Life of Art

He closed and locked the studio door as he gestured the girls to join him where the airship was. Rainbow Dash grumbled and said, “Where is this airship you so mentioned?!” Arthur chuckled, he pulled the lever and the lights turned on: it revealed a long garbage barge like ship, with wooden walls and a cabin up front. There was a small hole were light rained down through. Written on the side was Air Fare. Dash said, “That’s it?! That’s your airship. I expected it to be big and fancy looking, like a yacht.” Arthur looked at Dash, “Dash, I’m a pony of functionality and quantity, not aesthetics and quality. Now if wouldn’t so mind as help me start loading these boxes in, please?”

The ponies started loading the barge with boxes, as Arthur loaded a box he saw the ray of light dim. “Girls, continue loading the barge, I gotta, check on the weather.” Arthur ran off and up a set of stairs and out the door. He opened the door and stepped into a weather room. The room had a compass, a wind reader, several different gages, and various objects measuring the weather. He read the gages and looked outside, it got dark, the wind picked up and clouds rolled in. He placed a set of headsets on and turned the radio on.

It was static as chatters were scanned across the channel. The radio mentioned that there was a storm coming with high winds and heavy rain. It also mentioned a possible flash flood and advised a tornado watch. He flicked the switch and on another channel, it was saying that the train was shutting down and all airships and balloons had to be grounded. Arthur didn’t know how to break the news to the girls. He never liked breaking the news to any pony, it seemed like a cheap cop out to him.

He mustered up the courage, locked the door and went inside. Arthur saw the mare’s sitting on the edge of the platform. Applejack trotted up, “When are we clear for take off Art?” “Yeah, about that, walk with me,” Arthur replied. The orange mare followed closely as he got closer to the platform. He then said, “Got some bad news. It seems the weather got bad outside and their stopping the train and grounding all airships of any kind.” The girls were somewhat disappointed and Arthur tried to figure out how to cheer them up. He got it, “How bout’ I treat you to MY hospitality. Spend the night at my place; I’ll feed you girls sweets that’ll give you the sugar rush of the life time.” The girls started to smile; Arthur smiled with them, “Great!! Come back with me into the studio. I’ll get some bed’s set up and we can have fun.”

The colt and filly’s ate sweets and treats beyond their wildest dreams. The night finally drew to a close, the mares were situated inside the studio and Arthur set himself on top of a platform, near the front part of the studio. As the night became darker and longer Arthur’s face twitched and he moaned as he was having a nightmare, “...it wasn’t my fault…I didn’t do it… ITS NOT MY FAUL—“ He yelled as he fell off the platform and smacked against the floor.  The girls were awoken by his shriek, Twilight being the first to look at him, “Are you alright Arthur?!” Twilight’s only response was a groan. She, Rarity and Applejack rushed down to see if he was all right. Twilight saw a small pool of blood, fearing the worst thinking he might of cracked his head open. She turned him over and sighed with relief as she saw that his nose was the cause of blood.

“Are ya alright there Art,” Applejack asked as she trotted to the other side of him.

He lied there lifeless as Applejack nuzzled him. Rarity added, “Come on Arthur, at least make some sort of response,”

As she pulled a hanky out Arthur closed his eyes, re opened them again looking at the three mares, “Mind helpin’ me up. Kinda hard when you slammed your face on tiled floor and your neck hurts, a lot.” The girls sighed with relief as life went into him. Twilight and Rarity helped him up while Applejack got the first aid-kit. Rarity cleaned his nuzzle as Twilight was pulling out some bandages and cotton swabs. Rarity left the stained hankie, as the girls were looking away, he slipped the hankie in his pocket.

Applejack and Rarity went back to sleep as Twilight cleaned Arthur up. As she pulled a swab and a bandage out, she hesitated at first, “Um…Arthur…are you alright?” “Yeah, just a bad dream I guess.” Twilight used her magic to find any broken or fractured bones and asked, “Do you wanna talk about it?” “I’d prefer not to, to be quite honest with you.” Arthur simply stared off into space. Twilight continued her scan and asked, “You can tell me, I won’t judge you for what you’ve done.” Arthur snapped out of his daze, “You promise?” “I promise, cross my heart, hope to fly and stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twilight making the gestures as he replied with a mere chuckle, “I like that.”

As he continued his statement, “You remember that mare, Serenity.” “Yeah, why?” “What if I told you that she lost her leg cause of me,” Arthur said as he was trying to recollect his thoughts. As he did, Twilight was a little panicked at first, but keeping her promise and not judging him, “…Go on.”

“Well, way back when we were little ponies. She was my one and only true friend growing up. One day, we went out playing, right across from the train station. We were chasing each other and it was my turn to chase her. I guess it was tag, I never really asked. She slipped on the tracks, I tagged her and she fell onto the track. I ran off as she was trying to get up.

I heard the horn blowing from the train. I turned and her hoof was stuck in the tracks. I ran over and tried pulling her out. It was no good, I ran to try and find another pony, but had no luck. As the train drew in closer and closer, I tried pulling her out. As I did, she got loose, but I...I wasn’t fast enough. Her hoof got mangled as the train passed. I never heard a pony scream, and cry as much as she did.”

He became lost in thought as his eyes began to water up. Twilight really didn’t know what to say, she tried to think of something in her head. Arthur continued his tragic story, “I put her on my back and took her to the hospital right away. Her folks came in and forbid me from seeing her and I was to stay away from her. They went as far as having the royal guard outside my house and following her around.” He finally broke down as the waves of guilt, sorrow and misery over took him,

“Ever since that day, I lost my only friend. Shortly after that, my father died. In my stage of grievance, I sought to see forgiveness and redemption from Serenity and her parents; I made that leg for her. Although she saw the forgiveness and the gesture in my heart, her parents never did, even to this day still, they despise me. Ever since then, she comes by when she can, for either getting something better, or simple repairs. Other than that, I was truly alone in this world. I had no special pony, not even Celestia who took me in.”

Twilight then said, “It wasn’t you fault. There was nothing you could’ve done, you did your best.” His eyebrows furrowed, “Best?! MY…BEST!! Listen here Twilight, just because you did what ever you could doesn’t make it enough. I had to grow up, alone, scared, terrified, and miserable and be reminded of my mistake every single day Twilight. Do you know what it’s like, being reminded of your mistake?!” Twilight did know what it was like for a while. She never made a mistake that she had to see, every single day. She simply placed the bandage on his nose and then she hugged him. Arthur didn’t know how to response, he didn’t know whether or not to push her away, or enjoy the moment of being braced by another an emotion he haven’t felt in a long time.

“You...I may not know what its like. But I do know this, as long as you have your friends by your side, you can surpass anything. And I mean, anything. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.” Arthur felt an emotion of guilt that slammed his chest. He simply hugged back, “Sorry for snapping at you Twilight. It’s, hard trying not to be emotional about this.” “I don’t blame you Arthur, no pony can. If a pony is willing to work hard, and do what ever it takes to ask for forgiveness, that pony shouldn’t be judged. Now, lets get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow, don’t we.”

Arthur gave a small smile, “Yeah...yeah we do.” With that, Twilight nuzzled him and trotted off to bed. Arthur remained in the darkness as what Twilight said echoed inside his head. He slowly trotted off, once on the platform he moved off of it. As he tried looking for a new spot to sleep, he grabbed his blanket, placed it next to Twilight, and slept right beside her. He muttered thanks, and she simply replied and she didn’t seem to care that he was next to her.