The Legend of Fauna

Chapters

Until morning comes (2)
Children of the Sun and the Moon (3)
His name was Andromeda (4.1)
7/8/3016 - Monday morning (4.2)
Gold, Crystals, and Ruby (5)
Rainbows, Rivalries, and Regret (7)
The Belle's waltz (8)
In the Case of Fluttershy Heron: Part II (9.2)
In the Case of Fluttershy Heron: Part III (9.3)
Like Father, Like Son (10)
Gambling in flames (11)
Future Visions and Lost Memories (12)
One week (13.1)
Arts and Crafts (13.2)
Turn 1: Draw! (13.3.1)
Turn 2: And then there were Fewer (13.3.2)
Turn 3: Water, Earth, Fire, Divine! (13.3.3)
Turn 4: Relationships (13.3.4)
Correspondence (14.1)
Return to Sender (14.2)
Spike (14.3)
Duel - Spike v. Zephraim (14.4)
The End of Fauna
7/6/3016 - Saturday (1)
Family Reunion (6)
In the Case of Fluttershy Heron: Part I (9.1)

Until morning comes (2)

Twilight was furious. “That woman, THAT WOMAN! Graaaah!” Anger was driving her to run, and just keep running. For a solid twenty minutes, Twilight ran, cursing in the air as she did so. She didn't know if anyone had heard her, and she didn't care. All that mattered to her now was to beat Celestia tomorrow. When Twilight looked up to see where she was, she realized she was at the edge of the school grounds. “Damn it!” She yelled at the large metal school gates with the marks of Celestia and Luna cut out of the middle to make the letters C A. Anger rising, Twilight punched the large metal gate with all she had. Quickly, she realized the mistake she made, as the pain started to jolt up her arm. Continuing to curse in the air, Twilight started to hop around, clutching her bloody hand. She stopped when she heard a voice calling out to her.

“Twilight? Twilight Sparkle, is that you? What's wrong?” It was the school doctor, Sang Redheart. The large woman had made her way over to Twilight, and began to examine. She wasn't as tall as Celestia, but she was definitely close. Possibly the same height as Luna. “Oh, for the love of- Twilight, you've broken your hand! Why in the world would you punch a reinforced iron gate?” Twilight's emotions dropped.

“I broke it? I... b-broke my hand?” How are you supposed to duel now? Great job. You really fucked it up this time. Twilight fell to her knees. “I... broke... my... my...” The doctor shook her head.

“Come on. Let's go fix it. Ugh. And I was just about to leave after operating on that Exuvia boy all morning.” Twilight was still stunned on the ground looking at her broken hand, which was now covered in her own blood with the bones in her knuckles exposed. The doctor saw that the girl was unready to move on her own, sighed, and simply hoisted her over her shoulder, and made their way to the medical wing. “Close your eyes, this is not going to be pretty. You've fractured some of your metacarpals, and to treat your hand properly, I'm going to have to remove some of your skin.” Twilight turned her head and gritted her teeth. Her entire left arm was numb, but for some reason, she felt that this was going to hurt. The sound of ripping tape echoed in the room. When Twilight looked at her hand, she could see that the skin over her bones had come clean off. She stared at the hand in amazement.

“How in the hell did you do that?” The doctor smiled at the girl.

“When you've been in the medical field as long as I have, it's very difficult to find some strange new disease or problem. Trust me, you are not the first person I've ever seen break their hand in frustration. Now, while were on the subject...” A loud crack went off, and Redheart had finished snapping the bones back into place. “There we go. Now a little healing gel over the cracks, and it should be better by midnight.” The doctor spread a teal gel she'd taken out of a bottle over the edges of the breaks in her bones, then along the clean squared edges of her skin. She paused and counted to sixty, and the bones had visibly began to grow together. She then returned the hand skin back to it's place, and the skin started to almost sew it's self together.

“Alright, Ms. Sparkle. Normally, I'd let a patient go at this point, but as for you, I want you to tell me what's gotten you so angry?” The girl picked up her hand and placed it on her lap. Trying to move her arm was nearly impossible while it was so numb. She sighed, and then decided it'd be better to tell the truth. Who else did she have to talk to?

“Well... um... you know what happened to the Exuvia guy right?” Twilight felt her heart sink as she said it. She was still feeling sorry for what she did.

“Why, yes I do. I'm the one that repaired that wound. Had it not been for his sub-race, he wouldn't be alive today. You did that, didn't you?” Sub race? What was that? Twilight nodded and continued her story.

“Uh... yeah... Earlier today, I kind of got caught skipping class, and so I wasn't in the greatest mood after I was let out to lunch. And then he challenged me to a duel, and I... uh... told him to go away, but he insisted on it, and I couldn't really afford to break any more school rules so I went along with it. But I was mad... and I think I've been told I have... anger issues more than once. So, one thing led to another, and he got cut open.” Redheart nodded.

“Alright. That explains why you did that, but what's going on now? Who is 'that woman' that you've been yelling about every where?” Twilight turned red and looked down at her lap. She didn't think about anyone hearing her.

“Um... I don't... or I shouldn't really...” The nurse crossed her arms. She stood up and closed the door, and came back to her seat.

“I imagine it's Sola Fueguno, or Celestia Iscandor, right?” Twilight looked up at the doctor in surprise. How did she know that? Nobody knew that! I didn't even know until today!

“How did you-” The doctor shook her head.

“Oh please Twilight. I'm the chief of medicine. I know who does and does not have medical records. Born in 3000, humph. She wouldn't know half the things she does if she were. She's not a very good liar, even if she poses as one.” A bad liar and a politician? Is that even possible?

“Well, after I went back to class, and the school day ended, I went to my usual spot to read, where Sola caught me. Then she revealed herself as Celestia, and we talked. It didn't go so well. At first, she acted like normal, being that motherly figure she usually is to me, but then she went off. She started being a hard ass, and it pissed me off. She started yelling at me, and I started yelling back. Then I uh... kinda ran off, and here we are.” The doctor rolled the situation around in her head, visibly nodding her head one way to the other. Then she turned back to Twilight.

“So. What exactly did she say to you that got you so riled up?” What is Celestia up to now? Redheart thought. Tactician or not, that woman needs to learn when to stop toying with people.

“Well, it was something along the lines of, you aren't me, I know your child hood sucked, but it’s time to grow up kind of crap. Can you believe it? Me, acting like a kid. What does she think I've been through? I had to learn how to survive practically on my own when I was nine! I could clean house with all of the students and half the teachers here! I can fix gambling like I can breathe!” Ah. It was a trap. This was the desired result, no doubt. I bet she didn't expect her to break her hand though. Then again, she does pose as Sola, so she probably knows when I leave. Could she have planned all of this? Ooh! She is getting a call as soon as I set Twilight straight!

“Okay, I think I understand the situation now. You are going to be apart of the exhibition match tomorrow right?” Twilight nodded her head, waiting to see where Redheart was going. “Now don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think it will be possible for you to win.” Redheart didn't have any faith in her?

“Why do you think that? It's not like I'm-” She was cut off.

“I know you're not a bad duelist, really. But there's more going on that you can't see. You might not know this, but our 'Day Queen' has another nickname, and that is the puppeteer. Twilight, this person likely thinks of you as her own daughter, and since I know her personally, I know that she has a hand in everything involving her kid's lives. She is the Queen, after all. She has the power to manipulate everything, and with her insight, she can and does.” Twilight turned to the doctor with worried eyes.

“What are you saying? Is she playing me? Did... did she say those things just to get me to react this way?” Redheart sighed.

“While I don't know whether or not that is true, I do know that she cares for you. What ever grand scheme she has in her head, she's doing everything for your benefit, whether you know it or not. When you take the stage tomorrow, I don't want you to be mad at her. Have fun. Do your best. Try and make her work for the win. And learn from what she does. You may not know this, but you and she are very similar minded. And one day, I think you might just surpass her, and I think she knows it. But she's trying to get you there. So let her work and do what she says. She has a lot more riding on you than you know.”

Twilight developed a frown. Is that what she really thinks of me? Redheart has been seen at the castle. Hell, I've seen her at the castle. She must be good friends with Celestia. But... is she really playing me? If she is, she's a damn good Twilight-ist. Oh man, what else has she manipulated in my life? I know she got dad his leg treatments and both my parents a job... but what if she's the reason dad was in that accident in the first place? What if she did that just to make it where I lived on the street for a while? Ugh. This is hurting my brain. I need to sleep…

“Thanks Mrs. Redheart. Really. This was... eye opening. I think I'll just go back to my dorm now and... oh wait! You're her friend, did you ever duel her?” Redheart's eyes widened. She put her hands to her mouth, cursed under her breath, and then sighed.

“Yes... unfortunately... that woman does not know how to take it easy when it comes to that blasted game.” Twilight's eyes widened, but in excitement.

“Really? What's her deck like? I heard that she hasn't dueled in public for over thirty years! Does she still use Synchro monsters like in the legend?” Redheart sunk her head into her hands which were propped up on her knees.

“Yes, all of that is true. But what you don't know is about the heat. She uses fire monsters, and since she doesn't actually duel through normal means like you, me, and everyone else, her ancient technique makes those monsters more real than matter waves could. Each one of them has fire coming out of it somewhere, and every last one produces ungodly heat. Or really, godly heat. What I'm saying is, try and protect yourself from effect damage, and real burns. There's a good chance that she'll ask me to be standing by when the duel starts, and that is for your safety. You know what? Here, take this. I had a few copies of this soul card made for sentimental reasons, but I feel you need it.” The doctor stood, and took a spell card out of her bag and handed it to Twilight.

“I'm going to head out now. The kids are probably waiting for me to make dinner. You take care Twilight. Try and rest. Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day.” The doctor left the room, her curvy features accenting themselves in her tight white outfit. As big as she was, there's a good chance that it was the only uniform that fit her. Twilight on the other hand, was beginning to realize the gravity of the situation she was in. she stood up, holding the card Redheart had given her tightly. She only said one thing when she finally settled down for bed.

“Oh, shit. What have I gotten myself into?”

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

The alarm clock started to play one of Twilight's favorite songs. 'Amidst the passing time, a shining sparkle resonates; I'll keep walking until I carve my name into this world!~' Originally, she thought she liked it because it sounded cool, but more recently, she began to think it fit her. She would keep walking. And one day, the world over would know her name. But that was neither here nor there. At the moment, she was freaking out. “Oh crap, oh shit, oh gods, what have I done? I pissed off the most powerful person in the country, then she challenged me to a duel, and only after I accept while cursing at her, do I find out that she makes it real. I'm gonna die in a fire. Literally. Oh crap, oh sh-”

Amidst pacing around her dorm room trying to rationalize what was happening in two hours, a knock came at the door. “Who in the world? It's five in the morning! Why would anyone else be up? And come to see me? I don't know anybody!” even so, the common curtsy beat into her at the castle for the last six years wouldn't let her ignore the door. “Can I help you?” she said as sarcastic as possible, as she opened the door. “Oh. Hey.” it was the resident vampire bat, Tsukiko.

“You're awake! And... dressed? well, no matter, quickly, lady Sparkle, come with me!” The pale girl grabbed Twilight's arm and took off.

“Ahh! What the hell!? We're in a hallway! Why are you flying?! Holy crap!” Just as she was getting to complaining, the blue haired girl pulled her bat like wings in close and dove through the open window at the end of the hall with Twilight in toe. Twilight closed her eyes in preparation for contact with the ground, seven stories below, but after a minute, with no concrete to meet her, she looked up. The night sky hadn't faded yet, and the moon was hanging in it's waxing position over the horizon. The air was crisp and clear, and the stars shone in the dark like beacons.

“So, uh, This is great and all, but why are we flying at five in the morning?” The blue haired Angel girl didn't waver. Her concentration was totally focused on flying with the Mage girl, and had no room for nothing else. “Silent huh? Fine. Are we going to the shooting range? There really isn't anything else in the area, other than some closed athletic facilities.” The angle finally spoke.

“You are indeed the quick wit, lady Sparkle. I have always wanted to see your skill with a rifle in action!” The Mage shrugged as best she could while being held by the Angle.

“Whatever. Fine with me, but the shooting range is closed, so why now?” The angle looked down at her passenger.

“Are the rumors not true? I've heard that you can pick nearly every lock in the school.” Was that a compliment? Twilight thought. Well, I'll take it as one.

“Yeah, so what if it is?” she said, with a little pride slipping in her voice.

“Then the facilities are not closed. Sometimes, Lord Will has me run the computer while he trains the other students, so, I can get you set up.” after hearing her say the name, Twilight remembered that Tsukiko was star pupil of coach Marcus 'Iron' Will, as the students called him. On top of that, she was the best sharp shooter at the academy, with an amazing ability as a lancer. This girl with a rifle and a bayonet was dangerous, and with her specialized lance, she was a force of nature.

“So... why would you want to see me shoot? Aren't you the best shot at the academy?” Tsukiko began to descend, and lightly dropped Twilight an inch above the concrete before landing herself.

“Hmm, Yes, I suppose I am. As far as records go. You know Sola Fueguno right?” not 'lady' Sola? Odd, but whatever. Queen wants to parade around as a school girl, fine by me. Not like I care anymore.

“Yeah. What about her? She better than you?” The angle put her fingers to her chin as her extended dark leathery wings folded themselves to her back.

“With a rifle? No. However, with a hand gun, yes. That and swords. I've simply never been good with the things that only use one of my hands. Even dueling, she still manages to out do me more often than I do her. Our record is 48 to 52 mind you. If it weren't for that horrendous accell synchro monster...” She's dueled Celestia? Or... does Celestia use a different deck while she poses as Sola? But wait... has Sola ever dueled here? Now that I think about it, she's never dueled anyone in class... how would Tsukiko have dueled Sola? Before she could question her, Tsukiko had started toward the door.

“Come along! We do not have all morning you know!” Twilight rolled her eyes and followed the girl to the main entrance. The large building was made of a white stone like every other building in Upper Canterlot, and was practically imbedded within the mountain side. The landscaping on the school was impressive for it's location near the top of the mountain, but eventually, the rock was just too difficult to drill into and make an even shape without magically enhanced tools. The doors were that of the same wrought black iron that every part of the school used, and they are just as heavy as they sound. The more dense the metal, the harder it is to use magic on it, which in turn meant it could have a lock that was difficult to pick for everyone, rather than all but normal mages.

“Well, Lady Sparkle? Can you open it?” Twilight put her hands together and popped her fingers all at once.

“Does the sun rise every day?” she took a small key ring out of her pocket, but rather than keys, it had several thin, various shaped black pieces of metal hanging on it. A small violet glow began to emanate from her finger tips, and then covering two of the metal pieces. She placed both pieces inside the key hole, and turned, opening the lock as if she had the real key. “I'll never understand why the Queens insist on using these terrible ancient locking systems. I mean, I could get any door in Canterlot open if I wanted to, but even a child could open these.” Tsukiko laughed nervously.

“Oh, uh, my, Lady Sparkle, you are right. Those Queens really should get these silly old locks updated. Ha ha.” Twilight narrowed her eyes at the girl.

“Nervous? Now? It's already considered suspicious activity to be out of the dorms this early. Come on. Do you want to see me shoot or not” Twilight felt the need to blow off some magic anyways. Then she remembered something the old bird told her a few years ago. When you feel anxious, it is because your mood, mind, and magic are all trying to go in different places. If you release magic, your mind concentrates on that, which will then force your mood into one in tune with your magic, and vice versa. Ugh. I can't even get away from her in my own head. Twilight pushed hard on the heavy door to open it, and walked inside the large vacant building with Tsukiko close behind.

“You go set up stall three. It's my usual spot.” Tsukiko turned to Twilight and bowed.

“As you wish, Lady Sparkle.” Then nearly faded into darkness.

“Weirdo.” Twilight took her place in the stall and picked up the beam rifle that was sitting in it's holster. While she wasn't the most talented hacker on the campus, she was the most practiced one. This stall, she had specially modified to use no magic enhanced targeting what so ever. As much as she used magic, there was no place for anything but her eyes when she shot. And it held true. She wasn't Tsukiko, but she was the best shot out of the first years.

“I assume you wish to keep the magic sights off?” How did she even know that?

“Uh yeah. The crap that they have in the system messes with my eyes.” Tsukiko engaged the stall.

“Very well. I respect that. I do not use magic sights either. When I was but a child, I learned to shoot without any sort of magic at all. My father had come into contact with an ancient weapon known as a flint lock rifle, if you had even ever heard of it. It kicked a piece of flint against a metal cup that would ignite saltpeter in the chamber, which would then propel the bullet, which was really just a round piece of iron, forward.” Flint lock? Like, the ancient tech that the pirates of horseshoe bay created back in the 900's? Who is her dad? The man must be loaded to get a hold of something that old in working order.

“Wow. I didn't know your parents were rich. Geez. Set it to expert.” The screen gave an okay, then a count down began. 10...9...8... Twilight made her stance and prepared for the target to let loose. 3...2...1... Fwoop! The targets shot across the range. They were white, so even in the dark, she could crack them open with ease. The air was littered with a flurry of violet beam projectiles shooting out from Twilight's rifle. The screen began another countdown, and the number of targets increased. Faster and faster she shot, to make sure she didn't lose a single target. The buzzer rang out and the round was over. 298/300 targets hit. Speed round targets hit, 50/50. Twilight heard clapping coming from the console room above the bleachers behind the range.

“I am impressed, Lady sparkle. You certainly are the best shot of the first years. Maybe even the whole school. But... have you heard the rumor of, the frenzy mode?” She said the last part of her sentence with grim enthusiasm. Twilight was intrigued. The rumor about the special mode in the shooting range for fourth year students was only, from what she could tell, just that. The students talked about how in the morning they could hear the sounds of crazy rapid fire coming from the range, but when they would look inside to investigate, all they would find was a stall still on with the word 'FRENZY' in bright red and all caps flashing across the screen. Then it would suddenly stop, and the screen would be normal, as if it never had been coded to display the word to begin with.

“Frenzy mode? Does it actually exist?” The Angel had come down from the console room to speak with Twilight face to face. She looked into her blue eyes, and then caught a glimpse of something familiar. Little flecks of silver scattered along her iris. Where have I seen that before?

“Why yes, it does. I'm currently the only student below the S rank fourth years that can access it. I also have the only perfect score within it as well. Perhaps, you would like to give it a try?” The Angle was wearing a wicked smile. Was this a challenge? Oh man, it better be. Twilight returned the smile.

“How could I say no?” The blue haired girl put her hands together.

“Perfect! Oh how nice it would be to have a worthy rival whose actually willing to shoot with me! Here, hand me the gun.” Twilight did as she was asked, and forked it over. The Angel then opened a small hatch on the side that wasn't normally there, and pressed a sequence of numbers on the ten digit key pad. Twilight heard the words “Frenzy mode engaged” in a computerized voice come from the stall. Tsukiko then typed another long sequence of numbers into the gun, and stall two lit up and said the same phrase.

“You're going to shoot with me?” Tsukiko nodded.

“How would it be a competition if we simply took turns shooting? No, to be my rival, you must stand at my side, blazing your fire into your enemy without fear!” Twilight crossed her arms, but couldn't help a smile starting to creep up her lips and strange feeling in her stomach. It was... happy. The last time she'd felt like this was when she and her older brother started dueling together... like, a bond.

“Alright, ms. War veteran. Let’s do this.” The Angel took her place after handing stall three's gun back to Twilight, and began typing in that same code into stall two's gun. 0615992, 1215995. Huh. Twilight thought. That code was like a number she'd seen before, but couldn't remember where. The holographic screen reappeared and the bright red word FRENZY was flashing across it. The count down began. 10…9…8…7… The air was filled with suspense. Even the machinery was running... quieter than normal. 3…2…1… GO! The computer rang out, and targets were flying from all sides in all directions. She managed to keep up with the other girl for the first minute, but then the Blue haired girl spoke.

“Here comes the second wave! Prepare yourself!” Then, the targets stopped, and suddenly, the whole building seemed to shift. The target projectors moved above their original place, and cannons jutted out from the walls where the projectors were. A new countdown started, but it was half the time it normally was, and faster. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, FIRE! The sounds from the cannons were loud and booming. Large black balls shot across the room, arcing high in the building, almost reaching the ceiling and then crashing hard into the floor. Tsukiko was unphased by the sound and blasted every single ball to pieces, but Twilight was losing concentration. She missed one, then another, and another. Tsukiko then let out a jab.

“A little loud noise, and then you can't shoot? My, my, lady Sparkle. You wouldn't even be able to hold a real rifle is that's the case!” Twilight was mad. Time to tip the scales! She stopped missing targets, but then, she started to try and play dirty by using her magic to swipe at Tsukiko's barrel. The buzzer rang, and the Last wave had ended. Twilight Sparkle: wave one, 200/200. Wave two, 394/450. rank B. Tsukiko Mizuni: wave one, 200/200. Wave two, 460/450. Rank S. Twilight gasped. She hit ten more targets than she was given!?

“While I do appreciate the use of guerrilla warfare, you simply must get better at it. Had you not tried to make me miss, I would not have hit ten of your targets. However, I would like to commend you on it. The simple fact that you can shoot with 87% accuracy while using magic on another target is a very rare skill that few in history have been able to pull off. I would know, seeing as how I trained them.” The blue haired girl enveloped herself in a white light, and transformed into Queen Luna. Twilight put her hand to her face. Of course the only two people you know on campus would turn out to be the Queens. 0615992 and 1215995? those are the Queen's birthdays!

“Ugh. I knew you would turn out to be someone I knew. I just... just wish it wasn't Tsukiko...” The now much taller Luna kneeled down to meet her back at eye level. That's why it looked familiar. She has little flecks of silver in her eyes.

“I'm sorry we deceived you all this time. But I wanted you to know that you can still have friends, despite where you have been. A long time ago, There was an incident, where I had come in contact with a black magic artifact. To keep our people safe from myself, I asked sister to imprison me. However, she could not bring herself to do so. The black magic artifact slowly began to corrupt my soul, and I was beginning to lose myself. I started to set fire to buildings in the capital, and it was Celestia that had to come and put an end to me. After a fierce duel, the six other ancient artifacts were used to try and sever the connection between myself and the black artifact. However, the black artifact would not release me willingly, and escaped with my body as Celestia and the artifacts as they were cutting my ties to it. The connection between us and the ancient spirits that resided in the artifacts was severed, and I was trapped in an alternate dimension with the black magic card that had tainted me in my body, and my soul trapped in her card. In the other dimension, the spirit controlled corrupted body and terrorized that place. When I ascended, My wings were normal, but now...” She pulled at the top bone in her black and blue wings with her index finger and thumb, rubbing it gently.

“I spent thirty years inside that card while I watched that spirit kill countless numbers of men, women, and children. It wasn't until A man stepped forward who was blessed with the power of the gods was I freed. His name is Light Corona. He managed to bring the Nightmare which had taken control of my body to a stand still, upon which he challenged her to a duel. Within that Duel, I was summoned, and I pleaded for his aid to set me free. Light agreed to help me, and took control of my card. He used me to defeat the nightmare, and by doing so, I was able to take control of my body again. We used my magic and his technology to seal the nightmare back into her card to never be seen again. From there, I was lost. I didn't know how to return home, and the people of that land feared and rejected me, not that I could blame them. All but one of them that is. Light took me in, and helped me get back here. However, I kept him with me. We have three children together, and he has lived here ever since.” Twilight didn't know what to say. While this would fill in the hundred year gap, and the reason that half of Upper Canterlot burned one fateful night one hundred and fifty years ago, this man she was speaking of has never been mentioned in any text. Much less the kids or other dimension.

“Twilight, If I can find love in a dimension where my body was used to kill and terrorize its citizens, then even you can make friends. This mission Celestia is going to send you on, it is very important that you remember that fact. The people you meet will be ones who would never leave your side. Now we must go. The time for your match is approaching, and Kibitz has a new Disk for you.”

Twilight had nothing to say. It hurt, more than anything. In one instance, she really felt that she had a friend. But even if Luna was willing to play that role, with all that was happening today, the last six months would become something of a false reality after the next hour passes. It really was the end of the world. Twilight was slow to move. She said nothing, simply following the Night Queen who had just given her a heart felt speech. How could she respond? The trust she felt from Luna was the most genuine thing she'd ever felt from another person outside of the man who helped her survive that year on the streets. It felt just like when he was hauled off in the police vehicle, never to be seen again, and Twilight was shipped back to her parents. All alone, again. The two traveled out from the Shooting gallery on foot this time, with Tsukiko leading the way. Since she had told Twilight her story, she had yet to let go of her hand. If she had, she feared Twilight might just drift away again.

“Twilight... will you please say something?” The two had stopped walking just as the sun started to break the horizon. The indigo haired girl keeping her head down, failing to make a movement or response to her worried friend. “Twilight...” Tsukiko tried to walk forward, but was stopped by the force of the girl's hand pulling her back.

“Luna... or, I guess is should call you Tsukiko. Do you really think... I can... make friends? Like you and Black, or Shining? Do people like you really just exist out there? I mean, just, most of these students here are shallow, or outright afraid of me. You and Sola are really the only ones who ever approached me with no real goal in mind.” Tsukiko looked at the sullen girl. This seemed to weigh heavily on her mind. More so than the two sisters originally imagined. What's more, the girl probably believes that Black is either dead or rotting in jail. If only she knew the truth…

“Oh, Twilight, what a mess you are.” The slightly shorter Blue haired Angel hugged the Mage and wrapped her bony wings around her. “If anyone has the power to do anything they wanted, it would be you. You could not know the potential which you posses, and if you did, then maybe things would be different than they are now. But that is neither here nor there. You wish to know? Then you must find out for yourself. I believe, that good people exist everywhere. Today will be a good day, no matter what it brings us.” Twilight returned the hug.

“You really were my friend this whole time... I'm glad that I can finally see that, even if I wont see you for a while after today...” Tsukiko released herself from Twilight.

“Hold on to my hands, tightly! You only have a few minutes before your match, and you need to be on the top floor of the stadium right now!” Twilight nodded while trying to recover from her emotional spill, and did as she was told. The Angel girl took off, at a speed which Twilight didn't know was possible. Unlike their flight from two hours ago, this one cleared the school grounds in seconds. Her thin, leathery, dark blue and black wings with silver tips bending the light around them, leaving a trail behind. As the stadium grew closer, the two lowered in speed, and finally landed just outside the stadium doors.

“Ha, Ha, hah~. My, I haven’t flown that fast in a long time, ooh.” She set Twilight down and stepped back. A little light headed, Twilight tried to steady the Angel, but failed, resulting them crashing on top of each other.

“Ah, Ms. Sparkle, and...?” An elderly man dressed in a piano black vest and pants with white collared button-up shirt had come out from the doors to the stadium. He levitated the two girls with his index fingers, and set them on their feet. He then warped a feather duster to his hand and began to dust the two off.

“Oh, uh, thanks, old man.” Said Twilight, still unused to the butlers and maids that Celestia and Luna employed.

“Oh, um, yes, thank you, sir Kibitz.” The elderly man turned to Tsukiko with narrowed eyes.

“I don't believe we've met. How do you know my name?” The angel nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Um, well, that is... uh... Bye Twilight! Do not let her kill you!” The angel ran to the edge of the concrete and took off just as fast as she'd arrived. Bet she didn't intend to let that out, Twilight thought.

“Well, I suppose that was a friend of yours. How do you do Ms. Sparkle?” The elderly man bowed to the Mage, who, awkwardly bowed in return.

“Oh, uh, fine I guess. Um... Why exactly are you here? You're one of the Queen's servants right?” The old Mage nodded.

“Why yes, I am. I was sent by Celestia to greet you and give you this.” Kibitz handed Twilight an unusual looking duel disk that was possibly several generations older than the one she had been using, but she could tell that this one was handmade. The screen was larger than the standard issue ones, and it had a more rounded design. It was the same color lavender as the streak in her hair with dark violet runes etched all along the sides of the base surrounding the screen. Upon further inspection, the runes were of an ancient language that was only still spoken by the sisters and a few people close to them. The language was an archaic form of the ancient Mage language from three thousand years prior to the settling of Fauna. Supposedly, the Mage tribe arrived in Fauna from the sands of the distant west of the earth, just as the Angles arrived from the north, and the Terrans from the east. When the three tribes finally did settle in Fauna, it was discovered that a group of humans had already been living there for years before then, yet no groups of humans were ever found. Just empty settlements, covered in ash. Within these settlements, the same ancient runes of this language were found carved into stone, but the language was of a higher form than what the Mages could read. It wasn't until the Queens ascended over one thousand years later could the runes be deciphered, since wings and magic weren't the only thing they gained. But even so, The Queens refuse to divulge what the runes say to this day. All they will speak about them, is that they are not meant for mortal men.

“The Day Queen commissioned myself to make that particular disk, and as my son is the current owner of the Kibitz Corporation, It is the best duel disk money can buy. Using the frame work for the next generation duel disk which is to be released later this winter, this disk has more storage space than any other using new pocket dimension technology that my son Kiebzen has co-invented with Apollo Sombra. The runes are there for you specifically. The Day Queen carved them in her self. She told me that they would absorb the extra magic that you produce when you enter heated duels, and also absorb dangerous magic you might receive when dueling.” Yeah. I bet it will. Oh gods, I'm gonna get burned to death in the next ten minutes, Twilight thought. Kibitz continued. “If you ever find yourself drained of magic, this disk has a unique function tied to those runes which will allow you to use what it stores.”

Kibitz took the disk and pressed a small button on the right side of the disk right next to the volume and power buttons. Then a small device that looked similar to a flash drive popped out. “This is where it will store your magic. When it reaches a certain capacity, somewhere between 85 and 90% full, a warning message will be displayed that the disk needs to be emptied. Celestia would not tell me what would happen if the disk ever reached or surpassed full capacity, but the grave tone in which she said the words 'let's pray that that doesn't happen' leads me to believe that the resulting discharge would prove stronger than a nuclear explosion. However, be assured that the occasion will be unlikely to happen. Do you know the scale in which magic energy is recorded in?” Of course she did. The first thing Mages are taught in elementary school is the magic scale. Magic acts most like electricity so the Arc Watt scale is used to register it.

“Yes I do.” She said while trying to hide the sarcasm. Kibitz handed Twilight the device.

“That little capsule, covered in her majesty's runes, is capable of holding twenty thousand Giga Arc Watts.” Twilight nearly dropped the little device. Twenty thousand Giga Arc Watts!? This little thing could hold all of the magic used to power Canterlot on it's own! That's a whole exponent above a Terra Arc Watt! What in the hell are these runes?

“Are you for real old man!? How in the hell did she do that!? Wait. Does she really think that I'm even capable of producing that much magic?” The Butler was beginning to take offense to the old man comment.

“Well, on average, a Mage is at most, capable of producing ten Giga Arc Watts a week. You however, are capable of producing that in a day. In a dueling situation, you either almost injure or have injured your opponents. The limiter on a standard issue Duel disk is about one hundred Mega Arc Watts, and most people as a whole cannot produce that magic in such a short time, be they Mage, Terran, Angel, or otherwise. You are the outlier in this, as you can produce that much magic with ease. I believe, given a year, you could fill the device on your own. But Celestia believes that it will be 90 percent filled by the end of the week, at minimum. I don't know what she has in store for you, but you had best prepare.” Twilight could feel impending doom creeping up on her. Just what did Celestia intend to have me do? But none the less, the disk was impressive.

“Wow. This is really something, old man. I'm not the greatest programmer in the world, but I've read a bunch into the subject. Can I put a Navi in this thing?” A Navi is an artificial Intelligence that is the medium between the user interface and the other programs the duel disk can run. Originally, the duel disk was only developed with the ability to create an artificial state where the use of soul cards would have much less of a physical strain on the player so people with weaker souls were on even footing when dueling, and only raw emotional power could cause breaks in the limiter. Eventually, due to the prominence of the game affecting most aspects of life, every living person was in possession of a Duel disk. But there came problems with that. Before matter waves, actual metal apparatuses were used to read cards through the system, and they were large and clunky, making them hard to carry around all the time. In the mid 2900's after Duel disks had finally reached the size of an average laptop with half the ability to perform as one, the matterwave was invented. It came suddenly and out of nowhere, but this technology was quickly implemented in everything from children's toys to construction equipment. Matterwaves kicked nearly every old piece of tech out of the water, and opened up several new possibilities.

About seven years ago, the genius inventor Apollo Sombra found a way to use matter waves to create a hole into another reality which he called a pocket dimension. The pocket dimension was almost as revolutionary as the matter waves themselves, improving nearly every kind of storage in existence. This new tech, combined with the use of matter waves gave Duel disks the ability to become the one device used as all, acting as high power computers, phones, global positioning systems, video game devices, and most importantly, duel disks. Being easy to manufacture with the new pocket dimension tech, the price of duel disks plummeted, and became available to everyone in the country instead of just the rich. Navi's were invented later along the line, by the same man, Apollo Sombra, with the help of an unknown programmer. Using a form of magic known as 'the soul arts', or as it's known in other parts of the world, black magic, one has the ability to create a soul out of the living energy exposed in the world. The artificial soul can then be transplanted into a machine or, back before black magic was completely banned except for the sole purpose of creating Navis, into a corpse, which could then be controlled by it's creator to perform various tasks, like a homunculus, or artificial human. Navis serve almost as companions to the duel disk's owner due to the rare case of free will emerging, but only Mages can produce them, and as such, the price of a Duel disk with one once again skyrocketed back to where it was before the matter wave boom of 2967.

Kibitz took the capsule from Twilight and inserted it back into it's position in the Duel disk and placed it on Twilight’s out stretched arm. Rather than telescope out, the device seemed to spread a coat of something around Twilight’s wrist and then solidify in place. Above her shirt, it felt almost like a gel, but when touched, gave the texture of a metal. The old Mage looked at his watch down through his small round glasses, and then back a Twilight.

“While I detest the practice of Artificial soul creation, yes it is capable. However, I must protest you doing so. An artificial soul is not something meant for this earth. Artificial souls were the root of all black magic to exist. The atrocities committed over that dark practice nearly drove your Mentor mad back in the 2000's. When I was but a teenager working for the Queens, I would overhear Celestia tell Luna of the nightmares she still has over those dark times.” Twilight knew very well that that was true.

One night a few years back, Twilight had a dream. The dream was the most vivid and unusual of any she'd ever seen. It was like she was looking through some sort of window, watching Celestia and Luna battle in a forest. The two fought fiercely, but the black humanoid creatures assaulted them endlessly. Eventually they overwhelmed Luna, and smothered her in some black liquid. After that, Celestia would cry out to Luna, but at the same time, she would be stabbed in the chest by one of the figures. She then turned to slay it, but it had Luna's face, and she paused. Kicking away from the creature, she took to the sky and began to conjure a burning ball of energy in her hands, intending to try and eliminate everything at once. But just before she would strike, a group of people would be brought out tied to logs and gagged, crying in front of the Queen. Once again she was unable to do anything, and all, and then the ten people would be beheaded one by one. She rushed to try and save them, but each of the black creatures would take the face of one of the ten, and she would be unable to attack.

Completely in anguish, a fire would surround her, burning hot and bright. It expanded until all of the black creatures were consumed within, and burned to ash. All that would be left was Celestia, alone in the desolate land, crying to herself. When Twilight woke from this dream the first time, Luna was waiting in the room with her. Luna said to Twilight that she'd seen things she shouldn't have, and that night would be the last time it ever happened. To this day, Twilight had not forgotten that dream. Twilight decided that she'd forgo the Navi this time around. But those ten people... who were they? She knew one was Luna, but the others were all unknown.

“Um, Mister Kibitz, two or so years ago, I had this dream, but really I think I was watching that nightmare Celestia was having. There were ten people executed in front of Celestia in it, and I know one was Luna, but, the other nine were unknown to me. A few of them looked like young, and most of them were male. Do you know who they might be?” Kibitz quickly realized what she was talking about.

“I'm sure you know that the Queens each have a family right now? Those people were likely hers and Luna's spouses and children. As long as your counting is correct, then your number is accurate. If I know that woman, the thing she fears the most is to be unable to protect those she loves. And if you had this dream two years ago, then there is no doubt about it. Now, head to the field. You have three minutes before you're late for your match.” Twilight started scratching her head in irritation.

“Damn it! If I'm late for this, she'll set me on fire on purpose! Thanks old man! If I manage to live through this, you'll have to tell me more!” Twilight pushed the doors open and headed in the large stadium. The elevator to the arena platform was open and waiting for her. As soon as she stepped in, the computer came on with the words 'Twilight Sparkle registered. Now moving to Arena.' flashing across the back wall. The elevator dinged and suddenly the Duel disk she was wearing turned itself on. Her deck started to be imported from her old disk back in her dorm, and the words Duel mode engaged flashed across its screen. When the doors opened, across the field in all her gold and white regalia, stood the Day Queen of Fauna.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

The morning sun glistened upon the pink, purple, green, and aqua colors that made Celestia’s hair. The gold and white armor against the white body suit she was wearing shined unlike anything Twilight had ever seen. Even when she was living at the castle, Twilight had only ever seen pictures of Celestia in her regalia. Even the armor itself was kept in a pocket dimension, hidden away. If the legends are true, That armor was forged by Starswirl himself. Starswirl was the most talented Mage ever born in Fauna, and his Mage's mark was that of the night sky, signifying the endless magic he possessed. The man lived for nearly three hundred years, tripling the average life span of people now, and he acquired more knowledge in his life than any has since the Queens. He was the only known person in history to master the same ancient runes that only the Queens can read to this day. The armor they wear was forged with those very same runes by him. It's said that anyone in that armor could take down a country when paired with Celestia's Tyrfing, but Celestia with her sword and armor... She could take the world.

The Stadium was just to the front of the school grounds, being separated by a major road that cut through all of Canterlot. It was built out of Dragon spine stone like nearly all of the buildings in upper Canterlot and every feature within was either made out of or lined with wrought black iron mined from deep within Dragon spine Major, the tallest mountain in the Dragon spine range, where Canterlot was built upon. All screens focused in on Celestia, and she levitated a microphone from the edge of the stadium to herself. “Good morning, citizens of Canterlot! Today is the first day of the summer sun celebration!” Twilight had completely forgotten why the Exhibition match was being held outside of punishing her. Next Saturday was June 15 of 3016. Celestia's birthday and the summer solstice had fallen on the same day this year, and it was said to be one one of the luckiest days of the century, and literally one of the two biggest holidays in Fauna.

“To mark this special occasion on this special year, I am going to showcase my very own Soul cards!” The crowd erupted. Twilight almost made a squeal in excitement herself, but then she realized why she was the other exhibitionist and not Luna. This was a punishment. And a showcase of Celestia's overwhelming power. “And joining me as my opponent will be my own personal student, Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight began to think that the duel may not even be the punishment. Just being the center of all this attention was making her dizzy. Regardless of her reputation among the other students, they were too hyped by the Queen to not cheer at her every word. Celestia caught Twilight’s eye and gave her a smile and a wink. Twilight then started to hear Celestia's voice in her head.

Are you ready? I sure hope that all that talk yesterday wasn't just you lashing out at me. “Two thousand years ago, My Sister and I brought unity with the magic game, Duel Monsters, to the three human races, through the power of the tablets, which we now call Soul Cards! Without further ado,”

While I will agree that I was just mad at you at the time, I've learned a lot over the past fourteen hours, and after this, I just want to know two things. Exactly how much of my life have you been manipulating from behind the curtain? And who were all those people I saw in your nightmare? Luna told me she married a man named Light Corona, so I imagine- Celestia warped a second mic to Twilight and cut the telepathy.

All you need to know right now is the chant. We'll talk later. The two began the holiday chant that was established ever since dueling was brought to the world. “From the Heavens to the Earth and through all the Magic in between!”

“The power of souls clash in sound and light!”

“War no more, competition reigns supreme!”

“The burning soul's display of might!”

(Crowd) “Celebration~”

“DUEL!” Celestia bowed to Twilight. I'll give you a chance to defend yourself. If you can outlast my turn, I'll tell you anything you want to know. That was the signal that she was to take the first turn. Great. She is giving me this and only this turn to try and defend myself. Oh gods. She's going to end it immediately. Might as well draw my hand... wait a minute. This is the card Redheart gave me! I might just survive!

“First Off, I'll activate the effect of Star Magician Galileo! When I control no cards, I can special summon him from my hand, but I can't normal summon this turn. Then I activate his other effect, I can add one star spell card to my hand from my deck. The card I add is Star Rebellion Stance!” This should be able to keep me alive for a little while, all I need now is swan and Newton to make Andromeda with. If I can make it to my next turn, Stance should get me the game. Knowing her though, I wouldn't be able to get away with Copernicus' effect to destroy whatever she had in store for me, so I guess ram will have to do.

“Next up, I activate the quick play, Gathering Stars! With this card, I can tribute one star monster I control to add any number of monsters equal to its total level! I tribute the level 6 Galileo to add Level four Star Magician Newton, level one Shooting Star Swan, and level one Shooting Star Ram! Then I activate the effect of Newton! By discarding one LIGHT monster, I can special summon him from my hand! When he's summoned this way, I can add one Star spell card to my hand, I add Star Fusion! I fuse the Newton on the field with the swan in my hand! He who holds the power of heaven in his hands, come forth and show the majesty of the galaxy! Appear, Magic Star Andromeda, The Galaxy Magician!” The crowd roared at the monster summoned, all screens panning in on Andromeda, and then something strange happened. Andromeda looked directly at the camera to the left and bowed to the audience, removing his hat and crossing his legs and then returning to his normal position. Cards should not be able to do that. But then again, there was something about him…

“I set two cards and end my turn.” Celestia looked to Andromeda and then back to Twilight.

“Impressive. You've managed to Summon your ace without losing any card advantage at all, very impressive indeed. Now, let's see if you can survive the fire of the sun.” She said with the most evil smile Twilight had ever seen on the regal woman’s face. Oh shit. “First, I draw! Then, I activate the effect of Vassal of Helios! By making his attack zero, I can special summon him from my hand. Then, when Vassal is summoned, I can add one Cosmic spell card from my deck to my hand!” Wow, déjà vu. Didn’t I just do that?

“See something that looks familiar?” Said the Sun Queen. Good job Twilight. Not only did she catch you looking at her monster stupefied, she can read you like a book. Yeah, I’m fucked. And man. What is this heat? It's like there's a big open fire less than ten feet... oh wait, this is what Redheart was talking about yesterday. Come to think of it, she's not even wearing a duel disk! Her left gauntlet is producing a matter wave! Or is it? It looks similar but... It's not the same... “The card I add is Cosmic Ash! I activate Cosmic Ash, by sending a monster from my hand to my grave yard, I can special summon Helios monsters from my deck with the same total level! I send the level 4 Helios assassin to my grave yard and special summon the level 3 Helios Astronomer and level 1 Caller of Helios!” Celestia retrieved the Mic again and addressed the crowd.

“Now, some of you may have noticed this already, but Caller of Helios is a tuner monster, and we all know what that means, right?!” The crowd started to chant. “Sum-mon it! Sum-mon it! Sum-mon it!” Oh gods, what in the world is coming next? Twilight looked at Celestia and noticed something odd. She doubted anyone else noticed it, or could even see it, but a very thin, gold smoke was coming off of Celestia's body. The sound and feeling of her own blood pulsing was all around her. Her own heart felt like it was... matching something. The smell of the stadium had gone from dry stone to a bakery with something filled with bananas in the oven. The air itself tasted sweet. What ever she was going to summon, it was going to be far different than the three crazy hot monsters she had now.

“Now I tune! The level 7 Vassal, level 3 Astronomer, and level 1 Caller; The commander of the betrayers, The foolish king who ruled unjustly, bring forth the heat of the stars to this field, Appear! Helios Caesar, the Betrayed King!” The tuner floated to the center of the field and became a burning ring of fire, in which the other monsters flew toward and became stars. The stars formed a circle inside the ring and the ring of flame began to spin in a circles like a gyroscope. The ball of fire and stars flashed brightly, dazzling the crowd and Twilight, and when the flash disappeared, before them was a massive man, nearly double the height of Andromeda. His body was sculpted like a gods and he wore bright red armor on white tunics covering his orange skin. His wore laced sandals and Golden leaf crown on his bright red hair that flowed down along his back, nearly reaching his elbows. Above him was a large ball of fire, which Twilight guessed was the sun. It was hot. She almost wanted to step away from her spot just to get away from the fire and cool off. It didn't help that she opted for pants under her girl's school uniform. The crowd had gone berserk, shouting and hollering with delight. This was Celestia’s ace monster. And she seemed completely unphased by the heat.

“How do you even wear all that? This heat is ridiculous!” Celestia simply smiled.

“Oh, but now the real fun can begin! First, when Helios is summoned, I can inflict damage to you 500 times the synchro material monsters used to summon him!” Oh shit! Twilight flashed out a barrier to keep from getting burned by the flames, but the barrier could only take so much. After the attack subsided, Twilight realized that this barrier wasn’t going to survive anything more than a tap next attack. It was shattered so much that it made broken glass look more put together. Her life point counter now read 2500. When Twilight looked at her counter, she noticed were the runes glowing along the edge of the disk. The air around it felt cooler than the air around her other hand as well. What ever Celestia was putting out, the disk was catching.

“Furthermore, I activate another effect of Caesar! By discarding one Helios monster, I can inflict damage to you Equal to Its attack! I discard Helios Draconis! Now, Take his 4000 attack!” If she didn’t use Redheart's card now, she would lose.

“Not so fast! I activate the effect of Heartburn Remedy! Once per turn, during either Players turn, I can negate one instance of effect damage and gain the same amount of life points instead!” The spell card opened and a projection of a flask sucked in all of the fire. It then swirled around the flask until it turned blue and poured a gas over Twilight, raising her life point counter to 6500. But Celestia only smiled again.

“It's about time you activated that, I was hoping you would have used it immediately, but you are my student after all.” Oh double shit!

“You knew what it was!?” Twilight called out in astonishment.

“Yes my dear, our doctor friend has always wanted to see me lose at least once. I set two cards, then activate Assassin's effect! By banishing him and one other Helios monster, I can target one Helios monster I control and have it gain attack equal to the second monster banished! I then activate the effect of Astronomer in my grave, and banish him! Now, Twilight Sparkle! This is the end for you! Battle! Caesar, attack Andromeda!” She still had options, it wouldn't end here!

“I activate the effect of Shooting Star Ram In my grave yard! I can banish him to negate one attack!” This one had to have worked, but looking at Celestia’s unbroken smile, clearly, there was more.

“That takes care of one, but how about two!? When Draconis is banished to activate a Pyro type monster's effect, I can target one monster to have it gain an additional attack! Round two, FIGHT!” No! It can’t end like this! She has to tell me the truth! If I use Scorpion now, Andromeda will over power her Caesar by 1000!

“Not yet! I will survive this turn! I activate the effect of Shooting Star Scorpion in my hand! I can banish this card and two others from my hand to have one monster lose 2500 attack points!” She saw Celestia tap her gauntlet twice, but then the fire ball connected with Andromeda, and she was forced to put up a barrier to keep from burning alive. The resulting explosion practically nuked the field, easily snapping Twilight’s barrier into pieces and sending her all the way across the stadium, hitting a wall and bouncing to the floor with a hard thump. She felt broken again. Just like her hand yesterday. She could feel the numbness creeping on her left shoulder. Then she felt the burns. The edges of her uniform were completely singed.

“*Puff *Pant. I... I did it...” she said, but upon seeing Celestia kneeling over her, she knew the opposite was true.

“I'm sorry Twilight, but this really is the end.” She said in the sweetest tone she could possibly make. “I activated my trap cards when you tried to lower Caesar's attack. Cosmic Solar Radiation and Cosmic Light Spectrum. When Radiation is activated, my opponent cannot activate the effects of cards in the hand or the grave yard and my opponent’s monster effects are negated until the end of my next stand-by phase, and when Spectrum is activated, you cannot activate the effects of spell cards until my next stand-by phase as well. Finally, when a monster my opponent controls leaves the field while Apollo is on the field, they take damage equal to those monster's attack. It's over, Twilight.” The regal woman picked up her slightly charred student bridal style and waved to the still cheering crowd and started toward the elevator to let her sister close the Ceremony. Redheart was waiting.

“You burned her clothes!? Oh great, now she's losing consciousness.” She could feel herself losing feeling everywhere, and soon enough her sight started to fade.

“Look, I'm sorry. I know I probably put too much into this, but could you just fix her? Her little brother is supposed to be here in the next hour, and since I more or less expected this to happen, I was going to spend the day with him.” from what she could still see, Redheart shook her head at the Queen, then took Twilight from her.

“Ugh. Look, Later today, we need to talk Sola. I want to know exactly what you're planning to do with this girl. Hasn't she been through enough already?” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Okay mom. I'm sure your forty years of experience and raising children far outweighs my two thousand of ruling a country. Just make sure she's in good shape before tomorrow morning. I have another child to take care of for the day, and Luna is also working in the same vein. Trust me, and let me work, okay?” Redheart was visibly frustrated, but then she seemed to let it go.

“Whatever. I know for a fact you could take care of this in a few seconds, but I'll do it. I expect a visit today. Got it?” Celestia made a narrow smile at the doctor.

“Demanding the time of the Queen? My my, how humbled are we. You'll get your visit. Take care of the girl. Shes... very precious to me.” After that, a loud ringing started in Twilight's ears. Then her vision was nearly gone.

“She... really cares?” And then, Twilight passed out.

Children of the Sun and the Moon (3)

When Redheart was on her way out, of the stadium, she saw an Angel with monochromatic wings descend toward Celestia he didn't look very old, but the one thing that bothered her was that he looked like Celestia. Redheart had heard rumors of the queens having children, but had never seen them. Back in 2988, she remembered that Celestia had started to gain weight, then suddenly was not seen again for six months.

Of course, this is when the rumors started, but as there was no evidence of a father, or child, so it was dismissed. But consecutively, for four years apart for the next twelve years, she seemed to disappear from the public, for exactly half the year. The same thing happened with Luna as well, around the same time. Supposedly, there are seven children belonging to the queens, each two years from the other. But, Twilight was injured, and now was not the time to be bothering her. She'll get her call later. Redheart would make sure of that.

The Monochrome boy in white, gray, and black, descended upon the Day Queen in the stadium.

“You want me to what!? Are you out of your damn mind!?” Celestia grabbed the boy by the ear, and teleported the two. When they landed in the announcer's box Luna had left moments ago, she slapped him across the room.

“How many times do I have to beat you before you learn not to curse at me outside of the castle!? Geez. Why can't you understand the necessity of tact? YOU'RE AN ASSASSIN! My own son, the assassin, doesn't understand the need for silence. Geez.”

Celestia slapped her right shoulder piece, and most of the gold armor she was wearing disappeared in a white light, returning her to her olive skin tight tank, and brown skin tight pants. The boy picked himself up and stood up a few chairs Celestia had knocked over.

“Fine, whatever, can we just talk about this? I have other assignments! I can't just drop everything to go be this girl's body guard!” He was sitting in the swivel chair, his wings almost spread in stress. Zephraim really was her only option right now, and she knew he still had other people to take care of.

“Look, honey, you are the only one who can do this right now. Your older brother and father are off on some expedition in the south, your cousins are either too far away and already on missions, however, Eclipse will be joining you soon for sure. Your sister is on the other side of the planet, and your younger brother is still in school. You know I can't teleport across the country every day, and neither can your aunt.” His crossed arms seemed to loosen, and his wings sank. He sighed.

“Literally, no one else is here. Great. I guess... do you want me to take care of the kingpin later or...?”

Crap! That's what I had him doing! I guess I'll just take care of that... “Oh, uh, right, yeah, don't worry about him. We'll keep monitoring him and I'll take care of it, if need be. I just need you to protect Twilight, okay? There's something serious going on, and Twilight and these five,” Celestia took six pictures out of her pocket and handed them to Zephraim. “Are the only ones who can deal with it.” He flipped through the pictures, stopped on one, then put them in his coat behind his throwing knives. Celestia smiled and leaned in on him.

“Oh? What's this? Did we see something we like?” The boy stood, and put his hands on his head.

“It's the freckles. She's kinda hot too. How old are these girls?” The Queen wrapped her arms and wings around her son.

“Oh, look, he's finally admitting he has feelings to his mother. I'm so proud!” He struggled underneath his mother's godly strength and slipped out under her arms.

“And you killed it. You totally killed it. Dad would have just given me a high five or something, but you? You killed it.” Her smile grew more wicked.

“What's wrong honey? I'm only 2000 years, old, could you explain to me what exactly I killed?” The boy dropped his arms and stone faced himself.

“Nine o clock train tomorrow? Got it. Bye mom.” Celestia grabbed him by the last feather on his left wing before he could retreat.

“Not so fast, boy. I'm not done with you yet. Under no circumstances are you to let her out of your sight. You may do as you please, as long as you know where all six of them are. Avoid intervening if you can, and if you must, leave no trace of any one or thing you kill. Understand?” The boy landed after his mother released him.

“Thing? What the hell do you have these girls fighting?” Celestia puffed out her nose, and sent him flying with a crash across the room.

“HOW MANY TIMES! HOW MANY TIMES, ZEPHRAIM BLACK ISCANDOR, HOW MANY TIMES!?” The boy dusted himself off, being used to the abuse after twenty years of it.

“Beats me. You. You beat me. Good thing you hide us from the public, otherwise, CPS would be all over this. Anyways, I'm going to go contact Cobalt. He's been on his own mission there for about two weeks, so I might as well see if we can hang out. This... Twilight girl, is she the one you took in a few years ago?” Celestia nodded. “Great. Now I get to deal with the angry teenager. Thanks Mom.” Celestia hugged her son.

“Please be careful. And call me when you can. I can't lose you again.” She released the boy and he stepped back.

“Don't you go worrying about me. I know I'm not immortal now. I won't do anything that I can't handle. I'm gonna go see if I can't kill the kingpin before tonight. I'll call you after we get off the train tomorrow, okay?” Celestia stepped away.

“Alright then. Do as you must.” The boy opened the door, and took off. “Just... quit quoting my younger self, you silly boy.” Celestia Flew away from the room, and watched the last of Luna's closing ceremony from above the seating areas at the top of the stadium. While there, she took out her custom disk from it's sheath on her side to check the time. 10:00 am. Spike Sparkle would arrive at the station in 45 minutes, so she had some time to kill.

Might as well call Redheart now. Better yet talk in person. She stood up from the spot she was sitting, and started to use her magic to find Redheart. She was leaving the girls dorm. She must have dropped off Twilight in her dorm room. Celestia warped to her position, but silently. When she appeared behind Redheart, she used her wings to hover, and followed the Terran doctor. After two minutes of it, Celestia almost let out a giggle, but restrained herself. The pink haired woman stopped and turned to her.

“Congratulations, Celly, you managed to sneak up on me.” Celestia let out her giggling, and sank to the ground.

“I- I'm sorry, I just, couldn't *pf-ft* stop myself.” She calmed down, and then put a hand on the woman's shoulder. “Did you drive here? Or do you still walk like you used to?” Redheart sighed.

“You know I can't drive.” Celestia clapped her hands.

“Great! Lets have a chat at the bus stop.” The queen snapped her yellow glowing fingers, and away the two went. They landed on the empty bench in a sitting position, and Redheart started to look around.

“I don't think I could ever get used to this. No matter how many times you teleport me, I will never be able to not be nauseous afterward.” Celestia leaned back and spread her wings out, putting one in Redheart's face, then returning them folded on her back.

“You have forty minutes, Sang. What do you want to know?” The other woman sneezed a white feather off her nose, and then wiped at it with a handkerchief.

“You know I'm allergic to your feathers! Would you stop doing that!?” Celestia yawned.

“Clock's ticking.” Redheart put her handkerchief back in her purse, and scratched her head.

“Fine. For starters, who was that other Angel you were talking to?” Damn it. “Oh, uh him? Uh... damn it. Fine. That was my son.” Redheart reeled back.

“The rumors were true!? How many kids, whose the father, and what are their names and genders?” Redheart had moved closer to Celestia, and it was too close for her. She slid the woman away with her wing, and then reluctantly answered her questions, but issued a condition first.

“Before I tell you anything else, you must swear that no one will ever hear any of this information from you, on the net or otherwise. Because if it does happen, then I might just have to kill you, mmk?” Redheart nervously nodded.

“I have Three sons and a daughter. I do have a husband, and his name is Sombra Black. I'm sure you know who Apollo Sombra is, correct?” Redheart thought for a moment, and then something clicked.

“You mean the CEO of Kiebzen? The Apollo Sombra?” Celestia nodded.

“His full name is Apollo Sombra Iscandor, and he was our first. He was born on April 6th, 2988. You remember that year? When I suddenly wouldn't see anyone for about half of it? That was because I was pregnant. Athena Black Iscandor, my daughter, was born on September 16th, 2992. Currently, she's part of my special ops team in the Fauna army. Zephraim Black Iscandor, the boy you saw me talking to, is my third child and second son. He was born on December 26th, 2996. He is the leader of my Assassin team. Ever heard of the angels of death?” Redheart's eyes widened again.

“They're real? Celly, people are afraid of them. Is that their purpose? Just to scare the public, or were they actually involved in those cases a few years ago?” Celestia crossed her arms.

“No and Yes. If I wanted to scare the populace, I could do it easier than that. As for the big vein case, that was Zephraim's first big mission. I... almost lost him that year...” Redheart thought she saw Celestia's hands tremble, but then she was back to talking. “and finally, Zeus Sombra Iscandor, my last son, was born on April 5th, 3000. I'm sure you know him. He's a Mage who goes to this school.” Redheart thought for a second, then realized who she was talking about.

“My assistant? Zeus is your son? You've got to be kidding. He doesn't look anything like you!” Celestia leaned in.

“Oh, ho ho ho, no, he is definitely mine. You know what child birth feels like. Now imagine your non-Terran son comes out weighing in at fifteen pounds. Just let that sink in. A fifteen pound baby passed through my body.” Redheart looked at Celestia's hips. She was wide, but no one was fifteen pounds wide. None of Redheart's own kids were even close to that big. And she'd worked in the maternity ward enough to see what children can do to a woman's bones. Sometimes, when twins would come out, the pelvis would fracture.

Angels had it the easiest. Even the giant ones weighed at most four pounds, and it was really weight that contributed to pain and broken bones in childbirth the most. Terran children were the worst to deliver. Even less than a day old, and the child can rip cloth to pieces. They typically weighed in around seven and eight pounds, and when alone, would not cause too much strain on the mother. But the heavier they were the stronger they are from the get go. Non-Terran mothers giving birth to Terrans were the most frequent case of maternal death.

“I'm so sorry. It must have, or at least came close to breaking your bones.” Celestia felt the sudden need to scratch her hips.

“Yeah well, being immortal makes it pretty hard to feel too much pain for a long period of time. Poor Luna had it worse her first time around. When Jupiter, her Terran son, came out in 2990, that kid was sixteen pounds and some change. I honestly thought her body was gonna rip on top of her pelvis being shattered. And she's not as wide or tall as I am either.

After being in battle a since then, she just doesn't feel pain anymore. Every time she gets stabbed in the chest or through the wing, she just laughs, and says 'You could never hurt me the way Jupiter did!' Hell, that's why she named him after the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter Corona Iscandor is the largest baby unofficially on record in Canterlot.” Redheart put her hand to her mouth.

“Dear god. And then she went and had more!?” Celestia nodded.

“Oh yeah she did. Two more sons, four years apart. When I decided to have my first, Luna wanted to have one too, so they could play together, but I realized we would need to hide them from the public. If people knew about our kids, they could become political targets, or be used to get to us, so I made a plan.

I knew I would want four, and Luna said she didn't want to go that far, and neither did Light, so we planned that one of us would run the country while the other was pregnant, and hide ourselves away while it was our turn.

After I had Athena, Luna imagined that Nothing could ever top Jupiter's level of pain, so she went along with the original plan. And she was right. Nothing ever did. I had my neck cut open before I had kids, and now that I think about it, I have not experienced anything more painful before or after Zeus was born. Anyways, her kids are, Jupiter, who was born on November 28th, 2990. Eclipse Corona Iscandor, born on October 21st, 2994. Mage. And Nebula Corona Iscandor, born September 14th, 2998. Angel.” Redheart nodded, but then she asked a question that Celestia was waiting for.

“Okay, but there's something that's been bothering me. You said your husband was Sombra Black, right? You don't mean the Tyrant from the history books do you?” And there it was. Someone was paying attention in their history class.

“In 1060, Sombra Black was born to the northern demon queen. Little is known about her, even to her son, but she raised an even more terrible tyrant, who then took over and enslaved the Crystal empire to the north of Fauna's borders. During his 50 year rule, Sombra was cursed with immortality by a wandering shaman (who I believe to be Starswirl, but he died in 1235, so I didn't find out until much later, and I can't know now.) in 1094.

His body does not age, his abilities cannot increase naturally, he cannot gain or lose strength or weight, and any wound is returned to the state he was in when he was cursed. In 1131, we were asked to set the empire free in exchange for it's land. Seeing as it was a good deal, Luna and I flew to the empire and battled with Sombra.

Our powers were stronger than his, but he had one last gambit before he was defeated, and that was to return the land to darkness. We watched him perform the spell, and I hope to the gods that no one ever does it again. Time froze around us, and started to spread from underneath that black castle around the City. We managed to escape, but the empire vanished off the face of the earth.

2530, the empire returned to the planet. Sombra then began a plan to spread into Fauna, and take over. This time, when we caught wind of his return, we didn't waste time in fighting him, and just sealed the bastard's magic immediately. Sombra was imprisoned in Canterlot castle, and the empire was annexed into Fauna, where it's now known as Crystal City, which I’m sure you already know.

Now, what no one knows, is that in 2866, Luna found an ancient magic artifact that started to corrupt her soul and take over he body. By some horrible turn of events, Luna was lost to another dimension, and I never thought I would see her again. I had been alone for almost 100 years. The only person on the planet I could actually talk to like I did Luna was currently locked away in a prison cell under the castle, and so I took a visit, albeit out of desperation more than anything.

Of course, he wasn't the happiest person around, but with his magic sealed, he was just a weak Terran. Eventually, I managed to get him to talk to me, and I found out that he's wasn't completely terrible, just the product of a bad childhood. I started to take him around the city, and he began to open up to me. He had never seen a place with this much activity or happiness. All he knew from birth was to cause misery or receive it, because that's how his mother raised him.

Even if he was a Tyrant, He knew a lot about how to make a city more efficient, and so we remodeled Canterlot together, as you might know it, the remodel of 2960. We got close to each other, and soon enough, he tried to take me out on a 'date' if you could call it that. The 'Black Demon King' was a total spaz, he didn't know what to do with himself around me now the he had 'feelings', but man, did he try his hardest to win me over. Eventually, he started to get it right, and his silly persistence caused me to fall for the old fool.

Shortly after what seemed like the most perfect evening, he told me he wanted to confess something. He said that the spirit of his mother visited him in a dream, and told him that, If I really loved him, I'd let him have his magic and take my place with me at his side. I wanted to say yes. But I knew I couldn't. If his existence was let known to the public, there would have been outcry, and riots.

So I made a plan. I told him, 'I will release your magic, but in exchange, you must then duel me. If you win, I will say yes to your proposal. However, if you lose, then you're my bitch, until death, do us part.' The game began, and then he started to win. But then, I pulled back. We came down to the wire. I had 500 left, and he had 1000. I was in position to finish him off with Caesar, but he had some cards set, and I couldn't get rid of them. I bet on it, and took the game.

Then I ran over and picked him up bridal style with all the joy in the world, and he said to me, 'until death do us part' and we kissed. It wasn't until later that I found out he could have won. Had he activated his trap when I attacked, I would have lost, and your current ruler would Sombra Black. But I was too happy to care. He chose me over everything else, and I wouldn't have it any other way.” Redheart was touched by the story. She'd never seen Celestia with such a warm look in her eyes. Pure happiness, is what that was.

“Aw. Celly, that's so sweet.” Celestia playfully punched Redheart in the shoulder.

“Remember, If you tell anyone, I'll have to kill you~” she sang.

“Oh, whatever, you old bird. Well. I think I only have the obvious one left. What do you plan to do with Twilight?” Celestia stood up with her orange Disk in her hand and turned to Redheart.

“Ooh, sorry, time's up. Better luck next time. You'll just have to wait and see on that one.” Redheart tried to get it out of her

“Wait a minute! Celestia! That's what this was supposed to be about in the first place!” The bus had come and Celestia was waiting at it's door. After a single child with lime green hair, a purple hoodie, beige shorts, and tennis shoes got off, she took his hand and they started in the other direction. The Tall woman turned and winked at the doctor, then warped away.

“Ugh! Damn it!” Redheart stormed on the bus, paid her toll, and took a seat. The next stop, right across the street from her house.

“So, Spike, how was the trip over here? Not too uncomfortable, was it?” The ten year old looked up at the giant Queen. He was almost 4'6” but that was merely half as tall as the queen, it seemed. His head was just above her hip.

“Oh, uh, it was okay I guess.” the boy was silent for a moment. After he arrived at Celestia academy III, the day queen and some pink haired woman were talking, and she grabbed his hand and warped them to some room he'd never seen before. The ceiling was high and formed a dome. If he had to guess, this was likely her office, on the top floor near the back of the building. In class today, the teacher was teaching about archetecture. The feature on the top of the school was a spire, and right under that was a dome.

“Is there something wrong, dear?” Celestia brought the boy's wandering eyes back to her face in the violet leather chair she was sitting in across from him. The room was decorated in ornate violet and gold rugs, drapes, and curtains, while the tables and desk were made of white marble.

“Well, I was kinda expecting to see Twilight. It's been almost three months since I last saw her.” Canterlot, the capital city, was divided into three major parts: Lower, Middle, and Upper Canterlot. Upper Canterlot, ranged from halfway up to the top of Dragon spine Major, the largest mountain in in the Dragon spine range. In it were the Celestia Academies, several headquarters of Fauna's major corporations, a few high class stores and Canterlot Castle, the home of the Queens.

Middle Canterlot was past the wall of Upper Canterlot at the middle of the mountain, to the wall of Middle Canterlot, which surrounded the mountain base. Middle Canterlot was more or less a giant shopping district with public schools dotting the mountain side here and there. Wears from all over the world were sold here, along side the very first Kibitz market, the leading company in consumer technology.

Lower Canterlot is the residential section of the city. Houses and Living complexes were very rare in Upper Canterlot, and uncommon in Middle, but made up most of Lower.

The Sparkle family was relocated there after an explosion that took Twilight's father, Night Sparkle's legs. Night worked for a small 'energy company' known then as Magica Igna. This however, was just a cover. In truth, Magica Igna was actually an underground base for the mafia known as the Ignis family. The Ignis family is known for violent, but untraceable crimes, illegal drug trade, and human trafficking. This mafia had more or less complete control of Canterlot's underground for a very long time, and this didn't change until two years ago.

The original Angels of Death were sent to Magica Igna after they received an anonymous tip concerning the family's whereabouts. The tip was a trap and three of the six members of the Angels were killed in the explosion that nearly blew the Magica Igna office to smithereens.

Night was unfortunate enough to have come to work right after the raid of the building had started, and was caught in the explosion. His right foot and left fore leg were vaporized in the fire, and he sustained severe burns on most of his lower body. He reacted quickly enough to put up a barrier to his chest, which is most likely the reason he lives to this day. The three remaining angels found Night outside of the ruins and brought him to the nearest hospital, where he was then treated for his burns.

No longer being able to walk, Night and Velvet Sparkle had few options to them. The treatment to have his legs regrown on top of healing the damaged skin on his lower body would have cost a new house in middle Canterlot and then some.

Night working for a false company didn't help either. When he was hired, he was given a dental and health plan, a house in Middle Canterlot for he and his family to live in, and a new vehicle to drive to work in every day. Now that Magica Igna was destroyed, the records that it existed were gone completely, the car was found to be stolen, and the house had been put on the market three days prior. In short, the Sparkle family was screwed. With the savings Night had put away, the five had managed to find an apartment in Lower Canterlot where they would live while Velvet and her fourteen year old son, Shining, would work to try and pay for everything.

Some where in that year, Twilight Sparkle, the nine year old daughter, ran away from home while she was attending school in Middle Canterlot. Eleven months passed before Twilight was found and returned home. Shortly after, an invitation to Celestia Academy I was sent to the Sparkle family. Due to her prowess in class, in dueling, and uniquely strong magical ability, she had been selected to be given a free full ride through school until she finished.

This had sounded too good to be true for the Sparkle family, until they found the condition for her entrance into school. Twilight must duel a proctor that is selected to match her skill and magic level, then come out of it victorious or with a draw. Without much thought to Twilight's protests, the parent's went through with the exam.

During that duel, Twilight was nearly defeated without so much as denting her proctor. Her emotions were unstable, and the record shows that she was muttering about someone named black or otherwise, and she simply had a melt down during the ordeal. Toward the end of the duel, a display of color and sound was heard and seen across all of Fauna, just to the west of the Dragon spine range.

When the near blast level noise hit Canterlot, Something awoke within Twilight. An Ascended-level surge of magic started coursing through the girl. Her Mage's mark appeared on her back and shone with a brilliant white light, and the cards she was using to play with morphed into her own soul cards without so much as an incantation.

Seeming to be absent of mind, Twilight's body continued to duel and defeated the proctor against all odds, but in the process, the girl nearly killed the man. Her uncontrollable magic fed into the game to make her monsters more real than matter waves ever could, and the proctor was finished by Twilight's Fusion monster with a stab to the chest.

Upon completion of the duel, Twilight was rendered unconscious, and the bleeding proctor was left on the floor writhing in pain. The proctor was rushed to the hospital, and the Queens were notified immediately. This would be the second case of a child displaying the power of an Ascended in the third millennium, and the fourth in history, including the Queens themselves.

About ten days after the incident, Twilight woke up in Upper Canterlot Hospital to her father standing beside her. The Day Queen had declared the day after the incident that she would take in and train this girl personally, and the family in question would be accommodated accordingly. As such, Night was given his legs back, a job with the city government, and a house was prepared in Lower Canterlot for the family to live in, free of charge.

Since then, Twilight has been taking private lessons from the Queens and attending the Celestia Academies. She visits her family every three months for a week, then returns to Upper Canterlot to continue her schooling. Last she had visited home was in the beginning of April this year, so her next break would be in two weeks.

“Well, you shouldn't worry about her. She's had an eventful morning, so there's a good chance that she'll be asleep until seventeen or so. Did you have any plans as to what you wanted to do before you leave for Pony Ville with her tomorrow?”

Earlier that week, the Sparkles received a letter from Queen Celestia. Due to his unique position as the only half dragon human known to man, Spike was to be trained by the Queens alongside his older sister. His mother was a cousin of Night Sparkle who died due to an unknown diseased at the young age of twenty eight, shortly after giving birth to Spike.

Night was her only living relative, so the child was given to him. He and his wife were thinking of having another child of their own around the same time, but decided against it, and took Spike in as their own. Spike was a unique thing to deal with. He grew with pale scales rather than skin, but kept the appearance of being human.

His 'skin' was ten times harder than the average human's and could stop bullets. He has the young wings of the vampiric strain of angles like Luna, and a small reptilian tail. When angered, his scales turn a violet color, and his eyes become like that of a reptile, changing his vision to heat and motion hyper sensory.

As an infant, when he was burped, fire would come out of his mouth. As he grew, he could spout flames on command. It wasn't until recently that it was discovered that the fire he produced has a magical property that can transport material through other fires.

When Spike burned a paper during class in the winter, the same page materialized itself out of the embers of the fireplace at his home. Velvet discovered the page, and Shining, who was home from his military training at the time, decided to test out the theory. After proving true, Shining wrote a report to the Queens, and since then, they've been watching Spike's progress.

“Well, I did want to go visit that famous comic shop here in the Upper level. They say that there's nothing like it anywhere else, and they have the rarest printed editions of any comic anywhere! Man, if I could get my hands on a copy of the Devil Summoners series...” Celestia took her Disk from her side and opened a search menu. She had visited every building in the city on multiple occasions in one of her covers or another, and she believed he was referring to the Ivory Pages book shop just a few blocks from the school. After pulling up a picture of the store front she handed the disk to Spike.

“Is this the place?” The boy took hold of the device and scanned the image.

“I think... so? Twilight said she goes there all the time, but I can never remember what the place is called.”

Definitely Ivory Pages. Twilight spends almost as much time there as she does at her dorm. The allowance I give her never seems to be enough to buy every book she wants, so she always sits in the coffee shop within the store and reads whatever is available to her.

“I'm sure this is it. Why don't we take a trip over there?” The boy handed her the disk back.

“Really?” He was visibly excited to go, but tried to show some restraint in the presence of the Day Queen. She smiled and stood up.

“Sure, why not? Have you ever flown before?” The boy looked a tinge depressed at the question.

“Uh... no. The doctors say that I'm too heavy to fly on my own, so the best I can do is glide with what I have.” Celestia took the boy by the waist, tossed him on her back, and put his legs around her waist.

“Hold on to my shoulders. We'll be there in a few minutes.” The boy was surprised to be where he was, but did as he was told. Celestia opened the large window to the balcony from her office, and leapt from it with spike on her back.

The jump itself could have cleared the near mile long school, but after flapping twice, the two had risen high in the sky. The air was clear, and the noon sun was bright. From their vantage point, Spike could see all the way past the wall of Lower Canterlot to the Everfree forest a few miles past it.

“Wow! I've never seen outside the walls! Is that the Everfree forest over there?” Celestia almost cringed at the name. That blood drenched forest was the sight where countless acts of dark magic had taken place. Hundreds upon thousands were sacrificed for the 'soul arts' as the Mages liked to refer to them back in the early days of Fauna when the races were still privy to prejudice.

The genre of horror was started because of the events that took place there. People today take it for granted, but back when we had to deal with it... No one should have to witness those kinds of atrocities more than once in a life time.

“That's a dark place, Spike. If you can avoid going there ever in your life time, please do.” The boy shuffled his position on the Queen's back as they descended toward a white marble faced store.

“Why is that? I thought it was just a big forest that had red trees.” He asked.

“Do you know the legend of the red trees of the Everfree?” Celestia replied after thinking it over.

“There's a legend about it?” The ground began to creep closer, and at the same time the two descended slower, and eventually landed softly. Celestia helped Spike off her back. She took the boy's hand, and walked in to Ivory Pages. The two had found a couple of large leather chairs near the café, and then Celestia began.

“I suppose, I should start from the beginning then. This story isn't one they normally teach fourth graders.” She shuffled her wings and crossed her legs, then put her hands together in front of Spike like she was about to pray. They began to glow with her golden magic, and she opened them like a book. Inside, a golden colored story book began to show images of lands and kingdoms.

“Long ago, there were three kingdoms. Archea, the land of the Mages, Gaia, the land of the Terrans, and Sehpira the land of the Angels. Gaia's border was everything east of the drowned river, and the Dapple desert. Sephira's border was north of the Dragon spine range, the Everfree, Cloud sea, and the drowned river. Everything else belonged to Archea, including the Everfree.

Now, back then, Mages would experiment with magic in any way they wished. Many of them believed it to be immoral to experiment with other Mages, but this didn't stop a few of them who didn't care. Among magic, there is a kind of magic known as Dark or Black magic. This particular magic strain typically deals in using the souls of humans to accomplish various things, such as creating new souls, animating objects or corpses, and sometimes, creating creatures.”

Her hands continued to display pictures of the things she would describe, albeit a more child friendly version of some of the more gruesome topics.

“When I was young, Mages believed themselves to be above the other two races, thinking that they should rule all of Fauna, and then the world over. Even if they believed that though, It could never be true because their magic would be ignored by the Terrans, and avoided by the Angels. For the most part, this caused them to always be on even footing with the other two races. However, this changed with the discovery of dark magic.

In this land, there exists a feature known as the soul vein. Deep within the ground, magic flows naturally through the earth, sometimes giving a Mage a boost in their abilities, Terrans a jump in their strength, and Angels more speed in their flight. One of these soul veins runs straight under the Dragon spine range, where it then pools under the Everfree forest. When the Mages discovered the soul vein pool, they discovered dark magic with it. Using the free flowing souls within the vein, they could animate things, restore life to plants and trees, and heal the sick.

But over time, and after countless battles with the other two races, the Mages could never accomplish the one thing they truly yearned for. The ability to bring back the dead and cheat death himself. Then, something changed. While exploring the forest, a group of three Mages came across an extraordinary beast, with a magnificent hide. When the Mages went to slay the beast, the beast said to them,

'If you never return to my home, I will teach you that which you yearn for most.'

The Mages agreed to the beasts terms, and each Mage was taught something different. The first Mage learned how to use magic to fly, for he wished to be born an Angel. The second Mage learned how to increase his strength, for he wished to be born a Terran. But the last Mage was taught something else. The other two Mages returned home and passed along the knowledge they had gained, but the last was never seen in the cities of Archea again.

When a group would enter the forest after that day, regardless of race, they would never come back. The last Mage would kill the group and use their souls to extend his own life, and create monsters to serve him. From then on, he obtained followers who he passed his art of the damned on to, and slowly, the group of black Mages increased over time.

Luna and I were granted our Ascension and ended wars to unite Fauna, but in truth, we simply united everything outside of that forest. A time came when the Necromancers of the Everfree tried to invade Canterlot. Hundreds were slaughtered before we could take action to end it. Their tainted magic was strong enough to repel even my magic, and our people were being killed left and right. With no other options, the only way to save the ones we were sworn to protect, was to kill.

A day passed, and the necromancers had all been ended. The walls of Canterlot were then built to protect my people and the blood of the thousand necromancers of the Everfree stained it for eternity, and that, is why the forest is red.” Celestia closed her hands and the little magic projection ended, just like closing a book. By the time Celestia had finished her story, the two had been sitting in the Ivory Pages for half an hour.

“Wow... that's... kinda dark...” the boy said nervously. “Did you really... kill them all?” Celestia scratched the back of her head.

“To tell you the truth, I could never know. Even after that awful massacre, dark magic still seems to rear its ugly head somewhere. Even now, there's something evil going on in the underground here. So many have died because of it's practice...” The Queen had a distant look on her face as if she were seeing something far beyond the field of view Spike could comprehend. She turned back to him with a much brighter look on her face.

“Anyways, since we're here, you wanted to look at the comics right?” The boy perked up at the word.

“Oh, yeah, I wanted to see if they had the Devil summoner series here!” Celestia grimaced at the title.

Really? After what I just told him, he still want's that?

“Oh, uh... I bet ya they have it. What's it about?” The boy thought through what he wanted to say.

“Okay, so, there's this guy who moves to his uncle's house for school because his parents are doing business over seas, but when he's there, this weird string of murders happens! He makes some friends and one night, when the clock strikes midnight on a rainy day, Some crazy thing involving the next victim shows up on his T.V.! Then he feels compelled to touch the screen, and his hand just sinks in.

The next day, he tells his friends about it, and they go to the mall to see if he can actually go in the T.V. From then on, they find out that there's an other world inside of it, and that's where both the first victims died, so they start rescuing the new targets that appear every night. I think that's about a summary of it, or at least the first few comics. There's like, twenty six in the series.”

Oh. That... doesn't sound like the title at all. Never judge a book by it's cover I guess.

“Interesting. Well, the comic section is on the second floor. Lets go head up there and see if we can't find it.” Ivory Pages was a large store with book shelves lining the walls. The coffee shop was to the right of the main entrance, and at the back of the store was a large stair case which lead to the upper floor, which was also lined in bookshelves.

After climbing the stairs, the two moved to the far right corner where the comic books, manga, and omnibuses were kept. After reaching the section Spike found several titles and read a few pages in each of them. After a few minutes of looking, Celestia received a call on her disk. It was her Daughter.

“Spike, do you mind staying here for a bit? I have something I need to take care of outside.” The boy nodded and continued to read what he was holding. Celestia flew off the second floor to the main entrance and then flew to the top of the building. Once on the roof, she answered the call.

“Hi honey, what's up?” She said as sweet as she could. Athena hadn't called for a week and Celestia was worried.

“Hey. So yeah, I'm done here. Threat neutralized and all that jazz. The warring Islands have settled on a compromise, so the metals we receive from them will continue to come, but in larger quantities for the same price. I think. At one point, I think I almost started another war, but I guess we resolved that too. I really just hate that I can barely even speak this language.”

Celestia put her hand to her forehead. Athena was likely the least gentle of her four children biological. Zeus would have likely solved that issue faster, but he's still in school, and there is no way around that. Celestia almost expected to make a personal appearance in the Anya islands because Athena was known for getting into fights. It's a wonder how the girl is such an expert leader whilst being a terrible people person. Genetics, maybe.

“That's great honey. Will you be home soon?” Knowing her daughter, this would be a meandering answer.

“Well, that's kind of a yes and no.”

And there it is.

“Ya see, I think one of the princes thinks I’m gonna marry him or something, and I have zero plans of that happening, so I need to straighten that out. The knights are saying I should wait for them to come up with a plan before I do that though, but I just don't feel like I should lie to the dude. I mean. What do I do?”

The fourth time. This is the fourth time Athena has been proposed to by a prince while doing a mission over seas. Sometimes, Celestia just wished she would marry one of them to get it over with. Two of the previous encounters have put Fauna on sketchy terms with the country in question, and the other one put them at war. It didn't last long, but war that Celestia and Luna have to participate in is never a good thing. If only Anyanese came to Athena as easy as it did Zephraim. But somehow, he's even worse with diplomatic situations than Athena is, if that's possible.

“I would...” What would I do? Something like this has never happened to me. I was too much of a hardened killer to be approached by anyone before I changed. My presence still strikes fear into those that look into my eyes. Anyone with experience can tell. No one proposes to me out of the blue. Think of something!

“Try and... invite him here! Yes... show him around, get to know him. Then you can turn him down.” Excellent decision Celly. Stallthe inevitable conflict. Oh gods, I can hear Sombra complaining already.

“You know, that's a good idea mom. I really don't know the guy. He doesn't look half bad either. Alright, I'll bring him home. I'll be back in about a week. We've still got some paperwork to take care of, and then we gotta clean up. When we did fight, It was not pretty.”

Great. I just hope the body count doesn't break the hundreds this time. Athena has always had this competitive drive to 'get more kills' than anyone else, so sometimes it turns into a game for her. And she inherited my Terran strength. The girl could crush boulders with her fingers as a child.

“That's great honey, can't wait to see you home. Try not to start another war while you're there okay?” She heard muffled voices over the phone.

“Oh, Marx is back. I'm gonna go tell him about the plan. Later.” And she hung up.

“Please... Just come back to me...” Celestia said as she clutched the disk to her chest. Celestia had seen many she was close to die over the years, and she began to reminisce. Her first general served her until he died of age. Many of her comrades fell in battle, and even more so in war. After nearly 1900 years of it, death stopped bothering her. Until one day, she had a close call with a monster herself.

All at once the full strength of the fear of death came rushing back to her. To ease her mind, her husband suggested they have kids, and for many years, it worked. They all came out with no complications, healthy and happy. But, as parents would influence their children, they all wanted to be warriors just like the demon king and the sun goddess.

Sombra and Celestia fought for years over the subject before she finally gave in to the kids demands. They were all trained by the two sisters and their husbands to be the best in the country with their respective talents, and as time passed, Celestia grew more comfortable with their situations. She trusted her kids, and they never gave her a reason to not in training.

Apollo eventually gave up and grew out of playing hero to pursue more technological and intellectual interests around twenty. Athena went on to join Fauna's army despite her mother's protests, and now leads the Solar knights, Celestia's personal task force. There were no problems until Zephraim decided he wanted to take up the more dangerous position of in house assassin.

His Angel's mark appeared shortly after he picked up a sword for the first time and trained with his father. A sword, a Lance and an Ax crossed over three hexagons in black, gray and white. Unfortunately for Celestia, she had seen a similar mark before and knew what it meant for the person who bore it.

Her first general, Dante Scudo, bore the same weapons over a shield on his left shoulder, was unmatched in his ability to use nearly anything he picked up as an expert weapons master, and this talent served him through all his life. He was only ever bested by the two sisters themselves in straight combat, and never so on the battle field. He was a strong man who was built upon his morals, truly serving the nickname, the white paladin.

Zephraim however, was already showing signs of surpassing Dante. The boy could literally kill armed with anything from shoe to nothing at all. With standard weapons, he nearly matched his father, and with the special sword Celestia crafted for him, he could match him, in terms of raw power (even if Sombra would never admit it).

The biggest problem Celestia had with Zephraim is that he wasn't only gifted with weaponry. Ever since he was a child, Zephraim liked to draw. He was good too. With a few classes and a point in the right direction, he could become a great artist. But adamantly, he refused that that path, every and any time she would try and put him on it.

Two years ago, Zephraim was put on his first mission as part of the Angels of death after his exceptional performance during his entrance exam for the group. The Angels were started ten years after the unification of Fauna. An Angel named Bora Lancia was elated to finally be no longer at war, and he devoted himself to the Queens. From then on, he was used as an assassin to remove potential uprisings by the still prejudiced and those wishing to rule themselves. Eventually, Bora started to grow his unit, filling it with people from all the races so they could use their unique talents to fight as the Queens' hidden blade, protecting the peace without the people knowing.

The group has never exceeded six, two members from each race, all with a different set of strengths to help contribute to the unit. As they grew older, they began the training of a new unit to take their place when a large group of Mage extremists started to gather in Canterlot.

Naturally, Bora saw it upon his unit to end the leader of the group, and so he set out to do exactly that. The night fell, and the Angels descended upon the extremists head quarters, only to find that it was a trap. The entire building had been rigged with an incendiary spell to go off as soon as a non Mage entered, and one Mage Terran and Angel were killed in the fire. The remaining three angels set out and slaughtered the entire group, enraged at the loss of their fallen comrades.

Eons passed and new angels rose one after another, and every other generation would suffer loss of members to traps. When Zephraim's turn finally came around, He was a replacement for the last Angel who died in an explosion five years prior in the Magica Igna incident. Zephraim had officially joined the Angels, and their next target was a repeat attempt at Enrique Igna himself, the last head of the family.

After disposing most of Igna's forces, the Angels finally came across Enrique and his men. Celestia wanted to tag along for the event herself, but that would only complicate things for them with a member they weren't used to trying to lead, as Sombra said, but that didn't stop her from hanging back and watching the event go down.

She did it for Apollo and Athena's first missions, so she would definitely watch her third child's first. The showdown began and all the members took on one of Igna's forces each, with Zephraim taking on Igna himself. Using the sword Celestia forged for him, there was little chance he could lose, but a chance none the less. Igna was a dangerous Mage who was well versed in incendiary magic, and tried to burn Zephraim to death. The boy was fast and gifted with a high resistance to magic on top of the strength and speed the sword gave him, and quickly, he severed Igna's hands, stopping him from casting ever again.

Right before Zephraim was to finish Igna off while the other members had detained Igna's forces, one of them freed himself, and put a knife in Zephraim's back near it's center. Before Celestia could jump in herself, the boy used a single swing to decapitate both men. Upon sheathing his blade, the boy passed out. Before the other angels could move, Celestia jumped in and grabbed her son.

In a moment of rage, she ordered the angles to end the entire Igna family, save for the children, and make sure the name was never spoken in this world ever again. She teleported to the castle, and immediately began healing her son. The blade had pierced his lung, and blood was beginning to fill it. Her boy was dying. In a fit of frantic desperation, she used all the magic she could gather to save her son. The wound sealed, and he had began to cough up the blood. It looked like he was saved. But then he stopped breathing. Using everything she had, she performed CPR. After two repetitions, the boy started to cough up blood again, but continued to breathe. Tears running down her face and anxiety fading, Celestia simply sat on the floor, holding her son.

For the next week, the Day Queen post-poned or suspended any and all appointments she had, and did not leave her son's side, much to his dismay. When his cracked ribs were finally healed and he was walking again, Sombra finally convinced his wife to let the boy be for some time. Months passed, and Celestia would not allow him to leave the castle. With his whole body finally healed, he would try to escape.

However, no attempt was ever successful as Celestia put an Angel barrier around the Castle that even Sombra couldn't break. Finally, Sombra confronted Celestia about keeping Zephraim trapped at home.

“You can't keep this up! You're running yourself ragged just to keep this insane spell active, and the boy is losing his mind! You have to stop.This cannot continue.” Celestia turned to the man, sleep still present in her never aging face.

“And what!? Let him back out there so he can die!? I will not! Never again will I let this happen. These are my children, and they will never be hurt again!” Sombra shook his head in disapproval.

“You just don't get it. This isn't about your children, this is about our children! He is my son too, and you're keeping him prisoner! All these years we've been together, all these years we've raised our kids, you have never gone this far off the deep end to try and protect them. There is no reason to do this anymore. He's eighteen, and he is an assassin. He's gonna have close calls. But you can't keep him here. This is insane.” Celestia was enraged.

“Oh, I can't keep him here, that's just rich Sombra, rich. You kept an entire city captive for a thousand years, but I can't protect my own son. Why don't you just do do that again, and leave me and my son alone?” Sombra pulled his hand and back and slapped the woman across the face. At no point before in their years together had Sombra ever raised a hand against Celestia outside of training, and she was thoroughly shocked by it.

“Are you out of your FUCKING MIND!? You went so far as to bring up something that happened nearly 1500 years ago just to justify keeping your son under house arrest!? You did not marry the black demon king of the north, and I married Celestia Iscandor. But as far as I can tell, neither of those people are here right now.” He took hold of her hands and looked her directly in the eyes.

“I love you. But you've gone too far. He's okay. If worse comes to worse, I'll take responsibility for it. But I will not stand by and let you keep him prisoner. You can take him off the unit for a while, and force him to do something else for the year. But one day, they'll all out age us both. And no matter what we do, we'll end up staring at their graves eventually. Maybe one hundred years from now, earlier, or later. But you have to let them live their own lives. They aren't your pets, and they certainly aren't mine.” Tears began to roll down her face, and she sank in to Sombra to cry on him.

“It's alright. Let it out.” After half an hour of holding each other in the foyer of the Castle, Zephraim marched down the stairs armed with a duel disk.

“Celestia Iscandor! I challenge you to a duel! If I win, you will free me from this prison! If I lose, I will be your servant for the rest of my life!” Sombra turned his head to the boy and gave him a look that could kill.

You, IDIOT! I finally brought her around and then you pull a stupid stunt like this!? Celestia let go of Sombra and turned around. She wiped at her face, sniffed hard, and slapped her shoulder plate. In a white light, the rest of her body was armored. She snapped her fingers and a tiara appeared above them. She placed it on her head, and turned to face the boy. Her cape spun in dramatic flare, and her face was clear again.

“Very well then. I, the Day Queen of Fauna, accept your challenge, my son.” Sombra put his hand to his face. He sighed.

“Great going Z. You done fucked up.” The boy called back to his father from the stair case.

“What? I can beat you in sparring, surely I have a chance against mom in a duel.” The older man simply shook his head. His hands and feet began to glow a crimson red, and he floated up to a ledge on one of the white marble columns that lined the foyer.

“A duel will now commence between Zephraim Black Iscandor and Celestia Iscandor. When I create a sphere in the center of the room, the first to reach it will take the first turn. Ready! Begin!” A large crimson sphere of light equidistant from the mother and son appeared in the foyer. Zephraim made a jump for it, but Celestia warped in front of him, and kicked him down to the ground. She flapped into the sphere and it turned gold. Sombra sighed. She was going to beat his sorry ass.

“Celestia Iscandor will take the first turn.” Zephraim began to pick himself back up.

“Nice one mom. Dirty tricks from the get go.” The woman floated back down to where she stood, never breaking eye contact with the boy.

“Sorry dear, all's fair in love and war.” the boy rolled his neck and shot back at her.

“So which is this?” Celestia raised her arm and a golden matter wave appeared just outside her gauntlet.

“Oh honey. This is war. And you declared it.” Sombra sank back against the column, his black coat slowly folding itself as he did.

She's gonna kill him.

“DUEL!” The players drew five cards, and Celestia began immediately.

“To start us off, I believe I'm going to make sure you can't do anything. You think you have the power to beat me? Allow me to show you that you don't. First off, I summon Caller of Helios. While he is the only monster I control, I can special summon one level five or higher Helios monster from my hand. With that, I special summon Mathematician of Helios. While I control a tuner, I can increase or decrease this card's level by that card. I change the level 5 Mathematician to level 4. Now I tune. Betrayer of the king, Blaze across the field, Helios Cassius!”

Sombra scratched his head as the orange skinned, tunic wearing, fire clad soldier descended to the field. She's using Cassius against her own son? She reallyisn'tgoing to let him do anything.

“When Cassius is summoned, I can add a level 5 Helios monster to my hand. I add Bard of Helios. While I control Cassius, My opponent cannot special summon level five or higher monsters, and once per turn, I can negate the effect of a card that would destroy cards on my field.” Celestia made a quick wink to Sombra.

Hold on a minute here. She's planning something.

“While I control a synchro monster, I can special summon Bard of Helios from my hand. Now that I control two level 5 monsters, I activate the effect of Mathematician in my grave. When I control two monsters of the same level, I can special summon this card. Then I activate the spell card, Offerings to the Cosmic deity. I tribute Bard of Helios to add monsters with levels equal to or lower than the total of the tributed monster. I add the level 3, Oracle of Helios, the level 1 Time keeper of Helios, and the level 1 Scribe of Helios.

Next, I activate the effect of Oracle. While I control Two or more Helios monsters, I can special summon this card from my hand. When Oracle is special summoned, I can conduct synchro summons with monsters in my hand. I then use the effect of Mathematician to lower his level by 3. When Mathematician is special summoned by it's own effect, It is treated as a tuner monster. I tune, the level 3 Oracle, and the level 1 Time keeper in my hand, Misleading betrayer, hand of the conspirator, Descend, Helios Cinna!” Sombra crossed his arms after hearing the name.

Now I get it.

“Next, I tune the level 2 Mathematician and the level 1 Scribe! Attractor, betrayer, Take the eyes of the field away from the darkness, Helios Metellus! Now, Zephraim, honey. Do you know what happens next?” The boy began checking the screen on his disk. He read he cards one by one until he came across Metellus.

“Oh shit.”

“This is exactly the kind of shit I was talking about.” Sombra called out. Celestia's entire body began to glow the same gold as her magic, and she began a chant.

“Carrying the power of the sun, the betrayers gather with a chosen king at their side, together the betrayers assassinate the king they once served and take his place! I tune the level 3 tuner Metellus, the level 4 Cinna, and the level 5 Cassius! Take your new throne, Over-limit Accell Synchro Summon! The True King, Helios Brutus!”

The fires of the three monsters grew until they consumed each other and formed three rings of red fire around a giant column of orange fire in the center. A lightning bolt shot through the center, and white light consumed the room. When Zephraim could see again, a giant stood before him.

Nearly as tall as the foyer, the gigantic monster was at least 30 feet. He was fully clad in golden armor identical to Celestia's and wearing a helm with a brush top. A gold leaf crown was attached to the helm, and in his orange skinned hand was a sword that was similar to his mother's own legendary Tyrfing. The man was more or less a true approximation of what his mother could actually do on her own. Flatten a country with just her feet. The heat in the room had been slowly increasing ever since Celestia had started playing monsters, and it had reached about 95 degrees by the time Metellus had come out.

After the synchro summon was performed, the room temperature had increased to 115. After recovering from the initial shock of witnessing the summon of a monster that he didn't even know existed, on top of never even hearing of a synchro summon performed with only synchro monsters, he noticed that he was surrounded in a red tinted barrier, and the air around him was at normal room temperature. The ceiling of the foyer began to form water droplets, and steam started to fly off the ground as the droplets landed. Celestia had likely pulled out the strongest card in her deck, and he still didn't even know what it's effect was.

“Now, my darling boy, When Brutus is synchro summoned, he gains the effects of all the synchro monsters used for his summon. Cassius' effect, you cannot summon level 5 or higher monsters, and I can add a level 5 Helios monster to my hand, and just for fun I'll add Servant of Helios.

Next is Cinna's effect, You cannot activate the effects of trap cards while I control this card, and this card cannot be targeted by card effects. Then, Metellus' effect, You cannot activate the effects of Spell cards while I control this card. Speaking of, if Metellus (and Brutus in this case) is used for a synchro summon, I can add one Cosmic card to my hand. So I'll add Rules of the Cosmic Deity to my hand.

Then, Brutus' own effects, my opponent cannot activate cards in response to the summon of this card. Once per turn, during either player's turn, I can negate the activation or summon of a monster or monster effect, and if I do, I can inflict damage to you equal to half this card's attack points, which would be 4000.

Finally, just for the additional taste of salt in your mouth for challenging your mother, I'll activate that card I added with Metellus' effect. While Rule of the Cosmic Deity is in play, my opponent cannot inflict damage to me unless I control no monsters. And with that, I'll end. Have fun, honey.”

At this point, Zephraim didn't know if it was possible for him to make a move. He couldn't activate spells, or traps, if he tried to summon a monster and start a combo, his mother would know exactly where to stop it. If he wanted to remove it, he'd have to try and fail once while using something else to keep the burn from killing him before he could even get anything off, and he had to use some form of non-targeting removal on top of every thing else.

He could try and negate it's effect so he could use spells to try and get rid of it that way, but the negation would still have to be global. Even if he set monsters, she could just keep killing them until she got a card that could pass through defense. And he couldn't go around it with the Rule card she had on the field. There was nothing he could do to get out of this situation. He didn't have enough monsters in hand to summon through and try and defend himself. It was over before it began. The boy dropped his cards and sank to his knees.

“I... I can't even fight back... how am I supposed to... do anything?” The Queen straightened her body, and took her cards off the matter wave, then put them back where the belonged in her gauntlet. Brutus disappeared, and the room lowered 50 degrees in temperature. Sombra jumped down to his wife's side and followed the armored woman. He slapped the shoulder plate he was wearing, and then was completely armored after being covered in shadow.

He was wearing pitch black Armor covered in sharp warped spikes. His sharp black helmet was adorned with several horns and a single red one above the center of his forehead that was emanating a black smoke around it. His cape was a different kind of black, as at one point it may have been red, but was so drenched in blood over time that the color was eaten by the darkness that it created.

These people were his parents. One immortal Queen who could likely conquer the world over on her own, and an old immortal King who could likely do the same. And they married each other. What they could do together was boundless.

“Get up. You challenged my wife, and now I need to beat some respect into your dumb ass. You beat me in sparing, please. You win sparring matches because I let you do so. If you never won, you'd get discouraged.” The queen took her turn next.

“Has it even crossed your mind that you almost died three months ago? Don't you get it yet?” She grabbed the arrogant boy by the belts across his chest and pulled his face close to hers so he looked her in her tear filled eyes.

“You would be DEAD right now if I hadn't been there to save you! Don't you understand what this did to me!? I have watched countless people die over my life time, friends, parents, citizens that I ruled over with your aunt. I became numb to it. And one day, I had a run in with death, and I made me doubt whether or not I could be killed! I nearly went insane over the thought that even I might not be able to escape death's grasp, but you know what finally brought me back around?

Your dad suggested we start making you four. I thought that maybe, just maybe, because we will live forever, that you four might too. And you know what? Your dad never did. He kept trying and trying to get me to look at the truth, but I ignored and denied it's existence as long as I possibly could. But what happened three months ago? YOU DIED! Your heart stopped beating for an entire minute! YOU WERE LEGALLY DEAD FOR AN ENTIRE MINUTE!

I was losing my mind trying to keep you breathing after your heart stopped and I managed to accomplish restarting you only after I broke your gods damned ribs! You are not invincible! You are not the best there ever was! You are not us! We will always be the best because no one will ever surpass the experience we've gained over the multiple thousand years we've been alive!

There is a girl in crystal city, and I will see your grave before hers because she is just like me! She's a year younger than you, but she's stronger than you could ever be, she's faster than you could ever be, and eventually, she'll be smarter than you can ever be! And do you know why? Because she IS immortal! She has the potential to be the best there ever was! And she will be, JUST. LIKE. US!” She took the boy and pulled him as close to her body as much as she could without breaking him.

“You cannot be dead any sooner than age will let you! I won't let it happen! You have to give me grand kids to fuss over and worry about! And you have to see grand kids so you can worry and fuss over them! You have to live! Don't you get it...?” At this point Celestia had sank to her knees with the boy in her arms still.

“Do you understand yet? We will watch you die. We will watch your casket go in the ground. We can't do anything about it, and we'll look the same way we do now as it happens. We can't make you immortal, and we cant keep you as our little boy forever. All we can do is hope we raise you to be smart and happy so you enjoy the life you've been given. And we will prevent anything from shortening that if we can.”

The boy was dumb founded. He didn't know what to say. He never thought much of the event, just that he got hurt and came back from it. He didn't even realize that his mother was the one who saved his life. And she used everything she had to do it. He almost died.I almost died.

“I... almost... died...?” The realization had finally sank in. His life would be over right now if she hadn't been there. They will be the same as they are now when he's old and wrinkled, hopefully with kids and grand kids of his own. This was the reality he lived in. he hugged his mother with tears in his own eyes.

“I'm so sorry... I... I didn't even think about that... I just...” The father put his hand on the boy's back in between his wings.

“It's over and done with, son. Just rest easy. We're going to have you suspended from the unit for the rest of the year until I feel you're trained and ready for everything that could happen in any situation. The reason your mom dueled you like that was to show you that there are some situations that you can't even make a move in without killing yourself. And I'm going to make sure that those situations don't exist by the time we let you back in the Angels, alright?” The boy looked over his mother to see his father's green eyes. The same green eyes that he himself had.

“O-okay... dad...” Sombra managed to pull Celestia off of Zephraim, but she just latched to him instead.

“Now get up and go get your sword. I wasn't joking. You still need an ass kicking, in a more physical sense.” The boy looked at his father, already defeated.

“What? For real?” Celestia let go of Sombra and wiped at her eyes, then sniffed hard once. She snapped her fingers and the sword in it's sheath was levitated into his lap on the floor.

“Yep... sniff*... I only beat the arrogant teenager out of your brain. Now we need to finish the job and have your dad beat it out of your body.” the boy simply looked at the sword in his lap, his fearful expression only growing.

“Can't I have some plate mail or something first!?” Celestia took her hands and placed them firmly on her hip plates, while adorning a 'matter of fact expression'.

“I've already told you, your body is just not old enough for your set. I... may or may not have almost made another set for you to use now earlier in the month, but have since been reconfiguring that for the other ascended girl when she reaches adulthood. You'll just have to learn how to not get hit until then.” This time, a crimson glow surrounded the three, and Sombra snapped his fingers. They warped to the Fighting room under the castle, and suddenly it was just him and his father inside a ring of runes Zephraim had never seen before.

“This is a little something your mom cooked up while she was losing her mind over the past few months. In an attempt to try and make you kids immortal, she found a way to keep you from dying in a fight. These runes here will allow me to put an ax or a scythe through your little neck, and all you'll get from it is a burn! Isn't that neat? Now smile and wave to your mom over in the corner while I cut your head off... metaphorically.” The boy looked to his mother who had adopted the 'You done fucked up' smile she had when she accepted his challenge a few minutes ago. He then turned his head, and let his legs give out so his father's ax didn't take it.

“Holy shit! Dad what the fuck!?” The man jumped back a step and raised his ax over his head.

“Rule number one; never fall on the ground!” Then proceeded to bring it down on the boy. The boy put his arms over his head, and felt an intense burning sensation run from his left shoulder diagonally to the end of his torso. When he opened his eyes, the ax was in his body, but there was no blood or sign that he'd been injured at all.

“Come on, you don't think I'd actually kill you after all that's been said in the last twenty minutes, do ya? We tested it first dummy. We took each others heads off for fun.” The older man opened his mouth but the words he spoke that day didn't come out. Instead, the voice of someone else did.

“Um, your highness? Are you out here?” The voice of the boy she was supposed to be watching brought her back to reality. She'd been daydreaming of the events of two years ago ever since she ended her call with Athena. It was almost sixteen forty five. “Oh shit!” she exclaimed, then covered her mouth trying to pull the words back in. She jumped off the building and landed in front of spike.

“Oh, there you are. I finished reading all the comics I picked out, and I noticed you still hadn't come back yet. Must have been a long call huh?” Celestia giggled to herself.

“Yeah, it felt like it lasted two years. Well, did you find what you were looking for?” The dragon boy put his hands behind his back. He did, but it was likely more expensive than he was anticipating, so he didn't want to say yes.

“Don't worry about the cost, kiddo. I'm the Queen of the country. I have more money than I could ever need. Come on let's go get you that set, and then I'll drop you off in Twilight's room. Oh, and before I forget, give this to her when she wakes up.” The woman pulled an old fashion letter with a wax seal engraved with Fauna's emblem on it.

“A letter?” The boy opened one of the pockets on his beige cargo shorts and carefully placed the letter inside.

“Yeah. It's important, so make sure she reads it, alright?” the boy nodded his head.

“Yes ma'am!”

The two walked inside, and Celestia Collected the boxed set of the 'Devil Summoner' manga he'd been going on about earlier and the mountain of comics he read to take to the counter. She purchased them all with the swipe of her duel disk across the counter, and put them in a bag for Spike to keep. She took the boy's hand and teleported to Twilight's room where she was still soundly sleeping. She placed the bag of comics on Twilight's desk silently, and began to speak to Spike in a hushed tone.

“She'll be up in about ten minutes, so it won't be much longer okay? And don't forget-”

“-the letter.” Spike finished her sentence.

“Attaboy.” She rustled his hair and waved to the dragon boy, then warped away. Spike pulled the chair at the desk out and took the wrapped box set. He removed the plastic and cracked open the first volume of Devil Summoner.

His name was Andromeda (4.1)

When Twilight came to, she was in her dorm room, It looked to be about seventeen, judging from the amber sunlight pouring in from the window. and her little brother was reading in the corner at her desk. She sat up, and looked around the room until she noticed he little brother reading at her desk. Spike turned when he noticed the noise and put his manga down to go check on Twilight.

“Oh, hey. Welcome back to the world of the living, sis.” The boy’s Green hair and eyes stared up at her from the side of the bed. He was ten, and would be eleven by November. Last winter, her older brother discovered that the flames Spike produced served as a medium for teleportation unlike anything Mages could do. Even though he was a child, Spike was capable of sending objects almost as big as he was through fire, provided he was careful. It took the entirety of Shining's visit home last December before he could get Spike to send a piece of paper through his magic flames without charring it completely. By some accident or other, they managed to get a watermelon across, which is when they discovered that with the right training, Spike could potentially send whatever he wanted through fire without much effort.

“Oh, uh, hey. Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here exactly?” The boy puffed out his chest and pointed to it with a thumb. “As of last week, I'm going to be training under the Queens with you.” The boy stated, full of pride. “Celestia sent us a letter and everything. It was super official looking. She picked me up at the bus stop just outside the school earlier this morning. In the letter she said you would be with her, but when I got there, she said you were asleep for some reason, and man she wasn't kidding. We spent most of the day at that book shop you're always talking about... the uh... Ivory...” Twilight finished the sentence.

“Pages. Ivory Pages Spike, I've told you a thousand times.” He stared blankly back at his sister. “Guess that means you're still the same Twilight that left home. Anyways, we went there until sixteen and then Celestia bought me all this stuff, and guess what! I got the complete boxed set of Devil Summoner!” Ah yes, Devil Summoner. The boy's favorite series of books that came out of the Anya Islands to the far east. Twilight was more partial to the Unearth series that was in the same vein, but the cast of that one was more often reused in every new story even though they all took place in 'separate nether-worlds' as the games and books always liked to point out. The penguin demons were her favorite.

“Well that's cool, I guess. Did she say anything before she left? I imagine she was in the room at one point considering the door was likely locked.” the boy then started to reach for the pocket at the bottom of his shorts. He undid the Velcro and carefully removed a letter from it, then handed it to Twilight. “this is from the Day Queen. She said it's important that you read it.”

The letter was sealed with wax, which was only something the Queens still did in this day and age. Embedded in the seal was the emblem of Fauna, the sun above the moon surrounding a single circle, connected by a line to each object from either side. She pulled the wax off and took out the letter which was written on an odd feeling paper like material that after some playing with, Twilight assumed to actually be made of cloth. After unfolding the letter, a card slid out of it. It was a trap judging by the color, but the entire card was written in some language Twilight had only seen once in her life, and the picture on the card was completely black. It felt heavy, almost like a stone. The handwriting was of an art form that was nearly dead to this day, known as Calligraphy. Celestia and Luna are supposedly the only people who still practice it due to the simple inefficiency of hand written messages.

Dear Twilight. I write this letter to you because there is an important task you must undertake. In a small town to the south, there is a series of murders that's been happening seemingly at random. Each one happens in the middle of the night when an unlucky soul is chanced upon by what we believe to be a group. Nearly 36 years ago if I remember correctly, there was an event known as the raid of Lonely Volcano. If you remember the history, Luna and I stepped into an in house conflict between a group of Sub-humans and Crater City as it was being cyberized.

The sub humans, now known as shape shifters, started to kill in a similar fashion to the murders in Pony Ville to try and stop the cyberization. Shape shifters feed solely on energy given off from emotions, but cannot feed of their own kind, therefore, they must live near standard humans to survive. But as the digital age continued to press forward, the Shape shifters began to die out as the machines made with the pocket dimension started to use the same energy that the Shape shifters fed on. While we sympathized with them, and tried to solve the situation peacefully, our diplomatic approach failed indefinitely.

The so called 'Queen' of the shape shifters formed a rebellion and tried to take over Crater and enslave the people there, but that's where we came in, and the rest you should know. Chrysalis was imprisoned, and shape shifter 'sanctuaries' were put into effect along the corners of every city block so that they could continue to live normally without being persecuted by the general public. After all, the true form of a shape shifter is generally masked. Sometimes, Shape shifters them selves don't know they are what they are.

Chrysalis escaped her prison seventeen years ago after an incident involving a precious magic artifact, and made off with it. At the present moment, her location is unknown, and I have agents out across fauna searching for her unique magic signature, along with the signature that the artifact gives off. Your job is to go to Pony Ville and meet with the other five girls who've been chosen for this assignment, and solve the case. I have good reason to believe these incidents are Chrysalis' doing, and if I am right, you six will be the only ones able to do so.

You may not have realized it, but you are in possession of one of the six magic Artifacts that has the power to counter the one Chrysalis stole. One of my men will be with you and Spike at all times during this mission, and I want you to trust him in absolute faith, but if push comes to shove, A duel will likely be your best option. The Artifact you possess will keep you safe. Inside the letter, I have placed a card I crafted to strengthen your deck.

However, you will only be able to use it when the artifact allows you to. Be safe, and if at all possible, try to get along with your new bodyguard and the other five girls okay? You'll be working with them for a very long time. Your train will be leaving at Nine tomorrow morning. Zephraim will be there waiting for you at Eight forty-five. He will fill you in on the rest of the details. Pack thin clothes, as Pony Ville is a very hot, humid place, very much the opposite of Upper Canterlot.

-Yours truly, Queen Celestia Iscandor.

What. Just. What. “So what’s it say?” she’d forgotten Spike was there. “Well, uh... to be honest, this is way further out of left field than I'd ever expected. I don't even know how to begin to explain this one. Do you know anything about the raid of Crater city in 2980?” He blinked. “What?” Twilight rolled her eyes. She couldn't blame him for it. It was just as out of left field for her as it was for him, and he hadn't even reached a grade in school yet where they even talk about the last century. This was a mission that Celestia would send a royal guard, or a Solar Knight into, not her sixteen year old pupil and her little brother.

“Okay, so... apparently, I have some 'Magic artifact' that's part of a set of six, or seven I guess? And this woman named Chrysalis, who was at the center of that raid, has escaped her prison, and stolen the seventh artifact. I'm supposed to meet five other girls who were assigned to this and we're supposed solve a string of murders in that town we're going to because Celestia has reason to believe that it's Chrysalis behind it.” He nervously started to chew on his left thumb nail. “What the? Hold on a sec. You? Solve a murder and take down a bad guy?” She was riding the same train of thought.

“My thoughts exactly. I'm no impressive fighter! I'm just... really magically inclined... and... the best shot out of the 'normal' people in Canterlot... On second thought, maybe I am a good choice for this.” He wasn't expecting Twilight to react to her own words the way she did. “So... uh, you're okay with this? Like, us going to Pony Ville to try and solve a bunch of murders, and then catch the bad guy?” That was a good question. At the moment, her feelings about the woman were so mixed, she didn't know what to think. One minute she's a mom, another she's a hard ass, then she's a ruler, and after that she's my teacher, but now? Now she's counting on me to do something. What do I feel about this?

“Hey! Come back to Earth, Twilight!” Twilight blinked. “Oh, sorry. Spaced out.” Spike rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I noticed. So, are we gonna need to go get stuff to take with us? Do we have a place to live? What's the deal here? All she told me is that I'm supposed to assist you.” Twilight put an index finger to her lips. “Well, I don't think we'll need anything other than clothes, to be honest. We should probably make a trip to the general store before we go for those though. She says it's hot down there. I don't know about you, but all I ever wear is my school uniform, and it's never more than 80 degrees here, even in the summer.” Spike snickered.

“Yeah, of course you always wear the same thing. Still as routine as ever.” Twilight narrowed her eyes “You know better than anyone else why I like my routines. And this fucks with that in all kinds of ways. I bet you she didn't happen to mention that we'll be living in Pony Ville for six months, now did she?” Spike took a step back. “Six months! What the hell!?” Twilight crossed her arms and put on a smug face.

“Nailed it. Oh ho ho, yeah. This was my 'punishment' for almost killing a guy the other day when I broke that old duel disk.” Spike's eye widened. “Holy crap Twilight! Wait. How are you supposed to duel without a disk?” She looked at her little brother, confused at first, but then she realized she never mentioned anything about her new one.

“Oh, right. She gave me a new one before we dueled today. This one is... special, to say the least. I don't know if you saw our duel, but she fucking flattened me. I didn't even get a chance to hit her, and she dished out over 10000 damage before I finally went down. Over kill is an understatement when it comes to her. And holy shit, was it hot! So, I doubt many people know this, because I sure didn't before I went in, but she Doesn't use a Duel disk when she's serious. And all her magic is like, multiplied or something, and the monsters she uses are like, real. They all had the word Helios in their names, and everything was fire attributed and pyro type. I legitimately think that she raised the air temperature in the stadium by 30 or 40 degrees, It was like being put on the sun.” She picked up her new duel disk that was sitting on the window sill and handed it to Spike, who looked at in confusion.

“Is... this custom? It looks... funky.” That's right. Kibitz gave her this disk earlier today. “Yeah. You know the Kibitz Corporation right?” “Well, duh. K.C. is only the biggest manufacturer of duel disks in the world, let alone Fauna. How could I not? Even people who don't duel own one of these things. I have one.” This wasn't good. Her sarcasm was starting to rub off on her little brother. "So, The founder of K.C. Is actually butler to the royal family now, and Celestia commissioned him to make it. Of course, his son is the owner of the company, but he basically made this by hand from what he told me. Then Celestia got a hold of it. The Disk has this little thing.” Twilight pulled the magic storage device out of the disk. When she did though, she noticed that the lower four rings of runes on it were glowing in an array of colors.

“That's funny. I don't remember the runes glowing. But anyways, this thing can store enough magic to power the entirety of Canterlot. It catches all the excess magic either me or my opponent gives off, and holds it. If I'm ever exhausted of magic, I can just click my thumb to the top of it and replenish with what's stored. You know... now that I think about it, he said something about it being half full by the time I was done dueling today...” Twilight put the device which she had decided to name an MSD back into the disk and checked it's power level. She saw the percentage and her eyes widened. “What?” He didn't know why she looked so surprised.

“This is insane! The MSD, which is what I'm calling it now, by the way, has 8340 GIGA ARC WATTS! It's almost 42 % full! And That's just from today!” Spike had enough of a grasp on the levels of magic energy from the classes he'd been through to know that that was a whole lot of energy. “Holy shit!” Immediately, Twilight back handed the boy. “Don't curse. I shouldn't even curse. It's a bad habit, don't start it. But yeah. The thing is friggen loaded.” Twilight almost cursed under her breath after she finished her sentence. Who did she sound like just a moment ago? Her teacher. She couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but one thing was for sure, she was not ready to become Celestia Iscandor.

“So, question; when you dueled her, you said her monsters were 'like real'” he air quoted the phrase with his fingers. “What do you mean by that?” Twilight didn't really have any way to describe it any other way. Like real is about as close to describing what she saw as she knew the words for. But she could show him. While dueling Celestia, Twilight sensed a sort of... unique spell seeming to surround Celestia. She didn't know whether it was just her raw magical power or the armor she wore that was doing it, but she could attempt to recreate it. She climbed out of bed, realizing that she was wearing her light blue pajamas and... different... underwear. Redheart changed her. Like a baby. That would have to be addressed at another time. Then she sat on the ground, and motioned spike to join her.

“Alright, I've got an Idea. So, during that duel, magic just kinda... 'wafted' around Celestia. That's the only way I can really describe it because it looked about what I imagine a smell would look like. But anyways, I think I can reproduce that effect. Open the extra deck slot and pass me the top card.” the boy tapped the back left side of the disk where the extra deck slot was in normal disks, and took out the level 7 fusion monster he'd never seen before. “Who is this guy? A new card? You know, he kinda looks like you. Isn't that kind of weird?” Twilight took Andromeda from the boy's hand.

“To be honest Spike, I'm not so sure anymore. Out of the blue one day, Celestia just handed him to me without a word. When I asked her about it, she wouldn't talk, but she always had this concerned look on her face when she did. And he does things cards shouldn't do. When I summoned him earlier today, he turned to the crowd and took a bow! And before then, When I dueled that guy yesterday, he didn't do his normal laser attack when I finished him off, but cut the kid open instead! I mean, now that I think about it, had he done his laser, that guy would likely be dead, but I think this card has a soul of it's own.” A soul of it's own? That was unheard of, even in a world where souls could be trapped in objects. Mass produced cards were only used by children who hadn't earned their marks. People never had the same cards either. When a person dies, their soul cards evaporate with them. If the cards are gone, the person has no chance of survival. But card's with souls inside them? Even black magic didn't know how to do that.

“What? No way. That's just crazy. Cards don't do that! Cards can't do that! And besides, if she gave it to you, It has to be mass produced, other wise, where in the hell did she get it?” His logic wasn't wrong. But the card itself was just flat out different. And it was specific to her. It fit her deck exactly, and even made it better. “Look kid, I know this doesn't make sense, but this is the 2000 year old immortal sun goddess we're dealing with here. She can speak and write in a magic language that no one understands but her and her sister, yet is found in every ruin in the country. If anyone is capable of something like that, it's either her or her sister.” Spike couldn't argue that logic either.

“Alright fine. Do the thing. Then well see if it's true.” Twilight focused on recalling the way the magic felt earlier this morning. The golden glow surrounding her monsters and herself, the was it seemed to pulse faster and faster, the more excited the crowd got. The way it seemed to expand and grow when she synchro summoned Caesar. The sheer sound of her heart beat as it began to synchronize with Celestia's magic pulse. The way it smelled, how sweet it made the air taste. And the feeling of a warm blanket wrapping tightly around her skin as the magic wafted around the air. While Twilight was concentrating on remembering exactly what she felt earlier, Spike was beginning to feel the effects.

Twilight was giving off a faint violet glow that felt... alive. It was beating, slower at first, but increasing in speed and sound as it went. The air started to feel warmer the faster the pulse flowed, and a smell started to come from her. Not her usual nasty, 'I don't feel like bathing' smell because Twilight was a pig, but the smell of something sweet. The air tasted sweet. Something he couldn't place, but felt like he's been around his whole life. The room felt like it was a sauna with violet smoke beginning to fill it. But something was wrong. The pulse continued to get stronger and stronger, but Twilight wasn't breathing.

“Twilight? Twilight! Twilight!! Twilight wake up! Stop it! Twilight!!!” He kept shaking her shoulders, but her body didn't respond. He didn't know what to do, when suddenly, he heard a voice. “Fear not. She will be fine.” The voice went away, and the whole room was filled with the violet smoke Twilight was making. But then he felt a change. He realized his heart beat was synchronized with the pulse now, and Twilight's eyes opened, but a bright white light was shining out of them. The light engulfed the room, and Spike couldn't see anything. When he regained his sight, the entire room was completely normal, Twilight was breathing again, and clutching her head in her hands wile rubbing her temples with her thumbs, and neither of the two knew what happened.

“Twilight! Are you okay? What the hell did you do!? The whole room was filled with purple smoke, and, and then everything felt like it was beating! And suddenly there- there was this white light... what exactly did you do?” Twilight only managed to catch the tail end of that sentence. Her head was throbbing, and she felt like she was completely drained of magic. Like she'd tried to Teleport from here to horseshoe bay on the other side of the country and back. She looked up at the card in her hand, but the picture of the sorcerer was gone. The violet, blue, red, and black nebula like background with stars dotting it remained, but the monster who normally stood proudly in front of it was not. She looked up to Spike to try and say something, but noticed a large Indigo cape behind him.

“Wha- Who the hell?” Spike followed her eyes and turned to look, dumb founded, at the cape behind him. He followed the cape up to it's end where large leather shoulder plates stacked atop one another on either side, and long almost sharp indigo blue hair poured out from an Indigo and violet hat. The cape turned to reveal a man of about six and a half to seven feet tall standing in the room. He wore Leather armor connected to a large breast plate that covered his upper torso until it was hidden away by what looked like the rest of the cape. His clothing underneath was indigo blue just like his hair, lined in an almost glowing gold all around. His face was hidden away by a cloth mask, but leaving his dark violet eyes with sharp narrow pupils exposed for all to see. They looked almost identical to her own in color. On his Breast plate was an emblem. A violet six pointed star that Glowed just like his clothing, surrounded by five white six pointed stars in between each point of the major star but the top and bottom left points. Just like her own Mage's mark. The man carried a staff that looked to be made of teal blue crystal that was completely smooth until the top, where it looked to have been cut to form a specific shape. The head crystal of the staff formed a gradient of the teal blue that the shaft was made out of to violet to red. Above that were ten little orbs of white light with teal edges in a shape that resembled a V with a hook to the right side (V-,). The sorcerer then bowed and removed his mask from his nose. His face had a large scar running down from the bottom of his right eye to the top of his upper lip. And then he spoke.

“Good evening, Masters Sparkle. I am Andromeda of the land of Harmonia.” Andromeda spoke. Andromeda was talking. Andromeda was a card. How was Andromeda speaking? But before she could ask questions, he took the words out of her mouth. “I presume that my presence, visage, voice or other wise baffles you children to no end at the moment. As such, I will allow you to question me. However I must warn you, Master Sparkle. There are things you simply mustn't know quite yet, there fore, if I deem a question unanswerable, I must request you drop the subject at hand.” The sorcerer leaned on his staff and sat cross-legged on the floor with the two. The siblings looked at each other in disbelief, then Spike was the first to ask a question.

“So uh... how old are you?” The question wasn't too far off from Twilight's own, so she didn't object. “Ah. My own age. While I may not know the true answer to that question, as time on this planet was reset after the great nightfall, I will say that I was nearly nine hundred and seventy years old at the nightfall. If your calendar lines up to start after the great nightfall, then, I should be about three thousand, nine hundred and eighty six years of age at the present.” Twilight heard the numbers, but couldn't believe them. She didn't care how magic he was, no body lives that long in a natural life span but the Ascended, and he was clearly lacking a pair of wings.

“Wait a second. nine hundred and seventy? Hold the fuck up. People do not live that long. I don't care how magic you are. That's not possible.” The sorcerer let out a calm, sincere laugh. “You doubt my truth, do you master Sparkle? Did you not summon me from a soul card? Were you not arguing with Master Spike whether it was possible for a soul to be contained by a card? If you have been proven true by your own initiative, how can I be proven wrong? Surely if you do not believe me, my siblings will be able to tell you. As for my age, during my time, I did walk the earth for nine hundred and seventy years, whether you believe it or not, this is fact. The 'Ascended' as you call them, were born from a contract I made with the Gods of this earth in exchange for the magic game that had the power to banish evil from this world.” Spike took a turn again to ask a question.

“So by magic game, you mean Duel monsters right?” Twilight was almost irritated by Spike's blind acceptance of the sorcerer's word, but in truth, she couldn't prove him wrong, and she was talking to a man she summoned from a soul card. The fine line of reality was quite invisible at this moment. “Hmm, yes, If that is what you call this game now. In the ancient language of Harmony, the game was called Mesret, meaning 'clash of souls' in your language. If I were to spell it...” The sorcerer poked one of his stars at the end of the staff laying across his lap, and his finger began to glow with the same white light. He pushed against the air and drew three symbols. Twilight immediately recognized them from the runes covering the MSD in her duel disk.

“Hey, I've seen those. Those are the runes that are all over the country. As far as the general public knows, Luna and Celestia are the only people on this earth that know what they mean.” Andromeda rubbed the indigo blue stubble along his chin. “Hmm... Yes, that sounds correct. The two who were chosen by the Gods to receive their power were also given their knowledge as well. Those who received the power, or the Ascended as you mentioned, should not only be able to read the runes of Harmonia, but use their power as well. Now I have a question for you, Master Sparkle. Earlier, you were full to the brim with Magic energy, but now your life is barely being sustained. How is it that you play the magic game, when you clearly lack the proper training to summon myself?” Twilight couldn't tell whether or not he just insulted her. Either way, she decided to answer his question.

“Well, that's kind of simple. This device here-” She took the duel disk from beside Spike, who had dropped it trying to wake Twilight earlier. “allows anyone to play the game. Mage, Terran, Angel, or otherwise. Although, No one can play like Celestia and Luna do as far as I know. They... make the game so... real.” The sorcerer took his hand away from his chin.

“I see. So this device acts as a medium for the ancient magic that was required to play the game long ago. You see, back in my time, the game was rather newly established, and only my siblings and I had strong enough souls to play it. It was truly impossible for anyone to play who did not know the language of the seven gods, as the 'ancient runes' you spoke of are what cause the soul tablets, or 'cards', to arise from the soul. From there, the seven rows of runes were to be carved into the arm, or to something strapped to it, so that the runes could use the life energy of the player to make the game work. Each row of runes contributed to the overall shape of the... um... to describe this, there is a word in my language, but I do not believe you would understand it. Tell me, where do you place 'monsters' in this game?” Twilight turned on the disk, and opened duel mode. The matter wave materialized itself out to the front of the disk.

“Right here.” She said as she pointed to it. “We call it a matter wave because it's made out of solidified light and programmed to read cards.” Andromeda went back to stroking his chin. “Ah, yes. Your matter wave is created using the seven rows of runes from long ago, although, the places were the cards themselves go are... missing. I imagine the device contains them?” Twilight began pointing to the slots on the disk and explaining what they did.

“If your game and mine are the same, then in the largest slot, the deck goes, toward the end of my wrist and the beginning of my hand. To the right of that, at the center of the back of the disk is where you place spells and traps. If It's placed upside down, then it is considered set, and then can be activated later. If it's placed face up, it is considered activated, and as long as it's legal, the disk will act accordingly. To the left of this slot is the extra deck. Fusion, Synchro and Xyz, or, if you have different names for those, the white, black, and violet, cards are stored here, with a maximum starting size of fifteen face down cards. If a pendulum monster card is destroyed somewhere, It is sent here face up, at which point the limit is however many cards you use and destroy.

To the left of this slot is the graveyard. A destroyed, milled, or discarded card goes here. And to the right of this one is the banished slot. Cards that are removed from play or banished are sent here. The two pendulum zones are at thee edges of the disk's matterwave, and the monster zones are all in between. A long time ago, there were slots for the spells and traps, but now the disk just keeps track of what it's fed and to activate the set ones, you simply tap it's space on the screen. That about covers it, unless you have something I don't know about.” The sorcerer crossed the fingers on each hand and put both of his index fingers to his chin.

“No, that is everything. It seems as if the game has yet to change from when I received it, which means that the promise the gods made after founding it still holds to this day, almost 4000 years later. At this point, you must be wondering why myself was inside the card, I presume.” The girl and boy looked at each other and blinked in unison. “How did you know-What we were thinking?” They looked at each other and blinked again. She finished his sentence, like it were her own. The sorcerer let out a hearty laugh again.

“My, you two are quite the synchronized pair. First, the reason you seem to be able to follow each others thoughts is because when Twilight performed the reading of the ancient runes, whether or not she knew this to be what she was doing, she was not actually performing the magic you know Mages to be capable of. This form of magic can be practiced by all, and occurs when the user focuses their entire being on one task. When they begin doing so, their aura begins to become visible, and pulses with the very blood in their body. Then, the smell, taste, sight, sound, and feeling of their soul begins to radiate from their body. Anyone within the radius of this aura is then synchronized with it, and the strength of the runes are amplified as by the multiple of people within it. In this case, by synchronizing both of your souls, You were able to give me a physical form, if only for the time being. With that being said, I will begin my tale of eons long past. There is much to tell before we begin our mission tomorrow.”

The sorcerer used his staff to raise himself to a standing position with a grunt, and then tapped the upper most star on his staff. He then placed the staff on the ground completely vertical, and the stars began to circle it evenly. A green flash ran through the stars in the opposite direction that they spun, then a golden one in the same direction. Finally, a violet spiral started to spin from each star in to the center of the circle, and the circle flashed white with a blue flame surrounding it. Images started to appear, and Andromeda narrated the events.

“Long ago, This land was once known as Harmonia. The Harmonians were descended from the gods of the fourth plane who were cast out to the third plane, and branded with the name, 'Human'. The six gods of the fourth plane who had cast these three gods out took pity on them, and allowed each to retain one of their powers. The first, Archea, the Father of magic, retained his mastery over sorcery. The second, Sephira, the Mother of flight, retained her wings. The third, Gaia, the mother of Strength, retained her mastery over the body. Together, with set lifespans of 1000 years, the three humans populated the earth, scattering themselves on all of the seven continents. Families rose and were given names and lands to call their own, and the first of those families were the Siblings of Harmonia, Myself, my brothers and Sisters, direct descendants of the gods.

I was born in the 30th year, and as such, shared my parents life span of 1000 years. But as the human races began to grow, the limited gene pool resulted in greatly reduced lifespans over time experiencing what's known as exponential decay, and stabling out around 100, give or take 30 years. I traveled the earth for centuries, and my siblings did the same. However, toward the end, we all returned the land in which we were born. We had each taken suitors and began families of our own, but then, the heavenly body descended. Around the 950th year, the meteor landed in this country, just around the center of the south west of this country. When my siblings and I went to investigate, and what we found was a baby girl that looked to be of human origin cradled in a large black smoldering stone. The eldest of my three sisters, Monarcha took it upon herself to take the child in.

I was... tentative of the child. Previously being gods in the fourth plane, I had decided to seek out my parents and see if they knew anything. My father told me this: 'That child itself will not be the problem, but the meteor she arrived in will be the death of man kind. There is a great darkness surrounding that black object, and even I, cannot discern what havoc it may bring. I suggest you Isolate the object, and never let the child come into contact with it. The results may be... disastrous...' Armed with new knowledge, I went to seek further council from the seven gods themselves. Using the runes I was taught as a child, I went to the fourth plane using a unique spell my father could never perform. Upon my arrival, The seven gods greeted me with open arms, and we struck a contract. If a darkness ever arose that had the ability to end humanity, they would grant my siblings and I power to banish it, in the form of their game. As long as humanity continued to survive the great darknesses which would plague anywhere life sprang in the universe of the third plane, two would be chosen every two thousand years to receive the powers of Divinity, the divine deity, leader of the seven gods.

In the time of the fourth plane, I had been gone for an hour. But in the time of the third plane, 30 years had passed. Umbra, as the child was called, had grown and traveled north to hone the strange skill she possessed, which was outside the three main races. Ten more years went by, and Umbra returned to visit, leaving the family she had started behind in the far north. Upon her visit, the meteor was stolen from the sanctuary I had built to protect it. Being one of my sister's daughters, Umbra gave chase to the thief, and apprehended the meteor. But, as my father had predicted so many years ago, The meteor reacted violently to Umbra's power. It began to consume her, covering her pale flesh in dark black crystal. I was near, and tried to use my power to help her, but the meteor only reacted more to it, seeming to consume the power I was trying to destroy it with.

With no way to protect her, Umbra was consumed and transformed by the meteor. She was turned into a demon. She grew wings like that of a bat, and gained the strength of hundreds in a single arm, and her magical potential was boosted far above my own. The meteor tried to control her mind, but Umbra managed to stave it off long enough to warp to the furthest point in the north and seal herself away. Upon witnessing the event, I gathered my siblings in order to try and free Umbra from that unholy rock. We took to the north, and met with Umbra's family. She had married a Mage from one of the newer generations, and had a daughter with a unique set of eyes, and the darkest black hair known to man. Rather than inheriting the Mage's line, the girl inherited a mix of the powers of the two, and became the first to harness, what I called in the time, the soul arts. Your matter wave is born of the soul arts.

For five years, the eight of us searched the north for umbra, until finally we found her, hidden deep within the earth. She had dug herself a cave, and any life there became... corrupted. The black crystal gave off a sickening energy, which when left unattended, would transform the host into a vile creature. Umbra's husband fell victim to it... When we finally came across Umbra, The meteor had fully consumed her soul, or so we thought. We battled with Umbra until finally, she had us defeated. Battered and beaten, we only expected the end, when Umbra took control of herself one last time, and fled to the far east. From there, she spread her darkness across the world, spawning creatures of unimaginable monstrosity around the world, furiously pursuing what few humans were unaffected by the dark crystal's power to corrupt souls.

Most fled to Harmonia as continent after continent was lost. From there, My siblings and I used the power of the runes to stave off the dark crystal's power, and we were successful. Harmonia was free of the dark influence, and we managed to hold for ten years. But then, Umbra herself came to destroy us. The east coast was taken in a single day, and nearly half of the citizens of Harmonia were turned to beasts. The turning point finally happened when my siblings and I gathered atop Dragon Spine major, and Fought Umbra for the last time. The gods had finally fulfilled their promise, and all but Divinity, bestowed their full power to us. I was given the Power of Yamirix, the god of the Dark, Monarcha was given the power of Mizuli, the god of Water, Ephraim was given the power of Chiaz, the god of earth, Amethyst was given the power of Hikaritz, the god of Light, Valkyriana was given the power of Kazald, the god of Wind, and Optimism, the power of Hokonet, the god of Fire.

By combining our powers, we managed to seal Umbra within the stone slates of the magic game, but not without cost. As we were performing the ritual, Umbra managed to reflect it back on us before we could stop it, and as a result, all seven of us were sealed inside the stone slates. On that day, nearly five sixths of the population was wiped out, and half of that did not manage to survive the onslaught of Umbra's creatures the next day before they all died out. With the darkness away, and one thousand years before the second part of the contract was fulfilled, The survivors separated, repopulated, and the history of the world previous of the great nightfall gave way to time. The magic game was lost without the knowledge of the runes present any more, and all was forgotten.

It was not until a descendant of Umbra's daughter discovered us in your 900th year was the magic game restored. The man went by the name of Starswirl, and he was a master of magic and the soul arts in which Nethera, Umbra's daughter, had founded. Using a spell, He had managed to speak with us. We taught him all that we knew, and the man absorbed everything. Being outside of the original gene pool left him with a far longer life than that of our descendants, and so the man continued to live for nearly 500 years after. He brought our knowledge to your two Queens, and he recognized the marks of Divinity on each of them. The sisters were chosen to receive Divinity's power, but needed the magic game to activate it. He told the Queens how to unlock their power, and invoked the runes to draw the soul cards from them. Upon manifestation of the cards the Queens began the ritual which would invoke Divinity upon them.

From there, after your war was ended, your Queens created technology which would allow us to be converted into your standard cards, so that we might have a chance at limited freedom within the game. However, your queens tried to free all of us with this method. As such, Luna was corrupted in a similar way that Umbra was. My guess is that your queens may have inherited her blood as well somewhere along the lines, and it was just of unfortunate circumstance that Luna was the one who was corrupted. But even as cards, our powers were held intact, and we tried to remove Umbra from Luna, with Celestia's help. During the Duel, Umbra managed to escape through a hole she ripped in the dimension. rather than escaping to the higher plane, she made her way to an adjacent one. In there, a chosen of Divinity was able to free Luna from Umbra's influence after the people of that dimension pleaded with him.

Light Corona then took Luna for his own, and the two returned here, with Umbra sealed away, and locked her deep under the mountain. Unfortunately, Luna would never recover from the things the Umbra's soul did to her body, and the full alien strain of recessive genes were hers to keep. The cost for using our powers to try and free Luna was once again great. The Elements of Harmonia, my siblings and I, are only possible to be used by our direct descendants with at least 10% of our blood within them, due to the necessity of relation to the seven gods' magic. The Iscandor sisters are gifted with high concentration of all my siblings blood by some miracle, and had the ability to wield us. However, that connection was severed when we used our powers to try and stop Umbra from taking control of Luna. From both of the queens, Umbra severed us.” The video the stars had been producing collapsed, and Andromeda lowered his body with his staff, and returned to a sitting position.

“We lost most of our power that we had managed to gain over the thousands of years we've been trapped, and now there are few left who can wield us. Fortunately, our Mark reincarnations had been all born around seventeen years ago, and with the emergence of those that would share our marks, we have returned to the power which we once had, but it was not yet enough. We needed the six of you to be of caliber and strength to use us upon our arrival. You had finally risen to my desired level of ability a few days ago, and that is why you received me. The others have already been sent out to their respective owners, and if fate wishes to reunite us the way it would, we will all meet again within a duel. Tomorrow, you will go to the town where the others wait for us, and I am sure you already know this, but you and I share in the same destiny.”

Andromeda began to remove the armor he was wearing and set it to the side where the siblings heard it land with an impressive weight. He then undid the two cloth links which kept his shirt on, and removed the shirt. He stood and turned his back to the siblings and right there was the mark he and Twilight shared. A violet six pointed star atop a white six pointed star surrounded by five other white six pointed stars in between all the violet points but the top and bottom right. “It's... the same as mine!” Andromeda began to redressed himself.

“Twilight Sparkle, before you were born, on the very day you were conceived, your destiny was bound to mine, and together, we will go forward to a future for you which is far brighter than my own. You bear the mark of the Harmonian of Magic, and the powers of Yamirix, the god of Darkness.” And unknown to her, she had also been chosen by Divinity, but the time for that was not here. “Will you join me in my fight against the true evil, and help put an end to this black horizon?” He had finished dressing and stood in all his armor like an ancient hero. He held out his left hand just in front of her. “While I would have to go whether or not I accepted your offer, I will say yes.” The girl took his hand, and an unusual jolt of magic seemed to surge through her. When she finally stood, she let go. “What in the hell was that!?” she yelped.

