Chapter Two: Fortune Favors the Strong
Snow crunched beneath my boots as I tightened the strings around my hoodie. Wind screamed around me as I adjusted my glacier goggles that had almost been blown off of my face. Letting out a sigh, I watched as my breath took visible form.
Even with my mane cut short, even shorter than most stallions, it continued to whip around like a wild animal escaping a predator. “If you don’t mind me asking,” I called back to the mare and filly following me, “What in Celestia’s name made you two want to tread these mountains? And why’d you bring the little one here?”
I looked up at the sky above to find that it had turned dark grey, apparently the weather had decided to take a turn for the worse. Pegasi were supposed to control the weather, however at this elevation there were very few spells that could actually keep control of the snow storms that occurred here regularly. According to Princess Twilight, the higher a pony goes in elevation, the less effect magic has on the environment, which also applies to Alicorn magic to some extent.
At this rate, we would have to take shelter if the storm turned into a blizzard. Of all the times I went hiking, this hike was the most thrilling. Nothing came close the adrenaline kick I got out of a challenge like this.
A patch of snow crunched beside me, I stood alert only to find it was the mare. She shot me a smile turning back to see her ankle-biter following along just fine. “My husband and I used to climb Mount Ever Hoof when we were dating. After we had Buttercup and introduced her to mountains, we were planning trips up there regularly, so much so that she knows it like the back of her hoof!”
A gust of wind made the mare lose her balance for a moment before continuing, “I promised Buttercup a change of scenery for her birthday and she wanted to come here. I would only agree to it if I got to pick the part of the mountain we were hiking through, and if we hired a guide this time, plus I figured this was the safest route.”
I shoved my cane into a patch of snow, and felt the tip of the cane slide with it almost taking me down. Correcting my balance, I kept walking. I looked over my shoulder thinking I had heard a timber wolf, but when I found it was just the wind again, I kept moving forward. “Keep an eye on her,” I said smiling at them, “When she gets older, she’ll want bigger and better challenges.”
Another howl from the wind made me check on the tourists before marching forward. A crunch of snow had me move to the side while the mother caught up with me, “I asked you how long you’ve been doing this.” The mother said, moving closer to me so I could hear her.
Before I could reply , another loud roar from the wind interrupted me. I pointed out the correct path to take while my scarf whipped around as sporadically as my mane, “A couple of years!” I shouted back, attempting to be heard over the wind, “It helps pay the bills and feed my adrenaline habits.” I slowed my pace so we could hear one another.
“Mama, what are adrenaline habits?” The filly questioned as she trotted ahead of us.
I looked at the mother and she nudged her head at me to explain. “You know, activities that really get your blood pumping!” The little filly nodded while she went into deep thought about something. I chuckled, “Alright, let me put it to you this way. Outside of scaling mountains like these, I go surfing with tall waves, sky diving, wrestle huge bulky stallions to the ground in close-quarters combat, and do anything that makes me feel like I’m alive.”
It took a moment for it to set in, but once the filly got what I meant, I saw her eyes light up with her imagination going into a frenzy. Her mother just chuckled in amusement. “And when I’m not pinning down stallions and making them tap out,” I continued, “I’m rooftop jumping with my climbing pick, you’d both be surprised at how many times it’s saved my life; turns out it’s useful for all kinds of things.”
“I can imagine,” the mother retorted with a smile.
In my reminiscing of old memories, I lost track of the filly. As I looked around for her, I found her climbing a small pile of snow before falling through it. She rolled out from under the pile, “Does it have a name? Your climbing pick, I mean?”
I shook my head in response. There were a few occasions where I had almost given it a name, but so far it didn’t have an official name.
We approached a large icy cliffside, which we would need to climb in order to shave off a few minutes from our time. Finding this shortcut now was practically perfect timing as the wind was beginning to sound like timber wolves again, which I knew would make our trip that much more difficult if we encountered any. The faster we got out of the approaching storm, the better. “Alright little one,” I said while hoisting the filly onto my back. “I’m going to start climbing, so I need you to hold on tight, I can’t risk anything happening to you with the weather being this bad.”
“Be careful,” the mother said, attaching two climbing picks to her forehoof bracelets.
I did the same and slammed one of my picks into the wall. Doing the same with the other hoof, I slowly began my ascension to the path above. My scarf whipped my face, forcing me to stop. “Hey filly, do me a favor and stuff my scarf into my jacket.”
The filly did as she was asked while I continued pulling us up the cliffside. “What else do you do in your spare time?” she asked with her voice nearly being drowned out by the wind.
