The next morning, Spike and the girls reported to Discord in the staff locker room and he gave them their evaluations.

“Are you all zombies?! Did I accidently hire extras from The Trotting Dead?!” he yelled. “Pinkie Pie, six; Fluttershy, seven; Applejack, nine; Twilight, one; Rarity, three; Starlight, two; Sunset, eight; Spike, ten out of ten, very nice; and Rainbow Dash, five.”

“YEAAAAAAH!” Spike cried. “I beat you!” he told Dash.

“No fair!” she shouted. “There was a rock band on my floor! They had a pig roast in the room!”

“Ten out of ten! Oh, yeah! I am the King of the Staff Evaluations!”

“I have to say, it’s encouraging to see how seriously you’re taking guest feedback,” Discord told him.

“I’m not,” Spike replied. “I just like to kick her butt.”

“I have two other things to say, so let me be clear,” Discord went on. “This is not summer camp and I am not your counselor. And Twilight, what the Tartarus happened last night?”

“What?” she asked.

“On three separate occasions, you lost five grand to a bunch of whiz kids from Canterlot, but you kept dealing anyway,” he said. “You know what’s worse than a loser? Someone who won’t admit that she played the game wrong! I don’t care what happened, but I never want to see it happen again. All right, that’s enough. You’re already late! Come on! Out, out, out!”

“You know, Dash,” Spike said as they exited the staff locker room, “you act tough, but when the chips are down--”

“That’s it!” she shouted. “I challenge you to a game of pairs! Right now! Unless you’re scared of getting your butt kicked by a girl...”

“Two words: Bring! It!”

“You know you’ll get a strike,”

“Ha! I laugh in the face of strikes!”

“Then let’s do this!”

“Fine by me!”

“Oh, it is so on!”

Starlight Glimmer reported to the Café. Her father was having breakfast with Sunburst and Stellar Flare and Starlight immediately started kissing up to her dad.

“Do you think I’m ready to come back to the penthouse now?” she asked.

“I’m still not convinced,” Firelight replied.

“So, I take it you saw the evaluation I got?”

“Mm-hmm,”

“Even after I drove my customer to the hospital and stayed with her while she waited for the burn specialist?” she asked.

“I was too focused on the comment, ‘This is the worst service I have ever had!’” he said. “She had written that before you spilled the soup on her. I’m not letting you back into the penthouse until I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an Amateur Antiquers’ Convention to arrange.”

“Why?”

“To bring in more tourists,” he answered. “Why? You don’t think it’s a good idea?”

“No, I do not,” Starlight said. “That is not going to bring in extra guests -- at least, not cute ones.”

“Why don’t you let Starlight try to come up with something a bit more... fresh?” Stellar Flare suggested to Firelight. “I’ve got your back, honey,” she added to Starlight in a whisper.

“Fine,” Firelight answered. “You have until noon to think of something.”

“You won’t be sorry,” Starlight said.

In cards, Pairs (also known as Concentration), wasn’t hard to play.

Several of the V.I.P. guests had gathered in the High Rollers’ Lounge to watch Spike and Rainbow Dash play. They were going to use two decks of playing cards, and because they were, they had to match both number and suit. There were going to be twice as many cards than usual, but for each card there was only one that matched. And if there was only one matching pair, the odds of picking them by pure chance was 1 to 104, which meant their only hope was to memorize which cards had already been flipped. And if they got a match, they kept going.

Spike wanted to bet something like $20 million, but he knew Rainbow Dash didn’t have that kind of money so he let her bet whatever she had. She reached into her maid’s apron and pulled out a roll of twenties—only three hundred dollars—and if she lost, it would come out of her paycheck and she would help do dishes in the kitchen for the next week.

“Ladies first,” Spike offered.

Dash flipped over the Four of Hearts and the Four of Diamonds. They shared the same number, but under the aforementioned rules it didn’t count as a match. Spike didn’t find a match on his first try either.