“That is the true power of Yamirix. It was sleeping dormant in your body until this day. From today forward, the darkness will be your ally. Your vision will be as clear as day on the blackest night, and your senses will be heightened as the moon rises. Your attention to detail will become much sharper, as you will notice small changes much faster than you used to. Your magic ability will continue to stay normal until a situation arises when you need more power to survive. In that case, the limit on the power of Yamirix within you unlock itself and protect you.” Twilight was shocked. What in the world was happening to her? First the queens show up at the door one day to take her in, and now she was being told she inherited the power of a god? Even worse, the power of Yamirix took effect immediately. The rising moon outside was casting little light on the overcast night, but Twilight could see every detail of the central court yard. Even down to scratches on the stone fountain when she focused. She then turned to spike who was giving her an odd look.

“Hey, what's wrong?” The boy was uncertain whether or not he should answer. “Well... when you used to get mad all the time, your eyes would do this thing where your pupils would become all narrow like mine, but... now they're just kinda stuck like that. You also have this... feeling about you... I don't really know how to describe it, but if you did that thing where you summoned Andromeda again, I feel like it would be different.” Andromeda put both hands on his staff and started to lean on it.

“Master Spike is correct. Your true Aura has been released from it's chains. You possess the eyes of Yamirix, just like myself. However, If the boy is correct, then they only appeared on you when you were angry.” He started to sink along his staff to a sitting position, and pant like he'd been running for a long time. “Are you okay, Andromeda?” Spike was almost surprised to hear genuine concern from Twilight.

“You needn't worry about me. You had run out of magic for quite some time now, and I have been using my own to sustain myself in this form, however, I am quickly degrading.” Twilight Snapped her fingers in a dark violet glow, and the duel disk floated to her hand. She removed the MSD and handed it to Andromeda. “Here, put your thumb on the top of this. If nothing else, this should keep you around for a few hours. If I needed to talk to you again, is there a way other than summoning you like I did?” The sorcerer took the small rune covered device and did as he was told. Upon placing his thumb on the button at the top of the device, the array of color along it's sides began to vanish, until only a portion of the bottom row remained. With that, the sorcerer hopped up to his feet like he'd been recharged.

“My, Master Sparkle, I believe I have more energy now than I have had in eons. How much energy did that device contain?” Judging by the amount of runes left casting their colorful array, Twilight guessed that Andromeda has absorbed all but five to seven percent of the amount in the MSD in the first place. Twilight could barely store 20 Giga Arc Watts herself, as far as she knew, but Andromeda here just absorbed about 8000

“Oh, you know. Just 8300 plus GIGA ARC WATTS! You just ate nearly all of it! How did I even manage to summon a magic sucker like you?” The sorcerer raised an eye brow at the girl. “Master's Sparkle, are you ready to depart tomorrow?” Twilight looked to her empty back pack near the front of the small room. The room was really just a box that was about 9 foot cubed. There was a closet and a bathroom with a shower and a small tub toward the back of the room connected by a hall that separated the rest of the room from it, but outside of that, she had a desk, a chair, a bookshelf, a dresser, a bed and a window sill she used as an inn table. The room was pretty much empty as well, so it didn't look like much. She intended to pack, but they decided to summon Andromeda by accident instead, and nearly 4 hours had passed since he showed them the events of his past.

“To be fair, that was the plan until you showed up. We still need to go get stuff from the store, and I haven't even decided what I'm going to try and bring, since I have like, no summer clothes, and-” The sorcerer stopped her. “For now you will sleep. I have taken much of the time you needed to prepare, and as such, I will prepare for you. As long as you have clothing here, I have the ability to alter it as you need. Amethyst was rather skilled at the art of cloth making, and while I lacked the talent for it, hundreds of years of training made up for the fact.

With the energy you have provided, I will be able to sustain myself until tomorrow afternoon, which is more than enough time for you to sleep, and myself to gather your things. Is there somewhere that I may access data? There was this thing known as the 'intern-net' in which Celestia used to speak fondly of around me, and I have been intrigued ever since then as to what it was.” Twilight reluctantly showed the sorcerer how to access the web. His eyes lit up, and he began furiously reading through document after document about the history of the country leading up to current events.

“Are you even reading? You barely spend five seconds on each page.” Andromeda never removed his eyes from the screen but answered the boy. “When you have been reading as long as I have, large books become hour long readings. The reason I asked for this rather than going through Master Sparkle's book shelf is because I will likely read all of those in a matter of hours anyways. It may take me an hour to read the first three shelves, provided none of them contain pictures, and are completely text covering every inch of the page. If the pages are like these However, I may finish the entire nine shelves in two hours. Either way, It won't take long. But...”

The sorcerer put the disk on the desk and turned to the siblings standing and staring at him in front of her bed. He snapped his fingers in a dark violet glow, and the two collapsed in each of his arms. “Now you must rest. You both have a long day ahead of you.”

7/8/3016 - Monday morning (4.2)

When Twilight awoke, she couldn't remember when she fell asleep, but it was very clearly sunrise now. Upon the groaning noises that exited Twilight, The sorcerer, who was still very in the room looked up from his spot on top of Twilight's desk. To the left of wall facing desk, closer to the bed than the door were a pair of bags that she had never seen before. The green one looked to be a more modern looking backpack, but with an unusual layout. The main Pocket was split up into four quadrants each about the size of a textbook, laying on it's spine cover, with a second pocket slightly smaller, but with no extra zippers, or pockets to it. On the front was a third section, not quite as big as the first two, but unusually square for something that looked to be made of a cloth vinyl mixture. The Violet one was a different kind of bag all together. Likely some form of duffel bag but it also looked to be made to wear long-ways across the back. It was covered in pockets, and both bags looked full.

“Ah, Good morning, Master Sparkle. Whilst looking for things to accommodate you, I found a room filled to the brim with various cloth material within the school. I saw that the bag you had intended on using looked... out of shape, so I took the liberty of making new ones for the both of you. It is simply fascinating to see all the information on clothing and garments out there.” Twilight was too groggy to question anything in her life, now that it had recently become so crazy, so she just rolled over Spike and moved to the bathroom. The boy had not yet started to wake, but the full weight of his almost hundred pound sister on top of him caused him to move.

“What the? Who the? Huh?” Twilight put her hands over her ears and her head on the bar. “Get up Spike, My trading card made us clothes...” Even her own words started to confuse her. It was too early in the morning for this. It was one thing to barely sleep, but to sleep more than eighteen hours was too much for her. The boy rose from his spot on the bed and began to sit up from his position. After he moved, he realized he felt far more comfortable in his clothes than he remembered. Then he noticed he was not wearing his shorts or tee-shirt, but was wearing pajamas made of some form of silk. “What am I wearing?” Andromeda took this opportunity to answer.

“Silk, of the spider variety I believe. Woven and constructed with a hint of magic, you shall be able to wear those pajamas for the rest of your life. The spell I put on them will have them grow with you, the moment the magic detects a change in your size. When Amethyst discovered the 'growth-tracker' spell as she called it, she began selling to high paying clients and giving them to the poor in her city. Each of my siblings and myself founded one of the various cities in this land. Hers is now known as Heartland.” Andromeda levitated the green bag on to the bed next to Spike without so much as removing his eyes from the duel disk he was vehemently swiping across. “What's all this?” The question puzzled Andromeda at first but then he realized the boy was scouring through his new back pack.

“Your other garments and all of those books that you had on this desk. I found the Devil Summoner series quite interesting. It appears to be such a colorful and bright little set of books, but inside is quite a dark tale of a few teenagers.” Spike had finally awoken to the name of his new set of manga. “Whoa. You read all of it? Like, the whole twelve volumes?” The sorcerer looked up at the boy from his reading. “Yes, I did. Being picture books, It was not very hard to absorb. As a matter of fact, it took me about fifteen minutes to complete the whole set.” The sounds of Twilight spitting in the bathroom floated into the main room of the dorm, and the pajama clad girl walked out with a little toothpaste under her lip.

“Oh man, you weren't kidding. It takes me that long to read through one volume of anything. Your reading speed is jank man.” Spike had a similar thought, but let it go in trade to look through the bag. He unzipped the second pocket, and pulled something black, something violet and something green out of it. Upon unfurling the tightly wrapped clothes, each was a full set of clothing. He put the green and black set back in the bag as best he could, and walked off into the bathroom. “Hey, Twi, you've got toothpaste on your lip still.” Twilight rubbed at her face with her sleeve and examined the new white-teal stain on them.

“Oh damn it. This happens every time. Now I have to wash these things. I hope that place we're going to be staying has a washer and dryer set. Hey Spike, did that letter say anything about where we were staying?” Spike had yet to finish brushing his teeth, so he spit several times before finally saying anything. “No, just that some guy is supposed to meet us at the station. And uh... I may or may not have blackened you sink.” Twilight sighed. Even the sinks at home are black because of Spike's occasional misfires. “It's whatever, don't worry about it. Are you almost done? I need to change. Oh yeah, speaking of which, what did you make me?” Andromeda levitated Twilight's new bag to her and pulled out a skirt and rather ornate billowy shirt.

“I looked up modern girl's clothing, and found that this was the kind of 'fashion' that you teenagers typically wear.” She looked at him in with disdain. She was not pleased with the particularly girly outfit. “Uh, I'm not your average teenage girl, in any sense.” Spike had exited the bathroom and was now wearing a light gray hoodie with Green and Violet Accents, A dark green tee-shirt with a Lime green symbol on it that resembled a set of talons, and a pair of indigo violet cargo pants. Twilight pointed at her brother, who was now standing by her bed. “I want stuff like that. I don't really like girl's clothes as it is and the, ugh, 'trendy' stuff is way away from my style. Skirts and dresses are something I wear over pants and shorts, if at all.” The sorcerer's brow lowered. He was wearing his mask again, but if she could see his mouth, it was likely making a frown.

“Ah... I see. Well, I will take a little time, but I can transform what I have made for you into a similar fashion to what I made for Master Spike. I understand you do not like your outer wear, but, do I need to correct the underwear as well?” Twilight began to scavenge through the bag and found several sets of lacy panties and bras. “YES, YES, OH DEAR GODS YES! What even!? How did you!? You know what? I don't care. Remove the lacy crap and they're fine, holy shit.” She couldn't even. This is that feeling when those stereotypical pretty girl airheads felt when they were asked a normal algebra question. There were no words to describe it.

“Is there anything you need to have adjusted Master Spike?” Said the Sorcerer with a tinge of exasperation in his voice. “Oh, no, this stuff is perfect! It's all in my favorite colors and everything. Thanks Andromeda!” The sorcerer let out a relieved breath and levitated the violet bag to himself and began trans-mutating articles of clothing together. He drew a circle out of magic against the wall he was facing, and then the clothes would somehow magnetically stick to it. He would then run a pattern over the clothes within the circle, write a few of the runes around it, and press his hands against the circle. Upon doing so, the circle would glow a bright indigo violet light, and envelop the clothes. Once the light disappeared, a set of pants with a similar lined design to Spike's landed on the desk in front of his crossed legs. He repeated this process twice, until he reached the undergarments, where he just pressed them each in his hands and turned the lacy underwear into solid colored, plain stuff. It took him about ten minutes to do the five pieces of clothing and then he levitated them over to Twilight.

“I hope these will be more to your liking, Master Sparkle.” He was clearly displeased with having to redo his hard work. She unfolded each piece and examined it carefully. Once she was satisfied, she retreated to the bathroom to change. When she came back, she was wearing light gray cargo pants with indigo and pink lines across it's edges, A Violet shirt with her Mage's mark in the center, and an indigo zip up hoodie, with every seam lined in either violet or pink. “Now this is what I'm talking about. But uh... we're going to a town that's kinda swampy. It's gonna be hot and humid there this time of year and you kinda made us more winter clothes.” Andromeda continued to work on Twilight's clothes, and replied without so much as turning his head.

“Ah, but in truth, this is not the case. As Master Spike's pajamas will grow with him, the clothes I have made for the both of you will adjust themselves according to the weather. They appear as light winter clothes, but if you were to run a mile in them, they would feel nonexistent. A similar magic that Amethyst invented is enchanted in these sets to feel as if they aren't there when you are hot, and completely stop wind and trap heat when you are cold. As I said, Amethyst was quite the genius when it comes to garments and armor.” Twilight was impressed.

“That's pretty impressive. That kind of magic must have never made it through the 'great nightfall' or whatever it was. I would ask another question, with what I expect has a long answer, but what time is it? We really need to be out of here by eight thirty.” Andromeda continued working. “Eight o'clock on the dot.” The girl sat down on her bed in her new wind breaker like clothes and started rubbing her chin. “Eight, huh? We should probably get some food before we go... Do you mind if we run to the cafeteria to get breakfast before we go?” The sorcerer warped her duel disk, a violet wallet, and a lanyard with a few keys on the end off the desk to Twilight's hand.

“Not at all, Master Sparkle. I would prefer it if you did, actually. I still have a few more sets of yours to alter, and it will take me about twenty five minutes to do it.” He was already finished with the third set of clothes. “Did you make eight sets of clothes? Dude, that's more than I normally wear in two weeks. But thanks anyways, I'll probably use em' all. Come on Spike, lets go get some food.” The boy followed behind Twilight to the door but just before she exited, Andromeda stopped her.

“Master Sparkle, there is a boy down in that room you're headed for with white hair and dark violet eyes. He's rather tall for his age, being sixteen like yourself, and more inclined to electrical magic than anything else. If you make it down there and see him, I believe you should speak with him. I feel like you two would get along well.” Twilight stopped in her tracks.

“Um, what? You want me to go talk to some random guy? What am I even supposed to talk about?” The sorcerer continued working on her clothes, but the corner of his eye raised, and he looked to be smiling. “Why, the magic game of course. And for added measure, you know both of his parents quite well.” The sorcerer laughed quietly to himself and teleported the two siblings to the cafeteria. Twilight blinked.

“What the- He warped us seven floors down the building!? And for the love of-” Standing not but ten feet away from them in line for breakfast was another first year student, nearly a foot and a half taller than the five foot two inch Twilight Sparkle, with bright white hair, and was seeming to give off lightning. “Hey Twilight, Isn't this the guy?” The girl put a hand over the boy's mouth. “Shut up!” She said in a hushed tone. “I don't even know him!” Another voice came from in front of them. “Well, you could know me. Hi. My name is Zeus.”

The gargantuan boy stepped out of line and was now a mere foot away from Twilight. She noticed an oddity about his hair, in that the roots were different colors. Dying hair wasn't a very common practice among the people of Fauna as bright colors were typically natural, but this guy had dyed his white. His roots looked to be... green... blue... violet... and pink. The guy looked to be pretty manly for a sixteen year old, and having pink in his hair was likely not something he wanted for his personal image. His large hand was outstretched to be shaken and Twilight obliged, fitting her comparatively tiny hand in side of his mitt. “Oh, uh... I'm Twilight.” What do I do? This isn't normal! People don't just introduce themselves to me! I have a bad reputation! People stay away!

“Oh ho ho ho, you're the Twilight Sparkle aren't you?” Oh great. He already knows my reputation. “Mom and dad talk about you a lot. You're kind of famous in my family.” Wait, what? “They both always went on about how you're some kind of ridiculous duelist. Hey! You wanna duel right now?” Stimuli overload has crashed Twilight Sparkle.exe “She'd love to, but we don't really have the time for that. We've gotta eat and go in the next twenty minutes.” Twilight was still fixated on a blue screen in the distance that no one else could see, and the older boy and the younger boy started to talk.

“Time huh? I can fix that. You know, there's a special sect of electric magic that involves dimensional pockets. My brother and my uncle actually discovered this sect of magic, but I just so happen to be the most proficient manipulator of this magic in the current age.” The dragon boy went wide eyed. “Your brother is Apollo Sombra?” The giant nodded. Prideful kid to say the least. “Yep. My name is Zeus Sombra, if you believe it. But as I was saying, Dimension pockets take place in another form of reality alongside our own, and if you have the know how, you can control time within them. I personally am the inventor of that specific function of dimension pockets.” Twilight Sparkle.exe has begun rebooting.

“Hold on a sec. You're Apollo Sombra's brother?” Without breaking his crossed arms, he replied in the same prideful tone. “Yeah. He's been gone for the past week with my dad doing something or other, but we're supposed to hang out next week. His office is at the top of K.C. in Middle Canterlot. You can see just about all of Fauna from it.” Twilight let out a breath. “Eh, it's not the top of Canterlot Castle. I bet it has a whole bunch of cool tech in it though. That's one thing Canterlot castle doesn't have everywhere. Everything runs on those weird old runes the Queens use.” The teenage boy blinked. “You mean the Harmonian Runes the queens use. Standard Runes are a completely separate thing.” Astounded by the correction she knew to be true, she then remembered something both he and Andromeda said.

“Who did you say your parents were? I don't recall being told that information, and the only adults I'm close to outside of my parents are the queens. Oh, and by the way, you should probably dye your roots again. Celestia's hair is showing.” The color in the room faded as she said the words. Everything but the two boys and the girl seemed to lose all hues and stop moving indefinitely. The entire world around them was frozen. “Alright, ya caught me. I let my mouth get the better of me. I'm sure you would have eventually found out about the four of us sooner or later.”

The taller Mage began scratching his head. “She is gonna be some kind of pissed when I get home. Gah, shit. She probably knows already. By the time I unfreeze this field, I bet I get a call.” He began to circle around himself muttering to himself. As he did, Twilight began to observe more things he did similarly to Celestia. The way he put his left hand to his mouth and bit on his index finger when he's thinking. The seemingly inability to slouch (wings or not). And most importantly, his eyes. The same dark violet with gold flecks along the iris. The more she looked at him, the warmer she felt. What in the world was wrong with her? She needed to do something to get out of this situation, and fast. She didn't know what was going on, but the more she looked at him, the more warmer her body seemed to get, and the muddier he thoughts were. Didn't he suggest a duel earlier? “So uh, um. How long can you uh, keep this up? You said you uh, wanted to duel right?” Now she felt tong tied. What in the hell is going on?

“Oh yeah. Might as well duel ya while we're here. uh... you okay? You're looking a little... sweaty?” So it was just her. “Yeah, I think so. I just suddenly started feeling really hot. Is this because of the pocket dimension?” The boy resumed his finger biting position and vigorously running through the side effects of being inside of a pocket dimension, but none of them involved the addition of heat energy... why is she...? “Wait. Neither of you know what's going on here? Oh gods this is hilarious!” The girl removed her magic jacket, and tied it around her waist, but that didn't seem to do anything. The older boy began to feel nervous, and Spike just pointed at him and laughed.

“For Divinity's sake, this is the best thing I've ever seen! Hahaha!” Twilight still completely unaware of the situation, slapped spike's shoulder in frustration. “Come on, out with it! What do you know that we don't?” The older boy joined in. “Yeah, what's uh... wrong with, uh, her.” Spike just continued to smile wider. “Oh gods, now it's you too! Hahaha! Sweet Hearths warming, just duel already!” The dragon boy was now clutching his stomach and tearing up in laughter, almost crouching on the floor. The girl circled her self with a yell of frustration. Why was she so hot? Why was he suddenly tong tied? Would a duel really help? “You know what! Fine! Let's just do it and get it over with already!” Spike fell over.

“For the love of Tartarus Twilight, phrasing! Hahaha!” The two teenagers just stared at the dragon boy with resentment. They both loaded their duel disks, and the machinery started up with a whir and a wine. Twilight's custom violet duel disk with it's indigo blue matter wave, and Zeus' academia standard with a bright yellow matter wave. The disks shot a beam of light at each other, then both systems said in various voices “Duel mode activated. Opening MR Field.” “You ready for this? I'm one of the grand total of four pendulum users in the school.” The air had seemed to settle and Twilight felt more in her element, but even warmer than she was earlier.

“And I'm the top student duelist, and Mage, in the school. Are you ready for me?” The boy was caught off guard by her words, and suddenly he started to feel light headed. But he also felt better than ever. He'd never felt like this before. “Now that's what I want to hear! Let's do this!” “DUEL!” The MR field flashed the word DUEL in unison with the players across the invisible screen in the middle of the field, and both players drew five cards. “How about a coin toss so start this off? I've had enough duels just decided to start for this week.” Spike interjected. “You dueled once yesterday. Yesterday was the first day of the week. How is that too many?” Twilight developed a vein on her forehead. “Can you just, I don't know, maybe, shut the fuck up?” She was not in the mood for Spike's sarcasm right now. More because she didn't know what she was feeling at the present moment, and less because he was being a prick.

“Man, they did not joke about the mouth of the purple princess. You're almost as bad as mom. Alright, I'll flip.” The boy tapped an option on his duel disk screen and a matterwave coin the size of a plate began floating in front of him. He grabbed it, tossed it up, then kicked it mid back flip. Twilight thought it was impressive. Wait what? Since when do I compliment people? The coin landed on it's thin edge and began to spin in a circle, until it came to a stop on player one. Zeus was first up. “Alright! Lets get it on!” The younger boy began to crack up again.

“Seriously, dude, what is so funny? Ah, whatever. First off, I set the Pendulum scales with the scale 1 Horobot Second hand, and the scale 6 Horobot Hour hand! Swing pendulum swing! Open the gates of time and let my monsters come out! Horobot Minute hand, Horobot Time piece, and Horobot Back plate!” When all was said and done, Zeus' field was covered in dark steel colored manikins each holding what looked to be weapons fashioned out of clock pieces. The two in the pendulum zone were moving according to the clocks on their duel disks. Each piece of clock was a different color, and the moving parts all coincided with the current time, provided that was possible in this weird colorless bubble.

“Interesting.” The boy put his hands to his hips and leaned inward on his toes. “Interesting? How so, if I may ask.” The girl couldn't discern whether that haughty tone was sarcasm or not, but proceeded anyways. “To be honest, I'd never seen it done before. I've never really concerned myself with the other summoning methods since I've always been such an adept fusion user, and nearly half of the student body uses fusion on top of that.” The boy leaned back to a straight position with a different kind of smile on.

“Ooh, so that's what this is about. I bet mom's deck was something to see yesterday for you huh?” the girl crossed her arms and adopted a pout. “You could say that. You could also say that she completely stomped my face in the ground, almost to a literal sense. That was not a fun game.” Fun game? Fun game... where did she get that? It's about winning not... The boy cut her thoughts off. “She probably didn't enjoy it either. A few hours after she came home, around eighteen or so, she started moping about it for a good few hours. 'Why do I always do that?' she'd say. Mom loves to play the game, but she hates to completely destroy like that. The problem is that she doesn't know how to hold back when she uses her own deck. She won't even duel me with her deck. She's used it exactly one time on my older brother a couple years ago, and he's the only one whose witnessed first hand what she can really do.” On Apollo? The C.E.O.?

“Celestia beat Apollo Sombra into dust?” The boy was confused, but then corrected her statement. “No, She did that to Zeph. He was kind of an ass at the time, though. Pretty sure he deserved it. From what he told me, he lost without even taking a turn. She did this crazy quadruple synchro summon that ended up in level 12 8000 attack monster with a super ridiculous effect.” Zeph? Like, the guy that was supposed to meet them at the train? “Wait a sec, let me get this straight. First, Celestia was complaining about beating me?” The boy nodded.

“Yeah. She was not happy with herself, and if I remember correctly, she was on the phone with dad for over an hour about it.” There's that dad again. Who even is this guy? “Okay, and next, you have more than one brother, and an older one named Zephraim?” The boy nodded again. “Well, I didn't call him that, but that is his name. Mom is about the only one who does call him that.” Twilight was searching her head for anyone who might be the father of the three, but who? Andromeda said she knew both his parents, so who had she come across that could be his dad? “So, whose your father? You said he talked about me too.” The boy scratched his head. “Well... I'm really not supposed to disclose that one... you know what? How about this. Beat me, and I'll let you talk to him.” There was a solid chance of that happening, but did she want to bet on him? Her head was swimming, and her body uncontrollably hot. Staring at her opponent only made both worse. At this point she was stuck with him, so why not?

“Alright. Deal. You done?” It was still his turn. “Oh right, uh, yeah one more thing. I tune, the level 4 Minute hand, the level 2 Back plate and the level 2 Time piece! Pendulum opens the gate, and synchronization unlocks time! The father of wisdom reveals the past, present, and future! Synchro summon, Horobots Grandfather Time!” Instead of a Manikin, This monster resembled something between a cyborg and an android. It looked human, yet was completely made from machine parts, all in ornate gold and dark steel like the other monsters he used. And rather than holding a massive weapon made from a clock piece, the monster looked to be wearing the pieces of a grandfather clock as armor.

He wore plated metal along his body to look like static robes and carried a staff with a moving pendulum that was headed by a clock face. If nothing else, he looked like a grandfather made of machine. What interested Twilight the most was the card type though. A synchro-pendulum card. Half monster, half spell, and somehow, it had scales to it. How would this card ever make it to a pendulum zone? It seemed simply impossible, as a synchro monster cannot be placed in the hand. “What's the story with this guy? I've never heard of a synchro pendulum card before.” The boy returned her a sly look.

“I guess you'll just have to find out, won't ya? I end my turn with that.” Twilight didn't like that. She opened the field view from her disk and selected the cards on his field, but for some reason, the card effects were either encoded, or written in a language she couldn't read. It had 2000/3000, so there must be some kind of defensive effect to it. In any case, she was going to try and banish it. It was a pendulum monster, so if it was destroyed, It would just come back once he got a 9 in his high scale, or worse, the 11 scale synchro monster would take that place, opening the door for something bigger. “Fine then. I draw.” The boy raised his hand after she took her card.

“And so the effect Grandfather activates. Every time you take cards from your deck, I can send one pendulum monster from my field or graveyard face up to the extra deck. With that, I'll send minute hand forward in time.” The old machine tapped his staff on the ground four times, and a bell rang out four times. The monster's ghost was sent from a dark void to a white one. So this is what it did. Grandfather Time was a replenishment tactic.

“Hmm... I see. I guess I just won't fix my hand until I get rid of him. First off, I activate the effect of Star fusion. I send Star Magician Copernicus and Shooting star Unicorn to the grave to fusion summon! From the brightest center of the greater galaxy, come forth, Star Spiral, The galaxy Magician!” Like Andromeda, this monster was a Galaxy magician belonging to the Star archetype that Twilight's deck was made up of. He was much smaller in overall stature than Andromeda, but was far more armored. He was plated at every joint to the end of his limbs, and was wearing a curved knight's helm that receded into a point with a small ball of light at the end, much like the tutor's caps that Andromeda and Copernicus wore. His robes followed the indigo blue, violet, and gold color scheme as most of her cards did, but he wore no flowing cape or long flowing robes. Instead, this monster looked more along the lines of a Mage-knight, with a long hilted great sword that had an ethereal spiral of light at it's end.

“Once per turn, I can banish one monster from my hand or grave to have Spiral banish one monster you control. I banish Unicorn from my grave. Go, Vortex Drain!” The Mage-knight started to run towards the old machine with a black hole beginning to from at the end of his sword, but as he connected, Grandfather Time became transparent and Hour hand in the pendulum zone exploded. “Good try, but when Grandfather would be banished or sent to the grave yard while I control a pendulum monster in it's scale, I can destroy that monster, and put him there instead.” The girl seemed unphased.

“I figured it was defensive, but now you're left open.” The boy wagged his finger at her. “Not quite. When Hour hand is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the extra deck while I have a Horobot in my pendulum zone, I can target one Horobot in my graveyard and special summon it.” And just as he said, Time piece was revived with the large clock face the manikin was holding being used as a shield. Twilight began to rub her fingers on her chin.

“I see. It's good to know Celestia taught you at least as well as she did me. But, now that you can't send your cards back for a pendulum summon, I can start fixing my hand. I activate Gathering Stars! I tribute Spiral to add Star monsters with combined levels equal to his! I add the level 3 Star Magician Sagan, and the level 4 Star Magician Hubble! Next, I activate the effect of Sagan. I can banish him from my hand to target one Spellcaster in my graveyard and special summon it!” From a black hole in the floor, the red eyed Mage knight arose and returned to his position.

“I see. You were definitely trained my my mom. Nobody else teaches resource management better than her.” He certainly wasn't wrong. Neither player had really gone negative yet, all things considered. “Mm-hmm. Now, Since I have two banished monsters, I can activate the other effect of star fusion. By sending Unicorn and Sagan back to the deck, I add the Star Fusion in my graveyard to my hand! Then I activate it, fusing Star Magician Hubble and Shooting Star Longhorn in my hand! He who holds the power of heaven in his hands, come forth and show the majesty of the galaxy! Appear, Magic Star Andromeda, The Galaxy Magician!” Like the previous times, the Two star monsters came turned into Hydrogen and Helium atoms and circled each other until they collided in a violet light, which was Twilight's queue to put Andromeda's card on the field, but when she did, a small white orb with crane wings appeared and handed Twilight a piece of paper and began reading in his voice.

“Dear Master Sparkle, I apologize for this, but you and I are currently on separate planes of reality, and I cannot participate within this duel.”

-with love, Your ancestor, Andromeda.

The two boys were completely dumbfounded by the rather aristocratic, upper-class, scholarly man's voice coming from the ball of light and Twilight was completely enraged. “Who the Fuck does he think he is!? That old bastard is my Trading Card! He does not get to decided when I summon him or not! This is fucking bullshit!” Spike tried to defend Andromeda. “Well, It's not like it's his fault! You heard him, he's not in this uh... plane or whatever.” Twilight turned her enraged face towards her brother, and started to march toward him, with her empty right hand beginning to glow with a very intense, very bright violet. She was intercepted by Zeus before she could reach him though.

“Hey, hey, hey, now. Hold on a minute, your brother is right. I don't really have any grasp of what's going on, but we are not technically, currently, in the same dimension as the rest of our world right now, so unless your, uh, trading card can lock on to my signature and teleport or warp in here before I cast the pocket, he can't just get in here. He has about a split second window to do it, and My parents and my aunt are about the only ones who can even do that.” The boy was trying his best to calm down the raging Twilight, but after he put his hand on her shoulder, she suddenly felt strange, and walked back to her spot, continuing to curse at Andromeda.

“That spiky haired old bastard! If he had the time to write this message, then he fucking knew this was going to happen in the first place! Damn it! And you! You make me feel weird! Don't touch me again!” The boy slowly backed away from the cowering Spike to his side of the duel field. Even the monsters seemed concerned for Twilight. “O-okay. Alright. I totally understand. Won't do that again. Do... do you want to summon something else...?” The girl began to furiously scratch at her head. “Sure, fine, whatever. I don't need him anyways. I summon Star Milky-way, the Galaxy magician.” How she managed to say that with zero enthusiasm, the two boys will never know.

She placed the card on her matterwave, and this time, the violet light faded to reveal a relatively Tall woman who, like Andromeda and Spiral, was clad in heavy robes and Armor. She was less armored than Spiral, and nearly a foot taller than him. She had a breast plate with what Zeus liked to call, 'Boob molds' because they were exactly that. As far as armor goes, the 'boob molds' were completely impractical and would usually cause more harm than good.

Back when His mother and aunt started leading the unified country, they had a mass gathering of all the blacksmiths through out the land, and had a serious discussion on how female armor was to be made. For whatever reason, the Mages and Angels believed that the breast plate for women should be a breast holder too, and that is what caused many a broken female sternum back in the days where battle was a monthly to weekly thing. Her arms were completely unarmored from the forearms down, and her legs were armored properly, covering every area that would normally be a target. She wore heavy looking large billowy robes with a hood that hid most of her face underneath the armor and carried a large Anyanese style spear with a curved blade at the end. The blade itself was a conglomeration of galaxies and nebulae up to it's sharpened edge, where it was a metallic violet like the rest of the galaxy magician's armor.

“Ugh. Boob molds strike again. I just can't understand how that was ever even a thing, and to this day, I still don't get it.” Spike shot his comment back. “Hey! You knock that crap off! That chest is glorious!” Twilight planted her palm firmly on her forehead. “Oh my gods, you pervy little ten year old.” Alarm bells were going off in Twilight's head, ringing about something that related to her comment, but her train of thought was stuck at the station. “Whatever. When Milky-way is summoned, I can Target one Star Magician monster in my graveyard and equip it to her. Milky-way's original attack and defense is equal to the combined attacks of Hubble and the Shooting Star monster used to summon her, so at the moment, she's sitting at 4000 with Hubble equipped to her.” Twilight was trying hard to not go slap the shit out of her little brother, and it was killing her enthusiasm.

“Wow. That's a lot of attack.” Twilight started to regain her spirit. “Yeah, and if you don't have any more tricks left, I'm gonna end you with her. Because he was re-summoned, Spiral can attack this turn. I attack back plate with Spiral!” The Mage-knight took his great sword in both hands, and held the blade down at the side of his hip behind himself. He came up to the shielding manikin, and slashed upward through it. The manikin fell over in two halves, and then dispersed into particles.

“Well, that's a shame, because I do, indeed, have more tricks. The pendulum effect of Grandfather activates when a monster I control is destroyed and sent to the extra deck! I can target an other face up Horobot in my extra deck and special summon it!” The old machine, now in the pendulum zone, opened a hole in the sky and Hour hand was summoned in defense position. But Twilight only smiled. “Ooh, good try, but this is probably going to hurt a little more than you thought. Ya see, when Longhorn is used as a fusion material monster, that monster gains the piercing effect. Milky-way attacks Hour hand!” The boy scratched his head.

“Oh. Well crap. Uh, before that happens though, if Hour hand is special summoned, I can add a Horo trap card to my hand. I'll add Horology beginning to my hand.” He bowed to Twilight in an old fashion curtsy, and Twilight returned it. The female Galaxy Magician jumped from her spot on the field next to the Mage-knight and began to spin her spear in the air as she did. She stopped and lowered the spear as she descended, cutting through the defending Hour hand, and sending a light blue wave of energy through the ground toward Zeus. The boy managed a barrier to defend himself, but just like her duel two days ago, she cracked his barrier to the point where it looked like shattered glass. “Oh, come on! This one is freaking new! There's no way the limiter is already broken!” The boy released his barrier and began to wave his hand from sided to side with a pathetic smile on his face.

“Oh, no, that wasn't you, that was me. You see, I'm a really specialized kind of Mage. If the magic is outside of electric affinity coming from me, I'm actually kind of pathetic. So much for the son of an immortal queen right? I don't duel around here a lot because this happens pretty much regardless of who I'm dueling.” So she wasn't over producing magic. No, that wasn't right. The weirdness of her body was definitely producing more magic than normal for her, the MSD was just working with the limiter correctly, for once.

“Oh, good. Uh, I mean... I don't want to hurt you, so... yeah.” Wait. Her face was hot. Didn't that mean something? “Yeah, uh, no worries. I'm fine. Is that all?” What was it that triggered alarms in her head earlier? This 'being unable to think properly' was really starting to bug her. “Oh, yeah, I'm done. Go ahead.” The boy drew his card, and for a moment, Twilight thought his face looked a little red. “Okay, so, Since I've got less than a thousand life points left, I can activate Horology beginning from my hand! When this card is activated, I can destroy one monster in my pendulum zones to add one pendulum monster to my hand! I destroy Second hand, to add Horobot Click spring, and set the left scale with it! I then pendulum summon! Swing pendulum swing! Open the gates of time and let my monsters come out! Horobot Second, Minute, Hour hands! Horobot Time piece and Back plate!” The five manikins all appeared from the white circle of lights in the sky above his field and descended at once. That big monster was probably next.

“And like last time, Hour hand allows me to add a trap card to my hand! I add Horology End! Now that all of our players have arrived, It's time to synchro summon!” Twilight interrupted. “Quick question, is it just you and your mom, or does your whole family use Synchro summons exclusively?” The interruption cut off his momentum and he just sighed.

“It's not exactly exclusive, but yeah, just about all of us use synchros. Athena and I are pretty exclusive to it though. Dad's more of an Xyz guy, Apollo likes fusions, Zeph likes to try and use all of them, and to be honest, I really don't know what all mom has. You probably know more about her deck than I do. Now, can I do the thing?” Who is Athena? “Do you have a sister too?” He put a hand to his head. “Ugh., yeah I do. Her name is Athena. I'm going to do the thing now, k?” Twilight was about to ask about their ages, but then he did the thing.

“I tune the level 2 Second hand, the level 4 Minute hand, and the level 5 Hour hand! Pendulum opens the gate, and synchronization unlocks time! The grand tower which stands above Time itself, Come forth! Horobot Temporal Clock Tower!” The synchro summon was different this time. Rather than the standard green rings and stars aligning, they just gathered in the center of the clock face that Minute hand turned into. The seven stars formed two hands on the clock face, and began to spin faster and faster, white and yellow light illuminating the entire bubble of time. When the light faded, Before her was a gigantic Machine piece man like Grandfather, but this was much... different.

It was almost as big as the Time bubble itself, and looked more like a Golem. It's face had few features save for a glowing yellow eye, and the large gold gear of a clock ticking underneath the ethereal eye. It's arms and legs were each separate spire looking objects with columns and spikes all along the limbs until it's joints. In it's massive machinery hands was a large club like object that held a clock face that was separated into two rings, one rotated with a dial that pointed to a specific spot on the outer edge, and the other the inner edge, as if the minute and hour hands were still and the face moved. It was truly a Tower.

“Dear gods, this thing is huge. It's almost as big as Celestia's monster was yesterday!” The boy ran his fingers through his hair, clearly proud of the statement. “Why yes, it is isn't it?” He didn't know if that was true because he missed their duel yesterday. “He has 4000 attack points, and a rather fun effect. When Click spring is used as a pendulum scale during a pendulum summon, Any Horobot that would be sent to the grave is destroyed instead, so that synchro summon put my hands back in the extra deck. On top of that, When Second hand is used for a synchro summon, The monster summoned by that effect gains Attack points equal to it's level times 100, in this case, 1100 attack.” Second hand's ghost appeared above Tower and Spun it's hand-lance around in a circle, stopping when it pointed straight up. The monster obtained a yellow glow, and it's attack raised to 5100.

“Next up is Time piece's effect. Once per turn, If this card was pendulum summoned, I can target one monster and destroy it! Lets get rid of that poorly armored woman magician!” Twilight had prepared for something light that happening. “Yeah right. I activate Copernicus' effect! When my opponent activates a monster effect, I can banish him to negate and destroy it!” The boy tapped the screen of his duel disk.

“You're famous remember! Everyone has a counter to that card! I activate the effect of Back plate! When a monster I control would be destroyed by a card effect while I control this pendulum summoned card, I can negate that effect!, and as such, Milky-way is destroyed!” Twilight did the same. “Better luck next time! If Milky-way would be destroyed, I can destroy her equipped monster in her place! And, since Hubble was destroyed by a card effect, I can add one Star Spell card to my hand! I add Death Star Singularity!” Dear gods, what does that do? The Boy thought. That does not sound good. I need to try and end this, now.

“Alright, now lets use Tower's effect! Once per turn, I can target one monster my opponent controls, and banish it! I'll get rid of her this time!” Shit. I need that. Do I have a way to stop him? Longhorn! “Not so fast! I activate the effect of Shooting star Longhorn in the grave!” The boy sighed. “What, again? Does every card you have do something like that?” Twilight sheepishly nodded. “Yeah, kinda. Anyways, The effect is negated, and Temporal Clock Tower's effects are negated until the end phase.” The Mage boy shook his head.

“Well crap. So much for the rest of my plan. I attack Milky-way with Tower.” The Giant Machine raised it's clock-club above it's head, nearly stretching the time bubble to it's limits, then brought it down on Milky-way. The resulting explosion of sheer kinetic energy almost knocked Twilight on her ass, and shattered a small portion of the barrier she put up. “Geez, Is this part of your electric magic? That was an insane amount of force!” The boy shrugged

“Honestly, I have no idea. From what mom tells me, This game doesn't run on normal magic, and instead uses 'the soul arts' as she put it. But for another answer, Could I produce that much force with my magic? Probably not. If I gave my all to a bolt of lightning, maybe, and even then, I'm terrible with attack magic, so highly unlikely.” Soul arts? Andromeda mentioned that yesterday, yet she still didn't know anything more than where it originated. “Ugh. Even what she does tell me doesn't even begin to cover the things I don't know about this stupid game. And I know a hell of a lot about this.” The boy put his hand on his head and ran his finger through his hair. “Well, I set one card, and end my turn. You're up Twi.” Twi? What the hell?

“That thing you just said? You should, like, not say that anymore. My name is Twilight. The end. No more, no less.” The boy started to scratch his head again. “Geez, and here I thought we were friends. I can't give you a nick name?” Friends. Was this what Andromeda was talking about? Once again, Twilight felt warm and flushed in her face. “Well... maybe. We'll see if I don't finish you off right here!” Twilight drew, and It was just the card she needed. “First off, I activate the effect of Star fusion in my graveyard! By sending Longhorn and Copernicus to the deck, I add it to my hand! Then I activate the effect of Death Star Singularity!” Ahh, crap here it comes! As long as it doesn't kill me, I'll win right here! Thought the boy.

“When my opponent controls more monsters than I do, I can destroy all monsters you control!” A white dot spawned in the center of Zeus' field. Black electricity started to form around it and it began to suck his monsters toward it. “Crap! This is global, I can't stop it!” The ground began to vibrate with growing intensity, and the machines on his side of the field began too compress and fold into the white sphere as the black electricity grew into larger bolts of energy, until finally, there was nothing left. “And after that's done, I get to add a star monster to my hand! I add Shooting Star Pendulum!” The boy started to laugh like a mad man.

“Hahaha! You've fallen into my final gambit! I activate the effect of Horology end~!” Crap. He had a trap set. Shit. “When My opponent destroys monsters on my field, I can inflict damage to you equal to their combined level times 500! It's all over for you, Miss Sparkle!” I can't believe it. I honestly never thought that me blowing up his field would have this kind of repercussion. And now, for the very first time, I need to use Pendulum's other effect to avoid losing. “If I'm going down, I'm taking ya with me, Bitch! I activate the effect of the Shooting Star Pendulum in my hand! By banishing it, both players take effect damage inflicted by the opponent!” The Mage boy was stunned, His gambit was going to work, but he was about to take his own 7500 damage.

“Gods Dam it!” The massive ball of fire that spawned from the rotating numbers of 0 through 23 was intercepted by the rotating Shooting Star Pendulum, and then split into two fires, one in each direction toward each player. The two were intercepted by barriers, which then shattered, and the teenagers were sent flying. When they both landed, their life point counters met at zero, and the invisible screen flashed draw across it. Spike rushed over to his sister and helped her up.

“Twilight! Are you okay?” The girl was still a little battered from the blast, but she was more concerned about the other boy. She got up and darted over to him. Just as the siblings reached the boy, he had begun to sit up. “Hey, are you alright?” She picked up his hand to help him up, but as she did, a shock went through her. Suddenly, she could see the boy's aura radiating around him. While it was thin and smokey, It was a warm yellow color. It had a similar smell to Celestia's, but overall was sweeter to the taste. She could feel a slowing pulse, and could hear a ringing tone. He tried to pull himself up with Twilight's help, but the sudden assault of senses caused her to fall on top of him. When she looked up, their noses were almost touching. They stared into each others eyes for a moment, and then Twilight finally understood what had been going on the whole time. She got off of him as quickly as she could and stood up.

“Oh, uh, sorry about that... I, uh, got at l-little distracted.” She realized that she had started to twirl a strand of hair with her index finger. Spike put his hands to his mouth in the shape of a cone. “Attention passengers, the plane has finally landed!” Quicker than he could react Twilight punched the dragon in the shoulder with enough force to knock him on his butt. “Uh, don't worry about it... uh, do you want to get breakfast with me?” The girl was very confused at the moment. She began running through all of the biology textbooks she had read and tried to identify just what exactly her body was doing, but the swampy feeling of infatuation was currently keeping her from clear thought.

“Sure. That sounds great.” The boy released his bubble of time, and the three were returned to where they were standing when it was cast. They joined the line of people who were completely unaware of the near hour that had just passed in between seconds, and even more so of the new bond Twilight had just gained. And then, just as Andromeda said, they talked about the magic game.

Gold, Crystals, and Ruby (5)

“And from that day forward, I have not ever tried to challenge my sister to hand to hand combat.” The girl was pleased by the boy's story. They'd only known each other for about 25 minutes in the real world, but they had so much in common. “Geez, she sounds like a bad ass.” The boy nodded in reply. “Athena is a little insane, I think. She's not... the brightest bulb but she's a great leader and a fantastic tactician. I like to think I'm at least decent with curved long swords, but all of my siblings far surpass me in the whole combat thing. Mom always tells me I'm the 'white Mage' or whatever.” Twilight laughed.

“Is that why she dyed your hair?” The Mage boy just rolled his eyes. “No it's because she couldn't tell my hair from hers when I used to steal her combs.” They both laughed at the sarcasm, and Spike continued to shovel food down his throat. He swallowed, and then spoke up. “So, not to break up your little date or whatever, but we probably need to go meet that Zephraim guy at the station soon.” Twilight once again turned bright red and immediately stood up from the pillar style cafeteria table. Friends were unusual to her, but this was something else entirely. “Oh uh, yeah, um, right. We should, uh, go do the thing. Yeah. Let's go Spike.” Before she could escape, the Mage grabbed her hand.

“Wait, don't go just yet. At least give me your number first. It would really suck if I couldn't talk to you again.” His hand was warm and comforting. She didn't want to let go, but knew she needed to. “Oh okay. Um here.” She jerked her disk out of her left leg pocket and handed it to Zeus. He took his school disk and tapped the screens together. After doing so, the ID of the teenagers appeared on the others screen with picture, multiple forms of contact information and the standard age, birth date, eye color, information on all government issued identification cards. He handed her the disk back and she started reading through it. “So, you were born in April. I guess that makes me older than you.” The boy retorted.

“By like, three months. Come on. Oh, hey. You were born exactly on the first day of the third millennium. That's pretty cool. I wonder if you were the first person born that day.” Twilight put her finger to her mouth and thought about it. “You know, there's actually a good chance of that. My parents told me that I came out the second the clock struck midnight. Huh. Never really thought about that.” Spike had come to the other side of the table and started pulling on Twilight's shoulder. “Come on, Twilight, we need to get out of here. If we miss the train, Celestia might just kick us to Pony ville.” The other boy nodded.

“Yeah, she has a habit of beating the crap out of us when she gets mad. You should probably go. Tell my brother I said hi when you get there.” Twilight put the disk back in her pocket and waved to Zeus “Okay. I'll text you or something later. Bye!” Just as Twilight turned around, she was staring at her bed in her dorm. “I hope you managed to eat your fill.” Upon hearing the sorcerer's voice, The rage from earlier started to swell up again. “YOU!” She ran up to her desk where the sorcerer was sitting and grabbed his leather shoulder plates.

“You son of a bitch! You not being there cost me that whole damn duel! I was two cards from winning, and you were one of them, but you 'weren't on the same plane of reality'! I could have figured out who his father was! And what the hell was stupid fucking message!? You had time to write me, but not enough time to be my card!?” Andromeda adopted a stoic look, and then levitated Twilight away from him to her bed. “Now, now, Master Sparkle. There is no need for that kind of language. You enjoyed yourself did you not?” Twilight crossed her legs and her arms on the bed. “Maybe...” Andromeda propped himself off of the desk with his staff.

“And you have made a friend through this experience did you not?” Twilight receded into herself even further. “Yeah...” Andromeda hoisted her duffel bag over his shoulder. “So the feelings between the two of you would not have been established had you won. Creating a new bond is far more important than winning any game, Master Sparkle. Especially one that could grow as strong as this one has the potential to. The reason this game was created was to resolve differences between beings and establish bonds. Winning and losing have no bearing in that respect. You must understand this if you ever hope to resolve the conflict in this town we're traveling to.” He looks like my father, and sounds like my mother. Who needs parents when your ancient ancestor nags you for them?

“Yeah, so, I'm gonna try and bring this back to what's going on, we need to leave. I refuse to get on the Day queen's bad side because you two want to be late.” Andromeda put his hand on the dragon boy's head. “Worry not Master Spike, We're-” He snapped his fingers. “Already there.” Twilight blinked, then looked around. She was in the same position she was on her bed a few seconds ago, but now on a black bench inside of the train station. The entire building was made of Dragon spine's white stone like many of the buildings in upper and middle Canterlot, and ornate columns shot from the ground up to the high ceiling. The large glass screen above the ticket station displayed times of departure and arrival for several cities, but what she found odd was that their destination wasn't listed among them. Another oddity was that no train was leaving or arriving before 10. the entire station was empty, save for the tellers in their booths, giving odd looks to Andromeda. The station was lit normally, but Twilight found it hard for her eyes to adjust to the rapid change of light.

“Ack, my eyes! Geez, why is it so damn bright in here.” Spike looked around, noting the fact that he was where he wanted to be, and then retorted to Twilight's comment. “Uh, I hate to break this to you, but I don't think it's any brighter in here than it was in your room.” Andromeda took a seat next to Twilight on the bench. “It is not that it's brighter here, It's that there is simply more light energy around you. You have inherited the eyes of Yamirix like myself, and as such, your photoscopic sensitivity has been raised to three times that of a normal human. I read last night that the Vampiric humans suffer from a more severe, but similar condition, and prepared for the event you would be affected by light in this way. These were your reading glasses, but as you no longer have need for them, I have tinted them to serve as sun glasses.”

The girl took the glasses from Andromeda and quickly put them on. After doing so, she could see even more than earlier. She could see the grain of the stone on the opposite side of the station, the slightly visible foot traffic from yesterday in the recently waxed floors, the hand prints she doubted were normally visible on the teller's desks and most unusually, a written message on the column in front and to the left of her. It was faint, but it looked almost engraved in the stone, and it was written in Harmonian runes. “Hey... Andromeda, do you see that?” She pointed at the column still holding the glasses with one hand.

“'This is the spot, she should be here waiting for you.' Hmm. I wonder who that is for. There isn't likely many who can see that, and even less that could read it. I suppose this is Celestia's doing. I imagine that is for our escort.” Twilight nodded in agreement, returning to her crossed position. “Apparently, our escort is one of her sons. But, I don't know anything other than his name.” Spike pointed at the opening doors of the station at an Angel that walked in. “Do you think that's him?”

He was wearing a white coat with metal shoulder plates on it, and several belts above it. He wore a skin tight black shirt that made all the muscles in his torso visible, and a pair of dark gray military cargo pants. He had black and dark gray soldier's boots, and a duel disk pocket hanging off of one of his belts with an odd looking dark green disk inside of it. He had two silver braces along each arm at the end of the shoulder and before the wrist, with a single dark gray fingerless glove on his left hand. Just like his clothes, his hair and wings were completely monochromatic, but in a different way. On his wingtips upward, his feathers went from black to gray to white where his joints met his coat. His hair was about the same, but the black started on the right side of his head, and faded to white on the left. He had a thin layer of gray facial hair like he had just shaved, and bright green eyes. He looked like a slightly older version of Zeus with facial hair, and if what he said about being his brother was true, then there was good reason for it. He was making his way to the tellers when he and Twilight made eye contact for a split second. She could see flecks of gold in his irises as they flicked away from her. Just like Zeus and Celestia. He had a cold look in them.

“Hmm. Must be a family trait.” Spike looked at Twilight. “What?” She waved her hand at him. “Never mind, be quiet.” She continued to study the Angel. He handed a note to the teller on the far right, closest to them, with a red wax seal on it. She couldn't see the front of the seal, but if she had to guess, It had Fauna's royal emblem on it, meaning it was from Celestia or Luna. The teller looked surprised to see it, but then she mouthed 'yes sir' and walked away from the front of the booth. Next the Angel turned toward the girl, her brother, and the sorcerer. When he came close enough to stand in front of the three, he spoke with a voice far deeper than his younger brother.

“I assume you are Twilight and Spike Sparkle?” Twilight stood up from her seat to shake the man's outstretched hand. As a whole, he was smaller than Zeus. He was about half a foot so, but still a little less than a whole foot taller than her, making him about 5'11” or 6 feet tall. He wasn't as big as his brother, but he was definitely more toned. Every muscle on his arm was visible beneath the skin and he had an iron grip. “Yes we are. You must be Zephraim Iscandor?” The man's eyes went wide, and he put a hand over her mouth and grabbed her by the waist from behind. He jumped and flew to the top of the station where a ledge protruded high above the column and stood on it, Holding Twilight over the edge by the neck and waist.

“Who told you to call me that?” Twilight looked down at the ground she was on a few seconds ago, and realized the Station was about four stories tall. “Holy shit, your little brother!” The man loosened his grip and let Twilight dangle. “I don't have any siblings, What was his name!” Fear was starting to become more intense as it was apparent that he might drop her. “Zeus Sombra Iscandor! I swear!” The man sighed and let go of Twilight. As she fell, she began to contemplate what her life had come to in the last four days. Suddenly, she received a mysterious card from the immortal queen of the country. Then she duels a fellow student where she almost ends up killing him. Next she learned that her only friends up to that point had been the Immortal queens who had practically raised her since she was nine. Then she dueled her mentor and was completely destroyed and given a mission. After that, she accidentally summoned her new mysterious card that was actually the soul of an ancient Mage who was one of the first humans to exist. Finally, she made a real friend for the first time, and now she was going to fall to her death at the hands of his brother. Was this the end of it all? Was she really going to die here? She noticed that she was still floating, but had reached the ground floor now, and was no longer moving.

“You do realize that your mother has ordered you to spend the next six months with this girl, don't you?” She turned and looked at the sorcerer who was currently keeping Twilight afloat, and talking to the Angle who had just dropped her. “You don't think I know that? What I didn't expect was my dumb ass little brother going and opening his mouth to my new client. You think he'd learn to keep his damn mouth shut one of these days. Mom is gonna wipe the floor with his ass when he gets home.” The younger boy was just as dumbfounded and wide eyed as Twilight, who was desperately holding her bladder at the moment. “What in the fuck is going on! Put me down!” Andromeda released Twilight and she landed softly on the bench.

“Ground rules, Stripes. Under no circumstances are you to ever call me by my last name in public ever again. We will be living in the top floor of the Pony Ville Golden Oak Library together and you are not allowed to be naked outside of the bathroom. I will be in and out all the time, and do not lock the windows. Do what ever with the doors. If I want the TV, I get the TV, and you don't have any say in that. In the fall when school starts up again, you will be attending Pony Ville high until the end of the semester. Got it?” Who in the hell was he calling stripes?

“You listen to me Jackass, My name is Twilight, not Stripes. I will call you what I damn well please, and I don't give a damn who hears me. I don't give a shit about being naked, and I am not about to care what you want to do with a TV. I'll make sure to lock every damn thing in the Library I can find when you're gone, And I will not go to any school at any point on a Monday or Friday, Got it, Shit head?” Instead of being mad like she wanted the man smiled and started to Stroke his chin. He then turned to Andromeda.

“I like her. You picked a fun one.” Andromeda reclined on the bench, putting his legs where Twilight had got up to yell at Zephraim from. “To be quite honest, I do believe you and she share many personality traits. However, I feel this may be a problem when she meets the other descendants. Divinity knows Valkyriana and I used to butt heads as often as we did, I can only imagine Her incarnation and mine will do the same.” Zephraim nodded. “Oh, yeah. That's for sure. Cobalt got a pretty detailed record of the other five to me yesterday night. I don't see them getting along any time soon.” Twilight was even more angry now. “Hey! I'm right fucking here! I can hear you two talking about me! What the hell is this!? How do you even know each other!?” The man took his disk from it's pocket and checked the time. He then put his disk back in it's pocket, and took Twilight's bag from the reclining Andromeda.

“We can talk about that on the train. I'm going to set him as your Navi so you can still speak with him later, but he needs to go away at the moment, and we need to get on the train.” He pulled Twilight's duel disk out of his lower pocket, and retrieved Andromeda's empty card from the extra deck slot. He then pointed the empty card at the sorcerer. The sorcerer opened one of his eyes to look at the card, and then his body flashed a light blue color, and he disappeared. The man returned the him to the extra deck slot and her disk to his pocket and started toward the loading area to the right of the teller's booths. Spike followed him without a word, and Twilight was in disbelief.

“What the? When the hell did you? What? Hey! Get your ass back here, I'm not done with you yet!” The girl chased after her brother and the Angel, and ran past the teller booth to the loading area. Just out of sight from the outside was a large steel bullet train with two cars behind the cockpit. The two were already entering the first car when she got there. She ran to catch them, and as soon as she got in, the door made a whoosh sound behind her. It shut tight and the conductor said,

“This here train will now depart ta Pony Ville. We will be taking track A301 around the outer edge of the Everfree passing Sky lake and under Cloudsdale. Passengers of the Queen, I hope you enjoy yer ride.” Inside the train was the most luxurious set of furniture Twilight had ever seen outside of the castle. The entire car was completely open with six tables lining the car in pairs from either side with several well crafted mahogany surrounding the imperial violet clothed tables which she assumed to be mahogany as well. The lights were all done in gold chandeliers with hydro luminescent orbs casting off a warm fire like light, floating above each faux-candle. Hydro luminescence was a recent invention, also credited to Apollo Sombra over the past few years. Using a combination of magic, matterwaves and advanced electrical engineering, he had come up with a way to generate a small field surrounding an even smaller device that was magnetically stabilized and activated by another magnet after a current passes through it. Once the current was added to the device, the magic program to cause the 'light' begins to produce a liquid which then spins and 'light's' up, producing a rather large area of effect glow. Twilight scanned the car for her brother, but to her surprise, neither of the two she was with were anywhere inside.

“She must have made it on, other wise the door wouldn't have closed. The train is set for five people aboard.” Twilight overheard the Angel's voice, but couldn't tell what direction it was coming from... almost like... it was coming from the over comm! She threw open the door to the next car where several lounge style circular couches lined either side of the car. The seats were of some violet velvety material surrounded by Celestia's standard gold and silver everywhere. The woman decorated everything she could in gold white and violet. Specifically the real kind of gold. This train was likely only two cars long because it would affect the travel time if she added any more of the heavy metal to it. She darted past the lined seats where another wall separated her. It wasn't another car, but felt like a separate room. She opened the out of place looking double doors to a stainless steel kitchen with a lone woman cutting an apple next to a bowl filled with small shards of what looked like colored glass. She was wearing a white chef coat with what looked to be gold buttons along either side of the center with violet pants that looked like pajamas, and a white apron folded over her waist. She had bright yellow-orange irises and hair that looked like every shade of red in nature decided to stop there. It was gorgeous. She was humming a tune until the large doors slammed back together after Twilight ran through them.

“Sweet Divinity!” said the startled woman as she let go of her knife. The knife settled into her ring finger and upon inspecting it she squealed quietly into her knife-less hand. “Gods damn it.” Realizing that this was her fault, Twilight quickly walked over to the woman who looked to be about in her mid twenties and pulled the knife out of her finger. The speechless woman squealed again. “Just give me a second, I'm going to fix it!” The woman continued her wide eyed look at the violet haired teenager now attending to her finger, but remained silent now. Both of Twilight's hands began to glow with a soft violet light, and she placed the woman's hand in between hers. She recalled to mind what little healing magic she'd read about and learned in school, but none of it was for something like a gash in the bone.

The apparently frail woman was either using a knife that could cut into iron, or had the weakest skin and bones Twilight had ever seen. But then she remembered Redheart's gel that fixed her hand two days ago. Like she did with summoning Andromeda, Twilight began to concentrate on all the things she remembered while watching the gel work. She couldn't feel anything, (thank the gods for that) but she remembered how the bones seemed to spawn strings and reach out to each other and pull either side back together. She remembered how the skin did the same, how the sides of the skin latched on and enveloped itself until it formed back to what it normally looked like. As she did, she started to smell something sweet, just like the last time she tried to copy a spell by eye. She opened her eyes to see what was happening, and both of her hands had started to emit a violet vapor on top of glowing like normal. When she started to feel and hear the pulse of the woman she was trying to fix, she quickly let go of her hand and stepped back. The still wide eyed woman then began to examine her hand and her expression faded into a smile.

“Wow! Ah don't know what y'all did there, but my hand's all fixed.” Clearly, the accent wasn't as visible in her first two words. This woman was either from Pony Ville, or from another south western town. “To he honest, I don't even know what I did.” The woman stuck out her rather feminine hand to Twilight. “The name's Ruby Apple. Pleasure ta meet ya.” Tentatively, Twilight took the southern woman's a hand and was shocked at the strength it carried. Definitely a Terran. No one who looks that frail could possibly be this strong and a Mage. Trying desperately to free her hand, Twilight replied. “Nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle... Can you let go? Please?” The Terran retracted and held her hand in front of her chin.

“Ooh, Ah'm sorry bout that. I reckon yer a Mage, huh? Almost none of my family is anythin' but Terran, So Ah guess ya could say I'm not used to meetin' people who'er, uh, weaker than me. None offense there.” This chick is so southern, she could just write the book on Faunan dialects. “Oh, uh, don't worry about it. I've never been all that strong to begin with, and it was kinda my fault that knife got in your finger. Sorry, by the way.” The woman picked up the knife and moved to the left where the sink was to wash her blood off.

“Oh, don't y'all worry none bout that. This here knife's made of geisteel from Anya. There ain't much harder metals in the world. Just look, It'll just sit in the gold!” The woman tossed the knife right past Twilight's head and it landed with a twang into the gold target on the wall behind her. After she managed to move from her shocked position, she turned to look at it. There were several slits in the wall about the same size of the tip of the knife engraved in gold metal target on a plaque bolted to the wall. Some of them were not in the plaque, and what worried Twilight was the fact that the rest of the wall was straight steel plates. This woman was not messing around. Before Twilight could complain about having a knife that can apparently split metal fly past her head, the southern woman handed her an apple piece.

“I bet y'all've never had an apple that taste's this good! It came straight off my cousin's farm down in Pony Ville. Ah'm the chef for the royal train, but Ah'll actually be getting' off with y'all. Big family reunion goin' on later today.” Twilight carefully took the apple slice from the brash southern Terran, and hoped she would back off afterward. Upon seeing her hand retract and don an expectant look, Twilight bit into the apple. It was likely the sweetest piece of fruit she'd ever tasted, but not so sweet that she wanted to spit it out. It was... perfect. Before she ingested the rest of the apple like she wanted to, she studied the peel so she might find it again. It was such a bright red that she thought it was fake just looking at it. Upon further inspection, she could once again see the grain in which the apple grew and by looking, she could tell the grain flowed downward. Extremely unusual for fruit that grows on a tree.

“Is this magically altered? It doesn't look... right.” The woman was surprised at the remark, but retained her kind smile. “Ah'm surprised y'all noticed that. Ya must have a real keen eyes ta see it, but this here apple isn't quite like the ones y'all grow in Canterlot. My aunt n' uncle, gods bless their souls, were the pioneers of this here breed of apple. Johnny, my uncle, was a genius farmer, and respected across the land for the amazin' crop he produced. He met his wife up in Heartland, and since then, they started mixin' strains of fruit together. Somehow, without any kind of magic or otherwise, they managed to produce these here apples by graftin' two kinds of grape vines with an apple tree. While the normal result shoulda been vines just growin' off the tree, they merged together to create what he called, Jack-apples. Named em after his daughter that'd just been born. Course, Ah's just a girl at the time. Poor girl. It's been about seventeen years since then.” The Terran had grown quiet for a moment, likely mourning the memory of her uncle. But, just as quickly as she turned away, she sprung back up.

“Oh, right, Mr. Zephraim probably wants his apple by now. Let's go ahead to the cockpit with him an' that lil' guy.” Twilight formed an evil grin. She was going to punch the shit out of that monochrome dick as soon as she got a chance. “Sure. That sounds great.” the southern woman gave her an odd look, but grabbed the bowls and headed to the end of the relatively large line kitchen at the back of the car. The cockpit door was similar to the double doors behind them, but a single door with a large switch that acted as a handle.

Ruby pushed the switch down with her elbow before Twilight could even offer to try and open it, and it opened to a small corridor with walls that looked like they were made of some kind of odd rubber material. The corridor wasn't much longer than the door that lead to it, but that was likely in case of fire or emergency where the cockpit, which housed the magnetic system that propelled the train was located, needed to be detached. Rumors still float around about monstrosities that live deep within the Everfree forest. Sometimes, trains would arrive to Canterlot without their tail ends and many of the passengers cramped into one or two cars. There's yet to be a recorded missing person, but twice a year around the ides of June and December, a train car goes missing on one of the routes around the Everfree forest.

Sometimes, it's a simple shipment that loses one of it's pieces, other times it's entire train cars. But all the same, it's always at the same times of year. Many are skeptical of the event ever occurring, but records show that around those days every year since 3000, Canterlot Express orders at least, an additional single new train car. After Twilight had exited the switch door, Ruby kicked the thing shut with an impressive amount of force for how small she looked, and the switch fell back into place. She then pivoted around pulled another switch down, this time with her still raised foot. Inside the rather technical looking cockpit were two Angels and a small green haired boy with violet bat-like wings. Twilight opened her mouth to yell at the ones she knew, but Ruby once again, cut her off.

“Howdy y'all, I got yer snacks.” She walked down the very strictly steel corridor that had four bunk beds on either sides to the front of the cockpit which had four very large, very padded chairs, three of which were occupied. She handed the bowl of what Twilight now believed to be gem shards to her little brother, and the apple slices to the monochrome Angel. “Thanks, Ruby, you're the best.” Without even turning his head where he could see Twilight, he addressed her.

“Hey there Stripes, glad to know you made it on the train.” This guy is an arrogant ass! “My name is TWILIGHT!” The man waved his hand above his head in the seat, beckoning Twilight forward. “Oh, don't get your panties in a wad, Stripes. Ruby, will you get this prissy teenager one of those jack apples? Surely your family's famous fruit will calm her down.” The Terran woman bowed to the Iscandor and said “Yes sir.” As politely as possible, and retreated out of the cockpit. Twilight on the other hand, marched right up behind the monochrome Angle, and threw a punch at the back of his head. With surprising speed, the man caught the fist before contact.

“Holy hearth's warming, is that all you've got? We, have a lot of physical training to do. Please, oh please, tell me you have more strength in your arms than that.” At this point, he had turned his head to look Twilight, who was fuming even more for being caught, with his cold, gold flecked eyes. The look he was giving her would likely scare an adult, and did scare Spike. After the boy yelped, he turned away, and proceeded to stand. It then became apparent to Twilight that he was still bigger than her, and he never let go of her fist. “Well, Stripes, before you go punching anything, let's at least be polite and introduce yourself to our nice conductor, Mr. Fume.” He tightened his grip on her fist, digging his fingers into her hand until she winced.

“Twilight Sparkle, pleasure to meet you.” She said through gritted teeth. The older looking Angel with a full gray mustache and beard with streaks of light blue inside removed one hand from the console and tipped his hat to Twilight. “Howdy, name's Raid Fume.” The old man looked away and back at the tracks, shuffling his pale blue wings into a comfortable position. Then Zephraim returned his hard gaze back to Twilight. “Now then, Wasn't that a nice thing to do? Come with me, We're going to the caboose. Spike, you stay there and watch the Tracks. Sky lake is quite the sight this time of day. The sun shines off the prismatic water that is Cloudsdale's waterfalls and it creates a really cool effect, okay?” The Angel continued to keep his death stare directly into Twilight's eyes, and Spike did not question it.

“Oh, uh, okay.” The boy hopped up with his half eaten bowl of gem shards and took Zephraim's seat. He moved the bowl of apple slices to the side and continued eating his gems. Around the time Spike landed in his seat, Zephraim had let go of Twilight's fist, spun her around, and put his arm around her shoulders and walked them forward. They passed Ruby who gave Zephraim a look, then returned to her work, whatever it was she was doing. It certainly was not cutting an apple. Zephraim forcefully continued to pull Twilight until they reached the car she started in, and he threw her into a seat.

“I see that you still seem to have a problem with me. Please, oh dear gods, please, elaborate on what that might be. I was ten seconds away from decking you in the face or throwing your ass into the windshield of the cockpit a minute ago, and I promise you, that neither would have felt good.” Twilight was nursing her hand from earlier, but was still mad enough to stand back up. “Why am I mad? Because you fucking DROPPED ME from a four story ledge! You stole my duel disk, and you have yet to use my name when referring to me! Why the fuck would I not be mad!?” The man began to rub at his forehead.

“Look, Stripes, I don't call anyone by their real names. You giving me your name makes it that much harder to remember you. Me giving you a name makes it really easy to remember. I took this-” He took her duel disk out of one of his pockets and placed it on the table next to the chair he threw Twilight into. “So HE could keep talking to you without you nearly KILLING YOURSELF in the process. Say hi Andromeda.” The disk screen flash on and an almost true to life sprite of Andromeda was flipping through internet pages. “Hello Master Sparkle. This train has fantastic reception. Far better than that of your girls dorm, I must say.” Twilight groaned. How did he do that so fast? She barely even knew how the program ran much less how to operate it.

“Probably because nobody is constantly streaming porn.” Andromeda's sprite turned to give Zephraim a disappointed look. Twilight almost defended the statement, but then remembered she was still mad at him. “You know what, I don't give a damn if you have good reason for anything you do! You still have yet to call me by name since the station, and there was literally no reason for you to drop me four stories!” The young man covered his mouth with his hand in frustration. “Master Sparkle, Zephraim was my user before you were ready to receive me. I know the boy very well, and for all of his short comings, he has grown into quite the competent young man. He dropped you to test your reaction to fear, which was quite poor, I might add.” Twilight looked at the disk to yell at the sorcerer.

“Shut up! You were in on it the whole time! My own fucking card, conspiring against me, unbelievable!” The Angel was frustrated earlier, but now he had adopted an angry look. Whatever she just said set him off. “Well, now you've gone and done it Stripes! You've pissed me off! Put the disk on. We're gonna duel right fucking now. And you know what? I'm gonna use him. He is NOT a card, and he certainly does NOT belong to YOU!” The boy grabbed Twilight's disk and ejected Andromeda. He then grabbed the girl's wrist and slapped the disk on her arm hard. By force or taping the screen earlier, the disk had already engaged duel mode, and turned itself on. The man put Andromeda's card against his right shoulder, and all of the sudden, the card changed from purple to white. He then slid Andromeda into the extra deck slot of his odd shaped green duel disk. He slapped his own pentagonal disk against his wrist, and like Twilight's, It prepared his arm in a coat of magic, then solidified.

“You ready for a beating, Stripes?” The girl looked almost as angry as he did, and both of them seemed to emit rage. “Fuck you! I'll kick your ass and take MY CARD off your corpse!” The man's arms tensed up even further, and the visible veins on his neck contrasted even stronger against his skin. “DUEL!” In unison, the disks shot beams of light at each other, and the magic restraint field enveloped the train car. Both players drew five cards, and Zephraim took the first turn.

“You know, for a while there, I think I understand what mom felt like after she lost you guys a hundred years ago. I don't know if it's you, or what, but you two added a completeness to my deck that my own soul can't seem to fit alone. She said that when she finally married dad, her soul felt complete again, and her deck gained cards with it but, I missed you dude.” From his disk, Andromeda's voice replied. “While I understand your feelings, Master Zephraim, I do believe you are letting Master Sparkle get 'under your skin' so to speak. As I said before, you and she share very similar personality traits, and this is just another example of how... volatile you used to be.” The young man shuffled his wings after receiving the statement.

“Ah, you were the one who liked to try and bring me around. But Ephraim would have at least a similar problem with her, the way she talks about you, if nothing else, and I just can't let that slide. You know he wouldn't.” An audible sigh came from the disk. “There is no disagreeing with that. If anything but his own pride ever interfered with his pursuits, he wouldn't be my brother. Very well. Do as you must. I apologize in advance for this, Master Sparkle.” That old indigo bastard thinks he can still apologize to me!? “Don't you apologize for shit! When I take you off his dead body, you better grovel at my fucking feet!” The comment did not resonate well with Andromeda.

“On second thought, Please, Master Zephraim, allow me, to do the honors.” The man smiled. “But of course. That was the plan from the beginning. First off, I summon Grayscale Equalizer!” The monster resembled an old fashion weight scale like the one used to represent the judicial system in Fauna's courts, however, as the name implied, this monster was completely in black and white. Every detail, even the shading and lighting was in black and white. The whole monster looked hand drawn, and even details that would normally just be shadow were crosshatched to match the lighting.

“When this card is summoned while I control no monsters, I can special summon two monsters from my hand with the same level! I summon Grayscale Pallet Swap and Sapphire outside the Grayscale!” These monsters resembled the first one with their hand drawn and cross hatched style, but the Sapphire one was done in blue instead of white. All the lines, the edges, and most details were black, every where that wasn't was blue. It was in the shape of a girl that was interesting. She looked like she came straight out of an old Mega Man game, including single hand cannon on the right arm. Pallet swap was a man holding a giant Pallet with various shades of black white and gray covering it and a large brush in his other hand. He was wearing almost normal clothes, and a beret.

“Next, I'll activate Pallet Swap's effect! Once per turn, I can target one other Grayscale monster and change it's type and attribute! I turn Sapphire into a Dark monster! Then I tune, the level 2 Pallet Swap, the level 3 Equalizer, and the level 2 Sapphire! He who controls the colors of light and all that fall within, appear now, Andromeda, The Magic Grayscale Arcsage!” And finally, Andromeda had arrived. His outfit remained mostly the same, but he was adapted to the stylization of the other cards every where except where his skin was present. At those places, his light skin, dark violet eyes and indigo blue hair broke the style. Inside his cape, instead of stars and galaxies, was the color spectrum. Like Zephraim's hair, the right side was black, which then bled into the full color spectrum, which then ended in white on the opposite side. His staff followed this same pattern, but oddly, the crystal on the head of his staff retained it's red to light blue gradient, even though the lines on the crystal were clearly visible, like they were drawn in pencil.

“Andromeda, if you will.” The sorcerer bowed to his Master. “When using Master Zephraim's soul as a base, I am given the category 'Synchro' and my effects change to match his soul accordingly. When I am summoned, Master Zephraim is allowed to call 2 of the non tuners with different attributes used to summon me back to the field. Once per turn, Master Zephraim is allowed to add one Grayscale trap to his hand, and finally, If master Zephraim controls a fellow extra deck monster, Grayscale monsters are allowed to attack directly for half damage.” Twilight retained her angry demeanor, still feeling betrayed after Andromeda sided with Zephraim. “Whatever, flunkey. You took his side. I don't want to hear anything from you.” Andromeda sighed.

“Very well. May I, Master Zephraim?” The Angel gave a look of disgust Twilight's way, and then nodded to Andromeda. He pointed his staff to the left, and it began to glow his signature light blue, then the female Sapphire and the machine Equalizer returned to the field. “Next up, I'll use Andromeda to add one Grayscale trap to my hand, which in this case, I need Grayscale Modulator Apparatus. Got it buddy?” The sorcerer nodded. “Of course, Master Zephraim.” The sorcerer tapped his staff to the Violet velvet carpet of the train car twice, and a card was pushed outside of Zephraim's deck, which he then added to his hand.

“Finally, we need to get our next player on stage!” When Twilight heard the phrase, she remembered that it wasn't the first time. The last Iscandor she dueled said it too. But these two couldn't have more different personalities. The younger brother was kind, a little shy, and eager to please. This one was rude, all about himself, and did everything with all the confidence in the world. Funny, it was almost like looking at both sides of their mother's personality. “From my hand, I activate the spell card, Grayscale Lighting Apparatus! Since Andromeda is a synchro monster, I can activate this card, and because he's Dark, I can special summon one monster from my deck whose level is equal to another monster I control. I summon Color Spectrum Editor of Grayscale!” Like the others this monster kept the hand drawn style, but this one resembled Twilight's own cards. He wore heavy looking robes, a tutors cap, and carried a magnifying glass that had a moving color spectrum inside the lens.

“And now that he's out here, we can call our next friend out! I activate the effect of editor! I can target one non extra deck monster whose level is less than 5 and make all non extra deck monsters that level until the end phase! I target the level 3 Equalizer! Now, I overlay my three level 3 monsters to Xyz summon! The darkness and the light are split into vibrant color by the invisible blade of the assassin! Xyz summon, Photorefractor, the Grayscale Assassin!” This one followed the trend Andromeda had set by having normal skin showing and being stylized everywhere else. On his chest plate, under his hood and scarf, was a mark Twilight had seen reoccurring on all of his monsters, but this one was slightly different. Three hexagons in black, gray through cross hatching, and white, with the white and black hexagons touching, and the 'gray' one above the other two, all sharing three lines. However, this one had a Sword, a Lance, and an Ax crossing at each point the hexagons began to touch. She couldn't see the monster's face, but what she could see were his glowing green eyes. His 'cape,' if that was the appropriate word, carried the spectrum like Andromeda's on the inside, and his body was mostly hidden in cloths and armor plates. He wielded a blade in his left hand, but but he held it where the hilt was closest to his face, and the blade followed his arm.

“When Photorefractor is summoned, I can target one Spell card in my graveyard and set it, but I can't use it this turn. I set two cards and end my turn. And by the way, good luck with this one. If you don't out right beat me here, there is no chance I'll let you see a second turn.” Twilight's anger burned just as bright as the man she was facing. The air in the room was thick with emotion, and as she took in a breath, she noticed it was warm. Almost hot. She turned to the window, after being dead locked to the green and gold eyes of her opponent for so long, she'd forgotten they'd been on the train the whole time.

The window outside displayed the most beautiful colors she'd ever seen in her life. The lake had a dark spot to it along the center, but along various points at the edge of the shadow that the cloud city above cast were rainbows. The entire hues of the color spectrum on display in the glistening water, shining in the bright light of the noon sun. For several moments, she had lost all anger, and forgotten everything that that was happening. She was mystified by the scene. While Twilight was stunned by the picturesque scene, Andromeda floated away from his spot to speak with the man.

“I believe she has finally looked out the window.” The man nodded and whispered back. “It's about time. I swear, she was going to burn through my eyes with her own. This girl has anger issues on my level. And she doesn't have the luxury having it beat out of her. This is the one you picked? Really?” The sorcerer shook his head in disagreement. “Her anger is worse than yours. Her emotions are even more unstable than yours. And she did not grow up with the most stubborn man to walk this earth at her side like I did, nor the parents you have. She has a very thin line to tread, and I want to keep her on it. In one year, she will receive an even greater power than what has awakened in her yesterday. However, this power could be the ruin of her, provided she does not grow. It is critical to her development that she learns how to deal with these emotions before then. For if she doesn't... I fear she may follow my footsteps exactly. I cannot allow her destiny to end the same way mine did. I... destroyed so many lives...” The sorcerer's eyes told more than he could say in words.

“Look, I won't let that happen. She is my client, and by my last name, I will never abandon her. You know exactly who I am, and I am the best person for this job, regardless of what I said before.” The sorcerer looked to the man. He had grown so much since they first met seventeen years ago. “I trust you. It has been a long time since we met, and as I said before, you have become a man I'm proud to call my descendant.” The man took a bow to the sorcerer. “I think it's about time we brought this around. We're going to run out of track at this rate.” The sorcerer agreed and returned to position. The Angel started jumping in place and rolling his arms out to try and recreate his anger. In truth, he'd learned how to let go of the anger a year ago. At the same time, he'd become a rather good actor.

“Hey! You done sight seeing yet? Or are you just done already, Stripes?” The girl snapped back to attention. They had almost passed the entirety of sky lake, which was the largest land locked body of water within Fauna's borders. “What? Wait a minute, where... what were we doing?” The girl shook her head and looked at the cards in her hand. She looked to the hand drawn version of Andromeda and the assassin on the Angel's field. That's right. He took Andromeda and then Andromeda sided with him. That son of a bitch! He's MINE!

“That's right... you have something that belongs me... and I'll be taking it BACK!” The man sighed. He once again adopted his cold burning rage. As it were, the girl wouldn't take a lesson without a beating. If only she knew, he was the same way a few years ago. “Will you now? Can you really? From what I can tell, you're just some arrogant girl that believes the world over owes her a bow. What is it that makes you think you own it all? If I must, I will take the place of the second Iscandor to put you in your place.” The girl disregarded his words and drew her card. And wouldn't that be the one that could take her monster back?

“Maybe I'll put you in your place! First off, I activate The Stars Align! While you control a monster and I don't, I can special summon two level 4 or lower monsters from my hand! I summon the level 2 Star Magician Halley and the level 4 Shooting Star Pendulum! When Halley is summoned, I add one Star Quick play spell card to my hand, and I'll add Orbiting Stars.” The sorcerer frowned. He gave a quick glance to the Angel who had yet to break character in front of the Mage, and the Angel nodded, almost knowing what he wanted to say. Andromeda almost felt conflicted about seeing his own from this side of the field. All of Twilight's deck was based on people who were descendants of his own, as she was, but closer to him than they were her. Every one of them shared a similar face and a similar end, with knowledge either consuming them in old age, or worse, using magic until their life force had been fully expended. Twilight was the most recent inheritor of the Stars, and if he could help it, she would not end up like them.

“Next, I summon Shooting Star Ram. Then I activate Orbiting Stars. I target one light monster I control and one monster you control, and the two switch places. I'll be taking Andromeda back now!” She stared directly into the Angel's eyes and in response, he drilled back into hers with his own. She almost wanted to look away, his stare was so intense. If anything could be taken from their interactions, it's that this guy was just as stubborn and head strong as his mother. The fluffy energy ram with the constellation made visible inside it's clear body hopped across the field to Andromeda, who was then headbutted by the ram to Twilight's field. The sorcerer strictly avoided making eye contact with the girl, and focused his attention on the Angel instead.

“Finally, I activate Star Fusion! I fuse the Halley and Pendulum on my field! The Galaxy who is defined as undefined, the stars who never align! Show yourself, Star Irregular, the Galaxy Magician!” Andromeda watched as the magician and the machine turn themselves into tritium, and then Irregular reveal himself from the Violet light. Irregular was Andromeda's own first son, in a time long ago, and now his image was all that remained. Irregular once had the name Ptolemy, and was a gifted Mage, as he would be. But, in the same way his father before him had been driven to the brink by the power that he inherited, Ptolemy was consumed by it.

As a man, he went rampaging across where Fauna now lies, leaving his daughters and wife behind, completely under the influence of his own dark powers. In the end, It was Andromeda who had slain him. And he would only be the first to do so. Every other generation before the great Nightfall, one generation of his line would fall beyond the brink of insanity, and the generation before would be forced to kill them. He always believed it to be the cruelty of the world, or simply the darkness inside the human heart that would cause these things to happen, but soon he realized that it was his own blood that tainted the mind. Even now, Irregular kept that same crooked smile he bore when Andromeda finally had to slay him. And if all went as planned, next turn, Andromeda would do it again.

“Once per turn, I can target one monster you control, banish one monster in my grave yard, and then destroy that monster. I target Photorefractor and banish Pendulum from my grave!” The Angel had been waiting for this. “Chain! Grayscale Free-line Apparatus! If my opponent would activate an effect that would destroy cards, I can negate that effect and special summon one monster from my deck that shares an attribute with a monster you control! I summon Grayscale Shade! If this card is summoned, I can add one Grayscale monster with an attribute I don't control to my hand. I add Ruby outside the Grayscale!” The monster was similar to the others, but it looked like a ghost. It was in the shape of a man, but there was no outline, just shadow marks where it would be, if the card were a whole person. Damn. I'll just have to beat him next turn. If I get rid of his monsters now, I can use ram's effect to stop him from attacking, then get Halley back on the field to add gathering stars to my hand. Then I'll have everything I need...

“I activate the effect of Star Magician Halley in the graveyard! By banishing him, I can add one Star Magician to my hand, and I'll add Star Magician Ptolemy!” The name hit Andromeda, and for a moment, he expected to see his son again, in a state before he had lost his mind. But, he was far gone, and his soul had either been recycled or destroyed since then. “Now I activate his effect! By banishing him, I can add one Star spell card to my hand! I add Shooting Star Illumination!” The sorcerer was now trying to piece together what Twilight was trying to do. She wouldn't be able to keep adding cards to her hand, and she certainly wouldn't be able to get rid of him, her ram, and Photorefractor, and win the duel this turn. At best, she could try to destroy his cards, but what she was about to do was tantamount to sealing her own fate. It was a good attempt, and she would be rid of the spell he had set, but the other card...

“I activate the effect of Illumination! All face down spell and trap cards you control are flipped face up and if they can be, activated. If not, they're sent to the grave!” The Angel developed a smile. The first card set was his spell from earlier, so that went. But the other was a continuous trap, and it was activated. “Well, it seems you saved me the trouble of activating it myself. Grayscale Modulator Apparatus, if you control a monster that shares an attribute with mine, your monsters with the same attributes can't declare an attack. Now that you have nothing else to do, unless you want to add fusion to your hand, which wouldn't really be in your best interest at this point, would you say your last words and end your turn?” Cocky asshole. This was his plan all along. And what's worse is that he's right. Summoning my banished stuff and getting Star Fusion back won't do anything for me. Might as well summon Pendulum in defense. Wouldn't hurt at least.

“Ugh. I activate the effect of Star Irregular. I can target one of my banished Star monsters and special summon it. I summon Pendulum in defense position. I... end my turn...” And now Zephraim felt bad. The one time she decides to act like a girl is when she's hopeless. This is pathetic. She's hiding her eyes with her hair and clutching her cards. Of all things, the haughty, self centered girl looked vulnerable. Andromeda and the Ram traded places as per the 'orbit' from earlier, and Zephraim drew a card. “My turn. I summon Ruby Outside the Grayscale!” It was almost difficult to keep enthusiasm with her like this. It was more fun when she was mad. The monster like sapphire, was done in red and black with that hand drawn style, but this girl looked like she came out of a Mario game. Bright red hat and shirt, black overalls with white buttons, gloves and a red/black hammer.

“When Ruby is summoned, If I control monsters with different attributes, I inflict damage to you equal to the number of different attributes times 300. You take 900 damage!” The plumber girl started to grow a flame in her open hand, tossed it in the air, then whacked it across the field with her hammer. The ball flew across the train until it arced toward Twilight's head and exploded. When the smoke cleared, a small shield of light was covering Twilight's face with several cracks in it. Even out of the mood, the Angel's soul still produced a good amount of energy in the game. She looked to the now cracked shield and was stunned. She had dueled another student once who was not a Mage, but some how that student managed to put a crack in her shield as well. How was it that non Mages even managed to do that? Then she remembered Andromeda's speech from last night and talking with Zeus this morning. This game had nothing to do with Magic, in the normal sense. It was all done through the 'soul' as they said.

“Next, I activate the effect of Shade. When I control a monster with an Earth, Fire, Water, or Wind attribute, I can send this card and that card to the grave to perform a Fusion summon!” And now he was going to fuse? And with no spell at that? “The Spectrum of Light glows in all the colors of red! Bring down the rain of fire, Color-absorber, the Grayscale Knight!” The two monsters grabbed hands and began to spin in the air until finally, they were a blur of black white and red. When the color elongated and started to slow down, a large knight took their place who shared the stylization of Andromeda and Photorefractor, but in red. He wore armor that very much resembled the Day queen, with it's pointed shoulders and mostly triangular plates. He carried an ax that looked identical to the one on the mark in the center of it's armor. Now that she looked at it, the sword that Photorefractor was holding looked almost identical to Celestia's, and the mark's. There must be another one that completes the set, but Andromeda was clearly not it.

“When Color-absorber is summoned, he gains the Attributes of the monsters used to summon him, and loses his own, making him Dark and Fire. His effects change based on his attributes. Because he's Dark, I can target one monster you control and banish it, so good bye Ram.” The knight raised his ax above his head and it turned violet. He swung it down in a crescent shape and sent the color away from the ax. It spun and flew across the field and ram was disintegrated by it. At this point Andromeda was readying his staff to go in for Irregular, when Zephraim called for the next effect of Color-absorber.

“The next effect of Color-absorber activates! Once per turn, I can target one monster you control and destroy it, then inflict damage equal to it's attack! Say good bye Irregular!” The monster's ax coated itself in flame, and once again, the knight raised it and swung. The flaming projectile collided and passed through the other sorcerer and slammed directly into Twilight. Another explosion, and another cracked shield, this time, it looked almost completely shattered. One more would finish her. Andromeda cringed at the sight. She was barely protecting herself, and she had simply given up at this point. It was a sad sight to behold.

“With 700 left and three monsters to attack with, there is no way for you to make it out of this, so I'll give you a choice. I want an apology. Not for me, but for him. He has done nothing but shown you kindness and you treat him like a piece of meat. You place no value on his feelings, and you have no respect for him. I want you to grovel at his feet. And then, I will end this. The duel will be dropped, and this will be over. If you refuse though... The next few weeks will be hell for you, and I will damn well make sure of it.” Twilight was struggling to stand. She didn't want to get hit again, she'd had enough. She fell to her knees and said three words.

“I'm so... sorry...” The Angel shook his head. “Yeah? And what for? I want a detailed list of what exactly you're sorry for. I want to know why you're sorry Stripes. Tell me, and look him in the eyes and say it again!” The girl started to tear up. “I'm sorry! I don't mean anything I say! I'm an insecure teenager! I don't know how to talk to people, I don't know how to be nice, I don't know how to interact! I just don't get it! I hate being mean, I hate being the way I am, but I don't know how to change! I don't know how to do this, and I want help... Andromeda... I'm sorry...” The girl fully in tears now, the Angel believed he had done enough. He removed his deck from his disk, and the monsters other than Andromeda retreated to their slots. The burn marks on the carpet faded away, and the car was returned to the way it was before the duel. He walked toward the girl and stood in front of her.

“I can't say that covers everything, but I'll call it good for now. Anything to say to the girl?” the Angel looked to the now grounded sorcerer, who carried a similar sad look to the girl. He kneeled down next to the Mage in his hand drawn appearance and placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. “And so you were defeated again. You lacked the spirit and drive to win, and you were far to angry to play with your mind. But all the same, you tried to take me back. Whether you realize it or not, you wanted me at your side, and that alone has me believing that you feel for me. In time, you will learn. You can make bonds, and these people will teach you things you could never learn on your own. This game you play has given you a new bond twice today, and one with the man that stands before you.”

The teary girl looked up to the Angel through watery eyes. For a moment, she thought she saw her mentor. And then she thought she saw the man who had kept her alive during that year on the streets. And finally she saw Zephraim, her bodyguard. He looked like a mix of the two. His hand appeared in front of her face. “Come on. Get up, there's no need to sit on the floor, Twilight.” Words she'd heard before, from someone who looks like the man that said them. “Who are you...?” She said as she took his hand. He pulled her up and brought her to her feet.

“Zephraim Iscandor, and I will be your body guard for the next six months. But that doesn't mean I can't be your friend either.” Friends. Bonds. Is that what this was? How often had she asked herself this same question in just the last few days? The girl looked to her feet. What happened in her life that made everything suddenly different? A week ago she didn't have friends to speak of, and today, she had an entire hand full. The man took her hand and kneeled. For whatever reason, Twilight blushed. “From today until my contract ends, I will never leave your side. You may not see me all time, but you will never be out of my sight. Twilight Sparkle, I accept you as my client.” The girl didn't know how to react. What do I do? This is twice! In the same gods damned day! A then whisper came through her head. Say, thank you. It's easier than you think. She took the advice.

“Uh, thanks... I... I'm sorry about earlier...” The Angel stood and hugged the girl. Without letting her notice, he took Andromeda's card off his disk and placed him against the mark on her back. “That's all I could ask for.” He let go of the red faced girl and took a step back, then held Andromeda in the form he was given to her in. “Here. You need him far more than I ever could, and to be completely honest, I think he needs you too.” Twilight took the card and just stood there looking at him. Quickly she sank again and the tears began to flow. “I'm so sorry... How could I ever deserve you? You never abandoned me... you've only been at my side, and I abused you... I'm so sorry...” The man kneeled next to his client.

“Man, for such a bright girl, you sure are dense. Don't you get it? I really hate to sound like mom here, but, she's right you know. The goal here isn't to be perfect. No one is. You have to learn. Wasn't there a time in your life where you had no one to turn to because you thought that you couldn't believe in anything? But then suddenly, as if the gods sent him themselves, a man showed up to bring hope back in your life? You didn't know how to live then, you didn't know how to survive then, so what's changed now? You don't know how to make friends, you don't know how to be social, but suddenly, out of nowhere, this guy is handed to you, and people have just started walking into your life.

You don't know this, but once upon a time, I was the exact same way you are now. I lived my entire life up until I turned eighteen in that castle, and I had nothing but my family. I made one friend in school, and that was it. I graduated and rushed into a dangerous job because that's what I wanted to do, and then I was alone. I didn't have any experience in team work, and I didn't know how to make friends. But two months pass, and look where I was! I was the leader of that unit, I knew all their strengths and weaknesses, I knew their personalities, and I was their friend. I was on top of the world! I was the best! And I believed it, just like you did a week ago. But then something happened.

An accident that should have taken my life didn't because of that same person that took you down a peg. She nearly expended her entire power to keep me alive, and I didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until that I saw that very same woman in tears on the floor crying at me while I was in her wings did I realize that I shouldn't be alive right now. That picture hit me so hard that I had to quit my job for almost an entire year. And you know what? I'm still not perfect. I have doubts, I have insecurities, but I've learned how to deal with them and move on.

I didn't want to take this job. I didn't want to know you. I wanted to continue as I was, and just live the life I had finally managed to piece together, but that woman asked me to do it, and I couldn't refuse her. It wasn't until later that night when my aunt came to talk to me about you did I realize something. She told me that there was this sad, angry, little blue haired girl who was afraid of the world that needed me desperately. She told me that this girl was a dear friend of hers, and just that morning did this girl start to open up after all the trauma she'd been through. And she told me that this girl, was just like me.

I'm an introvert. I don't like to talk to people, and social gatherings make me want to... do violent things. When I get mad a someone, there's this little voice in my head that says, 'don't you know who your parents are? What's the worst that could happen if this annoying little shit was just suddenly gone?' That duel you had the other day with that student? I've done that too. Eleven or so years ago, I was still in possession of Andromeda and Ephraim, and I used both of them to cut the bastard open. I was then punished for it, and the next week when I got let back in school, that kid wouldn't stop bothering me.

Today, he's my best friend. You never know when you've suddenly met someone who could be in your life until it ends. And this, weird, magic game just seems to get those people together. And who knows? Maybe I'm one of those people. So get up, wipe your eyes, and think about it. High points and low points are just part of this even weirder game we like to call life. And unfortunately, there are at least three people in this world who will never see it end, and two of them just so happen to be my parents.”

He pulled her to her feet, and put an arm and a wing around her shoulder. Then, he gave her a genuine smile. The girl wiped at her face until she felt it was sufficient, then she tilted her head down to avoid eye contact with him. He started to make her feel like his younger brother did, and this guy would be living with her for the next six months. “Uh... I... think I can walk on my own now...” He put his left arm away and crossed them both, but kept his wing across her back.

“Just because you say something doesn't mean I'm going to believe it. Aunt Luna made it very clear that you are also a compulsive liar, miss, 'I don't do class on Monday and Friday.'” The girl let out a small laugh, and the man grabbed her shoulder again. “There we go. Cheer up. We just passed the lake, so we've still got a couple hours or so before we finish circumnavigating the forest. Ruby is making lunch, so we'll have a nice comfy ride to the cursed town.”

The two started back to the cockpit, as Twilight was still processing all that was said. As they moved to the next car, she noticed that his feathers were almost blue in the sunlight, and the lake was slowly growing further out of sight. From here, the lake looked like a blue spot with a few hues floating around. Only if you get close to it can you see the beauty hidden just beyond the field of view. It reminded her of him. The two passed through the kitchen doors and Ruby had prepared a full meal since the two had started dueling. “So y'all are done huh? Just in time! Lunch is just about ready. Do ya want it in the cockpit like usual Mr. Zephraim?” The bright personality of the Terran was always easy to warm up to.

“Yeah that'd be fine Ruby. Did you cut that Apple?” The Terran opened a door which hid a refrigerator, and pulled a bowl of sliced apple out of it. “Just like ya asked.” The man took the bowl and the two made their way to the cockpit. When they opened the hatch, Spike turned around and stared at the girl in the arm of the Angel. “You really need to stop hitting on Celestia's kids Twilight.” Almost as soon as he finished his sentence did Twilight pluck an apple slice from the bowl in Zephraim's left hand and nail him in the forehead with it. The boy gabbed at his forehead and yelped.

“Ow! What the hell!” Twilight continued forward as if nothing happened. “That's what you get for being a smart ass.” She then reprocessed what Spike said, and nearly jumped from the position she was in to be not touching Zephraim. The Angel took a wing and pushed her into a seat with it. “Oh, calm your tits, you're four years younger than me, almost to the day.” The girl had yet to lose her red face. If anything it was even more red now. “And you, out of my seat.” The younger boy quickly moved to the seat behind the navigator seat, and continued on his nearly empty bowl of gem shards.

“Here, this is for you. If I know Ruby, you'll want to eat this now. She's likely got us a four course lunch ready in the next two minutes, and gods know, you won't want to eat for the rest of the day after wards.” Four courses? Has she been working since the train started moving this morning? Just as Twilight bit into the uniquely sweet apple, the small Terran woman slammed the switch door open and brought a cart in with several plates on each tier. The smell of roasted pork, limes and corn immediately started to fill the cockpit, and suddenly she was much more hungry than she thought.

“All right y'all! Ah made a Leviathinos spread this time round! There's shredded pork, fire roasted corn, tomato rice, mashed beans, and of course, fresh toasted butter tortillas! Here ya go.” She pressed a button on the back of Twilight's chair, and a table folded out of the wall just above her lap. She set a roll of what Twilight assumed to be silverware on the table, and then a giant plate with at least three servings of each item, aside from the whole cob of corn. She then placed a wine glass on the table and filled it with a dark brown liquid from a carafe that Twilight thought looked familiar, but couldn't place since it was cold. She moved on to the other three. She set out the same things for Spike, but in addition, she left a pepper shaker on his table, which after he started to use it, let out very small colorful granules that looked like glass. The boy's eyes went wide, and then he started to cover all of his food in it. Ruby looked pleased with her work, and moved on to Zephraim. He received the same set up that she did, with a butter tray in addition to the food, and a small cup of cut lime.

“Okay Uncle Fume, yer all that's left. Do ya want me to leave it here, or go put it in the fridge?” The older man rubbed at his beard, then said, “Y'all can leave it there. I'll get to it.” The woman looked pleased with his answer and another table slid out of the control center to the right of the conductor's chair. She placed all the same food on it, but left a large wooden and steel mug in the corner where she'd poured the brown liquid for everyone else. The old Angel looked at it in surprise. “What in the hell? You tryin' ta get us all killed?” The Terran woman laughed.

“Come on Grandpa Fume, y'all know Ah know better! This is Jack cider! The apples don't ferment like normal fruit, so this ain't hard.” The old man seemed to accept the answer and took a large gulp of the drink. He then stared at the mug in amazement and put it down. “Damn, this crap is sweeter than moonshine. But I'm still not goin' ta that reunion with ya. I'm gonna visit my granddaughter, and that's it.” The woman made a pout. “Oh, come on, Grandpa! Cain't ya just bring her with ya? It's been ages since ya came!” The older man just looked forward and ignored the woman. “I told ya once, I'll tell ya again, I don't want nothin' ta do with that stubborn family.” The woman's face grew red.

“Why do ya always do this!? There ain't nothin' wrong with my family, your family! Ya can't keep avoidin' them forever! Ugh! You call us stubborn, but yer just as bad! I've had it with ya! I'm goin' back to the kitchen. Enjoy yer meal!” The southern woman's eyes had started to water, and she quickly took her cart back to the kitchen in the other train car. From the look of it, it still had enough food for another person. The door slammed behind her, and the switch fell down into place. “You know you can't keep refusing her like this. This is the fourth year in a row.” The Angel had half finished his plate of food, with a single taco, and half of everything else remaining. The old man's feathers were legitimately ruffled.

“I'll refuse her till the day I die! If she want's ta go then by all means, she can go!” The siblings in the row behind gave each other a look, and then Spike motioned for Twilight to ask about it. “Um, if you don't mind me asking, why was she so mad? Is there... more going on?” The old man sighed, and looked down at the plate of food. “Well, she's real fixated oh that blasted reunion. It was her dad's tradition. She turns twenty three today. And if they were still round... then they'd be bout in their fifties. Guess I might as well tell the whole story then, we've got bout an hour before we reach Pony Ville anyways. My son and daughter went inta service of the queens when they reached the age ta do so round thirty years ago.

Both Angels like me and their mother, highly skilled with rifles, and like myself naturally colored ta blend in with the clear sky. This was a few weeks after my wife died of sickness, so they were real eager ta get away from everything. They both served fer about ten years, and as luck would have it, they both found spouses within. My son was named Blaze, real fiery kind of kid, and he married one o them lil' infantry girls who don't take shit from no one, gods knows she didn't, and she was just perfect fer him. But my daughter, Crystal, was another story. She came upon this stubborn old fool who called himself Gold Apple. Terran man, could toss boulders clear across the sky if he wanted ta, real good cook. He was one of them galley chefs, and he stole my daughter away from me. He and I were... never really on good terms, until... well, he just isn't round anymore. There was an accident in some kinda energy company a few years back, uh, seven or so.

Supposedly, Gold 'n Crystal were still workin' fer the Queens doin' a job that we weren't allowed ta know bout. I had taken Ruby fer the week, since she was still young at the time, and I've been workin' trains fer gods know how long, so it was relatively easy ta take her ta school. I was only supposed ta have her fer a week, but ten days passed, and I never heard from Crystal. Then, the Night Queen herself showed up at the door one evenin'. As it turned out, both of them perished in an explosion. They weren't allowed ta disclose the nature of their jobs, as they worked fer the secret service known as the angels of death.”

It was here that Zephraim shuffled his wings. She couldn't tell why, but the story was making him... almost nervous. “Some buildin' was bein' used as a cover fer some mafia's money launderin'. They raided that place, but it was set ta blow the minute some poor fool walked in the front door. And unfortunately, some fella named Night or somethin' was still 'employed' by them at the time.” The siblings gave quick startled looks to each other. Night? Seven years ago? An explosion? This was all becoming very familiar very fast.

“From what they could tell, the guy tripped the wire, and they had two minutes ta escape. The six of them ran as fast as they could ta get out of the buildin' when they realized that magic was sealed after the wire was tripped. They couldn't escape the way they came, so they just tried ta run out the front door, and then they ran into the guy. Gold and Crystal tried ta save him. But... then time ran out. Their close friend... uh, I think his name was Magus Heron, and he tried ta protect them, but died along side them instead. They managed ta save the poor bastard, but he ended up losin' his feet in the process. She apologized fer what happened, goin' on bout how she shoulda planned better, and such.

Now, I've been round a long time, but them Queens have been round much longer than me, and she was actin' like my own daughter when she got all stressed. So, as I would, I just tried to calm her down, and she did. She offered me anythin' I wanted, seein' as she felt personally responsible fer my daughter's life, and really, I didn't want nothin'. I've been round here fer about eighty years, and I've had been a train conductor since I was twenty. I just wanted Ruby ta have the life she always dreamed of, so that's what I asked fer. She ain't got parents no more, and I'm really the only one who could afford ta take her in. Her father's family is real big, I tell ya what, but there's bout two or three who actually have the money ta support more kids. On top of that, she was a year away from college, and I couldn't just bring myself to let them try and take up the torch when I damn well could.

So, she's lived with me fer the last six or seven years, and she's my granddaughter. I was given the job of the Royal conductor, and I was allowed ta bring Ruby with me. She'd always wanted ta be a chef like her dad, course, she don't know the real story, but she was goin' ta school fer it anyways, so the Queens let her start cookin' fer em. They were impressed with how well she did for how young she was, so they hired her. I only ever see so many people on this train, side's the queens themselves, but this guy here always seems to be on it.” The old man gave a hearty slap to Zephraim's wing. “I've given rides ta the Solar Knights, and that big rich guy Apollo. I've also seen a couple a school students with the queens as well, fer... some reason or other. The Lunar Knights have been on here, and the group that my daughter worked with have ridden too. But I guess that's about it.”

Twilight was chewing on her fingernails relatively quickly. Luna showed up the day that the accident happened. She was the one who told us about dad's legs. And that means... if his story is true, then my dad is the reason Ruby's parents are dead! How could all these people be connected like this!? The old man likely doesn't even know that he just mentioned all of Celestia's kids, and probably some of Luna's too. What do I do? She looked to Spike in the other chair, and he was chewing on his thumb and rocking in place. In that year without her, their father started to drink heavily just to ease the pain he was suffering, and Night Sparkle is an angry drunk. Hell, that was half the reason she ran away in the first place. She was about to say something, when she felt her leg vibrate. She looked down to her pocket, and realized that she had her disk on her. She pulled it out and read the message from an unknown sender.

“Try to avoid saying anything that I'll have deal with later okay? Just say your sorry for his loss and keep quiet. We have five minutes before we reach the town. Watch the forest go by, and don't say a word. Save my contact while you're at it. I'm sure it will come in handy. -Zeph.” Monochrome ass hat. “Oh... I'm, uh, sorry for your loss, Mr. Fume.” The old man waved a hand at her. “Don't worry yerself none. That's the past. Ain't no reason tryin' ta live there, it's just not possible. How did you two end up on my train anyways? That blonde kid and the white headed kid are here pretty often, but you're a new face.” She looked to Zephraim for an answer. He nodded, so she went ahead ant told him what she thought she could.

“Well, I guess you could say we're apprentices of the queens. I'm Celestia's personal student, and my little brother is a... unique race, so they just kinda scouted us. The three of us are headed to this town to do a job for them.” The old man grunted with a laugh somewhere in it. “Heh. Guess they'll just take anybody they see potential in. Fer whatever reason, I get the feelin' that y'all don't want ta tell me somethin', but I'll leave it be. If my own daughter couldn't tell me what she really did, then I guess there's no reason fer me ta expect a couple a kids I don't know ta do the same. Well, here's a little advice from an old man whose been round the block. You don't have ta hide everythin' from everybody. No matter what you do, the truth will come out eventually. Now, I'm not tellin' you that you have to tell everybody everythin' either. Just don't lie. Nothin' good ever comes from that...”

The old man pulled down on a lever that he'd had his hand on the whole time. The train started to slow down, and Twilight realized that they were pulling into a station. It was a relatively small one, made mostly out of red brick and mortar. She noticed that they were still a good way away, and that she still had half a plate of food left. She ate everything on it as fast as she could and then tried to put the table away. Almost as if she knew, Ruby seemed to materialize beside her and take her plate. She then moved to grab the other three empty plates with mauled corn cobs on them, and the bowls from the two boys. She stopped to give her grandfather a glare, then quickly walked back into the kitchen.

“Um... Mr. Fume?” The old man turned to look at the girl. “Yeah?” Twilight scratched her head. She was in no position to give family advice, considering the barely held together state her own was in, but she wanted to help the guy. “I know it's not really my place to say anything, but... maybe you could just visit that reunion for a few minutes? I... really think it means a lot to her, and I know that if my dad ever died, I would want to at least try and honor him when I could.” The old man started to scratch vigorously at the back of his head. Then he let out a long breath

“I... guess I could at least see her there. Blaze and Rainbow don't expect me fer another hour anyways, so I might as well.” By now the train had come to a complete stop, and Mr. Fume pressed a few buttons and flipped several switches. The sound of sliding wheels and clicking locks went through the train, and the door at the back opened to Ruby. “Well, Ah hope y'all had a fantastic ride on the Royal express this here afternoon. Uh, we depart back to Canterlot at nine tonight right?” She looked to the old man, who then got up from his seat. Twilight couldn't see what he was wearing earlier, but now that he stood, she noticed an interesting pattern in his wings. At each tip of the light blue wings were five feathers that were different from the rest. A green one, a yellow, an orange, a red, and a violet.

He was wearing a navy jumpsuit with black boots and a long violet, gold, and white coat. He had a black hat that was shaped like a police officer's, complete with a gold badge at the center with Fauna's emblem on it and the words 'Royal Express' embellished in the metal. His irises were almost pink, but not quite there. Darker than that. He didn't have any hair left, save for some almost silver tufts sticking out of the sides of his head, but his beard was much more interesting than she had first thought. It was very faded, but now that she could see the whole thing, it bled from violet, to blue, to green, to yellow, to orange, and finally to red. In the world, there is a strain of people who carry the unique trait of prismatic hair. This group of people have only been know to come out of Cloudsdale city, but when they're in their prime, they usually have a full rainbow on their heads. There are only about ten or so in the world who have this unique genetic inheritance one of them being Celestia herself, but even she doesn't have the full gene. This man was a very rare breed.

“Uh... Listen here, Ruby. I guess I really don't have ta be anywhere till one, So I thought I might as well see ya ta that reunion before I go see yer uncle.” The Terran woman's face lit up and she hugged the old man, apparently with a lot of force because the Twilight heard several popping sounds come from the old Angel's back. “Ah'm so glad y'all finally came around grandpa! They're gonna be so excited ta see ya, Ah just know it! Ooh! Why don't y'all come too? Y'all are gonna be livin' here fer a while aren't ya? If ya are, the Pony Ville Apples are a good bunch to know. If ya ever need anythin' at all, they'll help ya the best they can!” The woman's enthusiasm was too much for Twilight to respond to, but Zephraim answered for the three anyways.

“I don't see why not. One of these girls we need to meet is part of that family. Uh... Ruby, her name is Jaquline. Do you know her?” Ruby put Raid down, who then simply cringed his way back to his seat, and became very quiet. “Oh, right. Uh... Applejack has been through a lot recently, what with the relatively poor harvest last year. She and her brother have been workin' to the bone just to keep afloat. I can show ya to her, but from what granny tells me, she's been in a sour mood lately.” Twilight remembered that Ruby told her that those grape-apple things were named after some girl. And she said that her and her brother were working. Good chances are this was the same girl. “Oh, uh... What about her parents?” Ruby looked down.

“They're not... with us anymore. Her mother passed away in labor with her little sister, and her father went three years later. I told ya about him, remember? He was Johnny.” The cockpit had turned silent for a moment until Raid broke the silence. “Now, now, don't y'all get all depressed on me. Let's just go over there and have ourselves a good time, alright?” The Terran woman perked up again. “Yeah, Grandpa Fume is right! Come on y'all, I'll lead ya there.” Without question, the trio and the conductor moved through the train to the second car where the bags were stored above the tables covered in their violet velvet cloths. Twilight managed to beat Ruby to grabbing them, and moved everyone's things down with magic.

She struggled with Zephraim's bag though. She found it odd. The bag itself wasn't very heavy when she tried to pick it up with her hands, but when she tried with magic, it was near impossible to grab anything but the straps on the top. What ever he had in there did not like magic at all. The Angel quickly took it from her, and gave her another cold look, but dropped it and left the train. Twilight picked up her own bag, and she and her brother exited. The station looked just as outdated on the inside as it did on the outside. Wooden panel flooring that could use a coat of wax, wire metal benches that needed some rust treatment, a single counter with a single teller present, brick walls with a few windows that weren't quite clean. Wooden rafters with visible ventilation above them. The building just looked old. The teller gave a wave to Ruby, who then waved back and said hi, then the group exited the station.

The town itself was quiet. There was a person out doing yard work here and there, but there was no activity anywhere else. All the buildings were either made of a red colored wood, or various colors of brick, and each one looked to be no more than a single family home, with the rare two story house dotting the city here and there. No roads were paved, at most there were sidewalks around large buildings that looked more like multi-single, resident housing, or old military barracks. As the group moved further in, residences turned to shops and city buildings. One of the shops caught Twilight's eye in particular.

It was very round and out of place looking, yet it felt like it was a needed accent to the relatively red town. It was made of either white stone or white painted concrete, and was very smooth all along. It had blue violet drapes along the beginning of what Twilight thought was the second floor, and had a relatively small pillar balcony above that. The roof was made of some form of metal, and was painted violet to match the drapes. There was a sign out to the front, but they were to the back right of it, and she couldn't read it. The continued onward and passed another large round building made of the same red wood like every other building here, but this one was taller than all the others, so she assumed it was city hall. Around this area, there was more activity, but even so, the people that did see them gave them cold looks and slowly backed away. Almost like they were afraid, or suspicious. It was really bright outside, and the sun was beating down on them.

Twilight was beginning to sweat. She raised her arm to wipe at her forehead when she noticed something pink moving in the distance. There was a good cloud of dust following it too. And it was moving fast. Really fast. Twilight stopped, and after noticing her, Zephraim did too. He followed her line of sight, and saw the dust cloud with the pink center. Immediately, he unzipped his duffel bag, and produced a sword, then took a stance in between her and the cloud. The cloud had moved close enough to see the shape of a figure rushing at them. In his gloved left hand, he held the sword in a defensive position, and in his other he had a small black object that he clocked the top of. The cloud was closing in, and Twilight was beginning to panic. The pink hing was some kind of puffy hair, and this person was wearing goggles and a mask to hide their face.

They had closed in, and Zephraim charged at her. He swung, and she leapt over him, then moved in to Twilight. For a brief second Twilight made eye contact with this person. The eyes were wild, and almost smiling on their own. They were bright blue with long feminine eyelashes. The mystery girl winked at her, and grabbed her bag off her shoulder in a single fluid motion. Twilight then saw Zephraim throw the black thing in his hand at the girl, and she continued moving past them at an increasingly rapid rate. Speechless, Twilight watched the girl run, then coughed at the dust cloud that had followed. Zephraim sheathed his sword, then walked up to Twilight.

“Damn pickpockets. Man that guy was fast. You didn't have anything super valuable in that bag did you?” The Mage was still recovering from the event, but managed some words. “...Uh... I... I don't know... Andromeda... he packed us...” The Angel rubbed at his forehead. “Ah, shit. Well. Nothing we can do about it right now. I threw a tracker on him, so we'll be able to find the thief later. It will activate in an hour or so. We'll just have to wait for now. Come on, they're leaving us behind. Guess they didn't see him.” Twilight's adrenalin was beginning to fade, and she corrected him. “Her. That was a girl. She looked me directly in the eyes. There was no mistaking it. Those... crazy blue eyes...” The Angel scratched his head with an irritated look on his face. “Ugh. I think I know who that was. Don't worry about your bag. Chances are, We'll see her again before the day is over.” The Angel grabbed the girl's hand and led her back to the group. Then, they kept walking through the sandy, dusty, old style town.

Rainbows, Rivalries, and Regret (7)

It was 13:00. The sun was in the sky, the air was warm and dry. The entire town of Pony Ville was relatively silent from up above. The odd circular shape that the village aligned to only had one or two people every now and again out in the streets, and the even rarer few who saw the old angel over head gave looks of detest and fear his way. But that wasn't his problem. He was off toward the opposite end of the town where his son Blaze lived, in the building just above the small town. Lately, he'd been receiving a lot of negativity, being the only Angel policeman on Pony Ville's small force, with him and his daughter being the only ones who have a vantage point to see the murders that have taken place.

The case had become rather tense lately because the fourth murder had already happened and there wasn't even a suspect yet. The old Angel continued to think about this as he flew over the small town until he spotted his son's house. His wife was named Fire, and she was a fantastic show woman on top of being an architect. There weren't many who could manipulate clouds like that woman could, and the house they lived on was more proof than anyone could need.

Tall columns jutted from the dense cloud that made the floor, giant arches that raised to the top of the sky, rivers like that of Cloudsdale that split into the colors of the rainbow. Of course, that was likely more inspired by their daughter than anything. The house itself was three stories tall, with a good acre of dense cloud as a base.

Aerolite was a strange substance that was found at the tops of caves all over the world that, like an Angel, could stand upon cloud. The material was then used to fit other materials above, such as steel and wood. Most believe there was a strange magic involved in Angels that allows them to stand on condensed water vapor, and any Angel would tell you that was probably true. Many angels describe the texture of a cloud to those who can't feel them to that of cotton, or the wispy fur of an animal. Aerolite was the complete opposite.

The otherworldly metal was unnaturally heavy when it was picked up, but when it was placed to a ceiling of some kind, it just sticks. The Council of Science and Magic has only recently ascertained that the metal is anti-magnetic, and pushes away from the earth due to it's reverse magnetization, but the stuff also stops when it reaches clouds as well. The magic behind it seems to from the same vein as Angels, but there still isn't much information on how it works.

Raid has always been skeptical of the stuff. It had been around since before Celestia and Luna arrived on the scene, and he's always been wary of it. It never felt... natural to the touch. Even on hot days, where the sun would beat down on it and make even clouds hot to the touch, the stuff was always colder than ice. As he started to get closer to the house, he began to hear arguing coming from it.

“I've told you a thousand times already, I cannot afford that!” Said the man's voice. Good chances said that Blaze and his daughter were arguing over things she wanted again. Her mother made quite a large sum working for the city of Cloudsdale as an architect after she retired from the military with Blaze to settle down. She was very popular, made several buildings for the higher ups in Cloudsdale that quite honestly looked better than some of the buildings in Upper Canterlot.

“So what am I supposed to do then? Continue to be alone in this stupid back water town!? I hate this place! Why would you even move here!?” The young girl's voice was just about as agitated as the father's. At this point Raid had already landed on the yard of the cloud house, but decided to let the conversation play out before announcing his arrival. The man inside sighed. “Look, I have my reasons. I just... needed to get away from Cloudsdale. That's all. Can't you do something that doesn't require you to fly all the way back there? Maybe even try and make friends here?” Raid heard a loud stomp on the wooden flooring inside the house.

“Make friends here, that's just rich dad. I don't want anything to do with these lowly country trash people!” A loud slapping sound came from inside. “Don't you ever call the people here something like that again! You think just because your parents loved you enough to give you anything they could that you're above those with less!? I raised you better than that! She raised you better than that!” There was a long silence before anything was said again.

“Fine! Whatever! I don't need this, I'm out of here! If mom were still around, we wouldn't even be here!” The sound of stomping came from inside, and Raid hid behind the western wall of the house. The front door was thrown open, and slammed back, and the short rainbow haired teenage Angel girl flew off in the direction he'd come from. The sound of the door opened again, and the similar haired father stepped out.

“Well she isn't, and we don't have much of a choice...” Blaze was wearing navy blue pants, a black belt and a white undershirt. On his wrists were two bracelet like objects, one Raid knew to be a police issue telescoping duel disk, and the other a military issue wrist taser. He had thin rimmed black glasses, and very pale, violet blue wings with five feathers that matched his hair at the end of each wing tip. He walked forward until he was off the Aerolite that sat under the main house and the porch and in the yard made solely of dense cloud. He stopped to watch the girl fly away, and simply fell onto his back, wings splayed out to catch the sun.

“Hey there son.” Said the old Angel as he stepped out from the shadows. The man sat up quickly, then stared down his father. “Oh. You made it.” The younger Angel flicked his wrist to get the screen to come up and check the time. “You're five minutes late. What's up with that? Pretty weird for a train conductor to be late.” The old Angel walked out and sat next to the rainbow headed man. “Fer one, I wasn't late, and two, there was a real heated conversation goin' on, and I didn't want ta interrupt. Now tell me, what's been eatin' at ya? It's not like ya ta move outta the blue like this.” The younger Angel folded his wings up and leaned in on his elbows with his hands together to rest his chin on.

“I got fired.” Fired? From the force in Cloudsdale? How? “What in the hell!? Why didn't ya tell me when it happened!?” The younger Angel looked ashamed. “How could I? I'm nearly fifty years old, I have a raging teenage daughter who has little to no respect for me, and my wife was killed by a perpetrator I could never catch! What little pride do I have left to discard by coming to my father crying for help!?” The old man didn't have a response to that. His poor son had been through just as much as he did around the same age. “And besides, It's not like I was fired for doing something wrong. Damn corrupt city!” He pulled a gold piece of metal out of his pocket and threw it off the cloud. Likely his badge from when he worked for Cloudsdale

“Look, will ya just tell me what happened at least?” The old Angel put a hand on his son's shoulder. The son sighed. “It was about a month ago. I was on duty that night in the inner city. I... pissed off some of my higher ups by investigating Fire's case again, so they purposefully put me in a bad neighborhood. As per usual on my inner city trips I arrested at least four thugs for possession, and a couple more for harassing an old woman. Unknown to me, one of those little bastards just so happened to be the chief's son. And to be honest, I wasn't being a very good cop at the time either. I gave them a warning before I beat the crap out of those kids. I felt bad at the time for doing it but his kid went so far as to try and sue me for brutality.” The old man shook his head.

“Blaze, this is the third time... you know better...” The man punched the cloud, and put a hole through it. “I know! Alright? I get it, I have a temper, and it just takes over some times!” He put his hands over his face and surrounded himself in his wings. “I'm a failure! What did Fire even see in me? I'm just so pathetic! My daughter hates me, my life is in shambles, and now I'm barely surviving in that summer house Fire left behind for Rainbow! I was never supposed to live here!” The old man tried to console his son.

“Hey, now. There ain't no need fer that. What did yer mom and I always tell ya when ya had a bad day?” The younger man put his wing down to look at his father. He wasn't in tears yet, but he was just a step away from them. “The sun... always rises in the morning...” The old man rubbed his son's back. “That's right. And what does it mean?” The younger man sighed. “Regardless of what happens... tomorrow will always come...” The old man smiled. “So what do ya intend ta do when tomorrow comes ta make it better?” The younger man stood up and stretched his arms.

“Hell if I know. If this town weren't in such desperate need of officers, I don't think I would even have a job right now.” The old Angel stood up beside him. “Whatever ya do, ya need ta get off yer damn self pity. Yer daughter doesn't respect ya because you don't respect yerself. Who is she gonna look up ta if yer actin' like it's the end of the world?” The old Angel turned his son to look him in the eyes. Magenta irises on each side. The younger Angel sighed again “Yeah, I know it's just... I don't know how to deal with her now. Her mood swings from left to right in an instant, and we just moved here, so she can barely make it all the way back to Cloudsdale on her own to see her friends for a few hours. And you heard what she said! She thinks so low of the people here, I don't know that she'll ever even try to get used to living here. Ugh. Why can't it be like the old days when we used to just sit in the sun together? What happened to that little girl that would fall asleep in my lap as the sun set started to hit the water?” The younger Angel sat down again, and the older put his hands on his shoulders.

“Oh come on now, this is exactly the kinda talk I was talkin' about. She's just insecure, that's all. With any luck, she'll grow out of it. But until then, at least try ta act confident in front of her. So you got dealt a shit hand again, and ya know what? Make the most out of it. Yer not homeless, and ya still have her.” The younger man chuckled. “Of course. Dad is always right, isn't he? Why couldn't I just become you by now?” The younger man looked to his father.

“I hate ta say it, but I think ya did. If ya remember correctly, my kids both ran off in their teens just ta get away from a home without a mom ta keep on em.” The younger man threw himself to the side of his father's legs. “Yeah, I guess we did, didn't we? How is Ruby anyways? Is she... still okay? I know that Crystal's death hit me hard, but... she lost her father too.” The old man rubbed at his chin. “She's started ta cheer up more so lately. I think she's come ta terms with it, and that other family she's got ta lean on is real sturdy. I actually saw her ta the reunion today if ya believe it.” The younger man put his hands under his head.

“Really? You? Visiting the Apples? After that fallout a few years back?” The old Angel nodded. “Surprisingly enough, they acted like nothin ever happened. Even the old bag that started the fight said it was nice ta see me.” The younger Angel closed his eyes. “That sounds about right. That family just doesn't seem to know how to hold a grudge. I envy it, really. Ever since ten years ago, I just... can't seem to let any of that pent up anger and hatred go. Crystal's death only made it worse, and I just don't know how either of those affected Rainbow. She hardly talks to me anymore.” The old man sat back down, slowly this time. His joints were bothering him again.

“As far as I can tell, all teenage girls get like that at some point or another. But... I think there's something special goin' on. I drove a couple a people here that said they're gonna be livin' here fer a while. Maybe she'll make friends with them. The girl that was with em... she... was a little bit different than everybody else I think.” The younger man sat up to look at his father. “Different? What do you mean by that?” The old man nodded. “I'm not really sure... she's got an air about her. Funny, she really reminds me of them queens ya know?” The younger man thought for a minute.

“Huh... well. It's whatever I guess. I just hope she doesn't get caught up in this serial killer case. We don't have any leads, but if our timing is right, the next murder is going to happen at the end of the week. I've gotta say, this case has been a weird one dad. Starting on the tenth of June, a murder has taken place on the outskirts of town every seven days. You know how this place is built on top of some crater like structure right?” The old man thought back to when he was flying over here. The entire town was in a giant circle, and it did sort of cave inwards.

“I guess I could see that.” The son nodded. “Well, every single killing that's taken place has been on one of the six exits at the edge of the main roads. After the first one, we didn't have a clue as to who, what, when, where, or why, but the second one happened in the same way with a different race of person. Duel disk on, Hole through the chest, and a bloody mess on the ground. The third happened, and a Terran was killed that time, but the same things were done to the body. With a pattern developed, we assumed the next one would be on the north west exit and the victim would be a Mage again like the first murder, but it happened to another Terran instead on the opposite side of town. It wasn't until this last murder did we notice that it's beginning to look like some kind of cult magic or something.” The old man's eyes went wide.

“Ya don't think this is necromancy do ya?” The younger man nodded. “Unfortunately, that's what it's beginning to look like. We've informed the Queens about this, but they said they don't have anyone to spare at the moment. But some guy directly under Luna is supposed to help us out tomorrow to try and prevent the next murder from happening. If the pattern holds up, tonight is going to be the next one, and the victim is either going to be a Mage or an Angel.” The old man scratched at his head.

“Dear gods... ya don't think... they'll actually finish it do ya?” The younger man shook his head. “If it really is black magic, then they only have two more places they need to kill, and we have just enough officers to keep both under surveillance. We should be able to keep anyone else from being hurt again. Just... pray they don't have another way to complete it if we do manage to stop them.” The old man observed the stoic look on his son's face. It was likely that he didn't know it, but when he was actually invested in his job did he ever look so much like he used to. He was born with a shield destined to show up on his right shoulder after all.

“Well, I'm confident ya can stop this crazy black magic. Just make sure yer daughter is home tomorrow night. If the next target is just some Angel in town...” The younger man's eyes widened, and he bolted up to standing. “I never even...! Rainbow!!!” Blaze started running and unfurled his wings. He started to flap, and once he did twice, he shot off in the clear blue sky. “Why you little! He's just gonna make things worse between em!” The old man did his best to get a running take off, but his body wouldn't allow it.

“Bah. This just ain't happenin' anymore. I'm too damn old fer this shit. I'll just go inside and wait until he gets home with her ta stop the fallout. Heh. He's just as dumb as I used ta be. Like father like son they say.” The old man put his wings back on his back and opened the door to the house. “He'll be back eventually. Might as well start somethin' ta eat.” He shut the door, made his way to the kitchen, and started to think of what to make.

***

“Damn it! I can't do anything around here! Nothing but friggen sand here and desert there! There aren't even any trees in this stupid place! Ugh! I hate this town!” The rainbow headed Angel girl had circled the town twice now, and she wasn't wrong. The only tree in the area was almost exclusively a library, and didn't really fit in with the rest of the town. The town itself was about the size of a small district in Cloudsdale, and she could make it from one edge of the town to the opposite edge in no more than five minutes of lazy flying. She continued to search the place for something to do now that she was angry with her father. He wouldn't even take her to Cloudsdale to see her friends, nor would he buy her tickets to the concert they were going to tonight. Unbelievable.

“This stupid place doesn't even have a gym.” She said as she was low flying above the buildings. She traveled further in the air to get a better look over all. There was a cloud maybe a thousand feet just above the town hall, so she landed on the top of it's spire, then jumped and flew as fast as she could to it. She grabbed the edge of the cloud, then used her momentum to swing her body on top of it. Thirty seconds, not bad. No Wonderbolt would ever take that long to fly a simple thousand straight up, but it was faster than any of this country trash could even muster. Maybe her dad could... but, then again, who cares about that washed up old man. Whatever. She quickly checked behind her to see if she had made a vapor trail. One of her family's traits on her father's side was the ability to split light on water depending on how fast they flew. It was thin, but present.

“Damn. One of these days, I'll split the whole sky into color again...” The girl grunted at herself. Ever since she performed that amazing feat almost seven years ago, she couldn't accept anything less than the best from herself. She was the best. There was no question. It couldn't be a fluke. People don't give you the nickname 'dash' for being anything but number one. But... she had never been able to do it again since that day. What happened to her? Wasn't she the best? Of course she was. There's no question. She finally settled her thoughts and observed her surroundings. To the north east, there was that weird red forest. Something about it just made her skin crawl, and she wanted nothing to do with it. A little south of that, almost equidistant from the town and the forest was a small cottage.

“Huh. Wonder who lives there. Kinda weird that it's so... far away from the town.” She then directed her attention to the town directly below her. The only buildings that stood out were four of them. Town hall, directly under her. The clothing store to the east that looked waaay out of place here. Too friggen fancy for this backwater trash. The bakery that looked like it was made out of candy to the north west of town hall.

“Food is relatively hard to screw up... I think... Maybe even the trash in this town can make something decent. Really hope so. Gods know I can't cook worth my life. It's a miracle dad's food hasn't killed me yet after all these years.” And finally, there was the tree library at the south west edge. “How did that thing even manage to grow in this desert? Let alone get big enough to carve a building into. It's friggen humongous! Man, I don't even get how grass grows here. This place is just some random mix of stuff that makes fuck all sense. Gods, I need something else to do.” Just as she fell back into the cloud, she noticed something on the north west of town. It was a pathway that looked like... normal dirt. “Wait, how did I miss that?” Rainbow stood up, and swooped down in that direction.

“Since when was this here? Seriously, there is no way I missed this, I circled this damn place three times. There is no way-” She cut her sentence off. As she was saying it, all the color in the world evaporated. Everything but her own body simply lost color and stopped moving. The wind she was using to coast on quit and she had to flap quickly to catch her balance again.

“What the hell!?” The words echoed. It was almost like she was inside a giant room. “Holy crap, this is insane!” Just after she stopped talking she heard another voice. “What in tarnation? What the hell happened!?” The voice was coming from the direction she was facing. The air almost felt gooey to fly in, the entire world was just... stopped. Whoever that was, she was thinking the same thing. Rainbow headed toward the voice, and now there were four. She could hear some words and at one point she thought she heard some one say “Sit down already!” but couldn't be sure.

The weird echo box effect that was present earlier had faded. Her instincts told her to keep silent as she approached. She wasn't sure how this was even happening, much less what these people could do if they found her. Who knows? Maybe this is how those people were getting murdered. She moved further down the path, and it opened up to a giant apple orchard. There were trees every where, the grass looked clean cut and soft unlike the partially dead stuff in town, and even without color, she could tell that all the apples on every tree were bright red and healthy. How did I miss this? This place would have totally stood out earlier! She thought to her self.

She remained quiet, and noticed the four people with color in the center of the front yard. There were a ton of people here, maybe even more than she'd ever seen in town at any point. The four of them were talking, but they had grown even quieter. There was a blonde girl that looked like a cowboy, another girl that was dressed... normally? She had indigo hair with streaks of purple and pink in it.

Then there were the weird ones. Two dudes, one looked like some kind of knight, the other looked like some kind of fairytale Mage. She quietly landed in a huge apple tree just at the edge of the depression that turned into the farm house's front yard. Surprisingly, the tree didn't even seem to notice her weight on it. Not even the leaves made a sound. Strange. She only weighed around sixty pounds to begin with, but even the thin tree branches were like standing on Aerolite. It felt... unnatural.

“I assure you, It is the truth. You see...” She heard the knight say. He then started to take off his armor on his left shoulder, then he turned to the blonde girl to show her his Terran's mark. It was just three apples in a circle. Weird. Haven't I seen that somewhere? But what happened next was even weirder. The blond girl looked shocked to see it, then rolled up her own left sleeve. On her left shoulder was the exact same Terran's mark.

Whoa. That was off the charts weird. Marks were unique to every person, even people who have the same talents and ideas. Marks were never the same. They talked more, and the blonde girl started to get sad for some reason. The other three looked more and more concerned, and then she started to cry and the knight guy hugged her. Even from this distance, she could tell the knight was likely the most charismatic person she'd ever seen in her life. And then, she looked more intently at the knight. Not only was his Terran's mark the same as the blond girl's, but he looked like her too. In fact, that might even be the blonde girl's dad. And the sorcerer looked a lot like the indigo haired girl. What was the deal? Suddenly, the blonde girl jumped up on the table.

“Well then! Let's get to it! Come on!” She was from here for sure. Her words weren't even bent into some weird southern fashion, and she still had a thick accent. The blonde girl pulled the indigo haired girl up on the table with ease and then gracefully made a few hops to the other table across from where she was. Then the extra weirdness happened. She took a card off of her disk and the knight disappeared. What the? There's no friggen way. Was he a card? How in the hell? Then the sorcerer tapped his staff to the ground three times, and color started to flood the world.

Right from where his staff touched, everything began to move again. As the wave got closer to Rainbow, she started to feel an intense wind. She tried to jump and escape into the colorless part of the world, but the wave was too fast. When it caught her, she suddenly couldn't see anything but a white void. It felt like her entire body was being ripped to pieces. She tried to scream, but nothing would come out, just silence. She closed her eyes, and prayed for the pain to stop, then it did. She didn't hurt any more, so she opened her eyes. She was flying, riding a wind current, and she was about a mile or two from where she was a second ago.

“What the hell?” When she realized she said that out loud, she immediately put her hands over her mouth and checked her surroundings. There was no one around. She was still over the dirt path with a little grass here and there that cut through the sand. Then she thought to check the time. The sun hadn't moved. And there was no way that at least half an hour hadn't passed. In that sticky air, it took her at minimum ten minutes to make it to where she was hiding. She checked the duel disk in her pocket. It read 13:30. “There's... no way... this can't be right.... I left the house at 13:10! What the hell just happened?!” The rainbow headed girl began to fly as fast as she could down the dirt path to the farm, but then she stopped once she got half way down it.

“Wait... what if they notice me? I... I'm not exactly the most inconspicuous... person... shit! My own awesomeness could get me in trouble here! Okay, let's think about this Dash. Some crazy crap just happened like an hour ago that I guess doesn't exist anymore. And you don't know how it happened, much less why it hurt so bad. And it hurt a lot. If I could never experience pain like that again, I think I could die happy. So... I'll go hide in the tree again! Nobody was looking that way in the crowd of frozen people, they were all looking at the table the indigo haired girl was standing on... for... some reason... Okay. We head to that same tree, and we watch.” She looked around herself, and sighed after she realized no one was around.

“I... really need to stop talking to myself.” Rainbow made her way to the tree she was sitting in earlier. It was in the same position she left it in, but this time, it gave a little when she landed, and the leaves rustled. She collapsed her wings as quickly as she could because some red haired woman looked off in her direction. She took a step toward Rainbow, but then was pulled back by some other person to the duel. Over the crowd, she managed to hear “Ah set one card, and then we battle! Since this is a family reunion and all, I'll have Ephraim attack Andromeda first!” The knight guy from earlier jumped in the air, and then she heard something else, but, this was like it was coming from inside of her own head. And it was the same male voices from earlier.

Well is this not the fun turn of events! You get to meet Minerva again! The sorcerer's light blue barrier flared up as the knight guy approached. You and your pet names for inanimate objects. Just get it over with already. You won't be sending me away anytime soon. The knight's face seemed to darken somehow. Oh well, if you insist. The Halberd the knight was using smashed down on the sorcerer's barrier, and made a two tone note. At the same time, the sound waves became visible and started to crash into the indigo haired girl, who suddenly had a violet colored barrier that cracked a little every time the waves crashed into it.

“Must be a Mage- ho! What the?” Her leg started to vibrate intensely and produce a note of it's own, which seemed to finish the chord that was coming from the other two. Rainbow reached to the source of her vibrating, and locked on her duel disk. A green light was coming from her deck. She pulled it out of her disk and took the glowing, vibrating card from it. It was the card she received in the mail not but a few days after she finally came to live with her dad. “What is...? Prismatic Avian, Loyalty Valkyriana... wait a minute...” The image in the card was that of an angel woman with light blue, white, silver, and rainbow wings wearing thin Angel's armor with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. She shared hair with with Rainbow, and irises too.

“You look... so much like... dad...” The other two stopped resonating, and the ritual monster in her hand did the same. She put the rest of her deck in her disk and kept Valkyriana out. The duel continued, and both girls had come to an even point. The indigo haired girl seemed to bet everything on a draw, and she was rewarded for it. She then got two more cards, and it looked like she had the duel won. But the blonde activated the trap, and then the sorcerer and the knight collided in a fiery explosion and both of the two girls were sent flying into the crowd. The field displayed the word draw, and then both girls were crowd surfed back to the center of the two tables.

An old woman with pale blonde silver hair began to speak to them both. They were then joined by an Angel with some kinda monochromatic scheme to him, and a very tall, very big guy with bright orange hair. Then the Angel seemed to take over the conversation. For some reason he had his coat zipped up. She couldn't think of why though. The monochrome Angel called out to someone, and a little boy with purple bat like wings and green hair ran over to the group, and the indigo haired girl grabbed him and rubbed her fist into his head, making a smile at the same time.

They were talking and he eventually handed the blonde a picture, and then her expression sort of dropped and she handed it back. He looked excited to hear her reply, and then they made their way out of the farm. But the Mage girl was stopped by the old woman. She handed her a card, then sent her off to her group. The group started to head out of the farm, and then Rainbow decided to follow. She got down from the tree, ran the opposite direction, and flew upward until she was sure no one would notice her from the ground. She kept altitude and followed the group until they reached the edge of town. Then the group stopped.

Suddenly, the Angel and the Mage turned around staring directly at her, and then the Angel threw a bright violet chain at her. Rainbow tried to avoid it, but it wrapped itself around her foot just as she tried to get away, like it was alive or something. The chain itself felt like it was burning against her skin, and in her desperate attempts to free herself, her wing was caught in another chain she didn't see. She came crashing to the ground, and screamed out as she fell several hundred feet. She watched as the sky grew further away and closed her eyes. The chains evaporated, and then her descent started to slow down. Then she noticed she was being held. She looked up to see the monochrome Angel in the white coat slowly hovering down to the ground. She started to lose feeling in her leg and her left wing. The numbness started to spread through her body, and she passed out.

***

The Mage and the Angel reached the Terran and the Dragon, but neither of the two seemed to notice them leave. “So where is this Rarity going to be?” Said the Angel. The Terran scratched at her head. “It would be relatively off color fer her ta be anywhere but her shop. Y'all seen that fancy buildin' near the center of town on the north east side?” Then the dragon boy chirped up. “Ooh! You mean that building that's all round and purple and stuff right?” Oddly excited he was. “That would be the place. It'll take us about thirty minutes ta get there if we walk. The farm is about a mile and a half from the town, so that's assumin' that we can walk a mile in about fifteen minutes.” The Angel nodded.

