A duelist in Equestria

by Lon35hadow

Rating: mature
Tags: Crossover, Anthro, Alternate Universe, Human, Romance, Adventure
Length: 35727

So I was at a Yugioh tournament in my hotel room, when the back of one of them began to swirl. Now, I'm in Equestria, trying to save the ponies form an old threat.

So, I was at my first ever Yugioh tournament. I was in my room, looking over my deck, when the back of one of them began to swirl, and I was sucked in. When I came out, I was in Canterlot. Now, I'm trying save the hypocritical morons, and the changelings, from something they can't fight. Hell, I can barely fight it. Anyway, this is my story. It's time to duel, I guess.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-09-08 12:02:46 UTC

I summon- myself?

Okay, before I get anywhere, guess I should start with a little about me. my name's Josh, and I am a huge fan of Yu-gi-oh. GX, especially. I was at my first ever tournament slash convention, dressed as a Slifer red, though I also had a Ra yellow duel disk. It was the first day of the Tournament part of it, and I had won my duel, and was currently in my hotel room.

The room itself was a basic three to four star room. I sat on my bed, my deck, whose contents shall remain a secret, laid out, myself going over potential strategies and counter strategies, even for my own. Hey, you never know when someone might use one of my strategies without knowing it. Best to be prepared. Shame I could only use one deck and side deck, or I could easily make a different deck for each day. Oh, well.

"Okay, use this," I say, putting a spell card onto one of my more. . . unorthodox counter monsters, "and I could beat even my best and most devastating combo." I look at it before nodding. "Yeah, that could work."

With that, I put the deck back together, only for a card to fall out of it, and onto the floor. I frowned to myself, and got off the bed, deck in hand, to pick it up, only for the back of it to start swirling when my hand got close to it. "What the hell!?" I yell just as a portal began to expand from the back, and I was sucked into it.

The last thing I saw before blacking out was, I shit you all not, duel monster spirits.

"Are you sure he's alive," I heard a female voice as I came back to the world of the living, my entire body aching.

"Yes, sister," a second voice said, this one sounding familiar, but I couldn't place it. "The spell your student came up with is designed to keep those being transported alive."

Oh. Fuck. Dear god, I know I don't believe in you, but if you exist, please don't let this world be anything like that shadow world from GX, where Jaden became the dark King. Please!

"Oh, would you two stop worrying," a third voice, also female with a hint of an echo, said. "If you paid attention, you'd see his chest moving with his breath." And with that voice echo, I now know, or at least have a good idea of where I am. Fucking. Joy.

"That's good," a fourth voice said, also female. "The Order is still on the offensive, and we have no way to counter them."

Okay. Call me curious as to what's going on. I then tried to open my eyes, only to close them and put a hand in front of them. "Some one turn off the damned lights," I say. "I don't wanna go blind."

"He's awake," a fifth female voice said, only for the third to shoot it down.

"Yes, we can see that, Sparkle. Now, can we not give him shade? It's clear that his eyes need time to adjust."

The light dimmed a little, and I was able to open my eyes, and the first thing I noticed was that I had my Ra yellow duel disc on my arm, when it wasn't on my arm when the whole card portal thing happened. The second thing was that five women, each wearing a differently colored, regal dress, were standing close, each with a horn from their foreheads.

One had white skin, as well as a white dress with yellow highlights and an aurora-like hair waving in a nonexistent wind. The dress was sleeveless, and went to her ankles. Her face had a motherly warmth to it, and her eyes were maroon.

The second was slightly shorter than the first, and had navy blue skin, with  a similarly colored dress with black highlights. Her face was hard to read, but I could see some spark amount of curiosity in there, and her dark blue hair also blew in a nonexistent wind, her eyes being a a light blue.

It was the third, though, out of the five that surprised me. She had black skin with a  torn, but still regal, in my opinion, dress with green highlights. Her hair was a dark green, my favorite color, by the way, and her horn had holes in it, her eyes a lime green.

The fourth had pink skin, three tone hair, and a white and pink dress. Her face was full of care, and her eyes were a vibrant purple. Note, my nest sentence has nothing against gays or those who like the color purple. Gag me.

The last had lavender skin, huge difference between that and purple, with near black hair with a lavender and fuchsia stripe in her hair, and wore a purple outfit with yellow and white accents.

"Ugh, where am I?" I asked, rubbing my head to remove the headache as I sat up. Not that I didn't know where I was, I recognized the four alicorns and one changeling. Though, again, I was surprised by the fact a changeling is here and not in chains.

"Forgive us, great soldier," Celestia said, "but we need you help." Okay, then. Something must be up. I'm not the fucking King of Games. Well, I don't think so. I glanced at my sleeves, and they were white with red highlights. Phew.

"Didn't answer my question," I say.

"We summoned you to the world of Equestria," Luna said. "We need the aid of the greatest. . . Twilight Sparkle, what is the term the Order uses for those with their abilities?"

"Duelist, Princess," Twilight said, jumping.

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle," she said. "We need the aid of the best duelist to protect us."

"From who," I ask. "And I am not the best duelist from my world."

"But the spell we cast was supposed to bring the best," Twilight said.

"Looks like it failed," I say. "Now, can you send me back?"

Twilight paled, and I face palmed. "Morons," I mumble. "Guess I might as well introduce myself as it looks like I'm staying here for a while." I sighed before I introduced myself. "Name's Josh, and I'm a year one Slifer student, one of the lowest rungs at my school, from Duel Academy."

i instantly regretted my choice as Twilight's eyes widened. "Your world has a whole school dedicated to dueling."

"Yes, and just how do you know of dueling?" I ask.

It was Cadence who answered. "A, well, once secret group called the Order of Ra," she said. "They want to overthrow each of us for their god. Oh, and I'm Cadence."

I nodded. "It's a pleasure," I say. "What about the rest of you?"

"I am Princess Celestia, regent of the sun," Celestia says. "This is my sister, princess Luna, regent of the moon."

"I can introduce myself, sister," Luna said, crossing her arms.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms before looking at Chrysalis. "And you?"

"I am Queen Chrysalis, queen of the changelings," she said in a tone that sounded disinterested. I can sympathize with that right now.

"A pleasure, your majesties," I say, bowing. "And, seeing as how you didn't think of making a return spell and I'm the only one who can duel, what exactly are you dealing with?"

"A group that has been around in legend since before Luna and I took the throne," Celestia said. "The Order of Ra are worshipers of a god  that has no evidence as to its existence, and they saw my title as regent of the sun as an affront to their worship. They tried to rebel, but they were beaten using magic long since forgotten by Equestrians, and thought destroyed. But, recently, they've reemerged, and have swept through Equestria and its surrounding areas, using the same magic Equestria had forgotten, destroying most cities and killing their citizens or, somehow converting the citizens to them to their cause. In fact, only Canterlot and Ponyville remain intact."

"Not even my Hive was able to hide," Chrysalis said, clenching her fists. "That is why I am here in Canterlot. A truce between myself and the Princesses until the Order is destroyed and we've fully rebuilt."

"So you're involved in a losing war," I ask.

"Yes, we are," Luna said, sighing. "Even the Elements are useless."

"Why do you say that," I ask.

"Because I'm the only one left," Twilight said, clenching her fists, anger in her voice. "They used their magic to turn my friends, who were in other cities, to their side. The guards that escaped from other cities have reported that them and my brother have been turned, and were leading Order forces."

Whoa. That. . . is unexpected. Okay, let's see: Duel Magic, ancient order that worships an Egyptian god card, essentially, and mind control. One more thing. "With each, has some Order member mysteriously swapped sides?"

"Y-yes," Cadence aid, surprised. "How'd you know?"

"That's a secret," I say, smirking. "And I am willing to help you all out. And no need to worry about the Elements," I say. "I'll make sure they aren't harmed."

"How," Twilight asked.

"I have my ways," I say with a cocky smirk as I hold my deck of sixty cards. "So, mind showing me around?"

Spirit seeing

"So, what exactly has the Order done to make them so formidable to the point you need help from other universes," I asked as myself, the four princesses, and one queen walked though Canterlot gardens, a place Chrysalis had suggested. I sat on one of the benches, looking over my deck, and trying something out. Machine Empire, I thought, and, like that, all the cards changed to match those in one of the decks I had form my most recent Yu-gi-oh Ds game, the two thousand and eight championship one. I liked to call this one Machine Empire, as it was focused all on machines, and had the more military themed ones in there.

"They use the ancient magic we mentioned earlier to summon monsters," Celestia said, sitting on an opposite bench next to Luna and Twilight. "Recently, they have begun to use devices like that on your arm to focus their power, making them even more deadly. Not even my defensive spells are able to stop their monsters."

"We were, however," Luna interjected, "able to capture on of their cards, which I have on me," she said, pulling a card out of thin air, and showed it's face to me.

It showed a satellite with a red tip in space over the earth. I knew the card, though it wasn't in my current deck. Satellite cannon, one devastating card, as it couldn't be destroyed by any level six or lower monster, and for every one of your end phases that pass, it gets a thousand attack and defense.

"We lost many guards defeat this cards owner, and even then, nearly lost it," Twilight said, clenching her hands again. "Applejack was the one with the card. I tried to reason with her.

"She tried to blast me with that thing."

"I am sorry, Twilight, that she did," I say. "But she won't anymore, I swear it."

"But how?" Cadence asked. "No spell we know of can defeat it."

"Spell," I say, holding my deck up, smiling. "I don't use spells, I use my wits, and my friends." Yeah. Here, I figured duel monster spirits here existed. And it was here I was proven right.

"He is correct," a deep, robotic voice said, making all of us jump, before another card I knew well, enough to make it the key card in my deck appeared.

His coloration was red and white, with green lightning around him, and had white sheets of metal meant to resemble a robe a king would wear. Makes sense, his name is "Perfect Machine King," after all. "Looks like I was right," I muttered to myself.

"What is that?" Chrysalis asked, charging her horn.

"No need to become violent, your majesty," the duel spirit said. "I am the spirit of one of the cards in Josh's cards. I am allied with him, as is each card in that deck. We will not harm you or your subjects. My name is Chrono, but I am also known as 'Perfect Machine King'."

"So the cards have spirits inside them," Twilight asked, her eyes lighting up. Here we go.

"All monster cards," he said. "Before you ask, whether or not those under the command of the Order are doing so willingly is unknown, but possible."

As Chrono explained duel spirit rules, I felt a heat from my deck, and looked at it, and saw one of my best universal cards pop up from the center of it. "Hello, Josh," the Spirit inside said to me. "I imagine you did not expect this to happen to you?"

Not really, I replied mentally. You had something to do with it, didn't you?

"Perhaps," was all the spirit said on that matter. "I did so because, out of all the people of your particular universe, you are among the only who understands the value of every card, and that every card is a force unto itself when used properly."

Well, coming from you, that's definitely a compliment. Thanks, I say.

"Of course," the spirit said as Celestia spoke to me.

"Josh, even with the fact you know how to duel, we can not see how Chrono can defeat Applejack's card."

I grinned. "That is why I plan on teaching you guys on this shit once I show the Order there's a new duelist in town that can and will kick their asses." As I said this, three of my other monsters appeared. One was beige colored, and had propellers on its shoulders, and its legs looked like they could fold up.

Another was green colored, its arms looking like wings that had segmented but remained attached, and had two turrets attached to its chest sideways.

The last was red colored, and had a face that looked like a bird, complete with the beak, and razor sharp point that could have been teeth if it were alive. Its arms ended in razor sharp claws, and, under the main part of its body, it had a rack of orange missiles.

Three other monsters that had an important place in my deck. Summon Reactor-SK, Trap Reactor Y FI, and Spell reactor RE. For those who have watched 5d's, you'll know why. I liked referring to them as the King's second in command, also, because the three of them are beasts when on the field together.

Chrono turned and looked at the three other machine spirits. "Ah, my Lieutenants," he said. "It is good to see you!"

"Thank you, highness," Summon Reactor said, putting his right arm across his torso as he spoke in a deep voice. "It has been too long."

"That it has been, SK," Chrono said before turning to face the pony and changeling royalty. "These are my Lieutenants. Summon Reactor SK, or just SK, as I call him, Trap Reactor Y FI, or just Y FI, and Spell Reactor RE, or just RE."

"Why are they your Lieutenants?" Twilight asked.

"That's a secret," I say. "Don't want to risk any invisible Order agents overhearing what makes them so powerful, now do we," I add with a smirk. Given what I've been told of his Order, the leader seems like a smart asshole, seeing as how he turned Twilight's friends against those they were once loyal to. Need to be careful right now. "So, what else do you know about the Order?"

"Not that much," Chrysalis said. "Simply that they seem to strike any where with out our knowledge, and quite suddenly, as if they simply appeared."

"And they finish what they wish to quite quickly," Luna said. "Even if we knew where they were going to strike, we wouldn't get there in time. The few times we did, it was because they wished for us to get there, and they always won."

"Really?" I asked. "Not for long," I say as I notice a slight distortion behind the royals. I gestured o it subtly as possible, pointing at it, then thumbs down. The spirits saw it, and if they had mouths, I'm sure they would have smiled. They always did like a challenge. There was a flash and a pop, which got the attention of the others.

"What was that," Celestia asked, worried.

"I imagine an Order spy that decided to leave and tell his leader about me," I say. "Now, we wait, and then we'll show them who they're dealing with, and make sure they don't try it again once they're defeated." My deck, and the monster spirits within, glowed in agreement with my proclamation.

Time for war, motherfuckers.

Unknown location

A stallion, wearing a yellow cloak that let only a small part of his muzzle, a dark blue, be revealed, sat on a golden throne, a deck of duel cards in hand, his duel disk yellow and looking as if it was made of golden fire on his right arm. A small pop sounded form behind him, and he turned his throne around, revealing to his sight seven he had personally converted to the Order's cause, and his agent that had just teleported in, a mare wearing a similar cloak. "Lord Osiris," she said, taking a knee, and with a slight, but noticeable, Prench accent.(1) "I bring news from Canterlot."

"What," Osiris asked.

"The four have summoned a duelist from another world to aid them."

"I already knew of that plan," Osiris said with a wave of his hand. "They are not as clever at hiding things as they think they are."

"But, my lord, he can also see the spirits," the mare said, which got Osiris' attention. "Speak with them, even, and they trust him."

"Then he is touched?"

"So it would seem, my lord."

"Then we must bring him to the Order, and expose him to the light of Ra," Osiris said before looking at the seven. More accurately, the first he had converted, and one of the best duelists the order had. "Lady Applejack, what do you say to attacking Ponyville to draw him out?"

Applejack, wearing a similar cloak to Osiris', her hat off, and her hair no longer in its tail, stepped forward, and bowed.

"It would be an honor to serve the Order," she said. "For the glory of Ra," she said.

"For the glory of Ra," Osiris repeated, as well as the other seven, all but one of which were mares.

Clash of the machines

Myself and the five royals were walking down the hall, an hour having passed since the Order agent incident. Now, we were, or rather, I was, just waiting for word of them to attack Ponyville. In the mean time, I was asking what their previous experiences were with the Order, personally.

"For the most part, none except running," Luna said. "They are that powerful. The only one of us to face them is my sister, and she barely escaped."

"Lulu, we both know I got away with ease," Celestia said. Me call bull. If I were the Order leader, I'd put any and all resources on capturing a Princess, Celestia especially.

Agreed, my best monster said. We have been here less than a day, and already, something is not right.

We may just be overreacting, and she's wanting us to think she escaped with ease to give us confidence, I replied.

Regardless, be cautious.

Aye, aye, capi-ton, I replied., getting no response.

"The only hands on experience I've had," Twilight said, "was trying to get my friends to come back, and I nearly died from it ."

"What about you, Chrysalis," I asked.

"Only running," she said. "Only I and my personal guard are the only ones not converted of my hive," the changeling said, sorrow evident in her voice. I was surprised the princesses didn't try yo comfort her, so I did so, putting a shoulder around her.

"Don't worry," I say to her. "I'll make sure your hive is returned to you, Chrysalis. I may not have come here willingly, but I'll do my best to to make sure I defeat the Order." She looked at me, a bit of surprise on her face, I imagine that someone actually tried to make her feel better.

"Thank you, Josh," she said, ti which I smiled.

"No problem," I say as a guard that was very familiar to me. How, you may ask? Because he was my god damned OC. He had black skin, same with hair and tail, though his hair had highlights of red and orange, allowing for a flame like look. He looked out of breath.

"Lone," Twilight said, rushing to him, "what's wrong?"

"Ponyville. . . under attack," he got out between breathes. "Applejack."

"Applejack's there?" Twilight asked in a gasp, to which Lone nodded. "We need to get there," I heard her say, though I had already begun to make my way to the gardens, on the edge of the city.

I reached there quickly, and activated my disk. I reached toward the deck I placed there, and drew just the card I wanted. "I summon Blue Thunder T-45!" I yell as i jump over the edge of the city, and the jet, a machine with two remote weapon pods at it's sides, a silver fuselage, and blue cockpit appeared around me, myself being in the front. I grabbed the control stick to direct it, and turned it to where Ponyville was in my view, then activated the thrusters. Oh, I am going to have fun today.

With Blue Thunder going at full speed, I reached the town in minutes. I removed Thunder's card from the disk, and it faded, and, like a badass, I landed with a roll. I got up to my feet, and looked around. Just about the entire town was on fire, and I saw multiple machines rampaging, including a few Cyber dragons and a-. . . oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me, a satellite cannon beam hit town hall. I can only hope no one was in there.

"Oh, don't worry," a voice behind me said with a slight country accent. "No pony was in there." I turned, and saw Applejack, her hair loose and going behind her shoulders, wearing a light yellow cloak, with a red duel disk with orange and steel accents on her arm. "So you're the one the four summoned to try to stop us?" she asked. "I'm not impressed."

"Maybe you should keep your mouth shut," I say as as Chrono, SK, Y FI, AND RE, appeared behind me. "I have the machine king on my side, after all."

"Please," the former farm mare said. "He couldn't defeat my Cyber larva, and it's the weakest card in my deck. Even if he could, I'm the queen of machines."

"Sure about that?" I ask. "Why are you here, anyway?" I ask her. "It can't be terror attack, that would involve killing civilians. Lower morale, maybe, but even I know the Order has numerical superiority. So, what is it?"

"To show you the light of Ra," she said. Jeez, she sounds like the main villain from season two of Gx. Damn glad I'm gonna be the one to shut her up.

"How about a no to that," I say, activating my duel disk and bringing it up. "You win, I join the Order. I win, well, you leave it." Before you say anything you could say I got a feeling she'd keep that promise when she lost.

"I don't see why not," she said, her monsters disappearing, her disk coming up. "Ladies first," she says as we both draw five cards, and, to my surprise, a holograpic image of the field and our life points, at eight thousand, appeared. We already stood a good distance away from one another, but we backed up more to get enough space.

I saw her grin. "First off, I lay down two face downs," she says, and two face down spell or trap cards appeared. "Then I'll summon my Cyber dragon!" she yelled, slapping that card down on her disk, and the infamous card appeared. "I end my turn."

Damn it, already got a lot to deal with. I drew my sixth card. Perfect. "I play the spell card Banner of Courage," I say, the face of the card facing Applejack. "I'll then lay these two cards face down," I say, placing two cards down. "I then play this, Double summon!" The card appeared face up, picture facing Applejack. "You see, this is a useful defensive card, as it allows me to do this," I say, putting two monster cards down. "I summon V-Tiger jet and W-Wing Catapult." Both machines appeared on my field.

"So?" Applejack asked. "They can't defeat my Cyber Dragon."

"Now, you're right," I say. "But you seem to not know something, 'your highness'," I say mockingly.

"Hold that thought," she said, interrupting me. "I play my trap, Non-Fusion Area. It means ya can't fuse those two." Damn it!

"I end my turn, then," I growled.

Applejack smirked as she drew another card. "Now, Cyber Dragon, attack his W-Wing!"

Her cyber dragon opened its mouth, and a beam of blue energy erupted from its mouth, and hit W-Wing catapult, slicing it in half.

Josh

7200

"Damn it," I say as the dust clears.

"Give up yet?" Applejack asked.

"No way in hell," I say as I draw, which brought a smirk to my face. "First off, I activate another double summon, then I'll lay this face down," I say, putting a monster face down, and then I'll tribute V-Tiger Jet to summon Summon Reactor-SK!" I slap SK's card onto the disk, and he appears on the field. Now, SK, take down that dragon. Mech fist!"

"I activate my other trap, Spell Binding Circle," Applejack said, and that infamous card flipped face up, the circle surrounding SK. "Now your monster can't attack or switch position."

Double damn it! "I'll lay these face down then, and end my turn," I say as I hear a pop behind us, and I turn to see the royals. "'Bout fucking time," I say.