After finding a King of Diamonds, an Ace of Spades, and a Two of Hearts, Spike found the first pair: Four of Diamonds. Then he flipped the Seven of Diamonds and the King of Clubs—not a match.

Rainbow Dash remembered seeing the King of Clubs earlier, and found the other one. She then matched up the Two of Spades, the Queen of Clubs and the Six of Diamonds. After ten minutes of playing, Spike had 18 pairs to Dash’s 22.

“Maybe it’s just my imagination,” Haakim commented, “but it seems neither of them has messed up once.”

“What do you mean?” Amira asked.

“After they flipped over a card, they’ve been able to find its partner every single time,” he explained.

Spike then matched up the Five of Hearts.

“See?” Haakim told his wife.

“How can they remember every card that’s been flipped?” Amira asked.

It was a very close game. In terms of memory, Spike and Dash were almost equal. At this point, it was a contest of luck: who would be the first to flip a card they’d already seen. Spike had 36 pairs and Dash had 40, only 28 cards left. It was still too close to call. But things were about to get intense—the fewer cards left, the easier it would be to match them. Dash got five more matches in a row, putting her up to a ten card lead over Spike.

“Your turn,” she said after she missed. “Go ahead, take your best shot!”

Spike flipped over the remaining 18 cards, putting him at 54—over half the deck—and he won.

“Looks like Lady Luck was on your side,” Dash said as she held out her hand. “Good game, Spike.”

They smiled as they shook hands.

“Don’t take off your blindfolds,” Starlight instructed the girls and the Flimflam Brothers, who were standing on the curb outside the front door of the hotel with scarves across their eyes.

Starlight moved down the line to make sure none of them were peeking.

“What you are about to see are some of the most valuable pieces of history on the face of this planet,” she told them.

“Are these blindfolds really necessary?” asked Applejack.

“Of course, they’re necessary,” Starlight replied.

“Couldn’t you have just asked us to close our eyes?” Rarity complained.

“How could I be sure that you wouldn’t peek?”

“You know I wouldn’t,” Sunset gave her word.

“I feel like Somnambula!” Pinkie said with a giggle.

“I’m starting to see spots,” Fluttershy added.

“Okay. You may now remove your blindfolds,” Starlight told them.

“Well, it’s about time,” Rarity huffed as she undid her scarf. “My mascara was starting to smear.”

One by one, they removed their blindfolds to discover an immense truck and trailer filled with incredibly rare—and extremely valuable—artifacts. The words “The Pillars of Equestria Tour” were painted on both sides of the trailer.

“Guess who just poached these from Impossibly Rich,” Starlight told them.

“A better event and we’re sticking it to our biggest rival!” Flam exclaimed.

“We are really impressed,” Flim added.

“Thank you, sirs,” Starlight said.

Just then, an unmarked government vehicle pulled up to the hotel. The driver’s door opened and a young man in a sharp black suit and tie stepped out.

“Shining? Shining Armor!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Surprised to see me, Twily?” he asked with a smile.

Twilight’s older brother, Shining Armor had started out doing freelance surveillance work for the Equestria Bureau of Investigation’s mob squad. Now, he was a high ranking agent in the Equestria Secret Service.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“The people in charge of the Pillars of Equestria Tour asked me to help escort the artifacts across the country,” he explained. “I was already on my way to the branch office here in town, so I thought I would stop by. I mean, I couldn’t come to Las Pegasus and not see my favorite sister! Hey, how would you like to unload the artifacts?” he asked.

“Really?” Twilight asked. “We get to touch them?”

“I don’t see why not,” Shining said. “Just take good care of them. After all, they’re irreplaceable.”

“Yes. Yes! We’ll be super careful!” Twilight promised.

“Great,” Shining said as he looked at his pager. “I’ve got to get back to the office—got a hot tip that someone plans to hit a bank in the city. I love you.”

He returned to his car as Applejack opened the back of the trailer to reveal numerous items protected by glass cases.

