//------------------------------//
// Preperations 
// Story: Friendship is Magic: The Gathering 
// by St Jimmy 
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“Rainbow?” Asked Jace, cautiously. “Are you sleeping?”
While the pegasus had been sleeping previously, the opening of the door and voice of Jace had jolted her awake. She pushed her back up from the bed and slid herself back into the pillows behind her. “I guess so…what’s up?” She rubbed at her eyes.
“Oh, my mistake, I didn’t mean to wake you,”
“Don’t worry about it,” Her voice was a bit slower and deeper than usual, but was recovering quickly. “I should have been up…what time is it?”
“I believe it is approximately 9:00 am,"
“Am? What does that mean?”
“Ah, I forget that you have a different time setup here. It is the same as your Celestial Cycle,”
“Oh, so 9:00 cc. Then I should have been up about 2 hours ago,” Dash swung her hind legs to the side of the bed, and got down, landing on all four legs.
“I see. In that case, are you interested in some training in magic?
“Sure, just let me do my morning routine,”
“Not a problem, I’ll be outside,”
“Okay,” Jace exited the guest room, shutting the door behind himself. Shortly after, it could be clearly heard that he had exited the library through the front door.
It was then that the place that Dash had spent the night in finally hit her. She had fallen asleep in the library, and had ended up in the second floor guest room, she did not remember moving herself up to the second floor, and she certainly didn’t find her way up here whilst she was asleep, that meant that she had been carried. 
She had no need to venture a guess as to who had brought her here, it had ben Jace beyond any doubt. She became rather uncomfortable at the thought of being picked up and carried to bed. The thought of her asleep in his arms like a filly brought warmth to her cheeks.
She shook the thought out of her head. She had more important things to focus on. She headed into the guest bathroom, and grabbed the spare brush from the counter, and got to work on her mane. She put a great focus on brush her mane out properly, as this was the only cosmetic part of her morning routine, since she didn’t dress up, didn’t wear makeup, or style her mane. This left her more time to focus on stretching and warm-ups for her morning flying practice.
However, this morning, there was much to do, and she didn’t think she would get the time to practice her flying, so she skipped that section of her routine, once Rainbow had finished brushing her mane, she pushed it out of her eyes, and headed for the outside world.
The pegasus bolted down the stairs, sung the door open, stepped outside, and closed the door behind herself. Contrary to her expectations, Jace was not immediately visible, awaiting her arrival, and a quick look around, unfortunately, did not reveal the planeswalker’s hiding place.
“Jace?” She asked, hoping that he would reveal his location with a response.
“Yes?” Replied Jace from directly behind Dash, placing the unsuspecting pegasus on the verge of a heart attack.
“Don’t…” Dash took a deep breath in to calm herself. “Do that, please,” 
Jace laughed to himself. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were so jumpy,” He teased.
“Shut up,” She returned with a joking tone.
“So,” He began. “How about we get started?”
“We may as well,” Dash smiled.
“Good,” Jace smiled back. “Then let’s begin,” He formed a red rune in his hooves, and passed it to Dash by pushing it through the air. “I have no gift for red magic, not like Koth, or Chandra moreover, but I will show you what I can,”
“Um, alright,” She held the bright crimson rune in her hooves. “Wow…it’s so…awesome,”
“Well, go ahead,” He watched with anticipation.
“Hm?”
“Just, crush it,”
“Oh, right,” She pressed her hooves against the rune, but it didn’t give way to the pressure as she had expected. Instead, the rune held strong against the force. “I…I can’t,” She made another attempt, pouring all of her strength into her hooves, but to no avail.
Jace smiled. “Here,” He stepped forward and placed his hooves on top of Dash’s, eliciting a blush across her face. “Just takes a little magic,” With the application of a minimal amount of force, Jace guided magical energy through the pegasus’s hooves, and the strength of Rainbow Dash, the rune gave way, and swirling, shimmering, red energy flowed up to her head. Jace stepped back from Dash as the energy coalesced in the pegasus’s head
It took no more than a fraction of a second for the rune to take effect. Fresh, powerful knowledge flowed through her mind. It was not unlike remembering memories of ages long past. It was as though she had always known the spell, ever since the day she was born, but she couldn’t remember it until just now.
“Fireball…,” Rainbow muttered under her breath. She looked up and smirked, as she drew red mana from the ground beneath her hooves, collecting it in a swirling crimson sphere of energy in her hooves. “Fireball!”
