//------------------------------// // 09. Airplane Graveyard // Story: Hearts in Harmony // by Iris Heartfang //------------------------------// -FLUTTERSHY- “Oh, I hope Twilight and Rainbow Dash can work things out.” I said softly, kicking my feet in the air as they hung off my living room couch, more thinking out loud than trying to engage my three friends sitting around the living room with me. “I think they will.” Applejack said confidently, lounging in the easy chair on the far side of the room. “The two may have a lot of differences, but honestly I think the two of ‘em are good for each other, and I think they can see it on some level.” “I don’t want to get too optimistic,” Rarity was pacing around the room, picking up piles of my brother’s clothes and things and putting them into boxes in the corner of the room to be sorted later. “I’d hate to be disappointed… but to be perfectly truthful I’m feeling rather hopeful myself.” “Yay optimism!” Pinkie added as she brought more empty boxes from the other room. “Rainbow said she wanted to talk to Twilight at the old airplane graveyard.” I said. “That was their old hangout when they were kids, so that’s gotta be a good sign, right?” “Yep!” Pinkie jumped onto the couch next to me, giving me a bit of a fright. “I bet Rainbow’s waiting there for Twilight and thinking about all the good times they had then when Twilight gets there Rainbow will start crying and be like ‘I’m sorry I was a big dummy for wanting to leave you and the others for Whiplash! Oh boohoo!’ Yep, that’s definitely what it’ll be like.” “Now who’s too optimistic, Rarity?” Applejack chuckled and Rarity laughed softly into her hand in response, and Pinkie started guffawing too because when somebody starts laughing around Pinkie Pie she can’t help but join in. “Hey Fluttershy, not to be a bother or nuthin’, but do you got anything to eat around here?” “Well, I’ve got frozen pizzas.” I said modestly, twiddling my fingers. I knew that wasn’t a very good suggestion but everything else in my house needed to be cooked and I didn’t think I was up to that. “You’re welcome to have some. My brother didn’t eat them since he’s off mooching off one of his guy friends.” “I like pizza!” Pinkie said enthusiastically, pulling me in for a hug. “All pizza is good pizza, that’s what I say.” Applejack laughed, sitting upright in her chair. “That sounds delightful to me.” Rarity stood over Applejack and gave her a kiss on the head, which made Applejack blush. “Fluttershy, would you accompany me into the kitchen and we can get those ready?” “Well they just go in the microwave…” I said. I don’t know why I was arguing though against quality time with Rarity, it had been far too long since we’d been able to spend time together and I missed her. Applejack too, I needed to make sure I got to spend time with her as well. “But sure!” Rarity and I headed into the kitchen and made some small talk as we prepared the pizzas. ‘It’s so good to see you’ ‘How have you been’, stuff like that. The whole time though something is nagging at me, a question that I want to ask but feel might not be appropriate. Eventually though, as Rarity was taking the third pizza out of the microwave and putting in the last one, my curiosity got the better of me. “So Rarity, if it’s okay to ask this, if you don’t mind…” I stuttered and almost considered backing out of asking but now I felt like I had to since I had already started. “Why did you leave school?” “I’m sorry Fluttershy but if it’s all the same,” Rarity sighed, placing her hand on the counter and tapping her fingers against the marble “I’d rather avoid talking about that right now.” Immediately I felt a pang of shame and embarrassment wash over me. “I’m sorry.” I said instinctively. “It’s quite alright, darling.” Rarity said with a smile, gently brushing some hair out of my face. “It’s natural to be curious. It’s just that… well, truth be told, I haven’t even been able to tell Applejack about why we needed to leave.” “Not even Applejack?” I said in surprise. “Why ever not?” “Like I said, darling,” Rarity chuckled nervously “it’s not a topic I wish to broach at this time. Although I do fear that Applejack resents me for keeping it to myself.” “No, Applejack wouldn’t be like that.” I argued. “She’s kind and loyal, and you’re her girlfriend, she’d support you no matter what!” “That’s what I expected as well.” Rarity said distantly, walking over to the window above the sink and staring out into the rainy night sky. “But she acted very strangely when I wouldn’t tell her what was wrong, she even got a little short with me.” “Well… I’m sure it was just a stressful situation.” I said hopefully, tapping my thumbs together. Rarity and Applejack were so good to and for each other, that it made me nervous to think of them getting into an argument… even though on some level I knew that it happened to everybody. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything, and I’m sure that she trusts you no matter what.” “You’re probably right.” Rarity said with a cute giggle, making me feel a little more at east. “At least, I hope so anyway.” Rarity perked up as the microwave timer beeped. “Ooh! Pizza’s ready!” **** -APPLEJACK- While Fluttershy and Rarity were off gettin’ pizzas from the kitchen, me and Pinkie were left alone in the livin’ room, Pinkie starin’ at me the whole time with her big Pinkie puppy-dog eyes. “What’s up, Pinkie?” I asked. “Oh, I’m just happy to see you guys again!” Pinkie clapped her hands and fell onto her side, lyin’ down on the couch. “You and Rarity make such a cute couple! I’m a little bit jelly to be honest!” “You shouldn’t be jelly, Pinkie.” I blushed, tippin’ my hat down over my eyes. “It’s really not… we’re not that… we’re just like anyone else, I guess is what I’m tryin’ to say.” “Sure, sure.” Pinkie sprung back to an upright position and dismissively waved her hand around. “But you guys made it! You’re an item! Despite all the odds, despite your huge differences, despite everybody saying it wasn’t gonna work out… you guys did it!” “We’re not married or anythin’, Pinkie.” I chuckled nervously. I tried fidgetin’ with my hat to ignore the stressful feelin’s of this here conversation but it wasn’t workin’ so I got up and started pacin’ around the room. Rarity did an amazing job cleanin’ it up, Fluttershy’s brother left the place like a pig sty but Rarity got it back in tiptop shape in no time at all! “We’re not even livin’ together or anything.” “Really? I thought you were.” Pinkie said curiously, puttin’ a finger to her lips. “Nah.” I shrugged, absentmindedly kickin’ at the boxes full of Zephyr’s stuff. “I don’t really wanna move things along too fast, y’know what I mean?” “No.” Pinkie shook her head. “I say, if you like somebody, just dive right in with both feet!” “That may be fine fer you, Pinkie…” I exhaled sharply, startin’ to feel a little tense, like Pinkie was tryin’ to put me in a pressure cooker or somethin’! “…but I’m a more traditional gal. I just don’t want to get too ahead of things.” “Haven’t you guys been together for like three years?” Pinkie said flatly. “In a couple weeks, yeah.” I sighed in frustration, takin’ off my hand runnin’ a hand through my hair. “I just… never mind, Pinkie. Me and Rarity are doin’ fine, I’m just a little wary about takin’ the next step, I guess.” “Say no more!” Pinkie jumped up to a standin’ position and hopped over to me, puttin’ an arm around my shoulder… or at least she tried to but her arms didn’t reach my shoulders cuz of the height difference, so she just held my hand instead. “I’ll drop the subject! Instead let’s talk about your guys’ trip to Canterlot! How was it? How did Rarity’s school stuff go? How come you guys are back early? Did something happen? Did you get involved with any gangs? Any cults? Were there knife fights? Did you punch anyone? Did you get involved in a political assassination?” “Pinkie.” I said sternly and glared at her in order to stop Pinkie’s rambling. “Oh, sorry.” Pinkie chuckled nervously and backed off a bit. “To be entirely honest,” I growled, puttin’ my fist against my palm “I dunno why we’re back early. One day out of the blue Rarity just said she was ready to go home and before I knew it we were packin’ our bags and headed back.” “That’s… ominous.” Pinkie said. “I know.” I grumbled. “And she didn’t tell you why or anything?” Pinkie asked. “Nope.” I shrugged, puttin’ my hand up against the drywall. I wasn’t super happy with how things were goin’ with Rarity on this front. She was still my babe and I liked her a lot and cared about her… but the fact that she couldn’t be honest with me was really troublin’ fer me, for obvious reasons. “I asked her a couple times and she just kept dodgin’ the question or tellin’ me that it wasn’t important and that I should just ‘trust her’ but how’m I supposed to trust her if she ain’t even gonna tell me what’s goin’ on?!” “Oh, are we still doing this?” Rarity said agitatedly as she and Fluttershy walked back into the livin’ room with the pizzas. “I thought we agreed to drop this.” “Yeah, we did.” I sighed irritably and put my hat back on. “But Pinkie asked what was goin’ on with us comin’ back and I answered her. Plain as that.” “Girls, please don’t fight.” Fluttershy said meekly but Rarity was already too wound up to hear her. “Is it so troubling that your girlfriend asks you to just trust her judgment?!” Rarity yelled, shovin’ the pizzas she was holdin’ into Fluttershy’s hands, but Pinkie came over and took ‘em from her, the two girls standin’ off to the side so Rarity and myself could have an uninterrupted shoutin’ match. “Is it sooooo hard to just believe that maybe I have things going on that I can’t talk about, that don’t concern you?! Do you really need to be a part of every thought I have and choice I make!?” “Well when it’s a choice that has me uprootin’ my whole life in Canterlot to move back to Fillydelphia with less than two weeks’ notice, then yeah maybe you should tell me what’s goin’ on!” I yelled back, half a mind to put a hole in Fluttershy’s wall but that would be extremely rude and just not good anger management in general, so I didn’t bother. “You didn’t have to come back with me… if you didn’t want to.” Rarity said coldly. “And what, leave you alone do deal with…” I sighed sharply, grabbin’ my forehead. “Whatever it is yer dealin’ with that’s so dang worrisome for ya? What kinda girlfriend, heck, what kinda friend would I be if I just let ya walk outta my life with barely a word?” “Applejack, I…” Rarity stuttered, holdin’ her arms. “I wish that I could… I wish you could believe that I… I don’t know what to say. I just… I can’t talk about this… I’m sorry, I wish that I could… I’m sorry.” “It’s not that I don’t trust ya, sugar cube.” I walked over to Rarity and wrapped her up in my big ol’ arms. “Of course I do. It’s just a little frustratin’ is all, to be so close to somebody and not bein’ able to do a darn thing to help ‘em. And if yer thinkin’ that I’m ventin’ that frustration at you, then I’m sorry too. Cuz I may be a little peeved, but not at you. You’re my darlin’ and I’ll always stand by ya, and if I make ya feel unsafe or unhappy, then that’s on me and I apologize, and I’ll do my darnedest to make it right by ya.” “Oh, Applejack.” Rarity said, returnin’ my hug and snuzzlin’ herself into my chest. “You’re my darling too. And I promise I’ll tell you everything at the right time. I couldn’t ask for a better protector to be at my side than you.” “Heh, I try.” I said, kissing Rarity on the forehead. “I love you, Applejack.” Rarity said, kissing me on the lips. “I uh, I do too.” I said, blushing and with a nervous smile. “Close enough.” Rarity chuckled. “And I love pizza!” Pinkie cheered. She got us both in a group hug and said “And I love you guys too, of course! Get in here, Fluttershy!” “Sorry we had that ugly spat in your home, darling.” Rarity said as Fluttershy walked up to the group hug situation. “Don’t worry about it.” Fluttershy said, getting sucked into the hug by Pinkie. “I’m just glad…” Pinkie was startin’ to squish Fluttershy and Rarity which meant it was time for me to drag Pinkie away from the others. “I’m just glad everything’s alright between you two.” “Yes, I hope it is.” Rarity said, lookin’ at me. “No problems here.” I shrugged. “Now let’s have some pizza.” “Let’s.” Rarity said with a smile, the four of us sittin’ on the floor and chowin’ down on some microwaved pizzas. To be honest, while I stood by everything that I told Rarity, it was hard for me to let go of my annoyance, even anger, at the situation. It bothered me that Rarity couldn’t just be honest with me about whatever it was that was goin’ on, it bothered me that she had secrets I couldn’t know about. And honestly, it even bothered me that it bothered me. Ech, what a mess. Oh well. I loved Rarity and would do anythin’ to see her smile, so if I had to choke down some anger and bitterness for right now to make her happy then I had no choice but to do it. **** -TWILIGHT SPARKLE- The airplane graveyard; a grassy, gravelly field holding the desiccated remains of several old airplanes. It was raining lightly and the sun had just set as I came here, seeing Rainbow staring at one of the old planes. This place held special significance for Rainbow and I. When we were kids we used to get into all kinds of trouble and then we would run off here and hide. Rainbow would look at all the old planes and dream of being a pilot, and I’d joke around about being a stewardess but then she’d tell me she didn’t want to be that kind of pilot and I’d still say that having a stewardess onboard your plane was a good idea, just in case you needed snacks or something. We were kids. Those were good times. “Rainbow Dash.” I said solemnly, standing across a gravelly stretch of field from Rainbow. “Twilight.” Rainbow sighed, looking up at the dilapidated remains of what was once a fancy passenger jet. “You remember when we used to come here all the time as kids?” “Of course.” I said. I had just been reminiscing about it! “I still think you could use a stewardess!” Rainbow laughed and it made me happy that she still remembered our jokes. “What happened Rainbow? We used to be really close.” “I dunno.” Rainbow turned around to face me and shrugged. “Maybe we’re just too different.” “Pinkie Pie’s not any less different from me than you are.” I argued. “Maybe it…” Rainbow kicked some of the gravel, sending it flying in a bunch of directions. “Maybe it just wasn’t meant to work out, Twilight.” That answer didn’t sit right with me, it made me grimace and shuffle around a little bit. “I don’t think so…” I shook my head and stopped myself before I went on another tirade. “You know, I’ve learned a lot in this past weekend since you came back into my life. I’ve done a lot of soul searching. I know that I can’t force you to make up with me, or to break up with your girlfriend.” “Twilight…” Rainbow said uneasily. “But! I’m not finished yet!” I held up a finger to remind Rainbow to hold on while I finished my speech. “But I do know I can offer you two things. The first is an apology. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash.” I bowed my head low, bending at the waist. “I’m sorry that I took you for granted, that I didn’t listen to you or consider your feelings. I’m sorry I devalued your relationship with your…” I cleared my throat and tried to choke out the word “girlfriend. I’m sorry for all the dumb fights that we didn’t need to get in, I’m sorry for making you feel stupid… and I’m sorry… I’m sorry that we’re in this mess at all right now, instead of laughing and having a good time like when we were kids.” “Wow, Twilight…” Rainbow said. As I returned to a standing position I saw that she looked honestly stunned, she definitely didn’t see that coming. But to be fair, neither did I. “That’s… I’m not really sure what to say.” “That’s fine.” I laughed anxiously. “You don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to, but I wanted you to know how I feel. How I really feel. I miss you, Rainbow Dash.” A moment passed where Rainbow and I said nothing, just stood silently as the rain came pouring down upon us. “The second thing I have for you is this.” I pulled out a deck from a second deck box hanging from my belt next to my own deck, all of our cards were in little flexible plastic card sleeves, so the rain wasn’t a factor for them. “A Duel Monsters deck?” Rainbow scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. “What