Robin led Soren as they followed Ruby. The little filly was sneaking through alleyways and shadows to get somewhere. Robin explained to Soren that Ruby doesn't know the town by heart yet. Soren then asked how she knew Ruby, but the mare ignored the question. Unfortunately, after a few minutes of following, the two lost Ruby.
"I really hate it when she tries to find her mother's house," Robin commented. Soren arched an eyebrow at this but remained silent until knowing more. Within seconds, a high-pitched scream was heard. "Ruby!" Robin took off, leaving Soren to try to keep up on hoof.
The two heard the sound of running hooves hitting the dirt, so they decided to follow it. Not a minute went by before they turned a corner and saw two stallions run into a watering hole. Robin stopped suddenly, so Soren followed her lead.
"I can't go in there," she told Soren.
"Why not? Don't they have Ruby?" She nodded.
"That place is dangerous for the normal townsfolk. It's called the Rusty Nail, and it's where the 'tough ponies' hang out. A normal mare like me would be hassled and abused in a place like that."
"I take it there are multiple watering holes?" She nodded again. Soren could see immense worry etched on Robin's face. It was an interesting sight to see the moon's light shine on her mane, coat, and worried expression. "I'll go in there."
"What?"
"I doubt they can mess with me that easily. I can get Ruby back."
"Thank you, Soren."
"It's the least I can do for the way I treated you earlier." Soren turned away from Robin and began trotting towards the Rusty Nail.
He walked into the tavern, unsure of what to expect. At first glance, the tavern wasn't anything special. It was an old-fashioned place with tables and chairs everywhere and a bar on one end of the room. One thing in the tavern did stand out for Soren, however. Hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room was a cage hanging by a chain, and inside that cage was Ruby.
When Soren walked in, some of the bar patrons looked at the new pony that entered. There were six stallions at a center table, which was bigger than the rest, in the middle of the room. A stallion standing next to said table gave a quick whistle at Soren to get his attention.
"Hey, unicorn!" the stallion said. "I see you got your eye on that there cage. Wanna play? Winner gets the filly." Anger started to build inside Soren, but he kept his cool.
"Are you telling me that you captured that poor filly and are gambling for her?" Soren asked as nonchalantly as possible.
"'Course that's what I said. Now, you in or not?" Soren knew this was the only way to rescue Ruby without having the entire tavern turn against him.
Looking at the cage again, Soren noticed for the first time that Ruby was a unicorn, but something else bugged him. Not only was she a unicorn, Ruby's horn was broken. Half of it was gone; it looked as though it was snapped off. He knew the ponies in the bar couldn't have done it, so this peaked his interest even more.
"Why not?" Soren said without betraying his emotions. "She must be something special." Soren started walking towards the large table.
"That's the spirit. I hope you know how to play Cider." When Soren took a seat, he saw that there were cards everywhere on the table. Soren didn't have much experience when it came to card games, but if Twilight can place fifth in a race just because she studied how to run, then Soren figured he can probably win since he has studied a few cards games, Cider being one of them.
In total, there were six stallion competing for Ruby. This game of Cider was elimination by being the slowest to empty one's hoof of cards. A new round started when somepony was eliminated. The game is played by each pony getting a hoof of seven cards. They draw cards in hopes to either place three of a kind or a same-suit-straight of a minimum of three cards. They must always draw a card and they must always discard a card at the end of their turn. To empty one's hoof, the last card obviously had to be discarded.
They quickly got into the swing of things. Soren was slow to learn the game, but after the first round (which he barely survived), he became better. One by one, stallions were being eliminated, giving Soren even more confidence of saving Ruby via Cider, as opposed to probable violence. Half of the tavern was watching closely as Soren and two other stallions were left in the game. Soren was against a red earth pony stallion with a dark green mane and a brown unicorn stallion with a black mane. The brown stallion looked as though he has played card games countless times in his life. 'He does have a cutie mark of five cards and was the first to empty his hoof every round so far,' Soren noted.
It was now the last round and Soren and the brown stallion were the last competitors. The stallion only had two cards left, while Soren still had all seven, but this was Soren's strategy. He kept replacing the cards in his hoof so he could empty it in one go, this way his opponent cannot play off of the sets he puts down. Soren would draw a card then replace a useless card; now he just needed one specific card to win the game. His competitor's turn came, and he managed to get rid of one more of his cards. Soren needed the right card now or he would surely lose. Soren was nervous as he drew from the deck. A wide smile quickly appeared on his face as he picked up the lucky 7 of diamonds, the card he needed. Soren proceeded to empty his entire hoof, leaving the tavern speechless. The brown stallion angrily stood up and spoke to Soren.
"Now how the buck did y'all do that?!" he yelled. "Nopony beats the Five Card Colt, ever. Just who do you think you are?"
"Just who do you think you are?!" Soren retorted, finally releasing his pent-up anger. "Imprisoning a filly so she could be a prize! I won, and I demand that you release her!" The tavern was silent. The host of the game stood next to the 'Five Card Colt.'
