Equestrian Elseworlds: The Dueling Drake

Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, Equestria

One week after Spike's death

Things weren't so well for Applejack lately. The days were longer, and the village had been quieter. As she slept, she tossed and turned in her sleep, for she could not find peace within her slumber...

Dreamscape

It was another day, but something was wrong: the house was quiet, because she didn't hear any noise coming from Applebloom's room. Big Mac had moved out a couple years ago, and Granny Smith had died just a year before his move. She got out of her room and opened Bloom's door, only for her to not be there: instead, stood a skeleton that assimilated Spike, but it was on fire, green flames to be precise. He also wore a black cloak that had several holes on the edges.

"Hello Applejack," the corpse said, with a distorted voice.

"Spike, is that you?" The farm pony asked, wondering how he was alive.

"It was, but my soul collapsed time ago. Y'see, I only have my memories, as well as a vision spell of sorts. Now let me show you how things would've been without me, AJ," he said, as the two warped to the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Applejack and her friends had been galloping, for it was their first encounter with Timberwolves.

"Go to the farm, I've got them!" The vision Applejack yelled, as Twilight and the others disappeared from sight, only for the vision to be paused.

"Oh, stubborn little Applejack, wanting to play brave and strong," Spike said, nodding his head.

"I would've been able to handle that problem by myself Spike!" she exclaimed.

"Removing my name, you said the exact same shit with different words with the Applebucking Season incident," Spike said, before continuing. "Now this, is my favorite part," he finished, as he smiled demonically. He saw how vision Applejack tried to fight them off, until... a blood splatter adorned the trees around her, as well as the ground.

"I-I-I-"

"It gets even better," he said, as the scene turned into a funeral, where the other Elements of Harmony, as well as the Apple Family surrounded her coffin. Apple Bloom cried as Braeburn spoke:

"We lost Applejack just as we lost her parents, and it is sad knowing that being stubborn brought her her own fate: death in a lost battle against Timberwolves. Let's hope Apple Bloom ain't as stubborn cousin Applejack was," and with that, the coffin opened up, and it started to suck up everything around me.

"Spike, help me!" Applejack yelled, holding on to Spike's cloak.

"There was a character who I recalled was known as Rorschach, in the comic Watchmen. He saw how the city truly was, but I'll adapt it just for you: in the middle of disaster, both ponies and dragons, will look up to me expecting me to help them. They treated me like shit when I wanted to help them, so I'll just look down at them and whisper 'no'," and with that, he grabbed Applejacks front legs and pulled her off of him, only to throw her towards the coffin, seeing how she was absorbed by the coffin.

In the pitch black of the new scenery, Spike simply laughed like a hell-born creature and-

Applejack woke up, looking around. She quickly went to go check on her sister, finding out that the former Crusader was fast asleep. She needed help, and her mind went to one place: Friendship Castle.

Unknown location, Academy Island, Japan

"Spike Solaris, If you're seriously considering going back out there, you should hear the rumors surrounding the Dragon-blood."

"You say it as if I were my own worst enemy," Spike said, as he sat on a rock. Things hadn't been so well for the Dragon-blood, for he had regained consciousness a few hours ago, on nightfall, to be precise. Also, he had several cuts and bruises on his body, and his clothes had several rips in it.

"Well, I'm saying it as if you were an average Obelisk Blue my friend," a giant charcoal creature, known as the Charcoal Inpachi said.

"Anyways, why didn't you let me get out of here earlier?"

"When you calmed down, it was already past sundown, and you could've blacked out again from a fall, given our location."

"Well, that does make sense. Anyways, how long was I out?"

"Five days and thirty-three minutes to be precise."

"What?! The exam is the day after tomorrow!"

"And to make matters worse, they took your deck," the Inpachi said, looking at the deck pocket on Spike's belt.

"Damn it, no deck and no necklace," Spike said, looking at his chest.

"Yubel talked to us a few days ago, and we caught up with each other. She got concerned of the uprising rivalry, and she made an emergency plan for each possible scenario." With that, the Inpachi motioned a pink-haired fairy with a nurse outfit and a giant syringe to get close to Spike, only to put the syringe aside and give him a few cards.

"Lily has been holding the cards for a couple weeks, and now that you have no deck, you'll need them." The Inpachi said, which made Lily give the dragon-blood a piece of paper.

"On that paper are several cards you must get in order to complete the deck. Mana and Burstinatrix have several necessary Spells and Traps. We couldn't get our hands on the rarest cards, so you'll have to go to the card shop," Charcoal said, putting a smile on his burnt face.

"Thank you *yawn.*. I think I'll hit the hay, goodnight everybody," Spike said.

"Goodnight Spike," several unknown voices said.

The next day...

"Before you leave Spike, something of the 'Dark Knight Rises' can be put to practice: 'There is a prison in a more ancient part of the world, a pit where men are thrown to suffer and die. But sometimes a man rises from the darkness. Sometimes the pit sends something back.'" The burnt-out Inpachi said.

