Equestria Girls: Dark Duel Stories

“DUEL START!”

I drew the top card from my deck and narrowed my eyes. Can’t even bring out a Synchro Monster on the first turn, I thought anxiously. Better put up some walls until I can. “I set one monster in defense position, and set another card face down!” I declared, setting one monster card and one trap card onto the blade of my duel disk. “Your turn.”

Umbra smirked as he gazed at the latest edition to his hand. “Ah, perfect,” he said in a pleased tone. “I summon my Nightmare Assassin!” he cried, slamming a card onto his duel disk. There was a dark ripple in the air in front of my opponent, and a humanoid creature emerged from nothingness. It was a grotesque thing, with pale skin and wide, pain-filled eyes. there were hooks in its mouth, stretching its lips into an unending smile, and its back was filled with knives that were buried blade-first into the wretched creature’s flesh. It wore tattered pants and stood slightly hunched, its knees bent as its labored breathing made it rock back and forth ever so slightly.

“What kind of monster is that?” Rarity wailed from behind me. “It’s hideous!”

I stared at the creature in shock. “What kind of deck are you using?” I asked my opponent slowly.

Umbra shrugged. “Instead of asking, why don’t we continue the game, and you’ll find out for yourself? I attack your face-down monster with Nightmare Assassin!” he cried, and my card flipped face-up, revealing my Flamvell Guard. The black-and-blue dragon stood in front of me, curled in a defensive position as its thick scales covered any possible weak points.

I smirked cleverly. “Your Assassin only has 1500 attack points, while my Guard has 2000 defense points!” I cried triumphantly.

Umbra chuckled darkly. “Attack and defense points don’t matter to a Nightmare monster when the target is in face-down mode.” As he explained, his monster dashed forward with surprising agility and tore a pair of knives from its back, stabbing them into my Flamvell Guard’s armored hide like butter. My monster let out a pained screech before vanishing in a burst of flame, and I stared at the scene with a look of confused terror. “It’s your turn, Sunset Shimmer,” Umbra said teasingly. “Remember, every move you make in this duel could mean the difference between life and death, so do try to be a little more careful.”

“Alright,” I said uncertainly, “I just won’t set monsters anymore!” I flipped my face-down card face-up. “Call of the Haunted! I summon my Flamvell Guard back from the graveyard!” The ground beneath my side of the field trembled, and my monster that had just been destroyed emerged from beneath us. “Next, I activate ‘Molten Destruction’!” I cried, placing a field spell on my duel disk. The hellish display around us faded, being quickly replaced by a volcanic landscape. Cracks opened up in the ground beneath us the leaked fresh magma, and the air was filled with smoke and ash. “Then, I summon my Flamvell Firedog!” I declared, placing a second monster on my disk. “Our new battlefield gives all of my monsters an extra 500 attack, so my Firedog has a grand total of 2400 attack points! Flamvell Firedog, destroy his Nightmare Assassin!” I commanded, and my burning beast charged forward, knocking Umbra’s creature to the ground and violently biting its throat. The creature vanished in a swirl of black smoke, and my monster returned to its place on my side of the field. “Thanks to my Flamvell Firedog’s special ability, I can automatically summon one monster from my deck with 200 defence points, so I’ll summon my Flamvell Magician!” Saying this, I took my selected monster from my deck and placed it on my duel disk, causing my blue-skinned magician to appear in a burst of orange flame. “With a level 4 tuner and a level 4 non-tuner monster, I can synchro summon a level 8 monster from my extra deck!” I cried, sending my Magician and Firedog to the graveyard. “Say hello to my Red Dragon Archfiend!”

The ground exploded in a fiery vortex, and my black-and-red dragon stepped out, roaring defiantly at my opponent. Umbra, however, simply smiled. “How cute,” he said condescendingly. “Now that it’s my turn, allow me show you what a real dragon looks like. I activate my spell card, Monster Reborn, which allows me to summon a monster from my graveyard; my Nightmare Assassin!” as he said this, the mutilated creature I had just destroyed re-emerged onto the field. “Next, I’ll activate Reinforcement of Nightmare, a spell card that lets me summon a Nightmare monster from my deck that has the same name as the one I have on the field already,” he explained, searching his deck for a monster and summoning another Nightmare Assassin. “Now, I sacrifice both of my Nightmare Assassins to summon my Nightmare Dragon!”

