Episode 11: The Luck of the Ponish
(Warning: The following episode contains grimdark themes. Viewer discretion is advised.)
Candid’s ears were nearly bleeding at the shouts of the stallion across the streets.
“You, sir!” the equine yelled to ponies walking down the road, all of which were ignoring him. “Don’t miss your chance at the community news!”
Candid was holding his ears shut as he tried to walk down the street, but even with all the pressure he put on his own head, he couldn’t block out the continuous bellows from the apparent salespony.
“And don’t forget!” the stallion continued. “Today is the last chance to sign up for the community lottery!”
“Do you have to yell that loud!” Candid snapped as he passed by the stallion.
“Why yes I do!” the pony continued, yelling without any hint of anger. “If I don’t yell, nopony will hear me!”
“Well I’m not going to be able to hear you for much longer if you keep that up!”
The stallion lowered a paper in his hooves down before talking in a quieter, but still loud, tone. “Well, sorry for that, young sir.”
The griffon finally removed his clawless talons from his ears before glaring into the eyes of the stallion. “What’s this with news going on?”
“Well, the Princess of Friendship has just appointed a new student.”
“I’m talking about news around here.”
“Oh, well General Radiance is starting the first Community Lottery.”
Candid tilted his head in confusion. “What? He’s never done something like this before.”
“Well our leader hasn’t been the same for a while, so he’s trying something new, and he would like as many members to participate as possible.”
The orange non-pony sneered for a moment before he finally understood what was happening and why Radiance was doing this. After rolling his eye, he finally spoke. “Okay fine, where do I go?”
The stallion smiled before giving him a sheet of paper. “Just follow the directions on this, and when you get to the building, tell them Forte sent you.”
After receiving a questionable wink from the stallion, Candid turned to walk away awkwardly, holding the slip of paper in his talons. After a couple of steps away, he heard Forte speak loudly again, causing the griffon to fly away in speed to save himself more hearing loss.
The orange non-pony followed the directions on the paper closely, making sure not to make a wrong turn to end up at the edge of the walls. After some time of walking, he finally found the building, marked with the long line of creatures piling out like a caterpillar outside the main entrance. As he began making his way to the back of the line, the running sound of hoofsteps began making its way to the back of the line from the other side of the streets, where a pony was able to get in line before Candid found his place there.
From in front of the griffon, a yellow earth pony with dark green hair stood, huffing and puffing as if she had just run a marathon. Through all of the gasps, Candid grew concerned, sparking him to speak.
“Uh? You okay there?”
“Oh me?” the pony asked as she turned to face the griffon.
“No, my imaginary friend.”
The pony’s face drooped in confusion before the griffon spoke for clarity.
“Yes, I mean you.”
The pony blinked hard before answering. “Well, I just got word that something brand new is happening around here, and I want to be able to try my hoof at this.”
“You do realize that this is a lottery, right? You’d have to be lucky to win this.”
The equine smirked at the orange non-pony. “I’m a pretty lucky filly.” She immediately turned away to mutter to herself “does 16 count as a filly? I’m a pretty lucky mare, I guess?”
“Well, everyone’s luck runs out eventually.”
As the two spoke, the line began to move closer to the entrance.
“Not mine,” she giggled. “My name’s Clover. My parents named me after Clover the Clever because they wanted me to be smart, never letting me out of their grasp.”
“They didn’t teach you that lotteries aren’t a smart choice?”
Clover snorted. “This is different. I have a good chance at this. You haven’t told me your name though.”
He shrugged. “My name is Candid.”
“That’s a good name. It’s nice to meet you, Candid.” She lifted up a hoof to greet the griffon before pulling it away cautiously. “Oh, sorry! You probably don’t do that kind of stuff with claws.”
“Oh, no,” he immediately corrected. “I don’t have any claws. I lost them a while ago . . . They’re just safe talons.” The griffon lifted up his arms to show Clover the clawless talons that had been forcefully pulled out long ago.
“I’ll save you the trouble of an explanation . . .” the green-maned pony spoke reluctantly. “What brings you here?”
“Well I figured Sunflower could use the support even though he hates me. He’s trying everything to get a different feeling in his life. I can tell. What about you, Clover? What makes you think that you can do well here?”
