Duelists of the Autumn Crown
Epilogue
“Come ooooon, Twilight!” Rainbow groaned.
“I’m almost done!” Twilight muttered. She finished scratching the runes into the side of the crystal with her chisel, and blew on it. The dust scattered and the rune began to glow a pale green. “That should do it.” She stepped back and looked it over. A semi-circular metal platform about the size of a table stood on the ground in front of her, blue crystals embedded in its sides. Two taller spires of crystal were mounted on the top at the tips of the table. A few hoof lengths away, an identical construct faced this one.
Rainbow stepped up to the platform and reached into her saddle bag to pull out a deck of Duel Monster cards. “You ready?”
At the other table, Applejack nodded, her own deck already on the field. “If this here thing works, Ah am.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Twilight leaned her head down and fired a bolt of magic at Rainbow’s table. The crystals lit up in blue light and began to pulse. She turned and did the same to Applejack’s table. “Okay, give it a go!”
“I’ll go first!” Rainbow reached out to draw six cards from her deck and looked down at them. “I summon Harpie Queen!” She slid the card onto the metal table. The blue crystals on either side of Rainbow lit up and shot beams of magic down at her card. The transparent image of a woman with winged arms and talons on her legs appeared over the card, stretching her wings out. Rainbow gasped. “That is so awesome! Um, okay… I set a card and end my turn.”
“Let’s see here…” Applejack lifted a card from her hand. “Ah summon Naturia Pumpkin!” As she put her card down, the crystals on her table lit up and projected the image of a small green and yellow fruit sitting on her card. Applejack whistled low. “Well, how about that!”
“You did it, Twilight!” Pinkie squeed and hugged Twilight around the neck.
“Well, not yet,” Twilight coughed as Pinkie squeezed her until the other pony let go. “This is just a crude first effort, really a proof of concept. I only enchanted the crystals with images for a few cards, mostly just our decks. It was hard enough getting them in anyway since the crystals can only hold so much magic before they explode and quality specimens like this are rare. If I actually wanted to expand them I’d probably have to try enchanting smaller crystals with only a few cards, maybe let a duelist carry around a crystal attuned to their deck. But then every time they adjust the deck the spells would have to be changed. I could just try a new spell to let the crystals create images on their own by scanning the card image, but some of the designs don’t show the full monster. Not to mention this is a long way from actually being portable to the point a pony could wear it comfortably—”
“Twilight.” She stopped at Rainbow’s voice. “Can we just play?”
“Oh, right.” Twilight blushed. “Sorry.”
“I call winner!” Pinkie shouted. She, Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy sat down at the side as Applejack continued her turn.
Twilight watched them for a moment before heading into the castle to go to her lab. I didn’t even get into the difficulties of actually expanding the card database. I remember a lot of the cards I saw and I could probably design original ones, but creating a crystal magic Duel Disk is one thing. It’s another to come up with a properly balanced card game. She looked around the lab she had used to build the disk, books on magic and hardware crafting strewn about along with pieces of metal and crystal. The binder from her friends in the other world, many of its cards removed to be used for testing, lay on the table.
“For now, these will do.” She looked at the binder and smiled. There were several hundred cards in it, most of them lacking synergy to properly build a deck comparable to the ones she had seen in the other world. But it had enough cards for her friends to assemble workable decks and try out the game, and they were taking to it rather well. She was sure that as they kept playing and refining their understanding of the game, the six of them could put their heads together and come up with ideas worthy of the original game.
As Twilight examined the cards, light began to shine from a nearby shelf. She turned to it and saw the source in a stack of cards. She lifted them over to the table. “Sunset?” Sunset Shimmer’s blank deck of cards looked up at her, their surfaces shining. Twilight spread them out over the table and watched.
In waves of sparkles, the blank white boxes on the cards were washed away to be replaced with new artworks. Symbols Twilight didn’t recognize, blue and red triangles with numbers below them, were on either side of the cards’ effect text, which was split into two boxes.
When the glow ended and the cards finished their transformation, Twilight looked at the nearest one. “Pendulum monster?” Scrunching her nose at the unfamiliar term, she looked up at the card’s artwork. A humanoid figure with long pink hair and pale blue and green armor posed with a bow, aiming at some unseen enemy. Twilight’s jaw dropped as she saw the name of the card. “Harmony Guardian Gracia?” She looked over the other cards. The visages were all at once familiar and new, depicting seven human figures in colored armor wielding assorted weapons. Twilight lifted up one of them and brought it closer.
