Episode 11: Armed and Dangerous
Silver Spoon was worried. Her best friend had been so distant from her lately that she might as well not have been there at all. And as if that wasn’t enough, she had heard so many rumors going around. Diamond Tiara had apparently become even more full of herself than usual, and considerably aggressive. Sure, she was never the nicest person, but it wasn’t like her to Duel someone to the point of injury.
The grey girl sighed and lowered her head, the lenses of her glasses glinting as the caught the light of a lamp. She then reached over and picked something up off her ornate desk: a very special Duel Monsters card.
“Something needs to be done.”
The next morning, Canterlot High School’s hallways were crowded with students trying to get to class. Among them were the Crusaders, walking with their recently made friend Rush. Apple Bloom was in the middle of telling him the story of how she had defeated Sombra, leaving out the fact that Astral existed to avoid looking crazy. “So everything looked hopeless, right? But Ah had to save mah friends. Then out of nowhere, a new card appeared! A Chaos Number! So Ah brought back Utopia, then used him to summon the Chaos Number, weakened the Rainbow Dark Dragon with its effect, and the rest is history.”
Rush smiled. “That’s pretty impressive,” he said. “And to think the most exciting thing that happened to me over the weekend was pulling a Temple of the Mind’s Eye from a booster pack.” This wasn’t true. He actually had gotten that card, but he also spent a lot of his time doing recon for Starlight. He had been told to keep that a secret.
Scootaloo grinned. “That’ll give a good boost to your deck,” she said. “It’s a pretty risky card, though.”
“I can deal with a little risk,” said Rush. “I come here every day, don’t I?”
“Good point,” Sweetie Belle said. “By the way, your Number cards haven’t been acting up, have they? I would hate to have to Duel them out of you.”
Rush shook his head. “I don’t think I’m being possessed, at least,” he answered. “I know it might sound weird, but I’m getting this feeling from Heartlandraco, like it’s trying to protect me from anything evil that other Numbers might try to do to me.”
Astral hummed as Rush said this. “How strange,” he whispered to himself. “First Dark Mist is able to manifest a spiritual body for itself, then Utopia gains another form, and now this theory about Heartlandraco. The Numbers may be fragments of my memories, but they seem to be sentient at times and evolving. There is clearly more to them than meets the eye…”
Apple Bloom was about to make a comment when someone bumped into her from behind. She stumbled and almost tripped as the offender walked past her and groaned when she saw who it was. “Silver Spoon…”
The wealthy student shot a glare at the redhead. “Watch where you’re going, loser,” she snapped.
“Watch where Ah’m goin’?!” Apple Bloom said incredulously. “You’re the one who bumped into me!”
“You were in my way,” Silver Spoon said, as if that was supposed to be a valid excuse.
“It’s a matter of politeness, something you would never understand,” Apple Bloom replied.
“Forget politeness, I have money.”
“Yeah, too much of it,” Apple Bloom muttered. “No wonder you’re such a terrible person.”
Silver Spoon’s eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?”
“Ya heard me. Ah tell it like it is,” Apple Bloom said, getting up in Silver Spoon’s face to make sure she got the message. “You. Are. A. Terrible. Person.”
Silver Spoon pushed her into a locker and snarled. “You. Me. Football field. Four o’clock. We’ll settle this with a Duel. Don’t you dare be late,” she hissed before walking away.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo helped their friend back to her feet. “This could be bad,” Sweetie said. “Did you see how angry she looked?”
“What if she picked up another Number?” Scootaloo added.
“Either way, Ah don’t really have a choice but to Duel her,” said Apple Bloom. “Clear the afternoon. We have new plans.”
At exactly 4PM sharp, the Crusaders and Rush made their way to the football field behind the school. The field was deserted apart from Silver Spoon, who was standing by the southern goalpost with her arms crossed when they arrived. “Wow. You actually showed up,” she said, adjusting her glasses and causing them to glint menacingly. “We’ll play with standard rules. And to make things more interesting, the winner will get one thing from the loser. A favor, an item, as long as it's relatively reasonable. I’ll decide what I want after I win.”
Apple Bloom scowled. “Ya ain’t gonna win. Mah friends are here to support me,” she said, strapping her Duel Blade to her arm. “And Ah’m feelin’ the flow!”
Sweetie Belle smiled. “You haven’t said that in a while. Glad to hear it coming back.”
