My Little Duel Monsters

by supersaiyanmikito

Rating: teen
Tags: Crossover, Twilight Sparkle, Violence, Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Main 6, Yu-Gi-Oh, Original Character, Trixie, Suicide / Self Harm
Length: 103677

An ancient evil from Princess Celestia's dark past has resurfaced, sending Equestria into a downward spiral. Now it's up to her student with the help of a prince from another world to banish the shadows she helped create.

Much of Princess Celestia's past is a mystery and nopony truly knows all the details of her life during the thousand years that Nightmare Moon was banished. Mistakes were made, enemies were fought and most were lost to the times... But there is one mistake she made that continues to haunt her to this very day...

Now years later, her faithful student and her friends must help two heroes summoned from another world to vanquish this great evil before the world is plunged into darkness. The Shadow Games have returned...

Published 2011-10-01 04:57:05 UTC
Last updated 2016-12-19 14:05:27 UTC

Chapter 3 - Forgotten Times

Nearly 24 hours had passed since the two duelists had mysteriously appeared in Equestria. Only yesterday did Yugi and friends witness the birth of a new evil, Trixie and the beast known as Iseris. In an unexpected twist, Yugi’s God cards were stolen right from under his nose and Twilight’s close friend Applejack was gone as a result. It was reaching around noon when Yugi went to visit Twilight in the Ponyville hospital. She was awake and faring well, luckily. She had bandages wrapped around a head and chest.

“Hey Twilight, are you alright?” Yugi asked, back in his regular form.

“It’s ok...” Twilight sounded quite tired. The whole ordeal with Trixie left her weakened. “The doctor says will be out in 3 days...”

“We are just lucky you didn’t sustain any major injuries. The only major hit you took was the arrow.”

“When that monster attacked me… it felt so real… The arrow piercing my chest was a lot more painful than my physical injuries show...” Twilight was about ready to pass out again when there was a knock on the door. “Come... In...” The door opened and someone walked in. It was a large pony. Her bright coat glistened in the sun coming in through the window and her rainbow flowing mane blew through the wind. “P-p-p-p-princess? What are you doing here?”

“Hello my faithful student.” Celestia replied. “I can see you are healing well.”

“No Duel Monsters card will take me down that easy...”

“Hmm...” Celestia then turned her attention to Yugi. “I can see you made it to Equestria safely my Pharaoh.”

Yugi gasped before switching places with Yami. “So, you know of me, you must be the Princess Twilight told us about.”

She nodded “Yes, I am Princess Celestia. I must say it’s quite rare to find a being older then myself. It’s quite an honor to meet you Pharaoh, though I wish I had brought you here under better circumstances.”

“What do you mean you brought me here…? Wait!” Yugi remembered back to when he and Kaiba where on the chopper. “That was you who were calling to me!”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, I am indeed the one who contacted you. Our world has many connections to other worlds through various portals and I exploited one of them to reach your world. During my youth I had a strange fascination with learning about other worlds and yours was rather interesting to me.”

“So, what brought your attention to me?”

“Well... At first your world wasn’t anything special until I did a little research on your history and how your people used to fight it out with otherworldly creatures. Of course, Yugi Moto wasn’t born yet so I couldn’t have met him however I did have a vision.”

“A vision, like future sight?”

“Yes, I have the unique ability to see short visions of the future in my sleep pertaining to future dangers. In one of my visions, I saw you Pharaoh and how your spirit became intertwined with this boy Yugi Moto. I decided to return recently to check if my theory was correct and it looks like it was. You hold power over your cards unlike any other being in your world; you have the Heart of the Cards on your side.”

“But I don’t understand how do you know so much about Duel Monsters and the Heart of the Cards? Twilight told me Duel Monsters didn’t exist in this world.”

Celestia sighed. “Well, she is mostly correct. Duel Monsters doesn’t exist here, at least not anymore.”

“What exactly do you mean?”

“You see, Duel Monsters did exist many, many years ago. It was just as famous of a game as it is in your world, believe or not…” Celestia dropped down her head and looked at the floor. “But something happened…” Celestia slowly approached the window and looked out. There were many ponies just going about their day. “Twilight, I want to ask you a question, a hypothetical question.” Twilight nodded. “If you were to ask any one pony in the entire world what the biggest threat to Equestria and most evil is, what do you think they would say?”

Twilight thought to herself for a second. “Well… Depending on where they live and how much they know their history, they would probably say either Nightmare Moon or Discord…”

Celestia chuckled to herself for a second. “Yeah, I guess they would… Both Nightmare and Discord were pretty dangerous and there are many other threats out there you haven’t even heard of however…”

“What is it?” Yami asked.

“As evil as Nightmare Moon and Discord are, there is a much worse evil out there. One who almost completely destroyed Equestria.”

“Princess, what are you saying? Is this evil we are dealing with really more dangerous than Nightmare and Discord?” Twilight asked.

“Worse… This evil is my creation…”

Twilight was shocked. “Wha- What? What do you mean you created it?”

“I guess I should start from the beginning. Twilight, as you are aware I was forced to banish my sister to the moon over a thousand years ago. I thought I could handle ruling Equestria on my own but after 200 years, the effects started taking its toll on me…” Celestia’s horn lit up, projecting a field inside the room. Within the field, a visual of her story came onto focus.

A brown dirt covered stallion approached a pair of large doors guarded by two soldiers in armor. “I’m here for an audience with the Princess. I have an appointment.”

“You may enter.” The two guards moved their spears out of the way and allowed him to pass.

The door opened to reveal a completely dark room. The pony stepped into the dark room. “Hello? Princess?” He continued forward.

“State your purpose peasant!” A voice boomed from the darkness. The stallion looked forward to see a pair of pink eyes looking at him through the darkness. Suddenly, a golden light emitted from above the eyes revealing the face of a not so benevolent Celestia. She had bags under her eyes as well as a thin layer of black going around her eyes.

The stallion slowly approached her. “P-p-p-p-princess…”

“STATE YOUR PURPOSE!”

“I-I come to ask you when we could possibly get our daughter back… We miss her so much…”

“You’ll get back your daughter once you have paid off your debt. I sent her to the doggy mines to dig up gems to pay it off but so far, she has done nothing but waste my time.”

“But she is just a filly, take me instead!”

“The Diamond Dogs prefer younger workers; they won’t work with adults… But your debts are piling up so I feel we may need another worker. Since we can’t take you or your wife, I think we will just take your son. He is young enough and he will remind you to not skimp out on your payments.”

“NO, PLEASE!” The doors flew open as 2 guards came in dragging a crying colt along the floor.

“DADDY!” The colt yelled out.

“Please, stop this!”

“GUARDS!” Celestia yelled. “Get this pony out of here…”

“STOP!!!” Twilight screamed. “Please... I can’t watch anymore of this...” The vision disappeared. “Princess, what happened to you?”

Celestia looked at her hooves in disappointment. “After I banished my sister, I went into grieving. I thought I finally put it all behind me but I was wrong. Eventually it started to eat me up on the inside until I turned into a tyrannical monster, one even worse than Nightmare Moon and Discord.”

“Princess Celestia… I had no idea…”

“I have feared this day since you became my student. I had hoped you would never find out but if you hate me now… So be it…”

Twilight was shocked. “Princess, I could never hate you. You are the nicest, kindest, most understanding pony I have ever met.”

“Don’t lie Twilight, I know you live in constant fear that I will banish you or send you back to kindergarten. I’m nothing but a-”

“That is quite enough…” Yami spoke up. “Princess, you can’t let you past mistakes hold you back. You can’t just bottle them up but you can’t just let them roam free and take over your life like they are now. You made a mistake, I have too. I was once so focused on winning a duel, I played an evil card and, in the end, I lost due to my selfishness and greed. I will never forget that day; Yugi gave up his own soul in order to save mine… I was devastated… But in the end Yugi reminded me to just move on and not let it control me. You need to do the same.”

“I wish it were that easy… The grief I had bottled up inside of me and I let it out in anger against my own subjects and it ended up nearly costing me the life of myself and every pony in Equestria. I didn’t realize it at first but that colt from that vision set off a chain of events that led to the near destruction of Equestria. During his escort to one of my slave camps, the carriage ended up going missing in the Everfree Forest, the passengers were never found. I sent a research team into the forest to find them, one of which was a brilliant Pegasi who went by the name of Lord Crawford. He discovered some kind of hidden ruins with art of monsters and told of battles from ancient times.”

“The same thing happened in my world. A man named Maximillian Pegasus was out on research in Egypt and found a tomb almost exactly as you described. He got a stroke of inspiration and turned the so called ‘Shadow Game’ told in the ruins into the game we called Duel Monsters. Am I to assume that is what happened here too?”

“Exactly; the game caught on like wildfire on became an Equestrian-wide sport. Eventually, the three beasts known as the Egyptian god cards came into my possession and I used them to control the Duel Monsters industry. I even invented my own kind of monsters; a kind that doesn’t exist in your world; Synchro Monsters.”

Yami nodded. “I am aware of what Synchro Monsters are; I witnessed them first hand not too long ago when a time traveler named Paradox tried to change history. While I don’t know exactly how they work I do know they are very powerful.”

“So, what happened?” Twilight asked, continuing the conversation.

“Shortly after Duel Monsters came into the picture, I discovered one of my Diamond Dog slave camps had been destroyed. Every pony and Diamond Dog was still alive but they were all lifeless zombies, like their very souls were extracted from their bodies. The entire camp was also covered in what would only be described as black scorch marks.” Twilight and Yami looked at each other for a moment. “What I hadn’t realized at the time was that it was the same camp I sent the colt’s older sister to. Her name was Midnight Rose; she was the daughter of gardeners with a special talent for making any flower bloom even in the dead of night. A very beautiful talent but it was all wasted when I sent her to the slave camp to dig for gems.”

“So, what does this Midnight Rose have to do with the story?”

“Midnight Rose… Is the original Dark Summoner.”

“What?” Both Twilight and Yami said in unison.

“She somehow acquired a mysterious power while in the camp and escaped leaving the place in ruins. A couple years after the events at the camp I held a Duel Monsters championship in Canterlot. The reward was five hundred thousand bits and a chance to duel against me using the Egyptian god cards. It was the chance of a lifetime to duel against the god cards themselves so of course many ponies entered.”

“I’m assuming this Midnight Rose entered too?” Yami asked.

“She didn’t just enter…”

Thousands of ponies were all crowded around a large arena sitting in the stands. In the center was a large rectangular arena. It was a large Duel Monsters arena with the main center area and two separate standing areas for the contestants. In the red corner was a light pink earth pony mare with a dark red mane curled up and shaped like a flower. In the blue corner was a blue unicorn stallion with a white mane.

“It looks as though this is going to be another easy victory for our beautiful Rose!” A voice yelled. It was an announcer up in a watch tower using the royal Canterlot voice. “Midnight Rose has shown spectacular strategy and gameplay. Over the course of this entire championship, she hasn’t even taken one point of damage! Will the trend continue?”

“Let’s see how you handle this!” She swiftly drew a card from the deck that was lain down on the panel in front of her. “I’ll start off by using the effect of my Glow-Up Bulb from the graveyard. By sending the top card of my deck to the graveyard, I can summon it from my graveyard.” Rose’s newly revived monster was a small patch of dirt with an eye poking out. It had a white flower on its head. “Now, I think it’s time to end this! I’m tuning my Level 1 Glow-Up Bulb with the Level 3 Lonefire Blossom and Seed of Flame already on my field!” Glow-Up Bulb flew into the air and burst into a large green ring while the other two monsters flew into the ring before transforming into small white spheres. The monsters exploded column of light and rose pedals.

“Synchro Summon! Black Rose Dragon!” Floating behind Rose stood a huge black and red dragon. Its wings were almost entirely made of roses.

The unicorn looked in horror at the display in front of him before screaming “Please, don’t attack me! I forfeit, ok? Just please don’t attack!” The stallion ran off stage carrying his tail between his legs.

“Hmm… Pathetic…”

“Wow! Just the sight of Midnight Rose’s Black Rose Dragon made her opponent cower in fear and forfeit the match!” Rose turned back and the elevator on the side of the arena lowered her down. As she reached the bottom, the announcer was there waiting for her. “So, how does it feel to win the biggest Equestrian Duel Monsters Championship to date and win without even a scratch?”

She glared at the announcer. “I haven’t won yet, not until I beat the Princess…”

“Ooh, calling out the Princess! Yes, in case any of you in the audience have forgotten, the Champion of this amazing tournament gets a shot at dueling the Princess herself, Celestia!” Celestia was at the top of the bleachers in a small private box. She was tapping her hoof on the side of her throne with a disgruntled look on her face. She groaned as she stood up and flew out the box down to the arena. “Alright, it’s the time for the duel you’ve all be waiting for! Rose may have a perfect record but Celestia has access to the three most powerful cards in all of Duel Monsters, the Egyptian God Monsters!”

Celestia landed down next to the arena in front of Rose. Her horn lit up and a deck of cards flashed into existence. She levitated it over towards Rose and she grabbed Rose’s deck from her hooves. “You should be honored to hold the god cards, but this is a one-time thing. Don’t get used to it.” The two of them shuffled each-others decks for a few moments and handed them back to each-other. Celestia turned back and started walking to her side. “Good luck… You’re going to need it…”

“You’re the one who is going to need it…” Celestia chuckled at her statement, but what didn’t notice was that Rose had slipped a card into her own deck after Celestia had shuffled it.

The pink pony and white Alicorn both stepped up on their own platforms and were lifted up to the panel. “Let’s get the match underway!” The announcer yelled.

“LET’S DUEL!”

Princess Celestia
< LP: 4000 >

Midnight Rose
< LP: 4000 >

“Since I am your Princess, I get the first move.” Celestia drew her card and grinned. “I’ll start things off by activating my Solar Recharge spell card, by discarding a Lightsworn monster from my hand to the graveyard, I can draw 2 cards and then I must send the next 2 cards of my deck to graveyard!” Celestia placed down a monster to the graveyard space, drew 2 cards then placed 2 more cards in her graveyard. As she placed the cards in the grave, a bright light started shining from the sky into the field.

“What is going on?” Rose asked.

“When Solar Recharge sent two of my cards to the graveyard, it sent my Lightsworn Beast Wulf. When he is sent straight from my deck to the graveyard, I can summon him!” Celestia monster appeared. It was a white humanoid wolf with very thick armor and holding a spear.

Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
< Level 4 / ATK: 2100 >

“Now I summon Lightsworn Summoner Lumina.” The monster was a female with blond hair and a while dress.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
< Level 3 / ATK: 1000 >

“I activate the effect of my Summoner. By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I can summon a Lightsworn monster from the graveyard.” Celestia discarded yet another Lightsworn to activate her effect. “I’ll use it to bring back the card I discarded for my Solar Recharge earlier, Jain, the Lightsworn Paladin!” Jain was a tall woman with white armor, a shield and a sword.

Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
< Level 4 / ATK: 1800 >

“AMAZING!” The announcer yelled. “The Princess has managed to summon three monsters in just one turn. She now has enough monsters to summon one of fabled god cards. Could she be planning to summon one already?”

Celestia just chuckled. “I can tell you he is not far off. In fact…” Celestia grabbed a single card from her hand and revealed it to Rose. “I have one in my hand right now.” Celestia placed the card back into her hand. “Lucky for you I already summoned this turn so I can’t summon him this turn…” Celestia looked down at her deck and picked up 5 cards. “Since my turn is over with, I am forced to send 5 cards from my deck to the graveyard because of my Lightsworns. Don’t think of this as a disadvantage; no; the more monsters I send the graveyard the more power I have!”

“Typical tyrant…” Rose grunted in disgust. “We’ll see about that!” Rose drew. “I activate Graceful Charity. This lets me draw 3 cards as long as I discard 2 cards afterwards.” Rose drew her cards and examined her hand for a moment before discarding. When she did, two small dandelions appeared. “Just like how you summoned your Lightsworn Beast, when my Dandylion was sent to grave, it leaves behind two Fluff Tokens.”

Fluff Tokens (x2)
< Level 1 / ATK: 0 >

“Now I summon my Lonefire Blossom.” The monster was small flower with a bulb spewing fireworks.

Lonefire Blossom
< Level 3 / ATK: 500 >

“I can activate my Lonefire Blossom’s special ability! By releasing a plant type monster, I control, I can summon a new plant from my deck to replace it. I release one of my Fluff Tokens!” One of the dandelions dissolved and was replaced by a strange looking plant covered in brown vines with a small pair of eyes. “I summon Copy Plant!”

Copy Plant
< Level 1 / ATK: 0 >

“My Copy Plant has the ability to take on the Level of any monster on the field so I will have it copy the Level of my Lonefire Blossom!” Copy Plant started shift it vines around changing its shape until it was mostly comparable to her Lonefire.”

Copy Plant
< Level 1 → 3 >

“The stage is set; I’m tuning my Level 3 Copy Plant with my Lonefire Blossom and my remaining Fluff Token!” Copy Plant transformed into three green rings that surrounded the other two monsters. “Chilling flames engulf the entire world. Pitch-dark flower, set into bloom!” The sphere burst into light forming a massive pillar between the rings.

< 1 + 3 + 3 = 7 >

“SYNCHRO SUMMON! Grace this battle with your presence, Level 7, Black Rose Dragon!” From the vortex of petals emerged Midnight Rose’s ace monster, the massive black dragon with red-rose wings.

Black Rose Dragon
< Level 7 / ATK: 2400 >

“Not bad peasant, but you will have to do better than that…”

“Well how about this then? When Black Rose Dragon is summoned, it has the ability to vaporize every card on the field!”

“What!?”

“Go my Black Rose Dragon, destroy every card on the field! Black Rose Gale!” Rose’s dragon opened its mouth and gathered energy before releasing a powerful whirlwind upon the field. All of Celestia’s monsters were nothing to the attack and were blown away with ease, shattering like glass. The winds soon overcame Black Rose Dragon, destroying it in the process. When the destruction was over, the field was completely cleared of monsters. “Now that your field is cleared, I can activate this! Go Monster Reborn!” Rose threw down her card and a purple portal opened in the ground. A new and completely unscathed Black Rose Dragon rose from the portal. “Since Black Rose Dragon destroyed all your monsters last time, I will use it to attack your life points directly!” Black Rose once again charged its fire breath but this time it more condensed, aimed directly at Celestia who had just put her guard up. Celestia groaned as the fire threatened to throw her backwards off the platform.

Princess Celestia
< LP: 4000 → 1600 >

Celestia quickly regained her composure. “You got lucky; I’ll make sure you suffer dearly for that…” Celestia quickly drew her card, as her eyes turned to the card her mouth widened into a horrifying smile. “Now you will see what happens when mess with ME! When there are 4 or more Lightsworn monsters in my graveyard, I can summon THIS, my ultimate beast!” Celestia held the card high. The clouds above her began to part, shining a bright light onto the field. “Radiant beast, decent from the heavens and cast your judgement on these pathetic fouls! Come forth, JUDGMENT DRAGON!” Out from the light descended a massive winged dragon. It was covered in grey feathers and had blood red talons. It also had several long tendrils coming from its snout giving it a bit of a mustache. It roared into the sky shaking the very ground beneath their hooves.

Judgment Dragon
< Level 8 / ATK: 3000 >

The crowd cheered and roared for their Princess. “OH MY! Princess Celestia has just summoned her most powerful monster outside her god cards. This is truly a rare sight!”

“Now let me show you how you really destroy a monster... By giving up 1000 of my life points, I can activate my dragon’s special ability.”

Princess Celestia
< LP: 1600 → 600 >

Judgment Dragon slowly started to rise up high into the sky. He expanded his wings and a bright light beamed down form he wings onto the field. “Destroy her monster with Light of Destruction!” The light solidified until the field was completely covered in white. “You see, like your Black Rose Dragon, my Judgment Dragon also has the ability to wipe out every single card of the field. However, unlike yours, mine doesn’t destroy itself in the process.” As the light cleared, Black Rose was completely gone, not even a pile of ashes. “Now that you have nothing to protect you, Judgment Dragon is going to attack your life points directly!” Judgment Dragon tilted its head back and opened it mouth. “Rays of Judgment!” The feathered dragon released an incredibly bright yellow ray towards Rose impacting the ground in front of her. She grabbed onto the edge of the area for leverage.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 4000 → 1000 >

Celestia picked up 4 more cards from her deck and placed them in the graveyard. “I send 4 more cards due to Judgment Dragons ability and with that I end my turn…”

“Your pathetic dragon doesn’t scare me! Ha, I activate the spell card Pot of Greed. This lets me draw 2 cards from my deck. Now I activate Premature Burial. By giving up 800 of my life points I can summon a monster from my graveyard. Be reborn my Black Rose Dragon!”

Midnight Rose
< LP: 1000 → 200 >

“Just give it up already…” Celestia groaned as the dragon pulled itself from the ground.

Black Rose Dragon
< Level 7 / ATK: 2400 >

“Now I activate One for One. This allows me to discard a monster from my hand and summon a Level 1 monster from my deck.” A little white furry ball appeared next to Rose’s dragon. “What do you think of my Spore?”

Spore
< Level 1 / ATK: 400 >

“Now I play the spell card Seed of Deception, this allows me summon any low-level plant from my hand. Welcome out Dark Verger.” Rose’s new monster was just a small weed with two large leaves with eyes.

Dark Verger
< Level 2 / ATK: 0 >

With only 1 card in her hand, Rose held the card up high. “Now for the finishing touch… I play the spell card Flawed Treaty!” She slammed the card onto the field. “Let me explain how this card works. This lets me take one card from my deck and add it to your hand. In exchange, you cannot attack next turn.” Rose searched through her deck and pulled a single card out and threw it towards Celestia. She looked at it with question. “Now I use Flawed Treaty’s second effect. By giving up my battle phase this turn, I am allowed to declare the name of a card. If that card is in your hand, it’s added to my hand!”

“So… You plan to take the card you just added to my hand, right?”

“Not quite… I call the name…” Rose held her forehoof into the air. “SLIFER THE SKY DRAGON!”

Suddenly, the entire audience gasped and went silent. Celestia’s face was struck with terror as she looked at her hand, the god card that she had so foolishly shown Rose was about to be used against her. The card glowed with a yellow aura and Celestia shot it towards Rose. “You don’t have any idea what you’re doing…”

“I know perfectly well… I sacrifice Black Rose Dragon, Spore and Dark Verger!” The three monsters turned into a pure light and launched into the sky. The clouds parted and greeted the offerings with a light. A large form appeared above the cloud. It was a large red dragon whose body seemed to go on forever. It had a second mouth up on its nose and many rows of teeth.

Slifer the Sky Dragon
< Level 10 / ATK: 0 >

The entire audience had gone completely silent. “That ends my turn…”

Celestia drew. She looked up nervously. “Since you have no cards in your hand, Slifer is powerless. That was a foolish mistake on your part.”

“Do you think I care? Thanks to my spell card, you can’t attack this turn and you don’t have enough life points to activate your dragon’s ability.”

Celestia grunted and looked down at her hand. Her eyes were drawn to the trap card Rose had given her; she placed it face-down. “Just go...”

“My draw!” Rose examined the card with a smile. “This duel is over; I play a spell card known as Blue Rose Offering! First, I must give up half of my life points.”

Midnight Rose
< LP: 200 → 100 >

“Now by removing a Black Rose Dragon from my field or graveyard from play, I can summon a new monster!” Several thick thorns shot out of the ground curling around each other forming a sort of cocoon. A black light was emitting from inside the cocoon. The light slowly dissipated and the cocoon started to crack. “Come forth, Violet, Knight of Thorns!” The cocoon exploded revealing a new figure. It was a tall women covered in purple vines, almost like armor. Her sword was like a giant thorn and a pair of red eyes could be seen under her helmet.

Violet, Knight of Thorns
< Level 8 / ATK: 2700 >

“Oh my!” The announcer yelled. “Black Rose Dragon transformed into some sort of knight. Is this Rose’s true ultimate monster?”

“I’m activating Violet’s special ability. By remove a plant-type monster in the graveyard from the game, I’m allowed to draw one card, but if it’s a spell or trap card, it goes to my graveyard.” As she placed her hoof on her deck, a small black spark of electricity ran up her leg. She jumped at this feeling and stared straight forward for several moments. Finally, she drew it. She chuckled and turned her attention to Celestia. “Princess, do you fear death?”

“I don’t fear anything. I am a god; I am the ruler of this land and I fear nopony.”

“Is that so? How about your subjects?”

Celestia recoiled a bit. “What are you saying?”

“Do your subjects fear death? Do they feel they are safe living under your rule?”

“Of course, they do. I am most powerful being in existence. Nothing can stop me.”

“Do they really?”

“I am their ruler. They respect me.”

“But does being a ruler truly mean they respect you? Is it really respect… Or is it fear?”

“What are you implying?”

“You’re the most powerful being in Equestria, how do you know your subjects don’t worship you because they are afraid of you?”

“Shut up, worthless trash! I don’t have to listen to your crap. GUARDS!” A swarm of armored Pegasi with spears all approached Rose. “Get rid of this pest, this duel is over.”

“Your right, it is over…” She held her last card up. “FOR YOU!” The sky blackened and Slifer began to dissolve into a black powder. “I sacrifice Slifer the Sky Dragon and Violet Knight of Thorns!” The remains of Slifer and Violet began to swirl into the air creating a tornado-like vortex. “Stolen past and taken peace… Awaken the darkness and engulf the world in your cleansing shadow!” As the two monsters were sucked up into the clouds, a black lightning bolt came down the struck Rose. The shock of the lightning threw all the guard ponies back and the very foundation of the area shook beneath them. Rose pulled her head back and looked into the sky as two scars began to form across Rose’s forehead. They started on her hairline and formed around the edge of her eyes. She tilted her head back and looked at Celestia. Her eyes suddenly changed into a blood red color.

Before Celestia could say anything, Rose’s shadow began to expand and rise up out of the ground creating a winged silhouette. It had jagged edges at the corners of its head and bright red eyes with red scars like Rose. “What… Is that?”

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 3200 >

Rose slowly climbed over the card panel and onto the field. Parts of the arena began to spark and malfunction as she slowly walked towards Celestia. “You’re about to feel the wrath of my ultimate creature; Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony. My name... Is Midnight Rose, I will be the one to destroy you and put an end to your terror once and for all!” Celestia slowly stepped back, something about the new creature made her uneasy. Rose lifted her hoof and weakly pointed at the Princess. “Attack…” The shadow jumped out of the ground and flew up towards Celestia’s dragon. A black flaming sword appeared in its hand as it came down cleaving it in half. Before Celestia could even react, she saw the creature going for her. She flapped her wings in an attempt to run but barely got off the ground before the sword made contact. Celestia screamed as the sword’s slash left a black burning scar across her chest. She slowly fell to the ground and hit the dirt with a thud.

Princess Celestia
< LP: 600 → 400 >

Celestia tried to pull herself from but found it difficult due to the pain. “Rose… What are you doing?”

“What, you still haven’t figured it out?” Rose leaped down from the dueling platform and came up close to Celestia. “I’ve had enough of your rule. You’re nothing but a heartless tyrant who does whatever she wants with who she wants. You sent me to one of your slave camps to pay off the ridiculous taxes you enforced on my family and everypony else. But oh, that was not enough. My eternal slavery wasn’t enough for you. You had the gull to force my own little brother into a slave camp too?”

“But… I…”

“Don’t even try to make up excuses… In fact, I don’t think you even remember what happened to my brother do you?” Celestia just stared back at her. “Let me remind you… Thanks to your strict rule about being late, your pathetic excuse for guards that were holding my brother attempted to take a shortcut through the Everfree Forest just to make it to the labor camp in time.” Rose leaned up close. “Can you guess what happened?” Celestia pulled back. “While they were following the path through the Everfree, the ground collapsed underneath them and everypony in board fell into a RAVINE!”

Celestia gasped. “Wait, I remember that! But… I was only told the group went missing, the bodies were never found. How do you-”

Rose snickered and a faint black aura formed around her. “That is for me to know and you to find out. All you need to know is that I am now more powerful than any pony in Equestria. Even you…” Suddenly, Rose was tackled to the ground by a group of armored guards. “Hey! Let go of me!”

“You’re under arrest for assaulting the Princess, unauthorized use of black magic and resisting arrest.”

Celestia motioned the guards to hold her down. “No, you have already proven yourself to be much too big of a threat. Simple incarceration won’t do…” Celestia began to slowly rise into the air and six small colored stones appeared around her. The stones began to spin around her creating a multi-colored tornado. “The Elements of Harmony will seal your soul in stone, trapped forever, never to be released.” As the elements were about to hit max power, they suddenly stopped and faded. “What? What happened with the Elements?” The stones slowly faded in color until they were pure grey and then a small sphere of stone formed around the stone. The 6 stones dropped to the ground, nothing but rocks. Celestia could only look at the elements in horror.

“Ha… AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” Rose laughed. “Oh, how unfortunate, it looks like karma has finally caught up to you!”

“What exactly are you saying?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The elements won’t accept your call anymore because you’re a tyrant!” Suddenly, Rose seemed to explode with energy and the guards were launched away. The dark creature returned behind her and launched itself towards Celestia. Before the monster could reach her, Celestia grabbed her cards and the once Element of Magic and then teleported away.

Rose started laughing even harder. “YES! RUN! RUN LIKE THE PATHETIC COWARD YOU ARE!”

It had only been a few hours since Rose attack Canterlot and the city was already in flames. Anypony who didn’t side with Rose had their soul stolen from their very bodies by her new creature of darkness. Everypony else who was left teamed up with Rose and turned against Celestia, realizing that she was nothing but a tyrant who controlled them.

Celestia watched Canterlot fall from the balcony of her castle. Tears started forming from her eyes as she looked at the now powerless Element of Magic. “How did it come to this? Did I really turn into a tyrant?” Celestia trotted over to the vanity mirror beside her bed. She was shocked to see the black liner around her eyes. Even though she knew it from lack of sleep, to her, it looked just like the black scars Rose had on her face. For just a second, she could swear her eyes flashed red. She then looked down at her attire. Her new crown was significantly larger then when Luna and she ruled, as a sign of dominance. Finally, her hair was no longer shimmering like a rainbow like it normally did. It was becoming jagged and turning a faint orange, almost like a raging fire. She looked at the mirror one last time. “No…” Instead of her reflection, she saw a twisted and deformed version of herself. Her whole coat was a very faint orange, her main was a raging inferno and she was now where flat golden headpiece where her crown was. “I’m turning into my sister…” She quickly knocked her crown to the ground and slammed her hoof down on it shattering it to pieces.

Then, a loud explosion could be heard from outside, followed by a large group of frightful screams. She was about to fly out and do something but she quickly stopped herself. The Elements were gone and she was powerless against Rose. As she was turning around, her eyes glanced at her Duel Monsters deck. On the top was Slifer the Sky Dragon. Celestia picked it up and looked at it for several moments. “Rose… She somehow used these… Cards… To create a beast of unparalleled strength...” Then, Celestia picked up the deck of cards and threw it at a nearby wall, spraying the cards everywhere. “Stupid cards… They have caused nothing but trouble.” The Princess slowly stepped back outside to the balcony, sky had become dark by nighttime and Luna’s moon could be seen. “Oh Luna… I’m so sorry... I’ve spent so long grieving over what I did to you, now I am turning into the very thing I banished… Please… Just give me a sign… Tell me how to fix this I will become a better ruler, a better pony in general.” Then she heard a sound, it sounded like the crinkle of paper. She glanced back down at her cards spread across the floor. The Element of Magic had somehow rolled across the floor and found its way to her cards. It slowly rolled around the cards, somehow navigating its way around the cards until finally coming to a stop on top of one. With her magic, the Princess picked up the stone and glanced at the card underneath it, and then her eyes gleamed. “Thank you, Luna, I understand now.” Celestia levitated the card and the element to her side, spread her wings and flew off to her and Luna’s original castle in the Everfree Forest.

“So, you discovered a way to beat Iseris?” Twilight asked.

“Thanks to sister’s sign, I realized what I needed to do. Since the Elements were useless, I had to find a way to harness its power into a Duel Monster’s card.”

“Of course...” Yami replied. “Since Iseris is immune to pony magic, if you infuse it within a card, it may actually work.”

“So Princess, did it work?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, it did. Sadly, I only had access to the Element of Magic since I left the other five behind but the single Element was more than enough. After I created the card, I confronted Rose. It was the most difficult duel I have ever had in my life but she was overconfident and I won. After that I released a spell over all of Equestria that removed the memories of past events including the creation of Duel Monsters.”

“So, what did you do with the cards?” Yami asked.

“Many of the cards were destroyed in the uprising, including the God cards but whatever was left I sealed away.”

“Where did you seal them, if you don’t mind me asking?” Twilight asked.

“You haven’t figured it out?” Celestia slowly approached Twilight and put a hoof of her chest. “They are inside the Elements themselves…” With her magic, the Princess levitated Twilight’s new duel disk over to her. “I used a special spell to seal them within the Elements so if the future element bearers were to ever combat the same magic, I encountered all those years ago, the elements would grant the holder the power to fight back.” At that moment, there was a loud bang and the sky turned dark. There was a thunder storm brewing. Yami stared out the window. A look of horror had fallen upon both him and Celestia.

“Yugi?” Twilight asked. “What is going on?”

“Slifer the Sky Dragon...”

Chapter 4 - Loyalty and Betrayal

The day after Twilight was hospitalized, Pinkie had decided to go and get supplies for a Get Well Soon party. At the time she had decided to decorate Sugarcube Corner for the inevitable Welcome Back party. “Hey Pinkie Pie, where did you want me to hang this banner?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Um... How about over there!” Pinkie pointed at the staircase leading upstairs. Rainbow Dash flew up and hung the banner up on the railing then pinning the other side up against the wall underneath the stairs.

“So, tell me again why we are setting up a party now? Twilight doesn’t get out for three days and what about Applejack?”

“If we are going to be fighting evil, I want to be ready with a party the moment they are back!”

Rainbow Dash flew back down and simply gave Pinkie a distraught look. “Hey Pinkie Pie?”

“Yes Dashie?”

“Am I the only one feeling a little-” Dash hesitated for a second. “Well... Guilty about what happened to Trixie?”

Pinkie Pie dropped her smile and stared at Dash. “Why would you feel guilty?”

“Well, after everything she said I can’t help but feel a bit like a hypocrite. I brag all the time about what I do and ponies praise me for it. She does the same and she gets tomatoes thrown at her. Only difference is I do it because I enjoy it, but she has to do it to make a living.”

“When you say it like that, she almost sounds like the Wonderbolts. She performs for ponies and they give her bits because they like her.”

“She just wanted to be recognized and she lost everything for it, even her closest friend…”

Feeling upset for her friend, Pinkie walked over hugged Dash. “It’s not your fault... Trixie is just going through a phase. I’m sure Twilight going to help her.”

“But what about Applejack, we have no idea what happened to her. She could be dead for all we know.”

Pinkie thought to herself for a moment. “No, I don’t think she’s dead. It’s just this feeling I have… I don’t know where she is but my Pinkie Sense is telling me she is still alive somewhere…”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Besides, next time Trixie shows up I want to be the one to take her down and save Applejack.” The pegasus held up her left hoof like a fist. “If what Trixie said is true then all of us should be able to summon our own duel disks and decks whenever we are about to battle.”

“I wonder what decks we will all get? Yugi’s deck was cool and all but it didn’t feel right to me, the deck Twilight got fit her almost perfectly and it’s like she already knew how to play it.”

“I’ll probably get some kind of super awesome flying monsters that are so fast my opponent won’t even know what hit them!”

“Maybe I’ll get something food related; or maybe party related!”

“Pinkie… Do you ever think of anything but parties and food?”

Pinkie suddenly leaped forward and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash. “I think about my friends too!”

Rainbow Dash just sighed. “Oh Pinkie Pie…”

As the two ponies were embraced in a hug, the back door quietly opened up. A hooded figure stuck her head and in and looked around. “Perfect, everypony is in the front…” She quietly tiptoed over to one of the stoves trying to not make a noise. She extended a clawed arm outward and pulled it away from the wall. “Careful...” She turned the stove enough so the back was showing. Snickering to herself, she held up her right claw and swiped at the large cords causing them to limp to the floor. With one last snicker, she pulled out a box of matches.

In the other room, Pinkie and Dash were still locked in a heartwarming hug, until Dash began sniffing. “Pinkie... You smell that?” Both of them continued sniffing.

Suddenly, Pinkie’s eye went wide. “Dash; we need to get out NOW!”

“Why?”

“NOW!!!” With her hooves still around the pegasus, Pinkie launched towards the front door.

Behind the shop, the hooded figure opened the box revealed a bunch of sticks with red and white tips. “Sayonara suckers...” Taking one of the matches, she quickly swiped it across the black sandpaper, lighting the tip on fire. Turning her back to the shop, she tossed the lit match directly into the open window. Almost instantly, Sugarcube Corner exploded into an incredible blaze. Several of the passing ponies jumped back and screamed at the sudden inferno.

Pinkie Pie watched in horror as her home was burned to the ground, the light reflecting off the glare in her eyes. Her eyes started tearing and her hair completely deflated. “No...”

The surrounding ponies were all talking amongst themselves for a few minutes as the fire died out. After the fire was completely gone, Mr. and Mrs. Cake had finally returned from getting supplies. The second they saw their shop; they dropped their saddlebags and ran over to help Pinkie. “Pinkie dear, what happened!?” Mrs. Cake asked.

“I... I don’t know...” Pinkie stuttered. “I think it was a gas leak…”

“But you take great care of the appliances Pinkie Pie.” Mr. Cake spoke. “How did this happen?”

“Better question is how did the fire start in the first place?” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “The Cakes were gone the whole time and it’s not like we had anything cooking in the back room…”

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie’s mane flared back up into its normal poofy state and she bolting into the wreckage of the house. She moved the charred remains of her bed to reveal a metal bucket slightly jittering around. She pulled the bucket off the ground only to be greeted by a small pair of eyes. “Oh Gummy! I was afraid I lost you! I’ll never let you go!” She relentlessly kissed her little alligator. “I don’t know what I would do without you...”

Rainbow Dash was inspecting the back of the shop-that-was-no-more when something caught her attention. There was small white match box was lying on the ground just outside the building, it wasn’t as damaged at the other objects and was only missing one match. “Uh, Pinkie Pie… You might want to look at this…”

Pinkie and the Cake family all approached her, she held out the box to them. “A box of matches?” Mr. Cakes ask.

“It must have been Trixie; I knew she wouldn’t stay hidden for long!”

“Wait, the great and powerful Trixie?”

“But isn’t Trixie a unicorn, and a really powerful one now?” Pinkie asked. “Why would a unicorn need matches to start a fire?”

“Who said anything about the weak and lame Trixie?” An unknown voice called. Rainbow Dash suddenly turned around to see a large hooded figure standing on top of a still-standing support beam. Pinkie and the others had noticed to. “I’m quite surprised Pinkie Pie. I was not expecting you to smell the gas leak that fast. That’s quite impressive...” The figure jumped off the support beam, landing with a loud thud. “I was hoping the explosion would have finished you off but obviously I was wrong...”

Rainbow Dash jumped at the large hooded creature standing in the center of the charred rubble. “ARE YOU INSANE!? You just burned down my friend’s home!”

“Collateral damage...”

“Collateral... You sick jerk!”

“Look who’s talking...” The figure snickered before pulling out her left claw from her robe. She was wearing a very familiar duel disk.

“That duel disk... So, you ARE working with Trixie!”

The figure started laughing. “Come on, Trixie is nothing but a useless braggart; she couldn’t even handle Twilight Sparkle. Unlike her, I won’t fail!” The unknown figure held her left claw up and her duel disk snapped into place and lit up with red lights. “Come on, pink freak!”

“Hang on! If you’re going to fight anypony then fight me!”

“I’m not here for you Dash, I want the pink one…”

“Well too bad, you have to go through me first!”

The hooded figure thought for a moment. “Alright, how about we make a compromise…?”

“What kind of compromise?”

The figure simply snapped her fingers. A large black ring formed under her and shot outward like a shock wave, launching Mr. and Mrs. Cake backward out of the wreckage. The wave barely stopped outside the remains of Sugar Cube Corner creating a black flaming barrier trapping not only her and Rainbow Dash, but Pinkie Pie inside the wall. “I’ll let you duel me, however... If you happen to lose...” She held up her arm pointing the pony behind Rainbow Dash. “She pays the price...”

Dash gasped. Turning back, she saw Pinkie Pie stepping back towards the wall. She then turned her head back to the still unknown arsonist. “What; no way! I would never put my own friend’s life at stake over a stupid card game like that?”

“Heh... I’m not giving you a choice...” The figure held out her left claw and positioned her duel disk in front. “If you really care for your friend then you will do it.”

“Hmm, fine!” Rainbow Dash held out her front left hoof. A circular multi-colored light engulfed her arm as small white disk materialized. Bringing her hoof up to her head, a small golden stub came out of her duel disk and split in half creating a holographic card tray. The neon lights upon her duel disk were slowly changing between all the colors of the rainbow. “I won’t allow you to touch a hair on Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash continued to stand her ground on the opposite sides of the shop of her opponent casting a death glare into her enemies’ yellow eyes.

“Rainbow Dash…” The pink pony whimpered.

“LET’S DUEL!”

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 4000 >

Dark Summoner
< LP: 4000 >

In the mist of darkness, Trixie and another figure were watching over the duel at hand. “Who does she think she is!?” Trixie complained. “Going around insulting me like that; some nerve! When she gets back, I am going to rip her a new one!”

“Trixie, behave.” The other figure spoke. “Besides, Master will deal with her later. I am sure the Master won’t appreciate her reckless behavior, especially setting the shop ablaze like that. We need to defeat the Elements in a duel, not torch them alive…”

Trixie simply crossed her hooves and huffed. “Well, I’m still going to punch her when she gets back…”

“You do that… Meanwhile I guess it’s my turn to jump into action.” The figure revealed his silver horn as it started glowing. “While she deals with the Elements of Loyalty and Laughter, I will deal with Kindness and Generosity…” There was a flash of light and he was gone from view. “Hope your ready Miss Rarity… Because you’re about to feel suffering like no other…”

“I call first!” Rainbow Dash swiftly drew her card leaving a small wind trail. ‘Aw yeah, this monster will definitely do some damage!’ “I summon Zeradias, Herald of Heaven in attack mode!” From the sky dropped a beam of light exploding into a green and white winged figure with red horns wielding a forked lance. “Let’s see you handle this guy!”

Zeradias, Herald of Heaven
< Level 4 / ATK: 2100 >

“Ha, what do you think of THAT! 2100 ATK points right off the bat!” The hooded figure didn’t react however Dash’s monster did. His body suddenly started to fade and crack before exploding into light particles. Rainbow Dash jerked back in shock. “What!? What just happened to my monster?”

The figure chuckled. “If this is all you got then this is going to be the easiest duel ever. It’s obvious you didn’t actually read the card. You glanced at its high ATK and didn’t even bother to see if it had any effects.”

Rainbow Dash looked down at the card and read it to herself. ‘If this card is on the field but “The Sanctuary in the Sky” is not on the field, destroy this card.’ “Are you kidding me!? If I don’t have that card then I can’t use it?” Rainbow Dash sighed and slid the card into her graveyard. “If that’s what I need to use it then I just need to get it; I play Terraforming!” A single card slid out from Rainbow Dash’s deck. “This lets me add one filed spell from my deck to my hand so I’m adding the very card I need.” Dash then held her duel disk up and a slot shot out from the side of the disk and she slapped the card in. “I play the Sanctuary in the Sky filed spell.” The clouds above slowly began to shift around and form together. With a glow of light, the clouds formed into a sky palace with a large staircase on the front and a statue in the middle.

“Your monster is already gone; much good it will do you…”

“That’s why I’m playing Monster Reborn to bring Zeradias back from my graveyard.” A purple hole opened up in front of Rainbow Dash and her monster leaped out back onto the field.

Zeradias, Herald of Heaven
< Level 4 / ATK: 2100 >

The hooded figure just shook her head. “What a waste of a perfectly good spell card…”

“Don’t criticize me, just take your turn.”

“At this rate Dash, this duel is going to be over too fast, even for you.” The figure drew her first card. “Since I control no monsters and you do, I can summon my Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn without tributing another monster.” The figure’s monster appeared as black feathered humanoid bird with a blue feathered head.

Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn
< Level 5 / ATK: 2000 >

“It’s too weak to beat my Zeradias.”

“That’s why I’m calling in backup with this card.” She slid another into her disk and a spell card appeared on her field. “My Summoning Madness spell card… This card allows me to summon twice this turn as long as I throw out a card in my hand… I discard Blackwing - Gladius the Midnight Sun.” She slid her card into the graveyard. “This allows me to summon Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North!” This bird was much smaller than the last looking like a traditional bird but with light blue and black feathers.

Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North
< Level 2 / ATK: 1300 >

“Blizzard the Far North’s ability activates when it’s successfully summoned allowing me to summon another Blackwing from my graveyard.” The graveyard portal opened again to reveal another humanoid black bird with knight armor and two swords.

Blackwing – Gladius the Midnight Sun
< Level 3 / ATK: 800 >

“And that’s not all!” The figure plucked a card from her hand and revealed it to Dash. “When there is a Blackwing monster on my field I can special summon Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind from my hand!”

“What, are you kidding me!?” Dash screamed. Yet another bird formed on the field, a near black dark blue bird with green feathers on its head.

Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
< Level 3 / ATK: 1300 >

“No way… Four monsters just like that?” Rainbow Dash was slowly stepping away in fear, not expecting a swarm of monsters so effortlessly.

“And if you even think about stopping this pain train you have another thing coming… As long as my Summoning Madness is in play you can’t prevent my monsters from being summoned and all spell and trap cards are useless when I special summon a monster!”

“That’s not fair!”

“That’s not all; I activate Gale the Whirlwind’s special ability! It has the ability to cut your monster’s ATK and DEF points in half!” Gale swung its wings blowing a gust at her Zeradias making it struggle.

Zeradias, Herald of Heaven
< ATK: 2100 → 1050 >

“Oh no…” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.

“And it’s about to get a lot worse.” Pulling her right claw back, she reached out and pointed at her monsters. “Now my Level 2 Blizzard the Far North tunes Level 5 Sirocco the Dawn!”

“Wait what!?” Dash got her answer immediately. Blizzard flew up high into the air changing its body into two orbs of light and Sirocco started floating up towards it. The two spheres suddenly transformed into two large green rings scanning down Sirocco’s body turning into a yellow wire-frame. The wire-frame also suddenly changed into five spheres like Blizzard and exploded into a beam of light flowing through the center of the rings.

< 5 + 2 = 7 >

“I Synchro Summon; Level 7 Blackwing Armor Master!” This new monster was much larger than the last few; it could hardly be considered a bird anymore. It was a large humanoid figure covered in black armor with red trimming and a single red eye in the center of its beak. It crossed its arms and let out a loud screech before extending its arms back out.

Blackwing Armor Master
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

The hooded figure held their claw out and clenched its fist. “But I’m not done yet! Level 3 Gale the Whirlwind tunes Level 3 Gladius the Midnight Sun!” A completely replay of the last summon happened this time with Gale turning into three rings and scanning over Gladius turning into three spheres.

< 3 + 3 = 6 >

“I Synchro Summon; Level 6 Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight!” This creature was another large humanoid-like bird with shoulder pads, a cloak and a massive black and white sword. Putting its left claw on its arm, it swung around its sword as though showing off its skills before holding the sword up high.

Blackwing – Nothung the Starlight
< Level 6 / ATK: 2400 >

Rainbow Dash stared eye at the large monsters with terror. This was nothing like she had experienced with Trixie. “How… How did you do that? Yugi never told us how to summon like that!”

The figure chuckled. “Probably because he doesn’t know how... Yugi and Kaiba come from a world where Synchro Monsters have yet to be invented. Let me give you a little tutorial; when you have a tuner monster, you can summon a Synchro Summon from your Extra Deck by tuning it with non-tuners and adding up their level to equal to Synchro Monster. It’s basic math but of course only someone as great as me can Synchro Summon at this caliber.”

“You know everything you did was basically pointless…” Pinkie finally spoke up. “Your monsters before had more total ATK than your new ones.”

“SHUT UP! It makes no difference; I’ll still crush Rainbow Dash!” She pointed her claw upwards at Nothung. “I activate Nothung’s special ability! When this monster is successfully summoned, he deals you 800 points of damage!” Nothung held his sword into the air and fired a bolt of lightning into the sky before coming right back down on Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 4000 → 3200 >

“But that’s not the end; your monster also loses 800 ATK points!”

Zeradias, Herald of Heaven
< ATK: 1050 → 250 >

Dash quickly recovered and went back into position. “Is that all? Even with that damage you can’t beat me this turn.”

“You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about! Nothung the Starlight attack Zeradias!” The giant blade wielding bird suddenly bolted forward towards Rainbow’s monster and slashed it straight down the middle. As Dash held her right hoof up to block the wind, a yellow glow formed around her.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 3200 >

The hooded figure recoiled back. “What the; why didn’t you take any damage!?”

Rainbow Dash snickered a bit. “As long as my Sanctuary is on the field, I don’t take any damage when my Fairy monsters battle. It’s like Pinkie said, if you didn’t combine all your monsters like you did you would have beat me in the first turn.”

“You can’t hide behind your little pixies forever.” The figure reached out her hand and pointed at Rainbow Dash. “Blackwing Armor Master, attack her directly!” The figure’s Armor Master charged forward holding its right arm back before thrusting it right towards Dash causing her to grab her chest.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 3200 → 700 >

“Hope you liked that because there is more where that came from Rainbow Crash!” At that moment, Rainbow’s eyes widened. She looked back up at her enemy and stared at her face hidden by the hood.

“You… Only ponies from Cloudsdale use that name…” Rainbow Dash released her chest and regained her composure. “I get it now… That’s why you hate me and Pinkie Pie so much…” Pinkie looked over at Rainbow Dash with a confused look on her face. “There is only one pony I know who would hate Pinkie Pie so much and would know that name… Or should I say griffon…?”

Saying absolutely nothing, the hooded figure finally pulled her hood off revealing her feathered face. “Dash…”

“Gilda…” The two stared down for several moments, completely unmoving.

“Oh my gosh, Gilda!?” Pinkie screamed.

“I’m surprised it took my best friend so long to recognize me…”

“You’re no friend of mine Gilda…”

“Because you abandoned me for these… LOSERS! They call you the Element of Loyalty yet you couldn’t even stay loyal to your best friend!”

“That’s because I grew up! I realized that you’re not a real friend; you’re just a bully and a jerk that only cares about friends who are cool!”

“Yeah, so? We were friends far longer; does that mean nothing to you?”

“No, not when you’re being a massive jerk to everyone I care about. My new friends actually stick up for me and understand me in a way you never could!”

“Understand you!? Who understands you more than me!? I’ve known you since the day I moved to Cloudsdale and I know more about you then any pony!”

Rainbow Dash groaned loudly in frustration. “Gilda, you are not above this like you think you are! You don’t know the meaning of loyalty!”

“You getting the Element of Loyalty was a total flub!”

“I EARNED IT FAIR AND SQUARE!”

“There is no way a traitor like you could get the Element fair. I know your kind; you believe that just because you have some kind of magical artifact that now you’re the Princess of Equestria. Well, you’re not; you’re just another worthless pony who cares about nopony but themselves! Well guess what, that pretty little Element is USELESS against me!”

Rainbow took a step back, fear filling her face. “You… You sound just like Trixie…” Gilda didn’t move or respond. She just threw a card into her duel disk causing a face-down to materialize on her field. Rainbow took that as ending her turn and drew her own card. “Whatever you and Trixie have planned, we won’t let you do it…” Rainbow Dash examined the card she drew and thought for a moment. A light bulb suddenly went on in your head. “Alright Gilda, let’s see how you like this… I play the continuous spell card Fountain in the Sky!” A second smaller sanctuary appeared next to her first one and latched itself to her sanctuary. This had a large circular fountain with a waterfall going of the temple.

“Cute…” Gilda replied.

“And with that I summon the Shining Angel!” A new fairy appeared in front of Rainbow Dash; a tall man with a white robe, golden wings and a halo.

Shining Angel
< Level 4 / ATK: 1400 >

“Shining Angel, attack Gilda’s Blackwing Armor Master!”

Gilda did a double take. “What, are you stupid?” Shining Angel elegantly flew towards Armor Master but the birdman quickly retaliated destroying him in seconds with a slash of his arm. When the monster exploded, it left behind several light particles floating the air.

“Due to the effect of my Sanctuary, I take no damage, but it doesn’t end there…” She pointed up to the second part of her sanctuary floating up in the air. “When my Fairy monsters are destroyed, my Fountain activates…” The light particles flew up to her fountain and the fountain began to drip water on her making Dash glow. “I can remove them from play to regain Life Points equal my destroyed monsters ATK points.”

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 700 → 2100 >

“Shining Angel’s ability activates now. When he is destroyed in battle, I can summon a LIGHT Attribute monster from my deck with 1500 ATK points or less.” A light shot out from her deck and on to field revealing an exact duplicate of the monster she just had. “I summon another Shining Angel!”

Shining Angel
< Level 4 / ATK: 1400 >

Gilda squint her eyes at Rainbow’s monster. “What are you planning…?”

“Shining Angel number two, attack Blackwing Armor Master!” Once again, Shining Angel charged at Armor Master only to be destroyed effortlessly and just like before, its light caused the fountain to rain down on Rainbow Dash. “Now my fountain gives me 1400 Life Points…”

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 2100 → 3500 >

“And my Shining Angel’s special ability activates!” Once again, another Shining Angel flew out from her deck.

Shining Angel
< Level 4 / ATK: 1400 >

“Shining Angel number three, attack Blackwing Armor Master!” Once again, the monster attacked, was destroyed and its energy allowed the fountain to flow.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 3500 → 4900 >

Gilda’s eye grew wide and she let out a growl. “You little CHEAT!”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “So, you figured out my strategy huh?”

“You allowed all your monsters to suicide on purpose just so you could keep regaining your Life Points!”

“Bingo, who’s the smart one now?”

Gilda scoffed. “Take all the Life Points you want; it isn’t going to matter in the end when I destroy you!”

“In that case…” Dash motioned her hoof at the field. “I use Shining Angel’s special ability!” Another light flew from her deck and onto the field. This time it was a large orange ring. “Since I already used all my Shining Angels, my Nova Summoner will take its place.”

Nova Summoner
< Level 4 / ATK: 1400 >

“Nova Summoner, attack Blackwing Armor Master!”

“Are you kidding me!?” Nova Summoner charged at Armor Master and was promptly destroyed like the Angels before it and like before, its light charged up her fountain.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 4900 → 6300 >

“Nova Summoner’s effect activates when it’s destroyed!”

Gilda groaned in frustration. “Let me guess… It lets you summon another copy of itself…?”

“You’re catching on; Nova Summoner can bring a Fairy monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck to the field.” With that, another light came from Rainbow Dash’s and materialized another Nova Summoner.

Nova Summoner
< Level 4 / ATK: 1400 >

“Nova Summon, you know what to do!” Like before, the cycle repeated again with her monster being destroyed and it restoring her Life Points.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 6300 → 7700 >

“I think that’s enough for now… I use Nova Summoner’s special ability to summon a third Nova Summoner to the field in defense mode.” The ring monster reappeared on the field and took on a blue color.

Nova Summoner
< Level 4 / DEF: 900 >

“Now even if you destroy my Nova Summoner, I can use its special ability to summon a different monster from my deck and protect my Life Points…” Rainbow Dash slid a single card into her disk. “I’ll throw down a face-down and end my tu-”

“NO, YOU DON’T!”

Rainbow Dash jerked back. “What?”

For a moment, a flash of red could be seen in Gilda’s eyes as she motioned her card. “I play the continuous trap; Drain Force Draw!” Gilda’s face-down flipped up to reveal a trap. “Since your Life Points are higher than they were at the start of this turn, this trap card allows me to draw 1 card for every 2000 Life Points that you gained this turn!”

“Uh oh!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “You gained a lot of Life Points this turn!”

“7000 to be exact; that means I get to draw 3 new cards!” Gilda swiftly drew the cards from her deck. “However, I take 400 points of damage for each card I draw from this effect…” Gilda’s trap card suddenly shot a bolt of lightning at Gilda who took the blast fairly well.

Gilda
< LP: 4000 → 2800 >

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie gasped simultaneously. “That’s not all my card does however, as long as Drain Force Draw is on my field, I can draw a card every time you recover Life Points, so long as I give up 400 points in return.” Gilda suddenly laughed into the air. “Go on; keep increasing your Life Points. The more you do the more cards I get!” She continued to laugh. “You’re lucky my trap can only be played at the end of the turn or else I would have drawn a lot more cards.”

Rainbow Dash took a step back. “You… Do your worst, your trap doesn’t scare me!”

Gilda just grinned and drew her card. “You’re going to regret those words… I summon Blackwing Bora the Spear!” Another bird appeared in front of Gilda, this time humanoid-like one with a red-feathered head, yellow hair-like feathers on its head and a massive drill in its right arm.

Blackwing – Bora the Spear
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

“Bora the Spear, attack Rainbow Dash’s Nova Summoner!” Bora lunged forward aiming its drill at Rainbow’s monster. “When this monster attacks a monster in defense position, it inflicts piercing damage!”

Rainbow Dash grinned this time. “Not like it matters, I can’t take damage thanks to my filed spell…”

Gilda grinned back. “I activate the quick-play spell Mystical Space Typhoon!” A vortex of wind formed around the sanctuary and slowly it started breaking apart. “This card destroys one spell or trap card on the field so your Sanctuary is no more!” The sanctuary finally collapsed in a pile of rubble behind and promptly vanished. Gilda’s monster finally finished its attack and speared right throw Rainbow’s Nova Summoner making it explode.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 7700 → 6900 >

Rainbow Dash stood her ground against the explosion. “My field spell may be gone but I still have my other cards. Not only does my fountain will give me an extra 1400 Life Points but my Nova Summoner allows me to summon another monster to replace it.” First her monster powered her fountain causing it to rain down on her.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 6900 → 8300 >

After that a light shot out from her deck onto the field; this time it was another angel-like creature with a blue robe and large white wings. “I summon a monster known as Honest.”

Honest
< Level 4 / DEF: 1900 >

Gilda tapped her index finder to the side of her head. “Did you forget about my trap card!? Every time your Life Points increase, I can draw a card for 400 Life Points.” The griffon drew another card from her deck and was lightly zapped by her trap card.

Gilda
< LP: 2800 → 2400 >

Gilda didn’t see it but Rainbow Dash grinned. ‘At this rate she is going to drain all her own Life Points away herself. This will be easy!’

Gilda regained her composure from the card that shocked her. “Now then… I’ll have my Nothung attack Honest!” Nothung lunged forward this time raising his sword overhead. He flew above Honest and came down slashing it in half and making it explode.

“My fountain restores my Life Points again!” The fountain rained on her like before.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 8300 → 9400 >

“And my trap card lets me draw again!” Gilda replied drawing her card.

Gilda
< LP: 2400 → 2000 >

“I told you, gain all the Life Points you want. It won’t make a difference, especially now that you’re wide open for a direct attack!” Blackwing Armor Master shifted his stance. “Armor Master now has a straight shot at your Life Points, go!” The armored bird lunged forward stabbing Rainbow Dash in the same manner as before but this time she just shrugged the damage off.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 9400 → 6900 >

“You’ve managed to give your Life Points a boost but at this rate you won’t last long… I’ll destroy you and everything you love!” Gilda threw a card into her duel disk making it appear on the field. “I’ll throw down a set card and end my turn!”

Rainbow Dash said nothing; she just looked down at the ground. “Gilda… Tell me something…” Gilda didn’t reply, she just stood her ground looking at Rainbow Dash. “What kind of garbage did this Master of yours put in your head?” Gilda’s expression instantly changed to that of worry and took a step back. “According to Trixie there is some kind of master involved and I know that isn’t you…”

“Master… She offered me a chance…” Rainbow’s face hardened, trying to listen to her words. “She gave me a chance to destroy the one who gave me false hope…”

Rainbow gasped and took a step back. “False… Hope…?”

Gilda closed her eyes. “You… You actually gave me hope that I could be someone and that friends were real… I’m a griffon, there is no so such thing as friendship where I come from; we are some of the greediest jerks in Equestria. When I first met you in Cloudsdale, I was just a shy little fledgling and you offered your hoof in friendship… Then those ponies STOLE IT AWAY!” Gilda suddenly opened her eyes with the most horrifying death glare Rainbow Dash had ever seen.

“Those… Those eyes…”

“You ponies are all the same! You spread the word of friendship and go around acting like your saints, but YOUR NOT! Friendship is nothing but false hope that leads to disappointment and I plan to eradicate that starting with you two; the one who stole my friendship and the one who allowed it to be stolen!”

“Gilda, I didn’t mean to steal Rainbow from you!” Pinkie called. “I would never intentionally hurt a friend and my friend’s friends are my friends!”

“Shut… UP! You were never my friend and never will be!”

“They messed you up in the head Gilda!” Rainbow replied. “Pinkie Pie didn’t steal me from you, it was your own fault our relationship was broken. It was your choice to treat my friends like trash and I won’t allow it. Don’t let them mess up your head like they did Trixie, we aren’t the bad guys here!”

Gilda just snickered to herself. “Trixie… Like I would ever compare myself to that excuse for flesh…” Rainbow Dash took another step back. “Trixie is driven by her angst and sadness; having the one she loved the most torn away from her. She is an emotional wreck that can’t even live her own life without being acknowledged…” Gilda reached out her right claw and clenched it into a fist. “I’m doing this because friendship is nothing but a joke and must be destroyed!” The griffon then unclenched her fist and pointed at Rainbow Dash. “You two stole my pride and honor and that is what drove Master to me. The pink spaz could have fought her own battle but like the best friend you are you had to defend her and once I beat you, you will have to live with the burden of failing her forever… That… Is why friendship is garbage…”

Rainbow Dash had her eyes closed now and said nothing. She simply placed her hoof on deck. “It’s my… TURN!” She drew the card with all her might creating a powering gale in front of her. “I will never allow you to hurt my friends!” She slammed her card into her duel disk as hard as she could. “I play Memories in Ruins! By banishing a filed spell from my graveyard, I’m allowed to draw 2 cards, but I’m now allowed to play any field spells this turn!” She drew two more cards just as roughly as the last card, afterwards her face-down flipped up. “Now I play Miraculous Descent! This card allows me to summon any of the Fairy monsters I previously banished! Return to me Honest!” A beam of light came from the sky and Rainbow Dash’s Honest floated down back onto the field.

