“Hey, Mountain, isn’t that that card game you play?”
Mountain Pass’ mouth dropped to the table. It had been a normal morning. A peaceful morning. He had been eating cereals while his father read the daily newspaper.
But everything changed as his father turned the newspaper toward him, pointing to a big, bold-lettered headline.
Princess Luna to personally preside over the new Elements of Harmony expansion’s debut tournament in Ponyville.
Mountain Pass snatched the newspaper and read the article multiple times, heart beating. Princess Luna, presiding over a tournament in Ponyville? He pinched himself and let out a small yelp of pain. He wasn’t dreaming.
The Princess offered an autographed copy of the flagship card of the expansion, Nightmare Moon: Darkness Unleashed, to anyone who could beat her in a fair duel, breaking her 300 win streak.
Mountain Pass had to wipe drool from his lips as he saw the new card. With five power and three defence for the low low cost of five Moon mana, Nightmare Moon: Darkness Unleashed destroyed every Sun artifact in play and dealt damage equal to their cost to the opponent. He grinned. An obvious tech card to the Sun Artifact dominance that had plagued the game for months. Finally.
And it would fit perfectly in his Moon Bat-themed deck.
He needed that card.
“Mountain?” His father rose an eyebrow. “It’s just a game.”
“Yeah, dad.” Mountain Pass didn’t listen. The tournament was… “Tomorrow?!”
His mother shushed at him from the kitchen, and his father frowned at him. Alright, no panic here. He had a day to get prepared. No biggie. That was a standard tournament. He just needed to beat everyone who would show up without losing three times himself, and he would be golden. Then, he just had to beat Luna.
Everyone would show up with the best decks, or the counters to those decks, of course. Sun Artifact vs Rainbow Token. One would try to take down its opponent in one, superpowered blow backed by all the might of Celestia’s arsenal of artifacts. The other would try to overwhelm its foe with the mighty Pegasus army, creating dozens and hundreds of expandable creatures to chip away at the Alicorn’s fortress. A dynamic that had been the driving force behind every tournament since the last expansion.
Mountain Pass had won every single one of his games since he had discovered his secret weapon: a versatile, Bat themed deck that could build up enough defences to endure a single blow from a Sun Artifact deck, and could muster enough firepower to keep the Rainbow Token legions at bay while he searched for Commander Crescent and her loyal companions, Sergeant Serene and Lieutenant Lake to unleash an unstoppable combo on his opponent. His only weakness: any deck that contained any card to stop him from calling a single piece of the Bat Leadership annihilated him.
He grinned. Out of the five types of deck: Sun, Moon, Rainbow, Magic, and Earth, the only type who played these types of cards with any degree of success was Magic. Magic, which was completely defenceless in the current era of the game, and barely saw any play at all.
“I’m off!” He trotted to the door and grabbed his bag. “See ya mom and dad!”
His father nodded and flipped a page of his newspaper.
Mountain Pass ran in the streets of Ponyville, narrowly avoiding colliding face first into several other ponies. He took a left just before Sugarcube Corner and into a lightly shaded alley between two houses. A few paces later, he knocked at a wooden door set in the wall.
“Untap?” Came a high pitched voice from behind the door.
“Upkeep.”
“Draw.”
With the sound of a latch being undone, the door creaked open, and Mountain Pass walked into the secret Ponyville Elements Club. Behind the door, a few bright lamps shone on the walls, casting light on two rectangular wooden tables either side of the room and on a blackboard near the centre. In the centre of the room, five cushions sat in a circle, three other foals already seated on them. Button Mash, a brown coated, oranged maned colt, barely lifted his eyes off his Gamecolt even as Card Flip, a white coated and yellow maned unicorn filly announced Mountain Pass’ presence. The other two seated on the cushions, however, beamed at him and rushed to meet him.
“Did you see the newspaper?” Blue Drift, a navy Earth Pony with a flowing white mane shoved said newspaper in his face.
