Ace in the Hole

Chapter Ten – Surefire the Sharpshooter

‘And I can hit a target through a telescope…-Flobots'

The Commander had already gotten ready for our initiation into the Resistance.  Pearl and I were separated so that they could test us in our best areas.  I was taken to the practice field for my tests.

They started me with melee weapons.  Good god was I bad with those.  I was still as clumsy as ever.  I guess that happens when you only use a knife to finish off something that can barely move.  I was pretty much the laughing stock of all the more experienced ponies there.  The guards who had been leading me around today looked disappointed, as though they expected Windstorm’s friend to be the best at everything.  I was ashamed of my performance and the bad light that I was casting on Windstorm with my incompetence.  Being small, I performed poorly with the flails and maces, and I was only somewhat better with a knife.  They had tried finding armor for me to wear while practicing.  They hadn’t found anything in my size so I had been outfitted with loosely fitting chainmail.  Needless to say, the testing went by horribly.  I just hoped that they weren’t making Pearl look stupid with whatever task they gave her.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally got me into my true love, ranged weapons.  Why hadn’t they just started me here?  They had spent at least three hours marking on paper how bad I was with each and every melee weapon they had at their disposal.  Whatever.  Now was my time to shine.  They started me up with a short bow and put the targets ten yards away. ‘Really?  Is this some sort of joke?  I could hit that in my sleep.’ I shot off all ten of the arrows that they had given me and hit the bull’s-eye every time.  They moved me back 5 yards and handed me the arrows back.  I did the same from fifteen yards and the same for twenty.  It was too easy.  They just continued returning the arrows and backing me up.  The crowd that had gathered to watch me was becoming impressed with my skills.  I was also enjoying the experience.  I had never had real targets to practice on and now I had a real chance to test what my maximum range was.  I missed the bull’s-eye for the first time at thirty five yards.  It was still within the second ring and I was pretty impressed at my skills.  I continued moving further and further back, my accuracy slowly decreasing.  I was beginning to miss shots at seventy-five yards due to the lack of power on the bow.  The ponies that were testing me stopped me there and moved onto javelins and throwing knives.  I was okay with them, but I couldn’t generate much power with my small build.  As a result, I could only barely hit the target at twenty yards.  That’s where they stopped me and gave me a new weapon to test.  The next test was with the long bow.  I had actually never shot one before and I couldn’t even hit the target with it.  I wasn’t able to pull the bowstring back due to the high tension.

I was beginning to feel discouraged until they brought out the crossbow.  I asked them if I could use my own personal crossbow.  They decided that it would be fine and so I began lining up my shot my usual way.  I felt very comfortable with my crossbow, and over the past couple of weeks, I had come to know its capabilities.  I was hitting the target every time until fifty yards, when one of the bolts I used had a clipped feather.  I fell into a rhythm in my shooting and the world around me began to fade out.  All that was left in my mind was the bolt and the target.  In my mind, I would pull the target towards me until it appeared, in my mind’s eye, to be directly in front of me.  Whenever I felt this, I could shoot the bolt and I knew exactly where I had hit the target.

I was pulled out of my state of extreme focus by one of the guards.  He told me that if I hit a bull’s-eye I would tie the Resistance’s record.  I was one-hundred-twenty-five yards away from the target.  According to the guard, a pegasus named Dead Eye had hit the target from this range with a long bow.  I was surprised that I was still able to hit the target with my crossbow, even if it was very powerful (thanks to Gizmo).  I was about to take aim again when I noticed the crowd that had gathered around to watch a record get tied.  I wouldn’t have thought a pony shooting a crossbow would be that interesting, but apparently there wasn’t much else to do in the camp.  I was beginning to get a bit nervous, but I pulled the crossbow up to my eye level and began calling the target towards me.  With the pressure that was now put on me, it was much more difficult to do but I managed.  I pulled the trigger and heard the audience take in a breath of air as the missile flew towards its destination.  In my mind, I knew that my bolt would hit home and was rewarded by a collective cheer from my audience.  I was making a name for myself here in the Resistance.  My guards handed me another bolt.

“Think you can do it five more yards away?” One of the guards asked me with a smirk.

“Of course,” I said, returning a cocky smile.  I stepped back to where the guards indicated and took aim again.  This was for the record.  The audience had grown silent as they eagerly awaited my shot.  I tried my same technique again and found that I was having trouble even seeing what I was supposed to be shooting at.  I decided to take an instinctive shot and pulled the trigger.  Another gasp from my audience and then I waited either for cheers or silence.  Surprisingly, it was a mixture of both sighs of disappointment and yelps of excitement.  The guard and I walked back to the target to investigate what had happened.  Apparently, my bolt had skided off the ground and then popped up into the target.

