Yu-Gi-Oh! Myths of Equestria

by SoundBreakers

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Human, Doctor Whooves, Main 6, Original Character, Spike, Comedy, Random, Adventure, Derpy Hooves, Crossover
Length: 52139

What do you get when you mix card games, Greek gods, ponies, and the primordial Greek Titan of Chaos attempting to subjugate two planets with a world ending apocalypse?

Jason Tyrell, an aspiring professional duelist, is a young man in school, who plays with old bits of machinery in his spare time. When he starts having repeating nightmares regarding the destruction of our world at the hands of terrifying forces, he starts to suspect that something is not quite as it seems. It isn't long before he finds out he is right, and him and his friends are pulled into a battle for the very Earth, with the power of the ancient gods at their fingertips.

Meanwhile, in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle is extremely agitated. After some routine research into divination under the orders of Celestia, she forsees the destruction of Equestria at the hands of otherworldly forces, and a game of dark and terrible power. How will she be able to stop the end of the world, and how do these "shadow games" relate to it?

These two worlds will be linked during a seemingly innocent duel between Jason, and his rival, Chris, and the lives of the inhabitants of the two planets will never be the same again.

Published 2013-07-19 18:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-07 15:26:10 UTC

Chapter 1: The Coming of a Clockwork King

The first sense that assaulted his brain was the heat.

The feeling of opening an oven door and letting the heat trapped inside wash over you.

He felt it over his entire body.

Everywhere in sight, he could see people running in abject terror, mothers crying as they tried to protect their children, herding them away from the water and the rain and the fire that threatened to consume them. He turned his head to see the cause of all the chaos and bedlam.

They were three great bests, vaguely humanoid, so tall and so gigantic that they blocked out the sun, casting shadows over their daunting and muscular forms. It was hard to concentrate on a single one, as the scent of salt, blood and ozone permeated the air, filling his nostrils and turning his stomach, but he managed to focus on one; a bearded man, dripping with water, armed with what appeared to be a humongous trident, piercing the sky. He watched as the tip of the trident collided with the weapon of one of the other combatants, another man with shorter hair and a thunderbolt clasped in his massive hands. The thunderbolt armed titan parried the strike of the trident before turning and throwing his weapon at the third; a gaunt figure armed with a scythe blacker than the night, a helmet seemingly crafted of pure darkness resting on his head. The thunderbolt extended from his hand and leapt towards the dark figure, who evaporated into mist and shadows before the lightning could come into contact with him, reforming into his fearsome visage shortly after.

It was at this point that he decided to look behind him, whereupon he staggered back in alarm; another titanic body was positioned behind him, proportionally smaller than the other giants, his face and body scarred and crippled, but with fire and passion burning in his eyes. The figure did not move however, just standing and staring at the fighting gods, sadness etched all over his face. The boy looked away from the fire-faced man and noticed that there were many other teenagers just like him, and what seemed like colourful ponies, their coats dulled with soot, standing before their own humongous avatar. They seemed to notice him, but their attention was soon taken back to the three warriors engaged in mortal combat with one another.

He sighed at all the pain and fear and death surrounding him, this was not what he wanted. He wanted peace, not endless violence like this. The Elements had failed him; he was powerless to stop these titans from fighting each other until the world would fall apart. He began to tear up, he wanted to know what happened to the six unusual friends he had made and lost in such a short period of time, and he dearly wished that everything would turn out okay. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he failed to notice the offshoot of electrical energy that sparked from the collision of the thunderbolt and the scythe, frying his brains and boiling his blood in a millisecond.

Jason Tyrell woke with a start, panting with sweat running down his brow. He sighed in relief; it was just another dream, the third one like it this week. With a grunt he decided to roll out his bed, and he fell face down straight onto the floor, slamming his nose into the wood. Jason was a young man, by the bright age of seventeen, and he was an aspiring duelist. It was the year 2026, and the card game “Duel Monsters” had revolutionised the world, becoming a cornerstone of modern society and infrastructure. Jason lived in the city of London, England, one of the last countries to fall in with the new society. While America and Japan had had their own fair share of famous duelists, like the well-known Satellite underdog Yusei and the legendary King of Games, Yugi Moto, the United Kingdom had never had its own duelist to call a King, none had managed to live up to the outrageously high standards of the rest of the world. It was his dream to become the first. His dream was what spurred him on, and he would commit his life to his goal, if it wasn’t for the fact he was not even the best duelist in his class. That position belonged to Chris Haddock, the most dedicated, hardworking and self-centred student at school. Jason had never been fond of him, but he had to admire his duelling abilities, as every time they had duelled together he had lost horribly and was mocked and jeered away from the arena. The only person who helped him through his frequent losses was his best friend Teagan. Teagan was a duelist too and was Jason’s most frequent duelling partner. They had been friends for as long as they could remember, and since Teagan’s parents died, he was the only person he really had. His mother had agreed to let Teagan live with them until he was eighteen, and Jason’s sister had already taken quite the shine to his “perfect blond hair” and his “chiselled jaw of pure sexy”. Jason was pleased to have his best friend-turned-blood brother live with them, as it gave them extra time to practise their duelling, and that practise was going to pay off, for today he was going to have to duel Chris again, and he needed to get ready for the day. Jason quickly showered and towelled himself off, before having a shave and brushing his teeth, using the toilet and gelling his dark black hair. Jason was a reasonably fit young man, about six foot tall and had medium length black hair. His eyes were an amalgamation of blue and sea green and his long legs gave him a powerful stride. He dressed himself quickly in a pair of blue jeans and grey shirt, before wearing his favourite blue jacket and putting on his red running shoes. He stared at himself in the mirror, smiling, checking his image from different angles before the cry of “BREAKFAST” echoed from downstairs. In a brief flash of blind panic, Jason grabbed his deck and duel disk before rocketing downstairs at speeds Usain Bolt would be proud of (his mother was a scary woman when kept waiting). He arrived into the kitchen with seconds to go, mum was just about to put the cereal onto the table and Ashley, his twin sister, was already there eating.

“There you are! You took your time!” mum hissed with the venom of a thousand snakes, smiling evilly all the time. Jason cringed under his mother’s intense glare, and accepted his cereal bowl with apprehension. His mother laughed at his over cautiousness and returned to the counter, slicing two sides from the loaf and placing them into the toaster. Jason began to eat at his cereal while his sister looked up at him from across the table and chuckled, smiling deviously. Jason caught sight of this and inquired, slightly irritated,

“Is something the matter?” he asked. Ashley just laughed and replied,

“I heard that your duel exam was with Chris today. Ready to get your arse beaten again?”

“Oh hah hah, very funny. Glad to know my sister doesn’t even support me.”

“Oh lighten up you grumpy bastard!”

“Language,” mum interrupted.

“Sorry mum. But anyway, I was only kidding, I’m sure you’re gonna do fine!”

“Thanks Ashley, I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit you know,”

“Still a form of wit,” Jason countered.

“You know, maybe you’d be a better duelist if you stopped tinkering with those old machine parts every day.”

“Hey, leave me alone! I’ve made useful things with them!”

“Oh yeah? What have you built, a precision engineered coat hanger?”

“No! I upgraded my duel disk!”

“Well what does it do now?”

“I improved its holomatrix.”

“Oh wow! You must be so proud of yourself!”

“What was that about sarcasm being the lowest form of wit?”

“Still a form of wit!”

“I hate you...” Jason conceded.

“You’re so kind to me, brother dear.”

“I make it a priority of mine.”

"You’re welcome anyway.” Ashley let her mind wander for a moment before apparently settling on a topic she liked,

“Hey mum, where’s Teagan, I haven’t seen him all morning?” Mum just rolled her eyes sarcastically,

“He left already, something about getting to school early for a duel?”

“Yeah, he went off to get some extra practise before the duelling exams this afternoon.” Jason added, eating another spoonful of his cereal.

“That reminds me, don’t you have to get to school early as well?” Mum pipped in to the conversation.

“Not for another few minutes, I have an extra few moments to prepare.”

“Jason’s final exam is with the school champion, Chris, and he’s gonna need the second coming of Jesus to win that duel.” Ashley contributed.

“Well I’m sure my little baby will do just fine!”

“Mum!” Jason protested at his mum’s pet name for him.

“Yeah, “baby”, you’ll be fine!” Ashley jeered.

“Oh, nuts to you all, I’m going to school!”

“Don’t forget your deck dear!” Mum called as Jason finished his cereal, picking up his duel disk and heading for the door.

“I wont!” Jason replied as he left the house behind him.

“Bye baby!”

“Bye baby!” Ashley mocked.

“Shut up Ashley!” Jason called as the door slammed shut behind him. He jogged around the left side of his house, following his driveway up to the front gate, where his bicycle was locket to a nearby bike rack. He painstakingly unlocked it from its rack, rolled it into the road and mounted its saddle, cycling off out of the driveway.

Jason cycled up to the school’s main gates and dismounted his bike, locking it around a lamp post on the street corner. He removed his duel disk from his backpack and fixed it to his arm, inserting his cards into its deck holder, before venturing across the road and into the main schoolyard. The schoolyard itself was little more like a series of tennis courts outside the main school building, with a fenced walkway leading to it. The tennis course themselves were recently converted to also allow duels to take place, with holographic emitters installed in the floodlights. Jason wandered across the yard, and was met with several students duelling each other, having fun and laughing all the way. He ambled amongst his fellow students, looking for his opponent for the day, Chris. Jason was going to defeat his rival, and he was going to get an A* in his grades, if it was the last thing he was to do at this school. It wasn’t long before he found his rival, clad in a red shirt and a black overcoat, with black jeans to match. His hair was cut long, brown and tousled, and his eyes were staring right into Jason’s. Jason met his gaze and smiled, he knew exactly what was coming.

They both wordlessly equipped his duel disk, with Chris inserting his deck into his disk. The other students began to take notice of the impending duel, and stalled in their moves. The rivalry between Jason and Chris was the most famous in the entire school and no one wanted to miss what was promising to be an impressive matchup.

“Hey, Jason! Kick this guy’s arse for me!” a voice called from the sidelines. Jason whipped his head around to locate its source, and was met with the encouraging, mischievous face of a boy with blond hair and a chiselled jaw facing him back,

“Thanks Teegs!” Jason replied, sharing a salute of support with his best friend, before turning back to Chris, who still remained silent. Jason narrowed his vision and pressed the activation button on his duel disk, which located and synchronized with Chris’ readying the duel to start, “Hey Chris, you ready for the rematch?” Chris activated his duel disk as well, an artificial feminine voice affirming that the duel was ready to start. His eyes looked downwards towards his deck, his hand checking its thickness, before his gaze met Jason’s again.

“Let’s duel.”

DUEL START

JASON LP: 4000

CHRIS LP: 4000

JASON TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Jason reached his hand towards his deck and whipped his first card from his deck and placed it in his hand, forming his hand of six. He searched the cards displayed before him for his first move, and when he decided on his strategy for the turn, he narrowed his eyes, smiled and started his turn.

STANDBY PHASE:

MAIN PHASE 1:

1) Jason summons Green Gadget in attack mode, adding a Red Gadget from his deck to his hand.

2) Jason activates Gadget’s Cornucopia of Cogs

http://tinypic.com/r/1etipt/5

RESULT = HEADS

3) Jason searches his deck for three Gadget cards and adds them to his hand.

Jason smiled as his eyes scanned the cards he chose, particularly examining his ace monster among the chosen cards. He locked eyes with Chris, who kept his face calm and coldly indifferent as he pulled the card from his hand and prepared to slam it onto his duel disk,

“Say hello to my favourite monster, the infallible Gadgetman!” Chris raised an eyebrow in mild amusement, slightly unnerving Jason, but he preserved regardless.

4) Jason special summons Gadgetman from his hand

http://tinypic.com/r/28iv5/5

5) Jason equips Green Gadget and Red Gadget from the hand to Gadgetman using its effect, increasing its level by three.

6) Jason special summons Gadget Spearman from his hand

http://tinypic.com/r/x60qz5/5

7) Jason overlays Gadgetman and Gadget Spearman to Xyz Summon Gadgetman Pro.

Jason cheered happily, jumping up and down and shaking his arm in excitement as his upgraded monster hit the field, the spectators nearby murmuring amongst themselves in approval of Jason’s first turn play. He overheard the spectators muttering amongst themselves;

“Wow, this guy really CAN duel!” one voice stood out, with another one uttering,

“This isn’t over yet, Chris is the school champ, I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeve.” Jason was determined to prove the second comment wrong; he was going to defeat his enemy and rival if it was the last thing he did. Chris, however, was still as silent and composed as before. Jason resumed with his turn.

8) (Light Attribute, rank four, Warrior/Xyz/Effect, ATK 2500 DEF 2100, “1 level 4 Gadget monster + 1 level 4 Gadgetman

The monsters used as Xyz material monsters are sent to the graveyard and all Gadgets equipped to those cards become this cards new Xyz material monsters, You may detatch 1 Xyz material monster and equip it to this card, or unequip a Gadget equipped to this card to and make it an Xyz material monster instead. This card gets the following effects for each card equipped.

*Red Gadget: This card gains 1000 attack

*Yellow Gadget: You detach 1 Xyz material monster to destroy target card on the battlefield.

*Green Gadget: You can detatch 1 Xyz material monster to have this card attack twice this turn.”)

http://tinypic.com/r/118m0rp/5

9) The Gadgetman and Spearman are returned to the deck. Gadgetman - Pro is equipped with Red and Green Gadget. (Gadgetman - Pro: 3500 ATK 2100 DEF)

10) Jason special summons Gadget Swordsman using its effect.

http://tinypic.com/r/2ylw769/5

11) Jason equips Green Gadget from his hand to Gadget Swordsman.

12) Jason sets one card face down.

13) Jason ends his turn

END PHASE:

Jason grinned wildly, his first hand had given him, with a bit of luck, the power to pull out one of his strongest monster during his first turn, including a backup monster just in case Chris had any card that was able to take out his Gadgetman - Pro. But he was ready for whatever Chris could throw at him. Chris scanned the monsters on his opponents side of the field and chuckled briefly,

“Nice play, I expected nothing less from a Gadget Deck, but that’s really not going to be enough, let me show you how a real duelist plays card games!”

JASON LP: 4000

CHRIS LP: 4000

CHRIS TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Chris calmly drew a card and glanced at it, smirking cockily, this was going to be the card that turned this duel completely around in one turn.

STANDBY PHASE:

MAIN PHASE 1:

1) Chris activates Muster the Dead

http://tinypic.com/r/33jsa4j/5

2) He scores a two, resulting in adding one Underworld Expansion to his hand.

3) He discards two Underworld Hellhounds

http://tinypic.com/r/2qc3uau/5

to reduce the level of Gadget Swordsman by six, resulting in its banishment, with Green Gadget being sent to the graveyard.

4) Chris special summons one Underworld Hellhound and Agent of the Underworld

http://tinypic.com/r/154hmdl/5

5) Chris banishes Gadgetman - Pro. Red and Green Gadget are sent to the graveyard.

Jason look dumbfounded, and the crowd went deathly silent. Chris had destroyed Jason’s upgraded favourite monster without breaking a sweat, just as easily as he had summoned it. He also had a 2800 ATK point monster for attacking, and Jason had only a single face-down card to defend himself. Chris’ lips formed a sly smile and he continued his turn.

6) Chris normal summons Underworld Soulmaster

http://tinypic.com/r/2s96r1k/5

7) Chris reduces the level of Agent of the Underworlds level to four.

8) Chris tunes Agent of the Underworld and Underworld Hellhounds to Synchro Summon Spirit of Tartarus

http://tinypic.com/r/ao59qo/5

Jason gasped in fear as what appeared to be a black hole formed inside the card, sucking the light from its surroundings into its gaping maw. For the first time in the duel, Chris’ expression began to change, and he started to laugh. Initially it was only a light chuckle, but it escalated into full-on cackling, as his monster grew in size and power. He looked Jason in the eyes and said softly,

“Now, get ready to really see what the real power of the Underworld is!”

9) Chris tributes Spirit of Tartarus to special summon Gadget Swordsman and Gadgetman - Pro

Jason yelled in anger,

“Hey, leave my monsters alone!” Chris merely smiled as he twirled Jason’s Gadgetman - Pro around his fingers,

“Sorry, my little Gadget-Boy, but this card is mine for now.”

10) Chris attacks Jason directly with Gadgetman - Pro.

11) Jason activates Gadget's Dummybot

http://tinypic.com/r/29nw0tt/5

12) Gadgetman - Pro <--> Gadgetman - Pro Dummybot

Chris’s happy expression warped to one more concerned and manic as he registered that his ploy had been thwarted. Jason just smiled awkwardly, he acknowledged that he had an extra turn of safety to continue fighting, but he had only one card in his hand, and that was useless in this situation. He was relying on blind luck to bring him through the next turn. They both watched on in concern, with their audience cheering on the attacking monsters. But before they collided, everything went black...

... Jason opened his eyes, and his mind reeled at the sensation of being brought back from unconsciousness. He slowly staggered to his feet, massaged his temples and groaned, trying to keep his balance and maintain consciousness. He slowly began to look around, to get a measure of his surroundings, and nearly fainted again; all around him he was surrounded by what appeared to be a cluster of thatched buildings and streets, which seemed to be populated by cartoon technicoloured horses. Some of the ponies had horns or wings, and all were staring in fear at him and the two monsters about to engage in combat in front of them. He took notice that six of these ponies were huddled around each other, one yellow one with pink hair, apparently female, cowering in fear beneath her five friends, while a blue Pegasus with multicoloured hair and a regular blond haired orange pony leered on in anger, seemingly standing guard for their friends, while it seemed that a purple and lavender unicorn appeared particularly dumbfounded at the events taking place, as if they defied every aspect of her reality. He watched in dumbstruck awe as they stared at him in terror, the rest of the ponies were running in fear or staring in horrified curiosity at the events taking place. Jason realised that Chris had come to as well, and he was equally surprised as to his environment.

“Where the hell are we?” he yelled angrily, his calm and collected facade falling apart.

“I don’t know, my guess is as good as yours!” Jason replied.

“Fat lot of good you are then!” Chris seethed, his dark eyes burning with rage. He shook his head angrily and leered at Jason,

“Well, if there’s nothing else we can do, we might as well finish this duel. If I can’t find any answers from you, I might as well just destroy you in this card game and find out from these natives instead!”

“Chris, this is no time for duelling, we need to find out what’s going on here!”

“Well then, you can surrender and lose this duel then, coward!” Chris mocked. Jason felt his forehead burning up in anger at Chris’ taunt. As much as he wanted to find out what was going on, he was NOT going to lose to this arsehole. He looked on in regret as his Dummybot destroyed the Gadgetman - Pro, winds blasting across their faces, something he found quite odd, seeing as it was merely a hologram, but Chris didn’t seem not notice. Jason shook it off, took a combat stance and readied to draw his next card,

“Bring it then.” Chris laughed menacingly, holding his arm strong and close to his chest,

“I end my turn.”

13) Gadgetman - Pro is destroyed

14) Dummybot is removed from the battlefield.

15) Chris ends his turn.

END PHASE:

JASON LP: 4000

CHRIS LP: 4000

JASON TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Jason reached his hand towards his deck and slid his next card from his deck, forming his hand of two. His mouth upturned into a smile as he formulated his next strategy from the cards in his hand.

STANDBY PHASE:

MAIN PHASE 1:

1) Jason activates Gadget’s Cornucopia of Cogs

RESULT = HEADS

2) Jason searches his deck for three Gadget cards and adds them to his hand.

3) Jason normal summons Red Gadget, adding a Yellow Gadget to his hand.

4) Jason special summons Gadget Hunter and Gadget Guardian in defence mode using their effects.

5) Jason equips Red Gadget to Gadget Guardian and Yellow Gadget to Gadget Hunter.

http://tinypic.com/r/11a955k/5 http://tinypic.com/r/2dikadw/5

Jason smiled as his luck paid out, he had some extra time for him to fight, and he decided to make the absolute most of his Gadget Hunter’s direct attack, Chris was going to lose some life points this turn.

BATTLE PHASE:

1) Jason attacks Chris directly with Gadget Hunter

2) Gadget Hunter <--> Chris

3) Chris -1800 Life Points.

4) Chris: 2200 LP

Gadget Hunter leapt up into the air, the ponies looking on in terror as the humanoid robot took to the sky. Jason only chuckled, they were only holograms, their fear was unnecessary! His laughter was cut short when he heard a scream coming from Chris. That was not supposed to happen! Chris knew they were only holograms! And then Jason understood; when the Gadget Hunters gun loosed a bolt of yellow energy, which connected directly with Chris’ gut. Chris screamed out in pain, and Jason’s face fell in horror, these were no holograms! Something had made these monsters real. Chris stumbled back to his feet as Gadget Hunter returned to Jason’s side. His eyes burned with rage and anger, and glared at Jason,

“You’ll pay for that!”

“Chris, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was going to hurt you!”

“I don’t care,” Chris roared, “I’m going to kill you!”

“Chris please, you have to believe me! I didn’t intend for this to happen!”

“Shut up! Just end your turn already and let me get on with slaughtering you!”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to let you beat me! You’re blinded by rage and I can’t let you fight like this!”

“Grrr!”

“I shall continue!”

MAIN PHASE 2:

1) Jason overlays Gadget Hunter and Gadget Guardian to Xyz summon Bronze Drake

http://tinypic.com/r/2n6tedk/5

2) Jason detaches both Xyz material monsters and equips them to Bronze Drake using its effect.

3) Jason ends his turn.

END PHASE:

JASON LP: 4000

CHRIS LP: 2200

CHRIS TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Suddenly, the top card of Chris’ deck began to burn with dark energy, black flames flickering from its surface. The eyes of the ponies nearby were locked on Chris in fear, as a small ring of shadowy fire began to circle around Chris’ feet, the lavender unicorn beginning to show great interest and morbid fascination with what was happening. Chris drew his card with a flourish, filling his mind with horror, desire and gratification simultaneously. This card was... amazing! Chris grinned wickedly, and spoke in a dark voice,

“This game is over!”

STANDBY PHASE:

MAIN PHASE 1:

1) Chris activates Muster the Dead, rolling a four, adding one Asphodel Spirits and Underworld Hellhound to his hand.

2) Chris discards Underworld Hellhound to reduce the level of his Underworld Soulmaster by three, banishing it.

3) Chris special summons Underworld Hellhound and Asphodel Spirits from his hand by Underworld Hellhounds effect.

4) Christ activates Underworld Expansion, increasing their levels to 4.

http://tinypic.com/r/beeas8/5

5) Christ tributes Underworld Hellhound and Asphodel Spirits to special summon Hades - Monarch of the Underworld

http://tinypic.com/r/5vbuip/5

Jason and the ponies screamed in horror, with even the blond and rainbow maned ponies shrieking in fear, as the titanic, gaunt figure of the black titan from Jason’s dreams manifested itself from its card before their eyes, its gigantic frame appearing from behind Chris. He laughed manically and yelled at the top of his voice, the cacophony of the god rising from behind him almost drowning out the sound of his voice,

“Here he is! The darkness from my dreams! He has come to save me!” Jason looked on in horrified awe, as he realised that all of the events of his nightmares were becoming real. He shook his head in sadness, realising that at the moment, Chris was beyond reasoning with,

“You won’t listen to me Chris, but I’m going to defeat you, and I’m going to bring you back into your right mind!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! This god, and now my nightmares, are mine to control!”

“No man should have power over a god,” Jason said solemnly, “By the end of this duel, I swear that I’m going to prove this to you.”

BATTLE PHASE:

1) Chris attacks Bronze Drake with Hades - Monarch of the Underworld

2) Hades <--> Bronze Drake

3) Bronze Drake is destroyed

Jason grunted as his mechanical dragon was busted by the titanic lunge of the scythe of the god of the dead, who punctured its cog, spring and gadget studded hide as if it were made of cardboard, its insides detonating and blowing its hull apart. Huge chunks of its flaming body were flung through the air and came crashing down into the crowd of ponies and nearby buildings, the head of the drake crushing a house that seemed to be made of cupcakes and other baked goods. Jason was tormented by the screams of fear and anguish of the ponies, but the wail of one pony stood up above the others. He searched his field of vision for the source of the voice, and was forced to stifle back tears when he found it. He saw one of the “main six” ponies, a pink one with a flat pink mane scream out in anguish at the sight of the cake building spontaneously detonating under the weight and heat of the charred metal, screaming an incoherent babble of gibberish at the decimated building. The other members of the six were busy trying to comfort her, tears also streaming from their eyes, but the lavender pony made eye contact with Jason, whose eyes were beginning to leak tears of grief. The lavender pony’s face was a mix of sympathy, sorrow and revulsion, and Jason had to look away before it ripped his heart apart. He felt tears begin to flow from his own eyes at the sight of this peaceful town being destroyed by the influence of their duel. He looked up to Chris’ unsympathetic face and his own expression turned from one of grief and sadness to one of anger and righteous fury. He seethed with anger and hissed at Chris,

“You will pay for that, you bastard.” Chris just laughed and announced to the entire area,

“Well everybody, you want to see any salvation? I’ll give your saviour a change to fight back! I end my turn.” Jason winced at his brashness, he was going to rip him apart, even if he didn’t know how he could do it.

END PHASE:

JASON LP: 4000

CHRIS LP: 2200

JASON TURN 3:

DRAW PHASE:

Jason looked to his deck, prayed to the heart of the cards, and reached for the top card. He was about to pull his next draw from his duel disk, when he felt his hand began to heat up. Jason glanced back at his duel disk, noticing that the top card was burning with a bright orange fire. Jason realised what was happening and cast his gaze back to the purple unicorn, who looked at him knowingly. He smiled and reached for the top card, seeing flame beginning to swirl around his body. He drew it with a flourish, fire following in its wake, and looked at the card, but instead of a face, it was merely an image of a burning fire. He was confused for a moment, but suddenly the card began to morph and change, splitting into two, one becoming an equip spell card, and the other becoming a monster card, showing the image of a scarred and wounded man with medium length grey hair, carrying the tools of a forge master and surrounded by flames. Jason read their effects and smiled, this duel was his. He stared Chris dead in the eyes and announced,

“This is over.”

STANDBY PHASE:

MAIN PHASE 1:

1) Jason activates Gadget’s Tick-Tock Time Machine,

http://tinypic.com/r/2agnpmb/5

Jason, Chris and the ponies watched as a series of clockwork machines appeared in the sky, displaying a giant clock face with numerous cogs and springs and mechanical parts spawning from it, which grew like creeper vines and permeated the duelling arena and the surrounding town. The clock began to tick in an anticlockwise direction, the cogs beginning to turn and springs beginning to extend and compress as the events of the last turn beginning to undo themselves, the slabs of drake hide reversing from their original position and returning to their place as the form of Bronze Drake, the baked building returning to its original formation and the flames caused by their pieces extinguishing and disappearing altogether. The pink pony’s hair puffed out and began crying in joy to her friends as a small family of ponies, and older yellow and orange stallion with a pink and blue mare, carrying two foals ran out of the building backwards, reversed in time. Jason sighed in relief as he realised that the ponies that the pink one must have thought died were completely safe. His eyes twinkled and his mouth twisted into a smirk, the Bronze Drake split into two parts which began to morph into humanoid shapes, the steampunk machine dissolved into metallic dust, and the battlefield once again showed his Gadget Hunter and Gadget Guardian, equipped with their Gadgets, cowering in fear in front of the God of the Dead.

“Don’t worry men, have faith in me and yourselves and we will make this out alive,” Jason reassured, and he was quite surprised when this monsters saluted him in acknowledgement. He grinned at his monsters in approver and took a braver battle stance. Jason steeled his soul, and continued his turn, Chris’ confident facade beginning to falter.

2) Jason sacrifices Gadget Hunter and Gadget Guardian to special summon Hephaestus - God of the Forge

http://tinypic.com/r/28vzlg5/5

3) Red and Yellow Gadget are equipped to Hephaestus - God of the Forge.

4) Jason detaches Red and Yellow Gadget to draw two cards.

5) Jason activates Gadgeteer’s Tools of the Forge and equips it to Hephaestus - God of the Forge.

http://tinypic.com/r/2u8jvj8/5

6) Hephaestus - God of the Forge ATK 3500 DEF 4000.

7) Jason activates Gadget’s Gear Shift

http://tinypic.com/r/23tfuxf/5

8) Hephaestus ATK 4000 DEF 5500

9) Jason activates Gadget’s Burst Break

http://tinypic.com/r/9tznkk/5

Chris watched in terror as a huge fiery cone burst forth from the card held in Jason’s hand. His monster began to tear its way from the card and through the cone, Jason staggering back under the stress as he tried to control the power bursting from his fingertips. It was not long before the titan god stood proud and tall, his scarred face and body merely adding to his intimidating visage. Chris could only stare when the titan god pulled the also enlarged Red and Yellow Gadget from out of his mechanic’s apron and fashioned them into two bizarre looking machines, each crackling with eldritch power. Chris could only stare as the equip card bestowed the god with his signature toolbox, a loving smile appearing on his face as he tended to his equipment. His benevolent smile turned into one of anger and wrath as he looked back towards his uncle, the Monarch of the Underworld. And Chris could only stare as the Forgemaster worked on his two machines, transforming one into a kind of motor engine, and the other into a mess of wires and electrical gadgets, which he linked one end to his motor, attaching it to a cybernetic port on his back, and to his tools on the other, causing them to burst with arcane power and crackling yellow and red energy. Chris realised what was about to happen, and Jason merely chuckled in return. The ponies were confused as to what was exactly happening, but they could tell by the atmosphere, and by the fires swirling around Jason and his titan that he had the upper hand, that the battle was nearly over. The purple one looked at Jason like she knew exactly what was happening, which Jason found confusing, but he returned the look and smiled, before turning back to Chris and announcing,

“I said that no man should have control of a god, but I was wrong. Power is never something to be afraid of, as long as it’s held by someone who properly knows how to harness it. I have made the most of my monster, and that is why I am going to win this game.” Chris almost broke down in fear, the shadows beginning to break apart, the lord of death by his side cowering in fright.

“This game is over Chris,” he continued, before raising his arm and pointing it towards Chris, “Hephaestus - God of the Forge, attack Hades - Monarch of the Underworld, and win this duel.” Hephaestus nodded in approval at his master, and dashed forward, with speed and energy granted by the motor, and channelled it into the oversized hand drill that he was using for a weapon. He hit the “on” switch, and the drill burst into life, surrounding the motor, wires and drill with an enormous surge of electrical energy, while his body was encircled with blazing fires.

The drill connected, and it was all over

BATTLE PHASE:

1) Jason attacks Hades - Monarch of the Underworld with Hephaestus - God of the Forge

2) Hephaestus <-->Hades

3) Hades is destroyed.

4) As per the effect of Gadget’s Burst Break, Chris takes damage equal to half the attack of Hephaestus - God of the Forge (2750)

5) Chris -2750 LP

6) Chris: 0 LP

7) Chris loses

8) Jason is Victorious

Jason sighed in happiness as the monsters evaporated and the duel was won. Chris had been blasted back by the attack of Jason’s monster and was on his back, winded, semi conscious and sobbing. Jason began stumbling towards him in exhaustion, with the aid of trying to comfort him and possibly help him back to normality, but his way was blocked by a swarm of ponies that were intent in questioning him to death. He wasn’t really listening to what they were saying, but heard snippets like,

“That was so awesome!”

“What were those darned creatures?!”

“What kind of animal are you?!”

“How does that machine work?!”

“YOUSAVEDTHEMOHMYGOSHYOUSAVEDTHEM!”

“Can you sign my hoof?” He managed to push his way to Chris, who seemed to have a ring of ponies avoiding him, and kneeled down next to him, pushing him over onto his back,

“Hey man, are you alright?” he asked him.

“Scared, scared, scared, scared, scared...” Chris muttered, his arm over his face, muffling his voice.

“Um, excuse me?”

“Punished... Fields of Punishment... Scared... Seven sins...”

“Okay you’re seriously scaring me,” Chris leapt up with a start and seized hold of Jason’s shoulders, the surrounding ponies gasping in shock, with Jason shedding a bead of sweat.

“Pride, too much pride! The Fields of Punishment await. Please don’t let them take me!”

“Okay! I won’t! I won’t let them take you!”

