//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Twisted Darkness // Story: My Little Duel Monsters // by supersaiyanmikito //------------------------------// It had been a good 3 hours since our heroes had arrived in this new world run by ponies. At first it was a bit intimidating teaching a species that never even heard of the game but after teaching them about duel monsters, Yugi had grown quite fond of the six ponies. There was something interesting about them but he couldn’t quite figure it out. Either way, it didn’t really matter. He needed to find a way back home. He didn’t want his friends to worry. “I think that’s about everything there is to know.” It took a while but Yugi thought he finally taught them to play. Sadly, they didn’t have any extra cards so Yugi just let them use his cards. Twilight seemed to like his Dark Magician, and Fluttershy wouldn’t let go of his Kuriboh. It made sense. “Wow this is a complex game!” Twilight exclaimed. “I wish you had more cards then we could duel.” “Yeah, sorry Twilight, it was quite sudden and I couldn’t bring any more cards.” “Ooh! Ooh! Maybe Kaiba will let us use his!” Pinkie Pie chirped. Kaiba looked over at her with an irritated glare. “In your dreams...” After a few weird looks, Kaiba went about his business. The light that had pulled them into Equestria also seemed to bring along his suitcase that contained his hidden laptop. His brother Mokuba carried one as well. He thought he could get in contact but to no avail. So instead, he decided he would use this time to figure out his current dilemma. “Shouldn’t we be trying to find a way back?” “Aw... You can’t go yet... You haven’t even done anything yet. You’ve just seen siting there talking to your suitcase” “It’s a laptop that I’ve been using to try and find a way back...” “Well why don’t you duel Yugi so we can see a duel?” Kaiba gave a glare at Yugi. This might be his chance to get back at Yugi. But that wasn’t important at the moment. “I already dueled him shortly before we came here. I need to do more research so I can adjust my deck.” “How about us?” “I don’t play with dweebs. Besides, you don’t even have any cards.” “She can use mine Kaiba.” Yugi interrupted. “Oh, come on!” He was stuck. If Kaiba wanted to get anywhere, he had to duel a... Pony... “Fine, but after this I am done. I don’t have time to waste with you losers.” “Great! Now let me fit her.” Yugi removed his Duel Disk and fitted it onto Pinkies left arm. Her eyes grew as she gazed at it like a huge diamond. “Alright, you’re all set up. Remember what I taught to you.” “Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie Pie bounced away and got into a position several feet away from Kaiba. Kaiba was less than entertained. He was dueling against someone who had never dueled before. This was going to be easy. “Hey, Pinkie Pie?” Applejack intervened. “Ah know your ich’n for a duel and as much as ah would like to stay, I got some applebuck’n tah do...” “Oh! Ok!” Pinkie knew that Applejack was a busy pony so she didn’t care if she left. “Come on already!” Kaiba shouted. He held out his Duel Disk. “Launch Holo-Imagers!” Two small devices with wings darted out the sides of his duel disk. After hitting the ground, the wings retracted and device flipped over releasing a multi-colored light. “Let’s duel!” Seto Kaiba < LP: 4000 > Pinkie Pie < LP: 4000 > Applejack was approaching Sweet Apple Acre. She could see her little sister Apple Bloom waving to her. “Hey Apple Bloom. I’m back from Pinkie’s party.” “How were the new ponies?” “One was a bit of a jerk but the other was really nice. He showed us this weird game from where he comes from called Duel Monsters.” “Ooh, is it something I can get a cutie mark for!?” “Well ah don’t think the game actually exists here. These ponies come from a faraway place.” “Aw… I would like to at least see what this Duel Monsters thing is…” “I can arrange that if you want…” Applejack and Apple Bloom turned back to see a strange pony standing outside the gate of the farm. She had a black robe that covered most of her body. All that could be seen was a tiny bit of her light blue legs. “What do you want?” Applejack asked. Apple Bloom was hiding behind her back hooves. “What do I want?” She held out her front left hoof through her robe. She had some circular device on her arm. It looked kind of similar to what Yugi and Kaiba were wearing but it was black. A single monster zone shot out from the center and two wings extended out from the sides with two more zones on each wing. The device lit up and five red arrows appeared on the length of the blade. On the circular part, a pair of red eyes and a mouth lit up and a 4000 appeared between the two eyes. “What I want is your soul…” “Oh, I want to go first!” Pinkie placed her hoof on the top her deck and drew her starting hand. “Ooh, how about this one!” Pinkie set her card down on the disk. Her monster began to materialize. Though was had come was not what Yugi had expected. Her monster was nothing but a little brown ball of fuzz. It made a little squeal. Kuriboh < Level 1 / ATK: 300 > “Kuriboh…” Yugi groaned as he planted his hoof on his forehead. “AHHH, it’s so adorable!” Fluttershy jumped towards the creature sitting in the field, but instead of grabbing it in a hug, she flew right through it and landed in the dirt. She looked back in confusion. “What happened? Why can’t I touch it? “It’s only a hologram.” Kaiba explained. “All the monsters in this game are just holograms.” “Oh...” Fluttershy sulked back to her place next to her friends. “My turn, you pink freak!” Kaiba drew he first card. “Let me give you a real lesson about Duel Monsters…” “But Yugi already taught me how!” “Well clearly, he didn’t teach you well