The streets of Vienna were beginning to die down during the late night. While nightlife in the summer was still prevalent and abundant, it was around this time that many people relented to their exhaustion and retired to their homes for the night after a long night of drinking, clubbing, or listening to music.
Inside the bedroom of a large and luxurious white townhouse with the city, a small girl around ten years of age with short brown hair slept soundly under the silk covers of her bed. Lying beside her on its back was a white unicorn pony with a curled purple mane, a pair of sleeping blinds over her eyes. Beside the them on the floor and curled a dog bed was a small, purple dragon with green spikes on the top-center of its head.
Unbeknownst to them, a dark figure fell down from the sky and landed upon the roof of the next building beside it. The figure had a pair of wings on its back that slowed its fall and folded back in as the figure disappeared behind the roof’s edge.
Standing back up and walking to the very edge of the roof was an older-teenage man, whose body looked tall, but unhealthily skinny and pale. His torso was covered tightly by a black leather top with no sleeves and a long, ovular slit running down to just below his torso to just above his waistline.
A pair of tight, white, leather pants covered his legs all the down to his heels, which were tucked underneath a pair of comically large white Vibram FiveFingers shoes that fit his abnormally large feet. Covering the front of his legs down to the top of the knees and the back of his legs down to above the ankles was a black sash made of a silkier cloth.
The man didn’t have a trace of hair anywhere on his body, especially on his head. The man’s eyes were a piercing blue and his neck was adorned with a necklace with an emerald gem hanging from it. Attached to both of the man’s forearms were black-leather sleeves with ruby studs along the outside. On the outer side of the left sleeve, however, was a thick half-disk made of a shiny black rock, its length taking about half of his forearm in the center.
The man crouched down upon the roof’s edge and carefully examined the sleeping girl, the pony, and the dragon inside. He then looked up at the moon as it shone brightly in the sky. He looked back down towards the girl again, his eyes continuing to gaze at her. He then closed his eyes, his mind having been made up.
“No,” he whispered. “Not now…”
The man picked himself up and ran from the building and across the rooftops with inhuman agility. The little girl, who was left completely unaware of the man’s presence, rolled to her side and wrapped her arm around the pony’s stomach, snuggling herself closer to her.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Yurik sat on his bed in his room alone and casually strummed a lively blues tune on an acoustic guitar. As the song began to mellow out, he lied down on his bed and continued to pluck away at the strings softly. His eyes were closed in a moment of bliss and tranquility in the growing night, blocking out the knocks that he received on his door.
“Yurik!” Walt shouted.
Upon hearing Walt’s voice, he quickly set the guitar onto his bed and hopped off his bed and to the door. Opening it up, he looked into Walt’s face, seeing his furious brow but cocky smirk.
“Unless you want to help find the last two,” Walt said, pointing the screen of his phone at Yurik’s eyes, “I suggest you answer your phone.”
“Phone?” asked Yurik, looking upon the message supposedly sent by Alice.
It read:
Pack several sets of clothes. Leaving for Vienna in about two hours.
“Vienna?” asked Yurik. “That’s where Rarity and Spike are?”
“All the way in Austria?” Walt huffed. “Yeah.”
“Not that I have any business buttin’ in your affairs,” spoke Applejack, approaching them from the back end of the hallway, “but what’s Austria like?”
“Austria, or Vienna more specifically, is a very beautiful country with a very rich culture and architecture. You know, a city clearly of your liking.”
“…Well, I can’t say it’s my kind of place, but it certainly sounds like someplace Rarity would fancy herself in, and boy do I mean fancy,” she hissed at the last words.
“So, she isn’t your cup of tea, huh?”
“I didn’t mean it like that! She’s a good pal, but she can really get carried away sometimes. And I don’t even like tea, so quit teasin’ me!”
“Yeah,” chuckled Yurik, pushing Walt from his doorway and too his room, “quit teasin’ her and get packing! You don’t want to make Alice angry too, do you?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Walt mumbled, turning back and heading to his closet.
The sound of hooves hitting the floorboards at an moderately-fast tempo sounded down the hall, the bouncing body of Pinkie Pie coming out and heading towards Yurik’s room while singing Fixer Upper.
“Looks like someone was just introduced to Frozen,” sighed Yurik, rolling his eyes playfully.
“I know, right!” asked Pinkie Pie. “We watched the movie while you were on your trip and it’s the best ice-witch-with-a-quirky-sister-who’s-in-love-with-this-nice-prince-who-turns-out-isn’t-a-nice-prince-but-there’s-a-guy-with-a-reindeer-and-a-cute-snowman movie ever!”
“You make it sound so enthralling. Is there something else you needed, Pinkie?”
“Oh? Oh yeah! I heard you’re going on another trip! Does that mean we get to watch Evey again?”
“Yes, and you’re going to spend a lot more time with her this time around; we’re going to be gone much longer than last time so–”
“YAY!”
Yurik placed his hands over his ears as he tried to shield them from Pinkie Pie’s shrill voice. Pinkie, realizing what she did, looked instantly remorseful.
“Sorry,” she spoke. “I didn’t mean ‘yay’ as in, ‘yay you’re leaving,’ I meant–”
“Don’t worry,” Yurik replied with a groan, rubbing inside his ear with his pinkie. “I got it loud and clear.”
Pinkie Pie beamed in response.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Inside Kieran’s plane, Yurik stared blankly out the window as he looked down upon the vast Atlantic Ocean as the sun began to rise. On the other side of the plane. Walt was watching a film on his computer as Rainbow Dash slept beside him on the next seat over. Alice and Twilight stood over by the mini fridge as both of them pulled out Jimmy John’s sandwiches and a soda, Twilight holding a pair each. The two of them couldn’t help but notice Yurik’s lonely demeanor and appearance.
“What do you think’s up with him?” asked Alice.
