“And that’s just about everything you need to know about Spell Cards, Miss Sparkle,” Reimu finished.

Twilight held the set of cards before her eyes, examining each one both visually and by magical capacity. “These things are amazing, Reimu! I’m impressed that such power can be contained to a mere card, but after seeing the intricate spellweaving process used, I can see its potential. I’ll have to test it with some other possible spell-holding artifacts...”

“I’d recommend against that, Miss Sparkle-“

“Please, call me Twilight. You’re already friends with the Princess, so it’s not as if we have to be so formal.”

“I…suppose you’re right.” A smile formed on the shrine maiden’s face. “After all, we’re going to be working together to send the residents of Gensokyo back to whence they came.”

“Speaking of that…how many of them exactly are, to put it simply, ‘against us’?”

“Along with Yukari simply trying to cause trouble, there are a few that actually want something out of Equestria.” Reimu drew forth a few cards and laid them down on the table. She pointed to the first, showing a girl in a red dress, strawberry-red hair and a white cross sword in her hands. It changed to a red unicorn pony with similarly-colored hair and the white cross as her cutie mark. “Yumemi Okazaki is the first. She was a scientist that came from the world of humans to research Gensokyo, and learned to create artificial Danmaku, which makes her exceptionally dangerous, because she doesn’t need magic to fight us. And as a unicorn, she’ll be even more deadly with real magic at her disposal.”

The next card showed two individuals: one a green-haired, bat-winged woman, and the other another green-haired woman, but this one wore a flower-pattern dress and wielded a sunflower parasol. They shifted into a Unicorn and Earth Pony respectively, the first having a pentagram sigil as her cutie mark and the other a sunflower. “The ghost Mima and Yuka Kazami, two of the first foes I faced in Gensokyo. Mima was my friend Marisa’s teacher and is beyond excelled when it comes to magic. Yuka is a talented illusionist and can conjure multiples of her to trick her foes, but she is partial to using focused beam strikes from her parasol. Marisa also happened to steal this technique from her, adapting her ‘Master Spark’ she took from Mima into a ‘Double Spark’.”

“This Marisa seems just as dangerous as these two,” Twilight noted. “Are you sure she won’t join her teacher’s side?”

“Mima would never take her back after she stole the Master Spark.” Reimu thought for a moment. “But Marisa’s just as deadly on her own…very cocky.”

“Rainbow Dash will probably butt heads with her, then,” Twilight chuckled.

“Someone just as cocky as Marisa?” asked Reimu.

“Constantly practicing stunts, trying to beat other ponies in competitions, races-“

“Yeah, if they don’t butt heads, I’d be surprised.” Reimu flipped over the last cards. “Now, onto the last few, which I believe to be the most dangerous…” The first of the remaining cards showed a white-haired witch with a winged scepter. She transformed into an alicorn with bat wings right before their eyes, and Twilight audibly gasped at this. “This is Shinki…the creator of the hell realm of Makai. Judging by the fact that she is an alicorn in this universe, you can already understand why she’s one of the greatest threats. She possesses magic beyond even Yukari and Mima combined…She is a god among those residing in Makai. Even Yuka fears her. However, she isn’t immortal like I assume your princesses to be. If not immortal, then they would still pass her in power by far. At her maximum power, she built Makai from the ground up…but not even Shinki can command celestial bodies.”

The next card showed a masked individual. The white mask shifted to show a blue-eyed, pink-haired girl with a fan in one hand and an indiscriminate mask in the other. She turned into a Unicorn with a triad of masks as her cutie mark. “This is Hata no Kokoro, a demon that only appeared in Gensokyo recently. She may not be aggressive, but her unstable nature could cause trouble for us. She can manipulate emotions, and on the odd chance one of the others attempts to use her, she could incite a civil war across all of Equestria.”

The cards fold up and return to Reimu’s holster. “And those are all the ones I am certain followed Yukari through.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for them…but in the meantime, I’d like to test out these Spell Cards…Y’know, see how well I can really use them.”

“I don’t think it’d be a good idea for me to test you myself, considering you know the potential of my spells. I think you should face someone you’ve never met before…someone who’d be a good match for your spells…someone like-“

“Excuse me…is this the library? I’ve been looking for a quiet place to read for quite some time now, and...Reimu, is that you?”

In walked a unicorn with a pinkish-purple coat and a lavender mane with two pigtails, one on each side, and the rest of it flowing freely and reaching down to her knees. She wore a cape of slightly lighter lavender than her mane, which barely covered her cutie mark: a four-pronged violet star with four crystals around it: one red, one green, one blue and one yellow.

