//------------------------------// // Preparations' End // Story: Let's Duel! // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// “That went well enough,” Twilight noted perhaps an hour later. “Sure was nice of her to invite us in for dinner,” Spike nodded appreciatively. “It beats eating out,” Twilight agreed. “But back to business. The sun shouldn’t completely set for a little while yet, so I think we may have time for one or two more things on the list. What’s next?” “Welp…” Spike flipped through his papers. “According to this there’s only one major task left to complete. We’re ahead of schedule.” “Really?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “After all the delays and duels we’ve been through, we’re ahead of schedule? What were we expected to do, spend all our time on vacation?” “Well, it is a nice country town,” Spike said. “Maybe it was Celestia’s way of telling you to kick back and have a little time off.” “But then we’ll have several days with nothing to do.” “We could go out,” Spike suggested. “Have some duels. See the sights. Make some friends.” “Or…” Twilight tapped her chin. “We could spend the whole time reorganizing the Golden Oak Library in accordance with modern systems! It’s horribly out of date.” “Sounds like fun,” Spike rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t it just?” Twilight clapped her hands. “Anyway, about the list. What’s the last thing we need to do?” “We need to talk to the girl who’s actually putting together the tournament, make sure that everything’s coming together smoothly.” Spike read off. “Says here that her name’s Diana.” “Diana, huh? A normal name for once.” “Seems like it.” A few minutes’ walking later, the duo were nearing Ponyville’s town square once again. The sun’s orange light was beginning to fade over the horizon, doors were closing, open signs dimming, and both were getting the sense that the small town was preparing to shut itself down for the night. Twilight and Spike therefore picked up their pace. When they finally came within sight of the square, Twilight was delighted to see the base of a duel arena set in place, shielded from the weather by a massive overarching tent. Rainbow Dash had been as good as her word after all. More immediately attention grabbing were the pair of women with active duel disks and monsters on the field. “My move!” a pink-haired woman in a pale yellow dress shouted, drawing a card. “Just what I needed! I’ll sacrifice my Rose Witch so I can summon my Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms! Since she’s Plant monster, Rose Witch counts as two tributes!” A green-haired plan woman in red and green dissolved away. A pale, delicate-looking woman in an elaborate floral costume appeared swiftly in her place, hiding half her face behind a pink flower petal fan. “And now my Talaya will attack your Dark Necrofear!” the woman pointed across the field at a bald, blue skinned female surrounded by a dark aura. “Go!” Her monster raised its hand and casually swept its fan. A mighty wind carrying thousands of cherry blossoms rushed across the field. “Not quite,” her black-haired opponent smiled, looking professional in her white blouse and long black skirt. “Since you just declared an attack, I can sacrifice the Dark Necrofear on my field and the Phantom Skyblaster in my hand to summon my Darkness Neosphere!” Now it was her monster that dissolved away into nothingness. In its place appeared a towering, blindfolded, pink-haired woman. Easily two stories high, she featured one angelic and one demonic wing, as well black armor with eyeballs sprouting in seemingly random locations. “4000 attack points?” the pink-haired woman took a step back, arm clutched to her chest. “How am I supposed to beat that?” “Well, the answer’s quite simple, Ms. Roseluck,” the dark-haired woman replied. “You aren’t.” Roseluck looked at her hand, over at the towering Neosphere, and back at her hand again. “I’ll place one card face-down, and end my turn.” “That wouldn’t happen to be a trap, would it?” the black-haired woman smiled as she drew. “Because if it is, you’re out of luck. I reveal my face-down card, Royal Decree! This negates the effects of all other Trap Cards on the field!” Roseluck’s eyes widened. “No!” “Yes!” the other woman grinned. “Now, Darkness Neosphere, wipe out her Talaya and the rest of her life points!” The massive monster held up its clawed hands, and a sphere of purple-black energies took shape between them. With a slight gesture it sent the attack soaring forward to strike the princess in her chest. The lesser monster was vaporized in an instant. Roseluck 0 “I… I… I lost?” the trembling Roseluck sank to her knees, cradling her head in both hands. “This is awful! An absolute tragedy! A horror of horrors!” “Oh do get over yourself,” the woman rolled her eyes. “You never had a chance to begin with. You were simply out of your league.” That did not seem to help. “Now off with you,” she waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve business to attend to. So shoo unless you want another lesson.” With a groan and a faint sniffle, Roseluck pulled herself to her feet. Head hung and back hunched, she shuffled away, looking thoroughly dejected. Her