Shame and Fortune: Part II
Techorse series: #40
By Spirals95
Twilight Sparkle's plan to free Trixie Lulamoon from High Stakes wouldn't be easy by any stretch of the imagination. It would be very convoluted and could easily backfire on her, but it seemed to be the only way to free Trixie without getting involved with the law, which would surely result in the resort's employees being locked up for failure to pay their debts. The unicorn mare found her friends gathered at the piano bar, where Flaming Ivory was playing his favorite ragtime piece to try and raise the spirits of his friends. They were seated in the light blue upholstered lounge chairs, gathered around one of the glass tables now littered with empty coffee mugs.
“Twilight!” called Techorse when he saw her, “What happened out there? Did you get Trixie back?”
Twilight slowly approached the table, her frown giving away her answer, “Trixie and the other employees here are being held to service by High Stakes, the owner of the resort.”
“Wait a minute,” interrupted Rainbow Dash, holding up a hoof, “the High Stakes? As in, the famous card player from Canterlot?”
“That's right,” nodded Twilight, “all of her employees have had massive debts paid off in exchange for service here. But the jobs on the contract pay so low, they're practically slaves.”
“That's... horrible!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
“Let's just tell Princess Celestia about this,” suggested Applejack, “she'll take one good look at that darn contract and shut down this mess!”
Twilight's ears drooped as she explained the situation further, “Applejack, we can't do that. High Stakes hasn't actually been paying the debt off piece by piece. She's settled with the debt collectors and can revoke payment at any time. All the ponies working here could be arrested for failure to pay their debts.”
“Then how are we going to get Trixie out of here?” demanded Rainbow Dash.
Twilight coughed and straightened her tail out a bit before answering, “By winning a game of Dragon's Tower against High Stakes.”
Flaming Ivory stopped playing, hitting a sour note out of surprise, “What now?”
Twilight Sparkle explained, “High Stakes is a renowned gambler. She won't refuse a wager against us, especially one she thinks she can win. I've been watching ponies play Dragon's Tower all night, and we're going to go to the demonstration of the new magic game system. We'll know enough to play.”
“How are we going to beat High Stakes at a game she's probably had months of practice at?” questioned Rainbow Dash, doubting the plan.
“By asking to be able to tag-team in and out of the game, we can play to our strengths and knowledge to beat High Stakes,” she answered, “Rainbow Dash, you know how to play very aggressively and win, I saw that when you cleaned out the table earlier. Techorse is a Cooperation Castle champion, so he can figure out strategy. And I've watched all the popular plays and can stay one step ahead of High Stakes.”
“She'll never agree to this,” said Flaming Ivory, shaking his head as he got down from his piano bench, “three against one isn't fair.”
“She just might if we say the right things,” Techorse answered, “and I think I know exactly what will get her to agree.”
Rainbow Dash stood up from her seat as well and cheered, “Then let's get to that demo! Can't wait to see the look on High Stakes' face when she loses to us!”
The magically powered hologram stadium was surrounded by the crowd, nosily enjoying their drinks, winnings, and conversations with the other resort guests. Twilight and her friends had retrieved Trixie Lulamoon, and sat with her in the seats nearby the stage, waiting for the demonstration to begin. The house lights came down over the stage, quieting the crowd. Each of the dragon statues in the corner of the map's mouths opened up, and a faint stage fog poured out to cover the arena in an eerie mist. A trapdoor opened from in front of one of the two stands where the players were to stand, and High Stakes rose from a moving platform in front of hers.
“Welcome, to The Stained Glass Resort's grand opening of the Dragon's Tower magical game system!” she bellowed over the music that had started to play behind her.
The crowd cheered and tapped their hooves on the ground as the dragons ceased their smoke, and instead began to project the playing field. From the center tile, a virtual tower appeared, a column of stone and ivy with a small wood door on each side. During a game of Dragon's tower, a 7 by 7 grid of squares featuring the tower itself and a few lakes taking up three squares apiece spaced evenly on the grid were projected onto the floor tiles. The magical machines created this virtual environment, even projecting a perfect, lifelike hologram of grass and fish jumping out of the lakes periodically.
Twilight's mouth fell open at the sight of the holographic work, and she noticed Techorse also had a similar silly look on his face.
High Stakes noticed Twilight's awe and chuckled to herself casually before returning to the microphone propped up on the stand.
“Tonight you've come here to perhaps learn how to play Dragon's Tower, or just to watch the very first magical game system in Equestria perform! In either case, I will be showing you what this new arena can do.”
She pushed a button on the stand in front of her, and the machine hummed to life, dispensing six large rectangles of laminated cardboard out of a small slot on the top, creating a hand for her and holding the cards as well.
“In a game of Dragon's Tower, players race to collect ten bags of treasure from the tower in the center of the board. You do this by playing cards representing teams of between two and four exploring ponies,” she explained.
The gambling mare used her magic to select a card from her hand, and laid it down on a special grid on her stand. A blue glow formed behind the card as the magical artifacts read it, and a small group of three projected earth ponies appeared on a square in front of her. Each was wearing a golden shirt, and a cute little explorer's pith helmet.
“On your turn, unless you go first, you draw a card. You then may play a pony team card, as I have done here. Say hello to the players, please!”
The holographic ponies stood up on their hind legs and waved to the crowd with their front hooves, eliciting laughs and applause from the resort customers. High Stakes pushed another button, and made an opposing team of earth ponies appear, who were dressed in a different set of explorer's outfits colored silver instead of gold.
