Chapter 1: A Gold Hunter's story
Gold. It’s the most easily enchantable metal and it used for jewelry, gold thread, even bits are made from gold. (Actually bits are made with less than 1% gold, but I didn’t tell you that.) My name is Ingot, I live out here in the mild west. When I was a young ‘un my Pa took me out here to start a new life. Maybe it was the fact my Ma died a few months back or that he wanted to get out of the big city, either way, we moved and my life was forever changed. Don’t you worry now, my Pa taught me a few more things than running away from your problems. He taught me to play poker, how to shoot a gun, and more importantly, how to find gold.
You see, ma’ family’s been gold hunters since before my granddaddy’s granddaddy was even thought of! We’re rarer than hen’s teeth nowadays. That’s probably why my dad thought it such a good idea to move. There’s gold out here, lots of it, that is, if you can find it, and if you can keep it.
Why else did you think I needed t’ learn to shoot?
We ran around for a while, my Pa, me and ma’ twin sister. Did I forget about her? Shoot, it’s not that hard to do, Gold Dust, that’s her name, is a quiet little thing smart one too. And I’ll be damned if she ain’t the prettiest young mare this side of the Marrowine river! Don’t you be flirtin with though, or else I’ll fill you so full of holes ponies will be asking about your accent… ‘cause you’ll be Swiss… like cheese… get it?
Anyway the three of us hustled around for a while moving from dig site to dig site, fighting every crook, claim jumper and blood drunk wild jackalope that came our way. Eventually though, it was too much for my old man and he up and died of the stress. We buried him, me and my sister did, I don't remember where, and I don’t care much to find it now.
The two of us traveled around for a while, sometimes fighting for small gold veins in the mountains. Without Pa though, it was never the same. So we retired, yeah you heard me, I’m just 19 years old and I retired, that’s what good gold hunting can get you. The two of us set up a small trading post in Clyde’s Dale, a tiny little town on the border of the Appaloosin Mountains. Even if I was done with gold hunting, I couldn’t stand to get too far from the mountains. We traded clothes and farm tools to the town in exchange for whatever they could give us, apples, clothing, even gold nuggets. I could never get away from that Discord’s Stone.
Honestly I never like the shop, not much to sell to folk so poor most of them didn’t even have a second shirt. And after a while even me and Gold Dust was poor as dirt! When we had been gold hunting we had been even poorer but at least we had had Pa with us an’ that made up fer’ allot of it! I never thought about going back to gold hunting, didn’t feel the same way about it after Pa had passed away, it had lost all of its fun. Plus I had never been one much for fancy things like my sister, Pa had always told me that Greed was a gold hunter’s worst enemy, one so bad even a good Colt revolver couldn’t stop it. I had took that to heart and never spent more than we had. But the truth was, we were running out of money.
One morning I was manning the store by my lonesome, Gold Dust had gone out to get some more nails and planks for us to fix up the back of the shop where we slept. A stranger walked through the door; he was a fat old stallion, a large finely waxed mustache curled on his upper lip he had an air about him that suggested that he deserved much better than the shop he stood in now.
“Am I right in thinking that this is the shop of Gold Ingot?”
“Says so on the door, don’t it?” I said cracking a smile.
The stallion chuckled and examined a stack of farm tools laid out on the wall.
“Yes, I suppose it does,” he said.
What was this geezer getting on about? In the duds he was dolled up in he sure as hay weren’t no farm pony.
“Tell me Mr. Ingot, do you find this life unsatisfying?”
I stared at him, still not sure what to say, true, nothing could beat gold hunting. But that was past now. It had lost its fun.
“It’s the life I’ve got ain’t it?”
“That’s no good Mr. Ingot,” the stallion turned away from the old plow he had been examining, his eyes glinting deviously. “You were never one to resign yourself to a fate.” I slammed my fore-hooves on the desk between us stating the dapper stallion.
“Who are you?” I asked hissing through my teeth.
“I’m glad you asked,” he replied, regaining himself. He lifted off the top hat he was wearing and bowed. “I am Big Brick, head of the Big Brick Gold Corporation. You undoubtedly heard of us?”
“I have some old friends who say they’ve worked with you in the past; they also say you pay bull shit wages.”
“Shameless lies I assure you,” Big Brick said smiling deviously.
“Well what do you want from me?” I asked.
“Surely you can put two and two together Mr. Ingot? I run a gold company; you are a gold hunter-”
“I WAS a gold hunter. I’m retired.”
“You know as well as I do, a real gold hunter never retires, as your father said.”
“How do you know-?”
“Your father was a close friend of mine, we were gold hunters together for a while, but we went our separate ways. I went into the world of business, he continued on the path of adventure.”
I sat back in my chair and crossed my forelegs defensively, as if I was trying to block Big Brick’s sleazy lying voice from reaching me. There is no way my Pa would have ever worked with a business pony, he always said he didn’t trust them; he said they’d steal candy from yer’ foal then try an’ sell it back to you for two bits more than you bought it fer’.
“Looks like we’re at an impasse then,” I said across the desk. “I ain’t gonna’ work fer’ you and, you aren’t gonna’ leave me alone until I do.”
“Indeed.”
We stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make a move, then the door creaked open. In walked a small cream colored pegasus with a golden mane and tail, she wore a loose lacy dress over her flank and a light scarf was draped over her shoulders.
“Ingot, I got the nails but they said they wouldn't- oh!” She dropped the basket in surprise scattering nails across the floor.
“Oh dear, I very sorry sir!” She said beginning to scoop up the nails. This was my sister, usually she wasn’t so clumsy, but seeing new people always made her nervous.
“Well now what do we have here?” Big Brick asked. Walking around he examined her closely.
“Is this your sister?” He asked.
“Yup, how much you willing to pay?” Gold Dust paused in her picking up and glared up at me from her position on the floor.
“We at B.B.G. treat our employees well, the two of you would have splendid apartments in our main building, free access to our accounts and all the food you can eat. Which I can guess is a little better than you can afford here.”
I hastily threw away the shriveled remains of the half rotten apple I had been eating.
“All at the price of my soul?”
Big Brick laugh then reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a stack of paper.
“This is the standard gold hunter’s contract, all you have to do is sign it and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thanks I needed some new kindling. Dig the wax out’s yer’ ears partner, I’m retired from gold huntin’!”
“And I’ve quit salt,” the old stallion said pulling out a salt block and giving it a quick lick. With that he turned and headed out the door calling: “I’ll be on the last train out tomorrow evening; get the contract to me before then and I’ll have the two of you on the first train to Filliedalphia.”
Once he slammed the door shut Gold Dust turned to me and said: “You should sign it.”
“Do you even know what we were talking about?”
“That stallion was wearing a suit, nice, probably cotton, no one around here could afford that. Plus you up and said: I’m not going gold hunting. So I think I can assume that he was a business tycoon from the east hoping to hire a new minion.”
“A regular Sherclop Pones aren’t you? And you think I should listen to him?” I asked
“I think you should do what is best,” she replied. “And yes I think that that is what’s best.”
I glared down at the contract; this is not what Pa would have wanted. Pa always said that the gold corporations were big money grabbing monstrosities who paid gold hunters the lowest possible wage for the most dangerous work.
Gold Dust laid her hoof on mine. I looked up at her staring into her bright blue eyes. I groaned.
“I’ll decide tomorrow,” I mumbled.
“Very well,” she replied. “But if you don’t sign it, I will!”