It's Your Move! Friendship is Trading Cards!

Chapter 2

Shawn groaned as he slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes.  They flew open as he surveyed his environment. He sighed and grinned as he realized exactly where he was. The only problem was the rest of the gang. Surely they realized that through unknown means, Discord had just transported them to a slightly screwed-up version of the world of cartoon ponies. As he looked around at everyone else gathering their bearings, he was glad to see that no one was taking the time to indulge in a violent fit. Of course no one’s worried; we live a in a world of ridiculous holographic creatures being brought to life right before our eyes on a daily basis, Shawn thought with a sigh. Why should this be any different?

“Is everyone okay?” he asked as everyone gathered around. “I mean, besides the fact that we’ve all been turned into cartoons.”

“I…I think so…” Adam replied, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. “Dude, did we just…”

“Looks like it,” Shawn interrupted, having seen the question coming a mile away. “Don’t ask me how we got here though. I may be a half-decent card player and a snappy dresser but a physicist I am not.”

“Now now, how fun can reality be?” A smarmy voice asked behind them. “Wouldn’t you rather just bask in the chaos I have so lovingly created?”

“Now we’re in trouble.” Adam pointed out he obvious as Discord appeared before them, surprisingly large and menacing.

“How 'bout we just skip the fan fiction foreshadowing bullshit and get to the point?” Shawn asked as everyone else nodded their approval. “Why did you bring us here?”

“Really now; that’s how you greet your host? Very well then. You see, this is a rather “diminutive” stage for my performance. I’m much more interested in…larger venues.”

“You can’t be serious…” Shawn said as realization hit.

“Oh but this time, I am,” Discord replied with a malicious grin. “Your world is ripe for the picking! Just like your little orchard, isn’t that right, Applejack?”

“Apple orchard? Ah don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no apple orchard,” the faded yellow pony replied in a guilty tone as she walked by.

“Oh yeah, everyone’s still confused,” Shawn mused as the Mane Six moped about, each lost in their own little worlds of chaos.

“Must be Opposite Day,” Adam added.

“Yeah, looks like everyone’s gone out of their minds,” Adrian said out of nowhere. He looked at the surprised group. “What? It’s just an observation…”

“So lemme get this straight,” Shawn began. “You want to take over our world so you teleported a group of teenagers with attitude to…Equestria? Not to criticize your plan but how does this make any sense?”

“Oh come now; what fun is there in making sense?” Discord asked with a hurt expression. “You see, you possess something I need. Besides the Elements of Harmony, there is one more source of energy that can free me and allow me to travel between this world and yours! That, my friends, is why I “summoned” you here, pardon the pun.”

“Wait a minute; let’s see if I can figure this out,” Shawn began. “You brought us here to use the so-called “energy” supposedly released during children’s card games? Oh man, you and everyone else in town.”

“You don’t believe me?” Discord asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh no, I believe you,” Shawn assured him. “Stranger things have happened. So what if I refuse your little “challenge”?”

“Then I imprison you and your little entourage here for eternity.”

“Well then it looks like my hands are pretty much tied!” Shawn replied with a forced laugh as a sinking feeling descended upon him. I’ll bet the only way to beat him is at his own game. If I can somehow “liberate” the others, I’m certain that they will be able to put him away. That’s it! I’ve gotta stall him until the others can assemble the Elements of Harmony and blast him into the next century! Good thing I’ve inexplicably got my Deck with me!

“Save the wide world of Equestria and its quadruped inhabitants with nothing more than dry wit and children’s trading cards? Challenge accepted.” Shawn exclaimed with a grin. That’s it; go time! “Guys, over here,” Shawn motioned for his friends to join him. “Listen, while I distract this joker, I need you to de-institutionalize the main characters or we’re sunk. I can’t beat him by myself; that much is obvious. The only way to win is to get the Elements of Harmony together and get them…” He motioned towards the Mane Six. “…to use ‘em. Everyone clear on the plan?”

