house. Tooth and Jack were currently in the boy's room, getting the tooth.
'It sure is taking longer than usual to get one stinking tooth!' Cadence growled in her mind. She let her legs hang over the side of the roof tiles and was swinging her legs like a little kid would.
Cadence reached a gloved hand up to the snowflake charm. She had gotten gifts before, but this had more meaning to it. Jack spent days making it, surely that must mean something more than "friends"! Right?
'No, don't read too much into it!' Cadence told herself. Everyone knows that's the quickest way to ruin a friendship.
"YEEEEHAAAAAW!" Cadence heard North shout. She looked over the edge of the house and saw a small flashlight shining through Jamie's window.
"Aaand the kid is awake. Nice stealth skills, guys." Cadence said.
Cadence tried to listen in on what they were telling the boy, but she couldn't make anything out. She heard a dog growling, an alarm clock, and she heard complete chaos erupted inside the boy's room. Light danced outside the window, and she saw a ball of dream sand bounce off the window.
Suddenly, a black form dashed across the street. It took the form of a black horse.
A Nightmare.
"What in the world?" Cadence jumped down onto a tree branch and slid down the tree trunk until she hit the ground.
The Nightmare galloped around the corner. Cadence looked back at the window. Everything was calm and silent. Things had probably gotten under control.
With an unknown source of courage, Cadence dashed off after the Nightmare. Luckily, North had given her a weapon when they climbed back into the sleigh. Connected to her belt, was a sheathed Spartan Lakonian Short sword. A leaf-shaped blade that was light enough for her grip and it was perfect for her body length.
She unsheathed it. The blade reflected the moonlight, giving it an eerie glow. Cadence watched as the Nightmare trotted down the block of another neighborhood, but it was picking up speed. She had to run to keep up with it.
As she followed the black horse, she couldn't help but feel that something was off. As she took one final turn, she skidded to a stop. The Nightmare had led her to an alley with a dead-end. There were only a few crates and a toppled trash can. The tall apartment complex obscured the moonlight, leaving the limited source of light from her sword to give Cadence a lit path.
MRROOWWW!
A cat scared Cadence into slashing a box in half. The cat hissed at her before running out of the alleyway.
"I'd better get back to the others." Cadence said aloud. She turned, but saw that her exit way was blocked. Three large Nightmares stood guard against the alleyway.
"Leaving so soon?" A voice came from behind. Pitch emerged from the darkness.
Cadence pointed her sword at him in a defensive position. She knew she wasn't scared, she was angry. "Shouldn't you be terrorizing some new newborn infants?" Cadence spat.
"I like a girl with spirit. They're so much fun to break." Pitch melted back into the shadows. He appeared behind Cadence, grabbing her wrist.
"Let go of me!" She demanded. Pitch's black sand began to creep along her arm. It was like acid on her skin.
Out of nowhere, a golden sand whip wrapped around the nightmare sand, making it become more golden dream sand. Sandy stood on top of the brick wall, with a furious look on his face. With a yank, he pulled Cadence onto the roof.
"Thanks, Sandy." Cadence said.
Jack flew down next to her. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Cadence said.
Sandy blasted Pitch with a huge wave of dream sand, sending him back into the street. Sandy flew down there, with Jack and Cadence by his side.
Pitch shook off the blast. "Okay, easy. You can't blame me for trying, Sandy. you don't know what it's like to be weak and hated." Pitch stood up straight, but shielded his face. "It was stupid of me to mess with your dreams. So, I'll tell you what: You can have 'em back." Pitch sneered.
Before they could react, hundreds of Nightmares filled the streets and stood on the surrounding rooftops.
Jack turned to Sandy. "You take the ones on the left and we'll take the ones on the right?"
Pitch rose from the ground, riding his largest Nightmare, Onyx. "Boo!" Pitch gestured for the attack. The Nightmares charged from all directions. Sandy, Jack, and Cadence were back-to-back-to-back, searching for an escape.
Suddenly the sound of sleigh bells and reindeer hooves filled the air. North's sleigh zoomed overhead, buzzing past Pitch and his Nightmares. Bunny jumped onto the back of the sleigh and gathered his boomerangs for battle.
Sandy flung dream sand at the Nightmares. Jack used his staff to freeze the Nightmares and Cadence slashed them with her sword. When a hoard of Nightmares began to close in, Jack grabbed Cadence and hauled them onto the wing of the sleigh.
"You might want to duck," Bunny told them as he flung his boomerang at one of the Nightmares.
Sandy stood on his own dream sand cloud as he battled a legion of Nightmares surrounding him. "We gotta help Sandy!" Cadence pointed from the sleigh.
North directed the sleigh towards Sandy, but more Nightmares surrounded the sleigh, keeping the other Guardians from their friend.
Pitch formed an arrow out of his sand and aimed it at Sandy. He pulled back and fired. The arrow hit Sandy between the shoulders.
"NOOO!" Jack yelled. He leaped out of the sleigh and flewfull speed toward Sandy.
"Jack!" Cadence called after him.
Sandy's golden form was becoming more and more dark. His sand was evaporating.
"I'd say 'sweet dreams', but there aren't any left." Pitch smirked.
Sandy, with his last remaining strength, stood up to his full height. He accepted his defeat, and within seconds, he was gone.
Jack, in a fit of rage, charged at Pitch.
"Jack, no!" Cadence yelled. More and more Nightmares came at her, attracted to the fear she felt for Jack. She slashed each one, but more and more were appearing too quickly.
She didn't see what happened next, but the next thing she saw was ice and nightmare sand falling to the earth and Jack falling with it. Luckily, Tooth was able to catch Jack. She brought him back to the sleigh.
"Jack, how did you do that?" Tooth asked.
"I-I didn't know I could." Jack replied groggily.
When they arrived back at the North Pole, everyone was heartbroken.
The sleigh landed roughly. Tooth flew out and sat at the edge of the cliff, Jack squatted down on a snowbank, and Bunny angrily kicked things around before turning his anger out of Jack.
"What were you bloody thinking, Jack!?" He yelled, "Trying to take on Pitch without us!"
"Keep it together, Bunny." North told Bunny.
"KEEP IT TOGETHER?!" Bunny fumed. "Sandy's gone! He's gone! Pitch is picking us off one by one, and you want me to keep it together?!"
"Bunny's right." Tooth said. "Pitch's plan is actually working."
"But we have something that Pitch did not count on." North said. He put a hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I don't even know what I did." Jack admitted.
"What you did was save allow us!" Tooth flew to his side.
"Not all of us." Bunny grumbled.
Cadence had finally had enough. "It's not his fault Bunny!" He marched straight up to him. "Jack did his best! What were doing to help Sandy?!"
"Cadence-" Tooth started, but Cadence held up her hand.
"Jack did everything he could. And besides," Cadence unzipped her jacket and brought out the box. "Not ALL of Sandy is gone." She opened the box and showed everyone the dreams and that Sandy gave her.
"How. . .?" Bunny asked.
"I told Sandy how I haven't been able to sleep so well for the last few days, so he gave me some of his sand." She said.
North came up and patted Cadence on the back. "Thank you, Cadence." She let North take the box from her hand. "Now come, we must begin the ceremony."