//------------------------------// // The Good, The Bad, and The Duelists part 1 // Story: Dueling Around Canterlot // by Darthvalgaav //------------------------------// It was a quiet afternoon in the town of Rancho Bronco, but not because it was a small town where nothing ever happened. While it seemed to be nothing more than a dusty relic of the past, with plenty of log cabins and wooden structures, that appearance was very deceiving. For one thing, the town had some of the best grazing land for miles around. Many of the farmers there raised cattle as well as bison in mass and sold all across the state. A few of the farmers here were even able to sell their meat across the country due to their tenderness. Rodeos and country concerts were common occurrences here with many of the biggest in the business getting their start here. Folks from all over the country would swarm here for their annual events. And then there were the chili fields owned by Chili Pepper, the oldest resident of the town. His Windigo Pepper fields seemed to go on for miles in every direction with his three story mansion in the middle along with housing for all of his farm hands. Yet this afternoon held none of the pride and joy that normally blanketed the town. Instead the streets looked deserted with not even a tumble weed to roll past when the wind blew. Lights had faded from inside all the stores, the glass looking dirty as if no one had washed them in forever. Cars that had been driving down the streets just a week ago were left to rust in the middle of the streets, their windows shattered completely and their insides picked apart. Street signs were spray painted over with black lightning bolts and other signs. Then there were- “Somebody please help me!” screamed a voice of some unlucky soul. Those close enough to hear peeked through their closed curtains or past their boarded up windows, ignoring the trashed states of their yards to see a horrible sight. The old mailman, Mr. Stamp, was being thrown backwards. The letter bag he was carrying spilled white envelopes everywhere as he was flung while Duel Monster cards from his hand fluttered about the place. What made the scene so horrible was that, as he was flung, he began to change. His skin began to wrinkle while liver spots appeared. Muscle mass decreased to give him a frailer appearance, clinging to his body as if he had suddenly been mummified. His hair lost what remaining color he had while it became longer, several teeth falling out of his mouth. By the time he hit the ground, he was no longer a man in his upper sixties but instead a man pushing a hundred or more! “Ha, ha, ha,” came a deep pitched laugh from his opponent as he stepped towards the fallen man. He was a blue skinned teen with black hair that turned upwards like bull horns. His face was almost flat and blocky, with a large golden ring pierced into his nose while a green glowing gem hung around his neck. As he walked towards his opponent, this teen lowered his duel disk while his muscles began to ripple underneath his clothes before suddenly growing larger. His white shirt and ripped jeans became strained before ripping in several spots. Even his shoes seemed to burst from this sudden increase in mass as he walked off of the outsole. Only his leather biker’s vest, which had the image of a lightning bolt on the back, remained undamaged. “Please,” begged Mr. Stamp as he raised a shaky hand to the sky, his eyes turning milk white. However, his plea went unheeded as his opponent kicked the arm away. A loud snap was heard followed by the arm bending in a way it shouldn’t, Mr. Stamp screaming as loud as his now feeble voice could. “That’s what you get when trash like you forgets to pay me and the boss the proper respect,” sneered the teen. He then looked around, and when he spoke again, he made sure his voice could be heard by all. “And don’t any of you forget who’s in charge here or what we can do to you all! We have the power in this town!” With that said, the fiend threw back his head as he laughed loudly while the people inside their homes shuddered in fear. -x- “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” asked Pinkie Pie as she bounced about on her seat, looking out the train window excitedly. Not that there was much to see right now. The train had long since departed the cityscape and had taken them out into the country land. Now all that could been seen were acres of fields with the occasional cluster of cows grazing. “No Pinkie,” replied Applejack as she fought to keep the irritation out of her voice. She did, however, place a hand on her head as her eyes rolled. She had been dealing with the same question since they first got on the train. Literally since the moment they sat down, the sugar powered teen had been asking if they were there yet. It had been fine at first, but several hours of this had caused Applejack to wonder how in the world the Pie family was able to keep their sanity. Just imagining Pinkie getting into a car with them, bouncing in the seats for however long, probably did a number on them. Much like how it was doing a number on all the other folks on the train. There weren’t that many mind you, but those who were, well, were not doing too well. Most of them were showing signs of stress and irritation, giving the pink girl dirty looks while not caring if they were seen. A few others managed to get different seats in a different compartment. Thankfully, Applejack wasn’t alone with dealing with Pinkie. Sitting across from her were Twilight and Sonata. Thankfully Sonata wasn’t following Pinkie’s example, but instead was working on her homework with the help of Twilight. “Stupid triangles,” muttered Sonata as she erased something for the umpteenth time, looking flustered as she did so. “Don’t know why anybody need to know trigonometry. Evil subject!” “Now that ain’t fair,” said Applejack with a small smile. “Why, whenever me and mah family need ta work on any project, figerin’ out them angles is mighty important. An Forge, well, he needs to know how to figure them out when lookin’ at blueprints an stuff.” “Speaking of Forge,” began Twilight as she gave Applejack a look that screamed both curious as well as sly. And the tone in her voice, it was as if Twilight were channeling her inner Rarity. A scary thought indeed. “How did that date with Forge go?” “Well, it was…ah,” began Applejack as she felt her face beginning to burn. Honestly, her first ever real date had been a lot of fun. Looking at all sorts of handmade knick-knacks, old fashioned equipment, watching a falconer, and seeing one of them fancy sword fighting shows. It was the sort of thing that she had never tried before, but seemed right up her alley. Heck, there were even some outdoor dances that Applejack would have like to do…if she knew any of them fancy dance moves that all the other Renaissance goers seemed to know. That and the fact that she had on her gem meaning she might have crushed Forge without meaning to. Shaking her head slightly, Applejack decided to change the subject. “Thanks again for coming with me to check on mah great granduncle Chili Pepper.” Twilight frowned a little at this before returning back to her normal self, giving her a ‘don’t worry about it’ type smile. None of the others seemed to care about the subject change, since Pinkie had been looking out the window the entire time and Sonata was looking stressed about her homework. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I just hope he’s ok.” “Ah hope so as well,” replied Applejack as she leaned forward to take out a letter that was in her back pocket. She didn’t unfold it, but stared at the crumpled piece of paper with a worried frown. It had only been a day and a half since the farmer girl had received it and, in that time, had reread the letter so many times that she was now able to recite it from memory. Not that it was very long or anything. The message had come from the office of the Rancho Bronco’s Sheriff’s office, explaining that her Great Uncle Chili Pepper had been missing for over a week at the time the letter had been sent out. As such, they were reaching out to his next of kin to both inform her as well as asking that she come down to help settle some legal matters. It was surprising that she would be the one to be asked. Applejack could count the number of times she had met her Great Uncle on one hand and have some digits to spare. He had always seemed more like a fool with no real common sense, off in his own little world while eating chili peppers like they were candy. And why they would reach out to her of all people instead of Granny Smith or Big Mac was also a mystery. But she supposed that she would find out when they got there. A sudden arm was wrapped around AJ’s neck followed by a cheek being pressed against her own. “Don’t worry silly,” said Pinkie Pie, her breath smelling of frosting. “I’m sure everything will be fine and dandy. And if something is wrong we’ll be there to take care of it! After all, we might be related which means he’s a member of my family as well! And there’s no way I’d ever let anything bad happen to a family member!” “Much appreciate it,” said Applejack as she felt herself relax a bit, grateful to have friends who would have her back in all this. She knew Pinkie Pie would go to the ends of the earth just to make someone smile, so of course she would have come along even if she knew they weren’t related. She only wished the rest of her family could make it, minus Apple Bloom. The last thing she needed was her going off on her own and getting into trouble. As for her friends, well, she had only asked the ones she knew were free this weekend. It would have sucked if Chili Pepper had just gone out of town for a week without telling anyone and they had come all this way for nothing! Rainbow Dash had a big soccer game upstate, a few hours in the opposite direction that they were heading towards. Scouts were going to be present, meaning that there might be a chance that Rainbow could be considered for a scholarship. The last thing Applejack wanted was for her to have to choose between her future and a problem a friend was going through. Rarity had some big plans for a shindig where a few of her dresses were going to be worn. Then there was Fluttershy who had been taking some time off from school following the break in at the animal shelter. She was fine, but said she needed some time to herself to recharge. The only two Applejack knew she was talking to was Tree Hugger, who was helping Fluttershy to ‘get her energies centered’ or something like that, and her boyfriend. As for Sunset, she was keeping a promise. -x- “HEADSHOT!” yelled President Shimmer, pumping a fist into the air as she watched the futuristic soldier on the scene fall down to the floor. Both she and the identical girl next to her grinned as their fingers moved over the controllers, taking down legions of enemies in the games two player mode. “Watch out,” said Sunset, grinning with the rush of excitement on her face. “Mass of enemies on your six!” Her hands hurt from playing this same game for the last ten hours straight…but she didn’t want to stop. She couldn’t stop. Neither of them could stop after making it all the way to the fifteenth level in one day on epic mode! “Oh no you don’t!” growled President Shimmer as she stood up, nearly slamming a foot on top of the table in front of them while a flame blazed in her eyes. With the press of a button, President Shimmer’s character switched weapons from a large chaingun to a flame thrower. “You accounting bastards! Trying to tell me we’re over budget when you’re slipping funds into your personal accounts! Setting me back months! DIE! DIE! DIE!” -x- So that left Twilight and Sonata, besides Pinkie, of course. For some time now, Twilight had been spending a good chunk of her free time working on some big fancy project in case Cinch ever showed her face around these parts again. Recently Twilight had made massive progress with the help of Pinkie, so now she was taking a much needed break to clear her head. As for Sonata, the fast food chain she worked for had given her the weekend off. And if Twilight was going, the former Siren had to come along as well since Twilight was also her tutor. That and she wanted to try the chilies. “I will destroy this math problem,” growled Sonata as she erased what she written again. As she did, Applejack saw Twilight lean over to her housemate’s paper to get a better look at it. She then pointed to one spot and whispered in Sonata’s ear causing the blue skinned girl’s eyes to widen. “Oh, I think I get it now.” “It’s no AAAHHHH!” screamed Twilight as the train came to a sudden and unexpected stop. She wasn’t the only one to do so. All around them, folks flew out of one seat and into the one across. Sonata flew head first into Pinkie, her homework getting shredded in the process causing the ritual summoner to scream all the louder. Thankfully, Applejack was able to catch Twilight thanks to her own strength, knocking away several large bags that flew in their direction as well. “Sorry about that everyone,” came the voice on the loudspeaker. “There seems to be some trouble on the tracks. Please be patient as we sort this out as quickly as possible.” “What do you think it is?” asked Twilight as she got up. “Who cares?” cried Sonata as she held up the remains of her homework. “Now I have to start all over again. All. Over. Again. It’s not fair!” As Sonata cried loudly, Applejack moved to the window to take a peek to see if she could spot anything. At first, the only thing she noticed was all of the conductors getting out of the train and heading towards the front. For some reason, a wave of dread began to wash over her, chilling the teen to the bone. Each second, the pounding of her heart seemed to grow larger and larger until it was the only thing she could hear. Then after several minutes, something was pushed into her view. It was a car so old that it had to be a classic or something. An old white convertible if she had to guess, it was hard to tell due to all the dust. But, if she wasn’t mistaken, that was Chili Pepper’s car. His pride and joy when he was her age! Worse was that it was decorated with the skulls of dead animals spelling the warning: keep out. -x- An hour and a half later found the girls at their destination. The rest of the trip had been taken in almost complete silence except for the sound of pencil against paper as Sonata continued to do her homework. Not even Pinkie tried to take their mind off what they had seen after Applejack had shared what it was. She too was shaken by what it was and what it could very well mean. Now, with them being the only four to get off the train, looking around made that sense of dread feel all the worse. There was just nobody around. No one was waiting for the train to arrive, not travels or even station attendants. The wind blew trash and dust all over the place with graffiti all over the walls. If AJ hadn’t known any