"Boy, you don't wanna cause trouble here," he said seriously. "You either take your prize or I'll give her to the runner-up."
"No," Soren replied. "You all will release her...and don't threaten me. You have no idea who you're up against."
"Is that so?" Colt chuckled. "Then let's see how fast a spell you are, unicorn." The brown unicorn shot a beam at Soren, who instantly created a shield around himself. Now angry, Soren's horn glowed intensely bright, then he proceeded to use levitation to lift up all thirteen ponies in the bar, except Ruby. Colt and the host were both pulled closer to Soren. They came face to face with the angry, fiery green eyes of a powerful 'unicorn.'
"Please...please have mercy," the host whimpered.
"Mercy? Hahahaha." Soren cleared his throat. "Sorry about that," he jokingly apologized. He looked straight at the levitating stallions. "You see it's terribly funny that you ask for mercy, cuz you see, I don't have mercy...not any more. If you truly want mercy, you should have thought about who you wanted to pick a fight with. Do you both want mercy?" The scared stallions nodded quickly. "Well there's only one way to earn it." Soren pulled them in closer so he could whisper in both their ears. "Go back in time and stop yourselves from imprisoning that filly." After Soren finished his sentence, he launched the two stallions at a nearby wall.
After seeing the stallions slam against said wall, Soren turned towards the cage. He used his magic to pull out the bars and to float the filly towards him. When Ruby looked him in the eyes, Soren saw that she showed no fear and that her pale blue eyes had a particular glow to them. Soren quickly ran out of the bar with her. Within seconds of his departure, Soren's spell on the bar patrons wore off, and they were once again on the floor. Everypony there now knew one thing: Never mess with that pony.
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"Ruby, what in Faust's name were you thinking?!" Soren, Robin, and Ruby were now at Robin's house. She was scolding the filly for running around town during the night. Robin's house was fairly basic. The front door led to a square living room which had a kitchen connected to it. There was also a doorway that led to a hall which connected three bedrooms.
"You know that those ponies want to use your magic for something bad," Robin continued.
"I-I-I just wanted to see mommy," Ruby whimpered.
"I'm sorry, but you can't. You know that. Your mother...isn't well."
"Can I interject?" Soren interrupted.
"No," Robin denied.
"He saved me!" Ruby shouted. "I wanna hear him."
"You're so young," Soren chuckled. "Hello, Ruby. My name is Soren."
"Can I call you 'Uncle?'" Soren was confused by the random question but kept talking.
"If you want, but why?"
"Cuz Robin is my auntie!" Ruby smiled.
"You're her mother's sister?" he hypothetically asked Robin, looking at her. "That makes sense why you know Ruby. Anyway, you can call me Uncle if you really want to. I won't mind."
"Yay!" Ruby ran up to Soren and hugged him. Soren smiled sweetly and hugged her back. He felt so touched for some reason. Robin smiled at the scene.
"So can you tell me about your mother?" Soren asked Ruby. She nodded.
"Momma lives outside of town. I keep forgetting how to get there so that's why I got lost and got captured by those bullies. You're not mad at me, right?"
"Of course not. You're safe, and that's all that matters. Your Auntie said that your mother isn't well. Is she sick?"
"No, Auntie just says that so I won't go see Momma. I wanna see Momma!" she yelled suddenly, turning towards Robin. When Ruby shouted, a spark shot out of her half-horn, causing all of the lights in the small home to go out.
"Okay...What was that?" Soren asked. Robin flipped the light switch and brought light back into the house.
"Ruby," the mare started, "it's been a long day. It's time for bed."
"Fine." Ruby huffed and adorably stormed out of the living room. The sound of a door closing was heard down the hall. Robin sat on the three-pony couch and closed her eyes. She immediately began crying. Reacting on instinct, Soren rushed over to comfort her.
"Hey hey, it's alright. What's wrong?" Soren sat on the couch with Robin and hugged her. She squeezed Soren.
"It's...Ruby," she answered between sobs. "There so much...wrong with our...family. Ruby, she's...she has powerful magic. Her mother...she's cursed."
"Cursed?"
"We don't know how. One day...she was just...not normal. Ruby...was the first to...be affected by it. Her mother...is a unicorn...she had an explosion...of magic at some point. Ruby was near her...her horn couldn't handle...the stress of magic...so it broke in half. Ever since then...Ruby has spouts of magic...that she can't control. Her magic is unstable...and can never be controlled."
"I'm so, so sorry, for both you and Ruby. I can never feel your pain, but I understand the helplessness you feel." Soren paused. "I can help you." Robin broke away from the hug and stared at Soren, surprised.
"How?"
"I'm Soren; I always find a way. Tomorrow, I need to visit Ruby's mother to better understand her 'curse.'"
"Ok...I'll tell you where she lives in the morning. Just...come back."
"I can't abandon a lovely mare like you," Soren joked whole-heartedly. Robin chuckled softly and wiped away her tears. "Let's get some sleep. Both of us really need it." Robin nodded and showed Soren the guest room.