Jason couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned in his bedsheets and he screwed his eyes shut, desperately trying to fall into the black deep. But alas, it was not to be. The whole group was staying over at the Haddock’s house, which turned out to be a lot more spacious than everyone had initially suspected. However, there was still not enough room for everyone to get their own room. Chris bunked with Applejack, Sammy with Fluttershy and Rarity, Ashley with Pinkie Pie, Teagan with Rainbow Dash and Jason himself was with Twilight Sparkle. Jason sat up in his bunk and looked around his room. It was mostly blank, with the only decorations and furniture being a desk, wardrobe and the bunk he was sleeping on, with his backpack containing his new booster packs and duel disk slumped on the floor. Twilight herself was lying on the top bunk, and her steady breathing was the only think actually trying to coax him to sleep. Jason sighed and pulled his bag over to him, opening its zip and pulling out his deck. He shuffled through the cards droopy eyed, examining their images and effects absent mindedly. After a few minutes, he placed them back in their box and put them back in his bag, tossing it back into the corner. A soft voice struck his ear.
“It’s a bit late to be shuffling your deck,” Twilight hummed. Jason dragged his head around to look the pony in the face, smiling apologetically.
“Sorry Twilight, I’m finding it difficult to sleep.” Jason sighed sadly.
“I’m really sorry about your mother, but I’m sure we’ll get her back in the end,” she soothed. Jason smiled and nodded.
“I know, I know, I’m just really worried is all.”
“Aren’t we all? This whole mess is taking its toll on all of us, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s going in,” Twilight replied, a forlorn look in her eyes,
“Things are going to get worse and worse from here on out, so we best enjoy the relative calm while we still can.” Jason snapped his eyes up and glared Twilight in the face.
“Are you saying that my mother being kidnapped is relative calm?!” He growled, earning a shocked look from the alicorn.
“Shh! Keep the noise down, the others are sleeping!” she hissed,
“You know that’s not what I meant. But I’m sorry, I should have chosen my words more carefully.” Jason sighed, his face visibly calming down.
“You’re right, I apologise. We shouldn’t argue, we all need to stick together if we are going to get through this thing alive.” Twilight grinned, nodded, and returned to her bed.
“That’s quite alright. Let’s try to get some sleep now, okay?” she whispered. Jason smiled.
“Sure,” he said, “I’ll try.” He returned to his original sleeping position and surprisingly, managed to drift off into sleep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time Turner wandered lonely as a cloud, drifting through the streets of London like a really old poem. He floated down Oxford Street, examining the closed shop windows with curious nostalgia. He vaguely remembered seeing these images somewhere before, but dismissed it as silly déjà vu. He passed by several card shops, peering through their shop windows and analysing their contents. He wandered down the entire length of the street, the orange lights of the streetlamps casting an amber glow over the stallion. After almost half an hour meandering down the main road, he heard the slight ping of a tossing coin coming from down a side street. The pony glanced down the side road, interested, and saw nothing but a damp, smelly alley, filled with large waste disposal bins and discarded litter. Turner shrugged and began to move off, before a deep, powerful voice resonated through his ears,
“You’re not from around here, are you?” Turner turned back and frowned.
“Who’s that?! Who’s there?!” he growled, spreading his hooves apart and taking a battle ready stance. He stared down the alley as a figure emerged from the shadows, clad in black leather pants and a sleeveless shirt, a blue jacket slung over his shoulders. His face was wrapped in the shadow cast by the streetlights, with only a few strands of his magenta hair catching the light. The figure spoke again in its resonating voice,
“Who I am doesn’t matter at the moment, what matters, is who you are. In all my travels, I have never seen a creature quite like you. But I sense something within you, something great and powerful, a power that even I cannot truly comprehend.” Time Turner raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“I’m sorry, what?” he deadpanned, not buying a word of the stranger’s comments. The figure chuckled lightly.
“Nevermind. You’ll understand in time,” he spoke, withdrawing a card and an envelope from a box attached to his double slung belt, handing it to the pony,
“Take these; they may come in handy someday.” Turner looked to the card and frowned again in confusion,
“What is this?” he asked, before looking back up to where the figure once stood, just managing to see him fade into the shadows.
“Wonder what that was,” he murmured, before wandering off into the night, examining the card as he walked. It was entitled with three small words, all of which made his skin tingle,
“Echo of Time.”
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“Kronos - Lord of Time, attack!” the figure announced, his face and body encloaked in shadows. Jason gasped as the great titan, equipped with a monumental scythe and a crushed hour glass in his hands, swung his mighty blade towards his face. Jason cried out in panic and flung his hands up to protect his face. The scythe was about to dice him in half, when everything went black. Jason awoke with a start, springing upright, panting and sweating.
“Just a dream, it’s just a dream,” he whispered to himself. Jason sighed in relief and rolled from his bed, slotting his feet into his slippers. He looked up to the top bunk and noticed that Twilight had already left. Jason promptly washed and dressed himself in his usual grey t-shirt, brown jacket, brown jeans and black boots before grabbing his backpack and heading downstairs and into the living room, where he was greeted by the others, all waiting expectantly for him.
“Sleepy head is here,” Ashley smiled through tear streaked eyes. The others look up at him in unison, some of them also sporting wet eyes. Chris was leaning against a side wall, his foot tapping in rhythm to his heartbeat.
“Well he needs to wake up pretty quickly, we need to get going soon,” he said solemnly, earning him odd looks from the others.
“Kind of a dick thing to say, he’s still kinda hung up over the whole losing-his-mum thing,” Teagan commented sarcastically, earning slight nods from most of the others. Except one.
“No, he’s right,” Jason sighed, the others heads snapping around to view him in surprise.
“Beg yer pardon?” Applejack asked.
