//------------------------------// // 04. Sea-ing Clearly // Story: Hearts in Harmony // by Iris Heartfang //------------------------------// -TWILIGHT SPARKLE- When I got back from my disastrous coffee date with Rainbow to the arena, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were already celebrating Pinkie’s next win in the tournament. “There you are, Twilight!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down. “It’s a shame you didn’t get to see my last amazing win! It was a doozy!” “It was pretty great.” Fluttershy added, brushing some hair from her face. “I’m sorry I missed it.” I said with a chuckle, trying to sound breezy. “So how did it go with Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “Well, I think I made her feel like I thought she was stupid so she yelled at me and stormed off.” I sighed, falling onto a bench beside the arena. “So not great.” “Yikes, that’s pretty terrible.” Pinkie sidled up next to me on the bench. “How’d you manage that?” “Look, I tried to avoid talking about the girlfriend…” I said tersely. “Ouch.” Pinkie cringed, Fluttershy adding “Now it makes sense.” “Did you do that Twilight thing,” Pinkie bobbed back and forth as she spoke, gesticulating with her hands “y’know, the one where you’re like ‘I’m not gonna say anything but I’ll make my feelings of disapproval impossible to ignore!’?” “Maybe…” I blushed and glanced aside. “What about that other thing,” Fluttershy added “where Rainbow Dash objects to your opinion and you tell her you understand her opinion, but in a way that’s really condescending and rude?” “This isn’t helping, you guys.” I bemoaned, covering my face with my hands as my cheeks burned red. “Pinkie, you don’t like Rainbow’s girlfriend any more than I do, but you’ve managed to rekindle a relationship with her. How do you do it?” “I mainly don’t talk to her about it!” Pinkie shrugged. “We talk about other stuff that we’re both interested in, like candy and pranks and jokes and fun stuff, and on the ever-so-slight occasion that Rainbow does bring up the gf, I just kinda smile and nod and say ‘she sounds nice!’. That way we don’t get into a fight or anything.” “I… could…” I struggled to get the words out. “I could try that.” “No you couldn’t.” Fluttershy and Pinkie said in unison, making me hang my head. “You’re right.” I grumbled and rested my chin on my palm. “I’m not very good at keeping my opinions to myself, am I?” “Noooooooo.” Pinkie shook her head vivaciously, causing me to sigh in frustration and lean back, nearly throwing myself over the back of the bench. “But hey, maybe we should table this discussion until after you beat Sea Swirl!” “Oh, right!” I said, springing to my feet. “My next duel is gonna start, I need to get to the arena!” “It’s okay, Twilight.” Fluttershy put a hand on my shoulder and pointed to the arena that was clearly in view maybe thirty steps in front of us. “We’re not exactly in a different time zone from it.” “Right.” I chuckled nervously. “Anyway, I had better go win this.” I didn’t feel like I really had my head on straight. Between Rainbow and Cherry Fizzy and now Sea Swirl and the duel, my head felt weighed down by too many things and it was hard to focus. “Yeah you’d better win!” Pinkie grabbed me in a hug from behind, turning me around faster than I could tell what was happening and grabbing my hands, bouncing up and down with them. “If you win this one, then it’s just gonna be you and me in the finals! You’d better make that happen!” “I will.” I giggled, amused at Pinkie’s exuberance. It was a nice reprieve. I felt a little jealous of Pinkie Pie, to be honest. She was always able to look at the bright side and find the good in everything. I wished I was like that. Anyway, I pried myself away from her and gave her and Fluttershy a salute and a weak smile as I headed into the arena. On the other side of the arena from me was a black woman with light blue hair tied up in a ponytail, and wearing a pink tank-top and blue shorts. According to Pinkie her name was Sea Swirl. She looked super confident, wearing a haughty grin on her face, but I didn’t feel the same sense of smugness or animosity from her that I got from Cherry Fizzy. “Sorry I’m late, Sea Swirl.” I mumbled, fumbling around with my cards as I readied my Duel Disk and deck. “Don’t worry about it, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “But make no mistake, I’m the one who deserves to get those rare cards.” “That’s unfortunate,” I said with a smirk, the urge to talk sass at this woman helping to distract me from my worries “because this tournament ends for you right here!” “Ha! We’ll sea about that!” Sea Swirl said with a bright self-assured smile and a sassy wink. I just rolled my eyes and tried not to laugh at her bad pun. DUEL! Twilight Sparkle vs. Sea Swirl! “I’ll go first, naturally!” Sea Swirl twirled around dramatically as she drew her opening hand, looking at the cards with an assertive sneer. Her self-assuredness radiated from her like warmth from an open oven and I knew right away that she was going to be far more challenging than Cherry Fizzy could have hoped to be. “First I’ll set two face-down cards, and then