My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic the Gathering

by RatherHomely

Rating: everyone
Tags: Crossover, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Adventure
Length: 16391

What do you get when you cross MLP, Magic the Gathering, and a cheesy Yugioh-esque plot? This.

Stupid title aside, haven't you always wondered what a story about ponies, Magic the Gathering, and a horribly cheesy Yu-gi-oh!-esque plot would be like? No? Well shut up, I made it anyway! Watch as ponies play card games, albeit not on motorcycles, and have to defeat a dark and mysterious EVIL that also plays card games because... Um... Well, who doesn't like card games?
Inspired by that picture thing accompanying the story, this fic is a fun thing I've been wanting to do for a while. As a fan of Magic, I've been wanting to someone create a crossover like this for a while. It didn't happen. So what's a brony to do? Write it himself, of course. Not sure if I really succeeded, so any constructive criticism would be awesome.

If you don't actually know how to play Magic, you're going to have a tough time following what's going on (Game-wise, that is. You'll be fine with the plot.). Twilight explains quickly about some of the game's rules throughout the first chapter, so those of you who've never played before may kind of get what's going on.
And for those of you who couldn't give a crap about the story and just want to see what cards the characters are using, the recipes for the decks used in the chapter are at the bottom.

Published 2012-02-10 22:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-03 20:07:45 UTC

Tap One Island to Play Story

"... So?"

"Are you kidding me?! Of course I can do it! With everything you've given me... Oh, this is going to be SUCH a delight!"

"..."

"Honestly, you should really try having some more fun with this! It isn't every day a wonderfully evil scheme is hatched! Let's see a smile on that... Hm... You know what? Forget the smile."

"... I trust there will be no difficulties?"

"Of course not! I can't think of a single thing that could stop me! Well, alright, I can think of six things, but they won't prove much of a nuisance. ... Can you at least let off an evil laugh?"

"..."

"A chuckle?"

"... Do it."

Twilight was shuffling a deck of cards when she heard a knock on the door. Spike, who was also engaged in shuffling his own cards, gave an annoyed groan. "You've gotta be kidding me! We were just about to start!"

The unicorn set the cards she was levitating on a nearby table. "Sorry, Spike. But what do you want me to do? Just not answer the door?"

"Um... Yes?"

Twilight rolled her eyes as she trotted over to the front entrance. Spike was being a little overenthusiastic, as usual. Twilight couldn't help but smile at the way the baby dragon wanted to drop everything and play, even if it meant leaving the door unanswered whenever some pony came knocking.

Pulling the door open, Twilight was surprised to see five friendly faces staring back at her. "Oh, hey girls, what are you doing...?”

"Nopony's home, go away!"

Twilight groaned. Spike was sitting impatiently at her table, arms crossed and foot tapping on the seat. "Spike..."

Applejack chuckled. "Thanks fer the kind welcome. We ain't interuptin' anything important, are we?"

Twilight shook her head. "Of course not, Spike's just a little..." She glanced over her shoulder at the dragon that had a look more cross then an x. "... Impatient. Come on in."

Spike threw his hands up in the air. "Well, I guess we won't get to play till tomorrow! Great!"

"What in Equestria are you prattling on about?" asked Rarity, as she and the others proceeded through the doorway.

"A game?" Rainbow Dash's wings perked up. She let off a sly grin. "Anything I can beat you in?"

"A game? I like games! And parties! And cupcakes! But ESPECIALLY games!" Pinkie Pie squealed for joy.

Fluttershy was looking around the room. "I don't see anything to play with. There's no balls, or hula-hoops ..."

"Well, duh!" Spike rolled his eyes, as though whatever it was the five were puzzling about was common knowledge. "You don't see any of that because, in this game, we use this!" He held a deck of cards over his head, as though Celestia herself would come down and shower light upon it.

The five ponies stared.

"... That's it?!" Rainbow Dash cried. "We're going to play with a little stack of PAPER!? That's stupid!"

"Maybe it's confetti?" Pinkie Pie pondered.

Applejack shot the pegasus a look, before saying, "Look, I'm sure you've got a great game there, but I reckin' Rainbow's kinda right. What are you going to do with something barely bigger then ma hoof?"

"Let me explain..." Twilight pulled a stool up to the table with her magic before sitting down. "Me and Spike were visiting this new card shop that just opened up in town."

"Oh, you mean... Um... I'm sorry , I forgot the name..." Fluttershy gave a sheepish grin.

Applejack cocked her head, and squinted her eyes as though the memory she was looking for was just in sight, but she couldn't quite make it out. "I think I know what yer talkin' about. It's that little place near Stirrup Street, right?"

Twilight nodded. "It's called 'All for One Collectibles’. Like I said, it just opened. I heard they sold some books, so I went to check it out with Spike. Next thing I know, I've bought a whole bunch of cards, and Spike and I have been playing for... What time is it?"

"Five-thirty." said Rarity.

Twilight's eyes widened. "Is that the time?! We've been at this for a good four hours!"

"Yeah!" Spike let out an enthusiastic cry. "At first we were using some of the starter decks the store had, but then we decided to open all the boosters and try to make our own decks! And mine is AWESOME!"

"Hold your hay!" laughed Applejack, getting a kick out of how excited Spike was getting. "Y'all haven't told us the name of the game!"

Twilight scooped her deck off the table and began shuffling it with her magic. "It's called 'Magic: The Gathering'. Some ponies over in Mareington run this company called 'Unicorns of the Coast'. They make a variety of games, or at least that's what the store owner told me. I've never really played these types of games before."

Spike grumbled, "And you never will if you keeping talking! C'mon, I want to play my new deck so bad!"

Twilight glared at the dragon, who was acting just like the baby he was. "We have company, Spike! I'm not just going to shove them out the door just so we can play!"

"Actually..." A tiny voice interrupted the conversation. All eyes turned to Fluttershy, who let out a little 'Eep!'. "I was just wondering if maybe I could... Watch? The game sounds interesting; maybe I’d like to play."

"Actually," added Rarity. "This game you speak of has me intrigued. Perhaps we all can watch, and get a gist for how the game works?"

The others nodded in agreement, with Pinkie being especially vigorous.

"Alright. If you want to, that's fine with me." Twilight set her now thoroughly shuffled deck in front of her on the table. "Okay Spike, could you cut my deck?"

"It's fine! Let's just start already!"

Twilight levitated the top seven cards off the top of the deck and held them in front of her.

Spike was looking at his cards with a maniac grin. "Ha! With these cards, there's no way I can lose!"

Under her breath, the unicorn muttered, "Glad to see you aren't getting too cocky." Then, to her friends, she explained, "I’ll try to explain what you do as we go along. The first thing is to draw seven cards. If you don't like what you picked up, you can shuffle your hand back into the deck and draw a new hand. The rules say you're supposed to draw one less card every time you do this, but Spike and I are just playing for fun, so we don't worry about that."

"Speak for yourself!"

"... Okay, I'm playing for fun. Also, I'm the one whom Celestia entrusted this library to, and I can kick one certain dragon out if he starts being a jerk."

Spike slumped back in his chair as the other ponies giggled. "Alright, I get the point. Can I go first?"

Twilight nodded. "Be my guest."

Rainbow looked pumped. "If Spike's so excited about this, I bet this game is going to be epic! C'mon, what are you going to play?!"

Spike shot her a daring smile, and, with gusto, laid down a card and shouted, I play a land!"

A moment passed. "Well, that was exciting." the pegasus said, sarcastically. "What are you going to play next, the 'Mighty Hoe'?"

"No offense, Twi," Applejack said. "I know I'm a farmer and all, but even I don't think a game about land is exciting."

"Oh, it's not all about lands." Twilight continued her explanation. "You see, in order to play other cards you have to pay their cost. And to pay that cost, you have to 'tap' the right lands. Tap means you turn a card on its side to show it's been used. When you tap a land, you produce 'mana' of the appropriate color- there's five colors by the way, white, blue, green, red, and black- and this mana is what you use to pay for your cards. You get to un-tap everything during the start of your next turn. Also, you can only put one land on the field each turn, and-"

"Stop." Rarity used one of her hooves to rub her temple. "Perhaps you should just tell us the goal of the game. What are you even trying to do?"

"I've got this!" shouted Spike enthusiastically, and before Twilight could say anything he jumped up onto the table, nearly causing the two decks to topple over. In a booming voice, Spike proclaimed, "YOU are a mighty planeswalker, a gifted wizard that can travel between dimensions, casting mighty spells, summoning ferocious creatures, and-"

"Each player starts with twenty life, and the first player to either run out of life, cards in their deck, or get ten poison counters loses."

Spike, deflated, climbed down from the table back onto his seat. "You take all the fun out if it, Twilight." he muttered. "Can I keep doing my turn?"

"Nopony's stopping you."

"Right. So let's see, I just put down a Copper Line Gorge, so I can..." Spike scanned his hand, before turning the land on its side and laying down one of his cards. "Check it out! I tap my land to play Dragon Master Outcast!"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I guess that sounds cool."

Twilight wasn't quite as concerned about how cool the card was, as opposed to what it did. "Alright. One mana for a 1/1. Any abilities?"

Spike gave her a wry smile. "Oh. Just a little one. During my upkeep, if I've got six or more lands, I can put a 5/5 flying dragon token on the field."

Twilight gulped. A powerful ability to say the least.

"I give. What do those numbers mean?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, that's the creature's power and toughness. The power is how much damage they deal, and toughness is how much damage they can take." Twilight turned her mind back to the game. I'll just need to beat him before he puts down six lands. Easy... Right?

"I end my turn."

"Okay." Twilight continued her quick Magic tutorial. "Girls, listen up. Each player's turn goes like this; First is your upkeep, where you un-tap all your cards. Then is your draw phase, where you draw one card from your deck. Then it's your first main phase, which is when you can play creatures, sorceries, artifacts, and enchantments. Then it's your combat phase, which is when you can attack with your creatures. After that it's your second main phase, which is basically the same as the first one. Finally is your end phase, which is when, well, your turn ends. Got it?"

"If I just smile and say I did, would you believe me?" Rarity asked tentatively.

Twilight sighed, and then proceeded with her turn, putting down a land called Seachrome Coast. I can tap this for either one blue or white mana. And that Copperline Gorge Spike has can be tapped for either a red or green mana. Hm. I wonder what kind of deck he's running... Well, I've only got one card I can play right now. So here goes nothing! "I tap my land for Sage of Epityr!" Twilight put her creature down on the table, which showed a picture of a mysterious cloaked figure in blue. "When he comes into play, I get to look at the top four cards of my deck and put them back in any order I want."

