Game of Chance

by TheEngineer

Hobbies and interests

Chapter 3: Hobbies and interests

The scent of pancakes wafted into Twilight's nostrils despite the fact that the lavender mare found herself sleeping face-down on her pillow. Twilight shifted her weight lazily as she groggily attempted to get out of bed, she found this task to be more difficult than usual. With a few failed half-hearted attempts at getting out of bed, Twilight finally decided to activate her contingency plan and literally rolled out of bed. She gave a slight "Oomph!" once she hit the ground, but she had managed to successfully get out of bed and was now getting off the floor.

Well, now I'm up. Time to get ready for another day of running the library.

Twilight slowly walked over the her bedroom mirror, noting that Spike was already out of his bed, and tiredly dragged a comb through her bed ragged mane, revealing her lavender horn. Twilight briefly remembered the time she and her friends had their first experience with poison joke, she woke every morning for two months straight after that dreading what she would find in her reflection... Twilight hates irrational fears, they are just so... Irrational.

Oh yeah, Rainbow Dash slept here tonight.

Twilight decided to make her way to the guest bedroom before braving the stairs while in her half-asleep state, might as well wake Rainbow up as she attempted to wake herself up. Twilight arrived at the closed door that lead to the bedroom, she didn't bother knocking since she was sure that Rainbow was still passed out from all of those drinks she had.

"Rainbow, wake up." Twilight said groggily as she entered the room, "Rainbow."

Twilight sighed inwardly before walking up to Rainbow's bedside, "Rainbow, come on, Spike made us breakfast." Twilight attempted to wake Rainbow Dash with just her voice again. She sighed as she realized that she would have to put more effort into waking the Pegasus than simply calling her name; with that said, Twilight began nudging Rainbow's side with her hoof. "Dash." Twilight deadpanned.

Rainbow shifted her weight and covered her head with a pillow, "It's too early." Rainbow grumbled and proceeded to mumble something inaudible. This made Twilight glance at a nearby clock, it was close to 9:30 in the morning.

"You had your sleep Rainbow, I have a library to run and I can't have you talking in your sleep while ponies are browsing through my books." Twilight retorted as she headed over to the bedroom window and pulled open the curtains.

"Mmmphm, the light, make it stop." Rainbow grumbled through her pillow.

"Don't be ridiculous, how could you see through that pillow?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"Make it stop, please?" Rainbow begged through her tiredness.

"Get out of bed, we're eating breakfast." Twilight ordered.

"Fine." Rainbow gave in, she quickly winced at the sunlight flooding through her dilated pupils and threw the bed covers over her face to keep the pain at bay... That didn't change the fact that she had a splitting headache. Twilight didn't need Rainbow to say anything, she simply moved the curtains back where they were to allow Rainbow to walk around with minimal pain.

"Can you get out of bed when the sun isn't melting your brain?" Twilight asked with a strange mix of annoyance and genuine care. Rainbow climbed out of bed and stood shakily, putting a hoof to her forehead.

"Ow, I don't remember getting railed by the express train to Canterlot last night." Rainbow commented through the debilitating headache.

"It can't be helped if you won't be responsible for limiting how much you drink." Twilight shrugged, "Come now, breakfast is probably ready and I'm famished."

"Yeah, eating away the pain sounds nice." Rainbow agreed, Twilight winced slightly at the sound of those words. Sure, Rainbow didn't exactly mean it like that, but she has read somewhere that eating to suppress emotions is not healthy at all.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash slowly made their way downstairs, reaching the bottom just as Spike was leaving the kitchen. "It's about time you two woke up," Spike chided, "Your pancakes are getting cold!"

"Thanks for the grub Spike." Rainbow thanked through her headache, Spike seemed to notice Rainbow wincing.

"Uh, we have some medicine for headaches from Zecora. Would you like me to get you some?" Spike asked politely.

"Yeah, that would really... Help right about now." Rainbow replied before making her way to her designated stack of pancakes.