“Street racing,” I responded as I pulled us up over the cliffside. I set the filly down a few hoofsteps away from the edge. I extended my hoof towards the mother, she smiled and grabbed my hoof, allowing me to pull her up.
We continued walking, both me and the mother staying close to one another while we kept our eyes on the filly running ahead of us. Fortunately for the little one, the rest of the way was just a straight walk. With it being a relatively short walk, I went ahead and holstered my cane.
I smiled as she got ready to slide down, but instead she fell back into another pile. Dead tree branches snapped from behind a snow covered tree, no doubt from the filly trying to find her way back to us. Moments later, she emerged from the snow, frantically galloping toward us with tears streaming down her muzzle. “Monster!”
Cowering behind her mother, the filly hid underneath her while I put my climbing pick in front of them, motioning them to keep their distance. Cracks from the trees ahead of us kept me at full alert as the snow pile the filly ran into from before began to shake. A muscular frost-covered limb began moving, dropping the snow from what appeared to be a wing I couldn’t quite make out, although it made a buzzing sound with each flap.
Emerging from the snow was a large black barb that send a shiver down my spine. A bug bear, noticeably with two times the muscle mass of an average one, repositioned itself so that it was staring at us and this one was large enough to get my heart rate ticking a few beats faster. My free hoof went to my spare climbing pick and locked it into place with my fore hoof bracelet. I could practically feel the adrenaline filling every blood vessel in my body.
Four muscular arms stretched out from a pile of broken branches, each one revealing large claws that looked sharp enough to shred through all three of us with one well aimed swipe. A growl escaped the snow pile. It wasn’t long before a long snout made its presence known, bearing teeth sharper than anything I had come across before.
As the last bit of snow covering the creature fell, I stared into the beast’s eyes to get a good feel for how it was going to react. I noticed the claws gripping a tree branch, which snapped from the tree it was attached to moments later. In the seconds that followed, I watched the branch hit the ground after having been snapped in two.
It lunged at me, swiping its claws right where I stood. I ducked down, avoiding the assault. With a split second to spare, I latched my climbing pick around the creature’s muscles, using my momentum to swing around and buck it's jawline as hard as I could.
Abruptly pulling its arm back, the creature dropped me like a boulder in the ocean, letting my own weight take me to the ground with a loud crack. For a moment I thought it was my back, but then I noticed the broken pieces of a branch under me. I rolled back onto all fours.
Snow crunched a few hoof steps away from me. I looked over at the mother to find her ushering her filly further down the path. The creature noticed this too and growled at them. When it went to lunge at the mother, I jumped up, slashing my climbing pick across its face. A huge patch of fur ripped from its muzzle, leaving a large blood covered mark from where I had struck it.
I landed back on all fours with a smile on my face. Who says an Earth pony can’t hold their own, I mused.
Thrusting its stinger at the mother, I galloped towards her, but I wasn’t going to make it. As the stinger got within striking distance, the filly tackled her mother to the ground, the stinger barely grazing the mother’s back, causing her to yell in pain.
Throwing myself at the creatures back, I impaled one of my ice climbers into it, earning a loud roar from the beast. I heaved myself higher on the creature, as if I were scaling a mountain, then slammed my other ice climber into its shoulder as the creature lurched back.
Snow crunched under the creature’s weight as it slipped on an unsuspecting patch of ice. It stumbled towards the cliffside, then toppled over like a domino. I ditched one of my bracelets along with my spare climbing pick as I tore the other from the creature. Pushing off against the falling beast, I managed to catch hold of the cliffside, only to slide backwards at an alarming rate.
I yelled out, shoving my ice climber into the ground, holding me in place. Letting out a long sigh, I carefully pulled myself back up as I looked over the cliff to see the bug bear trying to limp off the pain. From where I was standing, I could see that its wing had been broken long before our scuffle.
Groans from the mother turned my attention to her. She was lying on the ground, her hoof on her back, with her filly standing there not knowing what to do. I galloped over to her, throwing my bag down to retrieve medical supplies. It didn’t take long to bandage up the flesh wound, but I didn’t have enough practice in medicine to think she was well.
Helping the mother up, she cringed in pain. “We need to get you to a doctor,” I said helping her walk. I whistled to the filly who grabbed my bag and followed after us.
*** ***
A couple of hours had gone by, but we had found a doctor and a place to stay until the snow storm died down. To my surprise, we were only grazed by the edge of a developing storm. I didn’t leave after the doctor admitted Buttercup’s mother into treatment. Part of me wanted to make sure the filly stayed out of trouble, and make sure the mother didn’t get too seriously injured on my watch.
