Nightmare

by Blackdrag-rose


Passtime-Discord

Discord was actually having the time of his life, what with the constant gambling that was going on in Las Vegas and the constant violence that came from it. There were literally hundreds of drunken brawlers in the city, people who just let loose after they lose their life savings in a couple of rounds of poker. He had even seen one of them come close to killing another man, one who he had accused of cheating and had drawn a knife on. Needless to say the man with the knife was in jail at the moment and the wounded man was in the hospital, making sure that he wasn't going to bleed out of his side.

Las Vegas, Discord decided as he checked his poker hand, was the most chaotic place he had ever discovered.

Right now Discord was in the middle of trashing the last two members of his competition, two men who didn't realize he was the one cheating and not their former competition. He wasn't afraid of getting stabbed by anyone, so he just played the game and let his opponents think the other was the one cheating. Besides, the round had been rigged by Discord so he could pull out a Royal Flush and beat the two of them in one go, effectively eliminating them both from the tournament seeing how they were already all in with their chips.

"Read it an weep boys," Discord said triumphantly as he showed his cards, "What about you Jackson? Long John? What do the two of you have on the table?"

As it turned out Jackson had a pair of tens, not the best hand to bet all your chips on if you weren't confident you were going to win the hand at all, and Long John had a pair of fives, one of the worst bluffs Discord had ever seen. Discord had beaten them and they knew it, meaning he was free to collect the chips as his last two opponents cleared off of the table. It was the same as the last four rounds of poker he had won; he cheated without them knowing and had cleared off all his opponents. Right now he had earned himself a quarter of a million dollars, which had been the easiest money he has ever earned in his entire life.

For the most part his day was open to do whatever he wanted, be that joining another table and clearing them all out or just relax and check up on the progress of his enemies. He stopped at the counter and placed half of his chips on the counter, the gentleman on the other side staring at him the entire time.

"Ah, Mister Discord," the man said, seeing only a fine young man dressed up in a punk suit with the hood up and not the Spirit of Disharmony, "I see you have earned yet another grand assortment of chips. Shall I transfer these into your account?"

"Yes," Discord smiled, making sure to pocket the remaining chips for his next match, "Put them into my account. I will be taking a break from sitting around for so long, so be sure to call me when my next match is ready. I have the feeling that whoever is next on my roster will be in a world of trouble."

Discord walked outside and took a seat in the first open table he came to, kicking his feet up and resting them on the other chair. He reached into his coat's pocket and pulled out a cellphone, a rectangular device called a smartphone by the humans, and dialed a number. He wondered if the person, or in the case of the person he had chosen, the pony was even up and if he was willing to accept his call. He figured he would soon find out.

~Seattle~

Sombra, still using Jackson's apartment as his base of operations, stopped at the doorway to his bedroom as the phone went off again. He wasn't used to the unfamiliar ringtone, the one that kept repeating the Spirit of Disharmony's name, but he assumed it wasn't anything good. He considered having his mind slave answer the phone and then slam it down on whoever was called, but he crossed it out of his head. He levitated the phone up to his ear and allowed the call to connect, silently wondering who was calling.

"Hello?" he asked, "This is the residence of King Sombra. May I ask who is foolish enough to call me?"

"Hiya King Sombra, this is Discord calling," the other voice said, with a hint of the caller being older or even ancient, "How's the progress of turning Seattle into the new Crystal Empire going?"

"By the Black Crystal," Sombra cursed, nearly jumping and tossing the phone against the wall, "How in Faust's name did you get this number? You aren't in this pathetic human's list of contacts."

"Oh come now Sombra, you know I have all the cards in this game of ours." Discord replied, sipping some of his wine while he spoke, "I know that you have possessed and taken over some poor guy known as Jackson Smith who, as my memory serves me, is a thief and a lover of gemstones of all sizes. Talk about lucky on your part pal."

"I am not your Pal," Sombra spat into the phone, already wishing he had never picked up the blasted device to begin with, "and it matters not who I have possessed for that matter. I don't see why you care about what I'm doing."

"I'm just keeping tabs on you right now," Discord continued, as if he really didn't care what Sombra said to him, "So, I take it you stole the Crystal Heart not too long ago from that Rayer Fell fellow?"

"How do you know about that?" Sombra panicked, wondering if the Spirit was near and knew of the Heart's new resting place. He hadn't even mentioned the hiding place to his mind slaves, not that they would have remembered in the long run, and yet the Spirit knew he had it.

"Oh Sombra, how am I supposed to hold all the cards if I don't know what's going on with my enemies?" Discord asked, very direct of him for once, "Of course I know you took down Rayger Fell and acquired the Crystal Heart, though I must say nice touch with the whole stabbing a guy through the heart when he uttered that vile phrase. It matters not what you do to the Crystal Heart, for I really have no love for such a artifact that repels your darkness and beckons to Princess Cadence like a beacon. Trust me Sombra, Cadence will come after the Heart now that she has arrived."

"What are you..?" Sombra asked, but not before something caught Discord's eye.

"I'm sorry Sombra, but I'll have to call you back later." Discord said, standing up as the announcer called his name, "I'm needed at my table so we can begin another exciting round of poker."

Sombra stared at his phone as the call was abruptly ended, leaving him to wonder if he should move the Heart or just leave it where it was for now. He would have his mind slaves make sure that the perimeter of his place was secured and that there was nothing he had missed. Right now he couldn't afford to let any of his enemies get close to him and learn the location of the Heart.

~Las Vegas~

Discord smiled as he ended the call and put the cellphone away, there was nothing better than making his opponents were sweating bullets while he enjoyed making these mortals lose all their money in a simple card game. He got up and made his way inside, eying the filled table with joy as he noticed five new players ready to lose all their chips. Two girls and three guys, meaning Discord could have a little fun making sure they thought someone else was out to eliminate the other competitors.

One of the girls kept eying him as he took a seat and he noticed that she was wearing some light blue shirt that went with her light pink dyed hair. He could have sworn that the chick reminded him of Princess Celestia, before she became the conduit for all six Elements of Harmony and blasted her sister to the moon for a thousand years. He also knew that Celestia wasn't going to arrive for some time and when she did she would be occupied with her new world and having to relearn everything.

Oh how he loved to mess with the reality of both the humans and the ponies.