"Thank you Spike." Twilight thanked Spike for the food with a quick, sisterly nuzzle. It wasn't every day Spike cooked for Twilight.

"It was nothing." Spike dismissed with a smile before setting off to fetch something to help with Rainbow Dash's headache.

"Wow." Twilight stared in awe before sitting down.

"I know." Rainbow agreed.

"It's almost too majestic to eat." Twilight said hesitantly.

"Yeah, almost." Rainbow agreed before digging into her massive stack of pancake heaven, carelessly spilling apple syrup both on the table and on herself.

"Ew." Twilight said quietly before levitating a fork and neatly cutting herself a piece, chewing tentatively to savor the soft dough with the sweet syrup.

...

Rainbow hadn't bothered with the silverware so thoughtfully provided by Spike, she was simply gorging herself on the plate, licking the remnants of pancake and syrup, making sure to get every last bit. Twilight was disgusted but far too accustomed to Rainbow and Pinkie's eating habits, so she stopped complaining and continued eating peacefully.

"I think Spike gave you more pancakes than me." Rainbow Dash announced suspiciously, her headache almost forgotten.

"No way! You just didn't slow down to enjoy your meal." Twilight retorted as she shoveled another forkful into her mouth.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her syrup-caked chin in thought, "Debatable." she replied with a grin as she grabbed one of the dough saucers with her hooves and shoved it into her muzzle.

"Hey!" Twilight exclaimed indignantly. Rainbow chewed furiously so that she could reply quickly.

"Whoever finishes first gets to help her partner out." Rainbow argued.

"Not if the partner doesn't need any of her partners help!" Twilight almost yelled, slamming her fork down onto the table for emphasis.

"Jeez, calm down you two." Spike said as he entered the room with two white tablets. "Hey Dash, I found the medicine you asked for."

"Oh, thanks." Rainbow replied with relief as Spike handed her the two tiny tablets of relief and a glass of water, she downed them quickly and drank the water greedily.

"Um, would you like a shower too? You're always free to use ours." Spike offered as he stared at Rainbow's syrup covered face. Rainbow seemed confused at first, but realized exactly what he meant once she touched her cheek.

"Oh, thanks." Rainbow replied with a sheepish grin before taking off for the bathroom.

"Well, I'm glad to see that she enjoyed them." Spike commented in solace.

"She sure did..." Twilight responded angrily, Rainbow stole her pancake!

"So, uh, how'd it go yesterday?" Spike asked anxiously as he sat in front of his 'sister'.

"It was fun." Twilight replied simply as she levitated her last pancake and began to spin it over the plate.

"Would you care to elaborate?" Spike asked in Twilight's signature tone.

"Well, I learned about a lot of different games... I also learned that you are almost guaranteed to lose your bits in there, but it was fun nonetheless." Twilight replied, setting the pancake back in its dignified spot on the plate and began digging into it with her fork.

"Yeah, that's what I was worried about." Spike replied reluctantly.

"Worried about what?" Twilight echoed, setting her fork down and giving Spike her full attention.

"That you would enjoy being there... I've read books, and more importantly, I've heard stories about those places Twi. Ponies getting addicted; losing everything they have just so that they could continue to play those silly games. Worse, the other things they provide there, ponies selling their bodies; selling weird and addictive chemicals. Those places have trouble written all over them." Spike replied worriedly.

"I'm so sorry Spike, I had no idea you felt that way." Twilight stood from her chair and pulled her little Spike into a hug, "Don't worry too much about me, things like that won't influence me as easily as other ponies."

Spike pulled away from the hug and looked into his foster sister's eyes, "Just promise me you won't go back, okay?"

Twilight froze, she hadn't expected Spike to make her promise something like that. Besides, it's not like things like that could actually happen to her, right?

"I promise, Spike." Twilight answered truthfully.