“If we don’t get going soon there’s no way we’re gonna get to the event in time, and then mum’s gone forever,” he argued, earning a nod from Twilight.
“Chris and Jason are right, we really need to leave as soon as possible,” she reasoned, finally bringing the others around.
“Well then what are we waiting for, we’d better get going then!” Rainbow Dash yelled. Jason smiled weakly before nodding to the others to leave. They all stood to depart solemnly, but before they could walk out the door, a pink flash interrupted their movement.
“Come on everyponybody! We may not be having the greatest time right now, but as long as we support one another and keep our spirits up, nothing can knock us down,” Pinkie Pie cheered, “So as long as we support one another and fight for a common cause, there’s no need to worry, because we’ll definitely get her back!” Everyone smiled and chuckled at Pinkie’s friendship speech, but none more so than Jason and Ashley. They both looked Pinkie in the eyes.
“Thank you Pinkie Pie,” they said simultaneously, before they all left the apartment together.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The walk to Hyde Park was not a long one, and somehow, no human was surprised to see the ponies walking around in broad daylight. Jason had questioned this at first but Twilight informed him that she had cast an illusion around her friends and herself to shield them from prying and curious eyes. Jason had smiled at this information, glad that someone had taken all the necessary precautions. Eventually, the eleven arrived at the Hyde Park Duelling Tournament and were instantly surprised by the grandeur of the occasion.
“Woah,” said Teagan simply.
“Awesome,” Rainbow Dash agreed. Since last night, the organisers had erected an entire Roman Coliseum around the central duelling field, built from shining marble and glittering silver decorations. The Coliseum extended around 100 metres from the central duel field, and could easily seat four times the number of people who were currently gathered. A grand archway marked the commercial entrance to the arena for the spectators, while there was a lesser gate off to the side for the competitors. Jason nodded towards this gate, at the others followed his lead. Each one had their invitations in hand/hoof, and while the ponies knew how to play the game, they were anxious about their not having a deck. Twilight simply assured them that things would sort themselves out. Jason stepped up first to the clerk manning the entrance gate.
“Invitation please,” The man grumbled, clearly disdainful of his job. Jason handed his invitation over tentatively, which was almost immediately snapped up by the attendant. The man skimmed the paper over quickly, his face as bored as normal, until his eyes came to rest at the name of the recipient.
“Jason Tyrell?” he enquired, the beginnings of a smile forming across his lips. Jason nodded and the bouncer-built man chortled haughtily, his rippling muscles contracting and flexing under his tight black shirt. The ponies reeled at the sight, murmurs of “too much muscle” echoing amongst their mouths. The man ceased laughing and wiped his eyes.
“It says here that you are entering as part of a duelling Gang,” he stated, “Yet it seems that your Gang has not been officially registered with the Industrial Illusions Duel Monsters Administration Board.” Jason and the others raised an eyebrow in confusion. Chris snatched the invitation from the man’s hand.
“Let me see that,” he demanded. His eyes traced over the words written, his surprised expression morphing quickly into a dark frown. He pulled out his own invitation and compared it to Jason’s.
“These invitations we received were a trick,” he announced, much to the surprise of the others.
“What do you mean?” Sammy inquired, moving closer to her brother. Chris stepped backwards and faced the entire group.
“These invitations have been signed up under a Duel Gang contract,” he explained. All the others looked on in confusion, except for Teagan, who wore a face of horror.
“You’re shitting me,” he said, dumbfounded.
“Wait, what’s a Duel Gang contract?” Twilight inquired, a look of dread struck across her face. Chris sighed and ran his hand through his brown curls.
“A Duel Gang contract means that everyone signing up under the same Gang must abide by the sanctioned Duel Gang rules,” he replied.
“And what are they?” Twilight pried.
“That if, at any point during a round, the number of Gang members still in the competition are less than a third of what they were from the previous round, then the entire Gang is eliminated.” The ponies and humans gasped, knowing full well that the majority of their Gang had never even played the game before, let alone against the formidable opponents they were sure to face. But Chris wasn’t done.
“Also, in each duel that the Gang participates in against another Duel Gang, the winner takes a card from the losers deck and adds it to their own,” he finished. This shut everybody’s worried mouths. A moment of silence ticked on, before Jason looked out towards his friends - old and new. Thoughts and memories crossed his mind, his nightmares swirling his consciousness with their black stain. The horrors of his visions twirled with the vortex of darkness gripping his soul like a creeper vine, bleeding his heart dry. His mind reached the eye of the storm, and in this moment of unusual clarity, he settled on a command.
“Let’s do it,” he stated simply. The others looked on in shock, Teagan almost completely dumbfounded at his words.
“Are you insane?!” he cried,
“Entering this competition was suicide enough without going on to agree on Duel Gang rules!” Jason turned and looked his adopted brother dead in the eyes, a slight smile crossing his lips.
“That may be the case, but there’s no other way if we’re gonna get mum back. And Pinkie Pie was right, if we stick together and have faith in ourselves and each other, nothing can go wrong,” he replied, offering a sly wink to the excited pink mare standing nearby.
“So then, who’s with me?” Inspired by his courage, the others looked him in the eye and smiled.
“We’re with you darling,” Rarity nodded.
“I’ll do it too,” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Y’all can count on me!” Applejack smiled.
“If AJ is in, I’ll chip in too!” Rainbow Dash announced, floating down to the ground and striking a heroic pose, earning a giggle from a certain pink pony.
“Ooh ooh! Pick me, pick me!” Pinkie squealed, bouncing up and down on the spot. Jason chuckled.
“Alright Pinkie, you’re in the Gang,” he nodded. Pinkie beamed and hopped from hoof to hoof in excitement.
“Whee!” she cried, before morphing into a wagon wheel and rolling off into space. Fortunately, only the reader saw that happen. Twilight looked up to Jason, Chris, Teagan, Ashley and Sammy, stepping out to join her five friends.
