“This sucks,” muttered Sonata Dusk to herself as she pulled an old, rotten grey blanket closer to her person in an effort to stay warm. It was early morning and the sun had yet to rise. All around her, there was a light mist-like fog that seemed to chill everything it touched. Right now, that included the brick wall and the dumpster that the blue skinned girl’s back was pressed against.
Her ears perked as she heard the sounds of people walking past her alleyway without a care in the world. Most of them sounded young, like the students who went to Canterlot High. Probably on their way there, munching on pastries and sipping their expensive foreign drinks as they talked to their friends. None of them gave any notice to the large piles of trash that were piled up all around in the alleyway or the several cardboard boxes that Sonata had gathered in recent days to use as shelter. They ignored the former Siren sitting there, with what little she had left to her name in a duffel bag next to her, as they went about their day.
It was sad to think that just a few short days ago, things were looking up for her.
-x-Flashback-x-
“Alright everyone, please gather ‘round,” said the day manager of Taco Loco loudly to all of her employees. Hearing this, Sonata quickly finished wiping down the table she had been cleaning so that she could join the others milling to the front of the store. After gathering her cleaning supplies Sonata passed through the rows of tables seeing her sisters along the way. Both Adagio and Aria were sitting on top of a table with their shoes resting on the seats a short distance away from the other employees. At the moment Adagio was more focused on her nails while Aria had her eyes glued to her phone.
When they had started their shift a half hour ago, Adagio had told Sonata that she was supposed to be supervising the blue skinned Siren in order to make sure an ‘idiot like her’ wouldn’t screw up such a simple job. Part of Sonata felt like this was a lie, especially since the manager hadn’t said anything when they had started today. Still she went along with it mainly because she didn’t want any trouble from her or the day manager. In all honestly she sort of liked it here, since all her co-workers were nice and (naturally), she got to see tacos all day!
As she passed by the table with her sisters, she felt someone grab her uniform shirt from behind and giving it a hard tug. Scared, Sonata flung her arms around in an effort to keep herself from falling. As soon as she righted herself, Sonata turned to see that it had been Adagio who grabbed her, looking at her with a snide expression.
“Don’t be a kiss ass and go to the front,” said the leader of the former Dazzlers. “Stay back here or else.”
“Ok…” grumbled Sonata before Adagio released her. Sonata had known Adagio for well over a thousand years and thus knew her to be both bossy as well as very controlling at times. Yet ever since the loss of their powers, Sonata thought that she was worse. Not to mention bossier.
“I have some important announcements for you all so please pay attention,” began the manager, looking a little distraught as she spoke. “I’m sure most of you heard what happened last night. For those of you who don’t know, last night a crazy lunatic dressed in a bat costume burst through the glass panel and proceed to attack the night manager. While the police were called, the maniac managed to slip away while yelling he was the ‘Goddess Damned’ something or other and threw several stick bombs behind him. His whereabouts are currently unknown.”
“Well, that explains the boarded up window,” muttered Aria as she glanced briefly at the center of the restaurants glass wall that just so happened to have a large wooden board placed in front of it, before returning to her phone.
“Poor Mr. J,” said Sonata. “I hope he’s ok.”
“Seriously?” demanded Adagio as she rolled her eyes. “That clown had us dressed up in harlequin costumes as a promotional gag and swinging around ridiculously oversized mallets! I think he got what was coming to him.”
“Ah, but that was so much fun!” commented Sonata, bouncing on her heels as she did. “We got to do cartwheels, bounce up and down as we worked-”
“You bounce up and down all the time, you moron,” stated Adagio, interrupting the blue haired girl.
“In light of his attacker still being at large,” continued the manager, “Mr. J has decided to resign and will be moving after he is discharged from the hospital. I did visit him to try and get him to reconsider, but after seeing the extent of the damages… I can understand his reasoning. I am sure there are many of us who will be sad to see him leave like this.”
“Because of this, we will be looking for a new night manager. As you all remember from your orientation, Taco Loco prefers to hire from within the company meaning that one of you may be asked to take up this position. I have already started looking the performances from all the shifts in order to narrow down the list of candidates.”
“Finally,” said Adagio as she brought her hands together and began to rub them together. There was also a grin on her face as she slid off the table, landing on her feet as she did. “About time I moved up from washing tables and taking loser’s money.” As she said this, several of the other employees turned to shot her nasty looks.
“Actually Ms. Adagio,” said the day manager after clearing her throat. “I have already eliminated you as a possible candidate.” As the other employees in front of them chuckled, Adagio’s face turned scarlet as she clenched her fists which caused Sonata to take several steps away from her. The former Siren stormed closer to the day manager who looked like she was keeping her cool.
“What do you mean I’m eliminated?!” Adagio snarled. “I’m the only one here who is even remotely qualified to be in charge of this dumpster or these idiots! Just give me one reason why I shouldn’t be promoted!”
“You mean other than this childish display?” asked the day manager, raising an eyebrow as she said this. “Very well then. Since the day you and your sisters first came here, I have received numerous complaints about you from both customers and co-workers alike. You are almost always late, have no idea what’s on the menu, and you have a frankly abysmal work ethic. Perhaps you should be following Miss Sonata’s example. Then you would be up for consideration like she is.”
Sonata’s expression brightened when she heard that, ignoring everything else for the one moment. She had a chance to be night manager? That would be totally the greatest thing ever! This would mean that they wouldn’t be struggling so much to pay the rent on the apartment and eat non-dehydrated foods! And she would be here more often!
It was when she felt a tapping on her shoulder from Aria that brought Sonata back to earth. Sonata blinked before realizing that Adagio was glaring at her furiously as if there were a raging inferno in each of her eyes. Something told Sonata that her older sister wasn’t as happy for her.