Clover shivered nervously. “Well, I’ve never really been given the chance to do something like this before. A leader here has never given everypony the opportunity to all matter. But I’m hoping this would be different. This is my first time doing something on my own, and I would really like it to be perfect.”
“Well, what better view of 'perfect' is there than the humbling experience of losing?”
"Oh I wouldn't be too sure on that for me."
"What makes you say that?"
The pony smirked before turning around and pointing to her flank, immediately causing the griffon to avert his eye.
“Woah!” he yelled. “I don’t want to see that!”
She scoffed. “No, just look.”
Candid sighed before putting his eye back to the pony, seeing on her flank a 4-leaf clover. He raised an eyebrow before the pony spoke.
“It’s my special talent. I’m really lucky at things. I basically can get whatever I want in the moment. It’s come in handy so-o-o many times before, and I figured if I’m going to finally do something for myself and not have anyone else’s say in it, trying my chances at something like the lottery here is a great start. It’s like I’m guaranteed success.”
Candid glanced away in thought. “Doesn’t that seem a little unfa-.”
“Hey, watch it!” a voice from down the street interrupted.
Candid would have finished his thought had it not been for the rumbling of the ground as if a stampeding yak were making his way down to his location. Unfortunately, that was exactly what was happening.
“Droll sorry!” he roared as he made his way towards Candid.
The orange non-pony sighed as he crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?”
Candid and Clover stepped forward in line as the yak came to join in back of them, all three of them successfully making it into the store now.
He spoke in a guarded manner. “Yak want to sign up.”
The griffon’s face tightened in curiosity. “You never believed in luck before. What makes you think you can do this?”
“Droll just need bits for important thing . . .”
“But why . . . Nevermind, I don’t care.”
Clover turned to face Droll in a friendly manner. “Is this your friend?”
“Unfortunately,” Candid answered, a slight smirk tugging at his face.
Clover beamed before approaching the yak cordially. “And who might you be?”
The brown non-pony began to stutter, but he finally answered. “Yak Droll.”
"Oh! Your first name is 'Yak'?"
The griffon scoffed. "Why does no one here know what Yakkish is? In his culture, they don't have linking verbs. They just focus on the crucial words I guess. He means to say 'I (yak) am Droll'."
The brown non-pony sighed. "Full name Droll Bovine."
With a smile, Clover tried to speak. “That's a cool name! I’m -.”
“Next in line,” Candid finished. “I’m sure the pony behind the counter is getting impatient.”
“Right!” Clover said with a stiffened body. “Wish me luck.” After a wink, she rushed to the front of the store, leaving behind a gap in the line that was quickly filled up by the non-ponies.
From behind Candid, Droll shivered, his eyes never leaving advertised prize. “Yak really need winnings . . .”
The griffon frowned. “Why do you . . . Nevermind, I still don’t care.”
The two exchanged unamused looks before the sound of Clover’s decision making overtook them.
“What numbers do I want?” she asked herself while staring down at the paper of hundreds of digits.
Candid whispered to his friend. “She claims she is good at this. Let’s see how good.”
Clover studied the paper, as if indecisive of what she wanted to pick. Sweat began to leak down the side of her face as she began to tremble slightly. “I really don’t know . . .”
Before the pony could break down, Candid approached her. “Hey, hey. They’re just numbers. Focus on something that means something to you. Try picking your favorite six.”
Clover began to calm herself down, closing her eyes to breathe carefully. Finally she turned back to the counter, putting on a look of false confidence. “Okay, I think I know what I want.”
As Clover stared down, her eyes began to move quickly once more, but after flinching, she stopped herself in order to focus on the paper. After a couple seconds of absorbing everything on the page, the 4-leaf clover on her flank began to glow brightly, illuminating everything in her immediate surroundings in the golden glow of her cutiemark. Such a brilliant display of color froze Candid in place as he didn’t know what he was witnessing.
“I will pick 5, 4, 3, 9, 0, and 8, please.” She smiled up at the pony behind the counter, giving her best innocent expression as if she didn’t just waste 5 minutes of the worker’s time.
The stallion just nodded without smiling. “Yep. Here you go. Please leave now.”
