Tales of the Canterlot High Duelists

Chapters

Green Legend Applejack Part 1
Green Legend Applejack Part 2
Green Legend Applejack Part 3
Fiery Makeover Part 1
Fiery Makeover Part 2
Test by Arrogant Flames Part 1
Test by Arrogant Flames Part 2

Green Legend Applejack Part 1

Applejack walked down the hallways of Canterlot High, her boots echoing through the now silent halls of the school as she made her way to the library. It was sort of odd for her to be here since she was normally one to head straight home once that last bell had rung. After all, she had so much to do. There was farm work waiting for her, her schoolwork, helping out with whatever chore Granny needed done, helping Apple Bloom with her studies, and finally her crummy job at the mall. She was a busy gal alright so dawdling around the school grounds when she had no business being here wasn’t something she normally did.

However, this day she had business…of sorts. That business was trading cards! She had heard rumors of students bringing in Duel Monster cards for trade, meeting in the library after school hours. Of course, trading wasn’t something uncommon around Canterlot High. All you had to do was head on down to Sugarcube Corner and you were bound to find plenty of duelists willing to trade with you as well as exchange strategies. Yet what made this rumor peak Applejack’s interest was the size of the trading. It was said that the person in charge had one the largest collects anybody at school had, practically giving them away even!

Applejack nearly paused in her step. Sounded like something too good to be true she knew. Dealings with them Flim Flam brothers had taught her that if something did sound too good to be true then there was usually a string or two attached to it. Now if there was a person or persons doing some honest to goodness trading, why not make it more public? Why keep it all on the down low?

Then thoughts of the upcoming tournament between their school and Crystal Prep popped into Applejack’s head. It was a laughable thing really; them going up against a school designed to train people into getting into the pro league. A school who had access to more types of extra deck monsters while also having more of them expensive cards that only the rich could get their hands on. A David vs. Goliath situation where the giant always won easily. It was almost like a cruel joke when you stopped to think about it. Well, this year was the year they planned on changing that! Applejack, along with her friends, had vowed that this year they were going to show them Prep students what they were made of! She had heard that Fluttershy had already looked into getting herself some xyz cards that would fit well with her deck. Rarity was also looking into some xyz, but the problem was finding some she could afford and would fit well with her deck. She had no idea what Pinkie was planning at this moment and, frankly, as much as she loved the sugar-powered ball of energy she dared not think about what was going in her mind. Sunset had that magical deck of hers so she was probably good. Rainbow Dash had been going back and forth on what sort of extra deck monsters she wanted, but leaning more towards synchro.

That just left Applejack. To be honest, she didn’t know what to do. Her Flower Princess deck had always served her well in the past…against other students here at Canterlot high. But if she had any hope of winning she was going to need something better without breaking her very tight budget. Thus why she was here after school.

“Just gonna take a quick look,” she said to herself as Applejack neared the library. “If no one is doin’ any tradin’ I’ll just head home. No harm there. But if there is, a quick peek wouldn’t hurt none.”

Within the next few steps, Applejack reached the library. Taking a breath, she outstretched both hands to press them against the door. Then with a mighty push the opened the door to reveal…well, the library. Inside there were a few students still around. Most of them were seated in front of the computers, most likely doing some research for a project or two. She noticed a student or two mingling their way through the lines of bookshelves, their fingers on the spines of the books as they slowly made their way looking for the needed book. She also caught sight of Ms. Cheerilee sitting at her desk reading some book that had a picture or two of hands holding an apple. No idea what it was, but it sure didn’t look like any farming book she ever saw.

Taking a few steps forward, Applejack noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she spotted a figure heading towards the back of the library where the reading tables were. Not seeing much sense in just standing around like she was, she headed in that direction as well. As she walked, Applejack noticed something she hadn’t before. The long wooden tables used for reading and doing homework had been brought together as if for some massive assignment. Yet there were only two people, with large black cases taking up most of the room. Now very curious, Applejack quickened her pace to look into the cases.

“Lordy,” she swore aloud as she saw what they held. Cards! More cards than she had ever seen in one place before. Each case probably held thousands of cards, if not millions, in each and there were several there! Here and there were dividers sticking out, the closest one to her reading ‘Warriors’.

Looking around, Applejack quickly spotted two people sitting at the table. One of them was a girl AJ only barely knew, reading a book while several others laid stacked around her. This was Moondancer, one of the few students in school that got higher grades than Sunset and head of some fan club for Twilight. She was wearing a baggy purple sweatshirt that looked very worn along with tight fitting jeans. Her hair, which was amaranth with streaks of purple and grayish violet, was tied up on top while leaning to the side. Her purple eyes laid behind black glasses as if to shout to the world she was a stereotypical nerd. Sitting next to her, looking over her shoulder at the book she was reading, was a guy named Star Hunter. He had brownish skin and messy hair of a slightly darker color with yellow eyes. Hunter wore a red stripped shirt with jeans, nothing too out of the ordinary. There were no books in front of him, only a notebook with plenty of scribbling written on it. From what little Applejack knew about the guy was that he was a new student, transferred from a town called Hollow Shades at the beginning of the year.

As she looked in their direction, she noticed Hunter moving his head up a tad while turning to look at Moondancer. The nerdy girl smiled as her eyes were still glued to the page she was reading, her cheeks turning slightly red as Hunter moved his lips closer to her neck. It was only due to a throaty sound Applejack made (unintentionally of course) that caused them to halt so fast it sounded like a record screeching. With wide eyes the two looked up to see the farmer girl.

“Oh,” said Hunter, his tone awkward while Moondancer raised her book up to hide her burning red face. “D-Didn’t see you there. Haha.”

Applejack, with her cheeks still red, tilted her Stetson hat down a bit before gesturing to the cards. “Ah, er, was wondering if these here were yours,” she mumbled.

“Yes. Yes,” said Hunter quickly as he moved around the table to where Applejack stood. “Wh-What are you looking for exactly? X-Sabers? Union Machines? Trains? Perhaps Gladiator Beasts?”

“Ah...” began Applejack as she pulled out her deck from the box hanging on her belt. “Ah was hoping ta find something to improve mah deck. Planning on competing in that tournament against Crystal Prep coming up, see. Think I might need a little help.”

Hunter, to his credit, just nodded before holding out his hand. Seeing this, Applejack placed her deck in his hand. Quickly Hunter began to look through the deck card by card, his eyes scanning each one. Only once or twice he paused as if surprised by a card being there or something. Whatever it was, Hunter didn’t seem to ask any questions but went right back to what he was doing. When the last card had been looked at, Hunter handed the deck back to Applejack.

“It’s a decent deck,” he said. “Nothing in the extra deck, but that can be easily fixed. With what you have, you could pull out some Rank 8 monsters pretty ok but not as consistently as someone from Crystal Prep. Could even use some synchro monsters if you added some tuners. Guess you’ll want to keep the plant theme?”

Applejack didn’t answer right away, only scratching the back of her neck before nodding. “Ta be honest, ah was hoping ya might have some fusion monsters that could go with this deck. If at all possible. None too fond of them fancier methods.”

At that, Hunter frowned. “Well, if its fusion monsters you want then you’re going to need a whole new deck,” he said, causing Applejack to look a little dejected. That hadn’t been what she was hoping to hear. She had with her a small binder with cards to trade, but even if the rumors were true about how the cards were given away she doubted she had enough for an entire deck! Plus with how tight her budget was she doubted she could make up the rest out of pocket.

“Ya sure about that?” she asked.

Hunter, to her dismay, nodded. “Sorry to say,” he said. “Plant decks really weren’t a thing before the synchro era, unless you wanted to do Fairy King Truesdale combined with DNA Surgery. Nowadays, people like to do the Sylvan, Naturia, and Aromage builds for their xyz and synchro builds.” He then looked at her thoughtfully, tapping his chin as he did so. “But I do know of one deck that can pump out fusion monsters fast enough to keep up with Crystal Prep students. Plus you’ll be able to do some synchro plays in the future with it if you ever wanted. Not a bad deck I think.”

Applejack didn’t answer right away, instead looking down at the deck still in her hand. Biting her lower lip she looked back up at Hunter before speaking. “Well, might as well take a look at them. Don’t know if ah got much in the way of tradin’, mind ya.”

“I’m sure we can work something out,” said Hunter as he turned his back to her and began looking through the cases. “Now where are they? I know they should be…not in this one. Mainly fiends.” Applejack watched as he moved over to another case with Moondancer getting up to help him. Together they moved from case to case, looking for the plant type monsters.

After a while, both seemed to have found what they were looking for. As Hunter began to pull out cards from the case, Moondancer picked up one of them before handing it over to Applejack. Looking down at it, the farmer girl would never have thought it was a plant. Instead it looked like one of them weird lizards she saw in films with the fan around its neck and often running on its hind legs. The creature was green with three red eyes on the side she could see. There were also, for lack of a better term in her mind, ‘stems’ that were growing out of the neck fan and ending with red orbs. Raising her eyes up towards the top Applejack saw the name Predaplant Chylamydosundew.

“The Predaplant archetype is basically a combination of predatory animals and plants,” explained Moondancer after Applejack mentioned this card didn’t look much like a plant, going straight into a lecture mode. “The card you have in your hand is a combination of a frilled-neck lizard and a drosera sessilifolia which is a very carnivorous plant. Most do look like plants, evil looking ones at that.”

“Alright, here we are,” said Hunter. Applejack looked over to him and saw that he had spread a whole bunch of cards across the table. After walking over to them, Applejack began to look them over one by one. Moondancer was correct, they did have an almost evil appearance to them that she was sure Rarity would complain about. However, as she looked at their effects, she couldn’t help but note that their counter effect seemed almost ideal when dealing with the Prep. Any monster with a preda counter on it would be changed to a level one monster, messing up synchro plays as well as xyz. Perhaps even a few fusion summoning that required high level monsters to work. There were other effects as well pertaining to these counters that made Applejack stop to consider using them. However…

“Only two fusion monsters?” she noted aloud. There were six fusion monsters present, three of each laid before her. “Seems kinda meager for a fusion based deck.”

“Well, there are other fusion cards that can go with the deck,” admitted Hunter. “But those cards are in my, well, special trading binder back home. I generally don’t bring it to school with these cards. So, you interested in what you see?”

“Thinkin’ about it,” said Applejack as she took off her backpack. She opened it and pulled out a small zip-lock bag which held her own cards for trade. Calmly she handed it to him. “Need ta get a handle on them before ah make up my mind. Don’t want ta go droppin’ too much into a deck ah don’t like, ya know?”

“I understand,” said Hunter as he flipped through AJ’s spare cards with lightning speed. Already she saw that he had taken ten cards and put them off to the side. “Well, if you’re not really sure, we could have a practice duel in a couple days. You know, give you some time to look over your cards. If you don’t like them then I’ll give you back what you traded for them.” Hunter then paused and looked up at AJ, an odd smile appearing on his face. “If fact, let’s make this a bit more interesting. If you can master this deck, I’ll give you the last two fusion cards.”

Applejack’s eyes widened for a moment, before a confident smile appeared on her face. Slowly she crossed her arms across her chest. “Sugarcube, ya do know that Ah was in the top eight of the Autumn Crown. Right?”

Hunter frowned at that. Having finished looking through the stack, he put the cards he didn’t want back into the zip-lock bag before handing it to Applejack. “That…doesn’t really mean much in my opinion,” he said slowly. Applejack felt her grin fade a bit causing Star Hunter to continue. “Not that I think you’re a terrible duelist or anything. It’s just the idiotic fusion monster limitation, well, limits so many of the strategies and decks that could have been used. The reason I love this game so much is seeing people use so many different deck types, sometimes even seeing people using a strategy that isn’t normal for that deck. Figuring out what your opponent is up to like a detective would in a murder case, examining everything you can to figure out their end game in order to prevent it and then seize victory.”

As he spoke, there was a passion in Hunter’s voice that seemed to ring louder and louder. There was a spark in his eyes that Applejack hadn’t noticed before. But, just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished as Hunter looked over that the cases on the table. “Around here many of these cards can’t be played. Just not usable thanks to the format this school insists on running. It just…feels like the school is purposely holding us back when they do shit like that.”

“That why I never saw ya at the tournament?” she asked.

“More like one of the reasons,” replied Hunter with a shrug. “I also had sort of another commitment on the opening day so I wasn’t here. But even if I were here I still wouldn’t have entered because…my favorite card STILL isn’t off the ban list!”

“Then you can duel?” As soon as the words left Applejack’s lips, Hunter began slightly more rigid. Surprised by this, the farmer girl raised a hand to reach out to him only to recoil when he began to laugh. It wasn’t the kind of laugh she was used to with her friends. instead, it was a dry humorless laugh that sent chills down her spine. Quickly gazing at Moondancer, she saw that the girl was looking away from both of them.

“Yeah,” said Hunter after a moment when he had calmed down a bit. “I can duel.”

“W-Well,” said Applejack as she did her best to remain strong. No way anyone here was going to see her looking scared or anything. “Alrighty then. We’ll duel. How’s this weekend sound? Say Saturday at three o’clock?”

“I think that’ll-” began Hunter, only to have Moondancer cough into her hand. “Oh, right. Could we do it a bit earlier? Say maybe eleven?”

It was 10:50ish as Applejack strode down the street, looking for the house whose address Hunter had written down for her. The neighborhood was a nice one, slightly more modern than the one she lived in with nearly all of them looking alike. It was almost eerie how similar they all looked. She briefly wondered if folks around here ever got mixed up on which house was theirs!

There was, however, one house that didn’t match the others. This one looked like it hadn’t been taken care of properly for some time. The grass was unkempt; with patches of grass looking taller in some areas while other parts looked like it had been overtaken by weeds. The mailbox couldn’t close anymore due to the amount of mail jammed inside of it with more on the porch step, tied up and placed in plastic bags. Speaking of the porch; there were several trash bags sitting there as dozens of flies buzzed around the foul smelling things. And this was the house she was supposed to go to?

Doing her best not to hang her head, Applejack approached the house while being mindful to watch where she stepped. As she walked she began to wonder if this was the reason Hunter didn’t bring his cards to trade at Sugarcube Corner. This place was much closer to the school than the bakery and she hadn’t noticed a car in the driveway. Given the appearance of the place, it seemed like the family was down on their luck. But, if that were the case, why hadn’t Hunter just sold the cards for money? He had enough of them to make a good deal of money after all. Still, it was not her place to pry into another’s business…at least not yet. So having reached the door she knocked a few times and proceeded to wait.

Applejack didn’t have to wait long as the door opened a moment later to reveal Hunter with a duel disk already on his arm. “Hey AJ,” he said pleasantly while beckoning her to come in. While she was a tad reluctant to go inside, given the state of the yard she could only imagine how bad it was inside. However, it would have been rude not to so she entered.

Darkness seemed to surround the farmgirl despite it being a bright, sunny day outside and the blinds were open. Looking around, AJ saw she was in a family room that had once probably been very nice. Now trash littered the hardwood floor, mostly tissues and food wrappers. The walls were so covered with awards, trophy’s, medals, and framed newspaper clippings that she had no idea what color the paint was. At first AJ was going to comment on the amount of awards Hunter had until she saw the name ‘Star Chaser’ on one of them. Light came from the active TV which was being watched by two other figures in the room whom AJ assumed were Hunter’s parents. His father was slumped in an armchair while his mother laid on the couch. Neither of them paid the two teens any mind, not even seeming to notice their presence within the room. Instead their focus seemed to be on what was on the muted scene before them.

Looking at it herself, AJ saw that there was a boy who looked much like Hunter. He wore more stylish clothing as he dueled someone just off screen. He had on a grin that was, if it were possible, more cocky than anything Rainbow Dash had ever managed. He carried himself with complete and utter confidence as he slapped card after card onto his duel disk before the crowd around him began jumping out of their seats. Hunter’s parents didn’t join in on this good cheer but instead openly and loudly began to sob.

“Don’t,” said Hunter as Applejack was about to approach them. “You’ll just make them mad if you disturb them. It isn’t pretty, trust me.”

Applejack pulled back, slightly alarmed by this news. “What in sam hill happened here?”

“I did,” replied Hunter in an icy tone that shocked Applejack. She turned to look at him, only to see his back was to her now as he walked into the next room. As he walked, he continued to whisper. “There’s a park out back that we can cut into through the backyard. Perfect for a duel.”

Applejack said nothing as she followed, not bothering to look at the two poor figures behind her. Now that she had seen this, it had become her business. Silently she promised herself that before she left she would find out just what was going on here.

Green Legend Applejack Part 2

It didn’t take long for the two of them to find a spot in the park, which had ample space. Hunter stood within the shadow of a large oak tree whose breather littered the grounds almost as much as the picnic tables. From where Applejack stood, she could see a jogging trail going past a rather large playground and off into the distance. Far off to her right was a skate park while behind her she could hear the sounds of rackets hitting tennis balls. Finally off to her left was the chain fence with separated the park from the various homes on the other side.

The two weren’t the only ones dueling here either. Scattered here and there were various duelists already deep in their own matches. Small crowds gathered around some of the more intense or flashy duels, awing at the spectacle before them and wishing they had those cards themselves. Others moved between the duels as if to gauge them to see if they were worthy of their time.

“Ok,” said Hunter, getting Applejack’s attention back towards him. He lifted his duel disk upwards, his hand right over the button to activate it. “Remember, this duel is more to see how much you like that deck. And, if you do well with it, I’ll give you two more fusion monsters.”

“Ah remember,” said Applejack as she mirrored his stance. “Think Ah got a good handle on it. Just don’t go bein’ too easy on me, ya hear?”

“Don’t worry,” said Hunter with a grin. “I’m using one of my favorite decks for this, one that I put a lot of time and effort into. The last thing I would ever do is go easy on someone when using this.”

With that said, the pair activated their duel disks. As the devices came to life, both of them placed their decks into the ports which began to quickly shuffle them automatically. After a moment or two their cards became still followed by their own portraits appearing above their duel disk.

“Opponent detected. Streaming data.” Came the mechanical voice of the duels disks in unison. “Duel mode set. Initiating. Commence duel?” At that moment, the other’s portrait had appeared next to the owners with a vs. in between them as well as a question mark.

“This should be interestin’,” commented Applejack as she tapped the yes key.

-Applejack Life Points 8000-

-Star Hunter Life Points 8000-

A beeping noise was then heard as both duelist looked at their duel disks. Both looked down to see who was going first and found that it was Star Hunter.

Turn 1: Star Hunter

“I was hoping I’d go first,” said Hunter calmly, five cards already in his hand. “I draw!” He looked at it for just a moment before placing it with the others. “I’ll set one monster in defense position and set one card before I end my turn.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow while her hands went straight to her hips as the two facedown cards appeared on her opponent’s side of the field. “That’s it? Ah thought ya weren’t gonna be holdin’ nothing back!”

“Trust me, I’m not,” came Hunter’s reply as a wind swept through the park. As leaves were shaken off the trees, the teen crossed his arms calmly. “Before you lies the shadows of the unknown. Did I get a bad hand and this was simply the best I could do? Or could it be that since I know what deck I’m facing, I’m better able to plan my moves to counter yours before you even make them? Who can say really?”

Turn 2: Applejack

“Fine then. I draw!” said Applejack. Briefly she looked at her cards before averting her eyes towards the field.

‘Shadow’s of the unknown? Give me a break there partner! Ah’ve seen this play ever since ah got my first starter deck! But it still don’t mean Ah should be reckless. Her eyes lowered back to the cards in her hand. Got my best play maker here so ah can bring out a fusion monster right away. If this is a trap ah got’s a couple of back-ups.

Applejack pulled one of the cards from her hand and held it up for all to see. “Ah play my Predaplant ‘Ophrys Scorpio’(1200/800) in attack mode!”

In front of Applejack a patch of dirt began to break, revealing a blackish scorpion. However, it wasn’t like any scorpion one would find in a text book. The monster lacked any eyes in which to see with and its pincer claws looked like vines. The green pattern on its back looked like a stem as well as having four leaves on the back end of its stinger tail.

“Now Ah activate my monster’s special ability. All Ah got ta do is discard one card from mah hand and then Ah can special summon any other Predaplant monster to the field. So Ah discard my Predaplant Cordyceps to special summon to the field ‘Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra’(1000/1500)!”

As Applejack discarded her card the ground began to break again, this time seeming to reveal to stems with black budded petals with a red dot on each side. However, the vines of these blooms began to rustle while their red spots began to glow red. The plant lowered itself to the ground as it hissed like a snake. The petals opened up on each to showcase in each of its center was a rounded mouth with row upon row of tiny fangs.

With a grin, Applejack tipped back her hat as a card was pushed out from her card tray. “When Darlingtonia Cobra is special summoned, Ah get ta add one ‘Polymerization’ or any other fusion spell card to mah hand. So here she is; Polymerization. Now I’ll use it ta fuse my two Predaplant monsters on the field.”

As Applejack slipped the spell card into the proper slot, her extra deck slot opened up while a vortex above her appeared. Both of her monsters were turned into brightly colored lights as they shot up to the sky before Applejack began her chant.

“The fearsome blooms unite the sting of the scorpion and the bite of snake. Together, their fangs breed a new flower. Fusion summon! ‘Predaplant Chimerafflesia’!”(2500/2000)

From the vortex a light shot down hard and hit the ground. From that spot vines began to grow, thick vines that looked like they could hold an a fully grown adult. A red bloom began to grow with red petals that had white marks on them and in its center was another mouth, just like her Darlingtonia Cobra’s. Branch-like vines began to grow out of its sides, two of them ending with the mouths of a venus flytrap.

“Think ah like this here fusion summoning,” said Applejack with a grin. “Wouldn’t mind having one of these things in the orchard. Might keep away them blasted fruit bats during harvest time.” She then thrust her hand out to point at Hunter who just stood there. “Now atta-”

“Before you begin your attack phase, I activate my face down trap card: ‘Sinister Shadow Games’!” announce Hunter as his face down was revealed. “This card allows me to send one Shaddoll monster in my deck to the graveyard. Then I can flip all face down cards I control.”

“What’s the point of that?” demanded Applejack as a hologram appeared before Hunter, no doubt showing his list of options.

“To activate my monster’s flip effect,” replied Hunter as he selected his card. “That and a few other things. First, I’ll send my Shaddoll Hedgehog to the graveyard.” A card was ejected from his deck slot, which he took and sent to graveyard while his auto shuffler when to work. “First, reveal: ‘Shaddoll Dragon’ (1900/0)!”

In an instant, Hunter’s face down card was replaced with a purplish dragon-like monstrosity. To Applejack, it looked more like a wooden puppet as there were strings of purple energy rising towards the sky from its four legs, back, and head. She could see the segments of its body where the links and screws were that held it together. Yet its eyes looked so very real.

“When Shaddoll Dragon is flip summoned, I can send one of your cards back to your hand,” said Hunter as he pointed towards the fusion monster. “However, since it can’t go back to your hand, it instead returns to the extra deck.” Applejack grumbled as she took her card off the duel disk and returned it to the fusion slot. She had thought that the face down card would have destroyed it with the plan of using the Monster Reborn in her hand to bring it back. But with her monster back in her extra deck that plan was now made pointless for now.

