Stepping through the mirror felt like being swept into raging whirlpool, tossing me around faster and faster, colors swirling past as I couldn’t do anything but scream, and then it was over in an abrupt lurch.
I opened my eyes and saw… my sword, I think, except it was shaped like a baton. Moving my legs, something bizarre moved across my vision and I froze. That… was not a leg. Trying to bring my front legs up so I could see them, I saw… thin hairless monkey hands? I touched my face, and it was like half of what should have been there was missing.
What the hay am I?
Afraid to move another inch, I turned my eyes up and saw a large but short castle with dozens of… not-monkeys… walking around. It was the tail end of fall with most of the trees barren, colorful leaves covering the ground nearly everywhere. Some of the not-monkeys were giving me odd stares but most avoided eye contact. Did I look like them? Or was I different?
No, that didn’t matter, first I had to make sure I knew how to get back. Slowly using my ho… hands… I managed to turn around and saw a large statue of a horse. So, there must have been horses here at least. Maybe I could find some and see if they could tell me anything about this place.
I pulled myself to the statue so I could sit against it and looked at the rest of me. Long legs for standing, a weirdly flat torso, arms, hands. From the way all the other creatures were walking, it seemed going on all fours would stand out, which I certainly wanted to avoid. I had some kind of uniform on, judging by a badge on the dark blue vest I had. Weird that the portal would give me clothes.
Feeling at my forehead, I gasped. NO HORN?
I jumped up, legs wobbling a bit, and faced the statue. “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO USE MAGIC TO DEFEAT THIS THING IF I DON’T HAVE A HORN!?” I staggered forward and slammed a fist against a hard surface. Discord had already closed the portal. “Discord! Let me back! How is this supposed to work?”
I looked down at my sword-baton and tried to focus, but there was nothing, no connection, no magic, nothing. The sword had stopped pulsing too.
“Are you okay, Officer Shield?” a feminine voice asked. “I thought you were on vacation.”
I looked up to find one of the not-monkeys standing in front of me. She had a light orange skin tone with yellow and red hair and cyan eyes. Had she been a pony with those colors, she might have passed as my sister.
“I’m not an Officer, I’m a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard,” I said. With legs wobbling slightly, I crouched to pick up my sword-baton.
“Wait,” she said. “Did you come through the portal?”
I hesitated. “How many of you strange creatures know about it?”
She gasped and looked around as if to make sure no one was nearby. “My name’s Sunset Shimmer, I’m from Equestria too. Do you know Twilight Sparkle? Did she come with you?”
It was a relief that someone else here was from Equestria; perhaps she might know a way to deal with the lack of magic, though I wasn’t sure if I should trust her right away. At the very least she might be able to answer questions. “I know Twilight, but no, it’s just me. You can call me Swordulan. What are we anyway?”
“Humans. It takes a bit to get used to, I know. And this right here is Canterlot High. Everyone here knows you as Officer Shield, a security officer of the school. You may want to lay low before Principal Celestia sees you.”
I blinked. “Principal Celestia? What…”
“Yeah, it’s weird. Listen, I don’t know how you managed to get through the portal, but maybe you should come with me. I can help you with whatever you’re doing here, or just with finding your way around.”
“Hold on, how do you know Twilight?”
“We met when she came here not too long ago… she sort of helped me with a terrible problem. We’re friends. I can introduce you to the rest of the friends she made here if you’d like.”
“I see. Well, friends of Twilight are better than nothing. I’ll follow you.”
I followed Sunset with slow, awkward footing until she lent a hand to assist me. The other humans around gave us odd stares, as though suspicious or contemptuous.
“Does everyone here hate me or something?” I asked.
“No, that would be me,” Sunset said. “It’s a long story. You know how Twilight’s crown was stolen recently?”
I nearly tripped from the news. “Stolen? No, I never heard.”
“Oh. I guess she must not have wanted that to get out.”
“Let me guess, you were the one who stole it?”
She sighed. “Yes. But I’ve learned my lesson, and like I said, we’re… friends now, I guess.”
I was starting to get the hang of walking on two legs. This body seemed strongly built for it. “Of course you are, you and everypony’s grandmother. Where exactly are you taking me?”
Sunset gave me an odd look. “Say ‘everybody’s’ instead. People around here aren’t very welcoming of anything from Equestria, magical things make them nervous. And I’m taking you to my friend Pinkie’s house, we have sleepovers pretty often. Canterlot High is too busy with finals to discuss Equestrian things here.”
“Pinkie’s? Pinkie Pie?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Just don’t think about it too hard.”
I rubbed my head. “I wish I didn’t have to think about it at all.”
Sunset was silent for a time, though every other moment looked like she wanted to say something until she stopped herself. It was like she wasn’t sure what to say, but eventually she asked, “So you’re a Lieutenant, huh?”
“One of many. I oversee Canterlot’s walls and gates.”
“How come Celestia sent you here? Were you exiled for something?”
“Exiled? No, nothing like that. I’m here to capture a dangerous magical entity that used to live in my sword’s crystals.” I hefted the sword-baton to show her and she stopped in her tracks, eyes going wide.
“Are you serious?”
“That’s part of the job description. You wouldn’t happen to know how to use magic in this world, would you?”
Sunset sighed. “No, not unicorn magic anyway. But don’t worry, I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“I hope so. Maybe it might be as simple as hitting it with the sword, or trying to make it want to go back in. Unless it’s taken possession of something or someone else.”
