Not too long afterwards Twilight was again seated on a train, watching the countryside fly by. She allowed herself to sit back and relax a little, grateful for some time to sit back and process the insanities of a world turned upside down. Princess Celestia was still missing, with no one able to find a trace of her. On the positive side, neither could a trace be found of Nightmare Moon. In her absence, governmental authority fell next to her niece, Cadence. Her brother had already left to ensure the princess’ safe arrival at the capital.
And ensure that she was the real one, of course.
Twilight had met Shining again not far outside the Royal Vault. It seemed that the figure wreaking havoc in Camelot had disappeared as swiftly as they had come, shedding cloaks and apparently fading into the civilian population as soon as the guard got anywhere near them. He’d smelled a distraction almost at once and come running back with a squad of men and monsters in toe. After making sure she was alright and taking the still-frozen Shadowbolts into custody, he had almost immediately been drawn away by still more problems popping up.
Which left Twilight virtually to her own devices once again. She’d been tempted to crack open the case she held immediately to see what it was that Princess Celestia had wanted her to have, but… it didn’t feel quite right. She didn’t know why, but she had the distinct impression that it would be best to open the case in the presence of the five girls who had faced Nightmare Moon with her. It was irrational, she acknowledged, but she did owe them… and besides, she kind of liked that weird bunch.
So Twilight waited patiently for her personally-commandeered train car to pull into the station, got out, thanked the conductor and engineer, and went to go and find her friends.
And walked directly into the middle of a duel.
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash faced one another across a large waiting room, with Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy standing off to the sides. It took Twilight just a moment to pick out a handful of plainclothes guards placed discretely around the room.
“My move!” Rainbow called out, drawing a card. “I’ll switch my Red-Eyes Retro Dragon to defense mode, and then place one card face-down.”
The medium-sized red and black dragon in front of her hunched over, wings folding to cover its chest while the back of a card appeared behind it.
“And I think I’ll call that a turn.”
“What good will that do?” Pinkie sounded genuinely curious. “You know my Toons don’t have to attack your monsters if they don’t want to.”
“I know what I’m doing. Just make your move and worry about yourself.”
“Ok,” she shrugged. “Whatever you say, Dashie.” Pinkie drew. “I’ll start by giving up 500 of my life points.”
Pinkie
2500
“That lets my Toon Summoned Skull attack your life points directly!”
The green book floating in front of her wobbled, shook, and then burst open with a loud bang. A bluish-grey demon, or at least the upper half of one, tore its way out of the storybook pages, cackling madly. Lightning flashed from nowhere as it flexed suddenly oversized muscles.
“Alright old pal.” Pinkie gestured broadly, “attack her life points with Lightning Strike!”
The grinning little demon curled its clawed hands together as they crackled with energy, rubbing and twisting the flow as one might a snowball. Then the cartoon monster backed up, wound up one arm, and pitched a baseball-sized orb of lightning across the room. It took Rainbow Dash in the forehead.
Rainbow
600
Toon Summoned Skull fell over backwards in mid-air, laughing like mad. In the background, Rarity gasped, put a hand to her forehead, and collapsed onto a nearby couch.
“Very funny,” grumbled Rainbow Dash, looking up at her now ramrod-straight hairstyle. “But I play a Trap Card!”
“Silly Dash, you know that Toon Kingdom stops you from targeting any of my monsters with a trap!”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not targeting him! I reveal Damage Condenser!”
A silvery mechanical frame appeared behind her, connecting to a sealed glass tube by countless tiny red wires. Electricity began to flow from everywhere, crackling merrily across the machine and coalescing inside the enormous glass.
“This card lets me discard one card, and in return I can summon one monster from my deck with up to as many attack points as the damage I just took! And I think you can guess who I’m picking!”
The energy inside the tube began to shift into a more coherent shape.
“I summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!”
The glass tube shattered, wild thunderbolts hurling in all directions as the mighty beast announced its arrival with an eardrum-shattering roar.
“Hi Red-Eyes!” Pinkie grinned, waving cheerfully over at the dragon. “Good to see you again! Up for another trip into toon land?”
The dragon gave a low hiss, baring sharp fangs.
“Um… guess that’s a no?” Pinkie laughed weakly.
“You are NOT turning him into a Toon again!” Rainbow declared. “Now are you done or what?”