Spike shrugged. "So what? If he can't somehow smash the other player to bits, he's not worth putting in the deck."

We'll see about that. Twilight picked up the top four cards. There were three creatures and an instant, which would be handy since an instant can be activated at any time. Twilight took another look at her hand. She had two lands -an Island and a plains-, two instants - both Streams of Unconsciousness-, and two creatures - Student of the Elements and Augury Adept-. Finally deciding on an order, Twilight put the four cards back on top of the deck. Spike thinks controlling what's going to happen isn't important? Perhaps he's going to learn an important lesson before this is over. "I end."

Spike drew a card. "I play Rootbound Crag. It can give me either red or green mana, but... Unless I have a Mountain or Plains, it comes into play tapped. And I, uh, kinda can't do anything else. Your turn."

Rainbow Dash yawned. "Riveting."

"I KNOW! Did you see the way he played that land?!" Pinkie Pie was highly entertained by Spike's maneuvers, much to the puzzlement of the others.

Twilight drew a card, and put down a land, a Plains. "I'll tap two for my Student of Elements." Twilight laid down a creature. It was a scrawny figure with light red robes that looked as though he hardly belonged on the battlefield.

Spike took a single glance at the card and began laughing. "You paid two! For a 1/1! What's it going to do, study me to death?"

"Don't you want to know his ability?"

"Pfft! No!"

"Then go ahead. Your turn."

The other ponies exchanged glances.

"Why do I get the feelin'," Applejack said. "That that scrawny... Um, whatever it is has a lot more to him than it appears?"

Rarity gave a polite cough to attract Twilight's attention. "Twilight? What are those weird, fleshy things on the cards?"

"Oh, uh..." The unicorn took a close look at the card. "Each creature has a 'creature type', and this one says it's a 'human wizard'. I guess a human is some sort of fantasy race that somepony over at 'Unicorns of the Coast' came up with."

Rarity gave the card a frown. "Hideous thing. How does one even sew clothes for it?"

Spike drew a card, and put down another land. "I play Woodland Cemetery. It gives me either one black or one green mana. But since I don't have a Forest or a Swamp, it comes into play tapped."

"I think I sense a pattern here." muttered Applejack.

Twilight raised her eyebrow. "So, are you going to end your turn then?"

"No!" huffed Spike in irritation. "I've got a sweet creature to play! I tap two for my Kargan Dragonlord!" With glee, Spike put down a creature, a warrior on the back of a giant, fire breathing dragon. "Sure, he's only a 2/2. For now! But he's got this cool ability called level up! For each red mana I pay, I can put a level counter on him, and once he gets eight level counters, you’re not gonna be Twilight Sparkle. You're going to be Twilight, uh, Burn-cle!"

"…Really?"

"What? Twilight Sparkle. I can't work with that. I end."

Twilight drew a card. She was starting to get concerned about Spike's creatures. Sure, they were weak now, but give them just a few turns... "I play an Island, and I tap all my lands so I can play Bant Battlemage." This creature was a magic-wielding human in white attire, in the middle of a ferocious battle with some unseen opponent. "She's a 2/2, and I can tap her and pay one blue mana to give one of my creatures flying till the end of the turn. I'm done."

Spike was still unimpressed. Picking up a card, he put down another Woodland Cemetery. Still lacking a Forest or Swamp, he put it into play tapped. He didn't even bother playing a card, opting instead to tap two of his lands to level up his Dragonlord twice. "That's all for now."

Back to Twilight. She drew a card. "Blast..." she muttered.”I only have three lands. If I had just one more..." But that was okay. Because even without that land, Twilight was still in a good mood.

"Um, Twilight?" asked Spike nervously. "Why are you smiling? You're supposed to be cowering in fear."

"I'm smiling," Twilight answered, "Because you're about to learn why you should never underestimate a card. I tap my Island and Bant Battlemage to give Student of the Elements flying."

"Hah! So? That's like giving some little bug flying, it doesn't hurt me!"

"When Student of Elements has flying, I flip him..."

"... What."

"I flip him upside down. He's now a different creature named Tobias, Master of Winds."

"... What."

"A 3/3 that gives all my creatures flying." Sure enough, the artwork now depicted a mighty wizard clothed in white, soaring like a jet through the sky.

Rainbow Dash grinned. "Flying? Now we're getting somewhere!"

"But, uh... What does flying do? If you don't mind telling me..." asked Fluttershy nervously.

Spike's jaw was currently on the table, but he managed to put it back into place. "Creatures with flying can't be blocked by creatures without flying..."

Twilight smiled smugly. "And how many flying creatures do you have, Spike?"

"... None."

"I attack you for four damage. Flying." Twilight tapped her Sage of Epityr and Tobias, Master of Winds, aka the transformed Student of Elements.

"Oh!" cried Pinkie Pie. "Attack with your Battlemage, too!"

Twilight turned to look at Pinkie. "I can't. You have to tap a creature to have it attack. I had to tap my Battlemage in order to use its ability."

"I may or may not have understood what you said!" replied Pinkie Pie enthusiastically.

The unicorn let out a sigh before asking Spike, "So what do you do?"

The dragon grumbled. "What CAN I do? I'll just take the four damage." Spike's life dropped by four, leaving him at sixteen. But will I kill him fast enough before that Dragonmaster Outcast starts spewing tokens like a water fountain? And not to mention that Dragonlord...

"Uh, Twilight?" Twilight blinked her eyes a few times, noticing the white unicorn that was staring at her, looking concerned. "Dear, are you alright?"

"Um, yeah, sorry. I monologue in my head sometimes while I'm playing card games. Don't mind me. Uh, before I end, I'm going to tap two for my Jushi Apprentice." Twilight played a robed figure, which was in the middle of studying a text she had in hand. "She's a 1/2, and if I pay three and tap her, I can draw a card. If I have eight cards in my hand, I can flip her, just like my Student of Elements. Your turn, Spike."

"Thank you!" he said, plucking a card off the top of his deck. "Just what I needed. Another card that flips... Alright, I'll play my land, Dragonskull Summit!"

"Let me guess. No mountains. No Forests. No Swamps. Comes into play tapped?"

"Yes... But it doesn't matter!" Spike tapped two of his lands to level up his Dragonlord twice more, putting him at level four. "And that means," Spike smirked. "He's hit his second stage. He's no longer a plain old 2/2. He's a 4/4! And guess what?" Twilight didn't like where this was going. "He has flying." Tapping another two lands, Spike added, "And it gets better! I also play my Dragon Fangs!"

"Sounds scary..." murmured Fluttershy, backing away from the table.

Spike let off an evil chuckle. "Be afraid! For this little enchantment enchants one specific creature, giving it +1/+1 to their power and toughness, and trample! So if you block, I still deal the difference in damage to you! I think it’ll go on my… Dragonlord. That’s bout right.” Spike slid the card underneath his flying 4/4, to show it was enchanted. “I'll let you off easy this turn. I won't attack! Go ahead."

Drawing a card, Twilight examined the field nervously. That Dragonlord would easily kill any creature that was sent to attack Spike. Granted, he could only block one creature for every blocker he had, but that creature could easily be her Tobias. Not only that, but Spike needed only one more land before he could start pumping out an army of dragons. The only thing Twilight could do was hope for the best. "I tap three and my Jushi in order to draw a card." Lighthouse Chronologist. That wouldn't be useful at all. Twilight could feel all her friends eyes on her as she said, "I end."

The air was tense as Spike picked up his next card. He frowned. "Oh... Not a land. Guess I can let you live for a little bit longer."

"Gee, thanks..."

"I'll level up my Dragonlord three more times, and end my turn!"

But why wasn't he attacking? Wait a second... He may have the biggest creature, but I have something better. I have an army.

Twilight drew, and after a quick glance at her hand put down her Lighthouse Chronologist, an elderly man leaning on the ramparts of some old, stone structure. If Twilight could get seven level up counters on him, she'd be able to get an extra turn after each of Spike's turns, but that wasn't her plan. "I'll attack with my Sage of Epityr, Tobias, and Bant Battlemage."

"Fine." said Spike, cracking his knuckles. “Prepare to lose all your flyers! I block Tobias with my Dragonlord."

"Oh really?"

"Um, yeah. Really." Spike leaned back in his chair, enjoying his little victory. "Sorry Twilight, but I guess you're going to have to work without your Tobias. And no Tobias means all your creatures lose flying. Too bad."

"I tap one. Activate Stream of Unconsciousness."

Spike's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?!"

"Your Dragonlord loses four power till the end of the turn. Therefore, he can't kill Tobias. Oh, and since I have a wizard on the field, - they're all wizards, you see- I get to draw a card. Now, you were saying?" Spike mumbled as his life dropped from sixteen to thirteen. "I see you’re speechless. I'm going to play the land I just drew and end my turn."

"Excellent show, Twilight!" proclaimed Rarity. Spike gave a loud cough. Turning to him, Rarity gave Spike a sheepish grin and said, "Oh, and, um, excellent blockage. Good job!"

"You don't need to go an say that, Rarity!" Applejack interjected. "After all, if Spike's gonna be all high and mighty with his dragons, he deserves ta be knocked down a notch!"

Spike’s next card wasn't a land either. "But there is something I can do." Spike tapped three, putting down a creature that was dressed in rags, standing next to a dragon. "I'll play Dragonspeaker Shaman. All my dragons that cost a ton of mana? Yeah, they all cost two less now." Twilight groaned. That's just what she needed, more dragons! "Also, I'm going to level up my Dragonlord to level eight. You know what that means?" Twilight gave a reluctant nod. "Let's do the math; including the Dragon Fangs, and now that he’s at stage three, my Dragonlord is now a 9/9, both flying and trample. And guess what? I'm going to attack!"

Twilight thought about blocking for a second, but then thought better of it. The Dragonlord had trample, making any of her blocks next to useless. "I'll... Take the nine." A collective gasp was let out by the group, while Spike let out a triumphant "Ha ha!" Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes at the melodrama. What, was the fate of Equestria riding on her winning, or something?

Drawing a card, the unicorn put down a land. "Reliquary Tower provides one colorless mana, and gives me no limit to my hand size. Oh, girls, the maximum hand size you can have is seven. You discard extra cards at the end of your turn."

"Um, Twi?" Applejack pitched in. "I don't think that's gonna help much."

"I know what I'm doing!" I think... "I'll level up my Lighthouse Chronologist two levels, and I'll also play my Augury Adept." A female clothed in a muted green, with a billowing green cape came out. "It's simple. She's a 2/2, whenever she deals damage to you, I look at the top card of my deck, increase my life by the card's cost, and add it to my hand."

