The night laid still and quiet over Equestria. During this hour most ponies were home, sleeping in their beds. The spring had arrived about a week ago and because of that most ponies were filled with all the beauty and warmth that came with it. Everyone was in high spirits, thinking about what they could do now when the snow was gone. In Ponyville, every citizen was dreaming of the wonders and joy of spring. In the Everfree forest every creature dreamed pleasant thoughts. Even in Canterlot, Princess Celestia herself had dreams of her own. Dreams of warmth, beauty, colors and joy filled the night like stars.
However, there was one pony that didn´t share any of these dreams. Oneside, a young earth pony with a dark blue coat and green mane and tail were quietly walking through the streets of Manehattan. The streetlight was off in the city this late at night, but because of the moonlight it didn´t matter. Oneside perfectly navigated his way through the city carrying a saddlebag loaded with money.
He smiled to himself. He was a gambler symbolized by his cutie mark, a coin surrounded by a bright light and he was really good. It was now about a month since he´d come to Manehattan and he had already gain the reputation as the unbeatable master of games, a title he found really fitting. Of course it was nothing new. Oneside had traveled across Equestria for several years and not once had he ever lost a game. Poker, roulette, dice games even something as simple as coin tossing, he was the master of everything.
Unfortunately, being the best comes with a price. Because he always won, his reputation usually spread fast around the cities he visited. Once he had the master title, nopony wanted to play any longer. Not that it was any problem with making a living; in fact Oneside had already won enough money to survive for years if the game would come to a standstill. The money in his bag was only a nickel compare to everything he had won over the years. However, gambling for him wasn´t about money, it was about winning. In his otherwise boring life Oneside had found only one thing that filled him with joy and that was the sweet taste of victory. To see another pony break down as he claimed his price and to completely crush there fighting spirits. It was moments like that he lived for. He was a better player than any other pony in Equestria and no pony would ever take that title away from him.
Oneside gave a small giggle as he walked on. A lot of fine memories began filling his head. Memories of every poor looser that had gotten the nerve to try and destroy his reputation. Being a pony that never loses Oneside had been accused of cheating countless times. Many fools had thought that was the only explanation for his winning streak. Naturally it was them that the joke was on in the end because proving that Oneside cheated to win a game was impossible.
Not that it was entirely false though.
While thinking that, he finally spotted what he had been looking for.
“Taxi,” he called as a chariot drawn by a yellow Pegasus with brown mane and tail passed in front of him. Luckily the Pegasus seemed to have heard him as the chariot stopped and the driver began to walk towards Oneside.
“Good evening, mister” the Pegasus said with a smile. “Do you want to order a ride somewhere?”
“That depends, do you know of some other towns around here?” Oneside asked. “You see I´m looking for someplace to live for a while”.
“Why, Manehattan is a wonderful city this time of the year” the Pegasus said still smiling. “You see, I was born here and I can honestly say that there is nothing that even comes close to seeing spring return to Manehattan. Not to mention the great spring festival that’s hold here every year, I´ve heard that…”
“Thank you, but I´m not interested” Oneside interrupted while trying to hide his feeling of annoyance. “Now can you recommend any other cities in Equestria?”
“Well, let me take a look”. The Pegasus took a map out of his saddlebag and started to inspect it.
“Canterlot is always a nice city to visit and I´ve heard that Princess Celestia herself is planning a celebration to welcome spring. Then of course we have the Cristal Empire which I would say is probably the most beautiful city in Equestria this time of year and though I haven’t been there myself my wife says that Fillydelphia has a wonderful flower blossom right now”.
Oneside gave small sigh as the Pegasus continued to ramble. All of the cities that where brought up where places he had been to relatively recently. By most chances his reputation would not have gone away and as long as he was known as the unbeatable master of gambling his chances to get any opponents was zero. He gave the map a closer look himself, carefully watching every corner of it. There had to be some city he hadn´t been to in a while, he just needed to find it. Then after a quick search a small city suddenly caught his attention. Ponyville, that was a name he wasn´t familiar with in fact Oneside didn´t think that he had ever been there.
“Excuse me, do you know anything about this place”. Oneside placed his hoof on the map at the location of Ponyville.
The driving Pegasus stopped talking and gave the map a quick glimpse.
