"What's got you all excited?" Spike asked.
"I just got a message from Sunset Shimmer saying she wants to teach me about a new kind of magic that exists only in her world!" Twilight explained, "Could you maybe send Princess Celestia a letter for me? I want her to know there's a whole new kind of magic that we don't know about yet".
"I don't think she'd let you'd go," Spike said.
"Oh, please... I'm the very element of magic incarnate, why would she deny me this opportunity?" Twilight asked.
"Maybe because she sees you as a daughter of sorts?" Spike said.
"And yet, she's sent me into more danger than anypony else, and without a detachment of guards at that," Twilight pointed out, "Just send her a letter, will you?"
"Alright, but don't even try to blame me when she shows up and stops you from leaving," Spike said before picking up a quill and paper.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I recently heard from Sunset Shimmer that there's a brand new kind of magic that only exists in the world she now calls home. I'll be taking off for a little while to learn everything she can teach me, and will give you my findings when I get home.
Your fellow Princess,
Twilight Sparkle
"That's got to be the shortest letter I've ever sent," Spike said after breathing the scroll away.
"I can't wait to get going!" Twilight said, dancing in place like a giddy schoolgirl who had just been asked out on a date by her crush.
BELCH
"What'd she say?" Twilight asked.
Spike unrolled the scroll and read it aloud.
Dear Twilight,
I know how excited you must be after hearing this news, however I must warn you of the dangers of unknown magic. You do not know what this magic could do. You are taking quite the risk by accepting this invitation, and I want you to be extremely careful while you're gone. Sunset Shimmer should have a good grasp on the subject if she feels comfortable teaching it to you, and I want you to listen to everything she tells you. If it helps, pretend that she is a teacher from my school for gifted unicorns.
Before you go, I'm enchanting a couple of books similar to the pair Sunset and I used to communicate back when she lived in Equestria. This way, you can tell me what you've learned when you learn it, instead of waiting to come home.
Your friend,
Celestia
P.S. When are you going to just call me by name instead of by title?
BELCH
"Ow, that one hurt," Spike said as his fire materialized into two books and another scroll.
Dear Twilight,
I've enchanted a second pair of books so I can get back in touch with Sunset Shimmer. Please, give her the other book that has her cutie mark on it when you see her.
Your friend,
Celestia
With that, Twilight put both books into her saddlebags, lacking a backpack from the human world, and then she and Spike headed off to the portal room.
"Next time I say I'm bringing saddlebags to CHS, slap me," Twilight said weakly, recovering from the sudden squeeze of her saddlebags against her larger human form.
As Twilight and Spike walked up to the doors of CHS, the bell rang for the end of the day. By the time the two reached the doors, students were walking through them, greeting Twilight as they walked past. One thing that Twilight took notice of was tiny little boxes hanging from everybody's belt. If it had only been a few here and there, it wouldn't have seemed too off, but the fact that EVERY person Twilight saw hand one made her think something was up. She wondered if maybe Sunset had started teaching the CHS students about this new magic and those boxes were used to harness it's abilities somehow. Well, she'd soon get her answer.
As the young woman walked into the band room, the agreed to meeting place since the battle of the bands, she was almost immediately tackled to the ground as her friends greeted her with a tight hug.
"Glad to see you girls too, but uh... kinda need to breathe," Twilight said weakly.
"Sorry about that," The girls said as they back off.
"Hey, what's this?" Rainbow asked, grabbing Twilight's saddlebags, "Some kind of new fashion belt or something?"
"Actually, those are saddlebags," Sunset pointed out, "Ponies don't, at least last I checked, have any need for belts".
"Yea, and I wish I would've known the difference in proportions between humans and ponies," Twilight said, "Soon as I stepped out of the portal, they nearly cut me in half".
"At least they didn't smack you across the face," Sunset said, "When I first came through, I got a nice gold buckle right to the face. I was lucky to have not lost an eye to it".