"Yeah," Rainbow muttered. "Real simple."

"And also, I'm going to attack with Jushi, Tobias, Epityr, and Bant Battlemage."

The corners of Spike's mouth dropped just like his life total, leaving him at five. "Yeah, well, just wait till next turn! ... It is my turn, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright..." Drawing a card, Spike began smiling. "Guess what? I just drew a land." And with that, he slapped down another Rootbound Crag, which he played tapped. "And also..." To Twilight's horror, Spike played a second Dragonmaster Outcast. "Next upkeep, I'll get two 5/5 dragons! What now?"

Twilight's mind raced. She would be dealing with 5/5 flyers on Spike's next turn. Her forces would be wiped out, along with her life... How could she...? Oh, duh. The answer's so simple. He'll have two dragons, yeah. But that’s NEXT turn. Twilight smiled. As for right now... "Is it my turn?"

Spike laughed. "Yeah! And your last!"

"I agree."

The little dragon scratched the side of his head. "... Huh?"

Suddenly, Rarity's eyes lit up. "I see it!"

Spike's head swung around. "What?! What do you see?!"

"Um, Spike...?" Fluttershy murmured. "Just a little, teeny suggestion, if you're willing to take it. Um... Have you taken a look at your blockers?"

Twilight watched with a look of satisfaction as Spike quickly started doing the math. "Only my Dragonlord can block, so that means..." His eye's widened as the realization suddenly hit him. "If you attack with all your creatures, then..." Frantically, Spike began turning his creatures sideways. "I... I attack! With all my guys, except that Dragonmaster that just came into play! For twelve damage!"

"Why can't...?" began Rainbow, before Twilight interrupted him.

"Summoning sickness. The first turn a creature comes out, it can't be tapped except by another card's effect. And since you tap to attack with a creature, it effectively can’t attack. As for you, Spike... I'll take the damage from your Dragonmaster and you Dragonlord, but I'll block your Dragonspeaker Shaman with my Lighthouse Chronologist. He's a 1/3, while your Shaman is a 2/2, so neither dies." Twilight glanced at her friends, who returned inquiring gazes. "Whenever two creatures fight, you subtract each creature's power from the other creature's toughness. If a creature's toughness hits zero, it dies and goes to the graveyard."

"Graveyard?" Applejack's eyebrow rose. "Next thing you'll be tellin' me is that there's zombies in the game, too!"

"Erm... Let's move on." Twilight had taken the brunt of the attack, her life now at one, an inch away from a loss. But she wasn't concerned. "I'm assuming it's my turn."

Spike nodded glumly.

"In that case..." Twilight tapped all her creatures, a massive army converging on Spike's remaining five life. "I hit you for ten damage. I believe the game…” She grinned. “Is mine."

Twilight's friends let out a cheer as Spike slumped back in his chair, grumbling. "Why are you all rooting for her? Aren't I your friend, too?"

"Sorry, Spike," Rarity smiled apologetically. "But one can't help but cheer for the underdog, you know?"

"Hrmph." Spike wasn’t convinced. "I was going to win! You just got... lucky! Yeah, that's right! It was all luck!"

Somewhere, a small crack grew larger. A laugh echoed through the air, which seemed to reach like a skeleton's hand out to grab the attention of all nearby. It was a small laugh, but it still could chill all who heard it to the bone...

"You're just being a sore loser, Spike." The dragon gave Twilight a grumpy glare. "You're not going to win all the time. Don't take it so seriously!"

After a moment, Spike let out a sigh. "I guess your right..."

"It's not like you can't play again!" chimed in Pinkie Pie. "Oh! I want to play too! Can I have a deck?!"

"Yeah!" smirked Dash. "This doesn't look so hard! I bet I could beat both of you at the same time!"

Twilight gave a polite smile. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but Magic is tough to master. I'm not sure you'll be able to match my skill level."

The five exchanged glances.

"Okay, Miss 'I Don't Like to Boast'," Rarity jabbed. "It's good to see you haven't let all this go to your head."

"Didn't you just get the cards this mornin'?" Applejack gave Twilight a questioning look. "Yer tellin' me you've gotten the entire game down in just a couple a hours?"

Quickly, Twilight realized her mistake. "I, uh, didn't mean it like that..."

"C'mon!" shouted Rainbow Dash, starting towards the door. "Obviously we're not smart enough for Twilight!"

"Wait! That came out wrong!" the unicorn shouted after her friends.

Fluttershy squeaked, "Thanks for having us..." before closing the door behind her, leaving Spike and Twilight alone.

The five ponies began walking back to Sugarcube Corner. Their plan originally was to grab a certain cook book from the library, but all that was forgotten after that Magic game started.

"Who does she think she is..." mumbled the rainbow pegasus, kicking at a rock as they walked along.

"Maybe we were a bit hasty..." Fluttershy tentatively said. "I'm sure she didn't mean to insult us... We are her friends, after all."

Rarity mulled over that last statement. "I suppose so. Twilight must be feeling absolutely awful! Perhaps we should go back and apologize."

Pinkie Pie stopped, letting out a gasp. "I have. The best. Idea. EVER!" Turning to the others, she let out a squeal of joy. "How about we all meet tomorrow at that card shop and MAKE OUR OWN DECKS! Then we can prove to Twilight we're just as good as she is!"

Rainbow Dash grinned. "Awesomness! Then I'll be able to beat everypony with ease!”

Applejack laughed. "Oh really? What makes you think yer gonna have the best deck?"

"Exactly!" added Rarity. "That title will belong to ME of course!"

The five continued down the street, arguing over who would reign supreme in the end. Except for Fluttershy. She just kept to herself.

"... Okay, that didn't go so well."

Spike shrugged. "I'm sure they'll get over it. So..." He gave Twilight a mischievous smile. "Up for another game?"

"No thanks." Twilight levitated her deck onto the top shelf of one of her bookcases, next to her extra cards. "Four hours is enough for me."

"Oh... Well, could you at least grab my deck for me?" Twilight floated the dragon deck over to the shelf, setting it by her own pile of cards. Spike seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "You know what would be so cool?! C'mon, guess!"

"Oh, um, a book about-"

"If there was some sort of cool device that could create, like, full size versions of what's on the cards! Like, real, life size dragons!"

Twilight tilted her head in confusions. "What, you mean like some sort of advanced illusion spell?"

Spike nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Kind of like that! You'd see battles acted out right before your own eyes! It'd be awesome!" He had a dopey grin just from picturing the possibilities in his head. "I can see it now! It'd be something you'd wear on your arm, with a slot for your deck and stuff. I'd call it... the Battle Diskette!"

Twilight rolled her eyes at the insane fantasy of Spike's. "Come on, a highly technical device designed just for the enrichment of a card game? Why in Equestria would anypony ever make that? All the money and resources it would take to make such a thing... It's inconceivable!" There was a moment of silence. “…Right?”

Featured Decks:

Here are the full deck recipes for both Spike and Twilight, so take a look, and feel free to leave a comment on what you'd do to make the decks better. I'd love to hear all of your opinions! These decks are a bit more on the thematic side, so I didn't really pursue more cookie cutter cards, but I'd still like to here what you think. All decks are created in a constructed format, where anything goes. However, the decks I made are purposefully not overpowered. Theme comes first.

Twilight's Getting Better All the Time Deck

When I making Twilight's deck, I was originally just going to go with a plain, regular wizard deck. But when perusing through the wizards, I noticed there was a good deal of cards with the Level Up mechanic. Besides just liking the mechanic by itself, the thought occurred to me, "Wait a tic. Twilight is all about trying to learn more and become better at whatever she aims for. These cards are just like that, needing time and patience to reach their full potential." BAM! I had a theme going! While I was at it, I included some of the cards with the flip mechanic (like Student of Elements) which also become better over time. Overall, this is probably one of my favorite decks that I made for the story because it just feels like a lot of fun to play. I'd totally run this in my casual group if I had the money to get it.
Anyway, in addition to Level Up and Wizard Support, I've also given the deck plenty of draw potential to get hand advantage, and to make it easier to flip Jushi Apprentice. Once she's flipped, the deck can either generate mass card advantage or proceed to rapidly mill the opponent's deck.

Total: 60 Cards

Lands: 23
6 Island
6 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Reliquary Tower
4 Glacial Fortress

Creatures: 29
2 Archivist
2 Augury Adept
2 Lighthouse Chronologist
2 Sage of Epityr
2 Student of Elements
4 Venerated Teacher
3 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Bant Battlemage
2 Champion's Drake
2 Jushi Apprentice
2 Transcendent Master
2 Student of Warfare

Other Spells: 8
4 Sage's Dousing
4 Stream of Unconsciousness

Spike's All Grown Up Deck

Would you believe I was thinking of having Spike run a black Zombie deck at first? I must've been tired.
Anyway, for Spike's deck I decided to aim for (Surprise!) dragons. After studying what I had available, I decided to include some baby dragons as a reflection on Spike (along with having some cheaper dragons to use), and I threw in some cards to help get dragons to the field easier.
The deck is a bit frustrating because of the special lands usually coming into play tapped, effectively putting you a turn behind the opponent, in a way. Perhaps I should put in more regular lands in replacement for the special ones?
Also, considering the relatively decent number of devour cards in the deck (Tokens produced by Dragon Broodmother and Hellkite Hatchling.), I've been thinking about taking out some enchantments (particularly Dragon Roost and Death by Dragons) in favor of a few more copies of Dragon Fodder. This would help get me some more earlier blockers too, just in case I needed them.

Total: 60 Cards

Lands: 24
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Woodland Cemetery
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Mountain

Creatures: 24
2 Furnace Whelp
2 Hellkite Hatchling
2 Broodmate Dragon
2 Dragon Broodmother
4 Dragonmaster Outcast
4 Dragonspeaker Shaman
4 Kargan Dragonlord
2 Moltensteel Dragon
2 Hellkite Overlord

Other Spells: 12
4 Dragon Arch
1 Dragon Fangs
1 Dragon Roost
1 Dragon Shadow
1 Form of the Dragon
2 Crucible of Fire
1 Death by Dragons
1 Dragon Fodder

Search Story for Chapter 2 and Put it on Top of Deck

"Well girls... Here goes nothing." Applejack led her four friends into All for One Collectibles.

A collective gasp was let out, as nopony amongst them had ever before seen such a wide array of merchandise dedicated to such seemingly unimportant things like playing cards. There were display cases packed with colorful pictures, binders stacked on shelves that seemed to nearly overflow with flat, cardboard rectangles. There were boxes labeled "common", and with all sorts of weird names accompanying them, like "Innistallion" and "New Ponexia". Besides cards, there were boardgames, books, and miniatures as far as the eye could see. Admittedly, they were in a room, so they couldn't see too far. Nevertheless, it was still an impressive collection. Even the walls were decorated with posters advertising card games like Ponymon and Pon-Y-Oh!, though it seemed that Magic was the main focus of the store.