"Thanks Charc, I'll take it with me,"Spike said, as he looked up at the rock wall.

"Good luck out there, and tell Yubel that we said 'hi'."

"Now go and defeat the Obelisks that threw you down here."

"Wait, how did you know that Obelisks threw me down here?"

"When you were about to be thrown in, we saw three kids about your age, and with luck, we found out that they wore blue blazers."

"Well, that makes sense, I'll tell her you guys said 'hi'." And with that, he ran, leaping and grabbing onto a couple rocks. A shout of joy was heard from the other Duel Spirits that resided in the well, and the protagonist rose from the "pit". Once outside, he cracked his neck and ran, headed for the card shop. It was Sunday, and the exam was tomorrow.

"Spike, what happened to you?!" A slightly frightened Dorothy asked.

"Somebody pushed me into a well in the middle of the forest, and I was there for about five days," Spike said, in an annoyed tone.

"Well then, go and make yourself presentable, you'll be working here to repay the days you couldn't aid us," Dorothy said, slowly smiling.

30 minutes and a set of clean clothes later...

"Spike, we heard that Yubel was stolen," Mana said, sadly.

"Also, we were informed that somebody stole your deck. Here, Yubel wanted you to use these cards in case that happened," Burst said, handing him several Spells and Traps.

"Thanks, I'll get her back. Now if you'll excuse me, we need to get the cards necessary to complete the deck," he said, cracking his neck and walking out of his room. Once he returned to the card shop, he began working, until 4:00 P.M. arrived.

"Spike, you've worked hard enough to make up for the days you weren't here. I know that tomorrow is your exam, so I want you to have these cards," he said, handing him several extremely rare cards.

"Dorothy, I have a better idea. You see, there are a few cards I needed, and I was wondering if you had them..."

The next day...

Spike's POV

It was exam day, the process was pretty simple: walk in, do the written exam, walk out. Then the other exam came in: enter the stadium and take a seat until you were called out, then you were assigned an opponent to duel with. Task? Win the duel, nothing difficult.

"Spike Solaris, please proceed to Duel Field 2," a man on the intercom said. I saw my opponent from a distance, and it was nothing less than Chazz Princeton. Yeah, what a coincidence. To top it off, the other duels had ended, and he was the only person on the field. I wore the same blazer, shirt and jeans I had when I was thrown down the well, but I washed them yesterday.

With a smile, I slid the hockey mask on, happy that nobody noticed me. That is, until I stepped onto the field.

"I thought you wouldn't make it," the damn Obelisk said, with a smile on his face. I did the following, which was remove the mask and crack my neck.

"Also, I got a little gift," he said, as he took out a necklace. Yes, nobody would get mad at that, but things got personal when I saw what was on the string: the Yubel card I owned.

"Spike!" Yubel yelled, worried that she was bound to Chazz.

"Yubel!" I yelled mentally, for certain people could communicate with duel spirits as if they were telepaths, I being one of those chosen people. Now, I know who gave me a free trip to meet Little Timmy. Oh, that blue-coated bastard was now going to know what happened to those who messed with the dragon-bloods.

"Come on Chazz, I owe one to Alexis, and I will sure as hell get Yubel back!" I yelled, preparing my new Duel Disk. It was one of the standard Academy duel disks, but the metallic parts were black while the glass tiles were burgundy, black arrows on the squares.

"Let me teach you something about messing with Obelisks," he answered, preparing his Duel Disk.

1. Spike

"I'll go first. To begin the battle, I'll discard a Level 5 or higher, in this case, a Level 8 DARK monster to Special Summon... 'Dark Grepher', in Attack Mode (1700 ATK)! Then, I'll summon 'Phantom Skyblaster' in Defense Mode (800 DEF). When it is Normal or Flip Summoned, I can Special Summon 'Skyblaster Tokens' Equal to the amount of monsters I control, which means two tokens are coming up!"

Yeah, as mentioned, two tokens appeared in Defense Mode (500 DEF), and the Dark Grepher smirked evilly (and I thought he already was, but apparently he wasn't). I finished off with a face-down (Raigeki Break) and ended my turn. (One monster in the graveyard, three cards in the hand).

"I'll end my turn by activating my Grepher's effect: by discarding 1 DARK monster, I can send 1 DARK monster from my Deck to the Graveyard," I said, sending a special card to join the skeletons.

1. Chazz

"I'll start off by activating 'Magical Mallet'. You see, I can select how many cards in my hand I add to my deck, shuffle it and then add an equal amount of cards to my hand, and I'll return four cards, only to draw four!" He said, unless there were possibilities of him drawing five cards or more, but-

"Next, I'll activate Pot of Greed! I'll draw two cards, and I'll summon V-Tiger Jet in Defense Mode (1800 DEF). I'll end my turn with two face-downs and activating 'Foolish Burial'. You see Slifer slacker, I can send a monster card from my Deck to my Graveyard, and I choose my W-Wing Catalult, that'll do for now."

