The Dueling Games

by Shadow Kick

Day 2

It was the second and final day of the Friendship Games Duel Tournament. The students from both schools were headed for the bleachers on the soccer field, while the teachers dealt with a small dilemma.

“We don’t have enough finalists,” said Luna. “If these twelve duelists battle each other, twelve will become six, six will become three, and then we’re stuck with a battle royale. Plus, we only have one price card.”

“We’ll just have to end this tournament a different way,” said Celestia.

“What do you have in mind?” asked Cadence.

“We’ll end this tournament, tag team style,” said Celestia. “As for the extra price card, I’ll just give the other winner one of my cards.”

“I must say, that’s not a bad idea,” said Cinch. “But it wasn’t perfect either.” Cinch then walked away.

“She’s never impressed,” said Cadence. “Especially by the rivals.”

“Let’s not worry about that,” said Luna. “We have a tournament to finish.”

“Agreed,” said Celestia.

“Welcome, students!” said Cadence over a microphone. “Today are the finals and one of these twelve students will win our big prize!”

“We didn’t have enough duelists to end this tournament properly,” explained Luna. “And we can’t afford to waste any more days for this tournament.”

“So we have decided to end this tournament a little differently,” said Celestia. “More specifically, tag team style!”

“Thankfully, there are six students from each school,” said Cadence. “So we will divide the six students from each school into teams of two and we’ll have three tag duels in total. Canterlot vs Crystal Prep, the school with the greater amount of wins out of these three tag duels will win.”

“Now, let’s give up for our twelve finalists!” said Celestia. The students cheered and clapped.

After the cheering died down, Celestia announced the teams. “Team 1: Fluttershy and Applejack will battle Team 2: Sour Sweet and Twilight Sparkle! Team 3: Rarity and Pinkie Pie against Team 4: Sunny Flare and Lemon Zest! Finally, Team 5: Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer against Team 6: Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat!”

“Each duelists will receive 4000 life points,” explained Cadence. “In order to win, one team must defeat both players on the opposing team.”

“Also,” said Celestia. “Please, point your attention to the field!”

Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap were all sitting on duel runners a few feet from their janitor Discord, who was holding a green flag on a racing track.

“We’ve decided to make the last tag duel a little more exciting,” said Celestia. “So when the time comes, our last two teams will race around the school in a turbo match!” The kids cheered.

“Go Twily!” called Shining Armor from the crowd. Twilight’s cheeks instantly turned red.

“Now, Teams 1 and 2, begin!” said Luna.

“Duel!” said the four students.

Twilight: LP 4000
Sour Sweet: LP 4000
Fluttershy: LP 4000
Applejack: LP 4000

Turn 1: Sour Sweet

“I’ll go first!” said Sour Sweet. “I draw, I summon Amazon Archer in attack mode. Now, I’ll activate Temple of the Kings, now I can activate one trap on the same turn I set it face down. I set this card and then activate it, Ultimate Offering. I give up 500 life points to summon Volcanic Scattershot in defense mode. Then I’ll pay another 500 points to summon another one. I activate my Archer’s effect, by tributing my two scattershots, I can inflict 1200 points of damage to…. Fluttershy!”

“Oh no!” said Fluttershy.

Twilight: LP 4000
Sour Sweet: LP 3000
Fluttershy: LP 2800
Applejack: LP 4000

“You also receive 500 extra points of damage for each scattershot,” said Sour Sweet. “Now, I activate Monster Reborn to bring back one of my Volcanic Scattershots. Then I’ll tribute the scattershot and the Archer herself to inflict 1200 more points of damage, plus 500 extra points thanks to my scattershot’s effect.”

“That leaves me with just 100 life points,” said Fluttershy.

Twilight: LP 4000
Sour Sweet: LP 3000
Fluttershy: LP 100
Applejack: LP 4000

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” said Applejack. “I gotach covered.”

“Thanks, AJ,” said Fluttershy.

“I end my turn,” finished Sour Sweet.

