The Heart of the Cards
The sun was beginning to set in the small town of Ponyville. It was starting to set rather early as the winter season had rolled in, snow and that freezing winter’s breeze had followed along also sending a chill down the spines of everypony that had been out roaming within the town. It seemed that everypony was out celebrating, enjoying the festivities and the good food that came along with it.
A few of the local resident shop-keepers had provided the food for the bountiful feast, many of the supplies and treats had been donated from mister and misses cake at the sugar-cube corner bakery and many of these had included, cupcakes, tarts and even a chocolate fountain.
The delightful mane-six had been out spending the early evening together, Twilight Sparkle the party leader had been the one to socialize this small grouping event, wanting to spend the celebrating feast together with her closest friends. The book-loving unicorn smiled to herself as she strolled through the small streets, happiest as one could be, carrying the small baby-dragon upon her back.
“Hey, Twilight this is pretty neat. I never thought this many people would be here!” Spike commented.
“Hehe, it sure is Spike, but I’m just glad that I’m able to enjoy it with my friends, let’s go see what’s happening, maybe there’ll be something really tasty to eat.” Twilight continued to smile happily, as she continued her way forward.
There was idle chatter commencing between the six as they all made their way forward toward the town-square where the festivities where taking place at this moment, everypony looked excited and had a buzz about them. Most likely this was caused due to excitement of everypony else and the good-will and food that was being prepared upon the large banqueting tables for all those that decided to attend.
“Oh hay! There’s dose’der pies that mister’n’missus cake were usin’ for mah apples fer.” Applejack chuckled as she trotted closer toward the table, sniffing the pastry briefly. “Hehe, yup! I was right on tha mark!”
Applejack finished giggling, raising her head high and crossing her forelegs as she was extremely proud of how her families apples had been request for use within the baking of tonight’s banquet. However the small break of silence had been broken when Ponyville’s party pony, Pinkie-Pie had bounced along next to her coming to a quick stop as she ogled the pretty pastry.
“Geez! Really Applejack? That’s totally amazing!” The pink party pony wasted no-time dunking her head right down into the tray and its contents, returning her head up to smile stupidly at the cow-pony, “Mmm! Deeeeelish!”.
Applejack simply blinked and gave a worried expression as she watched Pinkie-Pie, whose face was now coated in apple, crust and sauce. “Uh, Pinkie…? Ya gotta eat tha apple-pie first.”
Pinkie-Pie sniggered as she closed her eyes with the biggest smile upon her pie-coated face, those puffy cheeks signalling that her mouth was stuffed with the tasty treat, not really seeming to care of Applejack’s advice.
“Pfffft! You call those apple pies? I dunno A.J… your apples must be getting pretty weak if they’re looking like that, ha-ha!” Rainbow Dash laughed as she flew down and floated down next to the now irritated cow-pony.
“Wut was that? Rainbow… “The annoyed cow-pony narrowed her eyes as she looked up toward the multi- coloured Pegasus. “There ain’t nutin’ wrong wit’mah apples, y’hear!” An irritated snort could be heard soon after those words.
Luckily Spike was able to point out the flaring argument before it reached critical levels, poking at Twilight’s side he turned her head in the direction of the two that had now been scrabbling.
Twilight blinked as she sighed heavily and trotted her way over toward the two arguing ponies. “Girls, Girls, please stop! We’re here to have fun and to enjoy the festivities with each other! So can we please stop this, huh?”
The frustrated purple unicorn was obviously annoyed with the behaviour of Applejack and Rainbow Dash though it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary as they always did this. Particularly Rainbow Dash whom was always teasing the others and boasting about herself regardless of whether it was relevant or not and poor Applejack always being the usual victim of the Pegasus’ teasing antics.
“Ah, I’m mighty sorry Twilight… but y’all know how Rainbow here likes to make a fuss over just ‘bout anything.” Applejack shot a gaze toward Rainbow Dash, whom in return was making faces whenever she could without Twilight catching her.
“Yeah, whatever… Applejack obviously started it.” Rainbow added, as she stuck her tongue out with those puffy cheeks, aiming her gaze at Applejack and was now being gazed down by Twilight.
“…” Twilight narrowed her eyes staring back toward her.
