The room was abuzz with noise.
The sound of tiles clacking against each other rang from the dozens of tables crammed into the dingy underground chamber as ponies were pressed into every available space.
Ponies made dark deals and played daring gambles under the greasy magical lights. The barman upstairs kept his nose out of most business down there, making ponies come to him for the copious amounts of cider which gamblers tended to drink.
Today was Thursday, and Thursday was unofficially Guards Night at the parlour. Strictly it was open to everypony, but unless you wanted to play with highly competitive guards ponies most tended to avoid the place on days like this.
The place never closed, but there was an unspoken change at the stroke of midnight signalling the end of the preceding Wednesday. All the ponies seated at the tabled, games finished or not stood up in almost perfect unison and filed out, to be replaced by ponies of every breed, but only two colours. Solar Guard and Night Watch stepping in to begin their reign of the tables.
At that time of day it was mostly Guards at the tables, their Watch counterparts all on duty protecting Luna’s night. This mix would would shift as the day progressed, with the floor full of dark armour at the height of noon.
It was in this dark hall that the ponies of Canterlot came to play Mahjong, the preferred game of the guards ponies from the castle came to settle the most serious of disputes. Long held grudges and rivalries were settled on these tables. It was a long tradition dating back to before the fall of Luna, when the two kinds of guard were prone to fighting a lot and was by far the preferred way of settling disputes these days.
Supposedly, Star Swirl the Bearded himself had faced down Princess Celestia, the first commanders of the Night Watch and Solar Guard had decided which order got to march first in the parades and only last week Bob the Baker fleeced three new recruits.
A table in the corner, sat still and unused in the crowded room, a set of gleaming tiles made from the finest stonewood lying unused on its polished surface. This was rumoured to be the Princesses’ favourite table, and they insisted on it whenever they came to play.
It was a time just after four and the parlour was crammed with a mix of Solar and Lunar guard, as well as a few guests.
“Tell me again how you play?”
An out of place lavender mare was questioning the taller white stallion next to her.
“Mahjong’s actually a deceptively simple game Twily.” Shining Armour explained.
Cloud Storm rolled his eyes as his companion explained the rules again to his sister.
It was punishment, it must have been. Ever since Cloud had lost that honey glaze to the Captain his life had been hell.
It had started with a promotion and the position of chief of joint guard operations. Now he had to be awake day and night so he could co-ordinate between both elements of the royal guard. He tried to do it all at the turn of the day, but that still frequently left him overtired.
That was why he’d agreed to this game. If he could beat Shining Armour, Captain of Celestia’s personal detail then he’d get his old cushy job back working Luna’s bedroom door.
What he hadn’t expected was him to bring his sister along, and for her to bring her pink friend.
Third round, Armour was east wind. Cloud was looking to make a moderate hand, he was already a few points high and simply needed to keep on top.
“You ready to play yet Cap’n?” The wall had been made already, all they were waiting on was Shining Armour’s first discard.
“Sure, you ready Twily? Pinkie?”
Twilight nodded while the energetic Pinkie bobbed up and down enthusiastically.
It was a quick round, Pinkie won with three concealed Pungs and a Kong. Cloud had barely made half the points the pink mare had that round. This wasn’t looking good at all.
“This game’s fun!” Pinkie was beaming from ear to ear. “Winning’s so easy!”
Shining Armour was smiling softly while Twilight wore a slight frown.
“Easy, right....” The purple unicorn didn’t sound like she believed it. The Captain’s sister had come rock bottom and had ended up paying the most to the other players. For a pony so used to being the best at games of strategy and tactics it galled her to do so poorly.
Nine rounds later, even Shining Armour couldn’t manage to maintain his joyful demeanour. Pinkie was cleaning house and Twilight had barely a hooffull of points left, making this the last play.
There was only a few tiles left and it was Twilight’s turn to start.
“Um, I think...I’ll discard the five of bamboo...” Twilight was understandably hesitant to place the tile down, there had been a theme throughout this game.
“Pung.” Shining Armour grinned as he took the tile. She sighed, nearly every tile she put down had been taken by another player. This ill luck had been the cause for her haemorrhaging points over the course of the game.
The Captain placed down his own discard before turning to the mare on his right. Pinkie Pie was still beaming as she picked up her own tile, humming a jaunty tune the whole time.
Cloud and Shining both winced. That was a bad sign.
Cloud looked down at his own hand. A hidden Pung, a good start. With any luck he could Kong and use the loose tile to make up any of his other two pairs into their own Pungs.
Taking a tile in hoof he decided he didn’t want it, placing the four of characters down on the table. When no one took it, the game went around again.
A few turns later there was an ecstatic cry and three simultaneous moans. Pinkie had gone out again. Thirteen odd majors, a special max score hand.
“How does she do it?” The night guard was stunned. This Pink mare seemed magical, despite being an earth pony. Coming up with hand after high scoring hand had to be impossible.
The Captain and his sister seemed equally stumped. Twilight simply placed her head in her hooves, Shining Armour knocked back his third drink.
“Well Cloud, looks like we both lose.”
Cloud Storm nodded, “So it would seem. So no going back to door duty for me.” He sighed glumly, “At least I don’t have to take another promotion.”
“About that,” The Captain had started grinning, that’s not a good sign. “As I recall, our agreement was if you won, you got to go back to working the bedposts,”
“Doorposts!” Cloud hastily amended. He did not want the wrong idea to start spreading in a place densely packed with colleagues, not that he would turn her down if asked though...
“Whatever, if you won you got your old job, and if you lost you had to take the promotion.”
Cloud nodded slowly, not sure where this was going.
“Well, you lost. So congratulations!” Shining Armour was grinning so widely now you wouldn’t believe that the six times guard tournament champion had just been quite seriously drubbed by a first timer.
“I don’t understand....we both lost!?” The night watchpony couldn’t believe it.
“We never agreed I had to win.” Now he was laughing. Pinkie was laughing too, but that was probably just to join in.
“Oh buck...” That wasn’t fair. The Captain had effectively set him up three on one!
“Yeup,” Now the Captain was right in his face, “Sucks to be caught out by a technicality doesn’t it?”
Cloud facehoofed. The Captain was never going to forgive him for picking on the newbie was he?
“Nope. Enjoy your new post Cloud Storm, the train leaves for Everfree in the morning.”
