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// RANK 28: A Crystal Tree Grows in Manehattan: 
// Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Numerous 
// by Monty Eggman 
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RANK 28: A Crystal Tree Grows in Manehattan:
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THE STORY SO FAR...:
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In Canterlot High School, every student is wild over the world's most popular trading card game: Duel Monsters! Every day, players of the card game, known as "Duelists", go head-to-head to see who among them is the best around. Among the Duelists in attendance at CHS, one of the best is a young teenager named Sunset Shimmer, a girl from another world...

Some time before Spring Break was announced, Pinkie Pie, a friend of Sunset Shimmer's, had managed to obtain tickets to go to the big city of Manehattan for one of its biggest events: The annual Spring Fashion Show. After getting them, Pinkie wasted no time in telling her friend Rarity, an up-and-coming fashion designer, about the tickets and invited her to come and see it. Needless to say, Rarity was quick to accept the offer.

Now, on their week off, Pinkie Pie and Rarity had gotten onto a bus (that was fully paid for) that would take them straight to the big city. Also with them is Rarity's younger sister Sweetie Belle, who, along with her friends Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Babs Seed, is part of a Duel Monsters club known as the Duel Monsters Crusaders, or D.M.C. for short. With the help of Sunset Shimmer, she and her friends are refining their skills as Duelists and becoming stronger with each and every day.

Now, what will await the three of them in Manehattan? Will they be able to take a break from Dueling to enjoy the sights? Or will something happen that may cause the fashion show trip to become a fashion faux pas?

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The noises and thick crowds of people painted the picture for another typical day in Manehattan, a city that, while it was not the capital city, was much bigger and more densely populated. Traffic jams, towering buildings, and the sounds of construction and loud talking by the citizens were pretty much the norm for this town. But for those spending their time in one of the city's fancy restaurants, they could take a short break from the hustle and bustle outside.

At a small, circular table in the second floor of a restaurant known as The Cantering Cook, a waiter approached the three people sitting there and looking at their menus. "Good afternoon." he said to them. "I'll be your waiter for today. Can I offer you something to drink?"

One of the three people at the table put down their menu in order to speak with him. It was none other than Rarity sitting there. "Yes, of course." she told him. "I'll have some grape juice, thank you."

Next to put down their menu was Rarity's younger sister, Sweetie Belle. "I'll have that, too." she replied. She then turned around to the third person at their table and asked them, "What about you, Pinkie Pie?"

"Hmmmmm..." hummed the third person, who was indeed Pinkie. "There's just so MANY good choices..." she said to herself, trying to come to a decision. After mulling over it for a while, she then asked the waiter, "You wouldn't happen to have any strawberry milk left, do you? I REALLY like it, and not just because it's pink like me."

"Um... I'll see if we do." the waiter replied, writing down the beverage orders before leaving. "I will be back shortly."

Rarity then turned towards Pinkie Pie and said to her, "I must say Pinkie, it was nice of you to suggest coming to this restaurant for lunch." Glancing around with a smile on her face, she added, "It has such a calm, soothing atmosphere, not to mention a great view of the city from up here."

"Yeah, it's really cool!" Sweetie Belle remarked, looking out the large picture window next to their table. "All the people down there look like little ants!"

"My family and I come here all the time when we visit the city on vacation." Pinkie told them. "The food here is just so good, and the staff is so friendly! Not to mention that this place is famous for their All-You-Can-Eat Baked Goods Platter!"

Giggling a little, Sweetie Belle said to her sister, "I get it... THAT'S why she said this was a good place for lunch."

"Indeed." Rarity responded. "If you recall, Pinkie has memorized the dessert menus of every restaurant in Canterlot City by heart. It's quite astounding, to be perfectly honest." She then told her pink-skinned friend, "In any case, thanks again for showing us this place."

"Hey, it's the least I can do after you went and treated us all to a shopping spree down in Saddle Row!" Pinkie told her. She then got out a shopping bag that she had with her and pulled out an outfit that was in it. The outfit was relatively simple in appearance, but every bit as cutesy-looking as her usual clothes: It consisted of a sleeveless dress with a white top (with the triple balloons that served as her pony counterpart's cutie mark) and a frilly pink skirt, long white stockings, a cute little blue bow, and a pair of cyan platform shoes with light-pink straps and a small pink heart imprinted on the sides of each shoe. "Now I can have something in my closet that isn't an exact duplicate of the stuff I usually wear! Thanks!"

Rarity then took out her shopping bag and proudly showed of the new outfit she had bought. It was also a simple outfit, but a bit flashier than Pinkie's was: The top was a light-blue sleeveless shirt with skirt-like frills on the waist area with a small purple diamond shapes imprinted all the way around. The collar of the shirt was white, with small blue jewels - circular and diamond in shape, sewn into it. A purple, knee-length skirt soon followed, along with a pair of fancy, purple, high-heeled shoes with gems sprinkled upon it, along with sparkling gem-like objects on the back, serving as the shoes' heels. "You're very welcome, Pinkie dear." the fashionista politely replied. "I do believe that during our Spring Break, we should certainly try to, shall we say... BREAK away from the usual norms and try something new, at least in our appearance."

Pinkie giggled a bit, telling her violet-haired friend, "And I do believe that little play on words was simply PUN-derful." The two girls giggled at each other for their little joke. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes a bit at the puns her sister and Pinkie had made. The pink teen then asked the younger girl, "I didn't see you get anything, Sweetie Belle... Why not?"

"Me? Um... I... I didn't see anything I really wanted, actually." she answered. "I'm not really into having so many fancy outfits like my sister does."

"Hmmm... I guess that means you'll just have to keep appearing in more shorts and specials looking exactly the same as you do now." Pinkie told her.

"...Huh?" asked Sweetie Belle, not understanding what that meant. At that point, the waiter had returned with their drinks and set them on the table. From that point, Rarity had suggested that they would discuss more about their plans after lunch.

About less than an hour later, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Pinkie Pie all left the restaurant, full and satisfied. "Wow... that was so good..." Sweetie Belle said with a pleased sigh. "I don't think I'll be hungry again for awhile..."

"I agree." Rarity said next. "The Manehattan clam chowder was quite rich in flavor: I swear, I felt as though I could taste each and every individual tomato that went into it!"

"And the dessert tray..." Pinkie Pie said with a relaxed tone of voice. "Those cooks've really outdone themselves this time. It's their best work yet!" She then took a small item out of her purse and slapped it onto the wall of the restaurant building. The object was a circular sticker, showing a chibi-fied version of herself with a big smile on her face, both hands giving the victory sign (by holding up both her middle and index fingers, much like the "peace" sign), surrounded by a golden trim. "Definitely gets the 'Pinkie Pie Seal of Approval', that's for sure!" she said in confidence. Rarity and Sweetie Belle then noticed that several more stickers just like it were also pasted upon that same wall.

Coughing for attention, Sweetie Belle then asked her older sister, "So um, what are we gonna do now, Rarity? You said that the big fashion show wasn't until tomorrow night."

The violet-haired teen then rubbed her chin a little in thought. "Hmmmm... To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure, Sweetie." she admitted. "I don't come to this town that often..." Knowing that her friend had been to Manehattan before, she asked her, "Pinkie, darling... do you have any suggestions of what we should do next? I'd rather we not spend our whole day in our hotel room."

"Hmmm... you're right, Rarity..." the silly girl agreed. "I do have a bit of an issue with cabin fever..." As they talked to each other, none of them noticed a figure in a nearby alleyway that was listening in to the their conversation. Pinkie Pie then pulled out a tourist's map of the city that she had picked up shortly after they had arrived. "Maybe this thing could tell us what we could do..."

"Let me take a look at that!" Sweetie Belle said, taking the map and looking around on it. "Hmmmmm... Well, we could go and try out that new escape room game that I've heard about: Manehattan Escapes! That could be pretty fun!"

"Or," Rarity said, taking the map and pointing to some else on it, "we could try something a teensy less stressful, like... um, take a stroll through Manehattan Park! After all, it's such a nice day out."

"Those sound KINDA cool," Pinkie told them both while taking the map back, "but I think we should pay a visit to The Manehattan Museum of Art! They've got all sorts of cool things on display, such as the history of the Spanish Inquisition, the Klopman Diamond, and this documentary they're showing called, 'A Brief History of Running Gags in Television'!"

"Hmmm... this is quite a conundrum." Rarity noted. "We can't seem to decide what to do first. If Twilight wasn't spending Spring Break back in her world... or if Sunset didn't enter that Duel Monsters tournament several towns over, one of them would have most certainly helped us plan our trip better..."

"Well, we'll figure SOMETHING out soon." Sweetie Belle said, reaching for the map that Pinkie was holding. "After all, we've got this map with us, and-" But as she took the map, it slipped out of her hand and got carried off by a sudden gust of wind. "OH NO!!" she shouted.

"Our map!!" shrieked Rarity, watching as the map flew off. "Quick, after it!! Without that map, we'll be lost in this city forever!!" The three of them chased after the fluttering map, hoping that it fall down soon. But it seemed as though their efforts were in vain, as the wind was blowing the map faster than they were running, flying further and further away from them.

"It's no use! We'll never catch up to it now!" said Pinkie. "Unless some random character that's important to this story shows up to help us, that's map's as good as gone!"

But at that moment, the map began falling down and was caught by someone ahead of them. "Look! Somebody got it!" Sweetie Belle informed the others.

"Let's go see who it was and get our map back!" Rarity suggested. Pinkie and Sweetie nodded and ran up to see who had helped them reclaim their lost map. They finally approached the individual and saw who they were: It was a girl in her late teens, with light-pink skin, long, swirly blond hair with streaks of light blue in some places, bright blue eyes, and a small beauty mark under each of her eyes. Her outfit consisted of a small, white, sleeveless shirt that showed off the midriff, a short, pleated, sky blue skirt with a small diamond keychain attached to the hip, and blue high-heeled shoes with white, medium-length socks. The girl also wore some jewelry, which included a pair of earrings with small diamonds hanging on them, rings on the index and ring fingers of her right hand, and a pair of gold bracelets. The outfit was simple, yet quite fashionable.

Rarity walked over to the other girl and said to her, "Um, excuse me, miss... That map you have in your hand there; it got blown away in the wind. May we have it back?"

"Sure." the girl replied in a mostly soft voice, handing it over to the fashionista. "I... saw what happened, so I reached up and grabbed it once it came near me."

"Well, thank you very much. My friends and I certainly appreciate it." the violet-haired teen said sincerely. "My name is Rarity." She then stepped aside and introduced the others, saying, "This is my schoolmate, Pinkie Pie... and my younger sister Sweetie Belle."

"Pleased t' meet ya!" Pinkie responded, waving her hand with her usual level of energy.

"Yeah, same here." Sweetie Belle said as well.

