It's time to DUEL!

The first thing that Yugi noticed when he stepped out of his Grandfathers car was the sheer size of the building that Kaiba had erected just for this duel. It was enormous, covered in metal and glass so that its brilliance rivalled that of the Kaiba Corp headquarters. Of course, Kaiba had designed this place just for that very reason, to try and make Yugi think that he was facing down someone with much more power than he could ever dream of. The Pharaoh entered Yugi’s peripheral vision and stared at the replica of Kaiba’s headquarters.

“Damn it Kaiba, will you never learn?” His deep, ancient voice resonated through Yugi’s soul as the Pharaoh retreated back into the puzzle. He will learn that money and power aren’t everything, Yugi thought to himself. I’ll see to that.

Throwing all of his concerns to the back of his mind, Yugi stepped up to the door. His friends; Joey, Tristan, Tea, Solomon, Duke, Bakura and the Ishtar family walked in right behind him. With his deck and his friends, there was no way that Yugi could lose. This would be the final duel that would show Kaiba the true power of friendship.

…

Kaiba was waiting for him in the arena. Unlike most of Kaiba’s other creations, the layout of this building was very straight forward. It was designed to be a duelling arena and that was all that it did. The grand appearance of a modern high rise was all a façade, concealing the true brilliance of the arena within. The architecture was ancient Egyptian, as was proven by the huge tablets that surrounded what could only be described as a minimalist Duel Arena. In the centre of the arena stood a copy of the stone tablet that Yugi had seen the Pharaohs story written on in the museum and all around him were models of the giant stone slabs upon which lay the in graven images of various monsters from the game.

“So glad you could make it Yugi. I thought perhaps you had forgotten about our little rematch.” Kaiba was as condescending as ever, his signature blue coat swishing slightly in the breeze coming from the open door behind him. Mokuba greeted Yugi and his friends and led them all to the viewing area after showing Yugi how to get down into the arena to face Seto Kaiba.

Yugi activated his duel disk and faced Kaiba with a neutral expression on his face. This was his last chance to prove to Kaiba just how strong friendship was and how important too. Yugi looked at the deck in his hand and hoped that it was strong enough to prove his point. Against his better judgement, Yugi had switched his regular deck for one loaded with cards that were fuelled by the power of friendship. This would either convince Kaiba once and for all that it was OK to have a little fun and to not always be so concerned with winning, or it would forever condemn Kaiba to a life of bitterness and greed. Yugi hoped he could save Kaiba this time.

Yugi opened his mind and let the Pharaoh take over. This duel was too important, he couldn’t risk losing. He shuffled his deck well before sliding it into the deck zone on his duel disk. He swung his arm out in front of him as Kaiba activated his duel disk.

“Kaiba! For too long you have neglected our friendship. You have forced everyone that cared about you away. Please, I’m offering you this one chance to change your mind and accept us as your friends.”

Seto Kaiba began to laugh.

“Honestly Yugi, if you’re going to give me another one of your little friendship lectures, then just leave now. I’ve told you before that I don’t need any friends. I’ve come this far on my own and I don’t need that to change. I’m here to win Yugi and show the world that I am the best duellist, not you.”

Yugi sighed, but chose not to press the matter further. Kaiba had made his choice and all Yugi could do now was hope to change his mind. His hand slid the top five cards off the top of his deck and the duel began.

“I’ll go first,” Shouted Kaiba. “But before I begin my move I wanted to show you what grit and determination can accomplish.”

As he spoke, the stone tablets surrounding them began to shudder and crumble away. Yugi’s friends gasped and grabbed hold of the nearest solid objects they could find in order to anchor themselves during the earthquake. As the tablets fell to dust a gigantic display of computers and screens came into view. Some of the screens showed Kaiba Corp buildings, one showed the former Duel Tower that Kaiba had used in Battle City. Other screens showed vast cities like London and New York and other still showed technological marvels. Cars, planes, tanks, machines of every shape and size were made visible to the duellists and spectators.

“This is the truth Yugi! Not some ancient Egyptian fairy tale, but this world! This is what true power is!” Kaiba picked a card in his hand and slapped it onto his duel disk. “I summon Vorse Raider (level 4 1900/1200) in attack mode. Next I set two cards face down, and end my turn.” As Kaiba spoke a huge beast with an axe that could cut down ten men in a single blow appeared in front of him. It’s fangs dripped with saliva as it enjoyed the prospect of being able to wreak havoc on the field.

Yugi drew his first card. He already had a strategy that he could use and he had the benefit of the element of surprise. Kaiba couldn’t know Yugi’s strategy because he had never seen these cards before and Yugi intended to exploit that advantage. “I’ll start by setting one card face down, then I will summon a monster also in face down defence position.”

