My Little Pony: CardFighting is Magic

I Ride--a Pony?

"So let me get this straight...we're basically in a different place and we have to finish playing to go back home?" Spike inquired, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

Twilight Sparkle nodded "I suppose we'll have to start, and since I know the rules more, I'll take the first turn!...let's see...first I draw a card...hey wait a minute where's my de--?" Twilight didn't finish her sentence, because after she spoke the word "draw", a card was added to her hand hoof. Twilight stared at the new addition to her hoof; before proceeding with the next step. "Hmmm...magic I suppose...anyway, on with my turn! Listen Spike, this is a very crucial part of the game. Whenever it's your turn, you have the ability to upgrade your Vanguard into a stronger one! How you ask? Well, all you have to do is to pick a card in your hoof with a Grade equivalent or one point higher than your present Vanguard! Got it?"

Spike squinted her eyes at Twilight, "...uh, yeah, I got it..."

"Good...well, here I go, my starting Vanguard; Lozenge Magus who is a Grade 0 unit shall be upgraded into Grade 1!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed with glee. Spike kept on nodding, eyes glued in anticipation at Twilight Sparkle. "They have a term used for this process...what was it again...oh yeah! I ride, Oracle Guardian, Gemini!" Twilight Sparkle magicked the mentioned card from her hoof cards and placed it on top of her starting Vanguard (who also magically appeared in front of her; floating in mid-air)

A bright light engulfed Twilight Sparkle as she slammed her card down...in mid-air. After a few moments, the light subsided, revealing Twilight Sparkle looking exactly as she did before playing the game. Except for the long cylindrical objects poking out of her back and the fact that Twilight Sparkle was floating, she was indeed, exactly the same.

A new sign hovered above Twilight Sparkle, it read: "POW: 8000" After examining the changes to her body, Twilight Sparkle looked at Spike whose mouth was agape from surprise. Twilight Sparkle smiled at herself "That's not all Spike! My earlier Vanguard, Lorenzge Magus had the ability to go to the Rear-Guard whenever she was ridden! Come on, Lorenzge Magus! I call you directly behind my Vanguard!" A bright light appeared directly behind, though it wasn't as bright as when Twilight Sparkle upped her Grade. Nonetheless, when the light subside, it revealed a pale-colored clone of Twilight Sparkle in her previous form. "Reminds me of Discord..." Twilight Sparkle muttered; as she eyed the colorless version of herself staring back at her with a stoic expression.

Shaking her head, Twilight Sparkle faced her assistant to see that his earlier expression of shock was replaced by admiration. "That looks so amazing! I can't wait to try it out!" Spike gushed.

Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat "Well, it said on the manual that since I went first, I'm not allowed to...attack..." Spike didn't respond, he appeared to have been captivated by Twilight Sparkle's clone. Giggling, Twilight Sparkle motioned something to Spike "Your turn."

Spike blinked. "R-right...my turn...so I, uh draw!" A card flew to his handclaw cards. Spike briefly inspected the floating cards in front of him for a while; then he finally made a move. "I, uh, ride Embodiment of Armor, Bhar." Looking uncertain, Spike pulled out one of his claws and poked the mentioned card. As he did, a light engulfed Spike just like Twilight Sparkle, although this light was a deep shade of red.

After the light cleared, Spike was standing tall before Twilight Sparkle. He was adorned in a red armor to suit his now tall stature. Spike was also equipped with a long sword that Twilight Sparkle eyed frantically. "S-Spike...?" Twilight Sparkle croaked, fear evident in her voice.

"Y-yeah Twilight?" asked Spike, who was currently looking at his new form.

"You look...dangerous." whispered Twilight Sparkle, still looking at Spike's blade with unease.

Spike gulped "Don't worry Twilight...I wouldn't hurt you...I can't hurt you!" Spike laughed, but ended up choking.

"Uh-huh...go on ahead then...it's still your turn."

"*cough* R-right!" Spike sputtered

"So...with, um, Lizard Soldier, Conroe's skill, I move him to the...Rear-guard, was it?" Spike looked at Twilight Sparkle quizzically. Taking Twilight Sparkle's smile as a sign of approval, Spike went on with his turn with renewed vigor. "So! I move Lizard Soldier, Conroe directly behind my, uh, what was it again van-gourd, van-cougar..? Vanguard?...yeah! My Vaguard!"