-x-End Flashback-x-
Clutching the blanket closer to her, Sonata couldn’t help but remember what happened after that. When they had returned home there was a lot of screaming from Adagio while Aria wandered off somewhere leaving Sonata without any support. She kept accusing Sonata of trying to ‘take her spot as group leader’ and ‘incompetent backstabber’ and several other things that Sonata didn’t understand. While all this was going on Aria was out of the room, clearly not wanting to come to Sonata’s aid. This went on for what felt like hours and, when it was finally over; Sonata was thrown out of the apartment followed by her things being flung out the window.
Since then, Sonata had been living here in this alleyway. Every morning before her shift, she had to find a public restroom to wash off her body and making sure that there was no ordure. She also had to use a public laundromat in order to clean her uniform. Yet it wasn’t enough. The day manager had been noticing a slight stench to her and her hair was a bit of a mess. She had also noticed that Sonata was rushing to make it into work on time, something she had pointed out to Sonata more than once.
If only that was the only problem she had to deal with at work. Adagio had been bullying her every shift they had together. Tripping her in the kitchen, giving her the wrong orders, and just being less pleasant than normal. It made going to work less fun and extra depressing.
“I wanna go home,” cried a voice from the street.
“I hear ya sister,” muttered Sonata as she shook her head. In that moment, she remembered the lush oceans bordering Equestria. She remembered the more peaceful days before she had to worry about paying for meals or worrying if it was going to rain. The days she spent with the rest of her kind as well as the other creatures that lived in the ocean. If only she could go back to Equestria.
“Hurry up Diamond Tiara,” said another voice. Sonata leaned forward and saw two girls. One of them wearing glasses was dragging another girl.
“I don’t want to,” moaned Diamond, causing Sonata to roll her eyes. “I have to sit with Snails at lunch today and…and feed him.” Sonata watched as Diamond shuttered violently.
“Well I told you not to accept that duel,” said the other girl as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
“He challenged me, I had to accept,” responded Diamond with a huff. “Besides, he uses an Ojama deck! My Blue Eyes deck should have annihilated him the first turn!”
“Well you accepted his challenge so now you have to do it,” said the other girl. She then let out a sigh before taking a few steps back in order to pat Diamond on the back. “Hey, maybe you won’t have to do it. Maybe that crazy horse princess from Equestria will come back from the portal, crazy magic will happen, and school will be canceled.”
As they walked away, Sonata’s eyes widened. Slowly she stood up with the blanket pooling at her feet. The portal that linked this world with Equestria! It seemed so simple! She remembered that Sunset pony girl came from Equestria and tried to take over. Sonata also remembered that that Twilight girl came from Equestria. Maybe she could go back there if she could find the portal!
Grinning madly, Sonata grabbed her duffle bag before sprinting off. She was going to go home!
-x-
Sunset sat in the school’s library, groaning as she ran her fingers through her flame colored hair. Laying open on the table in front of her was a notebook she had been using to try and solve the latest magical mystery. She written down every theory she could remember that could explain something like this back from when she studied magic back in Equestria. She had even written several of her own. Heck, she even made a couple of sketches that she thought at the time might help. Yet the reason of why Twilight’s monsters acted differently eluded Sunset.
Ever since the two Twilight’s had dueled each other, Sunset had watched this world’s Twilight duel very closely. The way they acted at times was completely unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. It was almost as if they were alive or something. It wasn’t a computer glitch, she had checked Twilight’s duel disk several times and had even gotten her friend to use a different one which yielded the same results. And it wasn’t because of their gems either. Sunset had gotten all of the other involved in this research, having them duel each other more than once to see if their monsters acted in a way that wasn’t part of their program. None of them seemed to react in any way that was out of the ordinary. Not a single gesture or look that showed any sign of intelligence or understanding between duelist and monster.
So, what could be causing this? It couldn’t be a golem spell since this Twilight didn’t know how to cast them and golems lacked any emotion. Not to mention that golems had to be physical beings. This wasn’t a magical recording either because, once again, Twilight would have had to cast it herself. Plus the spell only recorded actually physical things.
Whatever this was, Sunset was determined to figure it out. Magic didn’t just start happening for no reason. Under most circumstances, magic only happens when a person wills it to happen. The only two exceptions areif magical items are involved or if there is rampant magic on the loose. In either case, Sunset wasn’t going to just sit here and let something bad happen to one of her friends.
Looking up, Sunset glanced over at the clock. “Better get going,” she sighed as she closed notebook. Classes would be starting soon. She could continue this later.
As she placed the notebook into her backpack, Sunset thought about contacting Princess Twilight in order to get her opinion on the matter. Perhaps there had been more advances in magical theory since she had left the world of magic behind. Or maybe Starswirl the Bearded might know something. From what Twilight had told her, the famous unicorn had returned to Equestria from limbo of all places. Perhaps she could even-
“Ah, Sunset,” came a soft voice. Sunset looked up as she got to her feet. It was Fluttershy, standing by the door.
“Hey Fluttershy,” said Sunset as she swung her backpack onto her shoulder. “What’s up?”
“Well,” began Fluttershy biting her lower lip as her eyes darted towards the window. “I, ah, don’t want to alarm you but I think one of the Dazzling is outside in the courtyard.”
Sunset blinked. A Dazzling? Here again? Quickly she raced over to the window that overlooked the main courtyard and looked down. It didn’t take her long to see that Fluttershy was right. Down below was the blue haired Siren, darting back and forth. One moment she was looking through the bushes before suddenly pushing against the walls of the school followed by her jumping up and down on the sidewalk. It looked like she was suffering from some sort of nervous breakdown.
“I thought about telling one of the other girls,” continued Fluttershy. “But I thought that maybe telling someone like Rainbow Dash might cause a scene.”
