Well in the Lead: Part I
Techorse series: #25
By Spirals95
In the basement of Canterlot Castle, three ponies of roughly the same age sat on the chilling floor of a gloomy cage built to hold prisoners who could ordinarily escape by magical means. The enchanted prison cell was built in the middle of the floor of the aging basement, and a leaky pipe running along the ceiling dripped water at a monotonous rate on the top of the cage that might to the ears be just as bad as the torture of being forced to live in the dungeon. It might very well have seemed that every prisoner of the castle might have to face such terrible living conditions. However, the truth was that this one cell was the only poorly maintained holding place in the entire castle, all the others had the accommodations required by Equestrian law, namely cleanliness and enough daylight to prevent the psychological problems associated with not getting enough of the light and warmth of the sun.
The enclosure, not even legal to keep circus animals in, was six feet high, and 15 feet on each side, with an iron floor and ceiling that was slightly rusted from the pipe dripping on it over the course of several months. Only a few plain white mattresses on the floor provided any comfort from the icy metal floor, which felt terrible on the hooves. Sitting facing away from each other on these mattresses were the three prisoners, each one frowning but trying not to lose hope of getting out of their current situation.
The first prisoner was a unicorn mare with a darker orange coat. Her mane was in a curled style, both brown and light pink curls, but each curl had several individual hairs out of place that indicated high levels of stress. On her flank, three equidistant flashlights pointing southeast were crowded together. Her sad blue eyes were facing only on the floor.
The second trapped pony, a somewhat burly pegasus colt with a light brown coat and green eyes to go with it, pouted and looked around, blaming anyone but himself for his situation. His short mane of goldenrod yellow was rather short cut, and stood up until his head, where it laid down in a part to his left ear. The cutie mark he bore, a paintbrush sitting on a brick, didn't seem to match his bad attitude.
Of the three incarcerated ponies, the third one was perhaps the one that made the most sense to question, by appearance. He was a pegasus along with his cellmate, but he was a darkish gray in color, almost graphite. His amber eyes were pointed straight forward, out of the cell and off into space, as he thought about the future. The pony's mane, a combination of solid black mixed with cool ice blue, was cut in a rather standard way, but the alternation of the colors ran vertically. An unusual cutie mark was on his flank, the image of a solid black heart, with a small white dove fixed in the center of it. In addition to his physical appearance, the pegasus wore a small pendant on his neck, made from a thin gold chain, and a centerpiece carved in the shape of a constricted oval. The center of the pendant contained a shimmering ruby, with a mysterious darkened spot stirring about inside the gem, perhaps a flaw during its formation in Equestria's crust.
A door creaked open in the dungeon, and the three looked up to see who would enter. The light from the hallway outside of the containment area shone in, and the trapped ponies' eyes stung slightly as they attempted to adjust to the sudden change. Into the room stepped Captain Arbiter, a nasty grin on his face, his cape fluttering slightly in the cold air that flowed out of the room and into the hallway behind him. Arbiter casually turned on a small electrical switch, illuminating the room in the light from an overhead electric chandelier that should have remained on for the poor prisoners.
"Good news," Arbiter said to them, walking forward, "we're not going to be keeping you here any longer."
"You're not?" asked the one mare with great hope in her voice.
Arbiter continued with his smile, enjoying his duty way too much, "Would I lie? You're not going to be kept locked up a moment more."
"Oh, finally!" said the brown pegasus with relief, "I can't wait to get outside again and stretch my wings!"
"…If you have the strength, that is," Arbiter said to finish for him, "you see, I've decided the best punishment for your crimes is to have you whipped, thirty strokes apiece."
The three ponies' mouths either fell open in horror. The Captain was going to beat them terribly with a whip, and it was almost certain that ugly scars would follow as a reminder of what they had done.
"You're going to whip us?" cried the unicorn pony first, "Please don't!"
The other two looked at each other with fear, and started to believe that maybe staying in the cell would be a better option than the corporal punishment they were about to receive. Arbiter had stopped smiling at this point, and looked rather coldly at his prisoners. To him, a whip across the back was guaranteed to teach the three troublemakers in front of them to never pull the stunts that they had again. Of course, whipping another pony so many times wouldn't bring him that much enjoyment, but it was his duty to enforce the laws of Equestria when cases were brought before him.
"Don't we get the right to a trial first?" whimpered the dark gray pony, "why do you get to sentence us?"
"Each of you was delivered to me by your parents to be placed under my watch," explained Arbiter sternly, "you may have only caused minor grievances, but this is to keep you from causing trouble ever again!"
Captain Arbiter was interrupted by a gentle cough from behind him.
He looked back over his back and said sharply, "What?!"