Clover crookedly smirk with narrowed eyes before receiving the number stamps gingerly. After stepping away from the counter, she gave Candid a bright smile. “Here we go!” She then made her way out of the store without another word or even a double take.
“What friends just see?” Droll asked in the same shock Candid was still in.
“I don’t know, but that was amazing.”
The non-ponies were making their way to their destination at the town hall when Candid finally had enough of Droll’s fidgeting.
“Would you cut that out?” he snapped.
“Sorry, yak just nervous. This event important to Droll because-.”
“I still don’t care. I just want you to stop being such a scaredy-yak.”
Droll slouched in his movements, but he still carried himself at the same pace. “Why town hall used for everything?”
Candid rolled his eye. “Radiance has no better ideas, I guess. The paper given back there at the store was, in his words, 'directions to go to the town hall'.”
“Won’t leader be mad yak and griffon show up?”
Candid smirked as if this was his chance. “I’m not afraid of him.”
The two continued the rest of their walk in silence before arriving at the grand building, perfectly standing as if nothing bad had ever happened to it.
“How town hall look brand new after all years?”
“Don’t ask me. I don’t know. All I know is that there’s some sort of youth spell on it or something to make it indestructible. Go to the library. The library knows everything.”
Instead of the usual bright smile the yak would give, Droll just persisted forward into the town hall in an isolated manner. Candid was barely dismissing this.
As the two made their way down the dark hallway, they heard what sounded to be entertainment at their destination. After tilting his head, Candid proceeded to walk faster to the light at the end of the hall, inevitably finding himself in the wide open room with a speaker playing music.
Candid scoffed. “It looks like Sunflower really is desperate. I don’t know for sure what’s going on with him. He seems to be trying to fill some sort of hole in his life, but it looks like it’s changing his entire outlook.”
From beside the griffon, Droll regarded him apathetically before returning his eyes to the middle of the room in silence, causing the griffon to stare at him. “Aren’t you going to crack a joke or something?”
“What difference it make?”
The griffon's mouth fell ajar, but before he could answer, a firm voice interrupted him from behind.
“I thought I forbade you two from coming to the community events.”
The two friends turned around to see General Radiance alone, glaring down at them in their path. Immediately, the griffon’s shocked look converted into conceit.
“Oh hey, Radar,” Candid began. “Shouldn’t the leader be hiding behind his guards since he’s 'oh-so important' and can’t afford any threats like Droll and me?”
Instead of anger, Radiance just scoffed. “Oh, Candid, I’d be more threatened by a griffon who actually had claws.”
Instantly, Candid clenched his talons, ready to wind up for an attack, but he stopped himself, frozen in place. Instead of laughter, Radiance just returned his serious expression.
“I warned you that you’d be in trouble if you came to these, Candid.”
After a deep breath, the griffon spoke. “But you also make us come to the community meetings, right? Because we’re supposed to follow orders from you.”
“Well, obviously.”
“It was an order from you that whoever bought lottery tickets have to come to the town hall.”
“That’s just-.”
“So,” Candid interrupted, “Droll and I were just following your orders. We made no crime either since this follows in directly with your exceptions. We were just following orders from you, Your Majesty.”
Radiance rolled his eyes. “I don't have the patience to deal with this. Just find a seat.”
The griffon grunted before looking over at the group of ponies, seeing Clover sitting down, patiently waiting for the event to start. Candid's anger ceased as he began to make his way over before Radiance snapped.
“Not there!”
Without looking back, the orange non-pony closed his eye to calm his fury down before he proceeded to go to the appropriate section of the town hall.
As Candid tried to find his seat, the sight of a donkey reading a Daring Do book caught his eye. With no self-restraint, he leaned over next to him. “Spoiler alert: Daring Do is a bucking moron.” Without waiting for a reaction, he proceeded to look for his seat.
As Candid returned his attention for his search, he found Droll had already found his seat without him. Normally, the yak would be waiting in anticipation for his friend to join him, but Droll was just slouching in his seat, motionlessly staring at the stage. Without letting him face another second alone, Candid flew over to make it to his friend immediately.
“Okay, Droll,” he began. “This has gone on far enough. What’s your problem?”
The yak moved only his eyes to see the griffon before returning them away to the stage as he waited for probable bad news.
