It has been 6 years since the day Shining Armor gave the Crystal Scale card to Spike and in that time, Spike changed for the better, not only him, Twilight Sparkle had also changed, since she managed to make friends, this due to thanks to Cadence's help, she was the current principal of Crystal Prep, but she was also Twilight and Spike's longtime babysitter.
Cadence helped her and now it was her turn to help Spike make friends.
Spike (who was now 14 years old) and Cadence were in the Crystal Prep gym, Spike had grown, reaching 1.70, taller than Twilight Sparkle, now he was wearing the school uniform, Cadence was a woman with pink skin, pink, yellow and violet hair, she was 22 years old and she wore an elegant, remarkable suit of a principal.
"I appreciate you offering to help Spike," Cadence thanked him.
"No problem Cadence, you know I can draw pretty well," Spike replied.
Spike had volunteered to draw the banner for the Friendship Games, a competition they were having with Canterlot High.
But at that moment, a boy taller than Spike entered the gym, he seemed to be 15 years old, he had green skin, green hair with an orange hue and completely purple eyes.
"Sorry I'm late, I'm here," the boy said cordially.
“Oh, it's good that you're here, you can start now,” Cadence replied kindly.
“Umm, Cade… I mean, principal Cadence?” Spike asked.
"Oh right, Spike, he is Thorax, he also offered to help with the banner design," Cadence replied.
"Oh, umm, hi," Spike greeted nervously.
"Nice to meet you, Spike," Thorax greeted him back.
"Well, I'll be back in a few minutes, I hope you guys surprise me," Cadence told them as they left.
While decorating the banner, Spike and Thorax started talking about the things they liked, it turns out they had a lot in common.
Minutes passed, so Cadence went back to see if the two of them had finished.
Upon entering, she smiled because she heard them talking and laughing, then she was amazed by the design of the banner, it was painted with beautiful green flames.
"Nice design, it conveys passion, but it also means we're on fire with victory," Cadence told them.
"It was Spike's idea," Thorax told him.
"But Thorax, you said making the fire green would be better, that was your idea too," Spike told him.
“Hmm, I guess you're right,” Thorax said with a laugh.
Spike just smiled.
Cadence smiled, she was proud that Spike had finally made a friend.
1 month later
Spike was in a classroom, he was enjoying his free hour in which he didn't have to worry about studying, he had become a Cardfighter, a player of the card game his Crystal Scale card came from, over time, he managed to build a deck and at that time he was organizing it.
He built his deck, based on the Crystal Scale card, so he bought cards that were from the same clan, that is, Narukami.
Spike laid his cards on the surface of his seat and began to think which one he should take out and which one he should put in his deck.
Spike's cards had a draconian theme, almost all of them were dragons, he had 4 copies of each card, and although he also had 4 copies of Crystal Scale, only one had the original artwork, the same one that Shining had given him.
"Hmm, let's see, should I add this?" Spike wondered as he thought, but he was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard a voice that called out to him.
"What are you doing?"
Spike turned to see who it was and saw his classmates, there were 2 girls, the first was a girl with cyan-grey skin, yellow eyes and purple and green hair.
The other girl had pink skin, magenta, yellow, and red hair, and had sky blue eyes.
They were Coconut Cream and Toola Roola, just like Spike, they also wore the Crystal Prep uniform only in a female version with a skirt.
"Yeah, what is that?" Toola Roola continued to point at Spike's deck.
"Oh, this? This is my Vanguard deck," Spike told them.
The 2 girls had been confused.
“Umm, Vanguard is a card game, a really fun one,” Spike continued.
“Oh, I see,” Coconut Cream responded, pretending to understand what Spike was saying.
But Toola Roola was honest, "Well, I don't know anything about Vanguard," then she took a card from Spike, it was a grade 1 named Crystal Hatchling, its power was 8000, on the card you could see a purple baby anthropomorphic dragon in its entirety, which had crystal armor on its arms and legs and had huge green eyes, "But this little dragon looks so cute."
"Hehe, I guess that's cute," Spike laughed nervously, not knowing what to say until someone else entered the room.
"Hey Spike, ready for our duel," Thorax entered the classroom.
"Thanks Thorax you saved me," Spike thought then he spoke to him, "I wouldn't miss it for anything."
"An older student," Toola Roola thought.
"Why did he come to this classroom?" Coconut Cream wondered.
At that moment, Thorax turned a chair and sat on it and from his backpack he took out a deck.
"Do you play this too?" Coconut asked.
Thorax replied animatedly, "Yes, it was thanks to Spike that I discovered this game, you should try it one day, I assure you it will change your lives."
“Hehe, yeah, maybe later,” Coconut said as she nervously backed away.
"Good luck, you two," Toola Roola said as she handed the card back to Spike.
