Ace in the Hole

Chapter Four – Pearl

“Kaleidoscope eyes sparkle at the world. My emerald city, downtown girl…-Panic at the Disco”

Last night was spectacular.  When I got back to the guild, I made sure to show off my newly found cutie mark.  When asked about the story behind the mark, I recounted my day’s adventures (I may have exaggerated a bit to impress the mares but that’s irrelevant). Everypony decided that I should come up with a new name, so it better reflected my cutie mark.  I mean how does Shrimp have anything to do with a barbed arrow? (I would have died if my cutie mark had been a fishing net.  I would have been Shrimp forever) I decided to go with Surefire because my special ability had something to do with my shooting abilities.

To celebrate getting my cutie mark, I decided that I was going to take the day off.  After all, that had been my plan all along.  I traded the rabbit I had caught to somepony who offered me five apples for it.  I had food to eat and a day to do whatever I pleased.  I left the shelter after a nice long sleep and a generous breakfast of two apples.  I quickly became engrossed in my thoughts and began wandering around the Drudge.

One thing I thought about was evil and how it manifested itself in different ponies.  Smoothtongue had been pure evil.  She held nothing sacred and would do anything for power.  Other ponies, like Gizmo, hardly ever talked to people for fear of offending them.  I’m sure that those ponies must have evil thoughts but they never acted upon them.  After a long time pondering this, I still couldn’t figure out why some ponies could be so insensitive.  Were they born without compassion or had they been treated badly and felt like they should treat others the same way?  In the end, I realized that it didn’t matter.  The ponies that let evil overcome them, in my mind at least, were less than ponies.  How can a pony that throws away friends without thought and causes pain, be as good as a pony that wants to help others?

Amid these musings, I stumbled into a back alley in the Drudge.  What I saw there shocked me out of my daydreaming.  Lying on the ground was a pony that I had never seen before.  It was a white mare that was bleeding from cuts over her entire body.  I gagged at the sight of her.  The wounds looked fresh and the pony was unconscious.  She seemed to be a little younger than me.  I knew there was no way I was going to leave her to die, but I also realized that I had no clue where I was.  During the time I had spent roaming the Drudge, I had gotten lost and everywhere I looked there was only unfamiliar territory.  I went through all the options I had available to me.  I could go back and look for the guild and maybe get somepony to help me. I could try to ask for help around here, but that meant that I might find somepony that didn’t wish this mare well.  ‘You could just leave her here and pretend you never found her like all the other ponies before you did.’ Where did that thought come from?  There was absolutely no chance I was leaving her here.  I had to take her with me or else she was going to die from the loss of blood.

I carefully pulled the mares body over my back and I could feel fresh blood oozing from her wounds.  The warm blood soaked into my coat and I knew that I had to get this pony help as fast as possible.  I began making my way back in the direction I assumed I had come from while trying not to jostle the mare on my back.  Her body felt warm and I could feel the fever that was beginning to build in her body.  After a few dead ends, I finally found the stream that cut through parts of the Drudge. If I went upstream a ways, I was sure that I could find the guild and things would be okay or so I told myself.  I kept moving toward my goal and I noticed that the sun was also beginning to set.  Without the weight on my back, I would have already been in the guild and content after a nice day off.  I also remembered another problem, to stay in the guild a pony had to pay.  That meant that this pony wouldn’t be able to spend the night unless I paid for her.  I wasn’t going to be greedy and keep the deer I still had for myself, but I couldn’t help relishing the thought of at least one more day off.  ‘Well, if all my days off are going to turn out like today then maybe I don’t want a day off.’

I reached the guild a few minutes before sunset and immediately rushed to Doc to get the mare some help.  I promised Doc that I had pay ready for him if he could save her.  He agreed to give it his best try, although he didn’t appear to be to certain about her recovery.  After an arrangement was settled on the cost of care, I ran out to get my deer and brought it in to one of the gryphons.

