Marble Pie's Bizarre Adventure Act 3 (Kaiji)

Marble Pie’s Bizarre Adventure, Act 3: Pretty One Play, or The Gambler

>Be Daring Do.
>Following Caballeron’s truck has led you all the way to the peak.
>Smoking Mountain is a pretty important site around these parts, just like the temples.
>Natives wouldn’t take kindly to you flying around here.
>At least, if they ever felt like coming over themselves.
>As it slows down, you switch your power to his eye and hang back a little.
>Your vision’s split between the brush and his hooves holding the arrow.
>He hops out of the back as soon as it’s safe.
>They’re only a few good jumps away from the lip, but he doesn’t pay it much attention.
>He doesn’t face his henchponies, and they don’t react to his words.
>”Now, we must wait for the others to collect Daring Do so she can join us.”
>Snrk.
>”But first, this arrow...”
>He draws a hoof along it, lengthwise, tracing gold filigree.
>Then he trots, steadily, to the edge.
>That’s lava, alright.
>The smoke isn’t very thick right now, but this is clearly a
>The next words are quoting something.
>”In the names of the cosmic powers, I destroy the unbreakable at the height of the tallest mountain!”
>He raises it over his head.
>And then throws it down, into the fiery abyss.

>Be Marble Pie, now.
>It takes another night and day for your group to pass the rest of the desert.
>Las Pegasus becomes visible early into your morning, but it takes hours to get any closer to it.
>The heat’s demoralizing, but you trudge onwards.
>Limestone breaks the silence with a sledgehammer.
>”And how are we going to find her in an entire city?”
>You’ve been thinking about that...
>Maud answers.
>”She won’t be just anywhere. She must have come this way to get something, or meet someone. She’ll probably be in a casino or a high-end building.”
>Lime sighs hard enough that her teeth grit.
>”That’s not any better! What if she already sold it on the black market or something?!”
>You shake your head into a slight breeze that’s picking up.
”She wouldn’t. She wants to keep it safe, and probably hide it somewhere no one would look for it. That wouldn’t be in a place like Las Pegasus.”
>”We’re still not going to be able to find her! Even if we camped out on the edge of the city, there’s too much ground to cover!”
>Maud contemplates that, but says nothing.
“We don’t need to.”
>Lime looks at you without responding, only because her reaction would be too obvious.
”She knows we’re after her. In Tall Tale she sent ponies after us to make sure we couldn’t follow her, and she watched us beat them. She’ll probably do the same thing here.”
>Maud finishes the thought.
>”Then we just need to draw attention to ourselves.”
“Right. We need to get the important ponies of the city to know where we are.”
>Limestone’s eyes narrow.
>”So we need to pound in a few faces?”
>Uh...
>Well, you weren’t quite thinking of that.
>Maybe find them and show off your abilities?
>Or drop Daring’s name in the right places.
>”No, Marble wants us to gamble.”
>G… gamble?
>”Oh. Well, yeah, I guess that’s worth a try.”
>You turn back to them, frantic, hair whipping out of your eyes.
“No! We can’t do that!”
>Maud looks at you, startled.
>”Why not.”
“I-it’s wrong! I’ve never gambled in my life!”
>Lime shrugs.
>”I don’t do it much, but Maud and I used to bet chores when you and Pinkie were little.”
>Pa outlawed that!
>Maud doesn’t make eye contact.
>”I’ve played a few hooves of poker here.”
>Lime looks at her, shocked.
>Then her face breaks out in a grin.
>”You’ve been to Las Pegasus to play poker?”
>Head-shake.
>”No. I just like to watch the stallions dance.”
>Limestone’s laughter cuts through the intensity of your face flushing.
>You wonder if the heat’s getting to her.
>”Holy shit, Maud, I didn’t know you were with it! Give me some!”
>She throws up a hoof in the air.
>Maud looks at her while you fix your bangs back into place.
>Your eldest sister’s abrupt good cheer seems to be getting to her.
>She makes one of the bigger smiles you’ve seen from her.
>Lime waves her hoof in the air.
>”C’mon, don’t leave me hanging!”
>Then Maud activates ｢OK Go｣, and she appears in the air, head pointing at Lime.
>In that moment of inertia, her hoof moves out and they impact.
>Lime closes her eyes and savors the hoofbump.
>Then Maud’s back beside you.
>”Alright! Let’s go take the house’s bits and stab this mare in the eye!”
>You never knew your sisters were so...
>Degenerate.


>NO!
>The air parts around your wingbeats as you dive from green into blue into red.
>Be Daring Do.
>Nothing good happens when magical items get thrown into volcanoes.
>Your instincts have thrown you straight down after it.
>There are shouts above you.
>You retract your eye so you don’t get distracted.
>Gravity outpaces you for only a few more moments.
>You crash into belching clouds of heat, hooves outstretched.
>The arrow’s pointing downward into the burning.
>You follow it, reach out...
>Snatch it!
>The metal’s very warm, but not too hot to touch.
>You span your wings and let the warm air buoy you.
>Then, you realize your cover’s blown.
>You fly into a patch of smoke and let it cover you.
>Then you start coughing.
>Yeah, not as great as working with stormclouds.
>Not that you were ever cut out for weatherworking.
>As you float back up and try to keep the ash out of your lungs, you can make out words.
>”-fall in?!”
>”I can’t see her, sir.”
>You’re about to rise above the lip, now.
>You follow Caballeron’s voice, and try to switch your eye with his.
>It doesn’t work.
>Well, you can’t rely on your luck all of the time.
>”No! The prophecy--!”
>He goes silent, you’re not sure why.
>You aim away from the voices, putting the smoke between the two of you.
>Then he calls out.
>”Soldier of fortune!”
>The smoke parts as something whistles in the air.
>A projectile, clearly.
>Maybe it was hidden on the truck.
>You dive out of the way, flying clockwise between its path and your enemies.
>You can make it back out into the jungle now.
>But did he see you?
>If not, is he firing blind?
>If you could just get your Stand fixed on him again…
>The whistling gets louder again.
>It’s coming from behind you!
>You twist in the air and see the red-tipped point of a rocket blazing after you.
>It looks like something out of a comic book, but the smoke disappears around it.
>Is this...
>Caballeron’s Stand?

>Be Marble, standing in the corner.
>This place smells funny.
>You’ve never touched alcohol before except to get over a cold.
>It tasted much worse than cough medicine, so you don’t know why anypony else would drink it.
>But earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi are all getting smashed.
>Unicorns you understand, the last one to spend time on the farm drank a lot.
>There are even a couple of griffins here and there, mostly playing on the slot machines.
>They’re better at it than their pony neighbors, given the claws.
>Is Yearling really in a place like this, chatting in the corner somewhere?
>You don’t feel like that could be true.
>Maud and Limestone are sticking together at one table, obscured by all of their chips.
>｢OK Go｣’s physical form is floating behind them.
>It took you a moment to not panic, but nopony reacted to it.
>Right, they can’t see it.
>They seemed to agree on their plan silently, and it turns a minute for you to figure it out.
>｢OK Go｣ stares at the other ponies’ cards, obviously.
>But Lime signals which one she needs next by having ｢Down With the Sickness｣ push sand out of her neck’s pores in the same shape.
>Then the Stand points its hoof at whoever has it, and a few other signals pass between them.
>This system is pretty simple, but it’s made them relatively rich.
>You don’t have a problem with this.
>You mean, if ponies are going to do something like gamble, cheating’s not much worse.
>Both of them can ruin your life completely, after all.
>You’re still on edge, though.
>You know perfectly well that ｢Opposite of Thieves｣ isn’t a good Stand for this.
>You managed to fish a few tokens from unoccupied machines to give your sisters, but that’s it.
>Even that was pretty nerve-wracking.
>It’s too close to unicorn magic, and ponies are used to unicorns finding ways to cheat.
>In fact, all of the unicorns who enter are wearing magic suppression rings over their horns.
>If security saw your power lifting something, they’d assume somepony had broken theirs.
>Probably.
>You’re sipping tonic water and keeping an eye out.
>Just in case somepony comes to throw your sisters out, or a Stand user shows up.
>Frankly, you’re the most suspicious pony here.
>”Enjoying yourself?”
>A slightly nasally stallion’s voice comes from your left.
>You turn, and for a moment you think you see Daring.
>But this is definitely a male, purely black mane, looking out at your friends.
>His cutie mark’s a speech bubble.
>You nod back at him for the sake of being polite.
“Mmhm.”
>He gestures to your sisters’ backs.
>”Any relation?”
“Mmmhm.”
>The conversation enters a lull.
>He sips his own drink, something amber.
>You wonder if this is how stallions flirt in Las Pegasus.
>Ma told all of you to be careful around colts.
>Your thoughts turn back to her for a moment.
>Pinkie, too.
>You don’t know how you’ll explain this to her if you can’t set things right in time.
>How many days do you have left?
>It can’t be more than a week by now.
>And if that’s true today, it might be tomorrow before you get a real lead...
>If the return trip takes longer than you spent heading out this far, it won’t matter if you have the brooch.
>And if Tall Tale moves again, you’ll need better supplies to cross the desert again.
>Maud’s healed up decently, but her hoof still needs real treatment.
>What you need, more than anything, is time.
>”Why not just buy yourselves another farm?”
>The stallion speaks, and snaps you out of your reverie.
>You turn to him, eyes wide.
>He looks back at you, almost leering.
>When he notices nothing is going to come out of your open mouth, he goes on.
>”Ms. Yearling sent me to find you and give you enough money to support your family comfortably. Looking at them, I don’t think you need it.”
>He gestures to your sisters again as another round picks up.
>Does he have a Stand?
>Is this a trick, or the attention you’re looking for, or is she really trying to buy you off?
>”Aaand you’re not going to talk to me, are you? Great.”
>He finishes his drink in a final swigging motion.
>The tumbler clinks on the corner table.
>”Not that it matters. If you don’t take it she’s still going to finish this herself. But why pass that up, you know? You’ll be able to give your family everything they’ve ever wanted. Eh?”
>You keep eye contact with him.
>Reach up, like you’re shooing a fly just behind his ears...
>And then slam his head into the table.
>The noise doesn’t register over all of the beeping and blinging and crying, so you do it again.
>The cheap material under you creaks with the impact.
>That one was louder.
>He doesn’t lift his head back up, he just keeps it down and looks dazed.
>｢Opposite of Thieves｣ alights on his neck, pulling him back up.
>Life reenters his eyes, and he throws up his hooves to ward you off.
>Your Stand scuttles onto them, and he watches in horror as they fall back down to the table.
>Your final hit knocks him onto his back a few hooves away from his upturned chair.
>”Marble.”
>Maud shouts next to you.
>Next to her, Lime is staring.
>The game at their table’s been paused.
>You turn to them, and realize there’s blood on your hoof.
>You cough.
>...
>Shortly after that, you were escorted out by security.
>But not before Maud and Lime could cash in most of their winnings.
>You didn’t get that stallion’s name, or a chance to question him.
>You didn’t even explain why he pissed you off so badly, you couldn’t in the moment.
>But when you told your sisters what he’d offered you, they wanted to know where he was, too.
>When the three of you had finished fuming, you repeated the method in a few more casinos.
>Nopony bothered any of you, except with their complaining.
>Late in the afternoon, you used some of their collective winnings to get a hotel room.
>It’s got three separate beds in it, and it larger than your whole house back on the farm.
>None of the charm, though.
>With designs on a bigger ruckus tomorrow, you all go to bed shortly after the sun.
>You lie awake and plan.
>Daring’s probably still around, so she got your message.
>That settles something in the pit of you.
>The farm’s still waiting for you to come home.
>Pa’s still just sick.
>You know it.