“Sure, just a sec.” Pinkie slipped a card into her disk. “I place one card face-down and end my turn.”
“Then it’s back to me! And I’ll activate my Inferno Fire Blast!”
Red-Eyes tilted his long neck backwards and opened his jaws wide. Deep red flames began to form in the back of his throat.
“Alright, Red-Eyes, attack her life points directly!”
The dragon roared, unleashing a fireball that flew past Pinkie’s Toon Kingdom to strike the girl herself directly in the chest.
Pinkie
100
“Alright!” Rainbow cheered. “Now you can’t use your Toon Summoned Skull to attack again!”
“Wow, good move!” Pinkie smiled over at her opponent.
“Heck yeah it was! I’ll end my turn with one more card face-down.”
“Alrighty then!” Pinkie picked her card, then giggled.
“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked.
“It looks like you were wrong, Dashie!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I activate Cost Down, letting me discard one card to slash the levels of all the monsters in my hand by two! Sorry though, Toon Skull.” She looked up at the cartoon demon emerging from her book. “It’s your time to go.”
The little devil’s face fell a bit, but it nodded.
“I sacrifice Toon Summoned Skull to play the card I just drew!” Pinkie enthusiastically slapped the card onto her duel disk. “Say hello to my Red-Eyes Toon Dragon!”
As Toon Kingdom slapped shut over the blue demon, who had just enough time for one brief squeal. The book spun around in the air a few times, then burst open in puff of orange smoke and a shower of confetti. A castle sprang up from the pages to the sound of a jack-in-the-box. From one of its towers leapt a small figure. Red-Eyes Black Dragon bared its teeth.
A comically-undersized black dragon hit the ground, miniature wings folded up behind its back. The little beast curled its oversized clawed hands and grinned broadly, revealing solid black fangs. Across the field, the original Red-Eyes opened its jaw and roared angrily. The cartoon dragon blew it a raspberry.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash had both fists clenched. “How could you?! You know how much I hate that thing! It’s a disgrace to the real Red-Eyes!”
“Sorry…” Pinkie sounded genuinely apologetic. “But my deck wanted me to! What would you have done?”
Is there anyone in the world, Twilight wondered. That’s quite as strange as Pinkie?
Many, many miles distant, a girl with puffy orange-yellow hair was facepalming. Across the forest clearing, behind his holograms, her opponent was staring. A purple-haired, pigtailed girl on the sidelines rolled her eyes.
“For what has to be the hundredth time!” she growled, pinching the bridge of her nose. “When I say that I’m summoning Sonata the Melodious Diva, I’m talking about the card in my hand!”
“But aren’t I just so much better than some trading card?” The blue-haired, ponytailed girl made a face like a kicked puppy. “Come on, you know you’d rather have me up here!”
“GET OFF OF MY FIELD, SONATA!”
Eh, I doubt it. Twilight decided.
“Anyway,” Pinkie continued. “I’ll use my new cartoon friend’s special ability! Once per turn I can summon any Toon Monster straight from my hand! And I’ll choose my Toon Dark Magician!”
Twilight gasped as a second monster leapt from the parapets of Pinkie’s cartoon castle. This one, though blue skinned and wearing black and orange robes, was clearly a miniature version of her own creature. It floated down next to the cartoon dragon, its face considerably more serious looking. Staring at it, Twilight couldn’t help but think the beast a bit disrespectful to the card Celestia had given her.
I guess this is how Rainbow Dash feels, Twilight thought, frowning at the little creature.
“And he’s got a special ability too! I discard the last card in my hand to summon a Toon Monster straight from my deck! So let’s all give a rousing Ponyville welcome to my friend the Toon Ancient Gear Golem!”
And now I’m glad Shining isn’t here.
A third cartoon monster leapt from the pages of Toon Kingdom. This one was a golem greatly resembling her brother’s mighty colossus, though man-sized and spouting a pair of bulging eyes in place of the original single red orb. The mechanical cartoon took up position between the dragon and the magician, staring down Rainbow’s monster and somehow managing to crack its knuckles.
“But since none of my Toons can attack this round I guess I’m out of things to do.” Pinkie shrugged. “Your move.”
“And that’s where I come in,” Twilight said, finally stepping out of the shadows. “Uh… hi guys.”
“TWILIGHT!”