I’ll activate A Legendary Ocean!” Sea Swirl’s Field Spell enveloped the playing area in a sudden deluge of water, covering us in an aquatic battlefield. Holographic fish swam by me and I watched in awe as a majestic city of stone rose from the ground behind Sea Swirl, the girl herself knowing full well how cool her card was and responding with the appropriate hubris. “This card reduces the Levels of all Water-Attribute Monsters on the field and in our hands by 1, plus gives all of them 200 extra ATK!” Sea Swirl said with a satisfied smirk. “Which means I can now summon The Legendary Fisherman without a tribute!” The Legendary Fisherman was a well-muscled bronze-skinned man with an untamed mane of spiky blue hair, brandishing a harpoon and riding atop the back of a blue and white shark. “The Legendary Fisherman can’t be attacked by your Monsters, or affected by Spell cards, although that unfortunately means he doesn’t receive the 200 ATK buff from A Legendary Ocean. And with that, I’ll graciously end my turn.” Two face-downs and an 1850 ATK Monster I couldn’t attack. Nothing I couldn’t handle… at least I thought, until I looked at my hand. Strength of Prophecy and Charioteer of Prophecy, both of whom needed Spellbooks in my hand to be useful, and not a Spellbook to be found. Not to mention two Trap cards and a Fusion Spell I couldn’t use right now. Oh well, I still had a way of turning her Field magic against her. “I’ll summon Chocolate Magician Girl!” My Chocolate Magician Girl was a devil-winged girl in a pointy wizard hat with teal hair that stretched down to her waist, scantily clad in a blue midriff-baring crop top and rocking a miniskirt and knee-high boots that matched. “She’s a Water-Attribute Monster, so your Field’s buff affects her as well!” “Not if I activate my Forced Back card.” Sea Swirl said with a killer smile, making my eye twitch involuntarily. Forced Back negated my summon and sent Chocolate Magician Girl right back to my hand, but I still wasn’t allowed to Normal Summon another Monster this turn, leaving my field completely open. “Ooooh… kay.” I grumbled, tapping my foot nervously and preparing myself mentally for a nasty hit next turn. “I’ll lay one card face-down… and it’s your turn, Sea Swirl.” My face-down card was Compulsory Evacuation Device, which would enable me to return one of Sea Swirl’s Monsters to her hand, so it was still a good defense, but having a nearly empty field this early in the game didn’t feel good at all. “My turn then.” Sea Swirl made cooing eyes at her cards and flamboyantly set one onto the tray. “I think I’ll start by summoning my Elemental Hero Ocean!” Elemental Hero Ocean was a man dressed in a blue full-body aquatic superhero suit, an expressionless mask over his face and a cool sci-fi trident in his hands. He appeared and bowed to Sea Swirl, the duelist doing a curtsy in return before focusing back on me and pointing her fingers. “And thanks to my Field Spell, his ATK is increased to 1700! Now, my Monsters, attack Twilight Sparkle’s Life Points directly!” “Not so fast!” I said feistily, revealing my trap card. “I activate Compulsor-” “Trap Stun.” With a dainty flick of her wrist Sea Swirl revealed her own face-down, a card that negated all other Trap Effects during the turn, leaving me looking like a fool with my mouth hanging open in shock. It didn’t help when her Fisherman and her Hero rammed into me, goring me with their spears and taking a massive bite out of my Life, leaving me with only 450 left. “I can’t…” I fell on my knees, clutching at my sweater collar and breathing heavily. “I can’t believe this…” I was starting to feel overwhelmed and Sea Swirl’s incredible pride in herself did not help matters at all… but then I noticed something; she only had one card in her hand left. She may have gotten a very good head start, but I still had Life left and I was still in this! If I could take out her current forces, it wasn’t likely she could mount a comeback, so it was time for me to turn things around! I drew my card and smiled as I saw that it was the perfect card to enable me to take control of this duel! “I summon Aleister the Invoker!” I shouted passionately, feeling very good about my Monster’s ability to help me win this. Aleister himself was a handsome young man with dual colored green and white hair, a diamond staff in one hand and a spell book in the other and covered head to toe in a white and green hooded robe. Also he had glasses, which was very cool. “His ability lets me add an Invocation to my hand from the deck!” “Not if my Effect Veiler has anything to say about it.” Sea Swirl chuckled merrily, flaunting her card. Effect Veiler was a unique Monster whose Effect could only be activated by discarding it from your hand, and it negated Aleister’s Effect. Veiled it, you might say. And while that was pretty rough, it meant she had nothing left to use but her Fisherman and her Hero, which was perfect. “Now what a shame that you wasted your Normal Summon on a 1000 ATK monster who now has no Effect. A pity, really.” Sea Swirl laughed heartily, assured of her victory, which only made my next play that much more satisfying. “True, you