“Once you've played a pony card, you may move all of your teams of ponies up one square at a time, using the pad provided on your console,” she explained, ordering her ponies to move one up, “you may move onto the tower if it is not occupied, but no team may ever enter a lake.”
Twilight continued to watch in amazement as High Stakes' virtual ponies walked into the next square, moving adjacent to the enemy team of three.
“Should a team of ponies move into the other, dice would normally be rolled, one for each pony in a team, but the artifact system handles it for us. The highest roller eliminates the other team from play.”
The enemy group of ponies attempted to move into High Stakes' square, and a dust cloud appeared to rise from the square, along with punching and kicking noises. Suddenly, three gold shirted ponies were sent flying from the cloud into the air, where they vanished into nothingness. When the smoke had settled, High Stake's ponies were gone, leaving only the three silver-shirted ones.
“The second type of card you may play each turn is a special card. If you have a team of ponies on the tower and play a collection card, marked with a golden bit, your ponies will collect 1 bag of treasure from the tower for each pony in that team, also removing them from play.”
A team of four ponies magically appeared on top of the tower resembling a rook chess piece, and each went down the central staircase of the fortress. They emerged from the doors, each carrying a bag of gold in their teeth, and they ran off back to the stand where High Stakes stood. Four bags of treasure appeared at her hooves in a row.
“And finally,” she said, “in each deck are three dragon cards. When you play one of those, you may target a square, and any teams in that square are eliminated!”
High Stakes played her dragon card in her hand and pointed to a team of two ponies, one mare and one stallion in gold shirts. They looked at each other as they heard the machine make the sound of a dragon's roar, and hugged each other, shivering as the shadow of the beast loomed overhead. A large holographic dragon appeared in game above them, and breathed fire, baking the square in a cone of realistic flame, much to the disturbing delight of the crowd. When the flames receded, nothing was left of the holographic team except for two piles of ash and two helmets on top of them.
Applejack noticed the terrified looks on some of the ponies' faces in the crowd and shook her head, whispering, “That kind of violence just ain't right...”
“And that's all there is to it! First to ten bags of treasure, or whoever has the most when the last card in the deck of forty cards is drawn, wins the game!”
The crowd applauded High Stakes as she pushed a button to shut down the holographic gaming system. Magical energy receded into the mouths of the dragon statues, and they snapped shut as the last sparks disintegrated.
“The finalists of the tournament shall get to play their game on the holographic system!” she announced to the crowd, met with more applause, “Let the games begin!”
The ponies in the crow dispersed to begin playing in the tournament, eager for the honor to play a game on the new system and watch their battle in three dimensions. Once enough of the patrons had moved away, Twilight Sparkle trotted up to the stand High Stakes stood at.
High Stakes slouched on the console and bragged, “So, Twilight Sparkle, what do you think of the new entertainment system? Quite the impressive device isn't it? Took over four dozen runes and hundreds of arcane conduits to get it to work.”
“It's absolutely amazing, High Stakes. It's a shame you're letting it go to waste by only letting the finalists play on it,” teased Twilight, giving her enemy a smug yet subtle smile.
“Hmmm, whatever do you mean by that?” answered the gambling mare, stepping down from the device and pushing her mane hair out of her eyes.
“Well, I think we ought to have a wager over a game of Dragon's Tower on this machine,” offered Twilight.
High Stakes looked behind Twilight and noted the confident looks of her friends, including Flaming Ivory and Trixie, who were standing to the sides of Rainbow Dash and Applejack with angry looks on their faces. She knew that Twilight wanted to play a game to free her “friend” Trixie, and suspected that Flaming Ivory was only helping on account that she was paying him a terrible daily wage.
“And I suppose if you win, you want me to let go of Trixie, right?” chuckled High Stakes, “What a silly bet you're making, to try and help another pony.”
“It's what friends do,” retorted Twilight, scraping her front hoof on the carpet.
“All right,” agreed High Stakes, her tail flicking in a demeaning manner, “if you win, I'll not only fully pay Trixie's debt and let her do her magic on stage, I'll also raise Flaming Ivory's salary. But you need to wager something of equal value in return.”
“What do you want?” demanded Rainbow Dash, nearly growling.
The mare ran a hoof through her red mane and answered, “I happen to know your green friend there, Techorse, is an inventor who markets kitchen products. I want him to put advertisements for my resort on all of his machines. I'd also like Rainbow Dash to throw in some sky writing too.”
“Hey, how'd you know who we were?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Why from Trixie of course, what, you didn't think I wasn't checking the letters being sent out to make sure they weren't calling for help?” laughed High Stakes, “It'd be bad for business.”
Twilight now understood clearly why the letters from Trixie had ceased to come to the library. They were either being censored by High Stakes, or Trixie had stopped writing them out of fear of her getting into trouble.
“High Stakes, I'm warning you now,” cautioned Techorse, a mechanical arm poking out of his saddle and pointing a cold metal finger at the gambler, “if we win and you fail to hold up your end of the bargain, it won't end so well for you. Keeping these ponies hostage under threat of jail is sick.”
“I'm just providing an alternative to prison, Techorse,” she mocked, her guards moving up to her when they heard the threat from Techorse, “and besides, if I lose, I will keep my word. No gambler ever goes back on a bet.”
Techorse's robotic arms sunk back into the machine on his back, and the doors on the saddle closed. Likewise, the guards moved back away from High Stakes knowing nothing crazy was going to happen.