The two monsters vanished, and a dark chill crept through the air, despite the hot landscape we were dueling in. A column of black smoke appeared before Umbra, growing wider and wider until it was big enough to hold my Red Dragon Archfiend. Suddenly, a pair of decayed, leathery wings erupted from the smoke and flapped violently, dispelling the pillar and revealing the terrible creature it contained: a massive dragon made of pale flesh and bone with sickly, orange eyes and two rows of teeth; and that was just on its face. The rest of its body was also covered in gnashing maws of fangs and sets of eyes that blinked rapidly and darted around, taking in whatever they could.

“Impressed, Sunset Shimmer?” he asked proudly, “It’s one of my signature monsters. If you think he looks scary, just wait until he uses his special ability! First, however, I’m going to activate another spell, one you may be more familiar with: Book of Moon!” he cried, and I watched as my dragon vanished, being hidden beneath a holographic card. “Now that your dragon is face down, I can activate Nightmare Dragon’s special ability, allowing it to automatically destroy one face-down monster that my opponent controls!” he cried happily, and his dragon’s excess mouths all opened at once, spraying green flame onto my hidden Red Dragon Archfiend. The card exploded, and I had no choice but to place it in my graveyard. “Now that that’s taken care of, I think I’ll take out that Flamvell Guard of yours… oh, that’s right, your Red Dragon Archfiend destroys any monsters that didn’t attack when your turn ends,” he said with mock sadness. “Very well, then; Nightmare Dragon, attack her life points directly!” he commanded, and his dragon opened its primary mouth and blasted me with a gout of noxious, green fire. I watched my life points tick down to 5500 as Umbra folded his arms expectantly. “Let’s see you rekindle your flame after that, Sunset Shimmer,” he said smugly.

I drew a card from my deck and nodded sharply. “Alright. I summon my Flamvell Archer!” I cried as I placed a card onto the blade of my duel disk, and a man with blazing hair that carried a bow of fire appeared on the field before me. “Next, I’ll send Flamvell Baby from my hand to the graveyard, which gives my Archer an extra 400 attack points. Finally, I activate my spell card, Rekindling!” I shouted triumphantly, and three more monsters appeared on my side of the field: Flamvell Firedog, Flamvell Magician, and Flamvell Baby. “How’s that for ‘rekindling my flame’?” I asked defiantly.

Umbra shrugged. “So what? You’ve only postponed your loss; four monsters on the field just means I have to perform four more attacks before my Dragon can hurt you again,” he shot back wickedly.

I nodded. “That would be true, unless I had one more card to play,” I said, placing one more spell card on my duel disk. “I activate Double Spell! By sending my Hand Destruction spell card to the graveyard,” I explained, placing said spell card into my graveyard slot, “I can use the Monster Reborn spell card you used as my own! I summon my Red Dragon Archfiend!”

There was a flash of white light, and my dragon was restored to the field in all it’s glory. “Red Dragon Archfiend, Flamvell Baby, and Flamvell Archer all on the field at the same time; I think we both know what I can do now,” I said confidently. “Come forth, Red Nova Dragon!”

My three selected monsters vanished from view, and a pillar of molten rock erupted from the ground beneath us as a dark shape ascended from underneath our playing field. Eventually, the geyser of lava dispersed, and we were both left to stare in awe at my newly-summoned Synchro Monster. “Now, allow me to show you what a real dragon looks like; Red Nova Dragon, destroy his Nightmare Dragon!”

As soon as I gave the command, my dragon wasted no time in spewing a wave of searing magma at Umbra’s creature, incinerating it in mere moments as he simply watched and smiled, his life points now at 5500, just like mine.

“A valiant effort, but it was in vain,” he said dismissively, “as you have only furthered my progress towards victory: I banish my three Nightmare Monsters to summon Lord of the Endless Nightmare!”

Umbra’s side of the field erupted in a blanket of black smoke that quickly flew to the center, twisting and shaping as it condensed into the last thing I expected: a young, sleeping boy, lying on the ground and hugging a teddy bear tightly.

“That’s your key to victory?” I asked uncertainly. “A little kid?”

