//------------------------------// // The Eternal Furnace XV // Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego // by MagicS //------------------------------// There was a staticy buzz as the intercom flared to life. “Hello? Anybody on the other end of this thing?” Rainbow Dash asked into it. For a moment there was silence and she removed her hoof from the button, waiting for a response. Would they respond to her at all? It’s possible Silver Tooth would panic and contact Crush immediately. Though she doubted it, that would cause big problems for him too. Finally a static buzz came back from the intercom and a garbled voice emerged from it. “You’re that pony from outside. What are you doing here? And with… all the gangs.” Rainbow Dash frowned and pressed the button again. “You can see us?” “Look above the intercom, stupid.” The voice said. Rainbow Dash frowned harder but looked up, seeing a tiny peephole staring back at her. “Oh.” “If you thought you could trick your way inside and out muscle us you’re wrong. Better leave before I call Crush on you,” the voice threatened. And that was exactly what Rainbow Dash wanted to hear. “And tell him what? That all the gangs have united against you and you need help? I’m sure he’d love to hear that. There totally wouldn’t be any repercussions for you at all, would there be?” Silence, so she continued. “I mean, the way I hear it the only reason you’ve got your special privileges and everything is because you make things easier for Crush and the security team. What would happen if that changed?” There was yet more silence. Rainbow Dash was about to keep implying her threat when finally the voice returned. “Alright, I get it. So what do you want? It seems to me we’re both in a stalemate then, neither of us actually wants me to contact Crush and tell him what’s happened. So what are you after?” “You know? I’ll tell you straight up,” Rainbow Dash grinned for the peephole. “I do want you to contact Crush, but I want you to do it so you can lure him here alone and then we can ambush him and force the security code for the doors out of him so I can go higher into the city and stop Resin!” “Ahahahaha, you’re joking, right? There’s no way I would help you do something so stupid!” “Okay, then we can just all sit here until work starts and Crush wonders why all the gang ponies are missing.” “...” “Well?” “I get it. But right now there’s still nothing in it for me whether I listen to you or just keep you out there,” the voice (Silver Tooth’s, Rainbow Dash was certain now) said. “So why don’t we make things a little more interesting?” “How do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked. She heard some laughter coming from the other side of the intercom. “Well this is a casino you know? So let’s place it all on the line on some games. You come in here and play a few card games with me, if you win I’ll do what you say and contact Crush, but if I win, the gangs will have to leave and you’ll be our hostage that I can hoof over to Crush.” Double Duty pulled Dash’s hoof away from the button before she could reply. “Don’t do it, it’s a trap! Silver Tooth is a gambler born and bred, if you do this you’re falling right into his hooves.” Acid Rain nodded. “The Diesel King is right. We can’t agree to this.” “Well what else are we going to do?” Rainbow Dash asked them. “We can’t break inside by force and we can’t stay out here forever either.” She went back to touch the button, hovering her hoof above it. “Trust me, I can win whatever game he wants to play, I’m awesome.” She pressed it. “Silver Tooth? That is you on the other side, right? I’ll take your offer, let me in there.” “Hahahahaha, sure, sure.” Silver Tooth laughed from the other side. He was feeling confident. “But first you better tell all your friends to back up out of here, I’m not opening the door and letting you all rush inside. It’s going to be you and only you coming into our casino.” Rainbow Dash turned to the gang leaders and gave them an apologetic look. “Sorry guys, I know how risky you think this is but we’ve gotta do it. I’ll be alright.” “For all of our sake’s I hope so,” Double Duty darkly replied. The gangs all had to back up a fair distance down the promenade before Silver Tooth would open up the doors. Rainbow Dash knew he was watching through the peephole and when they had all almost vanished behind the curve of the promenade she heard the sound of the door getting ready to lift. The metal door rose like a portcullis, teeth on the bottom of it that went into little holes on the ground when it was shut. Once it raised all the way and stopped, Rainbow Dash looked inside it to see it led to another set of double doors just a few feet in, the true doors to the casino. “Here goes nothing,” she said as she walked in and pulled open the door, stepping inside the casino. As opposed to everywhere else she had been so far, the casino was still colorful and relatively nice looking. The lights were still fine