“Somnambula’s blindfold... Commander Hurricane’s armor... Flash Magnus’s shield... Mage Meadowbrook’s mask... Princess Platinum’s crown...” Rarity said as she walked past each one. “It’s so beautiful!”

The girls oohed and ahhed over the items, even Applejack, who found herself staring at a shovel that stood on a thick marble column.

It appeared to be an everyday shovel, but even without closer inspection, she knew who it once belonged to.

“Rockhoof,” she whispered. “Legend says that this shovel diverted a river of lava and saved an entire village,” she informed them.

They all gasped as a large glass display case rose up through an opening in the floor of the trailer. A small portion of the trailer’s back wall spun around to reveal another marble pillar. The glass case slid along the floor and was hoisted by mechanical hands to the top of the pillar. The motor hummed for a minute more as the metal arms retreated back into the metal floor and the wall spun back into place. The girls looked into the heavy glass case and saw a worn, black leather tome on a red velvet pillow.

“No way!” Twilight murmured appreciatively.

Rarity’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.

“It’s just an old book,” she said.

“‘Just an old book?’” Twilight asked. “That’s Starswirl the Bearded’s journal! He’s my idol!”

Starswirl the Bearded, the legendary wizard, whose books and tomes were over a thousand years old—each worth over five million dollars.

Twilight fell to her hands and knees in reverence.

“I am not worthy!”

Since Starlight posted the artifact show online, reservations had tripled.

“We’re booked solid until Friday,” Coco said.

“I am so back in the penthouse!” Starlight thought.

“High five, girl!” Stellar Flare said.

“I have to hand it to you, Pumpkin -- you pulled it off,” Firelight admitted.

The artifacts had been set up in the ballroom, which did hinder Spike’s dance classes, but he didn’t mind... mostly because he was nowhere to be found.

“Have you seen Spike and Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked Rarity. “They are going to flip when they see these.”

“No,” she replied as she rubbed her shoulder (she had pulled a muscle helping carry the artifacts in from the trailer). “But I do know they both missed their morning shift.”

“They’re skipping work together?” Pinkie asked. She gasped. “They’re totally hooking up!”

“Calm down,” Rarity said. “All we know is that they are both M.I.A.”

“And probably off smooching somewhere,” Pinkie added.

Twilight stood in front of the case holding Starswirl the Bearded’s journal. Firelight joined her.

“As a scholar, myself, I would like to study it,” she said.

“I’m sorry, Miss Sparkle,” Firelight replied. “But the journal is too fragile. It can’t be exposed to open air or dust of any kind.”

“Applejack, watch the show for me?” Starlight asked. “You’re the best.”

When night fell, Rarity said good night and went straight to her room. She planned to lie awake all night, plotting a way to steal Princess Platinum’s crown. Unfortunately for her, she fell asleep almost immediately. One by one, the girls bid good night as well.

Later, the ballroom door opened and a figure clad in a violet bathrobe shuffled quietly across the floor to one of the glass cases. Carefully, she took a bobby pin from her hair, inserted it into the case, and picked the lock.

“Gently,” she told herself in a whisper.

With a gleeful cry, the thief snatched the artifact out of its case and hurried out of the ballroom.

“AH-OO-GA! AH-OO-GA!”

The burglar alarm blared its warning into every room of the hotel. It was three in the morning, but the whole building was instantly ablaze with light.

Pinkie Pie, still asleep herself, shouted, “You’ll get your coffee! Quit buzzing me!”

“AH-OO-GA! AH-OO-GA!” the siren continued to blare.

“Turn that thing off!” Starlight shouted, covering her ears with her pillow to block out the noise.

Flim and Flam knew what that alarm meant, and it wasn’t good. Clad in their bedroom slippers and bathrobes, they followed the warning signal to the ballroom. The door to it was wide open!

Shards of glass lay strewn over the floor from a shattered display case. And worst of all... the most valuable piece in the whole collection was gone!