"'Friday Night Magic...'" Rainbow read aloud from one of the posters. "'You don't need to wait a thousand years for an epic confrontation, just come in every Friday for a tournament hosted by your local card shop.' Ah, sweet! I can actually win things by being awesome at cards!"

"I must say," chimed in Rarity. "The dedication of so many resources to a collection of small slips of cardboard seems... odd."

"I, uh, suppose it's all about how you look at it..." Fluttershy responded. "I mean, you put a lot of time into clothes even though you don't really need them. Maybe it's the same way with Magic...? Maybe...?"

Rarity's mouth opened, ready to fire back an argument, but nothing left her mouth. "Um... Well... Hm. I suppose that is a fair point. But clothing is far different! It's a way of life!"

"You know, I've met my fair share of hardcore players in my day. They'd say the same thing about Magic." All heads turned towards an elderly unicorn, walking slowly out to meet them from a back room. He looked a bit scruffy, his grey hair slightly unkempt. He seemed to have a slight limp, though that seemed natural given his age. His Cutie Mark displayed a couple of twenty sided dice, one red and one black. "I suppose it isn't healthy to obsess over a card game. But hey, look at me! I'm in love with the game, and I'm making a living off of it!"

"I'm sorry, you are...?" Rarity asked, her one eyebrow raised inquisitively.

The stallion cracked a smile. "Oh, right. Can't forget to introduce myself. The name's Rolly. And this," He made a sweeping gesture with his one hoof, a movement that encompassed the entire building. "Is my store."

"Nice store, Mr. Rolly!" Pinkie hopped over to the unicorn. "I'm Pinkie Pie! We want to buy a whole bunch of cards so we can beat our friend! How much?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rolly held out his hoof, making a motion for her to calm down. "One step at a time! Do you even know what deck you want to make?"

"Of course!" Pinkie Pie was grinning from ear to ear.

"Really? What kind?"

"A PARTY deck!"

Rolly gave Pinkie Pie an odd look. Then he turned to the rest of those assembled. "Is she always like this?"

"You don't know the half of it," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Right," the unicorn clapped his hooves together. "Do you all know how to play?"

"We received a crash course from an acquaintance of ours," Rarity answered.

Rolly nodded. "Right. If I were you, I'd start with one of the starter decks we have for sale. Either that, or you could do what I did when I first started; think about what you like or how you want to play, then try to build a deck around it. We sell cards individually, so you're bound to find what you need. If you have any questions, I'll be in the back. Happy hunting!" And, with that, Rolly returned to the back room.

The five ponies exchanged glances.

Rainbow gave a shrug. "Seems cool enough. I don't see why he'd want to spend so much time inside, though. It's so... stuffy."

"You know how unicorns can be," Applejack commented. "All wrapped up in whatever crazy shenanigans that done gone steals their attention."

"I'm standing. RIGHT. HERE." Rarity turned her nose up at the two before walking off in a huff to find some fabulous cards to make a deck.

"Heh, uh sorry Rarity," chuckled Applejack, a sheepish grin on her face.

"I think I'll go look for cards too," Fluttershy said in a hushed voice. She walked over to the nearest display and began browsing.

"Ugh..." groaned Rainbow. "Have you noticed all these cards?! It's going to take forever to find what we're looking for!"

"Not quite," Applejack replied, patting a still bouncing Pinkie on the back. "Cause' we've got ourselves a secret weapon. If Pinkie can find any book in Twilight's library in seconds, I bet she can find cards just as easy."

"Eeyup!" Pinkie chimed in, failing to mimic Applejack's older brother.

"Hmm..." Dash rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Okay, Pinkie. Find me something fast. Something cool. And make it awesome while you're at-" Pinkie disappeared faster than any pony could bat an eyelash, reappearing again in mere seconds. "- it." The pegasus would have shaken her head in disbelief, but this was Pinkie. She was used to it. "Wow, thanks Pinkie! Let's see..." Carefully Rainbow grabbed the cards and began looking through them. The lack of fingers proved to be quite the obstacle, especially considering how small and slender the cards were.

A sly grin spread across her face. "Oh yeah. These are perfect."

"Oh really?" Applejack asked speculatively. "What, did Pinkie grab you a whole lot of flying creatures?"

"Not quite..." The pegasus and the pink pony exchange a hoof-five. "Let's just say it's gonna be an awesome surprise."

"Come on, Twilight, hurry up!"

"I'm moving, I'm moving!" Twilight groaned as the baby dragon urgently tugged at her mane, as though pulling out her hair would make her move faster.

After the previous day's defeat, Spike had been eager to return to the shop to pick up cards to perfect his dragon deck. Twilight already felt as though they'd spent a bit too much on Magic cards already, but, after some thought, there were some tweaks she wanted to make with her own deck as well. "Twilight, can't you just teleport us? What's with the walking?"

"You know why we can't teleport long distances all the time, Spike."

"Oh, come on, just because you end up with weird growths on-"

"It's not up for discussion."

They didn't need to teleport anyway. The duo rounded the next corner and All for One Collectibles came into view.

As they walked up to the front door, Twilight said, "Rolly mentioned yesterday that there was going to be a shipment of some Magic merchandise coming in today, and that he could use my help with it. So I'm just letting you know now that I may be leaving you on your own for a bit."

"Come on, Twilight, I'm no teeny-tiny baby. I can look after myself..." Spike started to salivate a bit. "Maybe the merchandise is more dragons..."

The unicorn rolled her eyes. "Stop that. It sounds like you want to eat them... And I don't think it's cards. Why would he need help with cards? Let's head- What the!?" Twilight opened the door, and to her surprise she found five very familiar ponies inside, looking over cards and making purchases at the cash register. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Rarity gaily responded, "We're allowed to buy cards too, you know."

"And there you go," Rolly shut the cash register. "Miss Fluttershy, I can hardly wait to see your deck in action."

"Oh, um, thank you..." Fluttershy squeaked, humbled by the praise.

The pony behind the register suddenly noticed Twilight, and called for her to come over. "Just got the shipment earlier this morning! If you could just follow me to the back..."

"Oh! Oh! What's the shipment?!" Pinkie Pie seemed to materialize out of thin air next to Rolly, who seemed like he nearly had a heart attack. "Is it the party deck I wanted? You must've called in the order really quickly! Or maybe cupcakes? Oh, that'd be great!"

"Whoa!" Rolly held up a hoof and made motion for party pony to settle down. "These old bones can't take all this jumping around..."

Applejack placed a firm hoof on Pinkie's back, somehow managing to stop her from continued hopping. She gave a sheepish grin to the shop owner and said, "Sorry, like we've said, she can get a might bit excited."

The old shop owner began to give a small laugh. "Oh why am I complaining. It's always great to see someone get so excited over Magic. Tell you what, little missy, why don't you bring you and your friends out behind my shop and I'll show you what's been delivered."

The seven ponies (and one dragon) trotted out the rear end of the shop, with Twilight and Rolly levitating a couple of boxes. "Just set them over here." Twilight followed the unicorn's instructions, setting them down just outside the shop's back door.

Surprisingly enough, despite being in the middle of town, there was a sizable clearing behind the shop. The space was at least the size of the shop itself, if not twice that size. It seemed to be a communal backyard, of sorts, with the back doors of a good half a dozen buildings also opening up into the clearing. Grass filled the area, an oasis of nature in the middle of Ponyville's more urbanized market district.

Rolly opened the boxes, revealing a collection of odd devices inside. "All that's left is to charge them. You two," He motioned for Rarity and Twilight to come closer. "These things run on magic. So if you could do me a big favor and charge them up, I'd be really grateful."

The two nodded. Although both had never heard of such a thing that could store magic for future operation, they obliged the elderly pony anyway. The three unicorns turned their attention to the boxes, four in total of decent size. Their horns started to glow, and the others watched as a brilliant stream of energy shot out of each of their horns and stuck the boxes, causing the contents to glow a light blue. After about a minute, Rolly called for them to stop. Everypony proceeded to crowd around the boxes, intent on seeing just what mysterious objects required magic to operate.

Each separate device consisted of of two parts, the first part being an obsidian-colored headband made of some sort of metal, with what looked like a red ruby mounted in the center. Now that the three unicorns had infused all of the devices with magic, there was a very subtle glow emanating from the gem, though one had to pay close attention in order to notice it. Along with the headband, there was also some sort of metallic, obsidian-colored... plank. That was the easiest way to describe it. A two by four constructed out of the same metal as the headband. Well, it wasn’t quite that big. The dimensions looked a bit more like one by two feet. There was also a black strap attached to it, allowing for any pony to easily carry it around their neck. The design in this aspect seemed a bit clunky, since that meant the device was left dangling in front of the body. A pony had to be careful, otherwise their legs would constantly be bumping against the board. Overall, the product looked a tad... unfinished. As though it still needed a level of polish.

“I was lucky to get my hooves on these. Unicorns of the Coast only sent a bunch to a few shops in order to get some feedback on their product. It’s a prototype.” Rolly had a huge grin on his face, and for a moment he seemed about twenty years younger.

“It’s, uh, a very nice hunk of metal,” Rarity said, “But... what is it?”

This is the next step in Magic’s evolution,” the unicorn replied, fitting one of the headbands around his forehead. “This will take the game to a whole new level of immersion,” He levitated the board in front of him. Suddenly, the board unfolded, making a one by four foot board. It then unfolded again, for a final result of a two by four foot board. “It’s a revolutionary mix of magic and technology,” He levitated a couple of cards over to the board, what looked like two plains and a creature card. He put the two plains on the board and tapped them. Two small white orbs floated up from the ground, as though coming from the earth itself. “And most importantly...” He put the creature on to the board. The two orbs joined together, and, after a small flash of white light, the assembled ponies (and one very surprised dragon) had to scramble to pick up their jaws, which had simultaneously hit the ground. “It looks pretty damn cool.”

Before them stood what seemed to be a small, blue dragon. Or was it a drake? The dragon-thing was hitched up with a harness, and an alien creature looked down upon them from atop the beast’s back, a large spear clutched in one hand. “Your orders, sir?” the creature said, a slight purr in its voice. It’s body shape was similar to the human things that were commonly depicted on Magic cards. This creature looked as though a human had taken a swim in glue, and then rolled around in fur.

