Friendship is Card Games: Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? · 11:57am Jul 12th, 2015
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of a sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise. It’s crawling toward you. You reach down and flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs, trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
The answer, of course, is that you have been paralyzed by a long-distance Stare as Fluttershy comes speeding in from the northeast. Anyone who answered differently is a replicant.
In any case, I wasn’t able to catch this episode when it aired, but I was able to find a YouTube video later on. As such, this is going to be a sort of liveblog reaction.
Huh. The Mane Six can just call up Rainbow Power at will? They’ve become avatars of their Elements… AWESOME! 
Okay, it happened in a dream, but still, it was one of Luna’s dreams. Those probably have a greater degree of accuracy than most.
Luna’s dreams literally can’t be allowed to end happily? Yowza. And here I thought most of her woobieness got rinsed out in Season 2.
Ooh, we finally have confirmation that Owloysius didn’t abandon Twilight. Also, it seems that if Luna sleeps well, no one else does. Pinkie’s probably running on a pot of espresso.
And we get confirmation that Spike’s message breath isn’t locked in to Celestia!
A dream parasite? I suppose this is one of those things the princesses could only contain, not destroy, and I really can’t think of anywhere better to store the Tantabus. From the sound of it, it doesn’t technically exist. Not yet, anyway. Thus, it must be imprisoned in a dreamer’s mind, and Luna’s seems the most secure.
Celestia has no jurisdiction in the dream world. That works. But nopony else can move from dream to dream? … I may ignore that. I like the idea of the Dreamguard too much.
Entrust the baby dragon whose necessarily early bed time has been a plot point to watch over you. Brilliant plan.
Given Pinkie’s dream, I feel fully vindicated in making her a old-school planeswalker.
“It’s so nice to be the pet for once.” I think that says quite a bit about Fluttershy, on several levels. I’m sure there will plenty of exploration of several of them.
Applejack dreams… of the opening of “Bats!” Never change, AJ.
The Tantabus certainly knows its audience. It’ll do anything to bring terror, including aggressive cuteness.
To anyone who was surprised by Twilight’s dream: Welcome to the fandom! I hope you enjoy your stay.
Luna’s remorse is understandable. She did almost doom the world. And so did Pinkie. I really wish I could say I’m surprised or disappointed, but come on. It’s Pinkie. Of course she’s going to dream of other people. As for Luna's reluctance to accept help, it also makes sense. Luna feels responsible for the problem, thus in her mind, she bears sole responsibility for solving it.
Huh. The return of the gentleman lamppost from “Three’s a Crowd.” Neat. (And, of course, giant Derpy. More best pony to love.) Suffice to say, the shared dreamscape is wonderfully surreal.
An adult mare escaping from a house containing Filthy Rich… is she part of the help, or did we just see Diamond Tiara’s mother?
Fluttershy went batty. I have many, many questions. Sure, this could just be using a memory as a focus for a bit of lucid dreaming, but is Fluttershy aware of the lingering bat magic in her system?
Big Macintosh is best magical girl. Best pony is best noble steed.
Oh. Oh wow. This was ultimately a story of self-harm on a deific scale. Not physical, but psychological. This… wow. This was deep.
And in the end, the princess of dreams… dreams of rest. Magnificently done. A Luna episode worthy of her. Solving her issues was a bit too easy, but this was epic in scope, greatly enjoyable, and a good quasi-finale for before the hiatus. Really, it seems less like a hiatus and more like two mini-seasons with a relatively brief interval between them. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.
Now for what I've dreamed up:
Chroma Flare 1W
Instant
Creatures you control become all colors and get +1/+1 until end of turn.
The Bearers now bear the Elements of Harmony within themselves, and can call that power forth with no need for necklaces or crowns.
Ducks of Bran Argoll 2WW
Enchantment Creature — Muffin Bird
Flying
Whenever a source would deal damage to Ducks of Bran Argoll, prevent that damage. The source's controller gains life equal to the damage prevented this way.
Ditzy's dreams blend together aspects of every plane she's visited.
4/3
Archon of Fantasy 4WW
Creature — Dragon Archon
Flying, first strike, vigilance, protection from black
Dreams are stories the mind tells itself, and stories often share common elements. The righteous avenger archetype can be found in slumbering minds across the Multiverse.
