//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: beating the servant and comfronting the master. // Story: Ponies vs Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories // by Lucky Star Kona-chan //------------------------------// Three days have passed, and the mane six got really invested in the game, not at the point of ignoring other important events on their daily lives, but they got an enjoyable activity to do during the night. Their farming for cards went a little overboard though; they agreed to do duels until they got a thousand starchips, which are approximately two hundred duels with S ranks or more with lower ranks. They did this to use a list that Konata send them, the list contained the codes and prices for the cards in game but not the stats. But starchips weren’t the only thing they got with this high amount of duels, they got way better cards in the process and more combinations were learned. After all the duels were done they all searched for card names that picked their attention, since Twilight decided to go for a water based deck, she bought Aqua Dragon (2250/1900) and it was an excellent choice, because it was a water sea-serpent type dragon which left her with over two hundred starchips but she decided to save those for later. Applejack was interested in the warrior type monsters, and bought Swordstalker (2000/1600), Swamp Battleguard (1800/1500), and with the rest she picked up something called Millennium Shield. She thought this one wouldn’t be any good just because its cost on the list was of only two hundred starchips, but upon checking its stats any doubt was thrown off the window, it had a plain 0 in attack, but it’s defense was a whooping 3000 making her the owner of the best defense between the six. Rarity decided she needed some elegancy in her deck, and since she saw a couple of interesting cards during those two hundred duels, she bought Mystical Sand (2100/1700), Dark Elf (2000/800) and Queen of Autumn Leaves (1800/1500), she only had 37 starchips left, but it was worth for stylizing her plays some. Pinkie got interested in the expensive Bickuribox (2300/2000) somehow she knew what the name meant, but it was a fitting monster for Pinkie, a crazy over the top jack-in-the-box bird clown with a scythe. Rainbow went for the mountain creatures, for this she bought the field spell Mountain and two monsters, Punished Eagle (2100/1800) and Parrot Dragon (2000/1300). Finally Fluttershy didn’t went for any monsters, the name Bright Castle picked her interest and when she saw the cute fairy tale book artwork she paid the 800 starchips, this turned out to be way better than expected since this was the second best equip spell in the game, being able to be equipped to any monster without restrictions. Be noted that none of them knew what the others got with their starchips or their card drops except for Rainbow getting the rare Dark Hole drop that one time, most of the grinding was done outside of their daily sessions. Konata came to visit them that morning to check if everything was ok with the devices and how much progress they’ve made. “Hmm, your progress has been rather slow, but then again you went out of your way to get better cards and be better prepared, that requires dedication, I’m glad that you liked the game to this extend, but please don’t overdo it.” Konata glanced at Rainbow for a moment before focusing checking if everything was ok with devices. “Hey! I noticed that!” Rainbow said undignified. “Girls, she did play overtime already didn’t she?” Konata asked and the others nodded unanimously. Rainbow pouted not having any counter argument for that. “Well, I don’t see anything off on the hardware itself, it’s obvious you have been taking care of it really well, specially Twilight, this sheet is cute…” Konata had to contain herself from laughing out loud. Twilight was a little embarrassed, “I just had to make sure nothing went into it!” “Sure you do. Anyways I’ll give you something to help a little, not too much because the game would be too easy otherwise.” Rainbow rapidly zoomed in, “What are you going to give us?” “I’ll give you two more copies of any card you used starchips on, so you have the maximum quantity of that card, but only one card.” Konata accessed to a special save file and used the trade option to give the mane 6 the cards they told her. Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy just used starchips on only one card so that card got tripled. Rainbow chose Punished Eagle, Applejack chose Swordstalker she considered Millennium Shield for a moment but she wanted more attack power and Rarity chose Mystical Sand. “Alright everything done,” but something was bothering her after checking the cards, more specifically Fluttershy’s cards, so Konata went to talk to her about it, “Fluttershy I need to talk to you about something, can you come with me for a moment?” “Umm… I didn’t do something bad didn’t I?” Fluttershy meekly asked. “Don’t worry is nothing bad, just curious about something.” “Oh… ok.” The two left the throne room to talk somewhere else. “That was odd,” Rainbow said. “Maybe something was off about Fluttershy’s deck, like some super secret drop technique that gave her a bunch powerful cards and stuff, so Koni saw that and decided to ask herself?” Pinkie said the first thing she had in mind. “That’s very unlikely Pinkie, I don’t think there’s a way to get very strong cards with the opponents we have unlocked so far outside of starchips, and that would require a lot of duels and all of us did the same amount of duels, I don’t Fluttershy would go overboard to get an edge on us you know how she is. Maybe is something unrelated to the game,” Twilight explained while covering her game station with that cute starry purple sheet she had and teleport it back to her room. “Yes it’s probably something unrelated; perhaps she seeks advice for a pet?” “I don’t think she wants to adopt a pet Rarity, I’ve visited their home a couple of times and they have animals everywhere it’s like a zoo there.” Rainbow said from her own experience there. After a short while Fluttershy returned but she was alone. “Huh? Where’s Konata, Fluttershy? Did she leave?” Twilight asked wondering what happened, since it was strange for her to leave without saying good bye. “She got called by Miss Ini to check something it seemed very important, she said she’s sorry for not saying good bye, and wishes us the best of luck with the game.” Fluttershy said. “ ‘Ah understand if it was an emergency but she could’ve said good bye at least.” “Girls please, we have to be understanding, things aren’t as quiet in Álfheimr compared to Equestria, they could’ve been in a very busy day today and still she managed to slip out for a bit to check on us.” Twilight said to everypony. The rest couldn’t disagree with that. “So, same time tonight?” Rainbow asked. “Of course, we have to make progress after all, and I think this card boost will let us get farther this time.” “Yeah! Let’s do it for Koni!” Pinkie shouted and threw a hoof to the sky. “Yeah!” everypony else said at the same time. That night the girls prepared for this new play session, everything was set up and everypony loaded their save files. “Ok! Time to kick that smug flank Seto guy,” Rainbow stated. “There is no need to be rude Rainbow dear, but I agree that a punishment is at hoof for that individual,” Rarity added. “Let’s start with this party!” Pinkie just said whatever. “Alright girls, let’s go to the Duel Grounds that’s the place where the duel was set up.” Twilight said to the rest. The mares entered the Duel Grounds and found Jono there. “Geez… who does that mage think he is anyway!? I gotta admit, though… that guy was real tough…” Jono said to them. “Pfft, yeah right, with my new monsters there’s no way that dude can do anything,” Rainbow bragged. “ In mah honest opinion ‘Ah have nothing ta worry about, ‘Ah got three monsters from mah starchips and all are very tough too,” AJ said with confidence. “Pleeease Applejack, such brutes will never surpass the elegancy of a true lady.” “No offense here Rarity, but ‘Ah don’t see how ‘elegancy’ will do anything on this game.” “Elegancy is everything darling.” “Please don’t start again you two,” Twilight told to those two. “Can we go on?” Rainbow said boringly. Twilight let out a sigh, “sure…” Upon advancing the dialog, they saw Jono suggesting a duel before Seto appears and gave them the choice of “Duel” or “Pass.” “Well, it makes sense he probably wants us to test our abilities with him, so he can be more confident when we duel Seto,” Twilight gave her thoughts. After thinking it a bit all of them chose to duel, some just out of curiosity and Rainbow Dash because she wanted bragging rights. “Alright, let’s do it! I may have lost the last game… But I ain’t lost my touch!” Jono said before the duel began. Adding their new cards the mane 6 started their duel against Jono. But… it didn’t last long, they breezed through him with no issues what so ever. “Wow, no wonder he lost, his cards suck.” Rainbow pointed out. The others rolled their eyes. “You whipped me! Y’know… you are good!” Jono said after losing. “I like this guy, he knows when something is awesome.” Rainbow kept on bragging. “Do me a favor and beat that mage, willya?” was the next line of dialog. “Umm… I’ll try my best, if that’s ok with you,” Fluttershy spoke for the first time. “There he is, he’s back.” Jono said before the scene showed Seto entering with two masked persons behind him. “Look at that… He’s got his own groupies… Do me a favor and whip the guy.” “ ‘Ah can see this Jono fella being good friends with ya