“Here,” I said, “take this.  This is for the injured pony and everything over one night of her stay give to Doc.”  The gryphon simply nodded and took my deer away.

Everybody had already seen the mare before I was done getting her set up at the guild.  I hadn’t wanted the whole guild knowing about her and pestering her, but I guess blood trails aren’t the best way to keep something a secret.  I didn’t feel like talking about what had happened today but I eventually gave into the incessant questioning.  I explained how I had found her and brought her back. I refused to say anything more than that.

My mind was a complete mess when I again had time to think. ‘Who is this pony? Why was this done to her? Why did I save her? Maybe she had been left to die for a reason.’  I went to go clean myself in the communal tub before going back to check on how the mare was doing.  When I got there, I found that a couple of the mares from the guild had come to fawn over me.  They told me how brave I was and offered to pleasure me in any way I wanted.  I refused them because nothing could capture my attention more than the injured mare.  I don’t even know her name and yet she is all I could think of.  Funny, a day ago, I would have jumped at the offers and now could refuse them without a second thought.  I was startled when I looked down at the tub and realized that entire tub looked like it was filled with blood.  I checked myself for cuts before realizing that it had been the blood from the pony.  How was I so focused on her that I couldn’t think of anything else?

After I was washed, I went to Doc’s working area to check on her.  I finally noticed her cutie mark, a beautiful pearl that outshone the dark oyster that it came from.  I decided that until I knew her real name, I would refer to her as Pearl. Doc had cleaned her up from the blood and bandaged most of her body.  Without the blood covering most of her features, I noticed how beautiful she was.  She had a pure white coat with a light pink mane.  She had a small build, which made me assume that she was younger than me.  She looked to have been in good health before she had been beaten because she didn’t look emaciated most of the other young ponies that lived in the Drudge.

It was filled with rage at seeing all the wounds on Pearl’s body, and I swore to myself that I would do anything in my power to make sure she made it through this all right.  Tomorrow would be a day of hard work.  I intended to go hunting again, and I would need to buy or steal a bow to so that I can keep my kills.  I lay beside Pearl’s sickbed all night and eventually fell into an uneasy sleep.

I awoke early the next morning with the intent of going to find a bow and maybe some arrows.  I went and reported what I planned on doing to the Mistress who appeared to nod and mark down my job for the day. ‘Where can I find someone who sells bows?’ I thought to myself.  I had only been hunting once and I still could use a little help figuring things out.  I went to go see Gizmo and asked her about purchasing a weapon for hunting.  She had heard about Pearl and was willing to help me by providing me with a small knife and an old short bow.  She had spent my day off making me a short bow after one of her traps had caught a rabbit.  I was elated.  This meant that all I needed was some arrows.

Gizmo recommended a hunting store that the lords used.  I guess it was a logical place to start, but there was a problem.  I didn’t fit in with all of the other lordly ponies.  I would have to ask for some help.   I went to see Starlight, one of the mares that specialized in stealing from the rich.  She always kept herself clean and pristine so that the rich would not know the difference between her and one of their own (most of them ignore each other and are stuck up anyway).  I requested a quiver full of arrows in return for one of my extra rabbits.  The way I figured it out, I was going to need at least 3 rabbits to be able to pay for everything I needed for myself and Pearl.  Looks like I’m going to have to work my flank off to provide for myself.

I worked harder than I ever had before in the next few days.  Hunting was steadily becoming easier for me and every day I was able to catch the three rabbits I needed.  Unfortunately for me, this wasn’t enough for me to get a decent amount of food for myself. I decided to spend my nights learning to make my own arrows so that I could cut out a third of my expenses.  Another problem I had was camouflage.  I tried to hide in a tree similar to what I had done on my first day hunting, but because my black coat and red mane stood out against the color of the tree, it was harder for me to remain undetected.  I fixed this problem by adjusting how I hunted.  Instead of having an overhead view, which had been convenient, I now hid in the densely shaded portions of the forest and rained death with arrow after arrow.  I was also becoming steadily more accurate with every day I practiced and now I could better conserve my precious arrows.  I soon was able to feel where my shots were heading, and using this feeling, I could judge whether the target needed another arrow or not.

