The next few days were even more crazy than the last two! Ace had a lost brother, Shadow Thunder, who had come home because Dark Ice was destroyed. Also some duelist called Starlight Glimmer had been stealing legendary dragon cards and her next targets were her friends. She was even crazy enough to attack the school, but Ace managed to defeat her than and rescue Critias and Hermos from her and the two dragons told them everything they needed to know about Starlight. They were all wary about her appearance and were on their guard. But when they first saw her without her disguise, they were shocked to see her on a date with Shadow! Ace was the only one to freak out, but Burst reminded him that if he was able to change Moon, Shadow could do the same for Starlight. However when Ace and Shadow went to convince Starlight to turn away from her dark path, it was revealed that she didn't hunt the legendary dragons of her own will. Some evil wizard called Paradox Truth was using her to steal the legendary dragons' power. And he also imprisoned Starlight in his castle. Burst gathered everyone in a united attack against Paradox, but they were separated into groups the moment they entered the castle. Sunset had lucked out partnering when she and Gold were stuck together. "I should have seen this coming.", Sunset said as she and Gold explored the section of the castle they were sent to. Gold put his hand on her shoulder.
"I guess this counts as another date since we're alone together.", Gold said with a smile. Sunset couldn't help but chuckle at hearing this.
"I guess it does. Now let's see if we can find a way to Paradox." The two of them soon came upon an arena-like area. "I guess Paradox likes to entertain a lot."
"Yeah. And I think we're the next act!", Gold said as noticed the doors lock behind them! Soon a swirl of shadow appeared and a figure materialized from it. It was Sunset's past self. Needless to say, Sunset was pretty annoyed.
"Great. What sort of illusion are you this time?"
"Oh I'm very real Sunny!", her dark replica said with a savage grin. "I represent the part of you that hungered for power. The part you cast out! And now I have my chance at revenge!" A duel disk materialized on her arm. "Just you and me!"
"Actually it's going to be Sunset AND me against you.", Gold said as he activated his duel disk. "I'm not letting her face you alone!"
"How sweet.", Dark Shimmer said with an evil smile. "Your boyfriend can keep you company in the shadows!"
Gold and Sunset: 16000
Dark Shimmer: 16000
"I'll go first!", Dark Shimmer said. "I summon Dark Dawn Knight in attack mode and set a card face-down. I end my turn."
"I'm up then!", Sunset said. "I summon Blue Flame Swordsman! Then I'll equip him with Lightning Blade to boost him by 800 points! Destroy her knight! Blue Flame Slash!" Dark Shimmer sneered as her monster was destroyed.
"Perfect! Now I activate my trap! Eclipse Summon! When a dark monster I control is destroyed, I can special summon a level seven or higher dark monster from my hand or deck! Now I can bring out my most fearsome beast! Rise, Fallen Light Dragon!" A large dark-red dragon with demonic wings and a fiery mane descended. "Do you like it? It was made to resemble the demon form you took when you tried to use Princess Twilight's element! Now its effect activates! I can destroy all monsters on your field and inflict their attack points as damage to you during my turn!" Sunset and Gold braced themselves as a wall of flames crashed against their life points! "I think I've tortured you two enough for this turn."
Gold and Sunset: 13400
Dark Shimmer: 15200
"My turn!", Gold said as he drew a card. "Perfect! I play the spell card Light Sanctuary! This lets me special summon two spirit tokens in attack mode with zero attack and zero defense. That's all for my turn."
"No sense in wasting Fallen's effect, so I'll just destroy one of your tokens by battle!" Fallen Light Dragon released a stream of flames from its mouth at one of Gold's tokens, but the token was still standing when the smoke cleared! "WHAT?! How are your tokens still there?"
Gold smirked. "I may have taken a serious hit, but my tokens can't be destroyed by battle!"
"I end my turn.", Dark Shimmer growled.