“Just the magician I was looking for, Patchouli.” Reimu smiled. “My new friend Twilight here was looking for someone to train with. You see, I’ve just helped her create a few Spell Cards.”

Patchouli stared in disbelief. “Are you really giving these ponies their own spell cards now, Reimu? Do you really think they can handle that kind of power?”

“Excuse me?” Twilight scoffed. “This pony can more than handle herself without spell cards!”

“As could I, Miss Twilight.” Patchouli assumed a battle stance, her horn already sparking with magic. “And I can prove it right here and now. Would you care for a demonstration?”

“If you think you’ve got what it takes to face my magic, then bring it on!”

Reimu stepped back and sat on the nearby couch, where Twilight’s number-one assistant had been ready with a bag of popcorn the whole time. Reimu tossed a hoof-full of the treat into her mouth, ready to see how the fight plays out.

Twilight grinned cockily. “Your move first, Patchouli.”

“Very well.” Patchouli flashed a grin that showed equal overconfidence. “Then let’s start with the simplest of the classic elements.”

A pure white aura lit up atop Patchouli’s horn and a flurry of fireballs went flying in Twilight’s direction. The unicorn quickly jumped to the side to evade and watched the fire dissipate as it touched the floor behind her. Twilight’s cocky smile turned to one of pure excitement. “Excellent form, but how did you know my library had a protection spell inside it?”

“I sensed it the moment I walked in,” Patchouli replied. “And as soon as you issued the challenge, I knew I could accept and hold nothing back.” The Gensokyian librarian smirked. “Now, let’s kick things up a notch.” She reared back and summoned forth a swarm of ten firebirds that soared at Twilight with great haste. Without even a second thought, Twilight evaded the first half and quickly conjured a bubble around her to absorb the impact of the other five.

“That’s quite a shield spell.” The Gensokyian librarian closed her eyes in thought. “Perhaps I did underestimate you at first. You’re a very skilled spellcaster…but I want to see everything you’ve got. No more dodging or blocking. Send a spell my way this time.”

“All right, you asked for it!” Twilight focused her magic and generated an orb of pure arcane energy, then split it up into a barrage of magic missiles that flew in Patchouli’s direction. The enemy librarian used a few quick jets of flame to rise up into the air and avoid the first flurry, but Twilight had thought ahead, and a few of the magic projectiles happened to be waiting just above Patchouli. Caught off guard, the Gensokyian mage was forced to take the remaining attack head on. She fell back to the ground and dropped to her knees.

“Well…that was…unexpected…” Patchouli was taking deeper breaths, and Twilight noticed it. She began to slowly approach the magician.

“Are you okay, Patchouli?” Twilight walked over to her opponent. “That didn’t hurt you too much, did it?”

“Don’t tell me you’re fatigued already, Patchy?” Reimu sighed, walking over to her and placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Did you actually forget to take your medicine today?”

“What medicine?” Twilight asked, “Is she sick?”

The shrine maiden nodded. “In a way, yes; Patchouli is anemic. And despite having the medicine our Lunarian friend Eirin gave her, she tends to get so wrapped up in her studies that she forgets to take it. That’s why Eirin gave a few of us some backups in case she decides to go out and leaves her pills behind.” Reimu pulled a bottle out of the pocket on the right side of her outfit and popped it open. “In fact, if she didn’t have somebody bringing her meals on a daily basis, she’d forget to eat too.”

Twilight flushed slightly, realizing that Reimu’s descriptions of Patchouli fit herself to a T as well. “Yeah, I’ve, uh…been down that road once or twice before too.”

“More like twice a day sometimes.” Spike shot Twilight a judgmental glance. “You really get obsessed when it comes to studying. It’s like I can’t even pull you away from your books sometimes!”

“Looks like…we’ve got a lot more in common than we first thought, Twilight.” Patchouli took a few deep breaths as she finally swallowed a small pill that Reimu had handed her. “What do you say…we take a little break?”

Twilight nodded. “It sounds like a good idea. My number-one assistant can whip us up something to eat.”

“Certainly…and I’ve got my number-one assistant waiting just outside. I’ll call her in. Koakuma! You can come in now!”

“Coming, Lady Patchouli!” cried a rather young female voice as a baby dragon with a red and tan body, crimson spines down her back and a pair of black and grey bat-like wings sprouting from her back scampered through the door. Spike’s jaw dropped as the newcomer entered the library, and he quickly shuffled from his seat and rushed over to her.

