#27 - Misguided in Action
Misguided in Action
Techorse series: #27
By Spirals95
A steam train, twelve cars long including its engine, had pulled into its final stop in Canterlot. The engine, short on cooling water, spouted smoke into the air from its blue funnel. Each car was decorated in a way so as to resemble a colorful home, either a light blue color or yellowish color. It had come from the seaside to drop off a load of passengers from Equestria's coastline towns. In the middle of the second car on the machine, two tall glass doors slid open to allow the occupants to exit. Each one shuffled out from the hissing metal engine as steam escaped from its boilers. The train station was abuzz with ponies meeting up with relatives, folks returning home from work, and vacationers who had just gotten back from their exciting adventures. One soul in particular, who exited the train just as any other pony, seemed to be rather different. He was a white pegasus pony with bright brown eyes, and a brown and gray striped mane, which had been granted to him via genetics alone, as he was only a young adult. His tail was soft and wavy, yet the individual hairs gave it a rope-like texture. The traveler's cutie mark was a single sword, gray in color, tilted at a 45 degree angle upwards towards the sky.
Besides his physical appearance, the pony also was wearing a uniform, having recently returned from a safe patrol at sea. He wore a dark blue combination cap on his head with a silver insignia designating the Equestrian navy, and a similar blue coat decorated with silver buttons. The matching uniform gave away his status as a lower officer to the other ponies in the train station, and many of them stared, which made him slightly uncomfortable. Moving away from the train with a small green suitcase in his teeth, he made his way over to a nearby bench, where he sat down and waited for his contact. After letting his thoughts wander for a few moments, the pegasus pony was shocked back to reality as the train's whistle let out a mighty blast, and the engine pulled away for its next destination.
"Why hello!" said a voice to the officer, "It's good to see you again, brother."
Claymore looked over at the familiar pony and smiled broadly. It was Captain Arbiter, wearing his signature black cape and matching eyepatch. He smiled at the younger stallion in front of him, glad to see his sibling again.
"Arby!" Claymore answered, standing up from the bench.
He walked over and attempted to give his older brother a hug, but Arbiter refused the gesture and simply wrapped a front leg around him. They walked together down the exit hallway of the train station, and as they did, Arbiter motioned for a unicorn assistant he had brought along with him to carry Claymore's small suitcase.
"You shouldn't be spending so much time out at sea," he commented, "it's been over a year since we last talked."
"I know," answered Claymore, "but by taking these extra patrols, I'm about to be promoted again! There'll be two Captains in our family, and maybe Princess Celestia will give me command of my own ship."
Arbiter chuckled, "Ah, little Clay, you always wanted to be the captain of a huge battleship."
"I'm not little anymore," retorted the younger Axechop.
"That's true," said Arbiter, letting out a sigh, "you're just about to live out your dream as the captain of your own vessel. Finally going to outdo your older brother!"
"Heh, says the former king of Quartz Valley," laughed Claymore, "your life's always going to look crazier than mine after that, Arby!"
Arbiter's teasing tone suddenly switched to one of horror, "Who told you that? I thought I had kept my secret life as Viscount under wraps!"
They reached the end of the hallway and exited the train station, where outside Jools and Jops stood yoked to a carriage. Claymore began to explain to his older brother how he had learned about his "adventures" as they boarded the forest-green painted vehicle.
"Once in a while Princess Celestia will send me a letter about how you're doing," he answered, "Completely behind your back, of course. One week I got a letter saying you'd been fired over something concerning a weird green-coated colt with some mechanical saddle thing. It said you'd tried to do the poor guy in!"
Arbiter looked out the window of the carriage, making it seem like he was watching the buildings go by outside. In truth, he was trying to ignore his brother as best as possible.
Claymore didn't catch on and continued his concerned speech, "So then, a few months later, I got another letter telling me you had been the temporary ruler of a country called Quartz Valley. That same saddle-stallion… guy had come back, and his marefriend had you turned in! I don't know what happened, but I'm just glad you're still alive after all that!"
"I'm glad you're happy." Mumbled Arbiter, refusing to make eye contact with his remaining one.
Now, the younger stallion sat back in his seat in the carriage, and thought carefully about what he was going to say next. His brother seemed rather depressed about what had happened over the previous year, maybe to the point of believing that his life would never bring any peace or happiness.
Claymore knew he had to change that kind of thinking in his brother, so he said to him, "Hey Arby, I have two weeks with you in Canterlot. Let's have some fun, and do what you want to do!"
Arbiter's left ear raised in interest of the sentence. He and his brother's definition of what was fun was two entirely different things, but Arbiter realized something in his mind that could possibly change his mood.
The captain thought to himself, "Claymore wants to have some fun just like me? I never thought he'd see what I like to do as fun, but maybe he's finally grown up. This is fantastic!"
Raising his head back up to look at his younger brother, he said to him, "We'll have a great time starting as soon as we get back to the castle."
"Great!" said Claymore, glad Arbiter was looking up, "What should we do first?"
"Oh I don't know, perhaps a little something to drink or a nice salt lick?" suggested Arbiter, smirking.
A little bit uncomfortable with the thought, Claymore shifted around on the cushioned seat of the carriage before answering, "Uh, the guys on the ship kind of like to do that every time we get to shore. Can't we do something else while I'm still on land?"
"Well, I suppose, but it's what stallions your age do for fun," commented Arbiter, wrong for the most part, "and It would make me very happy to take you to get a drink. You're not a foal anymore, you know."
Claymore agreed reluctantly, but in his mind, he just didn't want to get involved in that sort of behavior. He might be around sailors who liked to entertain themselves by altering their minds, be he much preferred to stay sharp. It was likely one of the main reasons he had risen in the ranks so quickly, the other one being an event where he had rescued a fellow crewmember who had fallen overboard. Claymore had risked his own life in the attempt, and the action had earned him a medal, plus the respect of the senior officers on his cruiser. Now he was a junior bridge officer, able to stay away from the crew members who had before teased him for not enjoying being out of his functioning mind.
However, despite his success due to his care with himself, Claymore rarely got to see his family since he was away so often, and because of his parents' divorce. The split of Mr. and Mrs. Axechop had been the catalyst that drove Arbiter and his brother to join the Equestrian forces. Arbiter wanted his brother to be "just like him" as time went on, and Claymore understood that fully. The choice was between being himself, or risk losing the respect of his trusted sibling, who protected him through the traumatic event in his foalhood.
"Maybe one or two wouldn't be so bad!" he said, smiling gently yet uneasily.
Arbiter grinned, knowing he had already made progress into making his brother into a real stallion.
The carriage eventually reached Canterlot Castle within the same hour, and Jools and Jops took the yoke off of themselves, stretching their backs. Pulling the heavy car wasn't difficult for guards of their physical strength, but it was still rather tough on their spines. The blue-haired brothers opened the door on the carriage afterwards, and allowed Arbiter and Claymore to exit. Once they had shut the door behind them, Jops took off his bronze helmet, and let the piece of armor drop to the ground. His blue mane settled out of the shape it was kept it by being stuck through the helm, and it drooped down in weird directions over his face and neck. Claymore noticed the event and started laughing at the silly hairdo Jops was stuck with.
"Helmet hair…" muttered the embarrassed stallion, using his front leg to fix his mane back down.
Arbiter told his two favorite guards, "Jools, Jops, Take the rest of the night off. You deserve it after taking us all those miles."
They nodded slightly without saying another word, and began to walk for the barracks for the night. Arbiter and Claymore continued on through the gates of the royal palace, passing several gray unicorn guards who looked down at them from the turrets.
"Been a long time since I've seen this castle," said Claymore, looking up at the guards.
Arbiter simply answered, "Not to worry, it's exactly the same as you left it."
After entering through the wide front doors of the building, Claymore was brought to a guest room where he would be spending the next two weeks. The small room featured an elegant canopy bed with curtains and a comforter in a smooth velvet red. The dresser on the far west wall of the room was made of polished birch wood, decorated with golden spiral legs, and silver nobs for each of the 12 drawers on the piece of furniture. The walls were painted a soothing light blue color, and the ceiling was decorated with patterns reminiscent of leaves. A small door sat in the corner of the room near the dresser, built seamlessly around it were the floorboards which were decorated with oak leaf patterns to match the ceiling. An electric light in a dome shape hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room, and a massive bay window with pink curtains was on the north side, giving a fantastic view of what was outside of the castle.
"Wow!" marveled Claymore, flapping his wings to elevate himself in the room.
Turning around in the air to view the features of the room and admire the craftsmanship, he carefully went over everything.
"Thanks for not sticking me in the barracks, Arby!" he said with plenty of gratitude, "I haven't slept in a regular bed for months!"
"There's also a nice double-bath through that door," said Arbiter, looking up at his flying brother, "a perk of not always being out on the ocean."
The younger pegasus stallion landed gently on the bed, and relaxed by placing the back of his head on the luxurious pillows. Claymore sighed and closed his eyes as his head sank into the comfortable resting place.
"Don't fall asleep, we haven't even had dinner yet!" Arbiter said, laughing, "The castle's chef has prepared fresh sunflowers on a bed of rice. That's your favorite, if I remembered correctly."
Claymore lifted his head up from the pillow and questioned his brother, "How much stuff did you do for me, anyways? Not that I don't appreciate it, but last time I visited we just stayed at your house and got takeout."
Arbiter looked away with disgust for a moment, before returning and answering with an annoyed grunt,
"To tell you the truth, I was simply going to do that again. However, a certain somepony whom I will not be naming found out that I had a little brother coming to visit, and demanded that I go to great lengths to do all your favorite things. I was badgered so much that I caved in, and she made me promise I would give you the best vacation you've ever had."
