“Are you really sure this is alright Mrs. Velvet?” asked Sonata, paintbrush in hand as she stood on a tarp. Beside her was a paint tray that was nearly depleted of the light blue paint that the two of them had been using.
“It’s not a problem at all,” replied Twilight Velvet, taking a moment to wipe a bit of sweat off her brow. She then turned to look at the blue skinned girl revealing that she had accidentally smeared some paint onto her own white skin. “A nice girl like you shouldn’t be living by herself on the street. Besides, no one has really used this room since Shining Armor moved out.”
“No, I mean the redecorating,” said Sonata as she looked around the room. When she had first arrived the room had been much different. The walls had been a very uncheerful dark purple broken only by the various posters of different sports teams and golden trophies. The floor was hardwood and a tad dusty from having been unoccupied for so long. The lighting in the room was very old-fashioned, looking like human arms holding candlesticks with light bulbs instead of flames.
Now, things were very different. Dirty tarps laid over the bed and dressers to protect them from the work the two were doing. The walls were now a light bluish color except for the bottom where it had a more sandy color with red corals painted here and there. On some of the already dried areas, Twilight Velvet had painted in various sea life including manta rays, eels, humpback whales, and sea horses just to name a few. Seashells and starfish had been easily acquired, placed in a steel bucket in the room until they were finished painting. They had also gotten her some throw rugs that would placed next to the bed so that her feet wouldn’t be cold when she woke up in the morning. In short, everything was being done to make Sonata feel more comfortable within their home.
All of this was very touching, but it also made the girl feel a bit guilty. She could have been given the room as it was and it would have been more than she deserved. After all, Sonata remembered just how mean she had been back when she had first started school. How she and her sisters had brainwashed everyone there and tried to take over the world. Not to mention all the times they had caused people to fight with each other for over a thousand years. Sonata knew that she wasn’t the smartest person on the block, but even someone like her knew that being given all of this was far more than someone like her deserved.
Yet, despite this, Twilight’s family had welcomed her into their home after they had found out she was now homeless. Every day, Mrs. Velvet made sure Sonata had three square meals even going to the trouble of packing her a lunch when she went to work. Somehow, those home cooked meals she ate with them at the table tasted better than anything she could remember for the longest time. Then there was Twilight who helped her with her homework as well as helping quiz her on the procedures a manager at Taco Loco must know. Even when Sonata made a really big mistake, the purple skinned girl never yelled at her or threatened to beat her up. She sometimes looked annoyed, but she never gave up on her. As for Mr. Night Light, he spent most of the day at work so she didn’t get to see him very often. But he was nice to talk to when he got home. The man told her that if there was anything bothering her to let him know right away. Even Spike wanted to make her feel welcome by letting her be a part of his web show.
How long had it been since Sonata had felt like this? For as long as she could remember, she had been with her sisters. Never once did they have this level of…family. Sure they sat down at the table together, but that had always been more for show since they didn’t really need to eat anything. They could survive on the negative emotions they stole from those around them. They weren’t together because they were family, but because they needed each other. If one member of the group was missing their powers didn’t work. It was sad to think about it, but the only reason they were sisters was because of need rather than want. Maybe that’s way Adagio was always so mean and Aria was always so annoyed.
Looking back at Twilight Velvet, she was that the middle aged woman was smiling. “Sonata, this is going to be your home until you are able to stand on your own feet,” she said. “So I think it’s only fair that we make sure you’re as comfortable as possible while you live here.”
“But-” began Sonata only to be silence as Mrs. Velvet held up a single finger to silence her. A gesture she had seen Adagio use plenty of time before. Normally she would have flinched at the sight, but she did not. Perhaps it was because Mrs. Velvet was looking at her so kindly instead of the annoyed glare her sisters would always give her.
“Twilight told me a little bit about you,” she began as she slowly lowered her hand. “That you hung around with a bad crowd and did some bad things. But eventually you wanted to change, that you wouldn’t hurt people anymore. If that’s what you want to do then me and my family are more than willing to help. And the first step is making you know how much you are welcome here, in our home.”
Sonata sniffed as she felt some warmth around her eyes. “It still feels like so much,” she said softly with a small smile.
“Well, if that’s the way you feel about it you could think of it as helping me out,” laughed Velvet as she turned back to her work. “Do you have any idea how bored I’ve been lately? Me and my husband haven’t gone on any trips for so long. All he wants to do these days is play bingo! Searching the beaches and going to rummage sales is like a mini treasure hunt! Plus, I get to practice on my painting skills.” At that, Sonata looked over at what Mrs. Velvet had been painting. While a bit crud, Sonata could make out two people in scuba gear within a metal cage. Circling around the cage were two hammerhead sharks. “Ah, our second honeymoon.”
“Being trapped in a cage surrounded by sharks?” asked Sonata as she tilted her head. Seemed weird to the girl to be in a cage where you couldn’t pet the sharks. Then again, humans could be weird sometimes.
“Well, that’s one of the things we did while we were in the islands,” said Velvet as she placed a free hand to cup her cheek while a dreamy expression appeared on her. “We also went paragliding, zip lining through the jungle, got stranded in the middle of the jungle with only a single pocket knife, and were chased by angry natives because Nighty refused to drink their wine. Such a wonderful trip. I really wish we could do it again. But for some reason Night Light seems to refuse.”
Before she could comment on this, Sonata’s flip phone began to beep loudly. “Is it that time already?” asked the blue haired girl as she pulled it out of her pocket. She opened it up and saw that it was her alarm, set to go off an hour before she had to leave for work. Sighing, she closed it before turning to look at the other woman with a half smile. “I’m sorry but I got to get ready to go.”
“It’s fine,” replied Velvet as she got up. Raising both her arms up, she let out a low groan as she stretched so hard her back cracked. “Tomorrow is Sunday so maybe we can finish up then. I’m sure if the rest of the girls helped out this would be done in no time.” Velvet then looked thoughtful as she lowered her arms. “Speaking of the girls, do you have any idea where Twilight went to? I didn’t see her at breakfast.”
“Oh, I saw her earlier,” said Sonata with a bit of an embarrassed blush. “She said she was going to this pawn shop she gets a lot of materials and stuff from. Ah, she mentioned seeing this desktop computer there that might still be good for me so she’s checking it out. Maybe she even got the others to help her?”
“Well, that’s sweet of them,” said Velvet as she began walking out of the room. “Just let me know when you’re ready to go and I’ll give you a lift to work.”
After the door shut, Sonata spun so that she faced the closet where she kept her manager’s uniform. Not wanting to keep Mrs. Velvet waiting too long, the blue skinned teen raced over to it. In her rush, however, Sonata tripped over her own feet. She cried out as she fell while her arms flailed about trying to grab anything in order to stop herself. Luckily, she managed to grab a hold of one of the odd lighting fixtures in the wall. For a moment she hung there, sighing in relief.
Then, she sank a bit lower as a clank was heard.