As Spike finished his sentence, a red flash appeared behind Spike. Craning his neck to take a look, Spike noticed that a dull-colored clone of his previous form had found itself standing behind him. "H'eh, well aren't you a handsome little dragon! Looking good Spike, looking real good!" The dull clone kept a stoic expression while Spike scrutinized his entire being.

Noticing the "POW: 5000" hovering above his lesser self, Spike looked around himself. "Oh cool, I have 8000 POW...whatever that means." Spike said, ogling the sign above him.

"Anyway! Um, what do I do next? Twilight?" Spike directed his view to the purple unicorn in front of him.

"It's time to...attack." said Twilight Sparkle.

"Oh..." Spike gulped "H-how am I supposed to attack anyway?"

"Well...firstly, you choose your attacker from the front row?"

"Front row?" Spike tilted his head, and given his freakishly large body, looked freaky.

"Oh right! I forgot to tell you, there are six, um, circles, each circle can hold one unit each. Do you follow?"

Spike nodded "So far, yeah."

"Good." said Twilight Sparkle "Now, there are two types of these circles, the Vanguard circle and the Rear-guard circle. Apparently the Vanguard circle is the representation of the respective players while the Rear-guards are like... assistants!"

Spike grinned "Oh! I get it now!"

"Right, so there are six circles. Three in the front row, and three in the back row! They are aligned by the way." retorted Twilight Sparkle.

"Hmm...so, what's the point of that?"

"I'm getting there Spike...see, only the front row cards are allowed to attack. The Vanguard and two other Rearguards! The units in the back can't attack--"

"Well they're useless!" Spike glared at his Rear-guard.

"--but they can help in the attack, by supporting!" retorted Twilight Sparkle. "Listen closely, they can support in an attack by resting them when their Grade is 1 or 0. Resting is when you tilt a card sideways to represent an action that has been done by that particular unit. You 'rest' the 'supporter' when a unit directly aligned to the would-be-supporter is attacking! When a unit supports another, the supporters POW, or power, is added to the power of the attacking unit!"

"Oh. But wait...so...how do you attack?" Spike scratched his head.

"It's basically the same as supporting, but only the front-row units are allowed to do so; as I've stated earlier. You just have to rest your attacker, rest any supporters you want, and then...well, target the unit you desire to hit. Also, you may only choose to attack front-row units as well. When the attacking units total power is equivalent to or higher than the one being attacked, that particular battle is considered a hit.

"When a Rear-guard is hit, they are retired, meaning they are disposed of, and they are put into the drop zone... When a Vanguard is hit it takes damage based on the Critical of the attacking unit. When a Vanguard takes damage, the player does a damage check."

"Uh..."

"To do a damage check, the top card of the deck is revealed and any trigger effects are applied before that cards is sent to the damage zone. The damage zone is kind of like the circles in the sense that it can only contain six units. Because when a damage zone exceeds  six cards...well, that's how you lose!" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle.

"Um.."

"Oh for Celestia's sake! Just attack already!" cried Twilight Sparkle.

"Alright then...you sure do know a lot about this, it's like you've played before..." mumbled Spike; as he proceeded to rest his Lizard Soldier, Conroe and Embodiment of Armor, Bhar. "I support Bhar's attack with my Conroe." Spike said flatly.

"I don't guard." Twilight Sparkle replied.

Spike tilted his head once more, "G-guard?"

"Oh right...well, when a unit is attacked, the one being assaulted can't just stand there you know! They can be guarded by allies from the hoof. You are allowed to guard by dropping a unit from the hoof whose Grade is equivalent or lower than your Vanguard's. When you guard, the Shield value is added temporarily to the power of the one being attacked in an attempt to block off the damage. Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it before, the power boosts from supporters are only temporary, once the battle is finished, the power goes back to normal. Same with guarding"

Spike looked at Twilight Sparkle incredulously "Wow Twilight...you read all of that in less than 5 minutes?" Twilight Sparkle smiled feebly. "Augh! Whatever, My Bhar attacks~whoa!!"

As soon as Spike finished his command, Conroe appear to have directed energy towards Spike. A dinging sound could be heard as the numbers floating above Spike changed from "POW: 8000"" to "POW: 13000"

With no control of his body, the now-large Spike charged directly at Twilight Sparkle. As Spike was forced to attack, a card flew up to his claw. It was revealed to Twilight Sparkle as well; "Dragonic Overlord..." she whispered. "That's what you call a drive-check, Spike. Whenever the Vanguard attacks--" Twilight Sparkle didn't manage to finish her sentence. Due to the fact that, suddenly; a very sharp edge was a few inches from meeting her face.