“Well, can’t blame you for thinking like that,” replied Sunset. “But maybe we should talk to Principal Celestia and have her call the police. This can’t…be…” Sunset’s voice trailed off as she noticed someone heading towards the school. It was Twilight. And Sunset wasn’t the only one who noticed. The blue Siren froze in the middle of her insanity as she too noticed Twilight approaching the school. Then, much to Sunset’s horror, the blue skinned girl raced towards Twilight.
Without saying a word to her friend, Sunset raced out of the library as quick as humanly possible. As she ran down the hallways, Sunset wished she could still teleport. If she could, she would have been there in a literal flash or could have brought Twilight to her. Heck, if she were a pony she could be galloping! But right now this was all she could do to help her friend.
After what felt like far too much time, Sunset finally made her way to the front entrance. There, near the statue, there was Twilight and the Dazzling. The blue skinned girl had her hands gripped firmly on Twilight’s shoulders, shaking her back and forth. Naturally, Twilight looked scared as all hell while her assailant looked ravenous.
“Tell me how to get back to Equestria!” the blue skinned girl was screaming. “You know how! Please tell me! I promise I won’t hurt anyone there for realizes!”
“I can’t!” shouted Twilight. Sunset didn’t wait for a response, instead rushing over to them and shoving Twilight’s attacker off of her. She watched as the girl fell to the ground but quickly rolled over. From her place on the ground the girl looked up at Sunset who was doing her best to hide Twilight behind her. The girl’s eyes flashed with recognition followed by hate before she got to her feet. Slowly she began to circle around until Sunset’s back was to the statue.
“What are you doing here?” demanded Sunset.
“Look miss ex-pony,” said the girl as she pointed a finger at Twilight. “All I want is the princess pony to send me back to Equestria. I promise I’ll be really, really super good. I don’t even have my pendent anymore so I can’t do anything bad.”
“First, this isn’t the same Twilight,” said Sunset.
“She…isn’t?” repeated the girl who seemed to calm down a bit.
“No she isn’t,” stated Sunset. “She’s the Twilight of this world, not the pony princess. Meaning she has no idea who to open the portal. No one on this side can open the portal so you’re just wasting your time!”
“But I,” began the girl as she slumped. Her knees bent a bit making it look like she was going to fall to her knees. But she seemed to stop herself and looked at Sunset with a renewed fire in her eyes. She opened up her duffel bag and pulled out a duel disk with her deck already inside it. With her eyes fixed on Sunset, she put it on quickly it on. “Fine then. I challenge you to a duel!”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You what?”
“I challenge you to a duel,” repeated the Siren as she pointed to Sunset. “If I win, you have to open up the portal and send me back home!”
“There’s no way I’ll-” began Sunset.
“And if you say no then I’ll be back!” yelled the blue girl. “I’ll be back every day! I’ll show up at your house, here at school, I’ll show up where you work! I promise, I’ll never go away until you either duel me or send me home!” She then looked at Twilight. “And I’ll also bother your friends as well.”
Sunset let out a growl as she swung around her backpack. She opened it up and quickly fished out her own duel disk. “Alright then,” said Sunset as she tossed her backpack to the side. “I’ll duel you and if you win I’ll see what I can do. BUT if I win then you have to leave me and my friends alone! Do we have a deal…”
“What?” asked the blue skinned girl as she blinked.
“I, ah, don’t remember your name,” admitted Sunset. “I remember Adagio and Aria, but not so much you.”
Sunset watched as the girl’s shoulders slumped. “You forgot about me?” she said with a bit of a tear in her eye. The girl quickly wiped the tear away followed by her resuming her previous stance. “I’m Sonata Dusk! I can’t believe you forgot about me!”
“Sorry,” muttered Sunset. “Guess I never figured you were that much of a threat.” There was a brief pause as she raised her duel disk which Sonata mimicked. As Twilight moved out of the way, their dueling devices connected. Together they yelled “Let’s Duel!” before they drew five cards and their duel disks showing that they both had 8000 life points. As the crowd gathered, Sunset saw her duel disk signal who was going first: Sonata.
“I’ll draw,” said Sonata as she drew her card. She looked at it for a second before playing it in her hand and picked a different card. “I’ll place one card in defense and end my turn.”
“Ok then,” replied Sunset as she drew. “I’ll start with a spell card: Molten Conduction Field! This lets me send two Laval monsters from my deck to the graveyard. I’ll choose Laval Lakeside Lady and Laval Volcano Handmaiden.” Sunset’s duel disk slide out the cards she named so she could place them into the graveyard slot. “Next I’ll activate the effect of Handmaiden. When she sent to the graveyard I can send another Laval monster to the grave. So I’ll send another Handmaiden to the grave whose effect I’ll use again to send the third. Next, thanks to my third Handmaiden’s effect, I’ll send Laval Forest Sprite to the graveyard.”
“What’s the point of all that?” demanded Sonata as Sunset put her monsters into the graveyard.
Sunset grinned as she held up a card. “Well first, because I have at least three Laval monsters in the graveyard with different names, I’m allowed to special summon Laval Burner from my hand to the field.” After saying this, Sunset placed her monster onto her duel disk which allowed her monster to appear. Instantly a creature that looked like a gorilla made of light brown rocks appeared before her with long hair that looked like it was made of lava. Its attack points were 2100. “But that’s not all because I still have my normal summon. So I’ll bring out Prominence, Molten Swordsman to the field in attack mode!” Another creature appeared on the field next to Burner, looking like he was made of the same material Burner. But this monster was more human like in appearance wearing shoulder pads as well as some sort of battle loin cloth which was made of black stone with an orange flame symbol engraved into both of them. Prominence also held in his thick hands a black sword that was covered in flames. This monsters attack points was 1800.