-x-
Shining Armor drove down the streets of Canterlot on this fine Saturday morning with the windows down. The wind swept through his hair while the scent of spring filled his nose. Glancing towards the sidewalks he saw that plenty of other people were taking advantage of the nice weather. Whether it be riding their bikes, walking their dogs, or just going for a jog it was nice to see so many people out and about. Heck, he had even seen that new pink haired friend of his sister’s. What she was doing floating above the sidewalk with several balloons tied to her waist while wearing a blinking hat was beyond him. Perhaps it would be better if he didn’t think about it too hard.
Slowing down a bit, Shining made a left hand turn into his parent’s driveway. Parking next to his mother’s Hummer, Shining popped the trunk before getting out. Humming a tune that his sister’s band did for that music video he got out of the car. For a moment he stood there, looking up at the house he had grown up in while using a hand to block out some of the sun’s rays. It felt good to be home. As he went to the trunk to grab his bags Shining wondered if his family would be surprised to see him. It had been a while since he had spoken to them after all.
With bags in hand, Shining walked towards the front door and let himself in. After all, there had never been any need to knock before. Plus with his mother’s car in the driveway along with the door being unlocked meant that at least one person was home.
As he set down his bags to close the door Shining saw his mother enter the hallway. “Shining,” she gasped, a hand going straight to her chest. “I thought that was Twilight at the door.”
“Naw, just me Mom,” replied Shining as he walked over to the older woman to give her both a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Surprise!”
“Shining,” said Velvet as she looked over his shoulder, most likely noticing his bags. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but has something happened?”
Shining pulled back a bit, scratching the back of his head as he did while also looking away. “Well, sort of,” he said. “There was a problem with apartment complex’s pumping and, well, not going into too much detail a lot of the pipes need to be replaced. The manager said it might take a month or two to fix everything. So I thought I’d crash here until the repairs are done.”
Velvet shook her head. “I told you not to rent there,” she said in her ‘I told you so voice’. The voice that everybody fears hearing from their parents. That, as well as having her fold her arms across her chest which she did. This caused Shining to sweat a tad while giving her a forced smile.
“Hey, it was cheap,” he said as if this explained everything. Which, in his mind, it did. His apartment wasn’t some dank or dingy place and it offered everything a guy like him could want at a third of the price as normal apartments. It was on the smallish size, meaning his living room also doubled as his bedroom. But it provided all of his basic needs while also allowing him to save money for the future. A good trade off in his opinion. Besides, he had been there for years and this was the first major issue he had with the place. Plus, the twin brothers who ran the place were just so friendly!
“So,” he said as he noticed she was still giving him that look. “I thought, since I was going to be without a place to stay for a while, why not come back home. You know, spend time with my favorite mom in the world.”
“I’m your only mom,” retorted Velvet with a frown.
“Maybe help out around the house while I stay in my old room,” continued Shining, causing his mother’s eyes to widen and her arms to drop to her sides. He took a step back. “Look, if it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll also start looking for another apartment or something. After I take my bags upstairs.” Velvet opened her mouth, but Shining spoke up before she could say anything. “If it will make you feel any better, you can give me your opinion.”
Before Velvet could say or do anything, Shining had already turned and taken hold of his bags. Quickly he strode up the stairs as his mother began to call out his name, telling him to wait for some reason. Still Shining pressed on forwards as he reached the top of the stairs, stopped in front of his room, and opened the closed door.
What he saw was not what most people expect to see in their room. Well, most people do have fantasies about see a cute girl standing by their bed. Yet those types of fantasies usually hinted at something else rather than what Shining was seeing right now. First of all, she was not sitting or lying on his bed waiting for him but instead was standing next to it. Then there was the fact that she was not dressed like a cheerleader or simply in her underwear. Instead she was just tucking in her uniform for that semi-ok taco place he sometimes went to. Perhaps most glaring of all was, in those fantasies, a person would usually have some idea who that girl was. Be it a girl whose pictures or videos you had seen online, someone you worked with, or even went to school with. This girl, however, was none of those for he was sure he had never seen her before.
“Oh, hi,” said the girl in a cheerful tone, grinning as she began fusing with her hair. “Haven’t seen you around here. Could you tell Mrs. Velvet I’m almost ready to go?”
Shining didn’t answer, only closing the door as his brain began to process what he had just seen. There was a girl he didn’t know in his room…HIS ROOM! It looked like someone had vomited the ocean on the walls! And where was all of his stuff that he had left behind? The stuff his parents had promised to hold on to! Did they find his secret-
“Shining Armor!” said Velvet as she reached the top of the stairs, a frown on her face again.
“Mom, what happened to my room?” demanded Shining Armor as he pointed at the now closed door.
Velvet frowned a bit deeper now. “This is what happens when you don’t call ahead and tell us when you’re coming home,” she said as she shook her head. “Or, when you don’t listen to someone downstairs when their trying to tell you something.”
Shining Armor blushed sheepishly. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Well, surprise,” said Velvet with a sigh before she glanced at the door. “That girl in there is Sonata Dusk. Poor girl was living off the streets with no one to turn to. So we invited her to stay with us.”
“Ok,” said Shining Armor slowly. “But why is she in my room instead of the guest bedroom?”
Velvet did not look amused by this. “Because the guest bedroom is for guests,” she said in a matter of fact voice. “Sonata is going to be living with us so she is not a guest. And since you don’t live here anymore I thought she should have it.”
“But…But that’s MY room,” insisted Shining Armor. “With my stuff in it! What happened to all of it?”
“First of all, that is not your room,” said Velvet in a voice that said she had had enough of this. “This house belongs to me and your father. Therefore that room belongs to us and we can give it to whoever we want. As for your stuff that we were holding for you, we put it in the basement for the time being. Perhaps if you had called ahead like a normal person, I would have been able to tell you all of this before you got here.” There was a slight pause as her face softened a tad. “You can still stay here, of course, until you are ready to move back into your apartment. Or until you find another, better one that can hold more than three people. The guest room is yours for as long as you need it.”
Shining Armor couldn’t help but cringe when he heard that. The guest room?!? The room with the extra hard mattress? The room that has the low window facing east, making it impossible to sleep in because the sun is shining in your eyes? The room with the ugly carpet? He gets that room while this stranger gets his room?
Grumbling to himself about this unfair treatment, Shining Armor picked up his things. As he righted himself, a horrifying thought crossed his mind. “Ah, mom,” he said trying his best to sound normal…and failing. “You didn’t find anything in my room, did you?”
“Find anything?” repeated Velvet as she raised an eyebrow. “You mean something other than your posters and trophies? No.” As Shining Armor let out a very visible sigh of relief, his mother leaned forwards a bit. “Why? What were you hiding in there?”
