This was it. This duel between Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba would determine who between them was truly the better duelist in a best-two-out-of-three competition. The two duelists stood poised for their final showdown.
"Are you ready, Kaiba?" Yami asked.
"Ready to win again? Of course," Kaiba had a giant smirk on his face, which Yami found suspicious.
"You can win this time, Yugi!" Tea said.
"Yeah, show that creep what's what, Yug!" Joey added.
"I'm still here for the food," Tristan said.
"Then it's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!" Yami said.
Yami and Kaiba each started with 5,000 Life Points, for a fair duel.
"It's my move!" Yami said. Kaiba said nothing in response.
"Aren't you going to declare that it's your turn?" Yami asked.
"Nah. I'll let you go first this time, Yugi. It won't matter in the end," Kaiba replied.
"Okay then. I summon Shining Armor in attack mode, and lay one card face down on the field!" Yami shouted.
Shining Armor shimmered onto the field with 2,000 Attack Points, directly in front of a face-down card.
"I end my turn!" Yami declared.
"It's my turn!" Kaiba said. "I summon Celestia, the Alicorn Princess in attack mode!"
Celestia shimmered onto the field with 3,500 Attack Points, directly in front of Shining Armor. Shining Armor took one step back and began to sweat.
"You always do that as your first move," Yami noticed.
"What can I say? It works," Kaiba replied. "I set two cards face down on the field and end my turn!"
"It's my turn!" Yami said as he drew a card. "I summon the Royal Guard, and I cast my 'Guards! Guards!' spell card, multiplying him into five guards!"
A royal guard came into being beside Shining Armor, with 1,000 Attack Points. He quickly duplicated into five guards with identical stats.
"Thanks to Shining Armor's special ability, for every Royal Guard I have on the field, he gets 300 extra Attack Points!" Yami shouted.
Shining Armor's Attack Points went from 2,000 to 3,500 in an instant.
"Now I shall end my turn!" Yami finished.
"Well played, Yugi," Kaiba said. "But how will you deal with this? I send Celestia to the graveyard in order to summon my greatest monster yet, King Sombra!"
Celestia dissolved into light, and King Sombra appeared from a sphere of swirling darkness in Kaiba's central monster square. He had 5,000 Attack Points. On either side of him were two Crystal Ponies, armed with spears and 1,500 Attack Points each.
"Oh, but I'm not finished yet," Kaiba slammed a card onto the magic/trap spaces on his playing surface. "I also cast the Endless Staircase spell card, which gives me another token Crystal Pony, increases Sombra's Attack Points by 1,000, and permanently sends one of your monsters to the Graveyard! I think I'll choose your Shining Armor,"
Another Crystal Pony with 1,500 Attack Points appeared beside Sombra, who now had 6,000 Attack Points. Shining Armor dissolved into light and went to Yami's Graveyard as Kaiba laughed maniacally.
"Face it Yugi, you're finished! This is your last turn, better make it count," Kaiba said.
That Endless Staircase card is so broken, Yami thought to himself as he drew a card.
"It's my turn!" Yami said. "I summon the Elements of Harmony!"
On Yami's central monster space, a portal of white light opened up, which the Mane Six, adorned with their Elements.
"Why does this keep happening to us?!" Twilight asked, seriously concerned.
"It makes it really hard for me to get my beauty sleep," Rarity added.
Rainbow Dash's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "Um, guys..."
The Mane Six turned their heads to see a titanic King Sombra, flanked on both sides by Crystal Ponies, laughing almost as maniacally as Kaiba.
"Next I tribute all of my Royal Guards in order to summon Slifer, the Sky Dragon in attack mode!" Yami shouted.
Slifer, a colossal red dragon with a plethora of spikes on it's back, rose from underneath the battlefield, wielding 6,000 Attack Points and towering over every other monster on the field, including Sombra.
"Now, I attack King Sombra with the Rainbow of Light!" Yami shouted.
The Elements each shot out light beams, which combined into one massive rainbow of death pointed directly at King Sombra's face.
"I activate my trap card, Negate Attack!" Kaiba said. As the Rainbow of Light got absorbed, his and Sombra's laughter got more and more high-pitched and shrill.
"Yami nearly collapsed onto the floor. "I-I-I guess that ends my turn,"
"Don't give up, Yug!" Joey called out.
"We're with you all the way!" Tea added.
"You can't let Sauron win!" Tristan added.
"Hooray! Go, Seto!" Mokuba cheered.
"Shut up, Mokuba," Kaiba replied.
"It's my turn!" Kaiba said. "I cast my Everfree Seeds magic card, destroying your Elements of Harmony!" The Elements shattered then and there, leaving the Mane Six feeling naked before Kaiba's army. "Then I attack Twilight Sparkle with King Sombra!"