“And how the Hell are we supposed to do that?” A skeptical Maria asked.

“Why, the magic of friendship of course!” Shawn replied with an eager grin. “But seriously, do it or we’re toast. Now let’s save Equestria and win another children’s card game!” There was a pause.

“Okay, so when you say the “magic of friendship…” Adrian began. “…you mean what exactly? How the frack are we supposed to make friends with a bunch of crazy cartoon ponies?!”

“Awe, I didn’t know you cared this much!” Adam replied with a smirk.

“I don’t! I just, um, think this place sucks and I wanna get out of here, that’s all.”

“Yeah, and I wanna hit up Breaking Dawn on opening night,” Shawn said with a grin. “Look, just do what you can to convince them that we need their help and that friendship is the best thing ever. You guys think you can handle that?”

“Nope, not a chance.” Adam replied assertively.

“Perfect! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a somewhat predictable card game to play. Good luck!” With that, the group sighed and split up, each pursuing a different pony. Shawn turned and faced his opponent. “Well, this is awkward but if we’re gonna do this, we’ll each need…”

“One of these?” Discord asked as a V-Disc appeared on Shawn’s left arm.

“Uh yeah, that’ll do,” Shawn replied with a shrug as the machine shuffled his Deck. “You ready for this?”

“I’m always ready for a little fun!” Discord exclaimed as Life Points were set at 4000. “I’m in a generous mood so I’ll let you start things off.”

“Alright, it’s your funeral,” Shawn said with a shrug as he drew. “Okay, first up, I’ll activate Tuning and add Quickdraw Synchron to my hand and mill one card.” He grinned as Quilbolt Hedgehog was sent to the Graveyard. “Now I send Level Eater to the Graveyard to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron!” There was a flash of light as the robotic cowboy-themed Tuner monster appeared and stood before Discord as if in a Mexican standoff. Heh heh, too bad Applejack’s not here to see this, Shawn thought with a grin. She’d probably dig the whole “wild west” motif this guy’s got going on. “Now I Normal Summon Tuningware and Tune it with Quickdraw Synchron to Synchro Summon…” In a dramatic and entirely unnecessary fashion, Shawn held the card up as five green rings formed above the field and transformed his monsters into red and yellow Level Stars. They aligned with in the green rings and there was a flash of light as a red and grey robot bearing a strong resemblance to Generation One Optimus Prime emerged and hovered beside Shawn.

“…Turbo Warrior!”

Shawn grinned; with Turbo Warrior’s effect, targeting effects would be far less of a headache…at least that’s what Shawn hoped. With 2500 Attack Points, it was a good start.

“Since I used Tuningware in a Synchro Summon, I can draw one card,” Shawn continued, drawing per his monster’s effect. “I’ll Set two cards face-down and end my turn.”

“Hmmm, what shall I do about this?” Discord wondered out loud as he snapped his fingers, causing a card to appear in his hand. “I think I’ll activate this!” There was a flash of light from his V-Disc indicating that a card has just been activated but nothing happened.

“Um…what just happened?” Shawn asked.

“Oh, where are my manners? I simply used a nifty little Field Spell called Chaos World!” Discord exclaimed deviously.

“Chaos World. How original.” Shawn replied with a yawn.

“Maybe this will change your tune. Once per turn, I can use one of several interesting effects that will surely turn that little mind of yours into Silly Putty! For example, did you by chance notice the rain?”

“Yeah, I got the chocolate rain. Real clever. What’s your point?” Shawn asked impatiently.

“Every time it’s my turn, it can either give me 1000 Life Points or take 500 from you! And they say too much chocolate is bad!” With a grin, Discord snapped his fingers and a large pink cloud formed above Shawn’s head. “Well, maybe bad for you…”

“Uh oh…” Shawn muttered as the cloud unloaded on him, drenching him with chocolate milk and reducing his Life Points to 3500. “That wasn’t cool.” Although, I can’t complain too loudly, he thought, wishing he had a glass and a green bendy straw.

