“Taxi! Taxi!” I called out to the passing cab, but it was no use. All I got for my troubles was a face full of street water as the cab rushed on by, leaving me sopping wet.
I sighed and started walking, my motel a good sixteen blocks from where I was standing. “Of course, no luck left in the world for ol' Four Leaf,” I muttered to myself as I trudged back to my hotel room, using my wings as an impromptu umbrella to fend off the wind and the rain.
What was supposed to be an exciting week off in the Manehatten had been anything but. First I had missed my train and the next one wasn't scheduled to arrive for another twelve hours. Dodge City being the little settlement that it was it didn't get too many trains stopping by. When I got to the city not only had my luggage been crushed under some fancy pant's massive steamer trunk, but the hotel I was staying at had double booked my room, leaving me without a place to stay the night. The place I had to stay at instead was some run down old motel. The next two days hadn't gone any better either, what with the constant rain that the local weather patrol deemed necessary to give the streets a good cleaning.
I shot a glare at my cutie mark, a four-leaf clover intertwined with an upside-down horseshoe. It had always seemed that others had good fortune, where's I was always the mule's end of the joke. Just once it would be nice to have things go my way.
“Oi!” a pony called, knocking me out of my thoughts. I looked down the alleyway where the voice had come from. “Up 'ere mate!” I looked up at a dark green earth pony standing on the fire escape for one of the buildings. His coat nearly matched mine, though his mane, a sort-of dark blue, was the polar opposite of my light green mane. “What's a pony like yew doin' in a neighborhood like this at this hour?” he called down from his fire escape.
Momentarily confused I answered him, “I'm walking back to my motel.”
The pony hopped down from the fire escape, landing right in front of me. He gave me a once over eying my wings, “Well then I guess I should be askin' what are you doin' here on the ground and not flying to yer home away from home?”
I let out a sad little chuckle. “Well its the wind you see,” and as if to prove a point a large gust picked up for a second, blowing trash down the street. “I'm afraid that I get flung into one of these skyscrapers.”
The stranger gave me a once over, “Now maybe I don't know nothin' about Pegasus ponies, being a simple Earth pony myself, but yew look pretty dang sturdy. Heck ye look more like more like an Earth pony with wings, if I say so myself.”
“Well I suppose that's because of my parents more than anything, they were both Earth ponies themselves. I got the all the Earth pony stature but none of the Pegasus flying skill,” I caught a look at the stallion's flank, his cutie mark was a knife. “And I really must be going, this rain will be the death of me.”
As I tried to get past him he sidestepped in front of me, “Oh no no no. A pony like you is far too easy pickings in the neighborhood, 'specially at this time of night.”
“No, no that's fine, I'm certain I can make it back no problems,” I said backing up slowly from the pony.
“Is it my mark? Ponies always get a bit nervous, I 'spose its because they jump to conclusions. I got that mark cause I'm good with a knife, and not in the way yew would think. Grew up the son of a grocer, could chop you up a salad in five seconds, better than any prissy Unicorn.”
“Oh,” I relaxed a bit.
“So let me help ya out. I know this neighborhood like the back o' my hoof. Can even keep yews out of the rain for the most part. Come on,” and with that the stallion trotted down the alley he came from.
I hesitated for a second, then as if to give me a push the rain went from shower to downpour. I quickly trotted after him, hoping I didn't have much to lose. “I didn't catch your name.”
“Ah, where are my manners? My mum would be having words with me. Name's Three Hoof. Named on acount o' this,” he raised up a stump of a back leg as he trotted.
I stared for a moment then remembered my own manners and looked away, “Nice to meet you, I'm Four Leaf.”
“Four Leaf ya say eh? That's a country name if I ever heard one. Where ya from?”
“Dodge City. Don't let the name fool you, its still just a little frontier outpost,” Three Hoof hadn't been lying when he said we'd be out of the rain, I could barely feel it in the alleyways.
“Ah, so where yew born out there or did mum and pop decide they had enough of the neighbors and fled south?”
I chuckled a little, “The first one, born and bred out there. What about you?”
“Eh I've got a similar story. Mum was always a Manehatten girl, pop thought he could make it in the big city. They met, fell in love, had me, and fell out of love. Them's the breaks.”
“Oh, um sorry if I'm being rude, but are they still around?”
