As I walked down the halls getting ready breakfast, I happened to hear what sounded like a vase shattering. I furrowed my brow and just ignored it as I walked. But the closer I got to a nearby hallway, the more I could hear someone yelling.

“You’re such a kluts!” barked an older female voice.

“I’m sorry,” whimpered a light female voice.

“I should fire you right here right now!” barked the older female.

“P-please I n-need this job.”

My pace quickened by about half a step as I got closer. I finally came to a connecting hall to see two mares in maids uniforms. The younger grey mare was bent over on the ground trying to pile up all the broken shards, while the older white mare was looked at her with disgust. I stood there for a second to see what would transpire next.

“You’re nothing more than a waste of space!”

“Eh-hem!” I said getting both of the maid’s attentions; they looked at me so I continued, “What is going on here?”

I began to walk up to the two mares.

“Oh it’s nothing sir,” the older mare looked at the younger one with anger in her eyes, “This little disgrace just broke this vase here.”

“You know… I don’t like it when people treat others like shit,” I said with a little anger while standing in between the two maids.

“But shes-”

“But nothing! She has feelings like you and me! What if that was you in this situation? What if I just threw you to the curb like a piece of garbage?”

“I… uh,” responded the mare with no good answer.

“Here’s something I’ll tell you about the Tenno, we may be considered gods, but we don’t consider ourselves any higher or lower than those around us.”

“But… but… she’s just a-”

“Don’t you even finish that sentence!” I sais forcefully while pointing a finger at the older mare. “If I were you... I'd you go
before I get REALLY pissed.”

“Yes sir,” she said with a hint of fear.

I watched for a moment while the maid backed up slowly before turning around quickly and running down the hallway. Once she was gone, I turned back to the young maid, she was on the ground yet again trying to pick up the broken vase. I grabbed my helmet and took it off quickly and set it down on the ground.

“Here let me get that for you,” I told her in a calming tone.

“B-but I-I need to get this cleaned up right away!” she said with a hint of fear and worry.

I grabbed her hoof and held it.

“I insist,” I told her with a smile.

“O-okay…” she said hesitantly.

I gathered the shards and held them in my hand. Once they were in place I set them in the nearby table and looked at the sad maid.

“Hey, it’s alright.”

She just sat there and started to cry.

“My names Excalibur Prime, what’s yours?” I asked with a smile.

“F-Feather… D-Duster,” replied the maid hesitantly.

“Well Miss Duster, it’s nice to meet you.”

She sat there and continued to cry. I watched for a few seconds until I grabbed my helmet and stood up.

“Hey, everything’s going to be fine.”

She stood on all fours and began to wipe her face with her right foreleg.

“No *sniffle* it’s not… I’m going to be fired and I just know it *sniffle* *sniffle*”

I kneeled down in front of here and raised her chin my hand so she could look me right in the eyes.

“It was an accident, and they happen to the best of us. If anything I can talk to your boss, or the princesses for that matter," her eyes went wide when I mentioned that last part, “Here, how about we go for a walk?” I asked.

“But, I have a job to do.”

“Isn’t it a maid’s job to take care of those in the castle?”

“Y-Yes,” she mumbled.

“Then you can do your job while you walk with me.”

“Okay…” she whispered.

“Come on, follow me,” I said.

She did as I asked and walked next to me. She just stayed silent while we walked.

“So Miss Duster, what seems to be troubling you?” I asked.

“It’s just,” she took a moment to think, “This is the only job I have..”

“Is it really that bad?” I asked surprisingly.

“Yes, but with cleaning being my special talent I don’t have very many options, but…” she trailed off.

“Let me guess? It doesn’t pay well... does it?”

She shook her head up and down, answering my question.

“I barely make enough to feed myself, let alone pay my bills,” she said in a depressed tone.

I thought about that for a moment. While I was pondering what she said, I noticed that we were approaching the dining hall. Just before I started to reach out to grab the door handle Feather Duster’s stomach let out a loud growl. She looked down at her stomach and gave on
an embarrassing chuckle.

“When was the last time you ate something?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Not… since yesterday,” she said while lowering her head.

“Alright, you’re joining me for breakfast and I’m having a lunch and dinner made for you.”

“But…”

“I care for everyone, your health right now is more important than what others think.”

She just stood there and didn’t say anything. I reached over and opened the door and stepped inside, Feather Duster followed close
behind.

“Morning Excalibur!” hollered everyone, but their expressions changed once they saw the little maid standing behind me.

She tried to hide behind her mane but to no avail.

“Uh Excalibur, what is she doing with you?” asked Cadence out of confusion.

“Well I met her in the hallway, and I thought she could join use for breakfast,” I explained to Cadence. “I hope it’s not an issue?” I said,
changing my tone from a happy one to a serious one.