Turn 2: Fluttershy

“I draw,” said Fluttershy. “I summon Fairy Archer in defense mode. Next, I activate Soul of the Pure to gain 800 hundred life points. Next, I activate Enchanted Fitting Room. This lets me pay 800 life points, then pick up 4 cards from the top of my Deck and special summon to my side of the field all Level 3 or lower Normal Monsters among the picked-up cards. All other cards are returned to my Deck and shuffled. Here goes.” Fluttershy looked at her four cards and smiled. “I special summon, Chu-Ske the Mouse Fighter, Bunilla, Dark Gray, and Mystical Sheep #2, all in defense mode. Now I activate, Extra Gate. This card allows me to declare a Level between 1 and 12, then my opponent banishes 1 monster of that Level from their Extra Deck. If my opponent does not have a monster of that Level in their Extra Deck, I have to discard 1 card. I call, rank 1 Xyz monster.”

“Well guess what?” said Sour Sweet. “I don’t have one, so I guess, you lose a card.”

“That’s what I wanted,” said Fluttershy.

“Huh?” asked Sour Sweet.

“I discard Strike of the Monarchs,” continued Fluttershy. “During my Main Phase, if this card is in my Graveyard, I can banish this card, then declare 1 Attribute. All face-up monsters I currently control become that Attribute until the end of this turn. I select Light. Now I have five Light monsters, so I’ll activate my archer’s effect and inflict 400 points of damage for each Light monster on my field. That’s a total of 2000.”

“Well, that’s just fantastic,” said Sour Sweet.

Twilight: LP 4000
Sour Sweet: LP 1000
Fluttershy: LP 100
Applejack: LP 4000

“I place one card face down and end my turn,” said Fluttershy.

Turn 3: Twilight

“I draw,” said Twilight. “Oh boy, this isn’t a very good hand.” Twilight’s hand contained Back-Up Rider, Spellbook of Life, High Priestess of Prophecy, Spellbook of Eternity, Emperor of Prophecy, and Amores of Prophecy. “I summon Amores of Prophecy in defense mode and end my turn.”

Turn 4: Applejack

“My turn,” said Applejack. “I draw. I’ll discard my Quillbolt Hedgehog to special summon my Quickdraw Synchron in attack mode. Since there’s a tuner on my field, I can special summon my hedgehog from my graveyard and tune him together with my synchron, in order to Synchro summon Junk Archer. Now I’ll use his effect and remove your monster from play Twilight.”

“Dang!” said Twilight. Sour sweet glared at her.

“Next, I’ll activate Burial from a Different Dimension to return that monster I removed to your graveyard, Twilight,” said AJ.

“Now it won’t come back!” Twilight realized.

“I place one card face down and end my turn,” said AJ.

Turn 5: Sour Sweet

“My turn,” said Sour Sweet. “I draw.”

“Hold it right there!” said Applejack. “I reveal my trap card, Drop Off. This card sends the card you just drew to the graveyard.”

“Dang you!” called Sour Sweet. “I don’t have any other cards, so I end my turn.”

Turn 6: Fluttershy

“I draw,” said Fluttershy. “Fairy Archer, attack Sour Sweet directly!”

“NOOOO!!!!” yelled Sour.

Twilight: LP 4000
Sour Sweet: LP 0
Fluttershy: LP 100
Applejack: LP 4000

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” said Fluttershy. “But I must attack. Go my animal friends! Attack Twilight!”

“AH!” cried Twilight.

Twilight: LP 1050
Sour Sweet: LP 0
Fluttershy: LP 100
Applejack: LP 4000

“I place one card face down and end my turn,” said Fluttershy. “

Turn 7: Twilight

“I guess it’s my turn,” said Twilight.

“You’re really bad at this!” called Sugarcoat.

“Don’t listen to em,” said Applejack. “Just believe in yourself, and in your deck. Sometimes, one draw is all it takes to change everything. It’s true.”

“Thanks,” said Twilight.

“Yeah, like that’s really gonna happen,” said Sour Sweet.

