> My Little Pony: Duelist Reborn! > by Bakuda > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: The Supreme Summoning invoked! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yu-Go-Oh! Belongs to Konami. Hasbro has MLP. Now that that is out of the way, let’s get moving! This is a Fanfiction crossover made from two people; both Baku and Crystal are two characters that are not based on us but created characters for this story. Enjoy! --- I guess I should explain a bit about myself, since I am telling you this story. My name is Baku, that’s all you need to know for my name. I started playing the Duel Monsters card game when I was young and grew very attached it. Eventually, I was entering tournaments and trading away with friends. Sadly, I never found myself to be the best of the best, some duellists just overwhelming me. One such duellist is a very great friend of mine. Her name is Crystal; we call each other these nicknames like they are ‘Duel Tags’, a sort of identity some take whenever they enter tournaments and the like. We hit it off very well, even though she creamed me. I upgraded my deck time after time, winning one day and getting slaughtered the next. It was just after a full day at college when I sat down and had a conversation with my friend. That day was when it all changed. I hope you enjoy our story, even if some won’t believe when we tell you all this. --- A dark haired young man sighed loudly once he landed himself on a bench inside the local card shop. Not many was about, the owner even in the back and sorting through the new arrivals. He wore a plain blue shirt with a white dragon emblem spiralling around the front, his legs covered by a simple black pair of track pants. Shrugging off the large dark blue backpack he wore, he relaxed a little and flipped open a deck box upon his belt; “Crystal, I’m having a very bad losing streak lately, though I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Maybe I’ve lost my touch.” Baku joked with a weak smile, looking over to his best friend. His friend stood by with one hand on her hip, the other flicking through some card purchases she had just made. She wore a pair of denim jeans and a white tank top, her flaming red hair falling to her waist; “Oh come in Baku. You know very well that isn’t true. Maybe you just had some bad luck? You should change it around a little, get you a little more defence. You know? So you can counter monsters and what not?" she asked, lowering her eyes back down to the cards she was holding. Searching through his own cards, Baku merely shrugged at the notion; “Monsters I don’t mind. It’s the traps and monster effects which restrict me that work against me. Stuff that forces me to abandon a strategy before it even starts. I should change it though; it’s a tiffany crystal right now. Bright and shiny yet shatters at the first touch.” He stated, pulling out one card from his side deck; “Gorz, Emissary of Darkness. I have to thank you for this one, it really makes my deck pull out a winner when I need it the most.” He said with a warm smile. “Speaking of, how are your decks running? Any new ones?” he asked once he placed them away and back into the deck-box. He also picked up his bag, knowing that they couldn’t just loaf around the shop. Crystal placed her new cards away before answering the question; “Well, you know I run a custom built ninja deck for my main build. If someone ticks me off though, I have a Dark World deck and a Black Wing deck. Dark World is just mean though, I don’t like using it unless I really need to.” Chuckling, Baku picked himself up; “Right. Well, want to give a test game?” he asked, ducking into his bag and pulling out a Duel Disk from the Kaiba Corporation. He always wanted a custom one, though they were very expensive. He would keep to the normal ones for now. Laughing a little at his eagerness, Crystal slotted her own onto her arm. “You’re on!” --- Elsewhere, in another world, it was early morning in Equestria. It was a grand time. Peace prosperity and nothing to fear apart from things lurking in the forests, kept at bay by the mighty princesses of the realm. The bright sun peeking over the horizon thanks to the dawn princess raising it for the citizens, showering it’s light upon all it touched. In the mind of all, nothing could ever go wrong for them. That was the problem however, for a great danger was approaching faster than they thought possible. Within the great mountain city of Canterlot sat the castle, withholding two mighty Alicorns that raised the sun and moon when needed. The sun princess, Celestia, was overlooking very old manuscripts when she let out a sigh; "It is closer than I realise. Guard, call upon Princess Luna. I must speak to her immediately!" she commanded, the white stallion in golden armour trotting off at once to the Lunar Chambers without complaint or surprise. "I pray for my little ponies... I pray that they can handle the game." she whispered, placing the ancient documents down and staring towards the foreboding script, a singular symbol of a golden eye staring back at her. Shortly later, the lunar princess emerged through the doors in a half-sprint. The dark blue Alicorn trotted into the room and up to her sister, looking concerned; "Thou needed us sister? What is wrong, thou seem troubled." She observed, noting the tired look in her sisters eyes. She hasn’t seen that in a long time. Trailing her sisters eyes downward, she too spotted the eye and gasp; “No, it cannot be time, not yet sister!” she stated, nearly hyperventilating immediately. Celestia nodded slowly, placing the manuscripts aside with her magic; "Indeed it is my sister. I have come to realise a grave error in miscalculation. I thought I had time, yet it turns out that my math was wrong. The merger is occurring once again and it will be happening today." she stated, looking her sister in the eye before continuing. "I want you to gather the Night Guard; they are the best warriors we have. I'd have the Day Guard assemble, yet the Night Guard knows the old ways of battle, since they sealed themselves with you. We can't possibly win with that alone however. I will gather the Elements of Harmony to perform a Supreme Summoning." she instructed clearly, the weary sign in her eyes replaced by a bright fire, ferocity of a thousand suns. Luna nodded to her at once, her own eyes gaining the wisdom of her long life, prepared for war; "Yes. We shall gather all my troops. We hope we have enough time to prepare for the return of those monsters." She spat in a manner non-befitting of a princess, though she went out immediately to perform her duties. Celestia looked down slightly as her sister left. When she was sure she was alone, she summoned out a parchment and quill from seemingly nowhere; "My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot immediately, the fate of Equestria lies within the Elements..." she started to write. --- "...Please make haste; I do not know how long we have. Sorry I cannot explain in letter, though it is critical. Sincerely, your fellow Princess, Princess Celestia. Solar Diarch of the Equestrian Kingdom." Spike read aloud to six ponies within the local library, having gathered them for the reading. The first to speak after was the orange farmer pony, her hat tipped back as she reared her head a little; “Land sakes, this must be some real bad business if it’s got Princess Celestia all up in a tizzy like this, we best get a moving." The mare said with a southern accent. Applejack, the Element of Honesty. A mare next to her spoke up next, her white coat and styled dark purple mane sparkling in the bright sunlight pouring through the window; “Indeed darlings. We can’t ignore a summons from the princess herself. Let us gather the Elements and go at once.” She said with a smile, looking to the glass case in the corner, holding five different pieces of jewellery. This was Rarity, the Element of Generosity. The Element of Loyalty floated on in the air, her cyan blue wings flapping to keep her afloat. She waved her rainbow coloured mane out of her eyes before whisking back and banging her hooves onto her chest like an ape; “Yeah! If it’s some guy that needs a good, old fashion beat down, we can pull it off!” Rainbow Dash called out with a massive grin towards her friends. Hidden near the back of her friends, a young butter yellow mare with a long pink mane found her voice right after her friends’ opinions gave her encouragement; “I think we should go to... If everyone wants to that is.” She squeaked. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, was showing her namesake like always. The second last of the group happened to be both a winged and horned pony, the lavender mare giving a smile at her friend’s ever-helpful attitude; “The train will be leaving soon. Let’s get going girls.” She offered, her horning lighting up with a magenta hue, the jewellery from before flying from the glass case and into a gem encrusted carry case. All of the ponies were out the door and were about to lock it when they all turned to their last friend. A pink mare with an only slightly darker pink, fluffy mane. She was posed with one hind leg on a stack of books, the other on the floor. Her front legs however were holding onto a wooden sword and shield, the former raised into the air; “It’s... Adventure time! Wheee~!” she squealed, blasting out of the library and towards the train station, her props nowhere to be seen. The rest of her friends just ignored it, shutting the door and locking it while giggling a little at her antics. Pinkie Pie; the Element of Laughter and residential physics abuser. Getting aboard the first train to Canterlot, the girls settled into their own coach, looking out the windows as they started to move off towards their new destination. However, Twilight’s attention was focused on the castle in the distance; “What do you really think the Princesses would want that would require the Elements of Harmony?” she asked her friends. “I’m not sure darling.” Rarity spoke while going over her hooves, as if trying to spot an imperfection she may have overlooked; “Perhaps we should wear them for when we arrive?” she asked. Twilight’s eyes sparkled at the suggestion, her magic going over the blue box once more and opened it. Distributing the Elements around, Twilight smiled; “Perfect. We will be read-” she started, though saw something blur past the window and towards the castle, her eyes dilating slightly; “Did you see that?” she asked, unable to place what she had just seen. The rest of the girls just shook their heads, Applejack looking out towards the castle as well; “Maybe you’re just nervous sugar cube.” She offered, though it did nothing to stem the fear seen in Twilight’s eyes. What she saw was no less than... a monster. --- At Canterlot Castle, Celestia had been busy. The moment that she had finished with her letter and sent it on its way, she had took hold of a paint brush and a full bucket of paint from the arcane storerooms. Runes weren’t often used in arcane works since they were very