“…Fine! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it Applejack, blah, blah, blah… “The rainbow coloured Pegasus landed onto her four hooves and sighed with her annoyed expression.
Twilight smiled once again, she was pleased that things had returned to normal and with everything in order, she nodded and shook her head in the direction of the tables.
“Okay, everypony lets all sit here, together! It’ll be so much fun!” Twilight nearly squealed with excitement.
The others followed along and placed themselves down next and beside each other as they got nice and comfortable and prepared the serving of food. Everypony was now talking amongst themselves as they simply waited, the table itself wasn’t large but enough to seat at least eight ponies, leaving one seat available. There was also other tables situated around the square and the other ponies had been enjoying their own company for this evening.
As the sun had now set, darkness filled the sky and the night had finally arrived. Everypony stopped and admired how the lights burst brightly, filling the square and the streets of Ponyville with seasonal lighting adding such colour and depth to the town. Many gasps filled the air as everyone admired the wonderful sight that occurred around them.
“Oh wow, this is simply amazing wouldn’t you say, Fluttershy, darling?” Rarity’s eyes sparkled as she admired all the different colours and effects that each light admitted.
Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement and spoke in her usual soft and calm manner of voice, “Oh yes, it most certainly is… It’s just a pity Angel wasn’t here to see this.”
It wasn’t long before the excited gasps and happy reactions dulled down from the surprised turning on of lights and everypony went back and continued their conversations, the echoing of voices filled the now busy town-square and many joked and laughed sharing a good time.
Silence soon fell upon the busy square and as the conversations all died down to a minimum everypony stared up toward the lights hanging overhead, even those that resided within the streets and the corners and even those that littered upon the trees and buildings. Whispers started spreading around the tables until a faint sound of muttered voices could be heard.
Soon the lights vanished completely and the entire square was dulled into darkness, many screams and gasps could be heard from everypony as no-one knew what was happening.
“Aaaaaah! Help, Ghosts!” Pinkie-Pie cried out as she started struggling and clinging to anything next to her.
Twilight grumbled and as the lights returned, filling the entire squire with light and providing everyone with the ability to see. Twilight’s annoyed gaze shone the brightest as Pinkie-Pie was attached to her head. “Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiinkie!” Twilight yelled as she managed to shake her off.
“Oh! Oops, sorry… hehe.” The pink party pony giggled nervously, as she looked up toward the purple book- worm from her seat.
A few loud gasps could be heard, those shocked and confused signs filling the air as a few ponies had already spotted and pointed their hooves toward the mysterious cloaked figure that was now located at the main pathway, leading into the town-square.
“W-Who is that… and not to mention that ghastly outfit they’re wearing… “Rarity commented, as she gazed on with her fellow ponies.
“I don’t know… but whoever it is… looks awfully familiar…” Said the suspicious Twilight as she glared toward the secretive pony, who had just begun walking toward their very table.
That shadowy figure continued their way toward the festive coated table and once they had stopped, awkwardness and discomfort had started to plague the very table of which the mane-six had seated themselves. One single foreleg rose up from the ground and slammed down toward the table, placing down a neat pile of cards.
“Sparkle!” Was the only word to leave the unknown ponies lips, before the mysterious stranger reached up and removed that hood, which had been covering that identity.
“W-Wha-What?! Trixie?!” Twilight blurted out as many gasps followed.
Everyone fell silent for the moment, no-one had expected Trixie to return not after having been so badly beaten and humiliated when she last got involved in her tricks and magic act. However the cocky unicorn smirked and looked around the table, taking in all those shocked expressions that gawked back at them.
“Well, I see you’re still hanging around with these losers Sparkle… ah… no big surprise there, I guess… afterall… you’re still a total loser also.” Trixie smirked and as she closed over her eyes, she used her magic to take her comb, stroking down her long, pretty mane.
This had caused a little upset and stirring within the table, no-one was happy to even see her and now she was throwing insults around like she usually did.
“Hey! You just can’t come here and start talking like that to my friends, you want a piece of me?!” Rainbow Dash shouted out, as she hovered up from her chair and leaned real close against Trixie’s face.
Trixie smirked and turned away, continuing to comb down her mane. “I don’t care. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to waste any time with you. Afterall I beat each and every one of you the first time, ha! Thus I don’t need to waste any further time with you again. Just ask your friend Rarity.”
