//------------------------------// // Nightmare at the Animal Shelter part 2 (Fluttershy vs. Vignette) // Story: Dueling Around Canterlot // by Darthvalgaav //------------------------------// Soon enough, both Fluttershy and Vignette were outside in the open area where the dogs were allowed to run about freely. This suited Vignette perfectly since here there would be none of the brick sized security cameras to watch them. Fluttershy had turned on the outside light, illuminating the backyard space as they stood across from each other so they could better see the cards in their hands. “Connecting,” said a female mechanical voice from their duel disks. “Opponents found. Displaying order now.” In the middle of the field appeared a flat holographic image of a portrait, only on one side was Fluttershy looking timid and nervous while the other was Vignette as her portrait was seen blowing a kiss. The image began to spin round and round, faster and faster as their duel disks shuffled their decks at an equally quick speed. Eventually the portraits stopped spinning, ending on Fluttershy. “It looks like it’s my turn,” said Fluttershy softly as she drew a card. As she looked at the six cards in her hand, she glanced up at Vignette for a moment before nodding to herself. “First I’ll play the continuous spell card Soul Absorption. Now, whenever a monster is removed from the game I gain 500 life points. Then I’ll summon my Ritual Beast Tamer Elder in attack mode!” Appearing in front of Fluttershy was an elderly looking man with long white hair that was tied in a ponytail along with a mustache and beard. He wore a simplistic brown shirt, green pants, and a green scarf that was wrapped around his neck before flowing behind him like a cloak. In one hand this 200 attack point monster carrier a staff while in the other he held an old tome. “That’s your move?” laughed Vignette as she brought the back of her hand to her mouth. “A withered, pathetic old man? This’ll be easier than I thought it would be.” “No,” replied Fluttershy as Elder opened up his book, a bright golden light shining out of it. “Tamer Elder has an effect that allows me to normal summon one Ritual Beast monster from my hand during my main phase. So I’ll bring out Spiritual Beast Cannahawk!” Above both girls’ heads, lightning shot through the sky while thunder deafened their ears. In a flash, a large black bird with 1400 attack point appeared on the field. Its talons were covered with bright yellow currents of electricity, buzzing loudly as streaks of the same yellow power zigzagged along its wings and its white belly. “Wait, you said that that old guy let you normal summon a Ritual Beast, not a Spiritual Beast,” shouted Vignette as she pointed to the large bird. “But the word Ritual is in Spiritual,” replied Fluttershy calmly as her bird let out an ear piercing cry of agreement. “So it counts. And now that this sweet birdie is on the field, I can activate its effect to banish one Ritual Beast from my deck. Then, during my second standby phase, I can add that card to my hand. So I’ll choose my Spiritual Beast Rampengu.” As Fluttershy removed the card from her deck, a ghostly penguin rose out from her deck. It seemed to ‘swim’ around her, laughing as it did so, before gently floating into Fluttershy’s chest. The animal lover brought both her hands to the spot where the penguin had entered, feeling a warm glow around herself while her life points rose to 8500. “Gag me,” spat Vignette sourly as she tapped her high end fashion shoe into the grass. “Could you hurry up and finish your turn already?” “Ok then,” said Fluttershy. “Since I have both a Tamer and a Spiritual Beast on my side of the field, I can fuse them together without using a Polymerization spell card. All I have to do is banish them from play instead.” With that, Fluttershy raised a hand to the sky as both her monsters became ghostly images of themselves. They both floated gently around their master for a moment before entering her body and raising her life points to 9000. Once they were gone, Fluttershy opened up her eyes. “The thunder ripples through the air and lightning dances about. But don’t be afraid little ones for the rider will not harm you this night. Go, ride upon the winds! Fusion Summon Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk!” Cannahawk reappeared on the field, much larger than before with a rider on its back. It was Tamer Elder holding the reins of this giant bird with 1400 attack points. “Now my friend here can use his effect to send two of my banished Ritual Beast cards to the graveyard so I can move one Ritual Beast card from my deck to my hand,” explained Fluttershy. “So I’ll send Cannahawk and Ritual Beast Tamer Elder to the graveyard so I can add Ritual Beast Steeds to my hand. At the same time, I’ll activate my monster quick effect allowing me to defuse it and bring back to the field one banished Spiritual Beast and one Beast Tamer in defense mode. And the two I choose for that are Beast Tamer Elder and Spiritual Beast Rampengu.” There was another flash of lightning, this time striking Ulti-Cannahawk before forking off to hit the ground. In a flash the Ulti monster was gone leaving two monsters in its place. One was tamer and the other was Rampengu, a green penguin with red feather running down the middle of its head like a Mohawk. This monster had 400 defense. “Now that Rampengu is on the field, I can activate his effect,” announced Fluttershy. “By sending one of my extra deck monsters to the graveyard, I can banish Ritual Beast monster with the same attribute from my deck. I’ll say goodbye for now to my Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio and then banish my Spiritual Beast Apelio.” As Fluttershy opened her extra deck section of her duel disk, the red ghostly figure of a small red tiger emerged from her duel disk. It circled around Fluttershy once before pouncing into her chest, Fluttershy smiling while her life points rose to 9500. “With that done, I can perform one last fusion summon this turn,” said Fluttershy as she removed her two monsters from play. As both the ghostly forms of her monster’s floated into Fluttershy’s body her life points rose to 10500. “Great swimmers through the ocean’s glory, peaceful defender of all. Protect us all in these troubled times. Fusion Summon! Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin in defense mode!” A portal opened up next to Fluttershy and out of it came a small girl with blond hair riding a pink dolphin. The girl looked to be a few years younger than Fluttershy, dressed for a day at the beach while her mount had on greenish armor on its head and dorsal fin. Its defense points were 2800. “Now I’ll play two cards face down and end my turn!” “Finally,” sighed Vignette as she drew her card giving her a total of six. “Now time to get rid of that fashion zero with this card: Assault Beast! By discarding this card from my hand to the graveyard, I get to add one Assault Mode Activate from my deck to my hand.” Smiling, Vignette slid her card into the graveyard while her deck began to shuffle about. When it finished, a single card slid out from the top which Vignette took. “Next I summon Psi-Reflector in attack mode.” Appearing on the field was a monster that looked almost as if he were wearing a hoodie, except that its entire body was made of white armor. There were patches of green on its body, especially on top of the hood where those spots seemed to dome outwards, as well as lines of glowing blue energy around its arms and thighs. Circles of green energy were being emitted from its hands, its face hidden under the hood. Its attack was 400. “I know, he doesn’t look like much. But he can help me out fabulously by adding another copy of Assault Mode Activate to my hand.” Once again, her deck shuffled before a single card stuck out for her to take. “Now I can use his other effect: by revealing one Assault Mode Activate in my hand I can revive a monster in my graveyard as long as it lists ‘Assault Mode Activate’ in its text. Not only that, but I can increase Psi-Reflector level to up to four. Or, in other words, this tuner can be anywhere from level one to level five. So let’s welcome back Assault Beast!” Psi-Reflector shot a beam of green light from his hand to the ground as a figure began to appear in block form bit by bit. When it finished, color returned to the creature revealing it to be a white coated wolf man clad in bronze armor. With shield and sword in hand, it proved to be a powerful monster with 1900 attack points. “Now let me show you my real monsters,” said Vignette. “I now tune my level four tuner Psi-Reflector with my level four Assault Warrior to Synchro Summon level eight Colossal Fighter!” Both of her monsters leapt into the air, Psi-Reflector turning into four green rings as Assault Warrior transformed into four stars. The stars moved into the rings as they began to grow brighter and brighter. “Together with great power your might combines! Technology and muscle to make you better than ever before. Stand up to fight in my name! Synchro Summon Level Eight: Colossal Fighter!” There was a sudden flash of light that shot towards the ground followed by the silhouette of a mammoth sized man landing on the ground in a superhero like pose. When the light faded, Fluttershy found herself staring at a man whose body was decked out in white armor, a blue visor covering his eyes and sporting a powerful 2800 attack point body. “Since attacking that pathetic monster would just be a waste of my time, I’m just going to set three cards before passing it onto you,” finished Vignette with a grin as three cards appeared behind her lone monster. “Ok then, I draw,” declared Fluttershy, now holding three cards in her hand. “First off, I’ll return Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin to the extra deck in order to bring back the two friends who helped create her in defense mode. Return Ritual Beast Tamer Elder and Spiritual Beast Apelio!” As Fluttershy returned her fusion monster to her extra deck slot, the old man along with a large red lion with a mane that seemed to be on fire. It’s attack points were 1800. “Now I’ll summon Ritual Beast Tamer Lara from my hand in attack mode.” Appearing on the field was a young girl with long blonde hair which was braided while resting gently on her shoulder. Lara wore a green skirt and blouse while in her hand was a wooden staff that curled in upon itself at the very top. Her attack was 100. “This Tamer cares about animal life like I do. So much so that she can’t bare to let them sleep in the graveyard. Because of those feelings she can, when normal summoned, return one Ritual Beast from the graveyard to the field. Now return to the sky Cannahawk!” In a flash of light, Fluttershy’s electric bird returned to the field. “Next I’ll use Cannahawk’s ability once again to banish one Ritual Beast card from my deck. I choose Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda who will go to my hand two standby phases from now.” “I doubt you’ll last that long at this rate,” sneered Vignette. But Fluttershy shook her head and continued on. “I activate my face down card: Ritual Beast Steeds!” announced Fluttershy as her card was flipped straight up. “I can only activate this card when I control at least one Ritual Beast monster. Now I can destroy cards on your side of the field equal to the number of Ritual Beast monsters that I control. So with four monsters on my side of the field, that means that four of your cards get destroyed!” As Fluttershy said this, her monsters began to glow brightly. Apelio a bright red. Lara an earthy brown. Cannahawk a shocking yellow. Elder had a low grassy green. Once they were all shining brightly, the light separated from their bodies to create ghostly energy like forms that shot towards Vignette’s cards. “I