He calmed down significantly after he realized who he had just shouted at. An upset Princess Luna had sneaked up behind him, her plasma-blue mane flowed behind her as she walked in.
"Is this what modern Captains keep in their private, royalty-issued storage?" she asked in a rather angry tone, looking over the three captives, "Arbiter, I am ashamed of you! You are supposed to take any prisoners and put them in the cells where they won't get pneumonia, unlike this cold, dark place!"
"Princess Celestia ordered me to watch over these three, and I have only followed my orders!" he lied.
In reality, although Celestia had asked Arbiter to keep the troublemakers in a secure location, she meant one of the regular detainment areas, not his storage unit. Arbiter simply interpreted the order liberally to justify keeping his prisoners in such a terrible place.
Princess Luna did not buy into the obvious lie, and said, "You're known for cruelty, Arbiter. I suggest you figure out a way to get them out of this situation."
"They're not going anywhere, each of them has committed a crime, and they must pay for it!" he insisted.
The alicorn rolled her eyes, and said, "And just what monstrosities have these three done? They look only as old as Twilight Sparkle. I have my doubts that such young ponies could do something so horrible."
Arbiter pointed to the unicorn mare and said, "This is Raider. She's a kleptomaniac, a habitual thief, your majesty. She stole lawn decorations just for fun, and then every month, would leave the valuables in her town's hall. After the items were returned, she makes it a game to steal them again and again for her own amusement."
Luna nodded, and turned her attention to the brown pegasus with the odd golden hair.
"And who might this be?" she asked.
"This is Mortar, a graffiti artist caught painting a picture of Celestia wearing a dunce cap!" he said.
"It was a party hat, I swear!" protested Mortar, "I just wasn't able to finish it before this guy's guards nabbed me!"
"Nopony asked you to talk!" shouted Arbiter.
Mortar sank back along with his two companions. Princess Luna tried not to snicker at the thought of her sister being drawn with such a silly choice of hat, either way.
Arbiter turned and pointed with his leg to the last pony, "This one is Shadow Breeze. Mr. Breeze was caught manipulating shadows somehow to give the illusion that a dragon was coming to attack groups of hikers in the mountains near his city. Eventually when they caught him he was turned over to me."
In her wisdom, the princess of the night said softly, "Arbiter, don't you suppose that these 'crimes', are really just the trouble that ponies who've recently left home cause to try and gain some enjoyment out of life?"
Arbiter may not have always understood Luna's mix of standard and older Equine English, but he knew the point she was getting at. The princess understood the trouble-making not as a grievous crime the way he did, but actually as a coping mechanism. Still, it seemed as if she agreed there was a way to teach the three not to use pranks to cope with leaving home.
"So… maybe they didn't do very terrible things," he agreed reluctantly, "but that still doesn't excuse them entirely, there are some laws about causing trouble, although they're usually settled by public apology. However, this is a special case because they are here with us!"
"I concur," said the princess, "so how shall we deal with them appropriately?"
Arbiter scanned over the three with his eye, noting their fearful looks, and their silent prayers to not be whipped. Deciding that there was indeed more than two options in this scenario, he thought up a great idea to teach the three some discipline.
"I know just the thing! I'll make fine soldier ponies out of each of them. Raider can be used to steal things from any future enemies, Shadow Breeze can become a master of keeping our numbers concealed, and Mortar can design propaganda to make the enemy's leader look bad!" he said, thinking about the "great" chores of war he had in mind.
Princess Luna brought up a silver-shoed hoof and planted it on her face.
After stopping her facehoof, she said to the captain with much frustration, "Arbiter, conscription has been outlawed in Equestria for over eight hundred years! Forcing these poor citizens to become soldiers is barbaric. Let me offer a modest suggestion for you."
The Captain sighed heavily before finally agreeing to listen.
"I propose, after talking about these three with sister, to have them form a team dedicated to service for other ponies! Soon they will learn that helping their fellow Equestrian brings double the joy of pranking them!" said the princess loudly, near shouting.
"A team?" asked Arbiter with disgust, "That I lead?"
"Correct," she said, smiling proudly at such a good plan.
Now, Arbiter may have wanted to see justice done, but trying to convert three annoying ponies into model citizens would practically be torture for him. It would also be way too much work for what he had planned today. Today was the day he was going to go into The Domain, and attempt to spend an afternoon with Limpwing. He was going to offer to get her coffee and a danish, along with a long conversation about how wonderful the various swords Equestria had produced were. This idea of having to babysit the troublemakers would ruin his plans for the day, possibly the week. But in his mind, Arbiter thought of something he could do to both ditch this terrible responsibility and get to Limpwing at the same time.