When they were gone Spike was relieved, "Ugh, thanks for that, I didn't know what to do."
"Seriously Spike, are you still afraid of women your age?" Thorax asked comically.
"I'm not afraid of them, I just don't know how to talk to them," Spike replied in an attempt to defend his honor.
"Hey, I'm not judging you, although you are only calm when you talk to the principal Cadence or your sister," Thorax told him to which Spike glared at him, "But enough talk, it's time to fight on the planet Cray .”
“Bring it on, Thorax,” Spike answered, excitedly grateful for the fight that was about to begin.
At that time, the 2 placed a card face down on their respective tables, then shuffled their decks and drew 5 cards.
As the two looked at the cards in their hand, they put some cards back.
“I'll return 2 cards,” Spike said as he placed 2 cards from his hand into his deck, shuffled it, and then drew another 2 cards.
“I'll return 2 cards too,” Thorax said as he did the same as Spike.
At that moment, they turned over the card they left on the table while the two of them shouted:
STAND UP, VANGUARD.
Spike: 0
Thorax: 0
Spike's card was a purple egg, it looked like a dragon would hatch because the egg sprouted arms and legs and had green eyes, "HARMONY EGG." (PWR4000/G0)
Thorax's card was a mysterious green cocoon that housed a kind of larva inside, "COCOON OF THE LOVE EATER." (PWR6000/G0)
Thorax drew a card from his deck, "I'll go first if you don't mind, I'll Ride my Cocoon" said Thorax as he placed a card on top of the Cocoon, the card was a black anthropomorphic ant with a helmet like the ones soldiers wear, he also had 2 guns on his claws, "DARK ANT SOLDIER." (PWR8000/G1)
“My Cocoon's skill allows me to move it into a rear-guard circle,” Thorax moved the Cocoon to the back of his field, now right behind Dark Ant Soldier.
"That doesn't impress me," Spike thought with a smile.
"Hehe, I bet that impressed him," Thorax thought with a smile and then yelled, “AND WITH THIS I ATTACK YOUR VANGUARD.”
"WHAT????" Spike yelled worriedly.
"Just kidding Spike, hehe, you should have seen your face, my turn is over," Thorax replied with a laugh.
"Haha, that was very funny," Spike replied sarcastically, it turns out that the first player can't attack on the first turn.
Thorax's deck is called Megacolony, a deck based on insects, something that seemed cool to Spike, since Thorax was a big fan of insects, he always studied them whenever he could.
Spike drew a card from his deck, "My turn, help me in this battle, I ride," Spike said as he placed a card on top of the Egg, the same card Toola Roola noted as cute, "CRYSTAL HATCHLING." (PWR8000/G1)
“Harmony Egg's ability lets me draw an extra card,” Spike said as he drew a card from his deck.
Thorax frowned, more cards in Spike's hand meant more trouble.
“Now I call,” Spike said as he placed another card on the field, placed it in the front rear-guard circle to the left of his Vanguard, the card showing a black wyvern with a red mask, “COMBAT WYVERN .” (PWR8000/G1).
“You don't waste time,” Thorax told him.
“I learned from the best,” Spike replied, then brought his Crystal Hatchling to a horizontal position, “NOW I ATTACK YOUR VANGUARD WITH MINE, GO CRYSTAL HATCHLING.”
“No Guard,” Thorax said.
"In that case, Drive Trigger check," Spike said as he drew a card from his deck, then looked at it and put it into his hand, it was another copy of Crystal Hatchling, "No Trigger."
“Damage Trigger check,” Thorax said as he drew a card from his deck and placed it in his Damage Zone, it was a card that featured an anthropomorphic spider that had swords on 6 of its legs, “No Trigger.”
Spike:0
Thorax:1
“Remember that when you have 6 damage, you lose,” Spike told her, then moved the Combat Wyvern card horizontally, “NOW I ATTACK YOUR VANGUARD WITH COMBAT WYVERN.”
“Sorry but i guard that,” said Thorax as he placed a card in the middle of the 2 fields, it was a card with a red icon in the upper right corner, “THIEF FIREFLY.” (SHLD 5000)
That made the attack miss as those 5000 shield reduced the Wyvern's power to just 3000, which wouldn't match the ant's 8000.
"Hmph, nice move," Spike replied, "I'm done with my turn."
Thorax drew a card from his deck and yelled, "IT'S MY TURN, NOW GET UP, RIDE."
Thorax placed a card on top of Dark Ant Soldier, it showed a bipedal creature with holes in its legs, the creature wore armor on its chest and arms, it had completely blue eyes and 2 transparent wings, "CHANGELING KNIGHT." (PWR10000/G2)
Spike gulped, Thorax was about to start his combo.
