//------------------------------//
// The meetup 
// Story: The New Life of Shadow Ironsword 
// by ShadowIronsword 
//------------------------------//

I sat in my room, waiting for Twilight to come back from the post office. "Ugh it's so boring in here with nothing to do!" Hmm I wonder if Twilight minds me taking a look around the castle for a bit? It'll take her a bit to walk to the post office from what I saw on my flight here. I'll just take a look around. I left my room and went back to the main entrance hall. "Hmm where to begin?" I asked aloud. There was a large ornate door just twenty feet in front of the main entrance to the castle. I turned towards it and looked at it with mounting curiosity. "Where does that lead? Maybe a throne room?" I wandered over to the door and before I could touch it it opened up of its own accord. So it's enchanted to open when someone approaches then? 

I entered the room and looked around. There was a large crystal table in the center of the room with a chandelier, seemingly, made of a tree's roots. The little gems hanging off of each end represented every color of the rainbow. I flew up to the chandelier and looked at one of the orange gems, it contained an image of Twilight and an excited looking Pinkie. I wonder what the story behind that is? Around the table sat six main chairs in a star pattern with a seventh smaller chair to the left of one of them with Twilight's cutie mark printed on the back. Probably for spike and her friends if I had to guess. Suddenly my fur started to stand on end as the table began to light up and a map of Equestria and the surrounding territories sprang to life on the table. There were two things, I could only assume as cutie marks of her friends, that floated above the Griffon territories. One was a set of three balloons -two blue and one yellow- the other was a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of a cloud. Woah! That's a bit weird. I'll have to bring it up to Twilight when she gets back. I flew down to the side of the table. I could see that their was a cutie mark at the top of each chair's back, except for the smaller one to the left of Twilight's throne. "Hmph that one must be Spike's throne." 

I heard the main doors to the castle open up and heard a flurrying clop of rushing hooves on the floor of the main foyer. "Oh did you find the little-" All the words on Twilight's lips died as she saw the floating cutie marks above the holographic map. "When did that appear?" She asked, a bit of a panicked tone entering her voice.

"The map or the symbols?"

"Both." She gave me a deadpan.

"Um, well, I thought I'd do a bit of exploring around the castle since I'm gonna be here for a bit, as I understand it." She gave a small nod of understanding and recognition. "Well, I came up to these doors and they opened I stepped into this room and the map appeared and then the symbols above the griffon territories."

"Hmm well those are Rainbow's and Pinkie's cutie marks, so I'd bet that Rainbow gets here first and knocks over another one of my bookshelves." She gave a hearty laugh, one which I joined her in. Then, when she had composed herself, looked back to me. "So it looks like you brought quite a bit of stuff from Cloudsdale. What exactly is all of this?" She gestured back to my three cases of luggage floating behind her in her magic aura.

"Oh nothing much, just my stuff for living and my gear for tournaments. I should go unpack all of my things in my room. That is, if you'll still have me?" I looked over to her to see a warm expression on her face. 

She gave a vigorous nod and said, "Of course I'll still have you, if you still want to stay here."

I gave a nod of my own a genuine smile on my face. I was relieved to see there was not a hint of fear or even surprise on Twilight's face. "Of course, I wouldn't be dismissing myself to my room if I didn't want to stay would I?" 

She gave another happy nod, "Well I'll talk to you later. You'd better get back to your room if you don't want to get spotted. Rainbow should be here literally any second."

I turned around and went to pick up my luggage and found it surrounded by a lavender glow. "Don't worry i'll carry it there in my magic, just get to your room before Rainbow shows up."

"You keep saying that like Rainbow isn't a good friend. She is a good friend to you, right?" I gave her a serious stare. I'd experienced enough ponies who are flanks about everything under the sun. 

"No, no, she's definitely a good friend, but she can be a bit of a blabber mouth when she has to keep a secret. Especially when another friend asks about it." 