“What a desperate move Yugi. Where’s that heart of the cards you are always harping on about?” Kaiba drew a card, but didn’t look at it. “Vorse Raider attack his face down card!”

The wicked beast leapt forward, swinging its axe like a mad man. The blade struck the projection of Yugis face down monster, but was stopped dead in its tracks. The card began to glow as a light aquamarine pony rose up from within the card. The pony had a short horn on its head and a symbol of a lyre on her flank. Her shaggy mane of white, grey and very pale blue swished as the unicorn flicked her head and Vorse Raider was thrown backwards towards Kaiba, reducing his life points to 3900.

“Yugi, what the hell is this?” Kaiba seemed legitimately shocked. That was part of Yugi’s plan after all, hit him with cards he didn’t know and watch him fall.

“What you are looking at is my Lyra Heartstrings (level 4 800/2000) card. When I told you that this deck was filled with cards that were fuelled by friendship, I wasn’t kidding.” Yugi smiled and tilted his head forward slightly. This duel was being fought on his terms now.

Kaiba stared at Yugi, then at Lyra and then back at Yugi before bursting into fits of laughter. “You mean to tell me that you intend to try and beat me using a deck made up of ponies? I don’t know whether to feel insulted or to pity you. The idea that you could beat the power of my deck with little ponies is ridiculous even for you Yugi!”

Yugi sighed. Kaiba had made the same mistake about Kuriboh in Duelist Kingdom, and again in Battle City. Looks can be deceiving, and Yugi was about to prove that very point. But he would need some time. Thankfully, he drew just the card to help him.

“Now I summon, Cheerilee (level 3 1500/300) in attack mode.” A purple pony materialised in front of Yugi, right next to Lyra Heartstrings. The daisies on her flank seemed to pose a bit of trouble for the Kaiba Corp holographic imagers to process, so they appeared as a small yellow smudge on her flank. “I’ll follow that up with two cards face down and then I’ll activate my spell card Canterlot!”

Yugi laid the mighty equestrian city in his field spell zone and the futuristic duelling arena faded into the background as the glorious city of Canterlot replaced everything. Shops and streets materialised before their eyes and a huge castle could be seen behind Yugi.

“Now Kaiba, thanks to my Canterlot card, not only are my pony monsters not affected my spells, traps or monster effects, but they also gain 500 attack and defence points. So now, my Cheerilee, attack his Vorse Raider!”

Cheerilee sprang forward with a big smile on her face. She span around on the spot and delivered a kick straight to the Vorse Raiders chest as the demonic beast exploded in a shimmering shower of light shards. Kaiba winced as his life points sank to 3800. His magic cards, trap cards and effect monsters abilities were all but useless to him now. But Yugi was aware that Kaiba didn’t need his effects if he could get his Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field.

“It’s my move!” Hollered Kaiba at Yugi. “And I think I’ll summon my Spear Dragon (level 4 1900/0) in attack mode. But then I’ll activate my Black Pendant spell card to give my dragon 500 attack. That means that it is more than strong enough to take on your little Cheerilee card.”

Kaiba’s dragon flared into life. It looked almost like a dinosaur, so old with its scales seeming to be turning to stone already. Kaiba’s black pendant materialised around the dragons neck, setting off the blue streak on the monsters head.

“Now my Spear Dragon, attack Cheerilee!”

Yugi watched helplessly as his monster was destroyed by Kaiba’s dragon flying straight through her. Yugi groaned as his life points plummeted from 4000 to 3600.

“Your little powers of friendship don’t seem to be working too well for you do they Yugi? You could just give up now and go home. We both know that there is no way a deck full of pony cards could ever beat a real deck, like mine.”

“You know what’s funny Kaiba?” Yugi asked, feeling more confident than he ever had before when facing down Kaiba. “You always claim to be the better duellist, and you always seem to believe that your deck is stronger than mine. Yet I don’t recall a single time when you fairly beat me in a duel. You won in Duellist Kingdom because you stood on a ledge and threatened to jump if I didn’t let you win. In Battle City I defeated you on top of your own Duel Tower and in that virtual world that Noah took us to, I defeated Noah having started with only 400 life points when you couldn’t even duel him to a draw. So next time you feel like insulting me or my cards Kaiba, just remember which one of us is STILL the King of Games.” It wasn’t a tactic that Yugi employed very often, but forcing his opponent to see some sense seemed to have an effect on Kaiba. Yugi wouldn’t admit it, but he enjoyed seeing Kaibas face tense a little as Yugi revealed all of his past failures.