"...Thank you." the girl replied. "My name is Diamondbright. I've been here is this city since... well, as long as I can remember. I know it very well. I can tell that the three of you are not from around here, are you?"

"Um... Oh! No, we are not." Rarity answered, snapping herself out of a sudden case of wandering mind after the girl introduced herself. "We're from Canterlot. We came here for the big event tomorrow."

"The Spring Fashion Show." said Diamondbright, correctly guessing the event in question. "Am I right?"

"How'd you know that?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"It's... well, it's the most talked-about thing here in the city." the fashionable city girl told them. "Everybody here knows about it."

"You... wouldn't happen to know where exactly the show will take place, do you?" Rarity questioned her.

"Of course." Diamondbright replied. "It will be held in the shopping center along Diamond District." Pointing ahead, she also told them, "It's a little past Saddle Row, if you keep walking straight. Does that, um... help you?"

"Very much so. Thank you." Rarity told her, grateful for the girl's help.

Looking at the map that she had given back to the violet-haired girl, Diamondbright then said to her, "It appears that the three of you don't seem to know what to do here in the city. Perhaps I could... help you out and serve as your guide throughout all of Manehattan?"

"Wow!! That's exactly what we need right now!!" Pinkie exclaimed. "We were trying to figure that out before the wind got our map! If you could help us out by showing us where we need to go, that'd be really REALLY convenient!!"

"Yeah, seriously." Sweetie Belle responded. "It sure was lucky that someone like you happened to be here when we needed it."

"Well, what can I say?" began Diamondbright. "Sometimes, these things happen when you need them to the most." Looking at the map, the city-dwelling teen then suggested, "Perhaps we could start with Manehattan Escapes, since it's close by from where we are."

"Alright! That's sounds good to me! Let's go!" Sweetie Belle said with her youthful enthusiasm.

"Yeah! This'll be super-duper fun!!" Pinkie added, with an equal amount of enthusiasm. "Lead the way, Diamondbright!" Their new companion smiled and did just that, showing them all which way to go. Rarity followed slowly close by, her mind going into deep thought again as it did a bit earlier on. For some reason, she felt as though something was amiss, but couldn't quite figure out what it was. For now, she decided to think about it later and focus on enjoying the day with her friends.

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The group of four, lead by Diamondbright, walked down a side street that wasn't as heavily-populated as the main roads. Pinkie, Sweetie Belle, and Rarity all followed closely, making sure to stick together so that they wouldn't get lost. Looking around the area, Sweetie noticed that the street they were on was also not... well-off as what they had seen earlier; in other words, it looked a bit rougher. "Um, are you sure this is the way we should be going?" she asked Diamondbright.

Hearing her name, the girl put away the cell phone she had been fiddling with at the moment, placing it back in her purse. "Absolutely." the city girl answered. "I know it seems a little out of the way, but trust me: This route will get us there in hardly any time at all. That way you can, well... have more time for fun once we get there."

"I guess that makes sense..." Pinkie Pie replied, though she had some concerns as well.

Rarity could tell that her sister and friend had some doubts about the path they were taking, and so did she. She kept her eyes peeled for anything suspicious. Then, all of a sudden...

"Stop right there, all of ya!" shouted a tough-sounding male voice from right in front of them. The four girls looked ahead and gasped when they saw what appeared to be a grey-skinned mugger right in front of them. "Alright, no funny business:" he told them in an intimidating tone of voice. "Just hand over your money and yer other valuables, and nobody gets hurt!"

"Oh my GOODNESS!" shrieked Rarity. "That man is trying to rob us!!"

"Wh-wh-what do we do??" asked Sweetie Belle. "I'm scared...!"

But Pinkie simply said, "Well, if he really wants something, I'll give it to him." She then reached into her poofy hair and pulled out a small, colorful can.

Confused, the crook then asked the pink girl, "What's THAT s'pposed t' be?!"

"You said you wanted our valuable things, right?" she asked him. "Well, this happens to be my most treasured possession!" She then placed it into the man's hand.

Still not sure what it was, the robber looked at the top of the canister, seeing that it had a lid with multiple holes. Just then, a cloud of sparkling yellow dust shot right out of it and into his face. "AAAAGH!!! I can't see! I can't see!!" he screamed. He ran around, flailing his arms around and throwing the can into the air. He ran blindly around the four of them before running right into a bunch of trash cans, tripping and fell down to the ground, in no shape to fight back.

Pinkie then held out her hand, casually catching the can that the mugger had tossed in the confusion. "Th-that was amazing, Pinkie!" Rarity said. "But what was in that can you gave him?"

"Just a little something that no party-lover could live without!" the pink teenager answered. "My All-Purpose, Air-Compressed Glitter in a Can! I usually use it for decorating posters and other things if I'm in a hurry, but it sure does a good job of stopping would-be thieves, too!"

Having heard the commotion from nearby, a police officer ran over to the scene and saw the mugger lying face-down on the sidewalk. "Well, well, well..." said the cop, "So we finally found you after all this time!" Hoisting the crook up and cuffing him, the officer said, "You four girls are lucky; this brute's been mugging people and snatching purses for weeks until today. Strange thing is, he usually commits these crimes after dark... We likely wouldn't have found him if he hadn't been so brazen as to attack in the middle of the afternoon. In any case, I'll take care of things from here. Be careful, all of you."

After the police left with the mugger in tow, Sweetie Belle breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close..." she said, feeling relieved. "Not to mention scary..."

"Are you alright, Miss Diamonbright?" Rarity asked her.

"Hm? Oh! I'm... I'm fine!" the fashionable city girl answered her. "Still a in bit of shock, but... just fine."

"...That's good to hear." the violet-haired fashionista stated. "But from this point, perhaps we should stick to the main roads and out of dangerous areas such as this one?" she then asked. Getting another idea in her mind, she then recommended, "Not only that, but perhaps we should exchange cell phone numbers, just in case we get separated."

"Um, sure. Perhaps you are right..." Diamondbright agreed. After writing down her phone number and giving it to her (with Rarity then doing the same), she looked at the map again and told the others. "Let's take this path, then it's just a couple of blocks until we get there."

"Sounds good to me." Pinkie Pie responded as she put her special glitter can away in her hair. "After dealing with that guy, an escape room game should be no problem at all." The four of them then followed their guide to their destination, hoping that no other encounters with robbers would arise along the way.

As they did, Rarity began thinking about something when the mugger attacked them. (There was something... not quite right about that man who attacked us... But what?) she continued to ponder while following the others. Eventually she decided to not think about it any more, at least for the moment.

A while later, after participating in the challenges at Manehattan Escapes, the four of them went over to the enormous city park to spend some time there. "Wow, that escape room game sure was fun!" Pinkie Pie said as she, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle sat down on a park bench overlooking a small duck pond. She then looked over at Rarity, who seemed a bit exhausted after having played that game with them all, telling her, "I can't understand why you had so much trouble with it... You're usually good at things while working under pressure."

"There's a big difference between meeting a deadline for a client at the boutique and trying to get out of a locked room within a strict time limit." the violet-haired girl told her friend. However, her real reason for having trouble with the game was because her mind was currently on other things at the time, and so she couldn't completely concentrate on the challenges.

"Aw, lighten up, Rarity." said Sweetie Belle, throwing bread crumbs to the ducks swimming in the small pond in front of them. "You didn't do THAT bad. You actually made it through sooner than I thought you would."

"...And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Rarity, noticing the sly smirk her sister was sporting.

But before another word could be said, Pinkie, who was looking around the area they were in, asked the two siblings, "Say, where did that Diamondbright girl go?"

"Hm? I think she was looking for a bathroom." Sweetie answered. "She said that she had to make a quick phone call or something."

"Yes... but for this long?" asked Rarity. "Something doesn't seem ri-"

"EEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!" screamed a voice that interrupted Rarity's statement and caused all three of them to look in the direction of the scream. It was Diamondbright, who was running as fast as she could to get away from an angry, barking dog that was chasing her.

"Oh no!!" said Pinkie Pie. "That mean-looking dog is gaining on her! What'll we do?!"

Just then, the dog glanced over and saw the other three girls on the other side of the pond. It immediately abandoned its pursuit of Diamondbright and went straight towards them, barking and snarling. "Oh no! Why is it coming after us now?!" asked Rarity in a panic.

"I don't know, but we've gotta do something before he turns us into Kibbles 'n Bits!" said a concerned Pinkie Pie.

The mentioning of dog food then gave Sweetie Belle an idea. She then reached into the backpack she was wearing and pulled out a small, brown paper bag. She then reached into it and pulled out what appeared to be a hamburger. It was leftovers from the restaurant where she and the others had lunch. Waving the burger in the air, she then shouted, "Hey puppy! Puppy!! Over here!! Look!!"

The dog immediately stopped barking and slowed down when it saw that the young girl was holding food. At that moment, the dog stopped and stared at the burger, barking like it wanted it.

"Huh? Is this what you want?" asked Sweetie Belle, still waving the burger. "Is that it? Is THIS what you want?" The dog barked again as if to say yes. "Then... GO GET IT!!" Sweetie shouted, tossing the food as hard she could away from where they were. The dog then chased after the burger, now in the mood for a meal rather than a fight.

Once the dog was long gone, the three of them walked over to Diamondbright on the other side of the pond. "Are you alright?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Huh...?" asked the city girl, a bit confused at first. Realizing that the animal chasing her was gone, she then told her, "Oh! Yes, I'm... I'm just fine!"

"Why was that dog chasing you?" asked Rarity.

"I... I don't know!" Diamonbright answered. "After I left the bathroom, I checked the picture that I took of you all in front of the escape room building, when that... thing just started chasing me! I... think it must have been a stray... There are quite a few of them in the city."

"Well, the important thing is that we're all fine, and we got out of that problem in one piece." Sweetie Belle told them. "All thanks to my brilliant and ingenious plan!"

"Oh yes, quite 'ingenious' indeed." Rarity said a bit slyly. "Throw some food and hope the dog goes after it instead. Quite complex, I must say."

"Are you making fun of me...?" asked Sweetie Belle. "You do realize I probably just saved all of our lives, right?"

"And I'm very grateful to you for doing so." Rarity told her, no longer being sarcastic about it. "I just simply wanted to get a little payback for the comment you made regarding my experience in the escape room." she added with a smirk of her own.

"Oh, right... I get it." the younger sister said, blushing a little. "I guess I had it coming." The two of them giggled a bit afterwards.

Diamondright got up and hummed a bit to herself before looking at the map again. "We should get going." she told the others. "Just in case that dog... well, just in case it comes after us again." The others agreed and the group left the park. As they did, Rarity glanced over in the direction that the dog had ran while chasing the burger that Sweetie Belle had tossed. She then saw that another person was approaching the animal and seemed to be scolding it. Not sure what to make of it, the fashionista continued to follow the rest of her companions.

