The Legend of Fauna

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.