The train from Ponyville to Canterlot meandered along its familiar path, the world outside the windows just a blur of pastel colors. As it passed a level crossing, a waiting stallion was privy to a snippet of conversation wafting out the window.
"I still can't believe we get to enter the Canterlot Championship!"
The voice was proud, and could have been mistaken as arrogant. Fortunately for her, the sky blue pegasus was in the company of her five best friends, and one regular friend/biographer/occasional body double.
Sat in a private carriage at the back of the train, the seven of them had been talking about only one thing since Twilight had finally revealed where they were going.
"Nor I Rainbow Dash. Attending one of the biggest events of the social year, invited by Celestia herself! I could just die!" Rarity squealed happily, a look of pure ecstasy plastered over her face.
"Twilight? Not wanting to look a gift dragon in the mouth or nuthin, but ain't this tournament normally for them big time league players. How did we get in?" The sober tone of Applejack brought them back to earth for a moment.
Twilight looked up from her reading material, smiled and leant back in her seat.
"I happened to mention how much we like playing Duel Monsters in one of my letters to Princess Celestia. She offered to let us enter this years tournament as a way of thanking us again for all the times we've helped to save Equestria.
Not to mention that the Princess adores the game and with us competing as well, they've decided to extend the championship from one day to three...
Fluttershy, are you alright?"
She broke off as she noticed her friend was slowly retreating both behind her mane, and beneath the seat. Her timidness made a nervous noise, mood not improved as Pinkie Pie somehow pulled her back out again, despite being on the other side of the room.
"Well, it just... crowds. Large, judgemental crowds watching us play against seasoned professionals." She stuttered.
"Hey, turn that frown upside down sister! It's just a bit of fun!"
Fluttershy offered a feeble smile to the joyful party pony, still hidden though under a flop of light pink hair. Her one visible eye danced nervously around them for a moment before settling onto the window. The winding track was beginning it's ascent into the mountain range, grey rock faces and low clouds zoomed passed.
"Pinkie's right, we're just going to play exhibition matches for laughs. Twilight's the only one who should be worrying." Dash said causally, turning in her seat, trying to find the best position for a quick forty winks.
"ME? Why am I the only one who has to worry?"
"All the other duelists are eggheads, who studied every card and rule in the game. They've made perfect decks. Face it Twilight, you're about be out egged."
"I hate to say it Twilight, but she may be right." Rarity chipped in.
"Ah hogwash. Them players might use fancy maths and such to put their decks together, but that'll never compete with a home grown one."
AJ routed round her pack for a moment before holding up a battered pack of cards. She fanned them out on the table, gazing fondly at the multitude of images staring back at her.
"I know every card in that deck like the back of ma hoof, took me a long time to get it just right and I'll wager that it still gives them big wigs a run for their bits."
"Is your deck made from eggs or heart then Twilight?" Pinkie asked, not looking up from the house she's started to build from her own deck. Credit given when due, not many ponies could do that on board a rattling steam train.
"Spike! You've been very quiet, what are you hiding?" Twilight accused him, her tone in no way implying that she was desperately trying to change subjects. The young dragon jumped, his copy of Scale Care Monthly flying out of his grip.
"Nothing, I'm not trying to save my voice. Just don't have anything to say at the moment, is that so unusual? I think not!"
"Ok then." Everypony said slowly before turning back to their own conversations. As Spike went to retrieve his magazine, Rarity started chewing Applejack's ear about fashions do's and don'ts in Canterlot, Rainbow Dash made snoring noises. Fake or not was any ponies guess.
The miles passed, marked only by the changing scenery and how far into her book Twilight was. Marking her place, she closed the great tome and stretched. Looking round, her keen mind picked up on a great many things, noticing what had changed in the last half hour. One thing caught her attention more than the others though.
"Pinkie, how many floors is that?"
"Oh only 8 or so. The East Wing will be taller."
"Ok, next question. How did you build that when you only have forty cards in your deck?"
She just smiled softly and tapped her hoof against her nose.
"Trade secrets Twilight."
"Here we are ladies. The Royal Tournament Grounds."
