"I mean, why would they cancel it?" Rainbow Dash asked. "The school had everything set up, it makes no sense,"

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were walking down the hallways, having nothing better to do now that the Battle Of The Bands was cancelled.

"And for a children's card game too," Rarity added. "Unbelievable!"

Sunset Shimmer pushed past them from behind at a full sprint. "Hi! Can't talk!" She stopped in front of her locker and began to fiddle with the lock.

"Uh, Sunset Shimmer," Applejack said. "Why are you acting this frantically?"

Sunset Shimmer got her locker open and pulled out a journal. "I'm concerned about a thing involving a trading card,"

"Why would anyone be concerned about a trading card?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "They're just dumb little pieces of paper,"

"It makes more sense in context, I swear," Sunset Shimmer blew the dust off of her journal and flipped through it. "I'm not even sure that this old thing works anymore, but I'm going to give it the old college try regardless. Or, I guess it would be the old high school try. Uh, does anyone have a pen?"

"Oh, I have one!" Fluttershy reached into her backpack and plucked out a ballpoint pen. Sunset Shimmer grabbed it from her hand.

"Thanks," She immediately set to writing her plea for help.

Twilight Sparkle and Spike were bringing in Twilight's newest shipment of books from the Canterlot Library, which had to be shut down because all of its budget went into maintaining Celestia's wavy rainbow mane. On the top of one of the stacks, one of the books began to glow and shake.

"Uh, Twilight," Spike said, pointing to the book. "Are books supposed to ring like that?"

Twilight turned towards the ringing book. "I don't think so," Twilight grabbed the book, levitated it near her face, and opened it. It said:

To Whom It May Concern:

I may have found a problem at Canterlot High. The school is holding a trading card tournament, and in the first match, the competitors began to summon ponies from Equestria, like Rainbow Dash and Princess Celestia, like they were trading cards. That would be concerning on it's own, but then one competitor, I believe his name was Seto Kaiba, summoned King Sombra, and his power felt real, at least real enough to blast Seto Kaiba's opponent off of his pedestal.

I believe King Sombra may be back.

Send help.

Sunset Shimmer

"Whoa! I was not expecting a bombshell when reading this," Twilight said. "I need to get to the human world as fast as possible,"

"Yeah, there's just one problem with that, Twilight," Spike pointed out. "The portal to the human world doesn't open for another seventy moons,"

"Oh well that's an easy fix," Twilight answered. "I'll just jury rig a portal using this book, some wood, and a lot of duct tape,"

"I honestly don't think that's going to work, Twilight," Spike said.

"Trust me, this will work," Twilight replied.

"If you say so,"

Fifteen minutes later, Twilight had finished building her portal to the human world. It was made of wood planks in an only vaguely circular shape and held together by sheer force of will and copious amounts of duct tape. On top of the portal, there were two nails attached to jumper cables, with the still open book attached to the other end.

"You see Spike, this portal works by harnessing the latent magical power of the book and using that to punch a hole between Equestria and the human world. It takes a lot less energy than you would think, actually. Turns out the barrier between Equestria and the human world makes Queen Chrysalis look solid," Twilight explained.

"Not to be mean, Twilight, but I don't think anypony cares about how the portal works," Spike said.

Twilight sighed. "You're probably right, but no matter. Let's go help Sunset Shimmer!"

"Wait, Twilight! Don't you think you should at least write your friends a note before going off on all of these crazy adventures without telling them?" Spike asked.

"Oh, yes! Silly me," Twilight hastily wrote a note and attached it to the outside of her front door.

Off to help Sunset Shimmer save the world from malevolent trading cards. Makes more sense in context.

Twilight Sparkle

"Okay, let's go!" Twilight grabbed Spike and flew into the hastily-made portal.

The next thing Twilight and Spike knew, they were laying flat on their stomachs right in front of the door of Canterlot High, Twilight as a human and Spike as a dog. Twilight rose and dusted herself off, then extended a shaky hand to open the door. She could never remember whether you needed to push or pull Canterlot High's front doors. She tried pulling, but the door didn't budge. She then pushed, with much better results.

As soon as she walked in, Twilight saw Sunset Shimmer pacing in the lobby, muttering something about trading cards and outrageous hairstyles. She then glanced in Twilight's direction.

"Twilight!" Sunset exclaimed, running towards Twilight and embracing her in a hug. "I was hoping you'd come!"

"So what's this about King Sombra being a trading card?" Twilight asked.

At that moment,a man's deep voice boomed over the intercom. "Attention duelists! The duel between Sunset Shimmer and Adagio Dazzle will begin in five minutes. I repeat, the duel between Sunset Shimmer and Adagio Dazzle will begin in five minutes."

Sunset let go of Twilight. "I'll tell you later. I have to go," She raced towards the gym, Twilight and Spike close on her heels.

