//------------------------------// // Episode 53: Part 3: Trust in the Lessons // Story: Yu-Gi-Oh E-QUEST // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE FIFTY-THREE Twilight felt she didn’t need to see anything else; the rest was all history. She kept to herself, not making friends, and sticking to her studies and her experiments, with only Spike for much company, and Shining Armor and Cadance here and there. She swore off dueling-- pending her planned revenge against Masquerade. She was still ostracized by her fellow students who didn’t see much of her, and while she managed to keep her strength up That was how she first came up with her song “What More is Out There?” I've walked through all these halls before I've been in and out of every door, oh-whoa-oh There's nothin' in this school that I don't know In every class, my grade's the best The highest score on every test I think that means it's time for me to go I know there's more that's out there And I just haven't found it yet I know there's more that's out there Another me I haven't met This school is full of people But still I don't belong They only dream of winning Look at me like something's wrong Maybe I'm better off alone Will I find what I'm lookin' for If I just do it on my own? I know there's more that's out there Something to fill this hole inside I know there's more that's out there And I'm not afraid to try There's only so much this school can offer And I'm not saying that it's wrong But I know there's more that's out there 'Cause I've been searching all along Beyond these rooms, beyond these walls So much to learn, I can't see it all There's somethin' out there callin' me And it's a mystery that I can't wait to see 'Cause I know there's more that's out there Another place, another way And I know there's more that's out there And I'll find out someday! I'll find out someday... Then of course, The Friendship Games, uncovering the magical secrets of Canterlot High, Midnight Sparkle, and then turning her life around again and making new friends and having adventures. Twilight found herself back in the darkness, and it seemed all the cards had stopped spinning-- all of them having shown her what she needed to see. “I don’t get it.” she said to herself “What does this all mean? I know, a lot has happened to me, but that doesn’t change the fact I blew it-- I deceived and hurt my friends, I couldn’t beat Masquerade…” She looked up and shouted through the darkness, “WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE FEELING?!! …TELL ME!!” She still couldn’t awaken, and the others were getting quite worried about her, especially because it seemed the duel wouldn’t last much longer. The scores stood… Rainbow LP: 7200 Sunset LP: 1000 “Sunset’s only got a-thousand life points left!” whimpered Fluttershy. “The duel could end any minute, and Twilight still hasn’t woken up.” “But she’s got to wake up!” cried Pinkie “Then we can all be ready to--” she stopped when Applejack covered her mouth before blabbed it all out again. Raven still had been thinking of it for a while, and normally it was against her better judgement, but it had to be done. “Rarity, take my hand.” she instructed. “Excuse me?” asked Rarity. “Just do it.” Rarity did as she was told, and Raven instructed everyone else near her to hold hands in a change. “What are you doing?” asked Celestia. “Trust me.” replied Raven, and she lay her one free hand on Twilight’s head and cast her magic, causing everyone to just freeze up on the spot. “Hey, what’s happened to them?” wondered Sunset. “Oh, they picked a fine time to freeze up themselves.” groaned Rainbow. Masquerade looked across at the other spectators, preferably at Raven. “The mind infusion…” he thought “Raven, you haven’t changed a bit.” The referee cleared his throat at the two duelists, “Kindly resume the match.” The ladies had no choice, and it was Sunset’s move, and she was still stuck in a huge spot pondering what to do. “I could Pendulum Summon my monsters again, but then Rainbow can just use Rise Falcon to wipe them all out again, which will leave me wide open to Ultimate Falcon. Of course, even if I don’t summon anything, Ultimate Falcon’s ability will drain the last of my life points again.” She realized her only plan of action. “I’ve got to get rid of Ultimate Falcon, but it’s immune to card effects and with its attack at 3500, I need