'Twas the middle of the night, and all through the camp, none stirred. Not a soul. However, despite the silence, Ripa rested poorly, his constant tossing, turning and growling keeping two individuals awake, Gilda and Trixie. Alas, try as they might to sleep, the noise the Arbiter produced made such a luxury impossible. Hours of this passed, and when, at last, the Arbiter did finally go still, Trixie, having had enough of the alien's oppression, quietly snuck her way out of her carriage, and made her way to Gilda's tent, careful not to awaken the massive, dangerous Arbiter, and proceeded to wake her comrade, eager to explain her dangerous, but necessary plan.
"Gilda! Gilda, wake up!" Trixie harshly whispered, shaking her griffon accomplice from her sleep, and the griffon groaned, blinked, and wiped the sleep from her eyes, turning to confront her friend.
"Uh, wha..? Trixie!? Darn it, Trixie, it's not even midnight, what in Tartarus are you doing up, and more importantly, why are you waking me up this late?" Gilda scolded, and Trixie quickly hushed her, turning to see if the Arbiter still slept. Thankfully, the massive alien gave out one loud snore, solidifying Trixies hopes of getting on with her plan, and the magician quickly turned back to her friend, and explained the situation as quickly as she could;
"Trixie is tired of this abuse, Gilda! I'm getting out of here right now while the brute's asleep, and I suggest you do the same!" Trixie explained, and Gilda merely stared at the magician, blinking, and shook her head.
"Trixie, that's stupid! That alien might be obnoxious, but he hasn't tried to kill us yet! What about whatever's lurking out there, though? If we go through with this, we'll just end up as dinner for something bigger!" Gilda complained, but Trixie held firm, despite Gilda's protests.
"We don't have to care about that now! Right now, if we don't leave at this moment, the giant monster is going to work us to DEATH! Come on, Gilda, you can just fly us over the forest, and we'll be free! Come on, please?" Trixie pleaded quietly, as not to disturb the taskmaster resting outside, and Gilda sighed, but thought on it. Indeed, the creature was a bit pushy, but it kept them from being food for this long. However, the thought of finally being free of it was compelling... but it needed a plan, and a damn good one at that. With that in mind, Gilda only thought a moment more, and finally made her decision.
"... Alright, grab what you need, we're getting out." Gilda finally said, and Trixie smiled her biggest smile yet, and rushed off to collect her essentials.
That morning, Ripa 'Moramee, greatest Arbiter to ever live, awoke from his slumber with a loud yawn, stretching his arms in preparation to greet the day, and then strangle it to death. Carpe' Diem, baby! Merriment aside, the massive alien proceeded to rise, wiped his eyes, and walked to the camp fire to begin his morning ritual of eating, scolding, and meditating. However, as the Arbiter looked to his empty campfire, he realized that something was... amiss. The fire had not been reset, meaning that the griffon minion did not light it, and there was no rat upon it. Looking around the camp, in tents, behind trees, under rocks, Ripa 'Moramee noted that the camp was still intact, but eerily empty, as if his servants had simply vanished, and he frowned at this realization. Indeed, no wind stirred, and no one appeared to disprove his thoughts. He was, once again, alone, his follower having doubtlessly abandoned him to preserve their own worthless hides. However, this did not faze the massive elite. In fact, he smiled at the thought, and then chuckled to himself, his small laugh quickly turning into a deafening roar of mirth as the realization dawned on him, one that sealed his former minions' fates for good.
"Ha ha! So, the fools have at last fled? Heh heh heh, well, then I hope they ran far; I would hate for this hunt to be over too soon..." Ripa laughed, his predatory smile becoming more and more vicious as he imagined his prey, those two poor fools, having their organs removed and their flesh devoured by none other than himself, a last, fitting meal for those two traitors he used to call minions. So, thoughts of predation and vengeance boiling in his mind, the Arbiter used his swords to relight his fire, cooked a chunk of the hydra he killed yesterday, and with that as his breakfast, Ripa 'Moramee skipped steps two and three of his morning, and leaving the long-dead hydra where it lay, he proceeded to tear through the forest on his way toward the nearest source of civilization, knocking down trees, throwing boulders, and punting cockatrices along the way, and no creature, no matter how large it was, dared get in his way. Even the mighty manticores of the forest dared not alert the Arbiter to their presence
Still, though, the Arbiter marched, past many trees, beasts, and such, and only stopped once to punt a sleeping cockatrice out of his way, and halfway into a hole in a tree. The entire forest seemed to seethe with his unbound desire to kill, and soon, he came upon the forest's edge, quickening his pace as he did. Soon, he would find the two cowards, and make them suffer as dearly as he could make them. And as Ripa exited the massive, traumatized forest at last, the massive, homicidal elite thought eerily of the many, many gruesome ways he would track, trap, torture, and ultimately kill the two that dared betray him in every way and angle he could possibly imagine, and he laughed a hearty, throaty chuckle as he did, images of gore and viscera flooding his mind.
"Perhaps I will string them up... or gut them slowly... or stuff them in a bag of rocks and toss them into the nearest scum-filled lake... hell, why not all three?" Ripa 'Moramee laughed at last as his blood-drenched mind slowly turned outward, bidding him to look for a town or such, so that he may begin his hunt at last.
"Hmmm... I suspect that they have fled to the nearest town... but where would that be..?" 'Ripa thought, but the more he thought, the less ideas he had. However, he did remember his meeting with the ponies, and grunted with mild disgust at what his only course of action was turning to.