Before they could reply, Applejack made her move, and smirked again. "First off, I activate Swords of revealing light," she said, and swords of green light surrounded my monsters, and flipped my monster over, revealing Y FI. "I'll then put this face down," another face down on her side, "and sacrifice my Cyber Dragon to summon my Satellite Cannon!"

FUUUUCK!

"I end my turn, which means my cannon gets a thousand attack points."

"My draw, then," I say, drawing my card. Jeez, I'm lucky today.

"Josh, what are you doing," Twilight asked. "Her cannon will defeat you!"

"No it won't," I say. "First off, I activate one of my face downs, Birth right, which allows me to summon a normal monster from my graveyard, and I just happen to have one, so come back out, Tiger Jet!" A hole opened up in the ground, and said machine flew out of it, and hovered to the far left of my field. "I then activate Nightmare steelcage, which stops either of us from attacking for three turns." A steel cage appears around each of us. "I then activate my third and final double summon," I say, activating the card I just drew. "So I'll lay this card face down," I say, putting a monster face down, filling up my monster slots. "I then tribute my Tiger Jet and face down to summon PERFECT MACHINE KING!" I yell as I take the two cards and put them in my graveyard and putting Chrono's card, which I had drawn for my first hand, on the field. "I then end my turn."

"Your simply making my Cannon more powerful," she says, drawing. "I end my turn, which makes Satellite Cannon have a total of two thousand."

"I can do math," I growl, drawing, "Damn it," I mutter to myself. I didn't draw the card I need, but one I can use later. "I set one card face down, and end my turn." Two turns left until the slugfest begins.

Applejack did the same as last time, which meant the swords would be gone at the end of my next turn, and her cannon now had three thousand.

I drew, and grinned. I had what I needed. "First off, I activate the spell card Giant Trunade, which sends all spells and traps to their owners hands." Both of us took the cards off the field. "I then summon this, Spell Reactor, RE!" RE appeared on the field. "I then switch Trap Reactor to attack mode. Now, Chrono, take out her Satellite!"

"You got it," he said before thrusters on his back activated, and he flew up into atmosphere, and a projection of him approaching the Cannon, a green sword in hand.

"He can't defeat my Cannon," Applejack said. "It has three hundred more attack points."

"Correction, it has one thousand and seven hundred less!" I say. "You see, Perfect Machine King's effect gives him an additional five hundred points for every other machine type on the field, and there are four, which means he gets two thousand points, putting him at 4700, so prepare to lose your Cannon."

In the screen, we saw him approach the Cannon, which fired off a shot that hit, but did nothing to Chrono, before he got close and sliced it in half, followed by an explosion. He then grabbed a part of it, and threw it downward.

He came down with it, and the part he grabbed and threw hit Applejack.

Applejack

6300

"And I'm not done yet. Y FI, attack her directly! Machine gun barrage!" Y FI aimed with his cannon, and opened fire, unleashing a hail of bullets.

Applejack

5500

"SK, you're next! Propeller wind gust!" SK spun his propeller, creating a large force wind that hit Applejack full force

Applejack

3500

"RE! Missile barrage!" RE opened his missile bay, and fired off his missiles

Applejack

2300

"And I'm not finished yet!" I yell "SK, Y FI, RE, TIME TO MERGE!"

"Right," three of them said before they leaped up, and began to assemble like Optimus Prime, Super Mode from Tansformers Energon.

Y FI was at the bottom. his legs became thicker, and even his arms moved to become a part of them, and the turrets moved up to merge with SK. RE was in the middle, his body breaking apart, the main part becoming the hips of the new machine, his arms going up to merge with SK's. Speaking of SK, something that resembled the cockpit of an old bomber seemed to grow out of him, and his head changed. These were just the most obvious changes, though.

"BEHOLD, FLYING FORTRESS SKYFIRE!"

All of the mares looked up in awe, and maybe fear, of what was one of the most powerful cards in this deck. "You see, Applejack, when ever Summon Reactor, Trap Reactor, and Spell Reactor are on the field, I can merge them to summon this beast of a machine. And the best part is is that if I had left your Non-fusion area card on the field, it wouldn't have stopped this, because SKY FIRE isn't a fusion monster."

"It- it can't be," Applejack said in shock.

"It is," I say. "SKY FIRE, end this! Fortress Barrage. All weapons, ready," multiple clicks could be heard, "aim," the turrets turned to face Applejack, "FIRE!!" Every weapon on SKY FIRE opened up, creating a huge ass dust cloud.

Applejack

-700

Winner

Josh

When it faded, Applejack lay on the ground. She rolled a little, and I could hear her groan. As SKY FIRE and Chrono disappeared, a small light came from my deck and made its way to where she lay, and it began to absorb a yellow energy that was now visible around the Element of Honesty. When that energy was gone, the small orb disappeared, and I was the second to get over there after Twilight.

"She alright?" I asked.

"Just out cold," Twilight said. "How'd you do that, Josh? Take out the one thing that gave each of us the most trouble."

"I just used the powers my friends were willing to give me, and this is the end result," I say. I then slap two Blue Thunders down, two of them appearing. "Lets head back to Canterlot."

Recovery

We made it to Canterlot a few minutes after I summoned the two Blue Thunders, the royals having teleported ahead to get a medical team ready for Applejack, and they didn't disappoint. I was in one Blue Thunder, with Applejack and Twilight, who wanted to make sure Applejack didn't injure herself if she woke up, in the other.

The tow craft landed, and we disembarked, the Thunders disappearing just after, Applejack held in Twilight's magic. "Get her to the medical wing," I say. "I'll be there soon."

"Right," the lavender princess said, nodding, and she went to the medical wing, but, as she did, I saw something fall out of Applejack's deck, which I them went to pick up.

I did so, and picked up her Cyber Dragon card. "Hello," I say.

"Hello," the spirit inside said before it appeared, though at a smaller scale than in the duel. "You are the one who dueled Lady Applejack?" he asked.

"Yeah," I say, Chrono and the Reactors appearing behind me. "Why?"

"I wish to thank you," Cyber, yes, that's what I'm calling him, said. "Lady Applejack and I may have met when she was being controlled, but she was still much herself then. As she fell, I wanted to free her, but had no way to. You, however, were able to do so, and for that, I thank you."

"Why did you not try to say anything during the duel?" Chrono asked.

"I could not," Cyber asked. "The Order has made a habit of destroying cards that speak during duels or speak out of line, and I feared that, if I did, Lady Applejack would destroy me then and there."

"I thought you would have been loyal to the Order," SK said.

"No, I am not," Cyber said. "I am not the only one, either. Many spirits are enslaved by the Order, and wish for it's down fall, but their owners are entirely enthralled, and many spirits have been destroyed because of that."

"And you're telling us this why?" RE asked.

"Because I hope that when Lady Applejack awakens, she will wish to strike back at the Order, and after seeing you duel, I hope you will teach her."

"She doesn't need a teacher," I say. "She played her cards well, she simply became cocky, and could have beat me by destroying SK with her cannon after it got two thousand attack points, due to it's effect preventing it from being destroyed by any monster that's lower than level seven, and SK's a level five."

"He is correct," SK said. "If she had considered what her cards were capable of, she may very well have won."

"Enough talk guys," I say. "We should talk with the Princesses, see if they know anything else about the others, assuming you don' know anything, Cyber?"

"Very little," he said. "Only that the Elements of Generosity and Loyalty often duel together, even though their decks do not reflect that."

"So you know what monsters they use?" Y FI asked.

"Dragons. Pure dragons."

I smiled. Good thing I made a dragon killer deck. "Well, I'll keep that in mind. Now, come on, we should speak with the Princesses."

"Right," my monsters said.

"What about you, Cyber?"

He bowed as much as he could and said, "I believe it best if I go with you, to inform them of how the Order works."

"Then let's go," I say, and I led the way to the medical wing.

When we arrived, I saw Twilight and the others outside. "Something already went wrong!?" I ask.

"No," Twilight said, and I saw that Lone had his arm around hers. "The doctors just wanted to make sure the checkup went okay, and asked us to wait out here." At me looking at her and Lone, she said, "Oh, sorry. This is Lone, my stallion friend."

The two of us stared at each other before he smiled. "Thanks for saving one of Twily's friends."

"No problem," I say. "Glad I could help."

"Uh," Cadence said, "whose the other spirit?"

"One of Applejack's," I say. "Name's Cyber."

I looked at him, and I saw him coil back, and even saw fear in his eyes, which I didn't think, seeing as how he's a machine, possible.

I looked where he was staring, and it was in the general direction of the two alicorn princesses. Call me curious now. Still, he got himself under control and said. "I am indeed one of Lady Applejack's monster spirits, and will serve her faithfully. You need not worry about my betrayal. Other, though, I can not be certain about."

"We will keep that in mind," Celestia said. "And thank you, Josh, for freeing one of the Elements."

"Of course," I say. "And I know you most likely do not wish to speak of this, but what do you know of the other Elements?"

"Little," Luna said. "Simply that Rainbow Dash and Lady Rarity are always seen dueling as a team, Fluttershy attacks aggressively, and Pinkie Pie uses cartoonish monsters."

"And Shining Armor?"

"They seem to fit with what he was," Chrysalis said. "Which is to say, a soldier."

"I also have something else to add," Cyber said. "The seven best duelists of the Order often have magic modifications to match with their type. The Elements of Loyalty and Generosity, for example, have had magic used on them so that they are part dragon, including the scales."

"Okay," I said. "That one sounds awesome."

"Definitely," Lone said, which got a glare from Twilight. "What? All I'm saying is that dragon scales are cool."

"Which reminds me, where's Spike," Twilight asked.

"I hope you don't mind Twilight," Celestia said, "but I asked him to help in probing the Order defenses in Cloudsdale."

"Are you mad?" Cyber asked. "Cloudsdale is one of the most secured places the Order controls, they made sure to broadcast that just to show their strength."

"Which is why I cast the strongest stealth spells on him," Celestia asked.

Before it could escalate any further, a doctor leaned out the door and said," She's awake. You may see her if you wish."

"Thank you, doctor," Luna said. "Shall we enter?"

"I think so," Chrysalis said, and she was the first to enter, followed by me and the spirits, then the others.

Applejack, true to the doctors word, was awake, and was sitting up in her bed, and, I imagine because they knew she would want them off, her order robes were removed, and the clothes she wore underneath, a white T-shirt and jeans, on. She turned ot face us when she heard the door opened, and went into freak out mode.

I'll save you all that, and give you the gist of it. Ahem: "What in Tarnation is a changeling doin' here?!" Believe me, what she actually said was much worse, I think she even used cuss words we haven't invented yet.

"Applejack, calm down," Cyber said as he slithered, I have no other word for it, up to Applejack. "The changelings are allies of Equestria, or did you forget?"

"Cyber?" she said. "That you?"

"Indeed it is, Lady Applejack," Cyber said with a bow of his head. "You were recently freed from the Order's control by him," he said, gesturing to me with that last part.

"Hello, Applejack," I said, myself and my spirits bowing. "It's an honor to actually meet you."

"Thanks, I guess," she said to me. "So, what are ya, anyway?"

"Just a third party," I say. "You can call me Josh, though."

Before she could say anything, though, the others finally got there. "Hey, Applejack," Twilight said.

"Hey, Twi," she said. "Hey, Lone."

"Hey, AJ. How you feeling? You know, considering?"

"Good," she said. "Hey, Princesses."

"Hello, Fair Applejack," Luna said/

"Hey, Applejack," Cadence said. "Good to know you're doing alright."

"Hello, Applejack," Celestia said.

"So, what's been going on with y'all?" she asked.

"Well, you know we and Chrysalis made a treaty due to the Order," Luna said.

"Apparently that happened after the whole issue," Applejack said.

"Just after you, actually,"  Chrysalis said, getting glares from the ponies.

"And here we go," I mutter as I facepalm.

"You sound glad that that happened," Luna said.

"Because I didn't have to deal with the Order by myself," Chrysalis said.

"Assuming you aren't with them," Cadence said. "Who knows? You may be a double agent. That's what your kind's best at, isn't it? Disguise and betrayal?"

"The wedding was only so my people could survive!"

"Then why not try diplomacy?" Celestia asked.

"Because of this response she was afraid of, for Christ's sake," I say, stepping between the ponies and the queen. "You ponies do have a reputation for being hypocrites, after all. Twilight here is the Element of Magic, but over looks even the simplest magic spells. Need I point out you used a spell she made that wasn't even complete to summon me? Or how you treat your allies. You practice and preach Harmony out your asses, but deny that to even other species, and try to make Equestria look like a god damned Mary Sue!"

"What's that? Cadence ask, to which I face palm.

"Essentially someone that is perfect with no faults," I say. "Back to what I was saying. The yaks: you try to show them you can do their shit better than them. Here's a motherfucking hint for hospitality even I know, and I know nothing of basic hospitality: you do not give foreign dignitaries their own shit unless they ask for it, not every fucking time! Starlight Glimmer: the ponies wanted to live like that. Even as a Princess, you had no reason to do what you did, Twilight. Yes, they attacked you first, but even they knew you were trying to ruin their way of life. Where I come from, most jackasses are like that, trying to put their beliefs over other's. Even I am guilty of it! Hell, you and Applejack and your other friends shot down Fluttershy, who actually liked their way of life. Not that I blame her, seeing as how she'd be less nervous, but still. How about you fuckers learn the actual meaning of the words 'harmony', 'acceptance', and 'equality' before you go about fucking preaching them at the top of your lungs!"

"How dare you speak of our subjects that way!" Luna said before she tried to attack me, but, and this surprised me as well here, Lone and Twilight used their magic to hold her back.

"Princess, calm down," Lone said.

"Yeah," Twilight said. "I mean, he's not wrong." Cue the surprised stares from everyone, even the duel monster spirits. "What? Me visiting my friends in the human world exposed me to the kind of stuff we find back here, like just friends having an argument that would ruin their friendship over here, like have a place to sit, is nothing compared to what they deal with. They deal with violence every day for entertainment, so call me desensitized."

. . . "And just how long do you spend there on vacation?" Chrono asked.

"The longest was about two weeks," she said, trying to hide behind her hair.

"Twi, that's cute with you, it really is," Lone said, "but I think we all agree hiding behind her hair's Fluttershy's job."

This simply made Twilight blush more. "Getting back to what I was saying as I wasn't done; I don't fight because the ponies asked me to, I fight because the changelings asked, which is also why you two," I said, looking at Celestia and Luna, "are not getting training in dueling, while you three," and I look at Twilight, Lone, and Chrysalis, "do."

I then turned to Applejack, Cyber's card in hand. "I believe this belongs to you, Applejack," I say as I offer her Cyber's card. "He's your monster spirit, after all."

"Th-thanks," she said, taking the card.

"Of course," I say before turning to the three I will be training. "Canterlot Gardens, one hour. If you can think of anyone who would be able to help, bring them." With that, I snapped my fingers, and three decks appeared. "Twilight, here's yours," I say, one of the decks hovering over to her. "Lone, this one's you," another deck hovering over to it's new owner. "Chrysalis." The last deck.

I then head to the doors. "One hour," I say to them again before walking out.

"You think they're capable?" Chrono asked.

"Everyone starts from somewhere," I say. "Who do you think I'll be going against next?"

"No idea," SK said. "Though, we are surprised the Order modifies it's best members."

"Which begs the question," Y FI says, "what is Applejack's?"

"I got a better question," I say. "Why did Cyber react with fear to seeing the Princesses?"

"Perhaps he was afraid of what they would do to him because of his connection with the Order," FE said.

"Maybe," I say. "But still, you know who has a point, something's already off here."

"Agreed," Chrono said. "What should we do in the meantime before training?"

"I would suggest preparing practice scenarios, as those would be best," SK said.

"Only once they get the hang of everything, first," I say. "Those are meant for advance stuff."

"So just teaching and notes?" FE asked.

"Yep."

"Then let's get ready," Y FI said, and we made our way to the Gardens.

Osiris, sitting on his throne, clenched his hand in anger. One of the Order's best duelists had been defeated by something that wasn't even of this world. He took a deep breath, and unclenched his hand. Perhaps it was what Lord Ra wished, so that the Order may learn from Applejack's defeat. He heard a pop behind him. "What do you bring?" he asked.

"News, my lord," the mare who had just arrived said. "The being the four summoned, it has decided to teach the changeling, the newest princess, and her stallion friend."

"Any thing else?"

"Yes," the mare said. "Applejack has awoken, and has been corrupted by the false light once more. The duelist has even the ability to see other spirits."

Osiris smiled a little. "Then he has been touched indeed. Keep an eye on him."

"Yes, Lord Osiris."

"And tell Lady Rarity and Lady Rainbow it is time for their dragons to be unchained."

Dragon Slayer

It's been a few hours since my duel with Applejack, and, with her help a little, actually, Twilight, Lone, and Chrysalis were progressing well. I had given Twilight a spell caster deck, Lone a warrior deck, and Chrysalis an insect deck. There was also a fourth pony, a green pegasus stallion with brown hair and tail with red highlights. He was a friend of Lone's, and a member of the guard. Him, I had given another warrior deck. His name was Zero Star, but Lone and the others all called him "Red".

"Remember," I say to each of them. "Even a card with no power in terms of attack can have value. Need I point out how I used Ancient gear cannon to reduce Chrysalis' life points in the last duel, then used Megamorph to weaken her monster, which allowed mine to destroy it?"

"No," Lone said. "That was the most recent one, after all."

"Good," I say. "Take a break, guys. You earned it."

"Thank Luna," Red said. "I thought we were gonna die from having to do this nonstop." Yeah, I guess I should also mention he and Luna were together. Only reason he wasn't around earlier was because he was out patrolling.

"Only in a shadow game," I say. "Seriously, though, you guys earned it. You've gotten everything down quickly, quicker than I did, actually."

"Same here," Applejack said.

"Though, you aren't ready to deal with the others," I say. "They would defeat you quickly. You need time to learn your deck, learn different uses for the cards."

"He is correct," Chrono said, appearing. "One time, he used the effect of a single Blue Thunder to bring three other monsters to the field on his side. It was quite devastating to his opponent."

"My point exactly," I say before walking away. "If I need to order you guys to take a break, I will."

Chrysalis scoffed. "Not like you could do anything, personally."

"She isn't wrong," Lone said. "Well, how long's the break?"

"Half an hour," I say. At Lone and Red's groan, I say, "Would you rather it be fifteen minutes?"

"Never mind," the both of them say.

"I thought so," I say with a chuckle. "Now, if you need me, which I hope you don't, I'll be taking a nap on the bench over there." With that,  I go to a nearby bench, and lay down on it. Unfortunately, I did not get a full half-hour nap.

About twenty minutes after I laid down, SK soke up, saying, "JOSH, Y and V got something." Given I call Summon Reactor SK, well, SK, take a guess at those two monters.

"What," I ask, sitting up, but before he could answer, a loud roar could be heard, and powerful flapping. "Never mind," I say just before two blurs, one white, the other black, speed up past the wall, and I turn to face them. "You guys gonna be alright if I change decks," I ask.

"Yeah," SK said. "Good luck."

"Thanks," I say. Warrior Magic ally, I think, and the deck changes, with SK disappearing just as the dragons, and those riding them, lower themselves to view.

Both are cards I doubt you have not yet heard of. One of them was large, and seemed majestic, royal, even, in a way. It had white scales that looked blue in the right angle, and blue eyes. Hello, Blue eyes white dragon. On it's back, between the wings, was, I assume, Rarity wearing the same color cloak as Applejack had when I defeated her. She had her horn missing, but I was able to see that her skin seemed more, for lack of a better word, reptilian, even her eyes.

The other one was much more viscous looking, with black scales, and red eyes of hatred. Hey, Red eyes. On it's back, in a riding position, was Rainbow, who had the same changes as Rarity, and the cloak too.

Aside from the fact they were more reptilian, another common trait the two Elements had was that they had leathery wings on their back. Going to attribute that to the spell. "There's our meal, Rares," Rainbow said. Looks like they became, at the least, omnivorous

"He's quite underwhelming," Rarity said. "I must say, I expected something much more. . . strapping and handsome," The white unidragon, best term I can think of right now, then grinned, revealing gleaming white, sharp teeth. "He will have to do though."

"Yeah, no," I say. "I'm not on the menu, and neither is anypony else."

"Oh, please, you think you can stop us," Rainbow said, laughing. "Nopony but lord Osiris can defeat the dragon sisters."

"Well, guess what," I say, spreading my arms. "I'm not anypony, I'm anyone, so come and get me, fuckers."

"You heard him, darling," Rarity said, sitting down. "Burst stream of destruction." Her blue eyes opened its mouth, and an orb of light began to grow, but I did not shrink from it. Once the orb reached critical mass, when the dragon's jaws couldn't stretch further, it released it's attack.

Just before it reached me, there was a small blur in front of me, and the attack stopped, but a large dust cloud was kicked up, and I couldn't see. The dust settled eventually, and I saw what was in front of me. He was a soldier in dark blue armor with a black undersuit, and a weird helmet. His armor had yellow highlights, and he had a wicked sword in a blocking position. "What?" Rainbow said.