>Be Daring Do.
>This missile’s definitely following you.
>Getting a good look at it showed you something important about it, but not much of use.
>Your mind suggests that it might be heat-seeking, but you have no idea.
>Maybe it’s just magically tracking you.
>This isn’t the right century weaponry for you to guess, you’re a historian!
>What was it he said before he shot it?
>’Soldier of fortune’?
>No, it must be ｢Soldier of Fortune｣.
>There’s another of the Thoth Arcana.
>What would his arrow do if it ran out of them?
>Give someone ｢Five of Cups｣?
>Or is that suit only in one of Fate Rider’s Tarot sets?
>This isn’t a productive line of thought.
>You drop it and dip right, hard, moving straight into the jungle.
>Weaving between the trees close enough to risk cutting yourself on the bark, waiting for the explosion.
>Your saddlebags, which are fed up with your flying, are loosening around you.
>But there’s no impact.
>Just the whistling, getting louder.
>You glance back at it.
>To your dismay, you’ve just confirmed your theory.
>The trees it hits are just being dissolved to make room for it.
>Holes are eaten into them at lightning-speed, just as the rocket passes through.
>You have a feeling you know why it’s waiting to blow up.
>Exhaustion is creeping into your wings, but that’s nothing new.
>You’ve got an hour left in you, if you push yourself hard.
>After that, it’s just a matter of sticking the landing before you pass out.
>The most crucial choice you have to make right now is whether to try outrunning this thing.
>It takes your instincts a couple seconds to weigh the options.
>You’ve never seen this ability before, and for all you know it’ll zap you out of existence no matter how far away from Caballeron you get.
>If yours is linked to you, maybe this is linked to him.
>After you defeat him, it might go away.
>That logic works against liches, at least.
>You bank upwards out of the trees and fly low across the canopy, heading back for the smoke.
>The truck’s still visible, and the ponies come into view.
>All of them are scanning the sky, and they see you coming.
>You make your way down toward them, moving across the smoke.
>It’s harder to move your wings now, and the air is grey and sticky.
>｢Soldier of Fortune｣ isn’t having these problems.
>As it carves a path towards you, your pack finally stops cooperating and flies open.
>Papers and manuscripts flutter out into the drafting air.
>Did the arrow fall out?!
>You’ve still got his in your teeth, but--
>As you turn to check, and see that it’s still lodged in there, you also see the rocket.
>The tip of it hits the edge of your tail.
>You flap desperately, trying to catch up to your headst-
>It explodes.
>Something lodges in your side, and smoke fills the air.
>Brown shrapnel fills the air as you tumble end over end.
>The shockwave hits, and plasters you past the lip fo the volcano.
>And you see both of the arrows fall down towards the lava.

>Be Marble.
>You hear the scuffle before you open your eyes.
>It’s not dawn, and it’s not Maud and Limestone.
>Your eyes open and the room’s filled with grey stallions in suits and sunglasses.
>Two are already heading for you with a black sackcloth bag.
>Maud appears in front of them, kicking their faces before vanishing elsewhere.
>Limestone’s just wailing on them one at a time, throwing shards of bits from her hooves to stave back the larger group.
>Your beds are like islands in the sea of enemies.
>One holds out a firearm, pointing it at you.
>｢Opposite of Thieves｣ swarms on instinct, uncocking it and dropping out the ammunition.
>One unicorn among the squadron froze Lime in place, and they try to get a bag over her.
>Maud jumps between them and knocks him out.
>Lime’s being pinned down, but the ones holding her legs cry out.
>Gold spikes shimmer in the moonlight and then fall out of her skin.
>You smash the nearest one yourself, and attract the attention of three others.
>Not what you’d intended, but...
>You head for Limestone, letting Maud clear the way for you with fast kicks.
>You nod at her, and then jam another thug’s gun.
>｢Opposite of Thieves｣ chitters excitedly as it works.
“Maud, go to the door and then back to us!”
>She moves without hesitating, ｢OK Go｣ jumping her there for an eyeblink and then back to you.
>You smash two heads together while Lime noshes on coinage.
“Alright, now carry us!”
>You say as your entire swarm envelopes her.
>She reaches out like she’s pulling you into a hug, and you pull Lime in with you.
>Although she has no idea what’s going on, her mind’s running too fast to panic.
>Lifted off the ground, Maud flies close the high ceiling.
>The stallions begin throwing things.
>You kick away a piece of furniture, while Lime spears another with something sharp escaping her mouth.
>Then you set down at the entryway.
>The door opens outside, and ｢Opposite of Thieves｣ is already doing the job.
>You shove and hustle through, running out into the hallway.
>You can see another twenty out here.
>While you try to think of what to do next, they’re already mobbing you.
>You punch blindly at the nearest one, but you don’t knock him down.
>Maud’s more successful, but her momentum gets her bodied by another one.
>Where are they coming from?!
>Lime stumbles and gets surrounded, cut off from you.
>It’s only a moment after that when you see the black enter your vision.
>The bag tightens.
>You struggle against the bodies pressed against you.
>｢Opposite of Thieves｣...!
>You try to loosen it, throw it up and away from your head, and…
>A kick to your head registers, and you collapse.

>You come to, unrestrained.
>You’re not moving, and the light is dim.
>So you’re not in a vehicle, or on somepony’s shoulder…
>In fact, there’s nothing on your head.
>As you open your eyes, you take in a casino hall.
>It’s the same as all of the others you’ve seen today.
>Ugly carpets and checkerboard decorations.
>Most of the lights are off, though, and so are the machines.
>The dimness is a nice rest for your eyes.
>And below the sparse lighting, you can make out Limestone, still out.
>You push yourself up to your hooves and wince.
>Oof, your head.
>Maud’s further away than Lime, and looks pretty bruised even from here.
>As you feel around your mane’s part for sore spots, you finally look straight ahead.
>These are the card tables, spaced generously to make room for waitresses and onlookers.
>To your left is a bar, still lit but unoccupied.
>And at the edge of the splotchy light, there’s somepony sitting in a chair.
>White coat, difficult to see properly except for the glinting sunglasses.
>Once you see him, you can see the…
>Mercenaries?
>Security stallions, maybe.
>They’re standing a little ways out of the light.
>Since neither of your sisters are awake yet, you speak.
“...Hello?”
>”Miss Pie, Miss Pie... Miss Pie.”
>The figure’s voice is male, crisp, and a little high pitched.
>Is that a colt?
>Your Stand touches your sisters, helping them crack their eyes open.
>”Wuh…?”
>Limestone’s eyes adjust as fast as yours did.
>She spits blue words into the air.
>When she stops, what you’ve decided is definitely a colt speaks again.
>”It’s good that you’re awake. Before we get to other matters, please accept my apologies for your rough treatment. My guards didn’t feel that you would listen to reason, and it’s important that we settle our troubles before morning comes.”
>In the time you were looking back at him, Maud stood up.
>She speaks in a panicked tone.
>”What’s going on. Why are we here.”
>Limestone works herself up again, having surveyed the room.
>”They’re with Yearling! We’re gonna have to kick their asses until they tell us where she’s hiding!”
>None of the guards make a move, or even an expression.
>The colt answers after your sister.
>”That’s precisely what we need to settle. Furia’s history with Miss Yearling has not been a happy one, but tonight she’s taken things a step too far.”
>Furia?
>He golf-claps, and the lights all come on.
>You and Lime flinch like ponies with hangovers.
>At least that explains the sunglasses...
>You can see him clearly now.
>He’s a pegasus who looks about half your age.
>His coat is actually an eggshell color, and his hair is a muted silver.
>It reminds you a bit of that unicorn who stayed on the farm, actually.
>But it’s efficiently trimmed to fall short of the glasses.
>His cutie mark is just...
>A sun, like Celestia’s, in a pinwheel design.
>Except it’s composed only of deep, wineish reds - you could almost mistake it for a rose.
>And what you can see of his expression is mostly hospitable, the soft side of businesslike.
>”I know from Miss Yearling that the three of you have come a long way, and wouldn’t know me by my reputation, so I won’t hold that against you. My name is Giorno Rossa, and I am the owner of Las Pegasus.”
>Owner...
>Well, at least you got somepony’s attention.
>”What’s that mean.”
>Maud appears in front of him.
>To his credit, he doesn’t react.
>In fact, he doesn’t even startle at seeing her in a new location.
>If he’s met Yearling, you suppose you’re not surprised he knows about your abilities.
>”I am the head of this city’s only gang, and the one responsible for dealing with its various problem elements. In this case, both Miss Yearling and the three of you.”
>Maud stares at him, eye locked.
>She’s about to summon ｢OK Go｣, isn’t she?
>You’d like to know where you are and what’s going on before you do that.
>Before this can turn ugly prematurely, you speak up.
“We’re only trying to find her to take back something she stole from our family. We’re not interested in money or gambling, or in threatening this city. If you can tell us where she went, we’ll be gone before the morning.”
>Limestone leers at what you think is a pretty reasonable response.
>”And if you don’t, we have no problem with wrecking this whole place to find her.”
>The last two words echo.
>Lime...
>Giorno responds.
>”I’m afraid she’s taken something from my family as well, and has already left the city. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to follow her in your present circumstances.”
>”Where is she right now.”
>”I honestly couldn’t tell you. Even if I could, you would never reach it in time to find her.”
>Maud’s Stand manifests beside her.
>You go on-edge, your Stand active and ready to scurry in any direction.
>Before you can think of anything to say, ｢OK Go｣ kicks him in the head.
>There’s a loud crack, and the glasses go flying.
>But he doesn’t.
>It’s only for a split second afterward that you see the hoof that met ｢OK Go｣’s in midair.
>Blue, outlined in gold, materializing a few inches away from the side of his head.
>Then you make out something else.
>His eyes, looking at you.
>Red, but glassy.
>You flinch, expecting one of them to be Yearling’s, but realize quickly that they aren’t.
>They don’t move around the room, searching for any new threats.
>In fact, they aren’t looking at you at all.
>They’re not looking at anything.
>A few guards rush toward Maud, turning from forgettable statues into blurs of motion.
>And then stop just as quickly.
>Giorno holds up a hoof as he leaves his chair.
>On the first try, he picks up the glasses.
>After a few seconds of orienting, they slip back on.
>”I didn’t mean what I said as a threat. It’s because of my Stand ability that Miss Yearling is too far away for you to reach her. She defeated me in a threefold bet, and now I believe she’s on her way to completing her journey. In fact, she may have already finished it.”
>Lime growls, stalking toward him.
>”Send us after her.”
>He makes eye contact with her, which requires him to tilt his head a little.
>Somehow, it’s still a little unnerving.
>”I’m afraid I can’t. My Stand and my agreement with Ms. Yearling wouldn’t allow me to. I understand the importance of family as well as anypony, but I cannot break my word.”
>You don’t even need to see Limestone’s face.
>She’s going to hurt him if this keeps up.
“Then why did you bring us here?”
>You edge closer to be nearer your sisters.
>He’s looking “at” you now, smiling a little bit.
>”You must be Marble.”
>Your coat shivers for a moment.
>He continues.
>”I’m glad you asked. My Stand may be able to send you on her path. It would certainly bring Furia happiness for you to go after her, if your family would do a favor on behalf of ours. But even if you agreed, my hooves are tied by honor. In the end, everything comes down to fate.”
>Maud jumps back to join the both of you.
>It’s funny how none of the stallions have moved for all of this.
>You start to wonder if they’re really there, but you can see the nearest one to you breathing minutely.
>Then you realize that you aren’t concerned about them looking at you.
>Maybe it’s that they’re all wearing sunglasses, so you can’t quite tell.
>Or maybe it’s that they’ve already done the worst they could, and there’s nothing left to worry about.
>Maud waits expectantly, eager for more information.
>Giorno can’t read it on her face, though, so Lime speaks up.
>”Tell us more.”
>He smiles, thinly.