Apple Bloom nodded and grinned. She loaded her deck and extended her card tray. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Silver Spoon said, inserting her own deck.
“Let’s Duel!”
Apple Bloom
LP: 8000; Hand: 5
Silver Spoon
LP: 8000; Hand: 5
“Ah’m goin’ first!” Apple Bloom declared. She looked over her hand. “Ah summon Rose Witch in attack mode and set two cards facedown! That’ll do it for me.”
“Be ready if she has a Number,” Astral warned, receiving a nod in response.
Apple Bloom
LP: 8000; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 8000; Hand: 5
“My turn,” Silver Spoon began, calmly drawing a card from her deck. “I activate the field spell Union Hangar. Upon its initial activation, I can add a light-attribute union machine monster from my deck to my hand. I’ll take my Y-Dragon Head and normal summon it.” Her mechanical red dragon swooped onto the field with a roar. “Now the other effect of my field spell activates. Since a union machine was summoned, I can equip it with another compatible union monster from my deck, like my Z-Metal Tank.” A yellow assault tank sped into position and linked up with Y-Dragon Head. “While equipped with Z-Metal Tank, my Y-Dragon Head gains 600 attack points, bringing it up to 2100. Go, attack the Rose Witch!”
“Not so fast! Ah activate Negate Attack!” Apple Bloom countered. A barrier formed to block the advancing machine. “This stops your attack and ends the battle phase!”
Silver Spoon groaned. “That would figure. I set one card facedown. Turn end.”
Apple Bloom
LP: 8000; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 8000; Hand: 4
Apple Bloom looked down at her hand as she drew her next card. “That’ll work. Ah summon Lonefire Blossom and activate its special ability! By sendin’ it to the Graveyard, Ah summon Gigaplant from the deck! Then Ah take out the Z-Metal Tank with Mystical Space Typhoon!”
“No!” Silver Spoon growled.
“Yes!” Apple Bloom replied. “Gigaplant, attack the Y-Dragon Head! Rose Witch, attack her Life Points directly!”
“I activate Counter Gate!” said Silver Spoon. “This trap card can be activated when you declare a direct attack. It lets me stop the attack and draw a card, then normal summon the card if it’s a monster.” She drew the card and smirked. “Perfect. I normal summon my Summoner Monk, and his effect puts him in defense mode!”
“Typical. Ah end mah turn.”
Apple Bloom
LP: 8000; Hand: 1
Silver Spoon
LP: 7100; Hand: 4
Silver Spoon grinned as she drew. “I activate Soul Charge! Instead of conducting my battle phase, I can revive any number of monsters in my Graveyard by paying a thousand Life Points for each one! Come back, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank!”
Apple Bloom went wide-eyed. “Uh-oh! Ah know what this means!”
“Darn right you do. I’ll use my Summoner Monk’s special ability! By discarding one spell card, I can Special Summon a level four monster from my deck! And of course, I choose my X-Head Cannon!” At that declaration, the third machine of the set stood tall and proud among its brothers. “And now, by banishing these three from the field, I Fusion Summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon!” The machines all merged together, forming a red, yellow, and blue mech.
Apple Bloom gulped. “This could be bad. Especially if she uses the effect…!”
Silver Spoon chuckled. “I activate Swords of Revealing Light, summon Armed Dragon LV3, and end my turn.”
Apple Bloom
LP: 8000; Hand: 1
Silver Spoon
LP: 5100; Hand: 1
“Huh? Why didn’t she use XYZ-Dragon Cannon’s effect?” Apple Bloom wondered. She shook her head. “Can’t worry about that now. Mah turn! Draw!”
“I assume you will use your Gigaplant’s effect,” Astral said to her.
“Eeyup!” Apple Bloom confirmed. “By givin’ up a normal summon this turn, Ah can give Gigaplant his gemini effect, which lets him revive Lonefire Blossom! Then Ah use Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon mah second Gigaplant!”
Silver Spoon hummed. “So you can Xyz Summon now…”
“And Ah know just the monster to help me out!” said Apple Bloom. “Gonna be interesting to use, too. The only Xyz monster Ah usually used for a while is Utopia. But not this time! With mah two level six Gigaplants, Ah build the Overlay Network!” The two enormous plant monsters were drawn into a portal, and a familiar beast with bat-like wings emerged. “Bring the fright, Number 24: Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon!”
Scootaloo blinked in slight surprise on the sidelines. “Huh. Haven’t seen that thing since she told us what went down with Fluttershy.”