“Mum is, my pop however, flew the coop. Not literally, being a fancy-pants unicorn and all. Left for Canterlot about fifteen years ago,” Three Hoof lowered his head a bit.
“I'm sorry if I touched a nerve.”
“Eh, you've got nuthin' to apologize for. The lazy bum just couldn't take the city life. So after a few years he left. Of course I still count my blessing that I at least knew my father. Far too many dames find out they got a foal and don't know who's it was that gave it to them,” Three Hoof looked up at one of the windows where an Earth pony was cradling a Unicorn foal.
I wasn't quite sure what to say to that, every pony I had know had both parents growing up. “I'm sorry to hear that, it must be hard on them.”
“It's the way of the city, ya know? Some ponies are just like that.”
As we continued down the the alleyways one of the garbage pails moved. I jumped as it fell in front of me. As I went to poke it a filly popped her head out and scampered down the alley. “What was that?”
“A filly of course. Yew never seen a filly?”
I rolled my eyes, “Of course I've seen a filly, I'm just wondering why she was in a trash pail in the middle of the night.”
“Welp could be anythin'. Family doesn't have enough food, doesn't have a family, looking to make a few extra bits, might be more than one of them reason. Lots of people and stores empty their trash at night, makin' it the best time to scrounge around for sumthing.”
I could hear other colts and fillies chattering down the alley that the first one had fled down. I poked my head down there to see a whole gaggle of fillies and colts were gathered in a group around the filly, each one oohing and awing over her find. “Its one of the local groups, them are fillies and colts without a home, for the most part. Others have a bad home and run away for a little while.”
I looked at Three Hoof, “They would rather be on the streets?”
“Sumtimes, ya. Not all parents are the best thing since sliced bread.”
One of the colts noticed us standing there, watching them, “Hey its Three Hoof!” he cried. This got all the other ponies' attention and they all came running over. They all crowded around the two of us talking excitedly. “Three Hoof my sister just said her first word!” “Mr. Three Hoof I just got a job!” “Three Hoof look what I found in the trash bin!” the last one come from the filly that had ran off. She was still too young to have a cutie mark, and her cream fur was smudged and covered in dirt.
“Oh and what is it?” Three Hoof asked.
“Its an old pocket watch, see!” the filly held it up in her mouth for Three Hoof to inspect.
“It is indeed! Why don't yew bring it down to Tinker's tomorrow and have him give it a once over. Yew might get a few bits for lunch.”
The filly nodded and melted back into the crowd. Several of the other pushed forward showing off trinkets that they had found or titbits of their life that they wanted to share with the stallion. “Alright yew lot, I know you excited but it's time yous found a place to sleep tonight!” some of the colts and fillies groaned or made other noises of complaint, but they all left. Some climbing up fire escapes on buildings, others scurrying past us out into the night, “Come on, we should do the same, and get yous home as well.”
Me and Three Hoof walked for a while in silence through the twisting and turning alleys. Every now and again we'd walk back out into the full force of the storm, only to quickly duck down another side street.
“So what do you do for work Three Hoof?” I asked trying to strike up a conversation of some kind to fill the silence.
“Well just 'bout whatever I can get my hooves on. A bit of cleanin' here, some hoof polishin' there,” he bobbed his head. “You know whatever you can do to get by.” Something about that reply struck me as funny, though I couldn't place my hoof on it. “What about you? With that mark o' yours it looks like you can do just bout anything that needs doin'.”
I let out another sad little chuckle, “You'd think that, but its kind of the opposite. I give others good luck, where's mine is questionable at the best of times. For instance last year I got my own field to work, just by myself. I put everything I had into it for a good three months. Then when the harvest came round, I barely had anything to show for it. The fields around me however got record harvests.”
“Now ain't that interesting? I always thought that a mark was sumthing you did.”
“It is, the only thing I'm really good at is making horseshoes. It just so happens that all of my other actions benefit other more that it benefits me.”
“Hmm, never thought of it that way. Spose that's how luck works ain't it? One pony does sumthing that benefits another pony, even if they didn't intend for it to work out that way,” Three Hoof nodded his head. “Course you see a lot of ponies who take bad luck as an insult. Think the world's laughing at them. Those are the dangerous ones.”
“Um, dangerous ones?” something in his tone set me on edge.