“Princess Luna will preside herself!” Scootaloo, an orange Pegasus filly with a purple mane giggled excitedly. “This is so cool!”
“Oh, hi Scoots." Mountain Pass considered her and narrowed his eyes. It was way too early for her to be out. "Did you sneak out of the orphanage again or…”
“Nah, they let me go.” She shrugged. “They’re used to me always sneaking out anyway, so I think they stopped caring.”
The fillies pulled him into the circle, where he took place beside Button Mash, who grunted a ‘hello’ with a small nod, too absorbed in his game to pay any more attention to him. Mountain Pass craned his neck to look at his console. On it, the heroes of The Firebrand Emblem fought against an army of Dragons and Manticores. Mountain Pass raised an eyebrow and slightly hoofed toward Button Mash. The others in the room gave him shrugs and little shakes of the head. The message was clear: whatever Button Mash was doing, he wouldn’t accept being bothered. Scootaloo pulled one of the tables to the centre of the room and slammed her hooves on it.
“For today’s meeting,” Scootaloo said with a grin, “we’re going to prepare for the tournament.”
The others nodded with enthusiasm, except for Button Mash.
“As you probably all know, this is going to be Ponyville’s very first Elements of Harmony tournament.” Her wings buzzed in excitement. “And this might be our biggest chance to propel this club out of secrecy and into the mainstream.” Her eyes glittered as she traced an imaginary line in the air. “I can see it now: the Ponyville Elements’ Club, world champions!”
“The best of Equestria will certainly be there,” Blue Drift said. “I like the idea of winning that tournament, but do we really have what it takes?”
Scootaloo smiled a smug smile. “Of course!”
She picked up a chalk and walked to the blackboard. “Our goal is only to get one of us to the top to beat Luna. Then, we’ll make national headlines.”
She drew a quick diagram. Five pony heads representing each of them, each with three marks underneath them. “This will be a brawl tournament. That means we each get three chances, and the last pony standing gets to face Luna in a standard match.”
“So no sideboard?” Card Flip sighed. Understandably. Standard matches were played in best of threes, and allowed players to make changes to their decks between battles. Card Flip prided herself on the versatility of her decks, which would usually lose the first round but win the other two high hooved. Single matches would assure she would be out of the game before she even knew it.
Scootaloo grinned. “No sidebar, but I have a plan.”
With a few strokes, Scootaloo added a bunch of circles above their faces of the chalkboard. Two line went from Button Mash and her head head into the crowd. “Button has a Sun Artifact deck. I have a Rainbow Token deck. We have about a 50% chance of winning any one game. You two, Card and Blue, have decks that are easily beaten without proper support.”
Card Flip and Blue Drift looked at each other with a quizzical expression.
“So,” Scootaloo continued, “Button and I will be the vanguard, and will try and scout for opponents that would be weak to either of your deck.”
“But we’ll still lose in the end,” Blue Drift said. “Even if we score a few games, we’ll run out of opponents we can beat.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yes, but here’s the thing: as long as you take care of the weaker players, the stronger ones will be pitted against each others, which will remove a couple of big players from the tournaments. As long as we keep at it, only Button and I will have to face the troublesome decks.”
“What about me?” Mountain pass raised a hoof, and the others looked at him.
Scootaloo’s mouth stretched in a sly smile. “You, Mountain, will make your games last as long as you can and focus on the games around you. You’ll report to me when you spot troublesome players, and when you spot those who will go easy on Card and Blue. You’re the only here who can afford it, since you have Hour of the Nightmare in your deck.”
