Author's Notes:

A very short filler.

The engines of my archwing roared as I came to a landing at the base of the Crystal Castle of the Crystal Empire. They closed on my back as I approached the front door of the castle. Just before I reached them I watched the massive double doors open as an orange stallion with a blue mane and tail clad in gold armor with a pair of saddle bags approached.

“Good afternoon sir,” he welcomed, “My name is Private Flash Sentry.”

“Afternoon private,” I greeted.

“Sir, I just need you to answer a couple of questions,” he said while pulling out a clipboard and quill from the left saddlebag with his wing.

‘Fuck…’

“Are you here on business or pleasure?”

I gave him a bemused look under my helmet, “Really?”

“It’s protocol sir.”

Protocol my ass!

“Business.”

He held the quill with one wing and the clipboard in the other while he checked off the questions.

“For what?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes, “The princess summit about the current state of the Crystal Empire.”

“What is your role?”

“Security,” I replied, annoyed, “Look private, I know Shining Armor is behind all this bullshit. The quicker I can set up the faster this will be over with.”

“That’s Prince Shining Armor,” he said while glancing up from his clipboard, “And as I said before, this is protocol.”

“And yet the last time I was here I could walk in freely,” I replied.

“I’m sorry sir but orders are orders.”

I rolled my eyes again. After several more minutes of questioning he placed the clipboard and quill back in his bags and ordered me to follow him. After dropping my archwing off at the armory it was a quiet walk to the throne room. Well… except the twelve new escorts we would idly pick up along the way.

Me -and my thirteen escorts- walked into the throne room where Shining sat on his throne. His expression changed from happy to angry while he glared at me from his perch. I stopped at the base of the steps to the throne with Sentry at my side and the guards behind me.

Flash cleared his throat while holding a hoof to his mouth briefly, “Mr. Prime is here your majesty.”

Ohhh… I know he did that to get under my skin. And. It. Was. Working!

“Thank you private,” Shining thanked.

Flash gave a light bow before turning and walking away.

I looked to the side in annoyance, “You do realize Shining that I could have killed these guards and left the premises before anyone knew what was going on?” I said before looking back at him. He continued to glared at me with hate in his eyes.

“Do you realize that it is Prince Shining Armor Mr. Prime?” he shot back.

“I give respect where respect is do,” I replied, “I told that to Blueblood and now I’m telling you. You’ve wanted me dead since the day we met Shining. So I will address you how I please.”

He didn’t speak for a moment.

“… Excalibur, I could have you arrested right here right now and my guards wouldn’t say a thing,” he threatened.

I lightly nodded my head in acknowledgement.

“And you would have an intergalactic incident on your hands,” I replied, “Arresting a Tenno on false pretense in itself is -by technicality- an act of war. And, even though the Empire is a part of Equestria it’s technically its own nation because it meets all the basic requirements… And! I can guarantee you that I could get Celestia, Luna, and Twilight to back off from supporting you… that and…” I pulled up the holographic screen in my palm and played back the arrest part of the video, “I am constantly recording,” I closed the video and lowered my arm, “A little bit of editing and this could be a lot worse… it would be unfortunate if your sister got a hold of this… or say… your wife?”

He growled and gritted his teeth.

“Where is Cadence by the way?” I asked while looking around the throne room, “She’s technically the one in charge.”

I exited the Crystal Castle -with a damn guard- only to run into Cadence at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh! Hello Excalibur!” she said happily.

“Greetings, Cadence,” I replied.

“How are you?”

“Ask him,” I said while pointing a thumb over my shoulder.

She looked past me at the guard for a moment, “Shining giving you trouble?”

“Cadence, I slapped you across the face and broke his sisters heart. I can guarantee you that if he didn’t have a reputation to uphold he would have gone for a blade and try to slit my throat,” I said.

She sighed, “I’m sorry Excalibur. Talked to him about this… but he obviously didn’t listen.”

“It’s fine Cadence, “I replied honestly, “To be honest I’m not too thrilled to be here.”

“Oh?” she leaned to the side and waved the guard off before she turned around and waved me to follow her. We started walking side by side down one of the many crystal streets of the Empire, “May I ask why?”

I took a slow deep breath, “Cadence, you have to understand the stresses of my life… I run an entire operation whose sole purpose is to save lives. You have a wonderful life here,” I gestured to the Empire, “My entire galaxy is run by three different factions.”

“And they are?”

"The Grineer, who are a race of genetically modified clones that kill all who stand against them. The Corpus, who are obsessed with robotics and love their experiments. Serenity being one of them.” She shuddered, “They own all the solar rails, which are the major driving force of the galactic society.”

“And the third?”

I stopped. She followed close behind, “The Infested,” I showed her a holographic image of a charger, “A disease gone rampant,” I closed the feed, so she looked up at me, “All they do is eat and reproduce,” we started walking again, “They stay contained to a planet called Eris, but every once and a while it drifts through space and attaches to a nearby ship and spreads.”

She scrunched her nose and stuck her tongue out in disgust, “Sounds disgusting.”

“It’s a bitch to remove.”

“Sounds like a full load,” she said while glancing up at me for a moment.

“Cadence, you sit on a throne all day and listen to ponies gripe about useless bullshit,” We stopped and I looked down at her right in the eyes, “I’m out every day adding another notch to my gun. Bullets hurt, stupid nonsense does not. Each night you get to go hang up your crown and crawl into a warm bed next to your husband. My wife has been dead for over 900 years. At the end of the day I count my kills and prepare for the next mission. War isn’t pretty… and it never will be.”

Silence filled the air until a light female voice caught our attention.

“Excuse me… mister?” Both Cadence and I looked to the side to see a little filly standing nearby with a mare close behind her, “Can I um...” she trailed off while looking to the side at the crystal road.

The mare giggled while she walked up to the nervous filly, “I’m sorry for disturbing you,” she placed a hoof on the filly’s back, “But little Buttercup had to see the princess and the famous ‘Tenno’ we’ve heard so much about.”

I glanced at Cadence before taking a knee.

“So, Buttercup,” I said gently, “What can I do for you?”

“Go on. Tell him sweetie,” the mare encouraged, “She’s a little shy.”

I laughed lightly, “Aren’t we all at that age?”

The mare giggled in return while holding a hoof to her mouth, “Yes. Yes, we are,” she turned her attention to the filly, “Go on honey.”

“Could you… um… please… signthisforme!?” she said quickly while holding out a sheet of paper with a picture of me fighting Sombra.

Makes me wonder when that was taken?

I smiled under my helmet, “Of course,” I turned to Cadence, “Got something I can write with?” Using her magic, she made a quill appear. I thanked her while grabbing the feather and the picture.

To Buttercup, the bravest filly ever!

-Excalibur

“Here you are Buttercup,” I said while handing her back the picture.

Her face lit up with the biggest brightest smile while her eyes seemed to sparkle. She took it quickly and held it close to her chest.

“THANK YOU!!!”

“You’re welcome Buttercup,” I leaned close to her so ‘only’ she could hear me, “Now remember,” I looked around to make sure the ‘coast was clear’, “always eat your fruits and vegetables,” I whispered before booping her on the nose with my finger. That action caused her to burst into a fit of giggles. After a few seconds Buttercup stood while her and her mother thanked me for my time before they started heading in their own direction.

“See… was that so hard?" the mare asked as they walked away.

“No!”

Standing up I smiled before I looked at Cadence. My happy demeanor change to a bemused look when I saw her shit faced grin.

“I-”

“Say anything. I kick your pink ass!”