My Little Duel Monsters

by supersaiyanmikito

Chapter 4 - Loyalty and Betrayal

The day after Twilight was hospitalized, Pinkie had decided to go and get supplies for a Get Well Soon party. At the time she had decided to decorate Sugarcube Corner for the inevitable Welcome Back party. “Hey Pinkie Pie, where did you want me to hang this banner?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Um... How about over there!” Pinkie pointed at the staircase leading upstairs. Rainbow Dash flew up and hung the banner up on the railing then pinning the other side up against the wall underneath the stairs.

“So, tell me again why we are setting up a party now? Twilight doesn’t get out for three days and what about Applejack?”

“If we are going to be fighting evil, I want to be ready with a party the moment they are back!”

Rainbow Dash flew back down and simply gave Pinkie a distraught look. “Hey Pinkie Pie?”

“Yes Dashie?”

“Am I the only one feeling a little-” Dash hesitated for a second. “Well... Guilty about what happened to Trixie?”

Pinkie Pie dropped her smile and stared at Dash. “Why would you feel guilty?”

“Well, after everything she said I can’t help but feel a bit like a hypocrite. I brag all the time about what I do and ponies praise me for it. She does the same and she gets tomatoes thrown at her. Only difference is I do it because I enjoy it, but she has to do it to make a living.”

“When you say it like that, she almost sounds like the Wonderbolts. She performs for ponies and they give her bits because they like her.”

“She just wanted to be recognized and she lost everything for it, even her closest friend…”

Feeling upset for her friend, Pinkie walked over hugged Dash. “It’s not your fault... Trixie is just going through a phase. I’m sure Twilight going to help her.”

“But what about Applejack, we have no idea what happened to her. She could be dead for all we know.”

Pinkie thought to herself for a moment. “No, I don’t think she’s dead. It’s just this feeling I have… I don’t know where she is but my Pinkie Sense is telling me she is still alive somewhere…”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Besides, next time Trixie shows up I want to be the one to take her down and save Applejack.” The pegasus held up her left hoof like a fist. “If what Trixie said is true then all of us should be able to summon our own duel disks and decks whenever we are about to battle.”

“I wonder what decks we will all get? Yugi’s deck was cool and all but it didn’t feel right to me, the deck Twilight got fit her almost perfectly and it’s like she already knew how to play it.”

“I’ll probably get some kind of super awesome flying monsters that are so fast my opponent won’t even know what hit them!”

“Maybe I’ll get something food related; or maybe party related!”

“Pinkie… Do you ever think of anything but parties and food?”

Pinkie suddenly leaped forward and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash. “I think about my friends too!”

Rainbow Dash just sighed. “Oh Pinkie Pie…”

As the two ponies were embraced in a hug, the back door quietly opened up. A hooded figure stuck her head and in and looked around. “Perfect, everypony is in the front…” She quietly tiptoed over to one of the stoves trying to not make a noise. She extended a clawed arm outward and pulled it away from the wall. “Careful...” She turned the stove enough so the back was showing. Snickering to herself, she held up her right claw and swiped at the large cords causing them to limp to the floor. With one last snicker, she pulled out a box of matches.

In the other room, Pinkie and Dash were still locked in a heartwarming hug, until Dash began sniffing. “Pinkie... You smell that?” Both of them continued sniffing.

Suddenly, Pinkie’s eye went wide. “Dash; we need to get out NOW!”

“Why?”

“NOW!!!” With her hooves still around the pegasus, Pinkie launched towards the front door.

Behind the shop, the hooded figure opened the box revealed a bunch of sticks with red and white tips. “Sayonara suckers...” Taking one of the matches, she quickly swiped it across the black sandpaper, lighting the tip on fire. Turning her back to the shop, she tossed the lit match directly into the open window. Almost instantly, Sugarcube Corner exploded into an incredible blaze. Several of the passing ponies jumped back and screamed at the sudden inferno.

Pinkie Pie watched in horror as her home was burned to the ground, the light reflecting off the glare in her eyes. Her eyes started tearing and her hair completely deflated. “No...”

The surrounding ponies were all talking amongst themselves for a few minutes as the fire died out. After the fire was completely gone, Mr. and Mrs. Cake had finally returned from getting supplies. The second they saw their shop; they dropped their saddlebags and ran over to help Pinkie. “Pinkie dear, what happened!?” Mrs. Cake asked.

“I... I don’t know...” Pinkie stuttered. “I think it was a gas leak…”

“But you take great care of the appliances Pinkie Pie.” Mr. Cake spoke. “How did this happen?”

“Better question is how did the fire start in the first place?” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “The Cakes were gone the whole time and it’s not like we had anything cooking in the back room…”

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie’s mane flared back up into its normal poofy state and she bolting into the wreckage of the house. She moved the charred remains of her bed to reveal a metal bucket slightly jittering around. She pulled the bucket off the ground only to be greeted by a small pair of eyes. “Oh Gummy! I was afraid I lost you! I’ll never let you go!” She relentlessly kissed her little alligator. “I don’t know what I would do without you...”

Rainbow Dash was inspecting the back of the shop-that-was-no-more when something caught her attention. There was small white match box was lying on the ground just outside the building, it wasn’t as damaged at the other objects and was only missing one match. “Uh, Pinkie Pie… You might want to look at this…”

Pinkie and the Cake family all approached her, she held out the box to them. “A box of matches?” Mr. Cakes ask.

