Author's Note
Single ' are thoughts. It makes it composed a little oddly but I think it flows better.
Winner Take All
The five girls all sat in a circle. Sunset Shimmer peaked at her two cards and nodded, keeping her face completely blank as she nodded and pushing a few chips into the pot. Rainbow Dash, with her shades to hide her eyes, checked her cards and pushed a few more chips in. Applejack took a moment to hide her face with her hat as she checked her cards, but came back up with a blank face and pushed in her own chips, she was small blind so didn't need to put in as much as Rainbow Dash or Sunset Shimmer. Rarity smiled while looking at her own cards, at first everyone had assumed that was a tell, but actually, Rarity always smiled at her cards, even when they were a two and a seven. She was big blind and didn't need to bet so she just checked.
Pinkie bounced as she set out the three next cards, she enjoyed being a part of the game the entire time! So she got to be the dealer, so she couldn't go out by losing bets. Fluttershy was busy playing with Spike she hadn't wanted to play as Rainbow Dash, and to a lesser extent, Sunset Shimmer wanted to play for money. Twilight was busy observing her friends and making notes on a clipboard. Whenever someone invited her to play she just mumbled something about science and went back to scribbling on her clipboard. They had all been surprised when Rarity agreed to play for money, when she arrived late Rainbow Dash had asked if she was in for twenty dollars and Rarity had said, "oh, of course, darling! I'll be happy to help." And handed Rainbow Dash the $20.
Sunset Shimmer kept from licking her lips through sheer force of will. 'Oh, they wish they had a hand as good as mine I bet! They don't stand a chance. Though Rarity is strangely good at this game, maybe there's more to that pretty girl than meets the eye... Dang, it Sunset! You're going to lose this game if you keep thinking about that girl's cute little butt and... Dang it Sunset, focus!' Sunset gave Rarity an appraising gaze who smiled back at her, giving her a little wave. Sunset smiled back at her friend. 'Oh, don't think you can just wave at me to throw me off, you little minx! I'm stronger than that!' Sunset pushed in a small pile of blue chips, totaling a worth of $2.50. "Raise."
Rainbow Dash looked cooly down at her cards, giving nothing away to her friends. 'Crap! Crap crap crap! Why am I getting no good cards!? That was my money to buy the new Daring Do book! If I don't win it back I'll have to wait a whole week for it! Or borrow the money from Rarity, and I'm not borrowing money from Rarity!... Oh, who are you kidding Rainbow Dash if it's borrow money from Rarity or wait a week you'll borrow the money. But I can avoid that by winning!... Though Sunset did just bet a good bit...' Rainbow Dash glared at her current poker rival and tried to read her thoughts. 'Great, I never thought I'd be jealous of Sunset's power over awesome speed! Well, she can't do it without touching anyway so... I guess not.' Rainbow Dash leaned back in her chair, smiling unconcernedly. "Raise." Rainbow Dash pushed in her stack of ten blue chips and her five red chips for a total of $7.50. "Raise."
Applejack scowled at her friend. Applejack wasn't nearly as good at keeping a poker face on her face than the others. Though her's usually had more to do with the other's bets and not by default her own cards. 'Dang it Rainbow Dash, when I have a good hand you immediately push the envelope competing with Sunset Shimmer and bet big, now I dunno if I should keep playing or not! I mean my hands good, but is it that good, or is yours better? Or are you just being over competitive and now you've completely thrown off my plan!... Well, two can play that game Rainbo... No, no Applejack, you have to play smarter than her, don't play her game.' Applejack pushed in seven red chips and two blue. "Call."
Rarity hummed quietly to herself. 'Oh! It's my turn again! Hm... I have... The pretty diamond card and the queen diamond card, how lucky for me! Now...' Rarity looked over the cards that had been put out in front of Pinkie. 'There's my card's husband, their arrogant rival king from the spades, and their son jack. Well, that's quite the happy little family for my hand!... Now if only I knew how to play this game...' Rarity looked over to the piles of chips that Rainbow Dash and Applejack has pushed in. 'I don't have seven reds or ten blues... But... Ok, what was it that Twilight taught you, darling?... Hm... Carry the... Solve for X... And... AHA!' Rarity pushed in her six reds and six blues. "Call." Sunset pushed in a few more chips without even bothering to say anything, and Pinkie flipped over the next card.
Rainbow managed, just barely, to stay stonefaced. 'Dang it! What is wrong with these girls!? Can't they just like, guess that my hand is more awesome than their and fold!?... I could fold... Oh but that's boring! I mean... What else are they gonna do, call me again!? Nah, the wouldn't dare call me again! I am Rainbow Dash, they know they won't stand a chance!' Rainbow Dash pushed in a small pile of her chips, her black chip worth $5 with them, totally to another $7.50, most the money for everyone, though it wasn't quite enough to demand all in from anyone except for Sunset Shimmer, who received a grin from Rainbow Dash. "Time to separate the girls from the women! Raise."