The crowd that had gathered around me did not know whether to I had broken a record or had tied.  I didn’t know how this was going to count either, but I assumed that I will just have tied the record.  The guards conversed among themselves and decided that I would remain tied with Dead Eye.  We walked back to a small tent in the camp.  I was glad that I had at least tied the record of another pony in the camp and was very surprised when Dead Eye himself walked in to congratulate me.  I had thought that he would have been grumpy that some younger pony had taken his title.

“That was some amazing shooting there son.” Dead eye said, putting his hoof around my shoulder.  “I’ve ever seen a pony that could shoot quite as well as that.  When I shoot, I completely missed the damn thing at that length.  You even hit the thing although it bounced.  The Commander asked me to train you herself.  I’d be proud to teach you all I know.  You’re good with that crossbow son, but you don’t know a thing about any of the other weapons.  What would you do if you got in a fight and the thing jammed or you ran outta bolts?  I’m going to teach you how to use the other ones so you can stay alive if you lose your favorite one.”

Oh boy.  This was going to be great.  I was going to learn all about weapons from one of the best in the camp, or so I heard.  I’ve never had anypony to teach me anything before.  Well maybe except from the little bit of training that I had learning from the other ponies in the guild.

“Yes, sir,” I said, saluting him.  I would have been ready to start training right at that moment if Pearl hadn’t walked in.  Pearl looked to be tired but pleased, a look that I’m sure was reflected in me.  Dead Eye decided to take his leave and leave me alone to talk to her.

“What’s up Pearl?  How did your testing go?” I asked.  I was eager to hear what the day had been like for her.

“It was great.  They started me with some common tasks which I was okay at, like mending clothes and sharpening weapons.  I did fine at most of the stations until we reached a hospital.  I felt so bad for some of the fillies there that I just had to stop and talk to them for a while and see how they were doing.  In the meanwhile, they decided to let me try my hand at nursing them and I did just as well as any other experienced nurse.  The Commander came to watch me and told me that, if I enjoyed it, I could be a nurse like some of the other ponies.  Isn’t that great Surefire?  I get to be a nurse and help people like you when you get hurt.  I’ll learn so much that I can heal you or Windstorm without even the smallest problem.” Pearl said, obviously excited about being able to help other ponies.  Just another thing I loved about her character.

“That sounds amazing Pearl! I guess I’m going to have to get hurt a bit more often so that you can help me,” I said jokingly.

“If you want to get yourself hurt on purpose, I don’t think there’s any cure for you,” she said smiling.  Windstorm walked in just moments later.

“So they told me about you two.  It seems that everybody views you as an improvement to our camp.  I view you two as the only people that will talk to me as though I’m just any other pony.  We do need to talk about leaving however.  I propose that we leave in three days’ time.  That should give you guys enough time to acclimate to the camp, learn a few basic lessons, and then we will leave for the Sunfire Desert.  We will go with a small escort of guards, but it will be better than being here.  We talk freely and hang out like we did back at the guild.”

“That sounds good Windstorm,” I said.  “What about our teacher’s though?  Are we leaving them behind here or are they going to give us some lessons while on the road?  I’m really looking forward to training with Dead Eye.  Who knows, maybe I might need those skills if something goes wrong in the Sunfire Desert.”

“I don’t want to fall behind in my studies either,” chimed in Pearl.  “Nurse Night Gale told me that she would teach me all she knew.”

“Well if both of you want them and feel like they wouldn’t intrude on our trip then that’s fine by me.  The Commander suggested that I take your teachers with us, but I thought that you two would rather get away.  I guess I was wrong,” said Windstorm.  “I guess I was also being a bit jealous.  I wanted you two for my own.”

“It’s okay Windstorm.  We all get a bit jealous sometimes.” I said.  “At least you are willing to admit when you were in the wrong.  Anyways, when do we get to start training?  Dead Eye promised to teach me with the weapons I wasn’t good with.”

Windstorm smiled.  He seemed to be glad that we were willing to accept him for who he was.  “You can start training tomorrow morning.  Tonight though, I just want to have some time to talk like friends.”

“I’d enjoy that,” Pearl said.  “What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t talk to you?”  Pearl began discussing everything she had learned today.  Windstorm and I sat close to the fire that we had just outside of our tent.  We listened carefully, happy that we had this time just to enjoy each other’s company.

The next day dawned and I was up early.  I was excited by the prospect of learning to use new weapons.  In my mind, I pictured myself as a pony clad in shining plate mail rushing in with a sword to save a beautiful pony (who I imagined as Pearl) from some nefarious dogs.  In reality, I realized that, even with a lot of work, I was only likely to be a bit above average with the ranged weapons and probably a bit below average with the melee ones.  It’s not like training for days was going to get rid of the fact that I was too small to generate enough power to deliver crushing blows with a mace.  I hoped that Dead Eye would be able to see beyond my obvious impairment and somehow make a program that would help me learn to use weapons that I was clumsy with.