Honest
< Level 4 / ATK: 1100 >

“That monster won’t help you…”

Rainbow Dash suddenly made a horizontal motion with her right hoof. “I activate Honest’s special ability!” Honest started glowing slowing turning into pure light before hopping into Rainbow Dash’s hoof. “It has the ability to return directly to my hand. Next, I play a continuous spell card…” As Rainbow Dash slammed her card into a duel disk, a large podium appeared behind her with two large walls with curtains on the sides. “Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. This allows me to special summon a Fairy type monster from my hand as long as there are no monsters on my field.” She once again slammed another card onto her duel disk. “I summon Airknight Parshath! This monster normally requires a sacrifice but Valhalla lets me summon it without sacrificing another monster!” A large centaur appeared in front of Rainbow Dash with a blue and gold armor, several white wings and carrying a sword and shield.

Airknight Parshath
< Level 5 / ATK: 1900 >

Gilda smirked. “Another pitiful monster…”

“It’s still more than a match for your Bora the Spear!” Rainbow’s monster reared back letting out a battle and charged towards Gilda’s smallest bird.

Gilda’s smirk suddenly turned into a maniacal smile. “I activate the trap Sonic Guard from my hand!”

“You’re activating a trap card from your hand!?”

“While I control 2 or more Blackwing monsters, this trap allows one of my other Blackwing monsters to take the hit instead of my Bora!” Blackwing Armor Master quickly flew in the pathway of Airknight Parshath’s attack and blocked Bora. “My trap also gives my Armor Master a power boost, increasing his ATK equal to Bora’s ATK points!” A whirlwind of feathers spiraled around the two birds creating a tornado-like shield them.

Blackwing Armor Master
< ATK: 2500 → 4200 >

“Not only are you taking a huge chunk of damage but come next turn I will have a straight shot at your Life Points!” Rainbow Dash didn’t respond. “What’s wrong; too scared to admit you failed?”

A glimmer of light flickered in Rainbow Dash’s eye. “I activate Honest’s effect from my hand!” As Rainbow slammed the Honest card into her graveyard, a bright light engulfed Airknight Parshath. “By sending Honest from my hand to the graveyard, my Airknight Parshath gains your monster’s ATK points!”

Airknight Parshath
< ATK: 1900 → 6100 >

“6100 ATK points!?”

“Go, Airknight Parshath, destroy her Blackwing Armor Master!” Rainbow’s monster charged at Armor Master and let out a powerful diagonal slash across its crest causing a massive explosion. Gilda held her up right claw to block the gale force of the explosion.

Gilda
< LP: 2000 → 100 >

“I’m still in this game!”

“That is where you’re wrong; I activate the spell card Rage of the Archlord! When a Level 5 or higher Fairy monster on my field destroys your monster in battle, this card blasts you with 2000 points of damage!” Rainbow Dash slammed the card into her spell and trap zone with all her might. “THIS ENDS NOW!”

*ERROR*

Rainbow was cut off guard by a sudden loud buzzing sound emitting from her duel disk. “Wha-What!? Error!?” Her duel disk was flashing between a red X and the word “Error” printed in red. Before she could ask anything else, she heard a faint laughter from behind the explosion cloud. The smoke cleared to reveal Gilda laughing maniacally like earlier and worst of all, her Blackwing Armor Master was still standing.

“Surprised?”

“How did Armor Master survive!? You didn’t activate your face-down card!”

“I didn’t need to, Blackwing Armor Master can’t be destroyed in battle and since you didn’t destroy it, your spell card doesn’t work.”

“No…” Rainbow Dash lowered her head. “I was so close!”

“It’s ok Dashie, you did your best…”

The Pegasi looked down at the now worthless card in her hand when she suddenly remembered something. “When Airknight Parshath inflicts damage to your Life Points, I’m allowed to draw 1 card!” She drew the card with all her might and turned it over so she could see. ‘Lumenize; that card lets me negate one attack and have my monster gain the negated monster’s ATK… I can still do this!’ With a flick of her wrist, she put her trap card in the duel disk. “I’ll throw down a face-down and end my turn!”

“Try what you want, it won’t matter… You have no chance… You never had a chance!” Gilda held her right claw high and a black light engulfed it. “My turn, I DRAW!” As Gilda drew her card, it left a trail of black fire behind it. “You still haven’t noticed my Blackwing Armor Master’s special ability and now’s the time to unleash it!”

Rainbow Dash took a step back. “Special ability? What about not being destroyed in battle?”

“That is only one of its effects; its other effect is triggered when it battles another monster. Take a look at your Airknight Parshath…”

Rainbow Dash looked up at her monster. At first, she saw nothing but then her eyes quickly gravitated to the small black metal stake in its shoulder. “What is that?”

“That is what’s known as a wedge counter, Armor Master leaves that behind on any monster it fails to destroy.” The griffon then pointed upward at the wedge. “And since your monster has a wedge counter, Blackwing Armor Master has the ability to take away ALL of its ATK points!” The wedge within Parshath suddenly vanished causing the monster to kneel down in pain.

Airknight Parshath
< ATK: 1900 → 0 >

“No!”

“And I’m not done yet, I play Monster Reborn!” The purple graveyard portal opened up and a large humanoid Blackwing flew out on to the field.

Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn
< Level 5 / ATK: 2000 >

Gilda closed her eyes. “I bet your wondering why I brought Sirocco back…? Lucky for you none of my monsters are tuners so I can’t Synchro Summon…” She suddenly opened her eyes again with a flash of red. “Unlucky for you my Sirocco has a special ability!” She raised her claw and each of her Blackwings started to emit a strong vortex around them. The strong wings all flew up into the air and crashed down on Sirocco the Dawn. “Sirocco has the ability to absorb all the ATK points of my other Blackwings!”

< 2000 + 2500 + 2400 + 1700 = ATK: 8600 >

“WOWIE!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “That is a lot of ATK points!”

Gilda then placed her right claw on her waist. “As much as I would love to just slaughter you with my whole army of monsters, Sirocco’s effect prevents anyone other than himself from attacking when he uses this effect… However…” Rainbow didn’t like the look Gilda was giving her. “Blackwing Armor Master… Blackwing Nothung the Starlight… Blackwing Bora the Spear…” The three monsters all lined up in front of her and she called them. As she held up a card in her hand emitting a powerful glow, the three birds were sucked into the sky as beams as light. Suddenly, a gigantic lightning bolt followed after striking the middle the field. “I summon the Egyptian God, Slifer the Sky Dragon!” Gilda took the card and slammed it down onto her duel disk. The sky above them was parted by a massive beam of light and a new monster descended. The large red dragon was coiled around in the sky giving off a near endless length. It stuck its head and arms out from the clouds and roared into Rainbow Dash’s face.

Slifer the Sky Dragon
< Level 10 / ATK: 1000 >

Rainbow Dash took a couple steps back with sweat beating down her face. “Your monster may be big but its stats kind of suck. It wouldn’t matter anyway since Sirocco the Dawn prevents you from attacking with it.”

Gilda chuckled to herself. “Didn’t you learn anything from Trixie? The god cards are nothing in comparison to our real weapon…” Gilda held up another card in her hand and revealed it to Rainbow Dash; the Pegasi lost all color in her face when she saw it. Gilda grabbed the shoulder of her hood and tore the entire robe off ripping it to shreds. Now with her wings free, Gilda flew up and hovered several feet in the air. “I sacrifice Sirocco the Dawn and Slifer the Sky Dragon in order to summon my ultimate beast!” The two monsters did a very familiar motion, swirling into the air creating a dark funnel into the sky. A large black lightning bolt came down and struck Gilda where she flew. Gilda had her arms outstretched and screeched into the air being overtaken by the power she was now filled with. The two lightning bolt shaped marks burned into her forehead and leaked into the purple eyeliner Gilda naturally had creating a large black circle around her eye. She also stretched out her wings which were quickly overtaken by a black color from the tips of her feathers leading all the way down to the base of her wings. She finally came down and hit the ground with a thud, opening her blood red eyes. “Oh yeah, now THIS is true power!”

“Be careful Dashie!” Pinkie cried. “Remember what happened to Twilight when Trixie played that card!?”

“Yeah, anything that monster does is real…”

Gilda chuckled to herself again. “Witness the glory that is Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” As Gilda slammed the card into her disk, her shadow stretched outward behind her before pulling itself off the ground; however, this version was significantly larger than Trixie’s version. With Trixie it was about three times her height, this one was at least ten times her size and roared with black flames

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 9100 >

More sweat fell down Rainbow’s face. “What in Equestria? Why does it have so many ATK points!? Trixie’s only had 3000!”

“The reason is simple moron. Iseris’ ATK strength is determined by the ATK of the DARK monster used to summon it plus an extra 500. Sirocco had 8600 points so Iseris has a grand total of 9100!” Rainbow Dash took a couple steps back before hearing some loud hoof steps come in from behind her. She turned around to find the Pharaoh and Princess Celestia were now arriving on the scene.

“Oh no!” Yami yelled. “She already summoned Iseris!”

“Well, look at who decided to show up… You’re too late; nothing you can do can stop me now!” Gilda simply grinned and made a horizontal sweep with her right arm. “I activate my face-down card!” Gilda’s face-down card flipped up and started to glow. “Remember how Sirocco’s ability prevented my other monsters from attacking? Well, my monster has to attack now!”

“WHAT!?”

“Last Assault forces my monster to attack this turn ignoring any effects that prevent them from doing so! It also prevents you from activating any cards or effects when I attack!” A bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from Gilda’s card and struck Rainbow’s face-down turning it photo-negative. Rainbow’s eyes went wide as though staring into the eyes of death itself; Pinkie Pie had nothing to say either. “It’s been fun, but all good things must come to an end… ISERIS, ATTACK!!!” Using its wings, Iseris conjured up a black flaming tornado, launching it at Rainbow Dash. Several ponies in the watching crowd start to cry and panic.

“Oh, dear Celestia!” Mrs. Cake cried. As soon as the tornado made contact, Rainbow Dash started screaming in absolute agony; her voice reaching a pitch in which rivaled Rarity. She was feeling pain like nothing she had ever felt before; it was like being hit by a thousand lightning bolts. After what felt like an eternity, the tornado finally dissipated. Everyone watched as the smoke cleared. Standing there on her hind legs was Rainbow Dash. Nearly half of her body was charred black and her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. She had her mouth open, breathing heavily, pumping her chest back and forth with every painful agonizing breath. Then she began to tilt forward...

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie screamed.

Rainbow Dash kept falling and falling and falling. A million thoughts were going through her head. ‘I failed... I failed Yugi, I failed Twilight... I failed Pinkie Pie...’ These thoughts were causing tears to come to her eyes. ‘l failed all of you... I’m... A failure...’ She hit the ground with a thud.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 6900 → 0 >

Gilda couldn’t help but start laughing “When you mess with me, expect to get messed up...” Then Gilda turned her attention to Pinkie. “Since you lost that means it’s time to pay up!”

No idea what to do, Mr. and Mrs. Cake banged on the barrier keeping them away from the pink mare. “Stay away from her!” Mr. Cake yelled.

Gilda snickered “Too bad, a bet is a bet and I need to collect…” Gilda walked on by Rainbow Dash and closed in on Pinkie Pie who was being pushed back against the barrier. Pinkie Pie turned back and looked at the Cakes with a look of fear they have never seen in her before. Before she could turn back, Gilda’s claw had wrapped around her neck and lifted her into the air.

“You… *gasp* don’t have to do this…”

Gilda leaned in close and looked her in the eyes. “Yeah, I kind of do…” Right below Pinkie Pie, a strange black hole like portal opened up in the ground. It was letting out a small series of sparks that zapped her hooves. “Sayonara dweeb…” Gilda released Pinkie Pie’s neck letting her fall into the miniature black hole. Her legs were suddenly dissolved into black particles which were all being sucked in.

“RAINBOW DASH!”

“Pinkie… Pie...” Rainbow Dash could only watch as her best friend evaporated into nothing and was pulled into the black abyss. The pink earth pony held out a hoof hoping somepony would grab her but nothing came. Her hoof was sucked in as well and with a flash, the portal vanished leaving a black mark on the ground like seen at Sweet Apple Acres.

“Hmm...” Gilda took a few steps up to Rainbow Dash, inspecting the damage. She looked down upon her defeated ex-best friend. “Loyalty is a bitch, isn’t it?” Suddenly, Gilda socked Rainbow right in the gut with her right claw, knocking her on to her back. She then followed to grab Rainbow by the mane and hold her right up to her face; nose to beak. Rainbow Dash’s expression was one of total fear and it made Gilda feel wonderful. Her eyes were shaking violently and were covered in tears. “Let this be a lesson to you...” Using her mane like a handle, Gilda turned around and chucked Rainbow Dash’s motionless body directly at the Cakes. Before she could hit the barrier, the Cakes split apart allowing Rainbow’s body to shatter the barrier like glass and fly right between them. The mare bounced like a rag doll before rolling over and stopping on her face. “Never… Screw… With ME!” Gilda flapped her wings and shot off into the air into before anypony could stop her.

With the barrier gone, everypony ran over to help Rainbow Dash; the Cakes were the first to get to her. Mr. Cake used his nose to pick up Rainbow Dash and put her on his back. “Don’t worry Princess; I’ll take her to the hospital.” Mr. Cake ran off with his wife in tow.

Tears were streaming down Celestia’s eyes as she watched the mare be carried away. “Rainbow Dash… Pinkie Pie… I’m so sorry…”

Chapter 5 - Connections

It was a bit past noon. Rarity had gone over to meet Fluttershy for their usual spa day. They were a little behind today however, with Twilight being hospitalized, Fluttershy had grown too frightened to leave the sanctity of her cottage.

“Fluttershy dear, we are running quite behind. I promised Aloe and Lotus we would be there an hour ago.” Rarity was getting frustrated. It was a tradition of hers to go to the spa with Fluttershy but she just wouldn’t budge.

“Sorry Rarity but... I just don’t feel safe... With that scary looking shadow hurting my friends I just... Eep...” Fluttershy jumped as Angel Bunny had tapped her leg and crossed his arms. “I’m sorry Angel but I can’t leave you here alone...” Angel simply shook his head in disappointment.

“Fluttershy, that creature can’t hurt you unless you fight.” Rarity tried to reason with her but it was quite difficult. “Please Fluttershy, you can’t stay cooped up in here forever.” Fluttershy cowered down under her coffee table still whimpering. “Come on girl! Pony up!” Rarity’s tone changed to bit more confident Rarity. “Remember that dragon? You were afraid of it at first but after seeing it attack us, you stood up and stared it down to crying. Where is that courage?”

“I... I just can’t...”

Rarity fell down disappointed. “Looks like I’m going alone today-”

*BANG!*

“WHAT WAS THAT!?” Rarity ran outside to look for the source of the explosion. What she saw frightened her. There was a huge red dragon flying through the sky. It was similar to the giant blue creature summoned by Trixie. Fear started flowing into her as Fluttershy slowly creeped outside her cottage.

“R-r-r-rarity? What is that thing.” Fluttershy asked. Angel was hiding behind her leg. Even he was frightened by this creature.

“I’m not sure darling... My guess it’s one of those ‘Egyptian God Cards’ Yugi was taking about.” Suddenly, the dragon evaporated into a cloud of black mist slowly rising into a sky. The mist spiraled upward creating an elegant but creep upside-down tornado. She knew what was about to happen. “No, not now!”

*BANG!*

A large bolt of black lightning fell from the sky striking the middle of Ponyville. Their fears were confirmed. It was ‘just’ like Trixie.

“Slifer the Sky Dragon... Such a majestic creature is it not?” Rarity and Fluttershy turned to find the source of the male voice. There was a pony standing in Fluttershy doorway. He wore a black cloak with a hood covering his face.

Rarity was the first to speak up. “Hey you, just what are you doing here, and what’s happening over in Ponyville?”

The figure snickered a bit then trotted out of the doorway. “My partner is currently taking care of your party crazy friend...” This sent a chill down Rarity’s spine.

“You... You ruffian! Don’t you DARE hurt Pinkie Pie!” Rarity was now panting like she had just ran a mile nonstop she looked like she was about to hyperventilate.

“My word... Such rude remarks!” The figure flicked his hood a little revealing his silver unicorn horn. “You’ll learn to not say such things to royalty! Until I’m done with Fluttershy, I need you quiet!” His horn glowed and a weird blue mist formed around Rarity hogtying and gagging her. “Ah, much better...” He turned to look at Fluttershy cowering behind a tree. He charged his horn for a second before shooting a fireball burning the tree to the ground.

Fluttershy simply squeaked trying to hide behind the charred stump. “Please... Go away... Leave us alone...”

The figure took a couple steps forward before raising his from left hoof revealing a duel disk. He held it out and disk activated springing out a single slot. The slot spread out 2 more times on each side forming the full 5 slots. “You’ll have to beat me in a duel first...”

Fluttershy continued to hide behind the stump. “No... I won’t...”

“Yes, you will...” Using his horn, he created a black shockwave that stopped just short of Fluttershy. “Now, shall we begin?” Like with Twilight, Fluttershy’s hoof glowed with a rainbow light and a butterfly shaped Duel Disk materialized onto her leg. It was similar in shape to a Battle City Duel Disk as it had to flaps that rotate into place. The flaps were shaped like angel wings. The figure grinned from within with hood he knew she had no chance at victory. She was far too shy to fight with the big boys. “Let’s Duel!”

Dark Summoner
< LP: 4000 >

“Please... I don’t want to fight...”

Fluttershy
< LP: 4000 >

The duel was starting. The still hooded figure went first. “Hmm... You have no chance, not with this good of a starting hand!” He slid his first card into the spell/trap zone. “I activate the spell card Cost Down. By discarding a card from my hand, I can summon a high-level monster with 1 less sacrifice.” He slowly took a card from his hand and slid in into his graveyard which looked like a creepy red smile. “Next, I summon my first monster! Go, Ally of Justice Omni-Weapon!” The monster materialized as a crazy looking blue cannon with several arms and an oversized drill.

Ally of Justice Omni-Weapon
< Level 5 / ATK: 2200 >

“Let’s see you handle him... End my turn with 2 face-downs...”

Fluttershy had yet to draw her hand. She was absolutely frightened. “I... I don’t want to do this...”

“You don’t want me to hurt your friend, do you?” He said turning he head to Rarity.

“You wouldn’t!”

“Yes, I would. I’ll tighten her restraints and crush every bone in her pretty little body. How about a little example...” His horn started to glow and more magical straps started forming around Rarity’s body, causing her to panic and scream through the gag.

“Please stop...”

He didn’t stop, he kept tightening and Rarity kept screaming

“Stop... Please stop...”

“Oh...” Fluttershy finally got his attention. “I didn’t hear you. I was listening to the pained screams of Miss Rarity. Its such pleasure to my ears!” Rarity heard that. All she could think of was how crazy he sounded. Pleasure from torturing her? That’s just sick... “So, your finally going to go?” Fluttershy nodded. “Good...” He finally released his grip on Rarity, once again focusing on Fluttershy.

*Gulp* “My draw...” Fluttershy slowly drew her card trying to drag it out. *Squeak* “I... I summon Naturia Cherries... In defense mode...” She continued to move slowly. Taking about 10 seconds just to put her card down. Her opponent was tapping his hoof in frustration. Her monster was just as the card said, a cherry...

Naturia Cherries
< Level 1 / DEF: 200 >

“I... I... End my turn...”

The figure burst out in laughter. “That’s it!? You really do suck, don’t you?” He drew his card. “I summon Ally of Justice Cycle Reader.” The monster appeared as small mechanical grey and yellow spider.

Ally of Justice Cycle Reader
< Level 3 / ATK: 1000 >

“Now Omni-Weapon will attack your Cherry!” Using its oversized drill, the monster blew a hole straight through Fluttershy’s monsters.

“At least my life points are safe...” Sighed Fluttershy.
“Don’t be so sure... When my Omni-Weapon destroys a light monster, I can draw a card and if it’s a low-level dark-attribute machine, I can summon it instantly.”

Fluttershy looked at him with a puzzled face. “But... My monster was an earth-attribute...”

The pony pointed at his trap card. “When I destroyed your monster, I activated my DNA Transplant trap card. This card changes all monsters into an attribute of my choosing, and I choose light!” Fluttershy gasped in horror. “Now let’s see what I get...” The pony drew his card, chuckled then revealed his card. “Well, well, well, Ally Salvo, a dark machine...” His monster appeared as black ball coated in purple lightning.

Ally Salvo
< Level 2 / ATK: 400 >

“Now your wide open for an attack!”

“I… I activate my monster’s effect...”

“Huh?”

“When Naturia Cherries is destroyed and sent to the grave, I can summon 2 more...” Fluttershy ejected her deck and spread it out in front of her. Her eyes darted left and right searching her deck.

“Any day now...”

“Oh! There they are!” Fluttershy finally found the cards she was looking for. She took then out and place them face-down. When she put her deck back into her duel disk, it started to shuffle itself. “Eep!” Fluttershy jumped and covered her head.

The opposing pony face hoofed. “Your duel disk is programed with an auto-shuffler, stop being so pathetic...”

“Oh, uh... Ok...”

“Can I go now?” Fluttershy nodded. “Good, because now my 2 remaining monsters will destroy the 2 Cherries you just summoned!” His monster vaporized her face-downs like nothing. “Don’t think your safe yet, I activate my second face-down, a card known as Urgent Tuning.”

*Squeak* “What does that do?”

“This card allows me to Synchro Summon during my battle phase, as long as I have the appropriate monsters!”

“Synchro? Yugi never taught us about those...”

“Well, I’m about to! I’m tuning my Ally of Justice Cycle Reader and Ally Salvo!” Cycle Reader formed into 3 neon green ring that overlapped the black sphere turning it into 2 while glowing orbs.

< 3 + 2 = 5 >

“When the stars descend, it will call upon the start of catastrophe. Synchro Summon! Ally of Justice Catastor!” The rings exploded into a bright light. Gold and silver spider legs started to slowly reveal themselves from the light. Fluttershy was frightened. She could hear the monster. Its sound was unlike anything she was ever heard of. It sounded like razor blade scraping against metal with a faint humming. As the light cleared, the monster finally revealed itself. It was large gold and silver creature with 4 legs. Its body arched downward and it had a golden mask-like cover on its head with a glowing blue eye. The figure broke into a maniacal laughter after seeing the rise of his ace monster, Ally of Justice Catastor.

Ally of Justice Catastor
< Level 5 / ATK: 2200 >

“Hahahaha!!! You can’t beat me now! Catastor is unstoppable. I’m holding your life in the center of my hoof.” He continued to laugh almost non-stop.

*Squeak* “Please stop... I don’t want to fight... I don’t...”

“Too bad, Ally of Justice Catastor, ATTACK!!! Catastrophe Beam!” Catastor started charging energy into its glowing eye into the glow had become incredibly bright. “FIRE!!!” It released it beam directly at Fluttershy, exploding on contact and knocking her back.

Fluttershy was shrugging to get up. Her wings were all cut up and she had scratches all over her body. “I... I thought only Iseris could do real damage...”

Fluttershy
< LP: 4000 → 1800 >

“Is that what Trixie told you? If that’s the case, then you should look at your back leg...” Fluttershy turned around to see the magic shackle on her leg used to keep her in place. “I’ve always liked to play my games with some... Shall we say... Conditions... Every time you take damage, that shackle with shock you with a powerful electricity.”

“Why... Why do something like that? Why do you want to hurt me and my friends? We didn’t do anything to you...”

“Didn’t do anything... DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!?” The figure was now screaming at the top of his lungs. “Ok... Ok... Got to stay calm... Can’t blow my cover just yet...”

Rarity noticed this pony was starting to act kind of... Weird... She couldn’t place her hoof on but she felt as though she knew this stallion. She knew him from somewhere...

“Its... my turn...” Squeaked Fluttershy. ‘I need some to protect me from his creatures.’ She drew her card. ‘This will help...’ “I summon Naturia Dragonfly in defense mode... Fluttershy’s monster appeared as simple red dragonfly. “That’s... All...”

Naturia Dragonfly
< Level 4 / DEF: 400 >

“Are you going to do anything? You might as well place your hoof on your deck and surrender so you don’t have to go through the pain, I’m about to inflict you with. Omni-Weapon destroy her Dragonfly!” Omni-Weapon once again charge forward with its drill arm, slamming it into her Dragonfly, but something was wrong. “Why isn’t my attack working!” His monster attack was doing nothing. The dragonfly was completely unaffected.

“My Naturia Dragonfly can’t be beaten by monsters with over 2000 attack... and both of your monsters have 2200...”

The figure was shocked, she actually put up a decent defense, however... “Don’t think for a second that you’ll beat me. You may have ‘overlooked’ my Catastor’s ability. It instantly destroys any non-dark monster it goes into battle with.”

Fluttershy gasped. “No, my dragonfly!”

“Catastor, obliterate her dragonfly!” Catastor fired its laser, destroyer her dragonfly and creating another large explosion. “Since your monster was in defense, your safe this turn...” Fluttershy didn’t move. “Did I stutter? It’s your move...”

“I... Can’t... I won’t...”

“Suit yourself then...” The pony turned back to Rarity and began using his magic again.

“I’m sorry Rarity... I can’t do it...” She could hear Rarity trying to scream again. It hurt her to do but she couldn’t go on. She was too scared.

Rarity continued to scream underneath her gag. The binds were crushing her. “How about we turn things up a notch?” Said the figure. Pointing his horn at Rarity, he fired a constant stream of electricity direct at her. Rarity began to squirm on the ground, convulsing her chest forward. “Yes! Suffer Rarity! Suffer!” Occasionally her skeleton would flash for a second.

Fluttershy just continued to lay there watching her friend suffer. She could stop him but she was far too scared. She looked at Rarity, seeing the pain in her eyes. Why couldn’t she be more assertive? Why was she always so scared? Her friend was in trouble. She had to help. If she continued to nothing, Rarity will die. No! She wasn’t going to stand for it! Finally, Fluttershy stood. “ENOUGH!”

The figure stopped instantly. Looking back at her. “What the?”

Fluttershy stood up. Confidence flowing through her. It was time for her to take over this duel. “Right! My draw!” She skimmed the cards in her hand, formulating a strategy. “First off, I summon Naturia Pumpkin.”

Naturia Pumpkin
< Level 4 / ATK: 1400 >

When Pumpkin if summoned, I can summon another monster from my hand. I summon Naturia Beetle.”

Naturia Beetle
< Level 4 / ATK: 400 >

“Now I play the spell card Monster Reborn in order to revive my Naturia Cherries!”

Naturia Cherries
< Level 1 / ATK: 200 >

The hooded stallion looked at her. “Just what are trying to accomplish here?” Then it hit him. “No, you not going to-”

“Now, I’m tuning my Cherries with my Pumpkin and my Beetle!” Just like with her opponent, her Cherries turned into a single green ring that overlapped her 2 other monsters. “The power of Mother Nature will bring life to a fierce beast to protect her precious land. Synchro Summon!”

< 1 + 4 + 4 = 9 >

The light beamed down and hit the ground. Thick green vines started to grow out from the hole. “I summon you, Naturia Leodrake!”

Naturia Leodrake
< Level 9 / ATK: 3000 >

The hooded stallion snickered. “You got lucky. There is nothing you can do to win this fight.”

“Don’t you think it’s over. I won’t let anypony hurt my friends! Especially not some torture-crazy lunatic!”

The stallion broke out into laughter. “You won’t let you hurt you friends huh? Oh God that is rich!” Eventually he fell onto the ground laughing and kicking his silver legs in the air.

“What so funny?”

“It’s funny because I’m not the one you should worry about!”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Fluttershy looked up and noticed a large figure in the air. It came down quickly making a loud thud upon landing. Fluttershy instantly recognized the creature. “G-G-Gilda?”

The figure turned to look at his partner. “So, how did it go, Gilda?”

She snickered. “Even better than planned. Pinkie Pie has been disposed of and Rainbow Dash is done. You should have seen the look in her eyes.” Gilda licked her lips. “Delicious! She was so frightened; I wouldn’t put it past her if she was traumatized for the rest of her life.”

Fluttershy looked down at the ground. She couldn’t believe it. Applejack... Pinkie... Even Rainbow? She couldn’t let this continue. “How dare you... HOW DARE YOU! I don’t care who are, who you work for or what you plan on doing to us, but you do not, I repeat, YOU DO NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!!!”

Gilda and hooded figure jumped at the unexpected anger. “What the heck happened to the shy personality I saw last time I was here?” Asked Gilda.

“She was like this at the Gala too.” Said the figure.

“I AM GOING TO DESTROY YOU!!! Naturia Leodrake, destroy his Ally of Justice Omni-Weapon!” Her Lion reared up before making a giant leap and pouncing on top of her monster. Using its claws, it tore the monster to shreds.

Dark Summoner
< LP: 4000 → 3200 >

“Bravo Fluttershy, bravo... I will admit, you definitely made a change for the better. You destroyed my Omni-Weapon and you put a dent in my life points.”

“I set one card face-down and end my turn...” ‘He may think he has me backed into a corner with his Catastor’s special ability, but I am prepared. The second his monster attacks, he will trigger my Mirror Force trap card, leaving him wide open.’

Her opponent drew her card. “First I activate Pot of Green allowing me to draw 2 cards.” His duel disk flashed with the words ‘Draw 2.’ “Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh, how convenient is that! First, I will summon my Ally of justice Unlimiter. But this is only the beginning, I activate a spell card called Generous Monarch.”

“What does that do?”

“Generous Monarch lets me choose a card in my hand and give it to you.”

This only confused Fluttershy. “Why would you give me your cards?”

“You’ll see...” The figure took hold of a single card in his hand and threw it over to Fluttershy. She caught it with her open hoof.

Fluttershy looked at card with fear. Why did he give her this card? She stared at the gold bordered card he had tossed to her. “Is... is this...”

“That’s right Fluttershy, I’ve handed you my Egyptian God Card. The Winged Dragon of Ra!” Gilda started chuckling in the background. She clearly knew what was happening. “You know what, I’m actually feeling so generous today, I’m not only going to give you Ra, I’m even going to help you summon it.”

“What?”

“I activate the spell card, Rushing into Battle. This forces you to summon a high-level monster from your hand.”

“You mean now I have to summon it?”

“YES! DO IT! SUMMON THE WINGED DRAGON OF RA!”

“Umm, ok?” Upon placing the card down, Fluttershy’s duel disk erupted with lightning “EEP!” She couldn’t control the electricity flowing the card. She fell onto her flank unable to keep her balance anymore. Out from the sky, a giant sphere floated down from clouds. It was Ra, but it wasn’t. Ra was still trapped in orb. “Where’s the dragon?”

“In order for you to summon it successfully, you must now recite the chant written upon the card.”

“Chant?” Fluttershy looked down at her card. There was in fact a chant written on the card. The weird thing was that it wasn’t there a minute ago. “But... I can’t read that. I’ve never even seen this language before.”

“I thought not. The text can only be read by members of the royal family and I-” The pony finally pulled off his hood, showing off his shining silver coat and glistening gold mane. “Fit that role perfectly...”

Rarity and Fluttershy’s eye shot wide open. The pony that had been terrorizing them this whole time was none other than Prince Blueblood. Princes Celestia’s far removed nephew.

“Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry.
Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight.
Envelop the desert with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe.
Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win.
Appear in this Shadow Game as I call out your name, Winged Dragon of Ra!”

At that moment, the sphere above their head began to glow and transform. It grew wings, legs, arms, and a giant ring. The golden dragon glowed brightly in the sky, the sun reflecting light off its gleaming coat. “Feel the wrath of the almighty Winged Dragon of Ra!”

The Winged Dragon of Ra
< Level 10 / ATK: 0 >

Blueblood looked back to see Rarity. Her face was bright red. “Oh, I’m guessing your surprised to see me huh? I guess I’ll let you let out your anger...” Blueblood finally released the stream of magic keeping Rarity’s mouth shut.

“YOU! I should have known a stuck-up jerk like you would join Trixie!”

“Such harsh words for a lady.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that. Your hardly a gentlecolt yourself!”

“BECAUSE OF YOU! You ruined me. After you humiliated me at the Gala, nopony respected me after what you did. They all just laughed at me for getting told off by a... By a... MULE!”

Rarity was practically fuming. Her entire coat turning a bright red. “You... I’LL KILL YOU! WHEN I GET MY HOOVES ON YOU, YOUR DEAD!”

“Please stop...”

“I’M GOING TO BREAK YOUR HORN AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR THROAT!!!”

“Please Rarity... Stop...”

“I’M GOING TO SHAVE YOUR MANE AND STRANGLE YOU WITH IT!”

“ENOUGH!” Rarity stopped, finally snapping back to reality. She recognized that voice. The voice of Fluttershy. “Rarity please. I can’t stand to see you like this. I didn’t become friends with a murderous psychopath. I became friends with the most generous dress maker in Equestria. Don’t let your anger make you forget who you are.”

Rarity shook her head, regaining her composure. “Your right Fluttershy. I let my anger get to me.”

“Don’t worry about it. You were just confused, like I was at Gala...” A tear could be seen sliding down her cheek. “Just... Don’t lose sight of who you are. Remember your mark, remember your element...”

“Oh, Fluttershy!” Rarity was full blown crying now. “Thank you, that really helped. You really are a good friend Fluttershy...”

Suddenly, a maniacal laugh coming from the half-hooded stallion standing across from Fluttershy. “HAHAHAHA! Yes, this is just delish! Listen to your friend Miss Rarity. It will be all the more satisfying when I take her away from you!” It was time for him to strike. All he had to do was win. “By tributing Ally Unlimiter, I can double the attack of my Catastor.”

Ally of Justice Catastor
< ATK: 2200 → 4400 >

Blueblood looked down at the last card in his hand. Somehow, he felt that the others knew what we were going to do. There was only one thing he would do. It was time for him to finish this. “Now, I sacrifice Catastor and The Winged Dragon of Ra!” Ra formed in a black mist wrapping around Catastor before spiraling into the air. It was time. The black bolt struck Blueblood creating all too familiar scars upon his forehead. “Oh Lady Rarity!” he said in a singsong tone. “If you thought I wasn’t charming before, then you’re in for a rude awakening my pretty...” Blueblood opened his mouth revealing a not so pretty sight. He had vampire fangs and a tongue like a snake. “Unlike that pathetic excuse for Unicorn, I am quite strong with the darkness. Trixie could only dream of being this powerful. The darkness in my heart rivals that of Nightmare moon herself!” Blueblood stood up as an explosion of energy spiraled around him. The black aura engulfed his entire body.

Both Fluttershy and Rarity watched in horror at the dark creature rose from the ground. “Eep...”

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 4900 >

“Where’s all the confidence you had a minute ago?” Blueblood held his hoof in the air. “Let me guess, you were originally planning on springing your trap when I attack?”

“Oh, I... ah...” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Let me guess, Mirror Force?”

“How did you-”

“Hold on a second!” Yelled Rarity. Blueblood looked back at her. “Trixie told us Iseris could only be summoned by sacrificing and Egyptian God and a Dark-Attribute monster, but your DNA Transplant is making all your monsters Light.”

“Simple, the monster must be of Dark origins. Since Catastor was naturally a monster of darkness, he was the perfect sacrifice.”

“That’s not fair!”

“I’m not the one who made the rules.” Blueblood turned back to Fluttershy. “Now... Let’s end this... Iseris, ATTACK!” Iseris’ eyes start to glow red before firing a large laser just like Catastor.

Rarity closed her eyes. “I can’t look!”

The attack punctured a hole straight through Fluttershy’s monster before landing it mark on her. The ground exploded under her as a red beam was shot into air. Though there was no screaming, no sound. Fluttershy just stood there unmoving in the small crater. Her eyes rolled back into her head and there was smoke emitting from her body. “Rarity... Don’t forget your element...”

Fluttershy
< LP: 1800 → 0 >

Rarity gasped. Her friend had just been blasted with most lethal attack she had ever seen, yet somehow, she was still standing. “Thank you Fluttershy, I won’t...” Slowly, Fluttershy began to fall forward. A small void appeared directly under her as impacted the ground. The void completely sucked Fluttershy in. She was gone. Rarity began to cry. Not to a large extent. Just enough for it to be visible. “Fluttershy, I will never forget you...”

Blueblood looked over his accomplishment as the scars on his head disappeared. All that remained was a small black scorch mark where Fluttershy had stood. “Looks like my work is done. So long suckers!” His horn glowed and ‘poof’, he was gone along with the restraints holding Rarity down. Gilda had snuck off sometime during the explosion.

Rarity trotted over to the small crater looking at the scorch mark along the ground. “Oh Fluttershy, you didn’t deserve this... It should have been me...” With tears streaming from her eyes, she turned and galloped back to Ponyville. Gilda had mentioned Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. She hoped it wouldn’t be true but, in her heart, she knew it was real. “Please my friends, please be ok...” At this time, she was the only remaining Element of Harmony remaining unscathed. It was up to her now.

Chapter 6 - Forgive and Forget

Deep within Ponyville Hospital, Twilight Sparkle was fast asleep in her bed trying to recover from were duel with Trixie the previous day.

“WAAAAHHHH!” Twilight’s eyes shot open and she bounced in air sending her blankets flying at a cringing whine that had just entered the room. “No! I won’t do it!” Trying to get up, Twilight looked over to see a small unicorn filly with a bright blue coat and a white mane with blue stripes. She was locking the door.

“What in Equestria is going on?”

The filly turned back to look at Twilight. “Oh, I didn’t know somepony was in here.” She then ran over to Twilight and jumped up putting her hooves on the bed. “Sorry if I scared you Miss.”

“Oh, it ok...”

The filly starting looking up and down Twilight body. Her body was a bit banged up and she had a few bandages around her chest. “What happened to you?”

“Eh, I got into a little fight. Don’t you worry about it... What about you? You ran in screaming a newborn foal.”

“It’s just that... I’m scared...”

“I kind of figured that out. What are you scared of? Doctors trying to give you a shot?”

“No, I’m scared of the operation...”

“Why is a filly of your age getting an operation!?”

“It’s my horn.” The filly poked at her horn a few times. “For some reason, I’ve been completely unable to perform magic. I’ve tried and tried but I can’t do it.”

“Well, don’t give up hope...”

“My parents have been trying for months to figure out why I can’t do magic. The doctors say my mind and horn aren’t mentally connected and my mental signals aren’t making contact.”

“My, my, that’s some pretty complex stuff for a filly.” Twilight lightly tapped on the filly’s head. “I have a feeling you’re going to be powerful unicorn when you grow up.” Twilight stopped tapping. “But you’re going to need to go through the operation if you ever want that to happen.”

The filly nodded. “Thank you, Miss.”

Twilight attempted to get out of bed. It put a bit of strain on her but eventually landed on the ground wobbling a bit. “Now you should probably go back to your room. The doctors are probably looking for you.”

“Ok!” Twilight decided to help escort the little filly out of the room. After she opened the door, the filly went running out down the hall.

“Ah, kids...” Suddenly, she heard a ton of voice coming from down the hall. She looked down and noticed about 4 doctors quickly pushing a stretcher down the hall. “Oh, I hope nopony has been hurt too bad...” When the doctor ran past, the world nearly froze around Twilight when she saw a rainbow maned Pegasus on the stretcher with a breather mask on and covered in burns. “Rainbow Dash! NO!”

As they rounded the corner, Twilight looked the other way and found the Cakes had been following behind them. “Oh Twilight! It was absolutely horrible!” Said Mrs. Cake. “That horrible Griffon came back!”

Twilight’s ears perked up. “You mean Gilda?”

“Yes! She burned down our shop, summoned some black monster thing, attacked Rainbow Dash and now Pinkie Pie is missing!”

“Wait, wait, wait! A black monster thing?”

“Eh, it came out of her shadow.” Said Mr. Cake. “It has wings and freaky red eyes.”

Twilight began to rub her head in frustration. “I can’t believe it... Gilda’s a shadow servant too?” The frustration was really starting to get to her. First Trixie, now Gilda? Who else could be one? “Listen, just to be safe, avoid anyone wearing a black hooded robe.”

“Oh yes, we will!” Mr. and Mrs. Cake turned back down the hall. Just as they were leaving, Yugi and Celestia showed up.

“Twilight, my faithful student! What are you doing out here?”

“I saw the doctors run by with Rainbow Dash...”

“Yes, unfortunately we didn’t make it in time. I’m also afraid your friend Pinkie Pie was banished to the Shadow Realm...”

Twilight looked down at her hooves. In just one day, everything had taken a turn for the worst. The only ones remaining were-. “Twilight!” Everypony turned back and saw Rarity in a full gallop down the hall.

“Rarity!” Yelled Twilight. “What’s going on?”

Rarity was heavily panting. “Twilight! They got Fluttershy!”

Twilight recoiled back in shock. “No... It can’t be...” She began to gather up her mind at what was happening. “Who did it? Trixie? Gilda?”

“That’s the thing! You’re not going to believe this but it was Blueblood! Prince Blueblood is working alongside Trixie!”

“Oh...” Celestia sighed. “That is quite troubling...”

Yugi was looking between all the ponies that had gathered in the hall. “Perhaps we should head back into the room so we can recap and go over everything that we know.”

“Good idea Yugi.” Celestia replied. Twilight, Rarity, Yugi and Princess Celestia all headed back into the room.

Twilight slowly pushed herself back on the bed and put her head down. “I can’t believe This is happening... We defeated Nightmare Moon with no problem and though a little rocky at first, we eventually beat and resealed Discord... But why are we having so much trouble with simple pieces of cardboard? It doesn’t make sense...”

“You’re not alone Twilight.” Said Yugi. “Duel Monsters is a dangerous game. We have to get serious, no more holding back!”

Twilight started looking left and right around room. “Hey, where’s Kaiba? I haven’t seen him all day.”

“He is back at the library doing some simulations in hope of finding a way to beat Iseris.”

“He isn’t going to find one.” Replied Celestia. “There is only 1 card that can beat it.”

“Speaking of which...,” said Twilight. “You never got a chance to tell us how you beat Iseris all those years ago.”

“The only way to beat Iseris is through the use of one specific card.”

“Do you have the card on you?” Asked Yugi.

“Sadly no, Its locked in a sealed room in Canterlot Castle, much like the Elements of Harmony. I couldn’t let it fall into the hands of the Shadow Servants. That would be disastrous.”

“Hey guys?” Asked Twilight. “Can’t we just reprint the card and use it; I mean it is just cardboard...”

“NO!” Roared Celestia. “It doesn’t work like that! The card was enchanted by the Elements of Harmony 800 years ago! I can’t just make another!”

Twilight backed up. She had never seen Celestia get so mad before. “I’m sorry...”

Celestia shook her head and shrugged it off. “No, I’m sorry for yelling at you... Your just not understanding the situation we are in. This isn’t a just some colt’s card game. This is life or death. If we can’t the beat Shadow Servants, they will destroy everything... I witnessed the destruction all those years ago. The only was I was able to escape it was by erasing everypony’s memory as well as the memory of all those that lost their lives. Everything I had worked for was destroyed just like that. I practically had to rebuild Equestria again completely from scratch...”

Everypony in the room simply looked at Princess Celestia not saying a word. Finally, Twilight spoke up. “No, we won’t let that happen!” Twilight pushed herself up and stood up on the bed. “We’ve defeated the worst of the worst. We have proved several times that nothing can beat our friendship. They’ve already gotten 4 of us but isn’t going to stop me. No Destroyer of Harmony is going to stop us!” Using her magic, Twilight levitated her Duel Disk and slipped it onto her left hoof. “We will show that FRIENDSHIP... IS... MAGIC!!!” Upon saying the last word Twilight’s Duel Disk turned on rotated into place.

“That’s the spirit!” Yelled Rarity.

“Friendship is a powerful thing.” Added Yugi.

“My faithful student...”

Twilight extended out her hoof, holding out in the middle of the ponies. “To friendship...”

Rarity extended her hoof. “To friendship...”

Then Yugi. “To friendship...”

“I’m proud of you Twilight, you’ve grown so much since the day you came to Ponyville. I’m glad to have you as my student.” Finally, Celestia held out her hoof, finishing off the circle. “To friendship...”

“ALRIGHT!” The 4 ponies said, lifting their hooves in a break.

As the ponies broke their circle, a dark figure sitting atop her throne began to laugh. “Oh Celestia... You never cease to surprise me.” The figure stood up and began her decent down the stairs to her seat. “However, the Pharaoh might become a problem... Yami is neigh unbeatable. If he gets that card then there is no way I will beat him, even at full power.” She turned her attention to the reflected pool in the ground The only thing she saw was Princess Celestia joining in a laugh with the 3 ponies. Spitting at the sight, she turned her attention the large window within the room. Trotting over to it, she stared up at the moon. Then it hit her. “Trixie! Blueblood! I require your presence in the throne room!”

On que, the unicorns trotted into the room. “What is your need, Master?” Asked Trixie.

“I need you two to head over to Canterlot to perform a little... Task...”

“What would that be your highness?” Asked Blueblood.

“Celestia and the others will be heading there soon to acquire the one thing that can beat us. I need you to cut them off.”

“Yes, Master...”

The figure turned her head to Trixie. “And Trixie, your failure to defeat Twilight Sparkle yesterday was quite a disappointment.” Trixie nervously looked down at her hooves. “However, I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself.”

“You are?” Asked Trixie.

“Go with Blueblood to Canterlot Castle and crush Celestia. Make her feel pain like I did. I want to see her quibbling at my feet. Make her suffer... Do you understand my request?”

Trixie thought about it for a second. She wanted her to beat Celestia? No, that couldn’t be it. She knew her Master wanted Celestia for herself. She clearly wanted something else. She just had to figure it out. “Y-Y-Y-Yes Master... I understand...”

“Good... You may leave...” In a flash of light, Blueblood had disappeared. Reaching into her robe, Trixie threw down a smoke bomb, exploding into a cloud of smoke. When the cloud cleared, Trixie was gone. Then Gilda walked into the room.

“What about me your highness?” She asked.

“Gilda, I have something I need to discuss with you first...”

“What would that be?”

“To put it simply, although you succeeded in capturing your target, you still failed your assignment.”

Gilda recoiled back. “What!? That’s bull!”

“You may have captured the Element of Laughter but you left the Element of Loyalty incapacitated and in case you didn’t know, we can only send ponies to the Shadow Realm if they lose a duel.”

“Yah, and?”

“And, because of the state you put her in, she CAN’T duel!”

Gilda hesitated, thinking about her mistake. “Ah... Well...”

“The fact is, we can’t send her to the Shadow Realm until she is back on her feet. So, you better come up with a pretty good idea because I’m not assisting you this time around.”

“Yes Master. I’ll fix this problem and capture Rainbow Dash.” With a screech, Gilda flew out an open window.

“I swear, why are the strong ones always so dumb?”

“Miss Sparkle, I’m asking that your get your rest.”

“No, I have to help my friends!” Twilight was trying to wrestle her way out of the hospital but the doctor kept holding her down. “I must go!”

“No Miss Sparkle, you must stay here. You are in no condition to do anything.”

“I’m fine.” Said Twilight as she jumped off the bed. As soon as she landed, she started wobbling nearly fell over but the nurse caught her. She let out a nervous giggle. “I guess not.”

They had originally planned to take Twilight to Canterlot to get the card but the doctors all suggested she stay in bed. Celestia thought that maybe it was for the best. “Listen Twilight, don’t worry, we will get that card and be back soon. As long as I have the Pharaoh, there is nothing to worry about.”

“Maybe we should get back to the library and check on Kaiba before we leave.” Suggested Yugi.

“Good idea. He may be a valuable asset to us.”

“Alright. Rarity?”

The unicorn turned to Yugi. “Yes?”

“You should probably run home and pack up. Who knows how long we will be in Canterlot.”

“Your right. Plus, I can’t just leave Sweetie without somepony watching her.”

“Just meet us at the library when you’re ready.”

Rarity turned and made way for the door. “Be back soon.”

Yugi turned his attention back to Celestia. “We should go.”

“Indeed.” Yugi and Celestia turned to the door and starting leaving the room. Celestia stop in the middle of the doorway. “Twilight, just stay safe.”

Rarity was in a slow trot down the hallway. She was still in the hospital. As she walked past a slightly open door, she heard the sound of a heart monitor. With curiosity getting the best of her, she peaked her head inside. Her eyes watered at the sight of her rainbow maned friend completely unconscious, battered and bruised. “Oh Rainbow, you didn’t deserve this...” She put her hoof on Rainbow’s mane, lightly brushing it.

“Pinkie Pie...” Rainbow muttered.

Rarity gasped. Looking closer, she realized Rainbow was still unconscious. “Oh my, sleep talking?”

“No... Pinkie Pie... Failure...” Suddenly, Rainbow Dash started struggling. Her chest was heaving up and down. “No!” Rainbow’s heart monitor started to accelerate. The beats were getting faster.

“Oh, no! I think she is having a nightmare!” Rarity didn’t know how right she was.

Rainbow Dash was lost. Lost within her own mind. She wandered aimlessly in the darkness. She had no idea where she or anything else was. “Hello!? Anypony here!?” Her voice echoed for mile yet nopony heard. “Hello!?”

“Rainbow Dash...”

The pegasus jumped. “What? Who’s there?”

“Rainbow Dash...”

“Who’s there!? Come on out and fight me coward!” She said, getting up on her hind legs.

“Rainbow Dash...”

Rainbow was getting fed up with these strange voices. “Alright... Come on out so I can clobber you! I’m done with these games!”

“But we’re not Rainbow Dash... No, we’re just getting started...”

All around her sides, she noticed 5 black portals opening in the ground below her. “What’s happening?”

Out of one of the portals rose a familiar purple unicorn. “Rainbow Dash, you shall pay for your crimes against humanity.”

“Twilight?”

Next came an orange earth pony. “You betrayed us Sugarcube...”

“Applejack? What are you talking about?”

Third came a yellow pegasus. “I’m sorry. I can’t be friends with a killer...”

“Fluttershy...” Rainbow’s eyes were starting to tear up.

Forth, a white unicorn. “It your fault she’s gone...”

“Rarity? What are you talking about? Who is gone?”

“Me...” a voice came from the fifth and final portal. Out of the voice came a pink bubbly earth pony. “You killed me Dash...”

“No... It wasn’t my fault...”

“You promised you would keep me safe...”

“Pinkie Pie, I’m sorry... I tried... Please understand... I tried!”

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it...”

“Please Pinkie Pie! I tried as hard as I could! I was just not strong enough...”

“That too bad... Because now we must get rid of the traitor...”

“Pinkie Pie?”

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie pulled out a fully lit torch. “Burn the traitor!”

“No...”

“Burn the traitor!”

“No!”

“BURN THE TRAITOR!”

“NOOOOOOOO!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the top of her lungs. She had betrayed her friends. Betrayed their trust. She was a failure...

Yugi and Celestia approached Twilight’s tree. They needed to check up on Kaiba who had been couped up all day. The door slammed open as Spike came running out in a panic. “Make it stop!”

“Woh buddy! What’s going on?” Asked Yugi.

“Its Kaiba!”

As Yugi opened the door to the library taking a quick look inside his eyes widened at what he saw. The floor was littered with crumbled up scrolls, the trash can was like a mountain, and Kaiba was an absolute mess. His mane was shriveled up and he was no longer wearing his white jacket. He was slamming his hooves on his laptop. “Chance of success, 0%.”

“RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! THIS CARD IS PISSING ME OFF!!!”

Yugi stepped back a bit but eventually entered. “Kaiba, what are you doing?”

“I been trying to find a way to destroy that ROTTEN CARD! Thousands of decks, tens of thousands of combinations and NOTHING WORKS!” Kaiba sat up out of his seat and looked over at his computer. “Dumb simulator...” With his hoof, he slapped the top of his computer shut. Sitting back down, Kaiba crossed his armed in frustration before looking over at Celestia. “Who’s the new broad?”

Yugi shifted his eyes to the Princess. “Oh, this is Princess Celestia. She says that she knows a way to beat Iseris.”

Kaiba’s eyes widened. “WHAT!? She knows how to beat that thing!?”

Yugi nodded. “Ya, there is a card she has locked in a vault over in Canterlot Castle. We’re headed over there to get it.”

“Hmm, interesting.”

“You don’t have to come with us. Though we are bringing Rarity along since there is nopony available.”

“Oh, can I go!?” Jumped Spike.

Yugi thought for a moment. “Eh, I don’t know...”

“Come on! I never get to go to Canterlot. Twilight always just leaves me behind.”

Yugi stared at him for a second. “Alright, you can come.”

“YES!”

“Just stay out of trouble...”

There was a knock at the door and Yugi went to answer it. When he opened it, he the Rarity standing outside with a pair of saddlebags over her back. “Sorry if I took too long. There was a bit of trouble regarding Rainbow Dash.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“I’m not exactly sure. She kept muttering things like ‘failure’ and ‘traitor.’ Yugi just rubbed his chin. “Oh, I hope nothing back is going to happen. Deep down, that Pegasi’s mind is as fragile as Fluttershy.”

“I know what you mean. The more confident you are, the more you break down when you fail...” Yugi quickly shifted his gaze over to Kaiba before shifting back to Rarity. “Anyway, since Twilight isn’t able to come with us, we’ve agreed to bring Spike with us. Hope you don’t mind...”

“Oh no, it fine. I kind of like Spike’s company.” Out of the corner of his eye, Yugi noticed Spike was lightly floating above the ground.

“Our ride should be here soon.” Interrupted Celestia. “It will be arriving right outside the door.” Celestia exited the room and the others followed. Except for Kaiba of course. “Ah, there it is.” She pointed her hoof up into the sky. There were a pair of carriages being pulled by a couple of Pegasi in armor. After they landed. Celestia climbed aboard, beckoning the others to come up. Yugi joined Celestia while Rarity and Spike took the other carriage. The Pegasi then took flight, carrying them to they’re next destination, Canterlot.

As they flew over the land, Yugi gazed at the setting sun. ‘I have a bad feeling this isn’t anywhere close to being over.’

A ghostly figure appeared next to Yugi. “No, it’s only just beginning...”

Chapter 7 - Full-Hearted Generosity

High in the clouds of Equestria, two golden chariots flew carrying three ponies and a baby dragon. Yugi and Celestia occupied one while Rarity and Spike the other. Yugi looked down upon the ground checking out all the sites. He had seen many places before in his world but this was a completely new experience. Then something came to his mind. “Hey Princess, can I ask you something?”

Celestia turned her eyes towards him. “What is it?”

“Well, there’s been something that has been bugging me for a while now. Back when we were with Twilight, you mentioned that you had a sister that you once banished. What exactly was that about?”

Celestia sighed. “It’s a long story, even further back than our history with Duel Monsters. You see, many years ago, both me and my sister Luna ruled this land together. I ruled over the day and she ruled over the night. She can even walk among the dream world and see the very dreams of ponies, a very powerful ability.”

“So, what happened?”

“Back in the day, ponies slept through the night and worked during the day. She felt as though nopony cared about her and that nopony knew what actually did for them. She just couldn’t stand being ignored constantly, both by our subjects and me... She just wanted somepony to know she actually existed. That is when she became Nightmare Moon, and tried to plunge Equestria into eternal night. I fought her… And lost… There was only one way to defeat her… The Elements of Harmony… I wasn’t the only one tied to the elements, she was as well and I feel that might have contributed to the why Elements won’t respond to me anymore. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me and now thanks to my mistake, she forever lost 1000 years of her life… Now she lives in an Equestria she doesn’t fully understand and among ponies that don’t understand her…”

“I understand perfectly.” Yugi replied. “The Pharaoh is not much different. Something happened 5000 years ago and his spirit sealed within the Millennium Puzzle I carry around my neck. We are still trying to figure out what exactly happened all those years ago.”

“About a year ago, Luna finally broke out of the moon and tried sending Equestria into eternal night once again. Unknown to anypony else, I sent my number one student to Ponyville and make some friends. I knew all along that she had the potential to be the Element of Magic and all she had to do was awaken the other five Elements.”

Yugi raised his right hoof as like he was counting fingers. “Six Elements… Twilight, Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack... But wait, don’t you need all six of them for them to work? Wouldn’t that mean the Elements can’t be used anymore?”

“You’re quite smart Yugi. While it is true the Elements wouldn’t work now that three of the bearers have fallen, the Elements wouldn’t have worked anyway. Whoever is controlling Iseris has access to a kind of magic like I have never seen, normal pony magic doesn’t work against it. The only kind of magic that seems to work against it somehow has a connection to the game of Duel Monsters.

“Shadow magic...”

“What?”

“Shadow magic is what we used in ancient times to call upon the spirits of Duel Monsters to fight for us. Its likely Equestria has some kind of history related to Duel Monsters just like my world and this evil got a hold of it.

“It’s very possible; I had to use a rather unorthodox method to create the card I mentioned. I had to use a bit of Iseris’ own magic combined with magic from the Elements. I’m surprised it even worked.”

“Shadow magic is not necessarily evil; it’s all based on the one controlling it. Shadow magic can simply be described as opening a portal to another realm where the monsters are real. By making that card, all you did was harness the power of the shadow realm and infuse its power and Elements into a card.”

“I guess I still have much to learn about the world of Duel Monsters…”

Trixie was slowly sneaking through the inner walls of Canterlot Castle. Just as she turned a corner, she noticed a ground of armored ponies walking her way. She quickly jumped back and hit behind a pillar. She could hear them conversing with each other as they walked by.

“So, what happened to Celestia? She ran off without saying where she was going.”

“I overheard her talking to her sister that she was going to Ponyville to meet up with some 5000-year-old Pharaoh. They were talking about something called ‘Duel Monsters.’”

“There have been several reports of gigantic beasts appearing over Ponyville then disappearing quickly after.”

“I heard about that. There were reports of giant blue bipedal beasts, mile-long red dragons and gold-plated dragons. What’s weird is that all reports say they just hover in the sky and then disappear and every time they appear, an unscheduled storm occurs.”

“What is going on around here? I’ve been trying to ask Princess Luna but she has been coped up on her room ever since Princess Celestia left.”

Suddenly, a new castle guard come running up the hall. “Hey, we have reports of an intruder in the castle.” Trixie started to sweat. “Spread out and search the castle.” All the guards run in multiple and seemingly missed Trixie hiding behind the pillar.

“That was close…” Trixie continued down the hall the guards were blocking. Around the corner, she saw a pair of two large doors. As she was about to open the door, she was interrupted.

“Halt! Stop right there.” Trixie spun around to see one of the guards that she was eavesdropping on just moments ago. “Nopony is allowed to enter her highness’s room, especially one who snuck into the castle.”

Trixie just grinned. “And what do you plan to do to stop me?” The guard simply moved closer pointing his spear at her. “Fine, have it your way.” She held up her hoof and extended her duel disk. After that, every resident in the castle could hear a loud scream. All the guards quickly started running towards the scream but Trixie didn’t care. She opened the large door and approached her new target.

After a long ride, Yugi and the others had finally reached Canterlot. The chariots came down and landed right at the front gate. The three ponies and baby dragon hopped out and slowly walked up to the drawbridge that was currently up.

“Give me a second...” Spoke Celestia. Her horn lit up a bright yellow and the drawbridge came down. When the bridge was finally down, Spike jumped onto to Rarity’s backs and the four of them headed in.

“So where exactly is this card, we are looking for Celestia?” Yugi asked.

“It’s up in a secret vault alongside the Elements of Harmony.”

“You mean that room Discord broke into?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, but luckily, he never found the card; it’s hidden within the vault itself. I took extra special precautions with this one.”

The main room came into the view. It was a large hall with entrances to both sides. There was also a big stairway in the middle splitting into two more sets of stairs. However, all eyes lay upon a hooded figure standing directly at the bottom of the staircase. He flung off his hood revealing his face. “Hello Aunty Celestia, happy to see me?”

“Thrilled...”

Blueblood frowned. “Don’t be too enthusiastic. Thou knew I would be here.”

“Blueblood, how could you tarnish our family name like this?”

“Tarnish our name? PAH! Your stupid sister already did that...”

Celestia’s hair burst into flames as the Royal Canterlot voice echoed through the castle. “DON’T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY SISTER LIKE THAT!!!”

“Oh, quite a touchy subject... You always were overly protective of that useless sack of garbage.”

“SILENCE!!!”

“Or what Tia, are you going to send me to the moon?” Blueblood mocked. “You seem to have forgotten that your feeble unicorn magic is useless against me…”

“You little...”

“Oh, and I wouldn’t worry about Luna. She’s in good hands...” On cue, there was a loud explosion. Celestia’s eyes shot open and she bolted back out the door. She looked up to see the massive image of the Egyptian God, Obelisk the Tormentor hovering over a balcony near the top of the castle.”

“That’s my sister’s room! Where are all the guards!?”

“Trixie and I took care of them all. Speaking of Trixie, it looks like she is almost finished disposing of the Night Princess.”

“Not if we get to her first...”

“Ah, but before you go, I have a little score to settle...” Using his hind legs, Blueblood lifted himself up and slammed his hooves down onto the ground sending out a ring across the floor. Spike held on tight to Rarity’s mane as the wave slid right under them and stopped. “This time, your my opponent milady.”

Rarity stepped back a bit. “You want to duel me?” She looked back at Spike and gave him a concerned look. “Spike, you better get back…” Rarity held her left hoof high in the air and it started glowing. The light burst into multi-colored sparks and a new duel disk materialize on her hoof. The centerpiece was a large white diamond; connected to the center was a 3-slot golden card tray. The tray extended out and a secondary tray came out from the side making it a full 5-slots. “Alright, this is for Fluttershy; you and me.”

Blueblood put a smirk on his face. “You know what? I’ve got a better idea... How about we make this a 2-on-1? After all, your dragon friend is in the barrier too.”

Spike stepped back. “But... I don’t have any cards.”

“Oh, that’s right, only the Elements of Harmony have a deck in this day. Since your unable to duel, I guess that means it’s the Shadow Realm for you.” A black portal began to open under Spike and he began to sink.

“Spike no!” Rarity yelled.

Unknown to everyone, Celestia’s horn started glowing. In a flash, a Battle City-like duel disk appeared in front of her. “Hey Spike!”

He turned his head back and saw Celestia throw the Duel Disk towards him. He jumped and caught with both hands dispelling the portal underneath. He looked at it for a second before looking back at Celestia. “Princess... How did you?”

“Did you really think I would forget about you? I’ve known you since you hatched, I’m not going to lose you like the others.”

Spike slid the disk onto his arm and it rotated into place. “Uh, I didn’t see all of Yugi’s explanation about how this game works...”

“Don’t worry Spike, I’ll help you out.” Rarity said. “I watched Blueblood duel Fluttershy so I know all of his strategies.”

Spike blushed a bit. “Thanks Rarity...”

Celestia and Yugi turned to each other. “Princess, we should go and help your sister, and then we can get that card.” Yugi suggested.

“I know a way around without using the grand stairs.” Celestia added. Yugi nodded and the two ran out through the left side door of the room.

“Now what do you say we put this ruffian in his place?” Rarity asked.

“Let bury him into the ground!” Spike added.

“Such crude remarks...” Blueblood responded. “Now, since this will be two against one, I think it’s only fair I start the duel with 8000 life points.”

“That’s fine with me.” Rarity replied. The two of them stood in a triangle in the middle of the foyer. Rarity and Spike had their sides facing each other. Spike stood to the left of the stairs while Rarity stood on the right. Blueblood stood right in front of the stair activating his Duel Disk.