“If it means the protection of Equestria and everything I hold dear, then there’s no force in Tartarus that could keep me from joining you,” she affirmed with a brave smile. Jason laughed lightly again and reached down to hug the pony around the neck. Twilight smiled, a single tear running down her cheek. They parted and Jason turned around to his human friends.
“And you guys?” he asked.
“Of course,” Sammy nodded.
“You know it!” Teagan cheered.
“Who else will bail you out?” Ashley joked.
“Shut up Ashley,” replied her brother. Jason turned towards Chris, who wore a pained expression on his face. Jason flicked his gaze around nervously for a moment before walking up to his old enemy.
“How about it, Chris?” he asked. Chris looked up at his new friends and smiled, a smile that people rarely saw, yet suited him remarkably well.
“You can count on me,” he nodded. Jason smiled; all his friends, old and new, were in agreement with him. For the first time since the mess had began, he felt a slight glimmer of hope. Ashley reached her hand out into the circle of the group with a sly smile, the others catching the drift soon after.
“Come on, it’s what they do in all the movies,” she joked. The crew giggled and stuck their hooves and hands out into the centre, joining with one another and each smiling proudly. They all shot their hands into the air.
“Lets do it!” they cheered. The security guard sniffed at their display before speaking up.
“Well that’s all sweet and all, but you’re still gonna need a Gang name,” he snarked, prompting a look of surprise, followed by concentration in the others, as they each tried to come up with a name. Eventually, it was Chris himself who spoke up.
“How about Temporal Knights?” he asked.
“No, that’s too gay,” Ashley replied, earning a frown from Jason.
“What did I tell you about using that as an insult...?” Jason hissed, earning an apologetic look from his sister. The others returned to their thoughts.
“How about Card Heroes?” Twilight suggested. Jason shook his head.
“No, I think someone already took that one.” Twilight’s ears drooped.
“Hope,” came a quiet voice, barely audible.
“What was that?” Teagan questioned. The voice echoed again.
“I said, Hope.”
“One more time...” The yellow mare gathered her courage and spoke up.
“Hope,” she stated, earning a raised eyebrows from the others.
“Hope,” Rarity questioned?
“That is, if you want it...” Fluttershy replied. Jason beamed at her.
“I like it,” he said. The others gave approving looks.
“Yeah, it has a nice ring to it,” Twilight nodded.
“Hope, yeah that’s great!” Pinkie cheered.
“Simple, quite obvious, yet effective,” Sammy agreed. Jason turned back to the guard.
“Hope,” he nodded. The guard scribbled a note onto his paper, before stepping aside and allowing the Gang to enter the passage into the coliseum. Team Hope gasped as they withheld the scene before them, the gleaming marble of the stadium looked even better from the inside. There were two dugouts on opposite sides of the battlefield, one of which had a black sheet over it, while the other was completely clear. A second guard motioned the Gang over to the empty dugout, where they all sat down and began chatting amongst themselves excitedly. Chris sat next to Jason.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked. Jason merely sighed.
“I don’t even know anymore,” he answered, shuffling through his deck absent mindedly. Chris returned his eyes to the ground.
“We won’t lose,” Chris announced. Jason turned his eyes back to his friend.
“I know,” he grinned. The group sat in silence for a moment before a voice echoed across the stadium...
“Welcome everyone to the Serpentine Lake Duelling Competition here in beautiful Hyde Park! He have quite the line up for you today, some of the best duelists from all around the world are gathered here to fight for the grand prize of the Serpentine Lake Archangel super card!” The spectators gathered, quite a large amount in fact, all cheered loudly at the mention of the card prize and the notion of seeing the cornucopia of great duelists presented to them.
“But we won’t keep you all waiting, here’s the first matchup in the tournament!” This was what caught the attention of Team Hope. The humans and ponies all stared at the screen at the head of the stadium. There were two boxes on the screen, each with a roulette spinning with the faces of all the participants in the tournament. The group watched with bated breath as the roulette came to land on the two battlers in the first round. The ponies all gasped in surprise at the matchup result.
“Pinkie Pie vs. Gilda Griffon!” The humans all turned in shock to the ponies.
“Who’s that?!” Jason cried. Rainbow Dash growled in anger.
“She’s one of my ex-friends from Flight School . She came back to visit me in Ponyville one day and she spent the time terrorising my new buddies.” Ashley’s jaw dropped through the floor in surprise.
“What the fuck?!” she cried, “How dare she!”
“We thought we were done of her then, but she seems intent on making our lives a misery,” Twilight agreed. Pinkie Pie jumped to her feet and marched out into the ground before her friends.
“It’s alright guys!” she giggled, “I’ll beat this meanie pants with both hooves tied behind my mane.” Teagan sniggered at the unusual euphemism. In a bright flash of light, a white shape formed on Pinkie Pie’s hoofwrist (yeah I dunno either), which slowly morphed into the recognisable image of a duel disk.
“Ooh, pretty...” Pinkie hummed, noticing her deck of cards also forming into its slot on her new disk. She looked over to her friends and waved at them cheerily.
“Go get em’ Pinkie!” they all cheered. Pinkie smiled back and began bouncing over to her place on the battlefield. It wasn’t long before her opponent, Gilda, arrived. The griffon emerged from one of the tunnels leading out of the Coliseum and sauntered towards the arena, her steps greeted with a great cheer of applause. She took her place on the stage.
“Well, look who it is, another one of Lamebow-Dash’s friends!” Gilda mocked. Rainbow Dash jeered from the stands,
“Did you think of that one yourself of did your mommy write it for you?!” Gilda shrugged the insult off with a growl before continuing her attack on Pinkie Pie.
