//------------------------------// // Applejack Would be Bad at This // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Two ponies, a merpony, and a griffon stood on the outskirts of the bad part of Malkonrik’s port. It was a familiar sight to all of them. “Are they even going to let us wander around here or are they just going to try and rob us after last time?” Daylight wondered. “We’ll see, but I think they’ll be too afraid of all the soldiers to do something as big as that,” Rainbow said. “But gambling and other rigged games you think will still be going off without a hitch?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t see why that would be any different despite things being slower around here. That’s one thing that shouldn’t have changed, right?” “I still think this is a bad idea...” Senax said. “Even I think this is a bad idea,” Gilbert nodded. “Yeah cause you got tricked last time,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Look—these ponies definitely still have money. And we know they gamble and run other stuff in port that makes them some illicit profit or whatever. Can you think of anywhere else we have the opportunity to get some money so quickly on such short notice? I bet the soldiers stationed here like to gamble in their free time too, they’re probably bored out of their minds and annoyed at getting stuck down here.” “So basically there’s money to be made and you think that’s all that should matter to us right now?” Daylight asked. “More or less,” Rainbow affirmed. Daylight sighed. “Well I suppose that I can’t really disagree with that… as much as I want to.” “Sweet!” Rainbow grinned and winked at her. She smiled over at Senax and Gilbert. “You two should relax too, Breakwater gave me his blessing on this, didn’t he?” “Probably because he couldn’t think of another option,” Senax said. “He still said he trusted me,” Rainbow shrugged. After Rainbow Dash had voiced her idea the group had come here but so far were still just hanging around the outskirts. While on the way, Breakwater had gone back to Ballast’s, leaving it as just the four of them to potentially solve their money problems with this. It was just like old times. There was a dingy looking alley that led down into the backstreets where they had, weeks ago now, gambled for the return of Breakwater’s money. This time they had nothing to win back, but simply wanted to “legitimately” make the money they needed to get the Heart of Azure in perfect working order and fill it with all the necessary food and supplies. Only problem was that—for obvious reasons—most of the group wasn’t too enthusiastic about gambling or saying hi to these ponies again. “Do we just walk in there and try to find the same ones we met last time?” Daylight asked. “Yep,” Rainbow nodded and started walking down the alley. “But we don’t even really have any money on hoof right now, even if they didn’t turn us away would they let us start to gamble at all without any money down?” Senax asked. Rainbow Dash winked at her too. “Don’t worry, got an idea for that.” “I’m worried…” Senax said. Rainbow snorted. “Oh have some more faith in me already.” Their group walked down the alley, Rainbow Dash occasionally noticing a few ponies glancing at them from windows and hearing the sounds of some talking further in the backstreets. She kept on edge but she wasn’t exactly worried about them getting attacked or mugged or anything. That kind of criminal behavior was an especially bad idea with all the soldiers around who had nothing to do. She was willing to bet crime like that had gone down but gambling had probably gone up simply because no one here was as busy as normal and they might be desperate enough to try and make money that way. Like they were. Once they emerged out of the alley and into the wider backstreet, the four of them paused and took a look around. There were a number of tables set up behind old buildings that ponies were either sitting at or standing around, talking with one another. A few doors without any sort of signage on them led into other establishments, most of those doors had a pony or two standing in front of and guarding them. Pretty much everyone had a hard and unfriendly look to them and more than a few glares were sent their way. The four of them were definitely out of place. So Rainbow Dash just smiled back at all of them. “Alright, so where’s a mare got to go for some illegal gambling?” Daylight Gleam immediately slapped a hoof to her own face. Gilbert and Senax looked just as uncertain and a few more nasty looks were being sent at the party than before. One of the stallions guarding a door leading into a large brick building cleared his throat and stepped to the side. “Through here—just keep quiet about this place when you leave, okay?” “Awesome, thanks!” Rainbow Dash grinned and walked towards him. Daylight gawked in pure disbelief. “Huh, I guess it is that easy,” Gilbert shrugged and followed Rainbow. Senax patted Daylight on the back and walked over as well. “This can’t be how the world actually works,” Daylight shook her head but also still followed the others in. The door led into a narrow hallway that was thick with the smoke of cigars and poorly lit in the first place. It was an unpleasant experience to walk through but it was just a short trip before they ended up in a large parlor. Dim lights hung from the ceiling over a number of felt tables that were crowded with ponies while a few mares in rather outrageous outfits carried drinks around the crowd. The far back wall was a bar but nobody was seated there, all the real action was occurring at the tables. Rainbow wasn’t sure what game was being played, but it involved dice, cups, and ponies shouting and angrily yelling at each other while smoking cigars. She even saw quite a few Malkonrik soldiers still in their