“Oh Ponyville, well that’s a wonderful little town” he answered. “I was there on a driver meet-up once and the citizens there are very friendly towards other ponies. It doesn’t have that much to offer in forms of culture but if you want to stay in a peaceful town I would say that Ponyville is a good choice”.
“Hmmm, can you tell me how many ponies that live there”.
The Pegasus got a little confused at the question and he didn´t really know what to answer.
“Well,” he began while scratching his head. “I guess there a couple of hundred ponies there. Like I said it´s not the biggest town in Equestria”
Oneside wasn´t pleased with the answer. Few citizens meant that his reputation probably would spread fast and if he was unlucky he might only get a week before every opponent was gone. It was also most likely that a little town wouldn´t have that many gamblers to begin with which made the chance of getting opponents even smaller. However it was better than nothing and if luck was on his side he would probably get to have some fun. When his mind was set he once again turned to the Pegasus.
“I want to go there, how much is it?” Oneside asked politely.
The Pegasus smile once again rose as he started to do some calculations on a paper.
“Let me see, the flight should take about 5 hours with the direction of the wind and with the current weather. The price is 15 bits per hour so 75 bits”
“Alright we got a deal, let’s go”
Oneside jumped up into the chariot as the Pegasus began to prepare to take off.
“So do you have a name mister” the Pegasus said as he finished putting on the equipment.
“My name is Oneside”.
“Oneside hmm, nice to meet you. My name is Marty. So are you ready to go”?
“Yes and could we please not talk under this flight I´m a little tired” Oneside said while giving a small yawn.
“Alright, now hold on tight”.
With those words, Marty took flight and the chariot soon lifted off the ground. Looking down, Oneside could see all of the houses as most ponies still in their sleep dreaming of the joys of spring. Oneside thought of this last month he spent in Manehattan and all of the sweet victories he had gotten the pleasure of experiencing. He smiled to himself. It was all thanks to his secret weapon that he could live such a perfect life. It was a gift like no other that he had possessed since birth. Something that always would guarantee him his victory and as the cherry on top of the cake, it was undetectable.
Oneside gave off a small giggle and then closed his eyes to sleep, dreaming of all the fun that awaited him in Ponyville. But then suddenly just as he was to fall asleep he felt a sudden twitch in his tail and before he knew it his head was hit by a big dose of hail. He woke up and quickly began to look around. Once he confirmed it was nothing more he gave a small sigh.
“Not again” he whispered while looking at his tail. “You just don´t know when to be still, do you”?
Author's Note
Hope this was to your liking. See you at the next chapter!
Thanks to ajvasquezbrony28 for the pre reading.
Chapter 1: The Town of Ponyville
”That is last time I will ever take a taxi from Manehattan” Oneside spitted out while walking the last mile towards Ponyville as the morning sun was slowly rising on the horizon. It was a beautiful sunrise that greeted the start of a new day.
However, for Oneside it didn´t give anything more than painful memories of the night. The flight he had experienced during the night had been horrible from beginning to end. Right from the moment that the hail hit him on the head the rest of the flight had gone straight to hay. It had all started a couple of minutes after the start of the flight when Oneside felt a double blink in his left eye witch was a sign that something bad was coming his way.
For starters, the wind had picked up intensely soon after which had made it close to impossible to get any sleep and if that wasn´t enough it had also driven Marty of the route. That meant that the flight had been slowed down greatly by all the stops they had been forced to take to wait for the wind to calm down. And as the crown on top of everything during each landing Marty had never closed his mouth. He had talked about everything from his family to vegetables in his shallow hope to keep their spirits up. Oneside couldn´t even count how much pointless talk he had been forced to put up with during the night and it had given him a killer headache. Eventually Oneside had found that he couldn´t take it anymore and told Marty to drop him a couple of miles outside of Ponyville. After paying for the flight, he had spent the last hour and a half walking towards Ponyville.
Oneside sighted as he walked on, this was not the kind of start he had hoped for. He cursed his gift for foreseeing this. The power was the greatest thing that he had but sometimes it could be really annoying to deal with. However it looked like it was going to get better from here on. His back had been itchy a little while ago witch indicated that it was one of his lucky days today. This knowledge made Oneside really excited because a lucky day usually meant one of two things. Either he would win some games today or he would get the pleasure to beat somepony who had much pride as a gambler.