“I draw,” said Twilight. “Alright! Spellbook of Wisdom! Now, since I have three different Spellbook cards in my hand, I can special summon High Priestess of Prophecy in attack mode. Then I activate my Spellbook of Wisdom, so for this turn, my Priestess will not be affected by trap cards.”

“Oh no!” thought Fluttershy. “Now I can’t use my Magical Arm Shield or Dimensional Prison.”

“Then I activate my monster’s effect,” said Twilight. “If I banish one Spellbook card from my hand or graveyard, I can destroy a card on the field. Sorry, but I remove my Spellbook of Wisdom in my graveyard, to destroy Junk Archer.”

“Dang!” said Applejack.

“Now I activate Backup Rider,” said Twilight. “This card gives my monster an extra 1500 ATK points until the end of the turn, making her ATK power, 4000. High Priestess of Prophecy, attack Applejack directly!”

“Oof,” said AJ

Twilight: LP 1050
Sour Sweet: LP 0
Fluttershy: LP 100
Applejack: LP 0

“Now, I sacrifice my High Priestess to summon Emperor of Prophecy,” said Twilight. “Then, I’ll activate my Spellbook of Life. By banishing a Spellcaster in my graveyard, like my Amores of Prophecy and revealing a Spellbook spell card in my hand (Spellbook of Eternity), I can special summon back my High Priestess of Prophecy back to the field. I play my Spellbook of Eternity to bring my Spellbook of Wisdom back to my hand. Now I can activate my Emperor’s effect, by banishing my High Priestess and a Spellbook spell card in my graveyard (Spellbook of Eternity), I can take control of your Fairy Archer until the end of the turn.”

“Uh-oh,” said Fluttershy.

“Now I’ll use your Archer’s effect,” said Twilight. “And inflict 400 points of damage to you, Fluttershy.”

“Darn,” said Fluttershy.

Twilight: LP 1050
Sour Sweet: LP 0
Fluttershy: LP 0
Applejack: LP 0

“Twilight wins!!” announced Cadence.

“Way to go, Twilight!” called Shining Armor.

“That’s one point for Crystal Prep! Now, the next duel between teams 3 and 4 will begin, now!” said Cadence.

“Let’s duel!” said Pinkie, Rarity, Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare.

Rarity: LP 4000
Pinkie: LP 4000
Sunny Flare: LP 4000
Lemon Zest: LP 4000

“Oh well,” said Fluttershy. “There’ll be other duels.”

“Good attitude Fluttershy,” said Applejack. “Congratulations, Twilight.” Instead of responding, Twilight walked over and hugged Applejack. “See, I was telling ya the truth. One draw can change an entire duel, all ya have to do is believe in yourself,” Applejack then sprouted her pony features and began to glow orange. Afterwards, Twilight’s device opened and began to drain Applejack’s magic. “What… are… you…doing?!” she asked.

“I don’t know!” answered Twilight. As Twilight tried to pull her device away, she tripped over her dog Spike and dropped her device, which caused it to open another small dimensional rift. Twilight reached for her machine, but was dragged back by a green tentacle crawling out of the vortex.

“Let’s try and end this quickly,” Rarity whispered to Pinkie.

“Gotcha,” Pinkie whispered.

Turn 1: Rarity

“I’ll go first,” began Rarity. “I activate Brilliant Fusion which lets me Fusion summon a Gem Knight Fusion monster by sending Gem Knight monsters from my deck to the graveyard, unfortunately I have to reduce that monster’s ATK and DEF points to zero. I’ll send the Gem-Knights Emerald, Alexandrite, and Amber to the graveyard and form Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond! Next, I activate Polymerization to fuse my Gem-Knight Garnet and Lapis together to summon Gem Knight Ruby. Now I summon Gem-Knight Lazuli so I can activate my Lady Brilliant Diamond’s effect. By sending a Gem-Knight monster to the graveyard, I can special summon a Gem-Knight fusion monster from my extra deck. So, I’ll send Gem-Knight Lazuli to the graveyard and special summon Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli in attack mode. Then, I’ll activate my Lady Lapis’s effect. I can send one Gem-Knight monster from my deck or extra deck to the graveyard and inflict 500 points of damage to my opponent for each special summoned monster on the field. I have three, so I’ll send one Gem-Knight monster from my deck, and inflict 1500 points to you, Sunny Flare.”

