“Victory is mine in this duel,” said the teen in front of Moondancer smugly, crossing his arms across his yellow shirt. His slicked black hair shined brightly in the morning light. That same light also reflected upon his monster, Water Dragon, which had just destroyed Moondancer’s best monster. “As you can see I’ve done all the math. It was a simple calculation on my part.”
In return, Moondancer gave in the most appropriate expression possible in this situation: deadpanned. Ashes danced across her empty field as she pulled out her phone to check the time. Slightly wincing she saw that there was still thirty minutes before the first bell rang. She still needed to get to her locker, collect her things, and be seated. After she finished this duel that is. Honestly, she wished this idiot had challenged her at a less pressing time, making a racket while he did so until she accepted. Not to mention that little add-on challenge that if he won, she would step down from representing Canterlot High on the math team. No way could she just give up now.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” said Moondancer as she slid her phone back into her pocket. “Are you finished with your turn or are you going to monologue for a bit?”
Her opponent gritted his teeth a bit at that, only to sigh a moment later. “Yes, well, I end my turn,” he said.
“Then I draw,” announced Moondancer. As she took her card, her side of the field erupted with flames. They danced about as they rose high into the sky, shifting from red to a ghostly blue. The Water Dragon before her looked around as if confused as steam began to rise from its body. As for her opponent, he was looking around with his mouth hanging open in clear confusion.
“What…What is this?” he shouted as a figure appeared behind Moondancer. The teenager’s legs gave way, falling on his rear creating the cracking sound that is made when a calculator is crushed. There must have been one in his back pocket. Not that it mattered to him as he raised a hand and pointed at the monster coming out of the flames. “It can’t be! I destroyed that thing with my monster!”
“Sorry,” said Moondancer as a small smile appeared on her face as another one of her monsters appeared on the field. At the same time her duel disk began to blink, signaling her of some of her other monster effects she could now activate. “But if the math you claim to have done was simple two plus two then you clearly haven’t done enough.”
-
“Honestly Applejack,” said Rarity as she glared at her friend. The two girls had been walking down the hallway, having just left their lockers when Applejack had given the most undignified yawn imaginable. A few people, the fashion girl noticed, had turned their heads to look at them due to the volume.
“Sorry Rares,” replied Applejack as she tried (and failed) to suppress another yawn, “Lots’a stuff happenin’ around the farm. Got that big rodeo comin’ up in a couple of weeks, so there’s a lot ta get ready. Plus Ah had ta pick up a few extra shifts this week at mah job. Had ta cut back on mah sleep in order ta get all mah homework an’ studying done. Barely even had time ta work on mah new deck.”
Rarity let out a hum as they turned a corner. “Well far be it for me to critique someone on cutting back on their sleep. After all, I have been known to do a few all-nighters on some of my most fabulous gowns from time to time.” At this, Rarity noticed Applejack roll her eyes. While she frowned at this gesture she did not allow it to dissuade her from making her point. “However I do try to keep those things on the weekend so that I am caught up on my rest once all is said and done, before I grace the public. It would simply be bad form to go to school where I might drift off to sleep in class. Really, you should consider-wait, you got a new deck?”
At this point, Rarity had spun around so she was now in front of Applejack causing her friend to stop dead in her tracks. It was well known throughout the school that the farmer girl was one of the best duelists in the building. So much so that she was a shoe-in to be nominated to be one of the students to duel the odious Crystal Prep in the Friendship Cup along with the rest of the girls. However, she hadn’t told any one of them that she was thinking of making a new deck! Judging by the sweat running down her face as well as she shifty look in her eyes, it was clear to the fashionista that Applejack had let slip something she had planned on keeping to herself.
Making for extra juicy gossip!
“It ain’t that big a deal,” said Applejack as she continued to look away. “Just thought Ah might try out somethin’ new. Like how you’re getting some of those xyz cards.”
“Getting some extra deck cards is a tad different from making an entirely new deck,” commented Rarity. “Still, I don’t know why you would consider getting rid of your Plant Princesses. Not only are they exquisite but also very powerful with the right combinations. Plus there are not that many plant archetypes.” A thought then crossed her mind causing her to frown. “Please don’t tell me you’re picking up a more garish looking warrior or dinosaur type deck.”
“Dueling ain’t about looking pretty an all that frou-frou nonsense,” stated Applejack as she returned the frown, “An’ for that matter Ah am still usin’ plants. Just a different type so that we’ve a lick of a chance ta beat them Prep students for a change. Plus, this new deck is mighty fun.”
