I awoke abruptly and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Thank you, hello, goodbye!”
I heard a voice at the door. “Uh… Sir?”
“Oh,” I shook my head and jumped out of bed. “Come in.”
The door opened and a guard came in holding a letter in his wing. “A letter for you, Lieutenant Shield.”
I took the letter with my magic and saluted the guard. “Thank you.”
“Sir.” The guard returned the salute and left.
The letter was nondescript, and the only indication that it was to me was my last name written on the front. I opened it up and read.
I know you’re here, and I need your help. Meet me alone in the crystal caverns at noon. Stonehenge
My eyes widened at the signature. I couldn’t believe it, he really was here, and somehow knew I was too. But, he needed my help? Things must have gotten really bad for him to reach out to me. Noon in the crystal caverns though, that eased some tension. Now it wouldn’t be a pain in the flank to find him. All I had to do was find Katana and let her know, easy peasy. Even better, I could tell Summer about the meeting, and she wouldn’t have to worry about coming along. Huh! Things were actually coming back together.
I left my room with the letter and went straight to the dining hall where breakfast was just about to be served. Shining Armor was already sitting at the table, reading some reports it looked like.
“Shining Armor, I’ve got some good news,” I said, levitating the letter to him. “Look at this.”
Shining Armor took the letter and read it. He looked peculiarly skeptical. “Swordulan, would you recognize your cousin’s hoofwriting?”
My heart skipped a beat. “Well… no, I don’t think so.”
“Hmm. This wasn’t written by him. Or at the very least, not by an earth pony.”
“So, maybe he had somepony else’s help, both to write it and deliver it here. That would make sense if he’s in hiding.”
“That’s possible, but this just seems too suspicious. I’ve worked with Stonehenge, and this doesn’t sound like him. What do you plan to do?”
“Be at the crystal caverns at noon. What else? If it’s not him, then at least I might get some answers about what’s going on.”
“You might, but what worries me is that whoever this is, they’re calling for you to come alone. I’m sensing big red flags, here. If I were you, I’d be treating this as a trap.”
“So I’ll take backup with me, keep them at a distance. You can help with that, right?”
“I’d much rather put together a scouting party, close off the caverns, and see if we find anything wrong. But, if I let you go, what will you do with Summer and Katana?”
“I’ll leave them here. I was going to tell Katana, but, if this is a trap, she doesn’t need to know. If she finds out somehow, I’m not opposed to letting you lock her up so she can’t follow. And what do you mean if you let me go? I thought you were letting me decide what to do about this.”
“This is something that is potentially threatening to the Empire, not just some isolated family trouble. I have to ensure the safety of our citizens, even if I have to stop you from going to the caves.”
I hesitated. “Will you stop me?”
“No, I’m thinking I’ll have you come with me. We’ll leave right after breakfast.”
“Oh… alright. Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Shining Armor smiled. “Of course. I can have a guard get you some armor and a sword for when we go.”
“Where are you going?” a voice asked.
I winced. It was Summer, having snuck up behind me. Shining Armor gave me a look that said, that’s your job, not mine, while levitating the letter back to me.
I turned to face her, and she looked on guard. “The crystal caverns just north of the Empire. I got a letter presumably from Stonehenge to meet him there at noon, but Shining Armor doesn’t think it’s him. We’re going to secure the area and find out what’s up after breakfast.”
“I see.” She paused and frowned. “Do you want me to stay here?”
“Uh… do you want to go?”
“Well, I’ve always wanted to see the crystal caverns, and if this is my opportunity, I want to take it. So yes.”
I looked back at Shining Armor, who shrugged.
“This one’s up to you,” he said.
“Fine,” I sighed. “You can come, but promise that you’ll run at the first sign of danger, okay?”
“I promise,” Summer said, crossing her heart. “Now, I heard something about breakfast.”
“Yes, Cadance will be here any minute, then we’ll get started,” Shining Armor said.
Summer and I took our seats next to each other, and conversation drifted into far more casual territory, though my heart was taking its time in settling down.
*
“Don’t try to deny it, Celestia. I know you’re hiding it some—oh, some visitors just decided to barge in. How rude of them. Excuse me for a moment.”
“What?”
Poof!
Just what do you think you’re doing here? Do you know who I am? You think it’s perfectly okay to waltz into my consciousness uninvited, without consequence? Well, come to think of it, you did that last time too. Pfah! No matter, there are more important things to deal with right now, so you may as well tag along for the ride. Just don’t make a habit of this spontaneous dropping in. At the very least, knock next time. I am quite a private draconequus after all.
Poof!
“My apologies, Princess Celestia. I was momentarily distracted, but the matter has been resolved.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. She is so adorable when suspicious. “I hope you haven’t been getting into any trouble.”
“Me? Trouble? Pshaw, I would never get into trouble unless absolutely necessary. Let’s get back to the matter at claw… or was it paw? Either way, I know about Star Swirl’s magic mirror portals, and I know you have one, or at least know where one is.”
Her eyes narrowed. “No, I cannot allow you to go through one.”
“I never said I wanted to go through one, and I don’t know that I could get back if I did. I have a suspicion that a dangerous magical entity has slipped into a mirror world, but I need to know for sure.”
“What are you talking about?”
