Friendship is Card Games: My Little Pony: The Manga, Ch. 2-7 & 2-8 · 12:21pm Aug 30th, 2020
This week, we wrap up the last available chapters of the OEL manga. The next volume won’t be out until December, so it’s Pony Life and IDW for the foreseeable future. But first, let’s wrap up Pinkie’s temporal misadventures.
Chapter 2-7
Hmm. A lot to take in in that first panel. The Doctor answers to a high council of some sort, and the MUFFIN is capable of hopping across timelines as easily as moving back and forth through a given one. Also, temporal mines are a thing, and the Doctor can be just as overconfident as his adversary.
Also, never dismiss Best Pony, whether as an advisor or an obstacle.
“Pony-eating frescoes, living stained-glass assassins, giant bees composed of haunted chipmunks…”
Easy there, Doc, I can only get these ideas down so quickly. And I can only imagine what previous missions against the Professor have been like.
I do love getting greater context to earlier moments from this arc. Really helps reinforce the time shenanigans theme.
Also, interesting to see the Doctor use a pocket watch as his all-purpose plot device.
Ah, that’s why the Professor wanted to loop the festival. The energy of the celebration would act as a power source for a doomsday device. More of a Sailor Moon plot than a Doctor Who one, but it works.
Huh. I wonder what makes Canterlot Prime’s time muffins superior to other recipes.
Okay, so that’s one botch on Assistant Ditzy’s part and at least two on the Doctor’s. And at least she apologized.
“Good luck catching a Pinkie Pie. She’s driven antagonists across multiple timelines to near-madness.”
I’m not even remotely surprised.
And context for the mysterious warning! Seriously, I do love having fun with causality.
Also, I have to appreciate any net launcher that includes a live electric eel. Really goes the extra mile.
Professor, you can’t blame somepony for not wanting to get taser-entangled. I mean, clearly you can, but it’s poor form.
There is so much wrong with the sentence “I don’t like the look of those neutrinos” that I don’t even know where to begin. I’m just going to fume for a bit.
Hmm. Pinkie and Ditzy traveling between realities. I see nothing wrong with this.
I like this plan. Forcing two rival geniuses to cooperate provides both the resources necessary to solve the problem and a strong motivation to do so.
Celestia Antoinette. A lovely look, but it paints a grim image of her rule.
Carting off someone to see Monsieur Guillotine. You know, for kids!
Honey, I Shrunk the Time Lords. Probably the one scenario Doctor Who hasn’t done over the years. (And no doubt someone in the comments will tell me exactly which incarnation(s) of the Doctor dealt with that particular problem.)
Heh. That’s one explanation for the Best Pony cameo in “A Friend in Deed.”
Apparently this Big Mac’s been lopping off heads for thirteen years. It’s been a long revolution. I’m impressed he’s never taken a turn under the blade.
Chapter 2-8
Ha! Canon use of Prance as the name of a nation. Nice to see it.
“You were planning to cut off my head with that rickety old thing? You could have gotten me killed!”
Oh, Pinkie.
“So, are all space ponies time travelers too, or just you?”
Oh, Pinkie. (Did too good a job there, Star Dancer.)
Star, consider the source. Pinkie’s kind of an authority on bad guy vibes at this point.
“Woooooo…! I’m like this big-time deity or soooomethiiiiing… You ponies still worship those, right?”
Hmm. That’s an interesting question. Does Pinkie mean “You still worship gods,” full stop, or something like “You still worship abstract deities rather than alicorn god-queens”?
And so the time loop is complete… and goodness knows what was lost in the process. 
Ah well, it is what it is, and it was what it will be.
I do wonder what Ditzy was doing in a piratical timeline. I wonder if she’ll hold onto the eyepatch.
Yeah, collapsing subspace pockets rarely end well. At least they weren’t dumped into the Astral Plane.
Pinkie understands the importance of negative party space. If the universe is wall-to-wall parties, they won’t mean anything anymore. (That’s not to say that she likes large quantities of negative party space given how many holidays she’s invented, but she still understand why there has to be some.)
I’d ask how the Professor escaped custody, but that sort of villain always has some manner of escape route.
Twilight being unable to open the puzzle means there’s an interesting ambiguity at work: Did Pinkie still mess with the past? If the whole chronal tangent collapsed, the orb actually could contain all of Mesoponytamia’s scientific knowledge now. Only one way to find out, and for that we’ll need Pinkie to wake up.
And so we come full circle. An amazing adventure from start to start to start to…
Sorry, got trapped in there for a bit. Let’s see how I can close out this loop:
Opal Fresco 1W
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, if an opponent controls more creatures than you and Opal Fresco is an enchantment, Opal Fresco becomes a 3/3 Cat creature.
Some paintings can follow you around the room. Some stalk you through the whole gallery.