Applejack rolled her eyes. 'You don't have to speed through everything Rainbow Dash! Consarnit, but I'm not letting you beat me! Now Applejack, I thought we said we were going to play smart not... Oh, shut up brain! You do what I tell you and put those chips in the pot! Fine, fine, but you'll regret not listening to me lat... I said shut up!" Applejack pushed a small stack of her own chips in. "Call."
Rarity tilted her head, trying to calculate what she was supposed to put in next. 'Goodness this game makes no sense, I mean we get cards then depending on where we are we put in these little disks... I wonder what these little disks represent anyway? Points? They're probably points. But then our cards decide how many more points we take out at the end of the round? Well, darling, just keep doing what AJ is doing, it's been working so far.' Rarity pushed a small pile of her own chips in. "Call."
Sunset Shimmer shot a dirty look at Rainbow Dash who grinned back at her. 'Yeah, grin now you lummox, I bet you won't be grinning when you see what my hand has in store for you!' Sunset Shimmer pushed all her chips into the middle. "All in. Woman that Rainbow Dash." Rarity watched on in baffled amusement as the other three girls split up all the chips, setting most of them off to the side but leaving a few in the middle, she knew that now Sunset couldn't take part in the disk part of the game but she still might take some disks at the end, but from the side pile not from the main pile they were still using.
As Pinkie flipped over the last of the cards Rainbow Dash smiled, well, this was a pretty good hand for her. 'Man I hope that Applejack didn't get something good!... Or Rarity. Sunset's obviously bluffing. Well, I can probably scare off one of them so...' Rainbow Dash pushed her entire remaining pile in. "All in."
Applejack smirked at Rainbow Dash. 'Well well well miss Dash, you done gone and misstepped there! This game is mine now, hah! Poor girl. I might have to buy you that Daring Do book just so you don't mope all week about losing the poker game. I will, of course, expect some... Compensation for such a selfless act." Applejack pushed her chips in. "All in."
Rarity pushed her own small pile of chips into the big one. "All in." She examined the massive pile of chips. 'Goodness, that sure is a lot of disks, I guess whoever gets the most points this round will probably be the winner? Or we might split it up for different players like before... Too bad we're not playing Rummy again, this would be a good Rummy hand.'
Applejack smirked at Rainbow Dash. "I called ya speedy, whatcha got?"
Rainbow Dash grinned and set down her hand. "Flush, king high." The triumph in Rainbow Dash's voice faltered as she saw that Applejack had already laid down her own hand, groaning as she looked at the smug farmer. "Full house? Really AJ?"
"Aha!" Applejack's retort was cut off by Sunset Shimmer slamming down her hand and grinning. "Four kings! I win!" Rarity smiled at Sunset. Sunset herself smiled back when Rarity did that little bouncing small clapping thing she did. 'She's adorable... Maybe I should ask her out and take her to that fancy restaurant she likes? I have the cash now...'
"Hold yer horses there Sunset, ya skipped Rarity." Applejack was smiling, at least she hadn't lost to Rainbow Dash. And while Rarity wasn't going to have a better hand she still got to show it.
"Oh! Right! Sorry Rarity." Sunset was a little chagrinned, but she was just so excited to wipe that smug look off Rainbow Dash's face when she got beaten twice.
"Oh don't worry about it, darling." She turned over her two cards. "A run. I wish this was Rummy." All the girls stared at Rarity, she had just flipped over the ace and queen of diamonds, giving her ten, jack, queen, king, ace of diamonds, a royal flush. Sunset groaned loudly and Rarity looked confused. "Uh... Did I win?" All three of her opponents growled in annoyance. Rarity had asked a question along the same lines every time someone hadn't declared themselves the winner.
"You know Rarity, it's one thing to win, it's another to rub it in like that! That's just bad sportsmanship!" Rainbow Dash huffed, she admitted half her annoyance was from not being able to get Daring Do, the other half was from Rarity being a bit of a jerk.
"Yeah sugar cube, could ya be a bit nicer about it? Ya know you're winning don't pretend to ask." Applejack let out a sigh, she was a bit more gentle about it but she too was annoyed at their fashionable friend.
Sunset was too busy suckling to admonish Rarity. 'The best hand I've ever gotten in poker and Rarity comes in with a royal flush, the little... Princess... Yeah, I bet she just would love to spend that money on herself get herself some makeup while the rest of us are out money so she can pamper herself and flirt with all the boys when she should be flirting with me..."
Rarity blushed brightly and bit her bottom lip, she didn't know if this was going to make the others angrier but... "Uh... I'm sorry girls but... Er... ... I don't know how to play poker..."
The rest of them stared at her for a moment then Applejack scowled. "Ok Rarity, lyin' is worse than gloatin' ya know."