“It must have been Trixie; I knew she wouldn’t stay hidden for long!”

“Wait, the great and powerful Trixie?”

“But isn’t Trixie a unicorn, and a really powerful one now?” Pinkie asked. “Why would a unicorn need matches to start a fire?”

“Who said anything about the weak and lame Trixie?” An unknown voice called. Rainbow Dash suddenly turned around to see a large hooded figure standing on top of a still-standing support beam. Pinkie and the others had noticed to. “I’m quite surprised Pinkie Pie. I was not expecting you to smell the gas leak that fast. That’s quite impressive...” The figure jumped off the support beam, landing with a loud thud. “I was hoping the explosion would have finished you off but obviously I was wrong...”

Rainbow Dash jumped at the large hooded creature standing in the center of the charred rubble. “ARE YOU INSANE!? You just burned down my friend’s home!”

“Collateral damage...”

“Collateral... You sick jerk!”

“Look who’s talking...” The figure snickered before pulling out her left claw from her robe. She was wearing a very familiar duel disk.

“That duel disk... So, you ARE working with Trixie!”

The figure started laughing. “Come on, Trixie is nothing but a useless braggart; she couldn’t even handle Twilight Sparkle. Unlike her, I won’t fail!” The unknown figure held her left claw up and her duel disk snapped into place and lit up with red lights. “Come on, pink freak!”

“Hang on! If you’re going to fight anypony then fight me!”

“I’m not here for you Dash, I want the pink one…”

“Well too bad, you have to go through me first!”

The hooded figure thought for a moment. “Alright, how about we make a compromise…?”

“What kind of compromise?”

The figure simply snapped her fingers. A large black ring formed under her and shot outward like a shock wave, launching Mr. and Mrs. Cake backward out of the wreckage. The wave barely stopped outside the remains of Sugar Cube Corner creating a black flaming barrier trapping not only her and Rainbow Dash, but Pinkie Pie inside the wall. “I’ll let you duel me, however... If you happen to lose...” She held up her arm pointing the pony behind Rainbow Dash. “She pays the price...”

Dash gasped. Turning back, she saw Pinkie Pie stepping back towards the wall. She then turned her head back to the still unknown arsonist. “What; no way! I would never put my own friend’s life at stake over a stupid card game like that?”

“Heh... I’m not giving you a choice...” The figure held out her left claw and positioned her duel disk in front. “If you really care for your friend then you will do it.”

“Hmm, fine!” Rainbow Dash held out her front left hoof. A circular multi-colored light engulfed her arm as small white disk materialized. Bringing her hoof up to her head, a small golden stub came out of her duel disk and split in half creating a holographic card tray. The neon lights upon her duel disk were slowly changing between all the colors of the rainbow. “I won’t allow you to touch a hair on Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash continued to stand her ground on the opposite sides of the shop of her opponent casting a death glare into her enemies’ yellow eyes.

“Rainbow Dash…” The pink pony whimpered.

“LET’S DUEL!”

In the mist of darkness, Trixie and another figure were watching over the duel at hand. “Who does she think she is!?” Trixie complained. “Going around insulting me like that; some nerve! When she gets back, I am going to rip her a new one!”

“Trixie, behave.” The other figure spoke. “Besides, Master will deal with her later. I am sure the Master won’t appreciate her reckless behavior, especially setting the shop ablaze like that. We need to defeat the Elements in a duel, not torch them alive…”

Trixie simply crossed her hooves and huffed. “Well, I’m still going to punch her when she gets back…”

“You do that… Meanwhile I guess it’s my turn to jump into action.” The figure revealed his silver horn as it started glowing. “While she deals with the Elements of Loyalty and Laughter, I will deal with Kindness and Generosity…” There was a flash of light and he was gone from view. “Hope your ready Miss Rarity… Because you’re about to feel suffering like no other…”

“I call first!” Rainbow Dash swiftly drew her card leaving a small wind trail. ‘Aw yeah, this monster will definitely do some damage!’ “I summon Zeradias, Herald of Heaven in attack mode!” From the sky dropped a beam of light exploding into a green and white winged figure with red horns wielding a forked lance. “Let’s see you handle this guy!”

“Ha, what do you think of THAT! 2100 ATK points right off the bat!” The hooded figure didn’t react however Dash’s monster did. His body suddenly started to fade and crack before exploding into light particles. Rainbow Dash jerked back in shock. “What!? What just happened to my monster?”

The figure chuckled. “If this is all you got then this is going to be the easiest duel ever. It’s obvious you didn’t actually read the card. You glanced at its high ATK and didn’t even bother to see if it had any effects.”

Rainbow Dash looked down at the card and read it to herself. ‘If this card is on the field but “The Sanctuary in the Sky” is not on the field, destroy this card.’ “Are you kidding me!? If I don’t have that card then I can’t use it?” Rainbow Dash sighed and slid the card into her graveyard. “If that’s what I need to use it then I just need to get it; I play Terraforming!” A single card slid out from Rainbow Dash’s deck. “This lets me add one filed spell from my deck to my hand so I’m adding the very card I need.” Dash then held her duel disk up and a slot shot out from the side of the disk and she slapped the card in. “I play the Sanctuary in the Sky filed spell.” The clouds above slowly began to shift around and form together. With a glow of light, the clouds formed into a sky palace with a large staircase on the front and a statue in the middle.