may have prevented me from searching for an Invocation…” I couldn’t help but form my own smug grin. “But not to worry, I have a spare!” As I proudly showed off the Invocation already in my hand I took a not-insignificant amount of glee from Sea Swirl’s shock and dismay. Invocation was a Fusion card, which allowed me to summon a powerful Fusion Monster by banishing Aleister and sending a Monster in my hand to the graveyard. “I’ll fuse Aleister the Invoker with my Chocolate Magician Girl to summon… Invoked Cocytus!” A bright red glowing circle filled with mystical runes appeared on the ground around Aleister, who was then showered in bolts of red magical energy. Chocolate Magician Girl arose from the circle and was embraced by Aleister, who raised his staff into the air and the two were struck by one of the bolts, becoming bright blue energy themselves. Their ethereal form swirled around the circle as more of the bolts fired around and inside it until the energy became a surge of liquid, which quickly formed into solid mass as a new creature, a wicked dragon formed of crystalline ice! Invoked Cocytus! “It’s an impressive wall, Twilight.” Sea Swirl scoffed casually, but I could see she was sweating a little. My Cocytus was summoned in defense mode and, thanks to Sea Swirl’s Field Spell, had a DEF of 3100. Nothing was getting past him. “But you’ll never be able to win by just playing defense.” “You’re right,” I snickered evilly, grinning ear to ear “but thankfully Cocytus has the unique power to attack while in defense mode!” Judging by Sea Swirl’s gritted teeth and twisted attempt at a forced smile, she didn’t appreciate that at all. “Now my Cocytus, attack Elemental Hero Ocean!” Cocytus roared and spread its giant thorny wings, leaping through the water surrounding the field and drawing in energy from it to charge a gem in its icy chest. The energy was funneled to the sea beast’s maw and was shot out as a beam of ice that crashed right through the Aquaman-wannabe and destroyed him instantly. Hero Ocean and Cocytus were both being buffed by the Legendary Ocean, but Cocytus’ 2000 ATK was still higher than her Hero’s 1700 which was enough to damage Sea Swirl and reduce her Life to… 3700. Which… was not going to be good enough. But that’s okay! I had the upper hand now! “My draw.” Sea Swirl whispered sternly, closing her eyes as she drew her card. She was feeling the pressure and was starting to take this duel more seriously. “With no cards in your hand, I hope you drew a real lifesaver.” I teasingly wagged my finger at her, feeling ahead enough on board presence to act a little smug. I should probably have known better. “Oh but of course.” Sea Swirl smiled and put the card up to her lips with her eyes still closed. “My deck can feel the beat of my heart and will provide only the very best for me!” Sea Swirl opened her eyes and they brightened instantly when she saw her card, which was really bad news for me and my 450 Life. “And in this case, the best is The Legendary Fisherman III!” “The what?!” I exclaimed in shock. I had a bad feeling in my gut that this duel was about to go south in a hurry. “The Legendary Fisherman III can only be summoned by sacrificing my Legendary Fisherman on the field!” Sea Swirl explained as her first Fisherman disappeared in a shaft of light. “So goodbye friend, and make way for your better!” The new Fisherman looked similar to the old one but its blue hair became red as it framed his face and shoulders, growing wild to match the man’s feral smile. He traded in his shark for a giant blue dolphin with a red gemstone in its forehead and traded the spear in for a harpoon gun. “My new and improved Fisherman is completely immune to Spell and Trap cards, and cannot be destroyed by either battle or Monster Effects.” Sea Swirl’s wicked smile matched her creature’s perfectly and I felt a pang of dread in my gut facing down such a rock-solid wall of determination. “That’s… bad.” I forced myself to smile despite feeling like the walls were closing in and a very nervous laugh escaped my lips. “Oh, it gets worse. For you that is.” Sea Swirl said. Of course it does. “When this card is summoned, he Banishes all the Monsters you control. Which granted, is just one, but that still leaves you with nothing.” A chill went down my spine when I heard that last word and despite that I began to sweat when I saw Cocytus evaporated and become mist before my eyes. Now I was staring down a nearly invincible monster with no cards on my field to protect me. Was this it? Was this the end of the tournament for me? There was nothing I could do… I couldn’t believe that I could lose like this… I couldn’t breathe… “There is some good news.” Sea Swirl’s faux-gracious voice brought me back to reality. “The turn this ability is used, my Fisherman can’t attack. So you’re safe, but only for this one turn.” I breathed a small sigh of relief. It may have been only one turn but that may be all I needed. One turn at a time. I looked through my hand to try and find something useful to play, but there was nothing. No way to defeat her Legendary Fisherman, not even a way to stop it from killing me next turn. But