Shining Armor began to panic slightly as sweat began to form on his face. While he was happy they hadn’t found his secret, there was no way he could tell her what it was! That’s why it was called a secret! Only he and his closest friends knew what he had painstakingly hidden within the walls of that room. If anybody ever found out it would be the end of him. People would never be able to look at him the same. They would be disgusted by his mere existence, never able to show his face in public again! Cadence would never go on another date with him for as long as he breathed. The news channels and web sites would have a field day. He would be exiled to the farthest corner of the galaxy!
At that moment, the door opened. “Ah, sorry to interrupt,” said Sonata. “This sounds super important, so if you need me to walk to work I can.”
“Oh no,” said Velvet as she looked at Sonata. “I completely forgot. Don’t worry; we’ll get going right away.” She then turned to look at Shining. “And when I get back, we’ll talk about this some more.”
-x-
Later that night, Shining Armor found himself staring up at the ceiling as he laid on the very hard mattress. His bag laid piled up on the floor. There was only a single dresser in the room, not nearly enough space for everything he had brought. So he thought he might as well not unpack them in here. He heard the clock on the wall tick away as the night grew later, yet was unable to sleep with everything that had gone on.
After his mom and Sonata had left, Shining had gone into his room to check and make sure the important stuff was still there. Thankfully, none of the unnecessary remodeling had hindered his process. To his delight, none of it looked like it had been touched. The relief as well as the time it took his mom to get back helped him come up with what he felt was a convincing cover story for his behavior. He had told his mom that there had been several sports magazines that had some value to them. He had even gone down to the basement to collect a few of them and told her he had found what he was looking for. His mother had given him a questioning look, but didn’t press the issue. More than likely, she would give the room a once over to see if he was hiding anything else but if she hadn’t found it by now it was doubtful that she ever would.
Despite this relief, Shining knew he couldn’t let things stay like this. That Sonata girl was in his room and the longer she stayed in there the sooner it would be before she stumbled onto his secret. If it were possible, he would have it removed and be done with it but he didn’t know how to without drawing suspicion. It was all he could think about when he met up with Twily and his father. With every bite of dinner he chewed, he thought of all the possible ways he could remove it without anyone growing all the wiser. Heck, it was a miracle he was even able to get it in there without people noticing the first time! Sadly, nothing came to him. In fact, his mind kept showing him how much worse it could get. If he got caught then he would be in trouble even if he was just seen in his room alone. People might think of him as some sort of freak, going through a teenage girls stuff. His mother might even kick him out of the house in his time of need!
Then, things took a turn for the worse. Shining had decided to ask his father a bit more about Sonata in the hopes of getting to know a bit more of the freeloader who had taken over his room. What he heard was not comforting. All his father had been willing to tell him was that Sonata had hung with a bad crowd for a long time and had done some bad things that eventually got her expelled. It was only recently that she was allowed to go back and she was trying to turn over a new leaf. That sounded an awful lot like she had been part of a gang for a while. She might even have a criminal record! Who was to say that she had even turned over a new leaf? This could all be some sort of long term plan of hers. Getting a family to take her in, earn their trust, get them to buy her a bunch of extra stuff before BAAM it’s all stolen right out from under them.
Judging by the way he spoke about her, Shining was sure that his father had been completely suckered in by her act just like his mother. He couldn’t even talk to Twily about this since she was the one who asked their parents if this freeloading thief could stay with them. If he were to talk to them he was sure that they would think he was just upset about his room. But that was only part of his concern! He was also worried about them!
As the seconds ticked by, Shining Armor knew it was up to him to safe the castle that was his parent’s home. If not for their sakes, than for Twily’s. That and ensure she couldn’t stumble onto his secret. But mostly for his family of course. And he knew the perfect way to do this.
-x-
“Hey Sonata, I’m heading out for a while. Do you want to come along?” Sonata looked up from the back of the cereal box, her finger trying to get out of the maze printed on its back, to see Twilight standing by the door. Her new, kinda sort of, nerdy sister/ housemate was standing by the door dressed in her white and blue striped top with a purple skirt. Hanging on her shoulder was a bag with her star symbol on it.
“Where’re you going?” asked Sonata as she tilted her head.
“Oh, just to the card shop to meet up with the girls,” replied Twilight in an easy-going tone. “Sunset wants our opinions on some new extra deck monsters and a few other cards to help make her deck stronger. I’ve been thinking of adding some new cards myself like Armory Arm to improve the power of my Genex Allies.”
Sonata hummed for a moment, lifting her other hand to put it next to her head so she could think. Not paying attention to the fact that she had been in the middle of eating her cereal and thus was still holding the spoon. “Thanks but I’m going to have to pass,” she said with a groan as she felt the milk drip down her face. “I’ve got this super long essay that needs to be done on Monday and I have even started it yet.”
Twilight frowned. “That’s for English, right?” Sonata nodded. “It’s not that long. Just four pages minimum double spaced.”
“Sooo long,” replied Sonata as she sank into her seat, her finger still on the back of the cereal box. “Normally I wouldn’t care, but I don’t want to make your mom upset. After breakfast I’ll get to work on it until she and your dad get back from the store.”
Twilight smiled at that. “Ok then,” she said. “Well, if you need help I’m there for you. Bye.” With that, Twilight left walked out the door.
As Sonata sat there, she turned her attention back to the matter at hand: the maze! For something labeled for children ages 3-8, this was super hard! She had spent the last thirty minutes on it, constantly bumping into dead ends. Well, that was soon going to change! Right now she was near the bottom, closer than she had ever been before. Nothing was going to spot her-
“Sonata Dusk, I challenge you to a duel!” shouted Shining Armor as he suddenly appeared at the end of the stairway, causing her to jump in her seat. In that moment, the most horrible thing Sonata could image at that moment happen: she lost her place!
“Look what you made me do you jerk!” shouted Sonata as she stood up to look at Twilight’s brother. He was standing there, duel disk on his arm while the other hand was pointing at her. He was giving her a look much like the one that her sisters used to give her when they were super duper annoyed at her. Come to think of it, ever since she returned home from work last night, Shining Armor had been giving her odd looks that made her feel a little uncomfortable.
“Here are the terms,” continued Shining Armor as he walked towards her, still pointing at her. “If I win, you leave this house tonight and never speak to my family ever again!”
“But…But I don’t want to leave,” said Sonata as she took a step back. “Why would I ever agree to that?”
“Because I know who you really are,” said Shining Armor as his glare grew stronger. “What you’ve done and what you plan on doing! You may have the rest of my family under your little spell, but not me! If you refuse this duel then I will do everything in my power to get enough evidence about you so that they will have no choice but to see you for what you really are!”
“I don’t have anyone under a spell anymore,” said Sonata as her heart race increased. “I haven’t been able to do that since I lost my gem.” A smirk appeared on Shining Armor’s face, causing the former Siren to panic even more. How could he have found out about what she really was? Twilight had given her word that no one in her family would ever find out that she was from Equestria or that she had been a mind controlling creature. She knew deep down that Twilight would never of told him, so how did he find out?