>Hrrk!
>Be Daring Do.
>The back half of your body’s killing you, but a glance back proves it’s not gone.
>You’ve gripped onto the rock instinctively, but the texture’s inconsistent.
>Your hooves are deep in ashy dirt, but behind’s hard granular stone.
>Hold on, hold on…
>There’s something-
>The arrows!
>You’d curse if your body wasn’t already letting go of the rock.
>Thankfully it doesn’t snag.
>You fall, rotating into the heat.
>You need to wait to open your wings until you’ve spun around properly.
>They’re still falling, so you haven’t lost time.
>It has a bad habit of slipping away from you when your back’s turned.
>Lava is hot enough that you can’t even be a few wingspans above it without catching on fire.
>You essentially have to fly through a cloud of unrefined sawdust, but the spinning helps.
>It doesn’t matter if you’re bleeding.
>Prophecies are bad business, when they’re real.
>Caballeron’s sources are as trustworthy as his methods, but...
>The fact that this fall has happened to you twice has convinced you this one’s serious.
>Once you have them you’re getting out of here as quickly as you can.
>You’re through the stinging cloud, now, and your eyes are clouding with dust and soot.
>You can’t cry it out right now, or reach to rub it, so you move faster.
>On the drop, you try something new.
>｢--- Writer｣ transfers into the rock, in a small circular depression.
>Alright, so it’s anything eye-shaped.
>With your eye free to navigate again you let gravity keep working on you.
>They’re just below!
>And the inferno’s just under them.
>This is the sort of thing you write chapter-books about.
>You swoop down, loosening your pack on your back.
>It falls momentarily up and away from you, and you snatch it with a hoof.
>The heat is already singing your coat, and it’s not doing your back half any favors.
>But you focus on putting everything you can into the swing.
>Thankfully, everything else is jammed so tightly inside that it can’t come loose.
>Trying to replace gravity with momentum, you push the bag in front of you.
>It moves like a pendulum.
>You try to be the fulcrum, despite the fact that you’re falling into a volcano.
>Come on, come on…!
>Both arrows are falling just beneath you, entering the point of no return.
>In a single smooth motion, it passes over and swallows them both.
>You don’t even wait to complete the swing, just pull it up and start flapping your wings as quickly as possible.
>The wood pellets are finally catching up with you, and you close your eyes for a moment, not giving up the motion.
>If you rested on the wall like a fly you might not be able to take off again.
>You’re not a pony who usually needs to work out, but you’re starting to reconsider.
>Even if your flank hadn’t been blasted, you would still be in no shape to try flying out of a volcano.
>Easier than climbing it, though.
>Your special eye sees something moving up ahead before you can hear it.
>You register it in time to hear the whistle.
>Oh no, no, no.
>It turns on the spot and shoots for the eye, and you call your power back.
>Then you work on getting as much altitude as possible.
>This thing can’t really follow you for the rest of time, can it?
>You haven’t even tried to see if it has a range problem.
>For crying out loud, it’s a projectile!
>But as you dodge past ｢Soldier of Fortune｣ and wait to hear it coming after you, you know you’ll have to defeat Caballeron.
>You’re too weak to outfly this thing much longer.
>Hell, you’re too weak to fly, period.
>Don’t think about that.
>Its speed seems to be constant, although that might just be because it never crashes.
>But what happened when it exploded?
>Ash and wood fell everywhere.
>You’re not slow, the wood had to come from somewhere.
>If this one explodes into smoke but not wood, that would prove it’s taking what it hits into itself.
>As you pass the point you let go of how many seconds ago, another wave of fatigue hits you.
>But you make it over the lip, and roll out of the mountain’s smoking section.
>The ground’s unforgiving, shredding at your wings and withers as you clutch the pack to yourself.
>But you get yourself grounded as the whistling comes after you.
>Getting a load of your tactical situation, you can’t see the henchponies any longer.
>Where’s--
>Ah, there he is.
>Caballeron’s standing smugly a good fifteen seconds’ gallop away.
>It’s good that you only messed up your wings just now.
>Your body refuses to run from lack of stamina, and you ignore it.
>You only need another minute, anyway.
>Just long enough to find a shard of sharp stone.
>That one’ll do.
>You pick it up in your teeth and move it to a hoof.
>This is thankfully less precise than writing while running.
>You hadn’t understood why the upper classes kept cursive script around until you did that.
>The whistle brings focus.
>So does the doctor’s victorious expression.
>You can’t afford for this to take more than a couple seconds.
>Still propelling yourself on your backlegs, like some kind of lizard sprinting across water, you hold your mane straight with one hoof.
>With the other, you cut, once.
>Then you toss the hair out in a cloud.
>Please work, please work...
>Returning to all four hooves, you keep galloping.
>Now you just have to create distance!
>You hear the explosion at the same time as the tide of smoke slides out over you with its too-warm chemical embrace.
>You’re unhurt, and he must know that.
>But his expression doesn’t change.
>Shock?
>You feel hooves on you, muscles pulling against yours on both sides.
>The two henchponies.
>Your stomach sinks.
>His power really didn’t target anything but you.
>It sucked them up like a vacuum cleaner so they could force you down.
>...What kind of jarheads would let themselves be fired into an active volcano?!
>Normally you’d just flap out of this, but you need to reserve your strength for that.
>They don’t try to tear you limb from limb or hurt you, though.
>They’re just holding you in place.
>As the smoke clears, you see he’s stalked a little closer.
>”It’s a shame that I have to end you, Daring Do. I was looking forward to impressing you with my godlike power.”
>Godlike…?
>You spit.
“What’s the big idea, Caballeron? What are the arrows for?”
>”They came from the stars, and when they’re united, they’ll bring me impossible power.”
“What, you think you’re some dead fried-out culture’s swanky chosen one?”
>He smiles.
>He’s a lot more demur in person, though none of your fans will ever know that.
>You quite enjoy writing him, it really works out your stress to make him as outwardly awful as he is on the inside.
>”You’re not going to be able to outdistance this one, I’m afraid. ｢Soldier of Fortune｣.”
>Your face hardens.
“Has not letting me go ever worked out for you, Caballeron?”
>His smile is predatory as he hunkers down and aims.
>”I’m afraid there are bigger forces in my corner now, Daring.”
>...Oh.
>That’s it.
”｢Paperback Writer｣.”
>He stops focusing on his power for a moment.
>”Hm?”
>You take a deep breath, letting your body stay limp.
>A hold from two stallions isn’t much different from being bound with loose rope.
“That’s my ability. And if you attack me now, it’ll destroy you for sure.”
>He sours.
>”I don’t appreciate this stalling for time. If you possessed a Stand, you would have used it already to defeat me.”
“Whatever you say.”
>He snorts.
>Then almost shrugs, except for the weight.
>And fires.
>Watching the rocket manifest inside the chamber is discomforting.
>You much prefer the ingenuity of ancient nonmagicals.
>But it fires.
>Before it can start whistling, though, it spins on the spot.
>It hardly waits to leave the launcher.
>Caballeron doesn’t have time to react as it hits the eye you just implanted over his.
>You can see it happening from his perspective, and it’s enough to make you flinch.
>But if it costs you your own ability to defeat his, then...
>Well, an eye for eye.
>When it detonates your vision goes black, and he’s blown backwards.
>The eye returns to you, along with the first deep-brain lancing of a migraine.
>Whatever.
>You take advantage of the surprise your captors are undergoing and lift your back hooves off the ground.
>You kick both of them in the groin simultaneously, like a gymnast.
>They let go, and become unimportant.
>You run, past the unconscious form of your archenemy, towards the jungle.
>Your wings won’t flap well, but you glide on them as soon as the land stops.
>The landing’s tricky, but you manage it alright.
>Now, you just have to figure out how to escape this jungle with the arrows intact.
>First, though, you gather up a little underbrush and lay down for a moment.
>As soon as you do, your body refuses to get back up.
>As you rest, and then sleep, you stare out into the canopy.
>Birds are chirping frantically here and there, which is annoying, but nothing awful’s happening.
>When you write this out, that damned volcano’s going to explode.

>Be Marble.
>Giorno’s explaining.
>”Firstly, I’ll tell you how my Stand works. ｢Pinball Wizard｣.”
>He holds out a hoof, and it manifests fully.
>It’s definitely larger than you, and bulky.
>Its coat is blue with white accents, and over the eyes are the three squares of a slot machine readout.
>All blank.
>”Its first ability is future prediction. I should clarify that this is not an exact prediction of what will come, but an establishing of a… time limit, we should say. For instance, the time until your homestead will fall apart without you.”
>He turns to his Stand, and the readout spins furiously to life.
>The first is a number, and the other two each drop down a pair of letters.
>”7 DA YS.”
>A week.
>You calm down, for a moment.
>No matter how unusual your situation is, you still have a week to find her.
>”Its second ability is of greater importance, and activates when somepony plays a game with me. Based on the winner, that pony can be sent closer to or further away from their event.”
>He waits for you to get it, and after a moment you do.
>”Do you mean...”
>Maud starts, but she’s so stunned she doesn’t finish.
>Limestone steps in for her.
>”Time travel?”
>He nods, smiling thinly.
>There’s something almost elderly about the motion, as if he’s fifty years older.
>”I hope you understand that I’m not very public about these abilities. After all, with both in tandem, I was able to gain a number of important positions very quickly. All of this has been thanks to a family heirloom of mine, which is sadly no longer mine to wear.”
>He motions to his neck.
“Another brooch?”
>”A necklace. You are Marble, aren’t you?
>You nod.
>Then realize, and cough.
“Uh, hm, yes.”
>”Miss Yearling didn’t mention that you had such a lovely voice. My mother had the same one, I think...”
>He trails off.
>If you didn’t know, you’d say he’s staring into space.
>You don’t dwell on whether this was his idea of flirting.
>Instead, you try to help him back into the conversation.
”So you sent Yearling into the past?”
>”Yes. Four days. She called in a number of favors to play a game with me, and forced me to bet my most precious item in exchange for all three of her artifacts. She won, unfortunately. Wherever she was heading, I have to assume she made it.”
>You suddenly and violently remember something, hard enough to reel back and gasp.
>Your sisters are immediately focused on you.
“The Choosing Stone! That’s why it pointed us to Vanhoover! She was there at the same time as she was coming here!”
>Lime’s eyes widen.
>”Then she made it there. We have to go back and stop her at her own game.”
>She turns to Giorno.
>”We want to play a game with you. Do you have to play each of us one at a time or can we do it all at once?”
>”I can send you back in time all at once, if you’ll agree to return my necklace to me when you get it back from her. Unfortunately, you’ll have to actually defeat me. I’m honorbound to play my best against you.”
>Maud examines him, eyes narrowing a fraction.
>”Why. Don’t you want us to go get it for you.”
>He sighs.
>Something about his dread makes you want to hug him.
>”Yearling used her victory to force me into a hoofful of agreements, and I’m honorbound to them. I can’t use my Stand just to send anypony after her, I can’t allow harm to come to her informant while in my custody, and I must defeat the three of you.”
>He puts a hoof up to stop the three of you.
>”However… since you’re chasing her for your own reasons, I have no issue with your finding her. If I play against you and you defeat me, then my honor only depends on how well I’ve tried to uphold this bargain. And if her informant goes with you, then he’s no longer in my custody.”
>Maud digests that.
>Lime doesn’t like it, but she’s not snarling any more.
>”So it’s a win-win for you.”
>Giorno shakes his head.
>”The only victory that matters is keeping my word while getting back that necklace. It’s a very precious item to me.”
“Who was her informant?”
>No sooner have you asked than he’s motioned to his right.
>Two of these guards walk over with somepony sandwiched between them.
>”Really, really, I don’t need this. Alright? I can just head on my way. Daring only wanted me to make an offer, and it’s clear that they didn’t want - you know they’ve cheated your casinos out of millions of bits, right?!”
>You recognize the voice, and when he enters the light there’s no doubt.
>The stallion from earlier.
>”Mr. Pants has been my guest for about five hours now, and I would enjoy being rid of him.”
“W-we don’t want him!”
>He looks at you with shrinking terror.
>”Y-y’know if you let her near me then you’re breaking terms, right?”
>Maud, suddenly at your left, whispers in your ear.
>”He might be a useful bargaining chip.”
>Lime nudges you and speaks out of the corner of her mouth.
>”We could totally beat the tar out of him as soon as we win.”
>These two...
>You sigh.
>As long as your sisters are the ones to deal with him, you suppose you’ll live.
>”I’m afraid it’s necessary that you take him on. My Stand will only work once per pony, even for a group. He obviously won’t play me of his own volition, and I won’t have the chance to get rid of him again until somepony else who doesn’t work for me accepts a challenge.”
>The stallion shudders.
>He looks at the three of you, almost pleadingly.
>...Alright.
“Then we’ll accept.”
>You can tell by his expression that his stomach dropped.
>You can also tell, on instinct, that this is a stallion who’s never roughhoused in his life.
>There’s so much terror in him over a few good punches.
>Giorno explains the rest of the terms as Mr. Pants is led over to you.
>”Each bet must be at least one day, and at most seven. Currently you only have seven until your home collapses, but my Stand will only act when it reaches your final total. If each of you bet the maximum and won, you would add three weeks onto your time to find her. If the three of you all bet seven and lost, you would be sent two weeks too far to make a difference.”
>Your skin crawls.
>If you lost a week’s worth of time, then one of your sisters would have to spend their game just trying to make up for the loss.
>And if SHE lost, then…
>That would be it, wouldn’t it?
>Yearling only has a four day headstart, though.
>If you can just turn those seven days into eleven, you’ll be back on her tail!
>You’ll even be able to make it back home with time to spare!
>Just four days...
>The thought goes through Maud’s head, too.
>Even Limestone is reserved and planning, though her face looks troubled.
>If you aim low, betting one day, then one day, then two days...
>No, what if the last of you loses?
>You need to make sure that it doesn’t set back to zero, then.
>Make your big bet in the middle of the three, and have the last match ready, just in case.
>Yes, that’s the safe path ahead.
>You find yourself suddenly on rocky terrain, thrust directly into the world of gambling.
>But your sisters are naturals at it, they should be fine.
>Giorno continues.
>”These will be games of honor, not casual rounds played for fun. If you’re caught cheating, you will be punished with an immediate forfeit. That is, you will lose the days you bet automatically. This counts for any unfair advantage - if you accidentally saw my cards, or spoke with each other in code, for instance.”
>You blanch.
>Then you realize something.
“Doesn’t your Stand give you an unfair advantage?”
>”Hm?”
>He’s very nonchalant about that.
“You can tell how long it is until something happens. Can’t you just… compare the time until you win with the time until you lose, and use that to decide how to play?”
>Come on, he must have thought of that.
>Thinking like that is the only way somepony like him could have this kind of power.
>Is he being more devious than he’s letting on?
>Will you three actually be able to get out of here?
>You’re getting paranoid now, gambling is already getting into you and you don’t like it.
>”Yes, I could. At least, before I played. However, during a match my Stand is not on anypony’s side. I will leave it here in the open for us, so it’s clear that I’m not consulting it.”
>You can sense some kind of deceit there.
>But you don’t have any idea what kind of question would draw it out.
>Or what would happen to the three of you if you made this colt angry.
>He wants you to get through, right?
>But he also has to try his best to defeat you, honestly.
>All of this “honor” is going to make your head spin.
>Maud asks a question.
>”What’s the game.”
>Giorno motions to the circle of stallions, and you hear the squeaking of wheels.
>A large metal table slides between the four of you.
>Laid out on it are, among other things, numerous decks of cards, boards of various makes and models, a set of jacks, colored chips, dice, and even a hefty gun a little larger than the ones pointed at you.
>Once it stops moving, he gestures vaguely at the spread.
>”It’s your choice. Each of you can play whatever game you’d like, so long as it’s one on one.”
>You look over the options, leaning in to see them better.
>Most of these are completely unrecognizable to you.
>Bits laid side by side, a pair of red retainers...
>Limestone speaks.
>”We need a minute to strategize and decide which games we’re going to play. We’ll just be over at the bar.”
>She sounds almost... apologetic.
>She never sounds that way unless she’s trying to get away with something.
>Is she going to do something to jeopardize all of this?
>No, she’s more experienced at this than you are.
>Giorno nods to her, and you’re thankful that he can’t see your face.
>She promptly leads you and Maud away, past the ring of stallions.
>They don’t move to follow you.
>You and Maud take seats at the bar to rest your legs for a moment.
>”What order are we playing in.”
”I think I should go first.”
>”No shit.”
>Limestone ducks into the bar and starts reading the bottle labels.
>”You should definitely go first, Marble, and bet low. Like, one day. Then Maud can go second and score us all the days we need, and I’ll finish up in case she can’t.”
>She finally picks something clear and half-full, and unscrews the lid.
>Then she swigs down a few mouthfuls.
>It’s a disturbing sight.
>You didn’t know she’d ever touched that kind of stuff before, or that she’d need it at a time like this.
>You’ll have to talk to her about it later, though.
“O-okay.”
>If you’re going first, what are you going to play?
>...Do you even know any games?
>It wasn’t like Ma and Pa ever had many at the house.
>As a filly you mostly had Pinkie to play games with.
>You don’t think Giorno’s going to want to play hide and seek with you.
>Maud leans over the bar and lowers her voice.
>”So how are we cheating.”
>W-what?!
>Lime takes another couple of gulps and waves a hoof.
>”Nothing too elaborate if you can help it. He’s got a lot of ponies watching. Can ｢OK Go｣ move you fast enough to switch cards in a place like this?”
>Maud nods.
”W-we shouldn’t!”
>You hiss.
>They both give you a look that makes you feel like the youngest sister.
>You try to reason with them.
“If we get caught, we’ll lose completely!”
>Lime puts a hoof on yours and hisses back.
>”Calm down. This is stressful, but you have to keep your composure. Nopony’s getting caught. You’re going to play a nice game for a single day, and then whether you win or lose, Maud can play her own game and win all of it for us. In fact, if we have one day more than we need after she’s done, I’ll just bet that one and play completely fair, alright?”
>...She has a point.
>If it doesn’t work out for Maud, Lime will still have a shot.
>And if you won, it would be even easier.
>There’s some risk involved, but not nearly as much as you might have expected.
>In the end, you have to trust in your sisters.
>And besides, aren’t you the one who didn’t think cheating was any worse than gambling?
>You take a deep breath and exhale.
“Okay. I’ll play him first, and you two… do what you have to.”
>You don’t know if you’ll be able to watch that.
>For the brooch. For the farm.
>You each make eye contact in your little triangle.
>And then you turn back to the situation.