"Princess Celestia made you do this?" asked Claymore, with disbelief.
Arbiter pushed a segment of his cape out of the way of his front leg, and answered, "Oh no, not the princess. But as I said I'm not telling anypony who it was, so let's drop it and go eat."
With that, Arbiter turned around quickly, swishing his cape behind him as he exited the room with a sour attitude. Claymore couldn't understand why his sibling had gotten so upset over his question, but he knew it was best to leave him alone over the issue. He unpacked his suitcase into the topmost dresser drawers, and left his hat and coat on the top in a neat folded stack.
Once he had put his belongings away, the young officer exited his room and used his somewhat faded memory of the castle's interior to find the dining room. It certainly helped him that he could smell the cooked sunflowers, the scent of his favorite food was very distinct from the ordinary floral air freshener used in the castle.
He entered the dining hall of the castle to discover the pleasant surprise of the entire room being set up just for his special arrival. The tables had been re-arranged into a simple bracket shape, and most of them had been removed due to the lack of guests, which left a lot of the large feasting hall empty. Each remaining table was decorated with a beautiful yellow tablecloth with white lace on the edges. Only four places were set at the table, each one on the outside of the bracket, which faced towards Claymore. It was obvious that the setup of the tables was to allow the staff of the castle to more easily service the total of four small tables linked together to make the larger setup. Silverware meant for unicorns were placed at the two seats in the middle of the bracket, clearly the seats for the princesses. The outer two places had only plates and cups, meant for Arbiter and Claymore, who couldn't pick up the silverware under normal conditions. Arbiter was already at his place, and motioned with a hoof for his brother to sit at the opposite end of the table, which left a huge gap between the siblings across the room. He listened, and took his seat in the fine cherry wood chair, with velvet upholstery.
"Arby, where are the princesses?" he asked, raising his voice.
The large space between the tables gave Claymore the feeling that talking in a normal voice would mean his brother failing to hear him.
Arbiter removed his brother's doubt of the room's acoustics by answering in a more reasonable tone, "They'll be here shortly. There's been a dessert prepared for tonight, and they wanted to check with the ponies who made it, first."
A few minutes passed of Arbiter and his brother discussing what they might do with their time together, making plans for the days ahead, when the doors leading into the dining room opened up, and princesses Celestia and Luna entered side by side. Claymore smiled at them, having not seen them since the beginning of his last mission on his ship.
"Welcome back to Canterlot, Claymore!" greeted Celestia, taking her place at the table at one of the two huge chairs meant for her and her sister, "We're glad you decided to spend your leave here in the castle, Arbiter has really needed a visit from his brother after all that he's… been through this year."
"WHAT?" asked Arbiter indignantly, knowing Celestia was poking at him for his mistakes in recent times.
Princess Luna sat down at her seat, and added, "His rather harsh attitude may have been brought on by not seeing you very often. Sister and I convinced him to invite you for a stay, despite his protests that you'd be unwelcome here."
"Is that true, Arbiter?" asked Claymore.
"I didn't want us to be any trouble, so I simply said I'd bring you back to my home," he answered honestly, "but of course I was outvoted horribly."
The two alicorns looked at each other and silently congratulated themselves on overpowering Arbiter once again. Servants came forward from the sides of the room, and started serving the evening meal to the four seated at the table, replacing the decorative plates with large portions of grilled sunflowers on a bed of jasmine rice. Each meal was decorated with a drizzle of spicy brownish sauce, and a sprig of parsley. Claymore acted like he had been starved for several days once he had gotten his dish, and eagerly stuffed his face with bite after bite of fresh food, much to Arbiter's disgust and slight embarrassment. He knew his brother was a messy eater and had hoped to avoid this, but of course, he wasn't going to get his wish now. Arbiter simply hoped the princesses were paying attention to their own dinner instead of watching his sibling gorge himself. Unfortunately, they were watching him with a disturbing sense of awe, no soldier they knew ate so quickly. Princess Luna looked at Arbiter, showing him her amused expression to tease him about his sibling's rude behavior.
"I wish the floor would just open up right now, and take me with it," thought Arbiter with shame.
Claymore finished his hasty devouring of the food, and sat back from his plate, leaving his glass of water completely untouched.
He looked at surprise at his brother and the princesses, who had barely touched their meals, and asked,"Aren't you hungry too?"
Princess Luna mustered all of her self-control to not simply burst into laughter, and answered, "Oh, we are, but we have decided to breathe between bites."
The joke seemed to go right over Claymore's head as he answered, "That's fine. I'll wait for everypony to finish."
Claymore slowly drank from his glass of icy water, the small clear goblet dripped with condensation.
"Promise, brother," grunted Arbiter, "that you'll not inhale this treat as well?"
"I won't," claimed Claymore.
Princess Celestia leaned closer to Luna and whispered into her left ear, "Our youngest navy officer here eats like all four of his legs are hollow! I saw you watching him for fun. Try not to laugh when he gobbles up his dessert too."
"I'll do my very best not to!" Chuckled Luna softly.
It was a rather long wait for Claymore for his brother and the princesses to finish their meals after he had so hastily devoured his. But once they were finished, Celestia asked a nearby servant to have the special treat for the night sent in. The unicorn bowed humbly, and exited the room through the metal double doors that led to the castle's kitchen. Moments later, a metal cart draped with a white cloth was pushed out through the doors again by a smiling Pinkie Pie and Applejack. The cart had a large silver box over the top of the dessert for the evening, and Arbiter looked at it and knew immediately that his acquaintances had taken his request much more seriously than he had care for. The cart was pushed in front of Claymore, who titled his head slightly at the silver-foil coated box, at least 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide.
"Ta-da!" said Pinkie Pie with shut eyes and a happy smile. She waved her hoof in the air while leaning on the cart and said, "Presenting Pinkie Pie and Applejack's super tasty triple layer apple spice cake!"
Applejack reached with her mouth for a small blue thread tied to the side closest to her on the box, and pulled back on it gently. The silver box fell open in five connected pieces, it had been folded from a pentomino. The cake itself was a large rectangular treat, featuring white cream icing in fanciful ribbon patterns along the edges. At each corner of every layer was a slice of red delicious apple, stood up and inserted into an icing rose at each corner. The 3 layers were each smaller than the last, leading up to a huge candy apple, stick included, on the very top of the center layer.
"Oh my goodness!" declared Claymore, struggling to not drool, "I can't believe you remembered apple spice cake was my favorite! Thank you so much, brother."
"Don't thank me at all," said Arbiter, pointing at Pinkie Pie casually with his leg, "after all, this one here made me tell her everything you liked most to make your visit memorable."
"Yep, that's right!" beamed Pinkie Pie, putting all four hooves on the tile floor, "My name is Pinkie Pie, this is Applejack, and we're helping Arbiter give you the best vacation ever!"
The white-coated pegasus introduced himself, "I'm sure he's already told you, but I'm Claymore. It's very nice to meet you, and trust me, I'm already having a good time!"
Pinkie Pie dashed over to Arbiter in a blur of pink and hugged him from the side, "I'm really happy to hear that! Because Arbiter here Pinkie Promised you would!"
Arbiter's left wing extended, gently pushing Pinkie Pie away from himself.
"And nopony ever wants to be caught breakin' a Pinkie promise," stated Applejack, winking at Arbiter.
Claymore looked back at the tempting cake, and said, "Well anyways, Arby here is keeping his promise I'd say…"
Applejack laughed and moved to pick up the large knife on the tray, "Here mister, let me cut you a piece."
The officer got a huge slice from Applejack on a small white plate. It was a corner piece, his personal favorite when it came to slices of cake. Plenty of icing, and it came with the apple segment as well. Claymore took a small bite out of the corner, and savored the rich, creamy texture of the thick icing, taking only a hint of the spicy apple flavored cake underneath. Pinkie Pie watched with large and hopeful blue eyes as he tried the first bite, and Claymore's positive expression as he tasted the dessert made her smile broadly.
"Oh, now he eats slowly!" commented Arbiter, following his joke up with a hearty laugh.
"What?" asked Applejack, looking confused.
Princess Luna said to her dramatically, "You missed out on what may be remembered as 'The Devouring'."
Noticing that Applejack was still looking rather lost given by her slightly drooping ears and the angle of her neck, Celestia motioned for her to come closer with a hoof.
Applejack walked over slowly, and the alicorn princess leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Claymore wolfed his dinner down, and it was quite the scene. There were little bits of food flying everywhere!"
"I do not believe he even came up for air once!" added Luna.
"Heh!" Scoffed an unimpressed Applejack as she gave her blonde tail a sharp flick, "I ain't shocked. Seen that before at one of my family reunions. He'd fit right in!"
"I'll go get us some tea!" interrupted Pinkie Pie, barging in next to Applejack, "Would anypony like decaf?"
"Regular should be fine, Pinkie Pie," answered Celestia softly.
Pinkie Pie hopped away merrily to go brew the kettle of tea, while Applejack returned to Claymore, who was now a third of the way through his first piece.
"You seem to like it," she said, pointing out the obvious purposefully.
"Yes, thank you!" he replied happily with his mouth full, "It must have taken you and Pinkie Pie hours to finish this cake."
Applejack thought about the generous sum given to her and Pinkie for the cake and answered, "It did, but it was worth it!"