“Friends? Are we friends?” Chris’ face shook with fright, as if this question was a matter of life and death. Jason pondered the question for a moment before wearing a smile and answering,

“Um, sure, I guess.”

“Thank you thank you thank you!” he yelled in happiness, before blacking out completely. Jason just stared, dumbstruck, at what he had seen. He looked around at the eyes of the ponies around him, questioning looks on their faces. They began to ask him questions, but before he could even start to listen to them, his mind began to wander and fade, questions running through his own head as well; what was this world? What had happened to him and Chris? What had happened to Chris to warp him and torment into going mad with power? And what were these titans, and how was he involved? His mind swirled and reeled with confusion, and before he knew it, he was fading back into unconsciousness...

Chapter 1.5: The Visions of a Vigilant Princess

Twilight Sparkle swung her left hoof in anger, knocking her stack of books off the table and falling to the floor with a clatter, the letter she had just received still clasped in her other hoof. A pained look was etched across her face.

“This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening!” she cried in anguish. Spike the Dragon merely looked onwards in confusion, discomfort and mild amusement.

“Twilight, it’s just another homework assignment, you don’t need to take it this seriously!” he appealed to the distressed mare, the edges of a smile beginning to form on his scaly lips. Twilight whipped her head around and glared Spike directly in his eyes, a manic expression on her face.

“Just another assignment? Just another assignment?! JUST ANOTHER ASSIGNMENT?! THIS IS A RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT INTO GRIMOIRE-LEVEL MAGIC FROM PRINCESS CELESTIA HERSELF! THIS IS A TEST FOR ME TO PROVE MYSELF, I KNOW IT! IF I MESS THIS UP SHE COULD THREATEN TO SEND ME BACK TO MAGIC KINDERGARTEN AGAIN!” she screamed at the wide-eyed dragon, the force of the air escaping her lips tossing him across the room like a rag doll and sent him crashing into a nearby bookcase. Spike picked himself from the ground like nothing had happened and tried to reason with the hyperventilating mare in front of him,

“Twilight, she never threatened to send you back there in the first place, that was something you made up yourself! And you know what she thinks about you being tardy, there’s really nothing for you to worry about.”

“But this is magic I’ve never dealt with before! I have to prove myself to the princess or she’ll lose faith in me, and she might disown me as her personal pupil!”

“Hey, you know full well that’s not going to happen!”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no! This is horrible, I’m not ready, I haven’t done any research into Divination before! I might fry my horn, bake my books, cook my brains, or...” Spike dashed off into the Golden Oaks kitchen while Twilight was ranting and fetched a small pail, took a stool, set it up next to the sink, climbed the stool with the bucket, filled it with water, cimbed back down again, rushed back to Twilight, and tossed the water directly onto her face. Twilight silenced immediately, a dazed and confused look plastered on her face.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but you were going crazy, and I needed to snap you out of it! You remember what happened last time you went mad like this,” Spike pleaded, Twilight’s eye twitching under the brisk cold of the water. The baby dragon suddenly realised in horror that he made a grave error; throwing water inside a library. Full of books. In front of Twilight. Into her face. While she was angry. Ooohhhhhhh shiiiii...

“SPIKE, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOUVE JUST DONE?!” He gulped, this was going to be a bad one...

Twilight laid on her bed, hooves spread out in exhaustion, with the letter she had received suspended in front of her face, the paper and her horn glowing with a purple aura.

My Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle

It has come to the time when I have decided to take your magical studies to the next level, and I have thus decided to allow you access to the knowledge of some of the darker secrets included within the pages of the Royal Grimoire of Magic. I would like to educate you in the art of Divination, one of the most chaotic and unpredictable schools of magic in existence. I reason that, as your bond with your friends has grown to the extent that you were able to withstand the onslaught of the living avatar of chaos, the magical energy you have gathered from these experiences should be enough to withstand the more dangerous applications of this magic. As such, I have included three tomes of beginner Divination to start you off in your studies, and I shall expect a detailed report on your progress by this time next week.

One last note of importance - Do not, under ANY circumstances, attempt to look more than two weeks into the future during this one week period, as the knowledge bestowed from Divination can be dangerous to a mind not well versed in its ways. Even great sorcerers such as Hexworth the Feared, Charmcaster the Enlightened, Arkana the Mystic, and even the great Starswirl the Bearded and the current Minister of Magic, Aurora Aegis the Blind, have suffered great consequences while dabbling with aspects of Divination they did not fully understand. While I have utmost faith in your magical abilities, I still believe it would be wise to not subjugate you to visions of any period longer than the two week timeframe I have specified. I wish you the best in your studies.

Good luck.

Princess Celestia

It had been six days since she had read that letter, and Twilight was still yet to experience a single vision. It was eleven o’clock in the night, two hours later than her normal bedtime, and the stress was beginning to take its toll. She rolled around in her bed,  trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in, but ultimately found herself lying on her side, aimlessly staring at the clockwork timepiece resting on her bedside table. The clock was one of her prized (non-book) possessions and had been a personal commission from her to the local town timekeeper, “Time Turner”. It was a masterpiece of clockwork and magi-electrical engineering, and showed the time correct to the nearest micro second on all the several time zones on the planet, with several different alarms scheduled for each one of her personal rituals situated throughout the day. That, and it was beautiful to behold, an enigmatic amalgamation of a curved body, decorated with several turning cogs emerging from the main body, which was imprinted with circular designs and a style of art that she could not associate to any specific art period in Equestrian history. It almost looked organic in nature, like it was grown instead of built by pony hoof, a notion that she still found laughable despite its convincing appearance. When Twilight had questioned her clockmaker on it, he had merely laughed it off, claiming it was a style of building he had taken from his homeland. She had always found that pony fascinating, his Trottingham accent contrasting with his otherworldly mannerisms and exotic personality. She admired the stallion’s handiwork and unusual intellect for a simple clockmaker, and even found her thoughts occasionally wandering to him in times of loneliness when she wasn’t with her friends. But the rumours were he was dating the local Pegasus mailmare or something like that, a notion she was none too happy about. The clock was a nice reminder though, and she found herself comforted by it when she found her mind clouded with advanced psychokinetic modulation equations or suchlike, but this time it was not working like it normally did. There was something nagging her mind, like there was some sort of dread lingering over her, and she just couldn’t seem to be able to shake it off. Twilight tossed and turned in her bedsheets, the stress of Celestia’s assignment and the dread eating at her own mind depriving her of any chance of an easy night’s sleep. Eventually, she decided she couldn’t take it; she needed to have a vision, or it was going to drive her mad. She rolled out her bed, and she fell face down straight onto the floor, slamming her muzzle into the wood. As her face impacted with the cold timber of the bedroom floor, she was stabbed with a strange feeling of Déjà Vu, a needle of fear and doubt burrowing its way into her mind. She shook it off as paranoia, stood onto her legs, and staggered out of her bedroom, shutting her bedroom door quietly behind her. She made her way down the staircase tentatively, a hoof resting on the banister, guiding her. Twilight plodded across the library floor, and down into the basement, where her own reading desk was situated. She slumped down onto her stool, and lazily opened the books from Celestia to their correct respective pages, focused her horn, and prepared to cast the spell. A great surge of magic permeated her body, and purple energy emanated around her horn.

And then... nothing. Nothing at all. The spell fizzled out and the purple aura enveloping her horn disappeared. Twilight sighed in despair.

“I’m never going to get this right,” she groaned in despair, the six days of stress finally delivering the coup de grace on her confidence. At was at that moment that something ignited inside of her, a mixture of determination and terror, a fear that promised to her that bad things were going to happen should she not complete the spell, and a resolve to protect her friends from whatever danger it might be. She gritted her teeth in determination and prepared to attempt the spell again, and focused her magic, and all of her being, into casting the spell. The incandescent glow returned to her horn, and she rested her forehooves onto the desk, so as to use the energy that would be used in keeping herself upright into casting the spell. Her mind analyzed the text, decoded the paradigms and solved the contrasting situational equations, and she felt a resounding bolt of energy resonate through her body, physically feeling the kick, as she let her mind focus on the future.

And then... nothing. Still nothing. Once again, the aura around her horn dulled to nothing, and Twilight sighed in resignation of her lack of ability, tears beginning to leak from her ducts. Her eyes closed and she slumped head first onto the desk.

“Oh Celestia forgive me, there’s no way I’m going to get this spell right for you tomorrow,” she groaned, sleep starting to creep over her vision. Her mind glanced back to the different parts of the spell as she began to slip away, and just as she passed into sleep, her horn glowed once more...

She saw pain.

Pain everywhere.

Everywhere in sight, he could see ponies running in abject terror, mares weeping tears streaked with flecks of red as they tried in vain to defend their foals from the carnage surrounding them, attempting to herd them away from the floods of the water, the rain and the fire that threatened drag them away to oblivion. Princess Luna and Celestia themselves were trying to guide the survivors into a forest that appeared to be the Everfree, possibly the only safe haven left in the world of fire surrounding her. She saw Fluttershy’s cottage as no more than a pile of scorched timber and charred animal carcasses, the visage of a cremated rabbit apparent amongst the rubble. Her eyes welled up with tears in despair, and she had to rip her head away to save herself the pain. The view that greeted her was no better, as she finally scoped the scale of the destruction, the cause of all the chaos and bedlam.

They were three great bests, similar to hairless maleapes in appearance, save the hair on their heads and chins, so tall and so gigantic that they blocked out the sun, casting shadows over their daunting and muscular forms. It was hard to concentrate on a single one, as the scent of salt, blood and ozone permeated the air, filling her nostrils and turning her stomach, but she managed to focus on one; a bearded male, dripping with water, armed with what appeared to be a humongous trident that pierced the sky. She watched as the tip of the trident collided with the weapon of one of the other combatants, another male, yet with shorter hair and a thunderbolt clasped in his massive hands. The thunderbolt armed titan parried the strike of the trident before turning and throwing his weapon at the third; a gaunt figure with a scythe blacker than the night, a helmet seemingly crafted of pure darkness resting on his head. The thunderbolt extended from his hand and leapt towards the dark figure, who evaporated into mist and shadows before the lightning could come into contact with him, reforming into his fearsome visage shortly after.

It was at this point that she decided to look behind her, whereupon she staggered back and fell to the floor in alarm; there was another being like the gigantic ones doing battle behind her, only this one seemed only around six foot tall, compared to her four foot when stood on all fours. He was dressed in worn blue fabrics, the colour faded with soot and oil, with a mop of unruly black hair upon his head. Rarity would have had a heart attack. There was another titanic body crouched behind him, proportionally slightly smaller than the other giants, his face and body seemingly scarred and crippled, but with fire and passion burning in his ancient eyes. The figure did not move however, just standing and staring at the fighting gods, sadness etched all over his hardened face. The smaller ape looked away from the fire-faced man and Twilight noticed that there were many other creatures just like him, and her friends, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie stood nearby as well, their coats also dulled with soot, each standing before their own humongous avatar. Twilight was confused as to the absence of Fluttershy, but she expected the worst, and the tears welled in her eyes finally flowed free, as she realised that this vision was the soon-to-be truth. Her friends seemed to notice her, and smiled weakly, but their attention was soon taken back to the three warriors engaged in mortal combat with one another.

And then she felt the earth groan beneath her feat. Twilight span around, intent of locating its source, and what she saw was beyond what she could have guessed, one of the enormous ape beings was knelt down beside her in supplication. She reasoned that the being was a female, being of slender body and frame than most of the other titans, and the feminine clothing she was wearing seemed to accentuate that fact. The being was clad in a dark cloak, black as the night and lined with luminescent blue and sapphire gemstones, a pentagram pendant hanging around her neck. Her face was one of the most warped sights Twilight had ever seen, not counting the other titans or its alien visage. Two illusionary faces were mashed either side of her central head, yet when she focused on any of them, they dissolved from vision. However, when she just observed the face without concentrating on a single aspect, the sight of a woman with three faces greeted her eyes. The woman’s six eyes all focused on Twilights alarmed face and a look of compassion and understanding, intertwined with a deep concern and despair greeted her face. Twilight didn’t know whether to be comforted or disturbed, but due to the overwhelming anguish and grief surrounding her, she decided on the primary; she wanted some comfort, any relief at all from the deplorable world she was trapped in, or she was going to go insane.

She couldn’t stand at all the pain and fear and suffering surrounding her, this was not what she had expected when she cast the spell. She didn’t expect to find a future as bleak as this, and decided that Divination was not worth it. Knowing the future at the cost of your own sanity was not a price Twilight wanted to pay. She was speechless as she witnessed the three gargantuan beasts clash into each other as they traded blows, neither being fully able to penetrate the defences of the others. With each strike of their weapons, offshoots of energy crackled from their clashing blows, each spark, flare and flood laying waste to the town of Ponyville, finally clear to Twilight as she saw her very own Golden Oaks library being incinerated by the black flames of the scythe-armed monster. She swallowed a gulp of grief at the destruction of her own home, the flowing tears staining her coat a darker shade of purple. Her moist eyes, vision distorted by the water around then, scanned the rest of the town for some signs of hope when her eyes laid upon three figures standing in the Ponyville town centre, each armed with what appeared to be a mechanical blade affixed to their left arm, and each standing at an equal distance away from each other. They seemed to be yelling at each other and waving their arms around and slapping them against their blades, yet Twilight could not make out a single word they were saying, as the cacophony of the duelling giants drowned out most of the sound in the area. Twilight snapped her head back around to stare at her giant, eyes pleading. Something in her mind felt attuned to the beast, like it was a comrade, an ally, a friend. Even though she had never met hr before, she felt a bond between the two of them.

“What do I do? Please tell me, what do I do?” She begged, eyes wide with desperation. The goliathan woman merely smiled and brought her face closer to Twilight’s snout. She spoke in a remarkably soft voice,

“Go to them, it will enlighten you.” Twilight’s teary eyes leaked in fear and sadness. She felt so abandoned.

“I miss my friends. They’re right there, but they aren’t the friends I know. I feel so alone,” Twilight sobbed, distracted from the command by her own anguish.

“This is only a vision, your real friends are mere mile away, so do not lose hope. Your friends will never abandon you, and as long as you stand by them, the oncoming storm shall be resisted. The vision you are seeing is what will happen if you don’t stand true. Keep your friends close, and nothing can withstand you.” Twilight sniffled, blinking tears out from her eyes and managing to crack a smile,

“Thank you, and you’re right. As long as I have my friends, I’m going to be okay.”

“That is true. And very soon, you’ll be making some all new friends as well.”

“What did you say?”

“You will find out soon enough.”

“No! I have to know! What’s going to happen?”

“You have to trust me, you shall find out very soon.”

“How can I trust you if I don’t even know who you are?”

“You will find out who and what I am in very little time as well, please remain patient. If you trust me, very soon, all your questions will be answered.”

“I don’t like this one bit.”

“And I’m sorry for what you are going to go through, but to prepare you for what you will face, I must give you a gift,” The behemoth reached out a single hand, a stack of cards, tiny in comparison to the rest of her body, rested at the tip of a single finger. Twilight cautiously levitated them off the finger and up close to her face, flicking through them in confusion,

“These are just blank cards, what’s going on?”

“This is still a vision, and the cards have not yet made a contract with their duel spirits. When this has happened, the cards will reveal all.” Twilights draw dropped,

“Duel WHATS?! And a contract? This doesn’t make logical sense, I’ve never heard of these spirits before, and I’ve done extensive research into all the magical creatures in Equestria, and these “duel spirits” aren’t one of them!”

“That is because they come from beyond Equestria. The new friends you will make are from another world, and it is them that will bring this destruction with them. But do not blame them, for it is not their fault. They are also the ones that will be Equestria’s salvation from its most ancient and deadly evil.”

“This is too much, I can’t concentrate on all this,” Twilight yelled, dropping to the ground in mental exhaustion.

“You must have faith, believe in yourself and everything will be alright. This is the most important thing I can tell you.” Twilight looked up, a glint of hope sparkling in her eyes.

“Okay. I don’t know why, but I believe you.”

“Good, all will be explained soon. Now go and examine the three duelists, and you will understand the cards.”

“What are Duelists?”

“The ones with the arm blades.”

“Ooooh,” Twilight acknowledged. She gritted her teeth in determination before galloping off to investigate the aliens. The goddess smiled and turned away,

“The fate of the universe rests on her shoulders, and the shoulders of few others. If luck is on our side, they will unite together in camaraderie.”

Twilight galloped as fast as she could, dodging the energy flares and the spreading fires of the town that was once her home. She ran down an alleyway, flanked on both sides by tall, burning buildings. A beam of wood broke off from an overhanging archway over the alley, which plummeted to the ground where the unicorn was running. Twilight only just managed to see it coming in time and rolled to the side, dodging it by a hairs breadth. She hastily scrambled to her hooves, panting in fright and fatigue, before scrambling to her feet and continuing at an accelerated pace. Her hooves pounded at the ground, sending up small clouds of ash and soot as she ran. She muttered words of encouragement to herself as she strained against her physical boundary, trying to push on despite all the pain and fear she was experiencing. After ducking through several back alleys and main streets, she arrived at her destination, the Ponyville town square. Twilight made special care to stay out of sight of the aliens shouting at each other, and instead opted to watch, terrified from a corner.

“You can’t defeat my god! No matter what you try, I will stop it and I will shut you down!” yelled a boy with long, curly brown hair and a dark coat, “there’s no way you can defeat the Lord of the Underworld!”

“Your monster can’t hold out forever, soon your life points will hit zero and your part in this story will be over!” Cried a tall, well built ginger man with an enraged face and a stern frown.

“Over my dead body!”

“How appropriate, given your pathetic excuse for a deck.”

“Cut it out Shane! His deck is three times the deck yours is!” a blond haired boy with a very handsome face declared, much to the distain of the ginger man, and another argument soon broke out. Twilight couldn’t believe it; these people were just teenagers playing a card game! A game in which the very lives of the ponies she cared about were gambled and toyed with like playthings, seemingly harnessing these eldritch abominations with the cards they were using. Twilight looked at her own deck of blank cards, and realised what was going to happen very soon, she was going to have to use these cards to harness spirits, gods and other monstrosities, and she was going to have to use these cards to save her home and her friends, and if she failed, this was what was going to happen. She sighed and turned around, ready to leave, when a much smaller equivalent of her giant from earlier appeared directly in front of her. Her mouth dropped open again, and before the goddess could speak, Twilight spoke, her voice and face emotionless with pain,

“This is what it is? Some argumentative teens playing card games? This is the thing that’s going to decide the fate of Equestria?”

“Yes.”

“But that’s monstrous! How can the destiny of an entire nation revolve around a trivial game!”

“This is no game,” the goddess replied, “This may seem like any old card game, but from their world, this is a game of great and terrible power, and it is what governs their lives. Where they’re from, card games are serious business, and it is your world that is unfortunate enough to be chosen as the battleground.”

“But this isn’t fair, why Equestria? What did we do to deserve this?”

“Nothing, that’s what’s so sick and twisted about all this. The universe itself seems to have conspired against your world and decided that it shall be the one to be ravaged by this inevitable war.”

“But WHY? There must be something special about this place that makes it the perfect place for a war like this!”

“It’s difficult to explain, but you’re smart, I’m sure you’ll understand.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“That’s good. You see, from the world these “Humans”, as these aliens are called, possess souls just like you ponies, but very few have the potential for magical power sealed within them. When a human plays the game, they put their heart and soul into their deck and their deck responds by their cards forming their own souls and providing luck in return. But the humans with magical abilities, their powers take this a step further, their powers bring these monsters, spells, traps and magics into life. On their world, this is very rare, but when the battlefield is somewhere where magic flows everywhere and through everyone and everything, this would allow humans without magical powers to bring their cards to life.”

“So, for whatever this war is for, it needs this planet for all the combat to take place. Whoever orchestrated this whole thing chose Equestria so that their plan could fully come to fruition!”

“Exactly.”

“So, who is this orchestrator?”

“I don’t know. But for someone to trap all of us, the gods of a whole planet, inside paper cards would require them being a creature of unfathomable power”

“Oh horseapples...”

“And it’s at this point that I must leave you, but I promise that we’ll see each other again.”

“What? No! You can’t go! I still have more questions!”

“All will be answered in time, be patient.”

“How can I be patient when my whole way of life is in danger?!”

“Have faith, and nothing bad will happen.” The ethereal goddess smiled at Twilight once more, before turning around and walking away, gradually fading into nothing. The lavender pony looked on in bewilderment, but a scream from the duelists caught her attention. She whipped her head around, and watched in dumbstruck awe as the “Lord of the Underworld” thrust its scythe into the sky, and a great flash of blinding black light saw two other gargantuan figures manifest themselves next to him which morphed into two beings, one of another man, also equipped with a scythe and a pair of jet black alicorn wings spread out behind its back, and the other of a terrifying three headed dog with fire for eyes and a coat as black as death. As she continued to watch, she observed the goliath permanently doused in water thrust its great Trident into the sky, a typhoon of water spinning around the extended lance, and a great eruption sounded from the ocean several miles away. A magnificent sea monster, a beast of a thousand-tentacles surfaced from the waves, water cascading from its slimy body, an all consuming mouth falling into view as its tendrils fell about its body. It began to crawl its way onto the land and shuffle its way towards the combating titans, its massive bulk crushing the earth as it went.

Finally, the titan armed with the lightning bolt thrust his sky spear into the heavens, thunderbolts erupted from its tip and resonated through the clouds, the sound of ringing thunder and flashing light filling the sky. The clouds surrounding the point where the spear pierced the heavens began to circle around one another, gathering momentum and speed, until the hurricane itself glowed with crackling electricity and formed its own body from its thick clouds. The living storm broke free from the cloud layer above it, and its new form stood spinning on the ground, preparing to demolish all the enemies that its master commanded it to. Twilight was an experienced spellcaster, she’d even been told that she was one of the best in Equestria, but she knew that with even all of her arcane power, she couldn’t muster the energy to perform even a fraction of what these gods were doing before her very eyes. She realised with shock that not even the Princesses could stand up to these otherworldly beings and their card game playing masters, and she sobbed with the knowledge that the masters were draining the planets natural magic to fuel their chaotic battle. She did the only thing that a sane pony would do in that situation; she turned tail and ran. Twilight ran faster than she had ever run in her life, unable to escape the vision she was locked in. She had just passed the remains of her beloved library, destroyed by the fire and the water that the duelling beasts had unleashed on the planet, when all seven of the all powerful behemoths collided. The shockwave reach her and it evaporated Twilight Sparkle on the spot.

Twilight awoke falling off her chair, as if she had been kicked off by some invisible foot and crashed into the floor with a resounding thud. She scrambled to her hooves quickly, panting and sweating like she’d just ran a marathon. She frantically dashed around the basement, searching for the cards she had been given in the vision, looking for proof that what she had seen was real.

“Come on, where is it, where is it?! That strange creature gave it to me, and it needs to be here!” Twilight cried in panic, as she spasmodically pulled out a drawer and tossed its contents onto the floor, pawing through their contents in search of the cards she’d been given. In seven minutes, she had upturned the entire basement in search of the cards, and found nothing. Twilight Sparkle sat in the middle of the bombsite that was her room and panted in exhaustion, with complete confidence that her elusive deck was not in the room.

“Oh, maybe they didn’t exist in the first place. Maybe it was all just a dream...” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief; it was so obviously all a dream, nothing more than a horrible nightmare. The concepts the goddess was preaching were so preposterous, that they were clearly the results of a cheese-manipulated dream. She made a mental note to not eat stilton before bed again, and stretched her aching legs before wearing her smile and starting to walk out of her basement, when a distressed Spike burst through the door,

“Twilight? What happened in here? Why aren’t you in your bedroom?” he asked, his eyes bright with concern. Twilight merely chuckled.

“Sorry Spike, I wanted to catch up on some extra research last night and I sorta got carried away!” she joked, laughing nervously and scratching the back of her neck with her forehoof.

“Twilight, you know Celestia doesn’t like you skipping sleep to study! You should know better!”

“I know, I’m sorry Spike, I was really nervous about my assignment so I felt that I had to come downstairs. I wasn’t that bad though, I was only up for an extra few minutes before falling asleep, so there’s no need to worry!”

“Well that’s good I... wait a minute!” Spike cried, “You never usually give up on late night studying to sleep, what happened?!” Twilight shuffled nervously, trying to find a way to explain her dream easily to Spike.

“It’s nothing Spike, really,” she decided on. Spike raised an eye in scepticism, but he decided against pursuing the matter further.

“Okay... Well then, Twilight, what’s the plan for today?” he asked.

“Oh nothing too out of the ordinary, just going for a walk with the girls around town, chatting, girl stuff, you know, the usual.”

“Ugh, you don’t need to explain what you girls get up to on your own to me. Probably getting your hooves done or something...”

“Spike! There’s no need to be rude!” Twilight scowled.

“Sorry Twilight.”

“That’s better...” Twilight walked out into the main library hallway, casting a brief spell to fix the damage she had done to the basement. She made her way to one of the bookcase, frowned, levitated one of the books out from its position using her magic and started towards the opposite shelf, “So, did we get any mail this morning?” she asked.

“I don’t know, the mailmare hasn’t come yet.”

“Derpy?”

“Yeah, you know the one,” Spike confirmed. Twilight groaned in frustration.

“Is something the matter Twilight?”

“Oh no, nothing’s wrong Spike,” she laughed. Spike wasn’t buying a word of it.

“Come on Twilight, you’re a really bad liar,” he said.

“I’m fine, honestly.”

“Is there something about Derpy you don’t like?”

“No, she’s fine it’s just she has... never mind...” Twilight sighed in exasperation, and Spike slowly began to form a picture in his head, a goofy smile slowly drawing itself across his face.

“Is somepony jealous?” he grinned mischievously. Twilight blushed furiously and dropped the book she was carrying.

“N.. N.. No! I’m not jealous of Derpy! She’s with Time Turner, and that’s good for her!”

“Oh boy, this is great,” Spike chuckled, “Now I KNOW you’re jealous!”

“What? How?!” Twilight panicked.

“I never said you were jealous about Time Turner, you just told me!”

“But but but... I...” she protested in vain; Spike was already rolling on the floor laughing.

“Twilight, you little schoolfilly!” he teased.

“Oh shut up, Spike!” Twilight laughed, poking her number one assistant in the tummy. It was at that exact moment that a loud crash was heard at the door, followed by the sound of shuffling hooves and four knocks at the door. Spike popped to his feet and walked to the door,

“I’ll get it!” he called, as he opened the door. The bright eyed smile of the gray and blond maned local mailmare greeted the baby dragon, who burst out into laughter once again. Spike fell to the floor in hysterics, while Twilight tried to avoid eye contact as much as possible,

“No way! This is too perfect! Hahahahahaha!” Spike laughed, and Derpy’s face instantly fell. She saw Twilight avoiding her gaze with one eye and watched Spike laugh at her expense with the other. After all these years, she thought that ponies would have stopped ridiculing her for once, but now the smartest pony she knew was so uncomfortable looking at her eyes that she wasn’t even turning her head to her and her dragon was laughing at her clumsiness. Tears began to build up in the corners of her eyes, and her bottom lip began to tremble. She threw Twilight’s package to the ground in a huff, quickly turned around and beat her wings, lifting her into the air. She hastily flew away, slightly tilted to the left and with tears now streaming down her face. Neither Twilight nor Spike noticed her leave and just saw the parcel left by the door. Spike finally managed to stand up and Twilight turned her head back, walking quickly over to the package left on the doorstep. A myriad of panicked thoughts began to wash back into her mind as to the contents of the mysterious parcel; was it the cards from her vision? No, they were just a dream, it must be something else. Spike noticed her troubled expression and asked,

“Twil ight, is there something up?”

“We’ll see,” she replied, levitating the package to eye contact and used her telekinesis to rip off the wrapping paper...

... A new box of quills.

“Huh,” Twilight thought, “That was an anticlimax. I can’t believe I forgot about my order of precision made phoenix feather quills!” She laughed to herself jovially, “What am I worrying about?!” Spike raised an eyebrow in confusion. Twilight simply trotted over to a nearby writing desk and unpacked her quills, inserting them into a holes in a quill rack she’d had custom built (By Time Turner as well, he was surprisingly good at things unrelated to his cutie mark) in height and colour code order. She grinned contentedly and cantered back over to the front door,

“I’ll be back later Spike! I’m going to be out with the girls for most of the day though!” she called, with her little dragon shooting from a nearby cupboard, clutching a large emerald in his hands.

“Hey Twilight, could you give this to Rarity for me please? I searched for it just for her!” he said, a happy little glint twinkling in his eyes. Twilight wore a look of sympathy and compassion on her face, yet still with a smile. She slung her saddlebags over her back and levitated the stone into the left pocket.

“Of course “Spikey-Wikey”, I’ll make sure she gets them.” She taunted. Spike huffed at her taunt and replied,

“Thanks Twilight...” The unicorn grinned at her assistant and made her way out of the library,

“Goodbye, Spike!”

“See ya, Twilight!”

Twilight stood with her fellow ponies and watched in despair as she witnessed the “humans” manifest themselves out of thin air, apparently confused by their surroundings and the events around them. The visions she had seen were completely true after all, and that in two weeks, Equestria would be completely changed forever. Twilight recognised that one of the humans seemed to be from earlier and was substantially more stressed than the other, and the other one in blue clothes seemed to be the closest thing to a peacemaker between the two. Either way, these were two of the humans who would either save or destroy her home. Twilight offered a brief prayer to Celestia, before re-concentrating on the duel. What she noticed first, however, was not how realistic the monsters looked, or how passionate the humans were about their game, it was another package that appeared out of thin air in front of her. She gulped; now knowing for certain what lay within it, but with a fairly good hint as to its contents. She lifted it from the ground with her horn magic, a purple aura emanating from it and surrounding the paper, and in one fluid motion, she ripped the wrapping from it. Her eyes were greeted by a golden sarcophagus, looking to be ancient Coltgyptian in origin with an eye of Horus symbol emblazoned on its front. Her friends were too busy concentrating on the duel between the humans, so she was able to open her box in relative peace. She held her breath as she slid off the lid...

She sat on her enshadowed throne, growling at the dark thoughts that permeated her mind. She was a metaphysical entity, yet all that she is and was was concentrated into her body to fill a physical form, and she hated it. She reasoned to herself that this body was necessary for her plan to succeed, but she still despised her very essence being twisted and contorted into this unnatural shape. She thumbed through her deck aimlessly, viewing each one of her cards in turn and analyzing their effects. Her face contorted into a warped smile when she came to her own god cards, the one of the trickster, the sun king, the warrior, the mother, the stargazer, the lover, the sky lord and her own, the card of herself. She placed her deck down with her crow-like left hand and scratched his serpentine brow with his bear-like right. She sighed in boredom and stood from her throne and hopped down from the small platform onto the throne room floor, her ironclad thigh-length boots stomping with a loud thud. She marched her way over to the window that compromised of the whole of the long edge of the room and gazed out of it listlessly, the whole of the city of London before her very eyes. She was quite surprised at how easy it was for her to infiltrate and take over the Shard building, the tallest functional structure in all of Europe, her smile becoming more distinct as she chuckled at the weak minds of humans. Despite all their complex technology that outmatched even her own understanding, the vast majority of mankind were bone-dead stupid. The one thing that had prevented her takeover of Earth was their wills, their hopes and dreams, and their willpower was what had prevented her from ruling the planet. She had found that out the hard way.  Her first covert attempt at takeover had successfully seen her being able to dominate every aspect of nature on the planet, except from the will of humanity. That was not enough, she needed total submission. And that was where her plan had been formulated; she had to defeat their will. It wasn’t long after her first failure that she realised what the humans had put their will into; Duel Monsters.  The game was so centralised to their way of life that all of their will relied on the game. And that was when she came up with her second plan; she had to conquer the game to conquer the world.