don’t think so! Reveal: Starlight Road!” shouted Vignette as her own face down was flipper straight up. A pair of pure white wings appeared on the field, blocking the path of Fluttershy’s monsters before their energy dispersed. “I can activate this trap when you try to destroy two or more of my cards. Not only will this trap negate and destroy that card, but it’ll also allow me to special summon Stardust Dragon to my side of the field!” As Fluttershy’s trap shattered, a large white dragon appeared on Vignette’s side of the field. It looked down at the four cowering monsters that were to be its opponents with its yellow eyes and harpooned nose before letting out a roar to show off its 2500 attack point body. “Now I activate my other two trap cards: Assault Mode Activate!” Vignette said as she shouted the name of the cards as they revealed themselves. “You know my motto: Be Yourself But Better. And that’s what this card does, it makes my monsters better versions of themselves by summoning their Assault Mode versions from my deck!” From Vignette’s traps cards came a slew of armor that flew around the two monsters. Around Colossal Fighter appeared thick blue arm guards that attached to him along with similar leg guards. A blue chest plate was then attached to its body before a large jet engine was fused to its back. The last bit was a blue helmet with a green visor attaching itself to the new Colossal Fighter/Assault Mode who had 3300 attack points. Fluttershy found herself frozen as Stardust Dragon was armored as well, gained white and blue armor on its upper arms and legs while also gaining a mostly blue chest guard. The new Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode let out another roar as its attack points were now 3000. “Now that my monsters are on the field, I can activate the effect of my Colossal Fighter,” continued Vignette as she pulled out her deck. Calmly she looked through it before taking out two copies of Marauding Captain and holding them up. “When my newer, better Colossal Fighter is on the field I can send two warrior type monsters from my deck to the grave. And as long as he’s on the field all of your monsters lose 100 attack points for each warrior in the grave. At my count, that’s 300.” A dark aura surrounded all of Fluttershy’s monsters as they looked like gravity was increasing around them. Apelio let out a cry as his attack was dropped to 1500 while Cannahawk’s dropped to 1100. Both Elder and Lara were now at 0. “We’ll see about that,” said Fluttershy as she fought hard not to hide her own face with her hair. “I remove both Lara and Cannahawk in order to bring back my Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk!” As Fluttershy removed the cards from the field their ghost forms flew into her body once again, raising her life points to 11500. After repeating the chant her winged rider reappeared on the field. “Now I can activate his effect once again. I’ll send Cannahawk and Lara to my graveyard in order to add another copy of Ritual Beast Steeds to my hand.” “I don’t think so!” yelled Vignette as her Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode began to shimmer. “Whenever you activate a spell, trap, or monster effect I can tribute my dragon to negate and destroy it!” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror as the dragon flew over to grab her Ulti-Cannahawk by the wings. Ulti-Cannahawk squaked and screeched out for help as Fluttershy’s other monster watched on as Stardust Dragon began to vanish from the field. “But unlike your monster, mine will return during the end phase.” “You may have negated that effect, but Ulti-Cannahawk has a quick effect I can activate,” said Fluttershy quickly. “I return him to my extra deck to bring out Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda and Spiritual Beast Rampengu.” As Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode vanished, Fluttershy’s monster transformed into lightning which easily slipped from the dragon’s hold. That bolt of lightning forked before it hit the ground, revealing two more monsters for Fluttershy’s side. Along with Rampengu, there was a green hair woman in her early twenties kneeling beside the penguin. This figure wore a light brown cloak and carried with her a silver staff with a green gem in the middle. Most of her attire was a form fitting black skin-tight outfit that ended at her thighs, revealing her slender legs and she had on brown skin-tight elbow length gloves. On her belt she had a stuffed bunny. Her defense points were 1800. “So you managed to save that worthless monster to use later,” said Vignette as she waved it off. “Not that it matters in the least. My next turn will bring back my Stardust Dragon/Assault mode so I can do all of this again. All you have are useless animals that I can easily crush with the snap of my fingers.” Fluttershy didn’t answer, instead she nervously looked over at her cards. ‘O-Ok, she stopped that move for now. I could summon my best monster…but with Colossal Fighter on the field weakening my monsters he’ll just be destroyed. I couldn’t bear it if that happened to such a sweet thing. At least I still have my face down.’ Fluttershy paused in her thought to glance briefly at her face down card, hoping that her opponent didn’t notice. ‘There is something I can use to get rid of them, but I’ll have to wait till my next turn to use it!’ “I activate the effect of my Rampengu,” announced Fluttershy as she pulled out her extra deck. “This time I’ll send my Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin to the grave to banish Spiritual Beast Pettlephin from my deck.” Once more another ghostly image of a monster flew out from Fluttershy’s deck, this time a dolphin. Like before it flew into Fluttershy before her life points rose to 12000. “With that I end my turn.” With those words, Stardust Dragon Assault Mode returned to Vignette’s side of the field. “About time,” said Vignette as she drew making the total number of cards in her hand four. “I think you have too many life points there. So let’s take care of that! To start off, I’ll summon Assault Sentinel in attack mode!” As Vignette placed the card on her duel disk, an anthropomorphic cat man appeared on the field. With white armor and a tattered blue cape covering his body, this 1600 attack point monster carried with him a futuristic rifle as he stared at Fluttershy with glowing red eyes. “Now I tribute this monster to activate his effect allowing me to special summon one monster who has text that includes Assault Mode Activate in its text. So, like naturally, I have to go with Psi-Reflector again.” Fluttershy watched helplessly as Sentinel vanished to be replaced with the powerful tuner monster. “Now I can add Assault Mode Zero to my hand since it lists Assault Mode Activate in its text. Lucky me, right? Now I’ll reveal it special summon Assault Sentinel back and change my level one Psi-Reflector to level five.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened at this. “T-That means you can Synchro summon a l-level nine monster!” “So good to see that you’re paying attention,” Vignette said with a sneer. “But before that can happen, I need to use the other effect of my Sentinel. His effect allows me to target one monster on my side of the field and then reveal one monster from my extra deck. That monster become the same type and attribute as the monster I revealed. So I’ll target my Sentinel and reveal this monster.” Vignette paused for a moment as she opened up her extra deck to reveal another of her Synchro monsters. “Hyper Psychic Blaster. That turns my Sentinel into a psychic monster, just what I need to summon out the very monster I just showed you.” With that said, Vignette’s monster rose to the sky as she began her chant. “The future unfolds with a world of weapons. Mighty guns shot their rays, defending the wielding and granting longer life. Now use those weapons in my service! Synchro Summon Level 9: Hyper Psychic Blaster!” When the light faded from the summoning, a figure descended from the sky slowly as if he were slowly being lowered there by some invisible force. Blaster was a tall figure with a slender trim wearing white armor with plenty of gold trim. His metallic collar was raised with plenty of wires and cables coming out of the metal device straight into his neck. On the monster back were a set of slender, mechanical white wings that had a light blue glowing light in their middle. Then there was his weapons. In one hand he carried a black gun with a blue glowing light coming out of the muzzle shaped like an X. The other was a white gun with a blue glowing O for its muzzle. It stood there with 3000 attack points. “Now I play the spell card: Assault Mode Zero!” announced Vignette as she showed off her spell card. “With this card, I can tribute my Hyper Psychic Blaster to summon its better version in my hand.” When Vignette finished speaking, armor began to fly out of the spell card she was holding. The wings on Hyper Blaster opened up allowing glowing blue feather-like blades to be revealed. At the same time a metal circle was attached to the monsters back as most of its white armor changed to black while in addition a green dome covered its head. Cables shot out of the armor and into its weapons, which increased in size, while its attack points rose all the way up to 3500. Fluttershy cringed slightly at the sight before her. Three monsters stood before her, each with 3000 attack points or more. All of them ready to attack her weakened monsters. Her only comfort right now was that her little friends were in defense mode. “Now, lets get those eyesores off the field,” said Vignette as she played a card in her spell/trap card zone. “Raigeki! A spell card that destroys all monsters you control! Meaning this is going to hurt a lot!” Fluttershy only had a moment to look up before a large bolt of lightning struck her side of the field. The blast threw her back, crying out at all of her monsters were covered in yellow electricity before they vanished in a huge explosion. “There we go, no more defenses…left?” Vignette blinked in confusion as the dust began to settle, revealing that there was still a monster on Fluttershy’s side of the field. It was Winda, still kneeling but with her staff held out in front of her in a defensive position. “NO! How the hell is that card still on your side of the field?!? It should have been destroyed like all the others!” “Winda was destroyed,” said Fluttershy as she slowly got to her feet, wobbling a little as she did. She then brought her duel disk back up to her chest as she stared at Vignette. “Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda is a very special companion of mine. When she is destroyed, I can special summon one Ritual Beast monster from my deck or extra deck. So I just summoned another copy of her.” Vignette looked at Fluttershy for a moment, the clenched fists she had had during her rage just moments ago relaxing. “I see, a stall tactic,” she murmured. “Pathetic, especially when facing me. Hyper Psychic Blaster/Assault Mode, destroy her now!” Blaster raised both guns, firing blue beams of X’s and O’s at Winda who screamed before she was destroyed. Those beams continued to fire, hitting Fluttershy in the chest and causing her to stumble back several feet while her life points dropped to 10200. “I forgot to mention this, but when Hyper Psychic Blaster/Assault Mode battles one of your monsters you take damage equal to its defense points. Not only that, but I gain life points equal to the destroyed monsters attack points.” As she said this, a blue glow covered Vignette’s body while her life points rose to 9600. “I can use Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda’s effect once again,” said Fluttershy. “I summon another Elder to the field in defense mode!” “He won’t be there for