“Sounds like a good assumption. Don't know about Stripes or Spike, but that's a slow walk for me.” The Indigo haired girl loaded up a punch to hit the Angel with, but he side stepped it and she fell into the sand. “What the hell man! Use my friggen name!” She said as she tried to get up. “Oh, whatever. If we're going to be around each other a lot, you are subject to nicknames. As a matter of fact, you're all subject to nicknames. Be prepared for reduced syllable and ironic names, all of you.” The blonde girl put one hand on her elbow and the other on her chin.

“My name's already a nick name. What would ya call me different?” The Angel put his hands behind his head. “Stripes, Green, and Apples, respectively. However, our stowaway will likely keep the name she has, as it's pretty obvious, if that is in fact who she is...” Twilight caught back up with the group. “Stowaway? Is there someone-” The Angel put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her in close. “Nobody turn around. I think I know who that is, but I can't be sure if it's not an enemy. So here's the plan. Apples, how good are you with a rope?” The girl decided to give the nick name a chance, since it wasn't far off from her other one.

“Is that even a question? Ah live on a farm with livestock.” The Angel nodded. “Great. Next is you Stripes. I need you to make a magic chain that's long enough to catch a cloud.” Catch a cloud? “Like, how long are we talking here? I just dueled for the third time today, I don't know what I'm still capable of.” A voice chimed out from Twilight's pocket. “Oh, no, Master Sparkle, your current Magic capacity is still full for at least four to five more duels. I'm not quite sure how, but you've been tapping into your soul arts to play, and it has been taking much of the strain of the magic game off your body, and more importantly, away from your raw magic pool.” Twilight sighed. “Thank you my little poindexter. You've been a great service to our cause.” An audible huffing noise came from her pocket. “Says the real poindexter here. Regardless, she has the ability to make multiple chains of a greater length at the moment Master Zephraim.” Twilight grunted. “Fine whatever, yeah I'll make you a chain.” The Angel released the Mage.

“Great. Get on that, I need two and they must be able to reach about a thousand two hundred feet. My guess is that this girl is following us either out of curiosity or by order of someone, and if the latter is true, we want to surprise her. Once we reach the edge of town, you need to toss one chain to me, and one chain to Apples. From there, we just need to get the chain close enough for Stripes to grab her with it. Once that's done, send a couple of volts through her body, and she should lock up in mid air. I'll fly up and catch her to make sure she doesn't fall to her death, and then we'll question her.” The sheer quickness of the plan he made coming out of no where made him a little bit scarier than Twilight originally thought. Definitely his mother's son, that's for sure.

“Do they call you a tactician too?” She said as she laughed a little. The Angel crossed his arms. “Not funny Stripes. Just be ready with that spell, got it?” Twilight waved at him. “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Attack magic is my forte, this should be nothing.” There was silence for a moment as the quartet walked down the dirt road in between the farm and the town until Applejack broke it.

“So uh, how does he talk from yer disk? Is he like, a Navi or somethin'?” Twilight took her disk out of her pocket and turned the screen on to see Andromeda playing one of her games. “I guess? This was his doing, and Andromeda kinda just does whatever he wants inside of the disk.” She said as she pointed to the Monochrome Angel. “Well, that is not entirely true. While I have no internet access, like I do at the moment, I simply must find a way to entertain myself. However, I am having difficulty reaching the objective of this level. Do I hit the invisible block once, and then use it to get to the top of the flag, or do I just run and jump at maximum height to catch it?” Said the Sorcerer's sprite on the screen as the red plumber jumped over bricks and into a pit.

“Oh, I love that game! Hit the block first, that's the best way to do it.” The dragon boy fell back in line to watch Andromeda play Super Mario with Twilight after giving his suggestion. The Angel then answered the Terran's question. “The system recognizes him as both a Navi and a user. As such, he has access to the voice program that normal Navi use to speak prompts and commands to the user, but with his own vocabulary that he can add to instantaneously when he records a sound byte. In a sense, Andromeda has basically become the duel disk, and has free range of everything that goes in and out of it.” The blonde girl nodded.

“So, he's his own entity and not some kind of crazy magic projection right? Ah've seen those, and they weird me the hell out.” The Angel shook his head. “Nah, this was something Apollo came up with, totally his idea. You see... there's a person who we both know that is really against manipulation of soul magic, or what most people know as necromancy or black magic. Since we respect that person a lot, he's found ways to do it without all of the nasty stuff. I wrote part of the program, and he debugged and fixed it all up with the magic to support it.” The Terran tapped her finger to her lips.

“Apollo, Apollo... Where have Ah heard that name before?” The Angel put his hands behind his head. “Billboards, advertizements, magazines, TV. The list is endless, he's the current CEO of the Kiebzen Corporation.” Applejack snapped her fingers. “Yeah, that's it. Wait. He helped ya write a program!? How do ya know that billionaire?” The Angel smiled at the girl. “Heh. Let's just leave it at, I grew up with him. So what about you? You said you built those IR things out of habit. Are you a programmer or something?” The blonde nodded.

“A little bit. Ta be honest, Ah'm just good with my hands. Ah've always been able ta build things and solve puzzles real easy. If Ah can see the finished product, then Ah can usually figure out how ta get it there from scratch. Ah always liked ta tinker with stuff, so when my dad finally got a hold of an old desktop years back, Ah learned how ta take it apart and put it back together. The programmin' thing came after Ah nearly broke the operatin' system a few years after dad passed away while Ah was tinkerin' with it. Luckily Ah was able ta fix it, but from then on Ah started ta get inta the technical side of it. This of course became a hobby and Ah sped ahead of the rest of my class learnin' bout it. Eventually, Ah just got fed up with school cause Ah wanted ta put what little free time Ah had inta it rather than school, so Ah opted fer a test instead of the whole four year schoolin' fer a high school diploma. Ah scored top marks anyways in everythin', cept Faunin. This damn language is so friggen complicated. Apparently there's a rule that says Ah can't make conjunctions with any combination of pronouns and nouns that Ah want, so that kept me in school fer it. That's why Ah graduated in my first year of high school rather than skippin' it entirely.” The Angel sighed.

“Man, I wish I was that driven. I was the same way, but totally the opposite in terms of work ethic. I made pretty low grades as a whole because I just didn't care about it. I took a few classes here and there seriously, and I made top in each of them, but other than, that it was pretty lack luster for my final transcript.” The blonde put her hands down and followed the question line further. “So what did ya end up doin' right? Ah mean, Ah didn't have the luxury of just blowin' it off, Ah still have ta help big Mac run the farm. Bein' outta school just gives me time ta keep workin' on projects Ah want ta finish without droppin' off the work load.” The Angel scratched at his head.

“Uh... Art, computer science, and battle techniques I really focused in on. Although home economics was pretty easy as a whole, and I was actually really good at Faunin. I just never did homework, nor did I do assignments if it ran past class time, which killed my grades.” The blonde crossed her arms. “So ya do art, huh? What's yer Angel's mark?” The Angel debated on whether or not he should show it. Eventually he decided she might as well see it since it might become a point of interest. After all, this was the girl he decided he liked out of the six of them. He unzipped his coat, as the interrupter had settled earlier, and removed his right sleeve. On his right shoulder were three hexagons, one black, one gray, and one white that followed the pattern of his hair and wings. On top of that were a sword an ax and a lance that crossed over each point where the hexagons touched.

“So y'all have a battle type mark. Ain't seen many of them round these days.” Marks were split into several categories based on what was depicted in them. The three major categories were literal, symbolic, or abstract. Within those, the types of marks split into more and more categories until finally you reached your five type mark which was usually an accurate account of what you wanted to do in life. That is, if your mark isn't abstract. People with things like heavenly bodies on their marks were typically abstract types and sometimes never figure out what it meant to them. His own mother was one of the few to actually decipher what her abstract Mark meant, and it took nearly an entire natural life for her to do it.

“You could say that. Most of my family have them, and we believe that it's really my father's fault. Saying his early twenties were blood soaked is a pretty harsh understatement. My dad is a pretty crazy Mage.” Applejack took a step in front of the Angel and started to walk backwards. “Huh. I guess yer mom's the Angel then?” The Angel waved the statement away. “Terran. I'm the odd one. They're my biological parents, but my father never knew who his was, and my mom's parents were both Terrans. My dad's mother was a Mage, so we believe that his father must have been an Angel or something.” And he was really telling the truth. Except for the whole 'my mother is also an ascended immortal, so that might have something to do with it' part.

“Interestin'. Ya got siblings right? What about them?” The Angel nodded. “An older brother, Mage, 28 years old. An older sister, Terran, 24 years old. And a younger brother, Mage, 16 years old.” The Terran seemed to be cataloging all the information she was taking in. From behind them, the Dragon and the Mage were watching Andromeda play when he finally beat the level he was stuck on.

“See, I told you that you had to Jump it. It just takes timing.” The dragon boy was upset that his tactic didn't work. “Oh, whatever Twilight. You just didn't want my idea to work. I totally beat this level like that.” The Mage retorted back at him. “Spike, Spike, Spike. That's simply just not how this works. There is no way that you could beat this level like that unless you had a power up from the last level. I'm not saying you're wrong, but you are.” The Dragon boy crossed his arms and flared his wings out. “Whatever. Hey! We're almost to town! Are you guys gonna catch that person that's been following us now?” The Angel took out his duel disk which then displayed a mirrored surface.

“Stripes, after I put this away, want you to turn around with me, and toss me a magic chain. Apples, when I throw the first one, and Twilight catches her with it, she'll toss one to you and you need to aim it at her wing. Chances are that she'll try and escape, so be ready for a moving target.” The two replied in unison. “Got it.” the group walked five steps, then Zephraim put the disk away. He and Twilight turned on their heels and she created a violet chain of magic energy that started to flow out of her right hand and passed it to Zephraim. The Angel girl far above them stopped dead in her tracks after the two looked directly at her. Zephraim threw the chain as hard as he could and almost beat Twilight's creation speed as she was making it come out of her hand. The Angel girl had just noticed the chain and started to move away, but wasn't quick enough for Twilight.

She moved the chain as it rocketed toward the Angel girl and wrapped around her foot. At the same time, Twilight tossed another chain out of her left to Applejack. The girl started to take a certain length of it, then she spun it in her right above her head. She tossed it, and it flew even harder and faster than Zephraim's did, and Twilight almost lost the entire chain. Twilight had just enough time to wrap the chain around the Angel girl's wing as she was currently struggling to remove the chain around her leg. She then sent an electrical pulse through the chain, and the girl just stopped moving. The Angel girl screamed, and Zephraim took off.

Twilight reeled her chains back into her hands to keep the excess magic from burning off as heat, and Zephraim caught the girl. He descended quickly at first, then brought himself to the ground gradually, and landed with the girl in his arms. Her head was an entire rainbow of colors going from violet to red and back. She was wearing a light blue short sleeved jacket over an almost white tank top that had a hint of blue in it, with dark blue athletic shorts that had yellow lightning bolt style streaks running down either side. Under those, strapped on her right leg, was a holster with a green pentagon shaped duel disk inside it.

Her wings were the same blue as Raid Fume, but this girls feathers along the bottom of her wing followed the rainbow pattern of her hair, at least for the last six feathers, with one of each color off her head. She was also wearing what looked like military issue combat boots. As a matter of fact, Zephraim was wearing the same ones. “Ladies and Green, meet Rainbow 'Dash' Fume.”

The two girls looked at the one in the Angel's arms. “That's probably the most accurate name I've ever heard for a person. Is this girl related to the train conductor?” The blonde was confused by the information Twilight had that she apparently didn't. “Train conductor? Who is this chick?” The male Angel moved the girl in his arms to his back, and took a picture out of his coat and handed it to Applejack. “As previously stated, Rainbow 'Dash' Fume. The royal express conductor's granddaughter on his son's side, like Ruby Apple on his daughter's. She also happens to be one of the six chosen to receive the Ancient cards like you and Stripes here.” The blonde nodded.

“So, not exactly my cousin, but my cousin's cousin. And a party member Ah guess?” The male Angel agreed. “Yeah. How many volts did you put through her anyways, Stripes? She's like, out cold.” The male Angel started to walk into town with the other Angel on his back and other three followed. The Mage replied in a matter of fact tone. “It's current that kills, not volts dude. And with that out of the way, like fifty or so milliamps. Not enough to kill her, but enough to make her muscles stop working.” All but the dragon boy were surprised to hear the normal response. “Did... did she teach you that? I know she's done a few assassinations in her time, but... really?” The Mage girl just smiled and nodded, and the dragon boy had taken the girl's duel disk.

“That's my sister. Knows exactly how to inflict the pain without killing. She almost electrocuted me once, but my body has some kind of weird property that keeps current from passing through anything but my scales. So it's just the initial pain I feel.” The male Angel put his free hand to his face. “For the love of Divinity, mom.” The Terran caught some of the muttered statement. “What was that?” The male Angel quickly retracted his statement. “Oh, it doesn't matter. You know what? This makes three for six. Let's just get the next one, and move on with life. Wait a minute, I think she's waking up.”

The Angel girl on his back started to mumble to her self. She tightened her grip around him and then pressed her body into him, trying to not wake up. Finally, she yawned, and opened her eyes. She could see the town, the various buildings to the sides of the main road. She could see the blonde to the left of the object that was obscuring her vision, and to the right she could see the indigo haired girl and the little boy with the weird wings. They were all staring at her. Confusion and awareness were beginning set into the groggy rainbow haired girl, and then she realized she was holding onto a male Angel, whose head was the obstructing object.

“Welcome back to the world of the living sleeping beauty.” His face had turned to smile at her, and she stared in his green and gold eyes for a moment, then jumped off his back. “Hold it! Who are you people? Wait a minute... didn't you electrocute me!? What the hell happened just now!?” The female Angel's voice was frantic. The Terran immediately went into damage control mode, and tried to calm her down. “Now hold on there sugar cube, no body is gonna hurt ya. Cain't be too careful these days, what with all the murders goin' on, but yer safe now.” The rainbow haired girl's eyes started shifting from one of the four to another. “Don't you lie to me! My dad is a cop! I'll... I'll get you all locked up if there's anything weird going on here! Tell me who you are!” The male Angel stepped forward, only to have the female step back.

“Cool your jets kid. It wouldn't matter if your dad's a cop or not because I'm above him. See? Look, here's my badge.” The man took a small silver coin out of his pocket and tossed it to the skeptic. She snatched it out of the air and inspected it. It had a strange symbol on it that she thought she'd seen somewhere before. A large rounded E with a smaller circle just past the point that made the middle line of the E and a C inside of that. She flipped it over in her hand and read the embellished text on the other side. “Zephraim Black I., Eclipse Core... You... You're one of the special ops!?” The man nodded and walked closer toward the Angel girl.

“Yes, yes I am. And you are Rainbow Fume. The most promising young flier in Fauna with a pending reserves application, a recent move from Cloudsdale, and the daughter of Blaze Fume and Firefly Bright, correct?” The girl stood at attention and saluted the male Angel who was now standing with proper posture. “Yes sir.” The man put his hands behind his back and began to circle the Angel girl, as the others stared in amazement. Twilight didn't know how much authority he actually had, and Applejack and Spike didn't know what the Eclipse Core was. The man had adopted a dark smile and came behind the Angel girl and put his hands on her shoulders. Twilight suddenly felt an itch on her left hand.

“Now, ms. Fume, or, Dash as many seem to like to call you, you received a card from the Day Queen recently didn't you?” The Angel girl was beginning to feel uncomfortable. “Um... yes sir?” Rainbow didn't know what to do. This guy was way higher in rank than anyone she'd ever met in her life, but... he was acting kind of creepy. “Not a very confident answer from someone who has such a reputation. Hmm... that makes me... doubt. I believe a test of skill is in order!” Twilight had figured out why her arm itched. “Absolutely not! You are totally bullshitting Zeph! I will not do this again for the fourth time today. No way. No.” The man put his head next to the Angel girl's.

“Ms. Dash, our friend here does not seem to want to be your test partner. So I will give you a choice. You're holding my badge which is a two sided coin. Let's say the side with the Core symbol is heads, and the one with my name is tails. After you flip the coin, you will tell us it's result. If the coin lands heads, Twilight here will be your opponent. If the coin lands tails, you will duel me. Does that sound alright?” Rainbow was now very conflicted. That Indigo haired girl, whose name was Twilight apparently, was disrespecting an officer of one of the highest ranks in Fauna. But he was also being really really creepy. “Uh, I-if that's what you want sir...” The man squeezed her shoulders and released her.

“Perfect. If you would.” Rainbow shuffled her wings. The drill sergeants at ROTC camp last summer weren't nearly as... touchy as this guy was. She could handle some guy screaming in her face, but the kind of calm this guy had was almost frightening. But, orders are orders. And hey, if she got to know this guy, maybe he could pull some strings for her in the future. Finally she could do something that would make her dad... bah, screw him. I'll do something worthy of me! She thought. She started to spin her arm in a circle, and when she had rotated three times, she tossed the palm sized coin in the air. The coin shined in the midday sun as it spun in the air, and just as it came down close enough to reach, the Angel behind Rainbow snatched it out of the air. “And survey, says!” The Angel uncovered the coin off the back of his left hand and revealed the EC symbol. “Rainbow versus Twilight!” Twilight slapped her fore head.

“Gods damn it. I fucking knew! I fucking knew you were going to do this! I do not want to do this! I've had enough of this today! I tied your brother, I lost to you, and I tied her! I'm done!” The Mage girl started to walk off, but Rainbow was not going to take no for an answer. “What's up, Stripes? Afraid of losing again?” That was likely not a smart decision for Rainbow to make. “No. No, no, no, no, no, you did not just fucking call me Stripes!” The anger radiating from the Mage was visible as a violet smoke around her edges. Rainbow almost backed down, but decided to egg her on. “Yeah? So what if I did? What are you gonna do about it?” Twilight debated electrocuting this girl for real now, but then levitated her duel disk out of Spike's hands.

“Just to see you suffer, I won't kill you. Because I could have. Just now. So let's duel and get this over with. I'll beat you in the sand, and we'll be done. The end.” Rainbow was not thrilled with that response. “Kill me? What the hell!? You DID electrocute me! Oh, no, I'm gonna beat the hell out of you!” With Twilight wearing a duel disk, the two girls charged at each other, but were stopped by the much stronger blonde. “Hey! Yer both bein' idiots! Just duel it out! There ain't no reason ta be fightin' with each other!” The blonde kept the two at bay, and then the man pulled the Angel girl back. “Your task is to duel. Got it?” The man kept his calm and terrifying voice and increased the eye contact he had with Rainbow. This was a fight she was not going to instigate.

“Y-yes sir. Hey! Stripes! Lets play the game!” The girl took an impressively athletic jump back for being who she was, and readied the disk. Applejack rolled her eyes. “This can only end well.” Rainbow slapped her disk on from her leg holster and the metal rings hidden in the pentagonal device slid out and connected around her arm, then telescoped until they met each other around her arm. A green U shaped matterwave appeared out of the disk, and then the Angel and the Mage both shouted “DUEL!” In unison as the MR beams connected. The area was bathed in light, and the duel began. Twilight immediately started playing.

“I'll electrocute you again, bitch! First off, Since I don't control any monsters, I can special summon Shooting Star Serpens from my hand! Then, while I control a Light monster, I can special summon Star Magician Azophi!” The girl slapped the two monsters on her matterwave and just as quickly did they appear one after the other. The first was a large serpent made of teal light with dark lines and dots inside of it that formed a constellation. The second was a man wearing heavy looking robes with a dark beard that scraggled itself down to where his thin neck would have ended and a thick mustache. He wore a tutors cap that had a small ball of light at the very end of it.

“Next, I'll normal summon Shooting Star Stallion. Then I activate the effect of Azophi! While I control him, I can send cards I control to the graveyard to fusion summon! He who holds the power of heaven in his hands, come forth and show the majesty of the galaxy! Appear, Magic Star Andromeda, The Galaxy Magician!” The Mage girl raised her hand to the sky above the monsters, and it darkened. She started to glow in a pale violet smoke the seemed to flow off of her body, and the monsters began to spin around themselves into the dark sky. From the dark hole in the sky the caped Magician began to float down. “I don't remember what you said exactly, but guess what? You were right. I was one step away from killing her!” Andromeda sighed and turned to Twilight.

“Master Sparkle, you mustn’t let your anger get to you like this. We need to-” Another voice came from the other side of the field. “Oh, what's wrong, Andy dearest? Afraid of a little fight with your sister? Afraid I'll pound your face in the ground, again?” The left most card in Rainbow's hand was vibrating with a green light. “Valkyriana, you are not helping-” The sorcerer was cut off again. “Ya know, after all these years, ya still haven't fixed that problem where ya KEEP OPENING YOUR MOUTH!” The sorcerer was filled with an emotion he had long suppressed. “When we kill the bitch, I want the last hit!” The Mage girl nodded. “Then I guess we have a plan! Give me Copernicus!” The sorcerer turned back to the rainbow haired girl and had a fire in his eyes.

“Copernicus it is!” The sorcerer tapped his staff to the ground once, and the card was ejected out of Twilight's deck into her hand. “Then I activate Star Fusion! I fuse Serpens and Copernicus to fusion summon! Lightning inside spirals, tornadoes of dust and light! The Galaxy is tied and spun in either direction, Star Barred, the Galaxy Magician!” Tritium was formed and from it descended an... interesting looking sorcerer. Armored on only his joints and neck was the male sorcerer with bright, short magenta hair under a hood, wearing heavy looking robes like Andromeda. He carried what could be justified as an anchor over his shoulder in one hand, and a simple wand with a clear gem at it's tip in the other. His face was scarred in several places, but most notably was a very straight scar that went through his left eye all the way down his face to his jaw line. Very interesting indeed.

“When Barred is fusion summoned, I get to add a Star spell card from my deck to my hand. I add Shooting Star Comet Phase, then I activate Shooting Star Barrier from my hand! I set one, and its your turn, stalker!” The opposing girl's feathers started to puff up in her wings. “Stalker!? First you guys stop time or whatever and then make it feel like I'm being ripped apart and then you ELECTROCUTED ME! I was making sure you guys weren't the ones killing people these past few weeks!” The Mage looked astonished, and then she and the sorcerer shared the face with each other.

“How did she get caught in the pocket!?” The sorcerer started to snap his fingers nervously. “I... I'm not quite sure. I haven't exactly practiced a new spell in a very long time. I honestly have no idea what the range was that I ended up casting, but the rest of the Apple family was frozen by it... Master Zephraim!” The male Angel shook his head. “Don't even bother, I don't know. My brothers are the Mages. You know that. Is this really important right now?” The sorcerer continued to snap his fingers. “How could she have... you intend to summon Valkyriana, do you not Master Fume?” The rainbow headed girl realized she was being addressed by the sorcerer.

“Oh, what? Uh, yeah, kinda. And I prefer Rainbow, or Dash, or a combination of the two in that order, if you're referring to me. What about it?” The girl was skeptical about speaking with the sorcerer who was apparently a card. “If you would, please start your turn. I need to speak with her.” The Angel girl's feathers had settled and she nodded to the sorcerer. “Uh... sure. Man, this is really weird.” The male Angel laughed and waved at the girl. “Welcome to my life. And get used to it, because you're gonna be living in it for a while.” The female Angel was unnerved by his laughter, but drew for her turn.

“Well whatever. I draw! First off, I summon Prismatic Avian Foot Falcon!” The monster summoned was a half human sized falcon wearing a camouflage military uniform all in red. The falcon itself was white with a single red feather coming out of the top of it's head. It carried what looked like an old model artillery rifle from the days before magic projectiles became the norm in war. Twilight though it must have been an automatic rifle judging from the large clip on the top of the gun.

“Next up, I activate the effect of Prismatic Avian Bastillatician from my Hand! It's treated as an equip spell card, and adds three effects to Foot Falcon. One, I can attack directly with it. Two, Foot Falcon gains 800 attack and defense, and three, if Foot Falcon would be destroyed or tributed, I can send Bastillatician instead.” A spell card? Twilight wasn't having it. “Ooh, yeah, I don't really like that so I'll activate the effect of Barred. While I control a face up Spell card, I can negate the effect of a card that would target a card on the field, and destroy it.” The magenta haired magician threw his anchor into the actual card representation of the spell on her field, then a light blue chain appeared from the end of the wand to the top of the anchor. He spun the anchor with the spell in it above his head, and sent it forward until it hit the phantom bird in Rainbow's spell and trap zone, then the bird in the large motorcycle like side cannon was shattered.

“That's really annoying. But that's not about to stop me! I activate Prismatic Avian Shield Wings from my hand! His effects are similar, and all Prismatic Avian monsters share the third effect. Infantry gains 500 instead of 8. Next, I activate Prismatic Sphere Ritual! By sending monsters from any zone to the graveyard whose levels are equal to or greater than the ritual monster I summon, I can ritual summon that monster! I send the equipped Shield Barer, and the Foot Falcon for a total of 7! The crystal of endless potential takes light and refracts it into all the colors of the world! Burst through the prism, Prismatic Avian, Loyalty Valkyriana!”

A large clear orb appeared on Rainbow's side of the field. The two monsters flew into it, and their colors were morphed into white. A blue flame engulfed the crystal orb, and began to shatter as the light inside became brighter. The orb exploded into crystal shards that scattered various colors wherever they landed, and from where it was, the Valkyrie stood. She was an Angel with wings like no other. Her top feathers were silver, which then was followed by a row of white ones, and finally blue feathers all along the bottom with five more colors of the rainbow as feathers at each wing tip. She wore a dark red and gold lined shirt with thin Angel's armor on her chest, shoulders, and along each wing. In her left was a sword that eerily resembled the one Zephraim carried, so much so that it might very well be the same one, but had a cloud with a thunderbolt at the end of the hilt. She carried a shield in her right that had the same cloud and bolt engraved in it that was made of what looked like silver and bronze.

Like the player, Her hair was a full range of color from ROY to G to BIV. Her eyes were the same magenta as the player as well, and in all honesty Twilight believed Rainbow would look exactly like her in ten or so years. Her right eye was scarred down her cheek, and she wore a strap around her head that had a bead with three feathers tied to the end of it. One light blue, one pale yellow, and one dark red. Above her cleavage and along her legs until her red boots was netting that darkened her skin to a tone just below what her face showed. And much like the player earlier, she carried a cocky smile.

“Andy, my big bro, It's just been so long since I last saw ya. How's it been buddy?” No longer speaking through a card, the woman's voice was clear now, and it was slightly raspy, as was the player's, and carried an up-town accent like she was from north heartland or something. The sorcerer crossed his arms. “And as always, it is a pleasure my snide little sister. Now tell me. How did this girl make it into my pocket dimension?” The valkyrie stabbed her sword in the sandy town street, and walked up to the sorcerer.

“Oh come on Andy, bro, don't be like that. I haven't seen ya in forever! Give me a hug!” The player on the opposite side was dumbstruck by her monster moving to and then hugging the sorcerer on the opposing field, and the Mage on that side was just as confused. The sorcerer grunted, muttered something in some language, and gave into the hug. “Sigh. Your instigations and your affections will find you trouble yet again my sister. Now will you just-” The valkyrie gut punched the sorcerer and hopped back to her spot. “Ephraim! Ephraim I know you're hearin' this man, you gotta see this! He fell for it again! Oh my gods, he friggen fell for it! It's been four thousand years Andy! When ya gonna learn!?” The valkyrie was on one knee clutching her gut laughing at the sorcerer, who was doing the same, but slowly starting to radiate a light blue and black glow.

“You... insufferable little...! Twilight!” The suddenly deep voiced and very angry sorcerer called the his player's name and she responded as if she were nine again. “Y-yes?” He moved to her and leaned town to put his hands on her shoulders and look her in the eyes. “I want you to win next turn. And I want you to do whatever you must to allow me to punch my sister in the face as hard as possible. Better yet, make that the winning play. Got it? I want to be the one that destroys her. Are we clear Master Sparkle?” The girl was suddenly reminded of her childhood before she had ran away. She was reminded of the many times after the accident that her drunken father called her name the same way right before he beat her.

“Y-yes sir...” Said the cowering Mage. The sorcerer turned and floated back to his own spot and starred daggers, no great swords, at his sister who was still laughing. “Rain- ha ha, Oh gods, Rainbow, my girl, ya can't let this lump threaten us like that! We're the best there ever was right? Let's show him up, huh!” The player in question was still recovering from the fact of what had just happened, so she shook herself, stretched her wings and returned them to her back and continued her turn in this bizarre duel. “So, uh, when I use sphere ritual and it's in the grave, I can return it to the deck to add one of the cards used for the ritual summon back to my hand. I add Foot Falcon to my hand! Then I activate the effects of Foot Falcon and Prismatic Avian Infantry Eagle by equipping them to Valkyriana!” The sword and shield toting valkyrie gained a shoulder mounted Gatling gun on her right and a shoulder mounted rifle on her left.

“That's my girl! Birds of a feather, stick together!” Said the valkyrie encouraging Rainbow on. For a moment, she thought of her mother. “With that, she gains 1300 attack and defense, and the tribute slash destroy thing. With that, Valkyriana is at 3700 attack and defense points! Now Valkyriana attacks Andromeda!” The Valkyrie gave a wicked smile to the sorcerer. “Ooh lookie here, big bro. Somethin' else that hasn't changed! I'm real glad that ya haven't lost that big punching bag look with this new chick!” The valkyrie flew above the field, and then started a dive bomb toward the sorcerer. “Not so fast! I activate the effect of Barrier! I can banish one monster from my graveyard to keep him from being destroyed! I banish Stallion!” A teal barrier enveloped the sorcerer, and the guns on the Valkyrie's shoulder plates started to fire at the sorcerer.

“Tell her whats up Rainbow!” The youngest Angel nodded. “Oh yeah, when Valkyriana Attacks, both monsters switch attack and defense values until the end of the damage step, so you get to take 1700 straight rather than 1200. Have fun with that, Stripes.” The Angel girl had clearly been roped into the valkyrie's up beat-ness and was beginning to follow her speech pattern. At the same time, Twilight was rejoining Andromeda's enraged Mages club. “You so did fucking not!” The valkyrie's bullet fire started to hit her target, and each projectile that was shot from either gun reflected and hit the girl's barrier, making small cracks with each one. Then the Valkyrie was close enough to stop firing, and she swung at the sorcerer. The sword and the barrier collided, and like earlier, two tones rang out. This time, the sound waves produced were bright green like one of the colors in both the female Angel's hair, and the notes E and G were sounded out all around the two player and three spectators. As the waves moved out further, Applejack's disk began to glow a bright orange and ring out with the C tone from the last duel. The cord rang out in an oddly beautiful harmony around the five, and when Valkyriana returned to her place and the waves ceased, so did the chord.

“It happened again!” The Terran spoke up in response to the Angel girl. “Again? What do ya mean by that?” The Angel girl turned to her. “That thing that your disk did! Her card did the same thing while you two were dueling! And it happened twice!” The Terran girl ejected the still faintly glowing pendulum card from her deck and examined Ephraim. She could still feel him lightly vibrating in her fingers. “Huh... it's... kinda like hittin' three keys on a piano don't ya think?” Twilight joined the other girls.

“I think that's exactly what's like. I've been told on more than one occasion that I have perfect pitch, and that was a complete C major chord. When we dueled earlier, the notes G and C rang out from each of our clashes... considering there are seven cards total, then I think we have a major scale of cards here...” The three girls looked off in their own direction in thought as to what this could mean for them, then the two monsters on the field yelled in unison. “Hey! We're not/We ain't done here yet! Get back in this and finish her/him!” The two monsters turned away from their respective players to glare at each other. Twilight tried to calm Andromeda down.

“Hold on dude. Weren't you paying attention? I think there's something to this! This is more important than some stupid sibling rivalry!” The sorcerer grabbed at his face and pulled his mask off. “Master Sparkle, while I do agree you have your point, I need this! Look at me! I. Need. This. Win. If I ask anything of you at all, this is what I ask of you now.” The sorcerer was struggling to keep his voice under control as he spoke to the girl. On the other side, Rainbow was receiving a similar talk. “Rainbow, Dash, my girl. We gotta beat his sorry ass. I can't let my own freakin' brother beat me again. I chose you because you were the best. There ain't no one out there better than you. Ya gotta do this for me!” The girl shied away from the woman who was staring her in the eyes.

“I... I don't know about this. I think Twilight has a point. That letter from the Queen was really insistent about the urgency of the mission... I...” The woman put her hands on the girl's shoulders. “Hey, come on. That can wait! She knows you're the most loyal person to the crown in the world! Just cause you got a job doesn't mean ya wont take a detour every now and again to get there right?” The young Angel girl was persuaded to continue the fight. “Yeah! No mission ever goes as planned! We can do this! Come on Stripes, lets finish this! I set one card, and end my turn!” The Mage girl was also struggling to keep her calm. She hated the nickname 'Stripes' more than any other name she'd been called her entire life. Even being bullied for being anti social in her elementary days, the name Stripes never seemed to leave her side as a constant reminder to why she hated people in the first place.

“I swear to divinity, I you call me Stripes one more time, I'll personally electrocute you while I pull you in and out of a pocket dimension! You'll wish you could die after I'm done with you!” The rainbow headed girl decided not to pick at this again, and just try and pass the turn. “Geez, cool it man. It's just a nickname. And I ended my turn, just go already.” The fuming Mage drew a card. “Holy crap. I think I can really do it. But for a safety measure, I activate my set card, Star Comet Phase! By banishing two monsters in my graveyard, I can draw two cards!” The girl looked at the top of her deck and noticed something strange about her cards. The top two had an odd feeling about them. Ignoring her senses, she drew her cards anyways. Then she simply gasped at what she drew.

“Holy crap. I can do it. First, I activate the effect of Star Destruction! By banishing my last in grave Star monster, I can destroy all spell and trap cards you control!” The Angel bit her thumb. “Shit, this isn't good. I activate the effect of my trap card, Prismatic Fortified Nest! If union monsters equipped to a monster I control would be destroyed, I can target one union monster in my grave yard and equip it to a monster I control. That card is unaffected by your cards until the end of the damage step!” The valkyrie's shield turn into a cannon with large metal plates on either side to keep the resemblance of a shield intact. After that resolved, an explosion went off behind the valkyrie. The two cards that were equipped to her shattered, and her shoulder plates reverted to normal.

“Well, I would normally say that still poses a problem, but really, I've got this for sure now. I then activate the effects of Star Explosive Wave and Super Giant Star on Barred and Andromeda each. First off, Explosive wave adds 1500 attack to Barred. It has another effect, but that won't come into play here. Next, Super Giant Star adds 500 to Andromeda with this effect: If Andromeda destroys a monster, my opponent takes that monster's attack points as damage.” The Anchor wielding Mage gained a glow that seemed to shoot small waves of fire off every few seconds around his body in the same way solar flares were presented. Andromeda gained an outline made of fire around his body, and he gave the valkyrie a wicked smile of his own, and a much scarier one at that.

“Oh crap! No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening! I've never lost! This can't be happening!” The Mage felt a little pity for the Angel girl. “Funny you say that. I think I said the same words a few days ago, and this will be my first win this whole week. Barred attacks Valkyriana!” The sorcerer and the valkyrie never lost eye contact with each other. The Anchor wielding Mage swung his Anchor in a circle, then slammed it into the valkyrie. She blocked it with her shield, which then reverted to it's original form, and rainbow was slid back a few feet due to the shock waves from the impact.

“Because of Bastillatician, Valkyriana is not destroyed, but he goes to the graveyard in her place!” Twilight shrugged. “It really doesn't matter at this point, but this is the way he wanted it to go down, so here it goes. Andromeda attacks Valkyriana.” The sorcerer's wicked smile widened, and he spoke with an unusually deep voice. “Oh, dear sister, I has been quite a long time hasn't it? Come now... give me a hug!” Unlike one would think the valkyrie's face would look, at the moment, she simply looked disappointed.

“Andromeda... here I thought you beat your old habit so many years ago. Very well then. If being this angry at something stupid like my childish jabs can bring this side of you out, I'll have no choice but to detain you again if you ever get out of hand.” In that single moment, the woman sounded... like she looked. Her tone was stoic, her face was stone. She looked like a Hero about to sacrifice themselves for a greater good. She dropped her guard, her sword, and shield, and held her arms out. “Alright big bro. Come and get your hug.” She said in her accent as she smiled with tears in her shut eyes. The enraged sorcerer approached the Angel woman at a rapid speed, spinning his staff in one hand like a madman, as a fiery blade formed out of the stars on the end. He charged and ran the staff straight through the Angel woman. She coughed up some blood, but grabbed the sorcerer.

“Heh... see? That wasn't so bad... was it?” The Angel woman faded around the sorcerer in particles of light, and the sorcerer simply sank. He fell to the sandy ground on his knees with his eyes wide, and his jaw dropped. His staff had fallen, and he stared at his hands, both covered in his sister's blood. “Oh gods... what... what have I done...?” Around the same time, the staff shot out a blast of fire at the Angel girl. Completely defenseless, the girl tried to flee, but couldn't move. The sorcerer stared at the Angel girl, and then warped himself in front of her.

“Valkyriana... I am fool...” The blast connected with Andromeda and the Angel girl was protected from it's wrath. The sorcerer faded with the rest of Twilight's field, and the Mage girl stared dumbfounded at the scene. Did... she really win? This didn't feel right. This felt... awful.

The Belle's waltz (8)

The air was silent. The simple moaning of the wind flowing through the buildings carrying sand and dust in it had stopped. In the field where Andromeda had finished his attack, there was a spot in the sand. A dark spot. No one had moved for more than five minutes. The wind had picked back up and started shifting the sand again. The spot started to shift with it.

When he noticed this, Zephraim produced a small vile from his coat and took the dark sand and placed it inside. “And the winner is... Ms. Sparkle...” Said the Angel. His tone was unusually solemn, and he was looking straight up to the sky. The dragon boy was holding his arms, like it was somehow cold in the ungodly heat. The Terran girl was biting her thumb, and looking away from where the scene had taken place. She was still clutching the card she'd pulled out in her right, moving her thumb and finger along it nervously. The winner was holding the position of a rag doll being held up by string. Her arms were dangling to her sides, her legs were leaning against one another at the knees, her head was looming to the ground.

The other girl was simply balled up, still trying to protect herself from the fire that would never reach her. No one reacted to Angel when he spoke, and even he looked broken. What was inside the sorcerer that could cause him to go so berserk? What could possibly make him so... violent? And even more, the valkyrie bled. How? Wasn't she a card? What was going on? Another amount of time had passed, and the silence was broken by the wind picking up. The moaning of the desert had returned to Pony Ville. The male Angel began to move. He picked up the rainbow headed girl to a standing position, then grabbed the rest of his group.

“Lead the way... we... we need to leave this spot.” The blonde looked to the Angel, but his eyes and the ground never broke contact. Without a word, she began to move. The group marched in silence through the town to the rounded shop which could be seen once they were within fifty or so feet of it. The town itself was not large in comparison to the mountain spanning Canterlot Twilight and Zephraim grew up in, but it was at least a half mile in radius.

“Were uh... here.” Said the blonde amidst the silent group. At a closer distance, Twilight managed to bring her eyes to examine the building. It was almost out of place where it stood. The building was larger than most of the brick buildings around the 'shopping district' if this town was even big enough to have districts, and was made of smoothed concrete. It's walls were all rounded to form a perfect circle, and the roof was made of violet metal that had some kind of light blue drape all along each side. Above that was a spire that carried a similar roof. The entrance of the building faced along the south east road, where as the building itself was more to the eastern piece of town. The more Twilight thought about the way the town was laid out, the more she thought something was off. What was it about this shape? Before she could pursue this thought, a bell rang off as Zephraim opened the glass door.

“Hello, and welcome to Carousel Boutique. I am Rarity Belle, how may I-” A pale skinned, violet haired girl of about sixteen or seventeen was working on some article of clothing or other, had began to speak after interrupting the humming of some song, until she stopped when she turned to look at the group.

“Goodness, what happened to all of you? You look like you've just seen death himself!” The room was just as rounded inside as it was outside. And strangely, furnished in almost the exact same way Celestia liked... everything. The walls were done in bright white paint with some form of a violet tessellation of diamonds and sparkle like shapes along the wall near the roof and the floor. The room itself had four windows along each quadrant of the building, save for one that contained the door as well. The windows all had shelves that rose up from the floor with mannequins dressed to the nines in some of the finest clothing Twilight had ever seen.

Another thing that reminded her of Celestia's tastes. The woman would avoid dressing up herself as much as physically possible, even so far as to cast an illusion spell on every person in a ballroom just so she wouldn't have to wear something as gaudy as her social status required, but in the opposite side, she absolutely loved to dress others. Specifically Twilight. In all manner of frilly object. Which she hated. At that moment, she began to wonder if Zephraim was subject to the same treatment. It wasn't a matter of force, it was a simple wonder as to whether or not he was better at hiding as she was. Twilight has only managed to avoid Celestia's 'dress up time' once, and that was because Luna stepped in and took the bullet for her.

The girl addressing the group was wearing remarkably casual clothes for what she was working on, and both looked hand made. She was wearing a pale blue t-shirt, a dark violet vest, blue jeans, and white and violet high tops with a white jacket tied around her waist. The thing that caught Twilight's eye though, was the gold chained necklace she was wearing. It had an ornament at the end that was three diamonds in a sort of side ways chevron shape on a gold plate. The male Angel was first to speak.

“Oh, us? Let's... let's just say that it's been a long day today...” The man made eye contact with the tailor girl once. When she saw his eyes all she could pull out of them was the he looked dead. Not a single instance of shine in his... unusually colored eyes. They were strangely alluring and... regal for someone who looked the exact opposite of that. But there must have been something to this scruffy monochromatic Angel the tailor though to herself. She then turned to look over the rest of the group. To his left was a girl about a head shorter than him, more close to her own size, with indigo hair. She had a streak of pink and violet in it, and it was relatively well kept for someone around here.

Then she noticed that the girl was wearing clothes of her own design. But how could she have them? She had only posted this design but last Saturday, and Rarity didn't know of anyone in the country that could reproduce any of her patterns without some form of mistake, or even personalization that quickly, but these... these were exact down to the last stitch! The tailor rushed over to the Indigo haired girl who was surprised by her speed.

“Ack!” She exclaimed as the similar sized girl began to examine her clothes more thoroughly. Upon further inspection she found that they were lined with magic. And not just any magic, magic that her family were the sole heirs to. It was a trade secret! And difficult! The tailor stopped for a moment to stare down Twilight. “You...What is your name?” The girl backed away from the violet haired tailor as much as she could while the tailor had her by the jacket. She looked to Zephraim, who gave a nod, then replied to the tailor.

“I... I'm Twilight Sparkle...” The tailor girl released her then stepped back. She adopted an inquisitive position, and then circled the Mage girl as her hand was glowing a light blue. Once she came full circle, she then retrieved her duel disk from some pocket on her jacket, then began to flip through internet pages. After stopping on one, the then stared down the girl. “Where did you get these? I don't know anyone who could reproduce my designs so... so quickly! Why, it's just... impossible! And the spell! Who performed it!? My family is the only one in the world that knows it!” the tailor was growing more frantic as she spoke, and Twilight was still exhausted. Even more so, she didn't want to talk about Andromeda. If he was still even the same person now.

“An old relative of mine... he made them...” Rarity was upon Twilight again. “Made them!? From scratch!? Where did he get the spell!? Do you know where he is!? I must speak to him!” Twilight had had enough of this girl. In a violet flush of her hands, she pushed Rarity away with magic, and set her back a few feet. The other girl stumbled, but kept her perfect posture at the same time. “Just, STOP! I've had enough today! I'm tire of all this questioning, and interrogating! It started this morning and never stopped!” From there, the girl began to shout everything that had happened today at the tailor, describing everything in great detail, whilst omitting those parts about a certain family. As that was happening, the girls were all fixated on the conversation, but Spike, who was now beside Zephraim, flickered his ears a few times, then realized he was hearing footsteps.

His wings twitched, and touched Zephraim's once. The man noticed, and turned to ask what he wanted. “Oh. Hey, what's up, kid?” The man tried to smile the best he could, but that last event... it was heart breaking to just see his friend start to fall apart. The dragon boy was almost startled by the inquiry. “Huh? oh. Uh, I just thought I heard something. I think there's somebody up stairs.” Twilight was still ranting over her long and arduous day, so Zephraim took his disk out and opened an application that spike couldn't see the name of. The screen began to line itself in black with bright green lines that formed the contour of the room. Then it covered everyone in various color lines that seemed to line up with them. Twilight was violet, Rarity was white, Rainbow was blue, Applejack was orange. It even captured Twilight's hand motions down to the finger. This was impressive tech.

Zephraim took his fingers and expanded them to make the stairs at the back of the room facing the screen. At the top of the staircase, there was a figure made out of crossing dark blue lines. Then he noticed Zephraim give a sigh of relief. Wondering what that meant, Spike went back to pondering. Then Zephraim exited the application and opened another, but now Spike couldn't see the screen anymore. It was blocked by some kind of haze. Before wondering more on how that was happening, the man did some movement that looked almost like typing, then he put the disk back in his pocket. He was wearing a slight smirk now. Shortly after, another man walked walked down the stairs.

He was wearing blue leather boots with white straps above the ankles and that crossed the boot, white slacks that almost looked like they were made of snow. On his blue leather belt was a silver colored pocket on his left leg that housed an octagonal duel disk that was a lighter blue than his boots and belt. The same colored vest above had with a patch embroidered on it that said Rarity's Boutique all in cursive letters in bright white and violet, and covering the buttons of the vest was a dark blue lined light blue tie. Under that was a white button-up with blue buttons and silver cufflinks that had bright blue gems inside their silver casing. In the upper part of the shirt on the collar were two more blue gems that were situated on the ends of the white shirt that was apparently blue on the inside. Just above that was a silver ear ring hanging from his left ear in the shape of a right triangle. For a moment, Spike thought that meant something, but then he disregarded it. It matched his outfit, why would he care?

The 'pretty boy' had his hair all done up nearly as fancy as the tailor herself, with a few spikes of hair on one side which turned into a quaff that curved back up to his sideburns. Clean shaven, all his hair was a bright blue color that ended in gradient white tips. Zephraim said something out of the side of his mouth that Spike was sure was some curse word or other. “And you know what?! I'm done! I'm absolutely done with this shit! I can't take it anymore! Raaagh!” Twilight had just finished her rant, then she stormed off to what she could only believe was a corner with the entire building being round, sat, curled her knees in, and hid her head.

“You could have just said no...” The tailor rolled her eyes. Her reaction made it seem as if she'd been used to being yelled at. She then turned to Applejack and started to talk like she was an old friend. “So I see you've finally decided come to visit my shop again, Ms. Jaquline. Is there something you all need? She... seems to have a lot on her mind right now, if you can call 'that' any indication.” The tailor said, flicking her fingers toward Twilight at the same time and making air quotes around the word that. The Terran pushed her hat out of her eyes, and her hair followed it's movement, and the girl's face was visible again.

“Well, Ah'm not too sure about it myself, but y'all know how that murder string has been round here lately?” The girl shivered and grabbed her arms. “Oh, goodness, of course. That awful thing all started the second day after I opened up shop here! I finally accomplished my goal of owning my own store after years of fighting with my parents about it, and the minute I do, the entire town is thrown into chaos and everyone decides to leave. I've barely been making my dues to my land lord with what meager sales my online shop has managed to pull in. And then that letter from the Queen! How could she ever expect someone like me to try and prevent a catastrophe? I'm just a low born Mage from this sad back water town! Uh... no offense, by the way.” The blonde frowned at the statement, but simply shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“Eh, none taken. Ah ain't got it much better sugar cube. As it turns out, the three of us, and Twilight over there, all got just about the same letter from the Queen. Ya got a got a card out of it too right? And if ya look real close, that there monster sorta... looks like ya don't it?” The girl shuffled her disk back out of her jacket pocket, then opened the extra deck slot. She took out a white card and inspected it. “Hmm... Mon dieus!” Aristonace coming from this girl looked much more natural than when it was coming from the farmer she was speaking to. “This woman looks more like me than my own mother!” The Terran nodded.

“Mine looks just like dad... And resemblance ain't the only thing these guys have. They have their own souls, Rare.” The tailor's expression dropped. “Souls? You mean to say these are people?” The Terran nodded with her sullen look. “What? B-but... how could... this is a card! Who could possibly... How do you know that?” During the farmer and tailor's talk, Spike couldn't help but be distracted by Zephraim and the other guy. It was subtle, but they were both throwing hand signs to one another. One would make several shapes, several times, then the other would do something similar back. At about the time Rarity pulled her card out, Zephraim started signing frantically, and the other guy became more animated too. Then they both held the same sign to each other, and Zephraim returned his free arm to his pocket and stood still. He looked like he was waiting for something.

“Well, Ah talked to him! Twilight's can perform crazy magic, and then there was this thing where they started to ring out tones, and that happened not only durin' my duel, but when Rainbow and Twilight's cards hit each other then, and all three cards were ringin' out and this crap is just getting weirder.” The blonde looked up and noticed the man that was not but a few feet away from her. “So whose signy over here?” Rarity turned her head to look behind her then sighed. Signy? Where did that come from? “Oh right. This is my assistant and financial manager, Cobalt Talis. Introduce yourself if you will.” Twilight and Rainbow finally perked up at the mention of someone else in the room. The man flashed a mile at all the girls, and took a bow.

“Cobalt Talis, at your service.” He had an accent that sounded like it was from Morrow to the east. Spike couldn't tell if it was fake or not because he smelled like a Mage, and that entire continent was filled with Terrans, even if the whole 'Taugman war' thing ended nearly eighty years ago. The continent was named Teropa after all. “I am the financial manager to this establishment. I specialize in mechanical and transformation magic, so if any of you positively, lovely ladies require anything of me, please, let me know.” He took a step back and gave a wink. To who was unspecified, as it was in a general direction. For a moment, Spike thought Zephraim made another signal, but he did it so fast, that the boy couldn't tell. Applejack raised an eye brow.

“And y'all mean to tell me that ya hired this fag?” Zephraim burst out laughing, and almost took rainbow down with him. After realizing she was still clinging to his hand, she quickly reeled back and stepped as far away from the man possible. Her face was a little bit redder than it was earlier now. He was quickly joined by Twilight in mocking the pretty boy, and eventually, Rarity had enough. “That is quite enough!” Her hand began to glow a light blue color and two chairs appeared out of nowhere behind the two mockers and slid under their legs. The sudden movement made Twilight buckle, and Zephraim jumped and hovered above the chair.

“I-, pf-ft, I'm sorry, that was just... so, so very perfect, you have no idea.” The other man simply shook his head and acted like nothing happened. “Fine, whatever. I try to make a good impression, and look where this gets me. If you didn't push me to take up that stupid friggen accent in the first place, this never would have happened. Tell me Ms. Belle, what is so problematic about my natural speaking tone?” The pretty boy's voice was now much deeper and more normal than it was a few seconds ago, and sounded a whole lot more natural. Zephraim had sank to the ground with everyone else, and Twilight got out of the chair.

“All I wanted with that was proper speaking! You hardly ever used anything but slang when I first met you, and that image would never go well with what I had in mind for my high couture store!” The two men exchanged another signal with each other, then Cobalt began to argue with the tailor. “Oh, and I suppose that now I should just go hide on the second floor again? By the way, your outfit looks tacky today. You look like a teenager, not a business owner.” The pretty boy crossed his arms and huffed in the opposite direction of the tailor. Rarity was outraged.

“T-t-tacky!?! How... How Dare You! You are... you are...! Argh! Curse my own prowess! I can't possibly condemn my own designs! You've just picked a fight you are not going to win monsieur!” The pretty boy obtained a smile that Spike thought he'd seen before. Specifically on the other man in the room. “Oh? Tacky wants to duel does she?” The tailor immediately flipped her duel disk on her... right arm? This girl was left handed, which was... a... oh dear gods. She slapped the screen with her palm, and a light blue matter wave that copied the angle of the diamond shaped duel disk sprang to life just to the right of it.

“You will take your words back! I demand it!” For a single second, Spike saw Zephraim and Cobalt meet each others eyes. Both took a smirk now. “You can try to make me. But don't think this is going to go in your favor. You know damn well that I'm a stronger Mage than you are.” The pretty boy's eyes seemed to sparkle, and his right had started to glow with the same bright green his eyes did. He crossed his arms, and the disk began to glow the same color. It spun around his body in a flashy motion, and he stuck his arms out and the disk latched on to his left. He moved his arm to the dueling position that Academy students typically used, and a bright green matterwave spawned in front of his disk.

“And then with the curses! Unacceptable! I'll make you speak proper Faunin even if I have to beat you into doing so!” The two locked eyes and said “Duel!” In unison. The MR beams shot from either disk to the other, and the room was bathed in light. Hopefully, the field would hold this time around. The events of the last duel went above and beyond what the system could normally handle and left... blood behind. “Just because you will stoop to insults, that does not mean I will. You may take the first turn, assistant.” The pretty boy shrugged.

“The quicker you lose the easier it is for me to finally get that romantic outing out of you. I assume you remember the terms I had you agreed to upon being hired?” The tailor shivered a moment. “Oh for the love of! Again with this? I've told you once, I've told you a thousand time! I'm not ready for that kind of commitment! I'm sixteen for divinity's sake!” The pretty boy's smile only widened. “Oh ho ho, but you issued a challenge with a bet at stake, and by law, I get to set one if I win. You've dug your own grave with this one Ms. Belle! Or wait... if I win, your name will be Tails later! Hahaha!” The three girls leaned into each other and whispered “Is this guy for real?” Cobalt then began his turn.

“Ah, quite the excellent hand this time around. First off, I'll be summoning Periodic Resonator Hydrogen.” On his field spawned a child sized ornate bell that was sterling silver with bright, shining clear crystal embedded in, all along the edges of the bell. And for some reason, a single floating orb was orbiting it. Odd. “When this little bell is summoned, it calls upon the dragons I control. With that I can special summon Periodic Dragon Carbon!” Next, A gleaming Black dragon that looked like it was made of black crystal with no wings showed up next to the Bell. It was also about the size of a child, or in this case Spike who was half dragon himself. It had six floating orbs around it. The dragon boy began to suspect that this held some meaning, but couldn't discern what.

“But when is Carbon ever alone? No element so malleable as he should suffer an unhealthy bond as such with Hydrogen. When Carbon is summoned, he brings his friend Florine with him!” The man summoned another low level monster to his field. This wingless dragon was made completely of fire and carried nine floating orbs. The whole thing was simply putting off flames. Suddenly, Spike thought he was beginning to sweat. “Hmm... one more ought to do it! When I control two or more Periodic Dragons, I can Special summon Periodic Resonator Helium from my hand!” The next thing to appear was another bell, almost identical to the first. This bell was a much darker Silver color though, and the crystals inside it were almost black with a violet hue. It carried two orbs with it. What did the orbs mean though? Was that some kind of identifier?

“Our elements finally have the pairs they were meant to fall in love with! A clear tone for each dragon to resonate with! The instruments have gathered, so the symphony must play! My elements react, I tune Hydrogen and Carbon, then Florine and Helium!” Simultaneously, both bells floated above their assigned Dragon, and rang out in two tones that sounded remarkable together. They each resonated with each other, then the two dragon roared out in matching tones to complete the chord. The white silver bell and the Black dragon were hidden away by a column of black crystal, and out of it broke a much larger, winged Black dragon, six orbs embedded in it's body in the same white silver color of the bell with several white crystals. The Dragon itself looked very similar to the first in that it's scales looked all to be made of that gleaming black rock. The other dragon and it's bell were enveloped in a column of fire and out of that burst through a similar sized dragon to the black one on the field. This fire dragon also gained wings, and was now wearing armor made of the same dark silver of the bell it resonated with, and had nine orbs of the black-violet crystal embedded in it's forehead and most of it's joints.

“Ionic Periodic Dragons, Carbon2 and Florine2, ladies and gentlemen. Now, a little fact about my dragons. They're all very supportive of each other. If Periodic Florine is sent to the grave for a synchro summon, I get to add a Periodic card to my hand. I'll have to add Periodic Compound Ritual for this. Not that I'll need him to beat you though. But the card it's self does some fairly unique things for a ritual. Now then, I'm sure you've noticed the relatively low attack points of my dragons here, with Carbon2 at a measly 600, and Florine2 with a less terrible 1800. But fear not, my dragons love to support one another. While Florine2 is on the field, all monsters I control gain 700 attack for each different type monster I control.

With this in mind, Florine2 the pyro type is at 3200 and Carbon2 the rock type at 2000. and Carbon2 keeps his friends from being destroyed a number of times for each different type Periodic monster I control. So, to kill either of these fine dragons, you must kill them three times. The younger versions of these dragons have similar, but much less powerful effects, and aren't nearly... potent enough for the high couture miss Belle expects from everyone but herself apparently. With that, I pass to you Ms. Belle.” The assistant took a bow, and flashed that smile again. Suddenly, Applejack covered her mouth with her hands, and Zephraim chuckled at it. Likely chances are he was thinking the same thing she was. The Tailor on the other hand was infuriated.

“Mr. Talis, you will get exactly what's coming to you for that remark! I swear, any one who calls me Tacky has no idea what kind of work I have to do! I make all of these clothes by my self from scratch every single day! It's not like I get to take breaks or anything, and I'm trying to live and survive on my own here! And mark my words, not a single outfit I put on is ever anything even close to tacky! I Draw!” Good to know she's at least a little tame when she's angry. She could be Twilight. And that would be terrible. The male Angel thought to himself. Then again. She could be the opposite... like her... It's been months since she's last spoken with us. The male Angel looked sullen, and Twilight took notice. “Hey, is something up?” The male Angel was startled by the inquiry.

“Oh, it's nothing, just... anticipating.” The man went back to watching, and crossed his arms. He wasn't about to talk about her to anyone outside the family. The Mage girl didn't bother with trying to get anything out of him. She doubted the he would even give up info while being tortured. This was Celestia's 'intense' son after all. Attention was brought back to the duel when the tailor had finished planning her move.

“I'll show you tacky! First I normal summon Cheswit Pawn!” The first monster a person plays really says something about themselves. This monster was a little odd. It was a smaller fairy looking girl, lightly armored in classical armor that had glowing yellow ornate markings holding a small lance with little wings of light on it's back that sparkled as it floated in the air. It's eyes were completely one color, a bright yellow on it's light gray and white color scheme. Somehow, this monster made her think of Applejack's deck. She began to wonder how the two of them knew each other.

“When Cheswit Pawn is summoned, I get to special summon one level 4 Cheswit monster from my deck! I choose Cheswit Rook!” And now the Chariot. This 'manly' fairy, how those two words fit in the same sentence boggles the mind, was in a futuristic style chariot being drawn by some kind of insect that resembled a praying mantis. The chariot itself was silver lined with a blue glowing substance that formed ornate markings all along it similar to the Pawn to his left. The man fairy was wearing... something on his waist, sandals that wrapped up his legs, and carried a short sword that looked to be sectioned off at several places.

“If Rook is summoned by the effect of a Cheswit monster, I am allowed to check the top three cards of my deck. When I do, I may rearrange them in any order, then discard one card, to draw one card. I discard Cheswit Knight from my hand, then draw! Next I set one card, and activate the effect of Cheswit King in my hand! When I control two Cheswit monsters with different names, I can special summon him from my hand!” New monster, the fairy King. Funny enough, this one looked like an old man in comparison to his Chariot. He was lightly armored with some sort of ridiculously ornate gold lined chest plate in a hunched over stance leaning on his little gold staff for support. He wore a big golden jeweled crown with a violet velvet material covering his head, and he had a beard that was longer than he was tall. He was draped by a violet cape that was lined with some sort of fluffy fur that was black and white all along it's edges. Like the other two, he had violet wings of colored light that rained sparkles as he stood.

“You may have won the first time we played, but things have changed Mr. Talis! I have a new power that's sure to stop you in your tracks! I tune the level 3 Pawn and the level 4 Rook! She who rises above the army, She who captures the throne with the aid of no one else, the lonely White Queen! Bring forth the crusading light of the Fairies, Cheswit Queen Generosity Amethyst!” The room went dark, and the two monsters were the only thing illuminated. The pawn turned itself into gold rings, and the rook turned into four stars that aligned within the rings. Lightning struck the four stars and bathed the room in light. When the light had passed, the only thing illuminated in the room was a woman. She had long perfectly curled violet hair, and unusually, no wings. But she did have a pristine white, flowing cape. She floated to the ground from the ceiling, drawn gold hilted silver rapier in one hand and the other was glowing blue with magic, just steaming off of it. The lights returned to the room, and the woman turned to face the people behind her. She took two steps forward toward Rarity, who was completely caught off guard by it, and kneeled.

“I pledge my sword to zee, my new liege. Thou shan't be harmed in my company, zis, I swear.” If Rarity and Applejack could speak Aristonace perfectly, then this woman sounded like she was born into it. With a better view of the 'Queen' Twilight immediately thought to her duel with Celestia. The armor, the cape, the magic, the sword. Everything about this woman nearly mirrored Celestia who was the current 'white' queen. Were this woman Ascended like her, there's a good chance her wings would be as white as snow. The armor she wore was bright white, lined in glowing ornate violet lines on most of her body, where her shins reversed this the have them in metallic violet with glowing white lines. On her chest plate was a large Crest like thing. It was almost like metal feathers in various shades of violet that turned to a bright blue by the time the center feather was placed. Above that was a gold chain lining that covered the rest of her chest to her collar piece that carried an odd ornament on it. It was three diamonds... in a sideways chevron shape... on a gold plate... Exactly the same one that the tailor was wearing. When the Tailor looked into the face of the woman, she was shocked.

“When did I... turn twenty-five and into a monster card...?” The woman stood and rested her glowing hand on the tailor. She wasn't much taller than Rarity herself. Twilight guessed she might stand at 5'6” or 6” due to Zephraim and Applejack being taller than her. “I see. You have my emblem, my lady. I am so glad... zat it survived all zis time.” The woman embraced the tailor, who was still in a status of shock. Her armor was cold, but her body was warm on the tailor. She thought through a million questions at once to ask the woman, but was beaten to it before she could say anything.

“Come, my liege. Let us defeat zis insolent traitor to ze crown!” The woman hopped to a stance where she was summoned, and awaited commands. The confused tailor didn't know what at all was going on, and the pretty boy on the other end objected to her statement. “Hey, that's not cool lady. You could get me put in jail for talk like that! The only one here that's... uh... That emblem doesn't mean anything anymore!” Spike noticed Zephraim become tense as he stared daggers at the man across the boutique. Rarity took the initiative to chime in at this point.

“What emblem? What is going on? Is she not a card? Why was she... talking?” The wide eyed Tailor turned to Applejack. “Is this...? is this what you meant?” The blonde nodded. “Ah'm afraid so sugar cube. Ah've got one. She's got one. Rainbow's got one. And supposedly, there are two more out there with one of their own. But Ah think what our monochrome friend here is settin' these duels up for is ta see what kind of power you and she have.” Applejack shot a look at Zephraim, who sighed. “Set up? What are you talking about? He started this!” The tailor said as she pointed to the other man in the room.

“To be quite honest with ya sugar cube, that's a load of bull. These two know each other. This one” she said as she pointed to the male Angel. “Has been talkin with that one the whole time we were talkin'. It's real hard not to notice them flickin' their fingers every which way, but y'all actually pay attention to the people ya talk to, so Ah guess ya missed it. Whatever the case, he's got some sorta high level martial status er somethin', so chances are that one is under him.” The tailor looked to the male Angel, then to her assistant. “Is... is this true? You called me that... just to get into an argument?” The male Mage glared back at the Angel, then sighed himself.

“Yes, unfortunately, it is. Cobalt Talis is my real name, but it's usually preceded by Agent. I work for the special intelligence gathering administration under the queens, or Siga.” The tailor didn't know what to say. “As it stands, you've been ordered by the day queen to join up with the other five girls who hold the Harmonian cards to stop the ancient evil from consuming this town. Only the chosen have the ability to complete this task. Before the Queen sends you to confront this evil, she had sent her Angel of Death, Zephraim Black to supervise you all and gauge you aptitude. Everything hinges on this game and you six, therefore, we must know what you are capable of.” The tailor clenched her fists.

“You... You machine! You manipulated me! You weren't just some divine godsend that suddenly showed up in my life at just the right time to help me make my dream a reality, you're a puppeteer who showed up to use me until you were done with me!” The other man quickly tried to stop this train of thought she was rapidly riding. “Now wait a minute, that's just not true!” The tailor cut him off. “Lies! All of it, everything you say! You only use your words to get what you want, you fiend!” The tailor started to develop watery eyes. Twilight began to think there was more to this than she knew.

“For a whole month, I thought you legitimately cared for me. And now I find you've just been doing this on orders from some government official! You told me you were just an ordinary investor looking to help people realize their dreams! That all you wanted to do was give somebody else a chance! You are nothing but another hand for Celestia to use! When I finish you here, I want you gone! I never want to see your face in my shop ever again! I activate the effect of Cheswit Knight in my hand! By banishing a light attribute monster in my graveyard, I can special summon him!” The rook in the grave became a silhouette on the field that was swept away in some wind, to be replaced by a Fairy woman riding a white unicorn. She had long green hair, with white light leather armor on most of her body, save for shoulder silver plates and a chest plate that had ornate green glowing lines all along them. Her wings were similar to the king's violet ones, but in green like the rest of her. She carried an ax that looked almost as big as her.

“Then, If knight is special summoned this way, she can target one monster you control and destroy it! I target Flourine2!” The man on the other side countered her play. “Did you forget what Carbon2's effect was in all of that childish rage of yours!? Carbon2 negates Flourine2s destruction!” The tailor yelled back. “No! I didn't forget anything! I activate the effect of Amethyst in response! Once per turn during either player's turn, I can negate one monster's effect until the end phase! I negate the effect of Carbon2! Now burn with your dragon you liar!” The fairy knight began to rush toward the fire dragon. It swiped at her once, but missed when she jumped from her steed. She spun vertically twice in the air with her ax, and slammed it down on the dragon's neck, cutting it off. Behind Zephraim, Spike hid himself from view of the duel. The man put a wing around the dragon boy to comfort him. It was almost like watching one of his own die in front of his eyes. The fire dragon shattered into particles, and the fairy woman flew back to her unicorn. The raging teary eyed tailor continued her attack.

“And now you have nothing left to protect you! You thought your little reptiles couldn't be touched because I couldn't do anything about them last time, but now look where you are! Practically defenseless, about to lose to your puppet! Knight attacks Carbon2! With Flourine2 gone and it's effect negated, all it is now is a lump of rock just waiting to be destroyed!” As she attacked, the Mage put his right hand behind his back, and suddenly, Zephraim could hear his voice.

So what now Mr. Tactician? You've pissed her off, and I think I've just been fired. Do I win? Or do we let her have it? The male Angel put his green glowing hand in his pocket. You have to warn me when you do this. I don't know if our very aware Terran saw it or not. As for now, just let her have it. I think this will just blow over after she finishes venting. At least it's not Twilight doing this, or... her. Make it count though. I want a full read on her output. The Mage returned his hand, then put his arms up and crossed them in preparation for the knight to slay the dragon. The knight circled the dragon once as it's dark crystalline appendages swiped at the fairy woman atop the unicorn. After a snap from it's mouth, the knight jumped and went to end the dragon. This time Zephraim shielded Spike from the sight before it occurred. The dragon formed glowing fractures all along it's body, until it exploded into several pieces, one of which found it's self into Cobalt's shoulder. He ripped the bloody stone out, and threw it to the ground.

“Come on! Is that all you've got, little puppet!?” The raging teenager yelled in reply. “I'll show you everything I have! I'll make sure to wipe you from the face of this planet, you filth! King attacks directly!” The old fairy lost his smiling face, and then took a stance with his staff. Not shivering, not shaking anymore, just cold, deadly, still. An orb of light began to form at the end of the marker on his staff. He stepped forward, and fired it with the precision of a fencer. The large beam collided with Cobalt's quickly thrown up yellow green barrier and with it his life point counter sank to 100. “Beg for mercy or be destroyed!” The tailor was breathing hard. She wasn't very sturdy to begin with, and this much emotion and magic being poured into this game was bordering the line that her disk's inhibitor could handle. She was no Twilight, but she was about to break her disk all the same. The male Mage began to laugh

“Hahaha, be destroyed she says. You haven't even broken my barrier! I don't think you have the ability to destroy me!” The tailor raged on. “Then her is your notice of termination! You're fired!” Amethyst's glowing hand swept over her blade. The blade started to shine in the same color. Her knees bent, and with a wave of wind behind her, she charged the Mage. She struck as fast as light itself, calling out numbers with each one.

“Un! Deux! Trois! Quatre! Cinq! Six! Sept! Hiut! Neuf! Dix! Onze!” The final strike to the center of the barrier broke it and sent the man flying. He quickly put up another shield to keep from killing himself on the staircase behind him, and lowered it to the ground. He forgot that his shoulder was still bleeding. He coughed twice and swiped at his mouth. Blood? How much force was in that last attack? The white queen returned to her liege and kneeled again. “'E 'as been dealt with my lady. But I believe 'e needs treatment.” Her anger seemed to evaporate.

“Treatment!? Oh dear gods! What have I done!” The tailor quickly put her cards away and rushed over to the pretty boy. “Cobalt! Cobalt, speak to me! Are you alright? Cobalt? Cobalt!” the male Mage put his hand on the girl's. “Hey, hey, cool it. This isn't... the worst I've been through...” the boy coughed again, and more blood came with it. If he were to guess, at least one of his organs were bruised. The rest of the group rushed from the other side of the room to the two Mages at the stair case. “Holy shit, you really almost killed him. Twilight! Get over here!” the girl was startled by the order but made no objections, and kneeled with the other two over the broken Mage.

“W-what do you need?” she struggled to produce the words. This wasn't the first time she'd been standing over a bloody body after a duel, but it was the first time it wasn't her fault. The monochrome Angel ripped the other man's shirt and vest off, and started to press down on his abdomen around a black and blue spot that was quickly growing in size. “Remember that thing you did for Ruby? I need you to do it again, right now. I don't care what kind of magic you have left, I don't care how you feel. If you don't do this now, He's gonna die.” The girl wasn't about to argue with that. “Okay, I'll try.” The Angel barked at her.

“No, you can't try, you have to succeed! Just do it!” Frightened by the seriousness of his tone and the quickly slowing breathing of the Mage on the ground, the girl quickly went to work. She called to mind the event of earlier today. In that moment, her hands started to emit a soft violet glow, and a warm violet vapor. The air started to smell sweet like something baking in an oven, and the taste shortly followed. Twilight's pulse became louder, and everyone began to feel the beat.

“I can't just sit here and do nothing! This is my all fault!” The tailor copied Twilight's example. She placed her own hands above Twilight's, and started bring together all the feelings that she was receiving from the girl. And just as quickly did her hands glow and begin to emit a light blue vapor. The homey sweet smell began to mix with another. The smell of fine fragrance, the taste of sweet grapes. The pulse was beginning to increase in speed as the two Mages started to work together, and no longer was the sound of their pulse just that, but they began to hear instruments play.

The sounds of strings and flutes began to erupt from the two Mages who were intently focused on healing Cobalt. The symphony was a duet of a waltz that played aloud in the room, and the bruised spot started to clear up. After a few more seconds, the symphony came to a climax, and the bruise finished healing. On top of that, the wound on his shoulder regenerated. The two girls released their hands, and stumbled back into sitting positions. The male Mage coughed twice, and started to breathe regularly again. The male Angel let out a relieved breath and put his hand over his eyes.

“Oh thank gods, he's still alive.” Twilight managed to find enough strength in her arms to sit upright. What the hell was that? There was never any music either time I did this, nor when Celestia did. And wasn't that... the Waltz of flowers? Or wait! Isn't this just like when the two monsters collide? They produced a note each to form a... oh my gods. It was in the name the whole time. “Did... did you guys hear that?” She looked around to the rest of her group. All of them confused or panting but the Rainbow headed girl.

“Oh, you mean the waltz of flowers, right?” the entire group turned to her with a confused look. “So what, I like classical music...” The redness of her face had returned. “Yes! That's exactly what it was! How did that happen? This didn't happen last time I did this, and it didn't happen when Celestia did this yesterday! I'm beginning to think there's more to this name of 'Harmonian' thing after all. I mean, you could tell it was the Waltz of Flowers, but it was only the flute and violin parts! The brass base line, and the counter melody were missing entirely, and it only played that at all after Rarity joined me in healing this guy! This could be an entirely new development in the field of magic! And even more, where did it come from? When our cards clashed in each of our duels, only two tones were produced at all! But after combining soul arts, we made a piece of a symphony!” the exhausted tailor next to the now rejuvenated scientist spoke up in a pained voice.

“That was likely me. I was singing it before you all came in. I guess it hadn't quite left my mind.” Invigorated by the thought of advancements in her field, Twilight hopped to her feet and began to mutter incoherently to herself, semi speaking through her thoughts at the pace of a mile a minute. The blonde interrupted to point something out. “While this whole discovery is great fer you and all, Ah think we have some more important things to think about right now. If the trend keeps up, there's gonna be another dead body in the mornin' and we have no clue as to how to stop it from happenin' or what to do once we're all together, on top of not havin' everybody. And before Ah forget, Rarity almost killed a guy. She ain't never had that much power in her life!” The male Angel gathered the male Mage and picked him up. He then looked to the violet headed girl with deadened eyes.

“Do you... have anywhere he can rest? You put... one hell of a strain on him.” The tailor got up as quickly as she could, being almost completely drained of her magic after all that had happened in the last half hour. Using the monochrome Angel as a balance, she raised her self to a standing position, and lead him up stairs. “We've actually been living together here on the top floor for the past month. I hadn't quite earned enough to make room for more than a two room apartment sized second floor, so that's what it is. I had intended to use it as a guest room, but Cobalt had nowhere to stay when I hired him, So I let him have it. Dear gods... I was prepared to evict him not but a few minutes ago... How could I let myself get so out of hand?” The rest of the group followed, and they arrived on the second floor. It was just about as she said it was.

A white carpet covered the flooring. There was a stark black shining grand piano in the relatively small living room that took up at least a third of it, a black leather couch facing a white wall that looked like it had a screen built into it, and to the right was a half kitchen that looked more like a mess than anything. Someone had been using it recently, but no one had cleaned it either. There were pictures of people hanging around the walls, each in a metallic violet frame. One Twilight could tell was a picture of Rarity and her family from a few years ago. On either side of the room were a single door. Rarity lead the group to the door on the right, and opened it to what looked like an entirely different world.

In complete contrast to the other room that was almost strictly black white and violet this room was covered in maps with red strings everywhere, one string bouncing from one point to another. A window was completely blacked out by dark blue curtains, all covered in red strings. There was a desk with a spot lamp still on, shining at his laptop that was in the middle of running a program. In the back of the room was a bed that just about as neat as the room itself in a state of pure chaos from one sheet to the next, pillows everywhere and a small colorful pink stuffed animal sitting properly in the corner.

“Ah. There you are. It's good to know he still takes care of you after all this time.” The male angel seemed to be talking to the plush animal in the corner as he set the other man down. Twilight was intrigued by the computer, and started towards it to read what was on the screen, but Zephraim quickly intercepted her and shut the computer. “Now's not the time for that... lets let him sleep.” As gently as he spoke and moved her away from the computer, Twilight was confused about how she felt about him again. Suddenly he's... warm? Was this another side of the Day Queen's son? Or... before she could follow her train of thought, everyone was rushed out of the crowded room.

“He... hasn't been sleeping much lately... He hardly eats anymore... He's been so preoccupied with whatever that mess of strings is in his room. I... don't know what's been going on with him lately. He hasn't wanted to talk, and he just avoids the subject whenever I ask. I... I just don't know who I've been living with all this time... I don't know why all of my frustration with him over these last few weeks all came out just by the taunting of that one word... I just...” The male Angel put his hand on the tailor's shoulder and shook his head. The tailor too the hint, then silently lead the group down the steps. The group the assembled around the male Angel and he began with the next movement.

“A few of us have been through quite a lot today. And it think it would be best for us to just keep moving forward. Originally, we came here to get a location on a girl, albeit, I will admit to having ulterior motives, but right now, we're running out of time. If what Apples said is right, we have a murder to stop tonight, and we're still missing two people. Miss Belle, do you know either of these two faces?” Zephraim handed the tailor two pictures from his coat pocket. The tailor studied the pictures and then snapped her fingers. “Ah yes. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy Heron.” Zephraim's wings twitched at the last name.

“Unfortunately, I have no idea where Pinkie lives. Or... what she does actually. She ordered something from me not too long ago, however, I couldn't tell you why she would order something so unusual. She asked me for a tan cloak, some sort of bikini like thing, that I guess she intended to run in? This was a very special request for something that I'm not sure I could ever reproduce. The only non bizarre thing about that outfit was that she wanted her Terran's mark sewn into the side of the... shorts? I made it and I still have a hard time describing it.” Twilight snapped her fingers. “So she did steal my bag! You... made that... thing she was wearing? With all the flags and the yellow and the red everywhere?” The tailor nodded.

“By some miracle, I assure you. When I gave it to her she said, these exact words mind you, 'Wow, these are perfect! I can't believe you actually got the flame proof material too! You're the best Rarity!' And I haven't seen her since.” The group nodded. Then Applejack asked about the other girl. “Ya mentioned that you knew the other girl. Ya know where she is now?” The tailor turned to her and nodded. “Ah yes, miss Heron. I see her on a regular basis. I first met her at the spa down in the southern side of town. She lives up in the north east, just outside of town in between here and the forest. I can take you to her if you like.” The group nodded.

“If... we can't find Pinkie, then I guess we have no choice but to see Fluttershy next then...” The male Angel started toward the door, but before anything happened, he was caught by the dragon boy. “Look, I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but I know you have something going on with this. You sighed when you said her name. You twitched when Rarity said it. And now you sound depressed when you say her name yourself. What's the deal?” He stopped where he stood and sighed again. “If I could say, I would. But I can't. Not even to you two. But since my expectations up to this point have been met or exceeded, I wont be surprised if something comes out when we do come into contact with her.” The Angel made his way to the glass doors, and pulled one open. The bell above it rang out through the round boutique. Then the Angel stopped.

“It's time to go confront my... old friend.” He sent a sad look Twilight's way, and exited the boutique. The rest of the group began toward the door after the male Angel's lead, save for the indigo headed Mage and the dragon boy. “I'm glad you said something before I did. I think you said my own thoughts, just... put better than I could have.” The dragon boy scratched his head. Compliments from his sister were far and few in between, and he knew he was visibly blushing. “I just started watching things, like you do. He kept... uh... I don't know the words, but he just kept doing things that kinda hinted at how he felt. You kinda do the same things, now that I think about it. I just kinda picked up on it.” Twilight rubbed the dragon boy's head.

“I guess you have a point. We call that body language though. It's relatively easy to pick up on if you watch for it. And with the way my eyes are now, It'd be hard to miss it all. Come on. We're gonna lose them if we don't catch up now.” The two left the rounded shop and headed out to the rest of the group. When they caught up, the group was taking the main road back to the center of town, with Rarity at the lead. “Lets see now... if we take the main road back north east, we should run almost straight into her cottage. By some manner of miracle, there's an underground water source right in front of that little cottage she lives in. The gods know this place is practically a desert anyways, but she has living trees around her house, and they aren't red either. I don't know how she does it, but she also has several animals around. For whatever reason, I almost feel like she can talk to them. She barely talks to me when I go to see her anyway, so she must get it out some how. I also think she's in the military. I find her consistently in that desert operations pale yellow coat regardless of the hour or where she is.” The tailor had returned herself to a good mood walking through the desert town. It was almost like magic.

“That's because... it's the first thing she ever earned for herself.” The rest of the group stopped to stare at the sullen Angel, who ignored them and kept walking. Chances were that he already knew where she lived anyways. “Oh... I, um, see then. You must know quite a lot already.” The group marched on silently now that Zephraim had taken the lead. After an amount of time passed, the had come upon the cottage. It was a relatively large building, no doubt a good sum of money was paid for it, but there was only one in the group who knew much of anything about this girl and he wasn't talking because he 'couldn't' talk about her.

As Rarity had said, there was a small river that ran from the forest through the front of the property. There was a little wooden bridge that ran over it, and the entire house was surrounded by unusually lush green grass. How such a small water source did all this in the desert was beyond any of them, but Applejack's farm was the same way, so for whatever reason they didn't question the terrain and moved on with life. There were woodland creatures every where, from birds to bunnies to foxes and everything in between on the relatively large, unusually green and wooded property. It was almost like a forest away from the forest. The cottage itself was old. It looked like it might have been standing since the town was founded, yet it also looked like it was in good condition.

The outer red wood looked polished and shined, the white washed walls were clean, and the roof was... green. It was almost overgrown in a sense. Twilight imagined it had some kind of living plant in it, or the roof was made of some kind of rock with dirt and grass atop it that had just never been cut. Strange. The group walked across the little bridge and up the walk way to the redwood door.

“I... want you all to step back, away from the door. And behind a wall at the very least. I promise, you don't want to be near what's about to happen.” After he finished speaking, he reached for the disk in his pocket, and loaded it on his left wrist. After that he drew his sword from it's sheath on his back. He took a deep breath, then opened the door with his empty right hand. From inside, a whooshing sound came, and then Zephraim immediately took a step back and was now holding what looked like a dagger. In his free hand. Did... he just catch that? He then took a step and flapped his wings away from the door. He landed a good teen feet away from the door, tossed the dagger aside, and in a blur of yellow, he was suddenly clashing swords with a pink haired, yellow clad, yellow winged, girl.

She was carrying a curved sword in her right, and she had a rapier in her left, with a light pink rounded duel disk on the same arm. Zephraim over powered her and threw her back. They ran and clashed again and again, in a flurry of wings and sparks. She was faster than him, but he was more powerful than her. After the second trade of blades, Zephraim drew another sword from the collection he was wearing. This one was much thinner than his other one, but was curved. Now that she saw it, it looked exactly like the one the girl Angel was holding.

“So that's how you wanna do this?” The Angel girl spoke, her voice was soft, but determined. “We can do it with them or without them either way, you will tell me why you left after this is all over.” The girl nodded and sheathed her swords, and Zephraim did the same. The male Angel took a boxer's stance and started to hop, while the female took a different stance entirely. She had her body parallel to him, left arm open and extended, palm facing upward. Her right was bent at the elbow inward with her right hand's palm facing the male Angel. The male angel took aggression this time, and rushed the girl. A jab, a straight, two jabs, a straight. The female blocked each one, with her open hands, simply pushing them out of her way. The male angle then threw a jab, which the female predictably blocked, but in a second after she did her eyes widened.

He had done it on purpose to grab her arm with it. He pulled her body forward and swung his knee into her left wing. Then sent her into the ground. The girl quickly reacted to this with a follow up from her own feet. Using the momentum Zephraim had provided, she flipped her body around and took his leg with her hands, and flew upward. The girl winced every time she flapped, so she quickly dropped him, and dove her elbow into his stomach until they crashed. The grass was green, but not free of sand, and when they landed, it was sent into the air due to the sheer amount of force involved. When the sand cloud cleared, the girl was being held at the neck by the man.

“Tell me why! Why did you run away from home!?” The girl kicked him in the stomach, released herself from his grip and flew a few feet back. She said nothing, and simply ejected a matter wave from her disk. The rounded light blue matterwave was then focused on Zephraim, and she took a dueling stance. “So that's how you wanna do this?” The girl replied. “Is there really any other way this will be resolved? If we keep fighting like this, they'll just pop out of thin air to stop it again.” The man nodded, and the green disk on his left produced it's own matterwave with a white colored chevron shaped wave. Then they both shouted “DUEL!”

In the Case of Fluttershy Heron: Part II (9.2)

When Fluttershy next awoke, she was in her bed. She was wearing her pajamas with the bunny pattern, and she felt... odd. Her skin felt almost like it had been burned. Like she'd been near an intense fire recently. On her dresser was her father's pendant, and a new duel disk. It was her favorite color, and round. In the shape of an oval to be exact.

She picked it up and the screen lit up. She was greeted by a little sprite of a heavily armored, pale yellow winged, pink headed, blue eyed, woman. Who said hello. “Good morning. How are you feeling today?” She sounded genuinely happy to see the girl. “Oh. um... hello?” She felt awkward about feeling awkward. She felt like she'd known this woman all her life, but she'd also never heard her voice before either.

“If you don't um... mind me asking, um... who are you?” The girl suddenly realized she was beginning to reach for her wings again. If she kept plucking the non dead feathers, her joints were going to be bald by the end of the day. The sprite raised an image from the bottom of the screen, which just so happened to be a card that she was depicted in.

“My name is Monarcha, and starting from today onward, I will be your partner and envoy to the powers of Mizuli. I will also be acting as a tool for you to use in duels. I must say though, I do like the way your cards play. It was a shame that I couldn't defeat Celestia, but I'm sure that the day will come when you do so in my stead. After all, my incarnation shares my destiny, therefore, you and I are bound to each other.” Bound to each other? Wait a minute. This was one of the Harmonians Celestia was talking about. But... how did she get here? Celestia was talking and then suddenly she couldn't remember anything afterward. As the saying goes though, speak of the devil, and she shall appear.

“Oh good, you're awake.” Said the Day Queen as she burst into Fluttershy's room. The only thing that the woman did that Fluttershy couldn't stand was entering without knocking. The girl yelped at the sudden entrance of the Queen, then let out an exhausted sigh. “Look, can you please just knock for once? Please? I don't ask for much, but mother...” Celestia stopped dead in her tracks. There it was again. The feeling of joy tied to the feeling of a knife being dragged through her heart. Which she had actually felt before. The woman grabbed the girl and spun her light body around in the air in her embrace.

“How could you ever be this perfect just as I have to prepare to send you away?” The woman released the now dizzy girl and sat on her bed. After reconfiguring her balance, the pink headed Angel looked at her adoptive mother. “Send me away? Was I called out to do something for the core?” Her tone was more confused than anything Celestia had ever heard. A hint of excitement and a myriad of negative feelings all mixed together. The mother shook her head.

“No, not quite. I'm afraid this is something that I personally am going to order you to do. But not quite yet. For the past four years, you've been training specifically under Sombra, Athena, and your oldest brothers. It has come to the point where I believe I need to step in. I know November is still more than half a year away, but I have a gift for you all the same. After dinner today, I want you to come to the roof. Can you do that for me?” A gift? What could she possibly have for me? Before she could ask anything about it, Celestia stood and took exit of the room. Her hands glowed for a second, and then she snapped and disappeared.

“Oh that woman. She's seen far to many hardships in her life that's bound to never end. I wonder how she's managed to keep her humanity after all this time... Ah well. Being perpetually twenty-eight for almost two thousand years might do that to a person.” The sprite on the disk was speaking again. “Oh right. What did you mean by bound to each other? Mother said we shared destinies as well, how exactly... or, um, what exactly does that mean?” The sprite laid back on her little pixelated yellow wings. “Hmm. That takes me showing you to explain. Tell you what, turn your disk on, and put my card on it. Then I can show you what words can't explain.”

The girl decided that this was the best course of action to get some answers. She had to know what at least some of all this meant. Yesterday was the most unique day of her life, save for falling out of the sky and into her current family six years ago. She took the light pink disk and placed it on her arm. Instead of the two metal telescoping rings she expected to come out, her arm was covered in a strange magical fluid that solidified around it. For a moment she wanted to question that, but she disregarded it as just a new feature. It was much more comfortable than the rings squeezing her arm anyway. The disk expanded a bright, light blue matterwave upon entering duel mode, and Fluttershy removed the card from her disk.

“Monarcha, Defender of Kindness, water attribute, level 7, spirit, aqua type, attack 1000, defense... 3500!?” The sprite set her shield down and crossed her arms. “Impressed I see. Just you wait and see what I can do in your deck. That is quite the spectacle. But go ahead and summon me. I want to see you face to face.” The girl did as she was told, and in front of her, the heavily armored Angel woman appeared. As the card depicted, she looked very, very, similar to Fluttershy, but... older. If she had to guess, she would say this 'monster' was around twenty-five give or take a year.

The armored Angel receded to the ground, and set her shield down. For being nearly a pentagon in shape, the thing somehow balanced on it's tip. She stretched out her arms and wings, then moved her neck around. Several popping noises followed, each of which created echos in Fluttershy's room, and then she looked into the girl's eyes. “Hmm... so this is the new me... or really, I'm the old you. First things first, let's get those divine powers going. Shake my hand if you will.” The woman stuck her hand out. Tentatively, the teenager took it. There was a surge of bright blue light surrounding it, and suddenly, she felt wobbly. She quickly sat down as her knees started to buckle, and took to rubbing her head.

“What in the world was that?” the woman laughed and sat down with her. Surprisingly, her body didn't seem to weigh anything because she didn't sink into the bed like Fluttershy did. And Fluttershy didn't even sink that much to begin with. She only weighed around 70 pounds, and most of that came from her chest. Or so she liked to believe. One of the few physical traits that she did share with Celestia was that one. And from the looks of it, the armored Angel was in a similar situation.

“You have no idea how difficult it was for Ephraim to fashion this for me. I was, for the longest time, the largest woman in the world just for my chest size. But that isn't important. What intended to show you was this.” The woman began to unbuckle and open the clasps that connected her right shoulder plates to her chest plate, then the left one came off. She let both pieces of armor sink to the bed, and suddenly there was a large crater forming in it. Celestia was the heaviest person in the whole castle, and even when she sat on the beds, they didn't cave in this much.

Purely out of curiosity, the teenager decided to try and pick one of the plates up. With all her strength, she managed to lift the plate. That is, for a few seconds. She quickly lost her grip, and let the plate fall into the other one, and then a tone rang out like a bell. It was loud, but at the same time, soft. It wasn't grating or irritating, it was soothing. With what little knowledge of music she had from school, and the large library of knowledge she had about metals, she thought that the pitch was unusually low for a metal of this size and weight. “What is this stuff made out of?” The woman had finished removing the second plate from her chest to finally reveal she was wearing a pale yellow tunic underneath it all.

“Oh. I think he said it was either Lead or... Wolfram? The not poisonous one. It's an alloy of some sort. He made it, and I have no idea how. But that's not the point of me disrobing. I wanted to show you this.” The now exposed woman, whose legs were far larger than the rest of her body at the moment due to the sheer amount of armor she was wearing, rolled up the sleeve of her yellow tunic to reveal three pink winged butterflies on the her right shoulder. Fluttershy was confused for a moment, then thought to check her own Angel's mark. The same three pink butterflies that she found on her arm six years ago were on this ancient woman's arm. “You have my...” She said as she touched the woman's shoulder. The woman grabber her hand and took her attention.

“No, you have my Angel's mark. But for someone such as yourself, I believe you're worthy of it's legacy. And even more so, the burden it carries. There are not many who inherited my bloodline from the children who passed through me almost 4000 years ago left on this earth today. Did you know you have a brother? He was one of the few possible candidates, much like the Iscandor children whom you grew up with. But even so, you were the best choice in my eyes. Celestia and I have always clashed on how to treat life on this planet. Even when she wielded the six elements so many years ago, It was out of desperation that she managed to synergize with me. All the same, we still weren't able to keep my... daughter under wraps.” Daughter? Umbra was hers? The girl thought.

“Umbra was your daughter?” The woman nodded her head. “In the same way your are Celestia's. Umbra was not born of this planet, however she had descended from a human race of some kind. When I found her near the end of my physical thousand years, I took pity on her. I raised her like one of my own, and she was such a good girl. She went off after twenty years to start a family of her own with a man she'd met in the village I had started. And for a long time, I hadn't heard from her. But... she came back one day. Something had been set in motion, something dark, something evil. A man went to steal the artifact she arrived to this planet in, and when she went to capture it from him, It started to possess her.

Umbra fled to the far north, likely in the land you call Symphona today, and I gathered my siblings to try and help her. This would be for naught however, and would start a war that still has yet to end. Even to this day I still have doubts as to whether or not I can rescue her from this unholy possession she's afflicted with.” The woman started to chew on her index finger in thought, and the teenager let out a restrained giggle. “Hmm?” The teenager waved her away. “Oh, it's nothing. Even if you say you and mother don't get along, you have the same habits. She does that every time she sits down to think.” The woman released her finger from her mouth and examined the bite marks she left on it.

“Hmm... I guess we can't be all that much different from each other. She does have one of the highest concentrations of my blood in this world as it stands. Second only to you and your biological brother.” I have... a brother... “I... think I remember having one, but... that was more than six years ago, and... a lot happened when I was a child. I don't have much of that memory left.” The woman put a hand in between the girl's wings and rubbed her back.

“You needn't worry. If you can't remember, then your memories are likely suppressed. Some things are... simply too scary for a child to see.” They were silent for a good amount of time. Fluttershy decided she should actually preen since it'd been months since she last did it, and the older pink haired Angel in the room picked the disk off of Fluttershy's arm, and began to look through it.

An hour had passed, and Fluttershy's left wing was now slightly bloody because she accidentally ripped a large and very much alive feather from her body. This was why she never preened in the first place. How is she supposed to clean herself if doing this just tints her wings red until she takes a shower and they're just wet again? The woman noticed what the girl was doing and began to preen her left wing for her.

“You can't be so rough with these. They're a part of you, dear. If you simply start at the top of each primarie and just move along the wing, it should just straighten up by running your fingers along them like this.” The woman had the girl's outer wing joint stretched out. She took the tip of the last feather on the bottom of the wing, and ran her fingers up the feather once to separate it from the others, and then down to straighten it. “There we go. Now you try.” The girl giggled again.

“Hehe... you really are a lot alike. But what's even more funny is the fact that I've heard the same phrase from her ad verbatim.” The girl brought her wing to herself, and began to do as the woman did with each feather. The older woman almost started to feel jealous. “Well... did she tell you that you can practically ignore your marginals and scapulars? If you just wipe your hand across them...” The girl nodded at the woman.

“Not in so many words, but yes. She did this for me up until I turned twelve. She wasn't very happy with one of the decisions I made, so she started making me do it myself. But, it eventually got to the point where feathers would just fall out so she got on me about it. I lose my birds if I don't do it once a month. Sometimes though... looking at them reminds me of my real mother. She... she fell apart mentally, and I just get so angry thinking about it.

If my stupid friend hadn't almost gotten me killed seven years ago, I would likely be in a similar boat as her today. When I was thirteen, I learned that mother was one of the only people in the world with strong enough magic to purge genetic diseases, and when she regrew my foot, she got rid of the marionette that was beginning to set in six years ago. if things had continued that way, I would have been the youngest marionette patient in the world, and would have likely already died because of it. And it was... it was her fault...”

The girl continued to furiously straighten her feathers until she accidentally pulled on one too hard and ripped it out. A surge of pain was sent through her body as blood began to exit that spot on her wing. She shrieked, and not but a few seconds later, her younger brother Zeus was in the room. “Fluttershy? What happened? Oh gods, you're bleeding everywhere!” The boy quickly ran over to her, with his hands beginning to glow a bright yellow. He removed the girl's hand from the gushing spot, and pressed both of his on it. The pain began to dull, and soon she couldn't feel it any more. The boy leaned back to sit down on the now red stained violet carpet, breathing heavily. Magic that strong was hard on his body.

“Mom's gonna be pissed when she sees this ya know.” The girl looked at the boy, then fell back on her bed. When she did, she noticed a severe lack of plate armor on it. And other woman. She sat back up quickly, then grabbed her pink duel disk. When she flicked it on, the woman's sprite was doing as she had been earlier, but hiding for some reason. Odd, the girl thought. “Is there something wrong?” The multicolored hair on her younger brother was an exact match for Celestia, save for being shorter in length. If her were a girl, he'd probably look exactly like her in ten years. She sighed and shook her head.

“No, I'm fine. Just trying to preen again.” The boy stood up and then stuck his hand out to the girl. She took it and stood with him. She had been taller than him her whole life, but now, he was beginning to catch up. He was still under her eye level though. “Well, dinner is ready now. I was actually on my way to tell you that, but you screamed so... yeah.” The girl nodded.

“Yeah, I get it. Lets go eat.” The two made their way through the large 'family room' that made up the upper most floors of Canterlot Castle. The room itself was three stories tall, with Celestia and Sombra's chamber on the top left side, that faced the east, and Luna and Light's chamber on the other. Below that were four rooms at each cardinal direction for Apollo, Jupiter, Athena, and Eclipse, complete with master bathrooms and balconies. It had been a while since Fluttershy had seen any of them though.

Apollo moved out around the same time Fluttershy moved in. She saw him every so often when he would come to visit, and they had a decent relationship, but weren't nearly as close to each other as she was to the others. Jupiter still lived here, but being severely pale skinned, he hardly was ever awake during the day. Poor guy burns like a crisp in the sun, even if it's only for half an hour. Their relationship was probably closer than any of the others. It was Jupiter that taught her most everything she knows about hand to hand combat. Sombra's expertise lies with tactics and weapons, and even after six years, Fluttershy was still intimidated by Light.

Jupiter however had a much easier way of speaking than the rest of his immediate family, so she latched on to him before anyone else. For the first few months she wouldn't talk to anyone but Jupiter and Celestia. Athena and Fluttershy have an... odd relationship. On the one side, the only time she ever did 'girl stuff' as Athena put it, was when they were together. It was normally fun, but Athena detests being called a girl... or a woman at all for that matter, so... fights would break out on a regular basis when they went shopping.

On the other side, Athena was insane. Not only was she battle crazed from childhood, but she was also physically strong on a level very rapidly approaching her mother. To say she's literally punched a hole in the stone walls of the castle is an understatement. Eclipse was another story. He didn't talk much, and when he did, it was usually blunt criticism. But this wasn't just to her, it was to everyone in the Iscandor house. That's just kinda how he is. It's relatively often to see either Luna or Light give him a slap to the back of the head shortly after he opens his mouth.

He and Zephraim seem to get along. Little surprise in that though. The next floor below that was the one the rest of them lived on. Just like the one above, they each had rooms facing the cardinal directions. Fluttershy had the east room, Zephraim had the north room, Nebula had the west room, and Zeus had the south room. Zephraim she didn't know what to make of. In terms of personality, he was likely the most close to his parents. Sometimes, he and his father would literally mirror each others actions, and very rarely on purpose. And he spoke the same way too. However, it will be more often than not she could see he thinks like his mother. He would never admit it, but his emotions fly off the handle exactly like hers do as well.

Once a few years back, Celestia and Luna were having one of their extreme Jenga matches after having another tied duel. At this point, the blocks were literally stacked on their small ends, and the sisters were just trying to see who would fail to swipe a block correctly first. That's when Zephraim came in. Not only did he manage to grab and place two blocks from the bottom of the tower, but he also placed them without ending the game. Celestia saw this and then tried it her self, but barely managed it. Luna however didn't, and she was quite frustrated for the rest of the night.

Nebula was likely the only trained Iscandor that Fluttershy could say confidently that she could beat in a fight. Zeus being the only 'not' trained Iscandor. It wasn't that he was bad or anything, it was just that he tries so hard to copy his mother that he ends up being predictable. To be honest, he would be the one kid that dresses up as Luna for Nightmare night. Which he did. Last October. She was outraged and made him go change. It was an awkward night for everyone involved.

Finally there was Zeus. Being the same age, they went to school together, and usually shared classes. He would be the one she spent most of her time with. He was very harshly forbidden from doing any kind of martial profession and joining any of the countries forces by his mother, but his father still trains him with the sword whenever he can. He says he doesn't have an opinion on it either way, but in reality, he loves to fight.

After crossing the family room, the two arrived at the elevator, and rode it down to the first floor dining hall. They arrived at the foyer, and then headed along the foyer balcony to the west wing where the dining hall was. When they arrived, everyone was here that still lived in the castle, save for Jupiter. “It's about time you two got here. Hey. Are you bleeding?” The blue violet headed man currently tearing into his meal said. Surprisingly enough, Eclipse had no remark to follow the comment. Possibly even concern in there somewhere. First time for everything.

“Oh, no, I was just preening. I'm fine now.” The Mage gave her a smug look and said, “Figures. Leave it to the bird keeper to screw up cleaning her own wings.” Then was quickly and swiftly hit across the back of his head by his father. “Well. Come on. Sit down and eat your dinner with us.” The black haired man at the end of the table said. For whatever reason, He always sat at the head of the rather large dining table instead of Celestia. Likely some kind of compromise in that marriage. Considering the story that Celestia likes to tell, there was a good chance he should have been the king of this country anyways. Sombra always denies it every time it's brought up, but Fluttershy doubted Celestia would lie about being in position to lose. It wasn't something that really ever happened to her outside of playing the four of them.

The fifteen and sixteen year olds took their places and began to eat. Around the end of dinner, Sombra broke out the alcohol, and suddenly he Light, Athena, and Eclipse were all in a drinking contest. Again. For all the bravado she has, Athena was a lightweight, and was quickly out of the running and on the floor passed out. Eclipse had only turned twenty one recently, so he fell out of the running shortly after two glasses, and Luna kept copying his monotone snide remarks to spite him for it. Then the normal combatants were at it. Sombra has an odd placement with his 'curse' of immortality, because he can get drunk, but his body basically refreshes every hour, so the minute an hour passes, he's back to normal.

Light however, was the only 'normal' adult here, provided Athena wasn't considered an adult. That being said, he does have some kind of divine power that he never has cared to explain in detail, and he can down a keg without much effort. Sombra cannot do that, and usually loses. However, Sombra has won the contest once, and only once. He refreshed in the middle of the contest, and Light was sick that day. The rules of this contest say that either passing out, which was Athena's normal out, or vomiting, Eclipse at the moment, means you lost. Today wasn't special though, because after glass eight, which was about standard for Sombra, he was out like a light. Celestia then levitated the passed out man with two fingers, took a sip of her own wine, and then downed it. She released the man into her arms, then picked up her passed out daughter.

“It seems bed time has arrived early today, wouldn't you agree, Light?” The large blonde man let out a loud, sickly burp. “I would agree with your statement.” The large man brought himself to a standing position with relative difficulty and then made his way to the wall. “Luna, would you mind passing me the boy? I'll take him up.” The blue headed woman followed her sisters lead and flicked her glowing fingers at the now passed out Eclipse and warped him onto Light's back. She then downed her tea glass and helped Light walk down the hall way.

“Oh, you old fool. When will you learn not to fall into his little pissing contests?” The man burped again. “My pride will never allow it, my dear.” The woman rolled her eyes and helped her husband to the elevator. The youngest of Luna's quickly devoured the rest of his meal and followed them in the elevator. Celestia rolled her own eyes. “And she always leaves it to me to warp everywhere I need to go. Sigh.” The tallest woman in the room moved both her husband and her daughter onto either shoulder, then snapped her fingers. Zephraim, Zeus, and Fluttershy remained at the table. None of them had much of a meal left, so Zephraim started to speak.

“So. Parma gave me a list of new recruits today. Imagine my surprise when I see my little sister's name on it.” The man to her left didn't even look at her when he said it. “Well, I...” The man slammed his hand on the table. “How could you!? After everything I went through, after all that time I tried to get you not to join, you go and do it behind my back? And you didn't even tell me!?” The girl got out of her chair. “Maybe I can make my own choices! Maybe I felt like anything I ever accomplished would be worthless if I couldn't do it myself! Maybe they actually wanted me because I was good enough for the job!” The man also stood from his chair. And then hugged her. And she and the boy behind her were confused.

“You can't do this to me. Your my little sister... You can't do this to me...” Fluttershy began to think she was experiencing déjà vu. She released herself from her brother. What do I do now? She thought to herself. Then she remembered what Celestia said earlier today. “I... have to go... mother wants to see me...” She then turned tail and ran to the elevator. “What was that all about?” Said the multicolored boy. His brother simply looked defeated. “I think... I think this is how she must have felt... so long ago.” The boy finished his dinner and simply sat in silence with his brother. He didn't feel like he should move. After a short silence, the older brother said something.

“You know... I think that's the first time she's ever... called her mother...” The girl pressed the final button on the elevator and the machine began to move upward. First mother, now Zephraim? What was going on? Isn't this it? Wasn't this the goal? Being able to protect, serving the country, serving in mother's army. Wasn't that what I wanted? They were more mad about not being told than anything else, and even then, they just looked sad to hear about it. Did everyone know? I know Zephraim was in the higher ups of the core, and Sombra lead it, but... who else knew? And where was Jupiter? He would be the one I could to talk to about this... The girl continued to think to herself as the elevator rose through the castle.

A bell went off signifying that she had reached the top most floor, and the elevator opened to the staircase that would take her to the roof. As she climbed the stairs, she started to think on what Celestia could possibly want to give her. A new card? No, she got Monarcha not but yesterday... Some kind of something to commemorate her getting into the core like everyone else? There wasn't really anyone in the Iscandor family that wasn't in the core, save for Apollo, who owned his own multibillion bit company now, and Zeus who was barred from doing anything militaristic.

She arrived at the door and opened it to see Celestia and Jupiter standing on the opposite side of the roof. The night sky was clear, and the air was crisp in Spring. The constellations so bright overhead, the moon hanging full in the sky. The lights of Canterlot that shone bright below couldn't even reach the top of the castle above the mountain. This was the highest point in Fauna Major. “Welcome, my youngest daughter.” Said the Ascended.

“Yesterday, you received an honor that many in my house have received before you, and even being outside of my blood, you still continue to follow our traditions to the letter. You were given your place amongst the ranks of my family since the day I brought you home, but today, you have earned yourself a place, and I couldn't be more proud. And just like those before you, I will give you a weapon which most suits you above all else.” The woman snapped her fingers, and in a yellow light, produced a short sword in a scabbard. The scabbard wasn't very ornate, and overall, didn't stand out much. It had a rounded hilt guard which Fluttershy believed meant that it was a rapier.

Odd, she thought. Never once had she trained with anything like that. She typically used broad swords, axes, even lances, but never for attacking. A rapier was... out of her range of comfort. But when she drew the blade, it wasn't a rapier at all. It was almost a katana, but far thicker than one. It was engraved with Harmonian runes all along it's sides. Celestia flashed it across the air, and the wind from the force of her cut tossed Fluttershy's hair.

“This blade I have forged for you is none other than a replica of the very same blade my father gave me as a child. With a few enchantments of my own, of course. If you are ever in dire need, read aloud the phrase written along it's edge, and you will be granted with speed above all else. However, this is not a tool of war. This is a tool to protect those whom you care for. If I ask anything of you, for your own sanity, never let this blade strike a man down.” The woman walked to Fluttershy and placed the blade back in it's scabbard. She handed it to the girl, but kept hold of her hands with the sword inside.

“When the time finally comes, please, don't run away from me.” She whispered into the girls ears. What exactly did that mean? Next to step up was Jupiter. Out of all of Luna's sons, he was the one that looked more like a mix of his parents than either of his younger brothers. With his hair having streaks of Luna's violet blue and Lights bright blonde, coupled with the Vampiric strain ears, skin, and eyes, and the Adonis body of his father, he truly was a one part Luna one part Light person. He was wearing his keikogi as he usually did, but today he was also wearing his spiked grieves. This didn't bode well for what was to come next.

“From the day we met, I knew you possessed talent, my little sister. Today, this talent has been realized by the country. I couldn't be more proud of you. But as the ritual goes, there is still a test that the Iscandor family performs. First, I will test your abilities to protect yourself. And finally, I will test your spirit.” The girl realized what her brother was asking, and then she drew the blade she was just given. Ability to protect. First we'll fight. The heavy planet fighting style he perfected, versus the version of it that he taught me and I made my own. And finally... we duel.

I've never played against his full strength, and I've only seen his trump card once. This should be interesting, to say the least... The girl thought to her self. Celestia raised her glowing hand, and a yellow magic circle appeared around the roof. Fluttershy tested it with her fingers, and it was a solid wall surrounding them. This was a cage match. The girl released her breath and then took her stance. Her left hand carried the new blade against her fore arm, and the right held open. The Pluto style she had learned from developed with Jupiter, nearly three years ago. Defensive, soft palm. “I'm ready.” She said. With a nod from Celestia, the woman cast a bright yellow light above the magic circle. “Three. Two. One. Begin!”

Fluttershy had known better than to let her brothers attack first after all this time, so once Celestia had said one, she darted forward. Jupiter had expected this and taken to blocking her flurry of palm strikes. She wasn't making any progress, and with a swift kick to his arms, the girl used her momentum to jump off of him. Jupiter saw it coming and jumped after her, his feet creating a small depression in the stone of the roof with his raw power. He had began to spin the moment he lifted to increase his speed, and soon he was upon the flying girl with a single heavy fist ready to dig into her. He liked to call this one Ganymede fist, and she'd only taken a hit from it once. Broken ribs aren't the most fun thing to feel, even with Celestia's magic keeping them from killing each other. A quick flick of her sword caused the heavy hand to graze her abs just enough to have his spiked gauntlets only rip her skin.

The small wave of pain was normal for this early in the fight. It was what would come next that always did the most damage to her. As he had come to expect, she wouldn't take a Ganymede fist at face value, so Jupiter followed his downward momentum with a kick. Were he in full armor, this would be the death blow for Fluttershy, but then she did something unexpected. The girl had let out her wings and grabbed his leg. With his own momentum propelling her, she pulled hard on his foot, and dropped him face first into the roof. The roof now had Jupiter's face indented in it, and he was battered from the attack. A moment's rest would get her killed, so she dive bombed him herself the minute the dust settled.

She managed an elbow to the spine before Jupiter spun his body around and knocked her away with a gauntlet to the face. The girl tried to steady her head for a moment, and realized she had a tooth in her mouth. She spat it out, and took her stance again. The man on the other side had done the same. “You've gotten better. But so have I.” The man charged at the girl. With incredible speed, his fist was upon her. Landing his blow square in the stomach, he sent the girl in the air spinning. The girl spread her wings to regain balance after that, but then she noticed her brother was right in front of her. With nothing else but instinct running now, she took her sword and swept at his arm. He blocked, and then she followed this with a kick to that same arm and sent him back down to earth. Fluttershy continued to fly in place trying to catch her breath, but then Jupiter was upon her again. This time he had jumped backward, and brought his leg down on her head. This was bad. The kick was enough to cause her to fall, but he hadn't let go of it either. If she didn't do something now, she might not make it to the duel in the first place.

Without much else to do, the girl grabbed the leg on her head, and tried to spin around it. In the moment she did, Jupiter then grabbed her face with his hand, and drove her head into the stone with him. She thought she heard something crack when they landed. Luckily, it was the stone and not her head. After she managed to stand, she realized she was running on adrenalin now. Jupiter had returned to his position, and he awaited the next attack. Her mouth had filled with blood again, so she thought of a new idea. She rushed at Jupiter again.

“Trying the same thing twice? I expect better from you.” Now was the moment. Jupiter had taken a heavy step back to ready an upper cut, but just as he did, the girl sprayed the blood in her mouth at him. Startled by it, Jupiter stopped his movement, and was left wide open. Fluttershy got as close as she could and performed the same attack Jupiter had prepared. With all her strength, she twisted her body into a single uppercut right in his stomach. For the very first time, Fluttershy managed to move Jupiter while he was on the ground. It may have only been a foot or two, but moving the massive two hundred and fifty pound Terran at all was a feat for anyone, especially an Angel, who would be at a disadvantage against any other race in a physical fight to begin with.

“New tricks aren't so hard to come by these days.” The girl took a look at her hand. The force of her own attack had ripped the skin on her knuckles. Then she started to feel a wind at her side. She quickly stepped back, just fast enough to avoid the silver plated fist that swung right in front of her face. “You managed to move me. If there isn't a first for everything. Now I want to see you use that sword!” Jupiter was beginning his solar system combination. The only thing he did that Fluttershy could never learn, regardless of how many times he tried to teach her. The left foot landed, with a single arm swing to the left. “Mercury!” This she blocked with the sword, and it sent her back a few feet. The second step, right straight. “Venus!” Both arms, crossed, blocked with the sword, by a fraction of a second. Moved back three feet.

This wouldn't stop the combination though. The third step, the kick. He hopped off on the foot he'd just moved his weight to, then flew at her with a right heel kick. “Earth!” The downward force kept her from moving, but she felt something in her left arm split. Likely a bone. Bringing down the same foot he kicked with that now had a cut in it, he shifted his weight on it while keeping his momentum, and threw his elbow at her. “Mars!” Another crack sounded off. Likely the other bone in her left arm. However, if she let her guard down now, this was over. Struggling to keep her arms up, the fifth step began. Left foot forward, left straight. “Jupiter!” The punch snapped a bone in her other arm. The pain was starting to come through.

The sixth step began, right uppercut. This one went under her arms and got her stomach. Another snap, likely a broken rib. When next she looked, she saw his back. This was the only vulnerability in his combination. If she could strike now, she could stop it here. However, she couldn't move her arms. Both were either completely broken, or almost there. His face was visible again, and his eyes looked they way they always did during an intense fight. Just like his mother's. Glowing with rage. The seventh step, the rotated right cross. “Uranus!” Her guard was broken, and she dropped the sword. She was sent back a foot. She staggered, but wouldn't give up.

The eight step began, and he raised his right arm in preparation for the final step. The left hook connected with her side. “Neptune!” Then the final step begins. Where the Ganymede fist originated. The smallest technique with more power than any other. The downward right hook. “Pluto!” The fist connected with her head. Her face shot into the ground, she could feel her nose broken again. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear Celestia saying something. Suddenly, most of the pain was gone. Her nose stopped bleeding and readjusted itself, then her head didn't feel like there were four holes in it.

She didn't pass out this time, which was a bonus. She began to try and get up. Her body felt like it was burning everywhere. She tested the spot where her tooth had fallen out with her tong, and felt the bone back in it's proper place. Her face was still imprinted in the stone, but slowly, the magic circle repaired that too. She made it to one knee, and then saw Jupiter smiling at her from a squatting position. “You didn't pass out. I guess that makes three of us who can with stand it.” He extended his hand and helped the girl up.

“With that, you've passed the ability test. Heh, even my brothers haven't done that. That makes you a valuable asset, little sister.” The man stepped back a good fifteen feet, and pulled a duel disk out of his pocket. “However, I must now test your mind and spirit.” The man placed his disk on his left arm. Teal green object expanded a yellow matterwave in the shape of a trapezoid. “Come sister! Defeat your brother in this final test!” The girl raised her left arm, took the pink disk from her pocket, and placed it on her arm. The blue matterwave expanded from her disk. “I don't know what you expect, but I'll give you everything I have!” The two disks shot out single beams of light at each other, and in unison, they shouted, “DUEL!”

They each drew five cards, and Fluttershy took the first turn. As usual, letting her siblings take the first strike was never a good decision. When she looked to her hand, she noticed something different. Her new monster was in her hand. However, there wasn't much she could do to defend herself other than play Monarcha... however, she could still strike first, and if all went well, win right now. But that was up to what Jupiter drew.

“Turn! I summon Round Spirits, Pendragon!” The girl placed her monster on her disk and from a white mist, a dragon appeared. It wasn't very big. As a matter of fact, it was relatively small. The little slithery thing had tiny wings on either side of the middle of it's back, and was covered in pale blue scales. It had bright red eyes, and wore some kind of golden crown. On it's side in a sheath about half it's whole size was the very, very ornate gold hilt of some kind of sword. As a whole the monster seemed to give off some kind of mist.

“Once per turn, while Pendragon is on the field, I can reveal one spirit monster in my hand to gain an additional normal summon this turn! I reveal Round spirits, Hectolf! Next, I summon him!” In a similar cloud of mist, a lightly armored pale blue wolf appeared. This one carried an ax in it's mouth, covered in silver marking all along it's handle, with a wickedly sharp crest at either end of the axes blade. When the wolf reached it's standing position, it locked it's red eyes with the dragon and then howled.

“When I have a spirit monster other than Hectolf on the field, All spirit monsters I control gain 300 attack! I then activate the effect of Monarcha, Defender of Kindness! While I control two or more spirit monsters, I can special summon her from my hand! As the stars fade in the black sky, rise again to end the war! Knight of peace, defender of the weak! Bring back balance to the world!” During her chant, the queen and the nephew noticed that the girl was beginning to glow a blue color. But this wasn't traditional magic. This was something else completely... A column of blue light shot up from the ground in between the little dragon and the wolf. The light dissipated from top to bottom to reveal the armored angel standing triumphantly with her great shield held at an angle covering most of her body with her sword drawn and at her side.

“So the Harmonian descends. Aunt Celestia, do they all resemble each other as much as these two do?” The large man across the field said to the woman adjacent to him on the edge of the roof. “Based on the two I know at the moment, yes. However, they don't always share gender. From what I can gather from those who can still speak to me, all of the six current incarnations are girls. Exhibit A would be her. She's the only one who has her incarnation right now though. Including Monarcha, who gave herself to the girl the minute she stepped into the same room, we only know who two of the new incarnations are right now. I can only gather so much information from them at a time, so the next thing intend to find out is the names of these other incarnates. For now, all we know is their gender for the other four.” The woman said as she raised an arm to the pink haired girl. The man nodded.

“I see. Very well. Carry on Fluttershy.” The pink headed Angel nodded and continued. She did take note that Monarcha was being unusually quiet. “I activate the effect of Monarcha! Once per turn, I gain an additional normal summon! And next, I summon Round spirits, Lioncelot!” The next monster appeared in mist like the two before it did. The beast had a dark blue mane surrounding it's pale blue fur that covered the rest of it's body. On it's haunches were almost black metal plates of armor that carried down to it's legs, and covered most of it's back all the way to it's tail. The red eyed beast carried a sword in it's mouth that looked identical to the one the dragon carried, but in silver.

“If Lioncelot is not the only spirit monster on the field when he's summoned, I get to add a Round spell or trap card to my hand! I add Backlash of the Round!” The lion thrust it's sword into the ground and pushed it down with it's front paws. A trail of mist then started to float from it to the girl's deck, and ejected a card. The girl took her card, then the lion returned to it's first position. “Thank you, my furry friend.” Seeming to respond to her, the lion took a bow, then returned to it's place. The man on the other side of the field furrowed his brow. Monarcha and the other elements were special in that they had souls within their cards, but why did this beast act? Was this Monarcha's doing? Over the hundreds of times he dueled the girl, she has yet to forget to thank her cards, but never had they responded. And she didn't seem phased by it either.

“Finally, I activate the effect of Round spirits, Merlowl! While I control two or more spirit monsters, I can reveal this card in my hand to gain an additional normal summon this turn! I then summon Merlowl!” As it's name suggested, this mist creature resembled a great horned owl who wore a violet robe covered in gold stars with lines connecting each one to shape constellations. In it's left wing, the owl carried a wooden staff with an odd hook at it's end. The red eyed, pale blue owl then started to gather mist from the other four monsters on the girl's field and collect it all into a ball that was floating above it's head.

“If Merlowl is summoned, he inflicts damage to my opponent equal to his attack times the number of spirit monsters on my field! Further more, because of Hectolf's effect, he gains 300 attack, putting him at 800! Without any more pause, take my spirit in full, brother! Mist of the round spirits!” At the girl's call, the owl fired it's massive ball of mist directly at the man before her. In a flash, the ball of mist exploded, and clouded the field. Upon the wind carrying it away, the field was visible again, and Jupiter was still standing with a monster of his own, and his life points reduced by half the amount she would have originally done. He then started to clap.

“Well done. Very well done, in fact You have come quite a long way indeed my dear sister. From that little girl who would cling to my leg every night we would go to the park, or cry at the moment I released my hand from you. Now, the young adult who stands before me, the girl who was the first of her siblings to move me with her own strength, and the girl who would have defeated someone else without letting them have a turn. Your current strength surpasses that of two of your brothers, and even then, you still have years to grow into your prime. However... that doesn't mean I will give in without a fight! What saved me was the effect of my monster, Astrofighter, Io! By special summoning him, I take only half of any effect damage you would do to me.”

The monster was of interesting design. His body made of black, and filled with little white lights every where. He wore a full keikogi like his master, but its gi was black lined and white overall. It's head was a faceless man wearing a brass colored helm that was pointed in thee places with a visor over where Fluttershy had come to believe it's eyes would go, and the word Io engraved on a circular plate above the visor on it. In the dark, the monster was almost glowing by the lights in it's body. “And now that you've filled your field, I assume you don't have anything left to summon?” The girl nodded.

“That's right. But first, I set one card face down, then I move to my end phase. During this time, all monsters, save for Monarcha, return to my hand by their own effects. Return to me, my animals!” The monsters on the girl's field sank into clouds of mist that formed behind them, and flew back into their cards. The girl retrieved them from her disk, and then lowered her stance to signify that she'd ended her turn. “Very well then. To begin, I draw.” The man gave a slight smirk after looking at his card. Fluttershy knew exactly what that meant. She'd seen him draw that card too many times now to forget. The probability of winning this duel just went drastically lower.

“During the stand by phase, I activate the effect of Astrofighter, Ganymede from my hand. If I control an Astrofighter monster I can special summon this card from my hand. However, If I do, I cannot normal summon this turn. As such, I summon Astrofighter Ganymede!” In a beam of swirling black and white stars, the monster appeared on the field. Identical to the first monster in all but color and engraving, this monster wore a white gi with black lining, and his helm had the word Ganymede engraved in each side of the helm along it's edges. This one's visor was a reflective silver.

“It's been a while since I've dueled with you, but I believe you already know what happens next, don't you?” The girl gritted her teeth and developed a frown. The planets were about to descend. “Your face tells me all that I need to know! With my two monsters, I construct the overlay network! The dust born from fighters long past, gather together now to create a new world! Xyz summon, Astrofighter, Planet Earth!” Black, white, and gold lights began to swirl in a circle just above the two monsters. Each one turned into a colored light and flew inside. In a column of black white and gold stars, the monster appeared.

Like the two used to make it, he was wearing a Gi that had orange lines, but the rest of the gi itself looked like the atmosphere of the planet. Inside, she could even see the major continents underneath cloud cover, and it moved. The helm it wore had the name of the planet engraved in a metallic blue circle just above where it's faceless forehead would have been, and in it's visor were two orange glowing eyes. Around it were two floating orange balls of light, indicating the number of Xyz material it had at it's disposal. Good chances were that he was going all the way up his Xyz monsters to his pride and joy, and if that happened...

“Now that we have our champion, we must clear obstacles out of his way! Planet Earth activates his effect! By detaching one Xyz material, I can destroy your trap!” That was her trump card. If she lost it now, this would be all over by the time he finishes. And this way... he can't get rid of Monarcha. “That can't happen! I activate the effect of Monarcha! I can banish her to negate that effect, and destroy your Astrofighter!” The Angel knight started to glow bright blue. The light expanded from her self until it captured the faceless fighter on the other side of the field, and all at once both of them disappeared.

“As much as I pains me to say this, I did see that one coming. However, It does limit my actions, if only so very slightly.” Of course he knew. He always does. “In any case, I activate the effect of Gravitational Rebound. If a monster I control was destroyed by my opponent's card this turn, I can special summon it. Return to me, Planet Earth!” And just like that, Earth appeared out of swirling black and white stars. “It's about time we started getting on to bigger planets. I activate the effect of Rank-Up-Magic Gravitational Force! By using Planet Earth as Xyz material, I can Xyz summon one Astrofighter one rank higher than him! Size, density, pressure, and composition! Change and realign into the next evolution of the planets! Xyz summon, Astrofighter, Planet Neptune!”

The swirling black white and gold lights appeared again above Earth this time, and he turned into an orange light then flew inside it. The lights sent blue lightning bolts from its center, and in a flash, a new fighter appeared. It's helm was different, It's gi was lined in dark blue, and the cloudy storms of a pale blue planet rotated around the gi it wore. It's helm was completely silver with the word Neptune engraved in straight plate that formed the top of it's visor. The eyes inside it now glowed with a dark blue hue, and it carried a single blue orb orbiting it.

“If Neptune is Xyz summoned, I am allowed to search my deck for an Astrofighter, but this you already know. With that said, I add Astrofighter Castillo to my hand. I've never shown you my true monster before. But today, I think you're ready to see the pinnacle of my spirit. So, I activate the effect of Gravitational Swing! By discarding the Castillo in my hand I can target one card in your hand, and shuffle it into your deck! Return Pendragon to whence he came!” A small orb of light appeared just above Fluttershy's hand the card Jupiter had named flew out of her hand and orbited the light, then was sent flying into her deck. The deck then shuffled itself. Crap. If she didn't draw him again, or a way to summon more monsters next turn, this really was already over.

“And now that that's gone, I activate the effect of Gravitational Pull! While I control an Xyz Astrofighter monster, I can target one level 5 or lower Astrofighter in my grave yard and special summon it! Come to the field, Astrofighter Castillo!” Same swirling black and white stars, new monster. Castillo wore a gray gi with white and black lines on either side of himself. Being a monster in Jupiter's deck with a level, it had no eyes inside of it's visor, which covered most of it's faceless head, and what little of a helm was actually some kind of metal had the word Castillo engraved on it. The monster's hands then began to glow a bright orange.

“If Castillo is summoned, I get to add one Gravitational spell card from my graveyard to my hand, and as such, I add Rank-Up-Magic Gravitational Force!” The monster's glowing hands reached into a violet and black void that spawned to the left of it, then tossed a card into Jupiter's hand. “And with that, I rank up Neptune! Turn gasses to diamonds as they fall from the sky! Bring the force of your winds down to earth! Xyz summon, Astrofighter, Planet Uranus!”

Again the monster flies into a cloud of light, only to return with a costume change. The eyes glow with a bright green as did it's orbiting material. The visor sports a pale green metallic color, with it's name engraved in a triangle that separated the visor from it's self. A gi with dark green lines, and the stream lined clouds of the pale green planet spinning around it. Now complete with gauntlets of the same pale metallic color covering it's once black and white light fists.

“But you've grown since the last we played! So much so, that I cannot, No, I will not believe this is enough to get the job done! I activate Rank-Up-Magic Galactic Force from my hand! The same rules apply, but now the effects of all your face up cards are negated, and you cannot respond to this card's effect! More, and more! The most unique of all the planets in the solar system gathers those near around it, surrounding it's self with the powers of millions! Xyz summon, Astrofighter, Planet Saturn!” The new monster took another set of colors and gained a large ring surrounding each of it's fists of gold and brown dust spinning counterclockwise.

It's gi was lined in dark yellow and the atmosphere of the next planet spun around it. It's golden visor had a ring of gold and brown color spinning above it, and the name Saturn was engraved in either side of the helm. One more left. I've only ever seen this monster twice before, and neither time was it used against me. The girl thought to herself. All that's left was to summon the monster he shared a name with. The one that truly broke the spirits of those who challenged General Jupiter Corona.

“Normally I would stop here, but you, you are the closest of all who've challenged me to beating me!” His breathing was beginning to become heavy. He was starting to sweat, and he had taken to a wicked smile. Something was beginning to feel wrong. She could smell something... something oddly sweet. And she felt like she was starting to hear something... like it was a pulsing sound of some kind. “The second effect of Galactic Force activates! I can banish a spell from my graveyard to add it to my hand! I'll get rid of Gravitational Pull, and then once more, I activate the effect of Rank-Up-Magic Galactic Force! The thunder of judgment, and the flames of hell, all residing in the eye of the storm! The king of the solar planets, bring down your fiery wrath! Xyz summon, King of the Astrofighters, Planet Jupiter!”

This summon began far differently than the last. A dark orange light was surrounded by a swirling red flame and the two spun in a cylinder around Saturn until no longer was he visible. The air on the roof started to feel as if it had become warmer. Jupiter himself looked as if he was glowing with a thin red light... maybe even a smoke of some kind. At the same time, she could feel her own blood pulsing with the sound she started to hear moments ago. The column of fire flashed and there stood the new monster, looking far different than the others.

He was gigantic. At least double the size of the last one. Jupiter only reached his middle in height. He still wore a gi that had dark red lines and the planet's atmosphere spinning in it, but his legs hands feet and arms were armored with copper colored metal plates with spikes at each joint for the most damage possible. On his back flowed a cape that also carried the spinning Jupiter atmosphere inside it, and was lined by a gaseous looking white smoke that moved from one side of his body to the other. His faceless head was no longer covered by a visor, but instead he wore a crown with an orb that floated above it.

After taking a closer look, Fluttershy noticed that that orb was the planet Jupiter rotating just above it. It's bright red glowing eyes shone out in the darkness, as did the four glowing red orbs that floated around it. The right eye was spinning and swirling, like a storm. Suddenly, Fluttershy felt heavier than she usually did. She wanted to kneel to catch her breath, but she also felt like if she did, she would be bowing to something she didn't believe in. she steadied her feet, and lifted her torso back to standing up straight, and stared her brother head on.

“It could have only been you that wouldn't bow to the king of the Astrofighters! And I would have expected no less from my prized little sister! Survive the onslaught of the king, and defeat me! You have a power far greater than you know and the potential to rise above all opposition! Jupiter gains 500 attack for each Xyz material attached to him, putting him at 5500 attack! And further more, I can target one other monster I control, and attach it to him as Xyz material! Costello serves his king!” The monster took a knee beside it's caped king, and transformed into a red orb, then began to orbit the Astrofighter. “And there, He reigns supreme at 6000 attack! Jupiter gains effects based on the number of Xyz material attached to him, the first of which is that he can attack twice per turn like most of his servants before him. Next, he is unaffected by my opponents cards, like Saturn. Finally, the king attacks you directly!” It was time to activate her trap.

“You won't win this turn, this I swear! I activate the effect of Backlash of the Round! Ignoring their summon conditions, I special summon two spirit monsters from my hand in defense position! I summon Hectolf and Merlowl! Merlowl's effect triggers again! And with Hectolf on the field, you take 1600 damage!” The two mist creatures appeared out of the opened trap card to defend the girl. The owl then raised it's staff once more to conjure another ball of mist significantly smaller in size, the owl shot it's mist ball at the man on the other side. When Fluttershy moved her arm in front of herself to order the owl to fire, she noticed that her hand looked to be giving off some kind of blue smoke. What in the world was going on?

The mist ball connected with the man, and he slid back a few feet. His clothes were now ripped in various spots, and it looked like he was scratched or cut in those same places, even bleeding here and there. “You have the potential... No you have more than that! From that scared little girl, you've become this glorious, strong willed fighter! You have the power to become anything you could possibly want to be! But still, I cannot let you escape me unscathed! When Jupiter destroys a monster by battle, he inflicts that monster's attack to my opponent as damage! I change my attack target to Merlowl!” The giant punched toward the owl and sent a fire ball hurtling towards it. The owl took the brunt of the flames, but was destroyed in the process, and didn't stop the fireball.

The girl quickly tried to shield herself with her wings and arms as the fireball connected with her body. The heat singed some of her feathers, and the pain of the burns it caused forced her down on on knee. “Don't you dare give up now! This game is already yours! Whether my attacks, and emerge victorious! I refuse to allow one with such a strong spirit to quit! Stand, take the next hit! I attack Hectolf!” For a single moment, she thought him using the word I was odd, but he meant what he said. The now fiercely red glowing smoke was pouring off the man.

He aligned his body as if he were about to deliver a heavy blow, and in unison, the monster mimicked his action. His right arm began to move in close, and his left moved back, each arm tightening it's hand into a fist. The monster began to do the same motion as he did. She rose to her feet and crossed her body to protect against the incoming fire “Take all of my pride, all of my anger, and all of my love, my darling little sister! For the moment you stand from this is the day you surpass me!” With every ounce of force he could muster, the man shot his fist forward at the girl. At the same time, the monster did the same with a burning gauntlet of fire at the ax wielding wolf. The wolf desperately tried to fight back against the fist, but failed and exploded in a wave of mist.

The flames engulfed the girl again, this time more intense than before. The pain of the burns made the girl shriek, and collapse to both her knees this time. The fire had faded, and with it some of her vision, but she wouldn't let it end here. This was the moment she'd been training for all her life, and the moment that would make her brother proud above all else. With everything she had left, she stood again. Noticing her wings were slightly blackened, and her coat had a few holes in it, still, she stood. “Yes, Yes! That's perfect! One more attack! And then your spirit will be all you need to earn this! The final effect of Jupiter activates only during the second main phase! By detaching four of his five material, I will have you shuffle your hand int your deck!” How could he have such a powerful effect!?

“You what!?” Jupiter was completely tied to his monster, and they moved together. He raised his hand out, and the monster did the same, absorbing four of the five red light orbs into it's hand and then they each shot out to the cards in Fluttershy's. Each card evaporated in red light, and then the deck shuffled itself. It was all down to what she drew next. “And with that, my part is done.” He was breathing even heavier now. It looked like his left leg was about to give out. Did she really hit him that hard with her attack? It was less damage than the first one but... something was different.

“First, before my turn starts, Monarcha returns to the field due to her effect!” The Angel knight returned to her place on the field in a column of blue light. She looked to the monster in front of her and took a step back. She then looked to the girl. Fluttershy couldn't tell if she was screwing around or what, but she looked... afraid? Maybe? Her left eye was twitching. The girl shrugged her shoulders, and the knight turned back around without changing the look on her face. Weird. The next part all came down to whether or not she could draw a monster. “My t-turn!” What was this? Am I getting nervous? No, no, this can't be happening! Not now! I kept standing after being burned twice! I fought Jupiter! I made him move with my own power! Why do I suddenly feel like I'm going to fail!?

“Really, now. You can't hesitate like this in the future. You believe in yourself, surely your spirit will respond to you. Go on. Finish this.” The girl relaxed her body, and placed her hand on her deck. It was time to go through with this. For a moment, she stood silent, listening to the harmony of the pulsing that she could hear and the pulsing her body was making. The pulsing almost felt like it could have been music, but was missing... something... Amidst the sound, she heard the cry of a small creature. She knew what she would draw.

“I draw!” Quick and without hesitation, the girl took the card and flung out her arm so she wouldn't see it. “I summon Round spirits, Gwynerven from my hand!” Her spirit had risen to the challenge, and the girl was the master of herself if only for the moment. Out of a cloud of mist, a thin pale blue dragon like creature appeared on the field. It had long white hair that came from the top of it's dragon like head, and a slender, feminine, lizard like body that wore a dress.

“When she's summoned, I get to target one monster on my opponent's field and return it to hand!” The man simply smiled. “You've done it. Now, come. End this.” He removed the monster from his disk and returned it to it's place. The giant disappeared and the man spread his arms wide. “Give it all to me. Your pride, your anger, and most importantly, your love. Show me every emotion you can fit into this last attack!” The girl raised her arm and moved the card in the center of her disk forward.

“I've really done it, haven't I, brother?” She was beginning to tear up. “If that's what you want, then this is what you'll get! Six years of the feeling of futility, six years of the feeling of joy, six long years of the frustration of training, and most importantly, six years of the love I've been shown! Monarcha attacks directly!” The Angel woman raised her sword, and it began to glow with a bright blue. She then took off toward the man.

He raised his arm in preparation to block the swing, then they clashed. The blue light radiating from the woman and the red mist flowing from the man her swing proved to be more powerful, and then was sent flying more than ten feet. A buzzer rang off, and the hologram screen in the center of the field declared Fluttershy the winner. Monarcha returned to her spot, spun her sword in her hand twice, then sheathed it. The sword made a clicking sound, and the field faded.

But something was off. Some of the damage, specifically the spot she was standing, wasn't repaired. How... how was that possible? The MR field should keep the game from affecting the real world... why... am I still covered in burns...? She touched a raw spot of skin on her arm, then flinched. A sharp wave of pain ran through her arm. What the...? Jupiter! He was bleeding! The girl rushed across the field, wincing every time she stepped with her right leg. He'd burned a good chunk of her pants away, and the burn on her skin there was almost second degree. After traveling across the roof, she finally made it to where Jupiter was laying. He was bruised and battered, but his cuts had stopped bleeding.

“Oh, gods, are you okay?” Before she could move, the large man leaned up and wrapped his arms around her. “You did it! You passed all expectations and then some!” Was he... crying? What? What in the world? A wave of emotion hit the girl like a truck to the face, and her own tears started to free flow again. “Thank you... thank you so much... brother...” The girl gave herself into the hug. Several moments passed, and the from behind her, she heard the Ascended speak.

“Oh, just look at you two. Say cheese!” Wait, what? The girl thought. Her entire body froze. A flash went off. Then another, and another. Celestia was spamming pictures again! She turned as quickly as she could and tried to swat at the camera in the impossibly tall woman's hands. “You'll have to try harder than that sweetie!” The girl continued to furiously swat at the camera as the impossibly fast woman continued to take pictures of her. On the other side of the roof, Jupiter had come to a sitting position. For a second he felt a wind, then he realized someone was standing next to him.

“Ah, there you are. Did you see my grand finale?” The bat winged woman patted her son's head. “I certainly did. I also watched as you pounded that poor girl's face into the roof. You did not hold back during your physical fight, but I cannot help but wonder if you did during your clash of wills.” The woman took a cross-legged seat next to her son. “Good. That way I can get away with saying I did. But... for her to out right nearly end the game before my turn, and then again almost on my turn... I couldn't have possibly expected such... a J-curve in her development like this.” The woman nodded as she watched her sister toy with her adopted daughter.

“It's quite true for the other pupil we have here as well. However, I think our dear Fluttershy has had some what of a head start on her. That... and she has all of you. If only she had as kind a heart as this one.” The woman said with distance in her voice. The man brought himself to a sitting position next to his mother, and watched as the Day queen tired out the girl. “So. What happens next?” The Night queen looked at her hands. “Celestia plans to put her through her own training. Once you started to perform soul art dueling, the girl was instantly pulled into doing it herself. Had a clash of monsters occurred, or were she dueling with or against a Harmonian, the melody would have played.” The Terran's ears perked up.

“She what!? How could she be so...” The woman looked her son in the eyes. Their irises were mirror images of each other. “We don't know. It could have been the circumstance, it could be that she is simply that powerful, or... I think it might have been you.” The son looked at the mother confused. “Me? I'm no Incarnation. Sure, I might have divine blood somewhere, but that doesn't put me on an Incarnation's tier does it?” The mother looked to the moon that was now shining bright in the sky just overhead.

“You are asking the wrong person about that. This is the first time since we Ascended that Incarnations have appeared again. But let me tell you this; blood holds no bearing on the strength of your will. You can be as strong as you allow yourself to be, and there is no end to the journey of gathering strength, that your aunt and I can attest to. I think that because you were cheering for her, and you wanted her to surpass your will, she rose to the challenge and did exactly that. I can't say you made a single mistake in your playing with what you were given, or what you could have done. Her spirit simply grew to where it need to be to surpass yours. In essence, I simply believe you were the perfect stimulant to this girl's growth.”