When Pinkie Pie returned with the hot kettle of tea and several cups, the princesses invited her and Applejack to also take a piece of cake and join them for dessert. They graciously accepted the offer, and found chairs at the edges of the dining hall to join them at the table. After dessert and tea was over for the evening, they had the leftover cake packaged away in the castle pantry. It was now eight at night, which to some ponies meant the end of the day and a time to wind down. But for Arbiter, who still had yet to "educate" his brother on what it meant to have a good time, as the night was still very young.
Princess Celestia was the first to get up from the table and announced, "I think I will get to work on a few things before bed. Thank you all for joining me and my sister for the evening."
"It was great!" said a thankful Pinkie Pie, her cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk full of her last 2 pieces of cake.
"Goodnight then!" said Celestia, turning around and letting her flowing mane and tail follow her.
Luna slipped out behind her sister, and left the remaining four ponies without saying another word.
She'd likely be up all night, as it was not one of her selected days to sleep on a normal cycle. Tomorrow she would retire for bed as usual, to begin her work of aiding her subjects ailing in their sleep.
Claymore got up from the table, and began to make his way over to the exit which would lead for his room. But Arbiter had stepped in front of the doorway, and looked down at his smaller sibling with his good eye.
"So, what shall we do first? We probably have a few hours before bed," said Arbiter, "perhaps that nice salt lick we were discussing earlier?"
Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked at each other with surprise, and then returned their gazes to Claymore. They wondered if he was just like his older brother, and if so, would they be doing all the rather harmful things Arbiter liked to do? Worry flooded their heads as Arbiter continued to address his brother.
"I know a nice place just a few miles from here that will give you a 3 ounce, 100 percent pure sodium chloride block, for just ten bits. That'll last you the whole evening. But I'd be happy to buy you more than one," suggested Arbiter.
In his mind, he was actually making a very good and generous offer!
Now, it wasn't that Claymore believed that having salt was wrong. But it was wrong to become dehydrated and out of one's mind, as Arbiter was suggesting he should do. The drinks would be just as bad in excess. He had to make the choice between making his brother happy, or staying in full control of his brain. Claymore ran a hoof through his brown and gray mane, and thought carefully about what his choice would be.
"I can't believe what ahm hearing!" thought Applejack, frowning, "Arby's gonna get his brother dehydrated, and here I thought he'd gone and changed his ways!"
She then moved slightly and whispered to Pinkie Pie, "Claymore obviously doesn't want to go along with Arby's idea of a 'good time'. Let's help 'em out here."
Pinkie Pie nodded, then said loudly, "Hey, what about having a pool noodle fight?"
Arbiter and Claymore turned around, and stared at Pinkie Pie. Applejack groaned and rolled her eyes at Pinkie Pie's seemingly dumb idea.
"A… pool noodle fight?" asked Claymore curiously.
"Yeah!" continued Pinkie Pie, getting up on her hind legs, "I know Arby here loves his swords! Maybe you could use some pool noodles as fake ones and practice your moves together!"
An idea formed in young Claymore's mind. He how much his older sibling loved his swords, and he couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to spar. Claymore had hoped that he would find a way out of having to do something shameful, and Pinkie Pie had provided a good answer.
Claymore then said with a smile, "I think I know what Pinkie is talking about, she means we should have a mock swordfight. I'm sure there's still a bunch of wooden training swords in the armory somewhere! Come on Arbiter, it'll be fun!"
Captain Arbiter gave Pinkie Pie an angry look for ruining his bar-hopping plan, but in the back of his mind, a training session with his brother seemed like a great way to conclude the evening. It would also make his brother happy, if he was interpreting the situation right.
"Hmm, a swordfight sounds like a great idea. You know where that armory is, I'll meet you there!" he said, stepping out of the way of the door.
Claymore wasted no time leaving Arbiter alone with Pinkie and Applejack, who both knew exactly why Arbiter had done what he just did. They knew they were about to get treated rudely by the stallion, and sure enough, he did.
He bitterly asked of Pinkie Pie, "Why are you bothering me and my brother?"
"Bothering?" she asked to defend herself, "Claymore liked my idea!"
Applejack drew fire and added, "Yeah, shouldn't ya do what your brother wants while he has time off? Ain't it a little selfish to try to get him to do what you want instead?"
Arbiter turned to Applejack and questioned, "Don't you have some apple trees to go throw manure on?"
"Hey!" she yelled angrily, "That's a real mean thing to say, Arby!"
"Is it now?" he chuckled, his cape slowly fluttering behind him.
Applejack gritted her teeth and scraped her hoof on the ground. Pinkie Pie got between the two of them to make sure things didn't get out of control.
"Hey now!" she said, trying to keep things calm, "Don't you like to swordfight, Arby?"
"Of course," he answered.
Pinkie Pie finished, "Then you should have absolutely no problem showing me your really neat and awesome sword skills! I want to see you win against Claymore."
"Really?" asked Arbiter curiously, his pride appealed to what she had said.
"Of course!" giggled Pinkie Pie, turning around and giving Applejack a playful headlock with her front legs, "Applejack and me are going to watch you the whole time! It'll be so much fun!"
"Then I'll see you both down at the armory," nodded Arbiter, before turning around quickly and exiting the room.
Pinkie Pie attempted to follow him with a skip in her step, but Applejack stuck out her leg and stopped her from leaving.
"Look, Pinkie, we can't follow Arbiter 'round all night and make sure he doesn't hurt his brother," she said, "He needs to make his own choices."
Pinkie Pie refused to believe that Claymore would have to fend for himself and answered, "I know that! This is about getting Arby to see that what is brother does for fun, IS fun!"
Applejack snickered, "So you're up to annoying Arby again?"
The pink earth pony nodded her head rapidly.
"Count me in then, sugarcube," said Applejack, grinning with intent.
Pinkie Pie hopped gracefully out of the room, and Applejack followed behind slowly.
As she closed the door to the castle hallways, she muttered, "Throwing manure… that ugly brute…"
Pinkie Pie and Applejack went down the dimly-lit hallway of the castle, until suddenly Pinkie made a turn into a side room. Applejack wondered why she would go into the room so suddenly, but decided it was best to just go along with the idea rather than question it too closely. When she entered the room, she found Pinkie Pie leaning with her front legs over a writing desk, a quill in her teeth, writing a letter.
"What are you writing?" she asked, "Weren't we were goin' to the armory?"
"We are!" stated Pinkie Pie with clenched teeth, "Writin' a letter to Twilight. Going to get the whole gang here to meet Claymore!"
"Might not be too bad of an idea," admitted Applejack, "don't have to get back to work for a few days."
Pinkie Pie finished writing her letter, and then rolled up the piece of parchment carefully before adding a small blue wax seal.
"Lemme go give this letter to the princess, and then we can go grab rooms for the night!" she said, before leaping out of the room and bounding down the castle halls.
Of course, it turned out that Pinkie Pie and Applejack were quite welcome to spend the weekend in the castle. The two friends were going to make sure that Claymore proved to his brother that he didn't need the kinds of vices that Arbiter did to have fun.
The next morning, at about 10, when the sun was just beginning to chase the last of the shadows from the dawn away, Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her inner circle of friends arrived at the castle via magical teleportation. Spike and PAL had opted to stay home, likely to skip out on their daily chores and read comics together for hours on end. Rarity, Fluttershy, Techorse and Rainbow Dash followed behind her through the front gates of the grand castle, and found Applejack and Pinkie Pie standing outside of the front entrance, smiling happily.
Pinkie Pie jumped up to Twilight and said cheerfully, "Good morning everypony!"
"So, what are we doing here again?" complained Rainbow Dash, "We're making Captain Arbiter stop what now?"
"We're tryin' to keep him from making his brother Claymore do bad things," explained Applejack, "Last night he was gonna have him eat too many salt licks!"
Rarity gasped dramatically, and put a hoof over her heart.
But Rainbow Dash simply sputtered her lips and said, "Pfft, it's Arbiter's brother. He's probably just as rotten as he is. Big deal."
"That's not true!" said Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down, "Last night, he was really, really thankful for the cake me and Applejack made him!"
"An Axechop said thank you?" asked Rarity, dumbfounded by the possibility Arbiter's sibling might not be so ruthless.
"It would seem so," confirmed Applejack.
"Huh, Claymore?" said Twilight Sparkle, "You'd think being named after a sword would make him just as much of a fighter as Arbiter. But I guess as the saying goes, you really can't judge a book by its cover, and I would know!"
"That's right," added Techorse, "every pony deserves a chance to do the right thing. If Arby is trying to get his brother to be more like himself, we have to make sure Claymore gets that he's his own pony and doesn't have to listen."
"The thing is, from talking to the princesses, Arby's the only family Clay's got left," said Applejack sadly, "what if Arbiter abandons him?"
Fluttershy suggested meekly, "Then we can be his support. He sounds nice."
"Yeah, that's right!" said Rainbow Dash, jumping up and then flapping her wings to hover in the air, "We can back him up, even if his brother won't."
"Let's get inside and find him," suggested Twilight, "hopefully Arbiter hasn't gotten an early start on corrupting him."
Unfortunately, Twilight had guessed correctly that Arbiter was already up to getting his brother to do regrettable things. The two were sitting at a breakfast table in one of the castle's many lounges, drinking coffee from mugs made of kiln-baked blue clay. The simple wooden table, decorated with a vase of fresh daffodils, sat in the small room with one large bay window allowing light into the area. A small cabinet to the right provided the treat that Arbiter wished to give to his brother, an intoxicating drink of some kind bottled up in a glass container.
"Just put some of this into your coffee, Clay. The guards and I love this stuff!" he said, removing the glass cap on the container. The light-brown liquid sloshed around inside the glass, and Claymore knew right away it was going to make his morning coffee taste terrible.
