Discord After Dark

Caelum looked down at the cards he had been dealt and broke out in a cold sweat. 'No way. I... I was so sure I would...' he thought.

"Yippee! Looks like my lucky rabbit foot paid off after all." Discord shouted gleefully, raising a third lower limb that had magically appeared and showed off a twitching rabbit's leg.

Caelum's eyes immediately locked on to the pile of bits that were in the middle of the table. The other two guards at the table didn't look too happy about losing their bits, but Caelum had lost more than a few hours pay. No, what he just lost would have him fired for sure.

Or sent to the moon.

Or sun.

Or both.

One of the other guards leaned towards the poor pony and hissed an obvious warning. "You know Princess Luna's going to have your flank for this, right?" Auriga whispered to Caelum.

Caelum gulped as he watched as Discord picked up the key that was sitting on top of the pile of bits. A wicked grin was plastered on the Lord of Chaos' face as he ignored the bits and admired the bluish-black key now in one claw, causing Caelum's face to pale. Discord noticed the nervous look on the loser's face and adopted a concerned look of his own.

"Oh, fret not my poor pony. You were so close indeed. Who would have thought that your straight flush would have lost to MY straight flush by just one number? Just poor luck I suppose." he taunted.

Caelum's gaze lowered back to the table, first looking at his straight flush before looking at Discord's own. He had been so sure that he would win this final round, but he didn't have the bits that Discord had been reluctant to put forward. Payday wasn't for another week and his buddies were tired of lending the gambling addicted guard their own bits, leaving him left with only two options; walk away a poor stallion, or risk the key to Luna's bedchamber that he had sworn to protect with his life.

He looked to Auriga for help but the senior guard had already collected his bits and had gotten up to leave. Catching the helpless look of the newer elite guard, Auriga simply shrugged indifferently before leaving with the other guard.

Discord teleported over next to Caelum and placed a 'reassuring' paw on his shoulder. "Oh, chin up, my gloomy guard. It's not like you just spent the past year or so training to be one of Princess Luna's elite guards and just lost one of the most important responsibilities of your entire life and career. Oh, maybe you just did. Yup, definitely just did." he said none-too-helpfully while twirling his newest prize around.

Caelum immediately began groveling in front of Discord. "Please, you have to give that back, I can't lose that! Princess Luna would have me banished to Tartarus knows where if she found out! I'll buy it back, I'll have the bits for you next week!" he panicked.

Discord shook his head before magically placing all his winning bits into a sack. "Sorry, chum, but a deal's a deal. Maybe you can win it back at next week's game." he offered.

Seeing his new career already over, Caelum collapsed on the cold stone floor, his mind unable to help but think of the shame he had just brought upon himself and his entire family. His father, a retired lieutenant, would surely disown him immediately. Well, that was assuming the princesses didn't just erase him from history. Past guards had died protecting access to the princesses private quarters throughout time and had been honored for their sacrifice, but here was the first pony ever to lose on willingly.

In a game of poker, no less.

Just as he was about to leave the room, Discord's eyes lit up momentarily before he adopted a look of concern and turned back to Caelum. "Now, now, don't look so glum, chum. I've had a change of heart after all. The power of, um, friendship and all that whatnot. I'll give you back the key if you'd like." he offered, holding out the key.

The poor guard's eyes lit up like a thousand suns and smiled broadly. 'I'm saved!' he thought happily, but when he reached out a hoof his expression changed to surprise when Discord pulled the key back.

"Well, not quite. I'll let you earn it back. That sounds fair, right?" he said, dropping the key into a pocket that somehow appeared on his hip.

Caelum gulped, unsure of what was in store for him. "B-but I need that for my shift tomorrow." he said nervously.

Discord smiled. "Perfect, because you'll earn it back tonight. Meet me outside Luna's chamber tonight at midnight. Don't be late" he cackled before disappearing into thin air.

Caelum collapsed onto the floor once more. 'Dear Celestia, is he going to turn me in to Princess Luna?!' he thought in a panic. He soon managed to calm himself after figuring that Luna would surely banish Discord as well, and after his latest stunt of turning certain staircases into slides under numerous ponies, Discord would want to avoid any unwanted attention as much as possible himself. Caelum stood up and glanced once more at the cards still on the table before swiping them off the tabletop with a pass of his wing, causing all 52 cards to end up strewn all over the floor. Causing the docile mess made Caelum feel a bit better, but not much. Still, it worried Caelum greatly that he would have to 'earn' back the key later tonight.

Nopony 'earned' anything from Discord very easily.

With nothing else but to wait until midnight, Caelum left the room and shut the door behind him. It was unfortunate that he didn't stick around for a few more seconds and clean up the mess of cards that he made. Had he stayed just a little longer, he would have seen five of the cards begin to fizzle and reveal the real suits and numbers appear from under a layer of magic ink.