4/4
Reimagine 2U
Sorcery
Each player puts a creature he or she controls on the bottom of its owner's library. Each player who does reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card, then puts that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of his or her library in a random order.
Unified Dreamscape 4UU
Enchantment
Your opponents play with their hands revealed.
At the beginning of your upkeep, name a nonland card. This turn, your opponents can't cast spells with that name, you can cast cards with that name from your opponents' hands, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast those cards.
Restless Slumber 1B
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't block.
Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step unless that player pays 2 life.
”The Tantabus is my burden to bear. That others should suffer from it is only the latest in my long list of atrocities.”
—Princess Luna
Lurking Pastry 1BB
Enchantment
When an opponent gains life, if Lurking Pastry is an enchantment, it becomes a 4/3 Nightmare creature with menace.
”Most food has the decency to wait until I’ve eaten before making me regret it.”
—Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter
Nightmare Blight 2B
Enchantment
Whenever a land an opponent controls is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, that player discards a card.
The Tantabus saw that monsters would not inspire the horror it craved in Applejack. She feared wasted effort far more.
Ponyville Plutomancer 3B
Creature — Pony Wizard
Flying
Whenever a nontoken creature dies, put a colorless artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
Money makes the churls go down.
2/2
Twisted Hare 3BB
Creature — Nightmare Rabbit
Whenever a creature blocks or becomes blocked by Twisted Hare, that creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Angel Bunny’s darkest fantasies finally had an outlet.
3/3
Domestic Incident 4BB
Sorcery
Destroy target land. Put a 3/3 black Nightmare creature token onto the battlefield.
Sometimes, the house moves away from the pony.
Dark Realization 5B
Sorcery
Return target creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield under your control with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. It's a black Nightmare in addition to its other colors and types.
Every night, the Tantabus took Luna’s worst memories and twisted them into a horrific new future.
Sparring Session 2RR
Enchantment
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, it fights another creature of its controller's choice.
Rainbow Dash dreams of thrilling battles and great victories.
Scene Change 1GG
Sorcery
Each player sacrifices any number of lands, searches his or her library for that many land cards, puts them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffles his or her library.
”Compared to planeswalking, this is easy.”
—Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter
Enormous Presence 2G
Sorcery
Target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn and must be blocked this turn if able.
"Sometimes it’s nice to have ponies pay attention to you."
—Ditzy Doo
Caretaker Coney 5G
Creature — Rabbit
As long as Caretaker Coney is untapped, creatures you control with power less than Caretaker Coney's power have hexproof.
”I love what I do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it when someone else takes the reins from time to time.”
—Fluttershy, Bearer of Kindness
4/4
Corrupted Couture 3
Artifact Creature — Nightmare Construct
Flying
Corrupted Couture attacks each turn if able.
”I’ve always said chiffon rarely agrees with me, but I never meant it like this.”
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
2/2
Terrible Tomes 4
Artifact Creature — Nightmare Construct
Flying
Your maximum hand size is increased by one.
Each opponents' maximum hand size is reduced by one.
Some books hit back.
2/2
Conjoin GU
Instant
Exile target creature you control. Another target creature gets +X/+Y until end of turn, where X is the exiled creature’s power and Y is its toughness. Return the exiled card to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next upkeep.
Moonlit Glade 1(gw)
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant land
Whenever enchanted land becomes tapped, its controller gains 1 life.
Sometimes the best dream of all is the one where nothing happens.
Drifting Thoughts 1(ub)(ub)
Sorcery
Exile all cards from target player's hand face down. Return those cards to that hand at the beginning of your next upkeep.
Letting your mind wander in a dream is rarely advisable.
Banal Blossoms 1BG
Creature — Nightmare Plant
Deathtouch
When Banal Blossoms enters the battlefield, you may put target card in an opponent's graveyard on the bottom of that player's library. If you do, that player loses life equal to that card's converted mana cost.
Some fears are stranger than others.
1/1
Void Stasis 2UB
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step and has "At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life."
"It is not cold in space. Cold would be welcome compared to that all-consuming nothingness."
—Princess Luna
Dream Prince 2GW
Creature — Warrior
Alicorn (This card is a Pony Pegasus Unicorn at all times.)