“Seriously?” asked Sunny Flare.

Rarity: LP 4000
Pinkie: LP 4000
Sunny Flare: LP 2500
Lemon Zest: LP 4000

“I place one card face down and end my turn,” said Rarity.

Turn 2: Sunny Flare

“It’s my turn,” said Sunny. “I summon Rapid Fire Magician in attack mode. Now I play Meteor of Destruction. This card inflicts 1000 points of damage to one of my opponents, and I choose….Rarity. Plus, thanks to my mage’s effect, my opponent loses 400 extra life points because I played a normal spell card.”

“How rude,” said Rarity.

Rarity: LP 2600
Pinkie: LP 4000
Sunny Flare: LP 2500
Lemon Zest: LP 4000

“Now for that Lady Lapis,” said Sunny. “I hate that Lapis gem, so I’ll destroy it with Fissure. This card destroys your weakest monster, it’s a normal spell so you lose 400 points.”

“Why thank you,” said Rarity.

“Huh?” asked Sunny.

“Now I activate my trap card,” said Rarity. “Brilliant Spark, this can be activated when you destroy one of my Gem Knights. Now you lose life points equal to my destroyed monster’s ATK power.”

“Damn it!” yelled Sunny.

Rarity: LP 2200
Pinkie: LP 4000
Sunny Flare: LP 100
Lemon Zest: LP 4000

“Let’s watch the language!” said Cadence over the mic.

“I get you for that,” said Sunny. “I activate Ookazi which inflicts 800 points of damage! Plus, my mage’s effect, that’s 1200!”

“Oh my,” said Rarity.

Rarity: LP 1000
Pinkie: LP 4000
Sunny Flare: LP 100
Lemon Zest: LP 4000

“Then I’ll play Hinotama which inflicts 500,” said Sunny. “And with my mage, 900.”

“Oh no,” said Rarity.

Rarity: LP 100
Pinkie: LP 4000
Sunny Flare: LP 100
Lemon Zest: LP 4000

“Finally,” said Sunny. “I finish you off with Tremendous Fire!”

“But that will take away your last few points too,” reminded Rarity.

“If I’m going down,” said Sunny. “You’re going me.”

Rarity: LP 0
Pinkie: LP 4000
Sunny Flare: LP 0
Lemon Zest: LP 4000

“Pinkie, it’s all up to you,” said Rarity.

Turn 3: Pinkie

“Got it, my turn,” said Pinkie. “I summon Madolche Mewfeuille in defense mode. Then I’ll activate his effect, I can special summon another Madolche from my hand, I choose Madolche Baaple, also in defense mode. Now I’ll play, Madolche Ticket. When a Madolche monster is returned to hand or deck, I can add a Madolche monster to my hand. I place two cards face down and end my turn.”

Turn 4: Lemon Zest

“Alright, my turn,” said Lemon Zest. “I play Pot of Greed. So I draw two new cards. Now I’ll set Symphonic Warrior Miccs and Symphonic Warrior Guitaars in my Pendulum zones. Now I can special summon any number of monsters whose levels are two to six. So I’ll Pendulum summon Symphonic Warrior Drumss, Symphonic Warrior Sizerrs, another Symphonic Warrior Guitaars and Maryokutai.”

“Wow,” said Pinkie.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” said Lemon Zest. “I discard Noisy Gnat to increase my Guitar’s level by one, then I’ll activate my Drummer’s effect and change its attribute to a Dark monster. Now I will tune my Drumss, Sizerrs, and Guitaars together and Synchro summon, Beelzeus of the Diabolic Dragons!”