better, she would have thought that this place was no longer in service. “Are you sure we have the right place?” asked Sonata as she tugged a little on her backpack’s strap, glancing behind her at the train which had not departed yet. Rather than answer her verbally, Applejack raised a hand and pointed to a hanging sign. The words ‘Rancho Bronco’ could just barely be seen beneath the paint and pigeon droppings that coated it. No one said anything to this, all of the girls shrugging in defeat as they walked away from the train and their main means of escape from this place. Outside the train station, things weren’t any better. Nothing more than what appeared to be a deserted town. Yet, as the girls passed by building after building on their way to the sheriff’s office, they couldn’t help but feel they were being watched. That didn’t bother Applejack none as she followed her phone’s GPS to their destination, but even she noticed people watching them from inside the buildings out of the corners of her eyes. Questions began to go through Applejack’s mind. The biggest one was: how could this have happened without word getting out? One would think something like this would have sparked the media’s attention. Them news vultures should have been here in mass, covering everything and everyone they could while politicians tried to blame the other party for what happened. If there was some sort of trouble, shouldn’t the state police be investigating this? Or if this was the start of the zombie plague wouldn’t the CDC have roped the area off? Heck, maybe even a few MyStable posts should have been posted. For several minutes the girls walked through the desolate town, wishing to see a car pass them by just to see somebody out on the streets other than themselves. As they drew near the local hospital, a large seven or eight story building, a loud beeping sound broke the silence and nearly caused Applejack to jump from surprise. Turning around, she saw that Pinkie and Sonata were also looking at Twilight who had worried look on her face as she pulled out her magical detection device from her pocket. However, before she could open it, a man was flung through the glass doors of the hospital emergency entrance. The man landed in front of them, his silver skin looking heavily bruised with white hair a mess and glasses cracked. Judging from the fact that he was wearing a lab coat and had been flung from the hospital the Applejack assumed he was a doctor. Slowly he made gasping noises as he stared up at the sky before his body seemed to age rapidly right before their eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack saw her friends looks of shock and Pinkie even covered her mouth in horror at what they were seeing. Then came the laughter. As the doctor took on the appearance of a living mummified man, the girls turned to look at the person walking calmly out of the hospital. It was a hulking teenage boy who looked close to their age with grey skin and brown hair which had been styled in a way to make it look like he had horns. The teen didn’t wear a shirt, just an open leather vest to show off his chiseled body along with ripped jeans. Then there was the gem around his neck, a green emerald like rock that seemed to have steel unicorn’s head melted into its center. It glowed an eerie green color as the teens muscles began to ripple and grow, making him look more powerful. Definitely signs of Equestrian magic in Applejack’s book. At least he hadn’t turned into some sort of monster…yet. “Well, well,” said the teenager as the doctor moaned for help. “Look at what we have here. A couple of girls who decided to go out for some fresh air.” “What in Sam Hill is going on here?!” demanded Applejack as she moved in front of the fallen doctor. “What rock have you been sleeping under?” asked the teen with a laugh. “You should know by now that this is our town and, by our rules, the only people allowed outside when the sun is up are members of the Stampede Gang.” He then gave them a nasty grin. “That guy behind you, he stupidly went to help another fool who went outside so he got what was coming to him. And, unless you all want to end up like that, then you’d better making it worth my while or else duel me!” “Fine then,” said Twilight as she stepped forward. After taking hold of her gem, the doctor was gently levitated away and place on the street not too far away from them. The teenage boy looked surprised by this, jaw dropping as he stood there looking confused. The man looked slightly panicked at the noise, but didn’t say anything else. All eyes were on Twilight as she pulled out another device and put her gem into it after attaching it to her wrist. In a heartbeat, a row of purple stars, five in total, appeared in front of it. “I’ll duel you.” “You…You have magic too!” shouted the teen, eyes bugging out a bit. “And its different from what we all have. Amazing.” The teen quickly raised his hands out in a calm down gesture as a grin appeared on his face. “Well this changes everything. Listen, there’s no need for us to do this. The name’s Bull Ring and the Stampede Gang would love to have you join our ranks. Heck, all of you if you have the power to pull your own weight. Plus it would be a bonus to us having girls who are actual hotties instead of the one we do have.” “Not a chance,” replied Twilight while inserting her deck. “There’s no way I’d join a gang.” “Ah, but aren’t you sort of in a gang already?” asked Pinkie Pie, raising her hand up into the air as if she were in case. “I mean, there are eight of us who hang out and we do nearly everything together and we sometimes call ourselves-” “That’s not what I meant Pinkie,” shouted Twilight. “I mean a criminal gang, not a gang of friends!” Bull, meanwhile, shook his head as he lowered his hands. “Well that ain’t the smartest move I’ve ever seen,” he said as he raised his dueling arm up. “You’ve seen what our magic can do. It drains the life out of whoever loses a duel to us and then transfers that life to us. We become stronger and healthier with each person we defeat. Perhaps when it happens to you, your friends will make a smarter decision.” “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 Twilight while the other was a mugshot of Bull Ring. 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 Bull Ring. “Ha! Well ain’t that lucky!” cried Bull Ring as both he and Twilight drew cards from their decks. Once he had six cards in his hand, Bull looked them over with savage superiority. “I’ll start by playing the field spell: Geartown!” Instantly the area around the two began to change as buildings made of metal and gears began to spring out from the ground. Both Pinkie and Sonata let out cries of surprise, grabbing hold of Applejack from either side as she herself looked on the rising smokestacks that let out their vile pollution into the sky. “Like it? With this card in play I can normal summon my Ancient Gear monsters with one less tribute. But then again, while it’s a nice place to visit I wouldn’t want to live here. So I’ll play the spell card Ancient Gear Catapult! When I have no monsters on my side of the field I can use this card to destroy one card on my side of the field and then special summon one Ancient Gear monster from my deck ignoring the summoning conditions. So say goodbye to Geartown and hello to Ancient Gear Golem!” “Hello,” Pinkie and Sonata said together as they let go of Applejack. At the same time, the city of gears that surrounded them began to rust, crumble, and