To enact this plan, she took her own offspring, both titans and gods, and trapped them within the cards used by the humans. She reasoned that once she controlled the aspects of nature in the form of the cards that humanity so idolised, she would, by extension, finally be in dominion of their wills as well. But while enacting her diabolical plan, something had gone wrong; the transformation had not gone off perfectly, only seven cards staying with her and the rest being sent around the Earth to be discovered by the mortals. That was when, with great anger, she decided her plans needed changing; she needed to claim them back. She discovered that the cards and the gods within them remained inactive until discovered, whereupon they would manifest themselves with their new masters. But the hologram technology used by the humans to make their duels more realistic would not fully summon the gods from their cards, and thus could not be reclaimed, with only a portion of their power leaking through. And then she had stumbled upon her greatest find yet, the planet of Equestria. In this world, mana, the magical energy that fuelled the powers of a select group of humans, flowed freely through all of life and nature. All this power could be channelled into Earth, where the humans would be able to fully summon the gods. The gods were surprisingly loyal though; in their card form they could not be taken from their owners by force, but when they had been fully manifested they could be won in a duel. That was his plan; she had to win all the lost gods back, and she knew she had to do it quickly.

She chuckled maliciously, returning to her seat on his throne, sitting with a wry smile. One of her underlings skittered in, body parts as mismatched as her own, although she was substantially larger. Her inferior trotted up to the right of her throne and kneeled before his master.

“My Queen, a new duelist has volunteered to join our ranks.” he informed. The Queen merely laughed and replied,

“And? We’ve had four new duelists joining in the last two days, you do not need to inform me of each and every one whenever one signs up, just give me a list at the end of every week.”

“I understand your majesty, you’ve told me this the last four times, but I thought that you might want to be especially aware of this one.”

“Why is that, pray tell?”

“His name is Shane Styrix, and he owns the king.” The Queen’s mouth dropped in surprise,

“He has the king?”

“Yes your majesty, he does.” The Queen stood from her chair and chuckled menacingly,

“Well, what a turn out for the books! The king, my oldest enemy, is now completely under my command. How ironic.”

“Yes your majesty, shall I send for him?”

“Yes, fetch him for me, I wish to meet this “Shane”.”

“Very well your majesty.” The underling scampered off from a small door in the corner of the room and whispered to someone out of sight.

“Well, Zeus, my old friend. Looks like you are now mine to do with as I see fit. How entertaining!” The Queen snickered under her breath, the whispers from far away ceasing. She threw her arms into herself and pulled herself inside out, transforming her body from a mismatched combination of animal limbs into a humanoid female form, clad in long flowing black robes with a mop of black hair reaching down to her knees. She was darkly beautiful with black eyes and lips matched with a pale white skin. She smiled in anticipation as a well built redheaded man sauntered arrogantly into the room, eyes locked on her all the time. He already liked this new man.

“So, you’re the kid who owns the King of the Gods?”

“Yeah that’s me. My name’s Shane, and I’m the number 1 ranked duelist in England.”

“Interesting qualifications, I can see you may be quite the addition to my team.”

“I hope for all our sakes that you’re right.”

“Indeed. In fact, I may have your first assignment all ready for you to go.”

“Oh really? Who do you want me to fight?”

“Well, two humans recently travelled to another planet, a planet where they both discovered their own god cards. But they have a third friend; a friend who I believe may get his own god soon. I want you to duel that boy and see if a card appears to him. I do not want you to steal it from him yet, though, just see if he will be a threat or not.”

“Is that it? Pah, piece of cake! Anything else you’ll need from me?”

“No, thank you very much, although your enthusiasm is appreciated. You are dismissed.” Shane grinned and waved his hand once towards the Lord, before turning around and sauntering out the door,

“See ya later... Queen Khaos.” Khaos smirked, her snake-like tongue snaking about her mouth...

Chapter 2: The Anger of an Ocean Lord

Jason awoke with a start, ripped out of unconscious like a drowning child being pulled from a lake. He sat up in shock, panting and sweating as he scanned his surroundings frantically. He was in a hospital bed, apparently back on Earth, and he was not alone; Chris was awake in the bed next to him and chatting with his father and sister, and Teagan, Ashley and his own mother were standing in front of him with glad looks on their faces. Jason smiled weakly and leaned into the waiting arms of his mother and sister, sighing contentedly in the knowledge that he had finally escaped the nightmare.

“I’m so glad you’re alright! When we heard that you’d fainted at school we were really worried about you!” his mum squealed in delight.

“Well, she was much more worried than I was, but I guess it’s good I have my brother back!” Ashley taunted, grinning wildly. Jason could only chuckle lightly at his sister’s snarking; it was good to have her back.

“It’s good to be back too, I had the craziest dream. I dreamt that while Chris and I were duelling we got transported to this huge planet populated by pastel coloured ponies! Weird right?” he joked, beaming all the time. His smile dropped when he saw the awkward looks worn on his friend’s faces,

“Umm... You may wanna look outside,” Teagan said, a pained look on his face. Jason whipped his head around in concern, and his eyes widened at the sight that greeted him out of the hospital window; there was a whole planet floating outside. It was close enough that it would have blocked out most of the sun, had the entire world not had an illusionary glimmer to it, making it seem like it was translucent and merely a holographic projection. Jason’s neck snapped back to his family and yelled in disbelief,

“It was real? That planet is real?!”

“Yeah. When you were halfway through your duel, you both just disappeared and that huge planet appeared in the sky. We could even see you guys duelling on its surface,” Teagan replied, a concerned tone permeating his Irish brogue.

“You could? That’s crazy!”

“I know! At first when we saw the real destruction the game was causing to the planet we all thought it was just a holo-emitter malfunction.”

“No way, that was real.”

“We all know, the city shut down the holo-emitters as a precautionary measure and the planet just stayed there,” Ashley added, her eyes showing genuine concern for her brother. Mum had walked off to check on the doctor, and Chris’ dad had left to go with her.

“So it was real? Everything I saw was real?” Jason asked, and was quite shocked when he heard a voice from across the room.

“It was indeed, just look at this,” Chris interrupted, stretching his hand across to Jason, a card clasped between his middle and index finger. Jason took the card with a thank-you and his face paled when this one card proved everything for him.

“Hades - Monarch of the Underworld. It’s all real,” he deadpanned. A sympathetic look was plastered over Chris’ face. His sister, Samantha “Sammy”, placed a hand over her brother’s shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly. Chris put a hand on his sisters and reclaimed his card with the other.

“Yes, and you have your card too. Just check your deck box,” he said. Teagan presented Jason with his box solemnly and Jason took it slowly. It was a small golden box, modelled after the golden sarcophagus case owned by the legendary duelist himself, with an eye of Wadjet button clasp that sealed the lid shut. With bated breath, he thumbed the button. The lip popped upwards and the first card that rested on top of the stack was his face up Hephaestus - God of the Forge. Jason closed the lid with a click and placed it on his bedside table. He swung his legs off the edge of the bed and stood from it, stepping into his shoes as he did so.

“Are you all right bro?” asked Ashley, her voice full of concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need to think for a moment is all,” Jason replied, walking over to the corner of the room and stared out the window at the planet of Equestria hovering over the horizon.

All eyes were on him.

“What happened while I was out cold?” he asked.

“When you two came back unconscious, the ambulance and police were called as soon as possible. The entire school has been cordoned off; there’s a weird portal on the ground where you two duelled and no one has been allowed onto the premises since,” Teagan explained.

“When I came to I was immediately questioned by the police and some men in black suits. I told them everything: the duel, the ponies, the lack of illusions and the gods themselves. Everything,” Chris added. Teagan and Ashley whipped their heads around to face the brown haired boy and scowled at him.

“Yeah, and I bet this bastard twisted the story in his favour too,” Ashley grimaced.

“That’s a lie!” Chris retaliated, jumping out of his bed and lunging towards Ashley. Teagan growled and intercepted the attacking boy with his extended arm and clothes-lined him to the ground. Chris hit the floor hard, the wind knocked out of him when he landed. Jason sprinted over to Chris’ coughing and spluttering body, horrified, and pushed back Teagan with both arms.

“Teagan, leave him alone!” he yelled.

“But this arsehole tried to kill you and attacked Ashley!”

“It wasn’t his fault; his card addled his mind! And Ashley, cut him a break!”

“But what about before? This guy has always been the bane of your school life! Everything he’s done for the last few years has been to make your life a living hell!”

“Will you stop talking about me like I’m not here?!” Chris cried, jumping to his feet, his face contorted in anger, “I’ve already apologised! I’m really sorry about the way I treated you.”

“Then why were you such a dick to him in the first place?!” Ashley seethed, the desire to help out her brother bubbling through her veins.

“Because I’ve never had friends before” Chris screamed, the whole room falling silent seconds later. Sammy returned to her brother’s seething side and returned her hand to his shoulder. Chris angrily shrugged her off and stormed from the room, barging past a doctor who was just entering the room.

“You have to forgive him. Since our mum died I’ve been the only thing close to a friend he’s had,” Sammy explained, a sympathetic look on her face. Teagan and Ashley remained quiet, but still heaved with the energy of the fight, while Jason was motionless and locked within his own thought. The doctor awkwardly approached the silent boy and took out a clipboard.

“Um, I have your release forms right here. Just sign these and you can be on your way. Your friend here has already signed his,” he explained.

“Thanks,” Jason replied, scratching his signature onto the paper, “I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.”

“Ah good,” said the doctor, reclaiming his clipboard and heading out the door, “We hope to see you again.”

“What a terrible thing to say in a hospital,” Ashley muttered. Jason turned back to the four other occupants of the room,

“We should get going,” he said softly, garnering murmurs of approval from the others, “If it’s alright with everyone else, I think we should go to Chris’ house. We could do with a little getting to know each other.” Teagan and Ashley seemed uncomfortable with the idea, with Sammy shifting from toe to toe anxiously.

“Where is he though? He left, remember, where are we going to find him?” Ashley observed. Sammy simply smiled and said,

“He’s headed back home; he always does after he loses his temper like that.” Jason grinned,

“So that’s where we’re going. I’ll text mum and tell here where we’re going, and if you two don’t like it, then you’re just gonna have to man up.” A brief pause of silence permeated the air.

“But I’m a girl.”

“Shut up Ashley,” Jason began to chuckle. It wasn’t long before Ashley began to join in the laughter too, and soon the whole room was roaring in hysterics. Following their small burst of laughter, they wiped their eyes and decided to leave home for the Haddock residence.

The walk to Chris’ house was not a long one, as the hospital was quite close to the city centre where they lived. From the hospital it was a mere walk down Goodge Street, through the Tottenham Court Road shopping district and into the high known as Oxford Street. After pacing down half the length of this majestic communal street, a right turn down a sideway lead to a remarkably quiet neighbourhood where the Haddocks made their residence. After entering the council building and climbing a dozen floors, they arrived at the Haddock Door. Sammy took out a set of keys and briefly fumbled with the lock before a faint click was heard and the door swung open. The four of them stepped into the flat and examined the house. There were six rooms inside; three bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room, and all were connected by one long hallway. From the sounds of muffled groaning coming from one door, Jason worked out that Chris was in his room, and he walked up to it, rapping his knuckles on the door. After a few seconds, a faint call was heard.

“Come in,” Chris mumbled. Jason grasped the handle and opened the door, all four making their way into the room. The teenager on the bed has discarded his jacket and was lying in just his shirt and trousers, face down, on his bed, “What do you want?”

“We want to apologise,” Teagan said, “We didn’t know.”

“It’s quite alright,” Chris replied sadly, “I would’ve thought the same way you did.”

“Well, when you treat someone’s siblings like shit they tend to develop negate feelings,” Ashley growled. Jason scowled at his sister who promptly retreated.

“Look, Chris. I came here for a reason,” he said, “Whatever happened on that planet, we are the ones who are linked to the centre of it, and it’s also somehow related to Duel Monsters. As a result, I want to personally accept your apology, and, seeing as you’re still one of the best duelists in school, I want to ask for your assistance should the need be.” Chris could only smile as he turned his head around to face his new friends,

“Sure, I’d be happy to. Besides, someone’s gonna need to bail you lot out of trouble.”

“Whatever you say man, Jason’s still the one who beat you!” Ashley jeered. Chris could only chuckle,

“I wasn’t in my right mind at the time, so the duel was not on even grounds. I’m sure the next time it’ll be on a more equal playing field.”

“So, why don’t we find out right away?” Teagan laughed, “You two are here right now and there’s nothing going on, why don’t you two have a friendly duel?” Chris seemed to consider the thought for a moment, before shaking his head,

“No. I have a new monster in my deck now with a strategy changing effect, so I’m gonna need to get some new cards.”

“Same here,” Jason added, “I’ll need some new cards too.”

“Besides, things are a little weird right now, so any old duel is a waste of time,” Chris added.

“It’s settled then,” Sammy announced, “We’re going to the Kame Game outlet shop.”

“Indeed we shall,” Chris confirmed, shouldering his jacket.

The Kame Game outlet store was situated in the London Victoria Train Station shopping mall, and after a brief walk, the group arrived at the local bus stop. After 10 minutes of the journey on the 73 bus through Oxford Street and Park Lane, they passed their school on the side of the road. They looked on in interest as they saw several police officers standing guard by the school gates, with several police cars and vans cordoning off the area. A faint crackle in the air was seen above the main gates and the smell of ozone filled the atmosphere.

“What do you think is going on?” Sammy asked, with the question not directed at one person in particular.

“The government must be investigating. When a giant portal to another world appears from nowhere, it’s not something that they can just ignore,” Chris explained.

“Good point,” Teagan commented.

“We’ll check it out after we’ve got some new cards, who knows what might happen there if we aren’t prepared. Have you all got your duel disks in your backpacks?” Jason questioned.

“Got it,” Chris answered.

“Same here,” Sammy agreed, patting her backpack.

“You know it,” Teagan smiled.

“Never leave home without it!” Ashley joked. Jason nodded in acknowledgement, turning his eyes away from his school. The next few weeks were going to be very long indeed.

After 20 minutes, the whole group was standing in the bus park outside the station. The park consisted of three lanes, each owning their own bus stop, and the entire park was enclosed within its own square with assorted shops and newsagents dotted around the outside. The entrance to the station mall itself was crowded with people, many of which had their duel disks firmly clasped to their arms. The group shuffled their way through the assortment of pedestrians and finally made their way into the station grounds. The station itself was divided into two sections. There was the east side, which consisted of several fast food restaurants and take aways, while the west was a mixture of newsagents, record shops and various commodities vendors. One of the vendors was the Kame Game store that they were looking for. Since the original King of Games had “conquered” the world, his grandfather’s business had boomed into an international chain of gaming superstores. While the original Solomon Moto had passed away a few years ago, the business was still ran by his daughter-in-law, Tea Gardener, as the elusive King could never sit in the same place long enough to run the business. The store was equipped with various board games, computer games and, of course, Duel Monsters. Naturally it was only the last one that they were interested in. Since Duel Monsters had taken over the western world and Kame Game had installed a store in the station, the entire roof of London Victoria had been transformed into a Duelling Terrace with weekly contests. Jason himself had never had the time to enrol in these as he was always tinkering with his electronics, but he knew that Chris and Sammy were frequent visitors. After ascending an escalator onto the upper floor, the five duelists made their way into the gaming emporium.

The game store was a large rectangular room, with the entrance doors and the till (with the passage to the roof) on both of the shorter lengths, while there were five rows of shoulder high shelves positioned longwise down the longer lengths of the store. Each one was decked out with cards, CD ROMs and various other gaming items. On each of the walls there were racks that suspended various duelling equipment, ranging from tokens and card protectors to duel disks and deck boxes. There was an entire section of wall devoted entirely to duel disk replacement parts, a corner that Jason visited often.

The group gathered in the centre of the store.

“I’ll be looking for some new cards then. See you in a moment,” Chris announced, wandering from the group to investigate the singles collection.

“I want to check out the new releases, might be some new support cards for my Contract deck. With any luck I’ll be able to beat Jason even easier!” Ashley laughed, earning a grin from the others and a scowl from Jason,

“Cut it out Ashley, Contract decks are overpowered enough as it is.”

“Says the guy with a Greek god on a trading card,” Ashley countered, a mischievous smile plastered on her face. Jason merely groaned in exasperation, and Ashley skipped off happily to investigate the local fauna, humming a little tune as she went.

“I should probably keep her in check,” Teagan winked, moving off to accompany the singing girl. Jason merely smirked.

“Sure, just remember to use protection. That’s my bread and butter you’re fucking with,” he joked, earning him a friendly punch to the shoulder.

“You cheeky fucker!” the Irish lad cried before dashing off, leaving Jason and Sammy on their own.

“We should probably go looking for some cards,” Sammy piped, an enthusiastic look worn on her face. Jason nodded and walked off with her to the nearest rack, skimming through the assorted cards, looking for some support for his new god.

Ashley and Teagan were laughing and joking by the Continuous Spell rack, barely concentrating on their original goals.

“And then the skull said, ‘What do you mean it doesn’t come with interest?’” Ashley finished, prompting a burst of laughter from Teagan, with the girl joining in moments later. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, their laughter petering out as they gazed at each other,

“You’re really funny, you know that?” Teagan said, a sly grin formed on his face. Ashley simply blushed and said,

“I make an effort.” They continued to look at each other for a few moments when a firm hand clasped itself onto Teagan’s shoulder, shocking him from his trance. He whipped his head around to come to face with a tall, smiling ginger man, around the age of 25. His red hair blazed across his head as if it was electrified, with each strand sticking out on end, and the image of his smiling face burned itself into Teagan’s retinas.

“Hello there! Are you the one they call the Ocean King? I’ve heard so much about you,” he said excitedly, as if meeting a celebrity. Ashley turned her head in shock to Teagan’s face.

“You have a title? Only tournament winners and duelists with status get those? How did you get it?” she asked in disbelief. Teagan’s face turned from pride at a fan, to awkwardness.

“Umm... I don’t know. I just sort of did. I duel people on the streets often and I guess I sorta made a name for myself,” he replied.

“Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight,” Ashley replied, still not convinced at his story. Teagan faced the newcomer again.

“But anyway, it’s nice to meet a fan. Is there something I can do for you?” he asked. The gingers face twitched into a grin.

“Actually, I wanted to know if you’d be interested in a duel. Knowing your reputation, I’d love to see if the stories were true.” Teagan’s face changed from friendliness to a competitive smirk,

“Oh no, now it’s on!” he yelled, catching the attention of his other friends, who flocked to his location, “Mind if I get your name? I like to know the duelists I crush!” Jason smirked at his adoptive brother’s confidence; he always was a brash one.

“My name is Shane,” the ginger said, “and I’d be honoured to be your opponent.”

Shane, Teagan and the others made their way over the till, booked a duelling arena, and climbed the stairs onto the roof, where there were in excess of twenty duelling arenas; each suspended twenty feet from the roof on large stilts. They were all bordered with a railing and equipped with a ladder leading up to its arena. An elevating platform was put in place next to each one, designed to rise and allow spectators to watch the battle. The group approached their booked arena, the central one, raised an extra ten feet higher than the others. Teagan withdrew his duel disk and deck box from his backpack, which he discarded to the ground before affixing the disk to his arm and slotting his cards into the deck zone. Ashley picked up his bag and slung it over her own back, winking at Teagan and stepping back to the others. Chris and Sammy kept silent, merely watching on in interest, while Jason and Ashley grinned wildly at their comrade,

“Go get ‘em mate!” Jason called.

“Stuff his deck up his arse for me!” Ashley added with a grin.

“Bit uncalled for,” Chris muttered, while Shane simply chuckled.

“It’s fine, she’s just excited is all,” he explained, attaching his own duel disk to his arm, “Ready to go, Ocean King.” Teagan gritted his teeth.

“Ready when you are,” he smiled, both beginning to climb the ladder. Before long, they were both standing opposite one another on the duel field. Jason, Chris, Sammy and Ashley made their way to the platform and Sammy thumbed the switch, raising them into the air and next to the duel arena. The stage was set, the spectators were ready, and the duelists prepared to activate their duel disks. Teagan and Shane pressed the activation button on their duel disks, which scanned the area for each other. An artificial voice resonated through the air.

“Five duel disks in range, select opponent,” called Teagan’s duel disk.

“Shane,” he commanded. A different, male voice, spoke from Shanes duel disk,

“Incoming duel from Teagan. Accept?”

“Accept,” Shane confirmed. Both duelists narrowed their eyes at each other, as both duel disks announced the duel was ready to start.

“LETS DUEL!” they both cried.

DUEL START

TEAGAN LP: 4000

SHANE LP: 4000

TEAGAN TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Teagan ripped a card from his deck, a slicing sound filling the air as he added it to his hand.

“This duel is gonna be a good one!” he thought to himself, grinning at his opponent.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I active my spell card, “Call the Army!”” Teagan called, flicking the card out to display his opponent, before slotting it into his duel disk. A giant die appeared on the battlefield, which span itself around before landing on a 4. Teagan grinned in success, while Shane raised an eyebrow in amusement,

“Because this die landed on a 4, I can search my deck for up to 2 Coldvalley Legionnaires or Coldvalley Commanders and add them to my hand. I choose one of each!” he announced as his deck extended two cards from its body. Teagan pulled them from his duel disk and the deck shuffled itself, adding the cards to his hand. Teagan scanned his hand for a strategy to use, before smiling and deciding his tactic. He reached into his hand and pulled two continuous spells from his hand, slamming them onto his disk.

“I activate two Coming of the Coldvalley spell cards!” he cried, as two holographic cards appeared flat on the battlefield, each with a small Icy rock appearing on the battlefield on top of it, “And now I summon my Coldvalley Commander (2)!” He drew his next card from his hand and slapped it onto his duel disk. A merman clad in icy iron armour appeared with a splash of water bursting from its body. Its sea green scales glistened with moisture, and it drew an arm length trident from a sling on its back. Shane grinned,

“Nice monster,” he commented. Teagan smiled in happiness and continued with his turn,

“Thanks, but looking cool is not all that it does. When this card is summoned, I can search my deck for 1 Coldvalley Formation or Coldvalley Battle Tactics card from my deck and add it to my hand. And I search for Coldvalley Formation Delta!” He drew another card from the deck and added it to his hand, “Also, due to the effect of my Coming of the Coldvalley cards, I can put two Coldvalley Counters onto my Coldvalley Commander.” The two icy rocks each shot off an icy shard that each impacted with an arm of the Coldvalley Commander. The shards grew and reformed into gauntlets that the Commander solidified into his own personal armour, grinning with satisfaction.

“Does anyone find it cold here?” Sammy commented, rubbing her shoulders. Ashley, Jason and Chris all looked at Sammy with a concerned face, nodding in agreement,

“Yeah, this seems weird,” Ashley agreed. Chris and Jason looked at each other in concern.

“Oh no,” they said in unison.

“What’s wrong?” Sammy asked. Jason turned to her and said,

“These are supposed to be holograms, but the environmental effects are real. The influence of the other world is leaking through.” Ashley and Sammy dropped their jaws in shock, looking up to the illusionary planet in the sky.

“Teagan, I don’t think it’s a good idea to continue this duel, things are getting strange!” Ashley called out to the duelling blond, who merely shrugged his shoulders and said,

“Quit the duel? No way, I’m on a roll! I activate Coldvalley Formation Delta!” He inserted his next card into its slot, a Greek Delta symbol illuminating the air above where the holographic card now lay, “With this card, monsters I control gain 500 ATK for each Coldvalley Counter on it!” The tips of the icy gauntlets extended into a metre long spikes and the Commander took an active battle stance. “I set one card face down and end my turn!”

“Interesting play, but now it’s time to get dangerous,” Shane said darkly, his eyes and face accumulating shadows and turning his face from an enthusiastic duelist into a malicious fiend. Teagan stared in confusion while Jason and Chris looked at each other in panic.

“Teagan you need to abort that duel! This is a lot more dangerous than you realise,” Jason cried to his brother. Teagan turned back to Jason and seethed,

“I’m insulted! Saying I should quit just because things are getting dangerous? I thought you knew me, Jason.”

“I never said I didn’t, but you don’t understand this. This duel could get really deadly and I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“Well then, you’d better just hope I win.” Jason growled in anger, but realised that nothing he could say could sway his brother.

“Fine, but be careful!” he cried, with Chris snapping his head around to face him while Sammy and Ashley continued to look in confusion.

“He doesn’t know what he’s doing! He’s going to get killed!” Chris complained.

“I know, but he won’t listen to us. When he sets his mind on something, the gods themselves couldn’t discourage him.”

“We’d just better hope that they can’t, because this guy could very well have one.”

“He’ll be fine, he has the luck of the Irish,” Ashley pipped in, causing Jason to laugh.

“She had a point,” he agreed, “Go on Teagan!” The Irishman saluted his friends and faced Shane.

“Go on then, your move,” Teagan smiled. Shane growled in agreement.

“My move.”

END PHASE:

STATUS:

TEAGAN:

LP: 4000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: COLDVALLEY COMMANDER (2 COLDVALLEY COUNTERS).

SPELLS/TRAPS: COMING OF THE COLDVALLEY x2, COLDVALLEY FORMATION DELTA, 1 FACE DOWN.

SHANE:

LP: 4000

HAND: 5 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 0.

SPELLS/TRAPS: 0.

SHANE TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Shane wordlessly drew his card and added it to his hand. His smile upturned and his eyes narrowed. This game was going to go well.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I summon Aerialvoltic Circuit Revolver (2),” Shane said confidently, as his monster appeared onto his side of the battlefield. It appeared as a small power generator with what appeared to be an electrified weather vane affixed to its head. “But he won’t be staying for long, I sacrifice my Circuit Revolver to Special Summon my Aerialvoltic Overbeast (2)!” The power generator rose into the air and glowed white, while a gigantic cyborg dragon appeared from its card, and the power generator attached itself to its chest. As the scent of ozone filled the air, Teagan stared on in terror as his hair stood on end, feeling the real electricity permeate his body. Jason and the group shared his terror as Ashley and Sammy finally experienced first-hand the power of the other world.

“Jesus Christ! That thing is huge!” Teagan cried. Shane merely chuckled and continued his turn,

“I use the effect of my Voltic Lightningbolt to discard it to the graveyard to deal 1500 points of direct damage to your lifepoints, inflict 1000 to mine and to increase the ATK of my Overbeast by 1500 until the end phase,” Shane continued. Teagan tried to jump back and dodge the incoming lightning bolt which darted from Shane’s graveyard, but to no avail. The bolt struck Teagan, who screamed out in pain, while Shane merely gritted his teeth in pain as the other end of the bolt hit him.

“Brother!” Jason screeched.

“Teagan!” Ashley cried, running up to as far to him as the platform would allow, the others following suit behind her, “Are you okay?” The convulsing boy shook off the yellow electricity and climbed back to his feet,

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said, through gritted teeth, climbing back to his feet and facing his opponent, “But this guy’s gonna die!” Shane merely laughed and said,

“Oh really? Well this duel is already nearly over! Overbeast, attack his Coldvalley Commander!” The gigantic beast flew into the sky, aimed his mouth at the Commander, and prepared to fire. But it stalled. Shane yelled in confusion while Teagan merely smiled,

“What happened?! Why isn’t my monster attacking!”

“Because you forgot about my Coming of the Coldvalley and Formation Delta spell card. This puts two Coldvalley Counters on your monster and prevents it from attacking!”

“No!” Shane growled, while Teagan’s friends whooped and hollered in support.

“Go Teegs!” Jason yelled. Teagan saluted his friend again,

“Thanks mate!” he called. Shane gritted his teeth and placed two cards face down into his duel disk,

“I place two cards face down and end my turn.”

END PHASE:

STATUS:

TEAGAN:

LP: 2500

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: COLDVALLEY COMMANDER (2 COLDVALLEY COUNTERS).

SPELLS/TRAPS: COMING OF THE COLDVALLEY x2 (2 COLDVALLEY COUNTERS), COLDVALLEY FORMATION DELTA, 1 FACE DOWN.

SHANE:

LP: 3000

HAND: 1 CARD.

MONSTERS: AERIALVOLTIC OVERBEAST (2)

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 FACE DOWN.

TEAGAN TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Teagan drew his card swiftly, smiling with confidence. He was about to play his first card when he saw his extra deck glow slightly. He picked up the card in confusion and examined it, where his frown turned to a sly smile.

“Well this is interesting. Let’s see what this can do!” Chris and Jason exchanged glances,

“Was that a god card?” Chris asked.

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out,” Jason answered.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I summon Coldvalley Legionnaires (2) to the battlefield!” Teagan called, watching as a rank of mermen soldiers armed with coral armour and short swords appeared in a flash of water behind their Commander, “And now I special summon Coldvalley Archers (2) using their own effect, increasing their level to 4 and destroying your Overbeast!” Shane’s face dropped as a phalanx of merman archers appeared from their card, joined the ranks of Legionnaires, and fired a volley of arrows towards the Overbeast. The beast cried out it pain as the arrows collided with it, shards of ice returning to one of the icy blocks, and it exploded, enclosing the arena in a burst of electrical energy. Shane interrupted the explosion,

“With the effect of my Overbeast, I can tribute it when it would be destroyed to inflict 1500 points of damage to your life points!” At that moment, the explosion turned hostile, and Teagan felt himself being electrocuted again. His body exploded with pain, but he soldiered to his feet and continued his turn.

“You’ll pay for that! I tune my Coldvalley Legionnaires to my Coldvalley Archers to Synchro Summon Triton - Harbringer of the Oceans (2)!” he cried. The phalanx of legionnaires and archers raised their weapons to the sky before vanishing in a ball of blue light, more shards returning to one of the icy blocks, while the ball morphed and grew.

“Yes, he has a god,” Jason confirmed, with Chris, Sammy and Ashley nodding in unison. Teagan looked in shock when the growing ball began to grow larger than the roof itself, and hovered above the battlefield. It morphed into the shape of a titanic merman, standing with one foot on the roof of the station and the other on the street below, crushing the entire square of bus stations. Teagan, Ashley and Sammy reeled in shock at the horrified screams of the people below them, while Chris and Jason shook their heads in despair. They both looked up to the planet above them and noticed that ponies above it were also staring in fear at their duel, doubtlessly terrified of the returning titans. Shane looked on in mild amusement, somehow not scared of the giant best.

They felt the rain. Triton lanced his trident into the sky, and the rain began to fall. Teagan’s fear turned to pride as he realised his victory was nearby.

“I active Triton’s effect, by paying 500 life points I can copy any monster on the battlefield. I copy my Coldvalley Commander (2), and overlay them both to Xyz Summon Coldvalley Hail-Lord (2).” The titans trident pierced the ground and an additional Coldvalley Commander appeared next to the original. The two Commanders then locked tridents with each other, before morphing into another blue ball and manifesting into a giant water dragon with dorsal fins streaked across its back, more shards returning to the block. In seconds, the Icy monster was standing proud and tall. While nowhere near the size of the titan, it was still formidable in its own right. It was at that point that Shane decided that enough was enough, gritting his teeth and grinning maliciously.

“I activate my trap card, Aerialvoltic Sparks (2) (2). This card allows me to put two tokens onto the battlefield, which I sacrifice to bring out the big guns!” he yelled. Teagan cried out in anger,

“Hey, you can’t do that on my turn!” Shane merely grinned and replied,

“With this card’s effect, I can.” He pulled a card from his hand and slammed it on the battlefield, while Jason and Chris looked on in horror.

“He’s going to die,” Jason breathed, his voice taken away by despair.

“Not yet,” Chris added solemnly. The two tokens smashed into each other and morphed together, shards returning to the block. The gargantuan monster exploded into view; a giant beast; a man with medium length hair, clad in a white toga and a stern look struck across his face, grew from the card and crashed into the train lines behind him, standing tall and yet vastly out sizing the other giant in front of him.

“I summon Zeus - King of the Skies (2),” Shane finished. Teagan and his friends simply stared. It was at that moment that they all lost hope, the great and ancient king of the gods was here, and he was their enemy. It was when his heart had sank so low, when Teagan had abandoned his courage that a fire ignited inside him and he refused to let himself die this easily. Just then, his main deck glowed blue, the scent of sea air filling the atmosphere. Jason and Chris smiled, knowing that the battle was not yet lost.

“The effect of your Sparks card allows me to draw a card, and that’s what I’m about to do,” he grinned, Shane’s face beginning to fall. Teagan reached his hand to his deck, and pulled his card. A stream of water spewed from the card as it was swished from its deck, falling to the ground seconds later. Water began to whirl and flow around his feet, circling around his body. Teagan looked at his card and smiled a victorious smile.

