Friendship: the Gathering

by Arcanum -Phantasy

Ch.8 Urza's Funhouse

Anon sat at his dining room table, steaming mug at hand and a small frown marring his face. Jinx sat by his chair, flicking his tail as he studied his human's curious actions. Said actions consisted of him doing the same to one of his obsidian daggers. For years, the set of old trinkets served as nothing more than an heirloom with an interesting story. A few days ago, they served as a final gamble when he thought he was going to be sent to Pony Area 51. Now, the blade laying on the table before him and its mates in the panic room were a new curiosity that he had no idea what he was meant to do with.

"She said that they wouldn't let her take them," he mused, taking a sip from his mug. "Are they alive or something?"

Jinx let out a soft mew, hopping onto his lap to get a better look at the dagger. He let out a faint grunt from the sudden weight, but still continued to study it. He cautiously poked at its handle, approaching the tool as if it was a sleeping cobra. From the way Princess Celestia talked about the daggers, he wasn't entirely sure what to expect from them. The only thing keeping him from disposing of them outright was the princess's reassurance that the power they housed were not malicious in nature or cursed. The fact that his grandmother supposedly used them to counter a curse was also a point in their favor.

So....how do I use them? I mean, I know a few tricks, but none of them involve using the daggers. Gods damn it, why didn't grandma write her spells down or something?! Hell, she could've at least left some instructions on how to use these damn things!

"Damn it all," he groaned, setting his mug down by the dagger. "Why did my life have to get so complicated?"

Jinx let out a small mew, sniffing near the dagger's handle.

He chuckled, scratching the cat behind the ears as he leaned back in his seat. A soft smile graced his lips, eyes drifting shut while he let the silence envelop him. If there was one thing he was grateful for, it was that his situation pulled him away from the city. The pure, natural silence eased his heart and settled his mind to levels that were rarely reached back on Earth. Even though this feeling was part of his new normal, he never grew tired of it and probably never would.

Just when his zen started to guide him into a nap, a loud series of desperate knocks at his door shattered the peace. Letting out a defeated sigh, he rose from his seat, forcing a growling Jinx off of his lap as he made his way towards the door. His irritation grew the closer he got to the door, whoever stood on the other side's knocking not once stopping sense it started. By the time he threw the door open, he was ready to verbally tear the visitor in half, only to lose said fire the second he saw the state of the people on his doorstep.

Twilight and Spike stood before him, both panting and bedraggled with looks of pure panic marring their faces. Both of them frantically cried, "Hide me," as they shot past him into the house proper. Thoroughly confused and worried, he closed the door and tried to find the frantic duo. Both of those feelings doubled in strength when he found them both hiding under his dining room table.

"Uh....what in the nine circles of hell is going on?" he asked, staring dumbly at the pair.

"Twilight got tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala and everypony wants them!" Spike cried.

"The Grand Galloping...what the heck is that?" Anon frowned, crossing his arms with a raised brow.

"A massive formal party Princess Celestia hosts every year," Twilight explained, horn aglow as she peeked out from under the table. "Tickets are hard to come by because of how expensive they are and how few the castle prints each year."

"Uh-huh," he nodded, his head quickly turning towards the windows when their curtains glowed with a matching aura to Twilight's magic and slid shut. "I fail to see how that led to you barging in here acting like the sky is falling."

"Well," Spike frowned, getting out from under the table. "The rest of the girls found out about them and are trying to talk her into giving them one."

"And?" he blinked. "Just give them a ticket and call it a day. Sounds like a pretty simple fix to me."

"She only got two tickets," the dragon sighed.

"Oh," he cringed. "That....does complicate things, a bit."

As if on cue, a series of cautious knocks came from the front door. Spike's face paled, a look of horror jumping onto his face just before he dove back under the table. Anon sighed, scratching the back of his head while he made his way towards the door.

This was looking to be another loud and annoying day.

***

Five mares sat at his dining room table, each looking sheepish under the stern gaze of their host. Twilight and Spike stood at Anon's sides, each looking tired, but relieved. Taking a seat at the head of the table, he met each of their eyes with a soul-piercing stare that made them flinch. After a few long minutes of silence, he let out a sigh and leaned back in his seat.

"Let me get this straight," Anon sighed, eyes closed as he massaged the bridge of his nose. "You all spent the whole day trying to bribe Twilight into giving you her spare ticket. Then, when she told you to give her some time to think about it, you all keep up the favors and cause the whole town to start hounding her for the ticket. Am I missing anything?"

"No," they all mumbled.

Another bought of awkward silence settled through the room.

After letting them stew for a few minutes, Anon tiredly asked, "Where do I even begin?"