“Your monster is already gone; much good it will do you…”

“That’s why I’m playing Monster Reborn to bring Zeradias back from my graveyard.” A purple hole opened up in front of Rainbow Dash and her monster leaped out back onto the field.

The hooded figure just shook her head. “What a waste of a perfectly good spell card…”

“Don’t criticize me, just take your turn.”

“At this rate Dash, this duel is going to be over too fast, even for you.” The figure drew her first card. “Since I control no monsters and you do, I can summon my Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn without tributing another monster.” The figure’s monster appeared as black feathered humanoid bird with a blue feathered head.

“It’s too weak to beat my Zeradias.”

“That’s why I’m calling in backup with this card.” She slid another into her disk and a spell card appeared on her field. “My Summoning Madness spell card… This card allows me to summon twice this turn as long as I throw out a card in my hand… I discard Blackwing - Gladius the Midnight Sun.” She slid her card into the graveyard. “This allows me to summon Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North!” This bird was much smaller than the last looking like a traditional bird but with light blue and black feathers.

“Blizzard the Far North’s ability activates when it’s successfully summoned allowing me to summon another Blackwing from my graveyard.” The graveyard portal opened again to reveal another humanoid black bird with knight armor and two swords.

“And that’s not all!” The figure plucked a card from her hand and revealed it to Dash. “When there is a Blackwing monster on my field I can special summon Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind from my hand!”

“What, are you kidding me!?” Dash screamed. Yet another bird formed on the field, a near black dark blue bird with green feathers on its head.

“No way… Four monsters just like that?” Rainbow Dash was slowly stepping away in fear, not expecting a swarm of monsters so effortlessly.

“And if you even think about stopping this pain train you have another thing coming… As long as my Summoning Madness is in play you can’t prevent my monsters from being summoned and all spell and trap cards are useless when I special summon a monster!”

“That’s not fair!”

“That’s not all; I activate Gale the Whirlwind’s special ability! It has the ability to cut your monster’s ATK and DEF points in half!” Gale swung its wings blowing a gust at her Zeradias making it struggle.

“Oh no…” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.

“And it’s about to get a lot worse.” Pulling her right claw back, she reached out and pointed at her monsters. “Now my Level 2 Blizzard the Far North tunes Level 5 Sirocco the Dawn!”

“Wait what!?” Dash got her answer immediately. Blizzard flew up high into the air changing its body into two orbs of light and Sirocco started floating up towards it. The two spheres suddenly transformed into two large green rings scanning down Sirocco’s body turning into a yellow wire-frame. The wire-frame also suddenly changed into five spheres like Blizzard and exploded into a beam of light flowing through the center of the rings.

“I Synchro Summon; Level 7 Blackwing Armor Master!” This new monster was much larger than the last few; it could hardly be considered a bird anymore. It was a large humanoid figure covered in black armor with red trimming and a single red eye in the center of its beak. It crossed its arms and let out a loud screech before extending its arms back out.

The hooded figure held their claw out and clenched its fist. “But I’m not done yet! Level 3 Gale the Whirlwind tunes Level 3 Gladius the Midnight Sun!” A completely replay of the last summon happened this time with Gale turning into three rings and scanning over Gladius turning into three spheres.

“I Synchro Summon; Level 6 Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight!” This creature was another large humanoid-like bird with shoulder pads, a cloak and a massive black and white sword. Putting its left claw on its arm, it swung around its sword as though showing off its skills before holding the sword up high.

Rainbow Dash stared eye at the large monsters with terror. This was nothing like she had experienced with Trixie. “How… How did you do that? Yugi never told us how to summon like that!”

The figure chuckled. “Probably because he doesn’t know how... Yugi and Kaiba come from a world where Synchro Monsters have yet to be invented. Let me give you a little tutorial; when you have a tuner monster, you can summon a Synchro Summon from your Extra Deck by tuning it with non-tuners and adding up their level to equal to Synchro Monster. It’s basic math but of course only someone as great as me can Synchro Summon at this caliber.”

“You know everything you did was basically pointless…” Pinkie finally spoke up. “Your monsters before had more total ATK than your new ones.”

“SHUT UP! It makes no difference; I’ll still crush Rainbow Dash!” She pointed her claw upwards at Nothung. “I activate Nothung’s special ability! When this monster is successfully summoned, he deals you 800 points of damage!” Nothung held his sword into the air and fired a bolt of lightning into the sky before coming right back down on Rainbow Dash.

“But that’s not the end; your monster also loses 800 ATK points!”

Dash quickly recovered and went back into position. “Is that all? Even with that damage you can’t beat me this turn.”

“You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about! Nothung the Starlight attack Zeradias!” The giant blade wielding bird suddenly bolted forward towards Rainbow’s monster and slashed it straight down the middle. As Dash held her right hoof up to block the wind, a yellow glow formed around her.

The hooded figure recoiled back. “What the; why didn’t you take any damage!?”