“I think I know what she’s planning,” said Sweetie Belle.
“With your Swords up, Ah can’t attack, so Ah end,” Apple Bloom finished.
Apple Bloom
LP: 8000; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 5100; Hand: 1
Silver Spoon just shook her head. “Trying to give yourself an unfair advantage with Number cards, I see,” she said. “My turn. Draw. And during my standby phase, my Armed Dragon LV3 grows up into Armed Dragon LV5!” Her small dragon went through a very fast growth spurt, gaining more armor and spikes on its body.
“Ah activate Dragulas’s special ability!” Apple Bloom said quickly. “By detachin’ one overlay unit, he can force a monster on the field that was summoned from the extra deck into facedown defense mode!”
With a grunt of irritation, Silver Spoon continued her turn. “I activate Terraforming to take a second Union Hangar from my deck, then activate it by getting rid of the first one!” she said. “And upon its initial activation, I add W-Wing Catapult to my hand! I’ll normal summon it, then use my Armed Dragon LV5 to attack Rose Witch!”
Apple Bloom winced. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”
Astral glanced down at his hands and saw that he wasn’t fading. “She does not seem to have a Number,” he said.
“Well, that’s a relief,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah still can’t let her win, though.”
“I’ll be ending my turn there,” said Silver Spoon. “And during my end phase, since Armed Dragon LV5 destroyed a monster by battle this turn, he grows up again. Come forth, Armed Dragon LV7!” As her dragon got even bigger and grew several blades on its body, her turn was passed.
Apple Bloom
LP: 7200; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 5100; Hand: 1
Apple Bloom hummed, drawing her next card. “Ah’m startin’ with Pot of Greed, lettin’ me draw two more cards from mah deck,” she said. “Then Ah summon Cactus Fighter, and since he’s level four, he can bring along mah new monster Kagetokage!” Her cactus creature jumped into play, followed by a lizard-shaped shadow with glowing eyes.
“Are you summoning Utopia?” Astral asked.
“No, he ain’t strong enough to do much against those monsters,” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head slightly. “What Ah can do is leave it up to chance. Ah overlay mah Cactus Fighter and Kagetokage to bring out Number 85: Crazy Box!”
Sweetie Belle smiled as the cube-like monster emerged on the field. “I remember that. It was the first Number she took after we figured out how everything worked with them.”
“Yeah. I wonder how Trick is doing these days, anyway,” said Scootaloo.
Rush raised an eyebrow. “Trick? Like the guy who did those scams, Trick Dice?” he asked.
“He’s working on changing,” Sweetie Belle assured him.
“Now, Ah activate Crazy Box’s special ability!” Apple Bloom declared. One of the Number’s units flew into her hand and morphed into a die. “Just gotta roll this and see what happens. Go, dice-roll!” She grinned as the roll came up five. “That means Ah can destroy one card on the field. Say goodbye to your Swords of Revealing Light!”
Silver Spoon gasped. “That means my monsters are vulnerable!”
“And mine are ready to attack!” said Apple Bloom. “Dragulas, attack W-Wing Catapult! And with mah Strike Slash trap card, he gains 700 and piercing for the turn!”
“What?!” Silver Spoon shouted. She raised an arm in front of her face to shield herself from the shockwave of the attack. “How obnoxious…!”
“Ah’m gonna end it with that.”
Apple Bloom
LP: 7200; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 3300; Hand: 1
“That was a heavy hit, but you won’t get lucky again!” Silver Spoon growled, drawing frustratedly. “Oh, this is perfect. I activate Card of Demise! This lets me draw until I have five cards in my hand. However, if I don’t use them in five turns, I lose them in five turns.”
“Ah remember Sombra had that card,” Apple Bloom muttered. “Guess it does have some uses in a union deck.”
Silver Spoon frowned. “Not quite the new hand I was hoping for. I’ll set a monster facedown in defense mode and two cards in my back row. Not much point in flipping XYZ-Dragon Cannon up right now due to your monster’s effect, though. Armed Dragon LV7, attack Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon!”
“Number monsters can only be destroyed in battle by other Numbers,” Apple Bloom reminded her opponent.
“But you still take damage!” Silver Spoon replied as the attack landed. “I end my turn.”