>When you approach, Mr. Pants is standing uneasily in the corner.
>Your sisters hang back a safe distance, observing
>A table’s been set up, with Giorno at one end of it.
>The metal game table, which looks more and more like something from a doctor’s office, is set perpendicular to it.
>Over it, hovering like a dealer, is his ｢Pinball Wizard｣.
>You notice his ears twitch minutely as you come closer.
>He turns toward you slightly as you come closer, even though you’re trotting on soft carpet.
>”Who’s going first?”
“I am. But... before I choose my game, I want to ask what A.K. Yearling played with you.”
>His Stand feels around the surface for a moment, passing over odds and ends.
>Finally, it lifts up the gun.
>”Marescow Roulette. A nonlethal version, of course, since my Stand couldn’t operate if either of us were dead at the end of the game. It’s a very fast game - you pull the trigger as many times as you like, and then you hoof it over.”
>To demonstrate, his Stand’s hoof manipulates the trigger.
>Click-click-click-
>Phwoom!
>A cloud of violet dust fills the air, and then dissipates.
>The Stand picks a small purple pellet off of the table and places it inside the empty gun, snapping it shut again.
>You stare at it, and bite your lip.
>How did Yearling overcome that?
>Maybe by just being lucky, that seems to be her solution to a lot of problems.
>You want to beat her at her own game.
>But...
>That’s being too dramatic, isn’t it?
>You’d have to cheat to do that for sure, and you’d probably be found out.
>And that would ruin Maud’s repuation, and mess up your whole plan.
>Just as a test of your luck?
>What if there’s some trick to it that you don’t know yet, and you would after the first game?
>You know that your sisters are going to be the deciding factors here, but...
>You can’t just be frivolous and make work for them!
>”Is that what you’ve chosen?”
“N-no!”
>Damn, now you can’t accept it even if you wanted to.
>You were close to changing your mind again, you could feel it!
>You close your eyes and try to breathe.
>You’re not even playing yet.
>It doesn’t matter if you win.
>Just play something you understand.
“Go Fish.”
>You hear Mr. Pants snort, violently.
>Giorno doesn’t react at all, even to smirk.
>With perfect gravity he nods his head, and his Stand throws a stack of playing cards to you.
>”For the sake of time we’ll play with only aces through fives. Please pull them out, cut them, and shuffle as much as you’d like.”
“Mmhm.”
>You do as he asks, not thinking too hard about it.
>You were always pretty good at Go Fish, you should have no problem with it now.
>”How many days are you betting?”
“Huh? Oh. One.”
>You decide where to make the cut after you’ve set aside the rest of the cards.
>It’s a fresh pack, so they’re all in the same order.
>You find that kind of refreshing.
>You could just use your Stand to rearrange them back into this order, if you wanted.
>But there’s always a risk for you, and a bigger one for Maud and Lime...
>You push those thoughts out of your head.
>”You know you’re not going to get anywhere with a small bet like that, don’t you?”
>He asks, raising the glasses to look you roughly in the eye.
>He’s trying to psych you out.
“I-I’ll be alright.”
>”You won’t. If you think this first game doesn’t matter, then you’re wrong. Fate decides who to smile on by their beginnings, not their plans. If you expect to win without really playing, and meaning it, then you won’t survive.”
>His voice becomes hard at this, and you feel an aura of danger around him.
>”I don’t want to overstress this, but if I send you into the future, I’ll have to ensure that you don’t leave this building in order to keep my word. It’s no threat to say I’m perfectly capable of that.”
>Then he leans back in his chair, and it retreats.
>You shuffle the cards and do your best to ignore his words.
>It is true that luck hasn’t been on your side in the last few days, though.
>Every time you’ve tried to go up against Yearling, you’ve only gotten by.
>Are you getting used to that position?
>Is the right way forward to leap out of it all at once and do something totally different?
>Too late, too late.
>Calm down.
>You’ve got to stop being so superstitious and focus on the cards in front of you.
>Agonizing about Yearling and trying to overcome her is like attacking a shadow in your mind.
>You have to learn to live with it, and work with your strengths!
>The shuffle is extra thorough, but you want to make sure that you don’t know which cards are which.
>When you’re finished, you set it down.
>Giorno calls one of his guards over to him.
>”I give you my word that his only purpose is to deal cards.”
>That should be alright.
“Fine.”
>You were expecting him to call one over to read the cards to him, but as your hand gets dealt to you, you realize why he doesn’t.
>The cards have little bumps under the suits.
>That was a griffon invention, wasn’t it?
>’Graille’?
>You pick up each card as it’s dealt to you.
>Four of Diamonds...
>Five of Spades...
>Ace of Hearts...
>Four of Hearts...
>Ace of Clubs.
>Two pairs already, Aces and Fours.
>Giorno sits patiently, and then “looks” at his cards all at once.
>”...If a player runs out of cards in their hand, will they draw or end the game?”
“Draw. It’ll be an automatic Go Fish.”
>”Then that will be their full turn?”
>You nod.
“Yes, that’s fine.”
>”Then we’re agreed that the game ends when one of us must go fish but has no cards.”
“Yes, that sounds fair. Or when we’re each left with two of the same card and nothing else.”
>He has no reservations about that.
>”Then I’ll let you begin, signora.”
>The last word has an accent that the rest don’t.
>He says it the same way he says “Miss”, though.
>You look through your hand, and make your decision.