Knowing this made Oneside felt a little better and it also reflected perfectly on why his life was so good. Having this power made him invincible on the game table. To be able to foresee the future was the perfect gift for always staying one step ahead of your opponent and to know when to play big and when to be patience and wait. Oneside didn´t know why he had been given this power but it was something that had been with him for as long as he could remember.
While thinking about this Oneside couldn´t help but to smile a little to himself. True, the night had been awful and his head was still hurting like mad but now was not the time to be depressed. He could already see the houses of Ponyville and soon he was going to start up what he loved doing the most. Ponyville was a new place for him to take as the master of gambling and he was going to enjoy every moment of it. Filled with excitement Oneside picked up and started to run the last part of the path. With this speed he would be there in no time.
_
“Well, Marty wasn´t kidding when he said this place was small” Oneside thought while taking a walk around town. After arriving in Ponyville he had hired a small room at a local inn. Still tiered he had slept for a few hours and after a small lunch and some anti-headache pills he was now strolling around town to get to know the town and it´s locals better.
So far it didn´t look that promising, most of the local ponies looked like regular workers that you could find anywhere and Oneside hadn´t found anything resembling a gambling hall. At most there were a couple of slot machines here and there, but that didn´t do much for him. The locals were also a bit of a disappointment. Nothing about the ponies he’d seen indicated that there were any gamblers in town. Walking around the hole place had also only taken about two hours witch indicated that he had already seen most of the locals.
For him, this created problems. Normally he would just go to the town casino or some nightclub to find opponents. Or if it were really necessary, he would look for some ponies that seemed like good opponents and challenge them. Here however there were so far not a single pony that he felt was a gambler. Oneside had searched for opponents all his life and he knew if somepony was a gambler from his instinct. And so far his instinct had given him nothing and because Ponyville was such a small town he would probably not find anything.
This meant that there were only two ways left to get opponents. Either by trying to create a game with some ponies by himself or by playing small bets on the street. While playing bets on the street was a lot easier to set up Oneside didn´t like it that much. Sure it was a fun way to get small cash and sometimes you could meet some interesting ponies while playing, but it was not something that he liked to do if there were some other options. So that meant that there was only one thing left to do. Finding a group of ponies and set up a game somewhere in town.
Oneside started to look around, what he needed now was somepony that could answer questions about the town and hopefully help him to spread the news around. After looking around the area his eyes froze on a purple unicorn mare that was walking down the street. Her main and tail was a blend of tree different shades of purple and her cutie mark looked like a combination of stars. But what caught Onesides interest was that she was caring what looked like a huge shopping list with her magic. That meant that she was probably out on a shopping tour and that would give her many opportunities to spread word of the game around. She also seemed to be smart enough to answer his questions and on top of it she was also pretty good looking witch was always a plus. Even though he would never hook up with anypony, talking to some cute mares every once in wile didn´t hurt. Oneside didn´t have to think about it twice and immediately walked up to the unicorn.
“Excuse me miss, but would you mind answering some questions for me”? Oneside said politely.
The unicorn stopped and looked at him. Now when he had a better look at her Oneside had to say that she was really pretty. Her face had a really natural look to it and up close there were a sparkling feeling to her eyes. She smiled as she answered.
“Sure, I was just done with my schedule anyways. So, what do you want to know”?
While trying his best to hide his disappointment Oneside began to answer “Well you see I´m new here and I would really like to_”
Before Oneside could finish that sentence he felt a tail twist and before he could react something big landed on top off him. As he laid on the ground he could hear that whatever it was that landed on him started to giggle.
“Pinkie” the unicorn said. “What are you doing”?
“Well, I was just trying my new trampoline” a completely new female voice answered “but I guess that maybe I could have been a little more careful. Don´t worry about me though I landed on something soft”.
“A little more careful, Pinkie, you landed on the pony I was talking to.” The unicorn said with a touch anger in the voice.
“I did.” The pony who apparently was named Pinkie answered as she looked down.
“Oh I´m sorry mister I didn´t mean to hurt you” Pinkie apologized as she finally removed her hooves from Onesides back. “Here let me help you up”.