‘Come on, Spike. Form some words this time that aren’t ‘humanahumanahumana.’ “Uh…h-hey, my name’s Spike. So, you’re…Patchouli’s assistant?”

“Yes, that’s right!” Koakuma exclaimed happily. “I am Mistress Patchouli’s one and only assistant! So, Lady Patchouli, what do you need me to do?”

“Help Spike make some snacks for all of us. And don’t forget, you’re a dragon here, not a devil. You’ll have to eat whatever Spike usually does.”

“So, what is it that dragons eat anyway?” asked Koakuma. “Lady Patchouli doesn’t have any books in her library about Equestrian dragons.”

“Well, unlike whatever dragons you might be used to,” Spike replied, “Equestrian dragons not only hoard jewels, but we eat them too!”

Koakuma gasped, “Really? That’s so cool!”

“I’ve got a couple in the kitchen that we can munch on while we’re cooking up something for the girls. C’mon!”

Spike and Koakuma bolted off into the kitchen. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle a bit. The anemic librarian looked at her with a confused expression. “Is something amusing?”

“Oh, nothing really,” Twilight said. “It’s just Spike going after yet another girl.”

“He’s…’going after’ Koakuma?” Patchouli tilted her head, remaining awfully confused.

“Well, Spike has never seen another young dragon before, and although she’s not normally like this, Spike is jumping at any chance he’s got. Heck, he’s tried going after a friend of mine before, Rarity. But try as he might, he’s a dragon and she’s a unicorn.”

“Sounds like an interesting story, Twilight.” Patchouli smiled brightly. “You’ll have to tell it to me while we’re waiting.”

A wide grin spread across Twilight’s face. “Telling stories is what I’m best at! So, first, I should probably explain a bit about Rarity. She runs a clothing store just a few blocks down the street, and-“

Patchouli held up a hoof to interrupt. “Hold on just a moment. She wouldn’t happen to be sour over the incident with Cirno, would she?”

“Well, a lot of us are, but I guess Rarity has had tendencies to hold a grudge more often than my other friends. Why?”

Patchouli sighed, “Oh dear. A long-time friend of mine, Sakuya, went in there to have her dress repaired after a clumsy trio of fillies rushed past her on some sort of odd contraption. And Sakuya is a bit of a gossiper, and might let it slip that she’s from Gensokyo. I’m not sure about your friend’s magical capabilities, but I know what Sakuya can do…we should probably go check on them.”

“That might be a good idea…” Twilight looked to the shrine maiden. “Reimu, do you think I could trust you to watch the library with Spike and Koakuma while we’re out?”

Reimu nodded. “I’ll make sure nothing gets destroyed. I’ve kept my shrine intact against all manner of yokai. A young dragon and a devil-turned-dragon shouldn’t be too much of a hassle…right?”

Twilight nodded with a flat smile. “Right. Shouldn’t be. Unless the Cutie Mark Crusaders show up early for their playdate with Spike. Good luck, Reimu.”

“The Cutie Mark…who now?” Twilight and Patchouli were already out the door, and Reimu was left with a small streak of worry crossing her expression. “Come on, Reimu…you’ll be fine. Besides, she said ‘playdate’. They have to be children, and you’ve beaten gods, demons, saints and all manner of destructive yokai…how bad could three little kids be?”

“Miss Izayoi, please don’t hurt Rarity!”
“Miss Rarity, I assure you, Sakuya isn’t…huh?”

As Twilight and Patchouli gathered their bearings after nearly busting down Carousel Boutique’s door, the two magicians take notice to the fact that the maid and fashionista were seated at a table in the center of the room, casually drinking tea. “Ah, Twilight, how lovely to see you…”

Sakuya nodded at Patchouli. “Good to see you out and about, Miss Patchouli.”

Rarity lifted the pot with her magic. “Would you two care for a cup? I was just about to make some more.”

The librarians looked at each other with the most confused expressions. The two simply sighed together, and then spoke in unison again.

“Two spoonfuls of sugar, please.”

Author's Note

Okay, my little Gensokyians, the time has come. It is time for you to decide who fights next. Will it be:

A: The Brash, Overconfident Pegasus versus the Cocky Black and White Magician?
B: Ponyville's Troublesome Trio versus Gensokyo's Troublemaking Three Fairies?
C: Ponyville's Resident Musicians (Lyra, Octavia and Vinyl) versus the Phantom Ensemble?

The choices are yours and yours alone!