enough. If he did, you wouldn’t have left such a weak monster on the field undefended, especially in attack mode.” Pinkie looked confused. “Now I will show you why… I summon my Lord of Dragons!” Kaiba’s monster appeared on the field as a tall man in a blue suit. He was wearing bone armor over his whole body with dragon feet as shoulder pads and a cape. Lord of D. < Level 4 / ATK: 1200 > “Now I activate the magic card known as Flute of Summoning Dragons! This allows me to call forth two dragons from my hand and summon them straight to the field.” “Oh no!” Yugi yelled. Kaiba’s Lord of Dragons grabbed a hold of the flute and blew into it. “And now use my flute to summon the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons from my hand!” A pair of white lightning bolts rained from the sky striking the ground. The lightning bolts then formed into two copies of the same dragon that appeared in the library earlier that day. Blue-Eyes White Dragon (x2) < Level 8 / ATK: 3000 > “Blue-Eyes White Dragon number 1; attack her puffball with your White Lightning Attack!” Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes opened its mouth and charged a white ball of electricity. The dragon unleashed a humongous energy beam that blasted through Pinkie’s Kuriboh shattering it like glass and flew towards Pinkie. “YIKES!” Pinkie ducked down covering her head as the blast hit her. She didn’t feel any pain but it fell like being pushed by a windstorm. After it was over, she looked up confused. “Wait, what happened?” Pinkie Pie < LP: 4000 → 1300 > “The monsters are only holograms remember? None of it is real…” “Oh yeah, right!” Pinkie regained her Cherie look. “Now go, my second Blue-Eyes, wipe her rest of her life points!” The second dragon did the same as first. This time the beam went straight for her directly. Pinkie Pie < LP: 1300 → 0 > “Aw, it’s over already?” “Well, that was fast.” Twilight stating the obvious. “We didn’t even see the duel. It was over on the first turn.” “She clearly had no idea what she was doing.” Kaiba responded. “You didn’t even give her a chance!” “You’re not supposed to let your opponent get a chance.” “Break it up!” Yugi interrupted. “Don’t listen to Kaiba, he just really competitive.” “Yeah, but still...” Suddenly, there was a loud bang that echoed through the sky. “Huh? What was that?” Everypony turned to see dark clouds forming over Sweet Apple Acres. “What’s going on?” Twilight asked. “I don’t know...” They’re questions were answered when a large monster began rising from the ground. It was visible all the way from the library. It was humongous, as big as Canterlot Castle. It was a blue creature with spiked shoulders and had a few large horns on its head. “Yugi, are my eyes deceiving me or is that Obelisk the Tormentor!?” Kaiba questioned. “Yes but... That’s impossible. There is only one copy of Obelisk and I have him!” Yugi reaches for his deck box on his belt pull out his deck spreading it in front of him. He skimmed through his cards and gave a look of horror. “No… no no no!” He skimmed through his deck several more times. “Don’t tell me you lost him!” “Not just him, Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra are missing as well. Someone must have stolen them from my deck while we were in the hospital.” “Hey Yugi.” Twilight asked. “What exactly is the problem? I thought Kaiba said Duel Monsters are not real.” “Not these cards Twilight. Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra are not normal cards. They are known as the Egyptian God Cards and they hold a power far greater than any mortal can possibly imagine. In the wrong hands they can cause irreversible damage to anyone unfortunate enough to face one of these beasts.” Twilight’s ears drooped down. “Why would simple cards hold such a dangerous power?” About that time, Yugi and Co. could see a small yellow filly running towards them. “Apple Bloom, what is going on!?” Apple Bloom stopped for a few seconds to breath. “Twilight, Applejack’s in trouble!” “What happened?” “Applejack had just come back from Pinkie’s party and she told me about that new game of yours and some strange pony appeared out of nowhere. She said she wanted to duel my sister for her sole or something.” Yugi froze. “Wait, did you say she wanted to duel for her soul?” “Uh, yeah?” “Yami…?” Yami’s spirit appeared next to Yugi. “You think someone from our world followed us here?” “Possibly, Twilight says Duel Monsters doesn’t exist here and then out of nowhere this happens only a few hours after we show up. The timing is too perfect. We have to be on our guard.” Yugi nodded. Yugi turned to Twilight. “Twilight, we need to find Applejack now! I think she might be in serious trouble!” “Right!” As soon as they started moving, something unusual happened. Obelisk turned completely black like a silhouette and the dark clouds above it parted creating a large hole in the sky. The large form of Obelisk then started breaking down into a cloud of black smoke that rose up into the air creating a tornado like spiral that funneled upward into the sky. Finally, a single bolt of black lightning came down and the struck down where Obelisk once stood. “That can’t be good…” Yugi muttered before they ran off to help Applejack. They finally arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. There was nopony in sight no Applejack or anyone. All that was left was some strange black mark on the path. It almost looked like it was burned into the ground. Something about it sent shivers down their spines. “APPLEJACK, Applejack where are you?” Twilight shouted. “Your friend is not here anymore…” Everypony turn to see a single pony leaning up against an apple tree. She was tossing an apple up air, constantly throwing