Hmm, sounds kinda like Val. I gave a chuckle to myself. "He sounds kinda like my friend back in Cloudsdale. The big goof's always there for me, but he's just too talkative for his own good. So if you're serious about her being a bit of a blabber mouth I'd best get back to my room." I'd almost made the trip back to my room, with bags in tow, when I heard a loud bang. I turned around to see a spectrum of colors in a strait line, supposedly following a one miss Rainbow Dash. Yup just like Val there too. I heard the beginning of a conversation when Rainbow screamed out, "Twi my flank's glowing again!" I gave another chuckle, then heard another set of doors close and heard no more conversation. Hmm must have gone into the throne room. I looked down to see that my luggage had been set down on the ground. Guess she's just as much of a handful too. I began to pick up my bags and I looked up to see Pinkie standing at the end of the hall waving to me. Funny I didn't hear the main door open. I gave a wave of my paw and said, "Hey Pinkie, whatcha doing here?" 

She turned slightly and pointed to her flank where I saw nothing. I gave her a bemused look. She simply giggled and turned back down the main entryway, I assumed to head to the throne room. I heard a set of doors open and close. I shrugged and picked up my luggage, and took it into my room. The thought then struck me, I was referring to this room as my room. I guess she's got me hooked in already. Heh. 

I set into unpacking my things. First I ought to look at my kit to see if It's undamaged from the move. I turned to open all of the cases and found the one that held my dueling kit. I put on the harness for my sword, and attached the sheath. I threw on my battle coat, it covered notably less of my wolven features, but it did have a hood even though I never used it in battle. Thank Celestia I asked for that. But, what it did have was silver armor plates on the shoulders and the front, unlike my normal coat. The color and pattern of the cloth was different as well, the main color was black with silver lines running along the seams. It'll have to do when I visit Rarity later today.Alright, now I need Uramasa. I opened the box that held the blade in question, and found it mostly unharmed, mostly. "Dammit all to Tartarus and it's bloody pits." I noticed a small crack on the edge near the guard, almost invisible for someone who wasn't looking for it. Damn now I'll have to take it back to Cloudsdale, and have Val work on it. Serves me right for not carrying it on me. I gave a long drawn-out sigh. "Well guess it's back to Cloudsdale for me, but first I'll have to go to Rarity's and ask for a favor." I looked back to the case that held my kit. It held both my foreleg guards and my helmet, both of them steel with wolven-style carvings. it was the last real show of kindness the pack had shown to me. At the ceremony celebrating a wolven's coming of age each is given a gift by the pack. Most times it's a simple sword or badge of the pack. But, again that was the last real show of kindness from them.

I decided to close the lid and move on to unpacking the rest of my stuff. I heard the main door to the castle open and close and heard the loud clop of hooves. I poked my head barely out of my room, and saw the rest of Twilight's friends heading towards the throne room. "Well I guess I'm gonna be here for a bit. Might as well get comfortable." 





About an hour later I heard multiple sets of hooves heading down the hall towards my door. I could make out the scent of Twilight and someone I didn't recognize. Must be one of her friends she told about me. No sense in having my hood up then, it'll just put them off. I took my hood down just as the door opened. In stepped a White unicorn mare who had a fancily styled purple mane, and a cutie mark of three diamonds. She must be Rarity. 

She stood there with a dumbstruck expression on her face, until she finally said cautiously, "Well you must be this Shadow I've heard so much about." She gave me a forced polite smile. 

I felt the corners of my mouth tug up. "She didn't tell you that I was part wolven did she?" 

"No she excluded that tidbit of information." 

I held up my paw in a gesture of a hoofshake, and she took it. "Well allow me to introduce myself, I am Shadow Ironsword. I am the son of Vanguard Ironsword and Selena Moonwright. I am a professional duelist slash swordsman, and I'm here in Ponyville hoping to learn more about friendship." She seemed a bit shocked to have received so much information in a simple greeting. 

She gave a slight nod to me. "Well I suppose I should return the favor. My name is Rarity. I am a professional designer slash fashionista, and I'm here in Ponyville to help Twilight, and to advance my career." We both gave a professional nod. 

Twilight had been siting the corner of the room silently. "Well I'm glad to see that introductions have gone well. Now, as I understand it, Shadow you still need a travel coat right?"

I gave a slight nod, "Yes that's still true. I need one. This is my battle coat, and it's really only supposed to be worn for my dueling matches. So, I was hoping that I could ask Rarity to make me one in exchange for a favor or two."

Rarity turned back to me. "Yes that does sound fair. But I won't have you owing me anything, not this time. Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine." I made to argue but she cut me off. "Ah-ah, you don't seem the type to argue with a lady correct?" I gave a firm nod. "Good then, we'll begin now. So tell me Shadow how do you want it to look?"