Hour of the Nightmare was one of the five Hour cards, the ultimate weapons of their respective types. That particular one allowed him to summon three creatures from his deck instantly. Sergeant Serene, Lieutenant Lake, and Commander Crescent had such great synergy together that playing that card always meant victory. It’s very high cost — ten Moon mana — meant that his deck had been built around stealing as much life from his opponent as possible to stall the game long enough for him to generate enough mana. However, he had built it in such a way that even if there was a chance that Hour of the Nightmare was countered somehow, he could drop that tactic and focus on winning the battle of attrition. Scootaloo’s plan made perfect sense. He could scout easily and…
“Um, Scoots? If my deck is good enough to hold against anyone in the tournament, shouldn’t that mean that we should focus more on getting me to Luna instead?”
Scootaloo shook her head. “Greedy, Mountain. I would have agreed with you if not for one simple thing: Luna plays a Magic deck.”
He frowned. He had heard rumours, but hadn’t assumed they had been true. “How?”
She shrugged. “No one really knows. She wins every single one of her games with one of the weakest decks around, and she absolutely annihilates everyone too. I know your deck doesn’t match up well against those, but…”
She pointed at Blue Drift. “Her Earth deck has multiple protections against Magic’s removals. If someone can win this thing, it’s Blue.”
“I don’t know,” Blue Drift said, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment. “I lost last tournament.”
“And won every other one. As long as we stick to the plan, everything will be fine.”
Mountain nodded. Maybe he couldn’t face Luna, but at least he would get his club to win that tournament. If only his deck had some way to deal with Magic.
There was a way, of course, but it wasn’t something he could even consider. The legendary artifact card Starlight Watch could negate a single Magic effect at any time and was irremovable. Only a few had ever been printed, but despite their scarcity, the mere presence of such a card had helped push Magic out of the spotlight. Of course, he couldn’t find one, and if he could, it would cost him probably several thousand bits he didn’t have.
“Until them, want to play a game?”
Scootaloo had her deck out and a grin on her face. He gave her his most confident look. “Bring it on.”
The board was set with their deck next to them. The foals took out two small figurines and set them before them. Two holographic forts rose on either side of the table. On Mountain Pass’ side, Princess Luna looked over the battlefield with a serene expression on top of a twisting tower. On Scootaloo’s, Rainbow Dash, the captain of the Wonderbolts, Element of Harmony, and Scootaloo’s idol, stood with a smirk on a flying fortress. A floating ‘20’ appeared next to each leader. The foals rolled a dice, and Scootaloo got the highest number. She would start.
She drew ten cards and considered them for a moment before replacing four of them in her deck and shuffling it. She played a card on which a beautiful rendering of Cloudsdale was drawn. “Cloud.” She turned it on its side — tapping it. A small rainbow appeared over the card, indicating she had one Rainbow mana to spend. The simple land card was the base of their casting abilities, although they could only play one per turn. A player could tap into the power of those lands to play their spells, which she did by slamming a card on which an armoured Pegasus held a lance. A transparent image of the Pegasus floated above the card, lightly bobbing up and down. “Pegasus Vanguard. Pass.”
The Pegasus’ stats were displayed underneath it. 1/2. One power. Two defence. A card made to stop a possible attack from a creature with a single power early in the game. A standard opening.
He drew his own ten cards, put back the four he didn’t want — either because they were too costy or didn’t fit in his opening strategy — and shuffled his deck.
“Shrine,” Mountain Pass called, plopping a card featuring an elegant statue on the table. A small moon floated over it. “Pass.”
Scootaloo smiled and nodded. She straightened her cards and drew from her deck. “Cloud.” She plopped another rainbow making card on the table and tapped them both. She played another card. “Weather Factory.”
The image of Cloudsdale’s famous weather factory appeared above the card, and a small pegasus wearing a worker’s uniform joined the side of the Pegasus Vanguard. Its stats were displayed: 1/1. A simple token created by another card. The Factory itself could be tapped for an extra mana. “I attack you with Pegasus Vanguard.”
The Pegasus Vanguard struck Luna’s magic shield, and Mountain Pass’ life counter dropped from 20 to 19. The Pegasus Vanguard returned to Scootaloo’s side of the battlefield and dropped to its knees, waiting for her next turn to start. After attacking with a creature, it had to recharge until its owner’s next turn.
