//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Cross-Dimensional Exchange // Story: Equestria Girls: Duel Monsters // by Night-Quill //------------------------------// As she was busy reading her ordered copy of Alternate Dimensions: Theoretical Ramifications from the Canterlot library, Twilight was startled out of her reverie at the sound of the door to Golden Oak Library being slammed open. “They’re out! They’re finally out!” called Spike, running into the room, a paper back grasped in his claws, before tripping and falling flat on his face, causing him to drop what he’d been carrying, the momentum sending a small cardboard package sliding out along the ground which came to a halt against Twilight’s hind hoof. Enveloping the package in her telekinetic aura, Twilight lifted it to inspect it closer. It was made of a purple cardboard emblazoned with a dynamic logo, with a plastic film at the front, underneath which lay a stack of cards, the topmost of which was of a familiar orange color, with a box of text at the bottom, over which was an intricately realized image, in this case of a slender, winged, celadon dragon-like creature, with a distinctly keel-shaped head, within the side of which glimmered a brilliant emerald green eye. Atop the image where seven fiery orange-to-red orbs marked with stars, and atop that read the title ‘Verdant-Eyes Lifeblood Dragon’. There was no mistaking it, as if the logo at the top of the package wasn’t any indication; it was a Duel Monsters card. “Oh!” Twilight hopped on all fours in excitement, “I completely forgot! Today was the official launch date!” “You know it!” said Spike in equal enthusiasm as Twilight floated the package back to him. “The comic shop in town wasn’t as full as I’d expected, but apparently these things have been making a mint over in Manehatten after the pre-release specials after the tabletop conventions!” It had been a little over a month since Twilight’s return from the human world. As expected, what with her arriving back with a strange device unheard of in Equestria, her friends had many questions to ask about what happened on the other side of the mirror. It didn’t take long for Spike to present the idea of bringing Duel Monsters into Equestria, mostly due to a lingering disappointment that he was unable to partake in the game himself, what with having been a dog and all. Though Twilight had reservations about the idea of simply stealing the concept of someone else’s property, even if said property was extensively a recreation of dark magic rituals, Spike had also made the equally valid argument of patents and copyrights most likely not extending to different realities. With Twilight’s recent additions to her responsibilities, while she couldn’t actively take part in Spike’s venture, she was willing to write down and extensive layout of the game and its themes, rules, and the various summoning methods on his behest, and with her new status, she was able to get an audience with the executives of Casters of the Hill Inc.. Providing a model was as simple as letting them study and analyze Sunset’s old deck (albeit with Priestess’ card left out for safekeeping). The idea seemed to impress the company, as such they offered to try out first with a small-scale production via one of its subsidiaries; Best Manticore Studios in Fillydelphia. Spike had confirmed that the pre-release specials had proven popular in the metropolitan areas. “Hey, Spike!” came the voice of Rainbow Dash, the rainbow-maned pegasus trotting into the library with a similar paper bag hanging from her mouth. “I saw you from up above! Did you get one too?!” Spike ran up to Rainbow Dash, presenting her his own theme deck, “Heck yea! Are you thinking what I hope you’re thinking?” “Yes!” Rainbow exclaimed, pulling Spike’s face up to hers, “We gotta throw down, now!” Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle, watching the two like fillies on Hearth’s Warming as they unpacked their respective blue and dark green packages. Spike folded out a vaguely sparkling violet mat from his own bag, all the while Rainbow was busy shuffling hers. Sadly, despite having taken an investigative look inside her duel disk, the technology within would have been impossible to replicate, what with it housing components completely alien in Equestria, even among the recently established electronic games sector. As such, in Equestria players would have to make do with shuffling by hoof (or claws in Spike’s case) or telekinesis, or your standard card shufflers, and instead of projections they would be restrained to playing on a flat surface. Rainbow Dash propped up her card holder, a little angled stand on which to keep her hand, while Spike had it easy with just