Behold!” Rolly let out a giddy laugh. “A Leonin Skyhunter, in the flesh! Okay, well, not the flesh. This baby,” He taps the device floating in front of him. “Is called a Battle Board. It uses magic to create lifelike illusions which can dish it out with other illusions. It’s like the actual battle is happening in front of you! Isn’t it awesome?!”

Spike and Twilight exchanged glances, with the baby dragon attempting to hold back a laugh. The unicorn said, “You have got to be kidding me. Spike, did you know about this?”

“No! Hah, this is great!” he chuckles.

“You know I hate you right now, right?”

“Heh... Why’s that?”

“Because it seems the world’s decided to start revolving around you.”

At that, Spike finally bursts with laughter. “It only just started?”

“Spike, your new name is Foreshadowing. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to smack my head against a wall a few dozen times.”

But before anypony could make a move, Rainbow Dash had already zoomed over and grabbed one of the Battle Boards, picking up the board while slamming the headband onto her head in one single, fluid motion.

“Oh yeah!” she cried. “I’m so gonna try this! Who wants to get their butt handed to them on a silver platter first?!”

“Dash, he just got those,” Applejack chided. “It’s not like they’re gonna run off if we don’t use em!”

The pegasus gave Applejack a smug grin. “I guess you’re just too chicken to duel me.”

A moment passed in awkward silence.

Finally Fluttershy said, “Okay, so-”

“You’re on.”

“Nevermind...” the pegasus squeaked.

Applejack was a pony with a purpose, marching straight towards the box with all of the Battle Boards.

“Um, AJ, maybe you should relax a-” But the earth pony would have none of that, and brushed straight past Twilight.

“Dash, I think it’s about time you put your bits where your mouth is,” Applejack said. She practically shoved the headband on, resulting in Rolly wincing at such high-tech merchandise being handled so roughly. Luckily for him, the Battle Boards looked very durable. AJ picked up the Battle Board next and looped the strap around her neck so she wouldn't have to cradle it awkwardly in one foreleg.

“Well, this is going to be interesting,” Rolly said as Applejack walked forward to face Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t realize there was going to be a game so soon...”

“Don’t, uh, hurt each other or anything...” Fluttershy meekly called out.

“Silly Fluttershy!” Pinkie practically tackled her friend as she jumped to her side. “Those thingy-ma-bobs aren’t real! But it would be really cool if they were real! Then I could eat any cake card I play!”

“Um... Right...”

"Oh! Even better! I could eat as many cakes as I wanted to and Mrs. Cake wouldn't yell at me!"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash gazed intently at one another, the earth pony wearing a determined look, while Dash had a cocky demeanor. Each waited for the other to move first, sizing one another up in the process.

“Is this a staring contest, or did you two die standing up?” Rarity called out.

“Right,” Rainbow sprang into motion. “Here goes nothing!”

“Let’s go!” Applejack replied.

Each of them tossed their Battle Board in front of them, with Applejack removing the strap as she did so.

The Battle Boards landed with a thump on the ground, completely lifeless.

There was a collective face hoof from those watching as Rainbow Dash asked, “Um, what now?”

“Okay, I should’ve mentioned this earlier,” Rolly sighed. “The reason you’re wearing those headbands is because each one is infused with magic. The pony that’s wearing it can use that magic to levitate small object. Like the Battle Board, or Magic cards.”

“Wait,” You could clearly hear the gears in the pegasus’ head turning. “Does that mean we can...?”

“Yeah. It pretty much lets you move things with magic. Neat, eh?”

“Hold on just one moment...” Twilight seemed flustered. “You’re telling me that a group of ponies invented a revolutionary illusion generation technology, AND a compact device that gives non-magical ponies the ability to levitate objects?!”

“I suppose that’s about right.”

“And you’re saying that the company is not using this technology to help the disabled or elderly, but for the purpose of enriching a CARD GAME?!”

“... Yeah, I guess so.”

Twilight rubbed one of her temples with a hoof before saying, “Right, if you need me, I’ll be back at that wall continuing to smack my head against it.”

Applejack looked at her Battle Board. Supposedly she could control it with her mind. What am I suppose to do? Just think about how I want it to- The Battle Board rose into the air, unfolding into its full form. “Well... Okay then.”

On closer inspection, Applejack could see that there was a lot more to the board than she’d first seen. There were three pockets in the lower right-hoof corner, each labelled with white paint “deck”, “graveyard”, and “exile”. Each pocket was partially covered so that the cards wouldn’t fall out so easily if the board went for a tumble. There was also a slider on the the edge of the right side that had numbers ranging from zero to fifty. Applejack figured that must be the life counter. The rest of the board seemed to just be that plain, obsidian color, and most likely the play area where the action occurred. She slid her deck into the deck pocket, then looked up to see how Rainbow was doing.

“Look at me, guys!” Rainbow Dash had raided a nearby trash bin, and was juggling cans, throwing them and catching them with her magic. “No hooves!”

The earth pony groaned. “Rainbow, would you stop muckin’ around and get started!?” Then to herself, “I’ve seen apple trees with better focus than that pony...”

“Fine, fine, I’m starting.” Rainbow shuffled her deck before putting it into the appropriate slot, then levitated seven cards off the top of the deck. She gave them a quick glance before slapping a mountain down with enough force to practically send the board spinning. “I’ll tap this mountain for Spark Elemental! Attack!” Immediately a red orb appeared and shot towards Applejack, turning into a frantic bolt of electricity mid-trip that bounced erratically on the ground as it made its way towards the helpless Earth pony.

“What in the...?” was all Applejack could get out before getting hit with a bolt of electricity.

Applejack noticed that being electrocuted didn’t actually hurt. After all, what she was being hit with wasn’t actually real. It was an illusion. Granted, an incredibly convincing one, but she doubted that Unicorns of the Coast would be able to sell any of these Battle Boards if they actually involved physical pain. Hey, Twilight, AJ could picture herself saying. Wanna go and writhe in pain for twenty minutes or so? No, that wouldn’t sell the product.

What she had experienced was more of a strong tingly sensation, like if you’d sat on your back hooves too long and they’d fallen asleep. It didn’t hurt, but it felt really odd. It certainly let her know she’d gotten hit.

Her slider moved down to seventeen. She’d already lost a chunk of life, and the game had just started! “Rainbow, your cheatin’! You can’t tap creatures the turn they enter battlefield!”

“I am, am I?” The pegasus grinned slyly as the Spark Elemental returned to her side, though moving around far less quickly than before. “I don’t need to cheat to win! My buddy Spark Elemental has haste. He’s lightning fast, so he can attack the same turn he comes into play!”

Applejack let out a grunt. Typical Rainbow, Applejack thought, Should’ve known her deck would trot as fast as the wind. I’ll need to slow her down a notch. A black sign, another illusion, appeared over Rainbow’s head that read; ‘20’. When Applejack glanced above her own head, there was, as she expected, another sign that read ‘17’. Most likely this was so that the players didn’t have to keep shouting their life totals at each other, which would’ve looked pretty silly to onlookers. Another black sign appeared over the elemental's head, one that read ‘3/1’. It took AJ a few moments to realize that the number on the left was the creature's power, while the number on the left was the creature's toughness. Probably another way to quickly reference a creature's stats. “You got a creature with three power and one toughness out on the field for one mana? And it has that, what did you call it, haste?! That’s ridiculous! No creature has that power at that cost!”

“Well, it does have a little drawback...” Rainbow gave AJ a sheepish grin. “It only sticks around for one turn. Then it dies.” With those words the Spark Elemental fizzled out. It turned from a mighty electrical force into little more than static electricity. “Your turn.”

The bystanders held their breaths as Applejack drew a card.

“What deck do you think she’s using?” Rarity asked.

“It could be anything,” replied Twilight. “After all, Magic is full of a variety of creature types and playstyles. Applejack has a vast assortment of deck strategies to sort through. She could pick anything!”

“I play a forest and tap it for my Treefolk Harbin... Harbrang... Uh, not sure how to pronounce that word...” AJ said as she put some cards on the battlefield. A green orb morphed into a small tree with limbs and a kindly, elderly face.

“... Or she could just use trees.” Twilight sighed. Why did that seem so typical? “It’s pronounced ‘harbinger’!”

Applejack just gave her a look. “What in the hay is a harbinger?”

“It’s somepony- or something- that can predict the future.”

“Oh. That actually makes sense. Cause, ya’all see, when my Treefolk Harbinger enters the battlefield, I can take a Treefolk creature in my deck and put it on top of my library!”

“Sounds less like predicting the future and more like messing with it...” Rainbow Dash muttered as AJ rooted through her deck, before taking a card and putting it on top.

“I predict...” the Treefolk Harbinger said, his voice old and worn, “that Bosk Banneret is your next draw.”

“Thank ya kindly.” AJ gave the tree a polite nod. A sign appeared over the Harbinger’s head, one that read ‘0/3’. The tree looked rather frail. While it’s oaken form lent it some resistance, it was obviously too weak to actually deal any damage.

“Is that it?”

“Yeah, I’m done.”

Rainbow Dash drew another card before tapping her sole mountain and throwing down another Spark Elemental. “Another one? Why're you in such a rush, sugar-cube?”

“Yeah, yeah, very funny...” Dash put down a land. Only, this land wasn’t quite like the mountains, forests, and plains the group had seen so far today. It seemed... special was the best descriptor. “Check it out, this land is called ‘Teetering Peaks’. I can play it like any other land, and it makes a red mana like a mountain, but it comes into play already tapped. However, when it comes into play, a creature of my choice gains plus two power until the end of the turn. Sick em’, Spark Elemental!”

The bolt of energy began to crackle, glowing brighter than before. With amazing speed, it began to rush towards AJ.

“Harbin-thingy, block him! Er, her. Uh, IT! Block IT!”

The Treefolk Harbinger braced himself, and, only moments later, was hit with an electrical impact that tore him to pieces, bits of bark flying everywhere. However, the elemental's momentum carried it forward, hitting Applejack head-on.

“Arrgh!” Her life dropped to fifteen.

The elemental fizzled out as Rainbow’s turn came to a close.

Applejack barked, “I thought you couldn’t deal damage to me if I blocked your creature?!”

“Applejack, the Spark Elemental has trample!” Twilight shouted from the sidelines. “If a creature with trample would assign enough damage to its blockers to destroy them," she quoted from the rulebook, "you may have it assign the rest of its damage to the defending player.”

“Twilight, did you just shove the rulebook into your head when we all weren’t lookin’? Okay...” She ran the numbers in her head. For some reason, Applejack always had problem doing math if she didn’t visualize apples being involved. “So, the elemental had a power of five and my treefolk had a toughness of three... So five minus three is two. I took two damage. Great...” She drew a card from her deck. “I’ll play a forest, then tap it to play my Diligent Farmhand.” A green orb rose out of the ground, then morphed into a bipedal creature, clothed in heavy garments and with a black beard. It was one of those ‘human’ things, and it looked even odder in the flesh.