[spoiler]ROUND ONE: GO FISH[/spoiler]
”Do you have any Aces?”
>You ask, and then feel a little foolish.
>There’s no need for that kind of politeness, you’re playing a criminal in an empty casino.
>He feels the cards to double-check, then shakes his head.
>The dealer throws you another card, defeating the point of going fish.
>Two of Hearts.
>Useless, for now.
>Since you’re playing with only six kinds of card, it should be valuable later.
>”Fives?”
>He gets a lucky shot on you on his first try.
>You hoof over the five.
>He takes it, and then reveals three more of his own.
>A book on the first turn?!
>He sets aside the pile of four.
>There can only be five of those.
>Which means that if he gets two more, your fate is already sealed.
>You stop running the numbers in your head and try to focus on the ones in your hand.
>He was lucky, but you can be lucky too!
”Fours?”
>”None.”
>Another card comes spinning at you, the Four of Clubs.
>Alright, luck is already looking up for you.
>If you can be dealt another Four, you’ll be fine.
>Just play the dealer, not the enemy.
>”Threes?”
“None.”
>He gets a card.
>Now, you have an important decision to make.
>You have three Fours, two Aces and a Two.
>He might have just received a Four, in which case you can call him on it.
>And even if he doesn’t, you can take another card and improve your odds of getting a Book.
>But he might also have an Ace, and it makes more sense than trying to chase that one advantage.
>Or he might have a Two, or more than one of them.
>If you can break that hold, you’ll be able to stop either side forming a Book with them.
>Each of these routes has some advantage, and broadcasts something about your situation...
>Do you want him to think you’re really eager for Twos?
>No, save that for another turn.
>And if you ask for Fours twice, he’ll know you only need one more of them for sure.
>Aces, then.
“Aces?”
>He hoofs one over.
>Yes!
>Then he stares at his own cards for a moment.
>”Threes?”
>Huh?
>He already asked -
>Ohh.
>Okay, he has a pair of Threes.
>The dealer throws him another card.
>And again, the same question.
>Three Aces, three Fours, one Two.
>You might as well ask for it.
“Twos?”
>He shakes his head, and you receive a...
>Two of Diamonds.
>Your three little stockpiles are each building up nicely.
>Each one is like a hot coal, though.
>If you can’t put it inside of the furnace it belongs in, it’ll scorch your hooves for sure!
>If the game continues to a stalemate from here, you’re already doomed by his first stroke of luck!
>You can’t let that happen!
>“Threes?”
>You shake your head, and he gets another card.
>Why’s he still asking?
>He maintains a poker face.
>There are only four cards left until that happens.
>And now you have to decide, which of the three numbers do you want to remind him of?
>Just cycle back to the first one, that makes sense.
>He’s had a couple draws to possibly get another Four, hasn’t he?
>Okay.
“Fours.”
>”I’m afraid not.”
>The dealer passes another card down the table.
>The Four of Spades.
“Book!”
>You put those four aside, and celebrate that you’re even.
>Now there aren’t any more Fours or Fives, which means you just have Aces, Twos and Threes to worry over.
>He’s got at least one Three, and maybe three of them.
>You’ve got all but one Ace, and half of the Twos…
>Out fo the cards left, all that matters is who gets the Ace and who gets the Three.
>Unless he calls out an Ace!
>If he splits that down the middle, you’ll never get it back!
>”Twos.”
>He says, and you almost sigh in relief.
>Then you pass over the Two of Diamonds, and leave the Hearts untouched.
>So he must have had three Threes before.
>Now he’s drawn a Two, he’s finally changed his tune.
>Maybe he was worried about you having a stack of them.
>Trying to defuse a Book about to happen...?
>Now you have no choice but to signal that one still exists in your hand.
>Otherwise you’re stalling by asking for your Two back...
“Aces.”
>He shakes his head, and you’re granted another card.
>Please, please be--
>The Ace of Spades!
“Book!”
>Distantly you hear Limestone cheering behind you.
>You all but slam the quartet of cards onto the table!
>Your heart’s going to make you dizzy in a moment, but now all you have is a Two!
>Luck is on your side now!
>”Twos.”
>He’s changed his tune from Threes, at least.
>You hand over your last card.
>He doesn’t make a Book.
>Which means...
>Oh.
>No.
>No, no, no.
>Both of the cards to complete his hand haven’t been drawn yet.
>And you’re out of cards completely.
>”Go fish.”
>Giorno says, without a trace of humor, and the dealer throws you a card.
>You don’t even pick it up.
>It’s either a Two or a Three.
>If he asks for the right card, you’ll have to give it to him, and draw another one for your last turn.
>You’ll be paralyzed!
>The high you just felt wears off as fast as it came.
>No, don’t panic!
>You resist the urge to bolt from your seat, or surrender.
>You’ve still got more Books than him right now.
>If he guesses wrong, you can still defuse one of them.
>Then he can’t do better than stalemate with you.
>He just has to make the wrong call here, and the danger’s passed!
>”Two.”
>With a shaking leg, you flip over the card.
>Three, Three, Three…!
“No!”
>The Two of Spades stares up at you.
>You stare back, close to tears.
>If you’d just switched the cards…
>If you’d done anything differently...
>You push the card over to him.
>”Book. Go fish.”
>You get the last card in the deck.
>Three of Spades.
>”Threes.”
>You slide it over, and hang your head.
>”Book.”
>You almost don’t believe it.
>”And... game.”
>He sits back, and you hear a clicking noise.
>On your left, ｢Pinball Wizard｣’s readout is changing, slowly.
>The “7” flies up and away into its ghostly skull, dragging up a 6 to replace it.
>”6 DA YS”
>You stare at it for a moment.
>Maud appears in your field of vision, and you jump.
>She looks at the Stand, then at the table, then at Giorno, then at you.
>Her expression doesn’t change, but she nods so slightly you can barely notice it.
>You almost fall out of the chair putting your fetlocks around her, and the tears come.
>She pats you on the back reassuringly, rubbing just below the neck on a knot of muscles.
>”You did good.”
>You shake your head, wiping your blurry eyes into her shoulder.
>”Hush. It’s okay.”
>The warmth in her voice carries you back to normalcy.
>She hugs you, tight.
>You let go first, and pick yourself up.
>”I’ve got it from here.”
>She winks at you.
>And then you take a few steps away, back to an observer’s distance.
>Maybe this will all work out for the best.
>But there’s something in you that doesn’t feel like it.
>Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Mr. Pants looking at you with disdain.
>You don’t make eye contact with him.
>You really, really don’t think this will end well.
>Giorno remains businesslike.
>”And what would you care to play?”
>Maud already knows.
>Her voice is resolute.
>”Poker. Three rounds.”
>”Winner has the most chips?’
>”Right.”
>”Then we’ll start with five each. How much are you betting?”
>”Five days.”
>Your breath catches as you hear that.
>It’s a logical decision, you know, but still painful.
>She doesn’t want to bet all six days and leave nothing for Lime.
>But at the same time...
>If she wins, the third round still happens.
>If Limestone bets the minimum and loses, you’ll be a full day behind.
>No better than you are right now, and still playing into Yearling’s hooves!
>That one day difference…
>It could’ve been you that made it, couldn’t it?
>Don’t think like that.
>Trust Maud!
>Believe in your sisters!
>They’re braving the wilderness you weren’t able to travel through!
>Clearing the thorny path so all three of you can make it back home!
>｢Pinball Wizard｣ throws a new pack of cards, and ｢OK Go｣ catches it.
>Maud shuffles them slowly and thoroughly.
>Her form is a lot better than yours.
>She does the thing where the two fans shuffle into one another one card at a time.
>She knows what she’s doing.
>Keep calm.
>Giorno speaks after a small eternity of fresh cards sliding against each other.
>”I have one more request, in the interest of fairness.”
>Maud blinks.
>”What.”
>”Put your Stand next to mine over the game selection table.”
>Another blink.
>”Why didn’t you ask my sister to do that.”
>His answer comes nonchalantly, a shrug of the voice.
>”Because that isn’t how her Stand works.”
>...What?!
>He knows about your Stand?!
>You’re suddenly kind of thankful you didn’t try to swap the cards with ｢Opposite of Thieves｣.
>No, of course he would know.
>This is Yearling’s final attempt.
>She escaped you in a direction you can’t travel in, of course she’d tell the gatekeeper about you.
>Then... none of you can use your Stands without it being recognized.
>Unless...
>Maud remains unfazed as ｢OK Go｣ hovers next to Giorno’s Stand.
>Yes, she knows it too!
>Her ability is simply a matter of jumping between places.
>Jumping somewhere and then back again instantaneously - Yearling never saw her do that!
>Your sister still has a chance to win!
>The dealer throws out the cards one at a time.
>Maud waits to pick hers up, just like her opponent does.
>Nothing seems eager or life-threatening about this at all, in fact.
>You glance back to see where Limestone is.
>She’s got one of the guards hoofing her something.
>It looks like some kind of unfinished table lamp.
>And sitting on the carpet next to her is another bottle, this one a light amber.
>Mr. Pants is past her, pretending not to be looking at any of you.
>He seems really irritated now.
>Lime motions, and a unicorn guard zaps some part of this device.
>She takes a long tube out of it and sticks it in her mouth.
>Is she going to pump it up to size?
>You remember Pinkie’s early experiences with balloon-filling...
>She inhales, deeply, and keeps inhaling.
>When she stops, she closes her eyes and holds a hoof out.
>It’s her universal sign for “wait for it…”
>She twitches her ears one at a time, down and then up again.
>Each time, a little ring of gray smoke goes sailing away into the air.
>When it finishes, she opens her eyes and spreads her hooves.
>A couple of the guards clap, quietly.
>She nods.
>You sigh, not wanting to know what new debauchery she was just into.
>This isn’t going to affect her ability to play, is it?
>No, it wouldn’t.
>She has some kind of plan, you have to trust her on that.
>At any rate, ｢Down With the Sickness｣ should stop her from actually getting drunk.
>Maybe she wants to seem that way,,,?
>You hear the organizing of cards and turn back to the table.
>Maud and Giorno are looking through their cards now.

