Equestrian Elseworlds: The Dueling Drake

Crystal Empire, Arctic Zone

A white, equine figure walked to the grave of the deceased dragon, and in her golden aura she held a thick book. She knelt and removed her golden slippers, necklace and tiara.

"Hello son, I brought you your favorite book," she spoke to the tombstone, as if she expected an answer.

"I know I can't make it up to you..." she continued. "*sigh* and I committed the same mistake with you as I did with my sister and my former pupil Sunset Shimmer, however I will try to make it up to you even if you are not with me in the skin. If you can hear me, then let me read you a story, just how I would read to you every night you would spend sleeping by my side as a son."

With this, the pristine Alicorn took a deep breath and flipped a few pages until reaching the beginning of the first story.

"Time ago, there was a young spellcaster known as Stardust Phantom. This spellcaster wanted to master the power of the stars, which brought him to summoning a dragon known as Stardust Xiaolong. Xiaolong made a deal with him: in exchange of his soul, Stardust Phantom would be granted the power he desired, turning him into Stardust Dragon. However, Xiaolong used the deal for his own interests, sending the former spellcaster to the Malefic World, turning him into Malefic Stardust Dragon." She took a breath, and continued.

"Scared of remaining in that vile world for what remained of his life, he turned into Stardust Spark Dragon, which gave him enough power to escape and go through the Starlight Road. Once he reached the cosmos, he began gathering more star dust, reaching the Assault Mode. He reached even stronger forms known as Shooting Star Dragon, Majestic Star Dragon, and finally, he reached his supreme form, Shooting Quasar Dragon. Upon reaching his final form he turned Stardust Xiaolong into Debris Dragon, as a penance for the evil actions he committed."

Upon finishing the story, Celestia let a few tears fall to the ground, which led her to flipping the pages until reaching the back cover of the book, which had a card sealed in a glass case. She took it out of the case and enchanted it with a conservation spell, a spell that was used on the books of millenniums ago, keeping them with the quality of new books.

While getting up, the white Alicorn set the card in front of the gravestone, for this card had meant a lot to the drake in his childhood.

"Goodbye, my son." With this, she charged her horn, and teleported to her castle, but what she didn't know was that once she vanished, the card vanished as well, but to Faust knows where.

Domino City, Japan, Earth

It was 6:00 A.M, and only one thing would awaken the sleeping Dragon-blood:

"No sleep till..." A guitar riff was emitted from the alarm clock that also served as a radio. With a yawn and rubbing his face, Spike got up, only to yell one word:

"BROOKLYN!!!" With this, he got up from bed and into the shower, preparing himself for the day ahead of him. That day he had to apply an exam in order to enter one the most prestigious academy to learn about dueling: Duel Academy. There was one per continent (without counting Antarctica), and the continents were five: Asia, America, Australia, Africa and Europe, and Spike was applying for a slot in the main one.

Once he finished taking a shower, he dressed into a black shirt, a purple hoodie, some skinny jeans and black sneakers. He went down the stairs and into the dining room to eat breakfast, a fresh batch of pancakes, which was courtesy of Mrs. Yuki. After he finished eating, he stopped by the bathroom to brush his teeth quickly

He entered his room, and continued playing the song until a female voice was heard:

"Waking up before I get to sleep, cause I'll be rocking this party eight days a week! *Sigh* I just love that song." Spike turned to the source of the voice, and saw a really odd woman: the right half was that of a man given the pectoral muscle and the rough hip, and that half of her head was counting with light blue hair. Her other half, however, was that of a feminine body, given the breast and the rounded hip. That same half of her head was of white hair, but the oddest part for Spike was probably the third, vertical eye that was on her forehead.

"Who, in Equestria- I mean, Earth, are you?" Spike asked, with slight fear in his voice.

"Don't you remember who I am?" The unknown being asked.

"Um, no..."

"I'm Yubel, doesn't it ring any bells?"

"No..."

"Maybe this will refresh your memory," Yubel said, as she handed him her card. With that, Spike's mind became a flurry of memories, which led him back to approximately 13 years ago...

"Happy birthday Spike!" A white Alicorn, which had a wine red mane, said, as she handed over a book to her daughter, which was of matching fur, but with a tri-colored mane instead of the red.

"I have one more gift for my favorite dragon," the Alicorn, who was known as Queen Faust said. She flipped the book to the back, and there stood a glass case which contained a single card: Yubel. She took the card out of its case, and out it in another glass case, which had a string attached to it so it could serve as a necklace, bringing several fun moments for the next few years...

A week after Spike's 4th birthday

Spike was walking around the castle, for his adoptive mother had royal duties to tend to. With the necklace around his neck, he continued walking until...

"Hmph, it's that filthy bundle of scales!" A young, prissy voice said. Said voice came from a white Unicorn colt with a blonde mane. As you would guess, that colt was nothing less than Prince Blueblood. As you all know, Blueblood is quite a rotten colt, who was sent years later to a nice, distant military academy, where he was taught discipline after the Gala incident in the first season of the show, but that is another story.

