The engines of my Odonata Prime roared as I landed in front of the main doors of the castle. Quickly I closed them on my back and ran inside. After a few minutes of running and dodging maids and guards I pushed the throne room doors open and walked inside. On their thrones sat Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna.

“Excalibur, I see you got my letter,” said Celestia.

“Yep, so what do need?” I asked as I approached the stairs of the platform. Hard to believe that I used that stairway as a launch platform a week prior.

Celestia and her sister got of their thrones and began to walk down to meet me.

“First of all, how was your first week in Ponyville?” she asked.

She reached the bottom of the platform and continued walking while I joined her.

“Not exactly the way I wanted it to go,” I said.

“Oh! And whys that?”

“Your student and her friends decided to use me as their personal puppet,” I said.

“Twilight said that you were enjoying yourself when you were with her and her friends,” she said out of suprise.

Well it was true… but I have a war to get back to.

“Well I have to admit the laser pointer was a lot of fun,” I said with a smile as we left the throne room.

“Laser pointer?” asked Celestia.

“Did Twilight tell you that she chased a small red spec for about 20 or so minutes?” I asked.

“She did… wait… was that you!?” she said as she looked at me with a smile.

“Yep, I learned that your student and her friends have the attention span of a cat,” I said jokingly. “Even recorded the whole thing. I could watch it for hours.” A large smile crawled across my face.

“Oh you must show us!” said Celestia with a large smile.

“I will sometime.”

There was a short pause.

“So how is your friend holding up?” asked Celestia with a more serious tone.

“She’s in my ship in a medical pod. Unfortunately I had to activate the cryogenic sleep, so once I get back I need to check up on her. She hasn’t woken up in a week since the incident, it has me worried,” I said.

“And what if she attacks?” asked Luna.

“I have ability inhibitors on her. So if she tries to use her abilities, she’ll find a nasty surprise. But I promise you that she is my responsibility, I’ll watch out for her… no matter the cost,” I said as I looked at Luna.

“Well we trust your decision Excalibur, just please keep her in check,” said Celestia.

“I will, but first things first. You obviously need me for something?” I said getting to the more serious part of why I’m at the castle.

“Of course,” she stepped in front of me, so I stopped, “The Empire has returned.”

First thing that came to my mind was Star Wars. And did she really have to make it sound so ominous?

I raised an eyebrow, “And you expect me to know what that is?” I asked out of confusion.

She went from a serious look to one of confusion.

“But of course!”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, “Alien… remember?”

She blinked twice before doing what I assume was a face palm, “Right… my apologies.”

We started walking again, “I will admit that that would have been good for a movie shoot,” I said complimenting her acting.

“Yes… anyway,” she paused, “The Crystal Empire has returned.”

“The real question is how do you lose an empire?” I asked sarcastically.

“A thousand years ago the Crystal Empire was ruled by a ruthless unicorn king.”

Here comes the tragic back story.

“He went by the name of King Sombra. He ruled with an iron hoof and enslaved the crystal ponies,” she said.

“So how did the empire become lost to time?” I asked trying to avoid the thousand years worth of back story.

“Luna and I defeated Somba over a millennia ago and banished him to the frozen north. But before his defeat he placed a curse on the empire. It is just now returning,” she said.

“And what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to go to the empire, and meet up with Cadence and Shining Armor. I’ve already sent them, and they should have the empire under lockdown by now,” she said, “assist them anyway possible.”

“What use would I be?” I paused. I dropped my head for a seconds and raised my hands in defense for a moment, “okay I know that I said I will help," I looked at Celestia, "but what kind of danger are we facing here?”

“When the empire returned, so did Sombra. We cannot allow him to retake the empire. Stop him by any means possible and free the empire from his grasp!” she said with a serious tone.

“Roger that. And I have one last question?” I asked.

“What would that be?” asked Celestia.

“Which way am I headed?”

“Due north, the glow of the crystal should help you find it.”

“Alright,” I said.

“And one more thing?” she asked.

“Yes?”

“I will be sending Twilight and her friends in the next few days. Shining will have the coordinates for your rendezvous point and time for when you need to meet them,” she said.

I let out a heavy sigh, “As much as I don’t want them to come, this is your land and your decision. If you think they are needed then I won’t stop you,” I said.

“Believe me, they will be a key component to the safe return of the empire,” she said.

Celestia and her sister stopped walking as I walked a few more feet before turning to face them, “I’ll do what I can.”

“Thank you Excalibur, we have faith in you,” she said.

"One last thing?"

"Yes?"

"When I get back we need to have a serious talk. I'm concerned about the ship I found. Which, means that this planet has been compromised. I have to address any other nations about the situation as soon as possible." I tunred and looked away, "I'm sorry that you have now been sucked into my war."

"Its alright Excalibur."

No... no its not.

I didn't respond any further.

"I'll be back when we win."

"And if you fail?" asked Luna.