Time Muffins 1U
Enchantment — Muffin
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one —
• Remove a time counter from each permanent and suspended card.
• Put a time counter on each permanent with a time counter on it and each suspended card.
Little Details 2U
Instant
Up to two target creatures have base power and toughness 1/1 until end of turn.
One missed variable can turn a simple teleport spell into a climactic battle against dust mites.
Reality Drifter 2U
Creature — Pony Wizard
At the beginning of your upkeep, roll the planar die. (This doesn’t increase the cost of rolling the die.)
Whenever a player planeswalks, return Reality Drifter to its owner’s hand.
The Wanderer isn’t the only being unstuck in the Multiverse.
3/3
Ditzy’s Plunderer 2UU
Creature — Pegasus Pirate
Flying
Raid — When Ditzy’s Plunderer enters the battlefield, if you attacked with a creature this turn, each player shuffles their hand into their library and draws seven cards.
The taverns of High-and-Dry still echo with legends of Captain Goldeye.
2/2
Scholar of Posterity 4UU
Creature — Pony Artificer
When Scholar of Posterity enters the battlefield, draw a card for each artifact you control.
Suspend 3 — 1U (Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may pay 1U and exile it with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, cast it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
3/3
Shardblade Assassin 1B
Artifact Creature — Assassin
Deathtouch
Sacrifice another artifact: Tap Shardblade Assassin. It gains indestructible until end of turn.
Some glass stains itself.
1/1
Off with Their Head 2B
Instant
Destroy target non-Hydra creature.
“We will only take a little off the top.”
—Legrand Macintosh, headspony
Celestia, the Aloof 3BB
Legendary Creature — Noble
Alicorn (This card is also a Pony Pegasus Unicorn.)
When Celestia, the Aloof enters the battlefield, you become the monarch.
Creatures the monarch doesn’t control get -1/-1.
Too close to her own brilliance, she is blind to the common pony’s plight.
4/4
Multiversal Subjugation 3BBB
Enchantment
At the beginning of each upkeep, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Whenever a player planeswalks, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
There is no escape from a sufficiently cruel and determined planeswalker.
Sympathetic Snowglobe 2R
Artifact
1R, T: Sympathetic Snowglobe deals 1 damage to each creature without flying.
XRR, T, Sacrifice Sympathetic Snowglobe: It deals X damage to each creature and planeswalker.
To shake one world is to shake all of them.
Peasant Revolt 3R
Sorcery
Create a 1/1 red Peasant creature token with haste for each creature target opponent controls. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.
“They certainly do.”
—Celestia, princess of Prance
Revolution Headspony 4R
Creature — Pony Spellshaper
1R, T, Discard a card: Revolution Headspony deals damage to target player or planeswalker equal to the number of creatures you control.
“What greater justice is there than the will of the people?”
4/3
Anachronism Eraser 2G
Creature — Pony Soldier
Protection from artifacts
“We shouldn’t have these yet.”
3/1
Rectify 2G
Instant — Adventure
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)
Subspace Breach 7G
Sorcery
Each player chooses an artifact card, a creature card, an enchantment card, a land card, and a planeswalker card from among cards they own outside the game, then puts those cards onto the battlefield. Exile Subspace Breach.
Galvanic Entangler 2
Artifact — Equipment
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, create a 0/0 black Germ creature token, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has prowess. (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Equip 3
Temporal Mine 2
Artifact
Flash
4, T, Sacrifice Temporal Mine: It deals 4 damage to target creature.
T, Sacrifice Temporal Mine: It deals 4 damage to target player if that player is taking an extra turn, phase, or step.
Puzzle Capsule 4
Artifact
Hideaway (This artifact enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.)
4, T: Put the exiled card into its owner’s hand. Exile Puzzle Capsule, then return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control.
Emergency Failsafe
Artifact — Contraption
When you crank Emergency Failsafe, destroy all nonland permanents.
Slapdash Mechanism
Artifact — Contraption
When you crank Slapdash Mechanism, shuffle it into your Contraption deck, then assemble a Contraption onto Slapdash Mechanism's sprocket. If that Contraption isn’t named Slapdash Mechanism, you may crank it. (To assemble a Contraption, put the top card of your Contraption deck face up onto... well, this one of your sprockets.)
Pinkie, Divine Impersonator 1BR
Legendary Planeswalker — Pinkie
Pinkie, Divine Impersonator enters the battlefield with a number of loyalty counters on her equal to your devotion to black and red.
+1: Any number of target players each discard a card. Each player who does draws a card.
-6: Put a divinity counter on target creature. It gains indestructible, lifelink, and double strike.
0
Rival Inventors 3UR
Creature — Pony Rigger
When Rival Inventors enters the battlefield, it assembles two Contraptions.
Not all scientific rivalries destroy continents. Just most of them.