something super strong to beat it!” Everything was depending on her next draw, and now because the others were all frozen where they were, she hoped whatever she drew would be enough to help, or Rainbow would end the duel for sure. “Here goes…!” she yelled as she drew her card. She looked down at it, and her eyes widened. Rainbow blinked, wondered what she had, and Sunset gave her a sinister grin. “Let’s see you escape this one.” “Huh?” “First, I Pendulum Summon…!” Three shots of light burst from the Extra Deck, and her monsters appeared. “DRAGONCALLER MAGICIAN…” (Def: 1000) “STARGAZER MAGICIAN…” (Def: 2400) “ODD-EYES PENDULUM DRAGON…” (Def: 2000) “Now that the gang’s all here, I activate FUSION SUBSTITUTE!” “What the--” cried Rainbow. “This card works just like Polymerization, and with it I fuse Odd-Eyes with Stargazer Magician.” Her monsters began to merge, and she called out to her new forming monster! “I summon a dragon of powerful might, May its swirling force win me this fight! I Fusion Summon, ODD-EYES VORTEX DRAGON!” (Def: 3000) Her dragon appeared, but curled up rather than roared. “ARGH! Not the Vortex Dragon!” “That’s right,” teased Sunset “And you should know when he’s successfully summoned, one monster on your field gets sent back to your hand, and since Ultimate Falcon is immune, I guess Rise Falcon will have to go.” Rainbow gasped as her Rise Falcon went away, back to the Extra Deck. Sunset huffed in satisfaction. “So much for Rise Falcon, which means now you won’t be able to destroy all my monsters in one shot again.” Rainbow trembled angrily, while still impressed that Sunset bought herself some time. “Pretty slick.” she said. Sunset ended her turn, and Rainbow knew it was pointless to use Ultimate Falcon’s ability, so she went ahead and drew her next card. “I’d better watch it.” she thought “That dragon has the power to negate my own card effects, and all Sunset has to do is send a Pendulum Monster from her Extra Deck to her Main Deck. I have no choice; I better take it out now!” “First, I’ll switch Vanishing Lanius into attack mode.” (Atk: 1300) “And now I’ll have it attack! Destroy Dragoncaller Magician!” Her bird let out a huge caw and vanquished the magician with ease. “Lucky it was in defense mode.” said Sunset. “Like that matters!” protested Rainbow “Go Ultimate Falcon! Destroy Vortex Dragon!” “That’s just what I was hoping she’d do.” thought Sunset. “Now that Odd-Eyes is gone,” said Rainbow “Since I already have a Raid Raptor in play, I can special summon Fuzzy Lanius in my hand!” (Def: 1500) “Since I now have two Raidraptors out, Raidraptor – Nest allows me to add a “Raidraptor” to my hand, and I choose RAIDRAPTOR – RUDDER STRIX, which I summon now!” (Def: 1600) “And because it was summoned, you get deal an instant 600 points of damage!” Sunset growled, and she braced herself as the little bird swooped in and pecked at her hard in the side. Sunset LP: 1000 -----> 400 “See?” called Rainbow “There’s more than one way to damage you, and of course on my next turn, I can use Raidraptor - Nest to get another Rudder Strix, and that’ll wipe you out for sure, Sunset!” She ended her turn with a card facedown. Sunset knew Rainbow was right, and Pendulum Summoning now wouldn’t help her as much. She wouldn’t be able to weaken Rainbow with her two weak monsters in defense-mode either. That was just part of the problem. There was still the matter of whether or not the others would wake up within the next few moments, or things would get really bad! Inside Twilight’s mind, she was still sitting in the dark, feeling lost and alone, and so confused, worse than she had ever felt in her life! “I just don’t understand.” she said “I get that all those things happened to me, but what does it all mean?” “…Maybe it’s trying to teach you a lesson.” said a familiar voice behind her. Twilight jumped and looked behind her, and she saw Celestia and some of the others with her. “How-- You can’t be-- How did you all get here? This is supposed to be my dream.” Pinkie motioned at Raven and explained, “She used her powers to meld our minds into yours.” Twilight was astounded. “Twilight,” said Applejack “…We need to level with you; we saw your memories too. We also know how and why Karle was made.” Twilight felt embarrassed. Fluttershy sat next to her. “We didn’t know you had it so hard growing up.” “Well, now you do.” replied Twilight. “Why