Equestria: Magic Monsters

"I set one card facedown and end my turn!"

*Theme*

"My turn!" Scootaloo drew her card and looked on the field.

Scooter Mechanic : ATK 1300 LVL 3

Scooter Gunner : ATK 1600 LVL 4

Scooter Designer: ATK 1200 LVL 2

Beautiful Angel: ATK 700 LVL 3

Beautiful Angel: ATK 700 LVL 3

Permanent Trap: Security Controls

"I have two traps, and she has one set card. And because of that stupid trap card I can't attack. My traps can't do anything but... Wait, maybe my monsters have a special ability or something?"

She looked at her monster's abilities on the card text.

"What? Scooter Designer can special summon one of my monsters from my deck? Why didn't I use this before? Gah! I'm such an idiot!"

"Finally, you noticed?" Diamond said with a smirk.

"Huh?"

"That you're an idiot."

Scootaloo sighed in frustration. "I activate 'Scooter Designer's' effect, it summons a random level 2 or below 'scooter' monster from the deck in face-up attack position."

Her deck shuffled itself using the Duel Saddle. When it was done shuffling, a lone card stuck out.

She grabbed the card and placed it on her Duel Saddle. "I special summon 'Speeding Rider'!"

The red monster stood on slim legs. Its arms were also red but gripped the handlebars on the blazing scooter it was riding. Its body was covered in armor made of flames and it had a floating fiery skull as a head.

Speeding Rider: ATK 600 LVL 2

"She's close... Maybe this will be it." Spike thought.

"Next, I summon 'Lightning Wrench'!"

As the name stated it, the monster was a floating silver wrench with electricity sparking through it.

Lightning Wrench ATK 0  LVL 1

"I tribute 'Speeding Rider' to tribute summon 'Flaming Wheeler'!"

Speeding Rider turned into a rainbow orb, and soon, from inside, came out a new monster.

This monster had a long black cape. It had an insane grin with shades covering his eyes. It's long skinny legs covered by black pants laid firm on the flaming scooter below. His right hand held the left scooter handle while its left hand just hung free, complementing its insanity.

Flaming Wheeler: ATK 2200 LVL 5

"I can't attack so I'll end my turn!"

C: 2

"Then it's my turn!" Diamond drew.

"Come on Scootaloo. Get the card you need then summon it."

"I summon my last 'Beautiful Angel'!" The elegant monster arose from the blue portal.

Diamond pointed at Scootaloo. "Go my other 'Beautiful Angels'! Attack Scootaloo directly and win the duel!"

The two angels flew up high in the air and pulled arrows back on their golden bows.

"Not so fast! I activate 'Lightning Wrench's' special effect!"

The wrench started to spark wildly.

"I can remove the tool from play to end the battle phase."

"What?!"

The angels shot their arrows but the spark from the monster made an electric wall that blocked off the attack. The wrench was then pulled in a black void, removing it from the duel.

Diamond growled. "So you survived? Whatever I set two cards and end my turn."

C: 4

"Then it's my turn!" Scootaloo drew her card and looked at it closely. She gasped then smiled when she noticed what card it was. "I activate the Spell Card, 'System Repair'!"

Diamond frowned a little.

"This card targets one machine type on the field and destroys all cards targeted to it!"

Diamond grew wide-eyed. "What?!"

Diamond could only watch in horror as her trump card started to crack. It wasn't long until it was destroyed and Scottaloo's monster, 'Scooter Gunner', broke free of the chains binding him.

"Go! Attack Diamond Tiara directly 'Scoota Gunner'!"

Diamond growled. "How could I have been caught off guard like that? I activate my trap, 'Beauty Mirror'!" The trap revealed itself, containing a picture of a glowing white mirror and the text for its effect, one Diamond was going to tell Scootaloo. "This trap reflects the damage back to you! You lost Scootaloo!"

Scootaloo's monster aimed its guns at Diamond Tiara and fired a blast of light, only for her mirror to float up and reflect the blast back towards Scootaloo.

Scootaloo smirked and used her trap, which had a picture of an exploding robotic figure. "I activate 'Self Destruct Sequence'! This destroys the monster attacking and reflects double the damage it would have dealt to me!"

