//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 Big Business Part 2 Duel 2 // Story: MLP Duel Academy // by Twistedphoenix1 //------------------------------// In Celestia’s Office Celestia was looking over some of the reports about the different students. She sighed as she came across yet another anonymous tip that Spike, Sugar, and Micro were perverted nuisances that should be expelled from the school. She had already checked with Twilight and the others, and the three boys had been on their best behavior and only one student had any problem with them. Given who the student was...she was more inclined to believe the others. “Sister!” Luna said as she came running into the room. “Ah. Luna, I was just about to call you. I’ve been thinking of making an announcement reminding students that anonymous reports mean that the rest of the students don’t know who made it, not the faculty…” Before she could finish the thought, Luna cut her off. “Time for that later! Look outside!” Luna ran back out of the office and Celestia was right behind her. She gasped as other students and teachers all were gathering around the large windows in the hallway outside her office. In the distance, a large black mass was pumping smoke into the sky. “Discord…” Celestia said under her breath. The two sisters looked at each other before nodding. They quickly ducked back into her office as Luna pulled out a trap card. If anyone was paying attention, they would’ve seen that despite not coming back out of the office, the office was now completely empty. Duel The students all stared up at the machine as it pumped smog and fumes into the air. Micro pulled out his handheld and searched the entire card database. “N...nothing…” He said stunned. “This card...this card shouldn’t exist! This doesn’t make any sense!” Discord tsked. “Oh sense. What’s the fun in making sense? This is my personal gift to my new associates. The instrument of your demise. Now...Flam I do believe you were about to end your turn?” The brother shrugged. “Since I can’t activate my Machine’s effect the turn I activate it, I think I will just let my brother have the honor of doing so and end my turn with a facedown.. AJ, AB 7000 Hands 2,3 F, F 8000 Hands 4, 1 Applejack drew her card with a growl. ‘I need to get rid of that Railcar,’ She thought. ‘If they’re using the type of deck I think they are then they probably have Ironwolf. So why didn’t they summon him…’ She glanced over at her sister’s field and her eyes widened. ‘Horneedle! It would prevent any special summoning! As long as she has that…’ She was so focused on her sister she failed to notice the brothers smiling. “My move! And I…” “And I activate the facedown known as Threatening Roar!” Flim said as a loud guttural roar echoed around the field, causing everyone except the brothers and Discord to cover their ears. “Now you can’t attack this turn.” Applejack gritted her teeth as she looked down at her hand. She hand nothing that could get rid of Railcar now that she couldn’t attack. “I summon to the field Amazoness Princess! (LV3 1200/900)” A dark skinned girl with long blue hair jumped from one of the huts, wearing a horned headband and red clothing decorated with bones. A spear was in her hand as the village seemed to feed energy into her as Paladin seemed to gain more to. (1200-1400)(2100-2200). “And thanks to her I can add one Amazoness spell or trap to my hand, and I choose to set it immediately. Next I activate Polymerization!” Princess and Baby Tiger both began to glow with energy as they flew into a fancier looking hut behind Applejack. Out from the hut marched a darker skinned warrior woman with white hair. She wore a skull headdress, a green wrapping around her chest, and a tan cloth skirt. In her hands was a large blade. “Meet the mighty Amazoness Empress! (LV8 2800/2400)” Power emanated from the women as she absorbed the energy from the village and Paladin’s attack strength was changed again. (2800-3000)(2200-2100). “But I thought you needed Amazoness Queen to summon Empress,” Scootaloo said. Micro grinned at her. “Normally that’d be the case but Princess gets treated as Queen, so she works as well,” he said and Scootaloo blushed at the correction. “And with that I end my turn!” She narrowed her eyes at the twin brothers. ‘Now with Empress they can’t destroy my Amazons. And with Horn Needle, if they do try to special summon something…’ AJ, AB 7000 Hands 1,3 F, F 8000 Hands 4, 1 “Time to take this up a notch. First I think I’ll activate Railcars effect to deal another 500 point of damage.” The beams shot from the train car once again and struck Applebloom in the side. She cried and clutched at her