Sonata held herself to keep her body from shaking. If she didn’t accept this duel then Mrs. Velvet would know the truth about her. If that ever happened then Mrs. Velvet would be super hurt and sad. Maybe she might even get mad at Twilight for suggesting that she be allowed to stay with them. She didn’t want to get Twilight in trouble too! Not after everything she had done for her. But how could she stop him? If she refused the duel then he would tell on her. Even if he couldn’t do it right now he probably could do so later. If she accepted the duel and lost, then at least they wouldn’t know. Only, she would be all alone again and living off the streets.
“Fine, then,” said Sonata as she clenched her fist. “I’ll duel you. But if I win, then you keep your big mean mouth shut!”
Still smirking, Shining Armor moved his free hand to his chin and began to rub it as if he were mockingly considering it. “I figured you say something like that,” he said in an amused tone. “That’s fine I guess since there’s no way you can beat me.” He then turned so his back was facing her. “Meet me in the backyard in five minutes.” With that said, he walked out the front door.
Not waiting to clean off the table, Sonata ran upstairs to her room to retrieve her duel disk. This went by quickly seeing as it was set next to the computer Twilight had gotten for her. As she donned her dueling device, Sonata kept her eyes on the machine. The one her friend had set up just for her without asking anything in return. The one she had de-wormed, something that still freaked Sonata out a lot since she never knew a computer could have slimy worms in them. With a nod, Sonata vowed she would win this duel so she could stay with her friend and the rest of this nice family before heading out the door…only to walk back in because she forgot her deck.
By the time she got to the backyard, she saw that Shining Armor was standing on one foot, a stick in one hand as he tried to scrape something off his shoe. “Twily, would it kill you to pick up after Spike more often?” he muttered to himself. Hearing this, Sonata moved carefully across the backyard so she was on the opposite side so that she didn’t step on any doggy landmines. It was slow going and by the time Sonata was in place, Shining Armor had tossed the stick to the side. Both of them looked at the other while they raised their duel disks.
“Connecting,” said a female mechanical voice. “Opponents found. Displaying order now.” In the middle of the field appeared a flat holographic image of a portrait, only on one side was Sonata while the other was Shining Armor. The image began to spin round and round, faster and faster until finally it stopped on Shining Armor.
“Looks like it's my lucky day,” he said as they both drew their starting hands, their life points showing they both had 8000 to start off with. “I draw!” There was a pause as Shining drew his sixth card and added it to his hand. “Looks like I’m off to a great start! I summon Noble Knight Medraut in attack position!” Light particles began to gather together, forming a human as he walked onto the field. Medraunt was about the same size as Shining Armor with short blond hair and blue piercing eyes. He wore clothing that, to Sonata, looked very poofy in the arms and legs department which made her very glad that fashion trend died out many years ago. He wore armor on his shoulders, upper chest, feet, and hands while carrying a long broadsword. His attack was 1700.
“Medraunt has a special ability,” said Shining Armor proudly. “Until he is equipped with a equip spell card he is treated like a normal monster. But if I were to, say, equip him with the Noble Arms of Destiny card I have in my hand then he gains a very powerful effect.” Shining slide the spell card into the slot on his duel disk, causing the sword Medraunt was holding to turn into an older and thinner blade. “I will now activate his effect. First his level raises and his attribute become dark. But that’s nothing compared to his true power: if I have no other monsters on my field then I can special summon one monster from my deck in defense position and then destroy my equip card. So I special summon Noble Knight Borz.” Light gathered together again, this time creating another human in knight armor. This time the human had brown hair and wore a mostly blue suit of armor with silver trimming as well as a long flowing red cape. He knelt down on a single knee holding not a sword but instead a glowing golden cup. His defense points were 600 while his attack was 1700.
“I feel like I’ve seen these guys before,” said Sonata to herself. Something about them was eerily familiar. Had she and her sisters sung for them before? She couldn’t remember when they had sung to trading cards before.
“I now equip Borz with the equip card Noble Arms – Gallatin!” said Shining Armor as his monster gained a sword. “Now I activate his effect: I select three of my Noble Arms equip cards from my deck and you get to pick one at random. The one you choose is added to my hand while the rest go to my graveyard.” A holographic screen appeared before Shining Armor. While Sonata couldn’t see what he was looking at, she knew that those were all the equip card in his deck. The rude brother of Twilight scrolled down the list pressing random images until he had selected three. When that happened, the screen before his vanished only to be instantly replaced by three cards with their backs facing Sonata. “Choose wisely.”
Sonata hummed as she looked at the three card, eyeing each one of them. There was no way to tell what they were or what they did. But she was sure that no matter what she picked, one of them would help Shining. Perhaps something to equip again to Medraunt. “I’ll go with the middle one,” Sonata said at last, pointing at the one she had picked.
“You have chosen…poorly,” said Shining Armor as his duel disk ejected three cards. The man looked at them briefly before putting two of them into his graveyard and flipping the last one over to show Sonata what she had picked. “This card is Noble Arms – Excaliburn. The equipped monster cannot be targeted by a monsters effect. So I’m going to equip it to my Noble Knight Medraunt.” Once again, Medraunt’s sword changed. This time it took on the appearance of something more high tech. the double edged sword he now held had lines of energy running along the surface, on one side red while on the other side blue. “Since Borz also become a level 5 monster when equipped as well as a Dark attribute monster, I can create the Overlay Network!” At that moment, the ground began to swirl with dark comic like energy which sucked in both of Shining Armor’s monsters while their owner began his chant. “The swords clang loudly as the war rages on. Noble king, rise from your throne to bring righteous victory! Xyz summon. Rank 5 Sacred Noble Knight of King Artorigus!” Now appearing on the field was a man taller than the previous two with a bulkier form. He stood there with two swords, one in each hand as his red cape blew in the wind. He wore silver armor with bluish energy patterns on it that seemed to give off a mist that rose off of him before fading away. Below his brown hair was a circlet band. The monsters attack and defense points were the same at 2200.
“Wait a minute,” gasped Sonata as she stared at Shining Armor’s monster. “I know who that is!”
“I should hope so,” said Shining Armor as he puffed out his chest. “Many stories and legends have been told of this noble-”
“He’s that creepy pervert!” shouted Sonata suddenly, causing Shining Armor to do a double take. But Sonata kept staring at the monster, her eyes narrowing in dislike.
-Flashback-
“Hurry up Sonata, we don’t have all day,” shouted Adagio as she stood by the lakeside tapping her foot impatiently. Her eyes were focused on her blue skinned sister who was standing in water so deep that it went up to her hips. Soaked from head to toe, Sonata’s clothing clung to her body so that every curve was easily seen. In one had was a sword while in the other was a rag.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Sonata as she ran the rag over the wet blade as she tried her best to remove the blood stains.
“Are you questioning my brilliant ideas?” huffed Adagio. “A used weapons stand is perfect with all these wars going on. All we need to do is collect them from the battle fields before someone else comes along, clean them up, and we make a nice easy profit to live off of while we suck in all this negative energy in the air. It’s a foolproof plan that even an idiot like you can see the genius in.”