"Morons, I would like you to meet a friend of mine," I say as the soldier stands up. "Say hello to Buster Blader."

"Oh, he is quite strapping," Rarity said. "Alas, it is a shame he stands with you."

"You dare disrespect my sire, dragon beast," Blader said, pointing his sword at Rarity, who looked offended.

"Did you just call me a beast?"

"Aye."

"Well, for your information, I am now a noble dragon who fights for the light of Ra, and Rainbow and I have come to either kill you, or recruit you, duelist. So, what will it be?"

"Option C: I kick your ass, some kind of Dues Ex Machina comes in, and you return to our side," I say. Right, my friend, I ask the duel spirit I shall not name.

Correct, he said.

"Like that'll happen," Rainbow said. "Nothing can beat dragons."

"Wanna bet," I say, holding my arm up and activating my disk. "Since this is essentially a free for all, even though you two will gang up on me, rules are normal, except none of us can attack on our fist turn."

"You will only prolong the inevitable," Rarity said. "I suppose, though. I could use the fun."

"Same here," Rainbow said, holding her disk, which was the same model as Applejack's, but the color more resembled Rainbow and her Red Eyes, while Rarity's did the same for her and Blue Eyes.

It was at this point the others got here. "Josh what's-" Twiligh tsaid before she saw Rainbow, Rarity, and their dragons. "Oh. Nevermind."

"Hello, Twilight," Rarity said. "Don't worry, soon, you'll be freed."

"Just draw your cards," I say, having already drew my five, same with Rainbow.

"Oh, fine," she said, drawing her cards.

"I'll go first," Rainbow said, calmly drawing. She smiled. I don't like that smile.

"I summon Red Eyes black chick," she said, and a red egg shell with the upper part of a baby red eyes sticking out of it. "I then activate it's ability, which lets me send it to the graveyard to summon Red eyes black dragon." Said dragon appeared next to her mount, and, to my surprise, I saw the two nuzzle. Fuck. "I then lay three face downs, and end my turn."

"Which makes it my turn," Rarity said, drawing. "First, I lay a monster face down, then I activate Card Destruction, which means we send each of the cards in our hand to the graveyard, and then draw that same amount of cards," she said, putting four cards in her graveyard, and drawing four more, which was followed by Rainbow doing the same, and myself discarding then drawing five cards. "And, since it was sent to the graveyard, my White stone of legend activates, which allows be to bring one blue eyes to my hand from my deck." She drew another card and mixed her hand up, her disk reshuffling her deck. "I then lay down three face downs to end my turn."

"My draw," I say as I drew a card, and added it to my hand. Okay, got one part of what I need, just need two parts. Fortunately, I have something that can help me survive long enough. "I lay three cards face down, and then lay a monster face down to end my turn."

"Not off to a strong start," Rainbow said to me as she drew a card. "I send Red eyes out of play," she said, and her monster Red eyes vanished, "To summon Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon." A much more armored Red Eyes appeared. It didn't have front arms, so, in dragon types, it's what you'd call a wyvern, basically a dragon with all scales and without front legs. "I then activate its effect, which lets me summon a dragon from my hand or graveyard, and I choose to bring out Darkflare dragon. And now, take out his face down, Metal," she said. "Metal Claw."(1)

The metal dragon roared, and flew over my monster, raking it with its claws, but it didn't go. I smirked as Rainbow yelled, "How?! No level four monster can survive an attack from Metal."

"Unless it has an ability," I say as my monster revealed itself. "You see, Obnoxious Celtic Guardian can't be destroyed by a monster with 1900 or more attack points in battle, and both your monsters have more than that, so I'm safe from you this turn, Rainbow." And I happen to have a second in my hand. Thanks, Rarity.

Rainbow growled. "I end my turn."

"Which means I draw," Rarity said, drawing a card. "I summon Hunter Dragon." The dragon appeared. It had a long, lower jaw and short front legs. Its wings were closer to its hind legs, and the tail ended in a blade. "And last I checked, it has less than 1900 attack points, so Hunter Dragon, attack his Guardian with hunting slice." The dragon attacked , spinning its tail around, which sliced my Guardian in half, and I was surprised when blood came from it before it vanished. "Unfortunately, since it was in defense mode, you take no damage, so I end my turn."

"I draw, then," I say, drawing a card. Nice, one of the cards I need. Well, one that'll get me one I need. I put it in my hand, and drew another from my hand. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician from my hand," I say before putting the card on my disk, and the card, a man in dark robes that covered most of his face with a baton in his hands appeared. "Now, Magician, take out her Hunter Dragon. Dark Lightning."

He nodded before pointing his baton in the direction of the weaker dragon, and an arc of black lightning erupted from one end, and fried the dragon.

Rarity

7800

"With that, I end my turn."

"And I draw," Rainbow said. "Now, Metal, take out her Magician. Darkness blast."

I smirked. "Nice try, Rainbow, but I activate two quick play spells known as Book of Moon, which lets me flip one face up monster to face down a piece, and since you have two, I'll flip both of your monsters over."

"No!" Rainbow yelled as both her monsters disappeared, the back of a card appearing in their place.

"And, since I activated two spell cards, Skilled Dark Magician gets two spell counters." Said monster seemed to generate a dark aura around him.

"I guess I end my turn, then."

"Which means I draw," Rarity said. "I play Kaiser Sea Horse, and then play the spell Axe of Despair, and equip it onto my Sea Horse." With that, a giant axe appeared i front of her sea horse, which then grabbed it. Fuck. "And now, my dear Sea Horse, destroy his Magician with Axe strike." Her monster jumped, and sliced its axe downwards as it reached my monster, and destroyed it before jumping back.

Josh

7200

"Damn it," I mutter.

"I end my turn," Rarity said.

"I draw," I say, looking at mt card. Damn it, not what I need. But something I can use right now. "I lay one monster card face down with two cards, and end my turn."

"I draw, then," Rainbow said. "I flip my two monsters over, and attack with Darkflare. Darkflare, attack his face down with dark flame burst." Her dragon breathed fire with a slight black tint to it, which enveloped my card. When the flames died down, my card, the second Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, was unharmed.

"How do you like me now, bitch," I ask, spreading my arms wide, which got chuckles from Lone and Red behind me, and I think Applejack too. "My deck was meant to deal with dragons, and most are at the mark that prevents them from destroying my card."

"I end my turn, then," Rainbow growled.

"Which means its my go," Rarity said. "I activate my Sea Horse's effect, which lets it count as two tributes for a light monster, so I tribute it to summon my Blue Eyes." Damn it, fuck it, damn it all!

Anyway, the monster split into two, and both were enveloped in a column of light, which, when it faded, revealed her dragon, which, like Rainbow's Red Eyes, nuzzled the one its duelist was riding. "I then activate my spell card, Burst stream of destruction, which destroys each of your monsters on the field." FUUUUUUUUUCK!

The dragon opened its maw, and an orb of light appeared before it swept across my field, and my Guardian was destroyed. "I then send my Hunter Dragon and White Stone of Legend out of play to special summon Lightpulsar Dragon from my hand." Said monster appeared in a flash of light. LightPulsar was the opposite of Darkflare, as it had a more regal look to it. Like Darkflare, it had an orb in the middle of its chest, but this one was green as opposed to Darkflared red and orange. "Now, Lightpulsar, attack him directly with White flame!" The dragon opened its maw, and breathed white fire on to me, and it actually hurt. It didn't burn, but it hurt.

Josh

4500

"And in case your wondering," Rarity said. "We were ordered to make you suffer if you didn't join us, which is why you fell all the pain from a direct attack."

"Yeah, that may be the case," I say. "But you'll need to try harder before I surrender."

Rarity scoffed. "I end my turn then."

"I draw," I say, hoping the card I drew would be enough, as this would be my last turn. I looked at it, and smiled.

Youtube Video

"I play the spell card Emblem of Dragon Destroyer!" I say, and the card appears on my field. "This card allows me to bring one Buster Blader to my hand." I draw said card, and my deck reshuffles. "I then play my trap, Jar of Greed, which lets me draw one card," I say, drawing again. "I then play the spell card Polymerization, which lets me fuse two monsters together, and I choose to combine my Buster Blader and My Dark Magician in my hand to summon the ultimate Dragon slayer: DARK PALADIN!" Both Blader and Dark Magician appeared behind me and nodded to one another before they jumped up, getting everyone but me to look at them, before they vanished in a flash of light. When it faded, a warrior in a style of armor resembling Dark Magician came floating down. He had light blue skin, his armor was a dark blue with green orbs at the knees, elbows, and center of the chest, with a dual bladed spear staff in his right hand.

"I then play the spell card Monster Reborn, which lets me bring one monster from my graveyard back onto the field, and I choose Blader." A portal appeared next to Paladin, and Blader leaped out, holding his sword behind him like the dragon killing badass he is. Then I play the trap Birthright to bring back Dark Magician." Another portal appeared, and Dark Magician flew out, staff across his chest and arms crossed. "I the activate the trap card DNA Surgery, which lets me choose one monster type, and every monster becomes that type, and I choose dragon."

All three of my monsters began to change, taking on a more dragon like look. "I then play Mage Power, which I equip onto my Magician, which gives him a boost of five hundred attack points for every spell and trap card on my field. Since I have two, including Mage power, that's a boost of one thousand, but I add three cards down, raising that boost to two thousand and five hundred, which doubles Magician's attack."

An arua grows around Magician, which seeped into his staff. "I then play my two face downs, which are United we Stand, which gives a boost of eight hundred attack and defense points the equipped monster for every face up monster I have, and I put it on Paladin, which gives him a boost of 2400, which brings his attack to 5300, and Fairy meteor crush, which allows for piercing damage." I smirked. "But that's not all. You see for every dragon type monster in play, Paladin gains five hundred attack. Let's see, each of you have two, so four times five hundred, that's two thousand plus fifteen hundred from me, so that's a boost of thirty five hundred, bringing him to 8800. And keep in mind, I said every, including those in the graveyard. So, we have Red Eyes chick and Dragon, so another thousand, and he cards you sent from card destruction, which equal a total five, so twenty five thousand. That puts Paladin at 12300 attack!"

"Oh, shit," both of my opponents say at the same time.

"You're right, 'Oh, shit,'," I say. "Paladin, attack Darkflare with dark magic slice!"

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Rainbow yelled as Paladin flew up, with Darkflare firing off bursts of flame to stop it, but Paladin dodging them or blocking them with his staff. He eventually landed on Darkflare's back, and drove his staff down through the back, making Darkflare roar in pain before the spellcaster jumped off, and flew back to my side and the dragon exploding, black flames enveloping its owner.

Rainbow Dash

0000

She was knocked out by the blast, and fell off her dragon. "Magician, catch her!"

"On it," he said before flying off to catch Rainbow. He flew over the wall, and vanished from sight, Rainbow's apparently physical Red Eyes following him close behind.

"I end my turn," I say, a single card in my hand.

"Then I draw," Rarity said before grinning. "I play Burst Stream of destruction," she yelled before her duel monster Blue Eyes opened its mouth and unleashed its attack, kicking up a large cloud of dust. When it cleared, my side could be seen. With all my monsters, excluding Magician because of was going after Rainbow, still there, no card in my hand. "How?" she asked in shock.

"Paladin's other effect," I say. "By discarding one card, I can negate any spell cards. And you were seriously going to let Rainbow die?"

Rarity scoffed. "She failed the Light of Ra, and must pay for it. I switch my monsters to defense mode, and end my turn."

"I draw, then," I say, drawing just as Magician come flying back over the wall with Red Eyes close behind, Rainbow in his arms. He flew to where the others were at and laid her down before hovering back next to Paladin. "Now, Blader attack Blue Eyes with blade slice."

"Of course, sire," he said before he ran to where Blue eyes was at in the air. The duel monster one, not the one Rarity was riding. It roared at him, and fired off a burst stream but Blader, holding his sword down by his side, dodged it, and, when he closed in, he jumped and raised his sword. Blue Eyes roared in challenge, and moved to eat him, but, just as his mouth was about to envelop the warrior, he vaulted over the dragon's snout onto its head, avoiding the mouth, and then slammed his blade down into the dragon's brain. He sliced forward, cutting the head in half, which revealed the brains and bones before he jumped off, and the dragon exploded. Damn, talk about brutal.

"I still don't take any damage," Rarity said.

"I still have two monsters," I say. "Magician, take out Lightpulsar with Dark Magic attack."

He nodded before he pointed his staff at Lightpulsar, the green orb facing it, and unleashed a large orb of black and violet magic that made its way to Lightpulsar, and enveloped the dragon, vaporizing it.

The pressure wave made Rarity shield her face, during which time, Paladin made his way to her face face down, the Blue Eyes not doing anything.

When she looked up, a look of fear was on her face. "Finish this, Paladin."

"Understood," he said before bringing his blade up, and slicing, destroying her card, which was Dandylion. The card was destroyed, and a orange, etheric blade slice made its way to Rarity.

Rarity

0000

She became unconscious like Rainbow and Applejack before her, and began to slide off her mount, but, just his card being on my disk allowed Paladin to catch her.

Okay, do you have something to do with them being physical?

Perhaps.

I hate you right now.

Not like you can get rid of me.

I rolled my eyes, and turned back to the others, putting the cards in my graveyard and the spells and traps on the field back in my deck and turning to face the others.

"And that is an example of the right card can change everything," I say to the ones I was teaching, Applejack, and the alicorns. As Rarity is set next to Rainbow, a familiar orb of yellow light left my deck and made its way to hover over the two, a yellow aura appearing around the two, and it was absorbed by the orb, which disappeared soon after.

"Okay, we need to get them to the medical wing," I say.

"That's not needed," Dark Magician said. "I am versed in healing magic slightly." With that, he walked over, and knelt down to the two, orbs of purple magic in his palms. He touched the orbs to their foreheads, and closed his eyes in concentration. "What ever it is that aura was, it seems to erase some part of their memory. Of what I can tell, nearly four months ago."

"That's when the Order defeated them," Twilight said with a gasp.

"It also seems that parts of later memories are clouded, focused on one individual. Unfortunately, it was able to complete its work before I or the other could to intervene."

"Other," Celestia asked.

"That orb," I said. "The one that absorbed the aura off of Applejack and these two." I turned back to Magician. "What else?"

"That the changes to their bodies are permanent, and only the one who cast it, I imagine the one that is clouded, can reverse it. And, as for the one known as Rarity, she may no longer have her horn, but she still has her unicorn abilities," he said. "Another thing to note: There is still a seed of what converted them that I can not remove, and I imagine, if the caster wished, would re-enthrall them into the Order."

"And without knowing who, we can't do anything to stop it," I say.

"Indeed," Magician said, getting up. "They will awaken shortly," he said.

I nodded. "Right. Thanks."

"Of course," Magician said, bowing.

With that, I removed his card, as well as Blader's and Paladin's, and the three became translucent.

Who do you think Magician was talking about?

No idea, Josh. But, given Cyber, I would wager it is someone we know.

Agreed, I think, looking to the royals, but who?

Osiris watched the duel between Rainbow and Rarity, the dragon sisters, as the lower members of the Order and their friends called them, and the duelist the royals summoned. He was, well, angry that the dragon sisters had lost, but, in all honesty, he planned for this contingency.

"Your drink, my lord," a servant said from behind as he bowed and presented Osiris' drink.

"Thank you," Osiris said, lighting his horn in yellow magic to bring the drink to his hand. "Contact our agents in Canterlot. The palace, especially. I want that duelist monitored at all times. If we are to prevail, we must discover his strategies, and counter them."

"Yes, my lord," the servant said. "Though, if I may offer, he seems to play aggressively, like Lady Fluttershy."

"That he does," Osiris said. "But it is obvious he has more than one deck. If we are to defeat him, we must find out all of his strategies so that we may bring Ra's truth upon him."

"Understood, my lord," the servant said, backing away. "I shall send the message." With that, the servant left.

Once the servant had left, Osiris pulled a card out of his robes. "Do not worry, Lord Ra. We shall bring your truth to this planet, and free you of your bonds." The card seemed to glow at these words. "Patience, my lord,"  Osiris said. "Everything is according to plan. Only five more until you can be freed."

Learning

It's been an hour since I beat Rarity and Rainbow, and both had woken up. At first, they both freaked out at their appearance, understandable, in my opinion, but they eventually calmed down, Rainbow finding it, and I quote, "Awesome", while Rarity cooed over it and began talking of designs that would go well.

Good to know they're taking the fact thee's a psychotic group who wants to overthrow Celestia well, huh? Ponies, I swear.

Anyway, I was with Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Chrysalis, and Twilight. "You think they have an agent in the castle," Luna asked

"I do," I say, my arms crossed. "I found this ard thirty minutes ago, and it isn't in any of the decks I have or gave to Twilight and the others, and it's used in an advance deck, which means an Order agent. Plus, CYber's been moving carefully, almost as if he were afraid of something."

"You trust one of the Order's creatures," Luna asked.

"Not just me," I say as Chrono appears behind me.

"Indeed," he said. "As the Machine King, I have special programming that allows me to tell if a subordinate is lying, and when I questioned him ten minutes ago as to if he was afraid of something in the castle, he was telling the truth."

"If so, then that would beg the question as to who is the agent," Chrysalis said.

"I'm certain that, whoever it is," Celestia said, "Josh will be able to stop them."

"Agreed, Sister," Luna said.

"I doubt it," I said. "This deck is built around monster effects, and I have nothing to counter lightsworn, the archetype, strategies."

"Then we'll have to hope it is not someone high in the order," Celestia said. "Seeing as how that's how they've sent so far."

"What makes you say the Elements are high up," I asked.

"Simple," Celestia said. "They would only send the best short of their leader to stop a threat to them, and so far, they've only sent three out of their best."

"Fair point," I say. "Still, I'm a little surprised the dragon monsters are real here."

"Agreed," Twilight and Chrysalis said. "Though, what surprises me the most," Chrysalis added, "is the love I felt coming from the summoned ones to the actual ones, and vice versa."

"Explains the nuzzling," I said. "Still, have those two stopped fawning over their new forms to actually speak about something even remotely important?"

"Not yet," Twilight replied. "Why?"

"Because I want to see what they do remember. It might help us later on."

"I doubt they could give you anything more then your Magician gave us," Celestia said.

"Better safe then sorry," I said.

"I have to agree," Chrysalis said. "I'd rather have valuable intel then a large weapon that destroys a large swath of land the size of the Order's base. I thought you'd be the same, Celestia."

"I do," Celestia said. "But his Magician said that it got everything it could out of Rainbow Dash and Rarity he could."

"I still think it best to get their interpretation on their memories, as well as our own," I say, "instead of just our own. Best to have more than one perception.

"And, seeing as how I'm the current only hope you got, I'm the one who decides what's done in regards to the fight with the Order, I say we find out their take on their memories, see what they think the context is. Unless you want me to, oh, I don't know, let the next Order member roll right over this city and every pony here." How I love being an asshole.

"Sister, I must agree," Luna said. "It would be best to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity's point of view on their memories instead of just our views on them."

"Looks like a majority, Celestia," I say with a smirk. "So, Twilight, where are Rainbow and Rarity, anyway?"

"They should be in the medical wing with Applejack."

"Then come on," I say to her and Chrysalis. "Time you actually spoke with them."

"I do believe you mean 'we'," Chrysalis said.

"You know what I mean," I say. "Come on."

With that, the three of us, Chrysalis, Twilight, and myself, made our way to the medical wing. "So, let's recap what we got," I say. "Magician said that whoever turned them to the Order is in their memories, but hidden, and black out."

"Might be their leader," Twilight said. "What'd they call him, Osiris?"

"Yeah," I said. "Funny thing with him is that where I come from, an ancient god of the underworld shares his name, and that mythology also has to do with duel monsters."

"Talk about a coincidence," Chrysalis said.

"Agreed," I say.

"You know, while we're on the subject of mythology," Twilight said, hand on chin, "Celestia and Luna did tell me of an old legend form when ponies used to use this kind of magic. Five monsters that were near unbeatable."

"Nothing's unbeatable, Twilight," I say, referencing my yet unused ultimate deck. "Not even gods. Did they say anything about the cards themselves?"

"Just that two of them are part of a set, the third having become a sixth card of legend, and the other three are their own set, and, when together, are near unbeatable."

"Did they say what they were called," I asked.

"Just that the collective names for the second set was so horrible, any who spoke it died."

"Damn," I mutter to myself. "We definitely need to find those cards and stop the Order from getting them."

"Agreed," Chrysalis said. "But I'm more interested in that sixth card. I can't be the only one wondering as to what it is."

"I think I have an idea," I say. "Assuming, that is, my other theory is right."

"What theory is that," Chrysalis asked.

"What the second set is," I say. Think it might be, you know, them?

Perhaps, my duel spirit said. And I believe we can agree as to what that sixth one is.