side. “Applebloom!” Applejack and the others cried. “Is everyone ok?!” The group turned and saw Luna and Celestia running up to them. Luna saw Applebloom’s condition and pulled out a healing card when Discord spoke up. “Ah ah ah,” he said and suddenly some of the random pipes and plates fell from the Chaos Machine. The students and faculty members had to jump back to avoid being crushed by the debris that blocked their path to the duelists, except for Sugar who jumped forward and was within the circle. “No outside interference.” “Don’t you two see what he’s doing!” Sugar called out to his uncles, but neither seemed to be paying attention. “Now where was I,” Flim said. “Oh that’s right. I overlay my Ruffian Railcar and my brother’s Express Train Trolley Olley!” The two monsters both started their engines and shot to the sides before looping back around behind the two brothers. In a blinding flash of light the two collided. Out of the blinding light shot a new train. A blue one with the front decorated like a wolf’s head. “Meet my... “ Flim began when Applebloom spoke out in spite of the pain. “N...nice try...but I use the effect of my Horneedle! Now by tributing my Pumpkin, I can destroy the monster you were trying to special summon!” With a loud buzzing the bee zoomed along the ground with its stinger out. Pumpkin braced itself for the impact as Horneedle smashed through its body, the juices seeming to sharpen the stinger. It zoomed directly toward the train’s headlight/eyes. “Sorry,” Flam said as he slid the last card in his hand into the graveyard. “By discarding a card I can activate Divine Wrath! Allowing me to negate and destroy your monster!” Suddenly, splitting the smog cloud that filled the sky, a bolt of lightning came down and struck the bee in mid air, destroying it instantly. “No…” Applebloom moaned as she continued clutching her side. “Now,” Flim continued. “Meet my Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf! (R4 2200/2200) Also, since Trolley Olley was used as one of the materials to make him, he gains 800 attack (2200-3000). Next because I summoned an earth monster, I can special summon Heavy Freight Train Derricane though its attack is halved (Lv10 2800-1400/2000-1000) and I can normal summon Night Express Knight by reducing its attack to zero (Lv10 3000-0000/3000).” Two more large trains pulled up beside Ironwolf. One was a simple yellow freight car while the other was a white express train that had a knight sprouting from the top like a centaur. “Though, their attack doesn’t matter since I’m going to overlay the two of them as well! Now watch as my two level ten monsters become the powerful, the mighty…” The two trains broke apart into pieces. They quickly started to reform into a giant structure with a large green cannon stretching into the air. “Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max! (R10 3000/3000). And by removing one unit…” A glowing light that was floating around the cannon loaded itself into the barrel. “I can dish out 2000 points of damage!” The gears started spinning and the barrel lowered itself at Applebloom before charging up. “NO!” Applejack called out. As the beam fired though, Applebloom was shoved out of the way. “AAAAAHHH!!” Sugar screamed as he was sent flying back into the debris. He fell until his uniform caught on one of the pipes, leaving him hanging limply from them. “Sugar!” the boys friends all shouted. Applejack turned toward the two brothers with an enraged look on her face. “What the hell is wrong with you two! He’s your nephew!” “He shouldn’t have gotten in the way,” Flim shrugged, the dark energy surrounding them growing. “How could they be so uncaring…” Pinkie asked as she looked up at Sugar wishing she could get him down. Luna would’ve tried to use her power, but she was afraid Discord would try something again. “I don’t think they would be this bad naturally,” Twilight said. “I think their negativity toward him is just being amplified.” “But why do they dislike him at all?” Fluttershy asked, worried for her friends. “It’s not like he did anything to them.” “Yeah!” Rainbow growled. “They’re the ones who machine malfunctioned!” “They probably grew bitter as he essentially got ownership of the company at the same time they were kicked out of the family business,” Sunset answered. “If the peanut gallery is finished speaking!” Discord yelled. He was getting bored of just waiting. “I can continue my turn,” Flim said. “And I think it’s time to show what our chaos machine is capable of!” With a loud whirring and clanking, the machine roared as more smog poured out of it. The smog washed over the field and all of the Apples monsters