Rarity let out another hum as she took a step back, bringing her hand to her chin as she smiled at Applejack. It was interesting how Applejack had still not mentioned what her new deck was. Looks like she had a chance to play detective! She highly doubted it was an Inmato deck since she barely knew anything about the deck since she never saw anyone play it. Could it be a Sylvan deck? Some of those cards were pretty hard to find and a tad expensive, but it would make sense with all the extra hours she said she was putting in at work. Or perhaps it was an Aroma deck like the one Apple Bloom had. Oh, the bond between sisters was truly an amazing thing. It’d be adorable to see them both using the same decks in a tag team match! Could she be going for a classic like Naturia? Those were some very active cards, even the bugs which was saying something. Was there anything else?
“Darling would you mind giving me a teensy-weensy hint?” she asked while battering her eye lashes.
“Nothing doing Rares,” snorted Applejack as she began to look annoyed now. “Don’t even know if Ah’m gonna be using this here new deck just yet. Mighty fun, but there are some kinks ta work out.” Applejack then frowned a tad deeper as she crossed her arms. “Wanna make sure Ah know what Ah’m doing before Ah head out there so Ah don’t embarrass myself. Which was why Ah didn’t tell nobody. So Ah’d appreciate if ya would kindly not tell the whole school about this.”
“But Applejack, dear, the students have a right to know,” insisted Rarity as Applejack tried to side step her and fail. “We vote on who is going to be representing the school. If they are not aware of all the facts then how can they vote fairly? I mean honestly, me telling a few select people wouldn’t be the end of the world or anythi-”
Rarity’s eyes went wide as a loud thump sounded next to the two girls. At first when they looked to the side they spotted no one there. At least, not until they looked down. On the floor was a scruffy looking girl who, for a moment, reminded Rarity of Twilight. That is until Rarity took in the girl’s full appearance. The first thing she noted was that the girl had on glasses with a damaged looking frame and bandaged in the middle. She had on an ugly sweater that couldn’t have been fashionable even when her grandmother was alive with a purple plaid skirt. As if all of that wasn’t a horrible affront to the fashion sense of everybody, the girl had a bit of her long hair tied to the side of her head while the rest flowed down to her shoulders. Why even have something like that?
After getting past her attire, Rarity began to take notice of the other features of this girl. The colors in the girl’s hair were different than Twilight’s, along with looking like she needed to switch to a different conditioner. Her skin color was again different, clearly needing some work done on it as well. Still, even though Rarity knew this girl wasn’t Twilight, she knew she had seen her somewhere before. But where?
It was only after blinking to try and remove the sight of this from her eyes for a moment that Rarity saw what was around her. The poor girl’s backpack had come undone, causing the items inside to spill around the floor. Yet it hardly surprised Rarity that something like that would happen. Thick books littered the floor, most of them looking three times the size of one of her normal school books, as well as things like note pads and a duel disk. Before she had a chance to move, Applejack was already helping the girl pick up her things.
“Ya ok, Moondancer?” asked Applejack as she grabbed a couple of books.
“Yeah,” replied Moondancer as she scrambled to grab whatever she could, tossing it into her bag quickly. Once that was done, she gently took hold of what Applejack had picked up and held out for her, stuffing that into the bag as well. After zipping up her bag, which looked like it was about to burst at any moment, Moondancer stood up quick and almost fell back down. “Sorry AJ, but I’ve got to get going. The bell’s about to ring. Thanks again.” With that, the girl moved down the hallway as quickly as she could without running.
“Hmm, that girl looks familiar,” said Rarity as she turned to look at Applejack. “Do you by any chance know her? You seemed to be familiar with her.”
“A little,” replied Applejack. “Her name’s Moondancer. Might have seen her during the Autumn Crown. She started up Twilight’s little fan club, the Twilight Sparklers or something like that.”
“Oh yes, now I remember,” said Rarity as she brought a single finger to her chin while looking up at the ceiling. Rarity had heard of them before and perhaps they had even been there when she dueled Twilight for the second time. Honestly, she really didn’t remember much of what was happening around her during that brief time when Equestrian magic overtook her and turned her evil. They had been a thing for a while after the tournament ended, but sort of fell apart once they realized Twilight was gone. As far as Rarity knew, Moondancer was the only member remaining.
“Ta tell the truth, Ah don’t really know her all that well,” continued Applejack as she scratched the back of her head. “Normally see her when Ah’m talkin’ with her boyfriend an-”
“BOYFRIEND?!” shouted Rarity. At once, Rarity’s mind went into fantasy mode. She imagined a handsome man dressed fine suit with tassels on his shoulders in order to make him look regal even though his face was left in shadows. She could see him driving a fancy car to whisk his date away to a fancy dinner and a night of dancing. He would get out, walk to his lady’s house like a gentleman, and ring the bell before waiting there with a rose in his hand. Then Moondancer would come out wearing the same thing she was wearing right now causing the illusion to shatter.