"Ooooh!"
At the station, they had been greeted by two members of the royal guard. After assuring Rarity that her luggage would be taken most carefully to her quarters, the armor clad stallions had lead them across Canterlot.
Through the wide, sunlit streets of the lower city, they had walked to the castle gates. One brief security spell later and they carried on towards the day's entertainment. Rich grass paths lead the way, soft and plush under hoof. One death glance from the fashionista to AJ reminded them all that this was not for eating.
The tournament was being held on the site normally occupied by the palace labyrinth. Miles of twisted hedge had been magically shrunk and now stood proudly on Luna's balcony. The majesty of the maze only slightly degraded by the flowery pink watering can she insisted on using to keep it fresh.
Winding through the sculpture garden, their goal came into view. In the center of the maze stood the main arena, a brand new dueling stage surrounded by raised seating and a modest royal box. Fanning outwards from there were rings of tents.
Sales ponies from all over Equestria spent most of the year fighting for prime spots in those rings. Everything from the latest cards to food stands and slightly questionable merchandise was available.
Duties performed, the guards quietly bowed out and left. No doubt eager to finish their shift and join the action themselves.
"So where do we go now darlings?" Rarity asked, already eyeing up a number of venues in the closest circle.
"I guess we're free to wander for now, they'll announce when the first match is due to start. Oh, almost forgot, you'll need these."
Reaching into her bag, Twilight pulled out six envelopes. Each one had a name written on it in a fancy sprawling script and was protected by a wax seal bearing the castle emblem.
"What do we do with these then?" Rainbow asked impatiently.
"I don't know. They just came with the invitation, and I was told to make sure you had them. The seal contains a time lock spell, we can't open them until we're meant to."
"Anything else we need?" Pinkie asked, bouncing on the spot.
"No, that's all." She had barely finished talking when a soft puff of pink smoke marked where Pinkie had charged off into the action.
"Tasty, no comfy, no tasty. Wait... SHINY!" Her voice carried a surprisingly long way.
"Well if that's that, I'm off too. The Wonderbolts never miss this tournament, I want to make sure they're watching when it's my turn."
"Ok girls, I'll see you when the first match begins, don't forget that all competitors have ring side seats."
Going their separate ways, Twilight began to walk through the barely organised chaos of the market. It was an intense assault on the senses. From all angles sellers beneath brightly colored canopies shouted, trying to tempt in buyers.
"Come on mares and colts, look lively! I'm not asking for ten bits and I'm not asking for five either! One price, three bits and I'm robbing myself!"
Meanwhile the smell of cooking foods wafted into the nostrils, tantalizing free tastes of what was on offer. All around, ponies of every age bustled among one another. It was like a slow motion stampede, what would have been terrifying normally made joyful by a shared passion.
She paused to look over a stall of stones etched with glowing runes and again at selection of classic cards, but bought nothing. Glancing round, she saw Spike staring at a nearby jewelry tent. A hungry look in his eye.
"Here," She handed him a small pouch. "That should last you for a day."
"Thanks Twilight, catch you later!" Taking the bag of bits, he was off like a greyhound.
Twi couldn't but chuckle at his enthusiasm. Returning to her walk, she wondered who her opponent would be. Since most league players and their decks were well known, the identities of those invited to the Canterlot Championship were keep secret until the last minute. This helped prevent cheating.
"Attention, attention please. We are pleased to announce that the Canterlot Championship will begin in one hour." The regal tones of Princess Luna boomed out from speakers all over the grounds. "All duelists are now to open their envelopes, inside is your personal number. You will need this for the match selection process, so do not forget it. Use this time well to prepare and good luck!"
Discreetly ducking behind a tent selling deep fried ears of corn, Twilight extracted her envelope. As she looked at the wax seal, it rotated itself through 180° and split neatly in half. Peering inside, there was a single piece of paper, a number 9 scrawled on it in the same fancy writing.
Having tucked the parchment back into her bag, she merged back into the crowd. No pony else seemed to have opened anything. Still blind to who she might be battling, Twilight wondered briefly what numbers her friends had drawn. This paled in comparison as her belly growled and she was distracted by a nearby waffle stand. Breakfast was long ago, and you can't duel on an empty stomach after all.
