S1, Ch.5.5
It was dusk when Midnight made it to Berry Punch’s store and home on the other side of Ponyville. The only thing in her saddle bags (a much better looking set than the ones she’d use the next day) was a bag of bits that she’d gotten from a large order of wood from the local Filly Scouts troop to use during their camp outs. She had tried to bring some refreshments like the others, but they told her between the three of them there was probably going too much already.
It took a few knocks on the front door, but Berry eventually answered. “Midnight; glad you could make it!” Midnight followed her inside and through the store front to the back room. When they entered, Midnight could see that a table, cushions, a deck of cards, and chips were already set out. On a table set to the side was a four-case of wine coolers, several bags of different flavored hay chips, two six-packs of soda, a large basket of muffins, and… what looked like the contents of a fridge.
“That’s… that’s a lot of stuff.”
“Derpy raided Carrot’s fridge again.” Lyra said nonchalantly.
“Any time we get together for something she does this.”
“I just don’t know what to bring!” Derpy told them. Berry shook her head.
“Derpy, one of these days Carrot is going to get fed up with this and do Celestia-knows what.”
“Nah, she’s okay with it.” Berry turned to Midnight.
“Last time she said that, Carrot ended up burying her fridge out back. None of us knows how she keeps getting back in; I heard Carrot has all types of locks on the fridge. It takes a half hour to make Dinky’s lunch on school mornings.” With that they all took their seats, and Lyra shuffled the deck.
“Okay, tonight it’ll be the standard five card hoof, ante is a bit, max is ten bits.” Midnight raised an eyebrow.
“Why the cap on bits?”
“Well, let’s say you bring one hundred bits and the rest of us bring fifty each. Won’t be much fun when all you need to do is constantly raise to knock us out.” Lyra told her as she finished shuffling.
“Point taken. How much did everypony bring anyway? I brought fifty bits.”
“Same here.”
“I did too.”
“Me three!”
“Alright, let’s get started ladies!” Lyra passed out the cards. When she had all five cards Midnight picked them up with her claws and looked at what she had. Already she had a pair of fours and a jack. This was definitely going to be a fun night.
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Four hoofs later and none of them seemed to have the upper hoof as they had each won once. The third hoof had been the highest stakes so far, with both Midnight and Derpy putting up ten chips each, only for Derpy’s pairs of aces and queens to beat Midnight’s kings and sixes. They’d also had enough time to study each other for tells. Both Midnight and Berry had good poker faces, except for a slight happy or disappointed look when the cards were dealt. Lyra practically had no poker face; always grinning or groaning at her hoof.
And Derpy? Nothing. Not. One. Thing. The wall-eyed mare had the same look of happy content on her face since the beginning of the game. Only how many chips she put down said anything about her hoof.
“So Midnight, heard you declined Pinkie’s invitation to the party today.” Lyra said as she dealt out the next hoof.
“Yeah, well when you spend a good portion of you day picking up after Pinkie and Rainbow’s pranks, you tend to fall behind on your work.”
“What did they do to you? I heard of some of their pranks around town on my route.” Derpy asked, stuffing another muffin in her mouth.
“Nothing too terrible. Somehow they planted around ten rubber, inflatable trees where I normally work, and every time I hit one it blew up. Gotta tell ya, the first few times were scary as Tartarus. Just imagine hitting a tree and it blowing up. I’ll admit, it was kinda funny the first four times, and then the novelty ran out pretty quick.” Lyra was snickering as the last of the cards were handed out.
“Well, Carrot Top, Bon Bon, and I were all at the party, but I’ll tell you about it after this hoof.” With a nod, Midnight looked down at her cards; it wasn’t a promising start. 7, 4, Q, 5, and a 9.
“Raise one.” The rest followed suit, then they began exchanging cards with the deck. Midnight gave up her Q and 9, and got back another 9 and a 3. Quick looks at the others, with the exception of Derpy, told her that nopony had a good hoof. ‘Time to see if I can bluff.’ “Raise two.”
“I’ll see you.” Berry added two chips nervously.
“Fold.” Derpy said with a smile.