“I don’t know,” said Twilight. “He’s been kind of distant the last two days. Do you think he’s… scared?”
“Scared about what?”
“I’m not entirely sure. We should talk to him about it.”
“Fine.”
The two walked up to Yurik’s seat their shadows or the sound of their feet and hooves not affecting him in the slightest. Just as Twilight was about to open her mouth, Alice grabbed one of Twilight’s two sandwiches and threw it at Yurik’s face, shocking him upright.
“Alice,” he spoke wearily, picking up his sandwich from the ground, “what the hell?”
“Other than it being breakfast,” she said, “I want to know what’s up with you.”
“What’s up with me? What do you mean?”
“From not answering my text yesterday or being social with us now, it’s like you’ve been dreading this mission.”
“Wh… Why should I be?”
“Well,” spoke Twilight, “Rarity and Spike are the last of us that we need to save. I can imagine that you’re high-strung about succeeding, but I don’t think that’s the reason.”
“Huh? And what reason do you think you have?”
“…You don’t want us to leave do you?”
Yurik shuddered and his mouth widened in fear.
“No!” he shouted. “That’s not it at all!”
“Yurik,” cooed Twilight, “you don’t need to be upset about it. I know that once we find them, we’ll go home. That upsets you, doesn’t it.”
“Of course it upsets me! I really like you, Twilight. Hell, I like all of you guys! Just the thought of you saying goodbye… it hurts, but I know I can’t stop it…”
Watching Yurik come close to breaking down, Twilight lifted her hoof and set it on Yurik’s knee, calming him instantly.
“And I thank you for all that you and your friends have done,” said Twilight, moving the bottom of her hoof under Yurik’s chin and pushing up to have their eyes meet. “We would have never made it this far without you and everyone else’s help.”
“Yeah…” sighed Yurik, “I know.”
“And I really like you and your friends too. But like I said, I’m certain that it won’t be the last time we see each other after that.”
“I know, but I like having you around. It’s going to become far lonelier without you and your friends.”
“We’ll feel the same way about you, Yurik. But please, be strong for us like you have been.”
Yurik closed his eyes and sighed, relenting to Twilight’s encouragement.
“Alright,” he agreed. “I will be strong. For you, for Rainbow Dash, for everyone.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Now, how’s about you eat with both of us. We could use the company, you know.”
“Oh! Right, of course.”
Yurik squeezed himself into window seat, allowing Twilight to climb onto the one next to his with her sandwich. Alice carefully sat along the armrest, making sure Twilight’s tail was not pinned down beneath her.
The three began unwrapping their sandwiches, and as Yurik bit into his, tasting the pleasant umami flavors of his salami, he looked into Twilight and Alice’s faces as they took their own first bites of their breakfasts. Looking back at him with ease and togetherness, Yurik tore another chunk off his sandwich, gladdened by their company again.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The pale man stood still as a statue atop the Vienna Opera House, discreetly scanning the locals and tourists below as they idly and obliviously lead their lives. The sun was bright and the air was beautifully warm, and there looked to be that not a soul was inside, save for those dining during the very early afternoon.
As his eyes carefully looked down on the girl from the bedroom as she walked about with who appeared to be her mother, both of them dressed in meticulously made summer dresses, a large cloth bag in the older-woman’s hand. The two looked overjoyed in the company of each other, which was only strengthened by the merry nature of the crowd around them.
The pale man drew a longing sigh as they both walked into the inner city streets and away from his sights. As he stood up and looked to the next, rooftop upon which to follow them, a nagging feeling tingling in his body stopped him.
Looking northwest out into the sky, he could make out the shape of Kieran’s plane as it came over the city towards the airport. The man’s eyes followed the plane like a magnet, his sight bound to what was inside.
“There’s…” he muttered, “strong Equestrian magic coming from that aircraft. Could it be… that someone is bringing their friends?”
As the plane continued its descent, disappearing behind the tops of the buildings, the pale mane ran along the opera house’s rooftop, leaping swiftly over to the next set of buildings without being spotted by the others below him.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Inside the circular jade-green foyer of the townhouse, a moderately-elderly man in a spotless tuxedo opened the door for the little girl and her mother, the former already excitedly reaching into the cloth bag.
“Welcome home, Madame,” the butler spoke, giving a small bow.
“Thank you, Edmun…” the woman responded, cut off by the surprise tug of her bag by her daughter. “Tessa, please be careful!”
“Got them!” Tessa exclaimed, pulling out a pair of wooden boxes.
The girl giggled as she ran up the winding stairs along the wall and to the top floor sprinting into the hallway. Tessa’s mother sighed in exhaustion as she stood next to Edmund.
“So rambunctious she is,” he huffed.
“Don’t forget that I was her age once upon a time too,” she responded.
“And you were just as cheeky then as she is. It must run in the family I suppose… What were in those boxes?”
“Two gifts… for her friends.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Tessa burst into her room to see the white unicorn and the purple dragon sitting atop her bed and talking, suddenly shocked and slightly delighted by her return to her room.
“Rarity!” she called. “Spike!”
“Tess!” exclaimed Spike in a raspy child’s voice. “You’re home!”
“Tessa, darling,” replied Rarity in a posh, accented voice. “Did you enjoy your shopping trip.”
“Yes, I did,” she answered, “and I got you some gifts!”
Rarity was taken aback as Tessa presented her a box while Spike eager snatched it opening it up. With wide eyes, he pulled out a deck of cards.
“Oh, cool!” he shouted. “My own Duel Monsters deck!”
He quickly fanned through the cards, which appeared to be bipedal dragons of various sizes and colors adorned in armor and weaponry, each given the title of “Paladragon.”
“This is great, Tess!” he spoke, facing her. “Thank you!”