Agreed. Let's just hope the Order doesn't get their hands on them. That would be near hell.

That it would be.

At this point, we reached the medial wing of the castle, and stepped in. Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack were talking with each other near the bed Applejack had woken up in. Rarity wore a black and white, pinstripe business shirt and business slacks, and Rainbow wore, well, workout stuff. Go figure.

"Hey, guys," I said as we walked over, the three glaring at Chrysalis, which I expected because, well, guess. "You all doing alright?"

"Yeah, we are," Rainbow said. "What do you want, Josh?" Apparently, the dragon DNA in her and Rarity made them a little more hostile. I already had my Ancient Gear monsters working on a bunker to protect us from an angry RD.

"To see what you guys think of your time with the order," I say. "Just to get your interpretations on them."

"Well, of what I remember," Rarity said, "they want to overthrow Celestia, I think because the one they worship says so."

"And they want some kind of caste system base don someones dueling skills," Rainbow said. "I liked it, but I was near the top, so I might be biased."

"At least your honest about that," I said. "What about you, Applejack?"

"Well, if Ah had ta be honest," she said, "Ah'd say they actually want ta do some good things, like removing wha' little crime there is and making plants that grow year 'round."

"And actually promote different forms of fashion, now that I think on it," Rarity said.

"And helping pegasai with flying if they're slow in that area," Rainbow said,

Thank you, universe. I fucking hate black and white villains. Give me a gray area one with goals that can help any day! But of course, this is Equestria, soooo, three. Two. And- "They have to be lying," Twilight said. "No pony or group who wants to overthrow Celesita would do stuff like that." Curse Equestrian moral views. Seriously, one person does something like, I don't know take a seat, a single, fucking seat, that someone else sat in and then got out of, call the goddamn police, he's a criminal. And do I need to point out the wedding again? Or, hell, Starlight again? I may be a brony, but i prefer our world morals compared to here, because I like interesting villains who actually think they're doing the right thing, not Sauron stand ins or evil overlords who do shit because why not.

"Twilight," I say, "not everything is black and white like ponies think. Some villains believe they are doing right, and do have noble goals, with only immoral methods. After all, do you see Chrysalis as a villain?"

"No," Twilight said.

"Then what was she during the wedding?"

"A villain," Twilight replied before her eyes widened.

"You prove my point," I say. "You ponies are on thin ice right now with my help. Is the reason you see her as an ally now because she's with you, who, to compare to a group from my world, are like people from my country, believing your morals are perfect, and you try to project them on others. Because believe me, there are a lot of ignorant assholes like that where I come from who believe they are the best simply because of where they live, and I am ashamed to be someone in the same country as them, and how you ponies act is not helping you in terms of my help. I hate individuals who are nationalists because their home is all they know. It makes me wonder right now how you ponies haven't gotten into a war sooner, as that kind of attitude leads to war sometimes."

"I actually have to agree with him, Twi," Rainbow said. "While I was in the Order's base, and my mind was wiped of it's location, seeing as how I don't remember where it is, I read a lot of history." This got looks from everyone. "Oh, shut up. Anyway, of what I read, a few old wars started because of that kind of stuff, and, actually, that the Order wanted to remove that kind of stuff to stop another pride induced war."

"And a few changeling hives were wiped out because of a war they started due to pride."

"Which gives you the next lesson," I say to the both of them. "Pride can be as dangerous an enemy as anything else, whether it be a knife, or a magic blast that melts skin. Make sure you remember it, as even the best duelist can fall because of pride."

"We go it, Josh," Chrysalis said.

"Just remember it when you're in a duel," I say before turning to face the three other Elements. "And how are you three doing? Considering."

"Quite well," Rarity replied. "It seems what ever they did to Applejack, as well as Rainbow Dash and myself allow us to heal quicker."

"Which reminds me," I say. "Applejack, what did the Order do to you? I mean, it's obvious Rainbow and Rarity were made part dragon, but we have no idea about you."

"Yes, I must admit I'm curious too, Applejack," Rarity said. "Of what I remember, you never showed what you could do."

The farmer seemed to want to hide as she shrunk a little. "Ah wasn't exactly in mah right mind when I got mah. . . modifications."

"Applejack, I don't think it's that bad," I said. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not that- HOLY SHIT!" I yell as myself and the others jump back as, I am not joking here, Applejack's right arm turns into a fucking laser cannon. "I'm not sure whether hat is cool, or terrifying."

"I kinda like it," Rainbow said, getting looks from each of us. "What?"

"Sure you aren't the Element of Honesty?"

This got chuckles out of all but Twilight and Applejack.

"Oh," Rarity said, stopping her chuckles. "I almost forgot. I was going to offer to make you all duel outfits."

"I'm happy with what I'm wearing," I say. "And even if there was something I wanted, I'm not good at describing stuff."

Actually, my duel spirit said, Josh, your disk has a special feature that allows you to show images. Try it.

"Oooookaaaaaaaay," I say. Might as well go for my favorite outfit. Yusei's outfit. Seriously, I don't know why, I just find that outfit badass as hell. Anyway, the image showed up, and it definitely had Yusei in a badass duel pose.

"I guess that's what I want," I say. "You guys want anything?"

"I could use a new outfit," Chrysalis said. "This dress is all I was able to bring with me."

"I think I have an idea there," I say. Akiza's outfit. I find it to fit Chrysalis personality wise, especially with the connotation. Noble, but wiht a tragic backstory. Those who've watched 5D's know what I'm talking about.

"That good, Chrysalis," I ask.

"Oh, definitely," she said.

"I do believe I can manage those," Rarity said. "What you, Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack? Any outfits?"

"Not really, no," Applejack said.

"Yeah, same," Rainbow said.

"I don't know," Twilight said. "I guess I want something that's able to stay modest, what with all those gusts, but still have some kind of appeal." At our looks, she added, "you forget that I am in a relationship, guys."

"That's why I'm, looking, can't say the same for the others," Rainbow said.

"Shut it, Rainbow," I say. "Back where I come from, women are the same way."

"Then I'll get started on the outfits," Rarity said, strutting off. "Though I do warn you, there will be some slight changes."

"Long as the basics are the same," I say. "So, who do you guys think I'll be going up against next? I want to be prepared."

"Well, Fluttershy was a step above me and Rarity," Rainbow said. "Surprised me, too. She loved using beast monsters to overwhelm her opponents."

"So she uses an animal deck," I said Flame Empire. "Then I hope she likes Barbecue."

New look

It's been a few days, the longest break so far, I know, and myself, Chrysalis, and Twilight were waiting outside Rarity's room. Or, rather, Rarity and Rainbow's room. Best I understand it, their time in the Order, the first few weeks, anyway, left the two isolated, and, eventually, thinking they were going to die, confess their feelings for each other. Well, at least this has a better chance at working than AppleDash. Not a shot at those shippers, just speaking from logic.

"So, what alterations do you guys think she made to your outfits," Twilight asked.

"A color one to at least Chrysalis'," I say. "I mean, I'm not that fashion oriented, and even I know the red-black-gold-white color scheme doesn't go with green and black. As for mine, I don't know."

"Agreed," Chrysalis said. "Why'd you go that outfit anyway?"

"Because it looks cool," I say. "Do I need another reason?"

"I guess not," the queen chuckled.

"I thought so," I say with a playful smile. "So, how exactly are you two doing with dueling?"

"Quite well," Chrysalis said.

"By whose judgement," I ask.

"Celestia, of all ponies," Chrysalis said. "It seems that the 'ancient art gone before she was born' was a held secret in her family, at least in the basics of the rules, while  the spells needed to summon the monsters are the ones forgotten."

"I guess I'll have to keep that in mind if I decide to give her and Luna a deck," I say.

"I just wonder why she didn't say anything before," Twilight said.

"That is a little strange," I say. "But I doubt we can do anything about it."

Before either of the mares could reply, the door opened, and Rarity said, "I'm done." Well, sung is more like it, but you get the idea.

"So, can we see them now," Twilight asked.

"Oh, but of course, darling," the white unidragon, I am sticking by that until I think of something better, said. "Though you'll have to wait out here, Josh. Ladies first."

"Of course," I say. "Though given your past experience with her, I am surprised you say that Chrysalis is a lady. No offense, Chrysalis."

"No, I am a little curious, too," she replied.

"Well, the answer is quite simple," Rarity said. "During my, ahem, point of questionable loyalty, I read about the history of the changelings, and didn't get time to think on it until I began working on the outfits. That, and I'm not exactly one to judge what others eat right now, given I have a taste for meat right now."

"Nothing to be ashamed of," I say. "I mean, I doubt it's the worst thing in your life you'd rather not be known."

Rarity blushed a little as she said, "Fair point, Josh."

"I thought so," I say. "Now, Twi, Chrysalis, get in there. I can wait."

"Right," Chrysalis said before she and Twilight stepped inside. Once they did, a certain orb showed up.

I find it strange that Celestia knows the basics, it said, but that she did not offer to help teach.

You heard Chrysalis, I retorted. She forgot how to summon.

And why have we not heard anything about it from Luna? You must find it odd to some degree.

A little, yeah, but can you blame them for keeping it a secret? I mean, if the Order found out, they'd mind rape them like Caribou did to ponies in FoE, albeit not for sexual means, and urn them against those they want to protect.

Fair enough, it said. Still, I think it best to play it safe.

Agreed.

And how are the fire monsters doing, Thestalos especially? I can not interact directly with the others in my current state.

Well, I said. Anxious for the duel with. . . whoever's next, but well.

They will need to be, I know it, he said, and I had to agree with him on that point. And if I face who I think it'll be, I'll need the power of fire, and I know it would stand with me.

Anyways, after that, I sat on the floor, by choice, outside Rarity's room for near an hour, far shorter than I had expected, before Twilight and Chrysalis walked out.

Twilight now wore a mini skirt reminiscent of the female outfits from Duel Academy in GX, with a short sleeved shirt that had the hem line for the top end just at the point you could see her cleavage, but it was still well held in. Lone's gonna be happy, I can predict that.

As for Chrysalis. This is my personal opinion, but holy shit. Her outfit was as I had called it. The white was black, the red green, and the gold a light blue, and the ratio, length, everything was perfect on her. I knew Rarity could do a clothing masterpiece, but holy shit, I didn't expect this to be it.

"So, Josh," Chrysalis said as i got up. "How do we look?"

"Good," I say. "You especially, Chrysalis."

A small, green blush, why the hell not with the color, appeared on her face. "Thanks," she said.

"Of course," I said. "Now, if you all will excuse me, time to go into hell," I say as I walk into Rarity's room.

I'll spare you all the details of me being in there and having to suffer Rarity's fashion talk and what not. Anyway, an hour later, I stepped out, wearing Yusei's outfit, and it was exactly the same as in the show, color scheme in all. Except for the shirt. It was still black, but a day after I had shown it, I asked Rarity to make a small change to it. Instead of the symbol it had on it in the picture, it had an red octagon with a white and orange sword crossed over it. It was an image I had made for one of my online avatars back home, and I liked it, and, to me, it showed unity and loyalty. But that was just me.

"So," I say, putting my hands in my pockets, "how do I look?"

"You look good, Josh," Chrysalis said.

"Thanks," I say just before a solar guard ran into the picture.

"Sir," he said, the five rulers making it to where if there was something with the Order, I was to be the first alerted. "Ponyville's under attack."

Burning beast

"How bad," I ask the guard.

"Sir, reports are saying that the town is under attack by animals," he replied. "The small group there's already lost."

Damn it. "Twi, teleport me there. Now."

"You sure," the lavender alicorn asked.

"Positive," I say.

"If you're sure," she said before lighting her horn, but Chrysalis stopped the spell from charging.

"I'm coming with you, Josh," she said. "And don't think of telling Twilight to not cast it on me. I can teleport myself."

"I doubt anything could stop you, Chrysi," I say with a small smile. "Twi, mind doing the honors, and letting the others know?"

"Not at all, Josh," she said, relighting her horn before Chrysalis and I were blinded for a second by a flash of light. When our vision returned, we were in the center of Ponyville, and, well, the place was practically a zoo right now, with a huge variety of beast, winged-beast, and beast-warrior types running around, even a few civilians willingly following them to a location I don't know about. I think they were converted, or whatever the actual term is, but that wasn't the most interesting.

What was, though, was a mare in a yellow, leather, as opposed to the other, cloth cloaks, with a yellow and pink disk on her right arm, who, as I first looked at her, touched right hand, index finger, middle finger, and thumb in a triangle formation, index on the forehed of a mare, the other two fingers on her cheeks. The mare had- and it's Lyra, and I see Bonbon, or is it Sweetie Drops in this timeline, behind her. "May our lord's light bring you peace and safety from the corrupt light of Celestia's sun," the cloaked mare said, and I recognized it as Fluttershy's voice. Another thing happened too. As the last syllable left her mouth, I saw a blurred, yellow image behind her, but I couldn't make out details.

It's him. This is how they convert individuals to their side.

I couldn't help but agree with the Spirit. "Fluttershy," I yell, which got her attention. Not very surprisingly, her demeanor had changed a little.

"Oh, so the little pup who thinks he can defeat the Order has come to stop me," she said, stepping away from Lyra, and turned to her side, where two Gene-Warped Warwolves stood guard. "Take her and the others to the Camp in the forest. I shall be busy here." The two bowed, and, with a growl, ordered those that had bene in line followed them away from where we were. "Oh, and what's this," Fluttershy asked upon seeing Chrysalis. "You brought my winged pets a meal. How thoughtful." At that, a single Stealth Bird, the fucker, became visible, and swooped down at Chrysalis, but, to her credit, Chrysalis put a shield around her to protect herself, her and the others not having their own disk yet, the ones used in training being borrowed from Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity, and I quickly activated my disk, and put down a monster card.

A humanoid monster with a flaming skull, along with two flaming fists, with clawed feet, one point in the back of the foot, three in front, and wearing what one could consider samurai armor, with a purple cape on his back, appeared in the bird's path, and shot a blast of flame at it, which hit, knocking it out of the sky. "You should know better than to play with fire," I say in the tone reserved for those being an asshole. Something I enjoyed being. "Oh, and meet Fire Trooper." Said monster growled in reply. "What happened to you," I ask. "According to Twilight, you were kind, and, well. . . not what you are now, for the most part."

"I simply saw the light of our Lord," Fluttershy said. "His lightning-" hello interesting, "-helped give me courage and strength. I am no longer the weak and pathetic mare Twilight, who shall see the light, knew before the Order came-" and from here, I just tuned it out, as this was sounding more like a speech the Brotherhood, Order, what the fuck ever, of Light from GX, and I know what I'm talking about there, as that was the season that brought in my favorite warrior type, Neos. Oh, yeah, Society of Light, that's what they were called. Still, my point remains.

I was eventually tapped on the shoulder by Chrysalis. "You zoned out a little, Josh," she said.

"I was just ignoring the blatant religious speech," I said, turning to Fluttershy. "So, we going to duel, or what?"

"I just challenged you," she deadpanned, bringing her disk up.

"Again, I was ignoring you," I said, doing the same. "Mares first."

"Thanks," she said. "I activate my field spell, Gaia Power," she said, as a giant tree grew behind her. When it stopped growing, where it was well above the town hall, she said, "It gives every Earth attribute monster a boost of five hundred hundred attack, but they lose four hundred defense. And with that, I summon Silver Fang in attack mode." She put a card down, and a wolf with an elegant, silver white coat leaped into the battle area from a nearby alley. "And it also gains five hundred attack, giving it seventeen hundred attack. I also end my turn."

"Then I draw," I say, drawing. "And I can do math." I looked at my hand. "I lay one monster face down," I say, placing one card face down. "And then I end my turn with two facedowns," I say, placing two cards down. "Your go."

"Then I'll draw," she said, "and I place another Silver Fang on my field, along with two face downs." A second wolf appeared on her field from a rooftop. "Now, Fang one, attack his face down."

"I activate my trap, Draining Shield, which negates your attack, and gives me the attack points of your monster as life points."

Josh

9700

"Then I attack with my other wolf," Fluttershy said as the second wold charged, only to to knocked back by by a robotic shoulder. The one that knocked the wolf back was a humanoid in a footballer's, and I mean American football, for those in Britain.

"Yeah, um Battle Footballer has twenty one hundred defense, and your wolves have seventeen hundred attack, which means you take four hundred points of damage."

Fluttershy

7600

"I end my turn then," Fluttershy growled.

"I draw, then," I say. "First off, I activate my face down, Reigeki Break, which allows me to destroy one card on the field, so long as I discard something from my hand." With that, I sent a card to my graveyard. "And I choose one of your wolves." With that, a burst of lightning shot from the card, and struck one of the two wolves, making it, disappear in an explosion of electricity. "I then summon Barrier Statue of the Inferno, then equip it with mist body, which prevents it from being destroyed in battle, and then I'll activate Molten Destruction, a field spell that decreases all fire monsters defense by four hundred, and raises their attack by five hundred. And since it's a field spell, your Gaia Power is destroyed. Then I'll attack your wolf with Statue. Barrier Statue, attack with flame wall." The eyes on the statue lit up, and a wall of flame encircled the wolf, which howled in pain, and, upon receding, left but a pile of ash.

Fluttershy

7300

"With that, I end my turn."

Fluttershy growled. "I draw, then activate Monster Reborn to bring back one of my Fangs." She put the card down, but nothing happened.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that my Barrier Statue stops special summons for anything but fire types, so thanks for showing me that card."

She growled, putting the card back in her hand. "Then I lay three cards and a monster face down to end my turn."

"Then I draw," I say. "I then play the card I just drew, Cup of Ace. I toss a coin, and if it lands on heads, I draw two cards. Tails, you draw two cards. Now, anyone got a coin?"

"Here you go," Chrysalis said, flipping a coin over to me, which I caught.

"Thanks," I say, before getting it into a position to flip it. "Remember, heads:I draw. Tails:you." With that, I flipped it, and it seemed to flip through the air in slow motion as it went up, then came down to land in my hand before putting it on the top of my other hand. Please be heads. I lifted my hand, and looked down. "Heads," I say, putting the card in my graveyard, then drawing two cards. "I then switch my Barrier Statue to defense mode. I then play Hinotama, which does five hundred points of damage to you."

Fluttershy

6800

"I then tribute Battle Footballer to summon Chthonian Emperor Dragon, which is my final move this turn."

"I draw, then," Fluttershy said. "I lay one monster face down, and end my turn."

"I draw then, and summon Chthonian Emperor dragon a second time."

"But he's a level six."

"Who said I was bringing him from my hand," I say. "He's a Gemini monster, which allows me to summon him while he's already on the field, which gives him an ability. In this case, he can attack twice per turn. I then end my turn." I saw a small snarl come to her face. She wants me to attack. Noted.

"I draw," she said, bringing her hand to two. "I put another monster on my field, face down, and end my turn."

"I draw," I say. "And I then end my turn." All I need is one card.

"I draw then." She looked at her cards. "I lay one facedown, and end."

"I draw then lay one card face down, and then activate double summon, and then tribute my facedown and Barrier statue to summon Tyrant Dragon." I put the card down, and a dragon that stood on four legs with reddish-brown scales, blue wing membranes, and dagger like teeth showed up on my side of the field. "Now, Emperor dragon, attack her center face down."

"I activate my trap, Sakuretsu Armor, which destroys your monster and negates the attack."

"Damn it," I say as Emperor Dragon is blasted to bits. "Then I attack with Tyrant."

"And I activate a second Sakuretsu armor."

"Which is negated by Tyrant's effect. Any traps that target it are negated and destroyed. Now Tyrant, destroy the central card with dragon crush." The dragon roared, and jumped onto the central monster card. "Now, destroy the one on your right with flame breath." Tyrant looked in that direction, opened its maw, and roasted the monster there. "Did I forget to mention that if you have a monster card after his first attack, he can attack twice."

Fluttershy snarled as Tyrant flew back to my side. "May our lord curse you."

"And Ra can go to hell."

She seemed to grin at some kind of inside joke. "Oh, you will meet our Lord soon enough," she said. "But for now, I draw." She got an even larger grin. "I flip my Hane-Hane face up, which activates its effect of me being able to send one monster to the owner's hand, and I choose to send back you Tyrant. I then tribute my Hane Hane to summon Behemoth the King of All Anmials. Though, me using only one tribute lowers his attack to two thousand, not that it matters, seeing as how you don't have a monster. Oh, and his other effect allows me to bring a monster from my graveyard to my hand for the amount of tributes used. In this case, one. And I choose King Tiger Wanghu."

Said card came out oh her graveyard, and she picked it up. "Now, Behemoth, attack directly." The giant animal, which came out from behind town hall, growled, and unleashed a large growl, which smelled really bad, by the way, and even a few buildings were torn apart by it.

Josh

7700

"And with that, I end my turn."