in the world would not tell us any of this before?” asked Rarity. Twilight cringed softly and answered, “Because it was too much for me to bear, and I didn’t want to drag you guys down into my troubles either.” She then felt tearful again, “Instead, I turned my back on your trust, and I made things worse letting my obsession with revenge take over me.” “Can’t argue with that.” mumbled Raven, which earned her a nudge from Applejack. Twilight couldn’t go on, and she didn’t have to. The girls all still remember how badly she or rather Karle treated them, and they would never forget it too. Pinkie then sat down next to Twilight, and she lifted her head up to face her, before embracing her in a warm hug. Twilight was surprised, and couldn’t understand this in the least. “Pinkie? What are you--” “What? I can’t hug a friend who needs another friend?” The others all nodded in agreement. “You mean… you all forgive me? “…No.” replied Pinkie, and the others shook their heads with her, which made Twilight feel confused and hurt again, but Celestia quickly said “…Because there’s nothing to be forgiven. You may have disguised yourself as Karle, but we know she had become something you couldn’t control.” Raven agreed, “Karle wasn’t really you, so you can’t really be blamed as much for what happened, and you still had good intentions to give the money to us if you won the whole tournament.” Fluttershy then spoke, “If Sunset and Rainbow were here, they’d probably say the same things, because right now they’re out there dueling for all of us.” Twilight realized this, and felt a little calmer, but still not better. “It still doesn’t explain what all these visions were for.” “Like I said,” said Celestia “Maybe they were trying to teach you a lesson; a lesson of how far you came, and how much you’ve done, and how you’ve changed in ways, and through it all you managed to overcome a lot of it.” Twilight sighed “But I still lost to Masquerade. He still haunts me! I mean you heard what he said…” The others and nodded, and they were mad and disgusted by it, but now it was Applejack’s turn for some good talking. “Twilight… Twilight-Twilight-Twilight…!” she said almost sounding like a disappointed mother, “Answer me this: What was your real reason for wanting to beat Masquerade in the first place? It seems to me like more than just petty revenge.” Twilight hardly ever thought of that before. Mostly it was always about paying him back for humiliating her. She looked deep inside, but it was Applejack who had the idea, “…Is it because you wanted to prove yourself?” Twilight gawked at her. “Twilight, don’t try to deny it. We’ve seen you; you’re a busy body-- wandering here to there, stacking project after project into a pile, keeping organized, and sticking to schedules-- you’re out to prove yourself, girl; that you can do anything.” Twilight couldn’t possibly deny that. “…I rest my case.” said Applejack “Seems more like instead of trying to beat Masquerade, you were trying to beat yourself.” The others all felt a little confused at what she said, especially Pinkie as she scratched her head. Only Celestia knew what she was talking about. “Applejack is right. Sometimes in life, you’re only as good as you think you are, but you can only truly be the best when you can overcome yourself, and prove to yourself that you’re good enough.” “That’s right.” admitted Twilight “I did want to prove I was the better duelist, and show him up for being so harsh to people… …And I failed.” “Actually, it could be more interpreted as “the person you were posing as failed.” said Rarity. “Although you still created her and all that which means--” The others all gave her a look telling her to stop right there before she said something wrong. “The fact is, Twilight…” said Applejack “Even if you won that duel, would you really feel better? You’d have won your revenge, but you’d still have the memories. They don’t disappear or change by playing a game.” Twilight was aware of this, having studied psychology. She would still harbor anger and resentment towards Masquerade, and always would… …Which was a perfect illustration of what her friends and the visions were trying to warn her about, how sometimes she had to beat herself and not succumb to her outrange and personal feelings. …Now, her friends were here, comforting her, and telling her to find strength again because they believed