“Who will play me then, Twilight Sparkle?” she asked.
“We're all going to play you, tagging in and out when we can,” answered Twilight, “we all want to help Trixie go free.”
“What?” she scoffed, “all of you playing against me, that's hardly fair.”
Twilight smirked, she had her now!
“Oh, it's going to be trouble for a master like you to beat us?”
High Stakes blushed slightly and coughed, looking back angrily at the floor, before returning to Twilight to try and salvage her pride.
“Fine. You can tag out, but only between turns. No all sharing the stand at once.”
“Absolutely,” finished Twilight.
“See you on the arena!” she answered, turning around and walking back to her guards.
High Stakes spoke to them once she was sure she was out of earshot, “Announce over the intercom the start of the game, get the crowd back. I want to humiliate those do-gooders before I make them bring us even more cash.”
Flaming Ivory watched as High Stakes and her guards walked away from them, pushing through the busy floor of the gaming room, and knocking over a poor waiter on purpose, sending him and his drinks toppling to the floor. Hatred for the unicorn built in his heart, and he thought about how he was going to help trounce her in the upcoming match.
“Well, we got the match we wanted,” said Applejack, “now how in Equestria are we gonna win?”
“Like I said earlier, we'll all use our strengths to our advantage,” answered Twilight, turning around.
“But Trixie hasn't even played one game!” complained Trixie, nervous about her possible fate, “How can we possibly hope to succeed?”
“Trixie has a point,” continued Flaming Ivory, sighing, “we've hit our last chord here.”
Applejack didn't like the idea of challenging High Stakes to a game in the first place. It wasn't that it was impossible to have a bet and still be honest, but more of the fact that they had browbeaten High Stakes into stacking the odds against herself by letting them all play at once. She was certain there was a better, more direct way to solve the situation.
“Look, everypony,” she said glumly, “ah just can't play either, it's not right.”
“What do you mean?” asked Rainbow Dash, annoyed.
“We just did something unfair by makin' High Stakes play against us all at once, we can team up and put all our heads together, while she's only got one,” she answered, explaining her stance to her friends, “now I may not like her too, I think she's rotten to the core like any fallen apple, but we just took advantage of her whopping ego to get our way.”
“The choices were to either let Trixie get arrested for failure to pay her debts, or find a way to defeat High Stakes in a safe manner,” responded Techorse calmly, “I'm sorry Applejack. I'm sure somehow you're right, but it's better we stack the odds than allow Trixie to get shipped off to jail.”
“Pickin' a lesser evil, huh?” said Applejack, confronting Techorse, “That's our Techie!”
Techorse had an answer prepared to the abrasive statement, but chose to hold his tongue. He knew Applejack was calling him out fairly on the situation, but he personally could not see a better way to solve the problem at hand.
“Applejack, Trixie's contract clearly states she'll be turned over the authorities for not paying her debts if she won't work in such horrible conditions,” explained Twilight, “look, I'll show you. You can hang onto the scroll if you want, but there's no legal way we can get Trixie out of here without her getting into trouble, short of this bet.”
Twilight's horn glowed, and she took out a large paper scroll from a nearby bag resting on the table. Trixie had given her copy of the document to Twilight, while the master copy resided with High Stakes. Applejack looked at the large piece of paper with Trixie's name signed at the bottom, read the terms, and then took the scroll for herself in her teeth. She rolled it back up and placed it under her hat.
Trixie said to her, “Applejack, if you do not desire to play, you do not have to. Trixie won't be offended in the slightest.”
“Thanks Trixie,” she answered, “now, y'all can still get out there and win, I believe in ya! But I'm not gonna have a part in it, I'm heading out to see my family.”
“Oh, all right,” said Twilight, moving over to Applejack, “we understand.”
She hugged her friend, then watched as she walked slowly for the main entrance of the resort.
“Great,” groaned Rainbow Dash, “Applejack's being stubborn and so we're down a pony.”
“If she doesn't think it's right, she doesn't have to play,” shrugged Flaming, “look fellas, we still have the rest of us, and a game to get to. High Stakes seems just about ready to play, she's set up at the console already.”
“Lead on Flaming, I'm ready to teach that loser a lesson!” cheered Rainbow Dash, taking off into the air and hovering with each flap of her wings.
As they left, Trixie pulled Twilight over for a moment, “After all we've been through, Twilight Sparkle, you still came here to help. Even if we don't win, this will still be the nicest thing anypony has ever done for Trixie Lulamoon.“
Twilight smiled and responded with a warm hug, “That's what friends do! Now, where’s the Trixie I'm used to talking to?”
Trixie released Twilight from the embrace and looked at the headpiece on the table.
Somehow, she knew she wasn't going to have to wear the stupid thing again, and her confidence returned to her, “If you don't mind Twilight, let us stop by the room. This calls for a more spectacular entrance, by the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
Twilight laughed and nodded in approval, “There she is!”
High Stakes returned to her gaming stand, and gathered her four guards, all strong earth ponies with brown and white coats.
“Twilight Sparkle, that little purple pest working for Celestia, who's probably never even picked up a hand of cards, never mind this game, has challenged me to a game of Dragon's Tower for the freedom of Trixie Lulamoon,” she said, nearly growling at the “arrogance” of her opponent.
“She can't beat you then, right?” asked one of the guards.
