EPISODE TWENTY-THREE
Next morning, the other girls, except Twilight, were gathered at Sunset’s apartment, and Pinkie knocked at the door.
“Sunset,” Pinkie called “Sunset, are you ready? You haven’t been answering our phone-calls.”
Sunset finally opened the door, and the girls all gasped, Sunset looked terrible. Her eyes were baggy, her hair was frazzled, and she smelled as if she hadn’t taken a shower, which she hadn’t due to sleeping in late.
“Oh, my…!” Rarity groaned as she held her nose, “Sunset, I strongly suggest you bathe at once.”
“For once, I agree with Rarity.” said Applejack “You don’t want to be stinking up the tournament.”
Sunset yawned, “I was just about to when you knocked.”
She invited her friends in while she showered, but her apartment was in a big mess!
Dishes and takeout bags and boxes lay all over. The kitchen sink was full of dirty dishes that needed serious attention. Sunset’s clothes lay all about, and the coffee table in the living room was loaded with papers of notes, cards, and game strategies to improve her deck, and other notes trying to figure out what that dark realm was.
“Sunset should really quit letting herself go like this.” said Rainbow, but she saw the other girls were already helping to straighten up the apartment, again!
Rainbow sighed, “… I saw that coming.” and she helped out too.
By the time they were all finished, the apartment was looking clean again, and Sunset came out of the bathroom all clear and wearing fresh clothes.
She noticed her clean apartment. “Oh, you girls didn’t have to do that?”
“Of course we did.” chirped Pinkie “What are friends for?”
“Next time we’re billing her.” groaned Rainbow.
Sunset threw her wet towel in the overflowing hamper, “Sorry, I was up all night again.”
She showed the girls her notes that related to her last duel, and how she had studied the Different Dimension monsters.
“If I duel those goons again, this time I’m going to be better prepared.”
She also told the girls about her chat with Princess Celestia the other night.
“Was she mad at you?” asked Fluttershy.
“More or less.” replied Sunset “But she’s researching, and she says she’ll help us identify what that world was and who those creeps are.”
“That’s it?” Rainbow asked in shock “She’s just researching? She could send like a whole pony army to help us.”
“Really, Rainbow Dash!” snapped Rarity “We’ve already discussed this, and it would possibly make things worse than they already are.” She paused and took a huge breath in “Just the very thought of such consideration makes me feel weak.”
The others all felt the same, but Rainbow was still anxious to find these brutes and make them sorry for taking Spike and Princess Twilight’s souls.
“Take it easy, R.D.” said Applejack “We’ll get those guys, somehow.”
Rainbow still looked edging to get her game on!
Still, the girls all headed out, and after getting takeout breakfast wraps from the local fast-food joint, they hopped on the bus which was bound for Magical Land and the tournament.
“Shouldn’t we have picked up Twilight, or the sisters?” asked Sunset.
“Twilight said she’d meet us there.” said Pinkie “The sisters are probably already there too. Remember, Luna works at the park.”
When they got to the park, instead of heading straight in, the girls headed for The Titans’ camper, and Robin poked his head out the door.
“…‘Morning girls.”
“Is Twilight here?” asked Sunset.
“She’s been here since early morning.” answered Kori “She wanted to see spike so badly.”
Twilight then came out and greeted her friends.
“How is he?” asked Fluttershy.
Twilight’s lips twisted into a sad frown, “He’s stable. The Titans kept him on life-support, but he’s not any better.”
The girls all felt sorry.
Sunset then realized, “I never visited the hospital to see Princess Twilight.”
The others all realized this, but they all knew there was no time to go there now. The next round of the tournament was going to start, and they all had to get inside the park, which meant leaving Spike all on his own.
“I’ll stay behind,” said Robin “After all I’m not in the tournament anymore.”
Rarity and Fluttershy offered to stay as well, since they were also eliminated, and Fluttershy’s expertise with animals would help a great deal.
Twilight smiled thankfully.
“Come on, let’s go.” Rainbow said rather impatiently.
Much as the others were growing concerned with her obvious and growing attitude, they realized they had to get going.
Twilight was going with them.
“Shouldn’t you stay here with Spike?” asked Terra.
“Um… yeah, I should, but first I should see if… if Shining Armor and Cadance are here. Yeah, that’s it.”
Then she dashed for the park entrance.
“But Twilight,” shouted Rarity “Why not simply call him on your cellphone?”
Twilight pretended she hadn’t heard and kept right on running.
“Okay, what’s with her?” wondered Raven.
The others all wondered the same thing. Twilight had been acting rather weird the past couple of days; the way she’d always run off and then come back without much of a care.
Now they were really concerned, because just yesterday she looked sad enough to cry a canal of tears for Spike, and now she just ran off.