"Do you Pinkie promise?" Spike insisted.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Twilight promised, making all of the appropriate hoof-motions and being extra careful not to actually stick her hoof in her eye. Spike immediately beamed and pulled Twilight in for another hug.

"Thanks, I just can't imagine a life where you got tangled into a mess like that. I'm glad you understand." Spike said gratefully.

"It's no problem, I wasn't planning on going back to begin with anyway! Besides, I could never consciously make a decision like that if I knew it would hurt you." Twilight replied warmly.

Twilight heard Rainbow coming down the stairs and quickly pulled away from Spike and turned to greet a fuzzy cyan Pegasus. "Thanks for the shower guys, I feel a whole lot more refreshed now!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"It's nothing." Twilight dismissed, thinking about just how quickly Rainbow Dash had showered herself clean. Twilight then randomly glanced at her pantry only to see that it was almost empty, "Spike, when were we supposed to go food shopping again?"

"Um," Spike paused, pulling out a checklist from under the table, "Today, actually."

"Shoot, could you keep an eye on the library while I go buy the groceries?" Twilight asked.

"You could have asked me..." Rainbow offered.

"Um, no thanks Dash... Don't you have some weather to attend to?" Twilight replied, instantly alarming the cyan Pegasus.

"Crap, why didn't you say anything? What time is it?" Rainbow asked franticly.

"Um, fifteen past ten." Spike answered quickly.

"Oh ponyfeathers, I'm in trouble now. See ya!" Rainbow suddenly shot out through the window next to the front door.

"Why can't that pony ever use a door?" Twilight chided.

"Rainbow is what Rainbow does." Spike replied with a shrug, "Do you need a list of what we need?"

"When don't I?" Twilight asked rhetorically.

"True, I'll get some parchment ready." Spike said, heading upstairs to the quill, ink and parchment storage room.

...

"Um, some celery, carrots would be nice, how about some daisies? We haven't had daisies in a while."

"Sure."

"Oh, eggs and some milk."

"I already have those down."

"Then I think that's it, did you want anything as well?"

"Um, I think that merchant from the Manehatten pier is back, could you check if he has some pearls?"

"Okay, but I won't let you snack for a while, I know how plump pearls make you."

"Hey!"

"I said yes, stop complaining."

"Alright, five pearls."

"Four."

"Fine..."

...

The sun shone brightly, the clouds up above did their thing, Ponyville wasn't in ruins and Twilight made her way to the market at a leisurely pace, she didn't really have a whole lot to do today other than run the library, why not enjoy this small frame of time to relax?

Twilight eventually made it to the town square where the market is held and began her search for the items on her list. Before she even began shopping, she spotted a blur of pink in the crowd. The lavender mare immediately recognized the pony and made her way over to greet her friend.

"Hey Pinkie, did Applejack make it home alright?" Twilight greeted as she approached the pink mare.

"Heya Twilight! Yep, Applejack got home just fine, I dunno about her this morning though." Pinkie replied happily.

"Hmm, I wonder why." Twilight answered in feigned ignorance, the two mares giggled briefly. Sure, they were laughing at their friend's expense; but it was Applejack and Rainbow Dash that weren't watching how much they drank last night, not them. "So, Pinkie, what brings you here? Aren't you supposed to be at Sugarcube Corner?" Twilight inquired.

"I should, yeah, but we ran out of flour and I came to buy a few bags for the day." Pinkie replied with a shrug, "What about you, Twi?"

"I just so happened to notice that my pantry is running empty, I'm here to buy a few things that Spike and I might need." Twilight replied, suddenly realizing something, "Shoot, I didn't bring anything to carry my groceries in." Twilight added with self disappointment, why was she feeling so forgetful recently?

"Hold on a second!" Pinkie begged before disappearing behind a few trees, Twilight simply watched in confusion as the pink mare came back with a basket in her mouth, "I always keep baskets lying around, in case-"

"In case of basket emergency, I know." Twilight interjected, having heard this explanation dozens of times has left Twilight numb to most of Pinkie's wild antics.