dangerous if the user got it wrong. The more runes and the bigger they were, the more dangerous they were. This spell however needed a large boost. Even with the magic to raise and lower the sun, she could not pull it off herself if she didn’t want to spend the next few years in a coma. Over the next hour, she painstakingly made sure each rune was laid perfectly onto the marble floor, each one the correct size and spinning in the circle she had made for her spell to take place. The Supreme Summoning spell was merely theory created by Starswirl the Bearded. It could never be proven since it needed too much magical energy for even a hundred unicorns and the use of runes in this manner was near suicidal. A short while after finishing, Celestia checked her work with a small smile. The runes were spread from one side of the room to the other and in a perfect circle, only a singular circle in the centre held a giant rune meaning the word ‘Summon’ in the ancient tongue. At that moment, the six ponies and one dragon entered the room. Twilight rushed up to her old mentor immediately with a small smile on her face. Seeing her made all her fears go away. “Princess Celestia! We came as fast as we could. What’s the matt...” she started, though gazed downwards to the ring of runes spread around the massive hall; “Runes? Princess is this... a Supreme Summoning?! No offense your majesty, though what in the wide world of Equestria are you thinking?!” she yelled, fully aware of what was required for this type of spell, yet quickly remembered who she was yelling at; “Uh... Sorry.” She muttered, blushing slightly. Smiling weakly, Celestia gave a nod; “I am fully aware of the situation, my fellow Princess. I have also told you, call me Celestia. We are of the same rank, are we not?” she asked teasingly. “Yes, sorry Celestia.” Twilight murmured, her blush getting heavier; “Though why have a Summon Circle this big? Only a Supreme Summoning requires runes at all and that hasn’t been done... Ever!” she recalled, her mind both scared and intrigued by the magical circle. The sun princess just waved her head over to the centre of the circle, a frown forming when she began to speak; "My little Ponies, a threat is coming. This world is being pulled into another one, one where this world and another used to be one in the same. However the other world that this one came from is filled with powerful monsters, much more powerful than Luna and I. In short, we require power from another world to hold off any assaults from monsters while we gather the power to stop this merger." she explained, stepping away from the barrier in the circle and looking at the six of them in turn. "However, there is an issue of powering this summoning. We require the Elements of Harmony." she explained, pointing to a box right in front of the Summoning Circle. Rarity was the first to react, immediately placing her necklace back into the blue box, which was now held at the front of the summon circle; “I suppose it is for the best. This is dangerous however, especially since this summon circle is rather large and intricate.” The princess nodded at once, her face as stoic as possible; "I know. One mistake could blow this whole castle to pieces. Yet I made sure not a single mistake was made." she reported. Rainbow didn't need a moment later to place her own into box; "I trust you princess. Who else?" she asked, giving a flash of a smile to her friends. Bolstered by her friend’s loyalty, Fluttershy gently laid her necklace into her slot, the rings around the rings centre starting to spin. --- Back in the human world, Baku was just about to draw his first five cards when he buckled, a hand over his heart; “Wh... What the? Argh!” he cried out suddenly, dropping to his knees as he held his chest in agony. He barely was able to look up to spot his friend in the same condition; “Crystal!” Crystal groaned as she placed her hands onto her head, unable to keep the pain from increasing; “What is going on?!” she demanded, her body starting to look transparent as the seconds passed by. It was like a strange force was cleaving them in two, ripping them apart slowly and sending them both off to world’s unknown. The two of them vanished the next moment, a bright flash of light enveloping them both just as their forms exited that world. The shopkeeper of the Game Shop blinked a few times before rolling his eyes and continued scrubbing down the bench; “Stupid kids and their technology...” he muttered. --- The seven ponies were watching the rings of the Summon Circle activate and turn, something starting to appear in the middle, shielded by a golden light. They were interrupted however when a guard burst into the room; "Princess Celestia! There is a monster attacking the city!" he called out, startling the ponies inside. "Let's roll girls!" Twilight called, running out of the room and to a balcony where she could clearly see a monster on the horizon. It appeared to be a massive pink bear crossed with a bull. The size of this creature was astounding, probably as big as a full grown dragon. It held dark purple fur on the top of its body that went from the base of its tail and towards the top of the head, a forest of hair larger than a house. Howling, the creature made for the city, clear saliva dripping from its fanged maw, apparently after a quick meal from the ponies in the city. Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew wide as she set her sights on the monster; “What the hay?! That thing is huge! Bet I can send it packing though.” She boasted, knocking her hooves together as she prepared to take off, her friends ready to jump in to stop her, though the sun princess beat them to it. "No Rainbow. You must wait!" Celestia called out to her, stepping in front of her subjects; "That monster is not one you must tangle with. I doubt even Luna and I combined could hold it off for too long. I know this one personally, it's a beast that is known as 'Behemoth, King of All Animals'." she reported, looking out to the massive beast as it approached. "Wait until the summon finishes, hopefully whoever arrives can help us!" she instructed, taking flight immediately to help the guard stall the massive beast, leaving the six ponies and dragon behind. Back in the main hall, a loud groan escaped the middle of the circle, Baku breaking free from the light; "Ugh, what? Hey, Where are we?" he asked suddenly, looking around the massive hall around him. He looked to his side, where the familiar shape of his friend still stood. Crystal's light shattered next to him as she appeared before him, the girl groaning softly when she did. While holding her head, she looked around slowly, the pain fading away; “Ugh, y chest is killing me. Whoa... Hey, did the card shop get a makeover?" She asked as she took in the massive atrium they were in now. "Our other option is that we are high. You don't know anyone that would sneak us stuff would you?" Baku joked before a noise hit him, sounding like a bit of a squeal. Pinkie Pie had rounded the corner, seemingly hanging in the air and spinning her legs like helicopter blades when she spotted the pair; "Hey Twilight! Two monkeys came out of the circle thingie!" she called out, causing Baku to raise an eyebrow at her. "Were we just insulted?" he asked, watching as more multi coloured horses made themselves known in the room. When he noticed that two were Pegasai, one was a Unicorn and the other was a mixture of both, he finally gave a nod; "Yep. Defiantly high." He muttered, shaking his head at the conclusion. Crystal was beside herself; "Monkey!? I am not a monkey! And who are you to talk little... Pink... Pony... God what am I doing arguing with this horse for?" she said shaking her head and trying to calm down; “I’m going to strangle whoever did this to us." Looking over the two, Rarity seemed to have a heart attack; “My word, they look so... So...” she started, though unable to find the words. Spike pitched in the word ‘Creepy’, though was shot down by the mare with a frown; “No Spike. Maybe they are what Princess Celestia wanted to summon?" Twilight stepped up the edge of the circle, looking confused; "What... What are you? I've never seen creatures like you in my books. And what are those on your arms?" she asked, yet had to snap out of it when she realised they didn’t have the time; "You're under no illusion. I'm sorry if we insulted you and also sorry for summoning you. We require you help. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, call me Twilight. These are my friends; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie." she offered, trying to be friendly as she pointed to her friends in turn. Playing along, Baku stepped forward and raised his arm and the blade on it; "This is called a Duel Disk. As for what we are, we are Human's. Lastly, my name is Baku, my friend here is Crystal." he reported, slowly walking out of the circle and avoiding any runes he came across. Crystal followed closely behind him, stepping over everything; “You said we were summoned here? By whom and what could possibly need our help? We are just teenagers." She stated, moving with her friend out of the circle without touching one of the now stationary runes. Now up close, Rainbow looked over the new arrivals before tilting her head to the side; "I think the princess made a mistake. How could you two battle that thing? You look kind of weak to me." she observed, pointing out the window to the massive monster. Baku took a gaze outside for a moment and spotted the thing battling some shapes in the distance, freezing at the sight of it. This seemed to spark a reaction in the mare, speeding up to Baku and nearly toppling him over from landing on his chest; "You know what that thing is! When we summoned you, it turned up! Are you a SPY?!" she asked accusingly, yet found her body lifting off him by a strange purple light, the same light surrounding Twilight's horn. "No more Daring Do books until you get those ideas out of your head, Seriously." the Pegacorn reported with a roll of the eyes, earning a groan from the Pegasus. Crystal looked back at them all before the monster again; it took a moment before she went wide eyed and grabbed her bag; “Wait a sec! I know that thing... Oh come on, where- ah! Here it is! See? Look Baku." She said, holding a card of the beast out in the distance. She grabbed the card from her ‘spare folder’. Thankfully their cards and disks were still with them, since this seemed to be an important factor. Taking a look, he read it aloud; "Behemoth, the King of All Animals. When this card is summoned, return to the hand as many Beast types from the graveyard as per monster used for a tribute." he read out, looking to the ponies before him; "I think I get what this is about. Well, might as well play along. Crystal, want the first crack or shall I?" he asked, picking the deck-box from his right pocket and slipping the deck into the Duel Disk. The ponies, dragon and human female just looked to him in confusion, Crystal finally speaking up after a few seconds; "Uh, why don’t