"I draw then," I say. This is not good. No monster that's level four in my deck can take out Behemoth, even with his lowered attack points, and come next turn, Fluttershy will summon Wanghu, which automatically destroys monsters that have been special or normal summoned if they have one thousand four hundred or less attack. I then look at my card. Well, nothing can destroy Behemoth, but I just nee dot hold him off. "I summon Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective." The sphere of magma with an eye in the middle, floated off the ground, and hovered. "And since her attack is the same as Behemoth's, you can't destroy it right now. So, for now, I end my turn."

"I draw, then summon King Tiger Wanghu in attack mode," she said. The armored, white tiger leaped off of a still intact rooftop. Looks like all of her monsters are real. Oh. Oops. "I then end my turn."

"I draw," I say, looking at my card. "I then summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4, with which I attack your tiger with black flame burst." Horus cawed, not rooster, but eagle like, and blew black flames over the tiger, which was burnt down to ash, before the flames encircled Horus.

Fluttershy

6100

"With that, I end my turn, and activate Horus' special ability. At the end of a turn he destroyed a monster, I can send him to the graveyard for Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6."

The flames intensified, and a minute later, a mix between a roar and an eagle call was heard, and the flames dissipated, revealing a larger version of Horus, though with a longer tail, his wings spread, and razor sharp talons. It was here I remembered Gaia was affected by my field spell. The name threw me off, alright.

"I draw," Fluttershy said, growling. "I lay one card face down, and end my turn."

"I draw, then," I say, smirking upon seeing the card.

Youtube Video

"I activate a second Cup of Ace," I say, flipping the coin Chrysalis had given me earlier into the air, and then catching it as it fell. "Heads, so I draw two." That's three, for those who lost track of the cards, in my hand. "I lay one monster face down, and attack with Horus to destroy Behemoth. You're lucky, too, as Horus is unaffected by all spell cards, so only six hundred points. Horus,(1:25) burn him to the ground."

Horus roared, and unleashed a torrent of flames on Behemoth, who roared in agony as he was burnt to a crisp, some of the heat burning away Fluttershy's cloak.

Fluttershy

5500

"Gaia, attack with magma flow." The orb seemed to swell at the order, before it unleashed a stream of magma at Fluttershy's hooves, burning away more of her cloak, revealing a pair of jeans.

Fluttershy

3000

"And with that, I activate Horus' ability, which allows me to level him up to Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8." With that, Horus was yet again engulfed in his own flames, before coming out standing as a tall, armored being with clawed fingers, and arms that went to his waist, reverse jointed knees ending in triangle shaped, clawed fingers, red eyes, metallic feathers. "That, of course, marks the end of my turn."

"I draw, then," Fluttershy said. "I end my turn."

"Then I draw," I say, looking at my card. "I then tribute Gaia to summon the flame king, Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch," I say as Gaia fell to the ground, burning where it had landed, only for a pillar of flame to launch up, and for a being in steel armor to appear, his entire face, excluding his mouth, being covered by a helmet adorned with spikes at the top, and a blue cape fastened by his collar piece. "It is about time you summoned me, Josh," he said, crossing his arms.

"Not like I had much of a choice," I said. "Now, how about your effect?"

"Of course," he said, before pointing a finger at Flutterhsy's hand, more specifically, the central card, launching a small jet of flame at it, destroying it.

"You see, Thestalos' special effect is that when he's tribute summoned, you discard one card, and if it's a monster, you take damage equal to the monster's lever times one hundred. So, Thestalos, what was it?"

"Level four monster," he said. "Which means she takes four hundred points." He uncrossed his arms, and lit one with flames before thrusting it at Fluttershy, which resulted in the complete burning of her cloak, revealing a dark green shirt.

Fluttershy

2600

"Thestalos, attack her with flame malestrom."

He nodded, before pointing a palm at her, and unleashed a torrent of flames at her, which burnt the ends of her hair.

Do I even need to do the addition here?

Fluttershy fell to the ground as the last of the flames died away and I took the cards off my disk, rushing over to where she fell, and I made my way there, along with Chrysalis. I caught just before she hit the ground. She had ashes on her face, to be expected, and felt her neck for a heart beat, which there was. "We need to get to Canterlot," I say.

"What about here," Chrysalis asked, concern in voice.

"They deal with stuff like this every week," I say. "They can get it repaired. Now, how about you teleport us to Canterlot so we can make sure she's alright?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said before she lit her horn, and the three of us vanished.

Osiris smiled as the view of the most recent duel finished, and chuckled. "That fool," he said. "It seems as if my failsafes are working." A smile appeared on his face. "And those practice duels are helping." He then looked at the card, and saw the picture take on it's real form. "Now, Lord Hamon, we can take Canterlot." He took a deep breath, and sent a magical message to the remaining Order duelists, Pinkie Pie, Shining Armor, and the one he had converted first.

"You called for us, Lord Osiris," Shining Armor asked as he and the others appeared.

"Indeed," Osiris said, standing up. "The foolish princesses and queen's attempt to stop us has brought our victory sooner than I had thought. You three shall attack Canterlot."

"Of course, master," Pinkie said. "What of agent De Lis and and agent Elegance?"

"Tell them to keep all of them in the castle," Osiris said, turning around, and facing the center pony. "And what do you feel of bringing your sister to the light?"

The mare pulled off her hood, revealing a white, almost alabaster coat, and an etheric mane colored light green, pink, blue, and purple. "That she has been in the corrupted light for too long, and will soon be freed," Celestia said.

Defeat

You would think you'd be in hell when you saw demons. We were wrong. You know you're in hell when you see angels.

Let me explain. Okay. So, myself, Chrysalis, and Twilight were outside the medical wing where Fluttershy was, everyone else being preoccupied with something or other. That was expected. Rainbow was helping the pegasai guards patrol, Rarity was working on camo spells, while Applejack was helping Lone and Red with dueling. "This leaves just Pinkie and your brother, Twi," I said. "They'r eprobably going to be among the toughest ones to face."

"What makes you say that," Twilight asked.

"Common sense," I say, shrugging. "So far, they've been sending in the others, and each was slightly more hard. Though I would have sent Rarity and Rainbow in after Fluttershy, seeing as how they could have beaten me if I didn't get lucky."

"Which most likely means you'll need to pull out all the stops from here on out," Chrysalis said. "And they'll do the same to stop us."

"Then they will need to be extremely lucky," Thestalos said. "Every deck Josh has works in sync, and he has multiple strategies in place for each one. If he was to face against one of the greatest monster cards, he has a strategy with my deck to remove it with two cards."

"And i have a deck dedicated to god killing, too," I said. "If there' one thing I have learned, always be prepared, and be ready to think on your feet, or hooves, in this case."

"Then I'd hate to be a part of the Order," Twilight said crossing her arms before screaming was heard form inside the medical room.

"Shit, what's going on, I said as I burst the doors open, only to see Fluttershy flailing, the doctors trying to hold her down.

"Miss Fluttershy, calm down," one of the doctors said. "Princess Celestia is on her way." This made the pegasus simply flail around more.

"NO," she yelled, and I do mean an actual yell, causing everyone to stop, simply because of that. "You all need to get out of here, now," she said in a pleading tone, and I looked at Thestalos, who nodded.

God slayer.

As my deck changed, Flutterhsy continued to scream. "Celestia will kill us all if we don't leave."

"Fluttershy, what are you talking about," Twilight said, walking up to her friend.

"Celestia. She's going to kill all of us, Twilight," Fluttershy said. Wait a minute.

Cyber's reaction, her helping the others, the card.

Fuck.

"She's a part of it," I said, getting everyone's attention. "Celestia's a part of the Order."

Yes," Flutterhsy said before the others could say anything. "She didn't escape her first battle with Osiris. He beat her and converted her, and sent a changeling to take her place from time to time. She's the one who turned all of us." As soon as she said, she screamed in pain. Oh fuck my life. Are the others screaming in pain, I asked my spirit.

Yes, he said. And it's even worse then that. Celestia, or who ever she is, is with Lone and Red, along with Luna, in the training grounds, and used a card, one that is not form your world, to turn them. V and W also say that there are three individuals making their way to the castle.

"Guys," I said to Chrysalis and Twilight. "We're the only ones in the castle who know how to duel that's not being controlled, my spirits confirmed that much. We need to go. Now."

"Oh but then what kind of fun would my pets have?" Fuck. I'll give that card credit, it works quick. The one who spoke was Fluttershy, who, upon me looking at her, had a predator's smile on her face.

"Go," one of my spirits, Thestalos, said as he appeared. "He's letting us become physical to buy you time. I suggest you use it. I will buy you what time I can," he said as multiple Silver Fangs appeared. God I hate my life right now.

"You heard him, guys," I said. "We need to move," I say, grabbing their arms.

"But Lone-" Twilight started

"Is with them now," I said. "We can't do anything right now. I may be able to handle two, but I can't handle eight plus Celestia at once, and you guys are still beginners. Besides, Lone would want you to come back later when you know you can handle everything. Wouldn't you want him to do the same?"

". . .Yeah," she said.

"The let's go," I said, and we began to run for life. We slid out of the medical room, and made our way to the main gates, hoping to get to a large enough space.

"Get 'em," I heard Applejack yell, but I saw Chrono and the Reactors come into existence in front of us before going to our left, as well as my Ancient Gear Soldiers, three of them, and three Ancient Gear Knights, most likely to stop any monsters Lone and Red sent, with sounds of gunshots and metal clashing resounding as we made our escape. As soon as we made it outside, Buster, Dark, and Paladin came into existence, and flew up, most likely to stop Rarity and Rainbow. We had just made it out the main gate when I saw an army of monsters.

Warrior monsters, Toon monsters, Pinkie's, obviously, and Lightsworns. "Get behind me," I say, activating my duel disk. You ready?

Just get the field ready.

Right.

"Okay, Jinzo, Prime, to show yourselves," I say, putting two f the cards in my ultimate combo on the field, with both monsters appearing, before putting three face downs.

"It is about time," Jinzo said in the same voice from GX. "You know we will have a low chance at winning this fight, correct?"

"Yeah, I know," I said, walking in front of them. "Even with him."

"Simply thought I would ask," Jinzo said.

A few seconds later, the army, with three robed ponies, take a guess at the color, at the lead. "I wondered who the Lightsworn card belonged to," I say. "I guess that would be you, Celestia."

The middle pony chuckled before removing her hood, making Twilight gasp. "Indeed, human," Celestia said. "You are much easier to play with than I had thought you'd be."

"Spare us all the monologue, please," I say. "This whole fight's already cliched as hell."

Celestia chuckled. "On that, we agree," she said. "But still, nothing you can do will be able to stop us. Look behind you."

"Uh, Josh," Twilight said with worry. Why must life hate me? I looked behind, and saw the other four Elements, along with Lone, Red, and Cadence and Luna, the last two having duel disks. No way I can win this. Well, not with my current monster line up.

"You think just because you have numbers on us," I said, "you'll win? You might be right," I say, a single card in my hand. "But I say we let the god do the talking. I tribute my three face downs to summon THE WINGED DRAGON OF RA!"

With that, the familiar, yellow orb came out of the card I put on my disk, and began to grow in size, gaining a yellow, metallic sheen, red eyes, a mouth, or, rather, a beak, filled with teeth, and a blue jewel on his forehead. "Then, well, I'll have him vaporize your asses," I say. "Ra?"

"Of course," he said in a surprisingly regal voice before charging his attack, a beam of energy that launched from a circle on his neck, but Rainbow was the one to came in.

"Nice try, moron," she said, "but I activate a card you know, Book of Moon, to flip Ra away, preventing the attack."

"Which let's me come in," Celestia, the real one, the one behind us actually a changeling, "and kill you three. I activate Judgement Dragon's effect." Oh shit. "By giving some of my life force, I destroy every card on the field. And none of ours are currently cards." Oh double shit. "Any last words?"

"I would like to say something," Lone said. "Twilight, I may have liked you, but it was just so I could say I was dating a Princess. A rep I don't need." This- well, Celestia may have outsmarted me, but I wanted to rip Lone's brain out and shove it up his asshole for that, especially with the devastated look on Twilight's face.

"If that is all," Celestia said. "Order, finish them," she said as everything that was on my disk was destroyed.

"I'm sorry, guys," I say. "I failed," I said as the monsters of the Order with a ranged attack began to charge and ready their attack.

"It's okay, Josh," Chrysalis said. "You did your best. And I have something to tell you."

"You may want to get it out now, then."

Chrysalis sighed. "Yes, I imagine so. Josh, I love you," she said before pulling me to her, and locking lips. Unfortunately, that was short lived, as, at that moment, the attacks were fired, and all I saw was black.

Some time later, I heard a voice speak. "Awaken, Josh," it said in a familiar voice, and I opened my eyes, a surprise, as I had thought them open. What I saw was, to my surprise, was Ra, but more human sized.

"Ra," I asked, not believing what I saw.

"Indeed, my friend," Ra said. "And I know you worry for Twilight Sparkle and Queen Chrysalis. There is no need to fear, for they are alright, and here with us."

"Just where is here," I ask, my surroundings now taking focus. It was a small, square room made out of gray bricks, but didn't seem to be foreboding.

"My home," Ra said. "The spirit world."

Spirit world

"Run that by me again," I said, still not fully understanding what Ra had said.

He chuckled. I had no idea he had a sense of humor. "I can see why you are confused, Josh," he said. "If you are feeling okay, walk with me. If not, I will stay here and answer your questions."

I looked at my self, and saw I was, indeed, in a bed. I got up easier than i had expected, but i did lose my balance for a while, but I did remain standing. "Let's go, then," I say.

"Then follow me." With that, I followed Ra outside my room.

"Okay, first question," I say. "Why does this place look like shit?"

"The castle," Ra said. "Yes, I should probably explain. I hope you like stories, Josh. This is a long one."

"I think I have time," I said. "Seeing as how the Order's won."

"Too true," Ra said before he sighed. "It all started three thousand years ago, when me and my five brothers, Obelisk, Slifer, Raviel, Uria, and Hamon, yes, the Sacred beasts are brothers to the gods, ruled our world together. But, as with everything, it was not to last. Hamon and the other Sacred Beasts gathered an army and attacked. As far as I know, they wanted all the power for themselves, and wished to kill me, Obelisk, and Slifer. We raised our own army, and won, though barely. Most of our army, actually, are the cards you have."

"What," I said in surprise.

"Yes. Thestalos, Chrono, the Reactors, every one of your monsters, was, for the most part, a portion of our army. Our Lieutenants, however, are locked in their cards here in our world. Anyway, back to my story. Our defeat is what sent us to Equestria, where the six of us became the six cards of legend. As for myself, I was a. . . special case. I was sent through a portal not to Equestria, but to Earth, and it was a time vortex as well, and I was sealed into a card, the same one you got in that Shonen Jump issue. It was luck you are here right now, Josh, as well as skill. Luck you found me, but your skill with strategies that made me pull Twilight's spell towards you, and bring you to Equestria."

"You're the reason I went there?!"

"Yes," Ra said. "It was one of the few times I knew what was going on back in Equestria, and they needed help, so when Twilight Sparkle cast her spell, I gathered enough energy to redirect it to bring you. It would seem my faith was well placed."

"Like hell it was," I say. "I failed. The Order took all of the Element bearers for their side, every single royal in Equestria, and practically killed me, and are doing who knows what to Equestria as we speak!"

"You are mistaken, Josh," Ra said. "You forget. I said Twilight and Chrysalis are here in the Spirit World with us. The Order, and three of my brothers by extension, do not have every bearer and royal. And, fortunately for us, they do not know where Obelisk and Slifer are in Equestria. I do, but, due to a curse Hamon laid on us, we can not be used by the same person. That means that someone else must have Obelisk's card, and a third must have Slifer's."

"I guess that makes sense," I said, arms crossed. "Now, where are Chrysalis and Twilight?"

"Follow me," Ra said. We walked again, coming to an intersection of four halls, two, to be technically correct, and turned right. "There is one other thing you should know, Josh," he said. "It is related to Twilight Sparkle."

"What do you mean," I ask.

"I think you know what caused this, but, when you three arrived, Twilight went through something. . . unexpected. Her soul was split in two. One was loyal to you, and wanted to bring the Order down."

"The other wants to be with Lone, and, by extension, the Order," I said. "God, can my life be anymore cliched now? Don't go smartass on me Ra, that's my job."

"I would have replied with 'I do not know'," he said. "Regardless, we had to put both Twilights under to ensure they did not kill one another. I should also say that every monster in your deck came here with you, and each that is capable of helping to heal has not been able to fix this. Not even Chrysalis has been able to do anything, and keep in mind how adept changelings are with mind magic."

Yeah," I said. "That's bad."

"You can not think of anyway to fix this?"

"Probably the most cliched way of fixing things in a Yugioh story and that's a duel," I say. "Or I guess I could do something else. Do spell cards work here?"

"Yes," Ra said with as much of a curious look as he could give. "Why?"

"No reason," I say with a grin as I think of a spell card. I just hope this works. "Make sure they're awake for it."

"I just hope whatever you are planning works, Josh. I heard your various comments on situations needing bunkers, including lesson zero grade Twilight and Alicorn Pinkie Pie. I have not had time to make one for anything you may plan, so please don't do anything that may destroy the castle and the surrounding area."

"I make no promises."

"I will have to live with that, I suppose," Ra said with a chuckle as we reached an elegant pair of double doors, along with the sound of yelling and bolts of magic flying, and the god sighed. "It seems they are awake," he said.

"On it," I say, opening the doors to reveal two Twilights fighting one another. "Spellbinding circle," I say, the trap card appearing in my hand, and stopping both alicorns in their tracks. "Better."

"You," the Twilight on my left, which looked more like the whole Twivine thing, how did that start, anyway, going. "I should have known you'd be here if the heretic queen was." And she's gone coocoo for cocco puffs.

"Josh, what are you doing," the other Twilight, this one closer to the actual one, asked. "I need to kill her so she doesn't go back and tell the Order we're alive."

"She will not be able to leave as long as I command she stay," Ra said, walking in behind me. "Magician, what happened," he asked the other duel spirit, Dark Magician.

"I was trying to make a bridge between their minds," he replied, bowing, "so that I could try to fix this issue, but it woke both up, and they proceeded to try to kill each other. It is a good thing I had Queen Chrysalis go eat something, or she would have been in the crossfire."

"Such a shame," Twivine, that's what I'm calling the evil Twilight for ease, said. "I would have enjoyed showing Lord Osiris her chitin."

"And why do you want to be with the Order," I ask.

"Because Lone is with them," she replied. "And I would do anything to be with my beloved."

I sighed. Of course that's why. "Why," I ask. "I mean, he only wanted to be in a relationship because of status, he said so himself. He doesn't care about you. He'd only use you."

"I don't care," Twivine said as I prepared the spell card I had. "I'd rather be used by my love than be away from him!"

"Okay, this just took a turn for the creepy," I say. "By which I mean the sexually creepy way. Good thing I got this." With that said, I revealed the card in my hand. "I fuse Twilight and Twivine to form Alicorn Princess Twilight." Thank you polymeriztion.

I grinned like an asshole as Twivine said, with fear, hate, and horror on her face, "No! You can't fuse me back wth this slut!"

"Says the one who wants to be with a stallion who'll just use you for himself," both I and Twilight said before both versions of the lavender alicorn were sucked into a vortex. "Now I only hope this works."

"You planned on fusing the two in order to avoid a duel," Ra asked.

"Hey, I just woke up from a how long a coma?"

"Near three weeks," DM said. "The last to awaken, actually."

"Right," I said. "I just woke up from a three week coma or some shit, and I am not feeling like a duel right now, so excuse me if I decide to go Griff a little."

Both chuckled. "Fair enough," Dark Magician said.

"Indeed," Ra said. "And how is you sister, Magician?"

"Wait," I said. "He has a sister?"

"The monster you know as Dark Magician Girl," Ra said. "Though we all call her DG."

"Oh," I said. "Should have guessed that."

"She is well, my king," Magician said. "She's been looking over spells to help us find your siblings if we are able to return to Equestria."

"That is good, but tell her not to over exert herself like last time," Ra said. "We don't want another incident."

"Do I want to know," I ask.

"No," both replied.

"Okay, then," I said. "Does fusion usually take this long?"

"In this case, we have no idea," Ra said. "This is the first time it has been done without a spirit involved, so, if I were you, Josh, I would prepare for a duel."

"I will if I need to," I say. "I'm more in a mood for improvising if I have to duel right now. Where's Chrysalis, anyway?"

"She should be on her way back, if I'm not mistaken," DM said. "She only went to get something to eat."

"I thought changelings fed on love," I said.

"Happy Lover."

". . .Fair point," I say.