“That's what's got me. Dragon's Tower takes some strategy and skill, but in the end there's elements of chance that could cause me to lose,” she admitted, playing with one of her dice earrings with a hoof while looking at the ceiling, “we're going to need to use the house favor system in the stand to make sure I draw the dragon cards when I need them. Meanwhile, you make Twilight's friends... 'vanish' one at a time so they can't have that team advantage I promised them.”
The guards understood the plan and snickered at how easy it was going to be to badly hurt Twilight's chances at winning the game.
High Stake walked over to the microphone near the game stand and announced, “Ladies and Gentlecolts, in honor of the opening of our new game system, we have a challenger facing me in one grand match of Dragon's Tower!”
Within minutes, the gaming patrons had returned to the seats surrounding the arena that the guards had set up, in hopes of setting up enough humiliation for Twilight's team when they lost “fair and square”. The ponies at the resort filled the seats quickly, eager to see a full game played way before the tournament concluded, and there was chatter amongst them.
Twilight heard the announcement, and, encouraging her friends on, led them to the stand on the other side of the massive arena. She walked up to the stand, and looked at the control panel. There were a few buttons designated to move pieces around the board, play cards in the correct spots, and a slot where cards were dispensed from the communal deck.
The mare quickly accustomed herself to the controls, and then gave a nod to High Stakes, who announced into the microphone, “Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville and her friends, Techorse, Rainbow Dash, and our own Trixie Lulamoon and Flaming Ivory, have challenged me, your host. The first to ten bags of treasure will be declared the winner! I wish my opponents the best of luck.”
Twilight frowned as she noticed High Stakes' smirk while activating the game. The heads on the dragon statues opened up, and mist poured out at the battlefield materialized. The holographic tower rose up in the middle of the board, and six large cardboard rectangles emerged from Twilight's draw slot. She picked up the cards with her magic and rested them on the cardholder.
It wasn't a fantastic opening hand, but it would have to do. She had two “collect treasure” cards, one team of four ponies, two teams of three, and one team of two available to her.
High Stakes fluffed her mane with a hoof and said teasingly, “Since you're the guest, Twilight, you may go first.”
Twilight wasn't aware that High Stakes had let her go first so that she could draw an extra card. Focusing on the game, she wondered if she should play the largest group of ponies first to gain an early advantage, and selected the card. Placing it on her reader on the stand, the grid lit up light blue, and the team of four virtual ponies materialized in the square immediately in front of the stand. Using her hoof to tap one of the buttons, the team galloped forward one square and stopped.
Unfortunately Twilight’s fears were confirmed by High Stakes as to the quality of her first move, “Opening up with a team of four? Perhaps I was wrong to think you'd be able to beat me, Twilight.”
The crowd started to giggle a bit at Twilight's first move, and it was obvious she'd made a dumb decision. She could have sworn she had seen other ponies make that move too on their first play, and then remembered with a groan that this was a gaming parlor designed to extract money from the guests.
High Stakes took her turn, drawing a card. Thanks to the system biasing the card draws based on who was “the house”, she drew a dragon card right away. She also had two teams of four ponies and one team of two, but the rest of her hand was littered with “collect treasure” plays. Placing her team of two onto the field, she ordered her virtual troops a square forward as well.
The game progressed somewhat slowly, but eventually, Twilight had several ponies out on the field, and so did her opponent, nearing the tower. To the right and left of the building stood two groups of three summoned by High Stakes. Twilight smiled, thinking that the next turn would result in her getting four bags of treasure, a wonderful start!
But High Stakes had other plans. On her turn, she ordered her group of three to attack Twilight's group of two. The three holographic ponies smiled wickedly and pounced on Twilight’s pieces, sending up a cloud of smoke and knocking them clean out of the game. Techorse and Rainbow Dash winced at the setback, but spotted Twilight's four about to reach the tower and knew they'd at least get somewhat ahead.
After a quick glance at the field, High Stakes laughed and played the first dragon card, targeting Twilight's group of four. The holographic dragon appeared, racing towards her ponies, and they all screamed virtually in fear as the great beast breathed fire on them, roasting them in their explorer's gear and leaving nothing but their hats and ash behind. Twilight gasped, forgetting entirely about the one-shot card, and knew she'd have to catch up somehow.
“Too bad, Twilight Sparkle,” said High Stakes, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, “you were so close to your first four bags of treasure, too. I'm sure you can catch up though.”
Twilight answered her, “I'd like to substitute out Techorse for myself now.”
“Very well,” came the response.
Techorse swapped places with his marefriend from the sidelines, and picked up the hand of cards. Looking over his hand and the board, he noticed that while High Stakes had defeated Twilight's group of two with her three, she had left the other side of the tower open, having failed to move her ponies on the tower. She had been so eager to play the dragon card on Twilight and ruin her treasure grab that she had failed to play for the objective herself, and Techorse intended to take advantage of that. After playing another team of three ponies, he moved his group of three to face hers, and was fortunate enough to defeat the other team. High Stakes instinctively ducked as the three tiny ponies flew over her head and vanished.
“You're smart Techorse, taking advantage of that spot,” she said, “but now it's my turn.”
Pushing the house advantage button under the console again, she forced the machine to give her another dragon, and moved her team of two directly behind the tower onto the building. The adventurous holograms went into the door closest to them, and appeared on a staircase on the roof of the building. She then played the collect card, and the two ponies on top of the tower grabbed two bags of treasure from the big chest on top of the structure, and ran back down the stairs. Once they had left the building, they returned to their master, and placed her first two bags of treasure at her feet.