you give it the first go? That way I don’t mess anything up." She offered nervously. Giving a blank look, Baku stared at her; "You are the better duellist than I am. I'll take the challenge though." he remarked, smirking and heading for the balcony. As he walked past, Applejack nearly blew a gasket; "Now just hold on for just a second! What's this about that card and that beast out there?! Would some pony mind telling me what the hay is going on?!" she bellowed, yet Baku didn't even bother looking at her when she went off her top. Twilight merely laid a hoof on her back, shaking her head slightly to tell her to not worry. "Alright... Draw!" he called, drawing forth six cards from his deck, the Duel Disk upon his arm lighting up and speaking in a robotic voice; "--VIRTUAL SYSTEMS READY--” The beast in the distance seemed to have taken notice of the castle, letting off a powerful roar and starting to head towards it. Crystal stared out as the thing cane charging; “Oh snap, Baku whatever you’re planning, do it fast!" she called in slight panic. Baku looked at his hand before grinning; "Perfect! Since there is a monster on the field, I can automatically summon the master of the raining sky! Hieratic Dragon of Teftnuit!" he cried, slamming said card onto his Duel Disk. From above, the entire sky seemed to shift and turn in on itself, forming rain clouds that billowed out thunder. From within the clouds, a massive downpour occurred, something appearing with it as the rain fell onto the castle. A massive white dragon seemingly made of ancient energy roared as it flew from the clouds and swung down to the castle. Clad in golden armour, an odd symbol on the front of it, the dragon looked ready for battle. Simultaneously, all of the ponies and dragons mouths hit the floor at the sight. Spike was the first to react however, his eyes sparkling at the sight of the ancient and probably powerful dragon; “That is sooo cool...” he muttered, his mouth turning into a smile; “I like this guy already.” Applejack was having different thoughts however, standing over Fluttershy, who had taken refuge in her own mane to hide from the new beast; “That ‘Human’ just summoned a dragon with just a small card. He could be really dangerous, plus that girl over there does seem to be hot tempered. I better watch, I wouldn’t want ponies hurt with weapons like that.” She thought to herself. Bakuwasn’t done yet though, choosing another card from his hand; "Yet he's not sticking around. By tributing him, I can bring forth the Lord of the Night! I tribute Teftnuit to Special Summon the Hieratic Dragon of Nethbet!" he cried, slamming down the card in question, slipping Teftnuit’s card into the graveyard. The downpour subsided outside; the entire sky seemingly was changing. To the surprise and somewhat horror of the ponies in the castle and town, the sun began reversing course and allowed the moon to overtake it. In seconds, the day had been put to rest and made way for the night to begin again. In the moonlight where Teftnuit once was, a large purple dragon took its place. The Wedjat, the symbol of power it had, was pointed towards the moon. Flipping through his deck, Baku pulled out another card to add to his hand; "By tributing a Hieratic dragon, I am allowed to Special Summon a normal dragon from my deck, behold the Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord!" he shouted, a large golden ball appearing overhead the castle. It was covered in old runes, though not much else was very special about it minus the fact it glowed as bright as the sun. Pinkie Pie was watching with rapt attention, slightly freaking her friends out more than the fact the ‘dragons’ were being summoned before them; “So we have two Hieratic Dragons. Come on, pull of the mega-super-ultra-great-sensational-outstanding-magnificent-peerless-super-smashin-” she started, though was silenced when Twilight zipped her mouth shut with her magic. “Enough of that Pinkie. Plus you said ‘Super’ twice.” She remarked with a dull tone. With the magic gone, Pinkie just giggled; “I know, that’s because it’s SUPER super!” she announced, causing most ponies in the room to groan. Ignoring the spectators, Baku thrust his hand out; "Say goodbye beast! By tributing another Hieratic Dragon from my hand, I can destroy one monster automatically. By tributing the Lord of the Dawn, I can do just that. I tribute Hieratic Dragon of Eset from my hand to activate Nethbet's ability. In an instant, the sun reappeared in the sky, blending in perfectly with the night. The moon moved over it to block it from view, though created an eclipse when doing so. The light from the eclipse shown down in lunar rays, slamming into Hieratic Dragon of Nethbet and fuelling it’s already incredible power. “The night takes the sun's power and unleashes unmeasurable fury! Go Nethbet; destroy the King of All Animals, Behemoth!" Baku commanded. Nethbet opened its maw wide and shot off the same silver blast. It enveloped the massive beast before it reached the inner city and evaporated it from existence, a howl following it when the blast consumed its entire being. Most of the ponies were stuck with their mouths to the floor at what they were witnessing, yet Rainbow Dash was watching with rapt attention, a grin on her face; "This 'game' is so AWESOME!" she squealed silently, pleased with the amount of explosions. The other ponies were all silent and in complete awe of what they just witnessed. This creature just commanded beasts that could control day and night at will with mere cards, plus the fact those dragons just decimated a beast bigger than some of the castle ramparts. The farmer pony wasn’t that thrilled though, looking around the room before finding a store cupboard nearby, probably what the guards used for some of their armour. Crystal watched as the dragon decimated the King of all Animals in the span of a few moments, her eyes wide in surprise before she looked back to Baku; "Right. I’m the best duellist around? You just wrecked that thing." She said shaking her head, though the smile on her face showed she was just amused. Chuckling nervously, Baku rubbed the back of his head; "Heh, I guess I just got a good draw." he spoke nervously. That nervousness was proven right when a bright light shone out from the field, the remains of the Behemoth shining across the city. Something seemed to be forming from it, creating another beast of equal size to the Behemoth. A bright light was what it was for a moment, though continued to grow into what appeared to be a white lion. However a second head sported from its neck, a giant goat head. With both wings on its back and snake for a tail, it was clear what it was. "It's a Chimera!" Fluttershy cried out loud, ducking behind a table and shaking rapidly, almost looking like she was vibrating. This beast howled out before making its way to the castle again, causing the boy to growl. Bakud looked at his Duel Disk to the monster he still had in play as he tried to think of a strategy; "Behemoth's ability to return monsters once summoned. This was its 'Plan B' and what a good one at that. Chimaera, the Master of Beasts. This is a forbidden monster. A Victory Condition. If it wins a battle and depletes life points, it wins the whole 'game'. I wouldn't like to see the real effect!" he stated in panic, though quickly figuring out a solution and looking up to the new beast. "When Nethbet tributed Eset, Eset's ability went off. This allows me to summon my second Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon overlord!" he called, allowing the two giant balls of light to hang overhead the castle, the pair of them spinning slowly around each other like planets in orbit. The monster had almost reached the city limits when Baku reached out his hand; "I overlay my level 8 Hieratic Seal’s and create the Overlay Network!" he cried out, the two giant orbs forming into twin beams of white energy, surging into the night sky. A huge wormhole appeared before them, absorbing the light they made. "With the power of light overpowering, the sun bears down and brings hope to the world. I XYZ Summon Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis! Rise lord of the sun!" he called, a large fiery blast echoing from the wormhole. It was another dragon, yet much larger than the others, almost as big as the castle itself. Its scales a burning orange/red hue, standing against the golden armour around its energy-based body. Around its body however appeared to be two balls of red light, the remainder of the two seals that were the cause of its creation. As it arrived the moon gave way once more, the sun glowing even brighter as the moon went down to rest. Smirking, Baku removed one of the cards buried underneath; "I remove one Overlay Unit to activate its ability. By tributing Hieratic Dragon of Nethbet, I can destroy one monster. Go!" he called out. A single ball of light swept up and into the chest plate Wedjat that the massive dragon wore, Nethbet flying up and diving into it as well, its own body becoming the energy for the new dragon. When complete, Heliopolis roared out towards his opponent, fire flaring across its body. Overhead, the sun seemed to be glowing even brighter, a wave of pure solar energy forming into the dragon's maw; "With the sun's might and the teamwork of the dragons, a force is unleashed that is unrivalled by any other. Solar Eruption!" Baku called out, letting his dragon shoot out the overpowering beam of energy to the chimera. The Chimera in question let its own maw open and fire a blast of white energy. It was pushed aside easily however, the solar wave shooting over it and covering its whole body. It gave one last howl before blasting into particles, the flames licking at whatever remained. After everything faded and the light died down, Crystal uncovered her eyes to see only a scorch mark where the beast used to be. Whistling, Crystal moved closer to her friend; “Man, why couldn’t the real game be this awesome?" she asked tauntingly. Heliopolis let out a loud bellow before taking to the skies, vanishing off into the distance and then to particles, having won its battle and getting some rest. That little 'game' was over, letting Baku fold the disk back to its standby state; "I'll say, though that was real damage. Luckily no one was in the waaaaaay!" he cried out, falling over backwards after something tugged his legs. The orange cowgirl pony had a chain in her mouth, the end of it tying Baku's legs together. She had gathered the chain from the storage room, making use of what she had. She had a second one with her, quickly flipping it over Crystal's head and catching her as well, the chain getting around the arms instead and forcing Crystal to abandon any attempt to use her deck.; "Sorry you two, though I can't trust ya just yet. You just summoned that big dragon, who knows what else ya can do. Until we know we can trust yall with that power, I’m gonna have to get you to stand down until the princess get’s here." she instructed, her friend looking to her as if she was crazy. Crystal just stared at her in the same way; “What?! Baku just saved you from getting turned into pony bites! How can you not trust us?!" She shouted, growling as she fought with the chain glaring at the orange pony. Before anyone could answer, the door to the throne room burst open to reveal several guards swarming in. The head of the herd saw the tied down humans immediately and pointed to them; “There they are. Secure them and bring them to the dungeons, by order of the crown!” he announced. Captain Steel Chain, the pony who took over Shining Armour’s position when he retired to the Crystal Empire. He usually asked questions only when Luna or Celestia asked him to. The six ponies and dragon were too stunned to react when the stallions took hold of the chains and nearly dragged the pair of humans out of the throne room, Steel Chain only giving Applejack a single nod before heading out and closing the door behind him. After a few moments, Spike looked around the group and took in everything about the ponies he was friends with. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were looking at Applejack in anger. Applejack looked stubborn as ever. Fluttershy was still quivering from the dragons and Twilight was staring out to the battlefield. Giving a sigh of annoyance, Spike held the bridge of his maw; “This day could not have been any weirder.” he muttered. > Chapter 2: Ninja's in the Mist > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well, what a fine mess we are in. So much for being heroes." a male voice stated from inside a prison cell. Right after being captured, both Baku and Crystal found themselves escorted and placed inside the castle dungeons; "I guess this is how they treat people they help. Or at least that orange one does anyway." Baku remarked, slumped up against the wall. On a nearby table, where a guard was stationed, their Duel Disks and decks lay. They couldn't use their cards to escape this mess as much as they wanted to. Crystal was silent and surprisingly calm, having used most of her energy fighting off the unicorns that dragged the pair of them to the prison cells. As much of a temper Crystal had and as much Baku tried to get out, the Unicorn magic was enough to get them under their control. Baku held onto hope however, they had to see that they weren’t the bad guys. --- “Why the hay do you want to help the bad guys?!” Applejack shouted at two of her friends. Ever since those guards had left, she had been on the firing line from two of her friends ever since the two humans had been dragged off by the royal guards. Twilight and Spike had head off to meet with Celestia to see if she could help clean up the mess both the behemoths and the dragons had left, leaving Applejack to defend herself on her own. She found herself face to face with one of her oppressors the moment it left her lips, Rainbow Dash pushing her nose against Applejack’s; “Those two helped us out and you just tied them up! That wasn’t very cool AJ.” She spouted, her eyebrows furrowed as she spoke challengingly, as if to get Applejack even more riled up. Rarity was beside the cyan Pegasus, nodding in agreement with her flying friend; “Precisely my standing as well. How could you Applejack? How could you just betray those who were just torn from their homes and didn’t think twice to help us survive that monster attack?” she demanded, sticking her nose up high with a ‘humph!’ after speaking. Growling, Applejack stomped her hooves down; "Will you two girls’ git your head ou’ of the clouds an’ just see what happened! Tha’ guy brought out a giant dragon to blow that big beastie up. I am mighty grateful fo’ that, yet what if they do that to US?" she asked, jabbing Rainbow in the chest with a front hoof. Narrowing her eyes, Rarity stared at her friend; “You have made your case Applejack, though I do not buy it. I will not stand here while you have our saviours rotting in some horrible dungeon. Come Rainbow; let us at least give them some quality company while we wait for the princesses to sort out this icky mess.” She announced, striding off with her nose in the air once more. Rainbow Dash wasn’t too far behind her, not before shooting Applejack a glare however. When they left through the doors, Applejack sunk to the ground, guilt racking upon her mind; “I did the right thing, didn’t I?” she asked aloud, not expecting a single yellow wing to drape over her. Fluttershy smiled weakly as she lay next to her, her need to help friends in need overpowering her need to be afraid by leaps and bounds; “You did what you thought was right, that’s all anypony can do.” She spoke calmly, watching as Applejack gained a small smile to her face. “You’re a saint Sugercube.” She spoke; closing her eyes to take a brief rest, today had just been too weird for her to keep up. --- Rainbow trotted beside Rarity with a small smile on her face as they went towards the dungeons, her thoughts cast back to the battle they had just witness taking place; "So, what did you think of those dragons that guy summoned? Baku I think his name was?" she asked, trying to rise up a conversation. The fashionesta nodded with a bright spark igniting with her eyes as she too thought back to it; “Oh yes darling, they were magnificent. I might just make a line of clothes inspired by those dazzling colours! Did you see the deep orange that melded so well with the golden armor? I’m not a real stickler for orange, no offense to Applejack, though it was pulled off superb!" she stated, going off a slight tangent, muttering about new fashion designs she could make. Laughing with her friend, Rainbow got the picture in her head of her wearing the armor Heliopolis was wearing.  The thought of it was both awesome and hilarious; "Oh yeah, I thought you might say that. What I liked about them is the amount of power they just had. They brought each other out by supporting each other, then using their combined power to not only blow away the bad guys but they even changed the day into night just by showing up!" she spoke with a wild grin, her own spark catching flame in her eyes. With that sort of power, what could she pull off with her stunts? Rarity nodded at once, her head slightly bowing; "Indeed they do have a massive amount power. Applejack does have a point in how they can be dangerous, though they haven’t done wrong yet and they may be just what we need though that monster looked horrifying and so much damage." Nodding, Dash looked ahead; "Yeah... But what were those cards abou-" she started, yet had to stop when she felt something under hoof. Raising her front hoof, she found a card laying face down in front of them; "Huh? Maybe they struggled and this came free?" she wondered, picking them up. Upon reading the title and seeing the picture, Rainbow gave a slight smile; “Yujo Friendship. Offer your opponent a handshake. If they accept your handshake, each player's Life Points become half the combined Life Points of both players. If you have "Unity" in your hand and show it to your opponent, they must accept the handshake.” She read aloud, stopping a moment at the mention of ‘hands’, though she presumed it was at the end of their front legs. “So this card combines the two players ‘life’ and then splits it evenly. So if a friend was struggling, they hurt themselves just to give their friend extra life?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow as she thought about it. Keeping still for a moment, she looked up to Rarity with a solemn expression. The pair nodded to each other silently before galloping off towards the dungeons. --- In the castle dungeon, someone had beaten the pair of them there, the doors opening to welcome him and the guards surrounding the visitor as he entered. He was a stallion with a pure white coat, his blond mane looking bleached enough to shine like a torch; "So, you two are the beasts that caused that mayhem. Guards, what are their current imprisonment grounds?" he asked, ignoring the two within. Crystal glared at the stallion as he spoke, his very tone of voice aggravating her. The guards saluted to him as one of them, the one wearing the most elaborate headgear, began to speak; "My lord! There here under word of the Element of Honesty, sir. She fears their powers are too great and that the Princess should decide their fate." The stallion was silent for a moment before nodding; "If the Element of Honesty believes they are a threat, then her word on it must be true. It is not in her nature to lie and hide a possible threat. Under the royal order of Prince Blueblood, I change this sentence to execution. We haven't done since ages past, yet the amount of danger following them cannot be ignored. I shall retire to my chambers." he stated, turning towards the prisoners one last time. "Enjoy your last day, monkey's." he stated with a 'humph', leaving the room in a pompous manner. Baku just gave a sigh from within the cell, sitting back from his seat; "What's with this place?" he muttered softly; "Is not one of these equines trustworthy?" It was at that moment that all the guards had left after 'Blueblood', apparently to make the paperwork of his new command. However, that left Rainbow to peek her head in without being caught; "Hellloooo?" Crystal looked back up when she heard the voice, her face seemingly stuck on a scowl; “Oh great, it’s the blue one that thought we were spies." She said with her head now resting in her hands; "What do you want?" She called out to her. Rainbow trotted in before Rarity, stopping before the bars; "Hey... Look, I just wanted to apologize for what I said and everything. You saved all of our hides back there. Even if some of us don't see it. Thanks." she stated, bowing her head softly. "Good to know, though t won't do us much good. Unfortunately, some 'Prince Blueblood' just ordered our execution." Baku stated in a somewhat bitter tone, not able to help it since it was just too unfair in his mind. This stumped the pony in front of the bars, dropping to the floor with mouth hanging open; "SAY WHAT?!" she screeched, leaping up to the bars and tugging on them; “That’s not fair!” she stated, echoing the human’s thoughts. Rarity was silent for a moment before giving a rather un-ladylike snort; “Blueblood! Stand aside Rainbow Dash.” She instructed, her horn lighting up with a mystical white light. The lock on the door promptly fell off with a clatter, causing her to smile slightly; “When one deals with gemstones, one has to learn a good locking and unlocking spell. Come along darlings!” she called to them, rushing for the door.  