Rise of the Numbers

Chapters

The Darkest Future Part 1
The Darkest Future Part 2
Numbers' Past
Blinded by the Light
Enter the Pawn
Let the Show Begin
Battle of the Bands Part 1
Battle of the Bands Part 2
Battle of the Bands Part 3
Like Family
The Truth
Let the Games Begin
Nightfalls Over Canterlot
Ambition Destroys

The Darkest Future Part 1

A figure strode down the hallway of the old school. The paint was peeling off the walls after not seeing the daylight for years. The sky had remained black for the past 15 years. No sun shone, no stars wrinkled, no moon existed. Everything existed in a wave of blackness. And it was all the figures doing. "After all these years, I finally have the means of making sure I reign." He pulled a scroll out of his coat and looked it over once more. "Now I can exact revenge on those that stopped me before. Sealing me in that statue 15 years ago gave me time to think, and let my power grow." He raised a hand as shadows wrapped around his arm. "That stupid resistance will fall."

The sound of a door opening got his attention. He threw a dark sphere in the direction of the sound. "AHHHH!"

"Got ya." The figure walked up to the sphere of darkness and reached inside. He plunged his hand inside and pulled out the intruder. "I thought I got rid of all the Stars. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to stop you," said Star.

"Yeah right. Your only a scout. Your deck could never beat me." The dark figure chuckled.

"That's not true. As long as I believe in my deck, I can win. You taught me that." Star was thrown into the rusted lockers.

"You will not compare me to my weaker half! I destroyed him a long time ago!" The dark figure removed his hood. His skin was white like paper and his hair was black like tar. A scar covered his right eye. "I am The Dark Emperor!" A circle of black flames surrounded the two. "I would send you to the Nether World, but I have more important things to do."

"Your a coward for not facing me."

"No your the coward. Why else would you come alone." Dark tossed Star to the other side of the hall. He walked to the crumbled entrance. The crumbling statue was like a waiting hand to him. "Time to change the past."

"DARK!" A figure walked out from behind the statue.

"Ah Sunset. Or should I say leader of the resistance." He gave a bow. "To what do I owe the honor."

"Stop playing. I'm here to get back Gold." She activated her duel disk.

"Oh my sweet, naive Sunset. Gold is gone. And you and the others are the cause."

"Shut up!" Tears began streaming down her cheeks. "I will get him back, and finish you for good."

"Fine, if a duel will show you the truth, then let's battle." A skeletal duel disk appeared on his arm.

"Let's duel!"

Dark Emperor: 8000
Sunset Shimmer: 8000

"Ladies first," said Dark with a sly grin.

"Be quite." Sunset drew her card. "I play Card Destruction. So now we each send our entire hand to the graveyard and draw a new one." Both duelist discarded their cards and drew new ones. "Now I banish the fire, and earth attribute monsters I just sent to the graveyard, to bring out Lava Emperor!"

Lava Emperor
ATT: Fire
Level: 8 stars
Warrior/Effect
Once per turn, destroy all cards on your opponents side of the field.
Attack: 3000
Defense: 2900

The ground beneath the two cracked. Two volcanoes sprouted from the earth. They rose into the air as a figure made from molten rock appeared. It had red armor and a cape made of lava. "Ah, an old favorite."

"Then you remember it's effect. I end my turn with two face downs." Two cards materialized in front of Sunset.

"Finally. I get to make my move." Dark drew his card. "I'll start by playing the field spell, Hall of Memories." When dark placed the card, energy shot from the school. A long, dark hallway was created with doors on every side. "Time for a trip down memory lane."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunset.

"I'll show you. First I summon out Enraged Spirit."

Enraged Spirit
ATT: Dark
Level: 3 stars
Fiend/Effect
Your opponent can not use monster effects.
Attack: 1000
Defense: 900

A door next to Sunset opened. A hand reached out of the darkness, and pulled Sunset through the door. She floated in the empty space until an image materialized in front of her. It was when she went completely evil. "You remember this night. The night when you had your true power."

"No. I won't look." Sunset tried to turn, but she was forced forward.

"You can not forget your past. You wasted a possible chance on true power for some friendship." Sunset was thrown back into the duel. A black shadow stood on Dark' s side. "And just like your power, your Lava Emperor has none. I end my turn with a face down."

'Did I really waste my potential with friendship? No! My friends helped me through thick and thin. I have to win this.' "Its my turn." Sunset drew her card. "Your monster is still weaker then mine. Lava Emperor, attack his spirit! Eruption Fist!" Lava Emperor surrounded its fist in lava and drove it towards the spirit.

"Your still a fool Sunset. I activate my trap, Magical Cylinder." The lava blast went through one cylinder, and fired the blast at Sunset.

"Ahhh!"

Dark Emperor: 8000
Sunset Shimmer: 5000

"I end my turn with a face down." Sunset placed her card.

"I draw." Dark drew his card. "I sacrifice my Spirit to Summon out two Demonic Tokens." Two doors opened and Sunset was held back by two black hands. A door moved in front of her. "Let's go back to that fateful night. The night my weaker half was lost."

A light came from the door. It showed a duel between Sunset and Gold. The only thing was, Gold was being taken over by shadows. "No, not this!"

"Yes this. This was the night that you got rid of Gold. Your friends never forgave you after that. And I wouldn't blame them. You were too weak to defeat me." Sunset collapsed to her knees. Tears stung her eyes. "And I will summon a monster just to prove how weak you are." Dark raised his hands. "It's time for the sun to set on the resistance!"

The Darkest Future Part 2

"The sun has set on the resistance!" exclaimed Dark. "I end my turn."

Sunset chuckled. "Not quite." Sunset stood tall. "With your spirit gone, my Emperor can take a crack at your two tokens. Eruption Fist!" Lava Emperor made its attack and took out both tokens.

"So you got past my tricks. I can still take you."

"That may be true. But your about to get burned. Attack!" Lava Emperor sent another punch at Dark.

Dark Emperor: 5000
Sunset Shimmer: 5000

"Nice shot," grumbled Dark.

"There's more than that. Thanks to my Emperor successfully attacking. I can summon out another fire attribute of the same level." Sunset grabbed a card from her deck. "This card will be very familiar. Time to unleash my ultimate monster. Solar Flare Dragon!"

Solar Flare Dragon
ATT: Fire
Level: 8 stars
Dragon/Fusion/Effect
Two Fire-Type monsters
Choose a numbers between 1 and 5. Discard that many cards from the top of your deck, then destroy that many monsters on your opponents side of the field.
Attack: 3000
Defense: 2500

A column of fire sprouted from the earth. Bright red wings sprouted from it. A dragon with Gold and red scales pushed through the column and let out a mighty roar. "Hello Dark."

"That's Emperor to you miscreants!"

"Then say goodbye Emperor." Solar let out a blast of flames.

"I activate Defense Omega. Thanks to this card, I can summon out to Enraged Spirits to take the blow instead of me." Two spirits appeared and absorbed the attack. "But I still take damage."

Dark Emperor: 4000
Sunset Shimmer: 5000

"I end my turn with a face down."

"My go then." Dark drew his card. "You may have destroyed my monsters, but I still have my face down. Monster Reborn."

"But that's a banned card!"

"Then why do I have an entire hand of them." Dark set his three other cards and revealed all of them as Monster Reborn.

"Oh no!"

"Now say hello to my three Enraged Spirits and one Demonic Token." The monsters returned. "Now I will sacrifice all four to summon my most powerful monster." Black lightning struck all four monsters. The wind whipped up as more lightning struck the ground. The field spell was destroyed by another lightning strick. A black portal opened above. "Come fourth, King of Eternal Darkness." A wave of shadows descended from the portal. Two red eyes peered from the mist.

King of Eternal Darkness
ATT: Dark
Level: 12 stars
Infamous-Beast/Effect
Destroy all cards in your opponent's possession. This card can only stay on the field when "Dark Eternity" is active.
Attack: Infinite
Defense: 0

"Why can't I see it?" asked Sunset.

"No one may see the King. And thanks to activating Dark Eternity he will be staying." Dark gave a wicked smile. "Say goodbye to your whole deck!" A dark hand reached out and grabbed Sunset. She struggled to escape, but to no avail. "You've lost Sunset. Accept your fate." Dark talked up to the statue and placed his hands on it. "Spirits of time and space, give me your power!" Purple entry seated through him as the statue glowed. A portal opened up. "Time to go."

"Mind if I tag along." Dark turned and was tackled by Sunset. "Told you I would stop you." The two passed through the portal. They tumbled through the open air, until they finally hit the ground.

Dark stood above Sunset. "You'll pay for that." Dark was about to attack, but he looked up. "Oh no."

"Looks like the sun's up."

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!" Dark was vaporized by the bright light.

Sunset rested on the ground. 'He may have disappeared, but he'll be back. Have to warn my past self and friends.'

"Uh excuse me." Sunset opened her eyes to see herself.

"Oh boy. This is awkward." The older Sunset stood up. "Uh, don't freak out, but I'm you from the further."

Sunset didn't freak out. She passed out.

"Not the reaction I was hoping for." The older Sunset picked up the younger one. "Where can I take you?" She then felt how light she was. "Wait, your just a child. Which means we went back farther then I thought. I have to wipe her memory so the things don't change." Sunset used a bit of her magic for the memory wipe. "Now it's just a waiting game." The older Sunset walked away and went into hiding.

Numbers' Past

4 years later...

Gold stood outside of his new high school. He had been home schooled for the past three years. Ever since he first came to this world. He had barely any friends, except for the King of Games and a few others. Gold pulled out his deck. He flipped over the top to cards. One was a bright red dragon with crystal wings, it had a striking resemblance to Blue Eyes. The other was a white prism with different colored lights coming from it. "Crimson Dragon and Spectrum Prism. These are two test cards my dad wanted me to use. Hopefully the light of the prism shines today." Gold put away his deck and pushed the doors open.

Inside, students were mingling about before their morning classes. Gold pulled out his schedule to look at his first class. "Duel Strategy and Theories. Auditorium." The bell rang and the students were off. Gold went to his first class. He took a seat in one of the middle rows. Other students were filing in as the bell rang.

Gold was looking through his deck, but somebody tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see who tapped his shoulder. It was a girl with yellow and red hair, and amber skin. She wore a black jacket, a red shirt with a sun on it, a red and yellow skirt, and boots. She had a small smile. "Are you the new student?"

"Yes I am. The names Golden Rise."

"I'm Sunset Shimmer. Do you mind if I sit here?" She pointed to the seat next to him.

"Sure."

"Thanks." Sunset Sat down and put her books on the floor. As soon as she sat back up, a few paper balls hit her in the back of the head. "Not again," she sighed.

Gold bent down and picked up the paper. He uncrumpled it to read what was written. "She demon." Gold told around to the students behind them. "They're a friendly bunch."

"Its nothing new." Sunset held her head low.

Before Gold could ask about what she meant, class had started. The teacher explained different strategies for dueling and using card effects in chains. Gold knew about all of this so the class felt like it took forever. Finally, the bell rang and Gold headed for his next class. Like the first, it was basically eternity. Before long lunch had rolled around. Gold was heading for the cafeteria, but he was stopped by some music. The door that he just passed was one of the practice rooms. He knocked on the door and the music stopped.

The door opened. Sunset poked her head out to see Gold. "Hey Gold. How are you?"

"I'm doing good. I just stopped when I heard some great music coming from in here. Who's in here?"

"Oh just my friends." Sunset opened the door fully. She showed Gold in side and introduced him to her friends. "These are my friends, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy." She pointed to each girl.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Same to you sugarcube," said AJ.

Pinkie jumped up next to him. "Aren't you the son of Maximillion Pegasus?"