fall apart. As it did, a large figure rose from the rubble. A towering humanoid machine that looked like it had seen better days. Despite having 3000 attack points, the machine looked like it needed new armor plating to protect its exposed gears and had a single glowing red eye. “But that’s not all that I’m summoning!” continued Bull Ring as the destroyed city began to shake. “When Geartown is destroyed I can special summon another Ancient Gear monster from my hand, deck, or graveyard. However, this card doesn’t allow me to ignore the monster’s summoning requirements. Now rise up Ancient Gear Wyvern!” Rising up from the rubble before it vanished was a light teal machine shaped like a dragon with a large gear coming out of its body in between its wings. With 1700 attack points it rose into the sky as it flapped its metal wings. “Now that my Wyvern is on the field, its effect activates,” said Bull as his duel disk beeped. “I can add to my hand any Ancient Gear card from my deck. Like say Ancient Gear Hunting Hound which I will then summon to the field in attack mode!” Appearing on the field was a dark green machine that somewhat resembled a dog with large fangs on its underjaw and a large yellow gear on its underbelly. Its attack point were 1000. “When normal summoned, this monster burns you for 600 points of damage! Literally!” Ancient Gear Hunting Hound opened its jaw revealing a flamethrower inside. Before Applejack could tell Twilight to look out, a large stream of flame shot out towards the purple skinned duelist. Twilight’s body was covered by the flames, her screams echoing across the empty streets as her life points dropped to 7400. “Feels real, don’t it?” commented Bull as the flames continued. “That’s because our magic makes all the damage you take real! So tremble as I-” Bull looked shocked for, at that moment, the flames died down and there stood Twilight looking singed but otherwise fine. “Wait, why aren’t you scared? Everybody I’ve done that to becomes a nervous wreck!” “This isn’t the first time this has happened to me,” replied Twilight. Bull swore loudly, causing Pinkie to cover her ears with cotton candy. “Well that changes things then. Thankfully my Hunting Hound has another trick he can use. Once per turn, this card lets me fusion summon one of my Ancient Gear monsters using monsters from my hand or field. So I’ll fuse my Hunting Hound with my Wyvern!” Applejack watched as Twilight’s free hand tightened into a fist as a vortex appeared above their heads, pulling the two mechanical monsters towards the sky. Like she was bracing herself for what was to come. “Gears of the dog and dragon turn as the clock ticks by. Rusted, but not forgotten, combine to bring war to this modern era. Fusion Summon Ancient Gear Howitzer!” Landing on two legs next to Ancient Gear Golem, and just as large, a mechanized dragon slammed into the earth. Most of its plating was missing, showing off multiple spots where its gears were sticking out as they turned rapidly. It had no claws or hands, but three massive cannons sticking out of its arms. Its attack points were 1000. “Now I active this machine’s effect!” shouted Bull as he stomped his foot on the ground. “If 600 points of burn damage didn’t bother you then maybe 1000 points will!” The cannons on Howitzer moved ever so slowly until they pointed at Twilight. With an ear splitting boom they fired at her one by one, hitting the ground so hard that the pavement erupted around her and sent Twilight flying backwards. Applejack and the other winced as their friend landed on her back and continued to skid for a few yards before finally stopping. As her life points dropped to 6400, Twilight struggled to stand up. The damage wasn’t pretty. The right lens of her glasses had cracked and there were several cuts on her face, probably due to the last explosion. Her blouse was ripped in the back, revealing parts of her bare skin as well as blood. Not a lot thankfully but enough to be noticed. “You’re not looking too hot,” commented Bull as Twilight stumbled to return to her former position. “Tell you what, since I’m such a nice guy, we can end this duel right here and call it a draw. All you have to do is promise to work with us. Sounds like a good deal, right?” Applejack watched as Twilight took several deep breaths before answering. “Is it my turn yet?” That got a small chuckle out of Bull. “Yeah, I guess it is,” he said. “Good,” said Twilight as she drew, now holding six cards in her hand. “I’ll start by summoning Genex Ally Duradark in attack mode!” After placing the card on her duel disk, a beam of pixels shot down from the sky and ‘flipped’ before striking the ground to reveal Duradark. An android made of mostly black material with blue circuitry glowing all over its metallic body and a red visor with computer code running across it. It appeared on the field with its arms crossed as if to give itself a look of utter confidence. Its attack points were 1800. “Next I’ll play the spell card: One for one,” continued Twilight with a smile as she inserted the card. At the same time, Duradark turned its head to look at Twilight and gave her a solid nod of approval. “By discarding a card in my hand, I can search my deck for a level one monster and special summon it to the field. Genex Ally Changer will be discarded so that I can special summon Genex Recycled to the field.” Another pixelated beam appeared on Twilight’s side of the field, ‘flipping’ to reveal a monster that was less impressive than Duradark. It was a small monster, barely going past Twilight’s knee with a large square head. Recycled had exposed wires wrapped around its arms and coming out of its legs as it sat there, staring up towards the sky with a dead look in its unblinking eyes. “Ha!” laughed Bull as he pointed to Recycled. “What can that puny thing do?” “Something really special,” replied Twilight, taking Bull by surprise. “Recycled is a monster who remembers those Genex monsters who rest in the graveyard. To honor them and continue the fight, he’ll take on their names. Like right now he’ll take on the name Genex Ally Changer!” If something amazing was to happen, Applejack didn’t see it. All she saw were Recycled’s eyes blinking for a bit. “It might not seem amazing on its own, but when I use this effect with Machine Duplication I can summon to the field two more Genex Ally Changers!” A large holographic version of Twilight’s spell card appeared on the field right before several large mechanical arms began to come out of it. Many of these arms ended with things like welding torches and cutting saws with others carried in their claw like hands metal and wires. Together they worked assembling two more monsters to Twilight’s side. “No way,” growled Bull as he checked his duel disk. “There’s no way you can do that. Machine Duplication only works on monsters with 500 or less attack points! Genex Ally Changer has 1200 attack points!” “Actually there are ways around that restriction,” said Twilight as her two new monsters were finished being assembled. Both were mostly white androids with green bits on their arms and legs. In addition, it also had a yellow visor in place of a face. “See, the monster that is targeted needs to have 500 or less attack points. Meaning if you can adjust its attack points or change the name of a monster with the desired attack points, you can then pull out higher attack point monsters from your deck.” Bull Ring frowned at that but said nothing, eyeing Twilight’s four monsters in an