“Actually, I was talking about just me doing all the cleaning,” said Sonata as she sank a bit deeper into the water. “Wouldn’t this go a bit faster is you two helped me?”
“The people with brains don’t do manual labor!” roared Adagio, her skin turning red as she shouted. “Now shut up and get back to work while me and gloomy girl secure us a spot in the towns market. And you’d better have all those swords shiny by the time we get back!” With that, Adagio stormed off nearly slipping in the mud as she did so.
Letting out a groan, Sonata looked down through the crystal clear water. Near her feet were over a dozen swords soaking in the river water just waiting for her to pick them up. All of these were the best blades the three of them could find, ones without chips or dents that could easily be seen. But the stains were just a nightmare to get off of them. Really she could use some help, but it was unlikely that no matter how many times she asked Adagio would never consent. Aria was pretty much the same.
After Adagio had been gone for several minutes, Sonata heard a noise coming from the reeds near her. At first she ignored this, thinking it just to be another animal looking for a drink. It was only when she heard a very human gasp did she turn to look in its direction finding a young human male staring at her with gaping eyes. Embarrassment flushed over her as she felt him eyeing her.
“Get out of here you pervert!” shouted Sonata as she flung the sword she had been polishing into the reeds. There was the unmistakable sound of a sword hitting mud followed slowly by the boy getting up. And, to Sonata’s horror, in his hands was the sword.
“The Lady of the Lake gave me a sword!” the boy shouted as he ran off.
“Wait, I wasn’t finished polishing that!” shouted Sonata. “Plus you haven’t paid for that. It’s only thirty silver coins, a bargain!” But the boy did not turn around. Instead he kept running until he was out of sight. In the end, Sonata shrugged before she dived into the water to get the next sword. She had a lot of work to do and now she had one less blade to clean.
-End Flashback-
“Ok, I’m just going to ignore that crazy,” said Shining Armor slowly. “The sooner I finish this turn the closer I am to removing you from this house! Since my Noble Knight was successfully summoned, I can now pull three Noble Arm cards from my graveyard and equip them to him. I choose Noble Arms – Clarent, Excaliburn, and Gallatin!” In front of King Artorigus, three sword shot out of the ground with the hilts facing the sky. Artorigus looked at them for a moment before sheathing the swords in his hands. The sword Gallatin he also sheathed while Clarent and Excaliburn were held in his hands. “Now for their effects: Clarent will allow my King to attack you directly at the cost of 500 life points, Excaliburn makes it so you can’t target the monster equipped, and Gallatin raises my monsters attack points by 1000 but he loses 200 attack points during each of my standby phases. I end my turn.”
“Okie dokie then,” said Sonata as she drew her sixth card. “First off, I’ll send Gishki Vision from my hand to the graveyard to add one Gishki ritual monster from my deck to my hand. So I’ll be adding Gishki Zielgigas. Then, I’ll play my ritual spell card Gishki Aquamirror to summon him. Normally, I would have to send cards to my graveyard equal to the level of the monster I want to summon. Lucky for me, I have Gishki Shadow in my hand who has this super ability to cover the whole cost of the summon!” Smiling, Sonata slid the ritual spell card into the spell/trap card slot of her duel disk creating a massive mirror behind her with golden trimming. As she discarded Shadow, a mist like image of the monster appeared floating in front of the mirror. The creature was a blue creature that sort of looked like an eel that had sprouted arms and legs. On the top of its head was a fin and had four eyes. Shadow wore a black robe with a high golden collar and in its right hand held a staff with a glowing orb dangling off a hook. After hovering there for a moment, Shadow was surrounded by a golden orb that shot into the mirror with its glassy surface rippling like water.
While the surface of the glass continued to ripple, the mirror no longer reflected the scene in front of it. Instead it showed a barren, watery depth with small fishes swimming by. It looked like Shadow was about to join them with a massive hand grabbed the sacrifice and crushed it. “He who was once enemy of all now reborn to help the Gishki tribe,” chanted Sonata as something large and massive it filled the entire mirror. “One with the voice so powerful it can be heard from the deepest of the Ocean’s depths. I call upon you to lend me your power in this fight! Ritual summon! Gishki Zielgigas!” At that moment the pounding on the mirror grew more intense until it finally shatter. Four blue hands came out to take hold of the remains of the golden mirror and stretch it out so the massive creature within could make its way onto dry land. Sonata watched as Shining Armor took a step back out of instinct. Zielgigas was massive creature, towering over all so that the houses in the surrounding area looked puny compared to it. This monster had four muscular arms with visible veins as well as two large spikes on its shoulders that started blue but gradually turned red. Oddly, the monster had a set of wings and two horns, one on the two of its head and one on its back, that curved towards each other like a Hercules beetle. Zielgigas wore silvery armor on its torso with the symbol of the Gishki in the center of its chest. Its attack 3200!
“Ok, so you have a big monster,” said Shining Armor. “But it’s attack is the same as my Knight right now. They’ll just destroy each other!”
“No they won’t because I activate my monster’s special ability,” said Sonata with a grin. “By paying a thousand of my life points, I get to draw one card. If the card I drew was a Gishki monster then I can shuffle one card on the field into the deck.” Sonata body began to glow while her life points dropped to 7000. This glow only vanished after she had drawn a card from her deck which she then flipped so that Shining Armor could see that it was Gishki Gustkraken, a ritual monster. “Looks like your King is about to be all washed up.”
Shining Armor gritted his teeth. “Are you forgetting my equip card?” he demanded. “Thanks to Excaliburn, you can’t target my monster.”
“Well, funny thing about that,” replied Sonata as she twirled the back of her ponytail with a finger. “See, nowhere in my cards text says ‘target’. So that means that its effect can bypass your equip cards protection!” Sonata watched as Shining Armor’s eyes widened in shock while Zielgigas roared so loudly you could see the sound waves. Sacred Noble Knight of King Artorigus suddenly looked terrified before running away, dropping all his swords which shattered as soon as they hit the ground. The scared king then turned into light shooting into Shining Armor’s extra deck.
“Now that he’s out of the way,” continued Sonata as she held up another card. “I think I’ll now summon my Gishki Beast in attack position.” Appearing on the field was a creature with green skin that almost looked human. However its teeth were more canine-like, both his hands and feet were webbed, he had two large yellow horns coming out of his darker green hair, and he had a tail. It’s attack points were 1500. “Now I use his effect to bring to the field my Gishki Shadow. Since I now have two level four monsters, I can do a Xyz summon as well!” Just like with Shining Armor, a spiraling galaxy like vortex appeared on the field which sucked up both of Sonata’s non-ritual monsters. “The oceans turn wildly, but that will not affect you. Swim through the storm like no other! Xyz summon rank 4. Evigishki Merrowgeist!” The dark vortex suddenly turned into water and from its center came a mermaid. Her upper body was that of a woman in her twenties while her lower body was a fin, red like the color of her long flowing hair. On her back were fin like wings similar to those of a flying fish, starting out green but as they moved away from the body turned blue. Adoring her body was a green cloth like robe that ended at her red tail and on her head was a green finned helmet. In one of her hands, Merrowgeist held a wooden staff with a large bluish white diamond in the middle. Her attack points were 2100.