Mountain pass frowned and played another shrine, turning both on their side. He showed Scootaloo a card on which Luna cast dark tendrils on multiple ponies around her. “Mind Scry.”
Tendrils shot from the card and ripped Scootaloo’s own cards from her hand, revealing them to Mountain Pass. He could choose one of them and put it on the bottom of her deck if he wanted to. However, seeing the perfect hand she had, he sighed, and tipped his Luna figurine over. “I concede.”
The tower crumbled and Luna fell with it. He swiped her cards off the table and shook Scootaloo’s hoof. She had been especially lucky, and he unlucky. Of course, he had Bulwark of the Deep, which negated any damage he would take for one turn, but she would just roll over him the next turn.
“Hard to beat either a turn four Skyfortress or Skysworn Rally, eh?” Scootaloo said with a smirk. The first card would summon a Pegasus token every turn, and the second would simply summon three at once for a single use. In any case, Scootaloo could easily capitalize on the net advantage that would offer her and beat him two or three turns later. He could have countered it, that is, if he didn’t only have Shrines in his hand, and no way to spend the mana they offered. “At least it wasn’t a turn three Sonic Rainboom.”
“Second round?”
She grinned and cracked her neck. “You’re on.”
“What do you mean Button Mash can’t come?!”
Mountain Pass had to wait until Scootaloo stopped shaking him by the shoulders like a ragdoll before answering. “I don’t know! He just sent me a message on Harmony telling me he couldn’t make it today!”
Scootaloo snatched Mountain Pass’ iPone and angrily typed — more smashed than typed to be honest — a message to the tardy colt. They were in front of the tournament’s area in the middle of town. Great banners had been raised in honour of Luna and the 3rd anniversary of the game. Hundreds of foreign ponies of all shapes and sizes had arrived with their decks and taken place at various tables strewn across the area. Scootaloo kept throwing anxious glances at them, her right back hoof tapping the ground while she waited for Button Mash’s reply.
“What?!”
“What?” Mountain Pass gingerly poked his head around her hooves to take a look at the screen.
Sorry, but there’s a video game convention in Manhattan and Firebrand’s Emblem’s creator will be there. There’s no way I can miss it.
Mountain Pass cringed as Scootaloo tightened her grip around the screen of his phone. “Uh, Scoots?”
“That—” she snorted. “That bastard!”
He recoiled at her words. “Wow, language!”
“I— I’m sorry, it’s just—” she had to sit on her haunches and take a deep breath to calm herself. “This was our big chance to make ourselves known. And he blew it for all of us.”
Granted, what Button Mash had done was pretty douchey. “We’ll find a way to—”
“There is no way, Mountain!” Scootaloo grasped at her own face, panic taking over. “He was our main way to victory with his Sun Artifact deck. Without him, I— I don’t know what we can do!”
Mountain Pass thought and looked around. Card Flip fumed silently, as was her habit, and Blue Drift looked almost embarrassed.
“I’ll do it.”
Scootaloo looked at him with wide eyes. “What?”
“I’ll take his place. You said it yourself, my deck can take it slow and beat almost anyone as long as they don’t get too lucky.”
“Yeah, but, I mean— argh! Damn him to Tartarus!”
“So, that’s a yes?”
She sighed and gave a short nod. “Don’t forget that your main goal is to stall and spot people for Blue Drift and Card Flip to take on.”
“I can manage.”
She glanced at the crowd again. Those were all serious players, far from the others players in Ponyville, who mostly played casually. She snapped toward them, her face suddenly confident. “All right, everypony!” She stomped a hoof on the ground. “Today, we win. We might get out of this bruised and broken, but by Celestia, we will win this!”
“Really?” Card Flip grinned. “You stole Rainbow Dash’s speech?”