“Perhaps next time you’ll remember your umbrella!” Discord laughed as Shawn dried his head with the hem of his shirt. “Now I think I’ll place this little fellow face-down. That’s all for now.” So, a monster in Defense Mode and nothing else, Shawn thought. Not bad. With Turbo Warrior’s effect, I’m pretty sure that if that has a Flip Effect, it won’t hurt ‘im.

“I draw!” Shawn exclaimed. “I’ll get right down to business and attack your face-down monster!” With that, Turbo Warrior flew at Discord’s monster.

“Hmmm, I think not,” Discord mused.

“What the Hell?” Shawn stared in shock as a trail of soap formed directly under Turbo Warrior, causing it to lose its balance and fall on its face with a crash.

“Looks like your little red robot won’t be doing any fighting this turn!”

“What did you do?”

“I told you; I’m a master of chaos,” Discord replied with an innocent shrug. “Besides, I used another effect of my Field Spell. By paying 500 Life Points, I can either stop one of your monsters from attacking or deal 1000 points of damage to you. I must admit that while the second option was sorely tempting, the thought of your great monster falling on its face was too much to resist!” Shawn stared helplessly as Turbo Warrior sat up in a daze as tiny pegusi flew around its head. Damnit, guess I’ll just have to suck it up and play defensively, at least for now, Shawn thought.

“I activate the effect of Level Eater in my Graveyard! By reducing Turbo Warrior’s level to five, I can Special Summon it in Defense Mode.” Shawn breathed a sigh of relief as the small insect in the shape of a Level Star appeared on the field. “That ends my turn.”

“Your turns are taking far too long,” Discord said with a yawn as a card appeared with the snap of his fingers. “I activate the effect of Chaos World to…oh, what’s the expression all the kiddies are using these days…oh yes; “make it rain”?”

“Awe Hell,” Shawn muttered as another pink raincloud reduced his total to 3000.

“Now I Sacrifice my face-down monster to Summon Vanity’s Fiend!” Shawn’s heart sank as a beast-like vampire appeared and bared its fangs with a hiss. “Now, thanks to the effects of Chaos World, I can pay 500 Life Points to increase my monster’s ATK by 1000! I think I’ll rid the field of that red eyesore once and for all!”

“Not this time!” Shawn exclaimed, revealing one of his face-down cards. “Mirror Force stops your attack and destroys any monster that’s in Attack Mode on your side of the field!”

“Fine then. Spoil my fun!” Discord muttered as Vanity’s Fiend disappeared. “Then you can take 1000 damage just because I feel like it!”

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Shawn protested as his total fell to 2000.

“Cheating?” Discord gasped with mock seriousness. “Me? Have you forgotten where you are?” He gestured to a pack of buffalo sporting tutus performing a synchronized dance on their back hooves behind them.

“Whatever. I’m still gonna win!”

“Well then take your turn and try!”

“I draw! I Summon Junk Synchron and use its effect to resurrect Quilbolt Hedgehog. Next I’ll Tune Junk Synchron, Quilbolt Hedgehog, and Level Eater to Synchro Summon…Junk Gardna!” With that, Junk Gardna descended with a mighty crash and formed a protective shield in front of Shawn. “Now it’s time to pay you back for that cheap shot last turn. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon from my hand to destroy your Field Spell!”

“Do you really think you can get rid of chaos so easily?” Discord exclaimed with a grin. “As long as I control a monster, Chaos World cannot be destroyed!”

“But you don’t control a monster!” Shawn protested.

“Well then, what do you call me?” Discord asked in a sinister tone. “Did you really think that you had any control at all over anything?”

“Um…maybe just a little bit…” Shawn muttered sheepishly.

“Oh don’t feel too bad,” Discord replied in a sympathetic tone. “Everyone thinks that the first time. It’s always up to me to show them the errors of their ways! It’s such a demanding line of work but it’s always worth it in the end.”

