//------------------------------// // Episode 5 [Extra] - Reconciliation and Revolve // Story: Heart of the Cards // by AspirantWriter //------------------------------// Some time passed since Half Coin’s duel with Number 60 and Gilda was freed from its possession.  As the inhabitants of Ponyville were recovering from the incident, Dusk and Twilight were discussing about it in the library; the latter just returned from the hospital. “So how is Gilda doing?”  Dusk asked. “She is still unconscious, but the doctors say she would be fine.”  Twilight replied.  “They even gave Rainbow and Half Coin to stay by Gilda’s side.” “If Gilda wake up, do you think she and Rainbow would be able to be friends again?”  The stallion followed up, which the unicorn made a hopeful smile. “I am sure they can since we all know it was that Number’s fault.  Since Half Coin decided to stay in Ponyville for the time being, maybe he could help mend their friendship. “Knowing that pegasus, he would be a good mediator if things turn sour.” Dusk then walked to the table and picked up Number 60’s deck along with the Number card itself.  He gazed upon Niohre the Winged Fury as he spoke. “I was thinking about giving Number 60 to Half Coin.” “What?”  Twilight gasped in surprise.  “Why would you do that?” “Well, he did defeat the Number 60 in a duel, so I think it’s fair he gains ownership of the card.”  Dusk said.  “Besides, Half Coin would need all the help he could get if he wants to fight other Numbers.” “Wait a minute, are those Number cards actually safe to use?”  She never saw Dusk play the Number cards he defeated and assumed that were still not safe. “Don’t worry.  Whatever dark influence those Number cards have are now gone.”  He replied.  “The reason I never played them is that I don’t have the monsters I need to summon them…” He was interrupted when the library door suddenly opened up.  Dusk and Twilight turn to see who it was and saw it was Pinkie Pie. “Wait is it Pinkie?”  The stallion asked the excited pony. “I have good news.  Gilda just recovered!” Pinkie’s words quickly got the twos’ attention and they quickly followed her out of the library. “So Gilda just got up?”  Dusk asked Pinkie as the trio were making their way to the hospital. “Oh no.  She actually got up minutes after we got her checked in to the hospital.”  She stated much to his and Twilight surprise.  “Huh?!” “I wanted to spread the news, but Half Coin told me to wait.  He wanted to give Gilda therapy and wanted some privacy.  It was then Rainbow Dash came to me and said I could finally bring you guys to see Gilda.” “Knowing what she been through, that would be natural.”  Twilight said.  “Are Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy at the hospital as well?” “Yeah.  They are waiting for us.”  Pinkie said. “Well then.  Let’s not keep them waiting.”  Dusk replied as they pass though town and made their way to the hospital. “About time you three got here.” When Dusk, Twilight and Pinkie arrived at the entrance of the hospital, they were greeted by Applejack.  By her side was Rarity and Fluttershy, who smiled at their friends. “So I guess you are all ready to see the true Gilda?”  Dusk stated to everypony. “Well…  I hope she is much friendly than before…”  Fluttershy recalled the time when Gilda roared at her for bumping into her by accident. “Don’t worry.  That Number was the reason why Gilda was a meanie in the first place.”  Pinkie reassured the shy pegasus. “Not to mention that Half Coin is a therapist, so he would have helped bring out her good side.”  Rarity noted. “One way to find out.  Let’s go.”  Twilight said as they all entered the hospital and were lead to the griffon’s room by a nurse. Upon knocking on the door, it opened up and revealed it was Half Coin.  Inside the room with him was Rainbow Dash and was by the side of Gilda, who was lying on the bed yet was awake. “So how is she?”  Twilight asked the silver pegasus regarding the bed-ridden griffin. “Gilda is alright, but she remembers everything.  Just as I feared.”  Half Coin explained her condition.  “She still feels guilty what she done and has yet not fully comes to terms with it, so do not to pressure her.” “Don’t worry about that.”  Dusk said as he and the rest of the mares got closer to Gilda, who caught sight of them.  However, she then lowered her head as she gripped the blanket. They saw Gilda was now acting the opposite of what she did prior to Number 60’s full possession.  Instead of showing her temper like before, she was showing her remorse. “Gilda.”  Dash said to the griffon in a reassuring tone.  “Don’t be afraid.  I understand we not yourself back then.  We understand…” The griffon was quiet for a few moments before finally build up the courage to speak. “I’m…  I’m sorry…”  Gilda apologized to the ponies in front of her.  “I’m sorry for what happened today.” Everypony smiled as they heard her apology, which they knew was sincere. “Apologizing is a step in the right direction.”  Dusk noted, which was agreed with the others. Moments later, they begun to question Gilda on how she got the Number in the first place.  