"What? No."

"Yes you are." Pinkie brought out her phone. She pulled up a picture of Gold and Pegasus at a news conference.

Rainbow looked at the picture. "Yeah it is."

"Uh, look Yugi Moto." While the others looked, Gold ran out of the room. "That was close." He ran outside and saw a lot of people. A few were holding signs. "Word travels fast." A few girls saw him and ran towards him. "Oh no."

"Hey Gold." Gold looked up to see a Blue-Eyes coming towards him. It landed and a kid that looked like Blue-Eyes stuck out his hand. "The names Burst Stream. Need a hand?"

"That would help." Gold accepted the offer and climbed on.

"Lift off," said Blue-Eyes. The group took to the skies.

"Thanks for the help."

"No problem. Seems like you already made a name for yourself."

"Yeah. Being the son of the soul card creator can get really old."

"Well you always have friends. I'll take you to introduce you to the guys. We are already known at Canterlot High." Burst guided Blue-Eyes down towards a house. A three guys waited outside. With their monsters. Burst and Gold hopped off Blue-Eyes. "Hey guys."

"Hey Burst," said a guy that looked like Red-Eyes. "This Gold?"

"Yup."

"Well it's good to meet you Gold." The guy shook Gold's hand. "I'm Inferno Flare."

"Nice to meet you."

A guy with white skin and purple hair walked up next. "I'm Artic Ace."

"Pleasure."

A guy with grey hair and skin cam up next. "The name's Steele Edge."

"Hey Gold. Why don't you bring out your monster partner?" asked Burst.

"Ok." Gold pulled out Crimson Dragon. "Come on out Crimson."

A bright light filled the area. When it cleared, a red dragon with crystal wings and a dark red under belly appeared. "Haven't seen the Earth's Sun in awhile."

Blue-Eyes turned to Crimson. "Brother?"

"Long time no see little bro." Crimson fist bumped Blue-Eyes. "Good to see you."

"I thought you were gone. You were sealed away after your last duel."

"Well thanks to Pegasus's Millenium Item, I was able to break free. I was even able to free the Angelic spirits in the monster world." Crimson looked off into the distance. "But there are a few I wasn't able to free."

"What do you mean?" asked Gold.

"You might want to sit down for this one, it's a dozy." The others gathered around. "It all began with an ancient power..."

A man glad in white robes ran down a hallway. He had a stone tablet underneath his arm. He entered a room that held four other tablets. He placed the fifth one above the four. "Spirits of Numeron, lend us your power so we may battle the darkness." The ground shook and a storm ragged outside. A huge gate appeared in the sky above. On top of it, a dragon with scales of gold and wings of silver. "Gates of Numeron! Unleash thy power!"

The gate opened and a bright lights shot out of it. The lights engulfed everything, the land, the sky, even the water. The light pushed back whatever evil was corrupting. But the darkness fought back. It absorb some of the light, and created vile creatures. They tore apart the land, and loosened the sea. Thankfully the Gates were still in power. They forged their own army of monsters. Each monster clashed for days and nights.

"Then the Numeron Dragon used its power to seal all the monsters away. They were each given a number, in hopes order would be established. But the only thing it did was turn into anarchy."

"How do you know all this?" asked Burst.

"At the time of their rise, I was fighting the darkness in my spirit form. The Angelic creatures helped seal away the darkness I was fighting. Numeron Dragon gave me some of his power. He said I would need it in the future." Crimson turned back to the group.

"Well if evil ever springs up again, we'll be ready," said Gold. He stuck his hand out. The others placed their hands on top. "We'll rise to the occasion."

"Let's duel!"

Far corner of Canterlot,

A figure in a black cloak walked up to an old abandoned building. Inside, there was a small living space. The figure removed his cloak and rubbed the scar on his eye. The number 43 started to glow on his hand. "Soon I will rise," said two voices at once. "And their will be no one to stop me!"

Blinded by the Light

After learning of possible threats to their world the day before, the guys decided to amp up their decks. "We'll need all the help we can get if we're going to face any evil," said Burst. When the guys made it to Discord's shops their was already someone inside. It was a guy about their age. He had white hair and yellow skin. He wore a white t-shirt, yellow jeans and white shoes. "Uh hi there."

"Hello," said the stranger. He turned around and the guys saw who he was.

"No way," said Inferno.

"It can't be," said Shadow.

"Are you...?" began Burst.

"Blinded Light," said Gold. "The first blind duelist."

Light smiled. "That's me. But you can call me Light. Also where can a guy get some sweets around here?"

"Wow. Two famous guys in one day. That has to be a record," said Ace.

The group arrived at Sugarcube Cube Corner. They were all talking about Light's past duels. But the atmosphere changed when they went inside. Derpy was at a table with a small shake, and a sour expression.

Light was able to sense Derpy's feelings. He walked over and sat across from her. "Penny for your thoughts."

"Just a little bummed is all," said Derpy without looking up.

"Is it because you lost a duel and someone took your cards?"

Derpy straightened up. "How did you know that?"

"I can sense your feelings. It is mostly a feeling of rage towards those that have taken your cards."

"Yes it is." Derpy began to tear up.

Light reached forward and brushed a tear out of Derpy's eyes. "How about we make it right then?"

"Uh Light," began Burst. "This isn't the first time something like this happened. There is a notorious student who steals people's deck after he beats them. He's also impossible to beat."

"Good thing I don't believe in the word impossible." Light stood up. "Time to show this guy the power we have." Light reached out his hand to Derpy. "All of us."

"But what can I do?" asked Derpy.

"I think you'll know what to do." Light pulled up Derpy. "Let's go."

"Right."

The group led Light to a spot behind the school. "That's far enough." A figure in a black cloak stepped out. "Looks like the fly is back in the spiders web."

"How about you shut up tall, dark, and buggy?" said Light.

"Why you little pest. How dare you speak to me that way."

"Then how about we stop talking and start dueling?"

"Fine." The figure activated his duel disk. "Try to give a monologue and this is what I get."

"Just what I was hoping for." Light pulled out a small disk from his pocket. He placed it on his arm and it expanded into a full duel disk.

"Time to see if the blind, can defeat the dark," said Gold.

"Let's duel!"

Light: 8000
Delinquent: 8000

"Since you have a disability, I'll let you go first."

"Your going to regret saying that." Light drew his first card. "I'll start by revealing Infernity Archfiend in my hand. Now I can special summon it. A creature with grey skin, six eyes, goat horns and a blue and green robe appeared.

"How could you tell what card you had?" asked the delinquent.

"Yeah, how can you duel like this?" asked Burst.

"Well it's simple really. I can read the different energies of each card. I learned a long time ago that each of my cards had a different energy signature. Thanks to their help, I found a way past my blindness. A way to bring hope to those that seem hopeless!" He pointed to his opponent. "And I promised to stop all oppressors! Even a small one like you!"

"Are you quite done?"

"With my speech yes. And I end my turn with two face downs." Light placed his two cards face down.

"My move." The delinquent drew his card. "I activate the Spider's Web. Now for every monster and card on your side of the field, I get a Widow Token." Three spiders appeared on the delinquent's side of the field. "And you get the same number of Poison Tokens." Three purple drops appeared on Light's field. "Now you take 1000 damage for each token on the field." Each spider shot a web, and the poison droplets exploded.

"AAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Light: 2000
Delinquent: 8000

"You should've stayed away. I end my turn. And at the end of your turn, you will lose."

"Then I better not lose. I draw." Light added the new card to his hand. "Just what I needed."

"What do you mean?"

"Just watch. I should thank you for the poison tokens."

"Huh?!?"

"Because now I can Synchro summon my best monster." The card in Light's hand turned into a green ring. Archfiend and the tokens turned into white lights. "Ever heard the phrase keeping an eye on you? Well how about a hundred?" A column of light exploded behind him. "I Synchro Summon, Hundred Eyes Dragon!" A black dragon came out of the light. A purple eye opened on its head. Then more eyes followed until all of its eyes were revealed. "Then I activate Revenge of the Infamous. When I have an Infernity monster in my graveyard, I can discard all cards in my hand and you take 1000 points of damage for each. So I discard two." A wind storm hit the delinquent.

Light: 2000
Delinquent: 6000

"So what?"

"So now I activate my dragon's effect. Since I have no cards in my hand, I can use the effect of one Infernity monster in my graveyard. Now thanks to Infernty Archfiend, I can get a random Infernity monster from my deck." Light drew his card. "I place one monster face down to end my turn."

"What a wasted turn?" The delinquent drew his card. "I activate my Spider Web's effect!"

"Just what I was hoping for."

"What?!?"

"I activate A Hundred Gazes. When Hundred Eyes Dragon is on my field and I have no cards in my hand. I can destroy one spell or trap. Say goodbye to your web." The card and tokens were destroyed.

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!"

"I guess people really hate having no internet."

"Uh..... See ya." The delinquent threw his duel disk down and made a run for it, but Hundred Eyes grabbed him.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" said Hundred.

The delinquent reached into his coat and pulled out multiple deck boxes. "Here take them!" He freed himself. "I'm outta here!"

Light picked up a grey deck box. Derpy ran up and gave him a hug. "Thank you for saving my cards." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Your my hero."

Light blushed. "No... problem."

"Well that's one crisis averted." Gold looked to the multiple deck boxes. "And a few duelist saved."

Light walked up to the others. "I don't know about you guys, but stopping a bully has worked up my appetite."

"Then let's go to Sugars Cube Corner," said Derpy.

"Sounds good to me."

Meanwhile, the dark figure was watching the entire duel. "That kid had an impressive duel. He can be of some use to me." The number 11 appeared on his neck. "Time for a transfer of cards."

Enter the Pawn

Gold and his friends were in the gym preparing posters for the upcoming music showcase. Burst, Inferno, Ace, and Steele had a band formed for the showcase. "Are you sure you don't want to join us Gold?" asked Burst.

"Yeah. I don't really play anything, and its not like I need more publicity." Gold suddenly felt an odd presence. 'This could be the odd energy my dad felt.' "I have to go check something." He left the gym and followed the strange energy. He walked to a dark corridor. "I thought they fixed the lighting."

"I feel that the darkness is better." A figure stepped out.

"Who are you?"

"My name is unneeded. I'm just here to tell to stay out of my way. Everything that is about to transpire is destiny."

"Destiny is never written."

"I'll just prove how wrong you are. Today you will battle against one of your friends who has been brainwashed by a card. You will receive a card to help defeat him. And it will only be the beginning."

"How do you know all this?"

The dark figure chuckled. "That is on a need to know basis. And you don't need to know." The dark figure stepped back into the darkness.

"Wait!" Gold ran forward but missed the figure. "Dang it. Is what he said true?"

There was sudden screaming coming from down the hall. A kid with a duel disk strapped to his arm was running from the direction of the screaming. "He's gone crazy!"

"That's the last time you'll hurt Derpy!"

"That sounds like Light." Gold ran in the direction of the shouting. He found Light standing in front of Derpy.

"Anyone else want to mess with us?" shouted Light.

"That's enough Light. You've gone over the deep end."

"I'm just making sure no one messes with us."

"By dueling? Your a guy who uses words, not cards."

"Well I changed that."

Gold looked to Derpy. She mouthed the words help us. "If you won't listen to reason, then a duel should get through to you." Gold pulled out his duel disk and activated it.

"Fine by me." Light activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Gold: 8000
Light: 8000

"Since I challenged you, I'll go first." Gold drew his first card. "I'll start by summoning out Phoenix Spirit in defense mode." A bird with fiery wings appeared. It covered its face with its wings. "I place two cards face down to end my turn."