“You gonna finish monologue-ing this century?” Shawn demanded. “I’d like to actually take my turn at some point.”

“It’s pointless but I suppose you may as well,” Discord said with a yawn, snapping his fingers and reclining on the beach chair that appeared beneath him.

“You realize that in order to play this game, I need to know how strong a monster you are,” Shawn pointed out, hoping he could find Discord’s weakness. “Let’s see some stats already!”

“Oh, I’m afraid that’s none of your business,” Discord replied, feigning embarrassment as a conjured beach towel appeared and covered him up. “I’m much too shy.”

“That’s mature,” Shawn said in monotone, giving Discord a blank look. Looks like I’ll have to find out the hard way after all. “Then I guess you’re in for a world of hurt! Since you’re counting yourself as a monster that means that you have all the weaknesses of a monster as well. I should be able to destroy you like any other card!”

“Take your best shot!” Discord challenged, holding up a large target.

“Oh, I will. Turbo Warrior, show ‘im what you’re made of! Attack Discord!” With that, the jets under Turbo Warrior’s feet came to life and propelled the red warrior toward its draconian target.

“How soon we forget,” Discord said with a yawn, snapping his fingers. “I activate the effect of Chaos World! By paying 500 Life Points, I can stop your attack.” Oh man, not again, Shawn thought, waiting for Turbo Warrior to hit the soap and fall on its ass yet again. Any time now…any second…wait a tick…

“What’s this?” Discord muttered as Turbo Warrior didn’t stop. “Wait…that’s not…aaaarrrrgh!” Shawn watched in amazement as Turbo Warrior struck the draconequis with a huge red set of claws. “That’s not possible!” Instinctively, Discord looked towards the Field Spell zone. “What? How is this possible?”

“You mad, bro?” Shawn asked with a troll-like grin. “Looks like my Mystical Space Typhoon worked after all! With no Field Spell, all those little effects are gone!” That still doesn’t explain anything…unless…

“It was that little brat’s interference that stopped me, not your card,” Discord retorted. “That won’t last forever! All you’ve done is stall my effect!”

“Not this time, Discord!” A familiar voice reached him and Shawn whipped around to find Zoe and none other than Twilight Sparkle running towards him. “You’re not the only one who can use magic!” The purple unicorn exclaimed in triumph.

“Zoe! Twilight Sparkle!” Shawn exclaimed with a broad smile. “Man, are you two a sight for sore eyes! This clown’s been kickin’ me around ever since we got here.”

“I’m sorry I took so long,” Zoe panted as they finally reached him. “I had to give the friendship speech of all friendship speeches but it worked!”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Shawn agreed as he turned to Twilight. “Hi Twilight, my name’s Shawn and this is my friend Zoe. We’re huge fans.”

“Fans?” The unicorn asked in surprise.

“Um, it’s kind of a long story but as soon as we kick this guy into the next dimension, I’ll explain everything but for now, I could use your help if you can provide it.” It was a long shot and Shawn realized it but stranger things had happened and they had nothing to lose.

“But what can I do?” Twilight asked. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“Zoe, do you still have that official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Rulebook app on your phone?” She nodded and produced it from a pocket in her jeans. “Here, take this and give it a quick go-over,” Shawn added, handing the phone over to Twilight. Her horn lit up and she held the small device right in front of her face, studying it carefully. After a minute or so, she was finished. Dang, I knew she was smart but still, Shawn thought in amazement. I mean, this game’s not exactly rocket science but she hardly even took a minute! Let’s hope she understood it ‘cause I might need her again!

“Think you got it?” Shawn asked, hoping she did as Discord slowly recovered and got to his feet. “Now, I know that this is really weird for all of us but I need you to…” Shawn brainstormed, trying to find a way to somehow tie all of these strange ideas together. “…channel your magic through the cards!” Twilight gave him an odd look, which after a few seconds, changed to one of complete understanding. “See, everything going on right here right now is real. Theoretically, that means you can interfere and help me out! Ready?”