“Shut up.” There was a hint of a blush on Scootaloo’s face as she turned away from them. Sometimes, Mountain Pass doubted she would have started to play if her idol and almost sister hadn’t been in the game. She was shaking slightly, probably out of anger for Button Mash. Despite her outward confidence, she did get swept up easily in her own emotions.
“The game will start soon!” A tall white unicorn stallion announced. “Everypony, please get to your seat.”
“Good luck, everpony,” Blue Drift said.
Card Flip chuckled. “Won’t need it. Scoots, Mountain, we’re counting on you.”
Scootaloo and Mountain flashed a smile, and the four foals bumped hooves. “Luck is for chumps. We have skills. To victory!”
Before they went to their tables, Scootaloo caught Blue Drift by the shoulder. “Oh, Blue, before I forget. Try to make your games last long and build up your defences. We just need to keep you under three losses. Don’t overextend like last time.”
The navy Unicorn nodded. “Don’t worry, Scoots.”
Mountain Pass turned away from the fillies and took place at his seat, a far way from the rest of his team. Before him, a serious looking Earth Pony took out his deck and set it on the table.
“Hi! I’m Mountain Pass!” The foal extended his hand to shake, but the stallion ignored him. A spike of irritation shot through him. His opponent could at least acknowledge him.
The stallion plopped a Rainbow Dash figurine on the table, summoning her fortress. Mountain Pass’ Luna followed suit. If that guy wanted to give him the silent treatment, he would make sure his defeat would be a slow and unforgiving one. They rolled dice, and Mountain Pass rolled higher. He drew his ten cards. He had the perfect hoof to defeat him in about 4 turns, and at maximum 7. He calculated his odds, discarded them, and redrew a new hoof minus one card. He smirked. Life drain, big defences. He would win a battle of attrition of several dozen turns.
For his opponent, the match had probably been the most gruelling and boring experience of his entire life. The stallion had an elbow on the table, his head resting on his hoof, sighing as Mountain Pass stole back the life he had lost and stopped his Pegasus army from attacking.
For Mountain Pass, however, it was an entirely different game. Barely keeping an eye on what was going on at the table, he scanned the battlefield around him in search of the weaker opponents he could find. As his own battle continued, more ended around him, replaced by other competitors. None of them seemed viable for Blue Drift or Card Flip. They had all strong decks, and their turns lasted for minutes on ends sometimes, probably gauging their opponent’s next move and calculating which cards had the best chance to end the game as quickly as possible. He winced when he saw a Unicorn mare destroy a stallion’s Cloudsdale with a heavily armoured and armed Earth Pony on her third turn. The Sun Artifact decks were so fast these days.
His heart skipped a beat, and he glanced to where they were seated. Blue Drift was fighting the same opponent, keeping him busy with magical barriers and other Magic shenanigans. Card Flip was nowhere to be found. She had probably moved to another table.
“I said I concede, kid.”
Mountain Pass started. The stallion had picked up his cards and was huffing, a little red x floating above Rainbow Dash, indicating he had lost his match. Mountain Pass nodded and took off with his own deck toward Scootaloo.
“Bad news,” he said as he reached the Pegasus filly who had just finished slamming her hundred strong army into her opponent’s Celestia’s castle and was now shaking his hoof. “I don’t think I can find anyone who could have any chance of being defeated by Card or Blue.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Scootaloo replied with a grunt, her deck all but vanishing with how deftly she replaced it in its box. “Strong competition.”
“Contenders!” The announcer’s voice sounded through the square, magically amplified. “Prepare to face your next opponent!”
Mountain Pass and Scootaloo gave each other a subtle hoofbump and went their separate ways again.
He had trouble focusing at all on the game. He went through the motions, trapping his opponent’s Sun Artifact deck behind a wall of Scarecrows that prevented his opponent from hitting him. All the while, he had only eyes for the crowd, but if there had been anyone with a deck bad enough to lose to the only ones who could take on Luna directly, they had hidden themselves perfectly.
“Good game, kid.”
“Next game, contenders!”
