The blizzard had let up somewhat, thankfully, but it was still a cold march that I had to endure while dragging my broken sword on my back. I made it back to the train just fine though, and it gave a few chugs as I started it up. I shoved enough coal into the furnace for the ride back and slept through it all, already missing the comfortable bed from the crystal castle, but certainly not missing the nightmares. I still couldn’t believe Shining Armor made me go back.
I arrived after sunrise and grumpily dragged my sword out behind me, attracting a few odd stares. After stowing it away in the barracks I informed Princess Celestia of everything that had happened so far, leaving out my annoyance at having to come back. She simply said Twilight would be able to take care of it. Of course she will. Since when does Twilight Sparkle ever fail?
I relieved an Officer from wall patrol command and took it myself. The rest of the day moved slowly. The highlights were catching a glance at Twilight and Spike heading for the castle, finding a guard that had fallen asleep at his post, and learning that apples are not all what they seem.
Sometime after sunset, the sky lit up with… were those the northern lights? No, they were different, and I could feel some kind of magical energy coming from them. It made me feel… happy. Happy! It was so strange. It must have come from the Crystal Empire, with Twilight and her friends saving Equestria yet again. Hurray, I guess…
I went back to the barracks and checked on my sword. The black crystals had disappeared, and the blade was its normal size and shape again. I took it out for a flight test, and it seemed to be performing perfectly. That was nice. I finished up some paperwork before signing off at the barracks then flew back to my home in Ponyville for a good night’s sleep, wishing I had one of those beds from the crystal castle. Maybe Shining Armor can send me one.
It was shortly after midnight when I heard it—creaking floorboards. It was normal for my house to make random noises every now and then, but this was different, and my ears picked up on it. There was suddenly a strange feeling of not being alone. My eyes shot open and I stopped breathing to listen. Another creak. Somepony had definitely broken in. I magically felt around for my sword which I’d left somewhere in the front room, then used a sight spell on it. No lights were on, but there was a slight illumination from the moon. I could make out the silhouette of a pony. A mare pegasus with a bulging saddlebag, by the looks. So, whoever it was thought they could steal from me. I wasn’t about to let that fly.
I slowly crawled out of bed and crept up to the door. I could hear the intruder bumping into furniture or walls. I took a deep breath, and in a flash, I levitated my sword behind her, teleported to it, switched on the lights, and had the blade held high.
“Who are you, and what are you doing in my house!?”
The pegasus jumped into the air and hit her head on the ceiling, then flew into the wall and crashed back to the floor. She shook her head and looked back at me and laughed. “Sweet Celestia, Swordy, you scared the feathers out of me! Don’t you know your cousin when you see her?”
I blinked. That certainly wasn’t who I was expecting. “Wha—? Katana, what in Equestria are you doing here in the middle of the night!?”
Cousin Katana—fully known as Katana Lightning Shield, the daughter of my father’s brother—was the bane of my existence. It was a miracle I had the restraint to not run her through as soon as I recognized her. She had a light lavender coat, a darker purple mane and tail, both with orange highlights—I didn’t remember those, but I assumed she was trying to imitate me—and turquoise eyes, which most stallions would go crazy over. Not that Katana let them, since she was apparently ‘too cool for stallions’. And lastly, her cutie mark was a yellow lightning bolt streaking beside a wing sharing her eye color. It was rather funny that she was a pegasus because her brother, Stonehenge, was an earth pony, and I was a unicorn. I inherited more of the noble lineage than them, yet they were always the ones who acted like they were in charge. I wasn’t about to let that be the case this time.
Katana turned herself upright and frowned, evidently at my lack of enthusiasm. “Is that any way to greet your favorite cousin? I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by.”
I ground my teeth. “Again, in the middle of the night!?”
Katana stood up and shrugged. “It was a surprise visit. Obviously you wouldn’t be surprised enough if I came by during the day.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh no, of course not, because doing anything a normal pony would do is a crime in your book.”
Katana chuckled. “Everypony knows there’s no such thing as ‘normal’, Swordy. It’s all just make-believe barriers. A mare can do what she wants regardless of her cutie mark or ‘social status’.”
I scoffed. “Not this again. Can we just get this over with? What do you want?” As if she didn’t have enough living in Manehattan.
Katana frowned and her ears drooped. “Can’t I just want to visit my one and only cousin for the first time in forever?”
“You’re not that kind of pony.”
“Ugh, fine.” Katana glanced back at her saddlebag. “I need your help with something important.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Important? With you? I don’t believe it.”
Katana scratched the back of her neck nervously. “It is important. I know I could’ve gone to any other Royal Guard, and you probably hate me for coming to you, but you’re the only one I trust. I really messed up this time…”
“And? Spit it out already.”
Katana fidgeted as she continued. “I… might’ve, uh… stolen something. Something important. But not that important! And by accident! Totally an accident, I had no idea what it was at the time, it just came into my hooves on a whim. And I need your help to return it, cause if any other guards catch me, they’ll throw me in a dungeon without a second thought!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You don’t steal things on accident, Kat. What was it?”
Katana sighed. “It was this.” She turned to the stuffed saddlebag on her back and opened it with her wing.
