Rivet: Skyward dreams

Rivet didn't enjoy trains, naturally, being a Pegasus, but really, what choice did she have. Apparently, this town had been the home town of the only pony to have ever created a working mechanical wing, and it was her best shot.

"You headed down there?" The pony across the table pointed out the window, the town was unremarkable, plain brick buildings coated the area, aside from a fancy stone castle in the centre.

"Hm? Oh. Yep, I think so," she looked back at the mare, she was a green coated unicorn with a crimson mane and purple eyes, "why?"

"Oh, just a warning, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. You must be cautious," She said, leaning over the table "but The New Talisman does the second best apple cider I've ever had, don't go to The Silver Cauldron, nor even the topic," and with that, she was gone in a small flash of green light.

"Ok? Thanks?" she said, looking around for the strange pony, "Well, that's weird," she peered over the seats, before drifting to sleep

***

When the train finally reached the town Rivet realized why this town had been described as it was, three obvious archetypes moved through the streets. Ponies and Gryphons in tattered clothes or none at all, many drunk and sleeping in the street, probably would be thieves if anyone had anything to steal, built the majority of the population. Then, some Equestrians darted around suspiciously, many of these wore rusted chains and disturbing masks of different animals, wolves or monkeys mostly. The third, were the many Gryphons in black and silver armour, these carried spears and darted looks at every passer by, they were afraid of something.

"better find The New Talisman before nightfall, this place could probably get dangerous at night," she said, making sure her saddlebags were tightly fastened, she trotted away, following the signs for The New Talisman.

As she got closer to The New Talisman she noticed that the citizens seemed to stand up straighter, a worrying incline in the clothing had her turning a corner past a ragged, homeless Earth Pony and almost running in to a suited, handsome Gryphon, who hurried along, steering well clear of her. It was only then she realized that everypony who had seen her had looked confused, then it hit her, she had not seen a single Pegasus yet, she made a note that that was probably bad.

"So The New Talisman is somewhat upper class hmm?" she muttered, "might want to look the pa-"

Before she could finish, a claw locked around her mouth and pulled her into an alley, suddenly, the town was a slum again, her assailant turned her head towards them. A white and black Gryphoness, wearing a trench coat and white shirt, stood before her, holding a talon to her beak, to keep her quiet, they waited in silence as more Gryphon soldiers trotted past, before she released Rivet. "You looking for The New Talisman? Follow me." she trotted further down the alley, after a debate in her head weather to follow this Gryphoness, Rivet decided that she didn't look like a criminal, she remained cautious, but followed her.

Indeed she was correct to trust the Gryphoness, she led her through dark alleys and slum huts, but eventually they came out at The New Talisman, a large billboard saying "Rooms, Roulette, Rum and Rumours. The New Talisman has something for everypony," She read it aloud. "What you interested in?" she looked at her saddlebags, "oh! Don't tell me, number 4! Rumours!" she seemed happy, but Rivet couldn't see a trace of a smile.

Rivet turned her eyes back to the Gryphoness "Ah, yeah, I guess so," she was still trying to adapt to the sudden changes in light.

"Ha! I always guess right! Rumours are my specialty, Anyway, what d'ya wanna know?"

Rivet stared at the Gryphoness"Ah, well, I want to know about that pony who made the wings from here."

The Gryphonesses voice grew sympthetic, but that was the only way she could tell. "You want to see ol' Gammy, that's what we call him, his names Gambit, but," her voice trailed out "but we call him old gammy 'cause he's old."

"I worked that out, where is he?" Rivet asked

"In there, be careful, he's good at poker."

"Well, I'm not planning on playing poker with anyone," Rivet knew where this was going.

The Gryphoness trotted away "Good luck with that," she sang behind her.

Immediately Rivets suspicions were confirmed, she trotted after the Gryphoness "hey!"

The Gryphoness looked back "Ah. just what I thought," there was laughter in her voice "here you wont get anywhere without stakes, I learned that the hard way."

Rivet looked back at the Gryphoness "what happened?" she asked.

The Gryphoness stopped, this was the first time she had shown emotion on her face "well, I, fine, but sit down first, come on," she continued through the crowd, with Rivet in tow.

Suddenly, a stallion blocked their path "b'by, 'ey b'by" he slurred to the Gryphoness "Y' wan'-"

She interrupted him "First of all, no. Second of all, how long have you been here?" she asked, she had timing, like this was rehearsed.

"me? I gut ere 'esterd' why?" he took another long swig from a bottle.

The Gryphoness whispered in Rivets ear "he's been hear for a year now,"

"Wut ya syin?" he almost fell over, but caught himself on a table, knocking someponies carefully stacked poker chips onto the floor.

"I'm saying that we've had this conversation every day for a year, but you always get so drunk that you forget the previous day and get drunk again, honestly, I'm surprised you've not died yet."