I snapped a claw and the magic sword of Lieutenant Nobody appeared in the air between us. “It’s become clear that whatever happened to the entity within the Lieutenant’s sword, it’s most likely in one of the mirror worlds doing who-knows-what.”
Celestia took the sword in her magic and examined the crystals. “What makes you say that?”
“Because if it were in this world, I would be able to track it down. You do remember how powerful it was, don’t you? And the enchantment is still bound to it by means of undead magic, completely untraceable.”
Celestia scoffed. “Undead magic? Really, Discord, you expect me to believe that?”
I rolled my eyes. “Only if you want to understand what’s going on.” This was the trouble with Princesses, they always assumed they knew everything. “For once in my life I am trying to be somewhat serious. The entity is not a nice one, if it’s not found and dealt with, there could be grave consequences. Without containment, there’s the possibility that it becomes too powerful and unstable, to the point it would threaten all of the mirror worlds, including Equestria.”
Celestia sighed. “Very well. What can be done about it?”
“Somepony will have to go into the mirror world it’s in and find it. Perhaps Swordulan can go and trap it back in the sword, then I can deal with it once and for all.”
“Yes, that would be best. Hmm. Justice told me he’s off for the weekend, do you perhaps know where he is?”
“Oh yes, he’s off on some date in the Crystal Empire.”
Celestia looked surprised. “Really? That’s quite convenient actually.” She turned to one of her guards. “Prepare a train to leave for the Crystal Empire immediately.”
“A train? You know I could have us both there in the blink of an eye.”
“No thank you, I will meet you there. Now get off my throne.”
“Fine! I have some other business to attend to in the meanwhile anyway.”
Poof!
*
Well, it was morning now, and there was still no sign of Swordulan anywhere. There was only one thing left to do: storm the castle. So that’s exactly what I did, full wing power.
It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. The thing about getting into the castle was that it had really tight spiral staircases, so max speed didn’t quite work without crashing into guards and walls. I was pinned down pretty quick, but after shouting who I was at them and who I was looking for, I was brought inside. They still held me captive while a guard ran ahead to inform their esteemed leaders of my arrival. It didn’t take long before I was allowed into the dining hall where they were all having…
Who the BUCK is that sitting next to Swordulan?
“What are you doing here, Katana?” Swordulan asked.
I glared at him. “Looking for you, conehead. What the hay are you doing here? I thought you were here for work!”
The mare sitting next to him gave him a confused look, and he immediately tensed up in a way I’d never seen before.
“Well?” I asked. “Was that a lie too, then? I was expecting you to find me last night.”
Swordulan grimaced. “I couldn’t, but—”
“You couldn’t? Oh let me guess, it had something to do with whoever this mare right here is. Does she have a name?”
“It’s Summer,” the mare said.
I laughed. “Wow, really? That explains why it’s so hot outside!”
“That’s not—”
“You know what, I can’t believe you, Swordulan. I don’t even know why I bothered coming to you for help in the first place, I should’ve known you’d never actually help. Maybe if—”
“Katana, stop,” Swordulan said.
Suddenly I couldn’t open my mouth or move my limbs. That son of a haystack was actually holding me with his magic again!
“Look, I’m sorry I lied to you,” he continued. “It was wrong. I should’ve found you last night too. But right now I just need you to shut up for a moment and listen. I got a letter this morning, I want you to read it.”
He levitated over a letter and released his magic on me. I gave him a cold look and took the letter in my wing to read it.
I know you’re here, and…
I squinted at the letter. “This doesn’t make any sense, Stonehenge told me—wait, this isn’t his hoofwriting.”
“We know,” Swordulan said. “Shining Armor noticed too. What do you mean Stonehenge told you? Did you find him?”
I sighed in aggravation. “He found me, then disappeared just as quickly. He told me to get you out of here.”
“Get me out of here? Why?”
“I don’t know, he doesn’t want either of us in the Empire right now.”
“Did he say anything about what sort of trouble he was in?” Shining Armor asked. “Or who was after him?”
“No, he said he couldn’t tell me anything. What are you planning to do? Have the whole Empire on the lookout?”
“We were about to leave for the crystal caverns with a scouting party,” Swordulan said.
“Oh, lemme guess, if I hadn’t shown up, you’d have gone without telling me.”
“I don’t think that should surprise you.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t. I wouldn’t even be surprised if you were planning on bringing your pretty new marefriend instead.”
Both Swordulan’s and Summer’s faces went grim, but they were silent for too long to deny anything. I could only shortly nod in feigned respect.
“Wow,” I said, and laughed. “Wow. You know what, I’m not even mad. Take whoever the hay you want with you. I don’t care. But you’re not going without me.”
“No,” Swordulan said. “You’re staying here. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Hah! So you’ll let your marefriend risk her life, but not a member of your own family?”
“I trust her to run at the first sign of danger. I trust you to run head first into it, so yes. Don’t make me lock you up.”
“You can’t keep me here, and you can’t just treat your family however you want and get away with it!”
Swordulan stood up, and the look in his eye said he was about to use magic, so I spread my wings and flew backwards, shooting out of the dining room and down through the halls until I made it to the stairs, which I ran down, burst past the guards, and exited the castle. There was no way I was going to let them catch me, so I took to the skies again and headed north. I’d beat them to the caverns and find Stonehenge myself, whatever it took.