am I supposed to do with-” “It’s not just any old deck.” I said with a cautious smile. “It’s a replica of the deck you had when we were younger, the one you loved so much. I recreated it as best I could, and I want to give it to you.” “Twilight…” Rainbow said with a cold smile. “Thanks, but no thanks.” My heart dropped and I almost dropped the deck in the a muddy puddle on the ground as she said those words, but then… “Why would I need a replica, when I’ve got the real thing right here?” Rainbow got out her pale blue Duel Disk with her deck already inside. “You still have your old deck?!” I said in with surprise and joy, my eyes lighting up. “Of course!” Rainbow scoffed. “What, you think just because Whiplash says I can’t duel anymore that I’m gonna just stop? Screw that! I’ve still been playing in a local underground circuit.” “Using your old deck!” I said happily. “Not exactly.” Rainbow chuckled. “You see, I did start using the Crystal Beast deck for the reason that I said, that I thought Whiplash would like it, but I didn’t win with it. I lost a lot of matches, and a lot of money. Losing to you though was the last straw… and I dug up this old thing.” “Have you been using it since?” I asked curiously, putting the replica deck back into the box at my side. “Yep.” Rainbow flashed a cocky grin at me. “Undefeated, just like always.” “We’ll see about that.” I readied my own Duel Disk. “Why do you think I called you out here?” Rainbow smiled, getting ready to duel. “Then…” I took in a deep breath, grinning like an idiot the whole time. “Let’s duel!” We both said in unison. DUEL! Twilight Sparkle vs. Rainbow Dash! “Tell you what,” I said “if I win this duel, you accept my apology and we become friends again!” “Twilight, I can’t just…” Rainbow started to talk but I interrupted her. “Rainbow, you’ve been gambling all your money away in underground dueling tournaments.” I argued. “You’re already going against her wishes! I promise, I won’t push you or try to convince you to stop seeing her, but we become friends again if I win.” “And what about if I win?” Rainbow asked with a smile. “Then I’ll leave you alone and we can pretend like this whole week never happened.” I said coldly. “Fine then.’ Rainbow said, similarly cold. “Let’s do this then! I’ll go first!” Rainbow looked at her options and grinned. “I’ll summon Mecha Phantom Beast Tetherwolf!” Tetherwolf was a black and white helicopter with a wolf’s face and two miniature laser cannons attached to its sides by lengthy steel cords that gave it an ATK power of 1700. My heart skipped a beat seeing it again. It really was one of Rainbow’s old Monsters, she really was still using her old deck! It brought back a flood of memories and it made me happy beyond words. “When Tetherwolf is Normal Summoned,” Rainbow explained “he brings along with him a Mecha Phantom Beast Token!” The token took the appearance of a colorful phantasm of Tetherwolf, but it had 0 ATK or DEF. “Now I’ll set one card face-down and it’s your turn, Twilight!” “I’ll summon my Temperance of Prophecy!” My stalwart aide, a slender brown-robed magician with a shadowy hooded face, took center stage. “And I’ll activate Spellbook of Secrets! This allows me to add-” “I know what it does, Twi.” Rainbow laughed. “You used to use it in every duel.” “I’m pretty sure I still do.” I chuckled bashfully. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” Rainbow rolled her eyes teasingly. “Point is,” I said, regaining my composure “I can add Spellbook of Rudra to my hand and sacrifice my Temperance to summon… Prophecy Destroyer!” The twin chalices held by Temperance emitted a dark haze that enveloped the mysterious magician, and out of that mist came a flickering orange light that burst into a bright blaze, revealing a fiery-faced devil with huge leathery wings and big black horns, holding a sword emblazoned with shining orange runes. “Prophecy Destroyer!” I declared. “Attack Rainbow’s Tetherwolf!” As my devil charged forward, ready to cut Rainbow’s dog-copter into scrap metal, it was stopped by the appearance of a second phantom visage. “I activate my face-down!” Rainbow said proudly. “Aerial Recharge! This card allows me to summon a new Phantom Token every turn as long as it stays on the field, and now I’ll use Tetherwolf’s ability to sacrifice one of my tokens to increase his ATK to 2500!” “I… I call off my attack.” I said irritably. Since Rainbow summoned a monster during my attack, in this case the Phantom Token, it caused a replay and allowed me to call off what would have been a disastrous attack for my monster. Since Destroyer and Tetherwolf now had the same ATK power, it should have been a draw and both Monsters would be destroyed if they did battle, but Rainbow’s Mecha Phantom Beast Monsters had the ability to become immune to destruction while she controlled even one of those Phantom Tokens, and even after sacrificing one she still had one left so only my Destroyer would’ve been killed. “I’ll lay my own face-down card.” I said. “And now I’ll end my turn.” “Well just so you know,” Rainbow said flippantly, a smug smirk on her face “to keep my Aerial Recharge on the field, I have to sacrifice a Mecha Phantom monster once per turn, including your turns, but I can just sacrifice the token it summoned since I don’t need it anymore!” Rainbow laughed, clearly proud of herself. “Good for you Rainbow, you learned how to kahm-boh.” I said mockingly. “Heh heh heh.” Rainbow stuck out