[spoiler]ROUND TWO: POKER[/spoiler]
>Maud’s cards are...
>Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Ace.
>She looks at them quickly, holding them close to her eyes.
>Shielding them from anypony else who might be watching.
>Then she collapses them into a single stack, and holds them low, at an angle facing the table.
>Giorno takes a little more time.
>When he’s finished, he pushes one chip forward.
>She does the same.
>As her free hoof makes the motion, you sit down to get the right angle on her hand.
>The visible card in the stack is different.
>Two of Diamonds.
>After a moment it’s different again, the Three of Diamonds.
>How can she switch with more than the uppermost card on the deck?
>Is she sliding these into the rest of the cards?
>That sounds like a giant catastrophe waiting to happen!
>If she’s only able to switch out the top card and she’s trying to surpass that limitation, it could multiply her chances of being caught!
>Plus it’s not efficient!
>Even you know the basic kinds of poker hand, and it could take three or four switches to make a lot of them worth anything.
>In a game with only three rounds, the chances of getting anything really good are pretty bad.
>In this case, Maud could get something or other with a Four or a Nine if she traded out the Ace.
>But randomly switching the cards one at a time, how’s she going to tell?
>The dealer coughs, and his voice is baritone.
>”Raise, call, or fold.”
>Maud glances down at the top card for a moment, and then slides forward another chip.
>”Do you play this often.”
>It’s different now, King of Diamonds.
>Three of Clubs.
>You look away in case you’re being suspicious.
>Nine of Diamonds.
>Nine!
>She made it to the card she needed!
>Looking as if she’s busying herself with her hand, she slides that card to the back of the five.
>And beneath it there’s a Two!
>You fight the rising panic, or your desire to gasp.
>Did she switch them out incorrectly, or one too many at the same time?!
>Oh no, no, no.
>Does she know?
>You try to think of some way to signal to her, but you know that would be found out immediately.
>She’s surrounded.
>The only way she’s pulling this off is because everypony’s standing so far away.
>And partly because Limestone’s distracting them.
>Giorno feels for his chips and pushes another one forward.
>”I’ve played from time to time. It’s very useful for mingling, but it isn’t a game I would stake my future on, if I had any choice.”
>Maud doesn’t reply, looking at the table, transfixed.
>The card changes again.
>Three of Diamonds.
>Why does she keep switching them?!
>Does she not remember where in the deck she put them?
>Well, how could she, really?
>But to still need to switch cards out at this rate...
>What could she be looking for, besides the ones she already had...?
>Don’t chase after those cards, Maud!
>Make something with what you have, you’ve already bet half of your chips!
>Then you realize something even worse.
>If her cards are too different, somepony might notice.
>If only one card were changed out, it would be easy to say that they were just mistaken.
>But if three or more were different, they could guess what had happened.
>Even if they don’t know ｢OK Go｣’s full capabilities, they could deduce it quickly.
>That’s five days gone, the worst case scenario!
>You hide your terror with your bangs, keeping a hoof over your mouth.
>”Hm.”
>Maud replies.
>”Are we at the betting cap?”
>Giorno stares upward for a moment, counting in his head.
>”Yes. If we bet any more, the game wouldn’t need to go on for two more rounds.”
>Ten of Diamonds.
>Wait, with the Nine that could make something.
>A, a Straight, or a Flush, what she was going for originally.
>All she needs is to have thrown out the Five and not something she needs--!
>It disappears.
>Five of Clubs.
>”Okay.”
>They reveal their cards.
>Giorno goes first:
>Six of Diamonds, Six of Spades, Ten of Spades, Three of Hearts, Nine of Hearts.
>”A pair of sixes.”
>He says, with no trace of smugness.
>Then Maud flips hers over.
>Five of Clubs, Six of Clubs, Seven of Hearts, Eight of Hearts, Nine of Diamonds.
>”Straight.”
>Yes!
>Yes!!
>You rattle a hoof in the air victoriously.
>Giorno turns toward the vicinity of the dealer, who confirms the win.
>You can’t believe it worked out!
>...In fact, you’re still not sure what she did.
>Maud takes the chips, leaving him with only two.
>At least outwardly, she seems as undisturbed as ever.
>Maybe she should be, she could end it with this round.
>In fact, unless Giorno goes all in on this round and the next one, he’ll lose for sure!
>But... he must have known that when he bet three chips, right?
>He’s played this game before.
>Is he intentionally making it harder for himself?
>They leave the cards they’ve already played aside, and the dealer throws them each a fresh hand.
>Maud leaves hers on the table for a moment, and speaks when Giorno lifts his.
>”I have a request to make.”
>He looks up at her, and her eyes reflect in his sunglasses.
>”What?”
>”If we draw, double or nothing.”
>’Double or nothing’?
>Does that mean-
>”You mean you want the bet to increase to ten days?”
>Oh, no, it does.
>Your heart starts accelerating again.
>He raises an eyebrow, and she doesn’t say anything.
>Finally he answers, rather cheerfully.
>”That’s exactly the kind of term that might let somepony defeat me! It cuts through to the spirit of gambling. I’ll accept, so long as your sister also agrees to it.”
>That startles you, and you answer.
“Well, y-yes, of course I agree to-”
>”I’m sorry, signora. I mean the third pony I’ll be facing.”
>A guard walks over to Limestone, who seems to have finished smoking.
>She’s gesticulating wildly at the assembled guards with her back to the game.
>You have no idea what she’s saying, and it looks like they don’t either.
>Maud picks up her cards for a moment, and you almost miss them.
>Two Ten Nine Three Ten.
>That’s not a very good hand, is it?
>You guess that might be why she wanted a safety net.
>If she doesn’t do well here, she can always try to make it better by going perfectly even in the third match.
>If not, she still wins enough time to get you where you need to go.
>You shudder at the thought of what might happen if she failed a game llke that.
>The guard comes back over with a signed sheet of paper.
>Limestone’s signature is barely on the line, and the “n” has two eyes drawn on top it.
>All of you have a little Pinkie inside, you guess.
>It’s good enough for Giorno.
>”I have one more term, though. Neither of us can fold in the third round.”
>Huh?
>Why not?
>Maud considers that.
>”Deal.”
>Folding is where you give up without playing your hand and hoof over the chips, right?
>Why would anypony want to do that in third round?
>Wait.
>Oh, that’s it.
>If Maud lost here, she could only lose two chips.
>She would have to bet one in the third round, and then fold to give it to him.
>Then, no matter what he bet, or what their cards were, they would automatically draw.
>But if that isn’t how they’ll play in the third round, then she won’t be able to draw with him.
>Her escape route is, in other words, impractical.
>However, while you feel very drained by this realization, Maud’s aura is energized.
>Her shoulders tense, and your knee gets pinchy.
>But she puts her cards down at an angle like she did before, and Giorno looks at his normally.
>He browses them almost like a magazine, leisurely.
>If his cards are any good she shouldn’t need to worry about losing.
>But you notice that her bottom card’s changed again.
>Three of Spades.
>And then you notice something more alarming.
>She’s not holding five cards, like you thought.
>She’s holding a small stack of them.
>Not enough to notice missing from the deck, but much thicker than a hand!
>Which means--!
>As soon as you see the trick, the sheer risk of it almost bowls you over.
>She didn’t push cards into the deck at all.
>She just took a hoofful off of the top and put them back on, one at a time.
>That was why her hand was messed up after the Nine.
>She had extra leftover, and she had to keep putting cards back on before she could reveal the hand.
>But now...
>Why is she trying so hard?
>If she wants to win the round, she should only need to switch out three cards at most.
>The maximum she could possibly switch would be five, and there are more than that between her hooves.
>And if she wants to lose so she can draw in the third round somehow, she’d just need to switch out one or two, or leave them as they are.
>Why is she doing this?
>And why is it you can see your Pa’s face now, looking down on you disapprovingly?
>There is a ｢fever of gambling｣ that seems to choke this whole room.
>A desperation in the name of chance!
>Ponies waste their money to feel like this?!
>Giorno pushes forward one chip.
>Maud glances at her cards.
>The Three disappears, revealing a Two of Hearts.
>Then she pushes forward a chip of her own.
>She glances at her cards again.
>The Two becomes a Queen of Diamonds, then a Two of Spades.
>But the contents of her hand aren’t actually shrinking.
>She’s cycling through them.
>She’s trying to see what all of the cards are going to be in the next round!
>Thinking ahead like that...
>Is she really chasing after a draw?
>The dealer speaks.
>”Raise, call or fold.”
>Giorno pushes up another chip.
>”Raise.”
>Maud does the same.
>She looks down and--
>”Hey, quick question. Why are you holding your cards like that?”
>The voice comes from over your shoulder.
>Mr. Pants is standing there, looking at Maud curiously.
>Like he can smell something wrong.
“What are you doing over here?”
>You ask him, hoping to get him to turn his head so Maud can check her cards.
>He doesn’t look at you, instead drawing closer to her.
>”I was intrigued after she made a deal to go double or nothing. I’m a bit of a poker fan myself. And, I mean, it IS what’s going to decide whether I get beaten up in a few minutes, so I think I’m entitled to know how the game’s going.”
>He looks at the chips.
>”Hmm. Looks pretty good for you. He’s going to need to play his hardest all three rounds to defeat you.”
>He looks at Maud, whose eyes flicker to his.
>Then ｢Opposite of Thieves｣ pulls him back and away from the table, making him yelp.
>The guards all turn to him, and then crowd in with sudden speed.
>This only makes him panic more.
>Giorno speaks up.
>”What’s happening?”
>They go quiet, and for a moment nopony speaks.
>”My sister is keeping him from interfering. He isn’t hurt.”
>”I feel like there are bugs crawling all over me! What kind of a freakshow power is this?!”
>You stop pulling him, and resist the urge to attack.
>Your sister needs you.
>When you turn back, the Two is a Queen.
>If she puts that against another Queen, and neither of them have other cards, you’re pretty sure it would be a draw!
>And she already has another in her hand, if she just moved them so they’d be dealt separately...
>“Let him back over. He does have a right to spectate, so long as he doesn’t touch anything, or make comments that would give anyone an unfair advantage. If he does, I’ll have him restrained.”
>Maud sees the Queen.
“But why is he so interested in seeing her cards? We don’t know what his intentions are.”
>You ask as your power skitters away from him.
>”If you think he’s some kind of spy, you should remember that I don’t need to play these games. I have no reason to try to win unfairly. When it comes to seeing her cards...”
>The Queen goes, revealing a Four.
>Maud’s hand shrinks anyway, she’s removing cards from the back!
>”...I notice your voice is a lot closer to the ground than it was before. What is it you’re looking at, Miss Pie?”
>He sounds like your Pa when he says that.
>Pa the colt.
>Four to Jack, Jack to King.
>King?!
>You stutter an answer, trying not to think of that card.
“W-well, I’m just very worried about my sister...”
>He doesn’t react.
>If he draws that King, he can trump a Queen easily.
>And if Maud draws it, unless there’s a second one, she won’t be able to make a draw!
>The only way would be to have in her hand and then put it back on the deck...
>”You have a right to be. Family is deeply important. But so is individual life, and Mr. Pants has a right to be aware of his own future.”
>Speaking of Mr. Pants, he comes back to the table.
>”Th… thank you, Mr. Rossa.”
>”Of course. Now, what was it you were concerned about? The ‘way she held her hand’?”
>”Yeah. I’d like to know why she holds it down and away from everypony, including herself. And why she checks it so many times.”
>Maud answers him, no longer looking at her cards.
>”It’s a tic. I don’t usually do it, but since the enemy can’t see me, I thought it would calm my nerves.”
>Her hoof moves over the one on the bottom, and the King disappears into the deck.
>Then a Two.
>She switches it into the back.
>You resist the urge to eep at these decisions.
>Is she just doing it at random, now?
>No, she has some kind of deliberate plan, she must.
>An Ace of Spades below it, and her hoof makes the same idle rubbing motion.
>She’s...
>Reading the Graille bumps?
>Mr. Pants’ eyes narrow, like he thinks somepony’s playing a joke on him.
>”Then why not just spread them all out so you can see them all at once?”
>”I don’t want to give my enemy any chance of receiving an unfair advantage. That would mean he’d have to forfeit.”
>You know she can’t really read them, but you remember from playing before that they were pretty simple.
>A pair of bumps for Two, a trio for Three and so on.
>But an Ace?
>That’s a complicated set of bumps that could be a King or a Jack or anything else.
>And she already put one of those on top of the deck, which means she can’t know if they’ll match.
>If she gets rid of it in this hand, it might still be higher than his largest card, and that would cut the game short.
>That’s the sort of thought going through your sister’s mind right now.
>Mr. Pants rolls his eyes.
>”Fine, why don’t you just show them to me, then?”
>She looks him in the eye.
>”Because i don’t like you.”
>He doesn’t react to that, his mouth open to rebut her but nothing coming out.
>After a moment standing there like a codfish, he speaks to Giorno.
>”Her Stand power is moving very quickly, right?”
>Giorno nods, his cards now set on the table.
>”Then how are you sure she’s not switching out any of her cards from the deck?”
>Oh, no.
>How many cards does she have left?
>She must have picked up ten if she wanted to see how the game would go, but she can’t have put that many back.
>You don’t remember.
>It wasn’t nine either, was it?
>No, it was less than nine, she has at least two left to put back.
>And she still has to change her original cards if she wants to lose this round.
>Your mind starts moving in spirals!
>You’re getting carried away completely!
>Pa wants to tell you something, but you don’t know what it could be.
>Maud answers him.
>”My Stand is still next to his.”
>Giorno nods again.
>”I can still feel its aura. It hasn’t moved.”
>Mr. Pants’ right eye twitches.
>”But that’s just her Stand! I saw her move in the blink of an eye myself!”
>He gestures to the dealer, pointlessly.
>”Why don’t you have him put a hoof on the deck, just to make sure? That would be fair for everypony.”
>Giorno considers that.
>”Alright.”
>The dealer does.
>You expect the cards to fly out of Maud’s hand, but they don’t.
>She still doesn’t know what to do with the Ace!
>Besides which, she doesn’t have enough time to make the switch for the remaining cards.
>She can’t do that all at once.
>”And after this round, why don’t you shuffle the deck, just to make sure she hasn’t affected the cards on top?”
>You stare at him in horror.
>Thankfully you catch yourself, and your hair conceals it.
>What is it, Pa…?
>You’ve done your best to protect them, haven’t you?
>You want to erase that last request from history, but you can’t.
>With those words, he’s just thrown you into the currents of random luck!
>Giorno finally smiles and shakes his head.
>”There’s no need for that. Whatever order the cards are in is the order fate’s put them in, and going against that is pointless. If Miss Pie did rearrange them somehow, it should come to light on its own.”
>Your shoulders sag with badly-hidden relief.
>But this demonic interference doesn’t stop there.
>”Then why hasn’t she just played her cards yet?”
>He really likes waving his hoof at ponies, you can tell.
>So long as Giorno doesn’t listen to him, she still has time...
>Can you use your Stand to lift the dealer’s hoof a few inches?
>That seems like it wouldn’t go unnoticed.
>If you could just distract everypony, including him...
>A good punch would do the trick, but that wouldn’t give her any time to make her decisions.
>And there’s no guarantee that it wouldn’t look incredibly suspicious.
>Maud answers.
>”Because I’m raising.”
>She pushes another chip forward with her free hoof.
>Giorno still hasn’t picked his cards back up.
>”Why? I don’t have anything to call your bet with.”
>Maud blinks.
>”If I win this bet, I want him restrained. He’s annoying me.”
>Mr. Pants sputters, but Giorno turns thoughtful.
>”Agreed. Now:”
>He turns over his hand.
>King of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, Eight of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Three of Diamonds.
>After a moment, Maud turns hers over.
>Seven of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, Two of Hearts, Three of Clubs, Nine of Clubs.
>Where did she…?
>You realize that the discard pile has grown, ever so slightly.
>If you weren’t sitting down like this, you’d never have seen it.
>The dealer speaks.
>”King wins.”
>Maud hoofs over the chips.
>Now they’re even.
>But her energy’s lost now.
>With this new rule in place, trying to draw is a bad idea.
>You hope she can see that now, and that she’s just going to go for a normal win.
>Just keep the King and let it happen, Maud...
>Both sides receive their cards.
>Maud’s movements aren’t any different than the last two rounds, and Mr. Pants steps over to look at her cards.
>Four, Four, King, Three, Queen.
>She sets them down like usual, only affording him a glimpse.
>He grumbles, but stays where he is.
>Giorno takes a little more time.
>Since she knew how the cards would be dealt, that only leaves room for a couple random cards, right?
>Two, maybe, or three.
>Only one in this hand, definitely, because you recognize the others.
>She might still be able to switch out from the discard pile if he’s not looking.
>But she has the King.
>And besides, a pair is also a good thing, isn’t it?
>You think that will beat out the Queen without a problem.
>Both sides push in a single chip to start.
>The dealer makes the same announcment.
>”Raise, call or fold.”
>And then, immediately, Giorno pushes all of his chips in.
>”Raise.”
>It’s a pointless gesture, but Maud can’t fold.
>She pushes all of hers up to match him.
>From a position of safety, she meets his eyes.
>”Raised.”
>”Then, before the game ends, I’d like to raise a little further.”
>”Go on.”
>”I’m raising my agreement to restrain Quibble Pants. In exchange, I’d like your agreement to be put to sleep if you lose this round.”
>You don’t understand.
>Maud doesn’t answer, so you do it for her.
“You mean, knock her out…?”
>”No. One of my guards will just cast a temporary spell to keep her asleep for the duration of the third round. Her Stand makes her difficult to keep track of in a situation like this, and it would be very time-consuming for my organization if she escaped somehow.”
>He’s dooming her to her fate.
>The chips don’t mean anything, but that raise...
>”Okay. You have my word.”
>”Then I’ll have one of my guards ready to cast as soon as the outcome’s declared.”
>Giorno motions to one side of the room and a unicorn steps forward.
>His horn glows a soft blue and points at her.
>Then, with no apparent strain, he holds his position.
>And that’s it.
>No big decisions to make, no last-second changes.
>You realize how terrifyingly restrictive normal poker is.
>Since neither of them can fold, the psychology is missing, too.
>It’s just a matter of the road she paved.
>She plays her hand.
>Four of Clubs, Four of Spades, Queen of Hearts, Three of Spades, King of Clubs.
>The dealer speaks.
>”Pair of Fours.”
>Giorno opens his hand.
>Queen of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, Two of Spades…
>...Queen of Clubs, Five of Spades.
>”Pair of Queens.”
>The words come in slow motion as you turn to Maud.
>She’s illuminated for a brief instant by white light.
>You don’t even have time to stand up before she topples out of the chair.
>You catch her, her mane covering your eyes.
>She’s limp, but after a few seconds you can feel her breathing against you chest.
“Maudie…”
>You shut your eyes.
>Tears leak out anyway, and then you hear the grinding.
>You turn to the source, and ｢Pinball Wizard｣, floating alone, changes the readout.
>It takes a minute to cycle through the numbers, down to...
>”1 DA YS”
>That tears it, and you just cry.
>You lower your head, and hold your sister, and you cry.
>｢Opposite of Thieves｣ might wake her back up, but then things could get nasty.
>There’s still a round left to play.
>But with a maximum of seven days, that means the best case scenario only leaves you with one more day than you came in with.
>Yearling will still have a head start, and if you lose something like that…
>You’re completely doomed.
>As you choke to yourself, you feel somepony behind you.
>Limestone’s there, looking down at the two of you.
>Her eyes are wide with concern, and then she looks up at ｢Pinball Wizard｣.
>She’s haunted by that.
>Making a move to her seat, she sits down shakily.
>”Miss Pie. Which game would you like to play?”
>”Dice.”
>It hardly sounds like her voice.
>She looks disturbed.
>Her eyes are just as focused as his, right now.
>｢Down With the Sickness｣ did keep her from getting drunk, didn’t it?
>”What sort of dice game?”
>”B-best of three. We each roll our own pair and try for the highest number.”
>”Hm. I’ll agree to it as long as we switch dice each round.”
>Lime hesitates before she responds.
>”O-okay.”
>”And how many days are you betting?”
>”T… t-t…”
>She shivers and looks over at you.
>Seven.
>You have to bet seven, or the three of you are completely doomed!
>But you can see it from here.
>Deep inside, she can’t do it.
>”Two.”
>Giorno frowns, slightly.
>”Are you sure you don’t want a higher bet, Miss Pie? This is the last game.”
>She looks up at him, opens her mouth.
>You’re frozen, helpless, like in some kind of nightmare.
>And then she shakes her head.
>”Two.”
>You’ve never seen her like this, but you realize what caused it.
>You and Maud.
>The two of you, helpless like this.
>Routes of escape cut off completely.
>If she wins, at least you can hope for a miracle.
>You can try to find a way to catch up to Yearling.
>...
>You realize something.
>The seed of an idea, looking just past Limestone.
>You’re suddenly, emptily content she bet two days.
>The dice get distributed, two per player with six sides each.
>Limestone doesn’t look at you as she wades into the mire of your failures.
>She seems as distant as a ghost...