I sat across from the filly, drinking warm cider while I watched an inaudible news broadcast. It wasn’t very interesting, in fact the filly playing with her cup was beginning to be more entertaining than the television.
A hoof rested on my shoulder, “Honey, why don’t you go buy yourself something sweet?” The mother gave me a smile while she gave her filly a few bits. It didn’t take long before Buttercup ran off to buy something from the newsstand that carried cookies.
Taking a seat across from me, the mother gave me a hard stare. She just kept staring at me…until I started to feel uncomfortable. I diverted my gaze to the new bandages wrapped around her body. “Don’t worry,” she assured me, “It’s just a flesh wound. Nothing to be worried about.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes just watching Buttercup go from window to window trying to get a better view of the lake down below. “You know she likes you,” the mother said as she took a sip from Buttercup’s half empty cider cup, “She never really warms up to ponies like she did with you, she’s been that way since her father passed away.”
“I’d keep her away from someone like me,” I warned jokingly. “You know how impressionable kids are these days.”
Peach laughed at that, and took a quick glance at Buttercup before returning her attention to me. “She’s already a hoof full as is,” she said with a chuckle. “You know I think you would make a great role model if you just had some guidance.”
I tried not to scoff at that. A role model is not a word I would use with my name in the same sentence. “What makes you say that,” I questioned running my hoof through my mane.
A warm smile made me keep my full attention on the mare. “Well,” she stated with confidence, “for starters, you're a very athletic mare, you’re not the type to sit around and let life pass you by. From what I saw up on that mountain, you’ve worked hard to reach that kind of physical ability, so I know that you’re a determined and hardworking mare. That’s admirable.”
I didn’t say anything in return, only looked off at where the filly was buying her treats from. Actually, the sound of sweet, sweet alcohol after that fight sounded like a great way to end the day.
Finishing off the last of my cider, I tossed the cup into the trashcan beside me. “Sorry about how the hike turned out,” I said earnestly. “You might want to take it easy, I hear the bug bear venom has a gnarly kick to it.”
Hopefully the medication would take care of any nasty side effects. I heard some ponies had died from being exposed to far too much toxin, but that was only rare cases. “Anyway,” I said whistle getting up from my chair. “Not that this conversation isn’t fun, but I really need to get back into town, see you around, Peach Tree.”
I stopped for a moment then looked back at her, “Tell the little one I said ‘bye’.” I gave her smile then trotted off to catch a cable car back down the mountain.
*** ***
By the time I got back to the small town at the bottom of the mountain it was later than I had expected it to be. It was close to midnight when I walked into the bar that let me rent a room in the basement. I didn’t exactly like renting a basement as my room, but the distance between the bar and my bed was close enough that I could get drunk off my ass any day of the week and could make it to the mattress before passing out.
I downed another drink, then added the glass to my tower of three shot glasses. A yawn escaped me as I listened to the sound of the bartender playing a game of billiards with his friend. For a bar, it was rather empty tonight. Not that I minded the rather calm atmosphere.
It was rather nice listening to the bar music, even if it was looped on the same dubstep track that had been playing for the past hour. My head nodded slowly to the beat until the door to the bar swung shut with a loud thud, throwing me off rhythm.
Someone sat next to me and started to speak, “So this is where you live? At a hole in the wall bar, and by the looks of it, it was crudely made even for a piece of crap.” I looked at the mare speaking to find that it was Buttercup’s mother.
“Is this really the kind of scene a middle-aged single mother should be in?” I retorted rudely, “But since you asked, yeah, the closet and the old mattress are pretty damn comfortable. The roaches are a bit of pain, though.”
She looked me dead in the eyes, making me want to scoot my chair away from her. I tried, but all that did was make me wobble. “Is this really the kind of place a mare your age should be staying at?” she shot back with the same rude tone I had, “You’re a bit young to be living paycheck to paycheck, don’t you think?”
I kept my gaze fixed on the various bottles set along the shelf across from me. My hoof went for the bottle, but the mare took hold of it and poured both of us a drink. “Is that really your concern?” I asked, finally turning my gaze to her.
“No, but it’s written on your face,” Peach replied, taking a drank.
“Hey, next round is on her,” I called out to the bartender. He gave me a wave before returning to his game. Returning to my drink, I fixed my gaze on the glass to see Peach Tree was still staring at me. “Again, that’s not really your business now is it?”
“You’re right, it’s not, but I’d like to offer a helping hoof.” The mare poured herself another shot glass and downed it in one drink. She set it atop my small tower, which was slowly beginning to lean a bit, but I wasn’t sure if it was from bad placement or possibly being drunk off my ass. “You know, I used to be like you. Searching for that next rush, always being on the move, but that’s no way to live.”