A human figure in golden armor sat atop a rock outcropping, a sword with a sun on the hilt resting against her leg. Red and yellow hair streamed down her back and blew in the wind. Harmony Guardian Compassio.
Twilight set the card down. A duelist’s deck reflects what’s in the heart… She closed her eyes and smiled.
Congratulations, Sunset. We’ll duel again someday. I promise.
Okay...I know a sequel set isn't "in the cards", but how about some bonus chapters? No pressure, just thought it could be fun.
Bonus charters would be fun. Juist to see more of the characters and their decks. It gives also the lesser seen characters a chance to be seen again...
That was an exciting ride, a sequel with the Dazzlings? each one using a different build, one xyz, one synchro and one fusion?
I'd like to see a sequel, but you don't have to. Do as you please.
A lovely conclusion, barring certain logistical difficulties. Still, a wonderful tale blending the novel and familiar, and I always approve of mixing ponies and card games.
Now to see Twilight found Koneighmi...
8442006
Ya know i had the same thought but it turns out they can: Maud Pie S4, Pinkie has poker in the obstacle course.
nicely done, though am I the only one who wants to see a mirror match at some point? in any case:
pony-Rainbow has a Harpie deck? ...I can see it
Applejack with a Naturia deck? ...I approve; also, don't you mean "hoof"?
you mean we're NOT going to see what the other decks are like?! BOO!!
1) Compassio...Compassion...Empathy 😁 all hail Sunset: the seventh Ranger...I mean, Element Bearer
2) interesting how Sunset's NEW deck and Twilight's OLD deck (as I'm assuming she made a more original one once she got back home) seem to be parallels of each other...not saying that's a bad thing: I'm just pointing it out...
3) (sniffs) is that sequel foreshadowing I smell?
Noooo, not Pendulum Monsters!... Hey, you skipped Syncro Monsters.
This story from start to finish is the best ever!!!
Well this story was tons of fun. Glad I followed it. I really hope we get a sequel eventually because that ending scene demands one.
This story was great! I would REALLY love to see a sequel to it! After all, Sunset is now using Twilight's deck from this story and Sunset's old deck upgraded to a Pendulum version of Twilight's deck with a new additional monster added in. I'd love to see what Compassio can do!
8442016
I really enjoyed this story alot please upload a sequel to this story please
Oh fuck no,
Good story, broheim!
s6.postimg.org/5pzpmopep/Pirate_Approved2.jpg
This story was a ton of fun to read, and I think you did an amazing job of writing it so readers don't need knowledge of the show or the actual card game to understand it.
8442177
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/734132/harmony-guardian-archetype
8442036
Syncro what now?
8442025
Hand is this context is the card set, not the limb.
...
Sunset will return in- "Duel of the sirens"
Sorry, that needed to be said. Anyway, end credits music.
One of the hardest things that I found doing in literary format and the one that sounds the least interesting was always, Duel monsters and card games. I mean, there has always been so many questions and problems I have seen come up with it from people pulling it off poorly. They either have the characters spend too long talking about effects, the writer is intent on using every detail about the cards, or quiet frankly, they make the duels boring and uninteresting. (Wich, lets face it, if you do that with Yugioh, you have lost the audience) It's a problem I have always had and have seen before.
You...pull this off quiet nicely.
While some of the things I could see coming a mile away (The Twilight ascention matching her own, Rainbow's duel with her, ect.) and some of it feeling a tinge familar (The last part of Sunset's duel was a nice homage to the Pegasus match plus a little of Marik, but it stil was very close together) It was no less well put together and exciting.
As I have always said about Equestria Girls, one of the things I love about the movie is that the whole dance aspect was just a plot device. I really felt like the writers only wanted to focus on the characters over plot and they did. Thus, I keep saying that the movie could've been about anything and it would've been just as fun to watch. You proven that with taking the plot and making more about Duel Monsters, and by keeping the whole thing down to the simple mechanics, you made it accessible to a guy like me who mainly just likes playing with the classic stuff.
However, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that is what made this a blast for me to read. No, it's the fact that this serves as a lesson on how to do a duel right. Give descriptiong of the monsters like you would a character, give them attack animations and not just say attack like it meant something, and keep it all about the characters. You showed off all of the positive ascpets of the game and made it a fun experience all around.
One day, I might even do this as a read. Who knows...but still, thanks for a great fic.
8442250
Ran screaming from that blog back when it came out. I'd almost forgotten about it until now, so y'know, thanks for the renewed trauma,
Great ending to a great fic, I love it, just, great story really, I hope to see more in the future.
