Ace in the Hole

Chapter Six – Paying the Rent

“Now that I know what I’m without, you can’t just leave me. Breathe into me and make me real, bring me to life...-Evanescence“

The next day, Windstorm and I got up early so that we could get a head start.  The Mistress assigned us to do some scavenging and stealing from the food market.  This wouldn’t be a bad place to start, as we didn’t know what type of job Windstorm was the best at.  While we walked to the market, I explained to him who Pearl was and how I have been working to keep her alive.  Windstorm agreed to help me and for that I was grateful.  I’m not sure how I would have been able to provide for two ponies solely on my own.

Windstorm had grey coat with a mane that looked like the sick green color of a storm right before it hit.  He was very gallant and despised those who took advantage of others.  He was a creature of honor and felt that he owed his life to me for saving him from the hood ponies.  It shamed me that I never had the courage to tell him that I probably wouldn’t have tried saving him if I hadn’t been forced to.  Windstorm’s cutie mark was a tornado, which reflected his speed in the sky.  He had shown me his flying abilities after we awoke from our nap and I had been deeply impressed.  He zipped through the clouds like an arrow that I shot from my bow and when he landed, he claimed that he could normally go faster but his wing was injured from the fight the night before.  I believed him too.  His character wouldn’t allow him to exaggerate because he seemed to value honesty more than anything.

We made it to the market right as it opened.  This was when people were the most cautious, when they had no customers and the most produce.  I took some time to show Windstorm some tricks that I had picked up over the years of being in the guild.  Always look like an honest buyer and then help the vendor if they drop something.  That gains you their trust.  Then you have to wait until they start talking to somebody else or are otherwise distracted.  That’s when you go in and take a few things of little value.  Chances are that they will not notice the missing goods, and if you can do this with a lot of the vendors, then a lot of low value items will add up to a good days work.

Windstorm resented the idea of stealing but I managed to get him to practice on me.  He tried his best, I’ll give him that, but he was hopeless.  He didn’t have the sleight of hand to steal the goods and because his conscious made him feel bad, you could just tell that he was guilty.  I decided that we would go scavenge some food before we were going to try stealing and risk being caught.  Windstorm didn’t mind taking food that people had thrown out and thanked me for not forcing him to steal.  I had to think of something else, there was only so much we could scavenge and we still needed to get enough to stay at the guild tonight.  One night outside was one night to many in my opinion.

I thought about all I knew of Windstorm.  Loyal, honorable, and courageous were all words that came to mind.  I guess that comes from being son of the royal advisor to the queen.  He was a good flyer, but how was that going to help us pay the rent?  A thought sprung into my head.

“Windstorm!” I called.  “Do you think you could put on a show for the ponies in the market?  If you do that, I can steal and you don’t have to feel guilty.   Ponies might also be willing to give you a few bits to pay if you give them a good enough performance.”

“That’s a great idea Surefire.  There’s only one problem though, I have guards trying to hunt me down and a show isn’t going to be my best option for remaining incognito,” Surefire replied.  “If you could find a way to disguise my appearance, then I would be more than willing to try.”

He was right of course.  I had forgotten that some ponies wanted Windstorm dead. I was going to suggest that he wear one of the cloaks, but then he wouldn’t be able to fly.  The camouflage of the hunting uniforms would make him stand out even more than he already did, and wasn’t going to be an option.  We needed to give him something that would give people something to look at and distort his real appearance.  Paint would be the best option for this, but since paint is expensive, we decided to go with berry juice.  Some crushed berries mixed with mud should provide enough temporary covering to tell us whether this was a good idea or not.  I told Windstorm what types of berries we needed and sent him off to the outskirts of town to find them.  In the meantime, I managed to steal a couple of apples and a few bits from one of the vendor's coin bags. ‘Well maybe this will pay for Pearl,’ I thought to myself, silently hoping that our crazy scheme would work.

Windstorm returned quickly with the required berries and we quickly got underway making his disguise.  I’m not the most artistic pony, but I hoped that my art would be enough.  I added bright, red lightning bolts on his side.  I covered his face with a mask of purple mud.  I colored the feathers of his wing in alternating colors of red and blue.  I covered his flank and his cutie mark with black paint and we were ready to begin our show.  I could hardly tell what color he had originally been, and he looked as though he had gone bathing in different vats of paint.

I spent a few minutes gathering a crowd around Windstorm.  “Fillies and gentlecolts! Come one and all to see the Jester preform a flying act just for you!” After a few minutes of drumming up sales, Windstorm, whom I dubbed the Jester, began his flight.  His unparalleled abilities in flight brought in more ponies in than my yelling.  Though I would have loved to watch the show, I quickly got down to work taking more big ticket items from the marketplace than I normally would.  I met no resistance and before Windstorm’s show was over, I had to make a trip back to where we stashed our goods to deposit the items I had stolen.