“There’s been a robbery!” they both shouted.

A half hour later, Shining Armor stood in the ballroom taking notes.

Several officers from the Las Pegasus Police Department were rolling out yellow caution tape and keeping the guests out of the ballroom, while others were laying out evidence numbers, taking crime scene photos, and questioning the staff.

Spike and several of the girls stood shaken (from the alarm) and bleary-eyed. Pinkie shuffled around the ballroom, passing out mugs of thick black coffee (as well as a cup of cocoa for Spike) and spoons to stir them with. The coffee began to revive everyone and little by little their memories returned.

“That alarm ruined my beauty sleep,” Rarity, clothed in a pink silk robe and pink satin slippers, pouted.

“Can we hurry this up?” Sunset asked as she wrapped her bright red bathrobe around her body more tightly. “I’m getting a draft up my nightie.”

“Starlight, would you care to explain what happened to the book that was on display here?” Firelight asked.

“Starswirl’s journal is gone?!” she exclaimed.

She ran past half a dozen uniformed officers and saw that the glass lid was open and the book was not there.

“It was here when I left,” Starlight said. “I left Applejack in charge, so it’s not my fault.”

“This was your job!” Applejack shouted. “I left them because I had to pee.”

“Well, at least the artifacts are insured,” Rarity said. “You did buy insurance when you booked the show, right?” she asked Starlight.

“No one told me I had to do that!” she sobbed.

“If you can all stop blaming each other for one minute,” Spike interjected, “I think I have a pretty good idea where the journal is.”

“You do?!” everyone asked.

“Notice anyone missing?” Spike asked. “Follow me,” he said casually.

He led them up to a room on the third floor. He told Rainbow Dash to use her master key to unlock the door, and when it wouldn’t open, Shining Armor kicked it in.

“There you are!”

Minutes later, Twilight Sparkle stood in the Flimflam Brothers’ office. The Brothers and Shining Armor shared expressions of heavy disappointment.

“Twilight, why did you steal the journal?” Shining asked.

“I really wanted to read it,” she replied.

“Was it worth it?” Discord asked.

“I read the writings of one of the greatest heroes ever known,” she said. “Today was the best day of my life.”

“Step outside, please,” Flim said.

She closed the door behind herself.

Discord and the Brothers watched Shining Armor as he pace the floor. They were all very disconcerted, especially Starlight, who believed that Twilight had ruined her chance of getting out of her job and back into her penthouse.

“Well, what is everyone thinking?” Shining Armor began.

“Well, are we upset about what Miss Sparkle did?” Flim asked. “Yes.”

“Have we thought about ways of punishing her for the theft besides sending her to jail?” Flam added. “Yes.”

“Did one of us go online and look up poisons that can’t be detected in an autopsy?” Starlight put in.

They all stared at her.

“Who wouldn’t?” she quickly tacked on.

“We could just force feed her Chef le Grand’s meatloaf,” Pinkie suggested. “Or Sugar Belle’s worst batch of bran muffins.”

“But despite what happened, she is still one of our most valuable employees,” Discord said. “Logically, that fact has not changed.”

“What do you think?” Shining Armor directed at Spike.

Spike blinked, surprised that Twilight’s own brother wanted to know where he stood.

“Why are you asking me?”

“You’re the one who solved this mystery,” Shining said. “I think you should have a say in this.”

The Brothers agreed with him, and so did Discord and the girls.

“Well, I’m not thrilled about what happened, either,” Spike told them. “So here’s what I’m thinking: you obviously don’t want to throw her out, and she obviously won’t quit... So, why don’t I knock her down a few pegs?”

The Brothers, Discord, and Shining Armor all looked intrigued.

“Bring Twilight back in,” Spike said to Discord.

Discord did so.

“I challenge you to a game of Blackjack,” Spike said.

“The stakes?” Twilight asked.