"It's just…" he said, a little disappointed, "I'm a terrible stallion for the job. I kept these three locked up, and now, there's no way they'll ever trust me!"
"I suppose you're right," said Luna, looking sadly at the three ponies who were clearly terrified of Arbiter.
"However, I do know just the colt who could turn these three around!" he said, pretending to have to think about it for a while by scratching his chin with his hoof.
The three behind the princess and the swordspony looked at each other and wondered what they were talking about. They were smiling however, as it looked like they were getting a light sentence of community service for the trouble they had caused. To the ponies, Arbiter's foul treatment of them was just a scare tactic.
"Techorse would be the right choice," continued Arbiter, "I believe that he, with his sense of justice, would agree that turning these three into a team would be the best choice. He'll have them do a few small chores to make up for their harmless pranks, and then I'll have each of them sent home to their parents."
Princess Luna had known well about Techorse and believed that Arbiter was right about choosing him to lead the team.
"Then take these three to Ponyville, and give Techorse command!" ordered Luna, "I'm going to return to the throne room in the meantime."
"Yes m'am!" said Arbiter.
"Oh, thank you your majesty!" said Raider tearfully, "we're not going to be whipped because you stepped in there!"
Princess Luna, who was just about to leave the room, turned back and gave Arbiter a nasty look that pierced his soul. She was furious that Arbiter was going to beat her subjects, after everything that she had been through. Back before her banishment, she had witnessed a whipping as a younger mare. Luna was overjoyed upon her return to Equestria when she learned that annoying exercises and fines had replaced the cruelty.
But here was Captain Arbiter, who had even dared to joke about such a terrible punishment. She was furious at him for his insistence on bringing "justice" through pain and punishment. Her eyes continued to penetrate his remaining one.
Arbiter shuffled about a bit in place, and started making excuses, "It was a joke your majesty. I'm aware that whipping has also been banned, but I figured they wouldn't listen to me unless I threatened them…"
Princess Luna reared up on her hind legs, her eyes glowed a bright white, and her body gave off streams of searing electrical energy from her rage.
"You'd better not lay a hoof on these three!" boomed Luna, "Must I remind you that you've already tried to put Techorse's head in a basket twice! He may have pity on you for the loss of your eye, but that event is still no excuse for all this cruelty. Should I hear you've brought pain and suffering to these ponies, you'll be serving as our castle's newest statue, and that's a promise, Arbiter Axechop!"
She then stormed out of the dark room, dispelling the burning plasma and leaving Arbiter stunned for once. Even though he had the knowledge in his head that princess Celestia wouldn't authorize a use of the Elements on him, Luna would probably still figure out something terrible to do to him. He realized either way that Princess Luna had finally grown weary of his more traditional way of running things. Now he had to hope she didn't figure out he was dumping his task on Techorse.
After Princess Luna was well out of earshot, however, he gave his captives one final warning,
"Listen you three. I'm going easy on you by letting my… 'friend' make you a working team. However, if I hear so much as a single word from Techorse that you screwed up, you'll be put in a regular prison for as long as possible."
"We'll cooperate!" said Shadow Breeze, "Honest!"
"Good, then come with me, and I'll take you to Techorse."
Techorse was in his laboratory, about to put the last computer chip in a circuit board he had been working on for several weeks. Wires and parts of various color codes were scattered around him on the floor and stainless steel countertop he had been working on. With a soldering gun in one robotic hand and a screwdriver in the other, he carefully finished welding the chip to the green chunk of plastic and computer parts. He then dropped the tools on the table, and carefully picked up the circuit board to inspect it, making sure not a diode was out of place.
"Great!" he said to himself, "With any luck this will calculate the angle and trajectory correctly so that I can finally try at that water cannon! Cloudsdale will appreciate the extra water for weather making if I can get it to work."
He looked slowly to the left at the large device he'd been working on for a long time. The machine resembled a giant telescope almost, the barrel off-center of a large cyan-painted turntable. A large air compressor sat on the side of the barrel, used to force the water out as powerfully as possible. At the base of the machine was a small control panel consisting of just a few levers and a small start button, the computer Techorse had just finished would be placed inside the device and used to aim. The only missing piece seemed to be some sort of intake pipe for the water to enter the machine.
The speaker system in the room sounded the doorbell in the laboratory, alerting Techorse to visitors. He placed his newly built circuit board down on the work table, and proceeded out into the hallway of the castle basement. After climbing up the spiral staircase that led into the lobby, he found the door control panel, and pressed the large "open" button with one of his robotic hands. The metal arms retreated into the saddle with a loud click, and the doors on the gadget shut tight. Techorse preferred not to freak out visitors with the arms, as they didn't look very natural on a quadruped, even if they were simply a tool.