Yugi drew his next card and smiled. This was exactly the card he needed, but he wasn’t surprised. The heart of the cards had always been kind to him. “I activate my spell card, Victorious eturn to Equestria! That allows me to return one pony in my graveyard to my side of the field, so say hello once again to Cheerilee!” Yugi’s purple pony reappeared on the field next to Lyra heartstrings. “But that’s not all. Now I sacrifice my two monsters to summon the Captain of the Caterlot Royal Guard, Shining Armour (level 7 2400/2000) in attack mode.” Lyra and Cheerilee faded into the ground as Shining Armour, dressed in his gold captains armour appeared on the field. His blue mane was held tightly by the impressive gold helmet and his horn seemed even sharper than it should have done.

“But now I will activate the first of my face down cards, Beckoning Lover! This card can only activate whenever I have a Shining Armour or Princess Cadence on the field. This card allows me to summon one of the lovers from my deck, so that both are on my side of the field, so I special summon Princess Cadence (level 8 2000/3000) in attack mode.”

A beautiful pink alicorn materialised on the field next to Shining Armour and bowed to her husband. Their horns started glowing as Yugi smiled at the increasingly terrified Seto Kaiba.

“My two monsters now can activate their special ability. Since I have both of them on the field I can utilise their love for each other and destroy that remaining face down card you have.”

Kaiba’s face became sullen and grey as Cadance and Shining Armour put their horns together. A bolt of perfect light flew from their horns straight through Kaiba’s remaining face down card, destroying the Crush Card Virus trap.

“Unfortunately, thanks to that effect I can’t attack this turn, but you have only one monster on the field and on my next turn I’ll make sure to destroy it and the rest of your life points!”

Kaiba looked legitimately scared of Yugi which made the Pharaoh laugh a little. The idea of Seto Kaiba, the former number one ranked duellist in the world being terrified of ponies would be enough to make anyone smile. Kaiba was quivering as he drew his next card, but whether it was with rage or fear Yugi couldn’t tell.

“I activate my spell card, Dark Hole!” Kaiba slapped the spell down onto his duel disk as a huge black hole began absorbing all of the monsters on the field.

“You seem to have forgotten Kaiba that I have my Canterlot card on the field protecting all of my Pony monsters.” Yugi was concerned. Kaiba didn’t make rookie mistakes like that. Ever.

“You should learn your effects slightly better Yugi. Individually I can’t target your monsters with an effect, but by using a generically destructive effect I can destroy any monster you control, so my Dark Hole still destroys your puny princess and that idiotic unicorn.”

Shining Armour and Cadence waved their hooves at each other, frantically trying to hold on as the Dark Hole swallowed them up completely. Yugi realised that his life points were now completely undefended, something that hadn’t escaped Kaiba’s attention either.

“Now I summon, La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp (level 4 1800/1000) in attack mode!”

A green fiend, smoke like and hardly there pervaded Kaiba’s side of the field. It’s strong arms folded across it’s chest, the creature carried with it an air of authority that only comes with centuries of servitude and power. The genie truly was a powerful sight to behold.

“You’re finished Yugi. Now my genie of the lamp, attack him directly!”

Yugi glanced at his face down card. He knew that it could save him in this situation, but if he activated it now it would be too risky. He knew that he had to save that card for when Kaiba had one of his Blue-Eyes on the field, and knowing Kaiba, one of them was already in his hand. Yugi braced himself and took the full hit of the genies attack dropping his life points down to 1800. Kaiba started laughing uncontrollably. Both duellists knew that this duel was coming to an end in the next few turns.

“One more hit like that Yugi and you lose. Face it, there never was any chance that your little pony cards could ever hope to beat me.”

Yugi looked hard at the cards in his hand. Four monsters were there, as well as a spell card that he needed to win, but he had to have two more monsters on the in his hand before he could use it. He had no choice, he had to risk one of his more powerful monsters. With six cards in his hand, Yugi thought up a strategy. Depending on what he drew next, he would implement one of two strategies. He slid the next card off of the top of his deck, believing completely in the strength of his deck and the strength of his friendships. He smiled as he saw the perfect card, exactly the one he needed. It would take a turn or two, but he could win this duel. He just had to keep Kaiba guessing until then.

“My move Kaiba. I start by playing this card face down, and then I’ll summon Pinkie Pie (Level 4 1200/300) in attack mode!”

A bubbly pink pony appeared on the field in front of Yugi, it’s curly mane and tail bobbing as it jumped around. Glancing across the field at Kaiba’s genie, Pinkie Pie gasped and then broke into a huge grin, waving at the huge green spectre, who seemed to be getting gradually more and more confused.