“Let’s just hope you don’t take too long to lose, I want your Olympian card without having to go through all the tedious waiting.” The Team's morale, along with their jaws, dropped like a stone. Not only was Gilda, their enemy, taking part in the tournament, but she was one of the ones hunting their cards as well? How many other enemies from their past were going to turn up to harass them? Jason gritted his teeth; there were too many mysteries that needed to be solved.
“Don’t count on it Gilda! I don’t have a recipe for chicken pie, but just for you, I’m sure I can work something out!” Pinkie giggled mockingly. Collective shouts of “oh no she did-unt!” rang from the crowd, including Teagan and Ashley themselves. Gilda growled and raised a claw to her deck.
“Whatever loser. Lets get this game going.” The two duel disks located one another and synchronised together, confirming the duel was about to start. Both players drew their hands and took a battle stance.
“Lets duel!” they yelled together. Jason sighed,
“And so it begins...”
DUEL START
---------------------------------
GILDA LP: 4000
PINKIE PIE LP: 4000
GILDA TURN 1:
DRAW PHASE:
Gilda gritted her teeth and grinned as she pulled her card. This duel was going to go swimmingly...
MAIN PHASE 1:
“I place one Monster Card face down and end my turn!” she chuckled, placing her card into her duel disk.
END PHASE:
Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow in confusion.
“Is that all she wants to do?” she asked. Chris turned to face the Pegasus.
“That card is obviously a set up to her strategy, so Pinkie Pie should better be careful about what she chooses to do,” he explained, his words penetrating Rainbow. She leapt up and cheered out to Pinkie.
“You go Pinkie! Show this birdbrain who’s boss!” Gilda snapped her head around and glared in anger at her former friend.
“How DARE you! I’ll make you eat those words once I defeat your moronic friend.” Rainbow Dash was about to leap towards the griffon, when Applejack’s hoof stopped the pony short.
“Hold on there sugarcube, ahm sure Pinkie’s got this,” she said. Rainbow Dash settled and nodded. They all turned towards Pinkie and watched her continue.
---------------------
STATUS:
GILDA:
LP: 4000
HAND: 5 CARDS.
MONSTERS: 1 FACE-DOWN
SPELLS/TRAPS: X
PINKIE:
LP: 4000
HAND: 5 CARDS.
MONSTERS: X
SPELLS/TRAPS: X
-----------------------------
PINKIE TURN 1:
DRAW PHASE
Pinkie grinned mischievously as she drew her card, confident in the knowledge that her friends were behind her.
MAIN PHASE 1:
“I summon Madolche Magileine!” Pinkie called happily, as an adorable widdle girl, armed with a comically large fork jumped happily onto the battlefield. The pony giggled as she flicked out her hoof.
“And I’m using her effect, meaning I can add 1 Madolche monster from my deck to my hoof!” Ashley giggled at the wordplay. Pinkie continued happily.
“I choose Madolche Mewfeullie!”
BATTLE PHASE:
“And now, Magileine, attack Gilda’s facedown!” Pinkie continued. Gilda chuckled as the little girl attacked her face down, which flipped face up.
Madolche Magileine <--> Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite
Zephyros is destroyed
MAIN PHASE 2:
Pinkie giggled and placed four face down cards.
“Four face downs end my turn!” she called. Gilda nodded as she prepared her next draw.
END PHASE:
---------------------
STATUS:
GILDA:
LP: 4000
HAND: 5 cards
MONSTERS: X
SPELLS/TRAPS: X
PINKIE:
LP: 4000
HAND: 2 cards
MONSTERS: Madolche Magileine
SPELLS/TRAPS: 4 face downs
-----------------------------
GILDA TURN 2:
DRAW PHASE:
Gilda ripped her card from her deck and glared intently at Pinkie, a murderous glint in her eyes.
“You’re dead meat,” she spat, earning a worried look from Pinkie Pie.
MAIN PHASE 1:
“I activate Harpie’s Hunting Ground!” she called, earning a gasp from all the others as the entire coliseum morphed into a realistic looking image of a rocky outcrop, filled with randomly stumbling Ojama creatures.
“Now I summon Harpie Channeler! Now my Hunting Ground’s effect activates, destroying one of your face downs!” Gilda cried. Pinkie frowned, as she realised her face down couldn’t help her. The Harpie let out a screeching wail and flew downwards, destroying one of Pinkie’s face downs.
“I activate her effect, by discarding a Harpie card, I can Special Summon a Harpie from my deck, choosing Harpie’s Pet Dragon!” Pinke wailed in fear as the ferocious Dragon hit the field, whereupon Harpie Channeler grasped the beast by the chain.
BATTLE PHASE:
Gilda threw her claw outwards.
“Dragon and Channeler, attack this moron’s monsters! Pinkie whimpered in fear as the mighty dragon diced her monster to pieces.
Pet Dragon <--> Magileine
Magileine is destroyed
Pinkie’s LP: 4000 --> 3100
Harpie Channeler <--> Pinkie Pie
Pinkie’s LP: 3100 --> 1700
MAIN PHASE 2:
Pinkie was left in a tattered heap on the ground, bloodied and broken from the assault of the attacks. The Team cried out in shock as their friend was tossed around like a ragdoll by the monsters.
“Pinkie, no!” they all cried, despair beginning to set in to the whole team. Jason in particular was suffering the most.
“I’m getting an innocent pony killed!” he wailed, earning him a cuff across the face from Twilight. The group looked at the alicorn in shock, before she began to explain herself.
“Snap out of it! This isn’t the time to despair! Pinkie needs our help, so you get up, buck up and show her your support!” she ordered. The others looked on in shock at her words.
“Hardcore...” Teagan breathed. Jason stared Twilight in the eyes for a moment, before turning back up to Pinkie and managing to wear a grin.