In Rarity’s mind it was such a shame. If Moondancer bothered to take better care of her appearance she could be a real looker, turning the heads of everybody who saw her. In fact, it might be like in the story of Cinderella where the change would be so amazing that nobody would recognize her. A smile appeared on Rarity’s face followed by a burst of laughter that caused Applejack to back away. A modern day Cinderella with her being the lovely Fairy Godmother! Then everybody around her would take notice, wondering how such an amazing transformation could have taken place. Moondancer would of course mention Rarity and her amazing skills at making her look fabulous! Once that happened students would flock to her wanting the same expert skills leading to a complete change in the school!
“Rarity, Ah don’t know what your thinkin’ about but Ah got a feelin’ Ah won’t like it none,” said Applejack as she shook her head.
“Really Applejack,” said Rarity, a small smile upon her lips. “All I am thinking about right now is helping out a fellow student look her very best.” A devilish smiled crossed her lips before taking off, ignoring Applejack protests.
-
Moondancer let out a sigh as she sat down at her desk, backpack laying on the ground beside her. Glancing at the clock, she saw just how close she came to being late today; less than thirty seconds. If she had been late, she would have been locked out for today’s advance trig test and gotten a ZERO! A shudder ran through the girl’s body as she thought of that big, red zero on a blank sheet of paper. If something like that had happened her family would have flipped. She would have had to listen to her sister lecture her for hours followed by her parents wondering if she had too many distractions around her keeping her from reaching her full potential. Worst of all; it might have a negative impact on her future plans.
As Moondancer began looking through her bag for a pencil, she thought of that moron who challenged her to a duel so early in the morning. The one who could have made her late. Last she had seen of him was on the streets after their duel, on his hands and knees looking at the ground as Moondancer passed him by. She had failed to see him running up behind her or anywhere in the school. In fact, he was supposed to be here in this class right now. Moondancer tried to remember if she had seen him on her way in to the classroom but came up with nothing. Was he so ashamed that he lost that duel that he was still there in shock? What a drama queen.
As Moondancer grabbed her pencil, the bell rang and the girl straightened herself up…only to jump in her seat at the figure sitting on the edge of her desk. “Hello darling, I’m Rarity,” said the girl as she stared at Moondancer. “I heard from a friend that you are currently seeing somebody special.”
Moondancer became aware of all the people around her looking at them. “Yes, but I don’t see how-”
“Wonderful!” exclaimed Rarity as she clapped her hands. “Now, when are you seeing him next?”
“We have something planned for tomorrow, but-”
“Excellent!” cheered Rarity as stars began to twinkle in her eyes. “That will give us plenty of time to give you a complete make-over!” Moondancer felt her jaw hanging open as Rarity got off her desk. “Nothing to fret about my dear. I’ve done this plenty of times. A little trip to the spa, a little make-up, and a new outfit will do you a world of wonders. Not that there is anything too wrong with you, but you really do need to take a tad bit more care with your appearance.”
“Ms. Rarity,” came an annoyed voice from the front of the room. As Rarity turned around to look at the teacher, Moondancer just wanted to sink deep into her seat until she completely vanished. “The bell rang two minutes ago. Unless you are here to take the same test as the rest of my class, I suggest that you leave. Now.”
“Very well,” sang Rarity as she moved to the door. When she reached the exit however, she turned around to look at Moondancer again and said “We’ll talk later”.
-
Later, Moondancer was walking through the hallway with her head hanging low and her shoulders slumped. After the incident with Rarity, Moondancer’s brain seemed to be on the fritz making it harder to concentrate on her work during the test. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed due to the fact that she was dating Hunter or anything like that, far from it. It was just that she didn’t want to broadcast it across the entire school. After all, what she did in private was just that: private. Now she had the feeling that the whole school was talking about what had happened and why it had happened. She could feel the eyes of her fellow classmates glancing at her every so often as she took her test, making it very difficult to concentrate. Whispers seemed to grow in intensity as she walked throughout the building. A few of the more immature freshmen even made those annoying kissy faces at her as she made her way to lunch.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Rarity seemed to be stalking her wherever she went as if she had placed a tracker on her or something. She was there at the beginning of every class to ask questions. How did she feel about a mud bath? What kind of shampoo did she use? Is she worried about budget? It was all really tiring trying to ignore the girl until the bell rang and she was asked to leave the room by the teacher. Honestly, Moondancer was considering heading to Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna to talk to one of them about this.