"My move." Light drew his card. "I'll summon out Infernity Archfiend in Attack mode." A creatures with horns and six eyes appeared. "Then I'll place five cards face down. Now my Archfiend will attack your Phoenix." Archives charged up its fist and destroyed Phoenix. "I end my turn."

"My move." Gold drew his next card. "And now thanks to my Phoenix Spirit's effect, he can return to the field." The phoenix returned to the field.

"That's an interesting effect."

"Glad you like it. Now I'll summon out Crimson Armor Master in attack mode." A human in red armor appeared. He wielded a dark red crystal blade. "Then I'll equip him with Flaming Heart to boost his attack to 3000." A red arura appeared around Armor Master. "Attack his Archfiend." Armor Master charged forward and sliced through Archfiend. The shock wave pushed back light.

Gold: 8000
Light: 6800

"I end my turn."

"You may have gotten the first hit, but I'll be the one standing." Light drew his next card. "First I send one card to the graveyard, and then I will place activate Bounty of the Grave. This card allows me to gain life points equal to the attack points of a monster I send my graveyard."

Gold: 8000
Light: 6900

"I end my turn there."

'Only getting 100 life points. What are you playing at?' Gold drew his card. "I activate Magical Revolution. Now you take damage equal to the amount of face up spell cards x500."

"Not quite. I activate Doom Slinger's effect. By removing him from play, I take no damage. Now you can choose to activate his second effect."

"Which is?"

"If I draw a monster card, you will take all the damage from your card times two. If it's a spell or Trap, I take the damage."

'I'm playing with 3000 damage, but I have to finish this duel quickly.' "I will activate his effect."

"Leaving it up to fate I see." Light drew his card. "Your mistake. He revealed the monster card."

"No." A surge of energy struck Gold.

Gold: 5000
Light: 6900

"That's what you get for playing with fate."

"Well it's still my turn. Now I'll sacrifice my two monsters to summon out my strongest. Come forth Crimson Dragon!" Crimson descended to the field from a white cloud.

"Time to save you Light."

"The mighty Crimson Dragon. Soon you'll be nothing but a puppet in this game."

"What do you mean?" asked Gold.

Light let out a dark chuckle. "In my possession I hold a unstoppable monster. No mortal can surpass his power."

"Wait! That sound like the power of the Numbers," said Crimson.

"Seems like your Dragon is not as brave as he seems."

"That may be but he still has an unstoppable ability, and next turn you will see it. I end my turn."

"Not today." Light drew his card. "You may think I'm all talk, but it's time to show you my true monster. I overlay the two level seven monster in my hand to build the overlay network." The two cards turned into purple lights that went into a galaxy portal. "I summon out Number 11: Big Eye!" The portal exploded. A white spire with a yellow ring descended from the a black cloud. A huge eye opened up at the top of the spire. The number 11 was on its ring, and the number was also on Light's neck.

"Number 11," said Crimson. "He was called the Spellcaster Puppeteer."

"Why's that?"

"I'll show you. By removing one overlay unit, I can take control of Crimson Dragon." A light shown from the eye and drew in Crimson.

"Your now my puppet Crimson," said Big Eye.

"I can't fight it."

"Now Crimson, attack Gold." Crimson charged up his blast and fired it at Gold.

Gold: 2000
Light: 6900

"Now I'll activate my Card Blaster. By getting rid of my four other face downs, I can hit you with 1200 points of damage." Another surge struck Gold.

Gold: 600
Light: 6900

"I think you suffered enough. I end my turn."

'If I don't get another monster on my field I'm done for.' Gold drew his card. He now had two Pot of Greeds in his hand. 'Hope this works.' "I activate the two Pot of Greeds in my hand." A faint glow appeared around Gold's deck. He drew his four cards. "Wait I don't remember having these cards."

"Get on with your move," said Light.

"Might as well see what happens. I activate Double Summon. Now I summon out Star Seraph Sage." A metallic item appeared. The middle split as light shown from it. "And Star Seraph Scale." A gold scale appeared. "And because of its effect, I can summon out Star Seraph Scout." A second metallic item appeared. It had odd wing-like object coming out of it.

"So you got out three monsters. They're not powerful enough to take on my monsters."

"Maybe not alone. But I can build an overlay network for an Xyz summon." The three monsters turned into yellow lights that went through a portal. "Come on out Number 102: Star Seraph Sentury." The portal exploded. A warrior like being descended. He had the odd wing-like objects coming from his head. He also wielded a bow.

"What?!?"

"I have a Number."

"That is right Gold. I have come to aid you in your fight against the darkness." Seraph turned to Big Eye. "One enemy at a time."

"You may have a Number, but he is still weak."

"Not when he activates his effect. Seraph can half your monster's attack, and negate its effect." Seraph summoned an energy arrow, and fired it at Big Eye. His attack was lowered, and Crimson was released.

"This is not good," said Light. He looked worried.

"And now Crimson will destroy Big Eye and gain his original attack." Big Eye was destroyed in a single blast.

"Uh oh."

"Now it's time to finish this duel. Crimson Arrow Attack!" Crimson and Seraph's attacks combined and wiped out the rest of Light's life points.

"Ahhh!" He was blown back from the attack.

Gold: 600
Light: 0

Derpy ran over to Light. "Are you ok?" Gold ran up to the two.

Light gave a soft smile. "I am now. Thanks to Gold here." Light collapsed after that.

A sphere of light left Light's chest and floated over to Gold. He reached out for it. The light turned into Number 11's card. "This is only the beginning." Derpy was trying to get Light up. "Let's get him to the nurse." Gold and Derpy carried Light away.

"That is true young Gold." The dark figure watched the whole duel. "And my three other puppets will make sure your end is near." The figure opened a looking portal to see Sunset showing the Dazzelings around. "Just as planned."

Let the Show Begin

Gold and Derpy stayed with Light until he woke up. Light rubbed his head as he sat up. "Feels like I got hit by a truck."

"At least your safe," said Derpy as she hugged Light.

"Do you remember anything?" asked Gold.

"Kind of. It felt like I was in a dream, or a nightmare. I wasn't in control."

"Obviously not. What happened before you went crazy?"

"My deck box gave off this ominous glow. I opened it and grabbed the card that was glowing. This strange energy washed over me, and I was changed."

Gold brought out Number 11. "Was this the card you saw?"

Light grabbed the card. "Yes it was, but something is different. When I was being controlled, I saw this thing in chains."

"So he wasn't even in control."

Seraph materialized. "That is right. Only a few Numbers sided with the darkness. The others were forced to fight."

"Ok. We should tell the others what happened." Gold's phone went off. He saw that it was his dad. "Hey dad. There's something I have to tell you."

"That will have to wait Gold," said Pegasus. "I wanted to show you and your friends a new way of dueling. There should be a limo waiting outside for you all."

"Change of plans. Looks like we're going to be looking at a new way of dueling. Since the others aren't here, you two want to come?"

"Sure." The group headed out of the office, and found the school in an uproar. Different bands were fighting with each other. "Wonder what happened here?"

"I don't know. The others are going to have to tell us later." The three found the limo outside and headed to the local duel arena.

The group stood in the middle of the darkened area. "I wonder where my dad is?"

Pegasus came walking up. "I'm glad you three could make it. I hope your ready to see the newest craze that will sweep the dueling nation."

"What is it?" asked Light.

"Action Dueling!" The field around the group began to change. Huge buildings took them into the sky.

"This feels so real," said Derpy.

"That because it is. This special designed duel field turns cards into usable, real life creatures. And not just the ones your bonded to."

"That's right." The three turned around to see a new figure. It was a guy about there age. He had green hair, emerald skin, a red shirt and pants, white shoes, and a white jacket that he wore as a cape. "The names Show Time. I'm here to help demonstrate this new dueling style."

"Nice, but who are you going up against?" asked Gold.

"Would any of you like to volunteer?"

"I'll do it," said Derpy.

"Are you sure?" asked Light.

"Yup. I want to show off my own dueling skills." She then turned to Show. "Me and my Cookpals are going to beat you."

"I always like when a duelist is confident. Makes for a better duel." Show Time placed a green duel disk on his arm. Derpy placed hers.

"Action cards released." Cards spread out from a glowing orb.

"Let's duel!"

Show: 8000
Derpy: 8000

Show Time drew his card and began running towards the edge of the building. "Its time to whip into action. I summon out Performapal Whip Snake." A purple snake with a bow tie and top hat appeared. It wrapped around Show's arm. The snake extended outwards and grabbed the far ledge. Show was able to jump over and grab a card off the ground. "Next I'll place two cards face down to end my turn."

"I draw." Derpy placed the new card in her hand and grabbed another. "I summon out Cookpal Cluckwheat." A flower bag appeared. The top opened and the head of a yellow bird came out. "He's just so adorable."

"A chicken in a bag of flower?" questioned Gold.

"Derpy based her deck off of food and baked goods," said Light. "She is a very good baker."

"Let's see what she can do in battle."

"Your monster may be cute, but my Whip Snake has more strength," said Light.

"We'll see about that. I place one card face down to end my turn."

"I draw." Show grabbed another card. "I don't think you'll like this next move. I summon Performapal Fire Mufferlion." A white lion with a fiery mane and a poke-dot bow tie appeared. "Now to its time to bake. Fire Mufferlion attack Cluckwheat. Flaming Roar!" The lion fired a blast of fire from its mouth. "Hope you like fried chicken." Cluckwheat tried to run but it got burned.

Show: 8000
Derpy: 7300

"Nice shot," said Derpy.

"And I'm not done there. My Whip Snake will also attack." Whip Snake jumped forward and struck Derpy.

Show: 8000
Derpy: 5600

Whip Snake wrapped around Show's arm. "I end my turn there."

Derpy drew her card. "You may have gotten at my life points, but I'm turning this around. I activate Healthy Snacking. For each Cookpal I send to the to the graveyard, I get 500 life points. So I'll send four to the graveyard."

Show: 8000
Derpy: 7600

"I wonder why she did that," said Gold.

"Now I activate Food Cemetery." A giant kettle appeared in the sky. "Now my Cookpals can go from my graveyard to Food Cemetery." Five lights entered the kettle. "Next I activate Regal Recipies."

"This is her ultimate move," said Light.

"What do you mean?" asked Gold.

"Just watch."

"Now it's time to bring out the royalty of all food. Thanks to Regal Recipies I can bring out five Royal Cookpals. So come on out Royal Cookpal King Burger, Queen Omelette, Knight Pasta, Princess Pudding, and Prince Curry." Different foods with armor and weapons appeared.

"I wasn't expecting a five coarse meal during this duel," said Show.

"Well that's just the first coarse. Now for the second. By using Regal Recipies second effect, you take 300 points of damage for each Royal Cookpal I just summoned." Five lights struck Show.

Show: 6500
Derpy: 7600

"That could ruin someone's appetite." Show got up to his feet. "That was a good effect."

"Yeah it was. But now it's time to show off what my Royal Cookpals can do. Each of my Royal Cookpals can double Prince Curry's effect."

"So there are four Royal Cookpals," started Gold.

"Each one doubling Curry's attack one after another," continued Pegasus.

"Which means.." said Light.

"Prince Curry now has 4800 attack points." Prince Curry turned Gold. "And now by getting rid of Knight Pasta and Princess Pudding you two Performapals go away." The two Royal Cookpals wiped Show's field clear.

"Well it looks like this performance has some mixed reviews."

"Prince Curry attack." A swirl of curry blasted Show.

Show: 1700
Derpy: 7600

"I just realized I hate spicy food." Show brushed off curry from his shoulder.

"And I end my turn there so Prince Curry's attack goes back to 300."