“Now I’ll begin my attack!” shouted Sunset as she pointed at Sonata’s face down. “Prominence, take out her face down with Eternal Flaming Sword Slash!” At its master’s command, Prominence gripped its sword with both hands before charging at Sonata’s face down monster. As it drew near, Sonata’s face down flipped face up revealing a creature that looked like it made of a grey-green goo with hands reaching out in every direction. But it didn’t stay on the field for long as Prominence slashed right through it, letting the monster ablaze while cutting it in half before it disappeared.
“Since you flipped my Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, his effect activates,” declared Sonata as she began to go through her deck. “I can now add a Ritual spell or monster card to my hand. And I’ll choose a spell card.” She then held out the card she picked just long enough for Sunset to see that it was a spell card before putting it into her hand.
“Well my attacks not over yet,” announced Sunset. “Laval Burner, attack her directly!” Burner jumped in the air towards Sonata, bringing his fists together. As he fell downwards, so too did his fists on top of Sonata’s head. The blue skinned girl cried out in pain as she took a knee, her life points dropping to 5900. Yet still she managed to get up while looking strangely. “I’ll place one card face down and end my turn.”
“Alrighty then,” replied Sonata as she drew her card. “First, I’ll discard my Gishki Vision from my hand in order to add one ritual monster to my hand. Next, I’m going to summon my super helpful Gishki Beast in attack position!” Appearing on the field was a creature with green skin that almost looked human. However its teeth were more canine-like, both his hands and feet were webbed, he had two large yellow horns coming out of his darker green hair, and he had a tail. Finally, it had only 1500 attack points. “Now that my monster is on the field I can activate its effect which allows me to special summon one level four or lower Gishki monster from my graveyard to the field in face up defense position. So come on back Gishki Vision!” When it appeared on the field, Sunset blinked. Vision was a thin, fish-humanoid with a short blue cape on his shoulders and what looked like a mirror embedded in its forehead. Its skin was green with a large fin going down its back.
“Now for the best part!” shouted Sonata as she bounced up and down excitedly. “I’ll now play my Ritual Spell card: Gishki Aquamirror! This card lets me special summon any Gishki ritual monster in my hand. Normally, the monsters used in the tribute would have to at least equal the monster I was trying to Ritual Summon. But thanks to Vision’s effect, he can cover the entire summon by himself.” With that said, Sonata placed her card into the spell/trap card zone causing a mirror as large as her with a golden trim to appear behind her. Sunset watched as Vision was encased in a transparent golden orb before being lifted off the ground and shooting right into the mirror. When the monster made contact, the mirror began to ripple as if it were made of water. “Oh great guardians of the depths, hear my call. Rise to the surface so that you may wash away those who stand against us. Ritual Summon: Evigishki Soul Ogre!”
“Ah, what’s with all the chanting?” asked Sunset.
Sonata blinked. “You don’t chant when you special summon a monster?” she asked. When Sunset shook her head no, Sonata actually looked sad. “But it’s so much fun!”
Before Sunset could respond, something within the mirror caught her eye. She could see Gishki Vision swimming around in what looked like a barren ocean within the mirror. It almost looked like he was all alone until something came from the side. All Sunset could see was its outline as in chomped on Vision, devouring it with one bite before turning towards the mirror. Sunset and everyone else gasped as the mirror began to ripple once again before a monster came out of it.
The monster looked a lot like Gishki Vision in the way that it was like a grey-blue fish that had grown arms and legs. Both of Evigishki Soul Ogre’s hands were like webbed claws and its feet were more bird like. The monster towered over all other monsters, standing as tall as a four story building. Its head reminded Sunset of a Tyrannosaurus’ but with a purple fin on top. Its belly looked like golden scales had been welded to it. Finally, both its attack and defense points were 2800.
“Now we get to the really cool part,” said Sonata as she looked over the four hands in her hand and selected one of them at random. “I’ll activate his effect which lets me discard one Gishki monster in my hand and then target one face up card you control. Your card is then shuffled back into your deck.”
Sunset’s eyes went wide at that. “My deck?” she asked, hoping that she had heard it wrong.
“Uh-huh,” replied Sonata as she nodded, her ponytail bouncing around as she did. She showed Sunset the card she had chosen before playing it in the graveyard. “So now Burner gets to go back into the deck. Bye-bye!” Now Soul Ogre opened its jaw before water began to rush out of its mouth. The water moved like a snake, heading right towards Laval Burner and washing him away while Sunset put the card back into her deck.
“Now I’ll start my attack!” continued Sonata as she pointed at Prominence. “Evigishki Soul Ogre, attack her monster.”
“I activate my monster’s special ability!” declared Sunset, visibly startling Sonata. “By banishing one Laval monster from my graveyard I can raise Prominence’s attack points by 300!” As Sunset removed Laval Lakeside Lady, Prominence’s attack points became 2100.
“Sorry, but it’s not enough to save it from my monster,” said Sonata as Soul Ogre swatted Sunset’s monster with its tail. As Prominence vanished from the field Sunset’s life points dropped to 7300. “Too bad, so sad! Now Gishki Beast will take a bite out of your life points!” With that said, Beast ran over to Sunset on all fours like a feral creature. As soon as it got close enough it grabbed Sunset by the shoulder and bit into her neck. The former unicorn screamed mostly due to shock while her life points dropped down to 5800.
“Hmm, I guess I’ll finish my turn by placing two face downs,” said Sonata leaving a single card in her hand.
“Then I draw,” announced Sunset as she drew a card. After placing it in her hand, she took hold of a different one and grinned. “Now to take back control of the field! I summon Laval Cannon in attack mode!” At once, a humanoid monster with skin that looked like it was made out of blue stone, appeared on the field. This monster’s right arm had been replaced with a cannon, with tubes coming out of it and running into its back and its left eye was covered by an eye patch made of light brown stone. Its attack points were 1600. “Since I summoned him onto the field, I can now special summon one Laval monster that was removed from the game!”
