Never Lucky

by Ferris the 1st

Chapter 21: The Face of the Enemy

As my groggy mind began to come back to the world of the living, my ears were assaulted by the noise of grinding machinery. Cracking open my eyes, I hissed as a bright light assaulted them. Squinting and groaning in pains both new and old, I tried to shift and turn away from the light. My attempt was stopped short by the rope that secured me tightly to the chair I was seated on.

Memories started to flood back into my brain as I came around. I started to panic, squirming against the bonds that held me, the noise being lost amid the racket of metal around me. Ultimately, the entire effort proved fruitless and I was forced to take a moment and take stock of myself.

Aside from the splitting headache that waking up from being knocked out came with, I seemed to be in good shape. For the moment, I was alive and the both relieved and terrified me. Apparently, whoever had foalnapped me wanted me alive, but whether that was because they wanted something from me or just to break my legs, I wasn't sure.

What? Working in the Royal Guard and busting crooks gained you a lot of ponies that hated you. Remember the cultists?

Looking around, I took in what I could see of the room. A large floodlight was pointed at me, blinding me to the things behind it. Around me and behind me was what appeared to be massive gears and pistons running some form of machine. I wasn't exactly a mechanic, so I didn't know what they were for.

I seemed to be alone in the room for the moment, so I craned my neck after a moment and gave the rope an experimental nibble. For one, horrible flavor, and for two, much too thick to bite through in any reasonable time. That left me with very little to do except wait... and wait.

I was starting to get bored and started whistling various tunes that came to mind. I was left alone with my thoughts for at least an hour by my estimation before my solitude was intruded upon. A door somewhere behind the floodlight was pushed open to slam against a wall in the darkness.

“Ah, good. Our guest is awake.”

The voice was deep and proper, spoken with a proper noble accent. More than one set of hooves approached from the darkness and before I could question it, a rather unorthodox group entered my vision. While some of them were ponies, I could also see a pair of minotaurs, felines, and a small pack of diamond dogs. Each of them was currently glaring a hole into my face.

The final individual to approach was the one that demanded my attention though. I thought he was a ghost at first as he stepped into the light, completely covered by a white suit with a black undershirt. Looking at him, I could tell that he was a gryphon with feathers and fur that matched his suit, but his mask is what helped me put a name to him.

Perfectly shaped to fit over his head and cover the upper part of his beak, the pale mask was marred only by a black sun plastered over its surface.

“Sunslayer...” I stated in shock

“Oh, so you have heard of me,” the deep voice belonged to him as he approached, “surprising. I made it quite obvious what happened to anypony that dared to speak my name to the law. Of course, you're hardly the average lawpony. Isn't that right, Lucky Signs?”

My ears twitched, “You know who I am?”

“How could I not know the stallion who is the sole reason that two of my operations were shut down? I was going to rack it up to a fluke when you shut down the old fool I supplied with 'cultists' so long as he brought me fresh pony-power to... work for me.”

He stopped a few paces from me, a pair of icy blue eyes boring into me intensely, “then you went and ruined my operation in Los Pegasus. You've set me back quite a bit, my friend,” I felt like the exact opposite, “and I'll admit that for a time, I considered striking you down and being done with it...”

He let the silence drag on until I was forced to ask, “Well, not that I don't appreciate it, but it sounds like you changed your mind. Why's that?”

A dark chuckle escaped the gryphon before me, “Why? A good question. You might actually manage to appear to not be the fool I know you to be,” suddenly that angry face was pressed up close to mine as he used his talons to tip the chair precariously close to falling, “that's right, Lucky Signs, I know the truth even when your superiors don't.”

He rapped me on the nose with a talon, forcing me to flinch as a thin slice was cut into me, “the truth is that you are weak. I did my research, my friend. In depth as opposed to the half-flanked investigations of your bosses. You're a sham, aren't you? Just a silly stallion who happens to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe it's not your fault, mm?”

I gulped as he returned the chair to an upright position, returning to his previous position. Lifting one claw, he snapped his talons to summon what appeared to be a young mare to his side. I could just make out her purple fur beneath the cloak she wore, matching the gryphon beside her, “Meet Feral Storm. Several members of her family were among those arrested in Los Pegasus during your raid.”