“What do you need doing, my master?” he respectfully asked.

Applejack stared back at him for a moment, then said, “Huh? Oh, sorry, I’m not used to talkin’ to illusions. Uh, nothin’ for now. Just wait till next turn.”

“You sure? I can start a small garden over in the corner.”

“No, that’s fine.”

“Not even some shrubbery?”

“Wow, these illusions are full of personality,” Twilight remarked to Rolly. “How did they do it?”

He shrugged. “It’s magic. You don’t have to explain it.”

Rainbow put down another mountain before tapping the three she had. “Cool farmer. You know what’s cooler?” Three red orbs floated up and merged together to create... An even larger orb of electricity. “My Ball Lightning! It’s like Spark Elemental’s big brother! Haste and trample for the win!” A sign appeared over its head that read ‘6/1’.

Applejack glanced at her farmer.

‘1/1’.

“Consarnit...” Applejack muttered under her breath. “I don’t suppose you want to block?”

“I’d rather not,” the farmer replied. “Dying is bad for my complexion.”

The next instant was filled with that tingling sensation, only much more intense. AJ’s life dropped down to nine. “Lucky for you, my Ball Lightning goes away when my turn’s done!” Sure enough, the Ball Lightning, like the creatures that came before it, fizzled out.

“You know, Rainbow, how are you going to win if all your creatures keep dyin’?”Applejack asked as she tapped two forests. “I’ll play Rampant Growth. I get to search my deck for a forest and put it into play tapped.”

“You’ve got to tell me your gardening secrets some time,” the farmer remarked.

“Yeah, well, how about you start with attacking Ms. Dash over there?”

“As you wish.” With a bloodcurdling scream, the farmer hefted his gardening hoe and made a mad dash towards Rainbow. He swung with all his strength, hitting her dead on.

Rainbow yawned. Her life dropped one point to nineteen.

The farmer gave Applejack a smile. “Such skill with a hoe can only be learned with practice.”

Spike slapped a hand to his face. “Does he even realize what words are leaving his mouth?”

“I wonder if he kisses his mother with those lips?” Rarity asked.

“Woot!” Pinkie was hopping up and down in excitement, about a half-a-foot higher than she usually does. “Go Mr. Farmer! You beat her with that hoe!”

Rolly chuckled. “She’s not helping his case, is she?”

“So what if my creatures keep dying?” Rainbow hadn’t forgotten Applejack’s earlier statement. “You’re already down to nine life!”

“You’ve barely got anything left, Rainbow! Your field’s emptier than a tree after bucking season!”

“Yeah, well, that’s going to change!” Rainbow Dash drew a card. Playing a mountain, she tapped it to play a creature. “I’ll bring out my Flamekin Har... Harben... Harban-”

“Harbinger!”

“Thanks, Twilight. My Flamekin Harbinger!” A red orb morphed into a bipedal figure. It had the shape of a human, but it looked as though its body consisted of sculpted coal. It had a slender figure, and gave off the impression of being female. That, and the minor detail that it was on fire. “It’s like you’re Treefolk Harbinger. I get to search my deck for an Elemental and put it on top! Of, you know, the deck.”

As Rainbow did so, the Harbinger said in a voice that was soft, like the gentle crackling of a small flame, “I predict a Nova Chaser in your near future...” A sign appeared over the creature’s head that read, ‘1/1’.

“Finally,” huffed Applejack, “Something without haste...” She drew a card, then tapped three lands. “I’ll play Cultivate. Hey, farmhand, you better get some seeds ready. Cultivate lets me search my deck for two forests. One goes on the field tapped, and the other goes to my hand. And I think I’ll just go ahead and play it right away. Then it’s your turn.”

The farmhand let out a sigh. “I hope we’re going to do more than plant forests. It gets kind of dull just growing the same thing over and over again...”

The earth pony gave him a look. “Why do I get the feelin’ you just aren’t cut out for farm biz?”

“I think you can guess what my draw is,” Rainbow said as she levitated the top card of her deck to her hand. “I’ll play a mountain, then I’ll bring out Nova Chaser!” She tapped four lands, and four corresponding orbs rose out of the ground. “She has an ability called ‘Champion’. When she comes into play, I exile an elemental I control. Then, when she leaves, the exiled creature comes back.”

“Oh, so it’s like one of your creatures is being turned into that new creature. How thematic!” Everypony turned to look at Fluttershy, who’d barely made a peep this entire game. She quickly backed away a few steps. “I mean, that’s what it sounds like, anyway...”

The four orbs converged on the fragile figure of the Flamekin Harbinger, bathing her in a red light. Suddenly, the flames coating her body flared up with amazing intensity. If the flames were real, Rainbow’s mane would have surely burned to a crisp. The Flamekin Harbinger was now no longer a weak, fragile creature. She was now a being that rippled with power, a cocky smile stretching across her face. As the sign above her changed to read ‘10/2’, the Nova Chaser said, “So, I hear you’ve got a little tree problem.” She cracked her knuckles. “Just tell me what I can light on fire first.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Seems like your creature’s got an ego the size of a barn, Rainbow.”

“Hey!” All those watching could practically feel the air heat up around them. The Nova Chaser snarled, “If you’re going to insult me, how about you come over here and say it to my face?”

Rainbow Dash had the biggest smile on her face. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, you are just SO cool!”

The flamekin gave her an easy-going smile. “I’d prefer to think of myself as hot stuff.”

AJ groaned. “You two gonna keep flappin’ your gums or are we goin’ to keep goin'?”

“It’s your turn, genius,” the flamekin shot back. “The only one holding up the game is you.”

Grumbling, the earth pony drew a card before looking over her hand carefully. There were a few choices open to her, but, finally, she settled on one route. “I’ll play a forest, then tap two forests for my Bosk Banneret.” Two green orbs combined to create a tree with limbs and a rough, determined face. Two banners of green fabric with some sort of orange symbol dangled from its branches. A sign appeared above him that read ‘1/3’. “As long as he’s out, all my Treefolks cost one less to play.”

“At least she can say ‘banneret’ right...” Twilight muttered under her breath.

“Next, I’ll tap four lands to play my Timber Protector,” Four more orbs appeared and merged to create a new treefolk, one that was practically twice the size as the banneret. It stood proud, rooted firmly in the ground (well, as rooted as an illusion can be), with a face that looked intricately carved and positioned halfway up the trunk of his body. In one oaken limb he hefted a staff of mahogony. “That staff of his gives all of my other Treefolks plus one power and toughness, and all other forests and treefolks are indestructible.”

Rainbow blinked her eyes in surprise. “They’re WHAT?!”

"Indestructible. As in, you know, you can’t destroy them.”

The Nova Chaser shrugged. “Not impressed.”

“You’re cocky, young flamekin,” the massive oak said. “Your overconfidence is your weakness.”

“Yeah, well, being flammable is yours,” she shot back.

The sign over the Banneret changed to read ‘2/4’, while the Timber Protector had a sign that read ‘4/6’.

Rainbow drew a card. After a moment’s contemplation, she put down a mountain, then tapped three lands for another flamekin. “Incandescent Soulstoke!” A figure much similar to the Flamekin Harbinger from earlier appeared, except clothed in flowing robes, and with a staff held in one hand. It was a wonder that the robe and staff didn’t burn to cinders immediately. “This guy gives all my other elementals plus one power and toughness, like your Timber Protector. Also, I can tap him and two lands to play an elemental from my hand for free and give it haste. The only drawback is that I have to sacrifice that creature at the end of the turn.” The sign above this new creature's head read ‘2/2’. The Nova Chaser seemed a tiny bit brighter than before, and her sign that now read ‘11/3’ reflected that. “Now attack, Nova Chaser!”

She cracked her knuckles. “My pleasure.” She started charging towards Applejack, fire intensifying as she readied for impact.

If that thing hits me, I’m done for! Applejack thought. Five bits says that thing has trample, just like all those other creatures she played. My farmhand won’t stop enough damage, and my Timber Protector doesn’t give himself indestructible, so he’d die. That leaves...

“Banneret! Block her!”

The treefolk held out his arm in an attempt to block the flamekin.

At the very last moment the Nova Chaser attempted to dodge out of the way, but the treefolk managed to clip her with an oaken fist, knocking her to the ground. Before the treefolk managed to crush her head with his gnarled foot, she rolled out of the way, launching a fireball at Applejack in the process.

AJ clenched her teeth as the flaming orb hit her, reducing her life to two.

The flamekin limped back to Rainbow’s side. “Happy? Now could you finish your turn so I can heal?”

“Happy? That was awesome! Hoof-pound!” Rainbow held out her hoof. The Nova Chaser looked at the hoof, then at her hand, then at the hoof.

“Yeah, maybe later.”

Applejack drew a card. She was down to only two life now, while Rainbow Dash was still at nineteen, barely a scratch on her. But she wasn’t worried. She had something that Rainbow Dash didn’t; a plan.

“Alright...” Applejack tapped two forests. “Hey, farmhand, ready to take one for the team?”

“As long as it involves agriculture, I’m willing to do anything. Well, maybe not agritourism. That just gets annoying, what with all the little kids jumping in haystacks, and-”

“I tap two forests to use my farmhand’s ability. I sacrifice him to search my deck for a forest and put it into play tapped.”

The farmhand began to plant seeds with a furious fervor, watering them with such intensity that he finally collapsed in exhaustion. “Alas, sweet world! I barely knew thee!” He put a dramatic hand to his forehead. “At least I get to go out doing what I love!”

There was a collective groan from all assembled.

“Give me a break...” muttered the Nova Chaser. “Hey Drama Queen, just get in the damn graveyard already!”

The farmhand gave a huff before fading from view.

“Okay Applejack, I get it. You like trees. You’ve been spending practically the whole game getting more forests!” Rainbow Dash called out. “But you aren’t going to win the game by growing a nature preserve!”

“Or am I?” Applejack gave the pegasus a grin. “I tap three lands for my Dauntless Dourbark.”

Three green orbs merged, and slowly, a figure emerged. A mighty treefolk, who was....

About two feet tall.

Rainbow Dash began laughing hysterically. “THAT’S the creature you’ve been riding on?! It’s a pipsqueak! My Nova Chaser could sneeze and it would burst into flames!”

“Don’t be so quick to judge,” the Timber Protector said.