Rainbow.” AJ said jokingly. “Oh, shut up.” Was Rainbow’s response. “I do not know how good you are… But I hope you will entertain me. I will have you know that I enjoy a good game… Do not disappoint me!” were Seto’s words before the duel. “It is weird that I see Trixie on him?” Pinkie asked with confusion. “Now that you mention it… I can see the resemblance between them,” Twilight said after thinking it a little. “Can we just kick his butt already? I want to see more stuff,” Rainbow said impatiently. “Sure, let’s demonstrate this show off that we have what it takes to beat him,” after Twilight said this the duels started. BGM Priest Seto. The music for this duel was different that the ones they heard before, it had a certain feel of pride in it. But besides that, the duel wasn’t anything special for any of them. “All that build up, for this? This guy likes to brag without being even good.” Rainbow said after defeating him. “You’re right Rainbow, sure he had some good monsters, but he wasn’t even superior to the villagers in any way.” Twilight added her opinion. “He just wanted to be a meanie pants, and nopony is a meanie pants with my friends!” Pinkie chirped out. “Mister Jono was obviously exaggerating the size of the problem, but then again such unrefined individuals had no chance of winning against the sheer beauty of my ladies.” Rarity said with an elegant pose. “It could be that, or the fact that you had a 3000 attack beast in ta field Rares, ‘Ah don’t think ta guy had anything close to that.” “Who are you calling beast Applejack? My card was beautiful and applied her right to be more effective than some crude looking creature.” “Rares ya have ugly creatures in yer deck too.” “Because I have no other options, a true lady knows how to appreciate everypony.” Applejack groaned, “Oh, forget it.” “Uuuuh… Fluttershy?” Rainbow called her friend. “Yes, Rainbow?” “Where did you got those cards?” “Umm… I won them, why?” “What’s happening?” Twilight asked. “Look at Fluttershy’s field.” They looked and saw Crimsom Sunbird (2300/1800) Air Eater (2100/1600) Amphibious Bugroth (1850/1300) and Rock Spirit (1650/1900). “Aren’t those just combinations?” Applejack guessed. “No, those aren’t, the card count doesn’t add up, that’s nine cards in total, if those were combinations even at a minimum of two cards it would’ve been at least twelve cards.” Twilight explained. “And Flutters said she won them,” Rainbow added. “Did you do anything special to get them Fluttershy?” “I don’t think so… I just played normally,” Fluttershy really couldn’t think of anything special you could have done to get these cards, “Konata also asked me the same thing this morning.” The rest eyed Pinkie after that. “What?” she asked. “Let’s just continue…” Twilight said with no interest in keeping the topic up, because it would be pointless. And continue they did, after the duel Seto seemed shocked for losing. Just to immediately change back to being smug after figuring something out, and bid them farewell. Jono started mocking the guy which gave him awesome point according to Rainbow. Teana praised them for being in her own words “too good!” and basically nothing else really happened. Jono asked if they wanted another duel but since they already beat him and it would be easier to spam duels with him in Free Duel, they declined and went to the card shop to save their progress. “What do we do now? The guys in the Duel Grounds aren’t any good anymore and we have Free Duel for rematches.” Rainbow asked. “According to the manual we are supposed to go to the Palace,” Twilight said with manual at hoof. They did even if Rarity still had a grudge against Simon she put it aside for now and went with it. But that didn’t last long when Simon scold them and send them to their room. “Wait wait wait, why is this dude giving orders now? Aren’t we supposed to be the Princesses of this place?” Rainbow had a point on this. “Yeah, ‘tis seems kind of fishy,” Applejack said with mid closed eyes. Rarity had half of her face covered by a pillow and a very noticeable frown. She didn’t like being treated like that. “Sometimes I wonder if the princess does this just to annoy me…” was Simon’s next line. Their unimpressed stares said everything, but the next dialog changed that. “Lord Simon! We have trouble! The H-high mage Heishin and his men… They wield a strange power… They’re invading the palace!!!” a guard told Simon. “What!?” Simon said in apparent disbelief according to the music that started playing. BGM Heishin’s Invasion! “Told ya Twi, ‘Ah knew that Heishin fella was bad news all along.” “Not the time Applejack,” Twilight said. The dialog continued, “I think it’s sorcery, my lord! I’m afraid there’s naught we can do to fend them off…” “Where’s the High Mage now?” Simon asked the guard. “In the Palace Hall, my lord!” the