long,” said Vignette as the old man reappeared on Fluttershy’s side of the field. “Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode, get rid of him!” Stardust Dragon let out a roar before using its breath attack, obliterating Fluttershy’s monster easily. “Now Colossal Fighter/Assault Mode, attack her life point directly!” Fluttershy gasped, her knees shaking as Colossal Fight ran towards her with such force that it felt like the earth was shaking. When it was almost right in front of her the monster’s jet pack activated, launching it high into the air while raising its fists high into the air. When it came down those same fists smashed at the ground to knock Fluttershy off her feet, her body rolling backwards several feet as her life points dropped to 6900. “And with that, the game is mine,” said Vignette as she ran her fingers through her hair. “You honestly don’t stand a chance against me. I won’t let you do those annoying fusions. My Stardust will die for me to make sure that anything you summon will be for nothing. Then it will be a simple matter of destroying you.” “But,” stammered Fluttershy as she got to her feet, slowly raising her duel disk in the process. “But why are you doing this? What do you get from doing all this mean things to me?” “Why?” repeated Vignette, her eyes hardening as she looked at Fluttershy. “Because you and your friends ruined my life! I had it all, fame and influence that allowed me so much. But after I tried to take over your band and people heard me sing, well they quickly dropped me. Maybe if I could have made all the people in that crowd vanish with my magic, then none of that would have happened! Maybe then, people wouldn’t have posted what happened after our little magical battle!” Vignette then clenched her free hand into a fist, looking down at the ground as she spoke. “After that, my followers began to dwindle. I got fewer and fewer job offers because of that until they eventually stopped coming all together. No one cares about my opinion anymore. I might…have to get a real job now. “Then, help came in a surprising message,” said Vignette as she looked up at Fluttershy again, her lips curling into a smile as she did. “A way to regain everything I had lost and get payback. To gain new followers under a different handle, showing them humiliating videos of other people. It is human nature to laugh at other people’s misfortune after all.” “B-But why-” “Because you’re the weakest,” interrupted Vignette as she stomped her foot on the ground. “While I would have loved to go after Rarity for her betrayal, her place just has too high of security. That and her ability to create those diamond barriers. Plus I doubt there would have been many instances of her making an utter fool of herself. Maybe whining, but I doubt those videos would have been as much as a hit. In comparison, this place is so easy to break in. It was so easy to set up those cameras that it was a joke. Not to mention that out of all of your little tryhard group, your magic is easily the most laughable of all.” She then paused for a moment to smile. “Well, there was another reason that you were targeted. My informant told me that you like to sing when you’re here all alone. Songs that you might not have yet written down for your group. It just seemed too perfect. Once I record everything you sang, I can just edit it to sound more like my own voice. Then I can post my own videos, claiming I got voice lessons or something. Then I’ll be the old me again, but better! At least, my followers will think so.” “That’s,” began Fluttershy but stopping to shake her head. It seemed so pointless to tell her what she was doing was wrong. Vignette clearly knew this and didn’t seem to care. All she cared about was getting her followers back by any means necessary. Instead, Fluttershy drew a card making the total number in her hand three. “I summon another Ritual Beast Tamer Lara to my side of the field,” announced Fluttershy as a familiar looking girl appeared on her side of the field. “And I’ll use her special ability to bring back Rampengu.” “Hmm, no you won’t,” said Vignette as her Stardust Dragon flew across the field, grabbing Lara tightly in its claw as it did so. “I tribute my Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode to negate the effect of your lame monster and send it to the graveyard. But don’t worry, during the end phase my monster will be coming back!” While Stardust vanished from the field, Vignette looked at Fluttershy before being taken suddenly by surprise at the look the shy girl was giving her. “I was waiting for you to do that,” said Fluttershy as she placed a card in her spell/trap card zone. Appearing above her was a woman with long hair, her body being made of the northern lights along with the twinkling of stars. “Soul Release. It’s a card that lets me banish five cards from either players’ graveyard. So I’ll banish Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode, Colossal Fighter, Hyper Psychic Blaster, Ritual Beast Apelio, and Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda!” “NO!” screamed Vignette as, from her graveyard, three ghostly figures zoomed out. Fluttershy held out her arms in a welcoming manner as the spirits of the monsters she had released entered her body, strengthening her life points to the tune of 9400. “With Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode removed from play he can’t come back. It can’t even float into its original! None of my monsters can!” Vignette let out a cry of annoyance as she stomped her foot into the ground. Over and over she stomped her foot, her breathing becoming ragged until she seemed to tire herself out. “It doesn’t matter. She managed to get rid of one of my better monsters, but I still have two left. None of her pathetic monsters can stop me.” “We’ll see,” said Fluttershy, getting Vignette’s attention. “I activate the trap card: Ritual Beast Ambush. This