Rainbow Dash snickered a bit. “As long as my Sanctuary is on the field, I don’t take any damage when my Fairy monsters battle. It’s like Pinkie said, if you didn’t combine all your monsters like you did you would have beat me in the first turn.”

“You can’t hide behind your little pixies forever.” The figure reached out her hand and pointed at Rainbow Dash. “Blackwing Armor Master, attack her directly!” The figure’s Armor Master charged forward holding its right arm back before thrusting it right towards Dash causing her to grab her chest.

“Hope you liked that because there is more where that came from Rainbow Crash!” At that moment, Rainbow’s eyes widened. She looked back up at her enemy and stared at her face hidden by the hood.

“You… Only ponies from Cloudsdale use that name…” Rainbow Dash released her chest and regained her composure. “I get it now… That’s why you hate me and Pinkie Pie so much…” Pinkie looked over at Rainbow Dash with a confused look on her face. “There is only one pony I know who would hate Pinkie Pie so much and would know that name… Or should I say griffon…?”

Saying absolutely nothing, the hooded figure finally pulled her hood off revealing her feathered face. “Dash…”

“Gilda…” The two stared down for several moments, completely unmoving.

“Oh my gosh, Gilda!?” Pinkie screamed.

“I’m surprised it took my best friend so long to recognize me…”

“You’re no friend of mine Gilda…”

“Because you abandoned me for these… LOSERS! They call you the Element of Loyalty yet you couldn’t even stay loyal to your best friend!”

“That’s because I grew up! I realized that you’re not a real friend; you’re just a bully and a jerk that only cares about friends who are cool!”

“Yeah, so? We were friends far longer; does that mean nothing to you?”

“No, not when you’re being a massive jerk to everyone I care about. My new friends actually stick up for me and understand me in a way you never could!”

“Understand you!? Who understands you more than me!? I’ve known you since the day I moved to Cloudsdale and I know more about you then any pony!”

Rainbow Dash groaned loudly in frustration. “Gilda, you are not above this like you think you are! You don’t know the meaning of loyalty!”

“You getting the Element of Loyalty was a total flub!”

“I EARNED IT FAIR AND SQUARE!”

“There is no way a traitor like you could get the Element fair. I know your kind; you believe that just because you have some kind of magical artifact that now you’re the Princess of Equestria. Well, you’re not; you’re just another worthless pony who cares about nopony but themselves! Well guess what, that pretty little Element is USELESS against me!”

Rainbow took a step back, fear filling her face. “You… You sound just like Trixie…” Gilda didn’t move or respond. She just threw a card into her duel disk causing a face-down to materialize on her field. Rainbow took that as ending her turn and drew her own card. “Whatever you and Trixie have planned, we won’t let you do it…” Rainbow Dash examined the card she drew and thought for a moment. A light bulb suddenly went on in your head. “Alright Gilda, let’s see how you like this… I play the continuous spell card Fountain in the Sky!” A second smaller sanctuary appeared next to her first one and latched itself to her sanctuary. This had a large circular fountain with a waterfall going of the temple.

“Cute…” Gilda replied.

“And with that I summon the Shining Angel!” A new fairy appeared in front of Rainbow Dash; a tall man with a white robe, golden wings and a halo.

“Shining Angel, attack Gilda’s Blackwing Armor Master!”

Gilda did a double take. “What, are you stupid?” Shining Angel elegantly flew towards Armor Master but the birdman quickly retaliated destroying him in seconds with a slash of his arm. When the monster exploded, it left behind several light particles floating the air.

“Due to the effect of my Sanctuary, I take no damage, but it doesn’t end there…” She pointed up to the second part of her sanctuary floating up in the air. “When my Fairy monsters are destroyed, my Fountain activates…” The light particles flew up to her fountain and the fountain began to drip water on her making Dash glow. “I can remove them from play to regain Life Points equal my destroyed monsters ATK points.”

“Shining Angel’s ability activates now. When he is destroyed in battle, I can summon a LIGHT Attribute monster from my deck with 1500 ATK points or less.” A light shot out from her deck and on to field revealing an exact duplicate of the monster she just had. “I summon another Shining Angel!”

Gilda squint her eyes at Rainbow’s monster. “What are you planning…?”

“Shining Angel number two, attack Blackwing Armor Master!” Once again, Shining Angel charged at Armor Master only to be destroyed effortlessly and just like before, its light caused the fountain to rain down on Rainbow Dash. “Now my fountain gives me 1400 Life Points…”

“And my Shining Angel’s special ability activates!” Once again, another Shining Angel flew out from her deck.

“Shining Angel number three, attack Blackwing Armor Master!” Once again, the monster attacked, was destroyed and its energy allowed the fountain to flow.

Gilda’s eye grew wide and she let out a growl. “You little CHEAT!”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “So, you figured out my strategy huh?”

“You allowed all your monsters to suicide on purpose just so you could keep regaining your Life Points!”

“Bingo, who’s the smart one now?”

Gilda scoffed. “Take all the Life Points you want; it isn’t going to matter in the end when I destroy you!”

“In that case…” Dash motioned her hoof at the field. “I use Shining Angel’s special ability!” Another light flew from her deck and onto the field. This time it was a large orange ring. “Since I already used all my Shining Angels, my Nova Summoner will take its place.”

“Nova Summoner, attack Blackwing Armor Master!”