Flying, vigilance
Most ponies secretly fantasize about the power of the princesses. Few dare to show those fantasies where Luna can see them
4/4
Tantabus, Luna's Remorse 3UB
Legendary Creature — Nightmare
Tantabus, Luna's Remorse can't be blocked.
Tantabus’s power and toughness are each equal to half the number of cards in all graveyards, rounded down.
Whenever Tantabus deals combat damage to a player, that player draws a card, then discards two cards.
*/*
Breach the Veil 3BG
Sorcery
You may put a creature card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield.
Once the Tantabus realized there were dreamers beyond Luna, it wasted no time in seeking them out.
There should be a Money Ray card in there, I feel. Filthy Rich has the best superpower.
Oh, nevermind. I didn't notice Ponyville Plutomancer at first.
I imagine they were mostly humoring Spike when he volunteered to keep vigil. Thought that counts though.
I must have missed gentleman lamppost, because I have no idea what you are talking about.
Maybe Luna just won't form a dreamguard because of her refusal to allow others to share her responsibility. Perhaps now this will change.
Perhaps Pinkie will be the first recruit.
Fluttershy, that was a TEENSY bit creepy. Especially since I have read a very particular Bad Horse story...
Well, I might point out that both Rainbow and Applejack dreamed themselves into super heroes whose powers they do not possess, - presumably - but we know Fluttershy still has a bit of bat in her. Also, I am not surprised Rainbow turned into Pony!Thor. I was a bit surprised Applejack took the Mistress Marevelous, but maybe I shouldn't be.
I think that was Angel's true form, to be honest.
Where's the Celestia focus episode dammit! Good Luna ep though. Damn good Luna ep.
static.fjcdn.com/comments/Oh+my+sides+_7cd68fd68a320801a994e81f501a4eed.jpg
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Oh, there was no way I could let that go unremarked, especially given the existence of Gold tokens.
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The lamppost can be seen here:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/7/12/935466__safe_twilight+sparkle_rainbow+dash_pinkie+pie_fluttershy_rarity_applejack_animated_screencap_balloon.gif
Hmm. Forming the Dreamguard. There's definitely a story there.
Zapp is basically Dash turned up to eleven; it's no wonder she went with that form. As for Applejack, it seems that being a living avatar of Honesty means that she's not terribly creative. That was why she suffered so much when she had Rarity's cutie mark; she's just not very good at fabrication in most senses of the word, not if it's unrelated to farm work. And with Fluttershy, we may know she's still a bit batty, but the question is whether she does or if, like Dash and Applejack, she was just
recycling old Flash resourcescalling on old memories.I don't think that's Angel's true form, but he probably wishes it were.
As for the Celestia episode... well, I can't help you there.
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It had to be done. Also, note that Muffin is an enchantment type. Apology Basket, in FiCG: Slice of Life, has been retroactively made one.
What I found most interesting about this is that Twilight wishes the library was still there but has yet to realize that all she need do is say "Make it so" and they'll pretty much have to build a new one. Perhaps after she has to pull a Sam Beckett in the season closeout it'll occur to her.
Scene Change is Scapeshift for 3. It's awkward because it suffers from symmetrical effect syndrome (see Howling Mine and Heartbeat of Spring), so you need to abuse it for it to be good, but as it stands it's just better than Scapeshift for that purpose. Making it instant, but only able to find basic lands, perhaps?
Fun episode, and fun cards! I really want to replace my Szadek as the commander of my mill deck.
Also, what are the muffin ducks a reference to? The name you gave them sounds familiar. Regardless, they sound like a really fun card to play in a Pfeldagriff deck or some other deck where reducing their life to zero is not the goal. That, or as excellent bait for cards like devouring light.
Thanks for the card games posts. Do you plan to do FiC posts for old episodes during the hiatus before S5.2?
That flavortext on Terrible Tomes is genius.
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It wouldn't be the same. Yes, there'd be a new library. It might even be a tree. But it wouldn't have all the memories and little bits of character of the Golden Oak.
As for the finale... Well, this is just speculation on my part, but are you sure it's Twilight who's going to have to confront Starlight? (Probably, but it would be very interesting if that weren't the case.)