“Sure, you hear about it all the time, or you read it in the papers. Ponies stealing from other ponies, hurting them to get a few extra bits, its stuff like that that gets them fancy ponies all up in arms.”
“What do you mean?”
Three Hoof paused for a second, “Ya see Four Leaf a lot of ponies think the world's gone an betrayed them. They can't find a job, or their lover left them, or what 'ave you, but they still have families and friends to support. So they do... less than honest work,” the hairs on my mane started to stand on end when he said that. “Some do things that go beyond just stealing a purse or two. Or even giving another pony a black eye. Those are the ponies that scare me,” Three Hoof stopped. “We're here.”
I looked around, we had stopped in a blind alley, none of the lights were on in the windows. “Um, Three Hoof?” my voice was quivering.
“Hmm?”
“Your not one of those kinds of ponies are you?” I looked up, to see if I might be able to fly up and out of the alley, but no there was a net of some kind up there something I probably couldn't fly through even if I tried. It had obviously been set up to catch any pegusi who tired to escape.
A trap.
Three Hoof lingered on that for a moment “No, no I ain't Four Leaf, and your lucky yew didn't come across one who was,” then Three Hoof let out a whistle. Two other ponies stepped out in front of the alleyway. One was a big bulky Earth pony, the other a tall wiry Unicorn. “But I do want to help my family.”
I was shaking all over now and a thought clicked, “You said that you got that cutie mark working in you father's grocery store. But he left you about 15 years ago.”
Three Hoof shook his head, “You got me all wrong Four Leaf. I told you how I got it and that was the true. I did get it in my father's grocery, and he left me a little while after I got that mark when I was about ten years old. I can still whip up a salad like nobody else, but yew tell that to an employer? Hah! They don't believe ya, because all they see is a knife.”
The two ponies moved toward me, “H-hey don't come any closer! Look, if I just gave you all my bits the would you let me go?”
Three Hoof shook his head, “Heard that one too many times Four Leaf. We have to be through now-a days.” I felt something hit me hard on the back of the head. Then I was out like a light.
By the time I woke up the sun had already risen, and the rain had stopped. I groaned as I got up my head hurting. It took me a moment to figure out why I was sleeping on the street in a back alley of all places. Quickly I checked for my bit bag, and found that it had been removed from my person. I let out a sigh and got up, thinking on how in the world I was going to get back home if I couldn't afford a train ticket, when my hoof hit something. I looked down and saw that it was my bit bag, and a note had been attached to it.
I unfolded the note with my wings and read it.
“Dear Four Leaf,
Sorry to be yet another source of bad luck for you, but one pony's bad luck is another's good luck. As I said before sometimes a pony has to do less than honest work to feed his family. And you saw how large mine is.
“I care for each and everyone of those little colts and fillies that you saw last night. Like a father they don't, or didn't, have. I hope that you won't judge me by my actions, and instead judge me by my reasons for those actions.
“I've left you just about enough money to get a train ticket and some food. I hope that, if you ever come back to the city you look me up, see how I'm doing. If nothing else I'll let you pop me one right in the kisser, as pay back for having Matchstick hit you with that brick. I am sorry, and I wish you better luck in the future.
Signed, Three Hoof”
I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof, feeling the lump that Matchstick had left me with. In the end Three Hoof hadn't taken all that much from me, since I knew that something like this was bound to happen. So as a precaution I left most of the money that I had brought with me in my motel room each day. I flew out of the alley and wouldn't you know it, my motel was just around the bend from the alley I had been left in.
Even though I could have stayed in the city for a few more days, I felt that it was time to cut my losses and leave. I had a few souvenirs for my loved ones and more than enough memories to think on. Besides if I got back now I would have time to prepare for the next harvest. Get my tools nice and sharp, give the dirt a bit of prep work. Who knows, maybe I would get lucky and be able to give some of the leftovers to my mom and pa to help them through the winter this year.
Who knows? Maybe just this once luck will favor the prepared.
Author's Note
A bit different from my last story. This is my second submission to the newbie training grounds on EQD, and I got to say thank you to anyone who had read my last story, apple of discord, it and left likes or comments. They mean a lot to me. Hopefully this one came out alright as well, even if it is a rather abrupt change in subject matter from Apple.