if I could reach out beyond my hand… “I activate the Effect of Invocation in my graveyard!” I commanded proudly, stomping my foot on the ground and digging my heels in. “What does that mean?!” Sea Swirl exclaimed confusedly. “By shuffling it back into the deck,” I elucidated with a haughty smile but I was still breathing heavy and could feel the sweat drip down my forehead “I can add the banished Aleister the Invoker to my hand! And not only that, but when he’s summoned” Aleister returned to the field as I explained “I can add Invocation from my deck to my hand! So with that, I’ll activate it!” I banished Aleister again and discarded the Wind-Attribute Charioteer of Prophecy and declared “I summon Invoked Raidjin!” A bright red glowing circle appeared around Aleister, magical bolts of red energy raining from the sky as a green-robed young man with disheveled blonde hair and his majestic white stallion rose from the circle and were embraced by Aleister, the Invoker raising his staff into the air and allowing one of the red bolts to strike him and his companions, turning them into sparkling green energy. This green energy swirled around and became a hurricane inside the circle, absorbing every last bolt of red until disappearing in a flash and leaving in its place a stalwart silver-armored soldier, a being of pure lightning whose ethereal form crackled through the vents in his suit and held aloft a bright yellow sword that sparked with furious electrical energy. Invoked Raidjin! “Your Fisherman may not be able to be destroyed by card Effects, but my Raidjin’s ability doesn’t destroy, it just flips your monster face-down!” I was starting to get my breathing under control but now my hands were shaking. I punched my fist at the Fisherman to try and look cool, buuut I don’t think it worked. My silver soldier shifted his feet like he was preparing to take a leap into the air and in one swift movement, too fast for anyone to track with their naked eyes, Raidjin had dashed through the Fisherman and flipped his card face-down. “Big deal.” Sea Swirl shrugged. “I’ll just flip him up next turn and end you with him. And I know what you’re thinking; if my 2500 ATK Fisherman attacks your 2200 ATK Raidjin, that won’t wipe out the rest of your Life, but you’re wrong.” “H-how am I wrong?” I stuttered nervously. She was right, I was just going through the math in my head. “My Fisherman can return all your Banished monsters to the graveyard,” Sea Swirl raised a pinky to her lips as she spoke “and if he does, the next damage you take during that turn is doubled, meaning you’ll be down to 0.” “Ah, I see.” I smiled and nodded, my eyes closed as I tried to make it look like I wasn’t sweating bullets and about to explode into a panic. “Then I’ll set two cards and end my turn.” “Now then, let’s see what I can do…” Sea Swirl let out a single haughty laugh as she drew her card but quickly turned her focus to the field. “And now I’ll flip up my Fisherman and…” “Not so fast!” I excitedly interrupted. “Raidjin’s ability can be activated during your turn as well as mine, so as soon as your Fisherman is flipped up, I flip him back down again! Now he can’t activate his Effect this turn!” True to my words, as soon as the Fisherman appeared from beneath his card he was greeted by the noble visage of my soldier staring down at him, stomping him back down underneath the card. “Not bad, Twilight Sparkle. Not bad.” Sea Swirl sarcastically clapped her hands slowly. “But I’m afraid you have bigger problems now.” My eye twitched again and I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palms. “I activate Miracle Fusion! This allows me to fuse the Elemental Hero Ocean and Legendary Fisherman in my graveyard, Banishing them to summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!” A suit of sharp white ice covered his entire body, a cape that glistened like fresh snow and flew passionately behind him, and a mouthless white mask whose green eyes pierced through the watery depths into my soul… Elemental Hero Absolute Zero! “Absolute Zero gains 200 ATK by virtue of his Water-Attribute.” Sea Swirl said. “Which makes him 2700 ATK, so if his attack connects, then Twilight Sparkle it is game over. Now attack, Absolute Zero!” Absolute Zero put his hand into the ocean field and crystallized a frozen lance from the water surrounding us that he gripped and threw into my Raidjin. “I activate Forbidden Chalice!” I yelled tensely, revealing my face-down card. “This negates Raidjin’s Effect but increases his ATK by 400!” A golden chalice poured sacred shimmering wine all over my electrical warrior, the Monster grabbing Zero’s lance out of the air… “Clever, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl let out a single mocking laugh. “Now you’ll only take 100 damage when Absolute Zero destroys your monster.” …but the lance is caught one second too late as the tip of it has already pierced through Raidjin’s helmet, killing him and reducing my Life to 350. “Your move.” As I stood there with an empty field, again, facing down not only the 2700 ATK Absolute Zero, but also the nearly invincible Legendary Fisherman, I began to feel a sinking