She stated that on her way to Ponyville, she notices the Number card on the ground.  Ignoring at first, she then felt compelled to pick it up anyway.  It was then she begun to her own voice in her head and believed it was her inner thoughts Half Coin believed it was Number 60 influencing Gilda into picking up its card, all without her knowing.  The griffon was unaware that she was now carrying a malicious being within her, who was pretending to be the second voice in her mind. The voice however gotten stronger when she finally meets up with Rainbow Dash and the pegasus told her all the friends she made in Ponyville.  Gilda felt jealous and became fearful that Dash would forget about her, which Number 60 soon took advantage of. The Number then convinced Gilda that she must intimidate the ponies to deter them from getting close to Rainbow Dash and must not show any weakness.  At the same time, she felt an anger within herself that she never felt before. Taking the facts in mind, Dusk and the mares saw that the Number 60 was indeed response for the chain of events today which ultimately lead to Dash breaking her friendship with Gilda. “So Half Coin.”  Dusk asked the silver pegasus.  “Was there any difficulty with mending their friendship?” “Believe me it was tough…”  Half Coin then explained what happened after Gilda woke up after the duel.  Since she remembered everything including Dash renouncing her as a friend, the griffon was still hurt and brushed off the blue pegasus when she tried to explain. It was then Half Coin put his talent as a therapist to use, where he helped put Gilda’s mind at ease while mediating both her and Dash at the same time He didn’t go into detail how he did it, but Half Coin assured the ponies that Dash and Gilda have rekindled their friendship. “I’m glad to two were able to make up.”  Twilight smiled at Dash. “You have to thank Half Coin here.  He definitely has a way with words.”  Dash noted as she gestured to her fellow pegasus. Everypony smiled in relief that Dash and Gilda were friends once more.  Despite the trouble they endured today, it at least ended on somewhat of a good note. “So Gilda is going to stay in Ponyville overnight?”  Dusk and the mares were walking through the streets after leaving the hospital.  Gilda was still back there with Half Coin, who was giving her another therapy session. “Yeah.  While the doctors say she is fine, she has yet come to terms what happened.”  Dash replied sadly.  “I letting her stay in my place.  Hopefully, she would be better if she stays with me.” “Only time would tell I’m afraid.  You can’t use magic to heal trauma like that.”  The mares can’t help but agree with Dusk’s statement. It was then Dash’s expression became one of determination as she spoke to the stallion. “Dusk, is the deck I asked for ready?” “It is almost done.  I’ll have yours deck and the others ready by tomorrow morning.” “What about lessons?  Can we start when you give me my deck?”  Soon, Dash’s friends suddenly stopped in their tracks and turned their attention to her. “You are more eager to learn about Duel Monsters than I thought.”  Dusk looked at her in surprise. “Too eager if you ask me...”  Applejack noted.  “Why are you so anxious to learn anyway?” “It just I can’t stand it...”  Dash said much to their confusion.  “I can’t stand these Numbers going around causing trouble.  To stand idle and do nothing when all that is happening...  I can’t bear it any longer.” “It’s about Gilda isn’t it?”  The stallion soon caught on why she was so eager to learn Duel Monsters. “Yes.”  Dash replied with serious glint in her eyes.  “I am not going to let another Number hurt any of my friends again.” Everypony looked at the blue pegasus in awe as they never seen her this determined before. “I don’t care how many lectures I have to listen to or how many books I have to study Dusk.  Teach me how to play Duel Monsters.” Seeing her resolve, the stallion smiled at Dash. “I have no problems with that Rainbow Dash.  As long you are not busy, I’ll teach you everything you need to know how to play the game.”  Dusk then turned to gaze to Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie.  “What about you five?” “Well, Rainbow has a point.  I don’t want those Numbers running amok.”  Applejack stated.  “I may be busy doing work at the farm, but I want to learn Duel Monsters as well.” “Count me in as well.”  Rarity joined in.  “While I have my obligation, I can’t stand what these Numbers are doing.” “Let me help as well.”  Fluttershy said with a brave face.  “I don’t want to see anyone getting hurt from the Numbers.” “When can we get started Dusk?”  Pinkie exclaimed.  “I want to these this mean Numbers a lesson!” Twilight smiled at her friend’s resolve to stand against to the Numbers.  “Looks like you have to prepare class tomorrow Dusk.” “That may be the case.”  The stallion said as he smiled at his friends.  “But before that, do you want to see what your decks are?” Upon hearing that, they quickly agreed as everypony were now making their way to the library; eager to see their respective decks. “So you are going to show everypony their decks?”  