"If that'd happened, I think you'd hear Twilight crying long before you saw her," Spike said jokingly before being slapped on the back of the head "Ow".
"That's not funny," Twilight said sternly.
"By the way, aren't you forgetting something?" Spike asked.
"Oh yea!" Twilight said, before grabbing a book from her saddlebags and handing it to Sunset, "Pri- er... Celestia wanted me to give you this. Said she wanted to get back in touch with you".
"Thanks, Twilight," Sunset said, taking the book, "Mind if I write to her before we get started?"
"Go ahead," Twilight said, "I think it would mean a lot to her".
With that, Sunset pulled out a pen and sat down to write.
Dear Princess Celestia,
It's me, Sunset Shimmer. Boy, it feels like I haven't said anything to you in a thousand years. How've things been since I left? I've heard about some things from Twilight, but I want to know how things have been going for you personally.
About me? I've been doing great, even more so since I started making friends. When I learn something new about friendship, it actually kind of reminds me of my lessons with you back when I was a filly. Oh, those were the days... I do wish I could back to those days sometimes. Oh, remember the time you walked into my room and got hit in the face with pie meant for the maid I didn't much like? Good times, those...
Anyway, would it be too much to ask if I could come back and visit from time to time? I feel like my place is in this place, but I'm still a unicorn deep down. I'd very much like to say hi to you in person again. I'd also like to meet Twilight's friends in Equestria. Oh hey, would it also be ok if I bring them with me one weekend since we don't have school on the weekends? I have my own place, so we could just call it an extended sleepover and everything should be fine.
There's so much I really want to say, but I can't just put it all into one letter... I uh... don't wanna bog you down with text or anything. But anyway, I look forward to hearing from you again soon... er, well, getting a letter in this new book.
Your former student,
Sunset Shimmer
With that, Sunset closed the book and set it inside her backpack.
"So, ready to learn some Magic?" Sunset asked.
"She's been looking forward to it since you sent that letter," Spike said, "She was dancing around like a school filly when I came home from Rarity's".
"Didn't expect you to get so excited over a trading card game," Sunset said.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, "You said you wanted to teach about a new kind of magic that exists only in this world".
"Did I really?" Sunset asked, "I could swear I told you it was a game".
"If it's just a game, though, why call it magic?" Twilight asked.
"It's called 'Magic: The Gathering'," Sunset said, "It doesn't involve actual magic, but it's still pretty fun".
"So, then we got Celestia worked up over nothing?" Spike asked.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Sunset asked, "What did you say to her?"
"We told her that I'd be coming here for a while to learn some new magic that only exists in this world, and that you'd be my teacher," Twilight said.
"I'll have to clarify that later... after she tells me to be careful with her prized pupil who is now a princess herself," Sunset said, facepalming, "But for now, let's not worry about that. You came here to learn, so, one way or another, I'm going to teach you something".
Twilight now had five decks of cards in front of her, each one belonging to one of her human friends, minus Sunset who had decided to keep her own for the upcoming duel. After a couple of minutes, Twilight picked Rainbow's deck.
"So, what exactly do we do with these?" Twilight asked.
"We fight each other," Sunset said, causing Twilight to recoil slightly, "Not physically... Look, just take a seat already".
Twilight did as instructed and sat down on the floor. After the two had their decks placed where need be, Sunset drew seven cards. Twilight followed suit and drew seven cards of her own.
"This is what's known as your hand, it's where you summon creatures and cast spells from," Sunset explained, "Before we begin, you want to make sure you start off with a good balance of lands and others. About two or three lands is preferred for a starting hand".
Sunset looked at her hand and frowned, not a single land. She held out her hand, cards facing Twilight.
"This is a terrible hand, no land cards," Sunset pointed out, "In this case, you'd mulligan, or draw a new starting hand. You place your current hand at the very bottom of the deck and draw seven new cards. Keep in mind you can only draw those seven new cards once, after which, you have to go down by one every re-draw. So if I had to mulligan again, I'd only be able to draw six, then five, then four, and finally three. Once you get to three, you don't go any lower as it would put you at the biggest possible disadvantage in the game".