"No thanks Arbiter," he said, "I'd rather have another lump of sugar, instead."
Arbiter sat back on his cushioned chair, and said in a convincing depressed tone, "Well, I suppose I'll just make my own mixed coffee and leave you out. It's a shame we don't do much together anymore, brother. Ever since Mom and Dad left each other, I've always been here for you. But I guess you're over me now as well…"
Claymore understood that the reason his brother had gotten into so many bad habits was because of their parents' breakup. But in the past, Arbiter had always been a good example for him, wanting what was best and caring for him as best as possible. The experience had made him and his brother mature very quickly, but for some reason Arbiter had descended into things while he had stayed relatively clean. Perhaps it was because he had been away at sea, and hadn't tried to make friends with the other sailors. All the smaller pegasus knew was that his brother really wanted to share some experiences with him, and if he didn't, it'd hurt their relationship. Or so Arbiter had manipulated him into thinking.
Claymore pushed his mug forward and said with a sigh, "Ok, mix it in. I didn't go with you for the salt licks last night, so I guess I'll try this…"
"Ah, thank you! I promise that you'll enjoy this!" said Arbiter, pretending to be overjoyed.
Arbiter grabbed the neck of the bottle with his teeth, and prepared to pour a good amount of the strong substance into his brother's mug. But a knock on the breakfast room door stopped him, and he got up to go answer it. He opened the door, only to have himself knocked over by a rainbow-colored blur of speed. Rainbow Dash took his spot immediately at the breakfast table, startling Claymore and infuriating Arbiter.
"Argh! Rainbow Dash, don't barge in on ponies like that!" he shouted, rubbing his head with a hoof.
"Hey there!" she said to Claymore, leaning on the table and giving him a confident look, "As your bro said, my name's Rainbow Dash. The fastest weather pony in Equestria!"
Claymore smiled, "Heard of you before. My name is Claymore, and yes, Arbiter is my brother. Want to have some coffee with us? There's still plenty left in the pot, and we have extra mugs in the cabinet."
Rainbow Dash moved over to the cabinet and picked out a neon-orange colored mug. She carried it back over to the table with her teeth, and set the cup down gently next to the coffee pot, a round glass container filled with still-steaming liquid.
"Fill her up!" she said, "I love having coffee with friends. Keeps my energy up!"
Claymore grabbed the pot and gently poured a fresh cup for Rainbow Dash, while Arbiter returned and took his seat back from her. Rainbow was glad to simply pull up another chair, and joined the two brothers for their morning drink. Arbiter again returned to his glass bottle of questionable drink, and prepared to pour it into Claymore's mug again.
Rainbow Dash knew what it was, and said, "Hey, that stuff's no good! You sure you want that in your coffee?"
"It isn't any good?" questioned Arbiter.
He had a good idea as to what was going on. Rainbow Dash must have somehow known about him wanting to spike his brother's coffee. The drink he had was perfectly fine to add, but she was going to try and get Claymore to stand against him. Then how could he possibly get his brother to see how fun it was to be him?
"Rainbow Dash," he said gruffly as he put the bottle back down, "this was meant to be a private cup of coffee between me and my brother. Don't make me kick you out!"
"Hey now," Claymore said, trying to calm him down, "I've wanted to meet Rainbow Dash for a while now, she's the first pegasus to get a sonic rainboom to work! Can't we just get along with her?"
"Don't make him answer that," said Rainbow Dash with an annoyed tone, shaking her head.
Arbiter picked up the bottle again, and this time, poured himself a generous amount into his own coffee, definitely adding way more than he should have in order to get a buzz from it. His brother observed him do this, and realized what he could do to potentially keep himself intact, and still make his brother happy.
"Can I have the bottle?" he asked, "I think I'll try some."
Rainbow Dash frowned, and wondered if she hadn't really done any good in the situation at all. Arbiter smirked at her as he pushed the alcohol over to his sibling, and tried his hardest not to make some kind of an immature face at his opponent. Claymore took the bottle into his teeth, and moved it over the top of his mug. Being very careful with his neck muscles, he tilted the bottle, and managed to carefully pour about two tablespoons worth of liquid into his mug. Just enough to get the flavor of his brother's favorite drink, without suffering any of the ill effects. Rainbow Dash seemed rather pleased with his decision, and hoped that Arbiter would be equally pleased.
To her surprise, he was.
"Ah, so you decided to try it after all," he commented, "good."
Claymore tried his now flavored coffee, and appreciated the subtle taste of what he had just added. Any more than what he had put in, and he would have probably been reaching for the sugar dish to make up for the taste.
"So, how is it?" asked Rainbow Dash, "Is it really bad?"
"It's not too bad. Of course, I put far less in than Arby did," answered Claymore, "I guess it's a matter of preference."
Rainbow Dash picked up her mug of black coffee, and took a nice big sip of the drink, "I just like mine straight out of the pot!"
Claymore was having a lot of fun getting to have a conversation with Rainbow Dash, a Cloudsdale celebrity.
He said to his brother, "Arbiter, I had no idea that you knew Rainbow. Why didn't you say something earlier?"
Arbiter admitted," I didn't even think about that sort of thing. I've only thought of activities for these weeks, not ponies to meet. Once we're done with our coffee, we can move on to something else. I had a few things in mind for you."
Rainbow Dash and Claymore exchanged glances that betrayed what they were both thinking.
"Oh no…"
After the morning drink had been concluded, Arbiter and Claymore walked side by side down the castle halls, with Arbiter pointing out new paintings that had been added to the hallways since Claymore had been away at sea. Rainbow Dash left them to go find out where her friends were, hoping that she'd find another one to take her turn watching Claymore before Arbiter tried something else on him.
"So when are you going to ask Princess Celestia for command of your own vessel?" Arbiter asked his brother, "You know, you'd be the youngest Equestrian to ever captain a ship if you got promoted to it. That'd be a wonderful accomplishment for the Axechop family."
Claymore retorted rather bitterly, "I don't know? When are you going to get and keep a marriage and make that a wonderful accomplishment for the Axechop family?"
"I… I'm working on it!" protested Arbiter with a hint of blushing involved, as he was a bit shocked by the insult, "What, trying to also be the youngest uncle in our family as well?"
Claymore and Arbiter turned towards each other, and nearly mashed their faces into each other out of anger. Full-on sibling to sibling arguing was in progress.
"At least I want to be settled down, unlike you!" shouted Claymore.
"You're just jealous because I was more popular at the academy!"
"The academy saw more in me than a swordscolt! They gave me a ship!"
"That's because they couldn't trust you to not hurt yourself with a sword!"
"That's a lie and you know it, Arbiter!"
"Um, excuse me..." came a calm voice.
"WHAT?" shouted both Axechop twins, turning and yelling at poor Fluttershy.
She whimpered in response, closed her eyes, and lowered her head.
"Oh…" said Arbiter, the rage draining from his face, "I'm sorry Miss Fluttershy. My brother and I were talking…"
Fluttershy opened her eyes and said to them, "Do… do you usually talk… so loudly? Both of you seemed really upset at each other just now."
"He started it," claimed Claymore, pointing at his brother with a leg.
The light yellow mare shook her head, causing her pink hair to bob gently, "It doesn't matter who started it. Yelling at each other is not how brothers should act. I knew two squirrels who were brothers who fought all the time. They seemed really unhappy until they stopped."
Fluttershy's innocence and dislike of argument guilted Arbiter and Claymore into trying to make up over the fight.
"I'm sorry," the younger brother said, "I guess I just let things get too out of hoof."
Arbiter agreed, "Yes you did."
Fluttershy coughed gently, covering her mouth with her hoof.
Arbiter took the hint, and rolled his eyes in disgust before saying, "All right. I'm sorry too. We shouldn't ruin the vacation by fighting."
Fluttershy smiled and nodded her head gently in approval of the settling of the argument.
"I'm going to go find the princess," she said, "I hope you two are going to get along now."
"We will, don't worry." Assured Claymore.
Fluttershy walked past them gracefully, leaving them behind to go back to a peaceful conversation. Arbiter, however, looked back at her suspiciously. He now correctly believed that Techorse and his entire team had figured out from Pinkie Pie that his brother was with him at the castle, and they were conspiring against him to make sure that Claymore never learned how to be an Axechop. However, Arbiter still had one more thing he could get his brother to do, if only he could find what he needed in order to get it accomplished. He was getting a little tired of trying to get his brother to follow in his hoofsteps, however, so he decided to try and get him go off and do his own things for the time being, while he worked on his plans.
"Brother, why don't you go visit the castle game room?" he suggested, "There's plenty of things to do there. I need a few minutes to myself to calm down after our shouting match."
"Sounds fun, where is it?" asked the younger sibling eagerly.
Arbiter pointed with a wing to a nearby stairwell, "Up these stairs, and then the third door on the left."
Claymore left his brother, and climbed the staircase, which was padded with beautiful red and gold laced carpet, up to the hallway where the game room branched off from. He found the door and opened it. There were ping-pong tables, a few card tables with decks for various Equestrian card games, and even a billiards-like game, that Techorse was playing by himself. He had a cue firmly gripped with the robotic arms from his battle saddle, sliding the stick back and forth to hit the ball he wanted to shoot. The green colt prepared to take the shot. Claymore's mind went over what he was seeing, and then, he realized who he had encountered.
"It's the green stallion!" he said angrily, "It's you!"
Techorse shot the cue, and missed the ball due to the angry shout. He looked at Claymore, and put the cue down gently on the table, before retracting the arms into his saddle with a click.