unimpressed fashion. And, if she were being honest, Applejack couldn’t blame him. None of those monsters had the power to take down either Bull’s giant machines. Not to mention Twilight had just three more cards in her hand. Perhaps one of them might be able to help. “With both of my Changers on the field, I’ll activate their effect allowing me to change the attribute of one monster on the field,” explained Twilight before pointing towards one of them. “Changer number one will turn itself into a fire attribute and Changer number two will turn Duradark into an earth.” Applejack watched as Twilight’s monsters went to work. The first one pressed a few buttons on its arm before a bubble or field formed around it that was shaded red. The second one did the same only it pointed a hand at Duradark before a beam shot out of it, surrounding their fellow machine with a more earthy toned field. “With that set, I am ready to Synchro Summon!” announced Twilight as she pointed to the sky. “I tune my level one tuner Genex Recycled with my two level three Genex Ally Changers to Synchro Summon Genex Ally Triforce!” At that moment, Recycled managed to jump into the air and became a single green ring which both Changers jumped into. Once inside of the rings the Changers turned into six stars before a bright light engulfed them. “Circuits connect opening new pathways to victory. The addition of fire will bring about blazing glory. Synchro Summon Level 7: Genex Ally Triforce!” As the light faded, a metallic white figure landed on the ground in the classic superhero knee fashion. It was large, standing much taller than Twilight with a red visor covering its face. Most of its body looked smooth and well rounded except for its chest which stuck out a bit. One of its hands was not a hand, but instead a blaster with three muzzles with different colors (red, brown, and black) in a triangular design. The gun arm spun around, stopping with a loud click as the red muzzle was seated at the top. After standing, it turned to look at Twilight before giving a thumbs up as its 2500 attack points were proudly displayed. “With that set, I play the spell card Iron Draw!” continued Twilight. “This spell card allows me to draw two more cards as long as I have exactly two machine effect monsters and nothing else. Also for the rest of this turn I can only special summon one more time.” With that, the number of cards in Twilight’s hand rose to four. However, Applejack noted that Twilight didn’t look too pleased by what she saw. Like she had been hoping to get something else but didn’t get it. “Time to take out your monsters starting with Ancient Gear Golem,” said Twilight as she focused on the problem before her. “I activate Duradark’s special ability which allows him to destroy one monster on your side of the field with the same attribute as his own. And since he’s an earth type right now…” Twilight let her words hang as Duradark raised a hand towards Ancient Gear Golem. Applejack watched as a hole opened up in its hand and began to suck up everything within the area. Trash and rubble were sucked inside while Ancient Gear Golem’s feet were dragged across the street damaging the pavement as it went. But the closer it got, the faster it seemed to be pulled in until it too was sucked up. “No! My Golem!” shouted Bull. “It’s your turn now Triforce!” shouted Twilight as she pointed at Ancient Gear Howitzer. “Time for battle. Take out his Howitzer!” Holding his weapon in front of him, Genex Ally Triforce’s weapon began to spin as a large black orb appeared in front of it before launching at Bull’s remaining monster. Bull cried out as his machine broke apart right before his eyes in the blast while his life points dropped to 6500. Applejack watched him open his mouth to say something, probably to voice how glad he was that it was in defense mode and that he wouldn’t be taking any damage, when Triforce appeared with its weapon pointed directly in his face. “Now Triforce’s effect activates. Since I used a fire attribute monster to Synchro Summon him, he deals damage equal to the destroyed monsters attack points.” Flames shot out of Triforce’s weapon, burning Bull until his life points dropped to 5500. When it was over, Triforce bent its knees before leaping into the air and landing in front of Twilight. “That…hurt,” grunted Bull as he placed a hand over his heart. Parts of his body looked singed, smoke rising up as he breathed deeply. “I’ll show you! I activate the effect of my Howitzer! When its destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard I get to special summon one Ancient Gear monster from my deck while ignoring the summoning conditions. So guess who’s coming back?!” From the fallen debris rose another Ancient Gear Golem. Twilight frown. “I’ll end my turn,” she said. “And at this time, the effect of Changer ends allowing Duradark to return to his original attribute.” “Goodie, my turn,” laughed Bull. With five cards in hand, he looked down at them for a second before pulling three of them out. “Time I took this a bit more seriously. I use the spell card Polymerization to fuse the Ancient Gear Golem on my field with the Ancient Gear Gadget and Ancient Gear Box in my hand to create one of the most powerful cards in the game!” Bull threw back his head and laughed as his monster rose up into the sky followed by the shadowy images of his other two monsters. “Cower before the metal giant, with might unmatched by any other! The combined might of three machines, built on the foundation of the Golem, makes it possible! Fusion Summon: Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!” What crashed down from the sky landed with enough force to shatter every window down the street, glass raining down as far as Applejack could see. Standing above Bull was Ancient Gear Golem with a serious upgrade. For one thing his body now resembled that of a centaur. His size had either doubled or tripled while one of his hands had been replaced with a weapon like Triforce’s. Only it was more medieval in Applejack’s opinion compared to the high tech blaster Triforce used. It was a bulky, three clawed hand with two gears coming out of it. And judging by its 4400 attack points, it would hurt a lot. “He looks familiar,” muttered Sonata as she looked up at Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem with a deadpan expression. “Sort of reminds me of this jerk Aria dated for a while when we were all living in Equestria. Can’t really remember the name, but he had a cute brother.” “Beg for mercy little girl!” shouted Bull. “Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, destroy that puny monster!” Everyone watched as Bull’s monster pulled back its weaponized hand before thrusting it at Duradark who stood ready to take it. When the attack hit, Applejack expected Twilight’s monster to be destroyed instantly. Only, it didn’t. It grabbed hold of two of the three claws and held on for dear life while darkly colored sparks ran up and down its legs. As the seconds ticked by, Duradark seemed to take on more damage. The dark sparks began to cover its entire body while its visor cracked. At the same time the gears on Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem’s weapon began to spin faster until smoke began to come out of it. Eventually Duradark’s body gave out, losing its grip moments before it got smashed. As Duradark exploded with its limbs and body parts flying in every direction right before they exploded as well, Applejack saw Triforce holding