//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 - New Friends, New Problems 
// Story: Hex 
// by La Barata 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2: New Friends, New Problems

Dead silence.

That was the term that most present would probably use to describe the atmosphere that had fallen over the room. Most present turned their attention to their drinks, as though the liquid within the cheap little glasses had somehow decided to share with its drinkers the secrets of the universe. A silly thought, of course.

They’d need to have at least three more glasses before that started to happen.

For those who remained watching it was an almost surreal scene. They had to admit, though, it was original way to commit suicide: Most would’ve simply laid down on the train tracks.

Much to the relief of those assembled, however, a quick hoof covered the irrepressible pink mare’s mouth, another appearing on her shoulder. Their owner, a rather lavishly dressed stallion, nodded politely to both the stallion at the bar and to the bartender, before gently guiding her back to her table.

“Terribly sorry about the intrusion, Mr. Hex,” he said in a clipped Manehattan accent, inclining his head apologetically. Fishing about in a pocket, the stallion removed a few bits, placing them further down the counter. “Here, tell you what. How’s about I make it up to you? Barkeep, another round for this fine fellow, please. On me.”  

Eager to avoid a scene and quietly thankful he had somehow managed to avoid a rather unsightly mess, the bartender quickly complied, a second drink finding its way in front of the stallion in question in a span of time which, had it been timed, would quite possibly have broken several records.

Silently, the stallion at the bar eyed the newcomer before slightly inclining his head in thanks. As he returned to his drink, the tension drained from the room like air from a balloon.  Easing Pinkie into her seat, the newcomer politely touched the brim of his hat, nodding to the assembled mares (and Braeburn) deferentially before pulling up a chair and joining them. Chuckling to himself, he shook his head before addressing Pinkie. “Well, ma’am, I can’t help but admire your determination towards friendliness, though I can certainly fault your sense of time and place. I’m afraid he’s not quite the type for…” he grinned wryly. “Socializing.” 
Sighing, Applejack shook her head, adjusting her hat slightly. “Yeah, Ah know the type, an’ lots’a times, it’s best t' leave ‘em to their own devices. Pinkie here’s just a bit too… Friendly fer her own good, sometimes. Don’t quite understand that some folks jus’ need to be left alone.”

Pinkie crossed her forelegs. “Jeez!” she grumped. “Well, excuuuuse me for trying to be friendly!”

Sighing, Rarity gently placed a foreleg on her friend’s shoulder. “I understand that, Pinkie, and it’s a very nice thing to do most of the time. It’s simply that…” Rarity trailed off momentarily as she glanced towards the stallion at the bar, curling her lip in disgust. The stallion had raised his glass, downing it in one gulp, a trickle of liquid escaping his mouth and splattering to the floor. “Ugh. SOME ponies simply don’t deserve the courtesy. I swear, his table manners are simply atrocious!” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t hold it against him, miss.” The stallion shrugged. “He can’t exactly help it.” 

Turning her attention back to the stallion, Rarity cleared her throat. “Well! At any rate, sir, please allow me to be the first to properly thank you for your assistance. I fear what may have happened.” Pausing for a moment, Rarity began to dig about in her saddlebag. “Please, allow me to compensate you for your efforts, or at least for the bits you spent.” 

Chuckling, the stallion shook his head, waving her away with a hoof. ”Please, miss. The only compensation I require is the names of such… Entrancing young ladies. It’s rare we get mares of such excellent breeding as yourselves out this way.”
“Aw, shucks, mister. We ain’t nothin’ special, really. Ah’m Applejack, an’ this is Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. This fella over here’s mah cousin Braeburn. The gal flutterin’ her eyelashes at ya like she’s tryin’ t'take flight is Rarity, an’ I believe you’ve met Pinkie Pie.” 

The stallion laughed, tipping his own broad, flat hat back to get a better view of the table. “Well, I can safely say it’s an absolute honour to make your acquaintances.” He paused a moment, before bringing a hoof to his forehead in a gesture of frustration. “Please, ladies, forgive my rudeness. One should never ask a lady her name before introducing himself. I,” he proclaimed with a flourish, “am Aces High: Rambler, gambler and the sharpest shooter and dresser in the entire territory!”

