Roses for the Grave

by Mordy

Ch13: Lucky Cricket

“Show me seven!”

Two red dice rolled and clacked as they spun across a craps table. They eventually slowed down to a stop, landing on four and three. This elicited a loud cheer from the gathered ponies that stood around the table causing the fellow casino patrons to momentarily turn towards the noise before quickly disregarding them and returning back to their own gambling.

Deimos clopped his hooves together as he chuckled while his winnings were passed over to him. His current disguise was that of a black unicorn with short, spiked turquoise hair and matching eyes, although they were partially hidden by some shades. He was also wearing a red tropical shirt with yellow flowers dotted over it that only went down to his midriff. Anyone would be able to see his cutie mark that was of two large, red dice and a skeleton key that would give a phallic appearance at first glance.

Deimos, or rather his current alias Lucky Locke, had arrived at the casino about a week ago, but after a lot of distractions and some procrastination, he finally decided to make his move and gamble away what little bits he had.

He started with a few warm ups, beginning with blackjack, slots, and then a lucky call with a roulette wheel. Eventually, he decided to draw in a crowd at the craps table where others could participate. The thing about casinos that he enjoyed so much was how much love and fear he could soak up in one place. First there was the terror as everypony would watch with anticipation at a risky bet. Then there was the euphoric joy that would wash over after a high stakes call was made and paid off.

Since he had been calling out everything correctly, more ponies started to make the same bets as him. This meant the joy they felt at their winnings kept on coming. However, they still felt a tinge of fear when he rolled the dice as they questioned how long his luck would hold up.

Around the table there was a wide variety of ponies. From nobles, to vacationers, all the way to the gambling addicts. Nopony was going to judge because it was all about the fun and excitement. Deimos even caught sight of Fancy Pants and his wife, Le Fluer, who he would sneak a quick look at her plot when neither of them was noticing.

Deimos grinned and reached out with his magic to pick up the red dice and dropped them into brown cup he had in his hoof and started to shake it around while placing his next bet. The casino had some strict rules with magic; rolling of the dice had to be done with only ones hooves or using the cup that Deimos was currently shaking. This was to prevent any potential cheating. The place was even filled with beefy security guards looking out for any horns lighting up or other familiar tactics. As per usual, the house always wins.

With a flick of his hoof he tipped the cup over and shouted, “Show me seven!” The dice landed with a one and six and the crowd cheered again while a huge grin plastered his face.

The dealer across from Deimos just looked on in disbelief. He never seen anypony so lucky with calls before and security had taken notice, but nothing appeared out of place as far as any of them could tell. Besides his ungodly luck that is. Deimos horn was never alit during rolls except when to place his bed and no other pony was lighting theirs in any way that looked out of the ordinary. There was no way he could be cheating.

But he was.

If there was one thing Deimos was really good at, it was charms and curses. That’s why he had waited so long to start his gambling. Deimos had to scout every corner of the casino to find where exactly he had to lay his curses to point everything into his favor. They had to be perfectly correlated so they would strike the charm to give the worse luck to the dealer and all the favor to him.

And what was this charm he had? Well, you might try asking him about his “lucky” shades…

Deimos looked at the small fortune he had amassed along with his faithful followers. Each of them was ready to make the same bet as him. All were eager to hear his next wager.

Everypony chattered and celebrated with the free drinks passed around by the waitresses while talking amongst themselves. However, it all came to a dead silence when Deimos held up his hooves asking for peace.

Time to go big!

He pushed every chip he had forward and proclaimed while maintaining his smile and confidence, “All on craps.”

Gasps could be heard across the table and the faith he had instilled was instantly shattered at the bet. Hushed whispers went through the crowd thinking him insane and that he must have been joking. No pony would be crazy to follow him on such a move. Getting two sixes was the highest payout, but also the least likely to happen. Some still believed in him, but they hesitated.

It would have continued on like that if it wasn’t for an enormous amount of chips dropped next to Deimos as some pony said, “All on craps.”

Deimos looked to his right to see a white mare with striking red eyes and a dark blue mane. She gave him a flirtatious smile and purred out, “Let’s see how lucky he really is, shall we?”