“What?” shouted Sonata as she took a step back. “You mean powering up Prominence was…”
“That’s right,” said Sunset with a grin as she held up a card. “I was preparing for this turn! So come to the field, Laval Lakeside Lady!” The ground next to Cannon cracked open, allowing lava to pool out of it. Then, rising up from it was a young girl wearing a blue dress with hair made out of fire. “Now I’ll tune my level three Laval Lakeside Lady with my level four Laval Cannon!” Upon her command, Sunset’s Lakeside Lady transformed into three green rings while Cannon became four stars that moved into the center of the tunnel created by the rings. There was then a bright light that shout out of the tunnel and, when the light faded, a new monster appeared on Sunset’s field. It looked a lot like Cannon, but its body had bulked up so much that its head looked tiny. On it’s one good arm and legs was white armor made of steel. Out of his shoulder, chest, and back were large three sided spikes! Finally, its attack points were 2700.
“I Synchro Summon level seven Laval Stennon!” declared Sunset while doing her best to ignore her disappointment in how her monster still didn’t see to be as alive as Twilight’s. “Due to his effect, when he is summoned, I have to discard one card from my hand. So I’ll be sending Laval Lancelord to the grave.”
“Well he looks powerful,” commented Sonata with a slight smirk. “But he’s not powerful enough to destroy my Soul Ogre. So I guess you’re going after Beast?”
“No, I’m taking down your most powerful monster right now with the help of my face down,” said Sunset as she activated her trap card. “Molten Whirlwind Wall! This continuous trap card boosts the attack points of all Laval monsters on the field by 100 for each Laval monster in the graveyard. Right now I have seven so Stennon’s attack points becomes 3400! Now attack Evigishki Soul Ogre!” Sunset’s monster raised its cannon arm which began to glow a bright orange color while lava dripped out of its barrel.
“I don’t think so,” replied Sonata in a sing song tone. “I’m activating a face down.”
“Go ahead,” said Sunset. “My monster’s effect allows it to negate effect that targets him and then destroys it all for the small cost of removing one Laval monster from my graveyard!”
“Well then it’s a good thing I’m not targeting him,” said Sonata as Sunset’s eyes widened in surprise. “I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon which lets me destroy your trap card.”
“NO!” shouted Sunset as she watched her trap blow up before her eyes and causing her monster’s attack points to return to 2700. “Stennon, stop the attack!” But it was too late. Stennon fired a large ball of lava at Soul Ogre who swatted it away with a webbed fists. That same fist then pulled back before it was rammed into Stennon, destroying him on the spot and lowering Sunset’s life points to 5700.
“Sunset!” cried out the familiar voice of Pinkie Pie. Sunset turned her head and saw that not only her pink friend but as well as the rest of her friends were there, standing on the side lines.
“Hang on,” yelled Rainbow Dash as she took hold of her geode. “We’ll take care of her right now.”
“Don’t!” shouted Sunset. “I agreed to this.”
“That’s right!” fumed Sonata as she looked over at the girls. “If you try to do something to me then that’s inter-ahhh…it means she loses and I win! Right?”
“Yeah,” sighed Sunset before turning to look at her friends again. “Don’t worry about me. Long as I can still draw cards I still have a chance.” With that, Sunset turned to look at Sonata. “I end my turn.”
“Then I draw,” announced Sonata, bringing the total number of cards in her hand to two. “Ok, first I’ll play the spell card Salvage which lets me add two water monsters back to my hand.”
“But you don’t have two-,” began Sunset before she realized something. “Vision and the monster you used for Soul Ogre’s effect! I forgot about that!”
“Well then,” said Sonata as she added the cards to her hand. “Let me introduce you to Gishki Abyss!” A new monster appeared on the field, one that could best be described as a blue skinned human with a shark for a head. Not a shark’s head, but an entire shark! It stood there grinning wickedly with those razor sharp teeth, arms crossed. “Sure, he only has 800 attack points, but he also has a great special ability which lets me add one Gishki monster from my deck to my hand! Well, as long as it has 1000 defense point. So I’m adding Gishki Shadow to my hand! And it gets better because Gishki Shadow’s effects are the same as Vision’s! So now I’m going to discard them both in order to get one Ritual monster and one Ritual spell card!”
After adding two cards to her hand, Sonata played Gishki Aquamirror again causing the giant mirror to appear once more behind her. Sunset watched as both Gishki Beast and Abyss were sucked into the mirror, thrust into the ocean it contained before they were devoured by Sonata’s next monster. “Splendid rider of the Gishki, hear my call,” chanted Sonata. “Swim through the portal to aid your ally! Bring victory with a mighty splash! Ritual Summon, Evigishki Mind Augus!”
At that exact moment, Evigishki Mind Augus shot out of the mirror and flew/swam around the field. The best way to describe this monster was a giant flying fish with somebody riding on top of it. The fish part had six eyes as well as six claws on its underbelly that looked like they belonged to an insect. But despite those features, as well as its sharp teeth, there was a beauty to this creature. Perhaps it was the wings, which started out red before ending in a brilliant blue. As for the rider, he had long blue hair and wore something that looked like a wizards hat while holding a staff in one hand. According to Sunset’s duel disk, this monster had 2500 attack points.
“Now then,” began Sonata who was bouncing on her heels while looking giddy. “When my Evigishki Mind Augus is summoned to the field as part of a ritual summon, his ability allows me to send five cards in either of our graveyards back into our decks. So, since the first thing you did was to send five cards to the grave, I’ll just put them right back where they came from.” After she said this, the rider of Mind Augus pointed his staff at Sunset’s graveyard. From his staff came a pulsing blue light whish pulled the five cards out of Sunset’s graveyard before sending them back into her deck. Once they were all in the auto shuffler activated, mixing the order of the cards up.