“Now, attack him directly!” commanded Sonata. Zielgigas opened his mouth again and roared, sending waves of sonic energy at Shining Armor so intense that it caused him to drop to his knees. As Shining Armor’s hands flew to cover his hears his life points dropped to 4800. When Zielgigas finally closed its mouth, Merrowgeist raised her staff to created rings of water that flew towards her enemy. This time Shining Armor was knocked onto his back as his life points dropped to 2700. “I’ll place one card face down and end my turn.”
“Looks like you’re going to be tougher than I thought,” grumbled Shining Armor as he drew a card, making the number of cards in his hand four.
“I’m not leaving without a fight,” said Sonata firmly.
“Well don’t worry because I’m going to give you a fight,” replied Shining Armor. “I play the spell card Heritage of the Chalice. This card lets me add one Noble Knight monster or Noble Arms card from either my deck or graveyard to my hand. So I choose Noble Knight Drystan. And then I’ll summon him!” Appearing on the field was another human knight in silver armor. He had long flowing brown hair and, rather than a sword, he carried with him a harp. This monster’s attack points were 1800. “Next, I’ll play the quick play spell card Glory of the Noble Knights which will allow me to equip Drystan with one equip spell card from my deck. So I choose Caliburn.” The harp vanished from Drystan’s hand and was replaced with a blade with two thin lines of blue energy running through it. “This card will raise my monsters attack point by 500 and once per turn I can also gain 500 life points. So I’ll do that right now.” Drystan turned and pointed his new weapon at Shining Armor, creating a golden light around him. Smiling, Shining Armor’s life points rose to 3200.
“Now for the effect of Drystan,” continued Shining Armor as he pointed at Zielgigas. “When a Noble Arms spell is equipped to this card I can destroy one face up card on the field. So say goodbye to your best monster!” Drystan pointed his weapon at Zielgigas, sending a wave of blue energy at him this time. The energy hit Sonata’s monster square in the chest, piercing its armor and going right through it. As it began to fall it exploded into thousands of tiny golden lights.
“Now Noble Knight Drystan, destroy her wicked Merrowgeist!” commanded Shining Armor. Drystan readied his sword and with a loud bellow leapt into the air with the sword raised high above his head. As he fell down right in front of Merrowgiest, he swung the sword down with all his might to cut Sonata’s monster in half. As her monster exploded Sonata’s life points went down to 6800. “I guess now I’ll play a face down before ending my turn.”
“Ok then, I draw,” said Sonata as she drew a card. She added it to her hand before looking at the three cards she had at her disposal. “First off, I’ll activate the effect of my Gishki Aquamirror. By sending one ritual monster in my graveyard back into my deck I can add my ritual spell card back to my hand. So I’ll choose my Zielgigas.” Two cards shot out of her graveyard. After putting the monster on the top of her deck, Sonata added the spell card to her hand while the auto-shuffler went to work. “Next I’ll play the spell card Salvage. This lets me target two water monsters in my graveyard with 1500 attack points or less and add them to my hand. So I’ll choose my Gishki Shadow and Vision.” Two more cards slide out of her graveyard which Sonata then added to her hand, bringing the total number of cards she held to five.
“Now I’ll play my Gishki Aquamirror again,” continued Sonata as the giant mirror appeared behind her again. “This time I’ll send the Evigishki Mind Augus from my hand to the graveyard for cost to ritual summon Gishki Gustkraken.” The card in Sonata’s hand now became a light that flew into the mirror and, like before, swam through an ocean before being devoured by something else. “Great sorceress of the Gishki, hear my voice now. Though this form is not of your choosing use its might to break their will to fight. Ritual summon. Gishki Gustkraken!” From the mirror came a monster similar to a mermaid in that the upper part of it body was human while the lower was aquatic in nature. The upper part was that of a woman again with long flowing red hair, black robes, and a hat. At the hip downwards was an octopus like creature with black and gold skin. The lower body had four large green eyes and a large beaked mouth, ready to gobble up anyone who came too close to its tentacles. Its attack points were 2400.
“When this creature is ritual summoned I can look at two cards in your hand and then send one of them back into your deck,” explained Sonata as a smile crossed her face. “But since you only have one, I think we both know what I’ll pick.” Shining Armor said nothing, frowning as he sent the card into his deck to be shuffled with the rest of the cards there. “Next, I activate the effect of my Aquamirror again to send my Evigishki Mind Augus back into my deck so I can add my ritual card back to my hand. Then I’ll discard my Gishki Vision to get back my Mind Augus and then summon him.” Now Gustkraken was sucked into the mirror to become food for Sonata’s next monster which needed several bites in order to fully consume it.
“Splendid rider of the Gishki, hear my call,” chanted Sonata. “Swim through the portal to aid your ally! Bring victory with a mighty splash! Ritual Summon, Evigishki Mind Augus!”At that exact moment, Evigishki Mind Augus shot out of the mirror and flew/swam around the field. The best way to describe this monster was a giant flying fish with somebody riding on top of it. The fish part had six eyes as well as six claws on its underbelly that looked like they belonged to an insect. But despite those features, as well as its sharp teeth, there was a beauty to this creature. Perhaps it was the wings, which started out red before ending in a brilliant blue. As for the rider, he had long blue hair and wore something that looked like a wizards hat while holding a staff in one hand. This ritual monster had 2500 attack points.
“Now that Mind Augus has been ritual summoned, I can activate his effect to send up to five cards from either graveyard back into the deck,” continued Sonata as a holographic panel appeared in front of Sonata. On it were the pictures of cards in both player’s graveyards, split in half to show who had which card. Scrolling down Shining Armor’s side of the screen, she began to tap his equip cards. “Since that Xyz monster of yours can get those poky swords back easily, I think I’ll pick them.” With that, the cards Sonata picked ejected themselves out of Shining Armor’s graveyard. The blue skinned girl watched as her opponent frowned even deeper as he put them back into his main deck.
“Now, before I attack, I’m going to use the effect of my ritual spell card once again,” said Sonata as she added her Aquamirror back into her hand. “Mind Augus, attack his monster!” Evigishki Mind Augus opened its mouth allowing thousands of small flying fish made of light blue energy to fly out of it and crash into Drystan. Yet…
“I activate my trap card,” announced Shining Armor. “Defense Draw! With this card I take no damage for this battle and I get to draw one card! Also, the effect of Heritage of the Chalice activates. Since a Noble Knight monster that was equipped with an equip spell card was destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can return this spell card to my hand.”
