Equestria Girls: Dark Duel Stories

“What’s the matter, new kid? Are you scared of losing?”

I looked around angrily in search of the source of the smug voice; I had a low tolerance for bullying, especially when it came to new students. After a quick scan of Canterlot High’s courtyard, I found the source of the commotion: Trixie Lulamoon, backed up by her lackeys, Snips and Snails, was trying to force a white-haired new student into dueling her.

I gritted my teeth in a mixture of anger and annoyance as I jumped down from the statue I was sitting next to, and looked at my friends. “I’ll be right back, girls,” I said cheerfully. “Trixie needs to be taught some manners.” I started to march away, but Rainbow Dash quickly jogged up to me.

“Come on, Sunset; you’re always dueling the bullies! Let some of the rest of us take on some of the peacekeeping duels,” she pleaded.

I smirked. “You can have the next one,” I promised. “I still owe Trixie for what she did to us at the Battle of the Bands,” I added, remembering how the girl had locked us in a storage shed beneath the stage so her band could make it to the finals.

Rainbow shrugged. “Alright, if you say so,” she said nonchalantly. “Next time we have to deal with her, though, I’ve got dibs!” she called over her shoulder as she returned to the group, and I went to see what Trixie was up to this time.

“Alright, what’s going on here?” I demanded as I drew near. The white-haired boy looked over at me uncertainly, and tried to take advantage of Trixie’s distraction by backing away. However, he ended up bumping right into Snails, and quickly returned to his former spot.

“Why, hello there, Sunset Shimmer,” Trixie greeted me with false kindness, “I was just challenging this new student to a game of Duel Monsters; is there anything wrong with wanting to make a newcomer feel welcome?” she asked innocently.

I rolled my eyes. “You aren’t trying to make him feel welcome; you’re trying to make him feel inadequate. What’s your name, new guy?” I asked, lightening my tone as I turned my gaze to the new student.

He shifted awkwardly and avoided eye contact. “Lux,” he said nervously. “Lux Aeterna.”

I nodded, smiling. “Nice to meet you, Lux. When Trixie challenged you, did you accept?” I asked gently.

Lux shook his head. “I don’t usually play Duel Monsters with people I’m not familiar with…” he said quietly.

I looked back at Trixie and glared sternly. “See? He doesn’t want to duel you right now. Why don’t you leave him alone?” I demanded.

Trixie huffed angrily. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will not be denied a formal challenge!” she shouted.

I sighed and pulled a red-and-orange Duel Disk from my backpack, attaching it to my arm and unfolding the blade. “Then I’ll duel you in his place,” I replied, sliding my deck into its slot on the disk. “Unless, of course, the “Great and Powerful Trixie” is afraid she’ll lose to me,” I added smugly.

Trixie was practically fuming at this point. “The Great and Powerful Trixie never loses!” she yelled, holding out her arms expectantly. “Snips, Snails, bring me my duel disk and my deck!” she ordered, and the two boys quickly fastened a duel disk to Trixie’s arm and placed a deck into the deck slot. “Draw!” she demanded, and we both drew a starting hand of five cards.

“I shall take the first turn,” she purred, drawing a sixth card from her deck. “My, my, such wonderful monsters right away! Whoever shall I play with first?” she asked herself aloud. “I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode!” she cried, placing a card on top of the disk. There was a flash of light, and in an instant there was an armored warrior standing in front of Trixie. It was clad in what looked like purple-and-blue fish scales, and wielded a shield and a spear. It stood completely still, waiting for its master’s command. “Next, I’ll activate Double Summon, allowing me to perform and extra normal summon this turn! Come on out, Blue-Eyes, my dearest!” she said happily, and Trixie’s knight vanished, being replaced moments later with a massive, white dragon that sparkled in the morning sun. It stared ahead with bright-blue eyes, and it gritted its razor-sharp teeth in anticipation for battle.

“Your move, Sunset,” Trixie called teasingly from her side of the game field. A crowd had already begun to gather around us, practically cheering now that Trixie had summoned her signature card on the very first turn of the duel. "My Blue-Eyes White Dragon is the crown monster of this deck; there's no way you can defeat me without putting up your best!"

I smirked as I drew a card from my deck. “You got yourself into this mess, Trixie,” I called confidently, “and nothing is going to get you out now!” I placed a card into one of the spell/trap slots on my duel disk. “I activate Card Destruction, allowing me to send all the cards in my hand to the graveyard, and draw an entirely new see hand!” As I explained the effect, I placed the five cards in my hand into the graveyard slot, and then drew five new ones from my deck.