“Come on Pinkie! You can do it! Show her who’s boss!” he cried. Pinkie, who had managed to stumble to her hooves, replied with a genuine smile, accompanied with a happy wave. At once, Team Hope, with ponies and humans combined, let out a great cheer, showing their true support for their friend. Gilda, however, was none too impressed.
“Enough of this lame behaviour! There's fat chance that this little pink doofus is gonna take me down! And I’ll show you what I mean! Because I control a dragon, Harpie Channeler’s level becomes 7, meaning I can perform an Xyz Summon!”
The human duelists dropped their jaws as they realised what was about to happen.
“Oh dear god no...” Chris deadpanned.
“What, what is it?!” Rarity cried. Teagan turned to face the mare.
“There are few Rank 7 Xyz Monsters, but the ones that exist are extremely formidable in power. And the one Wind attribute that's worth summoning is...
“I overlay my two Harpies to Xyz Summon MECHA PHANTOM BEAST DRACOSSACK!” Team Hope gasped in horrific surprise as the two monsters joined together and spawned a great draconic flying plane onto the battlefield.
“I activate its effect, by detaching an Xyz Material, I can spawn two Mecha Phantom Beast tokens to my side of the field!” The group watched in morbid fascination as two holographic images of the plane appeared next to it, floating menacingly. Gilda grinned evilly and threw out her taloned claw.
“Your move.”
END PHASE:
---------------------
STATUS:
GILDA:
LP: 4000
HAND: 3 cards
MONSTERS: Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack (1 Xyz Material), Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens x2
SPELLS/TRAPS: Harpie’s Hunting Ground
PINKIE:
LP: 1700
HAND: 3 cards
MONSTERS: X
SPELLS/TRAPS: 3 cards
-----------------------------
PINKIE TURN 2:
DRAW PHASE:
Pinkie reached her hoof up to her deck, her normally cheery face strained against the fear that she would pull the wrong card. She gulped and reached up to her deck, when suddenly, a great pink explosion erupted from her top card, earning surprised looks from the party pony and her teammates. A pink circle formed around her hooves, and the ring of light began to glow a brilliant pink, culminating in a great explosions of light and wind from below her. Gilda shielded her eyes with her talons and leered at the pony, who now wore a confident smirk on her face.
“Yeah Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“You go girl!” Ashley cheered, the rest of her allies following suit. Pinkie looked at her enemy and drew her card, slashing its length along with a long rip.
“My turn,” she chuckled.
MAIN PHASE 1:
“I summon Madolche Mewfeuille from my hand!” Pinkie cried, as the adorable cat-pudding splotched onto her field.
“With Mewfeuille’s effect, I can special summon one Madolche monster from my hand, choosing Madolche Cruffssant!” A playful little dog jumped onto the field, and began a small and cute game of chase with the Mewfeuille on the field. Gilda gagged at the sight.
“I think I'm gonna throw up...” She groaned. Pinkie just smiled and continued.
“Now that I control two Madolche monsters, I can sacrifice them both to special summon my brand new card!” The Gang looked on in wonder, while Gilda scowled, unhappy.
“I summon Dionysus – Life of the Party!” The looked on in a mixture of awe and fear, knowing that a gigantic monster was about to strike the city. But, to their surprise, the monster that appeared was man sized, portly, and wearing a toga and carrying a large chalice of some purple liquid. The humans instantly knew the liquid was wine, and Twilight had a strong hunch in addition, thanks to her time reading the Earthcyclopedia. Pinkie cheered as her monster took to the field, pride filling her equine body at the thrill of summoning a god, her friends calling out in affirmation. Pinkie directed her gaze at Dracossack, malicious intent in her eyes.
“Now I activate my Dionysus’ effect! I can pay all but 100 of my life points to destroy every card on the field, in our hands and in our graveyards, and if I do, banish them!” Gilda and the others looked on in shock at the power of Pinkie’s drunken monster.
“That card is extraordinary!” Chris breathed, to which Pinkie shook her head happily.
“No silly, what’s extraordinary is what I can do now! I chain my own card to my Dionysus, Starlight Road! This card lets me negate my Dionysus’ effect and destroy him, so that I can bring out my Stardust Dragon!” Everyone looked on in surprise and Dionysus was struck with a long white laser and promptly vanished, while Stardust Dragon shot through the beam, coming to rest just at its tip, where Dionysus once stood. The great beast roared into the sky, spreading its wings majestically.
“But why, why would you destroy your own Olympian god?!” Gilda cried.
“Because when Dionysus is removed from the field, I can use his second secret special ability! This targets one monster on the field, reduces its ATK to 0 and negates its effect, and I choose your Dracossack!” From the graveyard, Dionysus shot back onto the field, transforming the arena into a party hall. Dionysus then proceeded to have ‘a right booze up’ with the draconic plane, getting it royally wasted. Eventually, he returned to the graveyard, but it was clear that Dracossack was still drunk as balls. Gilda looked on in rage.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY MONSTER?!” she screamed. Pinkie just looked back at Gilda, a pair of sunglasses appearing on her face.
“Aint no party like a Pinkie Pie party...” she grinned, before flinging out her hoof.
BATTLE PHASE:
“Stardust Dragon, attack and destroy Gilda’s Dracossack!” the pink mare cried. The great dragon roared and leapt towards Dracossack, blasting a great bundled laser beam from its mouth, crashing into the opponent, busting its outer shell as if it were made from aluminium. As the beam penetrated through the other side of the beast, the inner fuel of the plane took spark and combusted, blowing apart the hull of the machine in a great fiery explosion. Fragments of the plane crashed down into the arena, embedding the shrapnel into the ground. The humans and ponies gasped at this, noting that the holograms of the monsters were once again, solid.
Stardust Dragon <--> Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack
Dracossack is destroyed.
Gilda’s LP: 4000 --> 1500
“But how?!” Applejack cried, the other ponies, shouting similar statements.