After re-drawing, Sunset showed Twilight her new hand.
"This is a slightly decent hand, and I'll actually use it," Sunset said, "Now, let's see your hand".
Twilight showed Sunset her hand.
"That's a pretty decent hand, you should keep it," Sunset said.
Sunset then laid out two D20s, both with the twenty facing upwards.
"That's our life," Sunset said, "When one of those dice reaches zero, whoever's side of the field it's on will lose".
"Simple enough so far," Twilight said.
"Normally, there's a coin toss to see who goes first," Sunset said, "But I'll go first this time because it'll be easier to explain how the game works that way".
Twilight just nodded in silent agreement.
"The first thing you want to do on every turn if possible is put down a land card," Sunset said, laying down a white land, "After that, you'll want to summon creatures and cast spells. However, since I don't have enough lands to meet the mana cost requirements of any cards in my hand yet, I'll end my turn".
"Is the mana cost those little circles up in the top right?" Twilight asked.
"Yep," Sunset said, "Almost every normal card you'll see has both a mana color cost as well as a neutral color cost. You can use ANY color land to cover a neutral color cost".
"Alright, so then I just lay one down, huh?" Twilight asked, plucking a green land.
"First, draw a card," Sunset said, "The first player doesn't get to draw a card on his or her first turn, but the second player does".
Nodding, Twilight put the land back in her hand and drew from her deck. After adding the new card to her hand, she laid out the land she had plucked a few seconds ago. Being unable to summon or cast anything, Twilight ended her turn.
"Ok, so here's how you put stuff into play," Sunset said after playing another white land, "First, you have to turn whatever lands you need, or want in the case of neutral costs, sideways to show that you do have enough mana to legally summon or cast what you want. However, keep in mind that once a land is turned sideways, or tapped, it can't be used again until your next turn".
With that, Sunset tapped both her lands and summoned "Stone Haven Medic", a Kor creature with the ability to heal it's owner.
"When a creature gets summoned, it comes into play with what's known as 'Summoning sickness', which means it can't attack on it's first turn. It can still defend, though... don't ask why, I don't know the answer," Sunset said, "But anyway, the exception to this rule is if the creature has an ability known as 'Haste', but more on that later. Now, it's your turn again seeing as how I can't attack".
Twilight drew a new card then placed a second green land on her side of the field. She now had enough mana to summon, and she took advantage of it by summoning "Oran-Rief Invoker", a decently powerful 2/2 for so early in the game. Having tapped both her lands, Twilight hands the turn over to Sunset.
"At the start of your next turn, you untap every tapped card so long as there's nothing preventing you from doing so," Sunset explained as she untapped her two lands, "This is what's known as the upkeep phase. Note that if you happen to forget to untap ANY card before ending your upkeep phase, and yes... it has happened, but if it should happen to you, then you'll be SOL for the turn unless you have something that lets you untap cards during either main phase".
"Either main phase?" Twilight asked, "There's more than one per turn?"
"There's one after your upkeep and draw, and then one after the battle phase," Sunset explained, "This is so if you have enough mana to use a spell, but are afraid your opponent may have a counter in his or her hand, you can try to trick them into using up their mana during the battle phase, thus opening up a window of opportunity for spell casting without fear".
"Oh, that makes sense," Twilight said.
"Sunset then drew a new card then placed down an "Evolving Wilds" land card. She then proceeded to tap it then looked through her deck for a black land.
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked.
"Evolving Wilds is a land card with an ability," Sunset said, "I can sacrifice it to search my whole deck, or library, which is the term you'll probably prefer, for a basic land of any color. Since I'm searching my whole deck, then I'll know what's coming, giving me an unfair advantage. Because of this, any ability to lets you look through your entire deck for a card will have you reshuffle".