Gold and Sunset: 10400
Dark Shimmer: 15200
"I don't know how much more we can take! Huh?" Sunset noticed a rainbow colored glow coming from the top of her deck. "What is this?" As she drew the card, Sunset ponied up! "Just what we needed to turn the tide! I play the spell card Harmonic Fusion! By sending fusion materials from my hand, deck, extra deck, field, or banishing them from my graveyard, I can fusion summon a monster that lists those monsters as fusion materials! I fuse Guardian Eatos, BLS, and Stardust Dragon to bring out my true ace card! Come on out! Stardust Luster Guardian-Eatos!" As Sunset called her name, a majestic monster descended from the heavens. She had the body of Guardian Eatos, the wings of Stardust Dragon, and the armor of BLS but in Sunset's colors. "Now I get to activate her effect! I can banish a monster my opponent controls until the end phase! Or I can negate any card effect that destroys a card or cards and destroy that card! And if I destroy a monster by battle I can make another attack! I think I'll go with the first one! Celestial Banishing!" Fallen Light Dragon vanished in a flash of light! "Now Eatos! Attack her directly! Cosmic Flame Slash!"
"Prepare to meet the light!", Eatos cried out as she charged forth and slashed at Dark Shimmer directly!
"Aaaaghh!"
"I end my turn."
Gold and Sunset: 10400
Dark Shimmer: 11700
"This isn't over!", Dark Shimmer snarled. "I play Eclipse Rebirth! This revives Fallen Light Dragon! But I'll put him in defense mode to keep him safe from those effects of yours and end my turn."
"My time to shine then!", Gold said. To Sunset's surprise, Gold ponied-up too! But instead of normal pegasus wings, he had flaming phoenix wings! "I tribute my tokens to summon my ace card! Join the party Crimson Dragon!" Gold's signature monster let out a mighty roar as it arrived on the field!
"Time to light up this duel!", Crimson shouted as he landed!
"Good to have you here buddy! Now to use your effect!"
"Right!" Crimson fired a bolt of red energy that destroyed Fallen Light Dragon!
"Now that your dragon was destroyed by Crimson's effect, he gains your monster's attack points! And now you're wide open!"
"Impossible!", Dark Shimmer howled.
"Attack her directly Crimson! Plasma Arc!" Crimson gathered a huge amount of energy and his wings began to glow! Once the energy was at its peak, Crimson let loose an enormous beam of plasma that struck Dark Shimmer dead-on! "That's it for my turn."
Gold and Sunset: 10400
Dark Shimmer: 5700
"That's it! Now I'm not holding anything back!", Dark Shimmer roared. "I play the spell card Red Giant! This revives Fallen Light Dragon and doubles his attack points! Destroy Crimson Dragon!"
"I don't think so!", Sunset said. "I activate my trap! Negate Attack!"
"Curse you!"
"Now it's my turn! I'll use Eatos's banishing effect! What do you say we end this together Gold?"
"Sounds good to me!"
"This can't be!", Dark Shimmer screamed as Sunset and Gold's monsters charged up their attacks!
"Celestial Flare Blast!", Gold and Sunset shouted together as their monsters fired a beam of crimson energy that destroyed Dark Shimmer! When the dust cleared, all that was left of her was a Malefic Parallel Gear that crumbled into dust.
"Gold that was amazing! But how did you pony-up?"
"Remember when I said that Pegasus adopted me? Well he adopted me after I came to this world from Equestria. Back there I was a Phoenix pony if you couldn't tell by my wings. After my parents died, no one would accept me. By some stroke of luck, I wandered into this world. Pegasus sensed my light aura and asked my about my life. I told him everything, and he took me in and loved me like I was his own son. He also taught me to love my cards. And by the way, I already knew you were from Equestria too. I can sense magic."
"So this explains why I felt connected to you.", Sunset said with a smile. "Now I don't feel homesick at all." She pulled Gold into a hug before a warp opened and the two went through. Soon enough, all of their friends won their own battles and opened the door to Paradox's lair. Burst and the other dragon users defeated Paradox and rescued Starlight. Everyone had to make a mad dash to the exit before the whole castle collapsed in on them. Once they were out, the whole school was cheering for them. Celestia even got the idea to throw the party at the school. The guys even invited their girlfriends to perform on stage with them. Everyone had a good time. Sunset in particular was very happy. "How about a reward for saving the world again hero?", Sunset asked with a smirk.
"What did you have in mind?", Gold asked slyly. Sunset smiled and pulled him in as she kissed him.
"Does that answer your question?" And they all celebrated the night away.