“I by removing 10 Coldvalley Counters from Coming of the Coldvalley, I summon Poseidon - Lord of the Oceans (2)!” he cried. He slammed the card down onto the disk and the sound of the shaking earth filled the air. A third ball of blue light span from its card and hovered in mid air. Apart from the whirling sound, the air was left silent for a few brief moments, when in a split second, the ball exploded into another humongous titan. This one, also male, wore scaled armour like his mermen subjects and clasped a magnificent trident in his enormous hands. He stood next to Triton, his son, and prepared to take the orders from his duelist master. Teagan grinned and threw his hand out to Shane.

“Currently, I have 14 Coldvalley counters on the battlefield, but for what I need, that just isn’t enough. I activate the effect of my Hail Lord, detaching 1 Xyz material monster to give every monster on the battlefield a Coldvalley Counter, bringing my total up to 17. Next, I use the effect of my Poseidon - Lord of the Oceans, to give another 3 counters to my monsters, bringing the total to 20,” Teagan explained, beaming the whole time. Shane was now very nervous indeed.

“What are you going to do with that?” he scowled, but Teagan and Jason smiled knowingly. Ashley, Sammy and Chris were slightly confused, but gathered from the other two that things were going well.

“I’m going to use them to defeat you. I activate my trap card - Coldvalley Harnessed Leviathan!” Teagan called, as a humongous aquatic fish-like creature appeared in the sky, adorned with a large harness and with water pouring from its body. It was at least several miles long, and it completely blocked out the sun.

“Oh my God, that thing is huge!” Sammy screamed.

“It’s blocking out the sun!” Ashley added, “How is there still light?”

“There are the lights from the city, they’re keeping us illuminated,” Chris explained. Jason faced the others and added,

“It’s a shame it’s keeping us in this state. It’s almost Twilight.” Jason doubled over at the last word, clutching his stomach as he felt his mind punch itself like it was a sack of potatoes. Something about that word was familiar and yet foreign at the same time, comforting yet disturbing all at once. Jason shook his head and reorganised his mind; it was probably nothing, he was already stressed out from the day’s events and he was probably just hallucinating. He looked back to Teagan who was continuing his turn.

“I now play Coldvalley Glacier Modulation, which reorganises Coldvalley Counters as I see fit, and I place them all onto my Harnessed Leviathan!” Shane’s face contorted in fear as Poseidon slammed his trident into the ground, causing all of the icicle shards on the monsters and the rocks to shoot into the air like a reverse hailstorm. Each one impacted with the Leviathan and crystallised around its body, encasing the Leviathan in a body of ice. Poseidon clasped the reigns of the harness and tugged at them, the gigantic beast roaring in aggression. Teagan grinned and pointed at his opponent, “With the effect of my harnessed Leviathan, this game is mine! Harnessed Leviathan, attack!” he ordered. Poseidon leapt forward and yanked on the leash, the Leviathan moving with him and imitating his every action. The eldritch abomination dashed towards Shane, bypassing Zeus entirely, and prepared to impact its jaws with the duelist. The gang could only watch in awe as Teagan’s monster won the duel. Teagan whooped and cheered as his beast made for Shane’s face. At the moment of his demise, Shane suddenly threw a small black ball to the ground, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Instantaneously, all of the holograms vanished, and light returned to the sky. While the destruction remained, the rest of the area was safe. Teagan smiled at his friends, before collapsing in exhaustion.

“Teagan!” Ashley cried, vaulting the bar separating the spectator zone from the battlefield and lurching towards Teagan’s idle form. Jason and his friends dashed to their fallen comrade soon after and helped him to his feet. His eyes were half lidded and lax, his body occasionally twitching with remnants of electricity. Ashley cupped his face and hugged it tightly, tears streaming down her face. Chris and Jason pulled him up and supported him on their shoulders, while Sammy picked up his duel disk and deck and bag.

“Ashley, let go of him!” Jason ordered, “We need to get him to a doctor!”

“No! I can’t leave him!” Ashley yelled, hugging his face tighter, “He needs me!”

“He needs a doctor!” Chris countered, letting go of Teagan to wrestle Ashley from his body. Ashley screamed and thrashed but finally let go, and Sammy hugged her tightly. Ashley cried into her bosom while the elder girl stroked her head silently, whispering empty words of comfort into her ears. Jason looked at Teagan’s face sadly, hoping that he’d be okay.

Suddenly, Teagan’s body lurched into life, coughing and spluttering in Jason’s arms. Jason’s smile illuminated.

“He’s okay!” he yelled, “He’s just fine!”

“Yeah, never better!” Teagan joked, smiling, before vomiting violently onto the floor. Ashley left Sammy’s embrace and ran over to Teagan. She was about to attack hug him into the Nth Dimension, when she noticed the pool of vomit at his feet.

“Yeah, I’m just gonna leave it for a moment,” she said. Teagan smiled at her back.

“I’m not surprised.”

“He’s fine?” Chris asked, walking back to them, his voice riddled with disbelief.

“Good as leprechaun gold,” Jason laughed, earning a light punch from his Irish friend.

“Yeah, I’m good anyway,” Teagan confirmed.

“That’s good,” Sammy agreed, Chris nodding his head to his sister. A moment later the rooftop access port to the lower levels burst open, several police officers filling the area, tasers aimed at the duelists.

“Drop your decks and put your hands behind your head!” their sergeant bellowed. Jason and the others threw their hands up in the air at their command, Jason’s face turning to one of panic.

“Ah shit.”

Chapter 2.5: The Machinations of a Majestic Matriarch

Ponyville, and all of Equestria, was in complete Bedlam. The newspapers and media were all over the story and Ponyville and the Everfree were under quarantine by orders of Celestia and Luna themselves. Cleanup crews were attempting to repair the damage done to Equestria by the human gods, but the collateral damage was far greater than anypony had previously suspected; Ponyville had been almost completely wrecked, and several ponies were as of yet unaccounted for by the rescue teams. Twilight Sparkle and her friends, however, were more interested in the cause of the disaster, and that’s what the wracked librarian had summoned them to Golden Oaks for.

“And so that’s what happened girls, that’s what this disaster means,” Twilight explained, her friends muzzles wide open in shock. Pinkie Pie was still shaking after the near deaths of the Cake family, and had barely spoken a single word since it had happened. Her hair had flattened from the pain and stress in addition.

“But what are these shadow games you speak of? They sound frightfully dangerous!” Rarity squealed.

“From what I know, these games are used by these aliens to settle bets, grudges, and for fun.”

“But how could anypony find this meaningless destruction fun?!” Fluttershy cried, her eyes strained with tears; a number of her chickens had perished in the conflict.

“Where they are from, this game is not usually dangerous. It’s because they arrived here that these games have become real. Because our worlds have come together, the shadow games played by these “humans”, are about to become deadly for all of us.” Twilight replied to the distraught mare.

“Well these ‘humans’ have another thing coming if they think we’re gonna let them destroy our planet!” Rainbow Dash growled, smashing her hoof onto the table the seven were sat around.

“Rainbow, didn’t ya hear Twilight? It ain’t their fault! Somepony else is manipulatin’ them!” Applejack argued.

“AJ’s right, Rainbow. These humans seem to be mostly decent and nice, but I’d be lying to say that a few of them have malicious intent. One of the two that arrived here was a seemingly pleasant and good-willed character, and even the other seemed like the game was somehow influencing him. I’d place good bits that those two aren’t the ones we should be worried of. They could even be possible allies,” Twilight answered. Rainbow Dash grunted and relaxed back into her chair, mumbling to herself as she did so. The other mares and dragon sat at the table quietened down, absorbing the information their leader had told them. It was certainly a large deal of information to have to absorb, and they wouldn’t have believed it if they hadn’t seen the aliens for themselves. It was then that Pinkie Pie finally muttered out some words.

“Whoever is behind this must die,” she muttered, almost inaudibly. The others turned their heads to her, curious as to what their friend has said.

“What did you say dear?” Rarity questioned.

“Whoever is behind this must die,” she mumbled again, still without anypony hearing her.

“Ah beg yer pardon sugarcube?” Applejack inquired again.

“I SAID, WHOEVER IS BEHIND THIS MUST DIE!” Pinkie screamed, her voice ripping through the air like a knife. The others gathered were stunned at her out of character behaviour, particularly her weeping, pained and angry eyes.

“I AM GOING TO PERSONALLY KILL WHOEVER IT IS THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALMOST MURDERING THE CAKE FAMILY. I SWEAR TO CELESTIA THAT I WILL NOT REST UNTIL THEIR HEAD RESTS ON A BURNING SPIKE IN THE TOWN SQUARE!” she screamed. Her eyes began to turn manic and malicious, panting and with tears rolling down her face. The others sat in awkward silence, until the shy little Pegasus shifted from her seat, trotted over to the crying pink filly, and wrapped her hooves around her neck. In a heartbeat, the hyperventilating Pinkie was reduced to a crying and wailing mess in her friend’s forelegs. The rest of the Mane 6 watched in awe as Fluttershy whispered sweet words of comfort into Pinkie’s ears. After a few moments of comforting, Fluttershy retracted from the hug and the two mares returned to their seats. An awkward silence permeated the library, punctuated only by the infrequent sobs of the pink party planner. Twilight cleared her throat and spoke up,

“In any case, we need to speak to Princess Celestia urgently and inform her of all we’ve learned, especially about these blank cards I received.” She levitated the gold sarcophagus into the middle of the table and removed the cards from its confines. The other studied them in wonder, marvelling at their alien nature. Suddenly, a fanfare echoed in from outside, heralding the arrival of the ponies solar ruler. Twilight and friends dashed out of the library in a flash, the librarian reinserting her cards into their coffin before hurrying out with her friends.

Celestia was not happy, not happy at all. It was a perfectly normal day in Equestria and all of a sudden; BOOM! extradimensional crisis. Celestia had wanted to keep the human world a secret from her little ponies for so long now, ever since she had witnessed the true evil of humanity; the wars. Humans battled each other not with words or wit, but with clashing iron and sounding bronze. They killed for pointless reasons, and so many had died for nothing. Celestia was lucky that ponies as a race were so long lived and hardy, but human lives were cheap and dull, very little ever achieved their true potential. It was only recently, with the introduction of card games, that humanity had finally been pacified. And then this happened. When Celestia had received the reports of the human presence in Equestria, she knew that some eldritch force was at work, and knowing what she had learned about humanity over the last 50 years, it was not something to be taken lightly. She sighed, the shadow games were returning. Celestia gazed out onto her subjects, noticing her elements of harmony sprint their way towards her. She smiled as Twilight stepped up to her, all six ponies and dragon bowing before her.

Time Turner hadn’t slept in weeks. Every time he tried to doze off, his mind would be tormented with those images, images of space, time, and countless wonders, but juxtaposed with frightening horrors, terrible pain and unimaginable loneliness. His mind was wracked with pain and doubt and fatigue, and he’d even visited dream therapists in Canterlot for help, who were yet to provide him with a satisfactory response. They talked of him being unsatisfied with his life and creating this character, this Lonely God, as a way to escape his boredom, but that his creation was taking over his mind. He could not believe that that was the case; he loved his life and job. He had three doctorates in temporal physics, electrical engineering and cosmology, and was well regarded as one of, if not the smartest earth pony in all of Equestria, easily contesting that intellect of Celestia’s protégé herself. His family and friends had been confused as to why he’d put his effort into something as mundane as clockmaking rather than joining the Royal Science Academy or something similar, but he’d argued that the organisation was unfairly biased against non-unicorns, and besides, there was something about clocks that made him happy. Still, the therapists must have had some point to them, they were also trained professionals and he himself had no better alternative. Time Turner sat at his desk and toyed with one of his most recent clocks, a beautiful timepiece crafted from finest ash that stole the image of a growing tree sprout, with the clock face seemingly organically sprouting near the top of the shoot. His exhausted face glowed with pride, despite his fatigue, he really did love his clocks. There was only one that he possessed that he did not like. It wasn’t really a clock, more of a small box, intricately carved with strange geometric circles and with a bizarre clock face adorning the top. The lid was hinged and secured with a clip, which he knew to open to show a small compartment space, roughly enough to store a small pack of playing cards. There was also a second clip at the bottom of the box, one which would open to reveal a secret compartment almost one centimetre in width. He guessed it might be big enough to store almost three playing cards. Despite knowing of this compartments existence ever since he came into contact with the box (When his father gave it to him as a gift at the age of 13, stating it was time for him to have his birthright. He didn’t understand what he meant at the time and still does not to this day.), he had never actually opened it, and there was some strange compulsion inside of him to not open it at all. That same compulsion also seemed to force him to keep the box and make sure that nothing entered its main compartment, and yet was also the one that made him want to get rid of it and keep it away from him, like it threatened everything he was. He knew he was just being silly though, it was just a weird little box. Turner ceased his meddling and returned to his bedroom. Hopefully all this would blow over soon.

“So, your highness, now you see the truth; that all of Equestria is in grave danger,” Twilight finished, drawing her speech to her Princess to a close. Throughout her monologue, Celestia’s eyes grew sad as her worst fears were affirmed. She motioned her ponies to be silent and rose to her hooves.

“You seven will stay with me in Canterlot Castle until further notice. Twilight, with these unknown cards, you are more of a threat to us that you yet realise,” Celestia commanded. The seven assembled friends gasped in shock, taking in the severity of the situation. Twilight meekly nodded and motioned for her Princess to continue.

“This decision shall be effective immediately. You have half an hour to pack.” Twilight and co. were extremely shocked to see this side of the Princess; commanding and dominating. However, they decided to abide by Celestia’s wishes, and in half an hour exactly, they were all ready to travel to the castle. A stern and worried look was struck across the princess’s face and her look alone told the ponies that things were not all as well. Celestia faced her faithful ponies.

“You will now accompany me to the castle,” she commanded, motioning to her nearby Royal Guards to fetch her sun chariot. Twilight and her friends looked among each other nervously as Celestia boarded her mount and signalled the ponies to join her.

Twilight had been in Canterlot Royal Library for almost three hours now. She and the others had arrived at the castle at around three o’clock and led into their secure quarters, while Celestia had gone to council with Luna and Discord, no doubt debating what was to be done. Twilight had seen this opportunity to do some of her own private research, and as of yet had had no luck. She scanned through the last few pages of the book in her hooves before sighing and returning it to its shelf. The Library itself was a towering monument of design, its cylindrical shape tearing into the sky and piercing the clouds around it. On the inside, the bookshelves and walkways were organised in a helix formation, with small sets of steps separating each landing. Twilight had worked her way up almost three quarters of the library, and had read every book on interdimensional and interstellar transport and the possibility of unknown types of magic, but as of yet had found nothing of interest. She turned from the bookshelf and trotted up to the next level of the helix, approaching the next bookcase. She reached her hoof out to a particularly dull green book and tugged it from the shelf. To her surprise, she heard a faint click, and a small air vent in the side of the wall pinged open. Twilight raised an eyebrow in amusement.

“Well, this is interesting,” she smirked, before shuffling herself into the vent, keeping her wings clasped tightly against her body.

Twilight could never have predicted what was to happen next. As she stepped through the vent, she felt her body squeeze and twist, shrinking down to the size of a pin. The previously small air vent was now a cavernous hallway, reaching out into the darkness where Twilight had no way to tell what was beyond. She took a breath and did the only thing she could, she began to walk. After what seemed like hours (but what was really about 30 minutes and 1 metre) she arrived at a doorway set against the steel frame of the hall. She shrugged to herself and nudged the door open, and gasped at what she saw. A room about the size of one of the guest bedrooms in Celestia’s palace greeted her view, decorated with ornately carved wood and lined with bookshelves, each one glistening with some bizarre magic that she daren’t tamper with, and fore-centre of the room was a set of steps with lead upwards about a metre to a bookstand, with one ornate tome sat solidly on its lap. But what was the most astonishing about the room was what was situated directly in the centre; a magnificent rotating floating globe of energy, the magical power swirled with rich blue with flicks of green and brown dashed across the surface, their combined appearances giving the impression of a solid block of colour. Twilight’s mouth gaped in awe at what she was seeing; it was a magically conjured representation of the planet that had appeared in the sky.

“This is... incredible!” she whispered, and in a flash of brilliance decided to try and date the spell that had conjured this orb. Her horn flashed and a stream of information rammed its way into her brain, sending her mind reeling and throwing her onto the floor. She panted in exhaustion as she tried to fathom the message in her brain,

“That thing is... four and a half billion years old!” she screamed, the sheer age of the orb, and logically also, the planet, messing with her very mind. It was so old, she thought, so impossibly old, and far more power must exist in that world than on Equestria. She stumbled back to her hooves and took a deep breath, before analysing the rest of her surroundings. A simple analysis spell on the bookshelves revealed the books to be the ones supporting and feeding the magical orb with its power. She decided not to tamper with them, but instead decided to step up to the pedestal in the centre of the room. Her hooves clacked against the steps as she shakingly approached the book and dusted off the cover. It was a blue book lined with a green spine and trimmings, with a gold binding around the hardback. Its title simply read,

“Earth”.

“That must be the name of the planet,” Twilight reasoned. She undid the bindings and opened the book...

“What? It’s just blank pages!” she cried in confusion, as the blank pages that greeted her only seemed to torment her curiosity. She continued to scratch at her scalp for a moment before a series of black smudges began to form on the paper. Twilight snapped to attention as she stared directly at the morphing black markings. They began to shuffle amongst themselves and settled into two coherent sentences below it. Twilight read the words aloud,

“Omnipedia, the Free All-Knowing Encyclopaedia to Earth. Enter your search query.” She raised an eyebrow in confusion,

“Well that was weird. I guess I’d better enter something in then.” Twilight rummaged in her saddlebags and withdrew a quill and ink pot, before dipping the tip into the black liquid and scratching out a word on the paper,

“Shadow Games”. Instantly, the black smudges multiplied and reformed into several pages worth of information, which Twilight’s librarian brain scanned and analysed nearly instantly. To say she was fascinated and terrified would be the understatement of the century. After finishing the long read, she stepped down from the podium and rested on the floor, sobbing into her hooves; her homeland was doomed, these Shadow Games were going to destroy her world, just like in her vision.  She continued to sob, when a fire rose up in her body and fuelled her heart with a dedicated determination, the kind that only forms when ones home, friends and family are in danger; the desire to not let anything come to harm to those you love. Twilight rose on four legs and marched straight back up the podium, fire burning in her eyes. She withdrew her quill once again and began her marathon study session, looking for something, anything that could help her protect her friends.

“Earth”

“Humans”

“Deities”

“Greek Gods”

“Egyptians”

“Duel Monsters”

“England”

Queen Khaos snapped her head up from examining her deck and whipped her head around frantically, as if a fly had flown in front of her face.

“Something’s wrong,” she hissed, “Deadly wrong.” Khaos returned to her seat and sat down anxiously, there were stray thoughts permeating her head, thoughts which she could not sift and separate from one another. She cursed her chaotic brain under her breath before knocking her skull against her palm and setting her mind in order. As the thoughts began to settle and connect, her smile began to twist upwards as a plan formulated inside her mind,

“Of course, why did I not take the legends so seriously? The myth of the twin orbs was an Equestrian classic folk tale even before my beloved draconequi’lings seeded the planet, why was I so dumb to not consider their existence? But this makes the plan all the more sweet! I no longer need to conquer Duel Monsters on Earth, nor own all the Olympian cards, just enough to crack the arcane paradigm.” She rose again to her feet and began to pace around the room,

“But to get that power, I will need the Olympian monsters themselves, if only some. The only other cards that could possibly hold the same power as them are all owned by the one duelist I will not fight, so that is not an option, but seeing as I need the Olympian monsters anyway, I might as well continue with the previous plan.” Suddenly, her expression changed to one more malicious and her face contorted into a scowl,

“But that pony knows of the Earth Orb, she must not tell anyone, lest my plan be made public. She must be disposed of.” She nodded her head in agreement of her plan, before motioning for one of her draconequi guards to call to her.

“Kakophony darling, would you be a good boy and dispose of the Twilight Sparkle girl for me? There’s a fine little avatar of discord,” Khaos cooed, the draconequi’s face turning dreamy with love, before shaking his head right, saluting and answering his queen,

“Of course mother dear.” His voice was a horrific clash of sounds, like a brass band all playing different songs in different keys simultaneously. His mother smiled, she liked his voice. Kakophony smiled happily before spinning on his heels and running to the doorway, evaporating into fire as he went. Khaos smirked and smiled to herself, she really loved her good little boys...

Twilight awoke back in her bed in the castle, her eyes straining against the new light from Celestia’s sun burning through the window. She heaved herself upright and flexed her wings outwards, shaking the cobwebs from her bones. Twilight smiled to herself; another crazy dream she told herself, although she didn’t even believe that. She heard the scampering of feet from outside her doorway before it burst into her room through the wooden door.

“Twilight, come on! Get up! You were supposed to meet the girls with Celestia almost fifteen minutes ago,” Spike the dragon exclaimed. Twilight went apeshit.

Twilight had dashed off from her room at the speed of fucking light, no end to the mindless sputterings of ‘tardiness’ spewing from her mouth. She ducked around several twists, bends and corners until she arrived at entrance to the hallway which she thought would lead into Celestia’s throne room, the castle was so big sometimes she got lost in its never ending passages. Twilight stepped around the corner of the archway and found herself, much to her confusion, in the palace courtyard.  She noticed her five friends, all standing in the centre of the elaborate gardens, in the one area cleared into a rectangle for tennis matches. Worried looks were plastered on their faces and they murmured amongst themselves fearfully. Spike finally caught up with Twilight, who raised an eyebrow.

“Girls? Why are you all out here, we’re supposed to be with Celestia!” she questioned. The assorted ponies turned their heads to look at her and their eyes began to water and their lips began to quiver.

“We tried leaving, but we can’t get out of the gardens,” Rarity explained, shivering. Twilight snorted in amusement.

“What do you mean ‘you can’t get out’? The exits right here...” she explained, trailing her voice off as she turned to look at the archway from whence she came, only to be greeted by the interior of groundskeepers supply hutch. Her eyes narrowed in fear as the realisation kicked in. At that very moment, her mind lost its grip on the situation and her head tilted to the side as her focus left her. She went apeshit again. Twilight pinballed around the garden frantically, looking for a way out of the gardens. Her friends tried to explain some ideas to her to help, but she was lost in her own little world. It was one voice that snatched her attention.

“Excuse me, are you Twilight Sparkle?” It was a voice that screeched of metal being scraped and hammered against a whetstone and dragged through gravel. The tone of the voice alone snapped Twilight from her trance, who then spun around to greet her mystery interrupter. She was very shocked when she saw a miniature draconequus, appearing in a wreath of flames, staring back at her.

“Um, yes? Is there something you want?” she asked, noticing one of the strange blade devices strapped to the draconequus’ arm. She knew what the beast wanted.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to eliminate you,” the monster replied. All at once, Twilights friends burst into aggression, shouting obscenities and insults at her assailant. Even Fluttershy joined in on the fun.

“Just who do you think you are?!” Rainbow Dash squawked.

“My name is Kakophony, and I’m sorry, but I must destroy your friend,” Kakophony replied.

“Now just what in tarnation makes ya think we’re gonna let you do that, huh?”  Applejack seethed.

“Because she will agree to duel me, and lose,” Kakophony explained.

“Like fudge she will, Twilight is a pacifist, she’d never fight scum you, and even if she did, you wouldn’t stand a chance!” Pinkie growled.

“But I will,” Twilight sighed, lowering her face. Her friends looked at her in shock.

“What do you mean, Twilight?” Fluttershy whispered.

“You don’t fight, Twilight, you wouldn’t do this. Just refuse and he can’t do anything,” Rainbow appealed.

“But she knows the challenge already, does she not? She has read from the orb and knows of the game, so she knows what will, and must happen,” Kakophony grinned, earning a look of confusion from the other ponies.

“What ever does he mean, Twilight?” Rarity appealed.

“He means we’re going to play a game, and the loser will lose more than just face,” Twilight explained vaguely, answering fewer questions than providing them. Kakophony smiled briefly.

“So then, shall we begin?” he questioned. Twilight’s face calmed down enough to look the Draconequus dead in the eyes growled,

“One thing I want to know first; who do you work for? You’re obviously not a lone ranger, you have an employer, one who wants these things done for him. Or even her. Who is this being?!” Kakophony snorted and scratched his clawed talon through his lions mane.

“Should you survive this game, I’m sure you will find out soon enough. But, as I have no intention of letting that happen, you will never know!” he laughed, earning nothing but a blank stare from the alicorn princess.

“Let’s duel,” she spoke calmly. Out from nowhere, Twilight’s deck box appeared in front of her face, and she smiled knowingly. The box’s lid removed itself from the main body and from its depths, raised a deck of cards, encased in chains. The gathered ponies (and dragon!) gasped in shock at the sight and Twilight set off a spark of magic that clashed with the chains, snapping them effortlessly. Instantaneously, her eyes flashed a brilliant white-gold that shone beaming light above the whole tennis court. The Draconequus took his side of the court as he continued to watch the pony undergo the ancient magical ritual. Into her mind, and the minds of all assembled ponies (and dragon!... again...), flooded images; texts, messages and knowledge of the game of Duel Monsters, the knowledge Twilight learned from the orb the previous night, and the contents of Twilight’s almost untouched fetish-gear cupboard. All of these things buried themselves deep into their brains and in a flash, they knew everything. They knew of the rules, the cards, the strategies and the history, everything that Twilight had seen. The cards themselves developed faces and shuffled themselves, while another hoof-blade, a duel disk, manifested itself around Twilight’s fore-left hoof, with the shuffled deck inserting itself into the deck holster. Twilight took a battle stance and drew five cards into her hoof with her magic, while her friends were busy recuperating from their mental assault. Kakophony, Servant-Son of the Queen of Chaos and Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, locked eyes, and Twilight spoke in an unusually confident voice,

“The first move is mine...”

DUEL START

TWILIGHT SPARKLE LP: 4000

KAKOPHONY LP: 4000

TWILIGHT SPARKLE TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Twilight raised a hoof to the deck slot on her new duel disk and slowly pulled a card from its body. She glanced at it, her mind abuzz with new strategies and rules. She knew how to play this game now, and being the genius student of Celestia, she was going to win it. Twilight’s muzzle raised into a grin, her horn glowing as she prepared to cast forth her monsters from her cards. Kakophony smirked in amusement at the pony’s confidence, there was no way she’d be able to beat him, the son of Khaos himself!

STANDBY PHASE:

MAIN PHASE 1:

“First I active the Spell Card - Instant Fusion!” Twilight cried, slapping the card down onto her duel disk. The gathered ponies gasped, the combined shock at seeing Twilight participate in one of these dangerous games clashing with the onslaught of foreign knowledge that was assaulting their brains. Kakophony raised an eyebrow in amusement.

“With this card I can Special Summon one level five or lower Fusion monster from my fusion deck. It is destroyed during the End Phase, but that’s not going to matter!” The holographic image of the card rose from the tennis court grounds and shone with a bright blue light. From the flash, a half opened tin can appeared, floating in midair, the word “FUSION” struck across its label. With a loud pop, the can exploded, sending waves of heat and light from its core. Twilight and her friends shielded their eyes from the light, while Kakophony merely blinked. Twilight looked back up, finally realising the danger of her situation.

“By Celestia’s beard, this is much more dangerous than I imagined!” she thought to herself, before steeling her resolve and continuing with her turn.

“With Instant Fusion, I Fusion Summon my Kamionwizard!” From the cloud of smoke where the can used to be stood a dark humanoid warrior, clad in black armour and trimmed with red lining. Its face was an intimidating battle plate and its scythe was nothing short of intimidating too. The ponies jaws dropped at the sight, Twilight had just summoned one of the earthlings!

“What are ya doin’ Twilight, you know those humans aren’t completely trustworthy, why are y’all getting one to fight for yer?” Applejack questioned, voicing the concerns of all gathered ponies. Twilight was about to answer her friend when a serrated voice answered for her.

“These monsters aren’t real living things; they are just constructions of magic. Completely harmless to anyone not participating in the duel...” Kakophony smirked. A rainbow hued mane dashed over to where the draconequus was standing.

“Why you little!” Rainbow Dahs’s voice cried, before colliding with the thin air and bouncing away from him. The ponies gasped in shock and Kakophony chuckled.

“You still don’t get it do you?” he taunted, “This is a Shadow Game, you can’t interrupt it!” Rainbow Dash growled and gritted her teeth, her fellow ponies dashing forward to help their fallen comrade.

“No one can leave until there is one winner,” the draconequus continued, “One person will win this game, and that one person will leave intact. The other... will die.” The ponies jaws dropped, even Twilights. She had expected some horrible fate to befall her if she had lost, but this was beyond her expectations. She steeled her willpower and continued her move.

“Now I use my Normal Summon for this turn, come forth; Junk Synchron!” she cried, slamming down her second card onto the duel disk. From the bladed metal shot a small robot-like creature, seemingly constructed from discarded metal and fabrics. Twilight smiled and flicked out her hoof.

“Because my Junk Synchron is a tuner monster, I can tune him with my Kamionwizard to Synchro Summon my ace monster. Come on out, Arcanite Magician!” The pots and pans warrior reached into his side and pulled on a motorboat cord, letting a loud grumbling like the revving of engines echo through the air. The warrior promptly disintegrated into three bright green rings, with three little white stars hovering in the middle of the hole. Kamionwizard leapt into the hole as well and also disintegrated, but this time into four stars. Twilight smiled and the ponies looked on in awe as a beam of light shot through the middle of the rings, breaking them apart. The light eventually died down to reveal a humanoid magician, clad in arcane white robes and clutching a glowing green staff.

“Say hello to Arcanite Magician.” Kakophony’s laidback attitude lapsed for a moment and he genuinely began to feel some fear.

“A powerful Synchro Monster out on the first turn? Impressive!” he chuckled behind quavering breath. Twilight stared daggers at the draconequus, before placing two other cards into her duel disks slot.

“I set two cards and end my turn.”

END PHASE:

STATUS:

TWILIGHT:

LP: 4000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: ARCANITE MAGICIAN (2 SPELL COUNTERS).

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 FACE-DOWN

KAKOPHONY:

LP: 4000

HAND: 5 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 0.

SPELLS/TRAPS: 0.

KAKOPHONY TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

The draconequus drew his card and look at Twilight and the ponies with slight distain. His face contorted into a smile as he began his turn.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“First I activate Dark Hole, destroying all monsters on the field!” he growled, slamming his card onto the disk.

“No! My Magician!” Twilight cried, as a black energy swirled around the battlefield. The valiant Arcanite Magician tried to resist its pull, but was ultimately sucked into its centre, where it shattered into a thousand pieces.  Kakophony grinned wildly as he watched the carnage and Twilight’s despairing look. He drew his next card from his hand...

“I summon Evilswarm Castor!” he declared, the monster rising from the image of its card. It was a hulking monstrosity, clad in thick plate armour and a red cloak, the very essence of it exuded horror and sadness. Twilight and the ponies looked on in fear as the spawn of chaos continued with his move.

“When Castor is Normal Summoned, I can Normal Summon one additional time this turn, so long as the monster is another Evilswarm monster. Say hello to Evilswarm Heliotrope!” Right next to the previous monster, a second beast crawled its way from its card. This one was armed in rusty plate armour and clutching a sword sword in its dilapidated arms. Twilight looked on in horror at the beating she was about to receive. Her friends attempted to shout words of encouragement to her, but her mind was not resting easily. Kakophony knew that this was going to be a decisive moment in the duel, one way or another.

BATTLE PHASE:

“Now, Heliotrope and Castor, attack!” The two armoured attackers lunged towards Twilight and slashed their weapons across her fur. Twilight was knocked back from the force of the blows, her body tossed against a nearby statue. She impacted the cold stone with a crush and fell to the ground in a messy heap, her cards having been dropped to the floor.

“Twilight!” the gathered ponies gasped, cantering over to their fallen friend. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both attempted to lift the fallen alicorn to her feet but were stopped by the invisible barrier. Twilight came to, covered in scraped and bruises, one of her wings having been twisted grotesquely in the fall. She smiled at her friends and steadied herself on all hooves.

“It’s alright everypony, I’ll be fine,” she comforted.

“But Twilight, your wing!” Fluttershy appealed, tears streaming down her eyes.

“And you’re about to lose the duel!” Rarity added.

“I’ll be fine girls, don’t worry about me, I have a plan.”

“Oh I’d LOVE to hear that!” Kakophony snarked. Twilight snapped her head around angrily to face the offending monster.

