The Magic of Dueling

by CrystalQueen

Chapter 11: The Enemy Revealed

The sight of Canterlot was one Twilight and her friends were used to. What they weren’t used to, however, was an escort of Royal Guards waiting for them at the train station.

“Princess Twilight.” one of the guards said “We are here to escort you and your friends to the castle.”

“An escort? Why would we need an escort?” Twilight asked

“The other princesses and captain Shining Armor have deemed that as classified information. They will tell you at the castle.”

“Alright. Come on girls, Spike, wake up Red.” Twilight said

“I’m on it Twilight!” Spike proceeded to poke at Red for several seconds, even after everyone had left the train car “Come on Red, wake up! Everypony’s left already! Come on, wake up!” just then, Spike noticed the elastic strap on Red’s goggles and had an idea. “Well, I didn’t want it to come to this, but I guess I have to…” Spike climbed up behind Red and held his goggles out as far away from his face as he could reach, with Red’s goggles snapping back onto his face.

“Ow! Fuck! What the hell is wrong with you!?” Red angrily shouted, a direct result of his rude awakening.

“Everypony’s going to the castle! They left without us, come on!” Spike responded as he ran off to catch up to the rest of the group, Red following soon after.
*******************************************************

“Sister, what I am trying to say is that by putting a whoopie cushion on my throne, you were putting those negotiations at risk! Just imagine if the Saddle Arabians didn’t sign the trade agreement, Equestria would have suffered!” Luna said, trying not to scream at Celestia.

“Oh please Luna, relax! The delegates found it amusing, and everything worked out.” Celestia calmly responded.

“But what if they didn’t find it amusing? Sister, you cannot make such assumptions when we are dealing with foreign affairs!” Luna responded, her frustration more apparent in her voice.

“So, should we leave?” Cadence asked, standing right beside the throne with Flurry Heart in her stroller beside her.

“No Cadence, it is vital that we speak to Twilight Sparkle and her friends about the matter at hoof.” Luna said.
“Luna and I just don’t get much time to talk to each other about our personal issues, so we take advantage of any moment we get, is all.” Celestia added. Just then, the three princesses saw the giant door to the throne room opening “That must be her right now actually.”

“Princess Celestia! We came as soon as we got your letter!” Twilight said, noticing that Cadence and Flurry Heart were also present “But what could be so important that you also have to call Princess Cadence?”

“Yes, that is a pressing matter, but first, I take that this is our otherworld visitor?” Celestia said, motioning towards Red.

“Yes, my name is Lance. Lance Higbee.” Red said “However, I also go by the name of Red Rocket.”

“Well met Lance, I am Princess Celestia, the reigning Princess of Equestria. I understand that you’ve already met my sister, Princess Luna.”

“And I am Princess Cadence, I rule the Crystal Empire to the north with my husband Shining Armor, and this is our baby Flurry Heart!” Cadence said

“Now that introductions are out of the way, I believe we should get down to business.” Luna said

“Yes, let’s.” Celestia began to speak “It has recently been brought to our attention that Lance isn’t the only creature of his kind to appear in Equestria as of late.”

“Yeah, I’ve had to Duel four of them, and they all had the common trait of being legendary Duelists from my world who had died years ago, and there was something ‘off’ about all of them, as if they weren’t themselves.” Red explained.

“Wait, you’ve been Dueling the dead?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah, and their eyes were all black where there should have been white, why?” Red responded.

“Then I think I have an idea who is behind these mysterious attacks.” Luna began “I believe it to be the work of Ernesh, the Equestrian God of Death.”

“Wait, did you say ‘God of Death’?” Red asked.

“Why yes, even us Alicorns have to answer to various Gods.” Celestia said. “Luna and I may be well over 1000 years old and much more powerful than the average Pony, but we are not omnipotent.”

“Yeah, about that, I’m just a man.” Red began. “You girls, on the other hand, are all magical talking Ponies with a history of saving the world. So, how about I leave the problem in your capable hands or hooves, whatever, and I just sit on the sidelines and stay out of the way?”

“Don’t worry Red!” Twilight said. “It may seem impossible, but with the magic of friendship, anything is possible!”

“Alright, Twilight? I’m not sure how you settle things around here, but where I’m from, Duels settle everything.” Red began to explain. “So, if someone won’t Duel, I’m only good for going fast, and I’m pretty sure that a Death God from some other world won’t be too interested in Dueling, so you remember that other world you sent me to? Yeah, I think I’ll just hide out there while you beat him up with friendship or something, come get me when I’m useful.”