“Twenty million dollars against your title as the Princess of Friendship,” Spike stated. “If you win, I pay you the money and you don’t go to jail. But if you lose, then you will be relegated to the lowest level of the resort’s hierarchy. The janitors will have more authority than you. Well what do you say, Sparkle?”

Twilight thought he was insane, but she said, “I accept your terms.”

“It’s an honor to play against you, O Soon-To-Be-Former Princess of Friendship,” he sardonically replied.

It was an hour before dawn when Spike, Shining Armor, Discord, the Flimflam Brothers, the girls, and several of the guests gathered in the main casino.

Spike ordered a drink as he adjusted his white gloves.

“Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred,” he said to Soarin.

Twilight broke open six new decks of playing cards and inserted them all into the dealing shoe.

She dealt Spike his first two cards—the Eight of Spades and the Eight of Diamonds—sixteen, and she showed the Five of Diamonds. He split the eights, and got the Jack of Hearts on the first one and the Ten of Diamonds on the second, and stayed. Twilight’s second card was the King of Clubs, for fifteen, and she busted with the Nine of Diamonds.

The second hand came out and he won with the Jack of Spades and the Ace of Spades—Blackjack—against her Queen of Hearts and Jack of Clubs.

“I’ve seen this before,” Fancy Pants whispered to Fleur. “Twilight’s aggressively controlling the game now.”

Twilight hit twice on thirteen—the Six of Clubs and the Seven of Spades—and got the Three of Hearts and the Three of Clubs for nineteen. Spike hit on fifteen—the Ten of Spades and the Five of Spades—and got the Five of Hearts for a twenty. She hit on eight—the Six of Spades and a Two of Diamonds—and got the Ten of Hearts, for eighteen. Spike got the Ten of Diamonds and the Nine of Clubs—Nineteen.

“I’ve got this game in the bag,” she thought. “Because of all the six decks that make up this shoe, I already know where half of them are.”

Aside from the pattern on the back, at a glance, the cards Twilight played with were indistinguishable from any other deck. But hers were a special kind she had specially made for her own personal use. There was one more thing that set them apart from the others: above a certain temperature, the pattern stood out. And for about two minutes, until the cards cooled down, the pattern was visible. It was a teeny change that vanished so no one would catch on. And after she cut the deck, she remembered what card was where. So there was no way she could ever lose... except against another card counter. That was the whole reason Twilight played cards: to raise the level of difficulty and protect against lucky plays. As long as she knew each card, she was guaranteed to win, whether it was Poker or Old Maid.

The cards came out and Spike drew a solid twenty against Twilight’s eight. He stood, won, and adjusted his count, analyzing the depth of the shoe, calculating his index and his bet without even blinking.

“By the way, Sparkle, I was wondering how high the total market value of this resort must be,” Spike said. “A hundred billion... no, maybe closer to a trillion... But this game is only worth $20 million. It hardly seems worth it.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked.

The white of Spike’s eyes started to darken.

“A word of advice: if you’re going to agree to put your very reputation on the line, you should insure that you’re sufficiently prepared,”

“What the Tartarus is he talking about? Is he threatening me? My reputation?” she thought. She gasped. “No! There’s no way he’s... He’s seen through my trick! If I were to be exposed for using trick decks, then... that scandal would run this place into the ground!”

Twilight started to think that Spike was a private investigator. If so, she was in bigger trouble than she thought; those guys worked for many casinos and they shared information on suspected cheaters and counters with pit bosses up and down the Strip.

Spike smiled at her.

“And almost everyone in this room has been helping you cheat,” he said. “Isn’t that right?”

Twilight gasped again.

As Spike looked around the room, he recognized the divisions of labor of a card counting team—and each team had three types of players: Spotters, Gorillas, and Big Players.