Windstorm’s show had been spectacular.  He managed to impress the entire crowd and the spectators all threw money into a collection saddlebag.  I was astounded by the weight of the saddlebag after the show.  I congratulated Windstorm on his stellar performance and we decided to look over our days earnings.  What I had stolen and what we scavenged was enough to pay for all three of us to stay at the guild.  I still hadn’t counted the money we made from the show, but decided that Windstorm should do with it as he would.  I gave him the saddlebag for him to count.  He reported an outstanding total of 47 bits.  That sent my mind reeling.  That was more money than I had ever seen in one place at one time.  I guess that meant that of the twenty or so ponies that had been watching, everypony had donated about two bits.  If we could keep these shows up throughout town, we would be the richest ponies in the Drudge and might make our way out of there into Bastion.  Well, I guess it would be a long shot for us to leave the Drudge without attracting unneeded attention to Windstorm.

“Surefire, I want to use this to help you and Pearl.  If it hadn’t been for you, I would have died and Pearl also would have died without your intervention.”  I was taken by surprise. I mean, I knew that Windstorm was a nice pony and all, but could somebody really be that nice?  "Surefire, you're a good pony and I admire you for doing your best to help a pony in need.  I also want to see Pearl get well, but I do have one request.”  Windstorm looked at me with a questioning look in his eyes, as if asking whether he should continue or not.  I shook my head, still to dumbstruck by his offer to talk.  “Once Pearl is healed and all, do you think that maybe… possibly… you two would consider leaving with me?”

“Leaving? Where are you planning on going to Windstorm?”  Well I guess that it made sense that he would want to leave.  I would want to leave too if the governing body in this area wanted me dead.

“Well, anywhere I guess.  I’ve heard tales of different kingdoms over the mountains to the west and they aren’t as corrupt as this one.”  His eyes glazed and his eyes got a faraway look.  This was something I had to think about.  In reality, there was nothing that was keeping me here in Bastion.  I didn’t have any power or family that kept me rooted here, but I resented the thought of leaving everything and everypony I had ever known.

“I’ll think about it, Windstorm,” I replied, suddenly not as excited as I had been before. “I’m not making any promises to you right now and I can’t speak for Pearl, but I will think on what you’ve said.”

“That’s all I’m asking for, Surefire.  Thank you for not making me have to go through with the theft.  I’m sure that I would have screwed something up and we would have been done for.  You found something that suited my strength and look at the profits that we racked up doing that!”  I smiled.  I guess my crazy scheme had worked after all and now we had enough money to pay the guild for a good while.

“Let’s go back to the guild,” I said.  “I’ll have an answer for you a week after Pearl recovers.”

We arrived back at the guild and immediately turned in our earnings to the gryphons.  I didn’t doubt that we would have had some trouble with the other members of the guild.  After all, what kind of a thief is a thief that passes up the most money they’ve ever seen in one place.  Windstorm and I went to go check on Pearl.  To our surprise, it wasn’t Doc that greeted us at; it was Pearl.  She was awake and appeared to be fine.

Safe to say, neither Windstorm nor I were expecting this turn of events.  I quickly introduced the two of us to her.  I began trying to explain to her how she had come to be here until she interrupted me.

“Doc already told me about how I how I came to be here.  I find myself in your gratitude, Surefire.”  She walked up to me and gave me a tender embrace.  I found myself hugging her back.

“It was no problem,” I told her.  “I just couldn’t bear seeing you in such pain and so I rescued you, that’s all.”

“Well, whatever you did, you still saved me and I’m grateful for that.  Let’s go find someplace quiet to talk,” Pearl said.  I lead her and Windstorm to the guild’s unused loft.  The only person that ever frequented there was Gizmo and she was nowhere to be seen.  After we took a minute to get comfortable, Pearl began her story.

“There’s something important I have to tell you two,” said Pearl, waiting a second to make sure we were listening.  “I don’t remember anything before waking up here today.  I don’t know why I was attacked or who attacked me.  I don’t remember anything about my life before today and I guess I’m just going to have to live with the knowledge that I may never know a thing about who I used to be.  Doc talked to me when I woke up and when he heard about my condition, he told me that I had amnesia.  He told me that it was still possible to recover my memory, if something sparks a memory, but it was more likely that this will never happen.  The chances that I do get my memory back are further reduced by the fact that nobody here knows who I am and can point me to anything that may trigger something.”  Pearl looked exasperated and sad at the thought of not being able to remember who she was.

“I don’t know about Windstorm, but I will do everything to care for you.” I chimed in, doing my best to try and maintain a happy disposition.

“Pfft, I wouldn’t dream of leaving her or you alone.  I’ll stay with you and Surefire until you two no longer want my help.” Windstorm quickly replied.

“Well then it’s settled.  We all stick together, all for one and one for all right?” I said, concluding the conversation. “I do still have a question though.  What do you prefer we call you Pearl?  I just decided to call you that until you awoke and were able to tell me yourself.  Is that what you still want to be called?” I asked.

“I guess I don’t really have a choice in the matter.  People have already been calling me Pearl and, because I don’t remember my old name, I guess I’ll have to go with Pearl,” she replied.

“Well then, Pearl, let’s go back with the other ponies and discuss what we are going to do tomorrow.  Do you feel good enough to scavenge us some food while we try to get some money to pay the rent?” I asked.

“If that’s what you two need, then that’s what I’ll do.  Maybe I could even help one of you two even more depending on what you do tomorrow.” Pearl replied.  We quickly talked as though we had been old friends and split up who was going to do what the next day.  Windstorm was going to perform in a different part of town tomorrow, I would go hunting, and Pearl would try to tag along with another pony and see what type of job she would be good at.