Baku raised an eyebrow once she finished speaking, confused by the concept of a pony actually ‘helping’ them; "So your fighting with us just to stop Blueblood?" he asked, yet in a lighter tone, rushing out the door and to the desk, picking up his Duel Disk; "I get why you are doing it... And thanks you two, though we have to get going. That order's been made and if you two are seen with us, you'd be enemies of the crown." he explained, passing Crystal her own Duel Disk. Looking back, Rarity gave a small grin to the pair; “Not quiet. There is a safe place for you, princess Luna keeps a room here by equestrian law the Solar guard cannot enter it and Princess Luna knows you her Luna guard will make sure your safe until Celestia can make things right we just need to get there." "And I know the perfect way... Now let's see..." Baku started, looking through his deck, yet he made for the door quickly; "Show the way and let's get going, the guards will be back shortly!" he stated, Rainbow bursting out the door before him and flashing him a smirk on the way past. Looking behind her, Rainbow gave a slight chuckle; "It's this way, come on slowpokes!" she teased, shooting off with Crystal and Rarity not too far behind. Baku remained just for a moment to fish out a card from his deck, though started to run after them while continuing to look. While running, Crystal snapped on her own Duel Disk and tried to get used to the twisting halls of the palace; “So, we just wait in the princess chambers until she can sort all this out?” she asked. Rarity gave a nod as they passed a set of barracks for the guards, the noise they made alerting a few of them already. Baku passed by and caught up with them while barely holding his deck together, searching for a card to help them out of this mess. Rainbow didn't stop to answer, though looked back from the air towards her pursuers; “Yeah, though to also find out what's going on. Luna knows more of what's going on, so maybe she can talk!" she called, the guards skidding out in front of them and halting their path. Growing at the sight of them, Crystal surged forward; “No one is killing me!" She cried charging them with her arms out, looking like she was going to punch them in the face.  However, she just charged onwards, catching both in the neck hard and close-lining them hard to the floor. Even if it wasn’t much, they'll be fighting for breath for a little while. Rainbow Dash and Baku stood still for a moment, looking at the guards that fell coughing. They continued their run and flight in silence until they both spoke at the same time; "Whoa. Remind me not to get on your bad side." they stated to each other, looking towards each other after speaking since it was a little creepy to be in sync like that. The four of them were almost to the tower when a few more guards seemed to have caught up, holding out spears above them, held in their magic. Baku flipped through his cards before finally finding the one he needed, slotting the others away quickly; “Alright!” he called with a smirk. His glee was not shown with the guards, who reacted the moment a flicker of the card was shown. Since these guards didn’t seem to have much training, or organisation for that matter, one of them threw their spear towards Baku only for it to divert to another target by its poor accuracy. “RARITY!” Rainbow cried out, diving back to try to intercept it, though she would be too late. The spear cut through the air and was about to pierce the frightened mare when the spear bounced off an invisible field, the spear launching to the roof and imbedding inside. Smirking, Baku took off again with the group. Slotted into his disk was a magic card, a picture of a samurai sitting on a seat, seemingly relaxing. "’One Day of Peace’ stops all Battle Damage until the end of my next move!" Baku explained to the group. It was mainly used when he pulled a bad hand or needed to go second in a duel, though it did have a good second job of deflecting the spears of defunct guard Ponies; "Though why are these guards attacking on sight?" Baku asked as he dodged a spear thrown. He couldn't be harmed, yet that didn't mean his body didn't scream out 'dodge!' whenever one came his way. Upon reaching the top of the tower, Rainbow kicked the door open and rushed inside with Crystal. Rarity and Baku getting inside right after and grabbing the doors, slamming it shut once everyone was inside; "Whew! That was clo-" Baku started, yet a shrill voice cutting off his sigh of relief. "Why are you all here?!" A dark figure in the shadows of the room called, female and apparently very angry at their intrusion. Rarity looked up once she recognised, or at least she thought she recognised, the voice of the pony speaking; “Oh Princess! I’m so sorry. Please forgive this intrusion but we need your help. These two are the ones that stopped those beasts from destroying Canterlot and our friend Applejack had them falsely arrested. When Prince Blueblood ordered there execution, we couldn’t think of anywhere else they would be safe then here with you." The figure approached from the shadows, yet it wasn't Luna. Prince Blueblood came forth, a wide smirk on his face; "Indeed." he stated, using the same female voice. He seemed bigger than the norm, his form shifting a little as he spoke; "That's exactly why their execution was called. I cannot have them here and ruining my plans... Especially you stupid little Ponies! Now stand still!" he commanded, standing up onto his hind legs and forcing his hoof forward, a wave of dark energy blasting off of it and towards them. The blast disintegrated however, One Day of peace still in effect. Growling, Blueblood looked at the Duel Disk on Baku's arm; "Under a spell are we?" he taunted. Having enough of this, plus the fact that this guy had ordered an execution on them, Baku stepped forward; "Enough of this, tell us who you are! Where is Luna and the real Blueblood?!" he demanded yet only earning a laugh from the stallion, who seemed to be both growing and mutating before their eyes. The group found it hard to look at the mutating creature. Rainbow Dash and Rarity both seemed to gag, Rarity a little more than Dash. When it finished, it looked like a muscular black humanoid monster with a red eye on its chest, black wings with red jewels sticking out of its back. Wisps of dark energy came off from it with a hint of red energy, its very eyes reflecting the dark energy it seemed to ooze out. Baku stepped back a little from the beast, growling as he recognised it from old textbooks; "Number 96: Dark Mist. Be careful, it can both shape shift and corrupt people it touches!" he commanded, eyeing the fiend warily. Rainbow was about to jump in to attack the monster yet Baku just held her back; "Don't get close, he can take you over. Alright Dark Mist, I think it's time you let the Ponies you took hold of go!" he commanded, holding up his duel Disk for protection. The monster was silent for a moment before laughing its head off, its gaze turned to Crystal and Baku with its sinister snicker; "You have guts to demand such things from a God. Very well then, I shall humour you a little. You have a very powerful Duel Force, both of you. However, the girl has the most. I shall make it mine and fully take over that pitiful ‘Princess’. She still defies my orders." He spat suddenly, as if the idea of someone going against him hurt him to the very core. He got his drive back however when finishing up; “If you do not accept my challenge, the Ponies will pay the price!” he warned, forming a Duel Disk shaped like a sheathed sword in a scabbard on his arm, his other hand pointing to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Crystal glared at him with fire dancing in her eyes; "You’re not going to lay a hand on another Pony here. I’m going to destroy you and send you back to whatever black pit you came from." she stated, her disk sliding out and locking into place. She pulled out her main deck and grinned at him as she slotted it into the card recogniser, the cards automatically shuffling; "You might know a few of these guys." she said, preparing for battle. *Virtual Systems Ready* *Virtual Reality Vision Link Established* DUEL! C R Y S T A L 8 0 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 8 0 0 0 Crystal drew the five starting cards, though drew her sixth right after, a smirk on her face; “Ladies before jerks. I’ll place down one card and then summon forth the Flame Armor Ninja!” she announced, her face down card appearing right before a pillar of flame shot up from the ground. The flames shocked the living daylights out of Rainbow Dash and Rarity, though the former tried to play it off as nothing. When the pillar dispersed, it showed a young male warrior dressed in a garb adorned with red flames. He crouched to the floor once landing a forward flip, keeping his stealth daggers at the ready. Grinning at the sight of one of her favourite cards, Crystal lowered her Duel Disk and relaxed; “I end my turn.” T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 1 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T FLAME ARMOR NINJA LEVEL: 4 ATK/1700 DEF/1000 Dark Mist chuckled a little as he drew his sixth card; “Ninja’s? Not much of a challenge. I’ll have fun ripping them apart!” he called, taking a glance at the card he had picked up; “Interesting. Take the bait little fish.” he taunted, slotting down one face-down card and set a monster into face-down Defence position. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 2 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T The Duel Disk on Crystal’s arm lit up, showing that Dark Mist ended his turn. Surprised a little by how much of a fight he didn’t put up, she gave a shrug; “Fine then, I will. Come forth Air Armor Ninja!” she called out, slapping the card onto the Duel Disk and letting her monster appear. Flipping from seemingly nowhere, a green robed ninja fell to his brother, taking the same position. AIR ARMOR NINJA LEVEL: 4 ATK/1400 DEF/1400 “Another boring ninja joins the fray. Whatever shall I do?” he taunted, a clear smirk on his face; “You don’t really know what you are doing, do you?” Crystal just glared at him, her eyes narrowing as she accessed the situation; “He has one face down. That must be a trap that stops the bigger monsters from coming out, like Horn of Heaven. It may also be Mirror Force; I won’t give him what he wants.” She thought quickly, lowering her Duel Disk; “I end my turn!” T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 2 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T A little confused by her lack of fighting spirit, Dark Mist drew his card; “Very well, if the cowardly girl doesn’t want to fight, I’ll do it for her! I summon Apprentice Magician in Attack mode!” he declared, a bright light filling his field. What appeared was a young man that was dressed in an odd purple tunic and held a green staff in his hand. APPRENTICE MAGICIAN LEVEL: 2 ATK/ 400 DEF/ 800 --- This seemed to take Rainbow over the edge, flying up a little to be at equal height with Baku; “What is this ‘Attack Mode’ stuff? Fill us in!” she asked with frustration. Rolling his eyes a little, Baku gave it a try; “Okay, this is going to be tough to explain to you guys. Duel Cards have two modes. Defence mode and Attack mode. They can also be face up or face down. When face down, they can’t be seen. Like that one Dark Mist has over there.” He explained, pointing to it. “When that card is set, we can’t tell if it is strong or weak. When face up however, we both see the monster and how strong it is. For example, Air Armor Ninja has 1400 Attack points and 1400 Defence points. Depending on the mode it is in, depends on what points it uses. Now, this is how battles work. When monsters battle in Attack mode, the one with the highest points wins and the other goes to the graveyard. The losing player also loses life points to the difference in Attack points. In a tie, both are destroyed with no damage to either player.” He explained before taking a breath and going on. “Defending monsters can’t attack. Yet if they are destroyed by an attacking monster, life points aren’t taken.  