When the two massive wooden doors had creaked open, Captain Arbiter stood in the doorway with the three ponies he had captured. They were all tied together, front legs to front legs, with rope to keep them from escaping. Despite it being a sunny and warm mid-morning, the three had sad expressions on their faces, most likely from the constricting ropes around their limbs.
"Hey Captain, what brings you here?" asked Techorse, a little surprised.
"Techorse, lad!" said Arbiter, obviously faking joy, "I've got something splendid you can do to please Princess Celestia!"
Techorse was a mechanical genius, but sometimes gave other ponies who had blatant character flaws way too much credit. He knew in this case that Arbiter was likely upset he couldn't do anything more than tie up the three miserable captives.
"All right, Arby. What did she have in mind for me?" he asked, pretending not to be suspicious.
The Captain cleared his throat and ruffled his wing feathers before continuing proudly, "These three ponies have been caught causing trouble around their hometown, and the princesses both think that they deserve better than to be thrown into the dungeon!"
"…And you don't. So you're upset," thought Techorse, knowing how much Arbiter loved punishing others.
The strong pegasus continued, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have both requested that you be the leader of a team! These three will be your teammates, and together you will solve the problems of Ponyville until they are thoroughly refined. I'm sure at the end of this they'll have better things to do than to prank others."
Techorse and Arbiter were about to fool each other, although neither knew what the other one was thinking. From Arbiter's perspective, he was about to get a day off by tricking Techorse into taking on his duty. But from Techorse's perspective, this was a golden opportunity to once again prove to Arbiter that justice is best dealt through service and redemption, not through brute force. Techorse never got pleasure out of making fun of others, in fact, he really like Arbiter's dedication to protecting the princesses, and even his own guards so that they would be able to go home to their wives and foals. However, he knew that Arbiter's penchant for violence needed to be pecked away at with as many examples of changed lives as possible!
There was just one problem, however, and it struck Techorse like a flying brick.
"Wait, I'm supposed to be their leader?" he asked, shocked, "They're my teammates?"
"Is there a problem, Techorse?" smirked Arbiter.
Techorse didn't view himself as a good leader, he relied almost entirely on Twilight in a team situation for executive decisions. Yet for some reason, when forced to take on leadership roles, he did well enough for the situation. The problem was that now, the fates of the three ponies before him, all the same age as he was, was going to be determined by his leadership. Techorse was tempted to decline the task, but he just couldn't stand the thought of Arbiter winning and locking up the prisoners again.
"I'll do it," he said proudly, standing up strong, "You'll see, Arby."
Captain Arbiter laughed subtly, and said, "I'll be back tomorrow. If any of them gives you any trouble, or if they haven't improved, they'll be going in the dungeon for a very long time."
Arbiter removed a scroll from underneath his cape, and gave the document over to Techorse, who accepted it with his robotic arms. The captain was used to them, but the three pranksters were awed at the strange saddle on Techorse's back. They wondered if it was an enchanted object, like the ones they had read about in school.
"Here's a scroll containing a biography on these three criminals." Said Arbiter, "I'll be visiting somepony until tomorrow, I've got a hotel room rented out."
"Ok, thanks. Take care Arbiter," replied Techorse.
Arbiter spread his wings, and flew off into the west against the breeze, off for The Domain to go and visit Limpwing as planned. Techorse watched him leave via flight before turning to the three silent captives.
"Let's get those ropes off you," he said.
Working carefully with his robotic arms and hands, Techorse untied each knot until the three had their legs free. They stepped up and down gently with them, glad to finally be out of their ropes. Each one felt a tiny hint of freedom in their souls.
"Thanks, Techorse!" said Raider, "I thought Arbiter was going to have you parade us around in those!"
"Yeah," added Mortar, "I'm surprised you didn't expect us to try and run away!"
"What?" said Techorse, disappointed, "I've known Arbiter for a while now, and he loves to be mean to ponies he views as being criminals. I could tell the moment I saw you guys that you probably just carved your names into something, nothing too bad."
Shadow Breeze walked up to Techorse and said, "You can find out what Arbiter's accusing us of in that scroll he gave you. By the way, the three of us have been friends since school. This whole idea of us all being a team is pretty cool! Especially since we're going to be working with the inventor of Ponyville."
"Hey, how'd you know that?" asked Techorse, surprised.
"My mom owns a blender made by you," answered the pegasus, "your picture is printed at the back of the instruction manual as part of your guarantee your stuff will work."
"I'm glad your mother likes my inventions, don't get too many personal comments about them," smiled Techorse, glad to hear positive reviews about his work.