“Yes,” Rarity butted in, “this was nice of you to think of us but I–”
“It’s just I want to say thank you for staying with me. I just want to make you happy. I picked the decks out and bought them myself and everything!”
Rarity, feeling morally trapped, rolled her eyes slightly as she opened her box and pulled out a deck of her own. As she flipped through her cards, she was stunned to see all of them sparkling with a starry lamination over the fronts of each the entire cards. The cards appeared to resemble floating beings made of precious gems and metals. The monsters all seemed to fall under a single name: “Gemerous.”
“Oh, Tessa,” Rarity said, a clearly touched smile on her face. “I do thank you for this gift. That was exceptionally thoughtful of you.”
“And now that you have your own decks,” suggested Tessa, hugging both the pony and the dragon, “I should teach you how to play!”
“Alright!” exclaimed Spike, his fist in the air. “That sounds great!”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Yurik and Walt stood outside a large crater in a field just off the road from Vienna. The two of them peered into it, looking for any kind of clues that might lead them towards Rarity and Spike. The only others around them were Kieran, Alice, a parked black van, and the occasional passersby on the road.
“So if this is the last of the ponies that we need to find,” said Walt, “this is undoubtedly going to be the hardest of them to find.”
“Really?” asked Yurik. “How so?”
“Just think about it,” he responded, pulling out his phone with a map on it. “The only couple of known sightings after Rarity and Spike landed happened roughly two hours afterwards. After that… nothing.”
“So that would mean that Rarity and Spike are more than likely in the city. I mean, it can’t be that easy to travel them away from the nation’s capital. We’ll just have to look in the city.”
“Yes,” Walt deadpanned, “that’s a great plan there. Let’s just knock door to door. ‘Hi, we’re just wondering if you have a white unicorn and a purple dragon in your home. Yes, I know we’re making Jehovah’s witnesses look sane by comparison, don’t remind us!’”
“I wasn’t talking about door-to-dooring it,” Yurik responded, pounding Walt in the shoulder. “We have a magical pony that can search for us.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?”
“How about we ask her that?”
Walt shrugged as he and Yurik walked back to the van, leading Kieran and Alice to prepare the door for them.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“You want me to do what?” exclaimed Twilight.
Twilight sat in the aisle between the two back seats while Yurik, Walt, and Rainbow Dash sat inside in the van’s very back space. Kieran and Alice listened in with the back doors left ajar, leaving them just enough sight to see.
“I know this might sound a bit strenuous,” said Yurik, “but I think it’s the only way that we can find Rarity and Spike any quicker.”
“But you’re asking me to do not just one, but two difficult spells, Yurik. I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”
“Twilight, please. I wouldn’t ask of you to do something that I know that you couldn’t do. I have great faith in you that you can do this, and that’s why I’m asking you to do this.”
Walt and Rainbow Dash looked concernedly at Twilight as she tried to come up with a decision.
“Please,” egged Twilight madly, “can you repeat to me exactly what you think I need to do?”
“Look,” Yurik responded frankly, “you’re going to need to use an invisibility spell as well as a tracking spell; I get that! However, it’s either we do this, or we spend God knows how many days trying to search for your friends. If you can locate them, that will make not just our search easier, but our introductions to whomever are taking them in.”
“Huh?” asked Alice. “What do you mean by that?”
“Listen,” he said, turning his head in all directions to address everyone. “We’ll book a hotel room right by the Wiener Riesenrad. It’s right in the center of Vienna and it’s got a great altitude. From there, one of us will ride the ride, and that’s where you come in, Twilight.”
“Hm” she questioned, her head raising in attention.
“You will fly directly from the hotel and into the cabin where I’ll be. Once our cabin begins reaching the top, you can become visible again; I don’t think the people below will see you that from that far down. Next, you will use your tracking spell to detect Rarity’s magic, as she is a unicorn, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Once you pinpoint where you think Rarity and Spike are, keep a mental note of where you see this if you can. From there, we can get the directions to where this place is. You will need to do another invisibility spell for this. You will follow Walt or I to the location unseen by the others below and show yourselves to this person. Hopefully, they will be reasonable and allow us to take Rarity and Spike home once they see their good friend Twilight there. Any other questions?”
“Sounds good to me,” Alice said with a proud shrug. “I think we might have a shot at this.”
“It’s not a bad plan at all,” Kieran commented, “but there’s still a few factors.”
“I still don’t know,” Twilight said. “What if the place is far away? My magic is only so strong, you know.”
“I understand,” said Yurik. “I wanted to ask you earlier, but it seemed a bit awkward, but I guess now’s a better time than never.”
“What is it?”
“Are there any kinds of foods that you can eat that will increase your magical stability and endurance?”
“Like,” she responded, sporting a look of confusion, “what do you mean?”
“We have things like 5-Hour Energy that’s supposed to keep us up and about for a long period of time. I don’t want to start pumping caffeine into your body, so I wanted to ask if you know of any foods that can strengthen your magic.”
“Well… there aren’t exactly any foods that can help out in that, but one thing that can help is prolonged meditation.”
“Meditation?”
“Yes. Magic is essentially using your mind, and the more well rested my mind is, the stronger it will be.”
Walt and Yurik looked at each other, seeing in the faces if they were coming to the same conclusion.
“So…” said Walt, “we’re all just going to take a nap, then?”
“Whatever is best for you guys,” replied Twilight, “but we need to be well rested if we want this to work.”
Rainbow Dash looked at Walt and Yurik as they in turn looked at Twilight.
“Well,” Rainbow Dash said as she stretched her wings and limbs out, “I like this plan a whole lot. I think some shut eye could do me some good.”