"Ok, this... this is getting kinda complicated," Twilight said.
"This is the simple stuff," Rainbow said, "You don't know complicated until you get into the multi colored mana rules and all the different kinds of abilities that creatures and special lands can have".
Twilight just let out a nervous chuckle after that. By this time, Sunset had picked her black land and reshuffled her deck.
"So, now it's time to learn about the numbers at the bottom of creature cards," Sunset said, "The left number is the creature's strength, or how much damage it can do. The right number is the creature's toughness, or life if you prefer. Since the strength of my creature is too low to take out yours and vise-versa, I'll be holding off my attack this turn".
Twilight starts her upkeep, but is stopped just as her hand reaches her first card.
"I didn't declare the end of my turn, just said I wouldn't attack," Sunset said, "My creature has an ability that I'm going to use. By paying one white mana, and tapping the creature itself, I gain one life".
Sunset then does just that, and places another D20 beside her current one with the one facing upwards. Then, she turns the game over to Twilight. After her upkeep, Twilight decides to play a land known as "Fertile Thicket". She places it down sideways, as instructed by the card, then draws five cards from her deck and looks through them. She draws one land, a green one, then shows it to Sunset before placing it on top of her deck and placing the other four cards at the bottom of her deck.
"So, since my creature is tapped, it can't defend, leaving me open for some damage," Sunset pointed out, "You can take this opportunity to deal some damage freely, but keep in mind that doing so will leave your creature tapped during my turn, unable to defend should I choose to attack".
"Don't look at it as a bad thing all the time, though," Applejack said, "Sometimes, it's better ta dish out as much damage as ya possibly can in one attack, even if that means leaving yourself wide open next turn. Plan it right, and ya can even force your opponent ta sacrifice multiple creatures ta keep in the game, lessening how much damage they can deal on their next turn".
"Not only that, but plan it right, and you can even force your opponent to choose between a heavy loss of life, possibly even defeat, or the loss of a really useful creature," Rarity said.
"I say attack," Rainbow said, "If she attacks, she'll only be able to deal one damage, if not, she'll recover one damage. Either way, you'll both be set to even life again, with no real sacrifice on your end".
Twilight ponders the thought and decides to go with Rainbow's advice. Sunset is then forced to set her new die to the side and turn her main die to nineteen.
"I'll let that go through this time, but no more helping Twilight like Rainbow just did, girls," Sunset said, "It's a tutorial game, and I don't mind giving her tips like Applejack and Rarity, but she won't learn properly if we hold her hand the whole time".
After her upkeep, Sunset draws a new card and places down another Evolving Wilds, but opts to keep it on the field for now. She does, however, tap her black land and both white lands to summon a "Malakir Familiar", a 2/1 with flying and deathtouch... bad news for Twilight.
"This here's a flying creature, meaning it can only be blocked by other flying creatures or a creature with the reach ability," Sunset explained, "It also has deathtouch, meaning that whatever it gets into battle with will die regardless of how much toughness it has".
"That seems rather overpowered," Twilight said.
"A lot of abilities will seem that way, but there's always a counter," Sunset said, "But for now, I'll attack with my medic. Since you have no untapped creatures, it goes through inhibited".
Twilight acknowledged that statement with the turning of her die to nineteen. After her upkeep and drawing, Twilight places down the green land she revealed last turn. She doesn't place anything else, but chooses to attack again, forcing Sunset to turn her die to seventeen. Sunset starts her turn off by placing down a "Blighted Steppe" land. She then taps her Blighted Steppe, one white, and one black land card to summon another familiar. She then uses her medic's ability to gain one life back. In doing so, she also activates her first familiar's third ability, giving it plus one strength and toughness until the end of her turn. She then sends it to attack, dealing three damage directly to Twilight. Now the life total is eighteen to sixteen in Sunset's favor.
"And this is when the game gets really fun and interesting," Rarity said.