“Well, I’ve got nothing else to do,” admitted Sonata. “I end my turn.”
“Very well, I draw!” yelled Shining Armor as he drew. “I’ll play Last Chapter of the Noble Knights! Here’s how this card works: if you control at least one monster while I have none, I can select one Noble Arms card and an appropriate Noble Knight card in my grave. I then can special summon that Noble Knight and equip the Noble Arms to him. So let's welcome back Noble Knight Medraunt and I’ll equip the only Noble Arms spell card I have; Noble Arm – Caliburn!” From out of the ground came Medraunt with sword in hand looking like he had been buried alive and had just had to dig himself up. “Since he’s the only monster on my side of the field I can special summon another Noble Knight from my deck at the cost of destroying the equipped spell card. So I’ll bring out Noble Knight Bedwyr.” Light gathered once more as a knight in silver armor with gold trimming walked onto the field while his red cloak blew behind him. The man had a much sterner face than the other with short pure white hair. His attack points were 1600.
“When Noble Knight Bedwyr is normal or special summoned I can send one Noble Arms card to the graveyard,” explained Shining Armor. “So I’ll choose Noble Arms – Gallatin. Next I’ll play Heritage of the Chalice to add one Noble Knight to my hand. I’ll pick Noble Knight Gawayn. His special effect is that if I have a normal light monster I can special summon this monster in my hand to the field in defense position. Which I’ll do right now.” Appearing on the field was a human knight in bronze armor with a blue cape flowing in the wind along with his blond hair. The knight was on one knee and his defense points were only 500.
“Now for the final card in my hand,” said Shining Armor. “I normal summon Lady of the Lake in attack mode.” Appearing now on the field was a woman with long glowing blond hair and blue eyes. She wore a blue silken shirt, white pants, and silver boots. Hugged within her arms was the blade Excaliburn. “Now my field is all set for my final move. I tune my level one tuner Lady of the Lake with the level four Noble Knight Gawayn.” At that moment, both monster rose into the sky with Lady of the Lake turning into a golden circle while Gawayn turned into four golden star that went through the circle. “Dishonored, shrouded in darkness. Lift your swords to the heavens to protect this land still. Synchro summon level five. Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn!” There was a flash of light and when it faded, a knight appeared with 2100 attack points. Unlike the other knights Shining Armor had summoned, this one had black armor with glowing red energy markings on it. His long black hair covered most of his face, but Sonata could still see an evil smile on it that would make Adagio proud. In his hands were two blades, ready to slice into her. “Now that I have synchro summoned this monster, I can equip one Noble Arms card to him straight from my deck. And the card I choose is Noble Arms of Destiny.”
As the blade appeared in the Ignoble Knight’s hand, Shining Armor gestured to his other two monsters. “Next I will build the overlay network to create a rank four monster.” Once again, the vortex of darkness and stars appeared on the field, sucking up both of Shining Armor’s monsters. [“Battles rage upon this land so dear. Hark, here comes the one to untie all with divine right. Xyz summon. Rank 4. Artorigus, King of the Noble Knights!” Now on the field was a warrior knight that looked just like the Scared Noble Knight that had been summoned on Shining Armor’s first turn. Only this one held a single broad sword. It’s attack points were 2000.
“Ah, I think you made a mistake,” said Sonata. “I’m pretty sure that neither monster can take down my monster.”
Shining Armor smirked. “Congratulations, you are correct. Too bad I don’t have any gold stars to give.”
“Ahh, I always wanted a gold star,” replied Sonata causing Shining Armor to roll his eyes.
“Neither monster right now can take you down,” continued Shining Armor. “But, that’s why he also has the effect to grab up to three Noble Arms spell cards in my graveyard. So I’ll equip him with Gallatin and Caliburn!” Both swords rose from the ground and Artorigus picked them up at the same time to wield them with both hands. As he did, his attack points rose all the way to 3500. “I will say that your monsters have been annoying. I would have used the effect of Excaliburn to bring back my Sacred Noble King this turn had you not returned it to my deck. Pity, I would have dumped it into my graveyard this turn had it not been for its restrictions. Oh well this will do.” Shining Armor then pointed to Sonata’s face down card. “I’m not going to waste any of my monster’s overlay material on that card. If it had the power to negate a monster’s effect, you would have used it to save your best monster. Or, if it offered some sort of battle protection like Mirror Force, you would have used it last turn. I’m not going to be fooled by a bluff card. Artorigus, dispose of that demon from the deep!” Grunting, Shining Armor’s monster charged at Mind Augus with both arms extended as far as it could. Then, when the knight was close enough, it slashed at the water monster in an X formation. With the monster destroyed Sonata’s life points dropped to 5800.
“Now my Ignoble Knight will attack and you’ll be one step closer to being out of this house,” said Shining Armor.
“WHAT?!?” screamed a voice. Both duelists turned to see, standing off to the side, was Twilight and the rest of her friends. All but Twilight had their mouths open agape with shock. Twilight, on the other hand, was looking at her brother with rage. “Shining Armor, what is going on here?!”
“Stay out of this Twily,” said Shining as he did his best not to cringe at the death glare his sister was giving him.
“Oh, don’t you ‘Twily’ me mister,” seethed Twilight as she clenched her fists. “What’s this about kicking Sonata out of the house? And why would Sonata even agree to this?”
“I’m sorry Twilight,” mumbled Sonata as she shrank a bit. “He said if I didn’t duel him he would tell your parents the truth about me. Then there would be no way they would ever want me to stay around here.”
“What are you even doing here anyways?” said Shining. “I was hoping to finish this duel before you girls got back. It hasn’t been going on that long.”
“Oh, that’s easy,” said Pinkie, who was the first to recover for what they had all heard. “We all met up a couple of blocks from here when we saw this HUGE Gishki monster. Well, Sonata is the only person we knew who uses Gishki so we figured she was dueling someone.” Pinkie then went to stand next to Twilight. “Then Twilight here said that Sonata promised she was going to work on her essay.” She then went over to Rainbow. “Then Rainbow said that she forgot to do her homework as well.” Pinkie then bounced over to Sunset. “So Sunset then suggested that we look at the cards another day and help get both girls back on track. Besides, we can always look at the cards online. Then we came back here just in time to hear you say that you were going to kick Sonata out of the house.”
Shining Armor shook his head before looking at Twilight. “Twily, I’m doing this for the family. People like her, they don’t change. Sooner or later she’ll hurt this family. Is that what you want? To see mom and dad’s hearts broken when she stabs you all in the back?”
“You’re wrong!” shouted Sonata, getting the man’s attention back. “There is no way I can ever go back to who I was. And even if I was offered the chance, I wouldn’t take it. Not anymore! Not when I have someone like Twilight who actually talks to me instead of bossing me around. How nice and welcoming everyone here is. For the first time in so long, I feel like I’m someplace good. I don’t ever want to walk away from that. That’s why I’m going to win this duel.”