[spoiler]ROUND THREE: DICE[/spoiler]
>”We’ll roll at the same time.”
>Giorno says, picking his dice up.
>The table’s been cleared of cards.
>Limestone picks hers up, and they roll.
>The dice clatter on the table, and then they stop.
>Giorno gets a two and a three.
>Limestone gets a two and a one.
>The dealer’s still there, and he announces the winner.
>You hardly hear it.
>You don’t understand.
>Didn’t she have a plan?
>Or is she just trying to throw the game now?
>Just leaving it in the hooves of fate?
>Fate isn’t on her side.
>But if she even had some plan to cheat, what could it be?
>The dice move across the table now, as each side slides theirs to the other.
>Limestone talks to herself under her breath as she picks them up, examining them.
>”Okay, okay…”
>If Giorno wins this round, it’ll be a one-minute war.
>Lime rubs her hooves together, pressed close.
>She holds the dice to her forehead and shuts her eyes tight.
>She never planned for the future well.
>You think she expected to come in after a big victory and rub it in.
>Or for Maud to bet just a little less.
>But whatever she pictured in her head, you can tell in her eyes that she’s hopeful.
>You try to bolster that hope, watching her hooves resolutely.
>You could have won by thinking further ahead.
>Maud could have won by seizing victory as soon as it appeared.
>Both of you were stymied by outside interference.
>Giorno’s rules, a third-party observer.
>Here, you just need the luck of the dice to win!
>Move forward, without these thorns in your way!
>Limestone!
>She shakes them, vigorously.
>Then lets them fall, eyes still closed.
>Giorno lets his go with less enthusiasm.
>They hit the table just after hers, under the watchful eye of the dealer.
>Hers stop first.
>Five and six.
>Almost perfect!
>She opens her eyes, looks down at them, and sighs in total relief.
>Then Giorno’s stop.
>You don’t want to look, but your eyes react too fast to stop them.
>Four and two.
>The dealer speaks.
>”A total of six against a total of eleven. Miss Pie is the winner.”
>Yes!
>This is the kind of luck you need to get out of this place and back on the trail.
>If she can manage one more roll like that, just one more in her whole life...
>She picks them up and blows on them affectionately before she hoofs them over.
>Giorno takes them, slowly, and gives her his own.
>She picks them up immediately, looks at them closely, and exhales.
>Then she presses them to her head again, in a perfect imitation of the last turn.
>That strikes you as odd.
>Is she being superstitious?
>As long as she wins, it doesn’t matter.
>Giorno feels his own, hefting them a little.
>After a few more breaths, Lime opens her eyes.
>”Okay! I’ll show you the power of destiny! Roll!”
>Giorno lets his out, and they fall to the table.
>A couple plunking falls, and they come up--
>Six and five.
>Even though they’re standing still, you can feel the guards closing in on you.
>But there’s still one, stupidly small chance left.
>Lime’s already let go of her dice, watching them roll with perfectly a neutral expression.
>Ones and fours pass by, all the different combinations playing out in passing.
>One stops, a six.
>You sit up straighter and don’t breathe.
>The other one makes its final wobbling motion and halts at--
>Six.
>The dealer’s voice comes with a sense of mild surprise.
>”Eleven against twelve. Miss Pie wins out of three.”
>Limestone closes her eyes.
>At least she could make it through.
>That makes things a little smoother, to finally have a victory.
>The sound of the readout changing comes.
>All eyes turn to ｢Pinball Wizard｣.
>Well, yours and Limestone’s.
>The number retreats up into the skull, replaced by a “0”.
>Ah, so it counts the readout in a wheel from 0 to 9.
>That’s an odd touch, for a Stand.
>But then the next number is...
>”-1 DA YS”
>You feel like you’re trapped in a nightmare.
>Th-there must be a mistake.
>Limestone looks as alive as ever.
>”What are you trying to pull?! Everypony saw me win!”
>Giorno’s Stand returns to him from over the table, and he’s quiet for a moment.
>”You were caught cheating, and it was counted as a forfeit.”
>Ch-cheating?
>”Cheating?! How’d I pull that off, huh? Why didn’t you say something during the game, if you thought I was cheating?”
>Giorno doesn’t raise his volume to match hers.
>”I didn’t think you were cheating. My Stand can automatically detect when a pony receives an unfair advantage in one of its wagers, and counts it as a forfeit. Whether anypony else notices is irrelevant.”
>Then...
>Maud could never have won, even if she got to a draw.
>The thought hits you like a boulder.
>You were the only pony who could have won any days at all in this battle.

>”Marble Victoria Pie, you be sure you take care of your sisters. Don’t let them think they know best because they’re eldest.”
>He coughs.
>”And keep yourself out of trouble. You hear me?”

>Pa...
>Limestone shouts.
>”And your Stand can’t just be wrong about something?! Do you have any actual proof that I was cheating, or do you just hate paying up when you lose?!”
>Giorno thinks.
>”I did notice an odd weight to the dice you were using. And that they were slightly warm to the touch. I thought it might have been sweat from being gripped tightly, but now it seems more likely that they were cooked.”
>’Cooked’?
>Mr. Pants takes this opportunity to have a eureka moment.
>”Her ability lets her store things in her body and use them later without hurting herself! That’s what all of the drinking was for, and the smoking! She kept them together and used the fire to melt the dice!”
>Limestone looks murderous.
>The guards really are closing in now.
>Giorno keeps the train of thought rolling.
>”I included the switching-dice rule to ensure that no trick dice could be used. Heating the dice didn’t seem likely to me, but you’d only have started in the second round. The first was a throwaway, while in the second you received the second-best roll possible, and the third ended with a perfect roll. It would’ve thrown off suspicion easily. However...”
>He feels for the dice.
>Limestone tries to grab them first, but the dealer holds her hoof against the table.
>She shoves him away with a flexing of her fetlock, but two more are already holding her from behind.
>”H-Hey! Let go of me!”
>He rolls the dice without shaking them, just plopping them onto the table one at a time.
>They roll for almost no time at all before they stop.
>Six.
>Five.
>Six.
>Six.
>The dealer informs him of the result, neutral again.
>”Eleven and twelve.”
>He rolls them again, and again the words.
>”Eleven and twelve.”
>The colt’s smile is rueful.
>”You might have won if you’d fought me honorably. I don’t have much skill with dice. Your final total is one day after the collapse of your home, and I’m afraid you won’t be able to see it again. If you’d like to have a last moment as a family, I’ll oblige you once you arrive.”
>Limestone shouts, struggling.
>”Now hold on a minute!”
>｢Pinball Wizard｣ appears in front of him, glowing.
>The energy coming off of the Stand almost floors you.
>Lime’s hooves glow orange and sizzle, and the stallions holding her let go.
>”Run, Marble! Take Maud and get out!”
>You shout back against the rising sound of crackling static.
“No!”
>This doesn’t seem like an ability you could escape from, or they’d have picked a more confined place to play.
>And besides…
>The path to victory is already laid out ahead of you!
>His own words put in the final stepping-stone you were looking for!
>You take a deep breath and shut your eyes.
>Lime’s screaming something as she runs to you, but Giorno’s voice cuts over hers.
>”｢Pinball Wi-”
“SOMEPONY HASN’T PLAYED YET!”
>It’s the loudest you’ve ever shouted.
>The words crash through his own, and he goes quiet.
>One heartbeat, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...
>The crackling stops.
>You open your eyes and the Stand’s withdrawn.
>”What did you say?”
“Somepony hasn’t played yet! You can’t use your Stand on us if you haven’t played all of us! You have to play him!”
>You point your hoof.
>Mr. Pants points a hoof at himself.
>”Me?! I never agreed to play anything!”
>You don’t bother looking at him, still explaining yourself as rapidly as you can.
“He’s a part of the group you want to send away and you told us each member would have to play, so even if he doesn’t want to he still represents us. And since he won’t play anything on his own and my sisters both cheated, I’ll pick the game he plays and the wager because you know I play fair.”
>Giorno goes quiet.
>Mr. Pants comes closer to you, voice catching with some halfhearted faked laughter.
>”Now hold on, I’m not about to-”
>Limestone breaths fire at him.
>He yelps and dodges backwards as the carpet catches fire.
>Limestone walks onto it, closer to him, absorbing the flames into her legs as she goes.
>She crooks a hoof and shakes it at him.
>”Shut up.”
>You keep talking as if Giorno’s already accepted.
“The game he’s going to play is the same one A.K. Yearling played with you, Marescow Roulette. That way it’s fast and fair, and there’s nothing complicated that would give him a chance to cheat on purpose, or throw the match. And he’s going to bet the maximum, seven days.”
>That’s all you have.
>Please, please go through.
>If you can just start the game, you can salvage this.
>Images of the farm withering away fill your mind.
>All the rocks crumbling into dirt, grass and trees and brushes clambering onto the land...
>Ma, wondering where her three daughter ran away to.
>Pinkie getting the news too late to help.
>You can’t accept that!
>You have to have this one final shot!
>It was only through everything your sisters did that this last door could open up for you!
>At last, Giorno speaks, softly.
>”You have the same heart as my mother, too. Your emotions run hot, even when you try to keep them quiet. You could learn to be a great gambler, in time. Tonight, signora...”
>He removes the glasses, looking at you with his glossy eyes.
>You meet them.
>To the side of both of you, a Stand hefts a pistol.
>”I’ll accept your final game.”