“How in tarnation can that hologram be real?!” Chris turned to face the pony.
“Clearly the effects of your world are leaking through into ours,” he said. Twilight picked up the slack.
“Indeed. This card game seems to channel the souls of the duelists playing it. Casting a spell works in the same way, as one has to channel their soul into the spell their casting. Seeing as this world does not have magic in the same way that Equestria does, no spell is cast.” Jason’s eyes lit up.
“But, because your world is here, humans are unwittingly using magic to bring their monsters to life?” he asked. Twilight nodded.
“It appears so,” she replied.
“Thats insane,” Teagan mused, earning a nod from Ashley.
“That may be, but at the moment, there is nothing we can do about it,” Chris spoke.
“Which needs to change as soon as possible,” Jason whispered.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was still duelling.
“That ends my turn,” she giggled.
END PHASE:
---------------------
STATUS:
GILDA:
LP: 1500
HAND: 3 cards
MONSTERS: 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens
SPELLS/TRAPS: Harpie’s Hunting Ground
PINKIE:
LP: 1700
HAND: 0 cards
MONSTERS: Stardust Dragon
SPELLS/TRAPS: 3 face downs
-----------------------------
GILDA TURN 3:
DRAW PHASE:
Gilda scowled and pulled her next card, looking at it with interest and malice.
“This should be interesting...”
MAIN PHASE 1:
“I summon my second Harpie Channeler!” she cried, as her second Harpie monster took to the field.” Pinkie and the others looked on in worry as the familiar monster began to glow.
“And you know what Hunting Ground does, it destroys one of your face downs!” Pinkie growled as Channeler swooped down from the sky and destroyed one of the hidden cards, sending it to the graveyard.
“I now activate her effect! I discard Harpie Dancer to Special Summon my Harpie Lady from my deck!” The two monsters joined one another on the battlefield.
“And now, here come the big guns!” Gilda roared, earning afraid looks from the team.
“What’s she doing?” Fluttershy squeaked.
“I don’t know, but I’m afraid we’re about to find out...” Jason replied.
“I sacrifice my two Wind-Type Harpie Monsters, which lets me Special Summon this; Uranus – Primordial Titan of the Sky!” Gilda continued, while there was a brief snicker from Pinkie Pie before realising the situation she was in. All of a sudden, Rainbow Dash spoke up,
“Look up at the sky!” The others all looked on as they heard her words, gasping as they did, the sky was turning black, with the clouds beginning to swirl. Strikes of thunder lanced across the atmosphere and a great tornado began to form in the middle of the sky. In a split second, the tornado struck down towards the ground like a lightning bolt, and as it approached the ground, a plateau of earth burst from the ground to meet the hurricane, and the two connected in a swirling maelstrom of power. In the chaos, Jason could have sworn he saw a face in the earthen platform, but shook it off as nothing. All of a sudden, the storm exploded outwards, pushing at the audience and the duelists with a great force. Pinkie and Gilda both struggled to keep their footing and balance as the wind hit them. In an instant, the wind subsided, and all looked back at Gilda’s field. Stood there was a humongous figure, Uranus, clad in magnificent light-gold armour and blue and white robes. Needless to say, the team were shocked.
“Well, she’s fucked,” Chris deadpanned, earning him a punch across the jaw from Ashley. Twilight and Jason watched in despair, their hope almost depleted. Pinkie simply looked on in shock.
“Now that I have my Ace Monster, I use his effect! By paying 1000 Life Points, I can take control of, or destroy, all Wind Attribute Monsters on the battlefield.” Pinkie growled in anger, with the team almost crying in fear.
GILDA’s LP: 1500 --> 500
“I choose the former, taking control of your monster!” Gilda cackled manically as Uranus began to cast another tornado, doubtless one to steal Stardust. Though the building tornado had begun to obstruct their vision, Twilight and Jason struggled through the effort to call out to their friend.
“Pinkie! I’m sorry!” they both called.
There was no response.
Eventually the storm began to subside, and the humans and ponies looked on to see the damage. What they saw shocked them.
“What, how?! How can this be possible?!” Gilda screeched, staring at Stardust, who was still stood firmly upon Pinkie’s side of the battlefield. The mare simply grinned.
“I ACTIVATE MY TRAP CARD; COCKBLOCK!!!” she cried. Gilda frowned and her jaw dropped open.
“What....?” she deadpanned. The others looked on in shock.
“THIS CARD GIVES ME THE ABILITY TO COCKBLOCK YOU, GILDA!” Pinkie swiped her hoof downwards dramatically, punctuating her phrase.
“IT’S THE COCKBLACK CARD. THAT’S WHAT IT DOES.” Gilda shook her head angrily.
“Yeah, I got that.”
“ITS SPECIAL EFFECT IS COCKBLOCKING Y-”
“STOP EXPLAINING THE CARD!” Gilda screeched, her high pitched cry grating through the air. She looked on in anger.
“YOU MAY BE A BRATTY, ANNOYING IMMATURE LITTLE PINK PONY, BUT THAT DOESNT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TREAT THIS LIKE ITS ONE OF YOUR STUPID INANE LITTLE PARTIES.” As these words left her beak, a stunned silence began to settle among the gathered players. Pinkie Pie’s face fell, and she was left with gradually deflating hair. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she lifted her head, revealing a gruesomely blank, emotionless face.
“Don’t you dare,” she uttered coldly. Gilda, however, was unaffected by Pinkie’s change.
“What are you gonna do? Cry? Suck it up you wuss, it’s time to fight!”
BATTLE PHASE:
“Uranus! Attack now and destroy this crybaby’s Stardust Dragon!” Gilda cried, and her monster took heed of her orders. The titan leapt upwards, clasping his arcane spear in his hand, and came crashing down into Stardust Dragon, the beast putting up little fight before being obliterated. Pinkie gritted her teeth angrily and she was buffeted by the offshooting winds. Gilda cackled menacingly.