"I could give you a map of where I stash all of my baskets if you want!" Pinkie offered, seemingly not realizing the fact that she should be insulted by Twilight's interruption.

"Um, no thanks. I can still borrow the basket, right?" Twilight answered with a sudden yawn.

Pinkie shook her head, "You can keep it, sleepy head, I have five others in the town square alone, and another three near Fluttershy's cottage." Pinkie answered quickly.

"Why would you need baskets near Fluttershy's cottage?" Twilight asked confusedly.

"Oh you know, in case Fluttershy decides to plant a cherry tree... Or maybe some kumquats! Oh, I would sooo help her grow kumquat trees if she planted some. I could totally just say kumquats all day: kumquats kumquats kumquats!" Pinkie rambled on with a jump of excitement.

"Erm, okay... I have some food shopping to do now..." Twilight replied awkwardly as she tried backing away from her friend.

"Okie dokie lokie! See ya!" Pinkie said as she hopped away to the nearest flour stand.

"That... Was a little more Pinkie Pie than normal." Twilight commented to herself as she walked through the market with her newly acquired basket. I really should not have forgotten something as important as bringing a basket to carry the stuff you buy. Twilight chided internally.

...

Twilight quickly had everything on the list except for Spike's pearls. The lavender mare scanned the market for that Manehatten merchant and eventually found him. The merchant was a gray pegasus stallion who looked particularly grumpy. "Um, do you have any pearls?" Twilight asked tentatively.

"Yes." the stallion answered curtly.

There was a long moment of silence; long and uncomfortable silence. "Aren't you going to tell me how much I need to pay for some?" Twilight asked.

"You didn't ask." the stallion replied.

"Well, I am now. How much is each pearl worth?" Twilight inquired with a hint of annoyance.

"Five bits a piece." the pegasus answered. Twilight thought about debating the price but soon concluded that it wasn't worth the trouble and began pulling out twenty bits when something caught her eye...

It was that stallion she met at the casino last night, albeit more clothed than before. Twilight didn't hesitate, she didn't think; she just shot after that brown earthpony in an attempt to get some answers. "Doctor Whooves! Wait up!" Twilight called. The stallion seemed startled and quickly took off into an alleyway, his disguise left behind in his wake.

Why in Equestria is he running from me? Twilight wondered but gave chase anyway, making sure to leave her basket at the alleyway's entrance, "I only want to ask a few questions!"

The Doctor didn't reply, he just looked back and shot Twilight a panicked look. Why would he be scared of me?

"You can stop chasing me now!" the Doctor called back as he ran.

"Why? I mean you no harm!" Twilight yelled back as the brown stallion turned a corner into another alleyway. Twilight pushed herself to catch up with the frightened stallion only to slow to a halt as she realized that the Doctor had turned into a dead end.

"There's no need to do this, I played by the rules!" Doctor Whooves pleaded in a normal Equestrian tone, leaving Twilight completely off guard.

"Huh?" Twilight just stood there as she watched the stallion come to realization.

"Wait, you're not with them, are you?" the Doctor asked with a sudden gain on his composure, his odd accent creeping back into his voice.

"With who? I just wanted to ask you a few questions about last night." Twilight responded, still confused as ever.

"So, you aren't working with the Aurora?" Doctor Whooves questioned confusedly.

"No, I work at the local library... Why did you think I work there? I was playing next to you for pony's sake!" Twilight replied. The Doctor gave a laugh of relief.

"Huh," the Doctor let out with a final realization,"Ha! Look at me! Running off like that and leaving some mare confused out of her mind, how absolutely hilarious that must have looked!" the brown stallion continued laughing, almost losing his balance. His laugh had a precarious amount of nervous relief in it.

"Yes, and I'm still confused; I just wanted some answers." Twilight interrogated, the Doctor seemed to regain his composure once more, his face suddenly switching from a mask of joy to a mask of utter seriousness.

"Right, explanations. Ask away before I skip out of town." the Doctor said stoically.