“Are you kidding me!?” Nova Summoner charged at Armor Master and was promptly destroyed like the Angels before it and like before, its light charged up her fountain.

“Nova Summoner’s effect activates when it’s destroyed!”

Gilda groaned in frustration. “Let me guess… It lets you summon another copy of itself…?”

“You’re catching on; Nova Summoner can bring a Fairy monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck to the field.” With that, another light came from Rainbow Dash’s and materialized another Nova Summoner.

“Nova Summon, you know what to do!” Like before, the cycle repeated again with her monster being destroyed and it restoring her Life Points.

“I think that’s enough for now… I use Nova Summoner’s special ability to summon a third Nova Summoner to the field in defense mode.” The ring monster reappeared on the field and took on a blue color.

“Now even if you destroy my Nova Summoner, I can use its special ability to summon a different monster from my deck and protect my Life Points…” Rainbow Dash slid a single card into her disk. “I’ll throw down a face-down and end my tu-”

“NO, YOU DON’T!”

Rainbow Dash jerked back. “What?”

For a moment, a flash of red could be seen in Gilda’s eyes as she motioned her card. “I play the continuous trap; Drain Force Draw!” Gilda’s face-down flipped up to reveal a trap. “Since your Life Points are higher than they were at the start of this turn, this trap card allows me to draw 1 card for every 2000 Life Points that you gained this turn!”

“Uh oh!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “You gained a lot of Life Points this turn!”

“7000 to be exact; that means I get to draw 3 new cards!” Gilda swiftly drew the cards from her deck. “However, I take 400 points of damage for each card I draw from this effect…” Gilda’s trap card suddenly shot a bolt of lightning at Gilda who took the blast fairly well.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie gasped simultaneously. “That’s not all my card does however, as long as Drain Force Draw is on my field, I can draw a card every time you recover Life Points, so long as I give up 400 points in return.” Gilda suddenly laughed into the air. “Go on; keep increasing your Life Points. The more you do the more cards I get!” She continued to laugh. “You’re lucky my trap can only be played at the end of the turn or else I would have drawn a lot more cards.”

Rainbow Dash took a step back. “You… Do your worst, your trap doesn’t scare me!”

Gilda just grinned and drew her card. “You’re going to regret those words… I summon Blackwing Bora the Spear!” Another bird appeared in front of Gilda, this time humanoid-like one with a red-feathered head, yellow hair-like feathers on its head and a massive drill in its right arm.

“Bora the Spear, attack Rainbow Dash’s Nova Summoner!” Bora lunged forward aiming its drill at Rainbow’s monster. “When this monster attacks a monster in defense position, it inflicts piercing damage!”

Rainbow Dash grinned this time. “Not like it matters, I can’t take damage thanks to my filed spell…”

Gilda grinned back. “I activate the quick-play spell Mystical Space Typhoon!” A vortex of wind formed around the sanctuary and slowly it started breaking apart. “This card destroys one spell or trap card on the field so your Sanctuary is no more!” The sanctuary finally collapsed in a pile of rubble behind and promptly vanished. Gilda’s monster finally finished its attack and speared right throw Rainbow’s Nova Summoner making it explode.

Rainbow Dash stood her ground against the explosion. “My field spell may be gone but I still have my other cards. Not only does my fountain will give me an extra 1400 Life Points but my Nova Summoner allows me to summon another monster to replace it.” First her monster powered her fountain causing it to rain down on her.

After that a light shot out from her deck onto the field; this time it was another angel-like creature with a blue robe and large white wings. “I summon a monster known as Honest.”

Gilda tapped her index finder to the side of her head. “Did you forget about my trap card!? Every time your Life Points increase, I can draw a card for 400 Life Points.” The griffon drew another card from her deck and was lightly zapped by her trap card.

Gilda didn’t see it but Rainbow Dash grinned. ‘At this rate she is going to drain all her own Life Points away herself. This will be easy!’

Gilda regained her composure from the card that shocked her. “Now then… I’ll have my Nothung attack Honest!” Nothung lunged forward this time raising his sword overhead. He flew above Honest and came down slashing it in half and making it explode.

“My fountain restores my Life Points again!” The fountain rained on her like before.

“And my trap card lets me draw again!” Gilda replied drawing her card.

“I told you, gain all the Life Points you want. It won’t make a difference, especially now that you’re wide open for a direct attack!” Blackwing Armor Master shifted his stance. “Armor Master now has a straight shot at your Life Points, go!” The armored bird lunged forward stabbing Rainbow Dash in the same manner as before but this time she just shrugged the damage off.

“You’ve managed to give your Life Points a boost but at this rate you won’t last long… I’ll destroy you and everything you love!” Gilda threw a card into her duel disk making it appear on the field. “I’ll throw down a set card and end my turn!”

Rainbow Dash said nothing; she just looked down at the ground. “Gilda… Tell me something…” Gilda didn’t reply, she just stood her ground looking at Rainbow Dash. “What kind of garbage did this Master of yours put in your head?” Gilda’s expression instantly changed to that of worry and took a step back. “According to Trixie there is some kind of master involved and I know that isn’t you…”

“Master… She offered me a chance…” Rainbow’s face hardened, trying to listen to her words. “She gave me a chance to destroy the one who gave me false hope…”

Rainbow gasped and took a step back. “False… Hope…?”