Twilight as he put his back towards the explosive to protect her from the flying rubble. Shielding her. “Now you see how powerless you are against me,” said Bull with a grin as Twilight’s life points dropped to 3800. “Not only does this monster have high attack points, but it has some powerful effects as well! Putting your monsters in defense mode will not protect you because this thing does piercing damage so there is no point in stalling! But, even if you do somehow manage to destroy it, I can just summon an Ancient Gear Golem from my grave to replace it. So no matter how you slice it, nothing in your deck can save you!” “You’re wrong,” said Twilight as Triforce released her, taking a step back and standing beside her. “I believe in the deck I built and the monsters within it. There is a way to take down your monster.” Triforce folded his arms as Twilight said this before nodding in agreement. “Whatever, just take your turn,” said a dismissive Bull. “But just to let you know, I have never lost after summoning this bad boy.” Twilight said nothing as she drew her card and began to look at the five cards in her hand. With each passing moment, Applejack’s heart began to beat a little faster and harder in her chest. “Ok, Twilight is still in this,” whispered Pinkie. “But it’s a pity she took out her old Scrap Iron Scarecrow. If Twilight still had that card in her deck then, and had drawn it last turn, she wouldn’t be in this situation.” “That wouldn’t have worked,” said Applejack as she shook her head. “Granny Smith also plays that deck an I can tell ya’ll a thing or two about it. That there monster, when it attacks Twi ain’t allowed to activate traps. Meaning it’s free ta swing away without worry.” Applejack then clenched her fists. “Dang it Twi, why did ya have ta duel him like this when the stakes are so high. If ya lose then you’ll be-” Applejack was interrupted by a hand being placed on her shoulder. Looking over she saw that it was Sonata who was keeping her eyes on Twilight. “Don’t worry, she knows what she’s doing,” said the former Siren. “Twilight has been working on that deck and practicing with it nearly every day since I started living with her. Plus she’s super duper smart. Even if she had only one life point left, I still think she would be able to turn this around somehow.” Applejack frowned. “It’s not like ah don’t have any faith in her,” she muttered. “But with things the way they are-” “Got it,” said Twilight loudly, causing Applejack to turn her attention back to the duel. Twilight was now looking at Bull with utter confidence. “I’ve never had the chance to pull off this combo before, but it will take you down this turn.” “Ha,” laughed Bull as he crossed his arms. “Go ahead and try!” “I play the spell card Iron Call,” announced Twilight. “When I control a machine type monster on the field, I’m allowed to special summon a level four or lower machine type monster in my graveyard. However, its effects are negated and its destroyed at the end of the turn. Come on back Genex Recycled!” Sprouting up from the ground as if he had dug himself out of a shallow grave was Recycled. The machine looked around a bit before its unblinking eyes turned towards Twilight, stumbling over to her before hugging the teenage girl’s leg. “There, there,” said Twilight gently as she patted her Genex monster’s head. “It’ll be ok.” She then looked up at Triforce who was looking back at her. For a moment the two just stared at each other before Triforce nodded, as if he understood what she was planning. “Now I’ll tune my level one tuner Genex Recycled with my level seven Genex Ally Triforce!” A smile appeared on the girl’s face as her two monsters rose up the sky to become a familiar pillar of light. “Circuits charged with more power than ever before. The final upgrade to the Genex line races down the road to place victory in my hands! Synchro Summon Level Eight: Genex Ally Axel!” Landing on the field was another one of Twilight androids, only this one had wheels where its feet should have been which it used to zoom around the field as if it were skating at ninety miles per hour. When it returned to its summoner, Axel shot one of its legs forwards while the other bent low so it could twirl around in place before standing with a fist pump toward the sky. Everyone there looked at the now still robot with its white steel coat, purple visor, odd looking hoop attached to its back, and what looked like a card launcher attached to one of its arms. Its attack points were 2600. “HA!” laughed Bull as Axel moved besides Twilight, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Is that the best you got? A monster with only one hundred attack points more than what you had?” “No,” said Twilight as she sent a card from her hand to the graveyard. “I’ve got something a bit better in mind. I activate Axel’s effect which allows me to special summon one Genex monster from the graveyard as long as its level four or below. Return to the field Genex Recycled!” A card shot out of Axel’s card launcher which he caught and held up in front of him. The hoop attached to his back began to fill with a golden light before there was a sudden flash and, when it cleared, Recycled returned to the field. “Now I’ll tune him with my level eight Axel!” “And what good will that do you?” laughed Bull. “A monster with 2700 attack points?” Twilight didn’t respond as the pillar of light appeared on her side of the field, instead beginning her chant. “Massive power is built up from within, traveling through time and space. Connect and upgrade once again so that all may see the light! Synchro Summon Level Nine: Locomotion R-Genex!” As Twilight finished her chant the pillar of light faded while heavy clouds filled the sky above them. Music could be heard coming out from the sky along with the sound of a train whistle. As the music soared in triumphant harmony, Locomotion came out of the clouds causing the sky to instantly clear up. Locomotion R-Genex was a machine with 2500 attack points, looking very much like an old fashioned black train but in a humanoid form. It had no hands or feet, just arms and legs that ended in cannons. In its chest was a circular white light that shined brightly as the whistle blew once more from behind its tiny head. “HA! All that work for a weaker monster!” laughed Bull. As he laughed, he failed to notice the light coming from Locomotion’s chest hitting his fusion monster. Streams of data code began to move across the field through that light and, when it was finished, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem began to move across the field. With each step it took the earth trembled under its mighty weight, gaining the attention of Bull. “Wh-What’s going on here?” “Locomotion R-Genex has a powerful effect,” said Twilight as the fusion monster stood behind her. “When its synchro summoned, he takes control of the monster on your side of the field with the highest level. With this you’re field is wide open! Both monsters attack him directly!” “I was careless!” screamed Bull as Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem’s clawed hand came barreling towards him. The teen screamed louder as he was crushed against the ground, eyes bulging while his life points dropped to 1100. Slowly he began to get into a sitting position right as Locomotion fired double beam cannons at him, the force of which slid his body against the payment and broken glass until his life points hit zero. As the duel finished, Bull’s gem exploded into