"Are you sure you have the right green stallion?" Techorse asked, hoping he'd been mistaken for another green pony.
Claymore twisted his neck, and the sound of crackling vertebrae temporarily filled the room, "I'm sure of it. Green is a very rare coat color for stallions."
The inventor noticed how much his new acquaintance resembled Captain Arbiter, and guessed, "You're Claymore, Arbiter's brother, aren't you?"
"That's right! Now what in Equestria did you do to my brother?" he demanded, crouching menacingly as if ready to strike.
Techorse backed slowly away from the pool table, and said, "Calm down Claymore. I know what's been going on with your brother recently has you worried, but I didn't do anything to him! Arbiter tried to get rid of me for a long time, but he's changed!"
"Why would Arbiter want to get rid of you? What did you do?" he asked, "If you did anything to make him act the way he did, I'm going to make you sorry."
"Can I at least have a chance to explain before you hurt me?" Techorse pleaded, he really didn't want to end up in a fight with somepony he was supposed to be helping.
Claymore exhaled sharply, "Go on."
Techorse began from the beginning about his relations with Arbiter, and Claymore listened carefully as he retold the past.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, Arbiter was pacing through the hallways of the castle, thinking of how he could get his brother what he wanted to get him. As if an answer to a subtle prayer, he heard a loud crash, followed by a shocked "oops!"
Quickly, he galloped down the halls in search of the location of the noise, and discovered near the main lobby of the castle, one of the cleaning mares looking over the shattered remains of a vase she had knocked over.
She was a pegasus mare, a young adult just like Twilight and company. She was very pale pink in color, with a soft bluish mane that ran in curls down her neck. Although her hair was not very long, what was there was tied up with a red ribbon to keep it out of the way of her work. Her tail was quite bushy, and was also tied up carefully with a similar ribbon. This particular pony's cutie mark was that of three buckets of water, each one having a bottle of a different colored soap being poured into it to produce foam.
She looked at Arbiter with her blue eyes in embarrassment, and said to him, "Sorry Captain, I'll get this cleaned up right away!"
Arbiter, with evil in his eyes, sighed before telling her the bad news, "Oh dear… it looks like you've broken Princess Celestia's favorite vase, Fresh Sweep."
Fresh turned even paler than she already was, and audibly swallowed as she realized what she had done, and what the consequences were likely to be. She nearly went into a panic attack, but managed to collect herself.
"Her… favorite?" she squeaked.
Arbiter nodded, "Oh yes. That one was given to her the day before she was forced to banish Princess Luna. It's been… a token of that event."
Arbiter's lie fooled Fresh, and she knew that not only was she likely to be fired, but she was likely to be incarcerated as well, from what she and most common ponies thought about Princess Celestia.
"Oh please don't tell her!" she begged, falling to her four knee joints, "I took this cleaning job to make money so I could market the cleaning products I've come up with. If I get fired I'll never be able to own my own business!"
"Oh, well that's too bad," sighed Arbiter, feigning pity, "but I must simply tell her. It'd be dishonest to lie and say this happened magically."
Fresh flapped her wings, picking herself up into the air, and gave a sad cry, "Oh, this is it I guess! Let's just tell her and get it over with!"
Now Arbiter had her right where he wanted her, and said, "I guess I could say that it was a mouse. The castle has had mice lately, and it wouldn't be too hard to believe one knocked over the vase in search of food. However, there's something I need you to do in return…"
"Anything!" begged Fresh.
Arbiter smiled gently at her, and Fresh thought in the back of her mind that she wasn't going to like this. There really did not seem to be much of any other way out of the situation, however.
"…Now Arbiter and I are getting along fine," finished Techorse, "he even has a sword that I gave him as a birthday present. Do you believe me now?"
"I think I see what's happened. Poor Arbiter's been so bitter about the divorce of our parents that he's gotten cruel and intolerant," Claymore said slowly, "I'm sorry I blamed you for him going crazy."
"I'd blame me if I was in your position," admitted Techorse, "but hey, things have gotten better! Maybe someday Arbiter will call me his friend."
"Well, you can call me your friend," offered the pegasus, "it seems despite everything, you're the best cure for my brother's coldness. Speaking of that, I really have to get back to him, it was nice getting to know you, Techorse."
"Same Claymore, take care!" he replied, watching with a smile as Claymore left the room.
Claymore left him and went back down the stairs from which he came, feeling satisfied that he had finally uncovered why his brother had behaved the way he did, and that Techorse was of no threat to him.
"Maybe Arbiter will be easier to deal with now that I've figured this out!" he said out loud to himself.
He ran into his brother almost right away, a visibly unhappy Fresh Sweep with him. She was dressed up in a very pretty, yet simple light blue dress, and was wearing nice emerald earrings. It was also quite obvious that she had some makeup on as well.
"Then again, maybe not," mumbled a disgusted Claymore.
Arbiter announced, while pushing Fresh forward with his right wing, "Claymore, I'd like you to meet Fresh Sweep, your lunch date. She's always wanted to meet you ever since I told her about you while you were at sea, and has simply pined for a date!"
Claymore could clearly see from her facial expression that was a blatant lie.
"Hello," she said uncomfortably, "Arbiter told me all about you, and I'd love to get to know you better over lunch. He even has a place in mind for us."
"But we've just met each other!" protested Claymore, "I understand hanging out, but not a date."
"Claymore!" said Arbiter sternly, "I can't believe you'd turn down a secret admirer for a lunch date! Fresh will be heartbroken if you refuse, isn't that right?"
Fresh Sweep nodded with gritted teeth, almost as if she was in physical pain for having to go through with this. Claymore took pity on her, even though she was a nice looking mare, she obviously didn't want to go out on a date. The choice though, was whether or not to challenge Arbiter on whether she was a secret admirer of his or not. Maybe she was simply nervous about taking anything as big as a relationship so fast, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings. Saying no outright would mean passing up a chance for a friend, at least.
"Well, I guess since you went to the trouble to dress up, we can go to lunch, Fresh. I think that'd be nice," he finally said to her after carefully thinking about his response.
Fresh believed in her mind that maybe Claymore understood what was really going on, and knew she was going to wiggle out of Arbiter's trap. However, Arbiter decided to pull the news on Claymore as to what this was really about.
"Please, can I talk to you for just one more moment before you go?" he asked of him.
"Sure, Arby."
The two stepped away from Fresh, and entered a room nearby, the guest room where Claymore had spent the night. Arbiter reached behind his cape, and pulled out a small silver key.
"Get dressed up," he said to him, "pick something out with pockets so you can hold onto this key."
"What's the key for?" asked Claymore.
Arbiter explained with a nefarious smile, "Well, after your date with Fresh, why don't you take her back to my apartment and… show her my sword collection?"
Claymore's mouth fell open slightly at the suggestion. He knew exactly what Arbiter meant by that little euphemism, and realized what was going on the whole time.
"Arbiter!"
He answered, "Well, it's just that, being at sea all the time, you must surely get lonely!"
"I'm not saying anything against Fresh Sweep, but even if she does like me as much as you say she does, don't you care about her heartbreak when I leave again?" he said, trying to get some sense through Arbiter's reptilian thoughts, "I plan on finding a nice mare to spend my life with, not your idea."
"You musn't break her heart," cautioned Arbiter.
Claymore said, "Well then, I guess I'll go on the date. But then she's coming straight back here."
Claymore dressed up in a nice red button shirt and tan pants to go on the date, and stepped out of the room with Arbiter to go find Fresh Sweep. When they got to her, they discovered that Rarity had been talking with her.
"… And then he told me if I didn't go on a date with his brother, he'd tell princess Celestia I broke the vase!" she said in a panic, "It's not that Claymore is ugly, I just don't know him at all. I know that evil stallion Arbiter is going to make me kiss his brother, I just know it!"
"Settle down darling!" soothed Rarity, brushing a hoof through Fresh's mane, "I know full well the vase you broke is not the one Arbiter described."
"It's not!?" asked Fresh.
Rarity continued, "The vase that Arbiter speaks of, I know for a fact is carefully locked away in a clean little safe in Celestia's private chamber. You actually broke a cheap flowerpot, Fresh."
Arbiter and Claymore stopped dead in their tracks in front of the two mares. Fresh looked up at Arbiter angrily, and with a quick spread of her wings, shed the dress and leapt at him in the same moment. Arbiter found himself trying to dodge the swinging hooves Fresh was throwing at him out of rage.
"You lied to me!" she shouted, "You were going to make me kiss your brother when I don't even know him!"
Arbiter complained, "I didn't lie, that vase was Celestia's favorite, I swear!"
Rarity shook her head and gave a dainty, "Tsk tsk!"
"Arbiter I'm appalled!" she said, "You lied not only to Fresh, but to your brother as well. She has no interest in dating an Axechop such as yourself!"
Arbiter was still ducking and moving around to avoid Fresh hitting him in the face, and replied, "All right, I admit it, I lied to you both! I just wanted to take care of my brother's loneliness is all!"
Rarity gave a snobby tilt of her head and said to him, "Then you should have simply introduced him to Fresh and see what would come of it. Now you're a liar and you're about to have your face removed by the cleaning mare!"
While Fresh continued to try and beat up Arbiter, Claymore turned to Rarity and asked, "Who are you anyways?"
"I'm Rarity, the fashion designer of Ponyville," she answered, "I'm here with Twilight Sparkle and Techorse to make sure your brother behaves himself. It seems I managed to help just in time, from the looks of things."