Apple Bloom
LP: 6800; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 3300; Hand: 2
Apple Bloom scowled. “Ya can’t keep this up forever,” she said. “Mah turn! Draw! Ah’ll use Crazy Box’s last overlay unit to activate his special ability!” She caught the unit-turned-die as it flew at her. “Go, dice-roll!” This time, her roll came up two. “This means Ah get to draw a card,” she said, doing so. “Yes, a Malevolent Nuzzler! Ah equip it to Dragulas and attack Armed Dragon LV7!”
Silver Spoon didn’t even react, other than scoffing and sticking her nose in the air.
“That’s where Ah’m gonna end it,” the redhead finished.
Apple Bloom
LP: 6800; Hand: 3
Silver Spoon
LP: 3000; Hand: 2
“My turn,” said Silver Spoon as she drew. “Four turns left for Card of Demise now. I activate Summoner Monk’s special ability, discarding a spell to bring out a level four monster! I choose my V-Tiger Jet, then flip summon my second W-Wing Catapult!”
Apple Bloom frowned. “Even if ya summon somethin’ from the extra deck, Ah can just stop it with Dragulas,” she said.
“I’m still doing just that!” Silver Spoon said with a grin. “By banishing V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult, I Fusion Summon VW-Tiger Catapult!” A large yellow and blue machine monster with rocket boosters was formed from the merging of those two monsters. “And that’s not all! Now, by banishing it and XYZ-Dragon Cannon, I can bring out my VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!”
Apple Bloom stared as the enormous mech was fully assembled in front of her. Its red, yellow, and blue painted surface gleamed in the light of the afternoon sun. “That thing is huge…! Too bad. Dragulas, do your thing.”
As her new monster flipped facedown Silver Spoon shrugged. “Then I use my facedown Dust Tornado to take out your equip spell and end my turn.”
Apple Bloom
LP: 6800; Hand: 3
Silver Spoon
LP: 3000; Hand: 2
“Ah have to get that machine off the field before she can flip it face-up again,” Apple Bloom said, starting her turn. She looked down at her next card. “Ah activate Pot of Avarice, shufflin’ five monsters in mah Graveyard back into the deck and drawin’ two cards!” After pulling the new cards from the top of her deck, her grin became even wider. “Now, Ah play Forbidden Chalice on Crazy Box so he loses his effects and gains 400 attack for the turn! Then Ah summon Goblindburg, bringin’ out Bird of Roses with his effect, and buildin’ the Overlay Network! Come on out, Number 39: Utopia!”
“With all those monsters on the field, she’ll be able to bring Silver Spoon down to almost no Life Points!” Scootaloo cheered.
“And there’s no way she’ll be able to come back from it! Apple Bloom has this won!” Sweetie Belle said.
“Crazy Box, destroy VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!” Apple Bloom commanded. “Dragulas, take down the Summoner Monk! And Utopia, attack directly!”
Frustratingly, Silver Spoon didn’t even flinch. Apple Bloom frowned in confusion and ended her turn.
Apple Bloom
LP: 6800; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 500; Hand: 2
“That’s so weird. She’s about to lose. Why doesn’t she look worried?” Rush said as the rich girl drew her next card.
“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle replied.
Silver Spoon pushed her glasses up her nose, causing them to flash as they reflected the sunlight. “I have you right where I want you,” she chuckled.
Apple Bloom snorted with laughter. “Yeah right. Ya have no monsters out and only three cards in your hand, while Ah have three Numbers. How can ya possibly bounce back?”
“Let me show you,” Silver Spoon replied. “Since I Special Summoned both my Armed Dragon LV7 and VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon during this Duel, I’m able to banish them from my field or Graveyard to summon the most powerful card I own! Ready, aim, fire! Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon!” This new monster was unlike anything the others present had ever seen. The enormous dragon with incredible mech armor towered over everything else, casting a massive shadow. It roared, blowing everyone’s hair back.
“Sh-she let me think Ah was winning… just to bring out a monster like that…” Apple Bloom breathed.
“Now!” Silver Spoon shouted. “… I end my turn.”
“Huh?!”
Apple Bloom
LP: 6800; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 500; Hand: 3
“She is showing you mercy,” Astral said. “Why?”
“She must be waitin’ for somethin’,” Apple Bloom muttered. “But it’s not gonna happen! Ah draw!” When the new card was added to her hand, her excitement was clear. “Mah Double or Nothing. Ah still have a chance! Utopia, attack and use an overlay unit to negate it so Ah can use Double or Nothing and finish this Duel!”