As time always does, the hour before the first match passed frighteningly fast. All too soon, she was being ushered through a private gate into the stands. Sloping rows of seats rose so high they threatened to block out the sun. Closer to the center, small white cloth gazebos showed where the cream of Canterlot were seated and the golden one could only belong to Celestia.
Wherever you looked, a thousand eager faces shone out. Chatting to each other, the hum of conversation clouded the air. All of them looked down on the dueling arena.
A seemingly uninteresting rectangle of polished metal, this was were the mares were separated from the foals. A light sweat suddenly sprung to life on the back of Twilight's neck.
Where's Spike and the others? She pondered quietly. Come to think of it, she couldn't see any other ponies in the discreet row of wing back chairs right next to the arena. Maybe they had to wait until they were called forth.
Scattered cheers joined into a crescendo, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts. Celestia had entered the royal box, followed closely by her sister. As the night goddess seated herself, the sun princess stepped forwards onto a raised podium and waved to the crowds. A discreet servant produced a microphone for her.
"Fillies and gentlecolts. Foals of all ages. I welcome you, to the one thousandth, four hundred and twentieth Canterlot Championship!" She paused as the cheering and applause reached deafening levels. As it died down, she started again.
"As you know, this game has long been popular in the royal house, perhaps a little longer than we care to admit to." She paused again as polite chuckles rang out. "To that end, I hope that over the next few days we will see the spirit of fair play, the joys of victory and some fine duels."
"Now before I surrender the mic to our official commentator, we will draw the first two duelists. Luna, if you would do the honors please."
From her seat, Luna cranked the handle on a large mounted cage. As she spun it, sixteen balls rattled around, settling again as she let go. Opening a small door, two balls rolled out along a gilded track. With a faint glow of magic, she levitated them over to Celestia.
"Duelist's number 2 and 9, please report to the arena. Your match is about to begin!"
Twilight felt her stomach drop, the weight of the moment falling onto her like a grand piano. Without meaning to, she started to walk towards the stage. All around her, fans exploded, some cheering on this new comer, other being less hospitable.
The dueling arena was roughly 12m by 10m, with a separate box at each end. As Twilight stepped into hers, she was vaguely aware of the box rising until she was high above the playing field. All around the crowd thundered, she just focused on putting her deck into it's slot without trembling too badly. The machine quickly shuffled it, identical plain backs flashing round. A booming voice cut over the spectators.
"Good morning everypony, the first match will begin shortly. But before that, we will give a brief overview of the tournament rules and introduce the competitors.
Each player will begin with four thousand life points, if at anytime their life point total hits zero, they will lose the duel. Direct attacks are allowed in the Canterlot Championship if you have no monsters on the field, so watch your flank. We are playing the sacrifice rule here if you wish to summon powerful creatures. Finally, decks must at least forty cards, and have no illegal or outdated cards in them. But you already knew that, am I right?"
The crowd roared their approval, Twilight's fear melted as she was dumbfounded. It was Spike, he was doing the commentary. Suddenly his attitude on the train made so much more sense.
"Our first contender is the protector of Ponyville, a legendary scholar in her own time and wielder of the Element of Magic. Give it up, for Twi-light! Spar-kle!"
Where do they get all this energy from? She thought, smiling and waving weakly to the crowd. It seemed that they got louder every time somepony talked to them.
"And now entering the ring, the slayer of stallions, the mare with flare. Lets hear it, for the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
It can't be, oh wait, yes, yes it can be.
Sure enough, in the other box stood the same blue unicorn who had come to Ponyville. She even still had her star studded cloak and hat on.
"I must now call for quiet in the crowd. Ladies, let the games begin!"
A stilted hush fell over the stands. Trixie calmly placed her deck into it's slot and gave a wave to the crowd. Apparently she was still quite at home in the spotlight.
"Hi Trixie, it's been a while hasn't it?" Twilight called over to her, not quite sure what to say.