“I don’t think your little pony understands that La Jinn doesn’t want to be friends with her. And he doesn’t need to be! He has more than enough power and so do I!”

“You can think that way for now Kaiba, but I guarantee when this duel is finished, you will eat those words.”

Yugi heard Joey call out from his seat something about hoping that Kaiba choked on them too. Yugi chuckled slightly. Joey always was one to make him smile with some of the ridiculous things he’d say. Come to think of it, both of the face down cards that Yugi had on the field were partially inspired by Joey. It felt good to know that his friends were always with him, even in the heat of a duel.

“I think I’ll end my turn there. Your move Kaiba.”

Yugi’s coolness and calmness given his situation obviously unnerved Kaiba, but he quickly recovered. He drew his next card and glanced at it briefly before breaking into a smile that made even Yugi start to worry.

“I think I’ll begin by playing my Polymerization magic card to fuse together the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons (level 8 3000/2500) to form Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (level 12 4500/3800) in attack mode!”

Yugi’s blood ran cold. Seto Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was one of the most powerful monsters in existence and as it rose from the ground, Pinkie Pie’s eyes grew wider in terror of the beast before her. Its body was shimmering white, so pure that it seemed to have been polished for centuries. Three heads extended from the giant torso of Kaiba’s most devastating monster and its teeth seemed to have been newly sharpened.

“But that’s not all. You see Yugi, it won’t be enough just to beat you, I want to destroy you! I want to crush you and your silly notions of friendship. I can show you exactly what true power is and it has nothing to do with the number of cheerleaders you have at your side during a duel! I activate the spell card Defusion, to separate my Dragon into three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!”

Kaiba’s giant monster swirled around in mid-air before separating itself out into three weaker, but still extremely powerful dragons. Each one glared down at Yugi’s Pinkie Pie, making the pink pony almost run in terror.

“Now, La Jinn, attack that puny pony!”

The genie leapt forward intending to strike Pinkie Pie and eliminate her from the field, but right at the last second the pink pony dodged out of the way.

“I’m sorry Kaiba, did I forget to mention that Pinkie Pie here has a little ability known as Pinkie Sense. Whenever one of your monsters attacks, she can dodge out of the way, as long as their attack strength is less than 1900.”

Kaiba grumbled something unintelligible at Yugi before continuing his move.

“Your little party pony might have been quick enough to dodge La Jinn, but she’s powerless against the wrath of one of my all powerful dragons. Now Blue-Eyes, destroy that pest once and for all!”

“You know Kaiba, I’m glad you mentioned the speed of my monster, because I have one that is even faster. And you’ve just activated her special ability by launching your attack!” Kaiba looked confused and slightly scared as Yugi revealed one of his face down cards. “Sonic Rainboom Rescue! This card allows me to discard any Rainbow Dash (Level 5 1850/1300) to remove one pony monster on the field from play until the end of this turn, thereby preventing you from destroying my Pinkie Pie!”

As he spoke, Yugi laid his Rainbow Dash in the graveyard as a copy of her image flew out of his now upright trap card. Flying at full speed, Rainbow Dash grabbed hold of Pinkie Pie before jetting off in a full Sonic Rainboom. The light and colours were almost blinding and Kaiba had to look away as Pinkie Pie was escorted to safety.

“Damn it Yugi! Anyway, it seems that you’re all out of defences and now your lifepoints are completely open. Attack, my Blue-Eyes White Dragon, finish this duel now!”

Yugi smiled at Kaiba, an action that nearly made the billionaire fly backwards in terror. It made no sense that he should smile, he had the rage of two Blue-Eyes White Dragons baring down on him and there was nothing he could do to save himself. Nothing, except activate his remaining face down.

“Kaiba, you’ve activated my trap card, Derpys Dice Roll!”

As Yugi’s remaining trap card flipped face up, a grey Pegasus with a mark on its flank that looked an awful lot like bubbles emerged on the field. In its hooves the pony held a large black dice.

“This is now a game of chance. Every one of my monster zones along with the corresponding spell and trap zone behind it has been given a number between one and five. Should my dice hit any of those numbers, then any cards currently occupying that space would be immediately destroyed as well as one of the cards in my hand. However, should my dice roll a six, then every card on your side of the field as well as every card in your hand will be immediately destroyed.”

Kaiba stared at Derpy in a way similar to that which a deer might stare into the headlights of a truck that was about to hit it. Against any other duellist, Kaiba wouldn’t be too worried. After all, the odds were stacked against Yugi and if he lost this dice roll then he would definitely lose. But this was Yugi Moto. If anyone could win this bet, it was him.

“Go, dice roll!”