He tipped his shades to get a better look at the mare as his smile grew wider. Looked like Deimos was going to get rich and get laid on top of that!

With the sudden confidence shown a hoity laugh could be heard from Fancy Pants. “Why not?! I came here to have fun, so why not end this with a bang?” He pushed his chips forward and announced, “All on twelve then!”

Soon, the action was repeated. Everypony else began to join in. Some, being more cautious than others and not betting everything, but still putting it on two sixes. The dealers had to actually call for help to sort all the bets taking about ten minutes to get everything together and accounted for.

Once things calmed down, everypony turned to Deimos with nervous and eager smiles. They were all ready to make it big or go home!

Deimos gathered up the dice in his magic and placed it in his hoof before holding it out to the mare that had made the first bet after him. He gave her a cheeky grin and asked, “Blow me… I mean… them for good luck?”

She stared down at them for a moment in mild surprise before smiling and saying, “Sure, why not?” She blew ever so softly, tickling his fetlock as she did.

“Besides—”

Deimos put the dice back into the cup.

“—I think you’ll need it,” she whispered sensually into his ear.

Deimos’ eyes suddenly widened. As at that exact moment he felt it happen. His curses… all of them… broke. His guarantee was gone!

His mind raced, wondering what could have possibly gone wrong. They shouldn’t have dispelled this soon, but they indeed had broken. He had a million different thoughts for the explanation, but it all ended abruptly when he noticed everypony staring at him. He felt their fear steadily rising at they started to look worried when he had abruptly froze up.

All the terror slowly filling the room would have been great if it wasn’t for the fact that most of it was coming straight from him at that moment. He quickly gave everypony a nervous laugh and smile as he began to sweat bullets.

The whole party was getting anxious and Deimos shaking the dice much more than necessary wasn’t helping. He would have kept that up if the dealer across from him hadn’t coughed and spoken up. “Sir, please roll the dice,” he said with a deadpan stare.

Oh, dung beetles.

“Right, sorry!” he replied with his voice becoming a bit more high pitched. He gulped as he looked down at the table.

He finally slammed the cup face down and the dice rattled inside of it before coming to a silent stop; a move only allowed when using the cup, otherwise the dice would have to hit the far side of the table.

Everypony began to sweat as they stared unblinkingly at the cup. Deimos took a deep breath and grabbed the sides of the cylinder.

Well, here goes nothing!

He then let it out slowly and quickly yanked the cup up while closing his eyes. Everypony leaned over to peer at the dice as a deadly silence filled the room.

Deimos, slowly with trepidation, opened one of his eyes. He peered over the edge of his shades and then opened the other one as he looked down to see the dice.

Two sixes.

“T-Twelve…” the dealer stammered out.

The bubble of silence blew up in the form of a roar that would put the Royal Canterlot Voice to shame. Everypony hollered and whooped in sheer joy as Deimos began to laugh hysterically while shouting out, “I’m rich!”

In that same moment, the casino’s owner and a few investors’, who were having a lovely outing across town, experienced mild heart attacks…

What happened next was no short of chaos as money had to be dealt out and accounted for. When all was said and done Deimos, still laughing, announced to everyone, “And that’s all she wrote! I’m cashing out.”

He got a few pats on the back and congratulations as he gathered up all of his winnings. As he did, Deimos turned to the white mare beside him, taking in her curves and the green dress that covered most of her, including her cutie mark. He then asked with renewed confidence, “So, can I interest you in a drink?”

Oddly, he felt some annoyance from her as she gave him a half lidded stare and frown, but it slowly turned into smile. “Sure, why not? But only if it’s in my room,” she replied while rubbing her hoof across his chest.

Deimos’ ears perked up and his smile just continued to grow.

Jackpot!

Deimos and the mare he had met walked down the hallway towards her room. He strolled behind her, staring intently at her plot. They had cashed out their winnings just a little while ago and Deimos was lifting them up in a large sack using his green tinged magic.

The mare stopped just before her room number, 69, and flashed him bedroom eyes before opening the door and going in. Deimos eagerly followed suit into the dark room.

After he closed and locking the door, Deimos felt somepony grab him before he tossed across the room, slamming into a chair. He blinked for a moment as he saw the mare with two large robed stallion unicorns flanking her.