The massive amount of power held in Dash’s hooves was released into a huge, swirling mass of raging flames, which rolled across the grass directly towards Jace.
He reacted quickly, forging a bright blue barrier between the spell and himself. The barrier absorbed the kinetic energy behind the fast-moving ball of flames. The heat and fire licked around the edges of the barrier, but rapidly vanished as the barrier drained the power from the spell.
“I knew it! You have an innate talent for magic!”
Dash smiled in response, but then he face shifted to a look of confusion. “I just don’t get it, here in Equestria, only Unicorns and Alicorns are able to do magic,”
“That’s because the magic that Unicorns and Alicorns use is drastically different from the magic that the rest of the multiverse uses. Now, I gather that around here, magic draws its power from within the caster, and from the bonds they share with others, right?”
Dash nodded.
“Well, in the rest if the multiverse, magic is powered by mana, and mana is drawn from the land, from mountains, islands, plains, swamps, forests, and even from relics of civilizations past. Once you have become familiar with a place, you can draw on its mana from across the multiverse. Does that make sense?”
Rainbow paused as she thought for a moment, then, however slowly, nodded in conformation. “Sort of, yeah,”
Jace smiled. “So, now that you’ve had a taste of magic, are you prepared to learn a whole library of spells?”
Rainbow Dash returned the smile. “Hell yes!” This was the most excited as Jace had ever seen the pegasus. While that wasn’t really saying much given that he had only known her for about a week, Dash’s other friends would likely say the same.
“Well alright then. Let’s try a summoning spell next,” Jace sifted through his memory. As a gifted blue mage, he knew the components of countless spells from the other four colors that he could not cast, but he was capable of teaching to those who could cast them. That was what made blue mages such exceptional teachers of magic. The greatest scholars in the multiverse were masters of blue magic.
“Here we go, a nice, strong spell for an introduction to summoning, Dragon Hatchling,” A new rune appeared in his hooves, shimmering with latent power.
Dash aught the rune as it sailed through the air, and turned it over in her hooves once she had a firm grasp on it. After a brief moment of admiration, she crushed it, releasing the knowledge from its prison, and letting it flow into her mind.
Unlike the Fireball rune before it, the Dragon Hatchling rune brought with it an unfamiliar feel, it was not so easily mastered. However, Dash was unfazed, she called upon the world beneath her hooves yet again, drawing incredible power into herself, and gathering it to prepare the spell.
A moment later, she released the spell, forming a rift which pulled the creature from beyond the Æther. The pegasus was rooted to the ground with awe as she watched the youthful dragon form before her eyes, its scales, legs tail, and fledgling wings forming quickly, and its blazing, golden eyes opening less than a moment later. This young dragon was a far cry from the dragons that she had encountered in Equestria, but of course, she had not seen too many up close.
Jace admired the summoned hatchling, circling around it, looking over every inch for flaws and possible signs of recoil. “Impressive work,” He said upon finalizing his study. “The Dragon Hatchiling is far from impressive in and of itself, but you’ve certainly been able to impress me with it. Your mother clearly passed on quite the gift,”
Dash blushed. “Shut up…,”
“Well, we had best move on to some more involved work. You may be new to this, but you have the skill of an intermediate. We had best get to work as soon as possible,”
“Right”


Elspeth watched from the library window as Jace and Rainbow Dash trained, admiring their carefree mannerisms, despite the fact that they were only training together in hopes of repelling the Eldrazi. She tried to maintain some sort of hope, but she had seen what they had done to Zendikar she and Jace had fought tooth and nail to try and defend the plane, and yet, they were forced to abandon it to prevent being destroyed along with it. It killed Jace to do it, and she knew that leaving this plane behind to die like Zendikar had would tear him apart.
“Enjoying yourself, planeswalker?” Asked a somber, but humored voice from behind her.
“Not in the least, but I’m trying. I really wish I could just enjoy this world while it here but-,”
“But you have seen the Eldrazi in action, and you have little hope for the survival of this plane,” Discord finished her sentence for her, and frowned. “I have never encountered the Eldrazi myself, but I have heard tales during my travels. Honestly, I’m a little afraid of them,”
Elspeth raised an eyebrow. “A god that feels fear?”
“Strange compared to the gods you know of isn’t it? Here in Equestria gods a born from powerful mortals. Once a mortal becomes immensely powerful, they experience something called Ascension, transforming them into a god. Since I was once a mortal, I feel emotion,”
“How about pain? Are you familiar with pain?”