“Yeah,” AJ continued. “You see, my Dauntless Dourbark gets plus one power and toughness for each Treefolk I control. That’s three.” The treefolk slowly grew, the sign over his head reading ‘3/3’. Rainbow Dash shrugged. “He also gets plus one power and toughness for each forest I control. I count seven. Oh, and don’t forget the bonus he gets from Timber Protector.” The treefolk started growing rapidly, his shadow quickly blanketing the Timber Protector. He grew and grew, and was soon as big as a two story building. The sign over his head was hard to make out, but it read ‘11/11’.

Rainbow stopped laughing.

"Is it me or is it getting a little crowded back here?” Rolly asked.

“Thanks to my Timber Protector, he’s also indestructible,” Applejack added. The dourbark’s bark seemed to have a slight gleam to it, as though it was now constructed out of the world’s toughest metal. Rainbow gulped. “And- you’re gonna love this part- as long as I control another treefolk, he has trample.” Sharp spikes began sprouting all over the dourbark’s body.

“Phhht. He’s not so tough,” the Nova Chaser remarked. “I could take him blindfolded.”

The giant treefolk slowly bent down, till its gigantic face was practically looking the flamekin in the eye. “You know,” he said, his words slow and deliberate, “You’re going to need to speak up soon. It’ll be very hard to hear you when you’re squashed beneath my foot.”

“Why you...” The flamekin blazed in anger, but this didn’t even phase the giant treefolk. He merely grinned and raised himself back up to full height.

“You see, Rainbow?” Applejack said. “I’ve been plannin' this all out from the very beginnin. I’ve been workin' towards somethin' this entire game, while you’ve been barely thinkin’ ahead..”

This statement prompted an odd look from the pegasus. “What? What are you talking about? You’re down to two life!”

“Look, Rainbow,” she continued, “I realize you aren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. You’re more of the rush-into-stuff-without-thinkin’ type.”

“Um, Applejack?” Fluttershy said, “I don’t think that’s a-”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash snorted, and those assembled could practically see the steam coming out of her ears. “Are you saying I’m stupid?!”

“Er, um,” Perhaps she’d stepped across the line a little bit. “All I’m sayin’ is that I can plan better then you can. I mean, I run a farm while you just sleep all day.”

“You think all I do is sleep?! Do you even know all the work that goes into weather control?!”

“Just sayin’ it doesn’t sound like the most, erm, intellectually stimulating career in the world.”

“You SMACK TREES. What are you doing that gives you the right to just diss me in front of everypony?!” Rainbow played another Flamekin Harbinger.

“I predict Nova Chaser will-” it started, but Dash quickly cut her off.

“Go ahead. Your turn.”

Applejack drew a card, then put a forest on the field. “You’ve got to admit, sugarcube, if I keep playin creatures like dourbark, you're gonna have a tough time gettin' past me.” She tapped a forest. “Diligent Farmhand.”

A green orb morphed into a bearded man. “I’m alive!” He lept for joy.

"And I’ll tap two and sacrifice him to get a forest from my deck.”

“Parting is such sweet sorrow...!” He moaned as he faded back to nothingness.

With two more forests on the field, Dauntless Dourbark’s stats changed to read ‘13/13’. He grew even bigger, easily towering over the top of the nearby buildings.

“Rolly?”

“What can I do for you, Twilight?”

“Is anyone besides us aware that the giant killer tree is an illusion?”

“I don’t think so.”

“And isn’t that tree now visible to the whole town?”

“If they look up, yeah, I guess so.”

Twilight let out a sigh as she heard shrill screams off in the distance. “I’ll be back soon. I have some damage control to do...” With that, Twilight trotted back into the game shop.

Applejack was so focused on the game that she barely noticed Twilight’s absence. “Your turn.” She would have gone on the offensive, but she wanted to be cautious. There was another Nova Chaser sitting on top of Rainbow’s deck, and just two points of damage would do her in.

Rainbow drew a card. “I’ll use my Incandescent Soulstoke’s ability. I can tap two mana and it, then I get to play an Elemental from my hand for free. It has haste, but I sacrifice it at the end of the turn. And I’m going to bring out...” She rapidly tapped the required cards. “Nova Chaser!” Flames engulfed the Flamekin Harbinger, eventually dispersing to reveal a mighty flamekin champion.

The first Nova Chaser laughed. “The more the merrier!”

“Now...” the pegasus muttered.”How about you two show Applejack what planning really means?”

The two Nova Chasers nodded and, in unison, said, “It'd be my pleasure.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said.

“Is something wrong, dear?” Rarity asked with concern.

“Oh, no, it’s not me,” the pegasus replied. “It’s just that... Both Nova Chasers have trample. If they both attack... Even if Applejack blocks with all her creatures, I don’t think that’s going to be enough...”

The dauntless dourbark slammed a heavy fist down on top of one of the Nova Chasers. She attempted to dodge, but the treefolk was surprisingly quick for its size. The other Nova Chaser managed to slip past, hurtling towards AJ, murder in her eyes. “I’m coming for ya!” she shouted. The Timber Protector moved to block her. Lifting his staff, he shouted, “You shall not pass!” With that, he swung the staff, managing to connect with the Nova Chasers side. Her momentum was immense, however, and she proceeded to smash through the treefolk, her pure power ripping him to shreds.

Her injuries were bad. She wouldn’t make it past this combat phase. But if she was going down, she was taking a certain annoying opponent with her. All that was left in the way was a bosk bannerret. Even then, she should still do a couple of damage to Applejack, just enough to-

“I tap two forests to play Muscle Burst! A creature of my choice gains power and toughness equal to two plus the number of Diligent Farmhands and Muscle Bursts in my graveyard, and I count two.”

The Nova Chaser blinked. “Wait, what-?” A now humongous fist smashed into her face, sending her flying backwards, smashing into the opposite wall behind Rainbow Dash. A soft groan could be heard.

The huge treefolk lifted his fist, revealing a figure moaning in pain. The flamekin was still alive, but no longer had the figure of an almighty Nova Chaser. She was back to being a Flamekin Harbinger. The same held true for the other flamekin, who was currently occupied with peeling herself off the wall.

“When my Nova Chasers die, I bring back the creatures I exiled with their champion abilities. So I get my two Flamekin Harbingers back. And since a Flamekin Harbinger entered the battlefield, I get to use its effect.”

The flamekin that had just been crushed underfoot rose unsteadily to her feet. “I... I predict-”

“Yeah, yeah, can you just go ahead and finish your turn?” Applejack asked.

“Damn it!” The flamekin stomped the ground in frustration. “Can I finish my prophecy at least ONCE?! I have one ability, and everyone keeps interrupting me!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond to this remark, instead just glaring at Applejack, who was grinning smugly. “See Rainbow? I PLANNED for that.” Rainbow Dash just floated a card out of her deck, shuffled, then placed the card on top.

“Your turn.”

“About time.” Since AJ’s Timber Protector was destroyed, her bosk banneret had dropped back won to a ‘1/3’ and her dourbark had become an ‘11/11’. “I play Hunting Wilds. I pay eight, and I get to search my deck for two forests and put them on the battlefield. They’re considered to be three power, three toughness creatures with haste.” Two disfigured trees grew rapidly out of the ground, then stumbled around as they learned how to walk for the first time. Unsurprisingly, becoming a walking, magical treefolk is a big change of pace for a simple tree.

With two new forests present, the dourbark's stats rose back up to ‘13/13’. “Now, normally I’d go ahead and try to kill you off. If I attack with all my creatures, that’d be twenty damage. But all you’d need to do is block just one of my creatures, then swing with all your guys and you’d win. So I ain’t gonna do that. I’ll just attack you with my dauntless dourbark.” Then, to the dourbark, she said, “Sick em’.”

He raised a single, mighty foot, and smashed it down on the pegasus with all its power. The onlookers flinched at the site. Despite the fact that the giant treefolk didn’t really exist, it still looked rather painful.

Twilight reappeared at the shop's back door and moved urgently to Rolly’s side. “Rolly, I really think you need to-”

“Shh!” He held a hoof to his mouth. “It’s about to end! I don’t want to miss it!”

“But-”

“Whatever it is, it can wait for five minutes.”

“... Fine.”

When the dust settled, Rainbow Dash was left with six life. Applejack looked quite calm, understandable considering her position. “Now what, Rainbow? You better hope you get lucky.”

“Don’t need to,” Rainbow grinned. “Because I’ve got a plan.”

“... I beg your pardon?”

“You think you’re so high and mighty. You’ve been belittling me all game! Well, how about this for a ‘plan’?” Rainbow drew a card, which she immediately played. “I tap two lands and my Incandescent Soulstoke to use her ability. I can play an elemental creature for free, and it has haste. So I’m playing the creature I PURPOSEFULLY searched for last turn and put on top of my deck, Sunflare Shaman.” With a flash of light, a flamekin appeared, this one brighter than all the rest of the flamekins combined. Applejack had to shield her eyes. Looking at it was like looking at, well, the sun. She did see the sign over its head, which read ‘3/2’.

“Nice try, sugarcube, but you ain’t gonna break through my creatures with that puny thing! You should have thought ahead when you picked the creature to put on top!”

“Grahhh!” Rainbow Dash shrieked with rage. “Stop doing that! Stop treating me like I’m a filly! I’m not going to attack you with it, I’m going to use its ability! I pay one and tap it, and it deals damage equal to the number of elementals in the graveyard to itself and a target player.”

“Wait a sec...” Applejack tried to count on her hooves the number of creatures she’d killed so far. “That means...”

“I don’t remember the exact number, but it’s more than two! Sunflare Shaman, turn her into an apple crisp!”

“Ugh...” Spike groaned. “These jokes are the kind that Pinkie would come up with.”

“Of course!” replied Pinkie. “I always make the best jokes! Water way to end a game! Shell need a miracle to stop this!”

“Pinkie, we weren’t even talking about the sea-”

“I just don’t want seem like I’m clamming up over here! Hey, if you think it’s so urchin for me to stop, just let minnow!”

The Sunflare Shaman began to grow brighter, greatly increasing in intensity, while Applejack urgently checked all her options. “I have plenty of creatures to block attackers with, but direct damage, I...” She let out a sigh of resignation. “I didn’t plan for that.”

The Sunflare Shaman exploded, sending a shockwave of heat hurtling at Applejack. She managed to utter ‘consarnit’ before being hit.

Her life dropped to zero. The second it did, all the illusions faded away, leaving a previously intense field of battle empty. “Guess I shouldn’t have counted my chickens before they done hatched...”

“Yeah,” Rainbow’s voice was cold. “I guess so.”

Applejack, pawed at the ground a few times, as though she’d find the right thing to say buried underneath her feet. “Look, I, uh... I said a few things I didn’t quite mean...”