Pearl’s teacher, nurse Night as she preferred to be called, had come by the tent earlier and taken Pearl away to show her the tricks of the trade.  I eagerly awaited Dead Eye’s arrival.  He only arrived two hours after Pearl’s teacher and still appeared to be groggy.  He was definitely not a morning pony.  He yawned and explained that we were going to head off to a clearing in the woods where he trained.  When I asked him why we were going there instead of the practice grounds, he told me to just wait and he would explain once we got there.

We arrived in a place in the woods that seemed to have been naturally formed.  There was a small cave nearby that would shade us when we got tired and the canopy was not obscuring the sun.  All in all, it was a beautiful place but it was about an hour’s walk away from the camp.  Dead Eye finally seemed to relax, he always seemed kind of coiled up at camp.

“I find this place relaxing,” said Dead Eye, “And so we’ll be training here.  Nopony knows where this place is except Windstorm and the Commander.  I brought some training supplies out here last night while y’all were talking.”

“I really like this place,” I told Dead Eye earnestly, “but why do we have to walk all the way out here.  I mean surely the time spent walking out here would have been better spent training at the practice grounds.”

“Why sure it could,” said Dead Eye.  “Why didn’t I think of that earlier?” he said sarcastically. “Do you not think there’s a reason people don’t know where we are?  I brought you out here because I have to tell you one of the Resistance’s secrets.  We know there are spies in the camp; we would be naive to think we didn’t.  So we come out here to train because it’s hard to follow us without being seen and it’s secluded.”  Dead Eye seemed to be finished.

“So what’s this secret that you’ve been hiding from the camp?” I asked.

“We have a few ponies like us, sharpshooters, spread out throughout the camp.  Though they appear to be learning different trades, they are all trained to be assassins.  Most of them practiced with me for a while and could hit a target accurately up to one hundred yards away.  You, however, have shown that you can shoot beyond that range even without practice.  You’re special and we need you to master any and every weapon at your disposal.  Chances are that when we finally attack Smoothtounge or whatever usurper holds the throne, you are going to be the one we assign to kill the target.  Simple as that.”

“So you guys are trying to turn me into a cold blooded killer?  Am I getting this right?” I asked, slightly annoyed that they had signed me up for this without my approval.

Dead Eye started to crack up.  “What did you think we were going to do with your talents?  Make you hunt little bunnies?  Ha.  No I think inside of you, you knew that you would now be shooting at things that had feelings and can communicate with you.  You also don’t have option of backing out now.  If you do, I won’t hesitate to kill you and label you as a “training accident”.  Think about that when you start feeling that you weren’t cut out for this.”

“What does Windstorm think of this?  He knows right?” I asked.  I guessed he was right.  I figured I would be shooting at ponies, but when the thought was actually voiced I found it repugnant.

“Oh thank you for bringing up that point,” said Dead Eye.  “You can’t bring this up to either of your friends.  Windstorm doesn’t know and just thinks I’m training you out here because I don’t like people.  That’s actually partly true.  I don’t trust anyone.  Windstorm is too honorable and wouldn’t stand the thought of killing an enemy in their sleep.  I don’t trust those kind-hearted ponies not to spread rumors of a force such as ours so don’t tell that mare either.  Enough chit chat. Are you ready to train or are you not capable of handling this?”

“I’m in,” I said, trying to convince myself that what I was doing was right and not just murder.

Dead Eye started training me with melee weapons as they were my weak point.  Dead Eye began showing me how to properly hold each weapon.  He stuck to the smaller weapons because I would have a greater chance of carrying them with me.  The knife was my strongest weapon.  Dead Eye spent a few hours teaching me how to keep my balance when using weapons.  It took me longer than he expected and caused both of us a great bit of frustration.  When I was able to actually use the knife without falling flat on my face, Dead Eye began getting in skirmishes with me.  He started by defending himself against me with a knife.  Dead Eye had no weapon, but he quickly showed me that he was still far from disarmed.  After I rushed in to take a stab with my dulled knife, Dead Eye grabbed my hoof with one hoof and punched me square in the face with his other hoof.  Apparently he knocked me out with that move and was disappointed with my performance.  We continued our skirmishes but I learned that it was in my best interest to not overextend.  I lost every single practice fight against Dead Eye and was completely covered in bruises.  According to Dead Eye, I was lucky that I had black coat.  The bruises wouldn’t show and so I wouldn’t have to make excuses about them to my friends.