Minutes later, the group had made their way into the Manehattan Museum of Art. However, it was more than just an art museum, as there were all sorts of other valuable relics on display, as well as some other special exhibits. The four girls paid for their admission tickets and walked inside. Some of the things they saw included relics and art pieces collected from all over the world, including Western Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas. Rarity in particular enjoyed seeing the Costume Center, staring in awe and joy at all of the beautifully-designed clothing that had been made over the ages. Pinkie Pie took great pleasure in posing alongside each painting and exhibit they saw while Sweetie Belle used her cell phone to take pictures of her. Diamondbright was also using her phone, seemingly sending a text message to someone.

After having spent a good amount of time looking around the museum, Rarity stretched her arms and said, "Well, I must say, despite a few... 'trouble spots', this day was quite enjoyable." Thinking a bit to herself, she then added, "I still wonder what has caused us to have such trouble lately; first with that mugger, and then the dog..."

"It's probably nothing, Rarity." Pinkie Pie assured her. "So a few not-so-good things happened during our trip; it's probably just a coincidence. I'm sure there's absolutely no chance that anything else could go wrong today!"

"Look! Over there!!" shouted Diamondbright, gasping in shock. The others looked ahead and saw something that almost made them think that they were dreaming: It appeared that one of the suits of armor that was on display had suddenly come alive, and was brandishing a long sword, slashing it around while other museum patrons were running away in panic.

"...You have GOT to be kidding me." Rarity said, not believing what was in front of her.

"I knew I shouldn't have said that there was no chance of anything going wrong..." said Pinkie.

"Wh-wh-what do we do?!?" asked a trembling Sweetie Belle.

"Run for it!!" Diamonbright suggested. The others agreed and they all ran as fast as they could. Upon hearing them, the suit of armor then began chasing after them.

"Wh-wh-why is it coming after us?!" asked a frightened Sweetie Belle.

"Right now, I just care about whether or not we'll get away from him!" said Pinkie Pie. "After all, I don't think my glitter will work on something that has a helmet on its head!"

"And I don't have any food to distract it!" Sweetie added. "Not that I think it would work anyway!"

Looking ahead, Rarity saw something up ahead of them: The velvet rope that was used to bar direct access to the museum's valuables. While not at Sunset's or Twilight's level, Rarity was also quite a smart individual herself, and had come up with a plan. "Sweetie Belle! Pinkie!" she called out to them. "Run into the next room and stand to the left of the doorway!"

"Wh-what are you doing??" asked Diamondbright.

"Hopefully something that will save us from that nefarious knight...!" the fashionista told her. Sweetie and Pinkie nodded and did just as Rarity told them, going into the room ahead and heading to the left. Rarity then pointed to the velvet rope and the metal stanchion they were attached to, telling Diamonbright, "Help me pick up one of those metal posts and carry it over to where Pinkie and Sweetie Belle are."

"Um... okay...?" said the fashionable city girl, still not sure what was going on. Nevertheless, she grabbed one of the stanchion posts while Rarity grabbed the post on the other end of the rope. It was a little heavy, but the two girls were able to carry it together without any problem.

They carried it into the next room, with Diamondbright giving the post that she was holding to Pinkie Pie and Sweetie Belle. Rarity, in the meantime, hung onto the end that she was holding. "Now, girls... when I say, 'now', grab the post and pull it towards you as hard as you can!" Rarity instructed them.

Figuring out what her plan was, Pinkie Pie nodded and said, "You've got it, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle nodded as well to say that she understood.

The fashionista then stood on the right side of the door in the next room, opposite to where her friend and sister were. Behind her was Diamondbright, who was still trying to figure out what Rarity was up to. Peeking out from the corner of the wall, the city-dwelling girl saw that the knight was still on his way. Luckily, the armor was as heavy as it was strong, giving the girls plenty of time to set up the plan. Once he was close enough to the room entrance, Rarity shouted, "NOW! PULL!!" The three of them pulled as hard as they could, as if they were in a tug-of-war. This caused the velvet rope to stretch across the entrance. Before it had any time to react, the crazed suit of armor tripped over the rope and fell down to the ground, dropping its sword.

"Yes! It worked!!" cheered Rarity, happy to see that her plan was successful.

"Yay! Way to go, big sis!!" Sweetie Belle congratulated.

"Yeah, way to go!!" Pinkie Pie chimed in.

"Oh, please girls." Rarity told them modestly. "It was the best I could think of right on the spot. Still, I can't argue with the results, wouldn't you say?" The four of them - including Diamondbright - walked over to the suit of armor, now struggling to get up. But because of how heavy the armor was, the task was all but impossible.

At that moment, the museum security and several curious patrons ran to the scene. "What happened here?" asked one of the security guards, pointing to the armored menace. "Who is that?"

"This... thing was chasing after us after it began scaring everybody in the armory display." Rarity told him.

"And now let's see who the ghost REALLY is!" said Pinkie Pie, grabbing the helmet and pulling it off. As it turned out, the armor didn't really "come alive"; instead, someone got into the armor and used it as a disguise. The person in question was a young woman with blue-violet skin, dark grey hair that was in swirls, and purple eyes.

Gasping, the security guard then exclaimed, "I don't believe it! It's Rough Diamond, the notorious jewel thief!!"

"Who?" asked the Rarity and the others.

Hoisting her up, the guards then explained, "She's likely come here to steal some of the museum's most valuable treasures. We'd heard rumors that she was in the area today, but couldn't find out where she was. And no wonder: she was hiding in that armor right in plain sight and using it to scare everyone away so that she could steal it! Isn't that right?"

"Grrrr... yes, that's right...!" grumbled the would-be thief. "Once everyone was gone, I was going to go and take the Ostlerheimer Diamond before anyone suspected a thing."

"And lemme guess:" Pinkie began to say. "You would've gotten away with it if it weren't for us 'meddling kids', right?" Giggling, she then asked her friends, "It's too bad Spike isn't with us right now, or else this totally would have been like the cartoon!"

"Well in any case," Sweetie Belle began, "after all of this, I think I've had enough sightseeing for one day. Let's get back to our hotel room before something else happens. I wouldn't be surprised if a meteor were to come down on us sometime today with our luck..."

"Yeah, no kidding!" Pinkie commented. The two of them then made their way to the museum's exit, with Rarity behind them. Then, the violet-haired girl stopped for a moment and looked around, noticing something peculiar...

(That's odd... where did that Diamondbright girl go?) she asked herself. (She was just here a moment ago, shortly after we tripped that thief...) Just then, she overheard something else from the security guards that got her attention.

"You're in serious trouble, Rough." said one of them. "Coming all this way here to steal something as valuable as the Ostlerheimer Diamond... I don't know where you heard such a rumor, but your trip here was a waste of time!"

"That's right." said another guard. "That diamond isn't on display in the museum this year! It's been placed somewhere safe where thieves like you can't ever get to it!"

"Wh-what?! You're lying!" shouted Rough Diamond, startled by what she heard him say. "Grrrr... that little weasel...! How dare them for giving me false information!!"

"Hey, quiet down!" said one of the guards. "You've caused enough trouble already." As they all left, Rarity began thinking about what she had heard, wondering what it all meant.

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Later, as the sky began to get darker, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Pinkie Pie - all having changed into their sleeping clothes, were all back in their hotel room to rest up for the big day tomorrow. "Wow... what a day..." the pink teen stated, laying down on her bed. "We stopped a mugger, escaped an attack dog, and foiled a museum heist..." Sighing a little, she then added, "It's things like this that make me wish I wasn't a main character... But not really."

"I know..." said Sweetie Belle, sitting on the other bed in the room. "That was so weird that we had all that bad luck today..."

"Hmmmm..." hummed Rarity, pondering some thoughts in her head while pacing around.

"Hm? Something the matter, sis?" asked Sweetie.

"...You could say that." the violet-haired girl responded. "I'm beginning to think that something is not as it seems regarding our mishaps throughout the day."

"What d'ya mean?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Well, don't you think it's a bit strange that all of those things happened to us all right after one another on the same day, and ONLY when we were nearby?" asked Rarity. "It seems too unlikely that we would have so much misfortune in one sitting like that."

"What are you saying?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"...I'm saying that those 'random occurrences' may not be as random as we think they may be." Rarity answered her younger sister. "I mean, just think about it: First, we were almost robbed by a complete stranger that usually only commits his crimes at night, and yet it was bright outside at the time... And then a dog comes literally out of nowhere and tries to attack us in the park... And then of all things, an attempted robbery takes place at the museum that we just so happened to pay a visit to! Do you understand what I'm saying, girls?"

"You mean that all of that stuff was planned to happen?" asked Pinkie Pie. "But who planned it? And why?"

"I don't know for sure yet, darling..." the fashionista replied, "but what I am sure of is that it can't possibly all be a coincidence. Those misfortunes happened for a reason, and I'm hoping I can figure it out BEFORE it gets any worse."

"Well, whatever's going on..." said Sweetie Belle. Taking a moment to yawn, she continued, saying, "we can figure it out tomorrow. Right now, I'm too exhausted to do anything else."

"Yeah, me too..." Pinkie added, getting under her covers and readying herself for a good night's sleep. Yawning, she then told her friends, "Don't worry, girls... tomorrow'll be much, much better; I guarantee it."

"Let us hope so..." Rarity replied, deciding to go to sleep as well. She got in her bed along with her sister and said, "Good night, everyone... I'll see you in the morning..."

"Good night, Rarity..." Pinkie said before falling asleep.

"Good night, big sis..." Sweetie Belle chimed in, getting ready to go to sleep as well. Rarity then reached over to the table lamp on the nightstand and switched it off, plunging the room into darkness.

The hours passed, and the three girls were all sound asleep. Despite that the streets outside were still noisy and busy with people roaming around, the room was quiet and peaceful, with hardly a sound that could be heard; perfect for a good night's sleep.

But outside of their room, in the dark hallways of the hotel, a strange figure was creeping around. Cloaked in the darkness and moving ever so carefully, the figure went by each and every room without being noticed. The sleeping security guard wasn't even aware of their presence as they walked right by. Eventually, the figure reached their intended destination. "Hmmm... here it is: Room Number 609..." the figure said to themself. The mysterious individual then reached into a bag and pulled out what appeared to be a small makeup brush... before pulling on the end of the handle and removing a part of it, revealing a small lockpick. The figure then picked the lock and managed to open the room door.

Silently and only opening the door enough for them to get through, the figure entered the room and silently closed the door behind them. "Now... where are they...?" the figure asked themself, looking around. The person then saw Rarity, Pinkie, and Sweetie all asleep at the other end of the room. The intruder then silently moved around, making extra-sure not to wake them as it made its way over to the coat closet. "There...! They must be in there." the figure said, quietly opening the door. Inside the closet were all of girls' belongings that they had brought with them. "Perfect..." said the figure, sure that they had found what they were looking for. "Now I can finally perform the job that I could not do earlier..."