"That's Great and Powerful Trixie to you, Twilight Sparkle. You may have bested us, twice, at trials of magic, but now I've learnt my true calling in Duel Monsters. The Great and Powerful Trixie has been waiting a long time for this, now you will suffer defeat by my hooves and in front of this vast audience no less."
"Oh, I'm sorry you still feel that way. Well good luck."
"Trixie does not rely on luck, now lets get this over with so I can duel somepony with talent."
Her smirk during those words was fast approaching lethal levels. Twilight endured in silence. Clearly Trixie had cut a chord with the spectators, some murmurs were trickling down from the stands. Largely seeming to voice an opinion that certain unicorns didn't belong in a tournament like this.
"You heard it here first folks, this battle is now a grudge match complete with some epic smack talk! The duelists are now drawing their opening hands. Before the match begins, we've received data from one Honest Joe. Seems that Trixie has won tournaments in both Manehatten and Fillydelphia."
There came a sound over the speakers like papers being rustled.
"He also adds that the odds of Twilight winning this match are 12 -1 against, and that he will, be taking bets until the first card is played... Gees man, find somewhere else to advertise will ya? Anyway, as a new comer, Twilight is to go first. She's lining up her move now."
Twilight was indeed staring at her cards. This was it, the moment she'd been preparing for.
Just need to relax and put on a good show. If I do my best, I'll have no regrets.
"I'll start with this. I'll play my Talented Unicorn level 3, in defense mode."
She threw the card down onto the playing surface before her. Despite the gravity of the situation, she couldn't help but be impressed as a symphony of interwoven spells kicked in.
First a detection spell read her card and compared it to a central crystal core containing all known cards. That information was then sent to crystals dotted around the arena. These crystals were infused with powerful illusion spells and created a large 3D image of the card.
In this case, a laughable cute unicorn foal wearing a deep purple mages hat, several sizes too big, appeared on the field. Next to it hovered a small box displaying that card's stats. Atk - 900 / Def - 1500.
"Next, I'll place four cards face down."
The crystals shimmered again, behind her monster sat the magic and trap card zone. Four of the five slots became filled, simple brown rectangles like the backs of the real cards appeared.
"And end my turn."
Trixie laughed from behind her cards. "Talented Unicorn? Isn't that a starter deck monster? You'll need better cards than that to beat me."
Hmm, she must be planning to use magic cards to keep that monster safe until it evolves into it's final form. Time to bait a trap of Trixie's own.
"I'll play one monster face down in defense mode, and set one card face down."
Two plain rectangles appeared on her side of the field. Her monster's was turned long side on, detonating that it was indeed in defense mode. She shot patronizing look before hiding behind her cards.
Expecting something grander weren't you Twilight? Well lets just see what you make of this then.
"An interesting first turn. Twilight could be said to be ahead with more cards on the field, but she did use most of her hand. It will take her some time to rebuild a good stock of cards."
"My move, I draw." She looked at the new card and added it to the remaining one in her hand. "Now I activate my unicorn's special ability,"
The hologram foal aged rapidly, growing from foal into colt in seconds. The hat fitted now atop a powerful brow. Next to it, the stats box changed as well. Atk - 2000 / Def - 2100
"At the beginning of my turn I can send level 3 to the graveyard, to summon Talented Unicorn level 5 from my deck. Now I'll attack your face down monster. Talented Unicorn, attack with lightning strike!"
The unicorn's horn glowed, unleashing a hell storm of lightning towards the face down card. Trixie laughed derisively at her.
"Trixie would like you to know two things. Firstly, you don't have to ham up your attacks with fancy names. Secondly, you've just attacked my Vengeful Unicorn."
Lightning struck the card, revealing the form of a unicorn with a dark coat and wild mane. It whinnied in pain, sending four blasts of evil looking magic towards Twilight's cards before shattering into pieces.
"Not only was my card in defense mode, so I lose no life points. But when Vengeful Unicorn is destroyed in battle, it automatically destroys all magic cards on your side of the field."
Twilight's side was covered in a virtual fog as the blasts struck her cards, sending up plumes of smoke. As they cleared, three cards were gone, but now a giant purple card floated face up on the field. A picture of two spells bound into a circle was on its face.