“But Lance, wait!” Luna shouted across the room as Red began to leave. “Don’t you find it weird that you have been Dueling the dead from your world when Equestria has never seen a human before? Or that this only began to happen shortly after you arrived here? Or that they have all Dueled you when it would have been easier to just kill you?”

“So? After I beat them up, most of them returned to normal, what are you getting at?” Red asked.

“What Luna is getting at is that we believe Ernesh to be specifically reviving those beings for a specific reason.” Celestia said. “Furthermore, your ‘Duel Disk’ is rather similar in appearance to a device Ernesh used to channel his magic when Starswirl the Bearded, a powerful unicorn, banished him to Tartarus 1000 years ago. Besides, we already have a different plan to deal with Ernesh.” she added.

“Different plan?” Twilight asked. “Princess, you can’t mean that different plan, can you?”

“Hello everypony!” Discord gleefully said, poking his head out of the Graveyard slot on Red’s Duel Disk.

“AAAAAHHHH!” Red screamed as he took his Duel Disk off and threw it to the floor. “What the fuck is that thing!?”

“Well aren’t you friendly.” Discord said as he snapped his fingers, teleporting Red’s Duel Disk back onto his arm while growing back to full size himself in front of Red “I see, a human in Equestria, aren’t you special.”

“What?”

“Oh nothing, now tell me, who are you?”

“Me? The name’s Red. Red Rocket.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Discord asked, trying to hide a large smile on his face.

“Red Rocket. That’s my name.” Red responded, sounding more annoyed than before.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Discord laughed, a look of aggravation on Red’s face.

“So, what is so funny about Red Rocket?” Rainbow asked.

“You don’t know!?” Discord asked. “Red Rocket means, get this, dog boner!”

“Wait, really!? Fluttershy, is that true?” Rainbow asked, having just flown into Fluttershy’s face.

“Um, yes, ‘Red Rocket’ is a crude expression for a doggy’s um, happiness.” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow joined Discord in his laughter at Red’s expense as Red slid his goggles over his eyes to try and hide his anger.

“What, is Mr. Dog Boner upset that he has a stupid name?” Discord asked. “Well how about this, we’ll have a Duel, if you can beat me, I’ll use my chaos magic to make everypony forget what your name means, otherwise, we’re going to keep laughing at you. How does that sound?”

“Discord, you know how to Duel?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, I may be the God of Chaos, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know the rules to several games.” Discord said. “After all, I do have eyes and ears all over Equestria.”

“What?”

“Nothing!” With the snap of his fingers, a black Duel Disk appeared on Discord’s right arm, a leather batwing serving as the blade, and without a word, Red activated his Duel Disk and drew his opening hand.

“Discord! Lance! We don’t have time for such trivial-!” Luna began, but was interrupted.

DUEL

Red 8000 LP
Hand: 5
Discord 8000 LP
Hand: 5

“I’ll go first!” Red shouted. “I summon The Black Stone of Legend!”
(Level 1, 0 ATK 0 DEF)
“Now, by Tributing my stone, I can Summon a Level 7 or Lower Red-Eyes Monster from my deck, and I Summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!”
(Level 7, 2400 ATK 2000 DEF)

As Red’s dragon materialized, it let out a loud roar, with Fluttershy hiding behind Applejack for protection. “Red! What in the hay is wrong wit’ you!?” Applejack shouted. “We told ya Fluttershy was scared a’ dragons! Why would ya’ go an’ make such a big dragon like that!?”

“I activate my Inferno Fire Blast!” Red shouted. “This prevents my Red-Eyes from attacking this turn, but you suffer damage equal to its original Attack! And because it’s the first turn, I can’t attack anyway! Go! Red-Eyes! Burn him to the ground!” With its master’s command, Red’s dragon launched a massive fireball from its mouth directly towards Discord, resulting in a large burn mark around him on the floor.
Discord 8000 LP -> 5600 LP
“Now I activate my Graceful Charity Spell! This is a two part effect! First I draw three cards, then I discard two of them! I’m discarding my Makyura the Destructor, allowing me to activate Trap Cards from my hand this turn, and my Red-Eyes Fusion! Now, capitalizing on the effect of Makyura, I activate my Ring of Destruction!” as Red slid the card into his Duel Disk’s Spell/Trap slot, a ring lined with grenades locked itself around his dragon’s neck, who struggled to remove it. “This destroys a monster on the field and inflicts damage to both of us equal to its Attack!”