thousands of green shards. Everyone there watched as the teenager began to scream, his body convulsing wildly before it began to deflate. The muscle mass he had began to lessen until he was barely better than a stick figure while his skin took on an unhealthy gloss. In fact, everything about him looked sickly! At the same time the doctor that they had rescued began to look more like he did before, his body returning to the state it had been in before. By the time it was done it was like nothing had happened. However the same could not be said for Twilight. As the holograms vanished, the wounds she had taken during the duel took their toll on her as she collapsed onto the ground. -x- “Thanks for taking a look at Twi Doc,” said Applejack. “Not a problem,” replied the Doctor without looking up from his work. “It’s the least I can do for her.” Twilight was lying on her back, wincing in pain as the doctor cleaned her cuts and removed whatever stray glass was still lodged in her skin. Bandages were wrapped around her arms which had already been treated. It had been twenty minutes since the duel had ended and she had been brought into the hospital. Entering the emergency entrance was something of a surprise for the girls who had expected it to look just as run down as the rest of the town. That was not the case as it seemed to be well kept and sterile looking. They could all smell the bleach used to wash the floors and the plain white walls looked completely clean of anything. But what was odd was that the waiting room had been completely cleared out and the chairs that would normally be there for waiting patients were replaced with cots. Many of those cots were filled by people who had resembled what the doctor had been, people who looked like they had turned a hundred and just moaned while they stared at the ceiling. Yet there were a few people who had jumped for joy when they came in, dancing around in their hospital gowns as if a miracle had just happened. Applejack supposed that maybe they too had been cured, like the Doc had. As Pinkie Pie began handing out slices of cake to all those who had been healed (where she got those slices Applejack didn’t want to know), Applejack glanced over three cots from where they stood. Bull laid in that cot, his arms and legs strapped to it while four nurse carrying brooms and mops watched him. All of them looked on edge, flinching every time the teen twitched. While she could blame them after seeing what she had seen, he didn’t look in any shape to be causing any trouble. “Is he going to be ok?” asked Sonata. Apparently she had followed the apple farmer’s gaze. “No clue,” muttered the doctor, his tone harsh. “If it weren’t for the oath I took, I would have gladly left him to rot out there like him and his friends have done to so many.” “What the Sam Hill happened here?” demanded Applejack, earning a brief glance from the doctor. “Ah mean, Ah get this letter from the sheriff telling me ta come down an that mah great uncle is missing but he failed ta mention the town had been taken over like this! Shouldn’t he have called the state police or something?” “Must of sent the letter before things got really bad,” whispered the doctor as he pulled out another piece of glass from Twilight’s back. “To be honest, we’re still in the dark of exactly what’s going on here as well. Most of what I believe happened is nothing more than guesswork, patched together from rumors and what I saw with my own eyes. Some of it I still have a hard time believing. Don’t know how they’re doing all of this.” Before he continued, the doctor shot another look at Bull while his eyes narrowed. “That punk and his friends, they came to town about a year or so ago as part of a work release program. That fool Chili Pepper was the one who brought them in thinking he could turn their lives around. Heh, fat lot of good it did since he was the only one they seemed to listen to. Probably because they knew if they ever got him angry enough he’d ship them back to their cells so they could finish out their sentences like they should have been! But to everyone else, all they ever did was give lip and cause trouble.” “Doctor,” came a firm tone behind the girls causing they to jump. They turned around to see a nurse carrying a shirt that looked like it came from the gift shop as well as a lab coat and replacement glasses for Twilight. There was a frown on her face as she glared at the doctor before setting the small bundle down next to Twilight’s cot. “You know Chili Pepper was only doing what he thought was right. There’s no need to be bad mouthing him, not at a time like this.” “If he hadn’t brought those punks here then we wouldn’t be in this mess,” replied the doctor stubbornly as he finished patching up Twilight. He then turned around to allow Twilight to get changed properly, without having her feel nervous with him watching. “Ok,” said Applejack as she got in between the two. “So mah Great Granduncle brought them here. How in the heck did they get magical powers?” The doctor shook his head. “That we don’t know. A week ago those work release brats started dueling people in the middle of the streets. We all saw our friends and neighbors have this happen to them as those thugs seem to get stronger! Don’t know how they got they got this power, but if I had to guess it might come from the green gems they wore around their necks.” “Haven’t ya’ll tried fighting back?” asked Applejack as Pinkie bounced back towards the group. The doctor responded by towards one of the mummified people in the far back. “That there was Sheriff Tumble Weed. Tried getting some outside help, but they treated it like a joke and I don’t blame them for thinking so. If someone had called me up and told me what was going on here I’d think they had one too many to drink. When that didn’t work he tried to get as many of our best duelists together to try and stop them. You can see how well that went. So the town’s mostly just given up. Anybody they see walking about the town during the day, they duel them. Before the sun rises, we have to lay out tributes in front of our homes or else they break down the doors and force us to duel them. Heck, if they don’t have a deck they give whoever it is they’re challenging a starter deck just so they can duel!” “Well, the good news is that we know how to turn people back,” said Twilight, getting the attention of everyone. She now wore a pink blouse with a teddy bear hugging a red heart on it which she quickly covered up with her lab coat. The glasses were also a size or three too large for her, but it seemed she could see just fine with them. “And we have dealt with this kind of thing before. It has to be ancient Equestrian magic that was brought here via the portal. Let me just call up Sunset so she can ask the Princess about what it might be. The more information we have the better.” As the doctor and nurse looked at each other in confusion, Applejack watched as Twilight pulled out her phone before pressing a button on it with Sunset’s picture. “I wonder what it is this time,” said Pinkie as she leaned against the opposite wall. “I bet whatever magical thingy these guys are using was used by some super big bad guy back in Equestria. Maybe something that allowed him to steal the strength of other ponies so he could become the biggest and baddest one around.” “Well it’s not like it’s a unique power,” said Sonata. “Remember that guy I mentioned before, the one that dated my sister? He had this power that let him gobble