"Twilight has two points to make as well. Firstly you've activated my trap card, Eternal Energies. Now for every magic card that goes to my graveyard, I get to draw one card. Plus it's a permanent trap. So I'll draw three cards and make my second point. Talented Unicorn level 5 deals damage, even if the monster is in defense mode."
Trixie looked round as the counters on either side of her changed. The four thousand written in solid navy blue numbers ticked down. It settled on 3,800, changing from blue to a light green colour. A polite round of applause rang out, an irritated look flickered over the blue unicorn before she composed herself again.
"So you dealt me two hundred points of damage, big deal. It's my turn now. First, when I draw baby chick to my hand, I can automatically summon it"
A tiny blue bird appeared in one her monster slots. From somewhere in the audience, Twilight was sure she heard Fluttershy saying aah.
"Now I activate my facedown card, Unfinished Business. For the cost of five hundred points, I can bring Vengeful Unicorn back from the graveyard for a turn."
As her life point counter trickled down, her monster reappeared, clawing it's way out of it's own card. It leered at the crowd, flicking its greasy mane in a show of contempt.
"Now I sacrifice both my creatures to summon Illusion Mage!"
The pair of monsters disappeared, replaced by a single unicorn. It was hard to make out details of this beast, the air around it seemed distorted and thick. Atk - 2000 / Def - 2500
"Finally, I give up six hundred more life points to gain three illusion tokens and end my turn."
Three simple orbs of white light jumped out of thin air and floated serenely round Illusion Mage's head. Her life points fell to 2700, fading from green to bright orange.
The crowd was murmuring again. Looking round Twilight could see looks of confusion on some of the closest faces. She didn't blame them, that was a costly move with a fairly weak outcome for Trixie. But then again, she'd never seen Trixie play before, or even heard of this card. Perhaps it was best to dispose of it quickly.
"Eleven hundred points to summon a monster that's weaker than mine already. I think your cape's on too tight. My draw. First, my level 5 unicorn goes to the graveyard to summon level 7 from my deck."
The unicorn seemed to age rapidly again, the hat gaining patches and the unicorn gaining a large quantity of beard. Atk - 2800 / Def - 2500
"Now I summon Striking Pegasus to the field in attack mode and attach my Steel Wing magic card to it."
The crystals glowed brighter as a ruby coated pegasus appeared on the field. With a flash of grey, its wings turned into steel. More than a fashion statement, its attack also rose as the magic card kicked in. Atk - 2300 / Def - 1700
"Next I play Card Destruction."
On both sides of the field, flaming meteors rained down onto the players hands. Holographic fires licked at the cards, finding them to their liking.
"We have to discard our entire hand and redraw the same number of cards. Thanks to my trap card though, for every magic card gone I get an extra card. Plus, since Card Destruction is a spell card, I get an extra one for that as well."
Trixie said nothing. Just placed her hand into the graveyard and drew fresh ones without comment,
"Finally I attack your Illusion Mage with Talented Unicorn. That activates it's new special ability by the way. Whenever my monster attacks, it's target loses three hundred attack points."
Illusions mage's attack dropped as lightning began to ripple off Twilight's unicorn. With a clap of thunder, it blasted across the field. At the last moment, one of the orbs drifted into the path of the attack. Everyone watched with baited breath as the energies smote the sphere and with a bang, both vanished Two orbs remained on the field, but not a scratch on the mage.
"What happened there?" Twilight asked, very much confused.
"I can activate special effects as well. By surrendering one illusion token, The Great and Powerful Trixie can redirect one of your attacks."
"Redirect?"
"Look closer at the field."
She looked, but what was she supposed to be seeing? Wait, there it was! On her side of the field, the lost illusion token was floating behind her Striking Pegasus. Trixie brought her hoof down in a sweeping motion. Lightning, the same that Twilight had used earlier blasted out the orb, destroying itself and her monster. Twilight could only gasp at the smoldering crater that was left, as her life points counted down to 3500.
"Because my pegasus was equipped with Steel Wing when it was destroyed, I draw one extra card and end my turn." She said a little halfheartedly.