victorious opponent turned her back casually and began walking towards the town hall. On her way she pulled a small tablet from her purse and examining it intently. “Um, excuse me,” Twilight called, waving a little to draw the woman’s attention. “Yes?” the woman didn’t bother to look up or stop walking. “What is it?” “Uh, we were looking for a Ms. Diana, and we were told that she was in the area. Can you help us?” “Look no further, you’ve found her,” she glanced up. “Is it urgent? I’m rather busy at the moment.” “It is, actually,” Twilight continued. “I was sent here to supervise preparations for the solstice celebration next week, and my information says that you are the one to talk to about organizing the Duel Monsters Tournament itself.” “I am the coordinator,” Diana returned her tablet to her purse and put a hand on her hip. “I take it that Celestia must have sent you?” “Yes, actually,” Twilight walked up to her and offered a hand. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia. Pleased to meet you.” “Her student?” Twilight caught an odd look in the other woman’s eyes. “I didn’t realize that our humble celebration rated so highly on the princess’ radar.” “It was kind of a surprise to me too – er, no offense or anything,” Twilight caught herself. “Your town is a lovely little place. Very different from the big city.” “No offense taken,” Diana shook Twilight’s hand firmly. “I don’t live here in any case.” “You don’t?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “But you’re coordinating their tournament instead of a local?” “There are a number of people from out of town attending the tournament this year. It’s a chance to impress Celestia herself after all. When the man that they usually rely on to handle the work became badly ill, I volunteered to take over.” “Ah, alright,” Twilight nodded. “That makes sense. So, um, how’s it coming together?” “Well enough, especially now that the resident slacker has finally bothered to get off her hammock and start work on our arena.” Diana paused. “I had heard that I have you to thank for that, correct?” “Well, I did defeat her in a duel after she agreed to start today if I won.” “I’m glad that you did. I was on the verge of challenging her myself.” “Speaking of challenges, I saw the last bit of your duel over there. You did really well.” “I know,” Diana smiled. “Anyway…” Twilight went on. “I saw that you had a copy of Darkness Neosphere in your deck. That’s an extremely rare card. Where did you get it?” “It was…” she looked down slightly. “A gift from a very special friend of mine. A pick-me-up, if you will. It was given to me at a low point in my life. Since then things have changed for the better, so I consider it something of a good luck charm. So it means rather a lot to me.” Twilight nodded, knowing well enough how meaningful gifts from loved ones could be. “But anyway, back to business. You were here to check in on the plans for our tournament, correct?” “Yes, care to fill me in?” “Certainly. We have 64 slots filled with participants, and room for one winner. We’ll be starting as soon as the sun sets the night before. The rules are single elimination. Lose one duel and you’re out. Draws result in replaying the duel until a winner is chosen. Last one standing is the winner to be crowned by Celestia at sunrise.” “Sounds like fun. I’ll look forward to watching. And I can referee if you need me to.” “I think it would be even better if you dueled in it.” “But aren’t all the slots taken? Besides, I wouldn’t want to steal someone else’s spotlight.” “They are but… things can change in a heartbeat, Ms. Twilight. We’ll see how things go and take it from there, alright?” “Sounds reasonable enough,” Twilight shrugged. “Anyway, thank you for the update, and let me know if you have any more problems. I’d be happy to help. This whole thing seems like it’s shaping up to be a wonderful celebration.” “Oh, it definitely is.” Diana smiled broadly. “I promise you, it will be a night that neither you nor Celestia will ever forget.” A little while later Twilight and Spike reached the Golden Oak Library. The last of the sunlight was slowly fading away behind the horizon, and the pale moon was visible overhead. “Well, I’m beat.” Spike put a hand to his mouth and yawned. “Long day, huh?” “We walked around and played card games – and I did most of the playing.” Spike waved a hand. “Details.” “I really need to assign you some reading on logical fallacies.” “The important thing is, we’re back home,” Spike gripped the door’s handle. “And it’s just about time to-” “SURPRISE!!!” “AAAAH!” “Hi there!” said a certain familiar pink-haired girl. “I’m Pinkie Pie, but I’m sure you already know that because we met yesterday! But I just thought I’d remind you in case you forgot! Aaaaaanyway, when I went home yesterday I realized I didn’t have time to set up a Welcome to Ponyville Party for you, so I did it today instead!” Twilight and Spike slowly disentangled themselves, but not before they were both seized by their shoulders. “So come on in! I promise we’re going to have a great time! We have cake and games and punch and music and looooots of people for you to meet! This party’s gonna be the bomb!” “Ummm…” Twilight managed. “Thank you?”