card can bring back one of my Beast Tamer monsters and one Spiritual Beast monsters from either the banished zone or from the graveyard. And from the graveyard, I call out my friend Winda and the adorable Cannahawk!” Fluttershy watched as Vignette gritted her teeth as both of Fluttershy’s monsters returned to the field in defense mode. “Now I use Cannahawk’s ability once again to remove a Ritual Beast Tamer Elder from my deck before I fuse them together to create Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk!” Once again, Fluttershy brought her fusion monster back onto the field while her life points rose to 10400. “With him in play, I activate his ability to add my Ritual Beast Steeds to my hand at the cost of sending Elder and Cannahawk to the grave. But I will also use his quick effect, returning him to the extra deck and summoning a Spiritual Beast and Beast Tamer from my banished zone. For that I choose Elder and Pettlephin.” Appearing on Fluttershy’s side of the field along with Elder was a dolphin with 2000 defense points. Unlike normal dolphin’s this one was bright pink with light blue armor on its head, flippers, and dorsal fin. “I activate the effect of Ritual Beast Pettlephin,” announced Fluttershy as she held out an arm. “By banishing one Ritual Beast card from my hand, I can target one card you control and send it back to your hand. So I’ll banish the copy of Cannahawk I have in my hand to send Hyper Psychic Blaster/Assault Mode back to your hand!” “No, no, no, no,” cried Vignette as Fluttershy’s life points rose to 10900. Pettlephin ‘swam’ across the field as quickly and gracefully as if it were in the middle of the ocean. Blaster tried to swat at it as it drew closer, but Fluttershy’s monster was far too nimble for that. At full speed Pettlephin charged, hitting Blaster right in the middle of the stomach and sending it flying through the air before it vanished from sight. “Lastly, I’ll set one card face down before fusing my monsters together to summon Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin in defense mode,” said Fluttershy as her fusion monster returned to the field and her life points going up to 11900. “This isn’t over,” shouted Vignette as she drew, three cards now in her hand. “Colossal Fighter, show her why your better than anything she has in her deck! Squash that dolphin.” “I won’t let you!” shouted Fluttershy as Colossal Fighter started to charge at her. “I activate my trap card: Ritual Beast Steeds! This time its effect will work and destroy your monster!” At that, Ulti-Pettlephin began to glow as the girl jumped onto the back of her pink dolphin and charged at the armored warrior. A moment later there was a large, gaping hole in the middle of Colossal Fighter’s chest. As the monster sank to its knees, Ulti-Pettlephin ‘swam’ back to its side of the field as Colossal Fighter exploded. “I,” began Vignette as she looked over her hand. Her head shook back and forth, eyes fixed on the print as she realized that there was nothing she could do right now. “I end my turn. Go ahead and make your play.” “I will,” said Fluttershy as she drew. As she did, a trail of pink light arced with it. When she looked at what she had drawn, her eyes widened before a smile appeared on her face. “I summon Ritual Beast Tamer Wen in attack mode!” Wen, a small blonde haired girl with 1500 attack points, wore a purple blouse and skirt along with light brown shoulder pads. In one hand she carried with her a silver staff with a large blue stone at its top end. She smiled at Vignette with her eyes seeming to never open. “When Wen is normal summoned, I can special summon one of my banished Ritual Beast monsters to the field. So let’s welcome back Cannahawk!” Wen raised her staff as it began to give off a faint blue light, creating a portal which brought Cannahawk back to the field. “Now I return Ulti-Pettlephin back to my extra deck to special summon Elder and Apelio to the field in defense mode!” Now four monsters stood on Fluttershy’s side of the field, two tamers and two beasts. With more fusions still to come. “I banish my friends Wen and Cannahawk in order to bring out a new monster! The unity of Tamer and Beast combine to make their way through the forests, blazing paws to defend their home. Let out a mighty roar as you protect your friends! Fusion Summon: Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio!” As Fluttershy’s life points rose even higher to 12900, a large lion landed on her side of the field. Its paws and mane were a living crimson inferno that licked the plant themed armor around its face and front legs. It’s hind legs were more conventional armor looking like it was made of steel as its rider, Lara, held the reins of the lion in one hand with her staff in the other. Its attack points were 2600. “Before I fuse my other two monsters, I’m going to use Apelio’s effect,” said Fluttershy. “By banishing one Ritual Beast card from my graveyard to raise the attack and defense of all my Ritual Beast monsters by 500. So I’ll be banishing my Beast Tamer Lara. Then, I’ll fuse Elder and Apelio to fusion summon another Ulti-Apelio!” After another chant Fluttershy had two fiery lions on her side of the field, the first now having 3100 attack points while the newer one had 2600. What’s more her life points had gone up even more stopping at 14400. With both monsters on the field, Fluttershy said a single word: “Attack”. At her command, both tamers pressed their heels into the sides of their mounts as the flames on said mounts raged. The two loins broke into a run right out of the gate as if they had suddenly seen a very tasty prize. As Vignette raised an arm to protect herself, the two Lara’s staves burst into flames as they swung them at her from opposite sides. The force of such a blow knocked Vignette on her back where she laid for longer than normal, as if she had been dazed by that attack, her life points falling