The intruder was so focused on whatever they were trying to, that they didn't notice one of the three girls stirring themselves awake. It was Sweetie Belle, who had a sudden case of nighttime thirstiness. Groaning quietly, the younger of the three girls got out of bed and walked over to the small mini-fridge that was in the room and opened it, pulling out a bottle of water. As she opened it and prepared to take a drink, she then saw the figure over at the closet. Instinctively, she shouted, "HEY!! What are you doing in here?!?"

That sudden shout got the attention of not only the intruder, but also Rarity (not Pinkie, she slept like a rock, as her sister Maud would often say). "Mmmmn... Sweetie Belle..." she moaned as she rubbed her eyes. "What are you shouting for...?" But she got her answer when she happened to look over towards the closet and saw the figure that had broken in, still concealed by the darkness around them. "What?! Who are you??" Rarity demanded to know. "And what are you doing in our hotel room?!?"

"Urrgh!" the figure grunted, knowing that their cover was blown. The intruder then hastily made a run for it, trying to leave the room as Rarity tossed whatever she could find at the would-be crook, tossing books, pillows, and even the TV remote in an attempt to stop them. One of the books hit the intruder on their right side, causing a few things to fall off of them. But the individual was in too much of a hurry to get out, they didn't notice as they got out of the room, running as fast as they could.

Rarity started to give chase, but stopped just outside of the door when she could no longer see the person that had broken in. Huffing, she then shouted, "And don't you DARE come back in here, you... you RUFFIAN!!" Snorting a bit in anger, she closed the door, trying her best not to slam it in her anger (after all, slamming doors - even in rage, was very un-lady like, according to her).

"I-i-is he gone, Rarity?" asked Sweetie Belle, trembling a little.

Taking a deep sigh to calm herself, she then told her sister, "Yes, I think so. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Sweetie answered her.

Walking over to Pinkie Pie's bed after turning on the lights, Rarity and Sweetie Belle nudged her, trying to get her to wake up. "Pinkie dear... you must wake up!" the violet-haired fashionista requested her snoring friend. But it was all for naught as the pink teenager just lay there, snoozing away.

"It's no use, Rarity." Sweetie told her older sister. "A herd of buffalo wouldn't wake her up."

Coming up with an idea, Rarity then walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a small paper bag. "This might do the trick." she said as she walked back over to Pinkie's bed. Then, in the quietest voice possible, she said to her friend, "...Pinkie...? Would you like a chocolate lollipop...?"

Even though most heavy sleepers would never be able to hear such a low-volume voice, Pinkie did. Almost a split-second after Rarity made her semi-silent offer, the silly pink girl's eyes shot up open, and a grin appeared on her face. Immediately sitting up, she then said in an excited tone, "Yeah! Yeah! Of COURSE!! Thanks!!"

Smiling, Rarity then opened the bag and gave her the candy treat, as promised. Pinkie snatched it up and devoured it within moments. After she was finished, Rarity then said to her, "Now for the real reason I woke you up, Pinkie darling... Just moments ago, somebody broke into our room!"

Gasping, Pinkie asked, "You're kidding!!"

"No, it's true!" Sweetie told her. "I saw them over by the closet, going through our things! It was so scary!"

"We had best check our belongings and make sure that nothing has been taken." Rarity suggested. The others agreed and quickly went over to check their bags. After searching through them for less than a minute, the violet-haired teen then said, "Well, everything's here and accounted for."

"Same here." said Sweetie Belle.

"Ditto." Pinkie chimed in. She then pulled out a handheld game system and added, "I just got one in a Wi-Fi trade. Also, my bag's okay too."

Sighing again, Rarity then said to the others, "This is all too bizarre... After all that's happened to us so far, NOW we have someone break into our room while sleeping? Why??"

"I dunno..." Pinkie said, scratching the top of her head. "You think we might've bumped into Milo Murphy while walking around the city?" After thinking about her comment for a second, she immediately dismissed that possibility, saying, "No... probably not. We don't have a Milo Murphy; we have a Cheese Sandwich, and he certainly doesn't cause others unintentional bad luck..."

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle noticed something on the floor next to her. "Hey! Take a look over here!" The young girl then picked up the object: It was the makeup brush/lockpick that the intruder had with them.

"A lockpick!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "That must be how they got in! But who could it have been?"

Rarity then noticed something else on the floor, a short distance away from where the brush was. Walking over to it and picking it up, she then gasped when she saw what the item was. "Astonishing!!" she said in surprise. "This can't be!"

"What?" asked Sweetie Belle. "What is it, Rarity?"

Pocketing the object in her bag for now, the fashionista then told the others, "I have a feeling that we shall know the identity of our would-be intruder by tomorrow." Putting her bag away in the closet with the others, she then told the girls, "Right now, we had best get to sleep. We cannot allow this sudden misfortune to prevent us from getting any rest." The others agreed and they all went back to their beds to go back to sleep, this time becoming more alert to anything else out of the ordinary.

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The next day came, and Rarity, Sweetie, and Pinkie were already outside in the city. Only on this day, Rarity and Pinkie decided to wear the new outfits that they had bought yesterday, eager to try them out. Sweetie Belle, however, was still wearing similar clothes to what she had yesterday, as she had decided not to get anything new for her wardrobe. Looking at their map, the violet-haired girl told the others, "Alright... the fashion show doesn't start until 8 p.m. tonight..." Looking at the clock on her cell phone, she then added, "Right now it is currently 4:15 p.m. So we have quite a while until the show begins."

"After all that crazy stuff that happened yesterday, I'll be happy to just sit back and watch a lot of pretty girls in pretty outfits for hours." Sweetie Belle told her older sister.

"I'm still not sure what you were talking about last night, Rarity..." Pinkie began to ask her friend. "What did you mean when you said that we'd know who it was that broke into our room last night? It's almost like you already know who it was."

"Hey, maybe it's because it was one of those guys that we saw yesterday!" Sweetie Belle hypothesized. "Like that mugger, or that jewel thief! Probably not the dog, but I'll bet it was one of the others! Right, big sis?"

"...You're close, Sweetie Belle." Rarity responded. "Just be patient, and I can promise that all will be revealed in due time."

"Awwww, why can't you just tell us?" asked the younger girl.

"Because if she did," Pinkie told her, "it'd ruin the drama of this moment." Sweetie just huffed in response.

A few minutes later, the three of them had made their way to a part of the city known as Bridleway Theater District, located somewhere in the center of town. The area was mostly well-known for the live shows and musicals that were featured there. For those who loved live performances, this section of the city was practically holy ground. Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Pinkie Pie were standing in a tiled section of the ground in front of a tall building with several video monitors displaying various advertisements (such as Colta-Cola) attached to the front of it.

"Sooooooo... what are we doing just standing here?" Pinkie asked Rarity about five minutes later. "We been waiting here for who-knows-how-long, and nothing's happened yet!"

"Patience, darling..." Rarity told her. "We're supposed to be meeting up with Diamondbright here."

"Diamondbright?" asked Sweetie Belle. "You mean that girl we met yesterday? Why her?"

"I called her earlier before we left our hotel room." the fashionista explained. "I asked her to come here and help us find our way over to Diamond District, where the show will take place." Looking ahead of the crowds of people, she then exclaimed, "Ah! And here she is now!" The others turned to look, and just like Rarity had said, Diamondbright was running over to meet them.

Upon reaching the others, the city girl told them, "Good afternoon. I came over here as soon as you called me, but I didn't know exactly where you were. Not to be... rude, but you really should have told me exactly where you guys were."

"I had thought about that..." Rarity replied, "but I decided that it probably wasn't in my best interest to do that."

"I don't understand what you mean." Diamondbright replied, confused. "Why wouldn't you tell me where in Bridleway you would be?"

"Oh, not much, darling." the violet-haired teen answered. "It's just that I wouldn't want to have some OTHER misfortune happen to us right now, in this exact place that we happen to be standing in."

"What do you mean??" asked the city girl, a small sweat drop running down the side of her face.

"I mean to say that I believe that all of those mishaps occurred... because YOU were the one who orchestrated them!" Rarity shouted. This caused everyone to gasp at this sudden accusation.

"What?! ME?!?" said Diamondbright, sounding offended. "That's impossible!! I was HELPING you find your way around the city!! I decide to be generous and lend you a hand and you accuse ME of something like that?!"

"I do, Diamondbright." the fashionista from Canterlot answered. "And it is because you weren't REALLY being generous towards us. You may have fooled the others, but not someone who lives a selfless and altruistic lifestyle such as myself. You learned about what our plans were and set it all up in order to cause us harm!"

"That's ridiculous!! You're completely wrong!!" argued Diamondbright. "If you're so sure, then PROVE it!!"

"If that is what you wish." Reaching into her bag, Rarity pulled out something inside of it: It was the other item that was left behind in the hotel room after the break-in. The item was none other than an earring with a small diamond hanging from it. "I believe THIS belongs to you." she told Diamondbright. "You dropped it last night... after you broke into our room. I suppose that it could have been someone else's... but I highly doubt that earrings with such impressive gems as this one could be purchased by just about anyone. Not to mention that you seem to be missing an earring on your right ear, not far from that welt on your arm where the book hit you."

The city girl gulped as she felt her right ear, knowing that there wasn't an earring there. (No...!) she thought. (I thought that it got lost in my purse somewhere...!)

"So it's really true??" asked Sweetie Belle, shocked by this reveal. "YOU broke into our room last night??"

"And it was you who caused us to have all those bad things happen yesterday?" asked Pinkie Pie, equally as surprised.

Grumbling, Diamonbright finally said to them, "...That's right. It was me. Your sudden run of bad luck all day yesterday was all because of me! The mugger on the street, the owner of that attack dog, and even the jewel thief Rough Diamond... They came after you because I TOLD them to do it!"

"You mean they were faking all of that?!" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Not exactly, Sweetie Belle." Diamondbright told her. "The mugger had indeed been robbing people all over the city, and when I found him, I paid him to try and rob all of you once you came nearby with me leading you around. Of course, I didn't expect your pink friend getting you out of that mess, nor did I expect a police officer to show up and arrest him...

"Then there was the dog that 'attacked us' in the park..." she continued. "I told the owner of that dog that I was filming a movie to upload online, and that we needed his pet to act as a vicious stray. At first, he was skeptical, but once he saw what I offered him, he was all too willing to accept my proposition. After that, I showed the dog a picture of the three of you - the same picture I took of you in front of the Manehattan Escapes building - so that he would play out his part perfectly. Of course, it seemed that he hadn't fully trained that mongrel if it got so easily distracted by a hamburger of all things.