in her more than ever. She closed her eyes, feeling very warm inside, and all around her everything was fading into white… …And she snapped awake, followed by the others as Raven released her spell. “Hey, they’re awake!” cried Rainbow. Sunset felt relieved. Twilight held her aching head, and was a bit confused as to why she wasn’t in her room anymore, but it wasn’t important, because all her friends were looking at her with loving expressions, which means they really were in the dream with her. She could only smile at them with tears in her eyes and say, “Thank you…” They all huddled together in a big group hug, much to the duelists’ delight, while Masquerade could only softly grumble “…How pathetic.” Sunset and Rainbow turned to face each other, nodding at one another. …Now the plan to go into effect. Sunset gave her hair another flick… …Terra saw it. “That’s it! The signal!” she cried “Time for me to get into position.” She alerted the Titans on the camper. “Thank, Terra.” said Robin, and he addressed the others, “This is it. The second the duel ends, we’re going in.” “Booyah, I’ve been waiting for some action!” cheered Vic. Shining Armor was just so relieved to see that his sister was awake on the screens, and the others were alright too. “I just really hope this works.” said Cadance “What if The Prince Brothers are already onto us?” There was a hush of silence as everyone realized what she had said. “…That is a possibility.” admitted Kori “But then again they haven’t made any moves. They still don’t know we’re here. …Do they?” Another hush fell on the gang, and Luna clenched her fists “We must be certain to use extreme caution now. We are dealing with forces that we don’t understand!” Everyone agreed and turned back to the monitor. “What do you say, Sunset?” hollered Rainbow “Let’s end this duel with a bang!” Sunset agreed, and it was her turn. “I draw…! And I activate Fusion Substitute from the graveyard. By banishing it and returning my Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon to the Extra Deck, I can draw one more card.” She now had two cards in hand. “Now I play my facedown, GIANT TRUNADE! It sends all spells and traps on the field back to our hands.” “What?!” snapped Rainbow, and the strong winds began to billow. “I activate the trap XYZ REBORN! It revives my Satellite Cannon Falcon from the graveyard and then attaches itself to it as an overlay unit!” Her monster returned… (Atk: 3000) …and the trap itself changed into a flowing orb-- an overlay unit-- but all other cards on the field returned to the players hands, including Sunset’s pendulum monsters. “Why would Sunset do that?” wondered Fluttershy. Even Twilight was confused. “She must have something bit planned. Let’s wait and see.” “Now I activate another spell; AMAZING PENDULUM! Since my Pendulum Zones are bare, I can now add Harmonizing Magician and Wisdom-Eye to my hand.” Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Now I’ll reset the Pendulum Scale with Wisdom-Eye and Xiangsheng Magicians.” Her magicians appeared in the light. “Now I’ll use Wisdom-Eye Magicians pendulum ability, which lets me destroy him, then replace him with Scale 1 DRAGONPULSE MAGICIAN!” Her magicians magically appeared from the deck and into the light. It looked over at Harmonizing Magician and nodded. “Now with Scale 2 and 8, I can summon as many monsters between Levels 2 and 8 as I need!” said Sunset, and she called up to the pendulum…! “As the pendulum swings from forth to back My monsters come forth… to launch an attack! …Behold my monsters!” Four beams blasted down from above. “TIMEGAZER MAGICIAN…” (Atk: 1200) “HARMONIZING MAGICIAN…” (Atk: 0) “WISDOM-EYE MAGICIAN…” (Atk: 1500) “ODD-EYES PENDULUM DRAGON…!” (Atk: 2500) Her four monsters all stood together. “And since Harmonizing Magician was Pendulum Summoned from my hand, she lets me summon my Tuner monster, NOBLEDRAGON MAGICIAN from the deck to join us, but its effects are negated!” (Atk: 700) Rainbow gazed back and forth between the five monsters. The spectators were all amazed. “Five monsters all in play at once!” cried Rarity. “Yeah, but look at Rainbow’s monsters,” Pinkie pointed out, “She can’t destroy Rainbow’s strong monsters, and her other monsters are in defense-mode. Rainbow won’t lose any life points if they get attacked.” Sunset only smirked and called over to her, “Watch and learn. “My Nobledragon