One was red with an orange and yellow spiked mane and flanked her right. The orange part of his mane fell over his right eye. Meanwhile, the other stallion was practically his double only with his coat being orange and his mane being red and yellow. The red of his hair covered his left eye instead. They were perfectly symmetrical.

Deimos blinked and then laughed. “Baby, if you wanted a foursome all you had to do is ask. Plenty of holes to go around, but I prefer a bit of warning first!”

The white mare sighed and rubbed her temples. “Deimos, please just shut up…”

“Hey, what’s with the… wait… how did you know my…” he trailed off as his eyes widened as he suddenly recalled his little meeting back in Manehatten. Oh, you’ve got to be chitin me! Not these goons again…

“So, Deimos,” she started out sweetly as she approached him, “how have you been enjoying your stay here in Ponyville?”

Deimos blinked in confusion before hesitantly saying back, “We’re… we’re not in Ponyville?”

“We’re not?” She feigned a gasp. “Oh, I see. Then Julius here must be here. Riiiight?”

He thought about lying, but decided against it as it was obvious she was toying with him. “No, he’s not here…”

She blinked continuing the little charade. “Really? If he’s not here, then where is he?”

“Umm… Ponyville?” He shrugged nervously.

The mare hummed for a bit. “Well then, that just leaves one little question.” She got close to him and stared half-lidded into his eyes.

He felt her anger spike as she began to shout, “Why… THE BUCK ARE YOU HERE?!” She finished with a wicket strike with her hoof to his cortex that was so hard with that he fell out of his chair and his disguise broke.

A green flame enveloped the unicorn leaving behind what would appear to be pony version of an insect with holes in its hooves. Most had come to know such a creature as a changeling.

The mare look disgusted by his new appearance and was relieved when he got up and reapplied his previous form before sitting back in the chair again. Deimos the changeling winced when he noticed the vein that was throbbing in her forehead.

“Mistress, please calm down!” The large, red stallion requested as he reached out to her with a hoof.

“Shut up, Scorn!” she snapped.

“No need to shout,” The yellow one then said.

“You too, Thorn!”

Scorn and Thorn wilted before going silent again. Deimos actually felt a little bad for them and huffed. “Hey, no need to shove this onto your incubuses!”

The twins blinked and Scorn asked, “How did you know we were incubuses?”

“Yes, know you did, but how?” Thorn added.

Deimos just smirked. “Because you just told me. Not to mention the… smell…” He winked.

The two blinked before symmetrically face hoofing themselves. The mare just groaned, trying to rub away the headache she was getting. “I forgot you’re actually somewhat clever…”

She took a few deep breaths and then stared down Deimos. “Now tell me, why are you here?”

Deimos looked around nervously. “Oh, you know… gambling?”

Glare.

“I mean, I got a little distracted!”

GLARE.

“I tried to get to get to Ponyville, but there was a giant fish bowl covering it!”

Confused, but no less terrifying and murdery, glare.

“Hey, I know what I said is true and even I don’t believe it! Don’t ask me how it happened, but train ended up passing the town up and heading here.” Deimos sighed and looked away.

Another loud frustrated groan left the mare’s lips. “You know what; I don’t care what your excuses are. All I want is for you to get to Ponyville even if you have to bucking trot!”

Deimos just snorted. “You know, I don’t see why I need to be treated like this. I bet you don’t have anypony else who can do this job. I think there’s nopony who can’t get close without alerting the Crescent Council and nopony who’s been as close to Julius as me. I think I’m all you have!”

The mare didn’t show it except for a brief moment of looking away, but Deimos could still feel the worry bleeding off of her. He then decided to press on.

“So, you know what?” Deimos began as he stood up and approached the mare, “I’m gonna take my sweet time and I’ll get there when I get there. So, if you or Shadow Council’s leader, Misery, has a problem with that…”

Scorn and Thorn suddenly looked worried and started to shake their hooves warningly towards Deimos to stop him. Meanwhile he started to poke the mare in the chest with his hoof.

“You can tell her to shut up and be patient. Otherwise she can shove her orders right up her plot!” Deimos finished.

