---

“I’m all-in!”

All of Pinkie’s friends looked over their cards, and stared at the pink, beaming pony, enthusiastically shunting her entire pile of chips forward.

“Damn, you really didn’t waste any time there,” Rainbow said, doing her best not to sneak a look at Fluttershy’s casually exposed cards.

“Pinkie, you said you understood the rules.” Twilight massaged her brow with a raised hoof. “Why are you betting all your chips when we haven’t dealt the other three cards to make a play yet? And it’s the first round.”

“Oh I’m really confident with my hand. There’s no way you can win!”

Twilight looked down at her own - an Ace and Jack. Not great but definitely worth staying in the round for. Pinkie quite conceivably could have a better start, but did she know that? Was she the type to bluff in a game like this?

Applejack rubbed the back of her neck. “Remind me why we picked poker again?”

“Because somepony was a little too eager for us to play a certain other card game,” Twilight replied, narrowing her eyes across the table.

“What?” Rainbow said, half-startled. “Don’t deny we had an awesome time playing that!”

“Applejack ran off crying after less than an hour!”

The farmer’s neck slumped, letting her hat slip depressingly over her eyes, prompting a friendly back on the back from Rarity. “Ahem, I believe we said we would never talk of that game again.”

“Oh...yes,” Fluttershy murmured. “Though I would like to try ‘Monopony’ sometime. That sounds awfully exciting.”

“Ugh, isn’t that the one that takes eleventy-billion hours to complete?” Rainbow scoffed, unintentionally making Twilight shiver through the mathematical butchery.

“Let us first manage to get through this game girls, shouldn’t we?” Rarity peeked at her cards once more. “Poker is all the rage up in Canterlot right now, don’t you know.”

“Soooo…” Pinkie practically bounced in her seat, making shadows from the lantern dance on the barn walls. “Is anypony brave enough to match me?” Her eyebrows wiggled dangerously along with her mane.

“I’ll pass,” Rarity said, sliding her face-down cards forward.

“Eeeyup, mee too.”

“Umm...me three.”

All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash.

“Uhhh..” She squirmed in her seat, before finally slumping forward in despair. “Fine! I’m out too. But only cause my hand sucked!”

Only Twilight remained. If she matched Pinkie, one of them would be going out straight away. But letting her get away with a reckless bluff now would likely give her a psychological advantage for the rest of the game. And it was a pretty good hand…

“Oh, you know what? Fine. You’re on,” Twilight said, magically arranging all of her chips twenty centimetres further forward in perfect alignment to their original position.

“Looks like it’s a showdown then.” Applejack grabbed the rest of the pile. “Let’s see yer cards.”

Twilight flipped over her Jack and Ace, only to stare in disbelief as Pinkie revealed two Aces. There was beginner’s luck, and then there was that.

“Dang, you weren’t kidding girl,” Applejack said, turning over both the flop and the turn - another Jack and the fourth Ace. Pinkie’s three-of-a-kind to Twilight’s two-pair. But there was still a chance, of a full-house. The last card just had to be a Jack…

The three spectators gulped audibly. Twilight looked over to Pinkie, attention completely taken by Applejack’s moving hoof. It returned to the pile, gripped the last card...and revealed…

Another Ace.

Pinkie whooped in delight at her four-of-a-kind, and grasped her now-doubled bounty as Twilight’s brain crunched to a complete halt. She looked down at her solitary Ace, just to make sure she hadn’t imagined it.

But...but...I checked the deck before...how…

A slight cough from Rarity drew Twilight to look up, where she saw her four friends all mouthing the same words, as the fifth continued to giggle manically.

“It’s Pinkie”

---

“Oh hey, you’re back early,” Spike said, putting down his comic book as Twilight walked past his bedroom door. “Like...three...hours early. What happened?”

“Spike, know this.” Twilight leant round the door, an evil look in her eyes. “From now on, I am never, ever playing card games again.”

---