“Welp, this has been fun,” said Sonata. “But I think it’s time to end this duel so I can go home!” She pointed at Sunset. “Evigishki Mind Augus, attack her directly!” Sonata’s monster opened its mouth, allowing hundreds of small flying fish made of blue energy to shoot towards Sunset. On instinct, the flame colored haired girl raised her arms to protect herself. When the attack came, the energy fish exploded all around her causing Sunset to cry out while being knocked backwards. As she landed on her back, she could hear her friends call out her name as her life points dropped to 3300.
Sonata hummed as she looked over the field. “I guess my math isn’t all that great,” she said with a sigh. “Oh, well. Guess you get one more turn after this. Evigishki Soul Ogre, attack her directly!” Sunset braced herself as Soul Ogre spun around before whipping its tail in her direction. Slowly she managed to get to her feet again as her life points dropped to 600.
“From my hand, I special summon Gorz the Emissary of Darkness!” announced Sunset as her monster appeared in front of her. Gorz was a thin man with long, spiky hair. He wore black armor with long, curved silver blades on both his arms and legs. Strapped to his back was a massive long sword meant to dish out his 2700 attack power. “When my field is completely empty and I take damage, I can special summon him as well as activating an effect which is decided by the type of damage I took. Since I took damage from an attack, Gorz summons a token whose attack power is equal to the damage I just took!” Instantly a copy of Gorz appeared next to him with the only difference being he had 2800 attack points.
Sonata seemed unphased by this. “I end my turn,” she said happily.
“Then I draw,” said Sunset as she drew and then looked at the card in her hand. “I’ll set this card and then go on the attack! First my token will take down Soul Ogre.” The token silently obeyed, drawing his sword before jumping towards the giant Gishki and stabbing it in the heart. The monster fell forwards, crushing it attacker before they both left the field. “Next, Gorz will destroy Evigishki Mind Augus!” Like the token before him, Gorz drew his sword before leaping towards his target. With a single slash Sunset’s monster cleaved Mind Augus into two before it vanished from the field and Sonata’s life points dropped to 5700.
Ok, the good news is that I think I have a handle on how her deck works, thought Sunset while her friends cheered her on. Her deck is geared towards pumping out powerful Ritual monsters that have the ability to send my cards back into my deck. This makes my set up more difficult. The good news is that she’s already used up two of her three Ritual cards meaning she should only be able to summon one more. Or at least I hope so. I’ve never played against someone who uses Ritual monsters before. Sunset paused as she observed the field. The bad news is that I’m in a tight jam. I’ve lost almost all of my life points, have no cards in my hand, and my set up for my finishing move has been ruined. All I have right now is Gorz and if that Siren sends him into my deck then its game over.
“I guess it’s my turn,” said Sonata as she drew a card. The way she spoke was a little worrisome to Sunset. Sonata had just lost two powerful monsters, yet she seemed completely unphased by it. Sunset had to wonder if her opponent was really that confident of her victory or if she was just being an airhead.
The answer came much quicker that Sunset thought.
“I’ll start off my activating the effects of my two Gishki Aquamirror’s in the graveyard,” Sonata announced with a grin. “I can add a Gishki Ritual monster from my grave to my hand in order to put the Ritual spell card back into my deck. So I’ll bring Soul Ogre and Mind Augus back to my hand.”
Great, she can do this all over again, thought Sunset as she watched her enemy. I’ll have to finish this quickly before she can bring out Soul Ogre again. Or something worse.
“Next, I’ll place a monster face down and end my turn,” finished Sonata happily as her card appeared on the field and leaving her with three cards in her hand.
“Then it’s my draw,” declared Sunset as she drew. When she looked at it, Sunset almost slumped. Its wasn’t a bad card and it could really help her, but she had been hoping for something more. “I’ll also set one monster in face down defense position before entering my battle phase. Gorz, attack her face down.” Gorz instantly obeyed, leaping into the air again as Sonata’s card flipped face up to reveal what he was attacking. It was a young, blue haired girl wearing black robes while holding a silver staff that was topped with a mirror much like the one used by Sonata’s Ritual summons.
“You just activated Gishki Ariel’s effect,” said Sonata with a grin while her monster was destroyed. “When Gishki Ariel is flipped face up, I can add one Gishki card from my deck to my hand. So I’ll add Gishki Aquamirror to my hand.”
“Great,” said Sunset under her breath. “I end my turn.”
“Then it’s my turn,” said Sonata happily, spinning around while she drew her next card. “Well, time to end this! I summon my Gishki Beast to the field and, when he is summoned, I’ll bring back the Gishki Vision in my graveyard.” Sunset watched as the two familiar monsters appeared on her field for the second time. “Now, I’ll play Gishki Aguamirror!” Sunset watched Sonata recited the chant once again while Vision was pulled into the giant mirror. Once again, Vision was devoured by Soul Ogre before he appeared onto the field in order to help Sonata win the duel.
However…
“I activate my trap card!” shouted Sunset as her face down card filled face up. “Bottomless Trap Hole! This card activates when you summon a monster with 1500 or more attack points. That monster’s summoning is negated and is then banished from the game!”
“What?!” shouted Sonata. Her eyes widened as a hole appeared beneath Evigishki Soul Ogre, pulling her monster into the ground before closing. Then they narrowed at Sunset. “Why did you do that? I was about to win!”
“Because I don’t want you to win!” shouted Sunset. “You were banished from Equestria for a reason! So I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you here!”
“But I’ve done my time,” said Sonata as her eyes moistened a bit. “It’s been over a thousand years. I just…” Her voice trailed off as she took a moment to collect herself, wiping away her tears as she breathed in slowly. “I don’t think you could understand. I end my turn.”
“I think I understand pretty well,” said Sunset coldly as she drew.