The pearl white unicorn’s eyes shot-up as she heard her name being mentioned and quickly placed both hooves over her head, shaking. “Not my hair! Please… anything but my hair!”
The tension increased around the table and even around the neighbouring tables, as other ponies had become uncomfortable with her around. As for the likes of Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, they become quiet, not having much argument to speak back against the imposing pony.
“What do you mean? Twilight here obviously beat you in magic when she stopped that Ursa-Minor, or did you forget that!” Spike protested as he hopped up upon the table, pointing his claw out toward the magician.
Trixie rolled her eyes and once she was finished combing her mane, she focused her gaze toward the little dragon and smiled. “Oh that little thing… that’s in the past, like… it’s done and dusted, I however, have come here to challenge Sparkle… to a re-match. If she’s totally brave enough to accept my challenge.”
Once the cause and reason had been mentioned for all to hear, a series of shocked and flabbergasted ponies filled the air, conversation flooded the space around them as everyone was curious to see what Twilight would do and about what challenge would be placed upon her.
“If it’s a challenge you want, then it’s a challenge you’ll get, Trixie… no-one says that to my friends!” Twilight narrowed her eyes and had her own cocky, confident expression upon her face.
“Oh, like… let’s hold on a minute… it’ll be my challenge Sparkle and it’s not in magic… well… not the typical use of pony magic. This… deck of cards as you see here is how we’ll be playing… so, like… the victor will be overall winner, okay, deal?”
The purple unicorn was very confused at what her rival had just stated, looking down toward the deck she was uncertain of what it was, shaking her head in annoyance, she stated out toward the magician for a better explanation of what the challenge involved using cards.
Trixie chuckled to herself and followed up with a simple shake of her head. Using her magic she took hold of her cards and parted them, flicking them through from side to side as she removed another deck from her cloak and placed it down before Twilight and a simple piece of parchment that contained a set of rules.
“Take that, Sparkle. That sheet will tell you how to play the game… and those cards… is a fresh deck from the games shop in Canterlot called Po-Ni-Go! I’ve been totally busy since I left Ponyville.” Trixie said, narrowing her eyes toward Twilight as the purple pony had already started to look through the rules.
Twilight using her unicorn magic held up the parchment as she started scrolling down the page taking in the information and understanding completely on how the game was supposed to be played. Nodding in agreement she giggled in delight and as she took the deck of cards she removed herself from the table and walked to Trixie’s side.
“Po-Ni-Go…? Alright Trixie I accept your challenge!” Twilight snorted with confidence.
“Perfect, then let the game begin and may the best pony… win.” Trixie returned with a smirk.
As both ponies accepted the rules and challenge they moved away from the tables and out into the main street as Trixie moved further than Twilight, stopping so that she was a few feet from her rival and faced her directly. When both unicorns had readied themselves, they had then become surrounded by a circle of spectators which included her friends.
“C’mon Twilight, you can beat her, yee-haa!” Applejack yelled.
Rainbow Dash took this opportunity to join her best-friend. “Yeah, show her what you got!”
“Yes, you can do it Twilight, woo-hoo…!” Fluttershy chanted, as she turned to look toward Rarity whom was still keeping a close eye on her own hair. “Are you okay, Rarity?”
“Yes, yes! I’m fine, darling… nothing stopping me… just making sure that my mane is perfectly… un-green and non-vile, don’t mind me aha…” Rarity laughed nervously.
Pinkie-Pie was bouncing up and down upon the same spot, as she giggled to herself seemingly getting herself more and more hyped for the battle ahead. “This is gonna be fun!”
The cheers and shouts of the other ponies surrounded the closed circle-like ring and both unicorns had been preparing themselves for the battle that lay ahead. The first voice cast-off was indeed Trixie as she smirked, eyeing her bookworm opponent. As both decks rested upon the ground, she activated her horn and drew the first card.
“Alright, since you’re the loser here, that means I get to go first, hehe.” Trixie sneered and as she picked up four cards and she followed up with another smirk. “You’re mine, Sparkle.”
Once Trixie had drawn those cards, Twilight did the same, both sides of opponent holding their cards up before their own face as Trixie chuckled and spoke out quite abruptly.