Sonata watched as Shining Armor’s eyes widened as she spoke, his body swaggering a bit as if someone had smacked him upside the head. Something that Sonata would know about given all the times Adagio had done that to her. Perhaps she had gotten through to him! Not bad for her first friendship speech!
Suddenly, Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed as his fists clenched. “I don’t believe you!” he shouted. “Ignoble Knight Laundsallyn, attack her directly!” Grinning madly, the Ignoble Knight lunged towards Sonata with his blade pointed right at her heart. But, just before it could pierce her, a wall of water erupted from the ground as Sonata pressed a button on her duel disk. “W-What’s going on?”
“You were also wrong about my face down,” said Sonata as she gestured to the card. “It’s not that it was a fake, I just couldn’t activate it. Drowning Mirror Force can only be activated when you declare a direct attack on me. It wouldn’t destroy all of your monsters, just sending them back into your deck.” As Sonata’s friends cheered, the wall of water fell down upon the field and carried away both of Shining Armor’s knight. As for Twilight’s brother, he fell to his knees as he watched his big move get washed away.
“No,” he whispered. “If they had been destroyed I could have used their effects to summon more knights. But now…I have nothing.”
“My draw,” announced Sonata, her card leaving behind it a neon blue arc as she drew it. The former Siren looked at the card and smiled. “I normal summon my Gishki Abyss in attack mode!” A monster with 800 attack points appeared on Sonata’s field, a nightmarish creature that had the body of a man but his head was that of an entire shark. It grinned, showing off its razor sharp teeth. “Now, when this monster is summoned to my side of the field, I can go through my deck and add one Gishki monster with 1000 or less defense points. So I’ll be adding back my Gishki Zielgigas! Next I’ll summon him with my Gishki Aquamirror using the Gishki Shadow in my hand as the cost.”
Once again, Sonata chanted the words to bring out her Gishki Zielgigas. It towered over the field as it stared down at her opponent with its 3200 attack point might. Sonata looked at her opponent, who kept his head down. With 3200 life points left, no cards in his hand or on the field, she knew that he knew that he had lost. There was no saving his life points from going to zero. So, Sonata gave the order and Gishki Zielgigas sent out his attack to end this duel.
-x-
“A ROOM!” yelled Twilight, her purple skin turning red as she shouted at him. “You tried to kick Sonata out of the house because of a room?!” Shining Armor winced as he sat on his bed. Or at least his former bed. Now it belonged to Sonata.
It was a short time after the duel and, needless to say, everybody wanted answers. After Shining Armor had explained himself for his actions the girls had gone into the story of who Sonata really was. With Pinkie Pie even supplying puppets…somehow. At first Shining was less than believing. After all, who would believe that the girl who had beaten him in a duel came from a world of talking ponies and she had been in this world for a thousand years or more. Plus, his sister was talking about magic! She was a teenage girl who believed in science, not that fake hocus pocus stuff in the story books. It became even nuttier when Sunset claimed to be from the same world.
As any sane and rational person would, Shining Armor didn’t believe them. His mind began to consider that Sonata was really a cult member sent to brainwash people or something like that. Well, until the girls decided to show him proof. Twilight levitated him off the ground followed by Applejack lifting the bed with one hand with him still on it. Pinkie Pie tossed some sprinkles she had in her hair into the air which exploded. Rarity created a barrier of diamonds around her. Just as he was about to say he believed they had magic, Sunset touched him and…read his mind.
“Well to be fair he was really worried about everyone,” said Sunset sheepishly. Not that it seemed to do much as Twilight continued to stare at Shining Armor. Personally, Shining Armor wished they had told him about all of this sooner. Maybe then he wouldn’t have angered the group of magically powerful teenage girls over something so petty. But then again…
“I want to know what are you hiding in this room!” demanded Twilight. “What is in here that is worth kicking Sonata to the curb?”
“Ah,” began Shining as he looked around for some help. Anyone who might be willing to calm Twilight down. However, what he saw was not promising. Pinkie Pie looked like she was off in her own little world. Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack were giving him dirty looks that showed that he would get no pity from them. Even the kindest looking of the group, Fluttershy be believed she was called, didn’t seem to be willing to met his gaze. As for Sunset, she just shrugged. Apparently she was either unwilling to tell everyone what she knew from reading his mind or she hadn’t gotten that far and was letting things play out.
“Hmm, could it be this?” said Sonata. Shining turned his head to look at the blue skinned girl…and his heart nearly stopped. She was walking over to the light fixture that revealed everything!
“NO!” screamed Shining. But it was too late. Sonata had pulled down on the secret lever he had had installed so long ago. As he curled up into a ball on the bed, the room began to change. Parts of the wall began to spin around where his old sports and band posters used to be, revealing fantasy and sci-fi movie posters in their place along with a few O&O ones as well. Another part of the wall spun around, revealing a mini fridge that he knew was full of snacks. Just how fresh they were was a matter for another day. Finally, from the ceiling, a large circular table was lowered by a chain in the middle. On the table were plastic figures of warriors and dragons as well as plenty of dice. There were also dusty character sheets on it as well.
Thus, Shining Armor’s secret was revealed. He was not the amazing jock he let everyone think he was. He was a nerd of the highest order pretending to be something he wasn’t.
“How is this possible?” asked Twilight as she looked around.
“That’s…a very good question actually,” said Sunset as she and the other girls looked around. “I mean, how could he do all this without anyone knowing. And isn’t the opposite side of the wall connected to the outside? How could no one notice a mini fridge there? And how come no one noticed the table?” The flame haired girl then placed a hand to her head as she suddenly looked dizzy. “So many questions.”
“It wasn’t easy,” said Shining Armor as he got up. Slowly he walked towards the table and picked up a paladin figure which he began to twirl in his fingers. “My friends helped install this. This was meant to be our hang out, so we could play the games we loved without being judged. Twily, you know how much image meant to the reputation of Crystal Prep. If anyone found out we liked this sort of thing we would have been harassed.”
“Ah, you do know that you’re not in Crystal Prep anymore, right?” asked Rainbow Dash. “And that a lot more people play these games nowadays?”
Shining Armor sighed. “I guess the fear never really left me, even after I left that place.” He then turned around and looked at Sonata. “I’m sorry for what I put you through. If my family believes you deserve a second chance then I shouldn’t have doubted them.”
“Its ok,” said Sonata. “The duel wasn’t that hard. And I guess I can understand how you feel. If I went back home to the ocean and found someone else living my grotto I think I might have done the same thing. Oh, wait a moment.” Sonata then turned around towards the bed and got on her hands and knees. Before anyone could ask what she was doing, she reached under it and pulled out a vanilla folder and handed it to Shining Armor. “I also found this under your bed when I first moved in. It sure was nice of that girl to pose like that!”
Shining Armor’s eyes widened as he held the folder, feeling the eyes of all the other girls boring into him while Sonata looked at him with blissful ignorance. This one, he really should have brought with him when he left home.