“Oh, don’t you DARE take that tone with me! I am an Alicorn Princess of Equestria, personal student OF CELESTIA HERSELF! AND I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY SOME DISGUSTING ABOMINATION OF NATURE!” Twilight bellowed,

shocking even the draconequus himself. However, he regained his composure and simply nodded at the damaged mare.

“Whatever you say, Princess.”

Evilswarm Castor and Heliotrope <-->  Twilight

Twilight - 2700 life points

Twilight: 300 LP

MAIN PHASE 2:

“Now, my turn isn’t over yet! I overlay my two monsters to Exceed Summon my Evilswarm Ophion!” Kakophony grinned. Twilight paled as the two monsters jumped towards each other and vanished into red light. From this light burst the newest monster. A scaly black dragon, lined with plate-like armour and with wings of burning blue steel greeted Twilight’s eyes. Two red stars orbited around the monster, which Twilight gathered to represent the Xyz Material Monsters. The draconequus laughed quietly before continuing his turn.

“I now detach one Xyz Material Monster to add one Infestation card to my hand. I choose Infestation Pandemic and instantly set it!” he declared, as the malicious dragon bit into one of the passing red orbs, pus and pestilence oozing from its shattered body. A small shard of light slipped from the orb’s remains, which flew into Kakophony’s hand. He, however, merely flicked it away, the shard coming to rest on his side of the battlefield. He grinned and leered at Twilight,

“Your move.”

END PHASE:

STATUS:

TWILIGHT:

LP: 300

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 0

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 FACE-DOWN

KAKOPHONY:

LP: 4000

HAND: 3 CARDS.

MONSTERS: EVILSWARM OPHION.

SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 FACE-DOWN

TWILIGHT TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Twilight anxiously reached her hoof towards the top card of her deck, her forelegs trembling all the way. She was about to pull the card when a familiar voice speared her mind.

“I shall help you,” was all it spoke. Twilight grinned as the top card of her deck began to glow a familiar white, and Kakophony’s smirk fell from his face.

“Oh no,” was all he said. Twilight reached out and pulled the card, a trail of pure magenta magic following the card. A glowing purple image of a pentacle etched itself on the floor underneath where Twilight stood and the card was added to her hand. She smiled and began her turn.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“First of all, I activate my Book of Moon spell card, changing your Ophion from attack mode to face down defence mode, thereby stopping his restricting effect!” Twilight declared, the image of an ornate blue book flying out onto the battlefield. Kakophony merely snorted and countered.

“Are you for real? I activate my face-down Infestation Pandemic, protecting my Ophion from your effects until the End Phase!” he said simply, earning a groan from the ponies but a grin from Twilight.

“What’s so funny?” he exclaimed?

“I activate my face-down card, Dark Bribe! This negates your card effect!” Twilight growled. The face down card sprang upwards and the Infestation Pandemic card fizzled out mid spring. It exploded into dust and the card disappeared. The Book of Moon then continued it job and flipped the Ophion into face down defence position. Kakophony looked on in confusion.

“But wait, I don’t understand! If you had Dark Bribe, why didn’t you just negate Dark Hole, instead of waiting for your monster to be destroyed?!” he asked, bewildered. Twilight chuckled lightly.

“Do you think I didn’t see all this coming?” she chuckled, earning a confused look from the defending draconequus.

“What?” he stated in bewilderment.

“As soon as I saw you play Dark Hole I knew immediately what it meant. Judging by your nature, I worked out that your tactic was to inflict as much damage to me as possible so that you could win without causing a fuss. If you didn’t end this duel quickly, you would alert the guards, who would no doubt be here before you could win. So I reasoned that you were going to summon two smaller monsters to inflict maximum damage, so I saved my card for later when it might be of more use. It was a big gamble but ultimately it paid off. I also knew that you were not going to risk leaving your monsters out for a turn too long as well, so I reasoned you would also prepare for an Exceed Summon later in the turn in preparation for my comeback, were one to exist. The moment I saw Ophion gain you that Infestation Pandemic, I knew my plan had worked out. And suffice to say, I have always had a back-up plan, even if my Arcanite Magician would be destroyed. I knew from my vision that I was going to gain a god card eventually, and I can’t do that if I’m dead. I knew that card would come to me just before I was about to lose and no later, helping me turn this entire duel around in one turn. And now you will get to see my long standing plan right now,” Twilight explained, earning herself dropped jaws from all around, including Kakophony. Spike nodded his head,

“She had it all planned out from the start, even that strange new card.”

“Twilight’s one smart cookie!” Pinkie chipped. Kakophony stared on in terror,

“Wha-what are you going to do?” he quivered. Twilight chuckled and thrust her card onto the battlefield.

“Since I control no monsters and have one Spellcaster type Synchro Monster in my grave, I can Special Summon Hecate - Mistress of Magic from my hand!” From the blue-hued card burst forth a titanic shadow, a shadow that was so tall and mighty it obscured part of the sun. Kakophony stared wide-eyed in terror.

“I never even got to use mine!” he squealed. Twilight didn’t even hear him; she was too busy focusing on the forming titan.

“Hecate, reduce your size! Join your me, your friend, in battle!” she bellowed, and surprisingly, the titan agreed. The shadow shrunk down to a normal humanoid size, approximately a third taller than Twilight. The mane 6 all stared in wonder, as for once, one of these gods were being used for good rather than destruction. The shadow eventually solidified itself, forming into a beautiful woman, visually in her early thirties, clad in magnificent purple robes and a crown of horns. But the woman was not as normal, for there were two illusionary faces hovering in mid air next to her own. One held the image of a beautiful young girl of eighteen, while the other was depicted with the face of an old woman of around sixty. The ponies were enraptured by her strange appearance, while Twilight was busy with the rest of her move.

“I’m not finished, I summon Lyla - Lightsworn Sorceress for my Normal Summon, but she won’t be staying around for long.” The sorceress appeared onto the battlefield clad in her white robes, but she had the look about her that she knew she wouldn’t be there for long.

“I now activate my face-down, Miracle Synchro Fusion!” Twilight continued, Kakophony now visibly sweating.

“This card allows me to banish the Arcanite Magician in my graveyard and the Lyla - Lightsworn Sorceress I control to Fusion Summon one monster from my extra deck that requires a Synchro monster as one of its materials. I summon Supreme Arcanite Magician!” The Miracle card exploded into light and from its brightness, none could see into its heart. When all eyes returned to the field, Lyla was nowhere to be seen, but in her place stood Arcanite Magician, this time clad in elaborate black armour, trimmed with violet lining and indented with green gemstones. Rarity almost fainted with all the fabulous. Kakophony was now sweating buckets and was simply waiting for his destruction. Twilight grinned.

“I activate Hecate’s effect. Once per turn, I can place a spell counter on every monster I control. Seeing as my Magician came with two, this adds him to three and Hecate is on one!” The two faces on either side of Hecate siphoned off from her body and both passed through Arcanite Magician’s staff, charging the green gem at its tip with power. The two faces then returned to Hecate, who grinned as she also began to glow a great green.

“Now, Hecate’s other effect increases the ATK of all monsters that have a Spell Counter on them by 200 for each one. This puts my Magician at 4000 ATK points, enough to destroy you for good!” Twilight cheered, Hecate turning around to nod at her master. Twilight returned the gesture and looked towards the mess of a draconequus before her.

“You threatened me with death, and roped my friends in with this just to torment them, all for the sake of fun, and now you will face your punishment,” she said, “Hecate - Mistress of Magic, and Supreme Arcanite Magician, ATTACK!” Hecate lunged at the face down Ophion and killed the fuck out of it, before the Magician aimed its staff directly at Kakophony and set off a beam of raw green magic. At the last minute, Kakophony pushed his talon inside his own body and pulled himself inside out; removing him from harm’s way of the blow. The blast simply struck the tennis court, leaving a dark charred crater where the light had hit. The monsters vanished from the battlefield and the invisible barrier disintegrated. The ponies rushed up to greet Twilight, who had almost fallen over with the effort.

“You were amazing Twilight!”

“Fabulous darling, your Magician has already inspired me on a new fashion range!”

“Shut up Rarity!”

“Well I never!”

“Splendiferous!” All of these were among the many compliments Twilight received before she lost her focus and blacked out from her injuries.

Time Turner still couldn’t sleep, his attempts had still ended in failure. More images of that hairless monkey in a pinstripe suit and a blue box ricocheted through his mind, and nothing he could do could shake the images. He burst from his bed and fell onto the floor with a loud crack. While the first thing he should have realised was that his nose hurt like fuck, instead it was, “Why is my floor now made of stone”. He stood up to see he was in a small room. Although he didn’t really see, as there was no light. He just sort of... felt. He groaned as he saw that his box had followed him to this strange place. He picked it up and prepared to leave the room, but something in his mind told him not to leave, some urgent voice that told him there was unfinished business here. He picked up his box and rattled it in annoyance, but was surprised to see the box begin to glow with golden light. Small particles with coloured mist filtered out from the bottom of his box, and he looked down to see that the secret compartment had been shaken loose. While it had not opened, he could see through a crack. As he smelt the golden vapour, his mind was assaulted with more memories of the strange being. He immediately snapped the compartment shut, but not soon enough to see what he was looking for in the corner of his eye. He swallowed nervously and walked towards it...

Twilight awoke several hours later, returned to her bed with her body completely healed from her injuries. She raised her groggy head from the pillow and attempted to scan her surroundings. She heard muffled voices around her, each with a worried and nervous undertone. After almost a minute of confusion, a grey veil was lifted from her eyes and her head began to clear. She was surrounded by her friends, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike, while the two princesses of the sun and moon stood before her in addition. There were additional guards posted around her room’s door and windows, each one horns charged for any potential invaders. Her friends all wore expressions of fear and confusion, and Celestia herself looked on in resignation. She stepped towards Twilight’s bed.

“Good morning Twilight. Are you feeling better?” she asked the damaged mare. Twilight rubbed at her eyes with her hooves before answering,

“Um, yes princess. My head hurts a little though.”

“Following Grimoire-Tier magical healing, migraines are a common side effect.” Twilight’s eyes snapped open in surprise and she lurched her back upwards to sitting bolt upright.

“You did WHAT?!” she screamed in shock, earning herself awkward looks from her friends. Luna stepped forward to answer.

“You had suffered from three broken ribs and a pierced lung. We couldn’t have you dying on us, especially after what happened today, so we had to resort to the extreme magics. You’ll probably be unable to use magic for the next week or so and you should try to avoid strenuous physical activity during that time,” Luna explained. Twilight’s face paled as the princess explained her story, while Fluttershy began to cry into Pinkie Pie’s arms. Celestia placed a hoof in front of her sister.

“That’s enough Luna,” she commanded, walking up to beside where Twilight lay.

“While I am apologetic for my next instruction, an instruction I have already demanded of your friends, I am afraid it may be necessary for the survival of Equestria.” Celestia continued, Twilight’s anxiousness turning into a strange curiousity.

“After your friends explained to me the results of this “duel” you participated in, and the events that lead up to it, I have determined that this new threat is too great to be ignored. As a result, I ask you and your friends to journey to this new world, seek out the two beings that first came here, and investigate this new danger. Luna and I will protect Equestria in any way we can in the meantime. This is the most important moment in Equestrian history everypony; not only have we received first contact with an alien species, but our entire planet is in danger at the same time. As the foremost defenders of our world, you seven are our greatest hope,” Celestia finished. Twilight’s jaw would have dropped on any other day, but judging by previous events, she wasn’t that surprised. The other ponies looked towards their friend in expectation, eyes slightly watered at the prospect of their mission. Twilight looked towards the sun matriarch and the lunar goddess.

“I accept,” she said solemnly. All the other ponies nodded their heads in agreement and Celestia motioned for them all to follow her.

“Come with me,” she said softly, walking from Twilight’s door. The other ponies followed her and Twilight jumped from her bed, grabbed her duel disk with deck and followed her friends from the room.

The ponies walked their way through the castle hallways, following their princess through the maze that was the Canterlot Castle. Eventually, they arrived into a small, dusty and cramped room. There was almost no light in the room, the only lamination being provided by the horns of the princesses themselves. The room itself was littered with old furniture and equipment, every piece was draped with old moth eaten cloths. Celestia cantered over to the largest one and used her magic to tear the cloth from its mount. Twilight noted that the dust was slightly disturbed from the ground, but was unable to comment on it due to the reactions of her fellow friends. The ponies gasped as they were greeted by the magical mirror Twilight had followed Sunset Shimmer through early that summer. Celestia nodded at the reactions of the ponies.

“Yes, this is another portal to the human world, and when I said we were meeting a new species, that was not entirely accurate. Twilight has been to this place before, but this time, your form will not shift upon your entering this world; the presence of the planet itself is providing too much magical interference,” she said, earning her a gasp from the ponies.

“So we FINALLY get to visit this place!” Pinkie squealed excitedly.

“Yeah, this is gonna be so cool!” Rainbow Dash added.

“Girls, this is no joking matter! We have a really serious mission to do!” Twilight appealed, exhausted from her ordeals. Her plea silenced her fellow ponies, and Celestia merely shook her head, smiling as she did so. She knew that this might be the only time they would be able to enjoy a laugh for the rest of this ordeal. She looked back towards her ponies and motioned towards the portal.

“Good luck my faithful subjects, all of Equestria is behind you,” she said. The other ponies looked among one another nervously, and Luna only watched intently. Eventually, they began to walk through the portal one by one. Eventually, only Twilight and Spike were left. Spike looked towards Twilight intently and sighed.

“Guess we’re going again, huh?” he said. Twilight merely shrugged.

“I guess so,” she replied, before they both stepped through the portal. Celestia and Luna looked at each other awkwardly, before Luna spoke to her older sister.

“Was it wise to use our foremost means of defence as a distraction, sister?” she asked. Celestia didn’t even look at her.

“We need as much time as we can to see if we need to use military force. We have the new technology to almost completely annihilate that planet if needs be, and I plan on using it if it means saving my ponies,” she answered.

“But what of the humans on Earth? They are innocent in all of this,” Luna pleaded, revealing her knowledge of the alien face. Celestia’s face remained stern.

“If it means protecting my ponies, I will do anything,” she answered, “We need to be ready for anything to change at the drop of a horseshoe. Luna, arm the megaspells.” Luna’s jaw dropped in shock.

“But sister!” she pleaded.

“No questions!” Celestia replied, snapping her head around to face her sister, eyes burning with rage, “Do as I say!”

Luna glared at her older sister, before turning away and walking off.

“Of course, Princess Celestia.” Celestia sighed, this was not going to end well.

Kakophony exploded into existence before his mother’s feet, his eyes wet with the still lingering fear of his last encounter. Khaos looked at her son in mild amusement before raising her voice.

“You lost, didn’t you?” she asked calmly, earning a nervous glance from her offspring.

“Y-y-yes mother. How did you know?” Kakophony quivered. Khaos merely chuckled.

“Why do you think I sent you?” she laughed, earning a confused glare from her son.

“Ex-ex-excuse me?”

“I sent you to her to see if she possessed one of the Olympian god cards, not to actually kill her. If she hadn’t, then that’s too bad, but if she did, then we have all sorts of games we can play,” Khaos smirked. Her son’s eyes illuminated, seemly ignorant of his mothers lack of faith in his duelling abilities.

“What would you like me to do next then mother dear?” he asked.

“Rally the duel slaves, they shall compete in the game just as planned. Make sure they know what to do,” she commanded. Kakophony nodded frantically and rose to his feet.

“Of course mother, anything for you mother,” he chattered, before running off on his mismatched feet. Khaos cackled

in delight.

“And so, the real battle begins...”

Chapter 3: The Unification of Universal Allies

Jason and the others were as confused as shit. Their day had gone from really weird, to downright terrifying to pure confusion as they were shunted about London by the very physical police with little indication as to what was really happening to them. Ashley couldn’t stop groaning the whole ride due to her boredom, and Jason, Sammy and Teagan’s presence was probably the only thing stopping Chris from nailing her one in the jaw, his eyebrows screwed up in irritation. They were about to reach boiling point when they arrived with a lurch at their destination.

“It’s time to get out kids,” the sergeant commanded, opening the van doors to release the duelists into the street. They let out a collective gasp when they realised where they were; right in front of the spatial rift where Jason and Chris had been transported to Equestria in the sky. Their eyes flitted around nervously as they were approached by a cache of officers, the sergeant from earlier fronting their approach.

“Hello children, I’m sergeant Pepper from the Metropolitan Police. We understand that you are the duelists known as Jason Tyrell and Chris Haddock, amongst your friends, and that you are the first people known to make contact with the aliens on the new planet,” he inquired, earning an exasperated look from the assembled group.

“They’re not aliens, they’re ponies,” Jason insisted. The sergeant rolled his eyes and continued.

“Regardless, you were the first ones on that planet, so we decided that you should be the ones to help us out with a little situation we have here.” The kids raised their eyebrows in amusement.

“And what is it you want us to do?” Chris questioned incredulously. Pepper gestured towards the crackling rift in the centre of the schoolyard, surrounded by research scientists operating several rows of improvised computer banks, wires connected from the computers trailed from the banks into a large van, its side emblazoned with the logo of the Metropolitan Police. Jason noticed that the rift was crackling a lot more than when he had first seen it earlier in the day. Pepper motioned towards the crackling energy.

“When you five passed by this way earlier, the energy output of this rift tripled in its intensity,” he explained, the confused stares of the teenagers turning to unexpected nervousness. The policeman continued.

“This energy output has remained constant but its form is continuously mutating. This “Anomaly”, as we’ve called it, is proving to be extremely dangerous to our technology, if you’d look at our computers.” The duelists looked towards the assorted computer banks and realised what the sergeant had been talking about; there was rust building up around the ports of the computers and around the wires. Jason watched in awe as the metal in one wire burst from its rubber coating, growing from the split end like some horrendous rusty tumour. The computer it was attached to began to spark and smoke and the scientist working it ducked from the bank as a final bang was heard, and the screen went black. Pepper sighed.

“We’ve lost £3,000 worth of equipment already, but it needs to be done if we are to figure out what the Anomaly really is.”

“Have you tried going through it?” Pepper shot his gaze back towards the frightened teenagers.

“Who said that?” he questioned angrily.

“That would be me,” Chris replied, smirking slightly with his arms folded. Pepper stormed over to the unruly teen and growled.

“What we have here is a miracle of science, a proof to our world that alien life exists, and is in its very nature is a rip in space and time itself. Do you think we would be so stupid as to go through this thing?!” he bellowed. Jason, Teagan, Sammy and Ashley all cowered and covered their ears at the sergeants outburst, whereas Chris, whose face was almost pressed up against the furious Pepper, looked onwards with complete calm, with no negative emotion displayed on his face. The other scientists and policemen had stopped concentrating on the Anomaly for a moment and all eyes were on Chris. He opened his lips slowly,

“Jason and I did it.” Pepper looked on, dumbstruck, as Chris simply turned and walked back to his waiting friends, all of their jaws glued firmly to the ground. Sergeant Pepper almost exploded with anger, when the Anomaly did the explosion for him. The sound of a supersonic jet taking off mixed with an exploding grenade and thunder striking sliced through the air as a great column of crackling light shot from the Anomaly and piercing the heavens above them, decimating the cloud layer and striking the image of a castle on the illusionary planet above them, while a great gust of wind erupted from the Anomaly’s core, blowing back all the computer banks, rust exploding from them vehemently, and all the assembled humans were also knocked onto their backs from the great force of the gust. Jason pried his eyes open against the hurricane gale surrounding them, enough to see seven smudgy black strips flowing down its length before merging with the core at the bottom. As soon as the strips hit the shifting core of the lazorrr beamz, the light, wind and sound stopped at once. The assembled humans found themselves climbing back onto their feet and dusting themselves off haphazardly, no one paying attention to the six ponies and baby dragon that now stood in front of the core. It was a full thirty seconds before anyone saw them. That someone was Ashley.

“Oh my gosh, ponies!” she squealed. All at once, every human there exploded into hurried conversation. Scientists argued amongst each other with the policemen contributing in no helpful way. The only beings not talking were the duelists and the ponies. They stared at each other awkwardly, while Ashley hopped from toe to toe, giggling in excitement. Jason and Chris gave each other an, “Yeah, we know what we gotta do,” look, while Teagan and Sammy simply shrugged. The ponies looked amongst each other nervously while also giving Chris a wary look, the memory of what had happened to him still etched in their brains. Gradually, Jason and Chris, the others following behind them, began walking towards the gathered ponies. The two groups looked at each other awkwardly.

“So...” Jason started.

“Yeah...” Twilight replied. The humans and the ponies scratched their heads with their hands and hooves in silence, only the sound of Ashley’s hopping feet resonating through the air.

“On behalf of the human race, I’d like to welcome you to Earth,” Jason said, smiling weakly. He offered his hand to the pony leader in front of him, but Twilight blushed and turned her face away. Rarity sighed in exasperation and walked up to where the outstretched hand lay.

“Charmed. My name is Rarity and these are my friends; Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash,” she introduced accepting his hand in her hoof.

“Nice to meet you all,” Jason replied, the awkward air beginning to disappitate from the assorted beings. Ashley finally couldn’t take it any more.

“OH MY GOSH YOU ARE ALL SO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!!” she screamed, giga-hugging all the ponies in quick succession. She split from them after approximately thirty seconds of hugging and rejoined the humans. The ponies were all mostly in shock, except for Pinkie Pie, who was behaving just like Pinkie Pie would (Explains all you need to know).

“Ashley!” Teagan hissed, with Chris, Sammy and Jason giggling in the background.

“Sorry,” Ashley replied sheepishly. Chris stepped forward to the ponies.

“And our names are Chris, Teagan, Ashley, Sammy and Jason,” he informed, gesturing to the people in question. While the ponies were still wary about him, they smiled politely and made their greetings. Twilight took the next opportunity to speak.

“Hi there everyone, we really are glad to see such friendly people on our first visit,” she nodded, earning a murmur of approval from the others, “but, our arrival, as you can guess, is not a good omen. We are on a mission from our Princess, Celestia, to find out more about these gods that we saw you duelling with.” The mood turned more melancholy after her words, and Jason took the opportunity to speak.

“I see. So you’ll be wanting our help then.”

“Ideally, yes.” Jason sighed, looking back towards his assorted friends with questioning eyes. In return, he received a mix of shrugged shoulders and general approval. He smiled and turned back to the ponies.

“We’d be happy to help in any way we can, we’re not too enthusiastic about this scenario either.” Twilight and the others beamed in happiness and she leapt up to Jason, hugging him. He was caught aback by the sudden onslaught but eventually smiled and let go. The ponies look extremely happy at his words, and Pinkie Pie was about to explode.

“NEW FRIENDS TO HELP SAVE THE WORLD PARTY GOOOOOOOOOOO!” she cried, pulling a large pink cannon out of nowhere (her arse) and shot a humongous cannonball into the sky. The assembled humans and ponies jaws dropped as the cannonball went hurtling through the air and crashed into a distant object, the sound of a screeching cat echoing through the air. They looked at her appalled her face twisted with a guilty smile.

“Sorry, wrong cannon.”

“Mistress, the ponies have arrived on Earth,” Shane informed, kneeling before his commander. Khaos, laid back seductively on her black, horned throne.

“Excellent, now we can resume the plan,” she spoke slowly. Shane grinned and looked up at Khaos.

“Would you like me to announce the challenge now my Queen?” he asked. Khaos nodded slowly, a wry smile forming upon her black lips.

“Indeed, and make sure they know to be scared.”

“And that’s why Field Spells are underrated!” Twilight finished. The humans had been incredibly surprised at the ponies vast knowledge at duelling, until Twilight had informed to them the root of their knowledge. The existence of the orb of their Earth has greatly disturbed them to say the least.

“I agree completely, but that doesn’t mean that Continuous Spells aren’t more useful and generally more versatile!” Chris responded. The argument had gone on for about three hours now, and following their leaving the schoolyard, preceded by a minor mind wipe spell from Twilight on the assembled police, they had wandered across Park Lane into Hyde Park, where they had stopped for food. The humans had initially been surprised at the pony’s presence, but a quick rebuttal from the humans had shut them up quickly.  Jason dully realised that they would be front page news shortly, but couldn’t find the will to care. While the ponies had initially been uncomfortable with the human’s (especially Ashley’s) obsession for meat, they had found ice creams and other sweets to eat instead. They were now relaxing by their own on park benches, happily engaging in chats with each other.

“And that’s how Equestria was made,” finished Pinkie Pie, who had completely enraptured Ashley with her story.

“Wooooaaaaah,” the girl replied, “You are smart!” Twilight merely facehoofed. Jason grinned and watched the nearby duelists engaging in friendly games as training for the Serpentine Lake Duelling Competition. The tournament was an extremely prestigious affair, and was the main tournament held in London every year. Duelists from all over the world would sign up to participate and only the best of the best would be able to make the cut. Jason and the others had tried this year but had once again failed to get in. Twilight looked over to Jason, who was lost in thought. She followed his gaze over to the duelling teens and smiled.

“You really have a passion for duelling don’t you?” she inquired. Jason chuckled and looked back at her,

“Is it that obvious?” he joked. Twilight merely chuckled and continued.

“Yeah pretty much. So, do you want to duel?” Jason and the other’s jaws dropped  at Twilight’s question. She looked around,

“What?” she questioned.

“This... is going... to be... awesome!” cheered Teagan, and the others nodded in agreement.

“How so?” questioned Chris.

“A human versus a pony? Sounds interesting.” Chris replied, smiling lightly with his arms folded. Jason grinned and looked at Twilight.

“Let’s duel.” Both players stepped out into the road running through the park and equipped their duel disks. Jason took his from his backpack while Twilight conjured hers from thin air. The duel disks connected with one another, and the female automated voice echoed through the air, confirming that the duel was ready. Jason nodded to Twilight,

“You go first.”

“With pleasure.”

“I can’t wait to see my brother get beat!”

“Shut up Ashley.”

DUEL START

JASON LP: 4000

TWILIGHT LP: 4000

TWILIGHT TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Twilight grimaced at the hand she’d been dealt, but decided there was definitely something she could salvage from it. She placed her hoof to the top of her deck and drew her card.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“First I activate my Pot of Duality!” Twilight cried, slamming her card onto the battlefield. The light blue pot shimmered into existence in front of the pony and promptly burst open. “And I’m sure you’re well aware of what it does,” Twilight finished. Twilight reveals Chaos Sorcerer, Synchro Fusionist and Super Polymerization. She adds Super Polymerization to her hand and shuffles the rest back into her deck.

“I set one monster and three face down cards and end my turn.” Jason smiled, this was going to be fun.

END PHASE:

STATUS:

JASON:

LP: 4000

HAND: 5 CARDS.

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: X

TWILIGHT:

LP: 4000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 1 SET.

SPELLS/TRAPS: 3 SET.

JASON TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Jason placed his hand over his deck and ripped the top card from it. He smiled slyly.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I activate my Gadget’s Cornucopia of Cogs!” he declared. The great brass sphere appeared onto the battlefield, clad with cogs, pistons and other malarkey. The others gasped as they recognised this card from his first duel on Equestria.

“I activate its effect, go coin toss!” The lid from the sphere burst off as a great gust of steam shot from it. The panel span through the air until resting on the ground “TAILS”. Jason grunted while Twilight smiled.

“Nothing then...” Jason muttered unhappily, “No matter, I summon my Yellow Gadget, and add Green Gadget to my hand!” The yellow machine popped onto the field and its cogs began to whirr with a green energy. Eventually, the energy span from the gears and shot onto Jason’s deck. The top card slid itself out and Jason took it, revealing Green Gadget to Twilight, who nodded.

“Next, because I control a Gadget Monster, I can special summon my Gadget Hunter!” Jason continued, as the metallic bounty hunter materialised onto the battlefield.

“Now I equip him with the Yellow and Green Gadget on my field and in my hand.” The gadgets jumped onto the hunter, the Yellow Gadget inserting itself into a gap in his gun, while the Green Gadget equipped itself to the hunter’s chestplate.

“Now for the fun to begin,” Jason smiled.

BATTLE PHASE:

“Because of the Yellow Gadget on my monster, I can attack you directly!” Jason cried. Twilight looked shocked.

“Oh no!” She exclaimed.

“Oh yes!” Jason replied, “Gadget Hunter, blast away at her life points!” Gadget hunter aimed its pistol at Twilight and shot a yellow bolt of light at its foe. Twilight braced herself for the impact, but soon realised, to her amusement that it was just a very realistic hologram.

Gadget Hunter <--> Twilight

Twilight LP: -1800

Twilight LP: 2200

MAIN PHASE 2:

“I set one card and end my turn,” Jason finished, the duel was going his way.

END PHASE:

STATUS:

JASON:

LP: 4000

HAND: 1 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Gadget Hunter

SPELLS/TRAPS: Yellow Gadget, Green Gadget, 1 Face-Down

TWILIGHT:

LP: 4000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 1 SET.

SPELLS/TRAPS: 3 SET.

TWILIGHT TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Twilight drew her card and huffed at it, still nothing good had come. Still, her monster was safe.

“I activate Dark Hole, destroying all monsters on the field!” she declared, much to Jason’s surprise. The familiar black hole appeared, destroying all the monsters on the field.

“But why would you destroy your own monster?” Jason questioned. Twilight merely chuckled,

“Just watch. I activate Call of the Haunted, bringing back my destroyed T.G. Warwolf, and then I summon my other one from my hand!” Jason watched as the two Warwolves were brought to the field.

“Now it’s time for an Exceed summon. I overlay my Warwolves to summon Number 39: Utopia!” Jason gasped as the golden warrior appeared onto the battlefield. Twilight tutted,

“This wasn’t even my main strategy. I’m surprised you’re so shocked.” Jason shook his head,

“Just surprised is all.”

BATTLE PHASE:

“I attack your Gadget Hunter with my Utopia!” Twilight called. Jason flicked a smile,

“I’m afraid not, I activate Gadget’s Dummybot!” Jason’s face down card popped up, and a small robot with a cute little bronze moustache burst from its image. Twilight growled in recognition of Jason’s card, while the humans merely smiled.

“This card allows me to copy your monster and redirect your attack to it, and my robot can’t be destroyed by battle!” The dummybot morphed into a mechanical copy of Number 39: Utopia, and jumped into the way of the attacking warrior. The token clashed against Utopia, swords locked, and the Heavenly Warrior was destroyed. Twilight sheltered herself from the blast and stared at Jason,

“I end my turn.”

Utopia <--> Dummbot

Utopia is destroyed

End of Battle Phase: Dummybot is destroyed.

END PHASE:

STATUS:

JASON:

LP: 4000

HAND: 1 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Gadget Hunter

SPELLS/TRAPS: Yellow Gadget, Green Gadget,

TWILIGHT:

LP: 2200

HAND: 1 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 0.

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 SET.

JASON TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Jason pulled his card and grinned,

“This duel is over!”

MAIN PHASE 1:

“Seeing as I control a Gadget monster, I special summon Gadget Spearman!” The monster busted onto the battlefield, clasping his spear tightly.

“But he wont be around for long. I overlay my Gadget Spearman and Gadget Hunter to Exceed Summon my Bronze Drake!” The two monsters jumped towards each other and morphed into small stars, which clumped together to form a nucleus. The Gadgets turned into two stars in which began orbiting around a gradually glowing nucleus. The nucleus exploded into the recognisable shape of the shining metal dragon, its golden scales glistening with sheen of polish. Twilight, although having seen the monster before, had no idea what it did. She was about to ask Jason for the knowledge when he answered for her.

“When I exceed summon Bronze Drake, the Xyz material monsters are sent to the graveyard and the Gadgets equipped to those monsters become the new Xyz materials,” he explained. Twilight raised an eyebrow in amusement, it was certainly an unusual effect.

“Now I activate Bronze Drake’s effect, I can detach 1 Xyz material monster to either equip it to Bronze Drake or add 1 Gadget card from my graveyard to my hand. I activate one of each!” Twilight gasped as the Drake bit into both the orbiting stars, releasing great amounts of energy from its mouth. Seconds later, a small version of Yellow Gadget flashed into existence inside a socket on the dragon’s belly. Bronze Drake then grinned a toothy smile before smashing its foreclaw into the ground, and the Cornucopia of Cogs erupted from the earth. Jason smiled,

“Coin toss, go!” The lid once again burst from the top, coming to rest on “TAILS”.