I looked back at the princesses, "We Tenno have a saying, 'death before dishonor'... If I do not return, you will know that I died trying to save the empire," I paused, "at least I will know that I did everything I could... and if I do die... well... I'll drag Sombra down to hell with me!"

With that, I turned and started to run down the halls of the castle. Once I was outside I opened my archwing and headed north at full speed. I didn’t know what I was going to face. But if a unicorn can make an entire empire disappear, well, then I might have work cut out for me. Anyway, as I raced through the air at Mach three, I watched the scenery change from luscious green to more and more barren. After some time I entered a frozen waste land. In the distance I could see a faint glow.

“That must be the empire,” I said to myself.

As I approached I could see a large, light blue bubble. I descended and phased through the bubble with ease. Once I entered the scenery changed almost immediately. It went from blowing wind and snow to sunny and green. Blew my mind. Anyway, in the center of the crystal town stood a large building. I assumed it was the castle. I flew up to a lone balcony and landed. I closed my archwing yet again and walked inside. I could see Princess Cadence sitting on a crystal throne with Shining standing close by.

She looked up at me and smiled, “Excalibur! You made it!”

“Well it wasn’t hard to find the giant large bubble in the snow,” I said as I approached.

She ran up and gave me a hug, “Princess, it good to see you again.”

“Please call me Cadence,” she said as she went back on all fours.

I chuckled a little, “Will do,” Shining walked up. I looked at him, “Your majesty,” I said with a head tilt.

“Excalibur,” he said flatly.

I looked back at Cadence, “So what exactly are we facing here?”

“Well, we know for a fact that something keeps trying to gain access to the empire,” said Cadence, “and it’s big.”

“Hmmm… well I’ll do what I can, you have my word on that,” I said.

“And we’re grateful,” she looked at her husband, “right Shining?”

“Yeah I guess,” he mumbled as he avoided eye contanct.

I looked at him, “Still don’t trust me?” I asked.

He looked at me, “Guess?” he deadpanned.

“I don’t think I need to answer,” I looked back at Cadence, “so what now?”

“Well I have the barrier up and its holding strong. I guess for now we wait until Twilight and her friends get here,” she said.

I turned and looked out the balcony door, “Let’s hope the shield holds until then.”

It was a less than eventful day. I mostly talked with Cadence and did my best to alleviate any worry. She told old stories about her and Twilight when they were younger, while I told her some stories about past missions and the meeting of other races. After sometime I left to meditate, while she went off somewhere in the castle, so I just “relaxed” as did my Solstice Narta moves. Which is mostly just slow movements and some footsteps in place.

I heard hoof steps walk in the room, “Cadence… how can I help you?”

“How did you know it was me?” she asked.

The real question is how did she know my eyes were closed?

“You have a lighter step then your husband... that and we are the only three in the castle,” I said as I continued my movements.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Meditating.”

“At three in the morning?” she asked out of surprise.

I heard her stop nearby, “I’m the one that should be asking why you’re up?”

“Unfortunately I have to be awake to keep the spell over the empire active,” she said.

“You must be exhausted.”

“I am, but the safety of the empire is my first priority.”

“You ever tried drinking coffee?”

“At this point, I think my blood is closer to being coffee then actual blood,” she said jokingly.

“Well let’s hope we can get this conflict over quickly then.”

“Lets.”

I reached my final movement and ended with a small bow.

I let out a comforting sigh, “Well I feel better,” I said before removing my helmet and looking at her.

“Now I can understand meditation for various reasons… but why do you do it?” she asked.

“Mental stabilization. I learned it from an old friend.”

“Mental stabilization?” she repeated.

“You remember when I lost it at the castle?”

“Yes.”

“Well when you’ve seen and done things, and… lost things like I have. Nightmares and darkness tend to fill you mind… and they never go away,” I said with a hint of sadness as I looked at the floor.

“Like what?” she asked nervously.

I looked at her, “The loss of the one you loved… and it haunts me to this very day.” I looked at the floor.

Her demeanor changed immediately. Her ears fell back while she put a hoof to her chest, “Excalibur I’m so sorry.”

I looked back up at her, “Please just… just don’t bring it up again? I’d like to keep my forgot memories… forgotten,” I said.

“Okay…" her ears went back to normal, "do you want to go and get a snack or something?” I could tell that she was trying to change the subject.

“Sure.”

We left whatever room I was in a walked into the hallway in silence. A couple of awkward seconds passed before I decide to speak up.

“Wanna hear a joke?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“What's brown and sticky?”

She took a moment to think about it before she looked up at me, “Excalibur that’s disgusting!”

Immediately I looked back at her, “What!? It’s just a stick!” I said with a smile.

Author's Notes:

Okay in my blog I said I was shooting for a four parter...
And I guess I lied.
I wanted a four parter to come out all at once, but I just didn't have the time to I'm just going to build a hype train-maybe- I'm going to take the time to do this slowly and release the chapters when I normally do, or not I don't know. By the name of the title I think you can see where this is headed.