and it wasn’t very dirty at all. The center of the casino was taken up by a big open pit with lots of tables for various games like roulette, poker, blackjack, craps, etc. and the sides of the casino had a bunch of slot machines with stairs leading up to a second floor that ringed the open pit and looked to contain a bunch more slot machines as well as leading to several offices. Immediately to her left at the front of the casino was a large desk that looked like it was for storing and exchanging chips while to her right was a lounge area. And of course all around her were ponies of the Black Hoof gang. There might have been fifty in total throughout the casino, including the ones she recognized having attacked her previously. That unicorn from the dumpster fight was giving her a nasty look that she returned with a smug grin. There was another unicorn standing in front of her too with a wide grin on his face. A purple unicorn with a smooth scarlet mane that covered one of his blue eyes while he kept a fedora on top of his head. On his flank rested a Cutie Mark of a poker hoof—a royal flush in diamonds. That grin of his also had an odd twinkle in it, one of his teeth was pure silver. “Silver Tooth, huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “How’d you guess?” His grin widened. “And your name is Rainbow Dash if I’ve heard right. Kind of a gamble for you to come in here alone, not worried that my boys might just attack you instead?” “Heh, they’re welcome to try,” Dash challenged. Silver Tooth briefly glanced over to the pegasi Rainbow Dash had also fought with. The three of them nervously shook their heads together. “I suppose it won’t be necessary.” Silver Tooth said. Rainbow shrugged. “So how are we going to settle this then? I’m up for whatever games you want to play.” “Actually we’ll just play the one, my specialty if that’s alright?” He grinned. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. He was clearly trying to stack the deck in his favor as much as possible without outright cheating. But she didn’t care, she’d just win anyways. “Fine, shoot.” “Follow me,” Silver Tooth said and led Rainbow Dash into the pit with all the tables. He walked to a long table in the middle and affectionately rubbed his hoof along the green felt. There was an alcove for the dealer to sit in the middle of it and eight chairs at even spots along the outside of the table. “This is a table for Hold ‘Em style Poker.” He told her. “Hold ‘Em?” Dash raised an eyebrow. “I know what regular Poker is.” “Well that’s good at least, then you know what the winning hoofs would be and everything,” Silver Tooth nodded. “But in this version your hoof will look a little different. You see each pony playing will only be dealt two cards initially. That will be your private hoof and no one else will see what you have. Then three cards will be placed on the table face up for everyone. That’s the initial whole hoof right there, called the Flop, there’s more strategy and thought involved in this version of Poker because you know all the possible hoofs that can be made and everyone has the same cards to work with outside their first two. After the first round of bets are made a fourth card comes out on the “Turn”, and then after the next bets a fifth and final card comes out on the “River”. So in total you’re playing with seven cards.” “Seven card Poker?” Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure how hoofs would work with that. “Naw, not really. You’re still only making a hoof with five total cards but you have seven to choose from. Let’s say you got dealt a pair of tens and on the field there was a King, two fours, another ten, and an Ace. Well you have a Full House right there with the other ten and the fours. However someone else happened to have a Queen and a Jack in their hoof. Now they’ve got a straight or potentially a Royal Flush if it’s all the same suit. Maybe someone else had two Aces and has a higher Full House than yours. There’s a wide variety of different possible hoofs with different possible card combinations. Although the example I used is a bit far-fetched, normally you don’t see that many high-hoofs in one dealing.” Silver Tooth explained to her. “I get it,” Rainbow Dash calmly nodded. Truthfully… she was still processing a bit. “Good, good...” Silver Tooth grinned wider and walked around the table to take a seat next to the dealer’s alcove. “I’ll sit here and besides us two I’ll have four more of my boys playing for a total of five. That’ll keep things fresh and interesting.” “So how many hoofs to decide the winner?” Rainbow Dash asked. He shook his head. “Nothing like that, we’ll both get one hundred chips to make bets with and the first one of us who loses all their chips is the loser.” “Works for me, I’ll win anyways,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, trying to act as obnoxiously nonchalant as possible. Silver Tooth only chuckled, obviously not feeling threatened. “You can