“That won’t work,” Silver Spoon said at once. “I activate Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon’s special ability in response to your attack! During your turn, I can banish a card from my deck or extra deck to banish every single card from your field and Graveyard!”
“Say WHAT?!” Apple Bloom cried. She winced as a massive explosion shook the field, and all three of the Numbers Apple Bloom had summoned were gone when the smoke cleared. “No…”
“Do you have anything to defend yourself in your hand?” Astral asked.
“Nothing,” Apple Bloom answered. “Ah have to end the turn.”
Apple Bloom
LP: 6800; Hand: 2
Silver Spoon
LP: 500; Hand: 3
Silver Spoon grinned. “I activate a card that I’ve been holding on to for a while now: Limiter Removal!” A bright light glowed around her ultimate monster. “This doubles the attack points of every Machine-type monster I control, but all my machines on the field are destroyed during the end phase.”
“But with 7000 attack points and nothing to stop it…” Sweetie muttered.
“There won’t be an end phase,” Scootaloo finished.
“Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon,” Silver Spoon said with a sneer. “Destroy.”
The monster took aim with all of its weapons and fired.
Winner: Silver Spoon
Apple Bloom fell to her knees. “After all this, Ah lose to someone who doesn’t even have a Number,” she said sadly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Her friends ran over to comfort her, but she was already wallowing in her self-pity.
Silver Spoon collapsed the card tray of her Duel Blade and approached slowly, the others all looking up at her. “You remember our agreement,” she said. “But before I tell you what I want, let me just say… sorry for tricking you.”
Apple Bloom gave her a half-lidded, unamused stare. “What.”
“Yeah, I kinda bumped into you and made a scene on purpose so I could challenge you without there being any chance you would decline,” Silver Spoon admitted, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.
“But why in the heck would ya pull such a convoluted scheme?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Because…” Silver Spoon paused, sighing sadly. “Because with how horrible I’ve been to you all these years, I figured you wouldn’t agree to help me any other way. Duelists’ honor and all that. You would definitely honor an agreement we made based on the outcome of a Duel.”
“Help you?” Sweetie Belle said in surprise. “With what?”
“It’s Diamond Tiara,” Silver Spoon replied. “Ever since you girls took our Number cards, she’s been obsessed with coming up with ways to get hers back. And lately, she’s been getting worse. She’s angrier, more aggressive. She’s just not the same. I’m worried that she might’ve picked up another one, and that she’ll be damaged and…” She trailed off and choked out a desperate sob. “Please… I just want my best friend back… I want her to be alright…”
The girls and Rush stared in disbelief. The story she had told was shocking, of course, but how she was acting was even stranger. Silver Spoon, the confident and tough bully, was actually crying.
After a moment of silence broken only by the sobs of the grey girl, Apple Bloom stood up slowly. “Silver Spoon,” she said in a low voice. “If ya just told us all that from the beginning, we would’ve helped.”
“I realize that now,” Silver Spoon said, burying her face in her hands. “But after being even worse to you during that Duel, I completely understand if you don’t—.”
“Where do we start?” Apple Bloom asked.
Silver Spoon looked up in surprise. “Y-you really want to help me?” she asked. “Even though we’ve been bitter enemies since the fourth grade?”
“The way I see it, enemies are just friends whose hands you haven’t shaken yet,” said Sweetie Belle, smiling warmly. “I can tell you’re really serious, and I’m willing to bury the hatchet.”
“Me too,” Scootaloo agreed.
“Me three,” said Apple Bloom. “We’ll help ya get your friend back to normal. You’re one of us now.”
Observation number fifteen. Even those who have anger towards each other can form friendships given proper time and circumstance, Astral thought.
Silver Spoon wiped her eyes and smiled. “In that case, we start at my place where I’ll help you upgrade your decks.”
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8823959
Most likely in a future arc. I’m just kinda torn between two options right now.
8823974
Is the next chapter almost ready? Also, I think you should add chants for when someone summons a number. If you want, I could try to help with that.
Hope we get to see an update soon
Nice chapter! Curious to see what happens next
Man, really wished this fic got to continue.
Maybe Spike getting to duel too if possible but..
After hearing the author passed away just.. wow..
This was one of the very first fics I read after I made an account on here, I can't believe it turns out the author is no longer with us in the living this whole time..
11060529
It hurts so much knowing a cool fic will never continue since the author passed away honestly..
Its so saddening to see tragedy like that.