“LET’S DUEL!!!”

Rarity
< LP: 4000 >

Spike
< LP: 4000 >

Blueblood
< LP: 8000 >

“Mind if I take the first move milady?” Spike asked.

“Of course, you can, dear.”

“Alright!” Spike drew his first card. “I’ll start by summoning Armed Dragon LV3!” The monster appeared as a small red and black dragon about twice the size of Spike.

Armed Dragon LV3
< Level 3 / ATK: 1200 >

“Next, I’ll set one card face down. I’ll pass on to Rarity now...”

“Now I draw and I summon Gem-Knight Sapphire in defense mode.” Rarity’s monster was a large man-like creature made completely of sapphire.

Gem-Knight Sapphire
< Level 4 / DEF: 2100 >

“That’s it for me. Take your best shot Blueblood.”

“I intend to...” Blueblood drew his card. “Let me show you how a real Unicorn duels. You may think you know my deck but you’re wrong. My Ally of Justice monsters may be powerful but they pale in comparison to these beauties. When you have a monster on the field and I have none, I’m allowed to special summon this monster from my hand without sacrificing. Say hello to Cyber Dragon!” Blueblood’s first monster appeared as a large silver dragon towering them in size. It had no hands or legs, just a simple body like a snake.

Cyber Dragon
< Level 5 / ATK: 2100 >

“Since that was a special summon, I’m still allowed to normal summon this turn. I’ll call out my Cyber Valley!” This second monster highly resembled his original dragon but appeared more organic.

Cyber Valley
< Level 1 / ATK: 0 >

“Now I am going to show the power of Cyber Dragon. Destroy Armed Dragon with your Strident Blast!” Cyber Dragon held back it head and small lights began flowing from the wires coming from its neck.

“Hold on Blueblood!” Spike yelled. “I activate my face-down card, Threatening Roar!”

“What?”

“This card stops your machine’s attack dead in its tracks.” The card released a pulse across the field and Cyber Dragon slowly let up and dropped it head back down.

“Fine, you’re safe for now. I’ll end my turn with a face-down.”

“Alright, I guess it’s my turn again...” Before Spike could make his move, his dragon started glowing white. “Woh! What’s happening?” The white glow began to change. It grew in size a spawned a few new body parts. The white silhouette dissipated and revealed an evolved monster. “Dude! What was that?”

Armed Dragon LV5
< Level 5 / ATK: 2400 >

“I think your monster just got stronger.” Rarity replied.

“It did? Awesome!” Spike shot a glare at Blueblood. “Now my Armed Dragon is stronger than your Cyber Dragon but first I summon Spear Dragon!” The monster appeared as a mid-sized blue dragon with nose like a sword fish.

Spear Dragon
< Level 4 / ATK: 1900 >

“First I’ll attack with Armed Dragon!” Spike’s dragon opened it mouth and several shockwaves fired out, Cyber Dragon to burst to pieces. The shards of metal from the dragon rained down from the air and Blueblood covered his head.

Blueblood
< LP: 8000 → 7700 >

“How dare you inflict damage upon me!” Blueblood yelled.

“Don’t think it’s over just yet. My Spear Dragon has yet to attack and since your Cyber Valley has no attack points, this is going to do a lot of damage.” Spear Dragon then lunged toward Blueblood’s monster. “Cyclone Blast!”

“Wait Spike!” Rarity called.

“Hah! You just triggered my monster’s effect!” Cyber Valley started to glow and exploded into a light stopping Spike’s monster.

“What?”

“When Cyber Valley is attacked, his effect activates allowing me to remove him from play to end the battle phase immediately before you can do any damage.” The glowing light then shot up into the air swirled downward into Blueblood’s duel disk. “I’m also allowed to draw one card.” Blueblood took his card. “Thank you kindly...”

“I walked right into that one…” Spike looked down at his hand. “Since I can’t do anything else, I’ll just put a card face-down.” Once Spike’s turned ended, his dragon started glowing. “Armed Dragon is evolving again!” His dragon grew to an unspeakable size. It let out a roar that shook the ground.

Armed Dragon LV7
< Level 7 / ATK: 2800 >

“My turn again.” Rarity said drawing her card. Her face beamed. “Ooooh, this will definitely help. I play the spell card Gem-Knight Fusion!” Rarity took the card, and over dramatically slid the card into a spell slot. “This let’s my combine my Gem-Knights into a new fusion monster.” Taking a card in her hand, Rarity placed a new monster down. “I combined Gem-Knight Sapphire with the Gem-Knight Amber in my hand.” The two monsters swirled together into a vortex, completely swallowing them up. “Now I summon, Gem Knight Aquamarine!” Rarity’s new monster was definitely bulkier than the previous two. It wore thick blue armor and a cape.

Gem-Knight Aquamarine
< Level 6 / ATK: 1400 >

“Now since Spike was such a dear and cleared your field, you’re wide open for an attack.”

“Uh oh...” Blueblood muttered.

“Gem-Knight Aquamarine...” Rarity thrusted her right hoof right at Blueblood “Attack Blueblood’s life points directly!” Aquamarine lunged forward with a shield-like weapon with a blade, stabbing the prince is the chest. Blueblood grabbed his chest and let out a quite growl.

Blueblood
< LP: 7700 → 6300 >

“After my monster attacks, it goes into defense to protect my life points. Luckily, he has quite a bit of defense.” Rarity’s Gem-Knight took a defensive stance.

Gem-Knight Aquamarine
< ATK: 1400 → DEF: 2600 >

“That’s all for me. It’s your move...”

Blueblood was still holding his chest from the previous attack. “I’ll make you pay for injuring me...” He drew his card and a sinister smile appeared on his face. “OH YES! I couldn’t have asked for a better draw!” Blueblood slammed his card onto his disk. It let out a bunch of red light covering the field. A figure began to appear in the light. Then a sound came. A humming sound...

Rarity’s eyes widened at the familiar sound. “Oh no...” A pair of legs followed. Once again, Rarity shivered.

“I summon Ally of Justice Core Destroyer!” The light finally cleared. The monster held a huge similarity to Ally of Justice Catastor from Fluttershy’s duel but it was quite smaller.

Ally of Justice Core Destroyer
< Level 3 / ATK: 1200 >

“Core Destroyer may not be as strong as Catastor but his ability is just as deadly. Whenever he battles a monster who is Light attribute, that monster is immediately destroyed before the battle even begins.”

Rarity looked at him with confusion. “But we don’t use Light monsters...” Then her eyes shifted to Blueblood’s face-down. “No... Your face-down card!”

“Ah, so you remember? I reveal the permanent trap card DNA Transplant!”

“What does that do?” Spike ask nervously.

“DNA Transplant is a powerful card that lets him change the attribute of every monster on the field to an attribute of his choosing.” Rarity replied. “His Ally of Justice monsters gain special abilities power when faced against light monsters. That’s how he beat Fluttershy...”

“Exactly!” Blueblood yelled. “Ally Core Destroyer, attack Spike’s Armed Dragon!” Core Destroyer built up its energy within it eye, making it glow a bright red. Then fire a laser directly at Spike’s monster disintegrating it and created a massive cloud of smoke. “Lucky for you, like Catastor, Core Destroyer can’t inflict damage when it destroys a monster by its effect...” Then, something started to stir from the cloud. “Huh?” Suddenly, out of the smoke cloud floated a bunch of pink color thorned spheres that charged towards Blueblood. “What’s going on?”

“It’s simple Blueblood...” Spike replied. “By destroying my dragon, you unleashed a trap I had set last turn.” As the spheres hit Blueblood’s duel disk, it started to spark and Core Destroyer exploded. “What happened to my monster?” Blueblood’s duel disk suddenly started spewing out cards from the deck zone and into the graveyard.

“When you destroyed my Armed Dragon, you unleashed my powerful Deck Devastation Virus trap card! This virus infects your hand, deck and field destroying every monster that has 1500 Attack or less.”

Blueblood groaned and looked down at his deck. It was significantly smaller than before. “I place two cards face-down. Make your move.”

Spike drew his card. “Alright... I think I’ll have my Spear Dragon attack your life points!”

“Spike!” Rarity yelled.

“I activate my Draining Shield trap card!” A small rainbow barrier formed around Blueblood just as the Spear Dragon made contact. “This trap blocks your attack and all the attack points of your monster get added to my life points.”

Blueblood
< LP: 6300 → 8200 >

“Your little virus stunt may have put a dent in my deck by life points are back to full power.”

“Aw man, I can’t believe I screwed up again...” Spike moaned. “I should have seen it coming.”

“Don’t worry, it happens to us all.” Rarity replied.

“Yeah but-”

“Just let me take over from here...” Rarity drew her card. “Hmm... I’ll just place two cards face-down and end my turn.”

“That’s it!? What a joke!” Blueblood chuckled. “You failed to beat me and now you are going to pay the price!” He swiftly drew his card and turned his eyes to it. He slowly began to chuckle before breaking into a full crazed laughter. “Oh, how ironic fate can be… You left me for some… Beast… And now he has doomed you to an end filled with nothing but pain and suffering!”

“What do mean?” Spike asked nervously.

“Thanks to your virus, you’ve set the stage for the most lethal monster in my whole deck… I play Overload Fusion!” The ground slowly below them started shaking and several cracks began to form in the tiled floor. “This destructive card allows me to remove any number of machine type monsters in my graveyard from the game as long as at least one of them is named ‘Cyber Dragon.’” One by one, cards ejected from Bluebloods graveyard. “I remove twelve of the machine type monsters in my graveyard from play!” The floor tiles began overturned and a large machine arose from beneath the castle. It was nothing like they had ever seen. It had a head and tail that looked exactly like Blueblood’s Cyber Dragon but it had this extremely bulky centerpiece in the center of the body with several holes. Suddenly, several extra heads started to form from the holes, all of which just like Cyber Dragon.

“What is that thing?” Rarity asked.

Channeling the Royal Canterlot Voice… “BEHOLD THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE MACHINE IN MY ENTIRE ARSENAL, CHIMERATECH OVERDRAGON!” As the beast’s twelfth head formed, it unleashed an ear-splitting roar, shattering every window within view. “Prepare to meet your doom!”

Yugi and Celestia were running through the hall when they were stopped by a sudden earthquake and a roar so loud, they couldn’t even move. “What is that terrible sound!?” Yugi asked. It was no good, the roar was completely blocking out their voices. Suddenly, the stained-glass windows around them started to shatter and fall to the ground.

The two continued to hold their heads down until the sound finally stopped. Celestia stood back up. Her mane had gone frizzy from the sound. She simply shook her head and put it back in place. “I’m not sure what just happened but I fear it has something to do with Blueblood.”

“Me too...”

“We’re really close to Luna’s room. It should be just down that hall.” Celestia pointed to a pathway a little down the hall.

“Then let’s go.” Yugi bolted down the hall turning around the corner. At the end was a large pair of doors. He pulled at the door but they wouldn’t open. “It’s locked...” He turned back to see Celestia viciously running at the door. Yugi jumped out of the way at the last second as Celestia reared up and smashed the door right down. They rushed in to see Luna barely standing. Her body was covered in scratches and bruises. Her opponent hadn’t put up a barrier.

“Thou have not beaten us yet vile fiend...” Luna whispered. She had an unusual monster on the field, a large white and golden dragon. It had a single yellow sphere orbiting around it.

Standing before her was a familiar blue unicorn. Her eyes glowed red and she had Iseris’ black scars on her head. “You fail to see that Trixie has you beat already. This next attack is going to finish you off.” She turned to look at the intruders. “Well, what have we here? Come to save your weakling of a sister, Princess?”

“LET HER GO!” Celestia roared.

“You’re too late! Iseris, attack the Princess’s monster and end this duel once and for all!” Iseris pulled its two wings together and formed a large black sphere of lightning between them before firing it at Luna’s monster. Luna just stood there as her monster was vaporized.

“LUNA!” Celestia jumped forward to grab Luna before she hit the ground. She looked down at her fallen sister. “No Luna, please. I’ve already lost you once…”

“Its… Too late for me… Goodbye sister…” The dark portal forms beneath Luna and she dissolved until there was nothing left. She was gone. Then Celestia turned back to Trixie.

“You’ll pay for this…”

“Sorry, but I have to go and tell my master the news. Though I will have to thank your sister for the duel, it was very… Interesting…” Trixie let out a maniacal laugh. “It’s time Trixie made herself scarce.” Trixie threw down a smoke bomb and vanished.

Celestia continued to sit in her position where she held Luna. Yugi trotted up and put his hoof on Celestia’s back. “Princess, stop worrying about her, she will be fine.”

“Yugi...”

“If what you say about her being banished for a thousand years is true, she can handle herself, but it’s your duty to get her out.”

“Those thousand years... Nightmare Moon... I wanted nothing more than to save Luna...”

“Then do it! Stop worrying and save her! What would Twilight think if she saw you right now?”

Celestia stopped. She looked up at a photo frame of Twilight sitting on her dresser. “Twilight...” Finally, Celestia stood back up. “Your right Yugi. I can’t sit here mopping all day. Twilight would never forgive me...”

Yugi simply smiled at the Princess. “That’s the spirit!”

The Princess went over and opened the door. “Let’s go. We need to hurry and get that card.”

Yugi nodded. “Right!”

Chimeratech Overdragon
< Level 9 / ATK: 9600 >

“Neither of you stand a chance against my Overdragon.” Blueblood looked his ‘victims’ with confidence. “Before I attack, I will summon my Doomcaliber Knight, just for some extra insurance.” Blueblood’s monster appeared as a black horse rider with a shield and sword. [ATK:1900]

Doomcaliber Knight
< Level 4 / ATK: 1900 >

“Now the time has come… Overdragon, attack Spike’s monsters and wipe out the rest of his life points!” Overdragon started charging energy within one of its twelve heads. Spike pupils shrunk, looking into the face of death. “Evolution… Result… BURST!!!” The dragon fired a large white electrical laser towards Spike’s dragon. The shot exploded into sparks covering the entire field. Blueblood could not help but break into a maniacal laugh during the whole scene.

As the smoke cleared, a battered and bruised Spike could be seen. He was still standing on both legs. “I’m… Not done yet…”

Spike
< LP: 1100 >

Blueblood was stunned. “How are you still alive!?” He looked up at his dragon. I was much smaller than it was before the attack and it seem to be letting out sparks.

Chimeratech Overdragon
< ATK: 4800 >

“What happened to my dragon’s attack points!?”

“Hmm...” A voice came from the smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal Rarity with a smirk on her face. There was a new spell card next to her. It had a picture of a goblin within a magnifying glass. “You like it? It’s a nifty card known as Shrink. I activated it right before your attack hit, cutting your dragon’s attack in half!”

“I had him squirming in fear at my dragon and you MESSED IT UP!” Blueblood pointed at Rarity. “Overdragon, attack her Knight with your Evolution Result Burst!” One of the dragon’s other heads started to charge up.

“What are you doing Blueblood? Your monster already attacked this turn!”

“Ah, that’s the wonder of Chimeratech Overdragon. For every monster removed to summon him, he can attack. Since I removed twelve monsters, he has the ability to attack twelve times!”

“What kind of sadist uses a monster that can attack twelve times!?”

“That is why Overdragon is my favorite monster. There is no kill like overkill and Overdragon does just that.” Overdragon finally released its charge and vaporized Rarity’s monster.

When the smoke cleared again, light blue shards could be seen floating around Rarity. “Ha, by destroying my Gem-Knight, you triggered its special effect. When Gem-Knight Aquamarine is sent from the field to the graveyard, I can choose one monster you control and return it to your hand.” The shards launched themselves towards Blueblood’s Overdragon. Suddenly, Blueblood’s Knight jumped in the way, blowing up on contact. “Wah... What happened?”

“When you activated the effect of your monster you triggered the effect of my Doomcaliber Knight. By sacrificing himself, he can stop your effect.”

Rarity let out a small growl. “You’re the same as you were at the Gala. Letting someone else take the blunt of anything thrown at you… You spoiled mongrel…”

Blueblood snickered. “While the master doesn’t exactly approve of my methods, they get the job done. Now luckily for you, Overdragon can’t use its multiple attacks to attack directly so the two of you are safe this turn. And since my turn is over, Overdragon regains its power.”

Chimeratech Overdragon
< ATK: 4800 → 9600 >

So, it’s my turn then...” Spike drew his card and frown appeared on his face. “I set a monster face-down on the field and end my turn.”

“It’s my turn now.” Rarity drew her card and then turned to Spike. He was sweating and looking at his cards. ’Poor Spike, he doesn’t seem to be drawing anything he can use and he keeps blaming himself for all the traps Blueblood has been using.’ She looked down at her cards. ’I’m not getting anything good either… Wait a minute, that’s it!’ ”I activate Card Destruction! This forces us to discard our entire hand and draw a new hand.” The three of them dumped their hands into the graveyard and drew new hands. Rarity looked over her cards. ’Ok, much better.’ She then turned to Spike. He was no longer sweating and had a large grin on his face. ’Looks like Spike also got a good draw.’ Rarity looked through her cards again. “Ok, first I’ll summon Gem-Knight Emerald.”

Gem-Knight Emerald
< Level 4 / ATK: 1800 >

“But he won’t stay around long because I activate my face-down card; Gem Enhancement. This card lets me trade in my current Gem-Knight for a stronger one.” Emerald vanished and a new monster appeared in its place, a large knight with full white armor and large crystals on his shoulders. “I summon Gem-Knight Crystal!”

Gem-Knight Crystal
< Level 7 / ATK: 1950 >

“I’ll end my turn with a face down… Do your worst Blueblood…”

“I will...” Blueblood put his hoof down to draw his card, but the second he touched his duel disk a small black spark went up his leg. Blueblood simply smirked then the top card started to let off a black glow. With all his might, Blueblood drew the card and left a black trail behind it as he drew. “I’ll start this turn by activating the card Monster Reborn!”

“No…” Then Rarity’s fear turned to confusion. “Hold it; you removed all your monsters to summon your Dragon... You don’t have anything left to summon.”

“Not quite… While it’s true that I removed my monsters to summon my Overdragon, he only requires that I remove machines to summon him. That means that anything that is not a machine is still in play, just like this next monster. I’m sure you remember it from out last encounter Rarity.” A giant staff rose up behind Blueblood and started glowing red. The sky turned dark and lightning could be heard.

“Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry.
Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight.
Envelop the desert with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe.
Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win.
Appear in this Shadow Game as I call out your name, Winged Dragon of Ra!”

The sky exploded with light as the Dragon of the Sun appeared. Its roar was could be heard for miles.

The Winged Dragon of Ra
< Level 10 / ATK: 0 >

“Sadly, he won’t be staying long... I have something much worse in store for you.” Blueblood took a card from his hand and held it up in the air. It was shrouded in a dark aura. “I sacrifice Chimeratech Overdragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra!” Ra dissolved into the black mist while Overdragon melted into a black sludge and swirled into the air, coming back down as a black lightning bolt striking Blueblood. Blueblood stood up on his hind legs as the familiar scars appeared on his head. “HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!” His shadow then came up of the ground into a familiar form but he was different. Iseris has twelve heads protruding from different parts of his body, just like Chimeratech Overdragon. In a booming Royal Canterlot Voice, Blueblood spoke again. “YOUR FINISHED RARITY! I’LL DESTROY YOU, YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR PRESIOUS LITTLE DRAGON!”

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 10100 >

“Iseris, attack Miss Rarity’s Gem-Knight Crystal!” Iseris’ multiple heads started charging a black electrical blast similar to Overdragon.

“Hold on!” Rarity yelled. “I reveal my face-down card; Waboku. Until the end of this turn, we can’t take any damage and neither of our monsters can be destroyed in battle.” Iseris fired its attack and a barrier appeared over Rarity that reflected the attack.

Blueblood looked at her with displeasure. “ENOUGH OF YOUR PATHETIC STALLING! YOU CAN ONLY HOLD OUT FOR SO LONG BEFORE YOU EVENTUALLY FALL!”

Yugi and Celestia had reached the final stretch. A long hallway surrounded with stained glass windows. To Yugi’s surprise, none of them had been broken by the event earlier. Celestia ran up to a door adorning a sun. “I need to minute to unlock the seal.” Celestia aimed her horn forward a thrusted it into a small hole in the door.

Yugi took this time to look at the windows. The designs made him a little curious. He first took notice to the mural of a black alicorn flying over six ponies. The spirit of the Pharaoh appeared next to him. “Hey Yugi, what does this remind you of?”

He inspected the mural closely. “Those six ponies along the bottom look a lot like Twilight and her friends and the black one looks kind of like Princess Luna.”

“Not Luna, Nightmare Moon...”

“Luna’s evil alter ego?”

“Yes, I think this may be some kind be a mural to those events Celestia mentioned.”

“Just like how your past was engraved on the stone tablets.” Yugi turned and trotted to another mural. It had a dragon holding puppet strings attached to three ponies. The Pharaoh noticed and followed him. “What is it about that dragon that makes me feel uncomfortable?”

“I can sense some kind of weird energy. It’s not shadow magic, it’s something else…”

“That’s not all. Look at his body! That’s not a normal dragon.”

“I think you’re right, it looks like he adorns parts of a whole bunch of different animals, like a Chimera.”

“I don’t know what that thing is but it gives me the creeps.” Yugi stopped when a bright light came from the door Celestia was opening.

“It’s open.” The Pharaoh vanished as Yugi trotted over to the open door. Inside the room was a small box sitting on a pedestal. Celestia lifted the box and handed it to Yugi.

“Is the card inside this box?”

“No, that box holds the Elements of Harmony. The same Elements Twilight and her friends used to save my sister.”

“If it isn’t here, then where is it?”

“Here...” Celestia put her hoof on top of the pedestal and pushed it down. The pedestal slowly sunk into the ground until it was completely gone. Once it was gone, a small compartment opened in the wall behind it. A single strip of stone emerged from the wall with a single card standing upright. Celestia then used her magic and revealed it to Yugi. “Here it is. This card has the power to destroy Iseris.”

“So, what do we do first?”

“First we need to help Spike and Rarity defeat Blueblood...” Celestia held the card up and pointed her horn at it. The card swirled around in the air and was engulfed in a green flame. “I just hope we were fast enough...”

“WHY ARE YOU WAITING!? TAKE YOUR TURN ALREADY SO I CAN DESTROY YOU!”

Rarity turned to Spike. “Spike, this is it. Make this turn count…”

Spike looked down at his deck and gulped. He slowly lowered his fingers onto his deck.

This was it; Spike only had one chance to win. The duel depended on his next draw. He placed his fingers on his duel disk and prepared to draw. “Wait...” He clenched his hand over his stomach. Something was coming up. Suddenly, he let out a loud belch and covered his duel dusk in flames.

Rarity recoiled back. “Spike, manners!”

“Sorry Rarity...” ’That was weird. It felt like the Princess was sending me something but nothing came out...’ Spike shook his head. “Alright, my draw...” Spike placed his fingers down again and drew his card. As the card came out of the deck slot, a bright light started overtaking him. He slowly pulled the card out holding out as far to his right as possible. Once he saw the card, his mood completely changed. “I’ll start off by playing my own Monster Reborn and I use this effect to bring back my Armed Dragon LV7.”

Armed Dragon LV7
< Level 7 / ATK: 2800 >

“Like that is going to help you.” Blueblood added.

“I’m not done, now I play Level Up! This allows me to upgrade my dragon even without destroying any monsters. Armed Dragon, evolve from Level 7 to Level 10!” Spike’s Armed Dragon started to grow even bigger, its new size rivaled that of Blueblood’s Overdragon.

Armed Dragon LV10
< Level 10 / ATK: 3000 >

Finally, he looked down at the card he had just drawn. ’Alright, let’s see what this card can do…’ “I activate-” The absolute second Blueblood saw the card, all the color drained from his body.

“HARMONY FUSION!” Suddenly, a small multicolored vortex appeared up above Spike’s head. Spike’s Armed Dragon LV10 and Rarity’s Gem-Knight Crystal then transformed into two glowing stars and shot upwards and flew into the vortex. The vortex slowly condensed before erupting into a six-point star shaped pink explosion. The explosion released a massive shockwave with a deafening screech. The shockwave could be seen for miles.

Celestia let a single tear escape from her eye as she saw the blast radiate over Equestria. “He did it, Spike played the card…”

Back at Ponyville, Twilight pulled her head up to window barely catching a glimpse of the familiar shaped wave. “It’s… So beautiful…”

Kaiba also opened the door to the library to see the blast. “What in the world is that!?”

As the explosion dissipated, all that remained was a large new creature completely covered in light. It was a dragon, but no ordinary dragon. It was large white dragon cover in diamonds and crystals. Its scales were a light blue and it bore large semi-transparent diamond armor. Spike looked upon his new beast with pride. Rarity’s eyes were glued to the monster, its beauty pulled her in. Blueblood looked in terror of the monster. Finally Spike spoke up. “Through the strength of the bond between me and Rarity, we have created a new monster. Be born, Translucence Diamond Dragon!” Its enchanting roar echoed through the sky.

Translucence Diamond Dragon
< Level 10 / ATK: 3000 >

Blueblood face changed from fear to glee. “Hahaha! Sorry good buddy but your monster only has 3000 attack points. Good try though....”

“We are not finished yet…” The boys turned to Rarity as she pressed a button on her disk, flipping up her final face-down card. It was a large ring surrounded by fireballs. “I activate the trap card, Ring of Destruction, and put it on Iseris.” The ring disappeared and reappeared around the neck of Iseris.

“Just what are you trying to accomplish? Iseris is unaffected by trap cards. Your trap is useless…”

“Don’t be so sure Blueblood.” Spike replied. “All I have to do is discard one card from my hand and my Dragon can negate the effect of any monster on the field.” Blueblood recoiled in terror. “Face it, you lost, we won!” Spike was giggling like child then he turned to Rarity. “Can you believe it, we actually him beat!” Rarity had her eyes close and her head was tilted to the ground. She almost looked sad. “Rarity?”

“Spike… I’m afraid you’re only half right. Blueblood HAS lost but…”

“But?”

“When Ring of Destruction destroys a monster, it does damage to ‘both’ players, not just him.” Rarity opened her eyes and turned to Spike. “Once that bomb goes off, Iseris will be destroyed, taking both me and Blueblood with it.”

“ARE YOU INSANE!?” Blueblood yelled. “Do you really plan to destroy yourself just to save this… Beast?”

“But Rarity, my dragon has the ability to prevent us from taking any effect damage.” Spike replied.

“Spike…” Rarity replied. “Translucence Diamond Dragon only prevents the controller from taking damage. You control the Dragon, not me… And… I wouldn’t want it any other way…”

“What are you talking about? I will gladly give you control of my drag-”

“Spike!” The baby dragon recoiled at Rarity’s sudden anger. “There is nothing you can do. This is my choice to make! I couldn’t live with myself if I let anything happen to you.”

“But I... I can’t... I won’t... I’ll find another way to defeat Blueblood”

Suddenly, Rarity was in front of Spike and was holding him in the air with her front hooves. Spike had shut his eyes. “SPIKE! LISTEN TO ME! What is more important? Me or Equestria?”

“I...I...”

“If you truly love me, you’d this for me...”

Spike’s heart stopped. Did she really just say that? This was the hardest choice he has ever had in his life and quite possible hardest he ever will make. A choice between possibly dooming Equestria or letting the love of his life be lost, maybe forever... Then he felt something... Something warm... He opened his eyes. He saw Rarity. Her eyes were closed and right in front of his face. She had kissed him... Right on the lips no less. After a few seconds, she stopped and pulled and away. Her eyes stared right into Spike. “Rarity... I’ve made my decision...” Rarity reached over and grabbed Spike’s right claw. Slowly, she dragged it over his duel disk. “I discard one card from my hand to activate the effect of Translucence Diamond Dragon, disabling your monster’s ability...” Those words hurt him more than anything in the world but it what Rarity wanted and that’s all that mattered.

“Thank you Spike...” At that moment, the collar around Iseris started blinking. “Ten seconds…”

On the other side of the room, Blueblood had gone into a full panic. “No, please!” He looked down at the cards in his hand. “There must be something I can do!?”

“You have exposed yourself for the spoiled brat you are. Nine… This sacrifice is my final act of generosity. I don’t care if I am forced to give up my own life, as long as I can take you down with me and protect my friends! Eight…”

“No, I refuse to go down with ‘you’ you filthy peasant!”

“Seven…” Blueblood swiveled around and charged energy in his horn before firing a blast at the barrier. The beam just bounced off the barrier, not even making a dent. “Six… Five…”

“You pathetic little worm. I knew you would fail me eventually…”

Blueblood’s ears perked up. “Master, is that you? Please help me!”

A small stream of black sparks started flowing outside the barrier and a new pony flashed into view leaving a still smoking scorch mark on the ground. She was wearing a robe like Blueblood but the hood seemed a bit more jagged. “You sicken me Blueblood. Your nothing but a coward who lets others take the fall for his shortcomings. Your scum who doesn’t understand a thing about what we stand for.”

Blueblood shuttered. “What do you mean? I’m your best duelist!”

The mysterious pony broke into laughter. “You’re really are pathetic. You actually thought I had even a shred of respect for somepony as selfish and spoiled as you.”

“WHAT!? No, please, I’m sorry!”

“Goodbye Blueblood...” The pony sparked a couple times before teleporting away in a flash. Blueblood turned back to see nearly all the lights on the ring had gone out.

“Two…” Rarity counted closing her eyes. “Goodbye Spike… Stay safe…” Finally, the ring stopped blinking before exploding. Blueblood screamed as the explosion engulfed his entire body. Spike crouched down covering himself from the explosion as a barrier formed up around him blocking the explosion. Spike only barely opened his eyes enough to catch Rarity get suddenly blasted by the flames. The entire explosion was contained within the barrier creating a dome of flames. Eventually the fire dissipated leaving the two ponies lying on the ground with a black smoking hole forming underneath the two of them.

Blueblood
< LP: 8200 → 0 >

Rarity
< LP: 4000 → 0 >

Spike quickly ran over to Rarity and grabbed her hoof. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. “Spike… I just want you to know that I will never forget you…”

Spike clenched onto her hoof tighter. “I won’t forget you either.” Rarity closed her eyes one last time before bursting into a cloud of black particles that were pulled into the black hole, leaving behind the usual scorch mark and Rarity’s Duel Disk. Spike looked over where Blueblood was. He was already gone leaving nothing but a mark and his Duel Disk. He saw one of Blueblood’s cards that were scattered on the ground was covered in a black fire. As he approached it, he noticed it was Iseris’ card. The fire quickly burned the card until it was completely gone leaving nothing but burned paper. He barely turned his head when another card caught his eye. He bent down and picked it up. “The Winged Dragon of Ra…”

“Congratulations young dragon.” Spike spun around to see the strange hooded pony from before again. “Keep that Egyptian God card, think of it as a reward. Without Blueblood the card is useless to us anyway.” There were a few more sparks and the pony was gone again.

Just then, Celestia and Yugi arrived from the east hall. Celestia stopped for a moment to look over the damage. “What happened here?”

“Princess Celestia, your back!” Spike jumped up and started hugging Celestia’s leg.

Yugi looked around for a second. “Where’s Rarity?” Spike’s mood suddenly changed, and then Yugi noticed the two marks on the field. Yugi took the hint and simply turned away.

“It was her choice; she sacrificed herself so I could go on.” Spike held up Harmony Fusion. “Translucence Diamond Dragon… A monster made from the bond between Rarity and me…”

Celestia trotted up to Spike and held out her hoof. “If I may?” Spike held up the card and Celestia levitated it up. “800 years... I had hoped to never use this card again...”

“They will not get away with this…” Yugi replied. “I won’t allow Rarity’s sacrifice be in vain. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and now Rarity… I promise I will find a way to bring you back.” He turned back to the Alicorn and dragon. “I may not be from this world but you greeted me and open arms and claimed me as you’re friend. This world is like a second home to me now and I refuse to let it fall into darkness. It’s up to us to protect Equestria. It’s up to us to protect our home!

“Sorry Yugi… But I can’t help…” Both the boys turned to the Princess. “I’ve done enough damage as it is. It’s best I don’t get involved. It’s all up to you Yugi; you and the others are Equestria’s last lines of defense.” Celestia began to trot up the main staircase when she stopped. “Tell Twilight I am sorry…”

Chapter 8 - Protégés

Less than an hour ago, Yugi went off to Canterlot with the Princess, Spike and Rarity. Twilight wanted to go as well, but the nurse claimed she wasn’t in any condition to leave so she stayed behind for they’re return.

“I really hope they’re ok...” Sighed Twilight. She was laying on her back staring up at the ceiling. Several things were going through her head. Then she noticed her door was slightly open. It wasn’t open by much, but enough for someone to see in. Twilight adjusted her head so she could see outside. There were a small pair of eyes looking in. “Is that you little filly?”

The blue coated filly laughed nervously. “You saw me huh?”

“Trust me, I used to do the same thing back at the academy...”

The filly giggled. “Well, you are pretty interesting.”

“How am I interesting?”

The filly thought for a moment. “Well, you helped me get over the fear of my operation. You said I may become a powerful unicorn someday.”

“I wasn’t lying either. Your just like me when I was your age. After I witnessed the Summer Sun Celebration for the first time, I wanted to learn everything I could about magic. The Princess inspired me to become what I am today. She even accepted me as her personal student.”

“I guess we are the same. Back in Manehattan, I spent a lot of time in the hospital. They were still trying to figure out what was wrong. Admittedly, it was pretty boring. I wanted to play with friends. I didn’t care about magic.”

“What got you into magic then?”

“Well, while I was in the hospital most of the time, I liked to sneak out every now and then so I could explore the outside. My favorite thing was going to the fair during the summer.”

“The fair is always fun.”

“Yeah! It is, but last year was the greatest ever.”

“What happened?”

“Well, it started out fairly simple…”

The small blue coated trotted along the path, looking at all the attractions at the summer Manehattan Fair. The fair had everything. Rides, games, candy. “Hmm, what should I go on first?” The filly looked at the various rides. “Maybe I should go on the Ferris Wheel, or maybe the…”

“WELCOME FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!” Boomed a voice. The filly swung her head around to find the voice. She saw what looked to be a caravan surrounded by ponies. She trotted up the crowd. She tried looking through but the group was too thick. She poked one of the mares in the group.

“Hello? Miss? What’s this group for?” The mare just shrugged and turned back. The filly grunted in frustration. “I guess I’ll have to get through it!” She ducked down and slowly crawled through the crowd, pushing her way through.

“COME ONE! COME ALL!” Boomed the voice again. The filly shoved the last few ponies out of the way and ended up right in from of the Caravan. “COME AND WITNESS THE AMAZING MAGIC OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!” Out of nowhere, the Caravan folded out, transforming into a giant stage. Suddenly, there was a poof on stage and a blue unicorn with purple clothing appeared.

The entire crowd ‘ooh’ed and ‘ahh’ed. “Woooowwwww…” Said the filly.

“Watch in awe, as The Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats ever witnessed by pony eyes!” The unicorn stood up on her hind legs as fireworks blasted through the air.

The filly looked around. Some of the crowd was cheering but there was a good portion talking amongst themselves. “So what?” Said a colt from the crowd.

“What makes you so special?” Said a mare.

“Your just a braggart.” Said another.

“Well, well, well…,” Trixie spoke. “It appears we have some neeeeeighsayers in the audience. Who is so ignorant, as to challenge the magical ability of The Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“Oh, and just how are you so ‘great’ and ‘powerful’?” Said a mare from the front.

“I’m glad you asked. Why only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish… The Dreaded… URSA MAJOR!” The horns on the stage suddenly shot fireworks into the sky making a large neon blue bear.

“Cool!” Said the filly.

“When all hope was lost, the ponies of Huffington had no one to turn to but The Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in and with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave in the Everfree Forest!” The neon bear in the sky was confronted by a neon Trixie waving her want, shutting the light on the bear off.

“I’ll challenge you!” Said a mare from the audience. She was a yellow earth pony with brown hair. She had a beach ball cutie mark. “Can you do this?” The mare pulled an oversized beach ball and jumped on top of it. She flipped upside down and started balancing on her nose.

“Oooooh” The crowd awed.

“Yawn…” Replied Trixie. She levitated her hat off her head and pulled a tiny hair clip from her mane. She held it in front of her before launching it into the mare’s ball. The ball sputtered and wheezed before flying into the air with the mare still holding on. “Who next?” The crowd remained silent. “Well then, once again The Great and Powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria.” Trixie turned away. “Was there ever any doubt…”

A short time later, the filly retuned to Trixie’s caravan in hopes of meeting her. She knocked on the door. There was a couple step heard inside and then the door opened. Trixie didn’t look too happy. “What do you want?”

“I… Uh…” The filly stuttered.

“Well? Spit it out!”

The filly jumped back a bit. “I… Just wanted to say I liked your show…”

Trixie glared back at her. “Really?”

“Yah, I can’t do magic yet but I really want to learn how.”

“Is that all you came to say? Trixie is quite busy you know…”

“Oh, sorry. I was just hoping I could get your autograph.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

“Five bits…”

“Five bits?”

“Hey, Trixie needs to make a living. In case you didn’t realize, her shows are free. Trixie lives on donations and tips.”

“Well… Ok…” The filly reached into her bag and pulled out a few bits. “Here, this should be enough.” Trixie took the money and went back into the cart. She came out a minute later with a picture of herself and a quill. She simply wrote her name in fancy letters and handed her the picture. “Thanks Trixie!” Then she ran off.

“So, you got inspired by this ‘Great and Powerful Trixie?’” Twilight asked nervously. “She sounds amazing!” Twilight was obviously lying but maybe this would help her learn a bit more about Trixie’s history.

“Yeah! The other ponies didn’t seem all that impressed but I thought she was amazing. The idea of using magic that doesn’t really have a use but looks cool seemed interesting.”

“But aren’t you afraid of being yelled at like Trixie? I’m sure you don’t want people trying to outdo you like with her.

“Trixie has her reasons.”

“What?”

“Well, the next day I was let out of the Hospital. My parents discovered I snuck out so I wanted to take them up to fair to meet Trixie.”

“Come on! I want you to see this!” The filly was practically dragging her mother towards the large stage from the previous day. The display was mostly the same as the day before. She boasted a couple times, got a few rude comments from the audience. Afterward she went to visit her again in her trailer. She knocked a couple times. “She is so amazing!” When Trixie opened the door, she looked down and simply rolled her eyes.

“What…?”

“I brought my parents to meet you!”

“Great, is that all you wanted to say?” Trixie turned back to head inside. “Now if you don’t mind, get lost…”

“Woah, woah, woah!” The filly’s father interrupted. “Don’t you talk to our little girl like that!”

“Hey, Trixie didn’t come and bother you when you’re off duty.”

“She is just a filly. You shouldn’t be so rude to her.”

“That’s the only way she will ever learn her place.” The parents recoiled back slightly. “You think life is all fun and dandy, huh? Well, let me tell you something. Being nice will not get you anywhere. If you’re not firm and blunt, people will backstab you at the first chance they get. She needs to learn that you simply can’t be ‘taught’ magic. You get good at it through intense personal training. Being taught by someone else will only hold you back. You need to find your inner fire by yourself and use it yourself. That’s why I don’t take lightly to the criticism. It’s MY magic and MY talent. Nobody else can control your destiny.”

“…” Trixie stopped and looked down at the poor filly who was on the verge of tears. “So… You say at the hospital cannot help me? Am I never going to perform magic?”

Her mom snuggled up close to her. “Don’t you listen to her sweetie. The doctors will find a way to fix your horn…” The filly struggled out of her mom’s arms and ran off. “Now look what you did!”

“Her horn… What did you mean by fixing her horn?”

“She suffers from an unlinked Horn! She can’t use magic without an expensive operation.”

Trixie expression changed. She looked down at the ground in shame. “I didn’t know…”

“Yeah, you didn’t…”

“Please… Let me talk to her...”

“No, you have done enough damage.”

“Please, I know how I can help… Just trust me…”

“And what if you make it even worse? You think I am going to take that chance?”

Trixie looked down and then looked back at the inside of her home. “I’ll pay for the operation…”

“Wha… What?”

Trixie re-entered her cart and came back with a rather large bag. “Here is my life savings. Take it… If I really do cause more harm, I’ll leave you alone and you can spend that so she can get her operation.”

“This… I can’t-”

Trixie held her hoof to the mother’s mouth. “Trust me…”

The filly was hunched over by a nearby lake. Trixie words constantly ringing through her head. Was there really nothing they could do to help her?

“Hey…” She turned her head back and saw Trixie standing behind her. She wanted nothing to do with Trixie and just buried her face into her hooves. “Listen… I’m sorry about what I said earlier… It was not my place to tell you that.”

“Why did you say it then?”

“Because I was trying to protect you…”

“Protect me from what?”

“Ridicule… Ponies respect those trained by the professionals but even more if they are self-taught. A random pony from nowhere with an amazing power, you don’t realize how big of a deal that is. But…”

“What…”

“Then I learned of your little problem. unlinked Horn, that’s a rather rare condition.”

“So, they told you, didn’t they?”

“Yes, and once I heard, I had to come back and talk to you. You see, I’m familiar with the condition. My mother had the same thing.”

“She did?”

“Yes, and she beat it without an operation…”

“Wow, she really did?”

“Yes, and it was all through her hard work and research. She found a way to re-establish the broken link with mental training.” Trixie leaded back and started looking up at the sky. “She was a great pony mother, so talented. They say because she managed to get through her condition naturally, she was much stronger than an average unicorn. She was even accepted into the School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“Where is she now?”

“Last I heard she was working at the school help Celestia with her ‘new’ protégé. That was several years ago though. I haven’t heard from her in ages.” Trixie stopped and looked back over to the filly. “I know I said you should deal with it yourself but I need to ask you something…”

“What?”

“I want to train you. Mother told me how she overcame her condition and I still have a relatively good idea how it works… Of course… If you want to…”

The filly’s eyes went as big as saucers before she tacked Trixie to the ground “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” Trixie could feel the filly’s tears rolling down her chest.

“It’s ok, just let it out…. Sister Lulamoon is here to make things all better. I’ll make sure you become just as powerful as my mother, if not stronger…” The filly continued to cry into her chest, then a though came to Trixie. “You know, we have been talking this whole time and I realize I never asked for your name…”

“My name?” Trixie nodded. “It’s Starshine…. Starshine Hope…”

Starshine Hope…

Starshine Hope…

Starshine Hope…

“Miss? Are you feeling, ok?”

Twilight broke out of her sudden trance. It was her, the main reason for Trixie’s defection was standing right in front of her. “Sorry, I was just thinking of something. If Trixie was going to teach you how to break through your condition without surgery, why are you here getting one?”

A stream of tears started running down Starshine’s face. “Because she never did… After our talk, she said that she would be unable to train me right away. She said she wanted to track down her mother first and give her the news she had a protégé. After that, she would return to train me like she promised. While she was away, she started sending me letters. She gave me some tips on keeping my mind calm to prepare me when she returned, but she never did… One day, my dad was reading the newspaper when he saw an article from Ponyville.”

‘Oh no…’

“It was said that a crazy blue unicorn invaded the town bringing a creature of mass destruction. I obviously didn’t believe it. Those papers always blow those events out of proportion. I tried sending letters but my parents always stopped me. They trusted Trixie and she turned out some psycho unicorn. They thought she would be a bad influence. Eventually I got a letter passed them but I never got a reply. I have no idea where she is now…”

“I’m so sorry that happened.”

“It’s all that Twilight Sparkle’s fault…” Twilight flinched at this remark. “She ruined Trixie… She upstaged her and chased her out of town. I bet she was the one who brought that creature in. Trixie takes pride in her work; she would never intentionally do anything to harm her reputation. It was that stupid Twilight Sparkle… The newspaper even tries to play her off as the hero! Can you believe that! She is nothing but a monster! I will NEVER forget that name… Twi-”

“Twilight Sparkle?” Came a voice from outside. Twilight instantly froze up in pure terror. The nurse came in through the door carrying a wrapped box. “Miss Sparkle? I have a package for you…” She looked at the mortified Twilight and then at the little Starshine. “Am I disturbing something?”

“Twilight… Sparkle…” She turned to the still frozen unicorn. “You… It’s you…” She jumped onto the bed and got right to Twilight’s face. “YOU! IT’S YOUR FAULT TRIXIE IS GONE!!

“Please, can you calm down?” Twilight replied.

“Calm down? CALM DOWN!? DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU DID TO ME!? I can’t believe I actually opened up to you. I thought you were my friend… You’re probably going use this to harm her even more you monster!”

“Please Starshine… Trixie is just... Misguided… I am only doing what needs to be done…”

“By what? Ruining her life?”

“Starshine, Trixie has taken on a dark path. I don’t want you following suit.”

“Dark path, you would say that…”

“She is a serious threat to Equestria right now. She has to be stopped before it’s too late.”

Starshine just huffed. “Serious threat to you… Your just afraid Trixie is going to throw you off your little high chair. You’re nothing but a monster who ruins pony’s lives!” Starshine jumped off the bed and made her way to the door. “Good bye…” Starshine slammed the door HARD, even patients several rooms away could feel it.

The dark figure peered out her window, staring out into the moonlight. Then with a bang, Trixie appeared in the room. “I have retrieved the Princess of the Moon…”

“Oh? Did you now?”

Trixie nodded. “It was easy. She was clearly inexperienced with the game and had virtually no idea what she was doing.”

“As expected, Celestia was around when Duel Monsters was created but Luna never was.”

“It was like taking candy from a filly…”

“Speaking of fillies, I have something interesting to share with you. It appears there has been some… Tension… So, to speak…”

“What exactly do you mean?”

“It appears Twilight has had a rather nasty encounter with an old… Protégé… Of yours, if I am not mistaken.”

“You… You mean Starshine?”

“Starshine began some idle conversation with our little Twilight. Once Starshine discovered who she was talking to, things got a bit out of control.” The figure walked over to Twilight and put a hoof on her head. “I want you to go to her. Mend her wounds Trixie. You ARE the only one she fully trusts after all…”

“What should I do with her? I could never put Starshine in harm’s way. She is like a sister to me.”

“I know she is… And how fun would it be to have you’re little sister there to cheer you on while Sparkle falls to her knees?”

Trixie stood still. She didn’t know what to think. Was she really going to be reunited with the only pony who ever cared for her? The thought of seeing Starshine made her happy but sick at the same time. “Can I really show my face to her like this? I don’t feel right letting her see me as a follower of darkness…”

“Are you doubting me?”

“No Master, I could never doubt you. You gave me reason, it’s just… Starshine…”

“In that case…” A dark aura shrouded the pony and started flowing into Trixie. “Let me open your eyes a bit.” Trixie struggled at the new power flowing into her body. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. As fast as it started, it was over. The aura disappeared and the pony removed her hoof from Trixie. “Now Trixie, are you ready to reunite with your sister?”

Trixie opened her eyes. They were glowing a bright red. “Yes, sister and I shall finally be reunited. Neither of us will alone anymore…”

Chapter 9 - Sisters Forever (1)

Rainbow Dash slowly started to open her eyes but there was nothing to see. It was just darkness, darkness everywhere. “Where am I?”

“You’re in my world now ‘friend’…”

She looked up to see a dark figure walking towards her. “P… Pinkie?”

The pink pony approached Rainbow Dash. Her hair was deflated and straight. “I’m disappointed in you Dash… You know that breaking a promise is the quickest way to lose a friend, don’t you?” Dash tried to move forward but found she was chained to a non-existent wall. She was standing on her hind legs with her front legs bound above her head. “You can’t escape Dash. You haven’t taken your punishment yet…” Pinkie leaned in close to Rainbow’s fast. “Do you know what that is? Do you know why are you being punished? You remember what you promised me?”

“I promised I wouldn’t let Gilda lay a finger on you…”

“And what happened...?”

“I let you get banished to the Shadow Realm…”

“You think I like it when my friends make promises they cannot keep? No, it means I can’t trust them anymore. You betrayed my trust, Rainbow.”

“I know… I’m sorry… I would do anything to bring you back…”

“Anything, huh?” Rainbow’s eye perked up. That was not Pinkie’s voice, no, she recognized that voice. She closed her eyes and reopened them to be greeted with a bright light. She was no longer in the darkness or being restrained. “Well, well, well, have a nice nap?” Rainbow turned her head to see a blurry figure in front of her. “I seriously thought you were better than this? You were always such a tough one back in the day. You have gone soft…”

Her vision finally started to clear up. “Gilda…?” The griffon was sitting down on a chair with her arms crossed at the end of the hospital room.

“Happy to see me?”

“Screw you…”

Gilda sighed. “Oh Dash... Even when you lose you still win. Despite me defeating you fair and square…” Dash growled at Gilda. “My Master was not all too pleased how easily you fell. The only way I can be rid of you once and for all is to defeat you in a duel and your currently in no state to fight… That is, without a motivation…”

Rainbow froze for a second. “What did you do!?” Gilda simply lifted her claw and pointed at the other end of the room. Rainbow turned and was instantly horrified. In the corner lie three fillies. A yellow earth pony, a white unicorn and an orange pegasus. They were all unconscious with their front hooves bound behind their back. She quickly turned back to Gilda. “Let them go you monster!”

“I figure you would come after me sooner or later but I can’t wait that long so instead I’m making an ultimatum…” She looked up at the clock. It was 3:00PM. “You have until 6 to meet me over at Ghastly Gorge. If you don’t show…” Gilda stood up out of her chair and approached the orange filly, grabbing her by the neck. “If you don’t show, the Eels will be having Pegasi for dinner…”

“You’re sick!”

“It’s too bad really. This poor filly will never achieve her lifelong dream of flying alongside her hero. You know who that is right? It’s you Dash… This filly idolizes you more than anyone in Equestria. ‘Oh, Rainbow Dash is so cool! Rainbow Dash is the fastest pony in Equestria!’ Too bad she will never even learn to fly…” Gilda reached behind Scootaloo’s back and plucked a single feather from one of her wings. “Take a look at this feather Dash, this will be the last you ever see of your precious fan if you don’t show.” Gilda set the feather on the bed right next to Rainbow’s head.

Gilda stepped back over to the fillies and picked up all three with one claw. “Oh, before I go, I have little update about what’s happened just to motivate you a bit more. Fluttershy is long gone to the Shadow Realm.” Rainbow’s eye widened. “And the prince is dealing with that prissy unicorn as we speak.” Gilda leaped up onto the window’s ledge. “Remember, Ghastly Gorge by 6 or…” She slowly scrapped a claw over Scootaloo’s throat. Gilda gave one final farewell to Dash before flying out the window.

“Gilda! Get back here!” Gilda didn’t respond. Rainbow slowly pulled herself out of bed. She slid off the side and impacted on the ground. She groaned in pain. “Must… Save… Scoots…” She crawled along the ground and came up to the door and slightly opened it. There were several employees walking up and down the halls. There was no way they were going to just let her leave. Rainbow turned back to the window Gilda had left out of. She pulled herself up and out the window. Luckily, she was only on the first floor and there was a bush below her. It still hurt though. Rainbow pulled herself together and began limping down the road.

Rainbow was still limping when she entered into the center of Ponyville. She was slowly sneaking through the alleyways as to not be seen. She continued forward until she saw an open window. Peeking through the window, she looked around for a clock. There was a small clock hanging on the wall, it read 5PM. She let go and rested herself up against a garbage can. “I failed… There is no way I can get there in 1 hour at this rate…”

“And just what are you doing here?” Rainbow lifted her head up to see. A dark blue pegasus approached her, it was Kaiba. “I thought you were supposed to be in the hospital?”

Tears were streaming from Rainbow’s eyes. “Gilda… She took her…”

“I was on my way to the hospital to ask that Twilight a few questions only to see you sneaking around the back allies. Now tell me, what you are doing here?”

“I… Have to save her… She will die if I don’t…”

“Why should I care? You’re band of freaks is no better than Yugi’s little gang.”

“Please… She is like a sister to me… I’ve already lost Fluttershy and Pinkie, I can’t lose Scoots…”

“Sister…”

Rainbow struggled to get up and took a battle stance. “I will not stop until I save her, even if I have to go through you…” Kaiba wrapped his hoof around his necklace. “I know you may not care about family or friends but she is only thing I have left. I will NOT let Gilda take her away from me. Now move out of my way!”

Kaiba just stood there, almost unmoving. He closed his eyes for a moment before clicking down on the card hanging around his neck. The front opened to reveal a photo, a photo of his brother… ‘Mokuba…’ He snapped it shut and turned his gaze back to Rainbow Dash who was shaking. It was clearly painful just to stand up. “Rainbow Dash, let me tell you something… I may not care for my friends, especially self-proclaimed ones like Yugi and his gang but when you talk about my family like that, you’re making a grave error…”

“What would you know about FAMILY? You’re nothing but a selfish, arrogant jerk!”

Kaiba growled and grabbed Rainbow by the neck, lifting her into the air his wings. “Let me tell you something you little twerp, I couldn’t give a damn about my step-father. He deserved what he got and I hope he burns in Hell, but my brother… You never… EVER insult my brother or say I don’t care for him! I put my life on the line every day to make sure he is safe! I have been there for him and he has been there for me every day. Every day at the orphanage. Every day during my studies. Every day trying to run Kaiba Corp… Nobody lays a hair on him without feeling my full fury.” Kaiba pulled her in closer to his face. “Now, you have anything else to say?”

Rainbow just gave a little smirk. “So, I guess you understand why I have to do this… Nopony lays a hoof on Scoots. She may not be my flesh and blood but she is the closest to a little sister I have and I will NOT… LOSE HER!” Rainbow pulled back her hoof and socked Kaiba straight in the face. She quickly regained balanced and landed directly on her feet.

Kaiba landed back down in front of her and wiped a small bit of blood on his cheek. He looked at the blood on his hoof. “If this were any other situation you would be in serious trouble for assaulting me… But…” Kaiba approached Rainbow and passed behind her. “You have a sister who needs you.” He turned his head back and motioned towards his back. “Now get on, you’re in no condition to be wandering the streets alone. I’ll take you to the duel site.” Rainbow limped up onto Kaiba’s back and grabbed around his neck. “Just remember, this doesn’t make us friends. I’m only doing this so I can get out of this dumb world and back to Mokuba.” With that, Kaiba spread out his wings and they took off towards Ghastly Gorge.

Gilda was sitting down on a rock with a nail file sharpening her claws. She heard the sound of wings flapping nearby and looked back towards Ponyville. Kaiba was approached quickly with Rainbow on his back. Gilda stood up and approached the edge of the gorge as Kaiba landed down on the other side. “10 minutes to 6… Cutting it a little close now, aren’t you?”

Rainbow stepped down off of Kaiba. “Alright, I showed up. Now let Scootaloo and the rest of the crusaders go. They have done nothing to you.”

“Sorry, but I have other plans.” Gilda lifted up into the air and flew down into the gorge. Rainbow and Kaiba followed her to 2 small ledges on each side halfway down into the gorge. Gilda landed on one side while Rainbow landed on the other. Kaiba landed a separate ledge nearby Rainbow. “Take a look over there.” Gilda pointed over at a small tree protruding from the wall. A simple pulley system with rope appeared to be installed on the tree. One end of the rope was connected to small box on the wall of the gorge with the number 4000 on a little screen. The rope looped through the pulley and came down where the crusaders hung below.

“Just what have you done with them!?”

“I decided I would make this game a little more interesting. As you can see, the three of them are suspended over the gorge. That box is directly connected to your duel disk.” Rainbow looked down at the duel disk on her arm. “I made some ‘adjustments’ while were you were resting. As your life points decrease, the pulley system will lower them further into the gorge to their doom below.” A couple giant eels suddenly popped out of the side of the gorge and attempted to chomp down the crusaders but were way too low to reach them.

Rainbow held her head low and shook back and forth. “What happened to you Gilda? The Gilda I knew may have been a jerk but you…” She lifted her head back up. Her eyes were now red and watery. “You are just heartless… I don’t know what you did with her but I want the old Gilda back. You’re not her; you’re not the griffon I grew up with.”

Gilda started snickering before breaking out into a full crazed laughter. This continued for about 20 seconds. Finally, she stopped. “The Gilda you knew is long gone. She was weak, you did nothing but hold her back.” She looked down at her claws. “I was alone and confused, then I met Master. She promised me power, she promised to awaken to griffon bloodlust inside me… And boy did if feel good… It feels so nice not being held back by emotions.” She looked back up at Dash. “I want to see you suffer ‘old friend’. When this duel is over, you’ll be out of my life once and for all along with your precious little fan over there!” Gilda held her left arm up and her duel disk snapped into position. Dash did the same with hers. “It’s time Rainbow Dash… PREPARE TO SPEND THE REST OF ETERNITY ALONE IN THE SHADOW REALM!!!”

“I’ll admit I am impressed; Gilda has put on quite a display.” The dark figure was watching the duel through the reflection pool. “However, she is foolish. I have a feeling this duel will not go according to plan. Rainbow Dash seems… Different… I can’t exactly put my hoof on it but I don’t like it. If this duel turns another disaster like Blueblood’s, I may actually have to step in…”

“Let me make you a little deal, I’m not even going to put up a barrier for this battle. You can leave whenever you feel like it. Of course, by leaving you are also forfeiting the lives of those three fillies over there.” Gilda turns to look at Kaiba. “And don’t even think about trying anything funny. If you try to interfere and rescue the crusaders, I will release the pulley dropping them straight into the gorge.” She turns back to Dash. “Now, let’s this game underway…”

Gilda
< LP: 4000 >

“I’ll make you pay you heartless monster…” Dash drew her first card.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 4000 >

“I’ll start off with this, Sanctuary in the Sky!” Dash opens the slider on the side of the disk and inserts her card before being retracted. “As I am sure you are aware, as long as this card is on the field, you cannot hurt my life points in any battle containing a fairy. Now I set this monster face-down in defense mode. I’ll also place another card face down and I end my turn.”

Gilda began to snicker again. “Is that really all? Didn’t you’re parents ever teach you if something doesn’t work once then don’t try it again?” Gilda drew her card. “Hmm… I summon Fane the Steel Chain!”

Blackwing – Fane the Steal Chain
< Level 2 / ATK: 500 >

“I’m not done yet, if I control a Blackwing monster, I can automatically summon both Gale the Whirlwind and Bora the Spear to the field!” 2 More monsters appeared.

Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
< Level 3 / ATK: 1300 >

Blackwing – Bora the Sharp
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

Kaiba was carefully watching the duel from a distance. ‘These birds of hers are unbelievable. She was able to summon 3 monsters in one turn just for having one on the field.’

“Now get ready to taste my wrath, Rainbow Dash! I am tuning-” Suddenly, Gilda looked up to see a barrage of spikes falling from the sky. She braced herself but her monsters were not so lucky. They were all but swiss cheese to the spikes before exploding into many shards. She looked up to see her whole field was cleared of monster. “What did you do!?”

Rainbow Dash had her hoof on one of the activation buttons. “When you summoned your Gale and Bora you triggered my trap card, Needle Ceiling! When there are 4 or more monster on the field, it destroys all face-up in play. While destroying your own monsters it left mine in the clear as it only hits face up monsters.” Gilda clearly had a look of frustration on her face. “I knew you’re strategy was to summon a large army of monster so you could tune into one of your more powerful monsters so I set a trap to prevent you from swarming the field… Now what did you tell me about not using the same strategy twice?”

“Curse you, Dash! I’ll make you pay for that…” To her disappointment, Gilda just placed one card face-down. “I’ll set and end my turn…”

“Fine!” Rainbow drew and examined her card closely. “I reveal my face-down monster, Cloudian Sheep Cloud!” Rainbow was suddenly surrounded by hordes of small clouds with a pair of eyes.

Cloudian Sheep Cloud
< Level 1 / ATK: 0 >

“Man Dash, you always have your head in the clouds now, don’t you?”

“You won’t be making jokes after this! Now I summon Cloudian Turbulence!” Rainbow’s monster materialized as a large green tornado with arms and eyeholes.

Cloudian Turbulence
< Level 4 / ATK: 800 >

“When Cloudian Turbulence is summoned to the field, he gains 2 fog counters for every Cloudian on the field and I count 2. Now I will sacrifice those 2 counters in order to summon 2 Smoke Balls from my deck straight to the field!” Rainbow pulled out her deck and searched for 2 cards and placed both of them on the disk. The Smoke Clouds looked like small yellow babies with large eyes. Before Rainbow could do anything, she looked up and saw a familiar sight, large spikes raining down cutting through her clouds destroying them all. “What did you do!?”

“I activated my Fake Feather trap card. By removing a Blackwing card from my hand, I can copy any trap from your graveyard and use it like my own so I copied your Needle Ceiling! Looks like we are back to square one…”

“Wrong…” Gilda gasped. “I had a backup plan… You see, by destroying my monsters you gave me just what I needed to summon one of the most powerful cards in my deck.”

“You lie!”

“If there are exactly 4 fairy monsters in my graveyard, I can special summon this new monster! BEHOLD, ARCHLORD KRISTYA!” Rainbow slammed her card on her duel disk. The card erupted in a blinding light shooting up and piercing through the clouds. The clouds appeared to open a large hole in a sky as a beautiful new creature came down. She had bright silver armor and large red phoenix-like wings. Part of a red cloak appeared to be hanging out form the bottom of her armor.

Archlord Kristya
< Level 8 / ATK: 2800 >

‘I have to admit I am impressed.’ Kaiba thought to himself. ‘Not only did she destroy all of Gilda’s monsters but she managed to recover from losing 4 monsters AND summoned a monster with 2800 attack points all in the span of 2 turns. This is going to be fun.’

“I activate Archlord Kristya’s special ability! When she is summoned, I can bring back 1 fairy monster from my graveyard to my hand.” Rainbow ejected a card from her graveyard. “I bring back my Sheep Cloud. Not only that, but as long as Archlord Kristya remains on the field, no player can special summon. That means you can’t swarm the field next turn.” Rainbow looked up from her head and stared at Gilda. Gilda was actually somewhat intimidated. She had never seen Rainbow so serious before. “Now that you’re wide open, Archlord Kristya, attack Gilda’s life points DIRECTLY!” Kristya materialize a pure white word into her hand with a red flared hilt. She dashed forward and slashed Gilda right down the center. “Had enough?”

Gilda
< LP: 4000 → 1200 >

Gilda quickly shook it off. “I won’t go down that easily…”

“I have you beaten Gilda, you exhausted all you’re resources in your first turn. Give up.”

“What, give up like you did on me? No thanks. I got enough of that already.”

“What are you talking about; you abandoned me because you didn’t think my friends were cool enough. You have nobody to blame but yourself.”

“I’ll admit, I was rather upset when you left me for those dweebs but I eventually got over it. I returned to Cloudsdale and continued with regular life but of course it didn’t last. After you won the Young Fliers Competition, I started slipping away again. You were always a great flier, probably even better than me, but after I was gone to seemed to skyrocket passed me. I could never hope to be better than you.”