My eyes bulged out of their sockets so far I thought they’d fall out of my head. “A dragon egg? Where in Equestria did you get a dragon egg!?”
“I didn’t know it was a dragon egg,” Katana snapped, glaring at me indignantly. “I thought it was some sort of giant gem at first. Only later when I heard a dragon stomping towards me did I realize what it was, and by then I was already running with it tucked away. I didn’t have time to put it back.”
“Wha—so you want me to help you put it back?” I could only facehoof as she nodded. “Sweet Celestia, Katana. A dragon egg… where did you find it in the first place?”
“In one of Foal Mountain’s caves. It’s not too far.”
I buried my eyes in my hooves. “Can’t it wait until morning?”
Crack.
Both of our widening eyes snapped to the egg. The darn thing was already beginning to hatch!
“Nevermind, let’s go! Move it!”
I grabbed Katana in my magic and dragged her out of the house behind me as I floated out on my sword. I wasn’t about to let a dragon hatch and attach itself to me, or her, however amusing that would’ve been. Katana finally got herself oriented and began flapping her wings, and we made for Foal Mountain as if Nightmare Moon were on our tails.
The moon shone high above our heads as we flew, its light strong enough to cast shadows below. With every little crack from the egg, the shadows moved a little faster. I was pouring so much magic into my sword I was surprised Katana could catch up. She looked both determined and startled, an odd combination for her.
“We could just leave it,” Katana said as the egg cracked a little more.
I gaped at her. “Leave it to fend for itself? Alone?”
Katana looked away with a frown. “It would be better than getting eaten by a dragon.”
I scowled. “You took it from the dragon in the first place. You deserve no less.” The time for her to learn some responsibility was long overdue. “Just keep up. I’ll return the egg myself if you’re too scared.”
That ruffled her feathers.
“You keep up!” she growled.
Katana sped ahead of me, wings flapping as fast as lightning. I rolled my eyes, remembering how she always bragged about them. “As sharp as a katana, as fast as lightning, as strong as a shield.” She was definitely fast. I think she once said her wing-power measured around 13.5, only about three points behind Rainbow Dash. It was strange she hadn’t tried out for the Wonderbolts yet. Though at the same time, it wasn't.
Foal Mountain was quickly approaching, and Katana led me to a cave in the cliff-face. She anxiously looked around before landing, and I set down beside her with at least some semblance of confidence. In truth, I was exhausted. Usually when you wake up in the middle of the night to do something you don’t feel so tired, but when the thing you’re doing is using a lot of magic to fly at high speed for a solid fifteen minutes, it drains the strength right out of you. Stepping off my sword was more like falling off, and my joints felt like water.
Katana looked deeper into the cave hesitantly. “You… go first,” she whispered.
I glared at her and shook my head with a soft sigh. “Come on, and keep that loud horn you call a mouth quiet.”
She seemed about to argue but wisely snapped her muzzle shut. I magically attached my sword to my back, it taking more effort than I would’ve liked to admit, and slowly walked into the cave. It was pitch black inside, and I strained to get a light spell out, much harder than it should’ve been. Even keeping my balance was tricky.
The cave was small, almost too small for a dragon in my eyes, and smooth-walled. No stony cave-teeth in sight, strangely. A very strange place for a dragon to live.
“You sure this is the right place?” I asked in a whisper that should’ve been barely audible, yet it seemed to echo.
“Surer than a smug conmare,” Katana whispered back.
The moment she finished, a heated, thunderous roar echoed through the cave, making my legs to buckle and Katana to stumble back in fear. She stared ahead wide-eyed and frozen as the boom, boom, booms of a dragon’s paws drew near.
“Quick, put the egg down!” I said, struggling to my hooves. It was a miracle I could keep my light spell up.
“Who dares steal my egg!?” a deep feminine voice boomed.
Katana yelped at the voice, and the booming got faster and louder. I could feel the heat rising. Katana scurried to get the egg out of her saddlebag and set in on the ground. I got back on my sword and hovered over to her with a glance at the egg. It was shaking, but there weren’t any cracks in it as far as I could see.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said.
Katana was in the air in a split second. “You don’t have to tell me twice!”
As we fled the cave I looked back and caught a brief glimpse of a wall of fire shooting out from the darkness. That shot my adrenaline up, and I poured more magic into my sword. We barely made it out of the cave fast enough, flames licking our hooves. I looked back and let out a relieved sigh when the dragon didn’t come chasing after us, then almost collapsed on my sword to fall asleep right there. I probably would have if Katana wasn’t there.
“Phew, that was a slice,” Katana said. “Hay, I don’t even know why I needed to bring you along.”
I grumbled and began floating towards Ponyville, and Katana followed. “You would have stood there frozen in fear until the dragon had you in its claws.”
“Pfft, yeah right. No dragon can catch me. Anyway, I need a place to crash until I can head back to Manehattan. You’ve got space, right Cous’?”
“Sure, fine,” I said, too tired to deal with her protests if I said no. “Guest room.”
I was only vaguely aware of getting home and shoving Katana into the guest bedroom, then entering mine and falling asleep before I could reach the bed.