Discord hesitated. “Yes, I have known my fair share of pain,”
“Pain is what made me a planeswalker. Pain gave me this intense desire to escape the world I lived on,” Elspeth returned to looking out the window, watching as Dash practiced the newest rune, and Jace gave her tip on her form. “Has he told you about Dash yet?”
“Yes, he has. I didn’t even know that ponies could-,”
“Do you think he is right?”
Discord sighed. “I think it’s possible that Rainbow-,”
“Do you think he is right,” The last word dripped with annoyance.
Discord hesitated again. “Yes. Yes I do,”
“I hope he is. We need all the help we can get,”

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The sun was beginning to set, and after nearly 12 straight hours of vigorous training, minus a little time to eat, Rainbow had been taught 16 different spells, and she had mastered 13 of them.
“Alright, are you ready for the final event?
Dash gazed back, bewildered. “What do you mean?”
Jace placed his hoof on his chest. “You versus me, one on one. Are you up for a challenge?”
Dash was taken aback by the sudden offering of competition, but she couldn’t refuse a challenge. Her competitive spirit had been ignited, and there was no going back now. “Yeah! I could never turn down a challenge!”
Jace turned to the library window. “Hey, Elspeth!”
A moment later, Elspeth appeared before the two ponies, accompanied by a bright white flash of light. “What do you need Jace?”
“Would you mind being our judge?”
Elspeth was bewildered at first. “Your judge, what…oh!” She smiled. “Yeah, I’ll judge for you,” Elspeth backed a good, long distance away from the two, before conjuring a few runes, and fusing them together. She drew a massive amount of energy from the ground beneath her hooves, until the strange amalgamation of runes glowed pure white. After a moment of gathering her focus, Elspeth crushed the runes, releasing the energy all at once.
A large, translucent dome of a barrier formed over the land around Jace and Dash, keeping the any magic energy flung around inside from damaging the land and structures nearby. “The barrier is active! I will now present the rules. The two of you will duel using whatever magic you like, with a few exceptions. This is a direct 1 on 1, summoning the assistance of planeswalker’s is prohibited. The summoning of legendary-class creatures is prohibited. The Activation of legendary-class artifacts is prohibited. The duel will last for a maximum of ten minutes, and will end when the time is up, when one of you concedes, or when I judge one of you unfit to continue the duel. If time runs out, I will select a victor based on your physical conditions, the state of your summoned creatures, and how exhausted your magical libraries are. If one of you concedes or is judged unfit to continue, the other will be declared the victor. Are the rules clear to both participants?”
Jace nodded. “Yes,”
Rainbow thought for a moment, then answered in kind. “Yes,”
“Do both participants agree to abide by the rules?”
“I agree,” Jace replied, positioning himself in a combat-ready stance.
Dash also positioned herself for combat. “I agree,”
“Both participants have acknowledged that they understand and agree to the rules…I now declare this duel…begun!”
Upon Elspeth uttering the final word of the sentence, Jace lept into action, slightly faster than Dash, prepping a favorite rune of his, and drawing mana from across the Æther, in order to complete the channeling of his Mind Sculpt spell. A moment later, he pushed off the ground, flinging himself towards Dash.
Spotting the aggressive move, Dash realized she needed a simpler spell in order to beat Jace to the punch. She called forward an inexpensive Fireball spell. Her spell was, just as she had hoped, ready sooner than Jace’s. She crushed the fully charged rune in her hooves, forming a ball of embers and sparks roughly the size of her own head. Not a moment later, she threw the ball at Jace, and it ignited midway to its target, changing into a raging mass of fire.
Jace had not expected her to strike first, he wasn’t prepared to counter the spell, so he had to take the brunt of the spell. It wasn’t lethal, or even very painful, but it stung just enough to stutter Jace’s aim. He had to move closer in order to ensure that he hit his target.
He did indeed hit his target, and his spell was far more painful. Mind Sculpt was a specialty blue spell colloquially known as a “mill spell”. It was specially crafted to rip the knowledge of magic from the target’s mind, piece by piece, by attacking their memories. It ripped the memories of spells to prevent the target from damaging the caster. Mill spells are, however, used for other, less than kind methods. The mill spell can be used to rewrite the minds of unfortunate, or fortunate depending on the intentions, subjects by erasing good or bad memories as if they had never existed in the first place.