"And then there was the coup de gr�ce: The appearance of the infamous jewel thief, Rough Diamond." she told them, wrapping up her confession. "By paying off a few... shall we say, 'not-so-legal' informants suggested by my overseer, I was able to meet with the thief herself. I told her the lie about the Ostlerheimer Diamond, and then told her that the three of you would attempt to stop her, and that she should come after you after I shouted, 'Look! Over there!!' at just the right volume. Indeed, my shouting wasn't a warning; it was to let her know that you three were nearby! But you just had to put a stop to that too, did you!?"

"You're... you're positively HORRIBLE!!" Rarity shouted angrily. "Why would you ever do something so horrid?! Why were you trying to cause us harm?! We've never done anything to you!! We didn't even know you until just yesterday!!"

"That may be true, but I know everything about you, Rarity... Pinkie Pie... and your little friends!" the cruel girl informed her. "Especially Sunset Shimmer."

"Huh?!" gasped Pinkie. "How did you know Sunset??"

"I think I know why." Rarity began to tell Diamondbright. "You know because you were sent here... from Skyes Academy! You're one of the people that have been attacking us and our peers at school with your Number cards, aren't you?!"

"That's correct." the city girl told her. "I was sent here by my... ahem, overseer to come after you. Another one of us had learned about your little trip here to the city, so I got on the next bus to await your arrival. But contrary to what has happened to you so far, I was NOT trying to cause you direct harm. All of those happenings were meant to distract you - in particular, the dog wasn't even going to attack you; he was trained not to cause physical harm to another person or animal."

"But... why were you trying to distract us?" asked Sweetie Belle, still stunned by what had been said so far.

Reaching into her purse, she then pulled out... a blank Duel Monsters card. "So that none of you would notice this being planted on you, that's why."

Gasping, a horrified Rarity then shouted, "That's... that's a Number card, isn't it?! You were going to plant it on one of us??"

"...That's what I was going to do," Diamondbright admitted, "but it seems that's going to be impossible now!" Turning over to Rarity, she then told her in a cruel tone, "You didn't say where in town you would be waiting for me, just in case I had planned another case of 'bad luck' to happen... But that won't matter." Pulling out her cell phone, she continued, "All I have to do is send one little text message to my 'associates', and you'll wish you had just let me plant that Number on you!"

Rarity and Pinkie Pie sweated a little, not sure whether the girl's threat was a bluff or not. At first, no one said anything, but then, unexpectedly, Sweetie Belle stepped forward towards the cruel girl. "You won't be doing any of that!!" she shouted, putting on the angriest face she could (though it still looked adorable anyway).

"Sweetie Belle?!" exclaimed a shocked Rarity. "What are you doing?!"

Ignoring her older sister for a moment, she then said to Diamondbright, "I'm not gonna let you hurt my sister or Pinkie anymore!! So you'd better put that cell phone down!!"

"Hmph... don't make me laugh, little girl." Diamondbright huffed, seeing her as absolutely no threat. "What makes you think that I'll actually comply with that senseless request of yours?"

Sweetie Belle answered that by opening her bag and strapping on her D-Pad and D-Gazer. "Because I'm going to Duel you, that's why!" she told her in the most confident-sounding voice she had ever mustered. "And if I win, you leave us alone!!"

"Ridiculous!" said the cruel teen. "There's no point in fighting you if there's nothing in it for me! What am I going to get out of it?!"

Sweetie Belle didn't say anything yet, as she was still a bit intimidated - not by Diamondbright, but by what she was about to say. Gulping a little, she answered her, saying, "Because... if you win... then I'll take that Number card." This elicited a gasp out of everyone, including Diamondbright.

"Sweetie Belle, you can't!!" Rarity warned her. "I won't let you become possessed by that Number Card! Trust me, I know how it feels, and I don't want that to happen to you!"

"...I know what will happen to me if I get that card, Rarity." Sweetie Belle told her big sister. "I saw what happened to you at the Fall Formal..." Trying her best to be brave, she then added, "But I have to do this. If I don't, then that girl could try to do something to all of us that could be worse! I have to do it, Rarity... You've always been so generous to me and helped me out a lot, so it's time for me to do the same thing for you!"

Rarity was quite stunned after hearing all of that and seeing how brave her little sister was trying to be. She didn't want Sweetie to go through the bad experience of Number possession like she did, but knew that the possible alternative wasn't much better; she knew that this was the only way for all of them to escape safely. Rarity then reluctantly nodded her head and said, "Very well, then... Just be careful, Sweetie Belle; VERY careful." The younger girl nodded her head to say that she would.

"Hmmmm... so let me get this straight:" Diamondbright commented. "If I win, you'll willingly take the blank Number?" Sweetie nodded yes to say that she would. (Hmhmhmmm... then that would mean that I would still be able to complete the task Ms. Chrysalis has given to me...) the evil girl thought. (I could even become her new second-in-command, especially since she's still sore at Windmistress for her failure some time ago...) Smirking wickedly, she then said, "Very well, you've got yourself a Duel, then."

A crowd gathered as Sweetie Belle and Diamondbright readied their equipment and prepared to Duel. Rarity and Pinkie Pie both put on their Duel Gazers in order to watch the game. "AR Vision Link established." said the computerized voice as the area around them changed itself in Augmented Reality.

Drawing their opening hands, Sweetie Belle and Diamondbright shouted, "LET'S DUEL!!" (Sweetie Belle: LP 4,000) (Diamondbright: LP 4,000).

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As the two Duelists began their match, Rarity shivered a bit, worried about her younger sister. "I do hope Sweetie knows what she's doing..." the fashionista told Pinkie. "Especially since she has yet to win a Duel against anyone other than her friends in their club."

"Don't ya worry, Rarity!" the optimistic pink teenager told her with a wink. "Sunset's been training her and the others for months! I'm sure she'll do just fine out there!" The violet-haired girl hoped in her heart that what Pinkie said was true.

Looking at her hand, Sweetie Belle thought to herself, (Okay... here I go... My first major Duel since Sunset started helping me and the others out... Thanks to her, I've learned some new tricks, and she even fixed my Deck up with some of her cards... Let's just hope that it'll be good enough...)

Chuckling, Diamondbright taunted her opponent, "Scared, little girl? Well you ought to be, considering what the consequences are should you lose to me."

The younger girl decided to ignore the taunting and focused on her first move for the turn. "I'll... I'll start with this Spell Card! Crystal Tree!!" she shouted. After playing the card, a large, shiny blue rock tree began growing out of the ground next to Sweetie Belle, with several small, pink jewels "growing" on each of its branches.

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Crystal Tree:
(Continuous Spell Card)

Each time a "Crystal Beast" monster(s) is placed in either player's Spell & Trap Zone, place 1 Crystal Counter on this card. You can send this card to the GY; take a number of "Crystal Beast" monsters from your Deck equal to the number of Crystal Counters that were on this card, and place them face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as Continuous Spells.

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Everyone oohed and ahhed at the beautiful, sparkling tree that Sweetie Belle had created. Continuing with her turn, she then told her opponent, "Next, I'll Summon my Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus in Attack Mode!" After playing the card, a bright white-coated horse flew onto the battlefield. It stood in front of the Crystal Tree, displaying its large, white and golden yellow wings bejeweled with shiny blue gems, along with a long, blue horn (which technically made it an Alicorn, not a Pegasus) (Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus: Level 4 / ATK 1800 / DEF 1200).

"Hmph, flashy." said Diamondbright. "But you'll have to do much better than that, little girl."

"Then how's this for better?" asked Sweetie Belle. "Since I Summoned Sapphire Pegasus, I can use his effect to place any Crystal Beast monster from my hand, Deck, or Graveyard in my back row as a Spell Card! So I'll put my Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat there using that effect!" After saying that, a large, purple gem appeared right next to her Crystal Tree, hovering in the air.

"A monster that can go in the back row?" asked Pinkie. "That's pretty bizarre... And being a leading expert in bizarre, I know what I'm talking about."

Sweetie Belle then pointed to the first card she played and said, "And now that I've put a Crystal Beast in my back row, I can also put a Crystal Counter on my Crystal Tree!" And as she said that, one of the jewels hanging off of the tree's branches lit up (Crystal Tree: Crystal Counters 0 + 1 = 1). Taking one more card from her hand, she then told Diamondbright, "I'll set a face-down card and end my turn."

"Hmph... very well, then." the cruel girl said. "I draw!" After looking at the card she drew, she placed it into her hand and pulled out a different one. "I'll start with the Spell Card, Medallion of the Ice Barrier!" she shouted. "It allows me to take any Ice Barrier monster from my Deck, such as my Medium of the Ice Barrier!" After taking the card out of her Deck, she then announced, "And next, since you control at least four more cards than I do, I get to Special Summon her! So come forth, Medium of the Ice Barrier!!"

The monster she Summoned was a woman with long, icy-blue hair, similarly-colored eyes, and yellow marks painted on her face. She wore a beautiful dress that was blue and white in color, with the skirt portion decorated with a snowflake design all around it. Around her neck was a gold medallion which also had a snowflake design upon it (Medium of the Ice Barrier: Level 7 / ATK 2200 / DEF 1600).

"A-a-a Level 7 monster?!" asked a shocked Sweetie Belle. "And you got it out just like that?!"

"Yes, but that's not all she has going for her." Diamondbright replied. "As long as she is on the field, you cannot activate more than one Spell or Trap each turn!"

"That's not good..." Rarity commented. "Now Sweetie has to be more careful in picking which Spells and Traps to activate... Not to mention that Diamondbright's monster is more powerful than Sweetie's is..."

Taking another card from her hand, Diamondbright then told her foe, "Now I'll use my Normal Summon to play Strategist of the Ice Barrier in Attack Mode!" Her second monster was an elderly man wearing a dark blue robe and wearing a blue conical hat in the shape of a snowflake. In his hand was a hand-held fan, currently folded up (Strategist of the Ice Barrier/ Level 4 / ATK 1600 / DEF 1600). "Next," she continued, "I'll use my Strategist's effect and send one Ice Barrier monster from my hand to the Graveyard, and then draw one more card!" And that's exactly what she did. "Now go, my Medium!! Attack her Sapphire Pegasus!!" she shouted.

Sweetie Belle braced herself as the blue-haired woman chanted a spell and thrusted her palms forward, causing a miniature blizzard to appear that froze and shattered Sapphire Pegasus (Sweetie Belle: LP 4,000 - 400 = 3,600). But the young girl shouted, "I use the effect of Sapphire Pegasus! Instead of sending him to the Graveyard, I place him in the back row as a Spell Card!" After that, a second jewel that was blue in color appeared next to the purple one. "And that means I can put another counter on my Crystal Tree!" she then added (Crystal Tree: Crystal Counters 1 + 1 = 2).

"Ask me if I care!" shouted Diamondbright. "Strategist, attack her directly!" And with that order, the old man then unfurled his fan and waved it hard, causing another mini-blizzard that hit Sweetie Belle directly (Sweetie Belle: LP 3,600 - 1,600 = 2,000).