pain in my stomach. How was I going to survive this? How could I win with such impossible odds against me? I started thinking that I was going to lose, that I wouldn’t be able to face Pinkie in the finals, that she would be disappointed in me, that her and Fluttershy, and everyone else in the store for that matter, would see what a loser I was and how completely unworthy I was of their friendship. My brain told me that if I lost this game that I would lose the respect of my friends, that they would see me as nothing more than the arrogant failure that I always knew I was deep down. My knees started to buckle, I felt a chill in the warm air, I grabbed my arms to stop from shaking but to no avail… my brain was starting to shut down from anxiety. Breathe. I heard her voice in my mind and I heeded her command, taking a deep, slow breath in through the nose… and out through the mouth. It helped me center myself just long enough to focus. I was still in this duel as long as I had Life left, and I could still win this! “I will win this!” I screamed passionately, drawing my card from my deck so hard it practically left a stream of flame in its wake. It was Spellbook of the Rudra… interesting. “I activate the Invocation in my graveyard!” “Oh, this again.” Sea Swirl rolled her eyes. “Not quite.” I smirked. “I’ll still summon Aleister, allowing me to add that Invocation back to my hand, but then I’m going to sacrifice Aleister for Spellbook of the Rudra, allowing me to draw two cards!” Aleister’s book that he normally held was replaced by a Spellbook that glowed with pink light. Aleister opened the book and magical tendrils struck out of it and grabbed him by the throat. He breathed a small sigh as he was absorbed into the book by the tendrils and the book vanished into the ether. I put Aleister into the graveyard and then gripped the two cards on top of my deck. I took a short breath and prayed that the cards would be what I needed to win this duel… A second copy of Invocation, and The Book of the Law… PERFECT. “One thing that’s interesting about Invocation...” I couldn’t contain the smile that crept onto my face as I prepared to explain my winning maneuver “is that I can fuse monsters that are in my graveyard!” Sea Swirl groaned, and the crowd started to murmur to themselves, eager to see what I would pull off. ”Now I’ll activate Invocation, fusing the Aleister in my graveyard with the Fire-Attribute Strength of Prophecy in my hand to summon… Invoked Purgatrio!” That same bright red circle again, with my red-haired and black-armored Strength of Prophecy rising from it as red bolts rained from the sky. Aleister descended from one of those bolts and grabbed Strength by her hand, a bolt striking through the two of them and setting them ablaze with crimson fire until they were consumed by it and the fire spread throughout the entire circle, and then… The first thing to pop out of the fire was a small, egg-shaped white creature with burning red eyes and a sinister smile that covered half its head, then a gaunt pink-skinned creature with a white face, a screw coming out of his head and blinded by a leather strap across his eyes, a grimace of howling pain ever on his face. Lastly was a robust purple bear-like creature with one vacant yellow eye on its white head and blue duck-like lips. These three creatures made up a single Monster… my Invoked Purgatrio! “Purgatrio gains 200 ATK for each card I control…” Sea Swirl muttered and she counted her three cards. “That gives it an extra 600 ATK, making its ATK 2900.” She then laughed at my Monster, and at me, making my cheeks flush as I darted my eyes around to make sure she was the only one laughing. “Impressive, but it doesn’t help you against my Legendary Fisherman, and as soon as my Absolute Zero leaves the field his Effect will activate, which will destroy all of your Monsters.” “That’s fine, I’m just using Purgatrio as a ramp.” I was tapping my foot against the ground and my nails against my Duel Disk; I needed to finish this before I melted into a puddle of anxiety sludge. “I activate another copy of Invocation! Fusing my Invoked Purgatrio and the Invoked Raidjin in my graveyard!” “WHAT?!” Sea Swirl bellowed, wide-eyed and looking genuinely shocked. It was the first time during this whole duel that it seemed like she was seriously concerned about her fate in this game. “I summon… the mighty Invoked Elysium!” I screamed, throwing my hand to the heavens. When the red circle appeared around Purgatrio, Aleister did not come out to comfort it through the dance of fusion but instead Raidjin leaped out of the air above and crashed into the forms of Purgatrio, which were all laughing maniacally as they were absorbed into rainbow colored lights that shot out from the circle and began surrounding the entire arena, a heavenly choir backing their transformation. How could I even describe the creature that was summoned? It was pure chaos and light, a holy transcendent body that shone with a radiant aura that could hypnotize the most dazzling of sirens, a creature that reflected the entire world in its mesmerizing form. It shone with a sacred brilliance that put every other