Glowering at the girls, he continued with, "First off, did any of you consider the possibility that the extra ticket was supposed to go to Spike?"

All of their eyes widened at that, realization and guilt crossing their faces.

"Thought so," he sighed. "Putting that aside, did any of you think that pushing her was going to make the whole situation easier?"

"Um, I'm fine with giving up my ticket," Spike sheepishly cut in, raising a claw to get everyone's attention.

A hint of hopeful glee flashed across their faces, only for a harsh glare from Anon to remind them of their guilt.

"Seriously," he frowned. "We need to find a peaceful way to settle this."

The second those words left his mouth, the dagger on the table gave off a bright silver light. Before anyone could react, a bright flash of light and startled cries filled the room. Cursing under his breath, Anon tried to blink the stars out of his eyes and take stock of his guests. When he did, he was met with a sight that took him a moment to properly register.

Set in front of each of the mares was a colored deck box. A quick glance at Twilight and Spike showed them holding similar boxes, her's bright blue while Spikes was a brilliant purple. Both of them examined the containers with curiosity and a hint of worry. Fluttershy stared in wonder at her moss green box, not sure if it was okay for her to touch it. Pinkie sported a wide smile as she stared down at her grey one, practically vibrating in her seat with barely contained excitement. Applejack was a bit more cautious, frowning down at her white box with a raised brow. Rainbow stared wide-eyed at her red deck box, a conflicted frown gracing her lips as her gaze snapped back and forth between him and the item in question.

What....the hell?

"Hold on a second," he frowned, rising from his seat.

The mares watched him as he exited the dining room and headed down the hall towards his bedroom. He passed it and entered the room just next to it. With a flick of a switch, an ornate wooden chandelier made to resemble a cluster of ivy filled the room with an amber light. Said room was a massive square of polished oak walls and emerald marble floor tiles. The ceiling was made to look like it had black bark with green veins of moss running through it. Lining the walls were tall wooden shelves loaded with deck boxes, each standing roughly ten feet tall and loaded with over a hundred colored boxes. Five feet in front of them forming a tight U-shape were a series of bookshelves containing card catalog folders, each as thick as a dictionary and color coded in a way that would make the most neurotic of librarians want to marry him. Set right in the middle of the room stood a large round table, polished black with a base that looked like a large tree stump that was rooted to the ground. Four ornately sylvan looking chairs were tucked in around it, identical to the ones he made for the dining room.

He ignored all of this and quickly started to look through the shelves of deck boxes, specifically the ones dedicated to the colors his guests had. When he saw that none of them were missing, instead of feeling relieved, he felt confused.

"Did the dagger.....give them cards?" he mumbled. "Well, I guess this helps with our little problem here."

A sudden realization made him let out an annoyed groan.

"Now I'm going to have to teach them how to play."

With a tired sigh, he made his way out of the room. As he flicked off the light and closed the door behind him, he offered one silent prayer.

To whatever god decided to pull this shit, please let them have commander decks.

***

Fortunately for Anon, his prayer was answered. Seeing as he didn't have a dog in this race, he was prepared to have to give them a whole lecture on how to play the game and then take the role of referee. To his and their surprise, the former became completely unnecessary the second they touched their boxes. Another surprise for him was just what kind of decks each of them ended up with.

Rarity ran a mono black vampire deck with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose as her commander. Rainbow ran a mono red Krenko, Mob Boss deck. Fluttershy ran a mono green bear tribal deck led by Ayula, Queen Among Bears. Applejack ran a mono white angel deck with Giada, Font of Hope for a commander. Pinkie ran a, technically, colorless myr tribal deck led by Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch.

So, with their commanders revealed and hands drawn, the five mares battled it out for Twilight's spare ticket.

While clearly lacking in experience, Anon noted that they all played with a decent level of skill. If he hadn't known better, he would've thought that they had built and play-tested their decks beforehand. It didn't take long for one of them to start to pull ahead, but the who on that front was a bit shocking. While it took a few turns to get started and she took more than a few hits before hand, as soon as Fluttershy set up her board, she didn't waste any time going onto the offensive.

Rainbow went down first, her goblin forces too bashed up by a previously played board-wipe from Rarity to withstand the incoming barrage of Fluttershy's bear tokens. Rarity was next to fall, her life points run dry by one too many life-cost cards along with a battered board thanks to Applejack's angels and soldiers. Pinkie had a chance, up until Fluttershy played Bane of Progress and exterminated all of her creatures before going in for the kill with more bears. Applejack also took a heavy hit from Bane, the loss of her enchantments and artifacts wiping out most of her angelic army's support. Everypony watched with bated breath as the duo traded blows, Bears and beasts clashing with angels and soldiers in a brutal deadlock. It looked like it could go either way, but Anon knew that all it would take is for one of them to draw the right card to break through.