“Droll,” he continued, “I’ve never seen you like this before. Where’s that stupid smile you always put on?”
“Yak haven’t found reason to smile.”
The orange non-pony tilted his head. “You’ve always found a reason to smile. That’s just who you are.”
“It was.” Droll lazily blinked twice in his slouch. “Droll just hope lottery fix things.”
Candid wanted to speak, but he knew it would be far from the truth to tell Droll that he would have a chance at winning, especially after Clover’s cutiemark would ensure that she got all the bits.
Without speaking, Candid pulled out his six numbers: 0,3, 2,6, 1, and 9. After a deep breath, he spoke. “Well, if I win, you can have all my winnings. I only joined here because I thought Radiance needed it. So now we have double the chances at winning.”
Droll blinked again before looking down at his numbers: 0,1,2,5, 20, 4. Without even a shift in facial expressions, the yak put down his numbers before returning his face to the front.
Candid quickly searched for a solution. "Droll, is it how I treated you today? I hope you know that's all in good fun. It's nothing too deep."
No response was given by the yak, prompting the orange non-pony to continue.
"Is it the stress of this community? Is it Radiance's grief affecting you too? Is it something I don't know about?"
After still no response, Candid’s hopeful attitude fell into desperation. “Come on, Droll. Please smile. It’s not fun to see you like this.”
Trying his best, Droll turned his head to his friend and lifted his lips to reveal his teeth, but his expression didn’t change. After he sighed, the sound of a microphone overtook the room.
“Good afternoon, everpony,” Radiance spoke in the center of the room. “It’s good to have any members we can have participating in the first Community Lottery.”
Radiance spoke as though he were broken, as if he were trying his best to convince everyone that he was happy but ultimately failing at it. When Candid returned to check on his friend, Droll was staring just a bit more attentively, putting on an expression of understanding at the speaker.
“Before I reveal the numbers,” the stallion spoke up, “I just want to thank you all for participating. It’s been a rough couple of months, but I know that together, there’s nothing that-.”
“Get on with it!” a voice roared from a nearby seat, startling both the yak and griffon.
As Radiance gave an empty look towards the direction of the heckler, another non-pony spoke up, shouting similar demands. After the creature was done, a pony from the other side yelled in agreement, causing several others to begin yelling impatiently as well. Soon enough, an entire section of creatures were chanting for Radiance to continue reading, and the number of voices only increased.
Radiance fought to maintain his smile. “Please, settle down. We will get to-.”
“Tell us who won!” another voice yelled.
“I will, just-.”
“Stop wasting our time!”
“SHUTUP!” Sunflower snapped through the microphone, causing all the voices to come to an end abruptly. “I am in charge here and no one is going to talk over me! I’m trying to make it fun here, but if you all aren’t patient enough to wait for the results, I’ll just do away with this completely!”
For a moment, there was silence until a voice said “sure you will!”
Instantly, Radiance turned to the direction of the heckler. “Okay, you’re grounded!” Immediately, he froze on the stage, not moving. From beside Candid, Droll gave a silent squeal of sadness but stayed still.
Radiance blinked twice, regaining his composure, but his smile didn’t return. “Okay fine. I don’t have to waste my time here either.” The stallion looked down at the six numbers in his hooves before calling them out. “0, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9.”
Immediately, Candid widened his eye as he looked to the crowd of ponies to see Clover shoot up in astonishment.
“Whoever has these numbers, come on down. Whoever has four or more of these same numbers will have the winnings equally split among them.”
From the other side of the room, Clover froze, but Radiance's encouraging tone allowed her to march down to the stage reluctantly.
“What is your name?” Radiance asked into the microphone.
“Um . . .” the mare shifted shyly. “My name is C-Clover . . .”
“Well,” Radiance looked around. “Wait, was there nopony else who got at least four numbers? Really, how lucky does someone have to be for that to happen?”
Clover giggled softly as she looked away with innocent eyes. “I guess I’m the only one then.”
“Well, Clover. What are you going to do with the bits?”
The yellow earth pony raised her eyebrows in thought. “I’m not sure. I never thought I’d make it this far. I’ll have to ask my parents and make sure they can help me use it wisely.”
“Well, that all sounds good. You’ll be receiving your bits within the day.”