“Ready!” Twilight exclaimed with a deadly smile.

“Excellent! Miss Sparkle, would you care to do the honors? How about that “Failsafe Spell” you tried like 30 minutes ago?” Shawn asked.

“I would be happy to!” With that, her horn lit up and there was a great flash of pink and white light.”

“I Chain the effect of Twilight’s Spell to my Mystical Space Typhoon! Thanks to Twilight’s effect, none of my Spell Cards or Summons can be negated for the remainder of the Duel! Say bye-bye to Chaos World!”

“Noooooooo!” Discord cried as a large bubble formed around them, separating everyone from the insanity transpiring around the bubble’s exterior. Shawn grinned as the small statistical information projector on the V-Disc’s control panel lit up and began gathering data about his opponent (and his cards) like in a normal Duel.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Shawn exclaimed as he hungrily read all of Discord’s statistics. While his ATK of only 2000 was low for such a powerful monster, his ridiculous list of effects more than made up for his lack of brute strength. “Let’s see…” Shawn muttered, going down the list. “Can’t be removed from the field, player gains 2000 Life Points every Standby Phase if Chaos World is on the field, can double his ATK by paying 1000 Life Points, can take control of an opponent’s monster once per turn until the End Phase, then it gets destroyed…man, this sucks!”

“What is it, Shawn?” Zoe asked nervously.

“Don’t worry about it,” Shawn did his best to assure her. “Just because he’s outrageously strong doesn’t mean he’s invincible.” He turned to Discord. “I end my turn.”

“Oh look, another nice little 2000 point boost for me! Now let me show you what chaos is all about! I Set three cards face-down and I think I’ll use my own effect to add a Chaos World to my hand!”

“Awe man, not this bullshit again!” Shawn protested.

“Don’t worry Shawn, my spell should prevent him from using that card more than once every turn,” Twilight assured him with a wink.

“Good. Thanks,” Shawn replied, wiping sweat from his brow. Still, one effect is bad enough but I guess every little bit helps.

“I activate Chaos World and use my own effect to take control of your Turbo Warrior!”

“Oh come on!” Shawn protested as puppet strings appeared attached to each of Turbo Warrior’s limbs. With a sweep of his hand, Discord whisked the helpless Turbo Warrior to his side of the field. Shawn could do nothing but watch as Turbo Warrior changed from a bright red to a much duller red and took up a fighting stance.

“Oh this is such fun!” Discord exclaimed as he made Turbo Warrior dance. “You should’ve seen the look on your face when your precious little monster came over to the winning team! Now I think I’ll activate the effect of Chaos World. By paying 500 Life Points, I can attack you directly with any monster I took from you this turn!” Shawn gritted his teeth as Turbo Warrior charged at him.

“No way, Discord! I won’t let you separate any more friends!” Twilight stepped forward and pointed her horn at Turbo Warrior. “Shawn, I need some energy! Can you spare some Life Points?” Shawn nodded and Twilight continued. “By using 500 Life Points, I can stop your effect!”

“Nice!” Shawn exclaimed with a celebratory fist-pump. It was time for Discord to watch helplessly as Turbo Warrior suddenly turned and ripped the strings to shreds, threw them back at Discord, and took up its rightful place on Shawn’s field. “Way to look out, Twilight,” Shawn added with an appreciative smile.

“Any time. After all, what are friends for?” Twilight replied.

“Don’t start celebrating too fast!” Discord interjected. “By the effect of Chaos World, any monster of yours that declares a direct attack will be destroyed at the end of the turn!”

“Damnit!” Shawn cursed as Turbo Warrior shattered and disappeared.

“That ends my turn.”

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief; he had survived another harrowing turn against the mighty Draconequis. Even with Twilight Sparkle’s assistance, he couldn’t help but wonder if they could prevail against what else Discord had in store for them.