"Well that and you're pretty much known for helping princess Celestia's friends defeat the invasion last year," Shadow added with embarrassment, wishing he'd have gone with that first.
Techorse chuckled, and said "I see. Anyways, are you all hungry?"
"Starving!" answered Raider, "My stomach's been growling for a day now."
"Oh no, Arbiter didn't starve you did he?" asked Techorse, mortified.
"Not exactly," admitted Mortar, "We got some boxed military rations. They're pretty bad though."
To Techorse, this was actually a positive sign. Arbiter hadn't let another pony go hungry despite wanting to see them be punished. Maybe some improvement was going to happen in the Captain's life.
"Let's have lunch together before we decide what to do first as a team," suggested Techorse, "I hope you like pasta and vegetables, I don't eat hay like a lot of ponies do."
"Hay's not my favorite either," admitted Raider, "but trust me when I say we're thankful you're giving us something edible."
Techorse smiled, and stepped to one side to let the three in. He walked them down the hallway, past the library, and into the dining room, where he seated them all at one side. When he returned, he went into the kitchen and helped his robot servant prepare the food. They made together a large helping of steaming pasta noodles, topped with fresh tomato sauce bought locally. This delicious meal was placed into a yellow ceramic serving bowl, and carried out to the table. PAL had to help Techorse bring out the other item on the menu, a garden salad made from crisp lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, and yellow bell peppers. Together they managed to get the midday meal out to their guests, and then PAL left, leaving behind three very surprised ponies.
"Wow! Is he a golem?" asked Shadow Breeze, "Did you make him?"
"He's a robot," explained Techorse, "It seems I'm always having to explain this, but I guess Equestria doesn't have another robot. PAL is made from electronic parts and metal, but he doesn't run off of magic, he runs off of a list of instructions that he can modify himself."
"So he's electric instead? Cool! Can we eat now?" summarized Mortar, hoping to get down to stuffing himself as soon as possible.
"Of course, let's finish lunch, and then we can talk!" said Techorse, reaching for the salad dish.
Shadow Wing and Mortar ate like they owned hollow legs, nearly finishing half of the massive bowl of pasta on their own, without taking that much of the salad. Raider and Techorse were a little more balanced in their diet, but overall the four enjoyed a nice lunch together, a vast improvement over the prison food they'd had earlier.
"Wow, thanks so much for the great food, Techorse!" complimented Raider as they left the table, "So what's on our agenda for today?"
"First of all," interrupted Mortar, "I think we need a team name, and Techorse here should get to pick it."
Techorse looked around and said with a lack of confidence, "Well, I don't know about a team name…"
"How about Team Tech?" proposed Raider, "Let's name it after him!"
"Yeah, great idea!" agreed Shadow Breeze, bringing his hoof down on the ground, "What do you think of that name, Tech?"
Techorse answered, "Do we really need a team name? I appreciate it, but I don't think it's necessary.”
But not wanting to hurt Techorse's feelings, he said, "Well, I guess we don't really need a team name. After all, we're only going to be working together for a short while. Let's just skip it and get to work."
"That makes a little more sense," agreed Raider, scratching her head, "So now that we've got that all settled, what are we going to do first?"
"Let's go to the backyard, and I'll give you a good idea as to our plan of action," said Techorse, "but keep in mind guys, this is only for a day or two. We really don't need to make this such a big deal, we just have to get you into places of service so you're not in trouble all the time for pranking ponies!"
Soon the four were gathered in the garden in the rear of the castle, the fountain still bubbling with water brought up from the ground underneath, and the birds signing in the warm day. Several plants were growing alongside the castle, and Shadow Breeze was inspecting each and every one of them.
"I'm sorry!" he said, focusing his attention back on Techorse when he heard him cough, "I just really love plants, and the animals that eat them. Growing houseplants was kind of my hobby before I got kicked out of my house."
Techorse frowned and asked, "What happened?"
The pegasus walked forward and explained, "You see Tech, my original name was Spirit Breeze. My parents wanted me to be a musician to perform in front of royal audiences. But I didn't want to go into music at all! One day, I was given this magic amulet you see here around my neck by a zebra from a distant island. I call it the shadow ruby, because it allows me to control dark-looking energy with my mind. I can not only make shadow puppets and simple tricks with it, but I can also throw small projectiles!"
"That sounds like a really neat enchanted object," commented Techorse, "but is it the reason why you got into trouble?"
The pegasus hung his head in guilt and said, "Well, yeah. I got my cutie mark for my love of peace when I stopped a fight between my classmates one day. However, I wasn't able to really find an occupation to go with it. So I'd have too much free time, and I'd end up using my shadow amulet to create shadows of dragons in the mountains to scare hikers. They thought they were going to be eaten, and screamed and ran away. It was fun at first, but then I got caught by Arbiter."