It was here the portal that had sucked up Twilight and vine spat one of them out and- holy shit. I suddenly want to have a herd. This Twilight seemed to be a mix of the last two, appropriate, I should think, as well as other features. To start off with, her hair had the same stripes plus the light green or whatever color the lighter stripe in Twivine's hair was, and the whites of her eyes seemed t have a slight, lime tint to them. Have I mentioned green is my favorite color? Anyway, she had on a, how do I put this? Hold on a second. . . . . . Oh, I know. Her outfit was form fitting, perfectly hugging her more voluptuous body without giving too much away, but it still had the same basic shape as the one Rarity had made for her before, well, you know. As for Twilight's new body, in more detail for you who want to know every little detail about someone's body, I know some of you exist, she was taller, close to Luna's height, actually, if not between that and Celestia, her breasts were bigger. They were once what I guess was A cup, keep in mind, I never really paid attention to size, and if I did, I didn't know how to separate them, to a DD, if not a third D on there. Her ass had become larger to scale with her body, and was, far as I could tell without, ahem, closer inspection, firm, but not too so. She fell on her ass as she fell out of the vortex, which closed behind her as she came out.

I walked over to her as she rubbed head, most likely trying to get rid of a headache, and held my hand down to help her up. "You okay, Twi?"

"I could be better," she said as she took my hand, and I helped her up. "But what do you expect when two halves of you are forcibly put back together," she said with a chuckle. "Thanks, Josh."

"My pleasure," I say. "And what do you feel about Mister Douche?"

"If you mean Lone, I got over him," she said with a small smile. "After all, they say hindsight is twenty-twenty, and some of the stuff he did makes sense now."

"Good to know you moved past him," I say. "Not for personal reasons, I want to point out. Anyway, Twilight, I want you to meet a friend of mine." With that, I moved, and gave her a clear sight of Ra. "Twilight, this is Ra, one of the three Egyptian God Cards, and the one who's been with me since the beginning, if you forget what happened in Canterlot. Also, he's one of the kings of the Duel Spirits."

"It is an honor to meet you, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Ra said with a slight bow. "Dark Magician Girl has told me much about you that I could not glean myself."

"You mean Dark Magician's sister?"

"OH, COME ON!"

The three chuckled at my misery. And I thought the rest of humanity were assholes for the most part. "Indeed," DM said. "Though Josh did not know it when he gave you your deck."

"Can we stop talking about this," I say just as my stomach rumbled. Thank you, timing. "Not to mention get something to eat?"

"Of course," Ra said. "Follow me. Are you coming, Magician?"

"I think I shall stay here," he replied. "Should the medical facilities be needed, of course."

"If that is what you wish," Ra said. "Now, Josh, Twilight, follow me."

With that, the three of us left the room. "So, um, Ra," Twilight said nervously, "who are the other two gods?"

"I can answer that, in names, at least," I say. "First is Obelisk the Tormentor. In terms of role among the three, he's the bruiser, the one who is essentially a tank. Then there's Slifer the Sky Dragon, whose attack is based on how many cards are in one's hand. And ability wise, there's Ra, whose ability I have an entire strategy around. Mind if I explain it, Ra?"

"Not at all, Josh," he replied.

"Right," I said. "You see, his ability make sit to where you have to give life points to give him attack and defense, all but a hundred, and his other ability is you can give a thousand to destroy one monster on the field. My strategy is a simple one: turn the loss into a gain using the effect of Prime Material Dragon, whose effect turns any life point loss by effect into a gain. But that still has a flaw, a card I like to call megamorph combined with Copycat, who is able to gain a monster's attack. Just try and guess what I do with those two."

I could see the gears turning. One lesson I never teach, and one must learn for themselves: Use everything to your advantage, even if it is to buy time.

I chuckled. "Don't hurt yourself, Twilight," I said, chuckling.

"Oh, shut up, Josh," she said. She then put a finger on he rchin. "You know, I wonder where Chrysalis is."

"Try right here," Chrysalis said, coming from in front of us. She smiled as she got to me and wrapped her arms around me. "Hey, Josh," she said, and I could hear the playing in her voice. "Good to see you're finally awake."

"Thanks, Chrysalis," I said before blushing in embarrassment. "Um, Chrysalis, if it isn't too much trouble, do you mind backing off a little. It's nothing personal, I just want this to go slow. I don't even know why you're interested in me of all people."

"If that's what you want," Chrysalis said, pulling back, and she did look a little hurt, but she hid it quickly. "As for why, it's because you were one of the first nonchangelings to stand up for my race. Even when the alliance was still going, the Equestrians saw it as something we would break when it no longer suited us."

"I didn't," Twilight said, getting the attention of both if us and Ra.

"And why is that," Ra asked, curiosity in his voice.

"Because I actually paid attention to what she said when she attacked Canterlot. The only reason I stopped her was because I wanted Shining to be Okay. Honestly, at that point, I was just pretending to have forgiven the others."

"Then I guess this whole thing is your chance to get a little payback," I said in a joking tone, getting small smiles from the two mares. "Now come on, I haven't had a thing to eat in three weeks. I need to put something in my stomach."

"Come on, then," Ra said. "The dining hall is near."

"Thank you," I mumble as we continued. Within a few minutes, we made it to the dining area. Holy hell did it have a spread. I'm not even kidding. There were a variety of meats, plants, you name it, it was probably there. Anyway, Twilight and I got a plate each, picked our food, me going for a steak with a side of ten, grilled and marinated shrimp with some lemon slices nearby, while Twilight went with some kind of salad, Ra and Chrysalis not going for anything. We sat down at a table near the window, and I looked outside. Let's just say outside looked bleak.

"I'm guessing the war between you guys took a heavy toll here," I asked Ra.

"Indeed it did," Ra said with a sigh. "Most of the resources were destroyed, and the few civilians left here struggled to survive. They rejoiced when I returned three weeks ago, but it has not gotten better. The crops are barely growing, and the hunters barely find any meat. But, from what I have seen in the past three weeks, it is worse for Equestria."

"How," Twilight asked.

"That is for a later date, when you two are finished eating. But, for now, I suppose a few tidbits of information would not hurt. The first thing you must keep in mind is that time flows differently here than it does in Equestria, sometimes quicker, sometimes slower. Currently, we are moving faster, but only for another week here, and it will be slower, so not much has happened, only a week, really." Ra sighed. "I suppose i should begin with the fact that Osiris has turned Princess Luna back into Nightmare Moon, and Rarity, though still with her dragon traits, into her Nightmare form, and that Equestria has, surprisingly, went quickly with this, I imagine due to mind control, and of what I remember, Osiris plans on attacking other countries. Countries where you three have become stand out legends. Some would say even more than the Elements themselves, no offense, Twilight Sparkle."

"None taken," Twilight said.

"And this next one requires background a little," Ra said. "Josh, as you know, the Lightsworns area unique monster archetype. What you do not know, however, is that I have a daughter,yes, I would be surprised too, who is with them by force. And, as the second portion of the background, there is an old power whispered among us Spirits, one that is rare in nature. It allows a Spirit to merge with their duelist. There are only two in recent history, for me, that is. One is Ruin, Queen of Oblivion, with Princess Luna some three thousand years ago. The second involves my daughter. Her name and title were Celestia, Lightsworn Angel.

"She merged with Princess Celestia."

History

"The fuck?" That's all I could say after hearing that A: a monster spirit was Ra's daughter, and B: said spirit having the same name as and being fused with Celestia.

Ra chuckled. "Yes, I thought you three may react like that," he said. "Shall I start from the beginning?"

"Please," Twilight said.

"Then I will start with  what fusion means between a spirit and their partner," Ra said. "It is much like spirit fusion, but both individuals retain their mind, the body being controlled by both. As such, both need to be in harmony with one another, and must know each other quite well. The new form is a mix of both abilities. In the case of my daughter, she gained earth pony strength, as that is what Celestia was before, while Celestia gained wings and magic. For Ruin and Luna, Luna gained magic and earth pony strength, as Ruin is stronger than she looks, and Ruin gained wings. In the first battle between my brothers and Hamon and his brothers, Ruin and her husband fought at our side."

"So why is she still fused with Luna," Chrysalis asked. "You'd think that if they disagreed on a single thing like who to side with in a war, they'd split."

"You would be correct, Chrysalis," Ra replied, "but what they used to control Luna, well, they somehow knew of Ruin and Celestia, and the spell they used was able to affect their minds as well. Still, that means the Order has only two fused with them, as both you, Twilight, and your friend, Cadence, were ascended with a small amount of my daughter's power. You are not fused with her, a small portion of her power was just transferred into you."

"I have a question," Twiligh tsaid. "And this is out of simple curiosity, but can a spirit fuse with their partner if they're opposite genders?"

"Truthfully, I do not know," Ra said. "Some theorists say yes, but they need to be romantically involved, while others say the standard criteria apples, nothing more, while others just say no, and here is no historical precedence for it, either. And before you ask, most spirits with the Order are with them against their will, or we'd have much more fusions to deal with, which brings me to another part of that. I have never gone through it myself, but of what I know, fusion occurs only when the two involved do something akin to what would make one an alicorn, some kind of feat that places them in legends. For Ruin and Luna, it was defending Equestria from a Griffon Army themselves. For Celestia, both  of them, it was bringing peace to Equestria."

"So, basically, they need to do something akin to a legend?"

"Indeed," Ra said. "In total, there have only been ten in recorded history: the two I have mentioned, Star-Swirl the Bearded with DM and DMG's father, Dark Sage, and seven others who I have forgotten."

"That does explain why Star-Swirl was near alicorn levels of power," Twilight said, hand on chin.

"Believe me, those two were holding back on what they could do," Ra said. "Any other questions?"

"A few," I said. "Are there any allies for you left, Ra?"

"Very few that are not sealed in cards," he replied. "Most are like my brothers, sealed in cards and waiting to be found."

"Right," I said. "My last one would be how you got us here when your card was face down on my disk."

"That is actually thanks to my sister, whom you will eventually meet, who remained here to look after everything," Ra replied. "She, though not a mage, is skilled in dimensional magic." In fact, I heard him say in my head, so I assume some kind of link we share, she is what you'd call a displacer, Josh. Though she has not displaced many. And yes, I had her make a mental link for the two of us so we could more easily communicate. "But I also have something to ask the three of you."

"What," Twilight asked.

"We, meaning myself and the other spirits in your cards, were able to find a prison camp here in the spirit world where our allies are bung held in card form by a few loyal spirits to the Order, or those tortured beyond sanity. I was going to ask if, as soon as the three of you were recovered, you would free them."

"We would need decks," I said, knowing the answer of the others.

"For Twilight and Chrysalis, if you two decide, those in your decks will join you when you depart. For you, Josh," Ra said, "you'll need to choose a single deck already used."

"If that's the case," I said, "Get Chrono, I'm in a mood for machines."

"I'll send for him," Ra said. "And Twilight, Chrysalis, what about you two?"

"If Josh is helping, so are we," Chrysalis said.

"And even so, we are going to need help," Twilight said.

Ra nodded. "Then I will inform you partners. Oh, and Josh?"

"Yeah," I asked, crossing my arms.

"I had a few Engineers work on your disk, so it'll have some new features, some of which have been put into ones for Twilight and Chrysalis. I think you'll like a few of them, as well as the looks for each."

"If we don't like the look, can we give it back and tell them what we want it to look like," I asked, getting looks from the others. "What? They're our duel disks, they should look the way we want."

"There won't be a need for that," Ra said. "If you don't like how they look, they're coated in a special metal that will change to your thoughts, and take on the shape you want it to, as well as colors."

"That, I can work with," I replied. "Literally, in a manner of speaking."

"So, where would we be going," Twilight asked.

"A dark place where only those of darkness of heart or fiend in profession can survive for long outside their card forms. Josh knows that area by it's field spell name.

"Yami."

Duels of shadows

So, Twilight, Chrysalis, and I were in the Yami area, having left Ra's castle a few hours back. "Twilight, remember, your guys get a two hundred boost here," I said. "You know, assuming this place is like the field spell, that is."

"Good thing DM and DMG are with us, then, huh?" she replied.

"Yeah, I guess so," I said. "You guys remember the plan?"

"Yeah, we do," Chrysalis said.

I nodded. "Then time to split up, guys." I won't say the plan, what's a little story without surprise, but I will say it involves divide and conquer. Now, I'll say it right now, the Yami area is less creepy than you'd think. Not to say I wasn't a little scared, I hate jump scares like lightning in a dark area. I never got behind scary movies either, for that matter. I just don't get the same adrenaline rush from that stuff like others.

Anyway, the three of us split up, but an added feature of the duel disks was that we could use them to stay in contact with one another. I had lost the old disk, really, and had a new one built. It's coloration was cyan and brick, my preferred customization colors when playing a game. Twilight's was colored lavender to match her skin with fuchsia and that greenish blue that Twivine gave her during the fusion I did to get her back together, while Chrysalis' was, surprise, black and green.

As the three of us moved into position, as this place had more terrain than the card would have you think that allowed us cover, I began to hear voices. "Why not just kill him?" a voice said. "We risk too much by letting him live."

"Because Lord Hamon thinks it best to have him on our side," a second replied. "And what are you complaining about? I thought you enjoyed being here and torturing others."

"Most of the time, yes," the first shot back. "But only a mad man would torture him without being utterly certain he couldn't escape."

"Quiet, the both of you," a third voice said, this one female while the other two were male. "Lord Hamon still thinks the human and his accursed harem live here with his brother. If not, then we still gain the Forbidden one. If he's right, then he will know to attack here."

Well, looks like these guys think Twilight, Chrysalis, and I are in a relationship on that level. Though I would like that, we aren't.

"It won't matter if we can't contact Lord Hamon," the first said as I crouched behind a rock near the three. "The storms here do not allow us to communicate with the rest of the Order."

Okay, let's hope this doesn't mess with our communication. "Can you guys here me?" I spoke into the disk. No reply. Noted. That is not going to help. Wait a minute. "Chrono," I whispered.

"Yeah," the spirit replied from inside the deck.

"Why the hell didn't you guys make the communicators immune to this storm?"

"We couldn't," Chrono replied. "The effects of this area on communicators  is still not entirely unknown, and we know not how to counter it."

"Fair enough, I guess," I muttered. "Can you guys function here, at least?"

"Yes, but it is still not understood why."

Great. Something utterly unexplained which could so easily be used against me. Fucking cliches. "Well, are you guys ready?"

"Indeed we are," the machine king said. "At your word. But what about the others?"

"We can just hope that they're in position and ready," I say before drawing a card, and putting in the spell and trap zone. I then looke dover the rock, and saw two Armageddon Knights and a D.D Warrior Lady. I'll admit, I thought of her as a good guy. So I was wrong, or she's been mind raped. Either way, her ability will most likely be a pain in the ass.

Okay, then. "Let's go with. . ." I said, drawing a card from random in the deck, ". . .you." With that, I placed the monster card down. Now, before I go forward, the rules are different here in the spirit world. You don't need to tribute monsters to summon. Placing them on the deck under current circumstances simply releases them. We good?

The monster that came out was a well known one. Cyber Dragon, anyone?

Oh, and it's Cyber, as Applejck had apparently slipped the card into one of my decks before the whole overthrow thing, and he had come with us. "You ready?" I ask.

"Indeed I am," Cyber said.

"Then let's hit it."

With that, Cyber reared up from behind the rock, and unleashed his attack on the unsuspecting warriors.

"What th-" one of the Armageddon Soldiers said in surprise before he was vaporized as his two comrades dodged to the side.

"They're here," the other said.

"You think, moron?" Warrior Lady said in a snarl. "I swear, I have to work with morons."

"Try going to school with them," I said. "Now, two choices exist for you two. Leave, or die, as we all know you aren't strong enough to go against Cyber Dragon."

"Perhaps," the Armageddon Knight said. "But that is just us two," she said before I heard shouts from two direction.

"And it seems as if our comrade has found your two sluts," Warrior Lady said before a being with large, black wings, with the inside being red, a blue orb in the center of his chest, and wolverine like claws, with Twilight and Chrysalis held in them, flew over to us. Hello, Dark Neos. "And most certainly can defeat your pitiful excuse for a dragon, especially since we all know you aren't willing to harm those you call your allies." And this is why I came up with a back up plan.

"And just how do you know that those aren't fakes?" I asked. "For all you know, those are spirits like Copy Plant who just look like them."

"Please, do you think us fools?" Warrior Lady said. "We were given special enhancements to counter any plan you may come up with, and one is that we would know if they were heretical spirits. They aren't. Now, surrender, submit to Hamon's will, and become the peasant you are."

"How about no," I said. "I activate my face down, Change of Heart, which allows me to turn one of you allies against you. And I choose Dark Neos," I said before, well, something came out of the card at lightning speed to strike this Neos in the chest, the blue orb to be precise, which I just realized had forks of yellow lightning in it. The something from the card was blue, I was able to tell that much, by the way. Anyway, when it hit Neos in his chest, I saw the yellow forks of lighting vanish in the orb, and, as the other two looked shocked at what just happened, he spread his wings, and flew over next to Cyber.

As he landed, in the same voice as Neos from GX, he said, "My thanks for releasing me."

"No problem," I said as he set Twilight and Chrysalis down on the ground. As they stirred, indicating they hadn't been hit hard, I asked them, "You two alright?"

"Just a little banged up," Twilight said. "Other than that, I'm good."

"Same with me," Chrysalis said. With that, the two shakily got up. "But we're still ready to help."

"Not that you can," Warrior Lady said. "Activate Level Limit Area B." Oh shit.

For those that don't know, that spell prevents all level four or higher monsters from attacking by forcing them into defense mode. And it apparently works the same way here, as Cyber, Neos, and even Twilight and Chrysalis were forced to the ground in a kneeling stance as if they had a shield and placed it in front of them. "What's going on?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Simple," Armageddon Knight, still standing, said. "If you two were monster spirits, you would be well above level four."

"And what about you two?" I asked, still able to move.

"Lord Hamon reduced what our levels are," the Knight replied. "And you have no abilities, knave. You won't be able to defeat us."

"Not by myself," I agreed. "But you forget. I still have this," I said, bringing my disk up. "And a friend of mine decided to hitch a little ride. One below level four, but able to defeat a god." With that, I drew said spirit's card from the deck, and placed it on the field. "So, Copycat, how about you show yourself to our guests?"

With that, the familiar spirit, dressed in all green with a blue cloak and hat, a mirror in his left hand and covering his face, appeared.

"That thing?" Warrior Lady asked, laughing. "You are foolish if you think it can stop us."

"Oh, I don't think he can," I said. "I know he can. So I'll start with his ability, which lets him perfectly copy a monsters attack, and I choose yours," I said, pointing at the spirit woman. "Now, Copycat, take the knight down."

In a voice like Warrior Lady's, kinda creepy, that is, Copycat said, "Right," before leaping to Knight, a buster sword coming from the mirror, I'm not joking there, and sliced him in half. Vertically. Yeah, not a pretty scene. As his body didn't disintegrate and the two halves fell to the ground in opposite directions, Copycat jumped back to where I stood.

"You still won't be able to beat me," Warrior Lady said. "He has the same skills I do."

"Yes," I said, "but did I mention he's a spellcaster?"

As horror came to her face, along with realization, I said, "Finish this thing off, Copycat."

He nodded, much as he could, and attacked, this time, a small knife being used, slitting her throat. She still had enough vitality, though, to answer when I asked, "Where are those you were torturing?" as I held her head after walking over to her. As I asked, I held up a spell card that would allow me to bring her back, Monster Reborn. "Answer, and if you aren't lying, I'll use this on you." As it turns out, being able to come back from the dead is a powerful incentive, as she replied.

"He-here," she croaked before lifting her palm facing upwards up, and five very famous cards appeared.

"My thanks," I said as she passed into the void and took the cards before activating my spell card, not just on her, but her comrades, which caused a small flash. When it subsided, the three were in card form, but, as I picked them up, I could hear faint whispers from each, but could not tell just what was being said.

I looked back and asked the others, "Can you guys move?"

"No, we can't," Chrysalis replied in a bored tone.

"Good thing I packed this thing for a quick escape, then," I said. "Activate Interdimensional matter transporter." A flash of purple light came into existence, and we disappeared from the area. But nor did we appear in Ra's castle. No, we arrived somewhere else entirely.

A new universe

Rainbow Dash was doing a solo patrol flight over the Everfree. According to Fluttershy, there had been something strange going on with the animals in it, and Cruger agreed that it would be worth sending out patrols to see if there was anything amiss.

So far, it had been pretty quiet, but Rainbow saw something odd and went down for a closer look. Once she got close enough to see what it was, her face turned into a snarl as she went into a dive. “Looks like I get to have some payback,” Dash said as she landed and pulled her blaster, “Hands up, Chrysalis.”

The changeling queen, who had her back turned to where Rainbow landed, jumped a little, and looked back. “Oh, great,” Rainbow heard her say. “We’re back here.” With that, she turned around, letting Rainbow see a device on Chrysalis’ left arm, one that was colored to match her skin and hair. In her right hand were five cards. “May as well get this over with so I can get back an tell them we’re here.” With that, she placed two of the cards on the device, and a purple worm with needles appeared, alongside a giant grasshopper. “Okay, Needle Worm, Pinch Hopper, you two know what to do.”

