199 - The Cards We're Dealt
Luna licked over her lips as she looked from one pony to the next. Night glared at her, eyes on fire with her challenge. She meant it in all its connotations.
Silver looked nervous. Soft-hearted prince was probably more worried that she or Night would be hurt in the exchange.
Samantha… she was lost. She kept looking between Luna and Night, waiting for an answer, but seemed clueless as to what had been asked.
Luna had to make a decision. She would... "I…"
Nefertari stalked through the streets towards the lonely thread that had begun her latest movement. It worried her faintly that she felt a power at the end of that frail thread. It was no chance. It was no whimsy of madness.
Something had sent Samantha seeking answers in such a specific way, and she would know what it was.
With a brush of a paw against the door, she cast open the door to the place proclaiming to be The Belfry.
“He’s expecting you,” a caramel earth pony proclaimed tersely. “My daughter will show you the door.”
"Very good." She kept her start internalized. There was no need to tip her hand, not yet… "Does he know why I came?" She raised a brow faintly at the pony. Was it also a pony? It didn't feel quite right, no, not for a pony…
“I don’t pretend to know what goes through my son’s head,” she said absently as she went about the business of the tavern, “I advise most ponies to do the same.”
"I will bear that in mind." Her son? Adopted? Or a pony despite the hunches. Despite the wondering, she looked for the mare that would be leading her along towards her goal and let her eyes wander. The presence of ponies like Night Watch were higher than normal and drew a soft hum of thought.
“You want to talk to Billy, right?” a young burgundy mare approached nervously, “This way miss. Please don’t call him that.. I just.. Force of habit? He said you’d already know the rules?”
She clucked her tongue before she gave a nod. Easily far taller the ponies around her, Nefertari moved after the mare. "I will watch my manners." Or act in such a way as to ensure her lack was never recorded. That worked too… She was an Ambassador. Acting poorly would reflect oddly on her people. She would be careful.
Sweet Tooth led her charge dutifully though the maze of hallways that made the backstage of the belfry before gesturing at a staircase. "Knock three times. Sometimes it’s the left door, sometimes it’s the right. He’s expecting you.” The mare back-pedaled quickly, as if laying down a particularly troublesome burden.
Nefer scowled a moment at the departing pony. Let it flee. She didn't need a scared prey animal to show her the way. She advanced forward as she snapped two fingers. "Watch for things going awry." Without looking, she commanded the obedience of those bound to her. Unseen by most, Samantha's mother joined her retinue, tied to her will. She arrived at the door and raised the back of her hand, rapping thrice.
“Come in, Nefertari of your tribe,” an even voice answered. “I have been expecting your arrival. There are things we should discuss.”
Nefer seized the handle and pushed the door open, perhaps a bit roughly, but not roughly enough that it would be obvious. Perhaps she misjudged the lubrication of the joints. In either event, she offered no apology. "Good evening. There are indeed things to speak of." Her eyes darted around the dim room and its occupant, taking in the details in a hurry. "You sent her."
“She came to me seeking answers, seeking...something,” the goat nodded, “Every pony who comes to me wants something. She paid her price. Both to my family and to the cards.”
Nefertari's face suddenly split into a potentially unnerving grin. "Oh, a reader? How fascinating." The idea of it clearly wasn't new to her. "And one with some talent, hmm. I am in the presence of one touched…" She advanced on him and his desk. "I did not think the ponies would accept such a being, a harbinger of their own futility."
“Mine is thirsty work,” the goat smiled thinly, pulling forth two bottles of bitter ale from the ice bucket at his side, “Would you care to join me for a drink?”
She cast an appraising eye on the drink. "Only if you dare to try mine." She made a rolling motion with her paws and a bottle appeared, balanced on the lower and the neck resting towards her against her other hand. With a pop, she unleashed its cork. "Have you ever sampled Anubian liquor before?"
With a word from the goat the offered bottles were encased in frost, “Mother.”
Samantha's mother stirred at the calling, but Nefer's mastery was far too complete for such disobedience.
Nefertari poured out the bottle and banished it before reaching for her own in kind. "Do you read for any fool pony that comes here? A dangerous game… Are you even aware of the stakes?"