Gilda closed her eyes. “You… You actually gave me hope that I could be someone and that friends were real… I’m a griffon, there is no so such thing as friendship where I come from; we are some of the greediest jerks in Equestria. When I first met you in Cloudsdale, I was just a shy little fledgling and you offered your hoof in friendship… Then those ponies STOLE IT AWAY!” Gilda suddenly opened her eyes with the most horrifying death glare Rainbow Dash had ever seen.

“Those… Those eyes…”

“You ponies are all the same! You spread the word of friendship and go around acting like your saints, but YOUR NOT! Friendship is nothing but false hope that leads to disappointment and I plan to eradicate that starting with you two; the one who stole my friendship and the one who allowed it to be stolen!”

“Gilda, I didn’t mean to steal Rainbow from you!” Pinkie called. “I would never intentionally hurt a friend and my friend’s friends are my friends!”

“Shut… UP! You were never my friend and never will be!”

“They messed you up in the head Gilda!” Rainbow replied. “Pinkie Pie didn’t steal me from you, it was your own fault our relationship was broken. It was your choice to treat my friends like trash and I won’t allow it. Don’t let them mess up your head like they did Trixie, we aren’t the bad guys here!”

Gilda just snickered to herself. “Trixie… Like I would ever compare myself to that excuse for flesh…” Rainbow Dash took another step back. “Trixie is driven by her angst and sadness; having the one she loved the most torn away from her. She is an emotional wreck that can’t even live her own life without being acknowledged…” Gilda reached out her right claw and clenched it into a fist. “I’m doing this because friendship is nothing but a joke and must be destroyed!” The griffon then unclenched her fist and pointed at Rainbow Dash. “You two stole my pride and honor and that is what drove Master to me. The pink spaz could have fought her own battle but like the best friend you are you had to defend her and once I beat you, you will have to live with the burden of failing her forever… That… Is why friendship is garbage…”

Rainbow Dash had her eyes closed now and said nothing. She simply placed her hoof on deck. “It’s my… TURN!” She drew the card with all her might creating a powering gale in front of her. “I will never allow you to hurt my friends!” She slammed her card into her duel disk as hard as she could. “I play Memories in Ruins! By banishing a filed spell from my graveyard, I’m allowed to draw 2 cards, but I’m now allowed to play any field spells this turn!” She drew two more cards just as roughly as the last card, afterwards her face-down flipped up. “Now I play Miraculous Descent! This card allows me to summon any of the Fairy monsters I previously banished! Return to me Honest!” A beam of light came from the sky and Rainbow Dash’s Honest floated down back onto the field.

“That monster won’t help you…”

Rainbow Dash suddenly made a horizontal motion with her right hoof. “I activate Honest’s special ability!” Honest started glowing slowing turning into pure light before hopping into Rainbow Dash’s hoof. “It has the ability to return directly to my hand. Next, I play a continuous spell card…” As Rainbow Dash slammed her card into a duel disk, a large podium appeared behind her with two large walls with curtains on the sides. “Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. This allows me to special summon a Fairy type monster from my hand as long as there are no monsters on my field.” She once again slammed another card onto her duel disk. “I summon Airknight Parshath! This monster normally requires a sacrifice but Valhalla lets me summon it without sacrificing another monster!” A large centaur appeared in front of Rainbow Dash with a blue and gold armor, several white wings and carrying a sword and shield.

Gilda smirked. “Another pitiful monster…”

“It’s still more than a match for your Bora the Spear!” Rainbow’s monster reared back letting out a battle and charged towards Gilda’s smallest bird.

Gilda’s smirk suddenly turned into a maniacal smile. “I activate the trap Sonic Guard from my hand!”

“You’re activating a trap card from your hand!?”

“While I control 2 or more Blackwing monsters, this trap allows one of my other Blackwing monsters to take the hit instead of my Bora!” Blackwing Armor Master quickly flew in the pathway of Airknight Parshath’s attack and blocked Bora. “My trap also gives my Armor Master a power boost, increasing his ATK equal to Bora’s ATK points!” A whirlwind of feathers spiraled around the two birds creating a tornado-like shield them.

“Not only are you taking a huge chunk of damage but come next turn I will have a straight shot at your Life Points!” Rainbow Dash didn’t respond. “What’s wrong; too scared to admit you failed?”

A glimmer of light flickered in Rainbow Dash’s eye. “I activate Honest’s effect from my hand!” As Rainbow slammed the Honest card into her graveyard, a bright light engulfed Airknight Parshath. “By sending Honest from my hand to the graveyard, my Airknight Parshath gains your monster’s ATK points!”

“6100 ATK points!?”

“Go, Airknight Parshath, destroy her Blackwing Armor Master!” Rainbow’s monster charged at Armor Master and let out a powerful diagonal slash across its crest causing a massive explosion. Gilda held her up right claw to block the gale force of the explosion.

“I’m still in this game!”

“That is where you’re wrong; I activate the spell card Rage of the Archlord! When a Level 5 or higher Fairy monster on my field destroys your monster in battle, this card blasts you with 2000 points of damage!” Rainbow Dash slammed the card into her spell and trap zone with all her might. “THIS ENDS NOW!”