King Sombra extended his hoof and surrounded Twilight in a bubble of darkness. When the darkness let up, Twilight's irises were gone and she dissolved into dust, lowering Yami's Life Points to 4,001.
"TWILIGHT!" All of Twilight's friends screamed.
"But wait, there's more!" Kaiba added. "I also play my Sealed Away magic card, sending Slifer to the Graveyard!"
Slifer shined red and was deposited into the Graveyard.
"But Slifer's an Egyptian God card! Surely it should be unaffected!" Yami objected.
"And these Equestrian cards are very overpowered. What's your point, Yugi?" Kaiba said.
Yami had nothing left to say.
"I end my turn! Draw your last pathetic card and let's finish this!" Kaiba shouted.
Normal Yugi began to think, I can't give up now. My honor depends on this! If I can just draw something that can help me here...
"It's my turn!" Yami shouted. "I play the Crystal Heart of the Cards!"
"What?" Kaiba asked in a deadpan tone.
"It's a spell card that sends King Sombra to the Graveyard, takes the combined Attack Points of your Crystal Ponies, subtracts it from your life points, and then sends them to the Graveyard, and allows me to summon Spike, the Dragon Knight in attack mode!"
"King Sombra evaporated into smoke, and each of Kaiba's Crystal Ponies took a jab at his Life Points, lowering him down to 500, and dissolved into shards of crystal. Soon after, another white light appeared, and Spike, or rather the new and improved version of him appeared. He was taller, more buff, armed with a three foot long broadsword, wearing a suit of armor, and just seemed more confident. Oh, he also had 3,000 Attack Points.
"I know I literally just said Equestrian cards were overpowered, but this is just absurd!" Kaiba said with a look of panic in his eyes.
"Alright! There ya go, Yug!" Joey cheered.
"Whoo! Go Spike!" Rainbow Dash cheered.
"Ah, my knight in shining armor has finally arrived," Rarity said.
Wait a minute, Kaiba thought. If Spike's over there, then...
"I end my turn!" Yami shouted.
"It's my turn!" Kaiba said. "Since I'm the president of the world's largest gaming corporation, I get to draw as many cards as I want!" Kaiba drew ten cards.
"That's not a thing!" Yami objected.
"As President of KaibaCorp, I declare this valid!" Kaiba declared. "Next I play Polymerization and summon my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in attack mode!"
A blinding blue light shone on Kaiba's half of the battlefield, and soon an enormous three-headed pale white dragon emerged, sporting 4,500 Attack Points.
Kaiba laughed with a sort of juvenile glee. "Oh, how I've wanted to use you for so long, Blue-Eyes,"
"I'm not even finished yet!" Kaiba added. "I also play Monster Reborn, in order to re-summon King Sombra in attack mode!"
The sphere of swirling darkness returned, and out trotted King Sombra once more onto the field with 5,000 Attack Points, along with his two Crystal Ponies with 1,500 Attack Points. Spike's facial expression went from smug confidence to sheer, utter terror in the blink of an eye, as he had to face not only one, but two titanic adversaries.
"This is the end, Yugi! You have no more trump cards left to draw! Why don't you surrender now, and save some face?" Kaiba said.
"I will never surrender, Kaiba! For as long as I believe in the heart of the cards, I will always prevail!" Yami retorted.
"Whatever. I end my turn! Let's see how far your cheesy friendship speeches get you," Kaiba said.
"It's my turn!" Yami drew his card and burst out laughing.
"What? What's so funny?" Kaiba asked.
"I guess they weren't very subtle with this one," Yami kept laughing.
"Spit it out! What did you just draw?!" Kaiba said.
Yami collected himself and tried not to laugh. "I play the Yugi Wins card,"
"What?" Kaiba said in a deadpan tone. "Is that supposed to be a joke, Yugi?"
"No, it's not a joke, Kaiba. Here, you can read it for yourself," Yami played the card face-up facing towards Kaiba.
"'If the person who plays this card is named 'Yugi Moto' or 'Yami Yugi', they automatically win the duel,'. What is this crap?!" Kaiba said.
"It means I win," Yami said.
Kaiba's Life Points lowered down to 0. "Well that was anticlimactic," he said as his Blue-Eyes and Sombra dissolved.
"I'll say. Good game, Kaiba. I guess I'm truly the King of Games after all." Yami extended his hand. Kaiba did the same and they did a long-distance handshake.
From his mansion on Duelist Kingdom Island, Maximillion Pegasus watched the entire duel on his multi-monitor surveillance system, studying the cards used, how they were used, and what they did.
"That sure was anticlimactic," Pegasus said. "But if these Equestrian cards are as powerful as what I just saw, then I may need to look into them a bit more..."