try.” Rainbow Dash sat right across from him and Silver Tooth whistled for five Black Hoofs to come over. One of them took the spot of the dealer while the others sat next to Rainbow Dash. The dealer then slid ten chips to her, each of them with a “10” stenciled on the tops. A hundred individual chips had sounded a little unwieldy to her. She kept her eyes on all of the ponies around her to make sure they weren’t trying to cheat or that the others watching weren’t making any weird movements either. It would probably be easy for them to send signals to each other or for the dealer to stack the deck if he really wanted to, but Rainbow Dash was also confident in her eagle eyes to pick anything like that out. And she was confident in her natural awesomeness winning the day for her regardless. She wasn’t boasting when she said she was going to win anyways. She was being the same way she always was, having total belief in herself and the confidence to overcome anything. The sort of spirit and willpower that changed the world. If Rainbow Dash thought she was going to win then she was going to win. It was mind over matter, but she wouldn’t put it in such a way or regard it as such. It was just the same kind of thing that allowed her to survive and gain the power of the mammoth’s Sacred Spring. So despite an infinite amount of disadvantages piled against her she wasn’t worried at all when the cards started being dealt. The dealer threw one out to everyone, starting with Silver Tooth, and then a second set out right after. Rainbow Dash discreetly looked at the cards she had, making sure none of the Black Hoofs at the table or looking on from around it could see her cards. An eight of spades and a queen of diamonds. She knew that wasn’t good. Did she need to bet or could she fold immediately? Although it was possible that something good would come from the Flop it was unlikely that with such a poor starting hoof she’d have the best hoof at the table. But she might as well see. She learned that she didn’t need to bet quite yet as the Flop was revealed before any chips were thrown down. Queen of hearts, two of spades, five of diamonds. Somewhat helpful for her but not great. There was no path for a flush or a straight but something like a three of a kind or two pair was possible but also not particularly likely. However, wasn’t that what gambling was all about? And wasn’t she the pony who said she would succeed at anything thanks to her sheer awesomeness? Rainbow Dash threw one chip down to bet. Silver Tooth grinned and also threw a chip down, two of the Black Hoofs folded immediately while the two others also threw a chip in. Now that that was done the card on the Turn was dealt. A nine of spades, no help for Dash and probably the end for her chances this hoof unless she wanted to bluff or risk it. What were the possible hoofs others could have right now? Honestly her single pair of queens was decent for what she saw in front of her. Unless someone had a pair of kings they were holding onto, or a pair of fives etc., it was possible that her pair of queens was the winning hoof. But would someone like Silver Tooth have bet if he didn’t have a decent hoof or high chance of winning on the Turn or River? And same with those other two. There were still flush and straight possibilities that could happen as well. Another chip was thrown down by Silver Tooth, he was increasing his bet, clearly liking the nine of spades. Now Rainbow Dash could either match his bet, raise, or fold. She hated what she had to do. “I’ll fold this one,” Rainbow Dash said, frowning at Silver Tooth. “Aw, poor you,” Silver Tooth mocked her. Rainbow Dash growled as the other two Black Hoofs folded immediately, allowing Silver Tooth to collect all the chips on the table. And now she was in a pickle she hadn’t thought about. Because you took the whole pot when you won a hoof, Silver Tooth was now up thirteen chips to her nine. It was possible he could get an even bigger lead on her especially with it now clear that the other ponies at the table weren’t going to allow him to lose against them. It would take Rainbow Dash winning a hoof for Silver Tooth to ever lose any chips. The cards were thrown back in and reshuffled before being dealt back out again, two apiece to everyone. “You know you could just give up now and spare yourself the embarrassment,” Silver Tooth grinned at her, his tooth sparkling. “No thanks, it’s way too satisfying to think how humiliated you’re going to be when I win,” Rainbow Dash toasted him right back. “Let’s see how the cards fall then,” Silver Tooth said and peaked at his hoof. Rainbow Dash did the same, neither of them showing a hint of if they had gotten a good or bad pair of cards on their faces, and waited for the Flop. King of clubs, queen of diamonds, four of clubs. A relatively high Flop, one that opened up a lot of possible hoofs including some straights and flushes right from the beginning. Silver Tooth obviously liked it as he threw in a chip and Rainbow Dash calmly tossed one in as well without hesitating. This time only one of the other Black Hoofs folded immediately so right from the get go the pot this time was going to be bigger. “Guess you got a good draw this time?” Silver Tooth asked her. Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno, maybe? Or maybe I’m bluffing.” “Amateurs like you are a laugh to play with,” Silver Tooth chuckled mirthfully and shook his head. The card on the Turn came out, a ten of clubs. The flush was a big possibility now and a straight wasn’t much more unlikely either. Silver Tooth only called though—which didn’t necessarily mean anything. He could be trying to bait Dash, or bluff her, or he honestly didn’t have a strong hoof. There was so much for Rainbow Dash to keep track of, if Twilight was playing she could instantly know all the possible hoofs and what her exact chances were of winning every time. Rainbow Dash just had to believe in herself and the cards she had. Which is why she raised, throwing two extra chips out onto the table. The other Black Hoofs folded now, leaving only Rainbow Dash and Silver Tooth still in. The gang leader rubbed his chin and threw an appraising eye at Rainbow Dash. He had to wonder if she was bluffing or not too. “Wonder if you got lucky on the Turn or you’re hoping for the River?” Silver Tooth said. “Call and find out,” Rainbow Dash said, folding her hooves in front of her chest. “If you want to lose that fast instead of playing smart then be my guest,” Silver Tooth shrugged and threw two chips in to match Rainbow Dash. It was time for the River now and the dealer threw an ace of hearts onto the table. Now the straight was even more likely. Did one of them have it? Or perhaps neither? Either of them could have raised or folded right now but in the end Rainbow Dash only called and Silver Tooth was more than happy to let her off easy on this one in his mind. So he just called too with them both only having bet three chips apiece on the hoof. The dealer looked between the two of them. “Show your hoofs.” Silver Tooth giggled and flipped his cards over, showing a king and queen of his own. “Well look at these pairs of kings and queens I’ve got. Maybe two of them can even be you and me someday.” He winked at her. Rainbow Dash snorted in disgust. “Sorry but I’m not a queen and you’re definitely not a king.” She grabbed her two cards and smirked. “But you know what I am? An ace.” Rainbow flipped and tossed the two cards into the center of the table, revealing a pair of aces, giving her a three-of-a-kind while Silver Tooth only had two-pair. The rest of the Black Hoofs gulped and Silver Tooth frowned. “So you got lucky on the River.” “Guess so,” Rainbow Dash grinned as she started raking in the chips. Three from Silver Tooth plus three from the others put her at a solid fifteen chips and brought him down to ten. “So you are a gambler then but maybe not a very smart one,” Silver Tooth said and tried to brush his defeat off. “I’ve still got just as many chips as when I started so let’s see if you get that lucky again.” “I can make my own luck,” she glanced at the dealer. “Hurry up and deal.” He did as told and a new hoof was dealt. Silver Tooth glanced down at his cards to see a jack of clubs and a nine of clubs. Straight, flush, straight flush, all possibilities. But the Flop could possibly be completely useless to him. The gang leader glanced up at Rainbow Dash, who was totally expressionless as she discreetly looked at her own cards. For the first time since they started playing he almost regretted that he hadn’t just had his dealer stack the deck considering the importance of this game. But he didn’t want to win by cheating, it would be an insult to him. He didn’t get his Cutie Mark cheating he got it winning. The Flop came down, six of clubs, four of clubs, and the jack of diamonds. Straight was done for but he had a decent chance on the flush and a pair of jacks as back up. The cards in the Flop didn’t make anything too special on their own either, Silver Tooth wouldn’t be surprised if his fellows folded on this one. He was right, all but one of the others in his gang folded their hoofs just at the sight of the Flop. But Rainbow Dash didn’t. It was possible she had two clubs too or something else she thought she could make. Either way the both of them tossed down a single chip and waited for the card on the Turn. The queen of clubs. Silver Tooth expertly kept his cool and didn’t so much as twitch. He had his flush now, what about Rainbow Dash? He glanced up and saw her looking over the cards intently. She seemed to be taking it seriously and he couldn’t tell if she was upset or just thinking hard. Silver Tooth grinned on the inside, he could probably bait her in for something good. That’s why he chose not to raise and instead just called. Both Rainbow Dash and the one other at the table only called as well. Rainbow Dash shot Silver Tooth a frown, clearly wishing