"Um, why did you run?" Twilight asked, feeling this question to be much more urgent that her earlier one.

"Because there are bad ponies out there who want to do bad things to me, I didn't know if you were with them but I'd much rather not take that risk." Doctor Whooves answered quickly.

"Who? Why didn't you tell anypony that you're in danger?" Twilight asked in sudden desperation.

Doctor Whooves cocked an eyebrow at her, "You are much more naive than you look."

"I am not!" Twilight defended indignantly, but quickly shrank a bit once she remembered how her parents gave her 'the talk' three years after she hit puberty and how she hadn't really known about that stuff until she picked up a book on the subject... When she was sixteen. "Okay, maybe a little... But that's beside the point, my original question was: how did you win so much at hoof-jack last night?"

"A little creativity and recreational mathematics, the game isn't as much about probability as it is skill after that." the Doctor replied.

"Really? How? Can you show me?" Twilight questioned curiously. Suddenly, Twilight spotted a flood of fear in the Doctor's eye.

"Who's that?" he asked shakily as he pointed past Twilight.

"Who?" Twilight echoed as she turned around to see the new appearance, only to see a brown hoof flick her horn... Hard.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" the Doctor called back as he ran away, leaving a disoriented Twilight in his wake.

"Ughh, my head." Twilight mumbled as she tried to get a hold of her headache/nausea combo. "That was a dirty trick..."

Twilight slowly walked out of the alleyway and back towards the market, sticking close to the wall in case she were to lose her balance. Why do horns have to be so sensitive?

"Oh, the basket." Twilight commented to herself aloud once she spotted her groceries where she left them, "And nopony took it either, that's good." the lavender mare continued to talk to herself as she levitated the food basket to her side. Oh right, I still need to buy those pearls...

Twilight trotted briskly to the merchant's stall, dropping twenty bits on front of the stallion as she took four pearls from the counter and placed them gingerly into the basket. "Pleasure doing business with you." Twilight mumbled curtly and walked off before the stallion could muster a reply, leaving him completely dumbfounded.

...

"Well, that took longer than expected." Spike commented once he noticed Twilight walk in through the door.

"Yeah, you would not believe the lines that I had to wait in; a total nightmare!" Twilight replied as convincingly as she could. Spike just shrugged, putting down a list and then taking the basket off of Twilight's grip and into the kitchen to put everything away.

"Wow, this is a really nice basket! Where'd you get it?" Spike asked in awe while putting the foodstuffs away.

"Um, Pinkie Pie gave it to me once she realized I didn't bring one." Twilight replied awkwardly from the living room.

"Pinkie was there? How is she?" Spike inquired, throwing back the proverbial ball of small talk.

"Actually, she was a bit more Pinkie Pie than usual, if you can believe that." Twilight launched the proverbial ball back, beginning her way up to her bedroom with a quiet yawn.

"Hard to believe it, but I think I could imagine that... A few more random outbursts and bouncing a little higher and you have some extra Pinkie..." Spike mused, Twilight began blocking Spike's voice out once he started trailing off about Pinkie's antics while he put the groceries away; she just wanted to lay down and think for a few minutes.

"Oh, bed." Twilight moaned slightly as she plopped herself down on her mattress, that little sprint really took the energy right out of her.

...

Why was that stallion so desperate to get out of Ponyville? He did mention the Aurora and the suspicion of me working at the casino... But, a casino is an entertainment business. That's all it is, a business, so why would he be running from a casino? Twilight mused while staring at the wooden ceiling of her bedroom.

And what was that he said about recreational mathematics?... Oh! 'a little creativity and recreational mathematics', that's what he said. How does that fit into playing hoof-jack though? Twilight continued thinking, she gave an exasperated groan when she realized she had more questions than answers. Twilight heard her bedroom door creak open.

"Twi? You alright?" Spike asked quietly.

"Yeah, just a little tired is all." Twilight reassured.