If the defence is higher, neither monster is destroyed but the attacking player takes damage.” He finished up, causing both Rarity and Rainbow Dash to nod in understanding. However, Baku continued on; “Something is wrong though. Look at Dark Mist’s monster. It’s weaker, much weaker than either Ninja.” He spoke up. --- Dark Mist didn’t seem to mind however, throwing out one hand; “Attack my magician! Attack Air Armor Ninja!” he bellowed, the low powered magician raising his staff and shooting a thin beam of green energy. The beam went straight through the green ninja, the body billowing into smoke to show that he wasn’t there. A cry of distress came from the other side of the field when the magician fell to the ground, a knife dug into his back. Flipping back over, Air Armor Ninja bent down next to his brother once more, watching the magician burst into golden particles. C R Y S T A L 8 0 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 7 0 0 0 Dark Mist just grinned as he watched his monster die; “When he is destroyed, I can activate his ability, enabling me to place a monster from my deck in face-down Defence position.” --- This spiked another rise from Rainbow, though Baku was way ahead of her and speaking before she opened her mouth; “Some monsters have special abilities that activate whenever a condition is met. Like how I beat those monsters this morning, I used their abilities instead of attacking.” He offered, the battle resurfacing back in their minds. --- “With that, I play this last card before my End Phase. You should know this one.” Dark Mist stated with a dark smile, slamming a magic card into a slot. When the card appeared, both Crystal and Baku recoiled as they recognised it. Baku immediately went into explanation when Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked to him for a reason why; “That is Wave Motion Cannon. Every time it comes to Dark Mist’s turn, it will increase in power by one point. Dark Mist can release that card at any time during his turn to deal one thousand points of damage per point it has. If he waits long enough, he could win the duel in one shot!” he spoke, turning back to the duel with worry brewing in all three of them. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 3 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 0 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T  “My turn!” Crystal said with a grin, looking to it before placing it down; “I lay down one card before going on the offensive. Go, Flame Armor Ninja! Stealth Flame Strike!” she announced, the ninja in red garbs bursting forward with a trail of fire following him. He jumped into the air and vanished into the darkness, seemingly gone. A moment passed however and a single blade shot through the set card from the bottom, the ninja jumping right through it. From the ripped card, a female warrior showed up to battle from the card, dressed in spandex and looking like from an odd anime. She was destroyed instantly however, the Ninja's blade slicing through her easily; “You destroyed Rai-Mei. By doing so, you added one monster card from my deck, to my hand.” Dark Mist replied simply, not really caring that his monster was destroyed. “Air Armor Ninja, follow up!” Crystal commanded, a set of shuriken shooting from the shadows and sinking into the second set card. It exploded in a flash of particles, briefly showing a blue skinned fairy. Agent of Mystery - Earth. Smirking a little, Crystal straightened up and chuckled; “No field left, apart from that face down that won’t do you any good. I’ll let loose next round. I play a second Flare Armor Ninja and get ready for the next shot.” She stated; a second red robed ninja appeared before the first, the trio silent as they awaited orders. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 3 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 1 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T --- Rainbow seemed to be enjoying the duel, eying the ninja’s like they were pulling off magic tricks she wanted to figure out; “They are so AWESOME! Did you see that Rarity?” she asked, though she discovered that Rarity was inspecting their outfits happily instead of what they did. Groaning a little, Dash turned back to the action; “Never mind...” she muttered. --- Things were about to take a turn for the worse however, Dark Mist slamming the card he obtained from Rei-Mei onto the field; “I summon Venus – Agent of Creation!” he called out, three orbs trailing around a tall woman in heavenly robes. The orbs were three different colours; blue, red and purple. Each one followed the woman, sticking around her long auburn hair. Unlike its picture on the card however, its expression was blank, dark moulting wings replacing the golden and pure wings she was supposed to have. Venus – Agent of Creation LEVEL: 3 ATK/ 1600 DEF/ 0 “I pay 1500 life points to summon three Mystical Shine Balls.” He announced, the three orbs off of Venus growing larger and settling down onto the field, each one seemingly loosing colour to become dark spheres of pure darkness. Mystical Shine Ball LEVEL: 2 ATK/ 500 DEF/ 500 C R Y S T A L 8 0 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 5 5 0 0 Crystal was confused by the action, raising an eyebrow to show it; “Why? They are so feeble, why do that?” she asked in bafflement, though it then clicked... “I overlay my three Mystical Shine Balls to build the overlay network!” he shouted with laugher echoing through the room. The three balls shot into the air, twisting together and blowing into a giant wormhole above them. Upon the three joining together inside, a mighty explosion of power blew back nearly everything in the room. Dash and Rarity had to hold onto Baku as wind blew them towards the wall. A dark fog rolled over the field as a massive blob of dark sludge fell onto Dark Mist’s side of the field; “I XYZ summon my avatar, Number 96: Dark Mist!” he cried out, the blob redefining itself by glowing claws and a rather stubby head. Yet fangs and eyes grew in at the middle, a mouth right in the middle of its chest. Its eyes were literally on fire when it turned towards Crystal. “You summoned yourself?!” Crystal asked in shock, taking a step back after witnessing the horrible sight of the beast before her. It was repulsive to say the least, the dark fog around her nearly making her choke; “No matter, this is considered a special summon so I can play this trap! Go, Armor Ninjitsu Art of Rust Mist! Now Number 96 has half its attack points!” she bellowed, a heavy downpour coming down upon Number 96 once the trap card on Crystal’s field flipped up, the fire in his eyes dying out as it took effect. This didn’t seem to bother Dark Mist too much, watching as Dark Mist lost half its attack. It wasn’t much to lose. Number 96: Dark Mist RANK: 3 OVERLAY UNITS: 3 ATK/ 100 - > 50 DEF/ 1000 With its attack points sitting at 50, Dark Mist looked to his side. The Angel of Creation's feathers were slowly falling out by his mere presence. Yet this gave him an idea; "Go my minion! Attack that face-down!" he bellowed, the now dark fairy raising her hands, a wave of black electricity erupting from her fingers. However the lightning struck what appeared to be a barrier before reaching the monster, a barrier that shone like a mirror. Crystal smirked as she activated her last face down trap card; “Mirror Force! Now all your monsters are destroyed!” she called out. Growing, Dark Mist flipped up his own face-down card; “I counter with Forbidden Lance. By reducing the attack points of one monster, I can save it from traps and Spell Cards this turn!” he shouted, an ornate spear shooting from the quick-play spell and impaling itself through Number 96. When the mirror reflected the dark lightning back, Venus was destroyed instantly while Number 96 was unharmed. ...Minus the fact he had a lance sticking through the chest that is. Crystal glared at him before crossing her arms; “Fine, so he sticks around a while longer. Big deal.” She spoke, though was surprised when her Duel Disk lit up, showing it was now her move. With Dark Mist’s turn over, the lance vanished, giving back Number 96 its abysmal 50 Attack points back. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 4 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 1 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T Picking up her next card, the girl nodded; “Alright, I play one card in defence mode. Then, I switch all my other monsters to defence mode. At that, I end my turn.” She spoke, switching the positions of her ninjas. They didn’t do much except bring their hands up into a guard after placing their weapons away. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 4 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 2 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T --- “What? Why?!” Rainbow declared, a look of utmost horror on her face; “That walking disaster has just 50 attack points, the ninja’s could crush him!” she spluttered, though Baku just shook his head at her. Looking to the field, he gave his analysis; “She made the right move. Number 96 has a very deadly ability. If the textbooks are anything to go by, when it attacks it can detach one overlay unit to absorb half the strength of the monster, always becoming stronger than its opponent.” He explained, much to the horror of Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Rarity looked aghast at the situation; “So, Crystal can’t win? That beast will always be able to beat her that way!” she complained, yet stopped upon seeing the smile on Baku’s face; “Baku? What are you smiling at?” she asked at once. Looking down to the two ponies, the human male pointed to Dark Mist; “It only has three overlay units. Once out, it loses its effect. Crystal is playing safe and trying to help her ninja’s survive Number 96 before she crushes it into a pile of dust.” He explained, much to the relief to the mares. --- Dark Mist didn’t even look at his drawn card before throwing his hand out; “Number 96! Attack that Face-Down!” he commanded, dark tendrils flying out of the beast and stabbing through the card. One flying orb around the monster struck its chest, the tendrils becoming a dark red. Number 96: Dark Mist OVERLAY UNITS: 3 - > 2 RANK: 3 ATK/ 50 -> 950 DEF/ 1000 Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke LEVEL: 4 ATK/ 1700 - > 850 DEF/ 1000 C R Y S T A L 8 0 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 5 4 5 0 Chuckling, Dark Mist placed his hands on his hips; “Well, it seems I lost some life there. However, Dark Mist did get quite the power-up.” He rationalised, ending his turn there. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 5 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 2 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T Crystal had a quick look at her card, frowning as she set it down; “There is nothing I can do.” She spoke with a soft whine. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 5 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 3 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T With her turn over surprisingly quickly, Dark Mist picked up his next card and grinned; “I play Golden Sarcophagus! With this, I can send one card from my deck to the banished zone, where I can pick it up after the second turn.” He spoke. He did so, placing one card out of his deck and placing it on the floor next to him; "And one little tip, it's going to be the beginning of the end for this world." He cackled darkly, causing everyone in the room to flinch. With that done, he threw his arm to the Flame Ninja, the coils appearing again on Number 96; "I attack the Flame Armor Ninja, detaching to gain an additional 850 attack points, bringing me to 1800 total!" he shouted, the Overlay Unit slamming into Number 96 to power him up. Crystal wasn’t giving up though, her face-down flipping up; “Ninjitsu Art of Freezing! When I have a Ninja on my side, I can negate that attack and all of your monsters can’t change their battle positions.” She explained, a roar of ice shooting over the field and swarming around Number 96. It let off a roar as it stopped its attack; its feet stuck to the floor. It still gained the attack bonus, though didn’t destroy the monster. Number 96: Dark Mist OVERLAY UNITS: 2 - > 1 RANK: 3 ATK/ 950 -> 1800 DEF/ 1000 Flame Armor Ninja LEVEL: 4 ATK/ 1700 - > 850 DEF/ 1000 Giving a sigh of relief that she survived that round with her ninja’s, Crystal looked up; “So now what?” she asked Dark Mist, who merely growled lowly and set one card onto the field. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 6 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 3 GOLD CARCOPHAGUS COUNT-DOWN: 2 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T When her Duel Disk lit up, Crystal drew her card. Giving a groan, she set it down and looked to her Ninja’s. Some were barely able to stand, only her second Flame Armor Ninja and Air Armor Ninja stood a chance of surviving this battle. Growing, Crystal switched Air Armor to Attack mode; “Bring it on ugly!” she shouted, her Air Armor Ninja lunging forward and sinking three ninja throwing stars into the set card. It exploded in a blast of particles, showing a small child that screamed as it was destroyed. It was Saambell the Summoner, though it didn’t look like Dark Mist card about its destruction. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 6 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 4 GOLD CARCOPHAGUS COUNT-DOWN: 1 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T “Now I have a target dear Crystal. My turn!” he said while drawing a card; “Attack that Air Armor Ninja!” Number 96 roared as the tendrils appeared once more and its last overlay units were used. Though cutting through the air, it was blown away by the Air Armor Ninja who started to charge towards it. Crystal had activated another of her face-down cards, grinning like a shot fox; “Sekuretsu Armor! Now the attacking monster is destroyed!” Dark Mist seemed to recoil when the card had flipped up; “What’s that?! No, I won’t let you!” he cried out desperately, though he couldn’t help it at all when Air Armor Ninja charged the beast down with a full body tackle, disintegrating it with a barrage of wind that slammed into its fallen body. Letting off a snarl, Dark Mist set one monster; “You will pay for that! I set one card and end my turn!” he shouted. Air Armor Ninja LEVEL: 4 ATK/ 1400 - > 700 DEF/ 1000 T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 7 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 4 GOLD CARCOPHAGUS COUNT-DOWN: 1 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T Laughing at the predicament he was in, Crystal just drew her card; “They may be weak now, though you have hardly any monsters to hide behind! Go my Ninja’s!” she called out, switching them all to Attack Mode and letting them loose. Sasuke was the first to go, slicing the last defence on Dark Mist’s field, another Saambell the Summoner. She too disintegrated into dust, yet this time she was more important to Dark Mist since her destruction meant leaving him open for the other Ninja’s to go on a full assault. Air Armor Ninja + Flame Armor Ninja + Flame Armor Ninja 850 + 700 + 1700 3250 DAMAGE C R Y S T A L 8 0 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 2 2 0 0 T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 7 WAVE MOTION CANNON POWER-COUNTER: 5 GOLD CARCOPHAGUS COUNT-DOWN: 0 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T When Crystal ended her turn, Dark Mist seemed to get in a slightly happier mood. The card from the floor became encased in a golden hue once his turn started; “It’s time! I gain the card I placed in the Gold Sarcophagus, are you ready for the end?!” he asked, his eyes seemingly popping out of his head when he plucked it out of the air.  Crystal put up her guard whilst Baku prepared for the worst. His speech about it being the beginning of the end got them ready for a maelstrom of pain. And did it deliver! Dark Mist looked at the card before slotting it into his Duel Disk with a massive smirk; "Let’s see you stand up to this! I play 'END OF THE WORLD'!" he shouted, the room around them starting to shake once he played it. A blast of blue energy shot up in the middle of the room, slamming through the roof and tower as the power from this single card was unleashed. Above the tower seemed to be an intricate pattern of runes that were forming from the top of the massive pillar, flames of blue roaring up around the room and scorching all it touched. Rarity screamed to high heaven as the tower began to quake a little harder, the cries of the man demon before them not doing her nerves any favours. “This is a ritual card,” Dark Mist stated, as if reporting the weather; “By getting rid of a worthless card in my hand and sending it to the grave, I can Ritual Summon the King of Armageddon. Demise, rise from your slumber!" he commanded, the pillar slowly thinning out to show a large skeletal man wielding a giant axe. His body was encased in large and bulky Armor, face covered in a mask made of metal. Demise, King of Armageddon LEVEL: 8 ATK/ 2400 DEF/ 2000 Just looking at him gave everyone but a certain demon the chills. Continuing on, Dark Mist threw out his right hand to the massive warrior; “I tribute 2000 of my life Points to wipe out your entire clan of Ninja’s!” he announced. The colossal warrior rushed ahead and slammed its axe onto the ground where the Ninja’s were, hardly giving them a chance to escape as the axe crushed the ground around them, forcing them to fall into the hole that led down into the tower that was created by the ritual card. C R Y S T A L 8 0 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 2 0 0 Dark Mist let out a loud cackle before thrusting a hand out; “I may be nearly out of life points, but soon you will be too!” he called, thrusting a hand out; “Go, crush her!” he commanded his monster, Demise shooting forward once more with his mighty axe raised. Crystal barely had time to raise her Duel Disk in time to catch the axe, the axe slamming into it and creating a shockwave that spread across the room. Crystal buckled under the axe and had to dive to the side before the axe came bearing down upon her. Where she was once standing was a giant gash reaching out from the hole Demise had made earlier. C R Y S T A L 5 4 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 2 0 0 Panting, Crystal got back to her feet; “You’ll regret that... Oww...” she muttered, holding onto her left arm as it still shook with pain; “Note to self, avoid giant axe.” She muttered before getting back up. Dark Mist wasn’t done however, his arm flinging out; “Now I set off my Cannon. With five turns having passed, you’re one strike away from the eternal darkness!” he called, the space behind him shimmering to reveal the head of a rattling green cannon. It was building up a white energy beam within, causing the room to become almost blinding. “You may not even survive this anyway. As you know, all battle damage in this duel has been real. This has been my plan all along. To lull you into a false sense of security and not pay attention to the instrument of your destruction!” Dark Mist cackled, throwing his hands out; “So be prepared for the next world! Wave Motion Cannon, fire!” he shouted, the white energy from the cannon letting loose in an exploding torrent that all flew right towards Crystal. Crystal flung up her hands while Baku tried running towards her, though it was all too late... When the beam reached her, it swallowed the girl whole. All that was heard was a cry of pain along with the shouts of worry from her friends. Baku watched the beam swallow his friend all at once, his eyes wide with shock and despair as he dropped to his knees; “No... Crystal!” he cried out, his fists clenching upon the ruined carpet underneath. A flicker in the corner of his eye caught his eye moments after however, bringing his eyes back to the beam that was still flowing. The beam seemed to be breaking apart with streams shooting out. Baku just had enough time to dive back to his new pony friends when a stay bolt struck where he was once kneeling. With the beam splitting, Dark Mist raised an eyebrow in confusion; “What is this?” he asked with a growl, watching the beam for a moment before it burst at the end, shooting to the side and carving new holes into the tower. Any more structural damage and the tower would collapse, though everyone’s minds were set to that new barrier at the end of the beam... Crystal barely standing. She was burnt but still alive. Before her were four humans in the same ninja robes as her monsters, their hands out and forming the shimmering barrier as they combined some mystical power they all shared to stop the attack. They ranged from red, blue, green and grown for their garbs. It didn’t take long for all to recognise who they were, Red Armor Ninja looking back to Crystal while the four continued to push the beam back; “We shall protect you, Mistress Crystal! Live on and smite the evil that plagues this land!” he spoke, struggling to hold back the barrier with his brothers. Crystal looked back up to him and stared for a moment, an understanding between the two of them becoming clear. Leaping to the side with her burns stinging her body, she barely managed to avoid the beam breaking through the barrier and incinerating the four brothers in their attempt to save her. Dash and Rarity stood beside the fallen Baku, who joined them in their