The woman had taken to smiling sweetly at her boy. The man felt himself a child again, with his mother looking at him like this. He sighed and laid down on the roof and looked at the stars. “If that's what you really think, mother.” The woman returned her eyes to the stars again. “I see you are still yet convinced. Then I shall put this into your perspective. Do you know what is depicted in you Terran's mark?” Even if he saw it in the mirror every day, he still felt the need to check his left shoulder for it. The image of two hands clutching a blood moon.

“Some red moon with a couple of hands on it. What about it? I thought that represented the power I hold.” The mother looked back down into her sons eyes. “Yes, this could be true, and It may very well be that. However, have you ever considered that one of those hands may not be yours? What if the blood moon does represent your physical strength and martial prowess, and you are passing it to someone else? It took me more than a life time to figure out what my mark might mean, and I had even less to go on than you do, yet all the same... for every teacher I've met they seem to share the idea of passing something along in their marks. If I were a betting woman, which I was, and that got me in to SEVERE trouble, so avoid that, I would say you are more cut out to teach than you think. Just think about that for a while. In any case, I have been called out to a mission and your little brother has been begging me to take him along, so I thought I might show him what it is like to fight a dream eater in their own territory.”

The man remained silent as his mother stood. Before she popped away, he caught her ankle. “Before you go, I have two statements to make.” The woman turned her head to look at her son. “One, please, oh for the love of the gods, please make him fight it. Cocky little ass needs a back hand more often than Eclipse does, I swear. And two... thanks, mother.” The woman smiled as he released her leg. “I am your mother after all. What good would I be if I cannot make you rethink your self? And to that first one, you are absolutely right, and I very much have intended to do that. Dressing up as me for nightmare night, I swear! He will never do it again for as long as he lives!” The woman's hand began to glow a violet blue.

“Still salty about nightmare night... ha ha ha!” She gave him an irritated look, then snapped her fingers, and warped away. A few moments after that, the Day queen walked into Jupiter's vision holding the sleeping girl in her right arm. She stuck her left hand out to him to help him up. She lifted him with ease as if his whole body weighed no more than a pillow and set him on his feet. “Oh, so you were tiring her out huh?” The woman nodded. Jupiter was one of the few people in this world she didn't have to look down to speak with eye to eye.

“Yes, I thought it would be best. You did give her some pretty good burns though. I see she did a number on your face as well.” The man checked the cut on his forehead that had reddened his vision earlier. I had already healed though. “It's just a scratch. And besides, the moon is out. If I had to say, I think I'll be fully healed in about an hour. I'm not called a vampire for no reason right?” The woman gave him a solid slap to the shoulder. “Oh, don't say that. Were you really a vampire, your own mother might have been called to kill you, and that just isn't any fun at all. I'll be taking her to her room, then going to bed myself. What are your plans?” The man rolled his neck around, popping it in several places.

“I don't know. The old bat popped in to talk and she got me thinking about what I want to do with myself. I think I'm gonna go to the library and do some research.” The woman nodded. “Very well then. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Jupiter.” The man scratched at his neck. “Later aunt Celestia.” The woman snapped her fingers, and just like that, she was gone. “A teacher huh? I guess I'll have to look into that.” The man straightened his partially ripped gi and relaxed his still tense arms, then made his way to the staircase on the roof. It was about time he thought of looking into a profession. He wouldn't be twenty-six forever. At this point, he was physically older than his own mother. Might as well do something that will make a lasting impression. Maybe it was time to get in touch with Apollo again. It's been a while. The man opened the door to the staircase, and made is way to the elevator.

In the Case of Fluttershy Heron: Part III (9.3)

Light crept in between the small split in the violet curtains of the girl's room. The beam was soft and cast an orange hue into the chamber. The white stone of the walls glistened in their polish, the smooth marble floor reflected the beam onto the girls bed. Seconds passed, and then the girl began to wake. She sat up, still groggy and stretched her limbs. When she did, she noticed that the last feather of her left wing touched something.

She turned to find what was a sleeping Celestia in a chair next to her bed. Startled by the presence of another person, the girl let out a small yelp. In mere seconds, the seven foot woman was up with sword drawn, very quickly scanning the room for an enemy presence. “Whose there!?” The woman was standing on the girls bed, and looked ready to pounce on anything that moves.

“Oh, goodness, It's just me... You know. In my bed... and you... um... standing there...” The girl said in her now alert but tired voice. The woman turned her head to look at the girl, and stared at her with her killer's eyes for a good long second. Her intensity dropped after a moment, and she relaxed herself. She returned to the floor and replaced her sword in it's black and gold sheath on her waist. She never went anywhere without it.

There was a story behind the weapon that Sombra liked to tell the kids around Nightmare Night when they were all younger, but Celestia was never around when he did. At one point, Athena had found Celestia the next morning and asked her about it, but she'd refused to acknowledge the story existed. Something about that led Fluttershy to believe there was some truth to Sombra's story about the odd Gold and white sword that carried the name Tyrfing. “I'm sorry about that. Ten, one hundred, one thousand years, and I still can't kick this habit of mine.” The woman sat back down in her large arm chair and rubbed at her face. The normal morning grogginess that was usually Celestia's appearance had set in. All the same, in the moment she was in her stance with those wings flared out in that single beam of morning sun, the woman looked to glow herself, with each feather shining out in the dark room.

The girl realized she was still in a defending position, so she uncurled herself and got out of bed. It seemed the butterfly print pajamas were last night's choice of dress. Another day, another morning in clothes she didn't put on. Celestia was still trying to recover from her sudden movement when Fluttershy started to get ready. Today was Saturday, the 22nd of March, and Celestia was off. As to why she decided to sleep in her room instead of her own bed was a mystery to the girl, but as soon as she actually woke up, she was sure she would be told.

Shower complete, yellow tank top and blue basket ball shorts on, the girl was ready to go eat breakfast. As she exited the bathroom she stopped to stretch her limbs once more. Before she knew it, she heard Celestia snap, and she was wearing something completely different. It was tight and very stretchy like some sort of exercise material. The top was teal, and it covered from her waist to her shoulders and cut off around the middle of her neck. Thankfully it was warm, but the girl was just itching to put a bra on now. The shorts were a bright red and hugged her body just as tightly as the shirt. Around her waist was a thick tan leather belt that carried her new sword.

The thing that most concerned her though, was the armor plates everywhere. The first piece was a shoulder plate on her right shoulder. It was silver and rounded to her form. It cut off just as it reached her bicep going downward and formed something close to a neck guard just above that. The next piece was a series of smaller silver plates that ran across the top of her wings, just like the gold ones that Celestia wears. After that was a plate on her left elbow that felt... incomplete. Like there was more to this somewhere that she wasn't wearing. Like the first piece, it was silver and very rounded to shape with her body. Her left hand was now wearing a teal fingerless glove that had a metal plate across it's wrist with her name engraved in Harmonian runes. On her right hip was a curtain hip plate. It was large and covered down to about the middle of her thigh. Her left leg had a knee plate that, like the elbow, felt incomplete. And finally, her right ankle had a metal band around it that covered the outward facing part of her ankle.

With that in place, she was almost a mirror for the Queens, Sombra, and Athena. Tentatively, the girl decided to see just how far Celestia had gone, and with her new gloved hand, she pressed on the shoulder plate. A flash of light went off, and just like her foster mother had done once before her, she was completely armored. Her entire body was now covered in a sterling sliver, round plates all around her limbs and torso, without a single weak spot. She quickly realized that she was also wearing a helm now, and her eyes were covered by a visor with some kind of heads up display to it.

“That didn't take long. It took Athena half an hour of inspecting every plate before she actually tried to put the rest of her armor on. Tap the gem on the back of your helm to remove it. It's much easier to speak that way.” Doing as the woman said, the girl searched her head for a protrusion, and once it was found tapped it with her left hand. “Why...? Why do I have this? I'm not...” The woman stood and approached the girl.

“I told you I would never send you away when you were a child, and now I have to reconcile my own lie, even if it was unintentional. I never thought I would, really, but unfortunately, fate had another plan. But I'll be damned if I send you out there unprepared. For the next month, you and I will be undergoing training in a special kind of permanent pocket dimension that I've developed with Light. For one day every week, we'll train in there. In reality, we're going to get about a year's worth of training done, but time will only pass at a minimal rate. In three days, we'll have three hundred and sixty six days worth of training”

The woman's fingers began to glow, and she snapped once more. Now they were underground again, but where this was in the castle, Fluttershy couldn't guess. “How big is this place?” The girl asked, unsure what kind of answer she would get. The woman nodded her head and then turned to the girl. “If I had to make an educated guess, this castle reaches about ten miles below sea level.” To put this in perspective, the castle the Iscandors lived in was at the peak of Dragon Spine Major, the largest mountain in Fauna major, which was three miles above sea level. Fluttershy had never been past the third underground floor before two days ago, and the living space that they occupied ran only just a few thousand feet above the rest of Upper Canterlot. From what Celestia said, that makes the 'castle' about thirteen miles tall overall.

“Right now, we're not anywhere near the mines, so we're just three miles below sea level, or what's known as sector 6. the mines start at sector 10. The castle only occupies the top half of sector 1 for reference.” The woman turned away from the girl and started to walk down the corridor of steel that made this area. As they moved further in, there were windows all along the walk way which showed that they were actually at the top of a chamber of some kind. It was a very, very large cavern that looked like it had it's own ecosystem. There were trees, a lake, grass, animals, and a small wood crafted cottage just in the center of it all before the lake.

“Time wise, we're about to spend twenty-four hours in here. In reality, we're about to spend one hundred and twenty two days in here. This is Asgard.” The woman stopped to take in the scenery of the cave under the mountain. Fluttershy stopped with her to get a better look at the giant place. There were even clouds overhead, and some kind of false sun hanging at the top of the cavern. If each sector was a mile high, this was likely all of sector 6. The two reached the end of the long walkway that was embedded into the side of the cavern, the girl clinking and clanging as they went along. They reached an elevator with a screen pad. The Ascended woman's hand began to glow, and then was placed on the pad. It ran a check of some kind, then it started to speak in a computerized voice. “Celestia Iscandor confirmed. Please register new entrants.” The woman turned to the girl.

“sigh. This system is redundant and needs to be updated. But, things are as they are. Go ahead and take the armor off if you will. It needs your hand print.” The girl realized she was still wearing her armor, and then pressed her left hand against her right shoulder plate. The armor flashed away, but the girl thought she didn't feel any lighter. “Does that... armor weigh anything? I'm not wearing it, but It feels like nothing's changed.” The woman put her hand to her chin to think for a moment.

“Yes and no. You see, It's an Aerolite alloy. When Starswirl crafted our armors for us, he found a way to incorporate the otherworldly metal into it, but he ran off before we could figure out how he did it. More than a thousand years went by, and we still had no clue as to how to replicate the weightless armor effect like him, even after discovering all the texts he'd written about his magic.

It wasn't until Light showed up did we figure this stuff out. In the dimension he's from, there is a similar material that they've used for centuries. While this isn't quite the same, he can still manipulate it in ways that we wouldn't have even thought of for another thousand years. After a while, I found a way to reverse engineer my own armor using his techniques, and split this alloy down to it's elemental level. As it turns out, the only way to get Aerolite into another form is to bash it with neutrons until it separates into two compounds, which we still don't know what are composed of, then super heat that with the metal of choice.

The odd compounds will then bind with the new element, and stop the Aerolite from floating away from gravity, while creating a unique space suspended alloy. If force is applied, it will move, however, it's quite odd in the fact that gravity doesn't seem to affect to the material. But more on that later. Go ahead and put your palm to the scanner.” This was beginning to reach quantum physics, and it was still too early in the morning for that. The girl dropped her line of inquiry and placed her hand on the scanner. The machine then said “Fluttershy Heron – Iscandor recognized. New security clearance granted. Sector 6: Asgard, is now open.” The octagonal metal plate that didn't previously seem to exist slid back into the wall an opened up to an elevator. The woman walked inside, and then the girl followed closely behind.

“The reason that not everyone is allowed in here is because one needs an armor set to get in. The armor I make is pressurized, air tight, and lined with magic, but the magic that keeps this place running is not safe for terrestrials like you to enter. Once we're inside, you will be fine to take it off as the field of this pocket dimension is what will kill your average being, human or otherwise. With that said, go ahead and reequip.” Fluttershy pressed her plate again, and the armor flashed on once more, then Celestia did the same. This was the second time she'd ever seen the woman in all her golden armor, and the first she'd seen her with the helm. She then noticed the woman's bright white wings. They weren't covered, save for some gold plates that ran along the top of each wing to the last joint in the appendage. Then she realized her own wings were the same.

“W-wait a minute, what about our wings? They're not completely covered, wont they... um... disintegrate or something if we enter?” The woman then raised a gold clad hand to poke Fluttershy's wing with. Instead of feeling the metal finger, it touched some kind of field that sent a teal ripple all over her wing and back to the plates. “Have a little faith in your Mother please.” She said in a sarcastic tone. Satisfied with that, the girl kept quiet and the woman pressed a button on the elevator. The door slid back into place, and then they started to descend. A few seconds passed, and then the woman grabbed the girl.

Surrounding her in her embrace, and shielding her with her white wings, the elevator started to rumble. They were enveloped in some kind of field, that was of all kinds of colors at once, and seemed to strip away the world around them. The sight was disorienting, and the shaking only increased as they continued to descend. The woman kept a tight grip on the silver clad girl, who thought she was going to vomit into her helm. Then suddenly, everything stopped. All was silent, and the elevator door slid open again.

“Welcome to Asgard.” The computer said. The woman released the girl, then slapped her shoulder plate, sending the majority of the gold armor away. In standard dress for the Day Queen, she walked out of the elevator, and stretched. She then turned to the girl who was still trying to catch her balance in the elevator. “It's quite the ride for your first time, but come now. It's time to get to work.” The girl had found the ground, and crawled out of the elevator. Once she made it to grass, she stood. “Oh, gods, that was awful.” The woman nodded.

“We'll get settled today, and tomorrow in Asgard time, We'll begin the real training. The entry ride is more than enough for one day.” The woman winked at the girl then started toward the lake, and the young Angel followed quickly behind. For the next 'year', this would be home. Days, weeks, and months passed, and finally the time to leave the first session of training in Asgard had come to a close. Upon returning to the 'real' word, Fluttershy found that she was far stronger than she had ever been in her entire life. She went so far as to challenge Zephraim to test her new strength to see just how much she'd grown over the past four months, or really single day as everyone else kept correcting her to. The match was intense, but the brother still had her beaten. With a new goal in mind, the next week passed and the 29th arrived. She woke to Celestia in the morning, and then the two set off for sector 6 again.

This time, the goal was to increase her ability to perform counters. While she was decent before, one of the major reasons Zephraim would win is because he could accurately and effectively predict the girl's movements and react to deal decimating blows. In terms of physical strength and speed however, Zephraim was the closest match she could get. The months go by, and the girl once again improves by leaps and bounds. Another match comes along, and this time, Celestia watches to see what would need to be done next. This match is even closer than before, but in the end, It came to who was better with a sword, and that turned out to be the male Angel once again.

April 5th arrived and Apollo was home for his and Zeus' birthdays this weekend. The schedule had been interrupted, but the eldest of the Iscandor Children decided that the girl in Asgard would be a great opportunity to test some theories he'd been working on, so he joined the two in Asgard for the last four months Celestia intended to be there. The session ended, and Fluttershy had learned a great deal from her eldest brother. As it turned out, he was masterful with magic in ways that most could never imagine. Using secret magic that Fauna has kept from the world, he was able to mimic the flight of an Angel, and become the girl's sparring partner within Asgard.

Armed with new techniques, the three exited Asgard, and later that night, Zephraim was put to the test once again. The room that all the Iscandors sparred in was known as the safety net. It was a large solid box that was thirty feet cubed. Each face of the cube had a magic circle inscribed on it that did one thing or another. The circle on the floor kept the people who enter from dying, the result of Celestia's little lapse in sanity a few years ago after an accident with Zephraim.

The north facing wall also held the viewing room, so this wall had a circle that kept magic from passing through. It could be broken with strong enough magic, but none of the Mages are allowed to cast level seven or higher spells in the safety net. Provided any of them could do that. If anyone of the Iscandor Mages could, it would be Apollo, or once again, the 'adults'. There is another room for that, which is where the 'adults' sparred. The ceiling bore the circle that kept the structure from collapsing. Most, if not all physical sparring was done in here for that very reason. However, nothing of this level could keep Celestia and Luna from breaking it.

The other three circles were of Sombra's design and if at any point one asks what they do he replies with 'Look, you don't wanna know, and if you find out, you'll regret it.' Most of us guess that they have something to do with soul magic, and Apollo says that when he found out, he admitted that father was right. None of them could tell what was more frightening. The fact that the most ornery son of Celestia and Sombra admitted to being wrong, or why he admitted to being wrong.

“Now then, little brother, let's make a wager.” The entire family had gathered to watch this round of the fighting among the standard Angels of house Iscandor, and Apollo had decided to stroke his younger brother's ego. “At this point, I haven't seen you in long enough time to test your skills myself, but I'll make this bet anyways. My proposition; defeat Fluttershy, and I'll let you take my jet to Anya for a week.” He had always wanted to go back ever since the family trip, but never had the chance to. However, this was Apollo he was dealing with.

“And if I were to lose, what would you be getting then?” The Orange headed man smiled. “Oh, you know very well what I want.” The younger brother stepped back. “Ha! Ten years, and you still can't get over it. I'll take your bet, and you better know you won't get it out of me!” The brothers shook hands and looked deep into each others eyes, trying to crush one another during their hand shake until the both let go. The girl had no idea as to what had just happened, but then Apollo took her away from the arena to talk immediately after.

“Alright, Fluttershy, I need you to listen very carefully here. You aren't just fighting for your own pride, but for a relic of my childhood that that little shit stole from me ten years ago. You remember that thing I taught you a few weeks ago?” The girl thought back to her last time in Asgard, then pinpointed what he was talking about. “Oh, you mean the thing where I spin-” The man covered her mouth. “Perfect. You do that and you're guaranteed to win. Good luck, little sis.” The man snapped his fingers, and then popped up to the viewing room just above the arena. He liked to warp from place to place as much as his mother did. A snake eyed Celestia caught her eldest son.

“What did you just do?” The man took a step back, still clearly afraid of his mother's wrath. “I simply decided to make this a little more interesting. That's all.” The woman rolled her eyes. “I spend four months with you in Asgard, thinking that maybe you grew up, but the moment you're around your brother you prove me wrong. Well done Mr. CEO. Well done.” The mother sarcastically clapped and the son took a bow. “I only aim to please.” The eldest son then took the com device at the viewing room console.

“When I cast the signal, begin. And remember, don't let him beat you. Good luck!” From inside the room, Zephraim started to yell something at his brother, which was clearly obscene, judging by the girl's now reddened face, but was muted before then. The man's hands started to glow a bright orange, and then an orb of light appeared in the center of the arena. The number three spun around inside of it, then changed to two after a full rotation. One came around, and finally the word GO came up.

Immediately, the battle started. The two Angels were already sword to sword in seconds. A clash of sparks flew and then the Angels were jumping from wall to wall, clashing swords in the center of the room one after another. If it weren't for their wings being so large and bright, the younger Iscandors likely wouldn't be able to keep up with the fight. The male Angel had managed to catch the female's foot and toss her to the ground. He then tried to dive bomb her, but was kicked in the ribs before he could land his attack, and sent into the wall.

The man jumped off the wall he landed on back at the girl with a full arc swing of his blade ready. Seeing that now was the time use the new trick Apollo had taught her, she blocked the attack as it came, then used her position to spin the man around her body and send him into the ceiling. Following this, she took his falling body in her empty hand, and then drove his face into the floor. However, as she took hold of his head, the man smiled at her. Before they crashed to the ground, he said the words “Got ya” and suddenly, he wasn't there anymore.

The girl then realized he was behind her, and with a quick swipe of his sword, the girl had a good sized slash in her back. “Game over.” The man said. He was standing triumphantly in the center of the arena over the girl, but then something was wrong. While in the Magic circle that kept them alive during a fight between each other, wounds wouldn't heal until after the fight was over, or someone had reached the point of death, at which point the circle would take over immediately and heal it.

However, now the girl's wound was glowing blue and healing itself. The only problem being: one, it wasn't a death blow, and two, Celestia's magic was yellow, not blue. The male Angel turned to the box with a confused look, staring directly at Luna. Her hands were on her arms, there was no way this could have been her. On top of that, the safety net was on. Unless she was out to kill, her magic shouldn't be able to make it into this room.

“Wait a minute. What's happening?” The man turned to his mother, unsure as to what was going on. However, the next words spoken didn't sound like anyone they knew. “You who dares attack my vessel! Prepare for your death, at the hands of Mizuli!” Inside the safety net, the girl's entire body began to glow blue. Her skin became pale until it was almost periwinkle in color, and right on top of her right shoulder plate, a mark appeared. It was a Harmonian rune to be sure, but one that neither Queen recognized. Celestia and Luna both put their hands to their chests at the same time.

“What is this... burning I feel?” The Night Queen began to brace herself against the window to the safety net. The others could see that a mark of similar shape was glowing a bright white from her chest like the one on Fluttershy. The now glowing girl began to float with her wings spread out. “Fluttershy? is... is that you?” The other Angel said tentatively.

“Feel the wrath of your god, human!” She raised her hands just above her head, and then crossed them. At the same time, two bright blue circles of runes appeared on the wall, and then a torrent of water cascaded into the room, sweeping the man into it's whirl pool. “Everyone, get out! Mizuli is going to flood the castle if we don't do something!” The Day Queen had applied her armor as soon as she finished speaking, and the wave was beginning to reach the window.

“The minute this breaks is the minute my circle will crumble! Luna, grab the boy! I'll deal with her.” three seconds passed, and those present with it were armored. The eldest son collected the younger Iscandors, and warped away with the two boys. The former king took the older Iscandors and did the same. All that remained was the unarmored father, and the two Queens. “If we intend to save the boy, then we must move now. I will break this window, then you rush to get him.” The two armored women nodded, and let the giant do his work. The man shot his left hand out, and the small silver charm on his wrist turned into a large silver hammer about as tall as he is. He took one step forward and let the hammer slide back in his hand just enough so that there was about half a foot of length for his right to grab onto. He then took the hammer in both hands and twisted his torso, bringing the hammer across himself to the window. The ornate gold lines on the hammer began to glow with a bright white light, and as if it were nothing, the three enchantments and the window itself were shattered.

In a second, Luna dashed to Zephraim, took hold of the Angel and warped back to light with the boy in hand. After assuring that her son was safe, Celestia then jumped into the watery vortex. As she moved, all the water around her evaporated. Each droplet that touched her armor was super heated to the point of turning into pure oxygen. “And what would the great Divinity want with the goddess of water?” The girl's body said. “I, am not Divinity, and You are in possession of my daughter! Release her at once!” The goddess looked shocked for a moment, the let out a hysterical laugh.

“Then you are his chosen? I must say, he picked quite the woman to give all his power to! Fine then! If you wish to receive this girl, then you will have to take her from me!” The two water spewing circles stopped and then the water settled to the bottom of the room. The girl raised one of her arms and a column of ice formed from the floor to below her feet. She then spread her left arm out, and water cascaded around it. The water froze into the shape of a gauntlet with a large blade coming out from the side. The gauntlet was then surrounded with what could only be described as a void of black nothingness, for nearly an inch around it.

“I don't know when she received your powers, but clearly she is not ready for them. I have one condition before we begin, Mizuli.” The girl raised a seat from the ice and sat down, crossing her legs and keeping a smug smile while staring down the golden armored Queen. “Oh? And what might that be, daughter of Divinity?” The golden woman removed her helm and returned the smile.

“When I crush you, I want you to tell the other gods to stay out of my girls.” The Ascended raised her left gauntlet, and it began to change. Above her wrist spawned a deck, and outside of her arm, a gold matterwave. “Cocky, little demi-goddess! Let us begin!” The girl stood and crushed her chair of ice with a wave of her hand, and in unison the two yelled, “Duel!” Then the goddess took the first turn. “Ah, it seems as if I should simply test you here for now. Pray to me, and maybe I'll let you live.” The woman quickly sank to her knees and put her hands together. “Oh please, lady Mizuli... may my foot in your ass not hurt nearly as much as I'm going to make it...” She said not taking her rage burning eyes off the goddess possessing her daughter.

“Insolent fool! You'll regret your words soon enough! To begin this game, I activate The Chasm Abyss!” From every where around the two players, the room seemed to vanish into an underwater pit of some kind. Below them was nothing but black empty space, and now it looked as if the entire place had filled with water, only, no one needed to gasp for air. “Ooh, a field spell. Scary.” The sarcasm seemed to swim over the goddess entirely. “As it should be!” The day Queen continued to cross her arms and roll her eyes.

“You are now in my territory! While I control this card, water monsters I control gain 500 attack, and further more, those in my hand whose levels are four or lower may be special summoned at no cost! With that said, I summon Bringer of the Chasm!” From the ice made disk, a mist of some sort was cast out. Then the water around it looked to crystallize into this strange fish-man looking creature. It had blue scales and teal gray clothing that all looked to be ancient ceremonial garb of some fashion. It carried a sort of staff with a strange ornament around it's neck. It resembled a mirror, but... there was something inside. Celestia thought she'd heard of a person who held this same kind of creature, but couldn't place it.

“When my servant is brought to the field, he fetches me any spell with the word Chasm in it's name. As such, I will bring myself the Mirror to the Chasm!” The creature raised it's hands in the water and started to freeze it into a circular shape. The ice then shattered into a larger version of the ornament that he wore around his neck. He then tossed the mirror to the Angel behind him, and as soon as she touched it, it turned into a card.

“Thank you, my servant.” When the goddess spoke that time, it was not in her own voice, but Fluttershy's. The woman at the other side of the chasm nearly lost her balance. “Odd. Never once have I thanked a servant. In any case, he is no longer of use to me! I activate the effect of Mirror to the Chasm! Using the effect of my servant, Bringer of the Chasm, who allows himself to be tributed for the entire sacred Ritual! From the deepest depths of the third plane, the beast of my own creation rises to his throne under the sea! Come forth, level 8, Chasm Leviathan!”

The false water in the air began swirl and gather around the mirror that reappeared on the field. On the other side, the beast that was seen in the monster's mirror was beginning to swing it's massive claws. It punched once, and the fish-man was starting to be pulled toward it. The vortex swirled faster and faster dragging the creature in as it struggled against the current. Finally, the creature was absorbed by the mirror, and then the beast inside began to smash the mirror that kept it locked away. One crack. Two cracks. A circle of cracks. The mirror lit with a blue light, and out of the shattered glass came the sea monster. The beast filled most of her side of the room, and was covered in deep blue scales of bright sapphire with teal fins as sharp as razors running along the apex of every curve and limb. The beast Coiled itself around Mizuli, and then lowered itself to a resting position with it's head near the girl's body. The girl then began to stroke the beast's chin with her finger.

“Oh, if it isn't my favorite widdle pet!” The Day Queen's jaw almost dropped. Fluttershy was clearly still there, but just wasn't in control of herself. On top of that, Mizuli didn't have a full grasp of what was going on either. “Hmm... this is concerning... But no matter. Dealing with you will be time long enough to take my vessel under my control. When Leviathan is summoned, you take damage for each card in your hand by times 800! This is the end, daughter of Divinity!”

The goddess realized, she was still petting the beast, and then slapped the creature. The sea monster roared, then turned it's head toward the woman, and began to suck in water. A shard of ice came off of each card in the Ascended's hand, and flew into the creature's gaping maw. Once five were obtained, the beast then fired a giant chunk of ice at the woman. However, the ball was set aflame and simply melted before it reached her.

“My dearest Mizuli, she who is so very out classed right now, you must do better than that pathetic display. At this rate, I'm afraid that any one of my children, let alone the one you're possessing, could trump you right there. It would be a shame if I were, say, my sisters second son. Why, you'd have already been beaten, and he'd have yet to take a turn. Now, why don't you run along and leave my daughter alone, hmm?” The girl's hair began to gain dark teal stripes, and her eyes changed from their normal shade of blue to a deep indigo.

“You DARE, mock me again, wench!? By what sorcery are you still alive!?” The Ascended simply rolled her eyes. “If you must know, you triggered the effect of my Alchemist of Helios. If I were to take effect damage, I may discard him to gain that amount of life points instead. So you've failed to kill me once, now why don't you try and kill me twice? Or rather, give up now, and spare me the trouble of humiliating you?” A quick look to the woman's life point counter proved her true.

“You, wretch! If you think this is over, then the snake has already bitten you! I activate the second effect of Leviathan! Once per turn, I may banish a spell card from my hand to retrieve a monster from my grave! Return to me, Bringer of the Chasm!” The girl tossed one of her cards into the chasm below, and let the thing sink until it was no longer visible, then the fish-man jumped up in it's place. It did a flip off the chasm's edge toward the possessed Angel and turned into a card that floated into the girl's hand.

“And once again, I summon him with the effect of The Chasm Abyss! Then I'll have him fetch the Chasm's call from my deck!” The fish-man reappeared and this time, he made a horn out of ice. He then tossed the instrument to the girl, to which she said “Thank you, Mr. Scales.” The girl then proceeded to make a confused face. “Mister... Scales? But... this is the Bringer? I have never given my servants a name! Is this your doing, Divinity's Wretch!?” The Ascended let out a whole hearted laugh.

“You... you still haven't figured it out? Sweet Divinity, some goddess you are.” The woman continued to laugh at the goddess in the girl's body. “Such insolence! I shall kill you a thousand times over!” The woman's laugh continued, even harder now. “Good luck with that. I hope you have another 'vessel' lying around somewhere to come at me with, because next turn, I'll be taking you out of my daughter.” The girl raised her nose at the woman and smirked. “Be that if you make it to your turn! I activate the effect of Chasm's call! I may add two monsters to my hand from my deck by discarding one card. I add Carpenter of the Chasm, and Monarcha, Kind Servant of the Chasm.”

Upon saying the last monster's name, the girl's voice and eyes went back to their original color, then reverted to Mizuli's. I see. This isn't a full possession at all. Mizuli barely has any hold over her body, and much less of her spirit. I need to have Luna prepare a shield next turn to keep from hurting her. The Ascended thought. The horn that the fish-man had thrown to her reappeared on the field, and made a few tones sound out, echoing down into the chasm. From somewhere within, two things came up. One was a steel hammer that was decorated in a very similar manner to the mirror she used to summon the sea dragon, and the other was an exact replica of Fluttershy's pendant. How...? Was the one she had the original? And if that's the case...

“I will now summon my carpenter using the Chasm.” The next thing to appear was a more bulky looking man-fish thing wearing a bandanna over the top of it's head, and holding that same hammer that came from the chasm. Like the Bringer, the Carpenter wore very tribal, ceremonial style teal-gray garb, and a sort of half dress and shorts thing that was found in the third world countries around the world. This ones scales were closer in color to the beast the looked to protect it's master, but not nearly as beautiful as the sheer sapphire like scales of the snake like thing.

“And now that I have assembled enough creatures, I activate the effect of my servant, Monarcha.” Once again, at the mention of the Harmonian's name, the girl's voice was used rather than the goddess'. Likely chances are that the pendant she holds and Monarcha herself are good enough together to keep Mizuli out. Hmm... I need to find a better way to integrate that thing into her armor then... the sheer fact that she was possessed just a few hours after taking it off means that Mizuli has enough of a connection to actually take her body for herself. If I don't this could happen again, and that could end poorly. The Ascended thought.

“When I control three or more monsters, I can special summon Monarcha from my hand! Um... wait. What am I doing here?” The girl said just before the card left her hand and took a spot on the ice disk. But just as it did, her eyes returned from their blue to the deep indigo of the goddess. The goddess then reached up to place a hand on her fore head with a look of pain on her face. On the field, the water began to swirl around a spot on the goddess' side of the chasm, and in the blue light that she always appears in, the Harmonian descended. Like the other two, she wore a similar teal and gray set of clothing with tribal markings everywhere. As she usually does, she carried a standard length longsword aside her tower shield. However, now the object more resembled the pendant that Fluttershy has. Actually, It was almost a human sized version of it.

“Celestia? Why are you dueling Fluttershy?” Said the pale winged scantily clad Harmonian. The Ascended rolled her eyes for a third time. “How do you not already know? If you haven't completely checked out for the day, you'll notice that your incarnation is currently being possessed by your boss.” The Harmonian looked at herself, realizing what she was wearing, then turned to look at the currently ever growing more blue Angel behind her. “Lady Mizuli!?” The girl raised an eyebrow at the Angel woman. “You... why... do you look so familiar? You... you are not one of mine...” The girl continued to inspect the Angel in front of her. Then she shook her head.

“I am afraid I do not know you, however, your spirit seems to reside within this girl, who is my current vessel. In any case, you are my servant now.” The Angel woman's face deadpanned. She then turned to Celestia. “I... think I know what happened now... Please, please tell me you can fix this?” The ascended smiled and nodded. “Yes, I'm working on that. However...” The woman's face showed signs of irritation. “Making it to my turn is taking ages, so if the princess would ever so kindly GET ON WITH IT, that would be much appreciated.” The goddess giggled at the woman.

“You really think I'll let you see your turn, do you? Your misguided beliefs will be your end! I activate the effect of the mirror! By tributing the Bringer once more, I will perform a ritual summon! The beast of my darkest emotion, creature of rage, be released from your dark prison down beneath the depths and answer my call! Come forth, level 10, Kraken of the Chasm!”

Once again, the mirror began to suck the poor fish-man inside it. This time though, he didn't struggle, but bowed to the girl, then he simply walked inside. Once again, the kindness of that girl warms the hearts of even the goddess' creatures. The newest beast didn't struggle to break the mirror in any fashion, and the thing glowed blue just quickly enough to shatter shining glass along the seafloor. This creature was far larger than the other, and Celestia was surprised that it even managed to fit in the room. It resembled a wingless dragon more than it did any sea creature, yet it's spines kept in line with that of the Leviathan, and it's claws were webbed rather than being separated. The dragon's scales far out shined that of the smaller beast, and looked more like pale blue diamonds. The girl then flew herself up to the face of the dragon.

“There's my big snuggle bear! Aren't you just the cutest?” She began to scratch under the dinosaur's chin, to which it started to wag it's tail. This girl could reduce any animal she came across to an obedient dog if she set her mind to it. This did not last long though, as Mizuli gained control again. “Blast this infernal interruption! Why do I keep calling my creatures as if they were children!? Gah, I do not understand! When I defeat you in the next moment, you will tell me how to fix this! I activate the effect of my Kraken! By sending any number of monsters I control to the grave, I can inflict damage to you equal to their combined highest stats! Monarcha, Leviathan, and the Carpenter are all sacrificed for my Kraken! Take the wrath of the water goddess Mizuli!”

Monarcha managed a quick look of shock to the Day Queen before being swallowed by the sea dragon, along with the other beast and the bulky fish-man. In total, the highest stats of Monarcha and Leviathan reached 6500, but with the addition of the Carpenter, it came out to 8200. The Reptile had taken in as much as it could, and then a blue light started to come from the back of it's gullet. It reared it's head back away from the Fluttershy who was still affectionately petting the beast, and then released a large blast of energy from it's mouth.

“It seems you have yet to understand just who I am. So allow me to put this in perspective for you!” The woman discarded something, then raised her hands to the energy blast. It collided with her, and she collected the entire column of energy into a single ball in her right hand. She raised the ball and crushed it, like it was nothing. The Angel was stunned. “How...!? How is this possible!?” The woman flew up to reach eye level with the goddess. “End your turn, whelp.” The goddess had nearly a look of fear on her face. “A-as you wish...” The Ascended closed her eyes and smiled.

“Oh? What's this? Is reality setting in? Has the goddess realized that the children of Divinity are more powerful than she could ever hope to be? Oh my, this is quite the development. To begin your demise, I will first draw. Twice in the last turn did you active effects that could have taken out any mortal, this I assure you. However, it was the same card of mine that returned those points to my life instead. You see, the Alchemist can also use his effect in the grave by banishing himself and discarding another card from my hand. And now, my life has reached 16200. Now, my dear, naive, goddess, I have a simple question for you. What is 16200 minus 4000?” The goddess felt a chill run down her spine. Is this what his chosen can do? Did he give them all of his power? How... how could this woman be stronger than I? The raised a hand to her ear.

“Hmm? No answer? My, it was quite a simple question. However, seeing as you are in a state of shock, allow me to tell you. The number in question is 12200. but worry not, this information will come in handy later, seeing as you have nothing left in your hand, and your monsters are merely fodder for your, ahem, big snuggle bear over there, there isn't much you could do now to avoid an attack. To start my turn, I will first special summon my own vassal, the Vassal of Helios. When he arrives on the field without tribute, his attack is reduced to zero, but in return, I am allowed to add a cosmic spell to my hand.”

The man that took place on the field looked like a scribe one could find in the Canterlot library. He wore a simple white robe that only covered a strip of his chest and everything below his waist. His skin was bright orange, and his eyes looked to be made of fire. His hair was also that of flame, yet settled like normal medium length hair. He carried a golden bowl of some sort with a bright glowing flame inside it. The fire in the bowl flickered and a large ember was sent toward Celestia. She took hold of it, and the fire faded away to reveal a card underneath. “You can-!” Mizuli was cut off by Celestia.

“Ooh, she finally says a word! Goodness, I'd thought you'd gone mute. But didn't you hear me earlier? I used the word mortal. However, not in a way that would suggest I was speaking of myself. And I am not alone either. I have a sister with the same power, a budding princess in the north who has recently come into this power herself, and a young student who, with time, may very well supersede my own power. I am no mortal, Mizuli. With that said, I think It's about time to be rid of you. I activate the effect of the Cosmic Time Relativity my vassal has retrieved for me. I may special summon one monster from my banished by discarding one monster from my hand. Hmm... I think Helios Draconis would be the best decision. And with that, your favorite of my monsters comes to the field.”

Another flame headed man arrived on the field. Like the other, he wore a white robe and carried a single bottle of some bubbling concoction in one hand, and a book in the other. This one appeared far younger than the first. “And now for the climax of this little scuffle. To irritate you just a little more, my Alchemist just so happens to be a tuner. I tune the level 2 Alchemist and the level 7 Vassal. Through the flames of the sun, the champion of the scorched earth rides down to defend the people. In times of need and times of glory, restore the balance of the burning plane, Gladiator of Helios!”

The Alchemist transformed into two burning rings, and the Vassal became stars that lined up inside them. A large column of flame shot through the burning rings and stars, and the room was flashed with light. Out of the bright light came an orange skinned man clad in red and gold armor. His face was obscured by a gold helm with deep blood red plumage jutting out from the top. He wore a gilded chest plate that conformed to his muscles and carried a large sword nearly two thirds his own height. He wore a red leather skirt over a chain skirt that covered the upper part of his legs and had belt sandals that ran up his calves. On his right arm was a shield that bore Celestia's Ascended mark, but... something about it was different. In the center of both the Ascended's marks were two diamonds that crossed each other and changed the colors of the parts of the mark that it crossed. However, this mark was missing that.

“This mark has no bearing of Divinity! How could something of your own soul beat anything of mine!?” The Ascended shook her head. “I guess you still don't understand, so allow me to spell it out for you. I inherited Divinity's power! Our powers are one and the same! You failed to realize that in being a goddess yourself, you challenged another! This creature is of my soul, and that alone will be enough to rid myself of you! My gladiator gains attack points equal to the difference in our life points, which puts him at 14700 attack!”

The ball of light the woman had crushed moments ago returned and was absorbed by the Gladiator. His entire body was covered in flames that radiated in the water. Luna, protect her body! The armored woman who was watching from the other room reapplied her helm and then hid herself from view. “When Gladiator attacks, my opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response until after the damage step! This is the end for you! Return to whence you came, Mizuli!”

The gold clad woman stretched her arm out, and as if she had given a command, amd the monster brought his flame clad sword back. He started to run in the pool below toward the sea monster the girl controlled. “No! This can't be possible!” The sea creature shot a beam of energy at the gladiator, who quickly sent it away with his shield. The gladiator charged at the beast and once it reached the chasm's edge, he jumped at it. With a single swipe, the man cut the dragon in two and it's body was engulfed in flames. The Kraken's two halves started to fall, and one was primed to fall directly on top of Fluttershy.

The girl simply fell to her knees ready to accept her demise. “I see... so this is the force of Divinity's wrath...” The girl's body began to regain color, and the monster had crashed to the floor. Her life point counter dropped to zero, and the field began to disappear. Where the monster's corpse would have lain was now the armored Night Queen and the unconscious Angel. The girl hadn't been harmed at all. “Gladiator? My, I have not heard that name in quite some time.” The woman returned her armor to it's pocket dimension and began to walk toward her sister with the girl in hand.

“I haven't had a chance to use him in a long time. However, I would have much rather done so under different conditions.” The blue headed Ascended nodded in agreement. “I'm not fool enough to let you use that against me any more, but this makes me wonder. Are the other five going to be this susceptible to possession by the gods?” The white winged Ascended took her hand to her chin.

“I can't say. But considering the fact that she was already possessed once by another spirit, I feel like she's more prone to it than most people should be. I also think that her pendant has something to do with this as well.” The Night Queen looked at the girl in her arms. The Angel was wearing her under armor and the standard plates that she herself was wearing, but noticed that the pendant she always seemed to have wasn't there. “And what would that be? And for that matter, where is it?” The day queen took the girl's hand and pressed it against her shoulder plate. Upon the flash of light, the girl was armored in her smooth round silver armor. But one piece stuck out. In the center of her breast plate just under her neck was a small silver rectangle with an old marking on it.

“She told me she wanted to be able to see it whenever she put the armor on to remind her of what her father did before her. I didn't think there could be any problems with it considering the caliber of this metal, but now I realize this has an enchantment on it.” The woman lowered the girl's head back and removed the rectangle from the girl's chest plate. Then she pressed the girl's hand against her shoulder again to remove the armor. Fluttershy always sleeps so peacefully. Even when she was a child she always looked happy when she slept. The Day Queen then took a string from her pocket and tied it through the hole at the top of the silver, then knotted it into a necklace. She wrapped it around one hand, then snapped the girl into her pajamas.

“I honestly do not believe I can count the number of times I have seen you put your children in clothing like that. And this one even more so than the others.” The Queens exchanged the girl and the Day Queen placed the pendant around her neck. “I can't say I could either. Hell, I even dressed up Twilight a few times just because I wanted her in girl's clothes for a change.” The bat winged woman called forth her magic and began to suck the water filling the heavily damaged safety net into a portal to somewhere. After that was done, the two queens exited the now ajar door.

“Ugh. This mess is going to take weeks to repair.” The white winged woman nodded. “I know that. I had your husband break my circles. Redrawing those is going to be a bitch and a half. And while we're on the subject, how did he do that so easily!? I would have at least had to use a level eight spell to do it, or pull out Tyrfing, and even then, I'd need a couple of slashes per circle! He just broke three like they were nothing...” The Night Queen smiled and raised her nose.

“Believe it or not, my dearest could likely take down the castle, provided he put his mind to it. That is to say, the whole castle. Sector 13 through 1. However, using that kind of strength is very taxing on him... He has the ability to be as strong as we are at full power, but he... isn't immortal...” Celestia bit her lip. The two remained silent until they reached the elevator, and the Night Queen didn't raise her head the rest of the hour.

Several hours passed and April the 7th arrived. The moon was a full in the night sky, and Luna had taken to watching the Heron girl sleep. The Ascended felt more at rest now than she did earlier. Most every one else had either gone to sleep or left for work, namely the night walkers, also known as her and her kids. The jobs they filled were usually protective in nature, save for Eclipse taking an interest in the special intelligence gathering agency, or SIGA as it's known, that Celestia started centuries ago.

The Night Queen sat by the window with it's curtains drawn so she could watch the moon as it rose and fell in the sky. It had been a long time since she simply sat and watched it like this. She then noticed her ears flicking, and thought she heard the sounds of movement. In the bed, the girl was beginning to stir. The Ascended decided it would be a good idea to check the time, so she took the disk from her pocket and unlocked the screen. 03:22, the clock read.

Odd, the Night Queen thought to herself. She tried to think back to the last time she'd remembered Fluttershy ever being up this late, and the memory of her entrance into the core last month was the only thing she could think of, and even then, Celestia took her away before the clock struck midnight. The girl's eyes opened in the pale moonlight and she sighed.

“The same ceiling again...” The girl sat up stretched her wings and yawned. She started to exit her bed, then felt at her arms. “I wonder what Celestia put me in this time...” To which the Night Queen decided to answer. “Is it not the bunny ones? Sister said that you typically prefer those to sleep in.” The girl left her bed and walked toward the bathroom. “While I'll say that's true, she always does it. Sometimes I like variety. That's why own other pajamas. If I don't have to, why would I wear...” The girl stopped dead in her tracks and looked at the woman sitting by the window.

“L-L-Luna?” The Night Queen stood from her chair. Her blue eyes glowed almost brighter than the moon in the dark of night, while the moonlight poured in from the room outlined her and passed through her wings, giving her a violet blue shade to her body. “Is there something wrong, dear?” The girl relaxed a little. This wasn't nearly as much of a startle as Celestia suddenly being on top of her last month. “Oh, no, uh... you're just... here is all.” The woman raised her hand like she was going to say something, but then decided against it and put it back down.

“Oh, well... I see the you are fine now, so if you wish it, I will go.” The girl shook her hands at the woman. “I didn't mean it like that, um... I just didn't expect to see you, I don't mind it though.” The woman sat back down and looked back out the window. Her hair flowed down the back of the chair like a waterfall of violet blue and silver light. Much like her eyes, the woman's hair had little flecks of silver in it everywhere. “Ah, very well then.” A hint of a smile crept up the woman's face.

“Tell me, dear Fluttershy, would you like to hear a story?” The woman turned her head away from the window to look a the girl. Fluttershy wasn't quite sure what to think. The Corona Iscandors always liked to tell everyone that the minute their mother says that famous line, Luna puts her story telling talents to work, and they usually last a good hour or so. The girl wondered what time it was, but it felt like she wasn't going to get to sleep any time soon.

“Oh, uh, sure. Just let me go to the bathroom first.” With that, the Night Queen nodded, and the girl set out to accomplish her initial goal from waking up. The Ascended drifted her gaze back to the moon and watched it as it shone in the night sky. Before she knew it, the girl had pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, shuffling her wings in her light pink bunny print pajamas. “Okay, I'm ready.” The woman let out a small laugh.

“Is... is there something wrong?” The violet blue headed woman waved the question away. “No, no dear, everything is fine.” The girl had brought a blanket, moved the most comfortable chair in the room to the window, and had obtained a cup of something warm and sweet that drifted steam into the air. She looked like she expected to be here for a long time. “Very well then. You know the story of what happened to me around two centuries ago, right?” The girl nodded in response. “You mean the banishment?” The Ascended nodded.

“Yes...” The girl felt she wanted to retract that word after the face Luna made. “Well, this story takes place just after I returned from the other world. You see, one hundred years is quite a long time for the average human. In that time, a person can be born, have a family, watch their children grow, and die all before it is complete. And as such, with the passing of generations, information fades, yet, some how, stories still remain. Tales of heroes and legendary people seem to stick in the minds for generations, one after another, only becoming more embellished with time.

A month had passed from when Light and I made it home, and that was enough time for us to settle into the flow of this world. It was time that I returned to my duties as the Queen of Fauna to help take a load of off my sister's shoulders, and... it was hard to say the least. At first, no one recognized me. All the ones I had known had been long dead, and their children's children had taken their places as the staff in the castle. And this generation of attendants almost seemed to share the faces of those I once knew. Each day I would always mistake one of them for their great grand parent only for them to correct me with language I seemed to have been left behind by.

When the time came to announce my return to the public, even those in Canterlot questioned if I was really the person that all the statues and pictures across the country depicted. You see, you have known me in this appearance all of your life, but before I had been possessed, I actually resembled my sister far more than I do now. My wings were just like yours, covered in beautiful dark blue and silver feathers. The first nickname I ever received was the raven of Fauna, oh so many years back, just after we gained our powers. I carried that name all up until that point. The 'raven' who was nearly the spitting image of her mother, had become the pale skinned, bat winged, pointed ear, and fanged woman who suddenly came out of nowhere and declared herself a Queen from the past that so few remembered.

To put it lightly, I wasn't well received. I looked like a mixture of my former self, and someone entirely different, even if that is who I was not but a hundred years prior. The people grouped into factions as to whether or not I was who I claimed to be, and after time passed, the argument simply faded. I was ashamed of what had happened, and to be honest, It was my own fault too. Had I never tried to interact with that monolith that the Elements warned me about, I would likely still be the same as I was so many years ago. But, that is not what happened, and as much as I would like to have not become this way back then, I am who I am.

It wasn't until the day, or night really, that lower Canterlot was attacked by a rouge faction of Mages that declared the government to be corrupt that this opinion was given the chance to change. You see, at the time, there was a general in our army who went by the name Daeta. He fervently insisted declaring war on Tenshen from the very moment he earned his position a few years before I arrived home. He was a survivor of one of their attacks on the Aliatus peninsula that his parents fled to Fauna from, and he had been gathering followers after Tenshen's second attack on the peninsula thirty years ago.

He positioned his group to assault several district buildings in the name of Tenshen in an attempt to encourage us to take the fighting directly to them. But as you know, a war with Tenshen would have caused massive destruction to the planet, and there is simply no reason to waste life like that. I had positioned the core in the western part of Lower Canterlot where we had determined the false Tenshens to be and eventually closed in on their whereabouts. In that time, I had come into the habit of keeping the streets clean of thugs and drug dealers, and a little legend about me started to grow among the citizens. The lady of the night, the vampire of district 86, the heroine count, they called me. I would hear all of these names passed around as I patrolled at the end of the day.

Soon enough, we located the base of our 'Tenshen infiltrators' and that night, stormed it. And then, I was presented with the face of the man who had been attacking my city. He greeted me as a name that had long passed. 'If it isn't the Raven of Fauna' he said, as he laughed at my lonesome entrance. With him were four other Mages dressed in ridiculous, over stereotypical, outfits that resembled Tenshen culture when I was a child.

At the time, I couldn't help laughing at them, and feeling a little of that hopeless, haughty, arrogance that Celestia likes to play on when she deals with a foe who is far out classed. Of course, the general had a few nasty things to say to me about that, and after I dealt with his men, it came to reveal who the man truly was underneath the facade. He held a child hostage in hopes of escaping, and this is when I learned what the people of the district thought of me. The little boy yelled to me, 'please, aren't you the Queen of the Night? Save me!' I couldn't very well ignore the boy, but at the same time, I couldn't simply kill the general in front of him.

In the end, I managed to stop the general and save the boy, just as any story book would tell you, but when I returned that boy to his family, they didn't call me any of the foul things that people had once said when I had returned, nor did they call me by any of the old titles I used to have. They simply called me, 'Night Queen.' The internet was fairly new at the time of my banishment, but now, the entire world was embedded in it, and over a single day, the public view changed its opinion of me. I was finally the person I used to be known as before I became who I am now, and suddenly, I felt better than I ever had.”

Now this was interesting. Luna was quick to avoid talking about what went on around her banishment years ago, and suddenly, Fluttershy was now aware of how the Night and Day Queens thing all started. Celestia had said that Luna was the reason the either of them had those titles, but never elaborated on it. She would always say 'That's her story. I'll let her tell it.' Then usually the topic was either dropped or forgotten. However, Fluttershy wondered what this had to do with her.

Luna likes riddles, and more importantly, to be cryptic when giving advice. The girl thought what this might have to do with her, and then she felt a certain line in her story stick out. “Um... you said something about playing on Mother's arrogance right?” The woman raised her left brow. “After all that, the first thing you ask is about is my sister? Truly, there is no spotlight for the Night Queen.” Fluttershy immediately reddened and covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, no, I didn't... I mean, um...” The Ascended had retrieved the reaction she had hoped to get from the girl, giggled at her, and then brought the topic back.

“I simply jest with you, dear girl. Yes, I did mention something along those lines.” The girl suddenly realized she was pulling at her wings again, then tried to return to the conversation. She coughed in her hand once. “Ahem. Well, I ask about it because I don't think I've ever heard about this before. But... I have this weird feeling I've seen it first hand at the same time. Before I woke up, I was having this strange dream. It was so surreal, and... wet. Like, everything was underwater, and you were there, but in all of your armor, and so was mother, but she had her helmet off... and I just remember her face and... I couldn't tell you what she said, but every last one of them was either a furious taunt or a truly mean spirited remark.”

The Night Queen bit into her thumb. I wonder what I should tell her... would it be best for the girl to know the truth? Or rather... no, Celestia did all of that to try and rescue her. Surely she will understand. “Hmm... to be completely honest with you dear, that actually happened around seven hours ago.” The girl sat back in her chair in shock, nearly spilling her drink all the while. She reacted quickly to catch the cup and set it down gently on to the plate she brought, then moved it to the window sill without breaking eye contact with the liquid. “Are you sure? I mean, she was dueling me. I don't know that I would have survived if she was really as angry as she was...” The woman sat back in the little chair made of her own magic that she'd occupied for the past few hours and rolled her finger over her chin.

“I see... tell me, Fluttershy dear, do you know where your little family heirloom is? The silver pendant?” The girl immediately slapped her hand to her chest to make sure it wasn't there, then she jumped out of her chair and glided to her night stand next to her bed. There sitting just beside a lamp base, was a small thin silver rectangle with her father's crest carved into it. The girl let out a sigh of relief, then walked back to her chair by the window with it.

“Well, I guess you know where it is now, if not then.” The woman said with a hint of laughter in her voice. The girl felt her ears begin to redden again. “Here we are. Now, do you know what kind of metal this is?” The Ascended said as she took the pendant and held it up in the moonlight. “Hmm... I... hadn't really thought about it, but if I had to guess, I would say silver based on it's size and weight.” The Queen shook her head. “You are... almost correct. There is more than a high chance you've never tried to do this, but watch as I bring a flame near it.”

The woman snapped her right thumb and a small flame brightened up the area around it. She then brought the flame to the pendant, and as the flamed climbed up the object, it turned a very intense, bright jade green. The girl was astounded by the color. There weren't many elements that produced it, and out of the few that did there was only one that could make this color that she knew of. “So... this is actually made of Antimony?” The woman nodded.

“Strangely enough, this metal was used in place of silver back in my childhood. During the early days of Fauna, the continent didn't actually know what real silver was. This land is unnaturally devoid of it for some reason, and without any way to establish what shiny object we were really trading with, this is what came to be.” The woman had put out the fire, then gripped the metal object in her hand tightly to take the heat away. She next handed the pendant back to the girl. “But... isn't this stuff kinda dangerous?” The woman rocked her head.

“While I can not say no, it is not quite as scary as the health department would like to make it. When we were children, Gaia, Sephira, and Archea, all traded it as currency. It was the equivalent of a bit back then. It was noted that one should not swallow the coins, and sometimes, children would become ill doing so, but it was never a death sentence. However, because the coins had the potential to make one ill, after we rose to power, we had the metal phased out of out currency over time. It still has many practical uses though, and jewelers like to fashion trinkets with it.

All the same, your pendant has magic on it too. Ancient magic. Magic that predates the country at that. For what ever reason, you are very easily susceptible to spiritual possessions, and apparently someone further back in your line than we can trace knew this. This pendant has the ability to keep you in control of your body, and keep other things from taking it. There are those out there that are willing to shove you aside to protect you, even if that means taking control away from you. Never be without this object if you can.” I'm easy to possess? The girl thought. But... does that mean I was dueling mother or... was some one else?

“I think I'm beginning to get it... but... if not me, who was dueling mother?” The Night Queen looked out the window, and then had a shallow smile creep up her face. She stood, and the chair she'd been sitting in dissipated from the world. “Unfortunately, I no longer have the time to discuss this with you. My shift is just about up. But, give it five minutes, I'm sure you'll have someone else to talk to. Until next time, dear Fluttershy.” The Ascended raised a blue glowing hand above her head, then snapped herself away from the room. The girl slumped back in her chair.

“Five minutes until Mother arrives huh?” She noticed that the moon had faded away from view and the sun was beginning to creep up into the sky. Had it really been almost three hours? And then there's this thing. The girl took hold of the pendant around her neck. I'm sure that my own father wouldn't hand a ten year old a poisonous metal for no reason... The Angel decided it was about time to finish her hot chocolate, which was likely cold now. If she'd really ignored it for all that time, there was no way it was still warm now. She picked up the cup from the window sill, and took a large drink from it. She shivered. Yep, very cold. She'd decided to finish it off anyways, no since in wasting it, then went back to thinking on Luna's words.

The girl sat in her chair in silence for exactly five minutes before Celestia silently warped into the room. Even though she had been anticipating the woman's arrival, her sudden appearance still got the better of the Angel and she yelped. “Oh? I didn't expect you to be awake. How are you feeling sweetie?” The girl pushed the hair that moved over her face back to where it belonged. “I'm fine. Just a little wired. I thought this was coffee when I decided to make it, but as it turns out it was hot chocolate.” The Ascended turned her head to give the girl a slightly confused look, but decided it better not to question. Instead, the woman moved exactly to the same spot her sister had been sitting, made a chair of almost identical design to her sister's, and then took a seat by the window in the same position her sister had been sitting in.

“Mmhmm. Definitely related.” The girl said under her breath. “What was that?” The Angel had forgotten who she was dealing with for a moment and then proceeded to follow up with a quick lie. “Oh, um... hot chocolate? Yeah, I think I'm going to go make some more. Do you want any?” The woman gave Fluttershy the same look from earlier, likely suspecting bullshit this time around, but simply nodded her and let it slide. “Oh, sure. But... if you're going to make more, I'd prefer mine without cream and sugar.” The woman smiled at the girl, who bit her lip and stood to make her way to her coffee maker. As she walked away, coffee cup in hand, the Day Queen then turned her gaze to the slowly rising, drowsy, red sun on the horizon. It looked like she was thinking of something else.

The bunny clad Angel ripped open four packets of hot chocolate mix and poured them into the pot. The brown, sugar filled, sand like granules covered the surface of the pot and then the machine came to life. With a press of a green glowing button, hot water instantly started to fill the pot and combine with the sugary mix. As the water began to rise, the girl wondered if she should ask about the dream, or the reality that had happened when she was only half conscious. She was about to turn when the Day Queen spoke.

“Do... you have plans today?” The girl started to twirl her fingers around each other. That was a bad omen. Those words only came out of Celestia if she had errands or chores for whoever it was being said to. But it's not like she's still in school like Zeus and Nebula, so she was simply on call with the core right now. “Um... not really...” The girl turned around to see the concerned face of her mother looking back at her. “Then... would you mind running an errand for me later today?” The girl sighed. She knew this was where it was going.

“Sure. What do you need me to do?” The machine had finished dispensing hot water and the clear glass pot was half full with a sweet smelling brown liquid. The girl poured herself a glass, and then filled an empty coffee cup for her mother. She returned to her arm chair and presented the hot to the touch cup to the Ascended. “Thank you. For this and for that.” She said as she raised the cup. “I'm quite over scheduled today with several meetings with one diplomat to another, and it's so bad that I can't even keep an eye on my student today. All the same, I needed to retrieve a package that arrives in Middle Canterlot from the Central Bank. It's... not something I could have my attendants get due to the... fragility of the object in question, but I trust you to be able to handle something like this.” Another thing Celestia liked to do was avoid talking about something dangerous when she needed someone to do something for her. Last time Fluttershy ran an errand to the CB for Celestia, she wound up carrying a bomb into Canterlot castle.

“Okay, but I would really like to know if it's going to explode this time. I don't know that I can handle it if don't know what it is.” The woman went to biting on her thumb. That's another red flag. She's thinking hard about something. She sighed. “Very well then. Due to the nature of this object, you mustn't tell anyone else what it is, alright?” The girl nodded her head. Celestia's demeanor had gone from apathetic to serious in a second. “Yes ma'am.” The woman sat forward in her chair. “Recently, there was an expedition into northern Symphona.” As in the country at the top of the world? The one covered in Ice?

“Their archeologists have found a very peculiar stone that radiates an energy unlike any they have ever seen. Or really, absorbs it. They couldn't identify what the substance was made out of, meaning that it was not of this earth, and touching the object had... unforeseen consequences. However, because of the location of the stone, after my SIGA agents learned about, I bought it personally under a pseudonym for a rather unfortunate price. Rest assured, it will not explode. As a matter of fact, it will do the very opposite of that. The bank has very specific instructions to not use magic anywhere near it, nor are they to touch it with their bare hands. Same goes for you.” The girl nodded. Okay, this is a weird one... she thought to herself. “When do I need to be there?” The woman took an oval shaped orange duel disk out of her pocket and flicked the screen awake. She flipped through a few pages until she found the information she was looking for.

“Noon on the dot. When you get there, show them your badge and say that you're here for the afternoon special. After that they'll ask you what time of day the sun is at it's laziest, to which you answer, dawn.” A code? First she buys it personally, then she sends it to the most secure place in the country, and finally, she uses a code to retrieve it on top of all that? What in the world is this thing? “Do... do I need to wear my uniform?” The woman scratched her chin.

“Hmm... Not sticking out would be in your best interest here, but I would also rather you take your sword with you too, just in case. There are some crazies that like to snoop around the lower rings of the city. I honestly wish I'd this place built in this part of the city, but it needed to be available to everyone. Take the coat at the very least to hide your sword. You might be able to get away with it because it matches your feathers.” The girl twisted her shoulders to look at her wings. She'd never thought about it until recently, but the coat she received did in fact match her feathers. She wondered if every angel in the core had a special coat made to match like that. Zephraim usually wears white, so it's possible. But then again, Nebula's is red. However, he also wasn't a normal Angel either.

“Okay then. When do you think I should leave? I'm still not the greatest flier around. Especially in this house.” The girl spoke the truth. Regardless of whether or not her marionette had been cured, she wasn't a strong flier to begin with. Both the other Angels in the house could out do her with relative ease. A sixty mile trip over standard elevation would take either of them about half an hour at full speed. Her best time was around an hour for that distance at most.

“Given the elevation of the castle relative to the location of the bank, even you should only take few minutes to get there. Just go from the roof whenever it gets close to noon. It's getting back that has me worried. Word of mouth is the least secure form of communication, and I don't know who else knows what is inside the box. To be honest, I'm more concerned about what would happen to anyone who attacks you rather than you being attacked. If someone does touch that thing... the consequences. might just cost more than their life.” Once again, the girl found herself holding the tips of her wings.

“In any case...” The woman downed the hot liquid in her hands. “Be ready around then for anything you can think of to happen. And if anything goes wrong, call Sombra. My schedule starts in a couple of minutes, so I have to go. I'll talk to you when I get home, okay?” She set the cup down on the window sill and stood as her chair faded away. “Yes ma'am. I'll see you when I get back.” Celestia patted the girl's head, then warped away. The girl leaned back in her chair and raised her cup to finish her drink. “What in the world is this thing?”

Like the Day Queen had said, everyone was busy this morning. She didn't show it earlier, but Luna was a few seconds away from passing out at the breakfast table this morning, Light was... omnipresent and not there at the same time, if that was even possible. The man's body was there, that's for sure. He was the only reason his wife didn't fall into a plate of waffles. However, he didn't say a word, and his eyes were closed the whole time. He was also wearing something over his left ear that looked like something out a scifi show. She was wondered if he made that himself, or if her brought it here with him after his last visit home.

The younger two Iscandors were here and gone minutes after destroying whatever they had decided to eat. The eldest four didn't show, and Zephraim grabbed something and left without saying a word. Celestia was never there, and Sombra only walked in just to leave after he saw what was being served. As far as Fluttershy could tell, the man only ever ate meat. And meat alone. At no point had she ever seen him consume anything green or sweet, even if either of the two were served with his meal. They just went somewhere else on the table.

Shortly after the sleepy Queen managed to finish eating, the non-present body of her husband carried her back to their chambers, and then Fluttershy was the only one at the now empty table. The girl leaned back in her chair to look at the impossibly high ceiling in the marble room. The windows were letting in more sunlight than she could remember seeing in the castle as a whole, and the bright light seemed to get swallowed right before it reached a certain point on the western wall. The pointed arches with their golden lined embellishments that made the doorways glistened in the sunlight just as bright as everything else in the room did. The violet drapes that dressed the tops of each window looked to glow everywhere they took light away from the room, and the golden ropes that kept them from expanding further did the same.

The sun was just beginning it's ascent above the horizon, and the orange glow from earlier this morning had been replaced by the bright ball of white and yellow she was used to. The Angel smiled to herself. It was hectic at times, but this was home. She returned to her room later to tend to her birds, and after a few hours of reading, the time had arrived. Her alarm went off at eleven forty five, and she was already dressed in her uniform to go. She made her way to the roof, and stood there for a moment.

There was still an imprint of Jupiter's nose that didn't quite repair after their fight last month. She looked around the area and more memories of her years here began to flood back. A slash mark on one of the pillars that lined the roof from when she was thirteen and got in a fight with Zephraim. At the time, they were both shorter than Sombra, and when the father came to break up the fight, he picked up either by the collar and threw them against the wall. 'Fine, you wanna fight? Come and get me.' he said as the two angry teenagers charged him, hopelessly out classed.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that almost all of her sibling spats happened up here. Most of the time it was Nebula still trying to beat her, getting ever so close to doing so, and then failing right near the end. One time with Zeus over what to name a new bird, another time with him about how a book should end. In what little memories of her childhood, she couldn't ever think of a time when she was so... active, or happy. Even when she lived with her father and brother, and all those other people of whom only three remained, she was never quite this... alive

As not normal as the people around her are, she felt normal, for once in her life. Her duel disk started to vibrate and generate a tone again. Eleven fifty five. Time to move out. The girl took a running leap off of the building, and spread her wings out to catch the air. The strong winds that flow along the Dragon Spine range made this place great for down hill travel, she barely had to do anything. The wind over Canterlot took the girl down past the upper ring and into the large trading center that is Middle Canterlot. As per usual, the streets of the mountain were alive with people from all places of the world trying to get ahead in life using Fauna's large competitive market.

The largest building in this district would be the Central Bank, and it covered two entire street blocks within the Grid based city, but one wouldn't be able to tell that just by looking. This building sticks out in Canterlot because, unlike most other buildings here, this one was made specifically of a dark polished stone. The original owner of this building had the dark material imported from the Crystal city in the north to celebrate the city being annexed into fauna six centuries ago, and this place has been maintained ever since.

Rather than expand vertically, when Middle Canterlot became as populated as it did over the last century, the bank started to dig into the mountain for more space rather than build upon it. Ever since the 2900's, Canterlot has expanded almost four times it's original size. Middle Canterlot was actually Lower Canterlot about a century ago, and most of the buildings here were living spaces before Kiebzen built their second headquarters here. However, once the tech giant moved in during the 2890's, it wasn't long before the whole of this district was absorbed by it. Other companies followed suit over the next fifty years, and just like that, the City wasn't just the home of the two Queens any more.

The girl decided that being aerodynamic was uncomfortable and unbuttoned her coat to give her legs some more freedom. Unfortunately for those that train to be fast, nature decided against making Angels very aerodynamic, so to combat this, they made clothing that could reduce drag when flying. However, without a helmet, the coat can only do so much. The girl jumped from the roof of the bank and landed just in front of the two glass doors. The Angel scanned the area for anyone of note. She was taught to always look for those who looked as if they didn't want to stick out, and met the four C's, or Caution, Color, Canter, and Credibility.

As far as she could tell, there was only one person who met all of them. He stood to the right corner of the bank away from the tellers, near seats but not sitting down, and kept his eyes from making contact with anyone. That's Caution. He wore almost entirely black in the mostly black and gold building, and at the right angle, he might just blend in. There's Color. He didn't move much in the minute or so that she observed him, but when he did, he made very slow, deliberate movements. If she weren't looking for him specifically, she might not have noticed him yet. That's Canter. Finally, he looked like someone of the lower working class based on his style of dress. This bank serves more often than not people with at least six figures stored away in this very bank. There's Credibility. Unless he was a child with an adult, there's no reason to believe he has any business being here. Of course, he could just be a poorly dressed inconspicuous rich man trying to avoid being seen. But, the chances that were far lower than him planning something along the lines of theft.

There was also a single guard by the opposite corner of the bank who seemed to take note of the man as well. It struck her more odd that there was only one guard on a busy day like today. Something didn't feel right. The girl decided to ignore it for now, but keep herself aware of her surroundings just in case. There were six tellers, and during this hour of day, all of them were open. It was just before noon on a Monday, specifically, April the 7th.

Most of the work force gets paid at the end of the week and retrieves their gold the following business day, which of course, is when Celestia's package would arrive. There was a line of about seven or eight people at each booth, so Fluttershy decided to take the shortest one and wait. Luckily, she didn't mind waiting and had 'saintly patience' as Sombra liked to say. She'd expected something like this given the time and the day, so she took out her duel disk and opened her Manga app and turned on her headphones. As much as Zephraim likes his Anyan stuff, everybody else is just kinda pulled into it. Before she knew it, He'd addicted her to the stuff, and now it's all she does in her free time.

What's more unfortunate is that lately she'd been thinking she wanted to draw like her favorite mangakas, and once her brother got wind of it, he's offered her a drawing lesson nearly every time he's seen her. About half an hour and one full volume later, it was finally her turn. She was glad she'd got there when she did. She had at least ten people behind her. Looking back, she saw that the man she'd been keeping an eye on had sat down, but was still watching the tellers... waiting for something.

“Excuse me, miss?” the teller said behind her. The girl turned around as quickly as possible “Oh, I'm sorry. Um, yes. I'm...” the girl reached into her pocket and picked up her silver coin. “Here for the afternoon special.” She said as she slid the coin into the drop slot for the teller to inspect. It clanged against the metal a few times before the teller took it. She inspected it, then returned the coin to the slot. “Oh, I see. You know, It's been quite the nice day outside. I wonder what time the sun is at it's laziest...” the woman had leaned up against the desk and lowered her eyes without breaking eye contact with the girl.

“I imagine it's dawn.” The woman stood from her chair. She wasn't very much taller than Fluttershy, but was older by about six or seven years. She had brown eyes and dark red hair hair, but she was also very pale. Upon further inspection, the girl could see that the teller's name was Velvet, and her ears were pointed. V-strain people were fairly rare, but one could find anything in the streets of Middle Canterlot. The woman flashed a fanged smile to the girl, then took a bow. “Very well Ms. Heron. You package arrived a few minutes ago due to an interruption at the air port. If you'll excuse me while I retrieve it.” The woman took a turn and disappeared behind a wall. The girl stood and waited at the booth, whistling a tune.

She couldn't remember where she'd heard it before, but for some reason, she was very fond of it. “Ms. Heron?” Velvet had returned and she was holding a black box, and was now wearing white gloves. The woman reached under the green-gray polished granite counter top and slid open a metal door on her side of the window. She gingerly placed the box inside and then closed the door. The girl opened her side and took the box. “Thank you for doing business with us. We hope to see you again.” The woman took another bow, then returned to her seat. “Thanks. And, on a side note I'd also like to withdraw two thousand bits from my own account while I'm here.”

The woman nodded. She turned on her computer, and pulled up Fluttershy's account. “Certainly ma'am.” Now that she was employed by the core, the girl made a rather hefty sum. Compared to those who manage to get a good job straight out of college, she was making a little more than them at sixteen. The woman opened a drawer on her side, and removed four pieces of long thin gold that had the words, Five Hundred Bits engraved on one side and the number engraved on the other. She then typed something into her computer, and then slid the four pieces of gold into the drop slot. The girl picked them up and threw them into her pocket. When she got back to Upper Canterlot, she expected to buy a new computer for herself with her own money for the first time.

The girl turned to walk away, but just as she did, the entire room went dark. A bright red light siren came on, and then was quickly shot out by some bright green bullet. Immediately, the door to the bank was sealed by a metal wall. The other windows were similarly covered with an iron wall, and now the entire room was dark. The screams of several people rang out, and then more gunshots sounded off. The light's came back on, and at the back of the building were four people, and to her surprise, none of which were her suspicious character. They were all wearing sandy white cloaks, two men, two women, and four automatic rifles, one of which was magic powered. In the midst of all this, Her suspicious character had disappeared. The guard started to charge toward the group, but was just as quickly gunned down by one of the women in the group.

“Yeah, that's right you bunch of rich little shits! You're about to get robbed!” Said a woman with the magic rifle. She had most of her head shaved, and the rest was medium length almost red, dark orange hair that fell to one side. She had a few scars along her face, one running just past her cheek, and am other under her eye on the left side that was shaved. She was very tan, like she was from Leviathinos to the south, but didn't sound like it. She had an accent, not a Levian one, but one like she was from Heartland. She raised the rifle at the crowd of scared civilians.

“Now, now, little golden geese, no need to be afraid. You won't end up like Mr. mall cop here if ya do what I say, got it?” One man started to raise his hand, and it began to glow with an intense dark blue. As soon as the leader saw it, she nodded her head to the biggest guy in her group, who then sent a bullet through it. The man yelled out writhing in pan and fell to the ground clutching his now three fingered hand. The woman robber walked toward the man on the floor and then stepped on his injured hand. She ground her boot into it.

“Ya shouldn't a done that.” She said with a wicked smile on her face. “Now then, I think we've all learned something here. This big guy's name is Rampage.” She said as she pointed to the largest man in her group. “And when he was a kid, he killed his dad for beating up his mom. Noble, ain't it? His dad was a mean ol' Mage, so he really, really, don't like magic. So, if ya wanna keep your hands, I suggest you don't try anything stupid.” The Leader looked to the woman and the two children behind the injured man. “Now then... I'm guessing you three are the family of Mr. stupid over here, ain't ya?” The frightened children pulled closer to the mother.

Fluttershy felt a tingling in her left hand. She just now realized she was gripping her sword's hilt as tight as she could. She could feel her blood boiling. This woman was threatening children. In her mind she knew it was a bad decision to step in right now, but this was starting to walk on thin ice. She could likely take three of them before they could fire their weapons with the enchantment on her sword activated, but she also had precious, and dangerous cargo. If she wasn't careful, she could end up hurting one of the innocents in the room, or worse, losing the cargo. She pried her hand off her sword and then ever so slowly, started to move toward the exit.

One of Celestia's swords could easily cut through most metals on this planet. With the enchantment on, Fluttershy could destroy the gate that's keeping the people here trapped, and let the police force in. But before anything though, she decided that now was as good a time as any to call Sombra. She turned around slowly and reached for the duel disk in her pocket. She swept her thumb four times, then pressed in on the screen with it. The core had a code word to say at any time they needed help, and if another member hears it, they'll rush to aid. The call rang in her headphones five times. No answer. The girl swept at her disk again, keeping close watch on the woman.

“Now then, would all the adults in the room pull out their cash and come hand it to my pal Rampage over here? O'course, ya don't have to, but it's either your cash now, or a bullet in your head, and your cash later. And if you have less than a thousand on ya, I'm sure our lovely tellers are willing to get it for ya. You tellers met Rod right? Come on everybody, turn around and give Rod a wave.” Crap, there were five of them, the girl thought to herself. Sombra didn't answer again. Behind Velvet was another man with a magic rifle like the woman's. Where did they get these? The specific kind of rifle they have is slated for military use only, and isn't sold in the state. As a matter of fact, under the leaders cloak, she was wearing standard issue boots and pants... was she a defector?

“Did you find that thing we were told to get?” Thing? Oh gods, they were hired to take this. “Naw, there ain't nothin' where Ah can find it. But there's somethin' weird about the room over there. Ah think somebody already has it.” This man had a particular kind of southern accent. Great. Now it's only a matter of time. “Oh, do they? Go check again to be sure. We don't get paid if we don't get the box.” She said as she looked around the room. The man disappeared behind the walls, then the lead robber started to speak again. “How about it then? Whose got the box?” No one answered the woman.

“Come on people, I ain't got all day here!” The woman shot the bleeding man's hand again, this time, destroying it entirely. The magic shot sound echoed through the room and the man screamed again. The people started to file in and drop money into the bag that the other female robber was carrying, and one of the two children started crying. The other robbers were checking each of the civilians for the box as they went. Fluttershy thought it best to simply fall in line and put her gold in the bag. They were doing pat downs to check for the box, and luckily it was small enough that if she put it in the right place, they wouldn't find it. Ten minutes, and the force would bust down the door, and stop the robbers. If she could just hold on that long...

The leader left the man she'd shot on the floor, and walked toward the woman with her kids. The sat down on her heels and raised the crying child's face. Sombra didn't answer again. The girl felt the tip of her pommel with her thumb. In her mind, the words back away started to repeat themselves, slowly clouding her thoughts and memories of Namiva started to flood back all at once. “Oh, come on, big man. You're a boy ain't ya? Boys don't cry.” back on the floor the man with one hand started to get up.

“You get the hell away from my son!” He said through gritted teeth. The robber woman put her hand on the little boy's shoulder. “Hey big man. Your daddy is about to do something stupid again. Last time, he got his hand shot off. You should tell him to quit, huh? Otherwise, he might get hurt again.” The little boy nodded. “Daddy please, don't!” the man had already made it to a kneel. “I said-!” the robber cut him off, her grin now as wide as it could be. “Too late!” She fired a bolt through the man's head. He collapsed on the ground, and blood started to pool on the floor. Fluttershy could feel tears start to well up. This can't be happening. How can this be happening? But more than sorrow, she was beginning to feel rage burn deep in her stomach. The woman stood up.

“Any of you other dumb fuckers wanna try something fucking dumb!? I got plenty of bullets to go around!” both children were crying now, as was the mother they were clinging to, who screamed out the word, “NO!” The robber gained an irritated look. The robber grabbed the crying mother's face and stood her up straight. Sombra didn't answer again. “Listen here, you little bitch. I really don't like crying, m'kay? So if ya don't shut your damn mouth and make your kids quit, I'm gonna kill the three of ya, got it!?”

The woman instantly stopped, and then tried to calm the children down. Fluttershy had had enough. The purest rage she could feel was building in her heart that she couldn't suppress any longer. She was likely to get hurt, but she couldn't let this continue. “Back away from the children...” Said the girl in the back of the line as she drew her sword. Her words were soft, but filled with anger. “Oh ho ho, lookie what we got here. Some dumb little, dairy-cow-bitch tryin to be a hero. Take another step and the kid gets it.” The girl gritted her teeth. She wouldn't let the child die if it cost her her life. “I said get away from him!” The woman turned the gun to the girl.

“Oh, so the cow want's to die huh? Alright. No skin off my back.” the woman fired a green bolt in Fluttershy's direction. The girl said something in a language no one else understood, and then she cut the bolt in half with the sword in her left hand, sending it into the walls. “Shit, this bitch is for real! She's gotta have the box, kill her!” The three other robbers threw the people they were checking on the ground and started to fire at Fluttershy who yelled “Get down!” to the people in the bank.

Faster than the first could fire, she reached her, knocked the gun out of her hand, then sliced it in two. She then bashed the woman in the head with her sword to knock her unconscious. “You damn bitch!” said the big bald muscle head whose name was apparently Rampage. He swung the gun at her, likely trying to avoid killing his comrades with the weapon.

However, once again, Fluttershy was far faster than him. The girl cut the gun in half, then flipped her sword around in her hand and moved behind the hulking man. She turned the blade facing her, then slammed it into his head three times. The giant then fell to his knees, and collapsed on the legs of the unconscious woman. That's two.

The smaller man in the robber group didn't waste any time firing his weapon at the girl. Luckily she reacted quick enough to deflect the bullets away from herself, but two of the innocents were hit by ones she missed. Even more angry now, she turned the blade on his gun and sliced it in half horizontally. She then spun around and delivered a palm to the man's nose promptly breaking it. She flipped the sword around again and knocked the man out.

When she turned around, the leader was holding the child by the neck with a pistol barrel touching his temple. The girl stopped dead in her tracks. “Bravo, little miss dairy cow, bravo indeed. Rod!” The lead robber yelled toward the teller stations. “What is it!?” a man's voice yelled back. “Get your ass in here! We got a bitch from Eclipse, and she killed three of our guys!” The girl objected the statement. “Killed!? I didn't use enough force to kill anyone!” The leader returned her smile. “Oh, you didn't? Ha! HAHAHA! That's fucking rich. Yeah you did. Look.” The woman shot her pistol three times, each bullet landing in the heads of her comrades.

“One, two, three. All dead, by your hands, little dairy cow bitch.” The girl was shocked. This woman was... evil. If she was going to kill off her own comrades anyways, why would she wait until now and not shoot at me while I was dealing with them? By now the other man had made it into the room. “Oh, shit, Gem! Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” The man ran to the pile of bodies leaking blood into the floor from their gun wounds. The man turned to the girl and raised a pistol. “You bitch! You killed my wife!” Crap! He's too close! The girl thought. The man pulled the trigger on his weapon, and the girl juked the bullet. At the same time, she tried to jam her sword through the gun, and while she managed to do just that, she also cut deep into the man's hand. The sword absorbed all of the blood that was left on it, and then the runes on it turned a deep crimson.

The girl pulled the sword back, and flipped it again to knock out her target. Before she could do that, a gunshot fired. The man collapsed, now with a fourth hole in his skull, and his body fell to the ground. The girl felt her stomach churn, and she wanted to vomit. “Hot damn, that's four for four! I outta thank ya, dairy cow, now I'll get all the money.” The girl felt tears begin to form in her eyes again looking at all the dead. “WHY!? Why would you kill your own friends!? What purpose does it serve!? No one had to die today!” Liquid was streaming down her face. The woman scratched her head with the pistol barrel.

“You deaf, or just fucking dumb? Look, I'm gonna take all this here gold, and I'm gonna boot. I ain't no match for you. But you're just a little skim milk dairy cow bitch who ain't got the guts to kill. You touch me, and this little guy dies, got it? I don't even care about the damn box alright. You keep it, It's waaay outta my pay range for dealing with Eclipse.” Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to act. If she did, this monster would kill the boy, and she didn't have the reaction time to deal with that. The robber moved to the bag of Gold under one of her now x comrades bodies and hoisted it over her shoulders with her magic.

“You've been a real help dairy cow. Here, I'll give ya this as a reward for my buddies here.” The woman's finger started to move on the trigger. The girl was paralyzed, her eyes widened. no. she began to squeeze. NO! The woman fired. “AHHHHHHHHH!” The girl screamed in tandem with the gunshot. She watched as the projectile flew out of the child's head. The robber dropped the child's body, and before she knew it, there was a sword in her chest. The girl's eyes had changed to a bright red color, as did the sword's runes. The robber dropped her bag of gold and her eyes went wide.

“You... you bit-” The girl dug her sword further into the robber's body bringing her face as close as she could to the robber. Blood started to flow out of the robber's mouth. She then pulled the weapon out of the robber's side, cutting a crescent ark in the woman's body. The robber started to fall to the ground, and said one final phrase.

“I guess... you were whole milk... after all...” The lifeless body collapsed. The girl's eyes reverted back to their normal color and she looked at everything before her. Her hands were covered in blood, she had it on her face, and her sword was just as red. Her coat was stained red, and there was a body of a woman on the floor who had been killed by a deep gash that went through most of her body, starting at her chest. Next to that was the body of a little boy, around seven or eight, bleeding out on the polished stone floor. The girl dropped her sword, and sank to her knees in silence.

She let out an agonized scream that filled the building. Shortly after that, the metal wall that had deployed over the door was lifted by several people in police uniforms. The officers all ran in and started taking care of the wounded, and the Angel simply sat on the ground in a ball, crying to herself. An officer of a higher rank approached her not long after the rest of the force had filed in.

“Ma'am? Are you alright?” The girl bit harder into her lip, trying her hardest to keep the tears in. she managed to stop long enough to look at the red sword she'd done the deed with, and then into a crouch and continued to cry again. “Come on, I'll help you up.” The man tried to pick up the girl, but she pushed him away. She grabbed the sword and threw it into it's sheath. She ran out of the door, and started to fly away. She didn't know where she was going, but she would never come back. “I ki-” She felt her stomach churn again.

“I've done something awful... I could never face them again after what I did... I'm sorry... mother...” Tears flowing, eyes blurry, and sand in the wind from the west, the girl fought the wind as she went down the mountain toward the red forest. She had sinned. And sinners belong in the place where the most heinous of sinners died. In the Red trees of the Everfree. The place where it all began.

Like Father, Like Son (10)

The air around the cottage was hot. Much more so than it had been anywhere else in this gods forsaken town. Unlike the dry air of Pony Ville, the air around the pink haired girl's cottage was full of humidity. And the girl herself was wearing a long coat like Zephraim's. Twilight couldn't believe either of the two could manage with all those clothes on. But then again, she herself was wearing a jacket, a t-shirt, and cargo pants. There's a good chance their clothes are just as enchanted as her were.

However, more so than all of this, she was wondering just how the two knew each other in the first place. Zeus only mentioned one sister, yet here Zephraim is asking this girl why she ran away from home. Whose home? His home? Hers? And another question; why did she just up and attack him? The line of thought was quickly interrupted by the duel being started between the Monochrome Angel and the pale yellow Angel.

“I caught the dagger, so I go first!” The Angel girl only seemed to nod in response, which brought Twilight to another question. Has this happened before? Zephraim was kind of expecting all this. On top of that, so was the girl. Just who in the world is she? The Mage was beginning to make her own head spin when the Terran tapped her shoulder. “You okay Twilight?” The Mage shook herself.

“Oh, me? Yeah, I'm fine. It's just... this doesn't make sense to me. The way they move suggests that they've know each other for a long time, but I can't even begin to think of why.” The Terran shrugged. “If ya ask me, that looks like a brother-sister quarrel. I cain't count the number of times Ah've been in one myself. But yer right. It is kinda weird. However, if this goes the way Ah think it is, then we'll know soon enough.” Twilight scratched her head. As bizarre as it was, Applejack was probably right.

“It's been three months! Do you know how worried they've been!?” The opposing duelist bit her lip and lowered her head. If she was trying to hide her emotions, she was doing a pretty terrible job. She didn't say anything. “That's what I thought. Fine. Keep to yourself. We have a mission here, but the minute that ends, we are going home.” The man swiped five cards off the top of his deck, and the girl followed suit. “First, I summon Emerald Outside the Grayscale.”

The man slapped a card on his matterwave, and in a pale green light, a monster was summoned. It was a girl, more or less the same size as Twilight, carrying a sword in one hand, and an ornate shield in the other with Zephraim's mark on it. Like the other Grayscale monsters, this one was simply black, white, and green in color, where every detail on the girl looked as if it were done with a pen. She wore a tunic, had a long windsock like hat, a belt, boots and gloves. She had a boomerang tied to her belt, along with what looked like a various assortment of items found in a dungeon crawler video game.

“Then you'll activate shading apparatus, discard a level 3, and summon Hue, right?” The man scratched at his head. “You already know how this is going to go! Why even bother with a duel? Why...? Why won't you just come home?” Twilight was shocked. He looked... hurt. Something in the back of her mind was screaming at her, but she couldn't place what it was. “Do either of you know what exactly is going on here? It seems like they know each other, but from what little Fluttershy has told me about herself, she was an orphan.” Twilight turned back to look at the tailor.

“An orphan?” Rarity nodded. “The conversation didn't last long, but she said her father was caught in an explosion, and her mother died of illness when she was young. However, she sort of ran away after that...” Alarm bells were beginning to ring off in Twilight's head. Died in an explosion!? There's no way... Twilight frantically grabbed Rarity by the shoulders. “What the?” The tailor paused after looking into the slitted pupils in the violet eyes of the Mage. “What was her last name?” The tailor released herself from Twilight's grip. “Unhand me! I don't know what has you so riled up, but there is no reason to grab me like that.” The tailor straightened her t-shirt sleeves. Once again, Twilight felt it odd that her own clothes were so... casual.

“It's Heron. Her name is Fluttershy Heron.” Twilight felt like she'd been hit by a brick wall. This is... this is impossible! Not one, two, three, but four people are tied to this crap! My father, Applejack's cousin, Rainbow's cousin, and now this girl's father? She knows Zephraim, and Applejack thinks they act like siblings... the only two that aren't connected to the blast seven years ago is Rarity and that other girl... as far as I know... “What's her problem?” The rainbow headed Angel asked the Terran. “Ah'm beginnin' to suspect that she knows more than we do.” Rainbow let air out of her mouth. “Pfft. That's a given. Friggen brainiac Mages like her always do.” The Terran girl turned her head at the Angel.

“Really? Come on now. Yer just mad that she beat ya.” The Terran smirked and leaned down to make eye level with the Angel. Rainbow Crossed her arms and looked away. “Yeah whatever.” Applejack stood back up and focused her attention back on the duel. “Uh-huh. Sure. In any case, she is Queen Celestia's prodigy, so ya might be right, even if ya are stereotypin' her. But my reasonin' is that those two seem an awful lot closer to the heart of this matter than we are. And don't get me wrong, but there's just somethin' about that guy Ah cain't put my finger on.” Rainbow returned her own attention to the duel which had moved forward again.

“Talk to me damn it! I activate Grayscale Shading Apparatus!” Every move he made had anger in it. Somehow, he placed his cards almost violently. “I target Emerald and send Garnet from my deck to the grave, adding Garnet's 3 levels to Emerald!” The yellow Angel yelled at her opponent. “Garnet!? What do you think you're doing? Last time you used that card you got hurt!” Her eyes and voice were filled with concern. Her words didn't seem to reach the man. He picked a card from his deck, and placed it in another slot on his disk. With what little time Twilight had to see it, she could see that something about that card was off. It had a faint, but present dark red glow to it. Almost like a smoke. Oh no. The Mage thought to herself. That was soul art. Quickly, she rounded up the three other girls and her brother.

“When he said we should get behind a wall, I don't think he meant during the fight, I think he meant to move during the duel. I don't know what's going on, but I've got a bad feeling about this.” The other three looked to one another, then back to Twilight. “I don't know about you guys, but if Twilight is afraid of something, I'm pretty sure we should be too.” The dragon boy backed toward the bridge that crossed the small stream that ran through the Cottage's yard. He found a spot in the bank and sat, but continued to watch the duel. The tallest girl looked back at the duel then crossed her arms.

“Now y'all up and got me worried. Let's hang back. Somethin' ain't right here.” The other three girls nodded and followed Spike's lead to the stream bank where spike was. The green clad girl on the male Angel's field was given three stars by a shadowy figure that was obscured by a dark red smoke. All one could see was it's outline. “Because Emerald was targeted by a card effect, I get to special summon a level three or lower light or dark Grayscale monster from my hand! I summon Grayscale Hue!” The girl raised her sword, and then a bright green light shot from it. The man placed another card on his disk, and then the green light returned with a small, black and white spherical robot that had less shading than most of his other monsters, but much more detail to it. Just looking at all the mechanical parts to the orb made Twilight's hand hurt.

“Now I tune the level 1 Hue with the level 6 Emerald! The scales of color flow vibrantly in the wind! Wrap the world in the pallets of light, Saturadiation, the Grayscale Hero!” The adventurer girl turned herself into six stars, and the Sphere transformed itself into a single green ring. A bright light shot through the aligned stars and filled the air with color. From it appeared what looked like a male version of Emerald. He wore almost the same attire, save for the cape and shoulder plates, and carried a shield with the same marking on it, only now, he had a beam sword instead of a regular one. The sword, the shield, and the back of his cape, like his other extra deck monsters, had the color spectrum moving inside them. His skin was normal, and his clothes were black and white like his other monsters.

“Because Emerald was used for the summon of an extra deck monster, I get to add a Grayscale spell card to my hand. As such, I add Grayscale Stability Apparatus. With that said, I end my turn.” The man looked to relax his body. His lighter hair fell over his left eye and covered half of his face. It's winding curls bobbed with the dusty wind of the desert in this little oasis. “Oh, no, they told me what happened to you last time you did this! Don't you hide your face from me! Let me see your eyes!” The man pushed his hair back and then yelled back at the girl.

“And now you talk to me!? Over concern for my well being!? You either tell me what happened or keep to yourself! The entire family has experienced every emotion over you! You don't get to worry about me!” His left eye was... weird to say the least. At it's end, it looked like his sclera was turning a dark green color, and his iris was half colored that same dark red as his soul art. Strangely enough though, the green part of his sclera was letting off some kind of smoky violet aura. The pink headed Angel covered her mouth with her hands. “It's already started...! Zeph, please, stop this... just go home... don't hurt yourself over me...” The man's iris turned ever so slightly more red.

“You stop it! You go home! That's the same place where everyone you care about is waiting for you to return to!” The girl began to shake her head. “I... I can't...” The man's iris was now three quarters red, and his sclera was about one third dark green. “Then shut up and play! You're going home whether it's by your choice or not!” The girl bit into her lip again, then drew a card. “Fine! If you won't listen to reason, then I'll take you out before you can do something stupid again!” The five on the bank looked at each other.

“I don't have them, but I'm pretty sure that that was a brother sister kinda thing.” Said the Angel on the bank. The other three girls simply nodded. “They're uh... kinda acting like kids, aren't they?” The Terran to the Angel's right nodded. “Really, all we are is kids with adult problems. Ah mean, Ah feel like this is some heavy stuff they've got goin' on.” the indigo headed Mage to her left nodded. “You guys don't know the half of it.” The Mage to her left entered the conversation. “Oh really? What half don't we know? I would very much like to hear it if you will.” Twilight paused for a moment. She tried to look away from Rarity, but then the other two were just as close and unavoidable as she was.

“Um... that's not... uh... I really can't say...” Running wasn't an option here, and with Zephraim the way he is now, it could just cost her a few days in the hospital too. “Yeah, come on, tell us what you know. If I know anything, it's the Faunan military, and those two are both wearing Eclipse core coats.” Rainbow said as she pointed to the duel. Rarity turned to quickly look at Fluttershy, then back to Rainbow. “You mean to tell me she isn't wearing a desert operations uniform?” The Angel nodded. “I didn't notice when I first saw him, but just under his neck is a little silver emblem that has the Core's EC logo on it. The girl, or stutter fly or whatever her name is, after she and him started to fight, her coat kinda unbuttoned it's self. And if you look, she has the same symbol on her shirt in the same spot.”

The three girls tried to look at the little silver, almost button sized emblem on the two Angels dueling, but out of them, only Twilight could. Just as Rainbow said, there it was under each of their necks at the start of the collar bone, was a small silver button that had an EC on it. “Oh my gods, she's right.” The blonde was still looking for it. “How'd y'all even see that thing? Ah can barely see the button to begin with.” The violet headed Mage agreed. “I'm with Applejack on this one. I'm not sure what I'm even looking at, save for perfect collarbones. Ooh, how I envy her!” The other three girls simply looked at the tailor with dead expressions. “What? Her figure is a girl's dream.” Everyone rolled their eyes.

“So, that's only a little dykey, but whatever.” The tailor scoffed. “Hmph. Rude.” Rainbow tried to bring the conversation back. “Anyways, tell us what you know. This isn't just some ordinary fight, that Angel guy is doing magic or something, and this chick is probably only sixteen or so and has an Eclipse uniform. How is any of that even possible?” Twilight was drawing a blank. How? Of all times, now was the one that she needed a good lie, but she didn't have any. The Mage scratched at her head until finally she decided she'd give up some of the information she knows. “Okay fine. But he will kill me if he finds out I said anything, alright?” The Angel shrugged. “Whatever. What's up with them?” Back at the duel, Fluttershy had summoned Round Spirits Pendragon and Hectolf.

“While I control two or more monsters, I can special summon this card from my hand! As the stars fade in the black sky, rise again to end the war! Knight of peace, defender of the weak! Bring back balance to the world! Monarcha, Defender of Kindness!” Back on the bank, the four girls at the stream all saw their duel disks start to glow and vibrate. A single card in every disk was shining, and each of their respective incarnations retrieved them. When out of the disk, each card rang out a single note tone. From Applejack, a C. from Rainbow, an E. From Twilight, a G. and from Rarity, a B. “What in the world!?” On the field in a bright blue column of light, the Armored Angel appeared in the center of the mist creatures, Fluttershy's Round spirits. As soon as the light faded, all four cards returned to their normal state.

“Twilight, darling, would you mind telling me what that was?” Twilight almost let out a sigh of relief that their previous conversation had been interrupted so strongly. Instead, she bit her tong, and then replied to Rarity. “To be honest, I don't really know, but this is the third time this has happened today. And with you here, we make a major 7th rather than a C major chord. The more Harmonians we find, the more notes we get, and the stronger they resonate. I don't know what this means, or what happens when we find them all, but this just keeps getting weirder by the second.” Before more could be asked, the monochrome Angel started to speak again. However, something was different about his voice. It was deeper than usual, and his whole iris was blood red, and his sclera was half dark green. The violet tinge on the edge of his eye had also grown larger.

“Well isn't this refreshing! This is the only one of the six I've never met! Tell me, dear sister, what does she do?” The five on the bank in unison said “Dear sister!?” The Angel dueling nodded. “Fine. First, she can only be special summoned by her own effects. Second, once per turn, I'm allowed to normal summon again this turn. That said, I summon Round Spirits Lioncelot!” The girl placed a card on her matterwave, and on the field to the left of her Pendragon, another ball of mist appeared. From inside, a beast of light blue coat and dark blue mane ripped through the ball completely. Like the wolf and the dragon, this creature was wearing armor, only his was a metallic teal blue color, as if it were made of bronze, and this creature carried no weapon. Instead, it's largest fangs were adorned a bronze sheathing and had silver blades that extended just past it's jaw. A bite from this would likely do more than just injure a man.

“If Lioncelot is summoned while I control another spirit monster, I get to add one Round spell or trap to my hand. As such, I add Oath of the Round. Sir Lioncelot, if you would.” She's asking the card if it will do what she wants? I could understand Monarcha, but that's just a normal card... isn't it? Twilight thought to herself. However, breaking her expectations, the Lion turned it's head and bowed to the girl, then materialized what looked to be some kind of brass instrument made of the same bronze color as it's armor, and tossed it at the girl. It flew into the disk, and out of her deck, a single card slid into sight. She grabbed it, revealed it to her opponent as per the rules, and placed it at the left edge of her hand. “That's going to do a lot for you. You actually think I'm going to let you have another turn?” The pink headed Angel shook her head.

“That would be highly unlike you if you did. But you don't get that choice either. If I have to take more turns to keep you from losing to yourself, then I will. However, I'm going to start by trying to end this now! Monarcha's third effect! As long as she remains in defense position, my other monsters can attack directly! Pendragon attacks!” The man began to laugh, and as he did, he brought his hand to his face. “So she's another Perceagel is she? But only when she's in defense? That makes this easy!” With a single movement, he uncovered his ever darkening eye. “Since I control a Grayscale extra deck monster, I can activate the effect of Grayscale Rotation Apparatus from my hand! All monsters you control switch position!” The pale yellow angel gritted her teeth. All three of her round spirits joined Monarcha defending.

“I figured as much. I knew you didn't add it to your hand when you had the chance, so I suspected you had it this whole time.” The man shrugged with a smile on his face. Twilight could see his teeth, and they looked oddly... sharp. “What can I say? As many times as we've played, you've managed to pull that trick on me once. But mother always said...” The other girl finished his sentence. “Dirty tricks only work once.” The man laughed again, but then his mood changed immediately. “You haven't forgotten, after all these years! And yet you still ran away from us... What... what could you have thought to make you disappear? That what ever happened would make us reject you? That she wouldn't love you like her own anymore? That you were a disgrace to us? Why? Why did you leave?” The air whistled as the desert sand filled the silent cottage yard. The girl remained silent.

“Still nothing? Fine! I'll take this as far as I have to to get you to talk!” The girl lowered her pale pink eyebrows. If they weren't as thick as they were, she might look as if she didn't have any. She closed her eyes and turned her face away from the monochrome Angel. “I set three cards and I end my turn.” The girl looked back at the man, eyes filled with fire. Twilight thought she'd seen that look somewhere before, but at the same time, couldn't think of any time she'd seen someone receive it before. “Whatever you do next, just keep in mind that you are not who your father used to be.” The man blinked, and looked to lose some composure. His left iris half reverted to it's normal green color where the gold flecks inside shine there best. His right looked even a little misty.

“You... In so many years, you've become so much like her. How could you ever run away from her then? Or is it because you're so similar that you left?” Once more the girl remained silent. This only seemed to make the man more angry, but in the midst of it all, for less than a second, he flashed his eyes directly at Twilight. What does that mean? It was just for a second, but those eyes didn't have the same fire that hers did... those were the eyes of a trickster... just what is he doing?

“Still, you've no words for me. If you wont talk to a son of the light, then you can yell at the son of the darkness!” He drew a card, and just like his garnet, this card was covered in dark red smoke, but far more visible than on the last one. His left iris turned back to red, and the rest of his sclera turned dark green. His eye radiated a violet smoke from it's side and dissipated into the air. The cloud was so thick that it wasn't even lightened by the almost snow white hair on that side of his head. At the very edge of his right eye, the faintest hint of dark green and violet was beginning to form. “You would do this to yourself!?” The man took the card and pointed it at her. “I would do anything for my family! Even if it meant killing myself in the process! Hell, if my siblings were in trouble, I'd even go get Soulbrandt from Tartarus if I had to.”

The other Angel gasped. Tartarus? Was... was Tartarus real? Only stories are spoken of the hell on earth that Tartarus is described as now a days, but that was mostly to scare children on nightmare night... wasn't it? Then again... he was talking about a very specific weapon that the northern Demon Queen had over two thousand years ago. Supposedly, when Celestia and Luna fought the Black Demon King Sombra around 1900 years ago, the weapon he used to fight them was said to be an ax. But as his final attack on the queens after they had him beat, he took a sword that he'd been hiding from under his cloak and drove it into the ground to erase the Crystal city from time and space. It was believed to be an ancient form of a reverse pocket dimension done with an odd kind of even more ancient magic, which Twilight now knew as soul art.

When the empire returned 1400 years later, the sword was still in the heart of the city where a relic once was that had the power to repel the Black Demons from the city. After subduing the fallen king, the Queens retrieved the sword and took it back to their castle to study. When later asked about the weapon in a public setting, the Queens stated that the weapon was far too dangerous for anyone to possess, and had been locked away in the pits of Tartarus. Save for some ancient fairy tales about the place being like a living nightmare, this was the first mention of Tartarus recorded in nearly two thousand years, and the third overall. The pale yellow Angel didn't respond with words, but a simple horrified look.

“That's right! That means you too! And don't you ever forget that!” He swept the foggy card onto his disk, and a pool of black liquid appeared next to his other monster. From the spot, the almost shiny liquid began to turn into spikes, that pointed and spun in every direction, like mercury to a magnet. When it stopped spinning, the spiky orb had two small spheres of white light equidistant to each other just above the center of the ball. Like his other monsters, it was just black and white, but somehow, it still managed to capture a metallic appearance. Even going so far as to reflect images in it's surface, without color of course. The orb looked to drip it's slimy black substance to the ground every now and again.

“I summon Liquid of Grayscale to the field. It has no attack or defense, yet you can't destroy it. Once per turn, Liquid allows me to target one non extra deck Grayscale monster in my graveyard and special summon it. Naturally, I'll be summoning Garnet outside the Grayscale.” The liquid creature fell to the ground and returned to it's puddle state, and the monochrome Angel took a card that was produced from the grave slot on his disk. Like the liquid, this card retained it's dark red aura, but unlike it, this one looked to burn with it. Even the girls to either side of Twilight noticed the color flaming from the card.

“That doesn't look healthy. The card, his eyes, none of it.” The blonde to her left nodded. “Ah don't know why, but Ah'm feelin' a chill run down my back. Ah said it before, and Ah'll say it again. Somethin' ain't right here.” The man placed the card on the matterwave, and out of the puddle formed another humanoid shape. The liquid dripped off the shape revealing another girl. Like the other 'Outside' cards Zephraim had, this one was done in a single color, black and white, however, that color was a dark blood red. She wore a trench coat that looked to be stained in a kind of splatter pattern around the edges. She had heavy looking pants and boots, and gauntlets with a kind of metal protecting her forearms. Her eyes were hidden by a top hat, and her hair draped down her back and the sides of her face in some scraggly, curly, wet looking shape. In her left hand she carried some form of fire arm, and in her right was a sword that looked like there was more to it somewhere else. She was smiling, and those teeth were about as sharp as the man's had become. At the right edge of the group, the Angel chirped up.

“Is it just me, or does this guy remind you guys of the Black Demon King? You know, like from the history books?” Twilight slapped her mouth to hold the gasp in. “Oh dear shit!” Dots in her head were beginning to connect, one after another. How could I not have noticed this? All four of them were named after him! Sombra, Black, Black, Sombra. You wouldn't even bat an eye if you didn't know that they were middle names! There is no way she married a man she allegedly threw in a cell 500 years ago... but... wasn't King Sombra unkillable? The records said that the Queens fought with him for days! Compared to the power Celestia has, a normal human wouldn't last an hour! And He fought both of them off! Then, when it finally ended, he left as a prisoner! Zephraim said there were three people in the world that couldn't die, and that two of them were his parents... Sombra Black... Is the husband of the Day Queen... Oh sweet Divinity...

“Y'all okay Twi?” The girl tried to recompose herself. “Oh yeah, no, I'm fine. Just having my world turned upside down for the third time today.” The blonde furrowed her brow. “Turned upside down? What'd ya mean by that?” The indigo haired girl put her hands to her face to try and get her head to stop spinning. “Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll figure it out later.” to the left of them, the Angel started to shush them. “Hey, keep it down, I wanna hear this! Another card in the dude's hand started burn after he touched it!” The girls quickly turned to look back at the duel. Like rainbow had said, he'd picked up another card. Just like the one before it, the card looked like it was on fire with dark, blood red flames.

“From my hand, I activate the effect of Grayscale Stability Apparatus.” When he played the card, a white light surrounded the metallic liquid. After what the girls believed to be the sound of a system check completed, the light moved off to the side of the liquid, and an inverted white version of the black spiky orb rose from the ground. “When this card is activated, It becomes a copy of another non extra deck Grayscale monster I control. It can't attack, and It's destroyed during the end phase, but it keeps the abilities of the other card. As such, I activate the effect of the Liquid of Grayscale copy!”

If he does what I think he's about to do, He'll end up with four level 3 monsters on the field... this doesn't look good. The inverted color Liquid did the same as the one before it and dropped into a puddle. Zephraim took another blood red burning card from his disk, and placed it on the matterwave. From the white puddle, Emerald appeared in her green glory, but even so, she looked... different than before. Her eyes had reversed. They were white irises in a black sclera with green pupils. “Stop...” The pink headed Angel said something, but the man didn't seem to notice. “Finally, the stage is set...” The girl shook her head. “Please, don't do this...” The man smiled even wider, all of his sharpened whites showing, his right iris beginning to turn red.

“I create an overlay network with my four level 3 monsters! From the darkest blacks to the deepest reds, the bloodstained hunter takes the soul of another! The deepest end of the color spectrum returns for the second time! Appear, Contrastor, the Grayscale Hunter!” The entire sky over the cottage had darkened to almost complete blackness. A swirling cloud of energy appeared over the field in the colors green, violet, and orange. All four monsters shot up into the center of the vortex, and then a bolt of orange colored lightning struck the ground with blinding light. When the field could be seen again, standing proudly next to the Hero, was a Hunter. Like Garnet, this man was holding a firearm in one hand, and a weapon in the other, however, this weapon didn't look quite right. It was a large blade that was curved, but it didn't look right. It had a very small hilt, like it was meant for one hand, but the blade was almost as long as his arm. Another thing wrong with it was the fact that the side pointed to himself was sharper than the side he was using as a weapon. On the back end of the unusually short hilt was a metallic piece that looked like it fit into something.

In his other hand, it wasn't so much as a normal gun, but more of something used to ward off enemies rather than kill them. It's trigger was a long mechanism that could be gripped by his whole hand if need be, and something to be used quickly, not accurately. It had two barrels, one on top of the other, and it almost looked like a cane from one end. On his back was a large stick that was folded where it came from his shoulder. It didn't look like it had a purpose, but... something about it put Twilight on edge.

He wore a dingy long coat covered in crosshatching, making it not quite black, but very close. Over that, he had a tattered cloak that looked like it's been through hell and back, but kept it's color spectrum inside, however tattered it may be. He looked old. Older than any of the other monsters Zephraim controlled, yet he also looked more dangerous than any of them. He had dark colored pants and one boot, however the other leg was a peg, like it'd been amputated as some means of prevention. He wore tattered gloves that resembled Garnet's and a Top hat that was the same as hers and covered his eyes. While his skin was pale, there was specks of dark red on it, even if it was just a little. Around him orbited four orbs, one white, one orange, one violet, and one green. He seemed to glow with that same dark red as the cards had before he was summoned, and now, both of Zephraim's eyes had changed: red irises, dark green sclera, slitted pupils on a greater scale than even hers and Spikes, and finally, a dark violet mist was radiating from each side. The man smiled at the Angel, his now dagger like teeth flashing. He then looked over at the terrified girls on the bank, laughed a little, then back to his opponent.

“And for the second time, my heritage shows. Once upon a time, there was a tyrant who had the eyes I have now. He used a single card to take over an entire city, combined with his magic, might, and incredible soul arts! This card of legend was known as Hunter, the Black Demon! But this you already know. That hunter has grown old, and was passed down through his blood. Now, he resides with me, and all the blood he's been soaked in mires my soul. Like my father before me, I have the blood of a conqueror. And like my mother before me, I'll bring an Angel home.” The pale yellow angel was almost in tears, her face bearing a horrified look. The girls on the bank were all but shocked.

“Y'all don't think he's serious... right?” The blonde said nervously. “S-surely the Queens never let that man escape... A-and he... couldn't have lived this long, that was nearly five hundred years ago... wasn't it?” The silence in the air was deafening. One of the girls on the bank swallowed, and the five of them heard it. “Geez, and I though his eyes were scary to begin with...” The Dragon boy said in a muffled tone. “I hate to break it to you guys, but Sombra Black was never recorded dead. On top of that, he was executed... like six times. Burned, drowned, chopped up into little pieces, electrocuted, beheaded, and shot thirty seven times in the chest. After every attempt, the guy would just be back to normal all in one piece after an hour, regardless of what happened.” Spike, Rarity, and Applejack all turned to look at Rainbow.

“How is that even possible!? He's wasn't an Ascended!” Rarity agreed with the boy. “There are only two. There isn't any way that vile man was one. He was also missing a very important set of limbs to be one while we're at it. But... all the same, He clearly is still kicking out there somewhere, those eyes are the same, there's absolutely no mistaking it. Although... if Sombra is Zephraim's father, who is his mother?” Twilight immediately felt her mouth dry up. “And... why would she just take in an orphan?” The group was silenced by the continuing duel.

“Contrastor has several effects, and gets each one based on what attributes he has attached to him. Right now, he has dark, earth, and wind. The spell card is treated as having no attribute because of it's own effect. Because there is a dark attribute monster, he gains 400 attack, putting him at 3000. As for his other effects... you'll just have to wait and see.” Another large smile from the fanged man. His opponent didn't react well to it. A mixture of fear and shock crept up her face as she fought to keep her composure. “W-well, get on with it!” She stuttered at him. The man took a bow. “I only aim to please... then let us begin. First, I will activate the earth effect of Contrastor. By detaching Garnet and Stability Apparatus, I can target one monster you control, and attach it to him. Come, Monarcha.” The Hunter raised his gun, and inside it's two barrels flew a bright white orb and an orange one. girl simply closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her fear had melted away.

“I refuse to let you have Monarcha! I activate my trap, High Ground of the Round, and then to that I chain Order of the Round! When a spirit monster I control is targeted by a card effect, I can special summon one Round Spirits monster from my hand, and switch your target to that monster!” As she said, Hectolf appeared in a cloud of mist on the field, then her other card went off. “Next, I get to search my deck for a Round spell or trap card, and activate it in this card's place when resolving the chain! The card I activate in it's place is” A new turn of events, the pink haired Angel's card was burning with a colored smoke now, however, hers were a bright blue, much like her irises. She took the card, and slammed it into her disk. “The Round Strikes Back!” The man took a step back. Bright blue lightning shot from her Hectolf's ax and struck the hunter, removing the dark red aura from him. Her opponent smiled.

“So you've finally found a way to get around letting me know what you're planning... well played, dear sister. Well played.” The girl yelled back at him. “That's right! And now your Hunter is nothing more than that! The Round Strikes Back negates the effects of the target monster as long as I control a Round Spirits monster, and because It's summon conditions were ignored, Hectolf doesn't return to my hand anymore!” The man flashed his bladed grin once again. “Wait... what do you still have in your hand!?” The man placed a card in his spell and trap slot. “Ah, so glad to see that you noticed. I activate the effect of Grayscale Erasing Apparatus. It's unfortunate that I have to use it though. At the cost of one Grayscale monster I control, I get to banish one monster you control. Hectolf will be going away now...”

The Hero then stabbed himself with his own sword. Everywhere the blood fell on his clothing simply turned it black, and the red liquid returned it's color when it reached the grass below. He then removed the sword, and it was glowing with a fiery aura of dark red. Clutching his wound, the hero rushed the Wolf and stabbed it through the back. The poor beast yelped, and then dissipated into mist. “Hectolf!” The angel screamed. After it was done the Hero fell on one knee and disappeared in a pale green light. “Now then... You have Oath set, and you won't be doing much with that. Your Harmonian is in attack position, and she has the lowest attack of the six of them. So what's say we have the hunter give her a lesson?! Contrastor attacks Monarcha!” The hunter reached for his back with his left hand, placed the gun in his belts and took the stick. He jammed the metallic end of the blade he was holding into it, and it folded down into a scythe with a resounding click that filled the air. He took a step back and reared the scythe in his hand, bringing the blade far behind his left. With a leap that left footprints in the ground, the hunter dashed toward his target bringing his scythe with him. The armored Angel tried to block the scythe with her shield, but the blade wouldn't be stopped. She managed to catch his staff, but the blade pierced her back. The Angel jerked forward and let out a scream.

The hunter then released his left from the scythe and promptly brought all of his fingers together to form a cone. He then pierced her stomach with it, and brought it back out, taking as much of her blood as he could. The armored Angel coughed, and then the hunter removed his scythe, and covered the opposing duelist with her monster's blood. The girl simply sank to her knees as she watched her monster fade into mist. “What kind of monster...” The man said nothing in reply. The air was silent for a moment.

“As I no longer have the power to finish you this turn, I'll simply have to end here. But, as powerful as he is, he's not one be loyal to his boss. During the end phase, I take 1000 damage times the number of Xyz material he has attached to him, which would be two, in this case.” Fluttershy shot up after hearing that. “You what!?” The hunter had already replaced his staff on his back and drew his gun. He turned to his master and raised it. The violet orb and the green orb flew inside of each barrel, and then he pulled the trigger. “Gah!” The two orbs turned to bullets, and shot through the monochrome Angel's knee. He quickly clutched the now bleeding area of his body, and then took some gauze out of his coat and wrapped it up tightly. The hunter's orbs flew back to orbiting him, and then he returned to facing the girl. “Zephraim!” The girl took one step forward, and then the male Angel snarled at her.

“You stay back! If you touch me, then this curse will spread even further than it already has, and then it will infect you! I can control it well enough, but you will lose your soul to it! If you want to help me, then surrender and end this duel! You have nothing left, and your Harmonian is dead! Give up this ridiculous seclusion and just come home already!” The girl was in tears. She bit hard on her lip to the point where it bled. When she realized what she's done, she stood tall and wiped at her face. She looked at the ground, new tears replacing the ones she tried to remove. “I can't! I can't face her again! I did something horrible... I... I killed a woman with the sword she gave me! I can never go back for committing a sin like that! I swore on my life when I decided to even train with your father that I wouldn't ever kill! And now... now I've become just like the monsters I swore to fight...” The man's face looked as if he'd completely forgotten about the pain in his leg. For the first time in the duel, he was the one that looked horrified. “But...” The girl turned her eyes back to the man

“But that doesn't mean that I can't still save you from yourself! Even if I've sinned, I'll never give up on my brother!” At the top of her deck in her duel disk, a single card started to shine brilliantly. A smell began to fill the air, one of lilac that felt familiar to all, yet none of them could place. The pulse of the pink haired Angel's heart beat started to synchronize with all seven of the others present. From the card, a song started to play, one that none of the others could place. It sounded sad, yet soothing... like a lullaby from ages ago. At first, it sounded like a music box, but as it grew in volume, it became more and more complete with strings then brass with percussion and choir. Congratulations Fluttershy. The Harmonian had started to speak directly into her mind. Your heart has resonated so strongly with your desire to help your brother, that you've gained a new power. Go on. Save him from himself.

“This isn't over yet! I Draw!” The girl took the singing card from her disk, and then all had stopped. The sound, the light, the pulse, the smell. Everything, gone. When she looked at the card, she didn't recognize it. It looked like one she'd had before, but that card was a simple monster with no effect. She then noticed something different with her menu. To the left side of her field, the extra deck count had changed. When she was young, and the deck first appeared, she received exactly forty soul cards from herself. No more, no less. But now? There was one. A card that was new. One that had the name Monarcha in it's title. The girl smiled. “Thank you, my friend.” The man had started to breathe heavily. “What... What was that? Did you... did you just... what did you do?” The girl looked at him with eyes of new found hope.

“It's not what I did. It's what we did. From my hand, I summon Round Spirits, Goddess of the Lake!” The blue burning card hit the matterwave, and from a column of glowing mist appeared a woman with pale blue skin, dark blue hair, and violet eyes. She wore what looked to be some form of ancient tribal clothing. It was a short dress that was mostly white and adorned with gems in every hue of blue under the sun. She had a belt that crossed her waist that was covered in ornate gold and all of her blue gems. She carried a lyre that was silver, and on her chest was a rune that was bright blue and shining. The man recognized the rune, and his eyes widened. “This... this is Mizuli...” The girl nodded.

“The goddess's effect activates when she's normal summoned. I can target one level 7 monster in my graveyard and special summon it to the field, ignoring it's summon conditions.” On the field, the water goddess began to play the same song from earlier on her lyre. As the sound echoed through the air, a hole in the ground appeared and filled with water. The girl took another blue glowing card from her disk and then placed it on the field. A bright blue light shot out from the pool of water, and the Harmonian arose. Unlike what the other girls were expecting, their own Harmonian cards didn't resonate or glow this time. “Then the next part of this card's effect activates. Immediately after I summon her, I then perform a synchro summon with these two cards.” The man managed to struggle to standing up straight. “But you didn't have...” The girl shook her head.

“And now I do. I tune the level 1 goddess, and the level 7 Monarcha! From the depths of the lake, a new hope arises, the goddess delivers the key to victory! The heart, mind, and soul resonate as one! Come forth, Monarcha, Emissary of the Ocean!” At the bank, the four cards began to vibrate, glow, and sound out even stronger than before. Not only did they play the notes they did earlier, but each card added a new part to the lullaby that the goddess was playing, and the only thing it was missing now was percussion. The goddess transformed herself into a ring of water that shone out with a bright blue light. The armored Angel began to hover and turned herself into blue stars that aligned inside the ring. A flash of far stronger blue light than before illuminated the air. When the field was visible again, the Angel had returned with a completely new look. As if she'd traded clothes with the goddess, she was now wearing the same outfit that the goddess was. On her chest was the same glowing rune, however, with it was another mark, the very same one that Fluttershy had on her right shoulder. The lyre was also different now. It seemed that it and Monarcha's shield had fused to form a full sized harp, and with her, it floated in the air. The Harmonian had finished playing, and just like that, the other cards stopped as well.

“Much like her previous form, Monarcha retains her 3500 defense, but gains 1000 attack, putting her at 2000. However, now that no longer matters. Once per turn, I can discard one monster from my hand to return all cards you control to yours, meaning that it doesn't target.” The man looked as if he'd been awestruck. “Which means I can't stop it...” The girl nodded once again. The girl sent one card to her grave, and then Monarcha's harp started to glow. She strummed exactly five notes off of her instrument, and a giant wave of water shot from it. It crashed with the hunter, and then the hunter faded away. The man's right eye reverted to it's normal state, and his teeth straightened a little, becoming much less like fangs than they were.

“Finally, When Monarcha is in defense position, she can attack using her defense points instead of her attack points. With this final attack, you will be saved from yourself. Monarcha attacks you directly!” Once again, the music box lullaby melody played out from the harp the Harmonian now held. From the ground after her last stroke came a wave far larger than the last, and rushed onward toward the man. He was swept away in the current, and taken out of the MR field's range. The hologram of the word Winner shot from it's display, and then the girl's name was put on screen. Fluttershy Heron – Iscandor. Twilight immediately felt the need to bang her head against something. Not only was she likely raised by Celestia, but she was legally adopted by her. Luckily though, it didn't look like anyone else saw it. The others were too busy examining their cards. It wasn't until the pink headed girl yelled out “Zephraim!” did Twilight remember that he got shot in the knee. Quickly, she got up and ran to his side with the other girl.

“Oh gods, the bandage is soaked through! We have to get you to a doctor!” Twilight managed to reach them before the girl picked Zephraim up. “No... we don't. Move... I can... take care of this.” She said as she panted. Running was hard. The girl sort of yelped and kind of hid herself after she noticed Twilight. “Ah! W-who are you?” The Mage rolled her eyes. “Twilight Sparkle, Mage, Apprentice to Celestia and Luna Iscandor. Nice to meet ya, now will you get out of the way? Wait, better yet, just hold his leg up.” The girl's expression went from almost fear to apathy.

“Oh. So you're Twilight. Okay, here.” Her tone was suddenly dripping with negativity. Twilight almost tried to pick at that, but then decided that her body guard's injury was more important. She quickly removed the gauze from Zephraim's knee, and then tried to heal it. Being the third attempt today, the Mage girl had just about gotten a hold of this whole soul art healing thing. She recalled the feelings she knew that worked, and sure enough, her hands began to emit her violet smoke. Like the last two times, the wound began to seal itself immediately, as if what she did was turn his regenerative capability up to ten fold it's normal speed. She watched as the bone, muscle and skin all healed at the same time, until finally, the whole wound was returned to normal. She shook her hands and let the vapor they produced dissipate away.

“Oh thank gods.” Said the Angel girl. “You took the words right out of my mouth.” Said the Mage as she leaned back. She was tired. More so than she thought was possible. She felt so weak that it was almost like she had anemia. As soon as the thought went through her head, she realized that now she really was low on magic. “You... wouldn't mind if we went inside do you?” She said as she looked back toward the girl she'd been sitting next to. However, now there was no on there. Not even the body she'd healed. The Angel had already picked up the man and started toward her cottage.

“Hey, wait a minute! That's my body guard!” The pale Angel stopped and looked at Twilight. She seemed irritated now. “Do what you will.” She then continued walking. Geez, what's her problem? Twilight got up, tried to run, failed to do that, and then started to walk toward Fluttershy's cottage. She managed to catch up when When the pink haired Angel was stopped by Rarity. “Fluttershy, darling? I think it's time we had a little chat again, do you mind if we come in?” The girl rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine. I guess I'll go make tea...” The angel girl grumbled as she walked to her door. She traded her left wing and her arm to hold up Zephraim, and then opened the door to her cottage. Once inside, she walked up a small winding staircase, and the rest of the group followed.

Inside the building, it was relatively well lit naturally. To the right of the doorway was a small living area with a single couch, an arm chair, and a coffee table. Under the table was a rug that could honestly be described as a tapestry. It was mostly violet decorated with ornate gold trim all around the edges, and white patterns that curved and weaved all around inside it. Definitely something Celestia would own, thought Twilight. Above the couch was a large window that let most of the light from outside into the room. As far as she could tell, there wasn't any electrical lights in this room, so she wondered how old this place actually was. On a small table next to the couch was a kerosene lamp, and over near the entrance to the living room was another, much larger one. The floor was done in wooden planks, and the interior of the house looked more like it was built out of a tree than anything else. On the opposite end of the living room, close to the door was a simple brick fireplace that was hidden by the outer wall.

To the left of the door was a kitchen that had some relatively basic cooking utensils, save for what looked like a cheap coffee maker. The counters were made of some kind of polished green colored stone, and the cabinets all had older looking brass handles to them. All of the wood in the house had a reddish tint to it, and most of the furniture was of an olive green color the matched the rest of the house well. All in all, this place looked like it walked straight out of half an eon ago, like it belonged in a museum. The sheer fact that it didn't have electricity was astounding. None of the group really knew what to do with themselves, and so Spike took the lead and sat down on the couch. After a while, one by one, the rest of the group followed, and eventually, they all had taken a seat somewhere in the room. Shortly after everyone had taken a place, they heard footsteps from upstairs, and then the owner showed up. Everyone in the living room looked at her, and she just kinda stood there.

“So... um... t-this is my house... um... m-make yourselves at h-home...” She sounded very uncomfortable and even more nervous. She quickly walked away and into the kitchen. The tailor then got up. “Oh, right. My apologies everyone, Fluttershy is very... well, shy. She doesn't adjust to new faces very well. Let me go talk to her.” The tailor then walked into the kitchen after the Angel girl. “Man, Ah've seen awkward before, but that takes it to a new level.” The Terran said as she relaxed herself in the couch. The rainbow headed Angel followed suit. “Same. I think I remember knowing somebody like her when I was real little, but that was like, six years ago. Ain't got a lot of memory left from back then.” Twilight leaned forward.

“Six years ago, huh? Everything seems to go back to then. From what Applejack's told me, we both got our marks on the day the sky split itself into color back in 3010.” The Angel girl shot back up. “Wait, for real!?” The Terran nodded. “Yeah... It was... the same day my dad passed away...” The girl sat back down. “Oh... uh...” The Terran shook her head. “Don't worry about it. Why's that a shock to you?” The Angel coughed to herself. “Ahem. Well, that's the day I got mine. In fact, I was the reason it happened.” Twilight lowered her eyes at the girl. “You wanna elaborate on that?” For whatever reason, Rainbow felt her fight or flight instinct starting to kick in, telling her to run.

“Okay... no reason to look at me like that, geez. But, anyways, that person I knew. You know, the one like her? Well, she was getting picked on by these bullies. Ya see, neither of us had moms at the time, so we kinda stuck together. And after a challenge was issued, we decided that a race to see who was fastest was the only way to solve it. So that's what happened. It was going really good, up until we reached the farthest end of the track. One of the guys pushed me out of the way, and I started to fall straight into the red forest below the city. I couldn't get control of myself, and I started hitting frozen clouds. By some kind of luck, one managed to knock me into just the right position to where I could start flying again. But where I was, I was never going to make it back to the city in time to win, or even before I would have ran out of stamina. So, I judged where I was, and I realized I was still about a mile from ground level, and then I remembered a story my grandpa on my mom's side used to tell before he kicked it.

A long time ago, back when he was a kid, his dad was one of the fastest fliers known to man. His name was Quasar Fly, and if you don't know his name, then you should because he broke every previous set flight record in Faunan history, and half of those records still stand today. At one point during his police days, he was sent on a routine patrol around Cloudsdale, when he noticed a bunch of kids at the park on the edge of the city. There were a bunch of Angels, and then there was a Terran. He was cautious because he knew that if that Terran kid made one wrong move, he'd fall right out of the city and either into the forest or the lake below, and either way, he'd be dead all the same. So a fight breaks out between the kids and this girl ends up being the victim that was picked on. The Terran kid had a crush on her, and so he stepped up to get the other kids to back off. He beat a few of em up, but there were a lot more of them than there were of him.

So what did they do? They pick him up and hold him over the clouds. The poor kid was so scared that he eventually wet his pants, and then all those other Angels got what the wanted. They were about to bring him back to the concrete when one of them lost grip. Out of the four holding him, that kid just so happened to be the strongest flier, and eventually, all of them lost grip, and that kid fell out of the sky. The girl he'd been protecting jumped after him, and so did my great grandpa. Quasar knew he was fast, but he didn't think he was gonna catch up to those kids. So he got the idea to try and beat them to the ground, and hope he could swoop fast enough to catch them. So, he dove, with a little under a mile of sky left before they hit the ground, and he sped as fast as he could. He said he remembered a cone starting to from in front of his head, and that he couldn't barely hear anything, like he was being pulled into a vacuum. But he still wasn't going fast enough. So he tried to make himself go faster by angling straight down, and then it happened. Just before he came within 500 feet, a huge wave of light and color split the sky into this green-yellow and blue-violet color and he'd broken the sound barrier. He managed to swoop up just in time to keep from killing himself, and he caught the kids without hurting them either. It was the first time anything like that had ever happened.

So I thought, in my young naivete, that if he could do it, so could I. So, I dove. I flew downwards as fast as I could. And when it was supposed to happen, it didn't. I then got worried, but I couldn't slow down, and I didn't know what to do. But then I realized, I was still angled, so, like my great grandpa, I turned my head toward the ground and went for it. That cone he talked about started to form over my head and I knew I was close. I only had about 200 feet left, but I just couldn't get enough speed. But then, suddenly, Somebody huge passed me, going faster than I was, and the opposite direction. I got pulled into their stream that had still split the air, and it was just enough of a push to break the sound barrier. I spread my wings out and shot up like a rocket. My hair was leaving this trail behind me, and the entire sky had split into the colors of the rainbow.

I made it back just before those other guys did, but my friend was gone. We tried to get her to race with us, but I didn't know if she came or not. We looked for her for days on end, but we never found her. When I got home that night, My mark had appeared, and the cards I had changed to what I have now.” From the entrance to the room, the other Angel girl almost dropped the tray of cups she was holding. “That was you!?” She said as tears came to her eyes. She threw the tray on the coffee table, almost knocking a small flower vase over, and then hugged Rainbow. “Hey, what the hell?” The girl didn't know exactly why she was being cried on.

“After all this time, I didn't think I'd ever see you again!” The Tailor took her seat again, and promptly took a cup from the tray. “Now I'm confused again. What exactly is going on?” The girl let go of Rainbow and stood in front of everyone. “You're Dashie Fume!” The rainbow headed Angel looked like a current had just run through her body. “How do you know that name!?” The pink headed Angel looked a little disappointed. “It's me! Fluttershy? Heron? I fell off of Cloudsdale that day.” The blue Angel slowly stood from her seat.

“There's... no way...” The girl started to look at the pale yellow Angel from every angle. When she circled around, she stopped to look into the girl's eyes. Fluttershy was taller than she was, she she stood on her tip toes to do it. “Hmph. And she called me a dyke.” Said the tailor, angrily. “Hey, will you shut up? I'm trying to figure out if this is the girl I used to be friends with!” The other angel giggled to herself. “Oh, come now Dashie, you don't need to yell.” Rainbow turned back. “Oh my gods, it really is you.” The girl hugged her back, and then stepped away. “What happened to you? We all though you died that day!” The girl looked like she was about to say something, but then bit her lip.

“I... uh... well... you see.” Twilight took the room. “That person you passed in the story... do you remember anything about them? Like maybe the gender? Or what color their wings were?” Rainbow turned to her, then put her finger on her cheek. “I don't really remember all that much to be honest with you. I think it might have been a she though. It was kinda like a blur of green and white in the shape of a woman when it did happen. I really don't know how she didn't break the sound barrier as fast as she was going. But what I do know is that she was literally twice my size. I might have been three, maybe three and a half feet tall then, but she was definitely at least two of me.” Twilight reclined.

“Well I only know one person like that. I'm sure you do too Fluttershy. Why don't you fill in the details Rainbow doesn't have?” She said with the most amount of smug she could put in her voice. “There is a reason I didn't think I would like you.” The girl glared back at the Mage. She Sighed, and brought out a folding chair from a closet next to the kitchen. “Well, As much as Twilight is a dick, she's right.” The Mage reacted to the statement. “Hey!” Applejack put her hand on Twilight's shoulder. “Naw, ya kinda earned that one. Go on, Fluttershy, we're listenin'.” The girl took hold of her yellow wings and nodded. “Um... thanks... you...” The Terran nodded. “Jaquline Apple, but most people call me Applejack.” she'd successfully pulled out a feather from the top of her wing and then began. “Right. So, the person you passed, was Celestia Iscandor.” All but one in the room was in collective shock. “WHAT!?” The group said in unison. The girl simply continued.

“I was really lucky to be where I was a the time, and honestly, If Dashie hadn't knocked me off the cloud when I tried to join that race, I'd likely be dead today.” A few hours passed, and Fluttershy told them her entire life's story. How she was rescued by the Day Queen, and later adopted by her. Getting to know her new family, her experience on the year of her twelfth birthday, learning how to fight, joining the core and finally, getting Monarcha. “And that's when I got her.” She said as she pulled out the card, showed it to everyone, then put it back. “I woke up the next morning feeling kinda like I got burned, So I imagine She possessed me to duel Celestia and lost. Which is right, right?” For a moment, no one knew who she was talking to, until her duel disk replied. “Yes, for the thousandth time, I'm sorry.” The others, save for Twilight were once again shocked by the talking disk, and out of Twilight's pocket, another voice popped up.

“Is that Monarcha I hear? Master Sparkle?” Twilight was tentative to look at the animated sorcerer. The last duel she had was... emotionally taxing. All the same, she took her disk and placed it on the coffee table, and let Andromeda display himself as a hologram above it's screen. “You're not gonna wig out and kill this one are you?” He bowed to the Mage. “Absolutely not.” From the pink disk in the girl's hands the voice of her Harmonian sounded. “You stabbed Valkyriana in the stomach, again!?” The girl placed her Disk on the table, and then the armored Angel materialized above it. “And you didn't let me watch? For shame, Andromeda. Please tell me she at least deserved it this time.” The sorcerer scratched at his head. “Actually, she really didn't. I felt bad about it this time... I wasn't quite myself when it happened... It's been such a long time, my sister.” The two embraced and then returned to their spots. They then examined the people in the room.

“Oh, Andromeda. Whatever are we to do with you?” Said the armored Angel as she hugged the Sorcerer. “I assume the one that has that pink stripe in her hair is yours?” The sorcerer replied to the armored Angel. “Yes indeed, she is. However, you and I will have to talk privately about that later. Ah, and this one must be yours! She's your spitting image!” He said as he turned to look at Fluttershy. “Marvelous. I am Andromeda, and you I have yet to meet. The Angel girl was only slightly weirded out by the sorcerer. “Oh, um, I'm Fluttershy... Nice to meet you?” She bowed to the sorcerer from her seat.

“This is wonderful. We've almost completed the entire set! Now If only we could get the rest of them into this group... Ah ha! Master Apple?” The blonde had pulled her hat over her eyes some time during the story, and now she was startled awake. “Huh, what? Ah'm awake!” She looked around and scratched at her head. “That one belongs to Ephraim.” The armored Angel said astutely. “Without a doubt. You're quite knowledgeable on these devices, are you not?” By now she'd straightened her hat and sat up straight. “Um, yeah. Why?” The sorcerer crossed his arms and nodded. “Very good. You can program them to accept a Navi yes? Would you mind doing this for the others?” The girl scratched at her sideburns.

“Uh, Ah guess. If they have the hardware to do it that is. Those disks are way above my pay grade, but the last thing Ah ordered fer mine was the Navi holster, so Ah can at least put Ephraim in. Do you two know what model yer disks are?” Rainbow shook her head and Rarity nodded. “It's a KCYDP 3 16. I actually bought it a month ago because I needed a more powerful one to run the shop. But all the same, even the old one I gave to Sweetie has a Navi holster. However, I wouldn't be able to program that myself. The most I know about this is that it does what I need it to when I need it to.” The Terran nodded. “That's fine, all Ah have to do fer that one is get the software on it. Rainbow, let me see yours.” The Angel shrugged.

“Sure, but I don't think it'll have it. My dad is too cheap to get me a new one, so I've got the same one I've had for like, four years now.” The Angel handed her silver pentagonal device to the Terran. “Hmm... Ah don't think this one does. We'll have to order that part, but they're not all that expensive. Thirty or so bits and Ah can put it together. And ya know what? Ah think that the shop back in town still has one since the part comes in packs of four and Ah only bought three. We can stop by on our way... wherever we go next lookin' fer pinkie, and then Ah can fix it up tomorrow.” The Terran returned the Angel's disk, and then took out her own. “Hand me yer disk Rarity, and Ah'll get started.” The tailor did as she was asked.

“Alright then. I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing her every now and again. I just hope she doesn't try and talk to me when I'm in public. I would think it odd if I saw someone talking to nothing.” Twilight nodded. “Valid point. So what happened next? Did you just sort of ignore it or what?” The pink haired Angel scratched under her nose. “Um... well, next... I dueled my older brother. He's Luna's first born, but we all treated each other as siblings because of how close we grew up together, and he and I are the closest out of the eight of us. I managed to beat him, and then I ended up waking up the next morning in my bed without actually walking there myself. That's when Celestia started to train me. The first thing she did was put me in a suit of armor just like hers.” The Mage girl turned her head. “You mean like what she wears to fight in right?” The Angel girl nodded.

“I haven't worn it since April, but I still have it here. The day I... I was wearing it when I came here.” It still looked like she was having trouble coming to terms with what she'd done. Twilight could understand that, considering she almost did it herself, and for a much worse reason. She felt sick and horrified seeing that bloody body on the ground. She could only imagine what Fluttershy would have felt after seeing so many. “I could go put it on if you'd like to see it.” Another voice came from upstairs. “How about another time, hmm?” The monochrome Angel had woken up and made his way to the living room. The Angel girl ran over and hugged him.

“Oh thank goodness you're awake. You passed out after the duel!” She released him, and he scratched at his newly formed bedhead. “I figured as much. It's damn near 20 hours. Geez, it's dark in here. How can any of you see? What have you lot been up to?” The girl realized that none of her lamps were lit, so she lit the three in the living room. After light was returned to the room, the others turned their eyes in all different directions upon seeing the man in less than he normally wears. Spike was the only one who answered. “Just some stuff about Fluttershy. Apparently, Rainbow here was the one who knocked her off the cloud city and into your mom's arms so many years ago. And now every body knows who your parents are, so no need to worry about that.” The dragon boy said with a smile on his face, like he'd just earned the favor of the man. The other four gave him a death stare. “What?” The man shook his head.

“It doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, I imagine I said something that would have given inclinations to that during the duel. After the curse starts, I don't have much control of myself. Enough to keep from hurting anybody, but not enough to think about what I say. Speaking of, what did I say?” He looked to the girls on the couch, but all of them were avoiding looking at him. After a moment, Fluttershy realized what was going on. “Oh. Zeph, would you mind putting a shirt on?” He then realized he was wearing his pants, and only his pants. “Oh, I see. They're up stairs right?” The girl nodded. “Yeah, I put them in the chair next to my bed.” The man smiled, said “Thanks” and ran back up the stairs.

