"Another Strionic Resonator," Lyra said unhappily, dropping the final bunch of cards down on the table with all the others. "That's so useless... What did you get?"

"Hold on," Bon Bon said. "Okay, I got, oh wow..." She looked at the cards she had just extracted from the plastic wrapper. "That one's shiny..."

"Are you kidding me?!" Lyra glanced over Bon Bon's shoulder. "Two mythics in the same booster?!"

"What's that now?"

"Look," Lyra pointed at a little mark on the card, beneath the artwork. "The set mark is a burning reddish orange-y color. That means it's a mythic rare card, they're the rarest and most powerful cards in the game. I bought like thirty boosters without getting one, and you got two of them at once."

"One of them is all shiny too," Bon Bon said happily as Lyra twisted and groaned, angrily running her hooves over her head and the back of her neck. Bon Bon frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Stupid hooves!" Lyra glared at her forehooves.

Bon Bon's face sank into her accustomed exasperated look for these situations. "This is one of those human things again, isn't it?"

"I am trying to tear my mane in frustration! It doesn't work without fingers. I could use magic but it would look stupid."

"I think we're far past that point, dear," Bon Bon said flatly. "This whole game looks pretty much like the nerdiest thing ever. Where did you hear about this anyway?"

"At my weekly obsessive interests support group," Lyra said. "Twilight brought a bunch of her decks and showed them to everyone."

"And you decided to go with it and buy thirty packs of cards at once because...?"

Lyra mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"...Twilight said I could make a human-themed deck."

Master Stratagem

"Huzzah! I return to the lands of Domineighria once more!" Luna cried.

Celestia grinned. She was thrilled to see her sister so carefree and happy, and surprised to learn that Luna still had her deck hidden away in the old castle in Everfree Forest after all this time. The fact that she had a simple prank in mind as well was a small bonus.

"I won't go easy on you just because you're my sister, Lulu," Celestia said with a grin. "I've been honing my deck against Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor, and it is, if I may say so myself, quite unstoppable."

"It matters not, Tia," Luna said as she drew her starting hoof of cards. "I'm just happy to play again, I remember that I adored this game before the war. You may start, if you wish."

"Very well," Celestia looked at her cards and grinned. Oh Lulu, you're going to break your pouting record with this, and I have my camera ready for it. She nudged the camera under the table with her back right hoof to check that it was still there, and began to play. "Round one," Celestia said, laying the smugness on as thick as she was able. "I play an Island, and Telepathy. You now have to play with your cards revealed, so I can see everything you have to throw at me and prepare accordingly. Your turn." Celestia leaned forward, watching closely to see Luna's reaction. To the sun princess's surprise, her sister merely scowled a little, huffed, then laid down her cards face-up on the table.

Celestia's grin froze and her eyes widened as she saw what her sister was holding. That isn't seriously a... Yes, yes it is, and that's a, no that's two of them and that's...

Luna drew a card. "Excellent! I play a Black Lotus and two Mox Sapphires, and with those two blue mana I cast two Ancestral Recalls!" Celestia watched in mortified shock as Luna began her turn by drawing an additional six cards. "Splendid! Another three Moxen and a Black Lotus. I sacrifice both the Lotuses... or is that loti? Nevermind that now. I sacrifice them for six black mana and play a Lord of the Pit. Then I cast Time Walk and get another turn." She drew another card to signal the start of her next turn. "Since I have no other minion to sacrifice to my Lord of the Pit, it deals seven damage to me. I cast another Ancestral Recall and... Oh, excellent! I cast Feast of the Unicorn on my Lord of the Pit," Celestia's stomach turned at the card, which featured a grisly image of shadowy monsters devouring a roasted unicorn. "My Lord of the Pit attacks you for eleven damage, and then I play a Will-o-the-Wisp and another Time Walk." Luna drew another card as she began her third uninterrupted turn. "I sacrifice the Will-o-the-Wisp to my Lord of the Pit, and attack you for another eleven damage, and you are dead. Thank you for the match, Tia!"

Tia said nothing, her left wing twitching slightly. "...Wow, Lulu, that was... quite something."

"Oh yes, and one other thing, sister!" Luna said. Only a second after the flash of light did Celestia realized what had just happened. "This modern photo-graphy device is a marvel, do you not agree?"