Rainbow Dash made a small unsure sound. "Uh... I dunno Applejack, could ya really see Rarity playing poker with anyone else?"
It was Applejack's turn to make an unsure sound. "I mean... Maybe... But... I mean she won Rainbow Dash, that kinda dumb luck doesn't just happen!"
Rarity raised her eyebrow and snapped her fingers, a large diamond appearing in mid-air. "The kind of dumb luck like finding out that you have magical powers from another dimension?" She snapped her fingers again and it disappeared.
"Ya have a point there sugar cube but still..." Applejack didn't like not believing her friend but it was just so unlikely...
"Hey, why don't we have Sunset check her?" Rainbow Dash grinned, very proud of her idea now that Rarity mentioned magic.
Rarity's eyes went wide. "N-Now darlings that seems a bit uncalled for!" At the sound of her name, Sunset had started paying attention again and played back the conversation she'd heard in her mind quickly to catch up.
"You know that sounds like you're avoiding the truth." Sunset smiled, she didn't actually think that Rarity was lying, but she wasn't completely sure that she wasn't, especially now, she was obviously hiding something.
Rarity groaned and sighed. "Fiiiiiiine! If you're all such brutes you won't believe me fine." She pointed a finger accusingly at Sunset. "But only the poker game!"
Sunset snickered. "Oh, have a new crush you don't want me finding out about?" Sunset was a good poker player, only mild amusement showed on her face. 'Damn it! Damn it damn it damn it! I'm gonna find out who this bastard is and I'm going to bury him so deep that no one will find the bones until they're oil!'
Rarity blushed brightly and shook her head. "Of course not darling! Now focus on the poker game!" They all snickered, except Sunset Shimmer. Rarity went through a new crush about once a week, and she was always so secretive about it, until she either, and hopefully got over it, or broke down over it because she found out he/she had a boyfriend/girlfriend.
Rainbow Dash grinned. "Come on Rarity, you just focus on the poker game." Rarity smiled, giving Rainbow Dash a thankful look for her encouraging words, that was until Rainbow Dash continued. "Don't think about their name, how cute they are, how much you want them to sweep you off your... OW!" Rainbow Dash glared over at Applejack who had kicked her under the table, but she did fall silent, so it had worked.
Rarity sighed and stuck out her arm and Sunset reached up, gently touching Rarity's arm, despite their honest best efforts neither Rarity or Sunset could stop thinking about Rarity's new crush. 'What are these disks anyway...? Just do what Applejack does... Why does she keep staring at me? She knows!... Carry the... Calm down Rarity she can't read your mind!... That's a lot of little disks... At least she can't at range, and it's not like you'll be touching tonight. Or kissing. Dang it Rarity stop thinking about it!... Solve for X... Sunset! Stop staring you're going to make me blush more than my makeup can hide!... This would be a good rummy hand.'
Sunset dropped her hand from Rarity's, that was some information that she had... Not purposely sought, she tried to respect her friend's wishes, but it certainly wasn't going to go to waste... But first, that was pretty hilarious. Sunset burst out laughing and grinned, nodding at the other two. "Yeah, she had no idea what she was going, she as just imitating you Applejack!"
The entire group burst out laughing and Rarity frowned. "Well that's all very amusing girls, but perhaps you could help me with something then?" They looked up at her and she held up a chip. "What are these?" Another round of laughter as Rainbow Dash beat the table with her fist.
"They're the money Rarity! You won the $80!" Rainbow Dash wasn't even sour about losing anymore, this was just too funny to be upset during.
"That's what the $20 was for?" Rarity snickered to herself as the rest nodded.
"Well yeah, sugar cube. What did you think it was for?" Applejack was completely baffled. "Rainbow Dash doesn't just go around asking her friends for money."
Rarity flicked a hand at the empty pizza boxes in the corner. "I thought it was my turn to pay for the pizza." Another round of uproarious laughter followed that statement.
After a fun evening and clean up was done Sunset let out a contented sigh as he saw her friends off, smiling as she waved at them. 'Sure is... Convenient that Rarity lost her purse isn't it? If by lost Sunset you mean you hid it, then yes. Oh stop judging me brain you want this too... Fine, but don't screw this up or I'm going to make us sick.'
Rarity had eventually found it, walking towards Sunset and the door. "It must have fallen over and gotten kicked under your couch darling."
Sunset smiled. "Ahh, glad you found it, but you know you were actually wrong Rarity."
"Actually wrong? Someone didn't kick it under the couch?"
"Oh no, I wasn't talking about that."
"What were you talking about then darling?"
"This." Sunset reached up quickly and pulled Rarity into a deep kiss, pressing the slightly smaller girl down and back, causing her to bend her back ever so slightly as Sunset took her by the waist and started to dip her long-awaited new girlfriend. Sunset knew Rarity was a sucker for those romantic movies where this kind of thing happened so it could only score bonus points. Whenever Sunset actually let Rarity come up for air.