Another problem that I faced was finding animals to hunt.  The animals appeared to have certain areas of the forest that they preferred and if I could only figure this out I would be able to make the most out of the daylight and bring in even more.  This task took most of my time at night and with Gizmo’s experience I was able to piece a pattern together.  In return for Gizmo helping me, I promised to test out her inventions and sometimes made suggestions to her on possible ways to improve the crossbow she was building based upon my own field experience.  The first two days after I had found Pearl, I was able to catch three rabbits and pay the dues with that, but then I had to also pay to stay the nights in the guild for myself.  This meant that if I wanted to eat, I was going to have to either brave nights outside or catch at least five animals a day.  The next two days were hard work, but I managed to come out with 5 kills by the end of the day.  I was feeling comfortable with my ability to hunt and was confident that I could keep up with paying for both me and Pearl.

Pearl remained unconscious and Doc was uncertain that she ever would be conscious, even though her wounds had started to heal and her fever had broken on the fourth day.  Any time I had left over, I spent beside her sickbed in hopes that she would wake up and see the pony that had saved her.  In my imagination, she would fawn for me and we could make a life together.  Then again, I knew nothing about her and she might just turn out to be like the other mares that usually chose to ignore me.  Something about her made her seem different than the other mares, whether or not it was my imagination or something else, I could not tell, but it gave me hope.

The fifth day after I had brought Pearl back had come around.  I went through my usual hunting routine and managed to kill two rabbits early into the day.  I was elated.  Hunting still gave me an unusual feeling of excitement due to the anticipation of the kill ahead.  I could say that I was enjoying myself, even though taking the lives of innocent creatures still made me feel a bit disgusted with myself.

With more experience, I was able to think about things while waiting in the bushes for my targets. Besides Pearl, one of the main things I thought about was fletching.  I have been spending all the time I could find refining my abilities, but my arrows still came out bent and unusable.  There is no way I can afford paying Starlight for more arrows so I needed to learn fast to keep up with my demand of ammo.  Feathers are important for making arrows and so I look for feathers that fall from nests during my travels.  I’m not sure exactly how different sized feathers affected the flight of the arrows so I collected some of every size so that I could find which type worked best for me.

I almost fell asleep in the bush waiting for the enough rabbits to gather around my hiding spot to begin shooting.  I guess a lack of sleep isn’t good if you’re going to be doing something that involves not moving for a long time while staying alert.  I tried to shake myself awake as I got ready to start taking shots at these rabbits. ‘Wait a second,’ my brain told me. ‘You just SHOOK yourself awake!’  That thought certainly woke me up.  I now began to notice the rabbits leaping away from my hiding place.  As quickly as I could, I pulled out my bow and shot an arrow at one of the slower rabbits.  My shot missed by a good inch and broke upon impact with a tree.  I cursed. How was I supposed to get the five animals I needed tonight.

I doubted I would be able to eat tonight but I still reasoned I could get another two kills at the most promising hunting spot I had, a small stream that most of the animals drank from.  I was on my way to the stream when I noticed a rabbit that looked to have been caught in some sort of trap.  The rabbit had one of its legs brutally snapped in two.  I knew that the rabbit stood no chance of making it through the night and would probably be eaten by some other animal later.  I did what I had to and now had three animals for the Guild. ‘Good,’ I thought, ‘that will cover Pearl and now all I have to do is get two rabbits for myself.’