Monster to shame. It was in many respects the apotheosis of the power of Invocation. It was my strongest card… Invoked Elysium! “Now, Elysium! Attack her face-down Legendary Fisherman III!” My body was coursing with adrenaline as my ultimate creature descended on the battlefield and rained holy bolts down onto Sea Swirl’s face-down Fisherman. “Are you kidding me?!” Sea Swirl cackled uproariously. “Did you forget that my Fisherman can’t be destroyed by battle!? All that buildup, all that gravitas, and you blow it on a rookie mistake!? What a joke!” Sea Swirl’s laughter quickly spread to the audience. It was enough to make me blush and almost make me doubt my choice, but this was still a part of my plan. “Actually…” I said nervously, tugging at my sweater collar “I just needed your Fisherman to be face-up again.” Elysium spread its massive butterfly wings and shot spears of shimmering gold at The Legendary Fisherman III, flipping it face-up but leaving no scratch on the creature. But then I was able to activate Elysium’s Effect. The world-beast sung its song, its hallowed voice echoing through the arena and even the bookstore, shaking the foundation of our aquatic battlefield before disappearing without a trace. A flash of white light and the sound of a single resounding ring, as if a bell had been struck by a needle, and suddenly there were no more Monsters on the field. ”Elysium’s Effect.” I proudly enlightened Sea Swirl to the ability of my Monster while she stared in shock at her now empty field. “By banishing it from the field, I can banish all Monsters you control. Your Fisherman can’t be destroyed by Monster Effects, but it can be banished by them!” “Uh, that’s…” Sea Swirl stammered, blushing and fidgeting as she struggled with the realization that she had no more cards left to use. “And since Elysium was my only Monster, your Absolute Zero’s Effect is irrelevant.” I shrugged. “Well that’s all well and good Twilight Sparkle,” Sea Swirl cleared her throat and regained her pompous posture “but now neither of us have any Monsters on the field, and neither of us have a hand, except for you have one card. This duel is still anyone’s game.” “I’m sorry, Sea Swirl…” I tried to make my smile come across as elegant and compassionate, but I worried that I just looked smug. “But I’ve already won. I have another face-down card… activate Omega Summon!” A heavenly glow beamed across my field before turning into dark flames, four pentagrams appearing in front of me. Upon these runes arose my four formerly banished Monsters, Cocytus, Raidjin, Purgatrio and Elysium. “Omega Summon can revive all of my banished Invoked Monsters in defense mode!” “B-big deal!” Sea Swirl said, starting to sweat. “They’re only in defense mode! I can still make a comeback!” “I activate The Book of the Law!” I raised the card high in the air. “This card allows me to trade my Invoked Raidjin for another Invoked Monster from my Extra Deck, and I choose Invoked Magellanica!” A black book with the runes of Invocation etched into it fell onto the field in front of Raidjin, covering him in those same markings. The runes glowed black and absorbed Raidjin into the book, the tome flying open and shining with mystical energy as a giant stone fist breached its pages and came crawling out of it, the entire body of the beast following quickly. A mountain given animate form… a towering titan with an expressionless white sphere for a face whose entire enormous body glowed with the molten magma that coursed throughout it, a literal continent forged onto its back… my mighty golem! Invoked Magellanica! “Magellanica doesn’t have any Effects, but what it does have is 3000 ATK!” I smiled proudly. “Now attack her directly!” Magellanica needed no flashy abilities or powers to use its attack, all it needed was to hover its giant hand over Sea Swirl and bright red lava dropped from its joints, falling atop my opponent and reducing her Life to a mere 700. “That’s… still not enough, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl growled, breathing heavily and grinning, foolishly thinking she was safe. She should have paid more attention. “Did you forget so soon?” I let out a single haughty laugh. “Cocytus can attack while in defense mode.” Sea Swirl’s eyes widened as my frigid dragon geared up for its blizzard breath, spewing a stream of freezing water directly at a screaming Sea Swirl and reducing her Life to 0. “The winner, in this climactic and heart-pounding duel, is Twilight!! SPARKLE!!!” The announcer’s words couldn’t have brought me more joy and I dropped to my knees in relief. He wasn’t kidding when he called the duel ‘heart-pounding’, I felt like mine was about to explode out of my chest. “Good game, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl walked over to me and offered her hand with a sincerely warm smile. “Good game, Sea Swirl.” I happily accepted her offer to shake hands and also help me off the ground. “I’ll see you around, Twilight Sparkle. Maybe we’ll have another duel someday.” With that Sea Swirl walked away into the crowd and I left the arena in a bit of a daze. “You did grrrrrreat, Twilight!” Pinkie said as she ran