Rainbow was cut off guard by a sudden loud buzzing sound emitting from her duel disk. “Wha-What!? Error!?” Her duel disk was flashing between a red X and the word “Error” printed in red. Before she could ask anything else, she heard a faint laughter from behind the explosion cloud. The smoke cleared to reveal Gilda laughing maniacally like earlier and worst of all, her Blackwing Armor Master was still standing.

“Surprised?”

“How did Armor Master survive!? You didn’t activate your face-down card!”

“I didn’t need to, Blackwing Armor Master can’t be destroyed in battle and since you didn’t destroy it, your spell card doesn’t work.”

“No…” Rainbow Dash lowered her head. “I was so close!”

“It’s ok Dashie, you did your best…”

The Pegasi looked down at the now worthless card in her hand when she suddenly remembered something. “When Airknight Parshath inflicts damage to your Life Points, I’m allowed to draw 1 card!” She drew the card with all her might and turned it over so she could see. ‘Lumenize; that card lets me negate one attack and have my monster gain the negated monster’s ATK… I can still do this!’ With a flick of her wrist, she put her trap card in the duel disk. “I’ll throw down a face-down and end my turn!”

“Try what you want, it won’t matter… You have no chance… You never had a chance!” Gilda held her right claw high and a black light engulfed it. “My turn, I DRAW!” As Gilda drew her card, it left a trail of black fire behind it. “You still haven’t noticed my Blackwing Armor Master’s special ability and now’s the time to unleash it!”

Rainbow Dash took a step back. “Special ability? What about not being destroyed in battle?”

“That is only one of its effects; its other effect is triggered when it battles another monster. Take a look at your Airknight Parshath…”

Rainbow Dash looked up at her monster. At first, she saw nothing but then her eyes quickly gravitated to the small black metal stake in its shoulder. “What is that?”

“That is what’s known as a wedge counter, Armor Master leaves that behind on any monster it fails to destroy.” The griffon then pointed upward at the wedge. “And since your monster has a wedge counter, Blackwing Armor Master has the ability to take away ALL of its ATK points!” The wedge within Parshath suddenly vanished causing the monster to kneel down in pain.

“No!”

“And I’m not done yet, I play Monster Reborn!” The purple graveyard portal opened up and a large humanoid Blackwing flew out on to the field.

Gilda closed her eyes. “I bet your wondering why I brought Sirocco back…? Lucky for you none of my monsters are tuners so I can’t Synchro Summon…” She suddenly opened her eyes again with a flash of red. “Unlucky for you my Sirocco has a special ability!” She raised her claw and each of her Blackwings started to emit a strong vortex around them. The strong wings all flew up into the air and crashed down on Sirocco the Dawn. “Sirocco has the ability to absorb all the ATK points of my other Blackwings!”

“WOWIE!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “That is a lot of ATK points!”

Gilda then placed her right claw on her waist. “As much as I would love to just slaughter you with my whole army of monsters, Sirocco’s effect prevents anyone other than himself from attacking when he uses this effect… However…” Rainbow didn’t like the look Gilda was giving her. “Blackwing Armor Master… Blackwing Nothung the Starlight… Blackwing Bora the Spear…” The three monsters all lined up in front of her and she called them. As she held up a card in her hand emitting a powerful glow, the three birds were sucked into the sky as beams as light. Suddenly, a gigantic lightning bolt followed after striking the middle the field. “I summon the Egyptian God, Slifer the Sky Dragon!” Gilda took the card and slammed it down onto her duel disk. The sky above them was parted by a massive beam of light and a new monster descended. The large red dragon was coiled around in the sky giving off a near endless length. It stuck its head and arms out from the clouds and roared into Rainbow Dash’s face.

Rainbow Dash took a couple steps back with sweat beating down her face. “Your monster may be big but its stats kind of suck. It wouldn’t matter anyway since Sirocco the Dawn prevents you from attacking with it.”

Gilda chuckled to herself. “Didn’t you learn anything from Trixie? The god cards are nothing in comparison to our real weapon…” Gilda held up another card in her hand and revealed it to Rainbow Dash; the Pegasi lost all color in her face when she saw it. Gilda grabbed the shoulder of her hood and tore the entire robe off ripping it to shreds. Now with her wings free, Gilda flew up and hovered several feet in the air. “I sacrifice Sirocco the Dawn and Slifer the Sky Dragon in order to summon my ultimate beast!” The two monsters did a very familiar motion, swirling into the air creating a dark funnel into the sky. A large black lightning bolt came down and struck Gilda where she flew. Gilda had her arms outstretched and screeched into the air being overtaken by the power she was now filled with. The two lightning bolt shaped marks burned into her forehead and leaked into the purple eyeliner Gilda naturally had creating a large black circle around her eye. She also stretched out her wings which were quickly overtaken by a black color from the tips of her feathers leading all the way down to the base of her wings. She finally came down and hit the ground with a thud, opening her blood red eyes. “Oh yeah, now THIS is true power!”

“Be careful Dashie!” Pinkie cried. “Remember what happened to Twilight when Trixie played that card!?”