“Well, you’re certainly dressed the part, Mr. High,” Rarity marveled. True, she supposed, his outfit may be a tad… novel, but it’s certainly unique! And indeed it was: Dark chaps with a richly embroidered inlay of red and blue accented a similarly coloured vest and a shining silver brooch, all emblazoned with a fanned deck of cards, each of which seemed to be the ace of spades, all topped off with a flat, wide-brimmed hat, similarly embroidered and emblazoned.

He grinned, politely touching the brim of his hat. “Well, milady, I can clearly see you’re one with an excellent eye for high fashion. Oh, and please... Only my tailor calls me Mr. High. To my friends, I’m Ace, and I doubt I’d be calling you folk anything but.” 
Applejack smiled broadly, shaking his hoof energetically. “Good to meet’cha! Ah gotta say, though. Ya don’t quite seem the type fer this sorta country. What brings ya out this way?” 

Reclining in his chair, Ace gestured noncommittally, pushing his hat a bit further up his forehead. “Oh, you’d be surprised. I’ve taken to this country like a duck to water, so I have. A rough, tough country, where the stallions are stallions! The days harsh and the nights harsher! The moon and stars your only guide, the—"

A light clink rang out.

Ace turned to find a cup and saucer floating lazily beside his head. "Oh, yes please, miss Rarity, I’d love some.” His speech forgotten, Ace gratefully accepted the cup of coffee held aloft in Rarity's magic. Taking a sniff, he let out a satisfied sigh. “I suppose I can let you thank me just a little bit. There are few things better, I find, than a good cup of coffee, though I’d have to rank such pleasant company at the top of my list.”

Rarity shook the coffeepot slightly, judging its level, before standing and moving towards the bar. Looking back towards the table, she smiled, batting her eyelashes ever so slightly. “Oh, do go on. It truly is a pleasure to find such a rock of proper civilization all the way out here. I'll be back in just a moment, I'll just-” As she turned back towards, the bar, Rarity found herself bouncing off somepony’s chest, falling back onto her rump. 

”Oof!"  She blinked, crossing her eyes momentarily to check for damage as she rubbed at her nose.  "Oww... Oh, I do apologize. I wasn't looking...  where… where I..." The words died in her throat. 

Now, Rarity had always considered herself a mare of upstanding class and composure. Oh, she may have had her share of minor... incidents, true, but that's all they really were. Well, she may have lost her cool during the Grand Galloping Gala, but what mare could properly call herself a lady would she not stand up for herself when the need arises? And yes, she couldn't very well forget that rather... disturbing meltdown she had had following that simply disastrous fashion show. Her career had been in shambles— what else was she supposed to have done? 

All the same, however, as time would pass and even more trying situations would present themselves to her, Rarity would always find herself looking back to this very moment when she would feel her nerves begin to fray. As she sat there, staring up into a face that looked as though it had clawed its way directly out of her nightmares, Rarity managed not to scream. 

If she could manage that, she would tell herself over the years to come, she could manage anything.

In the present, though, she found it rather hard to do much of anything at all. Her mouth hung slightly open as Hex looked down at her. The left side of his face was relatively normal, a few thin lines beneath the coat, old scars, telling stories of fights long past. It was almost handsome, she would contemplate later. Much later. And very far away. 

The right side, however, was something else altogether. A single deadened eye stared out at her from a bubbled and scarred recess, the coat covering it burned away to reveal darkened and melted flesh beneath. Although his mouth was closed, she had a clear view of his teeth, the flesh over more than half his jawline almost completely seared away, several thin ribbons of flesh still uselessly spanning the gap between his upper and lower jaws. 

Rarity stared up into this... this mockery of a face for what felt like an eternity, before it finally spoke. 

"Ma'am." 

Touching the brim of his hat deferentially, the scarred bounty hunter stepped around her, and she could hear the measured pace of his hooves as he climbed the stairs behind her.

“...ity? Rarity? RARITY!” Raising her voice a little, Twilight shook her gently. “Are you alright?”

Starting, Rarity blinked up at her, mentally fumbling for the correct words “I… I’m quite alright, thank you,” she stammered. “I… I… oh, my word…” Swiftly lifting her own cup, she downed it in one gulp, gratefully accepting the refill that Applejack offered. “Thank you, darling.” Rarity shivered, taking a sip from her cup. “I suppose I understand you now, Ace. I don’t suppose that it could reasonably be called his fault… what with…” Raising a hoof to her cheek, she made a gesture mimicking liquid escaping before shuddering and taking another drink of her coffee.  “What could possibly have happened to his f— Mmph!” Her momentary uneasiness forgotten, Rarity glared furiously down at the hoof now covering her mouth before redirecting the glare to the stallion it belonged to.