“Well it’s just…” Cadence trailed off.

“What?” I said forcefully.

“Well, lower class maids aren’t allowed to-”

“Allowed to do what? Eat with us?” I said, I could feel my blood beginning to heat up.

“I’m sorry Excalibur, but its castle policy,” said Princess Celestia rather calmly.

I give Celestia a glance; I rub my mouth with my hand and try to do my best to control my anger.

“You know what? I don’t care what the policy says, from what I got out of her, not only hasn’t she eaten in at least twelve hours. But she barely makes enough to pay her bills, let alone feed herself,” I looked at Feather who had begun to cry, “And I know she isn’t lying to me.”

“But Excalibur-“

“But nothing!” I screamed interrupting Celestia, “I will not see her health deteriorate any father then it has. You told me yourself Princess that all life is precious… or were you lying to me?” I asked forcefully.

Celestia took a moment to mull it over.

“I don’t care what you say or what you do, if you want to kick her out of this room then so be it… but you’ll have to go through me first… and I won’t go willingly.”

“Excalibur, would you please calm down?” pleaded Twilight.

I glanced over at her; I took a second and took a deep breath, “Yes Twilight,” I said in a calmer tone, I looked back at Celestia, “But Miss Duster is going to join us, no matter what, got it?”

“If that’s what you want,” answered Celestia.

I turned around and looked at Feather; she was sitting on her haunches crying. I kneeled down in front of her and began to wipe the tears from her face.

“Hey it’s going to be alright,” I said trying to reassure her.

She sat there for a few more seconds until she whimpered, “Okay…”

“Come on, you can sit with me,” said giving her a reassuring smile.

I stood up while she got on all fours. I walked over to the table and placed my helmet down, then I grabbed the chair to my right and pulled it out. Feather hesitantly walked over, but she eventually jumped into the chair and took her place. I took a seat to her left and gave her a glance. She looked pretty depressed, so I placed my right hand on her back and gave it a light rub. She gave me a glance and a small smile crawled across her face. I gave her a reassuring smile in return, but apparently someone took notice.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you smile yet darling.”

I looked over at Rarity, who happened to have a smile on her face.

“What, do I look stupid or something?” I said sarcastically.

“No it’s just… you look better when your smiling,” answered Twilight.

I let out a happy chuckle and a smiled, which caused everyone to smile, even Feather Duster.

Breakfast went well; we talked and joked the whole time. I even got feather Duster to open up even more. It was a lot of fun, I’ve been alone for so long that I forgot what it was like to be this happy. Once we were done eating and joking I made sure that Feather Duster got her meals and I escorted her to the door. I stepped outside with her and closed the door behind me.

I kneeled down in front of her and looked her in the eyes, “Quick question, how does the currency on this planet work?”

“Oh! We have gold bits,” she answered happily, “Why?”

“So if you went out and found a little bit of gold, you could take it to a bank or something and have it exchanged?”

“Yes… why are you asking?”

I reached behind my back and grabbed a resource storage device and opened up the holographic screen. I cycled through the screen until I found what I was looking for.

“I know that your situation isn’t a perfect one and I’m more than willing to help you,” I pressed on the button that said 'gold' and watched as a small bar appeared in front of me.

I grabbed it with my right hand and held it in front of her.

“I want you to take this,” I told her with a joyous smile.

“B-but I can’t!”

“Feather, I’m rich beyond my wildest dreams. I don’t need any more gold,” I said.

I grabbed the food bag that contained her food from her back and place it in front of me. I open the sides and place the gold bar in it. I look back at the screen and got two more gold bars; and place them in the bag and tied it shut.

“There’s 1000 ounces there, I want you to keep quiet about this though. I don’t want you getting hurt,” I placed the pad behind me before continuing, “It’s your decision on how you want to spend it, but I’m going to trust that you do the right thing with it.”

“I will!” she screamed in utter joy, she grabbed me in a large hug before screaming, “THANK YOU!”

‘There’s that hugging again,’ I mentally deadpanned

She broke the hug and looked right at me with a smile going from ear to ear.

“Feather, be careful, and if you have any issues, not matter how big or small, go straight to the princesses and ask for me directly okay?”

“I will,” she said shaking her head.

“Good luck.”

“Thank you,” she grabbed the bag and placed it on her back and began to walk away.

“Oh before I forget,” she stopped and looked over her shoulder, “If anyone asks, you were helping me, and if they have any issues they can come and find me,” I said.

“Will do.”

I turned back to the dining hall and stepped inside. When I did, I happened to notice Twilight playing with my helmet. I stood there for a second to see what she was going to do, honestly it was pretty funny.

“Having fun there?” I asked playfully.