When he saw the smile on Fluttershy's face at the start of her turn, he knew it was all over.

"I tap three forests to play Bow of Nylea," she softly stated, doing just that.

"Bow of Nylea?" Applejack frowned, raising a brow at the card. "What the sam hill does that thing do?"

"A few things," she sheepishly smiled. "But I only need to use just one of its effects."

"And that is?" the farmer pressed.

"While it is on the board, all of my attacking creatures have....um.....deathtouch."

Applejack balked at that, quickly giving her friend's board a nervous look. In addition to the twenty bear tokens, Bane, and her commander, Fluttershy had a few generic 2/2 bears with no abilities as well as a massive 8/8 bear that she summoned the turn before. Running through the numbers in her head, she let out a relieved sigh. While it was going to cost her a few troops, she could drop the damage enough to mount a counter attack.

"Next," Fluttershy continued, "I tap three forest to cast Roar of Challenge."

When she set the card on the table, all of her cards gave off a faint green glow.

"What does that do?" Applejack frowned.

Fluttershy's smile turned a little impish.

"When I cast this, I have to choose one of my creatures. Until the end of this turn, all of the creatures you have that can block, have to block that creature."

"Well that's not good," she snorted.

"That's not all," Fluttershy continued. "Since I have a creature with four or more power, the creature I pick will have indestructible."

"All right, that's really not good," she gulped.

"The card I pick is my Copper Host Crusher," she happily cheered, pointing at the 8/8. "And then I attack with everyone!"

All of Fluttershy's cards tapped on their own. Applejack watched as a green glow surrounded her creature cards and tapped them, thin strings of silver light connecting them to the giant bear's card. Gulping, she tapped a plain and slapped a card onto her part of the table.

"Ah tap one plain to cast Path to Exile to exile Copper Host Crusher!"

"That has no effect," she calmly chuckled. "Copper Host has hexproof."

Applejack's jaw dropped when she saw the white glow from her instant fizzle out the second it tried to pass to Fluttershy's creature.

"And since he has trample, any excess damage he deals to blocking creatures are dealt to you as damage."

On cue, all of Applejack's token cards faded away while the rest of her creatures moved to the graveyard and command zones respectively. At the same time, strings of green light stretched out from Fluttershy's cards towards Applejack. When they connected, a fifteen made of white light appeared above her head for a few seconds before it turned into a zero and burst apart into a shower of silver sparkles.

Everyone, sans Anon, gaped at the yellow mare as she happily gathered her cards together. When she looked up from her part of the table, her smile turned sheepish under their gaze.

"That.....was........AWESOME!!!" Pinkie cheered.

"Yeah....," Rainbow smiled, crossing her arms. "Good job Shy. Didn't know you had it in ya',"

"Agreed," Rarity tittered behind a hand.

"Gotta say, Ah didn't see that comin'," Applejack chuckled. "Good game Shy."

As she said that, she offered her friend and opponent a hand shake, one that she meekly accepted. Not long afterwards, the dagger, now strapped to Anon's belt , let out a soft green glow. A second later, one of the tickets floated out of one of Twilight's pockets, the item wrapped in the same glow. It came to a sudden stop in front of a still seated Fluttershy, the mare in question staring at the prize with longing and wonder. She cautiously took the ticket, the green light drifting off of it like glowing mist the second she had a proper grip on it.

Anon let out a relieved sigh, glad that the presumed issue was resolved. That changed when he noted the hesitation on Fluttershy's face. Slowly, her gaze washed over her other friends, her smile wilting with each face caught in her gaze. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she turned to face Twilight. With a determined frown, she handed the ticket to Twilight.

"I....I don't want it."

"WHAT?!" everyone, Anon included exclaimed.

"W-Why?" Twilight sputtered.

"Because..." taking a sad breath, Fluttershy continued. "Going without my friends is too scary."

Anon blinked at that, then sighed with an understanding smile. Going to a party full of total strangers and stuffy shirts? Forget that noise. Just the thought of putting up with any of that was suffocating. For someone as anxious as Fluttershy, that would be total hell. Sure, the whole reason she wanted to go was to spend time in the royal gardens, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be a few nobles that wanted to do the same. Plus, sometimes, it isn't as much fun to go places alone.

"Ah have ta' agree with Shy," Applejack chuckled ruefully. "Even if Ah sell a bunch of goods at the Gala, it won't be as much fun without ya'll bein' there."

"I....feel the same," Rarity sighed reluctantly."No point in finding my prince charming if I can't show him off to my friends."