Heedless of her indignation, Ace kept his hoof in place, his eyes locked on the stairs, watching and waiting. After a few moments, he gently removed his hoof. Taking off his hat, he bowed his head slightly. “I really am sorry for that, miss Rarity, but please believe me when I tell you it was necessary.” Shaking his head, he looked around furtively, as if expecting the bounty hunter to step out of a shadow on the wall. “If you never trust another word out of my mouth, please trust these ones: whatever you do, do not mention his face where he can hear you,” Ace begged, shooting another glance towards the stairs. “The world would be far worse off with one less pretty little unicorn.”

Her indignation forgotten, Rarity shook her head. "I suppose you're right," she sighed. "It WOULD be awfully rude to discuss it in front of him." 

Rainbow Dash leaned back in her chair, peering up the stairs. “Aaaah, he’s not so tough. I could totally take him.” she grumbled. 
“Trust me, filly, you don’t even wanna try,” Ace warned. “He’s fast, damn fast, and nastier than a rattlesnake with a toothache. Some of the rumours I’ve heard… You don’t even wanna hear half of them.”

“Ah’ve heard my fair share’a them, too,” Braeburn nodded. “Some folks say he ain’t really a pony, just some sorta… thing wearin’ the skin’a one, crawled up outta Tartarus ta hunt fer th’flesh of ponies. He don’t need ta eat, don’t need to sleep, an’ when he sets his sights on ya, there ain’t nowhere ya can run, nowhere ya can hide, ‘cause he won’t never stop comin’! There ain’t nothin’ ya can do…” Pausing, Braeburn took a careful glance up the stairs, listening intently. Satisfied that he wasn’t about to be eaten, he continued in a low voice. “An’ as fer the…” He gestured with a hoof, circling the left side of his face and inclining his head meaningfully. “There ain’t no shortage’a stories there.”

Ace nodded in agreement. “I heard he used to live in Canterlot. One day, though, Princess Celestia was walking through the streets, just visiting the townsfolk, being her usual kind self. She was walking through the crowd, you see, and then she saw him. Their eyes met. And you know what she saw?” Ace leaned forward slightly, the mantle of the storyteller wrapped around him like one of Rarity’s patented cashmere scarves. 

Despite her own misgivings, Misty couldn’t help but ask. “...W-what? What did she see?”

The stallion’s voice was a whisper. “His soul. She looked him right in the eyes, and she saw a fiend from the blackest pits of Tartarus staring right back at her. She stumbled back with a gasp! How could such a thing make its way into her fair city undetected!? For just a moment, just the barest moment, she froze. But then, do you know what she did?”

The others present leaned forward, entranced by the tale. “What? What’d she do?” Rainbow urged.

“Well, I’ll tell you what she did… She looked that devil out of Tartarus right square in his evil, yellow eyes… And she called down the sun.”

“PRINC—” Twilight paused, finding her mouth covered by eight different hooves.

“Shhhh!”

Rolling her eyes, Twilight continued as soon as her mouth was uncovered, albeit at a much more reasonable volume. “Princess Celestia would never do anything like that! She wouldn’t just attack somepony!”

Cocking an eyebrow, Ace leaned towards her, resting an elbow on the table. “Really now? The Great and Mighty Princess Celestia, while touring her own capital city, would never move to fight a demon that appeared in front of her?” When an answer from the conflicted purple mare was not forthcoming, he smiled gently. “That sounds just like the sort of thing her majesty would do. And so she did!”

By this point, the bar had fallen silent, its patrons listening intently to the whispered tale woven for them at that small corner table. Grinning, Ace stood from his seat, forehooves planted firmly on the table, and leaned in even further, looking from pony to pony as he continued.

“She reared up, wings spread, forehooves rampant, horn aglow with the fires of the sun itself, and she called it down! A heavenly corona of light, a blast from the heavens, the fury of the sun itself! The princess, with her perfect aim, she hit him, bam, right square in the face! Now, the princess, she relaxed. Nothing, let alone a creature of darkness such as he could survive that! But when the flash died down and everypony’s vision returned to normal… There. He. Was. Standing right there, half his face melted off like a wax doll left too close to an open flame! She lowered her head, ready to charge, but then… You know what he did?”
Waiting with bated breath, the patrons all leaned closer, making sure not to miss a word.