We still had a few hours of light left when we began using short swords.  Because of the weight of the sword, it was easier for me to counter-balance myself and I could actually swing the weapon.  We practiced for a while with evenly matched short swords and I was beginning to feel that I wouldn’t be completely hopeless.  That is until, in one fight, I ran towards dead eye with my sword raised after I had disarmed him (somehow a chink in his sword had gotten caught in mine and I was able to rip it out of this hoofs.  Dead Eye, seeing that I would most likely get my first hit on him that day, pushed himself off of the tree that was beside him.  He leaped over my head as I charged passed him.  I attempted to stop but was carried forward by my charge.  Dead Eye landed a kick in my flank and I went sprawling face first in the dust.  My short sword had landed underneath me and cut a small chunk of my skin off.  I was scared.  I had never seen so much blood coming out of my own body before.  I looked over to Dead Eye for some assistance.

“You’re going to get hurt kid,” He said as I looked over at him.  “You might be thinking that you’re going to die from that wound but it’s not that deep.  This is something you’re going to need to learn.  You’re probably going to be on your own after you get in a fight and you’re going to need to know how to repair your body.  I’ll teach you the basic stuff, you’re going to need some alm leaves to numb the pain and then you can use some of those large leaves over there to tie the wound closed,” he said pointing.  “Though normally when you get hurt, it should be from somebody else’s weapon, not your own.”

I hurried to comply with what he told me to do.  He showed me which plants the alm leaves were and showed me how to properly tie a wound together.  I had to admit, the blood had looked scary at first, but when I knew what to do, it wasn’t actually that bad.  The wound had felt as though it was extremely deep because the dull blade had been pulling my coat off of the muscle and not cleanly cutting.  That meant that the wound would take a long time to heal, but it hadn’t cut too deep to do any serious damage.

I was ready to head back home when Dead Eye threw me a short bow.  I caught it instinctively and was confused.  “Why aren’t we going back to camp.  I’m hurt and it’s going to be dark soon.”  Really I was kind of disheartened by the wound and didn’t want to get hurt any more.  I didn’t really want to get into a fight with bows either for that matter.  We were both good at shooting and someone was going to have to walk back to camp impaled on an arrow.

“We aren’t going back any time soon.  We’re going to be out here every night until it’s time for you to go to bed. We’re probably going to be assaulting Bastion soon after we get back from getting reinforcements.  Reinforcements mean more food needed for everypony and ponies getting bored.  We can’t afford to keep them here long.  This affects you because we are probably going to send you in when we get back.  That means that we don’t have the luxury of time training you.  A month isn’t enough time to properly train you to like the other sharpshooters.  I’m going to focus this first week on getting a basic grasp on melee weapons and then we are going to be focusing heavily on ranged weapons and stealth.  We have to practice at night because you have natural camouflage.  The night is your friend, Surefire.  You may have been afraid of it you’re entire life, but oh boy, you’re going to learn to be one with it.  Does that answer your question son?”

“Yeah, I guess,” I replied, still sour that we were still going to be practicing.  Luckily, however, it seemed that we weren’t going to be fighting with each other.  Rather we began practicing different positions that I could possibly find myself in.  Dead Eye gave me some tips on how I could improve my form with the bow and I lapped up his instructions.  After my initial reluctance to practice, I took to it with great ferocity.  Dead Eye finally began to look pleased with what he saw.  After about two hours of training with the short bow, we were finally finished.  Both of us were tired and hungry by this time and Dead Eye began leading me home.

“Okay now son.  This is what you are going to tell your friends when we get back to camp...”  Dead Eye told me that I how to explain my time in the woods to my friends and made me swear not to tell anypony about this group of sharpshooters.  “You don’t even tell Windstorm if he commands you to understand.  Lie.  And also don’t show off your talents.  You did enough of that already yesterday at the shooting range.  We don’t want the enemy to know that you are the real pony they should be worried about.  We might even have to stage you breaking your shooting hoof sometime to make you seem useless.”

“Wait we’re actually going to break my leg?” I said alarmed.

“No, no.  Maybe I might sprain it for you but it should just be pretend,” said Dead Eye.  We were beginning to get close to the camp.  I was beginning to see light in the distance and was eager to see my friends, even though I was going to have to lie to them.  “One last thing,” said Dead Eye, stopping me.  “When we leave for the Sunfire Desert, You are going to also be taking lessons with nurse Night.  It is greatly beneficial to assassins.”

“Wait,” I said confused, “how is it beneficial to killing to know how to heal ponies?”    ‘What? Am I going to shoot Smoothtounge and then heal her and hold her hostage?’ I thought.

“Remember this,” Dead Eye said.  “What heals can be countered and can also kill in high enough concentrations.  I also thought you might enjoy spending some time with that beautiful mare friend that you have.  I guess you don’t…”

“No, no,” I said hurriedly. “I definitely appreciate the opportunity.”

“Okay, we’ll talk about it more tomorrow,” said Dead Eye.  “Go on now, you can spend the rest of the evening anyway you want.”  With that I ran off to camp to go and see my friends.