Diamond gasped and reacted quickly. "I activate my Quick-Play Spell card, 'You're Fired'!" The picture had a stallion in a suit pointing angrily. "It destroys all monsters on the field and we both take damage to their attack points combined!"

All of Scootalo's Scooter monsters and Diamond's Angels glowed brightly before exploding. They didn't move or flinch, just glared at each other as their manes blew back from the force coming from the explosion and as their life points went down.

Scootaloo LP: 0 ⇦ 500

Diamond LP: 0 ⇦ 4000

It was silent as the two stared at each other, it was only broken when Diamond shrugged and spoke. "I really didn't expect that Scootaloo. I underestimated you."

"Uhh..." Scootaloo didn't expect that. "Thanks?"

Not far away, a colt by the name of Tender Taps stared down at the scene and glared at Apple Bloom. He walked away soon after, not letting anyone see him.

Diamond smirked. "Just let this be known, I am definitely going to win at the school tournament, so just you wait."

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes and smiled. "I look forward to it."

Diamond turned with her smirk and walked away. Silver Spoon, who gave a brief happy smile to the crusaders, followed her with a trot.

By now the crowd dissipated, leaving only the crusaders and Spike sitting at the park.

"That was some great duelin' Scoots!" Apple Bloom said to her with a smile when she approached.

Scootaloo blushed and rubbed the back of her mane. "I wasn't that good."

"Ya sure were! I was sure you were going to lose. But then you made it a tie! It was awesome!"

Scootaloo beamed. "Thanks, Apple Bloom!"

Scootaloo turned to the sound of footsteps and saw Spike coming up to her.

"How'd I do Spike?" She asked.

"Hmm..." Spike looked up in thought. "I can't say you didn't improve, but you're still not... average. To be blunt."

"Oh..." Scootaloo drooped her ears, and before Spike could say anything to cheer her up she looked back up with a bright smile. "But that just means I have to practice more!"

Spike nodded. "And I'll help any way I can."

Sweetie Belle, standing beside Spike, nodded in agreement.

"I just can't wait for the tournament to come! I can't wait to win!"

"Keep your tail, ya still have to train and besides, I'm going to win!" Apple Bloom said.

"Fat chance! We all know I'm waaay better than you."

While they argued, Spike thought, "That Diamond Tiara, she's pretty good at dueling for her age. Then again, I'm only a little older than them and I'm..." Spike shook his head. "She could be a good practice partner for the crusaders. I might need other fillies or colts too, I need to teach them about adapting to your opponents."

"Something wrong Spike?"

"Hm?" Spike turned to Sweetie Belle. "No, I'm just thinking."

"I already dueled Apple Bloom..." Scootaloo turned to her unicorn friend. "You don't want to duel." And then Spike. "So that leaves you! Let's duel Spike!"

Spike recoiled a bit. "U-uh, I can't!"

"Why not?" Scootaloo asked.

"Because, uhh... I left my deck at home! Yeah!"

"Well then, let's go get it and then duel." Scootaloo started to walk but was stopped by Spike who zipped in front of her.

"I can't duel you Scootaloo."

"Why?" Scootaloo, joined by Apple Bloom, gave him confused looks.

Spike sigh. "I just... can't, okay?"

Behind Spike, Sweetie gave the dragon a concerned look.

Scootaloo also looked concerned for Spike.

"Maybe... Maybe I will duel you another time. But now is not it."

"Okay..."

"Why don't you want to duel?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head.

Spike turned away, hiding his face. "Reasons only I should know."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stared at Spike while Sweetie Belle was in her own thoughts.

"I... gotta go." Spike started to run off but stopped when Sweetie Belle called out to him. "Yeah, Sweetie?"

"When's our next lesson?"

"Um... how about after school tomorrow at your house? I should be helping Rarity, and..." Spike got worried when he thought, "She'll ask about me teaching them... I don't want to explain and risk my secret."

Spike laughed nervously and scratched his head. "After I'm done helping Rarity, alright? I'll catch you all later!" With that, Spike ran off.

The CMC didn't know what to do now that Spike was busy, and they headed for their clubhouse to decide on what to do.