armor gambling away without a care in the world. And of course, Rainbow Dash being the highly visible and memorable pony she is, she was recognized very quickly by someone. “You!” An angry shout came from a nearby table as a pony slammed his hooves down on it and stood up out of his chair. Rainbow and the others looked over at him, and she raised an eyebrow. “Me?” Quite a few of the other gamblers looked over at the source of the commotion as the one who shouted at Rainbow Dash came around his table and stomped towards her. She recognized him now too. This was the leader of those ponies who had taken Breakwater’s money and who she had recovered it from. Well, she couldn’t blame him for not being happy to see her again. “Yes, you!” He shouted once more. “The pegasus that swindled us out of our hard-earned money!” “Swindled?” Rainbow Dash grinned in amusement. “Pretty sure that’s what you guys did to get that money in the first place. And I got it back from pure luck, you guys just shouldn’t have let me bait you. Live with it.” A few other ponies stood up as the one in front of her positively bristled. Seeing the situation that was developing, Rainbow Dash placatingly held up her hooves. “Alright, look, we didn’t come here to gloat or anything like that. We want to gamble too, so how about letting us play? Give yourself a chance to make that money back. Seems like a pretty busy place in here, it’s not just run by you is it? I bet there has to be some table that will welcome us.” “No one will welcome a cheat like you,” the pony huffed. “I don’t know how you did what you did, but no one can be that lucky. You aren’t welcome to gamble here and I’ll make sure everybody knows that.” Rainbow bit her lip. “Okay… then I won’t gamble. But what about my friends?” “Uhh, Rainbow Dash...” Daylight anxiously poked her in the side a couple of times. “Relax,” Rainbow whispered back to her. “We need to make money somehow, don’t we?” The pony took a quick look at the others—recognizing Gilbert as the rube they scammed in the first place. “As long as you don’t take any part in the games, that’s fine. The three of them can gamble all the money they want.” “Cool,” Rainbow grinned. “What game is being played here anyways? Some dice game?” “Liar’s Dice,” the pony answered. “It’s a game popular with pirates and other seafarers.” “How’s it played?” The pony raised an eyebrow. “Never heard of it? Well I’m still not stupid enough to let you play, but if your friends are just as ignorant as you I can tell you how the game goes and you can find yourselves a table. A table far away from me.” A quick glance over her shoulder at the vacant expressions on her friends’ faces told her they didn’t know how the game was played either. “Uh, I think we probably need that crash course, yeah.” “Fine,” the pony spat in annoyance. “Basically, the game is played like this: two or more ponies get a cup of five dice each. You shake that cup of dice and put it open-side down on the table, then you discreetly look at what you rolled. Let’s say you have three fours and two other dice. What happens next is whoever the first caller is, they’ll say like they guess that maybe there are six five’s in total in all the other hooves of dice. And if you think they’re wrong or just outright bluffing you can call them a “Liar” and make everyone reveal what they rolled. If he’s wrong then he loses and you’d roll again until you’re the last pony at the table. If he wasn’t lying then you’d be out. Course it normally takes a few rounds of calling and bluffing before anyone says something that you want to call them out over. Specially since the more ponies there are playing the more dice there are. It’s all about guessing and gambling on what the other dice turned up as, and being able to bluff while picking out an opponent’s bluff.” “Thanks,” Rainbow said to him. “I hope you lose quickly,” he said right back. “Rainbow Dash!” Daylight hissed and pulled her back so they could whisper quietly to each other. “We can’t do this. How are we going to win without you?” “It’ll be fine, one of you will just have to play instead. No reason to think we can’t win anything just because I’m not the one rolling,” Rainbow shrugged. “Well it can’t be me playing,” Gilbert said as he pointed to himself. “I shouldn’t even need to say why.” “That’s true,” Daylight and the others nodded. “It probably shouldn’t be me either because of my terrible luck.” “Yeah,” Rainbow said. She turned her eyes to Senax. As did Daylight and Gilbert. Senax’s nodding slowed down and she looked from face to face before an unhappy frown stretched over her lips. Her webbed ears and entire body wilted. “Oh… oh it’s going to be me, isn’t it?” Four cups full of dice were slammed down onto the felt table, and just as quickly afterwards the four players lifted up the cups slightly so they could discreetly check on what they rolled. Senax spied two fours, two sixes, and a one. She fought to keep herself from biting her lip or showing any sort of emotion on her face—just like Rainbow Dash had told her—as she looked up and glanced at the faces of the other ponies seated at the table and engaging in this game of Liar’s Dice. Their group had put down the last of the coins they had to be able to buy into this game, if they lost right off the bat then that would be it. Even if Senax won it would still take a good deal of time for them to make all the money they needed. And that was if she never lost a single game at all. No pressure. “Four sixes,” the first caller—the pony across from her—said. Senax tried not to outwardly react but she still glanced down at her concealed hoof. With two sixes of her own it certainly wasn’t unlikely that there were at least two more out there. Definitely not something to call a bluff on. Behind her, Rainbow Dash and the others were standing, giving