her tongue. “Now it’s my turn, and I’ll summon… Mecha Phantom Beast Megaraptor!” A steel blue jet plane with the distinct image of a velociraptor roared past me to take to the stage alongside Rainbow’s Tetherwolf. “Then I’ll use Aerial Recharge to summon another token!” Rainbow said, another phantasm of Tetherwolf appearing on her field, but to my chagrin a second phantasm, this one of Megaraptor, also appeared! “And hey, here’s something cool.” Rainbow said with an obnoxious smirk. “When a token is summoned on my field, Megaraptor summons a Phantom Token of his own!” “Cool. Now you’ve got a little menagerie of useless monsters.” I taunted. “Ha! Not hardly.” Rainbow laughed. “Megaraptor’s ability lets me sacrifice one of the tokens…” Megaraptor’s phantasm was absorbed into the engines of the jet monster, the creature’s eyes glowing and its mouth fuming with energy. “This allows me to grab a Mecha Phantom from my deck and add it to my hand, and I’ll choose… O-Lion!” “Okay?” I arched an eyebrow. “I remain unconvinced.” “Well then how about this?” Rainbow smirked. “I activate Foolish Burial! This card allows me to send a monster from my deck to the graveyard, and I’ll choose a second O-Lion! But get this! Once O-Lion goes to the graveyard, it summons another Phantom Token!” Yet another phantasm of Megaraptor appeared, giving Rainbow two Mecha Phantom monsters and two Phantom Tokens. “Wow, you’re really obsessed with summoning these tokens, huh Rainbow?” I laughed. “Are you going to give me a heads up for when they start actually contributing something?” While it was fun to taunt Rainbow, I was well aware of how vital the tokens were to her deck’s strategy. Heck, she already used them pretty effectively so far and I’m sure that O-Lion she added to her hand was going to come in handy sooner rather than later. Hopefully I would have some good countermeasures before it did. “How about this for contributing?” Rainbow said confidently. “Tetherwolf is going to attack your Prophecy Destroyer, and by sacrificing one of my tokens I can raise my monster’s ATK to 2500, making him equal with yours!” Tetherwolf’s cannons stood at attention, blasting my devil with rainbow-colored laser blasts. My Destroyer took the hit and started decaying rapidly from the attack but countered with a vicious sword swing that was stopped dead by Tetherwolf’s impervious frame, leaving my devil to slowly fall apart into a smoking heap. “But because you have another token,” I grumbled “your Tetherwolf is unharmed.” “You got it!” Rainbow said with a smile. “Now I’ll have my Megaraptor attack you directly!” “And that’s where I get to use this card!” I said, happily revealing my face-down card. “Drowning Mirror Force! It sends all your attack mode monsters back into the deck!” A surging tidal wave blocked Megaraptor’s attack, rushing toward Tetherwolf and Megaraptor and washing them away, sending them back into an angrily glaring Rainbow Dash’s deck. Her token, which was in defense mode, was unaffected but it was her last one and… “Don’t forget, Rainbow, that your Aerial Recharge needs you to sacrifice a Mecha Phantom to stay on the field!” I said in a mocking sing-song voice. “Yeah, I know.” Rainbow sighed irritably. She shook her head and the anger melted away as she returned to her confidently smiling self with a shrug. “Whatever! This is just gonna make my awesome comeback like 20% cooler!” “You did not just say that.” I said dismally, Rainbow laughing. “I’ll set two cards,” Rainbow said, throwing the cards down dramatically “and end my turn!” Rainbow’s last Phantom Token disappeared as her turn ended, leaving her field open for me to attack! I needed to make sure I took full advantage of this opportunity. “I summon Aleister the Invoker!” I said with a smile. Aleister was a nerd, you could tell because he had glasses, with a green pointed hood on his white and green robes. “I’m sorry about that comeback, Rainbow! It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen!” Rainbow just shrugged. Of course she’d try to play it cool. “I activate Invocation!” I beamed at Rainbow as I activated my card and reveled in the little eye twitch I saw her make. She always hated it when I did this. “By banishing my Invoker… and your O-Lion in the graveyard…” “Aaagh!” Rainbow grabbed her face in anger. “I hate that card! So much!” “…I can summon Invoked Raidjin!” I said proudly, my armored electrical warrior hitting the field! “Well whatever I activate Bottomless Trap Hole.” Rainbow said flippantly with a shrug. I just stood there in silence, my mighty warrior falling right into a hole in the ground, a Goofy-esque scream resounding in my head. “O… kay.” I said flatly, not really sure how to mentally grapple with what just happened. A bit anticlimactic to be entirely honest. “Moving on…” I totally had a plan! Yup! No monsters in my hand, but a plan! Then I realized a great move I could make and it made me smile. “I activate Spellbook of Rudra! I can sacrifice a Spellbook card in my hand to draw two cards, and I’ll sacrifice Spellbook of Eternity!” I drew my two cards and one of them was my High Priestess! But since I just lost two Spellbooks from my hand, I didn’t have the three in my hand I needed to summon her with her own Effect, which irritated me. Still, I drew the Spellbook of Wisdom and already held the Spellbook of Life, so I just needed one more… provided I didn’t need Wisdom’s protective Effect this turn. “I banish three Spellbook cards from my