Trixie huffed in annoyance. “So? You’ve wasted five perfectly good cards; is that supposed to somehow impress me?”

I smiled at my opponent cleverly. “No, but this next move might,” I said nonchalantly. “I’ll activate my Rekindling spell card, allowing me to special summon the Flamvell Firedog and Flamvell Magician I just sent to the graveyard,” I explained, removing two of the cards I had just discarded from my graveyard and placing them into the monster zones on my duel disk. After a pair of bright flashes faded away, I was flanked by two monsters; a blazing dog with skin like a burning coal, and a purple-skinned man dressed in ceremonial robes that wielded an orange scepter. “Now that I’ve got a Tuner monster on the field, I can summon a Synchro monster from my extra deck! I summon Red Dragon Archfiend!” I cried triumphantly. The two monsters I had just summoned vanished, and they were quickly replaced by a blazing vortex, from which emerged a terrifying, black-and-red dragon. Three backward-swept horns protruded from its head, and it glared at Trixie’s dragon confidently.

“Next, I’ll activate the spell card, One For One, which allows me to summon a Level 1 monster from my deck by discarding a monster from my hand,” I said, placing a card in my graveyard and shuffling through my deck for a card that met the spell’s terms, “and I choose to summon Flamvell Baby!”

There was another flash on the field, and a small monster appeared, greatly dwarfed by my dragon. It looked like an infant, with a body made of pure flame. It gazed at the massive beasts it had joined on the battlefield and babbled happily. “And now, I’ll perform my normal summon for the turn by bringing out Flare Resonator!” I declared, placing yet another monster onto the field. A small, imp-like creature appeared, dressed in a red cloak. It carried a large tuning fork, and wore a mischievous smile.

Trixie nodded as she looked at the small army I had amassed. “Okay,” she said understandingly, “but what are these puny creatures going to do to my Blue-Eyes? The only thing you have  that could match him is your Archfiend, but I have many ways to bring my Blue-Eyes back into the game after it’s been destroyed,” she pointed out cleverly.

I nodded. “That’s why I haven’t ended my turn, yet, Trixie; I still have one more monster to summon!” as I spoke, all of my monsters vanished from view, and the field became bathed in black-and-red fire. A massive dragon rose from the inferno, much larger than Trixie’s Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and stared down at the creature with contempt. It looked like the Red Dragon Archfiend I had summoned moments before, but this new dragon was sleeker-looking, its horns were much more exaggerated, and there was a blue gem nestled in its chest.

Trixie’s eyes widened as I explained what my new creature was capable of. “3500 attack points makes my Red Nova Dragon more than a match for your Blue-Eyes, but it also gains an additional 500 attack for every tuner monster in my graveyard; 1500 from that bonus gives at a grand total of 5000 attack! Red Nova Dragon, burn her Blue-eyes to cinders!” I commanded, and the dragon reared its head, shooting a wave of lava from its mouth that melted Blue-Eyes White Dragon in an instant. Trixie’s life point counter ticked down to 6000, and I gave my opponent a smug look. “That’s all for this turn; you’re up!”

Trixie gazed up at my dragon with eyes like dinner plates, and took a hesitant step back. “Perhaps I was a little hasty, Sunset Shimmer,” she said slowly. “Why don’t we call this duel a draw, and I’ll leave the new boy alone?”

I thought about her offer for a moment. “Why should I show you the mercy you weren’t willing to give him?” I asked, gesturing to Lux, who stood on the sidelines a few feet from me. “Don’t tell me you’re giving up already, Trixie; I’m just starting to have fun!”

Just then, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over and saw Lux staring at me nervously. “Come on; she said she’d leave me alone. Isn’t that why you dueled her in the first place?” he asked, maintaining eye contact just long enough to get his question out.

I stared at the boy for a long time. “Alright,” I said finally, “it’s a draw, Trixie. But don’t let me catch you preying on the new students again, or I won’t be so willing to back down next time!” I added as she nodded respectfully and scurried away with Snips and Snails following close behind.

“Uh, thanks for the help back there,” Lux said quietly as the crowd dispersed. “She didn’t seem very nice, and I don’t like dueling mean people.”

I nodded, smiling kindly. “Hey, if she ever gives you trouble again, just call for me. The name’s Sunset Shimmer, by the way” I added, and began to head back to my friends. I glanced back after a few steps, and saw Lux was still staring at me nervously. “Is something wrong?” I asked gently.