Rainbow Dash plopped to her side and began snoring instantly, almost as if she was faking it. Yurik, Walt, and Twilight looked to Kieran, prompting him to fish his keys out from his pocket.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash and Twilight slept together on a queen-sized bed inside their very clean hotel room, the lights turned off with the sun streaming gently through the drapes. Walt sat at the desk with his earbuds in, browsing the internet upon his computer. Kieran lied face up on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and reflecting to himself.
Yurik stood over the ponies’ beds by the window, peering through the curtains and at the giant ferris wheel several blocks down as it slowly continued its perpetual spin. Just barely beyond the corner of Yurik’s vision, the pale human crouched down on the corner of a nearby building and carefully studied his features as well as he could in the dark room.
“Are they in there, Keifer?” whispered a harsh, echoed voice in the man’s head.
“Yes,” he quietly answered allowed. “As far as I can tell it’s the purple alicorn and the blue pegasus, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.”
“Very good. It seems there are others after them too, and they appear to be quite successful in finding them.”
“Should I ambush them? The atmosphere inside seems to be pretty lax.”
“Do not go,” the voice hissed, shocking him slightly. “It could very well be a trap. Besides, if you try and take them now, you will only have a certain amount of time to take Rarity and Spike before they try and catch you. As much as I hate to say this… but capture the unicorn and the dragon now, save the pegasus and the alicorn for later.”
“Of course… Master…”
Keifer was suddenly met with silence and isolation once again, leaving nothing but the soft wind to pass through his ears.
“I’ll take them all instead…” he growled.
With a hard turn, he ran along the building’s edge and away from the hotel, just as Yurik stepped away from the hotel room’s window and concealing it with the blinds again.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Tessa stood in the foyer of her home as her mother attempted to slip a fur coat onto the girl’s body. A man, who appeared to be the same age as the woman, stood next to Edmund as she watched them.
“Tessa,” the man instructed, “stop your fussing and let’s get going. We’re going to be late for the performance.”
“Sorry, dear,” the woman grunted, trying to slide the sleeves up her arm. “I’m afraid they’re a bit long.”
“That’s unfortunate, but we need to get going. My friend will be very upset with me if we are late.”
“I told you we should have had Rarity tailor it,” whined Tessa.
“Perhaps another time,” the man said, stepping to the door briskly and opening it for his wife and child. “We need to leave now!”
Rarity and Spike ran to the door just as Tessa was ushered to the exit by her mother.
“Farewell, Kate,” Rarity bid to the mother. “Farewell, Timothy, Tessa!”
“Goodbye, Rarity!” called Tessa happily as she was finally pushed from the exit. “Goodbye, Spike!”
Once Tessa and Kate were gone, Edmund stepped to the door and shut it closed. Rarity took a sigh as she turned and walked back to Tessa’s room.
“Oh,” she lamented, “I do wish we had a better way to say goodbye than that.”
“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Spike responded, stepping inside with her. “I’m sure we’ll have a perfect opportunity again.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Keifer looked out over the balcony to the next building over to see Tessa stepping into her parents’ car, a black Audi. As the little girl stepped inside, the man smiled with genuine fondness. Watching the car finally pull away and into the street, he took a suddenly serious glance at the window to Tessa’s room.
“Soon,” he whispered. “Soon…”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Early in the evening, Walt and Yurik stood in line for the Wiener Riesenrad, being next in line for the next available cabin. As it slowly came down with the door opening for the passengers inside to step out, Yurik looked over to where their hotel would be located. Taking his phone from his pocket, he raised it up with the screen facing the hotel room window, showing nothing but a bright, white display.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
From the open window, Twilight could barely make out the signal, but it was all she needed. With a glowing of her horn, her body began to slowly vanish into nothing.
“Good luck, Twilight,” whispered Kieran, a tinge of hopeful excitement escaping his stoic lips.
While invisible, a burst of wind and the fading sound of flapping wings signaled to Kieran, Alice, and Rainbow Dash that she was on her way.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Walt stepped into the stopped cabin, leaving Yurik to follow in after him. As he took the first step, he looked desperately at the platform and the crack in between it and the cabin.
“What seems to be the holdup?” a male attendant asked.
I’m sorry,” Yurik said, feigning anxiety, “I think I lost my phone in the crack.”
The attendant rolled his eyes at the sudden inconvenience. Yurik then heard a soft whoosh of wind go over his head as Walt the reached into his own pocket, pulling out an iPhone.
“Don’t worry, man!” called Walt as he held the device inside the cabin. “I got it!”
“Walt,” chuckled Yurik as he hopped inside, “you’re a lifesaver!”
With Yurik, Walt, and Twilight discreetly inside, the attendant shut the door and locked it shut. At once, the wheel began to spin around to the let the next set of people inside.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
After several minutes, Yurik and Walt’s cabin was just about halfway between the first quarter and the top of the way up. Walt, peering at Vienna as he could see it, took a long, calming breath.
“Ah,” he sighed, “and to think, so many cool things happened in here. The Third Man, The Living Daylights, Before Sunrise…”
“Twilight,” interrupted Yurik, “you can come out now.”
With a small burst of light, Twilight appeared in the center of the cabin between Yurik and Walt, the former woozily keeping to her feet.
“Hang in there, Twilight,” encouraged Yurik. “You can still do it, right?”
“Yeah,” she panted, “but I can only do it for about thirty seconds or so. I need enough energy to get back to the hotel and then get to wherever this place is.”
“Alright,” Yurik said, “do your stuff.”
The ferris wheel began to reach the very top, and Twilight stood herself into position. With her horn charging up, she grunted as she tried to maintain her magic. With a glowing of her horn, her eyes suddenly became a milky white.
The noises of the world were suddenly muted as Twilight’s vision increased dramatically in sharpness, the shapes of the buildings and people appearing more like an abstract image. She turned her body to search for any signs. Upon gazing on the south side of the cabin, she noticed a light blue speck in the distance just southwest of the nearby river, suddenly running to it and studying its location.