"Oh no! Sweetie Belle!" shouted an worried Rarity. "Are you okay?!"

"She won't be after I am through with her." Diamondbright said in an uncaring attitude. "Once she loses, she'll become just another victim to a Number card. Luckily, I have no more attacks this turn... So I'll just end my turn with two face-down cards."

"Then it's back to me!" shouted Sweetie Belle. "I draw!" after she looked at her next card, she then played it right away. "I activate the Spell Card, Rare Value! Since I have two Crystal Beasts in my back row, you choose one to send to the Graveyard, and afterwards, I draw two cards. So which one?"

"Hmph, not that he's REALLY any threat to me, but just be sure, I'll dispose of your Sapphire Pegasus." Diamondbright told her.

With that, the blue gemstone vanished from the field, allowing Sweetie to draw two more cards. Smiling, she said, "I was hoping you'd pick that one, Diamondbright." The city girl just raised an eyebrow, saying nothing in response. Playing one of the newly-drawn cards, the young girl announced, "I Summon ANOTHER Sapphire Pegasus in Attack Mode!" And just like that, a second copy of her previous monster appeared to grace the field.

"Another one??" asked Diamondbright.

"Yeah, which means I can place Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth in my back row from my Deck!" Sweetie told her. After that, a smooth, orange-colored stone appeared on her field. "And I'll end things with that."

"That's all she's doing?" asked Rarity. "But she just left her Sapphire Pegasus exposed on the field... What could she be doing?"

"Don't lose hope yet, Rarity." Pinkie told her. "I'm sure she knows exactly what she's doing!"

Not intimidated in the slightest, Diamondbright began her turn by drawing a card. Placing it into her hand for the moment, she then said, "This is almost sad to watch. After all, you're about to lose the rest of your Life Points so easily... I almost feel bad that you couldn't put up a real fight... ALMOST." Taking a card from her hand, she said, "I'll use my Strategist to send an Ice Barrier to my Graveyard and draw a new card." After she did, she then told her foe, "Although there's really no point; after my Medium attacks your monster and my Strategiest attacks you directly, you'll lose the Duel anyway."

"If you're sure about that, then do it!" Sweetie said to her.

"If that's what you wish..." Diamondbright replied, so sure that she had this Duel won. Pointing ahead, she yelled, "Medium!! Take down that Pegasus!!" And just like before, her stronger monster used her ice magic to eliminate Sweetie Belle's monster, removing it from the field.

But this time would be different. "I activate my Trap Card!! Go, Crystal Pair!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"A Trap?!" exclaimed Diamondbright.

"That's right. I'll bet you forgot all about it, huh?" asked the young girl. "I couldn't play it on your last turn because of your Medium's effect, but I can now!" Taking a card from out of her Deck, she then told her opponent, "Now I place my Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise from my Deck on the field as a Spell Card, and after that, I take no more battle damage for the rest of this turn!"

Diamondbright scowled as a green, emerald-cut gem appeared on Sweetie Belle's field. "So even the damage from the previous battle was nullified...?" asked the city teen. "How irritating..." Taking the card she had drawn at the start of her turn, she said, "I place one more face-down card and end my turn!"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Rarity said, "That was a close one... For a second, I thought that Sweetie Belle was done for..."

"You gotta give her more credit, Rarity." Pinkie Pie told her friend. "Sunset's been doing her best to help her and the others out with their Dueling! She'll be fine out there as long she knows you've got her back!"

Nodding in agreement, the violet-haired fashionista said, "You are absolutely right, Pinkie dear. Instead of worrying about her, I'll give her all the moral support I can!" She then shouted to her younger sister, "You can do it, Sweetie Belle! You can win this, I just know it!"

Sweetie smiled, happy to know that her sister was cheering for her. Feeling even more determined than before, she then said to Diamondbright, "You'd better be ready for this! 'Cause I'm about show you what my Deck and I can do!"

The wicked girl simply yawned and said, "Really? So far, all you've done is waste my time."

"Well we'll see about that AFTER I make my move. Now I draw!" Sweetie Belle then pulled her next card... and smiled. (Yes! Just what I needed!) Placing the card in her hand for the moment, she then shouted, "I play Crystal Beacon from my hand!"

"And what does that do?" asked Diamondbright, still not too worried for herself.

"I'll tell you: Since I have at least two Crystal Beasts in my back row," Sweetie explained, "I can now Summon any Crystal Beast straight out of my Deck!" Her Deck then auto-shuffled her cards, leaving the card she had chosen to play sticking out at the top. Pulling it out, she then added, "Now I'll play my favorite Crystal Beast of all! Let's give a warm, Manehattan welcome to... Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle!!"

Sweetie Belle's newest monster was a tiny, cat-like creature with big, adorable red eyes, a tiny jewel on its forehead, and a blue body. It appeared to have two sets of ears, and on the end of its tail was a shiny, red gem (Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle: Level 3 / ATK 300 / DEF 300).

"So THAT'S your 'big play'?" mocked Diamondbright. "What could that tiny little thing possibly do?"

"Well, for one thing, since Ruby Carbuncle was Special Summoned," Sweetie Belle told her, "it lets me Special Summon all of the Crystal Beasts in my back row!"

"Wait, WHAT?!" exclaimed the overconfident city girl, not expecting that.

"Come on out, everyone!!!" said Sweetie cheerfully as the three monsters in her Spell & Trap Zones appeared in their true forms: A bluish-green tortoise with spiky green jewels jutting out of its shell (Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise: Level 3 / ATK 600 / DEF 2000), a large, pinkish-white cat with a purple gem upon its chest (Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat: Level 3 / ATK 1200 / DEF 400), and a bluish-grey mammoth with large tusks and a large, orange gem upon its forehead (Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth: Level 4 / ATK 1700 / DEF 1600).

"Alright!!" cheered Pinkie Pie. "She just Summoned back all of her monsters!"

Grumbling, Diamondbright then shouted, "Perhaps, but she won't be keeping them! I activate Torrential Tribute!!"

"Oh no... that card destroys every monster on the field!" said Rarity. And just like she said, a massive tsunami appeared, washing away each and every one of the monsters Sweetie had just Summoned to the field, along with the two that Diamondbright had out.

"Hmph... so much for your big plan." said the cruel teenager, still looking confident.

"Sweetie Belle, are you okay??" asked Rarity out of concern.

But then everyone heard her giggling happily. "I'm better than okay, big sis!" she said in her usual cheery tone. "I've got a backup plan!"

"Backup plan??" asked everyone else.

"First," Sweetie started, "I'll put Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle in my back row instead of the Graveyard, since it was destroyed." And after she said that, a red gem appeared on her field. "This also lets me put another counter on my Crystal Tree!" she then added as another of the jewels hanging from the branches lit up (Crystal Tree: Crystal Counters 2 + 1 = 3). "And now, I'll activate the other effect of Crystal Tree! By sending it to my Graveyard, I can place one Crystal Beast from my Deck to my back row for every Crystal Counter that my tree had!"

"Wh-what?!" shouted a surprised Diamondbright.

"So with three counters, I'll put THREE Crystal Beasts in my back row!" Sweetie Belle told her. "I choose Cobalt Eagle, Amber Mammoth, and Emerald Tortoise!!" And with that move made, three more jewels appeared on the field; a light-blue one, an orange one, and a green one. Now she had four of them in her Spell & Trap Zones.

"And what good will that do you?" asked Diamondbright, still not sure what her foe was planning.

"You'll see once I play the card that drew this turn!" Sweetie Belle then shouted, "I activate the Field Spell, Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins!!" After playing the card, the area around them began to change completely. Now, instead of a modern, bustling city, everyone found themselves in an ancient coliseum ruin, with two large pillars towering above the arena and seating areas.

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Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins:
(Field Spell Card)

You must have this many "Crystal Beast" cards in your Spell & Trap Zone to activate and to resolve these effects.
* 1+: This card cannot be destroyed by card effects.
* 2+: Once per turn (including the opponent's), you can halve the Battle Damage you take.
* 3+: When a Spell/Trap Card is activated: You can send 1 "Crystal Beast" monster you control to the GY; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.
* 4+: Once per turn, during your Main Phase: You can draw 1 card.
* 5: Once per turn, during your Main Phase: You can target 1 "Crystal Beast" card in your Spell & Trap Card Zone; Special Summon that target.

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"Oh my..." said Rarity, looking around the new setting that she and the others were now in. "I've never seen my sister use this card before... Do you think Sunset gave it to her?"

"Maybe." Pinkie replied. "All I know is that things might start looking up for Sweetie Belle now."

Back at the Duel, Sweetie then told her opponent, "Now with four Crystal Beasts in my back row, I play the fourth effect of Rainbow Ruins and draw one card!" And when she did, she smirked and said, "And guess what? It's my good old friend, Sapphire Pegasus!"

"What?! Not again!!" shouted Diamondbright as the third copy of the card now appeared on the field.

"That's right, and you know what that means!" Sweetie told her. "It means that I can now take Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger from my Deck and put him in my back row!" After doing that and creating a bright yellow gem on her field, she then added, "Next I'll activate the fifth effect of my Field Spell and Summon Topaz Tiger to the field in Attack Mode!" The monster that appeared was a white tiger with black stripes. It had a curved spike on the top of its head, and a yellow gem on either side of its neck (Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger: Level 4 / ATK 1600 / DEF 1000).

"Alright! Now Sweetie Belle is in control of the game!" said Rarity, happy to finally see things going well for her little sister. Diamondbright just grumbled, annoyed at her opponent.

"Next I play the Equip Spell Crystal Release!" Sweetie Belle announced. "It gives my Sapphire Pegasus eight hundred more attack points!" (Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus: ATK 1800 + 800 = 2600) Once the stage was all set, she then focused her efforts on whittling down her opponent's Life Points. "Go, Sapphire Pegasus! Attack Diamondbright directly!!" The horse neighed and galloped forwards, pointing its horn straight at the cruel teen.

"I don't think so!!" shouted Diamondbright. "I play my face-down card! Forbidden Lance!!" After flipping her card over, a long, white lance appeared in front of her. "With this, I'll deduct eight hundred of your monster's attack points and make it unaffected by all other Spell and Trap Cards this turn!"

"But if she does that," Pinkie stated, "then that would mean that Sapphire Pegasus would also lose the attack points it got from the Equip Spell!"

"Meaning that the damage would only be a thousand." said Rarity.

Huffing a little, Diamondbright then taunted her enemy, saying, "Looks to me like your monster's lost most of its steam. That's too bad..." She then chuckled a little.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you, Diamond." Sweetie Belle said, not fazed by her Spell Card. "I use the third effect of my Rainbow Ruins! I send Topaz Tiger to the Graveyard to negate Forbidden Lance and destroy it!"