“No you couldn’t,” snapped Sonata. “You came here by choice. Me and my sisters were forced to come here because some dumb, badly dressed unicorn just wanted to get rid of us! He never even gave us the option of returning to the ocean! Well I think I’ve been away from my home long enough! I’m going to do whatever it takes to get out of this sucky world!”
For a moment, Sunset stared at the girl as her words had a strange effect of her. It was true that Sunset had come to this world so different from her own by her own choice. Sure, she had been bitter and angry at her mentor at the time while also holding a huge grudge that she held onto for years. But the Sirens were forced to come here against their will, thrust into a world they knew nothing about. She could also understand that longing just to go home, something she had been feeling more and more lately now that the portal could be open at any time. Maybe she could-
Sunset shook her head in an effort to clear it. She quickly reminded herself that the Sirens weren’t pulled her by accident. They had caused real trouble for those in Equestria; enough to warrant banishment. There was a chance that Sonata was planning on going back to Equestria in order to regain her lost powers and take over all by herself. Or she could be planning on keeping the portal open so that the other two could join her. Sunset knew she had to win this duel in order to keep that from happening!
The former unicorn looked down at the card in her hand and smiled. “I play the Card of Demise!” she announced happily. “This card let me draw until I have three cards in my hand. However, there are some draw backs. Like I will be unable to special summon and you take no damage this turn. Also, when I end my turn, all the cards in my hand are sent to the graveyard.” Sunset drew three more cards from her deck and looked them over quickly. “I’ll play two cards face down and then have Gorz attack Gishki Beast.” Sunset paused, allowing her monster to follow her command and watching as Sonata’s last monster was destroyed. “I then end my turn, meaning all the cards in my hand go to the graveyard. There’s only one: Laval Handmaiden! So her effect activates, allowing me to send another Laval monster to the grave. So I’ll send the second one there and, following her effect, send the third to the grave. I’ll then activate that last Handmaiden’s effect to send Laval Lakeside Lady to the graveyard.”
“My turn then,” said Sonata as she drew a card. “I’ll play my Dark Hole spell card which destroys all monsters on the field.” Both duelists watched as a dark vortex appeared of the field, sucking Sunset’s monsters into its center and destroying them. “I end my turn.”
“Fine by me,” replied Sunset as she drew her next card. She looked at it and grinned. “Alright, I’ll play my Foolish Burial to send my Laval Forest Sprite to the graveyard.”
Sonata snorted. “Fat lot of good that’ll do you,” she said.
“Maybe you’ll change your tune after I play my face down: Rekindling!” announced Sunset with a grin while her card flipped face up. “This card allows me to special summon as many fire monsters as possible as long as they have 200 defense points. So come back to the field Laval Lancelord, Laval Forest Sprite, Laval Handmaiden, and Laval Lakeside Lady!” As Sunset spoke, her side of the field erupted in searing flames powerful enough to cause all those around to cover their faces. What they failed to see were the cracks in the ground while lava slipping upwards to form four monsters. Laval Handmaiden looked much like Lakeside Lady, except her hair looked more lava-like and wore shoulder length gloves that emitted heat. Laval Forest Sprite was a red headed lad whose hands and feet were so hot that his rock like skin glowed. Finally, Laval Lancelord was a large giant of a man with the same rocky skin as the rest of them. He wore a mask that crossed over his face to cover both his mouth as well as his left eye and in his left hand was his namesake: a lance made of lava.
“Now,” continued Sunset, “I tune my level two tuner Laval Forest Sprite with my level six Laval Lancelord to create level 8 Red Dragon Archfiend!” The two monsters jumped up into the air and a pillar of light was created. When it faded, a dragon could be seen hovering in the air above Sunset. It was a massive creature of red and black, with three wicked horns on the top of its head. “But that’s just the beginning. I’ll now tune both my level one Laval Handmaiden and my level three Lakeside Lady with my Red Dragon Archfiend to create the most powerful monster in my deck: RED NOVA DRAGON!” Another pillar of light was created, but quickly turned into a pillar of flames as Red Nova Dragon flew across the field. It was now more red than black with four wings that looked more like the fin on top of a shark. Its attack began at 3500, but due to its effect of gaining 500 attack points for every tuner in the graveyard, it rose to 6000.
“Ok, so you have a powerful monster,” said Sonata as she tried to keep herself from gulping. “All I need is one of my Ritual monsters and I can send him back into your deck!”
“That’s true,” admitted Sunset. “My monster is protected from destruction effects, not ones that send him back to my hand or deck. But I’m not going to give you that chance! Red Nova Dragon, attack her directly and end this!”
Red Nova Dragon let out a roar as flames covered its entire body. As it flew towards Sonata, she pressed a button on her duel disk. “I activate my trap card: Metal Reflect Slime. This card becomes a level ten monster on my field with 3000 defense points!” Instantly, a circular blob of metallic liquid appeared in front of Sonata.
“Well it won’t be there for long,” said Sunset. “Because my monster will attack it instead of you!” Red Nova roared as it plowed into Sonata’s trap monster, destroying it effortlessly. “That’s all I can do so I end my turn.”
“M-My draw,” said Sonata as she drew, all the confidence she had at the beginning seemingly vanished as she did. Sunset watched as her opponent bit her lower lip before vigorously shaking her head. When she stopped, the look of fire was back in her eyes as she picked out a card. “I’ll place one card face down and end my turn.”
“So you’re not giving up?” asked Sunset as she drew a card.
“Of course I’m not!” shouted Sonata as she stomped her foot on the ground.
“Alright then,” replied Sunset as she looked at what she had drawn. “I’ll summon Laval Burner to the field once again in attack position! Now, Burner will attack your face down!” Burner leapt into the air, bringing both fists together as he did. As he fell down, Sonata’s card flipped to reveal another Ariel. In an instant, Burner brought both fists down on her and destroyed her.