“THAT’S ALL THIS IS ABOUT!? JELOUSY THAT I WAS BETTER THEN YOU!?”

“Not even close. Sure, I was quite heartbroken to find out that you had become so much better than me but I was still happy for you. Not too long after I came back to Ponyville to talk things over. I had just discovered you’re location and when I found you, you were talking to those three fillies. You were telling them about the story of how you got you’re cutie mark.” Gilda shook her head in anger. “You know what I learned that day? You were never meant to be my friend; it was you’re destiny to dump me for those losers since the day you were born. You know what that feels like, to know you we were NEVER meant to be together? It made me feel worthless, like I had WASTED several years of my life.”

“Gilda, just because I was destined to meet them does NOT mean we were never meant to be friends. You and my friends don’t have keep up this stupid rivalry. All ponies will eventually make new friends, there is no reason to think that you have to abandon you’re old friends to make new ones. We can all live together.”

“You’re one to talk. You were the one who said that we couldn’t be friends anymore.”

“Because you thought my new friends were lame. You even went as far as to blame Pinkie Pie for something you had no proof of.”

“Shut up…” Gilda growled. “SHUT UP! This conversation is over; let’s get back to the duel. Those eels are getting hungry.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I am not playing around this time.” She slid a card into one of the spell and trap slots. “I activate my spell; Lucky Cloud. If I summoned 2 monsters with the same name during the duration of this turn, I get to draw 2 cards and if you remember, I used the fog counters earlier in order to summon 2 Smoke Balls. Now I get to draw 2 cards… That’s it for my turn.” Gilda grew her card and looked down at the ground. “What’s wrong, realize that you cannot win?”

Gilda looked back up with a huge smirk. “No, I just had an interesting revelation. The fact is you’re more like me then you realize.” Rainbow gave her a look of displeasure. “Think about it now, first I summon a bunch of monsters in one turn and you destroy them all with a trap card. Then when you summon a bunch of monsters, I destroy with all with a trap.”

“What’s your point?”

“Last turn you were able to summon a monster with 2800 attack points because my trap happened to send ‘just’ the right amount of monsters to the graveyard.” Gilda held up a card close to her face. “Well guess what; you just so happened to send ‘just’ the right amount of monsters to the graveyard so I can summon THIS monster, and look at that, it ALSO has 2800 attack points…”

“Sorry to tell you Gilda but that won’t work. As long as my Archlord Kristya is on my field, neither of us can special summon monsters.”

“And that is why I’m playing this, my Breakthrough Summon spell card! Until the end of my turn, all effects that prevent me from summoning are negated and you can’t activate any cards in response to my summon, however, I am not allowed to attack this turn but it makes no difference, your monster is going to the graveyard weather you want it or not!” Gilda threw her card down onto her duel disk. Her disk became shrouded in black lightning. “Hahaha, can’t stop me now Dash!” Below them within the gorge, a giant black vortex had started to open. A single black claw popped out of the hole and soon a whole creature emerged. It was a fierce looking black dragon with spikes and blades covering almost his entire body. “Behold one of the deadliest cards in my arsenal! DARK ARMED DRAGON!” The creature roared in the face of Rainbow Dash who was starting to get a bit nervous.

Dark Armed Dragon
< Level 7 / ATK: 2800 >

‘It’s almost like watching someone duel themselves in the mirror.’ Kaiba thought. ‘They have matched each other move for move almost exactly.’

“Now let me show you Dark Armed Dragon’s special ability. I can remove from play 1 dark monster from my graveyard which allows him to destroy 1 card on the field and I destroy you’re Kristya!” She ejected a monster from her graveyard and her dragon a power red energy ball in its mouth blasting Rainbow monster.

“Don’t get excited yet, when Kristya is send to the graveyard from the field, she is instead sent to the top of my deck meaning I will draw her again next turn.”

“Lucky break but it won’t save you for you see, I can activate Dark Armed Dragons effect again in the same turn! Say goodbye to your face down card!” Once again, the dragon fired a blast impacting the card. The card flipped itself up before exploding leaving behind a bunch of golden dust in the air. “Not so in the lead anymore.”

“Look again…”

Gilda looked around. The whole battlefield was covered in golden dust. “What is going on?”

“That trap you destroyed was not an ordinary trap. Its effect can only be triggered when it’s destroyed and by destroying my Angel’s Judgment trap card, you’re Dark Armed Dragon is at my mercy. When my card is destroyed by a monster effect, it leaves behind fairy dust. This dust takes over you’re monster and destroys it.” Dark Armed Dragon began to struggle but soon exploded in a golden light. “Not only that, but when Angel’s Judgment destroys a monster, it’s attack is added to my life points…”

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 4000 → 6800 >

Gilda suddenly collapsed to the ground in defeat. ‘I can’t do it… I can’t win… She has responded to everything I throw at her. This is not the same Dash I battled last time.’ Gilda looked back up at Dash. Her face was still just as serious as before. ‘What happened to Dash? Why is she suddenly so strong?’

‘It’s because she is determined to not fail this time you fool!’ A sudden voice came to her.

“Huh? Master?”

‘Don’t you get it? Clearly, she understands the gravity of the situation and is determined to not lose this time. This is not the same Rainbow dash you fought before. She is much more powerful now.’

“What do I do? I’m finished if I don’t make a move.”

‘Don’t worry, I foresaw this outcome and made a backup plan… Release the Crusaders…’

Gilda was shocked. “What? Release them? Why?”

‘Just do it you fool! Release them and hand them over to Rainbow Dash but don’t forfeit. This match will continue soon enough.’

“Whatever you say Master…” Gilda stared over at Dash for several seconds before lifting off into the air.

“Hey, where are you going!?” Gilda flew over to where the crusaders were hanging and cut the rope, grabbing them before they fell into the gorge. “Gilda?” Gilda flew back over to Rainbow Dash and dropped the 3 fillies in front of her.

“Think of this as a little gift before I destroy you…”

Rainbow Dash rushed in and checked on the crusaders. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were completely out cold however Scootaloo appeared to be regaining consciousness. “Squirt? Are you feeling okay?” Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Rainbow Dash looking down at her. Rainbow Dash suddenly broke into tears and hugged her. “Oh squirt, thank Celestia you’re ok! I don’t know what I would do without you…” Scootaloo looked up and down Rainbow as she hugged her…

*CHOMP*

Rainbow recoiled back to see a large bite mark on her shoulder. “Squirt, what did you do that for?”

“Scootaloo is not here element of loyalty…” Rainbow looked back up to Scootaloo who was now standing up perfectly. The top half of her face was covered in shadow and eyes and her eyes were blank and soulless. “So, we finally meet Rainbow Dash.” Her voice was completely different. It was like she had a second voice overlapping her normal one.

“What did you do with Scootaloo!?”

“I knew Gilda was not going to win this fight so while the duel went on, I decided to do a little remote work on Scootaloo. This whole time I’ve been using my magic to get into her head and take over her mind. She was quite a feisty one but she fell just as easily as I expected. She doesn’t belong to you anymore; she belongs to me. A mind slave with no free will of her own!” ‘Scootaloo’ broke into a maniacal laughter. Gilda was also grinning quite a bit.

Kaiba was just watching from above at the situation taking place. ‘Now where have I seen this before?’

“Welcome…”

“Joey!”

“Not exactly… Joey is not present, he’s gone away…”

“It’s Marik.”

“That’s correct, and if you want your friends then you will listen to me…”

‘This is just like the time Marik used his mind tricks to force Yugi into dueling Wheeler back at battle city. This is about to get ugly…’

“Let her go, NOW!” Rainbow yelled.

“Sorry, but you’re little squirt here is too valuable to just release.”

“Scootaloo! Please listen! You have to break free!”

“I told you she is not here anymore. She is my mind slave. Hahaha!”

“You coward… Hiding behind my friends, using them as you’re meat shield. You make me sick…”

‘Scootaloo’ laughed again. “Well, it seems I have turned the tables on you. You’re greatest fan is now you’re greatest enemy! You can’t hope to defeating me now, not with you’re so called ‘sister’s’ life in my hands! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Chapter 10 - Sisters Forever (2)

Rainbow yelled in pain and recoiled back to see a large bite mark on her shoulder. “Squirt, what did you do that for?”

“Scootaloo is not here element of loyalty…” Rainbow looked back up to Scootaloo who was now standing up perfectly. The top half of her face was covered in shadow and eyes and her eyes were blank and soulless. “So, we finally meet Rainbow Dash.” Her voice was completely different. It was like she had a second voice overlapping her normal one.

“What did you do with Scootaloo!?”

“I had a feeling Gilda couldn’t win this duel alone so I stepped in. This whole time I’ve been using my black magic to get into this filly’s head and take over her mind. She was quite a feisty one but she eventually broke. She doesn’t belong to you anymore; she belongs to me. A mind slave with no free will of her own! HAHAHAHAHAAA!”

“Let her go, NOW!” Rainbow yelled.

“Sorry, but I need her for the time being.”

“You’re sick, using my friends as a pony shield. What kind of creep brainwashes an innocent little child to fight for them?”

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand, this goes far beyond your knowledge. Just give up your soul-” The pony held up what appeared to be Iseris’ card. “And I will release your precious little sister.”

“I… I…”

“Come on ‘Dashy.’” Gilda teased. “What do you care about more, your loyalty to your Princess, or your little Scootaloo?”

“…”

“Well Rainbow Dash, what’s your answer?” The filly asked. “Give yourself up now, and Scootaloo will be returned to normal and you will be reunited with your dear friends in the Shadow Realm…”

Rainbow Dash looked down at her duel disk, her eyes twitching. ‘Maybe I should just give myself up… Scootaloo doesn’t deserve to suffer like this; I never wanted her to get hurt…’ Rainbow slowly hovered her right hoof over her duel disk. “I… I give-”

‘Wait!’ Said a voice. Rainbow looked up in shock. She looked back and forth but there was nopony else around. ‘Don’t give up, you can’t let her win!’

“Who… Who is there?”

‘Please, you have to listen to me! Don’t quit. Scootaloo looks up to you. She would never forgive you if you surrendered your own life, even to save hers.’ Just then, a ghostly figure visible only to her appeared in front of Rainbow Dash.

“Pinkie Pie?”

‘Please Dashy, you have to fight. Defeat Gilda and this pony controlling Scootaloo, you have to.’

“But Pinks, how can I when it puts Scootaloo at risk? I can’t do that to her...”

‘Since when have you become such a sissy?’ Another familiar figure appeared in front of her. ‘The Rainbow Dash I knew would never have given up so easily. What happen to yah?’

“Applejack… I’m just scared… I don’t want to lose anypony else…” Tears were starting to form in her eyes.

‘Then FIGHT! You are the most loyal pony I ever knew. Don’t back down; show them just how loyal you are!’

‘Don’t worry Dashy. Although we may be gone, we will always be with you.’

Rainbow Dash wiped her tears away and looked up. “Thank you, Pinks… Thank you AJ…” The two figured nodded and then vanished, leaving her looking at Gilda and the possessed Scootaloo. She slowly stood up. “I will NEVER give up! I will fight to the bitter end!”

“Oh?” Gilda questioned.

“You may have taken my friend’s souls but you will NEVER take away their place in my heart! As long as I don’t give in, they will always be by my side. They will never abandon me, just like I will never abandon Scootaloo. She is like family to me and I never quit on family.” Rainbow held up her duel disk and struck a battle pose. “GILDA! You messed with the wrong pegasus and now you are going down, DUEL ME!”

Not-Scootaloo grinned, and slowly broke out into laughter. “How touching, your love for your friends and family almost brings me to tears. You respect those close to you and will go to the ends of the Equestria for them. It’s sad really, you could have been a powerful ally but you decided to work for the Princess instead.”

“Just what are you going on about?”

Scootaloo pointed her hoof at Rainbow Dash. “The moment you were chosen by the Elements of Harmony, your fate was sealed. All I want is for every pony to have a right to choose their own destiny. We don’t need Celestia, the Elements or anypony else controlling our lives. Allowing others to take control leads to this exact situation we are in now. The two of us, holding control over the life of your precious sister and you fighting to the death to save her. We don’t need this; I don’t need this…”

“Will you just shut up already?” Scootaloo stopped her speech and looked to the side where Kaiba was standing. “You honestly think anybody believes the crap that comes out of your mouth? I’ll admit I agree everyone should control their own destiny…” Kaiba suddenly pointed at not-Scootaloo. “But if you’re so pathetic as to let things get so out of control in the first place, you’re not worth the space! I got where I am today by taking it by force. For years I let my stepfather control my life… And I took control and wiped him off the face of the earth! I took control! I made my own destiny!”

“Some of us were never given a chance; the Princess stole my life away from me! At first, I thought I was doing the right thing and supporting my family but once I learned what I was doing was for naught and only put my family in danger, I finally realized the truth… Celestia is a tyrant and needs to be DESTROYED! Once she is out of the way we can finally be free!”

“Is that really what you think…? Or are you just being a crybaby because things didn’t go your way and now you want to revolt against the Princess? Face it; your plan will never work. Your tiny little gang of rejects are doomed to fail!”

“Is that so? If you’re so confident that our band of ‘rejects’ don’t have the power to change destiny, why don’t you beat me and prove it?”

“Hmm, I thought you would never ask.” Kaiba held up his left hoof and his duel disk rotated into place.

“I’ll show you what I am capable of…” The filly performed a massive backflip over the gorge and landed over on the other side. She held up her right forehoof and a black duel disk just like Gilda’s materialized on to her arm; Gilda landed next to her momentarily after. “We will continue from where Gilda and Rainbow Dash left off but we now play under Battle Royale rules.”

Kaiba closed his eyes. “Dash, I want you to listen to me.” He opened his eyes again. “Keep your focus on birdbrain over there, you’re too close to the kid and you will only hold back…” Rainbow simply nodded. Kaiba turned his attention back to Scootaloo and Gilda. “It’s been a long wait but now I can finally let loose.”

“You will try…”

“LET’S DUEL!!!” The four said in unison.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 6800 >

Seto Kaiba
< LP: 4000 >

Gilda
< LP: 1200 >

Yami Scootaloo
< LP: 4000 >

Kaiba quickly drew his cards. “Since your partner went last, I’ll start this battle off! I’ll start by sending the Thunder Dragon in my hand to the graveyard. By doing this, I can add two more Thunder Dragon from my deck to my hand.” Kaiba slid a card into the back of his duel disk. “Now I combine them together with Polymerization to create the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!” Two green scaled serpent dragons with wings appeared on the field and swirled together before exploding into a flurry of electricity. The resulting monster was a creepy red dragon with green bird like feet, a purple horn and two heads.

Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon
< Level 8 / ATK: 2800 >

Lastly, Kaiba threw two cards into his disk. “Finally, I’ll leave these cards face-down for later and that ends my turn.”

Scootaloo stood still for a moment rubbing her chin. “Hmm… I have an interesting idea…” The possessed filly proposed. “Since I have no intention of revealing my true dueling deck quite yet, instead I will use a little spell I invented.” The filly held her hoof over the duel disk and several black particles floated down enshrouding it. Slowly, a deck of cards formed up in the deck slot. “This magic draws from the user’s heart and builds the deck for them, similar to what Celestia did with the Elements of Harmony however mine draws from heart’s dark side. Now, let’s what this one holds in store…” Once a full deck was made, she drew her cards. “Hmm, exactly what I expected… This is going to quite fun, destroying you with the very cards that represent her feelings towards you Rainbow Dash. Of course, after I’m finished with Kaiba that is.”

“You can try but you stand no change at defeating me!”

“We will see about that… I’ll start by summoning my Elemental Hero Stratos to the field in attack mode.” The filly’s monster was a tall man with blue armor and jetpack made from propellers.

Elemental HERO Stratos
< Level 4 / ATK: 1800 >

“When Stratos is summoned to the filed, I can add any Hero monster from deck to my hand.” She ejected a single card from her deck is put it in her hand. “I’ll add Elemental Hero Sparkman from my deck to hand.” Next, she held up a spell card. “Now I activate a card known as Dark Fusion. This works similar to Polymerization but its slightly different. It allows me to combine monsters from my field and hand in order to summon a dark fusion monster.” The pegasus took two cards from her hand and slid them into the graveyard. “I’m using it to fuse the Elemental Hero Sparkman I just added to my hand and the Elemental Hero Clayman I already had.” Sparkman was a tall man with blue clothing and yellow armor while Clayman was a large grey colored golem with square arms and legs. The normal fusion swirl that was normally there for a fusion was different. It was surrounded with a black lightning. “Arise my fallen hero of earth and thunder, Evil Hero Lightning Golem!” The new monster looked like Clayman but with Sparkman’s armor and a slight color pallet change. Most of the armor was a teal color with purple lightning bolts running up and down the body. There were large red rubies on the chest and the back of the hands.

Evil HERO Lightning Golem
< Level 6 / ATK: 2400 >

Kaiba laughed. “You know super heroes are supposed to be good guys, right? If you’re trying to come off as some kind of hero trying to save the world from a tyrannical dictator, I suggest using cards that don’t have ‘Evil’ in the name. It kind of defeats the whole purpose.”

“You best learn your place, Seto Kaiba; you don’t fully comprehend what kind of power you are dealing with... I activate Evil Hero Lightning Golem’s special ability. Once per turn he has the ability to annihilate any monster on the field!” The filly’s golem flexed its arms and held out his right arm, firing a large bolt of lightning at Kaiba’s dragon.

“Not quite, reveal trap card! Interdimensional Matter Transporter!”

“Interwhat!?”

“This trap cards allows me to temporarily remove my monster from the field to avoid it’s destruction, then it returns to my field at the end of your turn!” Kaiba’s dragon glowed for a moment before suddenly squishing itself flat and warping out of existence.

The filly simple laughed. “You fool, now you left yourself wide open for a direct attack. Lightning Golem, attack Kaiba’s life points directly.” Lightning Golem held up his right and roared to the sky. A bolt of lightning came down and struck his fisting giving him an electrical charge.

“Not so fast, reveal trap card!” Kaiba’s face-down flipped up revealing what appeared to be a chest plate that looked like a mouth. “Thanks to my Attack Guidance Armor, your attack will be blocked by a different monster.” It quickly flew over towards Scootaloo’s Stratos and equipped itself to it. Stratos was forcefully pulled over to Kaiba’s field and hovered in front of him.

“You little...” Lightning Golem charged relentlessly with a red glow in his eyes. His fist made contact and crushed Stratos with no trouble. The possessed filly had a look of frustration on her face.

Yami Scootaloo
< LP: 4000 → 3400 >

“That’s it for my turn.” Scootaloo placed down two cards. “I’ll leave these two cards face-down for you. It’s you turn once again Element of Loyalty.”

“And now that your turn is over, my dragon returns to me.” Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon re-stretched itself warping back into existence.

“Alright...” Rainbow swiftly drew her card hold it far back in her hoof. She turned to it and her eyes shimmered. “Prepare yourself Gilda; I call forth the Agent of Mystery Earth.” A silhouette about the size of a normal pony appeared in the sunlight and swooped down in front of Rainbow Dash. It had large blue and green wings; short white hair and it was holding a small orb in its hand.

The Agent of Mystery – Earth
< Level 2 / ATK: 1000 >

“Ha! What do you plan to do with that weak little thing?” Gilda boasted.

“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you… Agent Earth has a special ability! When she is summoned to the field, I am able to add any Agent monster from my deck straight to my hand.” Rainbow hovered her hoof over her deck and it started to glow. “However, if Sanctuary in the Sky in on my side of the field she gets an added effect. Instead of bringing out a normal Agent monster, I am allowed to add the king of the Agents himself!” Rainbow drew the card and held it up high. “Now I remove Agent of Mystery Earth from my game!” Agent Earth suddenly exploded into small light particles. The pegasus threw her card down on to her duel disc and a large ray of light shot up into the sky. Gilda and Scootaloo watched the ray pierce through the clouded sky and open a hole in the clouds. “Descend from the heavens, lord of Agents… MASTER HYPERION!” Then a gigantic figure started to descend from the opening. The size of the creature was incredible. If they didn’t know better, they would say it was as massive as the very planet itself. It was wearing a long black and golden robe. It had gigantic wings that seemed to be nothing a raging inferno. The creature descended far into the background behind Rainbow Dash, covering up the very horizon.

Master Hyperion
< Level 8 / ATK: 2700 >

Normal Yugi and Spike were one their way back to Ponyville, riding in a single carriage pulled by guards when they saw the gigantic monster appearing in the distance. “Woh! That is one massive monster!” Spike shouted.

“It looks like a duel is going on over in Ponyville.” Yugi replied. He climbed up to the front of the carriage so the guards could hear him. “Can you take us in the direction of that creature?”

“Are you sure it’s safe?” One of the guards replied.

“The monster is only a hologram, it’s not real. We shouldn’t encounter any issues unless either a god card or Iseris appears.” The guard nodded and the guards started towards the giant monster. “I have a bad feeling about this…”

“What’s wrong Yugi?” Spike asked.

“If there is a duel going on than that means one of the Dark Summoners are dueling one of the Elements of Harmony. The only ones who have not been defeated yet are Twilight and Rainbow Dash and they are supposed to be in the hospital.”

“Twilight and Rainbow Dash are some of the strongest ponies I know and they won’t let some fiend beat them. I’m sure they will win!”

Yami Yugi materialized next to Yugi. “I sure hope he is right…”

“I’m still worried though…” Yugi replied.

“Yes, the whole reason we went to Canterlot in the first place was to retrieve the Harmony Fusion card Celestia created to beat Iseris but since a duel has already started, they won’t be able to use it.”

“Spike got lucky with that whole scroll teleportation spell but I doubt that would work again.”

“Even with Harmony Fusion, Spike and Rarity barely won yet Rarity still lost her soul…”

“Poor guy, at his age seeing the girl he loves sacrifice herself like that. But there was a good side to it.” Yami gave Yugi an odd look. “It proves just how powerful their friendship truly is. Their friendship is like nothing I have ever seen, even compared to all our friends back home.”

“As long as we keep cheering them on, they will have the strength to fight on.”

“I warned you Gilda!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “When you kidnapped Scootaloo you crossed the line! Master Hyperion, attack Gilda’s life points directly!” Hyperion held both his hands in front of his chest and a sphere of light started forming between the hands. Gilda had gone into full panic. She had no monsters, no spells and no traps. She was completely defenseless. Suddenly out of nowhere, several links of chain flew over the battlefield and wrapped around Rainbow’s monster, keeping it from attack. Rainbow quickly looked back at her monster. “What just happened?” Rainbow turned back to see the chains coming from a new trap on Scootaloo’s field.

“You didn’t think I was going to let you just attack my partner now did you? When you declared that attack, I activated my Fiendish Chain card; it prevents your monster from attacking and all its special abilities are negated. You were so focused on Gilda you forgot I am in this duel now and I don’t plan to let you harm Gilda more than you already have.”

Rainbow scowled at the fake Scootaloo. “I place one card face-down and end my turn. It’s your turn now Gilda…”

“My draw!” Gilda drew her card. “I play Pot of Greed; this lets me draw two cards… Next, I play a continuous spell card known as Black Whirlwind. This nifty little card activates whenever I summon a Blackwing monster… Like so…” Gilda summoned a strange looking red bird; it was small and was surrounded by a fog. “I summon Blackwing Calima the Haze.”

Blackwing – Calima the Haze
< Level 4 / ATK: 600 >

Gilda’s spell card lit up and a tornado of feathers flew out and struck her deck. “Now my Black Whirlwind activates, when a Blackwing monster is summons, I can add another Blackwing from my deck to my hand.” A single card slid out from her deck. “I used Black Whirlwind to add Blackwing Breeze the Zephyr to my hand, but he won’t stay for long because when he added to my hand by a card effect, he summons himself straight to the field.” Breeze appeared as a small orange bird with yellow wings. Small eyes could be seen in his head.

Blackwing – Zephyr the Breeze
< Level 3 / ATK: 1100 >

“Now for the fun part, I’m tuning my Level 3 Breeze the Zephyr with Level 4 Calima the Haze!” Breeze twirled into the air creating a slip stream behind it before morphing into three green rings. Calima followed in its trail and transformed into four white spheres in the center of the ring. The spheres expanded and a large white beam formed in the center of the rings.

< 3 + 4 = 7 >

Kaiba was in complete shock at this summon. “What kind of trick is this!?”

Gilda held her card high up. A completely new Blackwing appeared. It was barely recognizable as a bird; its entire body was covered in black armor. It had what looked like a large red eyeball in between its beak. “Say hello to my Synchro Monster, Blackwing Armor Master!”

Blackwing Armor Master
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

“A… Synchro Monster?”

“Synchro Monsters haven’t been invented yet…” Scootaloo replied. “At least they haven’t been in your world. These monsters are summoned by tributing monsters who combine total level are equal to the level of the Synchro Monster as long as at least one of the monsters tributed is a Tuner Monster. Quite powerful beasts, too bad you won’t see the day when you can actually use them for yourself.”

“Now I’ll show you just how powerful they truly are!” Gilda pointed her claw at Kaiba’s dragon. “Blackwing Armor Master, attack Kaiba’s Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!”

Kaiba recoiled at this. “What are you doing!? Your monster is weaker than mine!” Gilda’s Armor Master charged at his dragon and stabbed it in the head with its claws. Both Kaiba and Gilda stood still for several moments before Armor Master pulled out and went back to her side. “Wait, what just happened? Your monster should have been destroyed!”

Gilda just held her claw up and wagged it at Kaiba. “Oh Kaiba, don’t you realize my Armor Master has a special ability? When Armor Master attacks, it can’t be destroyed by battle and any damage I would have taken becomes zero.”

“Then why attack? It makes no sense.” Gilda simply pointed at one of Thunder Dragon’s heads. Kaiba didn’t see it at first but then it hit him. “What is that?” Kaiba’s dragon had a large slab of metal sticking out of its head.

“When Armor Master attacks, it puts a Wedge Counter on your monster.”

“What exactly does this thing do?”

“You’ll see… Now take you turn…”

Kaiba simply drew his card. “I don’t know what your Wedge Counter does but your monster is going down!” Thunder Dragon was started charging an electrical blast in his mouth.

“Not so fast, I activate the special ability of Black Armor Master. When a monster has a Wedge Counter, I can remove it to make the monster’s attack become zero!” The wedge vanished and Kaiba’s dragon seemed to suddenly lose all power, becoming weak. [ATK:0]

Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon
< ATK: 2800 → 0 >

“What!” Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon was now completely powerless and couldn’t do anything. “In that case I place a monster face-down in defense mode and then I’ll place one card face-down. That ends my turn.”

“My turn now.” Scootaloo called. “I’ll activate my Lightning Golem’s special ability. Once per turn, I can destroy one monster my opponent controls. I think the target of my Lightning Golem will be Kaiba’s face-down monster.”

“Not so fast!” Rainbow called, throwing a card into her graveyard. “By discarding Effect Veiler from my hand to the graveyard, your monster’s effect is negated.” A human-like angel appears in front of Lightning Golem. It had blue long hair, large angel wings and wore a white tunic with black stockings. It wrapped its wings around Lightning Golem and then slowly vanished. “You’re not the only one who can assist their partner.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’m still going to attack Kaiba’s face-down monster.” Lightning Golem began charging towards Kaiba’s card. When the card flipped revealing the monster, Kaiba just grinned. It was a small metal sphere with a creepy face-like door. “NOOO!”

“That’s right, you just attacked into one my favorite monsters; Cyber Jar” The jar opened its mouth and created a vortex attempting to suck everyone in. Everybody tried to hold on but their monsters were not to lucky. They were all sucked in before Cyber Jar exploded. “Now for the second effect of my Cyber Jar, every one of us must draw 5 cards from their deck and then if any of the monsters are Level 4 or lower, you have to summon them.” One by one, the four duelists each drew 5 new cards. “I summon these two monsters, X-Head Cannon and Y-Dragon Head.” X-Head Cannon was just a torso with blue and yellow armor. It had twin cannons coming out of its back and a small head near the top of the torso. Y-Dragon Head was just a red mechanical dragon.

X-Head Cannon
< Level 4 / ATK: 1800 >

Y-Dragon Head
< Level 4 / ATK: 1500 >

“I have three monsters.” Scootaloo replied. “Elemental Hero Avian, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, and Elemental Hero Wildheart.” Avian was tall green birdman with white wings. Burstinatrix was a human woman with red clothes, long black hair and a golden crown. Wildheart was a human male wearing few clothes and carrying a large sword.

Elemental HERO Avian
< Level 3 / ATK: 1000 >

Elemental HERO Burstinatrix
< Level 3 / ATK: 1200 >

Elemental HERO Wildheart
< Level 4 / ATK: 1500 >

“I place one monster face-down in defense mode.” Rainbow continued.

Gilda just laughed. “You’re going to have to do better than that Dash; I have three monsters; Blackwing Shura the Blue Flame, Blackwing Ghibli the Searing Wind and Blackwing Zephyros the Elite.” Shura was a more humanoid bird with mostly blue feathers and black wings. Ghibli was a tiny bird with six red and black wings and three red tails. Zephyros was very human like but with black wings and blue hair.

Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame
< Level 4 / ATK: 1800 >

Blackwing – Ghibli the Searing Wind
< Level 3 / ATK: 1600 >

Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite
< Level 4 / DEF: 1000 >

“Now that Cyber Jar’s effect is over, I can continue my turn.” Scootaloo said. “Since I have the right monsters on my field, I activate this card, you remember Dark Fusion, don’t you? With this I can summon a dark fusion monster.” Avian and Burstinatrix came together and did the same dark fusion as earlier in the duel. “I summon the dark fusion, Evil Hero Inferno Wing!” Scootaloo’s new monster was a human-like female, almost exactly like Burstinatrix but with black wings and her body suit more like a dress.

Evil HERO Inferno Wing
< Level 6 / ATK: 2100 >

“Now I’ll summon another Hero to my field, Elemental Hero Prisma!” Prisma was a monster made entirely of diamonds. He had large shoulder pads and crystal wings.

Elemental HERO Prisma
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

“Finally, I’ll throw two cards face-down and end my turn.”

Rainbow drew. “Since I have four Fairy monsters in my graveyard, I’m allowed to special summon Archlord Kristya from my hand!” Kristya was returned to the deck when it was last destroyed and now it was back.

Archlord Kristya
< Level 8 / ATK: 2800 >

“Now I will summon yet another monster you should be familiar with but first I must tribute my face-down monster.” Rainbow’s face-down dissolved. “I summon Airknight Parshath!” It was the horseman monster from Rainbow and Gilda’s first battle.

Airknight Parshath
< Level 5 / ATK: 1900 >

Rainbow looked straight into Gilda’s eye. “Alright, let’s try this one more time… This next attack should wipe out the rest of your life points.” Rainbow could tell Gilda was getting nervous, she had no cards to defend herself. “Archlord Kristya, ATTACK!” Kristya materialized its sword and charged towards Ghibli. Right before contact, Scootaloo’s Evil Hero Inferno Wing jumped into the way. Rainbow recoiled back in shock. “What the?” Kristya charged forward and slashed at Inferno Wing, putting a huge scar in her. Kristya had created a large gash on the front of her body. “What did you do?”

“Simple, I commanded my own monster to block the attack. Giving up my monster was a small price to pay for my partner’s safety. But the surprise doesn’t end there. I activate my face-down card, Hate Buster! When a Fiend-type monster I control is attacked, this card destroys both the battling monsters and inflicts you with damage equal to your monster’s attack points.” The gash across Inferno Wing lit up with a bright light before Inferno Wing exploded, taking Kristya with it. Three of them were not affected but the blast came back at Rainbow Dash and blasted her back. She was still standing but the blast had left skid marks where she stood.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 6800 → 4000 >

Rainbow Dash pulled herself back into place. She clenched her fore hoof over her chest; her injuries from the first battle were starting to return. She turned back to Scootaloo. “You… I don’t get you…” The possessed filly just looked at her in question. “You find and help ponies who are down on their luck and give them another chance and then whenever they are in trouble, you take the blow instead… You act and fight like a hero, putting others safety before your own… So, tell me this, why are you against Princess Celestia and my friends?” Just as the filly opened her mouth, a shadow flew over the field. Everyone looked up to see one of Celestia’s chariots flying overhead. Suddenly, two figured jumped from the chariot and landed down behind Kaiba.

“Yugi, what are you doing here?” Kaiba asked.

“Spike!” Rainbow called.

Spike turned to Rainbow Dash. “Dash, what are you doing out of bed? I was told you were badly injured and that it may be days before you wake up.”

“I probably would have if it wasn’t for Gilda.”

Yugi looked at the filly. “Hey, who’s the kid?”

Spike gasped. “Hey that is Scootaloo! She is like Rainbow Dash’s biggest fan!”

“But if she is a friend of Rainbow Dash, why is she fighting against her and alongside the Dark Summoners?”

“Because I am not Scootaloo…” Scootaloo’s voice sent chills down Yugi’s spine, it seemed familiar somehow.

“Someone is controlling her.” Kaiba replied. “Some pony is using the kid in order to take advantage of Rainbow Dash just like how Marik used Wheeler against you back at Battle City. I stepped in since I knew Dash didn’t have it in her to attack her fan.” About then, Spike noticed the other sleeping Crusaders and went to check on them.

Suddenly, Yugi changed to the Pharaoh. “You… Whoever you are, you some nerve pulling a stunt like this.”

“So, you finally come out Pharaoh.” Scootaloo replied.

To the side, both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were finally waking up. “Oh, what happened?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Last thing I remember was you getting everypony some apple juice and then I guess I just conked out…” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Knockout potion I stole from some store years ago, amazing when it comes to pranks.” Gilda replied.

“You have no idea what you are getting yourself into!” Yugi yelled.

“Of course, I do ‘Your Majesty’. I’m showing Rainbow she isn’t as loyal as she thinks.”

“W-what?” Rainbow stuttered.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? Only reason I took control of her mind and agreed to this battle in the first place was to prove you are nothing but a selfish pony who cares about nothing but herself!” Rainbow’s pupils shrunk. “The whole purpose of this duel was to test you, to see how far you would go to save your so called ‘sister’. I thought you had promise, that you would go to the ends of the world to save her but so far you haven’t proven anything.”

“You… You take that back!”

“You’re hesitating; you’re starting to doubt yourself.”

“N-No… You’re wrong…”

“If you truly cared about Scootaloo you would have surrendered from the very start.”

“Scootaloo looks up to me. If I was to surrender myself to save her, she would never forgive me.”

“So, it’s just as I expected, you aren’t faithful to her. If you truly cared about her, you would be willing to give up everything to keep her safe. You are willing to fight for her but once you are given the chance to give up your own life to save hers, you cower. You’re willing to risk her life just for a chance that you could get out too. I guess it’s true what they say, you can’t care about honorary family as much as ‘real’ family.”

Rainbow finally snapped; her face could be described as nothing but complete rage. “That’s… It… YOU’RE DEAD! AIRKNIGHT PARSHATH, ATTACK HER ELEMENTAL HERO PRISMA NOW!!!!” Parshath galloped towards Elemental Hero Prisma and cleaved it right in half. Scootaloo braced herself and took the hit.

Yami Scootaloo
< LP: 3400 → 3200 >

Scootaloo recovered quickly. “How interesting, you attacked my Prisma but not my Wildheart. If you attacked Wildheart you would have done more damage. You’re afraid that if you do too much damage, you will hurt her. Hmm, maybe you care for her more than I thought.”

Kaiba growled and turned to Rainbow. “Listen, I told you keep your focus on birdbrain. I’ll handle the kid since you clearly can’t do it yourself!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Kaiba, it’s just… What she said about me, that I don’t care for her…”

“Shut up and listen to yourself.” Rainbow lightly gasped. “When you told me you wanted to save the kid, I didn’t think you were this pathetic.”

“What are you saying?”

“Listen dweeb, if you really wanted to save her, she wouldn’t have been able to manipulate you the way she just did. She is trying to make you doubt yourself and if you let that happen then you might as well quit the duel now because you are not worth the dirt you’re standing on.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and stood still for several moments. Everypony just watched in anticipation. Finally, she opened again and smiled. “So, when did you become such a softy Kaiba?”

Kaiba let a little smirk let out too. “If you’re going to team up with someone, you have to be sure you partner is at least half competent.”

“Hm, couldn’t have said it better myself…” Rainbow got back into her battle and pointed at Gilda. “GILDA! You better prepare yourself because I’m going to beat you and nothing is going to stop me!”

“JUST TRY!” Gilda screeched.

“With Kaiba by my side, nothing can stop us. Neither of you can match our total awesomeness!” Rainbow stood up on her hind legs and punched the air a few times.

The possessed filly was concerned. ‘Thanks to that meddling Kaiba, Dash has gotten her original vigor back. I fear mind games are no longer an option, now I have to resort to force…’

“My draw!” Gilda smirked and drew her next card. “I’ll start this turn with Card of Sanctity! Now each us draw cards until we are all holding six cards in our hand.” Rainbow, Scootaloo and Kaiba all drew normally. Just as Gilda was about to draw, she felt a jolt. Her top card released a powerful black light and as she drew, thunder could be heard in the sky. “The time has come! I sacrifice Shura, Zephyros and Ghibli.” All three of her monsters dematerialized and a giant hole could be seen opening in the sky. “I summon the Egyptian god, Slifer the Sky Dragon!” From the hole in the clouds, the familiar red dragon descended two mouths and all.

Slifer the Sky Dragon
< Level 10 / ATK: 5000 >

Gilda just held up another card and grinned. “I think you know what is coming…”

“Bring it on!” Rainbow yelled.

“I play Monster Reborn in order to summon a monster from my graveyard!” A black portal opened in the ground and Gilda’s Armor Master returned to the field. “Now that I have an Egyptian God and a monster of darkness on my field, I can sacrifice them to summon my ultimate monster!” Slifer dissolved into black dust and Armor Master melted into sludge. The two monsters shot into the sky spiraling in reverse directions of each other and into the hole opened up by Slifer. The black lightning bolt came down and burned the scars into Gilda’s head. Lastly, Gilda tucked her wings in for a moment and then spread them, firing brown feathers over the field. Afterwards, every brown feather on her wings were gone leaving nothing but black feathers. She landed down on the ground and Iseris rose up from behind her back.

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 3000 >

“Iseris may be strong now, but it’s about to become much stronger.” Gilda slid a spell card into her duel disk. “I activate my Vengeance Force spell card. First thing this does is increase the attack of a dark attribute monster on my side of the field by 1000 points.”

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< ATK: 3000 → 4000 >

“That’s not all this card does either, when my monster declares an attack on an opponent’s monster and my life points are lower than my opponents, my monster gains attack equal to the difference.” Gilda pointed her claw towards Rainbow. “Iseris, attack Rainbow Dash’s Airknight Parshath and finish this duel!” Iseris flew off the ground and lunged towards Parshath with a sharp bladed arm.

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< ATK: 4000 → 6800 >

“You seem to have forgotten about my Field Spell; you always did have a bad memory.” Gilda growled at this remark. “Thanks to my Sanctuary, any damage I take involving a fairy monster is negated!”

“That’s why I plan to get rid of it! Go Mystical Space Typhoon!” A large tornado formed in the center of the field and moved towards Rainbow’s field spell. “This card destroys any spell or trap card on the field and will allow Iseris to inflict enough damage to drop you to zero! You may have gotten your fighting spirit back but it’s too late!”

Gilda’s monster charged towards Rainbow’s monster and Gilda’s spell card flew towards Rainbow’s field spell right beside it. Rainbow stood her ground firmly with her eyes locked onto Gilda’s card and the impending doom heading her way. If she couldn’t stop this attack, she was a goner…

Chapter 11 - Sisters Forever (3)

“Iseris, attack Airknight Parshath with Scorching Shadow Strike!” Iseris extended its wing out, sharpening its wing to a fine pointed blade and charged towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was nervous for a second but she quickly recovered. “I reveal my face-down card, Emergency Provisions! This allows me to send a spell or trap card to the graveyard to regain 1000 life points and I’m using it on my Sanctuary.” Right before the tornado made contact; Sanctuary in the Sky exploded and rained light partials onto Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 4000 → 5000 >

Iseris quickly cleaved Parshath in half, causing it to explode. Afterwards, Iseris lunged towards Rainbow stabbing her clean through her chest with its bladed arm; the blade could be seen protruding from her back. Rainbow Dash screamed in agonizing pain.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 5000 → 100 >

Iseris went back to Gilda and Rainbow collapsed on the ground moments after.

“RAINBOW DASH!” Yugi and Spike shouted.

The possessed Scootaloo chuckled for a moment. ‘Good luck standing up after that…’ Suddenly, the filly collapsed to onto her knees. She put a hoof on her head and groaned. “My head!” The filly jerked back and forth; she seemed to be in pain. “What… is going… on!?”

“Master what’s wrong?” Gilda asked.

“AHHHH!” Scootaloo stood up and arched her body backwards. Rainbow Dash pulled herself up just enough to see the filly. “Rainbow Dash!” Dash gasped, that last line didn’t have the duel voice like she has had.

“Scootaloo…?” Rainbow asked.

“Rainbow Dash… Agh… Get… out of… my head!” The filly was constantly jerking her body back forth.

Rainbow Dash pulled herself up completely but she was barely able to stand. Her wounds from the last battle were starting to take her toll on her. “Scootaloo, you have to fight it! I believe in you!”

‘Come on… You can beat this kiddo…’ Yugi thought to himself.

Scootaloo completely fell onto the ground and rolled onto her back. “I’m losing control!” The duel voice was back. “My mind slave is fighting back.”

“Git outta our friend!” Apple Bloom yelled.

“Come on Scootaloo, you can do it!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

“Show her whose boss!” Spike yelled.

“Apple Bloom… Sweetie Belle…” “AH, I AM NOT LOSING TO SOME FILLY!” Scootaloo’s eyes shot open and the entire surface of her eyes turned blood red and Iseris’ scars burned into her head. “Rainbow Dash, it hurts!” “Silence Slave!” “AHHH!” “Be… QUIET!” Just then, the scars burned a bright red and Scootaloo screamed as loud as her voice would let her, then the entire world around shattered like glass and her body fell to the ground.

Rainbow stepped forwards. “Scootaloo?”

The filly slow pulled herself with her back facing the others. “Ha… Ha… HAHAHAHA!” Scootaloo turned back around and the others were horrified. Her already messed up face was even worse now. She had thick veins over her face and really thick black circles around her eyes. “I’m still here!”

“What did you do to Scootaloo!?” Rainbow yelled.

“It no use, you won’t be getting through this time. After that little outburst I did the only thing, I could to keep her under control… I banished her to the Shadow Realm.”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open and her iris’s shrunk. “No…”

“That’s right Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo is GONE! Her soul is lost forever and you will never see her again!”

In the distance, Apple Bloom was starting to sob and Sweetie Belle was full on crying. “Scootaloo is gone… Forever?”

Apple Bloom asked.

“NOOOOOOO!” Sweetie screamed.

Spike was pretty upset as well but Yami Yugi was not pleased in the slightly. He turned to Spike. “Spike, take the girls back to Ponyville. This battle is turning back really fast.”

“Alright Yugi.” Spike walked over the filly and started pulling them back to town. “Come on girls, I think its best we leave this to Rainbow and Kaiba.”

“But… Wut about Scootaloo…?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Don’t worry, I promise you will see your friend again.” Yugi replied. Sweetie Belle cheered up and the three set off back to Ponyville. Yugi turned back to the filly. “I can’t believe you; how could you be so heartless?”

“Heartless? Well allow me to let you in on a little secret… I didn’t banish her to the Shadow Realm. I was lying to you to get a reaction.”

“WHAT!?” Rainbow screamed with anger.

“You understand now? That crushing feeling when everything you love has been stolen away from you by forces you can’t control. The only way you can understand why I do what I do is feel it yourself. This feeling right here, this is why Celestia must pay!”

“You… What did Celestia do to you to make you hate her so much?”

“Celestia… She… She killed my little brother!” Everyone gasped. The filly had a tear coming from her eye. “You don’t know Celestia like I do. She is a heartless monster who rules over this land with an iron hoof. She is just biding her time until I am gone. Once I am out of the picture, you’ll be nothing but slaves to her. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself and that is why I must destroy her. Once I do, Equestria will finally be liberated and everypony can control their own life…”

“You have it all wrong…” Yugi replied. The filly looked at him curiously. “Celestia may have made a few mistakes but she is different now. She understands she made a mistake and now she has to live with it for the rest of her life knowing all the pain she caused. She wants nothing but to keep her ponies safe.”

“How would you know?”

“I know because she told me all about you… Midnight Rose…”

“Midnight Rose?” Rainbow asked.

“Nice to hear that tyrant still remembers my name. Yes, I am in fact Midnight Rose, the same one who attempted to liberate Equestria all those years before.”

“You mean destroy it!” Yugi yelled.

“What you consider destroy, I consider liberate. You know I am not the only one who wants Celestia gone right? While many ponies seem very fond of her, in truth they are scared of her power and would never openly admit to despising her guts. It’s not just her selfish behavior all those years ago; there are many things she has done.”

“Then explain to me…”

“For starters, she doesn’t even have the guts to protect her own ponies. She sits back in Canterlot while she lets her little ‘Harmony Squad’ do all the dirty work for her. What do you think she does during all your battles?”

“You’re the reason she can’t fight. Because of you, she is too scared to fight. You say that she doesn’t deserve to rule Equestria, well now you have her thinking it too. She doesn’t believe she has the power to protect anypony anymore and she is afraid that fighting will one day turn her into a monster like Nightmare Moon.”

“She is already a monster. Once the deed is done, there is no going back. She must atone for her crimes. She may have defeated me all those years ago but now I am stronger than ever!” Midnight arched her back and roared into the sky. The very ground beneath them shook with the full force of her power. A dark aura surrounded her and Rainbow could swear she saw her eyes flash red for a moment. “Now that my true identity has been revealed, I don’t have to hold back anymore! Even though this mortal body is unable to control my full power, this should be more than enough to destroy you. Now let’s continue this duel, I want you to see just what you and the Princess are in for Pharaoh!”

“You’ll have to beat me first! Now let’s duel!” Rainbow yelled.

“Yes, let’s continue…” Just then, Gilda’s spell card exploded.

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< ATK: 6800 → 3000 >

Rainbow was confused. “While Vengeance Force does give my monster a thousand attack point boost as long as it remains of the field, if I use its secondary boost as I just did, it destroys itself after the battle.” Gilda replied. “Iseris may have lost all the strength he had, but the damage has already been done. Now, take your turn Kaiba. Nothing you do will help you now.”

“Hmm, fine then.” Kaiba drew.

“Hold it, Iseris’ special ability activates now; dealing you a hundred points of damage for every dark monster in my graveyard and I count nine monsters.” Several black tendrils shot out of the ground and lashed at Kaiba. Kaiba put his forehoof up in defense.

Seto Kaiba
< LP: 4000 → 3100 >

“It makes no difference to me, because I just figured out a way to take you down.”

“Ha, and how do you plan on doing that?” Gilda replied.

“Like this; I’ll start with Pot of Greed. This lets me draw two more cards. Next, I remove the Thunder Dragon and my Cyber Jar in my graveyard from the game!” Kaiba ejected the two monsters from graveyard and put them aside. “By removing these monsters, I can summon THIS, my Chaos Emperor Dragon!” As the card hit the duel disk, a blazing inferno spiraled on the field forming into a gigantic dragon with gold and blue armor and long orange hair.

Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End
< Level 8 / ATK: 3000 >

“No way…” Midnight muttered. “The fabled Chaos Emperor Dragon…”

“By giving up 1000 of my Life Points, I can activate my Dragon’s special ability sending every card on the field and in our hands to the graveyard.”

“You think that is going to help?” Gilda boasted. “Iseris cannot be destroyed by monster effects.”

“Shut it, Gilda!” Midnight shouted. “I know what you plan on doing. The Chaos Emperor Dragon is a monster like no other with such unparalleled power, Celestia actually outlawed back in the day. Thanks to your dragon’s special ability not only do all our cards go the graveyard but we both get slammed for three hundred points of damage for every card sent to the graveyard.”

“3… 300 for each card…?” Gilda stuttered. “Even if Iseris survives…”

“We would still lose the duel regardless… There is a reason that monster is illegal. And I refuse to let you win because of it! I reveal my face-down card, behold the almighty Super Polyermization!”

“‘SUPER’ Polymerization!?” Kaiba asked.

“Now allow me to explain what makes this card so ‘super’. By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I’m allowed to combine two or more monsters on the field, regardless of who controls them! Not only that, but you can’t activate anything in response to this card meaning you can’t stop it!”

“Oh no!”

“Now, Elemental Hero Wildheart, combine your power with Kaiba’s Chaos Emperor Dragon!” Up in the sky behind Midnight, a small yellow light formed shooting off bolts of lightning. Chaos Dragon’s body distorted and was sucked into the light along with Wildheart. “I summon Elemental Hero Escuridao!” From the light came a new creature with a thin black body, sharp claws. There was looked like 4 wings on his back making the shape of an X.

Elemental HERO Escuridao
< Level 8 / ATK: 2500 >

“If you think he is strong now, wait until you see his special ability. My Escuridao gains an additional 100 attack points for every Elemental Hero in my graveyard making it stronger than your Chaos Dragon was.”

Elemental HERO Escuridao
< ATK: 2500 → 3100 >

“Too bad, and here you thought Emperor Dragon would win you the game…”

Kaiba simply grinned. “Who said that was my ‘only’ monster?” The dark mare gasped. “While one powerful monster is good, it’s always good to have insurance!” Kaiba revealed a card in his hand. “I activate The Melody of Awakening Dragons! All I have to do is discard one card from my hand and I can add any two dragons from my deck to my hand, as long as they have 3000 attack points and 2500 defense points.” Kaiba slid a card into the graveyard and spread his deck apart and pulled two cards out. “I discard my Pitch-Dark Dragon so I can add two Blue-Eyes White Dragons from my deck to join the third already in my hand.”

“Here it comes…”

“I play Polymerization!” Kaiba swung his right hoof around and set three separate cards on his duel disk. All at once, three separate beasts appeared in front him, large white beasts with a massive wing span and sinister blue eyes. The three dragons swirled together and exploded into a massive of energy. All that was left was a single dragon, just the dragons before. Out from the sides of his neck, two more heads formed out making it into a three headed beast. A small unknown insignia burned into the three heads of the dragon. “Behold, the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!”

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon
< Level 12 / ATK: 4500 >

“Now why stop there? I summon my Z-Metal Tank!” The new monster was a large yellow tank with a creepy eye between the treads. “If you thought one fusion was bad, let’s see how you handle two!” Kaiba’s X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank rose up into the and started changing. Y-Dragon Head’s wings popped off and retracted its legs. X-Head Cannon snapped onto the top of Y’s body. Finally, Z-Metal Tank opened a small hatch on the top of its body and the other snapped on top of it. “I combine my three monsters in order to summon the mighty XYZ-Dragon Cannon!”

XYZ Dragon Cannon
< Level 8 / ATK: 2800 >

“By sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, my Dragon Cannon has the ability destroy any monster on your side of the field.” XYZ-Dragon Cannon kneeled down, pointed its cannons towards Midnight’s Escuridao and fired a large electrical beam destroying it in seconds. “Now XYZ-Dragon Cannon, attack Midnight’s life points directly!” Dragon Cannon charged another shot like before and blasted the ground in front of the mare. She was launched back from the blast and rolled on the ground.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 3200 → 400 >

The filly lifted herself back up. Luckily it was just a normal monster so the damage wasn’t real. “You got lucky… But your luck has run out…”

“Not yet, now Blue-Eyes is going to attack Gilda’s Iseris! Neutron Blast!” Each of the three heads charged up their own energy and fired a triple energy beam. “Even with Iseris out, my Dragon is still strong enough to reduce your life points to zero and seeing how you have that thing on the field, you must be taken out now!”

“Not so fast!” Scootaloo yelled. “I activate Dimensional Prison!” The blast was suddenly blocked by a large dimensional rip. When the attack was finally sucked up, the hole pulled in Kaiba’s dragon and vanished.
“What did you do to my dragon!?”

“I sealed it away. Dimensional Prison banishes your monster to another dimension and removes it from play. All that work for nothing…”

“Hmm… I place this card face-down. That’s all for me.”

“My turn.” Midnight drew. “I play Pot of Greed in order to draw two more cards.” Once she saw the card she drew, she was in glee. “I place two cards face-down and end my turn.”

Yugi was a bit suspicious. ‘I don’t like those face-downs. She said she wouldn’t hold back anymore yet she didn’t even play a single monster. There is something going on here…’

Rainbow Dash put her hoof on the top of her deck. “Alright, it’s my draw!”

“You’re not doing anything Dash because now Iseris’ special ability hits you with nine hundred points of damage!” Iseris lashed out towards Rainbow but before it hit, a green spinning shield appeared in front of her and blocked the attack.

“What the?”

“I activated my Ring of Defense.” Kaiba replied. “This prevents you from taking any damage.”

Rainbow was confused. “You saved me? Why didn’t you activate that card during your turn?”

“You would have been eliminated; I could take the damage just fine…”

“Kaiba... Don’t worry, I won’t let saving me bring you down.” Rainbow swiftly drew her card and revealed it to the others. “I play the spell card Wish of a Guardian. All I have to do is send the top card of my deck to the graveyard and then if that card is a Fairy monster, I can draw 1 card.”

“You’re putting an awful lot of faith into your deck Rainbow Dash.” Midnight replied. “Not only do you have to draw a fairy monster, but you have to draw a card afterwards that will help you out of the current situation. The chances of that happening are slim to none.”

“Scootaloo trusts me to save her and as the Element of Loyalty, I won’t let her down!” Rainbow drew her card. “And it looks like my deck trusts in me too, I drew Trust Guardian!” Rainbow slid the card into her graveyard. “Now the duel now rests solely on this next draw.” She looked down at her deck. “Alright Scootaloo… This isn’t just me anymore, this is you too. I dragged you into this and I promise I will get you out… I am the fastest flier in Equestria and now I will show you I can be the greatest sister in Equestria too… You hear that, Midnight? As the Element of Loyalty, I promise to show Scootaloo that I am a worthy sister and role model.” At that time, Rainbow closed her eyes and begun drawing her card. If her eyes were open, she would have seen the spirit of the filly she cared for right beside her, who had also placed her hoof on her deck. Then her eyes shot open. “I PROMISE TO WIN!” Then something happened, Yugi looked down at his deck box and noticed a bright light from inside of it. Before he could touch it, the clip broke off and a beam of light shot out into the sky. Everyone watched as the beam arched back downward and struck Rainbow Dash, creating a sphere of light covering her entire body.

“What is the meaning of this?” Midnight asked.

Then a monster appeared on Rainbow’s field, her Archlord Kristya was back once more.

Archlord Kristya
< Level 8 / ATK: 2800 >

At last, from within the light they could see Rainbow Dash slowly stepping out. “I warned you that there would be consequences for hurting my friend…” Rainbow Dash stopped just inside the light, all that could be seen was a silhouette. “I am loyal to my friends and refuse to let that end now!” Rainbow lifted herself off the ground with her wings, made a full 360 turn clockwise blowing away the light like wind and held her right forehoof back before slamming a card into the spell and trap zone. “I ACTIVATE HARMONY FUSION!”

“NOOOO!” Midnight screamed. “You can’t have that card!”

“This allows me to combine monsters on the field and create a powerful new fusion monster, a monster with the ability to destroy Iseris regardless of its ability!”

Gilda recoiled. “But if Iseris is destroyed, not only do I lose the duel but I lose my soul as well…”

“I use Harmony Fusion in order to combine my Archlord Kristya with Kaiba’s XYZ-Dragon Cannon.” The two monsters shrunk down and burst into two small white stars. The stars launched up into the air and flew into the clouds, exploding into a six-pointed purple star that echoed all over Equestria. All the way back in Ponyville, everypony looked up and awed at the beautiful but two ponies in particular could only smile with tears. Two fillies who knew everything was going to be alright. “The bonding of two make two become one; a promise for a better future where everypony can live in prosperity and live for a new tomorrow. Descend from the sky and shine your protective light over this land; MECH-ANGEL HAVENGUARD!” Finally, the clouds parted bringing a new creature like none of them had ever seen. It was a human-like creature just like Kristya with long red hair. I was covered in golden robot-like armor that resembled Kaiba’s monster. It had a dragon-shaped helmet and dragon wings like Y-Dragon Head, bulky body armor similar to X-Head Cannon, and large feet that liked the treads of Z-Metal Tank. Its legs were the only thing not covered in armor, only a pair of tight black pants.

Mech-Angel Havenguard
< Level 8 / ATK: 2800 >

“Now we are in real trouble!”

“First you hurt Pinkie Pie and now you put Scootaloo in harm’s way, you’re going down Gilda. I activate Havenguard’s special ability; once per turn I can return one Dragon-type monster that has been removed from the game and equip it to Havenguard.” A black dimension rift appeared behind Havenguard and Kaiba’s Ultimate Dragon rose up from the hole. “Then, all the ATK points of that monster is transferred over to Havenguard!” The form of the dragon faded and turned transparent before spiraling into Havenguard creating a dragon shaped blue aura around it.

Mech-Angel Havenguard
< ATK: 2800 → 7300 >

“Seven thousand three hundred!? No, Iseris is supposed to be indestructible!”

“It’s like I said, any monster summoned by Harmony Fusion has the ability to destroy Iseris. Face it Gilda, its over for you.” Rainbow pointed her hoof towards Iseris. “Havenguard, put an end to this once and for all!” Havenguard put its hands in front of its body and its hands morphed into two separate arm cannons. “Hyper… Neutron… WAVE!” A massive electrical blue beam fired towards Gilda. She could only watch in horror as the beam came towards her and she could do nothing. She turned to her master who still had as look of what could only be described as disappointment. Everything went silent… Then the blast impacted right where Gilda stood and let out a loud screech. She was completely swallowed by the beam and was launched backwards, standing no chance against the massive attack.

Gilda
< LP: 1200 → 0 >

After several moments, the beam finally dissipated. Gilda was lying on the ground with a black circle underneath her. She had several scratches and burns over her body. Rainbow flew up and over and landed next to Gilda.

Gilda was a mess but she still put on a smile. “So, this is how it ends huh?”

“It would appear so…”

“I guess I have nobody to blame but myself… I was so angry about how uncool your new friends to me, I never even tried to see what you saw in them…”

“Everypony has a different perspective on others but you need to learn to look past the surface.” Dash lifted her hoof up and looked down at her duel disk. “You know, I should say the same about myself too. Yugi says that one’s deck can show their true self; I didn’t understand it at first but after this duel, I think I understand. Every pony has a duty in their life and mine to protect others, to be their Guardian Angel that will protect others with my own life.”

“Heh, when did you get so poetic…?”

“I guess I have you to thank for it. If you hadn’t beaten me in our first encounter, I never would have felt what true failure was. Failure has always been something I feared since I was a filly but to have my failure cost the life of a close… Neigh; my BEST friend, I finally realized just how important I am to everypony.”

“You never realize how great you have it until it’s gone…”

“Don’t think this means I am going soft or anything, I am still the most awesome pony in Equestria and nothing you say will change that.”

“Same old Dash until the very end…But Dash, promise me something…”

“What?”

“Don’t let her win…” At last, Gilda’s body completed dissolved into black dust and sunk into the hole. The hole vanished leaving nothing but a black mark on the field. Rainbow turned to the filly that was once Gilda’s partner.

“Well done, Dash, you managed to defeat Iseris and erase any darkness that was in Gilda’s heart.” The dark mare said. “Too bad your reunion was cut short, just after she reformed too…”

“Well lucky for me, she left me with a parting gift. When my Havenguard destroys a monster in battle, I regain life points equal to the difference between our monsters’ attack points.”

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 100 → 4400 >

“And with Gilda gone, I guess that means it’s your turn again.” Rainbow flew back over to the other side of the gorge.

“Not quite yet… At the end of your turn, I activate the trap card Sacrificial Return! If a monster is destroyed and that monster was summoned by sending other monsters to the graveyard, I’m allowed to re-summon one of those sacrificed monsters to my field.” A massive black portal appeared in the sky above her and lightning began to roar. “Welcome back Slifer the Sky Dragon!” The red dragon descended from the sky once again but this time, it was in control of Midnight Rose.

“This is not good…” Yugi muttered

“Now, I draw!” As she drew her card, it let off a very visible black lightning. Unlike with the others, this spark was actually easily visible. “I activate Soul Fusion from my hand. By giving up half of my life points, I’m allowed to remove from play fusion material monsters from my deck in order to summon a fusion monster my graveyard.”

Midnight Rose
< LP: 400 → 200 >

“I remove Elemental Hero Necroshade and Elemental Hero Bubbleman in order to summon back my Elemental Hero Escuridao!” The two individual monsters came out onto the field but quickly dissolved into black partials as a black portal appeared in the center of the arena. The two once-monsters swirled into the portal and Midnight’s fusion rose out to join the battle once again.”

Elemental HERO Escuridao
< Level 8 / ATK: 3100 >

Midnight pulled her forehoof back and pointed into the air. “I sacrifice Slifer the Sky Dragon and Elemental Hero Escuridao!” The summoning went off just as expected when the lightning bolt was supposed to come down, something changed. Scootaloo’s entire body was covered in a purple light and her body began to morph. She began to grow larger and a new robe materialized on her. Finally, the lightning bolt came and the light burst over the field. When the light cleared, Midnight’s new form was visible. Her colors her significantly darker, her eyes were a bright red with black covering most of the eye and she was wearing a black cloak like others were but it was majorly different. The back didn’t reach all the way to her flank, the arms outstretched almost like wings and the area over the ears was spiked upward. The cloak almost looked like she was wearing Iseris. Finally, Iseris himself rose up behind Midnight. “Give up now, any hope you had of winning is gone now.”

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 3600 >

“I will never give up Midnight!” Rainbow shouted. “I made my promise to Scootaloo and now Gilda. You won’t win.”

Midnight chuckled. “We’ll just see about that, I play a continuous spell, one you should be quite familiar with Dash; Vengeance Force! The very same card Gilda used on you last turn. Thanks to this card, Iseris gains an additional one thousand attack points.

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< ATK: 3600 → 4600 >

And don’t forget, since your life points are higher than mine, Vengeance Force gives my monster a boost equal to the difference in our life points!”

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< ATK: 4600 → 8800 >

“Now you monster is strong enough to destroy Havenguard…”

“How observant Rainbow Dash, now go Iseris; destroy Rainbow Dash’s Havenguard!” Iseris rose up into the air and pulled his wings together, charging a powerful sphere of black fire. “Die!” Iseris fired the shot and Havenguard was vaporized in seconds. Rainbow stood her ground and blocked the dust from getting in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 4400 → 2900 >

“I’m still in this duel.”

Midnight just laughed. “I’m afraid that is where you’re wrong. I activate the quick-play spell, Passing the Torch! This allows me to remove a Hero monster in my graveyard from play, and then a non-Hero monster I control gains that monsters effect and becomes treated as a Hero monster. Now my ‘Hero’ Iseris gains the effect of the Evil Hero Inferno Wing in my graveyard.