“So you renamed yourself Shadow Breeze because of your shadow tricks?” asked Techorse.
“Yeah...” he answered glumly, “it's kind of embarrassing to admit I changed my name but I had to do it.”
Techorse wanted to cheer him up, so he said, “Well, if you want to hear something funny about my name, I don't have a last name. I sign my documents as 'Techorse X'.”
“How do you not have a last name?” asked Shadow Breeze, perking up in interest.
“I'll tell you later, it's about how I came here to Ponyville,” he answered, “right now I want to hear your friends' stories as well.”
"You already looked into our stories," said Raider on behalf of her and Mortar, "I used my magic to steal things for fun, and Mortar put his artistic side towards drawing graffiti of Celestia."
There was a bit of silence as Techorse thought about what he had heard. It seemed that his new acquaintances had been either abandoned or ignored by their parents, and that they would need care in order to stop responding to their emptiness with the wrong behavior. Techorse understood what it meant to lack parental care, as did some of his friends.
"Don't worry guys," he said to them confidently, "I'm going to take you around Ponyville and have you use your talents in a constructive fashion. That way you won't have to pull pranks to keep yourselves entertained, and you'll be able to start your own careers!"
"Then let's get started!" said Mortar eagerly, "Where to, Techorse?"
Techorse had a plan in his mind to find a job for each of the ponies he had found himself responsible for. The solution in the inventor's mind was to turn around their preferred method of pranking in order to give them a new career path that would fulfill them and use their talents well. Because Mortar had been so eager to get started on the task, Techorse figured it was best to find a way for him to use his talents first.
Taking the three out west of the town, he brought them to Sweet Apple Acres, and scanned the dozens upon dozens of apple trees, bearing the still-developing fruit of the first growing season. Techorse couldn't find Applejack anywhere amongst the trees, so he gave instructions to his new friends.
"Let's head on over to the barn. I think I have an idea as to what your first tasks can be!" he instructed, pointing to the red barn on the hillside.
Once they had made it to the oft-rebuilt structure, Techorse opened the door gently and went inside alone to find Applejack. The inside of the barn was somewhat darkened, and the air was a bit stale from the hay soaking up the moisture in the air. Applejack was sitting in the loft of the barn, looking over a magazine laid on the ground in front of her. It was a publication for growers who were having trouble with pests eating their plants, and offered solutions to get rid of them without dangerous pesticides. Applejack had found herself the time to read the magazine since a majority of her trees were not ready for harvesting yet.
"Hey Applejack, it's Techorse!" he called up to her.
She leaned over the wooden platform and looked down at him, her Stetson hat sliding down slightly on her head.
"Oh hey there Techie!" she greeted him, "Is there something you need?"
"I've got three other ponies out here looking for some work. They're trying to get out of having to deal with Arby, so they picked community service. Got any extra chores for us?" he asked.
Applejack was a little reluctant to answer yes, after all, these were complete strangers to her. But she hated Captain Arbiter for what he'd done in the past, and any chance to save those poor souls who had to put up with him was worth it to her.
"Well, the barn here has a few worn-out spots that could use paint. There's also a little weedin' that could be done out by the golden delicious trees!" she finally answered, "Let's get y'all set up."
Soon Mortar was busy giving the west side of the barn a fresh coat of paint from a bucket provided to him, the brush in his teeth as he struggled to cover the raw wood exposed to the air. Raider and Shadow Breeze helped to pluck the dandelions and ground vines clustered around the apple trees, freeing the plants from competition with the pests. Techorse watched Mortar carefully as he made each stroke count, not wasting any paint. As they worked, Big Macintosh was trying to haul a barrel for cider-making season out to the barn. While he approached, the strong worker accidentally stepped on a loose stone in the dirt ground near the barn. The barrel on his back threw him off balance, and the red stallion tripped and landed face-first into the ground. Getting up, he hoped that Techorse and Mortar hadn't seen his accident. But they had, and he hurried off to where he was taking the barrel before they got a chance to laugh at him.
"Hang on," said Mortar through clenched teeth, putting the paintbrush back in the can.
"What's wrong?" asked Techorse, "Big Macintosh will be fine, he's a tough guy."
"No, it's not that," answered Mortar, shaking his head, "I gotta draw what just happened! Do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?"