graveyard!” I said. “Secrets, Rudra and Eternity… in order to revive my Prophecy Destroyer!” A sphere of wicked dark flame hovered in the air as the chilling cackle of my devil echoed across the field. The black flame became orange and out of it returned my Balrog, Prophecy Destroyer! “Wow! Nice move, Twilight!” Rainbow said. “So to defend myself, I’ll activate my Aerial Recharge and summon a new Phantom Token.” Another phantasmal Megaraptor appeared to defend Rainbow’s Life, but I was feeling pretty confident that my monster could take out a creature with 0 DEF. “That token won’t provide much defense against my Destroyer!” I said, reaching my hand out in a declarative manner. “Destroyer, take out Rainbow’s token!” My devil charged at Rainbow’s phantasm and swung its mighty blade, hitting the Phantom and… the blade was resounded with a clang, shivers going through my devil’s body as its attack had no effect. “Draw Muscle!” Rainbow said, cheerfully revealing her face-down card. “This allows me to make one of my defense mode monsters with less than 1000 DEF invincible for this turn, plus I get to draw a card! Go me!” “Nicely… done.” I grumbled, smiling through gritted teeth. “I’ll end my turn here then.” As annoyed as I was by Rainbow’s constant attempts to dodge my attacks, I couldn’t deny that I was having so much fun! It was a blast to be able to play against Rainbow again, for real this time, after so many years! And this was a great duel, with neither of us willing to give an inch and still having a ton of steam left! I must have been smiling like an idiot the entire time. “My move!” Rainbow looked at her cards and grinned savagely. This was going to be a major turning point, I could already feel it. “I summon Mathematician!” Mathematician was a card unlike any other in Rainbow’s deck, a bespectacled old man in a graduation robe with the matching hat, and a beard that stretched down to the ground, tied at the bottom with a little red ribbon. “Really? But you hate math!” I said. “I sure do! But not this guy, he’s rad!” Rainbow said. “His effect allows me to send a monster from my deck to the graveyard, so I think I’ll get a replay on the last card I sent… O-Lion!” “And O-Lion’s Effect…” I said with some dread. “Lets me summon a Phantom Token!” Rainbow cheered. “And Aerial Recharge lets me summon another, but not only that! By banishing O-Lion from my graveyard, I can summon another Mecha Phantom from my hand! And I choose… O-Lion MKIII!” O-Lion was a small silver satellite with, you guessed it, the face of a lion. I couldn’t decide if its lion face was spooky or adorable. “Another O-Lion?” I said, flabbergasted. “What is that, like your favorite card or something?” “No…” Rainbow couldn’t contain her excitement as she readied her next move. “But this is! I Tune my Level 2 Tuner O-Lion with my Level 3 Mathematician and Level 3 Phantom Token! Synchro Summon… Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!” Despite the rainfall pelting the earth, I could feel the air getting warmer as Rainbow summoned her ace monster, yet I still got a shiver in my spine. A huge bipedal black and red dragon with giant leathery wings, fearsome claws and three imposing demon horns sprouting from its head, its 3000 ATK power wasn’t anything to sneeze at. “That’s… not good.” I said nervously. “That’s right, Twilight!” Rainbow laughed maniacally. “Hot Red Dragon! Activate your Effect!” The red markings all along the body of Rainbow’s dragon glowed with a bright red light and that energy began surging from its wings with a strong, resonating sound. A wave of red fiery energy blew forth from the monster’s aura, annihilating my Prophecy Destroyer. “My Red Dragon’s ability lets me destroy all other monsters in attack mode on the field!” Rainbow explained. “Now Red Dragon, attack Twilight directly!” The Red Dragon inhaled deeply and shot forth a blazing stream of red flame that enveloped me, its roaring noise swallowing my scream. The monster’s direct attack to my Life Points left me with a meager 1000. Another hit like that and this duel was over. “I’ll lay one card face-down, then it’s your move, Twi.” Rainbow said, her last Phantom Token dissipating to pay Aerial Recharge’s maintenance cost. “Good luck trying to defeat my most awesome monster!” “Thanks, Rainbow.” I stared down Rainbow’s Red Dragon bravely and dramatically drew my card. “But I don’t need luck to beat you!” That said, this might be pretty tricky. If that face-down was another Bottomless Trap Hole, I was pretty sunk. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained! “I reveal the Spellbook cards Life, Wisdom and Power in my hand!” I said. “In order to summon High Priestess of Prophecy! My favorite card!” I felt relief wash over me as my wild-pink-maned, white-robed magician descended from the sky in a radiant surge of light. She politely tipped her wizard hat to Rainbow’s dragon as she readied her magic to take back this duel for me. “Then I’ll summon Spellbook Magician of Prophecy,” I said “allowing me to add Spellbook of Rudra to my hand. I can then use that card to tribute my Magician and draw two new cards!” My lazy blue-robed magician appeared on the field holding a bright pink spell book that reached out to him with glowing tendrils, absorbing him into the book and slamming shut, only to evaporate seconds later. “Great, while you’re doing all that,” Rainbow said “I’ll summon a new Phantom buddy with my Aerial Recharge.” “I banish Spellbook of Rudra from my