“One hundred points each and let’s begin!” Trixie called out and with that she placed down her first card using her magic. “I totally summon forth my Baku and with that, I totally want you to attack that bookworm!” A sly grin crawled up Trixie’s face.
Whenever the card was placed down upon the ground it burst into magic, the image that was placed upon the card burst up and out from the card below it and a large creature appeared and roared loudly. The roar that was emitted from the creature caused a loud series of gasps and scared responses within the crowd and even Twilight was caught off guard with such an appearance.
“What in Equestria is that thing?!” Twilight called out, as she closed her eyes once the beast approached her, swiping its menacing claw through her form extracting ten points worth of damage from Twilight’s one hundred point metre.
Once the creature returned to its side of the field, it roared once more as did Trixie when she couldn’t stop laughing at poor Twilight’s reaction. “Hahahaha! Oh, Sparkle you totally crack me up. Y-You should have seen your face…”
“Errrr… shut up Trixie, I’ll show you!” Twilight responded, her face blushing lightly from the embarrassment she received and with that she placed down one of her four cards. “Phoenix! Go, attack her!”
Just as soon as that card touched the ground beneath her, it burst out into magic dust creating a fiery uprising of flame and feathers, rushing out toward the Baku and Trixie. However, the magician unicorn had other plans and with that she placed down another card, causing the flying phoenix to shatter against the defence of the Baku.
“W-What happened?! You destroyed my phoenix! I lost twenty points! Trixie you’re cheating I just know you are!” Twilight shouted out in her little outburst.
Trixie blinked and smirked toward her opponent, “Cheating? I didn’t cheat you little mouth, I just simply defended myself… It wasn’t my fault you couldn’t figure it out and lost points.” Trixie chuckled to herself in a victorious manner.
The purple unicorn was a little confused at what just happened, staring down at her cards she paused for a moment and shook her head grumbling lightly hiding her blush as she awaited the next move from Trixie.
Taking her new card, she hummed lightly to herself and spoke out toward Twilight in that confident manner. “Oh, don’t be so mad Sparkle, I mean you’re totally gonna lose anyway, save it for then… because you’re going to get beaten by the great and powerful Trixie!”
Once Trixie had taken her new card, she smiled and placed her new card upon the ground. “Now, watch in AWE!”
As the magician unicorn placed her new card upon the ground, her currently summoned creature disappeared and vanished completely. However a new creature took its place, larger and fiercer than the last, a dragon. The huge creature roared, shaking the very earth it stood on and it stared down toward the tiny little pony.
“DRAAAAAAGON!” Fluttershy yelled out as she hid behind Rainbow Dash, shaking and clinging upon her as best she could.
Rainbow Dash and the others couldn’t help but stare up toward the large, fire-breathing creature that Trixie had summoned. “H-Huge… dragon…” Rainbow swallowed in nervousness.
Twilight stood in shock as she gazed up toward the huge dragon that stared back down toward her, and as it did, it snorted black smoke in her direction. However unfortunately for Twilight, Trixie watched onwards with a cocky grin and she was about to signal for her next move.
“Alright, Dragon attack that little loser!”
With that given command, the dragon hunched forward and opened its huge mouth, layered with teeth roaring out toward the oblivious purple unicorn as it heaved in and after a few seconds breathed out a huge river of flowing flame toward Twilight, catching the poor pony in the midst of the attack.
The magically generated points beside each pony displayed the current remaining points within the fight, Trixie was untouched and Twilight was now left with only ten. The bookworm laid on her back, eyes rolling in her head as she shook it off and slowly climbed back onto her feet, sighing and watching the laughing, celebrating unicorn across the way.
“Ahahahahaha! That was just totally awesome. You won’t believe how satisfying it is for me to watch that dragon, like… blow you away… literally! Ahaha… well, our fun is almost to an end and my next attack is where it ends for you, Twilight Sparkle!”
Trixie coaxed out at toward nearly beaten unicorn and paused for a moment, grinning so wide at this moment, she could have out-matched the moon’s gaze. It was Twilight’s turn and Trixie knew that after she was done it would be curtains for the student of Celestia. The faces of those watching edged on, watching in suspense of what the outcome would be.
“Okay… come on Twilight you can do this…” Twilight mumbled to herself, motioning to draw a new card.
Soon an unexpected outburst was heard, and that pink party pony spoke up from the silence. “Twilight! Believe! You gotta believe in the heart of the cards!”