up and hugged me, tackling me right to the floor. “I’m so excited! Now you and me are gonna be up against each other in the finals! Pinkie Pie vs. Twilight Sparkle! Best friend vs. best friend! Brain vs. brawn! Purple vs. Pink! Magicians vs. the circus! It’s gonna be so exciting and awesome and cool and I can’t wait!” “Okay…” I said deliriously, pushing Pinkie off of me and standing to my feet, staring blankly for a second as I waited for the room to stop spinning. “I think I’m pretty excited too, but to be honest that duel took a lot out of me.” “It was pretty intense.” Fluttershy said supportively. “It sure was!” Pinkie cheered and her eyes were full of joy and excitement. She really couldn’t contain herself. “I was on the edge of my seat! Well, I mean I was standing so there wasn’t really a seat for me to be on the edge of, but it was still a real heart-stopper! I mean, not really because if your heart stopped that would be bad. Nail-biter?” Pinkie looked at her finger nails. “Nope, that’s not right either!” “Pinkie I get what you mean.” I was exasperated but I had a genuine smile, which was a pretty standard reaction to Pinkie Pie. “Now girls, will you excuse me for one second? This duel reminded me of something… something I gotta take care of.” “Is it about Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked. I nodded and the girls took the hint, Pinkie saluting and bouncing off and Fluttershy bowing her head and following suit. **** I sat down on one of the chairs in the corner lounge of the bookstore and stared at my phone, looking through my tiny, tiny contact list. I still had Rainbow’s number, so I decided to give her a text, hoping that she hadn’t changed phones or her number in the last few years. “Rainbow, can I talk to you for one second, please?” Every word that I typed felt like I was pressing my hands up against hot coals. I waited with bated breath for what felt like hours but was really only a few minutes. My body felt hot, I was able to control my breathing but just barely, and I felt like there was a storm of locusts in my stomach… and then my phone chirped and I jumped, nearly dropping the phone on the ground and fumbling to grab it. “wut do u want twi?” Rainbow texted me back. “I want to apologize.” I took a deep breath… in through the nose… and out through the mouth. “I realize now that it was completely uncalled for to treat you like a moron because I didn’t agree with your choices. It is *not* my place to tell you who to love or what to do or who to hang out with, etc. I do NOT like your girlfriend, but that does not give me the right to treat you like a child or just be a huge jerk in general. So I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. And I hope that you can forgive me and we can give our relationship another try.” Another several minutes passed with no reply and I felt a burning sensation in my stomach and in my cheeks, my eyes starting to sting as tears tried to well up. What was I thinking writing something so long and sappy? Ugh, I felt like such an idiot. When I heard my phone chirp again I felt like I was about to throw up. “jeez twi u writing a novel or smth? ;p” I wasn’t sure how to take Rainbow’s words, whether I should laugh or throw up. “Ofc I 4giv u twi. & I’m not redy to giv up on us ether” I smiled so big that my cheeks hurt when I read that, giggling like a lunatic and immediately sent back another text. “So what do you say to dinner tonight?” My breathing was still fast but now I was excited instead of nervous. “no can do twi. me & the gf r goin out 2nite” And there went my excitement, Rainbow steamrolling over it and then dropping a grand piano on it. I grimaced pretty epically when I read those words. A part of me wanted to text back something snippy and hurtful but I knew that was a stupid impulse that I needed to fight back. If I was serious about rekindling my relationship with Rainbow I needed to be able to have some grace and tact when the ‘gf’ was brought up. Before I could think of a response, Rainbow sent another text saying “so how bout 2morrw 4 lunch insted?” “I would love to!” I replied immediately, practically jumping for joy but then I thought about it for a second and got worried, slinking down into my chair. “But I have my final match with Pinkie Pie tomorrow, I don’t know how long that will take.” “no problm” Rainbow said, and I could almost see the sassy shrug she probably did while typing that. “I’ll com by & watch u guys! It’ll be rad!” “I would love that!” I said with a beaming smile. After my duel with Sea Swirl I was feeling a little down on confidence and enthusiasm for my duel with Pinkie, but the thought of Rainbow watching me made it feel much easier and made me excited again. “I’ll see you tomorrow around noon?” “heck ya!” Rainbow said. “c u 2morrw twi!!!” “See you tomorrow, Rainbow.” I sent back, sighing softly to myself as I felt a ton of stress leaving my body. Tomorrow was going to be a great day. **** I was in my bed, wearing pajamas because I felt pretty good today and didn’t feel like just sleeping in my clothes as usual, with my deck splayed out across the sheets. I was examining it to make