2/2
Protean Scurry 3GU
Creature — Shapeshifter Beast
You may have Protean Scurry enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it has “When this creature dies, create a number of 1/1 green Beast creature tokens equal to its power.”
0/0
Temporal Rupture 4WU
Sorcery
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
Put target permanent on top of its owner’s library. That player shuffles their library.
Beautifully done, especially the flavour text.
Puzzle Capsule is a fascinating take on Jayemdae Tome that also triggers all your Sludge Striders and similar. I'd play it.
I like Slapdash Mechanism's reminder text. Speaking as someone who was recently looking at the reminder text on Ninja-.
I was wondering what on earth you'd do with "giant bees composed of haunted chipmunks". Was that Protean Scurry?
I feel like Star Dancer was the unsung new personality, newly characterised character from this manga. I want to see a fic or two exploring this new side to her character. I may have to write one.
Inside Baseball Alert: The "Opal" series is one of the few non-broken things to come out of Urza's Block. Linked is the only one whose become-a-creature trigger isn't "when an opponent casts a creature spell", which the Time Spiral callback made a point of using.
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: when Opal Fresco's ability turns it into a creature, it stops being an enchantment. If it happens to have been made a creature by something that doesn't work that way, the ability is still live and can do weird things. And the ability is still there after it triggers, waiting for the day (or evening) where it can matter once more.
Inside Baseball Alert: Peasant Revolt is referencing Goblin Offensive in even more ways than I initially realized upon noticing the flavor text.
Inside Baseball Alert: Yes, of course there's a card named "earthquake" that Sympathetic Snowglobe is mimicking. That should have been obvious from context.
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: Puzzle Capsule returning from exile at the end of its own activated ability will in fact trigger Hideaway again, which causes it to enter tapped even though the ability doesn't spell that out a second time. Oh, and of course the damn thing has anti-theft measures built in to make sure you can't just smash it open.
Maro Get Your Gun Alert: Recovering arbitrary cards from exile is one of those "no color should have this power" things I mentioned in the programme note in the index. Even Eldrazi-gray has to jump through hoops to do it (give your opponent control of one of the Processors that Process as an activated ability, then Mindslaver them), and its whole shtick is breaking the usual rules. You should definitely not be getting multiple arbitrary things straight to the battlefield just by casting a spell, not without exiling your whole library afterwards or something (that was the drawback of the only card outside of the mistake that was Time Spiral to do it).
Planet of Giants (31 October - 14 November 1964) (Very early actually, the opener of the show's second season, so First Doctor) The TARDIS suffers from a malfunction that reduces the ship and all it's inhabitants to tiny size, and end up meddling in overly poisonous pesticides, of all things.
Alternatively, if we're talking Time Lords specifically: Planet of Fire (23 February - 2 March 1984) The Fifth Doctor battles the Master, who has accidentally shrunk himself while working on his Tissue Compression Eliminator (a weapon that kills people by shrinking them), and needs Numismaton gas from the planet Sarn to heal him.
That comment was probably a joke, but I have to do something with all this Who knowledge.
The fourth doctor did a shrinking episode; he created a clone of himself and Leela, shrunk them down, and sent them into his brain to deal with an intruder
5345322
Into the Dalek also featured the Doctor shrinking down and entering a Dalek.
5345319
Indeed. "Clone with pseudo-afterlife" was the best I could get out of that word salad of a concept.
And yeah, Star Dancer definitely deserves further exploration as a character.
5345320
Fair point on Subspace Breach. In my defense, there are only so many ways to represent a pocket dimension disgorging its contents into conventional reality. I've gone with a sort of Eureka Wish as an alternative.
5345322
I appreciate you sharing said Who knowledge! Your comments on Ruler of Everything have been a much-appreciated education on all the references I'm missing.
Some great designs today. The new Pinkie does a nice job as a build-around 'walker, and Scholar of Posterity is very elegant. The real star of the show for me though is Off with Their Head.
Still, I think you missed a few creature types:
Off with Their Head {B}{B}
Instant
Destroy target non-Hydra, non-Ooze, non-Wall creature.
There, a nice riff on Victim of Night. This does a better job at avoiding the whole 'Why can I drown a Fish?' situation. I almost threw in Chimeras too, but only like half of them actually have extra heads. Go figure.
Letting Pinkie loose into the time stream sounds like fun and games, until she ends up timevolving a bunch of cragodile into a chronodiles that're covered in missile launchers that shoot exploding bees in party hats.
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It always amuses me that "outside the game" is more accessible than exile is.
5345324 "The Invisible Enemy", first appearance of K-9.
5345349
You're welcome! (That being said, it's not all the references, because Sixes_And_Sevens really knows his stuff, and while I can usually tell if something's a reference to something I haven't read/listened to, I'm sure there are a few that have slipped under my notice)
(Also, everyone reading this blog: Go read Sixes_And_Sevens' Wibblyverse. It's really good and deserves all the love and views.