Magiciain was summoned by Harmonizing Magician, which means its effects are cancelled out. So, I’ll tune Level 3 Nobledragon Magician with Level 4 Wisdom-Eye Magician!” She didn’t bother to chant this time as her monsters vanished and their spirits reformed into the new creature. “I Synchro Summon my old friend, ARCANITE MAGICIAN!” (Atk: 400) “When Arcanite Magician is Synchro Summoned, he gains 2 spell counters, but then again I’ll be using those counters to destroy two cards on your field.” She point straight at Rudder Strix and Cannon Falcon. “Do it, Arcanite!” “Not so fast!” hollered Rainbow, “I activate Cannon Falcon’s ability; by using its overlay unit, I can target your Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, and it loses 800 points for every “Raidraptor” I got chilling in the graveyard!” Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Now, let’s count up, shall we.” said Rainbow “I have at least four in the graveyard, which means I can zap Pendulum Dragon of all its power!” Cannon Falcon exploded, but the light from the explosion enveloped Odd-Eyes, knocking its points to zero as promised. “Smart move.” said Celestia “By reducing Odd-Eyes’ attack to zero, it won’t be able to attack this turn, and that means it can’t deal Rainbow any damage.” Raven agreed, but she narrowed her eyes at the field, “I think Sunset’s up to something else than just that.” Indeed Sunset was as she smirked and admitted “I figured you’d do that, Rainbow.” “Huh?” “Lucky I have another plan, which involved my Arcanite Magician and Timegazer Magician!” Rainbow looked at the two monsters, and she gasped “Wait a minute! You mean you’re--!” “That’s right! Since Timegazer Magician was Pendulum Summoned, I can treat him as a Tuner Monster this turn, and I Tune him with my Arcanite Magician!” The two monsters combined their energies, creating a big burst of light that made everyone gawk in awe. “I Synchro Summon the Pendulum Synchro Monster NIRVANA HIGH PALADIN!” (Atk: 3300) Her most handsome monster which no one had seen for quite a while stood on the field holding its lance and glowing in a bright light. Rarity felt swoony, the monster seemed just as dashing as ever. “Oh, come and take me, my prince!” she sighed. “Um, Rarity,” said Applejack “…Keep in mind, it’s just a card you’re swooning at.” Rainbow couldn’t help but admire the Paladin’s awesomeness. “Beautiful, isn’t he?” said Sunset “I’ve been studying him carefully ever since I first used him. There will be no mistakes now; especially when his special ability activates… Since I summoned him using a Pendulum Monster that was Pendulum Summoned, I get to add one card from the graveyard to my hand. …I choose ONE-DAY OF PEACE, and I activate it now!” The field was bathed in a soft light once again. Rainbow and Sunset each drew a card. “Now neither play will take any damage until Sunset’s next turn.” said Fluttershy. “True, but that doesn’t mean they still can’t attack!” called Applejack. “Here I come, shouted Sunset, and she called up to her monster, “Nirvana High Paladin, destroy Fuzzy Lanius!” (Atk: 3300) VS (Def: 1500) Her monster easily destroyed Rainbow’s monster, and then Paladin’s huge lance began to glow brightly. “Oh, no…!” cried Rainbow. “Oh, yes…!” hollered Sunset “When Nirvana High Paladin destroys a monster in battle, he has the power to automatically halve your life points… so take this!!” Her paladin fired a huge pulse of light from the tip of his lance, blasting Rainbow hard and actually knocking her to her knees. Rainbow LP: 7200 -----> 3600 Fluttershy was most confused. “I thought One Day of Peace stopped Rainbow from taking damage?” “It does,” Twilight explained “But some card effects, like Paladin’s, instantly cause the player to lose life points. It doesn’t count as actual damage, so the peace card doesn’t work.” “Wow! Talk about a cheap loophole.” said Raven. Rainbow flared up with her game aura, “You forget,” she called over “You sent Fuzzy Lanius to the grave, so I get to add a third one to my hand.” Sunset didn’t seem to mind much, and she was snickering too. “What’s so funny?” asked Rainbow. Sunset pointed up at Ultimate Falcon. “What about him?” Rainbow asked again. “It’s time…!” replied Sunset “I’m going to get rid of him once and for all!” “You what…?!” snapped Rainbow “You’ve nothing strong enough! Your other monsters don’t have any attack points!” “Who