“Well, she said she’d be back.” said Fluttershy.
Rarity still found it a bit odd with Twilight’s behaviour.
Nonetheless, the duelists still had to head off.
Robin hugged Kori.
“I’ll be rooting for you.” he whispered into her ear.
His wife smiled, “I’ll do my best.”
They shared a soft kiss which melted everyone’s hearts.
Rarity wiped a tear from her eye.
After that, the duelists headed for the park while Rarity and Fluttershy went into the camper with Robin.
Spike’s body was lying on a soft cushion and was hooked into life-support to keep him stable.
“Oh, my poor Spikey-Wikey.” cried Rarity.
“He looks so peaceful, but not in a good way.” said Fluttershy
Robin sighed and hung his head low.
There weren’t that many duelists left. The tournament started with over a-hundred, and then it was halved, and now it was halved again-- no more than thirty players left.
This made the girls and the Titans feel a little more confident, because it was starting to look like some of them would probably be going to the finals for sure.
The duelists were announced by the park intercom to report to the backside of the park near the rear exit that lead to the open fields for today’s round.
“What do you suppose they’re making us do today?” wondered Pinkie.
“We’ll soon find out.” said Sunset.
As the duelists made their way to the back of the park, they ran into Celestia.
“Good morning everyone,”
“Good morning!” they all replied.
“Hey, look at that.” cried Terra.
Everyone looked out into the field and saw a small, square building with steel sidings and no windows at all, and lots and lots of cables running through it from the park.
“Where in the hotel-bills did this come from?” wondered Applejack.
“It sure wasn’t here yesterday, or we would have seen it anywhere from within the park.” said Kori.
“Attention Duelists!” shouted a familiar voice, followed by a large TV screen folding out over the top of the building showing the images of The Prince Brothers.
“Good morning,” called Rubeus “And welcome to Round Three of the Friendship Cup tournament.”
Loki then spoke, “Today’s round promises to be quite different than the previous ones.
First, let us explain.”
Rubeus cleared his throat, “There are thirty of you duelists left, and as was mentioned before, only the top eight will proceed to the finals, so today’s round is going to help select some possible finalists today.”
The brothers then explained that the building before them was a new attraction to their theme park that had just opened-- The Virtual Reality Land.
The screen images then showed inside the building was all one room, and along the walls were virtual reality pods.
Each duelist was to enter and then climb into a pod, whereas their minds would be digitized and uploaded into an authentic virtual world created by the finest of computer engendering ever, like being in a life sized video game.
“Wicked!” cried Rainbow “I never thought such tech like this existed. This is going to be AWESOME!!”
“Yay, real fun…” Raven groaned.
Vic was incredibly enamored about this, being a cyber-tech guy, and a game lover himself. “But what are we supposed to do once we get uploaded?”
He got his answer immediately as the brother continued to explain.
Each and every duelists would be uploaded into a different environment of their virtual realm; everything from mountains, to meadows, to castles, or caverns-- things like that.
Within each environment was a series of yellow cards to grab, each one had a different amount of Duel Points for the duel meters on them. Some were high, some were low, and there were also some trap-cards that would take duel points away!
Applejack, Kori and Vic gasped! All three of them had low points.
“So, if we find one of those cards, it might knock us out just like that?” exclaimed Kori.
Vic and Applejack gawked at one another realizing how serious this was.
Rubeus then had an extra special announcement.
“Each environment has a certain number of cards, but each duelist is only permitted to grab one. After you have taken a card, you will be automatically released from the Virtual World, and you will be reloaded back here, where you can exit safely…
…assuming of course you don’t fall victim to the virtual hazards.”
Every duelist gasped, and were shown on the screen all the many typical things there were, like in a video game, that could be lethal-- lava pits, avalanches, rockslides, booby-traps!
They were informed, however, by the brothers that these were only virtual, and that nothing inside the realm would physically harm them, but if they fell to any of the hazards, it would be like getting an automatic “Game Over” and they would be automatically reloaded to the real world.
“And don’t think we left dueling out of this.” said Rubeus. “If you come across a duelist along the way, you must duel one another, even if it should happen to be someone you have already faced.
Walking away is not-optional, as virtual electronic fences shall close the two opponents in when a duel disk comes within twenty feet of one another, and they shall not disperse until the duel is concluded.
And just as before, points are given to the winners, 20% to be precise, and losing duelists shall lose 10%, and if your duel meter reaches zero, you will automatically be ejected from the virtual world.”
All the duelists looked concerned and worried. This meant that a lot of duelists were likely to be eliminated.
Sunset felt more concerned about splitting up. It meant that she and her friends couldn’t possibly hang out together to help one another, and would possibly be dueling each other.