"You may have hacked away at my life points, but now it's time for desert." Show drew his card. "Now it's time for the true performance." Show jumped up and grabbed another card. "Now to use this field to my advantage. I activate the Action Spell High Beam Fall. This takes out one Spell or Trap Card on your side of the field." A giant crane lifted up a beam. It came crashing down on Food Cemetery.

"This is going to leave a bad taste in my mouth," said Derpy.

"I also activate the Action Card Crane Game. Now I can send one of your monster to the graveyard." The crane came down on King Burger. "Now for my monster. By sacrificing two monsters, I can bring out Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon." A red dragon with orbs of red and green on its body landed on the field.

"Wow."

"Now I'll attack your Prince Curry. Spiral Flame Blast!" Odd-Eyes burned Prince Curry. "And thanks to his effect you take double the damage."

Show: 1700
Derpy: 3200

"Now I activate Encore. So Odd-Eyes can attack again. Spiral Flame Blast!" Queen Omelette was destroyed and the last of Derpy's life points were taken out.

Show: 1700
Derpy: 0

The field went back to normal and flat. Show helped Derpy up. "That was a well fought duel. You had me there for a turn."

"Yeah it was. I'm glad I could try this out."

"That was a fantastic duel," said Pegasus.

"That was one good duel, but we have a problem on our hands," said Gold.

"Is it about the Numbers?" asked Pegasus.

"How did you know?" asked Gold.

"Seraph came to me when the Numbers were released. He told me about the on coming threat. So I decided to prepare you."

Gold brought out the Star Seraph cards. "Is that why I have these?"

"Yes it is. And I fear they may not be enough. The true evil will make themselves known soon." Pegasus jerked his head up. "And the world could be destroyed!"

Battle of the Bands Part 1

Gold, Derpy, Light, and Show showed up at school the next day to find the same uproar as yesterday. "Wow," said Show. "I've only seen this type of havoc when people fight over their favorite bands."

An ochre colored guy came running towards them. He had a black V-neck and grey jeans. His name is Star Driver. "Hey Gold. Did you here about what's going on?"

"No I haven't. What's going on here?"

"These three mysterious girls showed up, sung a little song, and now everyone is under there control." Star's eyes suddenly gave off a green glow.

Gold became suspicious. "Thanks Star. We'll go find the others." Gold and his friends headed off.

"That was odd," said Show.

"Did you see his eyes?" asked Derpy.

"I didn't," said Light.

"Sorry." Derpy gave a sheepish smile.

"Well now we know why everyone is like this. We should make sure the others are still themselves. They would most likely be in one of the practice rooms." The group got to the room and walked in, but nobody was there. "I wonder where everyone is."

"Hey you!" Gold turned to see a new face. It was a guy with dark blue skin and black hair. He had a navy blue shirt and black pants.

"Who are you?" asked Gold.

"I am Sir Silver. Knighted by Princess Celstia herself." Silver pointed to Gold. "Princess Twilight asked me to keep an eye around here. And I can sense the Equestrian magic on you."

"So, what?"

"I an challenging you to a duel. If I win I'm taking you back to where you belong."

"And if I win, you talk and I don't go anywhere."

"Right. I've never been beaten." Night activated his black duel disk.

"There's a first for everything." Gold activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Gold: 8000
Silver: 8000

"Since you challenged me, I get to make the first move." Gold drew his card. "First I activate Crimson Armory. This lets me add one Crimson monster and one Equip Spell to my hand." Gold grabbed his two cards. "Now I summon out Crimson Magician in Attack mode." A humanoid figure in dark red robes, wielding a crystal staff, appeared. "Now I'll equip home with Fire Crystal to boost his attack to 2800." The staff erupted into flames. "Then I place two cards face down to end my turn."

"So you use the power of fire and light. I prefer the secrets of the shadows. I draw." Silver drew his card. "First I tribute one monster to summon out Vampire Lord." A humanoid man with almost white skin, blue hair, and an ornate cape appeared. "Next I activate Vampire Takeover. This lets me play Vampire Kingdom and summon out Vampire Lady." The field turned into the grounds of an old castle.

"I really hate these types of fields," said Show.

A lady with blue skin, dark blue hair, and a purple dress appeared. "Now I have my Lord and Lady on the field."

"I see you based your deck off this knight thing."

"Not quite, but close. I activate Cursed Bite. Now you have to get rid of the monster with the most attack points in your hand."

Gold looked at his cards. 'Crimson is my strongest one here. Sorry buddy.' Gold sent Crimson to the graveyard.

"Now I can use Vampire Kingdom's effect. By discarding a Dark attribute monster, your Crimson Magician goes away." Crimson Magicain was destroyed in a flash of lightning. "Now my Lord and Lady will attack you directly." Lord and Lady sent out two separate blasts.

"Not today. I activate the trap Crimson Wave Distribution. If a Crimson monster was sent to the graveyard this turn, we both take the same amount of damage." The two blast hit the center of the field and the shock wave hit Gold and Silver.

Gold: 3450
Silver: 3450

"You were able to hit me on my first turn, impressive. I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Thanks." Gold drew his card. "I summon out Crimson Armor Master." A human in red armor wielding a crystal sword appeared. "That's all I can do for now."

"Seems like you've been backed into a corner. Perfect for me." Night drew his card. "I tribute my Lady to summon out Shadow Vampire." Vampire Lady faded into a mist. A figure hid in the mist. "Now I'll overlay my two Vampire monsters to build the Overlay Network." The two figures turned into purple lights that went into a portal. "I Xyz summon Crimson Knight Vampire Bram!" The portal exploded. Out of the dust came a figure in purple and pink armor wielding a black sword and purple shield.

"That's a big warrior," said Light.

"And my warrior has a big effect. By using one overlay unit, I can take control of one of the monsters in your graveyard."

"Wait that means...!"

"I summon out Gold-Eyes Crimson Dragon!" Crimson appeared on the field.

"This isn't good," commented Show.

"Now Crimson will attack your Armor Master." Crimson blasted down Armor Master.

Gold: 2950
Silver: 3450

"Sorry Gold," said Crimson.

"Wait, your Dragon can actually speak to you?"

"Well yeah. Crimson bonded with me when I first used him. Together we promised to fight for what was right." Gold looked at Silver. "I was never a threat to this world."

Silver looked down. "Wow I never thought about that. I always fought in the dark, but I guess I have to fight in the light now. I release Crimson to make this more of a far fight."

"I guess you still want to finish this."

Silver smiled. "I wanted the truth. I may have gotten it in a unconventional way, but I now know the side your on. But a knight never surrenders in battle. Bram attack!" Vampire Bram swung its sword.

"Its time to end this duel. I activate the trap Light Burst. If I have a light attribute monster in my graveyard, your monster's attack stops in its tracks." Vampire Bram froze. "And your monster gets destroyed because of its dark attribute, and you take damage equal to its attack." A blast of light destroyed Bram.

Gold: 2950
Silver: 950

"Nice move, I end my turn."

"Then it's my move." Gold drew his card. "I activate Crimson Reincarnation to bring back Gold-Eyes Crimson Dragon." Crimson came out of a column of light. "Now attack, Crimson Plasma Arc." Silver was wrapped in red flames.

Gold: 2950
Silver: 0

"I guess I owe some explanations." Silver rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, you kinda do," said Show. Derpy hit him in the back of the head. "Ow."

"Well I came with Princess Twilight after she got a message from Sunset Shimmer. The message said..."

"Wait, wait, wait. Princess Twilight?" asked Light.

"Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself. You see I come from a place called Equestria. Equestria is a place where all kinds of creatures live with one another. It is protected by two Royal sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and the Elements of Harmony, magical crystals wielded by their guardians. Princess Twilight is one of those wielders and I'm a part of her guards."

"So you really are a knight," said Derpy.

"Yep. Now where was I? Oh yes, we came here to assist this world's Elemnts of Harmony in taking down the Sirens."

"Are they the ones causing all this fighting?" asked Show.

"Yes they are. They feed off the hatred of others, and they use that to control people, making them do what they want. Twilight and her friends are trying to figure out a way to stop them. She asked me to stay here and make sure nothing bad happens." Silver looked to Gold. "The reason I challenged you was because of the Equestrian magic that was radiating off you. Your not from this world are you?"

The others looked at Gold. He tilted his head down. "No I'm not, and I don't want to talk about it right now. We know what the problem is. Now we help solve it."

"How do we do that?" asked Light.

"We help the girls battle these Sirens. And something tells me there is more to this then we know of." Gold ran off with the others close behind.

Outside, two figures stood in front of the school. "Is this the place Night Fang?" asked the first figure. The first figure was a guy with green and yellow hair, brown skin, blue jeans and a shirt with a flower in the middle.

"Yes it is Veenus Bloomer," said Fang. Fang was a guy with purple hair and grey skin, dark jeans and a short sleeve shirt with a wolf in the middle. Over the shirt he wore a grey hoodie. "I can sense something in this school, something dark and malicious." Fang let out a growl.

"Fang, remember, you have to hide that part of you," said Veenus.

"Right, sorry." Fang cleared his head. "Let's go in.".

In the shadows

The dark figure was watching everything. "All the pieces are almost in place. Soon I will be able to rule over this world and bring the future that I have always wanted. The numbers, 37, 79, and 80 glowed on his arm.

Battle of the Bands Part 2

Fang and Veenus had spread out to cover more of the school. Fang used his extra sensory powers to find the source of the darkness he sensed. He passed an empty hallway and saw one of the Sirens. Aria Blaze. "That's odd. I getting some sort of dark aura from her, but she seems mostly good, and pretty too." She then punched a locker. "Still pretty."

"Stupid Adagio. She's the reason we're stuck here," Aria grumbled to herself.

Fang came up to her. "Something on your mind?"

"What do you want?"

Fang put his hands up. "Hey, I just saw you in a bad mood is all. I was wondering if I could put a smile on your face."

"Pfft. Don't bother. Nothing can change my mood."

"That a challenge?" Fang turned around for a second. When he turned back he had big puppy eyes.

"Like that's going to work." Aria kept her stern look. But then she let her guard down for a second. Those puppy eyes melted her heart. A smile sprung onto her face. "Fine. You win."

"Works every time. So, what's bothering you?" asked Fang.

"Just some family stuff. My sister Adagio had this brilliant idea of taking over the school."

"Taking over the school?"

"Me and my sister's just wanted a meal, but she had to push it much farther."

"Meal?" Fang got even more confused.

"I should go. My sister's are probably wondering where I am." Aria passed Fang. "See ya around handsome." She walked off.

"I still have so many questions. Maybe Veenus got some answers."

Meanwhile, Veenus was walking outside. He passed by a flower bed that had seen better days. "Poor things." He looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Let's give you some life." Green particles spread out from his hands. The flower bed sprouted with bushes of red roses and other flowers. "There we go." Veenus heard some humming and ducked behind the corner of the building. When he looked back around he saw another Siren, Adagio Dazzel.

"Aria thinks she can lead our group. She just scares everyone." Adagio looked at the new rose bushes. "These are pretty."

"Not as much as you," said Veenus out loud.

"Uh." Adagio saw Veenus peeking around. "Who are you?"

"I'm Veenus.." He then tired to lean on the wall, but missed the wall, hitting the ground. "Ow."

Adagio giggled. "Your cute Veenus. Clumsy but cute."

Veenus got up and brushed himself off. "I'm usually not like that. I just get nervous around cute girls."

"Your just full of compliments. Wish I could stay but I have to get back to my sisters." Adagio walked off.

"Well that was a pleasant meeting. Hopefully Fang found something." Veenus grabbed a rose and walked off.

Gold was walking out of the building when the two walked into each other. The two fell to the ground. "Sorry. Didn't see you there."