Sunset looked worried. “Can it do that?”
“I have no idea. Come on, people are starting to stare at us. I’d rather keep a low profile.”
A short distance later we made it to Pinkie’s house. She greeted me much the same as the Pinkie Pie from Ponyville did when I first met her, perhaps with greater enthusiasm because I was from Equestria. All of Sunset’s friends were there studying together; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. It was the most bizarre thing I’d ever seen.
“So let me get this straight,” Rarity said shortly after I explained my situation, “there is another monster from Equestria we have to deal with?” She looked at Sunset and her cheeks colored. “Uh—of course, I don’t mean to insinuate that you’re a monster, darling.”
Sunset gave a weak smile. “It’s okay, I sorta was.”
“Are you absolutely sure this ‘magical entity’ is even here?” Applejack asked.
“Yes and no,” I said. “It’s the most likely place, especially since I know for sure it isn’t in Equestria. Have any of you noticed anything unusual? Anyone acting strangely?”
That got me a chorus of ums, nos, not reallys, and haven’t seen anythings.
“Of course we haven’t noticed anything!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “We’re all so busy and focused for finishing our finals. Nobody’s going to notice someone acting strange.”
“Hmm. Then I’ll just have to start searching. You should all stay here.” I turned to leave, but before I could make it two strides, Sunset grabbed my shoulder.
“Wait,” she said, turning me around, “if both our world and Equestria is in danger, we’ll do anything we can to find and stop this thing. No way we’re letting you go alone. Right, girls?”
They all stared at her in hesitation, but Applejack broke the silence. “Ah, shoot! We may not have a plan, but as long as we have each other, I’m confident we can take on anything that comes our way. Besides, I’ll bet Twilight would want us to help. Count me in.”
“I suppose when Applejack puts it like that, you can count me in too,” Rarity said.
“And me,” Fluttershy said. “I couldn’t bear to let anything happen to anyone here or Equestria.”
“I guess hunting down an evil magical monster sounds pretty cool,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m in.”
“Me too!” Pinkie said. “Let’s get this magic monster hunter party started!”
I suppose I should have expected as much from friends of Twilight. Still, I gave a grateful smile. “We’ll search in groups of two. Find a buddy and prepare whatever you think you’ll need. I’m not sure what to tell you to look for except anything that seems out of the ordinary.”
The girls quickly paired up; Applejack with Sunset, Pinkie with Rainbow, and Fluttershy with Rarity.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay searching alone?” Fluttershy asked me.
“I’ll go with him,” Sunset said. “Applejack, can you—”
“Not to worry, I’ll stick with Rarity and Fluttershy,” Applejack said. “Three groups should be more than enough to search around.”
I nodded. “Watch each other’s backs. This thing is unlike anything you’ve ever faced.”
“Unlike a raging she-demon with an army of mind-controlled zombie high school students?” Pinkie asked.
I blinked in confusion at her, but everyone else’s eyes had briefly gone to Sunset. She turned to me and gave a guilty shrug.
“Heheh, it’s a long story,” she said. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”
*
I’ll say it right out; this stinks. Who would have thought being cooped up in a castle would be so boring? Is this what Swordulan did for his job every day? Although, I think I recall him mentioning he worked mostly outdoors on the walls, but still. What was worse is that they put me right next door to that too-pretty mare that Swordulan likes. Which wasn’t all that bad, especially now that she couldn’t remember our first encounter. Not that I regretted anything I said, but some things were better left forgotten. I actually felt kind of bad for her, losing so much time like that. Better here than in Manehattan at least.
The worst of it was that for a week I felt like I could barely move. My wings and legs ached, everything felt stiff. There wasn’t a spa in the castle, and I wasn’t about to request Shining Armor or Cadance to bring me a massage therapist. I hardly spoke with them at all, and not a single word to Princess Celestia, though she had left shortly after Swordulan vanished. The one I found myself talking most with was Flash Sentry, who regularly checked up on me. I tried to pry out information on the search for my brother from him, but he could only say it was ongoing. Going nowhere is more what it felt like.
Discord would come back every day at noon to reopen that mirror portal thing. Summer was always there, waiting, expecting him to come through any moment. I was there just because I knew I could probably get out of here once he returned. On the seventh day he was gone, both Cadance and Shining Armor showed up as well. All of us were worried.
“Maybe he’s decided to stay?” Discord said.
Summer’s face went pale. “No…”
“That doesn’t sound like him,” Shining Armor said. “Maybe I should send some guards after him.”
“You know what Princess Celestia said about sending more of us in there,” Cadance said. “I’m sure Swordulan is fine, he’s just not been able to find the entity yet.”
“Perhaps,” Discord said. “But despite your hope for the Lieutenant, I won’t keep this up forever. I’ll come back every two days for now.”
“That’s all we ask,” Cadance said, looking expectantly at the mirror.
“Please be okay, Swordulan,” Summer muttered, and Cadance went to comfort her.
I snorted. “If I know one thing about my cousin, it’s that he’s as stubborn as a bull. Maybe even as stubborn as me. He’ll be back, or I’ll break his neck.” More than his neck when he does get back. And you better get back. I’m already trying to rescue one brother, don’t you make it two. Oh hay, what would Aunt Sacred say if he never came back? What am I supposed to do?