The Guard And His Sword

by Himntor

Reunited

I had never stood at this door before. Uncle Steadfast had given me the address on the off chance I ever needed to come by, but I had wanted to avoid being anywhere near it to minimize risking them being discovered. Though Steadfast was gone, I still wanted to avoid it for Aunt Sacred’s safety. An even greater reason is that I was afraid of wanting to tell the truth about her husband’s death.

She deserved to know. Swordulan deserved to know. So I knocked, heart pounding.

The door opened followed by a gasp as Aunt Sacred recognized me. She stared at me, eyes wide, mouth agape.

I cleared my throat. “Hello, Aunt Sacred. May I come in?”

“S-Stone…? Oh, yes, come in, come in. Where in Equestria have you been? Swordulan and your sister have been looking for you everywhere!”

I came in and looked around. Nopony else was here. “Where are they?”

“Swordulan and his friend went off to find your sister, she flew off about half an hour ago. They should be back soon, I hope. Now, young stallion, you need to sit down and tell me what in Equestria is going on with you. Have you still been burning plants? Are you in trouble?”

“No, I gave that up two years ago.” I assumed the friend was the other Royal Guard spotted at Buckler Library. He must’ve come to help search for me. “I’ll explain everything as soon as Katana and Swordulan get here, but there is one thing I need to tell you.” I sat down on one of the living room chairs. “It’s about Steadfast.”

Sacred’s eyes widened. “Steadfast? What is… do you know something about…?”

I nodded, ears drooping. “That morning wasn’t an accident. He was murdered by a crime lord, or maybe one of her lackeys.”

“Murdered?” Sacred gasped. “Why would a crime lord go after my husband? What did they want?”

“It’s complicated. Can it wait until Swordulan and my sister get back?”

“It most certainly cannot. You can tell them again yourself, or I can tell them if you run off again. Which, by the way, I would not recommend. Your family needs to know where you are.”

I grunted. “Alright… fine. It started about six months ago…”

*

Where in Equestria had Katana gone? And on top of that, WHY had she gone? It couldn’t have been the fact Flash Sentry had come to help search for Stonehenge. Shining Armor had said she got along just fine with him, but now she’s making a big deal out of him being here? Something wasn’t right.

The sky was rapidly growing darker as I patrolled down the streets around my mom’s apartment. I could still easily see pegasi flying above the rooftops, the lights from the city illuminating anything that moved. Not that I could tell any were Katana.

Some music was coming from a nearby bar. Ponies were consistently flowing into or out of it, often those coming out not able to walk in a straight line. Not the sort of place Katana would usually be, but also not the sort of place she’d never be. So I went in to look around.

Loud. Cramped. Annoying. Too bright in places, too dark in others. Why did anypony ever deliberately come to such a place? How could they stand it? It didn’t make any sense.

Well, there was Katana, sitting alone on a stool, poking at an empty mug. Her eyes turned to me as I approached and she frowned.

“I dun wanna,” Katana said, and I could barely hear her.

“You’ve had too much cider.”

“You’ve had too much cider.”

“I’m taking you back home, Kat.”

“Nooo, I dun wanna. Don’t make me go back. I can’t stand to look at his stupid face, stupid face.”

“Who, Flash?”

“Flash, Thunder, you’re thunderrrr, Swordulan Thunderhead, stupid face.”

“You’ve really had too much cider. Come on, I can help you walk.”

“No, I hate… Flash stupid face, I hate his stupid pretty face.”

I guess that’s what wasn’t right; Flash’s face.

I sighed and grabbed her with my magic and walked out of the bar. She protested and struggled, legs and wings flapping lazily. It wasn’t much of a fight, so I began heading back to my mom’s while holding Katana above me.

“Why do you hate Flash?”

“I already told you. Let me gooo!”

“No, we’re going home. Ponyfeathers, Katana, what am I gonna do with you? You need to stop acting like this, it just gets you into trouble. We’re trying to find your brother and you just take off without saying where you’re going, how long you’ll be gone…”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up, you’re not my dad.”

“You’re right, I’m your cousin, and I think it’s reasonable to ask you start acting like a grown mare. Look, the apartment is just down a couple blocks. Can you walk?”

“Of course I can, I have legs.”

“But will you use them?”

“Duhhh.”

I put Katana down. She wobbled, but at least she stood. “Do you need help?”

“NO.”

“Okay.” I cast a spell into the sky, essentially a weak firework that was the official Royal Guard signal. A moment later Flash Sentry swooped down and landed next to me.

“Good to see you found her,” Flash said.

Katana tilted her head sideways at him. “Hi, stupid face.”

Flash me gave a confused look.

“Too much cider,” I said, and he nodded.

“I hate you,” Katana said. “I hate you, I hate you. You know why? You’re insufferable. Both of you, all Royal Guards, you’re insufferable. I wish your stupid Flashy face would get out of my head!”

“Maybe I should go back to the Crystal Empire,” Flash said cautiously. “Uh… with your permission, Sir.”

“No, don’t worry about her,” I said, “Let’s just get back to my mom’s. Come on, Katana, show me that you can walk.”