"WHAT?!? NO!!!" screamed Diamondbright as her lance vanished from sight, nullifying its effect. As a result, Sapphire Pegasus was able to continue its attack unhindered. Its horn struck the city dweller, inflicting great amounts of damage (Diamondbright: LP 4,000 - 2,600 = 1,400).

"Yeah! Yeah!!" cheered Pinkie Pie. "Sweetie Belle took out over half her Life Points!!"

"Indeed." said an impressed Rarity. "Sweetie has never been able to inflict THAT much damage in a Duel before, and certainly not in one sitting. I must remember to thank Sunset for helping her improve her Dueling when we return home."

Feeling very confident in herself, Sweetie Belle then told her opponent, "That'll end my turn for now. So go ahead and do your worst!"

Now Diamondbright was angry; (This is absurd...!) she thought. (Not only am I losing... I'm losing to this little brat!! I'll make her wish she didn't challenge me!!) Glaring at her foe, she told her, "Up until this point, I thought you weren't worth my time... But that ends now! NOW you've gotten my attention, and I'll make you curse the day we met!!" Drawing her next card, she immediately played it, shouting, "I activate Pot of Desires!! By banishing the top ten cards of my Deck face-down, I can draw two more cards!" And after going through all of that, she then looked at the two new cards she managed to get. (Grrrn... I didn't draw anything that good, but no matter...) she pondered. (I still have a plan to crush that little girl right here and now!)

"I don't like that smile on her face..." Rarity told her pink friend. "That Diamondbright is up to something nasty, I just know it!"

"Whatever she's got," Pinkie told her, "Sweetie Belle will be able to beat it, no problem!" Sweetie Belle was happy to hear that, but was also just as concerned as her older sister was. All they could do now was watch and see what Diamondbright had planned.

"First things first... I'll Normal Summon my Prior of the Ice Barrier in Attack Mode!" the city girl told them. Her next monster was a man with a bushy, brown beard, wearing a blue cloak overtop of a white robe. In his hand was a crooked staff adorned with a snowflake-shaped object (Prior of the Ice Barrier: Level 2 / ATK 1000 / DEF 400). "But he won't stay out for long." she said. "I now release him to bring back any Ice Barrier monster from my Graveyard! And I select my Strategist!" And in an instant, he first monster vanished into a dark purple portal before another one emerged out of it; the older man wearing the conical blue hat had now reappeared.

"Now what...?" Rarity asked herself as she and everyone else watched their foe carefully.

"Now for my next move, I'll play the Spell Card Surface!" Diamondbright announced. "This card brings back any Level 3 Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua monster from my Graveyard!" Once more, the dark-purple portal emerged on her side of the field. "So now I call up the Level 3 Tuner Monster, Defender of the Ice Barrier!!" And with that, a small orange-furred fox creature hopped onto the field. Its head and chest were covered in blue, metallic armor, and a good amount of its tail was covered in ice crystals (Defender of the Ice Barrier: Level 3 / ATK 200 / DEF 1600).

"Oh dear!" gasped Rarity. "She just said that it was a Tuner Monster!"

"That's right." said Diamondbright, smiling a wicked smile. "Which means I can now do this! I tune my Level 3 Defender of the Ice Barrier to my Level 4 Strategist of the Ice Barrier!!" The fox creature then began glowing bright blue, splitting into three small lights that flew up into the air, each of them coming back as a green ring that surrounded the old man. He then transformed into four small lights within the rings (Level 3 + Level 4 = Level 7). "Chilling spear that pierces the heavens!" she chanted. "Appear on this Earth and cast your vicious blizzard near and far!! Synchro Summon!! Frozen dragon of ice! Level 7! Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!!"

Everyone shielded themselves as a column of light engulfed the rings and lights created from the Synchro Summoning process. After that, Several large, spiked ice crystals began to form underneath the column, which soon exploded, sending digital shrapnel all over the battlefield. In its place was a large, crystalline dragon that was mostly blue in color, but parts of its insides could be seen glowing a bright red orange.

*******************************

Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier:
(Synchro-Effect Monster/Dragon/WATER/Level 7/ATK 2500/DEF 1700)

1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner WATER monsters
Once per turn: You can discard up to 2 cards, then target the same number of cards your opponent controls; destroy them.

*******************************

"Uh oh..." said Sweetie Belle, sweating a little at the sight of the powerful Synchro Monster before her.

"This is bad..." stated Rarity, becoming worried. "That... that thing looks so vicious! How is my little sister going to fight that?!"

"I dunno..." Pinkie replied. "I guess we'll see soon..." The two girls hoped that Sweetie would survive whatever onslaught Diamondbright had in store for her.

"Your little luck streak ends now, little girl." the cruel teen said with a cold chuckle to herself. "This is the monster that will crush you and guarantee your possession by my blank Number!" Taking the remaining two cards from her hand, she then stated, "I activate the effect of Gungnir: By discarding two cards from my hand, I can destroy two cards on your field! So say goodbye to your Pegasus and Carbuncle!" After sending them to the Graveyard, the ice-cold dragon roared and whipped up a fierce snowstorm that froze both cards and shattered them.

"Oh no!! Now she's defenseless!" said Rarity, fearful for what might happen. "Sweetie Belle, do something!!"

"There's nothing she CAN do!" said Diamondbright, sure of herself. "Except fall to the power of my Deck, and soon the Number card!!" She then let out a crazed laugh, confident that her evil plan would succeed.

But Sweetie Belle wouldn't give up. Trying her best to be brave, she then told her opponent, "I use Sapphire Pegasus's effect and put him in my back row! And not only that, I also use the other effect of Crystal Release and put another Ruby Carbuncle in my back row from my Deck!" And with that, two gems - one red and one blue, appeared on the field.

"Ha! What a complete waste of time!" mocked Diamondbright. "They didn't go into your Monster Zones, so they can't defend you from my dragon! A shame, since his attack will drop your Life Points down to zero! And with all your Spell & Trap Zones filled with those pathetic monsters, you have no Trap Cards to block his attack! It's over!!" She then shouted to her monster, "Gungnir!! Attack that brat directly!! Blizzard of Valhalla!!" Looking down at her Duel Pad and tapping the screen (and also not seeing Sweetie Belle tapping away at her own D-Pad), she then added, "And just to make sure that this attack will end you, I'll activate my Forbidden Chalice Spell to give my dragon another 400 attack points!" (Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: ATK 2500 + 400 = 2900)

The mighty beast roared, ready to unleash the final blow to Sweetie Belle. It shot out a powerful blast of freezing wind from its maw, aiming it right for her. In an instant, the blast found its mark, causing Sweetie heavy damage.

"NO!!" screamed Rarity, horrified that worst had just happened.

"Hmph... just as I thought: You were no match for me." Diamondbright coldly stated. "You're almost not worth my time to possess you with a Number, but my orders are orders, now that this Duel is over."

But at that moment, Pinkie then asked the cruel girl, "...Are you sure about that?"

"...What is that supposed to mean?" inquired Diamondbright.

"Just take a look for yourself." the pink teenager said, pointing to the field. As the dust finally settled from the impact of Gungnir's attack, Everyone could see that Sweetie Belle was still standing (Sweetie Belle: LP 2,000 - 1,450 = 550).

"Oh my! Sweetie Belle!! She's still okay!!" said Rarity, relieved and surprised that her younger sister had not lost the Duel.

"Wh-WHAT?!? That's impossible!!!" protested Diamondbright. "You only had 2,000 Life Points!! And my dragon had 2,900!! That attack should have ended the Duel!! You must have cheated!!"

"I didn't cheat, Diamondbright." Sweetie Belle calmly said. "I never cheat in a Duel. All I did was activate a card to keep me from losing."

"What card?! You have no Traps in your back row!" the cruel girl shouted, still not sure why her attack had failed.

Sweetie giggled a little and asked her, "You mean you forgot about my Field Spell Card? While you started your attack, I activated its second effect! That effect cuts all battle damage that I take this turn in half! And according to the calculator on my D-Pad, half of 2,900 is 1,450, so I only took that much in damage!"

"Wow, that was so good!!" cheered Pinkie Pie. "She had a backup plan for her backup plan!"

"Amazing...!" Rarity said. "That move was very well-timed... Even I didn't see it coming!" Smiling, she then thought to herself, (I should have known she would be well-prepared for whatever might happen; after all, she is my sister after all.)

Grumbling, Diamondbright said to her foe, "You may have survived that attack, but that little stunt only gives you ONE turn! And when my next turn comes, my Gungnir will finish you off for good! So stop wasting my time and lose already!" (Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: ATK 2900 - 400 = 2500)

But Sweetie Belle told her, "Sorry, Diamond-not-so-bright... but you're NOT gonna win after all the stuff you pulled yesterday!" Placing her fingers on the top card of her Deck, she then added, "You may have your orders from whoever told you to come after us, but you'll just have to tell them that we won't let you push us around anymore!"

"You tell her, Sweetie Belle!" Pinkie cheered. "Draw your next card and show her what you're made of!"

"She has no chance against you Sweetie, dear!" Rarity told her sibling. "You got everything you need to defeat her, and then some! Now do us proud and take down that ruffian once and for all!"

Happy to hear the support her sister and friend were giving her, Sweetie Belle nodded and said, "You bet I'll beat her! I'm not gonna let her get away with any of this, for sure!" She then swiftly drew her next card, and then after about five or so seconds, looked at it to see what she pulled. The little girl then smiled and told her opponent, "Diamondbright... I win!"

"You what?!?" gasped the wicked girl, shocked at what her foe had told her. "That's impossible! You don't have anything that can take down my Gungnir!"

"I do have something, Diamondbright." Sweetie told her. "And I just drew it!" She then played her card, causing seven, sparkling jewels to rise appear in the air in a circular formation. After wards, the gems began to spin and shine brightly, forming a circle of light between them and opening a portal high above the sky.

"Wh...what is this...?" asked Diamondbright, who was starting to become a bit fearful at the scene before her.

"What could this be...?" Pinkie also inquired. "Is she Summoning a monster...?"

Gasping, Rarity then thought, (Hold on a moment...! Is she Summoning...?! Did... did Sunset give her... THAT card??)

Sweetie Belle then clasped her hands together as if she was praying. She then began to chant, "When the seven Crystal Beasts are all together, the light tied to the world is revived on Earth! Behold! The greatest miracle of the Crystal Beasts!" At that moment, a large, serpentine creature began to emerge from the portal above them. Along its neck and body shone seven lights - one for each color of the rainbow. Once it fully emerged, the creature was revealed to be a massive dragon with gigantic angel-like wings and a shiny, silver body, with a pair of smaller golden wings on either side of its chest. "Be revived! The Ultimate Crystal - Rainbow Dragon!!" Sweetie shouted, finishing her chant and allowing her new monster to take its place on the field.