“Wait, I never saw what Inferno Wing did. It was destroyed before you were able to use it.”

“Then let me explain, when Inferno Wing destroys a monster in battle you take damage equal to either your monster’s attack or defense points; whichever is higher. Meaning you take seven thousand three hundred damage!” Iseris came in close to Rainbow and fired a red beam from its eyes and did a sweep past Rainbow. After a couple seconds, the effect of the beam when off blasting Rainbow Dash several meters back. She skid along the ground like in her first battle.

Rainbow Dash
< LP: 2900 → 0 >

“No Rainbow Dash!” Yugi yelled.

“Game, set, match…”

Yugi ran over to Rainbow only to see her smiling. “I activate Havenguard’s special ability… When he is destroyed… The monster equipped to him is revived in his place…” Rainbow weakly held her hoof up towards Kaiba. “Kaiba, your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon returns to your field…” A hole opened up in the sky and Kaiba’s dragon descended down right in front of him on his field.

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon
< Level 12 / ATK: 4500 >

“Not only that but your Vengeance Force is used up and your monster returns to normal.” Midnight’s Vengeance Force card exploded.

Midnight closed her eyes and shook her head. “Once again Rainbow Dash, you’re wrong. YOU’RE DEAD WRONG! I reveal my final trap card, Berserk Retaliation! When used in combination with Vengeance Force, these two cards have a deadly effect. When one of my monster’s attack points is reduced during the battle phase, this card flip-flops the stat change meaning that instead of losing attack points, Iseris gains the attack points instead until the end of this turn!” Iseris charged with power and grew in sized. The sky roared with lightning and darkened.

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< ATK: 8800 → 14000 >

“So sorry Rainbow Dash. You were so close but, in the end, you still couldn’t defeat me.”

“But hold on.” Kaiba interrupted. “Your monster has already attacked and your card only lasts until the end of the turn. What are you trying to accomplish?”

“My Berserker Retaliation has a second effect. When my monster’s attack increases, he is allowed to attack a second time this turn!” Iseris flew up and charged his attack once again.

“Kaiba no!” Yugi yelled.

“IT’S ALL OVER FOR YOU!”

Rainbow was still shrugging to remain. The black portal below her was now starting to pull her in. All she could do was looked over towards Kaiba’s field. Then she saw his face-downs, she was barely low enough to the ground to see underneath his two cards. “Kaiba… Use your trap card now!”

Just before Iseris launched his attack, Kaiba revealed his first face-down. “I activate Magical Trick Mirror! This allows to me to copy the effect of a magic card in another player’s graveyard and activate it as my own.”

“And just what do you plan on doing with that? There is nothing in my graveyard that will help you.” Midnight replied.

“Who said I wanted a card from your graveyard?” Then, a light shown from Rainbow’s duel disk and a card spiraled from her graveyard into Kaiba’s hoof. “I activate Rainbow Dash’s Harmony Fusion!” Just like with Rainbow, the white vortex formed in air waiting for the fusion.

“You fool! You don’t have any monsters to fuse, only your one dragon. Even if you did, you are not meeting the proper requirements for Harmony Fusion to work. You’re only allowed to fuse monsters if at least one of them belongs to another duelist.”

“You mean the card can only fuse monsters that belong to multiple people?” Yugi asked.

“Haven’t you been paying attention? Back in Canterlot Spike fused his Armed Dragon with Rarity’s Gem-Knight and then only a few minutes ago, Rainbow fused her Archlord with Kaiba’s Dragon Cannon. It’s that card’s main weakness; you need the support of another player for it to work properly.” Then, she heard soft chuckling. “What’s so funny Rainbow Dash?”

“I promised I wouldn’t lose and I made absolutely sure that I would not fail.”

“What are you talking about?”

“While it is true that Harmony Fusion requires two ponies to work, you’re overlooking one important fact…” Midnight glared at Rainbow. “I don’t need to give a monster to Kaiba because I already gave him Harmony Fusion…”

“WHAT!?”

Yugi gasped. ‘Of course, even though the monsters being fused all belong to Kaiba, Harmony Fusion itself belongs to Rainbow Dash fulfilling the requirement. The Princess infused the card with the power of the Elements, meaning it’s impossible to use alone. It requires perfect harmony between the duelists. I never thought I’d see the day Kaiba uses a card like that…’

“And that’s not all!” Kaiba continued. “I reveal my face-down card, De-Fusion! This separates my one dragon back into the three that originally created it.” Kaiba’s dragon swirled in the air and did a reverse of the original fusion from before.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon (x3)
< Level 8 / ATK: 3000 >

“Now Magical Trick Mirror kicks in and re-fuses my three dragons into a new monster!” Kaiba’s three dragons burst into three white and spiraled into the air. The three stars flew into the clouds and exploded into the familiar 6-pointed start. Then from the sky descended a new Blue-Eyes, one Kaiba had never seen. Its body was still mostly the same but its body structure was generally sharper than before. It had a 6-pointed star on his forehead that was faintly shimmering multiple colors. Its dragon wings were replaced by pure white feathered that also had a faint rainbow color to them. “Behold the most powerful Blue-Eyes to ever exist! The Blue-Eyes Harmony Dragon! [ATK:0]

Blue-Eyes Harmony Dragon
< Level 12 / ATK: 0 >

“But he has zero attack points…” Midnight replied.

“He won’t for long because now his special ability activates. Now every dragon-type monster in the graveyard is removed from the game and he gains the combined total attack of every dragon removed!” A bright light shot from Kaiba’s graveyard and five monsters all flew out. The Chaos Emperor Dragon, The Pitch-Dark Dragon he discarded and the three Blue-Eyes he fused together.

Midnight’s worry calmed down when she noticed the monster’s attack strength. “Even with all your dragons, your still eleven hundred points too weak. You miscalculated.”

“I never miscalculate.”

“Huh?”

Kaiba simply pointed to her right. “May I suggest you take a closer look?”

“What exactly are you talking about?” Then she turned to her right to see a black portal opening where Gilda once way. Out of the hole flew a single card that changed into a black dragon. “No, it can’t be…”

“This duel was going on long before either of us joined and my dragon affects all dragons in the graveyard, not just mine.”

“So that means Gilda’s Dark Armed Dragon… NOOOO!” All six dragons flew into Kaiba’s harmony dragon and it lit up with a bright rainbow-like aura.

Blue-Eyes Harmony Dragon
< ATK: 0 → 15700 >

Rainbow, who had almost entire faded now, gave one last smile. “Thanks Gilda… We couldn’t have done it without you…” At last, Rainbow’s body was completely absorbed by the vortex and she was gone.

“Take it away Blue-Eyes! Shining Prism Lightning!” Blue-Eyes charged a rainbow aura in his mouth and fired a lightning bolt straight at Iseris. Upon impact, the bolt exploded into a flurry of sparks that shot into the air. The explosion could be seen for miles. Midnight still in the filly’s body flew back and landed on her back. She slowly reverted back to her original appearance.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 200 → 0 >

“You may have beaten me Kaiba but you still failed. Both Rainbow and Gilda and gone and now Scootaloo will be lost as well…”

“Just what are you talking about?” Yugi asked.

“Anyone in control of Iseris when he is destroyed loses their soul. Since this is Scootaloo’s body, she is the one losing her soul, not me. I never needed to win the duel; I was hoping Rainbow would be the one to take out her ‘sister’ but this will have to do.” Midnight started with a small chuckle but broke into full laughter. “Good luck Pharaoh, you’re going to need it…” Then, she lost consciousness and a small black mist could be seen floating away from the filly. Kaiba flew over the filly and looked down at her body. The filly slowly gained consciousness and looked at Kaiba… “Where… Where am I…? All I can remember is a voice telling to do things… Terrible things, and all at Rainbow Dash. I was so scared…”

“Don’t worry, everything is going to be alright.”

“Rainbow Dash… Is she alright?”

Kaiba just turned his back to the filly. “Listen, Rainbow Dash was willing to put her very life at stake to save you. No matter what happens to you, don’t forget that she cares for you just as much as you do her.”

Scootaloo just smiled. “Rainbow Dash…” Then, her body faded into the vortex like all those before her. Once she was gone, Kaiba looked down at the card Rainbow Dash had given her.

“This card…” The card just shimmered. Kaiba spread his wings and flew back over to Yugi. As he landed, he threw the card back to Yugi.

“I can’t believe it…” Yugi said. “Even after all that we still lost Scootaloo and Rainbow. Midnight is way too dangerous; she had to be stopped now.”

“She definitely knows her way around a deck and she wasn’t even using her own cards.”

“Listen… Kaiba…”

“Save it Yugi, I know what you are thinking. Don’t think this duel has made me soft, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo… They just…” Kaiba stopped for a moment. “I wasn’t going to just leave a child hanging like that… Now, let’s back to town…” Once again, he spread his wings and flew back. Yugi just watched him go.

‘Kaiba… I know I can’t be the only one who sees yourself in Rainbow Dash…’

Midnight watched over the remaining duelists in her reflection pool. ‘Seto Kaiba, you meddling human…’ She thought to herself. ‘This is proving to be more difficult than I had expected. If Kaiba proved this much trouble, there is no telling how powerful the Pharaoh is. I think it’s time to rethink my strategy…’ She turned for the door and left the room. Outside was a large dark area with a second reflecting pool and another pony sitting to the side; a blue unicorn. “Great and Power Trixie…” Trixie turned to Midnight. “Rise my Dark Summoner…”

She stood up at attention. “Yes Master, what it is?”

“As it stands, you are the only Dark Summoner remaining other than myself. Our enemies have proven to be much more powerful then I had anticipated. It’s time we put out plan into motion. Trixie, I’m going to Canterlot on business. I want you to leave for Ponyville and eliminate Twilight Sparkle once and for all. And then, you will be reunited with Starshine.”

“Yes Master…”

Chapter 12 - Ending the Pain (1)

Night had slowly settled on Ponyville. Standing upon a high cliff stood the last remaining outside the leader. The Great and Powerful Trixie overlooked Ponyville, preparing her next attack. She looked down at her right hoof and clenched it. A short burst of black lightning shot around her leg.

“This new power Master gave to me, the power I had before was nothing like this…” She muttered to herself. “With THIS kind of power, I can surely defeat Twilight Sparkle…” Trixie then closed her eyes and didn’t reopen for several moments. “No… Simply defeating her would be too easy. What Twilight did to me and Starshine… An eternity banished to the Shadow Realm is too good for her. If I want her to pay for what she did, I intend to make her suffer. I think it’s time to introduce her to true sorrow…”

Twilight continued to lie down on her bed. Physically she was in good shape but her mentality was another story. When Yugi and Spike arrived back from Canterlot, she wasn’t expecting to hear that she was the only left, all five of her friends had fallen in battle but also, she just couldn’t stop thinking of that filly.

‘Starshine… I had hoped that maybe you were the key to getting back the original Trixie but I never expected such a nice filly could turn so cruel all of a sudden… Maybe her parents were right and Trixie was a bad influence. I want the two of them to be happy again but now… I don’t know…’ Twilight pulled herself up and looked over at the package the nurse had brought in earlier, the one that interrupted her talk with Starshine. She pulled it over with her magic and opened it up. Inside was what looked like several stacks of Duel Monster’s cards. As she pulled the first one out, she instantly noticed something was wrong. “All the cards are blank…?” Also, inside were two scrolls, one had Celestia’s royal insignia imprinted on it. She opened it up and examined the letter.

Dear my Faithful Student Twilight,

As you are aware, the situation has gotten substantially grimmer than I had originally anticipated. Several of your friends have already fallen and the Elements of Harmony are getting weaker and weaker. We have managed to retrieve the card that will defeat our opponents but I wonder if even that can’t help us. However, I do have another plan. Inside the box are a bunch of Duel Monsters cards but as you may have noticed already, they are all blank. Inside the contents of the box is an ancient scroll containing the instructions for a forbidden spell I sealed away many years ago. This is a spell only a couple ponies even know exists. Both Luna and I know this spell and it’s likely our primary enemy knows the spell too. Please master this spell; this may be our last chance to end this.

Also, I want you to know that you were always great student but an even greater friend. Your friends are lucky to have someone like you. I hope you still see me as a friend once this whole ordeal is over…

Sincerely, Princess Celestia.

A tear had start streaming down her face when she finally looked up from the letter. “Does she really believe I won’t think of her as a friend after this?” She threw the letter to the side in disgust. ’I’ve always thought of you as a friend. No matter what mistakes I made you were always there for me and I am going to do the same.’ Just then, she heard a bunch of voices coming from outside the door. A nurse opened up her door and looked like she was in a panic. “What is going on? I can hear all the noise from in here.”

“Oh, it’s terrible, Starshine Hope has gone missing!” Twilight gasped. “She was in her room and she snuck out the window. It looks like she used a bunch her bed sheets to make a rope. You were a friend of hers so I thought maybe you would know?”

‘Friend…’ “No, I have no idea where she could have gone.” The nurse just sighed and closed the door.
She must of have run off looking for Trixie. I can’t have her parent’s finding out she ran away to be with her, especially in the state Trixie is in now…’ Twilight stepped over and looked out the window. ‘But… I don’t know where Trixie is… She could be anywhere and Starshine could be lost anywhere in Ponyville.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that…,’ Said a voice.

Twilight looked around the room in confusion. “Who is there?”

‘Don’t tell me you don’t recognize my voice Twilight Sparkle.’

“Trixie!? Where are you?”

‘Somewhere you can’t see me… Somewhere far away…’

“Telepathy… No, there is no way your powerful enough for that kind of magic. Only the most powerful unicorns in Equestria can do that. Even Starswirl the Bearded had trouble using that kind of magic.”

‘Hahahah! You underestimate me Twilight Sparkle. I’ve grown stronger since we last met, MUCH stronger. All of our allies have fallen and now we are the only ones left between our two groups. I believe it’s time we finally settle the score and put an end to this once and for all. Meet me at the lake nearby Sweet Apple Acres. Once I am rid of you, Starshine and I will finally be free!’

“Wait! Trixie!” There was no response. ‘Telepathy… There is no way she has grown that powerful.’ Twilight looked at the table next to her bed and saw her Duel Monsters duel disk. ‘Either way, I can’t let her get away with this.’ The mare picked up her duel disk and slid it over her left forehoof. As she was about the leave the room, she saw the box again. ‘Celestia said she included a scroll with a forbidden spell… Maybe she sent it knowing I was going to battle Trixie?’ Twilight pulled the second scroll out and unrolled it. “Forbidden Art: Duel Monsters- WHAT!?” She nearly dropped the scroll when she saw the spell. “This is… So, this is why it’s forbidden…” She quickly picked up the box and closed the scroll within it. As she opened it, she was quickly stopped by a nurse.

“Miss, you really shouldn’t be out of bed.”

“I don’t care; I’m going to look for Starshine.” Twilight ran passed all the nurses that tried to stop her. She had only one thing on her mind at the moment, stop Trixie.

Starshine had escaped the Hospital and was now lost in some forest. She didn’t care though, her mind instead kept coming back to Twilight. “I thought she was my friend… She said she cared for me but no, it’s her fault I’m not allowed to see Trixie anymore…” She wiped away the tears in her eyes. “Trixie is the only pony who ever gave me hope of actually using magic. Those doctors kept saying they would fix me but all they do is tests. I don’t want to be tested on anymore…” She came to a stop near a large tree and curled up against a tree. “Please Celestia. I just want to see Trixie one more time…”

Finally, Twilight reached her destination. She quickly ran up to the lakeside and looked around. “Alright Trixie, I’m here like you asked!”

“Welcome Twilight Sparkle!” The ground beneath her began to shake and the water in the lake started churning. Slightly off-shore, Trixie rose up from the water. She was no longer wearing any kind of costume or disguise, just her plain regular appearance. Beneath her was large circular platform-like rock. The platform rose up high above the water like a giant pedestal. “Took you long enough to get here Twilight Sparkle. I would have expected someone like you to be one time but now that you’re here…” The water started churning again and several other pillars rose up created a large staircase for Trixie to step down. She leaped between the platforms and landed down near Twilight.

“I came here to finish this off just like you asked.”

“But first, I want to ask you something…”

“And what is that?”

“How is Starshine doing?” Twilight gasped at Trixie’s question. “I know you met her and I know she is here in Ponyville. Now tell me, how is Starshine?”

Twilight looked down at the ground. “She went missing earlier…”

“WHAT!?” Trixie exploded. “What do you mean she is missing!?”

“When she learned who I was, she just took off and nobody has seen her since.”

“Hmm, not surprising considering what happened between you two. I heard that you befriended her and even tried to give her some ‘advice’ but then somepony let it slip that you were actually Twilight Sparkle, the pony that crushed her dream.”

“What do you mean I crushed her dream!?”

“She was everything to me and I was everything to her. When we met that first time, she knew she wanted to learn stage magic just like me. All she wanted to do was provide enjoyment for others; she didn’t even care if she wasn’t considered great or powerful. I used to think like that before…”

“Huh?”

Trixie gave a somber look towards the ground. “Truth is I wasn’t always a narcissist. I originally did believe that others were more important than me. However, it only led to misery, being too kind to others will eventually backfire and ponies will start taking advantage of you. The only way to get anywhere in life is to secure your dominance over others. If others bow to your power, you control them like pets.”

“That’s horrible.”

“That’s why I agreed to help Starshine. She reminded me of myself at that age. The truth is that I was happier before I became this way but that way of living is very short lived and only lasts so long. Dominance of power isn’t as fulfilling but holds true for extended time. I had hoped that she would allow me to relive that time just a little longer before she eventually falls into the dark pit I did.”

“She told me she wanted to see you again so you can help her with illness.”

“Ah yes, that problem. Starshine was born without her brain lobes being properly connected to her horn. It’s an extremely rare birth defect, one that my own mother was born with as well. You know why the doctors only ever run tests and never attempt to perform the surgery?”

“I think I know the answer.”

“The surgery itself is extremely dangerous. It doesn’t risk potential death but with the side effects that do occur, one may wish they were dead. A unicorn’s horn is an extremely important part of the body, and is the conductor for our magic. If a lobe was to be improperly connected, the magic connection may end up going to a different part of the body. Do you know what happens then?”

“Side effects including blindness, deafness, uncontrollable hallucinations, limb failure and worst of all, a potential magic overload leading to unbelievable pain and total body failure.”

“Exactly… But you see my mother discovered the secret to this defect. She defeated her birth defect through sheer willpower and determination.”

“Then please, teach me these techniques so I can help Starshine. I’ll get the Princess to help fix your reputation and maybe even teach you real magic. We don’t have to fight; this can all be settled peacefully.”

“Sorry, but it’s too late…” Twilight could swear she saw a tear in Trixie’s eye. “You ruined my trust in you the first time we met. I deserved nothing that happened to me after I originally visited Ponyville. All I did was put on a free show for you Ponyvillians and you spat in my face. Remember when I said being nice only led to misery? It’s because of ponies like you!” Trixie pointed at Twilight; tears were clearly visible on her face now. “You destroyed my home, my possessions, my career and you didn’t even offer to check if I was okay? You can try to talk your way out of this but the fact is that what happened on that day had nothing to do with me.”

“Well… I…” Twilight shuddered.

“Twilight, no matter how evil master and I come off as we are only victims in this situation. Her dark magic is only as strong as the user’s pain and sadness and you can’t fake the pain and suffering, I’ve been through.” Trixie covered her eyes trying to block the tears. “You don’t know what it’s like waking up in the morning knowing not a single pony would care if I was alive or dead. Starshine is the only pony in this world that even cares I exist and without her my entire life is meaningless.”

“And that is why I want to help you Trixie. I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life in the Canterlot dungeons for crimes you didn’t commit but you’re only making it worse and I refuse to let you bring Starshine down with you. Please, I will help you start over again; I’ll even put in a good word for Celestia.”

“Already told you… It’s too late… My heart is filled with nothing but darkness now and it’s telling me that you must be eliminated…”

“But Trixie…”

“Twilight, the fact of the matter is that I don’t need your sympathy, not anymore. Ponies in this world are cruel and evil and I plan to use my new powers to show it to the world…” Trixie held up her left hoof and her duel disk materialized on her arm. “And you will be the first subject to test my new powers.”

Twilight hesitated for several moments. “I’m sorry Trixie…” Twilight held up her duel disk and rotated it into place. “I tried to help but I can see now that you’ve made up your mind… You’ve left me with no other choice…” Twilight slid her deck into her duel and took on her battle stance.

Trixie shuffled her deck with her magic. “This will be our final duel; a fight to the finish.” Finally, Trixie slid her deck in and her disk slid into active model. “Only one of us is leaving this duel and it is going to be me!” Trixie threw her head back and screamed into the air. Slowly, Trixie began to change. The tip of her horn turned black and engulfed her full horn; covering her forehead in black veins and her coat darkened. A new costume started to materialize onto her; a cape similar to her original magician one but it was black and was jagged at the end, a black suit of armor very similar to the kind worn by royal guards with a match pair of four black iron boots and finally, a large black wizard hat with an oversized leather rim and a metal plated spiked top arched forward just like her Dark Magician card. Her mane had also grown substantially larger and spread out from underneath her hat like a paper fan. Upon completing the transformation, Trixie let out a massive pulse of energy that nearly threw Twilight backwards. “This time, you’re not just dueling Trixie; you’re dueling against Trixie, the Ultimate Supreme Unicorn. Now, prepare yourself.”

“LET’S DUEL!!!”

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 4000 >

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 4000 >

A pink colored mare with a slightly greyed red mane was strolling through the Canterlot garden examining the many statues. “No… No… Not him…” One by one she passed by each statue giving each a minor glance until one caught her eye. “Ah, there you are…” She approached her ultimate target, the reason she came to Canterlot. “Discord, the Spirit of Chaos…” She pulled herself up onto the statue’s pedestal and touched Discord’s frozen leg. “Yes, I can feel his power flowing in this statue.”

“Hey what are you doing?” Called a palace guard. The pony turned around to find two guards. “Nopony is allowed to come in contact with Discord’s statue, that after that incident last time.”

“Sorry but I’m afraid I can’t comply.” The two guards slowly approached her but before they got close, she stepped down and approached them herself. “I just have one thing I need to ask you…” The guards looked at her with concern as she closed her eyes. “Would you like a trip to the Shadow Realm?” She shot her eyes open and the veins on her face bulged for a second. One of the guards recoiled and stopped dead in his tracks. The other guard took notice.

“Hey, you alright?” No response. He went in front of him and noticed his eyes were completely blank and soulless. The remaining guard took a step back and the soulless guard continued to just stand blankly. He turned back to the mare. “What did you do to him?”

“Don’t worry; you’ll be seeing him soon.” Once again, she shot her eyes open and the guard’s vision suddenly cracked before going all black. Soon after, both of the now soulless guards fell over and were absorbed into the dark portal. “Now, back to business.”

“Hold it right there…” She groaned at the new disturbance. The mare turned around only to come face to face with a large white Alicorn. Princess Celestia stood completely still giving the pony a death glare.

“Ha- Ha- HAHAHA! Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise? Long time no see Princess. I can see the last 800 years have been kind to you.” The dark portal formed below the mare and several black particles covered her body. When the darkness dissipated, her coat was significantly darker and she was wearing a jagged robe similar to when Scootaloo summoned Iseris.

“What are you doing here?”

“Is that all you have to say tyrant? You can give me that look all you want but I can tell that you are terrified of me.”

“What are you doing here!?”

“My mission is simple; I plan on absorbing Discord’s power and using it for myself.”

“What are you insane? If you use his powers, you will completely destroy Equestria. No mortal can handle that much raw chaotic magic.”

“I am more than strong enough to handle Discord’s magic. Besides, what are you going to do about it?”

“I…” Celestia hesitated. “I don’t know…”

“Exactly, you don’t know. You’re not as powerful as you believe and you don’t have the power to protect everypony. You have to keep everypony under close watch and keep ponies under lock and key to make sure things go your way.”

“You don’t understand what it means to watch over your subjects. You can’t save everypony so you save as many as you can, even if it means giving your own life.”

“Like you would know, you’re nothing but a heartless tyrant. You don’t care about your subject’s safety. You only care if you make it out. You only care about them to keep your image up.”

“No, I truly care for my subjects and would do anything to protect them.”

“How about all those years ago? What about back then?”

“That incident nearly 800 years ago, as much as I want it to not be true, is entirely my fault…”

“So, you finally get it…”

“But I am better now; I used that incident to turn myself into a better pony. I try every day to make up for the mistakes I made back then but they keep coming back to haunt me… You are my biggest failure. I let what happen to you spiral out of control and I was too blind to see the pain and suffering I was causing. Now all the pain is returning, it’s like my dark side is trying to come back and enslave me again. When I banished my sister, I made a promise to never give in to the evil in my heart like she did and I broke that promise. Now, even if we were to defeat you and bring everyone back, would they forgive me? Would they forgive me for my evil misdeeds that nearly led to the complete destruction of Equestria. I just- don’t know…” Then out of nowhere, a scroll materialized from a wisp of green fire. Celestia opened it up and read its contents. The scroll contained just five letters.

“PCBFF”

Celestia was completely still, all the memories of their past flowing back to her. “Well, what does it say?”

Celestia simply closed her eyes and the scroll vanished in a puff of green fire. “Thanks Twilight…” As Celestia opened her eyes she lifted herself of the ground with her wings and shoved her left forehoof in the air emitting a blinding golden light. A circular orange disk formed on her hoof with 5 bladed edges like the sun. The edges spun around the disk and stop at the front where they straightened out to a serrated blade. Celestia finally landed back on the ground and looked at Midnight with determination.

‘What’s this? The fear in her eyes, it’s gone…’ Midnight thought to herself.

“I would never give up on Twilight and she never gives up on me! I have a duty to protect my subjects and show others the true power of friendship. Now I realize I am not a failure, I’m only a failure if I give in and let you get away with your evil plans. Midnight Rose, defend yourself because this ends tonight.” Celestia’s horn lit up and a finely crafted white and gold box with a diamond-shaped slot materialized before her. She looked up at her crown and pulled the Amethyst from her royal crown and inserted it into the slot. The box opened with a bright light and Celestia levitated a deck from the box and slid it into her duel disk.

“Well now, this is an interesting turn of events…” Midnight did the same and called forth her own duel disk. “I’ve been preparing for this day for a long time. My power has grown substantially since last time and there are nightmares in my deck like you have never seen.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to finally take you down once and for all.”

“You will try…”

“LET’S DUEL!”

Princess Celestia
< LP: 4000 >

Midnight Rose
< LP: 4000 >

“You make the first move Midnight…” Celestia started.

“Alright then…” Midnight drew her card.

‘By letting her go first, she can’t use her dragon to destroy the field. Then once my turn comes around, I’ll set up the field with my arsenal and take her out in one move.’

“I’ll start by setting a monster face-down in defense mode. Next, I’ll place two cards face-down and end my turn.”

“It’s my turn, I draw! I’ll start by playing my Charge of the Light Brigade spell card. By sending three cards to the graveyard, I can add any Lightsworn monster from my deck to my hand.” Celestia took the top three cards of her deck and threw them out and then added another card to her hand. “Next I summon Lumina, the Lightsworn Summoner!” Celestia’s first monster was a human girl with a white dress with a scarf, blond hair and she had a magical aura around her hands.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
< Level 3 / ATK: 1000 >

“Hold it right there, allow me to show you one of my most terrifying cards!” Midnight clicked her duel disk and one of her face-downs came up. “Curse of the Unforgiven, activate!” Celestia grew nervous as the ground beneath her shook. All around them, four giant walls rose up from the ground encaging them inside a concrete prison.

“What is the meaning of this Midnight?” Once the walls stopped, two dragon heads emerged from the side walls and began releasing a sickly black sludge into the prison.

“This liquid contains the souls of those you have condemned, and they now they want your life force so they can be free.” The black sludge began to wrap around the Princesses legs, almost like a swarm of snakes. One of the tendrils wrapped around her neck, looked her in the eyes and made a ghostly moan. As the spirit moaned, Celestia could feel a small amount of energy being drained from her body.

Princess Celestia
< LP: 4000 → 3500 >

“This card punishes those who allow others to take the fall for them. As long as this card remains on the field, you will take 500 damage each and every time you summon a monster to your field and if you attempt to attack, you will also lose an additional 100 life points equal to the level of the monster that attacked. Summon all the monsters you want but in the end they will all come back to haunt you and will lead to your downfall.”

“It felt like it was draining my magic… If I can’t summon, this is going to be more difficult than I expected.” Celestia looked down at her hand. ‘This is going to cut it close but I think I have just enough life points to make this work…’ “Alright, let’s continue…”

“I’ll make the first move this time Trixie, my draw!” Twilight eyed the card she drew. “My first move will be to summon this monster, Summoner Monk.” Twilight’s monster formed in the shape of an old man with blue skin, long white hair and a blue robe with white stripes.

Summoner Monk
< Level 4 / DEF: 1600 >

“Now as his name implies, this monster has the ability to summon a Level 4 monster straight from my deck. All I have to do is send a Spell card from my hand to the graveyard.” Twilight plucked a card form her hand and slid it into the graveyard. “I summon another Summoner Monk in defense mode!” A second monster with the exact same appearance as the first appeared right next to the first.

Summoner Monk
< Level 4 / DEF: 1600 >

“And with that I end my turn. Make your move Trixie.”

“Very well, I will make my move!” Trixie drew her card and revealed it to Twilight. “I will start with this monster.” Trixie’s monster appeared. It was a young human girl with long orange hair, blue armor and a pink skirt. She had a large pointed hat and a staff similar to the Dark Magician. “Take the stage, “Magician’s Valkyria!”

Magician’s Valkyria
< Level 4 / ATK: 1600 >

“What do you think of Trixie’s monster Sparkle?”

“Your Valkyria only has 1600 attack points making it equal to my Monks. You can’t destroy a monster in defense with a monster with the same amount of attack.”

“You think I am really that stupid?” Trixie revealed another card in her hand. “I equip Magician’s Valkyria with the Memorial Scepter equip card.” Trixie took a card from her hand and slid it into her graveyard. “Like a teacher passing the mantle to her student, this card allows me to pass on the power of one Spellcaster to another. All I have to do it send a Spellcaster from my hand to the graveyard, then the equipped monster’s attack becomes equal to the sent monster’s attacks.” A second staff appeared in Valkyria’s left hand, this one was a short silver staff with a sphere at the end. “The monster I sent was Skilled Dark Magician. This means my Valkyria’s attack becomes 1900!”

Magician’s Valkyria
< ATK: 1600 → 1900 >

“It may not be a big boost but it’s enough to take out your Summoner Monk. Now Magician’s Valkyria, attack Twilight’s Summoner Monk with Double Magic Spiral!” Valkyria twirled her staff and fired a purple electrical beam at one of Twilight’s Summoner Monks. The blast blew away Twilight’s monster.

“I still have another monster to protect me so I’m safe!”

“Not for long, my Memorial Scepter card has another effect! It allows my monster to attack twice during the battle phase as long as I send the card to the graveyard during the end of my turn.” Valkyria twirled her other staff this time and fired a black electrical sphere, vaporizing Twilight’s second monster.

Twilight held out her hoof to block out the dust from the blast. “No, you destroyed both my Monks!”

“And there is more where that came from…” Trixie placed a card face-down in her spell and trap zone. “Now that it’s the end of my turn, Memorial Scepter must go to the graveyard since I used its second effect.” The scepter Valkyria was holding in her left turned white and vanished, leaving her with her own scepter.

Magician’s Valkyria
< ATK: 1900 → 1600 >

“Your down two monsters and wasted a perfectly good spell card Twilight, what do you plan of doing now?”

“I’ll show you!” As Twilight drew her card, she held her duel disk up and a light began to shine from her graveyard. “I activate the Light of the Citadel card from my graveyard!”

“What!? You can’t activate spells in your graveyard!”

“This one is a bit different. When Light of the Citadel is discarded from my hand to the graveyard, I can activate it during my next turn. It allows me to play a field spell directly my deck!” There was a bright light behind Twilight and a tower began to rise up from the ground. “Here is a card I am sure you remember, the Magical Citadel of Endymion!” The card was just as Trixie remembered it; a large tower surrounded by several other towers. The single tower had a magic ring circling around it. “Now due to the effect of Light of the Citadel, my tower gains a spell counter plus an additional counter for every Spellcaster summoned since it was sent to the graveyard. Since I summoned one of Monks and you summoned your Valkyria; that equals to a grand total of three counters!” Three spheres with a golden triangle imbedded themselves into the tower’s ring and started orbiting the tower.

Trixie looked up at the tower in fear. “Three counters just like that?”

“Now for another familiar card, come out Magical Exemplar!”

Magical Exemplar
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

“In case you forgot, Exemplar has the ability to summon a spellcaster from my hand or my grave as long as I give up spell counters equal to that monster’s level.”

“Trixie remembers…”

“Then in that case, I activate my Spell Power Grasp spell card! This card gives my Citadel a spell counter and then I can add another Spell Power Grasp to my hand, though I can only use one per turn.” A forth sphere materialized on the tower’s ring. “And since a spell card was activated, my cards all gain additional spell counters.” One more counter appeared on the tower’s ring and another two on Exemplar’s necklace. “Now I can remove two counters from Exemplar in order to summon a Level 2 monster from my hand.” Twilight threw down a new monster. It was a short human boy where a brown tunic with a black cape. He was holding an oversized golden scythe. “Meet the Night’s End Sorcerer tuner monster!”

Night’s End Sorcerer
< Level 2 / ATK: 1300 >

“What, you have a tuner monster?”

“Indeed, I do but my Sorcerer’s power doesn’t just stop there.” Twilight’s tuner monster suddenly lunged forward towards Trixie. She tried to jump back but failed as the creature’s scythe impacted her duel disk causing two cards to fly out of her graveyard. Both her cards were slashed in half as they flew out.

Trixie had a look of surprise. “What did you do to my Skilled Magician and Scepter cards?”

“When Night’s End Sorcerer is special summoned, I can remove two cards in your graveyard from play.” Trixie growled in frustration. “Don’t get too worked up, I’m only just getting started. I am tuning my Level 2 Night’s End Sorcerer with my Level 4 Magical Exemplar!” Night’s End Sorcerer flew into the air before splitting into two green light rings. The rings surrounded around her Exemplar who changed into four spheres before exploding into a beam of light.

< 2 + 4 = 6 >

Within the light, Exemplar began to transform. Her clothes changed from green to a dark blue and her hair grew slightly. A large swarm of bats flew out from behind her and all came together in a straight line in front of her. As she held out her hand, the swarm of bats merged together into a massive pole. She twirled the staff around and the light was blown away revealing her staff was actually a large bladed scythe with a dragon-like head at the end and lantern hanging on the end. “I tried to save you Trixie but you denied the hoof I held out for you. Now you will feel the wrath of TEMPEST MAGICIAN!”

Tempest Magician
< Level 6 / ATK: 2200 >

“Huh… I am not scared…”

“You should be because when Tempest Magician is successfully summoned, my Citadel gains a spell counter.” Citadel now had six spheres in its ring. “But that’s not all, Tempest Magician’s special ability allows me to throw out all the cards in my hand and then distribute a spell counter onto the field for every card that I lost.” As Twilight held up her right hoof, the cards in her hand were slashed in half. The pieces of the cards turned white and flew into Twilight’s Citadel. “Since I had two cards in my hand, my Citadel now has eight spell counters in total and that is bad news for you.”

“What are you talking about? You gave up all your cards just to gain a few measly counters and a monster with barely over two thousand attack points… Unless… That monster uses those spell counters!”

“You’re absolutely correct Trixie! Tempest Magician has an extremely lethal special ability. Its powerful magic allows me to fire all the spell counters on the entire field at you in a single blast! This effect will deal you 500 points of damage for every single spell counter on the field, regardless of whose side it’s on.

“F-Five hundred damage for each? With eight spell counters that would mean-”

Twilight nodded. “That you would lose the duel… Sorry Trixie, but you brought this upon yourself…” Twilight pointed towards Trixie. “Tempest Magician, unleash your magic and attack Trixie using all the spell counters on the field!” Tempest Magician floated into the air and held her scythe into the air. All the spell counters in the Citadel flew into her scythe and it started to glow a bright red. “Reaper’s Judgment!!!” Tempest twirled the scythe a couple times and then slammed the blade into the ground releasing a gigantic crescent moon energy wave cutting through the ground. The bladed energy wave slid along the surface of the ground cutting through the very earth like it was butter throwing dirt and rocks to the side. Trixie could only look in terror as the blast hit her, exploding into five smaller waves that continued to slice the ground behind her for several meters before finally coming to a halt, leaving a giant dragon claw shaped scar on the planet.

After nearly a minute, the smoke was still lingering and Twilight was breathing heavily. “Its… It’s over… I’m sorry Starshine, but it had to be done…”

“Hahahaha…” Twilight’s heart skipped a beat.

Celestia struggled to get loose of Midnight’s trap. “Even with your trap in play, it won’t stop me. I plan to defeat you in a single turn.”

“Is that so? Well then let’s see it…”

“I activate Lumina’s special ability. By sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, I can summon a Lightsworn monster from my graveyard and thanks to my Light Brigade card; I have two in my graveyard to choose from. I send Wulf, the Lightsworn Beast from my hand in order to summon the Lightsworn tuner monster; Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn!” As Celestia threw her card out, a beam of light shot from her graveyard and arced back towards the ground. From the light emerged a human male with a blue scarf and no shirt holding a large golden dagger.

Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

Just as the monster emerged, another tendril from the sludge wrapped around her and sucked out her energy.

Princess Celestia
< LP: 3500 → 3000 >

“Keep this up and you will destroy yourself. Such an end would be fitting for one such as you…”

“Say whatever you want but it won’t make a difference. Now I’m going to tune Lightsworn Raiden with Lightsworn Lumina!” Raiden jumped into the air pulling his scarf over his mouth. He swung his blade 4 times in front of him before splitting into four green rings. The rings circled Lumina, changing her transparent before becoming 3 spheres of light.

< 4 + 3 = 7 >

“Synchro Summon!” A large golden armored knight appeared from the light. “Arise Lord of the Lightsworns; Michael, the Ark-Lightsworn!” He extended a pair of large metal wings and unsheathed a glowing golden sword.

Michael, the Ark-Lightsworn
< Level 7 / ATK: 2600 >

“That’s another 500 points of damage coming your way.” A third tendril arose and sucked more of her energy.

Princess Celestia
< LP: 3000 → 2500 >

“I’m not going to quit Midnight… Since I now have four Lightsworns in my graveyard, I can now summon this monster! Appear; Judgment Dragon!” The cloud above parted and a massive white feathered dragon descended. When it landed, it shook the earth beneath them.

Judgment Dragon
< Level 8 / ATK: 3000 >

“Bringing out your best monster already? I can see you’re in quite a rush Princess since you’re going to take another hit from my trap!” Celestia’s energy was drain yet again.

Princess Celestia
< LP: 2500 → 2000 >

“Now my monsters merge your powers!” Celestia’s dragon slowly kneeled down as Michael jumped up on top of the dragon, riding on its back. “Now Michael, activate your special ability! By giving up a thousand life points, Michael has the power to remove any monster on the field from the game so I’m getting rid of your face-down monster! Go, Banishing Light!”

Princess Celestia
< LP: 2000 → 1000 >

Michael thrusted his sword into the air and parted the clouds above him. A second hole then appeared above Midnight and a ray of light descended down at Midnight’s card.

“Hold it!” Midnight flipped up her trap card. “I play Ultimate Sacrifice! If I have no monsters in my graveyard or removed from play, this card allows me to give up 4000 life points to negate your effect!”

“4000, but what’s the point!?”

“Because thanks to the effect of Curse of the Unforgiven, if there are no monsters in my graveyard or removed from play, I don’t have to pay life points to activate effects. Not only that but I can’t take any battle damage. So, your whole combo was pointless…”

“So as long as that card remains in play, it’s impossible to touch your life points.” Celestia smirked. “However, your cards have one fatal flaw. They only work if you have no monsters in your graveyard and have no monsters removed from play. That is a pretty big weakness if you ask me…”

“Well as long as Ultimate Sacrifice is in play, you cannot target or destroy any cards on my side of the field with card effects.”

“That may be so but they are still vulnerable to being attacked and you have no more face-down cards.” Celestia held up two cards from hand. “I equip Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn with the Lightsworn Sabre equip spell; but I’m not just equipping one, I’m equipping him with two! Each Sabre gives him an additional 700 attack points making his attack points a grand total of 4000!” A set of white and gold scabbards appeared on Michael’s belt. He reached down pulling them out simultaneously and crossing the two energy swords in front of him in the shape of an X.

Michael, the Ark-Lightsworn
< ATK: 2600 → 4000 >

“Now once my dragon attacks and destroys your monster, you will be open for direct attack that will deplete your life points in a single strike.” Celestia’s dragon slowly tilted its head back and charge up light within its mouth. A ring of light started to form vertically around the dragon’s mouth. “Judgment Dragon attack and destroy Midnight’s monster!” The dragon let out a ray of blinding light towards the target. Before the attack made contact, Midnight’s face-down monster flipped face-up for all to see. “JUDGMENT DRAGON, STOP YOUR ATTACK NOW!!!” The beam quickly spread apart and dissipated before hitting its target. Celestia’s heart raced as she tried to grasp what was happening. “No… You didn’t…”

Twilight looked up just as the smoke was clearing. There was Trixie, standing perfectly alive and well. Her lips slowly moved giving Twilight a malicious smile.

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 2000 >

“No… Your life points should have been all gone!”

“Yes… They should be, shouldn’t they?” The smoke continued to clear to reveal that Trixie had activated a trap card. “You like it? Just before your attack landed, I activate my Blood Contract card. It saved me from your effect but there is so much more to this card then just that. First, I must give up half of my life points, and then any damage taken for the remainder of the turn becomes zero.”

“You’re still giving up a lot of life points.”

Trixie chuckled. “Oh, Trixie is not the only one…”

“Huh?” Then Twilight looked down and noticed something horrifying. There was a glowing red energy tether coming out of her chest. She followed the tether to see it leading right into Trixie’s chest. “What… What is going on? What is this thing?”

“That tether connected to you is linked directly to your life force and now any damage we take for the rest of the duel is real. Should your life points hit zero… Well… Use your imagination…”

“What? You can’t be serious…”

“Your Princess warned you the dangers of Duel Monsters; you blew it off saying it was nothing but a simple card game. Now your entire life rides on this one duel…”

“But… What about you? You’re risking your own life too.”

“As long as it means destroying you, I don’t care what happens to me!”

“No… Trixie!”

“That brings me to my next subject; Blood Contract has another effect. You may have noticed our tethers are linked to each other. This is because due to Blood Contract’s effect, whenever either of us loses life points, we can half the damage we take and inflict the other half to the opponent!”

“So, whenever you take damage, you can deal half of it to me?”

“But there is a catch. I am not the only one who can use this effect. Should you take damage, you can also half the damage and deal the other half to Trixie!”

“But that means neither one of us is getting out of here alive!”

“That is exactly the point! YOU CAN’T WIN!”

“This is insane Trixie! Don’t you realize what you’re doing?”

“Of course, I do but I don’t think you do…”

Twilight stepped back. “What do you mean?”

“Blood Contract’s effect is entirely optional. Should you choose not to use it and take the full force of the damage, you can. After all, activating the effect does allow your opponent to draw one card for every one thousand you reflect back at them. All I want is for you to be gone forever, even if I have to go down with you so I will be using the effect of Blood Contract for the remainder of the duel… However, what about you…?”

“Me?”

“Would you do the same? Are you willing to take me down with you…? Or are you too scared to cause harm to another pony such as myself? After that whole display you put on with your Tempest Magician, I’m starting to wonder if maybe you do have a little bit of hate buried deep within you.”

“No… You’re wrong! I don’t have any darkness in my heart! I… I don’t…”

“Hmm… Sure… Maybe I am wrong but what does it matter now? Even if you choose to not use Blood Contract’s effect, sacrificing yourself to take me out would end the same result. Taking another’s life…” Reality of the situation was finally hitting Twilight; Trixie had her completely trapped. “Now, since I did technically lose 2000 life points for activating Blood Contract, you also lose 2000. Of course, you also get to draw two cards.

Twilight’s end of the tether started to glow brightly and a faint red wave flowed across Twilight’s body leading into the tether causing her to clench her chest in pain.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 4000 → 2000 >

She nearly collapsed completely from the feeling of her very life force being drained from her body. However, she still managed to pull enough strength to draw her cards. “I… I set one card… face-down…” Twilight looked at her other card a bit worried. “Next… I activate a spell… Endymion’s Life Charge… It allows me to restore all the spell counters I used this turn… However, I must give up 100 life points… For every one…”

Trixie chuckled. “So, now it’s time for you to choose. Are you going to pay 1000 or have both of us pay 500 life points each...?”

Twilight looked at the ground. Despite the situation, Trixie was right about her. “I’ll pay the whole thing…”

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 2000 → 1000 >

“Just as I expected. You don’t have the guts to take the life of another pony meaning there is no way to win!”

Twilight tried pulling herself up but found she could barely stand. ‘This is not good, unless I figure out a way around Trixie’s Blood Contract card, all hope is lost…’

“You might as well give up now because there is no chance of getting out of this situation!” ‘And the best part is Twilight has no idea what else is lurking in my deck. She hasn’t even realized that I removed both Obelisk the Tormentor as well as Iseris from my deck. No, I plan to take her out with my TRUE TRUMP CARD!’ Trixie subtly looked down at the Dark Magician in her hand. The card was emitting a very faint black aura and the image on the card was faintly flickering with another image.

Celestia couldn’t believe her eyes. The monster that Midnight had played face-down had left her completely her completely speechless.

“Aw, what’s wrong Princess; at a loss for words?”

“I can’t believe that you would stoop this low… Using… Them…” The creature between Celestia’s monster and Midnight was none other than an equine. A pink haired, butter yellow colored Pegasus.

Chapter 13 - Ending the Pain (2)

“With 4000 attack points, my Arch-Lightsworn is now strong enough to take you down. All I have to do is take out your face-down; Judgment Dragon, attack Midnight’s last monster!” Celestia’s dragon opened its mouth and began charging up light. As a halo formed around the energy in its mouth, it released all its power as a ray of pure light. Before the blast hit, Midnight’s card flipped face-up. “JUDGMENT DRAGON, HOLD YOUR ATTACK!” The dragon quickly pulled back and the ray of light dispersed before it made its target. Celestia stood in shock, staring at the creature that was staring her back.

Midnight smirked. “What’s wrong Princess; at a loss for words?”

“You… I can’t believe you of all ponies would stoop this low…” The creature standing between her and Midnight was nothing like she expected. Giving her an emotionless thousand-yard stare was a pink-haired butter yellow pegasus.

“What do you think of my new puppet...?” Midnight held her duel disk up and a series of red energy wires flickered from the card leading to the mare almost like puppet strings.

Equestrian Fluttershy
< Level 3 / DEF: 700 >

“No… This is one of you mind-games, isn’t it? You just used your magic to change the hologram’s image to look like Twilight’s friend.”

“Believe what you want but what you see in front of you is real. You see, the Shadow Realm is but a prison for the mind and soul, but what happens to the body left over?”

“Just what are you getting at?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet? The body shouldn’t go anywhere! Even if you lose your mind and soul, your body still remains on the physical plane. I decided to use this to my advantage and so I’m using everypony I ever defeated to form my own personal army!”

Celestia just shook her head in disappointment. “This is low even for you, turning my own subjects into your personal weapons...”

“That’s not the end of it, as for my more… Powerful opponents…” The yellow Pegasi in front of her closed her eyes and suddenly reopened them, glaring at Celestia’s dragon. Celestia suddenly felt the temperature drop. Judgment Dragon slowly started to back off, fear in its blood red eyes. The dragon kneeled down giving off a scared whining sound.

Judgment Dragon
< ATK: 3000 → DEF: 0 >

“Wha… What just happened!? My dragon just lost all of its power!”

“I decided to use my stronger enemies and turn them into my own private Duel Monsters cards! Fluttershy is one of many of your subjects within my deck and all of them have the power of their real-life selves. Take what happened to your precious dragon for example, when ‘Equestrian Fluttershy’ is flipped face-up in battle, she gives the attacking monster The Stare and the attack is negated! That’s not all though, the monster is also forced into defense mode and it loses all its defense points and special abilities!”

“Curse you…” Celestia mumbled. She eyed the last card in her and set it. “I place a card face-down, and then…” The alicorn’s deck started glowing yellow and 3 cards flew off her deck and vanished into the light sending them to the graveyard. “Due to the effect of Lightsworn Michael, I discard 3 cards from my deck and that’s it for my turn…”

Twilight was now kneeling down; she was having a difficult time pulling herself up; this simply made Trixie burst into laughter. “What’s wrong Twilight, can’t handle the pain? If you want this to be as painless as possible, I suggest you just let me kill you!”

“N- Never…”

Trixie simple shrugged. “Have it your way, I draw!” When Trixie saw the card she grinned. “I play Pot of Greed! This lets me draw 2 cards from my deck. Next, I think it’s time I retired my Valkyria for a stronger monster…” As Valkyria vanished, Trixie held up a card and slammed it onto her duel disk. A bright pinkish portal appeared behind Trixie and a new monster emerged. It was a female with a very similar appearance to her Valkyria. She had bright blue armor over her check, legs and head with a short pink skirt and long yellow hair. “Say Hello to my Dark Magician Girl!” Dark Magician Girl lightly stuck out her touch giving Twilight a peace sign.

Dark Magician Girl
< Level 6 / ATK: 2000 >

“Dark Magician Girl… Wait a minute…” Just then, a memory came back to Twilight.

“Now let me explain how summoning works…” Yugi explained. “Once per turn you’re allowed to normal summon a monster from your hand as long as its level is 4 or lower.” Yugi pulled out his Obnoxious Celtic Guardian and put in out in the center of the group. “See, this monster is low enough to summon. However, if a monster has more stars, then this, you must first sacrifice another monster.” Yugi then put out 2 more cards. “Dark Magician is a Level 7 monster while Dark Magician Girl is a Level 6. Since Dark Magician Girl is higher than 4 but lower then 7, you can summon her with only 1 sacrifice. However Dark Magician is 7 and any monster that is 7 or higher requires 2 sacrifices.” Yugi suddenly stopped when she noticed Twilight eying the 2 monsters. “What is it, Twilight?”

“Well… I was wondering something… These cards, do they have some kind of backstory to them? Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are pretty similar to each other.”

“Why yes, they do; all monsters have some kind of history to them. You see Dark Magician is considered one of the most powerful wizards to ever exist. However, in order pass on his knowledge, he took on a student. That student was the Dark Magician Girl. She may not seem that strong now but eventually she becomes a powerful force that even the Dark Magician can’t defeat…”

‘The Dark Magician Girl is the student on the Dark Magician… Why does that worry me so much?’

“My Dark Magician Girl may not be much now but she about to get a little assistance.” Another card appeared on Trixie’s field, a spell with a green stone. “I activate Sage’s Stone. This lets me summon the Dark Magician in my hand!” Once again, Trixie’s main monster appeared next to Dark Magician Girl. It has the same pitch-black armor and pale white skin and hair like before.

Dark Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

Then, Twilight noticed something. ‘Hang on a second, something doesn’t add up here… Her Dark Magician looks completely different than Yugi’s; he is dark, cold and somewhat unnerving to look at but Dark Magician Girl looks completely unaltered? Why is that?’

Trixie pointed her hoof at Twilight. “Dark Magician, attack Twilight’s Tempest Magician with Dark Magic Attack!” Dark Magician held up his staff and fired a purple electrical sphere at Twilight’s spellcaster. Tempest Magician was quickly destroyed and Twilight took the full blunt of the attack.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 1000 → 700 >

“You’re never going to win at this rate. Every time you attack me, I reflect half the damage back at you and yet you’re not doing anything. Too bad this next attack will finish you off. I want hoping more a much more difficult challenge. Dark Magician Girl, attack Twilight directly with Dark Burning Attack!” Magician Girl twirled her staff and fired a pinkish blast similar the Dark Magician. Right before impact, a rainbow barrier formed over Twilight deflecting the attack.

“Thanks to my Draining Shield, your attack has been blocked and now all your monster’s attack points are added to my life points.”

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 700 → 2700 >

Trixie growled. “Stall all you want but it won’t change that you can’t touch me.”

“We’ll see about that, I draw!”

“My turn, I draw!” Midnight swiftly drew her card and stared at Celestia for several moments before looking at the card. The second she saw it; her face formed a creepy smile. “You’re finished Celestia! When there is a face-up card in my spell and trap card zone, I can send it to the graveyard to special summon this monster from my hand in defense mode!” As Midnight’s Curse of the Unforgiven exploded, she placed a card on her disk. “Enter the spotlight Equestrian Rarity!” To Celestia’s horror, this monster was again one of Twilight’s friends; the white unicorn once known as the Element of Generosity. Like Fluttershy, Rarity’s eyes were also blank and soulless.

Equestrian Rarity
< Level 3 / DEF: 800 >

“Her too?”

“What, didn’t I tell you already!?” Midnight held up her duel disk showing it to Celestia. “It’s not just them; every single soul that has been lost due to Iseris is a part of my deck. When they all bond together, they form one of the most powerful decks in the entirety of Duel Monsters.”

“This is crazy; you can’t just take somepony and turn them into a card. It’s just… It’s just wrong… First, you’re locking their mind and soul into a hellish realm filled with nothing but darkness and now your torturing them even further by turning their physical bodies into your zombie slaves? You’ve only managed to prove to me that you’re even crazier than I thought.”

“And I’m still not done yet; I activate Rarity’s special ability! When she is successfully summoned due to her special ability, she can raise the level of one other Equestrian monster on my field by 1.” The soulless Rarity tilted her head upward and a swarm of clothing started spiral around her. The clothing flew over towards Fluttershy wrapping her in a simple green dress.

Equestrian Fluttershy
< Level 3 → 4 >

“Now for the fun part, I activate the effects of both Rarity and Fluttershy!”

“Both of them!?”

“You see, Twilight’s friend’s all hold a unique power. They all gain a small boost when in the presence of each other and the more of them I control, the stronger they all become!” A small rainbow aura started to form around the 2 ponies.

Equestrian Rarity
< DEF: 800 → 1000 >

Equestrian Fluttershy
< DEF: 700 → 1400 >

“And since Rarity was special summoned, I can still play this monster. I summon Equestrian Applejack in attack mode!” Just like the others, the orange earth pony’s eyes were grey, blank and soulless.

Equestrian Applejack
< Level 4 / ATK: 1500 >

“And don’t forget, they all gain a power boost!” The aura around ponies intensified.

Equestrian Applejack
< ATK: 1500 → 1900 >

Equestrian Rarity
< DEF: 1000 → 1200 >

Equestrian Fluttershy
< DEF: 1400 → 2100 >

Celestia stepped back. ‘This isn’t good, at this rate her monsters will only keep getting stronger and stronger and I’ll be done for!’

“When Applejack is summoned to field, her effect activates.” The earth pony pulled out a lasso and begun twirling it above her head. “Her lasso will capture one of your monsters, this keeps them from attacking and prevents it from using any abilities!” Applejack tossed her lasso, wrapping it around Celestia’s knight. Once it was tied up completely, Applejack pulled back forcing it off the back of the dragon make it hit the ground with a thud.

“No, Michael!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be worried about him; you should worry more about yourself. I finally have you exactly where I want you… How I have just what I need to summon my ultimate beast.”

“What, but I thought Iseris was your strongest monster?”

“You’re forgetting one critical little fact. I stated earlier that every single pony in Equestria who has lost their soul to Iseris is now a part of my deck. It doesn’t matter whether they are Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns … Or even…”

Celestia suddenly realized what she what saying. “No… You didn’t…”

“I should really thank her for her contribution. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have never gained so much power.” Midnight held her right hoof and pointed into the sky. “Since Applejack and Fluttershy are both Level 4, I can merge them together to create a new monster!” Midnight grinned. “I overlay Level 4 Equestrian Applejack and Equestrian Fluttershy!”

“Overlay!?”

Suddenly, the sky darkened and the two mares standing before Midnight transformed. Their physical bodies vanished and all that was left were silhouettes of glowing energy, Fluttershy green and Applejack orange. The two mares shot into the air spiraling around each other leaving an energy trail in the shape of a double helix. “With these 2 monsters, I build the Overlay Network!” The ground in front of Midnight began to warp and emit several rays of light that spiraled outward from the center, creating what looked like a miniature galaxy. The two energy mares flew downward and spiraled into the galaxy before erupting into a flurry of green explosions and sparks. “Awaken from your slumber and cast your judgment upon the light! Appear; Equestrian Princess Luna!” From the galaxy emerged a large gray sphere with 2 small purple spheres orbiting around it; the sphere flashed red for a second revealing an unmistakable equine figure. The sphere began to shrink releasing the figure inside; it was a mare much larger in size then a regular pony. She had both wings and a large horn with a faint white aura over her body. When the transformation was complete, the aura faded revealing her dark blue coat and starry night mane.

Celestia slowly took a couple steps back staring at her sister in fear. “No…”

Midnight let out a maniacal laugh. “Yes Princess… How does it feel to be face to face in battle with your sister again?”

Equestrian Princess Luna
< Rank 4 / ATK: 2200 / Units: 2 >

“But I don’t understand… What was that summoning just now?”

“I guess I should explain, Luna is an entirely new breed of monster not previously known to Equestria. She is what’s known as an ‘Xyz Monster’. Xyz Monsters are summoned from the extra deck when you have 2 or more monsters with the same level as that monster’s rank. Since both Applejack and Fluttershy were Level 4, I was able use them to summon Princess Luna who is a Rank 4 monster.” Midnight reached underneath the Luna card on her duel disk and pulled out 2 more cards. They were revealed to be Applejack and Fluttershy. “Now here is fun part, any monster used to summon an Xyz Monster is not sent to the graveyard like a normal monster. Rather, they remain on the field as ‘Overlay Units’ and are used to power the special abilities of the Xyz Monster.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, allow me to show you…” Midnight singled out Applejack’s card. “I send one of Luna’s Overlay Units to the graveyard.” As Midnight inserted Applejack’s card into her graveyard, one of the purple orbs circling Luna flew up into the tip of her horn, disappearing in a flash of light. “By using one Overlay Unit, Luna gains an additional 500 attack points for each monster on the field in defense mode.” Both Rarity as well as Celestia’s dragon started to glow a faint blue.

Equestrian Princess Luna
< ATK: 2200 → 3200 >

“Even with that boost, my sister still can’t take Michael out.”

“I’m not done yet. Next, I activate Rarity’s special ability. I’m allowed to cut her original attack points in half, and transfer it to another monster on my field.”

Equestrian Rarity
< ATK: 1200 → 600 >

Equestrian Princess Luna
< ATK: 3200 → 3800 >

“And I’m still not finished, I equip Princess Luna with the Magic Horn Blade equip spell.” Luna’s horn lit up and extended outwards changing into a long energy sword. “This card grants her an additional 800 attack points.”

Equestrian Princess Luna
< ATK: 3800 → 4600 >

Luna was now officially the most powerful monster on the field. Celestia took a couple steps back. “It’s all over for you…”

“Even if I go down, Twilight and Yugi will still defeat you.”

“Twilight?” Midnight scoffed. “Yugi maybe but Twilight is as good as gone.”

“You… What did you do Twilight!?”

“I haven’t done anything; at this moment my own pupil is dealing with her. You may think Twilight is strong but she is nothing compared to Trixie. I knew the moment I found her; I had found somepony special. Blueblood and Gilda were good candidates but Trixie was on a whole different level. She had an intense hatred buried deep in her heart; it was eating away at her, leading her to potentially even taking her own life. However, she couldn’t bring herself to actually take revenge on the one who wronged her. Not only was Twilight simply too strong for her to even stand a chance, but she had inner morals preventing her from taking action. She was afraid that exacting her revenge would only cement her from ever seeing her own student again, that it would make her own student hate her for committing such a heinous act.”

“Let me guess, you used your magic to ‘push her’ in the right direction.”

“Of course, but it turns out she was far more resistant to my magic then I had expected. She was still afraid that her student would think ill of her even with my magic influencing her. With Blueblood already gone and Gilda standing no chance against Rainbow Dash, I decided to focus all my power on Trixie and unlock her true potential. Thanks to me, the Great and Powerful Trixie is now the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria.”

“You underestimate just how powerful Twilight truly is.”

“Your underestimating how powerful Trixie truly is. You see, Trixie’s power is far greater than you can imagine. Once the seal I casted on her breaks, she will become invincible.”

“Seal?”

“Her inner power was far too great so I was forced to seal it away. Should that seal break, who knows what she could do…”

“And how long until the seal breaks…?”

“All it takes… Is a little reminder…”

Twilight drew her card and turned it over to see it. ‘PERFECT!’ “I play the spell card Cards of Arcana! In order to activate this card, I must send 1 card on my field with Spell Counters to the graveyard, so I send my Magical Citadel!” Twilight held her duel disk up and ejected her field spell. The towers behind Twilight shrunk into the ground and vanished as Twilight sent the card to the graveyard. “Next, I am allowed to draw 1 card from my deck, plus an additional card for every 3 Spell Counters the card when I destroyed it. Since my Citadel had 10 Spell Counters, I can now draw 4 new cards!”

“Draw as many cards as you want.” Trixie taunted. “Blood Contract is still in play meaning you can’t beat me.”

Twilight looked down at her deck. ‘Her card may prevent her from losing the duel but it’s not invisible. All I need is to draw a card that can destroy it and I can win.’ Twilight placed her hoof on her deck and drew 4 new cards. When she saw her new cards, her expression instantly changed. “Well, it appears destiny is on my side this duel. I drew the card I needed to turn this duel around.”

“What are you going on about?”

“Forbidden Art: Duel Monsters Soul Infusion…” She held up a card.

“Forbidden Art-!?” The card in Twilight’s hoof suddenly exploded into a glorious barrage of rainbows shooting in every direction. “W-What!?” The rays of light spiraled together in the air, slowing morphing into the image of several translucent books floats around the sky orbiting a giant silver crest with 3 blue gems and 2 horn-like protrusions. It had a series of multicolored glass spikes formed around the sides of the crest, glowing with magic.

“This is the power of the new forbidden spell given to me by Princess Celestia herself, the very same she used to create the Harmony Fusion spell card. Normally cards are nothing but paper and cardboard but thanks to this spell, I have the ability to infuse my own magic into the cards and give them their power. The more power I use the more powerful they become.”

“No, that’s cheating!”

“Call it whatever you want but you won’t against this card. Behold the pinnacle of Duel Monsters magic! SPELLBOOK OF JUDGMENT!” The rays of light orbiting the crest suddenly exploded outwards sending prismatic lights all over Equestria. “I used every ounce of magic I had to create this mighty card with unparalleled power. It may not do much at the moment but once its power is revealed, you will understand why it’s my strongest card. For now, I’ll play this card, The Grand Spellbook Tower field spell.” Twilight opened her field slot a second time and placed in another field spell. The ground shook beneath them and a massive structure began to rise up behind Twilight. It was a giant tower that came together at the top like a giant needle. It had several rings of energy spinning around it with the same crest from earlier embedded into the rings.