“Next, the effect of my Shaddoll Hedgehog activates allowing me to take any Shaddoll spell or trap card and add it to my hand,” continued Hunter. “I think the best choice would be Shaddoll Fusion.”

“A fusion deck, huh,” said Applejack as her opponent took his card. “Given all that stuff you said back at school, Ah would have thought you’d be usin’ something else.”

“Just because I have an issue with how the school sets its rules doesn’t mean I have anything against fusion decks,” replied Hunter. “Besides, just because this is a fusion deck doesn’t mean it can’t surprise you. So, are you going to continue your move?”

Applejack frowned as she looked over her hand. How could she continue her move? She had already done her normal summon and had no cards that she could special summon right now. What’s more, she didn’t want to waste her Monster Reborn right now to bring back one of her low level monsters. Thankfully, she did have a backup plan so she doubted she would lose during her opponents turn.

“Ah place one card face down an end my turn,” she announced, gaining an eyebrow raise from Hunter.

Turn 3: Star Hunter

“If you’re sure,” said Hunter, his voice sounding odd. Applejack watched as he drew his card and looked at it for a moment. Hunter then raised his head to look at Applejack. “I hope that face down can protect you. Because if it can’t then this duel is over! I activate the spell card ‘Shaddoll Fusion’ to fuse together the Shaddoll Beast and Shaddoll Squamata in my hand!”

The two cards in Hunter’s hand turned into dark spheres of energy as another vortex appeared above their heads. Purple strings, much like the ones connected to Shaddoll Dragon lowered from the sky and connected to them before pulling them upwards.

“The corruption spreads deep, turning heart and flesh into wood. Oh once mighty champion, fight for your new master to destroy his foes! Fusion summon El Shaddoll WINDA!” (2200/800)

Up above them, a figure was lowered down to them by the purple strings. No, make that two. The first was of another dragon puppet, made of purple painted wood with ring shaped eyes and massive fangs. The other figure looked like a girl holding a staff. She wore purple clothing over her pale white wooden skin and her green hair was tied up into a ponytail.

“Now the effects of Beast and Squamata activate,” continued Hunter as Winda hovered several feet off the ground to his right. “First, Beast allows me to draw one card.” He paused to do so. “Second, Squamata allows me to send another Shaddoll monster to the graveyard. So, I’ll send another Shaddoll Hedgehog there in order to gain his effect and add El Shaddoll Fusion to my hand. Now I put my Shaddoll Dragon into attack position and begin my attack. Go, Shaddoll Dragon!”

Applejack didn’t even try to go and activate her trap card as Shaddoll Dragon lunged at her, its claws coming down on her in a downward sweep.

-Applejack’s Light Points: 6100-

“I have to say Applejack,” said Hunter as he looked at her with a frown. “I was expecting better from a duelist who was in the top eight. Perhaps you need more time with that deck.” He then paused to shrug. “Oh well. El Shaddoll Winda, attack!” The arm holding the girl’s staff was raised, her staff beginning to glow as the dragon she rode upon flapped its wings.

“Not so fast there sugarcube!” shouted Applejack as she held up a card. “Ah activate the effect of my ‘Predaplant Sarraceniant’! When ya attack me directly, Ah can special summon this little feller to the field in defense mode!” When Applejack slapped her card onto her duel disk the ground once again broke to reveal her monster. Sarraceniant was a green, insect like monster a large pincer like mouth. Large green trumpet-like flowers grew on its back with the end trimmed purple.

Hunter’s frown turned into a grin. “Decided to use that to block the stronger of the two, not bad Applejack. I continue my attack,” from Winda’s staff came a blast of purple energy that looked like it was made of thousands upon thousands of tightly woven strands. The attack hit Applejack’s monster, the impact causing the ground to erupt. Yet, there was an odd lingering of purple mist hanging over the spot where AJ’s monster once stood.

“Ya shouldn’t have done that partner,” said Applejack with a wide grin. “Cause now my monster’s effect activates! See, Predaplant Sarraceniant is a poisonous little critter an your monster just got a heapin’ dose. So it gets destroyed too!” At once the mist flew towards El Shaddoll Winda’s mouth, looking to enter her body. Yet another glow from her staff dispersed the mist as soon as it got too close. “Hey, what gives?”

“Your plan was good in theory,” said Hunter. “Had this been one of my other fusion monsters, save for one, then it would have been destroyed for sure. However, Winda has a continuous effect that prevents it from being destroyed by card effects.”

Applejack slumped at that. “Great,” she muttered. “Anything else she can do?”

“So glad you asked,” replied Hunter. “As long as El Shaddoll Winda is on the field, both of us can only special summon one monster per turn.” Applejack’s eyes widened at that information, the realization of what it meant hitting her like a ton of bricks. If she used any of her monsters to special summon something from her deck, that was it! If she used Monster Reborn or anything like that to bring out monsters from her graveyard then that would be it too. If she wanted to make any real plays from here on, she needed to get rid of that fusion monster.

“Well Predaplant Sarraceniant has another trick up its sleeve,” said Applejack. “When it gets destroyed ah can also add one Predap monster from mah deck to mah hand. So I’ll be addin’ mah Predaplant Spinodionaea.”

Again, Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Interesting,” he muttered with a shrug before holding up two cards from his hand. “I’ll just place these two cards facedown before ending my turn. Your move.”

Turn 4: Applejack

“Thank ya kindly,” said Applejack as she drew her card. Looking down at it, she grinned unable to believe her luck, “I’ll start off my playin’ my Predaplant Spinodionaea (1800/0)!”

More earth broke near Applejack as a much larger creature appeared on her side of the field. At least double her size, Spinodionaea looked very much like a dinosaur with a wicked looking jaw and six pure red eyes. Its skin was green and its back looked like it was carrying the mouth of a venus flytrap.

“Now for his special ability,” announced Applejack. “When he is summoned ta the field, Ah get ta place one Predator Counter on one of your monsters. An’ the monster Ah choose is El Shaddoll Winda!” Applejack pointed at Winda, causing her monster to start making a hacking sound before spitting at the fusion monster. The spit stuck Winda…as well as a seed hidden within the flying fluid, shaped like that of an alligator’s head. The seed actually opened its mouth to bite onto Winda’s shoulder. “Next ah activate mah trap card: Predaplanet! Each time when a monster with a Predator counter leaves the field ah can add one ‘Predap’ card to mah hand.”

“I see,” said Hunter as he looked over at his monster. “Trying to reinforce your hand, searching out cards to help give you the advantage. However, while your monster is strong, it can’t match might with either of my monsters.”

“Right now, sure,” admitted Applejack. “But not after ah do this! I special summon my ‘Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra’ (800/2300) to the field in defense mode. Ah can do this by tributing one monster on the field with a Predator counter on it. An guess which one that is sugarcube?”

Hunter turned his head quickly to see that the vines growing on his monster were beginning to rip it apart. Like a chestburster, a small creature came out of Winda as it vanished in a sparkle of golden lights. The monster, Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra, was an odd looking thing. Small vines acted like legs around its body while several thicker ones were up at its front with red dots lining their sides. The vine in its middle had a mouth which was openly hissing while a second mouth could be seen on the main body.

“Now since a monster with a Predator counter left the field, my trap card activates,” continued Applejack. “So I’ll be adding Predaplant Chylamydosundew ta my hand. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.”

“No, not too bad,” admitted Hunter as he looked over again where his Winda once was. “But when Winda is sent to the graveyard I get to add one Shaddoll spell or trap card in the graveyard to my hand. So I’ll be taking back my Shaddoll Fusion.”

“Well then Ah’d better make the best of this turn,” said Applejack. “So now ah activate the effect of mah Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra. By removing one Predaplant monster in mah graveyard ah can lower the attack points of one of your monsters by 500. So Ah removed mah Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra ta lower your Dragon’s attack points!” From Drosophyllum Hydra’s upper mouth shot a bright purple goo that splattered over Shaddoll Dragon’s face causing its attack point to lower to 1400.

“Now time ta attack,” said Applejack as she pumped out her fist. “Predaplant Spinodionaea, attack his Dragon!” Spinodionaea stomped over to where Shaddoll Dragon stood motionlessly before several vine like tentacles erupted from the flytrap mouth on its back. They lifted Dragon off the ground, pulling it into the open mouth that chomped down on it.

-Star Hunter’s Light Points: 7600-

“Now since mah Spinodionaea has his handy ability that lets him special summon a Predaplant monster if he destroys a monster equal or lower level ta his own,” continued Applejack. “An if ah ain’t mistaken, Shaddoll Dragon was level four. Same as mah monster. That mean ah can special summon another Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra. An when its special summoned, ah can add another Polymerization ta mah hand.” Applejack paused she held up her card. “Pity ah can’t use it right now. But, ah can attack your life points directly with mah Darlingtonia Cobra!” AJ’s plant snake hissed as I began to quickly slither towards Hunter, when he pressed a button on his duel disk.

“A good idea, but not good enough. I activate my trap card: ‘Shaddoll Core’!” With that, an object shaped like a human chest appeared in front of him halting the attack of Darlingtonia Cobra. From the chest came several phantom long-necked dragons as they glared at the still snake, “When Shaddoll Core is activated, it becomes a level nine monster on my side of the field that I can use as part of a fusion summon that lists an attribute.” (1450/1950)

“Well then,” said Applejack as she nodded to her Darlingtonia Cobra which came slithering back to her. It was a blow since she had hoped to get in a direct attack. That was the reason she had summoned her Darlingtonia Cobra in attack mode. But at least she got another Polymerization in her hand. With this, she could fuse her two attack position monsters together to form Predaplant Chimerafflesia again. Even if it got destroyed the damage she took would be lessened and she would get another fusion card from her deck. “Ah guess Ah end mah battle phase.”

“And before you do that, I activate my other face down,” said Hunter as his other card flipped face up. “‘El Shaddoll Fusion’. It’s a quick-play spell card that allows me to fusion summon one Shaddoll fusion monster from my extra deck. So I’ll fuse together the Core on my field and the Shaddoll Falco in my hand.”

Once again a vortex appeared above them, purple energy strings descending from it to attach themselves to Hunter’s offerings.

“Can you hear the screams of the fallen knight? His power and soul now rest within the core, empowering the corruption. Fusion Summon El Shaddoll Grysta! (2450/1950)”

A new, more massive figure was lowered down from the vortex. It was a single marionette wearing red armor and long blond hair. At first, Applejack thought he had bright red wings on his back but then she realized that they were in fact his strings.

“Also,” continued Hunter, “since my Shaddoll Falco was sent to the graveyard due to a card effect, it gets special summoned onto my side of the field in defense mode.” Now another face down card appeared on his side of the field.

“Ah’m guessin’ that monster has some sort of nasty special effect,” said Applejack, her gaze shifting from her monster to her fusion card.

“It does indeed,” said Hunter as he gestured to his large monster. “Grysta has the ability to negate and destroy a monster or monsters you special summon once per turn at the cost of me discarding one Shaddoll card in my hand.” Applejack felt her eyes widen as he said this. She looked down at her field and then back to her hand as she realized what this meant. Even if she did fusion summon a monster it would just be destroyed before it even hit the field. Heck, she was willing to bet the farm that if she tried using Monster Reborn to bring back a monster from her grave it would just get destroyed as well.

“Ah end mah turn,” she said, shoulders slumped.

Turn 5: Star Hunter

“Hmm,” said Hunter as he drew his card. “I flip summon my ‘Shaddoll Falco’ (600/1400) to activate its effect!” The face down card on Hunter’s field vanished and in its place was a purple wooden bird with several of the same strings attached to it. “His effect, when summoned this way, allows me to take one Shaddoll sleeping in my graveyard and return it to the field in face down defense mode. Using this effect I choose El Shaddoll Winda,” Applejack took a step back as she saw the face down card appear on his side of the field.

Great, she thought bitterly as she shot a glare at the card. Ah just got rid of the darned thing to. Now if ah don’t get rid of it next turn, Ah’ll only be able ta special summon once pre turn. An that monster will be destroyed thanks ta Grysta!

“Next I play the spell card ‘Instant Fusion’,” continued Hunter as he held up his card so Applejack could see it. “By giving up a thousand life point, I can special summon a level five or lower fusion monster from my extra deck. The downsides are that it can’t attack and its destroyed at the end of the turn. But it will be worth it to summon to the field my ‘Sea Monster of Theseus’ (2200/1800)!”

Appearing on Hunter’s field was the remains of an old wooden ship. There was a whole at the bottom where a white, monstrous skull appeared with glowing red eyes and tentacles reaching out from all around it.

-Star Hunter’s Life Points: 6600-

“Now the stage is set for me to use Shaddoll Fusion once again,” said Hunter as the vortex above them appeared again. Strings reached out from it once again to latch themselves on Falco and the Sea Monster.

“Power of the icy dragon, stolen to serve another. Pulled from the void sending a chill down thy enemy’s spine. Fusion summon: El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis! (2700/2000)”

Slowly descending from the portal in the sky was another massively huge monster that cast a shadow over Applejack. It was of a large female marionette with purple painted on clothing and white skin. It also looked like there was a snake or something wrapped and fused to her body, ending at the back of her head to form some sort of headdress. Strings fanned out of her back to form wings, as well as coming from her fingers.

“Before I attack, I think I should inform you of El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis’ effect,” said Hunter calmly, “As long as she’s on the field, neither one of us can special summon monsters from our hands or graveyards using spell or trap cards. Now time for battle! Grysta will attack Spinodionaea and Anoyatyllis will destroy your cobra!”

Applejack couldn’t help it as she took a step back as both giants moved their arms, energy strings moving with them. Grysta’s seem to glow brighter as they passed right through Spinodionaea, spicing Applejack’s plant into pieces that began to burn as they fell to the ground. Her Darlingtonia Cobra fared no better as strings wrapped around its necks before slicing off their twin heads.

-Applejack’s Life Points: 3750

‘Great,’ thought Applejack as her life points fell. ‘Bad enough Ah gotta deal with a monster that destroys the first monster ah special summon, but now Ah got one that won’t let me use Monster Reborn or Predapruning! Also Ah have to deal with El Shaddoll Winda when he flip summons it on his next turn. He…Wait one apple pickin’ moment! One fusion keeps me from special summoning too much. Another keeps me from using spell or traps ta special summon mah monsters from the hand or grave. An one destroys the first monster ah special summon! He’s…’

“Ya know Hunter,” said Applejack suddenly. “Ah really hate fibbers like ya.”

At that, Hunter raised an eyebrow. “That’s an odd thing to say,” he said slowly. “I’m sure I haven’t lied to you about any of my monster’s effects. Nor have I cheated in anyway.”

“Ya keep goin’ on about how ya hate bein’ limited,” said Applejack as she crossed her arms, eyes narrowing slightly as she did and a frown appearing on her face, “Yet here ya are, usin’ monsters that limit what Ah can do. What ya say an’ what ya do are two different things!”

Hunter, for his part, said nothing at first as he closed his eyes before sighing. “That is true. This deck is supposed to slow down my opponent, to hamper what they can do. It is a good strategy these days when so many decks rely on special summoning monsters. However, a good duelist can get around these issues just as you have.” Hunter then opened his eyes while giving Applejack a slight smile. “Just like you did earlier with your Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra. That was a good way of taking my monster off the field. The follow up was also very interesting. It surprised me that you choose to do that, which is what I like to see in duels.”

Applejack was taken aback by this. “It, well, was nothing,” she stumbled as she felt her cheeks burn slightly.

“So far Applejack, you have been using that deck decently up until now,” continued Hunter. “However, I think right now the issue you are having is that you are still looking at it like an older fusion based deck. You’ve been making moves so that you can seek out your fusion card but forgetting the rest of your deck’s support and abilities. But, I know you will figure it out before the Friendship Cup. You are a very talented duelist.”

“Same ta ya, sugarcube,” replied Applejack as she tipped her hat down a bit, hoping the shadow would help hide the blush she had on. She wasn’t used to receiving these kinds of props from a duelist. Not in a long time. Especially not from a boy. It was kind of nice. “Actually kind of glad ya didn’t join in on the Autumn Crown tournament. With skills like yours, ya might of made it to the top four. Could even get into Crystal Prep Ah’d wager.”

“Yes,” Hunter whispered, his voice sounding far off for a moment. “That…is true. I very well could have. To be honest, when I first came to CHS I briefly considered ignoring my feelings on the idiotic rulings and my plans for that day. Very briefly I decided to take the limitations as a challenge to my skills. But seeing the corruption all around me caused me to stick with my original plan.”

“Uh, corruption?” asked Applejack, now raising her eyebrow. But it only lasted for a moment before she realized what he was talking about. “Ya mean how we were all actin’ back then?”

Hunter nodded, “When I arrived at CHS, I saw people who were once friends now at each other’s throats. Anger and inflamed egos walked the hallways side by side. Pride, jealousy, love, hate. So many of these emotions can cause one to become corrupted, twisting you into a mockery of what you once were if you’re not careful. Believe me, I’ve seen it and lived with it enough to know what it looks like. That’s why I like running this deck. Each one of them is a corrupted version of a different monster from the game. They are a reminder of what I wish to avoid becoming again.”

“A-Again?” stammered Applejack, now getting worried. Applejack had been worried about him since she saw the state of his house. But then with what he said after she first arrived, about it being his fault and now this.

“I end my turn,” said Hunter, interruption Applejack’s thoughts.

Turn 6: Applejack

Applejack didn’t say anything at first, just staring at her hand. ‘Something happened ta him,’ thought Applejack, ‘Ah think ah got a good idea that it has something or other ta do with his brother. Did he…’ Applejack shook her head as dark thoughts began to fill her head. ‘No time ta be thinkin’ like that. Best ask his directly an not go makin’ assumptions. But first ah have ta finish this here duel. Thing is, can ah win?’ Slowly she reached over to draw a card. ‘Guess Ah’ll have to draw and see!’

“I draw!” Applejack announced before looking at the card she drew, “Ah play my ‘Fragrance Storm’ spell card. Here’s how it works. I tribute one plant monster on the field an’ then Ah get ta draw a card. So I choose mah Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra!” With that, Applejack’s monster vanished as she drew her card, “Ah drew my Lonefire Blossom. Since it was a plant monster, my spell card lets me draw a second card.”

“Now Ah play my ‘Lonefire Blossom’ (500/1400),” she continued as a normal looking plant grew on her side of the field, “Now this here monster is mighty special. By tributing it, Ah can special summon any plant monster Ah like from mah deck. Normally Ah would use this to bring out one of mah plant princesses or my Gigaplant. But this time Ah plan on getting hold of mah Predaplant Flytrap!” The bulb on Lonefire exploded upwards, shooting up into the sky and bursting in colored lights like a firework as a more twisted looking flytrap took its place.

“I think I see what you’re doing here,” said Hunter as he observed the field. “You plan on making use of your Flytrap’s ability to destroy one of my monsters. Then you can use your trap card to get another card in your hand. Not a bad move. Too bad I won’t allow it. I activate Gysta’s effect: by sending my Shaddoll Dragon from my hand to the grave I can negate the special summoning and destroy it! Also, when Shaddoll Dragon is sent to the grave by an effect his effect activates allowing me to destroy one spell or trap card on the field. So say goodbye to your trap card,” The red, burning threads quickly wrapped around Predaplant Flytrap as a ghostly image of Shaddoll Dragon flew across the field into Applejack’s trap card. Within seconds both were destroyed.

Still, Applejack grinned, “Thank ya kindly for using up your monsters effect,” she said. “Now Ah activate the card ah drew on mah second draw: Predaplast! With this card Ah can reveal as many Predaplant monsters that Ah want and then place the same amount of predator counters onto your monsters. As ya can see, ah have two,” Applejack flipped two cards in her hand showing Hunter she had Predaplant Chylamydosundew and Predaplant Pterapenthes. As she did this, two counters flew from the cards she showed and bit into Hunter’s two face up monsters, reducing their levels to one.

“Now everything is set,” said Applejack as she held out her fusion card, “Ah play mah Polymerization card once again to fuse the two monsters Ah just showed ya to special summon Predaplant Chimerafflesia!” After a repeat of her chant, Applejack’s fusion monster reappeared on the field with all its mouths dripping with saliva,

“Now before Ah battle, Ah’m going use here critters effect. Since you’re monsters are a lower level, ah can banish one of them. An ah choose El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis!” With that, vines appeared out of the ground surrounding Anoyatyllis and began to drag her into the soil, “Now attack Grysta!” Applejack’s Predaplant monster reached out with its two ‘hands’ and took hold of Grysta, biting deep into him. Grysta shook violently as it lost 1000 attack points while Chimerafflesia gained 1000. As Applejack’s monster grew stronger the mouth in the middle of its pedals began to grow to an enormous size. The arms began to retract, pulling it into the gaping abyss before it exploded.

-Star Hunter’s Life Points: 4550-

“Since you sent El Shaddoll Grysta to the graveyard, I can add my Shaddoll Fusion in my graveyard to my hand,” said Hunter calmly. “Good move.”

“Thanks, but that was all Ah can do for now,” replied Applejack.

Turn 7: Star Hunter

“Then I draw,” said Hunter as he drew his card. He looked at it for just a moment before holding it up so Applejack could see it, “I play ‘Terraforming’ which lets me go through my deck and add one field card from it to my hand. So I choose ‘Magical Meltdown’! And I play it right away!” As soon as his duel disk spat out the card, Hunter opened up his field card slot to insert the card.

Instantly a red magical circle of charged energy appeared on the field. Looking down at it, the farmer girl had no idea what the markings meant. But she could sense the power coming from them. “When his card is activated, I can add one Aleister the Invoker to my hand. Also, as long as this card is on the field my you will be unable to stop any effect that that allows me to fusion summon a monster. Not only that, you are unable to activate any card effects when a monster is fusion summoned.”

Applejack let out a whistle, “That’s a heck of a card,” she said.

“It is,” agreed Hunter. “Now I’ll play my Shaddoll Fusion card. Since you have a monster on your side of the field that comes from your extra deck, I am allowed to go through my main deck to get the cards I need for a fusion summoning. So I choose my Shaddoll Beast and Mathematician,” Applejack took a step back at that. She hadn’t expected that he could special summon a fusion monster using monsters from his deck!

“They thought they could bind you; hold back your mighty power. While you are weakened, the corruption can never be contained! Fusion Summon: El Shaddoll Shekhinaga!” (2600/3000)

Appearing on Hunter’s side of the field were four large, curved towers. On one side they were white with a few black lines while on the opposite the colors were reversed. From the towers came energy threads which bound a massive female marionette inside. The colors on each of her sides matched the towers and behind her were bound wings; an angelic white, feathery wing on one side while on the opposite was a demonic, black bat-like wing.