up magic like it was Taco Tuesday so he could get all buff. That and it turned him into a bigger jerk since he stomped all over my seashell collection. Never apologized, just laughed like a crazy horse-thing. There were also stories I heard about a bell that this goat or ram or maybe-” “Wait, WHAT?!?” shouted Twilight so loudly that it made Applejack jump three feet in the air. She, along with the others, turned to look at their purple friend to find her holding the phone with both hands while her mouth hung open. After a minute or two of silence she pulled the phone away and pressed a button. “Ok, I’ve got you on speaker. Could you repeat what you just told me?” “Gems with steel unicorns melted on top that suck out a person’s strength? Twilight, I hate to say this but this time it isn’t ancient Equestrian magic,” said Sunset’s voice from the other side of the phone. “Well, it is Equestrian magic. That much is obvious. But those gems were created back when I was a little filly.” All of the girls looked at each other in equal confusion. “What?” asked Pinkie, the first to break the silence. Sunset let out a sigh. “Ok, this goes back to when I first became Princess Celestia’s student. At the time, there had been a small breakout causing some of the upper crust of the capital to get a little worried. Everypony knew it was possible for the magical dampening rings to be removed or that the chains holding down pegasi and earth ponies could break if the magic infused in them wasn’t regularly recharged. I guess this one breakout really shook them up since it was the first one that happened in the last couple hundred years. Kind of blew it out of proportion if you ask me. “Anyways, this group of unicorns began to experiment with a better way of keeping prisoners in check. The idea was to suck out all the magic and physical strength of the convicts so that they would be unable to ever break free with it all returned after their sentence was finished. They called it the Gem of Dominance. Really should have gotten a better marketing pony on it because it sounds like something a villain would create.” “Wow, Princess Celestia really went to the dark side if she oked this,” commented Sonata. “She didn’t,” said Sunset quickly. “I was there when it was pitched to her and, well, she hated the idea. The whole idea of having an object with a unicorn on it with that sort of name didn’t sit well with her at all. Neither did the fact that the gem didn’t contain what was stolen, but instead transferred it to the wielder. If it were ever used, even if it was just for its intended purpose, it would tell the ponies of Equestria that unicorns were the dominant tribe rather than one of three equals. Then she had to consider it being used as, well, a tool of domination against other ponies. Rather than just telling them no, Princess Celestia ordered all of their research confiscated and forbade them to ever work on the gems again. As for the gems that were made she said she would dispose of them in a place where nopony would ever find them. Guess she must of used the portal.” As Sunset said this, Applejack could feel her eye beginning to twitch. She could somewhat picture how it all happened. In her mind, Principal Celestia (she had no idea what the pony version of her looked like and it was just easier to imagine her like this) was carrying a bunch of gems to a magical portal thingy before tossing them in and walking away, brushing off her hands as she went. Looking around, it seemed like Twilight, Sonata, and Pinkie Pie were having the same reaction. “Well, she was tutored by Star Swirl,” muttered Sonata with a deadpan look. “Guess she took up his habit of ‘making it somepony else’s problem’.” “Haha,” laughed Sunset nervously when nobody voiced any disagreement to that. “Well to be fair, all Princess Celestia knew was that there wasn’t any magic on this side of the portal. I think she hoped that they would just be inert or something.” Applejack let out a sigh. “Well, at least we know we can fight them and return everything that was stolen by beating them in a duel. Say Twi, how many of them new duel disks did’ja bring?” “Only the one,” replied Twilight as a light blush of embarrassment appeared on her cheeks. “And this is the prototype that I let Pinkie Pie use that one time. The final models are right now being finished back in my lab.” “Well then ya best be letting us handle the rest of the dueling,” said Applejack. “Now let's go get them varmints!” -x- At the same time, a lone figure stood in the middle of the main road leading into town. His name was Raging Bull, a short teenage boy with brown skin and black hair that was cut so short it might as well have been a buzz cut. Sweat ran down his white shirt and legs, staining his jeans slightly as he squinted outwards in what seemed to be miles of nothing. Well, mostly nothing. The boss and his girl had sent him out because one of the cameras that had been set up by the former sheriff had picked up somebody coming this way. And it was his job to make sure they were never heard from again. Spitting on the ground, Raging wondered why they were staying in this dumpster of a town. With the power they had at their fingertips, they could be out there doing so much more! They could go to one of the bigger cities and take over the criminal underworld. They could live like those criminals he read about in the comics and saw in the movies. The good, easy life. And maybe they would have if Long Horn hadn’t taken a liking to that girl who arrived with them. The sound of an engine roaring off in the distance caught Raging’s attention as something came into view. It was a motorcycle with one of those passenger compartments attached to it. As it got closer, the teenager could make out a teenage girl looking like she had stepped out of the 80’s driving it without a helmet. Next to her was a chubby, bucktoothed boy who was holding on for dear life. As they came barreling down at high speeds, Raging began to wonder if standing in the middle of the road was a good idea. It didn’t look like she was going to slow down anytime soon and, if she didn’t want to run him down, she could very easily go around him. Heck, how was he supposed to stop her anyways? Sure the strength he had stolen gave him incredible strength, but none of them had tested their defense. As Raging considered leaping to the side and telling Long Horn he had tried, the bike skidded to a halt. Eventually it stopped several yards in front of him while the girl leapt off her seat, her back leaning against the bike. On her wrist was a black duel disk that looked like it was custom built. The life point read out display was smaller and shoved all the way into the top to make way for a twelve pointed leaf shutter thingy. “Howdy there partner,” she said as her eyes became hungry. Hungry for what, he had no idea but it gave him the shivers “Just heard that there’s some magic to be had in these here parts. Mind showing a girl just how much you boys have?” Raging blinked, keeping his eyes on the girl as her partner tried to get out of the passenger compartment only to fall flat on his face. How did this girl find out about the magic? And why was she making him feel so…uncomfortable? “Sorry,” replied Raging as he activated his duel disk. “But the magic here is taken. And I can’t let you leave knowing what you know.” To his surprise, the girl’s smile grew. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she said as she activated her own duel disk.