Techorse's battle saddle opened at the sides, and out came the robotic arms, one holding a yellow pencil freshly sharpened, and the other a small sheet of paper with holes punched at the margins. He handed the materials to Mortar and watched as the colt put the pencil in his teeth and went to work. After about 10 minutes of furiously scribbling away at the office paper, Mortar put the pencil down on the paper and pointed at it with a hoof. Techorse stepped next to him, and took a closer look. It was a stylized, but still vaguely realistic drawing of Big Macintosh slipping on the rock as had happened earlier. The scene was both hilarious in its slapstick nature and in the sense that it didn't really portray any pain, leaving the comedy behind.
"I think I know exactly what you should be doing instead of graffiti," said Techorse while looking Mortar in the eyes, "Arbiter's note told me that you were caught drawing a silly picture of Princess Celestia that was just like this one. I bet if you went to a newspaper publisher, you could get a job as a cartoonist. You could draw silly drawings like this all day, everypony would see them in the comics section of the newspaper, and you would have a decent job!"
"Do you really think they'd give me a job?" asked the brown stallion, "aren't there already enough cartoonists?"
Techorse answered honestly, "Trust me Mortar, these drawings you do are funny, and the newspaper companies know funny comics sell more papers. All you have to do is draw some more of these to show what you can do, and you'll get involved with a paper pretty quickly."
"I can finally prove to my parents my cutie mark means something," he muttered, rolling up the paper.
Techorse frowned, and asked, "Your parents thought your cutie mark didn't mean anything?"
"Well, no," he answered tragically, "they always thought art wasn't a real job, just a hobby."
The pegasus then smiled brightly and added, "But maybe when I'm making some money from this, they'll change their minds."
"That's the idea!" Cheered Techorse.
Applejack came upon them, and stared at the painted wall of the barn. Noticing a small area that had not been coated, she picked up the brush herself and finished the job to her liking.
After replacing the brush back in the paint can, she turned to Mortar and said, "Now that the barn's all painted, you're pretty much done here. Won't be any more chores today, unless ya like cooking."
Mortar presented Applejack with the now rolled-up cartoon and said, "I drew this cartoon of your brother, and I want you to have it. Thanks to his little accident I figured out something good I can do with my passion. "
Applejack placed the scrolled paper down on the ground and unrolled it with a hoof. She laughed at the sight of her brother's exaggerated slip in the drawing. After enjoying the moment, she rolled the paper back up again, and tucked it underneath of her hat.
"Thanks!" she said, "Big Macintosh is never gonna live this down!"
The other two had caught up to them at this point, and Raider announced, "We finally got rid of all the weeds, Applejack."
She was covered in several spots of filth from picking the weeds out, and Shadow Breeze had fared no better, although his darker coat hid the patches of dirt better.
"Thanks for all of the help," said Applejack, "now why don't you three go on down to the farmhouse and get that dirt out of your manes? I'll be there soon."
They agreed and walked away for the farmhouse, while Applejack stayed behind to talk to Techorse.
"You know, most times I wouldn't be accepting any help," she admitted, "but I'd hate to see Arbiter give 'em a whuppin'. You will make sure he doesn't, won't you Techie?"
"That's what this is all about, Applejack. I'm trying to get Arbiter to see that he doesn't need to beat sense into ponies by punishing them so harshly. I'm also trying to make three new friends here as well, they're just like us and could use more friends."
"I think so too," agreed Applejack, "now let's go get a snack, and I'll see you off."
What the Apples called "snacks" roughly translated as a full meal to anypony outside of their family. Sandwiches, Apple pies, cookies, lemonade and iced tea were given to Techorse and his team, and they were feeling a little sick from the amount of sugar they had eaten as they left the farm. After passing through the white wooden fences, they re-entered Ponyville and continued on their mission to get Raider and Shadow Breeze new jobs.
The sky over The Domain was cloudless, a real treat for Arbiter and Limpwing as they enjoyed a nice conversation over a cup of tea in the outdoor seating area of a small café. Each of the white tables was covered with a blue tablecloth, checkered in pattern. There were no umbrellas on the tables, instead a clear vase of fresh lilies sat in the center of each one, filling the air with a nice floral scent. Some of the other patrons drinking tea were staring at Arbiter, after all, it was unusual to ever see a pony wearing an eyepatch. But Arbiter could care less what others actually thought about him, all that mattered was that he was spending time with Limpwing. The large pegasus stallion had picked out a specific color of cape and eyepatch for the day. He had chosen the royal blue for his cape that he did for special occasions, figuring that Limpwing might not be appreciative of entirely black wear. Limpwing could in reality care less, she simply saw Arbiter's choice of colors the same way someone would view a change in shirt color. She had placed her favorite flight goggles on the back of her chair, and her spiky, neon-striped mane was more visible.