After hearing the insult, the young drake began to cry, and ran to his room, the room he shared with the solar princess. Upon closing the door, a dark cloud formed, and from it spawned Yubel.

"Don't cry child, he is just a bad colt," Yubel said, as she got closer to Spike, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around him. Spike looked up at her and smiled softly.

"What is your name?" The drake asked.

"My name is Yubel, what is your name?" The Fiend-type monster asked in return.

"My name is Spike, and I'm a dragon!" He answered, in a slightly adorable way which made the fiend laugh.

"Well Spike, how about you and I get some payback, hmm?"

"Ok!" With the drake in toll, Yubel walked out of the room, seeking revenge on Blueblood...

Back to the present...

"It's you!" Spike said, tears in his eyes, as he wrapped his arms around her, feeling a faint warmth from her.

"It's been so long Spike," she replied, wrapping her arms around him, before continuing: "Come now, we have an exam to apply." With this said, the two got out of the house, walking towards the tower where the entrance exam was being applied.

Meanwhile, in a park somewhere in Domino City

A man was sitting on the bench, but there was someone else with him, someone only he could see: a man dressed in dark purple armor, and he carried a green staff with a sphere at the tip.

"Do you think we'll find him today?" The first man asked.

"I do not know, but we will be sure once I feel him nearby," the Spellcaster replied.

"What do you mean?"

"There are cases where duel spirits choose their suitor, such as the case of a young woman who received a deck from Maximilian Pegasus himself. From what I heard, she had an unusual name, with her origins unknown and two-toned hair of red and yellow."

"Then I guess we will wait."

"Not for long, I feel that today is the day."

Back to Spike...

Our protagonist and his childhood friend were walking down the street, the Yubel card which was inside a small glass case was tied around his neck as a necklace, just as he would carry it years ago. On his right arm Spike carried a classic Duel Disk, and a smile adorned his face. That is, until a group of four thugs surrounded him.

"Hey kid, nice card," one of them said.

"Where'd you get it?" Another one said.

"It doesn't matter, we might as well keep it for ourselves!" The third one said.

"Stop right there, we might as well enjoy beating him," the last one, which could be considered as the leader said, while Spike was pushed into an alley.

"Alright, let's duel it out," Spike said, preparing his Duel Disk, while the leader prepared his.

"Loser gives away his best card," the leader said while Spike analyzed the place.

Slight gaps on the left wall, big enough for a hand. A downspout pipe on the right wall, and the wall is made of bricks that is just about it. There are two thugs behind me, and two in front of me, one which is my opponent right now.

"DUEL!" The two exclaimed, and the duel began with Spike going first.

"Alright, I'll place two cards face-down..."

"And, what kid?" The thug asked.

"...aaaaand, I'll climb up that downspout pipe!" He yelled, running towards said pipe and climbing the wall by grabbing the pipe and quickly running up the wall until reaching halfway. Once he stopped, he jumped to the opposite wall and bounced off it, falling to the ground with a somersault, and he began to run away from the gang.

"Ey kid, get over here!" The leader yelled, as the chase began. Instants became seconds, and seconds became minutes. Time was eternal, Spike's stamina, wasn't. After several minutes running, he fell to the ground to catch his breath, only for the thugs to reach him.

"We were going to take it easy on you, but now we might as well keep your deck!" The leader said, as he kneeled and took Spike's deck, and as he was about to get up and run away with the deck, a male voice yelled:

"Hey, how about you mess with somebody your own size?!" The thug turned to the source of the unknown voice and panicked.

"Give the deck back, or I will duel you," the voice said, and the thug returned the deck, and ran away with his comrades. The owner of the voice was a young man, who was easy to recognize due to his odd hairdo, which was composed of three colors: black, yellow and magenta.

"Thank you sir," Spike said.

"I think we have found a suitor," the Spellcaster, whose name was once Mahaad, said to Yugi Muto.

"Where are you going?" Yugi asked.

"I am going to apply an entrance exam in order to form part of Duel Academy."

"I'll tell you what: take this card." That said, the legendary duelist handed over a well-known Level 6 card. "I am very sure you talk to duel spirits, given the spirit I see beside you. I must admit, she is a tad unusual compared to several other cards I have seen in my 22 years of life. That card you see there is the Dark Magician Girl, her master told her that it was time she began her own journey, but he needed a good suitor."

"Hence why-"

"-I gave it to you, yes. Take good care of her, and I wish you the best on your exam."

"Thank you, by the way, what is your name?"

"It is odd seeing someone that does not know me, *laughs* my name is Yugi Muto. What is your name?"

"I am Spike Solaris, Mr. Muto. Pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, for Mahaad found the suitor. Now, I am very sure you cannot be late for the exam."

"That's true! Thank you Yugi, I hope we can see each other some time soon!" With this, the Dragon-blood human continued his way with 43 cards, three that were not intended to go in his deck, but would be useful later on...