"No, that was my fault. I should have watched where I was going." Veenus stood up. "I'm Veenus Bloomer."

Gold stood up. "Golden Rise. Nice to met you Veenus."

"Hey, you look familiar..."

"Yeah, yeah, son of Maximillion Pegasus, heard it before."

"Ok, guess I didn't have to say it. Reason your stressed out?"

"Well we got a problem here, and I need to figure out who is on side."

"Well if you need any help, me and my friend should be able to help."

"Thanks." Gold looked at his watch. "The two teams for the finals would have been decided by now. We better find our friends, and come up with a plan."

Meanwhile, Trixie was incomplete disbelief that the Rainbooms had moved on instead of her. "This is a travesty, A TRAVESTY!"

Adagio was about to walk over, but a dark hand kept her back. "I will handle this one." A dark figure stalked over to Trixie. "Yes it is."

"Who are you?"

"You could say I'm the manager of the Dazzelings. I'm here to offer you a chance to join the Dazzelings and have the glory you seek."

"Trixie doesn't trust any dark and creepy people."

"Well if you want to talk, just call." The dark figure handed Trixie a card.

"It's blank." Dark wisps of magic began to surround Trixie. "What's happening to Trixie?!?"

"Let the Number take over. Feel it take control." Trixie couldn't fight back. She was soon over taken by the dark magic. "Now that you are under my control, I have something for you to do."

Gold had gathered everyone that wasn't involved in the battle of the band's in the main foyer. "Ok everyone. We know who we are after, and we know a way to beat them."

"Yeah I have a question," said Veenus. "Who are we fighting?"

"A group called the Dazzelings," said Light.

"Oh."

"Something wrong Veenus?" asked Show.

"Well I kind of met a girl with that name, and I may have, sort of, fallen in love with her."

Gold face palmed. "Why do we always fall in love with the bad girls?"

"Speak for yourself," said Light.

Gold began contemplating his situation. Then an idea struck. "We can actually use that."

"What do you mean?" asked Fang.

"Veenus could try and break this girl from whatever is controlling her."

"Will that work?" asked Silver.

"It's all we got. And we better get moving. The Rainbooms are probably at the amphitheater." The group went off to find the Rainbooms. They stopped at the entrance where they saw the Dazzelings standing. Trixie was on the stage next to a lever. Gold and Silver pulled the others behind the entrance wall.

"That's Aria," said Fang. He pointed to the Dazzelings on the right.

"Let me guess..." began Light.

"Yeah I kind of like her," said Fang.

"Well something tells me we just missed the Rainbooms," said Silver. "We may have to wait for tonight to do anything."

"The only way to take out a villain is when there at their strongest," said Gold. The group slipped past the Dazzelings and ran behind the stage. "We'll wait here until tonight."

That night,

Gold was the only one awake when night had finally hit. "The Rainbooms should have been on by now." The group suddenly woke up when they heard banging.

"What is that?" asked Silver.

"Sounds like it's coming from under the stage," said Derpy.

Gold grabbed a plank of wood that was on the ground. The group made there way over to the side stage door. Silver grabbed the handle. "On the count of three. Ready. Three!" The group rushed through the door only to find the Rainbooms, Sunset, Burst and the others. "Oh. Hey guys."

"Gold, you saved us." Sunset rushed forward and wrapped Gold in a hug. She then blushed a deep red and backed away. "I mean, thanks."

"No problem." Gold was blushing as well.

"Sorry to ruin this moment," said Rainbow. "But we have some Sirens to deal with."

"Right." Gold led the group outside. He then pointed to a nearby hill. "That hill should let your music project out to the crowd."

"But how are we supposed to be heard?" asked AJ.

"I got that covered," said Show. "A girl by the name of Vinly Scratch should be waiting for you up there."

"How'd you talk to her?" asked Fluttershy. "She never takes off her headphones."

"Let's just say we performers have a secret way of communicating."

Inferno stepped up to Rarity. "Don't you have some outfits for the group Rare?"

"Oh yes my dear Inferno," said Rarity.

"Then you girls better get up there," said Ace. He turned to see Sonata and the other Sirens getting on stage. With another figure.

"Is that Trixie?!?" exclaimed Sunset.

"Yes it is."

"Something tells me that there is another person in this match up," said Gold.

"That's right Rise." A figure in a dark cloak materialized out of the shadows.

"Your the guy I met in the hallway."

"That is correct, and I believe it's time you knew one of my names. I am The Puppetmaster Master."

"Sunset, you and the girls go handle the Sirens, me and the guys got Puppet over here."

"Right." Sunset and the girls ran off.

"Your fool for trying to take on my puppets. They listen to my every word," said Puppet Master.

"The we'll just have to shut you up." Night cracked his knuckles.

"Well your not just facing me." Puppet Master snapped his fingers. Two figures stepped out of the shadows. One was a guy that looked like Ace. Except he had darker skin tone, and black hair. The second was a girl with black skin, and dark blue, almost night-like, hair. Both wore a dark cloak. "I had a back up plan."

"Dark Ice?" Ace was shocked.

"I guess he's your brother," said Show.

"Yeah. He went missing a few months ago. Puppet Master must have taken him."

"I just love a family reunion." Puppet Master let out a dark chuckle.

"Your not getting away with this," Gold growled.

"Oh yes I will." Puppet Master began running.

"Get back here!" Gold turned to the others. "Show, Ace, Fang, Veenus, Inferno, and Burst, you guys free these two. Me, Silver, and Light are going to track down Puppet." The others nodded and separated. Gold's group chased after Puppet Master. He had stopped at the front of the school. "End of the line for you."

"Not unless I duel you." Puppet Master summoned a duel disk.

Gold brought out his own. "And I'll make sure you lose."

"That may happen, but your other friends will suffer." A magical, rainbow light pierced the sky. "And my plan is falling into place."

"What do you mean?" asked Silver.

"Your friends thought they have freed my puppets, but this is only the beginning. Prepare to see the duel of your life!"

Back at the stage,

The Show, Veenus, Fang, and Ace went onto the stage to see if the girls were OK. But they were met with dark looks from the girls. "This seems bad," said Show.

Each of them summoned a duel disk. "And this seems worse," said Veenus. The guys activated their duel disk.

Side of stage,

Burst and Inferno were standing against Ice and the girl. "Who are you?" Burst asked the girl.

"You can just call me, Nightmare." She let out a dark chuckle.

"Ok, this just got ten times creepier," said Inferno. All of them activated their duel disk.

"Time for the ultimate battle to begin!"

"LET'S DUEL!"

Gold: 8000
Puppet Master: 8000

Show: 8000
Veenus: 8000
Fang: 8000
Ace: 8000
Trixie: 8000
Adagio: 8000
Aria: 8000
Sonata: 8000

Burst: 8000
Inferno: 8000
Ice: 8000
Nightmare: 8000

Battle of the Bands Part 3

Gold: 8000
Puppet Master: 8000

"Its time to end your rain of terror Puppet Master." Gold clenched his fist.

"I hope to see you try. But I won't be the one dueling."

"What do you mean?"

"I guess I should show you." Puppet Master reached into his cloak and pulled out a straw doll. "Let's see if I can't mess with your mind." Puppet Master jumped onto the roof. He threw down the doll, and a cloud of smoke engulfed the area. When it cleared, Sunset was standing in front of Gold with Puppet Master's duel disk on her arm.

"Sunset?"

"What am I doing here?" Sunset was freaking out.

"This is my ultimate trick. Your dear Sunset will be the one battling you with my deck." Puppet Master lifted up his arms and Sunset was forced to do the same. "Now let's begin."

"But I can't fight her. I care about her," said a defeated Gold.

"Gold." Gold looked up at Sunset. "Don't worry about me. Just beat this creep. I know you can."

Gold snapped out of his funk, and gave Puppet Master a death glare. "Its time I rose to the occasion! I draw!" Gold drew his first card. "First I summon Crimson Armor Master." Armor Master appeared. "Then I activate Crimson Brotherhood. This lets me summon out another Crimson monster. I summon out Crimson Magician." Magician appeared. "Next I place two cards face down to end my turn."

"Starting strong, just like a fool would. Draw." Sunset drew the card. "Perfect. I summon out Fallen Angel #1 in Attack mode." A humanoid women in tattered white robes, wings with feathers missing and sharp claws. "And thanks to her I can summon out Fallen Angels #2 and #3." Two more creatures like the first appeared. "And now I activate Fallen Feather Fusion. This lets me fusion summon a Fallen Angel monster using monsters I control. So by sending my three Angels to the graveyard, I can summon out Fallen Angel King." The three monster were destroyed and the ground started to shake. The ground in front of the pair began to crack. A giant hand reached out and broke the earth. Then a giant humanoid appeared. It wore tarnished, rusted armor, a crown of bones, and it had only three feathers on each wing.

"That's one big monster," said Silver.

"And now his attack will double for each card used to summon it. Now its true power will be unleashed!"

Fallen Angel King: 32000

"32000...."

"And each one is directed at you. Hand of Dark Destruction!" Fallen Angel King wrapped his fist in dark energy.

Show: 1800
Veenus: 600
Fang: 1200
Ace: 200
Trixie: 4000
Adagio: 3700
Aria: 2000
Sonata: 2200

It wasn't looking good for Show, Veenus, Fang, and Ace. The only two with monster were Show, Perfromalpal Silver Claw, and Ace, Arcanite Magician.

Trixie had Number 83: Galaxy Queen, Adagio had Number 80: Rhaposdy in Beserk, Aria had Number 79: Battlin' Boxer Nova Kaiser, and Number 37: Hope Woven Dragon Spider Shark. Sonata had just ended her turn after attacking Ace. "You boys are so easy."

"Man, we're getting our buts handed to us," said Show.

"Yeah, and we barely have any monsters," said Veenus.

"It's not looking good for us," said Fang.

"We are gonna need a lot of luck this turn," said Ace.

"Then let's start off this lucky round," said Show. A card started to glow in his extra deck. Show took it out and saw a Number Card. "Time to get this show started. First I play Level Equalizer. By sending a level 7 monster to the graveyard. All monsters on my field, and any monsters I summon this turn, become level 7. I summon out Performapal Sleet Skimmer. Then I activate Double Summon to summon out Performapal Whip Snake. Now I overlay my three Performapals to build the Overlay Network." The three monsters turned into yellow lights that went through a portal. "I Xyz summon Number 7: Lucky Straight!" A striped tube descended from the sky. It began to spin until it unraveled. A monster that looked like jester stood before th group. It held a staff with a 7 on the end.

"Hello ladies," he said.

"Now then, two six sided die are rolled. Then Lucky Straight gets attack points equal to the higher of the two rolls." A yellow and blue die appeared above Show. Each one began to spin. A few seconds later the two dice stopped. "And the two numbers are 5 and 2. Which means Lucky gets 3500 extra attack. Boosting him to 4200. And since the two numbers equal 7, I can get rid of all monsters on the field."

"Its curtains for your mind control." Black chains appeared around the girls Numbers. Lucky destroyed the chains then wiped the field clean. "I don't think they'll be getting an encore."

"Now Lucky, attack Trixie directly!" Lucky charged up his staff and struck Trixie.

Trixie: 0

"I end my turn." Show turned to the others. "I think you guys can give this duel the ending it deserves."

"Right." Veenus drew his card. His extra deck began to glow. "I activate Sunlight Revival. This card allows me to send two cards to the graveyard, and special summon two plant types. So I summon back two Revival Roses. Now I use them to build the overlay network." The two plants turned into purple lights that went through a portal." I Xyz summon Number 50: Blackship of Corn!" A giant ship with a 50 on its sail arrived on the field. "Then I activate Fertilized Soil to double my Ship's attack to 4200. Attack!" Blackmail fired off sets of cannons at Adagio.

