The three girls galloped as fast as they could over to the library in the hopes of finding Twilight. If there was anypony in town that knew how to play a card game, it would probably be her. Unless she didn't play it. Then they were doomed. At least they had a plan and decided to follow it.
"Excuse me," Sweetie Belle called out, hoping she was there. At first there was nothing. Soon, however, they heard steps.
"Hey girls!" Spike called out, wearing his apron. "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you three to quiet down. Twilight's in her study right now and she's going over some serious stuff apparently. She told me not to come in under any circumstances."
"Really? That's a bummer. We were hoping she could give us some information."
"What kind of information?" Spike asked. He couldn't help but feel like this was some kind of deja vu.
"We're trying to learn how to play Magic: The Gathering better! We need to destroy somepony!" Sccotaloo yelled out, forgetting the part about them being quiet.
"Did you just say," he stopped for a moment, then said, "Magic?"
"Yeah? Do you know anything about it?" It looked like the three would get their information after all.
"Of course I do. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It took so many years of my life. Years that I wouldn't trade for the entire world."
"Um, we are talking about a card game, right?" Apple Bloom just didn't get it.
"Silence!" Scootaloo corrected.
"I'd won so many games. Made so many decks. I thought there was nothing better than victory. That is," He paused and put his arm against the wall, leaning against it. "That is until the day I left Canterlot. You see, there were lots of ponies who played the game there. I could find a willing player pretty much any place I went while I was staying there. When I came to Ponyville I stopped playing for a bit in an attempt to not only broaden my horizons, but find other players as well. After several years here I had decided that if I couldn't find anypony who played the game already that I would make one. Deciding to give it a shot, I tried to convert Rarity over to Magic and had even prepared a custom deck for her as well. I taught her the rules and we played a match. I ended up crushing her so badly that she never wanted to play again."
"Just because she lost once doesn't mean she should give up. I love my first game and used that as motivation. You shouldn't feel bad just because the first pony you attempted to teach ended up hating it." Scootaloo hoped that her words of sympathy would reach through to him.
"It's more than that. See, in that deck I prepared for her I gave her a card. A very special, very valuable card. It's called the Black Lotus. It's considered by many to be the single most effective card in the entire game. Instead of playing it she said that she would actually keep it in a little frame because she thought it looked pretty." Those last couple of lines seemed to be said through grit teeth. "Also, it's REALLY valuable as well, so there's that."
"My sister has a Magic Deck?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yeah. It's a really good starter deck as well. Hoped that she would use it and get interested in the game as a result. Doesn't look like that ever happened though."
"I'm surprised she didn't tell me about it when we went shopping for the cards. I hope she didn't forget." Her words made Spike feel even worse about the situation.
"Doesn't matter. After that I gave all my cards over to Twilight and told her to do whatever she wanted with them. Knowing her attitude for those games I assume that she sold them a long time ago."
"Is there any possible way you can help us? We don't even know what cards she has. They don't look like anything we encountered in the Starter Decks."
"I assume that she must've bought some extra ones from a store nearby. It's not cheating to do that. That's exactly how you play the game in the first place." The girls knew Spike was right about that, but they couldn't help but feel bummed.
"It's just that we're all a bit new to all of this and she has to go and buy all these really powerful cards just to beat us. I mean, it's not like we're all made of money that we can suddenly afford to buy these super awesome cards." Scootaloo was annoyed by the idea that somepony else could win something just by having spent more money than others.
"It's not just buying awesome cards. It's about finding the right cards to deal with a deal like that. It's about putting the proper cards in to develop an effective strategy and sticking to it. You guys have starter decks, meaning that there aren't many ways you can go about it. I guess you could buy more cards if you'd like and try to develop a strategy. After all, that's what I do. Or did." Spike was heading upstairs for Apple Bloom called him back.
"Wait! Could you at least explain how to use these decks we've got? After all, if this is all we have, then at least we should know how to really use them."
Spike stopped moving and told them, "Sure. Let me see what you've got." The three handed over each of their decks, Spike thoroughly examining them. He mumbled to himself while he was doing this and finally came to his conclusions. "Alright. Sweetie Belle. Your deck seems to rely on making the other guy tap cards and making helping yourself find the right cards to cast with. With a good combination of these spells you can easily crush anypony. Scootaloo. Your deck seems to be focused on doing as much damage as quickly as possible. You'll focus less on protecting yourself and destroying the other guy before they can retaliate. Apple Bloom. Your deck is made to deal damage directly to the enemy player's creatures and to sacrifice some of your characters to make your other creatures stronger. Take a good look at your creature's abilities to gain an idea of when to play and sacrifice certain guys. Hopefully that'll be enough for you guys to win."
"Thanks Spike. Hope things get better for you," Apple Bloom said as they were walking out the door.
"Same here." He went up to Twilight's door and started knocking. "Hey Twilight. I know you said that you didn't wanna be bothered, but I was wondering if you needed anything."
"I'm good! Thanks for asking," she yelled through her door.
"Alright. I'll be going out for a bit. I'll let you know when I'm back." Spike was feeling nostalgic about his card playing past and decided to pay the game shop a little visit, just for old time's sake. His love for the game vanished with his cards. He now regrets giving those cards over to hid friends.
"Alright. Now let's get back to business." In her room, Twilight was doing studies, but not the kind you'd expect of her. When Spike handed Twilight those cards several months back, she decided to check them out and see what was so interesting about them. After going through each of the cards, she suddenly had an urge to play the game and create decks with certain themes and strategies. She'd been facing against another pony who kept on defeating her somehow and Twilight was determined to create a deck that could not lose in any possible way. "Let's see her counter this strategy!" she yelled out, certain that she would win next duel.