As Oneside got back on his hooves he got a look on this new pony. She was an earth pony just like him; she had pink fur with a shade darker pink for main and tail. Her cutie mark was tree balloons and she smelled like candy. But what easily stood out by her the most was that her main and tail was in a complete mess. It didn´t look that she had taken proper care about it for days and it really didn´t make her the least bit attractive.
Oneside frowned as he began to brush the dust of his fur. If it was one thing he really didn´t like it was weirdoes. However now was not the time to be angry so Oneside swallowed his lust to scold this pony and gave her a somewhat forced smile.
“It´s okay,” he quickly said before turning his attention back to the unicorn. But before he got the chance to speak Pinkie ran up to him.
“Hey, I don´t think I´ve seen you here before,” Pinkie said while looking all over Oneside. “Are you new here? Because if you are I´d love to take you around town, throw you a welcome party, maybe tell some stories about Ponyville and oh I know you can become my newest friend”.
“What is up with this pony” Oneside thought as he pushed Pinkie away while giving her a weird look. “Does she live in crazyland or something”?
However Pinkie didn´t seemed to care and happily continued to talk.
“So what do you want to do, have a picnic, go swimming, build a racecar, fly air balloons, bake cakes, jump more trampoline, play drums, play hide and seek, look for-”
Thankfully the unicorn decided that that was enough and grabbed Pinkie with her magic.
“Give the pony some space Pinkie; I think you are scaring him” the unicorn said while putting Pinkie down a few feet away.
“But Twilight I´m just trying to be nice to him” Pinkie said looking a little hurt.” I just want him to feel welcomed in Ponyville, isn`t that right-“.
Pinkie stopped as she suddenly realized something. “Oh silly me I got so caught up that I forgot to ask for your name. So what’s your name mister”?
“My name is Oneside” Oneside said while giving a small sigh. He was starting to regret that he ever started talking with the unicorn.
“So you´re names Oneside. My name is Pinkamena Diana Pie, but please call me Pinkie” Pinkie said wile happily shaking Onesides hoof.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle” the unicorn said while also giving Oneside a hoofshake. “Now what did you want to ask me before”.
Happy that they had finally come back on topic Oneside cleared his throat.
“Now as I was saying before I´m new in town and I was wondering if any of you know some place that is good for meet ups. You know like a restaurant or a café”.
“Well if you are looking for a café I recommend Sugarcube Corner” Twilight answered.” They have wonderful cake dishes, it´s lovely and the owners Mr. and Mrs. Cake are wonderful ponies”.
“Not to mention Pound and Pumpkin their foals” Pinkie happily said. “Sure they can be a little hard to deal with sometimes but they are really sweet if you get to know them. Why do you want to know of a meet up place, are you planning a party or something”?
Oneside didn´t answer, he was thinking about what he just had heard. Personally he wasn´t the biggest fan of cake dishes and after weirdoes, foals was something he really didn´t like. However on the other hand if the owners were nice they probably wouldn’t mind borrowing him the place for a poker night. And if the place was popular it would probably attract some more ponies.
“HELLO, I ASKED YOU A QUESTION”.
Oneside was suddenly interrupted in his thinking by an ear killing sound. While holding his hooves against his ears his attention was brought back to reality. Standing before him was Pinkie wearing ear plugs and holding a megaphone in her hooves.
Pinkie giggled as she removed her earplugs. “Sorry, but you seemed to be off in the distance and ignoring us so I gave you a little wake up call. Can you answer my question now”?
While once again swallowing his anger Oneside gave Pinkie a frown as he answered. “Yes what do you want to know”?
“I was wondering what you need a meet up place for,” Pinkie said. “If you are planning a party or something I would gladly help you out, I love parties”.
“I´m not going to hold a party, I´m planning to set up a game of poker” Oneside angrily answered. By now he was beginning to lose his patience and could no longer completely keep his cool.
Pinkie looked a bit confused by the answer. After staring at Oneside in silence for a few seconds she turned her attention to Twilight.
“Twilight, do you know what poker is”?
Twilight scratched the back of her head as she answered. “Well, from what I know it´s a card game where you try to get specific combinations of cards. Every combination is worth different points and in every round the pony who gets the best combination wins. And to up the game both ponies usually bet some bitts each that the looser must give to the winner”.