bewilderment. While Crystal got back to her feet, the trio rushed over to her. Helping her up, Baku looked over her burns; “We need to get you to a hospital!” he declared, looking to Rarity and Rainbow for a little help. However Crystal batted his hand away, walking back to the duellist position; “My monsters were willing to sacrifice all they had to spare me from his assault and to have a chance to make him pay. I won’t let them down!” she yelled to Dark Mist, who merely looked irritated. “You may have survived my cannon, though you will be seeing your pathetic Ninja’s very shortly. I’ll see to that.” Dark Mist spat; “I end my turn!" C R Y S T A L 4 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 2 0 0 T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 8 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T When her duel disk lit up again, she prepared to take her move; “All I need is to draw a monster, that’s all I need...” she thought to herself, drawing a card from the top of her deck. Looking at the card however, she groaned; “Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I’ll take it.” she whispered. Putting it into her hand, she then turned her attention to the hulking behemoth of death before her; “It’s the end of the line, Demise!” she called, slamming a card into her Duel Disk. The moment she did, Baku grabbed hold of the two ponies before him, trying to bunker down. “I activate Dark Hole! Welcome to the Void!” Crystal shouted in a lightly distorted voice, the very space above the room shifting shape and twisting to form a hole leading into the deepest darkness. Swirling winds filled the room right after, sucking up loose furniture and anything not tied down, including the players. Crystal had to hold onto the bolted bed to not get sucked in and the ponies were under Baku, who held onto anything within his grasp. Demise wasn’t so lucky however, his body flung into the void and cast into an endless abyiss. Dark Hole destroyed every monster on the field, though there was only one monster at the time. After Demise was gone, the hole closed up on itself and leaving everyone panting for breath except for Dark Mist, who looked livid; “You! Do you realise what you just did?!” “I just killed your monster without killing myself.” Crystal replied with a small smirk, taking another card from her hand and playing it; “Next I play One Day of Peace. This allows us to both draw a card from our decks. Secondly, no damage can be dealt to either of us until my next turn. With one card set, I end my turn.” She explained. A set card appeared in her Monster Card zone before her turn ended, Dark Mist drawing from his own deck. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 8 C R Y S T A L - > D A R K   M I S T Dark Mist looked down to his hand, his most recently drawn card displayed first; “The first card is Honest. By discarding this card from my hand during battle, I can have a Light Attribute monster on my field gain ATK points by however many ATK points its opponent is. The second card is much more interesting...” Lifting the second card, he immediately played it; "I activate Tri-Wight! Now I can summon three level two monsters from my graveyard. It's time for me to take to the field once more!" he called, a wild smirk appearing on his face once more. Appearing in his Monster Card zones was three of small glowing balls, each holding a hint of darkness to their power. These were the same three he had used before to summon Number 96: Dark Mist earlier in the game. Instead of overlaying his three new monsters however, he gave a small frown; “I summoned them in Attack mode even though they only have 500 ATK points. If I wait for her to attack me, I can strike back with Honest. With only 400 Life Points, she will fall. Honest raises my monster by its opponent’s ATK. Therefore, it will always have 500 more attack than its opponent if I use Honest. But I refuse to battle with the Light! DARKNESS is the world’s TRUE power!” "I overlay my three Mystical Shine Balls to call on yours truly once more!" he exclaimed, repeating the process and forming the Overlay Network. The red wormhole swallowed the three glowing balls into it and exploded with power, a large blob of dark energy appearing from it, assembling itself into the demonic, chest-jawed beast that had been hard enough to destroy once. Dark Mist grinned as he looked to the face-down monster on Crystal’s field; “I attack your face down monster with Number 96! With One Day of Peace working for my turn as well, I won’t take any damage. I also use Dark Mist’s ability!” He reported, the titan of darkness launching tendrils of darkness to the card. T U R N   C H A N G E T U R N - P H A S E S: 9 C R Y S T A L < - D A R K   M I S T Crystal looked to her hand and gave a small sigh; “I need to draw the right card now. I can’t let him win... I won’t let him win, not with the pain he caused!” she spoke to herself, two fingers resting on her deck; “Just one card can save me right now but the odds are against me.” She whispered. “Don’t give up!” “Show that ruffian what you are made of darling!” “You can do it, believe in your cards!” The three voices from her best friend and their new pony acquaintances broke through her own doubt, her eyes sparkling with an odd glow of a rainbow; “I believe and I can win!” she called, drawing the card from her Duel Disk with a faint rainbow path travelling from it. “I advance summon BLUE DRAGON NINJA!” The ‘Aqua Armor Ninja’ stood up and let a rainbow coloured ball engulf his body, his silhouette slowly changing to become larger and bulkier. When the ball faded, he was replaced by a young man with jet black hair, his garbs the same blue but styled so the face could be shown. Surrounding the young man was a flowing blue dragon that liked to stay around his arms, looking at Black Mist hungrily. “By discarding one Ninjitsu Art and one Ninja from my hand, I can activate his special ability. One of your monsters has its special abilities negated!” Crystal called, tossing the two cards in her hand to the graveyard. The Ninja closed his eyes as the dragon on his arm opened its maw and fired a stream of water towards Number 96. When the stream of water soaked the monster, the fire in its eyes died out, the body going into a slump. Dark Mist stared in bafflement to what happened to his beast, fear growing in his eyes; “With his effect negated, he can’t gain more attack points!” he cried, his fear growing as he saw Crystal smirk at him. “That’s right Dark Mist. Now crawl back to the hole you came from! Blue Dragon Ninja, Dragon Squall Slice!” she commanded, the blue ninja opened his eyes in an instant and rushing forward. The dragon beside him launched another wave of water to bathe the weakened monster, though let up for the ninja to soar from down from a large jump and carve the beast in two with a single chop of his right arm. Number 96 howled as it exploded in a fury of flames shooting from its body, Dark Mist howling himself as he was caught in it; “You haven’t seen the last of me yet! I’ll be back and next time, I’ll show no mercy!” he bellowed, his threats cut out when the blast encompassed him completely. When the smoke cleared, Dark Mist was gone. Nothing but a scorch mark where he once stood. C R Y S T A L 4 0 0 D A R K   M I S T 0 : GAME : : WINNER: CRYSTAL : Baku looked at the mark for a moment before turning back to Crystal with a smile, though with shock he realised Crystal was still barely standing up. Rushing over to Crystal when she began to fall from her injuries, Baku tried to reach for her whilst she fell right for the hole in the tower. He barely missed her hand as she fell, though that didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from getting in her way and grabbing her back and flapping hard to try and pull her up; “Hey! Mind giving me some help?!” she called, Rarity and Baku grabbing hold of the Pegasus and pulling the two of them back to safety. Panting a little from the adrenaline, Baku looked up. It wasn’t long before he started to laugh a little; “It’s a miracle we’re actually alive right now. Thanks Rainbow Dash. You too Rarity.” He spoke with a smile. “No problem at all dear. However it would be best if we find the real Princess Luna before we come into more trouble.” She spoke with a small smile of her own. They didn’t need to go far since hoof steps were heard upon the balcony. Stepping into the room, a midnight blue Alicorn with a mane made of ethereal starlight came inside with her head held high and her eyes closed; “Do not be alarmed Dame Rarity. The curse the foul beast has placed upon thee has been lifted. We thank you deeply for the beast would have taken our place and caused havoc upon the populace if not stopped.” She stated with a smile. “We thank you also, warriors from a distant land. If not for you, we would have already descended into anarchy.” She said with the same smile, though something didn’t seem right to the human male. “Why do you have your eyes closed?” he asked curiously, raising himself to his feet. Luna was silent for a moment before sighing gently, her eyes opening to view the carnage around her; “From the prison made of darkness where we were held captive, we were forced to watch the struggle that decimated our tower. We didn’t wish to view it so soon.” She spoke, looking around to her destroyed bed. Nodding slowly, Baku gently helped the still burnt Crystal to her feet, the girl looking up to the princess across the room; “I’d kneel if I could actually stand on my own in the first place.” She spoke in a slight pained laugh. When Luna’s horn lit up with a bright blue however, she felt her wounds and burns slowly start to give relief, some open wounds even closing and burns starting to clear immediately; “In the time before our banishment, we knew spells to aid during battle. The most important were healing spells.” She explained with a small smile; “We shall heal you as a small token of our thanks.” Rainbow Dash grinned as she took to the air once more; “So you saw it too Princess? It was awesome! She fought with Ninjas! NINJAS!” she cried out, obviously excited to have a potential friend who had such abilities; “Oh yeah, almost forgot. Princess, we have a bit of trouble. The guards think that Crystal and Baku are bad guys. Blueblood also tried to make an execution! Can you help?” she asked before landing on the ground beside Rarity. Luna was a little surprised by the request yet gave a swift nod; “It shall be done. We shall send word to our sister make sure the matter is sorted. While doing so, perhaps you can tell me something...” she started. “What is it princess?” Baku asked immediately, getting a relieved feeling in his chest. Ever since the talk of an execution had been uttered, his chest was tight with worry. By now, it was slowly loosening. With a small but cheeky grin, she looked over them both; “You both served us well in saving us. As such, would you both like to join the bearers of the Elements of Harmony in Knighthood of Equestria?” she asked, earning a few widening glances.