“There is however something you should know.” said Rubeus “Hidden somewhere within this virtual realm is a special card worth an automatic 100%. Whoever should come across that card shall be instantly qualified for the finals, and is not required to have dueled.”
Now every duelist was highly intrigued! It meant that those who were on the verge of striking out still had a chance to make it to the top, not to mention with many duelists still available, it was possible to rack up the necessary numbers of duel points required.
“And also…” called Loki “If you are thinking that you can simply rack up points by challenging multiple duelists, I’m afraid that is not possible.
After your duels have concluded a special lockdown code shall be engaged, preventing you from engaging in duels. You cannot target other duelists and they cannot target you.”
Rubeus agreed and explained the final catch “This simulation will last for two hours. A timer will be shown on the avatar of your virtual duel disk.
After time has expired, all players will be ejected from the simulators, no questions, or protests.
This entire simulation is designed to show you what a game can truly be, and how it will force you to rely not just on your wits, but your actual skills in coordination and athletics.”
Rainbow was very intrigued now. All this sounded right up her alley, and she felt assured that she’d make it big in this realm.
Just then, the big doors to the building opened wide and the brothers instructed the duelists to step inside where their park hands were waiting for them all.
Inside the one room where all these pods with all the natural gizmos, and gadgets,
“Do you think we’ll end up dueling each other?” Kori asked.
“I don’t know, and frankly I don’t know if I care.” grumbled Raven “I’m really not into games like this.”
“Aw, lighten up.” chirped Pinkie “This is a whole new adventure. We get to be like heroes of our own video-game adventure!”
Raven still didn’t feel any different.
Rainbow couldn’t wait to get her game on, and she was glaring at the other side of the room, at Masquerade.
She clenched her fists furiously, and wanted nothing more than to have a rematch with him since their last duel.
“Don’t even think about it!” sneered a voice behind her.
Rainbow looked behind her and saw none other than Karle, glaring at her furiously.
“He’s mine. You got that!”
“Says who?” sneered Rainbow.
The two girls glared at one another with such fury.
“Who are you?” asked Vic.
“This is Karle,” answered Sunset, and she explained how she was the one who knocked Rarity out of the tournament, and how she had some obsession with Masquerade.
“That’s me all right.” Karle gloated “…Karle “Wits” Plight, and all of you better back off from Masquerade! I’m the only who gets to duel him and that’s that!”
The Titans didn’t like her tone of voice at all.
“What’s your problem?” asked Terra “If you want to duel him, that’s fine, but why are you acting so mean?”
Karle gave her an angry stare, “That’s none of your business, blondie!”
Terra growled, and just as it looked as if a huge fight would break out, the park workers insisted they break it up and enter virtual pods.
“I’ll see you kids later!” sneered Karle, and she went off to find a pod away from them all.
“Now that was a jerk.” said Raven.
Even Celestia was mystified by Karle’s attitude, but she looked over at Masquerade. “Who is he?” she asked.
“He’s big trouble.” Applejack warned her “Best to steer clear of him.”
As the friends all climbed into pods, Terra looked over at Masquerade deeply.
She couldn’t see under his mask, but he rolled his eyes glaring at her, and he clenched his fists with such fury.
Nevertheless, all the duelists were strapped into their pods, and their duel disks were linked into the systems in order to read the cards from their Decks and Extra Decks so they’d be able to use their cards in the virtual world.
“Good luck, duelists.” Rubeus announced over the intercom, and the pods were then sealed, and strong helmets were lowered onto the head of each and every duelist to help link their brainwaves into the computer system.
However, both Masquerade’s pod suddenly developed an error as his brainwaves couldn’t be detected.
“Okay, don’t panic. I know what it is.” he called out, and he very slowly and carefully lifted up his mask enough to reach his hand inside.
Most everyone looked towards his pod hoping to get a slight glimpse of his face, or any exposed part, but the slick dude held his mask carefully so he still could not be properly viewed.
He then reached back out again, pinching something very tiny in his fingers, and placed it in his jacket pocket.
“Okay, I’m good now.” he called to the people.
This time the computer was able to probe his mind.
Vic took note of this, but before he could question anything else, he felt himself starting to slip away, like all the others, as swirling lights seemed to be flashing before their eyes making the world before them disappear.
Their bodies then all fell into a deep, deep blackout, while their minds were all going wild!
Each and every single duelist felt as if they were falling through some sort of long light tunnel, which curved and dived in all directions, like some sort of wild park slide!
…Then all flashed white before their eyes!
Back at the camper, Robin was doing some research and work, trying to help in the quest to find those two evil creeps, while Rarity and Fluttershy remained by Spike’s side.
Fluttershy brought her animal med-bag that was given to her by the animal shelter where she worked part-time.