graveyard,” I said “to activate High Priestess’ Effect and destroy your face-down card!” While it may have been tempting to destroy Rainbow’s Dragon with the Effect, I couldn’t risk letting that face-down card stop my advance. “It’s Draw Muscle, and I’ll activate it.” Rainbow shrugged. “You know the drill.” Rainbow drew her card and now her token was invulnerable. Annoying, but no big deal, I wasn’t after her token this turn. “I activate Spellbook of Power!” I said, my High Priestess being bathed in a pure red glow. “Now that she’s buffed by 1000 ATK, she’s stronger than your Dragon! So my High Priestess, take out Rainbow’s Red Dragon!” High Priestess raised her hands into the air as green flaming magical energy began surging in them. She shot out a fireball at Hot Red Dragon Archfiend and the beast gnashed its intimidating fangs and crushed the fireball, but the green flame erupted and burned the beast to cinders from the inside, reducing Rainbow’s Life to 3500. “I’ll set two cards and end my turn.” I said, breathing a sigh of relief now that Rainbow’s Dragon was gone. Rainbow’s Phantom disappeared to keep Recharge on the field and Rainbow began her turn. “Ha! What an awesome draw!” Rainbow said exuberantly. “I activate Return of the Dragon Lords! This Spell allows me to straight-up summon Red Dragon Archfiend back from the graveyard! How do you like that, Twilight!?” “Compulsory Evacuation Device.” I said with a coy smirk. Rainbow just looked at me dumbstruck, still holding her revival card loftily in the air. As soon as Rainbow’s Dragon returned to the field in a blaze of glory, it was immediately snatched up into my Trap card’s cannon and blasted off into space, returning to the Extra Deck. “Alright! Fine then!” Rainbow sneered, gritting her teeth and forcing a smile. “I bet you I summon him right back this turn!” “Go for it!” I was excited to see if Rainbow could really pull that off. Rainbow looked at her hand, closing her eyes for a moment to concentrate, and then her eyes shot open and she smiled ear to ear. “Yeah, I can do it.” She whispered. “I summon Megaraptor! You remember him, right? Well when I use Aerial Recharge to summon a new token, his ability gives me a second token for free!” “Not bad.” I said as the steel blue dino-jet took back the field and was surrounded by two ghostly visages of itself. “And now what?” “By sacrificing a token,” Rainbow said, her Megaraptor absorbing one of the phantasms into its maw to power its ability “I can add Mecha Phantom Beast Warbluran to my hand! And you remember the third O-Lion in my graveyard, right? Well by banishing him like I did the second one, I can summon Warbluran right now!” A small green spacecraft shaped like a tiny birb appeared on Rainbow’s field. “Ha! So now you can Tune the Level 1 Warbluran with the Level 4 Megaraptor and Level 3 token!” I said excitedly. Despite how bad it was for my game, I couldn’t contain my excitement at Rainbow being able to re-summon her favorite creature. “That’s genius!” “Not quite, Twilight.” Rainbow said with a smile, wagging her finger. “All my non-Tuner Mecha Phantoms have their Levels increased by the combined Levels of all my Phantom Tokens, so Megaraptor’s a Level 7!” I couldn’t help but smile. This might’ve been pretty bad for me but I couldn’t help but delight in Rainbow’s joy… it was so good to see her in her element again after all these years. “I Tune my Level 1 Warbluran and my Level 7 Megaraptor!” Rainbow declared. “Synchro Summon! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!” …too bad I had to ruin it. “I activate Dark Renewal!” I said. Rainbow barely even reacted, just looking at me stone-faced like she practically expected this to happen. The ornate coffin of my Trap card absorbed both High Priestess and Hot Red Dragon Archfiend into its grip, sealing them both inside and releasing Prophecy Destroyer from my graveyard in their place. “Welp!” Rainbow gave a melodramatic shrug. “I guess I’ll just lay one face-down and end my turn! You know the drill with Aerial Recharge!” “I sure do.” I said, trying to hide my amusement at Rainbow’s circumstances. “Now I activate the Spellbook of Life! By banishing the Magician of Prophecy from my graveyard and revealing the Spellbook of Wisdom in my hand, I can revive my High Priestess of Prophecy!” “Wow, you had this all planned out, didn’t you?” Rainbow scoffed. “All according to keikaku, Rainbow…” I said. “Keikaku means plan.” “Of course it does.” Rainbow rolled her eyes but I could see that she was stifling a laugh. “I banish Spellbook of Power from my graveyard,” I said “so that my High Priestess can destroy your face-down card!” “Joke’s on you, Twilight!” Rainbow declared. “I activate it! Call of the Haunted! This card allows me to revive Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!” “But Call of the Haunted is a Continuous card.” I said, confused. “It only allows the monster to be revived as long as it stays on the field, and when it leaves the revived monster will be destroyed. High Priestess’ Effect still goes off and destroys the card, so while yes you can revive your Red Dragon, it’ll be destroyed immediately after!” “That’s what you think!” Rainbow said. “But by banishing the Return of the Dragon Lords from my graveyard, I can protect one of my dragons on the field from being destroyed!” A smoking haze sprung from the ground, Red Dragon Archfiend crashing its fist through the earth and dragging itself back to the world of the living. My