“I discard Effect Veiler from my hand!” cried Pinkie. “Now all your dragon’s effects are negated until the end of the turn. Then I’ll activate Ring of Destruction and Ring of Defense, Whoo-hoo!!”

“Uh, dude, we both lost,” said Lemon Zest.

“What?” asked Pinkie.

“When you played Ring of Defense, I tributed Maryokutai to negate it,” explained Lemon.

Rarity: LP 0
Pinkie: LP 0
Sunny Flare: LP 0
Lemon Zest: LP 0

“Oh, okay,” said Pinkie.

“Wow!” said Cadence over the mic. “It seems we have a draw, so whoever wins the final tag duel will determine how this tournament will end!”

“Teams 5 and 6,” said Luna. “Begin!”

The four duelists activated their Speed World 2 field spells. “Duel Mode engaged,” said a female robot voice. The hologram spread across the track. “Countdown initiated, turbo duelists, ready, set, duel!" Discord waved the flag and the four riders took off.

Rainbow: LP 4000
Sunset: LP 4000
Sugarcoat: LP 4000
Indigo Zap: LP 4000

Meanwhile, Twilight was still trying to get free from the strange plant creature that was slowly coming out of the portal. Spike even began biting one of the tentacles, but to no avail.

Turn 1: Rainbow

“I’ll go first,” said Rainbow. “I draw! I summon Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger in attack mode. I place three cards face down and end my turn.”

Turn 2: Indigo Zap

“Coming through!” called Indigo. “I play the Speed Spell Over-boost. This gives me six extra Speed Counters until the end phase, after that, my counters go down to one. Next, I play the Speed Spell Advanced Ritual Art. By removing four Speed Counters, I can send normal monsters from my deck to the graveyard and summon a Ritual monster. I send Summoned Skull to the graveyard and summon Dokurorider. Now I’ll summon Diskblade Rider in attack mode. I place two cards face down and end my turn.”

Turn 3: Sunset

“I draw,” said Sunset. “I discard my Level Eater to the graveyard in order to special summon The Tricky in attack mode. Then I’ll reduce my Tricky’s level by one to special summon Level Eater from my graveyard, now I sacrifice both of my monsters to summon The Supremacy Sun in attack mode. I place one card face down and end my turn.”

Turn 4: Sugarcoat

“I draw!” said Sugarcoat. “I summon Gale Dogra in attack mode. Now I activate his effect, by paying 3000 life points, I can send a monster in my extra deck to the graveyard.

Rainbow: LP 4000
Sunset: LP 4000
Sugarcoat: LP 1000
Indigo Zap: LP 4000

I’ll send Armityle the Chaos Phantom. Now I play the Speed Spell Double Summon, by removing two Speed Counters, I can play another monster, so I summon Phantom of Chaos. Next, I activate my Phantom’s effect, I can remove my Armityle from play and copy his effect until the end phase. Now my Phantom gains 10,000 ATK points.”

“What?!” asked Rainbow and Indigo.

“Wait, you do know it can’t attack yet, right?” asked Sunset.

“I don’t need to attack,” said Sugarcoat. “I play the Speed Spell Sonic Buster, now I can inflict damage to one of you equal to half of my Phantom’s ATK which is 5,000. I think I’ll chose…Sunset.”

“Oh no you don’t,” said Sunset. “I activate Barrel Behind the Door, which redirects al that damage right back at you.”

“I don’t think so,” countered Sugarcoat. “I discard Hanewata to block all the damage.”

“Not this time.” Interrupted Rainbow.

“What?” asked Sugarcoat.

“I activate my counter-trap, Divine Wrath,” said Rainbow. “By discarding my Emerald Turtle, I can negate your monster’s effect.”

“Shoot!!” shouted Sugarcoat.