A loud slap was heard as Fresh's hoof finally contacted the side of Arbiter's left cheek. She stopped her attacks, satisfied with her one hit, and walked back to Rarity and Claymore.
"Finally!" she said, "Thank you so much Rarity for getting me out of that!"
"You're very welcome Fresh," she answered, her hair bobbing slightly.
Claymore came up with an idea just then, and said, "Fresh, I know Arbiter lied to you and also made you lie that you like me. But, I feel after this whole thing, I really should get to know you. Maybe we can just go get some tea or something, and not try to attach any romance to it. You know, something fun and relaxing? Rarity can come to and we can all talk about stuff."
"That's way more reasonable," said Fresh, "I'm always up to make another friend!"
"Then let's go get something to drink, while Arbiter gets that red hoofmark off his face," said Claymore.
The three of them laughed, and left the Captain rubbing his sore spot.
"I can't believe this," he muttered to himself, "Claymore doesn't want me to be happy."
"I know that's not true," said an approaching voice, "I think it's more along the lines of you trying to force your definition of happiness on him."
Captain Arbiter recognized Twilight's voice and turned to face her.
"I only wanted my brother to have a good time while he was here in Canterlot. I rarely see him, and I wanted him to be happy. But you and your friends have gone and ruined everything, I've been teamed up against at every turn since last night!" he complained.
Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed brightly, as she cast an arc of green magical energy at Arbiter's cheek. The red mark on his face gradually disappeared, and once it was gone, Twilight stopped her channeling and started to breath heavily. A bead of sweat ran down from under the top of her mane.
"Sorry…" she said, short of breath, "Healing magic is one of the hardest forms to use. Takes up a lot of energy, and not many unicorns are good at it."
"For some reason, when you healed Techorse all those months ago, you weren't this short of breath," he commented.
"Well, to be honest, when you get adrenaline going through your body, you have a lot more energy to use," she said, trying to explain it away.
Arbiter turned away from her for a moment to look out a nearby window of the castle, "Twilight, it seems we're always making life difficult for each other, your friends and myself, that is."
Twilight finished catching her breath, and said with understanding, "I heard from the others about your mom and dad divorcing when you were so young, and leaving you and Clay to fend for yourselves. I'm really sorry that happened to you, and I know it's probably the biggest reason why you did all the things you did. I'd be heartbroken if my parents ever left each other like that."
"I don't need your pity, Sparkle," scoffed the Captain.
"Why?" she asked, "I'm only trying to help you."
Arbiter sighed deeply and said plainly, "To put it simply, I don't deserve it. Ever since I lost my eye I've deserved nothing better than to be… gone. I'm shocked you and Techorse have forgiven me so easily for me nearly doing away with you both. Your coltfriend is so smart, and yet so foolish to purchase his enemy a sword."
"He gave you that sword as a symbol that he's trying to be at peace with you," Twilight said soothingly, "But now, you've got to be at peace with yourself!"
"Peace with myself?" he asked.
Twilight stepped in front of him to block his view of the window, "Yes. You need to forgive your parents, and yourself for what's happened. You know you're only doing this to Claymore to try and drag him down with you! Don't let yourself do that."
"I can leave Claymore alone. I think I've learned he's happier being himself," he admitted, "but I never forgive myself. I know to show no mercy, not even to myself. My value as a pony is dictated solely by how much I do in service to the Princesses."
"We think you're worthwhile just because you are unique," said Twilight, "and if you don't believe me, why don't you ask Limpwing?"
Arbiter lifted his head, and thought about it carefully. Limpwing, like himself, had been mistreated by the world, rejected by others, harmed by people she believed close to herself. She even had a damaged organ, just like he did. There was another pony in the same boat as himself, and they even cared for each other.
"You're right," he admitted, "there's many ponies who are worn out like me, and have value. But what can I do to help them?"
"Act like it," suggested Twilight, "go tell your brother you love him and you're there for him."
"I will do it. I don't expect you to forgive me for what I've done, but I can forgive myself for the sake of my brother, and ponies like myself," he said, keeping his chin up and walking away.
"Wait a second Arbiter," said Twilight.
He stopped and turned around to look at her again.
She swung her tail, with the fan cut, striped with pink and purple, out where he could see it.
Twilight looked at her tail, then back to him, and said, "It grew back."
"So you forgive me?" he asked, recalling the time he had cut her tail.
"All of us do. We voted to keep you when you were taken out of that amber block. The girls and I, and Techorse too, kinda need a Captain Arbiter," She said, smiling.
Arbiter, for the first time in a while, gave a genuine smile of happiness, and walked away from Twilight to go wait for his brother to return.
Outside of the castle, as Twilight also left to go find something to keep herself occupied, a dark essence started to creep along the castle walls. The cloud of darkness formed a projectile, and flew into one of the castle windows, phasing through the glass and entering the structure. It remained undetected by the guards, and began to seek out its target.
When Claymore got back from his time spent with Rarity and Fresh, he returned to the throne room of the castle to find Techorse, and all the others gathered, except his brother.
"Hello Claymore, Rarity!" said Applejack, "How was your time spent in the town?"
"Great!" he answered, "Think I may have made a new friend in Fresh."
"That's awesome!" Said Rainbow Dash.
The younger Axechop made his way to the throne, and presented himself to Princess Celestia.
"It seems like you've been through a lot today," she said, "Arbiter's been up to some tricks, I hear."
"That's for sure," Claymore said, looking at the red carpet beneath him, "but thanks to Twilight and her friends, I didn't have to go through anything I didn't want to."
Out of the corner of her eye, Celestia noticed the door to the throne room open, and Arbiter slipping in. He seemed a little happier than usual. She returned her look to the bowing Claymore, who just seemed down about the whole day.
"Of course, now Arbiter's upset that we didn't do anything he wanted to do," he continued, "but I just didn't want to cave in to all those things."
Celestia said, "I understand. Maybe you should tell him that while he's here."
Claymore looked up and slowly turned around, to see his brother. He had switched out his black cape and eyepatch for a complete blue set of garb, which usually indicated a happy day for the Captain. Arbiter approached his sibling, and embraced him in a warm hug.
"This is that hug you wanted, brother," he said, "I got so upset over our parents' divorce that I forgot I still had family."
Claymore struggled to fight back tears as he held his older brother. He'd gotten the old Arbiter back, it seemed, and he was finally understanding how much he loved him as a sibling.
"I'm sorry I tried to make you just like me. Hay, I should have tried to be more like you!" he said.
"Arby, you've gone soft!" snickered Rainbow.
"Shut up Rainbow Dash!" he answered, still hugging.
Arbiter let his brother go, and then let out a hearty, genuine laugh, which was joined in by the friends in the room.
Suddenly, they were interrupted by the door to the throne room slamming open. Jools and Jops stood in the entrance, their expressions indicating trouble.
"Your majesty!" shouted Jools, in an amazing break of his typical silence, "There's been a magical accident downtown, and it's slowly destroying a warehouse. Your presence has been requested along with Princess Luna's immediately."
Celestia stood up from her throne and said to the other ponies, "I'll handle this myself with sister. Arbiter, you're in charge as usual until I return."
"Yes m'am!" he answered, seemingly gaining back his toughness.
Celestia left the room with Jools and Jops as quickly as she could, and within the minute they were away from the castle with Princess Luna, off to stop the magical accident.
"Oh dear," commented Fluttershy, "I sure hope nopony got hurt!"
"I hope so too," agreed Twilight, "but usually these magical accidents are magic fires that can't be put out with water. Everything should be ok."
Without warning, the room seemed to dim, as candles and electrical lights went out as if by their own power.
"Oh, the citizens of Canterlot are going to be just fine, Twilight," whispered a demonic voice, "but you and your friends… not so much."
Twilight's horn glowed as she looked around for who had said that. Techorse likewise deployed his laser cannons, and looked around, the guns following his eyesight.
"Wait a minute," said Arbiter, "I know that voice."
"Of course you know that voice!" It replied.
The dark mist from earlier entered the room, and a small whirlwind of dark energy spiraled around itself, until a floating figure, in the form of a blue hooded sweater with yellow glowing eyes in the pitch blackness of the hood, appeared. The figure had two gloved hands, each ending with a sharp point.
"Malthus, I thought we took care of you!" snapped Arbiter.
"To be honest, Arbiter, so did I," commented the wraith, "it turns out your blade merely phased me. Takes a lot more to get rid of a wraith, especially one of my power. Of course, by now you probably also realize I set the magic fire as a distraction so I could confront you unopposed by the princesses."
Claymore stepped in front of his brother and said, "You're the wraith who took my brother's eye, aren't you?"
The hooded figure landed on the floor and gently floated to meet Claymore. He placed his right hand on the pony's head, and petted his mane gently, to tease him.
"That's correct. I can see by the aura of your very soul that you are Arbiter's brother. There's another Axechop!"
"Hands off my brother, wraith!" demanded Arbiter.
Malthus assured him, "Arbiter, silence. Your brother deserves to know what happened to you."
The wraith removed his hand from Claymore's head, and then floated back gently into the air.
He said to all the ponies present, "Many moons ago, Arbiter was training for combat here in Canterlot. He was a prideful, arrogant stallion, and still is to this very day. As you all know, wraiths have offered their services to ponies as monster hunters, we've kept you from being meals for several beasts, and even locked them up in a place guarded by a Cerberus."
Malthus paused for a moment, then continued his monologue, "I was at one time the elected king of the wraiths. It used to be that Equestrians paid special tribute to us, gold, food, free lawn care, what you will. But as the years dragged on, we got taken for granted. When I was elected, your gratitude was on its decline. I visited Canterlot to try and get Princess Celestia to tell her subjects to shape up and respect us again. But I was stopped by Arbiter here."