Over the next few turns, however, Techorse's knowledge of statistics and board games in general helped him to start turning the tides. He managed to collect three bags of treasure on the following turn, and moved a group of four he had summoned around the tower entirely. Rather than enter the tower with them, his strategy was to beat up on High Stake's teams with his largest ones while sending in the small teams to grab treasure. After a couple of back and forth turns with mixed results, Techorse had six bags of treasure to her three.
The next turn brought disaster however, when High Stakes got lucky and defeated Techorse's four with one of her twos, knocking them off the map. She moved another group of three onto the tower, and brought the score up to five to six.
Knowing he was losing his touch, Techorse waved over to Rainbow Dash, who traded places with him.
High Stakes whispered into a smaller microphone under her stand, “If Techorse gets back in he'll hold me off too long and I won't be able to win. Get rid of him.”
Her guards complied, moving to intercept Techorse before he could return to his friends. The crowd made the path back to the “bench” a long one, and the four stallions caught Techorse in a small area near one of the gaming tables. He saw the angry, violent looks in their eyes, and backed up slowly, hoping he wouldn't have to cause trouble. The stallions jumped at him, and the inventor drew his robotic arms to help punch his way through them. Despite the swings of the metal fists, the guards piled on top of him, and two of the stallions tore the robotic arms clean out with their teeth, leaving exposed wires sticking out of Techorse's saddle. They muffled him with a cloth bag over his head, and dragged him out the door of the gaming parlor.
Rainbow Dash looked at her hand of cards and the field. It didn't really matter what she had to play or what High Stakes had up her sleeves to Rainbow Dash, because she only had one thing on her mind.
She wanted to trash talk High Stakes as much as possible.
“Hey High Stakes!” she called out, “So when we beat you, are you gonna go back to knitting? I saw that tea cozy in your office, and I gotta admit, seems more your speed.”
Rainbow Dash heard the laughing from the crowd, and threw her hoof over the board, giving the blushing High Stakes a look of contempt, “By the way, I've got a friend that could really improve on that dress you're wearing. You look like you're trying to ask me out to prom, not play a serious game here.”
“Take. Your. TURN” shouted High Stakes, red as a beet.
“Thought you'd never ask!” answered Rainbow Dash, laughing and drawing a card, “Now let's see here. Oh awesome, I drew a dragon card!”
“WHAT?” screeched High Stakes, sure the computer was going to let her draw the final one.
“Oh, whoops, nope sorry, just another pony card,” corrected Rainbow Dash, chuckling, “you should have seen the look on your face though, priceless!”
Trixie leaned over to Twilight and asked, “Twilight Sparkle, what in Equestria is Rainbow Dash doing? She isn't really playing the game at all, is she?”
“Nope, she's just being Rainbow Dash,” sighed Twilight.
“Lucky for us, this will throw off her game,” interrupted Flaming Ivory.
After heckling High Stakes some more, Rainbow Dash had still not taken even a single turn. She decided she wasn't really going to play after all, she'd done her part by making her enemy upset over her jokes, and yawned.
“Ya know, I think I'm gonna call it quits, thanks for the pretty pictures on the cardboard, High Stakes. Hey Trixie, get over here!”
Rainbow Dash left the stand to applause from the crowd, having finished her comedic roast of her opponent. High Stakes snarled into her microphone, nearly foaming at the mouth.
“Get that little flygirl out of here, and dunk her head in the leftover gray paint. I want to MAKE HER PAY.”
The guards once again intercepted Rainbow Dash and dragged her out of the building, although she put up a slightly better fight than Techorse, she was unfortunate enough to have her wings grabbed before she could successfully escape.
Twilight began to notice the absence of her friends as Trixie took her place in the stand, now wearing her traditional cape and magician's hat.
“Flaming, have you seen Techorse? He's supposed to have come back here, right?” she asked.
Flaming Ivory shrugged, “Maybe we went to the little colt's room? I dunno.”
“Well, we really can't afford to lose anypony else,” she said, worry in her voice, “Like Applejack. I hope she's ok...”
Applejack had found her relative Apple Oil's apartment deep within Salt Lick City, and was settled down inside at his kitchen table, where they were discussing his latest exploits in artificial apple flavor technology. Apple Oil had created the chemical to help a friend of his start a candy making business, and caramel-dipped apple candies had started to sell well in the city as a “one bite caramel apple”. He and his friend were sure they were going to get rich off of the type of candy, but Applejack was somewhat insulted that real apples weren't being used in the process. Apple Oil was a smaller, sturdy stallion with a white mane tucked under his gray brimmed hat and vest. His cutie mark, a pitcher of syrup with an apple on it, represented his skill in artificial flavoring, which his second cousin highly disagreed with.
“But Applejack!” protested the food scientist, “The artificial apple flavoring is what makes the hard candy taste good without using perishable goods. If I used real apples, the candy would spoil.”
Applejack couldn't help but be amused that her second cousin still had his southern accent despite living in the city so long and having not seen an apple tree in years. She had come up with a good response to his complaints, and took out the cookbook she had brought with her.
“Now see here, cousin Apple Oil. Just because ya need apple flavoring doesn't mean ya have to make the thing in a lab. There's an old Apple family recipe for natural apple flavor that'll still keep.”
“There is?” he asked curiously, trying to take the cookbook from Applejack.