“The ponies I read for have ended this world. Many times,” the goat replied, “Did you really think it was your little friend’s mother I was calling?”
Nefer raised a brow at him. "You cast a line for her, or made her aware of that… path. She walked it with all the guileless charm that characterizes her. If you told her the answer to her problems await her beneath a burning mountain, she would win her way to the magma seeking that very solution." She cracked a smile before she took a smooth draw of the alcohol that was anything but smooth. "Hmm, you can tell a lot about a person by the drink they prefer."
“She asked for what she wanted. I told her where to look for it. I told her what price she would pay. We do not face one another alone,” Tarot warned. “You worked so long to bind a human ghost. You sought out your friend because of her name. I don’t need my cards to tell me that.”
She let out a little snort as she tipped her glass towards the goat. "You would be a poor reader if you could not see what your eyes tell you." She gestured forward vaguely, but its meaning was clear to Samantha's Mother, who advanced silently. "Can you see her? Do your sharp eyes perceive into the realm of the passed?"
“I can see everything that ponies want to hide.” The goat took a long draw from his own bottle. “I see their secrets and I see their lies. But no. I don’t see your ghosts. Or mine. The dead are lost to me. I only see the moment I will lose them.”
"Readers are not shamans," agreed Nefertari, finishing her glass. "I would not say you don't have your place. You see the threads…" It took her quite some time and effort to even find the one that led back to the goat. Yes, readers had their place. But they were not shamans. "Tell me, what know you of my people?"
"Nearly nothing,” the goat freely admitted, “And I care even less. You are here because I need you. I know what is coming, and at some point I will need a favor. Every pony comes to me because they need something. Why should I be different?”
She barked out a fit of laughter, a very canine sound. "I appreciate the honesty, hmm, the candor… Will you have me promise to an unseen promise? I'm not quite that foolish, and you lack the… leverage."
The goat narrowed his eyes and drew out a single card, “Every reader who sucked his mother’s teat can stack the cards. I like to lie to the ponies. I tell them I can’t turn the card. I let them think it’s their own choice… “
She raised a brow. "Are you… Hmm." Could a reading be done in a hostile way? She'd never run into a reader that would dare try with her, but this was Equestria, not home. Of course, that made it all the more preposterous. This goat did not fit his kin… "What do you want?"
“The two real questions,” the goat smiled, “What do you want? What are you willing to pay? Your little friend was brave enough to answer. Will you be?”
She raised a brow. "You ask me now? Hmmph." The first was easy enough. "I came to see what interferes with what matters to me." She leaned forward in her chair, claws brandished dangerously. "I will fight, if I have to, and I will die, if I do the former poorly. It hasn't come to that yet."
The card’s sky blue backing sat between them pure and untouched, until the goat spoke, “And yet the card remains unturned.”
“You place your friends casually in my path,” the goat smiled, “You ask your students to solve unanswerable questions. Where is the Nefertari of her people that the voices between the walls warned me was coming? Maybe you can’t really help at all.”
"I would be a true fool if I claimed to have proper control over the mad." She ran a tongue over her snout. "She is useful at times…" She rose to her feet. "Fine, you would threaten me with the future, then let us see what your vaunted fates have in store for me. Nothing that my ancestors have not endured, and nothing I will not triumph over." She reached for the card and flipped it over, but her eyes were on the goat, meeting his gaze, and ignoring the card, at least at first.
The card depicted a pretty pink filly standing in the path of a circus train. A deluded colt stood beside her. They stood alone. The goat spoke with solemn finality, “This is unexpected. You will bring back the memory of the dead. You were there, though you don’t remember. You seek to find what you lost in a life that never happened. You don’t know what you really want because you do not yet realise what you really lost. When you see what you have lost. When you understand that there could have been more… the cards will be paid and you will have what you wanted…”
The words were confuscated and confusing, just as she expected. The picture, she did not recognize it. "Only a child and an immature adult grieves the could-have-beens. The choices are made." She rose to her full stature. "If you come across her again, you send her home. Tell her she is to go, and she will go. She is not that hard to dissuade."
“I am truly sorry, I could not not help you find what you want, Nefertari of your tribe.” the goat bowed respectfully.