“Your tower doesn’t scare me.”

“It doesn’t, but maybe this will.” Twilight revealed another card in her hand. “I play Spellbook of Secrets, this lets search my deck for any Spellbook card and add it to my hand.” A small ray of light arched from the tower and a decently large translucent book appeared in front of Twilight. When the book opened, a single card stuck out from Twilight’s deck and she took it out. “Now I summon my Spellbook Magician of Prophecy.” The translucent book flipped a couple pages and a ray of light came out revealing a short human male with a long blue robe.

Spellbook Magician of Prophecy
< Level 2 / ATK: 500 >

“He may not seem like much but with a few books, he becomes a power you cannot defend against. Just like my Spellbook of Secrets, my magician allows me to take any Spellbook spell card from my deck and add it to my hand.” Another card stuck out from her deck and she took it.

“All you’re doing is adding more cards to your hand. What’s the point in all this?”

“This is the point Trixie.” Twilight placed another card in her duel disk and a book appeared in front of her, this one a bright red spell book. “The Spellbook of Power grants my Spellbook Magician an addition 1000 attack points.” The red book hovered down towards the magician and opened itself up facing the spellcaster.

Spellbook Magician of Prophecy
< ATK: 500 → 1500 >

“Why stop at one book when he can have two!?” Twilight played yet another, causing the red spell book started giving off black and blue sparks and its overall colored darkened. “Spellbook of the Master allows me to copy the effect of a Spellbook I already used so I duplicate the effect of my Spellbook of Power!”

Spellbook Magician of Prophecy
< ATK: 1500 → 2500 >

Trixie stepped back. “Now it’s strong enough to stand up to my monsters!”

“Now my Spellbook Magician, attack Trixie’s Dark Magician Girl!” Twilight’s magician shut his eyes and placed 2 fingers on his forehead. The dark infused book in front of him turned around and flipped through several pages before firing a massive beam of red energy towards Trixie’s monster. Dark Magician Girl watched as her impending doom came her way before screaming in pain as she exploded like shards of glass.

*Crack*

“DARK MAGICIAN GIRL! NOOOOOOO!”

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 2000 → 1750 >

Twilight braced for impact as Trixie’s trap took effect.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 2700 → 2450 >

Trixie stared into the space where Dark Magician Girl once stood. She was in a state of complete shock, her pupils had shrunk significantly and her mouth was wide open.

“Since my turn is now over, the effect of Spellbook of Judgment now activates.” The light from the crest intensified. “Now for every spell card activated this turn, Spellbook of Judgment allows me to add a Spellbook card from my deck to my hand. Not only that, but when a monster powered up by the effects of Spellbook of Power destroys a monster in battle, I can add a Spellbook from my deck to my hand. Alongside Spellbook of Judgment, this means I’m able to add a combine total of 6 hands to my hand!” Twilight ejected her deck and took out 6 cards into her hand and put her deck back. “Next, I activate Spellbook of Judgment’s second effect. Now I can summon a monster from my deck who’s level is equal to lower than the number of cards I added to my hand through its effect. Since I got 4 cards, I can summon a Level 4 monster.” A beam shot from her deck onto the field revealing a knight with a shield and blue armor similar to the Dark Magician’s. “I summon Defender the Magical Knight.”

Defender the Magical Knight
< Level 4 / DEF: 2000 >

“Alright Trixie, that’s it for my turn…” Trixie was looking at the ground, still in a state of shock. “Trixie? Are you feeling, ok?” Trixie wasn’t responding so Twilight stepped forward. “Trixie, is something wrong?”

*Crack*

“My Dark Magician Girl… You killed her…” Twilight wasn’t exactly sure what was going on but she knew something was wrong. “You killed her… Just like you took my Starshine away, you took my favorite monster’s student away…” Unknown to Twilight, a million voices were ringing through Trixie’s head.

‘You’re nothing but a psychopath!’

‘You’re a menace to our children!’

‘I never want to see you around our daughter again!’

‘You are forbidden from seeing Starshine and are officially banned from our family!’

*CRASH*

Trixie suddenly felt a shock of pain shoot through her mind. She stood up and grabbed her head screaming. A surge of black lightning started emitting from the ground where Trixie stood and tempest of black fog started to blow across the field.

“Trixie, what’s going on!?” Trixie was still not responding, she just continued to scream into the air.

“The voices! Please Celestia stop the voices!”

“Trixie, what-?” Twilight looked up and noticed Trixie’s Dark Magician appeared to be in pain as well. He was holding his head and struggling against the dark fog surrounding him. At that moment, Trixie dropped the last card in her hand. Either by fate or a stroke of luck, the card landed on her duel disk directly on top of her Dark Magician card. As soon as the card landed, her duel disk exploded in a wave of energy sending Twilight flying backwards slamming her against a tree. A powerful black light started to shine from inside the fog before firing into the air. The condensed light zigzagged back and forth and stopped midair. The eerie black light glared and for several moments, there was just silence…

“Oh Twilight~” Trixie said in a sing song voice. Twilight suddenly felt a terrible chill go down her spine. “Oh Twilight~”

Twilight pressed herself closer against the tree. “Trixie…? Are you feeling alright?”

Trixie let out a childish giggle. “Oh Twilight, I’m better than ok…” Then, the ground started to slowly shake. The fog slowly cleared revealing Trixie was now alone and looking at the ground. “In fact…” Trixie shot her head up and looked straight into Twilight’s fearful eyes. “THIS IS THE BEST I’VE FELT IN MY WHOLE LIFE!” Her face was completely covered in horrifying veins with the top half being covered in shadows, her eyes had become little dots with almost all color drained from them and she had extremely thick eye liner around her eyes. Her hair had also flared outward in a wild fashion. What came next, Twilight could only describe as feeling her entire weight being pressed upon herself.

Celestia struggled against the sudden weight being pushed down on her. “What… What is happening? It feels like gravity had suddenly gotten several times stronger! I can feel my whole body shaking!” Quickly after, a dark blue aura formed an outline around her body.

“The time has finally come; the seal has finally been broken and now Trixie’s true power is being revealed!” Midnight smirked at Celestia and pointed into the sky. “I suggest you look at what’s happening above you…” Celestia looked upwards and saw something she had never seen before. There appeared to be several orbs of blue mist flying through the air all moving towards a single sphere of black energy. “Trixie is absorbing all the hatred and negativity in Equestria into one single mass of energy which will then give birth to the most powerful creature to ever exist.”

The shaking began to intensify into a full-blown earthquake. The sky grew dark and the vortex opened up wider creating a massive hole in the sky. Several red sparks of lightning coursed through the clouds and a small red sphere could be seen pulsating from the center of the vortex. Trixie giggled a little more. “By destroying my Dark Magician Girl, you triggered the exact conditions I needed to summon my most powerful… Most supreme… And most DEADLY monster in my entire arsenal!” Despite how high up the sphere was, Twilight could see inside it clear as day. The creature inside the sphere started to spasm, several black crystals punctured its skin from the inside out. The black crystals formed all over shredding whatever skin the creature had. A new layer of skin and armor started to form over the top of the creature’s skin giving it an entirely new appearance. Its arms were unnaturally large and looked completely mutated with abnormally large shoulder spikes. Its fingers grew large and sharpness that rivaled that of dragon claws. Around its waist, the crystal protruded downwards giving it armor over half its legs. A large robe wrapped around its body with a pointed hood that arched forward. Finally, several crystals burst open a hole in the center of its chest, revealing a single cracked red crystal heart with a black mist in the center.

“Trixie… What is that… That thing!?”

“Just as I accepted the darkness when you stole Starshine away from me, my Dark Magician has finally accepted his own darkness in. The darkness now flows within him, making him invincible and now, he is about to reap his vengeance on you for killing his most beloved student…” The sphere suddenly shot downwards in a beam of light. Upon hitting the ground, the beam let out a massive shockwave, smashing every tree and rock in its path. The red light slowly started to vanish giving Twilight a perfect view of Trixie new monster. She had never been so disgusted in her whole life than seeing the monstrosity in front of her. “Face your divine judgment Twilight…” Twilight stepped back.

“VENGEANCE NIGHTMARE MAGICIAN!!!”

Starshine was still curled up against a tree when she heard a loud bang. As she looked up, she saw the giant red shockwave. Her eyes widened and she held onto the tree with dear life as all the trees around her were busted apart and thrown backwards. Once the aftershock from the blast was over, Starshine let go of the tree. She was about to start running away and then she stopped. She placed her hoof over her heart and turned around. “Trixie…?” Against her better judgment, she ran towards the red light.

Celestia’s eyes went wide at the shock of the blast. “She is even more powerful then I imagined…” Midnight remarked.

“This feeling… I’ve never felt such pure unfiltered hatred before…” ‘Even my own sister was nothing compared to this…’

Vengeance Nightmare Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

Trixie’s new monster stared daggers into Twilight’s eyes, his piercing red eyes haunting her very soul. “So, how does it feel to be looking into the eyes of death itself?” Trixie smirked. Twilight couldn’t respond, she could only shudder at the terrifying energy she could feel coming from Trixie’s monster. “Since you’re not making any more moves, I guess I’ll go now…” As Trixie drew her card, Twilight’s magician suddenly powered down, the book in front of him dissolving.

Spellbook Magician of Prophecy
< ATK: 2500 → 500 >

“Well, well, well, what is this?”

Twilight gasped. “I forgot my Spellbook of Power only lasted for one turn. Now my Magician is back to his normal power!”

“That’s rather lucky for me then. That means my magician is strong enough to destroy yours!” Trixie’s monster held its arms in front of its chest. The crystal on its chest started glowing and shot out a small beam of red light taking the shape of a staff. The creature took the odd staff and readied itself for an attack. The staff was extremely rigid with bumps all over it. The thick ball at the end of the staff was covered in a wild mess of barbed wire. “Now my Vengeance Magician, attack Twilight’s Spellbook Magician and take a chunk out of her Life Points!” Trixie’s magician lunged his staff forward shooting a massive bolt of red lightning towards Twilight’s monster. The Spellbook Magician howled in pain as it was electrocuted by the powerful bolt. Its pain was cut short though, its skin started to bubble up before he spontaneously burst into flames. Twilight was completely modified at the brutal torture her monster had just experienced. Once Trixie’s monster let up the attack, there was nothing left of the monster but the smoldering remains of a blue hat that quickly exploded seconds later.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 2450 → 450 >

“How horrible…” Twilight looked back up at Trixie’s monster just in time to see him lunging straight at her. Within moments he grabbed her face and squeezed hard, make her release a muffled scream. He released a powerful charge of electricity through her body making her scream louder. When the monster pulled his claw off her face, she quickly fell to ground with her eyes closed, barely able to keep herself up. She dropped all the cards in her hoof so she could cover her mouth now coughing up blood. When she opened her eyes, she looked down to notice another horrible sight. All the cards that were in her suddenly had burst into flames and were now covered in black fire. “No… Nononono! What is going on!?”

“Vengeance Nightmare Magician’s special ability… When you take damage while he is on the field, all the spell cards in your hand are sent directly to the graveyard. Not only that but once this turn comes to an end, you must also send cards from your deck to the graveyard for every card you lost from your hand and Vengeance Magician gains 200 ATK for every card sent!” Twilight looked down at her duel disk and gasped when her deck suddenly burst into black flames as well. The top 6 cards shot out from her duel disk and landed on the ground in flames like her other cards. Trixie’s magician roared into the air and its mutated arms starting sparking and lightly bulked up making him even larger.

Vengeance Nightmare Magician
< ATK: 2500 → 3700 >

“It’s over Twilight, you have no hope of winning again this monster. I’ll set one card face down and end my turn with that…”

“I… Will never… Give up…”

“Quite the stubborn one Twilight… Oh well, it will be fun seeing you squirm under my power. I’ll be sure to kill you nice and slow. It’s the only proper punishment for what you did to me and Starshine…”

“Trixie?”

Trixie’s heart suddenly froze hearing that voice. She slowly turned to the right towards the forest to see the new figure that had interrupted her duel. The small blue filly looked at her curiously. “S-Starshine?”

Chapter 15 - Ending the Pain (4)

“What do you mean I can’t see Trixie anymore!?” The filly screamed.

“We told you Starshine; she is a bad pony and can’t be trusted!” The tall blue unicorn replied. “She nearly destroyed an entire village in the south trying to show off.”

“That’s enough reason to believe she can’t heal you… We are just trying to protect you…” Starshine’s mother looked down at her with sincerity.

“But she is the first real friend I made! She is the only one who ever said I could do something with my future!”

“But you’re a smart filly; there are many other things you can do that don’t require magic!” Her mother replied.

“But I’m a unicorn, without magic I’m nothing!”

“Don’t you dare say that!”

“But it’s what I want to do! What’s the point in having a talent if it’s something I don’t even like!”

“Stop this right now Starshine!” Her father roared. “Trixie is gone, end of story! I don’t want you sending anymore letters to her either. We can’t have ponies finding out we are communicating with a… Criminal…”

“The only criminal here Twilight Sparkle! She is the reason everypony hates Trixie!”

“Twilight Sparkle saved that town from being destroyed! She is a national hero in case you forgot!”

“If she was really a hero, she wouldn’t have allowed somepony to create such… Degrading news articles about a nice pony like Trixie!” Starshine trotted over to her father’s chair and picked up a newspaper. “How can you believe this!? ‘Many local ponies reported one Trixie Lulamoon as being the cause. Although not directly responsible for the Ursa Minor attack, it’s believed the unicorn tricked a pair of local colts to bring the Ursa into the town. When the unicorn failed to defeat it as she had previously bragged, she could, she fled the town and let the colts take the blame as they are known trouble makers. The locals expected a swift punishment from national hero Twilight Sparkle but the punishment never came. This lack of punishment is believed to be a sign that the colts were not the real culprits so this has led people to believe Trixie Lulamoon had staged the attack, possibly as a means of getting rid of Ms. Sparkle as she was known for being the powerful unicorn in the village.’” Starshine screamed and threw the papers all over the floor. “This article is nothing but slander and that village has nothing but bias idiots! They paint Trixie as being some crazy pony trying to kill a national hero when it’s obvious, she had no part in it. Were those colts really so stupid that they couldn’t even tell her stories were fake!? They brought in the Ursa and then when they should have been punished, ‘Twilight Sparkle’ placed the blame on an outsider so her perfect little town wouldn’t look bad. It makes me SICK!” Starshine suddenly stormed out the room and upstairs. Her parents winced at the load slam of her door. The two parents simply sat down trying to process what had just happened. Her father spoke up first.

“I swear… That filly is too smart for her good…”

“She is going to hurt herself if she keeps thinking like that… Or even worse…”

“Dawn…” The two sat there for several minutes thinking to themselves, not saying a word.

“You know she is not going to give up right? She will find ways to send letters behind our backs.”

The father sighed. “Yeah, I know… I may not like it but I’ll see if I can convince the local post office to ‘lose her mail.’ It might not be the most ethical way to do it but if Starshine stops getting letters maybe it will change her mind about Trixie…”

“What about Trixie herself? Once she stops getting letters she is going to come here and find out what is going on.”

“We… Just have to pray to Celestia that Starshine isn’t here to see what I’m going to do to Trixie…”

Starshine’s mother Dawn Shine was working in the kitchen when she heard the front door open. “Starshine honey, is that you?” She heard no response, just a loud stomping and a door slam upstairs. She just sighed to herself. “It’s been a month and she still won’t talk to us…” The mare put down the bowl she was stirring. “It all started with an offer to help her faulty horn and it’s come to this… She doesn’t care about her magic anymore; she just wants Trixie…”

Upstairs, Starshine didn’t even bother turning her light on. She just dropped her backs on the floor and plopped over her bed. That’s all she did now, wake up, go to school, come home and sleep. She mostly ate and did her work at school; staying at home was just a constant reminder of what she lost. Her parents had gotten rid of the letters and photos from Trixie, anything to remove her from their home but it didn’t help. Starshine was in complete shambles and they couldn’t do anything. It was bad enough after the initial fight but the very next day things turned worse. Some of the fillies and colts at school had heard from their parents how the mare who was going to help Starshine was a supposed criminal. Many of the other children tormented her about it, calling her things like an evil minion or the next Nightmare Moon. The Starshine they knew died that day, she never smiled, she never talked, and she had just plain given up. Trixie had come while she was school and she had never learned of it.

Starshine just lied there on the bad, doing nothing like she had for the past month. It wasn’t long before she passed out asleep like she had before. Lately Trixie had plagued her nightmares, whether it was people attacking Trixie or Trixie attacking her. She refused to believe those nightmares, always thinking Trixie was falsely accused. This night however was the worst nightmare of all. She wandered around a dark forest for what felt like hours, eventually she found light leading her out but the first thing she was had her in tears. There was Trixie, barely standing at the edge of a cliff. Starshine ran towards Trixie calling her name but it seemed like Trixie couldn’t hear her. Before she reached the cliff, Trixie nudged herself forward and plummeted of the edge. Starshine slid across the ground and then reached her front hoof off the edge.

“TRIXIEEEEEEEEEEEE!” She watched the unicorn fall to her demise, a trail of tears behind Trixie as she fell. The filly felt like her heart at been snapped in two. Most dreams until now always had a weird haunting feeling to them, like she knew it was just a nightmare but this was different. To her, this dream felt unusually real. She took multiple steps away from the cliff, trying to process what she had seen.

“Poor, poor Starshine…” The filly suddenly turned around looking for the voice. “You had such potential only to have it ripped from you because of… What was her name…?”

Starshine grit her teeth. “Twilight… Sparkle…” She spoke through her teeth.

“Yes… Twilight Sparkle… Quite the evil one indeed. People already look up to her like a Princess, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually became one.”

This filled Starshine with pure rage. “She had no right be Princess, not after what she did!”

“If that is what you truly believe, then you must start believing in Trixie…”

“Believe… In Trixie?”

“Your only wish is to meet Trixie again… As long as you never stop thinking of her, your hearts will always be connected... Your light will give her hope, your darkness will give her strength, and your love will give her reason…” At that moment, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned back to the cliff to see the black shadow of a pony hovering above the cliff. “Will you allow Trixie to use your power…?”

Starshine took no time to think, she didn’t need to. “Yes! I will do anything to help Trixie!”

The shadow smiled at her. “Good…” Soon after, the shadow disappeared and a massive beam of black light shot up from the bottom of the cliff. She was blown back by the force of the beam and landed on her flank. She slowly stood back up watching the beam of light fly into the air. “You have great power Starshine, don’t let it go to waste…” The shadow reappeared within the beam, this time taking on the form of Trixie. The shadow held out its right hoof reaching for Starshine. The filly hesitated for a moment but she eventually reached out her own hoof for the shadow. As she grabbed the shadow Trixie’s hoof, a black bolt of lightning shot from her horn, trailed down her hoof and up to Trixie’s horn.

“TRIXIE!” Starshine bolted awake, sweat beating down her face. She looked over at her door expecting her parents to charge in but nothing. She had been awakened by a nightmare nearly every night for the past month and her parents had given up checking on her. Normally she was a complete mess after a nightmare but tonight… She felt kind of good. The aching in her heart had vanished and she felt good, really good.

“I… I understand now…” Trixie muttered. “That’s why your magic doesn’t work…” She lightly pet Starshine’s head. It couldn’t take away the pain but deep down she hoped it could make Starshine feel better. “You have the power of Soul Link… A rare type of magic only useable by those born with a special power… I read about it a long time ago…” Starshine started to calm down a bit, trying to listen to what Trixie was saying. “Soul Link allows a unicorn to create a mental link with another unicorn allowing them to share their power with each other… However, those born with the Soul Link power can’t use magic themselves as there is too great of risk that unicorn will experience magic burnout.”

Twilight struggled against her fatigue, pulling herself up. She was extremely wounded and was holding her front right leg for support. “Trixie…?”

Trixie looked back over at Twilight, tears flowing from her eyes. Twilight also noticed that despite the red color of her eyes, the natural shine had returned. “Twilight…”

“I heard everything…”

Trixie turned back to Starshine. “She… Gave me everything she had… Such an impressionable young one; believed I was important enough to risk giving me every last drop of energy…”

“She must have subconsciously formed a Soul Link with you before she even knew her own power… She really did love you Trixie…”

“And now…” Trixie teared up more. “My magic is starting to affect her as well… My magic… My… Dark Magic… is now poisoning her body. Her young body can’t handle the kind of stress the Dark Magic is putting on her.”

“There is no telling how long that Dark Magic has been affecting her either…”

“I think I know…” Twilight was confused. “Remember what she said, ‘Somewhere in my heart I could feel her calling to me, telling me to keep living and that we would be together again one day…’ She has been infected since the very day I attempted to kill myself… It’s part of how Dark Magic works; it makes you feel good, it numbs the pain and sorrow and makes you feel like a Princess but in reality, it’s slowly eating away at your life…”

“If she has been infected this whole time, then that means you’ve been feeding of her energy this whole time as well…”

“Master Rose always did say I was special, that I had a hidden power that would be unlocked when the time was right. When you destroyed my Dark Magician Girl, it made me think of how I lost Starshine. It filled me with rage and Starshine must have felt it as well. I can’t believe I was so stupid to let things end up like this… And now… Starshine…” Trixie slammed her head against the ground and just let it out. “I’m a monster!”

“No Trixie you aren’t a monster…” Twilight pulled her injured leg over Trixie and wrapped it around her neck. “You’re a wonderful unicorn Trixie… You entertain ponies and give them a good time, despite all the neigh sayers. You were just a victim of circumstance and idiocy and as a result you were pulled into a war that was not yours to fight. Never think of yourself as any less of a pony because of that.”

“Twilight… Thank you…” Behind them, they suddenly started hearing a weird groaning sound. The two unicorns turned back and saw Trixie’s dragon starting to descend. Its red eyes were flickering and losing color.

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 3000 → 2999 → 2998 → 2997 >

“What… In Equestria…?” Twilight asked.

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 2995 → 2993 → 2989 → 2985 >

“It’s… Getting weaker…?” Trixie continued.

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 2954 → 2937 → 2909 → 2876 >

“Trixie… I think it’s reacting to your state of mind…”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 2753 → 2691 → 2604 → 2470 >

“I don’t understand…”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 2281 → 1966 → 1611 → 1283 >

“Midnight’s power comes from your inner hatred. If it’s weakening in power, that means there is no more hatred in you. You have finally come to terms with yourself.”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 0 >

The moment the points hit zero, the card on her duel disk lost all color and her eyes faded back to their normal purple color. The black veins on her horn had also disappeared and her hair fell back down to normal. They suddenly heard a few coughs come from behind them. They turned back to find Starshine pushing herself up, coughing up small blotches of black tinted blood. “Starshine!” Trixie ran down to her and padded her back causing her to cough up more blood. “It’s going to be ok Starshine, just let it all out…”

“Her body must be trying to expel all that bad energy now that the supply has been cut off.”

“Starshine, I’m so, so, so, so sorry I let this happen…”

Starshine held up her hoof motioning her to be quiet. “It’s ok Trixie… I understand…” She pulled herself up completely so she was standing but she wobbled a bit showing she was still fatigued. “All that matters… Is that your happy…”

“I’m happy if you’re happy… And there is no reason to put me ahead of yourself. Your young, you still have a long life ahead of you…”

Starshine didn’t respond, she simply leaped forward and embraced Trixie in a hug. “I love you Trixie…”

Trixie patted her back. “I love you too Starshine… And nothing will ever change that…”

Twilight just smiled at the display she was seeing; it was just like when she had defeated Nightmare Moon. She had eradicated the darkness in her heart and reunited a lost family member. Something was still bugging her though and she couldn’t figure out what. At that moment, there was a flurry of black sparks on the other side of the dueling field. What she saw nearly put her in shock, a black and neon pink alicorn. Although she had never seen this alicorn before, the strange markings on her head gave her an idea. “Midnight Rose, I presume…”

“Twilight… You’re still alive…?”

“She is not alone…” Trixie and Starshine stepped up as well. “Master…” She said with emphasis.

“You’re both still here? What is going on? I saw you release your power; you should have defeated her by now.”

“Look a little more and I think you’ll find out why…” Midnight Rose wasn’t sure what to ask. She looked over at Trixie’s dragon lying on the ground half dead and faded. She also noticed the change in Trixie.

“You… You’ve lost your power, haven’t you?”

“Your ‘gift’ did nothing but hurt the ones I love and I won’t have any more of it!”

Midnight growled. “You fool, don’t you understand what I’m trying to do for you!? Twilight ruined your life, she is evil! I’m doing this to help you!”

Starshine suddenly stepped back. “That voice… That was you…” Twilight and Trixie looked down at her with confusion. “You’re the one from that dream, the one that told me to give Trixie my power…”

Twilight gasped. “I knew I was missing something! She may have the ability to perform the Soul Link subconsciously but she has to choose to give her power. There is no way she should have been able to do that without knowing she had the power in the first place.”

“If that’s the case then that means…” Trixie quickly changed from shock to anger, gritting her teeth as she looked back at Midnight. “You KNEW! YOU KNEW THIS WHOLE TIME!” Midnight’s eyes widened and she stepped back. “Do you have ANY idea what you caused!? Your magic nearly got the one who means the world to me KILLED!” As that moment, Midnight noticed a flicker in Trixie’s eyes, a red flicker.

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 0 → 1 → 2 → 3 >

Midnight smirked. “Of course, I knew, do you honestly think I would have recruited some washed up magician!?”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 5 → 8 → 12 → 19 >

“Starshine was the sole reason I recruited you in the first place. Soul Linkers are extremely rare and the unicorns they pair up with are unmatched in terms of strength.”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 34 → 57 → 85 → 129 >

“So, I manipulated her… When I gave you my power, I used the Soul Link to track her down and trick her into giving you her power…”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 190 → 471 → 968 → 1573 >

“I had also anticipated the Dark Magic poisoning. Once her life force is completely drained and the magic kills her, you would have had full unrestricted access to her power and without any morals holding you back; you would have been an unstoppable warrior…”

*CRASH*

Trixie suddenly exploded with dark magic, screaming into the air as loud as she could. “I’LL KILLLLLLLLLL YOUUUUUUUUU!”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 3000 >

In her rage, Trixie didn’t notice Midnight transforming her body into pink energy. Midnight charged towards Trixie in her energy form, colliding with Trixie and creating a large black explosion.

“Trixie no!” Twilight called. From inside the explosion, Trixie’s body began to reform in a similar manor to Midnight’s. She didn’t grow a pair of wings but her coat darkened heavily and she acquired the pink glowing mark of Iseris on her forehead. Trixie simply laughed, now with Midnight’s voice speaking over her voice.

“What did you do to Trixie!?” Starshine screamed.

Midnight took notice of Starshine and turned to her. “I’m in control now foal! She was an insolent traitor and had to be dealt with. Of course, that wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t let her rage get out of control.”

“You monster…” Twilight grunted.

Midnight examined her new body. “I must say you did a fine job of giving her your energy young one. I wish this mortal body was more resilient though or else I would keep it for myself. It would be nice having a real body for once…”

“Hmm?” Twilight questioned.

“Anyway, that’s nothing you need to be hearing about…” Midnight leaped into the air landing on top of Trixie’s dragon which was back to full power. “After all, what’s the point in explaining something to a dead pony!” Twilight took her stance but winced in pain at her previous injuries. With the single card still in her hand, Midnight held up it up revealing it to Twilight. “I activate the ability of Trixie’s dragon… You know what happens next…”

“Midnight…”

“I send Final Vengeance from my deck to the graveyard…” She slid the card into the graveyard causing the dragon to glow a faint red. “Since her dragon destroyed a monster, this turn, Final Vengeance allows her dragon to attack a second time in a row with half its attack points.”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< ATK: 3000 → 1500 >

Tears fell from Starshine’s eyes but that didn’t stop her from running in front of Twilight again blocking her. The poisoning and vomiting had weakened her as well and she could barely stand up straight. “Starshine… Don’t…” Twilight groaned.

“This is punishment for serving a tyrant!” The Nightmare Dragon charged up its energy once again releasing another black tornado towards Twilight. “Eternity Vortex!”

“Starshine! Get out of the way!” Starshine tried turning back but she was quickly interrupted by Twilight shoving her out of the way just in time to avoid the blast.

“TWILIGHT!” The tornado hit Twilight from above with explosive force, forcefully lifting her into the air. “NOOOOO!” Twilight could barely even describe the shear pain she was feeling at that moment. It was like her body was being ripped to shreds and a thousand needles stabbing her heart. She screamed into the air, just hoping the vortex of suffering would just go away.

“Wallow in despair!” The vortex intensified causing Twilight to scream louder. Starshine covered her ears hoping to block out the screaming.

Twilight’s life started flashing before her eyes; images of all her friends came into view. ‘Applejack… So strong and always looking out for her friends… Pinkie Pie… Always bringing us cheer to every situation… Rarity… Generous as can be and always hoping to help… Fluttershy… Kind and gentle, like she should be… And Rainbow Dash… Loyal to the very end… I’m sorry everypony… I’m so sorry…’ At that point, another pony came into the view of her mind, a blue unicorn. ‘Trixie… Forgive me for not being strong enough…’ The vortex suddenly dissipated leaving Twilight alone floating in the air, a completely blank expression in her eyes. She slowly descended back to the ground and the moment her back hooves touched the ground; she fell forward and landed face first into the dirt.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 75 → 0 >

“TWILIGHT!!!”

Celestia suddenly stumbled over in her room, knocking a vase over before leaning against a wall. She stared blankly at the wall gasping loudly for air. “What…?” She felt an intense pain coming from her chest she couldn’t explain. She clenched her chest as hard as she could. “This feeling… No… It’s can’t be…” She looked over at her table with several framed photos and saw one she and Twilight took when she became her student. The glass frame gleamed for a moment before suddenly cracking, leaving a large crack between the two. “Twilight…” Working through the pain, she began to flap her wings and flew out the window.

“TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!” Starshine shook Twilight’s unmoving body, tears rapidly flowing from her eyes. “PLEASE TWILIGHT! WAKE UP! YOU CAN’T DIE!” The red glowing tether connected to Twilight’s chest started pulsating again but not for long before the tether started to fade turning completely gray. “No… Twilight… You can’t be…”

Midnight broke the silence when she suddenly started laughing. “You knew this would happen when you sided with Celestia and yet you still opposed me. Although I am upset, I wasn’t able to make use of your power like your friends. You would have made a fine soldier. I suppose since I have no use for you, I might as well give you a proper burial.” Starshine snapped out of her crying and blocked Twilight’s again. She was panting heavier than before and clearing becoming fatigued.

“Stay back.”

“What do you plan on doing little filly? You really think you stand a chance against me?”

“I don’t care; you’ve taking away the two most important ponies to me!”

“You barely know Twilight and you’re calling her important? Please…”

“All she wanted to do was help Trixie; she didn’t deserve to die over it!”

“Well too bad, she is. Now step out my way before I kill you too!” Starshine didn’t move, she just repositioned her back legs and stood her ground. “If that’s the way to do this, then you can die along with your pathetic friend!” The dragon shot forward with its arm out ready to grab the filly. Starshine closed her eyes and braced for impact… But it never came… After a few seconds Starshine opened her eyes and saw the dragons claw only a foot away from her. “What’s this?” Midnight asked. Starshine looked back up at Midnight and noticed she was struggling with something. “What is going on, why won’t my body move!?” Try as she might, Midnight couldn’t seem to move. She suddenly noticed tears were now dripping out of her eyes against her will. “That traitor, she’s fighting back!” The monster’s hand reseeded and the dragon floated back up to its normal position. Trixie’s body started to move on its own, reaching for her deck. “What does that crazy mare think she is doing!?” She spread the deck apart in front of her face and pulled out one of the spell cards. “No! She is trying to activate Nightmare Eternity Dragon’s special ability again!” Midnight pulled as hard as she could, trying to take control again. She struggled hard but it was all in vain, Trixie’s body managed to hold the card over the graveyard and slide it in. “YOU FOOL!” The card suddenly materialized on field and started to glow. Starshine stared at card, completely clueless as to what was happening. The only thing she noticed was the card’s name.

“Wish for a Second Chance…?” Then, a warm light started emitting behind her.

Twilight’s eyes fluttered open, last thing she remembered was being attacked by Midnight. She looked all around to find herself within a dark castle and that she was floating. “What is going on? Where am I? Am I dead?” She finally looked down and saw two mares standing across from each other. “Princess Celestia? Midnight Rose? Wait, I’m in the castle of the two sisters! What is going on here?” Celestia was clearly struggling to get up; she appeared to be badly hurt and was covered in scratches. Midnight wasn’t much better; she was also covered in scratches but was at least in better shape than Celestia. However, Twilight quickly noticed Midnight was different from when she had seen her. Aside from the mark and red eyes, she looked exactly like a normal mare, her coat was a bright pink and her red mane was combed around like a flower. Celestia was different as well; her mane had an orange shade to it and was more jagged like fire. On Midnight’s field was Iseris while Celestia had her Arch-Lightsworn.

“Celestia, give up already. You can’t win!” Midnight spoke up.

“I… ugh… I will never give up… So long as I have a chance…”

“You never had a chance. No matter what cards you play Iseris is completely invincible. You can’t win this duel!”

“No, it’s not invincible…” Celestia placed her hoof on her deck. “All I need is to draw the correct card and you will be finished!” She drew her card with all her might causing the card to gleam. When she saw the card, a spark flashed in her eye. “I play Monster Reborn! This allows me to revive Black Rose Dragon from your graveyard.” A purple hole opened on Celestia’s field and Midnight’s dragon flew out on to her field.

Black Rose Dragon
< Level 7 / ATK: 2400 >

“If you think using my own dragon is going to help you your sadly mistaken. Ahahaha!” Without saying a word, Celestia revealed the other card she had her in hoof to Midnight. Midnight stopped laughing for a moment but went back to laughing even harder. “Polymerization!? You’ve cracked haven’t you, Michael and Black Rose can’t fuse you idiot!”

“Not yet they can’t…” With a flick of her wrist, Celestia held the card up above her head. “Element of Magic, hear my call. Grant me the power to stop this menace!” Slowly but surely, the card eventually started gathering energy towards it. “Let’s do it, Forbidden Art: Duel Monster’s Soul INFUSION!” A purple flame suddenly shot over the card changing its appearance to five white stars flowing into a six-pointed pink star. “The Element of Magic heard my call and has given me the power I need to defeat you… I activate Harmony Fusion!” The Black Rose Dragon and Arch-Lightsworn on Celestia’s field started glowing “This card allows me to fuse one my monsters with one of yours!”

Midnight thought for a moment for smiling. “Do your worst, you can’t destroy Iseris…”

With that, Celestia’s eye gleamed. “You’ve just dug your own grave… I combine Michael and Black Rose Dragon!” The two monsters morphed to white stars and launched into the sky. With the ceiling overhead, the monster flew into a fake cloud that had formed within the room. The clouds exploded into a six-pointed and the monsters began to transform inside the light. “Paladin of light, dragon of dark, reveal your combined might and cast your judgment on those who hurt the innocent! Harmony Fusion Evolution!” Michael’s skin started glowing will all that was visible was his golden armor. The armor all broke off from his body and one by one, clasped themselves onto Black Rose Dragon giving it gold plated armor. Without any armor himself, several vines started wrapping around Michael and hardened into full body armor. “Behold the savior of Equestria’s future; Arch-Sworn Eclipse Dragon!” Now covered with black plant-like armor, the new Michael landed on top of the golden-plated Black Rose Dragon holding his black thorned sword into the air with a great light.

Arch-Sworn Eclipse Dragon
< Level 8 / ATK: 3000 >

Twilight looked down at the new monster now on Celestia’s field. “So, this is the power of Harmony Fusion… But… Midnight didn’t have any idea what the card could do so she let the Princess use it. That would never work now…”

Midnight continued to smirk. “You really think fusing our monsters is going to help you?”

“You have no idea what this card can do. You could have stopped my fusion the moment I activated it but you allowed your overconfidence in Iseris blind your common sense. Now it’s going to cost you, when Arch-Sworn Eclipse Dragon attacks, all other cards on the field are destroyed. Not only that, but you can’t activate any of those cards either!” Arch-Lightsworn held up his vine sword and an image of a sun and a moon formed above him. They slowly moved into place covering each other into a full solar eclipse. The eclipse launched a beam of black light right at Iseris before suddenly erupted into a massive explosion of black fire. Midnight screamed at the force of the blast and was thrown backward as all her face down cards and Iseris were quickly destroyed.

“NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” She screamed as Iseris’ mark disappeared from her head.

“I’ve destroyed Iseris Midnight. Any monster summoned by the effect of Harmony Fusion negates effects that prevent a monster from being destroyed in battle or by card effects. You brought this upon yourself Midnight. You allowed me to escape with the Element of Magic and now I’ve used its power to defeat Iseris. You should have stopped me when you had the chance…”

Midnight slowly started stepping away. “No… Everything I’ve worked for… Gone just like that…”

“It’s wasn’t all for naught though…” Midnight looked up at her with question. “You were right Midnight; I became a tyrant… I allowed my guilt to turn me into a monster. You helped show me what I had become so for that I thank you…”

Midnight just looked at her for a few moments before spitting at the ground. “Save your redemption speech for somepony who cares. None of that will bring back the lives of those you so heartlessly destroyed…” At that moment, a black vortex appeared below her. Midnight simply closed her eyes and said nothing.

“What? What’s happening?”

“You destroyed Iseris… Him and I are one so by destroying me you’re destroying me… Such is how his power works…”

“Your… Dying?”

“No… Iseris can’t be truly destroyed… I am nothing but a host for the real demon lurking from within shadows. He will return… And once I regain my power… The rule of the tyrant Princess Celestia will come to an end…” With that, a black shell formed around Midnight like a silhouette. The shell broke apart and the black particles fell into the vortex before closing up. Midnight simply stood there, unmoving and lifeless.

“Midnight…?” Midnight’s body slowly began to fall over before hitting the ground. The Princess walked up the lifeless body and picked it up with one hoof. “I’ll give you a proper burial but it will be in a place nopony can find… What happened here must never be remembered for future generations…”

Twilight’s specter was still floating above watching the whole scene. “Even after everything she did, Celestia still showed her honor and remorse… That’s the sign of a true friend… Friend… Elements…” It was there, a spark flashed in her eyes.

At that moment, a light started shining from Canterlot. From within the hidden vault, the Elements of Harmony began to shine, a variety of colored light sparking between the various elements. Suddenly, a burst of light shot up into the sky through the ceiling. The light trailed through the sky heading towards Ponyville with five other light-colored light trails elegantly flowing around it.

Celestia wasn’t far off when she heard the loud explosion. She barely turned around in time to see the massive of trail of light pass right by her. The light reflected off her eyes, just staring at the beam of energy soaring through the sky. She couldn’t help but let out her tears. “This light… She’s done it…”

Midnight gasped and looked up in the sky and saw the trails of light shooting overhead. The trail spiraled above for a moment before arching downward striking Twilight where she was laying. Twilight’s lifeless body slowly began floating into the air, flipping her up so she was floating upright. Her body began to glow brightly with a pink glow. “Twilight?” Starshine asked. She never got a chance to say anything else. Twilight blasted into the air leaving a long pink light trail behind her.

‘From all of us together, together we’re friends.
With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!’

Twilight’s form zigzagged upward before disappearing into a small light, leaving nothing but a massive explosion in the shape of her cutie mark. Midnight and Starshine stared upwards at the explosion that had happened in the sky, Starshine was amazed but Midnight was growing nervous. “No, no, no, not now!” The light dropped back down striking the ground with another small explosion. The light from the explosion reformed back together. At her first her body reformed but then several other things started to clasp to her. A new duel disk formed on her leg attached to a long black glove going along her leg. In the center of her leg were now two over lapping six-pointed stars similar to that of her cutie mark with two of the edges on the pink star elongated traveling up and down her leg. Her deck was sticking out of the elongated side near her hoof and gone were the five stars acting the card tray. Now attached to the side was a holographic pink tray rather than a physical tray. Resting atop her head was the Element of Magic which had somehow come to her and on her back, a newly formed pair of wings. Twilight took no notice to any of the changes that had occurred; it didn’t matter to her. She simply floated there two feet above the ground with blank glowing eyes staring at Midnight and a bright glow around her body.

“This ends now…”

“TWILIGHT!” Starshine ran at Twilight and stopped right in front of her. “What happened? I thought you died!”

“I would have if it wasn’t for Trixie. With the last of her strength, she managed to play the card Wish for a Second Chance. Since my life points hit zero, that card saved me by ending her turn and making both our life points become 1000…”

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 0 → 1000 >

“Curse… You…” Midnight muttered.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 0 → 1000 >

“Starshine, this is my duel and mine alone. I want you to stay back…”
“But Twilight-”

“Stay… Back…” Twilight replied sternly. “Don’t worry, I WILL save Trixie.”

Midnight continued to struggle against the fighting unicorn but she couldn’t help but laugh at Twilight’s display. “You may have survived that attack thanks to that little stunt Trixie pulled but it changes nothing! You have no more cards left in your deck so the moment you draw you lose!”

Twilight simply smirked. “Is that so…?” The alicorn pulled her right leg back and swung forward like a punch signaling the card. “I activate the Foretold Prophecy trap card!” The card flipped up and started glowing.

“What!? What does that card do!?”

“Foretold Prophecy allows me to shuffle any card from my graveyard back into my deck and then I draw 1 card. If the card I draw happens to be the card I shuffled into the deck, I can play it immediately. If not, I lose 2000 life points.” Twilight ejected a card from her graveyard and shoved it back into her deck slot.

“But you have no cards in your deck!”

“Exactly, since Trixie already destroyed my entire deck, there are no other cards in my deck to draw so there is no chance of failure!” Twilight grabbed the card and drew it with all her strength. “I made a promise to Trixie and I have no intention of breaking it!” As she held the card up, it exploded into a fiery pink energy. Everypony was in shock at the pure energy radiating from the card, it was nothing like Midnight expected. The flames from the card eventually swirled together in the air converging together to make a giant flaming heart.

“I PLAY THE SPELL CARD FIRES OF FRIENDSHIP!” One by one, three stone pillars rose up from the ground around Twilight. Each of the pillars had a different miniature statue at the top of the pillar, one an earth pony, one a pegasus and one a unicorn. “This card can only be played while there are no other cards on my field or in my hand.”

“What!?” Midnight roared. “What is going on?”

“Like the fires that once united the three tribes, this card allows me to unite the three types of cards, Monsters, Spells and Trap Cards into one card! I am now allowed to play three cards in my graveyard, one monster, one spell and one trap card.”

“NO!”

“In order to use this effect, I must first banish three cards from my graveyard with the same type as the card I activate.” Twilight looked down at her duel disk and three cards ejected from the graveyard, her Exemplar, Night’s End and World. “With durability and an unbreakable spirit, the power of the earth pony allows me to summon any monster from my graveyard! So, with the power of the earth pony I can summon back my Tempest Magician from beyond the grave!” The earth pony statue began to glow orange and fired a beam of light into the ground in front of Twilight. Her scythe-wielding synchro monster reappeared from the light as strong as it before.

Tempest Magician
< Level 6 / ATK: 2200 >

Three more cards ejected from Twilight graveyard, Draining Shield, Foretold Prophecy and Mirror Force. “With great cunning and unbeatable speed, the power of the Pegasi allows me to bring back a trap card. With the power of the Pegasi I activate the trap Unexpected Reformation from my graveyard!” The pegasus head glowed pink and shot another beam at the same spot causing the card a float up from the light. “This trap activates when a monster is summoned to my field and it allows me to summon a monster from your graveyard with the same type and level as the monster I summoned. Tempest Magician is a Level 6 spellcaster monster so this allows me to so summon a Level 6 spellcaster from your graveyard!” Trixie’s graveyard glowed this time and a beam shot out being absorbed into Twilight’s trap card. The trap card turned around to reveal the card taken from Trixie’s graveyard, the card she cherished, the card that made her think of Starshine.

Dark Magician Girl
< Level 6 / ATK: 2300 >

Dark Magician Girl could only frown at the monstrosity that flew before her; she could practically feel the pain and sorrow coming from her original master. “This is it…” Twilight spoke. This time she ejected her Citadel, Spellbook Tower and Spellbook of Judgement. “With unparalleled power and the wisdom to do great things, the power of unicorn allows me to play a spell card from my graveyard…” Time completely stopped for everyone watching, they knew what was coming. This time, the unicorn head glowed with a bright green and shot another beam into the ground. From the hole another beam of light shot out and landed in Twilight’s right hoof. “When two lost souls are reunited, their light will bring out the power of friendship!” Twilight held the card high as particles of light started flowing towards it.

Midnight’s eyes widened at Twilight’s actions. “This light… I’ve seen this before…”

With all her strength, she held out the damaged spell card to her side with its back facing upward. “Forbidden Art: Multiple Soul INFUSION!” As she roared the final word, she flipped the card over revealing the damaged Harmony Fusion. It wasn’t visible for long before the card was engulfed in a rainbow flame that quickly burned over the card, changing its entire appearance. The five white stars were replaced with five stars of different color and the once flat purple star was become three dimensional almost like a gem. The once silver text at the top had also taken on a new color, slowly shifting between colors like a rainbow. “I ACTIVATE REFORMED FRIENDSHIP FUSION!” Tempest Magician and Dark Magician Girl started to morph into the familiar white stars but everything changed from there. The stars sparked with energy and launched into the air like lightning bolts, spiraling around each other leaving a rainbow trail. The two trails got closer and closer before impacting the moment they struck the clouds above, exploding into a deafening purple six-pointed star.

“Reaper of judgement… Lost sorceress of darkness… An unbreakable vow to save the one who means most! Pave the way to the future and fulfill your DESTINY!” Twilight clapped her front hooves together. “HARMONY FUSION EVOLUTION!” The clouds above bubbled up with a pink glow before releasing a massive beam of light with a loud screech. From within the beam of light, a silhouette of a six-foot-tall woman started to descend. This new creature had long blond hair with streaks of silver leading down to her waistline. She wore a beautiful white dress that dropped down to her knees on her left leg and all the way down to her ankles on her right. She had a pair of translucent scarfs wrapped around her body, a light blue one around her neck and a purple one around her waist with end hanging down her right left. Although her dress was sleeveless, she wore while sleeves that hung from above her elbows and nearly covered up her hands. “This is my wish... Trixie’s wish… OUR WISH!” The woman held her arms out and a large pair of golden angel wings formed over her back. “DESTINY FAITH MAGICIAN!” The new magician shot up into the air, spinning around leaving a trail of golden wings. Once she had pushed through the clouds, she extended her wings one more spreading out the clouds giving a perfect view of the night sky being illuminated by her sacred glow. Ponyville, Canterlot, Manehattan, everywhere in Equestria ponies were waking up and stepping outside to admire the beautiful light. Nopony understood what the being the middle of light was but it didn’t matter to them, the beauty had drawn them in. Twilight’s magician held out her right arm and with a flash of light, Tempest magician’s scythe appear with her hand. It didn’t last long though as the scythe flashed against changing into a long and thin silver staff with a light blue star on the end.

Destiny Faith Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

Midnight was sweating profusely. “That isn’t possible! That mare managed to perform the same spell Celestia did when she created that infernal card… No, she did it even BETTER!”

Starshine sat back, stars in her eyes and basking in the radiant aura of the monster. “Trixie…”

Destiny Faith Magician lowered herself down to the field so that she was at face level with Trixie’s dragon. “Now the effect of Reformed Friendship Fusion is activated.”

Midnight gasped. “What!?”

“When I use an opponent’s monster as a material for a fusion summon, Reformed Friendship Fusion allows me to banish one monster on your field, removing it from the game PERMIMENTLY!” A rainbow bolt of lightning rained down the sky striking the dragon and Midnight along with it causing her to scream in agony. The pain caused her to topple over and fall off the dragon although she managed to regain her balance and land on her hooves. The dragon quickly vanished from the field exploding into glowing black particles. “Now, Vengeance Nightmare Magician is summoned in its place.” The particles all gathered together and reformed Trixie’s corrupted Dark Magician, just the way he was when he was first summoned. The magician stared up at his ascended protégé with a look of total fear in his eyes.

Vengeance Nightmare Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

“You summoned back her corrupted magician? But why?”

“In order to save Trixie, I much purge every last drop of darkness you infected her with. And with that I activate Destiny Faith Magician’s special ability! When she is successfully summoned, every spell card in my graveyard returns to my deck!” Faith raised her staff forming a large purple portal above her. Several green beams of light shot out and struck Twilight’s deck causing her deck to suddenly grow to about half its full size.

“No…”

Twilight grasped the top card of her deck and swift drew it leaving a rainbow trail behind the path of the card. “DRAW!”

“No.”

“I activate Faith’s other special ability!” Twilight took her new card and slid it into the graveyard. “By sending a spell card from my hand to the graveyard, she can destroy all of your spell and trap cards!”

“No!”

Faith extended her wings and released a blizzard of golden feathers. The feathers blasted Trixie’s cards, causing Blood Contract to lift into the air and explode destroying the tether along with it. Midnight could feel a tear unwillingly leaking through her host’s eye. Twilight pulled her left hoof back, preparing to order the attack. ‘Trixie… Starshine… This is for you…’ She finished her motion and pointed at the Nightmare Magician. “Destiny Faith Magician, attack Vengeance Nightmare Magician!” Faith held her staff up into the air.

“They have the same attack points!”

“Due to the effect of Reformed Friendship Fusion, when my fusion monster attacks your monster, my monster absorbs all of the attack points of the banished monster! That means my magician now has a grand total of 5500 attack points!”

“NOOOOO!” A second lightning bolt came down this time striking Faith’s staff.

Destiny Faith Magician
< ATK: 2500 → 5500 >

“Finish this duel and cleanse Trixie of her darkness once and for all! SACRED BURNING ATTACK!” Twilight’s monster held her sparking staff high lighting up the nighttime sky before shooting a massive flaming beam at the corrupted magician. Immediately before the blast hit, Twilight floated down to the ground and Starshine grabbed onto her for leverage and the two of them shut their eyes. The beam completely engulfed the Vengeance Nightmare Magician causing him to scream in pain. The dark crystals covering his body began to crack and shatter apart. Soon, the crystals all over his body had been completely destroyed leaving behind nothing but the Dark Magician himself. He looked up at his apprentice and gave her a slight smile before the flames took him completely destroying him. The field had erupted into a blazing dome of fire with a strong enough gale force behind it to launch Midnight back and forcefully split her apart from Trixie. When Twilight opened her eyes, she saw Midnight’s form completely disappear into the fire and Trixie was being blown back as the blast effortlessly blew off her armor and cape.

Despite the massive amount of pain, she was feeling, Trixie didn’t scream or struggle, she just let herself be blown back with her eyes closed and sobbed tears of joy. “Twilight… You’ve done so much for me… You put your own life at risk to save somepony you barely even knew… I literally cannot thank you enough for… Everything… I hope one day we can actually be friends… For real… I’d like that…” When she opened her eyes, she let all her tears fall unhindered. “Starshine, I never intended to hurt you but I did anyway… I love you more than anything in the world and I hope we can see each other again… Goodbye…” The flames receded and the flying unicorn skid along the ground bouncing several times before falling on her side and rolling.

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 1000 → 0 >

With that, Twilight closed her eyes and allowed herself to shed a tear. “We already are friends Trixie… We already are…”

Chapter 16 - The Root of Evil (1)

Starshine continued to clutch onto Twilight for dear life as the explosion dissipated; Twilight had her eyes closed while rubbing the back of Starshine’s head. “It’s ok Starshine… It’s over now…”

“But… Trixie…”

“I know Starshine…” Starshine just wept into Twilight’s chest uncontrollably. When the explosion finally disappeared, the filly released the alicorn and ran towards the unicorn. Trixie was on her back and eyes closed, her body completely littered with scars and scratches and a black vortex had formed below her.

“Trixie!” Starshine ran over to unicorn and leaned down close. Trixie didn’t respond so the filly grabbed her and shook her body like she did Twilight before. “Trixie! Trixie! Please wake up!” A faint noise finally came from the unicorn. The magician groaned painfully and slightly opened her eyes to see the filly above her.

“Star… Shine…”

“Trixie!” She quickly wrapped her hooves around the blue unicorn but was replied with a painful cry.

“Starshine, that hurts!” The filly quickly jumped back and released Trixie.

“Sorry…”

Trixie’s eyes scanned up and down the filly’s body couple times before her mouth changed to a smile. “I am… Trixie is… Happy… You are ok…”

Starshine’s eyes teared up and she shook her head. “But what about you…?”

Trixie just shook her head. “Sorry, but Trixie can’t say the same about herself…”

“Wha- What do you mean?”

“Her monster was destroyed…” Twilight interrupted. Starshine turned back to see the mare approaching them. “When Iseris… Or a card using its power is destroyed; it takes the user’s soul…”

Starshine’s eyes teared up even more before suddenly turning back to Trixie. “You can’t die on me! You can’t!”

“Trixie isn’t going… To die…” Starshine suddenly stopped and looked at the unicorn.

“But… Twilight… She…”

“Twilight did die; at least for a while; but that wasn’t because of Trixie’s monster…” Trixie leaned over and grabbed ahold of one of the cards scattered on the ground. “Trixie’s trap card… Caused her death… But Twilight destroyed it before she beat her…”

“But what about losing your soul? Doesn’t that mean you’re gone anyway?”

“Trixie will be fine… She can be saved…”

Twilight’s ears perked up. “Wait… You mean it’s possible to save you? What about my friends?”

“Yes… When somepony loses a shadow game, only their souls are lost… Under normally circumstances the body should still remain in a comatose state…”

“But… That isn’t what’s happening… Their bodies disappear too…”

“That is because Midnight… Is using a spell to transport the victim’s body to her and then she is transforming them into Duel Monsters cards… And using the souls of her victims to power those cards and her magic…”

“That is… Awful…”

“You’re friends have already been assimilated into her army… And in a few moments, I will be too…”

“No… Trixie…” Starshine cried.

“But… Her power comes at a cost… She absolutely cannot lose even one duel… Her form has become unstable and losing a duel will destroy her and release all the souls she is harboring inside her…”

“So, if we beat Midnight… Everything will return to normal? Everypony will come back?”

“Yes… Luna… Gilda and Blueblood… and all your friends…” The vortex below her suddenly expanded and released a few black sparks. “It’s time… In a few moments Trixie will be nothing but Midnight’s mindless puppet…”

As the vortex expanded, a faint glow suddenly came from Twilight’s graveyard. The alicorn looked down at her duel disk and held her hoof in front of her graveyard right as a card ejected out. She took ahold a card, realizing what it was; it was the Reformed Friendship Fusion card she had created during her duel. “What in- AH!” The card suddenly flashed with a powerful completely blinding the three mares.

With a flash of black lightning, a black alicorn appeared in the dark hall. She was covered in scratches and her body was smoking from the attack she took on. “Curse that Element of Magic…” She muttered, slumping over and grabbing her front right leg for support “I can’t believe she ascended this early, she shouldn’t have been ready this soon…” The alicorn closed her eyes and rested for a moment. “I can’t believe it, I had so much planned for Trixie and little Starshine and all of it just went down the drain.” Then a thought came to her. “Although I guess in the end it doesn’t matter, Trixie still lost the duel. More importantly, she let Nightmare Eternity Dragon be destroyed by Harmony Fusion… Er… Reformed Friendship Fusion I guess it is now…” Midnight then held out her right hoof and a blank Duel Monster’s card appeared in her hoof. “Now that that her soul is lost, she will be more useful to me in my deck…” She looked at the blank card for a moment, opening her eyes wide letting them flash red. A black vortex formed in front of her and the card started to glow. “You will make a fine addition to my deck…” She waited for a few moments and the card continued to glow. She smirked at the card waiting for the image to burn in and continued to smirk. After a few moments, her smirk dropped and the glow around the card suddenly started to fade, still completely blank. “What the?” Her eyes opened and flashed again, causing the blank card to glow. It went on for a few moments then the light died out again, leaving the card blank. “What in Equestria is going on, why won’t my spell work!?” She tried once again putting a lot more energy into it this time, but the glow only lasted about a second before the light died out. This time the blank card template completely disintegrated itself and the black vortex disappeared. She growled to herself and closed her eyes. She concentrated for a moment, using her power she tried to sense for the location of Trixie’s soul. Her eyes suddenly opened, finally realizing the problem. “TRIXIE DIDN’T LOSE HER SOUL!?”

Starshine had clung onto Twilight again after being blinded by the light. When the light finally disappeared, Twilight opened her eyes again. “Starshine? Are you ok?” The filly opened her eyes again and nodded. “What in Equestria was that light about?”

“Twilight?” A voice asked. Both Twilight and Starshine were confused by the voice, until they looked down. There on the ground was Trixie, her injuries almost completely healed and the vortex gone. She pushed herself and looked over her body. “What?” She then pounded the ground below. “The vortex… It’s gone…” She then moved to her body, now looking at her hooves. “It… Didn’t take Trixie…?”

Twilight and Starshine took a step back. “Impossible…” Twilight muttered. She looked down at the glowing card in her hoof just as the glow faded. “How… Did I…?”

Trixie suddenly turned to the purple alicorn. “Twilight, what did you do?”

“I… I have no idea…” Twilight just stared at the card unmoving.

A thought suddenly came to Trixie. “How… Did you create that card?”

“Well… Celestia said Harmony Fusion was made using the Element of Magic so I figured that was causing its imperfections. It needs the power of all six Elements so I tried channeling the other five Elements through my own… Wait…” Twilight finally looked away from the card and turned to Trixie. “When the Elements were used on Nightmare Moon; it didn’t seal her away; it purified her and removed the evil she had… I think…” Twilight turned back to the card. “I think when I used this card on you; it severed the dark magic and saved you…”

Trixie looked back down at her hooves. “You mean… Trixie is free…?”

“It would appear so…”

Starshine said nothing the whole conversation, just allowing tears to fall from her eyes. She suddenly tackled the blue unicorn to the ground startling her. “Starshine?” Trixie asked.

“I’M SO HAPPY YOUR SAFE!” She screamed.

Trixie said nothing at first, just smiling at the filly before hugging her. “Yeah… She is too…” The two remained in the embrace for a few moments before Starshine let go and allowed Trixie to stand up fully.

Twilight approached the two unicorns, pulling the lone card off her duel disk deactivating the disk entirely. “Trixie… I think this belongs to you…” Trixie turned to Twilight see her handing her the card. Trixie took ahold of the card and looked down at it; it was her Dark Magician Girl. “Thanks, by the way…”

Trixie looked back up the mare. “What?”

“You saved me… If it wasn’t for you, I would be dead right now… I also would have never discovered the key to unlocking Harmony Fusion’s true power… So… Thanks…”

Trixie looked back down at the card intensely for several moments. Finally, she closed her eyes. “Starshine… Can you leave us for a moment please…?” Starshine was confused and looked at the two mares. “Trixie wishes to speak with Twilight alone please…” The filly nodded and walked away from the field, hiding behind a tree.

Before Twilight could ask anything, she saw Trixie handing the card back to her. “You… Don’t you want it?” Trixie didn’t reply, she just continued to hand out to card to her. “But…” The alicorn finally took the card back and looked at it. “But I thought you loved this card…”

“I do…” Trixie suddenly leaped forward and wrapped her hooves around Twilight’s neck in a hug. Twilight was shocked at Trixie’s sudden display of affection and froze up. After a few moments, she hugged the mare back. Trixie let her tears fall and leaned in close to Twilight’s ear. “Take care of her…” Twilight suddenly froze up again as Trixie released her. The blue unicorn gave the now alicorn a sincere smile and with a flash of magic, there was a burst of smoke and she vanished from view.

Starshine heard the explosion and came out from the tree. “Trixie? Huh?” She looked around for the unicorn but didn’t see her anywhere. “Where did she go?”

Twilight was completely frozen staring forward. “Take care of her…?”

“Huh? What happened to Trixie?”

“Take care of her…? What did she-” Her eyes suddenly widened, realizing what she meant. “No… She didn’t…”

Within the Castle of the Two Sisters, Midnight stood at the top of the steps of the main foyer looking out the back window. She stood there for several moments before a loud bang echoed behind her. “So… You decided to show your face…” Midnight scowled.

From the smoke of the explosion, the blue unicorn stepped out never taking her eyes of the alicorn. “You know why Trixie is here Midnight…”

Midnight slowly turned around and stared at the mare. “First you betray me and now you wish to rectify your mistake by destroying me, am I warm?”

“Boiling…”

“Hmf…” Midnight scoffed. “Trixie… You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into…”

“What Trixie didn’t know was what kind of a sick twisted mare you truly were. You told me you wished to bring peace to Equestria by destroying our tyrannical leader and her little ‘cult’ trying to force their ways on ponies, yet so far everything you told me and been nothing but lies and slander!”

“Lies and slander… Like the kind you suffered… You forget your place; you would be dead if it wasn’t for me…”

“You manipulated me and almost allowed me to kill the very pony I love most!”

“You really think I was going to let that happen? I never intended for Starshine to die, I intended to show up earlier in your duel to warn you of the problem and help her but that… Princess… Had to suddenly get a confidence boost at the most inconvenient of times and threw a wrench into the plan. By the time I reached you it was too little too late, I had to resort to plan B and take control of your body by forcing you into an angered state.”

This angered Trixie even more. “Yes, just keep telling yourself that. Keep telling yourself you’re some kind of messiah trying to change the world. Face it, you’re just corrupt and want Equestria for yourself. Either that or you truly are insane.”

“I may be insane but my actions are just. Celestia has corrupted this world and turned even the kindest of ponies into her slaves and they don’t even know it, but the fact of the matter is that not everypony is salvageable. Even if Celestia is destroyed some ponies will continue to follow her biased method and condemn those who she automatically deems evil. I plan on passing judgement on those foolish enough to believe in her ways.”

“That is why we have things like laws and a legal system, to ward out those who wish be unjust.”

“Hmf…” Midnight scoffed again. “Is it unjust to steal because you don’t have the bits to feed yourself or your loved ones? Is it unjust to harm those who wish nothing else then to harm you first?” Midnight stepped forward and raised her head high. “IS IT UNJUST… TO PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES EVEN IF IT MEANS CONDEMNING YOUR SOUL TO DAMNATION!?” Trixie took a sudden step back from the outburst. “You don’t know the first thing about sacrifice! It’s easy to protect somepony with your life… But… I’m willing to take it further then that…” Slowly, Midnight started walking forward and down the stairs. “Even death will not stop me from accomplishing my goal. I don’t care if I burn in the depths of Tartarus for all of eternity, if it means saving the ones, I love then I damn well welcome it!” Not taking her eyes off Trixie, her shadow duel disk materialized on her hoof.

