Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Pentagramma - Part 4

It was Indigo's turn to play her card. She hadn't noticed Sour mouthing to Applejack, too focused on the girl's hands instead. "Good thinking, Lemon," she said. "We just need to take this trick, and we got it." She placed down the Three of Swords, promoting a subtle reaction from both Applejack and Sour Sweet. Indigo didn't seem to notice that either, though. "Applejack, it's up to you now," she said, looking towards the girl. Then she turned to Sour. "I'm onto you."

Sunny's next play didn't take long. After only a moment spent looking at the state of the game, she laid down the Knight of Cups. The gesture seemed almost mechanical in its calculated poise, graceful yet cold. Like an eagle diving to catch a prey.

Applejack drew a slow breath as she realised she had nothing to take the cards away from Sunny. She must have known as much, or she'd have dropped the ace instead. She couldn't risk it, when thirty points were enough to stop her from winning and Lemon already held eleven. So she had the King of Cups in her hand, too. Setting down the Seven of Wands, Applejack exchanged a look with Sour. They both understood. Indigo was playing with Sunny, and they'd win the last three tricks by default assuming they held on to their high rank cards. There were certainly still a couple of ways to win the match. But could they do it?

Sunny opened with the Knight of Coins. Sour's look, uncertain until a moment before, lit up as gears began to turn in her head. Applejack and her exchanged numbers, unspoken, fingers held over the backs of their cards as they pretended to look them over. Two, five and six. The four and seven were out already. Two words, breathless. They both looked to Sunny and Indigo, then at Lemon. It was a gamble. A nod, and Applejack placed the Knight of Wands on the pile. "Lemon?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Lemon asked back, stopping before playing her card.

"Can you take this?"

"Yeah-"

"Don't." Applejack looked at her. "If you trust me, load this one up."

Lemon was hesitant for a moment, looking back at Applejack. Then, she settled onto a smile, and placed the King of Swords on top of Applejack's knight.

Smiling, Sour put down the King of Coins atop it. "Your turn, Indigo," she said, looking to her right.

Indigo grit her teeth, visibly tense. The other girls could practically hear the gears whirring in her head. "I'm not falling for it, Sour," she finally said, placing down the Five of Coins.

Sour kept her smile as she gathered the cards. "Just three more points, right?" She chuckled, then opened the trick with the Page of Coins.

There was a light sound from beneath the table, though Indigo jerked upright from clearly more than just that. She looked at Sunny, who was very not subtly mouthing the word points to her. Then, she played the Knight of Swords. Sunny's eyelid jerked.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Oh boy. Drama's running the risk of breaching the game at this point. I fully expect someone to dive across the table in an attempt to throttle someone else. I'm just not sure who.