“You sure know how to hold them back eh? Are you even listening?”
“Next game!”
“Easy game, Mountain. You shouldn’t be playing a Moon deck in this meta.”
Still nothing. It was so boring. There were only the same few decks repeated over and over, like he was trudging through a swamp.
“Next!”
“I spent four thousand bucks on that deck!”
“Next game!” The announcer sounded fired up. His mane was practically sticking to his neck. Mountain Pass felt the same, his losses totalling to two now. The rounds were almost over. Tartarus, the game was almost over. He never thought he’d ever think that, but he couldn’t wait to get back home.
“Mountain Pass?”
Blue Drift was looking at him.
“Blue?” He set his hand on the table, ignoring his opponent’s impatient sigh. “What’s wrong?”
She hesitated, and pulled her Big Macintosh figurine from her bag. The farm pony looked downtrodden, mane drenched by a small raincloud floating over his head. Three little Xs marked Blue Drift’s three strikes.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
Everything seemed to crumble around him. His match, their efforts, the announcer yelling into his megaphone, nothing mattered anymore. They had blown their only chance at winning.
All because he hadn’t been able to find a good opponent for Blue Drift in time.
“I’m sorry,” Mountain Pass whispered at the downtrodden filly. “Since when?”
“Like, twenty minutes or so.” She sighed and kicked a pebble. It barely rolled to his chair. “It’s not your fault. I know I was supposed to make my games last, but I always thought I could catch my opponents unaware, and…”
“You got cocky?”
She nodded. “Well, I’ll just get out of here before she catches me.”
“Before who catches you?” A frigid voice spoke behind them.
Blue Drift froze and slowly turned her head to the voice.
Behind the Unicorn, a flaming Pegasus snorted, her small wings aflutter with rage. “Why does it sound like you were about to run away like Card Flip, Blue Drift?”
Blue Drift let out a small yelp. “I— I thought I’d go cool off and meet you after— “
Scootaloo advanced toward the Unicorn with heavy steps until their noses were touching. Even though she was almost a head taller than the smaller Pegasus, Blue Drift backed away, tripping over herself and landing on her haunches.
“What. Were. You. Supposed. To. Do?!” Scootaloo buzzed several inches above the ground, ramming into Blue Drift with each word.
“Keep my games long until Mountain Pass found me opponents I could beat,” she mumbled. “But— “
“And what did you do instead?”
Blue Drift looked to the side, to Mountain Pass, who caught her gaze with a sorry look. “I overextended.”
“Augh!” Scootaloo fell to the ground with a thud. Her head hung low. “Now we have no chance of beating Luna!”
“Scoots, it’s not her fault,” Mountain Pass said. “She— “
Scootaloo zipped to him and booped him hard on the chest. “It is her fault. I warned her and she still decided to try and kick her clouds before they were black.”
“Uh…” He remembered her using that once, but he was too busy playing his cards to remember.
“Pegasus expression.” She fell back to the ground and snorted. “Well, I’ll try to do it myself then.”
“Do what?”
“Beat Luna, dumbass.” She chuckled as his nose scrunched at her swearing. “I’m confident enough in myself to maybe have a shot.”
“Scoots, she plays Eldritch Vortex and Entanglement, both of which completely nullify your strategy!”
“I—” She stomped her hoof. “I’ll get lucky!”
Mountain Pass played Hour of the Nightmare, and his opponent conceded. “Yeah, what did you say back then? Luck is for chumps?”
“This is different!”
“I don’t think it is.” He crossed his forelegs over his chest. “I think you’re a great leader, Scoots, but you lose your nerves too easily.”
“I don’t have time to stay calm!” She was almost yelling, her wings flapping erratically. “This is our biggest chance to make ourselves really known and she blew it! Now, the only thing we can do is hope I get the most amazing starting hand to win this.”
“I think you should let me go against her.”
Silence hung in the air. Scootaloo looked at him, taken aback. “What?”