"Not much else you could do." Trixie smirked.
It sounded like a bomb had gone off. After a brief second of panic, Twilight realized the crowd was cheering again. They were loving this, although who's move they were cheering for was beyond comprehension. Well at least they were warming to her.
"What a move that was folks! Twilight summons an incredibly powerful monster, but Trixie turns it back on it's master. Who knows where this duel could go next?"
"It will go like this. First I give up another six hundred life points to gain another three illusion tokens. But don't worry, these ones aren't for stopping your pathetic attacks. These three will remove them all together! I use three tokens to activate grand illusion!"
As her counter ticked down to 2100, three orbs drifted away from the mage and surrounded Talented Unicorn. They spun, faster and faster until Twilight's monster was hidden in a cone of pure white light. Without warning, the light vanished, and the unicorn along with it.
Trixie laughed as Twilight's jaw hit the playing surface.
"Don't worry, your monster isn't gone for good. In five turns, it returns and gains another five hundred attack points into the bargain. It's a shame you won't survive that long. Now since you have no monsters left, I can do this. Illusion Mage, attack her directly!"
Illusion Mage obeyed without question, thousands of distracting images flashed before Twilight's eyes. A hint of something shady lunging at her was all she could make out clearly. When she could see again, the mage was back on Trixie's side of the field. Next to her, Twilight's life points ticked down 1500.
"If Twilight doesn't come up with a plan soon, she is sunk. Lets watch folks!"
Thanks for pointing that out Spike, real confidence booster. She though scathingly. That damnable sweat on her neck was back and the weight of the eyes on her felt very real.
Calm down Twilight. Celestia wouldn't have invited us if she didn't think we stood a chance. You can do this, time to prove it.
Hoof trembling slightly, she reached for her next card. That might work.
"I'll use polymerization to fuse two monsters from my hand, in order to summon Majestic Crow to the field in attack mode."
The crowd had a fleeting glimpse of two creatures melding into one, before the crow came out. Tall and slender, it's feather a glossy black. Atk - 2100 / Def - 1000
"Now attack her Illusion Mage!"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie see now that you are trying to lose on purpose, since you clearly know that I can redirect your attack."
Now it was Twilight's turn for a slightly smug smile.
"Normally yes, but watch what happens when I send one card to the graveyard."
The crow rose high, making a beeline for her mage. The illusion tokens moved in, but just couldn't seem to catch the bird. Every time they got close, he'd dive out the way. The crowd even cheered as he barrel-rolled to avoid both tokens at once and finally struck it's mark.
Illusion Mage stumbled back, cracks spreading all over it from the impact point. Accepting it's fate, the mage shattered into pieces and was no more. With no more magic to fuel them, the tokens winked out of existence as well.
"But how did you do that?" Trixie shouted shrilly. "My Illusion Tokens should have taken care of you!"
"Simple, if I send a card to the graveyard, Majestic Crow is unaffected by any monster effects that turn. And don't forget, I sent a magic card to the grave, so I draw another card."
Trixie stared blankly at the field for a few seconds, she seemed to be miles away. There was a pause, then she threw her head back, and laughed like Twilight had just told the best joke ever.
"I don't know what to say folks, Twilight makes a brilliant come back and Trixie appears to have lost it. Could somepony with a phone please call the mares in white coats?"
"Trixie, are you alright?" She asked gently.
"I'm better than alright, The Great and Powerful Trixie is pleased. Almost no one can take down my Illusion Mage, it's so rare I get to play anything else. This is somewhat refreshing. Sadly, that means that you've jumped out of the frying pan and into the oven. My draw!
I'll start by playing the magic card, Timeless Illusion. To activate this card, I need to give up a thousand life points and remove an Illusion monster from my graveyard. Now I get to summon Trick Deck Dragon to the field!"
