The cursed resident.

by Sylif Daring Doo

The game.

A common saying in both war and prison is that a hobby will keep you from going mad because of routine, anyone will find anything of even the slightest interest and work with it until they are either done or bored of it.

When I was alive I had my own hobby, I often rode my warg around on either scouting missions or just for fun, I would fletch my own arrows or train the troops, I even took on an apprentice that I taught to be a tracker.

But after I died, I had nothing to do to pass the time, so I just wandered aimlessly through the world and I eventually found a family of Unicorns, things were fine for a while, they seemed interesting enough so I watched them with great interest.

Little did I know this family would prove to be both my greatest problem......and bring me two very special friends, I would not be where I am now, without them.'

______*Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library, Two days later, 12:37 AM.*______

"Three." Aleica said calmly, she was currently playing poker with Nightmare Moon, Rarity and Twilight, the latter of whom was still reading a book on the game of poker, the ghost discarded three cards and was given three by Nightmare.

"Bet." Alecia said, placing four bits into the pot, she looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. "How are you still reading that book?" She asked curiously.

Twilight looked over at Alecia. "It's a good read, this game is surprisingly complex, there are so many different things to keep track of and-" Nightmare Moon cast her magic to close Twilight's mouth shut. "Could you please be quiet? all you are doing is stalling the game." The Alicorn stated easily, releasing her magic.

Twilight grumbled in protest as she set the book aside. "Fine, two." She said, repeating a similar process to Alecia, she looked at her cards. "Call." She said with a barely hidden smirk, she then threw in four bits.

"Out." Rarity said instantly set her face down cards near the center pile.

Nightmare took a sip of her tea, she then set the cup down. "Call." She said, throwing in four bits.

Alecia grinned. "Alright, let's see em." She said, revealing her cards. "Flush." She said smugly, revealing a five, six and eight of clubs, as well as a ten and Jack of clubs.

Twilight sighed. "Three of a kind." She said, revealing three fours.

Nightmare's eye twitched. "Damnit." She said, revealing two twos, and three fives.

Alecia chuckled as she pulled all the bits in the pot to her pile. "The eternally damned thank you for the money." She joked before grabbing all the cards and shuffling them.

"Where did you even get forty bits?" Rarity asked out of curiosity.

Alecia shrugged. "You would be surprised at what people drop on the ground and forget, or throw away." She replied while shuffling the cards.

"What do you even need the money for?" Twilight asked, somewhat annoyed because she was down twelve bits already.

"What the dead do with their money is their business." Alecia replied with an amused expression as she dealt the first hand.

Nightmare looked at her hand and avoided a sigh with her poker face, all she had was a king high, she looked at the others and saw their facial expressions, Twilight was annoyed and Rarity seemed pleased, the only one she couldn't understand was Alecia, who was entirely neutral. "Some would say it's impossible to beat a ghost at poker." Nightmare said calmly.

"Two." Twilight said, once she saw her new cards she put six bits in the pot. "Raise." She added. "It can't be impossible, poker is a game of chance and deception, even a ghost can't avoid that rule." She said calmly.

"Unless of course Alecia can see through the cards." Rarity added. "Call." She said, adding six bits.

"Three" Nightmare said, getting three new cards and being mildly pleased by what she got. "Ghosts cannot see through cards, believe me I know." She said. "Call." Another six bits.

Alecia nodded. "One." She replaced one card. "I can go through walls though, if that counts." She then put her card down. "Out." She stated.

Twilight smiled. "Well, I hate to say this, but straight flush." She stated, revealing the two to six of hearts.

Rarity sighed. "Four of a kind." She revealed four sevens.

"Two pair." Nightmare dejectedly revealed a pair of nines and a pair of aces.

Twilight took the pot and shuffled the cards. "We need to do this more often, it's fun." She said.

Nightmare rolled her eyes. "She says after winning her first hand." She teased, she then noticed Rarity yawn. "Hey Rare, you alright?" She asked out of worry.

Rarity nodded, even though she had dark circles under her eyes, she felt fine. "I didn't get a lot of sleep these past couple of nights, I think I only got ten hours of sleep since Hearths Warming Eve." She answered.

Alecia sighed. "Well, if that isn't it, then I'll seperate myself from you for a while." She said.

Nightmare chuckled. "Unless she falls asleep before Twilight finishes shuffling." She joked.

Twilight stuck her tongue out at Nightmare and dealt the cards. "Who knew? the bookworm has a sense of humor." Alecia joked as she grabbed her hand.

Rarity sighed and took a drink from her tea, she then put out four bits. "Bet." She said. "So Alecia, I haven't asked you yet, how are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm alright, nervous about meeting my brothers descendant, but alright." The ghost said as Nightmare folded. "Three." She got three new cards. "Call." Another four bits in the pot.

"What do you think she will be like?" Twilight asked. "Out." She set her cards down.

"Full house." Rarity said, revealing two fives and three sixes.

Alecia sighed. "Full house." She said, revealing two fives and three fours, she watched as Rarity took the small pot and shuffled. "I don't know, if she's anything like my brother she will be curious, he always was a little odd." She replied.

"How so?" Rarity asked before dealing a new hand. "If it's not a problem." She added.