Her concentration increased as she tried to focus clearly on the building where the light remained. Once she had seen enough, her glowing stopped and the sounds and sights of the world returned to normal. Twilight swooned as she fell to her stomach, shocking Yurik and Walt.
“Twilight!” Yurik shouted, picking her up to her hooves. “Are you alright?”
“Just a little tired again is all,” she whispered.
“You can still teleport back to the hotel, right?” asked Walt.
“Yeah,” said Twilight. “This is really going well. The building’s actually not far from here.”
“That’s great,” Yurik sighed gratefully. “That makes our job so much easier now.”
With another shine from her horn, Twilight vanished from the car, the people on the ground and in the surrounding buildings none the wiser. With this part of the plan now over, Yurik and Walt were now free to enjoy the rest of their ride to the bottom.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Yurik and Walt crossed a bridge across the river towards a series of homes and other residencies as the sun finally set beneath the horizon. Yurik kept his phone out as he looked upon the map on his screen, watching as the arrow symbolizing their location moved closer to a red pin in the map.
Come on, Yurik thought. Where are you, Twilight? Are we getting closer?
High above them, Twilight fluttered over the street, continuing to stay with them at all times as she breathed in and out in exhaustion. Meanwhile, Keifer looked up at her from the rooftop of a west-side building, able to see Twilight’s aura clearly with snake-like eyes.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Yurik and Walt continued down the nearly deserted sidewalk of a street surrounded by townhouses and apartments. Just then, a whoosh was heard behind him with a gentle landing of hooves on the pavement.
“Come on,” whispered Twilight, “it’s that white building up ahead!”
Yurik looked up to see Tessa’s townhouse south and to the west of their spot with the black Audi still absent from its space. The two humans and pony quickly increased their pace and slowed back down to the door. Keifer, unbeknownst to the others below, ran briskly across the roof and to the next building giving him a proper view of the balcony to Tessa’s bedroom.
Yurik put his hand to a fist and gave a firm five knocks with the joints of his index and middle fingers. Walt put his ear to the door to hear the echoed noise of footsteps approaching inside. The footsteps stopped and it was only then that Yurik noticed a peephole in the door.
“Who are you?” asked Edmund. “What do you want?”
“We’re just here to reunite a couple of friends,” said Yurik.
With grace and nimbleness, Keifer jumped down to the balcony and tried to turn the knob to the door, only to find it locked. Inside, Rarity and Spike looked at Keifer’s shadow fearfully.
“Spike,” hissed Rarity. “Hide!”
Spike quickly glanced around the room, finding Tessa’s closet and running inside. Rarity then closed the door and turned the lock shut.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Edmund gasped as he saw Twilight appear, smiling up at him and panting as her form became full and clear.
“You’re…” the man struggled to speak, “Twilight Sparkle, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she said. “If it’s okay with you, can we come in to see my friends?”
“Of course!”
Edmund opened the door and motioned Yurik, Walt, and Twilight inside, quickly shutting the door.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
After a couple more unsuccessful turns, Keifer put his hand onto window and breathed regretfully.
“I’m sorry, Tessa,” he said.
Balling his hand into a fist, he punched through the window of the door and reached for the lock. Rarity screamed as she scrambled to the door.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The three humans and pony below heard both the shattering glass and Rarity’s scream. Yurik, Walt, and Twilight instantly ran up the stairs to the sound of the voice, leaving Edmund to try and catch up with his tired old bones.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Keifer managed to unlock the door and open it, just in time to see Rarity try to open the bedroom door with her blue aura that came from her horn. Keifer threw his hand out and snapped his fingers, a purple ring of light soaring out from them and arcing around towards Rarity’s horn. It quickly wrapped itself around the horn and formed into an obsidian ring as the aura over Rarity’s horn dithered away.
“My magic!” she gasped, reaching up to feel the horn. “Why can’t I use my–”
Her thoughts were interrupted as she found herself yanked by an invisible force that sent her flying into Keifer’s arms. As Rarity screamed once again, Walt kicked in the bedroom door with a small explosion of wood and ran in with Yurik and Twilight. They all gasped to see Keifer’s form as well as the pony stuck in his grasp.
“Rarity!” shouted Twilight.
“Twilight?” the unicorn cried. “Twilight, help me!”
With a grunt, Keifer ran back towards the balcony with a shrieking Rarity in tow.
“Stop!” yelled Yurik. “Give her back!”
The others then watched incredulously as Keifer made an impossible high leap up to the rooftop of the next building, continuing to sprint away from them as they stopped and stared at the edge of the balcony.
“Jesus Christ!” wheezed Walt.
“Twilight!” shouted Yurik.
“On it!” she responded, charging her horn.
She covered both Yurik and Walt in her own magic aura and flew to the adjacent rooftop, Yurik and Walt beside her. Landing with her, the three of them ran as fast as they could together to follow Keifer and Rarity.
Edmund managed to step into Tessa’s room, only to find it empty, the only differences being the broken window and the destroyed door indicating what had happened.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Yurik and Walt continued to track Keifer, who continued to keep ahead of them and Twilight as he effortlessly went from rooftop to rooftop. With each leap, Twilight’s magic kept them afloat above the alleyways and safely onto the next building over.
“Get back here!” Yurik barked.
Leaping over the streets, Yurik and Walt couldn’t help but feel a sense of vertigo as they looked down on the cars below. Twilight’s mind fought her body as it tried to rest itself, but Twilight only pushed harder, fighting the aching in her head, arms, and legs that struggled to stop her.
No, she ordered each of her muscles. I’m not letting you quit until we get Rarity back!
Soon, the chase was reaching the corner of another block of apartments as they reached the towering WIEN MITTE Mall. Much to Twilight, Yurik, and Walt’s sheer shock, Keifer ran straight to the building.