“Eep!” Twilight screamed, “Uh… Excalibur, I was just-”

“Its fine Twilight, but the helmet doesn’t work very well when it’s not on.”

“Oh… I knew that,” she said as a blush worked its way onto her cheeks.

“Suuuure you did,” I said sarcastically.

I walked back over to the table and took a seat; I looked at Celestia and said, “Your majesty, since I’m going to be here for a while, this is probably a good time to start negotiating any terms and conditions you want me to follow.”

“I think that’s a good idea Excalibur,” she looked back at Twilight and her friends, “Girls, I’m sorry, but going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Of course Princess,” Twilight set my helmet down and got out of her chair.

Her friends followed close behind, as they approached the door I said, “Twilight,” she stopped and turned to look at me.

“Yes?”

“Here,” I grabbed my helmet and turn it on before tossing it toward her.

She caught it in her magic and looked at it wide eyed.

“Just don’t break it,” I said with a smile.

Her face lit up as she turned back to her friends, who too were wide eyed. They were all mumbling to each other as they left the
room. Now I could place my attention to Princess Celestia and her relatives.

“Alight, what do you want me to do?” I asked while leaning back in my chair.

“Well, what can you do for us?” asked Celestia.

“Well… what I’ve done in the past is provide protection for the inhabitants… that’s the easiest thing to do, but the Tenno are neutral in all conflicts, but we have a few exceptions.”

"What exceptions are those?" asked Luna.

I took a quick moment before continuing.

“Let’s say a war broke out between you and a nearby country. If the nearby country attacked us here, much like the Changelings. I would defend this land and do my best to create peace. But if you decided to attack a nearby country, I will not be a part of it.”

“I can understand that,” responded Celestia.

“And if I harm anyone under your rule without a justifiable reason, I will hand myself over and face whatever punishment you deem fit.”

“Okay... but what do you want out of this?”

“I just need a space to repair my ship, and possibly search for resources. It’s probably going to take me a few months to make the necessary repairs to my ship. I don’t have all the tools and proper resources to make everything perfect… that and I don’t know what the extent of the damage is," I took a moment to think about my situation, “I guess the best thing I can think of is... I provide protection, aid you when need be, and you allow me to search for possible resources to make repairs.”

“That seems fair to me,” she looked at Princess Luna, “Luna, what do you think?”

“We think it seems fair sister,” answered Luna.

Celestia looked at Cadence and Shining Armor.

“Cadence, Shining, what do you think?”

“I don’t have a problem with it,” answered Cadence.

Shining just sat there in silence.

“You still don’t trust me? Don’t you?” I asked Shining.

“Yes,” he said trying to retrain his anger.

I didn’t want to repeat what happened last night, so I did my best to stay calm.

“Well if it’s any consolation, while I’m here, and because you are one of the rulers of this place, I do have to take orders from you,” I said with a slight hint of sarcasm, but I’m mostly serious. He starts to mull over what I said, “Look you go on and think about it, but you don’t have my full respect either. I never meant to come here willingly, I saw a situation and did what I thought was right. I never came her to prove myself; my malfunctioning equipment dumped me here.”

We sat there for a moment until Celestia spoke up.

“Well, I think we are at an agreement,” she looked me in the eyes before continuing, “Excalibur, we wish to thank you for becoming an ally of Equestria.”

That went better then I thought, most negotiations take hours or days, that was over in less then ten minutes.

“My pleasure your majesty, and I want to thank you for becoming an ally of the Tenno.”

Everyone got out of their seats and walked over toward me; I stood up and faced everyone. I extended my right hand out to shake hands… or hooves in this case. Celestia extended her right hoof, which I took and shook lightly. Luna and Cadence did the same thing, but when I got to Shining, he stood there and looked at my hand. I desperately didn’t want to shake his hoof, but I had to respect him no matter how much of an issue I had with him. Slowly but surely he extended his right hoof, which I took and gave a light shake. Once we were done we headed for the door. I opened in and stepped out into the hallway.

“Alright everyone, mount up, were headed for Ponyville,” I said to Twilight and her friends.

They all waved to the Princesses and said their goodbyes before getting on board the Liset. Once I saw the last pony enter I turned
back to the Princesses and Prince. I quickly gave them a salute; Celestia gave a light nod, which told me that I am relieved. I turned back and entered the ship.

“Alright. Ordis, set your coordinates for Ponyville,” I ordered the cephalon.

“Yes Excalibur.”

The ship roared to life as it began to rise off the ground. Once it was above the buildings, Ordis oriented the ship and we headed for Ponyville.

Author's Notes:

I'm drawing a blank I can think of anything stupid, funny, or odd to say.

Uhh.............................................................tacos!

So I'm shooting for a two parter for the next update, get ready for chaos.