Adagio: 0

"Your up Fang."

"Thanks." Fang drew his card. His extra deck glowed. "I think I'll skip the summoning and just get to the overlay." Two cards in Fang's hand turned into purple lights. "I Xyz summon Number 14: Greedy Sarameya." I fiery cerberus jumped onto the field. The number 14 was on its hind leg. "Now attack, Fire of Greed." Sarameya sent out a blast of flames at Aria.

Aria: 0

"Time to finish this Ace."

"You got it." Ace drew his card. "I overlay two of my Legendary Knights in my hand to build the overlay network." The two cards turned into yellow lights that went through a portal. "I Xyz summon Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy!" A creature descended from the sky. It had white armor and silvery wings. The number 38 was on its left shoulder.

"Let's finish this."

"Harbinger attack. Hope Galaxy Blast!" Harbinger fired a beam of stars.

Sonata: 0

Trixie rubbed her head. "What happened?"

"Feels like I was just on a rollercoaster," said Adagio.

Veenus walked up and pulled Adagio up. "Glad to have you back beautiful."

"I hope I'm not dreaming."

Aria walked up to Fang. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"I've been meaning to ask, how are you able to do those puppy dog eyes so well?"

"Well.." Fang removed his hood to reveal his wolf ears. "Ta da."

Aria smiled. "Good boy." She scratched Fang behind the ear, and his foot went like crazy.

Sonata ran up and wrapped Ace in a hug. "Thank you Ace."

"No problem... Losing vision."

"Whoops, sorry." Sonata eased up and Ace returned the hug.

Show stuck his hand out to Trixie. "The name's Show Time. I've heard you have some tricks up your sleeve."

Trixie turned away. "You not going to sweet talk me."

"Well we are the only two left." Show chuckled while Trixie was blushing.

There was a sudden explosion next to the stage. "What was that?"

"Let's go check it out."

The group ran over to see the commotion. Burst and Inferno were on there knees as two monster stood before them. Number 96 and Number 87.

Burst: 100
Inferno: 100
Ice: 3500
Nightmare: 3000

"Stay down," said Ice. "There is no sense in getting up."

"What's the fun in that?" joked Burst. He pushed himself up with Inferno behind him. "We will always duel to the very end. I draw." Burst drew his card. "I summon out Lord of Dragons. Then I activate Flute of Summoning Dragons. To bring out Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon." The two legendary dragons descended to the field.

"Summon as many monsters as you want," said Nightmare. "You can't destroy our Numbers. Just forfeit the duel and join us."

"We will never join the likes of you," said Inferno. He drew his next card. "I activate my own Flute of Summoning Dragons to bring out another Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes." Another set of dragons descended. The two looked at their extra decks to see them glowing. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Let's fight fire with fire."

"Together we overlay our dragons to build two overlay units." Red-Eyes went through one portal, and Blue-Eyes another.

"I Xyz summon Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon!" exclaimed Burst. A dragon with black and red, metallic skin descended. The number 107 was on its head.

"Time for the galaxy to rain down on evil."

"I Xyz summon Number 74: Master of Blades!" A warrior wielding multiple blades appeared. The number 74 was on his helmet.

"You will feel the power of my blades."

"I activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Blue-Eyes." Blue-Eyes entered the duel. Then I use one Overlay Unit to negate your monsters' effects and reset there Atk and Def." Yachting released of wave of energy that reset the two monsters.

"Now it's time to end this. Full Arsenal Onslaught!" All the monster combined their attacks to take out bothered Numbers.

Ice: 0
Nightmare: 0

Dark Mist was still standing after the blast. "My master will hear about this." He vanished.

Ice rubbed his head. "Anyone get the number of that truck?"

Ace walked up to Ice. "You got hit by a lot more then a truck." Ace pulled Ice to his feet. "Glad to have you back bro."

Ice smiled. "Good to be back." Ice turned to the empty amphitheater. "Wasn't there a full house here?"

"The audience ran for it once the dueling got under way," said Burst. He was helping Inferno get Nightmare to her feet. "Do you know who you are?"

"Somewhat. My memory is a little foggy."

"Classic amnesia," said Inferno. "My dad had it once. Forgot how to sing for a full week."

"That doesn't seem that bad," said Nightmare.

"Oh really." Inferno pulled out his phone and brought up a video. Then, all anyone heard was worse then nails on a chalk board.

"I rather listen to nails on a chalk board," said Burst.

The girls had arrived once everything was cleared up. "Seems like you guys handled it," said Rainbow.

"Yeah." Burst looked around. "Where's Sunset?"

AJ looked around. "She was with us a minute ago."

"AHHHH!"

"That sounded like Sunset," said Fluttershy.

"And it came from the school," said Pinkie.

The group ran to the school to see what the cause was. They were not greeted with a peaceful sight. Fallen Angel King stood above a giant crater in the ground. At the bottom of the crater was Gold, and he was worse for ware. Sunset was covering her mouth with her hands, and tears were running down her face. Puppet Master gave off a dark laugh. "This is the end of you Rise."

Gold: 0
Puppet Master: 8000

"Time for your soul to be sent to the shadows."

"NO!" A swirl of dark energy appeared in front of Puppet Master.

"Dark Emperor, what are you doing here?"

"You went against my orders. I just said to get control of his friends. You were never supposed to battle him." Dark Emperor snapped his fingers and the dueling field returned to normal, but Gold was still down. "This is an act of treason."

"No, no, no. I was never going against you." Puppet Master began to choke.

"There is no room for defiance in my kingdom." The two disappeared.

Sunset was released and she ran to Gold. She embarrassed him as tears fell to the ground. "Please be ok."

"Fluttershy, call an ambulance," said Burst. He placed a hand on Gold's shoulder. "Your going to be ok."

Puppet Master was thrown to the ground as he tried to back away. "Please sir. I will make it up to you."

"A liar has no place in my ranks." Dark Emperor opened a portal into the Shadow Realm. "Now you will spend eternity in the shadows." He grabbed Puppet Master by the throat and threw him in. Dark Emperor walked up to his thrown. "Time for operation Shadow Crystal." He released a good amount of energy. "This should intrigue one particular person."

Twilight's sensors were going off. She removed a piece of paper that was tied to a wave length machine. "These readings are off the charts. Just what is happening at that school?"

Like Family

The media had been in a firestorm over the recent activity around the school. Calls about random earthquakes, giant shadows, and mysterious explosions plagued the phones of local police and news. The news began to jump on the incident. They started to interview students and staff about the recent events. Their latest interview was with Principal Celestia. "We are completely aware of the recent events around the school. We have the Canterlot Police on the look out for any potential threat to our students. That is all we will say at this time. Thank you."

Sunset shut off the hospital TV. With the TV off, the only sound was the heart monitor. Sunset walked over and placed a hand on Gold's bandaged shoulder. "Your going to be ok Gold." She was mostly saying it for her sake. She interlaced her fingers with his and sat down. This was her daily routine for the past two days.

But today was going to be different. A set of footsteps was heard getting closer to the door. A figure stopped in the doorway. It was a girl with waist-length red hair tied in a ponytail, light purple eyes, and white skin. She wore a red plaid skirt, a brown jacket with a tan vest, and a white shirt with a red ribbon tied at the collar. "Is this Golden Rise's room?" she asked.

"Yes it is," said a suspicious Sunset. "Who are you?"

"I'm Paladin Crismon. Gold's sister," said Paladin with a smile.

Sunset did not believe a single word. "Yeah right. Gold's sister just happens to show up after he is hurt after battling a being of Darkness."

"Well I saw the local news, and I got worried. I haven't seen him in years."

"Like I would believe that," said Sunset.

"What would make you believe me?" asked Paladin.

"Beat me in a duel." Sunset brought out her duel disk.

"How will that prove anything?"

"Just duel."

"Ok then." Paladin reached into the bag she had and brought out a red duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Sunset: 8000
Paladin: 8000

"I'll go first." Sunset drew her card. "I summon out Blue Flame Swordsman." A warrior in blue armor wielding a blue flaming sword appeared. "Then I set two cards face down to end my turn."

"I draw." Paladin drew her card. "I start by setting a card. I summon out Crystron Rosenix." A bird made from red crystals descended to the field. "She's a favorite of mine."

"Yeah, we all have our favorites," said Sunset.

"Well she's one of my favorites because of her effect. By getting ride of my face down, I can summon one Crystron Tuner monster from my deck." Paladin's deck shuffled itself and she drew a card. "I summon Crystron Citree." A human made of yellow metal appeared. "Now my Rosenix will attack your Blue Flame Swordsman."

"But they both have the same attack."

"I know that." Rosenix dove at Blue Flame Swordsman. He lifted his blade and struck Rosenix. Both were destroyed.

"So you got rid of my Swordsman. Now what?"

"Now I'll use Citree to revive Rosenix." Citree sent out a wave of light and Rosenix was back. "Now I activate Graceful Charity. So I draw three cards, and discard two. Then I activate Iron Call. This lets me summon a level 4 or lower Machine-type from my graveyard." Paladin grabbed a card from her graveyard. "I summon out Crystron Smiger." A tiger made from white metal and brown crystals appeared. "Then I activate Foolish Burial to bring back Crystron Thystvern." A dragon made of purple metal and crystals came from a portal.

"For monsters on your first turn?!?"

"Yeah. All my monster work together really well. Now I set two cards face down to end my turn."

"You may have an army of monster, but I will win this." Sunset drew her card. "I activate Terraforming to add a field spell to my hand." Sunset's deck shuffled itself, and she drew the top card. "Now I activate Volcanic Vally." The field transformed into a landscape filled with volcanos. "Hope your water monsters don't dry up."

"They're staying nice and cool."

"Not for long. This card lets me summon Fire attribute monsters from my deck for each card I send to the graveyard. I'll send two cards to the graveyard." Sunset sent her two cards to the graveyard. Her deck shuffled and she drew her two new monsters. "I summon out Open Hearth and Flame Soldier." A fire sparked on the field and was lined with stones. A humanoid figure came up from the lava. "Now I activate Polymerization to fuse my two monsters together to summon out my ultimate monster." Both monsters jumped into the air and turned into a swirling vortex. "I bring out Solar Flare Dragon!" A cry emitted from the skies. A fireball shot from one of the volcanoes and landed on the field. Two fiery wings sprouted from from the fireball. A dragon climes out of the crater it left. It had red scales and flaming spines.

"Hello threat. Prepare to be burned," she said.

"Now I can destroy as many monsters on your side of the field, as cards I send to the graveyard." Sunset sent three cards to the graveyard. "Fiery Vengence!" Solar Flare prepared to fire a blast.

"I activate Negate Effect to stop you Dragon." Solar Flare powered down.

"Darn it."

"Then I activate Final Battle. This causes one of my monsters to battle with yours, but Niether are destroyed." Rosenix dove at Solar, but both were fine.

Sunset: 8000
Paladin: 6800

"Why would you take damage?"

"Why are you asking questions? A duel is supposed to be spontaneous and fun." Paladin looked to Gold. "My brother taught me that."

"Fine. I end my turn."

"I draw." Paladin drew her card. "Now I'll use my Citree to tune my Rosenix, Smiger, and Thystvern." Citree turned into two green rings that surrounded the three other monsters. "I Synchro summon Ascension Sky Dragon!" A column of light shot through the rings. A dragon with a long white tail and white and gold wings appeared.

"Hello young duelist," she said.