Well, it was my turn to step up to the plate, although I wasn`t much of a baseball fan. Anyways, let's proceed to my second turn.

1. Spike

"I'll activate my Phantom Skyblaster's effect: I can inflict damage to your Life Points equal to the amount of 'Skyblaster' monsters I control x300," I said, as he took three blasts, leaving him with 3100 Life Points.

"The only bad thing is that I cannot attack this turn, so it's your turn."

1. Chazz

"I'll activate Card Destruction! We each discard our hand, then we draw cards equal to the amount of cards we had in our hand." And with that, I discarded my hand, sending several monsters to my Graveyard, and now I had two cards in my hand.

"Then, I'll play my face-down Spell Card, 'Soul Release'! I can remove from play up to five monsters/cards from any graveyard, and I choose 'X-Head Cannon', 'Y-Dragon Head' and 'Z-Metal Tank'!" Something's going on, I can feel it.

"I'll also activate a Spell Card, The Shallow Grave! We each choose a monster from our Graveyards and summon it to the field face-down, and I choose my W-Wing Catapult! Now, I will end my turn with two face-downs (Shadow Spell and Return from The Different Dimension.)"

He said, as I chose my Armageddon Knight. Now I had five monsters on the field, and five in the Graveyard. To top it off, it was my turn.

1. Spike

"I'll end my turn by activating my Skyblaster's effects and flipping my Armaggedon Knight into Attack Mode (1400 ATK). Also, I'll send a DARK monster from my Deck to the Graveyard, and put a face-down on the field," I said, sending another monster to the Graveyard.

Spike: 4000 - Chazz: 2200

1. Chazz

"I'll play a Trap Card, 'Return from the Different Dimension'! By paying half my Life Points, I can return as many removed from play monsters as I can to the field, but they'll be removed from play during the End Phase. However, I will remove from play 'X-Head Cannon', 'Y-Dragon Head' and my 'Z-Metal Tank' to Special Summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon, in Attack Mode (2800 ATK)!" Yeah, three turned into one, some spooky Zoid stuff.

"Then, I'll flip my W-Wing to Attack Mode (1300 ATK), and remove from play both Tiger and Wing to Special Summon my 'VW-Tiger Catapult', in Attack Mode (2000 ATK)!" Two Gobots... great.

"But wait, there is one more friend I'd like you to meet. I'll remove both my 'XYZ-Dragon Cannon' and my 'VW-Tiger Catapult', to bring out... the VWXYZ-Catapult Cannon, in Attack Mode (3000 ATK)!!!" Yeah, now there was a Gundam robot crossed with Optimus Prime and a Power Ranger robot.

"I'll activate its first effect: I can remove from play one card you control, and I choose that Dark Grepher of yours!" Once mentioned, my DARK Warrior-type vanished, off to a place beyond the grave, and he continued. "Now, I'll attack your token!"

"Wait, I'll take no damage," I said, wondering what would happen.

"That's why I'll activate my Catapult Cannon's second effect: I can change the position of the target when VWXYZ attacks, switching your token to Attack Mode (500 ATK)!" Here we go...

"Ngh!" That was all I could emit, given the impact I received due to the difference.

Spike: 1500 - Chazz: 2200

1. Spike

"Let's dance..." I said, drawing a card, and smiling.

"I'll tribute my token and my Skyblaster in order to summon... Yubel!" I smiled as she warped in. She smiled at me, and Chazz got mad.

"Now, I'll activate 'Raigeki Break': by discarding a card, I can destroy one card on the field, and I choose Yubel, only to bring out 'Yubel - Terror Incarnate'!" Now kids, things got really spooky, because she smiled evilly as she turned into a two-headed dragon, something that is quite frightening.

"Let me continue: I'll activate 'Compulsory Evacuation Device', which'll let me return a monster to the hand. and I choose my 'Terror Incarnate'." WARNING: The following beast may be disturbing for immature audiences. Viewer discretion is advised, because she was now a three-headed dragon that was very frightening.

"Let's end this quick: I'll attack your robot!" I said.

"That is stupid, my robot has more ATK than your dragon!" Chazz said, and I smiled.

"Well, I take no damage from battles involving her, and if she attacks, you take damage equal to your monster's ATK!"

"What? No!!!" He yelled, as I smiled, seeing how his Life Points went to 0.

"Congratulations Spike, you are now a Ra Yellow!" the intercom person said, while I looked around, seeing how the crowd cheered. It was another phase in my life as an Academy student, and I was ready for it.

"You'll know what happens when you mess with me, Slacker!" Chazz yelled, as he grabbed my original Yubel card and prepared himself to rip it in half. But... it didn't happen, and the card's frame glowed a bright yellow.

"Nobody messes with my cards," I said, smiling as he growled and gave her back to me. Why? Well, Crowler and a couple guards were looking at him. All was well, and I was ready for whatever came next.