“Next, I normal summon ‘Aleister the Invoker’ (1000/1800) in attack mode,” continued Hunter as a man in a hooded white and grey robes appeared on his side of the field. In one hand, Aleister held a staff while in the other held a book, “Thanks to his effect, I can now add the spell card ‘Invocation’ to my hand which I will then play. It allows me to fusion summon a monster from my extra deck using card from my hand. Or I can use cards on my side of the field as well as either player’s graveyard at the cost of banishing them from play. So I banish my Mathematician and Aleister for my next fusion summon.”

As he played his card, Aleister began to change. His skin growing more rock like and losing an eye.

“Mystic powers of the sage and math, pool your might together so that the earth may rise. Stomp down with a molten fist! Fusion Summon: Invoked Magellanica!” (3000/3300)

Now the person that had been Aleister was gone replaced with another giant made of stone with molten rock around each of its limbs so it would be able to move.

“Finally, I flip my El Shaddoll Winda into attack position,” finished Hunter as his last monster moved into place, “But before I attack, I activate the other of my Invocation spell card. When it is in the graveyard, I can target my banished Aleister and then shuffle Invocation back into my deck,” Hunter’s card slid out of his graveyard slot before he put it back into his deck. “Once I have done that my targeted Aleister returns to my hand.”

Applejack said nothing as she looked at her opponent’s field. Three fusion monsters stared back at her, ready to attack her one. But while their attack points were higher, she felt certain that she could get one more turn if she played her cards right.

“Now I attack,” said Hunter as he pointed at Applejack’s monster, “El Shaddoll Shekhinaga, destroy her Predaplant!” Threads from the towers holding Shekhinaga shot down towards Chimerafflesia, wrapping around it and pulling it out of the ground towards the floating monster in the sky.

“Not so fast there,” said Applejack as she held out her hand. “Ah activate the effect of mah Predaplast spell card sleepin’ in mah graveyard. See, if one of mah Predaplant monsters were to be destroyed in battle Ah can remove this card from play instead! Still take damage, but ah don’t lose mah monster.”

-Applejack’s Life Points: 3650

Hunter smiled as Chimerafflesia broke free of the threads holding it in the air and began to fall to the ground. “I figured you might try something like that. Invoked Magellanica, swat it!” The giant stone man raised both its arms as the Predaplant fell between its open hands. Magellanica then brought them together so fast and with so much force that it created a powerful wind that knocked down both duelists. When the creature began to slowly move its palms apart, nothing was left of Applejack’s monster.

-Applejack’s Life Points: 3150

“Looks like ah’m still in this game,” said Applejack as she slowly got to her feet, her eyes glued at Winda. The farmer girl could already see how this would go. Winda would attack her directly, but lacked the amount of attack points to finish this game.

“Normally I would agree with you,” said Hunter as he held up a card. “However, I had a hunch that you would remember to use your Predaplast card so I made sure to retrieve this one,” the male duelist flipped the card around showing it to be his Aleister, “You see, Aleister has another effect. I can discard him to increase the attack points of one of my fusion monsters by 1000. So…” As Hunter discarded his Invoker, El Shaddoll Winda’s attack points rose from 2200 to 3200. More than enough to finish Applejack off. Without Hunter having to say a word, Winda raised her staff again to blast Applejack directly and ending the duel.

Green Legend Applejack Part 3

Applejack sat on one of the park benches, panting slightly from the intense duel she just finished. She leaned back in her seat, elbows on the wooden table as she looked up into the sky. Around her she could still hear others around her. The sounds of two people, maybe more, hitting a tennis ball back and forth. The occasional sounds of little tikes screaming as they played. A random explosion from a duel going on somewhere else. Just another peaceful day in the park. Almost enough to make her close her eyes and drift off to sleep for a bit.

That is until she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her, stepping over a few small twigs that made snapped as they got closer to her. Turning her eyes but not her head, Applejack saw Star Hunter standing there with two large bottles of water. Both of them looked cold and refreshing to her at that moment. Just the sort of thing that she needed after something like that.

“Thank ya kindly,” she said as she sat up properly. Smiling, she reached out to take one before she stopped. Eyeing the bottles with a level of suspicion she pulled her hand back towards her. Normally, she wouldn’t be so rude as to refuse such a kind gesture. The only time she would do something like this was when she thought Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie were up to one of their pranks fests. But in this case, it wasn’t what had been done to the bottle that concerned her but where it had come from.

“Relax,” sighed Hunter as if he had read her mind. “This isn’t from my house. I got it from the vending machine near the restrooms. It’s perfectly fine.”

“Sorry,” murmured Applejack as she took the water bottle this time while her cheeks darkened.

“No, its fine,” said Hunter as he sat down next to her. He paused for a moment to open his bottle…or at least trying to as he struggled with twisting the cap. “After seeing my place, I really wouldn’t blame anyone. Don’t even eat the food that’s there. Grr. Was the cap fused to this thing or something?”

“Give ‘er here,” said Applejack as she reached out her hand. Slightly flustered, Hunter handed her the bottle which she gently took. Then, with one hand, she twisted the cap off in one go before handing it back.

“Thanks,” he muttered as Applejack undid the cap on her own bottle, “And again, that was a good duel. Maybe we could have another one sometime soon. I have plenty of decks that should keep things interesting.”

“Sounds fine,” said Applejack before she took a moment to take a sip of water. “Maybe should’ve bought Apple Bloom an’ her friends along. Might have some fun dueling each other, finding some other folk to duel, or just have some fun with a ball,” Applejack paused again to take another sip but stopped just short of her lips. Slowly she glanced over at Hunter as she lowered the bottle, “But, ah, before we do that, there’s something Ah think Ah ought ta ask.”

Hunter didn’t say anything at first, simply drumming his fingers over his bottle of water with his head down. From her angle, Applejack could see that he was biting his lower lip. After a moment of this he raised his head before speaking but not looking over at her, “I think I know what you’re going to ask. And I guess it would be pointless to tell you not to worry or it’s none of your business.”

“Sorry, sugarcube,” replied Applejack as she set her bottle of water down next to her, “But…Ah’m worried about ya. The way you and your folks are livin’. Some of the things ya said. Well, that’s got me mighty worried. Don’t want nothin’ bad happenin’ to ya.”

“And if I don’t you’ll probably keep pestering me about it. That or go snooping around,” said Hunter as he glanced over in the direction of his house. Even from this side the place looked like a wreck with trash bags piling up in various places. The grass that was there was high, going well past both teen’s knees and clashing with the neighboring lawns, “Alright, I’ll tell you everything. But…just don’t go telling everyone about this. Principal Celestia and Vice-principal Luna know enough about what’s going on at my house. And of course Moondancer knows. I’d like to keep it that way. The last thing I want is people’s pity.”

“Ta be honest, that’ll depend on what Ah hear,” said Applejack, “If things are really bad, Ah’ll tell mah friends ta see if they can help. But Ah won’t go plastering it around the school.”

“Well, that’s something,” sighed Hunter as he closed his eyes. “You remember all those medals and awards that were in my house. They belong to my younger brother, Star Chaser. He’s not around anymore.”

“…Is he dead?” asked Applejack, tentatively.

“What? No,” said Hunter quickly, “He’s in jail right now. I sort of… contributed…” The teen then sighed as he began to roll the bottle between his hands, “I guess I should start from the beginning. Back when we were both much younger living in Hollow Shades…

“To be honest, I don’t remember when or how it all started. Chaser was only a year younger than me, but from an early age our parents seemed to believe that he was destined for greatness. He learned how to play nearly every sport really quickly while I struggled. He was already taller than me and, well, according to most of the girls, good looking. Then when we got our first starter decks, he also learned how to play the game faster. Me; I was more into reading and writing. I liked to read and watch shows about detectives rather than going outside to play. Honestly, sports never really interested me all that much, you know? As for Duel Monsters, I enjoyed learning all sorts of tricks and strategies over winning outright. Usually when we dueled he would win.

“Our parents weren’t mean or abusive to me. No, nothing like that. But they did insist that I try out for every sport my brother wanted to go into, even if we all knew I wouldn’t make the cut. Like I was just there to make him look better, that my failure made his success seem all the greater. And I couldn’t help but notice that he got more of everything. Every one of my birthdays were held at home while he got these massive parties that needed a banquet hall. On Christmas he always got four times the gifts. Every time his team won a match or game, they would break out a bottle of wine to celebrate while acting like it was solely because of him that they won. If the team lost, it was because the coach refused to utilize Chaser properly. Any card in the game he wanted he got, even if he wasn’t going to play with them for very long. That’s how I got all those cards by the way; they all belonged to him at one point. Anyways, I also knew that if I wanted to do something or had some school presentation, like a play they would come only if Chaser didn’t have anything going on. They made it very clear that he came first. I guess, in the end, my parents determined I wasn’t ambitious enough or something like that.”

“Dang...” was all Applejack could say. It sounded like Hunter’s parents had taken a page from Rainbow’s and then some. However, Applejack doubted Rainbow’s parents would ignore one child over the other if they had more than one.

“It wasn’t just our parents who held him on high. Because he won so many local Duel Monster tournaments and was on so many sports teams, most of the adults treated him like a local legend in the making. That he’d be the one to put Hollow Shades on the map. Most of the kids in our neighborhood wanted to be close to him, as if it came with some perks. And when he started dating, well, there was no shortage in that department.

“I guess it wasn’t too hard how all that would go to his head. The concept of not getting something that he wanted was just so alien to him. He walked around like he owned everything and at times it felt like that included people as well. I’ve heard talk about women like they were flavors that he would eventually get tired of. Chaser bragged daily about his future, about how he was going to join the Pro Duel League as soon as he was old enough, as well as a sports team. About how he’d be literally swimming in money.”

“Here ah thought Rainbow had a swelled head,” said Applejack with a whistle, “So, what happened to ‘im? Did he try ta take something he really shouldn’t?”

“No,” replied Hunter as he shook his head. “What happened was we were applying to Crystal Prep. I wanted to become a writer and thought learning more about the league would be helpful. Maybe even writing some murder mysteries about the game while using a position as a duelist to, well, make me a little more well known. Maybe use that fame to my advantage,” he let out a sigh. “So, we both took the tests at the same time. Chaser used his best deck: a Red Eyes Burn deck which he always used in tournaments while I used my Shaddoll deck. We both scored victories and, after we took the tests, our parents quit their jobs and moved here so that we could all stay together. They guessed I wouldn’t get in so they were preparing to send me to CHS at the same time as they were getting ready to celebrate Chaser getting accepted. But things didn’t go as they thought…”

“Hey retard, your rejection letter arrived!” laughed Chaser as he tossed a letter to Hunter, who was sitting at the kitchen table and deep into a book, ignored the letter as it bounced off his head.

Rolling his eyes, the young teen closed his book while his parents rushed Chaser into the family room which already had all of his trophies and awards on the walls. Without needing to look up, he knew their mother had her smartphone out to record this moment like she did with everything he did. Nor did he expect either of them to tell Chaser off for the way he had spoken to his brother. That sort of thing was common from him.

“Don’t keep us waiting,” said their father happily as he beamed with pride, patting his son on the back, “Go on son, read it!”

Fighting back a sigh, Hunter opened his letter as Chaser read aloud his response from Crystal Prep, “Dear Mr. Star Chaser. We here at Crystal Prep pride ourselves on accepting only the very best duelists within our hallowed halls. We have examined your work on the written exam and found it to be above a satisfactory level. As for your practical test, we were impressed that you were able to achieve victory on your very first turn. Not many students can boost such an accomplishment within our school’s history. Normally, we would be more than proud to welcome such an outstanding student into our ranks. However, due to the number of capable students entering our school being higher than normal, there is a need to thin out the applicants further. To that end, we have decided that a select group of randomly selected student hopefuls will be dueling each other for the chance to enter school. Your name was one of the chosen.”

“WHAT!” bellowed their father causing Hunter to look up from his own letter. Their father’s face was flushed, eyes wide with undiluted rage as he looked at the letter as if it had just thrown him a very vulgar insult, “How dare they?!? Don’t they know how lucky THEY are just to have my son apply at their school?”

Hunter said nothing, only scanning the room to see the rest of his family’s reactions. His mother had lowered her phone. While her face was far calmer than her husbands, she still seemed to regard the piece of paper as if it were a rodent she wished to stomp on. As for Star Chaser, there was an odd look on his face. He looked like he had lost a great deal of color on his face and hands, as if he had just seen a ghost. Yet that lasted only for a brief moment as a dead look on his face was replaced with his usual swagger.

“Ha,” he laughed. “So all I have to do is beat down some loser to get in? Easy. If anything, this will just prove to them how much better I am than everyone else. Look here, it even says that I can change my deck if I want.”

This seemed to calm both their parents down considerably, “That’s the spirit son!” said their father as he clapped his son on the back.

“Another brilliant showing from our brilliant son,” agreed their mother as she grinned broadly, “So when is this duel?”

“Let’s see here,” said Chaser as he began to scan the paper with his finger. His lips moved as he skimmed the letter until he finally found what he was looking for, “Ok, it says here that each match will take place on a separate day. Looks like mine it will be this Saturday. I wonder what poor sap they’ll have me dueling?”

“I guess me,” said Hunter. At the sound of his voice, the family turned to look into the kitchen where Hunter was sitting and looking at him as if they were suddenly made aware of his existence. Hunter held up his own letter, “It says I was chosen for one of the duels as well. Same date.”

“Oh,” said their father, “Well, this is farther than we thought you’d get at least. Too bad you had to get your brother as an opponent. Guess bad luck of the draw and all that.”

“We’re sure you’ll try your best of course,” added their mother, “But, try not to embarrass yourself or waste too much of your brother’s time.”

“Don’t worry,” said Chaser with a grin as he wrapped an arm around each of their parent’s shoulders, “He won’t get that chance. I’ll defeat him before he even knows what’s going on. How about we go out to celebrate in advance?”

“That’s my boy,” laughed their father.

As the family began to head out the door, lead by Chaser stating loudly where he wanted to go, Hunter sat there with the letter still in his hands and the voices of his family echoing in his head. He sat there; his breaths becoming deeper with each passing moment. His grip began to grow stronger as he held the letter until small rips began to appear. Outside he could hear the doors to the car opening and closing, loud music that his brother loved pouring out so everyone could hear. As the car began to move out of the driveway, Hunter screamed as loudly as he could.

Applejack felt something rotten trying to climb its way up her throat as she listened to Hunter recall this memory. She could see the teen boy’s knuckles turning white as he gripped his water bottle as a hardened look took over his face. Not that she could blame him. She had heard plenty about abuse or just plain poor parents on the daily news. But it was a different matter to have someone who had them sitting next to her as he recounted what it was like.

“I don’t know why it happened,” continued Hunter as he stared off into the distance, “They had treated me like that my entire life. Yet, for some reason, it hurt far worse than normal. Maybe it was because this was something I wanted and they had already written me off. Or maybe it was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Honestly, I have no idea. All I knew was that, at that moment, I didn’t just want to defeat Chaser but to utterly humiliate him in front of a crowd. I wanted to see that smug look on his face ripped off. I wanted to come back home from school every damn day and talk about how great it was just to rub it in his face. That…was my corruption I guess.”

“Can’t hardly blame ya there,” said Applejack, “There’re times when all Ah want to do is shut Rainbow up when she gets all half cocked an’ stuff. So, what did ya do? Nothin’…wrong, right?”

“You mean illegal like tampering with his deck?” asked Hunter. While there was nothing wrong with his tone, talking as casually as if he had spotted an oddly looking cloud, it still caused Applejack to wince slightly, “No, I just made a brand new deck. A Red-Eyes one with a few of my own touches. He’d always been so proud of his deck I figured being defeat by something similar would be a huge blow to his ego. So the day came…”

Hunter stood on the raised platform within Crystal Prep’s professional duel stadium. Normally for the exams, the school would have rented out a football stadium or something similar to hold all of the exams. Perhaps given the nature of these duels as well as there being only one duel per day, the people at Crystal Prep had decided to hold it here instead. The room, about half the size of such a field, with several rows of seats along the rounded sides. There, students and faculty members sat with bored expressions on their faces as they looked down on the flat platform where Hunter stood. Finally, all around them, were large monitors with blank scenes.

Among the primary people there was Principal Sombra. He sat in the front row in the middle so that he could see both duelists easily. Next to him was a very pretty looking woman who was the Vice-principal. His parents were also there, smiling and holding up signs wishing Chaser luck.

Speaking of Chaser…

“Look at all this fine ass eye candy,” he said aloud as he looked over at a group of female students dressed in their uniforms. He licked his lips as a smile appeared on his face, “It’s almost like with place was designed just for me. Helps get me into the pro’s with all the snacks I want along the way. I just can’t wait to see what they all look like without those uniforms,” He then jerked his head to look at Hunter. “Say, you mind just forfeiting now and saving everyone some time? I know you have nothing but time to waste, but some of us have a future.”

As Hunter gritted his teeth, he was denied the chance to respond as a voice echoed through the P.A. system. Hunter didn’t need to look over to his side to see that it was Sombra who spoke.

“Both duelist are present and their decks have been verified. Be advised that while you are using standard issue duel disks, this stadium is utilizing hard light technology to make things feel more real. Not enough to deal any serious harm, but enough so that you will feel it for a while. This is the sort of thing that you should expect when entering Crystal Prep. If you have any issues with this you may back out now. If not, you may commence the duel.”

-Star Chaser’s Life Point’s 8000-

-Star Hunter’s Life Point’s 8000-

“It’ll be fine,” said Chaser as they both drew their opening hands. He briefly glanced at it before smirking, “He’ll never even touch me.”

Turn 1: Star Hunter

Hunter’s duel dick beeped, signaling that he was to make the first move, “We’ll see about that. I draw!” Hunter paused for a moment as he looked at his hand. It had everything he needed to make an amazing first move, but the downside was that it would leave him defenseless if it messed up. For a moment he debated on what to do before making up his mind to go all out.

“First I play the spell card ‘Pre-Preparation of Rites’!” declared Hunter as a murmur went over the crowd, “This card allows me to add one ritual spell card from my deck to my hand, as well as one ritual monster whose name is listed on the card. I choose the spell card ‘Red-Eyes Transmigration’ and the ritual monster ‘Lord of the Red’.”

“I told you not to embarrass us!” shouted Hunter’s mother as his cards popped out of his deck, “What are you thinking using ritual monsters?”

“Really sad,” said Chaser as he crossed his arms, a grin on his face, “Couldn’t you have at least pretended to try? That or just given up? At least then you wouldn’t be wasting my time.”

“Trust me, I plan on giving this my all,” replied Hunter, “Now I activate the ritual spell I just added to my hand. By tributing my level eight Dragon Core Hexer from my hand, I am allowed to summon to the field the Lord of the Red (2400/2100) in attack mode!”

Appearing on Hunter’s side of the field was a woman wearing form fitting armor that looked like it had been made from the hides of dragons. She stood there, holding a massive sword in her hands, as flames began to circle her. Without warning they rose upwards until they hit the ceiling. Hunter nearly took a step back as he felt the heat of the flames and feared they would sear him to the bone. Yet he held his ground as he began to chant.

“Great flames that burn bright red. Accept this offering to bring forth your champion! Ritual Summon: LORD OF THE RED!”

There was a sudden explosion that shot out in every direction. When the smoke cleared, a figure stood in front of Hunter. It was a humanoid who was either wearing armor designed to look like a Red-Eyes Black Dragon, or it was a more human looking Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

“I’m not done,” continued Hunter, “Because I still have my normal summon! I summon the Red Stone of Legend! (0/0)” Appearing next to the Lord of the Red was a chipped black egg with a red, crystalline structure in the middle. The Lord of the Red looked down at it and smiled fondly.

As Chaser began to laugh loudly, Hunter continued, “Now I activate its effect. By tributing the Red Stone of Legend, I am allowed to special one level seven or lover Red-Eyes monster from my deck. So I’m bringing out the original classic ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’(2400/2000)!”

On his command, the egg shattered and the very iconic black dragon appeared on the field.

“Lastly, I’ll activate this spell card from my hand: The Claw of Hermos,” said Hunter as he held out the card, “I’ll use it and my Red-Eyes Black Dragon to fusion summon the ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword’ (2400/2000)!”

There wasn’t enough time to chant as Red-Eyes flew up into the air before doing a backflip which sent it shooting down to the ground. It’s body began to grow brightly, shrinking more and more until it hit the ground right next to Lord of the Red. When the light faded, the dragon had become a sword with a wicked hooked black blade and a cross-guard shaped like the Red-Eyes’ head.

“Now I activate my swords effect and equip it to Lord of the Red,” said Hunter as his ritual monster picked up the blade, “Lord of the Red gains an additional 1000 attack points as well as an additional 500 attack and defense for every dragon on the field and in both graveyards. I end my turn.” (5400/4100) More people were muttering now as Hunter stood there, his monster sinking his sword into the ground before him and laying both hands on the pommel.

Turn 2: Star Chaser

“This has to be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Chaser as he drew a card, “Trying to copy MY deck, but using those loser cards. Ha! All you’ve done is get yourself a dumb looking, edge-lord wannabe beater. Looks like you’re little brother will have to show you how it’s really done.”

“Go Chaser!” screamed their father excitedly.

“Now here’s a card worth having in a Red-Eyes deck,” said Chaser as he held up a card. “It’s called ‘Red-Eyes Fusion’. This lets me fusion summon a monster using materials from my deck. The only down sides are that I can’t normal or special summon anything else for the rest of this turn. Also, my monster’s name become Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Not that either of those things matter much when I can have any Red-Eyes fusion monster I want.”

Hunter said nothing as Chaser’s duel disk spat out two cards. However, there was something off about it. Was it just him, or did he miss when the auto shuffler activated?

“Twin Red-Eyes, one of old and one of flare, come together to show burn away those in your wrath. Fusion summon: Meteor Black Comet Dragon! (3500/2000)”

Flames erupted behind Chaser as they slowly took form of a massive dragon that towered over everything in sight. It’s scales were black and cracked, flames escaping out of them and licking the tips of its many horns.

“Since two more dragons went to the graveyard and another one appeared on the field, my monster gains an extra 1500 attack and defense points, (6900/5600)” stated Hunter as he kept his eyes locked on his brother.

As Lord of the Red’s attack points rose, a chuckle rippled through the audience. Some even broke out into full blown laughter, pointing down at the stage. Out of the corner of his vision, Hunter could see that even Sombra, who seemed to have the perfect poker face whenever he had crossed paths with the man, had a the smallest of grins on his face.

“Ha, even the audience knows how pathetic your monster is,” decried Chaser as the audience as a whole broke out into uncontrollable laughter, “You think having a stronger monster can protect you, then you’re wrong! I activate my dragon’s effect: by sending one dragon in my deck to the graveyard after its been fusion summoned, I can deal damage to you equal to half of that monster’s attack points. So I’ll just send another Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the grave to burn you for 1200.”

As Hunter’s monster rose in strength (7400/6100), the flames on Meteor Black Comet Dragon began to rise. It flapped its mighty wings as the fire began to float in front of it, forming several orbs that sparked with black electricity before being launched at Hunter. As for Hunter, he let out a sigh as Lord of the Red extended its wings. The fire orbs then seemed to hit an invisible barrier while Hunter’s life points remain untouched.