She was listening to Spike’s heartbeat with her stethoscope.
“How is he?” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy looked up, “His heart is beating a teensy, meensy, eensy bit slower than usual, and his temperature is a little lower, but he seems physically fine. He’s just not awake.
There’s not much that can be done right now but keep watch over him.”
The two girls sighed.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
It was Twilight.
Robin let her in.
“What happened?” he asked “Why were you gone for so long?”
“Sorry, but I couldn’t resist seeing the tournament.”
She explained about the announcement she overheard, about the virtual world and all that.
“Virtual Reality?” said Robin “Wish I could’ve seen it.”
Rarity and Fluttershy were intrigued too, but they were too much involved with staying with Spike to go into the park and watch it all on the big screens.
“Say no more,” said Twilight, and she got out her laptop from her backpack and logged in to the park’s main site, where she was able to view the tournament.
She could even view the virtual world battle, but only screen at a time.
She placed the computer on the table and sat with her friends to watch, taking a moment to feel Spike’s body, which made her look upset.
Strangely though, she didn’t seem to shed any tears, nor did her eyes get the least bit soggy, which Rarity seemed to notice.
Still, Fluttershy and Robin seemed mesmerised by what they saw on the screen.
Not nearly as mesmerised as the duelists, especially Sunset.
She awoke to find herself by a forest edge near a lovely lake with swans and bullfrogs.
“Wow!” she exclaimed softly as she looked around at the gorgeous scenery. It all looked so real, and it sounded so real-- the sound of the swans honking, the frogs croaking, even the sounds of the win rustling in the leaves of the trees behind her.
It even felt real enough too.
Sunset felt the water, and it felt cool and wet to her, and the soft warm breeze.
“It’s hard to believe that all of this is virtual and unreal.” she said to herself.
She then noticed that her duel disk with her as well as her deck, and the timer was counting down the minutes and seconds to the end of the game.
“I guess I better look around.” she decided, though she hadn’t a single idea where to even start looking for any point cards.
There were no clues as to where they were hidden, and not even anything to track them or tell if they were near.
The Prince Brothers had obviously spared no expense into making the players fend for themselves and rely so heavily on natural skill.
Sunset knew she wouldn’t find anything just by keeping still, so she started looking all around the trees by the forest edge, and along the water and lily pads.
Suddenly, there was a soft rumbling in the ground beneath her feet, prompting her to jump out of the way, just as the ground crumpled away into a big hole.
Sunset realized that was no ordinary hole, it was TRAP HOLE, like the very trap card from the game.
If she had fallen into it, who knew what could have happened.
That’s when sunset remembered the brothers announcing “Hazards” as in traps from the game, not just the environments around them.
Now she really had to be extra careful.
She just wondered how any of the others were handling things, wherever they were.
In the meantime, she just kept on searching for point cards.
Meanwhile, the Prince Brothers were monitoring everything from their master computer ops where the systems were all being run for the simulator.
“Look at them,” said Rubeus “They’re all finally starting to realize what a game can really be like.”
Loki agreed, “Of course in the end, there’s only going to be one winner in this game, and that’s us.”
Then he suddenly realized, “Wait… that doesn’t sound right, it can’t be one.”
“Never mind,” said Rubeus “Just sit back and watch them.
We shall see who has the skills to make it out.”
But really, he and his brother were more interested in Sunset’s performance than anyone else’s.
Not even Rainbow Dash…
Her environment was a series of cliffs, high up with clouds all around. There were pillars, boulders, mud-pits, and slops for sliding down, which Rainbow took an instant joy to as she surfed, down the slopes on a large flat rock like a boogie-board.
“WAAA-HOOO!! SURF’S UP!!” she shouted “YAA-HAA!”
She jumped over bumps, curved and swerved around pillars; she even made a huge leap across a large gorge to another clifftop.
Applejack was riding a horse through a prairie field like the cowgirl she seemed. It seemed so amazing she was about to ride it though it was virtual.
“Virtual world or not, this is the only way to ride!
…YEEEEEEEEE-HAW!”
Pinkie Pie wasn’t really having much fun! She was cold and shivering in an icy environment with freezing winds and snow falling all around her.
“If this is v-v-v-virtual…” she shivered “It f-f-f-feels real t-t-t-to me!
How am I supposed to find any cards in all this?”
She was standing atop a hill overlooking a large factory, and she sighed softly as she looked down at her hands, and right at her ring. “Thank goodness it still works, even in here.”
Then she looked down at the large factory.
“I’ll just bet Masquerade is somewhere in there.” she deduced.
Then, she spotted him from way up there, standing on the roof of the building far below!
She snickered wickedly, “You’re going down, dude! It’s time for you to answer what you did to me!”