to 3900. “Before I end my turn I will return one of my Ulti-Apelios to the extra deck to bring back Wen and Rampengu,” said Fluttershy as one of her two riders spit. “Sadly, my friends can’t stay like this for long because I banish them to bring back Ulti-Cannahawk.” Vignette didn’t say anything as Fluttershy’s fusion monster returned to the field. Nor did she say anything as Fluttershy’s life points went up to 13900. “I activate his effect to add a Ritual Beast card from my deck to my hand. I choose a copy of my Pettlephin and in return I send the Pettlephin and Wen I banished to the graveyard. But I also chain it with his quick effect, returning Ulti-Cannahawk to the extra deck to summon my banished Lara and Pettlephin.” As Fluttershy’s two monsters returned to the field, Fluttershy opened up her extra deck once again. “Now everything is set,” she said as she scooped up the three cards on her duel disk. “I banish Ulti-Apelio, Spiritual Beast Pettlephin, and Beast Tamer Lara to summon Ritual Beast Ulti-Gaiapelio in attack mode!” All three monster flowed into Fluttershy, her life points rising up to 15400, while the ground behind her exploded. “The world’s protector takes on form, tamed only by the chosen. There is nothing that the kind hearted have to fear. Fusion Summon Ulti-Gaiapelio!” As Fluttershy finished her chant, the ground exploded behind her sending up chunks of rock and soil into the air as a giant lion appeared behind her. It’s body was covered in plants with a huge tree growing out of its back. It mane was fire, burning brightly in the night while Lara rode it. Then monster’s attack points were 3200. “I end my turn,” finished Fluttershy as her opponent began to stir. The normally timid girl watched Vignette roll over onto her belly, biting her lower lip a wave of pity washed over her. “We can stop now, if you want. I mean, if you apologize for everything you did I’m sure that-” “No!” roared Vignette as she slowly got to her feet with her back facing Fluttershy. “You don’t get it, do you? I had everything I ever wanted and I lost it all. I even lost the magic that would have helped me keep it, taking people and creating better versions of them!” “But they were never real,” insisted Fluttershy. “They were all fake.” “Who cares?” snapped Vignette as she turned around to face Fluttershy, the anger clearly visible. “If I give up now, that life will never come back. That would mean going backwards! I would be myself but less, not better! I draw!” With gritted teeth, Vignette drew her card with such force that she might as well have ripped it out. “I play the spell card Assault Teleport! This card lets me send the Hyper Psychic Blaster/Assault Mode you sent back to my hand into the deck to draw twice.” After her deck was shuffled, Vignette drew two more cards and, after looking at them, calmed down. “I play the spell card: Monster Reborn! With this cards power I’ll bring back the original Stardust Dragon in my graveyard.” “No, you won’t,” said Fluttershy as she banished a card in her hand. “My Ulti-Gaiapelio cares too much for the world to let something like that happen under his watch. By banishing a Ritual Beast card from my hand, he can negate and destroy any spell, trap, or monster effect.” Again, Fluttershy’s life points rose, stopping at 14400. Her monster let out a roar so powerful that it seemed to move the clouds in the sky, knocking Vignette down again while her card was destroyed. “I don’t understand!” yelled Vignette from where she sat, looking up at Fluttershy’s monster. “You’re supposed to be weak, a kind-hearted coward!” “Just because I’m kind doesn’t make me weak,” said Fluttershy, Gaiapelio seeming to nod in agreement as she did so. “I do know how to stand up for myself.” “It doesn’t matter,” said Vignette as she grabbed a fistful of grass. “Screw this duel! I’ll just-” Her voice cut out as Fluttershy reached in front of her duel disk to pull something off of it. The shy girl then held it up so that Vignette could see exactly what it was in the light. “A hidden camera?” Fluttershy gave her a sad nod. “I contacted my boyfriend after I talked to the police. He suggested that you might come here and that I could use this duel to get you to confess. So I bought one like the ones you placed around the building, only I spend a bit more for a model that can also pick up sound. That’s why I didn’t use my Ritual Beast Steeds after you set all those cards. I wanted you to feel confident that you were winning so that you’d feel more comfortable confessing like you did. Everything we’ve said and done has been sent via the WiFi to him. And if something were to happen to me he’d call the police without any hesitation.” The look on Vignette’s face said it all as she climbed up to her feet. Dumbfounded and totally at a loss as to what she should do next. Lazily her arms rose but quickly fell back to her side as a wind blew behind Fluttershy. Then, finally, she turned tail and ran away leaving their duel officially unfinished. -x- “What you did was unnecessary,” said Shining Armor as he fought back a yawn. It was an hour later as he stood within the animal shelter, with the first hints of circles around his eyes as well as the scent of coffee on his breath. All around them, animals were snuggled up in their cages fast asleep. “She could have seriously hurt you.” “I know,” replied Fluttershy, looking down as she spoke. “I was just afraid that if this dragged on, you might be told to drop it. Or you might be convinced that I did this to myself.” Shining Armor didn’t say anything at first. He just gave Fluttershy an odd look before scratching his head. Whatever he was thinking Fluttershy had no idea because he suddenly approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Well, in any case, you saved me some work. Just don’t make a habit of pulling dangerous stunts like this again.” Fluttershy nodded, her own drowsiness starting to set