Everyone who joined a card counting team started off as a Spotter. The Spotters’ job was to find good tables with hot decks, then call in either a Gorilla or a Big Player. On most Blackjack teams, Spotters did that by back counting. They either stood around the casino, looking over players’ shoulders, counting the cards as they came out of the deck. Or they sat right at the tables, playing the minimum bet as they counted. They lost a bit, maybe got lucky—but they never varied their bets. When the count was good, the Spotter signaled a call-in. Then the Gorilla or the Big Player would sidle over, and the real game began.

Gorilla play was the next step after Spotting. Gorillas were just big, brain-dead betters—more like actors than anything else. They got called into a hot deck, stumbled over like drunken rich kids, and started throwing down big money. The Gorillas didn’t think for themselves—they let the Spotters tell them when the deck was about to go bad. But depending on how high the count was when they were signaled in their percentage advantage could be staggering. They didn’t count, they just bet and bet and waited for the Spotter to signal them that the run of good cards was over. Then they got up and wandered off in search of the next call-in.

Big Players did it all: they acted, counted, and betted at the same time, tracking the shuffle and cutting to aces. It was the toughest role but also the most important. They carried the money, got themselves known by the casino personnel, got called in by Spotters, but then they took over the play. They could do things the Gorillas couldn’t, like raising the bet as the deck got better—but they had to do it with style so that the casino didn’t nail them.

But at that moment, Spike wasn’t dealing with any Gorillas, just one Big Player (Twilight) and Faust knew how many Spotters.

“Judging by the way most of you reacted just now I wouldn’t accuse all of you, but... maybe around ten,” Spike went on, “to assure your position as the resort’s top dealer, maybe 20 or so.”

His anger was rising.

“Just how much does he know?” Twilight thought. “Did he spot the disappearing patterns? No, it’s all just a bluff! It has to be! No! No, no!”

Spike played perfectly for the rest of the six-deck shoe, including three blackjacks in a row—a Jack of Diamonds with an Ace of Clubs, a Queen and an Ace of Spades, and a Jack of Clubs with an Ace of Hearts.

“If you had been a little more careful, I would have lost,” he told her. “The patterns on the back are all the exact same, aren’t they? If you had used different decks that showed different patterns, I would have been unable to win... too bad.”

Twilight swallowed—her throat dry.

“He-he memorized them all?” she thought. “In that short amount of time, he memorized all of my patterns? If that’s true, then he must’ve been aware of them since the beginning! He just pretended not to notice and kept playing! How did this happen? How did I lose? Who-who the Tartarus is this guy?”

“Thanks. This game was really fun,” Spike said, rising from his stool. “Let’s move on to another one. What shall we play? Poker? Or how about baccarat?”

“N-No, I-I’m good,”

Spike glared down at her. Then he took it a sadistic step further.

“Ooh? Are you really in a position to decline me?” he snarled. “Oh, the shame you must feel after such a staggering defeat in this treacherous game that you worked so hard to rig with such confidence. Will you ever be able to redeem yourself? Let’s play! All you have to do is nod your head!! Now!!! COME ON!!!! COME ON!!!!! COME ON!!!!!!!”

Twilight fell to the floor and rubbed tears from her eyes.

“I-I can’t do it!” she bawled. “It’s just impossible! Forgive me! Please...”

The red from Spike’s eyes quickly faded and he recoiled at her sobs.

“Huh?”

“Forgive me, please...” she wept.

Applejack squeezed his shoulder.

“Spike, stop!” she said. “Can’t you see she’s pleading?”

“I--I...I’m sorry. I don’t know what--!”

Spike turned and fled to the elevator bank and everyone from the guests to the employees all shared frightened looks, everything from concerned to scared, to worried and afraid.

Spike splashed cold water on his face as dawn broke over Las Pegasus.

He had returned to his suite and tried to wash his hands clean. But no matter how many times he did, he felt that he would never be able to shake off what just happened. He looked in the mirror and saw one man and two women standing in the doorway behind him. He turned around to face them.

“Sunset, Applejack, Shining Armor, I--”

“What in Faust’s name did you think you were doing?” Applejack asked.

“I... don’t know,” he said softly.

