Friendship is Card Games: Look Before You Sleep · 1:31pm Jun 22nd, 2014
I have a lot of thoughts as well as cards for this one, so I'm sticking the "Read More" right here.
I do like how the events of this episode only came about because there was schedule slip on the part of the pegasi. Little errors like that make Equestria feel more real, populated with actual beings instead of Flash puppets. (And, of course, my favorite pony wouldn't be who she is without mistakes, so I'm probably a bit biased there. 
)
As with "Trade Ya!", this episode does an excellent job of illustrating the green/blue conflict. Substance vs. style, big picture vs. fine details, doing vs. thinking, and so forth. Twilight's utter faith in books and theory-over-practice approach is just blue from a different angle.
Pony maturity is apparently water soluble. Two ponies get caught in the rain, and pretty soon they're acting like four-year-olds. Or maybe it's just Applejack and Rarity at this juncture of their relationship. (Honestly, so much shipping fodder here...)
Pinkie was clearly barred from the library by one of her many compacts with the fourth wall. Otherwise, she would've appeared the moment Twilight mentioned she'd never had a slumber party but always wanted one. Alas, the plot demanded she be elsewhere, and she had no choice but to acquiesce.
I suspect the ridiculous frilly outfit was the dress Twilight would've worn to the Galas she never attended. Now, the question is who gave it to her? Almost certainly not Celestia; you'd think she'd know her student's tastes better than that.
The pillow fight proves that Applejack always has a lasso on her person. No exceptions.
"That's why we needed to take down all those loose branches in town, not spiffy 'em up." That's not a loose branch. That's the top third of a trunk. You're an orchard farmer, AJ, you should know this. 
It bothers me that Rarity feels no need to return Applejack's apology during the climax. Yes, AJ's telling her to focus on the log, but we've got one mare bending over backwards and the other can't be bothered to even hint that she might have been in the wrong. Yes, they argue over who's more sorry later, but even a "You're right" at the time would've been nice.
"Ickiness is often a side effect of hard work." Truly words to live by. Though I have to wonder how Rarity got covered in mud. I guess the transmutation made the topiaries throw mud everywhere?
Right, enough musing. Card time:
Elaborate Gown 1W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack.
1W: Attach Elaborate Gown to target creature.
"Don't try to make any sudden movements, darling. You'll just wrinkle the underskirt."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Fussgeist 1W
Creature — Unicorn Spirit
When Fussgeist dies, you may destroy target enchantment.
"Say what you will about Innistrad, even the ghosts are well-dressed."
—Ditzy Doo
2/2
Storm Assembler 1UU
Creature — Pegasus
Flying
1UU: Tap target creature or land.
"My weather team's one of the best in Equestria. I wouldn't have it any other way."
—Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty
2/1
Dreadful Downpour 2U
Instant
Kicker 2UU (You may pay an additional 2UU as you cast this spell.)
Tap up to three target creatures with the same controller. If Dreadful Downpour was kicked, that player skips his or her next untap step.
Just because the weather's scheduled doesn't mean it's always nice.
Royal Business 2U
Sorcery
Exile target creature you own with time counters on it equal to its power. That card gains "Whenever a time counter is removed from this card while it's exiled, draw a card." If it doesn't have suspend, it gains suspend. (At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from it. When the last is removed, cast it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
Truth or Dare 3U
Sorcery
Each player looks at the top five cards of his or her library, then separates those cards into two face-down piles. The player to that player's right chooses one of those piles. That pile's owner puts it into his or her hand and the other into his or her graveyard.
Horror Story B
Sorcery
Reveal any number of black cards from your hand. Target player loses that much life.
Darkness lies even in the thoughts of ponies, though most express it in relatively harmless ways.
Ruin the Moment B
Instant
Destroy target creature if that creature is the target of a spell or ability you don't control.
"I hope you're proud of yourself!"
—Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of Magic
Tempt Fate RR
Sorcery
Any player may have Tempt Fate deal 6 damage to him or her. If no player does, search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
"Is there anything else that could possibly go wrong?"
—Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of Magic
Frightening Bolt 2RR
Sorcery
Frightening Bolt deals 3 damage to target creature. Other creatures can't block this turn.
"Ponies are more skittish than we like to admit, but then, who isn't?"
—Ditzy Doo
Muddy Hooves 1G
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, untap all lands you control."
Wherever they go, earth ponies leave a trail of vitality, and sometimes other things.
Slumber Party 1G
Instant
You gain 1 life for each tapped creature on the battlefield.
"Oh, those are easy. You've got friends? You've got sleeping bags? You've got a slumber party."
—Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter
Soul of Sloppiness 1G
Creature — Pony Spirit
When Soul of Sloppiness dies, you may destroy target artifact.
"Neither the Jukai nor its inhabitants are big fans of complicated machinery."
—Ditzy Doo
2/2
Timbercrash 2G
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Timbercrash, sacrifice a Forest.
Destroy target noncreature permanent.
Sometimes, nature's methods are slow and subtle. Sometimes, they aren't.
Topiarify 2G
Sorcery
Kicker 1G
Exile any number of target land cards from graveyards. For each card exiled this way, put two 0/1 green Plant creature tokens onto the battlefield. If Topiarify was kicked, put a +1/+1 counter on each of those tokens.
Pillow Fight 3G
Sorcery
Until end of turn, creatures you control gain "T: This creature fights another target creature."
Ungula has two base states: utter horror and charming whimsy. The line between the two blurs on a surprisingly frequent basis.
Defense Array 3
Artifact
2, T: You gain hexproof until end of turn.
Princess Celestia made sure Twilight Sparkle had magical protection against every conceivable threat before sending her to Ponyville.
Headless Horse 3(br)(br)
Creature — Horse Nightmare
Intimidate
Headless Horse can't block.
"A persistent nuisance. So long as our ponies keep telling its tale, it will continue to haunt them."
—Princess Luna
4/4
Oh shit, the mindgames. I would have so much fun with this. Most hilarious use would be to toss a basic land into a pile by itself and act like it's a Tooth and Nail or something.
Fussgeist is very similar to keening apparition and ruin the moment seems insane vs giant growth effects. Horror stories seem very... scary in a mono black aggro.
I want Timbercrash for my Omnath edh. Excellent use of flavor text too.
2226045 Or it is Tooth and Nail, you act like it, but maybe you're just acting like it to make them think it is, but they're too clever to fall for that, so they fall into the meta-trick. As you get more familiar with your friends' style of play, the layers of meta on the mind game increase at an increasing rate.
Ok, so, I know this post is six years old and all, but this:
This is brilliant.
It's interesting, original, balanced, or at least balanceable, simple, incredibly flavourful, it's basically a blue, black-bordered Side Quest before Side Quest was even a thing. Heck, you could even extend this design idea to a full cycle, if not more.
Sorry just... had to get that out of my system. Carry on as you were, and great job.
5402118
Thanks! I'll take compliments on my designs no matter how old they are.