Likewise, Trixie held up her leg and her shadow duel disk appeared. “If you plan on burning in the depths of Tartarus, then I will be happy to accommodate you, even if it means taking you with me…” Simultaneously, their two duel disks shot out their slots before expanding out the black wings like it always had. “I can never be forgiven for the crimes I have committed but neither can you, let’s burn for our sins together!”

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 4000 >

Midnight Rose
< LP: 4000 >

“LET US DUEL!!!!”

“That stupid, stupid unicorn!” Twilight yelled. “After everything that just happened the first thing she does is try to take on Midnight herself!?”

Starshine stepped up closer to Twilight with a confused look “Twilight, what happened to Trixie?”

Twilight turned to the filly. “I’m… I’m sorry…” This only made Starshine more confused. “Trixie… She…” Twilight was suddenly cut off by a loud flapping noise above her. She looked up and was shocked to see Princess Celestia hovering above her “Princess!”

“Twilight!” The princess quickly swooped down and embraced Twilight into a bone crushing hug. “I thought I had lost you…”

Twilight was surprised. “You… saw the whole thing…?”

Celestia pulled away and looked into mare’s eyes with tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t need to; I could feel it in my heart that something happened to you… But then I saw the elements. I didn’t want to believe it but it’s true… You actually did it, you actually did it!”

“Did what princess…?”

“Twilight, look at your back…”

Twilight did what she was told and looked at her back. Her eyes widened at the feathered appendages now seamlessly attached to her back. “I… have wings…? But how…?”

“You met the requirements and you didn’t even need my help, you did it on your own.”

“Requirements…?”

“One ascends by creating an entirely new form of magic, one unheard of before now.”

“A new form of magic…” A light went off in Twilight’s head. “Harmony Fusion…” Celestia said nothing and just looked at her student with a smile. “When I died… I saw you… and Midnight… I think it was the duel from 800 years ago when you first beat her. I saw the way you created that card and, in that moment, I realized the primary design flaw in the card. So, I took the card and added in the thing that it was missing and perfected it and it’s thanks to that I managed to win my duel…”

“I see, not only did you make a new kind of magic but it was one I myself failed at. By doing so you proved yourself worthy and the elements granted you your new power. You’re no longer a unicorn Twilight, you’re an alicorn and with that you are no longer my student either…”

“Wait, what?”

Celestia leaned in close and whispered to her. “You’re now my equal… And don’t even think of yourself any lower… Princess Twilight Sparkle…”

Twilight took a couple steps back to process everything. “A princess… An alicorn princess…”

While this was going on, the little filly known as Starshine was looking up at the two mares. ‘Twilight Sparkle… A princess…’ She thought to herself. She simply smiled at the thought. ‘I’m sorry I ever doubted you…’

Celestia finally turned and noticed the filly. “Hello, who do we have here?”

Twilight instantly broke out of her stupor and turned her attention to Starshine. “Oh Princess-”

“Please, I told you we are equals. There is no need to be so formal with me.”

“Right… Celestia, this is Starshine Hope, she is the one I wrote to you about.”

“Oh yes, Lulamoon’s student. It’s nice to see the genius with my own eyes.”

The child was a bit dumbfounded. “Me…? A genius…?”

“Yes, Twilight told me great things about you…” Celestia’s eyes squinted a bit and she leaned in close to the filly. She looked her straight in the eyes for several moments before backing off. “Ah, so that’s it huh?”

“Yes Celestia, she has the gift. Not only does it explain her inability to use magic but it also explains Trixie’s abnormal power.”

“Speaking of which, where is the unicorn?” The princess spoke looking around. “I don’t see the markings that are normally left behind when someone loses…”

“Oh no, I completely forgot!” Celestia and Starshine quickly turned back to Twilight. “I think she left to go fight Midnight on her own!”

At that moment, Starshine suddenly tensed up and her left eye flickered to a yellow color. “She’s fighting her right now; I can feel it…”

Twilight growled. “There has to be something we can do…” She thought for a moment before remembering something. “Princess, I have a question to ask you…”

“What is it, Twilight?”

“Where is Midnight buried?” Celestia recoiled a bit at this seemingly random question. “I know from the vision that you buried her someplace isolated. I want to see if a theory of mine is true…”

“Well… I see no reason to hide it from you… We’ll go to Canterlot where she is held.”

Twilight turned her attention back to Starshine. “What about Starshine?”

“We take her with us, we’ll explain everything to her parents later but for now she is the only link we have to Trixie and if she can somehow telekinetically communicate with Trixie then we need her with us to report on the situation.”

“Right…”

Celestia stepped up close to Twilight and leaned down. “Twilight, touch your horn to mine, Starshine you do the same. We’ll pull our energy together and teleport all at once.” The two mares nodded and did what she said. “To Canterlot...” With a flash and a bang, the three ponies were gone.

“I’ll be the one to start!” Midnight yelled, swiftly drawing her card. She eyed the card for a moment before turning back to the unicorn. “I’ll start off with the spell card Celestia’s Morning Sun! With this, I am able to add any Equestrian monster from my deck straight to my hand.” A single card slid out from her deck; she proceeded to pulled it out and reveal it to Trixie. “With it I’m adding Equestrian Rainbow Dash to my hand, but she won’t be there long.” The alicorn swiftly threw the card onto her duel disk. “Take flight Equestrian Rainbow Dash!” A rainbow tempest spun up on the field for a few seconds before the cyan pegasus materialized on the field with the same blank expression as the ponies used against Celestia.

Equestrian Rainbow Dash
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

Trixie grunted. “Trixie should have known you would use this deck against her…”

“You were one of my best followers so now you’re going to feel the true weight of what you helped create.”

“You little…”

Midnight simply smirked. “Next, I play an equip spell; Edged Wing Blade.” A pair of sharp blades suddenly appeared over Rainbow Dash’s wings, before expanding out into massive metal wings at large as her body. “This card and equip onto a Winged-Beast Equestrian monster for an extra 800 ATK points.”

Equestrian Rainbow Dash
< ATK: 1700 → 2500 >

“And with that I end my turn… Do your worst oh Great and Powerful Trixie…”

Trixie grit her teeth. “She will…” Trixie swiftly drew her card and looked at it. “I summon Skilled Dark Magician!” Trixie’s monster appeared on the field looking like a dark wizard with brown clothing and dark blue armor. He held a short metal staff with a black ball on the end.

Skilled Dark Magician
< Level 4 / ATK: 1900 >

“Skilled Dark Magician, attack Equestrian Rainbow Dash!”

Midnight was shocked. “What in Equestria are you doing? Rainbow Dash is far stronger than that magician!”

With lightning speed, she shoved a card into her duel disk. “Go quick-play spell! Forbidden Lance! This lance reduces the ATK power of any monster wielding it by 800. Not only that but the lance blocks any spell or traps from affecting that monster.” A long golden lance with black trimming suddenly appeared in Rainbow’s hoof. “Since Rainbow Dash is now holding the lance that means your Edged Wing Blade can no longer give her the ATK boost and on top of that she loses another 800 points!”

Equestrian Rainbow Dash
< ATK: 2500 → 900 >

Skilled Dark Magician followed up with his attack, blasting Rainbow Dash with a small black electric sphere. Midnight stood her ground against the blast.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 4000 → 3000 >

“And with that, I’ll end my turn…” The smoke slowly started to clear up, showing Midnight. However what Trixie wasn’t expecting was to see the cyan pegasus still standing. Midnight quietly laughed to herself.

Equestrian Rainbow Dash
< ATK: 900 → 2500 >

“Wait, I destroyed Rainbow Dash! How is she still standing?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out? Rainbow Dash is the most loyal of ponies; did you really think a simple attack would take her down that easy? As long as Rainbow Dash remains in attack position, she can survive one attack per turn without being destroyed.” Trixie just growled in response. “My turn…” Midnight drew her card and her eyes widened when she saw her draw. “AHAHAHAAAA! I play Fated Souls!” The card lit up with a bright energy. “All I have to do is sacrifice a monster on my field and then I can summon 2 Equestrian monsters directly from my deck!” Rainbow Dash quickly disappeared from the field and two more cards shot out from Midnight’s deck. “Hope you’re ready to see some familiar faces Trixie!” Midnight roughly threw down the two cards onto her duel disk and two blank soulless figures appeared along with it. Trixie’s eyes shrunk with terror when the figures appeared.

Equestrian Prince Blueblood
< Level 3 / ATK: 1000 >

Equestrian Griffon Gilda
< Level 5 / ATK: 2300 >

Trixie stared speechless at her two former comrades now in Midnight’s control. She admits they were both really rude but they still fought for the same cause. “You… I can’t…”

“Can’t believe I would be using them, why not? They both lost their souls to Iseris and so I’m putting these two failures to good use…” The graveyard portal suddenly opened up in front of Midnight. “But before I do anything else… When my Edged Wing Blade is sent to the graveyard, it destroys one monster on your field.” Several sharp blades came out flying out the hole and slashing and stabbing Trixie’s magician.

“Not my monster!” The monster exploded soon after leaving her nothing on the field.

“Sadly, any monster summoned by Fated Souls cannot attack during the turn they are summoned. I also can’t normal summon during the turn it’s used… Which means…” Midnight’s smile suddenly started growing wide.

“What are you planning to do…?”

“You see, even though my monsters can’t attack, both my monsters take on the same level as the monster I sacrificed. Since Rainbow Dash was a Level 4 monster, Blueblood and Gilda both become Level 4…”

Equestrian Prince Blueblood
< Level 3 → 4 >

Equestrian Griffon Gilda
< Level 5 → 4 >

Midnight held her right hoof into the air. “Now… With Level 4 Equestrian Griffon Gilda and Equestrian Prince Blueblood, I build the overlay network!” Gilda and Blueblood changed into colored silhouettes of energy; Gilda green and Blueblood yellow. The two energies bounced into the air crisscrossing each other before launching into the air. The field was engulfed in floating stars and the large galaxy opened up in the floor between them. The two spheres spiraled into the galaxy and exploded into blinding light. “Ruler of the night, awaken from your slumber and eradicate these treasonous foals! I XYZ SUMMON!” With a bolt of lightning, a silhouette of the night princess came into view shrouded by the nighttime darkness. With a burst of wind, the darkness blew away revealing the full mare. “Appear before us, Rank 4, Equestrian Princess Luna!”

Equestrian Princess Luna
< Rank 4 / ATK: 2200 >

Trixie didn’t allow the appearance of the night alicorn deter her. In fact, she was smiling. “Right on schedule…” She muttered.

Deep within the walls of Canterlot, Twilight, Celestia and Starshine were going down a dimply lit spiral staircase. The bleak brick walls were lined with torches and blocked off all light and sound from the outside. “Woh, I never knew this place existed…” Twilight exclaimed.

“Then I did my job. I couldn’t risk anypony finding this secret.” Celestia replied.

Twilight thought for a moment. “That is the part I don’t fully understand, why go through so much trouble hiding her and the truth? I mean it’s not like the existence of Nightmare Moon and Discord were common knowledge but you didn’t go through the trouble of covering it up. Heck, you had Discord out in the open in the garden.”

“There are a few reasons actually… One is that unlike other threats to Equestria, other ponies were willingly rallying alongside her. Her words weren’t just those of one who wanted total domination, she spoke of things many ponies actually believed in but didn’t have the courage to do anything about it. Secondly, she was just a normal earth pony…”

Starshine was confused. “How does that make her more dangerous?”

“It doesn’t; however, the fact that a common earth pony was able to get that much power without anypony knowing is the problem. If it was known anypony could acquire this kind of power, ponies would go to war trying to get it. There is also the problem surrounding Midnight’s ‘death’… Every other major threat to Equestria were sealed or locked away, but Midnight had her soul completely ripped from her body leaving her an empty shell. Her body was still alive but in a permanent comatose state so I couldn’t risk someone finding a way to use her defenseless body to their advantage.” Finally, they hit the bottom and found a lone wooden door with a hinge. “We’re here…” With her magic, the hinge lifted and pulled the door open. Twilight and Starshine’s eyes suddenly widened at what was in front of them.

“Woh…”

“How…?” Rather than the dark and bleak chamber they were expecting, they were now staring at a lush green meadow surrounded by trees.

“I put a powerful illusion spell over the room. Felt like the right thing to do…” The two followed the alicorn to the center of the meadow where few small pedestals scattered around with a single pedestal in the center surrounded by flowers. Right on the pedestal was the motionless body of Midnight Rose, completely unaffected by age and free of all dark impurities like they had seen recently. Her body maintained her original pink coat and dark red mane.

“I don’t understand… How has she not decomposed yet?”

“I had assumed it was because she wasn’t actually dead, just in comatose. I honestly can’t give you a proper answer as I don’t know myself.”

Twilight just closed her eyes and thought for a moment. “Trixie and Midnight both said things that got me thinking and see this just confirmed it.” She opened her eyes again and looked directly at the Princess. “When Midnight was in Trixie’s body, she said something along the lines of ‘I wish this mortal body was better or I would keep it’ and ‘It would be nice having a real body.’ Later Trixie told me that Midnight’s body is unstable and that she will release everypony she’s captured if we defeat her. If Midnight’s body is here then we can only assume the Midnight we have been fighting is some kind of specter without a body.”

“But why hasn’t she returned to her body? You think she doesn’t know her body is still here?”

“Who knows, that mare is so far off the deep end it’s hard to tell what she thinks…”

While Twilight and Celestia were discussing Midnight, Starshine had wondered over to a smaller pedestal with a framed picture. It wasn’t a photo image like most ponies would frame, rather it looked like a child’s drawing. The drawing contained 4 earth ponies, a tall brown stallion with yellow hair, a dark purple mare with red and pink striped hair, a pale tan colt with light brown hair and a light pink filly with bright red hair. Across the top they were labeled ‘Dad, Mom, Me and Sis’.

“His name was Orion…” A voice spoke. Starshine turned back to see the Princess standing over her. “While Midnight loved her village and those close to her, Orion preferred the unknown and wanted to explore the undiscovered…” Celestia simply shook her head. “First thing Orion wanted to do was explore Equestria and find where his sister was…” Starshine had no idea how to respond. “Treasure those close to you, use your love keep the darkness out, and not let it in.”

Starshine frowned remembering the battle that happened only a short while ago. She didn’t know whether to blame Midnight or herself. Midnight may have manipulated her and Trixie with a lust for revenge but at the same time it was something she wanted. Even before her earliest memory of Midnight appearing in her dreams, she was just wishing for something bad to happen to Twilight. At that moment, her eye flashed golden again. “Trixie!”

Twilight suddenly turned back to the filly. “What’s wrong?”

“I feel like Trixie is getting ready to do something, she is preparing for something big.”

Celestia nodded and turned back to Twilight. “Twilight, anything else you need to see?”

She simply shook her head. “No, I got everything I came to look for.”

“Then let’s get out of here and find your friend. This area nullifies most magic so we’ll need to get to the surface again before we teleport back.” The others all nodded before proceeding to leave the chamber.

Midnight just smirked. “Princess Luna, attack Trixie’s life points directly with MOONLIGHT BLAST!” Luna flew up into the air directly into the moonlight. She charged up a dark blue energy blast and fired it directly at Trixie exploding on impact.

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 4000 → 1800 >

“That was just a taste of my power… I set one card face-down and end my turn…”

Trixie swiftly drew her card without a word. “I play the spell card Cost Down; this allows me to reduce the level of all monsters in my hand by 2. All I have to do is discard Magician’s Valkyria from my hand as cost.” She slid one of her cards into her graveyard and then immediately placed another card on the duel disk. “With that, I can now summon the Level 6 Chaos Command Magician without a sacrifice!” Trixie’s new magician was near identical to the Dark Magician but his armor was green with a gold trim and the armor was more jagged and spiked.

Chaos Command Magician
< Level 6 / ATK: 2400 >

“And now that there are two monsters in my graveyard; one DARK and one LIGHT; I can banish them to summon my Chaos Sorcerer!” Skilled Dark Magician and Magician’s Valkyria floated out into the field from a graveyard portal and vanished. In their place was wizard about the size of Chaos Command Magician covered in black clothing and belts with grey skin and yellow eyes.

Chaos Sorcerer
< Level 6 / ATK: 2300 >

“Chaos Sorcerer has the power to banish any monster on the field and remove it from play…” Midnight stepped back and grit her teeth. “However, I have a much better plan then that; one to ensure you won’t survive this turn!” Midnight’s eyes suddenly widened as Trixie’s spellcasters both transformed into glowing silhouettes, one yellow and one purple. “With Level 6 Chaos Command Magician and Chaos Sorcerer… TRIXIE BUILDS THE OVERLAY NETWORK!”

“Impossible!” Midnight screamed.

The two silhouettes crossed each other in an X-formation and spiraled into the air creating a double helix. The room was filled and stars and the overlay network formed between them. The two spellcasters flew into the vortex and exploded with a great light. “Great sorceress of darkness; entrance your enemies with your divine beauty!” From the light emerged a woman similar to Dark Magician Girl but with a much skimpier black outfit and looking a little older. I Xyz Summon, Magi Magi Magician Gal!” The new magician stood up straight giving Midnight a wink.

Magi Magi Magician Gal
< Rank 6 / ATK: 2400 >

Midnight stood there nearly speechless. “Where did you learn to do that…?”

“Since Princess Luna was Trixie’s target, she took it upon herself to… Borrow… A few things from her… My Magician Gal is but one of my new monsters I will use to destroy you.” At this moment, one of the purple orbs circling Magician Gal flew into her staff. “By using an Overlay Unit and banishing one card from my hand, Magi Magi Magician Gal has the ability switch control of a monster on your field to me!” Magician Gal held out her staff towards Luna and sent out a series of purple pulses. Due to the energy, Luna disappeared form Midnight’s field and reappeared on Trixie’s field. “Your Xyz Monster belongs to Trixie now! However, I’m not done yet…” A small compartment on the back of Trixie’s duel disk suddenly opened and a card shot out, which she promptly took. “Trixie overlays Magi Magi Magician Gal and builds the overlay network once again!” Magician Gal turned into a purple silhouette like monster before her and flew into the overlay network. “BEHOLD; the evolved ultimate wizard; Rank 7; Ebon Illusion Magician!” This time a new form of the normal Dark Magician emerged with darker colored skin and massively long white hair.

Ebon Illusion Magician
< Rank 7 / ATK: 2500 >

“Yet another trick Trixie learned from Princess Luna. Some Xyz monsters can be overlayed a second time and create an even stronger monster.” Midnight didn’t say anything, she just scowled. “Now, Ebon Illusion Magician will use its special ability.” One of Illusion Magician’s purple spheres flew up to his staff just like with Magician Gal. He held up his staff and a portal opened above him. “By using one Overlay Unit, Ebon Illusion Magician can summon a normal Spellcaster directly from my deck!” From the portal dropped another Dark Magician, this time however it looked completely normal. It was no longer black and malicious looking and now had its purple armor.

Dark Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

“Now I have more than enough firepower to take you down. Ebon Magician, attack her Life Points directly!” The Xyz Magician held his staff up and charged up grey energy into its staff before firing.

“I’m not finished yet!” Midnight’s face-down card suddenly flipped up revealing an artifact similar to monster reborn but with a touch of Twilight’s cutie mark mixed in. “Friendship Reborn allows me to summon a monster from my graveyard as long as I can reveal an Equestrian monster from my hand!” Midnight took a card from her hand and revealed it to Trixie. “I reveal Equestrian Applejack! This means I can bring back Equestrian Rainbow Dash from my graveyard.” The graveyard portal formed in front of Midnight and Rainbow Dash flew and took stance.

Equestrian Rainbow Dash
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

“Also, any monster summoned by the effect of Friendship Reborn gains 100 ATK times the level of the monster I revealed. That means Rainbow Dash gets an extra 400 ATK points.” A faint rainbow glow formed around the pegasus.

Equestrian Rainbow Dash
< ATK: 1700 → 2100 >

Ebon Illusion Magician’s attack finally hit and struck Rainbow Dash head on. The blast pushed Midnight back but Rainbow Dash held and didn’t blow up.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 3000 → 2600 >

“Rainbow Dash can survive one attack per turn while she is in attack position so she isn’t destroyed.”

“Next, it’s Dark Magician’s turn to attack!” Dark Magician held up his staff and started charging up. “At this moment, Ebon Illusion Magician activates his special ability!” While still charging, Ebon Magician held him arms together forming a small black hole attack and fired it at Rainbow Dash. “When a normal Spellcaster monster attacks, Ebon Illusion Magician can banish one card on your field and then Dark Magician will have a straight shot at your life points!”

“Not today!” Just before the black hole hit, a rainbow barrier formed around Rainbow Dash. “Any monster summoned by the effect of Friendship Reborn cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects the turn they are summoned!” The black hole hit the rainbow barrier making a grinding sound for a few moments before disappearing. “Good try though…”

Trixie made a growling noise. “Dark Magician, attack Rainbow Dash and destroy her for real this time! DARK MAGIC ATTACK!” Dark Magician charged up an attack and blasted Rainbow Dash. This time she was actually destroyed.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 2600 → 2200 >

“AND NOW!” Trixie took her stance and dug her hooves into the ground. “With only 2200 Life Points, Princess Luna has exactly what I need to end this. Your own monster will be your undoing! Princess Luna, finish off her off with MOONLIGHT BLAST!” Luna charged up another blast into her horn while floating in the moonlight. She fired the blast directly at Midnight who took stance. Once the blast hit, the field erupted into a massive dark blue explosion. “YES!”

At this moment, there was a flash of light behind Trixie and 3 newcomers popped into view. “Trixie!”

The blue unicorn suddenly spun around. “Starshine, Twilight, Princess!?”

“Did you do it; did you take that bad pony down!?” Starshine asked.

Trixie panted a couple times. “Yeah, Trixie thinks so…”

“Don’t be so sure…” A voice spoke. The 4 ponies suddenly turned towards to smoke cloud that was dissipating. When the smoke cleared, Midnight could still be seen standing, smiling at them.

Midnight Rose
< LP: 1100 >

Trixie was completely stunned. “What!? That attack should have finished you!”

Midnight just dusted her legs off. “It would have if it wasn’t for my trap. You see, when a monster summoned by the effect of Friendship Reborn is destroyed, all damage I take for the remainder of the turn is halved…”

“Aw man…” Starshine exclaimed.

Trixie growled. “You slippery little…”

Midnight suddenly began to clap using her wings to stay upright. “Very, very nice attempt though, I’m actually kind of enjoying this.”

“Well, you won’t be enjoying it for much longer!” Twilight interrupted activating her duel disk. “Now that we are here, we will take you down together.” However, as she stepped forward, Trixie held out of front leg to block her. “What?”

“No Twilight, this is Trixie’s battle.” Trixie turned to the now-alicorn with a stern look. “My reason for taking down Midnight is personal and I intend to follow through myself…”

“Trixie, don’t be stupid! Don’t try taking her on yourself over some kind of personal revenge!”

“It’s more than that, I have spent years going around telling made up stories of all my great accomplishments and so far, the only actual accomplishments I’ve done is drag Equestria closer to its destruction. It doesn’t matter to me whether I actually defeat Midnight or die in the process, if I’m going down, I’m going down knowing I am doing the right thing…”

Twilight just frowned. “Is this what the Great and Powerful Trixie really wants?”

The unicorn just nodded. “Yes, it is…” She slowly turned back to look at Midnight. “If I fail here, it’s up to you and the others Twilight. I am sure if you and the Pharaoh team up you will be able to take her out once and for all…”

“Already giving in to your fate traitor?” Midnight sneered.

Trixie snickered in response. “Of course not, especially when Trixie has you right where she wants you…”

“Huh?”

Suddenly a portal opened up in front of her and a trap came out. “I activate the trap card Magician Wormhole from my banished zone!”

“WHAT!?”

“Remember that card Trixie banished for Magician Gal’s effect? Well, it was a very special card, it may not do much on its own but if the card is banished then at the end of my turn, I can set any ‘Magic’ trap card from my deck directly to the field and the card I choose is Magic Cylinder!” With the card in hoof, she threw it into her duel disk making it appear face-down. “And with that, my turn comes to an end and Luna returns to your field.” Luna vanished from the field again and reappeared back on Midnight’s field.

“Not much of a trap when I know what it is.” Midnight smirked. “Once I declare an attack, Magic Cylinder will reflect the attack back at my Life Points. All I have to do is get rid of it and you’re finished!”

Trixie smirked back. “Don’t think it will be that easy. You seem to have forgotten Luna’s special ability.”

“What about Luna’s special ability…?” Midnight stood clueless for a few moments until… “OH NO!”

“That’s right; Luna has a little passive ability you seem to have forgotten about. As long as she remains on the field, all face-down cards cannot be destroyed by card effects. You said it yourself; all your Equestrian cards have the power of their living counterparts and Luna’s job is to protect the dreams of her subject so all inactive cards are untouchable while she is in play…”

“Incredible…” Celestia commented. “She is using Midnight’s own cards against her, now if she wants to get anywhere, he has to destroy her own card…”

“Yep, that’s my Trixie!” Starshine cheered.

Midnight was growing more and more frustrated with the unicorn and her growling was starting to get louder. “Alright, that… is… IT!” She suddenly roared with power and a black aura shrouded her. “MY TURN! I DRAAAAAAW!” As Midnight drew her card, it left a flaming black trail behind it. “Your pain and sorrow have only been that of a mortal… I will make sure you feel true suffering like I had experienced many years ago!” Midnight held the card she drew up high and the field was suddenly engulfed in a dark light making the room almost entirely black. “The time for games is over, no more holding back!” She suddenly lowered her front leg to show the card. “Rank-Up-Magic Nightmare Force!”

Trixie suddenly stepped back. “What the…? Rank-Up-Magic?”

“This card ranks up my Xyz Monster into another more powerful DARK Xyz Monster that is one rank higher! I rebuild the Overlay Network with Rank 4 Princess Luna!” Luna suddenly changed into purple-colored energy like the monsters before her, shooting into the air. “Go, Rank-Up Xyz Evolution!” As the Overlay Network formed on the ceiling, Luna swerved back and forth flying into it causing a black explosion. “Forgotten Queen of the night, break your shackles and engulf the world in your eternal darkness!” From the network came a pitch-black sphere that roared with red energy. The sphere was covered in thick chains and had 3 purple Overlay Units orbiting it. Inside, eyes suddenly opening up to reveal cat-like blue eyes and her teeth growing out sharp. Suddenly, the chains lit up bright red and shattered with clang, revealing the silhouette of an alicorn. Purple grid lines formed all over the sphere until it was glowing with a bright purple color. “BEHOLD! Equestrian Nightmare Moon!” Finally, the sphere exploded with energy releasing the black creature inside with a dark starry mane and blue armor.

The group of unicorns and alicorns all stood speechless at the familiar black alicorn. “N-No…” Celestia muttered quietly with tears dripping from her eyes. Meanwhile, Midnight could only laugh.

Chapter 1 - A New World

It was a nice summer day in Domino City. The sun was bright, people were going to and from work and of course, the everyday ‘Duel Monsters battle to the finish!’

“It won’t be long now until your title is finally mine Yugi; you don’t stand a chance this time! You’re down to your last 700 life points with no monsters on the field and I have my Blue-Eyes White Dragon out on the field. You can’t win!”

Blue-Eyes White Dragon
< Level 8 / ATK: 3000 >

Seto Kaiba
< LP: 2400 >

Yugi Moto
< LP: 700 >

Yugi Moto; currently Yami; and Seto Kaiba, Domino City’s biggest rivals were having another battle to determine who was better. Kaiba had set the match to take place on the second biggest building in the city, second to KaibaCorp headquarters. Their battle overlooked the entire city.

“Don’t be so sure Kaiba! It’s my move!” Yugi placed two fingers and the top of his deck and dramatically drew his next card. He then slowly turned the card over so he could see it. “Alright Kaiba, watch this! I activate my first face down card, Pitch-Black Power Stone!” Yugi pressed one of the buttons of the back of his Duel Disk, causing a face down card to slowly flip up revealing a Trap Card. “This card gives me access to 3 extra Spell Counters.”

“HA! A couple measly Spell Counters aren’t going to help you!” Kaiba was always arrogant. He never realized when he was beat. “If that’s your best then I suggest giving up now.”

“You thought that was all?”

“What are you planning!?”

“I activate my other face down, Miracle Restoring!”

“OH NO!”

“Oh yes… By removing 2 Spell Counters from my Pitch-Black Power Stone, I can summon the Dark Magician that is in my Graveyard...” The stone began to glow. “Now, come forth my monster!” The blue sphere created by Yugi’s Miracle Restoring card exploded in a large blinding yellow light. When the light cleared, a new monster stood on Yugi’s side of the field. “My Dark Magician!” The monster was well known as Yugi Moto’s signature monster, a staff wielding wizard wearing purple armor and a large pointed hat.

Dark Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

“Yugi, I won’t let you defeat me again!”

“Sorry Kaiba, but I already have duel in the palm of my hand.” Yugi took the last card he was holding in his hand and slid it into one of the slots on the back of his Duel Disk. “I activate Polymerization to merge my reborn Dark Magician with the Buster Blader in my hand!” Yugi’s final card flipped up and moved in between Yugi’s Dark Magician and Buster Blader. The two monsters started swirling together into a weird vortex as look of utter fear appeared in Kaiba’s eyes as though looking into the eyes of Death himself. He knew what was coming. “Now I summon Dark Paladin, the ultimate wizard! There was another explosion as a single monster with an appearance similar to Dark Magician but his armor was blue with a red trim and he was wielding a long sharp staff. He twirled the staff several times up above his head before slamming the end on the ground sending out a mass of shockwaves. The force nearly pushed Kaiba off the building.

Dark Paladin
< Level 8 / ATK: 2900 >

“I know you have experienced with this monster in the past Kaiba...” Yugi was right. This was the same monster he used to defeat him in the Battle City finals. Kaiba would never forget that battle. The day where he lost his Egyptian God card and the day where he and Yugi were sent back in time to find Egypt in ruins. “As you know, Dark Paladin gains 500 attack points for every dragon on the field and in the graveyard. You have four dragons in your graveyard plus the Blue-Eyes White Dragon on your field. That means my Paladin gains 2500 ATK points!”

Dark Paladin
< ATK: 2900 → 5400 >

Kaiba suddenly lost all confidence. “But that is enough to-”

“Take out the rest your life points... Now my Paladin, attack and destroy his Blue-Eyes White Dragon!”

Kaiba began to yell out in anger like he always does. “I won’t let you win again, especially not with same monster! I activate my face down card, Enemy Controller!” A giant video game controller appeared in front of Kaiba head. “Go controller, Up, down, left, right, B, A!” The button pressed themselves down as Kaiba called of the inputs.

“Kaiba, don’t you realize that cheating gets you nowhere?” Yugi’s mocking remark only served to made Kaiba angry. “By discarding a card from my hand, my Paladin is able to negate your Spell!” Yugi plucked out a card from his hand and slid it into the open slot on the front of the Duel Disk.

“NO! THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” Dark Paladin blasted the controller, turning it into a smoldering pile of plastic.

“Face it, Kaiba, you’ve lost...” Dark Paladin held his staff up high yelling a battle cry. “Dark Paladin, attack Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes and end this duel!” Dark Paladin twirled his staff before slamming it against the ground. The impact sent out a massive blade-like shockwave that sliced through the ground leaving a large line behind it.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” The wave passed through Kaiba’s dragon cutting him in half like butter. Kaiba stood there holding his arm in front of his face trying to block out the smoke that was covering the field. The massive explosion could be seen the city streets.

Seto Kaiba
< LP: 2400 → 0 >

“It’s finished...” The wizard standing on Yugi’s side quickly vanished and Yugi retracted his Duel Disk into its off state. He walked up to Kaiba who was now on one knee.

“Why? Why can I never defeat you?”

“No matter how many times you ask, the answer will always be the same.”

“Yeah, yeah, the heart of the cards and all that junk...” Kaiba stood back up looking down at Yugi.

“Until you can truly grasp the heart of the cards, you’ll never win. You let you’re jealousy and arrogance cloud you’re mind.”

“Listen Yugi, I don’t need any of your magic mumbo jumbo in order to win. I am a champion duelist, and eventually I will defeat you and claim what is rightfully mine.”

“Kaiba...” Yugi had some frustration in his voice.

“Enough...” Kaiba rose back to his feet again and towered over Yugi. “I’m not going to listen to your garbage anymore. Since I did drag you up here, I am willing to give you a ride but I want to hear no more heart of the card crap.”

“Alright, I accept your offer.” A helicopter with the logo ‘KC’ on the side appeared in the distance. It came and touched down on the building. Roland, Kaiba’s right-hand man signaled for the two to get on.

“This is our ride, Yugi. Better get on now, I’m not waiting for you.” Kaiba and Yugi hopped into the chopper and set off. The trip was pretty standard, for a while anyway... Yugi spent the trip staring outside the window, not really focused on anything. Then he looked up at the sun that was almost completely set on the horizon.

“Yugi…”

“Huh?” Yugi was a bit startled. He looked back at Kaiba who was looking out the other window. He was not paying him any attention. He looked back outside at the sun again. “That was strange…” While he looked out the window, he noticed something odd about the sun. He tried to focus in on it but all he could make out was a very faint figure. It had wings and what looked like to be a pointed head.

“Yugi? Hey Yugi...” Kaiba held out his arm and snapped his fingers a couple times. “Hello? Is anybody in there?”

“Huh?” he turned back to Kaiba.

“It looked like you were in a trance or something. I guess that is pretty normal for you though.”

“I thought I heard a voice…”

“Not again...”

“I’m being serious Kaiba. It sounded like someone was calling for me and I thought I saw some image in the sun.”

“You know staring at the sun is not healthy for your eyesight?”

“Hmm…” Yugi reached into his deck box and pulled out three cards, Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor and the Winged Dragon of Ra. He stared at them for a short bit. ‘Could this be somehow connected to the god cards? Or perhaps…’ He looked down at the Puzzle hanging around his neck. ‘Perhaps it’s something inside my Millennium Puzzle?’ Suddenly, his puzzle and the god card in his hand started to glow. “What the?”

“Yugi, what’s with light show!?”

“I don’t know. The gods are reacting for some reason!” ‘Does it have something to do with the voice I heard?’ It was bright. They couldn’t see anything but each other.

“This better not be another trick, Yugi!”

“I’m not doing this Kaiba! The gods are doing this on their own!”

The chopper rocked and shook. Roland was having trouble keeping the chopper stable. “Mr. Kaiba, what is going on back there!?” He tried looking back but even his sunglasses didn’t stop the bright light. He gripped onto the controls and tried to stabilize the spinning chopper; it took a few seconds but he eventually got things back on track. He sighed and wiped the sweat off his face. He activated the autopilot and stepped back where Yugi and Kaiba were. Only now they were nowhere to be found. “Uh… Mr. Moto? Mr. Kaiba? Anyone?” He was completely alone. “Oh boy, Mokuba is not going to be pleased when he hears about this…”

Yugi and Kaiba found themselves falling in the center of a large rainbow vortex. Neither of them had any idea what was going on. Yugi looked over towards Kaiba who was yelling and looking down into the void below. Kaiba seemed to flash blue for a fraction of a second. Yugi wasn’t sure but it felt like the blue aura was making the shape of something. Yugi suddenly flashed purple, just like Kaiba did. The edge of the vortex was very slightly transparent; Yugi could see what looked like mountains and landscapes outside. As he looked down into the black void below him, a pair of red eyes looked back at him. The faint shape of a pair of wings came into view before he blacked out.

Seto Kaiba awoke with a splitting headache and no idea of what just happened. He slowly opened his eyes to see he was in some kind of hospital. A feeling of relief fell over him knowing he was still alive. He’s already lost his soul twice, once by Pegasus and again by Dartz, and he didn’t want it happening again. However, something was off. He felt a little uncomfortable in his current position, like there was something on his back.

“I’m glad to see you are awake.” Kaiba turned and saw something truly unexpected and terrifying. A small white horse standing next to the bed... Talking to him!

“What the!? What are you!?” Kaiba jumped at the sight of this thing. “What is going on!? Where am I!?”

“I thought you would react this way. Your friend was the same when he learned he was a pony.”

Kaiba thought for a second before responding. “When he learned he was a-” Kaiba looked down at his hands... or at least what was left of them. His hands were flat like hooves and he had grown wings that were sticking out through holes in his shirt. He had a dark blue coat and a brown mane that resembled his normal hair. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?” He charged at the horse nurse and grabbed her. “You better tell me what is going on here!?”

“Just go into the waiting room. Your friend will explain everything.”

“You better be right.” Kaiba released the pony and slowly trotted out of the room, eyeing the weird white pony that stood by the bed. As Kaiba left the room, he saw a violet-color pony with spiky black and yellow hair and a blue jacket. “YUGI!” Yugi turned around; his eyes were now innocent and hair was not as spiky as before. “You better explain to me what’s going on here RIGHT NOW! This better not be one of your pathetic illusions.

“Well…I’m not really sure myself. I pretty much had the same experience you did.” Yugi voice had also changed, making him sound like a child.

Kaiba groaned. “First, I’m sucked up by some bright light then I wake up to find out I have been turned into some idiotic cartoon horse! This is downright humiliating!”

“At least we are not alone.” Yugi looked around the hospital waiting. There were no humans at all; just ponies of many different colors. Some ponies had wings, some had horns and some had neither. “Wherever we are, these horses seem to act just like the humans in our world. I haven’t seen a single human since we got here.”

“How do I know we were not just thrown into another digital realm like before?”

Yugi looked down at his hooves. “That is a good point but somehow, I don’t think that is case. We have newly shaped bodies but I still feel… Me… If you understand what I am saying.”

“Well, I refuse to stay in some little town that looks like it’s from a cartoon made for girls. There is no way this is real!”

“Kaiba please, we need to focus. There must be somebody here who can help us.”

About that time, a lavender horned pony come in through the front door and approached the receptionist. “Hello, I was informed you recently had a couple odd ponies come in, a purple unicorn and a blue pegasus.” The mare pointed over towards Yugi and Kaiba. “Thank you, Miss.,” The horned pony approached them. “Hello.”

“Hi?” Yugi replied reluctantly. “Do you know us?”

“I got a letter telling me to head over to the Ponyville Hospital to meet a pair of ponies, a purple unicorn pony and a blue pegasus.” She looked up at Yugi’s head. “Wait a minute, where is your horn? I was told you were a unicorn.”

Yugi placed his hoof on his head and felt around. “Well, the nurse said I had a horn when they brought me in but it seems to have mysteriously vanished.”

“Strange… Anyway, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What about you?”

“My name is Yugi Moto.”

Twilight turned to Kaiba. “And you?”

Kaiba didn’t respond too well. “Now you listen here, I am the president of the biggest gaming company in the world and I demand answers as to where we are or I’ll face the entire weight of the Kaiba Corporation!”

“Woh Kaiba, calm down...” Yugi interrupted. “She is clearly here to help. The nicest thing you can do is listen to what she has to say. You are here to help us, right?”

“Of course!” Twilight peeped. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t help ponies in need.”

“Good because needless to say, we are a little lost...”

“That’s OK! Why don’t you pick up your stuff and we’ll head over to my tree house.”

“Tree house?” Kaiba questioned. “This is going to be a long day...”

Ignoring Kaiba, Yugi had walked up to front desk and was talking with the pony. “We’re here to pick up our stuff. I came in with Duel Disk, a deck of Duel Monster cards and a necklace that looked like pyramid.”

The desk attendant raised her eyebrow. “A Duel what now?”

“Oh uh...” He had forgotten that he was in a completely different world, one where Duel Monsters appears to have never been invented. He had to think of something. “It’s a round thing with wings-like things you slide into your arm...” The attendant continued to look in disbelief but pulled out a box with Yugi’s stuff anyway. “Thank you, ma’am.” He reached into the box and pulled out his Duel Disk. It took a little effort but he eventually slipped it onto his front left hoof. Next, he took his belt and wrapped it around his waist. Luckily his box still had his cards. Finally, he took his Millennium Puzzle and wrapped it around his next. The second he dropped it and it fell on his shoulders, Yugi froze and jerked back with a quick burst of light.

“YUGIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

Yugi’s hair had spiked outward and a horn spontaneously appeared on his head. “What the, where am I?” Then he looked down at his hooves. “AH, where are my hands!?”

Twilight was confused about what just happened. “Um… Well, his horn is back but what exactly is going on?”

“Slow down there Yami! Everything is ok.” Yugi felt an arm on his shoulder. It was Yugi’s spirit standing behind him that only he could see.

“Yugi? What exactly is going on?”

“Well, that’s what I am trying to figure out Yami. From what I can tell, we have been transported to another world and we have become some kind of miniature horse called a pony.”

“Well, that would explain what that weird light did but why are we ponies?”

“Hmm... Maybe ponies are the dominant species in this world? They seem to do everything humans do back in our world.” Yugi pointed his hoof over to the lavender unicorn. “That is Twilight Sparkle. I think she wants to help us out and she seems nice enough.”

“You mean that purple one standing by... Standing by... Is that? Is that Kaiba?”

“Yeah, needless to say he is a little disgruntled right now...” Yugi looked back at the Pharaoh and looked him over. He looked pretty much the same as him just slightly different hair and a horn. “Oh, so THAT is what happened to my horn!”

Yami was confused. Using his hoof, he felt his forehead. Sure enough, there was a little stump sticking a few inches out of his head. “Huh, would you look at that.” As he touched it, a golden spark shot out. “Oh, it’s magic…”

“Maybe that is why you have a horn and I don’t. You have a history with magic and I am just a normal person.”

“Interesting… So, what do you propose we do now that we are here?”

“Twilight said she would take us to her home. She didn’t say anything about what is going on but she is the only lead we have.”

“I guess it’s better than nothing…” Yugi vanished and Yami approached Twilight.

“What was that all about?” Twilight asked. “First you grow a horn and then you begin talking to yourself. What is going on here?”

“Huh… I guess I have quite a bit to explain…”

Yugi, Kaiba and Twilight headed though Ponyville towards Twilight’s home. On the way, Yugi tried to explain the situation between him and the real Yugi. “So, you see, I am a completely different person then who you met back at the hospital. Yugi and I share a body and we can swap at will.”

“So, what is your name then?” Twilight asked.

Yugi stopped for a moment. “Well, I don’t actually know...”

“I don’t follow…”

“There is a lot about my past I don’t know; all of my memories were lost. All I know is that I am pharaoh from Egypt over 5000 years ago and that I somehow became sealed within this-” Yugi grabbed the puzzle around his neck and showed it to her.

Twilight examined the puzzle. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It’s actually one of seven Millennium Items as they are called. This one is the Millennium Puzzle.”

“So, if you can’t remember your name, what do they call you?”

“Most people just continue to call me Yugi since we share a body but I am called Yami or Pharaoh on occasions.”

“So, Yami, are you really over 5000 years old?”

“If what I have been told is true then yes.”

“That is amazing! You are even older then the Princess!”

“The Princess?”

Twilight nodded. “Princess Celestia, she controls the sun. I’m also her number one student and personal protégé.”

Yami’s mind stopped. “Can you repeat that? Controls the sun?”

Twilight chuckled at Yami’s ‘joke’. “It’s not like it moves on its own. Who ever thought of a colony where nature controls itself? That’s why the Everfree Forest is so weird.”

Yugi’s spirit appeared again. “They control nature here?” Yugi asked.

“This world is quite unusual. I am quite interested to see what else this place has in store. Maybe we will find out the reason we were brought here. I get the feeling our puzzle had nothing to do with us being here.”

“Yeah, I have that feeling too. This doesn’t seem like anything we have experienced in the past.”

“Hey guys, we’re here.” interrupted Kaiba. They were now standing in front of a large hollowed out tree. “Well, at least now I can see how the economy of this world is...”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight replied.

“Don’t mind Kaiba... He owns KaibaCorp, the biggest gaming company in the world and I imagine he is not exactly happy with the living conditions.”

“KaibaCorp? Is that why his cutie mark is a large KC?”

“What the heck is a Cutie mark?” Kaiba asked.

“All ponies have a cutie mark.” She pointed to the stars on her flank. “It’s supposed to appear on your flank when you discover you’re special talent.”

“That’s... strange...” Kaiba looked over at Yugi’s flank. He had a golden eye much like the one that appeared on each of the Millennium items. Suddenly Yugi reverted back to his normal state. His cutie mark changed to a black smiley face.

“How about we go in?” Yugi asked. “It will be nice to get some relax after today…”

“I’ll have Spike warm up some tea for us.” Twilight pushed open the door. It was completely dark inside. “Huh, Spike must be over at Rarity’s place. Now, where is that light switch?”

The light flashed on and a large amount of ponies crowded the 3 ponies in the middle. “SURPRISE!”

“What in the world is going on here?” Kaiba shouted.

“Why it’s a party of course.” A hyperactive pink pony came bouncing out of the crowd. She looked like she had too much coffee. “When I heard there were new ponies in town, I knew I had to throw a surprise party because I do that with every pony! But first I had figure out where you were going and I thought “Duh” they are going to Twilight’s place because all the new ponies go to Twilight’s! So, I called everyone in town for a surprise party and here we are now! So, were you surprised? Were you, were you, were you!?” The pink pony stood directly in front of Kaiba, almost making contact with his eyes.

“Get out of my face... or some… pony is going to get hurt...”

“Aww, don’t be such a party pooper.” She then turned her attention to Yugi. “How about you, what’s your name?”

“Pinkie Pie! You couldn’t even let them get acquainted before throwing a party?” Twilight yelled.

“Yep...”

“Pinkie Pie, you are so random...”

“So, are you going to introduce those two?”

“Oh, of course! This here is Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba. They are from… uh...”

“Domino City...” Yugi added.

Pinkie Pie began to look at them. She had a weird look in her eyes that he couldn’t place his hoof on... “Okie dokie loki!”

“I guess since everyone is here already, I’ll introduce you to my friends.” Twilight asked.

“You do whatever you want.” Kaiba replied. “I’ll do what I want…”

“Whatever… You already met Pinkie Pie. She is… Interesting… Don’t question what she does or how she does it. Trust me; it didn’t end well for me. Anyway, let’s meet my other friends.” Twilight pulled Yugi through the crowd. Yugi found himself in front of 2 new ponies. “Girls, this is Yugi. He is the one Pinkie is throwing this party for.”

First one to speak up was the orange earth pony wearing a hat. “Well hello Yugi, my name is Applejack.” Yugi shook her hooves. “It’s always nice to see new ponies around, at least ones that are not jerks…”

“Um… Yeah…” Yugi replied.

Next a light blue pegasus with rainbow hair stepped up. “My name is Rainbow Dash, best flier in all of Equestria.”

Suddenly, Applejack smacked Rainbow over the head. “You just met him. Can’t you at least wait before you bragging like that?”

“I don’t really mind.” Yugi replied. “She reminds of a friend I have back home. He may be a bit of a loudmouth but I know he means well and that he has the potential to do great things.”

“You sound like you know a lot about friendship.” Twilight replied.

“That’s because all my friends and I all share a powerful bond.” Yugi raised up his left hoof. “The ink may have faded but we all carry a symbol of our friendship right here on the back of our hands.”

“Like a drawing? Is that what you’re cutie mark is?”

Yugi looked back at his cutie mark to see the same face Tea had drawn on their hands. “Yep, exactly the same.”

“A friendship cutie mark?” Applejack asked. “Now ain’t that sumthin. You’ll fit in just perfect with us.”

Yugi turned back to Twilight who appeared to be looking around. “What is it, Twilight?”

“I can’t find Rarity or Fluttershy…”

“Oh, they are over there.” Rainbow pointed over at the other side of the room where a white unicorn and a yellow pegasus were approaching Kaiba. “They look like they are talking to that blue pegasus over there.”

“Oh no, not Kaiba…” Twilight muttered.

Rarity and Fluttershy had approached Kaiba who was in the middle of reading a book. He stopped when he noticed he was being watched. “Can I help you something?”

“Oh, well Pinkie Pie told us you were one of the new ponies in town and I wanted to meet you.”

“Well good for you. Now leave me, I don’t feel like talking.”

“My how rude. We are just trying to welcome you into Ponyville.”

“Well, it was not my choice to be here. I’d rather be back home. I have a company to manage.”

“Oh, you run a company? What kind of company.”

“A gaming company, the biggest and richest company in the world.”

“So, you make board games or something?”

“No, we develop software and equipment for the game of Duel Monsters. Now can you please go away?”

“Oh, come on, we are just trying to be nice. Can’t you at least show us this duel monsters or something.”

“You want to see a Duel Monster?”

“Indeed…”

“Alright then…” Kaiba closed his book and stood up and held his left hoof into the air. The wings on his duel disk came out and rotated up connecting at the ends and rotated back down to the outer edge of his arm. He placed his right hoof on his deck. Despite not having fingers, he was somehow able to grip his cards just fine is if he had fingers. “How about I show you my almighty Blue-Eyes White Dragon!?” He held the card up and threw it down onto his duel disk. A large rainbow projection appeared behind him forming a giant creature. Soon the features became clear. It was large white dragon with a round snout and dark blue eyes. It gave an extremely loud roar that got the attention of all the ponies in the party.

“DRAGON!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed. All the guests suddenly ran for the door trying to get out. In less than a minute, everyone was gone except for Yugi, Kaiba, Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy who was currently hiding behind Rarity in fear.

Yugi approached Kaiba. “Seriously, Kaiba… What did you go and do that for?”

“Hey, she wanted to see a Duel Monster and that’s what she got.” He remarked sarcastically.

“Couldn’t you have shown something a little nicer?” Rarity asked. “You scared Fluttershy half to death.”

“What do I care? People are usually in awe to the power of my Blue-Eyes White Dragon.”

Yugi sighed and held out his left as his Duel Disk rotated into place. He drew a card from his deck and threw it down. Yugi’s ace monster, his Dark Magician materialized in front of him. The cowering Fluttershy opened her eyes to see the large man in purple standing in front of her opposing the scary dragon. “What… Is that?”

Yugi turned back to Fluttershy. “That is my good friend, the Dark Magician.”

“Oooh…”

“Hey Yugi…” Twilight interrupted. “Mind telling me what is going on here? Why is there suddenly a dragon and some magician in my library?”

“These are Duel Monsters. It’s a game we play back home.”

“So, is that what the device and cards are for?”

Yugi nodded. “Uh Huh, it’s a really famous game back home. It even has some historical importance. I could show you how to play the game if you want.”

A pink blur busted in through the door and a grinning Pinkie Pie was now standing in front of Yugi. “Did you say game!?”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll show you how to play Duel Monster. First thing you need to know is that there are 3 kinds of cards, Magic, Trap and Monster cards…”

Yugi had begun explaining the game to the six ponies sitting around him. It was like teaching Joey all over again. It was quite a nostalgic experience. Maybe, he thought. Maybe this will be quite enjoyable. However, unknown to him, there stood a figure. I hooded pony standing outside watching the action unfold. Pulling up her left forehoof, she raised her Duel Disk, drawing the card from the top of her deck. She stared at it with her violet eyes. “Won’t be long now...”

Chapter 2 - Twisted Darkness

It had been a good 3 hours since our heroes had arrived in this new world run by ponies. At first it was a bit intimidating teaching a species that never even heard of the game but after teaching them about duel monsters, Yugi had grown quite fond of the six ponies. There was something interesting about them but he couldn’t quite figure it out. Either way, it didn’t really matter. He needed to find a way back home. He didn’t want his friends to worry.

“I think that’s about everything there is to know.” It took a while but Yugi thought he finally taught them to play. Sadly, they didn’t have any extra cards so Yugi just let them use his cards. Twilight seemed to like his Dark Magician, and Fluttershy wouldn’t let go of his Kuriboh. It made sense.

“Wow this is a complex game!” Twilight exclaimed. “I wish you had more cards then we could duel.”

“Yeah, sorry Twilight, it was quite sudden and I couldn’t bring any more cards.”

“Ooh! Ooh! Maybe Kaiba will let us use his!” Pinkie Pie chirped.

Kaiba looked over at her with an irritated glare. “In your dreams...” After a few weird looks, Kaiba went about his business. The light that had pulled them into Equestria also seemed to bring along his suitcase that contained his hidden laptop. His brother Mokuba carried one as well. He thought he could get in contact but to no avail. So instead, he decided he would use this time to figure out his current dilemma. “Shouldn’t we be trying to find a way back?”

“Aw... You can’t go yet... You haven’t even done anything yet. You’ve just seen siting there talking to your suitcase”

“It’s a laptop that I’ve been using to try and find a way back...”

“Well why don’t you duel Yugi so we can see a duel?”

Kaiba gave a glare at Yugi. This might be his chance to get back at Yugi. But that wasn’t important at the moment. “I already dueled him shortly before we came here. I need to do more research so I can adjust my deck.”

“How about us?”

“I don’t play with dweebs. Besides, you don’t even have any cards.”

“She can use mine Kaiba.” Yugi interrupted.

“Oh, come on!” He was stuck. If Kaiba wanted to get anywhere, he had to duel a... Pony... “Fine, but after this I am done. I don’t have time to waste with you losers.”

“Great! Now let me fit her.” Yugi removed his Duel Disk and fitted it onto Pinkies left arm. Her eyes grew as she gazed at it like a huge diamond. “Alright, you’re all set up. Remember what I taught to you.”

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie Pie bounced away and got into a position several feet away from Kaiba. Kaiba was less than entertained. He was dueling against someone who had never dueled before. This was going to be easy.

“Hey, Pinkie Pie?” Applejack intervened. “Ah know your ich’n for a duel and as much as ah would like to stay, I got some applebuck’n tah do...”

“Oh! Ok!” Pinkie knew that Applejack was a busy pony so she didn’t care if she left.

“Come on already!” Kaiba shouted. He held out his Duel Disk. “Launch Holo-Imagers!” Two small devices with wings darted out the sides of his duel disk. After hitting the ground, the wings retracted and device flipped over releasing a multi-colored light. “Let’s duel!”

Seto Kaiba
< LP: 4000 >

Pinkie Pie
< LP: 4000 >

Applejack was approaching Sweet Apple Acre. She could see her little sister Apple Bloom waving to her. “Hey Apple Bloom. I’m back from Pinkie’s party.”

“How were the new ponies?”

“One was a bit of a jerk but the other was really nice. He showed us this weird game from where he comes from called Duel Monsters.”

“Ooh, is it something I can get a cutie mark for!?”

“Well ah don’t think the game actually exists here. These ponies come from a faraway place.”

“Aw… I would like to at least see what this Duel Monsters thing is…”

“I can arrange that if you want…” Applejack and Apple Bloom turned back to see a strange pony standing outside the gate of the farm. She had a black robe that covered most of her body. All that could be seen was a tiny bit of her light blue legs.

“What do you want?” Applejack asked. Apple Bloom was hiding behind her back hooves.

“What do I want?” She held out her front left hoof through her robe. She had some circular device on her arm. It looked kind of similar to what Yugi and Kaiba were wearing but it was black. A single monster zone shot out from the center and two wings extended out from the sides with two more zones on each wing. The device lit up and five red arrows appeared on the length of the blade. On the circular part, a pair of red eyes and a mouth lit up and a 4000 appeared between the two eyes. “What I want is your soul…”

“Oh, I want to go first!” Pinkie placed her hoof on the top her deck and drew her starting hand. “Ooh, how about this one!” Pinkie set her card down on the disk. Her monster began to materialize. Though was had come was not what Yugi had expected. Her monster was nothing but a little brown ball of fuzz. It made a little squeal.

Kuriboh
< Level 1 / ATK: 300 >

“Kuriboh…” Yugi groaned as he planted his hoof on his forehead.

“AHHH, it’s so adorable!” Fluttershy jumped towards the creature sitting in the field, but instead of grabbing it in a hug, she flew right through it and landed in the dirt. She looked back in confusion. “What happened? Why can’t I touch it?

“It’s only a hologram.” Kaiba explained. “All the monsters in this game are just holograms.”

“Oh...” Fluttershy sulked back to her place next to her friends.

“My turn, you pink freak!” Kaiba drew he first card. “Let me give you a real lesson about Duel Monsters…”

“But Yugi already taught me how!”

“Well clearly, he didn’t teach you well enough. If he did, you wouldn’t have left such a weak monster on the field undefended, especially in attack mode.” Pinkie looked confused. “Now I will show you why… I summon my Lord of Dragons!” Kaiba’s monster appeared on the field as a tall man in a blue suit. He was wearing bone armor over his whole body with dragon feet as shoulder pads and a cape.

Lord of D.
< Level 4 / ATK: 1200 >

“Now I activate the magic card known as Flute of Summoning Dragons! This allows me to call forth two dragons from my hand and summon them straight to the field.”

“Oh no!” Yugi yelled.

Kaiba’s Lord of Dragons grabbed a hold of the flute and blew into it. “And now use my flute to summon the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons from my hand!” A pair of white lightning bolts rained from the sky striking the ground. The lightning bolts then formed into two copies of the same dragon that appeared in the library earlier that day.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon (x2)
< Level 8 / ATK: 3000 >

“Blue-Eyes White Dragon number 1; attack her puffball with your White Lightning Attack!” Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes opened its mouth and charged a white ball of electricity. The dragon unleashed a humongous energy beam that blasted through Pinkie’s Kuriboh shattering it like glass and flew towards Pinkie.

“YIKES!” Pinkie ducked down covering her head as the blast hit her. She didn’t feel any pain but it fell like being pushed by a windstorm. After it was over, she looked up confused. “Wait, what happened?”

Pinkie Pie
< LP: 4000 → 1300 >

“The monsters are only holograms remember? None of it is real…”

“Oh yeah, right!” Pinkie regained her Cherie look.

“Now go, my second Blue-Eyes, wipe her rest of her life points!” The second dragon did the same as first. This time the beam went straight for her directly.

Pinkie Pie
< LP: 1300 → 0 >

“Aw, it’s over already?”

“Well, that was fast.” Twilight stating the obvious. “We didn’t even see the duel. It was over on the first turn.”

“She clearly had no idea what she was doing.” Kaiba responded.

“You didn’t even give her a chance!”

“You’re not supposed to let your opponent get a chance.”

“Break it up!” Yugi interrupted. “Don’t listen to Kaiba, he just really competitive.”

“Yeah, but still...”

Suddenly, there was a loud bang that echoed through the sky. “Huh? What was that?” Everypony turned to see dark clouds forming over Sweet Apple Acres.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know...” They’re questions were answered when a large monster began rising from the ground. It was visible all the way from the library. It was humongous, as big as Canterlot Castle. It was a blue creature with spiked shoulders and had a few large horns on its head.

“Yugi, are my eyes deceiving me or is that Obelisk the Tormentor!?” Kaiba questioned.

“Yes but... That’s impossible. There is only one copy of Obelisk and I have him!” Yugi reaches for his deck box on his belt pull out his deck spreading it in front of him. He skimmed through his cards and gave a look of horror. “No… no no no!” He skimmed through his deck several more times.

“Don’t tell me you lost him!”

“Not just him, Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra are missing as well. Someone must have stolen them from my deck while we were in the hospital.”

“Hey Yugi.” Twilight asked. “What exactly is the problem? I thought Kaiba said Duel Monsters are not real.”

“Not these cards Twilight. Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra are not normal cards. They are known as the Egyptian God Cards and they hold a power far greater than any mortal can possibly imagine. In the wrong hands they can cause irreversible damage to anyone unfortunate enough to face one of these beasts.”

Twilight’s ears drooped down. “Why would simple cards hold such a dangerous power?” About that time, Yugi and Co. could see a small yellow filly running towards them. “Apple Bloom, what is going on!?”

Apple Bloom stopped for a few seconds to breath. “Twilight, Applejack’s in trouble!”

“What happened?”

“Applejack had just come back from Pinkie’s party and she told me about that new game of yours and some strange pony appeared out of nowhere. She said she wanted to duel my sister for her sole or something.”

Yugi froze. “Wait, did you say she wanted to duel for her soul?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Yami…?” Yami’s spirit appeared next to Yugi. “You think someone from our world followed us here?”

“Possibly, Twilight says Duel Monsters doesn’t exist here and then out of nowhere this happens only a few hours after we show up. The timing is too perfect. We have to be on our guard.” Yugi nodded.

Yugi turned to Twilight. “Twilight, we need to find Applejack now! I think she might be in serious trouble!”

“Right!” As soon as they started moving, something unusual happened. Obelisk turned completely black like a silhouette and the dark clouds above it parted creating a large hole in the sky. The large form of Obelisk then started breaking down into a cloud of black smoke that rose up into the air creating a tornado like spiral that funneled upward into the sky. Finally, a single bolt of black lightning came down and the struck down where Obelisk once stood.

“That can’t be good…” Yugi muttered before they ran off to help Applejack.

They finally arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. There was nopony in sight no Applejack or anyone. All that was left was some strange black mark on the path. It almost looked like it was burned into the ground. Something about it sent shivers down their spines.

“APPLEJACK, Applejack where are you?” Twilight shouted.

“Your friend is not here anymore…” Everypony turn to see a single pony leaning up against an apple tree. She was tossing an apple up air, constantly throwing and catching it.

“Who are you and what have you done with my friend!?”

“I told you she is gone. I sent her to place where she will spend the rest of eternity.” She said, pointing to the black mark on the path.

Everypony gasped. “You... You KILLED HER!?” Twilight screamed. “You killed my best friend!?”

The figure snickered. She acted like she was all high mighty. “Maybe, maybe not… What are you going to do about it?”

“I am going to destroy you!” Twilight charged her magic, focusing on the about-to-be-dead pony in front of her. “TAKE THIS!” Her horn let loose a power stream of purple energy directly at the pony. Right before impact, a black barrier formed around the pony and the attack ricocheted off her hitting a nearby tree. Twilight was left utterly confused. “How did you block my attack so effortlessly? Nopony is that strong!”

The still mysterious pony stepped forward. As she walked forward, the Pharaoh appeared next to Yugi. “Yugi, that pony is using shadow magic.”

“Are you sure Yami?”

Yami nodded. ‘Yes, I can see the darkness practically seeping out of her.”

“You don’t seem to have any idea what you are messing with…” A cloud of darkness started flowing from underneath her cloak. “I control a power unlike anything Pony-kind has ever witnessed-” She lifted her right hoof up and pointed at Twilight. “And you Twilight will witness my power first hand!”

“FINE!” Twilight growled. “I’m going to warn you, I’m not afraid of holding back my power when you hurt my friends!” Twilight tried to step forward but Yugi stopped her. “What?”

“Twilight, this pony is using shadow magic. Let me take care of her.”

“Sorry Yugi, but this is personal.” She pushed Yugi off of her and approached her opponent. “Alright, so how do you want to do this, a magic duel?”

“I have a better idea…” She held her left hoof revealing a duel disk. “How about we play a Shadow Game?”

“NO! DON’T DO IT!” Yugi yelled.

The pony laughed as her duel disk started glowing. A small black ring formed on the ground and grew outwards passing the ground under Twilight and stopping right behind her back hooves. Twilight looked around at the new barrier that was now streaming a black fire blocking her escape. “What is going on?”

“I sealed us inside so nopony can interrupt our duel.” She held up her duel disk and activated it.