“I’ll see.” Lyra said, her tone saying she’d regret it.
“Alright, show’em.” The hooves went down. The aces in the others hooves made it clear that Midnight had lost, but she had been right about one thing: nopony had good hooves.
“I’ve got an ace.” Berry told them.
“So do I.” Lyra said smugly.
“Next highest is king.”
“Buck!” Lyra yelled, her next highest a jack.
“If Pinchy hears anything I’m kicking you out.” Berry warned her as she collected her winnings. “Now, as I was saying, the three of us were at that party, and as it turns out it was for that griffon. Apparently she was an old friend of Rainbow Dash.” Midnight raised an eyebrow.
“Was?”
“I’ll get to that. Anyway, almost as soon as she got through the door all these pranks started happening.”
“Of course.” Midnight deadpanned.
“Let’s see, there was Pinkie with a hoof-buzzer, hot sauce and lemon drops, a dribble glass, relighting candles, and snakes in a can.” Midnight and Lyra whistled.
“Wow, those two went all out!” Lyra said, impressed. Berry nodded.
“Yes, but Gilda, that was her name, seemed to take it all in stride. That is, until we started playing pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. She’d been kind of rude when it came to the cake, and she grabbed the tail almost right out of Rarity’s mouth and said she’d go first.”
“That’s really rude!” Derpy said, another muffin in her hooves. Berry nodded.
“I know, but then she thought Pinkie was trying to prank her, so instead of following her directions she went the other way and slipped on some cake. The next thing we know she’s flipping out on us, especially Pinkie.”
“Geez, you’d think that being Rainbow’s friend she’d tell Pinkie to tone it down a little.” Midnight said, worried how far the two mares would go for a laugh.
“Well, turns out it was Rainbow Dash who set up all those pranks, and it was bad luck that Gilda got hit with them.”
“So, did Gilda calm down then?” Berry shook her head.
“Hardly. In fact, she seemed to get even more pissed off, started shouting at Rainbow, then stormed out.”
“Well, can’t say the party wasn’t exciting.” Midnight and Berry rolled their eyes.
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The rest of the evening was spent talking about other things that happened around town and their other friends. At the end of the night Lyra and Midnight put all in, only for Midnight to lose one pair to two. All tolled, Midnight lost twenty-three bits, Lyra eighteen bits, Derpy five bits, and Berry, who had dominated most of the remainder of the night, had gained forty-seven bits.
“Well, I gambled on that last hand, so I can only blame myself,” Midnight chuckled has she scooped the remaining bits into her pouch. The rest agreed and they each began to head home, Lyra and Derpy stalling to get the remains of the food they brought. “Maybe next time Berry can let the wins spread out a bit!” Midnight called back, laughter chasing her out the door.
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Wouldn't this be chapter 4.5? Sorry, I'm OCD XD
well, since it takes place during chapter 5, and most people are going to probably read it after they read that chapter, it kind of felt fitting for 5.5.
don't worry, I've got a mild case of OCD too.
I do wonder why you made this a separate story from TWH. I think it would go nicely within the story itself.
3123707
I just thought it would side track a bit; just dumping poker games in the middle of chapters. Plus, if they're separate, I can give each one the time and care it needs to be good.
I didn't brain storm for an entire year and get a proof reader just to slap stuff together wily nily. I HAVE STANDARDS!!!
if that's okay with you that is...
Heh, I enjoyed it. Kinda nice to get a side view of what all's going on in the town. This kinda story is a great place for any exposition that you might not be able to work into the story, nothing like some friends getting together to spread some juicy gossip or expound on their thoughts throughout the day.
I don't play poker, with my abysmal luck I'd lose every single time. In fact last time I played, I did lose every single time.
this is good i was wondering when this would be posted
I only noticed one problem. 23 + 18 + 5 does not equal 47. It equals 46.
5553504
Well duh, Berry and Lyra had to pay .333333 bits to the house as a hosting fee; Midnight, being the newest player, had to pay .333334 bits. Since it's such a small fraction, by default it gets rounded down.
That math adds up to 46 not 47.