Derpy half threw half dropped the dice in her hooves. It bounced along the ground for about two feet before finally spinning to a stop, the number six pointing directly towards the ceiling. Kaiba had been expecting this result, but it hit him hard all the same. He watched helplessly as a bolt of lightning destroyed his three Blue-Eyes and La Jinn. Discarding his entire hand to the grave, Kaiba ended his turn in full knowledge of the fact that Yugi would use this new opportunity to level the scores.

Before Yugi drew his next card, Pinkie Pie re-emerged on the field before him, albeit slightly dizzy from her trip. Pegasi were used to break neck speeds like that, but clearly Earth Ponies were not. If it weren’t for the seriousness of the situation, Yugi might have found his monsters reaction to be quite amusing. As Yugi looked at the cards that now made up his hand he praised the heart of the cards. He now had all of the monsters he needed except for Rainbow Dash and he had just drawn the spell card that would win the duel. But there was one thing he had to do first.

“I sacrifice my Pinkie Pie to summon, Princess Luna (Level 6 2200/2800) in attack mode!”

The pink party pony slipped away to make way for Yugi’s princess of the night. Her mane, sparkling like the night sky flowed in a non-existent wind and her head was held very high and very proud. A look of utter disgust entered the princess’s eyes when she looked at Kaiba and she lowered her head as if to charge at him.

“Now, Luna, strike his life points directly!”

The midnight blue alicorn leapt into the air, using her wings to fly towards her prey. She charged up her magic in her horn for a few seconds before unleashing her full fury on Seto Kaiba, reducing his life points to a meagre 1100. Yugi ended his turn there.

Kaiba drew a card, desperately needing something that could help him fend off Yugi’s princess. When Yugi looked at the demonic grin on Kaiba’s face, he knew that this turn was going to end badly for Luna.

“I activate the spell card Monster Reborn, allowing me to bring back one of my fallen Blue-Eyes to the field.”

The mighty dragon once again materialised on the field, but Luna showed no fear and nor did Yugi. Since he had been able to destroy Kaiba’s entire hand in his last turn, Yugi knew that the only thing that would happen this turn would be that Luna would be destroyed. While it would be a painful loss, it would not cost him the duel and it would probably buy him the time he needed to activate the cards that would let him win.

“Now my dragon, annihilate that puny little pony princess!”

The dragon brought its head back towards Kaiba, letting the energy form in its mouth before unleashing a burst stream of destruction towards Luna. The white light enveloped Luna as she reared up onto her hind legs, as all horses do when startled. She vanished as Yugis life points were reduced to 1500.

“Make your final move Yugi.”

Yugi laid his hand gently on top of his deck. All he needed was one card and this duel would be his. One card resided in his deck that would guarantee his victory and if he drew it now, this would all be over. Slowly, he pulled what he hoped would be the last card of the game. He looked at it and his heart began to beat faster. The heart of the cards had once again rewarded Yugi’s faith and had given him exactly the card he needed.

“This duel is about to end Kaiba! First, I’ll activate my spell card, Twilight’s Library! This card allows me to return any ponies in my graveyard to my hand. I only require two of them though, my Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Next I’ll activate this spell, Elements of Harmony-Full strike! By discarding one Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity to the graveyard, I can launch a direct attack on your life points, dealing 1000 points of damage for every monster I sent to the graveyard to activate the spell!”

Kaiba shrank away from Yugi, absolute terror filling his eyes. He kept shouting about how this wasn’t possible and how it should have been guaranteed that he would win this time. Yugi just laughed as the six ponies strode onto the field with the Elements of Harmony attached to them. Twilight Sparkle began to levitate as a gigantic rainbow shot out of her horn and straight into Seto Kaiba’s chest. Kaiba’s life points dropped to 0 and the entire field became clear again.

Kaiba lay on the ground, moaning about how he couldn’t believe that he had lost yet again and how it was an embarrassment to have failed to a deck loaded with pony cards. Yugi walked over to the man whom he had just defeated and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Kaiba, you only lost because you believed that visible power was worth more than friendship. I tell you now, there is no force in the world that is more powerful. The bonds of friendship are what make us even stronger than we are, that is why I was able to defeat you. I beg of you Kaiba, abandon your old ways. You don’t have to be alone any more.”

Kaiba looked up at Yugi who was now holding out a hand to help his friend get to his feet. Kaiba realised, perhaps for the first time, that maybe having other people around wouldn’t be so bad. After all, he was already hugely successful so he didn’t need to be so preoccupied with protecting his company any more. Yugi was right, it was time Kaiba made some friends. Smiling, he took Yugi’s hand and for the first time since his childhood, allowed himself to feel happy.