Clover smiled brightly up at Radiance before speaking in a quiet tone near the microphone. “Thank you.”
Radiance put on a bright smile before it faded as his eyes went out of focus.
Clover tilted her head before continuing. “What’s wrong, General?”
Radiance blinked before shaking his head. “Uh, nothing. You just reminded me of someone.”
“Oh cheer up, Droll,” Candid said as the two walked away from the letdown. “Stuff like that is rare, you know? You’d have an easier time trying to guess Constellar’s prison name.”
Droll slouched his shoulders while walking. “Yak still no know what that means.”
“It’s just a community saying. Don’t look too far into it.”
Droll huffed, staring at the ground as if he could not believe this was his reality. “Lottery was Droll’s only idea.”
“It’s possible to find something else in the future though.”
“Droll no want chances. Droll just want to know how to be happy.”
Candid tried to think of something, but his mind was drawing a blank. Finally, he had nothing else to say except how he felt. “I don’t like playing this role, Droll. I’m not good at it. You were always the one who kept our spirits high.”
“Yak no know what to-.”
“Guess whose talent just proved useful yet again!” a voice shouted from the distance.
Candid’s jaw dropped in concern as Clover stampeded over to them.
“Uh, Clover? Maybe now isn’t the best-.”
“Can you two believe I won? I can. I’m the best.” Clover giggled in delight before looking at the inverse expression of the yak ahead of her. “Oh, were you hoping to win?”
“Yak hoping for change.”
Candid stepped forward. “He’s a little upset about the whole thing, Clover.”
Clover pursed her lips. “Oh, well, maybe better luck next time . . . ?”
“Lottery yak's hope for some spark in life,” Droll said as tears entered his eyes. “What Droll do now?”
Clover opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get a statement across, Droll rushed away from the group, leaving the two in their concern.
Candid gritted his teeth. “Yeah, maybe I should-.”
“I can’t believe it,” Clover began. “Why couldn’t I have seen this before?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The way I won was unfair. I took the win away from someone else who might have gotten it. How selfish was it for me to enter into that event with the certainty that I would win? I won unfairly.”
“It wasn’t that unfair-.”
“I have an advantage over everyone else because of my cutiemark. I am lucky enough to get whatever I want in a moment while others have to rely on fate to determine if something good happens.”
“Clover-.”
“Oh my goodness. The science fair I won when I was 8? The race I barely practiced for that I got first place in when I was ten? The student pony president for my school that I barely put any marketing in for? All lies! I don’t deserve this win. I don’t deserve anything I’ve ever gotten!”
Before Candid could speak, Clover stampeded away in the opposite direction Droll went. Candid wanted to rush immediately after her but then remembered Droll the other way, someone closer to him that was just as much of an emotional wreck. The griffon turned to the direction Droll had gone, but he stopped, remembering Clover who was more recent and probably not very far.
The orange non-pony rapidly kept shifting his gaze in both directions, but he had to choose just one. Was it going to be his old friend who was stronger on the inside or his new friend that doesn't trust herself anymore? After many long seconds of moral decisions, Candid took off in full speed in the direction that the green-maned pony had run off to.
The griffon stared at the streets that had creatures periodically scattered through them, but he saw no sign of his friend. After many moments of terror, he stared at the ground where a string of green hair was. After studying it closely, he noticed another tiny strand of it a bit of distance away before seeing yet another one. Candid looked up to see the path following down the streets and into a secluded part.
“It’s her cutiemark,” Candid said in concern. “She secretly wants me to follow her.”
Pressed for time on the brink of disaster, Candid bolted at full speed, following the trace of hair that was kindly left by Fate. With a single eye, he darted it around the place, looking for Clover, but saw no sign of her. Without slowing down, he followed the hair before it ended at a place in which no one seemed to be around. With a look up into the distance, he saw the yellow equine slowly walking near sets of abandoned households.
“Clover!” he yelled as he flew towards her.
The pony immediately stopped next to one of the poor-conditioned houses, looking back at Candid with tears streaming down her face. “Please, just leave me alone. I don’t deserve anyone’s company at the moment.”
“You’re wrong! Clover, believe me when I say that you weren’t cheating. It’s just in your nature to win.”