"So, dumped off your chores on Tech?" she laughed, "You really don't like that guy, do you?"
Arbiter placed his teacup back on the green ceramic saucer in front of him and answered, "The idea that I 'don't like him' is an understatement, Lieutenant. He's such a goody-goody four shoes it's intolerable. I've never met a pony so dedicated to fairness in my life."
"I know Tech can be a bit preachy, but he's not that bad," argued the azure mare, "come on Arby, he gave you a sword for your birthday. I think he likes you."
"He's trying to make me go soft," explained Arbiter, "but the laws need enforcing, and it's my duty to protect the princesses. I'm not going to let up anytime soon, even if I do get gifts from him."
Limpwing sighed, and wondered if there was a way to get through to Arbiter that he was being a rather unpleasant stallion. To her surprise, her sighing had made Arbiter react.
"What?" he asked, concerned, "I suppose getting a sword in particular from Techorse means something. He must trust me now not to hurt him, at least."
"Arbiter, the reason Techorse gave you the sword is because he thinks you're his friend somehow. I can tell you have absolutely no interest in that, so why not just tell him you hate him?" she said, getting frustrated.
The Captain relaxed a bit and said, "To tell the truth, I don't hate Techorse anymore, I actually have respect for him now. It's just that we're two very different stallions. We get things done differently, and I wish to continue to do things my own way."
"Ah, so nobody tells the captain what to do," snickered Limpwing, "you're funny."
"Techorse is very good for tasks that require not using any brute force," continued Arbiter, ignoring her, "despite those weapons of his, he's very good at dealing with ponies who need to make changes in their lives. I was looking forward to disciplining three ponies his age this morning, but the princess ruined that."
Limpwing continued to poke at him, "So you missed out on making them do push-ups?"
"No, I missed out on using threats, like whipping them and time in prison!" Arbiter grunted, "It would have been a simple solution to the pranksters, but Princess Luna 'reminded' me that whipping was illegal."
Limpwing said quietly to him, "Arbiter, I understand you don't like it when ponies break the rules. Honestly I don't either. But there's a really good reason using the whip was outlawed. It's not because of ponies like Techorse or Luna, it's because it was proven that it wasn't an effective means of disciplining troops. As a fellow officer, I know that when you use pain as a punishment, you simply make your troops resentful of you. It makes the situation worse. So if you had whipped those ponies, they would have learned to hate you and the princesses, and would do even worse things with their lives."
Arbiter's one good eye opened just a bit wider, as he realized the blunder he had made. He slumped down slightly in his chair.
"Then what do you propose I do?" he asked.
"Have you ever heard of the carrot and stick method?" asked Limpwing, hoping Arbiter's mind was fresh to new ideas.
"Can't say I have," he answered truthfully.
"Well, here's how it works," explained Limpwing, "sometimes what ponies really need is a little motivation. You take something that they want, the carrot, and you offer it to them for doing what you want them to. If they don't listen, that's when you get them with the stick!"
Arbiter looked down at his belt, and pulling back his cape a bit, slightly slid the prized sword Techorse had given him out of its blue wooden sheath.
"I understand entirely why Techorse gave me this sword now. This unique weapon is some kind of prize he gave me for doing something he wanted me to do," he said,"even though I don't know what that is, it's his carrot. Maybe he's not such…"
He looked up, and noticed Limpwing's smile and half-shut eyes of victory.
Arbiter quickly re-sheathed the sword and said, "Of course, I still don't agree with becoming a pacifist and avoiding violence at all costs. I'll just offer a few more carrots of my own is all."
"Hey, you're pretty awesome with those swords," said Limpwing, "I wouldn't get rid of that either."
"Well thank you Limpwing," he said, smiling, "You're just as good in battle as well!"
"Glad to hear you're really burying the hatchet with Tech." she stated thoughtfully, "I'd hate it if something were to happen to you because you did something stupid."
Arbiter thought over Princess Luna's threat and tried not to cringe. Limpwing was right, he could remain a strong leader, and fearsome to, if he simply focused his energy on being a little more rewarding to obey. There was a time and place for violence, but as his father used to say, it was best to not use a sledgehammer where a flyswatter would do.
Limpwing and Arbiter paid for their drinks and gratuity, and then moved on to their next activity. They decided to spend the rest of the day at an art museum The Domain had opened a few months ago. As they walked together, Arbiter looked at her and started to feel something in his heart that he really hadn't felt before. He wasn't going to deny what that was, but he also knew it was a little too early to know for sure. In secret, Arbiter sort of believed he was too ugly due to his missing eye to be able to be cared for by another pony. Still, he hoped that time would bring an answer to the questions his heart was putting in his head.
To be continued...