At the library, Dusk was about to get the decks from his room when Spike came up to him. “Yes.  They are not finished yet, but I want to show them what type of cards they would be using.”  Dusk answered the baby dragon.  “If you wish, I will show you what your deck is like.” “Hmm Hmm!”  Seeing how enthusiastic Spike was nodding his head, the stallion took it as a yes. After getting the decks, he went downstairs with Spike, where the mares waiting for him.  “Once again, these decks are not completed yet, so I would appreciate it that you give them back to me when you leave.” Dusk said as he presented then them their respective decks and he started with Dash. “Rainbow Dash, your deck is the Mecha Phantom Beast archetype.”  Dusk told the pegasus as she used her hooves to looked through the cards.  “Your deck involves swarming the field quickly and the cards represents well-known aircraft back on Earth.” “Aircraft?”  Dash never heard of it, but her jaw soon dropped when Dusk begun to briefly explain what aircrafts were and what some were capable of. “Incredible...”  She muttered in awe; a feeling that was shared with the mares except Twilight, who already heard about aircrafts before from Dusk. “So, is this deck to your liking?  Is it as cool as you hoped?” “Oh yeah!  I bet with this, those Numbers will not know what hit them!” Seeing that Dash was very happy with her deck, Dusk then turned to Applejack as he showed the earth pony her deck. “Applejack, your deck is the Sylvan archetype.”  She looked through the deck and raised an eyebrow upon seeing some of the cards.  “It involves excavating cards and sending “Sylvan” monsters to the Graveyard to activate their effects.  I wasn’t able to any card related to farming, so this the best I could do I’m afraid.” “Well, I had a feeling that I was asking for too much.”  Applejack saw that only a few cards were related to trees, but found no cards related to her line of work.  “But if there is a consolation prize, it would be this Golden Apples card.” “Ooohhh...”  Her friends looked closely at the Trap card that Applejack was showing.  Since Applejack was content with her deck, Dusk then presented Rarity her deck. “Rarity, your deck is the hybrid deck of two archetpyes; Gem-Knights and Crystron.”  Using her magic, the unicorn looked at the cards.  “Gem-Knights focus on Fusion Summoning powerful monsters while Crystron does the same with Synchro Summons.” “They’re beautiful...”  Rarity’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the monsters, which were all adorned in rare gems and minerals. “I wasn’t able to find monsters that wore outfits that would appeal to ponies, so I felt that cards related to gems would be a fine substitute.  You don’t mind?” The unicorn only nodded her head as she continues to looked through the cards.  With that done, Dusk decided it was now Fluttershy’s turn. “Fluttershy, your deck is the Naturia Archetype.”  As she looked through the cards in the deck, she gasped when she looked at the monsters’ appearances.  “Naturia monsters have effects which counters what your opponent do, so this archetype focus on controlling the field.” “These are so cute...”  The pegasus gushed as the Naturia monsters appeared much cuter than the last.  “Thank you giving me such a deck.” “Not a problem.”  Dusk smiled as he turned his attention to Pinkie, who was bouncing in excitement. “Pinkie, your deck is the Performapal archetype.”  She quickly grabbed the deck from Dusk’s hooves and looked through the cards.  “Not only it is known for its versatility, it is the first archetype to make use Pendulum Summons, which I will explain later.” “Wow!  This is so me!  Thank you!”  Pinkie said in joy as hugged Dusk tightly, who chuckled at the gesture. After breaking free from party pony’s hug, he then presented the final deck he has to Spike. “As for you Spike, I made many improvements to the deck you made a few days ago.  It’s not complete yet, but see if it is to your liking.” Most of the mares were surprised to see that Spike was getting a deck of his own.  Twilight however merely smiled at the baby dragon looked through the cards. “Wait... I never seen these cards before.”  Spike then showed Dusk all the Armed Dragon cards in the deck.  “What are “LVs” anyway?” “Oh that.  The Armed Dragons were amongst the cards that Half Coin gave to me and are quite powerful.”  Dusk stated.  “As for LV monsters, they are unique in Duel Monsters for if certain conditions are met, they could be send to the Graveyard to summon a more powerful version of themselves.” “I’m surprised you would give Spike a deck.”  Rarity said.  “Are you worried he may fight a Number?” “Don’t worry.  I’m sure he knows better than to that.” As he watches everyone in the library show their decks to each other and gave their own opinions, Dusk smiled at his friends’ enthusiasm in learning Duel Monsters and that he would not be alone fighting the Numbers. Dusk knew it would be a challenge in teaching them how to play the game when they finally get their hoofs on their completed decks tomorrow. And it was something he was looking forward to.