“Oh my. He could give your brother a run for his money.” The tailor said to the Terran. “Aw keep yer trap shut. It's not like Ah ain't never seen a body like that.” The tailor smirked. “Sure you have, darling, sure you have. You also don't have any nervous ticks that tell me when you like someone. Like what you're doing with your hair right now.” Before she could stop doing it, everyone else in the room noticed that the Terran was circling the bottom of her hair tie with her fingers. “Shut up! This kinda shit is the whole reason Ah never come to see ya anymore! Every damn time Ah'm with ya, ya try an' set me up with somebody!” The monochrome Angel had started to come down the stairs when she finished talking. “Why are we yelling? And is this place sound proofed? I can't hardly hear a thing up there.” The pale Angel waved her hands.

“Oh, It's nothing. All you really did was yell about taking me home and talking up your father's hunter after you summoned him. However, you did specifically mention who your father was though. If your eyes weren't a big enough clue at that point anyways. I ended up telling them who everyone else was, so we don't have to hide anything from them anymore.” The man sighed. The girl pointed to her closet where she took the folding chair from, and the man grabbed one of his own. After he sat down, he began to question her. “Alright then. So how did you end up with this place?” He said as he motioned to the house around him.

“That one was a little weird to be honest. When I first left, I'd taken 2000 bits from my account to buy one of those new computers that Apollo talked about when I was in Asgard. But... that's when it all happened, and so I flew away from Canterlot as fast and far as I could, which you know isn't very much. I actually made it here before I collapsed from exhaustion. I felt like the red forest would be the only place she wouldn't ever look for me, so I tried to get there. I didn't quite make it, but I got close. This place was abandoned and in much worse shape than it is now. I went around town he next day to ask about it, but my nerves got the better of me, and I didn't end up talking to anyone. I found a diner around the middle of town and got myself something to eat. That's when I saw the news story about the robbery.”

Now Twilight remembered this story. It was on for weeks after it happened. Six dead, and twelve injured, five of the dead were the robbers in question, four of them shot in the head with what looked like 1 centimeter magic rounds, and the other had been cleaved from the heart to the side. The only civilian casualty was a father of two, but every person who remembered anything was the girl that had saved them. There were several answers as to what race she was, and no one seemed to remember what she looked like, save for a few males that simply stated 'I could never forget a chest as big as hers.' The police report didn't state anything other than what was said on the broadcast, save for one officer remembering that she had light pink hair.

“I... kinda put myself into a depression after seeing the broadcast. That is, until this one girl who worked there decided to try and cheer me up. Eventually I managed to talk to her enough to learn about this town. She herself had ran away from home not too long before I did, for some reason or other, and most of the people here are really nice. The family that owns the diner took her in after she went around looking for a job, and now she works as a party planner and part time at just about every restaurant in town. I know that there's only like three, but still, that's three jobs.” The man across from her interjected. “And this pertains to how you acquired this house... how exactly?” The girl scratched at her chin. Apparently she didn't know either. At least until she snapped her fingers.

“Now I remember where I was going with this; she makes a lot of money, and she helped me buy it. As it turned out, this house was in fact abandoned, and the city owned it, but they didn't want much for it, only 3000.” The man's jaw dropped. “Th-three thousand? Just... Three?” The girl nodded. “I was just as surprised as you are. But at the time, this place looked a lot worse. The house was in shambles, the stream was still under ground, and it was almost more arid around this specific spot than anywhere else in town. After some work though, I managed to get this place in living order. At first there weren't any windows because they'd all been broken, but since the top floor doesn't have any, I was safe from the wind there. In secret, I managed to withdraw money from my account to fix the place up, but I guess she found out where I did it eventually. After I returned from the next town over on the other side of the lake, I started to work on this place. Now the Terran interrupted her story.

“Hold on a minute. Y'all don't mean ta tell me ya went all the way to Windmill just to withdraw some cash did ya?” The girl tapped her finger's against her lips a few times. “Oh, yeah, that's the place.” The Terran was shocked. “What the!? How did ya do that? It takes a day by car to get to the other side of the forest alone!” The girl crossed her arms and thought some more. “This is where it gets weird. Pinkie came with me when I went, and-” The man stopped her right there. “Pinkie? As in Pinkimena Pie?” The Angel girl was surprised by his sudden interruption. “Um, yeah, actually. Aside from meeting Rarity a few times after her shop opened, she's about the only other person I've had contact with since I got here.” Everyone in the room let out a sigh. “Oh, thank gods, now we can get my stuff back!” Twilight said.

“Wait, why are you all relieved? What's so special about me knowing her?... Aside from the fact that Pinkie is well... Pinkie...” The monochrome Angel replied to the yellow one. “She's got the last Harmonian card. She's one of the six.” The girl gasped. “Oh. That might explain this then. You're going to want to hear how we made it to that town.” The man leaned back in his chair. “Okay... go on.” The group listened intently. “As far as I can tell, Twilight is the only other person in the room with inherited powers. At some point, you made physical contact with your Harmonian right?” The Mage nodded. “Oh yeah, that did happen. From what Spike told me, My pupils are slitted now, and I can see in the dark like it was bright as day. I was honestly a little surprised when Zephraim said it was 20 because I didn't think the light levels had changed.” The Angel girl agreed.

“That sounds right. Yamirix was known for his visions that he would send in peoples dreams. My goddess however, is Mizuli, and that makes me hydro kinetic.” The girl raised her right hand and pointed it at her flower vase. Out of the vase, a stream of water started to float. She circled her hand in the air, and the water collected itself into a ball. She then formed a cone with her hand, and the water did the same. She let go of her pinkie finger, and then the water trickled down into the vase until it all had returned to where it was. “So that's new.” The girl rubbed at her hand. Most of her veins were showing now, and they were a brighter blue color than they should have been.

“So, On top of being able to manipulate it, I can also walk on it. This is where pinkie comes in. When we first met, she said she had fire powers. It was obligatory and had no context like many of the things she says, so after a while I simply chalked it up to her being random. However, this was disproved after we tried to get the fire place in here running. There was a whole bunch of stuff growing inside it, and most of it was poisonous. Pinkie then had the idea to just burn it all, and while I didn't think it was a good idea, we figured out that it could be safely burned. Pinkie said she would take care of it, and sure enough she did. She put her hand in it, and flames started to spew everywhere, setting all of the fungi that had grown on the brick on fire. I was kind of afraid of her at first, but then she figured out what I could do with water, so we eventually got used to each other. So, the trip to Windmill. It took us exactly four hours going there and back, and we took two of them to rest.” The tailor interjected. “Excuse me, four? There isn't even a bullet train that can make that trip.” The monochrome Angel agreed. “Yeah, It took the Royal express that much time just to get here. How did you do it?” The girl smiled she was waiting for this.

“It's simple. We flew. Even though Pinkie is a Terran, she's extremely light, and doesn't weigh more than 120 pounds. Which I always find weird, considering how thin she is and how much sugar she eats. But anyways, She climbed on my back, and I tried to fly with her, but I couldn't lift off. Then she told me to jump, and we were traveling, and traveling fast. Because she can shoot them at such high speeds, Pinkie's flames sent us rocketing over the forest. We stopped so she could catch her breath after making it over the Everfree, and then we took advantage of my ability to walk on water. Once again, using her flames, we just surfed ourselves to Windmill and walked up on the dock. After I got my money and paid pinkie back, we ate at a restaurant and headed back here. All in all, it took about two hours to get there and back.” The blue winged Angel started to laugh. “Ha... ha ha... HAHAHA! I can't believe it... this is some kinda crazy dream right? This isn't really happening is it?” She said to the Terran. “Uh... Ah guess it is? Crazy enough, I believe her. What, with all the shit that's happened today.” The rainbow headed girl was clutching her head in her lap.

“Is... she going to be alright? I'm not too sure I can handle another emotional outburst today.” Said the tailor. The monochrome Angel responded. “She'll be fine. From what I've read about her, this happens occasionally. Apparently her dad is fairly pone to nervous break downs too, so I imagine It's just a family trait. So, our last objective today is to find Pinkie. Do you know where she is?” The girl picked her duel disk back up from the table and flicked it on. Monarcha was nowhere to be found, which she thought was odd, but decided to ignore it and search for her messaging application. Upon opening it and tapping the only text conversation there, she then read off some of her messages.

“Let's see. At around noon earlier today she said, 'I met somebody like us today, and so I gave her a reason to come find me. If you see her, tell her to go to the library.' Oh, wait a minute. This means you doesn't it? And here I thought it was just another random message from her.” The indigo haired girl put her head in her hands. “So... she's been at the place... I'm going to be living for half a year in... EVER SINCE NOON!?” The Mage immediately got up and stomped her way to the door. “Stripes, what are you doing?” The girl opened the cottage door “I'm gonna go beat up a thief, that's what!” The Mage girl then slammed the door shut after exiting. Zephraim just relaxed and took the last full cup of tea from the tray.

“Shouldn't we go after her?” Said the concerned Angel. The man waved his hand. “Just give it a minute. This tea is great by the way.” The man finished his tea, and sure enough, Twilight had come back. “Will... one of you hand me my disk... please?” The man stood up and picked it off the table. “And there it is. Come on kids, we're going to the library.” The Monochrome Angel walked out the door, and one by one, everyone else followed. Fluttershy had put out all of the lamps and followed the group from the back after locking the door. The night air was cool, the humidity was low, and the wind had died down, making tonight one of the most pleasant nights Pony ville had seen in almost two months. However, that was bound to change, sooner, rather than later.

Gambling in flames (11)

The sun was beginning to set, and Blaze Fume had yet to find his daughter. There wasn't a place inside the town he hadn't searched yet, as small as it was, all things considered. Earlier in the day he thought he felt that something was off, but couldn't quite place it. He'd started looking from above, the most obvious choice, but no other Angel was in the sky that day, save for his own father who'd left not but minutes ago with his niece. The sun was low in the sky, and only minutes away from disappearing from sight all together. It wouldn't have even been such a bad thing if the entire town wasn't on high alert for suspect watch. A murder four weeks ago, a murder three weeks ago, a murder two weeks ago, a murder one week ago. And tonight was going to be another if the trend held.

“Ugh. I hate Mondays.” The timing was always a minute before or after midnight at each one, surprisingly never at the apex of it. If this truly was a case of black magic involving Duel Monsters, gods only know what they could be up to. “Where in the world could she have gone? It isn't like she's hard to miss, given what she inherited from me. Gah.” Blaze was sitting on a cloud above the center of town hall. It was probably about a thousand feet above the hall's spire and he was sitting there looking in every direction he could, keeping watch for a certain rainbow headed Angel. He checked his disk once more to look at the time. 20:45.

“Damn it! Where ever she is, She going to get me in trouble if I don't find her in the next fifteen minutes!” The man changed his legs on the cloud from their crouched position and sprung off the cloud, busting it in the process. He dove straight and collapsed for a few seconds, and once he had reached the velocity he wanted, he unfurled his wings and rode the air all the way back to his home. It didn't take that much effort to cross town, maybe five minutes if he wasn't in the mood to go anywhere, but from where he was to where he was going, it would take about three if he tried. The officer had made it to his abode, grabbed his over shirt, jacket, pistol and badge from his room, and then ran straight out the door to look over the town again.

The lights in most of the little brick buildings were beginning to turn on. What little that had a second story were clearly occupied and most of the residents of Pony Ville were settling in to whether the storm that was coming in later in the morning. Rain was scarce in the desert, but every now and again, it would come, and it would come in full force. The father had taken to scratching at his face. Sometimes he hated his unique hair because when he grew any sort of beard, he looked like a clown. And it wasn't just his face, it was his entire body. He could never forget his first time, because she laughed at him. Luckily, she ended up being his wife later, but all the same, he's been as smooth as a bullet ever since. He took one last scan across the sky and at the town and then decided to stretch.

Just as he raised his arms above his head, out of the corner of his right eye, he noticed something. It was a girl, running out of the old cottage just outside of town. There was talk around the station of a teenager that bought it a few months back right out of the blue. Girl just shows up one day and asks for the price of a condemned building. Of course, anyone with a poorly paying job could have bought it, but for her to have two thirds the price in her pockets was something special. The more he looked at this... angrily running girl, the more he thought about that conversation. Wasn't it an Angel that bought the cottage? This girl didn't have wings. The girl suddenly stopped after she started to search her pockets for something. She then stood still and turned around, looking a lot less angry, and much more defeated. He decided to keep watching since he didn't recognize her. Her hair was more blue than purple, but had a couple bright streaks of color running parallel to each other. One was very much more violet than the mostly dark blue hair she had everywhere else, and the other was almost pink.

“Huh. Bet her nickname is stripes somewhere.” The girl stopped as is if she heard him, then shook her head and kept walking. “A Mage too. With good instincts to boot. I really hope she knows about the curfew. It hasn't been safe to be out and about at night these days.” The girl opened the wooden door of the relatively white washed cottage and stood there for a few minutes. She was then pushed aside by a male Angel with long curly bright white hair on the right side of his head, and dark black on the other. It was even a gradient in between. “That's kinda rare. Hmph. Says the man with a rainbow on his head. Sigh.” The Angel handed the girl something, probably whatever she forgot, then took the lead and started heading toward town.

Next out was a rather tall blonde with a brown stetson, then a pale skinned girl with curly violet hair. Far more intentionally curly than the man's mess of ringlets that ran down his shoulders. Hers was perfectly quaffed and formed exactly two long ringlets. She was followed by a young boy of questionable origin. He had wings, but they weren't angel wings, and they weren't near thin enough to be vampire wings. These things looked like they were practically slabs of leather. If he could fly, he probably couldn't do it well. All the same, he stretched them in and out after yawning, so they must have been real. Then followed another girl with a bright rainbow of hair- The officer's thought process stopped as he recognized his own daughter come out of that house with all those other people.

“There you are!” The group had finished coming out of the house with exactly one other Angel after his daughter locking the door, presumably the house owner. The father took a running leap from his perch on his yard and glided himself down to their location. It was a good amount of distance between the two places, but all the same, he was noticed by the leader immediately. He landed just at the edge of the cottage land where the grass and dirt became arid and sandy. The male Angel had said something to the rest of the group and they had all stopped. However, his daughter gave him a mixture of looks. At first she looked happy, then sad, and finally, just angry.

“Hello officer, is there anything I can do for you?” The Male Angel said with an oddly high level of confidence. Blaze had seen two of these people around before, being the blonde whose always around the parts shop by the station, and the violet haired girl who runs the clothing store. This guy was suspicious. “I don't believe I've seen you around before. It's about a quarter to twenty one, so I was wondering if you knew about the curfew set in place.” The Man reached into his pocket and pulled out a large silver coin, then handed it to him. “I assure you, I'm very well informed, Mr. Fume. Any other assistance you might require, I would be happy to offer, but we are on a rather tight schedule, so I must implore that we be on our way.” This guy is EC. Ah. I can't just go obstructing his work. That's a higher offense than a civilian obstructing mine. But... What is he doing with my daughter? The officer handed the man his badge back.

“Ah. I see. Are you our contact? I thought you weren't supposed to-” The man cut him off. “That would be someone else I'm afraid. However, he and I are in very close contact, so anything I may or may not find may just make it to you some how. My objective is similar but uninvolved with yours, but I will be borrowing you daughter for a while as she's more involved in this than you are.” The rainbow headed Angel put her hand to her face. That was a mistake, she said to herself. “Now hold on just a minute, where do you get off-” Cut off once again, the man continued. “I have orders to take charge of these six from the highest authority. If you have a problem with that, then you can take it up with her. Rainbow?” The man turned to the girl. “Uh... yes sir?” Yes 'sir', the officer thought. Hmph. She won't even address me as 'sir'. “You still have that letter on you, don't you?” Letter? What letter? There wasn't a letter in the mail... that she went out to get... “Oh, yeah.” Said the girl as she began to fish in her jacket pockets.

She picked out something and handed the folded piece of paper to the man, who then handed it to the officer. The paper in and of itself was unusual, but not one that Blaze hadn't seen before. It was stark white with a gold, more than likely real gold, leafing around the edges. Not only that, but the words inside were hand written. That form of writing was basically lost at this point. In the bottom left hand corner was a signature that was burned in with magic, and just above that was the royal emblem, also burned in with magic. Not only was this real, but this was likely in Celestia's hands. “You can keep that for your own records if you like. I believe you have a job to get to, don't you?” The officer was stuck in place reading the words on the page. How could his own daughter be caught up in all this? And... who else knew that she would have even been here today? What is going on? “I...” The rainbow headed girl spoke up. “Don't worry about me... I'll be fine. T-this guy is crazy, but... I don't doubt that he could keep us safe.” She was still likely terrified of the monochrome Angel after his display earlier today, if he wasn't scary enough as is. What better to fight off monsters than a monster? The father was almost more stunned by her words than the paper in his hands.

“You're right. I do have a job to get to. But, uh... I won't see you all out after dark will I?” The man nodded. “If all goes well, we all will have split up and gone home before the curfew arrives.” The officer let out a sigh of relief. She'll be fine. Is Rainbow is afraid of this guy, then it's probably a good thing. “And I'll see you at home in the morning?” He said as he looked to his daughter. “Yeah, I'll be there...” She tried to avoid making eye contact with him. Hold on now... did she make friends? She always did this when she was around her friends and me at the same time in Cloudsdale... The officer's mood improved and he gave a smile to the group. “Very well then. Stay safe out there.” The father flew off and away from the group and headed about in the opposite direction as they were going. The rainbow headed Angel moved next to the monochrome one.

“Sorry about my dad... He's super over protective.” In a way, the girl looked proud and embarrassed at the same time. “Bet ya my mom could top that. Sure, you might have been grounded a few times for a couple days, or a week, but my own mother once put me under house arrest for an entire quarter year.” Twilight chimed in. “That explains the Angel barrier! I could not for the life of me figure out why that was up in the first place. Especially as well hidden as it was. How she managed to keep that thing up for so long is still a mystery to me though.” The pink haired Angel commented next. “Yeah, It was pretty extreme. She wouldn’t even let me out in any normal way just because there was a chance that he might escape if she took it down, even for a second. I was teleported to school for those months.” The Terran joined the group chat. “Geez. Four months? Really?” The Man nodded.

“Now, to be fair to mom, I was legally dead for a few minutes just before that happened.” The entire party, save for Zephraim, stopped in their tracks. “Dead? As in you weren't alive anymore? Tu meurs?” He turned around to see the six other members wide eyed and just as concerned as the tailor speaking. “Yes, dead. Long time ago, my mother is a goddess, end of story. Any more questions? No? Great. Let's keep going.” The man turned and kept walking, and slowly but surely, the rest of the group followed. After traveling through town for fifteen minutes in silence and making it to town hall in the center of the sandy place, The pink haired Angel spoke up. “I didn't know that part of the story... Father just said that you did something stupid...” The man stopped again to address the group.

“Can we just drop this? Please? They know enough about our lives right now as it is.” The girl walked right up to his face. She certainly wasn't happy. “I don't think so. First you go all black demon on me, and then you tell me you were dead at one point? What other 'insignificant' details don't I know Zeph?” The man tried to find something, anything that might help him get out of this. Whether or not what he found was a good thing though, was up for debate. “Oh my gods.” He had turned to the right and started staggering in that direction. “Hey! Don't you... Walk away...” The girl had figured out what he was looking at. The Library they were going to was on fire. A huge flame was covering the entrance to the building that was carved into the lone tree in the city. The group rushed after Zephraim who had started to run and then were stopped by him after he reached it. “What are you doing!? I need to put out the fire!” The pink haired Angel said.

“Wait a minute. I think Stripes already picked up on this, but what's wrong with this picture?” The group then turned to look at the burning tree again. But that was the problem. There was no smoke, and the tree looked fine. Nothing was burning. “What in the hell? How's that even possible?” Said the Terran. The fires then sprang upward into two tall columns, and out of the top of the leaves came a person. “Ladies and Gentlemen!” The person was covered head to toe in a large tan-brown cloak. They jumped onto the ledge that hung over the entrance of the library and held it's sign. “The guest of honor has finally arrived! Take a look inside to find your surprise!” The voice was of a woman, but it sounded very mature in comparison to her size. She wasn't very tall, maybe as tall or shorter than Twilight. The flames that covered it had split apart for the group to see. Inside the building was the apparently unburned tree, full of books in every part save for a door at the very back, and a table in the middle with a horse that looked to be carved out of the same wood as the tree. On that table were several candles surrounding a dark blue duffel bag with pink and violet stripes on it.

“Son of a bitch!” Said the indigo headed Mage. The woman jumped off of her perch above the group and back flipped into the building until she landed right in front of it. The fires out side then faded from existence and reappeared around the table. The masked girl then threw her left arm out of her cloak to reveal an active duel disk. Her mouth was hidden, but even so, you could tell she had a gigantic smile on her face. “The stage is set and the game afoot! She who recognizes this object is beckoned inside! Come my dear, it's just you and me...” Twilight managed to take one angry step forward before she was stopped by Fluttershy. The Angel simply walked through the flames and grabbed the bag off the table. “Ugh, Fluttershy! You ruined the surprise!” The girl's voice raised in pitch drastically from what it had been, and now fit the shape. Angel girl crossed her arms. “It's not nice to steal Pinkie.”

The girl removed her hood to reveal a head of puffy, curly, dark pink locks that more resembled cotton candy than actual hair. She pulled down her mask, pushed up her violet tinted goggles, and put most of her cloak behind her shoulders. She was wearing what looked like a bizarre bikini made of red and gold material with flags coming off of the neck and the waist line. Under the 'skirt' if one could call it that, was a pair of tan brown compression shorts that matched her cloak and carried three balloons on it, two blue, one yellow. She wore gloves on each arm, one that covered the whole hand in the strange segmented gold and red design that covered up to her elbow, and a mirror of that on the other that was connected to her duel disk. On her legs were the same design in the form of boots that had pointed toes and ran up to her mid-calf. Upon further inspection, one could see that she was also wearing relatively small earrings that had the same three balloons as her shorts did. She was short, skinny, and very well toned, on top of all the crazy in the world.

“You can turn off the fire now.” The red clad girl sighed and suddenly, the entire building was normal. However, the candles inside that weren't lit earlier, were burning now. The mess of pink and red turned to look at Twilight, then her smile returned as wide as it was before she taken off the mask. “Ooh! Majestic! A duelist is a duelist, even in this scene! But alas, not too fast! Her anger swirls and churns, unending...” The girl said, once again deepening her voice. Fluttershy looked to the girl, then to the group and simply shrugged. “I have no idea what she's talking about.” The red clad girl simply lowered her head spread out her arms. “Don't you see? She's one of us... now then, my dear, seek adversity. It's time.” The indigo haired girl stepped forward without a word. She raised her arm, and with a resounding sound, her disk ejected it's matter wave. The two girls locked eyes, and then Zephraim jumped from his spot and grabbed Fluttershy. From under her feet, a ring of fire spawned and circled Twilight and Pinkie. The flame sparked and smoked inside the tree, and in unison, the two girls yelled,

“DUEL!” Beams of light shot from either side of the ring of flames and connected in the middle. A sort of bubble formed around the ring and encapsulated the two, removing the smoke from the flames and containing them where they were. “Holy shit. If the first ones were fake, those aren't. You said she was a pyro, but this is not what I was expecting.” The man landed with his sister in toe and set her back down. “Pinkie!” The pale angel yelled. Pinkie's voice returned to the more fitting high pitch. “Oh come on, you have better reflexes than that. I gave you a warning!” The girl said, as if she never expected to have to say anything. “I never know when you're going to do something like that! You could have hurt somebody!” The red clad girl waved a hand at her. “Buuut, I didn't. So we're good! Now then...” She said, deepening her voice again. “Lets play a game...” The girl took her entire hand and set every single card. “Oh sweet shit.” Said the Mage. Traps. Traps for days. The one thing that never failed to screw her over were traps. “Come now lass, don't be afraid. The fun has only just begun...” Twilight had the faintest itching feeling in her arm again.

“I'm not afraid of you! And I'm gonna kick your ass for stealing my shit!” The opposing girl was simply delighted by the Mage's words, which only made Twilight more angry. “I draw!” The opponent tapped her disk as soon as Twilight took her card. “Let's see here... you have a card that can stop traps... So I'll just have to nix that now! I activate Fireworks Shop: 24 Hour Service!” The Mage rolled her eyes. “*Sigh.* So that's how this is gonna go.” On the other side of the field, the left most card flipped up. From it, a small wooden stand slapped itself together, and a sign larger than the little desk like counter read: 'Fireworks, Open for business!' In bright colors with more than what was on rainbow's head. “And what does this do?” Said the Mage. Ugh. My stomach is getting upset just looking at it. This is gonna be a long duel. She thought to herself.

“Who said I was done? Next, I'll be activating Fireworks Zodiac Serpent.” She tapped her disk again, and another trap in the center of her row of five flipped over. From the card, several bursts of light sound and color shot off above the field toward the high library ceiling in the shape of a snake. Each color then formed a stripe for every four dots of light until the multicolored reptile was complete. The serpent then slithered it's way down to the field where it then displayed an attack stat. “What the hell?” The other girl put her hands behind her back and started to rock at her hips like she was stretching.

“I see you've noticed that my trap is also a monster. The Zodiac traps are mostly like this. This guy is one of my favorites because he lets me go out and grab another Fireworks trap card from my deck. I mean, It's not like I have other cards in my deck, but all the same...” A single card slid out from the girl's deck, and she took it with a single finger. She then looked to crush it, but revealed that the card was no longer in her right hand at all. After excitedly seeing the confused looks on every other person's face, she then used her other hand to retrieve the card from inside her shirt. She flipped it around so everyone could see its dark pink color, indicating that it was a trap, and shuffled her hand around. “As for my other card, You can't negate anything when I activate a trap, meaning my entire deck. So, yeah, go a head and do a thing now!” Twilight let out a breath. That has to go. She thought to herself. “So uh, not to interrupt you guys or anything, but you're a Mage right?” Said the blue clad Angel.

“Who, me? Nah.” The red clad girl responded. A collective 'what' was said by every person other than Fluttershy in the room. “No, it's true. She's got a shoulder Mark and everything.” The pale Angel said in mid sigh. “So uh... How're y'all doin' this whole fire thing?” The girl smiled again. “I'm pyrokinetic. Have been ever since I was young. Ain't no thang.” Once again, save for the pale Angel and the speaker, the entire room gave a collective 'What?' in response. “Don't worry about it, it's fine.” The bushy pink headed girl said. “I am honestly more concerned about that than I am this. Can we talk about that instead?” The girl's smile faded. “No. I've been waiting all day for this. You and me? We're dueling. M'kay?” Every light source in the room was some kind of burning candle, save for the ring of fire, and all of the flames lowered in just a way to shade Pinkie's face into something... sinister. The pyro twisted a smile at the end of her mostly monotone sentence that put everyone on edge. Especially Twilight. “Sweet Divinity, okay! Just... turn the lights back on!” The red clad girl bowed.

“Ask and you shall receive...” Just like that, the candles were no longer embers, and the ring of fire raised to show blue flames at it's base again, illuminating the whole room. Holy shit. Twilight thought. She's out of her gods damned mind! “Okay then... I'll start off by activating Star fusion.” As soon as she placed the spell in her disk, the other girl tapped hers. “Now I know what you're thinking, I'll just use that pinup magician girl to kill that trap card, but I have a proposition for you.” To literally every other person in the room's bewilderment, the girl perfectly mimicked Twilight's voice in the middle of her sentence. “You should, you know, not do that. I activate Fireworks Zodiac Canopy. This just so happens to be the one exception to my Zodiac cards that isn't a monster.”

The trap flipped over and out of it shot more fireworks. The various colors of mostly primary and green shot in the air, then held their position after they formed a specific picture over Pinkie's field. It was the shape of a dodecahedron on the outside with lines coming from another twelve sided shape in the inside to each apex of the larger shape. One of them was filled, and eleven others were not. This didn't bode well. “Alright. Zodiac Canopy; you cannot destroy my trap cards. With that said, I should make sure you know that my trap monsters are still treated as traps, so that means they can't be destroyed in battle either. M'kay?” The girl smiled again with that deceptively happy tone at the end of her sentence. Twilight shuddered. The very hairs on her neck were all standing up. Sure Zephraim was dangerous when he was all crazy earlier, but at least that's temporary. This girl... she was something else.

“In... that... case, I guess I'll send Swan and Kepler to summon somebody else. He who holds the power of heaven in his hands, come forth and show the majesty of the galaxy! Appear, Magic Star Andromeda, The Galaxy Magician!” The two monsters appeared on either side of the field and turned into violet orbs that started to circle each other. The two and three orbs collided and a wave of violet to white light, and out of the flash appeared the sorcerer. “Ooh, so this is the guy version of you! What does he do?” Guy version of... what the hell? “Uh... when Andromeda is fusion summoned I get to add a Star monster to my hand.” The field was silent for a few moments while the pyromancer was desperately anticipating what the Mage would do next.

Oh, gods, Andromeda help! I don't know what to do! She freaking me the hell out, I can't get rid of her traps unless I banish them, I don't have anything else that's useful in my hand, and she hasn't even made an attempt to attack yet! The sorcerer crossed his arms on the field and lowered his head. I don't like this Master Sparkle. If I were to give you advice now, it would be tantamount to cheating. The girl started to scratch her head. Come on man, I really need you here! The sorcerer turned to the girl and looked her in the eyes.

You can do this. Calm down and think. 1 am a tool for you to use. My powers combined with your makes any play you can think of possible. Remember what you know and do what you can. Your possibility is endless. The sorcerer returned to facing the pyro who was anxiously awaiting her opponent to say something else. Come on, Twilight! Think! I can search out any monster with him, and any spell with the right monster! What do I have that banishes? In the back of her mind as she was trying to think of what to do, she heard a sound. It was the cry of an animal that she had heard many times before. There it is. All you need do is remember what you already know, and your soul will do the rest. “Andromeda, bring me Shooting Star Unicorn!” The Mage had regained her usual haughty tone.

“Man, I thought she was already done for. I'm pretty sure she's never been this intimidated by an opponent.” The male Angel whispered to his sister. “To be fair, this is Pinkie she's dealing with. I know you don't know much about her, but... She can be... rather frightening when she wants to. If I had to pick between any of you four as black demons, or her when she's really angry, I would pick you guys.” The man looked at her with a frown. “Uhh... are you serious? You would take on a crazy, lost his mind, bloodthirsty, Apollo over her when she's mad?” The girl frowned in return. “Okay, maybe not that far, but between you, Zeus, and her, definitely you or Zeus.” The man snorted. “That's what I thought.” Was he proud of that? The pale angel thought. “I can't understand why you think it's better that our family is crazier than she is.” The man realized what he'd actually just argued over. “Point taken. Gods, we're a hopeless bunch aren't we?” The pale Angel nodded in agreement. The Mage retrieved her card.

“I activate the effect of Unicorn! By banishing it from my hand, I can banish a monster you control! But because you monster isn't actually a monster card, It won't be coming back!” The opponent winked, then tapped her disk once more. “Twilight, Twily, Twiggy, Twi. You had the right idea just not the right timing. I activate Fireworks Zodiac Rooster. He special summons himself just like all the others do, and when he is summoned, I can negate the effect of a card that targets one of mine! Soooo, Serpent isn't banished.” More lights shot out of her trap card to form the shape of a rooster in the air. The colors and dots connected and filled in to make the paper mache like bird into a creature. The star form unicorn then shot it's laser at the snake, only to be denied by the rooster's massive wings.

“So much for that plan...” The indigo headed girl stared at the three cards she had left. I have comet phase, which would be nice if I could use it now, but I can't so I'll just have to save that. Then there's Longhorn, which would also be nice if I had a way to get Hubble, but I botched that in trying to kill the at snake. And finally... She took note of the last card in her hand. It was a trap, but where did it come from? She didn't have any traps to speak of. When did... Ah, right, this is what the old lady gave me. I never even looked at it. What does it do? Hmm... That might just work... “Okay then... I set two cards. Then I'll normal summon Shooting Star Longhorn from my hand.” The Mage girl had regained some of her calm as she spoke. Just breathe, she thought to herself. You can do this. Out of the ground spawned another set of lights in a teal white color, that then formed the shape of the bull. “That's a lot of attack for level four... you have plans that go with it?” The puffy pink haired girl said with a sly smirk on. If Twilight didn't, she certainly did. “Well, you'll just have to wait and see, now won't you? I attack serpent with Andromeda!” The sorcerer reared up his staff, and the opponent tapped her disk for a fifth time.

“Alright, ya gotta level with me here. What's say you... don't do that either huh? I activate Fireworks Zodiac Dragon!” The trap flipped up, and more colored lights shot up and exploded in the air. A snake like beast with six claws all along it's body and two legs started to take shape, and soon enough the multicolored beast took a spot on the field, then Andromeda relaxed. “As you can see, My dragon has just a little bit more attack than your old incarnation does. And his effect says that you can only attack him while I control other Fireworks monsters. But, because the field has changed, you either have the option to attack him, or not all. Your choice though, whatever is fine with me.” The pyro girl relaxed and stretched her arms, and put them behind her back as she shot a smug smile at Twilight. “Hmm... Alright then. I won't attack. You go ahead, I end my turn.” The Mage lowered her eyes, but kept them trained on the other girl's face.

“Ooh, what a scary face! You should try smiling instead! This is fun! I draw!” The girl swapped the position of her stance to something more serious, and took the card from the top of her deck. As she did, a trail of flames followed it from the tips of her fingers. “Oops, I'm having too much fun. I almost burned another card.” She said as she started to flap away at the air with it. She placed the rectangle in her hand with her other card, and then something happened. As if Twilight knew exactly what was going to happen next, she saw the girl's irises flash with a bright pink, if only for a second. The girl stretched out her gloved left hand and started a chant. “The dark of the night sky erupts with color! Red, green, blue, yellow, the conductor waves his baton! The music echoes in blasts of sound, the master of ceremonies takes the stage! Xyz summon, Fireworks Master of Ceremonies, Conductor Optimism!”

The three monsters returned to lights, and a cloud of black with bright spots of green blue yellow and red started to swirl above them. Each light flew inside, then red lightning struck the ground. The other four girls not dueling began to hear the tones of their cards resound, and Andromeda began to glow with a violet light. The six tones echoed all through the library, nearly shaking the very tree itself. From single tones, to a scale played for each note, and then finally to a grand bombastic brass march. The song its self was almost exactly the same as the Faunan flag forever piece that was written shortly after the country was united. In place of the flash was now a man. He was orbited by three red orbs, and wearing a very professional looking piano black suit. He had a bright red cummerbund and bow tie, with a pristine white feathered shirt and his perfectly shining black suit jacket and pants. He had polished black shoes and a scepter whit a gold topper and a clear crystal orb embedded in that. He was wearing a top hat with a violet domino mask to cover his eyes, but his hair was what stood out the most. As if he were a mirror to the girl, it was dark pink with wild and puffy curls that made it look more like cotton candy than anything else. He took a bow, and then leaned on his cane, impossibly supporting himself entirely with it and floating off of the ground. The music came to a halt and the man then crossed his legs and tipped his hat to the sorcerer. The glowing cards turned silent and non-luminous.

“Evening brother. My, tonight is a fine one, wouldn't you say?” And with that, this was her Harmonian, no more doubts in the room. “I suppose. Have you been with her all these years? It's been quite some time since I've seen you.” The suited man removed his hand from the cane that was supposedly supporting him, then continued to float in suspended space with his left at his face, and his right on his elbow. “I've been a little bit of everywhere. You know how I am. I can't stay in one place for too long.” The sorcerer nodded. “Very true. But we still don't exactly know how or why you left in the first place. Mind sharing?” The sorcerer opened his arms up and smiled just as wide as the girl. “Oh, but there's no fun in that! Why interrupt this glorious show with some boring details about my departure? Come now, the fun has only just begun! The stage is set and all the stars have arrived!” And then as if on queue, the his duelist joined in.

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's featured entertainment that you've all be waiting for has finally arrived!” The man returned to a standing position and raised his staff to the air. Colored lights shot out everywhere as the room's light level darkened to further show off the display of glowing bursts. The girl set two cards, and from out nowhere, a pair of spotlights found their way to her. “Tonight we have a very special event planned! We've just freed up some space and brought the show's star to the field, and he has many effects prepared! First off, I'll start by having him activate my favorite effect, number 4!” The spotlights moved to show off Optimism. He spun his scepter around in one hand, then smashed one of his three red obs with it when he stopped. He then took both hands to it, and struck the ground. A wave of red, blue, green, and yellow, light spread out around it. “Fireworks no longer need preparation until the end of the turn!” That doesn't bode well, thought Twilight as she frowned. The Spotlight then moved back to pinkie. “That's right! No preparation means they can just be set off whenever I want! Next, we need more supporting cast! I activate Fireworks Zodiac Tiger that I had just set!” As with the other two, this card shot up in bursting lights of color and then formed the beast. The tiger came and purred itself around the conductor, then sat next to him.

“My tiger returns a trap card to me after he's summoned. The snake I detached will then be added to my hand. And just like that, two more have been added to our supporting cast! I activate Fireworks Zodiac Serpent!” As if it were a spell, she swiped the card face up into the slot, and just like that the trap shot fireworks into the air. The serpent landed to the opposite side of Optimism, and now she had a fighting force. One that could relatively easily overtake Andromeda, and Twilight didn't have a counter measure for it. It became apparent to her that the Pyro caught on to her thoughts when she spoke next.

“Ah, but worry not! My monsters are a bit too strong for their own good, so when they shoot themselves into existence, they have to take a turn to get ready to fight! As such, My traps can't attack on the turn they're summoned. However, my silly snake's effect goes off again, adding yet another trap of my choosing to my hand. We've just about run out of actors and props, so we need to restock! I activate Fireworks supply trade!” Once again, she tapped her disk and the other trap she'd set flipped over. This one was surprisingly not continuous like every other card she'd played, and it resembled the wooden stand she activated. Several cardboard boxes appeared above the card, and each opened up to reveal new rockets for her to shoot off. Apparently, she knew exactly what was what, because she started to channel a small flame at her finger tip and hit two of the rockets at their fuses. A bright green and a dark blue blast set off, and the girl took two cards into her hand.

“Now then, how about a little drama?” The Harmonian took to standing at the tip of his scepter now, pretending as if he had to balance himself on it. “Drama you say? Why create any kind of spectacle without it? We'll raise the stakes! Gamble like your life depends on it!” He took the other two floating orbs in either hand and crushed them together with a resounding clap. He then formed a fist with either hand and spread each one to either side of his body. He then released what appeared to be glowing red dust from each side.

“By removing two more material, We each roll a six sided die!” Traps and gambling. Traps... and Gambling... Why? Of all the kinds of decks that this girl could have had, why oh why did it have to be a combination of things I don't handle well? The Mage thought to herself. As it was told, two almost child sized dice appeared in front of either player. After looking at it and back at the pyro, she noticed that Andromeda was covering his eyes with one hand. Another warning, she guessed. Hers was violet with pink dots on 2 through 6 and her Mage's mark for the 1. The pyro's was pink with blue dots and what Twilight assumed to be her Terran's mark on the 1. Three balloons, one yellow, two blue. Ah. So that's where they all came from.

“Effects happen based on the number rolled! If we get a combination of any of the same numbers, I can attack directly this turn! If we get a 7, then you take damage equal to half Optimism's attack! However, If you roll a 6, and I roll an odd number, I take damage equal to Optimism's attack! Finally, if the numbers just don't happen to be any of those, I simply discard a card! Ready? Go!” This is crap. Why rely on luck? Why rely on your opponent? Winning comes from as little interaction as possible with your opponent! This is not how you play the game! The girl thought as she threw the giant box in frustration. The opponent followed and tossed hers at Twilight's die. They collided in mid air, knocking each other in different directions. The first die thrown landed on six, and the other landed on a corner and started to spin. “I got a 6!” Never in her life had she ever fairly rolled a six. Back when she learned how to gamble, she was awful at it. If any of the games she played against Black mattered, she'd likely be dead, or worse. But then he taught her how to cheat, and she hadn't lost since. But in this scenario? She didn't have any control, nor could she influence the matterwave with magic. The pink die continued to spin on it's axis for several more tense seconds. The air was thinning and one could hear every single wooden fiber that the matterwave cube rolled across. It finally started to slow and wobble, all eyes trained on the spinning box. The spotlights returned and focused in on the spinning object until finally, it landed on 5. “Fortune's wrath chooses us today!” The girl bowed.

“Ha ha! It finally happened! I've never gotten this before! Bring it to me MC!” The girl took a stance as if she were about to go maul something, and the Conductor back flipped off his scepter. He landed with it on one hand and turned to his master. With a raise of his crystal, a ball of flame shot up and curved around directly at the pyro. An explosion happened and the girl was on her back laughing. More out of curiosity than concern, Twilight took a step forward. “Are... Are you okay?” The girl managed to bring herself to a sitting position amid gaping for air from laughing. “Oh, yeah! I'm fine, I'm fine. This happens more often and I can keep track of.” The pyro brought herself back to standing with a very reduced life point counter.

“Well, at least you're not a complete jack off. You actually asked if I was okay, and that's more than I can say for some people I know. In any case, I was prepared for this. I activate the effect of Fireworks Malfunction!” Another tap to her disk and a card flipped up. A new rocket was mounted and pointed toward Pinkie. The fuse lit and then, unlike what looked to be intended, the firework exploded and shot flames toward Twilight. She flicked up a barrier as a reflex, but the fire fizzled out as it came to her. “What the? What did that do?” After she said it, she noticed Andromeda struggling to hold himself up with his staff. “Oh, can't you tell? Uh... It... oh, right, It lowers the attack of a monster equal to an amount of damage I took this turn, but that monster can't be destroyed. With that said...” She raised her hand. “Optimism attacks Andromeda!” The sorcerer shook his head.

“Somehow, I seem to have forgotten how you like to fight.” The conductor bowed. “Ah, my, my, It's only been seven years Andy boy! No one ever said I played fair did they?!” The suited man assumed the same prepared to maul position the girl did earlier. He dashed toward the sorcerer who attempted to prepare for impact, but failed miserably, and was thoroughly smacked across the face with the blue orb at the end of the conductor's scepter. The sorcerer flew and landed on Twilight, who was fairly unprepared to handle the weight of a man almost twice her size and in armor. “Ow, fuck! Get off of me!” She said as she tried her hardest to fling the sorcerer away. Of course, she could barely lift 40 pounds, let alone a full grown adult male. The sorcerer wasn't in much better shape, but all the same, managed to get himself up. He then levitated Twilight to her feet and straightened his hat. A good sized circular red mark was beginning to bulge underneath his mask. “M-my apologies, Master Sparkle. I was... unprepared for that. I has been a while.” The Mage shook her head, trying to regain her functions after being temporarily knocked out. “Yeah, whatever, gods... You are friggen heavy.” The girl returned to her spot, as did the sorcerer, and the pyro was waiting patiently.

“That was faster than most people get up. What do you think MC?” The pink headed girl asked the pink headed man. “Well, he is my brother, and that is his incarnation. It's to be expected isn't it?” The pyro nodded. “Ab-so-lutely! Well then, I think it's about time to pass the torch. I'll activate the last effect of Optimism, targeting my two zodiac monsters. During the end phase, I can target any number of face up continuous traps I control and attach them as Xyz material.” The two monsters unraveled themselves as if they were made of paper, and when all fell away, they turned into two little red orbs of light and began to orbit the conductor.

“With that taken care of, It's all yours stripey. Show me that Sparkle!” The Mage felt a vein on her forehead expand, and her little brother was giggling to himself. She took a single deep breath, and drew a card. She looked at the card, and lo and behold, Hubble had appeared. Your friend is calling to you, Master Sparkle. The road has been paved, and your soul has responded. Finish this. Twilight realized what he said was true. With her new trap and this card, it would all fall into place... provided both of her traps don't completely screw me over. “Alright, this is how it's gonna play out! I activate my trap card, Family Ties!” From around the room, the others started to murmur. “A trap? I don't remember her having any of those.” Said the blue clad Angel. “So that's what Granny wanted to talk to ya about. Hmm... Ah wonder what she was thinkin' ta give ya that...” Said the blonde. “Hold on a sec. I thought you didn't have any traps?” Said the dragon boy. “Well, out with it! What does it do?” Said the Male Angel.

“I target one monster I control, and special summon any monster from my hand or field with the same type and attribute. Then, for the rest of my turn, my cards aren't affected by yours.” She said pointing to the rather unhealthily excited Terran on the opposite side of the field. She was practically bouncing in anticipation. “Uh... So I summon Star Magician Hubble from my hand!” A light shot up from the ground that telescoped downward, and from it appeared another robed spell caster. Like the armored one, he wore gold lined violet and dark blue robes that looked heavy to wear. He carried a book in one hand, and a spyglass in the other. A star shot across the top of the field, and the new magician captured it in a net of violet magic from his expanded spyglass. “If Hubble Is special summoned, I get to add a Star Spell card to my hand! With that said, I need Guiding Star Light.” The man pulled the star in his net down toward Twilight's disk, and after it crashed, a card slid out. She took the card, and then placed it in her disk's spell slot.

“Ooh, ooh! Let me guess... This one lets you banish stuff right!?” Oddly enough, she was on the money. “Uh... yeah, it does. By targeting Andromeda and banishing Swan and Kepler in my grave, He gains 100 attack times the combined levels of my banished cards. Their total is 6, so that puts him at 3100. and now that I have more than one banished card...” The Mage said as she tapped her screen. “You can put Star fusion back in your hand! I love it!” A thought occurred to Twilight. Has she been watching me all day? She did know about Ellipse now that I think about it... The Mage abandoned the that train for now and took the spell from her grave slot, then activated it.

“And now I fuse Hubble and Longhorn! The violet spiral that swirls with dazzling light! The progenitor of the earth the sun and the moon, come forth! Star Milky-way the Galaxy Magician!” Like the first time, the two monsters broke into three and two orbs, then spiraled around each other until they connected. A flash of violet light blinded the room, then in it's place was A rather tall lightly armored sorceress. She carried a spear almost taller than herself that looked as if it's blade were in the shape of a six pointed star and had a similar metallic violet coloring to her armor. She wore the usual heavy robes in dark blues and violets with gold lining and had shin plates, shoulder plates, gauntlets, a full face helm, and finally, a chest molded breast plate. The pyro snorted.

“Ha. It's like she needed extra support, so she just put metal there to hold em up. Pfft.” The dragon boy butted in. “I said it once, and I'll say it again, that chest is GLORIOUS! But hey, good for you. Actually saying something like you care this time.” He said as he gave Twilight a thumbs up. “Thanks for the moral support kid, real helpful. Anyways, when Milky-way is summoned, Her original attack becomes the combined total of Hubble and whatever else is used to summon her. With long horn in the mix, it becomes 3000. In addition to this, Milky-way can target one of my in grave spell casters and equip it to herself, meaning Hubble in this case.” In the sorceress' left hand, a shield appeared that had Twilight's mark on it, and her spear gained an additional set of blades protruding from either side. “Now she's got 4000 attack. With this I can end it! I attack optimism with Milky-way!” The Mage had gained a new triumphant stance, and the pyro was just as excited as she had been, but, now she had that sinister smile back on. The lights dimmed once again, and the puffy pink haired girl was the focus of attention.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have come to our conclusion for tonight's entertainment, but wait! We haven't yet reached the climax! To my left, there is now an activated Trap card. A very special counter trap, and the only one like it in the world.” Once again, a single, six sided die was placed in front of either player. “It's true. Twilight here is the would be winner of our little contest, but what if we changed that? What if we could rewrite fate and turn things around? My audience, I give you, the Fireworks Grand Finale.” The trap card stood itself up, and all around the room fireworks were lined in the center of the field, and the Zodiac Serpent was coiled around each of them. “My lovely serpent has a short fuse, and depending on the numbers rolled, the game will either; change directions, go as it were, or, end in an explosive tie. First off, If we both roll 6, then the game is reversed. I get to inflict damage to my opponent equal the highest attack on the field, which in this case would be the lovely *pfft* boob-armored sorceress here.” She snorted and giggled trying to say 'boob-armored'.

“But the chances of that are relatively low. 1 in 36 I believe. But that's not important. I never ask for the odds. If we roll anything other than a 7 or 12, then my luck has run out, and it's game over for me. But if we do roll a 7...” She raised her arms and made an explosion sound. “Each player takes damage equal to the lowest attack on the field, but since we're both at 1200, anything over that will kill us. Those are the rules of the game! So, with all said and done, lady luck, smile upon us!”

The two girls grabbed their dice and each lobed it at the other. The two dice collided with each other and were sent back to their players. The spot lights followed each and the first to stop was the pink die. It's number was 6. Twilight's breathing started to hasten. It's just a 1/36 chance right? There's no way I'd roll a 6 again... that... that's... possible... The girl watched as her die was pulled down by gravity, spinning rapidly, and faster after it hit the floor. The top three numbers were... 2, 4, and... 6. Oh, gods, oh gods, please no. Oh, gods please no! The cube began to lose momentum, and as it slowed, Twilight was running math through her head like a madwoman. Okay, okay, If I just calculate it, I can gauge how fast it's spinning and which number will be face up... The Mage was too late, as the die had already started to come to a slow. It started to wobble over the 6 side. It looked as if all hope was lost, until something unexpected happened. The die was still spinning rather rapidly, even though it had almost decidedly landed with 6 face up, but somehow, the corner got caught in one of the grooves of the tree floor. The die turned completely and rolled over two of it's edges. It finally came to a complete stop at the exact opposite number with those three balloons facing up for all to see.

“Woo! Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a grand tie today! Thank you for coming, and give a round of applause to my lovely assistant over there! It's time to come to a close, so let's end it with a bang! The Grand Finale!” The spotlights faded, and so did most of the lights in the room. The tree was just about completely dark for a few seconds, save for the light of the two matterwaves. From the center of the room, the sound of popping could be heard. At various points, there were now fires following little trails. Then the now lit rockets fired in all directions. One group spiraled to the left, and the other to the right. At the last minute, every last rocket turned upside down and raced it's way to the ground. Colors began to shoot off in various patterns from the explosion points. Vibrant pink, violet, and blues on one side: another shade of pink, blue, and yellow on the opposite. Somewhere in the mix of the explosions the screams of Twilight and the laughter of Pinkie could be heard. Life point counters dropped to 0 and the word Draw was displayed in rainbow gradient letters that moved through every color, much like Zephraim's monsters. The candles around the tree were lit once more, and now that everyone could see, the pyro was simply laying on the floor with a face of content, and Twilight was a little disoriented and rattled. Before she knew it, the indigo haired Mage was surrounded by every other person in the room, including the pyro. After getting her head to stop spinning, she took the out stretched hand and Zephraim brought her to her feet.

“It looks like today just isn't yours. You didn't even break even. Are you okay?” The Mage scratched at her head. Odd as it was, the duel felt unusually satisfying. She even thought to go as far as to say she enjoyed herself. “Yeah, I'm fine. I don't really mind though. It was fun.” The pyro smiled and gave her self a fist pump. She then latched onto Twilight. “I knew it! I knew it! You are the one I've been looking for! You and me are gonna be the best rivals there ever was! An unstoppable team, a raging rivalry! We're gonna be friends forever!” Two things went through Twilight's mind at this point. 1) How can she be shorter than me and bigger than me? And 2), I've made a horrible mistake.

“Well that's great and all, there is some business that we need to take care of first. I'm gonna go pull some chairs out, because you're all gonna want to sit down for this.” The male Angel turned toward the back of the library and headed up the stairs hidden behind a door. The pink haired Angel then took role of speaker. At first it looked like she was ready to say something, but then she looked over the room and became visibly uncomfortable. “So... um... I just wanted to say that... I hope to be really good friends with all of you... b-before this is all over.” She almost didn't stutter. Almost. No one responded immediately, and the poor girl looked like a deer in headlights. In a second, Pinkie swapped from one hug to another. “We're already good friends! All of us! So don't you worry about a thing.” Fluttershy was still about a head taller than Pinkie. Needless to say, the Terran's face was hidden. The Angel managed to remove Pinkie from herself around the same time Zephraim returned with fold up chairs. After handing them out and getting everyone set up, he turned on his disk.

“You all have cards that contain the spirits of ancient people, or the Harmonians. It's been seven years since all of them have been in the same room together, and even longer still since they've been able to talk with each other. Ephraim just so happened to be a Pendulum card this time around, so for once in their lives, they can fit on the same field. With that said, I need all of your Harmonians.” Fluttershy was the quickest to hand Zephraim her card, but Twilight was the slowest. “You're not gonna keep him this time, are you?” The man rolled his eyes. Andromeda has gone from an object to a child in her eyes in just a day.

“Yes, I will give him back. Now would you please hand me Andromeda?” The card was in her hand, and she was tentative to hand him away, but did so anyways. The rounded wooden table that Pinkie was standing on earlier was now seating all eight of the participants, and Zephraim took his active disk and placed it in the middle. His hand started to let off a dark red smoke again, and he looked to be channeling, or focusing on it. Every other person in the room could hear his pulse. Soon enough, the smell of warm cinnamon and sugar started to waft around the library. The beating of his heart could be felt in the ground. With each card in hand, he started placing them on the matterwave one by one. As another card was placed, they started to ring out their tones, but unlike when they were properly summoned and in this close proximity, they didn't let out symphony. Once every card was on the disk, bright lights shot out from six places in the room in violet, orange, green, white, blue, and red. The lights faded, and the library was back to normal. Standing on the table, finally assembled after years of being torn apart, were the Harmonians.

Future Visions and Lost Memories (12)

“My, my, A thousand years can give you such a crick in the neck...” The pink headed man said as he rubbed at his neck.

“You were summoned literally minutes ago. If anything, the reason you happen to have a sore neck because of all that gravity abuse you do. Just because you can does not mean you should.” The knight said to his brother.

“I still do not know how he does that so easily either. It took me years to figure out how to do it, and he's been able to ever since we were trapped.” The sorcerer agreed.

“Well, Andy, hear me out here bro; maybe you really don't actually have any talent. It could be that ya know.” The Valkyrie said as she playfully shook the sorcerer's shoulder.

“Oh, stop that. If I did not have any talent, there would have been a number of times we should have died.” The sorcerer replied, removing the valkyrie's hand in the process.

“Of course. Zere is also ze fact zat 'e destroyed my city on a bloody rampage more zan once. But no, I am not bitter.” The Mage knight said. The sorcerer was immediately looking far and away from the other Harmonian Mage, who was still staring daggers at him.

“Well... to his credit, you did have a habit of trying to make everything out of glass...” The heavily armored Angel said.

The Harmonians continued to argue with one another until finally, someone decided to interrupt.

“Look, y'all clearly have some kinda brother-sister bondin' to catch up on, but really, is now the time?” The Terran who shared Applejack's mark silenced the group.

“She's right. We aren't just here to talk. I apologize for my siblings, milady.” The knight said. It was relatively clear who was the 'leader' of the six here, as all the others stopped talking and stood at attention.

“Well, I was gonna let you go on for a while, but I guess we have more time than is really necessary here. If you would, Andromeda.” The male Angel said. The sorcerer nodded, and then began to raise his blue and red staff. The crystal connected with the table and light blue waves of magic shot out in every direction. From the origin point, the world started to lose color, save for the people inside. The candles that lit the room halted movement, exposing every single point of flame to be seen. Pinkie immediately noticed this, and started making little fires in the shape of a smiley face in the air. They froze as soon as she let go of them. She giggled and clapped after each one.

“Stop that. This is serious.” Said the indigo headed Mage. The girl rolled her eyes, then very quickly drew a circle of flame around it to finish her frozen flame face.

“That brings me to our first agenda. Why can she do that?” Said Zephraim with a concerned look on his face.

“Ah, yes, the powers. You see, it isn't just my incarnate, but Andromeda and Monarcha's as well. You there... the yellow Angel. You can summon water can't you?” The conductor said.

“Um... yes?” The girl said sheepishly.

“That's about a confident as Monarcha ever is, So I guess I'll take it. So? Who wants to explain that to them? Three of you have yet to even pass your powers on.” The Mage Knight stepped off the table, then in front of Rarity.

“Very well. A visual demonstration should do. 'Owever, if you two decide to try and do somezing I am sure you will break zis little tree. Your 'and my liege.” The tailor wasn't sure what to do, but a nod from the Harmonian made her feel more comfortable. She took hold of the Mage knight's hand, and suddenly she had an overwhelming headache.

“Oh dear gods, what is this feeling?” She said as she tried to regain her vision. But once she did, she stopped herself from moving completely. “Alright. I must admit, the color going away was unusual, but this is even more strange.” The girl said as she stood and stared at everyone.

“You wanna share with the class, curly?” The rainbow headed Angel said.

“How is it possible for every word out of your mouth to be offensive? Oh, whatever. If you must know, the room isn't black and white anymore, but I can still tell that it's frozen. But what's most odd is you. You all have... these colors about you.” She moved around the table and then stared at every one, one at a time, very carefully. Before she got up, she was sitting next to Rainbow and Fluttershy, so she decided to start with Fluttershy.

“A bright blue... white... lilac... yellow... a silvery blue... and the character for water? No wait... this is a rune... Ah. That explains that.” The Angel sat in silence after hearing all of those colors. The tailor then moved to rainbow.

“An oddly profound cyan, almost green-blue I would say. A faint hint of pink, and a rather pale one at that... and magenta. Hmm... you don't seem to have as many colors as she does, or a rune.” Rainbow looked shocked. She didn't say anything though. Next up was Twilight.

“Violet. Very, very deep violet. A very dark blue, a much brighter violet... the same yellow that Fluttershy had... odd. That blue is here too... A light silvery blue, and the rune for Dark.” She started to move away, but then turned back to Twilight. “Hold on a moment... you have... something else in there too...” The tailor reached out to touch the other Mage's shoulder, and noticed that her hand was letting of a white-gray smoke.

“That's odd. My magic is normally just a pure blue.” She continued forward, and once she made contact, she started seeing visions. They came so rapidly and quickly that she couldn't process what was happening. The Mage knight quickly removed the tailor's hand. The girl shook her violet curls and rubbed at her fore head.

“What in the world was that?” The Mage knight helped her back to her feet.

“Somezing zat is a little bit more advanced zan you are able to 'andle right now. Clairvoyance is the most prominent powers you 'ave, but we can work on zat later. Keep going... zis is more important zan you know.” The tailor looked into the eyes of her incarnation, then turned away and ran her hands through her hair. The next person was Pinkie.

“Goodness, blindingly bright pink. Light gray, Dark gray. Burning bright red... oh wait a minute, that yellow is here again... rather faint though. I think Fluttershy had the brightest of it so far. And finally the rune for fire. I'm beginning to see a trend here...” She then moved to Applejack. “Orange. Possibly even burnt orange. A much lighter orange, almost golden, like honey... A... carmine red? No, darker than that... more like an apple... hmm... you don't have anything else... wait a minute, what's wrong?” The Terran's eyes were beginning to tear.

“Y'all just keep doin' yer thing. Ah just... Ah think Ah know what exactly yer seeing'.” The tailor looked concerned, but continued anyways. The Dragon's turn. He looked... happy to see her.

“Hmm... a darker green than rainbow's, and then there's a very saturated violet here... but I don't think I see another one... oh wait, there it is. It's faint, but it's... almost a clear color... a jade green.” She then stood and tilted her head looking at the dragon boy. “This other green though... It's far different than any of the other things I've come across. It moves around, almost like it's alive in there...” She then saw something that she caught out of the corner of her eye.

“Well, hold on now... you're different than everybody else...” She moved over to Zephraim and studied his face closely.

“A... blood red, but, with mixes of bright green in it. It burns like a fire, but almost reminds me of fighting... another blood red, however, this one has a black in it... but, that's not what makes you as different. You don't have another color, but you do have a rune. But, not one that I recognize either. It's written in that same yellow I found on the girls... and then, there's a hint of that silvery blue here, but the other strange thing is that you also have that same oddity that Twilight had. Maybe if I...” She reached out to touch the man, but the Mage Knight quickly intercepted her.

“Uh... Zat is not a good idea. As much as I hate to say zis, zere are a few powers fighting for control in zis one, but 'is blood balances itself out... some 'ow. Ze blood red you see? It is corrosive. Not 'ealthy for one using 'er soul arts.” The Man laid back in his chair.

“Good chances are what you saw was the rune for Divinity. The red would be the blood of my father, which is also known as the demon's curse. My dad and the four of us have it. This goes for all of you when I say; if you're using soul art, don't touch me, him, or any of my siblings for that matter. The curse spreads, and it takes a lot to get it out. I am indeed the product of my parents.” The Mage knight led Rarity back to her seat, then took the center of the table.

“Now zen... What you all 'ave just witnessed was just one of ze powers of Hikaritz, or ze goddess of Light. She cannot see 'er self right now, but she carries her personal blue, her father's ocean green and 'er mother's pale violet. Along with zat is now my deep blue, and ze character for light, or ze brand of Hikaritz. Ze soul arts were somezing zat Umbra brought with her, but were later given to ze six of us via ze gods.” She then pointed to Zephraim.

“Ze reason zis boy 'ad such a strange mixture in 'im is because 'e ze son of a daughter of Divinity, ze 'igh god, and ze son of a direct descendant of Umbra 'erself. In a sense, 'e is ze grand son of both the 'igh god and the one trying to slay ze 'igh god. Very adept in ze soul arts, much like 'is siblings. As for ze rest of you, ze trois who carried ze yellow 'ave been in contact with Celestia. Zose who are close to a daughter tend to take on a little of zeir characteristics wiz zem. As you may guess, ze silvery blue is of ze ozer daughter.

Now, once touched wiz ze brand, one gains ze powers of said brand. Rarity can now see ze souls of ozers, and ze souls of who zey carry wiz zem. Along wiz zis, she 'as ze power to manipulate and condense light. Wiz a little training, she could become as fearsome a knight as I once was, but zat is nizer 'ere or zere. Ze brand is passed on by touch, and once one accepts ze brand, you begin to slowly take on ze god or goddess' powers. Of course, zis comes along wiz ze last person's soul to 'ave zem as well. Zis is why you see ze fourz color in Andromeda, Monarcha, and Optimism's incarnates.” The Valkyrie and the Knight stepped down to their respective incarnates and held out their hands.

“Take my hand milady. The god of earth, Chiaz, has chosen you as my successor.” The valkyrie followed the Knight's lead.

“Ya always knew ya were special my girl, but ya could never of known just how special you really are. Take what's yours.” The two girls took the Harmonians hands, and both were assaulted with violent headaches.

“Damn, that hurts!” The rainbow headed girl said as she let go. The Terran was different however. She tightened her grip. Wincing in pain every few seconds.

“Lady Apple, that's enough. You'll hurt yourself if you keep going.” The girl shook her head and rose to her feet.

“No! If Ah let go, then Ah won't have enough! Ah'll protect everyone!” She tightened her grip again, gritting her teeth harder as the pain intensified. The Knight sighed. He over powered her, then threw the girl back into her chair.

“Stubborn girl.” He leaned in and stared her down. “You may be my master, but I will not let you do something so arrogant and foolish as to hurt yourself in the process. Do you understand me?” The Terran straightened her hat, then returned the death stare back to the Knight.

“...Fine...” The girl turned away from him. He stood up, looking relatively happy with that.

“Pick your wars wisely, children. You don't fight battles you can't win.” The two Harmonians took their places on the table.

“Okay, I guess that takes care of that. Next to talk about... Ah yes, the mission.” The man took a spot in between Ephraim and Andromeda on the table to address the girls. “As you all know, you have all been selected by Celestia to solve the case of the string of murders here. This place is a surrogate to the red forest of the Everfree, and is just a well of magic. More specifically, the dark side of soul arts and regular magic. Which Stripes here just so happens to be the inheritor of.” The girl rolled her eyes at him. He sneered.

“Ah, you'll get used to it. Anyways, as Rainbow probably knows, there have been murders in this town once a week for the past four weeks every Monday. If you haven't already caught on to where I'm going with this, there will likely be another one tonight. But unfortunately, it's not our job to stop it.” The pale yellow Angel twisted her face at him.

“Excuse me? Not our job? Then what the hell does mother expect us to do? Sit here and let someone die even though we know we can prevent it?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“You need to cool you jets. It's not our job. It's Eclipse's job. He is already here and in position to take care of anything that happens. You know damn well that she wouldn't just ignore this, so don't you go around questioning orders. My sister or no, you do not talk about our mother like that.” She looked down in her lap.

“I'm sorry...” He seemed satisfied with that.

“You should be. Anyways, our job is to train for the up coming week when the card carrier is supposed to be here. Based on what we know from the intel Cobalt has has gathered over the past month, they've completed the magic circle and are in position to activate it as soon as all the rites are prepared, or blood sacrifices.” Several of the girls reeled back at that.

“B-blood s-sacrifices? Good gods, why in the world-?” The man cut her off.

“To revive Umbra.” The room fell silent. “The so called 'card carrier' is a woman named Chrysalis. She was once the leader of a rebellion in crater against the cyberization movement 36 years ago. To say the least, it didn't go well for her. She was caught and locked away for a good amount of time. However, Shape-shifters aren't ones to age quickly, and they die about half the rate that humans do. All the same, they have a recessive gene pool, so unless they 'keep it clean', their little set of people won't last another few centuries.

With cyberization beginning to become a problem for them, it's starting to take it's toll. Backed into a corner, Chrysalis took what she saw as an opportunity to get revenge for her people by taking Umbra, but... this ended up being more or less a reverse when it comes to who is in control of who. Now, Umbra is running free in this shapeshifter woman's body, and she could look like anyone.” The Rainbow headed Angel interjected.

“So... what are we supposed to do? I's not like any of us know what she would look like now. And I'm pretty sure Applejack is the only one who knows the town's folk well enough to even start looking for an imposter. We're at a disadvantage already, and we haven't even started yet. I don't know about you guys, but this is beginning to look like a bad situation to me.” The pink haired Angel followed up.

“Was it ever a good situation? Rainbow, people are being murdered. People who more than likely don't have a the ability to fight back. I started looking into this when I heard about the first one a month ago. At first, I thought it was just a random case of old age, but no, it wasn't. They killed an eight year old. Just for some... evil tyrant! And that wasn't the only one either! An old man on his way out, a young woman with her career ahead of her, and then finally... a little girl...” She was shaking. Once again, the room turned deathly silent.

“It's sad, I get that. But the fact is, if you don't stop her, this will only be the beginning. To perform the ritual, Umbra needs to be in the center of the city after the final sacrifice is made. From what mom and Luna tell me, Umbra is pretty full of herself, and she would likely want to commit the last piece of the ritual herself. If the ritual is completed and Umbra roams free, It's over.

The elements are the only thing that can put a stop to her, and my parents will be in an endless war with her for the rest of eternity until another set of Daughters rises up that can use the elements. But this can be stopped. You six, have the power to do it. As long as one, or all of you can defeat Umbra, she will be sealed back inside her card, and with any luck, her host might even still be alive.” The group was still for a moment. It came to Pinkie to ask the question.

“A'ight. Sounds like ya got a plan and all, but... Riddle me this batman; who is the next target gonna be?” The rest of the girls let out a breath in relief. None of them wanted to ask that question in fear of it being them.

“That's up to what happens tonight. I doubt they don't have a back up plan just in case one of the local police managed to catch them in the act. The police disks can remotely turn off or short circuit disks to prevent the use of matterwaves in illicit behavior. But on the flip side, they only have about three people on the force here, one of them being Rainbow's dad. So, in the event they do send out two men with the objective of getting at least one of the sacrifices, there's a higher chance that one will escape. As for the target, they still need the blood of an Angel and the blood of a Mage.” The tailor and the blue Angel shivered.

“But, this can also be used to our advantage. Fluttershy and I just so happened to be trained to deal with assassins, so if worse comes to worse, and they still need an Angel after today, then we'll just have to act as bait. On the other side of that coin, we'll have to use either of you two to try and draw Umbra out.” He said as he pointed to the two Mages.

“Why do you assume that this will even come to pass? Isn't there somebody out there that's going to stop this?” The indigo headed girl said. The man frowned.

“Unfortunately, This is not the first case of black magic we've had to deal with, nor is the first time Celestia has had to deal with Umbra. She is very intelligent. And she knows black magic better than anyone on this earth, save for Andromeda here.” The sorcerer stepped up.

“Which is why I know that a sacrifice will happen tonight, regardless of whether a crime is committed. Dark magic has a work around for failures. If one of Umbra's servants happen to fail, then they will become the sacrifice. Preventing Umbra from killing remotely will be nigh impossible, unless we knew where she was, or from which direction she was going to cast. Even then, she could be inside of the town watching as this all goes down. It is a sad truth, but regardless of whose side they are on, some one is going to die tonight.” Once again, the room fell silent in the black and white sphere of frozen time.

“Now that you know what's going on, and you all have your powers, we have to prepare for next Monday. It's strange for me to say this to a bunch of teenagers rather than the A.O.D., but the fact is this; your life depends on you stopping her, and the world depends on you stopping her. Tonight, you will all go home with your incarnate behind you. Because of the number of people used to summon them, they've got enough energy to retain human form until morning.

As far as we know, the ritual has to be done on one of the six streets, otherwise there would have likely been cases of breaking and entering popping up here and there. When Andromeda releases this field, I want you all to go straight home and rest. Meet me back here in the morning, and be ready to train. You'll be working with Eclipse, and he's even more of a hard ass than I am. Get some sleep. You're gonna need it. Andromeda?” The sorcerer began to raise his staff.

“Return to where you were when the spell was cast. If you are not in the same place when the spell is nullified... well, you may just wish you had been.” The man jumped down off the table and returned to his seat. The sorcerer then brought his staff down. As soon as it touched the table, the sound of strong wind started to swirl around the tree. The colors started to all melt together, creating a disorienting display that could have been used to describe what a hard trip feels like. Color started to sort itself out, and the room returned to normal. Pinkie's smile of fire quickly petered out of existence, and the candles all flickered in place. The wind outside had picked up tremendously, and was sounding off an echoing howl.

“So, what was the point of that if all you were gonna do is talk?” The dragon boy finally said what was on most of the girl's minds.

“First of all, that was a pocket dimension. You might remember this happening earlier today with Master Zephraim's younger brother?” The boy scratched his head, then snapped his fingers.

“Oh, right, Twilight's crush.” The boy was quickly swatted across the head by his sister.

“The point is, we stopped time, or separated from reality or whatever, and kept the ears meant to hear what was said alone.” The girl was blushing. The man removed all the cards from his disk, and to the surprise of some, the Harmonians retained their form. He returned the cards to their respective owners, and started getting contact information from everyone.

“And with that, we're all interconnected.” Outside, the sound of thunder boomed through the library. Suddenly, Twilight and Rainbow were under the table, fearfully looking up.

“Uh... I guess... does anyone need to be taken home?” The other girls started to leave one by one.

“Naw, Ah'm okay. Ah'll be here tomorrow. Ah'll send ya a text when Ah get up, okay?” The knight followed the blonde as she exited.

“Until the morrow. Goodnight, Lords, Ladies, and my siblings.” He bowed, and shut the door behind them. The next to exit was Rarity.

“I have to go take inventory. I don't exactly know If Cobalt reopened or what happened since I left today. I will be sure to be here tomorrow relatively early though. I'll follow suit and tell you when I wake up in the morning. Goodnight everybody.” The Mage knight followed close behind.

“Fare ze well comrades, Bon soire.” Pinkie and Optimism had vanished from existence immediately following a look between the two. In their place was a note made of flame.

“To put this simply, we kinda got bored and went back to Sugar Cube Corner. But don't worry. I'll be back. -Pinkimena Diane Pie” There was also a drawing of a rather chiseled man wearing sunglasses with a bright dot coming out of the middle of his left eye.

Next to that was, “Ta ta, Zephraim. You've yet to see the last of me... hehehahaha...” Ominous, as Optimism loved to be. All that remained were the two Angel girls, and Twilight.

“Would you mind seeing her home?” The man said. The girl nodded.

“I actually think I remember this. Back when we were in grade school together, a storm was miscalculated once, and ended up going right over Cloudsdale. It knocked out power to the school, and Rainbow was under a desk the whole time until finally her dad came to pick her up. But I think once she gets back, she'll be fine. She has Valkyriana with her anyways...” The girl almost wanted to retract her statement when she noticed two heads of rainbow under the table.

“Oh, for the love of! You are 4000 years old! It is just lightning!” The sorcerer yelled at his sister.

“S-shut up! You don't know what it's like when that shit hits you! I got a sword and a shield on my back man! I'm a walkin' lightning rod here!” The sorcerer rolled his eyes.

“You are pathetic. And what's your excuse Master Sparkle? Why are you hiding from lightning in a magically sound place?” The girl shook her head and refused to say anything. She curled up tighter and covered her ears with her hands. She was terrified.

“That's kinda my fault... uh... when I was a lot younger, A pretty bad storm hit Canterlot, a little after the accident. I was playing up on the roof of our complex with some other kids and Twilight came to bring me inside. I didn't really cooperate and the storm had already moved in. She wasn't strong enough to force me to get inside, and then the lightning started to get violent. The other kids ran back inside, but I still didn't want to leave. What ended up happening was that we were hit, but she protected me with her body... Mom got concerned, and when she found us, Twilight had a big nasty burn-scar on her back. This has happened ever since...” The sorcerer remained silent. The valkyrie then cradled the girl.

“Hey, there, it's alright. Look at me Stripes.” The girl looked up at the valkyrie's face. There was a scar that ran down the middle of her left eye to the bottom of her face. “It's nasty stuff, but it doesn't hurt after the first few times. He might be a lummox, but that dip with the staff really cares about you. He wouldn't let you get hurt by something simple like lightning.” The woman got up from under the table, and dragged Rainbow with her.

“G-geez, lay off. I-I can... deal...” The blue clad girl said, still clearly startled by the weather.

“Alright, my work here is done. I'll be taking this one with me. It'd be pretty weird if the cloud house over there wasn't hers, so I assume I know where she lives. Come on Marcha. Let's get outta here.” The armor clad woman simply waved to Zephraim and Andromeda as she followed Valkyriana and Rainbow out the door.

“I guess we're leaving now? I'll see you in the morning. And please sleep in clothes while you're with her, okay?” The man nodded.

“I might consider it. See you tomorrow.” The girl shut the door. The man then decided it was time to pull Twilight out from under the table. Without much effort, he grabbed the girl and tossed her around until she was in his arms bridal style.

“You're fine. It's time to get settled in.” Another round of thunder, and the girl curled up tighter and clung to the man. For such a tough girl act, she really loses her crap when it comes to this thunder. I... almost feel bad for her, ya know? The sorcerer grabbed the girl's bag that had been so highly sought after earlier, now completely forgotten. He and the dragon boy made their way toward the stairs.

Irrational fear is hard to get over. It doesn't help that she has been through more than a few traumatic events in her life either. Again, a bolt struck relatively near the library, and the night sky was lit up in the few windows of the upper floor.

Oh, great, she passed out. Well that's just dandy.

The four of them had reached the upper floor of the library. It was almost like one room, save for a few separating curtains over one bed and another. There was a window in the front and the back of the room, and from it they could see the very heavy rain that was beginning to pour from the night sky. There was another door to the right just above the stairs at the back of the room which looked like it held a bath, a sink, and a toilet. To the right of that was an area that had a stove and some cooking utensils, but nothing close to modern equipment. The sorcerer cast something on the room, and then the sound from outside was nullified.

“That should keep it quiet. I am going to go back down stairs to start reading through this library. I saw a few texts that looked quite a bit older than some of the things I have seen in Celestia's library. Are you going to be alright?” The man nodded.

“Yeah. Even though I slept for several hours, trying to keep control on the demon took a lot out of me. Summoning you guys didn't help either.” The sorcerer nodded.

“Very well then. I will see you in the morning.” The sorcerer turned and headed back down stairs.

“You can have the other bed Spike. I'll take the couch.” The dragon boy slogged to the bed, dropped his back pack, and passed out as soon as he hit the comforter. “He must have been tired too. He's only ten after all. I guess all that's left is me.” He set the girl down on the other bed, then turned to walk away. However, he didn't make it very far before he felt a pull on his hand.

“Please, don't leave me...” Said the indigo headed Mage, still very asleep. The man scratched at his head with his free hand.

“So this is what the other side is like. I guess I don't have much of a choice now do I?” He took a spot on the side of the bed, and rested his head on it's edge. The girl's hand never lost any grip.

“Pretty weak physically, but that grip is killer.” The man sat in silence as he listened to the girls ever softening breathing. She never did let go of his hand.

“I guess I'm stuck here. I wonder what she meant when she said I had the same oddity that Twilight did... I know what she's supposed to become, but... what does that mean for me?” As the monochrome Angel thought on this, the room's light began to dim.

“What the?” He started to look around, and realized that it wasn't the room that was dimming, but his vision. He looked to his left and realized that the girl's hand was producing a violet mist.

“Oh gods help us. Andromeda! Where are you!?” He moved his mouth, but couldn't hear his own voice. Soon enough, Zephraim had fallen asleep himself.

The night air was thick with rain. Eclipse was sitting underneath an umbrella on top of the spire of the Pony Ville town hall. The sky was surprisingly well illuminated, even though it was the dead of night, and storming. It was almost like the desert was so thirsty, that when it finally found a lake, it drank the whole damn thing.

The man scratched at his violet blue stubble. He was always jealous of his older brother, who, unlike him, could actually grow something semi decent on his face. Every time he ever tried to grow a beard or a mustache, it just came in in patches everywhere, and nowhere he wanted. Even his two years younger cousin had a better beard than he'd ever managed. Then again, the punk needed something to make himself at least appear like an adult. It would be great to see him again.

After all the time in Crater looking for clues as to the whereabouts of the card carrier, something had finally turned up, and he was that much closer to being able to take time off to relax. The rain was coming down harder. The street lamps that dotted the little town were flickering with their pale blue light. He shook the disk on his arm to check the time. 12:01. It was about time for something to happen. Given the pattern and the strict rules of rituals, if they were late, they'd have to start all over. Umbra would slaughter a village before she was late to her own ritual.

A sharp pain ran through his head. He could still hear her voice. If his cousins all bore the curse of their father, then he and his brothers carried the curse of his mother. By tainted blood, they were connected. Mom, Jupiter, Nebula, me, and her. Ever since she was taken from the castle, the four of them could hear her whispers when they dreamed. Sometimes, the vile woman would invade their dreams and give them nightmares that caused bodily harm. Every now and again, the three of them would wake up with new scars, completely alone and after witnessing a battle between their mother, and her shadow. The nightmares would end if his mission was successful. They would finally end...

A crackling sound started to come from his disk and break his train of thought. “Sir? Mr. Eclipse are you there?” The man shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be dwelling on the past.

“Yeah, I'm here. What's your report eye in the sky?” The Vampire Mage said. A short silence, then more static.

“I see them. There's two like you predicted. Badge and Crosshair have taken note of each. What do you want us to do?” The man thought for a moment.

“I want you to stay put unless I say otherwise. Badge, Crosshair, report.” The other two men were each stationed at the edges of the north and the north west roads of town at the edges.

“This is Crosshair. I have visual of target A. He appears to be an Angel of about eighteen. He's wearing a dark cloak, and his face is obscured. He's just standing there.” The other man reported next.

“This is Badge. My target appears to have a rather petite form, no wings though. If I had to guess I'd say this character was around fourteen or fifteen. Gender is unknown. What should we do?” Eclipse thought for a moment.

“I want Badge to go meet up with Crosshair and engage target A. if the worst does come to pass, I want that Angel alive more than I do the Mage. The less trouble we can get, the better. Make sure you do something to let him think you're a Mage. If he finds out you're a Terran, there's a chance he might turn tail and run. I will engage target B alone.

Fume, if the event comes to pass that you see Crosshair struggling, I want you to end the duel and have you and badge put a protective circle around the target. Otherwise, keep hidden. As soon as you see the duel start to end, you put that circle down as fast as you can. I expect the highest speed you can offer me, Mr. X wonder bolt.” The two officers on the ground said “Roger” in unison. After several moments silence, so did the Angel.

“Hey, Fume, what's this 'X wonder bolt' nonsense he's going on about? You never told us you were a performer.” The Angel remained silent.

“Oh ho ho, I remember now! You were that new hotshot kid they brought on, only to end up causing a disaster in your first show! What was that, sixteen years ago?” The comm only gave static.

“Shut up. You're in the middle of a mission. If they find out you're there, you could blow the whole damn thing! Engage your target!” The man jumped off his spire, creating platforms of magic as he ran across the air. He reached the ground, and stopped his running to a slow walk. The target stopped under a street lamp. The sand had been slightly washed away from the cobbled roads of Pony Ville by the heavy rain. The target removed their arm from under their cloak and produced a shiny black object that resembled a gauntlet more than a duel disk. A bright green matterwave shot out from it.

“Oh? Is this a challenge? How could I say no?” The violet blue headed Mage said. As he did, walls of bright green flames erupted from all around him, giving off a sickly green and black smoke. The Mage smiled and chuckled to himself.

“Really now, is all this necessary?” He drew a circled in the air with a dark violet glowing hand. It expanded and smothered the flames around him, putting them out. He then performed and elbow motion with his arm, simultaneously coating it with magic and expanding a bright silver matterwave. He walked forward until he was about twenty feet from his target.

“DUEL!” he and his target said in unison, a white light shooting from Eclipse's matterwave, and a black one from the opponent. The green flames erupted again.

“Come now, didn't I tell you that was unnecessary?” He circled the air with his finger again, but this time, his magic shattered once it reached the flames.

“What the hell?” The sound of a woman's laugh came from the target.

“Oh, ho ho ho, I know exactly who you are...” The eyes from underneath the hood were glowing the same bright green as the flames. She drew five cards, and in response so did he.

“Pompous queen's brat. Prepare to be sacrificed to me!” The woman placed a card on the matterwave.

“To begin your demise, I will summon the Hive Sorceress from my hand!” The green flames erupted in a circle again, leaving behind an almost pale green skinned woman wearing tattered black clothing with dark, jade green hair. Her eyes had blue sclera and black rings for irises with bright white pupils inside. She carried a twisted wooden black staff that was riddled with holes, and floated on what looked like the wings of a fairy, but riddled with holes and tears all along them. Her left ear had a bishop piece on it.

“Okay... keep going, you might just be worth my time after all.” The woman retorted.

“Insolent fool. The effect of Enchantress activates when she is summoned. I may target a level 6 or lower monster from my hand and special summon it. Come forth, my servant, Hive Enchantress!” Another green skinned woman wearing tattered black clothing with ripped up fairy wings. This one was wearing considerably less than the other one. As a matter of fact, to call this one a hooker would be an understatement. Maybe a lingerie sales woman would be better. She carried a similar twisted staff like the first one, but it was much shorter, and looked to be more of a dagger than a staff. Her right ear had a bishop piece dangling from her lobe.

“Ooh, a call girl. Are you trying to seduce me to death?” He said with a laugh in his voice.

“Oh, you simpleton. Thinking with one head must be hard enough for you, I'm sure that two is more than you can handle...”

Damn, that was scathing. Well played.

“Now, this might just be a little hard to understand, so you might try and focus on me a little more than her. When Hive enchantress is summoned, I am allowed to add a Hive spell to my hand. I'll be taking Synergy of the Hive.” The woman swiped a card, and her hand started to glow with a dark yellow-green smoke, but at the same time, there were hints of black smoke in there as well.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? You've got somebody else inside you... so how about a name huh? You already seem to know mine.” The woman laughed.

“Ha! Fool, you truly expect me to just hand you my name? Filthy child of light, I will consume you.”

The man rolled his head around and popped his neck. He had stopped smiling.

“One, two, three, four... you've sinned four times today alone. Ah wait. Five.” The woman ignored him and played another card.

“Silence you ignorant creature. I activate the effect of Synergy. By targeting the Hive Knight in my Extra deck, my two monsters on the field gain his level, both becoming level 8. Now... I overlay my Sorceress and my Enchantress!” The black and greenish smoke that was emanating from the woman's hand started to rise into the sky above the monsters, forming a sickly vortex of malicious energy. The two creatures turned into dark violet orbs and flew inside of it.

“The Hive is now under my control! The thorns grow and spread among the garden, killing each and every flower! The Dark Queen of the blackest abyss rises from the ashes of her foes corpses! Come forth, Nightmare, the Black Demon!” From the black vortex in bright viridian flames descended what could only be described as a creature made of nightmares. It was in the shape of a woman, almost a shadow, but it had massive claws on either hand. It's face was black nothingness, save for a single bloody red eye and a set of impossibly sharp, smiling, teeth. On it's back were shadowy sharp effigies of wings that moved and swayed with a sickening rhythm. Two violet orbs floated around it, and it had 4000 attack.

“When the nightmare is summoned, she deals damage to my opponent equal to half of their life points. Take the wrath of the Demon Queen, filthy goddess son!” The Nightmarish Shadow let out a blood curdling scream, and shot two tendrils of shadow at the man. They pierced his left shoulder and destroyed his dark red coat at the same time. He clutched his wound in pain.

“Ha! This is only the beginning, child of the daughters! I now activate the effect of my Nightmare! By detaching all of it's material, you take half of your life points as damage, and I gain that amount!” The creature spread it's shadowy wings out and shot tendrils from from them in every direction. The man didn't move an inch. Each spiral of dark matter scraped at his skin, with one shooting through his wounded shoulder. He winced again.

“And now, I will set your final demise! The minute you start your turn, you will die, Divinity's scum!” The woman was about to set three cards when she noticed the man smile.

“Oh, my turn? Oh ho ho, no, my turn won't be coming. You see, you've already lost this game.” The woman reeled back.

“What!? Have you lost your mind!?” The man shook his head.

“You know, It's been a long time since I've won a game without taking my turn. FTK's are one of the true highlights of my deck. There aren't that many out there who can do what I can.” The woman was unsettled by the calmness of his voice.

“Silence you nonsense you rambling fool! Y-you have lost!” The man laughed. His whole body was beginning to radiate a dark violet smoke.

“I guess it's about time I saw what happened with my men. I activate the effect of The Mirror of Yamirix.” He placed a card from his hand onto the field.

“When my opponent deals effect damage to me, I can special summon this card from my hand.” A black flame formed a circle in the ground, then the shape of a Harmonian rune, one that was on every single card the opposing woman had summoned. Out of the fire cam a mirror with a demonic rim with runes that shined with a bright violet light from inside.

“When this card is summoned by this effect, and my opponent's life points are higher than mine, they become equal to mine.” The mirror reflected the shadow beast inside itself and then shot tendrils of darkness out from it's reflective surface. The tendrils hit and scarred the woman in all the same places that Eclipse had been injured, specifically through the left shoulder. Her black cloak had been torn, revealing a blank shoulder. A back up, just like she predicted. He thought to himself.

“I thought as much. So tell me, puppet. Where is your master hiding?” The woman clutched her own shoulder and yelled out in pain.

“I... Have no master...! Aaaugh!” The man shook his head.

“You disappoint me. I might as well tell you why, I suppose. Your first sin was taking control of this girl's body. I don't know where you are hiding, but when I find you, that will be your first lashing. I activate the effect of The Mirror of Hikaritz. When a player takes effect damage, I can special summon this card.” A circle of bright white light formed another Harmonian rune. Out of a column of light appeared another mirror, its rim draped in soft white cloths with runes sewn into the fabric glowing with bright white light.

“When this card is summoned this way, I gain life points equal to the damage dealt.” The white mirror shot a light above the woman's head, which then bounced off the black mirror and back at Eclipse. The wound on his shoulder had healed itself, and all the bloody spots along the edges of his body returned to normal. He rotated his arm around in it's socket and popped his neck again.

“That's much better.” The man pushed his hair out of his face, and returned his glare back to the girl.

“Now then... Your second sin was coming to challenge me. I activate the effect of The Mirror of Mizuli. I can special summon this card when a player gains life points.” A pool of glowing water formed next to the second mirror. A blue glowing rune was shining on it's surface, and then it formed a column of ice. The ice shattered, and out of that came a new mirror. This mirror's rim was made of ice and had blue glowing runes shining from inside.

“When this card is summoned this way, my opponent discards cards equal to the number of mirror monsters I control. In this case, it would be the rest of your hand.” The mirror's surface now showed a torrent of water coming from the other side. Once the water looked as if it would collide with the mirror's surface, the wave passed through and grew with the falling rain and the muddy street. The torrent hit the woman and knocked her over, forcing her cards into her disk. The woman tried to rise to a stand, only to barely manage it.

“Is... ha... that all... ulp... filth of... the daughters?” The man shook his finger.

“You see, that is your third sin. You've been saying nasty things about my mother and her sister ever since I arrived. What's worse is that you don't even realize that you've insulted my father too. I activate the effect of The Mirror of Kazald. I can special summon this card when my opponent discards a card.” Wind started to gather and spin in the wet cobble ground, forming a rune. It glowed with a bright green light and spun rapidly into the air, leaving a mirror behind. This mirror's rim was covered in carved and polished pale birch wood with green glowing runes etched into it.

“When this card is summoned this way, all monsters on my opponent's field are returned to the deck, or the extra deck in your case.” The rain began to swirl in the tornado that was coming from the front of the mirror. The rapid spinning, rising wind made it's way toward the nightmare creature that was sucked up inside. It faded into particles, and the woman's field and hand were both empty now.

“Your fourth sin, was attacking my mothers people, my people. The residents of Fauna are under our protection. For attacking them, you have declared war. As such, we will react appropriately. Finally, I activate the effect The Mirror of Hokonet. When a card is removed from the field I can special summon this from my hand.” A ring of bright red flames formed a circle and then another rune. The flames erupted and a new mirror was in the last space on his field. It's rim was made of charred orange and black rock with bright red runes carved into it.

“But alas, You've committed five sins today. Now then... would you like to guess what your last sin was?” He stared at the glowing eyes of the Mage. The woman spat at him.

“Those mirrors...! You! You're one of the priests of Fauhime! Filthy priest! I'll kill you and your family! Especially that wretched father of yours!” The man sighed.

“Repentance is often denied by those who are offered it. You've slaughtered my mother's people, you've slaughtered my father's people, ergo, you've slaughtered my people. Yet, even these pale in comparison to your last sin. Your last sin... is that you offend my god. Be purged of this girl's body, foul demon Umbra! Take 1000 damage for each mirror I control!” The mirror of flame moved above the woman, and each other mirror shot a beam of colored light into it then from the fire mirror, a beam of red light surrounded by flame engulfed the woman. It burned away at the black cloak she was wearing and the black smoke that was emanating from her hands disappeared. The woman was reveled to be a much younger girl with short black hair. The flames dispersed, and the girl had fallen to the ground.

Quickly, the man covered the girl in a protective barrier. Just as he thought, a giant black spike of energy shot up through the ground and into his barrier, aimed right at her heart. He'd reacted quick enough to catch and move her out of the way, but not quick enough to completely stop the evil magic from hurting the girl. It pierced one of her arms, putting a good sized hole through her bicep. The man quickly went to work repairing her arm.

“Fume, status!” Static came in from the other side of the disk comm. “Fume! Fume, Report!” More static until finally, he responded.

“Sir... it doesn't look good.” He was silent again.

“Fume, tell me exactly what happened on your side. What's going on over there?” The man responded quicker.

“I ended up stopping the duel, Crosshair was in a tight spot but... as soon as I did... that kid got skewered. None of us even had the time to react... some kind of black spike shot out through the ground and took his heart out... it's... it's just a bloody mess now...” Them man slammed his fist on the ground. “Damn it!” He heard coughing coming from the ground. The girl was beginning to come to. She tried to move her arm, then winced in pain.

“Hey, easy now. You were pretty banged up and I just finished healing you. Try not to move. Can you speak?” The girl looked up at him and nodded.

“Mmhmm... My name is... my name... is... what... what is my name?” The girl struggled to try and remember, but soon enough, her fatigue got the best of her, and she fell asleep. Of everything that could have possibly gone wrong, this is the least of them. An amnesiac over dead any day. Things don't look good though. This rain is relentless. Any hope of collecting data on the magic used by that witch is gone now.

“Head back to the station. I want all three of you to file very detailed reports over the events you've just witnessed. Write them like the queens themselves are going to read them. Chances are that they will. I have the other target in custody and I will begin questioning her as soon as I get her out of the rain. One of my... relatives is living in this town right now, and he just so happens to be a member of the core himself. I expect to see all three of you with your official reports by 18 tomorrow. Do not be late. Eclipse out.” He gave them a moment to respond as he picked up the girl.

“Roger, sir. Crosshair is in pretty bad shape, so we'll be taking him back to the station for treatment.” Said the Angel officer over the static of the comm.

“Very well. Keep him alive. You're stressed enough for personnel as is. But after you've treated Crosshair, take the body back to the station for further examination.” Eclipse started to head in the direction he knew his cousin to be with the dark haired teenager in his arms.

After a few moments, he heard Officer Fume again. “One last thing sir, if I may.” The man sighed. He didn't want to talk but decided it wouldn't hurt.

“What is it?” More static and the sound of sloshing foot steps until the officer spoke again.

“This relative of yours... he wouldn't happen to be an Angel in his twenties would he? Monochromatic hair and feathers?” The man stopped. Had Fume and Zephraim come into contact with one another? Wait a minute... Fume... why was that name so familiar?

“That is none of your concern. This channel will be deactivated until 17:50 tomorrow.” He tapped a few buttons on his disk, and the signal was terminated. He decided to pick up the pace. He needed to have a word with his cousin. The dimly lit streets with their muddy coatings glistened with each ripple that raindrops made as the connected with the ground. As horrible as the night had been, there was an odd beauty to the harsh rain on this desert town. The square brick buildings looked strangely welcoming in the dark rainy night. He continued down the main road until he reached town hall again. He then made a right, toward the large tree down the road where his cousin was supposed to be.

“Sir?” He looked down to see a pair of yellow eyes looking back at him. She had unusually pale skin, almost to the point of it being translucent in some areas, and shiny jet black hair.

“Ah, you're awake. Do you need something?” He asked. She made no effort to try and remove herself from his arms, so she wasn't likely still under Umbra's control.

“I just wanted to know your name. I... can't remember my own, but... I thought I might thank my rescuer at least.” The man gave her a kind smile. Something rare for anyone to see on the face of the second Lunar son.

“I am Eclipse Corona.” The girl simply stared at him in awe.

“Thank you, Mr. Corona. Um, for rescuing me that is.” She didn't seem to have a very energetic personality, unless this was just a side effect of fatigue.

“There's no need for that. I do a thankless job. Is there anything you remember? Anything at all?” The girl furrowed her brow again in thought.

“Not really... oh, wait! There is something! The year! It's the turn of the millennium isn't it? 2999?” The man narrowed his eyes.

“Uh... you don't happen to remember your age do you?” The girl thought hard again, but it looked like she had come up with something.

“I think... I was really excited for the new millennium because I was about to turn... fifteen? Yes! I'm going to turn fifteen soon!” The man frowned. He thought she looked oddly small when he was dueling her but... this...

“I... Based on what you've told me, you were born in 2985 right?” The girl thought again, then nodded.

“Yes sir. I believe that's right.” The man bit his tong.

“Then that makes you... almost ten years older than me.” The girl was very confused by his statement.

“What? That's not possible, you're like, twice my size. If I had to guess, I would say you're like, twenty or something. so... that would make you five years older than me.” The man shook his head.

“Physically, that may be true, but as far as time is concerned, it's July 9th, 3016.” He had come to a stop in front of the giant tree library doors.

“But... there's no way... It was winter... Ow, my head!” The girl started to press her fingertips into her forehead and cover her face. The man stopped his magic umbrella to open the doors with it. Inside he saw two rather large piles of books on either side of a figure with spiky hair sitting on a large wooden table. The figure turned to see what had caused the noise, then spoke.

“Master Eclipse?” Recognizing the voice, Eclipse nearly dropped his amnesiac.

“Andromeda!? How did you?” The sorcerer immediately stood and greeted the vampiric Mage. “I had no idea you were going to be here! It is fantastic to see you. Here, let me light the room. Had I known you were coming, I would have had this place in far better shape.” The sorcerer brought the man inside and raised both of his hands covered in a light blue light. The books in one pile started to fly all around and onto shelves, where as the single candle that was lit shot flames at every other candle in the room. A large golden chandelier hanging from the high ceiling was also now producing flames from it's twelve candles.

“That looks... out of place. Where did you get that?” The Mage said, pointing to the golden centerpiece.

“As it turns out, there is a hidden corridor at the end of the staircase that leads to the upper floor. It travels quite deep beneath the tree to an underground cellar of some sort. There are many things there that, well, quite honestly shouldn't be. I decided putting this out would bring some life to this dreary place. But we can discuss that later... who is she?” He said as he put his left to his face and his right to his elbow. “She isn't quite... normal is she?” The girl looked from the man, to the sorcerer, and back to the man.

“Um... what exactly is going on?” The man frowned.

“If I had the answer to that... I'd probably be on vacation right now.”

One week (13.1)

The next morning, Twilight woke up feeling fantastically warm. As cold as it had gotten after they left Fluttershy's cottage, it was a miracle that she wasn't freezing. Much of last night was a blur though. All she could remember after the talk with the Harmonians was the sound of thunder... she sighed. The one thing she still couldn't get over. At least she wasn't alone though. One or both of the Rainbows were afraid of it. She thought, even if the memory was still sketchy at best.

She decided it was still too early to get up and tried to pull her comforter over her face. When she grabbed it, her senses started to wake up a bit more, and she couldn't help but think it felt... bony. What's more, she realized she felt something over her back too. The more she thought about it, whatever she was pressed up against was not inanimate. It was moving. Falling and rising slowly. And there was weight on her thigh. Just one of them, and the other one felt like it was on top of said weight. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to try and stop thinking and go back to sleep. She continued to hope that what she was beginning to think wasn't the truth and then her ears started to work again.

The final nail in the coffin; she could hear his breathing above her head. Oh no. Oh, no, oh please no. please, please, please, tell me I didn't! She started to open her eyes in the relative darkness. Being as perfect as her vision was in the dark now, she saw several things she didn't want to. The first of which was that her legs were wrapped around his. Next was his bare torso being mere centimeters from her face. Then was her left hand, which was firmly tangled up in his. Finally, she wasn't under a cloth, save for her own clothes. The reason her 'comforter' felt bony is because it was. She was under a wing. No, no, no, no, no, oh gods, why? Why did this happen? How did this happen? I don't think I want to leave... No! Bad! Not him! Get up! Get away from the bed, now! She was about to push him off, but then she noticed his face.

He looked so... happy. She felt a wave of emotion crash over her. No, stop, I don't want this! But... it wouldn't be so bad would it? No, please, just don't do this to me. I can't handle this right now! I don't... I don't know what's going on! But... I don't want to leave... and he's so warm... The girl didn't know what to feel. This was more than new, and completely unexpected. I mean... I can't just... wake him up can I? And... he summoned all six of them yesterday... he must have been tired... I think I'll just... stay here... Soon enough, she started to fall back to sleep herself. Would it really be so bad? She kept repeating to herself. Thinking about it now might not be the best thing she could do at the moment either. The more she thought about it in the position she was in, the more she wanted this to happen again. But finally, grogginess hat taken it's toll, and the girl simply fell asleep.

When next Twilight woke, things hadn't changed much. If anything, she was only a little bit more entangled around him than she was earlier. Now she had her free arm over his side, even further pressed up against him. She could feel every muscle in his back. Her heart beat started to rise. The girl groaned. Oh, gods, what is he gonna think if he wakes up like this? Even if he did get in bed with me, I highly doubt he curled my limbs around his! Ugh, this isn't okay. This is worse than yesterday! She thought, frustrated with the whole ordeal. She wanted to move, she didn't want to move. She wanted to go, she didn't want to go. She wanted this to happen again, she didn't want this to happen again. Before she could do anything, she felt the man's arm and wing tighten around her. He was beginning to wake up.

Oh, shit! Pretend you're asleep! The man released his grip and the wing that was covering her spread it's full length in the air. The rest of his limbs seemed to be pushed away from his sockets, then slowly pulled back in, making popping sounds as they did. He yawned, and then put the warm wing that used to be her comforter away on his back. Aw. It's cold now, she thought. The man started to shake her shoulder. “Hey, Twilight. It's morning.” He was just gonna leave it like this? Not even worried about how I would react? What... what happened? The girl decided it would be best to pretend that he woke her up, and rolled over to stretch. “Hmm... what? Is it really?” One leg freed and the rest of her body to herself, she was already wishing she'd never moved. That was likely the best she'd slept in months.

“Yeah. Go ahead and do whatever you need to to be presentable. My cousin is likely already here. It's time to get to work.” She looked up at the man. By some form of magic, his hair almost looked better than it did yesterday, the ringlets were tighter and sparkled in the morning light. His green eyes prominently showcasing their heritage with the flecks of gold everywhere. The girl felt her heart beat increase again. Get up before this ends up just like yesterday morning! But it was already heading in that direction. He had sat up, which gave her her leg back and then she quickly turned around and stood up. She regretted that decision, because she started to lose vision and control of her body after doing so. Oh no. She was beginning to fall face forward to the second floor of the tree, but then she was caught. Her heart skipped a few beats and increased in pace.

“Whoa there. Take it easy. You had a long day yesterday.” She could feel the rest of his body on her back. Her knees hit each other. She'd regained enough control by now to release herself from him and walked away from the bed. “Uhh, thanks. I, uh... need to go to the bathroom, so if you'll excuse me...” The girl started to walk toward the door by the staircase, but before she could make it, he'd grabbed her hand. She turned to look at him, and was met by those eyes again. “I... know this might sound weird but... I had an... insightful... dream last night and... well... um...” Was he nervous? No way... he isn't about to... He took a deep breath. “I just want you to know that... If ever the sun, the moon, the sky, and the earth all came crashing down, I'll be there, right by your side.” He kissed her hand, and then escaped down the stairs. The girl nearly collapsed where she stood.

Why did he say that? How did he know that phrase? No one... no one could know that phrase... I never told anyone... how? The girl was taken back to her elementary school days. The days before her father had been injured, the days where her life looked like it might actually turn out normal. The days where there was no impending doom that relied on her becoming a fighter for the world. There was a contest for the second graders. A writing contest. She had always been fascinated by the stories of knights, wizards, and dragons, how they all had the romantic hero and the lonely princess hidden in a tower. Some based on real events, others based completely in fiction, but all the same, the knight would always confess to the princess his love at the end of the story, and there would be a happy ending.

So of course her little self wanted to be the hero of the story instead, and rescue the helpless knight in the tower. The knight Pirouette came to be. She was the strongest in the land, there wasn't a man that could rival her. As the story went, one day, her prince was kidnapped. An evil creature had kidnapped him and taken him away to a dimension that was made of chaos. It had the head of a horse, the wing of a bat and a bird, the body of a snake, the claw of a chicken, the paw of a lion, the foot of an alligator, and the hoof of a horse. She thought she was clever for calling this crazy thing she made up Discord in reference to one of the ancient creatures of legend, the fallen god of chaos.

Pirouette fought her way to Discord's castle that hung upside down from the top of a cliff and made her way inside. The castle was strangely bigger on the inside with several gigantic chambers almost as big as their own lands. Pirouette fought gallantly against all of Discord's monsters and eventually made it to the monster himself. In a final attempt to thwart Pirouette's rescue, he challenged her to a duel. He used dirty tricks and put her prince in danger to force her to fail. But, in the end, through the sheer devotion Pirouette had for her prince, she defeated Discord and rescued the prince.

When she finally freed him from his prison she said to him 'My lord, if ever the sun, the moon, the sky and the earth came crashing down, I will be there, right by your side.' However, this story never made it to the writing contest. The shy young Twilight couldn't bear letting someone else read her words, something that contained her very heart in soul in them. So she hid it away, never to be found. When her father's office exploded, so did the story, burning up in flames. “I never told anyone... how does he?” She let her words trail off as she decided she could no longer ignore her bladder.

Two days was long enough to go without one, so she took a shower while she was there. The room was oddly shaped in the sense that it was long and thin. At the end of the room was where the shower head and bathtub were, and near the front of the room was the sink and mirror. Still no electric powered anything though. The light was being let in by a small blurry window to the left of the bath. Inside she found her bag, and seeing that there were towels underneath the sink, everything was good to go. Around half an hour passed before she heard knocking at the door. “Twilight, are you gonna be done soon? I gotta pee.” Her little brother had woken up. “I was about to get out anyways. Give me a sec.” She rummaged through her bag for clothes and quickly dried her self off. There were several sets of the same she just had on, save for the colors being traded from place to place on each one. She decided she'd take the blue lined purple jacket with the white shirt and the dark blue pants. Now clothed, she exited the bathroom with her bag to see a very tired looking Spike.

“Have you seen Zephraim today? I think I heard him yell last night, but I wasn't awake enough to react.” The girl's face immediately turned red. She'd seen a lot of Zephraim today. More than she knew she wanted. “Um... nope, I haven't. Ha ha, he uh... must've gotten up early!” The boy narrowed his eyes at her. “You're doing that thing where you raise your pitch again. What did you do?” The girl avoided eye contact with the dragon boy. “Oh, nothing. I uh... need to go see if Andromeda is still here. I need to talk to him.” Not a lie, and a quick escape. The girl thought to herself. She threw her bag back on the bed and then gasped. “What's wrong?” She almost answered him, but caught herself. “Nothing. didn't you need to pee?” The boy stared at her, half awake. “I will find out eventually.” He said, staring her down with his slitted pupils. “I don't know what you're hiding, but I will.” He turned and shut the bathroom door behind him.

Twilight sighed and started work on the bed. There were gray, black, and white feathers in a few places on the bed. She grabbed them and threw them under the bed seeing no better way to hide them. Oh, gods, I feel so... dirty. This is all his fault! But... you liked it, didn't you? No! Stop that! But you did like it. And you want more... No! Liar! He's an ass! He just shows up in my life out of the blue and I woke up with him the next morning! But you feel safe around him... you don't want to be away from him, do you? “Gods damn it, shut up! I do want to...” The girl realized she said the last part out loud. She quickly hid the last of the feathers, but kept one in her pocket. She couldn't fathom why, but all the same, it was there. As she headed down the staircase, she started to hear the voices of some people she knew, and some she didn't.

“Now then, shall I examine her?” I guess that means Andromeda is still around. But who is he examining? “I can't see why not, that is, unless you object. But if he does, he could probably tell you why you look like you do right now.” Who looks like what? And why is Zephraim not concerned about whoever seeing Andromeda? “I wouldn't mind knowing where I came from. Save for the last date I saw, I don't have anything. I don't even know what race I am. I don't have a mark.” That's the voice of some girl. And not one I know either. What time is it? “I would also like some answers here. I'm going to be rather concerned if this girl isn't a Mage. Because if that isn't the case, then Umbra can do very strong magic from a very long range. She'd be dead too if I hadn't thought to try and protect her immediately, and even then, her attack still broke my barrier.” Another Mage? This must be the Eclipse guy he was talking about... earlier... Gah, stop thinking about it! I get it, he's pretty! The girl continued to argue with her inner self until she reached the ground floor of the library.

She opened the door and saw four people sitting in the library's folding chairs, one of which being Andromeda. To his left was Zephraim, and to his right was a man she'd never seen before. He was clean shaven, save for some blue-violet hairs beginning to sprout from his chin. His hair was long and straight in most places, and was a rather unique shade of blue-violet, and very velvety. His pupils were slitted and his ears were pointed, on top of very pale skin, making this guy part of the V-strain. His irises were bright yellow, but had little flecks of silver that dotted them in a few places. This was more than likely one of Luna's sons. Next to him was a person she'd never seen before. It was a girl, likely around her own age, wearing tattered long black robes. She had shiny black hair and bright yellow eyes that almost looked to sparkle. Her hair was short to medium length, but it looked a little ragged.

The vampiric man took notice of her before anyone else did. “So you must be Stripes.” The rest of the group turned to look at her, and then Twilight felt the need to hit Zephraim. “You told him my name was stripes!?” The Angel shrugged. “Haven't even said a word about you yet. At least not today. But at no point have I used any name for you in our conversations.” The sorcerer supported him. “Master Sparkle, it may not be such a coincidence that he came up with that name himself. It is rather befitting of you...” The girl brought her hand to her head and started to rub her temples. “Whatever. I don't like that name, so don't call me it. Hi. I'm Twilight.” The man stood and bowed. “Ah, I see. My name is Eclipse. I am second in command of the core and the current head paladin of the Divine church. It is a pleasure to meet the new incarnate of Yamirix.” The girl bowed back, almost on instinct after having Celestia beat manners into her during her early days of studying. She flew herself a chair over the large wooden table and took a spot next to Zephraim.

“So who's this?” She asked, motioning to the across from her. Eclipse was the one to answer. “We don't know. She doesn't even know. That's what we're trying to figure out.” The sorcerer then took his staff in both hands. “Be very still young lady. I will begin trying to recover some of your memories, but if you move, that will conflict with my search of your brain for intact data. Due to the extreme speed of electric impulses, it will interfere with my magic, and the less you have going about, the better I can search. Are you ready?” The girl nodded, and then the sorcerer's staff started to glow with a light blue tinge. He touched the red end of the crystal to the girl's sternum and soon, her whole body was covered in Andromeda's magic. The room was deathly silent for several minutes. But after that, Andromeda returned his staff to his side and sighed. “Well, did you get anything?” The Angel asked. The sorcerer shook his head.

“Unfortunately, nothing of great value. Save for a few skills and basic knowledge, this child is devoid of tangible memories. As she said, the date is the only thing I found in there. December fifteenth, 2985.” The two Mages and the Angel stopped and looked at each other. “You don't mean to tell me that that day is her birth day?” Said the vamp. The sorcerer nodded. “I do find it odd that she remembers that over her name, but yes, that is in fact her birth date. However, there is one other thing I learned. On January first of 3000, she was put into stasis by very powerful magic. But not anything normal. As a matter of fact, it wasn't even done with soul art. This is something Eldritch.” The girl spoke up. “Eldritch? What does that mean?” The indigo headed Mage decided to answer.

“Weird and sinister, or ghostly by definition. But in this case, he means what most people know as chaos magic. Supposedly, Eldritch magic is another form of the traditional magic that Mages use. However, it is unstable and has a tendency to blow up or cause unexpected results, i.e. chaos magic. The practice eventually became dangerous, so it's faded out of culture. You can't even find books on the stuff now. Even in other countries.” The Mage girl said, matter-of-fact-ly. “Oh... Um... I guess, what do I do now? I... don't really have anywhere to go back too, and I honestly don't even recognize the technology you guys have.” The girl had fallen into a sulk. The male Mage put a hand on her back.

“Worry not, I will keep charge of you for now. I did rescue you, and I feel responsible for you if nothing else. As a matter of fact... why don't we have you train with us today? With the exercises I have have planned, we should easily be able to tell if you're a Terran or not.” The girl perked back up. “You'd really do that for me?” The male Mage nodded. “I wouldn't be a very good man of the cloth if I just threw you out on the street would I?” The girl sprang up and hugged the vamp. “Oh, thank you so much! I will do everything I can to repay you for this!” The Angel stood. “Well then. I guess it's about time for our guests to arrive. Applejack and Rarity texted me about half an hour ago, and Fluttershy said she would bring Rainbow with her, so we should see them around 10:00.” The man raised his chin. “You found her?” The Angel sighed.

“Yeah. Apparently she had intel on Fluttershy's location about a month ago, but decided to wait rather than pursue her. I don't actually think anyone but you me and her know she's here. But, uh... when I confronted her, things got out of hand real quickly so we ended up in a fight. Luckily she won, so I didn't manage to hurt anybody.” The Mage girl shot air from her mouth. “Yeah, save for yourself. Dumb ass here went all kinds of crazy, summoned some blood covered thing, and ended up shooting himself in the leg. If it weren't for me, he'd be in a wheel chair right now.” She said, throwing a smug smile at him. However, he didn't react in a way that she wanted. He just smiled and stared deep into her eyes. Her heart beat started to rise again, and she quickly looked at her lap. “Really now? What all did you happen to do with the hunter this time? You didn't brag about anything specific did you?” The Angel scratched at the back of his neck.

“I... yeah, no, I pretty much blew it. All six of them know who I am now, and anything I didn't say, Fluttershy went ahead and filled in the details. Save for Eris here, everyone knows who you are too.” The vamp frowned. “Well, that's just great. Wait a minute, who's Eris?” The angel pointed at the amnesiac. “Her. I mean, she doesn't have a name because of some Eldritch magic right? What better to call her than the product of chaos?” The girl put a finger to her chin. “Eris, huh? I like it... weird enough, it even sounds a little familiar. Why not? I guess you can all call me Eris now.” The four others nodded. “But, uh... what is it that everyone but me knows? Do you guys have a secret or something?” The young men looked at each other. “Um. We're cousins, but our parents are... unusual people. And bad things could happen to the rest of our families if anyone with a bad agenda found out about that. It's nothing you need to worry about.” The girl shrugged. “I guess I understand that. You're some kind of high ranking guy in the military right? I'm sure you probably have some enemies out there.” Both men sighed in relief.

Then there was a knock at the door. Zephraim moved to quickly open the it, revealing the Blonde... and the knight. “Oh, hey... uh... How are you still...” The Terran and the knight made their way inside. “Mornin' y'all” The blonde said as she dropped a basket of freshly picked Apples on the table. She stood in one corner and yawned. She looked tired. “A question for another time, Lord Zephraim.” The knight said as he placed a metal coated hand on his shoulder. “I see my brother still sits cross-legged in chairs. What does the morning bring you?” The sorcerer stretched both of his arms and replied without looking at the knight. “Oh, nothing much. Just one new mystery after another. Master Eclipse picked up a stray who is steeped in Eldritch. I found a basement with several magical items dating all the way back to our time, and after reading through half of this library, I've found books that I wrote. You know. Same old, same old.” The knight's jaw dropped. “You mean to tell me this building has a hidden store?” The sorcerer nodded. “From the looks of it, this place was something you owned. The basement is riddled with your Mark.” The knight picked up the sorcerer and put him on his feet. “Show me.” He said, seriousness in his voice. The sorcerer and the knight made their way to the staircase, and then disappeared.

Twilight thought about what the sorcerer said and looked around. “The chandelier is new. When did that get there?” She said as she pointed to the most notable change. The big gold ornate piece of metal holding about twelve candles on it. “Andromeda said something about finding it in the basement this a few hours ago. Did you know this place had a basement?” The vamp asked. The girl shrugged. “I got here yesterday night. I don't know anything about this place other than this is where Celestia arranged for me to stay.” The Mage girl answered. “Funny that ya mention that. My brother sold this place to the city a while back. Ah heard that the top floor was gonna be rented ta whoever was gonna run the library, but Ah guess they never found anybody because it's been a few months since then. We didn't keep up with it much because we didn't have the time, and nobody in the family wanted it.” The Angel nodded.

“That sounds about right.” The Mage girl decided to question that. Did Celestia own it now? “Why is that?” The Angel was caught off guard. Apparently, he didn't intend to say that out loud. “Oh, uh... it's nothing. Don't worry about it.” Another knock on the door. “I'm gonna go talk to Andromeda, will you get that?” He said to the Mage girl. She stared him down. “Fine. But you and I are going to have a talk later.” The Angel gave a nervous smile and ran down the stairs. Reluctant to get up, the Mage girl went to open the door. “Good morning. Oh... you're here...” Fluttershy said to the vamp. She walked inside followed by the Angel knight and the Valkyrie, who was dragging a half awake Rainbow into the library. She tossed her on the floor. “Will ya get up already? I friggen flew your ass over here! Come on!” The girl on the floor made slow movements, but eventually dragged her body to the nearest empty chair.

“I'm up, I'm up, geez.” She said mid yawn. The vamp responded to the pale Angel. “That's right. But I don't have anything to say to you. Whatever you did, you had your reasons for leaving. You will always be welcome at home.” She looked away and started to look through the books. “Thank you...” She whispered. The other people in the room simply looked to one of the two in confusion. “I don't really know what's going on here either.” Said the voice hidden in the corner of the library. “So uh. You're here. Uh... whoever ya are. Ah don't know who this guy is either. Anyone wanna explain?” The pale Angel girl and the Terran directed their attention to Twilight. “Uh... This is Eclipse, he's Zephraim's cousin, and this is Eris. We don't know anything about her other than that she was born thirty years ago and lost about sixteen of them to Eldritch magic.” The pale Angel tilted her head. “Eldritch magic? Is that even still a thing?” Twilight nodded slowly. “Sort of? Or apparently. That's what Andromeda said was weird about her.” The Mage girl shrugged.

“In any case-” The Vampiric Mage stood. “I will be your instructor today. Is this all of you? Or are we missing one?” Missing one? Pinkie isn't- “I think Rarity is still getting ready. That guy that works at her shop said she takes a few hours to get ready. His name is like... Cobalt?” Said the 'missing' person from behind Twilight. “That's what he said. Andromeda and Ephraim are down stairs right? I'm going to visit with them while I still have the time. I'll see you later Pinkie.” The other voice made the sounds of steps toward the back of the library. “Kay~!” She sang at the back of the library. “Sooo, what are you guys up to?” The three who had their backs turned to the girl finally all decided to stare at her.

“When did you get in here? Ah didn't see ya walk in.” The pyro waved her hand around. “Don't worry about it. Are we gonna do something or what? I ain't got time to be bored ya know. I could be doing productive things. Like working.” She said, with a relatively bland tone. “You're... ignoring a job to hang out?” The pyro sighed. “Yeah, long story, I don't feel like getting into it right now.” They were interrupted by another knock on the door. “Twilight? Are you there? I'm coming in.” The tailor flung the door open for all to see her... white tank top and... jeans. “Hold on. You spent a few hours getting ready and picked out... that? What are you? My mother?” The vampire said. The tailor scoffed, but was quickly followed by the Mage knight. “Yes, she did! I cannot believe it myself! Was I zis bad? I would at least put on a nice dress, no?”

The Valkyrie and the Angel knight simply shrugged. “Hate to break it to ya doll face, but, yeah, you've had some less than spectacular moments.” The Valkyrie said. The Angel knight started to giggle. “Do, pfft, do you remember that time that her city was being attacked by those bandits, and, and she called us out there to deal with it because she was still trying to decide whether or not she was going to wear armor for the occasion?” The Valkyrie joined her. “Oh, gods, that did happen! You, pfft, you friggen showed up in like, a dress and sandals! Oh, gods, this crap brings back memories. And then there was that time with the wolves in the northern forest by the cliffs!” The armored Angel and the Valkyrie continued to laugh at the short comings of their sister until she'd had enough. She lifted the Valkyrie with her magic and grabbed the hand of the Angel knight and headed toward the staircase.

“Zere is a time and place for zis, but not now! Ze ozers are waiting for us in ze basement. Andromeda said he needed me to look at somezing, and you two are coming wiz me!” The Angel knight simply followed, but the Valkyrie tried to fight her off. “Oh, I don't wanna hang out with those guys! Having the old fart around is bad enough, but I gotta deal with Opty too? Come on!” She was unsuccessful. “Too bad. Au revoir, mon petit fils.” The Mage knight said, and shut the staircase door behind her as she pulled the valkyrie in. The tailor took the attention of the group. “I'll have you know that it takes a lot of work to keep my hair like this. Not everyone is born with Zephraim's beautiful hair. Ugh, why can't I have Celestia's hair?” The vamp folded his chair and set it aside. “Fun fact; his father is the reason his hair curls is like that.” The tailor furrowed her brow. “Really? You mean the black demon king? That man has gorgeous curly hair?” The vamp scratched at his neck. “I mean, I can't say it in those words, but it is curly like that. In any case, you're all here, so now we can get started.” He raised both of his hands, and his dark violet magic started to spread from one person to another. He began to say words of some language that only Fluttershy understood, and suddenly, they were out side, on a plateau, in the middle of the desert.

Most everyone was ready for the move, save for the sleeping Angel. She fell from where she was and hit the ground. “Ow! Oh, gods, why is the floor so hot now?” Said the groggy Angel as she picked her face from the sandstone. She looked around to see clear blue sky and sand. That was it. There wasn't anything else in sight for miles. “Uh... Am I dreaming? Or are we like, ten or so miles south of Pony Ville?” The other girls were just as confused, once again, save for Fluttershy, who was standing by the vampiric Mage. His pale skin almost disappeared in the white sand. “No, this is no dream, and yes. We are about ten miles south of town. Good guess, by the way. As I said earlier, I will be training the six of you today.” The blue Angel tilted her head. “Six of us? I thought Fluttershy was already EC.” The man nodded.

“That's right. And She will be helping me and doing some training herself, but when I said six, I meant six. Eris here will be joining you.” He said as he pointed to the girl in black robes. “Whoa. Okay, who is that?” Twilight put a hand on Rainbow's shoulder. “We don't know, she doesn't know. So we called her Eris based on the circumstances.” The dark headed girl objected. “What do you mean I have to join? I don't even know these girls!” The man shot a sinister look at her. “Oh? What happened to 'I'll do everything I can to repay you?' Perhaps you'd like to roam the desert instead. Alone. I asked if you wanted to join and you said yes. He who does not work does not eat. You also happen to be a suspect in a serial murder case. I'm sure if you don't find the comfort of luxury appealing, then you could stay... at the holding cell?” The girl whined. “This isn't fair! I don't know if I even did anything! I don't even know who I am!”

The vamp simply added a smile to his unforgiving eyes. “Oh well, nameless suspect A. It's too bad you had to be executed for your crimes. A shame really.” The vamp spun a key chain he was wearing on his right arm around his wrist and caught it in his palm, where it turned into a sword, but retained it's key shape. He put his empty left hand behind his back and started to walk toward the dark headed girl. “Holy, hearth's warming, I'll work out! I swear!” He flicked the key sword around his wrist and then it morphed back into it's key chain form. “Now that Eris has willingly agreed to train with us... any more objections?” He said with that wicked smile on his face. A unanimous “No sir” came from the rest of the girls. “Now then. I assume that none of you have had any training with any kind of weapon, so if you do, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

Twilight perked up. She was a sharp shooter. “I just so happen to be the best shot at the Academy, just behind your mom and your aunt.” He looked completely unimpressed. “Alright, physical training with strength based weapons for you. Next?” The girl's jaw almost dropped. P-physical training...? with... strength based weapons? Oh, gods, I shouldn't have even opened my mouth. The girl thought as she sulked. “My dad used ta teach me how ta box when Ah was little. Ah still go a few rounds with my brother every now and again.” The man looked her up and down and then removed his finger from his chin. “I can see that. You have a very strong core, superior legs to even myself, and quite the pair of triceps there. Hand guns. You'll shooting dual hand guns.” The Terran looked confused. “Wait, what? Guns? I cain't shoot ta save my life! Ah never even held one before!” He smiled. “Perfect. This will be even better then.” The blonde remained in her broken state of trying to think of how the man even came up with that in the first place.

“What about you speed demon? Got something to prove? I am the second in the core after all. If you want a shot at the military, I'm the man to impress.” The blue Angel was fired up and ready to go. “I'm a junior Air force trainee! I used to help my local recruiter run the camp at my school after classes.” She certainly looked proud of herself. “Oh well in that case...” He motioned for Fluttershy to come over. “I'll have to have you retrained. I've always hated the way the Air force handles things. Terrible form, poor technique, and pathetic instructors. Fluttershy, would you kindly teach this girl how to really fight?” The girl nodded. “Sure. I guess I'll have to start by destroying what she knows. How should I go about it though? Protocol 6 or 8?” The man seemed to think about it for a second then said “8” And moved on to the tailor. “Now before we do this, I just want you to know that I am so sorry for everything I am about to do. But, in the event you do manage to hit me today, I'll do something nice for you later okay?” The blue Angel made a face of disgust. “If I hit you? Come on Fluttershy, you know I'm way faster than you. I'm just afraid I might hurt you.” The girl slowly nodded. “Oh... okay then. Protocol 3 it is...” The man did a quick turn to look at the two Angels. Then he laughed. “By divine grace am I gonna have to watch yours. That's gonna be real entertainment right there.” He then went back to the tailor. The blue Angel was suddenly more uncomfortable than she had been.

“I have a history of sword play, specifically fencing at my father's request. I've studied it for years.” She said, in her haughty tone. “So that means... oh wait, I know, strength training with magical weapons. You're going to be fun to work with.” The man moved on without giving her a chance to complain. “S-strength training...?” She looked frightened. Next up was the Pyro. “Uh, ya know, funny story...” He frowned. “Hmm... let me guess... You don't have a too terribly great set of relationships with the people you grew up with due to something involving you lacking physical ability, and because of that, you have been a runaway since about... seven years ago right?” The girl pressed her index fingers together and looked at the ground. “Yep. You're going to take a little more than extra work. Alright, that's all of you. Eris and Pinkie will be getting basics from me, the rest of you will be dealing with shades, and... pfft... Rainbow is getting Protocol 3 from Fluttershy...” He could barely contain a smile as he said it. He handed a standard silver octagonal duel disk to the black haired girl and then addressed the rest of the group.

“Most of you have an inkling about how to fight, and as such, that's what you'll be doing. Fighting me. Your goal: hit me once. If you accomplish that, you're free to go for the day, and I will warp you back to the library. Anyone who makes it through day one early is getting dinner from Zephraim. And let me tell you, that is something you want. The guy is a fantastic cook. Right Fluttershy?” The girl nodded. “As long as you have a taste for Anyan food. He's really into that stuff. It's good, but it can have odd textures here and there.” The man took a duel disk from one of his coat pockets and placed it on his arm. He typed something into it and five different notification sounds went off in five different pockets. “With that said, Equip your disks. I'll be sending a package to them based on what needs to be worked on. Once you finish downloading it, run the application to get your weapon. It's matterwave based, so as long as you have the generator in your disk, it should work.” Each of the girls, save for Eris and Fluttershy, opened whatever application had just been sent out and equipped their disks. Twilight's matterwave became a hammer, but not one that she could easily lift.

“Oh, come on! I can't even hold this thing, let alone swing it!” She complained. The Terran next to her was almost as bad. “At least ya know where to put yer hands. Ah don't know what ta do with these things!” The rainbow headed girl opened her application but got nothing. “What the? Is this some kind of joke? How come I didn't get anything?” The man giggled. “Did you check you feet?” She looked down and noticed that her feet were now covered in some kind of armor. She tried to lift one, but only barely managed to move her foot. “What the hell? How am I supposed to fight with this?” The pale Angel responded. She had a dark look in her eyes, and a thin smile. “Easy. You kick.” The blue Angel looked to find that her instructor was wearing them as well. “There's no way. Y-you can't possibly...” She stopped as the pale Angel sent a kick that she could barely detect centimeters from her nose and held it there. “Oh, I'm sure you'll find that I can quite possibly do that.” She said as she put her foot down.

The tailor complained next. “Alright. I must be honest with you here. um... where do it put my hands on this... thing?” What she had in front of her was a large curved blade that was a good amount of her height, and just a head shorter than she was. The man came over and put her hands on the back of the blade toward the thinner part of it. “About here will get you the best results. Be careful about gripping it too hard though. Wrapping your fingers around it will get you cut. I'm sure you want to keep your pretty hands pretty, so I suggest you find a way to use magic to hold it steady while you swing it.” The girl tried to lift the hilt less blade, only to find it far heavier than she imagined. “Goodness, what is this made out of? Lead?” He answered quickly.

“Sort of! The matterwave can simulate all the properties of known metal, but because it is literally compressed light mixed with stimulated compounds of Aerolite, making it all the more dangerous if you get it in your blood stream, so once again, don't cut yourself.” The tailor held the blade as if it were a very heavy dirty sock now. He then moved on to Pinkie and Eris. “You two will simply be given short swords to start with, and I will be teaching you form and more basic fundamentals of swordplay to begin with. However, I imagine I'll see something better for you as the week goes by.” He flicked his writs around again, taking hold of the full sized key sword. Then he stepped to the center of the plateau and made five circles out of magic in it. Two circles were large and took up the center and top of the plateau, and the three smaller ones were at each other direction.

“Fluttershy, you and Rainbow take the top. Pinkie, Eris, with me in the middle. The rest of you just pick one of the outer circles.” They each moved to their respective places and stood. The indigo headed Mage thought she recognized this. “Is this one of those expansion circles?” The man nodded. “Good eye. Much like a pocket dimension, after I activate these circles, you will be given your own little place to run around and avoid getting hit without running into each other. Fluttershy is likely going to beat the living stuffing out of poor Rainbow here, but my consciousness will be divided in four places, so you three might not have it so bad. However, I have had about two years practice at this, so don't get your hopes up. Next step is for me to make the shades.”

The man drew the shape of a spell circle in the air above him with his magic, and then three more of those same circles appeared next to Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity. The dark violet outline of Eclipse took shape on each girl's circle, and then it prepared a silhouette version of his key sword, but shaped to match each girl's weapon. Rarity's shade with a duplicate key shaped curved blade, Applejack's with odd key shaped guns, and Twilight's with strange a key shaped hammer. “The session will end in five hours, or when you beat my shade, slash Fluttershy for you Rainbow. However, if anything, I do not see that happening. Good luck ladies. And remember, have fun~” He snapped his fingers, and then everything around Twilight was gone. Blue skies and endless flat sandstone in every direction. That and the dark violet colored Eclipse shade.

“So, how is this going to work? Do I just try and hit you?” The shade nodded. “That will be the basic premise. As you attack, I will point out your flaws, and it's your job to improve your technique. To start, you should grip that hammer at the base of it's head, and the end of it's hilt. You have spaghetti arms, or really, really, weak muscles in them. As a whole, you're rather scrawny miss Sparkle. So, to counter act that, we need to train your weakest muscles as fast as we can. The easiest way to do that; heavy lifting in short bursts. But you also don't know how to fight at close range based on what you've told me, so you also need to learn that as well. So, I've decided that the hammer will be your best weapon for what you need.” The girl blinked. “Oh, so, you didn't just avoid all of our strengths for no reason.” The violet silhouette nodded. “I have been doing this for almost three years now. You should give me some credit. But now it's time to learn. En garde Sparkle!” He yelled. Then he was more or less right beside her. He'd raised his hammer before he moved, and suddenly, it was coming down toward her head. She reacted quick enough to block the overhead swing, but she could feel her knees strain. Her legs were a second from giving out, but luckily, Eclipse pulled back.

“Huh. You might just be stronger than I gave you credit for. That was supposed to break your knees.” The girl anchored herself with the hammer and brought herself to a stand. “Trust me, you weren't far off.” The man nodded. “Very well. Clearly you can still stand, so swing at me.” The girl took the hammer's neck in one hand and used the other to pull the hilt around her body. She came close to her target, but he easily avoided her. Her swing continued and nearly pulled her off her feet. “Damn it!” She lost her balance and fell on the hard stone ground. “The swing it self wasn't bad. You've got the idea as to how to use the weapon, now you need to try and control it. Get up and swing again. You have ten seconds.” The girl scrambled to pick herself up, then ran to grab the hammer she'd lost during the fall. The man had counted to five by the time she reached it. She managed to grab the head end and pull on it, but with one hand, she couldn't lift it. The man had counted down to two. She desperately pulled on the heavy hammer and started running toward the shade.

“Too late. Don't lose it again.” He was suddenly right next to her, and his hammer was quickly coming across his side. Twilight pulled her hammer with all her force to move in the way of his, and just in time. The two metals clashed and rang out a tone, and once again, Twilight was sent flying. “Damn it!” She said as she struggled to get a foot hold on the ground. She didn't fall this time, and took the chance to run at him while he was recovering from his swing. She came in and tilted her body inward with the hammer in both hands at her arm's full extension. It grazed the shade. She managed to pull herself around the hammer this time and keep from falling. “Very good. It seems that you're picking this up rather quick. Your other friends aren't doing so hot, but you might have a shot. Now that you've figured out how to use the weapon, try and learn how big it is. Contrary to how it feels to hold, it's not as big as it is heavy. As a matter of fact, this thing isn't much larger than your average sledge hammer. Twice as heavy, but not much bigger.” The man cam in for another swing, and this time he brought it from the other side. She noticed that it was a little bit slower this time and took advantage of that. She stepped out of its range and pulled her lead foot forward to bring the hammer around he was quick to block, but all the same, that was an attack.

“Yes!” The shade backed up and reset his weight. “Don't get too excited. I gave you that one. Now do it again!” He wasn't kidding about the freebie. He came back, and he came fast. She didn't have the strength to react and took the flat end of the hammer to the ribs, breaking nearly each one it touched. She flew back and landed a good five feet away on her shoulder. The pain was excruciating, but after seeing the ground glow, the ribs were back in place. “Ah, that may have been a bit excessive. Sorry, I got excited. You're fine now though. Get up and come at me.” Her body was slowly beginning to ignore the pain as adrenalin started to course through her veins. She wanted to hit him now. A running step forward, and one that felt stronger than usual. She lowered the hammer head and came for a golf swing at the shade. He backed off, then spun a kick at the same spot he'd hit the first time. She was sent back a few feet again from the much less powerful kick and without broken ribs.

“Power is great, but swings like that leave you wide open. Keep it close in the event you miss and need to block immediately. Chain a swing next time.” The girl nodded. She could feel as if the hammer was progressively getting lighter. She wasn't sure what was causing it, but she was focused enough that she could ignore it. Two attacks? How would I do that? She thought. Nothing came to mind, so she went with the only example she could think of. Zephraim and Fluttershy's little spat had a lot of movement in it. Either of them swinging their swords around looked so fluid... not a single motion was wasted, just used to power a swing in a different direction. So how would I...? The sight of Zephraim using the back of his hand to wield the blade came to mind, so she thought she'd try it out. She flipped her right hand around and ran toward the shade. With as much strength as she could, she pulled the hammer head up. It was blocked, but then she decided to try and thrust it at him. With the momentum she'd gained, she eased the hammer toward Eclipse's shade and let it's own weight carry it forward. He stepped back, but it was much closer to hitting him than anything else she'd done.

“I guess you've seen Zephraim do at least something. However, what you just did isn't something easy to imitate perfectly like that. That is to be expected from the inheritor of the dark god though... Hmm... Now I must test a theory. I don't know if you know this, but Yamirix is known as the great teacher. Besides you and Andromeda, there have been other inheritors of Yamirix' power, just not on this side. The way my father's friend describes it, he can copy just about anything he sees ever since he obtained Yamirix' power. Of course, there are physical limitations to that. In his case, he was a Terran, so instead of magic, it was technology that he could simply look at and the know how it worked. In your case, your body isn't very strong, but if you see it done, you can probably copy it. In a moment, I'll come at you from three different angles with consecutive strikes. Then I want you to repeat what I did.”

The girl got ready to intercept the incoming hammer strikes from the quickly approaching shade, but made mental note to record how he moved to do it. When he started, he built his momentum until he stopped with his left foot, and pounded his right into the ground, letting the hammer take all of it and bring crushing force from the right. She reared the hilt to block the swing, and it felt like her hands were going to break. He let the hammer bounce off hers and reared it above his head. Another downward swing was coming. He was moving just fast enough to hit her regardless of whether or not she tried to dodge, so another block was going to be the only thing from that hammer and her skull colliding. It came down with less force than the last strike, and surprising to Twilight, her knees endured the strike. Once again, he let the hammer bounce off, and followed the swing to rear it back to his left, making the next strike at her side. The final strike same down, and she had just enough time to block, but this one broke her guard. It sent her a good few feet back, but she managed to endure all three strikes, some with more ease than others.

“The circle is taking effect rather quickly with you. It usually take another half hour to kick in for most, but you seem more adept for this than you realize. Now, come at me. The exact same strikes.” The shade stood back and readied his key hammer to block. As if she knew how it was going to feel before she did it, the girl copied his exact movements. One step forward, bring the weight to his left with a resounding clang. Another step forward, reusing the momentum of the bounce, bring it down with a little additional force. Another resounding clang. A final step forward, and a new thought came to mind. Based on the reaction her own body felt, his wasn't likely super different physically. If I follow through to this strike with a way to move his hammer, I can get him. She moved in a slightly different manner than he did with his third swing. Instead of simply following through, she let the hammer fall more with it's hilt poised to hit his. The end of the steel pushed his hammer just far enough the she could bring hers down on his shoulder. The shade dropped the key and clutched the injured spot, but made no sound. It picked the key hammer back up and let it revert to it's original state.

“Consider my theory proven. Congratulations. You've accomplished what I didn't expect from any of you, and that's a pleasant surprise more than anything. With that said, the others still have about an hour left to get that done, so I'm going to need you to give me thirty pushups before I can let you go. In this circle, it's worth about five times what you actually accomplish, just be prepared for the soreness tomorrow. It isn't fun. You shouldn't worry too much though. We won't do this again until Thursday.” The girl groaned. “Ugh, pushups? Is that really what I have to do? Isn't there something else?” The shade didn't have a face, but if it did, it would be frowning.

“No. you can barely lift a 15 pound hammer. You need arm strength more than you know. Here, I'll even give you a reason for it. Say you've gotten into a duel with someone on Umbra's side, like you will at the end of the week. Provided you don't overpower them with your soul art, they're likely still standing and just fine. You enemies will not just let you go because you won. They will come and try to kill you with whatever means they have. Sure, losing the duel means the ritual is screwed, but you dead means one less obstacle for them to over come the next time they try. A little technical knowledge, and making a matterwave turn into something else isn't all that hard. What happens then, if you can't defend yourself?” He made a good point, and not one she could argue. “Alright, fine... I guess it's better to be safe then sorry.” The girl moved into push up position with her fulcrum at her knees.

“Uh, no. Bitch pushups are not allowed. Straighten your legs and give me a real ones.” She was afraid to admit that she hadn't ever been able to do a pushup before, but she went ahead and tried. To her utter surprise, it wasn't hard at all. As a matter of fact, before she knew it, she'd already accomplished a third of her quota. “So, what all magic is in this circle?” She said between breaths. The pushups were beginning to get harder.

“Good question. This is what my parents call a level eight spell. Typically, you won't see this high level magic in common use because of how taxing it is on the user, and quite often, the power spent to output ratio is highly unporportional. But in this case, you're seeing the result of the mixed dimension magic. Using what we learned from my father's home, a true level seven spell is actually quite less powerful than the combination of several more efficient spells used all at once. As you know, by the time one passes a level four spell, the ratio for power required to power obtained starts to skew itself, but at level four, it is the most efficient use of magic one can have. As such, by combining multiple lower level spells, you get higher level magic for half the cost and just as much power. I'm currently casting five spells right now. A single four, or my shadow conscious spell. A simple regeneration spell, the reason you don't have broken knees or ribs at the moment. The expansion spell that makes the space you're occupying twenty times as big as it is. The strengthening spell, or what's causing your work to quintuple, and finally...” He helped her up after she finished her set. Her arms felt like wet noodles right now.