“This is the final round.” He gestured to the now empty tables around him. “You and I are the only ones left. Just concede, and I should be able to beat her if I handle my stuff correctly.”
Her wings twitched, the slightest movement to break her frozen state. “You lost to me.”
“I usually win. Listen, Scootaloo, I don’t want to argue. I just want to finish this and go home. This isn’t— this just isn’t fun!”
Scootaloo stared at him with dagger eyes. She stepped around the table, bumping into the Earth Pony that had just finished packing up his deck, and took place on the chair. She pulled out her Rainbow Dash figurine and slammed it on the table. Her rainbow fortress sprung to life, and her life counter set itself to twenty.
“Scoots…”
“Turn four Rainboom.” She shuffled her deck and threw the dice.
He rolled his own dice. She started. “All right.”
She drew her cards and put four back into her deck without even looking at them. “All luck.”
“Scootaloo, you should really— “
She slammed a Cloud on the field. “Cloud. Turn.”
He drew his cards and winced. All Shrines. Damn his rotten luck. He placed one on the field. “Turn. Scoots—”
The Pegasus ripped a card from her deck, tapped her Cloud, and slammed an amulet on the board. “Storm Pendant.” Two extra mana appeared above the pendant as she tapped it, although a lightning bolt shot from the pendant and dealt three damage to her. “Pegasus Vanguard.”
Two Pegasus Vanguard rose from the table, cracking their necks and getting ready to strike. “Turn.”
He placed another Shrine on the board and his own Lunar Pendant, with effects mimicking those of the Storm Pendant. He gladly took the three damage. “Moonguard. Turn.”
Bat Ponies carrying shields rose from the table and positioned themselves defensively.
Scootaloo huffed. “Rainbow Factory. Pegasus Knight. Turn.”
The Factory let out a cloud and a heavily armed pegasus joined the fray accompanied by the Factory’s smaller token.
Mountain Pass drew, and his eyes narrowed on the card. “All right.”
Scootaloo tapped her hoof impatiently against the table. “So?”
He dropped the Shrine on the table. “Turn.”
Scootaloo drew without even looking at her card and smirked. She tapped out and slammed a card on the table. “Sonic Rainboom!”
Rainbow Dash stretched her wings and took flight. She rose higher and higher before diving down to the table. A high-pitched whine filled the air, and an explosion of colours burst as the Rainboom struck the board. In the aftermath of the destruction, Scootaloo grinned triumphantly. “I win! I told you I’d win!”
Behind her, Blue Drift sat on a bench, looking downtrodden. She fiddled with her hooves, looking down on the ground.
Mountain Pass scooped his cards off the table. He rose from his chair, and the metal legs ground against the floor with a screech. “I really wanted to test my deck against her, you know.”
Scootaloo blinked. “But—”
“This is supposed to be a fun game,” Mountain Pass said. “I’m not here to get yelled at and bossed around. Neither is Blue Drift.”
“I—”
He turned and went past her. There was a pit in his stomach. All the anger, all the boredom, all the impoliteness he had been subjected to, everything was coming home to roost. He bit down on his words, and trotted away silently.
He took place on a bench next to Blue Drift, who squirmed a bit as he plopped down. Scootaloo looked at them, wide-eyed.
“And for the grand finale!” The announcer rolled his Rs and pointed at Scootaloo. Spotlights shone at her. “Please welcome Princess Luna!”
Scootaloo stood in silence while the Princess made her way to the arena. Despite his anger, Mountain Pass couldn’t help but stare at her. The ethereal midnight-blue beauty made her way down the beaten path like it was a red carpet, head held high, her veil-like mane flowing in a wind that wasn’t there.
The alicorn stopped in front of Scootaloo and frowned, and the audience held their collective breath. Luna cocked her head to the side, like she was judging the foal below her.
“Little Scootaloo!” In an instant, her entire demeanour changed. She straightened like she was about the bounce, and her wings fluttered in excitement. A wide grin illuminated her face. “Why, I didn’t know you played this game!”