Rainbow: LP 4000
Sunset: LP 4000
Sugarcoat: LP 0
Indigo Zap: LP 4000

Turn 5: Rainbow

“Back to me,” said Rainbow. “I draw, now activate my trap Needlebug Nest to send my top five cards to the graveyard. (Crystal Beasts Amber Mammoth, Amethyst Cat, Cobalt Eagle, Sapphire Pegasus, and Ruby Carbuncle.) Now I’ll attack Diskblade Rider with Topaz Tiger, plus his effect activates his ATK power by 400.”

“Like that’s gonna happen,” said Indigo. “I activate Mirror Force to destroy your Tiger and The Supremacy Sun.”

“Dang!” cried Sunset.

“Time for revenge,” said Rainbow. “I activate Crystal Raigeki and I’ll send my Tiger from my Spell zone to the graveyard to destroy you Diskblade Rider.”

“Darn,” said Indigo.

“I place one card face down and end my turn,” said Rainbow.

Turn 6: Indigo Zap

“My turn,” said Indigo. “I activate the Speed Spell Speed Storm, which inflicts 1000 points of damage to one of one, and I choose Sunset.”

“Ah!” cried Sunset.

Rainbow: LP 4000
Sunset: LP 3000
Sugarcoat: LP 0
Indigo Zap: LP 4000

“I switch my Dokurorider to defense mode and end my turn,” said Indigo.

Turn 7: Sunset

“Then it’s my turn,” said Sunset. “I activate my Supremacy Sun’s effect, by discarding a card (Marshmallon) during my standby phase, I can bring it back to the field. Now I will remove my Level Eater and the Marshmallon I discarded in order to special summon Black Luster Soldier Envoy on the Beginning.”

“Say what?!” asked Indigo and Rainbow.

“Now I summon The Calculator,” continued Sunset. “This monster’s ATK is equal to the combined Levels of all face up monsters I control times 300, so my Calculator’s ATK is 6000.”

“Holy cow!!” said Indigo.

“Way to go, Sunset!” said Rainbow.

“Black Luster Soldier, attack!” ordered Sunset.

“That’s what I was waiting for,” said Indigo. “I activate Magic Cylinder!”

“No!!” yelled Sunset.

Rainbow: LP 4000
Sunset: LP 0
Sugarcoat: LP 0
Indigo Zap: LP 4000

“Looks like you lose!” shouted Indigo.

“Darn it!” cried Sunset.

“I activate my trap!” called Rainbow. “Rainbow Gravity, if I have all seven Crystal Beasts in on the field or in my graveyard, which I do, I special summon Rainbow Dragon straight from my deck!”

“Oh boy,” said Indigo. “I end my turn.”

Just then, more dimensional rifts opened up and more of the mutant plants came out. One of them went straight for Sugarcoat. It grabbed her bike in its mouth and crunched it to pieces, Sugarcoat rolled off its giant root and ran off the track. One of the plant’s vines knocked Sunset off her bike, once Rainbow saw what happened, she turned around and raced back towards her friend. One of the plant heads went straight for Sunset, as it opened its jaws, Rainbow grabbed Sunset by the arm and got her out of the monster’s reach.

“Dash, you saved me!” said Sunset.

“I wasn’t about to let my friend become plant food,” replied Rainbow. Rainbow began to glow bright blue, she took off her helmet and sprouted her pony features. Cinch then looked at Celestia, but Celestia was too shocked by the vine creatures to notice.

“We can still win this,” said Rainbow. “You continue my duel and I’ll handle these plants.”

“Be careful,” said Sunset.

“No prob,” replied Rainbow. She then flew up around the plant’s heads trying to distract them from the duel.

“Darn,” said Indigo. “I thought I was gonna win by default or something.”

Turn 8: Sunset

“We don’t go down so easily,” said Sunset. “Now let’s finish this, my turn!”

One of the plants changed it focus over towards the two girls and went straight for them. It was just about chomp both of them, then Rainbow slammed in into the ground.

“Bring it,” said Indigo. “So you have a big dragon made of diamonds, big deal.”

“I beg to differ,” said Sunset. “I activate Rainbow Dragon’s effect, by removing all of Rainbow’s Crystal Beasts from her graveyard, I can return all cards on the field back to the owner’s decks!”