The two incubus twins in disguise had eyes as wide as dinner plates and slowly backed away from the two. This didn’t go unnoticed by Deimos.

“Umm… you’re Misery… aren’t you?”

Misery’s death glare spoke a thousand words, but she condensed it down into all that needed to be said. “You better start groveling at my hooves begging for forgiveness before I turn you into a splattered mess on the wall.”

Deimos was quick to get down while squeaking out, “Sorry!”

Misery took a few deep breaths to calm her ever growing rage. “Just get to Ponyville and find out about that damn spell!”

Deimos raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so interested in a spell that you barely know anything about?”

It was Misery’s turn to raise her eyebrow at that. “You should know better than anypony. Julius Grave was trained by the top master of Darkmoon. The only Dark Master with enough power and influence that he has repeatedly declined the position of archmage and still has more sway than the current archmage could ever dream of!”

She then looked away and added, “Let us also not forget that he was even looked after by that bastard Shadow Nova!” she spat out the pony’s name with venom and a grumble before turning back to Deimos. “Do I also have to remind you of his previous service to Darkmoon?”

Deimos winced at that last bit and looked away while quietly replying, “No… you don’t have to remind me about that…”

“Whatever he’s come up with can’t be short of amazing. We need to know what it is, how it will impact Darkmoon, and how to react or take advantage of it before anypony else can. I don’t care what it is. It could be an evil sunflower with a soul or a flying toaster for all I care. Just find out what it is! Understand?” she asked with a bit more even tone.

Deimos stood up while rubbing his leg. “Yeah, I get it.”

Misery, finally calm, nodded. “Glad we have an understanding. Do you have any questions?”

“Uh, yeah just one.” Deimos then leaned in close to her. Misery leaned in as well as he asked with a big smile while waggling his eyebrows, “We still having that drink?”

Down the hall Fancy Pants and his wife were laughing while nuzzling one another. They were heading back to their room after a fantastic time down stairs when they suddenly heard a loud shout down the hall.

“SWEET GODDESS, MY BALLS!”

They both blinked before Fancy Pants commented, “My, somepony is having a fun time!”

Deimos groaned and rubbed his crotch while tears fell from his eyes. Misery stood above him with one hoof lifted while she gritted her teeth while trying to regain her temper. She scowled at him with a throbbing vein and sneered out, “Just… go.”

He picked himself off the floor and as he got up Misery added, “I’ll also be taking this as an apology for incompetence and behavior regarding your mission. Can’t believe you still won all of this after we broke your curses…”

When Deimos turned to her he gasped as he saw her holding his winnings from the casino. “Hey that’s…” he began, but was quickly silenced by the three other ponies snapping towards him to glare. “Okay, but I need something for the train and stuff! That’s all I had…”

Misery just rolled her eyes and tossed him a small bag of bits. Less than he started with when he entered the casino. This just caused him to frown and his ears to fold back.

“Now, if you don’t mind,” Misery began sweetly, “GET OUT!” she roared and didn’t even give him a chance to respond. She picked him up in her dark magic and tossed him out the door, locking it behind him.

With him gone she just let out a long sigh. Scorn and Thorn were immediately by her side.

“We’re sorry you had to deal with that mistress,” Thorn began.

“Yes, you shouldn’t have to deal with such scum like that during your time off,” Scorn said agreeing with his brother.

Misery just rolled her eyes at their concern. “Just shut up and pleasure me.”

“Yes mistress!” They replied in unison.

Deimos grunted as he landed in a puddle with his slightly larger bag of bits landed on his back. After he returned to the casino downstairs, he tried to get back at least a bit more money. Unfortunately, after his earlier showboating, security was watching him like a hawk and was eventually caught counting cards. Security then kindly asked him to leave. That is if asking was done in the form of tossing him out into the street like last week’s garbage… for the second time in one night.

He sat up and scraped off some of the dirt and grime off of him while turning back to the entrance of the place. Deimos then shouted out, “Oh yeah, well I’m going to go build my own casino, with blackjack and hookers!”

“Why not just go to one of the other casinos for that?” a passerby commented as they headed into the casino that Deimos just got thrown out of.

“Oh yeah, that would be easier…” Deimos said mostly to himself.

He got tossed out of six more casinos that night.