and catching it. “Who are you and what have you done with my friend!?” “I told you she is gone. I sent her to place where she will spend the rest of eternity.” She said, pointing to the black mark on the path. Everypony gasped. “You... You KILLED HER!?” Twilight screamed. “You killed my best friend!?” The figure snickered. She acted like she was all high mighty. “Maybe, maybe not… What are you going to do about it?” “I am going to destroy you!” Twilight charged her magic, focusing on the about-to-be-dead pony in front of her. “TAKE THIS!” Her horn let loose a power stream of purple energy directly at the pony. Right before impact, a black barrier formed around the pony and the attack ricocheted off her hitting a nearby tree. Twilight was left utterly confused. “How did you block my attack so effortlessly? Nopony is that strong!” The still mysterious pony stepped forward. As she walked forward, the Pharaoh appeared next to Yugi. “Yugi, that pony is using shadow magic.” “Are you sure Yami?” Yami nodded. ‘Yes, I can see the darkness practically seeping out of her.” “You don’t seem to have any idea what you are messing with…” A cloud of darkness started flowing from underneath her cloak. “I control a power unlike anything Pony-kind has ever witnessed-” She lifted her right hoof up and pointed at Twilight. “And you Twilight will witness my power first hand!” “FINE!” Twilight growled. “I’m going to warn you, I’m not afraid of holding back my power when you hurt my friends!” Twilight tried to step forward but Yugi stopped her. “What?” “Twilight, this pony is using shadow magic. Let me take care of her.” “Sorry Yugi, but this is personal.” She pushed Yugi off of her and approached her opponent. “Alright, so how do you want to do this, a magic duel?” “I have a better idea…” She held her left hoof revealing a duel disk. “How about we play a Shadow Game?” “NO! DON’T DO IT!” Yugi yelled. The pony laughed as her duel disk started glowing. A small black ring formed on the ground and grew outwards passing the ground under Twilight and stopping right behind her back hooves. Twilight looked around at the new barrier that was now streaming a black fire blocking her escape. “What is going on?” “I sealed us inside so nopony can interrupt our duel.” She held up her duel disk and activated it. Twilight tried stepping back but slammed into the barrier keeping her inside. “You want to duel me… with a game Duel Monsters? But I don’t have any cards or a duel disk…” Twilight was cut off by a rainbow-colored light covering her arm and fanning out. An unusual looking Duel Disk had materialized on her arm. It had a unique design completely unlike Yugi and Kaiba’s disks. The center was a dark purple circle with a pink 6-pointed star. The edges all slightly protruded of the circle. “But... how?” “Hmm... It’s just as Master predicted, Celestia knew this was going to happen so she placed a spell on the Elements of Harmony to magically create your deck for you in your time of need…” “Wait, what do you mean the Princess expected this would happen? What does she have to do with this?” “You will find out soon enough… That is of course if you manage to beat me but you are not leaving this duel alive!” Twilight couldn’t tell why but something about this pony was familiar. “Twilight, be careful!” Yugi shouted. He was worried this duel could turn ugly; she wasn’t experienced like them. This would be her first duel, but Twilight was smart. She would figure something out. “Let’s get this duel started already. The faster I can destroy you Sparkle the better!” Twilight grunted and held up her left hoof. Five individual star shaped zones shot out from the center in all directions from her duel disk and rotated around to the outside of her arm making up the five slots. “Bring it…” Twilight Sparkle < LP: 4000 > The hooded pony chuckled and raised her duel disk. “Alright then… Let us duel…” Unknown < LP: 4000 > “Since I am clearly the Superior here, I’ll go first.” The hooded mare drew her starting six cards. “I’ll start off by summoning this monster face-down in defense mode. That will be all for me…” “Now it’s my draw!” Twilight shouted as she drew. ‘Ok Twilight, just remember what Yugi taught you. You got to think ahead and plan out you’re moves. Now let’s see… what is the connection between all my cards?’ She scanned her cards for a moment, and then a certain magic card caught her eye. ‘That’s the card!’ “I’ll start my turn by summoning a monster called Magical Exemplar in attack mode!” Twilight’s monster materialized as a human woman with a green robe, long hair and gold jewelry around her forehead and neck. Magical Exemplar < Level 4 / ATK: 1700 > ‘Alright, hope this card works…’ Twilight lifted her duel disk and a hidden card tray slid out from under her deck zone. “I play a field card, Magical Citadel of Endymion!” Twilight set her card in the tray and it retracted into the duel disk. All around them, a huge city began to form. In four separate corners were a tower and a giant tower formed behind Twilight. The city was surrounded by several arcana rings. “What in Equestria is this?” “This… is my citadel… Let me explain, every time a magic card is activated, it gets what is known as a Spell Counter. These Spell Counters can be used to power my monster’s effects. Not only that but many monsters in my deck have the ability to stock up on Spell Counters themselves. Magical Exemplar for example gains an additional two counters every time a magic card is activated.” Twilight’s monster held her hands facing each other and two black orbs with a strange triangle formed between them. “Next, I activate Spell Power Grasp, this lets me add one counter to any card on the field and I choose my Citadel. And as an added bonus, my citadel gains an addition counter and my Exemplar gains another two!” Two more orbs appeared around both Twilight’s tower and her monster. “Spell Power Grasp also lets me search my deck for another copy of itself.” Twilight pulled out her deck and plucked out a single card and put it into her hand. “Now I can activate my Exemplar’s special ability. By removing her spell counters, she can summon a monster from my hand or graveyard with the same level and by removing all four of her counters; I can summon a second Exemplar from my hand!” The four black spheres landed on the ground next to Twilight’s monster forming a portal. From that portal a complete duplicate of Exemplar appeared next to the first one. Magical Exemplar < Level 4 / ATK: 1700 > ‘Twilight is doing great.’ Yugi thought to himself. ’She is playing like she’s been playing the game for years.’ “Next, I’ll equip one of my Exemplars with the Shooting Start Bow spell card. This card may lower her attack power by a thousand but it allows her to attack you’re life points directly!” A white winged bow appeared in one of the monster’s hands. Magical Exemplar < ATK: 1700 → 700 > Twilight smirked. ’Now even if her face down monster is a trap, I’ll still get a shot at her life points. I may not do as much damage had I just attacked but better safe than sorry.’ “And of course, my monsters all gain Spell Counters from my magic card.” Both her Exemplars gained two each and her tower gained one more sphere giving it 5. “Now, my Magic Exemplar will use her new weapon and bypass your face down monster!” Her monster aligned the shot and fired a glowing arrow flying over the card and hitting her opponent. The hooded pony clenched her chest as it hit her. Unknown < LP: 4000 → 3300 > “Now I’ll attack your face-down monster with my unarmed Magical Exemplar!” Twilight’s monster held her hands together and began forming a ball. She fired the ball and blew up the hooded figure’s monster. The face down card flipped showing a young purple armored wizard before being blown up. “Not like it matters. Whenever Apprentice Magician is destroyed, I can immediately summon another from my deck to take its place.” The pony placed another monster face down. “That will be all.” Twilight, felt amazing. This duel was exhilarating! It was like nothing she had felt before. On paper it sounded a little boring but after such an amazing first move. It was obvious there was more to this game then she had first anticipated. The hooded pony was growing frustrated. “It’s my turn and I’ll start my turn by activating the Magical Dimension spell card.” Upon sliding her card into her Duel Disk, a weird coffin in chains appeared behind her. “With this, I can tribute a spellcaster on my side of the field to summon an even stronger spellcaster from my hand.” As the coffin opened, her face down magician jumped up and got into the coffin and it closed again. The pony chuckled and a single card in her hand became covered in a purple magic aura. She lifted it up and roughly slammed the card onto her duel disk. “Please welcome to the stage, the Dark Magician!” “WHAT!?” ‘Oh no…’ Yugi thought. ‘Her opponent is a Dark Magician user! This could be bad.’ The all too familiar card appeared in front of Twilight. The very monster she was ogling not even 20 minutes ago was now appearing out of the coffin with the most terrifying stare she had ever seen. This Dark Magician was nothing like Yugi’s. It had black armor and white hair and an extremely creepy smile. Dark Magician < Level 7 / ATK: 2500 > “Oh, and did I forget to mention that Magical Dimension also destroys one monster on your side of the field?” The pony pointed over at her monster with the bow. “Not my Exemplar!” Twilight screamed. The coffin that her Magician appeared from reached out with shadowy tentacles and pulled Twilight’s Exemplar wielding the bow into the darkness. “At least her spell counters won’t be going to waste because when a monster with spell counters is destroyed. The counters move to my Magical Citadel giving it a total of 8 counters.” “Not that you’ll get the chance to use them. I activate Foolish Burial! This lets me send a monster from my deck straight to my graveyard.” “But why would you send a monster you haven’t even summoned to the graveyard... Wait!” Twilight was remembering back to when Yugi was teaching them to duel. “Just because a monster is sent to the graveyard, doesn’t mean it’s gone. There are a few cards that can summon monsters that were sent to the graveyard earlier in the duel. One card in particular is called...” “Monster Reborn!” A huge glowing symbol appeared behind the pony, rising out of the ground. “This lets me bring any monster from the graveyard and summon it to the field.” The ground below them shook and a familiar blue figure rose up behind the pony. “Obelisk!” Yugi and Kaiba yelled simultaneously. Obelisk the Tormentor < Level 10 / ATK: 4000 > The creature was even more massive up close. Twilight had begun to shiver; she had never seen something so large and terrifying. “Ahaha-ahahaha-AHAHAHAHA! How does it feel Twilight! How does it feel to stare into the face of death? Who is Great and Powerful now!?” Twilight’s attention instantly changed from the growing beast to her opponent. The clues were finally adding up. There was only one pony that would use the term Great and Powerful. “TRIXIE!?” The pony stopped laughing. “Well... Well... Well... So, you finally figured it out...” Trixie slowly removed her hood. She was very similar as before but she looked like she had been through hell. Her mane was all messed up and she was covered in cuts. “Surprised?” “Trixie, what happened to you?” “What happened to me...? What HAPPENED TO ME!? YOU