Scootaloo opened and closed her mouth a few time, struggling for words.
“I have to admit I didn’t think I would ever see you again.” She reached a wing under Scootaloo’s chin and lifted it gently. “After that incident in the forest, you grew so brave, I barely could detect your dreams. You greatly impressed me. You acquired such self-control and poise.”
Scootaloo’s ears went flat on her head. “You think so?” Her voice wasn’t proud or accepting. Rather, the words had come out meek and hesitant.
Luna nodded. “Wouldn’t you say so yourself?”
There was a long lull in the air, like the world itself had stopped breathing. Scootaloo stood under Luna’s gentle gaze, choking on her words. “I— I—”
“Yes?” Luna tilted her head. “Is something wrong?”
Scootaloo took a deep breath. “It’s not true.”
“What do you mean?”
The Pegasus turned to the benches. Mountain Pass caught her gaze and started. Tears flowed down her cheeks.
“It’s not true.” Her voice was wet with regret. “I spent all day yelling at my friends and pushing them to do things they didn’t want. I entered the tournament with them because I wanted us to do something serious with this game, but…”
She kicked off toward them and tackled them off the benches. “I’m so sorry!”
“Scoots, you’re suffocating me!”
Ponies shuffled uncomfortably around them. Luna’s regal laughter sounded, followed by the sound of hoofsteps. “My, my, little one. It seems you have learned a valuable lesson today.”
Scootaloo got off her friends with a blush. “I think so.”
The Princess lowered her head closer to them. “Now, how about a game?”
Scootaloo rose her head and met her gaze. The stare between the two ponies lingered for a while before the Pegasus lowered her eyes to the ground. “I wouldn’t have beaten you anyway.”
“But this tournament requires one last finale,” she said with a grin.
Scootaloo nudged Mountain Pass. He started up and stepped forward. “Can— Can I play against you in her place, your— your Highness?”
Luna chuckled. “Just Luna, please. And I would love to play against you.”
In the end, it was the only good part of the tournament. Even though his defeat came swift, Luna wielding her cards with astonishing ease — she was part of the design team after all — the three rounds they played against one another more than made up for the rest of the day.
“Once again, Princess Luna stands victorious!”
Both ponies shook hooves with a grin and waved at the crowd. Everything had gone by so fast, the world seemed to be spinning around them. He had met a Princess — his favourite princess — and played against her in his favourite game. He couldn’t have asked for more.
And, finally, he took the way back home.
“You know, I’m really sorry for what I said and did back then.” Scootaloo still looked down at the ground, ashamed. “I was such a bad friend.”
They nodded and shrugged. “Stuff happens,” Blue Drift said.
“And you never got that card you wanted either, Mountain,” the Pegasus continued. “And—”
“I don’t care, I played against Luna.” He tried to keep an even tone, but he knew he sounded like an excited schoolfilly.
They split up near Sugarcube corner and made their ways back to their respective home. He always felt a pang at his heart when he saw Scootaloo turn to the Ponyville Orphanage.
“Scoots!”
She stopped and turned to him, head tilted.
“Why don’t you stay at my place tonight?”
She beamed. “Really?”
“Ye—”
The orange bolt tackled him to the ground yet again. They got up, laughing, and dusted themselves before heading to Mountain Pass’ home. They crossed the threshold with a quick “hey” to Mountain Pass’ parents before heading to the colt’s room.
In a blink of an eye, they had placed down their placemats and gotten our their decks.
“This time,” Mountain Pass said with a smirk, “I’ll beat you.”
Scootaloo shot him back her own smirk and rolled the dice. She began. “Cloud. Turn.”
He drew a hand, and froze. In between his hooves were nine Shrines. Nestled between two of them, the face of a terrifying Nightmare-twisted Alicorn stared back at him. In the corner of the card were written five words.
Thanks for the game.
— Luna