"What did he say?" asked Techorse.
"Quite simply, he told me, with very unclean words Techorse, that I should go away since ponies no longer needed wraiths to help protect them. As punishment, I challenged him to a duel, and cut deep into his eye with my sharpened finger blade. He used to be quite popular, but ever since that ugly eye scar, he's been dropped like a hot brick," finished Malthus darkly.
“But you got the better deal!” complained Rainbow Dash, “You took out his eye!”
“That's not the whole story,” said Malthus, “you see, for wounding Arbiter, I was kicked out from my office and sent away. I vowed I'd prove my actions were correct, and now, I finally have the strength to do so.”
"Oh goodness, I don't want to be absorbed again!" cried Fluttershy, hugging Pinkie Pie out of stress.
Malthus laughed, "Oh don't be worried, Fluttershy. I learned my lesson. It's pointless to take over Equestria, and it's equally pointless to absorb any of you. I only come for one reason, and that's to finish what I have started."
He then pointed with a finger at Arbiter and said, "I'm going to put you six feet under, Arbiter Axechop."
"Never!" shouted Rainbow Dash, landing in front of the Captain.
The other friends assembled in front of Arbiter, trying to shield him from Malthus.
"That's a terrible thing to say!" shouted Applejack.
Claymore added, "Leave my brother alone!"
Arbiter was simply flattered his ex-enemies were so quick to protect him.
Malthus looked at Arbiter in his one remaining eye and said, "You have decent friends, Arbiter, something I'd never thought I'd say about you."
He then looked at the other ponies and commented, "The rest of you know as soon as you fire anything at me, I'll simply absorb it and use it against you. It's for your own sake that you choose to stay out of this."
"That isn't going to happen," stated Twilight, "if you attack one of us, you attack all of us!"
"Very well," said Malthus, clearing his throat, "then let's skip the games, and duel."
The friends ran away in various directions, attempting to present as many targets as possible to the wraith. Arbiter ran for the door to see if he could get to the barracks and summon the other guards, but Malthus had cast a barrier spell around the doorway, and Arbiter ran into a solid wall of invisible magic.
"I'll get to you shortly, Arbiter," the wraith teased, before turning his attention to Claymore and the others.
"So this is Malthus, huh?" said Rainbow Dash, mocking him, "I'll take care of you!"
Flapping her wings furiously, she started flying in circles around him, creating a ring of rainbow-colored tornado around him. Malthus couldn't see Rainbow Dash, but she knew she was somewhere in the whirlwind she had created. A strong punch landed on the back of his ethereal head, pushing him into the walls. He started bouncing around as he hit the walls, with Rainbow Dash hitting him each time. The wraith found himself being treated as a blue pinball, and he grunted with each hit.
"Yeah, you got him Rainbow Dash!" cheered Pinkie Pie.
Unfortunately, the celebration was short lived, as Malthus figured out Rainbow Dash's attack pattern, and stopped her tornado attack short by grabbing a hold of her rear leg. The pegasus panicked and started flying around the room, attempting to shake him off.
"Tech, Twilight, fire somethin'!" demanded Applejack.
Techorse answered, "We might hit Rainbow Dash, it's too dangerous!"
Eventually, Malthus had enough of Rainbow's constant movement, and grabbed her striped tail with his other claw. With a flick of his arms, he threw her screaming legs first down his cloak, absorbing her. All that remained was Rainbow Dash's scream in the air, which dissipated.
Applejack's mouth fell open in horror, and Fluttershy burst into tears.
Pinkie Pie growled, and reached behind Celestia's throne. She brought out on two squeaky wheels her bright blue party cannon.
"Hey Malthus!" she shouted, "Want some fireworks?"
Pressing the firing pin on top of her mock artillery piece, Pinkie Pie shot shell after shell of fireworks and confetti at the wraith. But now that he had absorbed Rainbow Dash, he moved far too fast for her to get a decent shot. Spheres of confetti exploded harmlessly on the ceiling, and Malthus left a blur of blue behind him with each sudden movement. But one lucky projectile happened to hit the wraith, and his sleeve was torn open by the explosion, knocking him down to the ground.
Rarity just happened to be nearby the injured wraith, and started pounding on him with her front hooves. After getting sick of the beating, Malthus grabbed her sides.
Rarity screamed loudly, "Let me go! Don't touch me you terrible monster!"
Malthus floated up from the ground, flipped Rarity over, and sent her headfirst into the void of his cloak. More horror spread throughout the faces of the ponies in the room, and Fluttershy fainted from the heart-stopping terror.
With his new-found knowledge of materials, the wraith extended a sharp claw, and sew back together his own arm, fixing the tear in his cloak. But since he was still within range, Applejack had her turn at the wraith, running up with anger in her eyes. She then turned around, and gave the wraith her trademark buck, sending him flying across the room, and smashing him into the wall behind the throne. Malthus peeled himself from the wall, nearly as flat as a sheet of paper from the impact, and slowly brought his form back from the heavy blow.
Applejack attempted to get another kick in, against all advice from her friends, but Malthus simply met her headfirst, and soaked in Applejack as well. At this point, he had the strength to knock down trees, but one pony in the room had grown tired of the fighting.
"Malthus!" said Arbiter, "Stop. It's me you want. Release Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. I'll fight you one on one."
"Arbiter, you can't!" protested Claymore, "I don't want to lose you!"
"You won't." he assured.
Malthus laughed and floated back to the center of the room, "I was getting tired of this anyways. Thank you for the warm-up, friends of Arbiter."
The wraith's left sleeve opened up, and out tumbled the three absorbed ponies, who looked shaken up from the experience.
"What happened in there?" asked Claymore of Rarity.
Rarity answered, her pupils small and her eyes opened wide, "It was a like a dark closet in there. That's all I'm going to say."
Malthus turned to face Arbiter, who gave him a look of sheer anger. An electrical noise was heard as the two metal gauntlets tied to Arbiter's belt came to life as the internal magical components began to work off of his thought processes. The floating metal hands, each with an amethyst on the back of the glove, reached for his blue wooden sheathe. With one motion, Arbiter drew his sword with the floating devices, the present that Techorse had given him. He held the long and heavy blade out to the side, the grip featuring his cutie mark, and with the other hand not holding the blade, he pointed at Malthus with a metal finger.
"I'll stop you once and for all, Malthus!" he said.
The wraith answered, "Arbiter, I took your eye, and now I shall take the rest of you!"
With a quick flash of magic, Malthus teleported Arbiter and himself to the battlements of the castle, for what he knew would be a fair fight. It was sunset in Canterlot, and the two old enemies started at each other. Malthus then prepared himself for the duel.
He bent over, crossing his arms, and yelled with force as two long blades, each painted with a stripe of orange down the middle, slid from under the sleeves of the cloaks and over the top of his gloved hands. He now had two three foot swords extending from over his wrists, each one sharp as diamonds.
"Like them Arbiter? These blades are the future for wraiths, no longer will we have to risk our fingers breaking off!" he said.
Arbiter readied his sword with both gauntlets and brought it in front of his face, then answered, "We'll see how wraith forged weapons compare to The Domain's craftsmanship!"
The two charged forward on the castle walls, and steel met steel in a flurry of sparks. Arbiter swung his sword carefully, dodging the slashing blades from his opponent while retaliating with his own swings. Malthus was able to block each and every blow, but couldn't seem to land a hit either given the weaknesses imposed by dual-wielding smaller blades. Arbiter jumped using his wings, then brought down his sword hard in an attempt to cleave the wraith from above. He brought both of his swords up in an X pattern, and blocked the attack, with Arbiter landing in front of him again.
Malthus then turned the blades into a lethal pair of scissors, Arbiter chose to slide under his foe to dodge the cut, and then swung the blade around horizontally. A small tear opened up on the wraith's back, and Malthus grunted, but he was not yet finished. He met Arbiter again blade for blade, and the slashing and clanging of swords continued as the fight went on.
Back in the castle, Twilight and her friends had ran for the vault located in a special hall of the building.
"What's the plan, Twilight?" asked Pinkie Pie, "What are we gonna do?"
Twilight answered, "What Princess Celestia would want us to do! We're going to save Arbiter by using the Elements of Harmony on Malthus!"
"Should we use the Element of Justice?" asked Techorse.
Twilight paused for a moment, and then nodded solemnly, “We must. Banishing Malthus won't stop him from attacking again. We need to stop his evil magic.”
They reached the vault and stopped from a full gallop. The huge door guarding the artifacts lay in the same hall of the many stained glass windows depicting their use over the years.
"Do you know the code?" asked Rarity.
Techorse simply drew his laser cannons, and switched the solid-beam mode which he rarely used. Using them as a cutting tool, he drew a circle of energy around the door to the vault, and the stone gave, falling forward.
"Not quite what I meant," coughed Rarity.
"Tech, I knew the code!" complained Twilight, "No need to carve open the whole door!"
Techorse answered, "I thought you wouldn't, sorry! Anyways, you can tell the princesses magic locks don't stop lasers later. Let's get the elements and go help Arbiter."
"I'll meet you up there!" said Claymore, "Good luck."
He ran off up a nearby staircase, as the seven ponies below opened the jeweled box containing the Elements and began to put them on. The small necklace bearing Techorse's cutie mark glowed for several seconds after he put it on, before it turned into the small pair of silver scales he was familiar with.
"You sure we're using mine?" he asked, as Twilight's tiara settled onto her head.