High Priestess shot a pink lance of magic energy at the dragon but Rainbow’s creature just snatched the weapon out of the air and snapped it in two. “Wow…” I said. “Well played, Rainbow.” “Of course.” Rainbow said smugly. “I am the best duelist after all.” “We’ll see about that…” I said. “I summon Aleister the Invoker! His ability allows me to add Invocation to my hand, and I’ll activate it, banishing Aleister and the Temperance of Prophecy in my graveyard to summon… Invoked Magellanica!” A red circle appeared on the ground underneath Aleister and my slender hooded magician rose from it and welcomed the embrace of Aleister, who took her in his arms as red bolts of magical lightning shot down from the sky, striking the pair and turning them to stone. Their stone bodies fused together and began leaking lava, then growing to enormous proportions. A colossal towering golem of stone and magma rose from the depths onto the field, an entire continent saddled to its back as it hovered over all of our other monsters. “It’s pretty beefy,” Rainbow said, hands on her hips and sizing up my giant creature “but it’s got no effect and it’s just as strong as my Dragon.” “Not after I activate Invocation’s second ability!” I said. “I can return it from the graveyard to the deck in order to return a banished Aleister from my hand! And Aleister also has a second ability! By discarding him from my hand, I can increase the ATK of one of my Fusion Monsters by 1000! Now Magellanica! Attack and destroy Rainbow’s Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!” Magellanica grabbed Red Dragon Archfiend out of thin air like it was nothing, crushing the beast without even trying and reducing Rainbow’s Life to 2500. “I activate Aerial Recharge!” Rainbow said. “I can summon a Phantom Token to protect my Life!” “It won’t be enough!” I declared. “Prophecy Destroyer attacks your token!” This time, when my Destroyer swung his blade through the phantasm, the token’s ethereal form vanished, destroyed by my mighty devil, and it was about time Destroyer caught a break during this duel. “Now High Priestess, it’s your turn! Let’s end this duel! Attack directly!” High Priestess raised her hand into the air as magical swirling flames of every color descended onto her palm, uniting together to create a stream of rainbow flame that bore over Rainbow Dash and reduced her Life to 0. Rainbow was lying on her back on the grass after the duel, looking up into the cloudy night sky even as it rained on her face. I walked over to her and offered her my hand. “That was a great duel, Rainbow Dash.” I said with a bright smile. “Yeah.” Rainbow agreed distantly, taking my hand and jumping back to her feet. “I’m glad we could have this experience… but…” “What? What’s the matter?” I asked concernedly. “Twilight, I don’t want to see you anymore.” Rainbow said coldly, turning away from me and beginning to walk off. “What?! Even after all that?” I asked frantically, grabbing Rainbow’s shoulder and forcing her to turn around. “Even after all the fun we just had? After my apologies? It’s still not enough?!” “Twilight… seeing you again…” Rainbow sighed agitatedly and paced back and forth, kicking mud, dirt and gravel around with each step. “It’s just been too hard to keep myself focused. I had a plan, a plan to work hard and eventually help Whiplash and me get out of debt… but seeing you again has thrown a monkey wrench into everything.” “How has…” I tried to speak but Rainbow interrupted. “Whiplash hasn’t been herself since we started talking again.” Rainbow ran a hand through her hair and then started mussing it up like crazy. “She’s been mad, distant, even hysterical sometimes! I’m all she’s got, she’s depending on me to help us get out of this situation… that I put us in.” “What about all those times she’s away?” I said in disgust, frankly tired of all Rainbow’s pussyfooting around and making excuses for that woman. “Pinkie Pie told me that… that Whiplash just leaves for a while and doesn’t say where she’s going. Isn’t that weird?” There I was going back into ‘condescending Twilight’ mode. And I was making such good progress too. “That…” Rainbow stuttered, an angry grimace on her face. “That isn’t… that doesn’t matter.” “Doesn’t it?” I scoffed and walked toward her. “You don’t think she’s probably seeing someone else of the si-” “That’s enough, Twilight!” Rainbow snapped, lurching forward and scaring me enough to jump back. “I can’t just turn my back on Whiplash! What would you have me do? Just abandon her and my commitments?!” “Yes!” I slapped my palm with the back of my other hand. “Yes, I would.” Rainbow just glared at me intensely, like she was going to melt me with heat vision or something. “You don’t owe her anything, Rainbow. She doesn’t give you anything, all she does is berate you and guilt you. You don’t think I remember the tournament that you entered? The last time we spoke as friends? You don’t think I remember how we argued then about Whiplash taking a huge loan to pay for stuff, for herself, justifying it by saying you would win the tournament?! Remember that, Rainbow!? How is that in any way your fault?!” Rainbow stood silent for a few moments that felt like hours, the sound of rain hitting the rusty old airplanes the only sound for miles in the pitch-dark graveyard. “Goodbye, Twilight.” Rainbow finally said, turning her back on me and walking away into the darkness. I stood there, soaking wet, for a few moments before breaking down into tears.