Lux shook his head, as if he was clearing himself from a daze. “It’s nothing,” he reassured me. “Just having a conversation with myself.” Saying this, he seemed to absentmindedly touch a strange amulet he wore around his neck; it looked like half of a broken key, and shined a pearlescent white. “I’ll, uh, I’ll be going now. It was nice meeting you, Sunset Shimmer!” he called, jogging towards the school’s front door and disappearing inside.

I stared after him, smiling slightly. I felt incredibly happy, not just from having embarrassed Trixie in a duel, but also having shown a new student I wasn’t a terrible person. I may have proven that I was turning a new leaf at the Battle of the Bands little over a month ago, but I still wanted to do all I could to make sure people knew about the new me before they learned about the old me: a crazy, power-hungry psycho that had tried to enslave the student body and level the school.

“I’d say that went pretty well!” Rainbow Dash laughed as I approached, placing my duel disk in my backpack. “I’ve never seen Trixie look so scared!”

Rarity nodded, her purple hair bouncing slightly. “A wonderful performance indeed, Sunset!” she said happily. “You must tell us where you got that magnificent dragon card! It’s a little on the beastly side, but it has a sort of grotesque beauty to it,” she said thoughtfully.

I shrugged. “I just got a lucky booster pack, is all,” I said modestly. As far as I knew, I was the only student in Canterlot High with a copy of Red Nova Dragon. Sure, a few others had its lesser form, Red Dragon Archfiend, but my signature monster made most of the other students a little edgy about dueling me.

“Who was that boy you were standing up for?” Fluttershy asked in her usual hushed tone, “I’ve never seen him around school before.”

I nodded affirmatively. “He’s new,” I explained. “His name is Lux Aeterna. He’s a duelist, but he said he doesn’t like dueling people he doesn’t know very well.”

Applejack stood up and stretched. “Well, why don’t we get to know him and make him feel welcome?” she suggested. “That way, he’d be more willing to get out and duel some of the other students, and we’d be the first to see how well he plays!”

Pinkie Pie shot her hand into the air. “OOH! OOH! I wanna duel the new boy first!” she cried excitedly. “He’s gonna LOVE my yummy Madolche deck!”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “If anyone is going to duel the new kid, it’s me and my Elemental Heroes!” she declared.

Rarity stood between the two before they could argue any further. “Girls, please, let us settle this in an orderly fashion: by agreeing that my Crystal Beasts should be the first to face the new student,” she said proudly.

Fluttershy spoke up. “Um, Rarity, I think my Naturia monsters should go against the new boy first, if that’s alright,” she said quietly.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “We all know that my deck should go up against Lux first; I don’t have a specific archetype, so I won’t be as much of a challenge for him,” she explained.

I sighed hopelessly. “Don’t make me get involved and break up this fight; Red Nova Dragon has yet to see a monster that can beat it,” I warned my quarreling friends. “We’ll ask Lux if he would like to hang out with us at the park after school, and he can decide which of us he’d like to duel first. How does that sound?” I asked expectantly.

The group quested down for a bit, finding my conclusion agreeable. “I bet he chooses me!” Pinkie cried happily, and the arguing started once again.

I rubbed my temples and sighed. “It’s one debate after another with this group, isn’t it?” I asked with a fond laugh.

~-~-~-~-~

On the other side of the courtyard, a young boy watched the six girls as they laughed and argued with each other. The red-and-yellow haired girl intrigued him the most; where had she gotten such a powerful monster?

“I’ve heard stories of the Red Nova Dragon,” he said softly to himself, “but I never thought I would see it in battle for myself.”

He glanced to his right, where a shadowy silhouette stood. It’s body seemed to shimmer and distort, like darkened static, and it spoke through low growls and hisses that only the boy could understand.

“Is it wrong to admire a powerful opponent?” he asked the creature innocently. “After all, it’s only good sense to give an opponent the respect they deserve, is it not?” The creature growled softly in response. “I knew you’d see things my way,” the boy murmured happily. He looked over to his left, and saw a pair of students eying him curiously. “Damn,” he muttered under his breath, and smiled warmly at the newcomers. “Hello, fellow students!” he called to them happily, “Would either of you be interested in a duel?” As he asked this, he chuckled darkly, and the shadowy creature he had just been speaking to faded away like a black wind, manifesting itself inside the boy’s polished, black-and-grey duel disk.