“D-Due to my monster’s effect I can add a Gishki card to m-my hand,” stammered Sonata in a quiet tone. It was clear to everyone she had been hoping that Sunset wouldn’t have been able to draw another monster. Or at least not one with enough life points to destroy hers. “I…I add Evigishki Zielgigas to…my hand.”
“Red Nova Dragon,” said Sunset. “End this! Attack her directly!” Red Nova roared loudly as it flew towards Sonata who was shaking. The dragon plowed into her, knocking her to the ground as it soared back her and taking out all of her life points.
With the duel over, the holograms vanished. Sunset’s friends cheered for her as she walked over to Sonata who had rolled onto her stomach. As she drew closer, Sunset could hear her muffled sobs as she banged her fists against the pavement. The others gathered began to shift uncomfortably at this sight and some even began to walk away while using their hands to block out the sight of the crying girl. Even Sunset’s friends stopped their cheering and began to give each other uncomfortable looks.
Once Sunset was close enough, she reached down and touched Sonata’s shoulder. In that instant, her magic activated allowing her to see everything. She saw what happened at Taco Loco, the yelling from Adagio, her life on the streets, and so much more. Sunset jerked her hand back as her mouth was left hanging open. As she stared forwards, Sonata turned around to look at Sunset. The blue haired Siren had rivers of tears running down her face which was contorted into a look of utter despair.
“I just wanted to go home,” sobbed Sonata.
-x-
“The poor dear,” said Rarity which caused Sunset to look up from her book. It had been some time since the duel. Long enough for Sunset to not only tell all of friends what this had all been about as well as for them to be late for second period. However, at this moment none of them were concerned about school but rather the well being of a former enemy and her plight.
The former unicorn could see all of her friends, minus Twilight, gathered around the portal to Equestria while trying to comfort Sonata who was still in tears. While Twilight had gone to inform Principal Celestia on what was going on, the others were doing their best to make Sonata feel better. Both Pinkie and Applejack were giving the still crying girl food from their own lunches while Rarity was trying to wipe the poor girl’s face clean. Fluttershy, who looked like she was she was about to burst into tears as well, had her hands on Sonata’s shoulder in a reassuring manner. Rainbow Dash was pacing back and forth, punching the palm of her hand as she did.
“I can’t believe those jerks,” she said. “How could they do something like that to their own sister? I should just super speed over there and pound them into the dirt!”
“While that does sound fitting,” said Rarity as she looked over at Rainbow. “Tell me, what would that accomplish in the long run?”
“Ah, it might make Sonata feel better?” said Rainbow hesitantly.
Sunset let out a sigh as she closed her book, its sound getting all of their attentions. “Well I just finished talking to Princess Twilight about Sonata’s situation,” she began, looking directly at Sonata. “And, well, I’m sorry to say this but she doesn’t think letting Sonata come back to Equestria is a good idea right now.”
“What?” everyone, but Sonata cried out. The Siren just continued to cry as she shook her head in defeat.
“But why not?” asked Fluttershy. “Surely Twilight isn’t heartless enough to-”
“It’s not that,” said Sunset quickly, cutting her friend off. “It’s partly because she doesn’t know how she’s been affected due to our last encounter. It might make things harder for her to adjust to life back in Equestria. Not to mention she’s been here so long. And, well, there’s also the issue of Starswirl. Apparently he’s not as dead as everypony there thought he was.”
“Wait,” said Sonata, looking shocked enough to stop her crying. “He’s still alive? But how? We faced each other a thousand years ago! Did he become an alicorn princess or something?”
“Ah…no,” said Sunset, trying to fight back a smile due to the image Sonata had put in her head. “Starswirl and the other ‘Pillars’, whoever they are, were in limbo and were only recently released. Anyways, Princess Twilight isn’t sure how he and the others will react. They might try to banish you again.”
“But there must be something we can do for her,” said Rarity who watched as Sonata’s head slumped. “Can’t you take her in darling?”
“I’d have to check with my landlord,” replied Sunset with a sigh while setting the book down. “If he says yes then there will be a screening process as well as a lot of paperwork. Not that I’m not willing to go through all of that to help her, but I have no idea how long that will all take. Not to mention the rent would go way up.”
“I wish I could help,” said Pinkie Pie. “But space at my place is already tight. As well as money.”
“Same here sugarcube,” sighed Applejack.
At that moment, Twilight came out of the school. After closing the door, she ran over to the group. “Ok, I talked to Principal Celestia and given how many times we have saved the school she’s willing to let us skip miss a day this one time,” said the purple girl quickly. “I also explained Sonata’s situation to her. Right now she and Vice Principal Luna are considering letting her come back to school.”
“Yay,” said Sonata sarcastically. “I’m still trapped in this world and homeless, but at least I get to go back to school.”
“Not exactly,” said Twilight. “I thought about that and called up my mom. Since Shining Armor moved out we do have a spare bedroom.” At this, Sonata looked up at her with her mouth hanging open and eyes full of hope. “As soon as I got done explaining the situation, she said she was going to get ready for you. That is, if you want it. It might not be much compared to going back to a world full of magic, but it’ll beat sleeping in the streets. And maybe we could become friends?”
Sonata jumped up, startling the other girls. “You really mean it?” she asked. “After everything I did you’re really going to let me stay with you? For realizes?”
Sunset watched as Twilight nodded, causing Sonata to jump towards the nerdy girl in order to hug her. The former unicorn smiled as she saw that Sonata was crying again, but not tears of sadness and despair. Instead, she was smiling as she felt the warmth of Twilight’s offer of a second chance in this world with a new home as well as her friendship.
THE END
Author's Note
Thanks to Yugioh Brony for the edits