“Looks like you’ve learned some new tricks,” Dash said, “so have I!” With that, Dash unleashed a barrage of shots into the grasshopper, causing it to shatter into pieces. She then took to the air before the worm could get her, “I’m not letting you get within spitting distance of Ponyville.” Dash pulled out her morpher and set it to communication mode, “This is Alpha 1 requesting backup, I’ve engaged Queen Chrysalis and she’s acquired summoning magic.”

“As well as other tricks,” Chrysalis said. “You destroying my Pinch Hopper lets me summon my Insect Queen from my hand.” She threw down another card, and this time, a giant insect appeared, with red chitin over the wings, a black body, a near pony like face, though flat, and blue highlights. She then spoke into her device. “Guys, I may need some help. We’re back in Equestria, and I just encountered Rainbow.”

“Right,” a male voice said from her device. “We’re on our way now.”

“What’s the status on that backup!?” Dash shouted into her morpher.

“Hang tight, Cruger’s enroute,” replied Blue Rush, “eta 3 minutes.”

“Got it,” Dash said as she put her morpher away. “Well, time for a little pest control.” With that, Dash started firing on the larger insect, to minimal effect.

“Whatever you’re using, Rainbow Dash,” Chrysalis said, “it won’t work. Her chitin armor is tough to begin with, and for every insect, it only gets stronger.”

“Well, in that case,” Dash changed targets to the worm, destroying it almost instantly. “You know, telling your enemy your plan is pretty dumb.”

“And you are as cocky as I remember, as I can now remove my Hopper and Worm to another dimension to summon Doom Dozer, who is on the same level as my other queen,” Chrysalis said as a red centipede appeared, it being just as tall as a pony, and longer than the Insect queen, with black armor on the top, and massive pincers. “Maybe you should think before acting.”

“Buck me…” Rainbow started firing in earnest, but was unable to do much more than get them angry. After the tenth shot on the giant centipede, her finger, for some reason, wouldn’t do as she wanted. “What the-” she said before one of Chrysalis’ allies walked into view.

“You know, Chrysalis,” Twilight, wearing a blue outfit with a mini skirt and a black shirt that went just above her stomach, her hair now with greenish blue stripes along with the usual, the same device on her left wrist but differently colored, said as she came into view, “you could have had them out sooner.”

Rainbow could only gape. “What?!” She yelled. “Twilight, what are you doing with her?! I saw you just this morning, no way she could brainwash you that fast. Unless you’re a changeling meant to replace Twilight,” Dash said before firing a nonlethal shot, which was blocked by a lavender field.

“Chrysi, I don’t think we’re in our Equestria,” Twilight said.

“Agreed,” Chrysali said. “Maybe another Displaced?”

“Probably,” Twilight agreed. “And Josh is a minute away.”

“And so’s my help,” Rainbow said. “Just surrender, and I might not have to bring out the big guns.”

“Yeah, no chance of that one,” Chrysalis said. “How about you stand down, and take us to the displaced here. If there is one.”

Before Dash could reply, the sound of a rapidly approaching vehicle could be heard, along with sirens. “Don’t have to, here he comes now,” Dash said, grinning.

“So, what should we do?” Twilight asked Chrysalis.

“Let them come, and tell them what’s going on,” Chrysalis said. “Obviously. I figured someone with your intellect could figure that one out.”

“Oh, shut up, Chrysalis.”

With a crash, Cruger rode in on his ATV. “Status?” he asked rainbow Dash.

“Sir,” Dash replied saluting, “I encountered Chrysalis during my patrol. I ordered her to surrender, and she responded by summoning two large insects. I managed to defeat them, but she summoned more powerful ones. Then this Twilight copycat showed up, although she’s not a very good one if you ask me, can’t even get the hair right.”

“Understood,” Cruger said before turning to Chrysalis and Twilight, “so, any particular reason you assaulted one of my officers?”

“She attacked us first,” Chrysalis said. “I was simply acting in self defense. “You’re the displaced for this Equestria?”

“Yes, and don’t bother lying,” Cruger said, “a law enforcement officer telling a potential threat to surrender is not them attacking first. So, judging by your Duel Disks, I assume that we’re waiting for one more?”

“Yeah, me,” a third person, this one being recognizably, to Cruger, anyway, a human, who wore the outfit that the main character from Yugioh five ds wore. He stopped as he walked out from the brush. “Okay, blue anthro dog. Either a diamond dog, or you were displaced as Anubis Cruger from Power Rangers SPD.”

“The second,” Cruger confirmed, “and please don’t call me a diamond dog, personal pet peeve.”

“Noted,” the human said. “Name’s Josh, by the way. Chrysalis, Twilight, stand down, guys.”

“You sure, Josh?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Same to you Dash,” Cruger said, “head on home and let our Twilight know she’ll be meeting another her, Dual Star can take over your patrol.”

“Yes sir,” Dash replied before taking off.

“You know,” Josh said as he watched Rainbow fly off, “a second Twilight may help. How we got here is in need of repair.” He then looked at Cruger and said, “Before you ask, it was the Interdimensional matter transporter trap card that got us here with no planning on our side.”

“I’ll take a look at it,” Cruger said as he opened a portal, “I’m pretty good at that sort of thing.”

“Then come on,” Josh said. “It’s this way. Tell your Dash to tell your Twilight to be at the edge of the Everfree. I’ll have a friend of mine lead her there. Chrono?”

“With pleasure,” the Machine King said before he appeared, and made his way to the Ponyville edge of the Everfree.

“Have it your way,” Cruger said as he closed the portal. “So, how did you get Displaced if I may ask.”

“Would you believe me if I said those two,” Josh said, gesturing to the two royals, “and our versions of the others summoned me, with my most powerful card in terms of ability having had a hidden part in it?”

Cruger whistled, “Man, and I thought getting eaten by a void dragon was the most unique way of getting Displaced, before you ask, it wasn’t me, it was a friend. By the way,” Cruger asked turning to Twilight, “mind if I get a copy of that spell? Consider it payment in full for my services.”

“It’s a standard aummoning spell,” Twilight said. “Well, for me, anyway. No idea here.”

“How about a deck?” Josh asked as the group began moving.

“That sounds interesting,” Cruger said, “but I offer one to one. How about this, you tell me about a problem in your verse, and I give you a solution in exchange for the deck?”

“You got a solution to remove from power a guy who has one, if not all three, of the sacred beast cards who was able to mind rape Cadence, Luna, Celestia, Shining Armor, five of the Element bearers, and probably all of Equestria?”

Cruger sighed, “Geeze, what is it with Displaced and their verse’s getting attacked? Anyway, in all seriousness, how far along is your verse’s Dueling, in terms of YuGiOh seasons?”

“Up to the Paradox movie.”

“That’s the original, GX, 5Ds crossover, right?”

“Bingo,” Josh said. “Thankfully, so far, the Order, the group that took over our Equestria, hasn’t used those cards. I just know that it’s at that level because I can essentially make any card I’ve had in real life or one of the various games.”

“Well, good news is that I have two, maybe three solutions,” Cruger said, “unfortunately, odds are they’ll only give you a temporary boost until they start using them themselves. Okay, first, and only unguaranteed, solution. Tell me, did any of the Order use, a Duel Runner?”

“No, but there’s a whole temporal displacement, meaning one universe travels through time faster than the other-we’re in our universe’s duel monster world when we came here-who knows when we’ll return.”

“At least it’s a possibility, kinda hard to Turbo Duel without speed spells,” Cruger said, “even if you’re Rainbow Dash.”

“So, what’s the second?” Chrysalis asked.

“Second, and third, are related,” Cruger said, “when I was Displaced, there were two additional seasons, and each brought something new. I’m almost certain that the Order doesn’t have any Xyz or Pendulum monsters.”

“You mean like the badass known as Utopia?” Josh asked. “You know, never tried to bring him into play. May try when we get back. Shouldn’t you tell Rainbow to tell your Twilight to follow Chrono, by the way, so she can help you help us?

“Not really necessary,” Cruger said as they arrived, “I already sent someone else.”

“When?” Josh’s Twilight asked. “You’ve been with us for the entire walk, and you’ve only talked with us.”

“I’ve only talked with you verbally,” Cruger said as his Twilight walked up, along with Bunker.

“Mental link?” Josh asked.

“Not very strong, but yeah,” Cruger said, “plus Bunker was watching from the treeline when I arrived. Once you said I should bring my Twi, I signalled him to do it.”

“In that case,” Josh said as he brought this duel disk up to his mouth. “Chrono, come back. Cruger has a mental link.”

“Of course,” Chrono replied.

“And can I just note?” Josh asked as he turned to face Bunker. “Creepy as fuck to watch someone from the shadows, dude.”

Bunker just shrugged as Cruger chuckled, “Don’t blame him, I was the one who decided to have him be on standby, consider it me having a face down trap card as it were.”

Josh chuckled. “Fair point,” he said as he turned to face the two Twilights, who were, not very surprisingly, asking each other questions, oblivious of the world around them. “You know, you never asked why Chrysalis was out and about.”

“You say that like I couldn’t take her,” Cruger said, “besides, I figured I’d give her the benefit of the doubt, innocent until proven guilty and all that.

“Yeah, well, it was to stop ponies like Dash from finding us so we can repair the thing in peace.”

“Speaking of which, better get started,” Cruger said before turning to the Twilights, “Twilight, you remember that diagnostics spell I showed you?”

“That I do,” Cruger’s Twilight said before casting it on the transporter, generating a 3-D model of it.

“Let’s see what we’ve got,” Cruger said as he examined it, “looks like an easy fix, this was designed to send its target to a random dimension, but I could easily rig a connection to your Disk to allow you to pick and choose.”

“Now that’s what I call terrible planning,” Josh said. “I mean, who makes these kinds of things, with no way to go to a dimension of your choosing? It’s stupid.”

“The original IMT card removes a card from play right?” Cruger asked.

“Then returns it a few turns later, yeah,” Josh replied. “In game, anyway. For me, it acts like a normal dimensional transporter.”

“Well, no one ever thought to designate exactly where removed from play is,” Cruger said, “it looks like it does have a function to maintain a lock on the transported party, but it’s kind of useless if it’s transported as well.”

“Can you take care of that?” Josh asked. “Maybe put some kind of recall feature on it?”

“No problem,” Cruger said as he pulled up a holographic terminal, “it’s mostly programming I need to change. Twilight, can you get a mark 2.5 QEC?”

“No problem,” Cruger’s Twilight said before teleporting away.

“Thanks for helping out,” Josh said.

“No problem,” Cruger said as he typed furiously, “this is actually a hobby of mine. There, looks like I’ve successfully added a control subroutine to the dimensional selection process, and the recall systems have been tweaked to allow it to lock onto a location as well as a person, all that’s left is to install the QEC, and we should be good.”

“Right,” Josh said, not understanding most of that, as Chron returned, and vanished back into his card and Cruger’s Twilight teleported back.

“Here you go Cruger,” She said as she handed two objects to Cruger.

“Thank you,” Cruger replied. Cruger opened up a panel on the transporter and plugged in one of them. Closing the panel, he turned to Josh, “If you would?”

“Right,” Josh said. “So, what next?” He asked after removing his disk and handing it to Cruger.

“All I need to do is install this transmitter/receiver into your Disk,” Cruger opened a panel on the Disk and plugged it in, “and download the HMI. 40%, 70, done,” Cruger handed the disk back to Josh, “that should do it, it’s the button that looks like a double headed arrow.”

“Thanks,” Josh said as he pressed the button and handed Cruger a card. “In case you need my help,” he said. “See ya next time.”

“Just a minute,” Cruger said, “aren’t we forgetting something?”

“What?”

“I fix your teleporter and give you advice that can potentially save your verse, you give me a deck and a copy of the spell that Displaced you,” said Cruger.

“Well, tell me what cards you want, and talk to Twilight and Chrysalis,” Josh said.

“To be honest, I did have Warrior’s Strike structure deck, and I felt a connection with Gemini monsters, especially Phoenix Gearfried.”

“Then here,” Josh said as there was a small flash, and a deck of cards appeared before handing it to Cruger. “Gemini cards,” he said.

“Thanks,” Cruger said, “although, if you don’t mind, I would like to ask a favor.”

“What?”

“Nothing too big, but since I’ve got this, I wouldn’t mind trying it out, specifically with one of those two,” Cruger said, pointing at Josh’s Twilight and Chrysalis, “I’ll throw in a bike you can convert to a Duel Runner.”

“Next time,” Josh said. “Sorry, but we need to get back so Ra doesn’t freak out.”

“Fair enough,” Cruger shrugged, “just gives me time to strategize.” Cruger handed him a copy of his Tokens, “call me if you need an extra Disk.”

“We will,” Josh said before he, his companions, and the IMT vanished.

Cruger looked at his new deck, “Welcome to the team, Phoenix.”

As if in response, the deck glowed gently for a moment.

A God Reborn

So, we reappeared in the Throne room of Ra's castle. How did I know it was his castle? Because we saw him sitting on a throne with a female dragon with feathered wings, and tips that seemed to be made of energy. She was almost entirely white, though the wing edges were blue. "What took you three so long?" Ra asked.

"Issue with the teleporter," I said. "So, if I may ask, who's that?" I asked, gesturing to the dragoness.

"I am Saffira, young duelist," she replied with a pleasant voice. "Ra's sister."

"A pleasure to meet you then," I said with a head bow.

"As it is for me," she said, returning the gesture. "But I am even more honored to meet an Element bearer and the changeling queen."

"Oh, um, thank you," Twilight said nervously as she fumbled to a bow. "Your Majesty."

"And from me as well," Chrysalis said, though much more calmly. "But why are you honored to meet us?"

"Well, I have had the pleasure of meeting Harmony herself, but never one she designates to be a bearer, nor have I met a past queen of the changelings, and, of what I've heard, both of you have done much for your people," Saffira said. "I may be a queen and sister to Ra, but the most I have done is plan some of Ra's greatest victories."

"Which would not have been victories without your brilliant mind, my sister," Ra said. "So, Josh, were you able to rescue the spirits that were being held?"

"Spirit, to be accurate, Ra," I replied. "And not just him, but two Doomsday troopers, or whatever their name is, Different Dimension Warrior Lady, and Dark Neos."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "That is good. Less of my subjects are being controlled by the Order, then," he said. "May you release them? I wish to know in person if they will fight with us."

Twilight, who had the cards for the Ex-Order members, nodded as she got up. "On it," she said before bringing out the cards for the Ex-Order members, and summoned them, bringing the four members into this worlds physical plane. Though they were knocked out.

"Looks like you'll need to wait a while," Chrysalis said.

"Agreed," Ra replied. "And of him?"

"Right here," I replied before bringing the five cards out, which brought about a monster just about every one knows. Exodia, the Forbidden One. Though he more resembled his Exodius version.

"Hello, my king," he said, placing his right arm across his chest. "I thank you for sending a rescue. If the Order had been able to turn me, I know not if you all would survive."

"Yes that would have been an issue," Ra said. "But we need to worry about that for now. I will speak with you later, Exodius. I need to speak with my sister, Josh, Twilight, and Chrysalis."

"Of course, my king," Exodius said. "I'll take the others to the medical wing." With that, he took those we had rescued, and toward the medical wing, leaving the five of us.

"So, um, what did you want ot talk to us about?" I asked.

"As I said before, I have talked with Harmony, who is not just an abstract concept, by the way," Saffira said. "In fact, I spoke with her just before you arrived. We were comparing notes on how Osiris and Hamon were able to easily control Celestia and the others through the card. Celestia is an alicorn, and infused with my niece. As such, it would take a lot of power to control her. We talked, and that led us to the conclusion that. . .well-"

"Somehow," Ra said, "an enemy of Harmony's, and I do not mean Discord, who is her brother, by the way, was able to contact Osiris and Hamon, and they entered into an alliance. Harmony is currently trying to pinpoint who that enemy is. In the mean time, she asked us to help out with something."

"What's that?" Twilight asked.

"One of her champions has gone missing in the time stream of their Equestria, and she asked us to help locate them. We know that they are in the past, so that helps. Of course, if you do not wish it, I will nor pressure you into it."

I looked at my two companions, who looked at each other and me, before nodding. "If it'll help her out," Twilight said.

"Then I guess we're all for it," Chrysalis finished, to which Ra nodded.

"I'll let her know, then," Saffira said before vanishing.

"Yes, she has the ability to travel between dimensions," Ra said. "Still, while you three were gone, we located some of my best warriors. As far as I can tell, they still are with us."

"And you want us to try to rescue them?" I asked.

"Yes," Ra said. "I realize I don't have the right to ask you, but you three are the only ones who are free who are able to do this. I would, but, without my brothers Slifer and Obelisk, I am only at a third of my power, and Hamon has most likely given the guards strategies on how to defeat me, Prime, and Jinzo."

"Do you have any idea where they could be?" Twilight asked.

"Only somewhere in Equestria," Ra said. "Hopefully, after we have freed enough, we will be able to send scouts out to find them."

I sighed. "So, who are we rescuing?" I asked.

"My best soldier," Ra said. "Utopia."(1)

Blades of light

"So, what are we up against?" I asked V-Tiger, who had scouted where the Order's forces were holding Utopia. It had been a day since Ra had told us where we were going next, and Chrysalis, Twilight, and my self were scattered around to make sure they didn't find all of us easily. The area we were at resembled a grassy plain with a few hills, the three of us on the top of the three largest hills closest to out objective.

"Far as I am able to tell," the jet replied as his spirit returned to the card, "A small army. Getting to him will be the easy part."

"Leader?"

"Acid Golem."

"Oh, joy," I muttered. "On the bright side, his abilities will only effect him, and then negatively."

"On the other hand," Material said from my deck, "with him being on the other side, we can not pull off our combo when the final battle comes around."

"Shame," Jinzo added. "Few would be able to stand against the four of us."

"Five," I countered. "You're forgetting the one who has to start it off. So, we got the card?"

"Indeed," Chrono answered. "But it will need to be used in close proximity to Utopia while we are here."

"Figured as much on that," I said. "Chrysalis, Twi, you guys in position?"

"Just waiting for your word," the ex-changeling queen replied. "We got the intel scans from V. So, what's the plan?"

"Well," I said, bringing up a hologram of the area up on my duel disk, "they're using mainly rock and machine types, so I'll use acidic downpour to change the field a little to our advantage there, and let you guys have fun there, while Chrono, Cyber End, and Chimeratech work on the machines. If any are immune to acidic downpour, it'll be Acid Golem, because, well, he's called Acid Golem and uses acid in his attacks, whether they be gas or not being irrelevant, I think."

"Yeah, probably," Twilight said. "With magic, stones can become immune to acid, as well as nearly impossible to cut with a normal sword."

"Good thing there's someone who uses special blades," I muttered. Best to hope they don't use the show rules with numbers, but the game ones. "Just need to free him."

"On your signal, Josh," Chrysalis said.

"On three, then," I said. "Get 'em ready," I commanded as I brought out the acidic downpour field spell card, ready to activate it. "One"- I felt the machine spirits in my deck roar with anticipation at what was coming next- "two"- I took a deep breath as acidic downpour activated, and clouds gathered above the area, the first drops of acid falling. "Three."

With that, I summoned my three greatest machines, with me on the central neck of Cyber End-it's more comfortable than you'd think-and, as we come out from behind the hill, I saw Chrysalis, along with Perfect Great Moth and Insect Queen, come out from behind their hill, while Twilight, along with DMG and Gagaga Magician and Girl, did so from behind their hiding spot. I also got a good look of the resistance below.

As reported, Acid Golem, a number card that was a purple, humanoid monster that was, if I had to guess, as tall as a two or three story building with dark, lavender lines across his body and purple fumes coming out of his body, his face looking like a skull, the flesh pulled tight to the point lips did not exist. His grunts were a mix of rock type monsters and machine enemies such as Ancient Gear Knights. Just because there are a few loyal to us doesn't they don't have a few.

Still, for the most part, the three pronged attack combined with the acid rain disoriented most of them to where they were quickly destroyed and put in card form, the exceptions being Acid and multiple Woodborg Inpachi. As Cyber End neared where Utopia, in card form, was being held, I jumped off, and made my way to him, with Chrono working on holding off Acid Golem. When I got close to the card, four spelbinding circles appeared, but shattered as Jinzo appeared, snapped his fingers, and disappeared back into the deck, allowing me to reach the black card. Black in the fact the edge looked like the night sky dotted with stars, for those who haven't seen an XyZ monster card.

When I touched the card, I heard a voice in my head. Another agent of the Order, seeking to try to overthrow Hamon? Whatever it is, I will not follow you.

"And if I said Ra sent me?"

Why should i believe you? Utopia asked. If you were with Ra, then he would have given you something.

"You mean this?" I asked, showing him the same card I talked about earlier, which Ra had given me shortly before we left.