“Yup, right here. Apple extract. It needs to be brewed slowly in a barrel, takes about six months. But once it's ready, you'll have the most sweet, scrumptious apple flavor in Equestria!”
“Six months?!” protested her relative, “Applejack, I need the flavoring now, we're expecting another batch in a week. I can't wait six months for this to be ready.”
Applejack thought about the issue and answered, “Why don't you two make the natural stuff, and slowly switch out your chemicals for the real thing down the road. Ahm sure the customers will start to appreciate the new taste, and if you advertise it bein' a new product, ya might get even more attention!”
Apple Oil smiled and agreed that phasing out the artificial flavoring over time would be a better option. He did, however, want to admit something to his relative.
“I'm really sorry I turned out different from the others, I just couldn't see myself whackin' at trees all day, no offense,” he said, “I like making flavors is all. But from now on, it'll be 100% natural, no fake stuff!”
She smiled and answered, “Aw, it's okay. Everypony's got that special talent, you just needed a shove in the right direction. It's just not right to cheat...“
Applejack stopped, thinking about her friends, and how it was likely that High Stakes had already fleeced them out of freeing Trixie.
“What's wrong?” asked Apple Oil, picking up on the emotional problem.
“It's just my friends,” she answered slowly, “they're at that Stained Glass Resort playin' against the owner, High Stakes. She's got one of our friend hogtied in a terrible contract.”
Apple Oil made a comment, “High Stakes is not trusted by the locals here. We know she's runnin' a scheme over there. But we haven't been able to find any evidence right away that she's a crook.”
Applejack took this as a cue and took out the contract from under her hat, “Well, I gotta contract right here showin' how High Stakes ain't the mare she says she is.”
“Whew, well, if the ponies round here saw this piece of paper, they'd flip. Hard to believe with contracts and health codes bein' public knowledge that y'all didn't get a hold of this sooner.”
“Public knowledge?” she asked.
“Yeah, here in Salt Lick City, ya have to have all legal documents and contracts available on request to the public.”
Applejack thought for a moment, and a plan came to her mind when she figured out a weakness High Stakes had left in her plan, “Then I bet nopony's ever asked for High Stakes' papers! Can ya take me back to the resort? I know exactly how we're gonna stop that mare.”
Flaming Ivory watched in horror as High Stakes vaporized his team of three ponies with another dragon card. The game was beginning to get close now, with the deck running low on cards and the ponies tied at eight bags of treasure apiece, meaning that a capture by either team would result in a win. Trixie had swapped out, having not been dragged away by High Stakes' stallions due to her not being terribly successful at the game. But the next play would likely determine the winner, and the fate of Trixie.
“I'd like to swap back to Twilight!” he said, looking at the board.
There were two teams of ponies left on the field. One was Twilight and her friends' team of three, right next to the tower. The other was High Stakes', a team of two just two spaces away from the structure. High Stakes waited for Twilight to move back to her stand, and take her turn.
While Twilight was taking her turn, Applejack and Apple Oil had arrived in the resort, and snuck around, looking for High Stakes' office. They found it unlocked, and went to the drawer marked “public records”. As Apple Oil had stated, by law, all contracts and building permits had to be available to the public. High Stakes' employees had been threatened with jail if they ever asked anyone to see their contract, but Applejack and Apple Oil had the legal right to take copies. A single accountant was in the room, and she gladly turned over the copies, a look of relief on her face as she gave them out. Soon the two ponies were spreading the contracts around to the patrons, letting them know the conditions High Stakes had put her employees under. Grumbling and anger was starting to arise in the crowd, and several ponies were starting to leave.
“Wait, what's going on?” gasped High Stakes, “Where are you all going? We're about to finish this match!”
“We're not staying here any more!” said one mare, a proud mother of three, “My husband and foals don't agree with how horrible you're treating your workers, and we won't spend a bit more!”
“And how do you know how I treat my employees?” she asked.
“That mare there told us and showed us these contracts!” she said, pointing to Applejack and Apple Oil.
Twilight and her remaining friends looked at them, and smiled. In response, Applejack tipped her stetson hat, smiling.
“Applejack, you came back!” said Twilight, pleased.
She ran up to Applejack and gave her a hug, while she explained the situation, “I found a way to stop High Stakes' plan. Now even if she wins, nopony's ever gonna want to stay here until things change! And we didn't need to stack the odds at all.”
“We should have worked things out better with you before taking this stupid bet,” said Twilight, letting her friend go from the hug, “can you forgive us?”
“Of course sugarcube!” answered Applejack, a glow in her green eyes, “I forgive ya. You only wanted to help Trixie after all.”
High Stakes noticed that a few of the ponies in the crowd were staying, anger in their eyes. She growled, and told her guards through her microphone to seal off the exits. They complied, and soon the patrons found themselves unable to leave as the doors were locked.
“Hey, you can't do this!” shouted a voice amongst the crowd trying to exit, “This is a hazard, what if there's a fire!”
Her mane quite in a mess, and one of her earrings now missing from her building rage, High Stakes shouted over the public microphone, “We are finishing this game NOW! Twilight's team has one more turn. And then it's OVER! You're all staying for it, I don't care if you don't want to stay after, just watch me beat this dumb mare and her worthless friends!”
Applejack had a nerve struck by that comment, and walked up to High Stakes, “Ma’am, I suggest ya fold.”
She turned and looked at Trixie, saying, “Twilight's friends ain't worthless. Sure, we all have our moments, but we're a team. And we sure are not gonna take rude comments from a cheater like you!”