started coughing and gagging (Empress 3000-2700)(Paladin 2100-1800)(Hydrangea 1900-1600). Meanwhile, wires snaked out of the machine and plugged into Ironwolf and Gustav Max. (Both 3000-3300) “For every counter we add to the machine, all machines on the field gain 300 attack while all other monsters lose 300! Now, by removing a material from Ironwolf, I can allow one of my monsters to attack directly! So now Ironwolf! Run her down!” The large wolf train’s eyes glowed as one of the lights surrounding it vanished. Applejack was force to jump out of the way as the train sped toward her. She was able to avoid it, but the rock kicked up from it rained down on her. “Since I can’t attack with any more monsters due to Ironwolf’s effect, with that I think I will end my turn,” Flim said as Applejack pulled herself to her feet. AJ, AB 1200 Hands 1,3 F, F 8000 Hands 3, 0 ‘This is bad,’ Applejack said. ‘One more attack or use of Gustav’s effect…’ She looked over as Applebloom drew her card. She saw her sister’s eyes widen a bit and she smiled slightly. “I switch Hydrangea to defense mode and set two cards face down. And I end with that.” AJ, AB 1200 Hands 1,2 F, F 8000 Hands 3, 0 “You might as well have given up little girl,” Flam said as he drew his card casually. “Now, Gustav. Fire again! Wipe them out!” “Applebloom!” Applejack yelled as she was about to run over to her sister as the cannon fired. The beam shot toward the young red head who smirked. “I activate my facedown! Energy-Absorbing Monolith!” A giant slab of black stone shot up in front of her and absorbed the blast from the cannon. “Now what damage I would’ve taken get changed into life points I gain!” Flam growled as he saw his effect negated. “Too bad Ironwolf still has another material to remove! Flatten them!” He declared as the brothers train charged toward the girl, only to be stopped by a mass of white spiritual energy. “What!?” “Too bad for you, my other facedown was Spirit Barrier, making it so as long as we control monsters, we can’t take battle damage!” The brothers were infuriated now. Out played twice by a little girl. “You won’t laughing next turn! I activate Pot of Greed from my hand, letting me draw two. And I also summon forth my Night Express Knight by reducing his attack. It won’t be that way for long though as I equip him with the spell Forbidden Chalice! It negates his effect and increases his attack by 400. That increase will leave when I end my turn, but since the effect was negated, its attack is its original 3000! And I also add another counter onto the Chaos Machine, causing your monsters to lose more while our monsters gain. And with that, I end!” (Paladian 1800-1500)(Empress 2700-2400)(Hydrangea 1600-1300) (Brothers Monsters All 3600) AJ, AB 3200 Hands 1,2 F, F 8000 Hands 3, 0 ‘It all comes down to this,’ Applejack said. ‘I doubt we can survive another turn with those things on the field, let alone losing more attack power. Think AJ think!’ It was then the pieces started to flow together as she drew her card. She looked back at Sugar, still hanging off the pipe. “Don’t worry Sugar Cube,” she said. “I’m ending this.” The brothers laughed. “And how do you expect to do that?” Flim questioned. “You can’t get past our machines!” “I don’t have to! I activate my face down trap Amazoness Willpower! This lets me summon an Amazoness from the grave, and I choose Princess!” The dark skinned girl shot out of the ground and leaned against her spear, coughing from the fumes (Lv3 1200-600/900). “Next, since she was special summoned, I now choose to add Amazoness Call to my hand, which I activate to add Amazoness Swordswoman to my hand, who I immediately summon! (Lv4 1500-900/1600)” A woman with long red hair, a large sword, and shockingly skimpy purple clothing appeared in front of the country girl. “And what do you think those weaklings can do against our monsters little lady?” Flam said. “Our’s are far stronger than anything you can summon!” “That’s what I’m counting on! You see, by removing Call from my graveyard, I can have Swordswoman attack all of your monsters. And since she can’t be destroyed in battle thanks to my Empress, she’s gonna do just that!” The woman hoisted up her sword and began running at the trio of machines. “Are you trying to lose?!” Flim laughed. “Sending your monster on a suicide mission!” “I’m not going to lose! For you see, when Swordswoman participates in a battle that would cost me life points, that damage gets dealt to you!” The brothers gasped. “But, at 3600…” Flim said. “With 900 attack…” Flam continued. “That 2700 hundred per monster! Which means a total of 8100 points of damage!” Swordswoman swung at the machines