//------------------------------//
// Origin 
// Story: Rise of a Duel Master 
// by Darth Severus 
//------------------------------//

It was a normal day for a young boy named Spike Drake. He recently started playing Duel Monsters, a popular card game. His friends were much better at it than he was, but he didn't mind. He was in his house when he heard the doorbell ring. When he went to get the door, he saw the mailman with a package for him.

The mailman asked him, "Spike Drake?"

Spike nodded saying, "Yes, that's me."

The mailman handed over the package, "Special delivery from Astral Drake."

Spike sighed and thanked the mailman. He brought the package into the house and opened it. He read a letter from his father, "Dear Spike, I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet you to give you this. It was an artifact I found while I was examining the pyramids in Saddle Arabia. I thought you would like it. I'll be coming home in two days, so I hope to see you when I get back. Love Dad."

Spike raised an eyebrow as he read the letter, and sorted through the packing peanuts and saw a choker. It was gold and had silver spikes on it. It did look cool, but when he took it out of the box, he noticed the same eye symbol that was on Twilight's Millennium Puzzle.

Twilight was an old friend of Spike's from when he was young. Spike had been bullied in class a lot, and Twilight stood up for him, and they became best friends fast. Twilight's other friends also accepted him into their group of friends.

He decided to call up Twilight and ask her to come over. When Twilight picked up the phone, he asked her, "Hey Twilight, can you come over some time? My dad sent me a package from Saddle Arabia, and he gave me a choker that has the same eye symbol as the one on your Millennium Puzzle."

He remembered how Twilight came into possession of her Millennium Puzzle. Her grandfather had it in his toy shop, and Twilight's curious nature got the best of her. She had started on the puzzle over 10 years ago, and it took 8 years for her to solve it. Her grandfather found it in a Saddle Arabian tomb back in the 60's. He'd never been able to complete the puzzle himself, but Twilight never gave up, and eventually she solved it. Whenever Spike had come to play with Twilight, her grandfather always tried to get her to give up on the puzzle, but he could never figure out why. What he did know is that there were two messages inscribed into the box the puzzle was in, that said "The person who solves this puzzle will have their wish granted." and "The one who solves me, will receive my dark knowledge and power."

Twilight answered, "Ok, I'll be right over, just don't put it on your neck." After getting off the phone, she rushed over to Spike's house and took a look at the choker Spike showed her. She asked Spike to close his eyes for a moment.

Spike sighed and closed his eyes saying, "I still don't understand why you make me do this."

Twilight sighed, "Thanks." She let her ponytail down, and sat in a meditative position. She took a few deep breathes before standing up. Her skin was a few shades darker and her voice took a more stern tone. She told Spike, "I recognize this, it's the Millennium Collar. If I remember correctly, there's nothing about it that's dangerous. It allows you to form connections with people, and with those connections, you can communicate telepathically with the people you've connected to." She put up her ponytail and said, "Did I answer your questions?"

Spike nodded and said, "Yeah, in a way, yes you did. Your other self says its safe to put on." He unhooked the back of the collar and wrapped it around his neck. He felt a small pinch when he clicked the collar in place, but ignored it.

Twilight smiled saying, "It looks good on you Spike. I'm going to go meet the others to get something to eat, you want to come?"

Spike nodded and followed Twilight out of his house and into downtown. When they met with their other friends, Sunset Shimmer saw the Millennium Collar around Spike's neck and asked, "Is that a Millennium Item? My Millennium Ring didn't detect it at all, that's odd."

Spike had completely forgotten about Sunset's Millennium Ring. He berated himself for forgetting the incident from a year ago. Sunset had found the ring while she was out on an internship with an archeology team. She had kept the ring for herself instead of telling her superiors about it. Trouble was, the Ring apparently had some sort of curse, for real. There was an evil spirit trapped inside the Ring, and it took control of Sunset's body. The spirit caused a lot of trouble, and Sunset had even temporarily became a Duel Monster.

When that happened, Twilight, Spike, and the others found a way to defeat the evil spirit that was controlling Sunset. Twilight had to defeat Sunset, and force the spirit out of the ring. During that final battle at Montgomery Discord's tournament, they all saw the evil spirit forced out of Sunset's body, and it was destroyed by a beam of light from Twilight's Millennium Puzzle.

Spike nodded and told Sunset about the Millennium Collar. While they were eating their lunch they heard people talking about a tournament. Then, all of a sudden, one of the televised billboards lit up and brought up an announcement. Starlight Glimmer, the head of Duel Monsters Inc. came up and told people about the Battle City Tournament that was coming up in a few weeks. He said, "In order to enter the Battle City Tournament, you must be at least Duelist Rank 5. Those under Duelist Rank 5 are not permitted to enter the tournament. If you wish to enter, you'll need to be Rank 5 by the tournament date. The tournament will take place all throughout Canterlot, wherever Duelists meet, that is the battleground."

Spike watched the announcement. He pulled out his smartphone to check his Duelist Rank and saw he had just reached Duelist Rank 5 recently, so he planned on entering. He continued to listen to the announcement and was surprised when Starlight said wherever duelists meet is the battleground. "Hmm... a battle royal style tournament. Sounds really interesting."

Twilight adjusted her glasses and commented, "It's just like Starlight to go big or go home with these sorts of things."

Rainbow Dash chuckled, "Yeah, you're right about that. But Spike just recently made it to Duelist Rank 5, so this will be his first official tournament."

Applejack tipped her hat, "Well, I say there's nothing to lose by entering."

Sunset Shimmer pointed out, "If you were paying attention, you would have heard Starligh say that we have to make wagers on our cards, winner gets a card from the loser. I'll enter, but I'm not interested in betting my cards."

Spike nodded, "Yeah, I'm entering, but I'm worried about losing my cards."

As the group split up after lunch, Spike headed back to his house. He got ready to go to bed when he realized his Millennium Collar wouldn't come off. He started pulling at it, and it still wouldn't come off. Twilight was probably asleep by now, so he'd have to wait until morning to find out why it wouldn't come off.

The Next Day...

Twilight had arrived at Spike's house after she got a text from him about the Millennium Collar and sighed, "I talked with my other self, and we looked a bit more into the Millennium Collar. Apparently, it never comes off until its owner dies. Obviously, we're not going to force it off. If the Collar is somehow forced off, I'm worried it might cause harm to you. We'll just have to find out more about it as time goes on."