“Don’t you get it?!” she said even louder. “As long as I’m around, I will be there to steal victories from everypony else and make their lives miserable!”
The mare began to backup toward the building behind her, and Candid caught notice of her cutiemark beginning to glow slightly.
“I can’t do that to anyone!” She continued.
She began making her way to the abandoned household as she continued to face Candid.
“Clover,” the griffon said. “Back away from there now!”
“I don’t deserve to be here! No one deserves to have me around!”
Immediately as the words left her mouth, her back hit the wall as her cutiemark went to its maximum brightness. As soon as the walls were illuminated in the golden aura, the sound of crumbling occurred and the pony stared up at the falling rocks, closing her eyes as they came down on her.
Immediately, Candid flashed his wings outwards to speed toward the mare, but before he could reach the location, the heavy rocks had already covered her completely, and the entire scene erupted into dust that floated overhead, hiding the display beneath a blanket of powder.
“Clover!” Candid yelled in desperation. “Are you okay?”
After waiting for the dust to subside, no answer was given. As quickly as he could, he removed as many rocks as possible, but what he saw made him wish he was blind in his other eye too.
Candid clenched the gates to the cemetery as he watched the funeral go down. He wished he was allowed to enter in to pay his respects, but according to Radiance's rules regarding them, they were not allowed in.
After watching for several minutes and trying to listen to the inaudible words at the gravesite, Candid finally turned around to collapse, leaning his back against the gate. To his right, Droll tried to comfort him.
“Candid be alright,” Droll said with actual emotion this time. “Losing pony is bad, but yak promise Candid be alright.”
The orange non-pony huffed, but no tears entered his eyes. Instead, he just glared straight ahead at nothing, thinking solely on his inadequacy.
Finally, Droll offered his thoughts. “Yak thought pony was lucky though. How this happen?”
Candid blinked hard before turning his attention to his friend. “Don’t you get it? Luck was her entire thing. She wanted this to happen. It was Fate following her wishes.”
The yak twitched his face in hopes of saying something, but nothing came to his mind. Instead, he just sat down next to his friend, hoping he would know that he was there.
"I told her that it wasn't cheating?" The griffon stared through he community streets, eying the corner he traveled to find his friend. "Was I wrong?"
"Yak no know."
"Did I . . . lie?"
Droll looked up at his best friend. "Did griffon believe words to pony?"
The orange non-pony took a deep breath. "I think I did."
The two sat in silence for a moment before Candid spoke. “I can’t believe everything.”
Droll tilted his head in thought as he listened, and Candid continued.
“I can’t believe I wasn’t able to save another friend.”
The brown non-pony opened his mouth to speak but then decided to merely close it and nod in silence, closing his eyes in the process.
Candid glared in anger across the street, focusing on nothing in particular. “I can save a community full of creatures that hate me but I can't seem to save someone who matters to me. No matter what I do it seems. I'll always be like this."
"Griffon no know that,' Droll added. "Now may be dark, but future what make it. Future can be very bright."
Candid stared at the ground in thought. " You're right, Droll. I can't let something like this happen again.”
“What griffon mean?”
“The next time something like this would happen, I’ll be ready for it. I won’t let someone else get hurt because I’m not good enough to help them. I thought I was fast, but my speed isn’t enough yet, but I will be faster. I will be stronger. I will be better.”
Droll blinked back a tear. “How?”
“I do some training and make myself better than who I was in the morning. Just recently, I was beaten up by an older stallion and there was absolutely no competition there. I couldn’t even defend myself. And even with you as a teammate, we can’t stand a chance against one opponent.”
Droll narrowed his eyes in anger at the memory. “Yak no want to feel helpless either. Yak with griffon. Droll help in any way he can.”
Candid stood up from his slouch of defeat before facing Droll with a look of determination. “You’re in the same situation as I am, Droll. Are you prepared to do what it takes so that the next time something happens to you, you won’t just take it? Instead, will you fight it and beat it? And when someone you care about is about to be taken, are you ready to not let that happen?”
Droll nodded with a look of determination before a tiny smile was able to return to his face. “Droll ready.”
Candid gave his best friend a smirk, aware that the two of them were going to do whatever it took together. “Let’s get started then.”
Cold