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The muffins draw inspiration from Swans of Bryn Argoll. As for doing old episodes, I already did quite a few of them over the hiatus between Seasons 4 and 5. You can find links to them on the index page. Next up is "Putting Your Hoof Down."
The tantabus brings up questions on what constructs can be made in dreams if Luna can create something to give her a nightmare every night. I assume that she created it once and kept it around since it gained power after a unknown number of nightmares. It also seems like the tantabus has its own mind or will since it traveled to other dreams without Luna's command.
3231322 Wouldn't it be cool if Best Pony shut the idiot down?
So yeah, an episode focused on dreams. This episode was pretty fun, mostly because all of the dreams (and the shenanigans in the climax) were very funny. I'm torn between Pinkie's rapid scene shifts or Magical Princess Big Macintosh for my favorite part.
It does fall into the standard "dream episode" trap of nobody realizing that personal injury and property destruction carry zero stakes, but at least the monster escaping is the only threat that's actually treated as serious.
My thought during Fluttershy's dream: At last, his true form is revealed!
Wouldn't a saner option have been to wake up everypony whose dream it could enter except for one pony? Unless it can just lurk dormant in your head while you're awake.
As for Dreamguards, yeah; this episode totally opens the door to fics about Luna trying to form a Dreamguard after in response to these events.
---
Ducks of Bran Argoll: I'm sure there's a good combo in there somewhere, but if all you want to do is stall and you don't care about the opponent healing you can do worse than an unkillable flying creature with 4 power. Or it can attack. That said, for offence 4-5 mana in white nets you pretty impressive flyers if you have the cash.
Archon of Fantasy: Speaking of impressive midrange white beaters with flying...
Reimagine: Compare/contrast Chaos Warp. This does feel like a red effect, even if the obvious cards for turning this into an easy win are all in blue. (Brainstorm+Reimagine=Turn 3 Emrakul or Progenitus).
Unified Dreamscape: Dang, you can steal a card every turn. Expensive, but any opponent playing control will be quaking in their boots if they can't nuke this instantly.
Restless Slumber: If I'm going to play a card that lets my opponent choose its effect, both effects had better be pretty good. They can keep the creature as a blocker forever at no cost (or pay the cost once), keep using it if it's worth two life per turn, or just let it stay tapped if they don't care enough. Black can do better than that.
Lurking Pastry: Amusing. Should be very easy to trigger in the right deck.
Ponyville Plutomancer: This guy wants to go infinite so bad. I know there's cards that turn all artifacts into creatures. Granted, I think most of them turn them into creatures with Power/Toughness equal to their mana cost, which means they'll die instantly (before you can sacrifice them) so there'll be an inescapable infinite loop (forcing a draw) unless you can kill your Plutomancer or you're triggering damage every time a creature appears/dies. Unless you throw out an effect that globally increases your creatures' (or artifact creatures') toughness, in which case this is infinite mana. Or if you have anything that can trade mana for creature tokens, and useful on-death or on-enters triggers. Also, since he's not legendary you could be getting several mana/tokens per creature.
Twisted Hare: The pun, it burns!
Domestic Incident: It's the perfect un-set effect: Huge, expensive and goofy. I can't imagine a deck where this is a good idea, but it's priced about right.
Sparring Session: Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's far less double-edged versions of this effect if you're willing to pay more mana, and you won't lose most of your creatures either, but those effects are not four mana.
Scene Change: Easy domain, if you're looking for it. More importantly, this doesn't say "basic lands" anywhere. You can use this to fetch multiple combo pieces and put them straight onto the battlefield, if you've got a combo that needs lands. I'm thinking Thespian Stage plus Thawing Glaciers, or just speed up a Maze's End deck unexpectedly.
edit: All this I say, before realizing there's already a card that does this one-sidedly for 1 more.
Caretaker Coney, Corrupted Couture, Terrible Tomes: More great flavorful creatures.
Conjoin: Why yes, I would like to trigger both of my Thragtusk's abilities, and get a +5/+3 combat trick as a bonus. Combos aside, the fact that it's an instant means you can chump-block with someone, then cast this to remove them from combat.
Banal Blossoms: Obvious reanimator/dredge hate, but not too potent. Then again, a deathtouch body plus mild direct damage isn't a dead draw against any opponent.
