The Card Trick

"Wake up!" A voice called into the dark cell.

Borderline's legs were stiff, and he struggled standing up. Unfortunately, he was too slow for the guard's liking. The guard hit him with a blunt object. Borderline collapsed. Borderline met the eyes of the guard.

"Get up." The guard ordered.

Borderline took his time, but he did get on all four hooves and met the guard eye to eye. The guard motioned for Borderline to go to the front desk. The head of the guards in Baltimare was at the desk, focused on his paperwork. Borderline approached the front desk. The head guard stayed focused on his paperwork. Borderline cleared his throat, but the head guard stayed focused on his paperwork. Borderline looked over to the other guards in the room. They all stood at attention, or they were trying to avoid Borderline's eyes. Borderline knocked on the desk. The head guard finally met his eyes.

"Give me a minute." He said as he looked back at his desk.

Borderline sighed and looked around the room. It was fairly obvious that not much happened in the building. Dust was collecting on top of shelves and picture frames. Lights did not work. The place was a few bad weather days from being flattened into a parking lot.

"Alright, Mr. Borderline." The guard attracted Borderline's attention. "The mayor has stated that he does not want to see your face in this city again. Also, if you would like to get the charge of assault off your record, you'll have to fulfill forty hours of service to a business from this list." The head guard slid a paper to Borderline's end of the desk.

"Once that is completed, have your superior sign a letter of proof and give it to the mayor of the respecting city."

By the time the head guard was finished with that statement, Borderline marked a name on the list and made his way out of the door. The guard was surprised.

"I never took you for a labor worker."

Borderline was halfway out the door.

"I'll call the owner to meet you at the train station." The guard shouted to Borderline.

Borderline went straight for the train station. Despite not eating since the card game, he just wanted to get out of Baltimare.

"Next stop leaving in 5 minutes!" The conductor shouted from the stand. Borderline shook his head. It was early in the morning, and he looked like crap.

"Pardon me, miss."

Borderline smiled as he made his way through the line of ponies at the ticket counter, saying "Excuse me" and "Beg your pardon" every few seconds. When he got to the front gate, he presented his ticket that he entered the town with. The pony behind the counter glanced to the entrance gate. Borderline bowed his head and made his way to the train at the station.

"It's about half a day to Canterlot, sir. You're more than welcome to the diner wagon if you're feeling hungry." A staff member said as Borderline passed him.

"Thank you. However, I am not headed to Canterlot."

"Oh, well, still help yourself."

"Thank you very much." Borderline smiled back to the staff member as he boarded the train.

Borderline took a seat in the back of the passenger car. He thought about the job he chose. He's heard about the place, but never went there personally. He ran into a pony from there while cutting across Filly Delphia on his way to Baltimare a few weeks back. She told him that if he ever dropped by, she can help him out with whatever he needed. He hoped that included working with her. "Didn't that guard say he would call her?" He thought to himself. He couldn't help but smile. "I guess I'll figure out if she was honest about helping me out when I get there." Borderline closed his eyes and waited for the train to start moving.

"Do I smell....mints?"

Borderline's vision came back to him very slowly. He was satisfied to feel the train moving, but he couldn't pinpoint what that smell was coming from. He rubbed his eyes with his hooves, then stretched them out. His right hoof knocked into something soft. He quickly pulled it back, and his eyes shot open from shock.

"I am so sorry! I-" He looked at an unicorn mare sitting next to him.

The blue unicorn took a second to swallow some food that was in her mouth. "Oh no, it's quite alright."

Borderline sat up in the chair. "What's your name?" He asked her.

The blue unicorn ate another chocolate muffin before answering his question.

"Doctor Colgate." She finally replied.

"Doctor?"

"Yes, I am a dentist in Ponyville." She answered just before eating another chocolate muffin.

"I never expected a dentist to have such a sweet tooth." Borderline smirked as he eyed the plate overflowing with chocolate snacks.

"Yes, well.." Colgate stuttered for a moment. "I can't eat these while I am working with other ponies. So I simply have a few while I am out of town."

Borderline smiled as he laid back into his chair. "I understand completely. Do you mind?" He reached out for one of the muffins. Colgate gave a nod as he took one. Borderline was not a big fan of chocolate, but he will settle for anything at this point. He got through half of the muffin before looking over to Colgate again. "Would you happen to have a deck of cards?"  He asked between bites. Colgate reached into her saddlebag next to her chair and tossed him a sealed box. He finished the muffin before opening the box. He pulled out the deck of cards and shuffled through them. He tossed out the two Discord cards, as well as the rules card. Colgate couldn't help but look over to Borderline, who passed the piled of cards around his hooves as if it was levitation magic.

"You're quite handy with those." She spoke out.

"Thank you. I have a lot of free time." He met her gaze, but didn't stop shuffling the cards.

"Why would you spend so much time shuffling cards?"

"So I can read pony's minds."

Colgate almost choked on her food at that remark.

"What did you just say?" She asked.

"I can read pony's minds with these." He fanned the cards. "Care to try?"

Colgate smiled and nodded her head.

"Okay. Think of a number one to nine." Borderline shuffled the cards one last time.

"Got it!"

"It was four. Give me a challenge."

Colgate's eyes shot open. She stammered a while before once again saying she was ready.

He placed the cards in her hooves, and pulled sixteen of them at random.

"Do you think any of these cards have your number on them?"

"Well, yes. There is a 20% chan-"

"No. These are all face cards." Borderline turned the cards to Colgate. Then put them on the arm of the chair.

Borderline stared into Colgate's eyes for an awkward amount of time.

"5 of Clubs" He finally said.

Colgate was shocked once again.

"How did you know that?" She exclaimed.

"Your hoof was on it." Borderline took the cards back into his possession and shuffled them one last time.

"How did you know that was the card? I didn't even know!"

"Secret"

"But!.."

"This is my stop." Borderline hastily got up and quickly moved away from Colgate.

Borderline made it to the door as the train slowed to a stop. He was the first one off the train. The station was very crowded, no doubt from ponies wanting to board the train to head to Canterlot for the upcoming event. Borderline scanned the crowd, looking for a familiar face. After a few seconds of looking back and forth, he saw a crudely painted "Borderline" on a white wooden sign. The sign was being held by a yellow filly. Once he got closer, he saw a familiar orange mare standing next to her.

"Howdy. I got the call a few hours ago."

"Thanks for helping me out."

"What is it you need to be doing, exactly?"

"I have to get fourty hours of work done."

"What did you do to get yourself in that situation?"

"I...uh." Borderline froze.

"You what?" The orange mare asked again.

"I-I-I-I damaged a food cart." Borderline choked out.

"Ha! I reckon I could get Rainbow to help me out on the farm if that's what they do to ya."

Borderline tried to laugh with her.

"Mister, what's that in your hoof?" The yellow filly pointed to  the deck of cards.

"Oh. These are playing cards." Borderline handed them to the yellow filly.

"Well, he have a lot of work to do. I'll show ya around the farm. Then we do the actual work tommorrow mornin."

"Yes, um, I apologize, but I forgot your name."

"It's Applejack."

"And I'm Applebloom!"

"I am really grateful you kept your word back from Filly Delphia."

"Well, I did send out notes sayin that I needed help for the upcommin festival. I'm glad that I met you before this."

"Either way. I'm ready to work."