“Yeah, anything that monster does is real…”

Gilda chuckled to herself again. “Witness the glory that is Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” As Gilda slammed the card into her disk, her shadow stretched outward behind her before pulling itself off the ground; however, this version was significantly larger than Trixie’s version. With Trixie it was about three times her height, this one was at least ten times her size and roared with black flames

More sweat fell down Rainbow’s face. “What in Equestria? Why does it have so many ATK points!? Trixie’s only had 3000!”

“The reason is simple moron. Iseris’ ATK strength is determined by the ATK of the DARK monster used to summon it plus an extra 500. Sirocco had 8600 points so Iseris has a grand total of 9100!” Rainbow Dash took a couple steps back before hearing some loud hoof steps come in from behind her. She turned around to find the Pharaoh and Princess Celestia were now arriving on the scene.

“Oh no!” Yami yelled. “She already summoned Iseris!”

“Well, look at who decided to show up… You’re too late; nothing you can do can stop me now!” Gilda simply grinned and made a horizontal sweep with her right arm. “I activate my face-down card!” Gilda’s face-down card flipped up and started to glow. “Remember how Sirocco’s ability prevented my other monsters from attacking? Well, my monster has to attack now!”

“WHAT!?”

“Last Assault forces my monster to attack this turn ignoring any effects that prevent them from doing so! It also prevents you from activating any cards or effects when I attack!” A bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from Gilda’s card and struck Rainbow’s face-down turning it photo-negative. Rainbow’s eyes went wide as though staring into the eyes of death itself; Pinkie Pie had nothing to say either. “It’s been fun, but all good things must come to an end… ISERIS, ATTACK!!!” Using its wings, Iseris conjured up a black flaming tornado, launching it at Rainbow Dash. Several ponies in the watching crowd start to cry and panic.

“Oh, dear Celestia!” Mrs. Cake cried. As soon as the tornado made contact, Rainbow Dash started screaming in absolute agony; her voice reaching a pitch in which rivaled Rarity. She was feeling pain like nothing she had ever felt before; it was like being hit by a thousand lightning bolts. After what felt like an eternity, the tornado finally dissipated. Everyone watched as the smoke cleared. Standing there on her hind legs was Rainbow Dash. Nearly half of her body was charred black and her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. She had her mouth open, breathing heavily, pumping her chest back and forth with every painful agonizing breath. Then she began to tilt forward...

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie screamed.

Rainbow Dash kept falling and falling and falling. A million thoughts were going through her head. ‘I failed... I failed Yugi, I failed Twilight... I failed Pinkie Pie...’ These thoughts were causing tears to come to her eyes. ‘l failed all of you... I’m... A failure...’ She hit the ground with a thud.

Gilda couldn’t help but start laughing “When you mess with me, expect to get messed up...” Then Gilda turned her attention to Pinkie. “Since you lost that means it’s time to pay up!”

No idea what to do, Mr. and Mrs. Cake banged on the barrier keeping them away from the pink mare. “Stay away from her!” Mr. Cake yelled.

Gilda snickered “Too bad, a bet is a bet and I need to collect…” Gilda walked on by Rainbow Dash and closed in on Pinkie Pie who was being pushed back against the barrier. Pinkie Pie turned back and looked at the Cakes with a look of fear they have never seen in her before. Before she could turn back, Gilda’s claw had wrapped around her neck and lifted her into the air.

“You… *gasp* don’t have to do this…”

Gilda leaned in close and looked her in the eyes. “Yeah, I kind of do…” Right below Pinkie Pie, a strange black hole like portal opened up in the ground. It was letting out a small series of sparks that zapped her hooves. “Sayonara dweeb…” Gilda released Pinkie Pie’s neck letting her fall into the miniature black hole. Her legs were suddenly dissolved into black particles which were all being sucked in.

“RAINBOW DASH!”

“Pinkie… Pie...” Rainbow Dash could only watch as her best friend evaporated into nothing and was pulled into the black abyss. The pink earth pony held out a hoof hoping somepony would grab her but nothing came. Her hoof was sucked in as well and with a flash, the portal vanished leaving a black mark on the ground like seen at Sweet Apple Acres.

“Hmm...” Gilda took a few steps up to Rainbow Dash, inspecting the damage. She looked down upon her defeated ex-best friend. “Loyalty is a bitch, isn’t it?” Suddenly, Gilda socked Rainbow right in the gut with her right claw, knocking her on to her back. She then followed to grab Rainbow by the mane and hold her right up to her face; nose to beak. Rainbow Dash’s expression was one of total fear and it made Gilda feel wonderful. Her eyes were shaking violently and were covered in tears. “Let this be a lesson to you...” Using her mane like a handle, Gilda turned around and chucked Rainbow Dash’s motionless body directly at the Cakes. Before she could hit the barrier, the Cakes split apart allowing Rainbow’s body to shatter the barrier like glass and fly right between them. The mare bounced like a rag doll before rolling over and stopping on her face. “Never… Screw… With ME!” Gilda flapped her wings and shot off into the air into before anypony could stop her.

With the barrier gone, everypony ran over to help Rainbow Dash; the Cakes were the first to get to her. Mr. Cake used his nose to pick up Rainbow Dash and put her on his back. “Don’t worry Princess; I’ll take her to the hospital.” Mr. Cake ran off with his wife in tow.

Tears were streaming down Celestia’s eyes as she watched the mare be carried away. “Rainbow Dash… Pinkie Pie… I’m so sorry…”