*******************************

Rainbow Dragon
(Effect Monster/Dragon/LIGHT/Level 10/ATK 4000/DEF 0)

(This card is always treated as an "Ultimate Crystal" card.)
Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 7 "Crystal Beast" cards with different names on your field and/or GY. This card cannot activate its effects the turn it is Special Summoned. (Quick Effect): You can send all "Crystal Beast" monsters you control to the GY; this card gains 1000 ATK for each card sent. You can banish all "Crystal Beast" monsters in your GY; shuffle all cards on the field into the Deck.

*******************************

"N... no... No...!" said a trembling Diamondbright, immediately losing all hope of winning the Duel now that this impressive creature was on the field. "How... how could this have happened...?! There's just no way...!"

"Oh yes there is, Diamondbright!" Sweetie Belle told her. "And it's because of all of the friends that I had who helped me be stronger! I got this card from a really good friend who believed in me, and I don't plan on letting her down! Maybe if you had friends like the ones I have, you wouldn't have to hang out with someone that orders you to do so many mean things to people!"

"You... you brat...!" grumbled Diamondbright. She was angry, but knew that it was all over for her.

"Yes! Go for it, Sweetie!!" cheered Rarity.

"Yeah, go for it!!" Pinkie shouted excitedly.

Smiling and silently thanking those who supported her, Sweetie Belle went and made her last move. "Alright, Rainbow Dragon! It's time to claim our first victory together! Attack Gungnir and end this Duel!! Rainbow Refraction!!" And with that order, Sweetie's powerful dragon monster began to power up, the seven gems on its body lighting up. Pure light energy began to gather in its mouth and fired out as a ray that shone in the colors of the rainbow. It struck Daimondbright's icy dragon and wiped off the field for good. Then, the excess energy hit the cruel girl directly, taking out the rest of her Life Points instantly (Diamondbright: LP 1,400 - 1,500 = 0) (WINNER: Sweetie Belle).

Unknown to anyone there, the force of the blow actually caused Diamondbright's cell phone to fly out of her open purse. It flew out of the AR projection and into the street, causing the screen to crack. Not long after that, a passing truck then ended up driving right over it, destroying the device beyond repair.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yay!! YAY!! Sweetie Belle won!!" cheered Pinkie, hugging Rarity. "I knew she'd do it! I knew it!! Did you?"

Nodding, she told her friend, "Of course I did, Pinkie. I had my doubts at first, but deep down, I knew she would beat her." Looking over at her younger sister, she thought to herself, (You've become a lot stronger, Sweetie dear... I daresay, with more time and practice, you could even become as strong as Sunset and the rest of us... and I am most certainly looking forward to that day.)

Sweetie Belle just stood there, almost in disbelief at the result of the Duel. "I... won..." she uttered from her lips. "I actually won..." Then, all of a sudden, her emotions burst as she began to cheer. "I did it! I really did it!! I won my first Duel!! I actually won!!" Happy of her accomplishment, she then said, "Wait 'til Sunset hears about this! She'll be so proud!!"

"Urrrgh... that won't be happening, you little brat!" said Diamondbright.

"Oh give it a rest already, you sore loser..." Rarity sternly told her. "Sweetie Belle beat you fair and square, which means that you are to leave us all alone!"

"Oh no, I'm not...!" Diamondbright refused. "I'll teach your nosy little sister, along with the rest of you, what happens when you try to make a fool out of me!" Reaching into her purse, she then told them, "If you remember, I have some partners working for me that are ready to make your lives miserable! Just as soon as I-" but she stopped her sentence short when she noticed something wasn't quite right. "...Huh? Wh-what...?" Looking into her purse, she then frantically asked, "My... my cell phone!! Where is it?!"

"Um... over there..." Sweetie Belle calmly told her, pointing to the road.

Diamonbright then glanced over and let out a panicked gasp when she saw the remains of her cell phone, busted up on the street. "No!! My phone's been destroyed!! Without it, I've lost contact with my associates!!" Growling in extreme anger, she then said, "No... no, this can't be!! Why does everything have to happen to ME?!?!" And as she let out that outburst, a dark cloud formed around her deck box. Not only that, a bright green image that looked like a 94 appeared on the back of Diamondbright's hand. Without realizing it, her hissy fit caused her to unintentionally break the spell that Chrysalis had placed on her blank Number card, causing her to awaken and bond to it. Knowing that she had no other options, Diamondbright fled the scene and vanished into the crowds.

Lettign out a sigh of relief, Sweetie Belle said, "Well, I'm glad that's over... That person was a complete and total jerk that deserved to lose!"

"No kidding..." Pinkie Pie agreed. "But I still don't know how she managed to pull off all of those bad things that happened to us. She said she paid them to do it, so I guess she must've had a lot of money or something!"

That comment caused Rarity to gasp. "Of course! That's it!"

"Um... what's 'it'?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Yesterday... when Diamondbright told us her name, it sounded somewhat... familiar to me." the fashionista explained to them both. "And just now, when Pinkie made that remark about her having a lot of money, it was finally made clear to me!" Taking out her cell phone and doing a quick search of the cruel girl's name on the internet, she showed them something shocking.

"Wh-what the-?!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle. "That's crazy!!"

"I totally agree, Sweetie!" Pinkie told her. "Is this real, Rarity??"

"I believe it is." the violet-haired teen confirmed. "According to this... Diamondbright has been reported missing from her parents over a year ago!"

"She's been missing?" asked Sweetie Belle. "But if that's the same person we just met, then... why is she with those bad people you were talking about? The ones from that Skyes place?"

"I can't harbor a guess," Rarity replied, "but what I do know from reading the report, is that Diamondbright comes from a very wealthy family. So wealthy, in fact, that once she went missing, they offered a one million-dollar reward for her safe return!"

"Wealthy, huh?" said Pinkie Pie, scratching her chin. "Well, that explains how she was able to afford paying off all those partners of hers, then. I knew this would all make a little more sense sooner or later!"

"So... what should we do, Rarity?" asked Sweetie Belle. "Should we tell someone about what happened?"

"Well after that last outburst of hers, it's very likely she won't be hanging around here anymore." the fashionista answered her younger sister. "While we could tell the local authorities about seeing her, there's very little chance they'll locate her. And with her cell phone destroyed, her number in my phone is practically useless."

"So... I guess there's not much to do about this for now, huh?" Pinkie replied.

"I don't believe so." Rarity told her. "In any case, though, I do believe that we may encounter Diamondbright again someday, and we should all be ready for her in case she comes seeking revenge." She then walked over to her sister, smiled and said to her, "For now, we should all be thankful that I have such a brave little sister right here. Thank you very much for standing up to Diamondbright, Sweetie Belle. I'm very proud of you."

Giggling, Sweetie replied, "Thanks, Rarity. You're always so nice to me, I had to return the favor somehow." The two of them then hugged each other, happy that everything was going to be okay for now.

"So... now that the huge-risk game of Duel Monsters is over and done for the rest of the episode," Pinkie began to ask, "what do we do now?"

"Um... excuse me?" asked a meek-sounding voice from behind them all. When they turned to look, they saw a young girl that was around their age. She had cream-white skin, light blue hair with slightly darker-colored blue streaks, and light-blue eyes. She wore a simple light-purple dress with a dark purple collar and a red tie, with a purple and red hair tie on her head. She wore short, white socks with sky-blue shoes. "Are you Rarity, by any chance?" she inquired, speaking to the purple-haired girl.

Rarity nodded and replied, saying, "Um, yes I am. And you are-?"

"My name is Coco Pommel." the other girl told her with a nod. "You and your friends were the ones who won the tickets to the Spring Fashion show, right?" When the group nodded yes, Coco then explained to them. "I am so sorry for coming to meet you so late; I would have been here sooner, but I was busy helping set up for the show tonight."

"You wanted to meet us?" asked Rarity. Getting slightly suspicious, she then asked, "You weren't sent here by someone named Diamondbright, were you?"

"Uh... who?" asked Coco, confused. "I don't know anyone by that name... I came here to talk with you, Ms. Pinkamena, and Ms. Sweetie Belle. I wasn't asked to meet anyone named Diamondbright."

Satisfied with that answer and sure that this girl wasn't working for the cruel girl they had met earlier, Rarity then asked her, "Well in that case, how did you know that we were here?"

"Um, I didn't actually." Coco admitted. "I was told to meet you in the hotel you were staying at, but the clerk told me that you had left. So... um, I've kinda been walking around aimlessly, hoping to run into you. Luckily, I saw the three of you participating in a Duel over here and well... here I am; ready to escort you all to where the fashion show will take place!" She then let out an embarrassed chuckle after explaining everything.

"Escort us...?" asked the violet-haired girl, not sure what was going on.

On a hunch, Pinkie looked at the ticket she had for herself and read the words written upon it. "Oh yeah! I forgot!" she exclaimed after she was done reading. "According to our tickets, we WERE supposed to have someone give us a ride over there! Silly me!" The others got their tickets and looked at them, seeing that it was all true.

"Oh my... yes, it does say that right here..." Rarity replied, blushing a little out of embarrassment. Turning over to Coco, she told her, "I do apologize for being suspicious; we've had... some issues earlier with someone, so you can understand if I was being a bit cautious."

"It's okay, Ms. Rarity." the cream-skinned girl replied. "As I said, I would have met with you earlier if I wasn't so wrapped up in my work." Stepping to the side, she then showed the three girls a stylish-looking, black limousine behind her. "If you will all step inside, I'll take you over to Diamond District immediately. With your tickets, you will even be allowed backstage to meet with the designers and their models."

"WOW!! We get to ride in a real limo?!" asked an excited Sweetie Belle. "And we get to go backstage?! That's so AMAZING!!"

"Just to be clear: Is there a dessert platter there right at this moment?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes, there is." Coco answered.

"Then this day just got a whole lot BETTER!!" the pink girl cheered, running towards the limo with Sweetie Belle.

Turning over to Coco, Rarity told her, "Thank you very much for your kindness, Ms. Pommel. After the day we've had so far, we needed this."

Giggling a little, Coco told her, "I'm glad that my arrival will help improve your day today. And I hope that, on behalf of the whole staff that worked hard to bring the Spring Fashion Show here to Manehattan, that you and your friends will have a great time." And with that, She and Rarity walked towards the limo and got inside. Putting their troubling encounter with Diamondbright behind them for the moment, Rarity and her friends were all ready to enjoy the rest of their day in Manehattan together.

Elsewhere, back in the suburbs of Canterlot, a mysterious thing was happening: In the home of CHS teacher Mrs. K, a faint glow could be seen emitting from the drawer built into her work desk. Inside that drawer were seven blank cards, each with a solid color in where the artwork would normally be. Two of the cards - the one with a violet-colored space and the one with a cyan-colored space, had a faint outline glowing upon them in the shape of Sunset's necklace...

-- To Be Continued...