"I noticed that you were in bed for a while so I made you some herbal tea to get you going, some ginger mix Zecora came up with to restore energy or something like that." Spike moved fully into the bedroom as Twilight sat up from staring at the ceiling.

"Thanks," Twilight said wearily before catching the powerful scent of ginger and immediately feeling more alert, "Wow, that's some strong stuff."

"Yeah," Spike smiled, "Just what you would need to get out of that mopey attitude and run the library like you always do."

"I almost forgot about that." Twilight admitted, taking the cup into her levitation. Spike cocked an eyebrow at her, "What? I said 'almost', not 'completely forgot'." Twilight defended before attempting to sip her cup of tea.

"Right, I guess I'll see you downstairs soon, right? We just got a new order of books and we need to organize them." Spike replied.

"Wait, that was today?" Twilight nearly choked on steaming ginger-water, "I thought that delivery was tomorrow!"

"Yeah, it was supposed to, but Ditzy managed to do a really fast delivery run this week... She said something about skipping town for a while, I was surprised she wasn't in a rush for a muffin sale or something." Spike shrugged.

"Okay, that messes up the schedule a little. Thankfully our calendar isn't full this month, so this shouldn't set us back." Twilight though out loud, shaking her head briefly to get herself back into the conversation at hoof, "I'll be right down with you Spike, just... Give me a moment."

"Sure." Spike said nonchalantly before walking out of the room, Twilight listened to Spike's footsteps as he neared the bottom of the staircase and gave a heavy sigh before returning her attention to her tea.

Ditzy managed to do a really fast delivery run this week... She said something about skipping town for a while, I was surprised she wasn't in a rush for a muffin sale or something. Twilight paused.

She said something about skipping town for a while, I was surprised she wasn't in a rush for a muffin sale or something.

She said something about skipping town for a while.

Skipping town for a while.

Skipping town.

"Could it be?..." Twilight wondered at the immense improbability that her connection had any validity to it, "Nah."

Twilight continued drinking her revitalizing tea, noting to thank Zecora sometime later.

...

"Okay, what have we got?"

"The box had twenty-four books in it, I already put away five."

"Let's get started then. Lion's cradle by Cat Vonnegut goes in V."

"Got it."

"R for Revenge by Linen Moore, great graphic novel, it goes in M."

"Done."

"Quotes by George Marelin? Who ordered this?"

"Dunno, I could check if you want."

"No thanks, let's get this over with."

...

Spike and Twilight finished shelving most of the books inside of the box, there was just one left at the bottom. Twilight casually levitated the small book out to read the title, her eyes bulged ever so slightly. Tips and tricks: Gambling 101, there was no author written.

"Okay, seriously, who ordered this book?" Twilight questioned in surprise.

"Who ordered what?" Spike echoed.

"This." Twilight replied simply, turning the book to Spike.

"Huh, I don't remember that being in the list." Spike commented with a scratch of his head.

"Odd." Twilight thought aloud.

"Very odd, I just noticed that we already shelved all twenty-four books; that's an extra book you have." Spike remarked after double checking the mail receipt with the books he shelved.

"How the hay did that happen?"

Spike shrugged, "Dunno, should we send it back?"

Twilight weighed her options for a moment before responding, "No, we keep it. It's still one more book that somepony might come looking for, and it's more likely that somepony will come looking for this one now that a casino opened up in Ponyville."

"Um, if you say so." Spike replied, both unsure and surprised at Twilight's response.

A little creativity and recreational mathematics.

"Hey, spike? I just remembered that Pinkie invited me for lunch. Do you think you could handle the library while I'm gone?" Twilight asked innocently.

"Sure Twi, as long as I still get to go to the Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover on Saturday." Spike said nonchalantly.

"Sure Spike." Twilight replied with a giggle before taking a few bits with her and leaving Spike to his own devices.

...