Life points falling to just 1000, the numbers turned red. A magic card appeared on the field, an image of a vast hourglass on it. With a bellowing roar, a great crimson dragon came bursting out. It flew a lap of the field and landed on Trixie's side. On closer inspection, the beast was not made of scales as dragons normally are, but instead it seemed to made entirely of millions of cards. All the seven of diamonds. Atk - 3000 / Def - 2500
"Do you like my monster Twilight? I hope so. Only a hoof-full of duelists have ever seen it. Now my great beast, attack her Majestic Crow!"
Taking to its wings, the dragon hovered towards the crow and let off a blast of black flames. Twilight's crow squealed as it was destroyed by the burning hate of the ace of spades.
"Finally I'll place one monster down in defense mode, lay a card and end my turn."
"This duel just gets better and better by the round! Twilight has just 600 life points left, but it's her turn now and I can't wait to see what she has to offer. One way or another, this duel ends now."
How right you are Spike, I might just make it out of this after all.
"That's an impressive card Trixie, but I think I'll have to take it down."
"You can't! You have no monsters on the field, and I doubt you can pull off a fusion that powerful. The game is mine!"
"Watch and learn Trixie. First I play the magic card Change of Heart."
The spell card flickered into life on Twilight's side. A split picture stared out at the crowd. One side showed a beautiful pegasus holding a simple red heart, the other a changeling clawing desperately for it.
"Nice try, but my Trick Deck Dragon is immune to magic and trap cards."
"I never said I was targeting your dragon, I want your face down card, now it's mine."
The changeling jumped out Twilight's card and vanished into Trixie's. The face down glided across the field, flipping over to reveal another Vengeful Unicorn.
"Going out fighting? Well at least now you have a monster on the field for your futile last attack, not that it'll achieve anything."
"Actually I don't want your unicorn to attack with, I want it as a sacrifice to activate this card; Resurrection Ritual. Now by sending your monster to the graveyard, I can summon one of my most powerful monsters. Star Swirl the Bearded, come forth!"
A pillar of azure light shot down from the heavens, blasting Vengeful Unicorn to pieces. The light faded, leaving behind a very old looking unicorn in its place. His cloak and hood were festooned with bells, and his beard stretched from his chin to his hooves. Atk - 0 / Def - 0
"That's your best monster, your last hope? An old geezer with zero attack points?!"
"Check again Trixie, looks aren't every thing. Star Swirl the Bearded may have no attack points when he's first summoned, but he has a special ability. He knows the value of magic, and the strength gained by practicing it. That's why he gains 400 points for every spell card in my graveyard."
Trixie visibly paled. "But, that means, no that can't be! How many spell cards have you got in there?"
"By my count, 10. Meaning that this duel is over."
Tiny spheres of grey rose from the magic card zone, flowing into Star Swirl. As the crowd watched with baited breath, his attack and defense both raised to 4000.
"Now Star Swirl the Bearded, attack her Trick Deck Dragon. Ancient Might!"
Pale blue light swelled round the old unicorn's horn, a beam bursting forth, striking the dragon in the chest. For a second, it looked like the attack failed. Nothing seemed to happen. Then the beast broke down, a cascade of cards falling over the field. They held there, all now jokers grinning roguishly at Trixie before vanishing completely. A single flat note sounded that her life points had hit zero.
"I don't believe this, Twilight has pulled back from the brink of oblivion and won the duel! She will proceed to the next round. Great and Powerful Trixie, you'll have to find yourself a new title!..."
Spike kept on talking, but Twilight didn't hear him. She was busy retrieving her cards and trotting round the ring before Trixie could disappear again. The showmare was indeed trying to make a hasty exit, but saw Twilight coming and accepted what was coming.
"Go ahead and gloat Twilight Sparkle, you've bested me again." There was a hint of tears in her eyes.
"I just wanted to say that you played an excellent game, no pony could have called it."
"Re-really? You're not just saying that?"
"Its the most fun I've had in a while, and I know that you enjoyed it. If you're ever in Ponyville again, I look forward to a rematch."
"The Great and... I mean, I would, like that someday."
"Happy travels Trixie, and the best of luck in the future."
Trixie swept her deck into a saddle bag and with a swish of her cloak vanished into the crowd. Just before she left, Trixie looked back for a second.
"Thanks Twilight."
End Duel 1