Friendship is Card Games: Better Together Part 6 and Friends Forever #38 · 12:40pm Nov 11th, 2018
Bit of a mop-up operation this week. Given four Equestria Girls shorts and one Friends Forever comic unaccounted for, I’m going to bring both to a close in one fell swoop. As always, links are provided for the shorts. Let’s get started:
Ah, the retro diner. It is a good fit for Pinkie. The Cakes of this world may know her too well to trust her around their merchandise.
I do love how both Flash and Twilight know that this study session could very easily lead to disaster. Thankfully, nothing alleviates purple nerd awkwardness quite like academics.
Huh. Speaking role for Blueberry Cake. Wasn’t expecting that particular background human to get a moment in the spotlight.
I’m not sure what’s more bizarre: That Rarity thought Blueberry might have glitter on her, or that she did.
“Losers don’t deserve nachos” is one of the more polite tenets of Crystal Prep athletics. I guess Cadence’s attempts to make it a friendlier place are necessarily gradual; and the coaches are likely slow to adopt the proposed changes.
I’m not sure how true Dash’s schoolwide captaincy is, but I can definitely believe that Pinkie believes it.
… Flash, you have a pencil. How the heck are you generating five different colors?
Victory sundae! 
Great demonstration of Pinkie being Pinkie, spreading happiness on an almost instinctive level.
And now on to a trio of music videos.
Applejack’s apple-covered footie pajamas amuse me, and I don’t know why.
The Apples apparently keep chickens in addition to at least one pig.
I barely know who Reba McEntire is and this song and outfit are giving me strong vibes of her.
Huh. Stained glass is the disused shed/garage/barn/extension thing. A surprising touch.
Why do I get the feeling that pony Pinkie gave Applejack the idea for those brush boots?
Fascinating bit of juxtaposition between the stretch limo and the outfits from AJ’s music video idea. I never really appreciated Dashperado until now.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this were the video that would’ve resulted from the girls following up on Applejack’s idea in “Dance Magic.”
And, of course, it’s Rarity who provides the blanket. Just kiss, you two.
Earth humans: Working hard because they like it.
It’s funny. We got an echo of “Filli Vanilli” way back in Rainbow Rocks; Fluttershy’s song from the movie’s climax shares a lot of thematic elements with the one her equine analogue sings in that episode. But now we’re getting another one. Still, it’s not like Shy has ever actually done any canon solo vocals with the Rainbooms.
Casual canon confirmation that Sunset’s touch telepathy doesn’t trigger every time she touches someone. I’ve seen a few portrayals of her as mind-reader Rogue; good to know that particular nightmare doesn’t apply.
Heh. Fluttershy may not be in CHS’s Neighponese culture club, but she still gets an image song.
The overhead lighting’s synchronization could be nondiegetic, or it could be a subtle expression of pegasus electrokinesis. That said, we do see that the swept-up sparkles exist, so…
It’s quite appropriate that Fluttershy provides her own backup vocals. She can’t handle someone else being involved in the song.
Yeesh. Even when animated, hairless cats look creepy.
Ah, recycled animation.
Getting some Sailor Moon vibes with the back-to-back alter egos.
I love how Sunset looks at the glitter before asking about the music, implying that that was evidence of it. I wonder how often this kind of thing happens around the girls.
Looks like the hamster habitat needs to be cleaned again.
Still waters run deep. Though some are deathly afraid of people who splash.
Ah yes, the short whose name we thought was referring to something else. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll leave it at that.
I can’t help but wonder just where Rarity’s work room is meant to be, along with who owns the building and what Rarity’s job actually is. The nature of her employment has been frustratingly nebulous at times.
Very interesting to see such an accurate portrayal of an Equestrian pegasus on the sketch wall, along with an earth pony we see later. Has Sunset brought back pictures of her people? Has Rarity seen them for herself?
There is the question of what Rarity means by “the other side.” The most obvious answer is “the other side of the creative block,” as suggested by the image of her stumbling climb over the hill, but I think there’s more to it. The dive through the mirror and the carousel theme of one dress suggest an attempt to emulate her pony counterpart’s success, getting to that point in human Rarity’s own career.