"Bah... so, if I am to find those two... I need HER help... gods above, how atrocious." Ripa thought in disgust, but alas, it was the only way; if he wanted to find Gilda and Trixie, he needed to first find the leader, who undoubtedly kept tabs on all her citizens at all times. But still, in order to demand, er, request Celestia's aid, he first had to find her in her city, which Ripa had no idea the location of. But still, undeterred, Ripa 'Moramee flexed his muscles, snorted in a gesture of defiance, and locked his bright, orange eyes eastward, toward the mountains.
"The gods will never forgive me for this... But it must be done. FOR MY HONOR!!!" Ripa bellowed to the sky, pointing one of his massive energy swords at the mountains in the distance, and the city he hopefully encountered along the way. After all, the rolling, lush hills had to support SOME kind of civilization. So, with determination in his heart, fire in his belly, and murder on his mind, Ripa 'Moramee set off into the unknown, high in hopes that, by the good grace of whatever god still favored him, he would find the city he sought... or at least, some clue as to its whereabouts.
Meanwhile, in the camp in the heart of the Everfree forest, the whole site was eerily silent, only the wind daring to move, relieved at the massive alien's departure. But then, just as all fell silent once more, the large carriage, originally belonging to trixie, rattled, and the door creaked open, revealing... Trixie! And Gilda, too! The two then looked around the entire site very thoroughly, and stepped outside, breathing a sigh of relief at the absence of the giant alien they once called overlord, now hopefully lost somewhere in the woods, and rather happy that they somehow managed to, despite the oppressive odds against them succeeding, hide from him as he searched. Finally, the two at last spoke, as they proceeded to plan their final escape.
"Alright, the big one's gone. Now what?" Trixie asked her feathered cohort, Gilda, who wasted no time in responding.
"Now we find help, stupid! Come on, we can go find Celestia, she's closest! Once she knows about this guy's true colors, she'll turn him to stone, and we'll be out of there." Gilda explained, and Trixie nodded thoughtfully, acknowledging the genius of her partner's plan. And so, that in mind, the two set off, and flew toward the mountains, toward Canterlot city, to begin phase one of their ultimate plan to (probably) save the world...
Were it so easy.
Ripa 'Moramee wandered in his one, deadlocked direction for what seemed like long, unforgiving hours, and he was quickly growing tired of walking. Even worse, in his whole march, he had yet to see a single hut out here in this lush, disgustingly-sweet landscape, and it was quickly grating his nerves.
"Blast... have I been going the wrong way..?" Ripa wondered uneasily, the hours ticking steadily away as he walked on, and soon he began to slow down, terrible thoughts plaguing his mind: this was how he died, wandering the countryside like a fool, chasing after two lowlifes that were barely worth the breath he spent chasing them? It couldn't be! It had to be wrong! And yet... here he was, tired, thirsty, and sorely aching from walking so much.
"... No... I must keep walking... I know this has to be the right way... It must! Doubt shall not divert me this day! DO YOU HEAR ME, DOUBT!? I WILL TRACK YOU DOWN, FIND YOU, AND RIP YOUR SPINE OUT THROUGH YOUR- ow!!!" Ripa ranted, and then yelped in shock and pain as a small, red orb fell squarely into his face, his right eye, specifically, as he faced the sky and raved at it like a madman. So, holding his injured eye, Ripa 'Moramee looked to where the red, spherical object fell after assaulting him, and became quickly confused as he found it, discovering it to be little more than a little red ball, but with a stem... and leaves...
"A... a fruit..?" Ripa questioned, and ignoring his eye, the massive elite reached down, and picked the strange, red fruit from the ground, holding it in his massive hand, and examining it. But, upon seeing no reference as to what kind of fruit it was, the Arbiter looked up in curiosity, hoping to see where the round fruit had fell from... and was rewarded with another eye-shot, by yet another, much larger variant of the very same fruit in the very same eye. Roaring in understandable pain and anger, Ripa 'Moramee, in a blind fit of indescribable, uncontrollable rage, activated both blades, and swung wildly about himself, both his eyes blinded from the amount of red they were seeing, and soon, his blades caught something large and thick, but sliced right through all the same. However, the satisfaction of a potential kill finally clearing his vision, Ripa looked to where he thought he'd struck his target... only to find a tree falling right towards him. So, with much haste, the Arbiter yelped in shock and leaped out of the massive lumber's way, and as he hit the ground, so too did the tree, and thankfully, it was not on top of him. So, with that, the Arbiter sighed a breath of relief, and got up, dusting himself off as he did. Then, he investigated the massive, fruit-bearing tree, an inquisitive look on his face as he scrutinized the alien tree.
Alas, the tree did seem to bear fruit... though of what kind, Ripa did not know. And ultimately, he did not care, either: Sangheilli were carnivores, and always have been; plants simply did not register to his kind as food.
"But to these herbivorous residents..." Ripa pondered aloud, and suddenly, the elite was struck by inspiration, and began to look around for more trees, an idea brewing in his head: Where there were food trees, there were crops. Where there were crops, there was a farm. And where there was a farm...
"There's a family to forcibly evict... heh heh heh... Ha ha HA HA HAA!!!!" Ripa 'Moramee laughed loudly, finishing his thoughts aloud as he picked a fruit from one of the next many trees he saw, and crushed it into juice with his bare hand. And with that, Ripa continued along the trail of fruit-bearing trees, eager to find this place of rest and... convince the residents to... accommodate him for a while.