“And now there are cards in my graveyard, I can retrieve them to my hand. I choose my Green Gadget, Gadget Spearman and Gadget Hunter!” From the open lid of the metallic sphere shot the three monsters, all of which morphed into orange-yellow light and rushed into Jason’s hand.

“Because I haven’t normal summoned yet this turn, I summon my Green Gadget, adding Red Gadget to my hand!” The familiar Green Gadget appeared on the battlefield and spun Red Gadget into Jason’s hand.

“And now I special summon my Spearman and Hunter as I control Green Gadget, and equip my Green Gadget to Hunter and Red Gadget to Spearman. The Green Gadget gives my Hunter to power to negate your Spells, Traps and Monster effects when it attacks and the Red Gadget increases my Spearman’s ATK by 1000 points.” Twilight cowered as the monsters materialised with their enhancements equipped. She realised that even with her two face down cards, she had lost the duel. She looked towards Jason and smiled.

“Go.” Jason looked back at her, grinning in excitement.

“With pleasure.”

BATTLE PHASE:

“Hunter, Spearman and Bronze Drake, attack her life points directly!” Jason declared, and in seconds, it was over. The Warriors lashed with their spears and guns, while the Drake inhaled steam and exhaled a great gust of fire, molten metal erupting from its mouth. Twilight stood firm as she was impacted by the three monsters, her life points hitting zero.

Jason’s monsters <--> Twilight

Twilight LP - 5800

Twilights LP: 0

Jason Wins.

The holograms faded away as Twilight began to pick herself up from the ground. Jason walked towards her and offered a hand to help her up, which she graciously accepted. After looking around, Jason realised that their duel had gathered quite a crowd; at least thirty people were watching and cheering, excluding his friends. The two duelists waved at the crowd happily, embracing the honour, until both Jason’s friends and the ponies began to feel an aura, an aura that they remembered and didn’t like. They all collectively snapped their heads around to see none other than Shane standing amongst the crowd, duel disk equipped and a malicious grin slashed on his face. While the ponies had never seen him before, they gathered enough from the human’s reactions to know that the duelist was no friend of theirs. Shane raised his right hand into the air and snapped it. The clack of his fingers echoed louder than any normal signal, and their confusion was shortly justified. At once, the crowd surrounding them and Shane lost the glint in their eyes, and slowly began to move, almost unnoticeably, so that they formed a ring around Shane and the gang that separated them from the rest of the maelstrom of blank, cheering faces. Their cheers continued, but their sound had been dulled, almost if they were yelling underwater. Teagan lashed his eyes against Shane.

“You again! What have you done to these people!” he growled. Shane merely chuckled while the other humans and ponies steeled their gaze.

“Oh hello Teagan! Nice to see you! We haven’t been able to catch up since our duel earlier,” he answered, smiling eerily.

“Cut the shit arsehole, why are you here and what did you do?” Teagan seethed.

“Oh nothing much really, a simple psycho-redacting wave to keep them idle while I talk to you,” Shane answered. Twilight gasped at his words, causing the others to cast their gazes at her in shock.

“What’s wrong Twilight?” Ashley asked.

“A psycho-redacting wave is a magical pulse that puts all those affected by its curse into a zombie-like trance, forced to repeat their current action without sapience until the spell wears off. With a decent amount of power, this spell can be used as a mind-controlling agent, meaning the user can create his own army of mind slaves. That’s why it’s been banned and classed as Grimoire level magic!” Twilight explained. The other’s jaws dropped in shock as they realised the full implications of what Twilight had said.

“That’s horrible!” Jason scowled.

“How did you get access to that kind of magic?!” Twilight yelled.

“My employer is very much the person in the know,” Shane answered, earning confusing looks from the others.

“But why aren’t we affected then?” Chris inquired.

“The power of your four god cards protected you from the effects, but that’s good, otherwise I couldn’t deliver my message.” The humans and ponies looked among each other in confusion before turning back to their enemy.

“What message?” Rainbow Dash glared. Shane sighed and opened his arms wide in a welcoming pose.

“I, and the rest of the Khaos Covenant, proudly invite you to the Serpentine Lake Duelling Competition, for the chance to win the grand prize of the extremely rare card, the Serpentine Lake Archangel!” he announced, earning dropped draws from all present.

“It’s a Trap.”

“Trap.”

“Definitely a trap.” The ponies and humans echoed. Shane laughed and raised his hand into the air.

“Trap or no trap, these invitations are all for you!” he announced, just like a television presenter. He took out a sack of invitations from his backpack and tossed them out to the gang, who picked them up and analysed them.

“Every single position in the tournament is accounted for here. What happened to the other applicants who got these invitations?” Chris inquired, sifting through the invitations held by the group, one letter each. The others looked towards Shane in curiosity.

“Well, we at the Covenant are very good at getting the things that we want,” he answered. The others growled at him in anger.

“You bastard,” Jason seethed, “We’ll never participate in this disgusting tournament!” The other humans and ponies nodded in agreement. Shane merely chuckled.

“How are your parents, Jason?” he questioned. A pit of horror formed in Jason’s stomach.

“What do you mean?” he questioned, terrified. The ponies eyes began leaking as they understood what Shane meant.

“Look up,” Shane instructed. The humans and ponies looked up and gasped in horror at what they saw; a helicopter chopped through the sky with its side door open. Jason’s face fell as he saw what lay inside; his own mother gagged and held by rope and secured by two guards. The ponies burst into tears while the humans leapt to Jason’s side, to stand by their distraught friend. The helicopter vanished behind a stack of buildings and the sound of its chopping blades vanished. Jason cried out in anguish and he leapt after the helicopter, only prevented from his gambit by the restraint of his friends. It wasn’t long before he gave up altogether, resigning himself to his loss. His attention turned to one of fury.

“GIVE ME BACK MY MOTHER YOU WANKER!” he screamed, attempting to launch himself at Shane, but once again foiled by his friends. The Wanker chuckled yet again.

“If you want your mum back, you’re gonna have to take part in the tournament!” Jason growled.

“We’ll be there,” he answered. Shane grinned.

“Excellent. Be there tomorrow at 12 noon!” he informant, before vanishing in a puff of black cloud. Jason and the others glared at his shadow as the smoke where he stood began to dissapitate.

Chapter 4: Beginning of the Tournament; The Fury of a Forgotten Friend

Jason couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned in his bedsheets and he screwed his eyes shut, desperately trying to fall into the black deep. But alas, it was not to be. The whole group was staying over at the Haddock’s house, which turned out to be a lot more spacious than everyone had initially suspected. However, there was still not enough room for everyone to get their own room. Chris bunked with Applejack, Sammy with Fluttershy and Rarity, Ashley with Pinkie Pie, Teagan with Rainbow Dash and Jason himself was with Twilight Sparkle. Jason sat up in his bunk and looked around his room. It was mostly blank, with the only decorations and furniture being a desk, wardrobe and the bunk he was sleeping on, with his backpack containing his new booster packs and duel disk slumped on the floor. Twilight herself was lying on the top bunk, and her steady breathing was the only think actually trying to coax him to sleep. Jason sighed and pulled his bag over to him, opening its zip and pulling out his deck. He shuffled through the cards droopy eyed, examining their images and effects absent mindedly. After a few minutes, he placed them back in their box and put them back in his bag, tossing it back into the corner. A soft voice struck his ear.

“It’s a bit late to be shuffling your deck,” Twilight hummed. Jason dragged his head around to look the pony in the face, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry Twilight, I’m finding it difficult to sleep.” Jason sighed sadly.

“I’m really sorry about your mother, but I’m sure we’ll get her back in the end,” she soothed. Jason smiled and nodded.

“I know, I know, I’m just really worried is all.”

“Aren’t we all? This whole mess is taking its toll on all of us, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s going in,” Twilight replied, a forlorn look in her eyes,

“Things are going to get worse and worse from here on out, so we best enjoy the relative calm while we still can.” Jason snapped his eyes up and glared Twilight in the face.

“Are you saying that my mother being kidnapped is relative calm?!” He growled, earning a shocked look from the alicorn.

“Shh! Keep the noise down, the others are sleeping!” she hissed,

“You know that’s not what I meant. But I’m sorry, I should have chosen my words more carefully.” Jason sighed, his face visibly calming down.

“You’re right, I apologise. We shouldn’t argue, we all need to stick together if we are going to get through this thing alive.” Twilight grinned, nodded, and returned to her bed.

“That’s quite alright. Let’s try to get some sleep now, okay?” she whispered. Jason smiled.

“Sure,” he said, “I’ll try.” He returned to his original sleeping position and surprisingly, managed to drift off into sleep.

Time Turner wandered lonely as a cloud, drifting through the streets of London like a really old poem. He floated down Oxford Street, examining the closed shop windows with curious nostalgia. He vaguely remembered seeing these images somewhere before, but dismissed it as silly déjà vu. He passed by several card shops, peering through their shop windows and analysing their contents. He wandered down the entire length of the street, the orange lights of the streetlamps casting an amber glow over the stallion. After almost half an hour meandering down the main road, he heard the slight ping of a tossing coin coming from down a side street. The pony glanced down the side road, interested, and saw nothing but a damp, smelly alley, filled with large waste disposal bins and discarded litter. Turner shrugged and began to move off, before a deep, powerful voice resonated through his ears,

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Turner turned back and frowned.

“Who’s that?! Who’s there?!” he growled, spreading his hooves apart and taking a battle ready stance. He stared down the alley as a figure emerged from the shadows, clad in black leather pants and a sleeveless shirt, a blue jacket slung over his shoulders. His face was wrapped in the shadow cast by the streetlights, with only a few strands of his magenta hair catching the light. The figure spoke again in its resonating voice,

“Who I am doesn’t matter at the moment, what matters, is who you are. In all my travels, I have never seen a creature quite like you. But I sense something within you, something great and powerful, a power that even I cannot truly comprehend.” Time Turner raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“I’m sorry, what?”  he deadpanned, not buying a word of the stranger’s comments. The figure chuckled lightly.

“Nevermind. You’ll understand in time,” he spoke, withdrawing a card and an envelope from a box attached to his double slung belt, handing it to the pony,

“Take these; they may come in handy someday.” Turner looked to the card and frowned again in confusion,

“What is this?” he asked, before looking back up to where the figure once stood, just managing to see him fade into the shadows.

“Wonder what that was,” he murmured, before wandering off into the night, examining the card as he walked. It was entitled with three small words, all of which made his skin tingle,

“Echo of Time.”

“Kronos - Lord of Time, attack!” the figure announced, his face and body encloaked in shadows. Jason gasped as the great titan, equipped with a monumental scythe and a crushed hour glass in his hands, swung his mighty blade towards his face.  Jason cried out in panic and flung his hands up to protect his face. The scythe was about to dice him in half, when everything went black. Jason awoke with a start, springing upright, panting and sweating.

“Just a dream, it’s just a dream,” he whispered to himself. Jason sighed in relief and rolled from his bed, slotting his feet into his slippers. He looked up to the top bunk and noticed that Twilight had already left. Jason promptly washed and dressed himself in his usual grey t-shirt, brown jacket, brown jeans and black boots before grabbing his backpack and heading downstairs and into the living room, where he was greeted by the others, all waiting expectantly for him.

“Sleepy head is here,” Ashley smiled through tear streaked eyes. The others look up at him in unison, some of them also sporting wet eyes. Chris was leaning against a side wall, his foot tapping in rhythm to his heartbeat.

“Well he needs to wake up pretty quickly, we need to get going soon,” he said solemnly, earning him odd looks from the others.

“Kind of a dick thing to say, he’s still kinda hung up over the whole losing-his-mum thing,” Teagan commented sarcastically, earning slight nods from most of the others. Except one.

“No, he’s right,” Jason sighed, the others heads snapping around to view him in surprise.

“Beg yer pardon?” Applejack asked.

“If we don’t get going soon there’s no way we’re gonna get to the event in time, and then mum’s gone forever,” he argued, earning a nod from Twilight.

“Chris and Jason are right, we really need to leave as soon as possible,” she reasoned, finally bringing the others around.

“Well then what are we waiting for, we’d better get going then!” Rainbow Dash yelled. Jason smiled weakly before nodding to the others to leave. They all stood to depart solemnly, but before they could walk out the door, a pink flash interrupted their movement.

“Come on everyponybody! We may not be having the greatest time right now, but as long as we support one another and keep our spirits up, nothing can knock us down,” Pinkie Pie cheered, “So as long as we support one another and fight for a common cause, there’s no need to worry, because we’ll definitely get her back!” Everyone smiled and chuckled at Pinkie’s friendship speech, but none more so than Jason and Ashley. They both looked Pinkie in the eyes.

“Thank you Pinkie Pie,” they said simultaneously, before they all left the apartment together.

The walk to Hyde Park was not a long one, and somehow, no human was surprised to see the ponies walking around in broad daylight. Jason had questioned this at first but Twilight informed him that she had cast an illusion around her friends and herself to shield them from prying and curious eyes. Jason had smiled at this information, glad that someone had taken all the necessary precautions. Eventually, the eleven arrived at the Hyde Park Duelling Tournament and were instantly surprised by the grandeur of the occasion.

“Woah,” said Teagan simply.

“Awesome,” Rainbow Dash agreed. Since last night, the organisers had erected an entire Roman Coliseum around the central duelling field, built from shining marble and glittering silver decorations. The Coliseum extended around 100 metres from the central duel field, and could easily seat four times the number of people who were currently gathered. A grand archway marked the commercial entrance to the arena for the spectators, while there was a lesser gate off to the side for the competitors. Jason nodded towards this gate, at the others followed his lead. Each one had their invitations in hand/hoof, and while the ponies knew how to play the game, they were anxious about their not having a deck. Twilight simply assured them that things would sort themselves out. Jason stepped up first to the clerk manning the entrance gate.

“Invitation please,” The man grumbled, clearly disdainful of his job. Jason handed his invitation over tentatively, which was almost immediately snapped up by the attendant. The man skimmed the paper over quickly, his face as bored as normal, until his eyes came to rest at the name of the recipient.

“Jason Tyrell?” he enquired, the beginnings of a smile forming across his lips. Jason nodded and the bouncer-built man chortled haughtily, his rippling muscles contracting and flexing under his tight black shirt. The ponies reeled at the sight, murmurs of “too much muscle” echoing amongst their mouths. The man ceased laughing and wiped his eyes.

“It says here that you are entering as part of a duelling Gang,” he stated, “Yet it seems that your Gang has not been officially registered with the Industrial Illusions Duel Monsters Administration Board.” Jason and the others raised an eyebrow in confusion. Chris snatched the invitation from the man’s hand.

“Let me see that,” he demanded. His eyes traced over the words written, his surprised expression morphing quickly into a dark frown. He pulled out his own invitation and compared it to Jason’s.

“These invitations we received were a trick,” he announced, much to the surprise of the others.

“What do you mean?” Sammy inquired, moving closer to her brother. Chris stepped backwards and faced the entire group.

“These invitations have been signed up under a Duel Gang contract,” he explained. All the others looked on in confusion, except for Teagan, who wore a face of horror.

“You’re shitting me,” he said, dumbfounded.

“Wait, what’s a Duel Gang contract?” Twilight inquired, a look of dread struck across her face. Chris sighed and ran his hand through his brown curls.

“A Duel Gang contract means that everyone signing up under the same Gang must abide by the sanctioned Duel Gang rules,” he replied.

“And what are they?” Twilight pried.

“That if, at any point during a round, the number of Gang members still in the competition are less than a third of what they were from the previous round, then the entire Gang is eliminated.” The ponies and humans gasped, knowing full well that the majority of their Gang had never even played the game before, let alone against the formidable opponents they were sure to face. But Chris wasn’t done.

“Also, in each duel that the Gang participates in against another Duel Gang, the winner takes a card from the losers deck and adds it to their own,” he finished. This shut everybody’s worried mouths. A moment of silence ticked on, before Jason looked out towards his friends - old and new. Thoughts and memories crossed his mind, his nightmares swirling his consciousness with their black stain. The horrors of his visions twirled with the vortex of darkness gripping his soul like a creeper vine, bleeding his heart dry. His mind reached the eye of the storm, and in this moment of unusual clarity, he settled on a command.

“Let’s do it,” he stated simply. The others looked on in shock, Teagan almost completely dumbfounded at his words.

“Are you insane?!” he cried,

“Entering this competition was suicide enough without going on to agree on Duel Gang rules!” Jason turned and looked his adopted brother dead in the eyes, a slight smile crossing his lips.

“That may be the case, but there’s no other way if we’re gonna get mum back. And Pinkie Pie was right, if we stick together and have faith in ourselves and each other, nothing can go wrong,” he replied, offering a sly wink to the excited pink mare standing nearby.

“So then, who’s with me?” Inspired by his courage, the others looked him in the eye and smiled.

“We’re with you darling,” Rarity nodded.

“I’ll do it too,” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Y’all can count on me!” Applejack smiled.

“If AJ is in, I’ll chip in too!” Rainbow Dash announced, floating down to the ground and striking a heroic pose, earning a giggle from a certain pink pony.

“Ooh ooh! Pick me, pick me!” Pinkie squealed, bouncing up and down on the spot. Jason chuckled.

“Alright Pinkie, you’re in the Gang,” he nodded. Pinkie beamed and hopped from hoof to hoof in excitement.

“Whee!” she cried, before morphing into a wagon wheel and rolling off into space.  Fortunately, only the reader saw that happen. Twilight looked up to Jason, Chris, Teagan, Ashley and Sammy, stepping out to join her five friends.

“If it means the protection of Equestria and everything I hold dear, then there’s no force in Tartarus that could keep me from joining you,” she affirmed with a brave smile. Jason laughed lightly again and reached down to hug the pony around the neck. Twilight smiled, a single tear running down her cheek. They parted and Jason turned around to his human friends.

“And you guys?” he asked.

“Of course,” Sammy nodded.

“You know it!” Teagan cheered.

“Who else will bail you out?” Ashley joked.

“Shut up Ashley,” replied her brother. Jason turned towards Chris, who wore a pained expression on his face. Jason flicked his gaze around nervously for a moment before walking up to his old enemy.

“How about it, Chris?” he asked. Chris looked up at his new friends and smiled, a smile that people rarely saw, yet suited him remarkably well.

“You can count on me,” he nodded. Jason smiled; all his friends, old and new, were in agreement with him. For the first time since the mess had began, he felt a slight glimmer of hope. Ashley reached her hand out into the circle of the group with a sly smile, the others catching the drift soon after.

“Come on, it’s what they do in all the movies,” she joked. The crew giggled and stuck their hooves and hands out into the centre, joining with one another and each smiling proudly.  They all shot their hands into the air.

“Lets do it!” they cheered. The security guard sniffed at their display before speaking up.

“Well that’s all sweet and all, but you’re still gonna need a Gang name,” he snarked, prompting a look of surprise, followed by concentration in the others, as they each tried to come up with a name. Eventually, it was Chris himself who spoke up.

“How about Temporal Knights?” he asked.

“No, that’s too gay,” Ashley replied, earning a frown from Jason.

“What did I tell you about using that as an insult...?” Jason hissed, earning an apologetic look from his sister. The others returned to their thoughts.

“How about Card Heroes?” Twilight suggested. Jason shook his head.

“No, I think someone already took that one.” Twilight’s ears drooped.

“Hope,” came a quiet voice, barely audible.

“What was that?” Teagan questioned. The voice echoed again.

“I said, Hope.”

“One more time...” The yellow mare gathered her courage and spoke up.

“Hope,” she stated, earning a raised eyebrows from the others.

“Hope,” Rarity questioned?

“That is, if you want it...” Fluttershy replied. Jason beamed at her.

“I like it,” he said. The others gave approving looks.

“Yeah, it has a nice ring to it,” Twilight nodded.

“Hope, yeah that’s great!” Pinkie cheered.

“Simple, quite obvious, yet effective,” Sammy agreed. Jason turned back to the guard.

“Hope,” he nodded. The guard scribbled a note onto his paper, before stepping aside and allowing the Gang to enter the passage into the coliseum. Team Hope gasped as they withheld the scene before them, the gleaming marble of the stadium looked even better from the inside. There were two dugouts on opposite sides of the battlefield, one of which had a black sheet over it, while the other was completely clear. A second guard motioned the Gang over to the empty dugout, where they all sat down and began chatting amongst themselves excitedly. Chris sat next to Jason.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked. Jason merely sighed.

“I don’t even know anymore,” he answered, shuffling through his deck absent mindedly. Chris returned his eyes to the ground.

“We won’t lose,” Chris announced. Jason turned his eyes back to his friend.

“I know,” he grinned. The group sat in silence for a moment before a voice echoed across the stadium...

“Welcome everyone to the Serpentine Lake Duelling Competition here in beautiful Hyde Park! He have quite the line up for you today, some of the best duelists from all around the world are gathered here to fight for the grand prize of the Serpentine Lake Archangel super card!” The spectators gathered, quite a large amount in fact, all cheered loudly at the mention of the card prize and the notion of seeing the cornucopia of great duelists presented to them.

“But we won’t keep you all waiting, here’s the first matchup in the tournament!” This was what caught the attention of Team Hope. The humans and ponies all stared at the screen at the head of the stadium. There were two boxes on the screen, each with a roulette spinning with the faces of all the participants in the tournament. The group watched with bated breath as the roulette came to land on the two battlers in the first round. The ponies all gasped in surprise at the matchup result.

“Pinkie Pie vs. Gilda Griffon!” The humans all turned in shock to the ponies.

“Who’s that?!” Jason cried. Rainbow Dash growled in anger.

“She’s one of my ex-friends from Flight School . She came back to visit me in Ponyville one day and she spent the time terrorising my new buddies.” Ashley’s jaw dropped through the floor in surprise.

“What the fuck?!” she cried, “How dare she!”

“We thought we were done of her then, but she seems intent on making our lives a misery,” Twilight agreed. Pinkie Pie jumped to her feet and marched out into the ground before her friends.

“It’s alright guys!” she giggled, “I’ll beat this meanie pants with both hooves tied behind my mane.” Teagan sniggered at the unusual euphemism. In a bright flash of light, a white shape formed on Pinkie Pie’s hoofwrist (yeah I dunno either), which slowly morphed into the recognisable image of a duel disk.

“Ooh, pretty...” Pinkie hummed, noticing her deck of cards also forming into its slot on her new disk. She looked over to her friends and waved at them cheerily.

“Go get em’ Pinkie!” they all cheered.  Pinkie smiled back and began bouncing over to her place on the battlefield. It wasn’t long before her opponent, Gilda, arrived. The griffon emerged from one of the tunnels leading out of the Coliseum and sauntered towards the arena, her steps greeted with a great cheer of applause. She took her place on the stage.

“Well, look who it is, another one of Lamebow-Dash’s friends!” Gilda mocked. Rainbow Dash jeered from the stands,

“Did you think of that one yourself of did your mommy write it for you?!” Gilda shrugged the insult off with a growl before continuing her attack on Pinkie Pie.

“Let’s just hope you don’t take too long to lose, I want your Olympian card without having to go through all the tedious waiting.” The Team's morale, along with their jaws, dropped like a stone. Not only was Gilda, their enemy, taking part in the tournament, but she was one of the ones hunting their cards as well? How many other enemies from their past were going to turn up to harass them? Jason gritted his teeth; there were too many mysteries that needed to be solved.

“Don’t count on it Gilda! I don’t have a recipe for chicken pie, but just for you, I’m sure I can work something out!” Pinkie giggled mockingly. Collective shouts of “oh no she did-unt!” rang from the crowd, including Teagan and Ashley themselves. Gilda growled and raised a claw to her deck.

“Whatever loser. Lets get this game going.” The two duel disks located one another and synchronised together, confirming the duel was about to start. Both players drew their hands and took a battle stance.

“Lets duel!” they yelled together. Jason sighed,

“And so it begins...”

DUEL START

GILDA LP: 4000

PINKIE PIE LP: 4000

GILDA TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE:

Gilda gritted her teeth and grinned as she pulled her card. This duel was going to go swimmingly...

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I place one Monster Card face down and end my turn!” she chuckled, placing her card into her duel disk.

END PHASE:

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow in confusion.

“Is that all she wants to do?” she asked. Chris turned to face the Pegasus.

“That card is obviously a set up to her strategy, so Pinkie Pie should better be careful about what she chooses to do,” he explained, his words penetrating Rainbow. She leapt up and cheered out to Pinkie.

“You go Pinkie! Show this birdbrain who’s boss!” Gilda snapped her head around and glared in anger at her former friend.

“How DARE you! I’ll make you eat those words once I defeat your moronic friend.” Rainbow Dash was about to leap towards the griffon, when Applejack’s hoof stopped the pony short.

“Hold on there sugarcube, ahm sure Pinkie’s got this,” she said. Rainbow Dash settled and nodded. They all turned towards Pinkie and watched her continue.

STATUS:

GILDA:

LP: 4000

HAND: 5 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 1 FACE-DOWN

SPELLS/TRAPS: X

PINKIE:

LP: 4000

HAND: 5 CARDS.

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: X

PINKIE TURN 1:

DRAW PHASE

Pinkie grinned mischievously as she drew her card, confident in the knowledge that her friends were behind her.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I summon Madolche Magileine!” Pinkie called happily, as an adorable widdle girl, armed with a comically large fork jumped happily onto the battlefield. The pony giggled as she flicked out her hoof.

“And I’m using her effect, meaning I can add 1 Madolche monster from my deck to my hoof!” Ashley giggled at the wordplay. Pinkie continued happily.

“I choose Madolche Mewfeullie!”

BATTLE PHASE:

“And now, Magileine, attack Gilda’s facedown!” Pinkie continued. Gilda chuckled as the little girl attacked her face down, which flipped face up.

Madolche Magileine <--> Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite

Zephyros is destroyed

MAIN PHASE 2:

Pinkie giggled and placed four face down cards.

“Four face downs end my turn!” she called. Gilda nodded as she prepared her next draw.

END PHASE:

STATUS:

GILDA:

LP: 4000

HAND: 5 cards

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: X

PINKIE:

LP: 4000

HAND: 2 cards

MONSTERS: Madolche Magileine

SPELLS/TRAPS: 4 face downs

GILDA TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Gilda ripped her card from her deck and glared intently at Pinkie, a murderous glint in her eyes.

“You’re dead meat,” she spat, earning a worried look from Pinkie Pie.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I activate Harpie’s Hunting Ground!” she called, earning a gasp from all the others as the entire coliseum morphed into a realistic looking image of a rocky outcrop, filled with randomly stumbling Ojama creatures.

“Now I summon Harpie Channeler! Now my Hunting Ground’s effect activates, destroying one of your face downs!” Gilda cried. Pinkie frowned, as she realised her face down couldn’t help her. The Harpie let out a screeching wail and flew downwards, destroying one of Pinkie’s face downs.

“I activate her effect, by discarding a Harpie card, I can Special Summon a Harpie from my deck, choosing Harpie’s Pet Dragon!” Pinke wailed in fear as the ferocious Dragon hit the field, whereupon Harpie Channeler grasped the beast by the chain.

BATTLE PHASE:

Gilda threw her claw outwards.

“Dragon and Channeler, attack this moron’s monsters! Pinkie whimpered in fear as the mighty dragon diced her monster to pieces.

Pet Dragon <--> Magileine

Magileine is destroyed

Pinkie’s LP: 4000 --> 3100

Harpie Channeler <--> Pinkie Pie

Pinkie’s LP: 3100 --> 1700

MAIN PHASE 2:

Pinkie was left in a tattered heap on the ground, bloodied and broken from the assault of the attacks. The Team cried out in shock as their friend was tossed around like a ragdoll by the monsters.

“Pinkie, no!” they all cried, despair beginning to set in to the whole team. Jason in particular was suffering the most.

“I’m getting an innocent pony killed!” he wailed, earning him a cuff across the face from Twilight. The group looked at the alicorn in shock, before she began to explain herself.

“Snap out of it! This isn’t the time to despair! Pinkie needs our help, so you get up, buck up and show her your support!” she ordered. The others looked on in shock at her words.

“Hardcore...” Teagan breathed. Jason stared Twilight in the eyes for a moment, before turning back up to Pinkie and managing to wear a grin.

“Come on Pinkie! You can do it! Show her who’s boss!” he cried. Pinkie, who had managed to stumble to her hooves, replied with a genuine smile, accompanied with a happy wave. At once, Team Hope, with ponies and humans combined, let out a great cheer, showing their true support for their friend. Gilda, however, was none too impressed.

“Enough of this lame behaviour! There's fat chance that this little pink doofus is gonna take me down! And I’ll show you what I mean! Because I control a dragon, Harpie Channeler’s level becomes 7, meaning I can perform an Xyz Summon!”

The human duelists dropped their jaws as they realised what was about to happen.

“Oh dear god no...” Chris deadpanned.

“What, what is it?!” Rarity cried. Teagan turned to face the mare.

“There are few Rank 7 Xyz Monsters, but the ones that exist are extremely formidable in power. And the one Wind attribute that's worth summoning is...

“I overlay my two Harpies to Xyz Summon MECHA PHANTOM BEAST DRACOSSACK!” Team Hope gasped in horrific surprise as the two monsters joined together and spawned a great draconic flying plane onto the battlefield.

“I activate its effect, by detaching an Xyz Material, I can spawn two Mecha Phantom Beast tokens to my side of the field!” The group watched in morbid fascination as two holographic images of the plane appeared next to it, floating menacingly. Gilda grinned evilly and threw out her taloned claw.

“Your move.”

END PHASE:

STATUS:

GILDA:

LP: 4000

HAND: 3 cards

MONSTERS: Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack (1 Xyz Material), Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens x2

SPELLS/TRAPS: Harpie’s Hunting Ground

PINKIE:

LP: 1700

HAND:  3 cards

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: 3 cards

PINKIE TURN 2:

DRAW PHASE:

Pinkie reached her hoof up to her deck, her normally cheery face strained against the fear that she would pull the wrong card. She gulped and reached up to her deck, when suddenly, a great pink explosion erupted from her top card, earning surprised looks from the party pony and her teammates. A pink circle formed around her hooves, and the ring of light began to glow a brilliant pink, culminating in a great explosions of light and wind from below her. Gilda shielded her eyes with her talons and leered at the pony, who now wore a confident smirk on her face.

“Yeah Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“You go girl!” Ashley cheered, the rest of her allies following suit. Pinkie looked at her enemy and drew her card, slashing its length along with a long rip.

“My turn,” she chuckled.

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I summon Madolche Mewfeuille from my hand!” Pinkie cried, as the adorable cat-pudding splotched onto her field.

“With Mewfeuille’s effect, I can special summon one Madolche monster from my hand, choosing Madolche Cruffssant!” A playful little dog jumped onto the field, and began a small and cute game of chase with the Mewfeuille on the field. Gilda gagged at the sight.

“I think I'm gonna throw up...” She groaned. Pinkie just smiled and continued.

“Now that I control two Madolche monsters, I can sacrifice them both to special summon my brand new card!” The Gang looked on in wonder, while Gilda scowled, unhappy.

“I summon Dionysus – Life of the Party!” The looked on in a mixture of awe and fear, knowing that a gigantic monster was about to strike the city. But, to their surprise, the monster that appeared was man sized, portly, and wearing a toga and carrying a large chalice of some purple liquid. The humans instantly knew the liquid was wine, and Twilight had a strong hunch in addition, thanks to her time reading the Earthcyclopedia. Pinkie cheered as her monster took to the field, pride filling her equine body at the thrill of summoning a god, her friends calling out in affirmation. Pinkie directed her gaze at Dracossack, malicious intent in her eyes.

“Now I activate my Dionysus’ effect! I can pay all but 100 of my life points to destroy every card on the field, in our hands and in our graveyards, and if I do, banish them!” Gilda and the others looked on in shock at the power of Pinkie’s drunken monster.

“That card is extraordinary!” Chris breathed, to which Pinkie shook her head happily.

“No silly, what’s extraordinary is what I can do now! I chain my own card to my Dionysus, Starlight Road! This card lets me negate my Dionysus’ effect and destroy him, so that I can bring out my Stardust Dragon!” Everyone looked on in surprise and Dionysus was struck with a long white laser and promptly vanished, while Stardust Dragon shot through the beam, coming to rest just at its tip, where Dionysus once stood. The great beast roared into the sky, spreading its wings majestically.