Void Stasis: Very evil. I approve.
Dream Prince: So yeah, that thing I said about good white beaters in the 4-5 mana range? Another one for the pile.
Drifting Thoughts: Sorcery speed, ends at the start of their turn, too expensive to play anything after it that you wouldn't want countered. What is the purpose of this spell meant to be?
Tantabus, Luna's Remorse: Very cool, very strong. Anyways, funny thought: If there are no cards in any graveyards, or only one, it deals no damage and doesn't trigger the draw-and-discard effect.
Breach the Veil: Beacon of Unrest meets Dramatic Entrance.
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At the very least, Luna created an AI with the specific purpose of inducing bad dreams. It's entirely possible that she created actual life. Indeed, this may be how the Ursae and other constellation creatures came to be.
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Given that this seems to be the season of the background pony... Well, it's highly improbable that Ditzy/Derpy/Muffins/Bright Eyes/Olórin will be the one to take Starlight down, but perhaps she could be bearing an Element in that alternate timeline. (After all, if no one does, Equestria is doomed several times over.)
Those ducks look familiar... Oh wait
Reimagine should have players putting a creature on the bottom of its owner's library, for several reasons
3232908 I wonder if Hasbro has taken a gander at RainbowDoubleDash's idea of a roster of Elements and said "Good idea! Glad we thought of it!"
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We don't know how much dream injury or death translates in Equestria, especially as the Tantabus grew in power. The psychosomatic shock could've been harmful, or even lethal.
Given that we know that there seems to be an area outside of individual dreams, the Tantabus might be able to wait there. It certainly seemed to be when all those it could infect were awake. Besides, the isolation plan still requires finding the thing first.
Reimagine: Polymorph effects seem to be blue, most recently seen in Blessed Reincarnation.
Restless Slumber: Sadly, not every card can be the best card ever.
Ponyville Plutomancer: You make a good point about animating the gold, especially with something like Chief of the Foundry out. Given that, I added a "nontoken" clause to the ability, though I've made it such that you get gold when the Plutomancer itself dies.
Sparring Session: Well, there's always Pandemonium, but that's not going to kill your opponent's utility creatures.
Drifting Thoughts: While it was costed as a one-turn Wit's End, the end result is more a slow, expensive Silence. Given that, I've extended the effect until your next upkeep.
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Thought I'd fixed that. Good catch.
3233634
All I can say is wait and see.
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Restless Slumber: Black has more reliable 1-3 mana creature removal at common in pretty much every single set.
Sparring Session: Ooh, clever! I was just thinking in terms of using your goblins and lightning elementals to clear the field (and Pandemonium is totally the card I was thinking of), I didn't even think of plopping down a big, indestructible creature or two and automatically blasting every creature your opponent tries to play. (Unless they just make their creatures attack each other; one high-toughness, low power creature or a bunch of expendable weenies would take away some of the sting. But then again, there's some card out there that counters everything, even Last Word.)
Drifting Thoughts: I would say that blocking their instants and lands as well is worth the extra four mana... except they'll still have all their mana when your turn starts and they get their instants back! (You could combo it with a card that blocks them playing spells on your turn, but for such a narrow combo I expect better bang-for-buck ratio). And they still get to play whatever they topdecked. It seems too limited for five mana, especially since that may be too late to block a land drop with it.
Also, I swear I've seen that exact effect on an old black card somewhere, but I don't remember the name.
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After some consideration, I've added "Enchanted creature can't block" to Restless Slumber.
Also, it's possible you're thinking of Ignorant Bliss with regard to Drifting Thoughts.
3235471 Nope, I found it. It was Suppress, which was pretty much the same effect as your revised version for 2B.
Bad horse wrote a beautiful and terrible (mature) story called "Pony Play" that addressed a similar concept. I would link, but I'm not sure it's allowed on non-mature posts. Warning, contains: frank depictions of sex, Human in Equestria, second-person perspective. It's really not as bad as it sounds from these warnings; in some ways it's much worse. I whole-heartedly recommend this story if you want a story that has something to say, even if it's not something you can agree with.
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Well, this took me far too long to acknowledge. Two mana cut from Drifting Thoughts's cost.
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I've already read and upvoted Pony Play. It is indeed a beautifully disturbing story.