[spoiler]ROUND FOUR: MARESCOW ROULETTE[/spoiler]
>Oh Celestia, Celestia, Celestia.
>This isn’t your day at all, is it?
>Be Quibble Pants, would-be helper of Daring Do.
>Former casino worker in the Spinning Wheel, until she called in a favor.
>(An incredibly generic name, of course, but you weren’t consulted.)
>It had taken another favor from your Uncle Fancy to land you that, too.
>Ever since your (temporary!) suspension from the Debating Society of Equestria.
>Whatever people say, arguing isn’t easy.
>Arguing positions for money requires a great amount of natural talent.
>(And a very delicate, subtle sense of ethics.)
>You’d hoped the next few months would pass quietly and give the others a chance to catch up.
>It was no fun debating half of the trainees, after a while.
>None of them seemed to understand what made an argument true or false was its quality.
>If it didn’t convince ponies, sometimes those ponies were just stupid.
>(Not that you’d ever try to explain that to them, they’d just mock you more.)
>You’re distracting yourself from the feel of this chair and the gun floating in midair.
>Think of it like a trip to the doctor’s office.
>You could just close your eyes for the whole thing if you wanted.
>From what you heard earlier, it’s not as if it matters if you play.
>Daring went back four days earlier than today.
>At their rate, even if you won this for them, they’d still be shifted forward.
>Which at least meant you’d stay in the custody of this gang until the Society cooled off.
>(Not a thrilling prospect, but skipping a few days ahead in the wait would be nice.)
>You still have no idea how Daring knew how to contact you.
>She just showed up outside of your rathole apartment and hoofed you money.
>Her instructions were hard to follow and overcomplicated, too.
>You spent six hours racing between casinos looking for three gray mares trying to make a scene.
>And when, by the sunlight, you finally found them…!
>Your head still smarts from that particular encounter.
>The violent mare who did it to you is standing over the table, in the spot you’d taken.
>She played Go Fish not twenty minutes ago, but now she’s worked her way up the gambling ladder.
>(No doubt because she wants to see you squirm some more.)
>Most ponies find Marescow Roulette to be in bad taste.
>The ones who don’t think it’s too short or too expensive.
>You’ve never curated a game of it in your time at the Wheel.
>The rules are self-explanatory, though.
>Pull the trigger as many times as you like, and if it’s six you’re an idiot.
>The chamber spins as it hangs in midair.
>Marble Pie watches it intently through her mop of hair.
>Then it finally settles, and floats over to you.
>You take it gingerly, and the force holding it disappears.
>Another reason ponies don’t play this game is that it’s predictable.
>The projectile is always heavier than air, so its chamber falls to the bottom of the cylinder.
>Which means it’s almost never the first and almost never the last.
>Knowing this doesn’t make it much easier to shoot yourself in the head.
>But if you just fired it into the air, there would be no “excitement”, you guess.
>As you press it below your ear, you realize you could throw the match if you wanted.
>Just keep pulling it until you lose, and then your fate’s sealed.
>The mob boss would never even get a turn.
>So do it!
>Hurry up and pull the trigger!
>(There’s not accidentally a real bullet in here, is there?)
>...
>It’s like knowing something scary’s about to happen.
>Or watching your toaster until it pops.
>It’s bad for your heart, that’s what it is.
>You try to ignore that and pull the trigger.
>It doesn’t move.
>(Of course, they wouldn’t want any touch to make it fire.)
>You apply more pressure, forcing it backwards.
>After an agonizing moment, it’s finally back all of the way.
>It clicks.
>Before you can register what’s happened, you take ahold of your bravery.
>You pull it again.
>Click.
>Marble’s eyes go wide.
>You expect your body to start crawling with centipedes again, but it doesn’t.
>She can’t interfere.
>Again.
>Click.
>Aga-
>Giorno’s ability plucks the gun out of your hoof.
>”That’s enough, Mr. Pants. I agreed to a fair match. We must each have a turn.”
>You don’t answer, just staring at the gun as it floats away.
>You were close to getting used to it.
>Now you might have won yourself a bonus week with these goon bodyguards.
>The only good news is that once he hoofs it back to you, you’re sure to lose.
>As long as he gets one shot in and it doesn’t work, he’ll probably give it back anyway.
>Marble’s focused on the gun, but the sister who isn’t unconscious is glaring at you.
>(Both of these mares need to go back to the circus and stop threatening you by standing so close!)
>Giorno lets the gun move on its own, not bothering to hold it with his hooves.
>When you see how big it is against his head, you remember he’s young and not just short.
>He’s not wearing the sunglasses any more, which makes it hard to ignore his eyes.
>But his expression is just as neutral and calm as ever.
>He’s a pony who knows he can’t lose.
>No matter what happens, he’ll get what he wants.
>He pulls the trigger without hesitating.
>There’s no sound.
>He clearly pulled it, but it doesn’t fire.
>And there’s no click either.
>He frowns, and then motions for one of the suits.
>The tankish stallion examines the chamber for him.
>”It’s stuck halfway between the third and fourth chamber. There’s a jam.”
>The frown deepens.
>”Open it and tell me which chamber the round is in.”
>He does, with some effort.
>Then he counts.
>”The fifth.”
>Giorno sits, deep in thought.
>Marble pipes up.
>”You’re not sure if you’d have fired it once or twice, are you? If it was only once, you’d have won. If it was twice, you’d have lost. And now that you know where the bullet is, you can’t know what you would’ve done for certain.”
>You snap at that.
“Nopony would fire it twice with three chambers left!”
>She glares at you.
>”They might to be fair against a pony who wants to lose on purpose!”
>Something about her outrage doesn’t sit right with you.
>When she was truly angry at you, she attacked physically.
>Now she’s just glaring at you?
>Maybe it’s the bodyguards everywhere, but you doubt it.
>Giorno answers her.
>”You’re right, signora. I’m not sure whether I’d have pulled it or not. I’m afraid knowing that has given me an advantage on declaring the winner that I shouldn’t have had...”
>”Then call it a draw, and start with a fresh gun! You can go first this time. Just don’t declare our fate based on some malfunction!”
>Giorno nods at her incensed, emotional tones..
>”Yes, alright. My Stand would count this as a draw anyway, I believe.”
>There’s already a second gun on the table, and it gets loaded with a round just like before.
>You watch the chambers spin, and realize something.
“I should go first! She’s going to use her Stand to make sure the round’s in the first chamber!”
>Now she doesn’t respond to you.
>Giorno chuckles at that.
>”If she wins by cheating, then she’s going to lose the bet anyway. It makes no difference.”
>And with that, he pulls the trigger.
>Click.
>A pause, and then he pulls it again.
>Click.
>Then his Stand delivers the weapon to you.
>You guess you were wrong.
>Or maybe she undid the trick as soon as you saw it coming.
>It would’ve been a very Daring Do move.
>Either way, you already know what you’re going to do.
>He’s had his turn, so he can’t complain if you unload all the rest of the chambers.
>You’re just going to pull the trigger as fast as possible until you lose.
>The two sisters stare at you, and you lock eyes with each of them in turn.
>And smile.
>Sayonara, Pies.
>First pull-
>PHWOOM!
>The burst of magical dust almost knocks you out of your seat.
>Your heart stops.
>Then you realize that you just lost the game, and you start laughing.
>Marble’s face is still and calm, accepting her fate.
>Her sister shakes, her scowl breaking as her eyes water.
>You don’t usually like to see mares cry, but you’ll make an exception here.
>Marble just stares into the air mutely.
>After a moment, her sister turns, either gasping or sobbing at the sight of it.
>The final tally.
>Their eyes follow the Stand you can’t see back to Giorno.
>The boss’s face goes from sympathetic to confused, then finally settles on shock.
>”...How?”
>Lime whispers something under her breath, cheeks streaked with tears.
>Giorno searches the room, breathless.
>”Answer me! How did you get to twelve days?”


>Be Marble Pie.
>It worked.
>It’s over now, except for the explanation.
>You let out a breath, and then stand up straighter.
“Mr. Pants was right, I was using my Stand to rig the game. I made sure that the gun jammed on your turn, so you would have to restart. It was the only way to force a draw.”
>You hadn’t expected him to start shooting over and over, but luckily the bullet wound up pretty far back.
>If it had been in the first three...
>It doesn’t matter any more.
>His actions helped sell this as unintentional, anyway.
>Mr. Pants doesn’t get it.
>”But why? Why would you just want to waste everypony’s time like that?”
“Because you’re playing on my behalf. And before you walked over here, there was an agreement made with my sisters that a draw would mean double or nothing. I agreed to it too, because I thought the request was for me. And then, if a verbal agreement wasn’t enough, I used my Stand to rearrange the signature on that piece of paper while the gun was being loaded.”
>One of the guards rushes over to the paper.
>Sure enough, they discover it says “Marble” now.
>It’s a little scratchy, but still legible.
>You actually had to use your Stand to make the ink wet again and then have each dot rolled into place.
>The extra penstrokes are piled up off of the line in a large blot.
>Not as theatrical as breathing fire, but...
>You’ve realized your Stand has some uses you weren’t thinking about up to now.
>Giorno sounds frustrated.
>”You still lost. If you rigged the game, you lost twice over! Your total should be fifteen days after your farm collapses!”
>You smile, and point a hoof.
“I escaped that fate through the power of your honor!”
>Your hair parts from your eye for a second, and you imagine both of them flash.
“When you played a second round, I made sure the bullet would end up in the first chamber. Then, each time you were about to fire, I moved the chamber back one, so it would always fire empty for you.”
>Mr. Pants scoffs.
>”Why not just let him shoot himself in the head?!”
“Because that would be cheating. I placed the bullet’s chamber there, and changed the odds of him winning. I would’ve lost all of my points.”
>He rolls his eyes.
>”But you cheated anyway!”
>It suddenly strikes Giorno.
>He mutters it.
>”Only on my turns… to give me an unfair advantage.”
>You nod, sharply.
“Right. I purposely made sure that each time I used my Stand, it would bring you closer to winning.”
>Mr. Pants starts to ask something.
>”But why would that-”
“Limestone had to fight you and lose to get the information, but her sacrifice wasn’t for nothing. As soon as you thought the games were over, you told everypony that your Stand can sense unfair advantages and register them without making any moves during the game! It was why you were so nonchalant about checking for cheating, you thought it wouldn’t matter.”
>Your Stand reaches out, pulling Limestone and Maud over to you.
>The latter’s still asleep, for another minute or two.
>You’ll explain it to her when she wakes up.
>You’re worried she’ll attack somepony as soon as she opens her eyes.
“But when we lost our final round because you received an unfair advantage, your Stand automatically counted your win as a forfeit. Mr. Pants won by default!”
>With that, you go quiet.
>Your face feels flushed from talking so much.
>There’s a rush in your head like nothing else!
>Giorno sits in silence for a moment.
>You expect him to laugh, or get angrier.
>But he doesn’t react.
>When he looks up at you, you think there’s something foalish in those glassy eyes.
>”You will bring it back to me, won’t you?”
>You respond without hesitation.
“I will.”
>Limestone’s pulled herself together.
>She rubs her eyes with a fetlock and throws in her own answer.
>”We’ll get it back and bring it to you, no matter what.”
>He nods, and feels around the table for something.
>｢Opposite of Thieves｣ lifts the sunglasses and rests them in front of his eyes.
>He feels them with a hoof, and then smiles slightly.
>As his Stand materializes, the next word comes with that same accent.
>”Arrivederci.”
>The air fills with crackling electricity again.
>Your ears pop.
>Mr. Pants evidently understands what’s about to happen.
>”No, no, hold on, I didn’t really play that round, it doesn’t count. Y-you should have a rema-”
>”｢Pinball Wizard｣.”
>In a flash of light, the room shifts around you.
>The casino fills with ponies, noise and flashing lights.
>You arrive in an ocean of decadence, and suddenly feel very tired.
>Your Stand clumps onto Mr. Pants so he can’t run away from you.
>Waking Maud up takes a minute, but once you get somewhere quiet and explain the situation, she pulls you into a crushing hug.
>Limestone joins it, and for a moment you revel in the idea that you’ll never have to go through that again.
>At least, not with cards and dice.
>The sun’s not quite up yet outside.
>This is an early start, but you don’t have time to sleep.
>You need to take advantage of your head-start.

>Be Daring Do.
>Your wing’s finally healed all the way, which has made things easier for you.
>The first sleepy, dew-wetted streets open themselves up as you trot forward.
>Vanhoover is a large city, but not a very metropolitan one.
>Focused on families and farmland, and all that jazz.
>But it’s the quickest way north, and the fastest path away from where you were.
>The gangster squirt’s going to do what he promised, it’s how he got to the top.
>You’ve been in the room when he decided ponies should die.
>Not pretty.
>But hey, maybe in a couple weeks you’ll learn that the Pie Family has moved to a place like this.
>You might do a book signing and come by, just to make sure things turned out alright.
>Only once Quibble gets back to you, of course...
>You push these happy thoughts out of your head.
>You’re carriyng enough raw magical power to register to anyone who’s looking.
>You need to retrieve the two arrows and get out of here before something nasty happens.
>Now, which way to-
>A hoof pounds into your face from out of nowhere.
>You stumble and fall backwards, moving with the hit.
>But you’re jerked in mid-fall, forced to turn to the side as something wrestles your saddlebags from you.
>They float up and away, covered in...
>That’s not possible.
>You look up into the eyes of three mares, each utterly unpitying.
>And swear.
>They’ve caught you.

[spoiler]10 Days[/spoiler] to the Collapse of the Pie Family Rock Farm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1h7Alrad2c

Stand: ｢Soldier of Fortune｣
User: Dr. Caballeron
Ability: Takes the form of a rocket launcher. A rocket fired from it will follow its target up to 900 meters away from the user. Rockets fired by this Stand will only detonate when they touch their target; anything else they touch will be absorbed into their internal compartment. An impact from a rocket alone is not fatal, though it may be concussive.

Stand: ｢Pinball Wizard｣
User: Giorno Rossa
Ability: Determines how much time is left until an event might happen, and monitors changes in those times. Additionally, can push a target, or a group of targets, forward or backward in time in relation to one event, based on the outcome of a wager with the user. This effect only works once per target. Anyone who receives an unfair advantage in a wager will be counted as a loser when it ends.