Cards of the Herd · 10:15pm Jun 19th, 2018
Core Set 2019* previews are in full swing, and today we got a cycle of cards relevant to my interests in several respects. So relevant that I started coming up with little story moments for each of them, hence the Story Shuffle tag. It sort of counts. 
*Magic core sets, like car models, use the next year so they sound relevant for longer.
Cadence sighed. "I just can't win with Flurry Heart anymore. All she wants to do is practice magic with Shining and Spike. And avoid her mother."
"Now, Silverstream," said Twilight, "what have we learned about lurking in the fountain to surprise creatures?"
"Don't do it to Professor Applejack," said Silverstream, holding an ice pack to the hoof-shaped bruise on her face.
"I do not know what disgusts me more," snarled Luna, "that they do this to their fellow ponies, or that they think it will somehow please me."
"Rainbow Dash!"
"Sorry, Twilight! Can't hear you over how awesome I am!"
Bat pony lore remembers the tribe's first encounter with earth ponies as "The Night the Mangoes Bit Back."
... Hang on a second.
Choose white, gain life, make a Horse, the Diamond Mare gets indestructible...
Guys, I think Wizards of the Coast ships Rarity and Celestia. Or at least Rainbow Dash and a crystal pony.
Obviously, Diamond Mare is a reference to Butt Stallion!
I came here to mention the same cycle of cards.
Diamond Mare is a refugee from Robot Unicorn Attack.
Me gusta!
FISH HORSE
When I got to Lightning Mare's quote, I thought you'd reference Elementals of Harmony's Loyalty Elemental, or Scootaloyal.
Nice moment, regardless!
Damnit now I wanna play MTG again.
4885778
And their beautiful child shall be known as Diamond Butt!
...
Darn it, it just keeps coming back to Rarity.
4885783
The story's always a winner during camping trips. Just make sure there isn't any glass nearby when the foals scream.
4885787
It's not even the first Fish Horse in the game.
Note that the comments on the linked card include multiple "Shoo be doo"s.
4885798
Didn't even think of those. Darn, missed opportunity, especially Scootaloyal.
4885807
You're welcome.
I was going to post these in the MTG group when they dropped this morning, but I was lazy. The fact that there are six of them is an amusing coincidence, especially since Diamond Mare wasn't originally part of the cycle. Maybe once they all become friends, they can start blowing up permanents for WUBRG.
Horsies! Lots and lots of horsies!
Does Crested Sunmare creating the 5/5 Horse token count as a spell? Also, how is Rainbow the Crested Sunmare? Because of the helmets she sometimes wears?
4885783
I actually didn't understand this, could someone help me out? Did the Green magic enchant the mangoes to grow fangs? Is "mangoes" a reference to something, or bat pony slang?
4885836
No, it's a triggered ability, not a spell
>Earth pony farmers growing mangoes
>random bat creatures keep showing up to eat them at night
>Stay up one night to keep them off
4885830
So the Elements were the Legacy Weapon all along? I suppose five of them can be the various Ramos components and Magic can be the reunited Mightstone and Weakstone.
4885836
The Sunmare's token creation is a triggered ability, not a spell. However, with Diamond Mare set to white, casting the Sunmare herself will trigger Diamond Mare, causing you to gain 1 life and setting you up for a 5/5 at the end of the turn. And it's a pretty safe bet you'll be casting other white spells after that. The two don't guarantee an army of indestructible horses on their own, but they do synergize very well.
The "Dash and a crystal pony" joke was referring to Diamond Mare alone, particularly the flavor text.
As for the Night of the Mangoes' Revenge, the idea there is that earth pony magic did something to the bats' favorite fruit. A 5/3 hexproof something.
I like Shining and Flurry Heart doing magic together, and hopefully she gets over her teenager issues with her mom.
4885842
I mean, it was the closest equivalent to the Elements in MTG lore that I could think of.
I call foul on the snipit for Surge Mare. Silverstream was very clearly attacking and Applejack is very clearly a Green creature so AJ should not have been able to block Silverstream. I call shenanigans. Shenanigans I say!
4885891
AJ may not be a maro-sorceress, but she still doesn't much care for surprises with talons.
4885842
Don’t be ridiculous. I can’t imagine a world where the two could possibly be related.
I haven't played in a long time but I know am going to build a new deck.
it'll be my favorite mana colors. Blue, green and white. with a few Diamond horses in for good measure. When Allies were standard I played those colors and won most of the games I played. 
Seeing my colors get some really cool cards that can bring the rain on a ton of peoples decks makes me happy.
I was thinking they missed an opportunity to make "nightmare" , then remembered that's already a card.
4885842
I keep trying to figure a good effect for a "firing off the elements" card, but the easiest is just Coalition Victory.
Hasbro really should do a maximal crossover between D&D, MTG and MLP.
4886009
My Little Pony already is more or less a D&D campaign. Or at least 90% of the Monster Manual, anyway.