Speaking of which, Rarity, I’m sorry, but that dress just doesn’t look good. It didn’t look good in “Rollercoaster of Friendship,” and it doesn’t look good here.
Wow. I haven’t seen this much overt sexualization in My Little Pony since the Dazzlings.
This was… odd. The visuals are curious, the mood a decided departure from the norm, and the overall feel rather shallow in comparison to the previous two videos. Not the best note for this series to end on.
Friends Forever #38: Battle Royal! (Princess Celestia & Princess Luna)
Very interesting to see that Kibitz’s family has been acting as royal support for generations. I have to wonder if any of its black sheep have taken royal secrets to those less positively disposed to Celestia over the years.
There’s something truly delightful in the image of Luna giddily skidding to a halt on the palace carpet.
The diarchs’ backlog is apparently due to their adventures across Equestria. Huh. A shame we don’t ever get to see those. And apparentlyeven the princesses need dental exams.
Also, Celestia arguing against delegating something to Twilight? What madness is this?
“Librarian’s bake-off and rope-trick conference at the bird sanctuary in San Palomino.” If I didn’t know any better, I’d think some malicious force had put that together in an effort to take out a large but not unmanageable group of Bearers in one fell swoop.
And it’s quite interesting to see Kibitz refer to Twilight as Ms. Sparkle and not Princess. I suppose he has certain personal standards for royalty. Luna may barely scrape by.
Celestia doing paperwork with her mouth is strangely adorable.
I do like the sisters’ phoenix and bat hair ornaments.
:applejackbemused: So much for Celestia having no power in the realm of dreams. To say nothing of having no appreciation for drama.
Oof. When Luna tells Celestia everyone likes her preferences better, Celestia just shrugs it off. But when Celestia reminds Luna of those times when the populace shares her tastes…
I’m going to blame the sleep deprivation for that.
I’m with Crystal Ball. Everything’s better with some spice.
Interesting to see berries used as a potion delivery medium. Also nice to see the princesses play fair… though it might have been a better idea to wait until just before the event before eating them. Or at least until after moonset/sunrise. And there’s always the possibility of slipping those potions in to their food unaware…
(Also, two rival siblings and magic items of weakness and strength. Where have I heard this story before…)
“Everything mine is better!” Just in case people think Luna’s entirely to blame for Nightmare Moon.
“Porcelain precious porcine collection”? Celestia collects piggy banks?
I don’t know, Kibitz. Ever since “A Royal Problem,” this seems pretty in-character for the both of them. The only oddity is being so up front about their resentment.
Ah, good to see Celestia did think to raise the sun… but wait, “before my magic completely ran out”? I think they overdid the berries. They also underdid letting Kibitz know which berries had the empowerment potion… which is especially egregious considering he’s presumably the one who picked them up from Crystal Ball.
The princesses may have diminished their powers, but they can still fly to Ponyville under their own power. Well then.
Luna’s favorite flavor is cherry? Huh. Score one for the Triptych Continuum.
Sure, that little shop down at 34th and Vine sells nine different kinds of love potions, but most of them will get you arrested.
Celestia’s side-mounted Sweetie Belle is pretty darn hilarious… though really, with the different proportions involved, I don’t think any combinations of these four would’ve worked out well.
“Applejack compared being sisters to an apple pie!” “It’s always apple pie with that one.” This is amazing. Doubly so given that that last line is coming from Celestia.
Oh, now you can’t fly. Except you can. What the actual crap?
Ooh, that hypotism’s explicitly magic from an earth pony. I’m a bit happier now.
At least Kibitz acknowledged his mistake.
A very sweet reconciliation between the sisters. Say what you will, Andy Price writes some good fan fiction.
I definitely feel like that last exchange between Sweetie Belle and Rarity is a reference to something, but darn if I know what.
So… what brought Dash to the San Palomino conference, anyway?”
And in the last panel, we see what happens when you just set each character’s fourth-wall awareness to the opposite of its usual setting. Got to be a bit more thoughtful with those bit flips.
In all, this was a great way to close out this particular comic series, showing the two focus characters at their best, their worst, and how they each drive one another to both.