“But why, why would you destroy your own Olympian god?!” Gilda cried.

“Because when Dionysus is removed from the field, I can use his second secret special ability! This targets one monster on the field, reduces its ATK to 0 and negates its effect, and I choose your Dracossack!” From the graveyard, Dionysus shot back onto the field, transforming the arena into a party hall. Dionysus then proceeded to have ‘a right booze up’ with the draconic plane, getting it royally wasted. Eventually, he returned to the graveyard, but it was clear that Dracossack was still drunk as balls. Gilda looked on in rage.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY MONSTER?!” she screamed. Pinkie just looked back at Gilda, a pair of sunglasses appearing on her face.

“Aint no party like a Pinkie Pie party...” she grinned, before flinging out her hoof.

BATTLE PHASE:

“Stardust Dragon, attack and destroy Gilda’s Dracossack!” the pink mare cried. The great dragon roared and leapt towards Dracossack, blasting a great bundled laser beam from its mouth, crashing into the opponent, busting its outer shell as if it were made from aluminium. As the beam penetrated through the other side of the beast, the inner fuel of the plane took spark and combusted, blowing apart the hull of the machine in a great fiery explosion. Fragments of the plane crashed down into the arena, embedding the shrapnel into the ground. The humans and ponies gasped at this, noting that the holograms of the monsters were once again, solid.

Stardust Dragon <--> Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack

Dracossack is destroyed.

Gilda’s LP: 4000 --> 1500

“But how?!” Applejack cried, the other ponies, shouting similar statements.

“How in tarnation can that hologram be real?!” Chris turned to face the pony.

“Clearly the effects of your world are leaking through into ours,” he said. Twilight picked up the slack.

“Indeed. This card game seems to channel the souls of the duelists playing it. Casting a spell works in the same way, as one has to channel their soul into the spell their casting. Seeing as this world does not have magic in the same way that Equestria does, no spell is cast.” Jason’s eyes lit up.

“But, because your world is here, humans are unwittingly using magic to bring their monsters to life?” he asked. Twilight nodded.

“It appears so,” she replied.

“Thats insane,” Teagan mused, earning a nod from Ashley.

“That may be, but at the moment, there is nothing we can do about it,” Chris spoke.

“Which needs to change as soon as possible,” Jason whispered.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was still duelling.

“That ends my turn,” she giggled.

END PHASE:

STATUS:

GILDA:

LP: 1500

HAND: 3 cards

MONSTERS: 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens

SPELLS/TRAPS:  Harpie’s Hunting Ground

PINKIE:

LP: 1700

HAND: 0 cards

MONSTERS: Stardust Dragon

SPELLS/TRAPS: 3 face downs

GILDA TURN 3:

DRAW PHASE:

Gilda scowled and pulled her next card, looking at it with interest and malice.

“This should be interesting...”

MAIN PHASE 1:

“I summon my second Harpie Channeler!” she cried, as her second Harpie monster took to the field.” Pinkie and the others looked on in worry as the familiar monster began to glow.

“And you know what Hunting Ground does, it destroys one of your face downs!” Pinkie growled as Channeler swooped down from the sky and destroyed one of the hidden cards, sending it to the graveyard.

“I now activate her effect! I discard Harpie Dancer to Special Summon my Harpie Lady from my deck!” The two monsters joined one another on the battlefield.

“And now, here come the big guns!” Gilda roared, earning afraid looks from the team.

“What’s she doing?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“I don’t know, but I’m afraid we’re about to find out...” Jason replied.

“I sacrifice my two Wind-Type Harpie Monsters, which lets me Special Summon this; Uranus – Primordial Titan of the Sky!” Gilda continued, while there was a brief snicker from Pinkie Pie before realising the situation she was in. All of a sudden, Rainbow Dash spoke up,

“Look up at the sky!”  The others all looked on as they heard her words, gasping as they did, the sky was turning black, with the clouds beginning to swirl. Strikes of thunder lanced across the atmosphere and a great tornado began to form in the middle of the sky. In a split second, the tornado struck down towards the ground like a lightning bolt, and as it approached the ground, a plateau of earth burst from the ground to meet the hurricane, and the two connected in a swirling maelstrom of power. In the chaos, Jason could have sworn he saw a face in the earthen platform, but shook it off as nothing. All of a sudden, the storm exploded outwards, pushing at the audience and the duelists with a great force. Pinkie and Gilda both struggled to keep their footing and balance as the wind hit them. In an instant, the wind subsided, and all looked back at Gilda’s field. Stood there was a humongous figure, Uranus, clad in magnificent light-gold armour and blue and white robes. Needless to say, the team were shocked.

“Well, she’s fucked,” Chris deadpanned, earning him a punch across the jaw from Ashley. Twilight and Jason watched in despair, their hope almost depleted. Pinkie simply looked on in shock.

“Now that I have my Ace Monster, I use his effect! By paying 1000 Life Points, I can take control of, or destroy, all Wind Attribute Monsters on the battlefield.” Pinkie growled in anger, with the team almost crying in fear.

GILDA’s LP: 1500 --> 500

“I choose the former, taking control of your monster!” Gilda cackled manically as Uranus began to cast another tornado, doubtless one to steal Stardust. Though the building tornado had begun to obstruct their vision, Twilight and Jason struggled through the effort to call out to their friend.

“Pinkie! I’m sorry!” they both called.

There was no response.

Eventually the storm began to subside, and the humans and ponies looked on to see the damage. What they saw shocked them.

“What, how?! How can this be possible?!” Gilda screeched, staring at Stardust, who was still stood firmly upon Pinkie’s side of the battlefield. The mare simply grinned.

“I ACTIVATE MY TRAP CARD; COCKBLOCK!!!” she cried. Gilda frowned and her jaw dropped open.

“What....?” she deadpanned. The others looked on in shock.

“THIS CARD GIVES ME THE ABILITY TO COCKBLOCK YOU, GILDA!” Pinkie swiped her hoof downwards dramatically, punctuating her phrase.

“IT’S THE COCKBLACK CARD. THAT’S WHAT IT DOES.” Gilda shook her head angrily.

“Yeah, I got that.”

“ITS SPECIAL EFFECT IS COCKBLOCKING Y-”

“STOP EXPLAINING THE CARD!” Gilda screeched, her high pitched cry grating through the air. She looked on in anger.

“YOU MAY BE A BRATTY, ANNOYING IMMATURE LITTLE PINK PONY, BUT THAT DOESNT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TREAT THIS LIKE ITS ONE OF YOUR STUPID INANE LITTLE PARTIES.” As these words left her beak, a stunned silence began to settle among the gathered players. Pinkie Pie’s face fell, and she was left with gradually deflating hair. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she lifted her head, revealing a gruesomely blank, emotionless face.

“Don’t you dare,” she uttered coldly. Gilda, however, was unaffected by Pinkie’s change.

“What are you gonna do? Cry? Suck it up you wuss, it’s time to fight!”

BATTLE PHASE:

“Uranus! Attack now and destroy this crybaby’s Stardust Dragon!” Gilda cried, and her monster took heed of her orders. The titan leapt upwards, clasping his arcane spear in his hand, and came crashing down into Stardust Dragon, the beast putting up little fight before being obliterated. Pinkie gritted her teeth angrily and she was buffeted by the offshooting winds. Gilda cackled menacingly.

Uranus - Primordial Titan of the Sky <--> Stardust Dragon

Stardust Dragon is destroyed

MAIN PHASE 2:

“You see? Theres nothing you can do to win against me! While I have my Uranus, I am immortal! You may not take any damage from his attacks, but my monster has 4500 ATK points and he can’t be destroyed by your pathetic card effects! You can only defeat me in battle! Now I set one card, just for a little extra hurt!” At her words, depression sunk into the team, as they realistically contemplated the battle.

“What can Pinkie do?” Ashley asked nervously. For a good few seconds, there was no response from the others. Eventually Jason spoke up.

“If she can pull off an Exceed Summon next turn, she should be fine. But as it stands, she has little to nothing in her graveyard and no hand to speak of. She really needs to draw lucky to win this game.” Twilight sighed.

“Come on Pinkie, you can do it.”

END PHASE:

“I’ll leave it here for now. Good luck dweeb. Try not to embarrass yourself too badly. Who knows, if you play like an intelligent pony, maybe your friends will gain some respect for you,” Gilda jeered. The Team's jaws dropped at this comment.

“HOW DARE YOU GILDA?! HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH THINGS ABOUT MY FRIEND?!” Rainbow Dash cried, leaping from her seat and dashing off at top speed towards the griffon in the arena.

“Rainbow Dash, no!” The gang cried, but it was too late; the rainbow pony collided face first into an invisible barrier surrounding the two duelling opponents. Her body crumpled instantly and dropped onto the ground, where she hit the floor with a sickening crack.

“RAINBOW DASH!” Pinkie cried, sprinting forward to tend to her friend, but was once again denied access by the invisible barrier. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw what Rainbow Dash had become. The pony’s face was smeared in blood and her nose was visibly broken. The rest of her body was tight and compressed forwards, and her legs were splayed out around her lifelessly. The rest of the gang instantly raced over to tend to their friend. Twilight’s horn immediately illuminated, with RD’s body following suit, and information began to pour into her brain.

“Broken nose, fractured left shoulder, five broken ribs, and a shattered pelvis!” she cried. The other ponies eyes began to well with tears while the humans looked on with great concern, except for Ashley, who was bawling her eyes out over the body.

“We have to help her!” she cried. Twilight rushed over to comfort the girl.

“Don’t worry, Equestrian medicine is extremely potent thanks to magic. With my assistance and time, she should be alright in a week or so.”

“Well don’t just stand there, DO IT! HELP HER!” Ashley screamed. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head clear, levitated the body and dashed off back to the team’s viewing compound, and got to work. Gilda simply huffed.

“Stupid moron had it coming. That’s what you get for having idiotic friends.” Pinkie’s head snapped around to face Gilda, pure rage in her eyes.

“How DARE YOU?! I’LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS!” she cried, sprinting back to her position in the arena.

“Its MY turn now, and I’ll show you what friendship can really do!”

STATUS:

GILDA:

LP: 500

HAND: 2 cards

MONSTERS: 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens, Uranus – Primordial Titan of the Sky

SPELLS/TRAPS:  Harpie’s Hunting Ground, 1 face down

PINKIE:

LP: 1700

HAND: 0 cards

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 face downs

PINKIE TURN 3:

DRAW PHASE:

Pinkie ripped the top card from her deck and glanced at it, before gritting her teeth and smiling.

“Its time I showed you a lesson, Gilda!”

MAIN PHASE 1:

“First I activate this; Card of Sanctity!” Pinkie cried. As she activated the card, large golden coins began to fall from the sky.

“With this card, we both draw until we have 6 cards each in our hand!” As the coins fell, small baskets, big enough for one coin each appeared next to both players. There was one basket for every space in their hand. Eventually, each basket held a coin, and all of them exploded into light. Both players drew their cards from their decks.

“Nice going genius, you just refilled my hand!” Gilda laughed. Pinkie just scowled.

“Now I activate Foolish Burial, sending one monster from my deck to the Graveyard, choosing Madolche Butlerusk,” she said, as her card was placed and the monster was sent.

“Now I summon Madolche Mewfeuille!” Pinkie declared, and the familiar cat appeared on the battlefield.

“Her effect lets me Special Summon another Madolche Monster from my hand, and I choose my Madolche Messengelato!” Pinkie’s monster was then joined by a sprinting postman that jumped from the holographic image of its card. Gilda harrumphed.

“And what? What can your little weaklings possibly do to my titan?”

“Oh, you’ll see. I activate Star Changer! With this card, I change my Mewfeuille’s level to 4!” Pinkie declared.

“SO WHAT?!” Gilda groaned, “Cut to the chase! Where are these stupid little moves gonna get you?”

“Oh, you’ll see. I now construct the overlay network between my Madolche Mewfeuille and Madolche Messengelato! Come forth, Madloche Queen Tiaramisu!” The two monsters already on Pinkie’s field changed into glowing balls of light, and between them, Tiaramisu, the regal queen of the Madolches stepped onto the battlefield. Gilda was exasperated by this point.

“Oh jeez, could you PLEASE cut to the chase!” she growled, “I have places to go and things to do, hurry up and lose already!” Pinkie simply shook her head.

“I’m not losing anything! How would you like to look at my Queen’s special ability?”

“Her what?”

“You heard me Gilda,” Pinkie smiled, the curls starting to flow back into her hair.

“With my good ol’ queeny here, I can detach a material, then shuffle up to 2 Madolche monsters from my Graveyard back into the Deck, then shuffle cards you control equal to that number back into your deck as well!” Gilda’s smirk faltered for a second.

“Excuse me?” she seethed.

“Maybe I’ll just show you instead. Tiaramisu, do you stuff! Return Butlerusk, your attached Messengelato, Uranus and Gilda’s face down to the deck!!” Pinkie cheered, and her monster obliged. With a wave of her wand, one of the light orbs vanished and two sparks from her Graveyard shot back into Pinkie’s Deck. Then, the Queen waved her wand, and sparks shot off the Uranus and Gilda’s face down.

“Just a moment!” Gilda panicked, “I activate my face down card, Threatening Roar!  This turn, you can’t attack me!” While the sparks continued to hit the two cards, a load roar emanated around the stadium, which caused the Queen to place her hands over her ears and squeak in fright. However, Uranus had been struck, and with a great groan, he began to be sucked in on himself, and eventually, he was sucked back into Gilda’s Deck.

“No! Uranus!” Gilda cried. Pinkie just snickered.

“Hee hee hee... You said Uranus...”

Oh, GROW UP!” Gilda screeched.

“Yeah! Well done Pinkie Pie!” Ashley cheered, while Chris, Sammy, Teagan, Jason and the remaining ponies clapped as well and nodded their approval.

“Aw shucks you guys!” Pinkie blushed.

“Enough of this!” Gilda squawked, “My turn!”

END PHASE:

STATUS:

GILDA:

LP: 500

HAND: 6 cards

MONSTERS: 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens

SPELLS/TRAPS:  Harpie’s Hunting Ground

PINKIE:

LP: 1700

HAND: 2 cards

MONSTERS: Madolche Queen Tiaramisu

SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 face down.

GILDA’S TURN 4:

DRAW PHASE:

Gilda growled as she pulled her card, but as she did, a smile crept onto her break.

“This game is over!”

MAIN PHASE 1:

“To start off, I summon Harpie Lady 1!” Gilda cried, as her basic harpy somersaulted onto the battlefield.

“Now my Hunting Ground allows me to destroy your set card!” The harpy then leapt towards the set card, and slashed it to pieces. Pinkie grunted as her Forbidden Lance was destroyed.

“Now, I activate Double Summon! This lets me Normal Summon another time in addition!” Pinkie frowned, not liking where this was going. The gang held their breath in anticipation.

“Now I can summon Harpy Lady 2!” The second harpy lady joined her sister.

“And now I activate this card, Crashbug Road! This lets me Special Summon a card from my hand that has the same level as a card I control! I choose my Harpy Lady 3!” Pinkie and the group grew anxious as the third Harpy Lady hit the field. Gilda simply chuckled.

“Now let me show you a harpy that no one can defeat.” Jason’s mouth dropped.

“She doesn’t mean...”

“Yes, she does,” Chris replied solemnly.

“I CONSTRUCT THE OVERLAY NETWORK BETWEEN MY THREE HARPY LADIES!” Gilda cried.

“Oh my God, she is!” Jason cried.

“WITH MY THREE MONSTERS, I EXCEED SUMMON...”

“Pinkie! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry for all of this!”

“HARPIE’S PET PHANTASMAL DRAGON!” All at once, the three sisters became balls of light, and a great illustrious dragon exploded into existence. Pinkie’s vision dropped at the sight and let her hand fall to the ground.

“Wha... What does it do?” Pinkie squealed. Gilda cackled wildly.

“Oh, I’m glad you asked. You see, while my Dragon has an Xyz Material, Harpie’s cannot be targeted by card effects or attacks, and also, this card can attack directly!”

“WHAT?!” cried Pinkie and the other ponies.

“You heard me, and now, my dragon, show this stupid little pony what for!”

BATTLE PHASE:

“HARPIE’S PET PHANTASMAL DRAGON, ATTACK PINKIE DIRECTLY AND WIN THIS DUEL FOR ME!” Gilda cried, while Pinkie began to panic. The dragon leapt forward, bypassing the Queen and aiming its claws for Pinkie, who was dashing around frantically, trying to avoid the attack.

“Is this the best that Ponyville can offer? Is THIS what stole my best friend?! Pathetic!” Pinkie just screamed as the Phantasmal Dragon raked its claws into her flesh.

Harpie’s Pet Phantasmal Dragon <--> Pinkie Pie

Pinkie’s LP: 1700 --> 0

Gilda wins.

Gilda harrumphed as she collected her cards and raised her hand towards her defeated opponent. All of a sudden, a golden glow enveloped her claw, and a second glow hugged Pinkie’s Deck. The glow then retracted from the Deck, pulling out one card from the pack. The card flew over to Gilda, who snatched it out of mid air. Dionysus – Life of the Party, now belonged to Gilda. The griffon chuckled as she walked away from her defeated opponent, who lay bleeding on the floor. Instantly the protective shield surrounding the battlefield wore off, and the gang instantly rushed to aid their friend.

“Pinkie! Are you alright?” cried the group. The small pony had crawled into a foetal position on the ground in her own blood, and was softly crying to herself.

“I love to make you smile smile smile... Yes I do...” she chanted. Jason flung his head back while Fluttershy helped comfort Pinkie.

“TWILIGHT! PINKIE’S DOWN! WE NEED HELP OVER HERE!” he yelled, but Twilight was already there, tending to her friend.

“It’s okay Pinkie, you’ll be fine,” Fluttershy said, while Twilight worked her magic. Jason looked grim, it was only the end of the first duel and they had already lost one Olympian and two of the ponies had been taken out. He turned his head upwards to look towards the Main Administration Tower of the stadium, the place where everything about the stadium and its operations were controlled. Through the glass panels that allowed the operators to view the matches, Jason caught sight of, and locked eyes with an amused Shane. The older teen grinned and offered a slight wave. Jason’s blood ran cold.

“Shane, you son of a bitch... Who do you work for?! And where is my mother?!”

Chapter 5: The Plot of the Poker Queen

Team Hope was sat outside of the coliseum, their heads hanging low with grief around their necks. After Twilights attempts at healing, Pinkie Pie’s wounds had been mostly knit and wrapped with bandages, while Rainbow Dash was still unconscious, yet in a stable condition.

“Given her current condition, I doubt she will be able to fly or move much at all for a couple of weeks at least,” Twilight announced, finishing her analysis of RD’s condition. The group simply nodded in acknowledgement.

“We need to get her into an active status as soon as possible,” Chris sighed, “We have no idea how long it will be before she’s called up to duel, and if she can’t compete, that’s an automatic loss, which is something we DEFINATELY can’t afford to surrender after Pinkie’s defeat.” Pinkie’s head dipped low at the comment, aware that she was the reason that her friends were in such stress.

“I’m sorry you guys, it’s my fault that things are like this,” she sniffled. Ashley moved to hug the pony.

“Aww, don’t stress yourself!  It was your first time playing the game, and Gilda had a VERY strong deck!” she comforted, but Pinkie simply shook her head.

“And mine wasn’t good enough, or I didn’t use it correctly,” she replied, prompting a sigh from Ashley, who hugged the pony harder.

“But Chris is still correct,” Sammy noted, “We need Rainbow Dash, we can’t afford an automatic loss. Getting her in top condition should be our top priority, with duelling practise coming second.” At these words, Jason jumped to his feet.

“The fact of the matter is that we can’t lose more than two thirds of our team in this round or we instantly lose and surrender our cards. There are eleven of us, and a third of eleven is about 3.7, so once we hit 3 members remaining, we lose. We’ve already lost Pinkie, so we can afford to lose another six players in this round before losing,” he explained, pacing back and forth.

“Not to mention that the fewer players we have in this round, the lower chance we have of surviving the next,” Teagan added. The gathered humans and ponies nodded in agreement.

“Well, we’d better not lose then!” Rarity declared, earning more nods.

“Then we’d best get in some practise,” Jason smiled, pulling out his deck.

“We’ll only play tabletop, so it’s less likely to actually bring our monsters to life.” There was a slight cheer from the team, before they set out to duel. Jason, however, walked over to Twilight, who was busy attending to her fallen friends.

“Hey there Twilight, how’s it going?” he asked, earning him a meek smile from the alicorn.

“Given the circumstances, I’m hurt emotionally, but physically I’m fine,” she replied. Jason nodded his head sombrely.

“I’m not surprised; this whole situation is messing with me too. I’m lucky enough to make friends with six great ponies from another world, but unlucky enough to be forced to fight for my life and my mother as well.” He cast his head down in sorrow, while Twilight gave the boy a caring smile.

“It’s alright Jason, we’ll get her back, don’t you worry. And we’ll save both our worlds as well!”

Meanwhile, a certain brown stallion was crouched behind a stack of bin bags down some disgusting alleyway, hiding from the many humans going about their daily lives not ten feet from him. While night activity was simple enough, day walking was almost impossible, given the sheer number of humans present. Time Turner examined his box, playing with its wooden frame aimlessly. He traced his right hoof along the strange circular markings, exploring the enigmatic contours that had inspired his previous clock making. As his hoof lingered on, he found its tip resting against the switch button to the bottom compartment. At once, his entire body seized up and his mind hazed, as foreign thoughts began to invade his head.

“It doesn’t work on wood...”

In a panic, Turner yelped and tossed the box away from him, where it clattered down the alleyway. From nowhere, a foreign foot stepped on its frame, ceasing its movement. Turner snapped his neck around to face his possible antagoniser, coming face to face with a red headed human.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” the figure asked.

“W...what?” Turner questioned fearfully. Instantly, the strange man burst into laughter.

“I’m very sorry, I always wanted to use that quote, and this seemed like too good an opportunity to miss,” he said.

“What quote?” the frightened pony asked. The man sighed.

“It doesn’t matter, the point is, you’re clearly not from this planet. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Shane, and I know of your kind and your horse planet above, and I want to make you an offer.”

“What offer?” Turner questioned warily. Shane gave another chuckle.

“It’s quite simple really, I want you to participate in a little tournament I’m running nearby, and if you win, I’ll help send you home. What do you say?”

“How can I have your assurance that you can send me home? As far as my knowledge goes, my homeland seems to be in a state of phased reality, and this planet doesn’t have access to magic. Even if you could physically send me home, the planet is still not solid, so I would still be stuffed,” Turner questioned. Shane smirked again.

“You’re completely right about everything there, except one thing; we DO have magic.” Turner gasped at the news.

“You do?! How?”

“Well, humans themselves don’t possess magic than can actually be used, but my employer is far from human,” Shane explained.

“What do you mean?!” Turner cried, earning a frown from Shane.

“I’d keep it quiet if I were you; I wouldn’t want people to know about my existence prematurely, would you?” Turner sighed with a frown.

“Yes, you’re right, my bad. But seriously though, what do you mean?”

“Well, let’s just say that my employer possesses some power beyond all human ability,” Shane chuckled. Turner leered at the man.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this man’s intentions are FAR from in my well being,” he thought,

“But as it stands, I have no choice but to trust him for now; I need to return home at any cost, and maybe he can help with these visions in the meantime as well.” Turner sighed and nodded.

“Very well Shane, I shall do as you wish,” he said. Shane grinned.

“Brilliant!” he laughed, “I’ll get you started right away.” At once, Shane grabbed onto Time Turner’s hoof and pulled him down deeper into the alleyway, chuckling all the way.

“What a great turn of fortune!” Shane thought, “Khaos was right, I can just sense the power emanating from this one, there’s no doubt in my mind that he possesses the greatest power, aside from my mistress, that I’ve ever seen! He will be a powerful asset indeed.”

“What have I gotten myself into...” Time Turner wondered...

“Welcome to the second match of the Serpentine Lake Duelling Competition!” The MC declared, coming with a great cheer from the audience in the stalls. Team Hope was sat in their dugout, waiting anxiously for the participants to be introduced, hoping that Rainbow Dash would be spared for the time being. Twilight and Fluttershy were still tending to the two injured ponies, ensuring that they were as comfortable as could be. Applejack stood guard over the four, just in case anyone attempted to cause them harm. Meanwhile, Rarity and the humans stood forward of the others, waiting for the MC’s declaration. They didn’t have to wait for long.

“So without further ado, let’s find out who the two duelists who will be fighting to the tooth and nail for their beliefs will be! Time Roulette go!” the MC declared, smashing his staff into the nearby slot machine-esque feature, instantly setting its rollers spinning. Team Hope watched with bated breath, their prayers going out to their injured team mates’ safety. As the rollers came to a rest, their eyes went wide.

“Rarity vs Demensha!”

“What sort of name is Demensha?” Ashley queried with a raised eyebrow.

“Back in Equestria, Twilight duelled against a draconequus-like thing called Kakophony. This “Demensha” could be something similar,” Rarity said, causing frowns from the humans.

“What’s a draconequus?” Teagan asked.

“My apologies dear, I forgot that humans don’t know of draconequi. Simply put, these creatures have body parts from various different races from our planet. The small ones also seem to have minor reality warping magic as well!” Rarity explained.

“So it’s a magic Chimera?” Jason asked.

“Somewhat crass explanation, but yes,” Rarity nodded.

“Hardcore,” Ashley breathed.

“And now I have to fight one,” Rarity gulped. Applejack trotted up to the pony, while her other conscious pony friends watched on from their seats.

“Don’t ya worry sugarcube, ah’m sure you’ll do positively fantastic!” she cheered. Rarity couldn’t help but smile. After Applejack had said these words, there was a great cheer from the audience, causing the others to snap their heads around in interest. On the face of the roulette wheel that had decided the combatants, there was displayed the characters, “x2”. They watched as the announcer took up his podium once again.

“It appears that the gods have chance have chosen a random ruling for this match! How exciting for our combatants!”

“Extra ruling?!” Teagan cried, “That can’t be good!” Jason nodded in agreement while Chris simply watched.

“It appears that this match shall be fought with both players starting with double the life points!” the announcer continued.

“Is that good?” Rarity questioned, unsure.

“Well, it means that you will be twice as hard to defeat, but you’ll also need to work twice as hard to win,” Ashley shrugged. Rarity was not overly happy with the news. Jason turned to Rarity,

“Rarity, while this may seem like a harder challenge, remember that while we hold confidence and passion in our hearts, there is no challenge that can take us down without a fight!” Rarity smiled at his words, blinking a smile.

  “Thank you very much Jason, I shall endeavour to do as well as I can!” she said. Rarity then began to pace her way over to her side of the duelling arena, smiling with pride with the cheers of her friends behind her.

“Come on Rarity, we’re all counting on you...” Jason whispered.

“Nothing but good news to report, mistress,” Shane smiled, kneeling before Khaos in her ebony black throne room. The goddess herself lay slouched comfortably on her throne, resting her legs over the chair’s right arm.

“Excellent to hear, my faithful student,” Khaos purred, languidly turning a twin branch of cherries around in her fingers. Shane grinned with a firm fire in his eyes.

“I have managed to recruit the pony known as Time Turner into our ranks.” At these words, Khaos’ eyes lit up, a tooth filled grin filling her face.

“In addition to this, our agents are well at work scouring the country for the target. At the current progress rate, we should find it within the next two weeks.” At these words, Khaos’ smile faltered slightly, a slight frown creeping onto her face.

“Too slow,” she commented simply, edges of venom in her voice. Shane’s mouth dropped in surprise.

“But mistress, we are systematically mapping every corner of the United Kingdom! A feat like this should take months! Our teams are going as fast as they can!”

“WELL TELL THEM TO MOVE FASTER!” Khaos roared, her normally lax body tightening up with tension as she jumped to her ethereal feet. Shane stood speechless in fear, his lower lip trembling slightly.

“Y.. yes mistress. Right away,” he blurted, before running hurriedly out of the throne room. Khaos herself simply sighed and sat back down, tension relaxing in her body.

“Damn morons...” she breathed.

Rarity stood, her body tensed and ready, awaiting the moment when her opponent would enter from the portcullis at the other end of the stadium. A glow of light began to envelop her foreleg, and she dully noted that her duel disk and deck were forming on her, but her mind was currently focused on the task at hand. With a dark look, she noticed the portcullis begin to rise, and out slithered the recognisable form of a young female draconequus. Her teeth began to grit as a strand of her otherwise perfect mane separated from its companions, coming to rest over Rarity’s left eye. Demensha floated smugly over to the opposite side of the duelling arena, coming to rest menacingly.

“So I get the prissy pony to fight? Shame, I wanted to face the sparkly one, as payback for Kakophony, but you? Hah, this is going to be easy...” she spoke.

“Watch your tongue, you uncultured swine,” Rarity rebuked with a scowl, earning an amused look from her enemy.

“Quite the mouth you’ve got there. I look forward to silencing it.” Jason and the other’s faces contorted into an antagonistic scowl.

“How dare she treat my friend so shamefully!” Twilight protested, looking up from Rainbow Dash’s still unconscious body. Rarity barely heard her friend, her mind too distracted by anxiousness and determination.

“So are we going to begin this duel, or are we going to spend all day tossing insults at one another?” she questioned. Demensha giggled childishly.

“Well if you want to rush your demise, far be it from me to deny you your wish!”

Rarity growled angrily.

“So what are we waiting for then?”

“LETS DUEL” The two cried.

Luna slammed her hoof repeatedly at Celestia’s study door, her body’s desperation carrying through into her knocks.

“Celestia! Open this door! We need to talk!” she cried, briefly silencing her knocks to wait for a reply.

None came.

Luna resumed her knocking with increased vigour, determined to get an audience with her sister.

“Please sister,” Luna thought,

“Too much is at stake here. Please, let me speak to you!”

Time Turner stood in the administration box, with Shane positioned nearby to his left. Turner was painstakingly aware of Shane’s gaze upon him, but chose to ignore it for the sake of watching the duel. Shane’s eyes scanned Turner thoroughly, looking for the slightest hint of changing emotion coming from the tan pony. Though he was an ally for now, Shane knew that his allegiance was tenuous at best, and that he must ensure that his needs, both physically and psychologically were met, lest he lose this most powerful tool, though the pony himself did not know it yet.

“It is only a matter of time before your true potential awakens itself,” Shane thought to himself,

“And once that happens, your alignment could potentially decide the fate of us all. And for the sake of Khaos, you WILL be on our side of the fence when that happens.” Time Turner’s gaze flicked over to Shane, sensing the dubious intent in the man.

“I dont trust him...” he thought.

DUEL START

DEMENSHA LP: 8000

RARITY LP: 8000

DEMENSHA TURN 1:

“The first turn is mine!” Demensha cried, ripping her five starting cards from the top of her deck. She looked through her hand with mild interest, strategies beginning to bounce around inside her head.

“I summon Steelswarm Scout to the field!” At these words, a small bug-like create manifested onto the battlefield from a small, dark portal. The monster scampered around the field for a few seconds, before coming to rest.

[Steelswarm Scout: ATK 200, DEF 0]

“A monster with only 200 ATK in attack position?” Applejack questioned, earning nods of confusion from the other team members.

“She probably plans on baiting Rarity into a risky attack, and then wiping out her monster with a trap card,” Chris answered warily, earning a nod from Teagan.

“That does make sense,” Applejack nodded, her eyes still fixed on the match. Jason, however, cast his gaze downward.

“I dont know, it seems like too obvious a trap...” he murmured. Demensha flicked a wicked grin Jason’s way.

“Two face-down’s end my turn,” she finished with a slight smirk, earning a grim frown from Rarity.

“Woah, Rarity sure changes when she duels,” Pinkie commented, earning a nod from Fluttershy.

“She definitely seems more ferocious...” she confirmed.

STATUS:

DEMENSHA:

LP: 8000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Steelswarm Scout

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 Face-down

RARITY:

LP: 8000

HAND: 5 CARDS.

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: X

RARITY TURN 1:

“I guess it’s time to show you that being a lady doesn’t mean that I cant fight back. Draw!” Rarity boomed, telepathically sliding the top card from her deck, adding it to her currently floating hand.

“Her attack position monster is clearly an attempt to play some sort of mind game with me. Surely she wouldn’t place her monster like that without laying some sort of trap? Or maybe she’s just bluffing?” Rarity thought to herself, before scanning her opponents face to search for any tells.