“The Changeling Knight skill allows me to trap a unit other than the Vanguard, now your Combat Wyvern won't be able to stand in the next turn,” Thorax told him with a determined look.
"Oh Rats," Spike groaned, but he expected that from Thorax, the Megacolony clan relies on holding off your rival's attacks.
“Now I call,” Thorax placed 2 copies of the same card showing the anthropomorphic spider which had swords on 6 of its legs, one to the left of his Vanguard and the other to the right, “SWORDSPIDER .” (PWR10000/G2)X2
"Oh no," Spike said startled.
“First, I will attack your Vanguard with my Swordspider,” Thorax said as he laid the card out horizontally.
"Grrr, no guard," Spike said, having no choice, so he decided to take the damage, "Damage Trigger check."
Spike took a card from his deck, it was a normal unit, so he put it in his Damage Zone.
Spike:1
Thorax:1
"Then I attack your Vanguard with Changeling Knight, with the support of Cocoon of the Love Eater, my Vanguard will gain 6000 extra power" Thorax placed his card horizontally while doing the same with the back card. (PWR 14000)
Spike thought about it, but decided to take the risk, "No Guard."
“Drive Trigger check,” Thorax said as he drew a card from his deck, but as he pulled it out, he smiled because he saw a yellow icon in the upper right corner, “FLAME MOTH, A CRITICAL TRIGGER.”
"WHAT?" Spike said, regretting that he hadn't guard.
“Which means you'll get some extra damage, plus the power bonus goes to my Swordspider who hasn't attacked yet,” Thorax told him as his other spider gained more power. (PWR 20000)
"Damage Trigger, first check," Spike took another card from his deck, it was another normal unit and put it in the Damage Zone, the worst thing is that he still had another damage to check.
“Second check,” Spike drew another card, but this one was a Trigger, because it had a red icon in the top corner, Spike was happy about that and placed the card in the Damage Zone, “DRAW TRIGGER ACTIVATED, I DRAW AN EXTRA CARD AND I BOOST MY VANGUARD.” (PWR 18000)
Spike:3
Thorax:1
At that moment, Principal Cadence's voice was heard through a loudspeaker, "Attention Crystal Prep students, due to renovations being done in the lab, we ask students to evacuate the school to avoid any danger, Thank you."
Many students left the room relieved that they had left early, but Spike and Thorax paid no attention due to their concentration on their fight.
"And now I attack your Vanguard with my other Swordspider."
"I won't let you do that, I defend myself," Spike replied as he placed another copy of Combat Wyvern in the middle of the 2 fields, "COMBAT WYVERN." (SHLD 5000)
“Hmm, it seems that even though you have more damage, you have much more control of the situation,” Thorax pointed out, “You have a lot of cards in your hand.”
"I know and I'm going to use that to my advantage, I'll show you the greed of a dragon," Spike replied as he pulled a card from his deck and he stand all of his units, except for his Combat Wyvern, due to it being under the effect of the Changeling Knight.
“NOW, ARISE, MY AVATAR,” Spike yelled as he placed on top of Crystal Hatchling the card Shining Armor had given her 6 years ago, “CRYSTAL SCALE.” (PWR10000/G2)
"If I wasn't in trouble before," I am now, Thorax thought scared.
“Crystal Scale Ability,” Spike picked up his deck and began searching through it, then took a Crystal Hatchling card and placed it in the lower-right rear-guard circle, “I can Superior Call a Crystal Hatchling from my deck at the time of being called to any circle.”
"I'll call another unit to help me," Spike placed a card in the upper right corner, right in front of the Crystal Hatchling he had just placed, the card showed a kind of knight riding a dragon similar to Crystal Scale, only that this one was not anthropomorphic, “KNIGHT OF THE PURPLE DRAGON.” (PWR9000/G2)
“Here it comes,” Thorax said.
“IT IS BATTLE TIME, CRYSTAL SCALE ATTACKS YOUR….” Spike yelled but was cut off.
"SPIKE," came a voice.
Spike and Thorax turned around, only to see Twilight Sparkle at the door, she was now 16 years old, wearing glasses and just like the two of them, she also wore the Crystal Prep uniform, only in a female version with a skirt.
But Twilight was not alone, next to her there were 5 other girls, one had green skin with short mint green hair, another girl had blue skin and short dark blue hair, another girl had white skin and pink hair, another of the girls had yellow skin and blue hair, while the last girl looked a lot like Twilight, she was red-haired with 2 purple streaks in her hair and she also wore glasses.
"Spike, what are you doing?" Twilight asked.
"Umm, trying to get his ass off planet Cray," Spike said, pointing at Thorax.
"Haha, you think I'll let you take my ass out that easy, the only ass kicked out would be yours," Thorax replied.
The other girls were laughing at the two boys' argument, Twilight sighed and put her hand to her forehead.