“The spell that's keeping onlookers from seeing us. Our 'real enemy' has been watching you ever since I arrived, which likely means she's been watching you ever since you arrived.” For some reason, she felt a chill run down her spine. “Well, you should be fine in his company in any case. I'm almost surprised you haven't noticed her presence yourself. You have good instincts.” The shade started to disappear and it's figure was replaced with Eclipse himself. He shook her hand with something inside of it and smiled with those bright yellow eyes at her. She felt like it was something familiar. Something soft. “Enjoy your reward. And try not to get too comfy with my cousin this time. You might want to hide these a little better though.” He let go of her hand, and suddenly, she was in front of the Library, back in Pony Ville. After running her thumb across what was in her hand, she immediately recognized it, and threw it back in her pocket. Did it fall out? Gah! Why did I even keep this thing? She thought to herself. Seconds later, the door swung open to Zephraim wearing a white apron over his black elastic shirt and dark gray cargo pants with his hair tied back. She almost thought it odd to find him in a pony tail.

“Oh, so you were the one who managed to hit him. Good job. And with a hammer too... Well, come on in. I'm making food. Just hang out or something. I suggest you don't move much to keep from feeling as little soreness as possible tomorrow.” He quickly turned away and headed back upstairs to where the smell of soy and brown sugar were filtering through the base of the library. The Mage walked inside and noticed several things that were different with the library. First of all, there was furniture. There were a few spaces between the bookshelves that lined the walls and raised to the ceiling, and most of them had a proper arm chair, or at least a nicer chair than the metal folding chairs they had been using. In other spots were kerosene lamps that were far brighter than the candles they had been using. Finally, there was a stack of books just sitting out on the table. Rather than going to see what they were, she decided to follow Zephraim upstairs. The smell of fire and bubbling oils and cooking meats started to increase as she went up.

Upon reaching the top floor, she found that the place had been completely rearranged. The two beds were moved closer to the window at the north east of the library, and a bookshelf toward the south west side had been moved in between the beds to reveal that the tree had a balcony hidden behind it's leaves somewhere on that side. There was a screen on a small console in the middle of the room connected to what looked like a generator of some kind, but not one she'd seen before. Near that was the couch she saw this morning, and another arm chair like the ones down stairs. The kitchen on the north west side of the library was covered in pots and pans, and Zephraim was at work. Fire and food flying in one direction or another and a giant pot boiling something that seemed to smell sweet and savory at the same time.

“So, I see you remodeled.” The man responded as if he were half listening to her and what he was doing. He turned his head once to see where she was, then returned to his work. “Not without help, but yeah. At some point that basement was hidden away with magic for some reason or other. Andromeda noticed it later in the night when he was pulling books to read yesterday. This place originally was owned by the Apples, but that store was hidden long before they got to Pony Ville almost 2500 years ago, yet it was already christened with their family crest. There's a book down there that chronicles it, but it too was in the cellar. Supposedly, this place was Ephraim's long ago because that was originally his Mark rather than a family crest. It makes sense, but none of the possible people who would have known about this place remember building it. In any case, most of the furniture is very ancient, but oddly well preserved.” He rattled off as he was tossing food one direction or another, adding sauces here and there, tasting things every now and again.

“I see. So... you wanna tell me what was going on this morninnng-!” The girl tried to lean on something, but had forgotten how useless her arms felt after working out what was apparently most of the day. However, she never hit the ground. She was caught before then, and suddenly, she was in his arms. Again. “I told you to relax. At least sit down if you wanna talk.” Embarrassed, infuriated, and infatuated, she simply complied and sat on the couch after being released. The Angel went back to doing his work. He emptied the larger cooking utensil which she suspected to be a wok into the larger pot with the sweet smell coming from it. The hot savory beef collided with the warm sweet sauce in the pot, making an unusual, but welcome rapture of smells. “So? What about this morning?” He said as he turned around. All the pots had lids on them, and each of the fires on the stove heads were barely burning. He looked to be simply keeping the food warm now.

“You were in my bed! That's what about this morning! And where did you learn that phrase?” The man came and sat in the arm chair just to the side of the couch. “What about it?” He said looking directly at her. She raised her hands. “Wha-? You! Were in! My bed! That is not okay!” The man reclined. “I don't see the problem here. You were not gonna let me go sleep by myself, so I simply got comfortable.” The man splayed out his wings and put his hands on the back of his head. “What do you mean I wouldn't let you go? I know for a fact that I passed out after the...” The word was caught in her throat. She didn't want to say it. If it came out of her mouth, it was admitting defeat. For whatever reason, the notion that she was afraid of anything drove her insane. But... this was something she still hadn't gotten over, after so many years. She instinctively reached for her back, then pulled her hand away shortly after she figured out what she was doing. “You know what? Whatever. I was asleep, and then suddenly, you were with me when I woke up. Don't do it again.” The man closed his eyes. “As you wish. But I will say that you would have woke up freezing if I wasn't there.” He started to let his breath lengthen and slow. “Wait a minute, don't you go to sleep! I'm not done with you yet! Where did you learn that phrase?” It burned with the office building... That story shouldn't exist anymore...

“I was told not to answer that. For now, let's just say that you sent me on a trip last night.” I sent him on a trip? What does that mean? Wait... he was told the phrase? Who in the world knows it? I made it up! “Who told you that phrase! It shouldn't exist anymore! No one on this earth should know it but me!” The man sighed and moved in close to the girl. One arm on the back of the couch, the other on it's arm, she was trapped. He looked her deep in the eyes with his own. “If ever the sun, the moon, the sky and the earth came crashing down, I'll be there. Right by your side.” He kissed her forehead, and went down stairs. The sound of a door opening and footsteps walking inside meant the rest of the group had returned from training. The girl was stunned. She couldn't move. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, her entire body was warm, and her cheeks were flushed. What in the hell is going on?

Arts and Crafts (13.2)

The next morning arrived, and once again, Twilight awoke to herself wrapped around the Angel. “Oh my gods...” She whispered to herself. She was angry and confused, but most of all, she didn't want to leave the bed again. She took a deep breath to try and calm down, but all that did was giver her a big drink of his scent. She felt an overwhelming desire to wrap herself around him tighter, but managed to fight it off. She quickly untangled herself and jumped out of the bed, using her magic to keep him from feeling her exit.

Why am I doing this?

Because you don't want him to get mad.

No, I don't give a damn about what he feels!

Liar. More than anything, you want him to-

Shut up! Go away!

She ran to the bathroom to grab her clothes and change whilst fighting off this other voice of hers in her head. It was then that she realized what Eclipse was talking about yesterday. She was sore. She was so very sore. Her arms hurt, her sides hurt, her abs hurt, even her legs hurt. Everything was in pain. The thought of climbing back in bed with Zephraim was ever so tempting, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She escaped downstairs, grabbed her duel disk and decided to go be somewhere else.

Last night, Eclipse announced that he lied and Zephraim was going to feed everyone, and quickly turned a quiet night into a lively evening at the Golden Oak Library. Over all, it wasn't bad. As it turns out, Rarity isn't as vain as she appears, and knows a good bit about magic herself. Applejack is easy to talk to about computer stuff. Pinkie is... just as weird in a normal setting as she is outside of one. Fluttershy can tell you a thing or two about living with the 'royal family' as she likes to call it, with stories of all the crazy crap that goes on in that castle. However, not on a normal conversational level. She closes up almost instantly after a group turns from three to four people. It took goading, but eventually, she got to talking. Rainbow was... oddly quiet.

Based on information from Zephraim, she lives with her dad around here, but she's been through a few rough patches recently, including failing a few critical exams. Honestly, Twilight could see herself getting along with most of them pretty well, save for Pinkie and Rainbow.

One was just weird and unreadable, and the other... well, she couldn't tell. At no point during the dinner would Rainbow even look at her. However, she did this with most everybody, save for Fluttershy. She basically hawk eyed her the whole time. Fluttershy wouldn't say what she did during those eight hours of training, but man, it did something to Rainbow. Before she knew it, Twilight had made it all the way to the opposite end of town.

“Geez, I don't even know what time it is.” The rain from the other day had cleared the streets up pretty well, and only so much sand had flown in since then, so the stone cobble roads were actually visible. If it weren't always buried in sand, this town might not actually look all that bad. The streets were laid with relatively high precision for the time they were built, and the sand that scrapes the stones all the time had actually polished the white bricks on the ground.

She pulled her duel disk out of her pocket and flicked on the screen. Andromeda was doing something or other, and the time in the top right corner read 7:37.

“Is is really? I never used to sleep that well for so little time. I wonder why...” She knew why.

“Damn it! What is wrong with me!?” She flipped around when she heard the sound of a window opening from a building to her rear.

“Twilight? What are you doing up so early? I thought training wasn't for another hour? Ooh, wait! It isn't! I'll be right down, we can hang out!” Pinkie was the source of the disturbance. How Twilight managed to miss the literal candy shop, she would never know. The building was rather tall for Pony Ville's brick boxes, that also looked not too bad when they were clean, and looked like it was made of sweets. A sign on it read 'Sugar Cube Corner' and it looked more like a diner inside. The interior reminded her of those movies that were set in the 'golden age' of Fauna after a major war was won that heavily ended up crippling Tenshen and it's subordinate countries, while freeing the Teropeans from their grip. Everything was done in bright shimmery metallic colors and the seats and chairs looked like they were all made of vinyl. The counter had engraved metal all along it, as did all the table edges and the bar.

The bar itself was interesting because it did have liquor, but it also had an ice cream machine and various toppings for that, so she imagined they did a little bit of everything. There was a display case with cakes in it, and another sign that had a menu up on it. Typical Faunan entries like hot dogs, fries and burgers. Cheap and quick to make, not too surprising.

The Pink headed Terran came running from behind a corner in the only outfit Twilight had seen her wear, and she made a mad dash over tables and chairs to reach the exit, and shortly after, Twilight.

“Whoa, cool your jets, it's just me.” The shorter girl was about ready to bust from her skin, she looked so excited.

“You're not just you, you're my rival! My bestie, my bro, my pal, my girl!” She reached an arm around Twilight's shoulder and started to walk.

“Come on, I know you haven't been here long, let me show ya around!” Twilight was compliant. Anything to get her head away from him. As it turned out, there were more shops in Pony Ville than one would realize. Just about anything that was more than two stories was actually a shop of some kind that the owner lived above. Save for the Cakes, who lived next door to Sugar Cube Corner, in which Pinkie rented the room above. A parts shop here, an arms and ammunition shop there. A simple antiques shop, a dentist's office.

Pinkie explained that this town was built so long ago that most of the buildings actually had one or two basements because the real building had sunk in the sand after thousands of years sitting on the loose terrain. It wasn't until a new kind of grass was synthesized did the gradual sinking stop. A strange product from overseas, it grows on any kind of soil, and retains it's form in practically any weather. Since it had rained, one could see the 'lawns' that most of the building had were actually pretty green when they weren't covered in sand.

Pinkie would point out every time there was a building whose foundation was slightly higher than others because it had less time to sink. It was odd to think that all these little buildings had more to them than what could be seen. Some of them were actually just as big, if not bigger than the library, just half underground. There was a school towards the middle of the southern most road which she originally believed was just a small apartment complex.

The most stable part of town was actually the town hall that sat in the dead center of the rounded place. For however long that wooden structure had been standing, it hadn't sank or changed much over time, just simply getting a new coat of paint every now and again. The time had come close to 9 by the time they finished.

“We should probably get to the library soon. Everybody else should start showing up soon.” The pyro yawned.

“I guess. I'm still not sure I want to do that again though.” What? Pinkie, not completely ecstatic about something? That's a red flag. And not the kind that she wears.

“Huh? Why?” The Terran put her hands behind her head.

“He's not exactly the nicest trainer around. And once again, my poor physical abilities are put to work. I don't know if you've noticed this, but I'm kinda small.” The Mage shrugged.

“I mean, if you compare yourself to Applejack or her brother, everybody's small. It's even worse around the queens. My face comes up to Celestia's boobs. I'm like, adult sized now.” The pyro let out a puff of air as they walked.

“Well, yeah, but that's the Day Queen. She's literally like, the tallest person in the country. But my point is, I should at least be some what close to as strong as Applejack is, and to be honest with you, I'm not anywhere near that. My sisters can break boulders with their fingers. It takes my all to even lift something like that.” She looked to the sky, as if she were seeing something other than the endless pale morning blue that held it's place now. Twilight wasn't quite expecting this from Pinkie. Who knew that someone so... energetic, could be normal sometimes?

“Well... I couldn't lift fifteen pounds without a lot of effort until yesterday. You can lift a boulder. That's gotta be something right?” The pyro shrugged.

“You're a Mage. And a girl. That's normal, especially if you didn't work out at any point before. But me? I'm a Terran. I'm supposed to be this big, brawny, burly person who can break rocks with her fists and carve holes in mountains in a day. I bet that Applejack could do all of that...” Whatever was weighing on her heart sounded heavier than what she was saying. It might have been intuition, it might have been the new powers, but Twilight felt like she knew what to say.

“But that's the whole point of all this. You didn't see me get a gun, or Applejack get a hammer did you?” The pyro shook her head.

“No... I kinda still haven't figured out why he gave you three what he did in the first place.” The Mage crossed her arms in triumph. This she could explain with all certainty.

That's because she's already got what she needs there. Applejack said she'd never shot a gun before. This means, she's never had to deal with a ranged opponent, or attacking at a distance herself. So what Eclipse is doing for her is teaching her how to deal with both of those things at the same time.

For me it was strength. I didn't have any. So to correct this, I needed weight training, so that's what I got. I'm not entirely sure what Rarity did, but good chances are, it was training to strengthen her weakness. If what you mostly needed was form and basic strategy, then you'll likely move on to fighting your weakness next.” Twilight felt like what she had just said was exactly what Pinkie needed to hear.

“Eh, I don't know. We didn't exactly do a whole lot of that. He uh... made a clone of himself, and just kinda beat us with a key. I think Eris started to get it after a while, but nothing ever came to me. If I remember correctly, his last words to me were

'You and I are working alone tomorrow. You need more help than only one part of my consciousness can give alone, and I intend to fix that. I'll be calling in... special help for the others.'

And he didn't talk to me about it again. I don't know that I want all of his attention.” Apparently, it wasn't.

“Oh, that's... interesting.” Twilight said, slightly disappointed that her advice wasn't quite what Pinkie needed to hear. The pyro patted the Mage's shoulder.

“Don't worry about it sport, you'll get em' next time.” Pinkie's intuition proved better than hers. They had made it to the library, and were also the last ones to arrive.

“Oh, hey, nice of you to show up. For a second there, I thought you were going to bail on me.” The yellow eyed Mage said to the pyro.

“Good to see you too Twilight. I've got a special surprise for you today.” Twilight was slightly concerned with the way he said that.

“Okay... what is it?” The vamp turned and led them inside. The rest of the gang was already in chairs littered around the ground floor of the library. Three chairs were empty, and Zephraim was no where to be found. The two took chairs at each end of the other five girls and awaited their sentence for the day.

“So, my surprise isn't just limited to you. It's actually for everyone who isn't Pinkie, but I think this means more to you than really anyone else in the room. My uncle will be coming to instruct you today, while I work with her alone. He's about six foot tall with black hair, and in all the Faunan history books. Without further ado...” In an instant, there was confusion amongst most of the girls, and just like that, a blood red magic circle began to carve itself into the table. It was a teleportation spell, and one that was a standard level nine. The circle became more intricate as it wound it's interior markings and wove letters symbols lines and shapes together. A flash of light, and the circle was gone. It was replaced with a relatively tall man, wearing a black coat, with long curly black hair. Immediately, Twilight recognized the shape.

“Black? Is... is that you?” The man she remembered from all those years ago turned around and smiled at her.

“Ah, if it isn't that little twerp from the street. Come here!” The girl ran up the table and hugged the man. It had been years since she'd seen him. She didn't even know he was alive.

“Geez, you got tall.” He put the girl down and made his way off the table. She followed him and began to question him.

“You're alive! How? I thought you got carted off to prison! What happened? Oh my gods, I can't believe you're here!” She threw herself at him again. He patted her on the back.

“Well, that was actually my wife coming to pick me up. She'd disguised herself as one of the police officers to come get that 'thief' who'd been stealing from the shops around the area, little miss sticky hands.” He said as he stared her down. But then he took his harsh gaze away and rolled his neck around.

“But, it was about time to get you back home anyways. So we decided it was best for that to happen.” He tussled her hair and she stepped back, blushing.

“Yeah...” He had told her countless times not to steal if she didn't need to. That didn't stop her from doing it while he was away though.

“So? Introduce me to your friends here.” He said, motioning to the rest of the girls. As if all the problems in the world had melted away simply with his presence, Twilight felt excited like a child again for the first time in a long time. She started from left to right.

“This is Rainbow Fume, the current holder of Loyalty.” She said, as if she were presenting a show and tell object.

“Uh, hi?” The rainbow headed angel said. The man stood and sized her up for a moment, then said,

“Confidence issues.” He made a sound as if something had pulled on his neck.

“Not the easy ones either. Insecure too. But, I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Right Shy?” He said as he shot a quick grin at the pale Angel.

“Whose next?” The blue Angel felt like he'd seen her naked. She took a step back and hid behind her wings.

“Rarity Belle, with Generosity. She's a Mage.” On to the next person, but Rarity was looking at the man more than he was her.

“Goodness, what a mess of color you are...” The man nodded.

“That I am, young one, that I am. However, you see more of yourself than the world around you. We'll have to work on that.” His green eyes were piercing. The tailor felt like she'd been stuck with a sharp object.

“Jaquline Apple, or Applejack as she likes to be called. She has Honesty.” The orange clad stepped forward to shake the man's hand. He took it.

“So you're what turned out to be that little blonde tyke. Your father was a good man. But you... I think you have a brighter future than you know.” He patted her on the shoulder and moved on. The blonde felt like a gale had just passed by. It's like he was in her head...

“And finally, Pinkie Pie. She's got-” He finished her sentence.

“Optimism’s hair. Eyes. Nose. You're almost a carbon copy. Physically and emotionally. You need extra work.” The pink haired Terran narrowed her eyes. She was unusually less energetic today.

“And what about you? Aren't you the black demon king? The guy who killed thousands in a day? The blood soaked ruler of the frozen north from the history books? King Sombra?” Oddly defiant too. Her hair looked to lose it's curl. The man smiled and patted her head.

“Yep. That was me. But the thing is kid, history is exactly that. Today and yesterday are two different things. Maybe if you pulled your head out from under the covers, you could tell that the sun's come up.” The pyro looked like she was about to fall into tears. His intuition was better than Twilight's and Pinkie's.

“Ah, don't do that. Pull yourself together. I've had enough teenagers cry on me over the years. Speaking of which...” The pyro sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. The man patted her head one last time and moved on to Fluttershy. She avoided eye contact.

“Good morning... sir...” The man gave her a hug.

“Don't be like that. Call me father like you used to. We both understand what happened. And neither of us are angry with the choice you made. All we want is for you to come and see us every now and again. You might try and call her later. She's dying to hear from you again.” He set the girl down and looked her in the eyes. She lost her composure. She fell into tears and his embrace.

“I'm so sorry! I'll never do it again!” He simply smiled and let it happen.

“And that takes care of that.” After a few moments of the pale Angel letting out all of her crying, she started to come back around. She released him and stood at attention. He noticed he'd missed one and approached the black haired girl behind Eclipse.

“You didn't tell me there were seven. Who is this?” for whatever reason, the girl was hiding from Sombra.

“Oh. Yeah, we don't exactly know. I saved her from Umbra's control, but even then, there's a lot more weird around her than just that. We call her Eris for the time being.” The girl nodded behind him.

“Oh. I see... that is strange...” The man paused and stared the girl down for a moment, then turned his attention to Eclipse when it looked like she couldn't handle any more.

“So. Any of you seen my boy around?” Twilight was about to answer, but then she remembered where she last saw him. She turned bright red and looked at the ground. The man turned and looked at her.

“Got something to hide there, kid?” He stared her down for a second until Eclipse answered.

“Oh, come on, can't you tell? He's asleep. Why else wouldn't he be here?” The man took his attention away from Twilight and turned toward the vamp.

“Eh, that sounds right. Time to wake his ass up. I'll be back in a few minutes. Tell them what's going on.” The black clad Mage made his way up the staircase and the dark red clad Mage gathered his trainees.

“Well, now that you've been introduced, that's the man I grew up with. He's a good guy, and he's been around for a while. Today is your soul art day. He'll teach you how to use it, and use it right. I will be working with Pinkie alone though. Based on What Zephraim has told me, she knows how to use hers just fine.

For the two Mages, Soul art is relatively easy to start. Much like Magic takes focus of the mind and the will, Soul art takes focus of the will and, if you couldn't tell, the soul. But for the non-Mages, you probably don't know what your soul feels like.” He held out his hand and a dark violet glow began to shine off it. In his other hand, a dark, shiny, violet mist started to form a ball. Like fire, it flickered and shook in the air.

“In my left hand up here, you see normal magic. Traditional, simple, almost doesn't require effort after years of practice. However, in my right hand, is soul art. Let's see... has Rarity done the colors thing with you all yet?” The tailor nodded.

“Um, yes I do believe so. Yours are... about the same as Zephraim's were, but that dingy black is nowhere to be found, and you have two brands of divinity. One of them even shares a color with the one Zephraim has. Why is that?” The vamp nodded.

“You see, I'm not your average resident of Fauna. As a matter of fact, half of my DNA comes from another world entirely. My father is Divinity's chosen of another dimension, and almost a male counterpart to Celestia. Much like the place we live in, there is a dimension parallel to this one that was brought into it's own tragedy. At some point in your history class, you probably learned about a time when Celestia was the only Queen right?” Save for Twilight and Fluttershy, this was new information to everyone.

“Not that I can remember. And history was one of the classes that I paid attention in.” said the blue Angel.

“Huh. To be honest with you, I wouldn't know what they teach because I was home schooled. My dad hates the school system because of how backwards it is compared to the way he was taught. In any case, about 140 years ago, half of Upper Canterlot burned in a bunch of fires that my mother mixed with Umbra caused. My aunt then proceeded to use the elements to try and free her, but to no avail. Being alone and having just one to resonate with, they just couldn't get the power to do it. So, what happens? Weakened, Umbra rips a hole in the fabric of space-time and runs away. Thus enters my dad's world.

The way their world operates is fairly different from our own there because of how humanity started on that side. It's not quite the same story, and the people there are mostly Terran, save for the rare Mage or Angel that appears. Because of their minority, Mages and Angels are persecuted fairly hard, and because of their inability to match Terran strength, there aren't many who still walk that earth. But what happens when an Ascended, the combination of the three with far more power than any of the three alone shows up? Nothing good.

For thirty years, Umbra killed millions on that side. My dad was born and raised in that time, and he was a pretty devout priest there. As a matter of fact, he grew up to be their paladin. Their church is a little different than ours in the fact that Divinity is considered the only God, and the other six are just his subordinates. Sent out an incarnation of himself to save humanity from a plague, died and rose again, and that is the religion they follow. Being who he was, he prayed to Divinity to end the massacre that was happening, and so that's what happened. My father was chosen to host a piece of Divinity's spirit, and then he had the power to fix it.

In the end with my mother's help, Dad was able to beat her. Umbra defeated, mom back in control, and dad was left with a few rough decisions. Try and kill the demon that had just finished killing for years, imprison her, or hide her. Funny enough, he ended up doing all three. Of course, that didn't work, so he just decided to try and help her come back. Somewhere along the lines they hooked up and so they came back together. I think you know how the rest of that story goes.” He said, gesturing with his fingers. Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow laughed. Twilight and Rarity made a sound of disgust and Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

“Ugh. Eclipse, those are your parents. That's gross.” He laughed.

“Hey, It isn't just mine. Think about it. For you to be here, all of your parents had sex at one point.” As if on cue, most everyone in the room cringed.

“Eww, can we not? What does this have to do with soul art? Can we get back to that, please?” The vamp finished his teasing, and brought his misty silver-violet hand back.

“In any case, some times traditional magic and soul art share their colors, and other times they don't. The soul and your traditional magic will always show up the same on a spectrometer though. The soul art will typically combine all the colors that one houses into itself, resulting in something unique like this. Come touch it. This will show you how a soul feels.”

The group all reached out to touch the ball of burning mist in Eclipses right hand. At first, one could simply feel the mist weaving it self around a finger, but then it became more. It started to feel like a pulse, and then it became audible, like a heart beat. Then a fragrance started to waft through the air, a sweet smell of some kind. He closed his hand and the mist evaporated.

“That's almost like what happens every time somebody summons a Harmonian.” Twilight noted. He snapped his fingers.

“That would be because it is. No matter what you do in Duel monsters, you couldn't play if you couldn't use soul art. And to summon a Harmonian, you basically have to feed them enough of your energy so that they can revive. But that's not the only thing they do. They also amplify your powers once they come out. Think of it like an electric guitar and an amp. Alone, you can only do so much. But once you've got a Harmonian out, then you have the ability to raise your sound to ridiculous levels. Unlike an amp though, A Harmonian also causes others around you to resonate their souls. The more people around, the easier to resonate it is, and the more power you generate. At any point while you guys were out yesterday, did you hear a song that seemingly came out of nowhere?” The six girls nodded.

“Yeah, it happened after Rare nearly broke her assistant. It was when she and Twi got together to try and heal him that the song started ta play. Ya know, now that Ah think about it, the cards that the three of us had didn't resonate then. But they did after. Another song played when Fluttershy and Zeph dueled, and it happened again when Pinkie and Twi dueled. It was lesser when Twi and Ah dueled though. Just one note from each. The same way when she and Rainbow did too. But based on what you said, that's probably because it was just the three of us in the area. Zeph and Spike don't have elements.” The blonde said as she squinted at the ceiling.

“Really? That's... weird. What happened in between the duel with Rainbow and the duel Rarity had?” The three involved looked at each other, then looked at the ground.

“Well...” Said the Terran.

“Ya see...” Said the Angel.

“It wasn't pretty. Andromeda and his sister got in a fight and... I think he was putting out more energy than I was to be honest. The duel didn't end well. I think it's safe to say that we all felt kinda dead inside until the end of Rarity's duel.” Said the Mage girl.

“Ah. That explains it. You couldn't resonate because your mind wouldn't allow it. A negative mood without rage will mute the soul. An enraged mood will create dissonance. Unlike regular magic, souls are finicky. Very much dependent on your state of mind rather than your physical ability.” He stopped and a voice from upstairs continued.

“And even then, this isn't always the case for soul art. Sometimes it can over power your body in a way that can harm you. Trying to use the six of them by her self, my wife almost ripped her own soul into pieces, and that is not easy to recover from.” The man had come down the stairs, followed by his son, who looked relatively sleepy still.

“Morning guys.” Said the monochrome Angel as he yawned. The man slapped him on the shoulder.

“Will you wake up already? You told me that you were gonna be ready when I got here.” The Angel rolled his eyes.

“I told you what happened. Anyways, I'm gonna need to borrow all your Harmonian cards today. I got new disks ordered for the four of you who have older models, and they should arrive later today. I need to program the new ones with Navis, and I need to talk with all of them.” No one questioned a free new disk, so the six girls handed their elements over to Zephraim.

“Don't worry about it. They'll be here when you get back. Have fun with dad.” The Angel loaded up his duel disk and headed down stairs with the cards.

“I think it's time we left. Take us to that spot you found Eclipse.” The vamp nodded, and so his hands started to glow with a dark violet light. It spread from person to person until finally, it reached Sombra. The world flashed away, and now everyone was on the sandstone plateau from yesterday. The man in black looked all around and then crossed his arms.

“Not terrible, but we need more room. Blondie, front and center.” The rest of the group turned to Applejack.

“Oh, right, me. Yeah?” The blonde said as she walked up to face the black haired man.

“Eclipse showed you what a soul feels like, right?” The Terran nodded.

“Good. Now here's what I want. Put your hand on the ground and think about the sand touching this rock. Focus on it hard, and keep that feeling in you mind, as if you reached out, you would touch it again.”

The blonde shrugged and did as she was told. The ground was sandy and course, hot and dry. She waited in silence for a while, and then she began to hear her own pulse over the wind. She closed her eyes, and the sound started to grow. The beating of her blood could be felt in the rock as her fingers touched each grain of sand. The smell of sweet jack apples started to fly around her nose.

“Now imagine this rock as if it were bigger. If this plateau was more like a giant flat pillar of stone.” The Image he was describing started to come to mind. The yellows, oranges, and reds that streaked it, like they continued endlessly, the same way that place looked yesterday. Nothing but blue and stone. Blue, and stone...

“Alright that's enough!” She was startled by his yelling. When she opened her eyes again, she realized that everyone was staring at the ground. As she stood up, the stone had definitely looked more like what she imagined.

“Sweet Divinity... Did Ah do that?” The rock had not only become double as large as it was, but it extended even further than what she remembered. Just like what she thought, there was nothing but rock and blue. That is until she found the edge. It was big, but not that big. She looked at her hand, and it was giving off a bright orange vapor.

“That was what soul art combined with a god's inheritance looks like. The six of you all have the ability to manipulate some natural element because of what you've inherited. This one just so happens to have Honesty, or the Earth god, Chiaz.” He gave her a good slap to the shoulder.

“Ow! Oh, gods, why does that hurt so bad? It takes more force than that ta make me feel this much pain...” She said, nursing her shoulder.

“That is because you don't know your limits. At all. I wanted a 30 by 30 foot square. You probably doubled that. And because of that, you've weakened your own body. Because you don't have your Harmonian on you, the resonance of you yourself is all you're getting, and that will eat away at your stamina faster than anything you can think of. Now then, Eclipse, you take those two and go do what you need to, and the rest of you will be doing team work drills with soul art.” The vamp nodded.

“Yes sir. Pinkie, Eris, we're just gonna take this corner over here.” The two simply looked at each other and followed Eclipse to the edge of the giant sandstone platform that Applejack made. Both men stood straight and held out their hands to their side. They started to glow, Sombra with a blood red and Eclipse with a dark violet. Circles started to from on the ground, and Sombra's circle looked far more intricate that Eclipse's did. The red circle finished forming, and Sombra clapped his hands, then the rest of the world was gone.

“So for now, we'll focus on something simple.” He took his left hand and snapped a finger. In an instant, a black and red burning mist ball was floating above it.

“For the first round, all I want is for you to summon an image of your soul. Don't make it any bigger than this, and don't over exert yourself in the process. If you do, you'll end up just like Blondie over here.” Without much question, the five started to focus on their hands.

The first to conjure their soul was Fluttershy. It took about a minute, but she had it done quicker than anyone else. It was bright blue and radiant.

“Not bad Shy. Not bad at all. Did you learn how to do that here?” The pale Angel was clearly proud of her work.

“Yes sir. Pinkie was actually the one who showed me how to do it. I've been going out to the forest every now and again to practice moving the water. Eventually I got to the point where I could raise the stream that's in front of my house with it.” He smiled at her.

“Good job kid. It doesn't look like any of your friends are quite that fast, so while they work on this, I want you to try and 'make' water. Turn what you see in your hand into the element that resonates with you.” The pale angel was left with a confused look, and then the group went silent for a while. Soon enough, Twilight had hers out. It was a little bit stranger than she remembered. While it was the same violet smoke she remembered from her times using it, but it wasn't just that anymore. There were little sparks of gold here and there.

“Shiny. You have the element of Magic don't you?” He said to the girl as she tried desperately to sustain the ball.

“Yes.” She squeezed out her teeth.

“Eh, I guess that makes sense for you to struggle with his then. Your soul is tuned to make things disappear and condense. Forcing a light out of your body is really kind of the opposite of what it would like to do. But now that you've done that, you know what it feels like. My next task for you is to try and remove a column of light from anywhere you can. If that wording is weird, make it dark in one spot. That isn't technically what you'll be doing when it comes down to the physics of things, but it's basically the same.” The girl released her misty flame and took in several quick sharp breaths.

“Why... is this so... hard now? This is... the fifth time... but it feels so different...” She said in between panting.

“Well, tell me. What did you do the last four times?” He said as he leaned to look the Mage in the eye. She took a deep breath to speak.

“Well, save for the first time, when I was just trying to copy what Celestia did and happened to have Andromeda in my hand, the other three were me healing somebody. Ruby Apple, Cobalt, Zephraim. I never felt this drained or exhausted after that.” The man nodded.

“Okay... I'm just going to assume Zeph did something dumb again, but here's what I know. Yamirix, as much as this might be weird to hear, is not a 'battle' god. He is more about learning and obtaining new knowledge, sometimes past the point of insanity, i.e. Dark. His abilities are to absorb and repair things, where as the opposite end of his spectrum is Hikaritz. In a basic sense, they both do similar things, but in reality, they are internal and external. Deconstruct, construct. Opposite sides of the same coin if you will.

Once she gets it going, violet over there should be able to sustain it with ease. You on the other hand just have a hard time with this. You are meant to take things in and then use them, or return them to their original state. With that in mind, try and absorb the light in front of you.” At the moment he finished, Rarity had done it.

“Ah ha, it's back!” A bright white ball of burning mist was shimmering in the sunlight at the palm of her hand.

“Hmm... I see what's different here...” The tailor was confused. “Different? Is there something odd about me?” She asked.

“Oh, no. never mind what I said. You've got a very pure white there. Even for most, that's rare. Normally, color either cascades or combines into something darker, but in your case it went the opposite direction and got brighter. I imagine after a few tries, this will be just as natural for you as the pink one. So, miss other side of the coin, do the exact opposite of what I told Twilight. Form a column of light somewhere. Make it so bright that we can't see the ground where it is.” The tailor nodded. As he predicted, she had absolutely no trouble sustaining the misty flame, and kept it going as she began to focus.

“Uh... Ah don't quite have the same thing goin' on as them, but uh... it's somethin'.” The Terran said. Above her hand was not a misty burning ball, but an orb of sand that was growing and pulling more into it from off the stone.

“Well, I guess you skipped the first step. I had you use your power earlier, and you certainly have a nack for this. I don't know why, but I think you're about as strong as Fluttershy is. How long have you had your powers?” The Terran frowned.

“Since a couple of days ago, but uh... Ah think Ah know why I can do this at all. Ah kinda took more than Ah should have when Ah got em from Ephraim.” He walked over to her.

“Did you now? Care to elaborate?” The girl nodded as the sand ball stopped growing and began to change shape.

“Ah'm not really sure how ta explain it, but... When Ah was getting' the power, Ah started ta get this headache, and it hurt real bad. It was like the whole world was beatin' on my head, but Ah had this drive to keep goin'. Ah felt like Ah needed this. Like if Ah let go, then it wouldn't be enough. It kept hurtin', but Ah just wouldn't let go. It wasn't until Ephraim threw me off did Ah stop.

Ah got real sick that night too. Tossin' whatever Ah ate, and my whole body just bein' cramped ta death. Ah felt better the next mornin', but Ah was real tired. He tried ta explain it ta me, but Ah just didn't get what he was talkin' about.” The man laughed and slapped her shoulder again. She grabbed at it in pain, and the sand cube fell in a neat spot on the ground.

“Damn it! Why?” She yelled.

“Greedy little punk. Your little 'drive to keep going' was you being power hungry. It's not that you had a drive to do anything, you just wanted more. And now your body is feeling the effects of that. What did Eclipse have you do yesterday?” The Terran frowned again.

“Uh... movin' target practice...” He raised an eyebrow.

“Let me guess... never shot a gun before?” Her head sank.

“That's what I thought. You will be doing that again, but I'm going to add a little more fun to it. Your new task is to make the shells you'll be firing off. I'll give you one to reference, but I will only give you one. So don't fire it.” Out of his back pocket, he took a very real gun that looked very large and heavy. The barrel on the hand gun was almost as long as his forearm, and it was stark black. Whatever magic it had on it took the shine away from it. Like it was eating the light it was exposed to. It cast a darker shadow on the ground than any of the people here. He removed an equally pitch black clip from its base and took a single bullet out and handed it to her. She looked almost afraid of it.

“Show me you can make one, and then I'll send you and a shade in to your own little pocket.” The girl shook the fear from her face and then focused on the bullet in her left hand. The sand all around her started to form in her hand. The bullet itself started to burn with the bright orange smoke, and soon the sand started to concentrate and shape itself into a replica of the bullet. When it finally stopped, she had a solid object in both hands shat shared shape and size.

“So... Ah have this thing now... but uh... how am I supposed ta fire? Doesn't it need other things for that ta work?” The man nodded slowly.

“That's a good question. To be honest with you, it won't be easy to figure that part out. In the same way that traditional magic allows one to fire off a projectile or concentrated light, you're going to figure out how to send the earth you make flying. Attack spells are one of the hardest things to learn, and on top of that, you're a Terran, so this is already foreign territory for you.

To put this as simply as I can, you're going to have to feel your way though this. Will the bullet to fly when you pull the trigger. Will it to hit your target and aim to help it there. Knowing how a gun feels to fire is probably your best asset here. Recreate that feeling in the same way you did to expand our platform. With that said, good luck.” He snapped his fingers and suddenly, there was a magic circle around her feet and the blood red outline of Sombra in front of her. Then they were gone.

“Whoa...” The blue Angel was holding her hands together, and in the center was a bright green blue that danced with the color spectrum at each burning tip, flowing from one color to the next, occasionally stopping on magenta and then moving again.

“Oh, so you've finally managed it. I was beginning to wonder... Wow. Now that is unique.” The man had noticed what she was holding and was surprised to see it. He reached out to touch it, then quickly jerked his hand away.

“Uh... Put that away... Please.” He was hiding his face from her. She was confused as to why, but did so anyways. She crushed the misty flame in her hands and approached the man.

“Are you okay dude?” She asked, concerned.

“You all know who I used to be right?”

The rest of the girls stopped focusing on what they were doing and answered, “Yeah.” He sighed.

“My mother wasn't the greatest person in the world. I know I had siblings, but I honestly never knew them. And my grandmother... well, she's trying to destroy the world and kill my wife and her sister. To say the least, I didn't have the greatest influences in my life. I was the youngest out of my family, and by the time I came around, my mother was on her fourth husband. She wasn't all that right in the head by then, and she killed the guy shortly afterward. Never knew who he was.

My mother, her name was Nethera, and for my early life, she lead a group of bandits in the north. But... these were not ordinary people either. The corruption that had happened during Umbra's reign wasn't gone from the north, and even today, you can still find traces of it there. These people were tainted and morphed by it, literally turning them into demons. Malformed beasts that had an acquired taste for blood.

Because the blood of the 'source' of the corruption ran through me and my mom, we weren't affected by it, but she took pity on them and cared for them. They typically didn't last too long, and would eventually either lose it and try and kill each other, or die from blood starvation. If so, we helped them out. But dear old mom started to get sick after a while, and she didn't last long after that.

Then I stepped in. Without remorse, I took my demonic band into Crystal and took the city. We used people like livestock, and it was then that I was cursed. An old traveling shaman, which Celestia believes to actually have been a brother of mine, wandered in. Of course, he was captured by my men and brought to me and there.

He began to talk to me about what I was doing. It's what I grew up knowing, so I didn't think anything was wrong. My friends needed blood to live, so I helped them out. He started to argue with me, telling me that I would never suffer enough pain in this life for all the atrocities I'd committed. He started yelling a language I couldn't understand and his entire body was giving off the mist that you've all learned how to make. He warped away from my guards and gave me a nice little reminder of him on my cheek.” He pointed to a scar on his cheek that looked like it cut from just by the edge of his nose almost to his ear, and then down his eye lid to his mustache.

“I of course, tried to hit him back for it, but he was already far away from every one of my guards and at the end of the chamber. His last words to me were these.

'From today forward, you will never age! You will never grow, and you will die over and over again, and you will never be able to experience the sweet relief of death, you scum!'

And the next thing he did? Shot me through the heart with a blast of energy. I watched him warp away and myself bleed out. It was one of the most painful experiences I'd ever had. I passed out, and woke up later in the same spot. There was a hole in what I was wearing at the time, but I was fine. The people around me, however... they descended further into their demonic transformation. Anyone I touched would start to turn into a demon. Depending on what they were doing and what race they were, it would be faster or slower. I watched as the people I grew up with turn into unrecognizable monsters and horrific creatures. But even through all that, some of them managed to retain their humanity.

And then Celestia and Luna came knocking at my door, if that encounter with Starswirl wasn't enough. There weren't many humans left in Crystal city, but they came to free the ones that they could. But I wasn't about to let my friends die either. That's where the history you know starts.

After a while, we figured out why the people around me turned to demons, and that is because of my curse being exposed to their soul. It became most apparent when the Mages guarding my cell would start to feel sick, and the ones that used magic would feel the effects of the curse quicker than others. I decided to test my theory after a while and grabbed one as he was doing it. Just like my friends, his body became disfigured and beastly.

Another effect of the curse that I hadn't realized though, was the fact that I was attracted to magic. At any point I saw someone using magic, or worse, soul art, I would feel this overwhelming desire to touch it. I turned exactly forty five people into demons over my years of imprisonment before Celestia threw me at the bottom of her castle. It took years after we got together for me to be able to fight off that desire, but every now and then, I'll get struck by it and reach out for the soul.

Luckily, my kids weren't affected by that part of the curse, but at the same time, when they use soul art too much, they can start to become demons themselves. It's still difficult to ignore when an exceptional soul like yours shows up, blue.” He said looking away from the group.

“Oh, father!” The pale Angel said as she embraced the man. He patted her on the back and pushed her off.

“Thanks kid, but really, that's not a good idea. As much as I try to be a good influence, there's a part of me that never can be.” The way he said that reminded Twilight of her year with him.

At every turn, he always would say

'Do what you have to to survive. Don't ever take any more than you need.' Nights under the stars and sleeping in that old abandoned building at the edge of the middle wall. Days rooting through garbage, occasionally gambling to get money for food that night. Every time she tried to steal, he'd pop her in the back of the head for it, and any time she got mad, he'd calm her down and make her think about why there was no reason to be. Of course, that didn't last too long. Finally memory lane took her to the end of that year, the day she was sent home, and he was taken away... When she looked up, the entirety of the group was staring at her.

“What?” He had his head tilted a little at her.

“Have you... been thinking of fond memories Twilight? Maybe something fun from your past?” He said, a little skew in his voice.

“Well, I guess you could say that. I was just thinking about the year we met.” The indigo Mage said still unaware of what everyone else was looking at.

“How is it that you can see in there? Is that part of her power or something?” The tailor asked. The man shrugged.

“That's more than likely why, but honestly, I don't know. Can you feel what you're doing in there?” The Mage blinked and then looked at her body. Her hands were both letting off violet smoke. She didn't even realize that she'd been doing anything. She looked around her feet, and while she could see the stone, it was like it had lost all it's color. Then It hit her. She'd accomplished what she was told to do, but around her self. She closed her hands, and the mist stopped pouring out from them. The stone underneath her feet regained it's color and all the other heads stopped tilting.

“So uh... I guess you did what I asked? You really didn't realize what you were doing at all did you?” He said, a hand now stroking his beard.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I can see so well in the dark now, sometimes I can't tell when it's day or night anymore. The only thing that tipped me off was the fact that the stone had lost it's color, and that only happens when there is no light in an area, or light has stopped moving like in a pocket dimension.” She said, almost confused as to how she did anything. The man turned to the rest of the girls.

“Well, if you needed any more proof that your mood affects your soul art, there you go. Think of happy memories, but try to stay in this world enough to control what you're doing.” The rest of the girls looked to each other and then shrugged and went with it. Sure enough, each one managed to do something similar to Twilight. Rainbow covered herself in a tornado, making a column of sand fly all around her. Fluttershy had orbs of water from in her hands from the vapor in the air after the rain yesterday. Rarity covered herself in light, nearly blinding everyone in the vicinity.

“Holy crap! I can't believe this is actually working! This is so cool!” The Blue Angel crossed her arms, and the wind stopped immediately, dropping the sand in it's place.

“Ha! I'm so awesome.” She said with a big grin on her face. Fluttershy threw a ball of water at her.

“He he... maybe you should cool off.” The grin turned to a frown.

“Yeah. Thanks. I needed that. So what now? I could do this all day.” She said from behind her soaked hair that was covering her face. Her hand started to let of her cyan mist with rainbow tips and wind swirled up and dried her off. She then fixed her hair so that it only covered part of her face in it's usual messy bed head style. The man took a disk out of his pocket and checked the time.

“I wasn't sure how far you'd make it, but it looks like we have time for one more little exercise...” He said, smiling. It was not a normal smile though. It had something sinister to it.

“Oh, no... I know what that face means!” The Mage said in a concerned tone. He snapped his fingers and then Applejack appeared and shot at him. He caught the bullet with magic and let it dissipate back into sand.

“What the? Aw, come on! Ah finally got the hang of this!” He shook his hand at her. “No this isn't a punishment, you've all done better than I expected. You've made quick progress, and that's what we need. I'm just... going to gauge your strength now...” He placed his disk on his arm and snapped again. Suddenly, Eclipse, Eris, and Pinkie were all here.

“Is it that time already? I didn't actually think they'd make it this far until Friday.” The vamp said, completely unphased by the change in scenery.

“What gives old man? I was like, finally getting somewhere!” The man nodded.

“I know. You've done well today. All of you. But, as I've said, I'm going to test you. We'll save the team work exercise for tomorrow.” The stark black disk on his black coat almost blended into it. A bright blood red matterwave shot out in the shape of a scythe blade. Fluttershy was already ready for the duel to start with her own disk and matterwave on. Twilight wasn't ready for this.

“B-but, we don't even have our Harmonians on us!” She pleaded. The man shook his head. “You sure don't. And without them, you aren't as strong as you could be. So let's see just how strong you are on your own two feet. Get your disk on.” He raised his hand, and five outlines of various shades of red showed up in front of each girl, with Sombra himself in front of Fluttershy.

“The goal here is for you to beat me if you can. I won't be going all out, otherwise, I might end up killing you, but I will at least match your skill level. Save for you. I wanna see if you've gotten any better in these past few months...” He said to the pale Angel.

“Yes sir!” She said as she saluted. Everyone else had their disks on and were one by one ejecting matterwaves. Twilight groaned and did the same.

“Six opponents at once... this outta be fun. Ready?” Beams of light all shot to the real Sombra's disk and in unison, the group yelled,

“DUEL!”

Turn 1: Draw! (13.3.1)

“To make this easier on the six of you, and more or less me, I'll be taking the second turn for everyone. With that said, let's see it Shy.” The man said as his shades mimicked his every movement. It was strange to watch them side by side. It was almost like he was moving so fast that there was an after image there. The light pink headed girl nodded, and the six girls began to plan out what to do.

“Well, I don't have many options here. I'll set three and pass.” The girl quietly slid three cards in into their slot, and on her field, three face down cards appeared. “Don't have many options she says. You can beat most of your brothers on a regular occasion in a single turn. You can't bluff me.” The real Sombra said to the girl with a smirk on. The girl simply put her hands under her wings and started to sway. “You all see that? She's gonna try and beat me on her turn. She thinks she has this already. Whose next?”

Without a word, Rainbow started to play. The first thing she did was summon the same Falcon card that she opened with last duel. The red clad militarized anthropomorphic falcon took place on the field and saluted. It's automatic rifle hanging ready to fire on it's side. “I summon Prismatic Avian Foot Falcon. When he's summoned, I get to add a Prismatic Spell or trap to my hand. I add Prismatic Cube ritual.” The falcon took what looked like an old blocky radio from it's side and squawked something into it. Then, from out of the sky, a clear crystal cube dropped in front of it. The Angel took a card from her disk, and the cube faded away. Realizing that his next opponent had been decided, the man seemed to fade into the dark red color of his shades, and reappear in place of the shade standing in front of rainbow.

“Then I activate the effect of Prismatic Avian, Bastillatician from my hand. I equip him to Foot Falcon, raising his attack and defense by 800 and allowing him to attack directly. But that's not why we need him here right now.” The Falcon's rifle expanded into what could only be equated to a shoulder mounted cannon with shields on either side. “Next, I activate the effect of Prismatic Cube Ritual! By tributing monsters in any zone on my field whose levels equal the level of a ritual monster in my hand, I can summon that monster! The crystal of war calls forth it's unyielding champions of color! Burst through the prism, Prismatic Avian, Bolt-Action Black!”

The clear cube returned to the field and began to spin. The Red clad falcon and the green clad bird in what looked like a motorcycle side car with a cannon coming out of it flew into the crystal. The colors faded to white, and light started to shoot out in various colors from the rapidly spinning cube. The crystal shattered into pieces and in it's place was a much bigger bird. In it's right wing, it held a very large bolt action rifle which could either be sniper class or anti air class due to it's sheer size. It was wearing white tactical armor and a military uniform similar to the red and green ones the other Avians were wearing. It's feathers were as dark as night and shined with almost a blue tinge. This was a raven.

“When Bolt-Action is Ritual summoned, I get to target two union monsters in my graveyard and equip them to him.” Two red and green lights shot from broken pieces of the crystal cube that had yet to dissipate. The rifle was bathed in green and transformed into a sterling white cannon with a single bright green ribbon that flowed in the wind. It's left arm was bathed in red light and covered in armor of a more traditional sort, but still with the Avian's old modern warfare style. Rough and blocky, made of something expensive and outdated like Kevlar or fiberglass and embedded with a small matterwave shield that covered his shoulder. “And this in turn protects it, alongside giving it other effects and attack points... I-” The man had said quietly, before he was cut off.

“I'm not done yet! I activate the effect of Cube ritual in my grave! By tributing Foot Falcon as an equip card, I can add it to my hand!” The red armor on the black bird's wing crackled into specks of light and faded out of existence. The shattered pieces of crystal began to reformulate and seal themselves back into shape. The cube then retreated into her grave slot, where she took the card from and added it to her hand.

“I activate Prismatic cube ritual again! By tributing Bolt-Action, and then substituting his equip card for him, I can ritual summon a level 8 or lower monster from my hand! The crystal of war calls forth it's unyielding champions of color again! Burst through the prism, Prismatic Avian, Crackling Cyan Cannoneer!” The clear cube took center stage again, absorbing the green shape of the bird that remained on the field, all to it's self now. The cube spun and the green inside started to fade to white again. Colored beams of light illuminated the area until the crystal shattered, revealing a whole new bird with a giant cannon about twice the size of the green bird's motor car. The bird itself was mostly white, sharing the armor and clothing that the other wore, however, it's entire head and the tips of it's feathers were about the same color as Rainbow's. Cyan, as it's name suggested.

“Okay... what does this one do?” The man asked, more confused about her actions than anything. “Glad you asked. A lot of my monsters can equip themselves to other cards once per turn, and this one just so happens to be my strongest union monster, save for Valkyriana. With that said, I equip Cannoneer to Bolt-Action!” The Cannon toting bird flashed itself into bright cyan light and enveloped the black bird. It's armor all became closer to what was worn today, or what the old modern people would call futuristic. It's entire body was covered in mesh steel plates and military standard matterwave shielding over each and every inch of the body. The gun was turned into what resembled a high powered magic rifle, capable of blowing a hole in even one of Celestia's walls.

“With that, I'll be done for now. Don't want ya too afraid to take your turn.” She said, as she crossed her arms, completely proud of what she'd just done. “I see...” The man said slowly moving his attention from the blue Angel. His face was completely stone, yet one could still hear a hint of concern in his voice. For who it went to was still up in the air. “Apple, make your move. Show me what your old man taught you.” As he spoke, once again, he faded from one spot to another in place of his shade. Addressing the girl like a drill Sargent, she immediately set her scales.

“Ah set the right with the scale 8, Continental Knight Myrmidon, and the left with the scale 1 Continental Knight Pegasus Rider!” On the right was a man wearing what looked to be regular clothing, all of it dark gray, and carrying a rather wicked edged sword. He wore a dark gray pillbox hat that covered some of his burning bright red hair. On the left, another new face. A woman dressed in simple clothes of tan and red with light pearly white armor over her chest and shoulders. She had bright green hair and dark blue eyes. She was riding a white winged pegasus adorned with pearly white horse armor on it's head and flanks, and carried a lance. The red colored gem like object from before began to oscillate in the sky over the field

“Next, Ah'll summon using my set scales! Swing Pendulum swing! Just like my family before me, bring the army back ta life! Continental Knights, Warrior Princess, Cleric, and Defender!” The two knights raised their weapons and the object began to spin rapidly, creating a portal where for three balls of orange light shot from. The turquoise haired princess stood proudly with her new comrades in the center of Applejack's field. To her left was the cleric. The girl wore white robes that fell gently over her body. Nothing too flashy, and hardly an ounce of skin showing, she resembled her title well. Underneath her veil, golden locks of curly hair spiraled downward in what might look like Zephraim's hair if he ever decided to try and tame it. She carried a silver staff with a bright blue gem at it's end. The other was a man that was heavily armored from head to toe with not a single bit of skin in sight. He carried a lance in one hand and the other was... hidden. His chest piece was oddly suspicious due to it's relatively torso sized nature. Even the backs of his legs and visible arm were covered in armor. How he could move at all was a mystery. All the visible plates were of a dark blue-green that shined in the bright desert sun.

“So, some of my knights have effects that change the game, so Ah'll go ahead and tell ya what they are in the spirit of fairness. While Myrmidon is in the Pendulum zone, monster's have ta run a hit-miss-crit check that changes based on the attacking and defending levels. If the attacker has a higher level, then the attack is negated if the die lands on 2 or 5. if they're even, it's 1, 3, or 5. of the attacker is lower, then it's 1,3, 4, or 5. If ya land a 6 at any point, It's considered a crit and the attacking monster's attack is doubled. Then, there's my Defender. He can attack from defense position, so if y'all decide ta go fer the destruction angle attackin' him with less than enough ta kill him, it's destroyed by battle as if they were both in attack position. But he cain't attack directly. The princess can change one of yer monsters to defense position during my turn and have it lose 500 points there too. She also has the piercing effect, so there's that. The Cleric cain't be attacked as long as Ah got another Knight on the field, and she gives me the ability ta check the top of my deck once each turn. If that card is a spell or trap, Ah get ta draw it. If it's not, then it goes to the bottom. Ah'll go ahead and use her effect.” The girl took the top card off her deck and the character for trap slowly rotated above the Cleric.

“If ya cain't tell by that, It's a trap.” She said as she showed him the card. “Ah'll go ahead and set this and pass the torch.” The man motioned to approve of the blonde's play, then faded in front of the tailor. “I guess if were going to keep this order, up next would be... Marshmallow. Show me what you got.” He pointed to rarity the moment he said marshmallow. “What? Marsh... are you referring to me?” The tailor said, clearly offended by the comment. “I didn't point to the nothingness behind you, so yes, I mean you.” The girl scoffed. “Why, I never...! Just because someone is pale skinned, that does not give anyone the right to-” The man rolled his eyes.

“You are literally not the whitest person I've ever seen. That title goes to my sister in law. The nickname has nothing to do with your color, it refers to your texture. You're not fat, bony, or muscular. I can only assume that underneath it all you are just some kind of gelatinous fluffy thing meant to be consumed. That is your nickname, now take your turn, Marshmallow!” The piercing green eyes of the man nearly shot through the girl. She was suddenly very cold and decided to do as she was told.

“V-very well then...” The girl coughed in her hand, then recomposed herself. At the same time, a single curl fell out of place in her hair. “I will begin by summoning Cheswit Pawn Right.” The left handed tailor placed a card delicately on her disk's matterwave, and from a circle with a crest in it spawned a small fairy, however, this one was male in contrast to the first time she'd summoned a pawn. Like the other one, it he had wings of light that sparkled as he floated in place. His eyes were purely yellow orange and his armor was more neutral in color than the other one. It also carried an ax in one hand rather than a lance.

“His name is treated a Cheswit pawn while on the field, banished, and in the grave, and when he is summoned alone, he calls for help from my hand, as long as it's level 4 or lower. With out further adieu, I summon Cheswit Pawn Left.” Another Fairy, this time a Female, wearing mostly Black armor with white accents. Her wings were almost a shade of violet, even though it was faint, and she carried a sword.

“When the Left hand pawn is summoned by the effect of a Cheswit monster, She gains levels equal to the number of Cheswits I control, or two at this junction. As with her counterpart, her name is also Cheswit pawn outside the deck and hand. The right Pawn becomes an effect monster in the presence of another Cheswit tuner, stepping back to fulfill his role. Now then, It's time we resonate! I tune the level 5 tuner Cheswit Left with my level 3 Cheswit Right! White clad warrior, rain arrows from the kingdom atop snow capped mountains from the opposite side of the board! Cheswit White Sky Knight, ride on!”

The fairy girl split into five green rings, and the fairy boy transformed into three stars. A bright green light shot through the center and left in it's wake was the white knight fairy. He, like her rook, was a very muscular man of a fairy, covered in white cloth. His face was masked by a helm that came to two points on either side of his head. Every piece of cloth was lined in gold and a bright blue light that made him look like he belonged aside Rainbow's Bolt action the front lines next to Faunan soldiers. However, his mount was a bit different than what one would find in war. It was a giant dragon fly. It could have been expected, based on the mantis drawn chariot the rook had, but all the same. He carried a white bow that looked to be made of wood and had a single string made of light connecting either side and no arrows in sight.

“With his bow in line, my opponent's spell cards are restricted to being set before they're activated and they cannot be activated on the turn they're set, meaning you'll have to wait a turn to use any kind of spell. In addition to that, you cannot activate spells and traps from the hand. Along side these, if you were to destroy any of my monsters, because I assure you there will be more, they each get a one time protection every turn and he gains their original attack points until the end phase. But, there are still many things to do before I can finish this turn, Mr. Black. The first of which is the effect of Pawn Left, and the chained effect of Cheswit Bishop in my hand. Bishop special summons himself when a successful synchro summon is performed.”

Another Fairy entered the field, dressed in cloths with a more gray and white scheme than the sterling white knight atop the dragon fly, like the rook and right pawn. She was rather thin in comparison to the more curvacious pawns, and carried what looked to be a spell book in one hand. “Next, the effect of Pawn Left resolves. I look at the top three cards of my deck, then I may choose a spell or trap card among them to add to my hand, then return them to the top or bottom of the deck in any order.” With a single motion, the girl took three cards from the deck with her right hand. She smiled, and put on on top and one on bottom.

“The card I add is the spell, Chevaux du Roi. The effect of Bishop is activated when he's summoned by his own effect. I may now look at the bottom three cards, discard one card, then pick one to add to my hand. Hmm... You'll serve me better here, and I will add this to my hand... Finally, I will activate the effect of Cheswit King from my hand. When I control two or more Cheswit monsters with different names, I can special summon him.” Joining the oracle and the Soldier was the gold clad king. His wings bigger than the others, his crown as ridiculously large as he was small, and his beard hiding most of his clothing. “I set one card and end my turn. All yours.” The man and his shades all had their arms crossed. He lowered his gaze, then nodded. “I see...” he said, keeping eye contact with the tailor. He stared her down in silence for a moment, and all the girls watched as violet curly hairs seemed to pop out of place one after another until the man faded to face the red clad Terran. The man simply nodded and said, “Alright. Next is you, Pink.”

The pink haired girl shrugged and said, “I'm already done. Move on.” Her field was covered in traps. The man sighed. “Well, so much for that. You outta be fun to deal with. Your turn kid. Let's see if you've gotten any better after all these years.” Twilight took her stance and started to reach for her cards. She didn't know what Black might have up his sleeve (literally) this time around, and the match could be over before it starts if he uses the same deck she remembered from him. However, what Zeus described his father's deck being like was nothing close to what he used against her. Based on that, she could imagine why he had so many different ones.

When she was young, Sombra would tell her stories of great duelists past, each one of them having their own unique style, as if he knew each and every person he mentioned. Knowing how many decks he had her up against, she imagined that each and every shade had a different deck from a legend of long ago. However, he might be trying to create a sort of mirror match here... If that's the case then... The Mage smiled “Alright Black. I think I know your game. Let's see if I'm right.” The man tilted his head.

“Do you now? Well, get on with it girl.” He returned the same smile with twelve times the blood lust behind it. Twilight felt herself shiver. It reminded her more of angry Celestia than anything, and that thought was enough to send her running. “I'll begin by activating the effect of Shooting Star Wyvern in my Hand. I'll banish my Shooting Star Scorpion to special summon it.” The Mage tossed her scorpion into the banished slot, and slapped her dragon across the matterwave. The Draco constellation appeared on her field, then inverted it's color to reveal a teal colored dragon made of light surrounding it. Oddly enough, It kinda looked like Spike. It was about as tall as Applejack and had wings that spanned two of itself wide. It was bulky in comparison to Fluttershy's more snake like dragon, and was more human like than Cobalt's feral element dragons.

“Next, I'll activate his effect. I can check your hand. If you have three or more spells in it, I get to draw a card. So, Black, let's see what you're playing this time.” The man began to laugh. “Ha ha ha... you have gotten better. And you're just as snarky as you used to be. Well done Twilight. This time, I'm playing heroes. Against you that is. In my hand is Fusion, E – Emergency call, Mask Change, Mask Charge, and finally, Elemental Hero Stratos.” The other five girls gasped, and Twilight snapped her fingers in success.

“Ha! I was right! You won't beat me if that's the same one from the last time!” The man popped his neck. “Well, lucky for you, it isn't.” He said, returning her retort. “Hold on a sec. I recognize that name. Weren't the Heroes just a legend? And while we're at it, what do you mean by 'against you'?” The man sighed. “I guess the secret's out. To answer your second question, Rainbow, I'm currently piloting six different decks, and only one of them my own. The rest are based on heroes long past. People who were famous throughout the ages. Shade five has the deck of a man that discovered the effects of dueling on the Soul, and one of the great pioneers of soul art. The names of these duelists have since been lost to history, but their accomplishments have remained in books around the world, passing from age to age. After seeing what all of you do here, it's come to my attention that each of you share traits with these legends and similar styles. As such, you'll be fighting what would be as close to them as we can get. With that said, Show me what else you've got planned. Surely you have more than a half powered dragon to fight the Heroes with?”

The Mage blinked and then realized the drawback of summoning Wyvern using that effect. “Oh right... He uh... loses half his attack when he's summoned like that. In any case, his effect succeeded and I get to draw.” Okay Twilight, don't panic. Just because you're super boned if you don't get some kind of way to add Star fusion to your hand, doesn't mean you'll lose... probably. Oh, hearths warming, I trust in you, so help me out here! Looking away from her deck, she pulled the top card off with every thing she had. When she looked to see what she had drawn, she noticed little gold sparks shooting off from her fingers. Thankfully, it was what she needed.

“I activate the effect of Star Magician Newton from my hand! By discarding Shooting Star Ram, I can special summon him. When he's special summoned this way, I get to add a Star Fusion to my hand!” A spiky haired man in heavy looking robes carrying a telescope entered the field. Upon being called on, he raised his telescope and a single star shot from the sky. He then took a piece of parchment from under his cloak and wrote something on it. He rolled it up and tossed it to Twilight. A card slid out of her deck and the parchment disappeared. She grabbed and activated it immediately.

“I activate Star Fusion! By sending the my two monsters to the grave yard, I can fusion summon! Wyvern of the night sky and the astronomer who views it, combine your powers to bring about a new form! Rotate and absorb, the growing star consumes all in it's orbit! Descend, Star Gravity, the Galaxy Magician!” The Wyvern was absorbed into three orbs of yellow light and a magician from her hand was turned into two violet ones. They circled each other until forming a trapezoid shape, and then exploded. In a bright violet light, a new Magician stood in their place. In an odd way, he resembled her little brother, yet, no one could really figure out why. His face was scarred and scaly along his cheek bones and his hair was a dark violet, not too far off of Twilight's own. He wore a helm that was in the shape of a dragon's head made of some kind of metallic violet metal. His armor had a large breast plate that covered most of his torso down to his waist with heavy emphasis on the upper body near the neck. He had light armor along his arms and a large shield on his left that carried Twilight's Mage's mark on it. In his right he carried a blade with a very long hilt that could have been a wand on it's own. The blade itself glowed with the same teal light that her Shooting star monsters did and had a slit dunning down the center, making it a sword catcher. The rest of his body was hidden away by the heavy robes of the Star Magicians, save for his feet which could be seen by their faint violet glow coming from them. They were the same shape as the wyvern used in the fusion, only having three toes and talons.

“Hmm... this is new...” Said the man. “While Gravity is on the field, you can only attack him, and he can't be targeted by your cards. With that, I'll end my turn. You're up Black.” The man and his shades all popped their necks in unison. They unfolded their arms and set their disks all in front of each other. Sombra faded away once again, returning to his spot in front of Fluttershy. “You know, It's been a long time since I've played my own game. However, I can already tell whose lost and who's got another turn. Some of you... failed to set up enough of a defense. Some of you are simply going to get over powered. In fairness, I won't say who did what wrong until all is said and done, but just know that two of you won't last this turn.”

Turn 2: And then there were Fewer (13.3.2)

Two of us? Thought Twilight. How can he tell at all? Is this based on what he knows all his shades have? I always knew he was smart, but does he know all of these other decks well enough to tell he can get around everything? Good gods, am I one of the two?

“Tell me, my dear daughter, have you ever seen my deck?” The girl shook her head. “No sir. Out of the four of you, I've only seen Mother's deck. And that happened a few months ago. I do have an idea of what it is though. Apollo told me about it back in Asgard. He wouldn't say much other than your deck made him sad.” The man let out a thin sigh. “Right... he knows the stories behind the cards in here. All the same, I shouldn't let that cloud my thoughts here. If dueling Zephraim taught you anything based on his inheritance, then you should have a good idea of how I work.” He and his shades placed a hand on their top cards, and drew. “Ah... so they wish to be seen again. Very well. To start, I activate the effect of my field spell, Burial ground of the Fallen Kings.” Sombra placed a card in the field slot of his disk.

The world around the girls began to morph into something even more dreary than the endless desert. The skies darkened and storm clouds thundered above. Poor Twilight flinched at every sound. The ground turn gray and cracked, riddled with dead vines and trees with no leaves. Six Tombs of dark gray stone sat at the edge of the duel fields, a different weapon stuck in the ground in front of each. One, Twilight saw and recognized. An odd shaped curved blade with a strange hilt near a contorted stick that was folded at one point. The next tomb in line had another... sword in it? The thing looked like a hot piece of metal that was twisted all along what little of the 'blade' that could be seen. Then the tomb next to it had a large sword half buried in the ground. It was dark steel with a jagged edge and a sharp guard. The tomb next in line carried a sword that had faint embers floating around it. However, only the hilt was visible. Another tomb, another sword, this one thin and regal made of pure silver. The final tomb however, carried a familiar looking sword with a warped blade running down it. It looked as if it had been charred over long exposure to fire. The wind floating around the thunder ridden air almost carried a song with it... one two three... one two three, two three... a sad song, how barren and frail it sounded.

“To begin, I activate my first card, Soldier of the Fallen Kings. By discarding this card, I am allowed to add a Ritual spell with king in it's title, or a Fallen King Ritual monster. Return to me, Allant, First of the Fallen Kings.” Sombra stuck out his empty hand, as I waiting for something. Then, the second sword Twilight looked at started to move. It shook in the ground until it wretched itself from it's earthen prison, and then started to float above the spot it had been buried. It's edge was just as wicked as she had first thought, having a long curve up to a point before the tip of the sword. It turned edge first and started to fly toward Sombra. As if he'd known where it was coming from, he tilted his head to the side and grabbed the sword by the hilt as it passed. The sword morphed into a card, which he then added to his hand. “Just like Celestia...” The Mage said, in awe at the man's power.

“Next, I activate the effect of Maid of the Fallen Kings. Much like her fellow soldier, she can retrieve a ritual spell with King in it's name, or a Fallen Kings Ritual monster from my deck. To this end, I will have her bring me the ritual spell, The Rise of a Fallen King.” The man slid the card into his disk, and beside him appeared what could only be described as a ghostly vision. The woman looked frail and thin, but clean. Her body was translucent, and as her name suggested, she wore black attire with a dim white apron. She disappeared for a moment, then returned with a shining silver crown. It wasn't anything like what Rarity's king wore, no this looked like an ornament of war rather than a center piece. It was sharp and jagged at the top with a single violet gem in the center the man took the crown from the maid, and she bowed before disappearing again. The crown turned itself into a card, and once again, he added it to his hand.

“And now, to return a Fallen King to his throne. I activate The Rise of a Fallen King. By using the effect of Butler of the Fallen Kings, I may treat this card as the full tribute. From ashen kingdoms to desolate lands, a hero rises to fell the fallen ruler, only to be crushed by their might! The Crowned ruler stands atop mountains of corpses to show his dominance! Rise again, Allant, First of the Fallen Kings!” The crown reappeared on the ground in front of Sombra. The black Sword then shot through it and shattered the silver ornament into pieces. From beneath the sword came a man with stark white hair and sterling pristine white clothing. His skin was of a pale gray. He resembled a dead man, but only in that regard. His irises were bright red, but dim, as if all the light inside had faded long ago. His shoulders were adorned with golden tassels and his pale white clothes were all lined with gold. He reached to the ground and took the wicked black sword in hand. He then stared directly at the pale Angel and brought his sword in position to fight. Funny enough, Fluttershy immediately reached for her side to grab at air. The minute she closed her hand around nothing, she shook her head.

“I see your instincts are still sharp. However, even if you had one, It wouldn't help you here. When Allant is summoned, he returns one of my servants to me. Return to my hand, Soldier of the Fallen Kings.” With the tip of his sword, the white clad king carved a rune into the ground. It began to glow with that same dark violet aura Zephraim's eyes did a few days ago, and from it came another apparition. A translucent knight, covered in fluted silver armor. He carried an ornate gold great sword in one hand, and a small rounded gold shield in the other. If she had to guess, this 'soldier' wasn't just any old knight. He faded out of existence to be come a ball of that dark violet smoke and moved to Sombra's hand. It became a card and slid into place.

“You were right to think you'd need to defend yourself. I attack directly with Allant!” A pale white gale started to form around the empty hand of the white King. “You know that that's not going to work on me! I activate the effect of Backlash of the Round!” A trap card turned over on Fluttershy's side. From her hand, she summoned two monsters. In balls of mist, a pale blue wyvern in a white dress with silver white hair and bright red eyes showed up on the left, and a pale blue eagle wearing bronze wing armor and a helm of the same material. “Perceagle and Gwynerven are summoned, and when Gwynerven is summoned while I have another Round Spirit, then I can target one monster you control and return it to hand!” The man put a hand on his neck as he popped it.

“Now that would have worked on most others, but you know that it doesn't work on me. Allant is unaffected by your cards during the battle phase.” He said with his piercing green eyes to the girl. However, they started to look... sharper than before. “What!?” the pale Angel exclaimed. “Attack Perceagle.” The gale had finished gathering around the white king's hand and he rushed toward the eagle, seeming to move by floating across the ground. He grabbed the eagle with his glowing hand, and crushed it. Mist started to fly toward Sombra, and his life point counter raised by 600. “Why did that happen? You just gained life points!” The pale Angel said.

“Allow me to tell you the rest of his effect. Along side returning one of my servants to me and being unaffected by your cards during the battle phase, Allant can attack twice per turn and steal half the defense points of anything he destroys as life points. Your eagle just so happens to be the enabler for your deck, So I thought it best to be rid of it first. With that said, Allant attacks Gwynerven.” From the spot where Perceagle used to be, Allant raised his sword hand in preparation to cut down the slender drake. The creature seemed to cower before the dark sword came clean through it. The drake evaporated, and mist flew back toward Sombra again, leaving him with 5000 life points. The king then returned to his spot, sword lowered and looking down at the pale Angel.

“Fine, but this will be the last time that I let my monsters get destroyed. I activate the effect of Rescuing the Round. During a turn in which one or more of my monsters are destroyed, I get to search my deck for the same number of Round spirits destroyed this turn and add them to my hand. Pendragon and Merlowl, come to me!” Two cards slid out of her deck, and she quickly added them to her hand. “Then I activate my other trap, Return of the Round. I can banish one Round card in my graveyard to add one monster in my grave yard to my hand. I banish Rescuing the Round, and add Perceagle to my hand.” A single card slid out of her grave slot and now she had three cards in hand. The man smiled at the girl.

“And just like that, you've already recovered. Of course, you are one of mine, so I can only expect this kind of resourcefulness. I'll next activate the effect of Rise of the Fallen Kings in my graveyard. By returning it to the deck, I can target one level 1 Dark Zombie Type monster card in my grave and add it to my hand. As such, I'll be taking my Maid back.” In a ghostly wind, the translucent maid rose from the ground. She bowed to her king, then turned into a dark violet ball of smoke and returned to Sombra's hand. “With these two back in my hand, I'll activate their effects once more, bringing me the ritual spell, To Befall a King, and the ritual monster, Gwyn, Second of the Fallen Kings!” The ghosts both appeared next to Sombra. The first was the Knight, disappearing completely, and the sword in the tomb next to Allant's started to catch fire. It rose from it's spot, singeing the ground as it slid upward. The sword was nearly as tall as Sombra himself, going well beyond the size of a great sword. It flew rapidly at him, but with it's hilt first this time. Like the last one, he grabbed it as it came, then turned it toward the sky. Bright orange lightning struck the blade, and then turned it into a card. Toward the end of the field, Twilight was on the ground, covering her head. The maid returned to him with what looked like a broken sword on a pillow. He took the piece of blade in hand and it turned into a card.

“Once more, I will ritual summon. Servant of the Fallen Kings in my hand, like all the others, can be treated as the full tribute for the summon this card. Broken blades and countless trials bring the new king to his throne! Years, Decades, Centuries, and Eons pass, the King continues to crush his enemies with the spears of light from the sky! The Fallen King will Fall no longer! Gwyn, Second of the Fallen Kings!” A circle of swords the looked like new versions of the broken one piled up in a spot on the field. The burning sword then shot up from under them, breaking each and every one in half. A hand followed, and eventually did what remained of a man. His eyes were black circles surrounded by fire, and the rest of his body looked like his skin was barely still there. Like the other king, this one looked like a dead man, but much more of a corpse than the first. He wore a faded blue tunic that ran half across his still muscly torso and covered his legs to his bare feet. He had bracers on each limb made of gold with an ornate design on the edges and a crown that shot in spikes on his head. Unlike the more gentlemanly appearance of the First king, this man had wild long silver gray hair that spiraled out over his back. His shoulders bore heavy looking gold plates, and about three of them on each side that ran the length of what might have been the neck hidden under all that hair. Under neath that were feathers that were jet black and shined by the light of his burning sword. While the first resembled a man about to fall, this one was truly, a Fallen King.

“I sincerely hope you didn't believe you'd escape damage on my turn with that little stunt alone. The first effect of Gwyn activates upon his summon. I may target a spell card in my grave, shuffle it back in my deck, and then draw a card. As such, To befall a King returns to the deck.” The broken swords surrounding the blue king floated up into his hand. Then, he crushed them. They spread into a white mist that flew toward Sombra, much like Allant's effect, and then he drew a card. “Next, I'll activate his other effect. During a turn in which Gwyn didn't declare an attack during the battle phase, I can inflict his attack points to you directly! Go, rain down your spears of light, Fallen King!” The blue king raised his empty left hand toward the sky. A bolt of bright orange lightning struck him and gathered into the shape of a spear. He clutched the spear and reared back with such force that his foot started to dig into the ground. The sound of thunder followed as the light spear rocketed toward Fluttershy, who made a motion to jump out of the way. While she avoided the initial strike in the air, the blast that followed was much quicker than she anticipated. She crashed to the ground on her hands and knees, a little singing on her clothes every where. She quickly stood back up though, eyes still burning with her will to fight.

“Ah, the eyes that say 'I'll never give in'. If you are truly destined to surpass me, then you will do it of you own accord! As my final act, I will set one card and summon Corruptor of the Fallen Kings from my hand!” In a single motion, the man simultaneously slid a card into his duel disk and slapped a monster on his matter wave. A black liquid started to form in another spot on the field. From it came a man whose body was contorted and malformed, mixing with this dark black substance that took the shape of a dragon's head and manifested itself out of this man's remains. While only half of his face could be seen, he had sharp teeth and an evil smile. “While I control a Ritual monster, this card gains a level equal to that monster. But because I have two, I get to choose. Therefore, he will become level 6. With that, I will move to the next duel.” Real Sombra seemed fade out of existence leaving a shade behind in his current spot and reformed in the spot of the shade before rainbow. I guess this is what he meant, thought Twilight.

“I'm sorry to say that you, Rainbow, are one of the two. Unless you happen to have something in your hand that can end the battle phase.” The blue Angel stared at the card in her hand. “Uh... maybe? I mean... How would you get past my defense?” The man shook his head. “I draw.” The man tilted his head back and sucked in air through his teeth. “And if it weren't bad enough with the hand I had to start with, It's easier now. If you have anything to save yourself, then I suggest you use it.” The girl's wings started to twitch. If it weren't evident enough that she couldn't defend her self here based on the field, then it was even clearer because of that.

“I might as well get this over with so you can take a break. To begin, I activate Super Soldier Ritual.” He slid a card into his disk... or other disk? It didn't look the same as the one he had been using. In fact, this one was a different color. Rather than the black and dark red disk he'd been using, this one was blue. Two bowls filled with fire spawned at either side of Sombra. He discarded two cards, and then one bowl had the Light character in it, and the other had the Dark character. Recognizing the card, Twilight realized just how bad Rainbow actually had it now. “The armor of the darkest knight which shines in the brightest day rises above the rest. A solder who takes an army on his own destroying the enemy completely without remorse! Awaken now, Black Luster Soldier – Super Soldier!” The two flames burned even brighter than before, consuming the two characters completely. A black void opened up in the center of the two bowls of fire, and from it the sight of gold could be seen. As it walked closer, shining red gems appeared, and finally, the Super Soldier hat taken place on the field. He had comparatively blue skin that resembled ice and bright red hair. His armor was flashy and ornate, covered in gold adornments and red gems everywhere. He carried an impressive shield in one hand and a long spiky curved black sword in the other that was also covered in gold and red gems. He looked dangerous, if not completely terrifying. For whatever reason, Rainbow's wings flared out.

“Oh my gods, that's so cool! Where did you even get this! I've only ever seen pictures of this guy, but he's even cooler up close!” Awe struck. That's what that is. “Hmm... not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but I'll take it. These cards are recreated based on data used in old archives and current technology to 'make' soul cards. It's not exactly easy, and not everything one tries to make powerful even works, but if it still exists, A copy can be made. However, The man that originally had this card has long since been dead, and he took his soul with him.” The blue Angel tilted her head. “So wait. Does that mean that there's a way to preserve a soul?” The man shook his head.

“Not that we know of. The sheer fact that the Elements are still around is completely a mystery of magic beyond our knowledge. But, that's for another discussion. Because I used Twilight Evening Knight and Beginning Knight for the Ritual summon, Super Soldier gains the following effects: Twice per turn, I can target a card and banish it. Once per turn, I can target a card in your hand and banish it until the end of your next turn. And once per turn if I destroy a monster with him, He can attack again. His standard effect is as follows: If this card destroys an opponent's monster, Inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's attack. If this card is destroyed by your opponent's card or battle, special summon one Gaia the Fierce Knight from either your Hand Deck or Graveyard. With that said, this is over, isn't it?” The girl took in all the information she'd just been given. It was a moment before it all clicked.

“That's so powerful... how am I even supposed to fight something like that? All you have to do is banish Cannoneer and I'm done for...” The man nodded. “That's right. Now, Tell me, what do you have in your hand?” Rather than a condescending in his tone, the way he spoke reminded her of her father more than anything else. Especially when he was trying to help her out. “Just some normal monster. It doesn't do anything, and really it's not even that great. Level 1 with 600 attack and defense points...” The man shook his head again. “That's what I thought. Look, kid, If you'd just played that instead, you still coulda had an extra monster on the field. If you would have played your equips to it, then done your ritual, You would have had one more monster on the field. Then, with your bolt action, You'd still have two cards in hand, one monster with equips and another without. It wouldn't have done much, but it would have made me play around you more. I noticed that when you went in for your turn, you didn't really stop to think about what you were going to do next. You just kinda tried to get your strongest cards out. Which, isn't a bad plan, but it's also not always the best plan. You realize that you had a better set up before you summoned your second ritual right?” The girl nodded in disappointment.

“I... see that now. I guess I don't really think too hard about this. My cards were always just better than everybody else's back home, so I never had to really do anything but summon my best stuff. I'd never even lost until I came here.” The man scratched his head. “A rude awakening isn't it? I don't know where you went to school in Cloudsdale, but you must've had some pretty easy match ups then. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you're not very good at this game.” The blue Angel almost looked like she deflated. She nearly toppled over as soon as he said his piece. “Hey now, don't get all depressed. This is why we train. To get better. I've made champions of worse than you, believe me. Now, I'm going to call it here and let you go back home to get some rest. Tomorrow, It'll just be you and me. We're going to work hard, and by the end of the day, you'll be in position to beat this deck.” The blue Angel started to rub at her eyes and simply nodded to the man, keeping her face down. The cards and the matter waves disappeared, and with a snap of his fingers, Rainbow was gone.

“That's uh... A little depressin' don't ya think?” The blonde said. “To be honest, not knowing what you're up against is hard to deal with, but even so, I really don't think she played that one out too well at all.” The tailor responded. “So, If rainbow is one, and she's getting special alone time with mister Black, what about the other?”The man started to walk toward Applejack's Sombra shade, and he assimilated it with him, now having the green disk on instead of the blue one. “Oh, yeah, the other one could not have possibly even prepared for what's going to happen. I honestly didn't even know what I'm going to do was possible with the deck until I saw what I drew. But, I guess that's what comes with the title of 'The cards of infinite possibility'. There is only one person in this world who I've ever seen perform a summon like the one I'm about to do, and she's only ever done it when extremely irritated, or is using her god like powers on purpose.” The words 'god like powers' tipped Twilight off to who it was.

“You don't mean that synchro summon upon synchro summon thing that Celestia does do you?” The man looked at her as if he didn't expect anyone to know what he was talking about. “Yeah, actually... Where did you hear about that? There aren't many people outside my kin that knows about it, and the others that do are part of hers.” The man said. “Oh, Zeus told me about it. I think he called it an Accel Synchro summon?” The girl said, as if she were questioning her own knowledge. “Ooh, I've heard about that. Only so many synchro players in the world are able to perform something like that, and even then there have only been about a handful who've done it. Even in recorded history, there's a grand total of two or so. Well, I suppose that Celestia would make three, provided anyone actually knew what her deck was.” The tailor said. The man scratched at his beard for a moment, as if deciding on something, then rolled his neck around.

“You're right on that. It has only happened with a select few duelists in history. However, your number isn't exactly right. Our first son can do it as well. How he happened upon it was sort of a miracle on it's own, but all the same, we decided to keep that one off the records. The reasons behind it aren't all that nice and other factors make it unsavory, so I don't think I'm going to give any more details either.” He was certainly skating around something he wanted to say, but felt the need not to talk about. “Uh-huh. So what you're really saying is that you don't want to talk about it because it would make him look bad right?” He gave the red clad Terran a thumbs up. “I know you guys are just teens and all, but he does own Kiebzen now, so I can't just say anything I want about him. Strictly speaking, I don't even exist anymore, and his mother is another person entirely. Of course, you all know the truth. Right?” The four nodded. Fluttershy was oddly quiet though. “It wasn't... the most glorious of circumstances, but I was actually there for that one...” The man contorted his face for a moment, then he frowned. “Oh, that's right... Oh, gods, you were so young. No wonder you were afraid of him for so long.” The girl shook her head. “It's fine now... We're fine now. He's a better person now than he was six years ago...” The two grew silent and stared off into different directions. “So uh... are y'all gonna play?” The man shook him self out of a memory.

“Oh, right, my apologies. Remembering how that actually happened was a bit worse that I originally thought. When you girls grow up and have kids of your own, keep this in mind; if he has violent tendencies, do not disregard his feeling when he tries to talk to you. Anyways, I'm playing Pendulum Magicians with you Apple. I draw!” For whatever reason, the simple act of drawing a card felt like a completely different person was playing this deck than the last. “Ha ha! It's been a long time since I broke this one out. Unlike my own deck which has tons of rather depressing memories attached to it, this one was from a man famous for his desire to entertain with his dueling. I actually saw him perform when I was a child, if that gives you any idea of how old the deck really is. It's sad that I can't remember his name because he was such a fantastic performer. I'm literally the only living person who ever saw him...” The man looked away again, drifting on into memories of a much happier time than the last. He started to get a big grin on his face before he started.

“My dear ladies, I will try my best to give you what this man used to give the Crystal Empire. To begin setting the stage, I'll set my pendulum scales with the scale 3 Xaingke Magician and the scale 8 Xaingsheng Magician!” On either side of the field, two 'magicians' dressed in colorful robes appeared. One carried a giant shield, or two sided sword of some kind, and the other a bow. “Next up is our star performers! With my pendulum scales, I can summon monsters with levels from 4 to 7! Center stage, Performpal Whip Snake, Performpal Silver claw, and the star of this performance, Odd-eyes Pendulum Dragon!” Similar to Applejack's turn, A large crystal in the sky began to oscillate faster and faster until a blue ring formed and shot out several different colored lights. On the field were some more... colorful creatures. A purple snake wearing a top hat and a spotted bow tie. A pale blueish gray wolf wearing the same bow tie, with a collar and a chain lead. And finally, a dragon that was very much what it's name implied. One red eye, one green eye with colored gems all around it's body.

“As you might have noticed, I now control two level four monsters! As such, there's only one place to go with that! I construct the overlay network to perform an Xyz summon!” The bright sky darkened and a vortex of violet white and gold appeared. Something in Sombra's tone seemed to change though... “Fangs of pitch black darkness, rise up against foolish oppression! Descend now, rank 4, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!” The vortex turned into dark thunderheads, much like the sky above, and lightning began circulating in them. A black dragon hovered down to the ground from it with glowing yellow eyes. Blacks, violets, and silver, the dragon was a completely different tone from everything else. And for that matter, so was Sombra. The fun air felt like it was becoming more malicious.

“Now then, our dragon might look scary now, but just wait! The real thriller is yet to come! I activate the effect of Xaingsheng Magician! By targeting both of my monsters, I can change the rank of Xyz dragon to match Pendulum dragon's level. And then, I will use the effect of Xaingke Magician! I can target one Xyz monster and turn it's rank into a level!” Is he about to...? oh sweet divinity, that's exactly what he's doing! I've never even heard of an Xyz summon on top of another! Are there other ways to do this? The Mage girl thought as she watched the spectacular summon. “Now we have two level 7 monsters! Once more, I construct the overlay network!” Another vortex, but this one made of purely black white and violet lights. “Dragon of dual colored eyes, eradicate all enemies who oppose you with your scales of wrath! Rise up, rank 7, Odd-eyes Rebellion Dragon!” A violent bolt of lightning struck into the center of the vortex, causing the ground to shake. From inside, a larger dragon that looked like it was half machine arose. It's body was pitch black with glowing lines coming off it's more mechanical parts. It had orbs of violet light coming from each of it's tuning fork like wing pieces, and eyes of red and green. At the moment, Sombra had an unusual smile. Rather than the happier, entertainer look he had going earlier, now he looked much, much, more like he was about to take joy in killing something.

“When Rebellion is summoned by using an Xyz monster as his material, he gains these effects; I get to destroy all level seven or lower monsters you control and then inflict 1000 damage to you for each one. On top of that, I can also attack up to three times with this monster this turn!” Applejack blinked once and then grabbed her hat. “Whoa, nelly! Ah cain't just have that happen! Geez, at least it's only got three thousand. A little more and this woulda been over fer me. Ah activate my trap card, Army Crest of Promotion! When a monster I control would be destroyed, Ah can send one level 5 or lower monster to the extra deck face up, and special summon a monster that's 1 ta 4 levels higher from my deck. With that said, Defender's gonna book it, and Paladin's gonna take his place!” A bright red shield appeared in front of the armored knight, and the shield began to orbit him. A sound started playing that sounded like something was rising, and then a bright gold light shot from inside the shield. In place of the armor knight was now a red headed paladin atop his brown horse. “Quick witted, I like it. However, you still have a level 4 and 7 out that rebellion can destroy!” The black dragon began to charge it's orbs of energy. They began to connect to one another with more lightning, then, each one fired a beam at her two lower level monsters. Both were obliterated easily, and the Blonde made a jump for her knight's horse. The shock waves passed, and the girl was protected by her paladin's shield.

“Whew. That was a close one.” The man on the other side nodded. “You did well. There wasn't a single opponent that survived that when the old performer dueled back in the day. Since your paladin just so happens to be out of reach for me, I'll set one and pass the turn.” The girl used her paladin to help her off the horse and stood back where she started. The tailor just looked at her shocked. “Since when have you been able to do that? I don't remember you having that card when we were younger.” The blonde shrugged. “Ah don't know. A while? Ah got that card not too long ago actually. Just up an out of the blue, one of the normal monsters just kinda, turned into it.” She pressed a button and the trap popped out of her disk. She held it up for Rarity to see. “Ah actually used ta use her. She's still in the picture, but now she's a trap. Do ya remember?” The tailor inspected the card. Inside it's image was a woman, or really, a young blonde girl in bright orange armor holding up the red shield.

“Oh, that's right! What was her name... Scout wasn't it?” The Terran nodded. “Yeah, that's the one. Ah always thought it was weird that she was level 1. Ah couldn't pendulum summon her, and she didn't have a pendulum effect or a high or low enough scale ta do anything, So Ah didn't quite get her purpose. As it turns out, Ah guess Ah just hadn't grown up enough yet.” She said smiling while looking at the card. She put it back where it belonged. “Ah well. I suppose that's true. You still haven't changed much in my opinion, but I'll leave it at that for now. I'm under siege now correct?” The man nodded, and phased in and out of a shade. Now standing in front of rarity, he drew a card.

“So uh... I apologize in advance for this, because there is literally nothing you can do to stop me here. You're number two marshmallow.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief and Rarity gasped. “Moi? What are you about to do?” The man popped his fingers. “Allow me to show you. Before I begin though, a little history about the original owner of this deck. He lived in a land that was highly oppressed by it's rulers and sought out freedom for the people of the slums of that segregated city. At first glance, those that saw his deck simply shook their heads and said 'what a mess'. But after time went by and the child grew, he became a force to be reckoned with. His cards would always be there when he needed them, and he was truly 'in tune' with his soul. It's said that he never lost a single game in his entire life, and through the ages, there still isn't anything to disprove it either. However, on the fated day of bringing equality to his home, he was murdered by a rival. The city was redominated by the ruling family, and in it's place, the Empire now stands.” The girls looked to one another, all with confusion on their faces.

“So wait, why don't I know about this? This is Tenshen you're talking about right?” The pale Angel said to her father. “It never came up. By obligation, we're not legally allowed to say anything about the Empire other than it's a place that exists due to our trading laws with them. As long as we keep our heads down, we can still receive and send goods over there without getting into a fight. It's not the greatest situation in the world, but it means that we can still help the innocents in the land that that filthy oligarchy runs. Believe you me, Celly and I have argued about our stance on Tenshen more than once, but she's not willing to sacrifice the safety of our people over those of another land. Of course, that isn't to say she doesn't let me go off and help where we can under a different name, but we can't do anything against them officially. Because in the event that we do, we could risk an attack on our shores and neither of the Queens are willing to do that.” The group was silent.

“That's terrible! So like, even the most powerful people in the world are stopped by hostages?” Said the pink headed Terran after the silence had passed. The man nodded. “Having a conscience is difficult. At one point in my life, I didn't, so I know how they operate. But now that I'm the one with people to protect, maneuvering becomes more difficult. The word quagmire doesn't exist for no reason. But enough of this. To begin, I activate the effect of Unknown Synchron! As long as I control no monsters, I can special summon it from my hand, but only once per duel.” On his field spawned a little one eyed mechanical ball with two little antennae coming out of it just above it's eye. It looked like it was made of spare parts. Not yet... wait for something bigger... I don't know what he's got coming, but whatever it is, I can stop it once it gets here... The tailor thought to herself. “Next, I activate the effect of Quickdraw synchron! By discarding one monster from my hand, I can special summon him. I'll discard level eater.” He slid a card into his grave slot, and then on his field spawned another little machine. This one was in the shape of a cowboy holding a revolver pistol with metal parts that made it look like he was wearing boots. Together, they didn't look like they amounted to much.

“Now I activate the effect of level eater in my grave! By lowering the level of my level 5 Quickdraw to 4, I can special summon it.” Another monster on the field now, this one was just a ladybug with an orange shell and a yellow star on it's center. “Next, I tune my level 1 Unknown Synchron and my level 1 level eater! Clustering wishes open the new speed's horizon! Become the path it's light shines upon! The power of hope, Formula Synchron!” A green ring and a single star were shot with light, and in it cam another robot. This one looked like a race car mixed with a child sized robot, much like the cowboy next to it. The power of hope? Maybe I should have stopped it right at the beginning... I can't use this card to stop a synchro summon... The tailor thought.

“Next, I'll normal summon Junk Synchron from my hand!” He placed a card on the now white lined duel disk, and on his field appeared yet another robot. He was bright orange and covered in dents. It looked like he had a beat up old motorcycle motor on his back. “When Junk is summoned this way, I can target a level 2 or lower monster in my graveyard and special summon it! Come back, level eater!” The bug returned, and just like that, Sombra had summoned four monsters. “Then, the effect of Dopple warrior happens! When a monster is special summoned from my graveyard, I can special summon it from my hand!”

Now! This is your last chance! If he gets this out, It's likely the last two levels he needs to make twelve! If you can't stop him here, he's going to summon something way beyond your league! “Not so fast! I activate the effect of Prix de la Guerre! By tributing my Bishop, I can negate the effect of a card that would summon a monster and destroy it!” The bishop tapped her book, and the pages began to fly everywhere. She disappeared, and a futuristic mounted cannon began to charge behind where she stood. “I thought you had something like that, but this is exactly why I said you couldn't have prepared for this. I activate the effect of my last card in hand, Yuki Usagi. By discarding this card, I can negate the activation and effects of a spell or trap card, then destroy it.” He sent a card away, and a girl with white hair, red eyes and little red horns poking out of her head appeared. She threw a piece of paper at the cannon that then lit with a blue flame. A rabbit like creature that was some kind of ghost went from the paper, then into the cannon. The cannon exploded, in bright little sparkles that rained down like snow.

“Oh no. Oh dear, I have no idea what you're about to do, but now I don't have anything to stop you from doing it...” The man nodded. “That's correct. Now then, I summon Dopple Warrior!” A man showed up on the field next. He wore a black overcoat, boots, and a hat that his his face. He carried a gun that looked to be an automatic rifle, and had a shadow that looked eerily alive. Now, he had five monsters on the field. “First, I tune my level 3 Junk Synchron and my level 1 Level Eater! Come forth, Armory Arm!” Three rings and one star, another light and then... a giant... arm. Literally, a large mechanical hand. He summoned a hand.

“A... hand? What in the world?” The man smiled. “Don't you worry, we've still got two more summons to perform. Next, I tune the level 4 Quickdraw and the level 2 Dopple Warrior! Clustering forces become the lance that pierces the heavens! Become the hope that believes in hope, Drill Warrior, pierce through the heavens!” Four rings, two stars, one light, one Warrior. It was a dark orange, and looked like a mech with two drills coming out of it's shoulders, and one Giant drill on it's right hand. “Now pay close attention as this part is important. When Dopple is used as a synchro material, I get to special summon two dopple tokens at level 1 with 400 attack each.” The shadow of the Dopple warrior rose in two different spots on the field, resembling the shades all around holding Sombra's duel disks. “The time has come. The very last duel that this man saw, the one in which one of the most powerful cards in history ever came out of a soul arrived on this earth! I tune, The level 2 Formula Synchron, the level 4 Armory Arm, and the level 6 Drill warrior! When stars come together to become one, new bonds shine upon the future! Become the path that lights the way! Over Limit Accel Synchro, Shooting Quasar Dragon!”mete

Up until now, the cards Sombra had been using felt... empty. It's not unusual for someone using machine created cards to have soulless monsters. But this one was starting to exude pressure. When the tuner shattered into rings, rather than green they were gold. The stars were brighter, and the lights illuminating from them dispelled the darkness in the sky. The air felt electrified, and the whole area was covered in golden light. A blinding light shot through the sky, and the sound of a dragon's cry could be heard from miles away. When sight returned, a glittering white dragon was floating above Sombra's field. And it was huge. The cloudy sky created by the field spell from Sombra's duel with Fluttershy was broken by the dragon. The entire sky flowed around it, as if it broke the very atmosphere. “By the Gods... What in the world...?” The man was breathing heavily and clutching his chest. A small stream of blood was running down his nose. “Father!” Said the pale Angel, noticing the blood.

“Calm down, I'm fine. What you're seeing is the real deal. When the Tenshenese hero died, this card was all that remained of him. Even though he was killed, his soul could not be broken. Immortalized in this card is that man's desire to bring freedom and justice to his people. However, wielding this thing is damn near impossible. That man had an uncontrollable spirit, and even now, It basically breaks down my body for every second I use the card. This, like your elements, is one of those anomalies, but far more powerful on it's own. He's also more stringent to summon. At minimum, it requires 3 synchro monsters, and one of those must also be a tuner.” A loud cracking sound came from Sombra's body, and then the man grabbed at his wrist.

“Shit! Okay, enough of that, I need to end this. I activate the effect of level eater one more time, summoning it from the grave.” The lady bug returned and took a place next to the tokens. “Very well, I see that there is no point to continuing this. I surrender.” The girl removed her deck from her disk, and her field disappeared. The man followed suit with his good arm, and the dragon let out one last cry. It shot through the sky until it disappeared. “Oh thank gods.” The man said as his magic started to work on his now bleeding coat sleeve. “Gods damn it. She is going to yell at me when I get home... You did fine Marshmallow. I doubt you'll ever run into anything that strong again in your life, provided you don't challenge an angry wife of mine. Had you your Harmonian, I doubt you'd have even let me summon it, even with Yuki Usagi. I have high expectations for you. You show promise.” He had finished repairing his arm and then moved to shake the girl's hand.

“If you say so... That dragon was... more than I could have ever imagined possible. I wouldn't even know how to begin to reach a power like that.” The girl instinctively reached for the right hand of the black clad Mage, but found another left waiting for her instead. “I'm sure you don't get to shake with your dominant hand very often, but as I said, I see promise in you, and I respect that.” She looked into the green eyes of the old demon king and smiled to herself as a thought ran through her head. “Now I see it. Thank you, Mr. Black, for the very eye opening duel.” She shook his hand, and while it was different, it felt better than using her right like the rest of the world insisted. For once, it felt like respect. “You get some rest as well. Tomorrow is another physical training day, and the last one before we have to get the six of you ready to stop the end of the world as we know it.” The tailor's smile immediately disappeared right before she was warped back home. The remaining four girls seemed to feel about the same way as Rarity before she left.

“So... Everyone really is gonna die if we mess this up, aren't they?” Said a more somber pink haired Terran. The man frowned and shook his head. “As of now, I don't think anyone is going to die. Two of you are strong enough to fend off myself and a legend from the past, and that's alone without the help of your Harmonians. I believe that by this time Monday, This country won't be plunged into chaos, and we'll have six new heroes to thank for it.” The man said with confidence in his voice. “You mean it?” The girl asked, looking up at him like he was her own father. The man smiled and nodded. “I do. But, I still haven't seen what you can do. So now's your chance to show me.” He walked into a spot where his shade stood wearing a yellow lined duel disk and seemed to fade into it, with the white lined disk disappearing in favor of the yellow one. He took a single card, and as he expected, the girl activated a trap.

“Now that you've officially started, I can get going. I activate Fireworks Zodiac Inu!” Four colors of fire works shot out of her open trap cards and formed the shape of a dog. After it came together, it was almost literally just a shiba, save for it's bright unnatural coloring and the small throwing knife in it's mouth. Some how, it looked furry, while at the same time like it was made of paper mache. “So, this is my dog. Sometimes I call him Koromaru. He's level 7, Fire, beast type with 2000 attack and 2500 defense. He doesn't like to blow up. He also doesn't like it when his friends blow up. So, he stops that. While he's face up, he can't be destroyed by battle up to twice per turn. At the same time, my other Zodiac traps can't be destroyed by battle at all. And next up is, Fireworks Zodiac Rat!” A new trap opened, and an even smaller creature took shape from it. The colors wrapped around an animal that was a quarter the size of the dog with a long scraggly tail. It stood on it's hind legs and twitched it's little head every which way at every noise that was made.

“I call this one Twitchy! Level 7, Fire, beast type, 2000 in both stats. When Twitchy shows up, he deals 1000 damage to my opponent!” The rat turned it's bright red orbs of eyes at Sombra and started running. The colors on it's body split, and four shades of the rat spawned on either side. The shades then started jumping and ramming themselves at him, popping in little explosions until the real rat headbutted Sombra's forehead, then scurried back to it's place. The man rubbed at the now red spot, wincing as he did so. “It may have been light, but it sure wasn't weak. Geez.” The red clad girl made a bow. “That's all at the moment. Please, go ahead. It's still your turn.” The pink haired Terran smiled her crazy smile at him. “Alright then... First off, I summon Gagaga Magician!” What came next was a man wearing black heavy robes with leather plates and chains flying all around him. He had white hair, and a ridiculous pointy hat with orange accents on everything he wore. “Holy edge lord batman!” Said the girl, acting as if she were in shock.

“Well, from what we know about this guy, he was a young man during his final days, and his deeds were done before he even made it to teenager. It's possible that the entire deck was based on his heroes, and maybe this guy was one of them. All the same, he didn't last long. Supposedly the kid either died or went missing after he set out to find his parents. Of course, that's all that we really know. His cards are a bit of a mystery too. These monsters in his extra deck all have the name 'Number' to accompany them, along with some designated number from 1 to 100. he was referenced as the savior of Anya in their relics, the King of wishes, they called him, but who he was has been completely forgotten or erased from history. Nothing remains of his legend but sparse details and engraved versions of his cards found deep within the Anyanese mountains. In total, there have been about 82 discovered, with some of them containing numbers up to 99. each and every one is different, some of them resembling others, some explicitly working together. These cards and that kid remain in the dark for the most part, but somehow, they seem to fit together. In any case, these are what he used to call upon the Numbers, so this is how I'm going to represent him today. Next, I activate the effect of Gagaga Child in my hand. While I control another Gagaga card, I can special summon him from my hand.”

In a sense, this kid could have been either a son or brother of the magician due to how obscured the guy's age was. He was about half the size of the magician, had a similar pointy hat, a similar colored jacket, but wore a regular school uniform otherwise. He carried what looked like an ice pop in his left hand. “When the kid is summoned, he gains a level equal to that of another Gagaga monster I control, or in this case, 4. Now then, I construct the overlay network with my two monsters! Come forth, Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope!” A dark cloud of swirling gold and violet lights started to spin as the two monsters flew inside it. The vortex shot the ground with bolts of lightning until finally, The Emperor descended. The shape of a man wearing nothing but white and gold armor above what could only be described as a body suit. If there was anything to compare it to, the Gundam comics that spike liked to read would be what came to mind. A giant white robot that would typically save the world while being piloted by some teenager with mental stability issues. Wings, big swords, even a green gem in the center of it's chest almost pointed to that. Apparently, Pinkie had the same thought.

“Nice Gundam ya got there? Will this one transform into a plane and yell out 'hallelujah'?” Whatever reference she was making, no one else seemed to know as to what it was. The man pulled his lips together as if he'd eaten something sour. “I'm... just gonna ignore that. Anyways, your monsters pose a problem because, at the moment, I can't get around them with just Hope.” The pyro followed his sentence, catching every word he said. “But you can do something to change that can't you?” The man nodded.

“Correct. This boy, the original owner of these cards, was said to be the very first person to ever 'rank up' an Xyz monster. Hope here was his ace in the hole, and when things got rough, hope would respond to his soul and evolve accordingly. So, let start with this, I activate Xyz Change tactics!” The man placed a card in his disk and behind hope spawned a dark portal with orbs of light floating out from it. “As you might be wondering, This card allows me to pay 500 life points to draw an additional card every time I Xyz summon a Hope card.” The girl squinted her eyes. “So... provided this is going where I think this is going, you're going to upgrade this guy, not just once, but a few times, correct?” The man nodded again. “I knew you were quick. The first change, Chaos Xyz Change! Chaos Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope Ray!” The Emperor seemed to suck in all the wings and flare about his armor, turning into what looked like a sword and dipping back into the swirling black gold and violet vortex, sending light all around it's entrance as it did. After fully disappearing, a loud bell like sound went off, and then a similar shape started to rise from the vortex. The black and white object started to unfold itself into a new incarnation of hope. On it's back was a giant sword, almost as tall as hope himself, and most of the white armor had been given black accents or changed to black completely. The mask that covered his robotic face was gone now, revealing something more human. The numbers that were on it's right shoulder piece were now glowing bright red.

“And now I'll pay the toll to draw a card.” The man swiped at his disk and smiled at the card in his hand in a similar fashion to the way he did with Applejack's duel. This did not bode well with Pinkie, but she decided to wait a little longer before responding to anything. Remembering what her sister's rank up deck was like told her that rank up magic cards were dangerous on their own. “Now for part two! I activate the spell card, Rank Up Magic Numeron Force! By targeting one Xyz monster I control, I can Xyz summon a 'C Number' monster from my extra deck with one rank higher and the same type as the target! Grasp Victory in the shining future! Clustered feelings connected by our hearts will change the world! Chaos Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope Ray Victory!” In a ball of blinding teal blue light, Hope began to transform into it's next stage. He grew larger, more armored, regaining his mostly white color, and adding red into his color scheme. His face looked more like a transformer than a Gundam now, all the points on his body growing to sharper lengths, looking more and more like an emperor about to take place atop his throne.

“Oh, no.” Pinkie quietly whispered as her screen showed her trap cards now all in the spell and trap zones. “So you noticed that something else was up did you? The second effect of Numeron force goes as such; If there are any other face up cards on the field after my Xyz monster is summoned, all those other card's effects are negated, turning your trap monsters into simple traps. Along side this, when victory attacks, you can't activate spells and traps until after the damage step. Finally, if Victory was summoned by ranking up a Number 39 monster, I can use the following effect: Once per turn, if this card attacks a monster, I can detach one Xyz material to increase this card's attack points by the attack of the targeted monster.” In short, bad news for pinkie if she didn't have a way to counter it.

“Wow. I... I don't like that card. At all. Okay so, I activate the effect of Fireworks Emergency Overlay! By targeting two face up Zodiac trap cards that summon themselves with the same level, I can perform an Xyz summon!” Her two trap cards were released from their negated prisons and formed a much more colorful version of the usual overlay vortex. “The Eastern Dragon roars in the blue sky! Guardian of the cardinal direction maintains balance among four great beasts! Come forth, Fireworks Zodiac Azulong of the East!” The red blue green and yellow vortex shot a tornado down in all of it's bright hues. A dragon, more like a snake than what most think of descended from the vortex. It's body was long and waving, covered in pale blue fur, striped with white at every section that had appendages. It had arms and wings all along it's body, each with bright white feathers along it's bones and the four colors at every primary and secondary. It's face carried four eyes of bright red, and the mouth of some kind of hairy beast.

“I see... Unexpected, but then again, I'm not ever sure just what you might do. So, tell me what it does. Surely this is some kind of counter to Victory?” The girl nodded. “You probably know this, but there are some cards that shut down entire decks like mine. I run solely off traps, and all it takes to stop me on most occasions is a well placed Jinzo or Royal Decree on the first turn. When I was younger, before I got my Terran's mark, I had to get creative to fight this kind of stuff, but in the end, there really wasn't much I could do to fight it with what I had available. But I wasn't about to break my theme and give up. When the day finally came and that sonic boom started the fire works early, My mark realized itself and this is what came to me. Azulong is just one of the many counters to an anti trap strategy. Just like your spell nuked the effects on the field, Azulong does the same. Every face up card has it's effect negated other than Azulong. Along side that, Once per turn, I can detach one material to permanently reduce one monster's attack by the attack of Azulong. Finally, after said monster is Xyz summoned, I get to search my deck for a Fireworks Component card, and set it in my spell and trap zone as if it had been set last turn. You better have something planned, otherwise, this game is mine, Sombra.” The man lowered his eyes, and smiled.

“Defensive are we? You must have been a fun kid to be around before whatever happened to make you who you are. But you are right. This doesn't look good for me. But what is a rank up deck without being able to rank up again right? I discard the Rank up magic Astral Force in my hand to meet the summon conditions of a monster in my Extra deck! Joining together as one united star, the will of the gods pierces through the sky like thunder! Appear now, Number 99! Dragon King of Wishes, Hope Dragoon!” The current version of Hope transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot through the cloudy sky, much like the last dragon Sombra summoned. When the sound of thunder rang out, another bolt shot back to the ground releasing the new creature Hope had evolved into. In it's place was a new Dragon with golden scales. It wore a modified version of Hope's armor with green orbs all along it's spines at either side of it's gigantic body. Much like the last dragon, this one covered most of the sky and broke the clouds with it's very being.

“Sweet divinity, Again!? Where do you even get this crap!” The man crossed his arms. “Didn't I already tell you? Anya. In the mountains. Now then, I set two cards and move to the battle phase! Hope Dragoon attacks Azulong!” The girl rubbed her eyes to confirm what she was seeing, and then quickly tapped a card on her disk. “I activate the effect of Fireworks Component Copper! If I control a Fireworks Xyz monster, I can activate this card! When I do, It attaches itself to an Xyz monster I control and gives it the following effect! This card negate it's own destruction by detaching one if it's material!” The dragoon had finished Charging whatever breath it was about to unleash on Azulong, and Azulong had crushed one of it's floating red orbs in one of it's many claws. A bright golden beam of light shot out of Hope's mouth, hitting a shield of blue surrounding Azulong. This did not however protect Pinkie from being blasted a good ten or so feet from where she stood. She protected herself from the fall, only to scrape at her arms where her gloves did not protect. She got up, breathing heavily and bracing herself against Azulong's tail.

“And you're sure... this one is just a copy right? Was that just... you?” She said in between pants. “Possibly. This card is sometimes said to alter the left eye of the user, so even the copy may have traces of the original's power, but as far as I can tell, that was just me.” He pulled a mirror out of his pocket to check his eyes. Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary, he slid it back into his pocket. As he did, Pinkie could have sworn she saw his eye flash bright gold for a second. “Well, I didn't think you'd lose, that's for sure. And you've proved that much. So here's the final form of Hope's effect. Once per turn, I can target a number monster in my graveyard and special summon it in face up defense with it's effects negated. With this comes the ability to negate any card effect that targets Hope dragoon by detaching an Xyz material and then destroy said card. If you can't see where that's going, then, I wouldn't know how you knew I was going to do anything in this game. But, that's the end of my turn with you. Any other traps you'd like to spring on me?” He said, either trying to provoke the red clad Terran, or just trying to see if he could bait her into doing something prematurely.

“I don't have anything else for right now, but I do have something to say. Why in the hell do all these guys have ridiculous cards that end up in some crazy dragon? With everybody but Rainbow, you've managed to pull out some crazy dragon that has either a jank ass effect or 4000 attack points, which isn't a thing that normal people ever accomplish! If we're being honest here, The one up against Applejack can literally nuke the field, and it's the most tame of the three of them! They keep getting bigger! I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled another one on you with even more attack! What the hell!” The girl exclaimed as she turned to Twilight, clearly frustrated with the situation she was in. Sombra began to scratch at the back of his neck. “Are you alright Pinkie? You didn't act at all like this when we dueled...” Said Twilight to her left.

“No, I'm not alright! This is just like... It's just like! Ugh, forget it. Move along.” The girl said crossing her arms, more frustrated than before. She was fuming for sure, and for whatever reason, her hair seemed to start to straighten itself. “Okay... I'm just going to let you simmer on that...” Sombra faded in and out of spots, swapping duel disks along the way, now in front of Twilight. “Alright Black. What do you have for me this time?” The indigo haired girl said as Sombra drew his card for turn. “As much as I hate to admit it, almost exactly what Pinkie said. But this should be a good test for you. If you can get out of this one, I'll have to clap for you.” The smug on Twilight's face immediately melted. But he's playing masked heroes again... what dragon is even associated with heroes? There shouldn't be one! She thought.

“Now, you're probably thinking that there isn't a dragon associated with heroes...” Of course, this is Black she's dealing with. He's always been able to basically read her mind anyways. “And you're right, there isn't. All Hero monsters are in fact warriors. But, this card is a little bit of a step away from the whole Hero title, as it doesn't bear it. To begin, I activate the effect of E – Emergency Call, adding elemental Hero Neos to my hand.” Then it came to her. “No... there's no way... I thought this was masked heroes! Why do you have that in there!?” She said slowly realizing the gravity of Pinkie's prediction coming down upon her. “Many hours of testing have revealed that the deck has no real out to being overpowered other than this and Koga, and if Koga has his effect negated, or can't target, then it's just about done. And besides, having a dragon completes the theme of what I've got going against the six of you.” Twilight reached for her temples awaiting the inevitable use of Fusion to summon one of the few cards she couldn't deal with.

“Without further ado, I activate the effect of Fusion. By sending elemental hero Neos and the Rainbow Dragon in my hand to the grave, I fusion summon! Dragon of the seven colored light, Hero of possibility! Join together In harmonious union to create the greatest hero of all! Appear, Rainbow Neos!” A bright Arc shot through the sky again, this time, forming a full rainbow halo above the field. The clouds cleared as a giant man with wings of gold and white feathers descended. He wore shining white armor with crystals of indigo and gold in his armor and wings. “Not again!” The girl exclaimed, quickly covering her mouth not meaning to say anything. Much like with the last two monsters, the remaining girls were starstruck by the new monster. “Good gods, Pinkie was right. They just keep getting' bigger!” Applejack said as she removed her hat to get a better look at the giant Angel. “Y-you don't happen to have one of these yourself, do you dad?” The pale angel said, managing to take her eyes off the giant before her. The man simply bent over and winked. The girl swallowed.

“See? What did I tell you. These were all losing battles to begin with. Gods!” Pinkie said as she laid down and sprawled herself out, still looking at the new giant monster. She raised one hand to the half cloudy sky that was broken by the two monsters in different places. “They're so big, they affect the clouds of the friggen field spell! What am I even looking at? Sure, the four of us managed to survive A turn, but who says any of us have a shot at beating this crap! And this is the kinda crap that we're supposed to fight against to save the world? Unbelievable!” The red clad Terran let her hand fall back to the cold gray ground of the graveyard. “Woah there, what's even gotten into you? Aren't you the inheritor of Optimism? Where did all this pessimism come from?” The girl sat up and crossed her arms and legs.

“Your monsters, and memories of my family, that's where. Every last one of them had a hard counter to me, nothing was ever 'fun' when I tried to play this stupid game that some how controls the entire world. And finally it was fun, when I figured out what I wanted to be in my life. And now? It feels just as helpless as it did then. I can't fight this! I don't know that anything in my deck could deal with that even if I had Optimism! And that's just this deck, not to mention the rainbow giant over there! I know what he does. I don't know that anyone in elementary school doesn't know what one of the most powerful cards to come out of Fauna does. Removes my grave, blows my back row? Nothing. I have nothing against that. Could I deal with the combo? Maybe. I could probably stop that before it got too far. What ever that crazy armor guy was? I don't know, probably? That didn't look like it would have been too hard to deal with, I guess Rainbow just sucks.” Sombra stomped his foot with a sound as loud as thunder, effectively shutting Pinkie up.

“HEY! You shut your mouth.” He walked forward, leaving his shade in front of Twilight holding the duel, and heading directly to the girl on the ground. Now towering over her, her picked her up by her collar. “Hey! What are you-” He jerked her to eye level. “At no point are you ever to mock another duelist. You can sit here and whine like the pathetic little shit you're pretending to be, but don't you ever make fun of some one else behind their backs! I know you're better than this, and I know that Rainbow did what she could, but she never gave up and started crying about it! I've beaten sense into my kids before, and I will do it again, Pinkimena Diane Pie! I don't care what happened to you before, but that gives you absolutely no reason to act like this in the face of adversity. You are the heir of Optimism, and if you don't start acting like it in the next ten minutes, I will make you wish you did. Got it?” Fear began to take hold of the red clad Terran as she stared into the slowly darkening green eyes of the adult. Hints of red started to appear in his irises. The girl nodded.

“Y-yes sir...” The man lowered her to the ground and returned to his spot, assimilating himself with the shade. “That was your warning. If anyone else wants to complain, then keep it in your head. I don't want to hear it. I know all of your decks almost as well as the ones I'm piloting. Every last one of you has the ability to get around these with what you have now, so don't you dare give up. Do I have a yes sir!?” In unison, the now frightened girls stood attention and said “Yes sir!” Sombra lowered his piercing gaze and nodded. “Good. Now then. As you all should know, Rainbow Neos can return monsters, spells and traps, and cards in the graveyard to the deck by paying a cost of a monster I control, a spell or trap I control, or sending the top card of my deck to the grave, once per turn. Twilight, I will be returning your grave back to your deck.” Sombra's eyes were much colder now than they had been. He took the top card of his deck and placed it in the grave slot, then the giant Angel began to flap his wings. The vicious winds weren't strong enough to take her off her feet, but they were close to knocking her over. The giant stopped, and her deck shuffled itself. So much for getting Fusion back, or using ram at all.

“Next, I summon Stratos.” Sombra placed a card on his matterwave calmly, a sign that Twilight knew all too well he was angry. A brooding Black was not a fun one to be around. A man clad in green white armor in a dark blue skintight suit took a place next to the giant. He had airplane wings with rotors in them on his back and a visor that covered his face. “His effect then activates. I get to add a Hero monster from my deck to my hand. I'll add elemental Hero Bubble man.” Stratos whipped up a wind that circled Sombra, pulling a card out of his deck and flying it to his hand. “Next, I activate Mask change. By sending Stratos to my graveyard, I special summon a Masked Hero monster with the same attribute but a higher level. Warrior of Kazald, Champion of the winds! Bring forth the power of the tornado, Masked Hero Kamikaze!”

Several blacked out masks started to fly around Stratos as he himself became blacked out. His armor swapped and one of the masks connected with his head. A bright green light shot out from him, and in his place was a new hero. He was clad in lime green, wearing new armor that flowed into his body suit with a cape and more form fitting mask. He now reminded Twilight of Iron man more than anything. “Now I set one card, and special summon Bubble man from my hand using his effect.” Another silent placement, and another hero entered the field. More tech-ed out than the others, this light blue bubble themed warrior sat in defense mode.

“Finally, I activate the card I just set, Mask Charge, Adding the Mask change I just used, and the Elemental Hero Blazeman that was sent to the grave via Rainbow Neos.” Ugh, of all the things he could have milled, why did it have to be that? Twilight thought. Great. If I can't clear his field next turn, then he's gonna get contrast out, and that will be the end of that. Negate any card that comes on the field during any turn each turn. As if Neos wasn't bad enough... At least I can save Gravity for now. “Now then, I'm sure you have something in you hand to keep this from ending here. So, Neos attacks Gravity.” The Mage simply slid a card in her grave. “I activate Shield of the Star. My cards can't be destroyed until the end of the turn.” The man rubbed his chin.

“Damn, maybe I should have just pitched Stratos to rid you of Gravity. Well done kid. That doesn't stop you from taking 1300 damage though.” The Giant began to charge it's wings, and at the same time, Twilight began to prepare a barrier for herself. Rainbow Neos lifted in the air and shot down on Gravity with immense force, nearly knocking everyone but Sombra and Twilight off balance. Twilight's barrier held well against the incoming force as opposed to most of the duels she'd had lately, which was nice for a change. Neos flew back to his spot towering over most of the field, save for the Number 99 to it's left which was slightly taller. The low hanging clouds had started to recover themselves, blocking the sky once more. Sombra looked over the four remaining Duelists and nodded to himself.

“Well, you're the ones that made it to turn 3. Barring my ridiculous hand against Rarity, you all prepared yourselves to be at this point. Now, you all have about this turn to win. Trust in yourselves and believe you can pull out of the situation you're in. You never know what card you have that can turn a Duel around. With that said,” The edges of the man faded into the dark red color of his shade and the edges of Sombra started to appear before Fluttershy with his red and black disk on.

“I have different expectations for you however... Our duel is personal. Like your elder brothers and sister before you, this is your evaluation test! Surpass your father with your own power!” The lightning in the clouds started to circulate more frequently now, jumping from cloud to cloud. Both of the ghostly figures on his field turned to face Fluttershy, raising an empty hand over their outstretched sword arms to point at her, like some kind of sign of respect. From underneath her coat, the girl took a smaller weapon, likely a dagger that she kept on hand at all times, and raised her arms in like. The two monsters, seeming satisfied with that returned to their neutral positions. Fluttershy put her dagger away and raised her hand to her disk. “So that's what you're after... If this is finally the day, then I will rise to your challenge! Today is the day I defeat you, Father!” She took hold of the top card on her disk and it began to burn bright blue with her soul art. “I... Draw!”

Turn 3: Water, Earth, Fire, Divine! (13.3.3)

A bright blue arc followed the card in the pale angel's hand. When she turned to look at it, she was more confused than anything. What in the world? Why would I have this in here? I don't have any ritual monsters... Fluttershy thought to herself.

“What's wrong?” Said her father on the other side of the field.

“I... I don't know. I just drew but... I don't remember having this card in my deck. This happened a few days ago too...” She said, still frowning and reading the 'new' card. Sombra did a double take.

“You don't... Wait. This happened before? When? Why?” The girl looked at him, still confused.

“Didn't he tell you? It was while I was dueling Zeph. I was in a bad spot, and he wasn't doing too hot either. He was bleeding with a hole in his leg, and I... I just felt this overwhelming urge to try and save him. I went to draw, and what I drew was a card that I remembered having, just not the same as it was before. I was confused then because it was a tuner, meant specifically to work with Monarcha. If she hadn't pointed out that I also had an extra deck card, I don't think I would have even known. Of course, I don't remember all too well that duel either. I think this card was something else before too, but now it's some kind of ritual spell...” The father raised his hand to his chin. Outside, it looked like his gears were turning at maximum speed. A minute or so passed, and finally he clapped his hands.

“Okay... I think I know what's going on. At the moment, I simply suggest that you find a way to draw a card or activate the new one. Who knows? Maybe you've unlocked some more of that hidden potential of yours...” Sombra looked rather happy with himself and continued to play with his beard.

“Okay? I'll see what I can do then... I guess...” She add the new card to the rest of them and looked at what she'd amassed. Wait a minute... there's no way... Can I really just...? She looked back to the field, then to her hand again, then to the field. “I think... I think I can do this...” Sombra nodded. “Good. Now show me what you can do.” Taking the invitation, the girl began to play her cards.

“Well... I guess I was going to do this anyways, so... I'll normal summon Pendragon first.” Placing the card on her matterwave, the skinny pale blue dragon wearing a king's crown appeared. “Then, by his effect, I can reveal Perceagle in my hand to normal summon again.” The dark blue, armored eagle returned to the field. “Next, I can use the effect of Merlowl in my hand to special summon it.” Another animal out of mist, her owl in sage's robes stood next to the dragon. “As you know, Merlowl inflicts damage equal to it's attack times the number of spirit monsters I control, In this case, 1500.” The owl started to gather mist in a ball above it's head from her other two monsters.

“That's right. But, trust you me, this isn't the first time I've had to deal with something like this. So, I activate the effect of Butler of the Fallen Kings in my graveyard! I can negate the effect of a card that would inflict effect damage to special summon it!” The ghostly butler jumped from under the ground and through the ball of mist above the owl, destroying it in the process. He then took a stand next to the two kings, opposite from the black creature.

“Alright... I can't say I didn't expect you to have a counter... would have been nice though. Okay... down to this... here I go! I activate the effect of Sword of the Round Hero! By tributing monsters I control, I can ritual summon a Spirit monster from my deck whose level is equal to that of the monsters I tribute!” Fluttershy placed the spell in it's slot, and then suddenly, her whole body was burning with her bright blue aura. She started to move as if possessed by some force. Much like Sombra, her ritual was nearly identical to his. A golden sword looking eerily similar to the silver sword in the tomb shot from the sky and into her hand. She flipped the sword three times in her hand, then held it straight out, unfolding her wings at the same time.

“Animals of the kingdom, creatures of the sky, and swimmers of the sea, bow before the one true heroine! Leader of the round, take command and inscribe your legend into the holy sword! Appear, Excondor, Heroine of the round!” Fluttershy raised her golden sword above her head, and her owl and dragon were absorbed by it as mist. She then tossed the sword into the air. From the sky, a human sized bird took hold of the weapon in it's beak and landed on the field. Unlike her other monsters, this bird was roughly the same size as Fluttershy herself. It's feathers ranged from various shades of gold and white with a familiar color pattern on the primaries of it's wings. Purple, blue, green, pink, and white... It wore a more modern looking armor as well, with a large golden helm with a violet gem in it's center and strings of plates along the top of it's wings. Sombra went wide eyed when he saw the bird finally land. He fell to his knees and started to bust out laughing. Fluttershy blinked a few times and her aura faded. “W-what's so funny?” The man was able to talk in between breaths.

“Oh, sweet divinity... She's a bird... This is great! I gotta take a picture of this thing...” He managed to pull himself off the ground and slid his fingers around on his disk. A click sound went off, and then the messaging system sound went off.

“What did you just do? Why did you take a picture?” The father waved the questions away. “Don't worry about it. Just keep going, I'll tell you later.” He said, still giggling every now and again. “Okay... When Excondor is... oh. Oh, now I get it... Uh... when... this card, is ritual summoned, I get to draw a card.” The bird shot a golden feather at the pale Angel, who caught it much like Sombra did his swords. The feather turned into a card. “What the? Why did I...? Oh my, this is getting weird...” The girl shook her head once and looked back at the card in her hand. Without removing her confused look, she simply set the card in her spell and trap zone. “Um, now I activate the effect of… my monster. Once per turn, she can gain the attack of all monsters in my graveyard, or in this case, 2100.” The condor's attack points raised to 4400, causing the golden sword to glow with Fluttershy's blue aura. “Alright Father, if this attack goes through, this duel is finished!” The girl said, slowly gaining her blue aura again.

“Is it really? I still have a trap card you know! If you believe you have the power, then do it! Hit me with every thing you got!” Sombra was smiling, and for the first time today, not in a creepy way. “Due to Perceagle's effect, spirit monsters I control can attack directly! Perceagle attacks!” The little blue bird flew out from under the condor's wing and shot between the two fallen kings, directly for Sombra. Talons outstretched with bronze blades attached to each one, the eagle cut Sombra's arm and flew back to it's spot by the condor.

“What is this? That was nothing! You just summoned an avian version of your own mother out of sheer will power, and this is all you have to show for it!? You're more powerful than this! Show me what you're made of!” If the rest of the group had yet to figure out what Fluttershy and Sombra concluded about her new monster, they knew now.

“Fine then! With the holy blade of the sun, pierce you enemies! Excondor, attack directly!” Now glowing as fiercely as she did when she first summoned the bird, The air around her was charged with her energy. The Condor flew toward the sky, breaking the clouds in it's wake. It hovered in front of the sun, creating a dark spot. Then, it dove. Like a missile, it was headed directly toward Sombra. The man suddenly looked concerned after he tapped his disk and nothing happened. His hand started to glow with his magic, and then a dark black Ax with red stains all over it popped out of nowhere. The condor came down and swung it's golden sword at Sombra with enough might to shake the ground. He blocked the sword with his Ax, and then it sent him flying back, effectively ending the duel. The matterwave stopped, the sky cleared, the ground returned to sandstone, and the tombs evaporated, but Sombra was still on his back.

“Father!” Fluttershy rushed across the sandstone to the body that was at least thirty feet away. When she reached to touch him, he grabbed her arm. He pulled himself up and hugged her.

“Now that's more like it. You've done me proud.” The two let go and started back to the other duel fields.

“Well that was one hell of a hit. You alright old man?” The blonde said.

“I can't tell if the concern outweighs the sheer rudeness of calling me an old man, however true that my be. To answer your question, yes. And if I wasn't, I would be in about twenty minutes.” He popped his neck and turned back to Fluttershy. “So what exactly is the full effect of that thing? I had a trap for it, but nothing happened.” The girl stared blankly at him for a moment.

“Oh... uh... let me see.” She took her deck out of her disk and flipped through the cards until she ran across the only blue one.

“Um... oh, that effect is actually the first thing listed. 'during the battle phase, this card is unaffected by your opponent's cards.' to be honest, I was just kinda hoping you were bluffing when I went for it...” She said as she smiled weakly. Sombra rubbed his knuckles in her hair.

“You little dip. I've told you a thousand times to read everything you come across. If I'd of known, I would have just stopped the eagle. But, I'll give you this one. Even if you didn't 'play fair' with me.” The girl nodded.

“Oh, I'm sorry... but really, I didn't even know it could do most of what it does until just now. There wasn't a whole lot of thought involved at the end there, and the last couple of minutes are really hazy for me right now. Is that normal?” Sombra patted her on the back.

“Well, I my experience, I've only seen this happen a few times. Your mother would be the better one to talk to about this. But, based on what I know, sometimes people just rise to the challenge. Not everyone grows to come to terms with themselves, so this isn't the most common occurrence in the world. But those who do just... evolve with their soul. Take your older brother for example. When he had to give up the Harmonians to join the Angels, he was pretty messed up for a while. He complained about feeling empty for the longest time, and was in such a habit to combine his own powers with Andromeda and Ephraim, he lost sight of what he could do by himself. However, since we know that he's the kind of person to beat his head against a wall until he breaks it, that's just about what he did. He kept trying, and quite frankly, getting his ass kicked, until one day he came to terms with the fact the he might never be able to work with the Harmonians again. And on that day, he managed to overcome his older brother for the first time with a new monster.” All the heads turned.

“Zeph beat Apollo? But I thought Apollo had that crazy synchro monster?” Said the Mage.

“Yeah, believe me, it was a shock to everyone, but no one more than him. To sum up how he did it, rank up magics can get out of hand. But I'm sure you'll eventually see that on your own.” I'll do what? Why would I see it? Twilight thought. “In any case, he didn't even remember that he had the card until he drew into it one day when he was playing against his older sister. So, as far as I'm concerned, yea that's normal.” Fluttershy sighed.

“Oh goodness, I forgot he had that too. I'm just glad he didn't use it during our duel the other day. Just thinking about what might have come from him ranking up the hunter makes me shiver.” Sombra shook his head.

“That's probably a good thing. I'll send you home and then move on with these last three duels. Have your brother start making something to eat for dinner. We'll talk more after the rest of us get back.”

The girl said, “Yes sir.” And was warped away by dark red magic. Sombra turned to face Applejack.

“Your turn. Let's see it.” Sombra Moved to absorb the shade that was holding his field, and took a performer's bow. Applejack returned in like.

“Alright, let's do this! Ah draw!” Much like Fluttershy before her, Applejack started to glow with her own bright orange flame. When she looked at her card, she smiled like a child with the toy they've waited for so long to have.

“Ha ha ha! Ah hope ya've got one hell of a trap card on ya, because Ah'm about to pull out my best trick!” Sombra tilted his head.

“Is that so? Alright then, let's see it.” Something about the phrase he used was unsettling to Twilight, as if that was the signal for something.

“The first step in my grand plan is to call back all those knights ya destroyed earlier. Swing Pendulum swing! Just like my family before me, bring the army back ta life! Continental Knights, Warrior Princess and Cleric!” Bright green and red lights flew from the sky and on to the field, leaving the princess and her cleric in their spots. “Now Ah activate the effect of Pegasus Rider in the pendulum zone! Ah target Paladin, giving him the attacks of the other monsters Ah control! With that said, y'all have one monster on the field, and one card ta protect it! Paladin attacks Rebellion Dragon!” Sombra flashed a quick grin and activated his trap.

“Well, I figured you'd go straight for me! But alas, it's too bad you didn't protect anything! I activate my trap card, Storming Mirror force! When my opponent declares an attack, I can return all face up attack monsters you control to your hand!” A giant wind started to circle Sombra obscuring his figure.

“Nope, that's just not good enough of a trap there, sir. Ah activate the effect of The Army Breaks Through from my hand! The effects of spells and traps are negated until the end phase! And because your monster doesn't have a level, Myrmidon's effect doesn't apply! Slay the dragon, Paladin!” The Paladin's horse started running in place somehow, kicking up dirt as it did. Then, as if it had wheels, it picked up speed like a drag car and shot toward the dragon. Paladin raised his lance and his horse jumped. The blade pierced the dragon's chest, destroying it in the process.

“Round 2, Paladin attacks again!” As if the Paladin knew it was going in for Sombra, he reared his horse around until he was charging directly at Sombra, who had pulled out his ax again.

“Come on, don't you know that axes beat lances!” He said, as he knocked the lance away and pushed the Paladin off course. “Didn't Ah tell you hit rate doesn't apply here? One more time! Finish him Paladin!” The horse kept charging behind Sombra, then looped around for it's third attack. Sombra's ax disappeared in dark red smoke, and a black shield with some kind of red crest replaced it. The man took the lance in full force with his shield, but simply couldn't withstand it. He was knocked to the side, and then the field started to fade away. Applejack nodded her head, then made her way to help Sombra up.

She outstretched her hand and said, “Well. Looks like Ah was up to it then, wasn't Ah?” Sombra took the hand and nodded. “It sure does.” He grunted and used her to pull himself up. He swept some of the sand off of his coat, then checked it over to see if anything had been ripped.

“That was some kind of spell. I don't think there are many people who can deal with that short of overpowering you. And with a 3200 attack monster, that just isn't easy. You know, you resonated with your soul right there at the end.” Applejack tilted her head.

“You sure? That didn't really feel the same as when we were doing that thing earlier.” Pinkie chimed in.

“Nah, you were all glow-y and stuff. Right at the beginning of your turn too.” Applejack scratched at her head.

“Really? But Ah didn't feel any different than normal. And whatever that pressure was when Ah was using that soul art thing earlier wasn't around.” Sombra tapped his duel disk.

“That would be because of this. Even the first ones had the ability to reduce the stress on a person during a duel. Most people have never tried to duel without one, so the idea that the disk is anything but a playing board was in people's minds for a good long time. However, those who break their limiters, or the part of the device that controls this function, will very much feel the effects of a duel afterward. Isn't that right Twilight?” Twilight sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, it's true. I've broken more of those than I can count on my fingers. Eventually I got used to it, but the first few times were hell on earth. Your whole body feels like it's bruised, and simply touching something causes pain. On top of that, it feels like your muscles are all worthless and spent. It isn't fun.” Sombra nodded.

“On Friday, I'll have all of you attempt to break the limiters on your new disks, barring Twilight. With any luck, none of you will be successful and we won't need emergency disk replacements in anticipation for Monday night. Then, I'll have you attempt to summon your Harmonians without disks to show you how it feels to try and play without one.” The two Terrans frowned.

“But wait. How does that work? Don't we need like, regular magic to do that?” Pinkie asked.

“No, not if you know how to use your soul art. What you don't know is that standard magic is nearly incapable of doing anything of that nature at all. Twilight would be the only one who knows this, but among published scholarly magic, there is no such thing as a 'summoning' spell. If one could use standard magic to simply create an object, then they would likely die in the process due to it removing all the electrical potential from your body. You'd stop your own heart.” Twilight then remembered what had happened the time she summoned Andromeda.

“That... explains a lot actually.” He turned to her.

“Why? Did try to summon something?” Sombra asked.

“Well, the first time I summoned Andromeda, Spike said I stopped breathing. Of course, I wouldn't know because I did black out for a good few minutes.” Sombra put his hand to his chin.

“Stopped breathing eh? How long did Andy last afterward?” Twilight shrugged.

“Twelve hours maybe? He used his own magic a few times too, so that might have taken some of his time off.” Sombra nodded.

“I see... You must have done something akin to dual casting. For our Terrans here, dual casting is when a Mage uses more than one type of magic at one time. Back when it was still in practice, One would use Eldritch magic alongside standard magic to keep the chaotic nature of Eldritch magic in check. In your case, that must have been trying to turn on your own soul art forcibly with your standard magic. And that, would very much have killed you were you a lesser Mage.” Twilight frowned.

“Oh. I see.” Applejack yawned.

“Well, this has been real interestin' y'all, but Ah've got other things Ah need ta do if we're done today.” Sombra nodded again.

“Very well. Meet us at the library again tomorrow for the next day of training. And uh... get some flowers for your parents.” He put something shiny in Applejack's hand, then warped her away before she could protest. Sombra made his way through his next shade, swapped his disks and then faced Pinkie. “Done whining?” He asked. Pinkie rolled her head around.

“Maybe. Depends on how the next turn goes. Who knows?” She said with as much sarcasm as possible.

“You know, you really remind me of my own daughter. Moody and dripping in apathy one minute, and off the walls the next. Of course, she's grown a lot since then, so maybe you will too. Take your turn.” Pinkie shrugged.

“You kidding me? I'm not touching that thing. My older sister does dragons like that. And we don't have the healthiest relationship in the world either. I'll set one and pass.” Sombra raised an eyebrow.

“Oh really? Just setting a trap huh? Not even gonna change position of your monster? Pinkie, if I had half a mind to believe you're smarter than you act, I'd say you've got a plan.” Return sarcasm from the black corner. Pinkie smiled and closed one eye.

“Geez old man, maybe I do? Either that or I'm feeding you bullshit. But who knows? I'll never tell. Performers never reveal their secrets, now do they?” Sombra let out a small grin.

“I'm excited to see if you live up to your own hype. Very well then. Twilight, you're up.” Sombra swapped places with the last remaining shade and donned his violet striped disk. Twilight was distraught, to say the least. Her deck runs on it's grave, and at the moment, she had a grand total of one card on the field, and one card banished. Save for Shield, there was nothing in her grave. It would legitimately take a miracle at this point to save her from the looming Giant Angel. Well, Twilight thought, this is going to be my last stand. If I go out, then damn it, I'll go out like a burning ball of fire hurtling through the atmosphere!

“It's gonna take a Miracle to save me now, and even if that doesn't happen, then I'll go out just like an explosion!” Like the other two, Twilight's body started to glow. The violet mist was shooting off sparks of golden light everywhere, giving her the appearance of a plasma cutter. Sombra didn't say anything, but he raised an eyebrow. He was beginning to feel even more excited. But then he noticed something off. It felt like there was a new presence here, but not a malevolent one. Thinking on his better judgment, he decided to record the rest of this duel.

“I Draw!” And then something in Twilight's demeanor changed. The air around her was beginning to exude pressure, and her aura only shined brighter. Her irises changed from violet to bright gold, and she was simply radiating energy. “A call has been given, and an answer has been received! I summon Polaris, the Divine Star Descendant!” A new monster from Twilight entered the field, but not one like anything else she had. The monster was a humanoid, but like her shooting star monsters, it was made of gold light and had a single black orb in the center of it's chest. The creature was androgynous enough to appear genderless with two pixie like black eyes with golden rings for irises inside them. Looking at the card through his disk, Sombra could see that this monster was in fact Divine as she claimed, which was more than unusual. Not only that, but it's text was written in runes, which Sombra knew Twilight could not read.