fanning his out, “Yo, Twilight! Flip for us, yea?” Twilight floated out a one bit, “Call?” “Tails!” Twilight spun the bit into the air, all three pairs of eyes following it intently, before its landed on the bounce atop Twilight’s table, “It’s tails. Rainbow’s up first.” “Awright!” exclaimed Rainbow. She proceeded to go over the five cards laid out on her holder, humming in thought, before picking one up with her mouth and placing it on her side of the laid-out mat. “I’ll play the continuous spell ‘Anachronist Record.’” The spell card’s surface flashed in a green, accented with a magical chime. “With this I can Special Summon an ‘Antiquity’ monster from my hand.” She picked up another card and placed it on the are ahead of where she placed her spell, “Then I special summon ‘Antiquity Knight’ in attack mode!” And here came the crowning feature of the cards, combined with the specialized playing mat: On being laid down, from the card arose a small image of what looked to be an worn, rusted pony suit of armor, which reared with a muted, haunting neigh, before levitating a sword from its side, despite no horn protruding from within the gap in the helmet. (Level 4, 1900/500) A simple card game would not have been enough to draw in players familiar with the likes of Hocus-Pocus the Get-together, or those playing other table-top games like Oubliettes and Ogres or Battle-Axe. As such, Twilight herself proposed the idea of having the card display images, much like the electronically realized holograms produced by duel disks. As such, the cards were plastered with a slightly incandescent film on the frontside, treated with a simple form of magic which, when combined with a reactionary matrix inscribed within the playmats, would conjure forth a miniature image of the monster’s depiction, as well as additional features such as spells and traps, as well as monsters using their effects, flashing when used successfully. “I then normal summon ‘Antiquity Centurion’, also in attack mode!” Another card was placed among the mat, from within emerging another antique era suit of armor adorned by some form of spectral, ghost-like pony. In this case it looked to be an ancient pegasi centurion, brandishing a scuffed and dented shield. (Level 4, 2000/500) “Centurion can only be on my field as long as I have another ‘Antiquity’ card on my side. Also, it boosts all ‘Antiquity’ monsters’ attack by 500.” Rainbow then took one more card and placed it facedown beside her continuous spell, the card flashing white, “I set one card and call it a turn. Now come on, Spike! Show me what you got!” “You got it!” said Spike, drawing a card. “Check this out; I summon ‘Lifeblood Guardian Statue’ in defense mode!” On placing his card sideways, from it arose a decrepit, moss-covered statue of an upright, vaguely dragon-shape. (Level 4, 0/2000) “Then I activate it’s second effect,” the card flashed, telling Spike to place it to a spot ahead of his deck designated with a skull symbol, “by sacrificing Guardian Statue, I can send two monsters from my deck to the graveyard. Just gimme a sec…” he mumbled, fanning out his deck, before picking out two and placing them in the graveyard pile, followed by a quick shuffle. “Then I can return one monster, like ‘Guardian Statue’, from my graveyard to my deck to special summon from my hand the mighty ‘Verdant-Eyes Lifeblood Dragon!” The next image was slightly larger and hovered over the card. It was the celadon green, keel-headed dragon, complete with two pairs of wings, along with a rudimentary smaller pair behind those. (Level 7, 2400/2000) Rainbow grinned excitedly, watching the image waft in place, “Now this is a game!” Twilight, despite continuing to have her book out, couldn’t stop herself from intently following the two’s game (added with a hint of pride in coming up with the image inducing spell). That’s when a familiar chime sounded within her mind, when a distinctly bipedal figure appeared sitting next to her, legs crossed gracefully, with an emerald tome held in gloved hands. “Already feeling the nostalgia?” asked Priestess, smiling amusedly from looking at her book. Twilight could not place a hoof on it, but ever since coming through the portal, whether or not it was an effect of perceptions through different realities, but the pink-haired, white garbed sorceress looked… different. Though retaining her bipedal form, her hair still a long, layered pink and her garments remained consistent, Twilight subconsciously felt as if Priestess seemed… skinnier, her head and eyes appearing larger. The strangest notion was that she could both remember, and remember not remembering any change in the spirits appearance. “Pretty much, yes,” Twilight giggled. “So, how was your survey