“A cheater?!” shrieked High Stakes, tearing a seam in her dress, “Well, if you think you're so honest, prove it by winning this game!”
“Sure!” answered Applejack, “Just lemme see something real quick, and then I'll take the last turn, if Twilight doesn't mind that is.”
Twilight nodded eagerly, and Applejack walked over to the screen that listed each play all of her friends and High Stakes had made. She then understood what to do, and walked over to the gaming stand, drawing her final card. After looking at it, she moved her team of ponies onto the top of the tower. The ponies trapped in the building watched the game intently again, hoping Applejack would help free them as well.
“Well shucks, I don't have a treasure grabbing card,” she said, shaking her head, “guess it's your turn High Stakes.”
High Stakes chuckled and pushed the button on the gaming system. Now she would defeat Applejack and humiliate her and Twilight in front of all the patrons. Even if they weren't coming back, they would never be able to spread the word about the contracts once she'd destroyed them and replaced them with fakes to fool the public. The machine spat out a dragon card, and High Stakes laughed manically, having fully lost her mind. With her team of ponies next to the tower, her collect card, and that dragon card, she could win the game in one move.
“Do you know what I'm about to do, Applejack?” she asked.
“No,” she answered truthfully.
High Stakes continued, “Good, because...”
Applejack held up her hoof and interrupted, “But I know what you're not gonna do, miss! You're not gonna play a dragon card on my ponies, because I've got the last one riiiiight here!”
Applejack turned around the dragon card with her teeth, eliciting a gasp and cheering from the crowd. Twilight and Trixie smiled broadly and started to laugh and dance around, knowing they'd soon win.
High Stakes realized in horror that the machine had created a nonexistent fourth dragon card for her to use, and if she played it, she'd be truly revealed as a cheater. Rewriting the contracts and offering a full refund of her patrons' money would not save her business after that. There was still one more option to go, however, and she figured it would be her “ace in the hole”.
“Very well, Applejack,” she answered, “I end my turn. Congratulations.”
Applejack drew her collection card, and collected the last bags of treasure necessary to win the game. The crowd cheered, and the guards unlocked the doors.
“Please see the front desk for refunds,” said High Stakes over the microphone, “if you were not satisfied tonight, or disagree with my policies, I will be happy to give you back your money.”
“What about your workers?” asked the same mare from before.
“I'll get rid of those contracts,” she said, a hint of smile on her face, “I'll admit it was greedy, and things will change.”
But no sooner had the crowd either dispersed or gone to get their refunds, did High Stakes go back on her promise with Twilight and her friends. Twilight approached High Stakes, followed by Flaming Ivory and Trixie.
“Well, now you have to let everypony go,” she said, “a deal is a deal.”
“Everypony?“ she chuckled, “The deal was just to help out Trixie and Flaming Ivory. I will do nothing else for the others.”
Twilight Sparkle answered with a frown, “You're going to keep all your other employees trapped?”
“I refuse to help them out, and if your two little friends don't like it, they're welcome to quit,” she said, “if you'd like, I can pay their debts instead of improving their jobs, and you can all leave.”
Applejack agreed with Twilight and pointed out, “High Stakes, even if ya keep your end of the deal by the letter, word's gonna get out eventually that ya lied to everypony tonight and kept all those other contracts. I reckon you're gonna lose out if ya don't give em a better deal.”
Applejack pointed to the ponies leaving the resort, still muttering about the conditions and not satisfied with High Stakes' “promise” to make things better. Promises made by abusive business owners were as empty as ever to the now disgusted ex-patrons. By now, High Stakes knew she had lost, but was still open to the idea of taking out her frustrations on her enemies.
“Let's find out how you feel after I have you roughed up and thrown out in the streets,” she replied, walking away from the group.
High Stakes went back to her microphone in her stand and bellowed publicly, “Security, get in here and help me out with these losers, would you?”
A few moments passed without any answer, and High Stakes bellowed again, “Hey, where are you?”
The front doors of the resort flung open, and the four stallions were thrown in, screaming in terror as three Equestrian royal guards pushed them in the door. Jools and Jops soon followed, pinning them down and tying them up. Out of the cloud of dust from the action came Captain Arbiter, who smirked at the pile of terrified brutes and stepped over them.
“High Stakes!” he shouted, pointing at her across the room, “You're under arrest!”
High Stakes turned around to flee, and ran down one of the hallways of the resort, hoping to escape. Trixie Lulamoon galloped after her, chasing the fleeing gambler down the well-lit corridor of guest rooms, until finally she saw an intersection up ahead of two hallways. Thinking quickly, the mare threw a smoke bomb out from under her hat, landing in front of High Stakes and filling the four-way path with thick white smoke.
She stopped in the mist and coughed, looking around as to decide which way to go, panicking. Suddenly, a set of blue hooves came down from the mist, and she found herself tackled by an angry Trixie Lulamoon.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks you foolish to run from the law, High Stakes!” she said, staring into her eyes while pinning her down on her back, “But in all honesty, foolishness really is your thing!”
The smoke cleared, and Captain Arbiter along with Jools and Jops had caught up. Rainbow Dash and Techorse had been brought back with him, although Techorse was still short two robotic arms, and Rainbow Dash's head hair had been dyed gray for a reason she didn't want to talk about.
“Excellent work Miss Lulamoon,” said Arbiter, taking over and shackling High Stakes' legs, “we will take it from here. Jools, Jops, take her away.”