"Okay but we have to evacuate, you can send each other's asses to the shadow realm another time," Twilight said.
"That's from another card game Twi," Spike replied to which Twilight glared at him.
"Sorry," Spike said startled, to which Twilight's friends giggled.
After laughing, the girl with green hair and skin looked at Thorax, then asked Spike "Spike, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"
"Oh right, sorry, girls this is Thorax," Spike said as Thorax introduced himself.
“Umm, hi, im Thorax, though you already know that,” Thorax replied sheepishly.
"Thorax, they are Twilight friends, Lyra Heartstrings, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts and Moondancer," Spike said as he introduced them.
Each of the girls introduced themselves in their own way until Minuette spoke up.
"Well, we planned to go to the mall, we were wondering if you would like to join us."
Spike and Thorax thought about it, but then they looked at each other to which they both nodded.
"Sure, we'd like to," Spike replied.
“Yeah, it will be fun,” Thorax added.
The reason they agreed to go was because the card shop they always attended was located in the mall.
After that, they headed to Minuette´s van.
Spike, Twilight, and Minuette sat up front, while Thorax, Lyra, Lemon, Twinkleshine, and Moondancer sat in the back.
"So, Spike, Thorax, what were you playing in the classroom?" I ask Lemon Hearts.
Spike and Thorax didn't expect to be asked that.
"I must admit I am intrigued to know," said Moondancer.
“It's a card game Lemon, just like Poker,” Twilight Sparkle told her.
Spike looked at Twilight with a confused expression.
"Oh really, can we see?" Twinkleshine asked.
Spike and Thorax were hesitant at first, but they trusted Twilight's friends, so the two of them pulled out their decks to show them off.
"It's a game called Cardfight Vanguard," Spike said as he handed Lemon Hearts his deck to show her his cards, then turned to his sister, "And no, it's nothing like Poker."
Twilight just rolled her eyes.
As the girls looked at the cards, Lemon spoke up, and pointed at Crystal Hatchling's card, "Daww girls, check this out, this little dragon is so cute."
The other girls nodded, "The cutest," Lyra said.
Twi smirked at spike.
In an attempt to defend his honor, Spike spoke up, "Well, I didn't choose him for being cute, the Narukami is a Dragon Empire clan whose members are…" Spike trailed off when quickly found himself at the mercy of wide puppy eyes from the girls, as if they were on the verge to cry, "But I won't deny that he's very cute, that's a fact," Spike said nervously to which the girls smiled again.
"That always works," Lyra whispered in Lemon's ear, to which she nodded laughing, they liked to tease Spike, but they never did it in a cruel way, for them Spike was like a little brother.
But at that moment a scream of horror was heard from Twinkleshine.
“AHHHHHHHHH.”
"What happened?" Moondancer asked.
"Bugs, they're bugs," was all Twinkleshine could say.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were afraid of bugs," Thorax said.
“Don't worry, it was nothing, I was just surprised,” Twinkleshine replied.
“Well, my clan is called the Megacolony, an insect-based Zoo Nation clan,” Thorax said.
“Insects? That sounds interesting, can I see your cards Thorax?” asked Moondancer.
"Sure," Thorax handed her his deck, "here."
Moondancer began to look at Thorax's deck, she was fascinated, "Wow, look at these designs, you don't see this in the books."
"Perhaps because insects don't use swords," Thorax told him comically, to which Moondancer laughed.
“It might be interesting, but they're still bugs,” Twinkleshine said still scared.
"Maybe, but that's because you haven't seen this one," Moondancer showed Twinkleshine a card, on it was a man dressed in green clothes, he seemed to be some kind of fairy, the card was CHANGELING KING, (PWR 13000/G3 ) “You have to admit he is very handsome.”
Twinkleshine looked carefully at the card, "Whoa, the word handsome doesn't do it justice."
“You know it's just a card,” Twilight Sparkle said.
The 2 noticed and blushed, then handed the card back to Thorax.
"Well, that's Vanguard hehe," Spike said.
“It's a game where you fight your friends with cards, it's a lot of fun,” added Thorax.
"Sounds interesting," Minuette said.
The teenagers continued their journey to the mall.
Meanwhile in a card shop.
There was a yellow-skinned boy with electric blue hair, he was playing Vanguard with a lilac-skinned boy with gray-blue hair.
The yellow boy spoke, "Alright, it's time," he placed a card on top of the one on the table.
"I RIDE," the card showed a bipedal dragon with golden armor, it had blue spines on its back, shoulders, and knees, on its chest it had a shield that had a lightning bolt in the center, and, furthermore, the dragon wore a golden sword, “FLASH HEART DRAGON.” (PWR12000/G3)
“I hope you are ready Microchips, because Flash Heart Dragon will bring me victory in this battle,” the yellow boy said.