I made my way down to the stream and found a nice dark area in the underbrush and awaited the rabbits.  I made sure not to allow myself to doze off again.  The animals began gathering around the stream.  I would normally have started shooting then, but I doubted that I would be able take down two before they got away. It was getting late and this would be my last attempt before going home.  Then I saw it.  A deer had appeared out of the forest and was cautiously approaching the water to get a drink.  A deer would be a real test of my hunting abilities.  I would have to kill the deer with one or two arrows; otherwise, the deer would be able to run away before I could finish him.  I slid out from the underbrush and readied an arrow on my bow.  I set another arrow beside me so that I would be able to shoot twice to insure the kill.  I pulled the string back and began visualizing the path of the arrow.  I took a deep breath and shot.  The second arrow was on its way in no time and the shots were lined up perfectly.  At least one of the arrows was going to go through the deer’s heart.  Well they would have, if three crossbow bolts hadn’t hit the deer in the throat first.  The deer crumpled and my arrows flew high.

It took me a second to realize what was happening.  The crossbow bolts had come from the crossbows of the owner of the hunting grounds and his two friends.  ‘I’m screwed,’ I thought.  There was no way that the other ponies hadn’t seen my arrows and been notified of my position from the direction the arrows had come from.  Now I could hear the ponies running towards me.  I bolted in the direction of the densest woods so that the other ponies wouldn’t see me.  I dodged into the bushes and hoped that the other ponies had lost track of me. ZIP!  A crossbow bolt stuck out of the tree right beside me.  No, they definitely knew where I was.  I sprinted as fast as I could trying to stick to the denser forest so I could be seen less and they wouldn’t be able to get a clear shot at me.  With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I pumped my legs faster than I ever had before.  No matter where I ran, I could not shake my pursuers.  These ponies had plenty of experience hunting (it’s all the rich ponies did in their free time) and they were able to follow me like they had followed the deer earlier.  I just hoped I wouldn’t end up like the deer. Another bolt was fired at me and this one struck home.  The bolt must have struck something before hitting me, but it was still stuck in my hip.  I yelped and ran faster even though my vision was turning black around the edges.  I knew that if I passed out there would be no hope for me.

I was beginning to get tired.  Being a smaller pony, I just never had the endurance that other ponies had and it took most of my strength not passing out from the pain of the bolt stuck in my hip.  The only advantage that I did have was that of my mind.  I decided my best approach would be to lead them off my trail and escape while they were confused.  I knew that I would have only one attempt at tricking them.  If my plan failed, they would catch up to me and it would be over.  Not just me, I realized, Pearl would die too without anybody to provide for her.  I decided that the best option would be to create a false trail.  One of the stories told in the guild was about a pony leading hunters down a false trail to save an innocent animal.  Hopefully it worked on not so innocent animals, such as myself, too.  I dashed behind a grove of willows and made some deep hoof marks going in the opposite direction of the base camp we had.  I lightly traced my steps back to the place where I had gotten off track and was going to move in the other direction while wiping my tracks clear.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for this kind of approach.  I could hear the hunters not too far away from the dense grove and so I took the second best option, climbing the tallest willow and hoping for the best.

The hunters came crashing into the grove and began following my fake trail.  After they had gone a ways, I hopped down from the tree branch and had to stifle a cry of pain. I quickly and quietly ran away while the hunters were looking for where my trail picked up.  I made sure to cover my tracks for a while and eventually made it back to the base camp.  I was exhausted and bloody from the confrontation.  I pulled the crossbow bolt out of my hip.  It’s a good thing the bolt wasn’t barbed or poisoned, but it still hurt like hell pulling it out.  I was definitely ready to head back to the guild.

I was looking forward to a bath and some much needed rest when I realized that I didn’t have enough animals to pay for my own stay tonight.  I walked into the guild and traded in my kills for Pearl.  I went to go see her before I was forced out for the night.  Doc told me that she had started to seem like she was conscious for a while but kept lapsing back into her coma-like state.  I gave Pearl a kiss before I left.  Hopefully this wouldn’t be the last time I saw her, but I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t see anything ever again.  Her life right now, depended on my ability to provide for her.  She still might die with the care, but she had no chance if I didn’t make it through the night.