“What the fuck?!?” yelled Chaser as the crowd continued to laugh. “That should have-”

“My Lord of the Red’s effect,” interrupted Hunter, speaking over the crowd. Grinning broadly he gestured to his monster, “During either player’s turn he can negate up to two effects and then destroy one monster and one spell/trap card. He negated your monsters effect so now all that is left to do is destroy your monster.”

“NO!” screamed Chaser as his eyes went wide and his pupils became mere dots.

Lord of the Red, however, did not heed his words as he flew across the field while his fist became surrounded with flames. When he got in front of Chaser’s dragon, Lord of the Red pulled back his fist before slamming it into Meteor Black Comet Dragon’s gut. The dragon clutched the area where it had been struck, taking several steps back before it exploded and sent Chaser flying through the air. When the teen landed it was face first into the metal ground with his rear sticking up in the air creating even more laughter.

Hunter paused as he looked at his brother, savoring the moment. It was now clear to everyone both of them that the crowd had never been laughing at Hunter. Chaser could have asked what his opponent’s monster did or looked it up on his duel disk. Instead he arrogantly dismissed it, thus walking right into his own defeat. And it was clear that everyone around them had seen it clear as day.

“So,” said Hunter as he crossed his arms, an amused look on his face, “Is there anything else you want to do? You can’t normal or special summon any other monsters this turn. I guess you could set a facedown.”

“You…You…CHEATER!” raged Chaser as he scrambled to his feet. “There is no way you could have stopped my perfect turn. You had to have cheated, it’s the only explanation,” Chaser pointed a finger at his brother at the same time a red light began to flash. The crowd became silent as all of the scenes above them read ‘Duel Canceled’. As Hunter looked around confused, Chaser looked like he had hit the jackpot at the lottery, “You see. Even they know you had to have cheated me!”

“Yes, there was foul play during this match,” said Sombra as he stood up and walked over to the two, “Witnessed by every single person here and recorded as evidence. However, it was not Mr. Star Hunter who cheated,” By this time, Sombra was standing next to Chaser with an expression used when looking at a pile of dog droppings.

“You…You can’t be serious!” screamed Chaser right into Sombra’s face. He then pointed at Hunter, “I had the perfect move. He-”

“The exact same move you used during your entrance exam duel,” interrupted Sombra coldly, silencing Chaser, “While at first I was impressed you managed to pull off such a feat, the proctor who dueled you said he failed to notice your auto shuffler activate. This worried me slightly so I looked up your most recent duels. All the transcripts and recordings showed that in the last ten duels, while you have used slight variations, the end result has been the same. Meteor Black Comet Dragon summoned via Red-Eyes Fusion, followed by two ‘Inferno Fire Blasts’. Each time you dueled, you have made sure to keep your duel disk away from the cameras and the judges. Most likely so they couldn’t see that you had tampered with you machine.”

“That’s…No…You can’t prove that! You can’t prove anything!” yelled Chaser as he began to look worried, taking a step back.

“Well, that’s not completely false,” said Sombra with a slight nod, “Up until this duel, I couldn’t really prove anything.”

At that moment, all of the scenes began to show the duel with an extra window focused on Chaser’s deck, “That is why I decided to hold this little ruse. You and your brother were the only two duelist who received that letter. No one else was invited to have a duel to enter our school. And with all of these students and cameras focused on you, it was easy to see that my suspicions were correct.”

“That,” began Chaser, but no other words passed through his lips. They moved soundlessly as he stared at Sombra. It took a moment, but he seemed to snap out of it and began to point to his brother, “He had to have messed with my duel disk. Yeah! He disabled my auto shuffler and probably his own. That’s how he-”

Sombra raised a hand to silence the boy, “I have heard enough of this,” he stated firmly as he moved away from Chaser, “You are an embarrassment to the entire dueling community. At least have the decency to admit that you were caught instead of these half-baked lies. Now, leave this school at once and never show your face around here again. Your dueling days are done.”

Hunter stood where he was as he watched his brother fall onto his hands and knees. The high he had been feeling earlier had vanished, leaving him with an oddly empty feeling. Hunter could hear his parents shouting something, but the words no longer made sense to him. It was like the world was turning upside down. He blinked and, like magic, Sombra was standing in front of him.

“Forgive me for putting you through all of this,” he said pleasantly. “You were chosen for this match because I needed to see if you were anything like your brother. I am glad to see that isn’t the case.” He then raised a fist to his mouth and gave a soft cough into it, “As for the duel, I will admit that I am impressed. Not many duelist would try to enter this school using a ritual monster and even few would dare to imagine pulling off a combo such as you did. It is my hope to see you when the new semester begins.”

“NO!” came Chaser’s scream as he looked up. His pupils were moving wildly, almost unfocused as he looked at Hunter, “It’s your FAULT! WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST ROLL OVER AND DIE? WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST FORFEIT? THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!”

“The ride home was less than pleasant,” said Hunter as he shook his head. “Before we got home, my brother had gotten dozens of calls from various dueling officials. Principal Sombra had apparently called them and informed them of my brother’s cheating. So they called to inform him that he now had a lifelong ban. All his awards were now invalidated and his records were removed. My parents tried to tell him that it would be alright, that they would fight this and that it was my fault-”

“Now wait one cotton-pickin’ moment,” said Applejack as she stood up, “How can they blame ya for something he was caught red handed doin’?”

“Well, the logic they are using is that if I had just not accepted the duel, then none of this would have happened,” said Hunter simply.

“That…That…” was all Applejack could say. It just seemed almost inane for his parents to do something like that. But then she thought back to what she had seen back in the house. The two of them sitting there in the dark, watching old duels of their cherished son. Back when he was at the top of the world.

“My aunt says that sometimes it's easier to deny something rather than accept it as truth,” said Hunter. He then ran a hand through his hair, “Well, Chaser didn’t listen to them. Instead he went right for where our parents kept the liquor and started drinking like it was the end of the world. Two days later, he ran out of drinks and tried to rob a store. Since we weren’t in Hollow Shades anymore the court didn’t care who he was. Right now, he’s doing a two year sentence with a chance at an early release. That’s where I was during the Crown, visiting him. Still blames me. As for my parents, after he went to jail they both sort of shut down. stopped going to work and spend everyday just watching Chaser on the television. With money as tight as it is, there’s no way I could have gone to Crystal Prep.”

“Ya know, that wasn’t yer fault,” Applejack said firmly.

Hunter, oddly, laughed, “To be honest, I sort of wish his downfall was my fault. There are times, dreams, when I wish I had ended that duel and he had gone insane from his defeat. I felt… angry that he cheated me out of that victory and what Sombra had revealed!” He then suddenly turned and looked at Applejack, “Does…Does that make me a bad person?”

The farmer girl sighed as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, “Sugarcube, Ah got ta be honest here,” she said. “Ah have no idea if that makes ya a good person or not. Ah don’t know how Ah would feel in that position. But what Ah can tell ya, is that how you are livin’ right now might not be what’s best for ya.”

“Oh, I know that,” said Hunter, causing Applejack to blink. “What? I just told you I have an aunt and not to worry about me. Ever since she last came to visit she’s been talking to a few lawyers to try and take custody of me. And Moondancer’s family has invited me to dinner whenever I want.”

“Oh,” said Applejack as she looked embarrassed.

From there, the two talked for a bit longer until Moondancer arrived for her date. Applejack wished them both a goodnight as she walked in the direction of home with every intention of giving her family the biggest hug she could muster.

Fiery Makeover Part 1

“Victory is mine in this duel,” said the teen in front of Moondancer smugly, crossing his arms across his yellow shirt. His slicked black hair shined brightly in the morning light. That same light also reflected upon his monster, Water Dragon, which had just destroyed Moondancer’s best monster. “As you can see I’ve done all the math. It was a simple calculation on my part.”

In return, Moondancer gave in the most appropriate expression possible in this situation: deadpanned. Ashes danced across her empty field as she pulled out her phone to check the time. Slightly wincing she saw that there was still thirty minutes before the first bell rang. She still needed to get to her locker, collect her things, and be seated. After she finished this duel that is. Honestly, she wished this idiot had challenged her at a less pressing time, making a racket while he did so until she accepted. Not to mention that little add-on challenge that if he won, she would step down from representing Canterlot High on the math team. No way could she just give up now.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” said Moondancer as she slid her phone back into her pocket. “Are you finished with your turn or are you going to monologue for a bit?”

Her opponent gritted his teeth a bit at that, only to sigh a moment later. “Yes, well, I end my turn,” he said.

“Then I draw,” announced Moondancer. As she took her card, her side of the field erupted with flames. They danced about as they rose high into the sky, shifting from red to a ghostly blue. The Water Dragon before her looked around as if confused as steam began to rise from its body. As for her opponent, he was looking around with his mouth hanging open in clear confusion.

“What…What is this?” he shouted as a figure appeared behind Moondancer. The teenager’s legs gave way, falling on his rear creating the cracking sound that is made when a calculator is crushed. There must have been one in his back pocket. Not that it mattered to him as he raised a hand and pointed at the monster coming out of the flames. “It can’t be! I destroyed that thing with my monster!”

“Sorry,” said Moondancer as a small smile appeared on her face as another one of her monsters appeared on the field. At the same time her duel disk began to blink, signaling her of some of her other monster effects she could now activate. “But if the math you claim to have done was simple two plus two then you clearly haven’t done enough.”

“Honestly Applejack,” said Rarity as she glared at her friend. The two girls had been walking down the hallway, having just left their lockers when Applejack had given the most undignified yawn imaginable. A few people, the fashion girl noticed, had turned their heads to look at them due to the volume.

“Sorry Rares,” replied Applejack as she tried (and failed) to suppress another yawn, “Lots’a stuff happenin’ around the farm. Got that big rodeo comin’ up in a couple of weeks, so there’s a lot ta get ready. Plus Ah had ta pick up a few extra shifts this week at mah job. Had ta cut back on mah sleep in order ta get all mah homework an’ studying done. Barely even had time ta work on mah new deck.”

Rarity let out a hum as they turned a corner. “Well far be it for me to critique someone on cutting back on their sleep. After all, I have been known to do a few all-nighters on some of my most fabulous gowns from time to time.” At this, Rarity noticed Applejack roll her eyes. While she frowned at this gesture she did not allow it to dissuade her from making her point. “However I do try to keep those things on the weekend so that I am caught up on my rest once all is said and done, before I grace the public. It would simply be bad form to go to school where I might drift off to sleep in class. Really, you should consider-wait, you got a new deck?”

At this point, Rarity had spun around so she was now in front of Applejack causing her friend to stop dead in her tracks. It was well known throughout the school that the farmer girl was one of the best duelists in the building. So much so that she was a shoe-in to be nominated to be one of the students to duel the odious Crystal Prep in the Friendship Cup along with the rest of the girls. However, she hadn’t told any one of them that she was thinking of making a new deck! Judging by the sweat running down her face as well as she shifty look in her eyes, it was clear to the fashionista that Applejack had let slip something she had planned on keeping to herself.

Making for extra juicy gossip!

“It ain’t that big a deal,” said Applejack as she continued to look away. “Just thought Ah might try out somethin’ new. Like how you’re getting some of those xyz cards.”

“Getting some extra deck cards is a tad different from making an entirely new deck,” commented Rarity. “Still, I don’t know why you would consider getting rid of your Plant Princesses. Not only are they exquisite but also very powerful with the right combinations. Plus there are not that many plant archetypes.” A thought then crossed her mind causing her to frown. “Please don’t tell me you’re picking up a more garish looking warrior or dinosaur type deck.”

“Dueling ain’t about looking pretty an all that frou-frou nonsense,” stated Applejack as she returned the frown, “An’ for that matter Ah am still usin’ plants. Just a different type so that we’ve a lick of a chance ta beat them Prep students for a change. Plus, this new deck is mighty fun.”

Rarity let out another hum as she took a step back, bringing her hand to her chin as she smiled at Applejack. It was interesting how Applejack had still not mentioned what her new deck was. Looks like she had a chance to play detective! She highly doubted it was an Inmato deck since she barely knew anything about the deck since she never saw anyone play it. Could it be a Sylvan deck? Some of those cards were pretty hard to find and a tad expensive, but it would make sense with all the extra hours she said she was putting in at work. Or perhaps it was an Aroma deck like the one Apple Bloom had. Oh, the bond between sisters was truly an amazing thing. It’d be adorable to see them both using the same decks in a tag team match! Could she be going for a classic like Naturia? Those were some very active cards, even the bugs which was saying something. Was there anything else?

“Darling would you mind giving me a teensy-weensy hint?” she asked while battering her eye lashes.

“Nothing doing Rares,” snorted Applejack as she began to look annoyed now. “Don’t even know if Ah’m gonna be using this here new deck just yet. Mighty fun, but there are some kinks ta work out.” Applejack then frowned a tad deeper as she crossed her arms. “Wanna make sure Ah know what Ah’m doing before Ah head out there so Ah don’t embarrass myself. Which was why Ah didn’t tell nobody. So Ah’d appreciate if ya would kindly not tell the whole school about this.”

“But Applejack, dear, the students have a right to know,” insisted Rarity as Applejack tried to side step her and fail. “We vote on who is going to be representing the school. If they are not aware of all the facts then how can they vote fairly? I mean honestly, me telling a few select people wouldn’t be the end of the world or anythi-”

Rarity’s eyes went wide as a loud thump sounded next to the two girls. At first when they looked to the side they spotted no one there. At least, not until they looked down. On the floor was a scruffy looking girl who, for a moment, reminded Rarity of Twilight. That is until Rarity took in the girl’s full appearance. The first thing she noted was that the girl had on glasses with a damaged looking frame and bandaged in the middle. She had on an ugly sweater that couldn’t have been fashionable even when her grandmother was alive with a purple plaid skirt. As if all of that wasn’t a horrible affront to the fashion sense of everybody, the girl had a bit of her long hair tied to the side of her head while the rest flowed down to her shoulders. Why even have something like that?

After getting past her attire, Rarity began to take notice of the other features of this girl. The colors in the girl’s hair were different than Twilight’s, along with looking like she needed to switch to a different conditioner. Her skin color was again different, clearly needing some work done on it as well. Still, even though Rarity knew this girl wasn’t Twilight, she knew she had seen her somewhere before. But where?

It was only after blinking to try and remove the sight of this from her eyes for a moment that Rarity saw what was around her. The poor girl’s backpack had come undone, causing the items inside to spill around the floor. Yet it hardly surprised Rarity that something like that would happen. Thick books littered the floor, most of them looking three times the size of one of her normal school books, as well as things like note pads and a duel disk. Before she had a chance to move, Applejack was already helping the girl pick up her things.

“Ya ok, Moondancer?” asked Applejack as she grabbed a couple of books.

“Yeah,” replied Moondancer as she scrambled to grab whatever she could, tossing it into her bag quickly. Once that was done, she gently took hold of what Applejack had picked up and held out for her, stuffing that into the bag as well. After zipping up her bag, which looked like it was about to burst at any moment, Moondancer stood up quick and almost fell back down. “Sorry AJ, but I’ve got to get going. The bell’s about to ring. Thanks again.” With that, the girl moved down the hallway as quickly as she could without running.

“Hmm, that girl looks familiar,” said Rarity as she turned to look at Applejack. “Do you by any chance know her? You seemed to be familiar with her.”

“A little,” replied Applejack. “Her name’s Moondancer. Might have seen her during the Autumn Crown. She started up Twilight’s little fan club, the Twilight Sparklers or something like that.”

“Oh yes, now I remember,” said Rarity as she brought a single finger to her chin while looking up at the ceiling. Rarity had heard of them before and perhaps they had even been there when she dueled Twilight for the second time. Honestly, she really didn’t remember much of what was happening around her during that brief time when Equestrian magic overtook her and turned her evil. They had been a thing for a while after the tournament ended, but sort of fell apart once they realized Twilight was gone. As far as Rarity knew, Moondancer was the only member remaining.

“Ta tell the truth, Ah don’t really know her all that well,” continued Applejack as she scratched the back of her head. “Normally see her when Ah’m talkin’ with her boyfriend an-”

“BOYFRIEND?!” shouted Rarity. At once, Rarity’s mind went into fantasy mode. She imagined a handsome man dressed fine suit with tassels on his shoulders in order to make him look regal even though his face was left in shadows. She could see him driving a fancy car to whisk his date away to a fancy dinner and a night of dancing. He would get out, walk to his lady’s house like a gentleman, and ring the bell before waiting there with a rose in his hand. Then Moondancer would come out wearing the same thing she was wearing right now causing the illusion to shatter.

In Rarity’s mind it was such a shame. If Moondancer bothered to take better care of her appearance she could be a real looker, turning the heads of everybody who saw her. In fact, it might be like in the story of Cinderella where the change would be so amazing that nobody would recognize her. A smile appeared on Rarity’s face followed by a burst of laughter that caused Applejack to back away. A modern day Cinderella with her being the lovely Fairy Godmother! Then everybody around her would take notice, wondering how such an amazing transformation could have taken place. Moondancer would of course mention Rarity and her amazing skills at making her look fabulous! Once that happened students would flock to her wanting the same expert skills leading to a complete change in the school!

“Rarity, Ah don’t know what your thinkin’ about but Ah got a feelin’ Ah won’t like it none,” said Applejack as she shook her head.

“Really Applejack,” said Rarity, a small smile upon her lips. “All I am thinking about right now is helping out a fellow student look her very best.” A devilish smiled crossed her lips before taking off, ignoring Applejack protests.

Moondancer let out a sigh as she sat down at her desk, backpack laying on the ground beside her. Glancing at the clock, she saw just how close she came to being late today; less than thirty seconds. If she had been late, she would have been locked out for today’s advance trig test and gotten a ZERO! A shudder ran through the girl’s body as she thought of that big, red zero on a blank sheet of paper. If something like that had happened her family would have flipped. She would have had to listen to her sister lecture her for hours followed by her parents wondering if she had too many distractions around her keeping her from reaching her full potential. Worst of all; it might have a negative impact on her future plans.

As Moondancer began looking through her bag for a pencil, she thought of that moron who challenged her to a duel so early in the morning. The one who could have made her late. Last she had seen of him was on the streets after their duel, on his hands and knees looking at the ground as Moondancer passed him by. She had failed to see him running up behind her or anywhere in the school. In fact, he was supposed to be here in this class right now. Moondancer tried to remember if she had seen him on her way in to the classroom but came up with nothing. Was he so ashamed that he lost that duel that he was still there in shock? What a drama queen.

As Moondancer grabbed her pencil, the bell rang and the girl straightened herself up…only to jump in her seat at the figure sitting on the edge of her desk. “Hello darling, I’m Rarity,” said the girl as she stared at Moondancer. “I heard from a friend that you are currently seeing somebody special.”

Moondancer became aware of all the people around her looking at them. “Yes, but I don’t see how-”

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Rarity as she clapped her hands. “Now, when are you seeing him next?”

“We have something planned for tomorrow, but-”

“Excellent!” cheered Rarity as stars began to twinkle in her eyes. “That will give us plenty of time to give you a complete make-over!” Moondancer felt her jaw hanging open as Rarity got off her desk. “Nothing to fret about my dear. I’ve done this plenty of times. A little trip to the spa, a little make-up, and a new outfit will do you a world of wonders. Not that there is anything too wrong with you, but you really do need to take a tad bit more care with your appearance.”

“Ms. Rarity,” came an annoyed voice from the front of the room. As Rarity turned around to look at the teacher, Moondancer just wanted to sink deep into her seat until she completely vanished. “The bell rang two minutes ago. Unless you are here to take the same test as the rest of my class, I suggest that you leave. Now.”

“Very well,” sang Rarity as she moved to the door. When she reached the exit however, she turned around to look at Moondancer again and said “We’ll talk later”.

Later, Moondancer was walking through the hallway with her head hanging low and her shoulders slumped. After the incident with Rarity, Moondancer’s brain seemed to be on the fritz making it harder to concentrate on her work during the test. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed due to the fact that she was dating Hunter or anything like that, far from it. It was just that she didn’t want to broadcast it across the entire school. After all, what she did in private was just that: private. Now she had the feeling that the whole school was talking about what had happened and why it had happened. She could feel the eyes of her fellow classmates glancing at her every so often as she took her test, making it very difficult to concentrate. Whispers seemed to grow in intensity as she walked throughout the building. A few of the more immature freshmen even made those annoying kissy faces at her as she made her way to lunch.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Rarity seemed to be stalking her wherever she went as if she had placed a tracker on her or something. She was there at the beginning of every class to ask questions. How did she feel about a mud bath? What kind of shampoo did she use? Is she worried about budget? It was all really tiring trying to ignore the girl until the bell rang and she was asked to leave the room by the teacher. Honestly, Moondancer was considering heading to Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna to talk to one of them about this.

Now, as she entered the gym locker room to get changed, she spotted the white skinned girl there with a smile on her face and a tape measure in her hands.

“How about a quick fitting before you head off to that mandatory sweat class,” said Rarity as she approached Moondancer. Clenching her hands into fists, Moondancer let out a scream of rage.

“That girl needs to learn how to take a hint,” muttered Moondancer to herself as she made her way to her locker. “There’s being nice and then there’s being a creepy stalker! And Rarity has gotten to the point where even stalkers are telling her to tone it down! Ah! I just can’t wait for this day to be over!”

Quickly dialing her lock, she opened the door to her locker only to see the last thing she expected to see: Rarity. Her entire upper body seemed to shoot out of her locker, hanging on from something but Moondancer didn’t want to look to find out what. It was like she was channeling the powers of that hyper pink friend of hers!

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but Moondancer wasn’t going to give her a chance to talk. Instead, she slammed the door shut forcing Rarity back into her locker before bracing her back against the cold steel. In turn, there was a banging against the door along with muffled shouts from Rarity which Moondancer ignored. Acting quickly, she locked her locker again before heading down the hallway as fast as she could.

At last the final bell for the day rung, causing most of the students to head out towards freedom as fast as they could. There were a few exceptions and Moondancer was one of them. She moved like a zombie, shoulders hunched and her eyes half lidded as she moved towards the principal’s office. From time-to-time she would look around her with a nervous twitch, looking for the signs of the girl who had put her in this state.

Suddenly a door opened just as she passed it followed by a hand grabbing her shoulder. Before she knew what was happening Moondancer found herself dragged into a classroom. She was then spun around so fast she almost toppled over, ending with her placing her hands on her knees. Looking up, Moondancer was not surprised to see Rarity there with what looked like a bundle of fabric samples.

“There you are darling,” said Rarity as she waved her hand around. “Now that we have a bit more time, I figured we could go over some ideas I had.” She then held up two of the fabrics. “I honestly can’t decide which is better. I think the midnight blue would look rather striking on you personally. But there are a lot of people out there who claim that you can never go wrong with a passionate red. Perhaps if I could just get an idea of how it will look on you.”