“Whatever the case, she has an extremely good poker face. I cant tell either way! For now, I should just play defensive and wait for a more readable situation in which to make my attack...”

“Wow, Rarity looks like she’s concentrating extremely hard!” Ashley commented, earning a chuckle from Twilight.

“Rarity is one of the best poker players I’ve ever met, and I know she’s extremely talented at reading ponies. She should fare well in this game!”

“Thats good to hear!” Ashley smiled. Rarity, meanwhile, was scanning her hand for a play.

“I will set one monster face-down, as well as a spell/trap card. The next turn is yours,” she said simply, watching with barely a glimmer of excitement as the three card back images appeared on her side of the battlefield. Demensha scoffed in amusement.

“Is that all? Hah, what a coward you are...” she said, earning a piercing glare from Rarity.

STATUS:

DEMENSHA:

LP: 8000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Steelswarm Scout

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 Face-down

RARITY:

LP: 8000

HAND: 3 CARDS.

MONSTERS: 1 Face-down

SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 Face-down

DEMENSHA TURN 2:

Demensha swiped her next card with gusto, before adding it to her hand.

“From the look of you, I can tell you excel at these kind of mind games just as much as I love them. While I could probably destroy your face down normally this turn, I feel like it would grant you some kind of advantage, and I’d rather you be left with as little to fight with as possible!”

“If you are so confident in your own arrogance, then stop talking and act, before I faint of boredom,” Rarity scoffed, earning an amused laugh from Demensha.

“I really like you Rarity! While I’d love to make friends with you after this game, currently I really need you to go ahead and lose for me. Unless you want to give up and surrender now, let me show you how a real duelist battles. I activate one of my face down cards, Soul Exchange!” Rarity grimaced, knowing that one of the cards that had deterred her was a bluff after all.

“This card allows me to use one of your monsters as a sacrifice for the summon of one of my monsters. I sacrifice your face down and my Steelswarm Scout to summon Steelswarm Girastag!” The two cards of the field broke apart for the tribute, revealing Rarity’s face down to be Shining Angel. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, knowing that her insurance policy had been outmanoeuvred. After the two cards had been destroyed, a great rumble came from the earth in front of Demensha’s mismatched feet. The earth at the surface of the field began to split apart, and from its depths, clambered a great armoured insectlike creature, nearly eight feet tall, which took its stand next to its master.

[Steelswarm Girastag: ATK 2600, DEF 0]

“Now, I know I could have simply summoned my little beastie here by just tributing my Steelswarm Scout, but I decided that I would much rather clear your field instead, prime for a direct attack!” Demensha cackled, while a bead of sweat ran down Rarity’s cheek. The rest of the team were stunned by Demensha’s ruthlessly offensive play.

“She gave up a more cost effective strategy simply to deal extra damage,” Chris gasped.

“But I’m not done yet! Because Girastag was sacrificed using a Steelswarm monster, I can target one of your cards and send it to the graveyard! Say goodbye to your face down!” Demensha cackled, as her monster raised its arm. Its hand began to charge with eldritch energy, before firing it off at Rarity’s card, the pony gritting her teeth is frustration.

“Halt yourself!” she cried,

“I activate my set card, Common Charity!” The set card flipped face up, revealing an young man wearing a tattered longcoat with a glowing card floating above his hands.

“This card allows me to draw two cards, and then banish one normal monster from my hand. If I have no normal monsters, I must discard my entire hand,” Rarity finished.

“She’s taking a big risk just for the extra cards,” Teagan growled.

“Both of them are playing very riskily,” Sammy agreed,

“Its only a matter of time before one of their luck runs out.” Jason’s frown deepened,

“Well we’d better hope that its not Rarity...”

Rarity telekinetically pulled two cards from the top of her deck and added them to her hand, before confidently pulling another card from her hand.

“I banish my Jack’s Knight for Common Charity’s effect. Continue...” she finished, to wit Demensha grinned.

“So nothing to disrupt my plays then? Very well. Girastag, attack!” At her words, Girastag leapt up and sprinted towards Rarity, who’s confidence wavered in front of the great beast. It raised its gauntlet high into the air, before thrusting it downwards at Rarity’s terrified face. Its fist collided straight into Rarity’s torso, sending her flying backwards. She shot eight feet through the air before colliding hard with the invisible barrier that kept the two combatants trapped. Rarity slid down the barrier slowly, coming to rest on the ground with a slump.

RARITY LP: 8000 --> 5400

“RARITY!” the team cried unanimously. Twilight’s forced her gaze away from Rarity’s impact, barely able to witness her friend being tossed around like a broken puppet. Rarity lay still for a couple of seconds, before struggling back to her feet. She was clearly bleeding from several cuts and scrapes on her body, as well as a large bruise beginning to stain her otherwise clear white torso. She glared daggers right into Demensha’s eyes.

“You... despicable ruffian!” she spat. Demensha merely smirked,

“You having a little trouble speaking there?” she jeered, “I told you that I’d get you to shut up.” Rarity found herself at a loss of words to retort with. Demensha picked up on this and grinned slowly. Sammy’s expression turned sour.

“Her image is breaking up, Demensha is getting to her!” she sighed. Twilight picked up on this with another frown.

“Come on Rarity!”

“I suppose I can leave off my turn here. I’ll let you have your shot now. Good luck darling!” Demensha mocked.

STATUS:

DEMENSHA:

LP: 8000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Steelswarm Girastag

SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 Face-down

RARITY:

LP: 5400

HAND: 4 CARDS.

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: X

RARITY TURN 2:

Rarity pulled her top card from her deck calmly, trying to regain her composure. She scanned her hand with barely disguised desperation, her poker face almost visibly cracking.

“Come on Rarity, keep it together,” she thought to herself, repeating the message like a mantra.

“I activate the spell card Cantrell Draw! I shuffle two cards from my hand into my deck and redraw, drawing one additional card, but I must pay 1000 life points!” Rarity declared, shuffling her cards into her deck.

RARITY LP: 5400 --> 4400

“Such desperate tactics,” Demensha giggled,

“How pathetic.” Rarity growled at her opponent,

“Dont underestimate me...”

“Yeah, you go girl!” Ashley cheered, with accompanying cheers from her pony friends. Chris however, had a concerned look on his face, which Jason picked up on.

“Problem Chris?” he asked. Chris simply sighed and spoke up,

“Demensha is right. Cantrell Draw shows that her luck hasn’t fully helped her so far this game. Whether or not Mallet helps her is irrelevant, she’s falling apart.” Jason’s mouth hung open in disbelief, but he knew that Chris had a point.

“Lets hope for her sake that youre wrong...”

“Now I draw my two cards,” Rarity declared, adding the two cards to her hand. She glanced at them, her confidence conflicted. Demensha noticed a slight twitch on her face, but said nothing, merely widening her grin.

“I set two cards before ending my turn,” Rarity sighed. The team gasped in shock while Demensha cackled yet again.

“She didn’t summon no monsters!” Applejack cried. The rest of the team shared her sentiments.

“See what I mean?” Chris spoke solemnly. Jason shook his head.

“I refuse to believe it!” he cried,

“She’s not out yet!” Chris kept quiet, knowing better than to crush his team mates hope.

“Looks like you’ve really cracked then?” Demensha insulted.

“I’m far from out yet you beast!” Rarity cried, which only intensified Demensha’s laugh.

“Well allow me to fix that!”

STATUS:

DEMENSHA:

LP: 8000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Steelswarm Girastag

SPELLS/TRAPS: Face-down

RARITY:

LP: 4400

HAND: 3 CARDS.

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 Face-down

DEMENSHA TURN 3:

“Girastag! Attack her life points directly once more!” Demensha cried, cackling maniacally. Girastag nodded its helmed skull and leaped towards Rarity with deadly ferocity.

“Rarity!” Team Hope cried, feeling terrified on behalf of their vulnerable friend. Rarity began to hyperventilate as the gigantic monster’s form came barrelling towards her.

“Oh no...” Girastag’s armoured shin swung forward in a deadly arc, connecting with Rarity’s body with humongous force. Rarity was sent flying upwards into the air, her body compacting with the upper side of the dome around the arena before collapsing back onto the ground in a bloodied heap. Demensha grinned evilly, watching Rarity as she gradually clambered back onto her hooves.

RARITY LP: 4400 --> 1800

“Hah! What a weakling! You’ve still got plenty of life points left and you’re already down for the count! I expected a greater challenge than...”

“Quiet peasant,” Rarity spoke calmly, her face set back into her competitive blank stare. Demensha gasped in surprise, along with the entirety of the team, though their surprise was much more positive.

“Yeah, go Rarity!” Pinkie cheered, earning an approving smile from the other team members.

“See! She’s still got the confidence, she can still do this!” Jason said, directing his comments towards Chris. The teen merely closed his eyes in response.

“We’ll see...” As he opened his eyes, he directed them straight towards Demensha, scanning her for answers.

“H... How can you be so confident?!” she cried,

“I’m about to destroy you and steal another card from your team, how can you have that battle face back on?!” Rarity simply blinked.

“End your turn and find out, unless you’re too much of a chicken.” Demensha hissed in anger at the pony’s comments.

“Although, being a draconequus, you probably know what that’s like already,” Rarity finished. Demensha’s face dropped, while the rest of the team cheered even more enthusiastically.

“How DARE you?! I would finish you right here if I had the cards!” Demensha roared. Rarity blankly replied.

“Your temper is obscuring your judgement darling; you just revealed to me that your hand is running out of options. A good card game player never gives even the slightest hint of the hand they hold to their opponent.”

“H... How dare you! I set one monster face down and end my turn! Let’s see if that confidence matches up with your deck!” Demensha growled. Rarity changed nothing.

“My turn then.”

STATUS:

DEMENSHA:

LP: 8000

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Steelswarm Girastag, 1 Face-down

SPELLS/TRAPS: Face-down

RARITY:

LP: 1800

HAND: 3 CARDS.

MONSTERS: X

SPELLS/TRAPS: 2 Face-down

RARITY TURN 3:

“I draw,” Rarity spoke calmly, sliding her card towards her. She examined her hand with a careful eye, making sure to hide her excitement from her enemy.

“Here goes...” she whispered to herself.

“To start things off, I’ll summon Queen’s Knight to the field!” Rarity declared, placing her card on her disk. In a bright flash of light, a crimson armoured female warrior stood in front of her mistress, her armour adorned with the symbols of the 4 poker suits.

[Queen's Knight: ATK 1500, DEF 1600]

The five humans gasped in surprise.

“She owns the Poker Knights? I thought Yugi was the only duelist to use them!” Teagan cried.

“Her cards appeared from nothing in a flash of light,” Sammy informed,

“When one’s deck appears from literally thin air, I think thats a pretty good excuse to use otherwise one-of-a-kind cards.”

“Fair enough,” Teagan shrugged,

“Makes sense to me.”

“Let’s watch,” Chris spoke softly but firmly, silencing his friends.

“Now I activate my set card, Ultimate Offering!” Rarity continued,

“Now at the cost of 500 life points per card, I am allowed an additional normal summon or set.”

“I know what the damn card does!” Demensha screeched,

“Just make your damn move!”

“Very well. Now, through Ultimate Offering’s effect, I summon this; King’s Knight!” At these words, a familiar flash of light blinked, and an old man of around 50 years of age appeared on the field, standing next to his queen and wearing golden regal armour.

[King's Knight: ATK 1600, DEF 1400]

RARITY LP: 1800 --> 1300

“What are these weak and useless knights going to achieve for you?! Get to the point!” Demensha bellowed, her cracked tempter splitting even further. The edge of Rarity’s mouth curved upwards.

“If you would be so kind as to wait for a brief moment, you’d see for yourself,” she spoke smoothly.

“The effect of King’s Knight activates, allowing me to special summon my second Jack’s Knight directly from my deck!” With a third flash of light, the last of the three knights stood firm on the battlefield, clad is shining blue armour and brandishing a humongous broadsword.

[Jack's Knight: ATK 1900, DEF 1000]

“Great, so now you have THREE useless monsters. Get to the point!” Demensha snarled.

“You underestimate my monsters. Let me show you one of their many secret powers as a team. I activate the spell card, Royal Flush!” Rarity’s card floated in front of her face, revealing a hand holding three cards, a King, Queen and Jack of Diamonds.

“I can only activate this card while I control all three Poker Knights on my side of the field. I am now allowed to draw an extra three cards from the top of my deck.”

“Rarity’s deck really seems focused on drawing cards and making sure her hand has exactly what she wants in it...” Sammy wondered.

“Thats because her deck is most powerful when she has all three of her Knights on the field. The Queen and King’s Knight play is quite inconsistent, so she needs to make sure the cards in her hand are the right ones at all times,” Jason answered.

“Now it’s time to get dangerous!” Rarity grinned,

“I use Ultimate Offering again, allowing me to summon another King’s Knight, which in turn allows me to bring my third Jack’s Knight to the table!” Two more Knights came crashing into existence, illuminating the field as they touched down.

[King's Knight: ATK 1600, DEF 1400]

[Jack's Knight: ATK 1900, DEF 1000]

RARITY LP: 1300 --> 800

Demensha was getting quite worried by this point.

“Wha, what are you doing?!” she questioned, shaking slightly. Rarity smiled fully now, tossing her mane back over her head into its preferred styled form,

“Well, I suppose you could say that I’m going all in. I overlay my King’s Knight and my Queen’s Knight to summon Heroic Champion - Excalibur!” The two smaller knights took a kneeled stance before vanishing into balls of light, before beginning to spin around one another in the air. A column of light shot down from the sky, illuminating the field below. The light grew so intense that nothing could be seen through it, its glow blinding the eyes of the assembled duelists. Suddenly, a great thud was heard, and the light vanished, as if turned off by a switch. Where the column was stood a great knight, clad head to toe in thick plate armour, his right gauntlet brandishing a deadly looking sword. Demensha’s gaze paled.

[Heroic Champion - Excalibur: ATK 2000, DEF 2000]

“Now I activate his effect; by detaching both his materials, my brave knight in shining armour can attack with double the striking power!” The two shining lights orbiting Excalibur zoomed in towards his sword, merging with the cold steel.

“Now go my knight, attack Steelswarm Girastag!” Excalibur tightened his grip around his sword before dashing forward at great speed, far greater than one would have assumed given his heavy armour. As he approached Girastag, he leaped high into the air, his sword raised above his head. Girastag moved to block with his gauntlet, but the sword of the descending knight held more power in its body. The blade crashed down onto the Steelswarm monster, shattering it into thousands of specks of black dust. The dust flung back towards Demensha, the heat of her fallen monster scorching it into deadly burning embers. Demensha let out an unearthly scream as the cinders burnt at her flesh, leaving sore red marks all over her body.

DEMENSHA LP: 8000 --> 6600

Demensha grunted with agony and rage as she cast her gaze back to the pony who had injured her.

“You’ll pay for that you bitch!” she cried.

“What’s the matter? The little baby doesn’t like the taste of her own medicine?” Rarity retorted with a smirk, earning a sizable laugh from her teammates.

“Hah, BURN!” Pinkie cheered,

“Pun intended! You know, cause of all the ashes and stuff! Hee hee!”

“But I’m still not done, I attack with my remaining King’s Knight and two Jack’s Knights, with my King’s Knight targeting your face down, and my two Jack’s Knights going straight for your life points!”

“Gah... no!” Demensha squealed, but her protests were in vain. The three knights dashed forwards with a kiai, each one aiming for their intended target. King’s Knight sprinted over to the set monster while the two Jack’s Knights each flanked Demensha, attempting to seize her in a pincer movement. King’s Knight drove his sword downwards, connecting easily with the card backing before him. A brief image of a metallic bug appeared around King’s sword, squealing in pain, before both the card and the illusion burst into shatters. Meanwhile, the two Jack’s Knights were staring daggers at a frightened Demensha, and at a small with from one, the two leaped into action. They sliced at Demensha with their swords, their cuts aimed with perfect poise and position. If the two knights had been real soldiers, the young draconequus before them would have been exotic beef stew in seconds. After being satisfied that their work had been done, they returned back to their starter positions, eager to continue on next turn.

DEMENSHA LP: 6600 --> 2800

Demensha herself was woozily attempting to steady herself after the brutal onslaught she had undertaken. While she visibly fought to keep her balance, an unnerving snicker began to emanate from her mouth. Rarity picked up on this with concerned interest, as her chuckling began to grow louder.

“Whats... Whats happening?!” Fluttershy squealed. Applejack looked towards her friend with an uncertain face,

“Well, either she’s gone kookoo, or ah reckon our friend out there is in for some hurtin’ next turn.”

“Oh dear...” Demensha’s laugh ascended into a great bout of maniacal laughter, her grating laugh penetrating the ears of the Team as if it were nails down a chalkboard.

“Agh, my ears!” Twilight cried, clapping her hooves over her head. The others quickly followed suit, desperate to block out the sound.

“You think just because you dealt me some damage that I’m down and out? Hah! Pathetic! I can and WILL beat you right here and now! My turn!”

STATUS:

DEMENSHA:

LP: 2800

HAND: 2 CARDS.

MONSTERS:

SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 Face-down

RARITY:

LP: 800

HAND: 3 CARDS.

MONSTERS: Heroic Champion – Excalibur, Jack’s Knight, Jack’s Knight, King’s Knight

SPELLS/TRAPS: Ultimate Offering, 1 Face-down

DEMENSHA TURN 4:

Demensha grinned evilly as she pulled her card from the top of her deck. She didn’t even glance at it before casting her glare back towards Rarity.

“You said that you went all in last turn, but you didn’t manage to defeat me. It is that mistake that will cost you this game!” she cackled. Rarity simply kept a straight face.

“Now without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the main event! By banishing three Fiend type monsters in my graveyard, I can summon this card!” Demensha slammed her card onto her duel disk, its form instantly beginning to swim with dark energies. The Team looked on in dread as what appeared to be a cascading river of dark energy began to flow from the card and onto the field. It snaked across the terrain like an ugly black slug, bisecting both sides of the battlefield. The blackness began to sink down, cutting away at the terrain like acid, an audible hiss being heard as it sank downwards. Eventually, it sank no further, coming conspicuously to a rest, though the energy did keep on flowing, as if an inky black river had formed on the field. Demensha’s face revealed an expression of pure glee, despite the burn marks from earlier that had begun to form bubbling welts and blisters upon her face and body.

“Allow me to introduce you to my deck’s true ace monster! Rise, STYX – RIVERGOD OF HATE!” At these words, the blackness erupted upwards, as if someone had set off a depth charge underneath the surface of the watery energy. The fluid shifted and swirled amongst itself, as if it were morphing between several different shapes and forms.

[Styx - Rivergod of Hate: ATK 3000, DEF 3000]

“That thing reminds me of something I read about in an old history book,” Twilight exclaimed to no one in particular.

“Oh?” Jason queried. Twilight shook her head quickly, shrugging off the thought.

“It was a book of old fairy tales. It was about this large mass of purple ooze that spread across the land, devouring anything that it touched...”

“Hmm... Charming...” Jason muttered. Suddenly, in a great explosion of black light and discordant sound, the swirling mass flung off all of its excess shadow, revealing the form of a great black cloak, completely obscuring its apparent wearer. The construct moved as if still a fluid, and its shape had an unnatural smoothness to it, as if it were being controlled by a puppeteer. Demensha grinned as its terrifying aura shook Rarity’s seemingly calm face.

“Well, let me explain to you the effect of my ace monster. It shares the same drawbacks as every Greek god card thusfar, it cannot be destroyed by card effects,cannot attack you directly, and neither of us suffers battle damage from its battles. However, this is where it’s special effect comes in; when this card attacks an opponent’s monster its ATK points are doubled for that battle! Also, if it annihilates one of your monsters in battle, it inflicts damage to your life points equal to the ATK of the monster it destroyed! And with 3500 ATK points, thats not too shabby, well enough to take out you and the rest of your life points!” Demensha cackled, causing a frightened gasp from the Team.

“Another one, I’m going to lose another one!” Jason cried, cupping his face in his hands in anguish,

“I’m going to be responsible for the injury of another one of my friends!” Jason sobbed into his hands briefly, but stopped when he heard an annoyed grunt from nearby to him.

“She’s not down yet,” Chris said sternly.

“Now I activate my face down card, Pride Before The Fall, targeting your Heroic Champion - Excalibur!” Demensha’s face down card flipped face up, revealing a haughty looking man grinning arrogantly and laughing, while in front of him lay the edge of a cliff face descending into oblivion.

“With this card’s effect, one of your monsters gains 2000 extra ATK points, but is switched to defence mode and is banished if it is destroyed.”

“But why? Why would you do such a thing?! If that monster’s attack goes through, I’ll lose regardless!” Rarity protested. Demensha  grinned and spoke,

“Because if I use this card on your Heroic Champion Excalibur, and destroy him, you will lose 6000 life points in one fell swoop. Ive seen what one attack of 2800 can do to you, and you barely managed to survive two, and they were after a short gap! 6000 damage in one strike would be more than enough to completely annihilate your small and weak pony body, killing you outright! Without you, those precious Elements of Harmony of yours are completely useless, and you and your pathetic team lose one of your most powerful weapons! I’m not ‘in it to win it’, I’m ‘going in for the kill’!” At these words, the blood drained from the face of every human and pony sitting in Team Hope’s dugout, Rarity included. A few short breaths and she managed to somewhat calm herself, though she was still quite shaken as the reality of the situation began to sink ever deeper into her. Demensha’s ugly tooth filled grin stretched even wider.

“Go, Styx, Rivergod of Hate, destroy Heroic Champion – Excalibur, end this duel, and wipe out her life points!” she cried crazily, her wide eyed mangled expression gleefully living the duel as it proceeded. Styx leaped forwards towards Excalibur, its shadowy embrace longing for the company of a mortal.

“NO, RARITY!” Team Hope cried, as both their friend and her monsters were swamped and submerged between the inky shadows of Demensha’s monster.

“HAHAHAHAH! YES!” the draconequus cried,

“ARE YOU HAPPY WITH ME MISTRESS?! ANOTHER USELESS LITTLE PONY VANQUISHED IN YOUR NAME!” Back in the dugout, the team was overwashed with hopelessness and defeat.

“That’s it, we’re done,” Jason whimpered,

“There’s no way we can fight back from three injured and possibly deceased comrades. First Rainbow Dash, then Pinkie Pie, then this. I’m sorry everyone, I’ve failed you.” At his words, the remaining conscious ponies and Sammy snuggled up to him for comfort, embracing one another for support. Teagan and Ashley had attached themselves together. Teagan had ripped his gaze away just in time to save himself from the experience of watching his friend die, but Ashley was not so lucky. Her gaze was horrendously transfixed on where Rarity once stood, the streams of tears leaking from the corners of her wide eyes the only indication of the emotion she was feeling inside. Chris, however walked up to where Jason was standing with the ponies.

“Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“Get a hold of yourself you moron,” he growled, before backhanding Jason across the face, sending him sprawling into the dirt. Jason staggered onto his hands and knees, spitting out a mouthful of dust as he did so.

“What the bloody hell was that for?!” he screamed, his enraged glare transfixed on Chris’ face.

“Look at Rarity’s life point calculator on the stadium’s screen,” he said simply. Jason’s expression softened to one of confusion. He scrambled to his feet before jogging a few metres forward to get a better view of the screen. The others followed him with interest, looking to examine the sight.

RARITY LP: 50

DEMENSHA LP: 50

“WHAT?!” They all unanimously cried, which attracted the attention of a certain celebrating draconequus.

“What are you all... WHAT?!” she screeched, her eyes transfixed onto the screen. She lingered her gaze for a few seconds, attempting to process all of the information. She snapped her gaze back to where Rarity had stood, searching for her white coat. As the shadowy form of Styx retreated from its attack, what greeted her eyes shocked her to the core.

Rarity was stood, completely unharmed, with a devilish grin upon her face.

“I activate my Trap Card; Final Showdown!” The set card on her field flipped face up, revealing an image of two men in smart suits sat at a poker table, each about to lay down their hand to each other.

“I can only activate this card when my life points are 1000 or less, but that was the perfect amount all along!” she grinned.

“What do you mean?!” Demensha cried. Rarity only chuckled,

“Honestly I should win an award for performance the last few turns!”

“Wha, WHAT?!”

“Oh, let me explain it so that you’ll understand. The moment I drew Ultimate Offering, I knew that I had the stage set so that I could lull you into continuing your aggressive strategy, shaving away at my life points. I had this card set for just that moment. But let us move on, shall we? Let me explain my card. When this is activated, both players’ life point totals become 50. After that, we each reveal as many monsters as we wish in our hands, and whoever has the most amount of monsters with the same name, type or attribute, among the cards they revealed and the card on their field gets a little surprise. And I think we can all agree that no matter if your hand is filled with dark monsters, you won’t be able to beat my 4 warriors, but just so I can make the most out of this card’s effect, I’ll reveal my second Queen’s Knight in my hand! Because I won the hand, I can special summon the monsters I revealed to my side of the field. So welcome back, Queen’s Knight!” The all too familiar flash illuminated the field once again, revealing Queen’s Knight standing firm. The three Knight’s were back together again, ready to fight.

“Now the last effect of my Final Showdown takes place! If possible, I can now Fusion, Synchro or Xyz Summon using monsters I control, and have that monster battle one monster you control. The person who loses this battle takes EXACTLY 50 points of damage!” Demensha was absolutely shocked at the card’s power, barely able to accept her situation.

“You... You cheater!” she cried,

“There’s no way you could pull of something like that!” Rarity scoffed,

“Not so high and mighty now that you’re losing are we?”

“B... but, I had you cornered! You were out of options! You said you went all in; you had made your final push!” Rarity glared at Demensha with eyes of condescension,

“I lied.”

“This, this can’t be!”

“Oh it is! Using my King’s Knight, Queen’s Knight AND my Jack’s Knight, I bring together the Fusion bonds that join the three!” At her words, King’s Knight, Queen’s Knight and one of the Jack’s Knight each reached out with their swords, their tips touching.

“Wild card in the pack, come forth into my grasp so that I can claim victory for my friends! I call upon your services; ARCANA KNIGHT JOKER!” In a final flash of a white column of light, the three knights transformed into glowing spheres of gold, red and blue, which all swirled up into the light, their colours mixing and refracting as if inside a kaleidoscope. With one final great explosion, the light subsided, and in its place stood a magnificently purple armoured knight, equipped with great golden pauldrons, white trimmings and a gleaming steel sword clasped firmly in his right hand. The warrior eyes Styx with contempt, and prepared his weapon for his attack. Demensha was almost on the floor in panic, but Rarity was positively glowing with power.

[Arcana Knight Joker: ATK 3800, DEF 2500]

“Yeah, you go girl!” Twilight cheered, earning an approving nod and chuckle from Jason.

“Try to learn not to lose faith when the going gets rough,” Chris instructed, eyeing Jason with interest. The teen chuckled awkwardly,

“Yeah, I suppose that’s something I really should work on...”

“Now then, Arcana Knight Joker, attack Styx – Rivergod of Hate and end this duel!” Rarity cried, and her monster gave an agreeing nod, before leaping off to face Styx in battle. The team watched with bated breath, while Demensha screeched in horror, as the valiant knight approached her precious monster.

...

...

...

DEMENSHA LP: 50 --> 0

RARITY WINS

Rarity was reclining leisurely on the team’s dugout bench, keeping her natural grace and poise despite the pain of her injuries, which Twilight tended to nearby. Sammy was stood with the dugout’s emergency first aid kit, aiding the two ponies where she could.

“You did amazing Rarity!” Fluttershy squealed with pride.

“You really sticked it to that meanie!” Pinkie agreed, earning approving giggles from the rest of the team. Jason smiled to himself, happy that his team mates and friends were safe, though the ever persistent threat of Shane, his missing mother and Rainbow Dash cruelly preventing him from sanctity of thought. Jason was lost in his own world for a few seconds, before his daydreaming was interrupted by a soft thump next to him, as Chris sat down to provide company for his friend.

“Quite a duel,” the dark clothed duelist commented.

“Yes I suppose it was,” Jason joked, the edges of his lips cracking into a smile. Chris sighed as his own smile began to form.

“I think things are going to improve,” Chris commented, earning a frown from Jason,

“Why do you think that?” he asked, interested. Chris chuckled softly.

“Well, we may lose a few more friends as we continue, in fact, it’s inevitable, seeing as there can only be one winner, but I feel like this victory is what we need for our morale after our first round loss. Things are looking up for us. I can feel it.” Jason was stunned at his words.

“Chris... “

“Would you care to tell me what in Tartarus’ name that was?” Khaos spoke, her soft face and apparently sweet smile disguising the vein of bile in her tone. Demensha was kneeled before her mistress in the throne room, her blistered face dripping with sweat and fear. There were several other figures stood behind her in a horizontal line, each one was cloaked in long black robes. Among them, Shane stood, head bowed in reverence to his mistress. Kakophony was positioned at one end of the line, his heart beating quickly as he feared for his sister. Shane’s frown was heavy set as his eyes glared towards Demensha with loathing.

“I... I’m sorry mistress. I made a mistake!” the frightened draconequus squeaked. Khaos smiled even wider and stood from her throne, gliding down towards Demensha’s prostrate form.

“Oh that doesn’t sound right!” Khaos cried, feigning surprise,

“Because I thought that you’d just lost one of our special little cards. That doesn’t sound like a plain ol’ mistake to me.”

Demensha gulped.

“That sounds like a gigantic fucking cock-up, doesn’t it?” Khaos spoke, the venom in her otherwise saccharine voice flaring up loudly.

“Y... Yes mistress.” Khaos snorted,

“Who would think that someone as magnificent as I could create a servant as weak and useless as you and your brother?” At these words Kakophony visibly shook in nerves, which Khaos picked up with interest.

“Is there a problem, whelp?” Khaos queried. Kakophony’s shivers began to grow more violet.

“No! Nothing mistress, nothing at all!” he blurted.

“Come forward. Now,” Khaos ordered. Kakophony gulped nervously and took a step towards Khaos, before falling to his mismatched knees. The goddess walked forward, so that she was standing betwixt the two. She reached out with her long and slender arms, resting her hands on top of each of the twins’ heads. She began to slowly turn their multitoned fur between her fingers. The young draconequi were both shaking in terror, their whole bodies trembling against their mother’s touch.

“Now now darlings, please stay calm. Mother is here...” At the words, Khaos’ grip tightened intensely, her fingers pressing into the sides of her children’s heads. Pain welled up inside both of the twins, and what air was stored in their lungs was forced out with a bloodcurdling scream. The two screeched in agony as their mother’s hands dug into their skulls, the goddess herself showing no visible signs of effort.

“Shush my babies,” Khaos spoke soothingly, though her words had no affect on her suffering children. With a sickening crunch, Khaos’ fingers penetrated the skulls of her children, her nails digging directly into their brains. Blood and cranial fluid began to leak from the gaps in the skull between her fingers and the holes, its viscosity causing it to stick and drip slowly from Khaos’ hands. Some of the assembled black-cloaks averted their eyes in horror, many showing signs of throwing up, but Shane’s eyes were transfixed on the scene before him. The two draconequus’ eyes had glassed over, catatonic, but somehow they were clearly still very much alive. Khaos began to coo with satisfaction as her fingers began to massage the inside of their skulls, as if she was a hairdresser massaging a client’s scalp. Black magics began to dance around her fingers and hands, passing into the two heads as she did so. After a few long moments of massaging, and a lot of fluid on her fingers, she pulled out her fingers, leaving the two to go limp.

“Do not fail me again. Any of you. I will not tolerate failure,” Khaos stated plainly. Those hooded figures that were not throwing up nodded in affirmation , Shane being one of their number.

“Good,” Khaos smiled,

“Send word to our field agents; they have five days to discover the location of the treasure or I will not hesitate to raze this country to the ground.” Three of the hooded figures nodded and ran off, while the others stood still and watched Khaos with intent.

“Shane, prepare the others for their upcoming duels. Now,” Khaos demanded. Shane smiled aggressively, before turning on his heels and leaving the throne room, taking the rest of the servants with him. Khaos waited for the familiar click of the door settling on its hinges, before sighing in relief and returning to her chair, wiping her hands clean from a cloth she conjured from thin air.

“I will have that orb as my own,” Khaos cackled menacingly...