Rainbow was surprised to feel no pain, at least, not at the point of impact, instead there was an unbearable agony within her head. The pain paralyzed her for a moment, but no more than a moment, as she still had a duel to focus on.
Dash had no chance of winning, she knew that from the moment the duel began. The purpose of this duel was to hold out against Jace’s onslaught for as long as possible, and bring Jace as close to defeat as she possibly could, she knew that it would be impressive if she even got him a quarter of the way to defeat, or even make him consider conceding.
She quickly selected another rune from her now somewhat smaller collection, and charged it with as much mana as she could gather. “Try this on for size!” She shouted as she released the rune, creating a summoning matrix for her Flame Servant spell. It was a lackluster spell by nature, but it was enough for her to either damage Jace or defend herself. The fiery energy formed by the mana she collected gathered itself into a swirling, vaguely bipedal mass, which immediately and angrily lashed out at Jace. 
Jace leapt back to avoid the strike and readied a blue rune of his own. This one, upon its release, revealed Jace’s signature manta ray phantasm. He followed the summoning of his creature by blasting Dash with another burst of blue mage, reigniting her agony, and causing her to stumble backwards. As she did, Jace’s phantasm glowed brighter, and grew in size. 
Dash gazed up at the recently strengthened creature with fear in her eyes. She straightened herself and stood, extending a hoof towards Jace as a command for her Fire Servant. It angrily charged forward.
Jace smiled, and his phantasm descended on the Fire Servant without wasting a second with delay. Dash’s Fire Servant fought bravely, but it did no serious harm to Jace’s phantasm. In a few moments, the Fire Servant fell to the ground, and vanished. Rainbow was completely open to Jace’s assault. Jace took his opening with vicious eagerness, sending the phantasm straight at her.
The creature barreled her over, knocking the Pegasus onto her back. It flew back to Jace’s side, as he summoned forth a duplicate of the phantasm. The two angled themselves at Dash, and Jace sent them both to strike her. The combination attack sent Dash flying into the edge of the dueling zone. She fell onto her stomach, and tried to get back up, but failed.
Elspeth raised her hoof. “Rainbow Dash is no longer fit for combat. I declare Jace victorious!” The dueling zone vanished, alongside Jace’s phantasms. Jace rushed to Dash’s side.
“Sorry, I think I got a little carried away,” He offered a hoof to help Rainbow up.
“It’s fine,” She noted, flatly.
“Nonetheless, you’re clearly very skilled at this already,” Jace smiled.
“Thanks,” Replied Dash with a smile of her own, clearly proud of herself. “I’m not good enough to beat you though,”
“No, not yet,” Jace laughed, softly. “You’d probably need to be a Planeswalker to beat me,”
Dash punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Shut up,”
Jace looked out onto the field before them, remorsefully.
Dash stared out onto the field as well. “So,” She began. “Do you think we’ll win?”
“Well, I believe we have a good chance to,”
“I asked if you think we will win. Not if you think we can,”
Jace paused and looked at Dash. She was attempting to hide heremotions, but it is difficult to hide fear. “Yes, I believe so,”
Some of the tension separated itself from Dash as he fears were denied. “Me too,” Her eyes became more reflective. “I just-,” She stuttered, and a few tears slipped down her face. “I just don’t want to lose my home,” The thought echoed through Dash’s mind, and broke down her resolve. She wept, quietly at first, but the volume escalated quickly.
Jace hesitated, unaware of the correct response, before pulling Dash into a hug, The two stayed that way for the longest time, as Dash cried and cried until she finally ran out of tears. It was very different from her usual manner, but sometimes, ponies do weird things under stress.
“H-Hey Jace…?” Asked Dash, as she relaxed a bit.
“What is it?”
“Could I…maybe…stay in the guest room tonight…with you…?”
Jace froze.
“It’s just, I don’t wanna go home, it’s too far, and I don’t wanna sleep alone either. It’s going to be a long night and I want someone nearby…just in case…,”
Jace remained unmoving.
“Plus, that way Discord will wake me as well if he wakes you,”
Jace was still frozen.
“Jace?”
“A-Alright, I…,” He gulped. “…I guess that…could work,”
“Thank you!” She squeezed the remaining air out of Jace’s lungs.
“Dash,’ He began, short of breath. “May I please breathe?”
Dash let go immediately. “Sorry!”
“It’s okay,” Jace caught up on the air he had missed over the past few seconds.
“Seriously though, thank you,”
Jace smiled. “Not a problem,”