“What is he doing?” Walt shouted.
Keifer jumped off with Rarity screaming as her demise was sure to come. Yurik, Walt, and Twilight slid to a stop, only to watch with both terrified awe and sheer confusion as a pair of red wings with white bars sprout from the shoulders of the pale man and fly Keifer up to the top of the building.
“What the actual hell?” Walt gasped.
“What even is that thing?”
Twilight quickly snapped out of her shock and charged her horn.
“Stop!” she demanded to Keifer. “Stop, you monster!”
Twilight’s magenta aura wrapped itself around Yurik and Walt, and with a hard flap of her wings, Twilight soared after him. She watched up above as Keifer landed upon the mall’s roof, increasing her drive. Walt and Yurik looked back down to see with defeated faces as pedestrians and people inside their cars stopped and looked up at the sight they were witnessing.
His wings receding back into its shoulders, Keifer continued to run as Twilight rose above the mall’s roof, her horn beginning to glow even brighter.
“I said stop!” she screamed, a magic blast shooting straight at Keifer’s back.
Hearing the energy come towards him, Keifer turned his body around and tossed Rarity aside, where she fell to the floor with a shrill grunt. The spell struck Keifer straight in the chest where his necklace hung. The force of Twilight’s magic broke the rope holding it on, making it clatter to the ground.
As Twilight landed onto the ground with Yurik and Walt, Keifer’s body began to glow with a bright-red aura. The others watched with extreme caution as Keifer slowly stood to his feet and scowled at them with anger.
“Now you’ve done it,” he said. “You shall now witness my true form.”
Throwing his arms and out to the side, Keifer let out a roar as the glowing increased, covering his whole body in red. Yurik, Walt, Rarity, and Twilight shivered in fright as the human form of Keifer molded as if it were made from a thick liquid.
A long, thick tail with spines slithered out from Keifer’s lower back. His face grew out into a draconic snout with long horns extending from the back and top of his head. The five fingers and toes of his hands and feet merged into a beastly four and three, respectively.
His feet stretched horrifically back while the ends of his fingers and toes grew large claws with meticulously sharp points. Two wing shaped lights then flung out from his back, the heat and brightness forcing Yurik, Walt, and Rarity to shield their eyes with their arms, Twilight with her wing.
Keifer’s eyes shot open, revealing to large reptilian blue irises. Winding his arm back, he pressed his fingers together, whipping his hand out with a snap. Another ring flew out at Twilight’s horn from Keifer’s fingertips. Yurik peeked above his arm just to see the ring getting close.
“Twilight!” he yelled. “Look out!”
Twilight unfolded her wing only for the ring to wrap around the horn and form into a black and solid object. Twilight grunted and moaned as she felt the electrical surges of the ring’s magic run through her horn. Once the ring had fully formed, Twilight strained to cast another spell, only for nothing to happen, making her whimper in fear as she felt the vice.
“Twilight!” yelled Yurik, then turning to Keifer. “What have you done?”
“It’s true that unicorns and alicorns use magic, right?” Keifer asked.
Yurik, Walt, and Twilight both watched sadly and nervously as the light covering Keifer faded away, revealing him to be a white bipedal dragon with a dark-green underbelly and red-wings, his remaining human clothes and the object on his arm still upon his body.
“To properly restrain them,” Keifer continued, his form fully revealed at last, “I must rid them of the ability to use magic.”
“You…” Yurik stuttered and pointing, “you’re a dragon!”
“Oh, come now,” he responded, his right hand on is hip, “you were out rescuing a dragon, weren’t you? Does it really surprise you to see one in the flesh?”
“Are…” groaned Twilight, “are you from Equestria?”
“As a matter of fact, I am,” he said, adopting a much more serious tone. “And it’s certainly a much better sight than this scrapheap you so-called humans call a home.”
“Damn you,” growled Walt.
“Damn?” Keifer chuckled. “Your vernacular is still a bit foreign to me, but even I can tell that what you said was very spiteful. In my homeland, those are challenging words.”
Keifer widened his stance and raised his fists, making Yurik, Walt, and Twilight step back, making him chuckle hoarsely.
“Do you really think you’re going to interfere with me and not expect a retaliation?” he asked. “If it’s any consolation, you won’t feel too much pain at all.”
Yurik grunted, his left hand balling into its own fist.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Inside the hotel room, a card inside the deck of Yurik’s duel disk which sat in his opened backpack began to shine a bright magenta, a loud sparkling sound accompanying it. Rainbow Dash sat up on her bed and twitched her ears at the strange noise. Kieran and Alice looked towards it as well.
“What’s happening?” asked Alice.
Rainbow Dash continued to look at the glowing card, her ears drooping as though she could understand what the card was signaling.
“I think…” she said. “I think Yurik’s in trouble…”
Realizing the threat at hand, she trotted over Yurik’s bag and snatched the duel disk and disk blade out and placed the latter beside the former. Hugging the constructed duel disk, she flew out towards the window.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Yurik stepped forward and put his own arms up, ready to defend Walt and Twilight. Keifer looked slightly surprised, but resumed his strong and foreboding pose.
“And we have the first volunteer,” Keifer muttered.
“Yurik!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Think fast!”
Keifer turned around with a sense of annoyance but found himself stunned to see Rainbow Dash fly up towards the mall and throw Yurik’s duel disk at him. Yurik, smiling at his fortune, ran towards it and allowed the device to land on his arm, the clamp setting onto the wrist. Yurik and Keifer circled slightly so that Yurik was now facing the south and Keifer facing the north.
“A duel disk,” Keifer spoke. “Could he be…”
Rainbow Dash then looked down at Rarity beside the dragon and noticed the ring sealed over her horn, lying down in a submissive position.
“Rarity!” cried Rainbow Dash swooping up quickly. “I’m coming!”