of Ponyville today?” “Your friend Rarity seemed quite intrigued with my garments,” said Priestess, smiling to herself. “It also seems your Rarity shows no inherent interest in the Equestrian Applejack, based on a little conversation we had as she requested me to pose for a sketch.” “It’s probably for the best right now, what with Spike,” Twilight glanced at her assistant slash honorary little brother, who seemed in the process of blowing away both of Rainbow’s monsters. “I’ve been meaning to ask how you’ve acclimated to your new surroundings after a month?” “I believe the way to describe it in contemporary lingo would be… homey.” This remark intrigued Twilight greatly, “How so?” “Back in my home dimension magic today iss limited to very few places of spiritual presence, but here; I can actually feel it everywhere. At best I could describe it as if infinite tunes resonated from every fiber of this place and coalesced into a most splendid, eternal melody,” Priestess seemed to openly sigh. “It feels much like spirit realm, only it’s also material. It got me to thinking of a hypothesis of Equestria and the spirit world might exist in close cosmic proximity to one another. Or perhaps things once perceived as physical truths in the human world that turned out being legend might have reverberated through Equestria to the spirit world, to the human world.” “You sound quite excited lately,” said Twilight, a sentiment she could sympathize with fervently given her own propensity for knowledge and learning. “I am!” said the spirit in what came off more as an excited exclamation. “It has been thousands of years since I could make claim to have discovered or explored anything about the truth of the cosmos in the human world! But here; there is so much new to marvel at; the latent magic saturating every ounce of the world, the new history to delve; I’ve read every book ever written in the home dimension’s past, but here, I can actually find something new to indulge in every day!” she emphasized with a flutter of pages so numerous that they couldn’t physically fit into her slim emerald tome. “That’s wonderful! Were you reading anything in particular just now?” asked Twilight, trying to peer over the edge of Priestess’ tome. “World Party II…” said Priestess, smiling wryly. “I can relate now why Sunset had found certain facets of human history disheartening. If I am perfectly honest; your world does feel almost infinitely more joyous compared to the human world.” “I wonder how Sunset Shimmer is faring nowadays…” Twilight looked up in thought, closing her eyes, envisioning the events of both the human world, and what she had gleamed from Sunset’s memories during their dark duel. “I hope Sunset has found but a trace of happiness back there.” “With the impact you had on her, as well as your friends’ counterparts…” Priestess mused, “I have high hopes that Sunset might finally be able to recover.” “And bam!” Spike exclaimed, “That’s game, Rainbow.” “How about two out of three?” asked Rainbow with a sheepish grin. “You’re on! I can do this all day!” “Oh, I should get going. I wanted to survey the Sweet Apple Acres area before nightfall,” said Priestess, closing her tome and tucking it under an arm. “Speaking of; do you think you could sometime soon make a request on my behalf to meet with the princesses in Canterlot? I would very much be fascinated by having access to the Canterlot archives, and meeting your leaders formally would be only appropriate.” Of course, Priestess, being a spirit, could move about freely. However, both her and Twilight had discovered that everyone in Equestria was capable of seeing her, hence she had to make effort to remain unseen for now (especially given the recent alleged “reformation” of a certain draconequus). Currently she’d only revealed herself to Twilight’s friends, and Twilight had made note of her to Princess Celestia. She would regularly go about exploring Ponyville, though keeping a low profile, usually becoming visible at designated safe zones, namely her friends’ abodes. As such, she could possibly be able to bypass much of the security of Canterlot Castle, but adamantly refused in terms of morality. “I’ll have a letter sent as soon as Spike’s available.” “Much appreciated, partner,” said the spirit in thanks before fading away. Seeing Spike and Rainbow going at their second match, the temptation became difficult to hold back. With a puff of magic, she teleported herself to her sleeping quarters, pulled open her nightstand draw, grabbed her cards in her telepathy, before porting back into the main hall. “By any chance could I play the winner next?” she smiled eagerly, shuffling her deck in her telekinesis. “Might as well keep practicing for next time!”