[2] The Setup

>Day cardgames in Equestria
>You are Celestia, and you're currently in the royal banquet hall, making room for your poker game later today
>The massive table that usually sat in the middle of the room had been sunk into the floor, meshing seamlessly with it
>Your favourite poker table had been poofed into the room in its place
>Made of four thousand year old oak, of a tree you personally grew, and magically preserved
>Its surface was coated in the finest baize available, and it was a perfect match to your coat
>And right in the middle was your cutie mark, stretching the width of the table
>Just as you were getting out the numerous decks of cards from a hidden compartment, Luna popped into the room
>"Tia! What are you doing?! Do you not remember the last time you played poker?!"
>...and scared the Tartarus out of you, sending cards flying everywhere
>You sigh, and start to pick up the four decks worth of cards with your magic, sorting them slowly
"Luna, how many times have I told you not to sneak up one me like that?"
>"Sister, how can you be so nonchalant about this? I spent two weeks convincing Dusky to give back the west wing. And don't even forget the two months I spent getting Equestria back out of debt after you lost THE ENTIRE TREASURY to the griffin king!"
>Oh, right
>About two thousand years back, you had a game of Trotsas Hold 'Em with the king of the griffins
>And, as usual, you had gotten drunk some time during the game
>When you were drunk, you tend to make rather outrageous bets
>Like the west wing of the castle, or the treasury's entire stock of gold
>You were Celestia, and when you went 'all in', you bucking meant it
>Before you could come up with a reply to Luna, she turned and quickly made her way out of the room, muttering something about 'hiding the treasury'
>Letting out a sigh, you place the four re-sorted decks on the table, and poof up eight of the royal gaming stools
>Only four were playing, but it was always worth being prepared
>You, Anon, battle brot- you mean your faithful student Twilight Sparkle, and the 2IC of the night guard.
>Major Whirling Maelstrom was who you were worried about during this game
>Members of the night guard were notoriously good poker players, and Whirly was no exception
>Breaking you from your chain of thought was a scroll from Anon
>You could tell it was from him because the scroll was slightly damp with the 'ink' he used, and smelled faintly of rage
>How you knew what rage smelled like was beyond you, but you had been picking up all sorts of little things like that from him
>Even your sense of fashion had been altered, for the better you thought
>Splotches of red tastefully splattered by Anon were all over your coat, and he had made some beautiful jewelery out of bone that sat seamlessly within your regalia
>You also had what Anon called a 'chain axe' strapped to your side
>You would never use it, but it was the thought that counted
>Although, it did make a rather nice 'vrrrr' sound when on...
>His style reminded you of the little bit of chaos from when you dated ol' Dissy
>Back before he went over the top
>You didn't really have too much of an issue with chaos, after all it was the opposite of harmony, and both working together was what kept everything running
>Chaos was after all, in its most basic form, change
>You wouldn't mention that around Anon, though
>From what you could tell, he wasn't too much of a fan of Tzeentch
>Speaking of him, you should give him an inter-planar call later today before the game
>Get some poker tips
>You're sure has has some tricks that don't involve mutating your guests
>Anyways, you have a letter to read

DEAR WARMASTER CELESTIA

I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND, BUT BATTLE BROTHER TWILIGHT WISHES TO BRING ALONG HER BEAST OF KHORNE.
I WILL ALSO BE BRINGING A BEVERAGE FROM MY WORLD THAT I HAVE MANAGED TO RECREATE.
THOSE SPACE WOLVES MAY HAVE BEEN RAGING FURRIES, BUT IF THEY KNEW ONE THING, IT WAS HOW TO MAKE KHORNE DAMNED ALE.

SEE YOU SOON

YOUR CHAMPION ANON

>There was going to be ale
>And Spike was coming
>Well, good thing you put out those extra stools
>And that Luna was already running damage control
>Things couldn't go too badly
>Right?
>...Right?