HAPPENED! My life was just fine until you destroyed it!” “What did I do?” “Because of you, I LOST THE ONE PONY WHO WAS MOST IMPORTANT TO ME!” Twilight recoiled and Trixie seemed to calm down. “Over the years, I’ve seen many ponies who don’t exactly think my magic is that special.” Twilight seemed to be confused. “What? You thought you were the only ones? Many ponies try to outclass me on stage and fail.” Trixie took a deep breath and looked into the sky. “But there was one filly, her name was Starshine Hope. She came to my trailer and asked for an autograph one day. I didn’t think much of it at first but she came back the next day and I ended up breaking her heart... Once I learned the truth about her, I was crushed, so I offered to take her in and train her myself.” “So, what happened?” “I needed more time to prepare, I didn’t have the proper supplies or experience yet. I also wanted to visit my mother so she could give me proper advice. On the way I ended up here in Ponyville. It turns out the news of a psycho unicorn and an Ursa Minor spreads fast… I stopped getting letters from her and I suspect she wasn’t getting mine either. So, I decided to go and visit her myself and set things straight. When I got there, I found out she had moved on. She had completely forgotten about me… And our promise…” “How can you know for sure she had forgotten and what promise are you talking about?” “Our personal life is not for you to hear Sparkle; you ruined my life enough already. I could handle the home and my things but Starshine was the first true friend I ever made and after losing her I felt like I had lost everything... I just couldn’t take it anymore…” Atop the highest point within the Everfree Forest, Trixie stood, hooves barely along the edge of the cliff. She looked down. It was a 30-story drop. It would be impossible for a normal pony to survive that long. “My entire reputation was shot; I lost my only true friend… It felt like my entire life was meaningless… I just wanted nothing else but for it to end…” Trixie’s eyes began to water but her tears never touched the ground. “Starshine... Goodbye...” Taking a single step, Trixie slid of edge, going into a nearly endless fall. Her tears began to burn her eyes from the sheer force of the fall. “I was about to hit the ground but something appeared below me, like a kind of darkness. There was nothing I could do so I just fell into it.” Trixie became completely surrounded by the darkness. “The Great and Powerful Trixie, so we finally meet...” Trixie recoiled. “Who’s there? What do you want with me?” “Why, I want to help you of course…” “How, I have nothing left!” “Your wrong, you do have something left… Your power, you can use it to turn your life around…” Trixie’s ears perked up. “Yes, I can see you’re interested…” “Yes, I’ll do anything to get my life back. Please, I’ll do anything!” “Just relax my child, and open yourself to the darkness.” A dark smoke began to consume her, she could no longer breath. “Don’t struggle against it, let it in and embrace it. Embrace the darkness and you will become the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria!” Trixie began to scream as the darkness completely took hold. The smoke surged into her body as her power grew more powerful than ever. Then, Trixie opened her eyes and the pain stopped. She was no longer falling in the darkness. She was completely unharmed at the top of the cliff she jumped from. She looked down at her hoof to see an unusual device attached to it. “Where did this thing come from?” “That my dear Trixie is your new life. Draw a card from your deck and place it on the blade of the duel disk. Once you do, your true power will be awakened, not even Twilight Sparkle can compare.” Trixie’s eyes opened wide. She looked down at the deck and drew the card causing single zone shot out from the centerpiece and two wings shot out from each side of the zone. Trixie stared with wide eyes at the card, it was shrouded in a kind of black aura. “Something about the card was mystifying, like I could hear it talking to me. It promised me great power and all I needed to do was play the card.” Trixie slowly lowered her right hoof and set the card on the duel disk. As soon as it came in contact, her disk exploded into a flurry of black lightning threatening to take her over. “You must gain control Trixie. This is not my power, it’s yours!” Trixie focused as hard as she could. She stood up on her hind legs and screamed into the sky. The black smoke started flowing out from her body as her scream changed into a devilish laughter. “I’M COMING FOR YOU TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” She came back down on her front hooves. “And when I find you... you are going to pay…” Nobody said anything. Her story was not the kind they expected from Trixie. It was few minutes before Twilight finally spoke up. “You... Tried to commit suicide?” “I HAD NOTHING TO LIVE FOR! You took everything I had! Master promised me a new life and a chance for revenge. I wasn’t going to pass that up. Of course, Master was missing a key component. Without it our plans would never work.” “The Egyptian God cards!” Yugi exclaimed. “Exactly, without the god cards our greatest weapon is powerless. However, now that we have them, we are unstoppable. You’re little farmer friend was the perfect test to try out my new power. It went way past my expectations.” Twilight was starting to become upset. “Trixie, I can’t say I know you all that well but I want to help you. Don’t fall for the darkness, it will only cause you more harm in the future.” “SHUT UP! I accepted this power so I can finally destroy you and have you out of my life forever!” “Please don’t...” “Nothing you say will stop