“Heart of the cards…?” The purple unicorn looked awfully distraught and worried, as she finally picked up the last card of her turn. A small smile peeled across her face as she kept her secret to herself for now. “Hehe… yeah, the heart of the cards.”
Trixie quirked an eye and watched as Pinkie-Pie attempted to support her with those encouraging words, before watching Twilight signal to end her turn and once she did the magician unicorn chuckled softly to herself.
“Well, well, well… how about that? Your turn has ended and you haven’t even managed to scratch my points at all during this game… what a loser… allow me… the great and most powerful Trixie to end this game and your points in one embarrassing, humiliating move, ha-ha.”
Trixie chuckled softly to herself, as she placed down two other cards after taking her new one and as those two cards activated upon the field of battle, her dragon got larger and larger until it was clearly a times larger than its previous form and it also grew another head. This was the final form of her cards selection, a twin-headed oversized fire dragon that was growling even louder than before.
The crowd gasped and shook with fear and worry that the game was getting a little out of hand, however Trixie was getting pumped, she would finally be able to extract her revenge on Twilight after the embarrassment she suffered a while ago when she first performed in Ponyville and eager to end the match, she thrust her hoof out toward Twilight and yelled.
“This is it Sparkle! The game ends here for you I will at last finally have beaten the famous Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Celestia and I… I will be the one to finally beat you! I TRIXIE… THE ALL POWERFUL! HAHAHA! FINISH HER MY DRAGON!”
With the given command, that large super-powered dragon creature roared loudly, shaking the earth even more-so than before, even managing to send a few ponies onto their backs. The huge creature stepped forward and as it took in a huge amount of air, it barfed out that wave of flame toward the defenceless unicorn.
“Not so fast, Trixie!” Twilight called out.
Placing her previously drawn card down onto the ground, it shattered into dust as usual, forming into that of a magical barrier that protected the purple unicorn from the engulfing flames of that attack. Trixie stopped her outburst of laughing only to see the attack fail and watched as that tidal-wave of flame return back, toward her.
“What… what’s happening… no… NO! YOU COULDN’T HAVE?!” Trixie yelled out.
Twilight smiled and narrowed her eyes confidently. “Oh yes I did… I used my reflection card.”
Trixie didn’t say anything and watched as that firewall came down upon her, screaming as she did she fell back onto her rump and then her side as her points diminished to a total of zero.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Trixie screamed out.
The creatures and magic used disappeared as everything fell silent and not a single sound was heard.
As the starlight blue unicorn remained lifeless on the ground, and soon the many, many cheers of those that watched sounded through the air, the other mane-six quickly joined and confronted their best friend, congratulating her once again on another victory over the infamous Trixie.
“Wow, Twilight you did mighty fahn!” Applejack smiled, nuzzling her close friend.
Pinkie-Pie who had bounced her way over, chuckled. “See, silly! I told you to believe!”
Rarity and Fluttershy had approached soon after and smiling as they both did simply had enjoyed watching their best friend win another victory.
“Hey, you did alright. A-Okay in my books, though… your finishing line? I used my reflection card, could… have been about twenty percent cooler.” Rainbow Dash chuckled, nudging her playfully.
Twilight chuckled and returned those given nuzzles as she shook her head. “Oh, you guys… I wasn’t that big of a deal, it was just a-simple game that was all.”
They all started to get closer and had gathered around the lifeless form of Trixie who had opened an eye gazing up at them all, as they stared down at her, showing her those annoyed faces for having disrupted their celebrations. The filly pushed herself up and as she dusted herself down, she used her magic and took back those cards, placing them in her cloak and stepped back.
“...Next time, Sparkle… there’ll be a next time… and don’t think you’ve heard the last of me, you bunch of losers! Ha, for I am still the great and most powerful Trixie!”
The magician unicorn stated boldly as she activated her horn, sending off a blast of coloured smoke and as she reared up on her hind legs and turned to galloped off in the opposite direction, making leave of the town once again.
“Doesn’t that pony, ever learn? Hehe, anyway! I think we should get back to those festivities, let’s go guys.” Twilight chuckled, finishing up with those words as the others agreed, moving back to enjoy the rest of the evening with each other celebrating their great feast, until next time.