High Stakes was grabbed by the two armored pegasus ponies, and she grumbled at Twilight “We're not through, Twilight Sparkle. You and your friends are going to pay for this,”
“I'm sure we're going to,” she answered, rolling her eyes.
Once Jools and Jops had lead the fuming mare away, Twilight turned to Captain Arbiter and asked, “I don't get it Arbiter. How did you know to come here?”
Arbiter closed his one good eye and smiled, “It's quite simple, Miss Sparkle. Princess Celestia had suspected for quite some time that High Stakes was committing crimes, but we had no evidence. Once you wrote and explained about Trixie's situation, we were able to get all the evidence we needed to arrest High Stakes.”
“Good, those horrible contracts are going to send her away for a long time, I hope,” grunted Rainbow Dash, still mad her hair had been changed.
“Indeed,” nodded Arbiter, “High Stakes was taking in record profits while paying her employees so little and offering no benefits under those contracts. Upon investigation we discovered she owed over two million bits in back taxes.”
“Wait a minute,” groaned Twilight, “you mean that despite cheating, having her guards grab some of us, and trapping her employees, that she's going to jail for tax evasion?”
Arbiter brushed his black cape with a hoof and responded, “Well, we certainly wouldn't want the contracts to actually get read, right? I've heard that the employees here have some unpaid debts, and I wouldn't want to arrest them for fraud, too.”
Trixie asked him, “You're going to let us all go free?”
Arbiter gave the confirmation, “Now that High Stakes is no longer in control of this establishment, all contracts are null and void, and you employees control the estate for now. You'll have a while before High Stakes coughs up the bits for her unpaid tax, and in the meantime, you can easily take the profits of this gaming parlor and pay your debts.“
“Arby, I'm really happy you're not going after them for their debts, honestly, I'm surprised!” exclaimed Applejack.
“Let's just say I'm turning my blind eye to it,” he answered, pointing at the eyepatch and giving a knowing look, “Besides, knowing my luck and history, Celestia would have my hide for it!”
“That's for sure!” giggled Twilight in agreement.
“So what should we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Go home?”
“I actually had a better idea,” said Applejack, “if Trixie and Flaming Ivory are up for it.”
the guests at the resort had chosen to stay upon seeing High Stakes get arrested and hearing Arbiter's conversation about the employees benefiting from it. To celebrate their freedom, the Dragon's Tower tournament was played through, and the winner donated his winnings to help pay off the debts. As a reward for her kindness, she was treated by the employees to free drinks, and a front-row seat at the latest show on the stage. Flaming Ivory and Trixie Lulamoon worked together to put on the best music and magic show the guests had ever seen, and when the resort closed for the night, the employees had gathered together to thank Twilight Sparkle and her friends for their help saving them. Techorse noticed that Flaming Ivory was packing up his things, and heading out the back door of the resort, so he stopped him to talk.
“Where are you heading off to, Flaming?” he asked.
The piano player turned around and answered, “Well Tech, the gig's over. I'm out of this place for now, I like to travel around and play in towns all over Equestria. But if I'm ever back in Ponyville, I'll hit you up, ok?”
Techorse said to him, “Take care. And if you do come to town, I'm in the big fort on the outskirts, you can't miss it!”
“I just might, I hear Ponyville's got one swell nightclub to play at!” he laughed, “See you around, Techorse!”
Flaming Ivory disappeared out the door, a single piece of sheet music falling out behind him. Techorse went to pick it up and give it back from him, but the content of the paper made it clear Flaming had dropped it for him on purpose.
The song title read, “Slow Jazz #4 for Twilight Sparkle and co.”
Techorse returned to the stage, where only Trixie and the others remained.
“Trixie wishes to thank you for helping her out,” she said to Twilight and her friends, her pride and demeanor having fully returned to her.
“You're welcome Trixie!” answered Twilight, smiling back, “Maybe I'll hear back from you in a letter some time.”
“The traveling magic show will pick up again soon,” she answered, “but... Trixie will be sure to stop in Ponyville if she is welcome again, after all...”
Trixie adjusted her hat carefully, and answered with joy in her eyes, “You're my friends, right?”
Twilight felt something akin to her heartstrings singing, “That's right, we are your friends!”
The two unicorn mares, formerly rivals, met and hugged before parting for the evening. Soon Techorse and Twilight were outside of the resort, packing their bags up to go back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash, her mane messed up, wanted out as soon as possible, and Applejack and Apple Oil had already said their goodbyes.
“I'm so happy Trixie's finally friends with us,” said Techorse, “although I do have to wonder something.”
“And what's that?” asked Twilight curiously.
Techorse licked his lower lip and answered, “I wonder how long I have to wait before I can tell jokes about her swinging that axe at me?”
Twilight swatted at Techorse playfully, who laughed and ran for the cab, trying to get away from his marefriends' strikes.
Trixie's show wagon pulled away from Salt Lick City, leaving the lights of the metropolis glowing behind her as the cart bounced and creaked on the dirt road. She had hired a few stallions using her earnings from the show to cart her away so that she could relax in the confines of the mobile home. He plan was to move back near Canterlot to start her tour over again, and knew her travels would eventually take her back near her new friends. But she still owed her friends one more thing from the past few months, and she was taking care of that now. A small candle lamp illuminated the room cluttered with magic trick gear, and she sat writing a letter with a quill in her mouth.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle...”