As Rarity took a step towards Moondancer, the nerdy girl let out a scream of rage causing the other girl to back up post haste. “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!” shouted Moondancer as she tossed her bag to the floor. “Rarity, take the hint. I don’t want a makeover or anything!”

“Well I’m just trying to help,” responded Rarity as she put her hands on her hips, looking annoyed. Something that didn’t do any good for the mood Moondancer was in right now.

“Help?!” raged Moondancer. “You’re stressing me out, not helping me! Look, I like how I look. My boyfriend likes how I look. Not everyone cares about fashion. But you just keep stalking me wherever I go! It’s enough to make me want to stay locked up inside a crumbling building for the rest of my life!”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “A bit of an extreme reaction I think,” she said with a huff. “I’m sure you think you like how you look, but have you ever tried tidying yourself up a bit. Just imagine how great you’ll feel as people stare in wonder at you. The look your boyfriend makes when he is taken speechless by your appearance.”

“People are already staring at me thanks to you,” replied Moondancer through gritted teeth. A sigh escaped her as she shook her head. Rarity just didn’t get it. She liked the fact that she had someone in her life who liked her for who she was, not how she looked. Having conversations over their respective passions. But Rarity just didn’t seem to get it.

A horrible thought crossed her mind. Rarity seemed to believe that she was doing the right thing and had been willing to chase her across to school to do this makeover thing. Would going to Principal Celestia really work with that kind of person? She might be able to stop her here at school, but what about when she was out of school? Would Rarity follow her on her dates trying to ask Hunter if he thought she’d look better with blush or her hair done differently? That would get annoying quickly. What about other places, like if she ever got an internship at a lab or whatever?

“How about this,” said Moondancer as she reached for her bag and unzipped it. A moment later she stood up holding her duel disk with both hands. “I’ll challenge you to a duel. If you win, I’ll comply with this whole makeover business. But if I win then you drop it and stop pestering me. Deal?”

Rarity looked at the duel disk for a moment, a hand resting on her hips as she thought about it. “I suppose so,” said Rarity after a moment, a smile appearing on her lips as she spoke. “But darling, are you sure want to do this knowing my ranking in the last tournament?”

Moondancer’s sole reply was to put on her duel disk as she gave the fashionista a hardened look of determination.

Fiery Makeover Part 2

It didn’t take long to find a place for the two girls to duel. With the gym being occupied by the basketball team as well as the wrestling team and the weather outside being pleasant, it was decided that they should take this match on an empty field. Thankfully, the track team was out on a race, providing the two girls with a perfect spot to duel. Around them, the soccer and baseball teams were hard at work with their own practices meaning that they would be focusing on that rather than watching this match. If they did stop, the coaches would undoubtedly raise a stink.

Standing in the middle on the grassy field, Rarity raised her duel disk. It was a tad hard for her to fathom the extremes this girl was going just to avoid a makeover. She had never seen a girl put up such a fuss at getting a free spa treatment and a free attire made by her before. Well, maybe once or twice from Rainbow Dash, but that was an exception. Honestly, all she wanted was to help her shine…and maybe promote her own skills just a tad. However, she felt like this was in the bag. She had never seen Moondancer duel before and was very confident in her own skills as a duelist. She had, after all, gotten to the top eight at the Autumn Crown. Still it never hurt to be prepared for anything.

“Opponent detected. Streaming data.” Came the mechanical voice of the duels disks in unison after they had inserted their decks. “Duel mode set. Initiating. Commence duel?” Rarity pressed the button on her duel disk to accept with Moondancer doing the same.

-Rarity’s Life Points: 4000-

-Moondancer’s Life Points: 4000-

Rarity looked down at her duel disk as she heard a beeping noise. The order of the duel had been set with her going second.

Turn 1: Moondancer

“I draw,” announced Moondancer as she drew her first card. “Not a bad opening start. I’ll start by summoning the ‘Defender of Nephthys’ in attack position.”

As Moondancer placed her card on the card tray there was a pillar of flames that appeared on her field. As quickly as they appeared they vanished, leaving a young woman hovering in the air who slowly descended until her feet touched the ground. The woman had nicely tanned skin with long, whitish blond hair along with bright golden armor that protected her chest, shoulders, hands, and legs. Underneath that armor she wore a black, skin tight attire with a flowing white cape with a red inside. In her had was a golden sword that reminded Rarity of a flaming feather. (1400/200)

“I activate the effect of my Defender,” announced Moondancer as she threw out her hand. “Once per turn, I can destroy one card in my hand in order to special summon one other level four or lower ‘Nephthys’ monster from my hand. So I’ll destroy my Matriarch of Nephthys in order to special summon my ‘Disciple of Nephthys’ in defense mode.”

As Moondancer sent the card from her hand to the graveyard, another pillar of flame appeared; unveiling a young girl with slightly darker skin than Defender. Disciple wore an odd looking hat which Rarity had never seen before, looking crudely bird-like and hiding most of her braided black hair. Adorning her body was a mostly red outfit that had a single feather in the middle of her skirt whose sleeves were separate from her blouse, starting at her elbows. (0/2000)

“With Disciple out I can now activate her ability,” stated Moondancer calmly as her monster took a knee. “By destroying one card from my hand I can add any ‘Nephthys’ monster from my deck to my hand. So I’ll destroy my Chronicler of Nephthys in order to bring my Devotee of Nephthys to my hand. Finally I’ll place one card face down and end my turn.

‘Nephthys,’ thought Rarity as she watched Moondancer’s face down card appear on the field. ‘I’ve never heard of such an archetype. I will admit that they are certainly more appealing to the eyes than most decks run at this school. Still they seem to be rather self destructive and their effects don’t seem all that great. It’s no wonder she never competed in a tournament before.’

Turn 2: Rarity

“I guess it’s my draw then,” announced Rarity. After drawing her card, she looked at it for a moment before smiling. “Well now, I suppose I’ll play the spell card ‘Terraforming’. With this card I can search out any field spell in my deck and add it to my hand. I’ll choose ‘Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins,’ followed by activating it.” Still smiling, Rarity gracefully opened up her field card tray on the side of her duel dick before gently placing the card in it.

At once, the area around the two girls began to shimmer and change. No longer were they on the track field but in a Greek Coliseum packed with ancient Greeks in the stands. Over and over the crowd began to chant Rarity’s name as a brilliant rainbow arched above her.

“Now, now darlings,” said Rarity with a blush, holding her cards over her face like a fan. Looking across the field, she saw that Moondancer was giving her an un-amused expression with a single eyebrow raised.

Rarity sighed. “Please darlings, save some of those cheers for later. After all you haven’t seen anything yet! I’ll summon my ‘Sapphire Pegasus’!”

Appearing on Rarity’s side of the field was a large, white pegasus with blue gems in each of its wings and a large blue horn protruding from its forehead. (1800/1200)

“When my gorgeous pegasus is summoned to the field I can add one of my lovely gems to my spell and trap card zone. So I think a nice Emerald Tortoise would help make the place look more dashing. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Not really,” sighed Moondancer as a large chuck of green crystal appeared on Rarity’s side of the field. She then pressed a button on her duel disk causing her face down to be revealed. “I think activating Torrential Tribute would be more fitting. When a monster is summoned to the field, this cards effect destroys all monsters on the field.”

From Moondancer’s trap card came a flood of highly compacted water. Like white water rapids, it surged across the field washing away everything in its path and destroying it.

“Well that was rather rude,” said Rarity as the water subsided. While feeling glad that it was just virtual water, not able to ruin her makeup, she did notice something odd. Floating around Moondancer’s side of the field were flakes of ash. Frowning, she pressed a few buttons on her duel disk to see if there was anything on the field or an effect on the field caused by her monsters. Finding nothing the girl shrugged.

“Since my Pegasus was destroyed, it becomes a gem in my spell and trap card zone,” continued Rarity as she gestured to the blue gem that was on her field. “But it won’t be there for long! I play the spell card ‘Crystal Promise’ which lets me revive one of my Crystal Beasts in my spell and trap card zone. So lets welcome back Sapphire Pegasus!”

Once again Rarity’s steed returned, snorting and kicking the ground as its wings extended outwards.

“And, like before, I can add another one of my Crystal Beasts from my deck to my spell and trap card zone. I believe I’ll go with my Topaz Tiger. Now, attack her life points directly!”

At its mistress’s command, Sapphire Pegasus flew into the sky, pointing its horn at Moondancer as it did so. From its position, a beam of blue light fired from its horn and struck Moondancer in the side which caused a hand to raise to the area she had just been struck.

-Moondancer Life Points: 2200-

“I think I’ll place one card face down and end my turn,” said Rarity as she slipped the card into the appropriate spot. She then looked up at Moondancer who had a hand on her deck, ready to draw with her eyes closed. She stood there, not saying a word or moving. Then, she suddenly opened her eyes showing an intensity that caused Rarity to take a step back.

“Tell me Rarity, how much do you know about Nephthys?” asked Moondancer, still not yet drawing her card.

“The archetype?” said Rarity, slightly confused. “I will admit, not much.”

Moondancer shook her head. “No Rarity, I’m not talking about the Egyptian Goddess. Goddess of the air and protector of the dead. She is also the sister of the protector of life, Isis, and the two often worked together. At least, that’s what historical texts suggest. Because of this she was associated with both life and death like a phoenix.”

“Uh, what does that have to do with anything?” asked Rarity now clearly confused.

Turn 3: Moondancer

“Let me show you! I draw!” As Moondancer drew her card, the ashes on her side of the field ignited. Before Rarity’s eyes flames spread rapidly across Moondancer’s side of the field until it was completely covered.

“What is going on?” demanded Rarity as she felt the heat before her. Nearly at the point of sweating, she wondered how Moondancer could stand there with that sweater on.

“When my cards are destroyed by card effects, they gain an additional effect that only activates during my standby phase,” replied Moondancer. “First is my Defender, who destroys one Nephthys card in my deck. So I’ll choose my Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. Then comes my Disciple, who lets me add one Nephthys spell or trap card from my deck to my hand. So I’ll be adding my Rebirth of Nephthys to my hand. Following that is my Chronicler whose effect allows me to add one Nephthys card in my graveyard to my hand. So I’ll be taking back my Defender. Lastly, my Matriarch returns to the field in defense mode!”

As the fires began to die, a woman appeared on the field with flames spreading behind her arms like wings. She was dressed in a white gown with golden wrappings around her exposed feet and arms. On her head was a headdress that again bore a striking resemblance to a bird, helped in part by the draping that went down her chest ending in red feathers. (600/600)

Rarity frowned as she looked at Moondancer’s side of the field. ‘That must have been why she activated that trap card,’ she thought. ‘She wanted those extra effect to help reinforce her side of the field. Still, it doesn’t look like it helped her all that much. Thankfully, I’ll have my face down card to help protect me just in case.’

“Now that that’s done, I play the spell card: ‘Pre-Preparation of Rites’!” announced Moondancer as she held up her card for Rarity to see. “This card allows me to add one ritual spell card from my deck to my hand as well as one ritual monster whose name is listed on the card. So I’ll be adding another copy of my Rebirth of Nephthys along with Cerulean Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys.” Moondancer paused to take the two cards out of her deck, holding onto them for a moment before adding them to her hand while her deck auto-shuffled itself. “Now I’ll activate Rebirth of Nephthys; tributing the Matriarch on the field for the Devotee of Nephthys in my hand!”

As Moondancer slid the ritual spell card into her spell/trap card slot, the ground began to break apart behind her. Erupting from the stone bricks of Rarity’s field spell came a stone temple which on top of sat the giant statue of a creature that was mostly bird like. It stood on its talons, wings somewhat outstretched on a rounded body with a long neck, its head looking down at Moondancer. Yet the creature also had two small arms for some reason. Leading up to the stature was a flight of stone steps with flaming basins helping to light the path.

“Your faith has now been witnessed by the goddess,” chanted Moondancer aloud, the flames in the basins rising as a blue light began to escape for the cracks in the stone statue behind her. “Be not afraid as you receive her blessing for death and rebirth. Ritual Summon Level Two: ‘Devotee of Nephthys’!”

The flames grew brighter and larger as at the same time light from the statue hit the Matriarch of Nephthys causing her to vanish before Rarity’s eyes. As the statue began to fade away a new woman appeared on the field. Instead of the whites and golds Rarity had seen thus far, this monster wore an attire of blue with matching wrappings around both her feet and arms. Her headdress became more elaborate with a bird’s face sticking out of the top with a bright blue feather in the middle. Long wrapped blue tassels flowed down her sides ending with flat light blue cloth. Finally, behind her were blue flames that looked like a long teal feather. (1200/1200)

“Now I can activate my Devotee’s effect,” continued Moondancer. “When it is ritual summoned, I can go through my deck and summon from it one Nephthys monster. So I will bring out my ‘Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys’!”

“You can what?” gasped Rarity as she held a hand over her mouth while Devotee raised a hand to the sky.

She watched as blue, flaming feathers began shooting to the sky where they then positioned themselves into a circle. As Devotee grinned beneath her headdress a golden creature flew out of the circle leaving behind a trail of flames as it did. To Rarity, this thing looked like a machine but after looking at her duel disk she saw that it was a winged beast. Its plated body reminded her of the statue that had been used to summon Devotee, but its arms were more human like than what she had seen before with glowing green eyes. The Sacred Phoenix let out a piercing screech causing Rarity to bring her hands to her ears. (2400/1600)

“This is an older card than what most people play today,” said Moondancer as she looked over at her Phoenix fondly. “But I will admit that I have a soft spot for it. So much so that I have three of them in my deck. But, that’s not its ultimate form. Allow me to show you its true might by playing another Rebirth of Nephthys to bring out my best monster!” Rarity’s eyes widened in shock as once more the temple rose from the ground.

“Oh great beast of the underworld, hear my call. Spread your wings and soar from the ashes of the nether flames into the world of the living. Ritual Summon! Level Eight: ‘Cerulean Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys’!”

As the golden Phoenix vanished, a blue one took its place above Moondancer’s head. Yet it was larger with ghostly blue flames coming out of its wings as well as replacing its tail feathers. (3000/1000)

“My Cerulean Sacred Phoenix has his own effects as well,” said Moondancer calmly. “During my main phase I can destroy Nephthys cards in my hand to destroy an equal number of cards you control. I’ll use this effect now; destroying the Defender in my hand in order to destroy your Pegasus.” At that, the flames around Cerulean Sacred Phoenix grew more intense as Moondancer sent a card from her hand to the graveyard slot. Before Rarity knew it, those same ghostly flames appeared around Sapphire Pegasus as it became a gem in her spell/trap card zone.

‘This certainly isn’t good,’ thought Rarity as she looked over at her trap card. ‘I had thought that Crystal Pair would have offered me some protection as well as giving me another Crystal Beast on my side of the field. But I can’t activate it now! And with four of my spell/trap card zones filled I find myself in a bit of a bind.’

“I am aware that when you have at least two Crystal Beasts in your back row, you will take half the damage you normally take,” said Moondancer calmly before pointing at Rarity. “So this will not do as much damage as this combo normally does. Still, I attack with all my monsters at once!”

On her command, Moondancer’s Sacred Phoenix launched a flamethrower of blue fire around Rarity, causing them to reach high into the air. As she stumbled around in the heat, Devotee jumped past the flames and into her field of vision. Noticing that Devotee’s dark hands were now covered in blue flames, Rarity moved her hand to try and protect herself. However she was too slow as Devotee grabbed Rarity by the head for a moment causing her to cry out.

-Rarity Life Points: 1900-

“With that done I end my turn,” said Moondancer as Devotee jumped back to Moondancer’s side of the field. Rarity, who was panting from the attack, looked up in time to see Devotee vanish from the field. “At this time, Devotee is destroyed and sent to the graveyard as cost for the effect she used earlier.”

Turn Four: Rarity

“Is that so?” asked Rarity slowly as she righted herself, bringing a hand to her deck. “Well, one less monster to deal with then. I draw!” After drawing her card, she looked at it briefly before adding it to her hand. ‘One less monster indeed. An easy target that I could have used to deal a good amount of damage to is gone. But I still have options. Thanks to having three Crystal Beasts in my spell/trap card zone I can negate any spell or trap card she activates. So if she thinks she can use another ritual card she’ll have another thing coming. Now, time to thin her life points a tad.’

“I’ll start by playing the spell card: ‘Crystal Beacon’!” declared Rarity as she slid the card into her duel disk. “If I have at least two Crystal Beast cards in my spell and trap card zone I can special summon one Crystal Beast from my deck. So make way ‘Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth’ in defense mode!”

Appearing next to Rarity was a large, grey mammoth with four tucks and an oval chunk of amber in its forehead. (1700/1600)
“And that darling is my special summon. Now I’ll normal summon my Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat in attack position!” Leaping onto the field on the other side of Rarity was a large pink, panther-like cat with a gold colored breast plate with a large purple amethyst in its middle. (1200/400)

“Now for my attack,” said Rarity as she gestured towards her cat. “While my Amethyst Cat doesn’t have nearly enough attack points to take down your Phoenix, by cutting its attack points in half she can attack you directly! So go now!”

Amethyst Cat instantly leapt into the air, claws extended as it flew over the fire bird. Moondancer only had enough time to look up before the claws came down, crying out as her life points dropped.

-Moondancer’s Life Points: 1600-

“That puts us a tad closer,” said Rarity with a nod as she surveyed her side of the field. Right now she still had a space for one of her Crystal Beast monsters plus her trap card. Then there was her Mammoth who had a power to redirect any attack launched against another Crystal Beast to itself. Meaning that if Moondancer tried to attack her Cat with her remaining Phoenix, Mammoth would take the hit and she would receive no damage. “I end my turn.”

Turn Five: Moondancer

“Then I’ll draw,” announced Moondancer. After drawing her card, flames began to reappear on her side of the field, dancing wildly and confusing Rarity.

“These flames again!” gasped Rarity.

“That’s right,” replied Moondancer as a small smile appeared on her lips. “But it’s not just from my Defender. Remember, that same card destroyed a card in my deck last turn. It was the another Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys.”

“Oh, right,” sighed Rarity as her shoulders slumped. She then let out a gasp as the flames began to move onto her side of the field, like wave after wave as they edged closer to her.

“Now, my monsters effect activates during my standby phase,” said Moondancer as she folded her arms. “First, with my Defender I’ll destroy my last Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys sleeping in my deck. Next, the effect of the Sacred Phoenix I sent there last turn. If he was destroyed by a card effect he now returns to my side of the field. When that happens all your spell and trap cards are destroyed!”

As she said that, a Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys erupted from the ground, causing the last wave of flames to grow larger and hit her back row. All of her gems caught on fire before exploding violently as did her face down and equip card. The false audience in her field card gasped in horror, some fled but the area remained.

“Not all my cards were destroyed,” said Rarity. “Since I still had at least one Crystal Beast in my spell and trap card zone, it remained safe from that horrible effect.”

“I am aware,” said Moondancer as a red chuck of crystal appeared on Rarity’s side of the field. “I’ve watched you duel plenty of times in the past. So I have a firm grasp on how your deck works.”

Rarity sighed a bit at that, hand going to her head as she did so. “Let me guess,” she said as she gave the girl in glasses a deadpanned look. “You have calculated the perfect formula on how to defeat me or something like that?”

In response, Moondancer’s eyes widened quite a bit before narrowing. “Are you serious with that old cliché?” she demanded as she hands went to her hips. “Just because I love to study and do well in school doesn’t make me a robot who thinks she can calculate for everything under the sun! In fact scientists get a bad rap for the way they are depicted in the media. They may live for science but they’re still human with thoughts and feelings like everybody else!”

“Oh…well…” stammered Rarity, a little taken aback by this.

Moondancer turned a little to her side, her head fixed towards Rarity as she crossed her arms. “Let me guess, you’re also wondering why I’m not using a Lunalight deck because my name happens to be Moondancer,” she demanded. “Or a machine type deck like Cyber Dragons because, being smart, I should use them? Agh, that really ticks me off!” Moondancer then let out a sigh. “It’s always the same.”

“Is that why you didn’t compete in the Autumn Crown Tournament?” asked Rarity as she thought about it. Moondancer was certainly giving her a run for her money. With this much skill she could have done very well for herself, perhaps ranked in the upper part of the top sixteen.

“Partly,” said Moondancer as she straightened herself a bit. “The main reason was I didn’t want the bother. If I did duel in a tournament or on a more regular basis and did well, then I would be bothered all the time by people who wanted to take my spot. Meaning less time to study and do the things I want. So I’d rather sit in the crowd, watching and rooting on other duelists and studying in-between interesting duels. The only time I duel is when I feel like I have to.”

“Now then, Sacred Phoenix take out her Amber Mammoth!” The Phoenix gave a loud screech before sending a wave of flames at Rarity’s monster and destroying it.

“The effect of my Amber Mammoth now activates, allowing it to become a continuous spell card in my spell and trap card zone,” announced Rarity as a piece of amber appeared on her side of the field. “With that, my field spell is now protected and can’t be destroyed.”

“Like I said, I know how your deck works,” replied Moondancer. “I also knew about the attack redirection ability of your Mammoth. I suppose there was a chance you could have forgotten to use it, but I doubt that. In any case, I’ll attack your Cat with my best card!” Another blast of flames, this time blue, went flying towards Rarity’s last remaining monster destroying it as it cried out.

-Rarity’s Life Point’s: 100-

“With that, I end my turn,” said Moondancer. “During my next standby phase, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys will rise from the graveyard and destroy all your spells and traps. All that you will be left with will be a useless field spell. So make your last move.”

Turn Six: Rarity

“It’s not over yet dear,” said Rarity as she drew a card. She looked at it, smiled, and then put it into her duel disk. “I activate the spell card: ‘Rare Value’! Since I have two or more Crystal Beast cards in my spell and trap card zone, you get to pick one to be destroyed. Then I get to draw two cards.”

“Hmm,” went Moondancer as she looked at the two cards. “Not much of a choice. I suppose I’ll have your Mammoth destroyed.”

Rarity nodded as she removed the card from her tray, the amber gem on her field vanishing as she did so. Slowly, she drew two cards from her deck and looked at them. Her eyes widened. ‘Not what I was hoping for,’ she thought as she looked up. ‘But it will do just nicely.’

“I activate the spell card ‘Crystal Blessing’,” Rarity announced as she held up her card. “With this I can select two fine Crystal Beast monsters in my graveyard and place them in my spell and trap card zones. So I’ll bring back my Amber Mammoth and Emerald Tortoise.” As she said that, two more gems appeared on her side of the field. “That makes three gems for me. But why stop there when I can play my ‘Crystal Bond’? This spell card allows me to add one Crystal Beast monster to my hand as well as placing one Crystal Beast with a different name into my spell and trap card zone. So to my hand I’ll take my Ruby Carbuncle. Then, I’ll place my Cobalt Eagle into my back row. Now, since I have a total of four Crystal Beasts there acting as continuous spell cards I can use the effect of my field spell to draw one card.”