Twilight trotted briskly to the general store, making sure to not be seen by anypony she was close to. I just have to find out what he meant by all of that... I'm decent at math, so this shouldn't be that hard. The lavender mare casually strolled into the general store and spotted a deck of playing cards, she took the playing cards and pretended to continue browsing for something else... Twilight wanted to get something else so that she doesn't arouse any possible suspicion, however slim the possibility of that may be. After all, she isn't the kind of mare to take chances.

"Aha." Twilight announced quietly to herself once she spotted the perfect decoy product: bubblegum. Triumphantly, Twilight trotted to the cashier and made her purchase. The cashier was an aging blue unicorn stallion.

"Good afternoon miss." the cashier greeted.

"Hello, just making a few purchases." Twilight replied awkwardly. The gray stallion nodded slowly.

"Playing cards..." the gray unicorn held the cards with thoughtful regard, Twilight began breaking into a cold sweat as she began to realize that, however slim a chance, she may have been caught red-hoofed by a complete stranger. "Three bits." the stallion finally announced the price of the playing cards, making Twilight release a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. Twilight's heart was still racing at sonic rainboom speeds.

"Bubblegum..." the gray unicorn scowled slightly, "One bit, just make sure not to stick this in the wrong places. If you get caught sticking chewed gum on benches, you will get into some serious trouble young lady."

"I'm a grown mare." Twilight replied in slight shock, she seriously didn't not expect that repercussion.

"If you say so little filly," the gray unicorn replied with a massive squint, "Four bits please."

Twilight paid for her things and left quickly, not wanting to risk further conversation with the close-to-senile stallion. She hid the deck of cards inside of her tail and popped a piece of bubblegum into her mouth, chewing nervously.

I don't really know if that was close or not... That might be what worries me the most too. Mmm, this gum is really minty.

...

Twilight finally arrived at her destination: Ponyville's public park. She quickly surveyed the area for anypony she might know, having found none, she casually strolled in and headed to the most secluded part of the park she knows of.

Finding out what he did that night couldn't hurt... The curiosity alone is almost killing me!

The lavender mare found her secluded spot and gingerly laid herself down on the grass, pulling the deck of cards from the tangles of her tail. "Now to give trial and error some credit." Twilight said quietly to herself, taking the cards out of the deck and placing the useless joker cards aside.

Okay, what do I know about the dealer... Oh! The dealer has his or her moves dictated by rules, so I know that I'm not up against somepony else's judgment. Now, what were those rules...

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, she knew she remembered the rules for the dealer but needed to place them in the right order. She shuffled the cards swiftly and served the cards as if she were playing against a dealer.

The dealer keeps on hitting until he or she gets to... was it sixteen or seventeen?

The lavender mare went back to trying to remember the tiny details, deep in thought. She eventually gave a sigh of defeat, her mind wasn't perfect, but that doesn't mean she can't use inductive reasoning.

"I'll just guess sixteen, it's a nice, even number." Twilight mumbled to herself, she spotted a squirrel in the distance, it stood at the base of a tree and simply stared. Squirrels can't tell anypony I know of, can they?

Twilight shook the odd thought out of her head and continued her experiment, she received a ten and a five while the 'dealer' received a four and a five. Twilight carried out her turn, hit, princess. "Ponyfeathers." Twilight cursed under her breath, that makes her hoof value to a total of twenty-five, she had busted out already.

Pay attention Twilight, the purpose of this is to observe, not to win.

Twilight continued her experiment and played out the 'dealer's' turn by the book: seven, three.... Twilight huffed quietly, staring at the results. She played a few more rounds to herself and almost constantly lost to the 'dealer'. The lavender mare gave an exasperated sigh, "Why is the dealer winning even if the dealer isn't actually here?" Twilight whispered to herself, quickly berating herself mentally for talking to herself out loud and for saying that before remembering that the dealer has his or her plays dictated by procedure, meaning that it wouldn't actually make a difference if the dealer was actually there or not.

There must be something else here... A pattern of sorts.