Now, as she entered the gym locker room to get changed, she spotted the white skinned girl there with a smile on her face and a tape measure in her hands.
“How about a quick fitting before you head off to that mandatory sweat class,” said Rarity as she approached Moondancer. Clenching her hands into fists, Moondancer let out a scream of rage.
“That girl needs to learn how to take a hint,” muttered Moondancer to herself as she made her way to her locker. “There’s being nice and then there’s being a creepy stalker! And Rarity has gotten to the point where even stalkers are telling her to tone it down! Ah! I just can’t wait for this day to be over!”
Quickly dialing her lock, she opened the door to her locker only to see the last thing she expected to see: Rarity. Her entire upper body seemed to shoot out of her locker, hanging on from something but Moondancer didn’t want to look to find out what. It was like she was channeling the powers of that hyper pink friend of hers!
Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but Moondancer wasn’t going to give her a chance to talk. Instead, she slammed the door shut forcing Rarity back into her locker before bracing her back against the cold steel. In turn, there was a banging against the door along with muffled shouts from Rarity which Moondancer ignored. Acting quickly, she locked her locker again before heading down the hallway as fast as she could.
At last the final bell for the day rung, causing most of the students to head out towards freedom as fast as they could. There were a few exceptions and Moondancer was one of them. She moved like a zombie, shoulders hunched and her eyes half lidded as she moved towards the principal’s office. From time-to-time she would look around her with a nervous twitch, looking for the signs of the girl who had put her in this state.
Suddenly a door opened just as she passed it followed by a hand grabbing her shoulder. Before she knew what was happening Moondancer found herself dragged into a classroom. She was then spun around so fast she almost toppled over, ending with her placing her hands on her knees. Looking up, Moondancer was not surprised to see Rarity there with what looked like a bundle of fabric samples.
“There you are darling,” said Rarity as she waved her hand around. “Now that we have a bit more time, I figured we could go over some ideas I had.” She then held up two of the fabrics. “I honestly can’t decide which is better. I think the midnight blue would look rather striking on you personally. But there are a lot of people out there who claim that you can never go wrong with a passionate red. Perhaps if I could just get an idea of how it will look on you.”
As Rarity took a step towards Moondancer, the nerdy girl let out a scream of rage causing the other girl to back up post haste. “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!” shouted Moondancer as she tossed her bag to the floor. “Rarity, take the hint. I don’t want a makeover or anything!”
“Well I’m just trying to help,” responded Rarity as she put her hands on her hips, looking annoyed. Something that didn’t do any good for the mood Moondancer was in right now.
“Help?!” raged Moondancer. “You’re stressing me out, not helping me! Look, I like how I look. My boyfriend likes how I look. Not everyone cares about fashion. But you just keep stalking me wherever I go! It’s enough to make me want to stay locked up inside a crumbling building for the rest of my life!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “A bit of an extreme reaction I think,” she said with a huff. “I’m sure you think you like how you look, but have you ever tried tidying yourself up a bit. Just imagine how great you’ll feel as people stare in wonder at you. The look your boyfriend makes when he is taken speechless by your appearance.”
“People are already staring at me thanks to you,” replied Moondancer through gritted teeth. A sigh escaped her as she shook her head. Rarity just didn’t get it. She liked the fact that she had someone in her life who liked her for who she was, not how she looked. Having conversations over their respective passions. But Rarity just didn’t seem to get it.
A horrible thought crossed her mind. Rarity seemed to believe that she was doing the right thing and had been willing to chase her across to school to do this makeover thing. Would going to Principal Celestia really work with that kind of person? She might be able to stop her here at school, but what about when she was out of school? Would Rarity follow her on her dates trying to ask Hunter if he thought she’d look better with blush or her hair done differently? That would get annoying quickly. What about other places, like if she ever got an internship at a lab or whatever?
“How about this,” said Moondancer as she reached for her bag and unzipped it. A moment later she stood up holding her duel disk with both hands. “I’ll challenge you to a duel. If you win, I’ll comply with this whole makeover business. But if I win then you drop it and stop pestering me. Deal?”
Rarity looked at the duel disk for a moment, a hand resting on her hips as she thought about it. “I suppose so,” said Rarity after a moment, a smile appearing on her lips as she spoke. “But darling, are you sure want to do this knowing my ranking in the last tournament?”
Moondancer’s sole reply was to put on her duel disk as she gave the fashionista a hardened look of determination.