"That's untrue." A smile slowly spread across her face. "I came seeking you, and here you are." With a subtle gesture, she bade one of her spirits stay and watch. "You have given me all that I wish to find. May your threads serve you well, and your eyes find them where they are needed." She crossed an arm over her chest before she turned away.
The goat smiled and nodded before returning to the bottle in front of him as if there wasn’t a question more important in all the world.
She strode with purpose back towards the tavern, thinking of the reader she'd had the fortune, good or bad, to encounter. Was he a threat? She would watch, and see. It rarely paid to assume safety, or so she had learned.
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I..... that cliffhanger..... I'm gonna go outside a punch a tree
ugh..this chapter gave me a headache..ill pretend it never happened until its important again..
now that was a nice cliffhanger. Lets hope the cards do not reveal any future or potential typos.
7300286 I'm sorry you did not enjoy it.
I want Silver to get a reading from Tarot.
Then Pinkie.
Because this guy is good at what he does, I wont bother him. His cards are having enough problems as they are.
7300334 this is one of those chapters that's painfully not relevant until it's painfully relevant. You kinda hurt your head tying past info into future info we have no way of knowning.
Generally it just easyer to smile, nod, close the page, and reread the chapter when future events happen.
that began her- that had begun her
staircase. Knock three times. - staircase. "Knock three times.
win her win - win her way(?)
they’re secrets - their secrets
Can reading be done - Could a reading be done
Where i is the Nefertari - Where i is the Nefertari
warned me was coming. - warned me was coming?
Nefertarri of your tribe - Nefertari of your tribe
she had the fortune - she'd had the fortune
*****
Excellent chapter and collab with Ki.
The verbal fencing between Nefertari and Tarot was interesting. Will there be more reality bending/breaking in the coming chapters? Only the cards know for sure, I imagine and the price for the knowledge, beyond patience, is not mine to pay.
Now I have only to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
...
...
P.S. You are evil, eeeevil but clever, Mr. Silver.
Quite a few typos in this one
did you mean win her way?
I see their secrets and I see their lies.
Where is the Nefertari of her people that the voices between the walls warned me was coming. (You accidentally put an i in there)
“I am truly sorry, I could not not help you find what you want, Nefertari of your tribe.”
7300390
7300398 I blame my collaber for all the typos, even the ones I might have typed, so there! All fixed up!
Now what was Luna saying?
That sums up Samantha's thirst for knowledge in a nutshell.
However, I can't tell if Tarot was lying or not when he said he couldn't see spirits save for when they pass on. I mean, the Belfry went untouched during the changes to the timelines so he might have some way to detect them...ugh, my brain hurts from so many half baked theories.
7300334 thats not what i said at all though. its gave me a headache. its like talking about really in depth time travel, really hurt my head trying to follow.
The reading seems relevant to the dreamworld.
What happened there?
7300888 Fixed!
So it was a bait and switch leaving Samatha with a random spirit that is compelled to lie or just not reveal it is not Samtha's "transformed" mother. And if this ruse is discovered, what then? Can anything be done to force Neferiti to give up the human spirit? Legally, I don't see any recourse. I suppose you could say it's a lesson for Night to force the nerubian spirit to tell the truth, but I wonder if this was the price to be paid so vaguely and ominously spoken of.
7300945 You are a sharp one.
Holy shhhhhhhhphtftfyf! He knows!
Wait. Does this mean Nefertari may seek to join the herd (again)?
Keep going! ;)
well now, really about to go hard core and you do this
"Sometimes it’s the left door, sometimes it’s the right."
Always switch doors.
Extra period.
I think there's a word missing in here.
in,
In addition, tribe should either be followed by a comma, or an should be capitalized and answered followed by a period.
alone,
mine. The or mine, the
there, though
lost, when
what's
7302231 Fix'd!
Samantha's mother is in Silver's domain(?) right? She is a human and he is an ambassador of human.
Nefetari is playing a dangerous game. More dangerous than she thinks. More dangerous than she can handle.
And she has done nothing to make me want to *the GIF below* her less.
i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh208/raddragongirl/tumblr_min3p1fELm1rxldzlo1_500.gif
a hostile
I really think you did a good job writing this chapter... Conversations between shaamans and the like are an extreme balancing act between being overly mysterious and having no impact on the story to being overly revealing. I think you trode that line well.