and her sword broke on contact, the shards flying at the brothers and cutting into them. “AAAAHHHH!!!” AJ, AB 3200 Hands 2,2 F, F 0000 Hands 3, 0 The monsters and machine vanished as the two brothers collapsed to the ground. The debris that Sugar was hanging off of disappeared and Pinkie rushed to catch him while Luna started pulling out her healing cards. Pinkie let his head rest in her lap while Luna began pulling out Red and Blue Medicines as the others rushed to help the two sisters. “Are you ok darlings?” Rarity asked the two. “I’m good...just sore,” Applejack said. “What about you Applebloom?” “My side hurts…” she said. “But I think it’s fine.” “Umm...what about those two,” Fluttershy said. The two brothers were still laying on the ground. “What about them?” Rainbow said, not caring about the two who caused this mess. “Rainbow,” Sunset said. “They might’ve done a lot but a lot of it was under Discords influence. They don’t deserve to…” “Oh of course, blame me,” Discord said as his shadowy form floated above the group. “You are to blame!” Scootaloo said. “Yeah!” Sweetiebelle shouted. Discord sighed. “Oh well, I guess I can’t convince you. As for those two fools,” he pointed to the brothers “They just were overwhelmed by the chaos energy coursing through them. Who know when they’ll wake up.” “But...our family…” Applebloom said, worried about their family business. Discord looked at them for a moment before cackling. “Y...You actually believed them! Oh thats rich!” “What do you mean!?” Applejack demanded. “They didn’t talked to any of your family! You were the first Apples they came to!” The others looked shocked. Pinkie looked up from Sugar who, while looking a bit better, was still unconscious. “You mean...this whole duel was…” “Pointless,” Applejack finished. “There was no reason to have this duel.” “Oh I wouldn’t say that,” Discord said. “I was entertained. Why do you think I placed those chaos anklets on you?” “To...to prevent us from leaving the duel right?” Applebloom said. Celestia spoke up for the first time. “No. If that was the case he would’ve let you give up. The brothers would win and he would escape.” “Then why?” Sweetie asked. Discord sighed. “If I just let you quit where would my fun be! I’ve been locked away for so long. When I leave this place, I want it to be with a bang!” “That won’t happen!” Spike growled. Discord looked at him with an amused grin. “Oh, I think it will. You’ll see….Toodles!” With that, Discord vanished into the ground, leaving the group alone. The stood in silence until they heard something behind them. “U...Ughhh,” Sugar said as he started to stir. Everyone gathered around him. “Sugar cube,” Applejack said. “Are you ok?” “Sore….sore all over...did...did you win?” he asked, hope in his eyes. Applejack’s eyes watered a bit as she smile. “We did Sugar. We did.” Sugar’s eyes lit up as he smiled, before the realm of morpheus took him again. Applejack leaned down and took him from Pinkie’s lap (the pinkette slightly pouted at that) and hoisted him on her back. “I think we need to get him to the dorms so he can rest.” The others nodded and started to leave when... “What about those two?” Fluttershy asked. “No matter what we think of them, we can’t just let them lay there.” Luna sighed as she pulled out her shift card. “I’ll take these two to the nurse’s office to get them attention. Do you think you can carry Sugar by yourselfs.” The students nodded as Celestia went with her sister and they vanished while the others started walking back to the dorm, Sugar resting peacefully on Applejacks back with a smile. “I wonder what he’s dreaming about,” Pinkie said, looking at the younger boy. Omake: Sugar’s dream Sugar was standing in the middle of a dark room, looking around trying to find a way out when suddenly.... “Oh Sugar cube,” Applejack’s voice could be heard. Sugar turned and his eyes went wide. In front of him was Applejack sitting on a giant slice of apple pie, completely naked except for a few dollops of whipped cream covering her breasts and between her legs. “Want some Apple pie?” He was licking his lips when he heard someone else say… “Ala mode?” He craned his neck and behind AJ he saw Pinkie sitting on a big bowl of ice cream, the only thing covering her body being chocolate syrup. Sugar let out a whoop of joy and went to enjoy himself. Real world “Um...is his nose bleeding?” Rainbow asked as she saw a small trickle dripping from his nose. “Did that happen from the blast?” Applejack didn’t say anything, but she knew it wasn’t. Especially since she could feel...something...pressing against her back. She blushed hard and walked a bit faster so no one could see it.