Twilight tried stepping back but slammed into the barrier keeping her inside. “You want to duel me… with a game Duel Monsters? But I don’t have any cards or a duel disk…” Twilight was cut off by a rainbow-colored light covering her arm and fanning out. An unusual looking Duel Disk had materialized on her arm. It had a unique design completely unlike Yugi and Kaiba’s disks. The center was a dark purple circle with a pink 6-pointed star. The edges all slightly protruded of the circle. “But... how?”

“Hmm... It’s just as Master predicted, Celestia knew this was going to happen so she placed a spell on the Elements of Harmony to magically create your deck for you in your time of need…”

“Wait, what do you mean the Princess expected this would happen? What does she have to do with this?”

“You will find out soon enough… That is of course if you manage to beat me but you are not leaving this duel alive!” Twilight couldn’t tell why but something about this pony was familiar.

“Twilight, be careful!” Yugi shouted. He was worried this duel could turn ugly; she wasn’t experienced like them. This would be her first duel, but Twilight was smart. She would figure something out.

“Let’s get this duel started already. The faster I can destroy you Sparkle the better!”

Twilight grunted and held up her left hoof. Five individual star shaped zones shot out from the center in all directions from her duel disk and rotated around to the outside of her arm making up the five slots. “Bring it…”

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 4000 >

The hooded pony chuckled and raised her duel disk. “Alright then… Let us duel…”

Unknown
< LP: 4000 >

“Since I am clearly the Superior here, I’ll go first.” The hooded mare drew her starting six cards. “I’ll start off by summoning this monster face-down in defense mode. That will be all for me…”

“Now it’s my draw!” Twilight shouted as she drew. ‘Ok Twilight, just remember what Yugi taught you. You got to think ahead and plan out you’re moves. Now let’s see… what is the connection between all my cards?’ She scanned her cards for a moment, and then a certain magic card caught her eye. ‘That’s the card!’ “I’ll start my turn by summoning a monster called Magical Exemplar in attack mode!” Twilight’s monster materialized as a human woman with a green robe, long hair and gold jewelry around her forehead and neck.

Magical Exemplar
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

‘Alright, hope this card works…’ Twilight lifted her duel disk and a hidden card tray slid out from under her deck zone. “I play a field card, Magical Citadel of Endymion!” Twilight set her card in the tray and it retracted into the duel disk. All around them, a huge city began to form. In four separate corners were a tower and a giant tower formed behind Twilight. The city was surrounded by several arcana rings.

“What in Equestria is this?”

“This… is my citadel… Let me explain, every time a magic card is activated, it gets what is known as a Spell Counter. These Spell Counters can be used to power my monster’s effects. Not only that but many monsters in my deck have the ability to stock up on Spell Counters themselves. Magical Exemplar for example gains an additional two counters every time a magic card is activated.” Twilight’s monster held her hands facing each other and two black orbs with a strange triangle formed between them. “Next, I activate Spell Power Grasp, this lets me add one counter to any card on the field and I choose my Citadel. And as an added bonus, my citadel gains an addition counter and my Exemplar gains another two!” Two more orbs appeared around both Twilight’s tower and her monster. “Spell Power Grasp also lets me search my deck for another copy of itself.” Twilight pulled out her deck and plucked out a single card and put it into her hand. “Now I can activate my Exemplar’s special ability. By removing her spell counters, she can summon a monster from my hand or graveyard with the same level and by removing all four of her counters; I can summon a second Exemplar from my hand!” The four black spheres landed on the ground next to Twilight’s monster forming a portal. From that portal a complete duplicate of Exemplar appeared next to the first one.

Magical Exemplar
< Level 4 / ATK: 1700 >

‘Twilight is doing great.’ Yugi thought to himself. ’She is playing like she’s been playing the game for years.’

“Next, I’ll equip one of my Exemplars with the Shooting Start Bow spell card. This card may lower her attack power by a thousand but it allows her to attack you’re life points directly!” A white winged bow appeared in one of the monster’s hands.

Magical Exemplar
< ATK: 1700 → 700 >

Twilight smirked. ’Now even if her face down monster is a trap, I’ll still get a shot at her life points. I may not do as much damage had I just attacked but better safe than sorry.’ “And of course, my monsters all gain Spell Counters from my magic card.” Both her Exemplars gained two each and her tower gained one more sphere giving it 5.

“Now, my Magic Exemplar will use her new weapon and bypass your face down monster!” Her monster aligned the shot and fired a glowing arrow flying over the card and hitting her opponent. The hooded pony clenched her chest as it hit her.

Unknown
< LP: 4000 → 3300 >

“Now I’ll attack your face-down monster with my unarmed Magical Exemplar!” Twilight’s monster held her hands together and began forming a ball. She fired the ball and blew up the hooded figure’s monster. The face down card flipped showing a young purple armored wizard before being blown up.

“Not like it matters. Whenever Apprentice Magician is destroyed, I can immediately summon another from my deck to take its place.” The pony placed another monster face down.

“That will be all.” Twilight, felt amazing. This duel was exhilarating! It was like nothing she had felt before. On paper it sounded a little boring but after such an amazing first move. It was obvious there was more to this game then she had first anticipated.

The hooded pony was growing frustrated. “It’s my turn and I’ll start my turn by activating the Magical Dimension spell card.” Upon sliding her card into her Duel Disk, a weird coffin in chains appeared behind her. “With this, I can tribute a spellcaster on my side of the field to summon an even stronger spellcaster from my hand.” As the coffin opened, her face down magician jumped up and got into the coffin and it closed again. The pony chuckled and a single card in her hand became covered in a purple magic aura. She lifted it up and roughly slammed the card onto her duel disk. “Please welcome to the stage, the Dark Magician!”

“WHAT!?”

‘Oh no…’ Yugi thought. ‘Her opponent is a Dark Magician user! This could be bad.’

The all too familiar card appeared in front of Twilight. The very monster she was ogling not even 20 minutes ago was now appearing out of the coffin with the most terrifying stare she had ever seen. This Dark Magician was nothing like Yugi’s. It had black armor and white hair and an extremely creepy smile.

Dark Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2500 >

“Oh, and did I forget to mention that Magical Dimension also destroys one monster on your side of the field?” The pony pointed over at her monster with the bow.

“Not my Exemplar!” Twilight screamed. The coffin that her Magician appeared from reached out with shadowy tentacles and pulled Twilight’s Exemplar wielding the bow into the darkness. “At least her spell counters won’t be going to waste because when a monster with spell counters is destroyed. The counters move to my Magical Citadel giving it a total of 8 counters.”

“Not that you’ll get the chance to use them. I activate Foolish Burial! This lets me send a monster from my deck straight to my graveyard.”

“But why would you send a monster you haven’t even summoned to the graveyard... Wait!” Twilight was remembering back to when Yugi was teaching them to duel.

“Just because a monster is sent to the graveyard, doesn’t mean it’s gone. There are a few cards that can summon monsters that were sent to the graveyard earlier in the duel. One card in particular is called...”

“Monster Reborn!” A huge glowing symbol appeared behind the pony, rising out of the ground. “This lets me bring any monster from the graveyard and summon it to the field.” The ground below them shook and a familiar blue figure rose up behind the pony.

“Obelisk!” Yugi and Kaiba yelled simultaneously.

Obelisk the Tormentor
< Level 10 / ATK: 4000 >

The creature was even more massive up close. Twilight had begun to shiver; she had never seen something so large and terrifying. “Ahaha-ahahaha-AHAHAHAHA! How does it feel Twilight! How does it feel to stare into the face of death? Who is Great and Powerful now!?” Twilight’s attention instantly changed from the growing beast to her opponent. The clues were finally adding up. There was only one pony that would use the term Great and Powerful.

“TRIXIE!?”

The pony stopped laughing. “Well... Well... Well... So, you finally figured it out...” Trixie slowly removed her hood. She was very similar as before but she looked like she had been through hell. Her mane was all messed up and she was covered in cuts. “Surprised?”

“Trixie, what happened to you?”

“What happened to me...? What HAPPENED TO ME!? YOU HAPPENED! My life was just fine until you destroyed it!”

“What did I do?”

“Because of you, I LOST THE ONE PONY WHO WAS MOST IMPORTANT TO ME!” Twilight recoiled and Trixie seemed to calm down. “Over the years, I’ve seen many ponies who don’t exactly think my magic is that special.” Twilight seemed to be confused. “What? You thought you were the only ones? Many ponies try to outclass me on stage and fail.” Trixie took a deep breath and looked into the sky. “But there was one filly, her name was Starshine Hope. She came to my trailer and asked for an autograph one day. I didn’t think much of it at first but she came back the next day and I ended up breaking her heart... Once I learned the truth about her, I was crushed, so I offered to take her in and train her myself.”

“So, what happened?”

“I needed more time to prepare, I didn’t have the proper supplies or experience yet. I also wanted to visit my mother so she could give me proper advice. On the way I ended up here in Ponyville. It turns out the news of a psycho unicorn and an Ursa Minor spreads fast… I stopped getting letters from her and I suspect she wasn’t getting mine either. So, I decided to go and visit her myself and set things straight. When I got there, I found out she had moved on. She had completely forgotten about me… And our promise…”

“How can you know for sure she had forgotten and what promise are you talking about?”

“Our personal life is not for you to hear Sparkle; you ruined my life enough already. I could handle the home and my things but Starshine was the first true friend I ever made and after losing her I felt like I had lost everything... I just couldn’t take it anymore…”

Atop the highest point within the Everfree Forest, Trixie stood, hooves barely along the edge of the cliff. She looked down. It was a 30-story drop. It would be impossible for a normal pony to survive that long.

“My entire reputation was shot; I lost my only true friend… It felt like my entire life was meaningless… I just wanted nothing else but for it to end…” Trixie’s eyes began to water but her tears never touched the ground. “Starshine... Goodbye...” Taking a single step, Trixie slid of edge, going into a nearly endless fall. Her tears began to burn her eyes from the sheer force of the fall. “I was about to hit the ground but something appeared below me, like a kind of darkness. There was nothing I could do so I just fell into it.” Trixie became completely surrounded by the darkness.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie, so we finally meet...”

Trixie recoiled. “Who’s there? What do you want with me?”

“Why, I want to help you of course…”

“How, I have nothing left!”

“Your wrong, you do have something left… Your power, you can use it to turn your life around…” Trixie’s ears perked up. “Yes, I can see you’re interested…”

“Yes, I’ll do anything to get my life back. Please, I’ll do anything!”

“Just relax my child, and open yourself to the darkness.” A dark smoke began to consume her, she could no longer breath. “Don’t struggle against it, let it in and embrace it. Embrace the darkness and you will become the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria!”

Trixie began to scream as the darkness completely took hold. The smoke surged into her body as her power grew more powerful than ever. Then, Trixie opened her eyes and the pain stopped. She was no longer falling in the darkness. She was completely unharmed at the top of the cliff she jumped from. She looked down at her hoof to see an unusual device attached to it. “Where did this thing come from?”

“That my dear Trixie is your new life. Draw a card from your deck and place it on the blade of the duel disk. Once you do, your true power will be awakened, not even Twilight Sparkle can compare.”

Trixie’s eyes opened wide. She looked down at the deck and drew the card causing single zone shot out from the centerpiece and two wings shot out from each side of the zone. Trixie stared with wide eyes at the card, it was shrouded in a kind of black aura. “Something about the card was mystifying, like I could hear it talking to me. It promised me great power and all I needed to do was play the card.” Trixie slowly lowered her right hoof and set the card on the duel disk. As soon as it came in contact, her disk exploded into a flurry of black lightning threatening to take her over.

“You must gain control Trixie. This is not my power, it’s yours!”

Trixie focused as hard as she could. She stood up on her hind legs and screamed into the sky. The black smoke started flowing out from her body as her scream changed into a devilish laughter. “I’M COMING FOR YOU TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” She came back down on her front hooves. “And when I find you... you are going to pay…”

Nobody said anything. Her story was not the kind they expected from Trixie. It was few minutes before Twilight finally spoke up. “You... Tried to commit suicide?”

“I HAD NOTHING TO LIVE FOR! You took everything I had! Master promised me a new life and a chance for revenge. I wasn’t going to pass that up. Of course, Master was missing a key component. Without it our plans would never work.”

“The Egyptian God cards!” Yugi exclaimed.

“Exactly, without the god cards our greatest weapon is powerless. However, now that we have them, we are unstoppable. You’re little farmer friend was the perfect test to try out my new power. It went way past my expectations.”

Twilight was starting to become upset. “Trixie, I can’t say I know you all that well but I want to help you. Don’t fall for the darkness, it will only cause you more harm in the future.”

“SHUT UP! I accepted this power so I can finally destroy you and have you out of my life forever!”

“Please don’t...”

“Nothing you say will stop me!” Trixie stood back on her hind hooves and screamed into the air holding a card. Black lightning was flowing around her leg and the card. “This monster can only be summoned while I’m in control of an Egyptian God and a creature of Darkness and sending them to my graveyard!” Obelisk and Dark Magician began to dissolve into a black mist and swirled into the air creating a funnel between the clouds and Trixie After a few seconds, a black lightning bolt came down through the funnel and struck Trixie. Two red scars began forming on Trixie’s forehead from the back of her scalp, one on each side. They were shaping like lightning bolts leading to her eyes then rounded around her eyes forming a sort of eye liner. Once the scars circled around to the front tips of her eyes, the red light faded leaving a black mark. “Stolen past and taken peace… Awaken the darkness and engulf the world in your cleansing shadow!” Trixie opened up her eyes. They we no longer the usual purple color, they glowed a bright red and no longer showed to reflect any light.

“Trixie?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is gone...” Her voice sent chills down Twilight spine. It wasn’t her normal voice anymore; it was like Trixie had a second more sinister voice talking behind her normal voice. “You may now call me ‘The Dark and Malevolent Trixie!’” Trixie broke into a maniacal laughter that echoed through the sky.

Twilight was on the verge of tears. “What have they done to you...?” Twilight wiped away her tears. “If you really want to go through with this, you leave me no choice…”

Suddenly, Trixie’s shadow that was resting upon the ground began to rise up behand, taking on a physical form. The shadow began to morph into a horrifying image, a tall bird like creature with massive wings and red scars on his head just like Trixie and a pair of red glowing eyes. “Behold, the most powerful creature in existence! Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” The monster leaned its head back charging black energy in front of its face. Once the charge started releasing lightning, the monster blasted Twilight’s Exemplar with a black and white energy beam.

“Agh...” At the moment her monster was destroyed, Twilight began to feel on tug in her chest. She pushed it aside and put her focus back into the battle. “You didn’t even command it to attack!”

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 4000 → 2700 >

“I don’t need to; he is fueled by my inner darkness, my inner hate. He will destroy anyone I want to see destroyed!”

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 3000 >

“He may not have as many attack points as Obelisk but that doesn’t matter… Not only is Iseris immortal, but if your life points hit zero while he is on the field... Well... You’re going to find out soon enough...”

“In that case, I will just have to destroy it!” Twilight drew her next card.

“Before you make your move, there is something you should know. At the beginning of every one of your turns, Iseris inflicts you with 100 points of damage for each DARK monster in my graveyard. Purgatory Discharge!” An array of black tentacles shot out from Trixie’s graveyard and lashed at Twilight causing to her lurch back.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 2700 → 2400 >

She felt it again. “When there are 6 or more counters on my Citadel, I can remove 6 of them to special summon Endymion the Master Magician from my hand…” The spheres around the tower circled together creating a warp gate and a new monster came flying out. It held a striking resemblance to Yugi’s Dark Magician but its clothing had a golden trim and it wore a large cape.

Endymion the Master Magician
< Level 7 / ATK: 2700 >

“When Endymion is summoned to the field by this effect, I can return one magic card from my graveyard to my hand.” Twilight’s Shooting Star Bow ejected from her graveyard and she put it in her hand. Twilight began to think of her options. ‘I can end this battle right now if I wanted to. If I were to equip Endymion with Shooting Star Bow and the Mage Power card in my hand, he would have 3200 ATK. However, that alone is not enough. But I do have my Spell Power Grasp in my hand. If I play that face down, Endymion will go to 3700 which would be enough to deplete her life points to zero... But...’ Twilight looked up at the dark creature looming over her. ‘If I can defeat that creature, maybe I can break the hold it has on her and I can help her...’

“Trixie doesn’t have all day!” Trixie shouted.

Twilight knew what she had to do. It didn’t matter what she had to do. She had to help Trixie. “I activate Endymion’s special ability. By discarding the Spell Power Grasp in my hand, I can select and destroy one card on the field.” Twilight slid her card into the graveyard and Endymion started charging his staff. He let loose a stream of lightning and aimed it right at Iseris. The blast landed right on target and the field burst onto a frenzy of explosions. “Yes!”

“I don’t think so Twilight.” The smoke cleared revealing the still standing shadow. “Iseris cannot be destroyed by spell, trap or monster effects. And just for clarification, magic cards don’t work either…” Twilight gave Trixie on odd look. “In this world, Magic cards are called Spell cards. I guess the Pharaoh’s world is just that primitive that it’s still using the old term. So don’t think you can loophole spell effects by using magic, it doesn’t work…”

“In that case then… I equip Endymion with the Mage Power spell card.” Putting a large emphasis on the word Spell. “This boosts his power by an additional 500 points for every spell and trap card on my field including itself.”

Endymion the Master Magician
< ATK: 2700→ 3700 >

“Go Endymion; attack Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” Endymion launched a purple electrical ball this time.
“That won’t work either!” Iseris retracted itself into its shadow and avoided the attack. The attack exploded a short distance from where Trixie was standing. “Iseris can’t be destroyed in battle either. Unfortunately, since it’s in attack mode I still take damage...”

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 3300 → 2600 >

“But, that’s not fair! If I can’t destroy it with spell, traps or monsters, how can I beat it?”

“You can’t! I warned you that Iseris was immortal meaning there is no way to destroy him!”

“But that... You can’t... oh...” Twilight looked downwards. She had a chance to win and she blew it. If only she knew the power of Trixie’s monster. “End turn...”

“Giving up, are we? What a pity...” Trixie drew her card and looked at it for a second. “I activate a spell card known as Cursed Greed. If I control a Level 10 or higher DARK monster, this lets me take possession of a random card from your hand.” When the card materialized on the field, a large black hand shot out and grabbed Twilight’s Shooting Star Bow. The hand retracted back and the card reappeared in Trixie’s hoof. “Thank you so much for donating to those in need. I equip Iseris with your own Shooting Star Bow!” Twilight expected to see Iseris holding her white bow, but what she got was completely different. Iseris was now holding a black flaming bow. The arrow was made entirely of a dark purple fire.

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< ATK: 3000→ 2000 >

“Hehehe…” Trixie pointed over at Twilight. “Iseris, attack Twilight with Shadow Star Bow. Make her suffer for all the pain she caused me!” The shadow held up the bow and shot its flaming arrow at Twilight. The arrow plunged into her chest.

“AHHHHHH!!!” Twilight shrieked in pain. Standing on her hind legs, she looked down. The flaming arrow stood there, sticking out of her chest.

“TWILIGHT!” Her friends yelled at the shriek.

“Why... (pant) why does it hurt so much?” Twilight was in shear pain; she felt the arrow like it was real. “I thought these were... (cough) just holograms...”

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 2400 → 400 >

“Ha, normally yes but not this time?” Rarity and Fluttershy ran up to help Twilight, but was blocked by the barrier. “While normally these are nothing by harmless holograms but while Iseris in on the field, all the damage you take is real!” Trixie slowly walked up to Twilight. “Like I said, Iseris is made from my inner darkness, my hate…” Trixie’s smiled, her mouth almost reaching ear to ear. “Every time I see you in pain, it just makes me so happy. I enjoy seeing you suffer!” Sticking her tongue out, Trixie began to make a very disturbing cackle. “Don’t expect a quick death. I’ll make sure to squeeze every... single... last... breath... and saver it!”

“You monster!” Rainbow yelled.

“You ruffian!” Rarity yelled.

‘That’s it! I won’t let this continue on anymore!’ Yugi’s puzzle began to glow and shake. A large beam shot into the air and surround Yugi.

“YUGIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!”

The light evaporated to revealing a whole new Yugi standing on his hind legs, his front hooves on his hips and his eyes closed. He was no longer wearing his coat, it was now attached to his neck and hanging off like a cape. He opened his eyes and pointed at the blue unicorn. “Trixie! This Shadow Game has gone on long enough!” Slowly Yugi began to walk towards the barrier.

“Girls...” Rarity asked. “Are my eyes deceiving me or did Yugi just grow a horn?”

“His voice changed too!” added Pinkie.

The barrier, which had thrown the ponies back earlier, stood no chance to the power of Yugi’s Puzzle. Upon touching the barrier, Yugi’s head lit up with golden eye and the barrier shattered like a rock through thin glass. “One thing you should know about me Trixie, I don’t take lightly to people hurting my friends…”

Trixie was genuinely surprised. “So, this is the five-thousand-year-old Pharaoh I’ve been hearing so much about...”

“So, you have heard about me...”

“Master warned me about your power. Bringing you to Equestria was the only way to get the Egyptian God cards so it was risk we were willing to take.”

“That was a pretty foolish move on your master’s part.”

Twilight’s friends had begun to run over and help her up. “Yugi, what’s going on? Why the sudden change in attitude?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’ll tell you later, but right now, Twilight needs to get some medical attention. I’ll deal with Trixie...” Using his magic, Yugi slipped off Twilight’s Duel Disk and slipped it onto his own hoof.

“Right! Don’t show Trixie any mercy!” Yugi simply nodded as the 4 ponies carried Twilight away. The only ones remaining were Yugi, Kaiba and Trixie.

“Trixie, can’t you see the darkness has clouded your mind?! Can’t you see what you doing here is wrong?”

“She is just getting what she deserves.” Trixie replied.

“She had nothing to do with you losing Starshine!”

“She ruined me, made her parents forbid me from ever seeing her again!”

“You have nobody to blame but yourself...”

“Shut up, you don’t understand the relationship me and Starshine had!”

“I understand perfectly. She was your friend and you’re afraid of being alone.”

“No, I’m not doing this for me; I’m doing this for her!”

“What?”

“Enough of your talk! Make your move so I can destroy you then go onto Twilight!”

“Fine, my draw!” Yugi had no cards left, he placed his hoof on Twilight’s deck. ‘Heart of the Cards, guide me…’ Yugi drew his card...

“Don’t forget, you take three hundred points of damage from Iseris’ effect! Purgatory Discharge!” The tentacles came out once again and slashed at Yugi.

Yugi Moto
< LP: 400 → 100 >

Yugi felt it, this duel definitely was real. “It doesn’t make a difference; I still have a chance to defeat you!” Yugi looked down at his last card. ‘Joey, I hope this works as well for me as it does you.’ “I activate Cup of Ace!” A small golden goblet appeared in the center of the field. and started spinning “If the cup stops upright, I am able to draw two cards from my deck. However, if it stops upside down you get to draw instead.”

“You’re putting the fate of this duel in a coin flip?”

“Yes, because I have my friends and the Heart of the Cards at my side. Something you could never understand.” The cup spun several times in air before slowing down. ‘Come on heads…’ It continued to slow down until finally coming to a halt. “Upright!”

“No way!”

“Now I am allowed to draw two cards.” Yugi drew his new cards. ‘Perfect, just what I needed.’ “I activate the Book of Moon magic card! This allows me to target any monster on the field and flip it face down into defense position and I use it on your Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!”

“But, Iseris is only protected against cards that destroy it!”

“Exactly, with your monster face down all his power is gone!” As Trixie’s card flipped upside, the marks on her face disappeared along with the red glow in her eyes. “Now if I recall right, you said that even though Iseris is unbeatable, you can still take battle damage?”

Trixie didn’t like where this was going. “Yeah…? But Iseris is in defense position so you can’t do damage, or did you forget?”

“Normally any monster in defense mode is protected against battle damage... However, there are ways around that. I equip Endymion with Fairy Meteor Crush! Whenever a monster equipped with this card attacks a monster in defense mode, the difference between its attack points and your monster’s defense points are deducted from your life points!” Endymion started emitting a bright golden light also growing stronger from Mage Power.

Endymion the Master Magician
< ATK: 3700 → 4200 >

“But Iseris has no defense points! Attacking him with piercing damage is basically like attacking my life points directly!”

“Exactly… Endymion, attack her face down monster and finish this duel once and for all!” Endymion twirled his staff and fired a purple sparking ball at the shadow. The blast passes right over card as it flips up and lands its mark on Trixie, exploding into a perfectly circular explosion.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Trixie fell over on the ground; she was covering her head.

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 2600 → 0 >

“You brought this upon yourself Trixie. You gave yourself to the darkness and hurt my friends.”

“Do you think I care? You can’t stop me and neither can Twilight! I’m already in possession of your god cards I will make sure all of you suffer when I send your souls to the shadows!” There was a poof of smoke and Trixie disappeared. Yugi turned back and approached Kaiba.

“Nice recovery Yugi. That dweeb had a chance of victory before she got hurt but she screwed it up.”

“Kaiba, she had her reasons. She wasn’t going to let the darkness take away Trixie.”

“Spare me the details. Though as much as I want to get back home it doesn’t seem like we will ever get a chance. You heard what they said, Duel Monsters doesn’t exist here. That probably means they won’t let us leave until the mastermind behind this whole scheme is dealt with…”

“For once, I agree with you...”

It was dark. There was nothing aside from two hooded figures standing in the room looking into a reflecting pool in the middle of the room. There was a puff of smoke and Trixie appeared before the two of them.

“Look who it is?” said the larger one. “Looks like the Great and Powerful Trixie got her flank handed to her.”

“It wasn’t a total bust, stupid.” Trixie growled. “I managed to get the God cards and I defeated that hic of a farm pony.”

“But you failed to beat Miss Sparkle. She is the biggest threat of the six.” The shorter one added.

“What was I supposed to do? That Pharaoh has incredible luck.”

“It’s not luck… Master warned you about the Pharaoh’s power. He has the power to manipulate the heart of the cards at will, even though he himself doesn’t know it yet.”

“Doesn’t make a difference, you lost the duel and wasted your turn. Tomorrow it’s my turn to create some havoc.” The larger one replied.

“My, my, aren’t you impatient...” said the smaller one. “If you’re so into getting this started then I’ll go with you. Your attack on that party pony will act as the perfect distraction so I can sneak in take out that shy pegasus pony. I need her out of the way so I can get to Miss Rarity.”

“So, you two are just going to leave me out of this?” Trixie asked.

“We need you to watch over the Pharaoh and his little buddy and make sure they don’t do anything funny. Besides, Twilight is in the hospital, you’ll never get to her in that state.”

“Alright.” said the larger figure. “So, me and smarty-pants here will go tomorrow and take out our targets. He will go and get the shy one while I go and get my revenge on that stupid pink party pony. She will pay for what she did!”

“Fine, I’ll wait here and watch. At least I will get to see Twilight cry in agony when two more of her closest friends are gone. Oh, I almost forgot, here.” Raising her hoof, Trixie pulled out two cards from her Duel Disk. “Here are the other two god cards, Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon Ra.”

“Slifer is mine!” The larger one called.

“I’ll be taking The Winged Dragon of Ra.” The smaller one replied. “Only makes sense.”

“These god cards are exactly what we need the summon Iseris.” said Trixie. “With him by our side, we can’t lose!” The three of them broke into maniacal laughter. Their laughs echoed for miles but nopony heard, not except for one, a mare upstairs looking out a large window holding a devilish grin on their face...

“And so, the next phase begins…”

Chapter 14 - Ending the Pain (3)

Trixie had completely frozen up. The young filly stared at her with curious eyes she hadn’t seen in a long time. “S-Starshine?”

“Trixie…?” She asked.

Twilight painfully opened her eyes, looking towards the filly. ‘Oh no, what is SHE doing here…?’

“Starshine… It’s you… It really is you!” Trixie slowly started to tear up before opening her front hooves.

“Trixie!” The filly ran towards Trixie and leaped into hooves giving each other a bone crushing hug. “I-I-I-I thought I w-w-w-would never see you aga-a-a-ain!” She choked out between sobs.

“Me too… I missed you Starshine, more than you know.”

“I never forgot about you Trixie, you’re the most important pony in the world to me…”

Trixie’s ears perked up and she became curious. “But last time I saw you, you had forgotten about me…”

Starshine felt hurt. “Trixie, I never forgot about you. My parents forced me to get rid of anything reminding me of you but they can never get rid of what’s in my heart. There was not a single day where I didn’t think about you…”

“Get away from her Starshine!” Twilight screamed. The two blue ponies suddenly broke apart and looked at the struggling mare.

“How DARE YOU!” Trixie screamed. “You have no right to interfere!”

“I knew you only wanted to separate us!” Starshine continued.

Twilight struggled to pull herself back up. “Starshine, you have to listen to me! She is not the same Trixie you know and love. She has been corrupted by dark magic and she only wants to use you!”

“Shut up! You don’t know Trixie like I do!”

“Starshine please listen to me!”

“NO!” Starshine stomped her hooves on the ground. “You don’t understand what you put me and Trixie though. When I lost her, it felt like I had no more reason to live…” She put her hoof to her chest. “But somewhere in my heart I could feel her calling to me, telling me to keep living and that we would be together again one day.”

“I had almost given up living as well…” Trixie continued. “But then Midnight saved me and gave me the power I needed to turn my life around and give me reason again…”

“Trixie… Starshine…” Twilight sighed. “Your hearts are in the right place but this is not the way to go about it. Revenge only leads to more suffering.”

“You’re suffering Twilight…” Trixie replied. “I refuse to let you get away with what you caused us!”

“Take her down Trixie!”

Twilight recoils back. ‘Starshine just refuses to listen to reason! Can’t she see Trixie is clearly not herself?’ The two blue ponies each gave her a very unsettling smirk. It was there she saw it. ‘What the?’ The unusually maniacal Starshine was chuckling to herself when her eyes faintly flashed a couple times, revealing a blood red color just like Trixie. ‘Trixie’s dark magic… Is affecting Starshine? But how is that possible?’

“Well Twilight?” Trixie asked. “Are you going to make your move, it is your turn after all.”

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 1750 >

“Fine!” Twilight swiftly drew her next card.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 450 >

‘This battle just got a lot more dangerous. Now I need to figure out a way to beat Trixie and break her influence over Starshine.’ Twilight looked down at the single card in her hand. ‘I can start by regaining the hand I lost last turn.’ “I activate the effect of my Spellbook Tower. At the start of my turn, I can return 1 Spellbook to the bottom of my deck and then I can draw another card in addition to the one I’ve already drawn.”

“That’s what you think.” Trixie replied. Suddenly, a giant cyclone formed around Twilight’s tower destroying it.

“What!?”

“I activated my face down card, Mystical Space Typhoon. It’s rather handy for getting rid of those pesky Spell and Trap cards.” Twilight grunted in frustration. “So much for your comeback…”

“Heh, don’t think destroying my tower ended my turn.”

“Huh?”

“You see when my tower is destroyed; its other effect is triggered!” Behind Twilight where the tower once stood, a large white portal appeared on the ground’s surface. “Now I’m allowed to summon any spellcaster from my deck with equal or less stars then the amount of Spellbooks in my graveyard. Since you sent so many of my books to the graveyard, I have access to practically any monster in my deck!” A white silhouette slowly emerged from the portal. The creature had several feathered wings on its back. It wore a large white jacket with golden trims along the edges. The monster rose up into the sky with its arms extended. “Behold, World of Prophecy!” As it floated up in the path of the moon light, it spread its wings to their full length releasing a blinding light.

World of Prophecy
< Level 9 / ATK: 2900 >

“That’s… quite a beast you have there… Too bad it’s still not strong enough.”

“Oh, no? Say that again after I activate World of Prophecy’s special ability.” World held his hands forward and formed a ball of light in his hand before shooting it in a beam towards the ground forming a purple portal. Immediately after, two cards shot out from the portal into her hoof. “You see, World of Prophecy has the power to return two Spellbooks in my graveyard back into my hand. I’m using its effect to get back my Spellbook of Power and Spellbook of the Master.” Twilight took the two cards back into her hooves. “I’ll use the Spellbook of Power right away and add its power to my World of Prophecy.” The familiar red book appeared in front of Twilight’s monster causing it to glow red.

World of Prophecy
< ATK: 2900 → 3900 >

“Now; World of Prophecy; attack Vengeance Nightmare Magician with Prophet Wing Blast!” World of Prophecy opened its wings and started gathering light being unleashing a frenzy of feathers towards Trixie’s monster. Nightmare Magician stood his ground holding his hands up attempting to block it. The feathers impacted in a series of slashes before exploding into a cloud of smoke. Twilight and Trixie braced for impact while Starshine held onto Trixie.

“I use Blood Contract to half the damage!” The tether between them started to glow in response.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 450 → 350 >

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 1750 → 1650 >

“And that’s it for your Vengeance Nightmare Magician…” Before the cloud of smoke even disappeared, Twilight could see Trixie laughing maniacally behind it. When the smoke eventually cleared, it revealed Trixie’s monster still standing. “What!? No!”

“YOU FOOL! Vengeance Nightmare Magician is an evolution of Iseris meaning he is just as invincible as him, he can’t be destroyed in battle or by card effects!”

“Yeah, Trixie is far too strong for you Twilight!” Starshine cheered.

Twilight’s frustration grew even higher. “I may not have been able to destroy it this turn but it won’t last forever.” Twilight inserted her last card into the back of her duel disk. “I play Swords of Revealing Light!” Several glowing yellow swords rained down from the sky creating a barrier around Trixie’s monster. “Now your monsters are imprisoned for three whole turns and until they go away your monsters can’t attack.” Trixie groaned in frustration. “Now make your move…” The light on World of Prophecy dimmed, ending the effect of Twilight’s Spellbook of Power.

World of Prophecy
< ATK: 3900 → 2900 >

“With pleasure…” Trixie drew her card and smiled. “You know what, forget the swords. I can still beat you even if I can’t attack.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wha… What!? But how is that possible?”

Trixie smirked. “With this card…” She revealed it to Twilight. “It’s called Magical Combustion; do you know what it does?” Twilight stepped back giving Trixie a worried look. “This card allows the highest level spellcaster on my field to automatically destroy every other monster on the field with a level lower then it. My Magician has a level of 7 so all Level 6 and below monsters are sent straight the graveyard!” When the card materialized on the field, it released a stream of fire turning Twilight’s magical knight into ashes on the field. “But the fun doesn’t end there, now each of us must send 5 cards from our deck to the graveyard if a monster of ours was destroyed!”

The stream of flames kept going past Twilight’s monster and struck her deck. 5 cards ejected from her deck in a blaze as they had before. “Again, with my deck? Just what are you trying to accomplish?”

“You really haven’t figured it out yet…?”

Twilight looked down at her duel disk trying to figure out what Trixie was talking about. Reality suddenly hit Twilight like a ton of bricks. Looking down at her deck; if you could even call it that; was down to a measly 2 cards. “No… How could I have missed something so obvious!?”

“Those precious little books of yours may be powerful but they were also your undoing! You were adding spell cards to your hand so fast you completely lost track of the cards left in your deck! You’ve burned through so many cards your deck is almost completely gone!” Trixie mindlessly laughed into the air. “And you know what happens when you’re unable to draw any cards from your deck right?”

Twilight frowned. “I automatically lose the duel…”

“Hehehe… Celestia…” Midnight remarked. “Now that Twilight has awakened Trixie’s power, she has no chance of survival! It’s quite tragic really, Twilight would have made a great follower for the new world order, it’s just too bad she worships the very ground you stand on. Perhaps when I’m done with you two, I can find your ‘other’ student and convince to join my cause.”

Celestia’s eyes went wide. “Don’t you DARE bring Sunset into this!”

Midnight simply shrugged. “What do you care, you’re the one who had her removed because she wanted to know about her birthright and the outside world. Speaking of which, when did you intend on telling Twilight?”

“I… Uh…” Celestia stuttered. Her eyes darted back and forth looking for an answer.

“So… That’s it huh? You intend for Twilight to just complete her training like a dog on a leash. You’re afraid she will go down the same path as Sunset so you’ve kept it all hidden away from her. You turned away the one who wanted to be a Princess and you’re leading along somepony who probably doesn’t.”

“Only one without a need for power can fully utilize it.”

“Is that really what you think Celestia? Trixie was nothing but a lowly street magician; she never had a need for power. It wasn’t until her life went spiraling down to Tartarus where her power was awoken. Unlike Gilda and Blueblood, I’ve done nothing to enhance Trixie’s power. She was born with a great amount of untapped power; it just wasn’t awakened until she needed it just like how Twilight’s power was revealed when she needed it.”

“Yet you yourself get your power from absorbing the power of others.”

“I wasn’t born with natural power like everypony else. I mean a green hoof for growing beautiful plants no matter what conditions? The only beauty that matters to me is the beauty of your downfall!” Midnight raised her hoof and lunged out in Celestia’s direction. “Luna, destroy your sister’s knight with Moonlight Blast!” Luna launched into the air and flew into the moon’s view creating a silhouette. Her horn lit up and the moon behind her enlarged. From behind her back, the moonlight rained down a massive beam toward Michael. As the beam approached, Michael reached into his scabbards and drew his energy sabers. He twirled them a couple times and held them in front blocking himself with a X. When the beam impacted the sabers, he was pushed back several feet but stood he. He groaned trying his hardest to push back. Eventually, he pushed his sabers forwards slashing with an X shape causing the beam to bounce back towards Luna. “SAY WHAT!?” She barely had time to react when the beam complete engulfed Luna causing to scream and promptly disintegrate within the light. “What… The hell?”

Midnight Rose
< LP: 4000 → 600 >

Midnight grit her teach in frustration. “You! Tell me what you did!”

Celestia stood tall with her eyes closed and a grin on her face. “I did exactly what you wanted me to…” The single face-down on Celestia’s field slowly raised itself up revealing a trap. “Look familiar?”

Midnight’s face went into complete shock at the card she was seeing. “You…”

“That’s right Midnight; I activated your Monarchy Riposte trap card! The very same card you gave to me all those years ago!”

“Now for the finishing touch… I play the spell card Flawed Treaty!” She slammed the card onto the field. “Let me explain how this card works. This lets me take one card from my deck and add it to your hand. In exchange, you cannot attack next turn.”

Midnight growled. ‘She actually kept that card for all these years…’ “So… You finally played the card…”

“That’s what you wanted wasn’t it? That’s why out of every card in your deck you gave me a powerful card such as this. You intended for me to activate it during our first duel…”

Midnight’s expression softened. “Yes… I knew that a selfish tyrant like you would never activate that card. While it does have the power to double the attack points of every monster on your field, it’s not worth the risk…”

“I know… During the turn the card is activated your life points cannot hit zero. Every attack will leave you with at least 1 life point. There’s also its nasty side effect which causes me to lose life points equal to half the combined total attack of my monsters which means I lose 3500 life points.”

“But you only have 1000 life points and my attack would have only reduced you to 400. So why activate that card when you could have survived without it?”

Celestia closed her eyes and smiled. “Same reason you intended for me to use it…”

Midnight was confused. “What are you talking about?”

“This is the same kind of situation as our first duel. Yes, I would have survived your attack just like how I survived Iseris’ attack last time… This card serves a double purpose. It’s not just a way to test if your sick theories about me were true; you gave this card to me as a means of keeping me alive.”

Midnight chuckled to herself. “Hmm, you are a smart one, aren’t you…? Yeah, I admit it. While I did intend for it to test you, the test wouldn’t really have affected my personal goals. I gave it to you as a means of personal torture. What better way to torture you then to make you watch your kingdom fall before your eyes. I thought it would be more entertaining to keep you alive until my plan is finished.”

“That is the biggest flaw in your magic. You can only take the souls of people you defeat with Iseris. While I may have survived the attack, there was too large of a risk that Iseris could be summoned next turn. You already have a dark monster on the field which is half the requirement. As for the god card, you returned Ra to Yugi and Trixie is in possession of Obelisk. But from what Yugi told me you never returned Slifer, so tell me… Do you have Slifer the Sky Dragon in your deck?”

Midnight had her eyes closed during Celestia’s explanation, unmoving. Suddenly she started chuckling to herself before breaking into laughter. “You really think I need I even need the God cards anymore!?”

“What!? You mean you don’t?”

Midnight reached into her cloak and pulled two cards out. “You know what, take these… They are useless to me…” She tossed the two cards to Celestia. She caught the cards and her eyes turned to pinpricks.

“Slifer…? Obelisk…”

“I don’t need them anymore; Trixie doesn’t need them either. We figured out other ways of using Iseris’ power… Trixie can harness the power of Iseris through her Dark Magician in the form of Vengeance Nightmare Magician. As for me…” Midnight swiped her right hoof left to right. “I activate the effect of Magic Horn Blade in my graveyard! When the equipped monster is destroyed in battle, I can banish that monster and Magic Horn Blade in order to draw 2 cards from my deck!” Midnight placed her hoof on her duel disk causing it to glow. “At one point I needed the god cards but my power has grown substantially since then and with every strong soul I capture my power continues to grow!” She drew her two cards leaving a black flaming trail behind her cards. Her face suddenly changed from maniacal to calm. “Field Spell… Legend of the Purge…” The field slot ejected and Midnight lightly placed her card into the slot retracting it. A field of darkness swarmed the field causing the grass all around them to die out and whither to a sickly grey color. The ground behind Midnight started rumbling and a large stone slab rose up behind her. “Once a turn, this field spell allows me to summon any dark attribute monster from my hand ignoring it’s summoning conditions, as long as I give up a monster on my field as well as half of my life points!”

Midnight Rose
< LP: 600 → 300 >

Rarity’s body suddenly exploded into black particles and shot into the air. “Stolen past and taken peace… Darkness awaken and engulf the world in your cleansing shadow! I summon you, Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” The familiar bolt of lightning struck Midnight causing the mark of Iseris to burn into her head with a bright red color. As the mark formed around her eyes, her eyes turned a fully red with an ominous glow.

Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony
< Level 10 / ATK: 0 >

“Zero… Attack points?” Celestia muttered to herself.

Midnight closed her eyes once again. “Turn… End…” Like with Rarity, Iseris suddenly exploded leaving no trace on the field, even the mark vanished from Midnight’s head. “Any monster summoned by the effect of this field spell is destroyed at the end of the turn. Even Iseris isn’t immune to this effect.” She opened her eyes again. “And now that the turn is finished, Monarchy Riposte deals you 3500 points of damage.” The trap card on Celestia’s field started to glow and blasted Celestia with a beam of light causing her to scream in pain.

Princess Celestia
< LP: 1000 → 0 >

“So, as you can see Celestia, I don’t need Slifer, Obelisk or Ra for Iseris anymore. With all the powerful souls I have acquired lately I’ve grown far beyond that point.”

“But Iseris had no attack points and it can’t survive the end of the turn. What good is it when it’s useless?”

“But it’s not useless…” Celestia took a step back as Midnight held up her Iseris card. “Iseris is nothing but a smaller piece of something far greater, the full puzzle if you will…”

“So, using Iseris to take over Equestria was never your real plan from the start?”

“Not quite… Originally I had planned on using Iseris as a way of destroying you and rebuilding Equestria anew but new developments arose that made me change plans…”

“And what developments were those…?”

“First was your creation of that blasted spell card. You only defeated me last time because I was arrogant and let you fuse your monster with mine; not knowing it had the power to actually destroy Iseris. Now that I know its power, that isn’t happening again. That is why I gathered Trixie, Gilda and Blueblood. All 3 of them had a personal vendetta against one of your more important subjects so I trusted them to get them alone. After all, without a duel partner Harmony Fusion might as well be dead weight. You can’t fuse with an opponent’s monster unless they allow you to.”

“That didn’t go as planned though…” Celestia interrupted. “Blueblood foolishly allowed Spike into his duel with Rarity and you allowed your rage to cloud your judgement when Kaiba got the best of you.”

“The second development came up when you defeated me the first time and banished me to the Shadow Realm. Even though you defeated me my power still remained so the shadows failed to completely consume me. Once I was there in the Shadow Realm, I learned that our world was not the only connected to the shadows; there was another; a world separated from ours with their own Egyptian God Cards still intact. Once I managed to escape, I begun preparations knowing it wouldn’t be long before you found me out. Without any god cards to power Iseris, I decided to take a gamble and it worked perfectly. You were so terrified of me; you took a risk and brought the Pharaoh of Egypt here to Equestria just like I planned.”

“It was a risk I was willing to take. The Pharaoh respects his cards and the gods and can use their power to their fullest. You abuse the gods and use their power for your own twisted game; I’m willing to bet you don’t even know all their special abilities…”

“What abilities the gods have mean nothing to me… It doesn’t matter anyway since I don’t need the gods anymore, I have to thank Trixie for that…”

“How is Trixie involved?”

“Simple, I knew she had potential but after her encounter with the Element of Magic something about her changed. It was like a fire had been awakened just begging to be let out. Once Gilda and Blueblood had been defeated, I decided to pour all my energy into her without being forced to split it 3 ways, the result was quite surprising. Iseris reformed and manifested into a new incarnation based on what was in her heart. The resulting monster was Vengeance Nightmare Magician, a monster with the same pain and anguish she herself had felt.”

“So, you’re trying to replicate that then? You’re trying to summon Iseris through another card.”

“It’s not as easy as that. Trixie is unique, like Twilight she has a massive power swelling inside of her so it was easy for her to awaken that power. In order for me to awaken that power, I need to increase my own strength. Iseris is just the first of three pieces I need to reach that goal…”

“And the other two?”

“I’m already in possession of one and I am nearing the third…”

Celestia just stared at Midnight deep in thought while Midnight just looked back at her unmoving. Celestia suddenly realized what she meant and her face reflected that. “Discord… The third piece is Discord…”

“Discord, Nightmare Moon, Iseris… The three great tragedies of Equestria... That is the legend of the purge…”

“But it won’t work; my sister was cleansed of her darkness. Even if you have Iseris and Discord it won’t matter without Nightmare Moon.” Midnight didn’t reply, she simply smiled back at Celestia. “You… You can’t…”

“And I will…” Midnight turned her attention away from Celestia and to the statue of a chaotic Draconequus. “Now if you don’t mind, I have business to attend to…” The mare reached into her cloak and pulled out a card with a blank front. She held it up to the statue. “Spirit of Chaos! I release from your prison and merge your power with mine!”

“No, you can’t! You can’t handle that much chaos energy flowing through your body! It will destroy you!” Discord’s statue started glow brightly as well as the card. Nothing happened at first but the statue suddenly exploded into the flurry of dark blue and purple energy creating a stream of light leading into the card. Unable to control the raw energy flowing through her, her physical body dissolved into energy leaving nothing but a pink-colored silhouette. The mare launched into the air like a bullet spiraling in circles before erupting into a series of black explosions.

“GrrrrraaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Midnight roared. Her energy started to reform together creating an entirely new body unfamiliar to her. She could feel her legs stretching apart, extending her height. Several bones in her body including her neck, spine and skull were showing an extreme amount of pain. As her transformation completed, the silhouette vanished showing her completely new form.

Celestia took several steps back. “What kind of monster have you become…?” Up in the sky, Midnight hovered much larger than she was before. Her coat had darkened to the point of being almost pure black and she had grown to nearly the same size as Celestia and had a couple new appendages; a horn and a pair of wings. Her wings were similar to dragon wings but the webbing between the bones were glowing a bright pink-like color. Her horn was all crooked and bent in unusual ways and the mark of Iseris on her forehead was glowing the same pink color as her wings.

“This… This power… She wasn’t kidding when she said Discord’s power was intense...” She looked down for a moment noticing she was now hovering several feet in the air with Celestia staring directly up at her. She snickered to herself before dropping downwards towards and the ground and slammed down shaking the ground. Once she fully extended her legs, she stood perfectly eye to eye with Celestia. “So how does it feel to not be looking down on little old me for once?” Celestia didn’t respond but she was slightly twitching was the sight. “Now what was that about me not being able to handle Discord’s power? I feel greater than ever!”

“You… You’re a monster…”

“Monster is just an opinion…” Midnight stepped up closer to Celestia and leaned in very close. She kept leaning in until their muzzles were touching. “Tyrant…” Celestia just stared back into Midnight’s eyes, she had never seen them this close before and it made her uncomfortable. The anger and rage… The pain and suffering… Celestia could see everything just by looking into her eyes. They stared for several more moments before Midnight pulled away and flapped her wings. As she did, a black portal formed below her and her body started dissolving into the hole. “Sayonara… Princess Celestia…” With several black sparks, Midnight’s body vanished completely leaving the Princess there alone.

“Midnight Rose…”

Despite her situation, Twilight stood her ground and stood strong. “I may only have 2 cards left but I refuse to give up.” Twilight drew her card and her eyes went wide when she saw the trap she had drawn. ‘Foretold Prophecy? This card may actually give me a chance to win! With the right conditions Foretold Prophecy lets me recover a card from my graveyard.’ She looked down at her deck. ‘I made sure to memorize every single card in my deck and if the last card in my deck is what I think it is, all I need to do is use this trap to recover my Monster Reborn which I should have lost earlier thanks to Trixie’s deck destruction...’ “Alright Trixie, I’ll start by switching my World of Prophecy to defense mode.” She turned the card to its side and her monster kneeled down.

World of Prophecy
< DEF: 2400 >

“Next, I’ll lay a card face-down and end my turn… Your move Trixie…”

Trixie frowned. “What are you up Twilight?” Twilight said nothing, she just smirked at Trixie. “Alright then…” Trixie drew her card and smirked herself. “I’ll also play a card face-down…” Another card appeared on the field. “Make your move Sparkle…”

“Oh, I will!” Twilight rested her hoof on the single card left in her deck. “I… DRAW!” Twilight spun around making a full 360 spin and bright light shot out from her duel disk as she drew her final card. She turned it over and her eyes gleamed. “I play-”

“NOT SO FAST SPARKLE!” Twilight gasped at Trixie’s intrusion. “Before you make your move, I have a trap card of my own to activate.”

“What? No!”

“GOOOOOO! DARK PROPHECY!” The card flipped and sparked with black lightning. “This card can only be activated during your Draw Phase by giving up 1000 life points.”

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 1650 → 650 >

“Now if I can correctly predict the name of the card that you just drew, not only do you lose your entire hand but your life points are cut in half!” Trixie held her hoof up high and then pointed towards Twilight. “I predict the card you just drew was Harmony Fusion!” The color suddenly drained from Twilight’s face. She stared forward in total shock and just dropped all the cards she was holding letting them fall to the ground. The cards bounced off the dirt before landing flat on the ground.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 350 → 175 >

Trixie couldn’t help but crack up. “Ah-AHAHAHAHAAAAA! You’re so predictable! Flashy light shows are my forte Sparkle, not yours… And now thanks to your incompetence, you’ve lost the only card that gave you a chance of winning of this duel.”

“YEAH! Go Trixie!” Starshine cheered.

“You know what is really sad? Harmony Fusion wouldn’t have even worked; did Celestia even tell you how that card works?” Twilight didn’t respond, she just looked up at Trixie walking towards her. “Going into a solo duel expecting to use Harmony Fusion is suicidal. Not only do you need another player to supply a monster, but that player has to agree to the fusion. Simply using an opponent’s monster won’t work! Harmony Fusion… Is USELESS!” She lifted up her right hoof and stomped on the spell card. She repeated to stomp it multiple times causing the cardboard to crinkle up and fold in unintended ways. Finally, she rubbed it around the ground tearing up the paper. When she finally lifted her hoof, Harmony Fusion was a mess. While still in one piece, the card was almost completely destroyed.

Twilight picked up the card and just stared at it; the text was so ruined that it was completely ineligible and the image which at one point had a spiraling rainbow background covered by a six-pointed star like her cutie mark was just a mess of tears and wrinkles. “No… Not like this…”

Trixie chuckled. “Now, why don’t I show you how a real professional does it!” Trixie held her hoof over dueling deck causing a sinister black light to glow from it. “You think that you’re the only one with a destiny, well your wrong… I hold power beyond your wildest imaginations. The pathway to my vengeance is paved in your doom and I’ll be the one to create that path!” Trixie began to mimic Twilight’s motions move for move, spinning in the air with red glowing eyes and pulling her card with an intense black lightning. “BEHOLD MY VENGEANCE!” Once Trixie turned over her card, her smile grew as large she could possibly stretch it. “Your time is up Twilight Sparkle, time to send you Tartarus where you belong! I activate… Chaos Hatred! This card allows me to evolve my magician into its most powerful form in existence as long as I give up something in return…” She placed her hoof over her heart and clenched it. As she clenched it, several sickly black veins started growing out from her heart. “I SACRIFICE MY VENGEACE NIGHTMARE MAGICIAN AND GIVE UP EVERY LAST ONE MY LIFE POINTS IN ORDER TO CALL FORTH MY ETERNAL HATRED!!!”

Trixie Lulamoon
< LP: 650 → 0 >

Twilight gasped at Trixie’s seemingly suicidal move but before she could ask, she and Starshine were suddenly blown back by a powerful force. Trixie screamed into the air causing several dark purple cracks to appear in the sky, almost as if the time and space was tearing itself apart. The cracks ripped opened sending several beams of energy toward Trixie and her magician. The light formed a sphere around them sparking with black electricity. The sphere sparked again but this time it starting form together into a new creature. “My everlasting hatred will tear you apart leaving nothing left…” The creature was massive; at least ten times the size of her magician. It had long black plated arms with razor sharp claws. Its body was serpent-like with no legs and just one really long tail. It had a massive vertical facing mouth on its chest with a cracked red crystal inside just like the Nightmare Magician. It had two massive feathered wings with another pair of hands at the end of the wings. Finally, its head had 5 large horns along the back of its head creating what almost looked like a crown and had another wide mouth with two bright red eyes. “This is the end Twilight Sparkle! My eternal hatred, Nightmare… Eternity… DRAGON!”

Nightmare Eternity Dragon
< Level 10 / ATK: 3000 >

Twilight took a couple steps back in disgust looking at the monster. “What do you think Twilight Sparkle!? Are your legs shaking in fear yet!?” Trixie’s voice echoed from above with its double overlapping voice.

“Where did you go? I can’t see you anywhere.”

“I’m right here Twilight, just look up.” Twilight looked upward at the dragon. Up on top of the dragon’s head, Trixie could be seen with her body below her waist completely emerged into the dragon. “By merging my very being with my magician, I have evolved Vengeance Nightmare Magician to a whole new level. Now I’ll have the pleasure of destroying you personally! HAHAHAHAAAA!”

“But I don’t understand; you have no life points so you should lose!”

“Normally that would be the case but don’t forget I sacrificed all my life points to summon this monster in the first place. My life force has been bonded to this monster and as long as it remains on the field, my life points don’t matter anymore!” Twilight quivered and took a few steps back. “It’s hopeless Twilight; this form is even more powerful than the last!” Trixie just laughed from above the dragon. “Nightmare Eternity Dragon, attack World of Prophecy! Eternity Vortex!”

Twilight did a double take. “Wha- But how…? My Swords of Revealing Light is still in play!” Nightmare Dragon charged up black lightning into its mouth for a few moments before releasing a powerful tempest of black and white, snapping the swords in the half. Twilight’s monster looked just as stunned as her and didn’t even try to block as the whirlwind engulfed it in mere seconds. The tornado ripped at the monster and tore its body apart before the individual limbs exploded. The resulting explosion blew Twilight back several feet as well, causing her to tumble backward hitting the ground between backflips. The unicorn slowly pushed herself back up, working against the pain. “I… I don’t get it… How did you monster get around my swords of revealing light…? What are you up to Trixie…?”

Trixie lightly chuckled to herself before breaking into a full laughter. “It’s all thanks to the special ability of my Nightmare Eternity Dragon! As long as he is on the field, you can’t active any cards during battle and all face-up cards you control are negated!” Twilight gasped.

Twilight tried standing up but doubled over in pain, causing her to grab her shoulder. “But… But I thought you said you would beat me without attacking…?”

Trixie chuckled. “That’s what I planned originally but when I saw how pathetic you were, I decided to make a change of plans to prolong your suffering!” Trixie started with chuckle and broke into a full laughter, even the sky was now sparking with black lightning with her laughter. “After my Dragon attacks, his special ability allows me to send any spell card from my deck to the graveyard. Then, I’m allowed to activate the effect of the spell card I sent.” Trixie pulled out a single card from her deck and slowly slid it into her graveyard. “I send the spell card Blessing of Phoenix! It’s a card I threw it just for this occasion...” When the card appeared, the arena was shrouded in the bright red glow. The silhouette a golden phoenix appeared above the field before promptly vanishing. “Thanks to the effect of this spell card, when a monster is destroyed in battle, it automatically gets revived back to the field in attack mode.” Twilight’s graveyard began to glow red and a trail of ashes swirled into the air from the slot. They stood airborne for a few moments before bursting into flames, giving shape to Twilight’s monster releasing red sparkles.

World of Prophecy
< Level 9 / ATK: 2900 >

“Blessing of Phoenix also restores any life points you lost when your monster was destroyed. You didn’t lose any life points though so that doesn’t really help you here.”

Now she was really confused. “But what was the point of summoning back the monster you just destroyed? What was the point of that…?”

Trixie held her head and lightly chuckled. She suddenly looked back up at Twilight with the most crazed looked Twilight had ever seen, the look of somepony who had completely tipped over the edge. “HAHAHAHA-HA-HA-HAHAHA!” Even Starshine was getting a little creeped out at this point and took a couple steps back. “AHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!” Trixie just stared at Twilight. Her eyes so tiny they were almost completely gone and her laughter sounded as though it was coming from a deranged psychopath. Trixie’s mind was completely gone… “NIGHTMARE ETERNITY DRAGON, ATTACK AGAIN!” Her dragon did a complete repeat as before and shredded Twilight’s monster effortlessly, blowing the unicorn back again actually doing damage to her this time around.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 175 → 75 >

Twilight tried pulling herself up again but failed, she was completely fatigued. “No… What is… Going on…?”

Trixie continued to laugh non-stop. “I ACTIVATE NIGHTMARE ETERNITY DRAGON’S SPECIAL ABILITY! I SEND ANOTHER BLESSING OF PHOENIX TO THE GRAVEYARD MEANING YOUR WORLD OF PROPHECY COMES BACK!” Just like before, Twilight’s monster was revived from the ashes of death and Twilight’s life points were restored.

World of Prophecy
< Level 9 / ATK: 2900 >

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 75 → 175 >

“What is…”

“ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!” Once again, Twilight’s monster was ripped apart blowing Twilight back and causing several cuts to appear on her body.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 175 → 75 >

“AH-AHAHAHAHAAAAA! AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!” Like a broken record, everything replayed again exactly as before. World of Prophecy returns, Twilight gains life points and Trixie attacks again. Twilight had painfully landed on her back completely unable to move or even speak. “I may be out of Blessing spell cards but that doesn’t mean the suffering is over! I use my dragon’s special ability!” Trixie slid another card into her graveyard. “This allows me to activate my Spelled to Perfection spell card. Since I have 3 copies of the same spell in my graveyard, this allows me to return one of them to my hand.” Trixie ejected the 3 spell cards from her graveyard. “But oh, it doesn’t end there. The other 2 copies are then shuffled into my deck allowing me to use the effect 3 more times!” Trixie took 2 of the cards and slid them into her deck causing the auto-shuffler to activate. “Hope you’re ready for a repeat performance Sparkle! Today’s show is…” Trixie held up both her hooves into the air. “THE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OF A WORTHLESS PROTEGY UNICORN!” Trixie’s Blessing of Phoenix spell activated once again reviving Twilight’s monster and restoring her life points.

World of Prophecy
< Level 9 / ATK: 2900 >

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 75 → 175 >

Twilight’s monster was on the field for no more than 5 seconds before it was painfully ripped into pieces by the vortex. The whirlwind kept going passed the monster and slammed into Twilight, launching her into the air screaming. Twilight fell back down shortly after and hit the ground hard sending dust everywhere.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 175 → 75 >

“YES, YES, YES! MORE, MORE, MORE!” Trixie used her second Blessing of Phoenix causing World of Prophecy to return again and her life points restored for the fifth time. “DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!”

“No…” Twilight barely breathed out.

The whirling tornado tore through her monster once again and struck her on the ground. Twilight just laid there on her back and screamed in pain again.

Twilight Sparkle
< LP: 175 → 75 >

Starshine stood their speechless watching Trixie brutal rampage. A weird feeling starting plaguing her, something she didn’t quite understand. She put her hoof to her head and closed her right eye grunting in pain. Her normally pink eye suddenly began to flicker between a blood red and a bright yellow color. Trixie repeated the cycle for the sixth time and attacked yet again leaving Twilight on her back staring into the night sky with her near colorless right eye half shut. ‘If she attacks me one more time… I… Don’t think I’ll survive…’ single tear fell down the side of her face. ‘I’m sorry Trixie, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…’

Trixie continued her non-stop laughter. “How does it feel Sparkle? That feeling of hopelessness and despair I am all too used to... It doesn’t feel good, does it? Don’t worry Sparkle; it will all be over soon… Thanks to Nightmare Eternity Dragon, I can send the spell card Final Vengeance from my deck to the graveyard and activate its effect…” Trixie took the card out of her deck and showed it off to Twilight. “My Dragon has the ability to attack repeatedly as long as you have a monster on the field but since you don’t have any more monsters on the field, I can’t attack... However, since the last monster you controlled was destroyed in battle by my dragon, I can use this spell card to allow my dragon to attack one last time with half its attack points.”

Starshine released her head and starting clenching her chest. “Trixie…” She cried out in pain. Trixie however didn’t seem to notice. She just held out her last card preparing to send it to the graveyard.

“Time to die, Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie swung her right hoof over to her graveyard slot, everything in complete slow motion. Just as she brought her hoof over her graveyard, her heart pulsed. Trixie stopped the moment she felt it, it wasn’t something she had felt in a while. “What…?” She asked with her voice back to normal. She suddenly heard a painful thud to her right. When she looked over, she was terrified to see Starshine had collapsed on the ground. She had her right hoof on her chest and appeared to be struggling with some kind of pain. “No… Starshine!” As fast as she could, Trixie detached herself from her dragon and jumped down to Starshine. “Starshine! Starshine! What’s wrong!?”

Starshine just rolled around, grunting in pain. “Trixie… It hurts…”

Trixie looked all over Starshine’s body to find an injury but couldn’t find any. “Where does it hurt?” Starshine didn’t respond, she just rolled onto her back and continued to clutch her chest. “Your… Heart…? But why…” A small light started forming in front Trixie, right where Starshine was lying. She looked down at Starshine and at that moment, she instantly knew the problem. Starshine’s cutie mark had come in, an image of two hearts overlapping each other with a blue shield around the two hearts. “No… No…” Starshine struggled to open her left eye, revealing her pink eye had completely changed to a bright yellow. “Starshine… You are…” A large amount of tears started forming in Trixie’s eyes; a sudden painful realization had come at her in the worst possible way. “It’s me… Trixie is killing you…”