All of the mares rolled their eyes at that, but a faint flicker of pain on Spike's face caught Anon's eye. Shelving that for later, he continued to watch his guests have their moment.

Rainbow looked at the ticket in her friend's hand with deep longing, before letting out a frustrated cry and slumping back in her seat with a cross-armed pout.

"Fine! As cool as it would be to show the Wonderbolts how awesome I am, I'd hate to leave any of you girl's out."

Giving her knowing smirks, they watched with a small hint of reluctance as Twilight took the ticket back.

"Thank you Fluttershy," she smiled. "And you know what? I'm not going either."

"Huh?" everyone gaped.

Nodding she handed Spike the ticket

"Spike, take a letter," she said, straightening her posture.

Nodding, he pulled a notepad and pencil from his pocket.

"Dear Princess Celestia, as flattered as I am to receive these tickets, I fear that I must decline. No matter who I choose to take with me to the event, both of us would feel bad that the others would be missing out. That wouldn't be fun for anypony and so, I return these to you. Your student, Twilight Sparkle."

With a nod from Twilight, Spike blew a small stream of green fire onto the note and tickets. Before Anon could panic, the remains drifted away from the group as a glittering cloud of lavender smoke out the window. Blinking dumbly at that for a moment, Anon shook it off and gave the group a tired frown.

"Alight, now that you all aren't trying to kill each other anymore, take your cards and please head ou-

A loud fiery belch from the dragon made him jump. The second the flames dissipated, two scrolls and nine tickets faded into existence. Caught in a golden aura, the tickets floated to everyone, Spike and Anon included. One of the scrolls did the same to Twilight while the other went to Fluttershy. Curious, both mares opened their letters.

"Dear Twilight, I am sorry that you only received two tickets. That was an unfortunate result of a miscommunication on my part. Please forgive me for this mistake and I hope you and your friends enjoy your time at the Grand Galloping Gala. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."

Cheers filled the air, each of the mares handling their tickets as if they were sacred treasures. Spike just shrugged and slipped his into his pocket while Anon grimaced at his. Letting out a reluctant sigh, he already started to think of ways to decline the invitation as he carefully pocketed it. Those thoughts got pushed to the back of his mind when he sent a passing glance at Fluttershy.

The mare's eyes were wide, a blush slowly growing on her face the longer she stared at her open scroll. By the time anyone else noticed, the blush had already reached her ears.

"Um, are you okay?" Spike asked, poking the mare.

"YES!" Fluttershy squeaked, jumping to her feet.

"Uh....are you sure?" Anon asked, taken aback.

The second Fluttershy's eyes fell on him, her blush spread down to her neck.

"YES! I'M FINE! TOTALLY FINE!"

Before he could comment further, the mare mechanically pocketed the scroll, gathered up her cards, and made her way towards the door.

"Wh- Shy? Where are you going?" Rainbow asked, turning in her seat to watch the mare .

"I NEED TO WATER MY PETS AND FEED MY FLOWERS!" she cried.

Before anyone could process or respond to that, the mare had already left. An awkward silence filled the air, everyone struggling to make any kind of sense of what happened. Eventually, Anon gathered enough of his scattered wits to break it, but he doubted anyone would be able to solve the riddle he summoned to do so.

"What.....the fuck was that about?"

Comments

[Orderly Disassembly]

[/ion that front ]

]

little bit of code jumble here caused a good chunk of the chapter to become italicized.

Overall, the chapter was ok. Not too much a fan of MTG myself, came here because the philosophy stuff was interesting and I was curious as to how it would develop. I kinda thought the cards would become a conduit for the MC's form of magic if they ended up doing anything at all, but I guess this works to.

Hope to see more soon.

[Joe Toon]

... I have no idea what just happened with the knife, how it produced those cards or why it gave each of them their respective colour, but , more Magic the Gathering!!

[GoldenHeartofMorioh]

Oh hell yeah. Kinda wish we weren't given a synopsis of the game by that was still awsome. And it's cool to finally see the knifes magic. Kinda reminded me of xiaolin showdown tbh. That would actually make a good name for it actually either show down or game master. Can't wait to see more.

[Emkozul]

I like how you added in MTG Arena type stuff to the chapter. Very clever. Can't wait for the next chapter! Also you should have Anon explain the game to Celestia and have her come up with a way for it to be mass produced 🤣🤣

[DaBestAuthorEver]

Idk if you’re ever coming back to this, but it was a fun read while it lasted.

[Arcanum -Phantasy]

11888442
I do intend to keep this going. I'm just giving some attention to another story and dealing with some irl stuff at the moment.

[DaBestAuthorEver]

11888904
Take the time you need! Good luck with whatever you’re up to.

[Arcanum -Phantasy]

11889009
Thanks