“Yes, it works somewhat like that” Oneside said. “Now I love to play poker a lot and therefore I want to try to set up a game at Sugarcube Corner tonight at eight pm for everypony in town. The only rule is that those who participate must know how to play so if you or any of your friends are interested to come you just have to drop by”.
A big smile appeared on Pinkies face. “That sound like a lot of fun. I don´t think that Mr. and Mrs. Cake has anything planned for tonight, so you can count me in”.
“Well, one game can´t hurt I guess,” Twilight said, “and I think that I have time to study the rules so I´ll come to”.
“Hey, Twilight” Pinkie said with enthusiasm. “Why don´t we invite some more ponies I´m sure there are many that would like it”.
“Good idea, Pinkie,” the unicorn answered. “I think that we both know a fair share of ponies that would fit the bill”.
“Yes,” Oneside thought as he heard the answers. Two ponies were now hooked and from the looks of it they were both willing to spread the word around. That meant that he would probably get a somewhat decent share of opponents and from the pink ponies description it would be easy to convince the café owners to borrow him the place. All things were falling into position now, all that was left was just a few preparations and he would finally get some victories. This really was his lucky day.
“Oh, no”!
Before Oneside could finish his thinking he was once again distracted by Pinkie. She had suddenly fallen flat on the ground as she apparently had realized something again.
“What is it, Pinkie” Twilight quickly said. Oneside could make out a clear tone of concern in her voice.
“I forgot that I´m supposed to have a meeting with Colgate at the dentist office now” Pinkie shouted out. “I´m sorry guys I have to go, see you later, bye”.
Before Twilight or Oneside could answer Pinkie had already run of leaving them in silence.
Even though he tried not to, Oneside could help but to give Twilight a confused look. Twilight in response only shrugged her shoulders.
“She is a little special” Twilight said while looking down. “But I promise you that she is really nice and once you have known her for a while you get used to her behavior”.
Oneside only gave a nod for an answer. He couldn´t come up with anything to say. Luckily Twilight seemed to notice it and quickly changed the subject.
“Well” she began. “I guess that I should head back home now, it was nice to meet you. I´ll talk to some of my friend and spread the word about the game around, see you tonight”.
“Yeah, see you later” Oneside answered as Twilight walked away. But before she was gone Oneside realized something.
“Wait, can I ask one more thing” he shouted after Twilight who stopped and looked back.
“Yes, what is it”.
“Can you tell me how to get to Sugarcube Corner”?
Twilight was silent for a few seconds while thinking, but she soon came up with an answer.
“Just follow this street for three blocks and then head left, the café will be on your right side. It´s really big so you can´t miss it”.
Oneside did a quick mental note of the answer and then called a “thank you” back to Twilight. After hearing a “your welcome” from her he waved her good bye and took of. Everything was now fixed; all that was left was just a little talk with the café owners. Then his first game in town would take place and Ponyville would get its first taste of what he could do.
“Well that´s pretty much it, so are any of you interested to come” Twilight finished. After reading a little about poker at home she had gone out to talk to some ponies around town about the upcoming game. Sitting before her now was Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash who Twilight had called in to tell the news. She had thought about inviting Spike at first as well but in the end decided that a late night game probably wasn´t the best thing for a baby dragon.
However despite Twilights enthusiasm none of her friends gave a direct respond. They all instead looked like they thought about what have just been said. Thankfully for Twilight though Dash broke the silence after a few seconds.
“I´m totally in, that sounds like an awesome game” she said with a big smile over her face. “I´ve been a feeling a little bored lately so this might be exactly what I need”.
Fluttershy also gave a small nod in agreement. “I guess that I can come too, I mean if it is okay of course”.
“Well according to Twilight, this Oneside pony said that anypony could come so of course it´s okay” Dash quickly said while giving Fluttershy a little tap on the shoulder.
Twilight smiled at the answers before turning her attention to the rest of the group.
“How about you guys, are you interested to come”?
Applejack smiled at Twilight but gave a head shake in response.
“Sorry Twi, but Ah promised Applebloom that we would go for a boat ride tonight so Ah can´t come”.
“I´m afraid that I must decline the offer as well” Rarity followed. “You see I have some clients that are supposed to get there dresses in the morning so I have to work tonight”.