“When Polaris is summoned, I may draw for every spell and trap on the field.” Twilight's monster raised a fingertip, producing a black orb that somehow made the area around it brighter. The orb floated toward Twilight, ever still brightening the area around it, then turning into a card. “While I control a divine monster, this card may be special summoned! Rigel, the Divine Star Descendant!” Another androgynous body of light, this time in violet, with a dark orb at it's left foot. It's eyes, just like the first, but with violet rings instead. “When Rigel is summoned, I may Draw a card!” Another draw? Just like that? What's next? Exodia pieces? Sombra thought. “Fear not, while this will be the last turn, there will be no win determined by such crude means.” Now she can readmy thoughts?

“Huh. Well isn't that interesting. So tell me, who exactly are you?” Twilight nodded.

“I believe that... you already know me. Now, I tune! The level 3 Polaris, and the level 9 Star Gravity! The light of my world will be shared through the hearts of men! The true father beings judgment to the wicked and salvation to all! Come forth, Upsilon, the Divine Galaxy Magician!” In a similar golden light to what he'd seen with those related to Celestia before, Sombra was stupefied to see Twilight, or at least, her body, preform a synchro summon. After being blinded for the entirety of the summon, Sombra finally was able to see the new monster. It was Andromeda, but wearing every piece of the original regalia Celestia used to have. His robes were covered in bright white armor with golden runes engraved along the edges of every piece, radiating light. His face had been revealed, showing a scar that ran down from his left eye to the bottom of his chin. Just like Twilight, his usually dark violet irises had turned to gold. However, even if this card held the appearance of Andromeda, it was still missing his soul. Even the Gradius staff that he carried was missing it's crystal topper.

“Yes, this is not he who holds my son's power. But, it will be. One day, she will rise to this level, but today is not that day. You are merely being shown a preview of what is to come. As the one you love is one of mine, so is she. Now then. When Upsilon is summoned, the cards on my opponent's field are destroyed.” Twilight and Andromeda raised their empty hands together, and a large wave of golden light reduced everything on Sombra's to dust. “It would matter not, had you a response, as the effects of Upsilon are absolute. When a monster is destroyed, Upsilon gains the attack of said monster, or monsters, until the end of the turn.” Andromeda raised his staff to the sky, and started to form a glittering ball of light above it. His attack points rose from 4000 to 12000.

“Finally, Upsilon attacks directly.” Andromeda fired his small ball of light at Sombra, who wholly expected to be vaporized by it. However, his expectations were not met. Instead, the ball slowly collided with him, and then enveloped him. It was... such a warm, wonderful feeling. For that single moment in time all the pain Sombra had been feeling had melted away. A long standing one, that could never be healed evaporated into thin air, as if it never happened. Sombra recalled all the happiest moments of his life. His proposal, the birth of his first son, watching his children graduate. When he opened his eyes, the influenced glowing and sparking Twilight had come to stand next to him.

“This game was never meant to be a tool of war as it has been mired to become. I task you with this, Sombra Black. Teach this girl that fact. And one day, she may cure the world.” As soon as she finished her sentence, the sparks and mist died down, and Twilight's eyes returned to normal. She blinked four times before she realized that she had moved almost Twenty feet from where she was standing. Sombra was too stunned for words. “So... uh... did I black out or something?”

Turn 4: Relationships (13.3.4)

When Sombra had finally gathered his thoughts about the course of what in the actual hell had just happened, he realized his jaw had been dropped the whole time. He looked at Twilight, and then... he noticed Pinkie. He remembered what Twilight herself had said after staring at her blankly for thirty seconds.

“Uh... yes. Yes you did. But, uh, Pinkie and I need to finish our game, so... go ahead and wait at the library.” Once again, Sombra sent another teenager home before they could protest. When Twilight was gone, Sombra found himself alone with Pinkie, and a giant can of worms.

“So... um...” Sombra shook his head and merged with his last shade, taking the gold lined disk on.

“Sigh. Have you ever had someone find out about a secret that you'd been keeping for eight years?” Pinkie pulled her lips in and raised her nose.

“I'm like, fifteen, if you haven't noticed, so that would be a no...” Pinkie put her hands behind her head. “But even so, I've seen a whole lot of shit ever since I went on the road. I believe you said it yourself earlier today,

'You're almost a carbon copy. Physically and emotionally. You need extra work.'

I don't mean to act like I'm older than I actually am, but I've probably seen a worse dark side of the world than she has, which you could tell just by looking at me. With that said, I still don't have a clue as to what that was.” Sombra bit his lip. The voice mimicking was weird enough, but she wasn't wrong either.

“I guess there's no point hiding it from you. But I need a promise from you before I say anything. You tell no one about this. Even if it would mean your death, you will bite your tong, understand?” Sombra and Pinkie stared directly at each other, neither budging an inch. Pinkie eventually bowed her head.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. You have my word.” An odd saying at best, but her eyes were more than enough confirmation she wasn't lying. As young as she was, she had the eyes of a veteran. A dangerous girl. Sombra felt a sigh of relief knowing that she was on his side.

“Very well then. Nothing I say leaves this pocket dimension, alright?” Pinkie rolled her eyes.

“I'm a performer, not a snitch. I already gave you my word. Now, are you going to tell me, or do I need to go above you?” Sombra narrowed his eyes.

“You're not quite in a position to make threats here, Ms. Pie.” Pinkie smiled.

“Am I? Come now, I know who's on top in your relationship. If I can't get what I want out of you, I can certainly get it out of her. Because, like I've said, I've seen a lot Mr. Black. Quite a lot.”Holy hell, who is this girl? At the moment, he really did feel pinned in a corner.A carbon copy of Optimism might have been an understatement. She plays almost dirtier than he does.

“Hmm. I don't like that. You're too damn much like Opty. You'll make a scary person in the future, if not already, that's for sure. Very well. Listen close because I'll only say this once. There were only two to begin with. A great war broke out back before out current calendar even started, just after the three original humans were lost to the grip of death.” Pinkie nodded.

“Oh, I know all about that. It's all Opty ever likes to talk about. I really never knew how far the

'dregs of humanity,'

as he likes to call it, could be brought down to the abyss before I met him. But to sum up what you're saying, you're talking about how the war wiped out most of the earth's humans and everything was basically restarted due to Umbra's purge, and then Harmony's subsequent purge, right?” Sombra scratched at his head. Opty's voice coming from her is even more disturbing than I thought. How much does she actually know? Maybe it would be better if I had her tell me what she knows...

“Right on the mark. So, in the interest of not wasting my breath, tell me what you know about the Great Nightfall, and I'll fill in what you need.” Pinkie shrugged and crossed her arms.

“Makes sense I guess. The Nightfall occurred somewhere around the 970th year. The world was enveloped in a darkness that nothing could stop, even the combined might of the elements failed on multiple occasions due to their might together just not being enough to stop Umbra, who was an alien of some kind bent on killing the gods and all their creations after she merged with whatever stone she arrived to this planet on.

After the final defenses were failing, the original continent was almost over taken until Andromeda had finally made contact with Divinity. Upon making a contract, Andromeda and the gang were given the power of the six elemental gods in an attempt to stop Umbra. However, this backfired when the Elements were just barely strong enough to imprison her and ended up imprisoning the seven of them together.

Several years passed and eventually, they were discovered by a descendant of Umbra who had become a very kind and great Mage. Some time passed again after said Mage supposedly died until the Queens united the country and started excavating the mountain top that they rested on. After clearing the ice and snow, the Canterlot castle was built to protect the people from Umbra's influence as she still remained there in an ever weakening prison just like the rest of the elements. Without realizing it, the Queens then relocated all seven prisoners into cards to be used in the event that the country needed to be protected again.

When Umbra's influence started to affect Luna, she was drawn to her card, and eventually trapped in it herself, letting Umbra run free in Luna's body. Once again, the elements were taken up to try and free Luna from Umbra, which only resulted in cataclysmic failure due to Celestia not being strong enough to wield all six of them at once. Specifically, I remember Opty saying that she and Monarcha were not on good terms for whatever reason, and he blames her for that one.” Sombra shook his head.

“Yeah, Celly says that too. In her sleep. A lot. That was probably the most emotionally damaging event that she's ever been through. Well, maybe a few years back might top it, but I haven't spent fifty years hearing about it when I can't sleep. Keep going. If you know that all, then you probably know more.” Pinkie furrowed her brow.

“Let's see. Years pass after Celestia is severed with her ties to the elemental gods by blood. The elements then start to recharge until Amethyst foresees a literal apocalyptic event within the next twenty years. One of the daughter's oldest sons is eight at this time, and the elements realize that they are connected to him. Through careful planning, the elements reach out to this boy and start to speak with Celestia again through him. Around that time, They learn of Luna's return, and the new Divine human who

'hails from another plane'

as Opty called it. Planning and three more years pass, and all six elements have chosen bearers for their power who would serve to share their destiny. Until the time came to send them out, the most compatible of the six were given to the children in the royal family who had divine right to use the elements, or the eldest sons of each daughter, save for Monarcha, who was never very compatible with any of the children.

Around the time I turned eight, Opty and I were connected to the point that he could watch what was happening in my life, and was not pleased with it. He then possessed the most compatible of the daughter's sons and had that son send him my way in a simple envelope. After that, I spent the next seven years on the road with Opty. So here we are now.” Sombra started to scratch his chin.

“And that explains what happened to Jupiter when he disappeared for a week when he was nineteen. But did Optimism never tell you about the contract?” Pinkie shook her head.

“Nope. I've asked him about the contract before, but he always did his roundabout skirting until he managed to change the subject. What is it?” Sombra took a deep breath.

“So, the contract is the deal with Divinity that Andromeda made to ensure that Humanity would survive no matter what. Two females will be chosen every two thousand years that the earth revolves around the sun. These two women were to act as envoys for Divinity's power, each one receiving an amount of his unlimited power, or really all the power that even a modified human body could hold, thus the transformation into Ascended. They become ageless after twenty-five, save for Celestia who was already twenty-eight when she received her power, making them sentinels for the world to keep it on track.

Celestia and Luna Ascended in the year 1020. However, the time at which the queens were chosen came long before that. Almost twenty years before that. One child who was chosen has already Ascended. To keep her safe, she was relocated to the far north and now resides there with supervision. The other one though? We keep a very close eye on her.” Pinkie's eye widened.

“You don't mean!?” Sombra nodded. “So... that presence I felt... that was really?” Sombra nodded again.

“You have literally been a witness to the presence of a god, and the High god at that. However, this isn't the first time I've seen a god possess someone.” Pinkie started rubbing at her temples.

“Really? Twilight? Of all the women on this earth, the unstable, just short of being as crazy as I am, and bearer of Yamirix, was also chosen to be a daughter? What in the hell are you going to do?” Sombra shook his finger at her.

“Oh, ho, ho, no. Not me, us. If Divinity wanted to tell me that while I was alone, he would have done so.” Pinkie sat down in a cross-legged position.

“Sigh. I can't argue with that. So why me? I've got an even more messed up background and family life than she does.” Sombra lowered his head and raised an eyebrow.

“For as insightful as you are, you really just don't get who you are, do you?” Pinkie squinted at him.

“Who I am? What do you mean?” Sombra smiled.

“Hmm. Now I think I get why he showed up with you here. Let's continue our duel. I'll tell you flat out if you can't take a step back and figure it out yourself.” Pinkie let a puff of air out of her mouth, rolled on her back, and jumped up to her feet, bouncing like a boxer.

“Whatever old man.” She started to smile. “I hope you've got something fun for me to see, because, as AJ put it,

'Ah've got one hell of a trap!'” Sombra scratched at the back of his head.

“The fact that you can mimic voices almost down to the tone is pretty unsettling Pink. But... Let's see if I can't teach you something today! I Draw!” Sombra was beginning to feel his own soul art slip out. Man, I haven't been this excited for a duel in a long time. It's almost too bad that I'm not using my deck... He thought. With glowing blood red hand, he drew his card, knowing what it was as soon as he touched it.

“You know, a funny thing about soul art; it works regardless of what deck you're playing with. If you think and will it hard enough, you'll draw just what you're looking for! I activate my spell card, Xyz Energy! I can remove an Xyz material from a monster I control to target and destroy one monster you control!” Pinkie smiled and wagged her finger.

“Ah ah ah! Silly spell cards won't do anything for you here! Trap open, Fireworks Display Case! If my opponent would target a monster I control with a spell card effect, I can negate that effect and draw a card!” Alright... here goes! That last trap I set was a bluff, so if this isn't for the ages, I'm done here! Pinkie thought. She put everything she had into her draw, and swiped a card off the top of her deck. When she looked at her hand, she saw the faint glow of pink mist circling around it.

“That's not the face of 'I drew what I needed.' Well, whatever, I didn't care whether or not I managed to blow your monster off the floor. All I wanted was number 39 in the grave.” Pinkie's attention was quickly drawn away from the card in her hand.

“You what!?” Sombra smiled.

“I activate the effect of Number 99, Hope Dragoon! I can target a Number monster in my graveyard and special summon it in defense position! Arise, Aspiring Emperor Hope!” The giant gold dragon formed a black vortex with it's left hand. The white armored gold hope returned to the field again, now in defense position.

“Oh, right, you said that earlier. Damn it.” Pinkie grumbled.

“You know what comes next right?” Sombra shouted enthusiastically.

“Another Xyz change?” Pinkie sarcastically guessed.

“That's right! For where there is darkness, there must also be light! Come forth, Shining Number 39, Aspiring Emperor Hope One!” Rather than dipping itself back in the black vortex, this time Hope covered himself in gold light, much like the last summon that was performed. His body became more human, looking much less robotic and much more heavenly. He had ten golden pendants that acted like wings and a single sword on his back as opposed to all the other versions of Hope, who gained even more swords as they grew.

“Oh boy, even more gold and blinding light. What does this one do?” Sombra shook his head.

“Unimportant.” Pinkie was even more confused now.

“What? Why?” And then she understood.

“Darkening skies threaten to consume the last glimmer of hope! Break through the black with a flash of light, Shining Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope the Lightning!” Black clouds appeared just above the golden Emperor, and with deafening thunder, a bolt of light struck his raised sword. In the aftermath of the brightness, the New version of Hope had evolved again, in a more traditional fashion. Bigger bulkier and more swords, taking back his old robotic appearance, but keeping all the gold and white that came with it.

“Oh, for the love of gods, will you just kill me already? Rank up this, rank up that. Xyz here, Xyz there, more light, more number 39! I've seen enough flashy summons for one day, thank you very much.” Sombra shrugged.

“Well, I did have another one for you, but that one was just going to be for show, since Ray V can only target and destroy, which you can negate. However, you can't negate this! Battle! The Lightning attacks Azulong!” Pinkie quickly moved to activate her trap.

“Ah! No you don't! Two effects go off when Lightning attacks! One, you can't activate cards or effects until the end of the damage step, and two, I detach all of his Xyz material to double his attack for this one blow!” Pinkie leaned her head back.

“Oh, for fu-” The robotic Humanoid had reached and removed both of his swords before Pinkie could finish. The deafening sound of thunder covered the field as Hope slashed into the protected blue dragon. Pinkie, taking most of the attack at full force, was sent flying again. She was quicker to recover this time, shooting flames from her feet to soften the landing.

“Geez, I can't even finish whining? Whatever, Azulong loses one more material to keep from blowing up.” She said, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Well, that's fine and dandy, but you've only got 1000 left, and I just happen to have 4000 attack points on the field. Number 99, end this duel!” Pinkie smiled her crazy grin.

“Yep, that's right! This duel is over! I activate the effect of my trap card, Fireworks for the Ages! When my opponent declares an attack while I control a fireworks card, I get to discard this and blow up all their monsters! And after that happens, you take damage equal to their attack! Here comes the PARTY CANNON!” In front of Pinkie spawned a blue, red, green, and yellow barreled cannon that had bright pink wheels with Pinkie's Terran's mark on them. The blast that Hope Dragoon had fired missed Azulong completely and was absorbed by the cannon. Now charged with energy, the entire cannon looked red hot and ready to burst. Pinkie pulled a string at the back of the barrel, and out came an even larger shot.

“Unexpected? Nah. But do I have an answer to this? No.” Sombra quickly threw up a barrier and protected himself from the blast of his own doing. He was surprised at the intensity of the fire, as it's pressure started to from cracks on even his barrier. But that's as far as it went. The blast dissipated, the monsters on the field faded, and just like that, Pinkie had overcome her challenge.

“Woohoo! Yeah! Take that! Piss off Limestone, this one is mine!” Pinkie was shouting at the top of her lungs, ecstatic with her win, and Sombra was digging himself out of the ground. While the blast didn't break his barrier, there was enough force in it to push him into the sand stone. It was simply a testament to how many times he'd nearly and actually been vaporized in a duel that his legs could withstand fighting off that much force. After he managed to free himself, he approached the occasionally fire spewing teenager.

“So? Did you figure it out?” Pinkie just about stopped dead in her tracks, like the high from winning just suddenly ran out.

“Maybe? Probably not. I mean, if you hadn't tried to use a spell card, I wouldn't have won at all. You're looking over a wall that I'm just not tall enough for. I will admit, however, that I did end up pulling anime bullshit right there at the end. I really just had another Zodiac monster set, and that one can't change positions, so I was just about screwed if I didn't draw that exact card, which I have one of.” She said, twirling a piece of her cotton candy like hair.

“I'll give you one more hint. Name one thing, just one thing that you've never seen Optimism do. And I'm not talking about something way out there, I mean an every day, normal action. Based on what you told me, I imagine Opty was actually at your side for most of those years, so you would know him better than anyone outside of a card. Maybe even better than the other elements themselves.” Pinkie stood in silence thinking. Eventually, there were even little flares that would pop and burst out of her ears every now and again.

How much control over her power does she actually have, I wonder? It happens when she intends to use it, but she also seems to just use her flame randomly.

“Uhh... he never takes off his mask?”

“Too general. Think body language.”

“He constantly has his middle finger sticking out whenever he gets the chance!”

“This isn't a rude action. Opty being a dick has nothing to do with this.”

“He... likes to pull a major Armstrong and flex with his clothes off while producing pink sparklies!”

“I said not off the wall, are you even trying? Think about his face.”

“Oh. He never frowns.” She said after snapping her fingers.

“On the money. Why do you think that is? He's a sarcastic fuck, cynical to the bone, loves the darkest and dirtiest of humor you can find, laughs at pain, and enjoys destroying innocence. Knowing all that, you'd think a frown would be his default facial expression.” Pinkie's brow furrowed again.

“That... sounds right. So, why doesn't he?” She asked.

“Optimism. Hope, joy, laughter. It's what he embodies. If he ever told you the stories of what he used to do on his own, he went from place to place, spreading laughter and happiness to the world, with his own twisted style. He lived for it. He still does. He always finds a way to make people smile, only showing his true cynicism around those he cares about. He simultaneously loves and hates people as a whole. As much as he pretends to laugh at it, he can't stand to see people despair, and violently opposes cruelty. Opty is a man of contradictions, but if one thing is constant, he can always make someone smile.

He told me once, that he decided to never frown one day, eons ago. He believes that even in the bleakest of situations, a smile can still brighten the world. When he wants to be a creep, his smile backfires on it self a little bit, but even when he himself is sad, he always keeps that smile on.

'Never let hope die, and always keep your greatest weapon against despair on your face. Even a single smile can bring light to an abyss.'” Sombra scratched at his neck.

“Sorry about that, your impressions are on a whole other level compared to mine. But the point is, you are his incarnation. Based on what my punk told me, you managed to get that blue headed little prick to smile. During a duel, no less. No ordinary person could ever accomplish that. Tell me again, what exactly caused you to get your Terran's mark?” Pinkie scrunched her face.

“It was a fireworks show. Late in the day, a rainbow colored explosion set off a whole bunch of them, right when I was just about ready to give up on life...” She paused for a moment, looking for words to say. “It... it was like, just what I needed to see to keep going. For once, I was just, so filled with happiness, that I didn't care what would happen next... that one sight was worth all the smiles I could ever make. I didn't even notice I had gotten my mark until I went inside, on that cold November day.” For a moment, it looked like Pinkie was lost in memories, until Sombra brought her back to reality.

“'A sight that filled you with so much joy, you thought you might burst. Such wonder in such a simple display of color.'

Opty said he received his when he discovered an aurora in the night sky exploring the north with his parents, in a similar situation to yourself, no less. Do you understand now? He left a torch, and you're the only one who was deemed qualified to pick it up for him. Even though she's a little crazy, and still needs to grow, one day, that mean little Mage could fix this place one of these days.

But you? You've already got the one thing you need to set your destiny in motion. You wear it proudly on your face, and even when things are grim, you can always use it to your advantage. A tool, a weapon, a shield, a sword, a smile. It might be heavy to hold sometimes, but you're the one he believes can do it.” Pinkie sat down and stared wide eyed off into the distance.

“Geez, lay it on thick why don't ya. What are you, my father? Nah, you'd be a better dad than that friggen stone. I swear, the guy like, doesn't have emotions. Mom is even worse, she's all anger. Bah,” Pinkie jumped up off the ground, letting a smirk creep up her face. “Screw them. I don't need them to be me, and do what Opty has been trying to shape me to over all these years. Heh. I might even grow up enough to forgive them one of these days.” She stuck her hand out for a shake and gave Sombra her widest grin. “I gotta hand it to ya. I was being a real bitch earlier, and you didn't give up on me. So... thanks. For getting me out of my mood, and over that wall I guess.” Sombra grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a hug.

“It's about damn time, you little nut.” He said, rubbing his knuckles in her hair. He released her, and she simply smiled and looked to the ground.

“Now go stand on the spot I've marked with my magic. I'm going to release the dimension field before we get out of here, and you don't want to be out of place when the world comes back into focus.” Pinkie did as she was told, and then Sombra started to glow with his magic. The dark red circle she'd seen earlier had flipped backwards underneath his feet, and then there was a sudden vision of all the world pulling inwards. Pinkie was dazed and out of focus for a good few minutes before she managed to shake it off. When she finally did, the day was just as hot as they had left it, but the sun was just about gone from the horizon. “Well... that was weird.” Sombra rolled his shoulder until it popped. “Do it as many times as I have, and you get used to it. I took an entire city out of time once you know. Skipped almost two thousand years. Being frantic, powerful, and pushed to the brink can make one do some crazy things. You'll be around her more often than I will, so keep an eye out for Twilight, will ya?” He said looking her in the eyes and putting a hand on her shoulder. Pinkie turned red faced and pushed him away. “Uh, sure. Yeah, I'll do that. W-we should go back!” Sombra frowned. “Oh... Kay...?” Sombra snapped his fingers, and the two appeared on top of the table in the library. The rest of the girls were doing one thing or other in the main room of the library. Twilight was, as expected, reading. Rarity was scrolling through something on her duel disk and writing notes on the little virtual keyboard just behind it. Rainbow and Fluttershy were playing a game. The blue Angel was attempting to touch the shoulder of the yellow one, but making no progress. Fluttershy was wearing her metal boots too, which made it all the more sad that Rainbow had yet to accomplish her goal. Finally, Applejack was wearing some kind of monocle and tampering with her new duel disk, looking at the internals and taking pictures with her old one. Sombra noticed and crouched down to eye level with the blonde. “What are you doing?” He said with a chilling voice. The blonde shrugged it off. “Seein' what's different between this one and mine. As it turns out, these parts aren't even available ta the public. Like, this processor is three models ahead of the ones Ah could get a hold of online. And on top of that, Ah've never even seen this part that's connected ta the wave generator. What does it even do?” The girl looked up at him finally, and nearly jumped out of her chair. “G-gods! When did ya get so close!?” Sombra left his crouched position and jumped off the table. “That piece is new tech that Apollo is looking into implementing. While only he and Light know the specifics of what it does, in a basic sense it acts as a conduit for opening portals. However, I didn't know he was going to have you six test it out... I'll have to talk to him about that later... For now, put it back together. I imagine Z is just about done cooking.” Applejack shrugged and said, “Yes sir.” Then went to work putting the plates back on. “I'm gonna go make a few calls. If he brings the food out, one of you send me a text.” Sombra made his way out of the library, and then shut the door. The room was silent, save for the sounds of Applejack snapping plates back together. It stayed that way until Zephraim came down with all the food. He had one tray in each arm, and carried another with his wings above his head. “Dude, ask for help. You're gonna get feathers in the food.” Twilight called out, reacting to the noise breaking concentration on her book. The man rolled his eyes. “Oh, gee, thanks for offering to help Stripes. Here, take it!” He said tossing the tray in his wings at her. “Gah!” She flinched, freezing the tray in mid air with her magic. It took her a moment to realize she was doing it before she moved the tray to the table. “Now, was that so hard? You could have done that at any point before I threw it at you.” Zephraim said, setting the other two trays down. Twilight stormed up to him. “I'll have you know that-” “You were getting around to it? Sure you were. I'll believe it when you actually do something along those lines in the future.” He took something out of his pocket and put it in between the finger she was pointing at him and her curled up index finger. “Oh, and here's this back.” He said, sneering at her. Twilight was silenced in position as he went around the room returning the others their Harmonians. “So, how do I get her to show up in here?” Rainbow asked, pointing to the new disk she was wearing. To her surprise, Valkyriana answered. “I'm already in doll face. You ain't gotta do anything but ask.” The digitized and pixelated Valkyrie showed up on the new disk's screen. “Oh, cool! It's like a video game sprite.” The valkyrie looked left, right, down then up before tilting her head confused. “A what game?” Rainbow got a nasty grin on her face. “Oh, ho, ho, yes. You're gonna learn today...” The room collectively rolled their eyes and returned to what they were doing. Zephraim started setting the table, and Fluttershy joined shortly there after. “It's been a long time since we did this hasn't it?” the pale Angel said. “Too long by my count. I can't even remember the last time I cooked like this.” He replied, placing forks next to plates. “Maybe... Didn't you do this for Dad's birthday last year?” She asked, putting spoons next to forks and cups above plates. “Oh, that's right! Gods, he got so wasted that night... has it really been eight months since then?” He said, pausing what he was doing. Fluttershy quickly started counting on her fingers until she reached her second middle. “Yeah, eight months... Time really does fly by, doesn't it?” She said, slowly coming to a stop with what she was doing. The two were still for a moment. “You know... We can do this again. Or, more often than we used to at least.” He said, putting his last plate and fork down. “What do you mean?” She asked. “This. Eating together. Just like we used to. I won't be going anywhere for the next half year as far as I know, and you... I guess, you've moved to this town right? We might not share a house anymore, but we could still see each other every once and a while. It... it would be a shame if you just up and vanished again...” He said moving the dishes around. This time, it looked like he'd made Journian linguine and clams with Caesar salad and fresh bread. She turned to look at him “I'd like that.” She said, smiling. Shortly there afterward, the night progressed into another lively dinner, with even more people. Sombra returned with a straight face, not giving anything away to what his conversation entailed, and Eclipse showed up with Eris giving the excuse that he didn't have anything to eat tonight. All the same, it was a good time for everyone involved. Eventually, Applejack decided it would be best to head home, and then slowly but surely, the group dwindled one by one. “Don't stay up too late, you've still got work to accomplish tomorrow. And if I find you sleeping in again, you and I might just have a game ourselves, now won't we?” Sombra said to his son. “I can take you on. But, don't worry about it. I just didn't have an alarm set this time. It should all be set up before the time comes.” Zephraim replied. “Good. I expect nothing less. Night Zeph.” He said, exiting the library. “Night Dad.” And then the door shut. Now only the library residents remained. Zephraim started collecting empty plates, only to be joined by Spike and later, a reluctant Twilight. “You guys can just Go to bed if you want, I can take care of this.” Zephraim said. “Nah, I'd feel bad if I didn't help out. I always helped mom do this back home, So it's kinda routine. I'm just surprised that she decided to help too.” Spike said. Twilight groaned. “You could do something other than make me look like an ass in front of others. Was it necessary to let everyone know that I have a plushie collection? No, no it wasn't.” Spike laughed. “How does that make you anything but a girl? No, making you look like an ass would be me telling anyone about that time at the zoo.” He said. Twilight could feel a vein on her forehead. “I swear to gods, if you say anything about that, I will personally see how much current it takes to kill a half dragon.” She said through gritted teeth. Spike laughed again. “So wait, what happened at the zoo? And don't worry Twilight, everybody already knows you're an ass.” Twilight felt like she needed to let one of her hands free so she could pretend to be emperor Palpatine for a moment. “Oh, she electrocuted a monkey for stealing her ice cream. I was like, four, so this happened about seven years ago...” He said as the group reached the top of the stairs. “Ha! You would have.” Zeph replied. But the silence that followed was not what he expected. He looked behind him, and the other two were just staring at the dishes in their hands. “What's up? No response, no electricity? Nothing to say to that?” Twilight sighed. “No, you're still a dick, it's just that... That was the last time all five of us went out together. As a family.” She said, softly. “Oh. I see...” The three put all the dishes in the sink, and Zephraim went to work on them. Spike had just about dropped in to his bed only minutes after, and Twilight took to the couch with her book. Eventually, Zephraim had had enough of the sounds of dishes alone, and decided to start up a conversation. “So... how long has it been since you've seen them? Your parents, that is.” He asked. Twilight closed her book and put it aside. “Together? Years. Separately, I see them both about once for a week every six months.” She said, no emotion in her voice. “Oh... So they split up, huh?” He said, almost regretting it. “Yeah. Things got rough. Dad never could get over the alcoholism he picked up that year, and eventually, Mom got fed up with him. She figured she'd dealt with the three of us alone well enough already, she could probably last on her own with out him. And that's what she did. I was still with the Queens when it happened, so I wasn't actually there for the event. Spike was the only one that had to hear it. Shining had just about moved out, sleeping at a friend's house whenever he could, really only coming back to retrieve his things when necessary. He was more angry at them both than he was at just Dad, though. He's a nerdy, hopeless romantic, while simultaneously a field combat superstar. And now he lives in crystal with his girlfriend, so, I think I've seen him even less.” She sounded like she was reciting an answer to a math problem, robotic. “Ah. That's... interesting.” Zephraim knew very little about Twilight's family life, so this was all new information. Gods, that's rough. And here I though she was just a bitch by nature... “Do you... ever miss them?” He said, stopping what he was doing to look at her. Her expression remained like ice. “Honestly? No. When it finally came time to live with the queens, I was more excited about leaving home. I mean, I wasn't sure about leaving Spike alone again, but since I could come back at least every quarter of the year and see him, that was enough. Shining and I have been in the same room together twice since I left the first time, so he was just about non existent in my life anyways. I don't care what happens to Dad, and Mom can handle herself. And now that he's with me, I have nothing to be concerned about in that respect.” She said. Her hand had been glowing and a few basic shapes made of magic were floating in a circle as she rolled her fingers. “Mm... So that's just how it is?” He asked, hoping for even a little bit of emotion. She crushed the shapes in her fist. “Yep. As far as I'm concerned, Spike is my only family.” Zephraim didn't have anything to say. He bit his lip and finished his dishes. When he put the rubber apron away, Twilight spoke again. “You can have the bed. I think I'll be just fine here. On the couch. Alone.” Twilight was staring directly into his eyes with her dark, slitted pupils. Zephraim frowned. He was a little disappointed. “Oh. Right, sure. Well... good night then.” The monochrome Angel made his way over to the bed on the opposite side of the room. It was a cold night in Ponyville.

Correspondence (14.1)

It was twenty three on Wednesday night. Zephraim and Twilight had just gone to sleep, and Spike still hadn't sent a letter to Celestia yet. He quietly tip toed out of bed when he noticed his sister shivering on her couch.

Typical Twilight. He took the blanket off his bed and draped her in it. He then grabbed his backpack and made his way down stairs. He took the keyboard out of it and placed his disk on the jack on the keyboard. Spike stared blankly at his duel disk and the keyboard before him, and couldn't think of anything to write.

He needed to though, otherwise he wouldn't be following orders. He figured he might as well tell her what he could remember about dinner... And probably about that interaction Twilight and Zephraim had not too long ago. He sighed.

What is even going on with those two? Are they fighting again? And that's another thing, he's been acting weird since yesterday. And there was the last two mornings, they slept in the same bed. I thought Twilight didn't like him? But then again, I just can't tell if that's the case anymore... Maybe I should ask herabout it... Spike decided that that was going to be his start, and then he went to work on his letter.

This all started on Tuesday when he felt a very strange sensation in his stomach. After performing an action that was akin to vomiting, he spouted fire and a parchment letter with the Queen's seal on it. As confused as he was by the event, he couldn't think of anything else but picking up the letter. Upon inspection, it was addressed to him from Celestia. He carefully tore off the wax and unfurled that oddly plain looking piece of paper covered with Celestia's swirly perfect handwriting.

'Hello Spike. Are you and Twilight doing well? I am sending this letter as a test, and if it works, a set of instructions. After performing more testing on the data we gathered about your flames, I have reverse engineered the magic that causes material to teleport through your fire. The spell isn't as difficult as I had expected it to be, and after several tries, I have managed to get somewhere close to the same magic working on my own fireplace.

I wrote this letter anticipating that this will work this time as I did the other hundred or so, but I have a good feeling about this one. If you do happen to get this, I'd like you to report to me what you've seen yesterday and the days following today, once every night. You remember that fire place in my office at the school? If you could, I'd like you to send me a page there. Just write your name on it, and I'll know. I'll keep the fire going at all times to make sure I never miss anything you send. Gods, I hope this one works.

-Celestia Iscandor'

After reading the letter, he was approached by Zephraim who had just finished whatever he was doing in the basement that day.

“Oh hey, is that from mom? I have like, a hundred missed messages from her saying 'did it work?' over and over again.” Spike nodded.

“I guess? I mean, yeah, it is, but... I kinda feel like I just threw up.” He said, unsure if he wanted to experience that again.

“So, you're saying that breathing fire makes you nauseous?” Zephraim said, typing away at his duel disk.

“Probably? I think it's always been like this, though. I have to kinda burp to get a flame out, so I guess it might be the same thing, but... it's never involuntary... Uh-oh. BUUURP” Spike belched another large flame, and like the first, this one had a letter inside it too. Zephraim quickly unfolded it and began reading.

“She says,

'I'm so glad it finally worked. Send something back, quickly please.'

I'm just gonna draw a little thing on the back of this and then you can send it back.” Zephraim said. He took the page and turned it to it's empty side, then grabbed the nearest writing utensil and began scribbling away. After he finished, he handed it back to Spike with three hexagons in various shades with weapons inside them. Specifically, an Ax, a Lance, and a Sword. The little picture had an unusual amount of detail to it, at the point where it looked like one might be able to pick one of the black and white weapons up.

“What is that?” Spike asked. The Angel wasn't wearing all his belts or his coat, and he pulled up the right sleeve of his black shirt.

“This.” He said, pointing to a mark that looked nearly identical to the one on the page.

“Wow, that' amazing! It looks exactly like it!” Zephraim shrugged.

“Eh, I draw as a hobby. Now send it back. We need to see if it will go to wherever mom's fireplace is.” Spike stared hard at the page in front of him. He thought hard about the way that room looked, the domed ceiling, the purple drapes, the ivory granite desk, the marble floors, and the dragon spine stone fireplace.

He focused on the white box with burn-stains all over the interior and with a good heave, covered the piece of paper in his hand with green flames. After he was done, the paper was gone, and there was no pile of ash on the floor, so that meant it teleported at least. He turned to look at Zephraim, who was monitoring his duel disk.

“Well? Did it work?” Spike asked. A noise went off coming from Zephraim's green duel disk.

“That would be a yes. She says she expects a letter from you by the end of the day.” The dragon boy frowned and Zephraim began sizing him up. Finally, he said, “How's you handwriting?” Spike looked down and started to push his fingers together.

“Well... it exists, I guess...” He said reluctantly. To that, Zephraim ran upstairs and then returned a few minutes later with a Faunan standard 104 mechanical keyboard, and wearing all his normal gear.

“Give me your disk, I need to see if this will work.” He said. Spike reached for one of the large pockets of his cargo pants and took out his school duel disk that Twilight had 'liberated' of the school software. He handed the device to Zephraim, and then Zeph laughed.

“Ha, even the elementary school kids can remove the security systems on these things. Or, did your sister do this for you?” He said, scrolling through menus on the disk.

“It was her. I don't know how to work it all that well. All I ever do on it is play games and read. I don't duel all that much either, so it doesn't see much else.” Zephraim furrowed his brow, frowned, then went back to what he was doing. After locating whatever software he needed, he plugged the card jack into the octagonal disk's graveyard slot. The keys started to light up and it looked to be in working order.

“Well, that should do it for you. I don't know what she has you doing, but you should try to get it done sooner, rather than later. I'm sure you know by now that mom can be a scary person when necessary. Anyways, I have my own work to do, so I'll be gone for a while. Send me a text around seventeen. I'd like to be here before anyone else gets back, if possible.” And before Spike could say anything, Zephraim was out the door and in the air.

Spike stood beside the large oak table with his hands in his hair. He finally relaxed his shoulders, and then pulled one of the chairs around in front of the keyboard. I might as well get started. I guess I should begin with Sunday after Twilight woke up.

Dear Princess Celestia.

I'll have to start with Sunday night since that's where the first weird thing happened that I saw. It was later in the day, and eventually it was dark out. I guess she must have saw you do something that day and wanted to try and copy it. I guess it worked because she summoned a person from her Andromeda card.

Well, I guess she summoned Andromeda outof his card actually. I only recently got the whole rundown on what a 'Soul Art' is, so I'm not real sure on how that works yet. We spent the whole night listening to him talk about the long history before our history, and he explained how that 'Chrysalis' woman is currently just a body for the dark spirit Umbra. Then he gave Twilight super powers or something, but she can see in the dark better than I can now, which is weird.

The next day, he made us new clothes that can I guess, grow with us? Some kinda spell, he made it all by hand, and I think he might have stolen things from the fabric room in the school. But, that's probably not important. Twilight freaked out about the uh, 'girly stuff' that he made her, and she demanded that they be changed to the same things I was wearing, and that lead us to go get breakfast while he did that.

It got interesting when we ran into your youngest in the school cafeteria. Twilight took a good look at him, and after he said a few things, she figured it out. He put us in a pocket dimension, and that was the first time I'd ever seen the world without color. But it was just the beginning, this happened like, three more times that day.

He and Twilight got along a lot better than I've ever seen Twilight get along with anybody, but I think that might have been more because she liked what she saw. Apparently so did he, because they exchanged numbers after it ended in a draw. I don't think they've contacted each other yet though.

The next thing that happened was the train ride. Unlike the last boy she met, Twilight kinda had this innate immediate hate for your other son. They were pretty much arguing with each other most of the train ride, until Zephraim finally took it to another car.

I followed, but I guess neither of them noticed, and they had a big duel. Zephraim took Andromeda, and they teamed up on her. I honestly don't think I've ever seen Twilight so desperate to get one of her monsters back, but even when she did accomplish that, he summoned a big fiery fusion monster and she surrendered, which was also a first.

They had some kind of heart to heart, but that only made their dynamic a little bit more friendly. We learned that Mr. Fume, the train conductor, was involved with the accident that screwed up our family so bad years ago, and both of Ruby's parents died in it. Oh right, Ruby Apple, the train chef. But you knew that, right?

We got off the train after Ruby and Mr. Fume had come to terms with the Apple family reunion that was going on today, and decided to follow them since Jaquline Apple, or Applejack as she liked to be called, was supposed to be there. We were surprised by the hospitality they offered to complete strangers in a town that had so many murders recently.

We met the family that owned the land, and the old woman with the ridiculous grip. Apparently, Applejack had been in a funk and wasn't willing to talk to anyone today because of the anniversary of a tragedy that took her father was on the same day. She and her older brother fought about it until he finally over powered her. I think that Granny Smith had set this up or something, because this led into Twilight and Applejack dueling.

Another weird thing happened, and the world lost color again. I guess I was hidden enough by the crowd for them not to notice me, but I didn't do anything to make it known I was there either. They had a talk, The new guy that looked like he could have been Applejack, Macintosh, and Applebloom's dad and Andromeda mostly dominated the conversation though. I would later learn that his name is Ephraim.

I wonder if you named Zeph after him or something, considering their names are so similar. He and Applejack had a heart to heart, we learned how her father died in an accident searching for a present for her birthday, and that she blames herself for it. Ephraim managed to cheer her up, and then Twilight explained what was going to her. The duel resumed, and the world returned again, so I figured it was the same spell from earlier. Another draw, even though it seemed like Twilight had it for a minute there.

After that, we left the reunion and things got... depressing. Rainbow Fume, Mr. Fume's granddaughter and one of the descendants had been following us after she got caught in the spell Andromeda cast. It was about fourteen, and it was hot outside. Zephraim started to egg Twilight and Rainbow into a fight, which wasn't hard considering that Twilight wasn't Rainbow's biggest fan.

Another duel, and this one had a nasty ending. Andromeda and his sister, Valkyriana, found themselves on opposite sides of the field. I think he just wanted to talk to her at first, but then they started fighting, and the duel turned into an all out war.

Twilight and Rainbow started to lose interest at one point because another weird thing kept happening when the two would clash. A loud, but not jarring tone came from each Harmonian card in the area, and the three would resonate with each other. They both decided that that was something that should be looked into, but Andromeda and Valkyriana wanted to finish the fight.

It looked like Rainbow was going to win it, but then Twilight pulled something similar to a pot of greed fake out to make Andromeda strong enough to beat over Valkyriana and win the game. And then... Well, Andromeda was mad. He was really mad. He said he wanted to 'destroy' her himself, and he did exactly that.

He got this really nasty smile on his face when he went in for the stab, and she just took it. She hugged him, and it looked like she was crying, or failing to hold back tears. They dropped on the sand, along with a good pool of blood, and that snapped Andromeda out of whatever evil thing was eating at him. He realized that the last part of the effect would have hurt rainbow if he didn't do something, so he took the final blow to keep her safe.

In silence, for a good twenty minutes to a half hour, we kept following Applejack to the store where the next girl was. She was one of the most beautiful people I think I've ever seen. Her name is Rarity Belle, and she was a different kind of person compared to the other three. She had class, and style, and she was dressed oddly casual compared to the extravagant clothes she was selling, but she was still so pretty.

Then this other fag waltzed and started an argument with her. He had a fake accent and everything, gods, I just wanted to punch him in the face. Then they got into a duel. It came out that he was really one of your SIGA agents. Rarity was mad, and that ended with him getting thrown across the room and nearly getting killed because of blunt force trauma.

Through the combined magic of Rarity and Twilight, they managed to heal him, but at the same time, another weird thing happened. Their magic started to mix and become more like steam, and the whole room started to fill with a fine fragrance and two parts of an orchestra.

After he was all fixed up, we went to the next girl's house, but you know all about her. As soon as we reached the place, Zeph said it was a good idea for us to hang back a good ways, and man, did he mean it. He and Fluttershy were sword to sword within seconds of being there. They both beat each other up for a good intense few minutes, and then they suddenly halted when she pulled out her duel disk.

The fight was a real battle between them both, Fluttershy with her misty spirit monsters, and Zephraim going at her with just about everything he had. It got weird then his cards started to get this dark red glow to them. His eyes began to change, and I could wear his teeth started to look sharp. He summoned a crazy XYZ monster that ended up shooting him in the leg.

It looked like all was lost for Fluttershy until her own cards started to glow like his, but with blue. The next thing she summoned was a tuner, which she didn't have before, and it synchronized Monarcha for a whole new card! She looked like some kind of goddess from ancient carvings or depictions in ruins. Torrents of water washed over Zephraim, and Fluttershy ended taking the game.

Twilight and Fluttershy had a rough start at first, but eventually they got used to each other. It was a little strange how she reacted just about the same way Zephraim did to Twilight the first time too. Zephraim spouted a whole bunch of stuff we probably weren't supposed to hear about you and Mr. Sombra, So Fluttershy decided to fill in her life story for us.

So, with six of us filled in on what was going on with your family and a good chunk of the story that Twilight and I didn't have about our own, we learned the girls all seemed to get their marks at the same time. I don't know about anyone else, but that's probably not something that happens all the time. She finished her story, and Zephraim had come to after about four hours. It was almost night time at this point, and we were still missing one.

Fluttershy was talking about some kind of four month period where she was locked in the castle without help, and that started an argument between her and Zeph. It didn't last long though, because the library was on fire. Or, so we thought. Pinkie Pie has some kind of ability to manipulate fire, and she does it so well, that she can basically use it like he own hands. She started the fire to draw Twilight in, and apparently, duel her.

Fluttershy caught on, or knew something we didn't and reprimanded her for it, but that didn't stop the duel from happening. Twilight smiledduring their game. I honestly don't believe I've ever seen her smile or laugh unless she just trounced her opponent or something. She had fun in a duel. I don't know how pinkie managed to do it, but she achieved the impossible that day.

With everybody finally gathered, we had a discussion with the Harmonians and their respective incarnates. Amethyst explained how the whole 'powers' worked, but if you ask me, that's just a different flavor of magic. Everyone who didn't have theirs yet got them, Applejack tried to go overboard and hurt herself, and her Ephraim didn't have nice words for her because of that.

Zeph then explained the lo-down to the rest of the girls, and basically told them what you told Twilight in her letter, but with all the 'hidden information' that we weren't exactly given. Did I mention she read that letter to me? Well, she did, in any case. It was stormy that night, and so everybody decided to go home around twenty two. Twilight's fear of lightning came up, and after the long day, she just about fainted after a few booms of thunder.

Well, that just about covers yesterday and the day before. I'm watching something, but I'm not too sure about it yet, So I'll let you know if I get an update on that.

-Your student, Spike Sparkle.

When Spike finally put down his last period, he took in a deep breath of air and stretched out his arms, wings, and tail. He checked the clock at the bottom right hand corner of his disk and realized it's almost seventeen now.

“Geez, How long have I been typing?” He said, thinking he was alone.

“I'd say about four, possibly five hours if I had to guess.” Spike turned around to find that Andromeda was rearranging the furniture in the room. He had some more materials with him, most of them looked like deteriorating scraps of leather, or just busted pieces of wood. He took two pieces in the air with his magic, and a folding chair from near by and started to spin them around.

A spell circle carved itself into the floor in the same color as Andromeda's light blue magic. He then pulled everything toward the circle and pressed his hands against it. In a flash, the materials had become one and formed a kind of leather recliner. He pushed the new recliner against the wall, sat in it, and pulled the lever on the side so that it might recline.

“I must say, I am quite glad that I remembered Ephraim's carpentry after all these years. I'm sure he could build a better one with the proper time, but this will do for now. How goes your letter Master Spike?” The sorcerer asked from his new chair. Spike shook his head to try and return to reality.

“Oh, I uh... I just finished it actually.” The sorcerer stood and nodded to him.

“Very good. I'm positive that Celestia will be thrilled to read it. She always enjoyed receiving hand personal letters, even if her favorite version of them has faded out. What did you write about?” He asked after gathering more materials and preparing to make another chair.

“You know, just the stuff that happened yesterday. I hadn't really though about it, but a lot did happen yesterday, didn't it?” Andromeda paused his spell for a moment.

“Yes, I would say so. However, you might want to add this to your letter. We found a girl that had been taken out of time this morning, closer toward midnight. She has no fingerprints, no mark, and nothing that would point to who she actually is. Eclipse had managed to save her from Umbra during his duel that night, but we have very little information on her, even with my own magical search. Her only memories are the dates, December fifteenth, 2985, or the day she was born, and January first, 3000, your sister's birth date. You should add that as a post script, saying it was from me.” Spike frowned.

“So, wait. What does that mean? Are there seven of them? Who is she?” Andromeda finished another chair and sighed.

“We don't know. Not without the proper equipment at least. Eclipse will discern the details after he takes her elsewhere, but...” Andromeda stopped. It was as if the world around him had turned to ice, he was so still.

“What is it? Look, Twilight does that too when she doesn't want to tell me something, so just go ahead. If you think it's a concern, then Queen Celestia should probably know.” Spike said. Twilight had a number of little quirks that gave away what she was thinking, and Andromeda seemed to share most, if not all of them with her. Andromeda sighed.

“I'm beginning to think she may be Umbra's incarnate. Her demeanor, her visage. The way she moves, the way she speaks. She reminds me of that sweet little girl that Monarcha picked up from the stone so many eons ago. If we all had incarnates, it almost makes sense for her to have one as well. I simply... hope that she is not. For if she is... then we may have to intervene.” He finally said.

Spike didn't reply, but instead just copied down what Andromeda said as best he could.

The incarnate of an evil creature, but before she was tainted? What could that mean for everyone else?

The dragon boy finished typing his letter and then grabbed the pieces of paper Zephraim had left for him. He folded them in half, then fed them into the disk for it to engrave his words on. With his pages printed, he folded them neatly into thirds.

He breathed a flame and heated the wax seal from Celestia's letter. He pressed the seal to the new letter with his thumb print on it, then thought hard about the fireplace again. With a single deep breath, he burned away the pages. With no ash to be found, the letter had been sent. As if on queue, Zephraim returned just as the letter went out.

“Well, those are new. I like the chairs Andy.” He said as he made his way upstairs.

“Thank you, Master Zephraim.” He called out as the Angel disappeared upstairs. He then turned to spike, and Spike started to hear a voice, but not one coming from anywhere.

I want you to keep what I just told you between you, me, and Celestia. We don't need to worry anyone about this, and we don't need the girl to feel ostracized, lest we cause a disaster. Celestia will decide the next action, and we will carry it out, whatever it may be.

Spike blinked, and Andromeda nodded. The sounds of pots and pans clanking around started to come from upstairs, and Andromeda had finished making his last chair.

“It seems as if Master Zephraim is making dinner for you all. You might go watch, possibly learn a thing or two about cooking. If my own skills are anything to bet one, it's likely Twilight isn't allowed near any kind of cooking utensil. You might have to feed the both of you if Zephraim is ever away in the future.” He said, now working on some candles and raking old scraps of metal from his pile of junk.

“That's... probably a good idea. Can we... can we talk later? I think I need to know what is really going on here. I know I can't fight, but if I can help from an outside perspective, then maybe...” Andromeda put a hand on Spike's shoulder.

“The time will come. For now, let your mind wander elsewhere.” He said, in that grave and sincere tone he likes to use. Spike sighed and made his way to the stair case. Andromeda was at least right about one thing.

Twilight would set the place on fire if I ever let her try and cook again.

Return to Sender (14.2)

It was just about seventeen hours out when Celestia received the letter she'd been so desperately waiting for. Celestia was never in the dark about anything. Ever. Until this particular event came up, that is. Grabbing the letter from the floor with her magic, she took it in her hands and removed the... re-purposed seal? Then started to read.

As soon as she managed to let the letter unfurl, there was a knock on the door. She sighed, put the letter away in her desk drawer, and then headed toward the door.

Damn it. Every time. From now on, a Pocket dimension goes up as soon as I see these things. One of the few days I actually fill the role of principal, and they have me working. I thought it was in practice to straighten up when the boss visits? What happened to that? Celestia let out another breath and turned the gilded handle.

She was greeted to the sight of her 'favorite' teacher holding a pair of students by the earlobes. Celestia gave the vampiric strain Angel with velvety blue hair a hard frown, then tilted her head at the other. A girl whose name she wasn't familiar with, nor one she recognized from any of her own classes.

Is this kid new? Hmm... I did fill out a whole bunch of forms on coffee fumes last night before I finally went to sleep... there could have been a transfer notice in there, but right in the middle of a trimester? Strange...

“Alright Cinch, what are they in for?” She said, trying to avoid the earful that professor Cinch loved to give everyone around. If it weren't for the fact that Sola had sit through several of Cinch's lectures, She might actually punish the students who were brought down by her. But that wasn't the case, and it take a special kind of person to listen to cinch for more than forty-five minutes.

“Interrupting my class of course! Is it ever anything else? Especially this one in particular. Why is it impossible for you to simply be quiet and listen to me? Final bell is only twenty minutes away, you can wait that long!” She said as she pulled upward on Tsukiko's earlobe. She failed to react for a moment before giving a yelp. Celestia sighed. Luna probably couldn't even feel it. Such a dull pain wasn't even enough for her to respond to anymore.

“That's enough. I will take it from here.” Celestia said, ushering the girls into her office. “Take a seat by the window. Thank you Cinch, I will straighten them out.” The woman huffed.

“I would hope so. Those two are the only ones without eighty percentages in my class. I'm beginning to fear they may not make it into good schools on a path like that. Tsukiko has already missed so many days of instruction...” She let her expression melt from stern to concerned, then back again.

“Thank you, my Queen.” Cinch took a bow and headed off in the other direction. She was a good teacher, and a nice Mage, but she needed to learn how to loosen her shoulders.

Celestia walked back in to her office and slammed the door behind with her magic. She kept her arms crossed and flared her wings out to keep the menacing appearance she was known for by the students. While at the school, she wore her orange-yellow blazer with her sun medallion pinned to it and dark violet pleated pants to appear as official as she possibly could, all the while keeping her necessary armor plates and sword on in the event she had to respond to an emergency.

“I'll let the regular explain to me why she was sent here later. So tell me, what is your name dear?” She said as she lowered her body into a much less intimidating stance, then taking a seat in front of the two, pulling one of her violet leather recliner chairs behind her.

“B-brightness... Brightness Slate ma'am...” The girl was a pale white angel with bright white wings and white curly locks that fell in spirals to either side of her head with blue and gold streaks here and there. She had clear gray irises that made it look like her eyes had rings of ice in them, and wore the red girl's uniform that indicated she was a first year. For a moment, Celestia thought it odd to see her without black pants underneath her skirt, then remembered that Twilight was also a special case, along side being Cinch's favorite student.

“I see... Are you new here?” The girl twirled a finger in her tendrils of hair before finally answering.

“I moved here with my older brother recently... we...” She trailed off with her sentence.

A shy one to be sure, I'll have to find out if I have any classes with her. I imagine Luna thought it would be nice if she had a friend. Speaking of...

“Care to fill in some details miss regular?” She said, giving a hint of a sneer at the end of her sentence. Tsukiko stuck her tongue out.

“Her parents had been officials in the northern city toward the coast and were caught up in an incident. Her twenty year old brother is now supporting them in the outskirts of the lower sector. Apparently, the Day Queen gave her a special exception to transfer into her prestigious school immediately, effective as of this morning.” She sneered back.

Damn it! I knew there was something I'd forgotten this morning! Celestia frowned.

“Delightful. You will stay after I am through with her. Sweetie?” She said, taking her motherly tone at the end. After realizing that 'sweetie' referred to her, Brightness responded.

“Y-yes ma'am?” The girl stuttered.

“You're free to go for now. If she tries to engage you during Cinch's classes, You'd do best to ignore her. She's a terrible influence on new students, and is often in my office. Even though this year has only been in session since April, I've already seen her eighteen times.” Celestia said, trying her hardest to keep her smile in check. Tsukiko rolled her eyes.

“I am only sent here by proctors with uninspiring classes. You'll never have coach Ferrous send me to you.” She protested.

“Whatever. You being his star student has nothing to do with acting up in your classes. Brightness, was it? If you ever need to discuss anything with me, just sign your name by a time on the board at the door and I'd be happy to speak with you.”

The white winged Angel managed a smile, bowed and said, “Thank you, ma'am. Good luck Tsuki!” And disappeared out the door. Celestia pulled it to a close and then looked back to Tsukiko.

“You picked a good time to piss off Cinch. I just got my report from Spike.” She said, moving back to her desk and putting the recliner back by her coffee table with her magic. Celestia retrieved her letter and let it unfold once more. Luna removed her guise and warped the same recliner next to Celestia's chair.

“Is is really necessary for you to tell them that I am a bad influence? Granted, that may be true on some occasion, but you always say it.” She complained.

“You make it a habit to mess with my hair every time you take office and I'm sent here. Call it a fair trade.” She waved Luna's complaint away as she started speed reading the letter.

“Well? What did he say? Waiting for information is agonizing, we haven't had to do this in ages.” Celestia's brow furrowed deeper. Luna frowned.

“Well, first of all, remind me to reprimand Zeus later. He told Twilight about my family.” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Were you not going to do that yourself in just a week anyways? What is the harm?” Celestia's lip twitched. “Oh? Did they run into Fluttershy?” Celestia sighed.

“Not only that, but then Zeph got in a fight with her. He lost control, let all six of them know about us, and got his ass kicked. Apparently, she filled them in on just about every national secret about our personal lives that he didn't.” Luna frowned.

“Now that may be a problem. Which one was it that worried you? Valkyriana's incarnate, or was it Optimism's?” Celestia shook her head.

“Honestly, I'm more concerned about Amethyst's when it comes to this particular information. Rarity Belle runs a clothing shop in Ponyville, and I don't want her getting smart and asking for free advertizement. Pinkimena Diane Pie is an entirely different situation. Now that they know, I think I'll have to send Sombra in to deal with her, probably give them some more tools to fight with while I'm at it. Or, he will in my stead that is.” She said as she continued reading. She reached the end of the letter where the writing style changed, and she froze once she finished.

“What is it now?” Luna asked. Celestia looked at her, then put the letter face down on her desk.

“Um... it seems that Eclipse may have found a girlfriend. Or something. This says she's thirty. Or not. I'll have to ask for clarification on that.” Luna's jaw nearly dropped off her face, and Celestia let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Oh gods, I can't let her find out about this. She might do something drastic, and I don't need her going ballistic on a possibly innocent girl... or woman? He uses the word 'girl' very specifically, yet the birth date suggests she's supposedly thirty...

At first, Celestia was a little bit surprised by the reaction, or lack there of, from her sister. She was still in that jaw ajar pose and hadn't even twitched an eye since.

“Luna? Are you...?” She started, but didn't finish. After several minutes of blank staring off into space, eventually Luna changed her expression and sat back in her chair. She crossed her arms, then crossed her legs.

“Before I make any judgments, I will meet this woman. Age should be no factor as long as there is love.” She said. Her body movements suggested otherwise, though. Her wings were flicking and twitching at the fingers, most notably the first, which was twitching back and forth rapidly. She noticed a sound coming from the bottom of the chair, and Luna was drumming her wing fingers against it. Celestia couldn't tell if she was just that dexterous with them, or was simply doing this absentmindedly as a way to keep calm.

Luna didn't handle 'girlfriends' well. When Jupiter had announced he had found one some time ago, Luna made sure to put 'fear' in her mind as soon as she could. They didn't last, and as far as Celestia could tell, Light had always come to her about one of his sons dating before anyone let Luna know. It's been a process. Once protective, always protective. Luna eventually picked up on Celestia's wandering eyes and bore down on her.

“Is that all? The end of the letter simply says my son found a har-, er, woman?” Celestia reared away from her, keeping the letter face down.

“Sort of. She needs to be brought here and examined. This girl was one of Umbra's puppets that he managed to rescue. She has no memories other than her own birth date, which happens to align with yours, and Twilight's birth date.” Saying it out loud didn't help make it sound any less ominous. Rituals relied on the celestial calendar for potency, and if this 'girl' was born on the winter solstice and only remembers the first night of the year at the turn of the millennium... That could only mean there was more black magic at work behind the scenes.

“I... don't like the sound of that. But I suppose you'll have a plan for all of this within the next hour or so. I'll leave it to you to decide how to proceed.” She looked like she was about to stand up, but then paused with one of her fingers raised.

“How is it that you intend to have Sombra train them? I thought he was out with Apollo.” Celestia sighed.

“You remember how they've been closing dimensional rifts around the country right?” Luna nodded slowly in reply. “Well, to put it bluntly, they fucked up. Apollo's mirror cracked, which caused another rift to open and the two conjoined. They believe they saw some creature escape it before they used a last ditch effort spell to seal the thing in stone. This happened yesterday and Sombra is coming home tonight from the badlands. Apollo is trying to figure out what that thing he saw was, and if possible, a way to track it. He said that it smiled and laughed at him. Called it an 'amalgamation' of beasts.” Luna frowned.

“We... are going to have to deal with that, aren't we?” Celestia put her fingers to her forehead.

“Most likely. Who knows what unimaginable horror they've released into the world. A Sentient unimaginable horror at that.” Luna shook her head.

“Honestly, I would rather deal with Twilight's future if those are my options. I supposed he doesn't want outside help either?” Celestia nodded. “Of course. 'It is my mistake, and I will fix it.' And then I have to repair a stained glass window-”

“And I have to pull glass shards out of my twelve year old's foot.” They both sighed, and then the final bell rang throughout the school.

“And that would be my queue to return to my chamber before a night of patrols and dream hunting.” She started to flare up her aura, but stopped after raising a finger again. “But before I go, I would like to know something. What do you plan to write back to young Spike about this? I know how you like to with hold information from them until the last possible second.” Celestia scrunched up her mouth. She hadn't thought about that. She had things she needed to get to the boys, but she also couldn't just send that kind of information by text... then she remembered she knew enough languages to write books on translation.

“I'll keep the necessary messages to Spike and everyone else in languages they can't read. I may have to avoid using Harmonian though... what else does Eclipse speak? I know Zephraim is enough of a weeb to read Anyan.” Luna gave her sister a sly smile.

“My, what a derogatory phrase to call your own son by. For shame. But, I believe Eclipse knows the moon runes as well. Apparently, Zephraim never played fair when they would have their 'pocket-creature battle games' because they had native copies, and Eclipse didn't ever know what he was doing, and eventually decided to learn it himself. Truly, I could likely play the game myself, he has complained to me about it so many times over the years. Something, something, unfair type advantage, et cetera.” Celestia tilted her head and returned the smile.

“Oh? Learning the slang of the day are we? I'm sure you absolutely love the whole 'moon runes' thing.” Luna rolled her eyes.

“I can not very well run around pretending to be a teen and speak like this all the time. Contractions still give me the worst of it though. The slang is easy.” She stood up and stretched herself out before giving in to a yawn. “It seems as if I've reached my nap time. Keep me in the loop.” She said as her hands started to glow silvery blue again. Celestia stood and took a hearty, dramatic bow.

“But of course, my Queen.” She said, letting her white teeth shine in the bright sunlight. Luna rolled her eyes once more.

“Mmm. Good night, sister.” And with a flash, she was gone. Celestia relaxed and sank into her chair.

What am I going to write back? First, I need to give Eclipse and Zephraim their new orders... I should probably apologize to Twilight at some point. She sighed. I also need to remember how to write in Anyan...

Good evening, my beloved student Spike Sparkle.

It seems as if you've had quite the full day's worth of experiences. I'm sure I don't have to say this, but please keep everything you know to yourself. I trust you to do that much. The coming days are unlikely to be so eventful as your first, so I hope you can keep yourself occupied in that time. You live in a library, so I'm sure it won't be hard, even if no one likes to read as much as your sister does.

With this letter will be two additional pages, one for my son and one my nephew. Both will be labeled so you know who to give what, but make getting them their letters a priority. Also, if you would, give Zeph a good swat on the back of the head for me. His father won't be there until later to do it, and he should be unassuming enough for you to pull it off. Just tell him it was from me when you do so.

Anyways, I'm glad that Twilight seems to be getting along with at least some of her new comrades. You know as well as I do that she isn't one to make friends quickly, or at all really. It's that 'winning' personality of hers that always seems to get in the way. How about yourself? I know it's a small town, a hamlet really, but there should be at least a few children about your age there. I'd hate for you to feel lonely while you're working for me.

How is the whether down there? It's a bit different from up on the mountain like you're used to. The hot air, the dry heat, all the sand and wind. Ponyville is only a short distance from the desert to the southern border with Leviathinos. The temperature in the summer is horridly high, but that shouldn't come as a surprise.

I'm not sure what you took with you, but in the event you didn't, you should find a pair of goggles for walking around town on windy days. Sand flies, and the town is usually covered in a blanket of it. I don't know if we ever tested whether or not you could get sun burnt, but keep sunscreen around in the event you find out you can. As white as your sister is, she'll need it at the very least.

It might feel strange to hear, but I'm more looking to have you take care of her than the other way around. She might be 'older' but you're more... well, functional. Try not to tell her I said that. I know she's capable, but she lacks a certain degree of common sense that you seem to have picked up. In any case, she'd be lost without you, so keep up the good work.

I'm looking forward to the coming days, even if the circumstances may seem bleak. If it ever seems too dark, just know that the sun will always rise in the morning.

All the best,

-Celestia Iscandor

To Zephraim.

You little moron! What did you go and open your mouth for? Of all the things I've had to reprimand you for over the years, this is probably the least forgivable of your mistakes. None of them needed to know anyof that just yet. Do you know how easy it would be for us to be blackmailed in the event they leaked our information? I'm sure you do. Keep yourself in check. I will have more to say on this later. You've been warned.

Now then, as for your current assignment, circumstances have changed. You will be taking over for Eclipse with the help of your father after Mr. Fume returns to work on Thursday. That girl needs to be examined as soon as possible, and it is going to take a good portion of my magic to get your father over there, let alone bring two people across the country. Physical transportation is just going to have to do for now.

On another subject, are you antagonizing Twilight? Spike said you've been 'arguing' with each other. I can't fathom why you would be, but stop that. She's got enough to deal with without you picking on her... Evenif she deserves it. Pushing Twilight's buttons is my job, don't take extra steps for me.

Finally, I'll have you let Cobalt take over for you after you take over for Eclipse. We still need a tracker, and while I know you're a better scout, you have other things to take care of now. The vulnerability we found in our system has yet to be repaired, so I want to keep anything sent digitally to minimal information at most.

Ah, one last thing. Give Fluttershy a hug for me? I know it must have been hard not to lash out at her any more than you did, but understand that she's a softer soul than you are. It couldn't have been easy living with the guilt of her first kill all alone, but at least she's okay. I know you have the potential to be kind, so exercise it for once, okay?

I love you. Be safe.

-Mom

To Eclipse

I don't know what you think about this girl, but for the love of Divinity, keep the idea of dating her out of your mind, if not for your mother's sake, but for her sake. The last girl is still in therapy recovering from the series of nightmares your mother gave her. Don't let that happen again, please? Oh gods, just thinking about that poor girl makes me sick. Your mother has jealousy issues, keep that in mind. I made the mistake of not reviewing the letter before telling her what was in it. That will not happen again.

In any case, you will have to bring her here as soon as you possibly can, but until the train is running again, you'll be stuck in Ponyville for now. Keep on as you were going to for now. I'll be sending Sombra to help Zephraim take over for you after we get a teleportation circle set up. So much for my day off huh?

If there are no problems, it should be done by Tuesday night, so your uncle should be there Wednesday morning. If the process weren't so tedious and taxing on me, I'd probably just have the two of you warped back here as well, but I simply don't have the magic stored to accomplish that right now. I've also been barred from using the city's reserves due to the blackout that caused last time. Unfortunately, I've abused my own laws a few too many times in the last quarter so I'm still dealing with that backlash. Something something, unjust Queen, you know how it goes.

Send everything you have on file to your Uncle. He needs to know what you've been doing with the girls and where to start them once he takes over. Keep the personal information out as much as you can, and be as detailed about your exercises as possible. Especially anything you've done regarding Pinkimena. If anyone is to know more than they should, it would be her. I'll have Sombra figure out what exactly she knows at some point during his stay.

I'll see you when you get back.

-Aunt C.

Celestia finished writing her letters and checked the clock on her disk.

“Nineteen forty five huh?” Mere seconds after speaking, a dark red magic circle started to carve itself into her office floor. In a flash of blood red light, Sombra's dark figure appeared.

“So this is where you've been hiding.” He said, putting his hands in his coat pockets. Celestia relinquished her grip from the sword hidden beneath her blazer and a breath she didn't realize she drawn after seeing it was Sombra

“Oh, gods... If you could, you know, not do that, that'd be greeeat.” She said sinking into her chair. The black clad Mage came to her desk and took a seat at it's corner while looking out the window at the amber sun.

“It's getting late. No one was at the castle when I got back. I expected to see one of the boys, but even Zeus is off doing something with his friends. What are you up to?” He asked, keeping his focus on the sunset.

“Hand writing a letter and two mission updates. Your boy opened his mouth.” She said, still fuming about the now exposed, treasured secret she'd kept for nearly 30 years. He turned to look at her.

“Define, 'opened his mouth.'” Sombra said, now looking at her.

Fifty years, and those cold green eyes still give me chills. Celestia laid back in her chair and relaxed. Sombra had a strange pacifying effect whenever he walked into a room, be it his aura or his appearance, most were stunned when they saw him.

“The girls know about us. All of us. Supposedly, it was a combination of Zeus and Zeph that spilled the beans, but then Fluttershy went and sold the house.” Celestia said. The words felt distant somehow, as if they had no real bearing yet, but would eventually become a problem to be confronted and solved. Sombra sighed.

“That explains why Zeus is out. What else is new?” He asked.

“Eclipse found a stray, and she is involved in yet darker magic and a time skip. You know, same old, same old.” She said laying the sarcasm on as thick as possible. Sombra brought his hands to his temples.

“I see... and now that I'm done helping Apollo, that means you want me to...”

“Trade places with him, yes. I can't yet fathom what sort of complex scheme she's being used in, but whatever it is, she needs to be far away from that town now. Andromeda believes she may be Umbra's incarnate.” Sombra's lips curled in.

“Hmm... I don't like that. Andromeda has yet to be wrong about anything.” Celestia sat up and put her arms on her desk.

“I know. Neither do I. But we can't do anything about it until we can get her here, so we'll have to wait until then. In the mean time, we'll set up a circle tomorrow so I can get you there Wednesday morning. Twilight knows who you are now, so it shouldn't do any harm.” Sombra put his hand to his chin.

“Huh. I get to mess with the twerp again? Well, it might be fun after all...” He said, beginning to form a grin. Celestia stood up and grabbed his shoulders, slowly wrapping herself around him.

“Oh, be nice. She however, is not your main purpose there. Optimism's incarnate sounds to be more than she seems, and she is far more proficient in soul art than anyone so far. She seems to have a good deal of control on her powers, and she might be stronger than we know. I want you to to find out exactly how much Opty has told her. I still don't have the faith in him that Andromeda does.” Sombra crossed his arms and nodded.

“And you're doing this because...?” Celestia continued to draw closer, eventually reaching his hands with her own.

“I haven't see you in a whole week, and I won't see you again for another after tomorrow...” Sombra relaxed and let her absorb him.

“Bah. I can't 'No' to you anymore. Send your letters, and we can continue when we get home.” He said, pecking her on the lips before releasing himself from her embrace.

“My, that was easy... You usually put up more of a fight... You must be tired. I'll be sure to 'remove' your fatigue.” She whispered into his ear. Sombra stood and backed away to his circle.

“I will have no more children this century. I'll see you when you get home Celly.” Sombra made a quick escape, taking almost no time in between walking to his circle and activating it. Celestia sighed.

No chance to draw him back either. One day he'll learn how to take a joke. Oh well. I'll play with him later...

Celestia's hand began to glow with her golden field and her wax seal stamp flew to it. She snapped and her bright red stick of wax appeared in her other hand. She set both objects down, and removed an envelope from her desk drawer. She carefully folded the three pages into thirds and placed them inside it.

She snapped her fingers again, producing a flame above her thumb. She melted just enough wax to from a pool on top of the envelope, spread the melted wax with the rest of the stick, and pressed it quickly with her stamp. With a fluid motion, she removed the stamp and ran her fingers across the gold to make sure nothing had stuck to it, then blew on the wax to cool it.

With another snap, the fireplace in the office intensified and shined with a bright lime green glow. She covered the letter in the spell she perfected today, and tossed the letter into the flame. Satisfied that the letter didn't turn to ash and simply vanished, she moved to Sombra's circle and activated it. With one last act to lower the flame in the fire place to ensure nothing would be caught by it, Celestia warped home.

Spike (14.3)

“Geez, it looks like mom is pretty pissed. Dad is coming to take over for you tomorrow... and I'm pawning off my shift. What does yours say?” The monochrome Angel asked the vampiric Mage.

“Looks like something similar, sort of, anyways. The first part is just a warning label about my mom's jealousy issues. Nothing new. Looks like I'm headed home Thursday.” The Angel nodded.

“Seems like it. Well, if that's all there is, I guess we should get rid of these. Do ya mind burning these?” The Angel said, crouching to get to eye level with Spike.

“I... guess? Honestly, if it weren't for the names at the top, I wouldn't have even known they were letters. Both of you can read all these squiggly lines?” Spike continued to examine the letters covered in foreign language. Some of the characters he'd seen when he read his comics, but as to what they meant was a different story. Eclipse handed Spike his letter.

“Yeah. It's his fault too. Or I could just be compulsively competitive to a fault, that's also a possibility. But mostly, it's his fault.” Zephraim more or less lost all expression in his face and simply stared at his cousin.

“Yep. My fault. Because I introduced you to a game. That you needed to be better at. Because... I was better than you... for like, a week.” Eclipse turned away and headed toward the library door.

“I said mostly, didn't I? Come on Eris, let's go back.” The Mage said as he magically pulled the girl away from the table. She wasn't quite prepared for the sudden move and dropped the cup she was holding.

“Hey! I was still drinking that...” The Mage shrugged. Once she was by his side, she gave up and fell in line.

“Too bad. We'll be back tomorrow anyways. Later Z.” Eclipse said as he exited the library, practically pushing the black robed girl out the door.

“Night Eclipse.” And with that, the door shut and all the guests had left the library. Spike grabbed a small white ceramic bowl that hadn't been used for the night's festivities and then lit the edges of both pages. He sat and watched as the green light started to creep up both of them, eventually igniting whole pages in a lime green blaze just before petering out into little black cinders. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Zephraim standing behind him.

“You might just be handy to have a round after all, little dragon boy.” Said the Angel.

Was that a compliment? “Uh, thanks?” Spike said after deliberating over the sincerity of the statement.

“Don't worry about it, it's just how I am. The sarcastic breed sarcasm, my whole family is that way. I'm gonna be up for a while, why don't you go get some rest?” He said while taking his disk from his pocket and beginning to swipe his fingers across the screen.

“Okay then.” Spike stood, stretched, and yawned, not expecting the last action to happen. I must be tired after all. What a weird day. “I must actually be tired. I never yawn. Night Zeph.”

“Night Spike.” With a wave and another yawn, Spike took to the stair case and dragged himself up it. When he finally reached the top, he noticed it was dark on the upper floor.

Twilight must be asleep already. If anything was weird today, it had to be her being social. Who knew she could be normal in a group? She's usually just quiet and jittery, but she actually spoke more than a few words. To more than one person at that. I don't know how much of this Celestia actually planned, but it must be good for her some how.

With his thought process slowing, and his bed's embrace becoming a numbing agent, Sleep finally took the dragon boy.

Wednesday came, and not much had changed, save for the cast of people to show up in it. A living relic of a person with a dark history showed up to train the girls in hopes of keeping the world safe, and Spike stayed at his new home, pondering what exactly he saw this morning.

Sure, the Demon King, Sombra Black showed up, but more importantly, why did he see Twilight and Zeph sleeping together again?

She's social, she's smiling, and she's getting close to a guy? When did the world turn upside down? Who is this girl posing as my sister?

Spike didn't know what to feel or do, so in an effort to ease his mind, he decided to burn through some of his recently purchased comics. In the first hour, he managed to keep from thing about anything else and focus on his story. In the next hour, a slight romantic sub plot started up between the main character and a girl that was introduced a few chapters before. It eventually derailed and collided with the main plot in the later chapters in the next hour, and finally, the main character was forced to kill his love interest to save the world, or join her and watch the planet crumble.

Suddenly, Spike felt like his comic and real life weren't so far apart anymore, and he went back to trying to decipher the riddle of what the hell was going on. He didn't get very far before the perpetrator of his conundrum arrived back at the library after some of the other girls did. He didn't know what to say to her. He didn't feel like she was willing to even talk about the subject after the way she acted the first morning, and even if he brought it up, she would likely outright deny any involvement in it until Spike had physical evidence for it. Of course, this wouldn't be hard to get considering there were molted Angel feathers in her bed, but that would just lead to a fight he didn't want to have.

So, after dinner finished and everyone had left or gone to bed, Spike decided it was time to ask Celestia about his inquiry. At first, it was almost like as soon as he needed to write something he could no longer think, but then the thoughts and words started to flow from his fingers and into the keyboard.

Before he knew it, he'd written nearly four pages worth of details about the strange relationship that had suddenly come into existence with just a few things sprinkled in about what had happened that day. Checking the clock to see if he had made it on time, Spike deflated when he realized he'd missed the deadline by about three hours.

“Figures. Might as well send it anyways. I wonder if she's even awake? Oh well. At worst, I'll wake up to the feeling of a letter coming through... eww...” He said to himself as he prepared four pieces of paper to be printed on. When he checked the screen again, and was more than surprised to see that some of his text had changed.

“What the? I don't... know some of these words, I know I didn't write this...” He said bringing the disk closer to his face to inspect the little pixels in the screen as if they held the answer to why his message changed.

“My apologies Master Spike, I only meant to correct errors.” The disk said. Upon hearing the voice, Spike nearly dropped it on the floor before managing to catch the keyboard and the disk barely staying on it's jack.

“Oh crap! Ah...” He breathed, setting the disk and keyboard back on the large wooden table in the center of the library. Then he realized who the voice belonged to. “Andromeda?”

“Yes?” The blue and violet sprite of the sorcerer replied after making his presence visible.

“How? Or really, why, are you in my disk?” The dragon boy asked, trying to settle his appendages back in the chair. It was always difficult to get his wings to cooperate after being startled.

“Oh, I simply noticed you were still awake and decided to check on you.” He said in his generally cheery tone. Andromeda always reminded Spike of a butler when he spoke. Eager and happy to help at all times.

“So uh... I guess if you corrected it, you read my letter huh?” A little puff cloud animation flew away from the sorcerer's sprite as he moved into a cross-legged position.

“I suppose I did. I apologize if I've intruded on your privacy.” Spike sat back in the armchair and put his hands behind his head.

“I don't mind, really. And maybe it's a good thing you're here. I kinda feel like I need someone to talk to this about.” Andromeda nodded.

“If that is what you wish Master Spike, then I will hear you out. Perhaps you can reiterate what you said in your letter to me, and then we can go from there?” Spike started to feel a smile creep up on his face for the first time today, then began to tell Andromeda all about his day.

Twilight awoke to darkness. She was on the upstairs couch, the book she'd been reading in her hands, and covered by a blanket she didn't remember getting. Faint streetlamps pierced the curtains to the windows of the library, keeping the light level at minimal, but that was more than enough for Twilight's eyes to see in. She checked around the room. Spike's curtain wasn't drawn, but there was no ten year old in the bed, and the Angel was curled up in a little ball of feathers in his own. Checking the clock on her disk, Twilight noticed that Andromeda was nowhere to be found either.

It's 3 in the morning and neither of them are upstairs. Which means they're down stairs. Probably together. She figured that since sleep was lost, it wasn't coming back without some magical interference, she might as well see what they were up to. The current room temperature must have been ten degrees lower than what the blanket was at, because as soon as she removed her blanket, her hands felt like they'd been covered in ice.

Throwing the blanket around her shoulders to try and retain warmth, Twilight made her way down the staircase, making sure to avoid looking at the Angel and getting funny ideas. On her way down, candle light was coming from the window in the wooden door that lead to the main room. She started to hear voices as she drew closer to it.

“...And you think she should just... go with the flow? Give in, and just let it happen?” The first voice sounded like Spike.

“Frankly, yes. Based on our earlier discussion, that future seems like it ends well for them both of them, provided our current time line doesn't diverge too far off course from it.” And the next voice was of the Sorcerer.

He must have downloaded himself from my disk to Spike's... Rather than joining the conversation, Twilight decided she might listen for a while to see what they were talking about. It wasn't a too far off guess that it involved her.

“So, what exactly did he tell you? That it just kinda happened? How did that happen in the first place? He's no Mage. I've read a lot of stuff for my age, and even the fantasy stuff doesn't go like that.” Argued Spike. If Twilight knew her brother, he was debating a scifi theory.

“I don't know. Master Spike, there is very little written and recorded on magic that travels through time in any form. Pocket dimensions are a close as we can get, and that really isn't even close to actually moving within a time line. The Eldritch girl is an anomaly just by existing. Considering these events happened on the same night, there's very little chance that it was just coincidence. He wouldn't lie to me, and I believe that they could end up together.”

What in the world are they talking about? A book or something?

“Well, even if it wasn't coincidence, I don't like the idea of shipping them on purpose. It just feels kinda... I don't know, dirty. Shouldn't it be her decision? Like, without an outside influence?”

“Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell you if she will ever open up to anyone. 'Hope for the best, expect the worst, and interfere where you can.' The woman knows what she's talking about, and this situation is one that we can interfere with. Is it better to let her continue like this, frail and lonely? Or would you prefer to see her happy, even if you might be the cause of it?”

Something slammed on wood. Judging by the volume of the sound, it was probably Spike's tail.

“Of course I want to see her happy, but I don't like the way this feels! It's like... that episode of Time journal. He read the entry saying he never opened that door and would win the game in just a few hours after. But he decided to change fate and look in the door, and learn something he never should have. The whole world blows up like, ten episodes after that, but of course, not without thousands of people dying in the process. Should we really open the door?”

This wasn't... a normal conversation. Spike sounded like he was actually concerned. Not just, 'oh it's just a story, it would never happen in real life,' but something more was going on. The further the conversation went, the more it sounded like it wasn't about a book or some anime.

“If you intend to follow that line of logic, then how about this? Say we don't open the door. We don't try and help this along, and we never speak of it again. And things go awry. Horribly awry. What if, I told you that, in a year, she would have more power than anyone else? Suddenly she can do as she pleases, and there will not be much outside of the strongest forces available that can fight her? She happens to be a key to one of those forces as well, so then what do we do? Do we rely on her moral integrity? Or do we wait for her to crack when her anti-social tendencies finally take over? The day that she does, it may as well be the apocalypse.”

“Apocalypse? What else do you know about this that I don't? Andromeda, that's not just playing with two lives, that's playing with the world!”

Spike was shushed hurriedly for being loud.

“We wouldn't want to wake anyone, now would we Master Spike?” There was a silence before Andromeda continued.

“But you are correct. It is playing with the world, but this is where the saying becomes relevant. We expect the world to end when that day finally comes. We hope that it doesn't and everyone can live another day. But to beat our expectations, we must interfere. We have cards of our own, even if she has the ones that will win the game, so we must use them carefully and wisely to gain the upper hand in this situation. She can defy the norms and usurp society at a certain point. But, we can make it so she won't if we push her in the right direction. But that takes an active hand, and I don't have one.”

The room lost more sound, and now all that remained were the calm winds outside blowing against the leaves of the tree. Twilight tried hard not to think about what was just said. The more she did, the more she thought Andromeda was being intentionally vague in the event someone could hear them. She didn't like it. It lined up too well with reality.

“Can you give me some time to think about this? You make it sound like I'm the deciding factor in letting the world crumble here... Spike finally replied with a heavy tone.”

“But of course, Master Spike. But remember this: It is only a story. You can change the way it ends.”

A story? Oh, thank gods. They're talking about a story. Just... a story. I'm going back to bed. I feel like my heart is about to burst, and my head hurts. I don't need this right now. I amthe deciding factor in letting the world crumble as of Monday anyways...

When next Twilight awoke, she was not where she expected to be. She was in the main bed, but alone, and more or less in the fetal position at the foot of the bed. She jolted herself awake and scanned the room for other occupants. The time was about noon, seeing as she was almost needing to cover her eyes with the curtains drawn. There was no one else in the room, so she decided to check out her disk. As expected, the flashing pink outlined mailbox had the number 1 by it.

'You were asleep at the foot of the bed when I woke up. Honestly, you sleep kinda like a dog. In any case, Andromeda said I should probably just leave you alone, so that's what I did. If you can remember where the sandstone square is, there's a circle inscribed on a piece of parchment that Dad left for you. Spike is still there, he should be able to point it out. I'll be back tonight, but I've downloaded Andromeda for today's assignment. He will come if you summon, but you shouldn't need to duel today. Eclipse and Eris left this morning, So Dad and I will be taking over training. It sucks to train with dad, so... good luck'

From Zeph. Or, as he's labeled in Twilight's disk, Ass hat. Twilight rolled her neck around, letting it pop a few times before realizing that going to the square would be a day of getting beat up by Black. She had two options before her.

On one hand, I could go, take the beating, learn some new tricks, maybe even get some more definition on my significantly less flabby arms as of yesterday.

And then the lazy hand says, Or, we could not do that, screw off around town, and then get the shit kicked out of us by... any number of royal family members, including but not limited to: Celestia, Black, and Zephraim, but later. She sighed.

I should go. Making her way down stairs, Twilight found Spike typing away at a keyboard like a mad man.

“Geez, kid. What are you up to that you brought out a mechanical keyboard Startled by the noise, all of Spike's appendages froze and flared out. He slowly turned his head and stared blankly at her.”

“Oh... uh... H-hey Twi...” The stutter tipped her off. Spike forgot something important, or he just remembered what he'd forgotten.

“What did you do?” She said, getting straight to the point. Spike's tail twitched left and right.

“Uh... the circle is on the table?”

“You didn't answer my question.”

“What do you mean what did I do? I didn't do anything.”

“Which means you were supposed to do something. What didn't you do?”

“You don't happen to know the time, do you?” Twilight narrowed her eyes at him.

“It's just about twelve thirty. Why?” He sighed.

“I... may or may not have been told to wake you up three hours ago.” He said, his body finally relaxing. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Friggen figures. Whatever, I'm gone.” Twilight grabbed a large white rectangle off the table, flipped it over, and placed it on the floor. She imagined that this circle would take her to a safe spot on the sandstone, but just to be sure, she magically edited it to transport her starting six feet in the air. The fall might hurt, but at least her atoms and someone else's wouldn't be mixing in time-space. With a snap of her fingers, Twilight was gone, and Spike was left alone in the library.

“Okay, she's gone!” Spike called out into the library. From the basement stairs started to climb Zephraim. He exited the staircase and then joined Spike at the table with Andromeda waiting patiently on his disk.

“Alright... so what exactly do you two need to talk to me about? I was supposed to instruct physical training today with the girls. I'm honestly surprised that you managed to talk dad into doing it instead.” The Angel said as he propped his feet up on the large table.

“First of all, I for one would like to discuss this with you face to face. Did she send you the proxy?” Andromeda said from his technological prison.

“Oh, right. Yeah, here give me a minute.” Zephraim swiped a few times at the screen of his duel disk, then ejected it's matter wave. From his pocket, he pulled out a pure white card base that had no details on it, save for the standard black border. He placed the white square on his matterwave, and then it started to change. Zephraim started to mutter words that Spike couldn't understand, several letters that Spike couldn't discern started to glow in a rainbow of colors, and then the card turned into a dull version of Twilight's Andromeda card. The duel disk flashed violet, and Andromeda was sitting on the table, in his usual cross legged position.

“Woah. What was that?” Spike asked, looking at Zeph.

“He can explain this one better than I can.” The Angel said leaning back in his chair further so to remove two of its legs from the floor.

“That is what is known as a Proxy card. An invention of Starswirl, he had originally intended to use them to release my siblings and I from our stone prisons, but the spell he'd created couldn't generate enough power to free our souls. Instead, the proxy could temporarily transfer our souls to itself, until it lost it's source of power, or we could no longer sustain our being outside our slates. Celestia uses them to capture copies of soul cards these days. I believe you call them blanks now?” Andromeda said, giving Zephraim a look of question at the end of his sentence.

“Yeah. Blanks are sold everywhere, albeit at a rather expensive price. Someone has to be trained to use the spell to create one of these, and it's a level 7 spell that has no way to reduce it's cost. You know about the whole cost-equilibrium with magic right?” Spike nodded.

“Oh, yeah. It's like how easy spells are efficient to a certain point, but then the power generated isn't equal to the power required right?” Zephraim snapped.

“Exactly. Rune magic is hard, and mom and Luna teach people personally how to do it. Kiebzen owns the only Blank factory in the world, and they can only make about twenty of these a day. I had Mom make this one for me herself though. She can pop sevens like they're nothing. I'm honestly sure she does it to show off some times.” Zephraim said.

“So, back to the matter at hand, what was so important that the two of you needed me here instead of doing my job?” He asked.

“Well...” Andromeda began.

“I... I need to know how you...” Spike swallowed, trying to calm his nerves. As much as he'd become used to Zephraim, that duel with Fluttershy still haunted him every time he would look into the Angels eyes. The demon was always lurking inside, just waiting to strike. Beating at it's gold flecked prison with each passing second.

“I need to know how you feel about her.” Spike finally said. Zephraim looked at spike, then he looked at Andromeda who was avoiding his eyes.

“Andy... What is he talking about?” He said, staring blankly at the Sorcerer. Andromeda moved a finger, then quickly brought it back to his lap.

“Oh, come on! You know what this is about! My sister!” Spike said, beginning to sound more desperate. Zephraim very quickly took his attention away from Spike to narrow his eyes at Andromeda.

“You... told him!?” He said, with more intensity, but no more volume.

“I felt he had a right to know.” Andromeda said defiantly.

“And don't think I haven't noticed the other stuff either! You two... spooning or whatever the last two nights. You don't look at her the same way anymore, and she always looks frustrated when she's around you... Why...? Why did you just... flip personalities all the sudden? Did Celestia put you up to it? I've heard rumors about what she can manipulate. Twilight is an easy target for her too, so just... tell me what's going on? What don't I know that seems to have so much weight behind it?” The ten year old said, losing the anger and giving in to the powerless feeling he's been fighting since last night.

Spike has always been more attentive than Twilight would ever give him credit for. These past four days had been so hectic that he could never tell if the sky was going to fall in the next minute, or the ground was going to crumble in the minute afterward. All he could do to escape was to hide away in the worlds of his comics, where none of reality had any bearing.

The first day, he learned about ancient wars that were about to resume practice. The second day, a murder happens within fifteen minutes walking distance of where he was sleeping. The third day, suddenly Twilight starts to change. And finally, last night, Andromeda decides to fill him in on the fact that somehow, someday, Twilight could be the key to ending the world, if not on Monday night.

It was likely that she hadn't noticed it herself, but every time she used her magic, Spike would always catch a glimpse of a gold spark. It would shoot off in an unknown direction as fast as it appeared, but it was there. Her aura felt like it was growing, becoming more intense with each passing moment. It had a strange alluring effect, almost in the same way that when in the presence of either of the Queens, one can't look away. Zephraim directed his attention to Andromeda to give him the family death glare, then sighed.

“Look, Spike.” He said, kneeling to reach eye level with the dragon boy. “I don't know. At first, I was completely indifferent. I hate to admit it, but I've always been a little jealous of her. For the normal family model, I have a large one, and I live in the same house with my aunt and uncle who have kids around my age, which only makes it an even bigger family.

Suddenly some brat shows up and dad is hardly ever around for an entire year, and then mom is the one who's less available all the time. Shortly afterward, she adopts another kid and I'm beginning to feel left out. It's hard to be thirteen and not have your parents around all the time, and even more so when you know the reason is because some new kid has their attention. It wasn't until I finally accepted Fluttershy after an incident in Namiva that I realized that there might be something more to these other kids that my parents had taken so much interest in.

When I finally met her, all those feelings of indifference and jealousy just kinda started to well up, and I couldn't find it in me to like her much at all. But then, we dueled on the train. Spike, have you ever been in an intense duel? One where you felt that your entire being was pulled together against a challenge you weren't sure you could over come?” Spike was slow to answer.

“No, I... I don't really play that much.” He said reluctantly, his hands drifting toward his pockets.

“In a duel where you and your opponent are locked against each other, where neither player is willing to move without a fight, you start to... feel them. The other player, that is. Their emotions, you being to figure out how they think, how they would act in a situation. When I dueled Twilight that day... I felt such a different person than what was on the exterior. She felt so... Alone. Afraid. Betrayed. Confused. Crushed. Defeated. Depressed. Frustrated. Hopeless.

'Is this the girl that I was so afraid was going to steal my parents away from me?' I remember thinking. And then it finally clicked. Something my aunt told me just the day before finally made sense, and I started to see similarities in her and myself. As the day went on, I watched her duel again and again, and with each duel, I saw more of who she had the potential to be. By the end of the day, I'd say I even liked to be around her a little bit.

She wasn't as terrible as I initially thought, and with time, she might not be bad at all. Then... I had that dream, or... whatever happened that night. I saw a future, and I met a different person with the same name and face as your sister. I thought they were different people, but she told me she knew I would see her one day. Not the man she was with, but me, as I am now.

She told me things I could have never known if she hadn't, and in that strange world which might have been our future, I believed her. So I did what she told me to. And for a good couple of days, I thought Twilight was really going to open up to me. But... You probably heard what we talked about last night, didn't you?” Spike nodded.

“Yeah... She... the divorce really did a number on her. I guess, she hadn't quite given up hope for them yet. And when she finally found out, she basically gave up on them both. Dad's cleaned himself up since then, even tried to patch things up with mom several times, but she just doesn't want anything to do with him anymore. I guess that spite really does run in the family...” The dragon boy sighed through a hollow laugh. Zephraim shook his head.

“But you get where I'm coming from now right? I don't know if mom is in on this or not, and even if I asked her, she's likely to deny anything involving her hands be it the truth or not. There just isn't any way to tell what's actually going on, and this is only the fourth day. There are four left, and one mistake will end the world.

So, I'm just going to do my best to keep up that occasional smile she gets when she sleeps. Manipulation, circumstance, stress, I don't care about any of that at this point. If we all end up dying after Monday, then we might as well spend what time we have left happy with each other right?” He said, putting that comforting hand on the ten year old's shoulder.

“I guess, but now that I hear it from you, I just feel like you're letting it happen because of some crazy dream. I don't really want this to turn into a fight, but, do you really care? Nothing you've said to me sounds like a real answer.” Zephraim's mouth scrunched and he pulled his hand away from the boy. He put his hands on his hips and sighed.

“Anything to add Andy?” Zephraim said, turning to the Sorcerer who had remained quiet.

“Is the answer not obvious here? How else would one settle an argument where there are only words? Actions must take precedence. A duel should suffice.” Andromeda said as if they'd been looking at an object claimed lost.

“Wait, what?” Spike said, realizing what he was asking of him.

“He has a point.” Zephraim said, nodding along. The sorcerer turned to Spike

“Celestia has taught me over the years that conflict is easiest resolved through a fight to obtain understanding. Of course, she has never condoned physical violence-”

“Cough* except when it come to us* cough*” Zephraim quickly added in. The sorcerer scowled at him and continued.

“Never condones physical violence, so instead, she typically uses a duel as a way to break boundaries between people in order for a bond to be formed. Over the years, she used this tactic many times, and with each attempt managed to prevent fights from breaking out, or stopping conflicts all together. The game is filled with magic and causes each player to feel the soul of the one they stand across in a battle of wills. I've seen more duels end in draws that were for substantial claim than ones where a winner was decided for a tournament with her.” Zephraim smiled.

“Yep. I'd say Andy is on point here. Well, maybe except for the violence part, but duels certainly are some kind of magic. I've never had a bad interaction with someone I didn't like after I dueled them... Eh, well, Twilight is a special case, but we'll just ignore the outlier. So come on, grab your deck and let's go outside and give the ol' game a whirl. It works like, 99 percent of the time.” Zephraim gave Spike a good slap on the shoulder, but then Spike shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down. He muttered something.

“What was that?”

“I can't...” He muttered again.

“Come on man, ya gotta work with me here. What are you saying?”

“I don't have a deck, okay! I'm not normal, and as far as I know, I'm only half human! I can't play the game because I don't have cards...” He shouted finally. Zephraim puffed out a breath.

“Well, that's problematic. Most people at least have a mass production deck for learning the game by your age... but I can see how your station might prevent that... Well, maybe... Do you have a mark?” Zephraim asked.

“A mark? Well... not exactly...” Spike replied, scratching the back of his head.

“Define 'not exactly' for me.”

“Well, there is a mark, but it's not like yours or anybody else's.”

“You mind showing me?” Reluctantly, Spike took off his shirt and pointed to what looked more like a lime green scar on his right pectoral that blended in with his skin. It was in the shape of four cones that all pointed inward, resembling something along the lines of a bird's talons. Possibly a dragon's claw.

“Well, there you go. I've had this since I was born as far as anybody alive knows, and I've never had a mark 'manifest' like everyone else does.” He said, more than a little on the defensive side. Zephraim started to grin.

“Ooh, do I hear a touchy subject? I'll leave it alone for now, but this is interesting, none the less.” Andromeda nodded.

“Hmm... while that may not be a mark in the traditional sense, I do believe it does at least let us know where his soul is closest to his body... Master Zephraim, you might try and pull it out from there.” Zephraim started to stroke his beard.

“I think you're right... here, hold still. This might feel a little weird. At worst it doesn't work, but a best, you might find that you're more normal than you think...” Zephraim kneeled to get on eye level with the green scar on Spike's chest, then raised his right hand like he was about to grab a book. Much like he'd watched Eclipse do yesterday morning, Zephraim's hand started to let off a burning mist in a dark green color, occasionally with black tips.

His hand slowly started to move toward Spike's scar, and as it did, Spike felt like something was tugging at his heart. It started to beat faster, and once Zephraim's fingers touched his body, he could hear a pulse. He could smell a faint but familiar fragrance, he could taste something sweet that reminded him of home.

Soon, memories of the past started to flood his mind, good times, bad times, and everything in between. Then, just as gradually as it had built up, the senses and the memories faded in an instant. Spike was dazed by his sudden trip through all the years he could remember, but when he managed to get a grip, Zephraim had a great big smile on his face.

“Congratulations Mr. Sparkle, you just so happen to be human enough to have your very own set of soul cards.” The monochrome Angel stood up and handed Spike his very own deck.

“No way...” He said quietly. He started to rub his eyes and sniff. “I never thought... I would ever... just be normal...” Spike sank to his knees and held his deck tightly to his chest. A precious reminder that he, was human too.

“It appears that the scar on your chest may just be your personal mark. I don't know much about dragons, as elusive as they were back in my time, but you are at the very least, a product of the human race, Master Spike.” Andromeda said astutely. “However, it seems as if this proxy is either fading, or Zephraim has run out of energy for me to borrow. My data is being transferred back to Master Sparkle, so I won't see you until she returns. Until then.” Andromeda stood, bowed, and faded away. Zephraim took the card from his disk and waved it in the air.

“Man, that didn't last long. I don't even think it was the proxy. Twilight must have summoned him...” Realizing Spike had yet to move from his spot on the floor, still holding his new cards, Zephraim put his hand on Spike's shoulder.

“Hey, what's so fun about being normal? Soul cards are all about being unique! A representation of you, a picture of your very own soul! If you ever need to know who somebody is, you give em a duel that makes them run through their deck! Then you get to see just who they are behind the mask they call 'normal.'” He said, pulling Spike to his feet.

“Slide those into the main slot so the disk can register your cards. They're brand new, so it'll take a few minutes to figure out what does what and sort what goes where in the event you have an extra deck. Climb on my back. We're gonna go find a nice spot to play while things are working, okay?”

Spike managed to stop the tears and nod in reply. He hadn't even looked at the cards himself yet, so it was going to be an interesting game for sure. The two walked out the library door, and the disk began to read Spike's cards. With Spike loaded on his back, Zephraim started to run, expand his wings, and took to the air.

Duel - Spike v. Zephraim (14.4)

“So, you know all the rules right? I figure that this game is important enough to the country that it's taught in school, but I honestly don't know when it's taught in school anymore.” Zephraim said as they descended toward the yard of Fluttershy's cottage. Spike looked around and he frowned once he locked on a red spot in the teal green grass.

“I do but... do we really have to play here?” The dragon boy said as he got off of Zephraim's back. Zeph shrugged

“What's wrong with here? It's a big open space and a good distance away from 'town.'” He said, making air quotes when referring to the very small urban area that called itself a town. Spike sighed.

“Never mind, this is fine. I guess.” Zephraim gave him a good swat to the shoulder.

“Don't worry about it. Monday was a special day for everyone. I don't think anyone in our little group is going to be acting like they did Monday any time soon. Now go stand over there and put the disk in duel mode. It should do the rest on it's own after that.” Sending him off with a comforting smile, Spike wandered across the cottage yard until he was told to stop.

Okay... I think I know what I'm doing... oh, there's the button. How have I never noticed this before?

Spike pressed a rather large red button on the bottom of his older model disk, and out of thin air popped a violet matterwave. The screen flashed the words 'Duel Mode On!' and the same words were heard from Zephraim's disk in a computerized voice.

“Are you ready?”

“I guess? I... think I know what I'm doing...”

“Perfect! This will be a great learning opportunity! Remember, we say the word on three. 1, 2, 3!” On queue, the two boys aimed their disks at each other and in unison shouted,

“DUEL!” A beam of light shot from either side to the center, and the world was suddenly bathed in an almost digital light that augmented the colors of everything around.

“Duel mode activated. MR Field on.” A computerized voice said once a boundary of light had been formed.

“I think I'll let you go first since your cards a pretty new. I'd rather you not be worrying about my field while trying to figure out how your deck works.” He said after swiping exactly five cards off the top of his deck.

“Wow. Uh, okay then. I guess I draw my hand now?” Zephraim nodded, and then Spike did exactly that. The main deck count dwindled down to thirty five, and Spike looked over the cards he had. He recognized none of them, save for one that looked reminiscent of another card he knew all too well.

Seeing that he had an entry card for the extra deck, he checked the count on the other side of his disk, and sure enough there was just one.

Messenger Fusion... Send two monsters from your graveyard to your deck to fusion summon one Messenger monster from your extra deck. Once per turn, if your opponent would activate the effect of a card that targets a card(s) in your graveyard, you can return this card to the top of your deck to negate that effect. You can only activate one Messenger Fusion per turn.

Well, I guess that means I'm partial to the purple cards just like Twilight is. But, don't fusion monsters require specific cards most of the time? Yeah, I think Andromeda is the only one who's generic for her Star monsters... I should look at that card.

Tapping the extra deck on his disk's screen, Spike was shown the name of a Fusion monster, the materials it required, and nothing else.

Oh, come on! Is it still loading it in? Well... I think I have the specific one in my hand. Messenger Dragon. Spike let a grin start to form on his face. A representation of your soul huh? Yeah, I can see that. Spike returned to the cards in his hand, and eventually started to get a sense of how they worked together. Then he made his move.

“Okay, I don't know if you've ever seen something like this before, but I can already tell that my deck is a little weird. I'll start off by summoning, Clear, the Upstart Messenger!” Spike carefully took the monster card from his hand and gently placed it on his matterwave. From a circle of bright green flame stepped a humanoid elf with violet skin wearing a beige and brown uniform and carrying a giant metallic envelope in one hand, and a giant letter opener in the other, presumably acting as a sword and shield. The elf had white hair underneath a beige hat that matched his shirt and wore a pair of glasses that looked like they were made of crystal. He had a dark brown tie around his neck with a gold tie clip with a four triangle emblem on it, all pointing inward. Zephraim raised an eyebrow.

“Summoning a normal monster on the first turn? Either you're ballsy as hell, or there's more to this guy than it seems.” The Angel said, waiting patiently with his arms crossed and his wings flared out. Somehow, Spike felt like he'd seen this pose before, but couldn't think of where.

“I think you'll be surprised at what this guy can do. As far as I can tell, most of my deck uses him in some form or fashion. So, next up, I activate the effect of Experienced messenger in my hand. If I control a normal monster, I can special summon him.” With a little more speed, Spike summoned another monster. The new monster resembled an old man with dark brown skin. He had a white beard and hair, a few scars on his face, and a tattered version of the uniform that Clear wore. He carried some kind of futuristic rifle that looked like it shot long thin projectiles, and rather than on a tie clip, the gold emblem was on the center of his hat.

“When Experienced Messenger is summoned, I excavate the top three cards of my deck, then draw three cards. After that, I put three cards from my hand on top of the deck and send the top two to the graveyard.” Zephraim tilted his head.

“Wow. Excavate cards? This is gonna be really interesting. And then you stack the deck just to get rid of whatever you have in your hand that you don't need or want there? If I knew any better, I'd say your deck likes to play in the graveyard.” Spike nodded.

“It looks that way, but maybe not the way you think either. Like I said, this is weird. The cards I excavated were: Messenger Sorting Station, Messenger Organizer, and Surprise Delivery. I draw those three cards, and put three from my hand back on top, not necessarily the cards I drew...” Spike paused to read his three new cards, and since he excavated them, Zephraim did the same.

“Eww. Surprise Delivery just looks like a nasty control card. You get to summon a monster and seal away two spots on my field with tokens until they blow up. I can't even do anything with them.”

“Mmhmm...” Spike said, deep in thought.

Now, if I put this one on top, I can get her effect to go off, and if I send the other one, I can excavate another two cards. Then I can set this one, and use whatever I excavate to power something up in case it gets attacked... but If I do this, then I'll have to shuffle the deck, and that will ruin my set up... Oh wait, if this is out, they don't go back to the deck, but to my hand instead! I can do this!

“Okay, so I put these three back, and then the top two get sent to the grave. Because Starbright Messenger was sent to the grave from the deck, her effect activates, and I get to destroy a monster on the field.” Zephraim tilted his head again.

“Oh?”

“So, I'll destroy Clear.” The violet skinned Elf seemed to more or less explode in a brilliant ball of light.

“And what purpose does that serve exactly?” The angel asked.

“Because it was a normal monster that Starbright destroyed, She gets to special summon herself in face up defense!” In another wake of green flames in the shape of a portal, a scantily clad pale white skinned elf took a spot on the field. She wore a similar outfit to the other two messengers, but her 'shorts' were more or less brown denim boxers, and her shirt covered down to the edge of her ribcage and was half open in the chest. A brown Tie that was longer than her shirt hid her cleavage, and like the Experienced Messenger, she had four cone emblem on her hat. She shared the long pointy ears with Clear and had wavy violet hair that met the end of her 'shirt' on her back. She carried what resembled a long range sniper rifle that was covered in lights and had a similar shape to the other messenger's gun.

“I wanna say that that looks familiar, but I couldn't tell you from where.” Zephraim said. Spike furrowed his brow stared hard at his newest card, but couldn't place the odd familiarity either.

“Huh. Same. Well anyways, the important part about her is that if a Messenger monster would be sent from the graveyard to the deck, I get to add it to my hand instead. Next, I'll activate probably my last card this turn, Messenger Fusion! I can return cards from my graveyard to my deck to fusion summon a Messenger monster, but since Starbright is out, I get to add them to my hand instead!” Suddenly, as if someone were speaking them to him, Spike heard a string of words echo deep within his mind. Without realizing it, he began to repeat them out loud.

“Dragon of deep space, combine your powers with the herald of hope and join together to form a greater being! Fangs of viridian flame, wings of deep space, eyes of the herald! Deliver justice to those who deserve it, Messenger Dragon!” In a swirl of bright green flames, Clear the Upstart Messenger and a little dragon that Spike had sent to the graveyard with Starbright, disappeared. A flash of violet shot out from inside the vortex of green fire, and out came the dark nebulaic claws of a beast. The Creature rose from the burning vortex until it's giant tail had finally exited the fires.

The dragon's scales were an unusually pale shade of jade green, and along it's spine ran dark crystals that had galaxies and stars in them, much like Andromeda's cape. It's wings and talons followed the same scheme as it's spine crystals, anywhere that wasn't covered in pearly dragon scales showed stars and galaxies moving in space. It's spine crystals ran all along it's back to it's tail, where the crystals seemed to group and from what resembled a dark flail. Embossed on it's forehead was the golden emblem of the messengers, just above the dragon's bright green eyes that looked identical to Spike's.

Zephraim looked up and down the dragon, and as he did, he came across the strangest sense of déjà vu. The dragon looked back at him, and Zephraim started to feel like he wasn't just staring at a card.

“This is interesting. I've heard of fusion being bad for hand management, but your fusion kinda works the opposite way of everyone else. So, what does this guy do?” The Iscandor family liked to put into practice the art of subtle manipulation by asking their opponent to tell them what their cards did. One wouldn't notice exactly how it worked unless they were told, but most of the Iscandors can read faster than the average person. They use the time in which the opponent is explaining their card to plan around it or against it.

Most saw it as a curtsy, and others typically explained their cards to their opponents anyways, but Celestia always made it a point to get her kids and nephews to ask first. Time is a valuable resource in a fast paced game like this after all.

“Well... A lot actually. One, he can't be targeted by your cards. Two, He can excavate three cards and put them back in any order, once per turn. Three, I can discard a card to send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard. And four, he acts kinda like a Pendulum monster in that he can't go to the grave, but goes to the extra deck face down instead. Uh, it also says that that effect can't be negated, so I guess it's mandatory.” Spike said, tilting his head at the card as he read it.

“I see. Well, it is definitely... unique.” He said, still holding the gaze of the dragon before him. A thought crossed his mind, and then he shook his head. Spike was about to continue his turn.

“Well, since he can, I'll go ahead and use Messenger Dragon to Excavate the top three cards of my deck!” The pale jade dragon spewed a lime green flame. The flames took the shape of three rectangles which then turned into large flaming versions of the three cards Spike Excavated.

“Hmm... Messenger Organizer, The Upstart Messenger's Stand-in, and Renegade Messenger...” Spike said absent mindedly reading through the two new cards. Let's see... If that happens, then I can... okay, that should do it.

“Okay, So now I'll activate the third effect of Messenger Dragon. By discarding Clear, I send the top two cards from my deck to the grave. When this happens, the effect of Messenger Organizer activates. I can set a messenger spell or trap from my grave on the field. With that said, I'll set Renegade Messenger. With that said, I'll set two cards, and end my turn.” When all was said and done, Spike looked at his hand, then at his field. Three monsters on the field, all above level four no less, three cards set, and two in hand. Then, there were two cards in grave, and he knew what was on top of his deck. If math was working right here, he had gone from five cards to what essentially comes out to eleven cards.

“Whew. Talk about a six card gain. You're sweating me kid.” Zephraim said, popping his neck.

“Yeah, I just counted that. I don't know that I've ever seen anybody get this many cards out at one time before.” Spike replied, a little amazed at just what his new deck could do. Zephraim shrugged.

“Well, you've clearly never seen mom play. And I suppose you've never seen a good pendulum deck go off either. Those things are scary. But, since I'm neither of those, I guess I'll just have to show you what a few powerful cards can do on their own.” He said. With his hand beginning to let off that mist again, he swiped a card from the top of his deck and smiled.

I don't like the looks of that...

“It seems as if my deck wants me to fight fire with fire! Here's a look into the future, I'm about to wipe your field using the effects of two cards!” Zephraim said as he slid the card he just drew into his disk.

“To begin, I'll activate the effect of my own version of fusion, Grayscale Blending Apparatus!” In the center of his empty field, the grassy ground started to become gradually more blurry in one spot until finally it was just a white circle of nothingness spinning inward.

“Machine of wavelength, stone of fire, combine your powers into a glittering flame to illuminate the night skies! Appear, Iridescence, the Grayscale Star!” A red figure that looked vaguely like a video game character and a white orb of machinery flew into the rotating blur. The blur started to move through several shades of red until it settled on a particularly bright one. The color formed a column, and from that column stepped a strangely familiar figure. She looked to be a very tall Angel with bright white wings, draped in set of robes that looked to be hand drawn which faded from white to black at the bottom.

The 'robes' as they were, only covered her chest and face on her upper body, hiding her fairly gratuitous features there, stopped just below her rib cage, then started again with a darker open dress that exposed the whole of her right thigh down to her feet. She wore strap sandals that climbed all the way up to her calves and carried two swords the glowed in various shades of the rainbow all along their blades with black and white on either edge. Along her arms were bands that moved along the color spectrum like her blades that continued to her fingers which had two rings on her index and ring fingers. Where the monster was not hand drawn or glowing with a rainbow filter, she was fairly tan, not to dissimilar to Zephraim's own skin color.

“Now I know that looks familiar.” Spike said, crossing his arms and frowning. Zephraim shrugged.

“Eh, I can't help it. From what I hear, Fluttershy got her own version a just day or so ago, and that makes all but one of us that have a card based on her. Out of the five anyways. But don't worry, this isn't nearly as strong as the real thing, she just does something similar. But anyways, let's get started! When Iridescence is summoned, she negates the effects of all other cards on the field!” Spike's ears perked up, and then he remembered he had a trap he needed to activate.

“Not so fast! I activate the effect of Surprise delivery! Since you already know what it does, I summon clear in defense, and two package tokens on your side in attack position!” Like before, the violet skinned elf appeared from green flames, this time carrying two large cardboard boxes wrapped up with chains. The elf tossed them over to Zephraim's field at either edge, effectively removing two spots for him to play monsters to. Then clear brought his envelope and opener out and crouched behind them.

“This is fine for now, but try and make sure you tell your opponent what your cards do in the future. Your cards only belong to you, so unless you've played your opponent before, they've likely never seen them.” Zephraim said. The dragon boy scratched at the scales on his cheeks.

“Oh, right. My bad.” Spike said.

“Anyways, now that that's happened, you cards lose their effects!” Iridescence took her blades and clashed them in mid air, sending a wave of Rainbow across the field, removing the color from every other monster as it passed, save for Clear who had no effect to take.

“Alright, so what was important about that?” Spike asked.

“Ah, I'm glad you asked. To properly wipe the field of a deck that likes to play in the grave, we have to send cards back to the deck. But, I can't do that unless I take the effects of everything on your field away first, and there would be no wipe if you had say, a face up spell, because this particular card can't do anything about those. The next step to field wipe would be retrieving my tuner monster. I activate the effect of Blending Apparatus in my graveyard! By shuffling this card into my deck, I get to add a light or dark attribute monster to my hand. With that said, I'll add Grayscale Brightness.” A small rotating ball of void appeared beside Zephraim, turned golden, and then faded into nothingness. He took a card that was sticking out of his deck and placed it on his matterwave.

“Next, since you did the hard part for me, I'll just normal summon Brightness.” As if a ghost had walked onto the field, the shining silhouette of a woman stood next to Iridescence. “When brightness is summoned, I can target a monster on the field and copy it's level. I'll target Experienced Messenger to make her level 5.” The white silhouette changed to match the outline of Experienced messenger.

“Next, I'll special summon Jasper Outside the Grayscale using his effect.” Out of a circle of black white and orange flames, a familiar dragon flew to Iridescence's side. Hand drawn with all it's shading done in cross hatching and black ink, the dragon had two arms with three talon claws, bat like wings, and a tail with a large flame at it's end. Spike narrowed his eyes.

“Is that a... Charizard?” He said, pointing to the 'Jasper' dragon. Zephraim looked away.

“Most of my childhood was spent in video games... and some of my teenage years... and... most of this year... But uh, all my monsters are kinda like that. At least the ones with color anyways.” Spike tilted his head.

“That didn't exactly answer my question.” He said, modeling his tone after his sister.

“And it wasn't supposed to! I activate the effect of Grayscale Vector Apparatus! It turns all face up monsters with no effect face down!” A black column shot from one monster to the next on Spike's field, turning them all into floating card backs.

“Awe. So much for that. But that still doesn't quite 'wipe' my field.” Spike said.

“Don't worry, the next card is going to do that. I'll keep my promise, I swear. Since I'm not going to be a dick and lock the field in your first duel, I'll synchro summon instead of being rude. At least you have a chance this way. I tune the level 5 Grayscale Brightness with the level 5 Jasper Outside the Grayscale! Arbiter of light and darkness, bring judgment upon truth and ideals of the creator! Come forth, Eraser, the Grayscale King!” The shining silhouette turned into five green rings which the 'dragon' then flew inside, turning into stars. A column of light shot through the rings and stars, leaving behind what could only be described as a king.

He was, strangely shorter than Iridescence, but was armored and robed in very detailed and ornate black and white whilst wearing a crown that glowed with the color spectrum. He carried a black ax in his hands that was nearly the size of Spike. It's blade glowed to match his crown and Iridescence's swords. Spike finally looked at the monster's face and realized why this one looked familiar.

“So uh...” He began.

“Just... let it go. I know. I promise. I have older siblings. I've heard enough about it. By banishing one card from my graveyard, Eraser can return all set cards to their owner's decks. Cards and effects cannot be activated in response, and each player shuffles their deck afterward if cards were added to it. Since I have nothing to return, it's all you.” The King raised his Ax, then brought it to the ground, sending a wave of rainbow color over all of Spike's field, bouncing each of his cards to their respective decks. Spike looked at his now empty field, then looked at Zephraim.

“So, I'm no math buff, But I'm pretty sure an attack from a 2500 and a 3200 will make more than 4000 life points go away. How exactly do I have a chance?” Spike asked, starting to feel a bead of sweat drip down the nape of his neck.

“Eraser cannot attack during the turn he activates his effect. I'll go ahead and tell you that I have a spell card in my hand, which I could have used to end the duel right now, but didn't and has no use at the moment. You'll have 1500 and one turn to make a come back. Eraser doesn't allow players to set cards either, so no traps without playing them from your hand, and no face down monsters. One last move, and that will be to have Iridescence attack directly. Don't worry though, I've turned my matterwave generator to non-solid. She can't hurt you... this time.” With the snap of his fingers, Iridescence shot forward and stabbed Spike in the chest. He was stunned to see the Angel woman almost pop from one spot to another, and even more so to see what looked like a real sword piercing his his sternum. Iridescence warped back to her spot on Zephraim's field, and Spike dropped to his knees.

“Sweet divinity, what the hell? That could have been real!?” He said, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Zephraim nodded.

“An unfortunate truth about this game is that it can, and has, been used to kill before. This is why students are taught to play the game with control in their minds and as friends, not enemies. You must always be mindful when you play because you do have the power to hurt someone. There are safety features in place, such as the MR fields and the limiters, but those can all be turned off. Always remember that.” The Angel explained, taking a more serious tone.

“Oh... oh gods, then... that means that Twilight really...” Spike looked to Zephraim, only to find the same expression still on his face.

“That's right. With the limiter, with the MR field, she still managed break through the safety features and seriously injure a student. Of course, this isn't even the first time that that's happened as well. A proctor, a teacher, a student she was in an argument with, before the most recent one. Hell, had it not been for Andromeda, even though it was in part his own fault, we would've had a crispy Rainbow Fume a few days ago.” He continued, waving his hands around as if it were all mundane talk.

“Then... how in the world did the Queens use this kind of magic to unite the country? I can't think that something like this wouldn't cause fear, right?” Spike asked, trying to think back to his history classes. Zephraim smiled.

“Don't forget, we call it a magic game for a reason. Rather than just tell you, I think I can show you how if we just keep playing. You have one turn left before I end the duel. You don't know what's in your deck, and neither do I. I think you have something special with that dragon of yours, and you have all the pieces but one to bring him back. I think you have the ability to win. So go ahead and try and turn your situation around. Trust yourself and you might just be surprised at what you can do.” Spike frowned.

Turn this around? How am I supposed to do that with just two cards? Wait a minute... this card is a searcher! If I can find something to get Clear in the grave, then that's all I need to do! If I can just get something that mills the top card of my deck...

“Okay... here goes nothing!” Spike pressed his fingers against the top card of his deck and drew. For a moment there, he thought he saw a hint of pale green mist on his hand, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. When he looked at his card, he knew he could do it.

“Ha! No way, this is it! Alright Zeph, you better get ready 'cause I think I've got this!” The Angel put his hand to his mouth.

“Do you now? Why don't you show me?” He said, taking a smile out of his mother's bag of tricks.

“For starters, I'll activate the effect of Pet Messenger in my hand! By discarding it, I get to search my deck for a level four or lower monster, and Clear the upstart messenger!” A small dragon that shared it's colors with the actual Messenger Dragon Came from behind Spike and dropped a package at his feet. The box fell away to reveal the violet skinned elf and a new monster that resembled some kind of cross between Andromeda and the Experienced Messenger. The spiky, pink haired mailman carried a tall staff with the Messenger emblem on it's end and wore a cape with three pointed shoulder pads above his beige shirt. He even wore Andromeda's tutor's cap with it's emblem traded for the messenger one. The two faded away and spike added those cards to his hand.

“I'll add Messenger Magician and clear to my hand. The deck then shuffles itself, and I have to put one card from my hand back on the top. But, that's where my next card comes in! I activate Messenger Checklist!” To the left of Spike appeared another elf in the messenger's uniform at a wooden desk with several stacks of paper work on it that she was furiously filling out. This female messenger was far more modest than the other, and looked more like clear in that she matched skin tone, but had straight dark indigo hair.

“Once per turn, I can excavate the top card of my deck. If it's a monster, I can send it to the grave and draw one card. If it isn't, that card goes to the bottom of the deck. But since I just stacked it...” The girl at the desk scribbled something down on a new piece of paper, then folded it up into an envelope. It burned in green flame, then she went back to work. An image of clear in the same green flame appeared above her, then faded away.

“Which means I get to draw again. But at this point, anything that helps is just over kill. I have everything I need already. Next up, I activate Messenger Sorting Station! By Shuffling this card back into the deck, I get to add one spell card from my grave to my hand, getting me Messenger Fusion!” Out of a circle of green flames shoots a capsule. It popped open and showed the printed version of Messenger fusion. Spike took the card from his grave slot and added it to his hand.

“Now that everything is in place, I activate Messenger Fusion one more time! Dragon of deep space, combine your powers with the herald of hope and join together to form a greater being! Fangs of viridian flame, wings of deep space, eyes of the herald! Deliver justice to those who deserve it, Messenger Dragon!” From the vortex of flame crawled the Jade dragon once more, taking a stance and letting off a powerful roar.

“Well, that was quite a lot of effort for a dragon that can't kill Eraser. But you said you already have the pieces you needed, so I bet that magician messenger can do something to change that.” Zephraim said.

“Nope!”

“Nope?”

“Nope. I don't need to beat either of 'your' monsters. Just watch and see! I summon Messenger Magician from my hand!” Like all the others, the Magician stepped from a portal of green flames to the side of the dragon. “Because I summoned him while I control a Messenger fusion monster, all monsters I control gain the piercing ability until the end of the turn!” The magician shot two orbs of flame above itself and the dragon, which then orbited the monsters in the same way that an Xyz material would.

“Ha ha! It looks like Surprise delivery has more uses than just locking my field.” Zephraim said.

“That's right! Now I activate the other effect of Messenger magician! By tributing him, I can have one monster attack twice this turn!” The Magician wrapped himself up in his cape until he disappeared. The remaining ball of flame turned red, and then started to orbit Messenger Dragon.

“The stage is set little man. Take your first game.” Zephraim said, holding his arms out as if he was waiting for a hug.

“Alright! Messenger Dragon, Attack the Package tokens!” The dragon reared up on it's hind legs, then roared a large column of flame at the ground. It split in two and headed straight for the package tokens. Both of the chained boxes were vaporized instantly, and the flames then engulfed Zephraim. His life point counter dropped to zero, and then all the cards on the field disappeared. Zephraim approached Spike and gave him a pat on the back.

“So, what do you think? Do you like the game?” He asked.

“Do I like it? That was awesome! I've always watched from the sidelines before, but to actually be there and pull off the comeback myself is... amazing! I know you went easy on me, but I just gotta know, how were you gonna win without using that eraser guy?” Zephraim rustled Spikes hair.

“Unfortunately, that's a secret. But who knows? I might pull that card out one of these days. But here's a hint. While I went for the synchro summon, what else could I have done with my field?” Spike started to bring his hand to his lips.

“Hmm... What else...?” After a few minutes, Zephraim sighed.

“One more hint. My tuner was thesame level as my non tuner.” Spike snapped his fingers.

“Oh, an Xyz summon! You had two level 5 monsters out!” Zephraim nodded.

“There we go. My deck is made to go into all the forms of Extra Deck cards. I have several of each kind, so I just summon what fits the situation. I must say though, you still managed to gain hand advantage after you had achieved your win condition. That's not something everyone can do. I think you've got some natural talent for this.” Spike could feel his tail beginning to wag.

“Really? You're not just saying that right?” Zephraim rolled his eyes.

“How can you not trust me after all that? Do you know how hard it is to change the setting in a matterwave generator? People out side of those with government keys can't even access it!” Spike took a step back.

“Okay, okay, I believe you. Geez. Heh... I won a duel today. If you tried to tell me that I would ever do that yesterday, I wouldn't even believe you.” Spike said, looking up at the clear sky.

“Well, sometimes, all you gotta do is speak up. It might not be the easiest thing in the world to just tell someone your fears, but that's really the only way you'll be able to get help.” Zephraim said, crouching down next to Spike. Spike sat down and continued to watch the sky as the two sat in silence. The wind was strong and the clouds moved quickly. After some time, Spike finally spoke up.

“So... I know that this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear, but I think I learned a little more about you in our duel, and I'm still not sure whether or not you actually like Twilight. I know you care, and I can tell that you're trustworthy, but I just don't really...” He trailed off. Zephraim stood up.

“Honestly, I don't know whether or not I actually 'like' Twilight. But at the very least, you telling me that you trust me is all I can really ask for. As long as you do that, I'm sure things will turn out fine.” Spike got to his feet and stood with him.

“I sure hope so. Between you and me, I like the world the way it is. I don't really want to see it end.” Zephraim shrugged.

“All we can do now is try our best and pray that it doesn't. Come on, it's getting late. Let's head back home.

The End of Fauna

“How many years has it been? Since that day, I mean.” Said an elderly Angel from his rocking chair. His dulled eyes stared blankly at the ashen dusty skies just above the blackened horizon.

“Years huh? I can't remember the last time we counted those. Heh, I wouldn't know. If I had to guess, maybe... forty? Looking at your decrepit ass, that's probably right.” Said a violet winged woman from a window inside the steel box the two called their home. She looked years younger than the Angel, guessing by her response to him almost thirty years younger, possibly in her twenties. He scowled at her, and she only smiled in reply.

“Well, if nothing ever does change, it's that sharp tongue of yours. Forty years huh? Forty years since the world ended.” He said, continuing to slowly rock and watch as the skies churned their maelstrom of grays and black. The indigo headed woman moved from her spot at the window and exited the shoddily constructed door of their scrap metal box.

In a violet aura of magic, she levitated a chair to the Angel's side and sat next to him. She propped her feet against a rusted bar that was welded to support beams that stretched from either side of their home's extended roof. To call it an awning would be generous.

“Yep. It sure has hasn't it? I failed to rise to the challenge that no one else could. And when all was said and done, I was the only one who made it out alive. Of course, you did too, but not because you wanted to.” She said, applying as much honey and lemon juice as she possibly could to her tones, making her speech sound dangerously close to sarcasm.

“Tell me again, what happened then? How... how did it all come to this? I... I don't remember anymore.” The girl stood up very quickly. With a hand covered in violet magic, she reached for the elderly Angel's face. Before she could, he grabbed her arm with more strength than she remembered him having.

“What are you?” He pulled her close and hugged her.

“Twilight... this has to stop. The disease is going to take me soon, please don't try and stop it again.” She began to grind her teeth as she felt the hot sting of liquid beginning to form on skin. “I'm sorry, but I can't be with you forever. So please... in my last moments, just tell me how it came to this?” He pulled back and stared deep into her dark violet irises with his own gray and greens. She couldn't stand to keep looking at those eyes that so earnestly asked for one last request. She looked toward the sky, and released herself from his grip.

“How did it come to this? Isn't there another story you'd rather hear? Maybe from a time when you were a child, or a time when your parents first met, or...” He took hold of her hand, and forced her teary eyes to meet his again.

“Please.” He said. She couldn't say no. She pulled her hand away and looked back at the sky. As long as she didn't look at his face, she could tell the story he wanted without breaking down again.

“It all started with a duel... yes, a duel in that summer of 3016. the last summer this world would ever see...”

“I was a prodigy, one who grew up under unfortunate circumstances with incredible power that would be locked away a year too late and shown to the world a year too early. Back then, I was a child. I was selfish, lonely, afraid, and unsure. I valued my own power of the lives of others, and after your mother picked me up, I believed I was an unstoppable force all by my own will. But... that wasn't the case.

Celestia... she thought, no, she knew that I was one day destined to become... this, this timeless creature that takes on the name human, or 'Ascended' as they called us. Those fools. We were given power, only to realize far too late that our power was just a curse with a different context. But at the same time, she knew that my character was... unstable. I hadn't grown up, and she was afraid that I never would on the path that I'd been taking. At the same time, she didn't have the time she needed to have me grow properly. She needed me to grow up in that week, in that month as quickly as possible. So, with no better option, she threw me into a new town with new people that I had to meet and become friends with. A group that I was supposed to make an unbreakable bond with, people that were the very incarnations of our ancestors. Siblings taken out of time.

Wouldn't that have been nice? Maybe things would have been different then. We first met in that week before everything went wrong. I hated you for no particular reason if nothing but my desire to suppress my own feelings, and you didn't like me because I was the focal point of your parents interest for a good chunk of your teenage life. We got on a train and played a game. My vision of you started to change, and your vision of me slowly started to turn as well.

That day went on, and we met all of the friends who we'd only know for that week. Good friends. Friends I wish I still had... We didn't all see eye to eye. As a matter of fact, I don't know that we were all ever on the same page, but as far as I could tell, we got along enough. If only I knew better. First we met Applejack. She was strong in her own right, a knight taken out of time, bound by her bloodline to be the symbol of justice to her fellow man. She was the one who was supposed to keep me in line, my dear sister. We found kinship and respect in our duel, and from that day on, we were friends. When I remember her, I remember her integrity. The feeling of trust that came so easily from her. Her honesty, as she was meant to be.

We came across a little peeping 'dash' next, as it were. I still think it's funny, that we ended up being the last two together. She was the weakest of the five of us when we met, and at the end she was the strongest. She was arrogant and petulant, but after enough beatings from her childhood friend, she got her act together. She did all she could that final day to try and keep her friends alive, even if it did end in failure. Loyal, that's what she was. Even in the face of death, she never gave up on me. Even when I did...

Oh Rarity. We came across her and your best friend running a shop in that town after a taxing duel with Rainbow darkened the spirits of us all. In an attempt to have her strength known, you had them pitted against each other in a game to show what she was capable of. As it turned out, she almost killed him by accident. It's a little strange to think that she saved his life that day, only to have it end in her arms only seven days later. I think he loved her, but we couldn't know now. She gave her everything in everything she did. Even when she tried to save my brother from that witch. She was generous, always offering what she could to help any cause. I wish I'd gotten to know her better.

And then, there was that sister of yours. You two were at each other's throats the instant your presences neared. You may not have cried, but you were in so much pain when you desperately tried to bring her back home. She couldn't let you hurt yourself like that and she earned a power to stop you because of your bond with her. If we all had the bond you two did, then things would be different today. But at the same time, she died in your stead. Had it not been for her, I would have been alone on this wasted planet for these last forty years. She was so kind, always looking to show humanity to those who it was lost to. Kindness to the end, that's what she was, dear Fluttershy.

Finally, there was Pinkie, the one I actually did manage to make that bond with. Without her even I would be dead now. We met because she wanted to see me. Because she wanted to know who I was. She stole my bag, and I chased red herrings all over town looking for her until we found her where we should have looked first. She never stopped smiling that crazed smile on her face around me. We dueled, and she taught me how to smile. She took that smile to her grave. She believed in me, she had hope for me. Optimism until the end, my dearest Pinkie.

The days passed and we trained for the final fight, one that we thought we were prepared for, one that we never could have been prepared for. You and I grew close, the other girls began to know one another, and we all became friends. We gained strength, skill, and wisdom, banding together to become teams. Forces to be reckoned with, but against an army, we six were only so many.

The day arrived, and we believed that a bright tomorrow was waiting for us. But she... she had other plans. She brought her army, and torched the town, burning Ponyville to the ground. Umbra kidnapped her host's son, a boy I knew back in school, and murdered him for the final sacrifice in her ritual before we could stop her. With her powers, her army became corrupted monsters, the very nightmares depicted in her cards. We stood together in a vain attempt to fight her back, bearing our fangs and out souls like they could save us. One by one, we were all taken down. When hope seemed lost, the Harmonians took control of our friend's corpses and attempted to make their sacrifice one again on a greater scale. They too fell, in their efforts, living to see death one last time.

When all had come to me, it was Andromeda that saved everyone. By offering his soul, he invoked Divinity into my body, giving me over to a god to defeat another. They fought and they fought until finally, Divinity ruled that Umbra had become too powerful. With a final move, he brought you to my side and did what he thought was best. The world became a burial ground for Umbra when he sealed her soul inside it, where it would never see the light of day. But in doing so, he doomed it to end.

Umbra herself would never be a threat again, but the world was poisoned in the process. Incurable disease shot through the planet like wild fire, taking lives and souls of any living thing on the planet. We called it Apocalypse syndrome. Anyone who wasn't of divine blood would die within a day of contraction, and those with it had their lives cut short. First the country died, then the world did, leaving you, your siblings, your mother, your aunt's family, and me.

Your brothers and sister died much younger than they ever should have, poor Zeus only making it to twenty five. Since Sombra was killed in the fight with Umbra, and all but you had passed on, Celestia decided it was time to leave this world and become a goddess herself. With all that she had suffered, Divinity took pity on her and accepted her into his realm. Luna was offered the same, but she only asked to be stripped of her immortality so that she might die with her children. Light took his family and escaped to his own dimension. All that remains on this world are you and me now...” When she looked over to her audience, she noticed something strange. Zephraim always rocked when she told her stories. He always loved to watch the sky dance with the ashes of the dead with it's sorrowful melody. But now he was still.

“Zephraim?” She asked. He didn't respond. He didn't make a sound, he didn't make a move. She went to touch his hand, and when she did, it felt cold. It didn't respond, and it was stiff.

“Oh please, don't do this to me... You were the last... you were my only... you... you can't just leave me like this!!!” She yelled at the sky, clutching the cold hand in her own. Twilight sank from her chair and began to cry into the corpse's chair. Time felt like it had come to a stop as even the ashen skies stood still for the first time since the apocalypse had began. A warm light started to shine from behind. When she turned to look, she saw something she thought she'd never see again.

“Celestia? I-is that you?” The girl asked, rubbing at her eyes to make sure that the vision she was seeing was actually there.

“Come along Twilight. You're the last one left. It's time to start over.” She said. Twilight managed to raise herself to her feet, looking intently at the vision before her. It looked like Celestia, but something wasn't the same.

“Who are you, really?” She asked the spirit. Celestia gave her the warm motherly smile she'd always known and extended a hand.

“As I am now, you may call me the goddess of life. But once upon a time, I was known as Celestia, and he was my beloved son. Twilight, this world has come to an end. There is no life left in this universe. Much like a bubble, this place will grow stagnant until all is reverted to nothing when the last star dies. Pop! Just like that. So I have an offer for you. If you join me, we can restart it all. This world you lived in, the one you loved, the one you tried to save, we can start it again.” Twilight began to reach for her hand, but stopped just short.

“Wait. What if I were to refuse?” She asked, remaining wary of the only other person she'd seen in more than thirty years. Celestia sighed.

“Then, I suppose I'd have to send you to my sister's dimension. You'd spend the rest of your days there as an abnormal human just like she chose to be. However... if you joined me, you could have a hand in this new world. A place of your own design, a people you could join one day in the event a soul were to reincarnate.” She said nodding to the body in the chair. “You could become a goddess, Twilight.” Twilight looked from Celestia, to the corpse. She gritted her teeth.

“Okay... but, there's just one thing I want.” She said.

“Oh? and what might that be my dear?” Celestia asked.

“I'd like to destroy it. The planet, I mean. If this world is going to die one way or another, I don't want to have any regrets. This rotten place... I want to watch it explode with my own hands.” Celestia laughed and put her hand out once again.

“Very well. We'll do it together. This hateful ball of corrupted land... let's make it disappear.” The tear stained eyes of the goddess before her told Twilight that the woman who stood before really was the Celestia she knew so many years ago. Without any more hesitation, she took the goddess' hand. The next thing she saw was the from the moon. Her body had changed, and she could feel all the energy flowing into her. With a rage filled cry, she pointed at the dull gray planet in front of the sun and charged as much of the overwhelming energy as she could in front of her hands.

She released the ball and watched with tear filled eyes as it sailed through space toward the empty planet she once called home. The violet energy crashed into the world, burning a hole deep inside it. Light and heat started to pour out of the corrupted land, breaking apart into pieces, sending waves of percussion through space.

“Let's go...” She said as she turned away from the scene. Celestia took her hand, and a white portal opened in front of them.

“My dear, after this we begin anew.”

7/6/3016 - Saturday (1)

A young man with a pony tail and a long streak of hair that fell out, laying nearly across his forehead, dashes through the crowded academy courtyard. The purple and dark green streaks in the side of his gray hair clearly visible, as he makes his way to his target. There she is, he thought to himself. The indigo haired princess of Celestia Academia herself, sitting on the edge of the fountain in the slowly thinning courtyard, reading, as per usual. Today was the day. That girl had ignored him ever since she stole his spot at the top of his class, and to top it off, she was a first year! A whole year behind him, but some how, ahead of him in magic and dueling. But no longer, today is the day that the true strongest Mage at C.A. will stand at his rightful place, and his name was Skratchie Exuvia!

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” he yelled, “Today is the day you accept me as your superior!” The girl looked up and stared daggers at the boy with her dark violet eyes. She was reading when he interrupted her, and clearly was not happy about the interruption. She said two simple words to the second year.

“Fuck off.” He was then reminded of her rather foul mouth. She was famous for it. Aside from being the top duelist at the academy, she was also the most vulgar. Some students gossip about how she picked it up from the Day Queen during her training over the last six years. Funny, now that he thinks about it. The girl that initially spread that rumor had the most unusual hair and skin tone. White as snow, with that velvety, almost ethereal blue hair... but this was not the matter at hand, he needed to counter quickly. With a moment passed he shot back.

“You can't ignore a challenge by your senior classmate!” He almost regretted uttering his words. The girl was very angry. He didn't know what had set her off so much, but now, the Mage was seeping magic. Visibly. Normally, the class of humans known as Mages don't reveal their auras until they're about to cast a spell or in the middle of a heated duel. Something that needed magic to do. He knew he made a mistake now, but there was no turning back at this point. He already issued an official challenge.

“Fine!” She pulled out her standard issue academia duel disk and placed the octagonal device at the edge of her fore arm and immediately, it expanded. The two metal rings that were hidden inside telescoped out and connected, then solidified until they formed a tube around her arm. Then, the school's logo flashed across the screen in the center of the device and a board of light appeared to float right in front of it. He had already equipped his duel disk, so the matter wave that became the monster field simply expanded. In unison, they yelled,

“DUEL!” The disks shot a beam of light at each other, then both systems said in various voices “Duel mode activated. Opening MR Field.” The area around them was covered by a bright light, which stopped about fifteen feet around either of the two and disappeared just as fast. The two drew five cards from the disks on their arms. It was time to steel his will and fight the unsettling girl with every thing he had. He was just glad this was a duel. If this were a fight... he didn't think he could win, let alone survive. She was clearly more powerful than he was. However, that would not stop him from being polite.