“Spike, you didn’t just fly off the handle back there,” Sunset told him. “It was like you were a whole other person.”

Spike didn’t answer.

Shining Armor stepped forward and placed a hand on Spike’s shoulder.

“How did you know that Twily was rigging the game?” he asked.

“Shining, it’s obvious that she’s been manipulating people to keep herself at the top of the heap. All I had to do was figure out whom,”

“But how did you do that?” Applejack asked.

“Let me tell you something about card counters: they don’t alter any of the rules of the game, nor do they mess with the nature of the game,” Spike said. “But, for the moment, let’s just assume that there are no less than 20 people in league with Twilight. Unless they manipulated which way the shoe was going to go, it wouldn’t really be cheating. Even if Twilight hadn’t fixed the cards with a pattern, it wouldn’t have been too hard for her to calculate any winning hands ahead of time. Therefore, I could only deduce that she was playing on a hand-by-hand basis. But if that’s the case, then how did she decide when to hit or stand? I was watching her behavior very closely right up until the end, but I never saw her make any kind of signal. For a moment, I thought about an audio cue. But I didn’t hear her prompt anyone, either. So, that left only one possibility: someone was signaling in her place. That meant it had to have been someone specific, someone who would draw everybody’s attention. I kept watching the crowd, and that’s when it hit me. I figured all eyes would be on me because I was one of the players. But no, that’s where I went wrong. Their eyes weren’t on me, or Twilight; they were locked on the person who was standing right behind me.”

“So, you figured me out too?” asked Sunset.

“The rest was easy. I just had to discern your signals from what you did. The glass my martini came in was extra shiny... and reflective,” he said. “I should tell Soarin to keep up the good work.”

“That’s incredible,” Applejack breathed. “Would you explain one more thing? How were you able to draw the cards you needed to win? The odds were clearly stacked against you.”

“Oh, that was just pure luck of the draw,” he said simply.

“You’re kidding,” Shining Armor said. “You’re telling me that you risked twenty million dollars just to uncover Twilight’s cheating? And you bet it on a hunch? If you hadn’t said anything about her con, you could have saddled her with a little debt to you at the worst. But you were guaranteed to win. So you went out of your way to expose her because you relish taking risks?”

“Oh, please, even I don’t take risks just for risk’s sake,” Spike admitted. “I can’t stand contests where I’m guaranteed to lose, because that’s not true gambling... But having too much of an advantage is boring.”

“You really are something else,” Applejack said finally.

She and Sunset started to walk away.

“Where are you going?” Spike asked them.

“We’re leaving this place,” Sunset said. “We’re drowning in debt. We both owe the Brothers five million dollars, and when we tried to pay it off by gambling, it only got worse. It’s scarier than drowning because you never really die, and I’m exhausted. If I was even half as good as you, things might’ve been different.”

She turned around again and took Spike’s hand in hers.

“Spike, I’m really sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

Spike smiled at her.

“I never really did thank you, did I?”

He dipped his free into his pocket and pulled out several stacks of hundred dollar bills.

“Here,”

“No! Spike, I helped Twilight cheat! I can’t take this!” Sunset protested.

“Please, consider this a token of my gratitude,” he told her. “Use it to pay off your debt to Flim and Flam. I got to expose a cheater to the world today and have fun doing it, so thank you.”

There was no malice in his words. No resentment, no pity; only honesty.

That’s when Shining Armor, Sunset and Applejack finally realized that Spike was not normal. What he was, what he had, was some small bit of authentic probability manipulation power wrapped up in a charismatic body.

Spike was a statistics manipulator; a human good luck magnet—a living lucky charm.

And Twilight Sparkle’s luck seemed to be running out...

Next time: After a guest tries to pick up Rarity, Spike vows to strike a savage blow by beating the player at his own games (plural)! Meanwhile, Starlight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash “borrow” dresses from a guest’s room, and Applejack misinterprets a comment from Spike, thinking they’re going on a date.