"And it's also where we take off the training wheels," Sunset said, I'll still give you instructions and information when needed, but you're on your own now otherwise".
On Twilight's turn, she places her last land, Blighted Woodland, then taps all her lands to summon a Territorial Baloth, a 4/4 creature with a landfall ability. Instead of attacking this turn, however, she turns it over to Sunset who draws another white land after her upkeep. She places her new land, and uses her one black land and two white lands to summon a Nirkana Assassin, a 2/3 creature with the ability to gain deathtouch until the end of Sunset's turn whenever she gains life. She then activates her medics ability, turning her life counter to nineteen, and giving both her now active familiars a 1/1 buff. She then sends one of her now 3/2 bats to deal damage directly, forcing Twilight to turn her life counter to thirteen.
Twilight was being backed into a corner, and she knew it. After her upkeep and draw, she chooses to sacrifice her Blighted Woodland so she can search for some red lands, something she needs seeing as her hand is nothing but red cards now. After putting out two red lands and moving Blighted Woodland to her graveyard, she sends her Baloth in for the attack. However, there's a reason Sunset left one of her familiars out of her previous attack, they both have deathtouch. As Sunset starts her block phase, Twilight's attack is locked in, no way to stop what's about to happen.
As Sunset sends her second bat to block, Twilight realizes her blunder. Yes, the familiar is destroyed, but its deathtouch also kills Twilight's Baloth, forcing a 4/4 into the graveyard. Twilight mentally curses herself for that mistake.
"And that's why you don't attack without thinking," Sunset said, "I could've easily sent over both my familiars and dropped you to ten life, but held one back just in case".
With that, Twilight ends her turn. On Sunset's turn, she chooses to finally sacrifice her Evolving Wilds in search of another black land. After reshuffling her deck, she activates her medics ability again, gaining yet another life and going back up to a full twenty. She then sends her last familiar in to attack, knocking Twilight's life down to ten. She then ends her turn.
On Twilight's turn, She taps all her lands to summon a Lavastep Raider, cast the enchantment "Retreat to Valakut", then cast "Seek the Wilds", allowing her to draw four cards and pick a creature or land of her choice to keep. She chooses to keep "Grove Rumbler", a 3/3 dual color creature with trample and a landfall ability. She opts out of attacking as her only able bodied creature would be killed while the blocker would survive.
On Sunset's turn, she taps her two black and two of her three white land cards to summon a Bloodbond Vampire. She, again, went through the process of gaining a life and bussing her familiar, then using it to attack Twilight, who was now forced down to seven life. Her plan for her next attack gave Twilight no room to maneuver at all. Instead of suffering the inevitable defeat, the young princess decided to forfeit.
"There's no way I could beat you like this," Twilight admitted, "I had no powerful creatures on the field, you had over twenty life, and enough strength to wipe me out. I could've blocked your non flying creatures, but I would've just lost mine in the process and been open to even more damage on the next turn".
"That, and I had a good spell that I had planned on using," Sunset said, revealing her hand, "With this 'Tandem Tactics' card, I would've been able to gain life twice, further buffing my creatures. Still, it was a good game, and you did pretty decent for your first time against the third best duelist in the school".
"Wait, third best? Out of everypony, er... everybody here?" Twilight asked, "That's actually quite impressive".
"Before we head out for the day, take this," Sunset said as she brought out a deck builders kit, "This box holds about two hundred and fifty cards if I'm not mistaken, so there's plenty to craft your own deck from. I'll give you some pointers on dinner if you want".
Twilight took the box and placed in her saddlebags. Before they left, Twilight took out the book Celestia gave her and wrote a letter informing the solar princess of just kind of magic she was really learning about. As she wrote, she also thought ahead to the duels she would have later on down the road, and how much fun they'd be. She looked forward to also sharing the game with her friends and family back in Equestria as well. Lastly, she really looked forward to eventually defeating Sunset Shimmer in a duel one day... all in the name of good fun and friendly competition, of course.