"Now I activate Pot of Greed to add two cards to my hand. Now I have 6 in my hand. This boosts my dragon's attack to 3000. Attack, Ascension Sky Fall." Ascension fired a blast, but Solar fired her own. Both dragons were destroyed.

"There go our dragons," said Sunset.

"And that's just what I needed. I activate Soul Cannon." A robotic cannon appeared on the field. "Now you take damage equal to the total attack of all monsters in our graveyards.

"Uh oh."

"Soul Cannon, Fire!" Soul Cannon fired a shot that took out Sunset's life points.

Sunset: 0
Paladin: 6800

Paladin deactivated her duel disk and walked over to Sunset. She stuck her hand out. "Good game."

"Your not going to gloat? Or take my soul?"

"What kind of person do you think I am? I had Gold for a brother." Paladin helped Sunset up. "I'm just glad he wasn't alone."

"Yeah." Sunset rubbed the back of her head. "Can you tell me about Gold a bit?"

"He was really protective. He would stand up to anypony that would bully me."

"Wait anypony?"

"I guess he never told you. Gold is a Phoenix Pony from Equestria."

Sunset took that information well. She fainted.

"Guess that was a shock to her," said Paladin.

The Truth

Paladin had to wait for an hour before Sunset came to. A nurse that came in was worried about her, but Paladin said she was fine. Sunset opened her eyes and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "That was a shock."

"Glad to see your awake," said Paladin.

"Yeah. Not everyday you find out a friend of yours in from Equestria." Sunset straightened up. "So you were saying."

"Well Gold and I are from Equestria. We are the last of the Inspiriters."

"Inspiriters?"

"The Inspiriters are ponies that have the ability to join with a spirit. My spirit is falcon. Gold's is the phoenix."

"How do you join up with these spirits?"

"We receive our spirit when we complete a certain challenge. Mine was standing up for myself. Gold's was saving ponies from disaster. I have courage, he has heroism." Paladin looked to Gold. "When I was younger Gold was always my rock. He helped me when other ponies made fun of my wings. He dueled with me when nopony else would. He was the best big brother." She then turned somber. "But then there was one night that all changed that. Our house was attacked by a creature we have never seen before. Gold led me out of the house, but went back in for our parents. That was the last time I saw him until now."

"How long ago was that?"

"About four years." Paladin gripped Gold's hand. "I'm just glad he has a girlfriend like you to keep him from doing something stupid."

Sunset blushed. "I'm not his girlfriend."

"Well you to would make a good couple. Like me and my Mercury."

"Are you sure Gold would like the fact that your dating?"

"He only does anything when a guy would break my heart."

"He sounded like he was really great." Sunset interlaced her fingers with Gold's. Maybe we were made for each other.

"Well I should head out." Paladin stood up and stretched. "Oh, I almost forgot." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck. "This is Gold's old deck. You can look at it if you like." She placed it on the table and left.

"Maybe I will." Sunset reached out and grabbed the deck.

Castle of Dark Illusions

Dark Emperor was pacing before his throne. "Sunset should have seen Sci-Twi today. But that idiot Puppet Master put Gold in the hospital. Sunset is right by his side. I need a way to draw out my timelines Sunset. And the only way to do that is to go after this timelines Sunset. I need a way to draw out the elements. Maybe a view through my looking glass could help." Dark Emperor stepped through a portal and arrived in front of a small pool of water. He waved his hand above it and the water rippled until a sky view of Canterlot appeared. "So many victims, so little time." Dark selected a card from a box next to the water. "Lancelot. You may have committed treason against King Arthur, but you will not do the same for me." He sunk the card into the pool. "Find a victim of extreme conflict." The card flew through the air.

A figure with snowy white skin on one side and black night on the other. He had opposing white and black hair and eyes. He had a grey shirt and shorts and white and black sneakers. He had his hands in his pockets as he walked down the street. "I promised Sour Sweet that I would help here regain people's trust, and hopefully stop her from flipping back and forth." He arrived at Sour's house. He was about to knock when he felt something ho down his shirt. "Did Sour really set up a prank?" Pain suddenly shot through his body. "What the?!?"

"Let the Number take hold."

"What?"

"No don't let it."

"Who's saying that?"

"Get out of here Illumiknight!"

"No, I will not let you use this human for your masters dark ways."

"Get out of my head!" The guy ended tripping on the stairs and fell backwards. "That hurt."

The door opened. A girl with yellow skin and raspberry hair with blue streaks. She wore a raspberry t-shirt and tan shorts. "Yin Drake?"

"Hey Sour." Yin pushed himself up. "Sorry."

"What happened?" asked Sour Sweet.

"I don't know. I heard these two voices and my head started to hurt. I guess I just feel backwards." Yin rubbed his back to relieve some pain. "Do you think we can reschedule?"

"Why?"

"I'm just not in the right mind right now?"

"Oh, I get it."

"Thanks for understanding Sour."

"Sure. Just leave me like the others.

"Sour it's not like that."

"Don't try to play dumb with me."

"Sour, I'm not..."

"I don't need to hear your lies. Your little ploy to help me was fake. I shouldn't have trusted you. Just leave me."

Yin gripped his head as Lancelot got some control. "Yes. Just crawl back into your hole. You have no place in this world. You should go. Unless you want to try and fail." Lancelot let out a dark chuckle.

Sour was starting to tear up. She didn't say anything as she ran inside and slammed the door.

Lancelot was dragged back by Illumiknight. Yin fell to his knees as the presence just left him. "What is happening?" Yin pushed himself up, dug his hands into his pockets, and walked off. Making little contact, if any at all, with people that passed by him.

"Seems like there are still a few rouge Numbers." Dark Emperor laughed. "But they're only making it worse for this child." He ran his hand through the water pool. "The Friendship Games are soon. And so is, the Solar Eclipse. Shadows will cover every little thing and I will rule as their king. The Gates of Numeron will open and the Numbers will be released. Doomsday is upon us and I will relish in the terror!"

Let the Games Begin

Dark Emperor was looking over the city from Canterlot Tower. "Soon, my followers, we will have all the power we need."

A figure in a black cloak appeared behind him. "Hello sire."

"Muertos. Have you gathered the Zombie-Type army?"

"I have. They are waiting for you to open the portal when the time comes."

"Good. This is why I made you one of my generals. Tell Dream to give me the Crystal Prep files when he gets them."

"Yes sir. I will inform him immediately." Muertos disappeared. He then reappeared in the police precinct. In the cheif of police's office. "It is time to enact the plan, Dream Weaver."

A man with white hair and white skin turned around in his chair. He wore a black trench coat with a white shirt and pants underneath. "I am happy to hear that. Chrysalis should have found the files by now. I will inform you when I get them."

"Very well." Muertos left in a cloud of black smoke.

"And next time use the door." There was a knock on Dream's door. "Come in."

A man with blue hair and white skin wearing a police uniform walked in. "Hello sir."

"Shinning Armor. How are you today?"

"Pretty good. Besides the fact that my friend, Dean Cadence, has been acting weird." Shinning blushed.

"Well everyone has their off days." Dream noticed the files in Shinnings hands. "Are those the files that Cadence got for you to give to me?"

"Yes they are." Shinning gave Dream the files. "May I ask why you need the files of those specific students?"

"I have noticed something off with our records, and I wanted to make sure everything was up to date."

"Ok then. Have a good day sir." Shinning left.

"You don't know what's coming my young friend." Dream scanned over the files of the students. "Let's see who we have here. Sugarcoat, always tells the truth, would be to annoying. Lemon Zest, music lover and rocker, ugh to high spirited. Indigo Zap, athletic and energetic, athletes are needed but to much energy. Sunny Flare, already can tell that she is too high class. Apollo Sunrise." He saw a picture of guy with yellow skin and white hair. "Too happy. Gray Scale." The next picture was of a guy with dark grey hair, and grey skin. "Seems to strong of mind. Guitar Rift." The next picture had a guy with red and brown hair, light brown skin. "Another musician." Dream Weaver looked over the next four files. "These are interesting. Sour Sweet, Twilight Sparkle, Yin Drake, and Nightfall Silver. These four are usually secluded from others. Their friends are social butterflies." A grin snaked across Dream's face. "This should be fun."

The Future

An older Show Time was loading up a ship that looked like the head of Cyber Dragon. "That should be the last of the gear."

"Well that's good." A man with midnight blue skin and silver hair walked up to him. He had on a black t-shirt, blue jeans, black shoes, and silver glasses. He scratched his silver beard. "I should be able to set a coarse for the Games."

"Are you sure about this Night? Do we even know if Sunset ended up in the same timeline as Dark?"

"Sunset and Gold would have arrived earlier in time. But they haven't triggered anything because we're still here." Night looked around at the broken buildings. "Unfortunately."

"Ok, I agree. I know we'll be able to get Gold back." Show got into the ship with Night following. His phone went off and he picked it up. "Hey Trix... Don't worry we'll be fine... We're just two heroes saving the day." Trixie laughed at his comment. "See you when we get back. Love you." He hung up.

"I really wish we could change the future, but things will always happen," said Night. He entered a code into the ship and started the engine.

"So how are you and Twilight doing?"

"We're both good." Night got the ship into the air. "Spike has been keeping an eye on little Dusk while we've been working on the ship. She loves the cards we gave her. She says she'll help save the day when she gets older."

"That's nice." Show brought up a time map. "Enough small talk, let's do this."

"Aye, aye." Night hit the throttle and the ship sped forward. With each second it increased in speed. "Speed is still climbing." Electricity sparked around the ship. Buildings went by at light speed. "We have reached cruising speed." Night reached into the dashboard and billed out two gauntlets. He placed one on his arm and gave the other to Show. "We may have aimed for a specific time, but we don't know what we are entering."

"Always be prepared." The ship began slowing down as they entered the timeline.

"2017, here we come."

Present

Gold began to fidget after not moving for a few days. He opened his eyes and blinked the light out of them. There was a figure next to his bed. She looked familiar. "Sunset?"

"I am Sunset, but not the Sunset you know Gold." Gold blinked again and saw an older version of Sunset.

"Who are you?"

"I come from the future. A terrible future at that." The older Sunset grabbed Gold's hand. "I fear that a enemy of mine wants to bring my future to your past. The others need you to help defeat him."

Gold smiled. "Coming from you I believe that. By the way, are we a couple in the future?"

Sunset teared up but smiled. "Hopefully after today yes."

"Then let's get to work." Gold gathered his cloths and got changed. "Time to duel."

Sunset and the others were getting ready for the second event in the Friendship Games. They had some last minute encourage meant from some younger friends. The CMC were letting the girls know that they would be cheering for them all the way. There was also a group of boys with the CMC, they were the CMCB. Rainbow was talking with her little brother Bolt Dash. Bolt Dash had unkempt and messy red and green hair, brown eyes, and blue skin. He wore a red t-shirt with a storm cloud on it, blue jeans and red sneakers.

The second one in the group was Bright Star. He had white skin, short green and blue hair, and blue eyes. He wore a blue shirt with a green jacket, green pants, and blue sneakers.

The last of the group, and the leader of the group, was Shinning Spoon. He had orange skin, green eyes, and hair parted down the middle with half red and half blue. He wears a jean jacket, with a purple shirt, black leather pants, and orange shoes.

"We know you guys will win the Games," said Bolt.

Rainbow ruffled his hair. "That's what we're hoping for buddy."

Shinning was talking to his cousin Fluttershy. "Don't be nervous Fluttershy. You'll do great."

"Thanks Shinning," said Fluttershy with a smile.

Star came up. "Just try your hardest."

"Thanks Starry." Fluttershy gave him a peck on the cheek.

On the other side of the field, it was a different story. Apollo tried wishing Sunny good luck. "Good luck Sunny. I know you'll do great."