Uranus - Primordial Titan of the Sky <--> Stardust Dragon
Stardust Dragon is destroyed
MAIN PHASE 2:
“You see? Theres nothing you can do to win against me! While I have my Uranus, I am immortal! You may not take any damage from his attacks, but my monster has 4500 ATK points and he can’t be destroyed by your pathetic card effects! You can only defeat me in battle! Now I set one card, just for a little extra hurt!” At her words, depression sunk into the team, as they realistically contemplated the battle.
“What can Pinkie do?” Ashley asked nervously. For a good few seconds, there was no response from the others. Eventually Jason spoke up.
“If she can pull off an Exceed Summon next turn, she should be fine. But as it stands, she has little to nothing in her graveyard and no hand to speak of. She really needs to draw lucky to win this game.” Twilight sighed.
“Come on Pinkie, you can do it.”
END PHASE:
“I’ll leave it here for now. Good luck dweeb. Try not to embarrass yourself too badly. Who knows, if you play like an intelligent pony, maybe your friends will gain some respect for you,” Gilda jeered. The Team's jaws dropped at this comment.
“HOW DARE YOU GILDA?! HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH THINGS ABOUT MY FRIEND?!” Rainbow Dash cried, leaping from her seat and dashing off at top speed towards the griffon in the arena.
“Rainbow Dash, no!” The gang cried, but it was too late; the rainbow pony collided face first into an invisible barrier surrounding the two duelling opponents. Her body crumpled instantly and dropped onto the ground, where she hit the floor with a sickening crack.
“RAINBOW DASH!” Pinkie cried, sprinting forward to tend to her friend, but was once again denied access by the invisible barrier. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw what Rainbow Dash had become. The pony’s face was smeared in blood and her nose was visibly broken. The rest of her body was tight and compressed forwards, and her legs were splayed out around her lifelessly. The rest of the gang instantly raced over to tend to their friend. Twilight’s horn immediately illuminated, with RD’s body following suit, and information began to pour into her brain.
“Broken nose, fractured left shoulder, five broken ribs, and a shattered pelvis!” she cried. The other ponies eyes began to well with tears while the humans looked on with great concern, except for Ashley, who was bawling her eyes out over the body.
“We have to help her!” she cried. Twilight rushed over to comfort the girl.
“Don’t worry, Equestrian medicine is extremely potent thanks to magic. With my assistance and time, she should be alright in a week or so.”
“Well don’t just stand there, DO IT! HELP HER!” Ashley screamed. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head clear, levitated the body and dashed off back to the team’s viewing compound, and got to work. Gilda simply huffed.
“Stupid moron had it coming. That’s what you get for having idiotic friends.” Pinkie’s head snapped around to face Gilda, pure rage in her eyes.
“How DARE YOU?! I’LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS!” she cried, sprinting back to her position in the arena.
“Its MY turn now, and I’ll show you what friendship can really do!”
---------------------
STATUS:
GILDA:
LP: 500
HAND: 2 cards
MONSTERS: 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens, Uranus – Primordial Titan of the Sky
SPELLS/TRAPS: Harpie’s Hunting Ground, 1 face down
PINKIE:
LP: 1700
HAND: 0 cards
MONSTERS: X
SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 face downs
-----------------------------
PINKIE TURN 3:
DRAW PHASE:
Pinkie ripped the top card from her deck and glanced at it, before gritting her teeth and smiling.
“Its time I showed you a lesson, Gilda!”
MAIN PHASE 1:
“First I activate this; Card of Sanctity!” Pinkie cried. As she activated the card, large golden coins began to fall from the sky.
“With this card, we both draw until we have 6 cards each in our hand!” As the coins fell, small baskets, big enough for one coin each appeared next to both players. There was one basket for every space in their hand. Eventually, each basket held a coin, and all of them exploded into light. Both players drew their cards from their decks.
“Nice going genius, you just refilled my hand!” Gilda laughed. Pinkie just scowled.
“Now I activate Foolish Burial, sending one monster from my deck to the Graveyard, choosing Madolche Butlerusk,” she said, as her card was placed and the monster was sent.
“Now I summon Madolche Mewfeuille!” Pinkie declared, and the familiar cat appeared on the battlefield.
“Her effect lets me Special Summon another Madolche Monster from my hand, and I choose my Madolche Messengelato!” Pinkie’s monster was then joined by a sprinting postman that jumped from the holographic image of its card. Gilda harrumphed.
“And what? What can your little weaklings possibly do to my titan?”
“Oh, you’ll see. I activate Star Changer! With this card, I change my Mewfeuille’s level to 4!” Pinkie declared.
“SO WHAT?!” Gilda groaned, “Cut to the chase! Where are these stupid little moves gonna get you?”
“Oh, you’ll see. I now construct the overlay network between my Madolche Mewfeuille and Madolche Messengelato! Come forth, Madloche Queen Tiaramisu!” The two monsters already on Pinkie’s field changed into glowing balls of light, and between them, Tiaramisu, the regal queen of the Madolches stepped onto the battlefield. Gilda was exasperated by this point.
“Oh jeez, could you PLEASE cut to the chase!” she growled, “I have places to go and things to do, hurry up and lose already!” Pinkie simply shook her head.
“I’m not losing anything! How would you like to look at my Queen’s special ability?”
“Her what?”
“You heard me Gilda,” Pinkie smiled, the curls starting to flow back into her hair.
“With my good ol’ queeny here, I can detach a material, then shuffle up to 2 Madolche monsters from my Graveyard back into the Deck, then shuffle cards you control equal to that number back into your deck as well!” Gilda’s smirk faltered for a second.
“Excuse me?” she seethed.