“Trying to draw your Rainbow Dragon?” asked Moondancer as Rarity drew her card. “Even if you were to be lucky enough to draw that card, it wouldn’t matter. It’s special abilities can’t be used on the turn its special summoned. You would be able to do a large amount of damage, but not enough to win.”

“Perhaps, but that’s not what I’m planning darling,” said Rarity with a smile, causing Moondancer to take a step back in surprise. “I play the spell card: ‘Crystal Abundance’!”

As Rarity played her spell card, the gems in her spell and trap card zone began to float into the air and move to the outside of the field. They then began to move in a circle, spinning around faster and faster while rainbow colored lightning began to dance between them.

“What is this?” demanded Moondancer as she looked around. “I’ve never seen you use this card before!”

“I only have one copy of this card in my deck, so it’s not a card I draw into all that often,” admitted Rarity. “But it is useful. When I have four Crystal Beast monster’s in my back row, I can send them to the graveyard in order to send all other cards there as well. And, since it’s a non-destruction effect, your monster’s effects won’t activate!”

At that moment, there was a blinding multi-colored light forcing both girls to cover their eyes. When they lowered their hands, they were back on the empty track field.

“I’ll still have a Sacred Phoenix returning my next turn,” stated Moondancer forcefully.

“I am aware,” said Rarity who was still smiling. “Good thing my spell card has another effect. I can bring back Crystal Beast monsters back from my graveyard to the field equal to the number of your cards that were sent to the grave. That means I can bring back two monsters. So welcome back Sapphire Pegasus and Topaz Tiger!”

At once, Sapphire Pegasus appeared on the field along with a white tiger with a horn on its head. (1600/1000)

“Now I enter my battle phase and end this duel!” declared Rarity as she held out her hand. “Both monsters, attack her directly!”

Like at the beginning of the duel, Sapphire Pegasus flew into the air before firing a beam of blue energy at Moondancer which knocked the girl down. Before she could get to her knees to get back up, the white tiger was standing before her and brought its claws down upon her.

-Moondancer’s Life Points: 0-

The next night, Rarity did her best to remain hidden behind some bushes by Moondancer’s home as she waited for her boyfriend to show up. She was so giddy that she wasn’t too bothered by the possible grass stains on her clothing or the leaves in her hair. Because this moment would all be worth it!

True to her word, Moondancer had submitted to Rarity’s desire to have a complete makeover after their duel. Firstly was a trip to the spa. For some reason, Moondancer had referred to it as a torture chamber. All they did was a little, teeny-tiny hot wax treatment on her face, seaweed wrap, a facial mask, as well as a few other things that were included in the elite treatment package that she got for her. When Moondancer left, her skin was now flawless with thinner eyebrows. With that done, Rarity made sure her hair got the treatment it desperately needed so that it would shine brightly in the most healthy way possible.

While all that was being done, Rarity was hard at working making Moondancer the perfect dress imaginable! Several designs were created by Rarity and quickly rejected by Moondancer for various reasons. Some of these reasons Rarity understood and felt ashamed that she thought they were good. Too skimpy. Too 80’s. Too many flamingos. That last one even Rarity didn’t know what she was thinking when she created it! But there were other’s Rarity just didn’t understand why Moondancer didn’t like them. Still, in the end they were able to come up with a compromise. The fashionista worked through the night, forgoing sleep just to make sure it was ready in time for the date.

The sound of steps walking down the sidewalk alerted Rarity to the presence of someone nearby. Hopefully it was her boyfriend this time and not another person walking their dog. Or a police officer coming to find out what she was doing here in some bushes. Again. Looking onward, she spotted a…scruffy looking boy in some shabby clothing as he made his way towards Moondancer’s home. Rarity frowned a bit as he walked over to the house, silently hoping he wouldn’t take too long. She was here to see her magic at work.

About a minute or so after knocking on the door, the teenage boy was greeted with the magnificent presence of the new and improved Moondancer. Her hair was now properly combed, flowing down the back of her head elegantly. The girl’s face was smoother and lacked those awfully tacky glasses, replaced with contacts. Her dress was the same purple color as her former sweater, having only a single strap along with a row of white diamonds positioned in the same manner as her cutie mark. All in all, she looked absolutely stunning even as she squinted slightly at the boy.

“H-Hey Hunter,” she said meekly.

Rarity couldn’t see Hunter’s expression as his back was facing her, only able to notice his head tilted slightly. “A little overdressed for the movies dont’cha think?” he asked.

Moondancer sagged a little. “Sorry, I got roped into a makeover,” she said with a sigh. “I just hope I can watch the movie with these contacts.”

Hunter chuckled a bit as he opened up his jacket and pulled out a pair of those same glasses she normally wore. “These might help,” he said as he handed them over. Moondancer smiled at this as she quickly took out her contacts and put on her glasses.

“Ahh, much better,” she said as the two began to walk down the street. “Let’s hope we can get to the theater in time. I don’t want to miss the first kill fodder get what’s coming to him again.”

“I’m sure we’ll make it,” Rarity heard Hunter say as they moved away. “You look nice by the way. But, to be honest, I like you better the way you normally look.” As they continued to move out of ear shot, Rarity remained where she was with her mouth hanging open.

Test by Arrogant Flames Part 1

“Now, El Shaddoll Construct, finish this!” shouted Hunter from his spot underneath the same shady tree he liked to stand under as he pointed a finger at Applejack. The blonde cowgirl only had time to look upwards to see the largest of Star Hunter’s monsters lumbering over her before dozens of purple energy threads rained down upon her. They stuck the ground around the blonde cowgirl causing rocks and dirt to be shot into the air while other threads pierced her very body.

Applejack dropped to one knee as her life points hit zero, the holograms quickly beginning to fade. Still, she kept her eyes on the giant figure that dominated the duel; El Shaddoll Construct (2800/2500). It was a monster that looked so much like Flash’s Gem Knight Lapis, but bigger and more purple. Coming out from its back were thousands upon thousands of purple threads that almost covered the field. It dominated the field as soon as it appeared as well as setting up more monsters in the graveyard for Hunter to use. But it hadn’t just been that card alone that caused Applejack so much trouble. As soon as he had summoned her to the field, he also brought out Invoked Mechaba (2500/2100). That twisted machine like knight negated and destroyed everything Applejack nearly everything Applejack had tried leaving her mostly at its mercy.

It was then a figure moved in front of the sunlight and held out a hand towards her. “Good match,” said Hunter in an honest tone. The farmer girl looked at him in disbelief, but smiled herself as she took his hand.

“Not much of a match,” she replied as she got to her feet. As she did, Applejack noticed that there had been several passerby’s who had stopped to watch their match. Not surprising since they were still practicing in the park behind Hunter’s old house. Plenty of others were outside on this sunny day (Hunter dueling under the shade of his favorite tree like always) so there were bound to be a few who would stop to watch. Including Apple Bloom and her friends who had been sitting on a nearby park bench. Then there was Moondancer who would occasionally look up from one of her advanced book to see how things were progressing.

As for Hunter, he merely shrugged in response. “You told me not to go easy,” he said with a faint smile. “And I have been itching to use El Shaddoll Construct ever since she got off the ban list. So I figured why not.”

“Can see why,” said Applejack as she stretched. A couple of people in the crowd leered at her as her large breasts kissed the sky above, something that AJ paid little to no mind about. “That thing is harder to take down than a bucking bull at the rodeo. Well, at least it gives me an idea about what sort of things that Crystal Prep might be throwing at us. Sure as sugar they ain’t gonna be pulling any punches.” She paused for a moment as she straightened up. “Still might help to go up against a couple of your other decks. Just ta get a feel for the other types of summoning.”

Hunter didn’t say anything right away, just scratching his chin. “Well I do have a couple of good synchro and xyz decks that I haven’t used in a while,” he admitted slowly. “Even a couple that use multiple summoning methods. Might help you get ready for the Friendship Cup.”

Applejack found herself smiling nervously at that, not know what to say. She was, of course, very grateful to Hunter for all he was doing for her. Not only had he given her the cards for her new deck, the one she planned on using against the Prep when the time came, but he was also helping her with these practice duels to help her work out the kinks in her deck. Something that was very helpful since after every duel she had gone home to make whatever tweak she thought was needed. Dropping cards that had just been dead in her hand just didn’t do enough, or if she thought of something she could have done during one of the duels but she just didn’t have all the cards to make the right combos. Now her deck was stronger than it had been during her first duel with him. Still, Hunter was a very skilled duelist in his own right. She had hoped on tackling a deck that used one form of special summoning before tangling with one that used two.

On the other hand, Hunter had a point. She needed to get ready for the big match against Crystal Prep. The more she trained against all these different types of summoning would only benefit her even if she did get her ass handed to her. She just sort of wished that it didn’t happen every single time.

“Maybe I should duel her sometime,” called Moondancer as she got up. Pausing for a moment, she dusted herself off before approaching the two with a book carried under her arm. “It’ll also be good for her to duel decks that people don’t normally run.”

“Sounds like fun,” said AJ with a grin. “Heard ya gave old Rares a run for her money. Like ta see how Ah match up.”

“Guess we can do it next week,” said Moondancer with a nod before suddenly elbowing Hunter playfully in the side. “Besides, this guy here is going to be busy next weekend. His aunt is taking him out to celebrate.”

While Hunter gave a sheepish grin AJ’s smile widened as she looked over at him. Hunter’s situation was not all that well known within the school. The only reason Applejack knew about it was because she had visited his place, shocked at seeing how poorly his parents neglected everything. From what she knew, they spent all day and night watching old videos of their younger son Star Chaser while the house became almost a literal dumping ground. The lawn was a wreck, trash piling up everywhere inside, and the smell was worse than anything she had ever smelt in the pig pen. There was also the fact that they blamed Hunter for Chaser’s fall from grace as well as his later arrest. Needless to say, that it was not a place she’d want anybody in her school to live in. She was thankful that something was being done by Hunter’s aunt who wanted to take custody of her nephew.

“Well shucks, Hunter,” she said, patting him on the back…so hard that he was almost launched forward. Thankfully Moondancer caught him before his face was planted on the ground. “Uhh, sorry ‘bout that. Still, glad ta hear you’re moving out of that place.”

“Already did,” replied Hunter as tried to rub the spot where AJ had patted him. “Last week Child Services sent someone down to the house. Seeing how mom and dad went into a flying rage when she turned off the TV in order to get their attention, the agent decided that my aunts place would be better for me. Moved out the next day.”

Moondancer was smiling as well. “Yeah, now I can actually visit him at his place. Not that my parents mind having him around, it just helps avoid those awkward conversations my dad’s always trying to start with him. Not to mention the timing is perfect.”

At that, Applejack blinked at that. “The timing?”

As students moved towards the school the next morning, a lone figure trailed behind them. It was a teenage boy who had light brownish skin, darker brown hair that was slicked back, and yellow eyes that almost seemed predatory. He wore a light grey trench coat that billowed in the breeze and under it was a white shirt with blue stripes as well as high end jeans. The boy walked in his heavy looking black boots with utter confidence on his face while his eyes were glued to the rears of the girls in front of him.

Star Chaser stared at them the same way a man who had gone days without water looked at an iced glass of the life-giving liquid. For far too long he had been kept within the walls of steel and stone, his only company being the whiny cries of teenage boys he cared nothing about. Now, before him, were the rumps of one of the things he missed dearly during his rather unpleasant stay away from home. Soon he would get back everything that had been wrongfully taken away from him by his own retarded brother. He would get back his fame as a star athlete, playboy, and most important of all; as duelist!

Licking his lips, he could almost see it now. All of the girls in this shithole of a school would be lining up just for the chance to spend one night with him, perhaps two or three if they were lucky. Maybe even the teachers if any of them managed to meet his standards. He would be the star of every sports team, the envy of all those who tried and failed to match his great performance on the field. He would dominate everyone in Duel Monsters, destroying their life points as well as whatever little pride they had. And that would only be the beginning.

Of course, it would be better if he were going to the school he had deserved to enter! For a brief moment, his smile vanished as he thought about Crystal Prep. Full of fine pretty things for him to play within those wonderful uniforms just waiting to be ruined. The perfect platform for his rise into true stardom and possibly other things. Maybe a career in politics or something like that once he was done trashing pathetic losers for a living. He would make a great senator or even President! But no, his retarded brother had to go and ruin everything by not losing like he should have!

As the girls turned, Chaser moved to look at the building they as well as many other fine-looking female bodies were heading to. Slowly his smile returned. It might not be the best, but then again people love an underdog story. This place was full of losers so it shouldn’t be that hard to work his way back up to the top. It might take a little time but he should be able to become Captain of every team in this school, number one duelist, and have the entire female student body at his beckon call. All because of Hunter!

Quickly Chaser’s hands clenched into fists as he thought of his brother, feeling his blood beginning to boil in the process. One of the things he had been looking forward to when he got home was beating the ever-living daylights out of that loser. Heck, his parents would probably hold the turd in place for him if he asked. But no, when he arrived at that junkyard that now served as ‘home’ he found out that the coward had ran to their Aunt Star Chart. Never liked her anyways. He was just upset that he couldn’t give Hunter the pounding he deserved.

Chaser’s eyes fell on a pair of girls walking nearby, calming down considerably seeing that they were both hotties. One of them was not his type. Sure, the long purple hair and pale white skin were nice together, but he could tell by the way she dressed that she was too high maintenance for his taste. Probably demand that he ‘take care’ of her and had high expectations on where they went. But the one next to her, now that was a fine piece! A no doubt dumb blonde with orange skin along with ratty clothing that made her look like a country bumpkin. While she might be trailer trash, her body was very fine that was filled out in all the right areas.

Calmly he began to approach them while listening to their conversation. “For the last time, Rares,” said the dumb blonde in an accent that made her sound even dumber. Seriously, who talked in that sort of farmer slang anymore? Not that it mattered to him really since it fit her very well. “Ah know ya want to do something all special like for the Friendship Cup, but matching uniforms? They’re going ta be all frou-frou like.”

“Oh but darling,” said the other girls ‘Rares’ in a fake high society like voice that made Chaser hold back a groan. Yeah, he wasn’t even consider tapping that. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. It is our duty to look as stylish and fashionable as we can be.”

“It’s our duty ta be bringing on our A-game,” snapped the blonde.

“I think you’re doing just fine,” commented Chaser. It took a moment, most likely both girls surprised by the manliness of his voice, for both girls to turn and look at him. Chaser gave them his best smile, the one that had always worked in the past to win over whoever he desired. He saw that the blonde looked surprised, no doubt her tiny brain taking a bit longer for something to process. Perhaps another compliment was in order. “With bodies like those, I bet you’ve both aces on the cheer team.”

As the blonde frowned, eyes narrowing at him for some reason, Rares spoke up. “The cheer team? No, no, no my dear. While I have nothing against them, the mere idea of getting all sweaty.” She paused for a moment to shiver, scrunching her face as she did so. “Not exactly my sort of thing. We were just talking about the big duel between Canterlot High and Crystal Prep. But thank you for the compliment.”

Chaser raised an eyebrow at that while the blonde crossed her arms under that lovely chest. While he would have loved to give it the attention it deserved, there was something far more pressing on his mind. A duel between this dump and Crystal Prep?! Oh, what luck! Screw beating all these chumps and making a slow return back to the top. All he had to do is join this tournament, defeat whatever moron they sent, and get the Prep to realize the mistake they made. Then it would only be a matter of time before they begged him to transfer.

“Ya listening?” came the voice of the dumb blonde. Chaser blinked, suddenly realizing that while he was thinking of important things this girl had been talking.

“Oh, sorry I was thinking about something else for a moment,” mumbled Chaser. As both the girls looked at each other, Chaser took a step closer to the blonde. “But I do mean what I said. With bodies like yours you’d be killers on any cheerleader team. Perhaps we could talk it over later tonight, just the two of us.” As Chaser said this, he eyed the blonde over once again, unable to help himself. Who could blame him? It had been so long since he had seen such an appealing treat. One that he hoped to taste later tonight.

For some reason, the dumb blonde rolled her eyes before turning around. “Let’s go, Rares. Ah got the feeling I’d only be wasting mah breath.”

“Yes,” said Rares slowly, giving Chaser a look he really didn’t like before turning around. As he watched both girls walk away, with Rares hips moving in a way he normally would have found appealing, something felt off inside of him. They were…rejecting him?!? For a moment Chaser’s eyes narrowed and his perfect features twisted in his anger. How dare they?!? Didn’t they know how lucky they were just to have him talk to them?

As quickly as his anger appeared, it faded. No, Chaser realized. They didn’t know. After all, how could they when he had been imprisoned for so long. They didn’t know how perfect he was. So he needed to prove it to them. While it was true that he hadn’t needed to do that in some time, right now it was a must. This was going to be his first impression at this school so he was going to have to make sure that both of these dumb girls were eating out of the palm of his hand before the first bell rung.

“Please don’t be like that,” said Chaser in the smoothest voice he had, approaching the dumb blonde. Before she could think of anything to say or turn around, Chaser placed a hand on that nice rear of hers. The girls back home loved it when he did that. “I think we just got off to a bad-” The next thing that came out of Chaser’s mouth was a cry of pain. The blonde had turned around and grabbed his wrist with the strength of a bear before pulling it off. Seriously, she could break a person’s bones with a grip like that!

“Never do that again,” she breathed through clenched teeth as Chaser fell to his knees, letting go of him at the same time. Then, without another word, Chaser watched as the two walked away.

“Can you believe the nerve of that ruffian this morning?!?” demanded Rarity as she sat down next to Applejack, slamming her lunch tray on the table as she did so. Everyone at the table turned to look at her as well, mostly looking on with mild confusion. The only one who didn’t was Rainbow who just seemed to keep looking at her tray which looked completely untouched.

“
“Uh, ruffian?” asked Sunset as she looked between the two for clarification.

“The new guy,” said Applejack simply before taking a bite out of an apple. Instantly, understanding filled their expressions. Fluttershy frowned deeply, playing with strands of her pink hair and looking away from them. Pinkie Pie looked like someone had switched all the candy from a piñata and replaced it with cans of moldy sardines. Sunset closed her eyes before rubbing her forehead. Rainbow was looking a little bluish green now that she looked a tad closer. Now that Applejack thought about it, she had been looking slightly worse and worse as the day went by.

“I swear, I haven’t been able to get his uncouth behavior out of my head all day,” continued Rarity as she stabbed the slice of meatloaf that was her lunch, destroying the spork in the process. “Undressing us with his eyes like that, right in front of us no less! Then grabbing Applejack’s butt! I’m surprised you didn’t go straight to Principle Celestia on this one.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” mumbled Pinkie. “When I sensed that there was somebody new in school, I ran right up to him, saw he was looking down, and offered to throw him the biggest party ever. Naturally he loved the idea until I asked him what kind of streamers he liked and if there were any soda’s he preferred. Said that stuff was for kids and started making all these demands!” Pinkie Pie suddenly narrowed her eyes and gripped the table as hard as she could. “He said the only decorations we needed were plenty of skimpy dressed girls and plenty of beer! I! Do! Not! Party! With! Alcohol! When you leave a Pinkie Pie party you are going to be in control and nobody vomits unless they ate too many sweets!”

“Did ya tell him that?” asked Applejack.

“I did!” cried Pinkie as she threw out her arms. “And then he said several things to me about my mental state and that I need to grow up.” The pink girl then brought her arms down before slumping down in her chair looking very cross.

“At least it sounds like you all had brief conversations with that jerk,” whispered Fluttershy in a harsh tone. “He sat next to me during second period and, well, I had a hard time concentrating with all his whispering. Something about going out with him and…other stuff.”

“Oh darling!” cried Rarity as she got up from her seat, moved around the table, and placed comforting hands on Fluttershy’s shoulders. “I hope he didn’t get you into too much trouble. Or embarrass you too much.”

“Well, we weren’t caught,” sighed Fluttershy which was followed up by a groan from Rainbow. “But the only thing I could hear was him whispering about how great he was, all of his awards, how good of a time the other girls he’s been with had. Now I’m going to have to ask for notes on that class.”

“Me and Rainbow had him in first period gym,” complained Sunset as Rainbow lowered her head closer to her tray. Seeing this, Sunset began to pat her multi colored haired friend on the back as she continued her story. “Asked us who the number one athlete in the school was and looked unhappy when Rainbow said it was her. Then he was all like, ‘Hope you like being the second best because soon I’ll be standing at the top A-cup’. Then he started doing that whole undressing me with his eyes thing and I guess he liked what he saw. Caught him several times leering at me before he bailed the second half of the class.” At that, Rainbow raised a hand to say something but paused before suddenly covering her mouth.

“Rainbow, if ya ain’t feeling well maybe-” Applejack never got a chance to finish her sentence as her friend fell out of her seat. Quickly all of the girls rose to their feet just in time to see her throwing up.

Principal Celestia looked out the window from her office as the ambulance drove away in a hurry, its sirens blaring loudly. Nurse Red Heart had looked her over after the girl’s friends rushed her to the nurse’s office. Seeing how they were only prepared for small cuts, bruises, and handing out students’ medications, it was quickly decided that, given her state, it would be best to send the poor girl to the local hospital. Luna had helped by informing the parents of this incident.

As for Celestia, she was more than a bit worried. A part of her reasoned that people can fall sick quickly. But to get that sick over the course of a few hours? According to Rainbow’s friends she hadn’t eaten any of the school’s lunch and nobody else who had eaten it was getting sick so they could rule out food poisoning. Could there have-

A knock on the door interrupted the Principal’s thoughts. She was about to answer when the door opened to reveal the new transfer student Star Chaser. The woman kept a neutral expression as he entered, walking in as if he were the king of the world.

“Mr. Chaser,” she said as she moved to take her seat. “So nice to see you. I hope your first day is going well.”

Chaser grinned almost smugly as he sat in the chair directly across from her. “Had a bit of a rough start. One of the student’s here attacked me for no reason. But now, I’d say things are looking better.”

“Well, if you wish to register a complaint then you should talk to Vice-Principal Luna,” said Celestia as she folded her hands. “Just be sure to wait for permission before entering her office. It’s simply good etiquette.” As she said this, she saw Chaser looked annoyed for a moment. It was hard for her not to read something like that since she dealt with teens all day. A person in a position like hers tended to pick up on things like that.

“Right,” he said in a dismissive tone as he leaned a bit closer to the desk. “I actually stopped by to ask about the sports teams. When they are meeting and if there would be any issues of me joining. That sort of thing.”

Celestia gave him a little nod. “Well, you’d have to talk to the coaches themselves,” she said as she opened up her desk. As she pulled out a pen from her pen mug, the older woman quickly consulted her memory before writing down several names and classroom followed by handing it to Chaser. “You may have some trouble convincing them to let you join so late in the season, so just be warned. If you can’t then you’ll just have to wait for the winter sports teams to start up if you want.”