Goodness, that was a bit more than usual, wasn’t it? Let’s move on to the cards:
Sanctuary Keeper 2W
Creature — Pony Citizen
When Sanctuary Keeper enters the battlefield, if you control a Desert or there is a Desert card in your graveyard, create a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying.
The San Palomino sanctuary looks after those birds too weak to complete the migration in one trip.
2/2
Solar Expediency 3W
Instant
This spell costs 2 less to cast if it targets a black creature.
Exile target attacking creature.
”This is why I don’t let Princess Celestia play paladins.”
—Shining Armor
Hypnotic Suggestion U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
2: Until end of turn, enchanted creature loses all abilities and becomes a Chicken with base power and toughness 1/1.
The mightiest body means nothing if the mind is weak.
Canterlot Mesmerist 1U
Creature — Pony Wizard
U, T: Target creature gets -2/-0 until end of turn.
”Unicorns. They look at you and smirk. They laugh behind your tail. That’s usually when I make them think spiders are crawling all over them.”
1/2
Shark Repellant 1U
Instant
Return target creature to its owner’s hand. If that creature is blue, put it on top of that player’s library instead.
”My Night Guard is equipped for every eventuality.”
—Princess Luna
Crystal Mare 1UU
Creature — Elemental Unicorn
Hexproof
Crystal Mare can’t be blocked by red creatures.
Expressions of Generosity often manifest along certain themes.
2/3
Endless Embarrassment 2U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, its controller sacrifices it.
When enchanted creature dies, return Endless Embarrassment to its owner’s hand.
Shame outlives the shameful.
Tailor’s Trove 2U
Enchantment
Whenever you cast an artifact spell, create a colorless Treasure artifact token with “T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.”
The highest of fashion is more art than garment, and the designers charge accordingly.
Tempt with Glitter 3U
Sorcery
Tempting offer — Proliferate. Each opponent may proliferate. For each opponent who does, proliferate. (To proliferate, a player chooses any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then gives each another counter of a kind already there.)
Unsettling Sphynx B
Creature — Cat
Menace
”I’m not sure how to feel about a pet who needs a more thorough skin care regimen than I do.”
—Rarity
1/1
Vampiric Figment 2BB
Creature — Nightmare Vampire
Menace
When Vampiric Figment enters the battlefield, each opponent loses 3 life and you gain 3 life.
When Vampiric Figment leaves the battlefield, each opponent gains 3 life and you lose 3 life.
3/3
Luna’s Owls 3BB
Creature — Bird
Flying
Inspired — Whenever Luna’s Owls becomes untapped, surveil 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
3/3
Didelphid Behemoth 5B
Creature — Beast
2BB, Sacrifice two creatures: Return Didelphid Behemoth from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
A dark part of Luna found it an acceptable bargain: Two guards for a monster that could vanquish ten.
5/5
“The Other Side” R
Enchantment — Aura
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “The Other Side”.
R, Sacrifice “The Other Side”: Discard X cards, where X is the number of verse counters on “The Other Side”. Draw a card for each card discarded this way.
Prime Boosters 1R
Sorcery
Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. If it’s an artifact creature, it gains haste until end of turn.
You don’t have to bolt them to your body, but it helps.
Dustcloud Desperado 3R
Creature — Human Warrior
Menace
Dash RR (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it’s returned from the battlefield to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step.)
3/2
Omnisport Captain 4R
Creature — Human Warrior
Whenever Omnisport Captain attacks, you may pay 2R. If you do, you may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Sacrifice that creature at the beginning of the next end step.
”It’s not a competition if I’m the only one there.”
3/4
Enormous Phoenix 4RR
Creature — Phoenix
Flying
Formidable — At the beginning of your upkeep, if creatures you control have total power 8 or greater, return Enormous Phoenix from your graveyard to your hand.
Some who saw it thought the sun had fallen. The rest just burned.
5/4
“Five to Nine” GG
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “Five to Nine”
2GG, Sacrifice “Five to Nine”: Reveal the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of verse counters on “Five to Nine”. You may put any number of permanent cards with converted mana cost X or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest into your graveyard.