me!” Trixie stood back on her hind hooves and screamed into the air holding a card. Black lightning was flowing around her leg and the card. “This monster can only be summoned while I’m in control of an Egyptian God and a creature of Darkness and sending them to my graveyard!” Obelisk and Dark Magician began to dissolve into a black mist and swirled into the air creating a funnel between the clouds and Trixie After a few seconds, a black lightning bolt came down through the funnel and struck Trixie. Two red scars began forming on Trixie’s forehead from the back of her scalp, one on each side. They were shaping like lightning bolts leading to her eyes then rounded around her eyes forming a sort of eye liner. Once the scars circled around to the front tips of her eyes, the red light faded leaving a black mark. “Stolen past and taken peace… Awaken the darkness and engulf the world in your cleansing shadow!” Trixie opened up her eyes. They we no longer the usual purple color, they glowed a bright red and no longer showed to reflect any light. “Trixie?” “The Great and Powerful Trixie is gone...” Her voice sent chills down Twilight spine. It wasn’t her normal voice anymore; it was like Trixie had a second more sinister voice talking behind her normal voice. “You may now call me ‘The Dark and Malevolent Trixie!’” Trixie broke into a maniacal laughter that echoed through the sky. Twilight was on the verge of tears. “What have they done to you...?” Twilight wiped away her tears. “If you really want to go through with this, you leave me no choice…” Suddenly, Trixie’s shadow that was resting upon the ground began to rise up behand, taking on a physical form. The shadow began to morph into a horrifying image, a tall bird like creature with massive wings and red scars on his head just like Trixie and a pair of red glowing eyes. “Behold, the most powerful creature in existence! Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” The monster leaned its head back charging black energy in front of its face. Once the charge started releasing lightning, the monster blasted Twilight’s Exemplar with a black and white energy beam. “Agh...” At the moment her monster was destroyed, Twilight began to feel on tug in her chest. She pushed it aside and put her focus back into the battle. “You didn’t even command it to attack!” Twilight Sparkle < LP: 4000 → 2700 > “I don’t need to; he is fueled by my inner darkness, my inner hate. He will destroy anyone I want to see destroyed!” Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony < Level 10 / ATK: 3000 > “He may not have as many attack points as Obelisk but that doesn’t matter… Not only is Iseris immortal, but if your life points hit zero while he is on the field... Well... You’re going to find out soon enough...” “In that case, I will just have to destroy it!” Twilight drew her next card. “Before you make your move, there is something you should know. At the beginning of every one of your turns, Iseris inflicts you with 100 points of damage for each DARK monster in my graveyard. Purgatory Discharge!” An array of black tentacles shot out from Trixie’s graveyard and lashed at Twilight causing to her lurch back. Twilight Sparkle < LP: 2700 → 2400 > She felt it again. “When there are 6 or more counters on my Citadel, I can remove 6 of them to special summon Endymion the Master Magician from my hand…” The spheres around the tower circled together creating a warp gate and a new monster came flying out. It held a striking resemblance to Yugi’s Dark Magician but its clothing had a golden trim and it wore a large cape. Endymion the Master Magician < Level 7 / ATK: 2700 > “When Endymion is summoned to the field by this effect, I can return one magic card from my graveyard to my hand.” Twilight’s Shooting Star Bow ejected from her graveyard and she put it in her hand. Twilight began to think of her options. ‘I can end this battle right now if I wanted to. If I were to equip Endymion with Shooting Star Bow and the Mage Power card in my hand, he would have 3200 ATK. However, that alone is not enough. But I do have my Spell Power Grasp in my hand. If I play that face down, Endymion will go to 3700 which would be enough to deplete her life points to zero... But...’ Twilight looked up at the dark creature looming over her. ‘If I can defeat that creature, maybe I can break the hold it has on her and I can help her...’ “Trixie doesn’t have all day!” Trixie shouted. Twilight knew what she had to do. It didn’t matter what she had to do. She had to help Trixie. “I activate Endymion’s special ability. By discarding the Spell Power Grasp in my hand, I can select and destroy one card on the field.” Twilight slid her card into the graveyard and Endymion started charging his staff. He let loose a stream of lightning and aimed it right at Iseris. The blast landed right on target and the field burst onto a frenzy of explosions. “Yes!” “I don’t think so Twilight.” The smoke cleared revealing the still standing shadow. “Iseris cannot be destroyed by spell, trap or monster effects. And just for clarification, magic cards don’t work either…” Twilight gave Trixie on odd look. “In this world, Magic cards are called Spell cards. I guess the Pharaoh’s world is just that primitive that it’s still using the old term. So don’t think you can loophole spell effects by using magic, it doesn’t work…” “In that case then… I equip Endymion with the Mage Power spell card.” Putting a large emphasis on the word Spell. “This boosts his power by an additional 500 points for every spell and trap card on my field including itself.” Endymion the Master Magician < ATK: 2700→ 3700 > “Go Endymion; attack Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” Endymion launched a purple