in. “So, what will happen to Vignette?” “That’s not really my department,” said Shining. “Depending on the judge and her lawyer, she might get a couple of years tops. At best, she’ll get a couple of months along with some community service. I don’t know about your parents but they might want to sue her for what she did to you. I have a feeling the shelter might be on board with that idea as well.” “Oh,” said Fluttershy as she suddenly felt uncomfortable again. Going in front of a judge to relive everything that had happened just seemed so…scary. Not to mention all of the people who would be watching her, judging her as well. She was about to voice this concern when her phone began to ring. “Well, I’m going to be heading out,” said Shining Armor as he headed towards the door, Fluttershy pulling out her phone as he did. Upon seeing who was calling her, a dreamy expression filled her face. “Do you need a lift?” “I’ll be ok,” said Fluttershy. Shining Armor shrugged before heading out the door. Once the door was closed, Fluttershy sat down on one of the chairs as she answered the phone. “Hello Discord.” -x- Vignette ran through the streets of Canterlot blindly, not knowing where she was heading in the slightest. The direction was truly meaningless since she had nowhere to go. She knew she couldn’t head home for fear that the police would be waiting there. A fear fueled by the sounds of sirens in the distance that caused her to pause more than once. She had no friends or associates she could stay with. Not even her own family. Knowing her father, once he heard that she was in trouble he’d be more likely to drag her to the police department himself! Her money was nearly completely gone, barely enough for a kids menu at a fast food place. Not nearly enough for a room at a dingy motel. Is this really where I am now, thought Vignette as the realization of her situation dawned on her. I’ve lost everything that made me better and barely a penny to my name. There’s no escaping it. I’m going to jail and losing everything I worked for. Vignette tripped on something, landing face first onto the concrete. She could feel the sting of gashes on her face. Her knee stunk for a moment before it began to feel moist, indicating that she was bleeding. Slowly she placed her hands on the ground to lift herself up, but stopped. Her eyes became half lidded as she looked at the ground so close to her face. Was there any point anymore? Rolling onto her back, she saw the twinkling stars shining brightly above her even through all the light pollution city life provided. Stars like how she used to be. Now she was here, on the earth. The better version of herself was gone. There would be no more twinkling brightly, just doing her best to get through life. At this realization, a pain unlike anything she ever felt stabbed her in the heart as tears began to well up in her eyes. “It’s not fair,” she whispered to no one. “If I still had my magic, I could have made all my problems disappear. Everything would be going my way.” “Join the club sister,” came an annoyed voice. Moving her head slightly, Vignette caught a glimpse of a bored looking girl with twin tails standing off to her side. Standing next to him was a dimwitted looking boy, appearing to be off in his own world at the moment. “Who? What?” began Vignette, only to stop when the other girl sighed and rolled her eyes. “I take it you failed to humiliate that Fluttershy girl,” said the girl, her bored expression never wavering. “Who are-” began Vignette before the truth hit her like a hammer. Scrambling to get to her feet, she grabbed the girl by the shoulders and slammed her into the wall. “It was you! You were the one who sent me that message! You ruined me!” The boy seemed to snap out of his daydream or whatever, backing away a bit as he looked around nervously. But the girl, Vignette was somewhat startled by her reaction. Namely, she didn’t have one. She just kept staring at Vignette as if this was more of an inconvenience to her. “Did I put a gun to your head to make you do anything?” asked the girl, pushing Vignette back. Seeing that his partner was back in control, the boy quickly moved to her side looking as dopey as ever. “I only sent you that message because we have similar enemies. As well as similar losses.” Vignette narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean by that?” Once again the girl rolled her eyes. “Magic,” she said as she crossed her arms. “The Rainbooms took away mine and my sisters’ magic as well. Its gone along with everything we used to have as well.” She paused to shake her head. “Well, our lives were pretty crummy anyways but they have gotten notably worse. Anyways, we thought we’d reach out to you. And since you failed the others thought you might like a third chance at getting everything back.” Vignette backed away, placing a hand under her chin as she eyed the girl. Ok, right now she didn’t have a lot of options. It was either listen to her or go home and wait for the police. It couldn’t get any worse…right? “What exactly would I get if I went with you?” “Well, for one thing, a place to hide out,” said the boy. “It’s where I’ve been staying.” “Yeah, there’s that,” said the girl as she moved closer to Vignette. “But, our overall goal, is to reclaim what we lost. To get our magic back. That and get some payback towards the Rainbooms for everything they’ve done to us.” Suddenly the girl turned and began walking towards an alleyway. “That’s all you get for free. If your interested in hearing more, you need to sign up with us. So what’s it going to be? Follow me for one last chance? Or stay here and feel sorry for yourself before the police grab you?” As the boy followed the girl, Vignette stood there for a moment with her hand hanging limply at her sides. Then her hands balled up into fists as a more determined look appeared on her face. Then she marched after the pair, eager to find out more.