"Oh dearie. You really don't have to tell me something I already know." She patted his head. "Now why don't you let me focuses. We have to win after all." She skated away.

"Of coarse." Apollo sulked back to his seat.

His brother, Gray Scale, saw everything. "Tough luck bro."

"Oh, and you had luck with Sugarcoat?"

"You just have to wait for the right time."

"Says the guy that criticizes everyone else."

"Its not criticism if it's true." Apollo just sighed.

Yin Drake was watching from behind the fence. He had skipped school for the past few days to avoid Sour and himself. Whatever happened to him, hurt her. He didn't want to hurt her. Sour looked to his exact location. He panicked and fled. When he was out of sight he let out a sigh. "If only I could return to normal."

"I could help with that."

Yin looked up to see a cloaked figure. "Who are you?"

"Someone that can help?" The figure stuck out his hand. "Come with me."

Out of options and time, Yin took the strangers hand. Dark mist surrounded him and entered his body. Illumiknight was driven from his body and Lancelot had full control. "Ready to serve."

The girls were getting ready for the final event. After the fiasco of the second, they had no magic and no idea what to do.

"I don't want to be part of these Games anymore," said Fluttershy.

"But we have to win this," said Rainbow.

"And I feel awful for what I said to Twilight," said Sunset.

AJ placed a hand on her shoulder. "After this final event you can go and apologize."

The girls turned to see Twilight walking out to the middle of the school grounds. A figure ran towards her and grabbed her arm. "Stop Twilight."

"Nightfall Silver," said Cinch. "Get back here this instant."

Night gave her a cold look. "No." He turned to Twilight with a concerned look. "Twilight, your messing with a power you have no idea how to use. I don't want you to get hurt. Just hand the device to me, and we can win this far and square."

Twilight was surprised that someone outside of her family and Cadance cared about her. She smiled at the thought as tears stung her eyes. "Ok Night." She placed the device into Night's opened hand.

Before Cinch could yell at Night, everyone heard clapping. They all looked to see Dark Emperor and his followers on the roof. "Well done Night. What a loving speech." A dark smile snaked across his face. "But it was for naught. You see, me and my followers have a previous engagement. The darkness has arrived!" Dark Emperor raised his hands as the sun and moon crossed paths. "The light is gone, darkness shall rain for eternity!!!"

Nightfalls Over Canterlot

Dark Emperor created a stair case of dark magic and walked down to Twilight and Night. He blasted the two away and grabbed the magic capture device. "Thank you Ms. Sparkle. You have done half my work for me."

Twilight slowly got up. "What do you mean?"

"I needed the elements out of the way to enact my plan. With their powers gone, I only have to do one more thing." Dark turned the device to Burst, Inferno, Ace, Show, and Light. Energy escaped them and was captured in the device.

Light grabbed his head. "I can't sense anything."

"Our powers are gone," said Show.

"That is true gentlemen. And now for the fun part." Dark threw the device to the ground and it exploded in a pillar of dark energy. Waves of energy pushed back everyone around the courtyard. Black vines grew from the ground and wrapped around the school. Everyone tried to run for cover.

Night grabbed Twilight's hand. "We have to go."

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"This is all my fault. He wouldn't have the power he needs to cause all this."

Night pushed Twilight's head up so their eyes were locked. "Twi this is not your fault. You never had any I'll will towards these people. Maybe to the school, but you never meant to hurt anyone." A vine was coming towards them. "We gotta move!" Night pulled Twilight behind him. The two ran behind the school as other students were scattering around.

"Why are you being so nice to me? Wouldn't your mother think-"

"I don't care what Cinch thinks. Ever since my dad died she had been a total control freak. Always saying that we needed to be better." Night slid down the wall. "I never wanted to be known as the son of the worst school principal history."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"For the past ten years. But she would always find some imperfection and say that we should be better." Night sighed. "Sometimes I think she says that to make herself feel better. As if making me perfect would keep her from losing me."

Twilight sat beside him. "You've kept this bottled up for the past ten years?"

"I was focused on my work. In the past I thought that perfection would help our bond, but it only added fuel to the fire." Night looked out into the distance. "Each night I would read my textbooks over and over. Find mistakes in them, correct them, and just read. I barely left my room. Friends were few and far between. I was either the nerd or the principal's son." Night looked to Twilight. "That's why I looked to you. You were able to study and have friends. I was just a loner. A person with no feelings. My mother's shadow."

"I don't think your any of that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, your not like your mother. You stopped me when everyone else pressured me into unleashing the magic I had. You went against your mother."

"Which I will be reprimanded for."

"You shouldn't care about that." Twilight punched Night's shoulder. "Your almost out of high school. You shouldn't let your mother's decisions become your own."

"Wow Twi." Night rubbed his shoulder. "I never seen this fire in you before."

"I guess being in stressful situations can do that to a person."

The wall behind the two cracked. The roof was collapsing and falling towards them. "Twi go!" Night pushed Twilight out of the way. Pieces of debris separated the two. "Run for it Twilight!"

"What about you?!?"

Another piece fell behind Night. "I'll be fine, just go!" Night pushed through the debris.

With no other choice, Twilight ran as fast as she could. But she didn't get far. Yin Drake cut her off. "Not so fast Sparkle." He used his new found magic to hold her in place. "Time for Midnight." Yin charged a blast of dark magic and fired.

Night burst out of the dust and jumped in front of Twilight. The blast hit him and sent the two flying backwards.

"No, no, no!" Twilight held Night. The dark energy began to envelop the two.

"At least we'll be together." The magic took over the two.

Green flames enveloped Twilight. A purple dress replaced her clothing. Her skin became a dark purple. Her hair was pushed up and green lens frames appeared on her face. Raven like wings sprouted from her back and finally a crooked horn came from her head.

Purple energy surrounded Night. Pieces of black armor strapped themselves to him. A shredded purple cape appeared on his back. The helmet looked like the head of Summon Skull.

"I feel more powerful," said Midnight.

"And your much more beautiful." Slash summoned two decks. "A new deck for a new you."

"Thank you Slashy." Midnight grabbed the new deck.

"How about we show the students of Crystal Prep what they did?"

"I couldn't agree more." Slash took Midnight's hand. His cape turned into bat wings and the two took to the skies.

Ambition Destroys

Paladin was running from the crumbling building. "I need to get to the hospital. Please be ok Gold." She continued running as the situation got worse. The sky turned red and lightning struck the ground. Portals began opening up. Zombie-Type monsters were coming through. A Headless Knight tried to grab Paladin. "Hands off!" She kicked the monster away and ran off. But she didn't get far. The monsters were cornering her. She kicked and scratched at them but nothing happened. "This is when I wish I still had my falcon wings."

"Stay away from her!" A figure came charging through. The figure had black hair, cobalt blue skin and light blue eyes. He had a navy blue jacket with white fur around the hood and he had a symbol of a dragon on his right shoulder, a black shirt, black pants, and black shoes. "Time for all of you to play nice."

"Mercury!"

"Hey Pal." He had a big smile on his face.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

"Are you still annoyed by it?"

"What do you think?"

"Then I'll still continue doing it." A monster tried sneaking up on him, but he punched it away. "Time to be the hero." He charged straight through. He jumped over monsters, kicked, and punched. He was toying with the zombies, until he got caught by a Headless Knight. "That didn't go as planned. Plan B." Mercury pulled out of the knight's and began tap dancing.

The Zombie-Type monsters looked at each other in confusion. "What are you doing?" asked Paladin.

"Giving these monsters a show, and you an escape." Mercury began jumping around. "Let's bring forward my partner, Buster Dragon."

A dark scaled dragon with feathers and purple skin materialized in front of the Zombie-Type monsters. "Hello boys." He began tap dancing along side Mercury.

Crimson sighed and ran away. She dove behind a wall. "Ok Sky, let's take down this army." Sky Dragon materialized and Crimson hopped on. The two took to the sky. "Shinning Blast!" Sky Dragon sent a brilliant sphere of light at the army. Zombie-Type monsters were blasted away.

"And that's the curtain call." Mercury climbed onto Buster. "Dragon Barrage!" Buster sent out blasts like a shotgun. "And that's game!"

"Not quite!" The two turned to see Slash and Midnight. Slash turned to Crimson. "Your the last remaining relative of Golden Rise. Dark Emperor would award us greatly for brining you to him." He then turned to Mercury. "And you're just a pest we need to destroy." Slash turned to Midnight. "Do you think you can grab the girl while I take out the trash?"

"Of coarse!" Midnight flew over and grabbed Paladin. The two took off with Sky Dragon trying to catch up.

"Now to deal with you." Slash summoned a giant scythe. "Just hold still and I'll make this quick."

"There's no need for weapons. We can talk this out." Mercury and Buster began backing away.

"Ok. I'm a reasonable being. How about we battle and see who's deck rains supreme?"

"And what do I get if I win?"

"If you win, the girl will return to you. If you lose, your soul is mine."

"Doesn't seem that I have a choice."

"No you don't." Slash summoned a pure black duel disk. He placed a card in the field slot. The ground gave off a purple fog, and Buster Dragon disappeared.

"Where'd my partner go?"

A menacing grin snaked across Slash's face. "His spirit has gone to a good cause, like yours will."

"I'll make you pay for that." Mercury activated his blue duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Slash: 8000
Mercury: 8000

"I'll go first." Slash drew his card. "I summon out Shadowknight Archfiend in Attack mode." A being in grey tinted armor descended onto the field. It had metallic wings, a sword for an arm, and a shield for another. His red eyes stared into Mercury's soul. "And just like a knight, he was made to protect his King. I end my turn with a face down."

Mercury smirked. "You should've started out stronger." He drew his card. "I'll finish you in one turn. First I summon Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman." A small, white creature hopped out of a portal. It had six legs, gold horns and feathery wings. "Then I sacrifice two monsters to summon out Buster Bladder, the Destruction Swordmaster." A warrior in purple armor jumped through a second portal. He had two purple horns, and a green handled sword. "Now for my ultimate move. I tune Buster Whelp and Buster Bladder to summon out Buster Dragon!" Nothing happened when he called on his partner. "Buster Dragon, come on out!" Still nothing. "Uh, what's going on?"

"Its the field spell I played. Soul of the Numbers. We are only allowed to summon out Number Cards from our extra deck."

"I end my turn."

"My move then."

Slash: 7100
Mercury: 8000

"Now I sacrifice my knight to bring forth Summoned Skull." Summoned Skull walked from the shadows onto the field.

"Hello weakling."

"Now I activate Copy. This lets me summon out a copy of Summoned Skull." A see through copy appeared. "Now I overlay my two Summoned Skulls to Xyz summon..." The two monsters turned into purple lights, and entered a galaxy like portal. The portal exploded. "Number 24: Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon!" The number 24 burned into the ground. A dragon with purple and red skin floated down to the field. It had razor sharp, silver wings. His body was covered in silver armor.

"It feels good to be back out on the field." Dragulas's and Slash's eyes glowed purple.

"Then I activate DNA Surgery to change Dragulas into a machine-type." His body was covered in electronics.

"Now for a combination of Megamorph and Overdrive."

Dragulas: 9600

"Then I activate another field effect. Your monsters lose all their attack points." The two monsters fell to their knees. "Time to end this. Vampiric End Blast!" Purple energy washed over Mercury and his monsters. When the dust cleared, all that was left was a single card. Inside was Mercury. "Ambition can be a person's worst enemy." Slash picked up the card. "You were too ambitious for your own good, and you had to pay." Slash put the card away. A vision of a tiny boy flashed through his mind. Slash grabbed his head. "What was that? Doesn't matter, I have work to do." Slash summoned his bat wings and took off.