Twilight continued making her plays in an attempt to catch what Doctor Whooves had been doing when he was playing last night, anything she could catch that would help her understand a way around this system.

...

What time is it?

Twilight looked up at the sky and gasped as she realized the sun's position, it was past five o'clock. Oh no, Spike must be worried by now; I only said I would be out for lunch today.

The lavender mare swiftly and somewhat gracefully jammed all of the cards into their pack and teleported out of the park, onto the park entrance where Twilight startled many of the ponies ready to leave the park themselves. With an ushered sorry, Twilight ran the rest of the way home, deck of cards cleverly concealed, of course. Twilight was about to open her front door when it was opened for her, a mint-green mare stepped out and Twilight stared in momentary confusedness.

"Oh, hey Twilight." Lyra greeted as she left the library with a book on pony anatomy in tow.

"Hey... Lyra." Twilight greeted back awkwardly after Lyra had left and proceeded to enter her home/public library. Once inside, she found Spike shelving some books, presumably some books Lyra had just taken a look at and hadn't considered putting them back where she found them.

"Oh, hi Twilight. How was lunch?" Spike began once he noticed Twilight's presence.

"It was good... Was that Lyra taking out a book on pony anatomy? Did she get past her interests in mythological creatures?" Twilight inquired.

"No, she's still very much interested in those bipeds... I dunno why she isn't very interested in much cooler, and much more real bipeds." Spike huffed.

"You mean baby dragons?" Twilight asked playfully as she greeted Spike with a nuzzle and headed towards the kitchen. Twilight stopped at the doorway once she realized that going in would ruin her lie about having lunch with Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah, that too." Spike replied, taking out a ladder from behind one of the bookcases and placing it on the bookshelf labeled 'Biology'. "It's a good thing that Lyra only took out a few books... Well, compared to you, fewer books to deal with at a time just seems to lower the chance for me to hurt my back." Spike commented from the top of the ladder, book on equine organ systems in claw.

Twilight suddenly lit up, "Spike, that's it!" she exclaimed, startling the poor dragon and almost making him fall from his already precarious position.

"What's what?" Spike asked once he regained his balance, but it was too late, Twilight had already shut herself in her room. "Ugh, nopony knows how long she will be in there."

...

Twilight shut the door behind her, book on gambling levitating in front of her.

Fewer books to deal with at a time... Lower chance of going over. Smaller numbers means less chance of going over twenty-one.

The lavender mare pulled the deck of cards from her tail once more and placed both the book and the cards on her bed as she laid herself down on the springy mattress. Twilight opened the book to the section on Hoof-jack and began reviewing her knowledge on the game.

Thank you secret somepony that ordered this book, it might just help me.

Twilight then skimmed through the chapter in search of something useful, she wasn't finding anything that she didn't know. "Come on stupid book, you must be able to tell me something I don't know!" Twilight whispered harshly at the gambling guide.

I already know this, that I did not really need to know... I already know about the deale-

Twilight gave a pause, she read and reread a section on the rules the dealer has to follow. A bright idea sparked inside of the clever mare's head and it was beginning to engulf her like wild fire. The lavender mare grew a wide, sly smile across her face.

"Bingo."

--------------------------------------

Author's note:

Well, that was fun to write. I sure hope you all enjoy this chapter as well! Don't forget to comment, favorite, thumbs up (or down if that's what you feel is right), the works. I'll do my best to write the next chapter soon!

Comments

[fallen starr]

Great update! Love that the Doctor and Derpy are skipping town for a bit (are they together here? I hope so) and just the entire thing was great! Looking forward to more.

[the other sans]

"I promised, Spike." Twilight answered truthfully.
"Do you Pinkie promise?" Spike insisted.

Promise.

I think your editor might be sleeping on the jobdl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Derpy_Hooves.png Give him a good talking to eh?

[TheEngineer]

1290665
I'll make sure to do as such

[TheEngineer]

1288018
You know... Those are the kind of comments that keep me writing, thanks!