"Markus was a unique individual, we never saw eye to eye on a lot of things for a long time, mostly because I grew up in the Shattenreich." Alecia replied. "But he always had some way of knowing what was going to happen." She added.

Nightmare blinked. "Three." She took three new cards. "Was it premonitions? Human's did have a few psychics among them when I was ruling." She asked. "Bet." She added four bits to the pot.

Alecia shook her head. "No, the Shadow Elves believed that Markus was a herald for the future, and that he wielded magic greater than premonitions." She explained. "They would never explain more than that though, so it's possible that Markus was the first human to have magic, and that his child was the first to actually use it." She stated.

Alecia looked at her hand. "Two." She replaced two cards and put all of her bits with the others, it was only eight. "All in." She said.

Twilight looked at her hand. "Call." She said, putting eight bits in. "I don't want to tell you how to talk to others, but you should at least attempt to be civil with Feral Wing when she gets here." She stated.

Alecia rolled her eyes. "First she needs to be able to see me, there's no point in even trying otherwise." She replied.

"Three." Rarity took three and then put eight bits in. "Call." She said. "It is possible that Princess Celestia gave her the ability when she was in Canterlot." She pointed out.

"Two pair." Rarity said, revealing two threes and two fours, her other card was an eight of clubs.

Nightmare smiled. "Three of a kind." She said, revealing three eights, she also had a two and three of diamonds.

"Straight." Alecia said with a grin, revealing the ace of clubs, with two and three of hearts, and four and five were spades.

Twilight smiled happily as she revealed her cards. "Royal flush." She said with a smile, revealing the damning ten, Jack, Queen and King, as well as the ace of diamonds.

The other three groaned and Alecia fell through her chair and onto the floor. "Damnit!" The ghost called out.

Twilight pulled in the bits and Nightmare shuffled the cards with an amused expression. "That's why you never go all in." She teased.

Alecia sat up. "Stuff it." She said before standing up, Nightmare had dealt all the cards by now.

"Bet." Twilight said as she put in four bits.

Rarity looked at her hand. "Three." She said, she then pushed four bits in. "Call." She added.

"Call." Nightmare said, pushing in four bits.

Alecia watched the game unfold as she sat back down. "Three of a kind." Twilight said, revealing three sevens, an ace and a king.

"Straight." Rarity said, showing the ace to five.

Nightmare grumbled. "Pair of threes." She said.

"Why did you go in with a pair of threes?" Alecia asked.

While Rarity collected the pot and Twilight shuffled the cards, Nightmare looked at Alecia. "That's my business." She stated with an evasive tone.

Rarity yawned and looked at the Alicorn. "I know the game isn't over, but I am really tired." She said, she then grabbed the cards that were dealt. "One more hand." She added.

"I'm thinking of calling it a night soon anyway." Twilight said. "I need to be up early to talk to Corporal Feral Wing when she gets here." She said.

Rarity replaced three cards and put six bits in. "Raise." She yawned again and looked at Twilight. "I think she might appreciate just being called Feral Wing, adding her rank makes this all sound very formal." She said tiredly.

"So Rarity, how do you like having your mane back to normal finally?" Nightmare asked with some amusement, pushing all eight of her remaining bits in the pot.

Rarity looked at Nightmare and glanced at Alecia who seemed amused as well. "Believe it or not, I had gotten used to my changing mane color and having it short." She replied.

Twilight traded in four cards and pushed eight bits in. "Full house." She revealed two sixes and three sevens.

"Two pair." Rarity said, showing two sixes and two eights, as well as the remaining seven.

"Full house." Nightmare said, revealing two jacks and three queens, she took the pot.

"Well, good night, I'm going home." Rarity said, standing up and putting her bits into her saddlebag.

Nightmare gathered her bits in a pouch and teleported it and Rarity's bags back to the unicorns house, she stood up. "That was a fun game, we definitely should play again.....maybe with some more people though." Nightmare said.

Twilight nodded. "See you tomorrow, and Rarity?" The white unicorn looked at her friend with a tired expression. "Get some sleep." She said with concern.

Rarity nodded with a tired smile and left the library with Nightmare Moon and Alecia. "I feel like I'm dead on my hooves." She commented, referring to her tired muscles aching.

"Believe it or not, being dead on your hooves feels a lot like floating in water." Nightmare said, she picked the tired mare up and carried her on her back. "I can walk!" Rarity protested.

Alecia floated lazily next to the two ponies. "And you're exhausted, about to fall asleep on your feet and swaying because your legs don't work right." She rolled her eyes. "I could possess you if you wanted?" She offered. "You could walk home and get into bed on your own as long as you don't mind freezing from the inside out." She added.

Rarity stared at Alecia for a minute before sighing and hanging her head. "Nightmare Moon, i accept your generous offer to carry me." She stated.

The rest of the trip back to Rarity's house was quiet, out of respect to the sleeping town.

Author's Note:

Felt like this story could use a simple chapter where not much goes on, it has been a while since we had a chapter like this after all.

Hope you liked the chapter.

Edit: So I didn't realize this until a little bit ago, around 11:00 PM for me. But the entire chapter looked like this.....oops?

Comments

[jimerjam]

odd chapter....

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[Starlight Nova]

I thought Rarity lived in Carousel Boutique.

[Sylif Daring Doo]

9999851

In the show she does, but in this story I have her living in a house near the boutique.