. . .You are the one I had heard Ra was partnered with, then? I had thought it to be a pony, not a human.

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I heard a roar of pain behind me. I turned to look back, and saw Golem crushing the middle neck of Cyber End under his left foot, Chrono's neck in his right hand, and a stream of acid launched at Chimeratech. "Shit!" I exclaimed as i turned back. "Look, I need help here. We're here to free you, after all."

If you are here by Ra's wish, then you have my assistance for only this instance, Utopia said. Nothing further.

"Fair enough," I said before activating the comm on the disk. "Twilight, I need Gagaga Magician here to break the seal."

"On it," Twilight replied.

You know how to break the seal? Utopia asked.

"Hopefully, yeah," I said before I summoned Hunter Dragon, or at least one loyal to Ra. "You ready?" I asked the dragon, which nodded just as the Magician Twilight sent arrived.

"You need my help to break the seal?" he asked.

"Yep," I replied. "Get ready to overlay, you two."

"So, you are Ra's partner?" I heard a voice say from behind. "Pathetic. An alicorn, I can see, but all of them are under Hamon's control, with the one with you being but a false one," Golem said. "I will enjoy melting your skin."

"Good luck with that," I muttered. "I overlay Gagaga Magician and Hunter Dragon to build the overlay network to break the seal and summon Number 39: Utopia." The two monsters became orbs of black light, and flew into a portal that was above me before there was a large explosion of yellow light, and i felt the card in my hand vanish. I turned around, and saw Utopia unfolding as he did during his first summon.

"Flashy as always, Utopia," Golem said as Utopia finished. "Still, this means I'll be able to kill you and not worry about Lord Hamon killing me in return."

"You will have no kills this day, traitor," Utopia said calmly, his arms crossed and wings extended. "Human, I believe you know what to do?"

"Yep," I said before revealing the card Ra gave me. "I activate Rank up magic Limited Barian's Force, and use it to evolve Utopia to his, in my opinion, best form. Utopia Ray V!" The card flared, and Utopia folded up again before that form changed to resemble a somewhat sleeker shape, from which oily black tendrils emerged, taking the shape of arms and legs, hands and feet, while the cnter part changed to resemble a muscular appearance. When it was done, Utopia was now in his third overall form, with three Barian chaos overlay units in front of him.

"You believe that is enough to stop me," Golem said. "You are even more foolish than I thought."

"Him, maybe," I said, making Utopia glare at me. "But the thing is, best form doesn't mean most powerful, which is why I activate the spell card Wicked Breaking Flamberge- Baou, which increases his attack," I said as the sword appeared, and Utopia grabbed it in one of his hands while grabbing one of his swords in the other. "Still not the most powerful, but it should do to defeat you."

"On that, we agree," Utopia said before it crossed its blades and, without ceremony, charged forward, tearing through Golem and killing him, or what ever the term is to the point he reverted to card form, and Utopia to his basic form.

"So, you ready to head to Ra?" I asked as Twilight and Chrysalis walked up beside me.

"That was somewhat anticlimactic," Chrysalis muttered.

"I'd rather it be quick so we can get back faster and take a break," Twilight replied.

"Indeed I am," Utopia said as the equip sword vanished and he sheathed the other. "I hope you three do not get sick easily," he said before the world vanished in a flash of light.

Explanation

A week has passed since Utopia had been freed from the Order. Chrysalis, Twilight, and myself had been busy during that week, working on freeing other commanders in Ra's forces, including Demise, King of Armageddon.

Anyway, I was currently with Ra I the dining hall. "I have to thank you and the others, Josh," he said. "Most of my army is functional once more thanks to you and the others."

I shrugged. "Just helping out is all," I said. "Something has been bugging me, though."

"What?" he asked.

"How in the hell do you know Harmony?"

Ra chuckled. "That is a long story. The short version is that most powerful beings in the multiverse, my direct family included in that count, come from a place that exists outside the others. It doesn't have a name, so don't bother asking, but most call it the Void, as that is what it is: a void," he described. "Harmony and I are among the few who travel outside it, and are seen as gods by those we find, as our abilities are rather impressive. From those worlds, we have champions. You are mine, and Harmony found her's in the time stream earlier. What counts for houses in the Void, well, mine and Harmony's are close to one another, so, when we are there at the same time, we tend to see one another."

"So?" I asked, "how friendly are you two, if I may ask?"

"Not to the degree you're thinking," he said. "We are simply friends, and often time,s our champions work together when one can't handle something themselves. Though, that is rare, as our champions often have a direct link to our powers. In your case, Josh, it is my card. With Harmony, it is the Elements."

"Wait a minute," I said. "How the fuck is that possible? If it was the Elements, she'd have millions of champions."

Ra chuckled. "Directly, yes, but those are the majority, and even then, the mane six are not it, just the public one. As you know, for a world that exists in its own dimension, which the Void is, you can go through the entire multi-verse. Harmony is one of the very few who can manifest in each at the same time, and in many I know of, her champions are those hidden away from the public eye, or seen as villains by the public. I am not one of them, as i can only exist in one dimension at a time. Hence, I have but a single champion-you- or multiple in the same world.

"And I'm guessing the same goes for your daughter?"

"Yes, though, each alicorn Celestia," Ra said, "has the same mother, as does Luna, and that would be Harmony. How else did you think they're so powerful?"

"Magical bullshit?" I spitballed, making Ra chuckle.

"No," he said. "With the exception of the Celestia and Luna of the Equestria you landed in- and its many variations still somewhat close to it-, they were all born alicorns."

"Of course," I muttered before one of Ra's aides rushed in.

"Sir!" he yelled. "The scouts have something!"

"What?" Ra asked.

"The location of your brothers."

"Yes, yes, I know where Hamon, Uria, and Raviel are."

"No, sir, not them," the aide said, getting our attention. "Slifer and Obelisk. We know where they are now."

Encounter and release

A few days have passed since we found where Slifer and Obelisk were, and Twilight, Chrysalis, and I were at their location, a cave that contained the vault which contained the two of them. How and why the two were together, I don't know, but I'll take it, I guess. "Clever," I said. "No one would think to look here in an old cave for one of them."

"Still, V said two order members are on their way here," Chrysalis said. "We may wish to hurry."

"You two go on ahead," I said. "No telling what may happen if there's three there when there's only two of them. Plus, someone needs to make sure they can't get in."

"I will accompany them," Ra said as his card floated out of my deck, and placed itself into Twilight's. "My presence will be needed if my brothers are to know they stand with us."

I nodded. "Right," I said. "In which case, Demise, you and the others are up."

"Of course," the monster spirit said before a glow emanated from the deck before it faded, indicating the new deck was in place. "If I may ask, why me?"

"Don't know," I said. "Just a feeling." I then looked at my changeling and alicorn companions. "You guys going to be all right in there?"

Twilight nodded. "With Ra, I'm sure we'll be okay," she said. "Just make sure you don't get killed," she added with a slight, joking tone.

I scoffed. "You know who you're talking to, right?" I replied with a small laugh. "Now come on and get in there guys. No telling who's coming and how long I'll be able to hold them off."

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Chrysalis said before they entered the cave, and I turned around, facing the direction the Order members would coming. To pass the time, I sat down, and tried to think up different ways to use my current deck, but none would be fully done until tested in a duel.

After a few minutes, I heard hoofsteps, and a voice say, "What? He should be dead!"

I cracked an eye open, and saw Red and Nightmare, both wearing Order colored cloaks looking at me, snarls on their faces. "Well, look who's here," I said as I got up and opened my other eye. "So, Ruin, you mind telling me why you fused with Luna, or whatever you call yourself now?"

Nightmare hissed. "How do you know that name?"

I simply smiled as the King of Armageddon appeared behind me, his dual handed war ax in hand as his face looked like a gleaming, skinless skull. "A friend," I said as my duel disk activated. "Now, we all know why we're here, and I'm here to say you want in there, you'll have to get through me and my deck. I don't care if it's two to one."

Red scoffed. "If you want to die, then so be it," he said as his and Nightmare's disks activated. "Just so it'll be fair, you get double th ebasic life points and double zones with two summons a turn."

"Big mistake," I said as I drew my first six cards, and looked at them before smiling at two. "For my first move, I summon Armageddon Knight and Dark Crusader to my field face up, then I activate Armageddon Knight's effect, which allows me to put one dark monster in my deck to the graveyard, and I choose another Knight." I took the card out from my deck and placed it in the graveyard, causing the disk to auto shuffle afterwards. "I then activate Dark Crusader's effect, and send a Doomsday horror to the graveyard to boost his attack to 2000, then I send Patrician of Darkness to do the same, giving him another four hundred. I then lay one card face down before activating the effect of Dark Nephthys, which makes me banish two dark monsters in my graveyard if there's three to put it there," I said as I did so, emptying my hand. "With that, I end my turn."

Red scoffed. "You emtied your hand, and for what?" he asked. "I summon to my field Dark Blade-"

"Which I counter with the trap card Adhesion Trap Hole, which halves his attack," I countered as the card revealed it's face.

Red growled. "I end my turn with a face down then."

As he put a card down, Nightmare drew. Unlike Red, she didn't place a card down, but looked at her hand, and I caught the occasional glance towards my field. Eventually, "I lay one monster face down along with three cards and end my turn."

"Then it's my turn," I said as I drew. "And that brings me to my next move. You see, the other part of Dark Nephthys is that when she's sent to the graveyard by her effect," I began as a column of dark flame arose behind me, "she returns the next time my turn rolls around. So, Nephthys, how about you show 'em some dark flame revival?"

There was a screech before a figure appeared in the flames, and black wings with purple flames erupted from the column before it dissipated, revealing the wings to be located at the dragon's hips. "In short, I now have two monsters with over 2000 attack. More accurately, they are at 2400 attack. Add in Knight's, and hello 6200 attack points total. And now, Knight, attack Dark Blade."

Red, for some reason, only smirked as his warrior was destroyed by mine.

Red

7500

"Now, Nephthys, engulf him in flame."

"I don't think so," he said just as the dark dragon released it's flames. "Activate mirror force." Shit.

Just as the flames reached him, they seemed to be gather in an orb before being released back at Nephthys, who was melted in the flames before vanishing. "I still have Crusader," I said. "Crusader, darkness slice."

He nodded before taking his sword, leaped to just in front of Red, and sliced at him.

Red

5100

"Still took out one of your monsters," he said.

"Yeah, you did," I say. "So I end my turn."

"Then my draw," he said before looking at the card and smiling. "Hey, babe, what do you say we show him why we're working together here?"

I saw Nightmare grin before she replied. "I think we should," she replied.

"Then I activate the field spell Malefic World!" With that, he put the card he had just drawn onto the field card slot on his disk, and the environment around us changed to that of a green and blue city, the buildings being see through. "I then lay down two cards to the field, and end my turn."

"Which lets me draw," Nightmare said as she added a card to her hand.

"Which let's me activate my face down Raigeki Break," Red said as the purple bordered card showed it's face. "So I discard my Celtic guardian to destroy your Knight." He put the designated card into his graveyard, which caused a bolt of thunder to lace out from it and strike at the Knight, causing an explosion, one for which nothing was behind as the cloud caused by it faded.

"And with that done," Nightmare continued, I send a Blue-eyes white dragon in my deck out of play-" Oh shit, I know what she's planning- "to summon Malefic Blue Eyes white dragon!" With that, Blue eyes appeared behind her before tendrils of shadow erupted from the ground, and enveloped it. I heard what I can only guess are screams of pain before the orb  vanished, and in its place was a Blue eyes, only now it's head seemed to have half of it covered by a black mask, and the wings seemed to be metallic. "I then activate the ritual spell card End of the world, and send from my hand another Malefic Blue eyes to summon-"

"-Me," she said, only with a different voice, one that was more of a gentle ruler than a corrupted one as the card that had been designated burst apart in her hand before the fragments flew over her portion of the field and came together, creating a small portal that struck at the ground around it. As the lightning intensified, the portal expanded, and she spoke again. "Ruin, Queen of Oblivion." Bright side: only Blue eyes can attack. For now, anyways. "And now, Blue eyes, attack his Crusader!" The dragon roared as it unleashed a blue stream of energy-one which now had some black in it-, and destroyed Crusader.

Josh

15400

"Damn it," Mutter, him being the only card I can summon with out a tribute that was capable of taking down Blue eyes with this deck at that point.

"And with that, I end my turn."

"I'll admit, well played," I said as I drew. "I guess the time I've been gone let you practice." I then looked at my card, a small, hopeful smile lit my face. "I now play the card I just drew, Cup of Ace, which allows me to draw two cards if I call a toss right. Given the circumstances, if you win, it's one for each of you." I then reached into one of my pockets, and pulled out a coin I had on me just in case this happened. "I choose heads." With that, I tossed the coin up, and caught it."

"Whatever card it is, it will not help you now," Red said.

"You forget one," I said as I looked at my hand, and saw the coin was heads up, and another smile was on my face as I drew two cards, and looked at them, the smile turning into a grin.

Youtube Video

"I activate my spell card End of the World and tribute the Dark Horus in my hand to summon the bringer of the end, Demise, King of Armageddon!" The same happened as the Monster card in my hand shattered, only this portal, when it opened, the area around it was ablaze with blue fire as the king stepped through, his two handed ax in hand and ready, and I saw Ruin snarl.

"You," she growled. "What are you doing here?"

"Stopping Hamon," Demise replied, his voice in physical a metallic echo that, in my opinion, added to his scare factor. "Even with him wiping your memory, I am surprised you and Luna became Nightmare again. You swore that would never happen again!"

Ruin and Nightmare laughed. "Yes, but that was a different time," Nightmare said. "And even if that were not the case, my sister has fully embraced Celestia's- the Lightsworn one- power, and took up the mantle of Solar Flare. Do you honestly think I would let that stand without me being at full power as well?"

"No, simply surprised you are arrogant as ever," he said. "Josh?"

"I sacrifice two thousand of my life points to destroy every card on the field but Demise, and thus clear the way for his attack."

Josh

13400

"What?!" Ruin shouted before blue flames enveloped her and exploded followed by Blue eyes, and then all of the spells and traps. As the flames that had enveloped Ruin faded, Nightmare fainted before reverting to Luna.

"Mooney!" Red yelled, and suddenly I'm less terrified of what may happen to me should I lose.

"Demise?"

"Must you ask," he replied before walking over to Red, who glared at him with a snarl, before bringing his ax down.

Red

2700

"Shit!" he yelled as Demise walked back over to my side of the field.

"With that, I end my turn," I said. "You know, if you surrendered now, you'd be able to see if she was alright."

"Yeah," he said, "but she'd rather die than let you free Ra's brothers to defeat Lord Hamon! I draw!" he yelled before looking at his cards. "I lay one monster face down and lay down two face downs to end my turn."

"So, then, what are we going to do about Luna?" I asked.

"For now, nothing," he said coldly. Yeesh, that spell sure is fucking his mind up. "As for you, though, you can only do basics now, so half your life points and summon amount.

"Fair," I said.

Josh

6700

"Not that it'll help you at this point," I said as I drew a card. "Though you do realize just the life point reduction wasn't the smartest move, right?" I asked. "Because I activate Demise's effect again, clearing the field and letting him attack you without risk," I said as Demise did just that.

Josh

4700

Red

300

"Next time, have something planned for that ability, or you'll be screwed over," I said. "Turn end."

Red growled as he drew a card, looked at it, and snarled. "It seems as if I ma not fated to win this," he said. "I end."

Give 'em credit, he doesn't to say he surrendered. If the honor system here is as screwed as the Elite one from Halo, then they would see it better to lose than surrender and be able to fight another day. Still, right now, I'll take the win. i drew a card before saying, "Demise, finish him."

"On it," he said before lifting his right hand, the one holding the bottom of the ax, up, and unleashed a torrent of blue flames, which engulfed Red.

Red

0000

Luna/Nightmare

Unconscious

Winner: Josh

"I hope you die painfully," Red said as the flames dissipated, and he fell to the ground, or at least was going to before I ran over and caught him. I checked his pulse, and he was still alive. Though the cloak was burnt to hell.

"Couldn't show a little restraint?" I asked Demise.

"Not now," he replied. "Let's just say that what Hamon did to Ruin makes me want to make the ritual spell card a reality."

"Ah," I said as I laid Red down on the ground, and went to check on Luna. I checked her pulse and found it was still there, but, surprisingly, her horn was not. "Looks like Luna's not an alicorn anymore," I commented.

"Well, that was unexpected," Demise said. "Then again, if it has happened before, it was not notable enough for Ra and the others to know of it.

"Speaking of, he's the only one who can make sure they're free from Hamon's control," I noted. "I just wonder how well he and the others are doing."

"Considering we're out here now, I'd say very," I heard Chrysalis say before looking up to see he two walking out. "No thanks to you."

"I was out here making sure these two didn't shank us in the ass, figuratively speaking," I replied, though it was in good nature. "So, they here?"

"Indeed they are," Ra said as his card came out of Twilight's deck and to mine. "Currently, they are in a sort of trance. Thousands of years of inactivity means they need to recover energy, and us returning home will hasten it. So, was she here?"

"Ruin?" I asked as I picked up a card next to Luna, and saw that it was Ruin's card. "Yeah."

"Then I am sorry, Demise," Ra said.

"No need, old friend," the skull faced king replied. "She was under the Order's control, and it was the only way to stop her. We also learned-"

"That if the link between a monster and the one they are joined with is shattered or something," I added, standing up, "then the benefits are lost. In this case, Luna's a pegasus again."

"Really?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I'll tell you guys my thoughts as to why when we get back, but only if you tell me what happened in there."

"Deal," the two mares said before we teleported away, thanks to Ra, and back to the spirit realm, this time with Red and Luna in tow, along with their deck.

Healing

"They okay?" I asked Magician, the both of us outside the infirmary. It's been a week since Chrysalis and Twilight recovered Obelisk and Slifer, and I had dueled Luna and Red. Both were recovering and being watched after in the infirmary, but both Luna and her partner, Ruin, were withdrawn. Red was too, given what happened, but he was recovering from that quickly.

"The same as yesterday, Josh," he replied. "Honestly, just because they recovered quickly to begin with doesn't mean they will become fully healthy in a day."

"I meant are they okay for me to see them?"

"Well, why did you not just say that?" Magician asked with a bit of a smirk. "Yes, you can see them. I can not say for how long, though. This is their first time seeing you after shit hit the fan."

"I'll take it easy, then," I said before I entered the room, and saw Red talking with Luna.

"Lulu, it wasn't your fault," he was saying to her. "It was the bastard Osris' fault."

"But I did nothing to stop it when I could have," Luna said, looking down at the floor the entire time. "Both Ruin and i had prepared in case of mental control because of the first time we became Nightmare, and still, we fell again."

"None of us knew Celestia was in his thrall, Luna," Red said, trying to comfort the former alicorn, but failing.

"No, but I should have seen it. Ever since she had 'escaped', she acted differently. She was cold to all of the guards, even those who had lost family to the Order. The real Celestia wouldn't have, and noticing would have given us some warning."

"We don't know that, Lulu," Red said. "We all saw it, but played it off as stress. Makes sense it was a changeling then, given how good at being manipulative they can be."

"You do realize they only attacked the wedding because they were starved, right?" I asked, coming into the conversation.

"Josh, thanks for helping us out," Red said, "but right now, we just want to be left alone."

"I just wanted to see how you guys were doing," I replied, putting my hands up.

"Fine," he said, not looking at me. "We'll leave when we're ready."

Well, don't think I'm going to get anything else. "Then Ill leave you two alone," I said before leaving the room.

"I expected you to do some kind of speech to motivate Luna to get herself together," Magician said as I exited the room.

"Normally, yeah," I said. "But with that whole time issue where time flows differently here than there as well as the fact that she obviously won't get over it soon, even with a kick in the ass. Literal or figurative."

"Well, if that's the reason," he said. "By the way, Chrysalis and Twilight wanted to see you in the dining hall after this."

"And you couldn't tell me this earlier?"

"Not like withholding hurt."

I stayed silent, rolling my eyes before making my way to the dining room, passing a few duel spirits on the way there, most giving a slight bow out of respect as I passed.

As I entered the dining room, guarded by one Ancient gear Knight and Soldier on each side of the doors, I could hear Twilight and Chrysalis talking.

"Are you even sure he'd be up for this?" I heard Twilight say. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm up for it, but the question is is Josh willing."

"Given how he looks at both of use when he thinks we're not looking and the fact you've gotten more voluptuous since the incident upon us coming here, I'd say he's willing to try even," I heard Chrysalis reply. "All we have to do is ask."

"Ask what?" I asked as I reached where the two sat, making both of them jump.

"How many times do we have to tell you to not do that?" Chrysalis asked.

"No idea," I replied. "Again, ask what?"

The two looked at one another out of the corner of their eyes with slight unease before Twilight spoke up. "Well, Josh, we were wondering. . .well, if you, I don't know. . . go on a date with the two of us?"