A Unicorn's Tale, Part 12

12.

     Discussion was quick, the decision short and clear. Mikey was allowed to continue training and managing competitive bouncers, but not betting on any of the races. Any candy he earned would have to be proportional to the time he spent earning it. Larry was forbidden from all bouncing events, betting tables, and any cities where Mikey currently resided. The lifetime ban from these items was followed by a solemn dehorning ceremony. Larry was defined as a bad unicorn, an oxymoron none of the authorities wanted to perpetuate. He was ordered to five years living as a petting zoo pony until his horn grew back.
     As for me, I was also banned from the professional bouncing circuit. No one could definitively prove that I was not involved in the betting fraud, especially with some big losses right before my ultimate winning streak. The numbers were not on my side.
    They allowed me to bet and to work closely with Mikey, but warned me against advanced training in unicorn magic. As you know, I was also allowed to keep my horn, or why else would I be here in this forest?
     The last time I saw Larry I was standing next to Mikey and letting him vent. His disjointed kept flapping without intelligible words, but I got the sense that his anger was not directed at all towards me. Our one-sided conversation was interrupted when a series of clip-clopping noises came from the end of the room near the door. We turned to look and saw Larry pounding his hooves on the tile. He stopped when he caught us looking in his direction. Obviously all the racket was intended to insure our attention.
     “I didn’t mean for this to happen to you,” he said. Then the guards pushed him through the doorway.
     “He’s one sick pony,” Mikey said, by way of an insult. My employer seemed more cheerful, however, after venting his frustrations on me. For the rest of the day I let him speak, and listened to the other unicorns talking about the disgraced unicorn.

Read the Thirteenth and Final Part