her moral support but having to remain totally quiet as long as the round was going on. “Five fives,” the next pony—this one to her left—said. Fives. Senax thought. She didn’t have a single one of those, it was way less likely that that many fives were out here, but not unlikely enough for her to call the pony a liar. Now it was her turn, and she was going to add to what the first pony started. “Six sixes,” Senax said. That drew a few wary glances and narrowed eyes directed at her, but Senax merely stared back at them. And no one called her out just yet, so the round continued. “Six fives,” the last pony in the turn said. Senax again really wanted to call him out since she didn’t have any fives and it was fairly likely the pony across from her didn’t have any either. But the pony to her left could have five fives on his own—it was unlikely but possible. All the pony to her right would need in that case was one. So still she kept her mouth zipped shut. Now it came back to the first pony, and he purposefully let a grin stretch across his face. “Seven sixes.” He knew that was a high number to call. Senax’s call must’ve reassured him that there were plenty more sixes out there. With the two she had, she wasn’t sure a call of seven was that unreasonable. However, the pony to her left didn’t share her thinking. “You’re a liar,” he said as he stood up out of his chair. “Now pull up that cup and let’s see what everyone has.” Everyone pulled their cups up together to see if the pony was a liar or not. He had three sixes of his own along with a pair of threes. The pony to her left had four fives and a one. And the last one to her right had two fives, a three… and two sixes. Seven sixes total exactly. The first caller had gotten lucky. “Sorry, friend, but it looks like I’m no liar today,” the pony grinned. The one who had called him out grit his teeth in anger before knocking his cup and dice off the table and walking away. And then there were three. It was Senax’s turn to go first now. Everyone scooped their dice back into their cups and shook them around once more before slamming them down to the table. She calmed herself down with a brief exhale and lifted the rim to check out what she had. Two ones, a two, a five, and a six. That didn’t give her much wiggle room to bluff, and she had to take into account the fact there were only fifteen dice total now. “Two fives,” Senax said after a second. The pony to her right took a moment to consider before looking at his own hoof again. “Two ones.” That could be helpful. Senax had to keep from flinching in reaction. “Two sixes,” the pony across from her said. All in all she felt like she was in a pretty good position after that round. She knew what she was going to do next. Glancing at the pony to her right she calmly said: “Three ones.” He glanced back at her and briefly furrowed his brow before speaking. “Three sixes.” The pony now directly across from her didn’t wait at all. “Four sixes. “Four ones,” and neither did Senax. “Five sixes,” the pony to her right said. “Liar,” the pony across grinned as his eyes narrowed at the other pony. “Pull your cups up.” They did so and Senax’s eyes widened in surprise. The pony across from her didn’t have any sixes at all. He had been bluffing the entire time. She herself only had one and the pony to her right only had two. A hoof slammed down on the table and the new loser angrily pushed his chair back and walked away, grumbling the whole time. She hadn’t thought about bluffing for a number you didn’t even have at all. Unless she got really lucky somehow she wasn’t sure she could beat this pony. But she still did her best to not let her emotions show on her face. With just the two of them now she wasn’t going to be able to rely on someone else to make a mistake. Ten dice, two ponies, it was going to be tough. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked back to see Rainbow Dash smiling at her. The pegasus gave her a reassuring wink and Senax returned the smile before taking a deep breath and retrieving her dice once more to shake them again. The cups were slammed onto the table and Senax looked at her dice. Five fives. It was his turn again though so he went first. “One four.” “Two fours.” “Three fours.” Right there she could’ve called him liar and been pretty sure he was bluffing. But her own hoof of fives kept her from doing so. It wasn’t enough yet. There was the chance… So she switched gears. Fast. “Four fives.” That brought a brief hesitance to the other pony’s face. He frowned at her before grinning again. “Four fours.” It was time to risk it all. She was going to take a gamble and assume he had overshot things, thinking she probably had at least one four. She inhaled sharply and looked him dead in the eye. “Liar.” “Alright, alright, alright,” Rainbow Dash grinned from beside Senax. “What do you say we up the stakes this time? Give ourselves a real game. Fifty coins apiece, winner takes all!” “You don’t have fifty coins,” one of the other ponies playing said as he pointed to the small pile next to Senax. “Yeah but I’m super sure Senax is going to win again so I’m willing to put some stuff up as collateral,” Rainbow said. “Collateral?” Daylight nervously asked. “Yep!” Rainbow patted her on the back and then pointed out across the whole gambling den. “If we actually lose next round, I’ll let everyone in here who hates me punch me once. And since you probably want some real cash besides that—Senax here also has a golden treasure in her possession that we’ll give to the winner if she loses. It’s a totally priceless artifact!” “What?” Senax hissed as she turned to glare at Rainbow Dash. “Relax, you’ve got this. Just needed to get them to bet more,” Rainbow winked. “Okay—fine. But when I win this next round I’m punching you anyways,” Senax frowned. “Eheh… deal.”