Parade of the Beads 1G
Instant
Each player may tap any number of untapped creatures they control. Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature tapped this way.
New Horseleans offers some of the most innocent depravity in the Multiverse.
Apple Family Workaholic 1G
Creature — Human Citizen
Apple Family Workaholic untaps during each other player’s untap step.
T: Add G.
”I’m not addicted. A farm needs this much effort.”
1/1
Wild Chorus 1GG
Creature — Beast Band
Finale — Whenever you sacrifice a Song, create a token that’s a copy of Wild Chorus.
By the time Fluttershy graduated, every animal within twenty miles of Canterlot knew her voice.
2/2
Gut Feeling UR
Sorcery
Look at the top four cards of your library. Exile one and put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. You may play the exiled card this turn.
”If Pinkie ever starts playing the stock market, she’s going to own this country.”
—Sunset Shimmer
Snack Psychic 1WU
Creature — Human Shaman
Whenever you gain life, scry 1.
W: Snack Psychic gains lifelink until end of turn.
Visions come to her unbidden, some from arcane insight, some from sugar overdoses.
2/3
Crystal Prep Motivation 1BR
Enchantment
Attacking creatures you control get +2/+0 and have trample.
At end of combat on your turn, sacrifice each attacking creature that didn’t deal combat damage to a player or planeswalker this combat.
”The school’s culture is still a work in progress.”
—Principal Cadence
“So Much More to Me” 2GU
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “So Much More to Me”.
1GU, Sacrifice “So Much More to Me”: Draw cards equal to the total power of up to X target creatures you control, where X is the number of verse counters on “So Much More to Me”, then discard a card for each card drawn this way.
Rarity’s Workshop
Land
T: Add C.
T: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a spell that targets a permanent you control.
From mundane tools comes enchanting beauty.
The song is an homage to Dolly Parton's “Nine to Five.” Same era, though.
Earth pony mind magic confirmed.
I spotted a "tenants" up there where you meant to write "tenets", two easily and commonly confused words. This might be a good addition to your Helpful Tips page, actually
The shorts were sweet. I liked all the songs, including The Other Side, though that carousel dress is ridiculous.
As for the comic... Well, maybe it's unfair of me but this was Andy Price's first time writing as well as drawing a comic and I felt like it showed that he isn't normally a writer. The story is a mad cacophony of everything piled on top of itself
The visuals are fabulous and hugely entertaining, but the characters are flattened for comedy purposes. Still, the series certainly went out with a bang.
Hmm, there's a curious amount of color-hosing today...
By the way, in Caterlot Mesmerist's flavortext is an r too many:
I seriously didn't see the sexualization in The Other Side, despite everyone and their cat complaining about it. Strange...
I really liked "Five to Nine" myself. It really reminded me of the farms my mother's side of the family grew up on back in Southern Kansas. The fact it's a pretty catchy country tune helped.
Yeah, when I head "The Other Side", I was thinking of something else myself.
The Celestia/Luna issue was definitely a high note for "Friends Forever" to go out on. It was funny, emotional, and gave both Princesses a lot of great moments. And while the different comic series that have come after it have been decent, a part of me still misses the team-up dynamic "Friends Forever" gave us. Sometimes the best story is just one with two characters working off one another.
I now have an image of Luna running around the castle like an over excited puppy, scrabbling and sliding across the marble floors, flipping and flopping when reaches a room with carpet.
FF#38 isn't really one of my favourite issues, and I can't ignore that it has a few problems in the writing department, but I respect that Andy put in the effort to give this series a proper send-off. Friends Forever could've easily ended on a Fosgitt issue, and I wouldn't have even been surprised by it. Plus, it still handled the conflict between Celestia and Luna a thousand times better than Royal Problem did IMO.
Also, yeah, that Rarity video was definitely a bit edgier than we usually see from this franchise.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike the shift to this template from "each opponent loses X life and you gain life equal to the life lost this way"? It's not a mono-black ability! It only worked on Siege Rhino because that was white/black!
4966448
Yeah, there are problems to the issue, but it at least felt like the creators were at least trying to give it a decent ending. And given how much I enjoyed "Friends Forever", that was very much appreciated.