Katana sighed and began to plod along. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“Why is my face in your head?” Flash asked.

“Becaaaauuuse,” Katana groaned, “it’s pretty stupid pretty.”

“She thinks you have a pretty face,” I said.

Flash didn’t seem sure how to respond. “Th-thanks? You have a pretty face too.”

“Awww, thanks,” Katana cooed, grinning stupidly. “It’s the prettiest.”

Flash came next to me and whispered, “Have you ever seen her like this before?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t really surprise me. A little faster, Kat.”

“Noooo, I don’t like faster,” she cried.

“Yes, you need to go to bed.”

“Carry me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, slowpoke.”

Katana recoiled. “No, not you! Stupid face.”

I looked at Flash and shook my head.

He shrugged. “I don’t mind.” He went and picked her up anyway, setting her across his back.

We finally got a move on to the apartment, Katana thankfully keeping her mouth shut, and maybe ten minutes later we entered the living room.

“We’re back, Mo—”

Stonehenge was sitting on one of the chairs, my mom sitting across from him on the couch.

Katana lifted her head and looked over Flash. “Heyyyy, big bro, you’re back.”

I gaped. “What…where…!?”

Stonehenge got up. “I was just telling Aunt Sacred. What’s wrong with Katana? Is she hurt?”

“Nooo, nooo, not hurt,” Katana said as she slid off Flash’s back, and when she hit the ground, she didn’t get back up.

“Too much cider,” Flash said, poking her face. “She’s fine.”

“Here, come lay her on the couch,” Mom said, rearranging the pillows before Flash brought her over. “Poor dear. I’m so sorry this is how you two are being reunited, Stonehenge.”

“It’s fine,” Stonehenge said. “It doesn’t surprise me. Long time no see, cousin.”

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Very long time. But why show up like this now?”

“Because I got the feeling you wouldn’t stop looking for me. Not to mention you’re already more involved in everything than I wanted, so you should at least know exactly what’s going on.”

“And… what’s that?”

Mom gave me a pained look. “Come sit down, honey,” she said softly.

Alarm bells went off in my head. That was not a face she made, nor voice used, when things were okay.

I hesitantly sat down, and Stonehenge took his seat again. Katana lay on the couch, out cold, and Flash sat between her and Mom.

Stonehenge cleared his throat and spoke softly. “Swordulan, your dad was murdered. It wasn’t an accident.”

He didn’t say anything more, presumably to let me soak in the information. Was I supposed to react? I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell what I felt about the news at all. Murdered?

“By who?” I asked calmly.

“A crime lord called Lady Fate.”

I nodded slowly. “We’ve met. She tried to kill me back at the Crystal Empire. And she’s after you too? Why?”

“Because I’m after her. Or at least, I’m getting in her way, as was Steadfast. You should know you walked straight into her home base, Buckler Library.”

“Really? Hmm… that explains why we were followed after leaving. Why haven’t you gone after her if you know that’s her base?”

“I can’t, legally speaking. She’s a mastermind of evading the law, and technically she isn’t guilty of anything. I'm not sure what her goal is, but—”

“I don’t care what her goal is, she’s guilty of an attempt on my life and the life of Prince Shining Armor, not to mention inflicting a serious head injury to one of my friends. I can send a letter to Shining Armor for him to send me an Equestria-wide arrest warrant right this minute.”

Stonehenge hesitated. “That would work… except, with you having walked right into Buckler Library, she’s probably realized that by now and run away. Still, with the Royal Guard and local authorities knowing she’s truly guilty of something, especially against a Prince, that would slow her down.”

I nodded. “Mom, get me some paper and a quill.”

Mom rushed off and was back in seconds. I took the paper and quill in my magic and wrote a brief message and sent it off to Shining Armor.

“Are you sure she’ll have fled?” Flash asked. “We didn’t know Buckler Library was her base. Perhaps she believes that, and thinks she’s still safe.”

I shook my head. “Considering what I did when we caught her spy, I doubt it.”

Stonehenge’s ears perked up. “You caught one of her spies?”

“Katana caught him. I have my sword locked around his neck so I can keep an eye on him. I could teleport him right here actually, assuming my sword doesn’t do anything funny.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Your sword locked around his neck?”

“Oh… right, uh, it’s a long story. Magic sword imbued with Discord’s chaos magic. I can shape it and—”

“Could you teleport us to him?”

“Yeah, shouldn’t be too hard.”

A sudden flash brought a letter in front of my nose with Shining Armor’s seal. I opened it with my magic but only needed a glance to know what it said. “The arrest warrant. Flash, take this to the local police station, have them make copies and spread the word to the rest of the city authorities.”

“Yes, Sir!” Flash said, taking it and flying out the balcony.

“Goodness gracious,” Mom said, a tad flustered as she moved to shut the balcony door.

“I want you to take me to this spy,” Stonehenge said.

“He won’t talk if that’s what you’re wanting,” I said.

“I don’t need him to talk to me, I have a message for him to give Lady Fate.”

“Hmm… alright.” I got up along with Stonehenge. “Let’s go then.”