Umbra nodded, before glancing at what he had summoned. “Oh, I’m sorry; the Lord of the Endless Nightmare can only be seen in his true form by those who are asleep; or, to be more specific, monsters under the spell of a Nightmare monster. Now, how about I show you just what he can do?” he suggested happily. "Firstly, I'll summon my Nightmare Storyteller,” he said, placing a monster card onto his duel disk as a new creature appeared on his side of the field. It was another pale-skinned man, like the Nightmare Assassin, but this one’s mouth and eyes were sewn shut, and there was a thick book with its front and back covers sewn to each of his hands. “My Storyteller’s ability let’s me change one monster on the field into face-down defense position; essentially, I’m going to tell your dragon a bedtime story,” he said with a slight chuckle.

I watched as Red Nova Dragon suddenly collapsed onto the ground, fading away and being replaced by the image of a Duel Monsters card. “Now that Red Nova Dragon is asleep, I can destroy him with Lord of the Endless Nightmare,” he declared, and the little boy started rolling around and moaning in his sleep. A dark shadow stretched across the field, and I could feel unimaginable terror as it drew closer to my sleeping monster.

“Red Nova Dragon, wake up!” I cried, feeling like a child who had just awakened from a nightmare. Despite my pleas, however, I couldn’t do anything but watch as the shadow touched my card, and it vanished in a dark swirl.

“I should mention my Lord’s second effect,” Umbra added as my duel disk’s life point meter began to tick. “Whenever he destroys a sleeping monster, it’s written attack points are inflicted upon my opponent’s life points.” I saw he was right, as my meter went all the way down to 2000 points. “Your turn; I doubt you can do anything to recover from this, though,” he said smugly.

I drew a card from my deck and scanned my cards frantically for anything that could save the duel for me. “I…” I said in a hushed voice, “I…”

Umbra held a hand to his ear. “I’m sorry, what was that? You’ll have to speak up, Sunset Shimmer,” he said condescendingly.

I didn’t know what to do. There wasn’t a single card in my hand that could save me, and summoning a monster would just help Umbra win even faster. I may not have been able to see the monster he had summoned, but I could feel the presence of something hateful and malicious, and it filled me with unimaginable terror.

I looked up at him, tears beginning to form on the edges of my eyes. “You said when this duel was over, that my friends would be unharmed?” I asked quietly.

Umbra nodded matter-of-factly. “Spectators are not part of a Shadow Game, and as a result are not rewarded or punished by a Shadow Game’s results,” he reported.

I nodded as a tear streamed down my face and dripped onto the ground. “Then I… I surrender,” I said quietly.

~-~-~-~-~

“What happened?” Lux asked frantically as he rushed to meet us, “where’s Sunset?”

We were back in the real world, at the exact moment Umbra had challenged Sunset, just like he promised would happen. I looked to my friends sadly; Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack all held each other close as they mourned our lost friend. “Rainbow Dash, please; where is Sunset Shimmer?” he demanded, his fear making him more insistent than usual.

I looked into his eyes sadly. “She… she lost,” I said simply.

Lux looked around, confused. “What do you mean, ‘she lost’?” he asked slowly, sounding as if he knew exactly what I meant.

I sighed and sat down on the floor. “That guy, Umbra Timore… He challenged her to something called a ‘Shadow Game’, and she lost, and… forfeited her soul as a penalty,” I explained.

The moment I said “Shadow Game” Lux’s eyes nearly bulged from his head. “Umbra… challenged Sunset Shimmer… to a Shadow Game?” he asked slowly.

I rolled my eyes and stood up, getting right in the white-haired boy’s face. “Look, pal, that’s what I said, and that’s what happened. Now, you seem to know a lot more about what’s going on than we do, so you’re going to do some explaining: what are Shadow Games? What’s with that broken key you’ve got around your neck? Why does Umbra Timore have one that looks almost exactly like it, but black?” I demanded, pushing Lux a few steps back with each question until he stumbled into the bleachers and fell on his rear.

Lux looked down at his feet, his eyes still wide and fearful. “I never thought this would happen,” he said slowly, “I never thought I’d find someone with the other half.”

I rolled my eyes and hooked my hands under Lux’s arms, lifting him back to his feet. “You’d better start talking sense, buddy, or I’ll-”

Just then, Lux pulled his necklace off and placed the thin chain around my neck. “Don’t ask me to explain; ask her,” he said quickly, and I suddenly felt light-headed as everything around me started to fade into fuzzy whiteness.

“What did you…” I started to say, but my knees suddenly buckled beneath me, and I lost consciousness before I hit the ground.