"The duel between Sunset Shimmer and Adagio Dazzle shall now commence," Pegasus said.

Sunset Shimmer and Adagio Dazzle each started out with 8,000 Life Points this time.

"I'll go first," Sunset said. "I'll place one card face down on the field, and then I'll summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!

From Sunset's central monster space, an orange muscular beast rose up, flashing his sharp teeth and wielding an axe. He had 1,900 Attack Points.

Wait, that's one of my signature monsters, Kaiba thought. How did she get that?

"That ends my turn," Sunset said.

"It's my turn!" Adagio drew a card. "I summon my Siren Harpist in defense mode!"

From Adagio's central monster space, a cute girl with a blue dress and pink hair playing a harp rose and floated. She had 2,200 Defense Points.

"Due to my monster's special effect, I can special summon my Battle Siren, Nepheri in attack mode!"

Another pink haired girl, this time holding a ball of light, rose to the left of Adagio's Siren Harpist. She had 1,600 Attack Points.

"That ends my turn," Adagio said.

"It's my turn!" Sunset drew a card. "I play my Raigeki spell card, destroying all monsters on your side of the field!"

A storm cloud formed over Adagios Sirens, striking them both with bolts of lightning and dissolving them.

"What?! NO!" Adagio objected.

"Next I'll summon my Black Dragon's Chick in attack mode!" Sunset shouted.

A ball of light came into being on the right side of Vorse Raider, revealing itself to be a red egg, from which a tiny black dragon with 800 Attack Points hatched.

"Aww, it's cute!" Twilight said.

"Now I'll send my Black Dragon's Chick to the Graveyard in order to summon my Red Eyes Black Dragon from my hand in attack mode!"

Sunset's Black Dragon's Chick shattered, and in its place rose a massive black dragon with glowing red eyes, now sporting 2,400 Attack Points.

"Wait, did she just summon more than one monster in one turn?" Adagio asked Pegasus.

"Why yes she did, but one of those was a special summon, so it's perfectly legal," Pegasus answered.

"No!" Adagio objected.

"Now, Vorse Raider, Red Eyes, attack Adagio's Life Points directly!" Sunset commanded.

Vorse Raider tossed his axe like it was a boomerang, with it flying towards Adagio's pedestal, striking it, and flying back to Vorse Raider's hand, leaving Adagio with 6,100 Life Points. Then Red Eyes blasted Adagio with a fireball from his mouth, lowering her Life Points to 3,700. Adagio stepped back, eyes widened in disbelief.

"That ends my turn," Sunset said.

"Whoo! Go Sunset!" Twilight cheered.

"It's my turn!" Adagio drew a card. "I cast the Graceful Charity spell card! This makes me draw three cards from my deck, then discard two from my hand into the Graveyard!" Adagio did just that. "Now I play Monster Reborn to special summon my Siren Warrior Princess in attack mode!"

From Adagio's central monster space rose a very robust, imposing woman with sea-green eyes that seemed as though it pierced through Sunset's Red-Eyes and Vorse Raider, arctic blue skin, a midnight blue bikini, and flowing golden hair. Siren Warrior Princess held a shark tooth spear that was taller than she was, adorned with seashells, and had 3,000 Attack Points.

"Now, Siren Warrior Princess, attack Sunset's Red-Eyes!" Adagio commanded.

Siren Warrior Princess charged at the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, screaming with fury and confidence.

"Not so fast, Adagio," Sunset said. "You've activated my trap card, Mirror Force! Once you call an attack, Mirror Force destroys all monsters you have that are in attack position!"

Upon the completion of Sunset's declaration, Siren Warrior Princess promptly dissolved.

"NO!" Adagio objected.

"Do you have any other moves to make, or are you just going to keep screaming 'NO!'?" Sunset asked.

"Th-that ends my turn, I-I guess," Adagio stammered.

"It's my turn!" Sunset drew a card. "I guess I don't really have to play anything, since your side of the board is empty. So, Vorse Raider, Red-Eyes, attack Adagio's Life points directly!"

Vorse Raider threw his axe like a boomerang at Adagio again, and Red-Eyes spit a massive fireball at her pedestal, reducing her Life Points to 0.

"NOOOOO!" Adagio sank to her knees and covered her face with her hands.

"Yes! Good job, Sunset Shimmer! Whoo!" Twilight was the only one in the bleachers cheering.

"Well that was certainly fun, wasn't it?" Pegasus said. "Sunset Shimmer here will be advancing to the Winners' Bracket to face off against Seto Kaiba. Meanwhile, Adagio Dazzle will be advancing to the Losers' Bracket to face off against Yugi Moto,"

Author's Note

Sorry for the delays, all of the twelve people that read this fic. And speaking of delays, there will probably be another big one, since I'm going to be leaving for a trip tomorrow. I can't guarantee the next chapter before July, but I'll try.