The stallion looked defeated "oh," and with that he stumbled back to a lonely table to drink some more.

"Don't worry about him, you'll get used to it," the Gryphoness returned to her usual voice.

"well, I don't plan on staying here long," she said.

"Neither did I!" the Gryphoness raised her voice suddenly, but not many ponies paid attention "And I've been here a year and a half."

The Gryphoness sat down at a table with another pony, a blue unicorn with an ace of spades playing card for a cutie mark, he was staring at the table, playing cards were scattered on the table "so how did you get stuck here?" Rivet asked the Gryphon again.

The Gryphoness sighed "first, I'm Dew," she extended a claw.

The blue unicorn seemed to growl, but Rivet just picked up the words "I'm Ace," he took a card "ten," he placed it back face up, it was a ten of hearts.

Rivet looked at Ace, confused "Rivet," she took Dews claw.

Dew took a card and looked at it "six, Rivet? Take one," she placed the six of clubs back on the table.

Rivet took a card, two of hearts "Ah, it's a two, what's that mean?" Rivet placed the card back on the table face up.

"Button," Ace growled.

Dew looked around, finding what she was looking for, she waved.

Soon, a Gryphon appeared at the table "yes? Whad'ya want," he grumbled

Dew looked at Rivet "Drinks?"

Ace growled again, the waiter seemed to understand, but Rivet didn't.

"Ah, yeah, apple cider, I guess" Rivet remembered what she heard on the train "non alcoholic".

The waiter stared at her quizzically "how come I've never seen you here? You look like the kind of Pony I would notice."

"Stop it Gravel,"  Dew butted in "you, if what I hear is true, and you know me, don't you? You don't need any more mares. so do your job and just get the damn drinks, bill's on the loser."

Gravel growled at her, then turned back to Rivet "sorry miss, apple cider, yes?"

Dew chuckled, but continued anyway "the usual, and we need a dealer-" she glared at Ace "-this one is broken."

The waiter left, he soon reappeared holding a tray in his claw, on it, a dark brown beverage, an unremarkable apple cider and a clear drink that could be mistaken for water, if one ignored the smell "here you are," he looked at Rivet and raised an eyebrow.

Dew took the drink "oh, stop with the pleasantries Gravel, we all know you're a ash hearted two-brained scoundrel, and even if she doesn't she will soon, whether she goes with you or not."

Ace growled again, but it shook like a laugh.

"Baaa," Dew sang out a sound like she was bleating, Ace glared at her, but stopped laughing.

Rivet took a sip of her drink, immediately, she was struck by the alcohol

"Deep gut, he's famous for it," Dew nodded her head to the unicorn, then turned back to the waiter "you dealing?"

Without answering, the Gryphon placed two cards face down in front of all of them, then five cards face down on the table.

"I'm small," She took the two cards in front of her.

"Woah, I didn't know we were playing, I've never played before," Rivet leaned back from the cards, Ace took his two cards.

"Then how d'you plan to beat Gambit?" Dew asked "winging it?"

A few hours, drinks and poker games later

"you still haven't told me what happened, how you got stuck here," Rivet looked at Dew, who sighed.

"I'll admit I hoped a few drinks would make you forget, so I'll tell you."

"Yay! Story time!" Ace mocked, he had drunk more than both mares put together, and only now seemed half sober.

"Shut up, two 'n' seven," she glared at him, "so, Rivet, you want to know how I got stuck here, here goes."

"One and a half years ago, a Gryphoness, particularly gifted in psychic magic, wanders into a poker bar looking for adventure, she finds the oldest Pony she sees, this being old Gambit, not realizing the place has a ward against psychic magic, goes for his stake of double your money, and loses, now I basically work for him, trying to pay off my dept," she explained.

"what do you do?" Rivet interrupted her, she had a thought, but dismissed that quickly from her mind.

"Well, we gamble, mostly poker. If you're in dept here, the best way to pay it back? Gamble, granted Jack and Roulette also sell drinks, but that makes them about 300 a week, not nearly as much as I and Ace get gambling," Rivet was relieved to find that her suspicions were incorrect "of course, best way to avoid that, don't gamble in the first place," Dew sighed and regret filled her voice.

"Then how do I get news here? Without gambling?" Rivet asked

Dew looked around "honestly, I could tell you allot of things, but only since I was born, I don't know anything about mechanical wings. But I'm sure Gambit does, you see, Gambit's an Alicorn, he built this town when he was middle aged, and that was over a thousand years ago, some say he's princess Celestia's father, others say he's her brother, some even say he's her grandfather-"

"What is he?" Rivet asked.

"I dunno, all I know is he's damn good at poker," Dew finished, she looked over Rivet's shoulder, a bar fight had broken out near the door.