“Okay then, I supposes that it will have to go without you” Twilight said. She was a little disappointed by the answers but quickly decided to let it slide. Instead she turned her attention back to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
“Well, girls, I guess that means that it´s you, me and Pinkie who will be at the game. Including the other ponies I talked to and Oneside that should give us a total of eight players”.
“By the way” Dash suddenly said wearing a serious look. “What kind of pony is this Oneside”?
“Well” Twilight began. “I don´t really know actually, Pinkie and I met him in town today when he asked us about a place where he could hold this poker game. I think that he is a pony that likes to take things really seriously thought because he didn´t seemed to like Pinkies carefree nature that much”.
This got Twilight some confused looks from the others. “However” she quickly continued. “He did seem like a pretty nice pony so I think that he can be fun to spend some time with”.
Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight with a straight face but changed it back to a smile as she heard the answer. “Well if you think this pony is worth a shot then that´s good enough for me”.
“However” Dash continued while giving a small giggle. “You guys really have to prepare yourselves because on the game table I won´t show any mercy”.
“Well then you better suit up because I don´t have any plans to loose either” Twilight fired back while also giving a giggle.
“I suppose I´ll do my best as well” Fluttershy added.
Twilight could feel the determination coming from her friends. They seemed to be exited for the game which really made the unicorn happy.
“It doesn’t matter how it goes in the game” she thought to herself while smiling. “As long as we have fun together this night will be a success”.
Oneside smiled as he looked at his reflection in the mirror while fixing up his tie. Everything had gone absolutely perfect and tonight was going to be great. After leaving Twilight he had followed her descriptions to Sugarcube Corner and talked with the owners. They had not only been up for the idea but they had promised to prepare everything and Mr. Cake had even agreed to be the dealer of the game. After that he had returned to the hotel for a short afternoon snack and another quick nap. He had woken up about an hour ago and where now doing the last preparations. So in other words, everything was ready.
Distracted by the thought Oneside accidently manage to slip up and his tie ended up tight around his neck. Frustrated he took it off and started to try and fix it up again. While he normally didn´t wear clothes Oneside had always liked to dress up in a costume and tie before a game. He didn´t know why, it was like a little ritual he liked to do. Finally the tie came into place.
Once again Oneside looked at himself in the mirror. He was more than pleased with the sight. A young handsome stallion in his best years. Soon he would get to the game and dominate it all the way. Every opponent tonight was local ponies that probably wouldn´t put up much of a fight so his victory was self-written. But it didn´t matter, every victory had some value even if it was easy.
Looking at his watch, Oneside discovered that it was time to go. After a quick last check in the mirror Oneside grabbed his bag of bitts and began to head for the door. But before he could open it he felt a shake in his left back hoof, followed by a tail twist and an eye rolling. It all happened in a second and it made Oneside completely freeze.
He couldn´t believe it, this combination was one that he hadn´t felt in years. It meant that he was going to face off against a terrific player tonight and that it was a player that was so good that he or she would have a chance of defeating him. He had only ever felt this combination once before and it was at a poker contest in Canterlot a few years ago. It had been the final game and he had been up against whom at the time was considered as the best player in Equestria. Oneside had won the game but it had only been because he got lucky and in all his years of gaming that had been the only game where his gift hadn´t guarantied him a victory.
Oneside looked down at his hoofs and realized that he was shaking. However he quickly made it stop. This was ridiculous. Somepony in this little town that could be better than him. There was no way that could be true. He hadn´t felt the presence of a single good player in his walk around town earlier. And even if there were a veteran hiding somewhere the thought that he or she had the same skills as the former best player in Equestria was impossible.
Oneside took a deep breath in order to calm down. There was no reason to panic. He probably just felt the wrong combination and even if it against all odds would be true it was nothing to worry about. He had been able to overcome this before and could do it again.
“Yes, that’s right” Oneside thought as he once again began to walk towards the door. “I´m the best gambler in all of Equestria, no matter who gets in my way I will beat them down. If somepony that is that good really does show up I will beat him.”
With that Oneside walked out the door and began to head towards Sugarcube Corner. Full of determination to beat whoever it was that waited for him. Little did he know that this night was only going to be the warm up for the grand play that would follow in its footsteps.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading and see you at the next chapter.
/Henki Pie
Thanks to ajvasquezbrony28 for the pre reading.