“Since I am a year above you, I'll let you have the first turn Mrs. Sparkle.” For a single second, he though he saw a look of genuine thanks. However, that may have been an illusion. It would be anything but in character for the purple princess to act anything like a spoiled brat.

“Uh, no. Especially if that's your only reasoning. You know what? You should take it. Wouldn't want you to go completely without a chance. Or rather, (into a cutesy voice) Why don't you take it, Senpai~?” And suddenly he remembered why he wanted to beat her so badly. She needed to be taken down a peg.

“Today is the day your perfect record ends, Twilight Sparkle!” Retorting as if she expected the comment, Twilight said,

“HA! Good luck with that husk boy! Big talk from a worthless Mage like you! Hell, I'd be surprised if you even make it to turn three.” She really believes that he'll be easy enough to lose on her first turn? Filled with new resolve to beat the brat as quickly as possible, he retorted.

“I'll make you eat those words, and then I'll make you apologize for it!” Without a moment to let pass, Skratchie opened up with his best combination. He had a perfect hand, and would be able to take nearly half her 4000 life points on the first turn! There's no way she could brush that off as incompetence. “First off, I activate fusion! I send Hive Enchantress and Hive sorceress to the grave to Fusion summon! She who rules the hoard, Dwell on this field and bring the power of the swarm, Hive Queen!” In a bright green light, the Fusion monster appeared. She was a pale, almost green skinned woman with dark teal eyeliner, a small crown and clear wings with holes in them. Her dress was black and covering her chest formed a viridian heart which was followed by a black spiderweb design over a white underskirt that made the rest of the outfit. She was sitting on what looked like a chess piece in the shape of a queen, holding a staff that was surrounded in layers of green bug shell like pieces which ended in a twisted black horn. However, as impressive or regal she might have looked, his opponent still seemed unimpressed

“When Hive Queen is fusion summoned, I can special summon one hive monster from my grave! Return to the field, Hive Sorceress!” This monster resembled the queen enough, with it's spidery black outfit, clear torn wings and twisted black staff, but had no major defining features, save for a left earring that looked like a bishop piece. His opponent now looked like she was thinking. She still didn't know what he was going for. “When Hive Enchantress is special summoned, I can add one Hive card to my hand, so I add Hive to March! Then I activate it, returning hive Enchantress and fusion from the grave to my hand. Then I activate fusion again! I send Hive Enchantress and hive soldier to the grave to Fusion summon! Protector of the swarm, soldier of the hoard, come together to create the warrior of the hive! Appear now, Hive Knight!” the girl, who had moved her hand to her chin had finally gathered what his plan was. The Black armored knight with his large hexagonal shield and lance with a similar shaped point to the twisted horns of his fellow monsters had an effect that could deal direct damage, without being a terrible monster stat wise, itself.

Exuvia was the highest ranked second year in the school because of his ability to cleave major amounts of life points in a single turn with effect damage. In the welcoming ceremony where new students were ranked as they enter the new school year, a tournament is held in which all students compete against their classmates. The winners of each bracket are then paired against each other, where they then battle for overall class rank. After taking second year champion, Skratchie met Twilight for the first time. He had heard that there was a new student who had been trained by Queen Celestia herself, but he never expected that student to be this scowling, quiet, indigo haired little girl. Little being nearly irrelevant in that situation, because she absolutely crushed him that day. She took the first turn, and stopped just about every play he made on his, and then ran over his monster to deal exactly 4000 damage. She then went on to destroy the Fourth year student who had already been signed to a big name sponsorship the previous year for winning this same tournament. He didn't stand a chance. She wiped the floor with him the same way she did with Skratchie. No damage taken, exactly 4000 dealt. After each duel, the girl simply walked away without a word. When the tournament had finally ended, Skratchie went on to congratulate the school champion, but when he finally found her, her only words were “Back off guy. I don't know you, and you don't know me, it's better that way. Take your crap skill with you. Wouldn't want that rubbing off on me.” It was a wounding blow, and every person who tried to get close to her would receive the same sentence, give or take a few words. From then on, due to her fusion mastery and apprentice-ship, she would forever be known as, the purple princess.

“When Hive Knight is on the field during the end phase, he deals 500 damage to my opponent per hive monster on the field. I end my turn, and hive knight deals you 1500 damage!” The three monster's gathered their lances together and charged a beam of light at Twilight, then fired. The beam spiraled across the gap between them, and looked like it was going to make a heavy impact on the surrounding area. He quickly tried to lower his magic output via the duel disk's limiter, but he was too slow, and it connected. The resulting explosion looked like he might have knocked the girl out. He just wanted to teach her a lesson, not injure the girl! As the panic was beginning to set in that he started to hear laughing, in a voice he'd never heard laughing in before.

“Ha-ha ha~, is this all you can do? I was sure you might have at least improved over the last half year or so, but I guess I was wrong! Allow me to show you, real power... Senpai~” The area that the blast had connected was destroyed over most, if not all, of Twilight's side of the field, but in a neat arc right in front of her, all was untouched. She had put up a barrier around almost thirty feet around herself in less than half a second. On top of that, it didn't even look like using that much magic even put strain on her. But the thing that irked him the most, is that she taunted him, right after he hit her! How could she brush that off? Could she really win next turn?

“Are you for real? What kind of duelist goes out of their way to piss their opponent off!? This game is supposed to be fun!” He wasn't just angry about her treating him like a piece of meat, but this is likely the same way anyone she dueled was treated... then he remembered an interesting fact about Twilight Sparkle. Exactly seven years ago, she took her first exam to enter the Queen's academies in Upper Canterlot. During her duel with the proctor, something strange happened to young Twilight after a loud noise that was heard all across the continent went off. The report in the cyber news said that the girl experienced a very large, very destructive magical surge. The proctor was injured badly by the cards that seemed to transform as she was using them, and he nearly died of severe burns and contusions. One week after, it was reported that Queen Celestia and Luna both visited the Sparkle family to personally have the girl trained, and that the Mage's Mark that appeared on her back that day meant her abilities were more powerful than anything the Queens had ever seen.

"One that you pissed off first! My turn, I draw! First, I activate the effect of Star Magician – Galileo. When I control no monsters, I can special summon this from my hand, but cannot normal summon this turn." The Magician wore heavy looking robes and thick glasses with a beard and mustache to hide his face, and a strange elongated tutor’s cap that ended in a small ball of light, presumably a star. He looked similar to the monsters she used in their first duel, but honestly, he'd only seen her duel twice. The first was when he dueled her himself, where she used exactly one monster, and the second being the only duel the school had on her. Nearly every time a duel would come to her turn, she'd short out the cameras simply by the amount of magic she produced. She'd only been at the academy for six months, but it's rumored that she's destroyed eighteen duel disks already. Her current model is the strongest one the school had to offer, usually for people who cannot control their magic out put, but in her case, she just has twice the magical ability than most of the advanced students.

"When he is summoned this way, I can add one star spell card to my hand, I add gathering stars. I activate the effect of gathering stars to tribute the level 6 Galileo then add any number of monsters from my deck equal to his level from my deck to my hand. I add the level 3, Star Magician – Copernicus, Level 2, Shooting Star Unicorn, and the level 1, Shooting Star Swan. Then I activate Star Fusion, by sending fusion material for a star monster from my hand or field to the grave yard, I can special summon that monster!" Wait a minute. Thought Skratchie, These aren't the same monsters she used to summon Milky-way back when he dueled her... and I know that one requires Shooting Star Longhorn, which she doesn't have right now... what is she summoning?

"I send Copernicus and Swan, He who holds the power of heaven in his hands, come forth and show the majesty of the galaxy!" Wait. He? His? This wasn't right. Milky-way was her most powerful monster... Wasn't it? Her deck is registered in the school database, Milky-way was the only Fusion monster in the Star Archetype that she uses that doesn't require two specific cards, and neither of the two she's fusing now would make anything. What in the hell is she summoning?

"Appear, Magic Star Andromeda, The Galaxy Magician!" Oh boy. This is new. The light from the spell was Intense and hot. She was pumping magic into this duel, whether she intended to or not. The monster itself though, seemed to exude a magic of its own. Like the previous magician, this one was also in heavy robes, but it was wearing armor and a staff that had the Andromeda constellation formed above a gem at the end, Matching the other Star Magicians Twilight was known for. Not only that, but it was incredible. He had a nebula spinning in his cape with stars everywhere. His hair was Indigo and his eyes a vibrant dark violet, brighter in spirit, but duller than the knives in Twilight's. Odd, he thought. Even though this is a card, It's strange that he resembles her so much. When Soul cards emerge with a persons mark, be they Terran, Angle, or Mage, It's unusual that any of the cards that come out actually look like the user. As a matter of fact, Soul cards almost never resemble the user, but this one... looks like it could be her father, almost.

"When Andromeda is summoned to the field, I can add one star monster to my hand. I add Shooting Star Stallion! Then I activate his effect, by discarding him and no longer being able to special summon for this turn, I can add one star spell card to my hand, the card I add is shooting star comet! I set one card, then battle! Andromeda attacks Hive Queen!" The Sorcerer took aim at Hive Queen, but Skratchie had prepared for the event that she'd summon something.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that Ms. Sparkle. Hive Knight defend the Queen! Once per turn, Hive Knight can change an attack target to himself! Fight back, Hive Knight!" Now to see if it works. She has a set card, the card she added to her hand, which he couldn't remember the specifics of, and then there's the new Star magician that wasn't registered in the school's database. The Knight began to charge, shield first, at the sorcerer, but the girl simply laughed at him.

"HA! We'll see how long that lasts, I activate Copernicus' effect!" He was so concerned with the new monster that he'd forgotten that most of her cards had effects that trigger in the grave.

"By banishing him, I can negate the activation of a monster's effect and destroy it!" Effect destruction. Damn it! I only have one counter to that!

"Crap! I'm sorry my queen... I activate the effect of Hive Queen! Once per turn, I can negate the destruction of one hive monster!" Oh gods, this is it, isn't it? She probably planned for this all along!

"And so the battle continues! Destroy Hive Queen!" The brilliant sorcerer fired a beam out of the constellation on his staff at the now unattended Hive Queen, and the resulting explosion was enough to force Skratchie to slide back on the concrete. Had he not braced for impact, it surely would have sent him flying. He put his hands down and looked back at the scene where his Queen was. A large crater. A very, VERY large crater was in the ground. It not only defeated the depth of his blast by a long shot, but it was accurate too. It was a single column hole in the ground, like the exact width and length of the Hive Queen

"Then I activate the quick play spell card Shooting Star Comet!" The onslaught only continued. She was going to end it this turn. "When an opponent's monster is destroyed, my monster gains 400 attack, and if the monster targeted by this effects is a fusion monster, it can attack all monsters my opponent controls!" Skratchie bit his hand. 500, then 200...

"But wait! There's more! Andromeda, attacks Hive Knight!" Another flash from the spiky haired sorcerer and the Hive Knight struggled, then failed and exploded. This time, there was less force in the initial blast, but the magic being supplied by Twilight was amplified to the point where he’d end up in a bed for the rest of the day with a concussion. He used his own magic to throw up a barrier just in time to block the blast. Holy crap! He thought. That one put a huge fracture in my magic barrier! Her attack on hive Enchantress is going to kill me! But, it’s not end the game though... I'll still have 1200 life points left... She's got something more...

"And thus, Andromeda gains 400 more attack, and do you know how many life points you have?" She jabbed.

"Sure, I've only got 3300 left, but you killing Enchantress won't end this!" Killing. That’s what she was doing. She was going for overkill because I made her mad, or really, pushed her over the edge. It wasn’t just absent minded feeding Andromeda her magic, she wanted to physically injure me.

"Correct! That's why, we'll simply remove the problem! I activate the effect of Shooting Star Unicorn in my hand!" Oh Crap, he almost said out loud. Another trait to her monsters, they like to activate in the battle phase, which is where most of her power comes from. “And I'll chain Andromeda's effect to it! Once per turn, one spell card I have can be treated as a quick play, and if Andromeda is used as part of a chain, The spell in question takes his place in it! I activate the continuous spell card, Meteor Star bombardment! When this card is activated, if I control a monster that's been targeted by a spell card this turn, it can attack one more time for each other spell card it's been targeted by! Then Unicorn resolves, and your little Enchantress is banished with it. But don't worry, she'll come back... pfft, next turn!” He knew it was over for sure now. But what he didn't know is what to do with himself. After all the taunting, all the anger, it still looked like she was enjoying herself, which was something that he'd never seen before. In their first duel, she didn't even look at him. Never made eye contact, didn't get enthusiastic about the game, just this card then that card, then done. And now? She looked sad. Like... when you don't want to see something leave. He was beginning to think that this hedgehog of a girl actually wanted friends, somewhere beneath all the spines. The glimpse of sadness he saw washed away as fast as it appeared, and she resumed her haughty persona.

“You know, it’s too bad really. For a moment here, I was certain you would surprise me. A shame. I almost thought I saw potential. ANDROMEDA! END THIS DUEL!” His barrier was in place, ready to defend against the impending magic blast, but the monster started to dash towards him. The stars had moved into the shape of a blade, and his staff was in both hands about to swing. His barrier wouldn't protect against this! Oh gods, I'm gonna get cut in half! Holy sh- He couldn’t finish the thought. The star blade cut through his barrier like it was paper, then it connected with his flesh. A sensation ran through his body, but he couldn't place it. It was like being set on fire, frozen, electrocuted, and then the sharp sting of a cold steel blade, all at once. For a single second, while trying to protect himself, he made eye contact with the Sorcerer. The eyes alone looked to apologize for what he was doing, and then finished the slash. The attack had completed, and with what little strength he had left, he looked at the area where the stars connected. He was bleeding, and burned badly. The magic that normally keeps duelists from hurting each other hadn’t been able to keep up with Twilight. Ha... She broke the duel disk again... He was going to die. The pain from the wound was coursing through his body like electricity, eating away at his nerves in throbbing burning bursts until he could no longer feel, like he was being frozen, inside out. The last thing he saw was a girl making a call. She looked terrified at the scene, concerned for what was going on... But… wasn’t that the same girl that had just put a gash in his torso?

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

When the second year awoke, he found himself in a white room. The air smelled of ammonium, the light soft and warm, and the evening sun glowing through the window. Evening... evening? He went over the events of the day in his head, but clearly remembered that he issued his challenge at noon. Ah, right, he thought to himself. You were cut open. He'd been unconscious for at least five hours now. But wait? What about the wound? He felt around his core until he started to feel pain. The area was right, but the texture was... strange... Skratchie sat up from his hospital bed and removed his blankets to get a look at whatever was covering the wound. Upon inspection, a large black, almost plastic-like substance was covering the entire thing. What in the hell is this? It's not anything I've ever seen, but some how... it feels... natural? The sound of the door clicking open alerted the boy to an imposing presence behind it. He quickly covered up and laid back down to see who entered. It was an Angel woman.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. I believe I met you a few years ago… you’re the Exuvia boy correct?” The regal tone of the imposing figure was almost more than he could handle. She was so familiar too... where have I seen her before?

“Um, yes ma’am. My name is Skratchie.” The Woman was tall, very tall. Winged. Bright, white, almost pink tinted feathers neatly behind her back. Nearly seven feet if he had to guess. She was wearing an olive colored shirt with a small knife in a pocket above her left breast that hugged her chest tightly, which complimented her breasts more than he would have liked while wearing the thin hospital gown, tight brown pants, with multiple belts that secured small pieces of armor and a gold accented black sheath with an equally impressive gold ornate hilt extending from it. She had a multitude of colors falling from her head that blended from pink to purple to blue and finally to green which made the fore ground of it. Her eyes were a sharp dark violet, and around her neck was a golden necklace with a medallion of the country's emblem, the sun. It all made sense now. This was Twilight's mentor, Queen Celestia. Queen. Celestia. The ruler of the country had come to see him. The ruler of the country he lived in was visiting him in the hospital. It took repeating that phrase in his mind a few more times to comprehend what was happening, but as soon as he did, excitement started to set in.

“Ah, good. May I see it?” At first, he know quite what to do with himself. The question she'd asked felt out of left field. What exactly did she want to see? Before he allowed his other head to think about it with the beautiful, radiant, Day Queen next to him, he realized he'd been injured in a duel with her personal student earlier today.

“Oh, right.” He lifted up his shirt and showed the unusual scar to the slightly tanned queen. He couldn't read her face. It was almost as if she was stunned to see it, but she hardly made a move. Before speaking again, she lifted a finger, and levitated the medical chart from the end of his bed into her hand. After flipping through the pages, she seemed to find what she was looking for, and looked far more relieved than she did when she walked in.

“Now, Skratchie, would you mind telling me how this happened?” Once again, his mind had to process what was going on. When she first spoke, it was with the voice of a queen. Now, however, it was with that of a mother. Before he could say anything, he needed to remember exactly what had happened in the first place. It was at the end, when she finished clearing his field that it turned strange and gruesome.

“Well, I challenged Twilight to a duel, but it was in the middle of lunch break and she was reading. For what ever reason, she uh, told me to, uh... go away...” The Day Queen reeled her head back and let out a proper laugh. How did this royal manage to feel so... normal?

“I bet she told you to 'fuck off' with those daggers in her eyes right?” What. Just. What. How does she even..? This woman just becomes more and more confusing as the minutes pass by. He didn't know if he could even finish his story after that. How do you go on after hearing the Ruler of the Country casually use the words 'fuck off' in a sentence while laughing about it?

“Yes ma’am.” She nodded as if business were normal.

“That sounds about right. You certainly didn't know it at the time, but you definitely picked the wrong day to piss off Twilight. But all the same, she really needs to learn to keep her emotions in check. Anyways, what happened next?” Now she's a school girl? This was the Queen?

“Um, Okay, So, from there, I pointed out she couldn't refuse the challenge because I'm a year ahead of her, so then we began. I tried to offer her the first turn, and she insulted me for it, so then I began. I opened with my best damage combination and managed to take 1500 off by the end of it.” The Queen nodded as if she were visualizing the duel as he talked about it.

“Mmm. Good choice. When it comes to students, and take no offense by this, but, below her caliber, the best option is usually to try and end the duel immediately. The closest any student here has ever come to beating her was when she dueled last year's champion during that year's opening ceremony, and that was simply because he got the second turn. Now, I'm more concerned with how you ended up here. I know that you are a strong enough Mage to withstand a blast with your barrier, even if it was Twilight's crazy magic you were up against.” Ah. To the point. Right.

“During her turn, she summoned two monsters, but the last one was one I'd never heard of. I mean, we're all required to register all the cards in our decks any time we make a change, or a new card emerges, so how would she have a card I'd never heard of?” She turned her head and looked out the window. Her gaze was very distant, but he could see a frown forming on her face.

“Ah. I see. Tell me, When you saw this card, did it do anything strange? Perhaps he, resembled someone, or, moved unlike any normal card would?” That was exactly what he did! Was she psychic? Or wait. Did she give her that card?

“Actually yes, both. At first, I thought he looked like he could have been her father. Like, the resemblance was uncanny. And then, when he was coming in for the slash with that crazy Star lance-thing, he looked at me, and I could have sworn he said he was sorry for this.” She looked down into her palms and back at the boy.

“I figured as much. Damn. Why did she have to make him do that to you?” She had returned to gazing off into the sun, until after a pause, where she began again. “Well, now I have something to attend to, and it very much involves Twilight. Before I go, is there anything you need?” The student looked away from the queen to think on the matter when a sharp pain in his abdomen reminded him of the odd scar.

“Well, Could you explain why my scar looks the way it does? This... Almost feels natural, but, it's never happened before either.” The Day Queen looked to the boy, then to the scar, and then out the window, the concern on her face becoming more apparent as she turned. Finally she returned to him with an answer.

“Tell me, what do you know about the Raid of Crater city that took place near lonely volcano over one hundred years ago?” Confused by the history question, the boy did his best to remember class from a few weeks ago.

“Um, that was the one where you, your sister, and the knights of Fauna went to defeat the rebellion by the mutants, or, shape-shifters right? The one that lasted exactly eleven days?” The Queen only frowned more, and the concern in her eyes turned into insecurity. What ever it was, she didn't want to tell him.

“Yes... that is correct. What's say we pick this up on another time, hmm? You know what? Tomorrow is the first day of summer sun week. I'll be hosting an exhibition match for the students with Luna, but I think, I might just be part of the exhibition myself... How would you like to accompany my sister during that morning?” She was avoiding the question, but an offer like that was impossible to refuse. Watch one Queen's duel with the other? No one gets the chance to do that. But, it was still nagging at him that she brought up the Raid of Crater city. What did that have to do with him? He had a Mage's mark, just like every other Mage. Was he different?

“Oh, uh, sure. Um... Your highness?” He had to ask. He couldn't just not know.

“Yes?” said the Day Queen as she stood to leave, a hint of fear in her voice.

“Why did you take Twilight as your student?” What ever she had expected him to ask, it wasn't what he did. The woman seemed relieved, and simply smiled at the boy.

“That... you'll just have to wait and see...” With utmost grace, she spun on her heel, and exited the room, leaving the confused boy to think about what that could mean.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Celestia closed the door behind her, and began to cast her cloaking spell. She found it funny that she spends her days here without anyone ever knowing it. As far as anyone could tell, she was simply a first year Angel at Celestia Academy. She and her sister usually hold meetings during the dusk hours of the day and have strict guidelines so that nothing interrupts their other activities. After all, what good is it to be a ruler, and not have some time to do what you want every now and again? Both queens played school girls here because of a very certain few students, one being their own children, and another being one that she was about to trap. How could she let herself get so worked up that she nearly cut that poor halfbreed in half? And then there was the halfbreed. A whole other can of worms that she didn't want to open. That boy was the son of a shape-shifter and a Mage, and he didn't even know it. At some point, I'll have to find a way to befriend him in this form to get a look at his home life. What kind of mother hides the fact that she's a shape-shifter from her own kids? And the father, where is he? The medical chart said that the boy lives alone with his mother, but I know that the father went missing two years ago. The knights still haven't been able to close that case either. How could a man just disappear with no trace of his whereabouts? Even magic leaves a solid vapor trail for a few days after it's cast. What could have happened? Maybe I need to have Athena or Eclipse look into this... Deep in thought, Celestia, or 'Sola' as she's known around the school, aimlessly walked down the medical wing hallway, and straight into the department head, Sang Redheart. She fell back on her butt after hitting the rather strong Terran doctor, and then apologized for it.

“Oh, sorry Mrs. Redheart.” The adult picked Sola up as if she weighed nothing and set her back on her feet.

“Oh, Sola, what am I to do with you?” Funny choice of words. They were the exact same ones she wanted to say to Twilight. “You little air head.” Said the doctor as she rustled the teenager's pink hair.

“Yeah...” said Celestia, slowly drifting back into thought.

“Hmm? Off to more grand adventures without even saying goodbye? Come now, why don't you tell me about it?” Redheart was one of the finest doctors in the city, and her attention to patients is what earned her the position as the head of the medical department at the Academy. Celestia hired her in person due to her impressive record, and made a point to regularly visit the Terran during days she could. She was a good friend, but didn't need to know who Sola really was, so, she made up a cover story.

“Well, ya see, I have these friends that were dueling each other, but they're not friends themselves. And one of them went waaay over board and got the other sent here. I was just visiting him, but now I'm off to see her, and I don't really know how I should approach the subject.” It was unfortunate how that story was only half true. Redheart was qualified to be a psychiatrist on top of her medical proficiency. But, Twilight needed to be punished, and the exhibition duel would do exactly that. The girl hadn't lost a duel since elementary school, and it was about time to end her streak. But the answer from Redheart almost made her reconsider.

“Hmm, now that is a tough one. One friend put another in the hospital. Well, you should just try and ask her why she did it. I imagine this other friend of yours is Twilight Sparkle, because there aren't many other students with the magical ability to do that here, so I suggest you be careful when doing so. But all the same, just talk to her. Be a friend, and a good one at that. She doesn't have many, that poor girl. But as they say, the hedgehog is a lonely animal.” She doesn't have friends... How could I have been so blind! My own student doesn't have any friends! She's the new element of magic, for suns sake! I don't even talk to her very often when I'm here! I have to fix this immediately...

“Thanks doc. You've been a great help!” The woman smiled.

“Don't run too fast! I don't want to see you because you're here for treatment! And don't fly in the hallway!” Sola ran down the clinic hallway, wings extended for take off, but quickly retracted due to the doctor's warning, and out to the courtyard to Twilight's usual spot before dinner. On her way, she noticed another girl doing something similar. The velvety blue hair tipped her off to who she actually was, and the two nodded and flew to the roof above the courtyard where Twilight was reading.

“Well, well, well. If it isn't Tsukiko.” The other girl snarked back,

“Off to see Twilight, are we Sola? Or should I say, Sister instead?” The two removed their cover to expose their true forms as Day and Night Queen and began discussing the person in question, Twilight Sparkle.

“What are you doing up so early? Don't you have a big fight coming up?” The Night Queen shuffled her leathery wings and produced a seat out of her own magic and assumed her crossed legged, inquisitive position.

“Yes, there is a creature I intend to slay later this night, but first, I thought I'd try and get some information about this boy I hear that our little student almost cut in half. The rumor has been spreading like wild fire, sister! The other students are beginning to fear the girl! Even what few people she actually talks to won't come near!” Celestia sighed.

“I know. That's how I found out myself. I had just talked to her opponent not but twenty minutes ago.” The Night Queen shuffled in her seat.

“So, what were you intending to do about it? I was just trying to confirm the truth of the matter, but you certainly seemed to do that before hand.” Celestia shook her head from where she leaned against the roof door and walked toward the edge of the roof.

“I was just going to punish her at first with the exhibition duel tomorrow, but then I spoke with Redheart.” Luna looked confused by the name. “Redheart? Oh! Do you mean the cleric woman in the Healing wing?” Luna had her own names for each of the wings at the school. For a time, Luna was lost to another dimension, but when she came back, almost one hundred years had passed. Within that time, culture, science, and technology had advanced more rapidly than either of them could have imagined. However, Celestia was here to keep up with the changes and Luna was not. This irritated Celestia.

“For the millionth time, it is called the Medical wing! She is a Doctor! It's not Alchemy, it is Science, it is not magic, it is technology, it is not arithmetic, it is math! Will you please just update your language? Please? You know the other students think you're weird because of it.” The Night Queen brushed the comment away.

“Doth thou jest in mine presence? For we, are most current, and quite up to date.” Said the younger sister in the most sarcastic tone possible. Celestia's irritation melted into giggling, and finally pulled the conversation back to the matter at hand.

“Anyways, as Sola, I gave her a rundown of the situation, and she told me that Twilight doesn't have many friends, and you know what? She's wrong. Twilight has no friends! Even the girls she speaks to, however little that may be, probably don't even consider themselves acquaintances with her! It's just us! We're her only friends!” The words hit Luna as hard as they did Celestia.

“Oh my. For the love of Tartarus, how in the hell did we miss that?” Celestia walked over to the other side of the roof and beckoned Luna over.

“Just look at her now. Shes alone, in a dark corner, right before dinner time, reading, with that sour look on her face like always. Nine out of ten times, this is where I talk to her, because she is always here. Be it either as Sola or myself. She is the *Element of Magic* now! How did we let this happen!?” The pale Queen looked down at the Indigo haired girl in disbelief.

“Oh gods. Her Mage's mark. It is the same as Andromeda's was it not?” Celestia nodded.

“That's not the end of it. Yesterday, Andromeda came to me and told me it was time to give him to Twilight. She used him to cut the Exuvia boy open!” Luna sat back in her chair.

“He talked to you? He hasn't had the power to do anything himself in nearly seventeen years! Wait a moment. She turned sixteen recently didn't she? You do not think this means that-” Celestia cut her off.

“That is exactly what this means. And what I'm more concerned with is the murders that have been going on in that town where the other five live.” Luna started to rub her temples.

“So we have a prickly, snarky, angry, teenage girl with little to no friends, inherit one of the most powerful cards in existence, who just so happens to be the element of magic, and now designated the leader of a group. All by destiny, of course. You know, on top of her being an almost unnaturally powerful Mage.” Celestia put her hands on her arms.

“That's the jist of it. But you forgot to mention the part where we scouted her as a child because she was chosen by Divinity to ascend, like the other girl a few years back, and ourselves.” Luna sighed.

“Of course, my apologies. An impossible girl, who will potentially be immortal some day. Right.” Neither said a word for a few minutes as they watched the subject in question reading. Finally, Luna broke the silence.

“Do you have a plan?” Celestia looked and smiled at her sister.

“Do I have a plan she says. Pfft. I always have a plan. One does not simply become a military leader at eighteen without being four steps ahead of everything.” Luna returned the sarcasm as quick as she received it.

“Oh, my apologies. Never question the Terran tactician of 1010. Speaking of, it's been nearly two thousand years, hasn't it?” Celestia looked up to the evening sky as the sun was slowly beginning it's retreat behind the horizon.

“It has. And this is the land we have to show for that terrible war. But now the past from before our time is coming back to bite us, and she is what we have to rely on. I'm going to go talk to her. You should go sleep. Oh, and by the way, You'll be accompanied by the boy she she dueled tomorrow morning. See what you can find out about his home life. He's half shape-shifter and doesn't know it.” Luna leaned back and rolled her eyes.

“You know, I really appreciate it when you schedule me for things without telling me about them. Thanks.” Celestia punched her sister in the shoulder. “Oh, go jump off a building. I'll see you at home.” The two sisters returned to their forms as Tsukiko and Sola, and each took flight in opposite directions. One intent on sleeping until night fall, and the other to pull her student into a trap.

She hadn't been able to see exactly what Twilight was reading until she'd landed silently behind her as Sola, but when she did, it was ironic. The first major war recorded in the history of the continent of Fauna was that of the three main human races. For the longest time, the Mages and Angels held superiority over the Terrans due to the fact that Terrans could be easily out ranged by both of them. It wasn't until two young soldiers stepped up in the year 1010 did the Terrans gain the advantage in the war. The daughters of house Iscandor were known for their beauty, but were famous for their brutality.

The eldest, known as the Master Tactician, Celestia Iscandor, and the youngest, known as the Indomitable Warrior Luna. By the time Alexander Iscandor's daughters took command of the Terran forces, it was almost too late to turn the tides of the war, but through ingenuity and planning, the Terrans finally gained the upper hand. After reclaiming their original land, the Terrans stepped out of the war, and let the Mages and Angels continue to turn Fauna's green pastures red while they lived in peace for almost ten years. Eventually, the Mages of Archea and Angels of Sephira decided to try and take the land of Gaia once more, clashing with each other at their own borders along the way.

It was around this time, that the two Queens of Terra, the same daughters of house Iscandor that won peace for Terra originally, were visited by a traveling shaman. He was of Mage descent, and was brought to the Queens as a suspicious individual lurking the city, but being compassionate, the sisters asked the old Mage for his reason to be in Gaia. He called himself Starswirl, and had come to the queens to try and end the warring between the three kingdoms with an ancient magic game he had discovered.

Long ago, he told the queens, there was a war between the gods of the earth and the sky. In power, they were matched, unable to defeat one another in any way, so to settle their differences, a game was made. Duel monsters, it was called. Cards made of stone and rules engraved on them determined a way to play the game as fairly and diversely as either god demanded, and so, with the game in place, the two gods engaged in a duel. The Earth would fuse his fighters to make more powerful ones, but the Sky would deflect his attacks right back at the Earth and summon his own monsters by synchronizing their wavelengths. Soon the duel had come to an end, and neither the Sky god, nor the Earth god would emerge victorious. But within the game, the two had found themselves understanding each other unconditionally. The gods had come to the conclusion to look past their differences, and compromise with one another rather than cause havoc with their wars. Eventually, the other gods were invited to play this game, and they too created their own way to play in the process. And thus the methods of summoning emerged.

Starswirl believed that if the power of this game could be harnessed, the magic it produced would be able to stop wars on the continent permanently. While skeptical at first, the two Queens accepted his theory, and were used as a test for it. After a spell Starswirl had cast on each of the sister's Terran's marks, a deck of these duel monster cards manifested from their bodies. This strange display could only lead the sisters to believe that the story of the warring gods must have been true, otherwise, how could something like pieces to a game emerge from the soul? Instinctively, the sisters began to play the game with each other, but what became of it was something no one had foreseen.

The game was inherently magic, the monsters summoned were nearly real, and the sisters fought fiercely against each other. The eldest would deflect the more aggressive younger's attacks and synchronize her own monsters to fight back at the younger's fusing of hers. In the end, neither sister would emerge victorious, and the story of the two gods would be replayed by them. Upon the games end, A bright light expanded from where the two sisters stood, and they were changed. Both sisters gained the wings of Angels, and the magic of Mages, on top of their strength as Terrans, becoming the first of the human races to Ascend. These sisters would later go on to be known as the Ascended.

After obtaining the powers of gods themselves and thanking the traveling Mage for his discovery, both sisters took to the battle field, “And then the radiant Queens descended upon the warring forces of the Terrans, Angles, and Mages, crushing their armies without injuring a single man.” Startled by the sudden sound, the Indigo haired girl fumbled her book, nearly dropping it, then turning to look at the voice who was now standing behind her.

“Holy fu- uh… Good evening, Sola.” The pink haired angel simply smiled at the Mage.

“And to you. Reading up on history?” Twilight felt uncomfortable about having Sola sneak up behind her, but it couldn't be helped. Once a week, every day, at the exact same time, either Sola or Tsukiko would come by and talk to her, but not without sneaking up on her first. You'd think she'd get used to their interruptions eventually, but no.

“Yeah. How did you know where I was? You basically completed the sentence I was reading, at the same time I was reading it.” The Angel girl smiled.

“Because I know you Twilight. And I'm your friend.” Twilight felt uncomfortable by hearing the word. Friends. Did she have those? But the other girl continued. “And I hate to do this to you, but I feel like it's time I told you the truth about me.” What did she want to say? That she was using her to get to the Queens, just like everyone else? This is exactly why she never made friends in the first place. Why make friends if all they want to do is meet someone you know? And then abandon you when you don't do what they want... “I'm actually Queen Celestia Iscandor.” said the pink haired girl, who then transformed into the Day Queen

“YOU WERE SOLA!?” That was more volume than she intended to use, but it was almost nineteen forty-five, the sun was setting, and the hidden courtyard behind the medical wing was always empty at this time of day. And most of the day for that matter. There were maybe a hand full of students that knew of it's existence in the first place.

“Geez, not so loud!” She said in a hushed voice. “And we need to talk. Now that you know who I’ve been pretending to be, you must know that I heard about your duel earlier today.” The girl knew she was in trouble now.

“Shit. Uh... I can explain! um...” She was panicking now.

“Twilight, why didn't you come talk to me? Or Luna? We might be your mentors, but we are also your friends. You don't have to be alone like this all the time. Every week, either Luna or myself have come to visit you in this same spot, while you wear that scowl on your face, and each time, it takes us nearly an hour to get you to speak to us. Why do you push people away?” Damn it. That's not fair. She's not supposed to know how I act around people... that's just not fair! They've been trying to be my friends this whole time, and I thought they were just another pair of users and abusers... Why? Why did it have to be like this? Why... Twilight began to tear up.

“Look, I... I don't know what to say. I don't know how to tell who’s real and whose fake, I don't know how to be a friend to people... I... I just...” Celestia sat down beside her student and hugged her.

“I know that it's hard Twilight, but you have to try. I know that it isn't fair what happened to your family when you were younger. I know it isn't fair that your powers exceed every normal standard, and I know, that you are a sweet girl when you're around a friend. But this personality you've created, the way you treat others, there is just no excuse for that.” Twilight let out an exasperated sigh, outside of the tears. It couldn't be helped. She'd been through too much already. Her father was nearly killed in a dirty scandal involving the business he worked for, and the entire family had to relocate to the slums of Lower Canterlot right after taking in her dead aunt's year old baby, upon which Twilight ended up lost in Middle Canterlot for a year. It wasn't until that fateful day seven years ago, did her life return to the way it was before. But the damage that was done nearly broke the family. The her older brother joined the military faster than was normally allowed due to his skill just to escape Canterlot. The younger brother was treated just as much as an outcast as she was for being a half breed, on top of being adopted. The mother and oldest son worked at a diner to support the family while the father was still recovering from having his right fore leg and left foot blown off and his back covered in third degree burns by the explosion that nearly ended his life. Over time, with aid from the queens, the family recovered, but Twilight was scarred. No one was to be trusted, everyone was a liar. Humans were horrible creatures. And then one day, she thought she had made a friend.

A young Angel girl who was nice, and talked to Twilight. A good duelist, and a prodigy, just like her, but three years older. in the end, she too, was another fake. Just using Twilight to meet the Queens. And once her wish was granted, she was never seen or heard from again. “I just, can't keep doing this. How can I trust anyone after what has happened to my family? How can I believe that people would actually want to know who I am, for me, and no other reason? Why? Why did all of that have to happen to me...” Celestia released Twilight, and then stood up from the bench. Then looked Twilight in the eyes, with the cold, dead, precision of a killer.

“Twilight, stop crying, and stand up.” The girl wiped away at her eyes, and reluctantly, did as her Queen told her. The tanned woman removed her necklace and began to unzip the front of her shirt, revealing her mark, right under her collar bones. It was unusual for a mark to be anywhere but the shoulders or the back, but she was an Ascended. Immortals who bear their emblems right on their chests.

“Do you see this mark? I received it when I was thirteen. But do you know how I received this mark?” The girl looked at her feet. Celestia and Luna's history is only recorded from 1010 to present day. Anything before that was unknown, save from the fact that they were born in 992 and 995 respectively.

“No...” The Queen snapped to bring the girl's eyes back to the mark.

“I received this mark the day I killed a man to protect my father. It happened one night when I was up looking through the castle for a book I had left in his study. When I entered, I noticed that the window had been cut open. Immediately, I ran to check on Luna, but she was still asleep, completely undisturbed. I then picked up my sword from my room next door, and ran to my parent's room. When I got there, my Mother was being stabbed in the heart by some thieves blade, and my father was on the floor, dying from a toxin the thief had given him earlier that day. The man had come to the castle in request for my father's aid to save his village from an onslaught of timber wolves that would eat the villagers children every week at nightfall. My father went and burned the wolves, saving the village, but when he had returned to the castle, that man was trying to leave with an heirloom from my family. But even so, my father refused to kill him. Instead, he was sent to the stockades. The man had escaped, and come back to try and kill my entire family, and when I found him taking my mother's life, I took his head. That is how I saved my father, and earned my Terran's mark. I lived for five years thinking that the sun on my left shoulder represented my raw power to kill. Were it not for the day when Starswirl showed up, I would have likely believed that until the day I died.” Twilight was stunned. She killed a man when she was a child? And then... lived on believing she was destined to be a killer?

“You are not me. You didn't watch one of your parent's die in front of you, and you did not behead a man as a child. Yes, you have suffered hardship, and yes, the world can be a cruel cold place. But life goes on. The past is the past and what's done is done. The future is determined by how you act in the present, and if you continue to let your past rule you like this, you will never amount to anything in your life. That is what a wise man once said to me. It's time to grow up, Twilight Sparkle. Tomorrow morning, meet me in the stadium above the athletic wing. You and I are going to duel, and all of the school is going to watch. If you lose, then, you will be given an assignment, and removed from this school for the remainder of the year.” Twilight looked at the radiant Queen with all hope in her eyes lost.

“You? What..? How am I supposed to? What the... You're going to expel me?” The girl nearly started to hyperventilate. She was clutching her head with both hands and on the brink of tears again.

“Silence!” Twilight snapped to attention. The Queen was not to be disobeyed. “I said nothing of expulsion. You will still be Luna's and my student. I never want to see or hear about you killing a person. Once you do, there is no coming back from it. But today? You almost took that step. There is a boy in a hospital bed with a gash through half of his body because you were so caught up in your emotions that you lost control of yourself. Had you not had the sense to call Redheart Immediately after you did it, he would be dead right now. You are young, and such a stupid girl for being so very intelligent, and the only cure for your kind of stupidity is experience, and that is exactly what I’m going to have you gain over the course of this next half year. But I will give you a chance. This duel will be your last and only chance to clean up your act here. If you wish to stay, and continue the cushy life I have given you, you will defeat me at all cost tomorrow. Do you understand?” She's never spoken like this to Twilight before. She's always been a sweet, motherly figure. She took care of Twilight since she was ten, and helped her family get back on their feet. She's always been there for her. But now... what's even going on? Why was she so... mad? Twilight realized that she was gritting her teeth, and she felt so angry. How could she yell at me? It's not my fault any of that happened! She's being so... so... pretentious!

“I... I won't...” Celestia leaned forward, bringing her nose to Twilight's and staring her directly in the eyes. Celestia's eyes, were ablaze with anger, but Twilight's were the same.

“C'mon, spit it out! Tell me exactly what you're going to do tomorrow!” the girl stepped back with rage burning in her heart.

“I won't lose to you! I'll beat you in front of the entire school, and then everyone will know that the Day Queen of Fauna is just a fraud! You haven't dueled in years, no one is still even alive that knows what your deck is! Queen, of the day. More like Queen of shadows! Today is the first time you've told me anything about you! You say you tried to be my friend, when really, all you were doing was just feeding your own ego! Help the poor girl, her story is just soooo tragic! Fuck that! No more, no more of any of this! I'll be a different person, I'll be better than you ever were!” Celestia almost lost it and broke character. Twilight was doing exactly what she wanted her to. The trap worked perfectly! But she needed to keep the act up until Twilight left. The angrier, and more determined to win she was, the better. Even so, the Queen stood up, and smiled her old sinister smile at the girl.

“Good. Beat me. Do it. I. Fucking. Dare you. But know this. When the time comes, the star will reveal all, and you will be at the center of the events that unfold. Good bye Twilight. Ha~ Tomorrow is likely going to be the last day you see me for a while... Ha ha ha ha!” Evil laugh, check. All that was left was to wait until tomorrow morning... and call a family meeting. With Twilight going to Pony ville, she needed her top agents watching, and who better than her own kids?

“Fine! I'll make sure that I'm in your face every day after tomorrow! And forget about being able to run around as Sola anymore! As soon as I win, EVERYONE will know who you really are!” Threats, check. Twilight running off in a fit of rage, check. The plan has moved along perfectly. As soon as Twilight was out of sight, yelling to the air, Tsukiko swooped down from the roof where she had been watching the scene. Celestia resumed her form as Sola, and the two began to talk.

“Hey, weren't you supposed to go to sleep?” The Blue headed girl shuffled her bat wings.

“You can not expect me to simply leave when you are unfurling one of your evil plans. But I do think that was rather much. Do you believe she will be alright?” Sola put her hands behind her head and looked to the evening sky.

“The day that Twilight Sparkle gives up will be the day she dies. All I did was poke the fire in her heart. Losing to me tomorrow will hurt her, but this is just another experience she needs to have. From what Cobalt tells me, the other five girls who received the element cards are either slightly above, below, or at her caliber as a duelist. Who knows which of them might actually beat her. It's better she gets her first loss from me. I'd rather she be mad at me for a while than be mad at the girls she's supposed to lead.” Tsukiko nodded.

“Hmm... I must say that I can not disagree with your evil plan, miss master tactician, but I do believe that, and I quote, 'I Fucking Dare you.' was too far. Two thousand years, and you still can't clean up that mouth. He he, and you say I need to update my vocabulary!” Celestia stared blankly at her sister.

“Oh shut it. Call the kids. I want Zephraim and Eclipse to join Cobalt, and I might have Athena go as well.” Tsukiko stopped dead in her tracks.

“Uh...” Sola narrowed her eyes at her sister.

“Problem?” Luna grabbed at her glabella.

“Eclipse is doing recon in Crater, and Athena is literally on the other side of the world in Anya right now.” Celestia put her hands on her temples.

“What about Apollo? And Jupiter?” Luna tapped at her cheek.

“Let's see... Jupiter is on the other side of the country doing field work in Ironside... as for your son, I believe I last saw him with Black in the badlands about a week ago.” Celestia sighed. Her husband and Apollo were always running off doing some crazy experiment together, and she was running out of kids.

“Oh, crap that's right. Sombra called me yesterday too. He thinks he's found another dimensional rift there. Apollo was trying to fix the rift with some mirror he's been on about the past few months. Ugh, that boy. Well, I’m not about to take Zeus out of school for this. Is there anyone else?” Celestia was thinking through all of the knights and assassins she was in command of and only her own family was available to be sent out at the moment. Luna had only had her three kids, and her unit was made up of V-strain humans, and they were nearly blind during the day. Oh wait! Thought Celestia.

“What about Light? You are probably thinking, and the answer is no. He is visiting home for the year, and he took Nebula with him.” Sola looked at Tsukiko confused.

“For the year? Wasn't he here yesterday?” Luna nodded. “Yes he was. But over there, It's New year's eve, and he wanted Nebula to experience what it was like back home where magic was scarce and technology flourished. It's really only going to be three months here, but you know time is not the same... especially after the whole... nightmare incident I caused over there. Hell only knows those people never want to see me again.” Right. Shit.

“I had better alert Zephraim. He's got his work cut out for him.” The Night Queen agreed.

“Indeed he does. Let us just hope nothing goes wrong. My agents should never have to watch their own people die...” The Day and Night Queens resumed their original forms and teleported home to Canterlot castle. Zephraim had his work cut out for him indeed.

Family Reunion (6)

The time had moved to about 12:40 before they reached the place known as Sweet Apple Acres. As Ruby had been spouting facts about the Apple family which apparently had a recorded line going all the way back to the unification of Fauna and then some, somewhere along the lines, she mentioned that the farm was one of the longest standing properties in town. The land it enclosed was around 60 acres, with over half of that being devoted to just apples, and over 1000 apple trees were planted there that still stood from over 1000 years ago.

The town of Pony Ville was founded by the Apples that settled it, who miraculously found water in the nearly desert below the Everfree. The Storm drain river runs just outside the Everfree from Sky lake, and the Apples managed to run into it coming from south of the String hill range that separates the dapple desert from the rest of the world. They somehow managed to cross the gods forsaken desert without all dying, and then were still strong enough to build a settlement a few miles from the river. How they managed it, many will never know. This happened in the 500's or so, therefore the Queens weren't even around yet.

The farm was built, and the land around it was barren. The first year, the family was barely able to grow enough food to feed themselves. But during the next spring, an entire group of unnatural trees sprouted from the ground all around the settlement, which produced the most strange fruit known to man. They called the rainbow things Zap Apples, and from then on have been the only ones who know how to grow and harvest them. Only the head of the family is allowed knowledge, and from each head the knowledge is passed through the generations. The current head, by force, is Macintosh Apple. He's only 20 years old, but has managed to run the farm practically on his own for most of his life.

He, his grandmother, and his sisters are the only true resident Apples in Pony Ville, since all the others live everywhere in the country. Some how, the entire family has been Terran aside from those who marry in, but even then, the children have always come out Terran, Ruby herself being an example. They arrived at the gate of the farm after several minutes of walking, and then Ruby began to explain as much as she could, as fast as she could before they made it to Pony Ville farm.

Their best seller was the jack apples which were the odd creation of Johnny Apple, son of Pauline Smith and Sweet Apple. After that came the zap apples, which were in such high demand that a single apple would run a person around fifty to forty bits, which is nothing compared to the by products of the zap apples. The only stipulation with these apples is that they had a very short window of growth and harvest. The entire month of march was all they had to get everything grown before the trees would 'zap' away, and there was only a week that the Apples could be harvested.

From there, they grew and sold every other apple under the sun, along with various seasonal fruits and vegetables. Sweet Apple had created a method to grow an orchard inside, so even during the winter, the family still produced a good number. Finally, there were the, 'branches' as Ruby called them, of the Apple family. The major family lived here in Pony Ville, but there was an Apple family orchard in every major city in Fauna with a few smaller ones here and there around minor towns and bodies of water.

“Well, that about covers everythin' Ah know! Y'all ready to meet the family?” The old Angel pulled out a Rectangular duel disk from his Conductor's coat pocket and checked the time. “Alright Ruby. I've got bout ten minutes I can spare, but as soon as this here timer goes off, I'm gone, got it?” The red haired woman looked a little disappointed but accepted the fact that her grandfather was here at all for the first time in years. “Okie dokie! Lets head in!” The group of five followed Ruby down the earthy path that looked like forest ground rather than the almost sand type of ground that made up the streets of Pony Ville.

When they made it to the crowd, Ruby and Raid were met with open arms and several 'Howdy cousin's'. As for the other three, Ruby would take each of them to a person, shake hands vigorously with the person she introduced, and move to the next one. Finally, Zephraim managed to get Ruby to streamline her introductions so they could make it to this Jaquline or Applejack girl that they discussed on the train. The yard had four wooden bench tables that seated about ten people on either side, and Twilight didn't believe that that was anywhere close to enough space for all these people.

At the back of the yard were two structures, one was a large red and white wooden barn that was almost of story book design, and another building that looked to be made entirely out of sheet metal, at the very least on the outside. It had a wooden porch seemingly built on to it as an after thought rather than intentional design, and on it were several elderly people who had similar statures and hair to Raid. Standing next to one old woman was a relatively tall man with bright orange hair. He was about twice the size of Zephraim in terms of muscle, and at least as tall as Luna, if not taller. His muscles nearly bulged out of his plaid light and dark red shirt. They were completely defined in his white tank top underneath. He had freckles along his cheeks and had less facial hair than Zephraim, but it was thicker than his, like he'd trimmed it recently. He had green and brown irises, and he was wearing blue jeans and western boots. The boots were a little strange though, because they had what looked like engraved metal plates along the shins.

“Hey Big Mac!” The red haired Terran woman rushed over to the large man on the porch, and gave him a hug that lifted the man off the ground. “Holy shit. How does she even do that?” The old Angel put a hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear. “Terrans, girl. Try to refrain from cursin' if ya can. They don't take too well ta it here.” The old Angel stood back up, and then Ruby motioned for the rest of the party to join her. “How's it been boy?” The big Terran shook the old Angel's hand. “Decent, sir.” Bass 1? Bass 2? maybe even Bass 3? This guy's voice was very deep, possibly just naturally in the fifth octave. “And them?” He motioned to Twilight, Zephraim, and Spike with his giant hand right. “Oh, of course. This is Twilight and Spike Sparkle, and this is Zephraim Black.” They each took turns to shake hands with the giant. Twilight was surprised at how very light his grip was. There was a possibility that he wasn't even putting pressure in his hand at all just to avoid causing an injury.

“Nice to meet you sir.” The giant replied. “Same.” He kneeled to shake hands with Spike. “Hi, I'm Spike.” The boy tried to grip his hand, but his palm was wider than Spike's entire hand. The giant gave a gentle smile. “You'll grow into it.” There was a hint of an accent there, but his was much more toned down than Ruby's. The then stood to greet the Angel. “I believe we've met before. You don't happen to know anything about the business convention in upper Canterlot last year do you?” The giant thought for a second. “Ah helped stop a fight.” The Angel nodded.

“To be quite honest, you really ended the fight. This guy noticed a spat break out between a few other guys that were arguing over price reductions in the gem trade, walked over there and told them to knock it off. Naturally, they tried to gang up on him, but that didn't last long. Tried to punch him and broke their hands.” The giant almost blushed. “Holy crap. That's friggen impressive dude.” The giant accepted the compliment and then moved to help the old woman in the rocking chair behind him up. She was wearing a long beige sun dress with a bright green shawl over her upper body. She, like Ruby, was relatively small and frail looking for a Terran, which was likely due to age more than anything. There were signs of muscle that had been lost in her arms as she picked up her cane to stand on. Her silvery hair looked to have a few blonde streaks left in it here and there, and it was all pulled neatly into a bun.

“Well howdy there young'ins. What brings ya here to my family's old farm?” The old woman stuck out a shaky hand to Twilight. Once again, she grabbed the hand tentatively due to her last encounter, and like then, there was much more force than expected in the shake. “What the? Come on girlie, give it some power!” Complying with the challenge, Twilight squeezed her hardest, but the old woman's hand didn't change. “Well, that's a lil' disappointin', but yer a Mage after all. Can't really be helped. And how about you lil' one? Got a good, strong, hand shake for an old Apple?” The old woman relinquished her death grip on Twilight's hand and moved on to the boy.

“I can try!” The woman once again stuck a shaky right hand out. In reply, the boy's hand looked like several small scales flipped over all along his skin which then turned violet, and his fingers grew clawed. He then grabbed at the woman's hand and squeezed as hard as possible. The woman didn't budge but smiled at it. “Well now, aren't you somethin' fancy! How old are ya dear?” The woman put a harder grip on Spike and he winced at the hand. “My eleventh... birthday is in... five months!” the woman let go of his dragon hand and returned it to her cane. “You've got a whole bunch of potential if yer hand shake is that strong at ten. Why, ya might even out do ol' Big Macintosh over here.” The woman slapped the giant's back, who took a step forward to brace it. “Now, you are?” The Angel took the hand expecting a similar death grip, but didn't receive it.

“Zephraim Black ma'am.” The old Terran gave him a look. “Hmm... now that doesn't sound right... You've got that gold in yer eyes... I've only ever seen one other person in the world with that trait...” The Angel frantically tried to change the subject. “So uh, where's that Applejack? Jaquline, or whatever her name is?” The old woman seemed to drop her line of inquiry and don an unhappy look. “Oh, you mean the sourpuss. Yeah, Applejack's up in her room. Been in a real foul mood lately. There was an accident bout seven years ago today that took her father. Y'all probably need ta talk ta her fer some reason other than the family reunion, and I imagine it's real important that ya do fer y'all ta come all the way out to an ol' farm like this. Macintosh, why don't ya go up there and try ta get her ta talk with them?” The giant nodded.

“Sure Granny.” The old woman then pointed a cane at Twilight. “You got that angry look about ya girlie. And yer eyes... yer not quite the same as everybody else either, huh? Hope yer good at that game. If I was a bettin' girl, which I was back in the day, I'd say you out of the lot of ya have the best chance of getting her outta that mood. She's a might stubborn, and there ain't no one here who'll ignore a challenge. Use it to yer advantage.” The old woman gave Twilight a slap on the back, and she almost fell over. “Ow, shi- uh, thanks... I guess?” The old woman gave Twilight that 'I know what you were about to say' look that grandparents and parents all seem to have, but before she said anything, Raid cut in.

“Well, I'd love ta stay and chat, but I need ta go meet my son and his daughter across town.” The old woman nodded. “It was good ta see ya again Raid. Glad ya finally decided to come visit me, even though I'm sure yer other granddaughter dragged ya here.” The old Angel shifted his Hat and started to hover. “Don't think too hard bout it Smith. I might even come back later.” The old Angel took off. The rest watched him as he flew away, until Mac coughed. “If y'all will follow me.” At this point none of them knew where Ruby had drifted off too, and then Twilight spotted her in the sea of people in front of the house. Guess the party had lost two members. The trio followed the giant into the metal house which was lined with polished wood on the inside. Pictures of countless people were on the walls everywhere, and there was a small shrine with two pictures and a lit candle on a dresser near thee entry way. Twilight guessed they were Johnny Apple and his wife. They approached a stair case, and then they started to hear voices.

“Come on sis! Everybody's already here! Yer gonna miss the whole reunion!” A couple of knocks on what they assumed to be a door later, another voice was heard. “Ah don't want ta see anybody! Now git! Go play with yer cousins er somethin. Leave me alone.” The younger voice complained again. “Applejack! You do this ever friggen year! Come on, lets just go play in the orchard like we used to!” The older voice was more irritated now. “If you don't get the hell away from my door, I swear Applebloom, I will make sure your chores are a livin' hell next week!” They heard a quick step. “Fine! I didn't want ya to come anyways! The family doesn't need you if yer gonna be a bitch!” A teary eyed little girl tried to run down the staircase and pass the group, but was caught by the waist by the older brother.

“There ain't no need to be callin' her ugly names. Now go on. I'll take care of her. I think I saw Babs over by the west field with some of yer other cousins.” The little redhead was talked down by the giant, and he seemed to do it right. “Okay... but make her do the dishes tonight fer bein such a... meanie.” The older brother nodded. “Consider it done.” The girl managed a smile and ran off, but not without giving Spike a good long stare. “Cool wings!” And just like that, she was gone. “Looks like you have an admirer.” The boy gave his sister an annoyed look. “Oh, shut up. Your the one whose trying to bang Cel-” Both the Mage and the Angel put a hand over the boy's mouth. The giant gave them a look, but continued up the stair case without a word.

“Remember what I told Stripes earlier at the Canterlot station? Those rules apply to you too, got it?” The boy was still afraid of the Angel's eyes, and once again, he nearly yelped out loud. “Yes sir.” he whispered back. “Applejack!” Said the giant as his heavy fist knocked against the wooden door. “What do you want?” The giant shook his head. “You know damn well what Ah want. Open the door before Ah break it down.” Muted cursing came from the other side of the door, and it opened to a blonde girl of about six feet, at least at Zephraim's height, wearing nothing but an oversized orange and blue plaid button up shirt. Her face was freckled, and she had watery green eyes. They were reddened, like she'd been crying. She gave a half angry half depressed look to the giant, then her face turned bright red as she looked at the other people. She then slammed the door.

“Why in the hell didn't ya tell me you brought people with ya!” The sounds of frantic opening and closing of drawers came from the other side of the door. “It's one in the afternoon! Ah didn't expect you to be still in yer skivvies!” The door opened again, the blonde now with messier hair, hastily thrown on jeans, likely a bra considering her chest was much tighter in her shirt, and boots with a similar metal plating. “Fine! Now who in the hell are these people, and what are they doin' in my house?” The girl turned to look at the three invaders, but she stopped on Twilight. “Hold on a sec. Do... Ah know you?” The Mage was startled by the sudden inquisition.

“Oh, uh, me? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I would have remembered somebody with a rack like that... Oh gods damn it.” That wasn't supposed to come out. The blonde narrowed her eyes. “You would have, huh? Ah want these people out of my house.” The giant nodded. “Sure. But yer commin' with.” The giant grabbed the girl with his shoulder, and hoisted her up. “Come on y'all, she want's us out of the house!” The wide eyed trio just looked at each other and did as they were told. “You put me the hell down right now Macintosh! Ah swear Ah'll knock yer damn head off!” They managed to get outside of the house with Applejack in toe, but as soon as they did, the entire crowd stopped dead in their tracks. Twilight also noticed that Zephraim had zipped up his coat and put his hands in his pockets. Weird. It's nearly 95 degrees outside. Why in the hell would he do that? The giant threw the girl on the ground as she continued to curse at him, and she scrambled to get back up.

“Yer fuckin' dead! Why would ya throw me!?” The giant leaned down and put his nose against hers. “You asked me to put you down. So I did.” He said with a terrifying calmness in his voice. If she had to guess, Macintosh was one of those people who just got quieter and slower in tone when he was angry. “Great! Just fuckin' great! Is this what y'all wanted!? Ta show these random people my underwear, and see me go ballistic on the anniversary of dad's death! Is that it!? Cain't I just have one damn day to mourn my own fuckin' father!?” The girl was flushed and half in tears, likely because she'd been crying earlier on top of being enraged. The giant hugged the raging blonde.

“Will ya just shut up? He was our dad too. Yer bein' selfish and stubborn, and neither of them would have wanted you ta shut yerself in her damn room all day and mope like that. And it ain't just today, you've been like this fer weeks! It's been seven years fer Divinity's sake.” The blonde struggled in her brothers arms until finally she just hid her face in his embrace. “Gods damn it... It's just not fair...” The giant pushed her outward so she looked him in the eyes. They had the same green and brown eyes. “You have a job from the Queens. Ya cain't just ignore somethin' like that. These are the people she mentioned in that letter we got a week ago. You know we won't make it through the year without that money.” The girl turned away from her brother and wiped at her face. She then turned to Twilight.

“Yer Twilight right? Ah got a letter last week with a card and some instructions from the Day Queen. We're supposed to duel today. Ya think ya can quit lookin' at my chest long enough to play me?” Twilight turned just as red as the blonde. She grabbed at her hair with her hands and began to play with it nervously. “Um... y-yes...” That was likely to never go away. The blonde look satisfied with her reply, then addressed the silent crowd. “Good. Now will y'all set up the tables fer a game? Ah'm gonna go get dressed.” The various people who were dead silent all gathered around the four tables in the yard and began to lift them into place. They lined up two on either side of the yard about thirty feet apart. They then took four trash can like objects from the porch of the house and placed them at each corner end of the tables.

“You'd better go get ready. She's not gonna take it easy on ya, especially as emotional as she is right now.” She nodded and moved toward the tables closest to her. She removed her disk from her bottom right pocket and placed it on her left arm. The level of silence had moved up to a whisper. Granny Smith had gotten up from her chair and moved to the center of the yard in between the tables, where she invited Twilight to stand on top of one. Around that time, Applejack had come back. Her hair was combed, into shape at least, and the long ends were tied together by a bright red hair band. She had changed into a dark and light orange plaid shirt that mirrored the one her brother was wearing, and was now wearing a belt and a brown leather stetson. The hat looked ancient, but well kept all the same. She had tucked her jeans in her boots which now displayed a symbol engraved into the plates. Three apples in a circle, like a family crest, or a Terran's mark of an important family head. She started toward the tables opposite of Twilight with a trapezoid shaped orange duel disk on her left arm. As she got closer, she started to get a bounce in her step, and once she was close enough, she turned and back-flipped up to the table top, grabbing her hat and doing a bow after she landed. The rest of the family cheered and clapped, and Applejack sniffed and wiped at her nose. Granny gave her a look, then gave Twilight the same one, and smiled.

“In the words of our fore fathers, let the game begin!” The entire crowd and the two players said all in unison, “DUEL!” The two disks shot out matter waves, and then beams of light at each other. The four cans at each table end also shot beams of light out, and the six beams met at the center of the field, far above the players. “What are those?” The blonde girl gained a hint of a smirk. “That would be my own personal invention. Ah call em' invoker restraints, or IR's fer short. Similar to duel disks, these big ol' cans generate MR fields, but ya can restrict em to a specific size or shape, and the cut the exterior magic leak to nothin'. That way, everyone can watch without getting hurt and still bein' able ta see the action.” The girl couldn't hide her pride at all. “That's impressive. You must be a top student or something, right?” The blonde shook her head.

“Naw. Haven't been ta school since Ah graduated a year ago. This came mostly out of habit.” The Mage furrowed her brow. “You already graduated?” The Terran nodded. “Yeah. What about it?” The Mage narrowed her eyes. “But... aren't you like, sixteen?” The girl shook her head again. “Turned sixteen almost a whole year ago, sugar cube. Gimme a month.” Twilight was shocked. This girl graduated high school when she was fifteen!? “Holy shi- uh, You have a diploma already!?” The blonde tipped her hat. “Yes ma'am, skipped three grades. Now are we just gonna stand here and talk or play this game?” The indigo haired girl crossed her arms. “You tell me, turn player.” The blonde looked at the screen on her disk and muttered a curse word.

“Damn, well, I guess if it's my turn, I'll go ahead. Ta start us off, Ah'll set the Pendulum scale with the scale 1 Continental Knight, Honest Lord Ephraim, and the scale 8 Continental Knight Paladin!” The blonde placed the two cards on either end of her disk and both monsters showed up at each end of her field. The first was a medium armored man who resembled the girl and her brother quite a lot. In fact, he looked almost identical to the picture she saw inside the house in the shrine. He, like the siblings, had longer hair the came to a curl that pointed upward in his bangs that was sandy blonde, much like Applejack. Like the older brother, he had facial hair running from his sideburns to his chin, and carried those green-brown irises. He was wearing dark, almost navy blue armor with beige accents all along it's edges. He had white pants and a violet colored long sleeve shirt with beige accents underneath, and was wearing a dark brown cape with a red underside that was held on by an ornate gold clasp that had the same crest as the sibling's boots and the grandmother's shawl. He carried a medium sized shield in his left hand, and a large halberd in his right that had a red cloth tied around it's shaft. The other knight was much lighter armored, and rode a brown stallion. He carried a medium shield in his right and a long spear in his left. His face was uncovered, and his hair and eyes were a bright red. He was, to say the least, very attractive, and unlike like the other, his armor was turquoise. He wore what looked like brown leather underneath everything, and had a navy blue shoulder cover just underneath his shoulder plates. The two monsters floated in position, and above the girl, a large object appeared and began to oscillate.

“When Ephraim hits the pendulum zone, Ah get ta add a continental card ta my hand. At the moment, Ah think the army needs some range, so Ah'll add Continental Knight Sniper!” In a similar fashion to Andromeda earlier, Ephraim tapped his lance to the ground, and sent an orange colored wave under Applejack's feet. She took her card from her deck, and then the oscillating object above her began to move faster. It's trail became visible, and there was a circle area where it continually passed the edges of with each movement.

“Now that we've got some soldiers, let's bring out the troops! Using the scales, Ah can pendulum summon monsters who'er level 2 through 7! Swing Pendulum swing! Just like my family before me, bring the army back ta life! Continental Knight Warrior Princess, and Sniper!” Out of the poly-star came two orange lights that turned into more armored people. The first was a woman wearing very light, very ornate, gold armor over her chest and shoulders with long flowing turquoise hair over bright a bright red shirt. She was wearing an ivory skirt with red long boots and carried a rapier in her red gloved right, and nothing in her gold armored left. The other was a man wearing chain mail under relatively plain light blue clothing. He had a leather shoulder plate on his left, and wielded a giant silver bow that was nearly as big as him. He had silver hair that was long enough to hide his forehead, and cold yellow eyes. Just after the summon, the crowd that was expectantly waiting for it began to cheer her on, and shout for Applejack. She took a bow, then continued her turn.

“And now we got two effects that go off. First, our paladin lets me add an Army card to my hand, so Ah'll take Army phalanx formation. Then, the princess lets me destroy one card in my pendulum zone and replace it with a monster with the same scale from my deck. Ephraim is destroyed, and Continental Knight Princess Wing Rider is put in his place.” The navy blue lord spun his halberd and then stabbed the ground. It opened up in an orange light, and he sank into it. In his place rose a blue haired woman riding a bright white pegasus. Like the other princess, she wore light ornate armor over her shoulders, and not much else. She was wearing a bandeau dress with an ivory underskirt, yellow frills on the edges of the red outer part that looked like it was tied all along dark red fringe that encircled the dress. Another set of armor Zeus was likely to complain about, because it was very impractical.

“Well, Ah'm sure we'll get to this later, but just so ya know, while Princess Wing Rider is in the pendulum zone, Monsters can't be banished. With that, Ah got a couple a cards ta set, and it's yer go.” The Mage girl examined the field, then examined her hand. Depending on what those two traps were, and what the phalanx card did, she didn't have any good options to her at the moment. If nothing else, she could start off with Andromeda and buff his attack to play it safe, but the pendulum monsters wouldn't stay gone unless she could send them to the grave, rather than destroy. Even then, that was if she could manage to even do that. Considering that a phalanx was a formation that the queens came up with back when they ruled over Gaia to defend against on coming arrow and lance rain of Sephira's forces, this trap would likely screw her over if she just went straight out for it. Using seal would keep it shut for the turn, but with Wing rider over there, she wouldn't be able to sweep her field like this. So there's the solution. Kill the princess.

“I like the army motif. But they all seem to be Terrans, so let's recreate a little history! First off, I'll summon Shooting Star Pegasus. When Pegasus is summoned while I control no monsters, I can special summon two level 3 or lower monster from mt hand. Star Magician Halley and Shooting Star Swan Join the field. And If Halley is summoned, I get to add a Star Quick play spell to my hand. I think I'll take Silent Star Seal. Now that that's done, I'll activate Star Fusion. By sending Halley and Pegasus to the grave, I preform a fusion summon! He who holds the power of heaven in his hands, come forth and show the majesty of the galaxy! Appear, Magic Star Andromeda, The Galaxy Magician!” The Tritium began to form, and unlike at school a few days ago, this card got a reaction out of the crowd. They all 'oohed and 'awed over the violet lights and then Andromeda appearing got whole volumes of cheering, just like Applejack's pendulum summon. It was strange. She expected the crowd to go wild for Celestia on Sunday, but a normal duel getting this much of a reaction from fifty or sixty people? Have I been missing something? Or did I just never watch duels enough to think that they're exciting to watch? Now that I think about it, I can feel my own pulse. My heat beat is just rapidly increasing the closer I get to the battle phase. Maybe It's always been like this, and I just never noticed.

“Uh... sugar cube?” Twilight pulled her head back to reality upon the southern girls voice. “Oh right, sorry. When Andromeda is fusion summoned, I get to add a Star monster to my hand, and in this case I need Star Magician Huygens, um, please.” Andromeda turned his head to give Twilight a confused look, then did a similar motion to the lord. He placed his staff on the ground for a light blue wave to reach Twilight, and her deck to eject Huygens. The crowd and Applejack all stared at Twilight after the event transpired. “Did y'all just... ask yer card politely fer his effect?” The Mage now understood why she received that look from the sorcerer, and tried to hide herself behind her hand.

“A-anyways, I activate the effect of Huygens from my hand. While I control a Dark and a Light attribute monster, I can special summon him.” The next Star Magician appeared and kept trend with the other three, appearance wise. Applejack noticed that between this one and the last one, the clothes had changed, but the face was different. The last one looked like a young man, and didn't have any facial hair or glasses, but this one was wearing glasses, had thin facial hair along his jaw line, and was wearing an ear ring on his right ear.

“Now uh, since he's on the field, I can send monsters I control to the grave to perform a fusion summon with his effect. I fuse Swan and Huygens! Circling galaxy, great disk of light! Stars that spin in elliptical flight! Descend, Star Ellipse, the Galaxy Magician!” The swan flew and grabbed on the magician's back, then the two took off. They rose in the air until they could barely be seen, then began to spiral downward toward the ground at a rapid rate. The spinning figures flashed in a bright violet light until an armored sorceress with wings made of light with black lines and stars in them hovered down beside Andromeda. She wore a tutors cap similar to Andromeda's, but on both sides above her ears were feathers made of the same teal light that her wings were. Like the princesses on Applejack's field, she was armored at the shoulders and the chest, in that boob-mold style that Zeus hates with small metallic violet shoulder plates that just passed the middle of her upper arms. She wore gauntlets and shin plates over the same white pants Andromeda wore, and was wearing an indigo blue and gold lined blouse that ended in a skirt toward the back. Her hair was an inversion of Twilight's being magenta with a violet and indigo streak, but ended in the spiky points that the Star Magicians all shared, and unlike any of the other galaxy magicians, this one had glasses. She carried a small baton in her hands that she held just below the end of her shirt that had an elliptical swirl of light at each end.

“Well ain't she a pretty lil' thing. Ya size her chest yet?” The blonde snickered, and Twilight retreated behind her cards again. “I... uh... so, when... when she's summoned...” The Terran started to wave her hand at Twilight. “Come on now! Ah cain't here ya, if y'all get all mousy on me like that. Ah'm just jerkin' with ya.” The Mage cleared her throat. “Ahem, if Ellipse is fusion summoned, I get to target and destroy one card you control. I think there's only room for one princess on your field, so wing rider is gonna have to go.” The Terran looked down at her two set cards. “Well. Damn.” The sorceress spun her baton twice in her hand and then the lights extended into pointed sabers. It was a twin blade, not a baton. She jumped above the pendulum zone princess, and threw her light twin blade into her, slashing her into two. The princess exploded into fragments with her pegasus, and began to float into a white circle of light that appeared just above her.

“Wait a minute. If the card I destroy is a spell or trap card then it's banished after it's destroyed! Wing rider goes to hell!” The blonde exclaimed. “You shittin' me!?” Just as she spoke, the white light disappeared, and a black one appeared below the spot. A large shadowy hand struck out and grabbed at the particles that turned back into wing rider atop her pegasus. The pegasus bucked and neighed, and the rider made a silent scream as she was dragged into the black. For the first time, Twilight felt bad about doing it. That display was like dragging a real person down to the abyss. Is this what the game was? Playing with lives? This didn't feel right. Something was different about this match. That felt too... real. At the same time, she notice Applejack wince and grab at her chest. Something was wrong. This wasn't normal.

“Uh... So, next, I activate shooting star comet, and target Andromeda. This turn, he can attack every monster you control, and for each monster he destroys, he gains 400 attack.” The blonde gave a confused look to the Mage. “What's with that? Yer givin' me that mousy bit again. And uh... Ah don't know if ya noticed, but yer kinda glowin'.” Glowing? What did she mean? Twilight looked at her hands, and then saw it. A faint violet smoke was coming off of her skin. It was happening again. Her senses were going crazy and she was producing magic like nothing. But... what was it about this that was different? It wasn't normal magic either... From the crowd, someone else made a comment.

“What are ya talkin' about? She's not glowin'!” Several others chimed in with the same reply, and then the crowd was in an uproar over it. “What the? Can y'all not see or somethin'? She's got a damn purple ring around her body! It's practically an outline at this point!” mutterings came from the crowd until the last phrase was repeated, and the uproar continued. Master Sparkle, this is getting out of hand. The voice of Andromeda started playing in her ears, and the sorcerer was still in the same forward facing position on the field, but his staff was lowered. She whispered back.

“What am I supposed to do about it? I don't know how to turn it off!” The sorcerer's staff bobbed a little, and then his voice returned to her head. I was afraid of this. I'm going to do something. So be prepared. Remember where you and she are standing, or this could get... messy. The sorcerer placed his other hand on his staff, and his whole body began to glow in a light blue. He tapped his staff on the ground three times, and then the area around them lost all color. The world was frozen, and only she and Applejack retained color aside from Andromeda. “Hah... I... must sit down...” The sorcerer stopped floating, and walked to the table Twilight was standing on, then he sat down, breathing heavily.

“That boy... was not joking when he said this was... difficult.” The sorcerer swallowed, and Twilight got down from her table to check on him. On the other side of the field, the Terran was more confused now than she'd ever been in her life. “What in tarnation? What the hell happened!?” The blonde approached the edge of the IR field her cans generated, and tried to reach past it, but was stopped by an invisible wall. She poked at it, and then acquainted it to the texture to glass. She felt along the area with her empty hand, and then moved around until she reached a corner, that lined up with her can, and spread to the other two.

“Alright. You need ta tell me what in the hell is goin' on, Missy!” The blonde turned away from the wall to Twilight, and marched down to the two of them. “Who is this guy?” The sorcerer tried to stand up, but couldn't manage, so he introduced himself from his seat. “I am Andromeda, the Galaxy Magician, as you know me. If you would place my brother on your disk, it would be very much appreciated.” Applejack was stunned, and Twilight tapped Applejack's extra deck slot. “Trust me on this one. You remember that letter, right? I need you to tell me exactly what it said.” The slot opened, and Twilight put Ephraim on Applejack's matterwave. The man was summoned to position, but as soon as he was, he looked around. He then locked on Andromeda, then sank to the ground.

“Andromeda, What the devil did you do?” The sorcerer's head fell on the table with a thump. Then his muffled voice came out. “It has been nearly five years since we've been in the same room together, and the first thing you do is ask me that?” The lord moved to the opposite side of the table and sat down across from him. He then stabbed his lance in the ground. “Fine. How've you been, is this the girl, what's up, bla bla bla. What did you do?” The blonde jumped up on the table between the three and demanded their attention.

“I've put up with this shit fer long enough. Some body tell me what the fuck is goin' on right now!” The sorcerer raised his head from the table, and looked with weary eyes at the blonde. “I see she shares your... personality.” The lord reclined on the invisible wall. “You could say that. You could also say she's merely a younger version of myself. I imagine that one is the same?” The two continued to ignore the quickly angering blonde on the table. “If nothing else, she is the spitting image of my first granddaughter. However, she does share my younger selves personality as well, so in that regard, she is the same. Master Sparkle, would you please explain to my brother and his incarnate what is happening?” Twilight starred daggers at Applejack.

“Sit down already! We need to have a conversation.” The Terran debated whether or not to fight, but then decided to comply, simply until she gained more information. “Alright, fine. But y'all better explain well. This... frozen thing is startin' ta freak me out.” The girl jumped off the table, and sat down next to the lord. She looked at his face for a long moment, until he looked back and smiled. She turned red, and looked at the floor. “Right now, we're in what's called a dimensional pocket. Pretty much everything around us is going to be frozen until Andromeda releases it, at which point we need to be back where we were standing, or the pocket will put us there, and it does not feel good.” The blonde nodded. “So this is some kind of spell right? Now what's up with them? Who are they? And why were y'all glowin'?” Twilight held her chin, and started to think of how to phrase everything she knew short enough to explain it.

“To put it shortly, These two were originally our ancestors from a time before we have records of today. They fought against an alien dark magic that caused them to be sealed inside stone slates, or the original duel monsters cards. The queens found them some time ago, and turned them into cards. At the same time, the ancient dark alien magic was released and possessed Luna. If you remember the night that Upper Canterlot burned, that was why. A battle between the Queens ensued, and these guys and their other siblings used the powers of the gods that they inherited to fight of the dark magic again, but something went horribly wrong, and Luna was lost to another dimension. Eventually, Luna was freed and returned home with the dark magic card, which was then sealed away. Seventeen years ago, a woman who was imprisoned under Canterlot castle made off with the card. There are six of us who were born, and all inherited these guys' Marks and powers. The Day Queen has ordered me to team up with you and the other four, and find this woman, and stop her. She's the one who Celestia believes is causing all of those murders that have been happening here.” The blonde looked to the men sitting beside them, then back to Twilight.

“Hmm... Ah don't know if Ah can take all of that at face value, ya know? Sure, this guy looks a hell of a lot like my dad, but...” The lord put his hand on the girl's shoulder. “I assure you, It is the truth. You see...” The lord began to remove his armor. He unbelted his left shoulder plate, and then the rest of the plates on his left arm. After all the armor was gone, he rolled his sleeve up to his neck, and with it revealed the image of three apples in a circle on his left shoulder.

“You and I share a destiny, and if we're to be honest here, Your entire family is wearing my mark.” The Terran rolled up her own left sleeve to look at the same mark on her shoulder. Then she looked at her boots to see it on the plates. She turned to look at the frozen people in the crowd, and each and every one of them had some article of clothing with that mark on it. “Holy shit... That mark... Is yours?” The lord nodded. “You see, I started the trend. Originally, I was the one who engraved my mark into things. If it's still there, there is a cave in the string hills that has an entire fortress carved into the stone. I built My family out of those hills, and we thrived. For whatever reason, I had always found growing plants relatively easy, even if it was only Optimism and myself that could do it well. Big brother over here tried his best, but that was one thing he could never get right.” The lord gave a hearty slap to the sorcerer's shoulder plates and laughed. The sorcerer sighed and put his head back on the table.

“He brings this up every time he meets someone new, really. Prideful little bastard.” The lord slapped the sorcerer again. “So negative, aren't we? Anyways, that place didn't used to be a desert. It was the most fertile land I'd ever come across in my travels, but after the great nightfall, that land was desolated. I still don't know what happened to the family that survived it, but it seems they found their way here. And from the looks of it, there's quite a few of us now. Now, tell me of yourself, Jacqueline. I want to know of this father you spoke of.” The Terran girl looked down at her hands. She looked depressed again. The lord gave her a pat on the back, much gentler than when he did so to his brother, and began to re-armor his arm.

“Well... my dad was a lot like ya, actually. He was big and strong, and always smilin' at folks. He and my mom were real special people. Even when they would try and come ta screw our farm over, they never got mad, they'd just invite them in fer dinner. And he was just so... perfect. He was... always such a good guy...” The girl was starting to tear up. “He never yelled at me, and he always knew just what ta say. He loved me so much. And now... he's... he's gone... That stupid sonic boom... this damn mark! Why did it have to happen like that...?” The girl had dug her face in her arms, lightly sobbing. The Mages looked at each other, unsure of what to do, then the lord took hold of the girl.

“Come now, there's no need for this. You are among friends. If you tell us what happened, then we might just be able to help you.” The girl looked up at the lord. “You... y'all are just like him... he even... said the same thing, well, if not in so many words.” The girl wiped at her eyes, and then started to circle her thumbs. “Well... it happened about seven years ago today. Twilight, do y'all remember some real loud noise and color in the sky from when y'all were younger.” Twilight thought for a second, then her eyes went wide.

“How could I forget? My Mage's mark appeared that day, and I uh... well let's ignore that part.” The other girl's eyes went wide. “Yours did too!?” Both of the girls looked at each other intently. “Yeah it did. That's... really, really weird. What has happened to my life? Literally, less than a week ago, there wasn't any weird shit in it, and suddenly everything is friggen crazy. I don't understand this crap.” The sorcerer patted the Mage's back. “There, there, Master Sparkle, this is simply the beginning. Please, continue Master Apple.” The Girl gave the sorcerer a weird look, then resumed her story.

“So mom had passed away about three years prior, and it was really startin' ta get ta me. Ah wasn't functionin' right, and Ah just couldn't get up the drive ta work or go ta school. So dad had the idea ta have me visit my aunt an' uncle's place up in Heartland. He said that bein' around my mom's family might cheer me up a little, so I went. And fer a while, it worked. Ah was up there fer a couple of weeks, and after the first week ended, Ah really started ta get the hang of that fancy talk they use, even learned a little Aristonace.” She said the last word in perfect Aristonace, which was surprising because her normal speech was the exact opposite of the beauty people expected from that language.

“But, then Ah started getting' home sick. I was missin' dad, and my brother, and my baby sister. So the next day Ah was starin' out the window when this real loud noise happened and what followed that was a whole bunch of colors in the sky that just seemed ta point back home. Ah knew that's where Ah really wanted ta be, and then this here mark showed up on my arm. Ah couldn't really understand why it did, but Ah was so happy, that I got my Uncle to rush me back home that night. But, Ah didn't come back ta a happy home.

While he was out the day of the sonic boom, he was visitin' a friend who owned an armory just outside of town. The boom set off a gun that was traded in earlier that day and hadn't been unloaded by the owner. The bullet flew and ricocheted off of a few things, and my dad protected his friend, but was hit right above the heart... It... pierced his Aorta... his friend took him ta the hospital, but he... he didn't make it there... he was out buyin' me a present fer when Ah got home ta try and cheer me up... If Ah had never left... He wouldn't...” The lord brought the girl in his arms.

“Stop right there. We've heard enough.” The girl fell into him and accepted the hug. “If Ah had just... never left...” The lord continued to rub her head. “Stop with that. You don't know what would have happened. And you cannot know what would have happened. The past is exactly that. It's gone, done, and over with. Nothing can change that. Look at me.” He pushed the girl out and stared directly into her eyes. Twilight noticed that just like her and her brother, He shared the green and brown irises too.

“You are still here. And if he were to see you like this, well, I'm afraid he'd be disappointed. You're a strong young girl. You've accomplished so much on your own. You're smart and filled to the brim with talents you can't even see that are there right at this very moment. When you stand, You walk with confidence. When you play, you play without fear. When you work, you put your all into it. You are exactly who your father was trying to raise when you act like yourself. But this... teary, little, mopy, girl is not who you are. Come now. Tell me what your father would have said to you.” The girl looked down at her hands again, beginning to stave off tears.

“If it wasn't that... then, Ah just don't know...” The lord smiled. “There it is. Now, when I was tracing through all of the people who could inherit me, you were the one who stood above the rest. You have endured a hardship that no one should have to suffer, and you are stronger than anyone because of it. Your will cannot be broken, and your strength and determination are unwavering. Your siblings were the others I could have chosen, but you stood out even among them. You will defend this land that your family has lived on for generations, and you will topple all adversity. It doesn't matter which battles you fight, because there isn't one you cannot win. This girl in front of you will become one of your greatest allies, but first, you must fight with her. Clash your very soul against hers, and emerge with a new friend. She has seen you at your lowest so there is only to go up from here. So get up! Challenge her! Fight with all the energy you have to offer! Win for your sake, and no one else!” This guy must have been an expert manipulator or something, Twilight thought, and it was definitely working.

“Well then! Let's get to it! Come on!” She was absolutely fired up now. “But we didn't even...” The blonde grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and brought her up to the table, then leapt twice to reach her original spot. “Let's do this!” The sorcerer gave a tired sigh and went to his place. “Ephraim, you weren't on the field before we started.” The lord shrugged. “Not much I can do about that.” Twilight sighed just like Andromeda. “Applejack, can you get set up like we were before Andromeda cast the spell? And, just don't ask questions this time. I'm sure I'll end up explaining everything again to the other four too, so let's just hold off on that okay?” The girl shook her head and readjusted her hat.

“Alright, alright. But Ah want ta know about them murders. Half the family isn't here this year because of it.” Twilight was shocked by the sentence. “THIS IS ONLY HALF!?” The blonde put Ephraim back in the extra deck and then wiped her face again. “Yep. Now lets play the game.” The girl resumed her position, and Andromeda floated to his spot. He then tapped the ground with his staff three times. From the spot, color expanded in a circle until everything was enveloped and people were arguing over whether or not Twilight was glowing. After a few seconds of it, Applejack got angry and just gave in to the crowd, because at the moment, they were right.

“Fine! Fine. She's not glowin' any more. Y'all shut up and let her finish her turn. What'ch ya got fer me sugar cube?” Twilight looked at the cards in her hand. She had Silent Star Seal, and Shooting Star barrier. At this point, it would be best just to go for it with Andromeda, and hope she doesn't need to use barrier. But wait... phalanx was a counter trap! If I don't use seal first... damn it. Well, all in I guess. “I don't really have much choice on this one, so I activate the effect of Silent star Seal! While I control a level 5 or higher Star monster, the effects of all trap cards are negated until the next standby phase!” And just as Twilight thought, she activated the trap.

“Ah'm gonna have ta take that as an opportunity ta activate Army Phalanx Formation! All monsters Ah control are switched ta defense position, and they gain defense equal ta all monsters Ah control. In this case, 3900.” And that is what I was afraid of. So much for comet. But, there's still Ellipse. “I figured that's what would happen. But that isn't about to stop me! Battle Phase, I attack directly with Star Ellipse!” The blonde stepped back. “What? How?” Twilight put on a smirk for the first time in almost a week.

“I can banish a Star monster from my graveyard to attack directly. I banish Pegasus, now 2200 to the face!” The Sorceress started to fly upward above all the other monsters on the field. She began to spin her baton, which then grew the two light blades that made it a twin blade. She dove headfirst into Applejack, who did something unexpected. She kicked Ellipse in the stomach while avoiding the blade swing. The entire crowd seemed to gasp, at least, every one other than her siblings and Granny Smith. None of them seemed to even think anything of it. Her life point counter went down to 1800 and Ellipse returned to her place, clutching her stomach with her left hand at the same time. What in the hell just happened.

“Surprised?” The blonde had that pride in her voice again. “Uh, yeah, a little bit. How, or what really, did you just do?” The Terran girl swiped at her hair with her right. “An old family trick that my dad came up with. Turns out that even though we don't have yer fancy magic, Terrans can still avoid hurtin' ourselves in a duel. It takes practice, but if ya fight back, ya can stop attacks, sometimes even deflect projectiles, but Ah've only ever done that one once.” These people were more and more impressive by the minute. No wonder she was chosen. “W-well, in any case, I set one card and end my turn.” The Mage girl slid a card face down into the disk, and prepared herself mentally for an attack. If she was anywhere close to Zephraim's level, this would hurt, and it would hurt a lot.

“Alright, lets see what we get! Ah draw!” For whatever reason, the Terran girl pulled a card out of her deck as dramatically as she could, then gained a wide smile when she looked at it. “Well isn't that somethin' special. First off, Ah activate my other trap, Guerrilla Tactics of the Army! Ah can target one face up monster in my extra deck and put em' in an empty pendulum zone. Come on back, Continental Knight, Honest Lord Ephraim!” The orange light from earlier returned to let the blue clad lord back on the field. Now that she saw him on the field again, he really did have that winning smile.

“Then, since Ephraim entered the pendulum zone, Ah get ta add a Knight ta my hand! Ah add Continental Knight War Priest! And then, Ah think we've had enough of that phalanx formation, so Ah activate Formation Change of the Army! Ah can special summon both monsters in my pendulum zones, and replace them with two pendulum monsters on my field!” The turquoise paladin and the dark blue lord traded places with the red princess and the and the light blue sniper, and their values were displayed. Paladin had 3200 attack, and Ephraim had 3000. Twilight whispered to Andromeda

“Hey! You didn't tell me he was stronger than you!” The sorcerer gave a quick glance to the Mage. You also never asked. And now you know. I did however specify that my younger brother was a prideful little bastard didn't I? He's always been out to beat me, and for the most part he never succeeded... unless it came to a fight. Twilight put a hand to her face. “For Divinity's sake, you're pathetic.” The sorcerer crossed his arms in indifference. I was the brains of our battles, not the brawn. Do you have a plan other than the barrier? I fear we may need something else. Twilight sighed.

“Top deck the next card I need?” The sorcerer sighed. We are birds of a feather. The blonde raised her hand to the air, and the red crystal that Twilight now believed to be a pendulum began to start it's rotation again. “Then Ah Pendulum summon! Continental Knight War Priest!” The Pendulum circled fast, and then it's rotation became visible again as a bright red line. Out of the interior circle it made came the orange light that turned into War Priest. He was a rather large man, with short brown hair and a rather thick mustache. He had brown eyes and wore white and light blue robes with two metal guards on either shoulder and both his hips. He also had a metal guard around his lower torso, and carried a large ax in one hand, and a staff with a teal crystal on the top in his other.

“Next up is Sniper's effect! Ah can target one monster you control and destroy it. Later Sorcerer guy!” The Sniper kneeled pulled an arrow from the ground. He loaded his bow like a ballista and prepared to fire. “Not so fast! I activate Andromeda's effect! I can target one spell card in my hand or on my field, and activate it as if it were a quick play, and replace his effect in the chain with it! I activate the effect of Shooting Star barrier that I set! By banishing one Star monster in my graveyard, I can target one monster I control, and that monster cannot be destroyed this turn!” The spell card opened, and a large teal ball of light enveloped Andromeda. The sniper fired, but the arrow crumbled once it reached his barrier. The blonde laughed.

“Well, if that ain't a trick! We're gonna be dead even at the end of this turn! Ah activate the other pendulum effect of Sniper! While Ah control a warrior type on the field and in my pendulum zone, Ah can change all yer monsters ta defense position!” As the blonde said, the Sniper loaded two arrows that looked much less impressive than the last in his bow, and launched them at the Mages. The Mages were both shot in the shoulder, then each took to kneeling, and placed their staves in position to protect their bodies. “Wait. What does that do for you? I don't take damage if you attack my defense position monsters.” The Terran gave a wicked smile.

“The Princess begs to differ. Wile she's in the pendulum zone, all warrior type monsters Ah control gain the piercing effect, and Ah'm sure y'all know what that is?” Huh. 3200-2000+3000-2000=2200. She was right. “Oh. Well shit.” The girl's smile some how increased in size. “Ah set one card, and then we battle! Since this is a family reunion and all, I'll have Ephraim attack Andromeda first!” Without saying anything, the two duelists heard a conversation start between the brothers.

Well is this not the fun turn of events! You get to meet Minerva again! The sorcerer's barrier flared up. You and your pet names for inanimate objects. Just get it over with already. You won't be sending me away anytime soon. The lord's face seemed to darken somehow. Oh well, if you insist. The wicked smile Applejack had given Twilight was now on the lord's face being given to the sorcerer. He took two running leaps, and spun his whole body around the Halberd, then brought it crashing down on the sorcerer's barrier. An orange shock wave rang out with a C tuned bell-clang tone to accompany it, and smashed right into Twilight's own barrier. With each wave, the barrier cracked a little more, until after seven waves, it stopped, and the lord returned to his place. Twilight started to get a head ache.

“And just ta get rid of another of yer monster's for that there barrier ta eat, Ah'll attack yer pin up girl with Paladin” The now blushing Twilight banished Huygens from her grave to keep her 'pin up girl' from being destroyed, and the same teal barrier Andromeda had was now covering her. The brown stallion puffed air out it's nose, and began to charge at the sorceress. The Paladin raised his spear, and the horse jumped at his command. The spear cracked the barrier, but was then deflected, and another orange shock wave with a bell-clang tone rang out. The waves broke against Twilight's barrier nine times, and now it was practically shattered.

“Crap. I really need to get on top of this barrier thing. Literally everyone I've dueled in the past three days has either managed to destroy it, or get it to this point. So, is that it?” The blonde wagged a finger at her. “Not quite. Ah still need to attack with War Priest. Even though he won't do any damage, When he does attack, Ah get ta do two things. One, if the target is not in defense position, Ah get to change it to defense position. And two, Ah get ta set an army card from my deck. Without further adieu...” There was another phrase that sounded odd coming from this southern girl. The last word she used comes from Aristonace, and like she told them in the dimension pocket, she knew some of the language. It was perfect, but the Aristonace accent right after the southern one was just... off putting. The War Priest placed his staff carefully in his belt, then took the ax in both hands. He charged at the Sorceress, and swung at her with it. The barrier and the ax collided, but no shock waves were produced. He then returned to his spot, took his staff back out, and raised it so it produced a teal glow.

“So then Ah add Army Medical provisions to my hand, set it, and end my turn. All yours sugar cube.” Another pair of set cards, and this time she had nothing to fight them with. Top decking Star Comet Phase, or Star Creation was about all she could hope for at this point. “Here we go. Pray for it...!” She drew, and it was Star Comet Phase “Oh thank Divinity. I activate the effect of Star Comet Phase! By sending Pegasus, Huygens, and Halley to the deck from my banished, I draw two cards!” The card activated, and an image of the sun appeared in a starry canopy above the field. Three comets came and circled the sun, then went flying at Twilight, where they crashed into her duel disk. The deck shuffled itself, then she drew two cards.

“Yes! It's time to take you down Applejack! I activate Ultraviolet Star Rays and Super Giant Star!” The blonde gave her an 'I can sense your bullshit look'. “Really now. What do those do?” The indigo haired girl snickered. “First, they each raise Andromeda's attack by 500. Then they both have another few effects. Ultraviolet makes it to where Andromeda is unaffected by your cards until the end of the damage step when he attacks, and Super Giant makes it so when I destroy a monster you control by battle, You take damage equal to that monster's attack” Two things happened to Andromeda. First, he was cloaked with a violet light, that made an outline of him glow intensely. Then, a bright red yellow and orange flame coated his violet outline.

“It doesn't really matter who I attack at this point, but this is a family reunion after all, so... Andromeda attacks Ephraim!” The blonde tipped her hat to the Mage. “Well, Ah have ta admit, y'all got me beat here. But, Ah'm not really in the mood ta lose ya see, so, Ah'm gonna make a stand! Ah activate the effect of Last Stand of the Army! When a monster Ah control is destroyed by my opponent's monster, both players take damage equal to it's attack! It's a family reunion after all!” The Mage sighed. “I used that trick earlier today. Is this karma?” Andromeda began to charge a mass of energy to the end of his staff, and then the stars aligned into a blade, similar to the one at the end of Ephraim's halberd, which she believed he named Minerva. The sorcerer charged at the lord, seemingly with a smile, even though there was a mask hiding his face.

What was that about this being fun? I do believe you get to meet Gradius again! The Lord raised his lance and returned the charge. Yes, this has been fun. And for once, you actually get to beat me. Special day for you isn't it? The sorcerer and the lord came inches apart from each other, and clashed their blades against one another. The resulting sound was that of a two note harmony, specifically, a G and a C. the resulting shock wave was light blue and orange and covered in violet fire. The waves reached each player, and knocked both outside of the IR field. The field displayed DRAW to all the viewers, and then the spectacle ended. The various family members helped the two up to a standing point, and then rushed them back to the center of the tables where Granny Smith was waiting for them.

“Well, now. Ya gave Applejack a run fer her money didn't ya? In fact, I'd say if ya coulda out right stopped her traps that turn, ya woulda won. But that doesn't really matter. She's smilin' fer the first time in weeks with a real smile on her face, and that's worth much more than a win. Isn't that right Applejack?” The old woman gave a good slap to the blonde's back. “Granny, ya really need ta stop slappin' people. That still hurts ya know.” The old woman scoffed. “Oh, calm yer fiddle sticks. Yer young, it'll heal. Anyways, I reckon y'all aren't done with today just yet are ya?” The two men who had been watching from the sidelines joined the group in the center of the sea of Apple family.

“That would be a negative ghost rider. We've got about four more people to visit today. And it's... just about 14:00.” Said the lone Angel in the crowd of Terrans. “And this has been fun. But the four of us need to go. If what she said to me is correct, we'll have another run in with one of them as soon as we head into town.” The Mage caught his carefully placed number. “Four? You mean we're taking her with us?” The Angel gave her the 'for real?' look. “Yes we're taking her with us! That was the whole point of coming here! We have things to do, and we need the full party!” The blonde interjected.

“'Sides, Ah really would like ta know why Ah was hearin' voices durin' that duel. Cause they were the voices of them cards, and Ah just need ta know more. Ah figure if Ah stick around you guys Ah'll learn somethin'.” The Angel gave her the same look he gave Twilight. “Uh, Case and point. I guess. Actually... when did you talk with...? You know what? It doesn't matter. Let's head out. Spike! Are you ready?” He called out to the boy who was over back toward the porch with the red haired girl from earlier. “Oh crap! Gotta go! Bye Applebloom!” He Waved to the girl and ran to join the group. “Yeah, I'm here.” Twilight snickered at the boy. “Oh, so there was a follow up to that first encounter huh, Mr. cool wings?” The boy blushed and crossed his arms, and shuffled those little leathery dragon wings.

“She's in the same grade as me... I.. thought it would be good to at least know some one. We're going to spend the next semester here, so why not?” The Mage girl smiled put him in a headlock and rubbed his head. “At least you're more social than I was. This is a good thing!” The boy struggled under her, then managed to get free. “So, where to?” The Angel took his duel disk out of his pocket again, then opened a map application. “Well, It would be relatively nice if we could get Twilight's things back. Actually, you don't happen to know a girl with bright pink hair and blue eyes do you? She is... fast. Really fast.” The Terran rubbed at her chin.

“Hmm... Ah don't really know. Ya see, there have been quite a few people that have moved here over the past year, and even more that have moved away since that string of murders started a month ago. If anybody would know, It'd probably be Rarity.” The Angel snapped his fingers, then dug in his coat pocket for something. Then he handed her a picture. “This Rarity wouldn't happen to be Rarity Belle would it?” The blonde nodded. “Yeah, that's her.” She sounded far less enthusiastic upon seeing the picture. “Great! Two birds with one stone. She has one of the six. Lead the way Jacqueline!” The girl came face to face with the Angel. Hers was not a happy one. “Applejack, thank ya.” Then she started away. Zephraim followed behind and then was followed by Spike. Twilight started to move that was, but was stopped by a bony hand.

“Just a moment there, girlie. I think I have somethin' ya might need later. This was a card I had made a long time ago to celebrate my late husband. All the kids have one, and well, I just think it might come in handy fer ya. After all, yer just a little bit different huh?” The old woman handed her a trap card and gave her a smile. “Oh, uh thanks. I mean, I'm not really one to use this kind of card but, I guess I'll give it a shot.” She slid the card in her deck, then was pulled back to the old woman. “Oh, and tell the Iscandor boy that he should be fine here. I doubt anyone else would even know that his mothers eyes have that. O'course, ain't many people who've actually seen her up close. Heck, there's even less that know her last name! Cameras just cain't catch the gold right. Now go on! They're waitin' on ya!” The old woman gave Twilight a push forward that sent her a good distance. Twilight gave her a concerned look, but was shooed away. She ran to catch up with the group at the top of the hill and they left.

“Hey, Zeph.” She whispered to the Angel. “Yeah? What?” He replied in hushed tones. The two let the blonde and the dragon boy move ahead enough to speak in private. “She said she knows who you are!” The Angel sighed. “I figured as much. If you've ever seen mom's eyes, then you'll know her kids when you see them. Unique eyes are relatively easy give aways as to who the parents are. And this is why I usually work at night. It's a curse really.” Twilight looked into his eyes and started to see the gold flecks more, then be reminded of Celestia for it. “Yeah, I could see that. Considering you, your brothers, sister, and she are the only ones in the world with a trait like that, I guess it would be pretty hard to hide. Although, I think his hair would be a little more than a dead give away.” The Angel nodded.

“Yeah, that's true. Zeus and Eclipse really have it bad because they basically inherited the hair straight off our mom's heads. And my cousins all have the flecks in their irises too, albeit silver rather than gold. Speaking of which, I got a message from Eclipse while you were dueling. He's on his way here, and He'll be here tomorrow night. He says he's got some important information for us that needs to be spoken rather than sent.” The Mage frowned. “I don't like the sound of that. Where is he coming from that will take him a day and a half to get here?” The Angel looked at his disk again with an expanded map of Fauna.

“Crater on the west coast. It's normally a two day trip unless you fly, but the planes have been getting attacked when passing shell river. We don't have exact details, but Mount Exuvia has been hostile recently. And I don't like the sound of this either. I'll just be happy if I don't have to break out the blades, or worse, teach six girls how to defend themselves. The less involved I have to be in this the better. There's already a serial murderer around here, so clean up would be... difficult to say the least.” Twilight didn't want to comment on that in any way. The two caught back up with the blonde and the dragon boy, and the party made their way into town.

In the Case of Fluttershy Heron: Part I (9.1)

The city in the clouds was home to many, but in particular, It was home to a young Angel and her Mage father. The Heron family was, broken, if to say nothing else. Lila Heron was afflicted with a rare disease known as Marionette Syndrome. The disease is hereditary, and only displayed symptoms in Angels that had it. Mages were usually known carriers, and Terrans were never carriers, as the gene itself never manifested in those of the earthen race.

Marionette begins to show itself in the person's early 30's to early 40's. It starts off as a numbness in the wings. Patients typically describe that their ability to fly has been greatly reduced lately as their lower wing feathers just don't seem to feel like they're there at all. Then, it begins to spread through the rest of the body. Once the wings are immobilized, It moves to the next set of appendages, the legs. Each toe blinks out of nerve connections, then followed by the rest of the foot until it reaches the thigh, and then transfers to the arms.

In a similar process, Marionette syndrome begins to take the body, turning off various functions, and rendering nerve endings useless which then leads to organ failure. Provided the patient survives long enough by artificial means, Marionette will take the whole torso, and then finally, the brain will begin to lose it's bio-electric pulse. The whole process can take anywhere from five to twenty years, but regardless, no patient has survived to this day.

Patients afflicted with the disease start to show behavioral changes as they begin to lose feeling. First, they start to feel more and more paranoid about their surroundings. After the wings are lost, the patients typically complain about noise levels around them. As the disease advances, the patient experiences furthering dementia until eventually, they no longer have any memories. There is no known cure for Marionette.

Lila and Magus Heron were beginning to raise their second born child when Marionette set in. Magus worked for the government in a high security job, and was often away from his wife and children on a regular basis, only returning home for half of a week at the most for any point and time. During the year 3004, Magus opened his front door to find his wife curled in a ball holding her son and daughter in her arms while both were tied and bound with ropes repeating the same phrase over and over again. “Mommy will protect you from them, Mommy will protect you from them, Mommy will protect you from them...” She said, as she rocked in the dark rooms corner with her children.

Over the next year and a half, numbness symptoms had been apparent to show again, but nothing of the mind illness that came with Marionette, so Magus was allowed leave work to care for his family. But once again, Lila's mind began to slip. On the way to taking his daughter to school, Magus received a call from the police department about his wife clutching their son over the cloud base park.

While she herself was no problem, the boy was a Mage like his father, and the minute that Lila lost her grip, the boy would fall from Cloudsdale to his death in the waters of Sky lake below. On top of this, Lila's wings were no longer operational anymore, and her feet only half functioned. It was a miracle that she managed to even make it this far out of the house, but on top of that, she was holding a six year old.

Magus had dropped off his daughter and then rushed as close as he could to the scene. When he arrived at the edge of the Aerolite and stone road that lead to the park, he was greeted with another scene of Lila cradling his child and chanting. “Magus! Magus, They're every where! I c-can't protect him from them all! Magus! Magus! MAGUS!” A new phrase to an old hysteric tune, the Mage was just able to levitate his slowly growing insane wife and his son back to safety inside the city, and took them home.

Over the next half year, Magus managed to be the care taker for his family, until his time to return to work was called upon by the Queens themselves. Lila was put into a mental institution, no longer being able to walk or fly, and beginning to lose memories, and the children were put into the care of Lila's sister Lave. However, Lave was not anywhere close to the mother the children needed, and nor was she as kind as the Heron family.

Upon return from a mission after two years in Lave's care, Magus was greeted by his daughter with a bruised eye, desperately trying to hide from her aunt. He quickly realized the need for intervention, but had no means of providing for the children in a way that could have them protected. He searched and searched, looking for an answer, but there was none to be found. Eventually, Magus decided to try and keep his kids with him during jobs. It meant they would be moving constantly, but being alone himself, and realizing the hostile environment Lila grew up in, there wasn't any other option.

So, a few years went by, and things were fine. The kids were both accepted and loved by the rest of Magus' outfit, and there was yet for any real problem to arise. Until a mission in Cloudsdale came. Being home, the kids were simply left alone at the Heron house for the day. The job was relatively ordinary, destroy the cartel base, and capture at least one member. Simple. However, the job actually hit closer to home then first imagined. The raid took place just four blocks diagonally from Heron's house.

It began routine, blaze the base, raid the base, destroy evidence of being there. But the Faunan drug cartel was warned before hand and a few members managed to escape. One member just so happened to be an old neighbor of Magus, and recognized his face. That man ran to Heron's house and took the kids hostage. A long standoff between Heron's group and the remaining Faunan drug cartel member lasted for several hours until the a vote was made to take the member's life before he could do anything.

Heavily opposed as the single minority of six, Magus' request to handle the situation to differently was denied. The group's sniper, Crystal Fume, was one of, if not the, greatest marksman in the world at the time, and with out a sound, the Cartel member was shot through the eye while holding Heron's daughter at knife point. The blood from his head painted several spots around the wall he was hiding behind, and also the girl's new dress. The mortified little girl was mute for the next three months, using nothing but motions used to communicate. Her first recorded word after the traumatic event was simply 'blood.'

Filled with rage, Magus demanded that the Faunan drug cartel be ended, but with little information to go on, the Queens couldn't spare the resources to help his request. Denied the ability to gather information himself, Magus went rogue on a vendetta. His persistence was rewarded, and after tracking a well hidden money trail, he arrived at Magica Igna in Middle Canterlot. He found a dealer that sold for the cartel within the city, and learned that the building was really a cover for the production factory of their signature illicit drug.

Magus gathered his group, and the team was given the okay to raid the building. However, it was found that it was a trap to begin with. An innocent man was injured, and Magus never returned. With their mother mentally unstable, and physically handicapped, the children were separated and sent to foster care. Magus' death was hidden by the government, but the Night Queen herself came to see and apologize to the children in person.

Over the next eleven months, the Heron daughter was tossed from one home to another across the giant city of Cloudsdale, eventually losing track of everything she had once known, including her brother. It was near the end of this period that that she had made a friend. The girl was scarred during her traumatic upbringing and closed herself in, rarely speaking to others, let alone making friends. It was a miracle that she had managed to make one at all, but the upbeat happy go lucky girl she did meet just didn't want to leave her alone. The two had one thing in common that brought them together, and that was a missing mother.

They helped each other as much as they could, and spent much of their time together. However, this would be short lived. The daughter of Magus was born with a frail body and smaller than average wings. She could fly, but not for a long periods of time, or very quickly, and it was believed that she had an early stage version of Marionette due to being born to a mother afflicted with it during pregnancy.

Amidst a conflict with simple bullies and the two girls, a race was issued as a challenge to the girls. Sticking up for her friend, the other girl accepted the challenge. The children decided to race at the edge of Cloudsdale city, just outside of the park where Lila Heron had her second mental episode. Originally, she was never to participate in the race, but after further teasing and egging on, the boys managed to get her friend to convince the Heron daughter to join them.

The race began, and the four rocketed off. Heron quickly fell behind, and was lost by the other three. The time was 12:00 noon, on November 23, 3009. It would be her tenth birthday, and at the same time, it was the same day she believed she would lose her life. The girl was unable to make it back to Cloudsdale's edge before her wings gave out.

Unable to control herself, her body spiraled out of the sky to the ground below. Doing anything she could to try and stop the fall, the girl slammed her body into cloud after cloud, each nearly frozen cloud simply shattering under her high velocity. At one point, she slammed into a cloud that had a random piece of Aerolite stuck to it, and was badly injured by the impact. With one last breath she screamed out for help as she fell into the red forest below. It was at that same moment, the sky broke into the colors of the rainbow, and suddenly, she was being held.

Her eyes had been glued shut by the ice that had formed on her face after falling through the frozen condensed water vapor in the air, so she couldn't know anything other than that she was alive. The next day, she awoke inside a tent. It was a particular shade of violet she thought she'd seen before, but couldn't remember where. The clothes she was wearing had been replaced by some pajamas that were far more suited to the cold than what she had on before, and her right arm and shoulder were bandaged.

She quickly checked her neck for her the pendant her father had given her. She managed to find it still around her neck with her left arm. She sighed in relief, but then realized she couldn't move her right. She decided to test the bandaged area of her shoulder with her fingers to see how it felt, and when the wave of pain came through, she fainted.

She awoke again in the tent at a later point in the day and saw two women sitting around a fire just outside of the now open tent. One was some kind of Angel with bright white wings that almost seemed to glow, if not by the fire's light, but by some magical force. The other was a younger woman. Not quite an adult, maybe a teenager. But her hair was so red that it was almost pink, and both of them were wearing coats, but more notably, swords.

The Heron daughter raised herself to a sitting position with her good arm, and then tried to stand. But in doing so, she realized that she couldn't feel her right foot. She lifted the top of her sleeping bag to see what the problem was, and then realized that it wasn't there. She screamed at the sight, and just as quickly the two women turned their heads to see what was wrong.

“Mom, she's awake!” Said the younger girl. “I can tell honey, she's screaming.” The winged woman was at the Heron girl's side in an instant. And even more shockingly, she simply popped from one spot to another as the wingless girl ran. The older woman picked up the Heron girl with relative ease and cradled her. “Hush now, I'm here. It's okay sweetie, you're fine. There, there.” The comforting presence of the Angel woman managed to soothe the Heron girl, and she had stopped screaming.

“It-it-it's g-gone!” Said the little girl. “W-where did it go? I... I can't feel it... why? It's... gone...” The woman continued to caress the little girl. “Hush now, little one. All will be right with you in the morning. Can you tell me your name?” The woman continued to stroke the little girl's hair, and eventually she had calmed down to the point nearly sleeping again. “My name... is... Fluttershy...” The little girl had taken to sucking her thumb, and her eyes had fallen closed. The woman sighed.

“That's what I was afraid of... This... this is Magus' daughter.” The young woman covered her mouth. “So she's-!” The Angel woman nodded. “An orphan with an incurable disease by medicine, yes. And a sick one at that. She's burning up. Bring me the canteen.” The teenager did as she was told and brought a flask of water from the fire's side.

“So... what do we do with her? I mean... it's not like she has anywhere to go back to. And how old is she anyways? She's tiny. Isn't she supposed to be ten, or something?” The woman kept her gaze on the girl in her arms. She took the water flask from her daughter, and unscrewed the cap on it. Then, her fingers began to glow a yellow color, as did the opening of the flask. The opening of the flask transformed into a false nipple, and she replaced the girl's thumb with it. “I'm not sure at the moment. But for now, we'll just keep her with us. This horrid place is nowhere for a child to be. It looks like our little mother daughter outing will be cut short this year.” The teenager crossed her arms.

“And we were this close to the fun part. Ah, whatever. This poor kid is a lot more important than me beating the hell out of some creatures I guess. How long are we gonna stay? I mean, now that we're leaving and all.” The woman removed the flask from the girl, and then she nestled her little body in the her embrace. Of all things, the little girl was smiling. “As soon as she wakes up.” Said the woman as she laughed a little.

“I guess I'll go do... something. Call me when you're ready to leave.” The woman nodded. “Alright then.” She said, in a distracted tone. “Okay, well. Yeah.” The teenager stood and exited the tent, but just as she did, her mother called out.

“Athena?” The teenager popped her head back in the tent. “Yeah?” The woman locked eyes with her daughter. They were glossy, like she was about to cry. “I think... I think we'll keep her. She should have never had to... live without a mother for so long...” The girl didn't know how to react to this. Her mother was the Queen of the country, and now... she... looked just as vulnerable as the little one in her arms. “Oh, uh... yeah...” The teenager escaped the tent and went to draw the large sword off of her back. A little sister huh? She thought to herself. I guess that wouldn't be so bad...

When next Fluttershy woke, she was in a large bed, in a large room. She quickly looked under her covers to her feet, and they were both there. She sighed, and at the same time, she realized her right arm was fine too. She checked over her arm, and when she moved her sleeve to feel her shoulder, she noticed something new there. A mark. Three little butterflies.

“When did I...?” The girl put her sleeve down, and hopped out of her bed. The more she moved, the more she thought she felt stronger than she had ever felt in her life. She flapped her wings twice, and started to hover around the room. Since when was it so easy to fly? It had never been easy to fly. The other kids always teased her about how she could barely do it in the first place, but now... now she could likely out fly half of her age group.

The room had a high ceiling. It was made entirely of white stone with all the furnishings in either white, gold, violet, or a combination of those colors. She returned to the ground, relaxed her wings back to her back, and decided to start investigating the room she was in. To the side of the bed was a large wooden inn table with a few drawers in it. Upon further inspection, the drawers contained clothes that were all her size, but looked new. She couldn't remember the last time she had anything new to wear, let alone, something that was hers.

But... where was she? Was all this... really for her? The adults always yelled at her when she took something, and sometimes they... they would bring out the paddle. The little girl decided against touching anything more with memories of the time at her aunt's house fresh in her mind, and then went to check the closed window. There was a sliver of light coming from in between the violet drapes that covered most of the wall of the room she was in.

She moved one to the side, and squinted at the brightness of everything around her. When her eyes adjusted, she could see everything. She was in some kind of castle like the ones her picture books all depicted, and below her was an entire city. It had little buildings everywhere and giant white stone walls that formed a big curved shape every so often.

From here, she could see the red forest, and the big lake that was under where she used to live, and she could see Cloudsdale from here. The little girl sighed after being awestruck by the view. “That lady is probably gonna send me back soon... sniff... just like all the others...” The girl removed herself from the window and made her way back onto the bed. She grabbed her legs and spread her wings around herself.

“Maybe all the other kids are right. Maybe... maybe I'll be alone forever... and daddy... daddy isn't ever gonna come back... and... and...” Quietly, the girl began to sob to herself. However, it didn't last long. The large door to the front of the bed swung open, and the woman from before walked in. The light was pouring in the room from behind her, and she looked like the queen that all the picture books said lived in the castle. Her hair glistened and shined in the sunlight, and her wings almost glowed on their own. She was smiling at the girl, and she was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

“I'm so glad you're awake! How do you feel, Fluttershy?” The woman came to the girl, and stood her up on the bed. Even with the extra three feet of the bed added to her own just over three feet, she still had to look up to the woman. “Oh...I...” The little girl's face reddened, and she turned away. “I'm fine...” She mumbled. The woman took the girl in a hug and pushed her little body into her breasts.

“Oh, you're just so cute! You act just like Athena did when she was your age!” The woman's enthusiasm seemed to work on the little girl, and she couldn't help but warm up to her. So then she asked. “Are you...” The woman pulled the girl out of her chest and moved her to look into her eyes. “What is it sweetie?” They were a dark violet, but with the light the way it was, they sparkled with bright gold all along her irises. She was beautiful.

“Are you gonna... s-send me away? J-just, sniff, just like all the other ones?” The girl was nearly in tears before she finished her sentence. The woman hugged the girl and stroked her hair. “No, sweetie. No one is going to send you away, ever again. I'll always be here for you, and nothing can ever change that.” From then on, Fluttershy Heron was raised with the Iscandor family. Like the rest of the Iscandor children, she was kept far and away from public view, and was loved by the Iscandors. When she turned twelve, the family celebrated by taking a trip around the world to expose the shy little girl to new places.

They visited every continent that touched the Leviathan ocean from Tenshen to the south east, to the islands of Anya above that, to Privia at the bottom of the world. They visited each of the five continents and the continents were all so different and unique, with their own ways of doing things. Fluttershy was finally smiling after living two years with the Iscandors. This was until they reached the Tenshen Empire. Fauna and the Empire were constantly at each others throats due to the Empire's belief that they had the right to control all of greater Tenshen, and subject it's people to their rule. Naturally Fauna fought to protect the rights of those who requested aid, and as such the wars between Fauna and Tenshen never seemed to stop.

For ten years since the third millennium, The Empire had yet to make a move, and for once, Celestia and Luna believed they had struck a peaceful age again. But this all ended during that vacation. They were visiting the small country of Namiva that Fauna had helped liberate from the Empire's iron grip decades ago that bordered the gulf of Tenshen and the Empire itself. Namiva was known for it's beautiful lofty cities in the sky due to the massive abundance of Aerolite in the heavily forested land below.

The Tenshen Empire was ruled by a Mage dynasty that practiced the enslavement of human beings of the 'lower races', but due to the location of the capital of Namiva, Tenshen was never able to wage war on them after losing control over forty years ago. However, they had recently discovered magic that allowed for flight that had been kept secret in Fauna for centuries, and with it at their disposal, they built great machines of war that flew in the sky.

The Iscandors were in a hotel during the initial raid. Celestia, Sombra, Luna, and Light all moved like clock work together to grab the kids and flee the city. They managed to get out of the inner city in a magic cloak that Tenshen's Mages couldn't detect, but witnessed all the horrors of war along the way. The two twelve year olds, the fourteen year old, and the sixteen year old all watched an entire family as they were riddled with bullet holes for the first time by the invading Tenshen army.

The oldest children had already been exposed to death, and simply kept silent as the twelve moved out of the burning city. The family made it home safe, but the younger children would never be the same. Her older brother, Zephraim, vowed to end the fighting one day. The other Iscandor children of both queens all agreed, and suddenly, she did too. When she saw that family murdered, she remembered all that had happened before her father died, and she wasn't afraid of it, she was angry.

How could they do something so cruel? What right did they have to take lives? How could they just kill with no emotion? Her new family's line of thought was infectious and she was pulled deep into it. She was frustrated. “What would you have done? You're nobody! You're nothing! You simply ride on the kindness you've been given! And what do you do? Nothing! They protect you, they feed you, the gave you everything you have! And you can't do anything to repay them for as long as you live! They show you the same love that the father you once had did, and you won't even smile at them! You're worthless, Fluttershy! Just look at you, you pathetic little reject of an Angel! You're weak, and I... I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I hate... myself...”

The girl was discovered by Celestia punching the now broken mirror in her bathroom, screaming at herself. “Stop, stop, stop! What-? Fluttershy, what has gotten into you? You're bleeding!” The girl had tears streaming down her face, as the Day Queen restrained her from continuing to punch the mirror. “It's all my fault! Those people were just... just... right there and I... I couldn't do anything... I...” The woman kneeled and grabbed the little girl's head and pulled her eyes to her own.

“You stop that this instant. None of that was your fault. You had nothing to do with anything that happened yesterday, and regardless of what you heard Zephraim or Eclipse say, it is not your fault.” The little girl struggled out of Celestia's hand. “No! It is my fault! I'm the reason mommy went crazy, I'm the reason daddy died! I'm the reason my brother is gone! It's all my fault! It's because I'm alive that they're all gone! It's my fault that those people died! It's because I can't do anything! It's because I'm weak, and worthless, it's-” The little girl was pushed into the woman's chest.

“Stop this. Please, Fluttershy... you are the kindest soul in the world. You've done nothing wrong. You've done nothing that should make you feel or act this way. It's the world that's at fault here. It's people that cause such misery and despair...” Several hours passed as Celestia held the girl in her bathroom in silence. It wasn't until Sombra found them in the dark of that bathroom did they move.

“There you are. I've been looking all over for you. What were you doing in here that was so important that you never came back to the briefing?” The black haired man then took notice of the pale yellow wings in between Celestia's chest. “Ah. I see. Look, they need you in that meeting, and I can't keep covering for you. Let me deal with her.” The man came and removed his wife from the girl, then took her in his arms. The woman stood, and straightened her clothes, then swiped at her hair to smooth it down.

“I hate it when you're right. Fluttershy, sweetie, I need to go right now, do you mind staying with Sombra for a while?” The little girl was already clinging to the man, trying to hide herself in his chest. “I'll take that as a yes. Go on, Mrs. Day Queen.” The woman bit at her left index knuckle, then made her way out of Fluttershy's room. The man moved to the girl's bed, and sat down, with her still clinging to him. Fluttershy and Athena were completely different, so without much to go on, he simply thought of the only thing that ever made Athena smile for him as a child. “Hey, kiddo, look at this.” The little girl looked up into the man's green eyes with her own watery, reddened, and tired blues, then to the left hand he raised. Just above his red glowing fingerless glove were dancing lights. They curved and jumped, ascended and descended, flew and glided all around her. At first she smiled. But then she started to cry again.

“Oh, come on. I know I haven't practiced in a while, but-” The girl spoke. “You're just like daddy... he- *sniff*, he did the same thing every time he would come home... and if I wasn't so... so worthless, he... he!” The girl buried herself further in the man. The man sighed. “And for a minute there, I thought it really worked for once. Damn.” The man simply held the girl for a few moments until he got an idea.

“Hey, kiddo. Look at me for a minute, stop crying.” The girl paused and did as she was told. “Bah, you girls and that face. I hate to make this blunt, but you feel like you're uh... not useful to anyone right?” The girl nodded, and sniffed again. “So, how about we change that? You think you're weak, you think you're pathetic, and you just think that all the worlds problems would be solved if you weren't right?” The girl swallowed, and spoke.

“Y-yeah...” The man stood the girl up on her bed and then stood up himself. She had grown nearly a whole foot over the last year, and he had to look up at her. “Then let's change it! When I was a kid, my uh... mother, was not the greatest one in the world, but if she taught me anything, it's that I can change the world around me by working to be better than the world around me.” In the back of his mind, he was thinking to the time almost thousands of years ago to what his mother actually said, but changing the phrasing so that it wouldn't turn this child into a mass murderer seeking conquest.

“But... how Mr. Sombra?” The crying had just about exited the little girl's voice, and he had her attention. Now all there was to do was pray that Celestia didn't torture him because he was about to teach this girl how to fight. “I'll do for you what I've done for all your siblings and many before. Today is the day that you start to learn how to fight. It wont be easy, but by the time you grow up, you'll be able to protect families from people like the Tenshen Mages, and you'll be able to keep those you love from being hurt. You'll never be weak again.” Captivated by Sombra's words, for the next four years, much to Celestia's dismay, Fluttershy Heron underwent combat training.

In the beginning, it was found that the girl was masterful with her hands. Martial arts came so naturally to her, that even the younger Iscandor children were rarely victorious against the pink headed Angel. Sharing a similar skill set, Jupiter Iscandor, the first son of Luna and Light, formed a strong bond with the girl. Far stronger than the bonds of most of the other members of the family.

Eventually she picked up a sword, and it was found that she was gifted in a way that caused her fighting style to adapt based on what she was holding, but all the same, she never used a weapon for offense. Four years had passed, and her sixteenth birthday had arrived. She had gone from a shy little girl that was scarred and afraid of the world to a trained and lightly less shy young woman who, while still socially inept to the point of tears, would fight to protect even those who wronged her. It was a few months after this time that she joined the Eclipse Core.

A group of trained soldiers whose caliber was much higher than most, and rose above the rest, all devoted to protect the citizens of Fauna from internal danger within her borders. The year was 3016, and the day was March 20th. “Fluttershy? Where are you? I know you're in here. You know you can't hide from me. You have to the count of three before I warp behind you and start preening you!” With nearly a second before the Day Queen opened her mouth again, a cloud of smoke appeared and once it floated away, the teenager had come out of hiding. After six years time, the girl had grown nearly a whole three feet she was almost as tall as her oldest brother, and taller than her father. However, all three of them were a foot shorter than the Day Queen herself.

“*Sigh* Yes ma'am.” The girl had grown quite well. Usually skilled with plant and animal life for an Angel, and even more so, highly skilled in the field of intelligence gathering. Specifically, hiding. “You went and joined the military? My military? Without telling me? I hate to do this, but credit is due where credit is deserved, so I'm proud of you for making the marks you did. But of all the things I have pleaded with you not to do, why, oh, why would you do this one?” The Ascended woman was holding the 'disapproving mother' tone and stance, her weight on one leg, her arms under her breasts with the single raised pink eyebrow on her face. Even after almost six years of living with her, the Heron girl could never get over how pretty the Day Queen's eyes were.

“I... I know you advised against it...” The Ascended woman leaned back. “Advised!? That was the one thing I explicitly told you not to do! You remember that ordeal with Zephraim, and yet you still went behind my back and did it anyways!? I just want to know what could have possibly been running through your head yesterday that made you think this was a good decision. Why, Fluttershy? Why did you do it?” At this point the sixteen year old had curled her wings around herself and was pulling out dead feathers. A nervous habit of hers. She avoided preening herself as much as possible, but when it came to not wanting to interact with others, she would simply begin to do it until it was done. The only problem was, she was prone to molting, so whenever she did, there was always either a trail of dead feathers left behind, or she would accidentally rip a live one out and cause herself to bleed.

“I... I don't know... I... I just want to do something for myself for once. I mean, I thank you, all of you for taking me in like one of your own, but... I don't feel like there's any way I could ever pay you back for all you've done for me. This was just... a way to try and get there...” One. Two. Three. Four. All little feathers from the top of her wings simply floating from her hands to the floor of her room. The woman grabbed her hands away from her wings. “You know you don't have to. I took you in because you were dealing with a remarkably similar childhood to my own, and I didn't want that for you. But now you're just following in my footsteps! What if it comes down to the point where you have to kill or be killed?” The girl then looked back down at her wings, trying to hide her face with them.

“I...” The Ascended brought the girls eyes back to hers. “Look at me! This is serious! You can't just crawl away from this anymore, you signed a contract! At some point, you will be forced into this situation, especially since you decided to go and get such high marks that the Eclipse Core approached you! General Parma doesn't know who you are related to me! At this point they'll think you're just some hot shot new recruit that they can beat training into!” The Day Queen put her hand to her forehead, then let it slide down her face.

“Ugh. Of all my children I didn't think I'd have to worry about running off to fight. Can you just... tell me, what is this really about? I know there's more to this that you're not telling me.” And now she was digging her toe into the carpet. She was chewing on her hair away from having a nervous break down. She was about to grab at her hair, when she stopped, and relaxed her body. Of all the things Sombra had taught her, this was one of the few Celestia approved of. His relaxation technique.

“Okay, you win. I... I want to keep that from happening again...” The Ascended was unsatisfied with this answer. “That was about a vague as my age in the media. More specifics please.” The girl walked over to her bed and sat down. Celestia followed suit and sat next to her. Even after six years, not much had changed about this room. Save for the bird house(s), plural, as in many, many birds live in this room. How the teenager kept up with this many birds was unknown to either Queen, their husbands, or any of her siblings.

“Do you remember the trip we took to Namiva back in 3012?” The Day Queen went to rub her temples. “Oh, not this again. It's been four years! How many times do I have to tell you that the events in your life were not caused by you specifically?” The Shy Angel waved the statement away. “No, this isn't about that anymore. I think I got over that last year. But what I mean is, when we were escaping through the city, there was one thing I saw that just sent me into a rage that I never really got over. There was a little girl. I... think she might have been a Mage, but I know for a fact she didn't have wings, and she didn't have that... healthy look that Terrans tend to have. But, she... she was covered in blood, and none of it was her own.

She was carrying one of those little dolls that they made out of the Parave leather, and she was looking around for someone. One of the Tenshen soldiers found her. He didn't kill her on sight, and instead he asked her something in Namese. When she responded, he ripped the wings off her doll. She started crying, and then he...” The teenager swallowed. “He punched her. She kept crying, and crying, and she just wouldn't stop. I wanted to say something, but... I couldn't find my voice. My entire body felt frozen, and if it weren't for Nebula pushing me along, I don't think I would have kept moving. Then he lifted his gun. I wanted to turn my head, and cover my ears, but... I just couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. And I watched as he... fired...” The girl was silent for a good moment. Celestia was a second away from opening her mouth again, and the girl continued.

“I... I never want that to happen again. As long as I live, I just can't let it happen like that. I... I just can't bear to think that... somewhere out there, a child is... about to be slaughtered for no reason, and can't do anything about it. I want to... No, I will keep that from happening again as long as I live.” Unusual for her still, was the sound of her voice with determination. That shy little girl that fell out of the sky that Celestia saved from certain death had grown into one of the purest souls she'd ever known... as a matter of fact, there was only one person she'd ever met who had the same ideals as this girl and...

“Oh, sweet divinity...” The teenager was confused by the response. “What? Is... Is this wrong? Should... Should I think about this differently? Is there a better-” The Ascended woman pressed the teenager into her body, and wrapped her wings around the girl. “No, no, that's... That's perfect... Just...” The teenager felt a wet spot developing on her hair. “Are you okay... mother?” The woman squeezed the girl even harder. Finally, she'd said it. After six years, it was the first time she called her mother. She finally accepted her, she'd finally accepted her family as her own. And now she had to send her off.

“I... I couldn't be more proud of you right now... but... I... need you to come with me.” The woman stood, and her left hand began to glow. She held it out to the girl who took it tentatively. In an instant, she was somewhere else. Somewhere she'd never been. She'd been in every room in the castle... that she knew existed. However, this room was a bit different than all the others. For one, they were underground. Very far underground.

There were various colored crystals all along the room, growing out of the ground. At the end of the room was what looked like an altar. It had three steps going up to it, all made of white marble with some kind of odd black... substance on it. As they approached, Fluttershy began to feel nauseous. The air around the area was stagnant and sticky. But most of all, lined with some kind of sickly magic. Even being without magic herself, she could feel the particles of the black energy wrapping around her skin and filling her lungs. The more she breathed in, the worse she felt, the more she felt the need to run away and vomit. But at the alter, there was a light. A warm light, that was... calling out to her.

It was pulsating, faster and faster, as she got closer. The sickly air was disorienting, but the blue light was soft and inviting. The world around her became darker and darker. Celestia was no longer in sight, and all she could see was the blue light. She couldn't speak, the black was constricting her throat. Only one thought was present in her mind now, grab the light, grab the light, grab the light. Her steps became heavier, the closer she got to the light. Further, and further away it seemed to grow, until finally, something reached out to her. The light had formed a body, the shape of a woman, the shape of an Angel. It brought her closer to it until she was bathed in the blue light. And then there was nothing. No sight, no sound, just darkness. But amidst the chaos, amidst the confusion, there was something, warm in her hands. It was comforting and calming, it was thin and frail. It felt like it needed to be protected.

With nothing to reassure herself, she said to the warmth, “I'll protect you.” She then opened her eyes to see the room again. In front of her was a red faced, teary eyed, Celestia clutching one wrist with one hand and covering her mouth with the other. She realized that she was facing the direction they had come in from. She examined her surroundings to see that she was atop the rounded black and white altar. Behind her was a giant stone tablet, nearly as tall as she was. It had a border, thin rectangle running along it's top, a square below that, and another box under that with runes of an ancient forgotten language she'd been taught by the Queens. The top box read, 'Monarcha, the Element of Kindness'.

When she put her arms down to examine the tablet, she realized she was holding something. She went to look at it, and it was a mirror image of the tablet, but it was also a card, just like any other. The name was slightly different, but two words remained the same. 'Monarcha', and 'Kindness', were both present. It was warm. She looked at the card closer, and saw the Angel woman inside. Her hair was a light pink color, and she was covered in head to toe in thick armor. She carried a large shield with a crest on it. The girl then thought to reach for her chest. Just around her neck was a pendant that her father had given her just a few days before he died. It carried the same image. The woman's eyes were blue, and her wings were pale yellow like sand. Just like hers. The more she looked at the woman in the card, the more she realized that it looked like her. Finally, she turned to Celestia. Before she could even open her mouth, Celestia began to speak.

“Long ago, there was a land here. Long before me, long before any land was named. It was simply known as the land of Harmonia. Three gods were cast out of the fourth plane down to this one, and on this planet, they populated, starting the race of human beings. They each had two children to pass their powers, and the race grew exponentially from there. Many eons passed, and these children became the oldest living humans in existence, and one day, a great tragedy struck this earth.

The first children of the damned gods, the first humans, sought out the gods still above them. And to their pity, were blessed with the powers of six of the seven gods. To Andromeda, the power of Yamirix, the god of Dark. To Amethyst, the power of Hikaritz, the goddess of Light. These were the children of Archea, the father of Magic.” Celestia had come to stand on the altar with Fluttershy, and was now standing in between two of the tablets that read 'Andromeda, the Element of Magic' and 'Amethyst, the Element of Generosity'. She then moved to the left, to the next two tablets, ones opposite of where Fluttershy was standing.

“To Ephraim, the power of Chiaz, the god of Earth. To Optimism, the power of Hokonet, the god of Fire. These were the sons of Gaia, the mother of strength.” to Celestia's left was 'Ephraim, the Element of Honesty' and to her right was 'Optimism, the Element of Laughter'. Then she went the other direction around the stone table in the center of the alter, being careful to not look at the tablet next to Optimism. She now stood behind Fluttershy.

“To Valkyriana, the power of Kazald, the goddess of Wind. To Monarcha, the power of Mizuli, the goddess of Water. These were the daughters of Sephira, the mother of flight.” To Fluttershy's left was the tablet that read 'Valkyriana, the Element of Loyalty', and in front of her was the one she held in her very hands. But then the last tablet remained. She went to read it, but the name was mostly covered with the black substance that was all over the alter. All that was still legible of the ancient runes was one word. 'Umbra'.

“And that... that is the evil that nearly destroyed this world. With the help of the god's powers, the Elements of Harmonia fought with Umbra until their last breath, only to have their final spell used to seal her away reversed on them as well, sealing all seven into these tablets of stone. Around the year 900 of out calender, these seven tablets were discovered by a descendant of Umbra's, and he established contact with the souls of the elements that resided in these tablets. After obtaining the means, he then brought them to me and my sister.

Their power revolved around a game that the gods used to solve disputes, a game that had been long forgotten by humanity during the end of Umbra's days. We began to play the game, and we were bestowed the power of the seventh god, Divinity. The powers of the three outcast gods and Divinity himself gave us the attributes of the three human races, and so much more. With it, we ended the wars of Fauna Major, and united the three countries that inhabited this land into the country of Fauna.

For years, we would use this power to end wars without blood shed all over the world, until one day, Luna had contracted the power of Umbra. Corrupted and unable to control her own body, I used the power of the six Elements to try and save her, but yet again, the Elements and umbra were a match for each other, and she escaped to another dimension with Luna's body and soul captive. My connection to the Elements was severed, and Luna's was as well.

In that dimension, Divinity chose another to save his own, and with their combined effort, Luna and Light defeated Umbra, and sealed her away into a card. With his advanced technology, Light managed to return Luna home, but not without taking her for his own first. Things were peaceful until seventeen years ago.

A woman who tried to lead the Shape-Shifter revolt in Crater city to the west had been locked away in the dungeons below this place. She escaped and found this room. We cornered her here, but by that time, Umbra had already began to consume her. The woman pleaded for help, but before we even managed to summon our armor, Umbra had taken her. With the body of Chrysalis held captive, Umbra warped away to places unknown.” Celestia then stepped forward until she was no more than a few inches away from Fluttershy.

“You are one of six born in the last sixteen years who share destinies with the Elements of Harmonia. You are the current incarnation of Kindness, the inheritor or Mizuli's power, and most of all, the chosen of Monarcha.” She lowered herself to sitting on her heels, then took Fluttershy's hands in her own. “I never thought that one of my own would be chosen to take up the torch the Harmonians left behind, and I can't say that I was right. Because to me, you are mine. Just like Apollo, just like Athena, Just like Zephraim, Just like Zeus. You are a daughter I raised. But you did not bear the curse of the Harmonians that my blood is tainted with. You were born to a father who could have just as easily inherited this burden as you, and a mother who could have done the same. But it was you that she chose.

Out of all the blood that could have been given this burden, it was yours that she believes is the best to take the challenge that her destiny left behind. Of all the things I could have never been prepared to do, letting one of my kids go off to save the world where I could not wasn't something that even crossed my mind. But... here we are. It could be fate, it could be destiny, hell, it could have even been divine intervention that you were so gifted in the way you are.

But now I have a task for you. There is a battle coming, one that I cannot fight. Umbra is bound to surface any day now, and with the unrest of the Shape-Shifter population on the rise, I can only imagine where it might occur. That choice I told you you would have to make? This is where it starts. If you cannot end her, then she will end you and everything you hold dear. You must find a way to make the choice to save lives at the cost of another.” The girl took a step away from her adoptive mother.

“But I...” The woman shook her head and returned to standing. “I know... However, there comes a time in the lives of those who are destined to fight where the judgment of the damned becomes something they decide. We can never act like we are gods, we have no right to choose who lives and who dies, yet, it always finds a way in front of our scales. So we must. If one death is cause that prevents thousands, billions, or trillions of lives from ending, how can we say no to protecting what we can?” The girl stepped back. Immediately, Celestia knew something had shifted in the girl. She took the standard issue silver military duel disk out of her new coat's pocket and placed the card inside. Her disk began to glow with a blue light, and she placed it on her arm. The silver rings expanded from the bottom of the metallic object, and resonated a deep tone after connecting together.

“But, that isn't right, my dearest Celestia. There is always another way! There has always been another way! This game was given to us with the intention of stopping human kind from making those choices! You have lived for half the lifespan that I have been sealed away, yet this you still don't understand? Come! Through my incarnation, and myself, we will show you how you should have been doing things this whole time!” The girl's whole body was radiating a blue light, and Celestia took a step away from her.

“You... I see. Very well then. But let me get one thing straight with you Monarcha. You protect my daughter. You keep her safe! And then, you can tell me that your way was correct this whole time!” The Ascended woman slapped the golden shoulder plate on her left side, and in a flash of white light she was covered from head to toe in gold regalia. She flew to the opposite end of thee large room containing the alter. Matterwaves shot from the Day Queen's gauntlet and the yellow clad possessed Angel girl's disk, and in unison, they shouted, “DUEL!”