she could’ve gotten more info from him. He resisted the urge to smile and shake his head this time. Amateur. Was the only thing that went through his head. The River then came and showed a seven of hearts. He was certain now he had the best hoof out there, the only question now was if he could get some extra chips from Rainbow Dash or would she swallow her pride again and fold. Silver Tooth grinned as he threw three chips down at the table. It was a modest amount and he definitely could’ve gone for more but that might’ve scared her off from calling him. He didn’t just want to win the hoof he wanted her to lose some more chips. Rainbow Dash threw her three chips in. The other Black Hoof folded. When it was all laid out, Silver Tooth had his flush and Rainbow Dash had two pair of fours and sixes. “Hehe, don’t feel too bad, not your fault you got drawn in with a decent hoof that just didn’t pan out,” Silver Tooth gloated. He was now up fifteen to her eleven. “Whatever. Looks to me like the both of us still have plenty of chips, so let’s keep going,” Rainbow said back to him. The next hoof was fairly uneventful. Silver Tooth bet in on the Flop but folded on the turn and Rainbow Dash ended up winning with an eight through queen straight. And because so many of the others had bet on the initial Flop too it brought her total number of chips to seventeen and his to fourteen. Things kept going back and forth between the two of them and it was starting to annoy Silver Tooth greatly. He wanted to crush this pony that thought she could beat him. She had the moxie to come in here and willingly let herself get roped into the game of his choice and she was doing this good? No way, he had to end this soon. The fifth hoof showed the possibility for him to finish things. Silver Tooth was dealt two kings with a third in the Flop alongside a two and a jack. He didn’t raise on the Flop, biding his time. Both him and Rainbow Dash only bet a single chip, so he wasn’t sure how good her hoof may have been but he was going to try and bait or provoke her for everything she had. On the Turn a second two was laid out and Silver Tooth cheered for himself internally. A full house. The only thing that could make his hoof better was if the last king came on the river and gave him a four-of-a-kind. There were very few possible hoofs that could beat what he had and any straight flush or royal flush was completely impossible to begin with so what was left over was incredibly unlikely to occur in the same hoof where he had gotten such a strong full house. “I think I’ll be raising my bet a little on this one,” Silver Tooth said and pushed five chips into the center of the table. It wasn’t a gamble, he had gotten a good grasp on her personality. There was no way he could say and do something like that so calmly and she wouldn’t respond. He just underestimated her response. “Five, huh? I’ll call that,” Rainbow Dash said as she shoved five chips out right beside his. “And I’ll raise you five more.” She used her wing to grab and toss an additional five chips into the pot. Silver Tooth narrowed his eyes. “You can’t bluff me.” “If you think I’m bluffing then call me and let’s see the River,” Rainbow grinned back at him. “You’ll regret this,” Silver Tooth said as he threw five more chips in. Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I don’t think I will, benefit of being awesome and winning all the time.” The ace of spades came out on the River and Silver Tooth raised an eyebrow at her. “If you were hoping for some great last card I doubt that was what you needed.” Rainbow Dash yawned and threw all of her chips into the pot. “All in.” Silver Tooth’s eye twitched. This was what he wanted but it wasn’t exactly how it was supposed to go. Her baseless confidence was infuriating to him. Now he could just call and end things… right? There was no way, there was absolutely no way she had a better hoof than him. He was not doubting himself here, she was bluffing, or maybe had a somewhat decent hoof, but not better than his. He could still fold and… no! No, he wasn’t doing that and he shouldn’t have even considered it. “I’ll call you,” Silver Tooth growled and put the last of his chips in while the rest of his gang watched on the edge of their seats. He then laughed and laid his kings out. “Well, that’s a full house, sorry, Rainbow Dash.” She looked at his kings and then picked up her own cards to stare at them for a second before looking Silver Tooth dead in the eye. “You know, twos aren’t very pretty, but when you’ve got all four of them it’s pretty nice.” Rainbow Dash casually tossed her pair of twos onto the Flop, sliding them together with the others already there and showing off her four-of-a-kind. Gasps came from the other Black Hoofs and Silver Tooth himself blanched. “I think that’s called winning,” Rainbow Dash grinned at the gang leader. He lifted a shaking hoof up to his fedora and took it off, running his hoof through his mane. “So it is.”