She circled around Keifer and began to descend behind him.
“Headstrong…” complimented Keifer, winding his arm back without turning to face her.
“Rainbow Dash!” shouted Walt, reaching for her as she flew past. “Wait!”
“…but not headsmart!”
With a sharp turn and a slash of his claws at the air, a trio of red darts of light flew towards Rainbow Dash striking her body, his actual claws missing the pegasus by inches. Rainbow Dash rolled painfully towards Walt, prompting him to thrust himself downwards and block tumble.
Rainbow Dash shot back up to her hooves, only for her and Walt to realize with growing trepidation that her wings were limply lying open at her sides. As hard as she strained, Rainbow Dash couldn’t lift them up at all.
“My wings!” she cried. “Why can’t I feel my wings?”
“It’s a simple numbing spell,” Keifer answered. “I’ll allow you use of your wings again when it’s most convenient. Now then, where were we? Oh, yes…” he said, turning to face Yurik. “You and I were fighting.”
Yurik held up his arm with his duel disk attached, his meager shield providing Yurik with a higher feeling of confidence. Keifer looked at Yurik with a sense of incredulity, his lips pursing in disappointment.
“And what do you think you can do against me with that?” he asked.
“You should know,” replied Yurik with cocky rhetoric. “You named what it was when Rainbow Dash gave it to me. I assume that thing on your wrist is one too.”
Keifer brought up his arm and the object upon it, looking on it as if he too suddenly discovered what it was. He then gazed at Yurik with a slightly impressed smirk.
“Clever boy…” he sighed.
“Then you have one too,” Yurik answered. “If you want to fight me, so be it! I’ll make you pay for doing this to my friends!”
Yurik detached his blade disk from his duel disk and threw out at Keifer. The dragon stood still as the disk circled around him and back to Yurik. With the disk stopping and floating beside Yurik’s duel disk, both blades shone out from the lights at the side and formed solid.
Keeping his arm held before him, Keifer wound his arm in, his fingers reaching out. He then then threw both arms out to the side, the black object having spun roughly three quarters of a half-circle and floating three inches diagonally to the right of Keifer’s fist.
The center of the rounded edge of the disk went aflame as it traveled upwards and stopped after a couple of inches, revealing a deck of cards. Two smaller slits opened up to the left of the deck on the disks edge. Finally, the flat side of the duel disk went alight with an orange glow, a bright flame shooting out of it with a solid obsidian blade forming behind it. The blade itself was shaped like a scythe’s and featured seven distinct zones upon its face-up side.
Once the blade was formed, Keifer held his arm back before him and showed the completed form of his duel disk, making Yurik breathe uncomfortably through his nose. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Walt stepped back and gave their friend some room as the decks in both Yurik and Keifer’s decks shuffled.
“Connection complete,” the computerized voice from Yurik’s duel disk said. “Yurik Clayer vs. … Unknown. Draw.”
Keifer hummed with both amusement and slight discontent as both he and Yurik drew their first five cards.
“Unknown?” asked Keifer. “My name is Keifer, and I want you to remember that name well, Yurik Clayer!”
“Fine then,” answered Yurik. “I’m ready, Keifer! Let’s go!”
“DUEL!” they both shouted.
================
Yurik:
LP: 4000
Keifer:
LP: 4000
================
“I’ll take the first turn,” declared Yurik.
“So you’re not afraid to sacrifice your draw,” purred Keifer. “Your bravery is noted, but your skills…”
“Don’t let him talk to you that way!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Kick his flank!”
Yurik nodded in appreciation as he looked at his hand. He had two pendulum monsters with a wide scale on him, but he continued to look, unsure if it was what he wanted to do yet. He then spotted his Pegassist of Water card in his hand, along with a trap card right beside it.
I can easily pendulum summon, thought Yurik, but I can also build up my hand with these two cards.
Yurik looked to the marginally impatient face that Keifer sported as he looked to him.
He’s not from Earth, he continued to muse, and there’s no doubt that his magic abilities will be very dangerous during this duel. However, I’ll need strength in numbers if I want to win.
“I place one card face down,” Yurik called out as he placed his card into his duel disk’s slot, the enlarged backing appearing on the ground, “and end my turn.”
Status: Hand: 4 Life: 4000 Monsters: 0 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 1
“Is that all you can manage to do?” Keifer asked, pointing at Yurik’s sole set card. “I thought you wanted a duel, not a wailing. You can’t expect to save these ponies like that.”
Yurik growled, failing to keep his words back.
“Shut your mouth and take your turn!” he demanded.
“Hmph. Very well, Yurik Clayer. My turn! Draw!”
Keifer added his drawn card to his hand and took out another: a spell card with an infinity-sign symbol, placing it face up into the leftmost slot on the side of his duel disk.
“I activate the continuous spell card Molten Submergence,” he declared, an upright green card appearing with art showing three spiny reptilian backs appearing above the surface of a pool of lava. “This card allows me to conduct my normal set up to three times this turn if I control no monsters during my standby phase.”
“Huh?” questioned Walt.
“Three sets in a single turn?” wondered Twilight.
“However,” Keifer said, sorting his hand, “the monsters set by this effect must be fire attribute.”
“Does that mean…” mumbled Yurik.
“I set three monsters face down,” he said, grabbing three of his cards and revealing them, his palm and fingers concealing all but the red circular logos at the upper right-hand corner of the cards.
Flipping them back, he ran his hand over his blade, his three cards appearing onto the center three zones of his blade and turned to the left. Three large sideward cards appeared before Keifer and quickly faded away just as fast. Yurik huffed at the insane strategy he was witnessing.
“I place one card face down,” concluded Keifer as he put one of his two remaining cards into the leftmost slot of his duel disk with the backing appearing on the field, “and end my turn.”