As Apple Bloom and Sweetie talked about the upcoming tournament, Scootaloo stared and inspected her trump card. "Even though I technically didn't lose the duel, I still didn't summon this monster..." She thought hard to herself. "Spike said he believed I could do it, but I still failed." This realization made her droop down. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom noticed Scootaloo's depressed expression and grew concerned. They gave each other a concerned look before trotting over to their friend.

"What's wrong Scootaloo?" Sweetie asked kindly.

Scootaloo didn't respond.

Apple Bloom peeked over her pegasus friend's shoulder and caught a glimpse of what she was holding. "Is that-"

Scootaloo shoved the card into her deck, if it didn't have Discord's magic protecting it, it would have definitely torn.

"Scootaloo, are you upset that you didn't get to summon that?" Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo got up quietly and looked back at them, nodding when doing so.

"It's alright, I'm not that good either." Apple Bloom told her. "But that's not stopping me from having fun! We can get better together, alright?"

Scootaloo nodded, this time with more enthusiasm. "Of course!"

"You guys want to go for a walk? It feels cramped in here." Sweetie said.

Apple Bloom beamed. "Alright, let's go for a quick walk down to town square and then come back to eat something at my place." She said.

The day after, everypony was in their homes or shops doing their own things. Twilight and Spike were busy in the library, the rest of the Mane Six were at work, and the CMC had nothing to do.

They all just sat at the park, no other pony was at the park currently, possibly because it was lunch and most ponies were eating.

Apple Bloom was about to say something when pale white fog started to appear everywhere, all around them. The next thing they knew, was that they were surrounded by fog. They made confused and scared sounds and looked around. They couldn't see much past the border of the park because of the fog, and the sky was a bit dark.

Sweetie was frightened and started whimpering. "What's happening you guys?" She asked the other two.

"I don't know... Rainbow didn't tell me about this." Scootaloo responded.

Apple Bloom squinted her eyes and stared into the distance.

Twilight and Spike looked outside the castle windows with frightened expressions.

"Did the pegasi do this?" Spike asked.

Twilight looked down at him. "If they did, I wasn't told of it. And why is the sky dark as well?"

"I don't like the look of this." He told.

Apple Bloom looked closely. "Is that..." When a form came into view. "Another foal?"

"Yeah... they're coming towards us." Scootaloo said, starting to stare at the other shadowy kid.

When the foal came close enough for the three to see who they were, the CMC gasped.

"Tender Taps!" Apple Bloom shouted with joy. "How're you doing?" She started to run up to him.

Tender glared and swung his hoof to point at Apple Bloom, a whip that matched his purple eyes and mane color escaped his hoof and wrapped itself around Apple Bloom's, making her stop.

"What's this!" She said in shock.

Before Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle could do anything, Tender's eyes glowed and a large purple cage encased the two.

"Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle!"

The two banged on the bars and tried to escape.

Apple Bloom tried to run to them but Tender pulled back on the whip wrapped around Apple Bloom's hoof. "They will be released after our duel." The whip vanished in a flash but Apple Bloom could still feel the tension coming from it.

The farm filly gasped. "Duel? What are ya talking about Tender? What is all this? Why do you have magic?"

Tender ignored her and activated his duel saddle.

"You better duel him Apple Bloom, because I don't want to stay stuck in here!" Scootaloo yelled.

Apple Bloom hesitated, but soon enough she activated her own Duel Saddle and stared at Tender. "Please tell me this is a bad dream." She said to herself. "What happened to you Tender Taps?"

Tender glared at her and drew five cards. "This duel will decide your fate."

Apple Bloom drew her own five cards. "My... fate?" She stared at her colt friend with wide eyes.

***

Spike walked to his room while Twilight and her friends talked downstairs about the fog and such. He went over to his bed and flipped one end of the top of the bedpost up, revealing a red button. Spike pushed the button and the bed flipped over. Spike removed the bottom of the bed like a box top and inside revealed a safe. He opened the safe by blowing his magical dragon fire in the lock, and inside were gems, his journal, and his deck of cards.

Spike sighed after looking at his deck. He took one of the gems in fingers and popped it into his mouth, closing the safe right after. "I hope this fog isn't anything serious, but..." He looked out the window. "I should go and see if the others are alright."

***

Apple Bloom stared uneasily at Tender Taps, while the colt glared back at her.

"Duel!"