What a great way to end the story having Duel Monsters in Equestria and Twilight being like Seto Kaiba with designing holo arenas. It would be great if the story continued.
Cool, now I'm excited for a sequel and check out Sunset's new deck.
8442272
eh, fair enough...
8442304
8442742
I'm just messin' around,
Honestly I don't think introducing the Pendulum monsters at the end was a good idea. It makes it look like something else has happened and we just got spoiled on a big point plot. I feel something like this is better saved for it's reveal and not a sequels hook, especially when you say you don't know if you're gonna do a sequel.
8442254 Syncro! Summon!
8443293
Don't forget the Dark Synchro monsters. They are just as impressive in my opinion, after all...
When shadows are consumed by even darker shadows, the curtains pull back to reveal, a world without light!
Also, what in the name of the Egyptian God cards are Pendulum Monsters? I kind of lost the show like five episodes in to the one that had the Xyz Monsters.
8443765
In actual gameplay mechanics, Pendulums are monsters that can be played as Spell Cards, to allow you to Pendulum Summon, letting you summon multiple monsters from your hand at once. They also have the mechanic that when destroyed they go to the Extra Deck face-up instead of the graveyard, where you can Pendulum Summon them back.
8442923
It wasn't meant to be a sequel hook, it was more an "and the adventure continues" ending.
8442277
I just want to concur with everything you've said about this piece. I used to watch the Yu-gi-oh television series and this work captures all of what made a show about people playing card games work so well. Makes me want to get my old deck out again. Congratulations, DrakeyC, on an excellent piece of fiction.
8442277
8443894
I said it before and I'll say it again here, I had all but lost interest in Yu-Gi-Oh when I found this. But after I started reading I couldn't help but go back and start rewatching my favourite of the shows, 5D's(Yes I am aware it is a less popular one), this fic brought back the Heart of the Cards in me.
8443293
Oh. What's that?
8444411 A Synchro Summon is where... You don't care do you?
8444411
LET'S REVEAL IT UP!
I will be ever on the lookout for a sequel. I'm willing to wait, cause this was good enough to reread. One of the better Yugioh fics , especially considering how some people butcher fan made cards.
So... will you be doing the other three Equestria Girls movies? Or, at the very least, could you tell me what the Dazzlings decks are?
8446693
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/734132/harmony-guardian-archetype
8444733
I seem to have stopped caring
I blame Celestia for turning Susnet into what she was.
She never fixed it jsut ingiored it just liek with Luna and the Wedding, she a stupid moron who pretends nothing wrong till too late.
8465419
Actually this is Magic that creates cards out of thin air. Twilights deck was checked at the beginning and she had no extra deck cards. It wouldn't be a problem for me if there hadn't been a deck inspection so we wouldn't have known that
Why did you include the fucking broken pendulums?!
8529515
Yup, good catch, fortunately an easy fix. Thanks!
8529918
Its not problem. I must say i bow to your writing abilities, i don't think i ever would be able to do something like this. The many card combinations, the cards positions and all of that. I am happy to see a yugiohxEG cross fic. I just saw the beginning of the yugioh not much longer than Yugi beat Pegasus. Then i saw the GX. This story surely will be put into my favorites so i could reread if i am in the mood, i so like to reread good stories.
It was a great journey my friend and i enjoyed it until the end.
Good luck and do not forget the Friendship of Cards.
8552844
I know, but I was saddened by her reformation at the end of the story -- I was expecting her to take her humiliating defeat as badly as possible and swear revenge on Princess Twilight. I just see too many stories of her reforming and being let off the hook for her crimes, and subsequently becoming a flawless heroine in their sequels. well, at least there won't be a sequel to this story... *phew*
Pendulum Summons?! HELL YES!
Looking back over the story this was a really good read Drakey and I think you wrote the duels extremely well especially the last two duels.
8639579
I simply made a little dueling field in Excel and kept track of everything on that.
Though I suppose it is a lot harder to keep track of those things while you're writing them.
8639830
And now I kick myself for not thinking of that.
8753332
shakes head Wrong. Link Summoning makes the game far more strategic, like a Chess match. Gone is the age of swarming with overpowering creatures. Now is the age of playing smart.
8765377
Understandable, but the different summoning methods aren't that hard to grasp and learn. I was able to grasp the different summoning methods pretty quick myself, not to brag or anything. Plus, there are plenty of people who would be willing to help others understand these methods, me included.