Twilight nodded, "I think this is the only way."
"Let's do it then!" shouted Rainbow Dash, wearing her necklace.
Despite his best swordplay, Arbiter appeared to be losing. He was attempting to get a good hit in on Malthus, but the wraith was draining his energy and blocking every single blow. Arbiter even tried a lunge attack to stab his foe, but Malthus simply floated from above and attempted to jab down. Luckily for him, Arbiter managed to get away from that as well, and continued crossing swords with his enemy.
With one unlucky moment, however, Malthus saw a weakness in Arbiter's slash pattern, and struck hard with his left arm. A slash went through one of the gauntlets hold the sword, and cracks of purple-colored energy appeared on it. Arbiter dropped his weapon accidentally, and the gauntlet exploded violently, throwing the other one off the edge of the castle wall, and dropping the sword on the ground out of his reach near Malthus. He was now on his back, at his enemy's mercy.
The wraith laughed at his opponent's misfortune, and approached him while saying, "Arbiter, you put up your best fight, but alas it's time for me to end our rivalry. I'll give you the chance to shut your remaining eye."
"I won't give you the pleasure!" he said.
As an added measure, the Captain hocked and spat on Malthus.
"Disgraceful. But no matter," answered the wraith, "as wraiths have said to monsters in the past, 'a good journey across planes to you', Arbiter."
Malthus raised his right blade to strike. However, he was rudely interrupted by a cannon ball tearing through his side, ripping a gigantic hole through him. The wraith gasped at the sudden loss of material, but being a wraith, shed nothing. Across from him, on the other side of the battlements, stood Claymore on top of a smoking cannon, obviously having fired it from his naval training.
"I told you to leave my brother alone!" he shouted.
Running around from the other side, he came up from behind Arbiter, and helped him get up from off his back. Malthus sank to the ground, and clutched at his chest. The blades on his wrists shattered, as they had been kept in reality by his concentration. Now his injury, more than a foot across, kept him from doing any more harm.
Claymore realized they were in a circular turret area of the castle, and looked at how much space there was to maneuver. Surely he could pick up his brother and fly away with him, before Malthus could try anything else.
"Honestly, wraith, I'm surprised the cannon didn't take care of you," Claymore said to him, "but that's what you get for hurting my brother!"
"You think this… dent… makes a difference?" choked Malthus, "Watch, and learn!"
The wraith's eyes glowed furiously, and he yelled dramatically, as energy started to fill the cavity in his body. With each second, the wraith reformed small pieces of himself, until the entire hole had been covered up.
"Nice try, Axechops," said the wraith, "but now, you're mine!"
Twilight and friends had arrived on the castle turret, and stood behind Arbiter as well.
"What the?" asked the wraith, "Are those… the Elements of Harmony?"
"Malthus," said Twilight angrily, "this is your last chance. Leave them alone, or else!"
"You do realize, foolish unicorn, that if you use those against me, I'll absorb them and turn you all to stone?" chuckled the villain, "You wouldn't dare."
"Twilight… count us off," said Techorse, staring at the wraith.
Twilight and her friends' artifacts started to glow hot white, along with their eyes, as energy started to arc among them.
"Fluttershy, Kindness! Pinkie Pie, Laughter! Applejack, Honesty! Rarity, Generosity! Rainbow Dash, Loyalty, Myself as Magic!"
Malthus backed up a step from the ponies. He prepared to receive the magical beam, and laughed softly at the thought of implementing Equestria's strongest force.
"… and Techorse, Justice!" called Twilight.
Techorse slowly began to lift into the air from the magical energy, and found himself floating in the air twenty feet above his friends, and stared down at Malthus.
"Malthus!" he shouted at him, "For taking Arbiter's eye and threatening his life, you're at our mercy now! Fire away ladies!"
A rainbow-colored beam of pure energy shot up towards Techorse, was absorbed by the Scales of Justice, and then arced down as a solid ray of white light. The huge beam, unstoppable by any force, rushed for the wraith it was intended to hit, but for some reason, even though it hit him, it did nothing to him. Something had gone wrong!
"What?!" shouted Twilight, "This is impossible!"
Malthus spread his arms and started to soak up the energy through his cloak, "FOOLS! I was going to spare you ponies and take only Arbiter's life, but now as I promised, I will turn you all to stone once I am through with him."
Arbiter looked up at Techorse, whom he considered to be his old foe. He looked back at the mares of Ponyville, who had been against him as well. Then he looked at Claymore, his brother, who's eyes were starting to fill with tears over what was about to happen.
But then he saw on the ground, the longsword that had been gifted to him.
"That sword resembles the peace and friendship Techorse wants to make with me," he thought.
Looking at the ray of cleansing light, he concluded, “And the Elements are looking for a show of friendship.”
He then stared at the blade for a few moments, and knew what to do. Arbiter grabbed the sword with his teeth, and then, with a sharp swing of his neck, threw the blade high up into the air.
The blade turned over on itself, a graceful somersault in the atmosphere. It then entered the ray of pure white energy, shining from Techorse's scales. The blade righted itself, pointing away from Techorse, and then suddenly soaked up the entirety of the beam, being shot out by the force of the energy. The sword, sheathed in white light, shot down like a bullet, and pierced right through Malthus's middle. The wraith screamed as the sword stuck through him, and the beam of harmony left the blade and surrounded him again, tearing away at the wraith. Picking him up, the energy pushed the monster over the edge of the castle walls, and a loud explosion was heard as he hit the floor beneath, sending up a massive column of light and energy which dissipated into the clouds above the castle. The ground shook, and the destructive column was seen for miles.
The energy amongst the seven friends stopped, and they together with Arbiter and his brother ran downstairs to the courtyard to find out what happened. When they got there, what they saw made them stare in both awe… and terror as to the capabilities of the Elements. One of the large stone bricks that made up the floor of the courtyard, now featured a burned engraving of Malthus, still showing as much fear as his two glowing eyes could have. The sword stuck firmly into the stone, exactly where it had gone through him. Steam escaped from the hissing burns on the stone.
Arbiter stared at the burning remains and knew that his enemy would not go on to ruin someone else's life.
Within the hour, Celestia and Luna had returned from the magical fire, and discovered what had happened. They concluded that the right thing had been done to stop their enemy, and the stone containing the burned carving was soon pried from the ground, washed, and placed on a cart. The Elements of Harmony were returned to their lockbox, and although Princess Celestia was unhappy with Techorse for breaking open the vault, she couldn't find too much fault with him due to the desperation of the situation. Two wraiths from the township the defeated Malthus used to be king of, arrived to collect the carved stone. Arbiter had removed his sword, and returned it to its sheathe. The two wraiths, one red and one pink in cloak, spoke to the princesses.
The red one said to her, "On behalf of all wraiths, we apologize for the attack by our former king."
“Former king?” asked Princess Luna.
“Yes,” answered the red wraith, “Malthus has not been our king for years. Ousted for demanding violence and hatred towards Equestria. Once we had removed him from our clan, he threatened to return and show us what 'cowards' we were.”
“If anything,” added the pink one, “we should be grateful you have stopped him once and for all.”
"It is good to know the threat to both our kingdoms is over," said Celestia, “but what will you do with his remains?”
"We will store the stone in a vault in Tartarus," replied the pink wraith, “just in case he decides to make a return...”
“Thank you for continuing to warden Tartarus,” said Celestia, “please inform me if anything happens, and perhaps we can work together to prevent another attack like this!”
"Yes, your highness,” answered the red wraith, “we'll stay in touch.”
After the wraiths left them with the stone, Princess Celestia approached her subjects, who were happy to have made it through the day.
"Claymore," she said to him, "I want to commend you for your daring attempt to save your brother. I'll look into getting you your own ship someday!"
"Thank you, your majesty!" he said, overjoyed.
Arbiter attempted to slip away from the scene, but Pinkie Pie dragged him back, with his tail in her teeth.
"You're not going anywhere, mister!" she said after letting him go.
"Arbiter," said Celestia, looking down on him.
Captain Arbiter bowed before his leader, and asked, "What is it, my lady?"
Princess Celestia said to him, "As silly as you might find this… I think you learned something important about friendship today that you need to tell me."
Arbiter looked up at the princess, and said, "If I learned anything, it's that a true friend can forgive another. But most of all, you need to be a friend to yourself. You have to forgive yourself."
He then looked over at Techorse, who smiled at him.
"Techorse, I'm never going to give up being a swordscolt, and you know I'm going to always keep trying to toss criminals in prison. You may not like me much for that." He said.
"Maybe not," admitted Techorse, it wasn't always just what Arbiter did.
Arbiter then said, "But you will forgive me every time. Right…"
"Friend?"
Techorse's face filled with joy, "Of course Arbiter!"
Claymore then approached his brother, and said to him, "Arby, I've still got most of two weeks here. Let's just try to relax and have some fun now, ok? No more monsters?"
"No more monsters!" he promised, hugging his brother again.
"GREAT!" shouted Pinkie Pie who jumped in the air, "Then let's party!"
What a party it was. Not only were there desert and streamers from the party pony of Ponyville, but music and plenty of games. Arbiter really seemed to be enjoying doing what his brother Claymore liked to do for fun, and even though Twilight watched him party and knew he was going to be back to his old tricks again the next week, he seemed to be at peace with himself, and that's all that truly mattered to her. She was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder, Techorse, who asked her to dance with him. The unicorn mare agreed, and went off with her coltfriend to dance the night away. It seemed like the past was all but forgotten now, and even if it wasn't, it certainly was forgiven.
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