Ace sat back down, reclining in his chair once again and pulling his hat over his eyes. “He jumped. He turned tail and he jumped, straight off the side of the city. Oh, Princess Celestia searched for him, alright. Had an entire battalion of guards comb the mountainside and dredge the lake, but it was all in vain. By the time they got down there, he was already long gone. He had a problem, though. Even though he’d escaped her for now, he couldn’t get around what she’d done to him. Everypony who saw that face would know he’d been cursed by the sun itself. So he headed straight out, as far away from Canterlot as he could get. He couldn’t stop in any halfway civilized place, anywhere that proper Equestrian newspapers or word of mouth reached, and certainly nowhere with a standing guard squadron. He ran, and he ran, and he ran… And he discovered the western frontier. Celestia’s authority doesn’t extend out this far. There’s not a town past Dusty Springs that's even seen a flash of the white and gold in nigh on fifty years. There’s exactly one law out this way, and that’s a stallion and his torch.”

Before any present at the table could speak, another voice, low and hurried, cut in. “Ah heard he’s old. Like, real old,” the bartender whispered. “Ah heard he was made by Nightmare Moon, back ‘afore Her Majesty banished her. When his mistress lost, Princess Celestia banished ‘im and all th’ rest of her demons to Tartarus… But none’a the guards couldn’t keep ‘im there. He dragged ‘imself back out that pit, crawlin’ through the fire an’ brimstone. That’s how he—” he paused, gesturing to his own face. “Crawled back out, fought ‘is way past Cerberus, been hauntin’ these lands since, that’s what Ah heard.”

“Ah heard it was timberwolves!” All eyes were drawn to a skinny, shaky-looking young stallion in a corner of the room. He looked about nervously, unsettled by the sudden attention. “B-big ones! Big ones, on- on fire!”

Twilight brought a hoof to her forehead with an audible sigh. “Alright, thank you, but this is entirely pointless, not to mention silly. I mean, demons, devils, thousand year old ponies? Princess Celestia using the sun to attack somepony? Flaming timberwolves?”

“BIG ones!”

“Yes, big- Ugh!” She groaned. “Come on. I think it’s about time for us to go. We still need to get Misty moved in, and then find our rooms for tonight. Come on, girls. Er, and Braeburn.” Turning to Ace, she smiled, nodding. “It was great to meet you, sir. Thank you for all your help today.”

“Oh, yes! It was simply wonderful to meet you. I do so hope to see you again before we leave!” Rarity beamed. “Thank you again for helping Pinkie out of her dilemma with that, that… barbarian.”

Standing, Aces High doffed his hat, bringing it across his chest and bowing deeply. “On the contrary, my dear. The pleasure was all mine.”

Giggling coquettishly, Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a squeal, her eyes shooting wide as her tail was given a sharp tug. “C’mon now, lover filly,” Applejack laughed. “Time to go. Ya can talk to yer coltfriend later.” Turning her attention to Ace, she smiled, tipping her hat slightly. “Glad to meet’cha, Ace. Like Twi said, thanks fer helpin’ us out with that whole ‘Hex’ situation. See ya later.” 

One by one, the rest of their party said their goodbyes and filed out of the saloon. “That… Was an experience.” Misty giggled. “But hey… At least we made a new friend!”

“Hmph. Yeah, ‘friend’,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I don’t trust the guy.”

“Um… What did you have against him, Rainbow? I thought he was very nice.” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head curiously.
Scoffing, Rainbow took to the sky, hovering lazily over the rest of the group. “Come on, ‘Shy. You didn’t even say two words to the guy, how would you know? He just… Rubs me the wrong way, is all.” Shrugging, she turned to Braeburn. “So! Misty’s new place. Where we headed?”

"Jus' down here,” Braeburn said, indicating a street. “Newer part'a town, construction jus’ finished a few months ago. Most’re for sale, but there’s a good few for rent. Ah’ve got’cha a nice little place, good view of the town. Ah know you don’t plan on stayin’ too long, but Ah hope ya like it.” 

“I hope so, too,” Misty smiled. “I hope so, too.


~TO BE CONTINUED~