If it hadn’t been for the amount of drinks I’d had, I might have taken some offense to that.
She continued, “One of these days you’re going to push it too far, and then you won’t ever be thrill seeking again.”
“I haven’t had an accident yet,” I responded, back slamming my hoof against the table and making the glass tower shake. “If it hasn’t happened yet-”
“It probably won’t ever happen,” the mother interrupted sharply, getting me to stop talking. I stared back at her, which proved to be a bit difficult after downing my last drink. “That’s what I said before I broke my back on a ski trip pushing it too far. Thankfully my parents were around to help me out, seeing as I couldn’t pay for my medical bills.”
I sat in silence. I wasn’t going to answer that, nor did I want to think about any backup plan. “Listen,” she continued while writing something down on a napkin. She had mastered the art of talking with a pen in her mouth better than I ever had. “I’m not saying you have to give up being an adrenaline junkie, but if you don’t at least have a permanent place to live as well as a steady income when something bad does happen to you, what are you going to do then?”
She draped the napkin over my drink so that I could see the address written on it. “I know a place that’s hiring and it pays decently, come visit if you’re interested,” she said before setting enough bits down to cover the bill plus one more drink, “I hope you’ll think about it.” Once she left, I started wadding up the napkin, but stopped for a minute to mull it over.
My hooves crumpled the paper up before bumping it into the trashcan behind the counter. Shortly after, my head gently hit the countertop with my eyes battling to stay open for one last drink. I nuzzled the countertop slowly feeling the weight of sleep over taking me.
A loud clunk from an empty glass made me look up. The bartender had a rather surprised look on his face. “So you’re just going to let an opportunity walk out the door?” I didn’t say anything to him. All I could do was lean my head against the counter and listen. “You really are a stubborn mare, you know that?”
His hoof reached down, wrestling for something inside the trash. I couldn’t see what he grabbed, but I did have a nice view of the drink he was pouring. For some reason, another one sounded good right about now. “This is for you,” he said setting the glass of water down on top of a piece of paper.
With a bit of a struggle I managed to lift my head up enough to look into the glass. At the bottom of the glass, I could barely make out an address through the rippling liquid. My hoof reached out to it, but the stallion pulled the drink back just outside my reach. “You know I was once offered this job, but I blew it, over and over again,” he said, pouring himself a drink. “I went through all of my chances, every last one of them, that’s how I ended up here.”
He slid the drink back to me. “If I ever got an opportunity like what that mare just offered you, I’d take it. Took me a long time to get my shit together, don’t waste something like this.” Before I could form any words, the bartender turned up the music. I didn’t bother trying to raise my voice enough to talk over the music.
*** ***
I had to admit, I wasn’t expecting to have a room to stay at the day I walked into Griffonstone, but the mother was true to her word. A museum had been hiring, and I was to transport several works from the exhibit to and from two other smaller museums every couple weeks, along with a few other miscellaneous transporting jobs. However, I hadn’t been expecting my room to be in a two story house with the very mare that had passed the job off to me.
Upon request, I shared my place in the garage that wasn’t being used. I didn’t ask what the mother did for a living, but I won’t pretend for a second that I wasn’t impressed by the size of this place. There was enough room to park my vehicle and still have some stretching room.
Nonchalantly tossing my bag on top of a well-made bed, I shortly joined it by flopping down next to it. A loud groan escaped my mouth as I took in the feeling of a mattress that wasn’t older than Princess Celestia. I nuzzled my head into the pillow as a sound from the vent caught my attention, but not enough for me to actually look up.
A hoof nudged me.
“Go away,” I muttered. It nudged me again, and to my irritation, it got my full attention. “What do you want?”
The mother’s filly sat in front of the bed with something sitting next to her. A hoof sat on top of it, keeping it obscured while she spoke. “Are you the mare renting the room?” she asked with her tail wagging to and fro.
I let my face hit the pillow again, avoiding the question. Her hoof nudged me. “Yes,” I said with a groan. Upon leaving my lips, that word made the filly squeal with delight. To my misfortune, she didn’t stop for several long moments. “Hey…Buttercup…listen I’ve had a long day. Would you mind letting me rest?”
Her eyes lit up. “After a story!” Her hooves held up a book. The cover was as worn out as my surfboard. I looked over to where I had leaned it against the wall.
At first I was prepared to reject the story, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Those puppy dog eyes of hers were too much for even me to turn down. “Fine,” I said with a sigh. I took the book in my hooves while I rolled over to make room for the filly.