Wordless, Chaser took the paper with a hungered look on his face. He read it over, not bothering to thank Celestia or anything like that, before pocketing it. “Once they see what I can do, I’m sure it won’t be any problem. Plus, from what I just heard; they might be a player down for a while.” At that Celestia’s neutral expression shattered. A very disapproving frown appeared on her face, one that Chaser took note of instantly. “Well, I guess I should get going now. Just tell me where I go to sign up for this Friendship Cup thing I’ve heard about and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Celestia shook her head, much to the surprise of Chaser. “I’m sorry but that will be impossible for you. When you transferred, I read your file and it stated very clearly that you have a lifelong ban from participating in any official tournaments.”

Instantly, Chaser stood up with a flushed expression on his face. From where she sat, Celestia could see his hands had balled into fists. Veins had appeared on his forehead looking like he was trying very hard to contain a sudden rush of anger. As he began to lean forward, Celestia got the impression that he might try to strike her yet she refused to show any sign of weakness. She stood, or rather sat, her ground unflinchingly as he instead placed his fists on her desk.

“I was one of the best duelists anyone had ever seen before,” he stated in a dark tone. “From what I’ve heard, this school needs people with real skill for a chance to not be beaten like some pathetic animal again. With me, you can bet that you will at least win one match!”

“If I were to consider allowing you to represent this school, I would need to get Principal Sombra on board to give you this chance. Seeing as he runs the very school whose entrance exam you were caught cheating in makes me doubtful that he would agree.” As she said this, Chaser flinched but didn’t back away from where he stood. As for Celestia she stood up to her full height. “But none of that will ever happen seeing that this little temper tantrum of yours has not convinced me to stick my neck out for you. So, I will abide by the ban. You shall not be allowed to submit your name on the voting ballot. Now, if there is nothing else, I suggest that you head off to your next class.”

“That stupid, old…” growled Chaser under his breath as he slammed the crappy locker he had been assigned. Thankfully nobody around him seemed to notice as the last bell had rung. Now, all of these pathetic losers were walking home to do…whatever. He was too angry with the idiotic old woman who ran this place.

Placing a fist on his locker, Chaser couldn’t help but remember how things used to be. Back when he just needed to ask and the people in charge of his old schools wouldn’t hesitate to get him what he wanted. As long as he brought those tiny, pointless places some attention they didn’t care. Even if they did have to break some pointless rules made to make things ‘fair’ for whatever reason. Who cared?! They knew how amazing and great he was and were willing to do whatever it took.

But now all that was gone. All thanks to that retarded brother of his! If he had never applied to Crystal Prep then this never would have happened. If he had just forfeited the match instead of wasting Chaser’s time by trying to win, then no-one would have ever caught him cheating. It was all Hunter’s fault! Along with that old maid of a Principal who was clearly not as smart as she probably made herself out to be! If she had even half a brain then she should be fighting tooth and nail just for him to bring home the only chance for a win they would ever get. Why did these people have to be so stupid?

The only good things to come out of this, and he used the term loosely, was that he knew where to go for the sports teams as well as who had put their names down for the Cup. It was back to doing things the hard way, proving to everyone here that he was the best. He’d talk to all the coaches right now and convince them that he would make a great addition to the team. Hopefully they weren’t as slow-witted as the Principal. From there, he had time to take on whatever passed as the best duelists around here. He would make sure to defeat them so thoroughly that the masses at this dump would demand that Principal What’s-Her-Face let him duel.

As Chaser turned, he saw something that caused his eyes to narrow. Down the hallway was Hunter! He was standing there with some ugly looking nerd, talking to that dumb blond that hurt his arm this morning! Oh, if only he knew her name so he could have reported her to Vice-Principal Whoever! Still, the fact that they knew each other…

Chaser’s legs seemed to move on their own as he made his way towards Hunter, eyes focused on the lesser, yet older of the two. Hunter still had that messy hair as well as those cheap looking clothes. It fit him so well, nothing but a lesser model compared to somebody like himself. Still, it irritated Chaser to think that they had similar faces. Sickening really!

As Chaser approached, the dumb blonde was the first to notice his approach. She tapped Hunter on the shoulder before gesturing behind him. Slowly Hunter turned to look at Chaser with an expression of mild surprise. The ugly nerd also turned to look and, for some reason, didn’t look like she was starting to fawn over him. Maybe there was something wrong with her eyesight or something.

“Heard a lot about you today,” said Hunter once Chaser was close enough, adjusting his backpack as he spoke. “It seems prison wasn’t enough to humble you.”

“There was never anything wrong with me, unlike you,” shot back Chaser as he moved in close. So close that their noses were almost touching, feeling their breathes on the other’s lips. “I am going to make you pay for what you did to me. I don’t know when, but I’ll find a way, and when I do you won’t know what hit you.”

“Yeah, well,” began Hunter, taking a step back. There was a tremble in his voice, failing to keep in conciliate. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll be sure to keep my guard up.”

“Knock it off, ya pig-headed fool,” said the dumb blonde as she looked at Chaser. “Figured ya was his kin the moment I laid eyes on ya. What Ah heard don’t do a lick of justice ta how stuck up ya are.”

“Hey, trailer trash, why don’t you keep your mouth shut for a moment and let the men talk,” snapped Chaser before turning back to look at Hunter. “Or should I say, the man and the pathetic little boy.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the dumb blonde getting flushed. Her orange cheeks were turning red while her eyes narrowed dangerously. She dropped her backpack which made a loud thud as she did before cracking her knuckles. It was in that moment that Chaser remembered what she had done to him by simply squeezing his arm. If she had the gorilla like strength to do that, what would happen if she punched him? It might ruin his perfect face!

“Applejack, don’t,” said Hunter quickly. “If you start a fight here then you might get in trouble. Trust me, he’s not worth getting suspended or expelled for.”

“Yeah,” said the ugly nerd as she took a step over to the dumb blonde. “Let’s just go.” She said more stuff, but Chaser wasn’t really listening anymore. As he stared at the dummy named Applejack, something clicked in his head. From what he had found out, Applejack was supposed to be one of the top duelists at this dump. Not only that but also one of the duelists on the ballot to represent this place against Crystal Prep! Funny, he had thought it would have been a guy and not some blonde trailer trash hick.

A smile crossed his lips. Oh, there had to be a god up there right now smiling down upon him. Here it was, the prefect chance for everything. To get back at this dummy for hurting him and putting her in her place. To climbing back up to his former standing. Yes!

“You sure you want to just walk away Applejugs,” sneered Chaser as the nerd and the blonde began to walk away, his words causing them to slow down. “I’d be more than happy to settle this right here and now. Or you could just walk away. Better than pretending to be sick like that A-cupped loser.” While Chaser had no idea why he brought up the loud mouthed, arrogant girl who thought she was better than him in any way, the effect was instant. Apple-whatever turned around with a look of murder in her eyes.

“Oh, Ah’m gonna enjoy this,” she snarled before storming over to him. But before she could take more than a couple of steps, Chaser had reached into his bag and pulled out his duel disk.

“Figured a dumb hick like you would think that I meant violence,” he said before strapping on the device. “I was thinking something more civilized for this. Heck, I’m even willing to be generous enough to make a wager. I’ll give you whatever you want if, by some great cosmic miracle, you win. But if I win, you drop out of the running’s for the Cup and help convince the Principal that I should take your place. Sounds fair, right?” He watched as her eyes fell onto the duel disk for a moment before slowly looking at him in the eyes.

“Think Ah’d duel a cheating snake like ya?” Chaser’s smile faded slightly as she said that. “That’s right, ah know all about what happened. Doubt ya even know how ta play fair. An ain’t no way Ah’m gonna go an’ say ya should represent this here school.”

Chaser stood there feeling anger creeping along his spine as he listened to her. Then he took a breath and let it all wash out of him. “Fine, I get it,” he said with a shrug. “You’re scared. Not that I blame you for being so. After all, I have more awards than your family has dollars. The only thing you could beat me in is inbred relatives.”

With great pride he watched as her face began to turn bright her, her stupid looking hat looking like it was about to burst. Right now, either way, he knew the outcome would be worth it. If she dueled him there was not a chance he would lose. If she tried to go back on this little wager, well he’d make sure everyone heard about it. Not to mention that he’d have a record of their duel proving he’d won. If she hit him, he had both her name and the proof that she had done so. Regardless of the reason, attacking another student was something that people got expelled for. Once he told the idiots who ran this school, she’d be out of the running for good. Then all he had to do was try this with the other morons on that list. Sooner or later, he would get what he wanted. It was just the way life worked.

“Fine,” said Apple-whatever as she dropped her own bag. She reached a hand inside and quickly pulled out her duel disk. With a flash she strapped it on before pointing at him. “Let’s take this ta the roof.”

Test by Arrogant Flames Part 2

Applejack stood on top of the roof, her long hair blowing in the wind as she slid her deck into its slot. In the distance she could hear the sounds of cars and buses going about with their business while the crowd of students below became fewer. A good thing for the southern duelist seeing that she wanted to keep her new deck a secret for as long as possible. It was, after all, supposed to help her keep up with those Crystal Prep students. Off on the side lines were Hunter and Moondancer. Moondancer had a look on her face that screamed ‘this is a bad idea’. As for Hunter, he was eyeing Chaser with mistrust.

“Applejack, you don’t have to do this,” said Hunter in a cautious whisper as he approached her, never once taking his eyes off his brother. Applejack looked at the jerk as well, who was putting his own deck in its slot as well while still appearing as arrogant as ever.

“Oh, Ah know,” said Applejack before pausing to crack her neck loudly, causing Hunter to wince at the sound. “But after what he’s been sayin’ it was either this or pounding him flatter than granny’s flapjacks. An’ not just about my kin, but ta Rainbow an all mah other friends he’s been bothering. So might as well hit him in his pride.”

“Actually, I mean…” began Hunter but his words trailed off before looking down. Applejack knew what was going on inside her friend’s head. Back when he was taking the entrance exam to get into Crystal Prep, Hunter and Chaser had dueled. For Hunter, it was a chance to do the same thing she was doing right now. Having had to deal with his brother for years, that had been his chance to humiliate him. To see him utterly defeated while Hunter got to go to the school Chaser believed he belonged at. Only it didn’t work out the way he had hoped. While Hunter had dominated the duel, the whole thing had been a set up to see if Chaser really was a cheater and was called off shortly after they had gotten the proof they needed.

AJ knew that that day still bothered Hunter like nothing else. He had told her that there were times when he felt angry that he wasn’t the one who had broken his brother. That he wasn’t really responsible for his brother for Chaser’s drinking and robbing a store in order to get more of the drink he craved. And he wondered if feeling like that made him a bad person. Right now, Hunter probably wanted to duel Chaser himself and hopefully finish this thing between them once and for all. Something which Applejack believed he could. His favorite deck, Shaddolls, would more than likely hamper all of Chaser’s moves.

Instead of finishing his sentence, Hunter shook his head as if trying to clear those sorts of thoughts out of his head. Applejack opened her mouth to say something but stopped when he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Two cads which he held up for Applejack to see.

“I promised you when we first met I would give you these cards when I believed you were skilled enough with that deck,” he said as he reached out for her hand. Once he had it, Hunter gently placed the cards in her open palm. “To be honest, I’ve thought you’ve been ready for these for a while. I just figured that you’d feel better if I gave them to you if you beat me.”

Applejack blinked as she looked down at them. The two cards she had been training hard to get since she had first met Hunter were right there, in her hand. She looked back up, unsure of what to say only to see him giving her a half smile before quickly patting her on the arm. Sort of a ‘go get him champ’ gesture that coach would give one of their athletes before a big game as reassurance. Then, without so much as another word, Hunter walked away from the field with his hands in his pockets.

“If you’re done talking done talking to the retard,” shouted Chaser as he held up his duel disk, activating it in the process. “Then let’s get this over with. This isn’t the way I was hoping to see you on your hands and knees, but it’ll do for now.” In response, Applejack let out a growl as she slid her gifts into her extra deck tray. Once it closed, she held up her duel disk with a look of determination in her eyes.

“Just keep that there duel disk where everybody can see it,” warned Applejack before jerking her head towards Hunter and Moondancer. Her two friends were already on it, keeping their eyes locked to make sure his auto-shuffler was working as it should. Chaser frowned as he held it up so all could see his cards moving about in their slot.

-Applejack’s Life points: 8000-
-Star Chaser’s Life points: 8000-

Turn 1: Star Chaser

“I’ll make the first move then,” said Chaser as he drew (hand: 6). For a moment he looked at his hand and grinned wickedly. “Well, looks like this will be a quick duel. I’ll start out by summoning ‘Black Metal Dragon’ in attack mode!”

Appearing on Chaser’s side of the field was a long, thin dragon that looked more machine than dragon. Its almost black chrome-like body shined brightly in the sun while its tail was covered in long spikes, three of them on every segment. (600/600)

“But this monster is only the opening act! Because now I banish it to bring out something far more useful: ‘Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon’!” As Chaser slipped the card off his duel disk, the small dragon was dragged into a void before something far lager landed on the field.

It towered over the two of them, casting a long shadow that Applejack found herself trapped in. Looking up, the farmer girl could see thin red lines across the dragon’s metallic black form as well as red gems in its wings. Dear lord its wings! They were more like three blades fused together to create claws due to its lack of arms! (2800/2400)

“Impressed yet?” asked Chaser in a mocking tone. “Not surprised. Your tiny brain hasn’t seen anything yet! I now tribute my normal Red-Eyes in my hand order to special summon the ‘Red-Eyes Alternative Black Dragon’ in my hand!” (2400/2000)

From above their heads appeared another dragon which landed on the field in front of Chaser, the holograms giving the impression of the roof shaking as it did so. Applejack had seen the original Red-Eyes plenty of times before and while this version of it looked similar there were some key differences. It was thicker, more muscular than its original as well as having a more V shaped head.

“Next I will use the effect of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to special summon one dragon from my graveyard: ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’!” (2400/2000)

Applejack fought hard to keep taking a step back as she looked at the three large monsters staring down at her. It was a little daunting to see them all in person. And something told her that this fella wasn’t done just yet.

“Now, allow me to show you something truly amazing,” continued Chaser. “With my two level 7 dragons I am able to build the Overlay Network!” Appearing on his side of the field was a dark vortex with thousands of twinkling red lights, sucking in both Alternative and the original Red-Eyes Dragons.

“Twin Red-Eyes combining their legendary might! Coated with steel and burning with blazing power unlike ever before to serve me! Xyz summon Rank 7: ‘Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon’!”

What stepped out of the vortex was another monster that looked more machine than dragon. It had the form of a dragon, but its scales looked like they had been plated with black metal once again with exhaust pipes spewing flames out of its wings. Its front claws were larger than normal, like giant shovels ready to impale her and its tail had so many spikes on it that Applejack easily lost count. (2800/2400)

“With both of these monsters on the field, I’ll place one card face down before ending my turn.”

Turn 2: Applejack

“Then I draw,” announced Applejack. (Hand: 6) “Alright, first Ah’ll set this here card before summoning ‘Predaplant Spinodionaea’!” (1800/0)

As Applejack set the card on her tray the ground before her began to crack before a monster twice her size exploded out. Spinodionaea looked very much like a dinosaur with a wicked, thin jaw and six pure red eyes that glowed brightly. Its skin was green and its back looked like it was carrying the mouth of a Venus flytrap.

“Now that this big fella is on the field, Ah can activate his effect by placing one Predator Counter on one of your monsters. Ah choose Darkness Metal!” Smiling as she said this, Applejack watched as her monster began to hack several times before spitting a purple seed shaped like an alligator’s head. The seed flew across the flied, latching itself onto Chaser’s dragon.

Suddenly, Chaser pointed at Applejack with a smile she liked less than the ones before. “Sorry dirt-for-brains, but it looks like playing with the big boys is going to leave you burnt. See, My Flare Dragon has this wonderful effect: As long as he has at least one material on him you get burned for 500 life points whenever you use a card effect!” As he said this, smoke and fire began to pour out of the exhaust pipes of his dragon.

The smoke moved across the field towards Applejack causing her to cough violently for a moment before yelping in pain as ashes hit her exposed skin.

-Applejack’s Life points: 7500-

“Crud,” coughed Applejack as she tried her best to clear out her lungs. The taste was still in her mouth, like she had spent a day on the streets Manehatten and Las Pegasus. Not something a country girl like her would enjoy. What was worse was that Xyz dragon’s effect. Every time she used an effect it would cost it, making it so that it literally hurt to play the game. And that was just it effect with material on! Who knew what it could do by detaching them.

Still, that wouldn’t stop her. Not by a long shot. “From mah hand, Ah activate the spell card ‘Polymerization’ ta fuse the Predaplant Spinodionaea on mah field with the Predaplant Cordyceps in mah hand. Together they’ll bring out ‘Predaplant Chimerafflesia’!”

“Ah, Predaplants,” sighed Chaser, lowering his head while placing two finger on his forehead. “I remember asking my parents to buy them for me when they first came out. Thought they might have potential. Of course they didn’t. Besides, why have a bunch of useless plants when I can have fire breathing dragons. Speaking of which…” More smoke came from Flare Dragon, flowing towards Applejack causing her to cough even more.

-Applejack’s Life points: 7000-

She coughed even more this time, yet stood firm as a vortex appeared above her.

“The fearsome blooms unite the sting of the scorpion and the bite of snake. Together, their fangs breed a new flower. Fusion summon ‘Predaplant Chimerafflesia’!” (2500/2000)

From the vortex a light shot down hard and hit the ground. From that spot vines began to grow, thick vines that looked like they could hold a fully-grown adult. A red bloom began to grow with red petals that had white marks on them and in its center was another mouth just like her Darlingtonia Cobra’s. Branch like vine began to grow out of its sides, two of them ending with the mouths of a Venus flytrap making them look almost like arms.

“Now that Chimerafflesia is on the field, ah can activate its effect,” said Applejack as she raised an arm to cover her mouth. “See, if there is a monster on your side of the field with a lower level than its own mah monster can banish it. An’ thanks to my Predator Counter, that there dragon becomes a level 1. So say goodbye.”

“Fine, but remember you’re only hurting yourself by doing this,” mocked Chaser as his Darkness Dragon vanished from the field. As he slid the card into his pocket, Flare Metal dragon began to release more smoke and burning ash. Even though she was ready for it, Applejack still coughed horribly as she lost more life points.

-Applejack’s Life points: 6500-

“Now ah attack!” declared Applejack as she pointed at Flare Metal. “Predaplant Chimerafflesia, destroy Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!”

Chaser smirked as Applejack’s monster began to grow while its vine like arms extended towards his dragon. “I’m going to guess you’re using your monsters effect to weaken my monster and strengthening yours. If not, you’re only proving how completely stupid you are Applejugs! Well, you might take down my monster but to do that you have to use a card effect!”

As the Venus flytrap like hands bit into the sides of Flare Metal both duelists could see energy flowing out of the dragon, through the vines, and into Chimerafflesia. But as its attack rose to 3500 and Flare Metal’s attack decreased to 1800, more black smoke began to pour out from the dragon right up until it was destroyed.

-Applejack’s Life points: 6000-
-Star Chaser’s Life points: 6300-

“Pathetic!” shouted Chaser as a savage smile crossed his face, his eyes glistening with sadistic glee as his trap flipped face up. “I activate my trap card: Red-Eyes Spirit! This card allows me to target one Red-Eyes monster in my graveyard and special summon it! So my Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon returns!”

Beams of ruby red light began to shine out of the face up trap card until it became a flash of light that nearly blinded AJ. When it faded, Flare Metal was back minus its material.

“I end mah turn,” said Applejack as she looked across the field. So far things hadn’t worked out as well as she had hoped. She had been willing to lose all those life points if it meant clearing his field and leaving that smug jerk with nothing. Seems he had a back-up plan.

Turn 3: Star Chaser

“I draw then,” said Chaser with a grin, slowly drawing his card which jerked slightly as he did so. (Hand: 2) He then looked up at Applejack. “I was right about you. You are nothing more than some inbred country hick. All that work and getting one half-way descent monster on the field was all you could manage. I bet you’re even thinking that I won’t dare attack you due to its effect. Well, time to show you how wrong you really are!” Chaser then held up the card he had drawn, “I play the spell card: ‘Red-Eyes Insight’! By sending one Red-Eyes monster from either my hand or deck, I can add any Red-Eyes spell or trap card to my hand! So I’ll send my Meteor Dragon Red-Eyes Impact to the grave in order to add Red-Eyes Fusion to my hand!” Applejack’s eyes widened as Chaser pulled out the two cards from his deck; sending one to the grave and the other to his hand. She knew about that card from Hunter and what kind of advantage it gave Chaser.

“I see by that look on your face you know how screwed you are,” mocked Chaser as he played the spell card. “Seems you do have a few brain cells after all. Good for you. At the small cost of not being able to normal or special summon any other monster this turn: I send Summoned Skull and the original Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the grave in order to fusion summon this little beauty.”

With a cold smile, Chaser’s deck began to glow bright red as the cards were ejected while another portal opened up in the sky.

“The cruelty of the demon combines with the might of the dragon! Their powers combine force all to bow in its presence! Fusion Summon ‘Archfiend Black Skull Dragon’!” (3200/2500)

Red lightning began to strike the ground behind Chaser, revealing his monster. From what Applejack could see, it was standing in the courtyard behind him so only its upper body was visible. Red sinews of flesh were exposed and bound tightly while bits of black dragon scales came together to form the skeleton over it. Flames were shooting out around its long neck as it hung over the roof to look at Applejack.

“This is the difference between us,” yelled Chaser. “A stupid blonde who clings to her weeds could never compare to my blazing glory! I’ll make sure to burn it into your mind. Archfiend Black Skull Dragon, attack!”

Applejack watched as the flames around Archfiend Black Skull began to turn from orange to black as its mouth opened, wondering what Chaser was thinking. When his dragon attacked her plant it would lose 1000 of its attack points while hers would go up by that same amount. Meaning he would lose his monster! However, much to her confusion, when the black flames came pouring out of the dragons mouth the power behind the attack did not decrease. Nor did the strength of her own monster increase. In horror Applejack witnessed her Chimerafflesia burned before her ever eyes, withering about until it was dust in the wind

-Applejack’s Life points: 5300-

“I suppose you’re wondering why that ugly weed of yours didn’t save you,” said Chaser as he leaned forwards a bit, a grin still on his face. “Well, that because my monster has an effect worth having. See, when he attacks, your cards and effects can’t activate until the end of the battle step making them, like you, worthless. And as an added bonus, after the battle step I can send one normal Red-Eyes monster in my graveyard and burn you for the same amount of damage. So I’ll send Red-Eyes Black Dragon back to my deck to deal 2400 points of damage!”

Too stunned by this to move, Applejack watched as another torrent of flames came towards at such a force that it knocked her on her back, rolling backwards for a moment or two. When the flames subsided, Applejack was panting hard while on her hands and knees.

-Applejack’s Life points: 2900-

“Isn’t this a lovely sight,” said Chaser as he ran a hand threw his hair, a disgusting look in his eyes. “The dumb blonde on her hands and knees. Perhaps I can see you like this again after I take your place for the Cup. But first, I think it’s best to end this waste of my time! Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, END HER!”