electrical ball this time. “That won’t work either!” Iseris retracted itself into its shadow and avoided the attack. The attack exploded a short distance from where Trixie was standing. “Iseris can’t be destroyed in battle either. Unfortunately, since it’s in attack mode I still take damage...” Trixie Lulamoon < LP: 3300 → 2600 > “But, that’s not fair! If I can’t destroy it with spell, traps or monsters, how can I beat it?” “You can’t! I warned you that Iseris was immortal meaning there is no way to destroy him!” “But that... You can’t... oh...” Twilight looked downwards. She had a chance to win and she blew it. If only she knew the power of Trixie’s monster. “End turn...” “Giving up, are we? What a pity...” Trixie drew her card and looked at it for a second. “I activate a spell card known as Cursed Greed. If I control a Level 10 or higher DARK monster, this lets me take possession of a random card from your hand.” When the card materialized on the field, a large black hand shot out and grabbed Twilight’s Shooting Star Bow. The hand retracted back and the card reappeared in Trixie’s hoof. “Thank you so much for donating to those in need. I equip Iseris with your own Shooting Star Bow!” Twilight expected to see Iseris holding her white bow, but what she got was completely different. Iseris was now holding a black flaming bow. The arrow was made entirely of a dark purple fire. Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony < ATK: 3000→ 2000 > “Hehehe…” Trixie pointed over at Twilight. “Iseris, attack Twilight with Shadow Star Bow. Make her suffer for all the pain she caused me!” The shadow held up the bow and shot its flaming arrow at Twilight. The arrow plunged into her chest. “AHHHHHH!!!” Twilight shrieked in pain. Standing on her hind legs, she looked down. The flaming arrow stood there, sticking out of her chest. “TWILIGHT!” Her friends yelled at the shriek. “Why... (pant) why does it hurt so much?” Twilight was in shear pain; she felt the arrow like it was real. “I thought these were... (cough) just holograms...” Twilight Sparkle < LP: 2400 → 400 > “Ha, normally yes but not this time?” Rarity and Fluttershy ran up to help Twilight, but was blocked by the barrier. “While normally these are nothing by harmless holograms but while Iseris in on the field, all the damage you take is real!” Trixie slowly walked up to Twilight. “Like I said, Iseris is made from my inner darkness, my hate…” Trixie’s smiled, her mouth almost reaching ear to ear. “Every time I see you in pain, it just makes me so happy. I enjoy seeing you suffer!” Sticking her tongue out, Trixie began to make a very disturbing cackle. “Don’t expect a quick death. I’ll make sure to squeeze every... single... last... breath... and saver it!” “You monster!” Rainbow yelled. “You ruffian!” Rarity yelled. ‘That’s it! I won’t let this continue on anymore!’ Yugi’s puzzle began to glow and shake. A large beam shot into the air and surround Yugi. “YUGIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!” The light evaporated to revealing a whole new Yugi standing on his hind legs, his front hooves on his hips and his eyes closed. He was no longer wearing his coat, it was now attached to his neck and hanging off like a cape. He opened his eyes and pointed at the blue unicorn. “Trixie! This Shadow Game has gone on long enough!” Slowly Yugi began to walk towards the barrier. “Girls...” Rarity asked. “Are my eyes deceiving me or did Yugi just grow a horn?” “His voice changed too!” added Pinkie. The barrier, which had thrown the ponies back earlier, stood no chance to the power of Yugi’s Puzzle. Upon touching the barrier, Yugi’s head lit up with golden eye and the barrier shattered like a rock through thin glass. “One thing you should know about me Trixie, I don’t take lightly to people hurting my friends…” Trixie was genuinely surprised. “So, this is the five-thousand-year-old Pharaoh I’ve been hearing so much about...” “So, you have heard about me...” “Master warned me about your power. Bringing you to Equestria was the only way to get the Egyptian God cards so it was risk we were willing to take.” “That was a pretty foolish move on your master’s part.” Twilight’s friends had begun to run over and help her up. “Yugi, what’s going on? Why the sudden change in attitude?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’ll tell you later, but right now, Twilight needs to get some medical attention. I’ll deal with Trixie...” Using his magic, Yugi slipped off Twilight’s Duel Disk and slipped it onto his own hoof. “Right! Don’t show Trixie any mercy!” Yugi simply nodded as the 4 ponies carried Twilight away. The only ones remaining were Yugi, Kaiba and Trixie. “Trixie, can’t you see the darkness has clouded your mind?! Can’t you see what you doing here is wrong?” “She is just getting what she deserves.” Trixie replied. “She had nothing to do with you losing Starshine!” “She ruined me, made her parents forbid me from ever seeing her again!” “You have nobody to blame but yourself...” “Shut up, you don’t understand the relationship me and Starshine had!” “I understand perfectly. She was your friend and you’re afraid of being alone.” “No, I’m not doing this for me; I’m doing this for her!” “What?” “Enough of your talk! Make your move so I can destroy you then go onto Twilight!” “Fine, my draw!” Yugi had no cards left, he placed his hoof on Twilight’s deck. ‘Heart of the Cards, guide me…’ Yugi drew his card... “Don’t forget, you take three hundred points of damage from Iseris’ effect! Purgatory Discharge!” The tentacles came out once again and slashed at Yugi. Yugi Moto < LP: 400 → 100 > Yugi felt it, this duel definitely was real. “It doesn’t make a difference; I still have a chance to defeat you!” Yugi looked down at his last card. ‘Joey, I hope this works as well for me as it does you.’ “I activate Cup of Ace!” A small golden goblet appeared in the center of the field. and started spinning “If the cup stops upright, I am able to draw two cards from my deck. However, if it stops upside down you get to draw instead.” “You’re putting the fate of this duel in a coin flip?” “Yes, because I have my friends and the Heart of the Cards at my side. Something you could never understand.” The cup spun several times in air before slowing down. ‘Come on heads…’ It continued to slow down until finally coming to a halt. “Upright!” “No way!” “Now I am allowed to draw two cards.” Yugi drew his new cards. ‘Perfect, just what I needed.’ “I activate the Book of Moon magic card! This allows me to target any monster on the field and flip it face down into defense position and I use it on your Iseris, Destroyer of Harmony!” “But, Iseris is only protected against cards that destroy it!” “Exactly, with your monster face down all his power is gone!” As Trixie’s card flipped upside, the marks on her face disappeared along with the red glow in her eyes. “Now if I recall right, you said that even though Iseris is unbeatable, you can still take battle damage?” Trixie didn’t like where this was going. “Yeah…? But Iseris is in defense position so you can’t do damage, or did you forget?” “Normally any monster in defense mode is protected against battle damage... However, there are ways around that. I equip Endymion with Fairy Meteor Crush! Whenever a monster equipped with this card attacks a monster in defense mode, the difference between its attack points and your monster’s defense points are deducted from your life points!” Endymion started emitting a bright golden light also growing stronger from Mage Power. Endymion the Master Magician < ATK: 3700 → 4200 > “But Iseris has no defense points! Attacking him with piercing damage is basically like attacking my life points directly!” “Exactly… Endymion, attack her face down monster and finish this duel once and for all!” Endymion twirled his staff and fired a purple sparking ball at the shadow. The blast passes right over card as it flips up and lands its mark on Trixie, exploding into a perfectly circular explosion. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Trixie fell over on the ground; she was covering her head. Trixie Lulamoon < LP: 2600 → 0 > “You brought this upon yourself Trixie. You gave yourself to the darkness and hurt my friends.” “Do you think I care? You can’t stop me and neither can Twilight! I’m already in possession of your god cards I will make sure all of you suffer when I send your souls to the shadows!” There was a poof of smoke and Trixie disappeared. Yugi turned back and approached Kaiba. “Nice recovery Yugi. That dweeb had a chance of victory before she got hurt but she screwed it up.” “Kaiba, she had her reasons. She wasn’t going to let the darkness take away Trixie.” “Spare me the details. Though as much as I want to get back home it doesn’t seem like we will ever get a chance. You heard what they said, Duel Monsters doesn’t exist here. That probably means they won’t let us leave until the mastermind behind this whole scheme is dealt with…” “For once, I agree with you...” It was dark. There was nothing aside from two hooded figures standing in the room looking into a reflecting pool in the middle of the room. There was a puff of smoke and Trixie appeared before the two of them. “Look who it is?” said the larger one. “Looks like the Great and Powerful Trixie got her flank handed to her.” “It wasn’t a total bust, stupid.” Trixie growled. “I managed to get the God cards and I defeated that hic of a farm pony.” “But you failed to beat Miss Sparkle. She is the biggest threat of the six.” The shorter one added. “What was I supposed to do? That Pharaoh has incredible luck.” “It’s not luck… Master warned you about the Pharaoh’s power. He has the power to manipulate the heart of the cards at will, even though he himself doesn’t know it yet.” “Doesn’t make a difference, you lost the duel and wasted your turn. Tomorrow it’s my turn to create some havoc.” The larger one replied. “My, my, aren’t you impatient...” said the smaller one. “If you’re so into getting this started then I’ll go with you. Your attack on that party pony will act as the perfect distraction so I can sneak in take out that shy pegasus pony. I need her out of the way so I can get to Miss Rarity.” “So, you two are just going to leave me out of this?” Trixie asked. “We need you to watch over the Pharaoh and his little buddy and make sure they don’t do anything funny. Besides, Twilight is in the hospital, you’ll never get to her in that state.” “Alright.” said the larger figure. “So, me and smarty-pants here will go tomorrow and take out our targets. He will go and get the shy one while I go and get my revenge on that stupid pink party pony. She will pay for what she did!” “Fine, I’ll wait here and watch. At least I will get to see Twilight cry in agony when two more of her closest friends are gone. Oh, I almost forgot, here.” Raising her hoof, Trixie pulled out two cards from her Duel Disk. “Here are the other two god cards, Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon Ra.” “Slifer is mine!” The larger one called. “I’ll be taking The Winged Dragon of Ra.” The smaller one replied. “Only makes sense.” “These god cards are exactly what we need the summon Iseris.” said Trixie. “With him by our side, we can’t lose!” The three of them broke into maniacal laughter. Their laughs echoed for miles but nopony heard, not except for one, a mare upstairs looking out a large window holding a devilish grin on their face... “And so, the next phase begins…”