“Maybe I’ll just show you instead. Tiaramisu, do you stuff! Return Butlerusk, your attached Messengelato, Uranus and Gilda’s face down to the deck!!” Pinkie cheered, and her monster obliged. With a wave of her wand, one of the light orbs vanished and two sparks from her Graveyard shot back into Pinkie’s Deck. Then, the Queen waved her wand, and sparks shot off the Uranus and Gilda’s face down.
“Just a moment!” Gilda panicked, “I activate my face down card, Threatening Roar! This turn, you can’t attack me!” While the sparks continued to hit the two cards, a load roar emanated around the stadium, which caused the Queen to place her hands over her ears and squeak in fright. However, Uranus had been struck, and with a great groan, he began to be sucked in on himself, and eventually, he was sucked back into Gilda’s Deck.
“No! Uranus!” Gilda cried. Pinkie just snickered.
“Hee hee hee... You said Uranus...”
Oh, GROW UP!” Gilda screeched.
“Yeah! Well done Pinkie Pie!” Ashley cheered, while Chris, Sammy, Teagan, Jason and the remaining ponies clapped as well and nodded their approval.
“Aw shucks you guys!” Pinkie blushed.
“Enough of this!” Gilda squawked, “My turn!”
END PHASE:
---------------------
STATUS:
GILDA:
LP: 500
HAND: 6 cards
MONSTERS: 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens
SPELLS/TRAPS: Harpie’s Hunting Ground
PINKIE:
LP: 1700
HAND: 2 cards
MONSTERS: Madolche Queen Tiaramisu
SPELLS/TRAPS: 1 face down.
-----------------------------
GILDA’S TURN 4:
DRAW PHASE:
Gilda growled as she pulled her card, but as she did, a smile crept onto her break.
“This game is over!”
MAIN PHASE 1:
“To start off, I summon Harpie Lady 1!” Gilda cried, as her basic harpy somersaulted onto the battlefield.
“Now my Hunting Ground allows me to destroy your set card!” The harpy then leapt towards the set card, and slashed it to pieces. Pinkie grunted as her Forbidden Lance was destroyed.
“Now, I activate Double Summon! This lets me Normal Summon another time in addition!” Pinkie frowned, not liking where this was going. The gang held their breath in anticipation.
“Now I can summon Harpy Lady 2!” The second harpy lady joined her sister.
“And now I activate this card, Crashbug Road! This lets me Special Summon a card from my hand that has the same level as a card I control! I choose my Harpy Lady 3!” Pinkie and the group grew anxious as the third Harpy Lady hit the field. Gilda simply chuckled.
“Now let me show you a harpy that no one can defeat.” Jason’s mouth dropped.
“She doesn’t mean...”
“Yes, she does,” Chris replied solemnly.
“I CONSTRUCT THE OVERLAY NETWORK BETWEEN MY THREE HARPY LADIES!” Gilda cried.
“Oh my God, she is!” Jason cried.
“WITH MY THREE MONSTERS, I EXCEED SUMMON...”
“Pinkie! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry for all of this!”
“HARPIE’S PET PHANTASMAL DRAGON!” All at once, the three sisters became balls of light, and a great illustrious dragon exploded into existence. Pinkie’s vision dropped at the sight and let her hand fall to the ground.
“Wha... What does it do?” Pinkie squealed. Gilda cackled wildly.
“Oh, I’m glad you asked. You see, while my Dragon has an Xyz Material, Harpie’s cannot be targeted by card effects or attacks, and also, this card can attack directly!”
“WHAT?!” cried Pinkie and the other ponies.
“You heard me, and now, my dragon, show this stupid little pony what for!”
BATTLE PHASE:
“HARPIE’S PET PHANTASMAL DRAGON, ATTACK PINKIE DIRECTLY AND WIN THIS DUEL FOR ME!” Gilda cried, while Pinkie began to panic. The dragon leapt forward, bypassing the Queen and aiming its claws for Pinkie, who was dashing around frantically, trying to avoid the attack.
“Is this the best that Ponyville can offer? Is THIS what stole my best friend?! Pathetic!” Pinkie just screamed as the Phantasmal Dragon raked its claws into her flesh.
Harpie’s Pet Phantasmal Dragon <--> Pinkie Pie
Pinkie’s LP: 1700 --> 0
Gilda wins.
Gilda harrumphed as she collected her cards and raised her hand towards her defeated opponent. All of a sudden, a golden glow enveloped her claw, and a second glow hugged Pinkie’s Deck. The glow then retracted from the Deck, pulling out one card from the pack. The card flew over to Gilda, who snatched it out of mid air. Dionysus – Life of the Party, now belonged to Gilda. The griffon chuckled as she walked away from her defeated opponent, who lay bleeding on the floor. Instantly the protective shield surrounding the battlefield wore off, and the gang instantly rushed to aid their friend.
“Pinkie! Are you alright?” cried the group. The small pony had crawled into a foetal position on the ground in her own blood, and was softly crying to herself.
“I love to make you smile smile smile... Yes I do...” she chanted. Jason flung his head back while Fluttershy helped comfort Pinkie.
“TWILIGHT! PINKIE’S DOWN! WE NEED HELP OVER HERE!” he yelled, but Twilight was already there, tending to her friend.
“It’s okay Pinkie, you’ll be fine,” Fluttershy said, while Twilight worked her magic. Jason looked grim, it was only the end of the first duel and they had already lost one Olympian and two of the ponies had been taken out. He turned his head upwards to look towards the Main Administration Tower of the stadium, the place where everything about the stadium and its operations were controlled. Through the glass panels that allowed the operators to view the matches, Jason caught sight of, and locked eyes with an amused Shane. The older teen grinned and offered a slight wave. Jason’s blood ran cold.
“Shane, you son of a bitch... Who do you work for?! And where is my mother?!”