Graf motioned for the dealer to start the game, both him and Solitaire grabbing chips equal to the amount they were playing. Solitaire had managed to convince Graf into playing on a more equal playing field, five hundred bits in chips each. Sure, she could probably wipe the floor with him in one turn and would make it easier to get the info she needed. Of course, she needed to make fully sure that no matter what happened none of the “ponies” around her tried to stop her in any way.

She knew one thing already, there was going to be something wrong with their drinks. Solitaire knew foul play like the back of her hoof. Over the years she’s had countless games were the pony she has played against was cheating, and they still never won. Cheaters never prosper, those are words she learned to live by in a business full of them.

That bartender acted too quickly when Graf had requested two drinks. He was right in the middle of something at the time, the pony he had been taking the order for outrage and left without so much as a word. Any good bartender knew that this was unacceptable, she had been at way too many places like this to know that wasn’t right. It was very clear to her that, wherever the real one was, he wouldn’t probably be showing up tonight. Still, she had to focus on the game in front of her, that was important as well.

The cards had already been dealt out by the dealer, and Solitaire knew that she couldn’t spend her entire time focusing on a single sketchy bartender. She looked at them, not showing anything on her face as she put them back down. She noted in the back of her head the cards she had: two of diamonds and an ace of hearts. Not the best hand she could have hoped for, but she could manage with it. She had already put five bits out because of the small blind, and because she didn’t want to start the game with a fold she put in five more. She had already paid some, might as well keep it up. Graf, having the big blind, had no choice but to check, and knocked on the table to show it.

She watched as the flop happened in front of her, a card would be put off to the side and three more would put down in the middle of the table face up. She knew the odds she had and made a system for how the cards would play. If the cards played in her favor with a good flop, she would raise and try to obtain an early lead of Graf. If they somewhat worked for her then she would only call or check depending on the situation, folding if Graf raised it to high. If it didn’t, as much as she hated to admit it, she would fold. That has never happened before, and she never planned on letting it happen.

The three cards were placed down on the table with gentle hooves. Solitaire looked on, not showing the slight approval of the flop that had taken place. This flop had consisted of a deuce of spades, a seven of clubs, and a jack of diamonds. Definitely not the best flop she had ever seen, but considering she had a pair it was still worth some risk. It was a pair of deuces, which really didn’t make her feel comfortable, but she didn’t show it. Instead she merely knocking on the table to show she was checking. Graf did the same, obviously both of them had wished for a better flop.

Solitaire wasn’t much for bluffing, but if things got serious she may have to in order to make Graf second guess his action. It wasn’t something she really wanted this game to come down to. A good game of poker to her was a game where your biggest ally was lady luck and you folded and played when you needed to. Bluffing was usually easy to see from what Solitaire had found, they would usually raise the chips to extremely high rates, something that was stupid in itself. If she was to raise, she would need a good enough hand in order to make it through, and even then it was risky. Still better than calling all the time though, she hated that.

The turn flipped over and this time she was met with a seven of hearts. This was more promising to her, two pairs. Now was the time to go ahead and bet, which she proudly did raising the chips up to ten bits. It was still a low ranking hand but it was at least more promising than before. Graf had called to her, putting in the same number of chips. Clearly he wasn’t taking any risk at the moment, something that surprised her. His whispering showed that Twilight was correct, but he seemed to not care about whether or not Chrysallis succeeded.

She was distracted as the river was played, hearing the sound of voices in the door leading into the back area. One sounded normal, probably the bartender for what she knew, but the other sounded… distorted. It was like a short ranged echo, or at least that was the best simile she could come up with. It seemed discomforting listening to it, but she couldn’t make out the words over some drunk hooligan singing “Winter Wrap up” absurdly bad in the background. It was like listening to wedding music, she couldn’t stand it.

She just barely heard a “ahem” come from Graf, and Solitaire looked to see he had raised to ten bits like she had before. She looked at the river card, seeing it was a five of clubs. This was not one of her best hands, calling only cemented that. She placed her cards down on the table face up, Graf doing the same. He had a king of clubs and a three of spades. She had won the round, but only because of the pair of sevens on the board.

This is definitely going to be an interesting game Solitaire used her magic through her hoof, something she prefered to do rather than use her horn, and brought the sixty bits over to her side. Don’t know why he played that, even with the sevens in the center it was a bad hand. However, she wasn’t complaining, every bit he lost brought her closer to victory.

The dealer took the cards and Solitaire watched as the “bartender” came out with two bottles of hard cider. Graf was too busy reassuring the Pegasus named Blue Jay to notice a weird green color in the drink. She wasn’t going to let a drink be the end of her, and Graf as well. She took the drinks and the bartender disappeared back into the kitchen.

While Graf was still distracted, she concentrated her magic into her hooves, which contained the cups of cider. Her hooves glowed faintly, the magic balanced between them to avoid any spell backfire. She watched as the cider boiled, and the green tint it had faded away. It was a rather simply spell, used to destroy any venom and poison within a pony's body. That being said, it also worked on things other than a pony’s, as the poison in the drinks vanished leaving only pure cider.

She was correct, there was changelings all around her. She looked at the bartender to see him taking a pony’s order, acting like nothing ever happened. This wasn’t the first time someone had tried to poison her, but she hoped it was the last. All the ponies that had been staring at her seemed to know she was suspicious of them. No doubt they would try even more disparate actions to try and stop her. She had to be prepared for every situation they would probably throw at her.

Luna guide me She said to herself, closing her eyes as if she was praying. I want to help your sister so much, please don’t let me down now.

“Your drink arrived Graf,” Solitaire yelled from across the table, sliding one of the cups of cider over to him.

He caught It right before it would have fallen of the table, and lifted it to his beak. Solitaire watched him carefully, not wanting to take any chances that all the poison had been evaporated. Graf put down the cup, and after a couple of seconds Solitaire was confident enough to drink some of her own.

Using her magic, which was still mainly contained in her hooves, she guided the cup to her muzzle and started drinking. She had to admit, if the changeling disguised as the bartender meant to kill them, at least the taste of the drink would have been delightful. That being said, she had no intention of dying tonight, and hopefully no intention of Graf dying as well.

The dealer passed out the next hand to the two, this time Solitaire on the big blind and Graf on the small blind. Solitaires hand wasn’t great, but she saw it as better than her previous one. She was already set up with a pair, two threes in the suits of hearts and spades. With Graf putting down five bits in chips, Solitaire simply check. It was still not certain that she would win, a pair of three's was in no way a great hand.

She watched the flop with disappointment, see a underwhelming group of cards. Five of diamonds, jack of hearts, and a seven of clubs. It was not a good group of cards, small growl of anger escaped Solitaire’s mouth. She didn’t bother to hide it, Graf probably already had a better hand then her. She didn’t need to waste any more money if she was going to end up losing, and decided to fold.

This night might be longer than I want with cards like this Solitaire said to herself. I just hope I survive.

Author's Note

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