I stared and she met my eyes with the most hate-filled look I had ever seen. While we had the most intense staring contest of all time, Sunslayer continued, “She, of course, would much prefer that I allow her to have her way with you. I have a different use for you and your... talent.”

I buried the rising sense of trepidation beneath a facade of confidence... I hoped, “Well, let's say that I'm weighing my options, Mr Sunslayer. What exactly did you want from me that couldn't be discussed over a nice hayburger?”

A displeased hiss escaped him, “I'll overlook your vulgar taste in food for now. In regards to the question, I think that even you would be smart enough to figure that a 'criminal' like myself can't be out in broad daylight. As to business? I want you to... recover something for me.”

“So let me get this straight,” I interjected, “you want me to pick up a package for you? Considering how much you dislike me, you'll have to excuse me for thinking that it's not that simple.”

“Very astute of you,” Sunslayer mocked, clapping his talons together, “it's not something that just any pony, gryphon, or other form of existence can retrieve. I have invested time into training, gathered those with particular abilities, and even bribed the most cunning and vicious creatures I could find to get it for me, but they have all failed.”

“Sounds to me like it's impossible. How exactly is a nopony like me supposed to get something that a stallion of your stature couldn't?”

“Well, if your ears are working, Lucky Signs, you'd have heard that those individuals had failed me. Skill, talent, training, enchantments, technology? None of it has produced the results I need. So, I started to think outside of the box. What was one thing that I couldn't instill into somebeing?”

I didn't like the way he gestured toward my flank, nor the word that came out of his beak.

“Luck.”

I didn't realize how literal the saying “the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife” was until now. I stared at him while he gazed at me. I was silently asking him if he was serious and his stance was unmoving. I couldn't help it; I started laughing.

The beings around me were not so amused and even Sunslayer was starting to narrow his eyes at me. I looked at him, “Y... you're serious? You want to rely on luck? Do you have any idea how inconsistent that is? You can never rely on it; it just sort of happens whenever it wants. Tartarus, if I could give this 'talent' to you, I would. Then you could make a fool of yourself.”

Sunslayer tapped a claw to his chin, “While that would definitely make my life easier, it's not something within our collective abilities. Truthfully, I would much rather cast you from the tallest peak in Equestria to a violent end far below, but my patience is reaching its end. Let's be frank, Lucky Signs. Looking at the facts, you no longer have anypony keeping track of your movements and they couldn't find you anymore if they were.”

He lifted a forelimb, pointing at the spot where I had once been wearing a locator band on my own leg. He raised a brow as I took that in. Letting it sink, he continued, “So, let's go with an ultimatum: be my little delivery colt or I let Feral Storm do as she pleases. Make your choice, Lucky Signs.”

There it was. The true meaning behind all of this. The gryphon in front of me was demanding for me to do something and threatening my life. The problem was that as the time passed in silence between us, my thoughts were turning toward the two instances that I'd apparently ruined his plans.

A bunch of slavers masquerading as cultists, who had been planning to sell foals to this psycho, and a drug ring. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Opening them again, I stared into those merciless eyes...

“Go buck a cactus.”

The result was immediate as the small mare beside Sunslayer darted forward, slamming a hoof into my cheek. Tied up as I was, I couldn't exactly fight back as she proceeded to beat me to a pulp. Over the cracking of hoof on flesh, Sunslayer sighed, “Pity. We could have just gone one with our lives after, but you've chosen your fate.”

Turning away, he whistled sharply, drawing the rest of his entourage toward him, “When you're done, Storm, deal with what remains and meet us at the Cinder Run. We'll have to try another way to claim my prize.” The rest of it was lost to me under the hail of sharp, targeted hoofblows raining down on me....

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Awww but it would be awesome to see him taking a different path

[Emperor]

Too bad, Sunslayer. You should have stayed behind and watched him die. I mean, you just investigated him and found out he has some really inconsistent luck that can zig-zag between extremely good fortune and extremely bad fortune, and now you're just going to leave him for one of your minions to torture and kill him? That's just asking for trouble Talk about a critical failure to connect the dots!

And now Lucky Signs has motivation to get back into the Royal Guard to take you down. Plus you just mentioned a meeting spot for the Royal Guard to ambush him.