4966381
Thanks for the correction. It's always better to get the references.
I thought Pinkie confirmed that years ago. You don't become the friend of everyone in town with just a winning personality.
4966389
Thanks for the catch. I swear, sometimes it seems like I'm taking dictation from myself.
And yeah, Andy Price writes like he draws, filling all available space with fun side references and background gags. Given how text has much lower bandwidth than visuals, that's not necessarily a good thing.
4966422
The last minute of the video consists mostly of slow-motion panning shots of a woman giving bedroom eyes while wearing a low-cut bodysock. The only reason the sirens win out is because they had a room full of people who Adagio could caress.
4966448
There were definitely far worse ways to close out the series.
4966470
I suppose they were wary of how the effect scaled in multiplayer. Or they just wanted to streamline it.
I love the flavour of Gut Feeling, even if the card is sadly worse than Impulse in three ways. I know Impulse is a little pushed for modern standards, but not that much, I don't think. The flavour text was magnificent though.
Snack Psychic was also a perfect hat-trick of great flavour, handy card to slot into a deck, and tempting to build a deck around itself.
I'm not sure if I've said before, but I love how you make use of occasional random mechanics or cycles from the past when it fits the card best. Tempt With Glitter is a really funky card that's not quite as splashy as Tempt With Reflections but would still go great into a second cycle of Tempting Offer cards should they make one.
Given your comments about Fluttershy, I was sortof expecting a card here along the lines of
Backing Echo {U}{U}
Creature - Illusion Shapeshifter
~ enters the battlefield as a copy of any creature you control, except it has "This creature can't attack or block unless another creature with the same name also attacks or blocks".
0/0
"The Other Side" was uncomfortable watching, yeah. It felt rather out-of-place, even for Glamor
horsehuman. Also, it looks like Butt Stallion made a guest appearance there.Endless Embarrassment seems weird and off-color. It's basically repeatable removal that kills indestructable targets for 3 CMC. Is there some precedent for that kind of thing?
Odd that you made "The Other Side" red - I'd have thought it'd be blue or blue and red.
I laughed at the flavor text on Parade of the Beads.
Apple Family Workaholic seems kind of OP for CMC 2, honestly.
5171363
Creativity has strong flavour precedent in blue, red and blue-red. The mechanic of discarding a bunch of ideas to get to some hopefully-better ones is such a lovely reflection of the message of the song, and that style of looting is mechanically red (though I guess blue has access to it too since it's strictly worse than blue looting.)
As for the Workaholic? I really don't see how that's overpowered. The bog-standard Llanowar Elf is 1 mana. There's plenty of precedent for the {1}{G} version giving you an option to sometimes make {G}{G} (Leafkin Druid, Elfhame Druid, Whisperer of the Wilds)... giving you {G} every turn seems perfectly reasonable to me. It's pretty hard to use a random single mana on the opponent's turn in general, though it's awesome when you have Giant Growth in hand.
Endless Embarrassment, though, yes, I definitely agree shouldn't be printed. It's like Reality Acid but letting any old Samite Healer sub in for the Vedalken Mastermind.
The video to The Other Side is indeed uncomfortable, but if you just take the music and stick it on a car CD (/USB stick/MP3 player) then it is actually a really encouraging and motivating pick-me-up when you're in a creative lull. I found being preached to by Rarity on the topic of creative block surprisingly helpful when I was in the final week of writing my latest fic :)
5173687
"The Other Side" (the Song card) is mechanically very red - I was just surprised FoME chose to make it that way, because Rarity is generally blue-aligned in his MtG-related work (except on Ravnica, where she's Orzhov), so I'd expected a blue or blue-red card.
Workaholic just seems very strong in that it provides mana every single turn for a low cost. I know there's a green enchant land aura that does the same for {G}, but it still seems pretty darn strong. But then again, I haven't actually played Magic for the better part of two decades, so...
5171363 5173687
There is some precedent in Crystalline Nautilus and Dismiss into Dream, but an eternal enchantment plus triggering on ability targeting for three mana was too much.
Suitably enough, I may never live down Endless Embarrassment.