guard answered. The scene changed to Simon looking for Heishin, and the mares then saw the amount of destruction made to the palace. Fluttershy buried her face in her pillow, with barely one of her eyes looking at the screen, since the other one was covered by her mane. “Wha… What the…” Simon said in total shock, which was mirrored by the mares. Then a familiar face appeared. “Hey is that happy person from the start of the game! Maybe he’s here to help catch those party poopers!” Pinkie said excitedly. Her friends got the opposite feeling, and this was confirmed when Simon called this person Heishin. After a heated argument, Heishin pulled out a rod with which he was able to wield the power of darkness, making the whole place shake. “Well, that escalated quickly,” Rainbow said. After that a servant suggested to escape from the palace for their safety. But soon after, they got caught by another familiar face. BGM Seto’s Betrayal. “Oh, what a surprise Rainbow Dash’s clone was a bad guy too, ‘Ah have no words.” Applejack commented. “Hey!” “Girls please focus, there has to be a way to turn the tables on this situation.” Twilight said while paying close attention to the dialog. Seto’s followers took the servant away, at which Seto proceeded to ask them for the location of the “Millennium Item” that only royal blood knew about, or else they will kill the King and Queen, then the game gave them the choice to Refuse or Tell. “Buck him, I’m telling anything to him.” Rainbow blatantly expressed her refusal. “But Rainbow, they’re going to kill the King and Queen don’t you have any sympathy for them?” Twilight rose a valid point. “ ‘Ahm with Twilight here, how can ya abandon yer parents like that?” “I know the feeling Applejack and it’s not an enjoyable one, but think about it for a moment, these ruffians invade my Palace and hold my servants and parents as hostages. Besides that, it has been shown to us that this person is not trustworthy, what makes you think they’ll keep their word?” “Rarity has a point here, and beyond all that if we tell him, they win and we lose.I still refuse to tell him, because I believe I can save them before they do anything. Yeah, the situation sucks but if we give up then their effort would be in vain, and I not letting that get to waste girls, no way!” “Well, I have no argument for that, so…” Twilight said and everypony nodded in unison and chose refuse. After that Simon appeared carrying the “Millennium Item” which was a golden pyramid with an eye in the middle. He told them to take it and run. They also got told that this item was the key to unleash a great power that could cause the end of the world if it were to fall in bad hooves. Seto tried to bribe them into giving the item to him to have chance of escaping but at this points the mares didn’t believe him at all. Then the choices of Run and Stay appeared. “I’m going to stay; I mean we beat that loser Seto before so we should be able to do it again if we need to, right?” Rainbow said. But even after choosing to stay various times, Simon told them to run. “Come on! Why do they give you the choice if it does nothing!?” “I know what you mean Rainbow, but there’s nothing we can do about it, we can just proceed with the story.” “Twilight is right, but it still feels bad, ‘Ah mean he wasn’t the best character in this but seeing him in that state is depressing.” They chose to run, because they had no other options left. BGM Heishin’s Invasion. But they didn’t got too far before Heishin appeared in their faces. “You didn’t think you’d escape me, did you?” Heishin told them. “It crossed mah mind for a second, ya don’t see pretty smart.” Applejack said. “Admit your defeat and over the Millennium Item,” Heishin ordered them. “Yeah, no. Screw that noise you freak.” Rainbow responded with hostility. Then Simon told them that the only option would be to beat Heishin in a duel. Theywere given the option to Duel or Pass. “I don’t think we pass in this situation, there’s just too much at risk,” Twilight said after processing everything that happened until this point. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s kick his butt like we did with his loser servant.” “I don’t appreciate such fool language but I agree that my palace need to be cleaned from this filth at once.” “Umm… he looks scary.” “Oh don’t worry Fluttershy, what’s the worse that can happen? It’s not like he’s a super boss or anything.” “Now ya just had ta go and say it Pinkie, ain’t cha?” “A wasted effort pony, you lack the power to defeat me,” was the last thing Heishin said to them before going to deck preparation screen. The tension was present in the air, but they would not give up now, they believe they could surpass this big obstacle, could it be foolish ego or they could actually have a plan to make this possible?