sure it was its very best for my duel with Pinkie Pie. My phone was on the nightstand and I was chatting with Applejack through a video call. Applejack was super buff, which was the first thing anybody would notice about her. Second thing would be her amazing mane of blonde hair that fell around her face and down her back like a golden waterfall, glistening gorgeously against her dark tan skin and complimenting her dazzling emerald eyes. Ahem… she was pretty. ANYWAY. “So today was a pretty interesting day for you, huh?” She said with a chuckle. “It sure was.” I sighed contentedly, falling back onto my pillow. “Never in a million years would I have even considered the possibility that I’d see Rainbow again… but I’m glad I did.” “I’m glad ya did too, Twi!” Applejack said enthusiastically, lounging on her own bed wearing a plaid red shirt and pretty much nothing else. “Honestly, I’d like to repair the damage to my own friendship with her, but we always butt heads way more’n you guys did!” She laughed. “It’s true.” I laughed softly. “You guys always got into some pretty incredible arguments… but I don’t know, I’m feeling pretty hopeful.” “I’m glad to hear it!” AJ said with a bright smile. “Sorry if I sound a little distracted, by the way, it’s been a long day plus I’m also chattin’ with Pinkie Pie at the same time.” “Oh you are, are you?” I said with a sinister grin. “Tell her that she’s going to… uh, I want to say ‘get wrecked’ tomorrow! If you can think of some better trash talk though tell her that instead.” “Hahaha.” Applejack said drolly. “I’m not gonna send insults to you guys back n’ forth… that said, Pinkie was just sayin’ basically the same thing.” “Ha, I knew it!” I laughed. “That trash-talking charlatan! She’s going down tomorrow, mark my words!” “I heard that, Twilight!” I was startled to hear Pinkie’s voice coming from Applejack’s phone… somehow. “You’re going down! Down like a clown! Or something like that anyway.” “Oh yeah?! Well… hold on a sec…” I took a moment to call Pinkie myself and put her on group talk. “Oh hey, Twilight!” Pinkie said with an innocent smile as she answered the phone. “Me and Applejack were just talking about you.” “I bet.” I said with a coy smirk. “Yeah, she definitely wasn’t trash talking you.” Fluttershy popped up from behind Pinkie. “Not at all.” Her and Pinkie giggled with each other. “Fluttershy? You’re here too?” I said curiously. “I’m staying at her place right now.” Pinkie nodded furiously and I was almost worried her head was going to fall off. “Hey, is that Twilight!” Zephyr Breeze could be heard from the next room and I groaned audibly. “No, Zephyr!” Fluttershy said tiredly, a dismal look of dejection on her face. “You better watch out, Twilight!” Pinkie pointed her smudgy finger right into the phone camera, blocking out the rest of the picture. “Or I might sic Zephyr on you!” “You wouldn’t dare.” I said drolly. “I might!” Pinkie waved her arms around randomly. “I’m loooooopy! Who knows what I could do!” Her and Fluttershy got the giggles again and this time I couldn’t help but join in, especially when Applejack started laughing too. “Hey AJ, you should get Rarity on the line!” Pinkie suggested. “We could get the whole gang back together almost!” “That’s a great idea!” I perked up and sat straight on my bed, looking attentively at the phone on the nightstand. I hadn’t talked to Rarity in too long, I missed her. “Eh, Rarity’s in another room.” Applejack said bashfully, putting a hand behind her head. “She’s prob’ly sleepin’.” “You guys don’t share a room?” I disappointedly slumped back down against my pillow. “Isn’t that weird?” “Nah.” Applejack shook her head and blushed. “We just don’t wanna rush things, y’know?” “I understand.” I shrugged. I didn’t actually understand. “Welp, in that case,” Pinkie yawned “I’d better go! I got a lot of deck editing to do to put together the perfect anti-Twilight deck! You’re gonna get dunked on, Twilight!” With that, Pinkie hung up the phone, the amused giggling of Fluttershy being the last sound I heard from her end. “Man, I really wish I could be there to see you guys duel.” Applejack sighed sadly. “It’s gonna be quite a sight, I bet.” “Absolutely.” I said happily, looking up at the ceiling. “I wish you and Rarity could be here too… but I guess you’ll just have to cheer for us from afar, just like Pinkie said!” “Will do, Twilight!” Applejack pounded her fist against her palm. “Good luck to both of y’all!” “Thank you, Applejack, for all your help.” I yawned and pulled all my cards together, putting them on the nightstand. “I really needed you today.” “Nothin’ to it, Twilight.” Applejack gave a warm smile and I could see her blushing just a little, which looked adorable on her freckled cheeks. “I’m more’n happy to help.” “I appreciate that a lot.” I yawned and stretched my arms upward and outward, combing through my hair. “But for right now it’s time for me to turn in.” “You have a wonderful night’s rest, Twilight Sparkle.” Applejack said caringly, giving a two-fingered salute. “Goodnight.” “Will do.” I said, a calm smile washing over me as I turned off the phone and laid my head down, closing my eyes. “Goodnight.”