“What?” asked Indigo. “So what, now you’ve got nothing.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Sunset. “I remove Dash’s Rainbow Dragon from her deck in order to special summon her Malefic Rainbow Dragon!”

“You gotta be kidding me!!” yelled Indigo.

“Afraid not,” said Sunset. “Malefic Rainbow Dragon, attack! Spectral Surge!”

“NO!!!!” cried Indigo.

Rainbow: LP 4000
Sunset: LP 0
Sugarcoat: LP 0
Indigo Zap: LP 0

“Canterlot wins!” said Cadence. The Canterlot team cheered. “Attention students, please proceed to the gym.”

Finally Twilight was able to close her pendant which closed the dimensional portals and forced the plants back into Equestria.

Sunset road over to her friends.

“Is everybody alright?” asked Applejack.

“Better than alright!” said Rainbow as she landed. “We won!”

“Yeah, we won,” said Sunset. “But somebody could've been seriously hurt. This darn magic is going haywire!”

“Um, excuse me,” said Twilight. “I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to learn about the strange energy coming from your school. I didn't know that it was magic or... how it works.”

“That's okay,” said Rainbow. “Neither do we.”

Suddenly, Twilight’s device opened. "Oh, no! No no no! Not again!” cried Twilight. The device and drained all of Rainbow’s magic out. “I'm sorry! It just started absorbing energy on its own! But I'm not sure how!”

“What do you mean you don't know how?!” asked Sunset. Then another portal opened and revealed the night time sky of Equestria.

Cinch was walking by and caught sight of the action, she hid herself and continued observing.

“It also causes these corresponding rifts to appear!” continued Twilight. “I don't know how that works either.”

“Is there anything you do know?!” asked Sunset. “Like how to get our magic back?! Or how to fix the portal to Equestria?!”

“Equestria?” asked Twilight.

“You're supposed to be so smart,” said Sunset. “But did you ever think that you shouldn't be messing around with things you don't understand, and can’t control?!” Sunset then closed the machine, which closed the portal.

“But I wanna understand!” Twilight pleaded.

“But you don't!” said Sunset. “And worst of all, you put the lives of my friends in danger!”

“I'm sorry,” Twilight sobbed. “I didn't mean to.” She then ran away crying.

“Twilight wait!” called Spike.

“Wait, now can Spike talk?” asked Rainbow.

Celestia, Luna and Cadence approached Cinch.

“You can't possibly call that a fair duel,” said Cinch.

“Principal Cinch, we all saw what happened,” said Celestia. “You can't think CHS had some kind of advantage.”

“Can't I?” asked Cinch. “Even without your trained attack plants, your students have wings!”

“Trained?” asked Luna. “In case you haven’t noticed those plants attacked our students as well. We had nothing to do with this.”

“How much of a simpleton do you think I am?” asked Cinch.

“I see,” Celestia saw that she couldn’t convince Cinch. “Let’s just end the games, and declare a tie.”

“I think not,” said Cinch. “I see what you’re trying to do. Trying to force us into accepting you as our equals. This tournament shall continue, and we will prevail, as always!” Cinch then walked off and the girls took her place.

“I'm sorry I couldn't stop all this from happening,” said Sunset.

“It's not your fault, Sunset,” Celestia confirmed.

“Isn't it?” asked Sunset. “Magic is only in this world, because of me. And the truth is, I have no idea how to control it. And now Principal Cinch thinks we're cheating.”

“It doesn't matter what Principal Cinch thinks,” said Celestia.

“But it does,” said Sunset. “We all want to beat Crystal Prep, fair and square. Now, because of everything that’s happened, we’ll never truly get the chance.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Luna. “The night is always darkest before the dawn. We’ll figure out something.”

“Right now we have to decide how we’re going to end this tournament,” said Cadence.

“There’s only one way,” said Luna.

“You mean, a sudden death match?” asked Celestia.

“Indeed,” said Luna.