“Yeah, sure...” Rainbow Dash’s voice seemed to cut like a knife, a knife dripping with sarcasm. “All that talk of being stupid? You didn’t mean that. And all the insults you threw my way about not thinking ahead? About how my job’s a joke? Sure. Whatever.” She chucked the Battle Board to the ground. “I had all sorts of direct damage spells in my deck. You’re lucky I didn’t kill you turn five.”

“I-”

“Shut up! Just...” The pegasus fled to the skies, calling behind her, “Leave me alone!”

There was a moment of silence after she disappeared over the rooftop. Then Twilight shouted, “It’s JUST a card game! Why is there so much drama around it?!”

“Should I, uh...” Fluttershy hesitated, “Go comfort her?”

“I could go,” Spike offered. “I lost to Twilight yesterday. I guess I could relate? Or something?”

“That’s so nice of you, Spike,” Rarity smiled at the baby dragon. “You’re so selfless.”

“Uh, heh, thanks, Rarity.” He could barely hide his blush.

“I know what she could use!” Pinkie shouted. “We could throw her a You-Won-So-Try-Not-To-Be-Too-Upset party!”

“... I think I’ll just go see if she’s okay,” Spike said before running off through an alleyway in Rainbow’s direction.

"Ugh..." Applejack sighed as she returned the Battle Board to the box. "Why does my mouth have to go spoutin' out things like that? I feel so stupid..."

Rolly gave her a reassuring pat on the back. "If she's really as good a friend as you say, she won't hold your words against you."

"I hope you're right... Rainbow can be awfully good at holdin' a grudge..."

“Um, Rolly?” Twilight’s urgent air had returned.

“Oh, that’s right, you had something to say,” Rolly started walking back into the shop, levitating the boxes of Battle Boards behind him. “Go ahe...” He stopped. The front area was packed to the brim with ponies of every type, age and size, a huge line leading out the door.

“You know when I went out to explain the situation to everypony?” Rolly gave a nod, still staring, dumbfounded at the crowd. “Well, apparently the huge tree attracted a little bit of interest for the game...”

In a hushed voice, Rolly replied, “We’re going to need more Battle Boards.”

Luna stared intently at the figure.

The figure stared back.

Neither broke their gaze, but, on the account of the other individual, this wasn't particularly difficult. It's very difficult to look away when one's a statue.

"You called me here, little sister?"

Luna's concentration broke. She looked over her shoulder, "Ah, Tia. Just the relative I want to see."

"... I'm your only relative, Luna."

Luna turned to her sister, who was currently looking over a letter floating in front of her. "Precisely. It is that deductive reasoning that will assist in my investigations!"

"Mm-hm." was the polite response. It appeared as though the alicorn was only half-listening, her attention engaged in the letter she had.

"I've been keeping an eye on Discord as of late," Luna continued. "I've noticed some very disturbing cracks as running along the base of the structure."

"I see."

"I'm concerned that Discord could be mustering up power and trying to escape again."

"Of course."

"I believe we will need to assemble a team and..." Celestia was reading the letter intently, a little smile on her face. Luna sighed. "We'll need to arm the guards with cupcakes, maybe try to distract Discord with sweets. Then we'll build magical chariots that can fly to the moon."

"Uh-huh."

"... You aren't interested in this, are you?"

"Hmm?" She finally looked up from her document. "I must apologize, it's just that Twilight's sent me a letter."

"Ah, yes. Because friendship is of the utmost importance right now..." Luna's voice dripped with sarcasm. There was practically a puddle forming beneath her feet. It always seemed like Twilight was always in the forefront of her sister's mind, stealing the spotlight from her every time. Whenever anything big happened, it seemed as though she was shuffled aside in the chaos, and Twilight Sparkle was there to save the day. "Look, I'm just concerned that Discord-"

"Won't be going anywhere." Celestia interrupted. "Luna, you believe me to be a deductive thinker, yes?"

"Of course."

"Well, I believe you're over reacting."

"But-"

"Let's look at this logically. Discord was imprisoned for thousands of years using the Elements of Harmony. It took him that long to build up enough magic to break free from his prison. It's been, how long? A few months? Unless he's received assistance from you or me, he isn't getting out any faster than last time. As for the cracks, this statue is constantly out here no matter what the weather is. There's obviously going to be wear and tear. These cracks are a natural process, and don't actually prove he's making progress. They aren't even cracks in the statue itself, but in the base. Now, you've been working way too hard as of late. It's a beautiful day out. I'm going for a nice, relaxing walk while I don't have politician's attempting to flood my castle with words and laws. Would you like to join me?"

Perhaps her sister was right... But, then again, Tia was always the more cool-headed of the two. Sometimes, you just had to follow your gut. "I'm going to stay here a little longer."

"Very well. Just, please," She gave Luna a smile. "Don't get too worried over this, okay?"

As Celestia walked away, Luna heard a voice in her head say, You didn't think she'd actually believe you, right?

"I can hope, can't I?" Luna returned to examining the cracks.

Your sister has no imagination. She's always so fussy about rules, like the laws of physics. You're much more fun...

"I'm sure." She probed the cracks with magic. They weren't too deep. They had been made recently, but the way the stone had cracked indicated it was far more likely that the statue was transported poorly back to the Canterlot Gardens as opposed to being made with magic. Either that, or Discord was good at masking his escape.

Your sister could never imagine me escaping. It's impossible! Ridiculous! Absurd! I find it hilarious that she believes magic is so predictable!

"Then why haven't you escaped already? How about you escape right now? That would be pretty unpredictable."

... I said it was possible. I'm not a miracle worker. Luna bent down. Was that a new crack she noticed? I think not. That's the result of a drunk guard thinking he can pound a statue to dust and save Equestria. Didn't get very far.

"Fine." There was little more she could find here. " Any other remarks you wish to make?"

Tell your sister good morning for me.

"She's not particularly fond of you. Her ears shut down whenever I mention any conversations I've had with you. Anything else?"

Yes. Knight to B-Eight.

Luna paused. "I'll need to think on that."

Very well. Let's hope I'm still here tomorrow to listen to your brilliant counter-move. The voice began to laugh. Luna had never heard the noise that a paradox makes. She wasn't even sure a paradox made noise. But she was fairly certain that if it did make a noise, this laugh would sound nearly identical.

"Tia!" Luna trotted after her sister, quickly catching up to her and matching her slow, deliberate pace. "Discord wanted to say-"

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Her voice was cold.

Luna decided not to press it. She noticed the letter was floating by Celestia's side. Royalty don't use saddlebags normally, so they were relegated to lugging around loose objects with magic. Out of curiosity, she asked, "What did Twilight right to you about this time?"

"Ah," Celestia practically latched onto the new topic, eager to change the topic from Discord. "A curious letter today. She's very excited about this new card game in town. Apparently, its popularity has quickly spread. There's been quite a bit of chaos in the only card shop in town. We may need to send in a squad to do some crowd control, " she joked. "Her lesson of the day was-"

"That's... interesting," Luna tapped her chin a few times with her hoof. It seems her investigation wasn't at a stand still after all. She flapped her wings a few times before taking off.

"Where are you going?!" Celestia shouted after her. "I haven't even told you the lesson she learned!"

"I'll hear it later!"

"What about the small gala we're hosting later?!"

"You can handle it! No one notices when I don't show up to those things anyway!"

"Well, just-" But Luna was gone at that point. Celestia shook her head slowly. Perhaps there was a time when the two were on the exact same wave-length, but a thousand years of separation isn't good for building a sisterly bond. She began to head back inside.

You know, a voice echoed in her head. I'd like to hear the lesson she learned.

Celestia just ignored him. After all, Discord was the least of her worries right now.

Featured Decks:
All decks are built in a constructed format, but are designed to be thematic, not broken (though not terrible either).
Also, for those wondering why I included the Battle Board, there are two reasons. One, staring at people moving cards around and nothing else is boring. Two, ponies don't have hands. This helps to get around that fact.

Rainbow's Scorching Fast Elementals

This deck started out actually focusing on the theme of "lightning", as Rainbow Dash is a pro-weather pegasus. I was thinking of maybe going for a flying theme, but I wanted her deck to be red, and red is not a good flying color. The lightning theme I realized wasn't a very good idea, what with lack of support. That's when I came across the Flamekins. They're relatively speedy, look cool, felt very Rainbow Dash. I also kept the Spark Elemental and Ball Lightning, along with some burn spells along the lines of the lightning theme to put some speed into the deck and the idea of hitting hard and fast, the way I picture Rainbow playing.

The deck can work different ways depending on your hand. One way is that you can just hit the opponent fast with small, damaging spells. Nothing like casting a bunch of Spark Elemental in a row and following them up with a Sunflare Shaman. Another way to go is hold onto the burn spells and combo them with Hostility.

The primary strategy, IMO, is the combo of Incandescent Soulstoke, Nova Chaser, and Flamekin Harbinger. Bring Nova Chaser in with Incandescent Soulstoke's effect, exile the Harbinger, then at the end of the turn when Chaser is sacrificed, bring Harbinger back and have another Chaser on top of your deck, ready to go. Wash, rinse and repeat. It makes Nova Chaser's 2-toughness almost negligible (stupid first strike).

60 Cards Total

23 Lands
4 Teetering Peaks
19 Mountain

29 Creatures

4 Nova Chaser
4 Flamekin Bladewhirl
4 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Incandescent Soulstoke
3 Spark Elemental
3 Ball Lightning
4 Smokebraider
1 Hostility
2 Sunflare Shaman

8 Other Spells

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning

Applejack's Orchard

C'mon. It's AJ. Who wouldn't use treefolks?

Actually, initially I had a more well rounded treefolk deck based on Doran the Siege Tower. But I lost the data on that, so I made a new deck that was more ramp focus. I also through in the Diligent Farmhand and Muscle Bursts as well because they suited the deck's theme and play style well. I didn't just want a treefolk deck; I wanted a deck focused on growth and profiting from that growth. I wanted Applejack to have her own little farm going.

The idea is simple; get out forests! Lots of forests! Then proceed to show your opponent how fun Dourbarks and Dungroves can be! Just make sure to build an early defense, as faster decks can potentially overrun (or should I say trample over?) this deck before it can get out any big creatures.

25 Lands
25 Forest

26 Creatures
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Diligent Farmhand
4 Bosk Banneret
4 Dauntless Dourbark
4 Dungrove Elder
2 Everbark Shaman
4 Timber Protector

12 Other Spells
2 Cultivate
4 Muscle Burst
4 Rampant Growth
2 Hunting Wilds