The mechanical dragon opened its mouth, red lighting dancing around its jaw before it fired a beam directly at Applejack as she quickly stood up right before the beam struck.

“HAHAHA! It’s over! Did you really think you…” Chaser’s vile words trailed off as he noticed something in the blast.

A creature had appeared on Applejack’s side of the field, deflecting the blast with its body while AJ herself held up her arms to brace herself. It was a small, green insect like creature with a large pincer and trumpet flowers growing out of back. Eventually, it exploded leaving Applejack unharmed as well as a purple mist hanging where the monster once stood.

“W-WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?” roared Chaser.

“That was mah little friend ‘Predaplant Sarraceniant’,” explained Applejack. “This fella here is mighty useful. When Ah get attacked directly; he comes ta mah rescue by being summoned ta the field in defense mode. But that ain’t all he does. The poison he leaves behind, well it goes straight ta the monster that destroyed him!”

Chaser watched in horror as the purple mist crossed the field like an angry ghost, entering his Xyz monster. The two watched as Flare Metal began to melt away as it was eaten away from within before finally exploding.

“Lastly, ah get one Predaplant card added ta mah hand. So ah add mah Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra.”

“NO!” screamed Chaser as he stomped his foot like a child over and over again. “NO, NO, NO! That should have ended this duel! I should have won! There was no way you had that card in your hand! You had to have cheated! That’s the only thing that makes sense! I’m the only one who-” Chaser’s eyes widened for a moment, causing him to stop in mid-sentence. He then turned his head, as if unable to look at AJ or any of the other duelists there. “It doesn’t matter. All I have to do is draw my Inferno Fire Blast card and with my Archfiend’s name being changed to Red-Eyes Black Dragon you’ll take 3200 points of direct damage and lose like you’re supposed to!”

Applejack glared at Chaser, her free hand gripped tightly into a fist. Glancing over to Hunter, she saw that he was looking at Chaser. Rather he was looking at the arm holding the duel disk. The spot where his hand had jerked slightly before this turn. Hunter then closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“Applejack, I think we should-”

“Ah’m gonna finish this match,” said Applejack, interrupting Hunter.

As the teen looked at her in surprise, AJ turned her attention to Chaser with a meaningful stare. There was not a doubt in her mind right now that Chaser was cheating right now. He might not have the same trick that allowed him to move his cards around like he used to, but that didn’t mean he didn’t learn a new one. That frustrated the heck out of Applejack! She had worked with her new deck, dueling against Hunter and losing time after time in an effort to get better. She had put in the effort to get good. Yet Chaser…Despite whatever skill he had, despite having some really good card, he wanted to take the easy route. He wanted to cheat in order to be the best.

That just made her want to defeat him even more! She wanted to beat this dishonest snake in the grass with her own hard work. To see this prideful buffoon taken down again.

“Got anything else?” asked Applejack. Chaser looked at the remaining card in his hand with malice before suddenly putting it face down on his field.

“Go ahead hillbilly,” he sneered. “But don’t think your weeds will save you for long! All you’re going is wasting my time! I will win this match and then be on the road to reclaiming everything that was wrongfully taken away from me!”

“Ah doubt anything ya ever had was yours in the first place,” said AJ as she shook her head. “Nothin’ ya earned honestly.”

“Who cares?” snarled Chaser. “Shit like working hard or doing shit honestly, who really cares about that? All anyone cares about is having it all! Being famous and rich gives you whatever you want. To do whatever you want. Thing is, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to stand out from the thousands that think they deserve it. A star has to look good, act, sing, be a super athlete, and so on. Are you so stupid that you believe anyone out there can really do all that shit? What I have done is no different than using auto-tuning on my voice. So I’ll do whatever it takes so I stand out from the crowd so I can keep that life. If you were even half as smart as I am, you’d do the same thing.”

Turn 4: Applejack

“That’s where you’re wrong,” replied Applejack as she drew a card. (Hand: 3). “Anything worth havin’ is something that ya work for with your own hands. Something that ya can share with the people who are important ta ya.”

Chaser rolled his eyes. “Spare me Applejugs. Just finish your move so I can win with!”

“Fine by me,” said AJ. “Since Predaplant Chimerafflesia was destroyed last turn, ah get ta add one Polymerization spell or Fusion spell ta mah hand from mah deck during mah standby phase.” Applejack smiled as she did so, adding more recourses to her hand. “Now Ah summon mah Lonefire Blossom in attack mode!” (500/1400)

Yellow vines sprouted out from the ground, twisting around each other until they collided and created an orb with a string coming out of it.

“Now Ah activate its effect allowing me to special summon any plant monster from mah deck. So ah choose Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio in attack mode!” (1200/800)

At Applejack’s command, the string on her flower’s orb lit like a fuse until it exploded revealing a blackish scorpion. One that lacked any eyes in which to see with and its pincer claws were composed of vines. The green pattern on its back looked like a stem as well as having four leaves on the back end of its stinger tail.

“Now ah activate my monster’s special ability. All Ah got ta do is discard one card from mah hand and then Ah can special summon any other Predaplant monster to the field. So Ah discard my Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra to special summon to the field Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra!” (1000/1500)

As Applejack discarded her card the ground began to crack again, this time revealing two stems with black budded petals with a red dot on each side. As the vines began to lower themselves to the ground the blooms began to rustle while their red spots began to glow red. The petals then hissed, opening up to show that in each of its center was a rounded mouth with row upon row of tiny fangs.

“Thanks to this here fella, Ah get another Polymerization added ta mah hand,” said Applejack with a grin.

“Grr, these things really are weeds,” grumbled Chaser as he looked at them with disgust. “They just keep sprouting. I guess you’re going to summon that piece of crap fusion monster again, right?”

“Nope,” replied AJ, getting a look of confusion from Chaser. “Ah got something a little different in mind.” Applejack smiled as she slid her Polymerization spell card into the slot, ready to try out her newest monster.

“Plants of scorpion an’ snake bloom together. Ridin’ through the air, the mighty dragon with an unending appetite. Fusion summon: Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!” (2800/2000)

All of the duelist watched as, from out of the fusion portal, emerged a very thin purple dragon. Across its body were orbs of yellow and red with yellow horns on either side of its head that looked like they were made to ram into its foe.

“No,” seethed Chaser as he took a step back. “That’s not fair! How do you have such a rare monster?!”

“When this here monster is summoned, he gains the attack of one of your special summoned monsters until the end of the turn,” said Applejack, ignoring his question as her dragon’s shoulders opened up making them look like the jaws of a snake.

Particles of energy began to race across the field from Archfiend Dragon and into the mouths of Starving Venom, causing his attack to rise all the way to 6000.

“But that ain’t all Ah’m doin’, no sir. Now Ah activate mah facedown: ‘Ivy Shackles’!”

The ground began to crack once again as vines shot out of the ground and began to wrap themselves around Archfiend Dragon. Chaser’s monster tried to rip them out, but they just kept coming. Soon they were boring into its skin and turning him a light shade of green.

Applejack watched as Chaser’s eyes widened in fear at this. It was clear to her that he knew where this was going. After all, this trap of hers wasn’t at all rare, just old. “No, no you don’t!” he yelled as he jammed his finger onto his duel disk. “I activate my own trap card: ‘Return of the Red-Eyes’! Once per turn, if I control a Red-Eyes monster then I can summon one normal monster from my graveyard. So I bring back the original Red-Eyes Black Dragon in defense mode.”

“Well shoot,” said Applejack with a sigh, seeing Red-Eyes Black Dragon appearing on the field before being wrapped in vines as well. She had hoped to end this duel now, but it looks like she would be spending more time in the ‘charming’ company of Star Chaser. “Well then, Ah play ‘Fragrance Storm’. This here card lets me destroy one plant monster on the field an’ then draw a card. Then, if that monster happens to be another plant, ah get ta reveal it an’ draw again. An I choose Red-Eyes Black Dragon.” As the named monster exploded into thousands of petals, giving off a wonderful scent as it did so, AJ drew her card…and frowned. It wasn’t a plant.

“Oh well, can’t win them all,” said Applejack with a shrug. “Still, Ah can activate the effect of the Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra sleepin’ in mah graveyard. See, this here monster ain’t no lazy daisy. By removing one other Predaplant monster from the grave he can shave 500 attack points off your monster all lickity split. So Ah’ll do that now by removin’ Predaplant Spinodionaea. Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, destroy Archfiend Black Skull Dragon!” Starving Venom whipped around at its master’s command, its tail extending as it became another snake-like jaw that opened up wide. It grew large enough to clamp onto the upper torso of Archfiend before swallowing him whole.

-Chaser’s Life points: 3000-

“Ah place one card face down an end mah turn,” announced Applejack as she slid her card into the tray. “Take your best shot!”

Turn 5: Star Chaser

“You can’t handle my best,” growled Chaser as he drew, his hand once more fidgeting a bit as he did so. (Hand: 1) “Now I will show you your place at my feet! I play the spell card ‘Dragon’s Mirror’! With this card I can perform a fusion summon using cards in my graveyard in order to bring out a dragon type fusion monster! So I remove my normal Red-Eyes Black Dragon and my Meteor Dragon Red-Eyes Impact to summon ‘Meteor Black Comet Dragon’!” (3500/2000)

Appearing on Chaser’s side of the field was a mirror the size of the school which contained the standard fusion vortex storm inside of it.

“Dark dragon of crimson eyes, fiery dragon that fell from the heavens, come together to show burn away those in your wrath. Fusion summon: Meteor Black Comet Dragon!”

When the chant ended, the mirror shattered into thousands of tiny pieces as a dragon larger than life flew out, taking position above Chaser. Its scales were black and cracked, flames escaping out of them and licking the tips of its many horns.

“Now to taste the pain you deserve for thinking you had even a snowball’s chance in hell at defeating me!” screamed Chaser. “When this monster is fusion summoned, I can send one normal monster in my deck to the graveyard to deal damage equal to half of that monster’s attack points. So I choose Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon to deal 1200 point of damage!”

From the beating wings of Meteor Black Comet Dragon came a volley of fireballs towards AJ. The farmer girl, on instinct, reached to press the button to activate her trap but managed to stop herself.

-Applejack’s Life points: 1600-

“It’s a pity I can’t activate my trap card again,” said Chaser. “I would have loved the chance to watch you helplessly burn in front of me. Oh well, guess I’ll have to be content watching my dragon rip into your life points.” Chaser than grinned sadistically. “I am of course aware that your hungry dragon has another effect, one that lets him destroy all special summoned monsters I control. I bet you thought you might have the tiniest of chances of beating me if I lost my dragon. But when my dragon leaves the field, he allows me to special summon a Red-Eyes monster from my grave! During my attack phase! There is no way you can win! Meteor Black Comet Dragon, burn that useless monster out of my sight!” Meteor Black Comet Dragon launched itself towards Starving Venom, its taloned feet ready to pounce on it like a bird of prey. Yet…

“Ah activate mah face down!” declared Applejack as she pressed a button on her duel disk. Chains appeared from every direction, binding the massive dragon and pulling it back to Chaser’s side of the field. Meteor Black Comet Dragon tried to struggle out of its bounds while the flames seeping out of its scales began to die down, but in the end gave in.

“What…But how and…” stammered Chaser as he watched the scene before him.

“Mah trap card: ‘Fiendish Chain’,” explained Applejack. “Stop your monster from attackin’ as well as using any of them effect ya love so much.”

“But why…” Chaser words trailed off as he looked up at his monster again. He looked like he was having trouble comprehending the situation he was in.

“It was all about timing,” said Hunter from the sidelines, causing the two duelists to look over at him. Next to him Moondancer nodded, seeing the same thing as her boyfriend.

“Applejack waited to see if you were going to summon anything else,” she explained. “I myself am unsure if that dragon counts as a Red-Eyes monster since, while part of the Red-Eyes family, it doesn’t have that name. There also could have been text on your trap card that could have allowed you to activate it anyways. Once you explained everything and began the attack, Applejack felt the time was right.”

“LIKE THAT MATTERS!” screamed Chaser, veins appearing in his neck as he did so. He then pointed at Meteor Black Comet Dragon with a shaking hand. “Do any of you retards believe that she has anything in that useless deck of hers that can take down one of my best monsters? Answer: NO! Just make your move you-”

-Turn 6: Applejack-

“Ah draw,” announced Applejack, interrupting Chaser from launching out more insults. (Hand: 1) Calmly she looked at what she had drawn…and smiled. “Ah summon Predaplant Chylamydosundew in attack mode!” (600/200)

The ground before Applejack cracked once again to reveal a green lizard with a fan around its neck and six glowing red eyes, three on each side. There were also ‘stems’ that were growing out of the neck fan and ending with red orbs.

“When this little critter here is on the field Ah can perform a fusion summon with it without needin’ the spell card! So now Ah fuse Predaplant Chylamydosundew with Starving Venom Fusion Dragon ta bring out mah best card!” Applejack’s grin grew wider as Chaser took a step back, clearly knowing or at least suspecting what was about to happen.

“Endless hunger draw ya closer ta the battle. Now let greed fill ya with something new! Fusion summon Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon!” (3300/2500)

Starving Venom and Predaplant Chylamydosundew were gone, replaced with a dragon whose main body was scaly white with arms and legs of purple. It flew on wings made of purple energy that seemed to be constantly being expelled from its back.

“No,” whispered Chaser as he took a step back, shaking his head as he did so. Applejack watched as he kept his gaze on her dragon even when he fell on his rump. The jerk’s body seemed to be trembling.

“Ah see ya know what this card does,” said Applejack as she closed her eyes. “That once per turn Ah can reduce the attack of one of your monsters right down ta zero. Which Ah’m gonna do now.”

Meteor Black Comet Dragon let out a roar as its attack points began to drop, leaving it with nothing. As it did so, the energy from Greedy Venom’s wings began to reform into something like a grid with a purple energy sphere in the middle of the openings.

“There’s no way,” stammered Chaser. “I had that card once. It was useless! You have to be cheating right now! There’s no way you COULD BEAT ME WITHOUT-”

Applejack opened her eyes which began to glow bright green with power. She then pointed at Chaser’s dragon with such force that it silenced him. “Finish this.”

With those words, the energy spheres from Greedy Venom’s wings fired beams of energy running all over the place. Some missed completely while others bore holes into the target’s body. When it ended, Meteor Black Comet Dragon fell onto the ground in between the two duelists where it then reached out a claw towards Chaser in a motion that looked like it was asking for help. However, the dragon received none as if vanished from the field.

-Star Chaser’s Life points: 0-

Winner Applejack!

As all of the holograms vanished, returning the roof to normal, Applejack picked up her fusion monster from her duel disk. As she held onto it, she felt a certain odd sense of power coming from it that was…odd. To say the least. Still, all in all, it was a good duel for her. Not only had she been able to use her new deck better than ever before, but she had also used her new monsters to great effect. She felt confident that when the time came to duel Crystal Prep, she would have no regrets.

“NO!” came a scream that brought Applejack back to the moment. Pocketing her card, she looked up to see Chaser was back on his feet. In his hand was the Meteor Black Comet Dragon card. “I didn’t lose; this deck lost! These stupid cards…even with all the insurances I gave STILL LOST!”

Chaser then flung the card in his hand against the ground as hard as he could, surprising all of the others witnessing it. Before they could say or do anything, Chaser pulled out his deck and proceeded to toss them onto the ground as well with a look of savage hatred. As he did that, cards also flew out of the sleeves in his coat proving that he was cheating. Not that it surprised anyone there. Cards scattered about the roof, some lucky ones being carried in the wind while others sadly got to experience Chaser’s boots grinding into them. “I don’t lose! You lost! You all lost! I deserve better than the likes of you pathetic cards!”

Applejack stood there, blinking in shock at this behavior. Not even Apple Bloom acted this childish when she lost a duel. It was just so…unreal. As she watched it, her mid went back to the story Hunter had told her. The one where he refused to believe that his loss was anything of his own doing. How he blamed Hunter for his lifelong ban and even going to jail. Even after all of this, he seemed unwilling or even unable to accept that this loss was his own. It might have been sad, had she not known the jerk.

It was then that her attention was drawn to something else. In the wind, a card blew near her face in the wind. The farmer girl caught it easily to see that it was the monster she had destroyed to finish the duel: Meteor Black Comet Dragon. The rare card was undamaged from this prideful huff before her. Looking around, she saw that Hunter and Moondancer were collecting what few cards were being spared Chaser’s rage thanks to the wind. Nodding she pocketed the card before walking towards the exit.

“Where do you think you’re going, you dumb blonde?” yelled Chaser. While Applejack did not turn around, she was sure he was foaming at the mouth right now while spit flew with every word he uttered. All three of them just continued to ignore him. “Or you retard? Huh? Can’t say anything? Too afraid because you know you only got lucky? Well I’ll be back to challenge you both someday once I find a better deck! Then…Then everything will be right. I’ll take my place as the best where I belong!”

“He never stops, does he?” asked Moondancer when they all reached the door, ignoring as Chaser as he continued to rant and scream his head off.

“No,” replied Hunter as he opened the door for the girls. At the same time, they all heard a loud crash. Briefly they looked and saw that Chaser, in his rage, had taken his own duel disk and thrown it to the floor. With sparks still flying from the device, Chaser began to stomp on it while screaming his head off. “And I’m just…done dealing with it.” With that said, all three of them left the roof.

Three days later found Applejack walking down the halls of the local hospital. Few people were moving through the halls, those that were there were being pushed in wheelchairs by the nurses. The sterile smell of ammonia filled her nose, making her wish that she was back at the farm or even back at school. However, it was something she just had to deal with as she made her way to Rainbow’s room.

There was no door there, just an opening that lead into a nice living area for her friend. Rainbow was laid out on top of a bed dressed in a hospital gown. Her head rested upon a pillow as she held up her smartphone which was making a lot of noise. So much in fact that Applejack was surprised there wasn’t a dozen or so nurses and doctors in here telling her to keep it down. Rainbow noticed AJ almost as soon as she entered the room, pausing whatever app or video she was watching and setting the phone down.

“Howdy Rainbow,” said Applejack. “Heard their lettin’ ya out tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait,” replied Rainbow as she sat up. “They said they want to run one or two more tests and keep me over night just to be on the safe side. But come on! They already pumped my stomach and all that other stuff! I’m ready to get back out there and tear up the field!”

AJ shook her head as she sat down on the bed. “Ya do know how lucky ya are,” she said while giving her friend a meaningful look. “Ah heard that if Principal Celestia hadn’t called that ambulance when she did an’ the doctors actin’ all quick like ya might not even be here.” The farm girl watched as Rainbow winced slightly at that, causing herself to look away for a moment.

None of the girls had taken well to how close Rainbow had been to death’s door. Fluttershy had been a crying fit the first night and Sunset had tried breaking in just to spend the night reading Rainbow her favorite books. Everybody else had helped Pinkie Pie with a get well soon party, doing their best to keep hope alive for as long as they could. Yet now that she thought about it, it must have been even more scary for Rainbow. As tough as she acted at times, Applejack knew it was mostly a front she put up. She had to have been terrified by all of this, wanting to get away from a place of the sick and where she might have-

“Uh, so…” AJ said suddenly, breaking away from darker thoughts as she turned to look at her friend. “What were ya watching there? One of them duel videos? Tortoise racing?”

“Better,” said Rainbow, her features brightening instantly. As she picked up her phone she gestured to AJ to come closer so the two of them could watch. After sliding down the bed side, Applejack was surprised to see a video news app was on. And it wasn’t some sports game or draft announcement. At least, not from what Applejack could see as Rainbow replayed the video.

“Breaking news,” said the anchorwoman as the app played. “Earlier today a student at Canterlot High was caught putting trace amounts of rat poison into a fellow student’s water bottle. We now go live to the scene.” There was a flash cut away before another woman appeared on the screen. She stood in front of the school where dozens of students were now standing in the courtyard or just sticking their heads out the windows. Several police cars were parked at the driveway with their lights still flashing.

“I’m here live at Canterlot High,” said this new woman named News Update. “For the last three days terror has gripped the student body as five students have been rushed to the hospital where it has been revealed that they were, in fact, poisoned. Many of whom have been the top student athletes and two are still in critical condition. Up until now, officials within the school had struggled to figure out if this was simply an accident or a malicious act. That was until this morning when a student named Flash Sentry spotted a fellow student entering the girl’s locker room where he was caught red handed in the act.”

At that moment, the doors to the school were burst open. News Update signaled the cameraman to get this, both moving towards the walkway as fast as they could. There, two police officers struggled to keep hold of Star Chaser who was doing everything in his power to get free. He leapt into the air only to be brought back down thanks to the might of the officers. He pulled and tussled about like a bronking bull, screaming his head off as he did while those who detained him did their best to read him his rights. Applejack had heard about this happening but had not seen it since she had been on the opposite side of the school.

“Here comes the best part,” whispered Rainbow with glee.

“YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!” screamed Chaser, looking like a panicked animal being led to a cage. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM? HUH?! IT’S THAT BITCH CELESTIA! SHE SET ME UP!”

“Remember; you have the right to remain silent!” shouted one of the officers. “I suggest you start now.” But Chaser refused, he just kept screaming his head off as he blamed everyone under the sun except for himself. Applejack even heard her own insult name being mentioned as she watched him getting closer to the police car.
Then, in a shocking moment, one of his jerking legs connected with one of the officers knocking him down. Seeing his chance Chaser then tried to tackle his way out, but the other officer was not startled by this. In a flash, he had grabbed his taser and used it on Chaser to bring him to the ground.

“I could watch this all day,” said Rainbow with a grin.

Elsewhere, Hunter stood in front of the place that had once been his home as the sun began to sink in the horizon. Only it had changed significantly since he had last seen it. The mounds of trash and vile order were no longer there, the lawn having recently cleared out and cut. Dark, lightless windows showed no signs of the television light that had once constantly played. Only darkness could be seen with no signs of movement from within. Not that he expected anything given the fact that there was a ‘For Sale’ sign that had been planted not too long ago. There were no signs of his parents. Not even a hint of where they had gone.

Hunter had known this before coming here. He just had to see it for himself in the hopes of getting some closure. Yet even that had been denied to him. All that was there was a sort of emptiness as words from a song he had once heard passed through his lips.

“Daddy don’t you love me, then why do you hit me?” he sang softly. “And momma don’t you love me, then why do you hurt me? Well I’ve tried to make you proud but for crying out loud. Just give me the chance to hide away. Exhaustion takes over. Will this someday be over?”

Hunter stopped when he heard footsteps approaching him. Turning he saw it was Moondancer walking towards him. Upon seeing her, Hunter wanted to say something. Maybe apologize for his horrible singing since he couldn’t carry a tune to save his life. Just something to say. But the words just wouldn’t come out now. As he stood there, he could tell that Moondancer was doing the same thing. He knew her well enough to tell when she was fishing for the right words to say. All she could do was stand there.

Then, after a minute or two of silence, Moondancer reached out to take his hand and together they walked away from the place that had once been Hunter’s home. Neither of them said a word as they walked hand and hand with each other. In that moment, nothing needed to be said.