"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me something, you see, I heard something about The Silver Cauldron."

The room became silent, the fight stopped and all the ponies, involved or not, turned towards Rivet, angry faces replaced the happy faces that had been there moments before.

Dew closed her eyes, she whispered what sounded like prayers through trembling breath, she was afraid. "Go back to your drinks!" she pleaded "my friend is confused," she stood up, grabbed Rivet with a shaking claw and dragged her outside.

They reached an alley turn, and Dew released Rivet "Don't do that!" Dew stared at the Pegasus, "you scared me half to death, I thought they were going to kill me,"

Rivet was still trying to take it in "what was that about?"

Dew turned away "That was about that place, NEVER say that."

"Why, what's so bad about The Sil-" her joke was interrupted by Dew leaping into the air and bringing the closest heavy object she could find onto Rivet's head, the town went dark.

***

Dew enjoyed these lessons, even though flight was impossible for her, she enjoyed the company of her father, she felt that was natural as she had never experienced her mother's company, this one wasn't quite a lesson though, here, her father was teaching her something else, but she couldn't quite hear him, like he was talking underwater.

Somepony else was there, watching them, just out of frame, when she turned to see them, she saw nothing, the figures she could see burst into black mist, making her vision dark. Out of the darkness, she saw a black feather falling from the sky, this quickly became a white mist.

Rivet lay on a soft bed, a feather mattress topped with a fur sheet. she opened her eyes, but remained silent, shelves lined the walls, their contents mainly consisting of small sculptures made out of everyday junk, or chunks of metal and wood with different shapes carved into them. In the doorway sat Dew, looking out.

"ah, you're awake," Dew said, turning her head.

Dew walked over to the bed "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"it's ok, I shouldn't joke like that," Rivet said.

"What?" Dew began "Oh, I'm not apologizing for hitting you, I was well within my rights there, I was talking about your father."

The realization struck Rivet "psychic magic, black feather," she thought "you were in my dream."

Dew chuckled "but we've only just met," she smiled, "you're right, I was, you saw a white feather, correct?"

Rivet cocked her head "it was black."

Dew recoiled "hmm? I must be sad about something. Oh well."

Rivet was shocked, "don't get in my dreams again!" she stood up quickly.

"ok, I wont, sorry," Dew lowered her head, "anyway, come on, and no more talk about The Golden Bowl, ok?"

"The Golde-" Rivet stopped herself "oh, I see, where we going?"

"The only place it would make sense to go, The Golden Bowl!" Dew turned and walked out the doorway.

Rivet stared "but I thought that place was bad?" she trotted after Dew.

Dew turned "it is, you need to know why, and for that, we're gonna need to do some shopping."

Rivet cocked her head "shopping? Why?"

Dew smiled "they don't like Pegasi, we need you to look like an earth Pony, easier said than done," she walked into the busy street.

Rivet decided it was best not to ask why they dislike Pegasi, and instead just follow Dew, she knew this town "how does the town work? Like, who runs it?"

Dew looked up and down the street "Which part?" she pointed to the bottom of the street, down there the pavement was lined with upturned bins and anything that could be a home, or simply bedrolls on the street "the low town and alleys are ruled by a gang, the fallen, they are why the guards are afraid."

Dew pointed at the floor "this part, chip town, the fallen think they do, but Gambit has all the real power here."

Then she pointed to some large, stone walls, another town was inside them "high town, the Ascendants own that, they used to be a low-town cult, their beliefs grew into a gang, and they took the town, now the hierarchy is switched, and the ones who used to be powerful live in low-town, the fallen formed when Ponies started realizing that the Ascendants being rulers was a bad idea, they're revolutionaries."

Rivet still had a question "why are Ponies so afraid of... You know."

Dew sighed "that is a symbol of the Ascendants power, it's where they take Ponies who don't agree with them and, you can guess the rest," her voice shook, but she blinked away the mood.

Rivet changed her mind "why do they dislike Pegasi?"

Dew chuckled "because, because they think no Pony should naturally be able to rise to heaven, only through serving the Ascendants, which is funny, cause their leader's a Pegasus."

Rivet noticed a guard walk by, a Gryphon "what about Gryphons?"

Dew chuckled again "they're fine, you know why? Cause the guards are Gryphons, marshal law doesn't work if you don't have soldiers, does it?"

Rivet shook her head "so, why do we need to get to The Sil-" she smiled "-The Golden Bowl?"

"because I want to burn it down. So, you with me?"

Rivet stood back "ah, I could be,"

Dew laughed "then you are, and that means we're going shopping," she began trotting away.

"Ha, mares, they never change," a voice came from behind, but when Rivet turned, no Pony was there.

"Hm, this just gets weirder and weirder, doesn't it?" Rivet said to the air, before following Dew into an alley.