Status: Hand: 1 Life: 4000 Monsters: 3 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 2
“Three face down monsters,” whispered Yurik. “What strategy does he intend to use?”
“Don’t keep me waiting either, Yurik Clayer,” Keifer demanded. “Take your turn and show me your true strength!”
Yurik hissed through his teeth, reaching for his deck.
“Fine,” he relented. “You asked for it! My turn! Draw!”
Yurik looked at his drawn card before adding it to his hand.
Yeah, he thought, now it’s time.
He then picked up his two pendulum monsters and showed them both to his opponent.
“I set the pendulum scale with the scale 3 Armored Unioncorn and the scale 9 Unioncorn of Night!” he declared.
Yurik placed both cards on the leftmost and rightmost zones of his blades. Two pillars appeared beside his field as Yurik’s iron-clad grey unicorn rose inside of it to his left and his black unicorn with red eyes came arose on his right. A 3 and a 9 appeared above the monsters as the large star appeared in the sky.
Armored Unioncorn
Pendulum Scale: 3
Unioncorn of Night
Pendulum Scale: 9
“I can now special summon monsters whose levels are 4 through 8,” he stated. “Pendulum summon!”
Yurik grabbed two monster cards from his hand and placed them on his monster zones. The red portal opened beneath the star, allowing a green and a red stream of light to fly down from it to the ground. The dust cleared, revealing Yurik’s green unicorn with the tribal markings and a yellow pony with a mane and tail made of fire.
“Let’s go!” Yurik shouted. “Unioncorn of Wind! Fire Pony!”
Keifer growled as he faced both of Yurik’s monsters, each of whom looked prepared to battle.
Unioncorn of Wind
ATK: 1500
Lvl.: 4
Fire Pony
ATK: 1900
Lvl.: 4
“My word…” Rarity gasped, looking upon Yurik’s monsters.
“The effect of Unioncorn of Night in my pendulum zone activates,” spoke Yurik. “When I pendulum summon monsters while it is in my pendulum zone, I can draw one card for each pendulum monster summoned. Unioncorn of Wind is a pendulum monster, so I draw one card.”
Yurik placed his fingers atop his deck and flicked a card out, which stayed safely pinched in his fingers until he added it to the only other card left in his hand.
“Nice one, Yurik!” cheered Rainbow Dash.
“Now,” shouted Yurik, “Fire Pony, attack Keifer’s center monster! Thermal Thrashing!”
Yurik’s monster galloped out towards Keifer’s field, and before the monster could strike, Keifer let out a smile, frightening Yurik, as well as Walt, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight.
“Now you will see the strength of my deck,” spoke Keifer. “I activate my trap, Eruption Force!”
A trap card flipped upright, showing art of three draconic monsters blasting from the surface of an area of lava.
“When this card is activated,” Keifer explained, “all face-down monsters I control are changed to face-up defense position.”
“What was that?” Yurik yelled.
“Now, arise!”
Keifer removed all cards from the top of his blade in one swipe, and with another flip of his cards, he placed them all back face up in the same position with a slide in the opposite direction. The backings of Keifer’s monsters reappeared and flipped up at the same time, allowing the monsters featured on their artwork to arise from them.
In the center zone was a bulky red, wingless dragon with thick, stony scales. To its left was a red winged-serpent with a dragon-like snout. On the right of the group of monsters was a red wyvern with large pair of wings for arms.
“Dragma Lizard! Dragma Coatl! Dragma Wyvern!” Keifer announced.
Yurik looked at Keifer’s own monsters with awe as they stared him and the approaching pony down.
Dragma Lizard
DEF: 1200
Lvl.: 3
Dragma Coatl
DEF: 1600
Lvl.: 3
Dragma Wyvern
DEF: 1800
Lvl.: 4
“And now,” Keifer exclaimed, “the flip effects of my Dragma monsters activate!”
“Flip effects?” shouted Yurik.
“I first activate the effect of Dragma Lizard, destroying a face-up monster my opponent controls.”
“No way!”
“The monster I destroy is your Fire Pony!”
Dragma Lizard leapt up at the approaching pony and latched onto it. Yurik’s monster whinnied loudly as the reptilian creature sunk its teeth into its neck, shattering it into gold sparks.
“Fire Pony!” cried Yurik.
Rarity gasped as she brought her hooves over her mouth, abhorred by the violent act.
“Next,” continued Keifer, “is the flip effect of my Dragma Coatl, allowing me to place one Singe Counter on a monster you control, and I choose your Unioncorn of Wind!”
Keifer’s serpent stared into the eyes of Yurik’s unicorn, its own eyes glowing red. A small flame then appeared on the unicorn’s chest.
Singe Counters: 0 -> 1
“Finally,” remarked Keifer, “there’s the flip effect of my Dragma Wyvern, allowing me to draw one card!”
Yurik watched with flustered fatigue as Keifer confidently drew his card and added it to his hand.
“Then,” Keifer said, pointing to Yurik, “there’s the last effect of Eruption Force, inflicting 500 points of damage to you.”
“What did you say?” he yelled
“Burn, Yurik Clayer!”
The still visible trap card suddenly blasted a pillar of fire at Yurik, which struck him and knocked him off his feet. Yurik shrieked loudly as he felt the intense, searing heat of the fire on his skin.
Yurik’s Life Points: 4000 -> 3500
“Yurik!” screamed Twilight.
Yurik landed onto his back, all to the horror of his friends as they looked down at him. Rarity covered her eyes, both to shield her vision from the fight and to brace her tears leaking from her eyes. Yurik, his arms, legs, and face still stinging continued lying on the floor of the building, a scared look in his eyes.
“That fire,” he gasped, “it felt real. He can make the damage real. Just… just who is this thing?”
Keifer too looked down at Yurik, his smile growing to reveal his row of teeth, ecstatic to see his plan working so well.