said THEY’D be attacking?” “Huh?” Sunset held up her one card, “Thanks to One Day of Peace I drew this, a handy-dandy spell known as PENDULUM CLIMAX! Since Nirvana High Paladin already attacked this turn, all I have to do now is tribute Harmonizing Magician, and then I get equip one monster form YOUR graveyard that has the same level as my monster did.” “What?!” Rainbow’s graveyard began to glow, and a card shot out from it, right into Sunset’s hand. “I equip Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius onto my Paladin, so now half of your monsters attack points will be added to Paladin's!" (Atk: 3300) -----> (Atk: 3950) “It;s got almost 4000 attack points!!” cried Rainbow “It’s even stronger than my Ultimate Falcon is now!” Sunset nodded, “And what’s more, Pendulum Climax allows Paladin to attack a second time!” Rainbow gasped. “Nirvana High Paladin, wipe out that overgrown feather-duster for good!” Her monster charged forth and slashed Ultimate Falcon hard! Everyone watched in anxiety as Ultimate Falcon screeched in pain as he rose up high into the air, sparking and flailing as it exploded in a huge blast! Rainbow could gawk frozen on the spot. “I can’t believe it!” she cried softly. The spectators could hardly believe it either. “She did it!” said Fluttershy “Sunset actually destroyed Ultimate Falcon!” “That girl sure can duel.” admitted Raven. Masquerade silently agreed with her as he looked over at Sunset and thought, “What is with this girl, and where did she get cards like these? I’ve dueled all over the world and never seen such monsters.” Rainbow fiercely drew her card with her flames blazing strongly. “Whoa! Check out her!” cried Pinkie. “Her gaming power is reaching an all-time high,” said Twilight “I felt I could see when I dueled her in the virtual world. Her determination is just flowing through her as she focuses really hard.” “That’s R.D for you.” said Applejack “She’s been dueling longer than most of us has, and when she play the game, you know she might get heated up.” Rainbow was growled hard as she gazed down at her cards, but then she smirked deeply. “You know, Sunset… despite all that’s going on, I have to say, out of all the opponents I’ve faced in the tournament, you’re the most awesome one yet. You’ve kept me on my toes all duel long, and you’ve even defended yourself against some of my best strategies.” Sunset smiled, “You’ve been a good opponent as well, Rainbow Dash. Now let’s duel our best, because I’ve got a feeling the end is in sight.” Rainbow agreed, but of course she knew she couldn’t win on this turn as she could deal any damage. “There’s only one way for me now.” she thought “I’ve got to get rid of all her cards. Then she won’t be able to Pendulum Summon, but if that doesn’t work, at least I can make it so she can’t wipe me out.” The Prince Brothers gazed at the Paladin too, and they were most impressed. “Sunset has really come a long way with her dueling skills.” said Loki. “Yes,” agreed Rubeus “…But it would seem that our complete expectations are not being met.” Loki agreed, “Perhaps she is not all the great one we felt she was. No matter: her loss is our gain.” Paladin’s lance began to glow brightly, and Sunset called over to Rainbow, “Since Paladin destroyed your monster, he slashes out half your life points again!” Paladin blasted Rainbow, hitting her hard and knocking her down. Rainbow LP: 3600 -----> 1800 Rainbow softly looked up, and bolted up onto her feet letting out a huge roar as her aura burst out like a volcano! She declared, “Oh, it is SO on!!” Her aura was blazing so brightly that the spectators gazed in awe. “That’s R.D for you.” said Applejack “When she plays a game and she gets this hyped, you know she’s dueling with everything she’s got.” Twilight agreed, remembering when she dueled against Rainbow in the virtual world. “I just hope she doesn’t snap and lose control.” Rainbow, still flaming, smirked proudly. “I got to hand it to you, Sunset; of all the duelists I’ve faced in the tournament, you’re the most awesome! You’re pushing me to the absolute limit of my strengths, you survived some of my best strategies, and now you just crushed one of my most powerful Raidraptors. You got skills, girl.” Sunset smiled and nodded at her, “Thanks, Rainbow, but this duel isn’t over yet, and it’s your move. Make it a good one.” "Don't worry, it will be!" To Be Continued…