“Is that all?” Discord asked with a bored expression.

Just then, the grenades around the Red-Eyes Black Dragon’s neck all exploded, creating a large explosion which caught both Red and Discord in its wake.
Red 8000 LP -> 5600 LP
Discord 5600 LP -> 3200 LP

“That’s not all! I activate my Red-Eyes Burn! When a Red-Eyes Monster is destroyed by battle or card effects, this inflicts damage to both players equal to its original Attack!”

“When does it get interesting?”
Red 5600 LP -> 3200 LP
Discord 3200 LP -> 800 LP

“Woah! Red took Discord down to critical conditions in a single turn with that dragon!” Spike exclaimed.

“Yes, that dragon surely is fierce, I just hope Fluttershy won’t be too scared by it.” Rarity added.

“Lastly, I activate Monster Reborn, reviving my Red-Eyes Black Dragon.”
(Level 7, 2400 ATK 2000 DEF)
“I end my turn.”

“My turn! Draw!” Discord shouted, a faint snicker under his breath. “Heh, dog boner…”

Red 3200 LP
Hand: 0
Discord 800 LP
Hand: 6

“For my first move, I’ll play my Polymerization! This lets me fuse monsters together to perform a Fusion Summon! I’ll fuse the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in my hand!”

“Wait, Blue-Eyes!?”

“That’s right! Arise! The Ultimate engine of Destruction! Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!”
(Level 12, 4500 ATK 3800 DEF)

As soon as Discord’s monster materialized itself, Red was taken aback by shock from the dragon he was staring at. “Where the fuck did you get that!?” he asked.

“Oh I just made it when I made this Disk.” Discord responded. “Now I activate my Neutron Blast Spell Card! This lets my Ultimate Dragon attack three times this turn!”

“What!?”

“Battle Phase! Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon attacks your Red-Eyes Black Dragon! Neutron Blast!” obeying Discord’s command, the Ultimate Dragon’s three heads all fired a blast of pure energy from their mouths directly at Red’s dragon, evaporating it entirely.
Red 3600 LP -> 1500 LP

“Now, I attack you directly! Neutron Blast!” following the first blast, Discord’s dragon directed its next attack directly towards Red, sending him flying into the wall.
Red 1500 LP -> 0 LP

“Red!” Twilight called out as she ran up to the wall Discord had sent Red flying into. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ve had worse falls back home.” Red said. “This wall actually feels soft in comparison to what we use to make buildings back home.”

“Right, so are we finished with your stupid fight?” Luna asked.

“Yes, he should be sufficiently quieted by now.” Discord responded.

“So, as I was saying, our plan is to have Discord capture Ernesh.” Celestia said. “With his chaos magic, capture should be easy, then we can attempt to use the Elements of Harmony on him. We had to banish him because he went rogue, and instead of guiding fallen Ponies to the other side, he was going around killing Ponies randomly, I believe he was turning them into cards in the process somehow.”

“Oh shit that’s right!” Red said. “I forgot, but this is why we don’t have Starlight with us.” Red said as he ran up and handed Celestia and Luna the cards Trixie and Starlight turned into.

“This is terrible-!” Luna said.

“Discord, do you know how to find Ernesh?” Celestia asked.

“Of course I do! Us Gods can follow each other based entirely on the trail of our magic, or just warp to each other. Arrivederci everypony! When I return, I shall have Ernesh in tow! Tata, Dog Boner!” Discord said before teleporting out of the building with the snap of his fingers, he teleported away.

“Lance, leave Starlight and Trixie with us.” Celestia said. “We’ll look for a way to restore them. Also, please, take this card, Luna and I believe it will be of utmost use to you in the upcoming future.” Celestia levitated a small box towards Red which contained a card in it.

Friendship Fusion
Normal Spell

When this card is activated, select and apply 1 of these effects.

• Reveal 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck; Banish, from both players field or GY a number of monsters equal to the revealed monster’s level, including at least 6 “Equestrian” Monsters with different original names and 1 Monster from your field or GY whose original Type is the same as the revealed Monster’s. Special Summon the revealed monster, ignoring the Summoning Conditions.
• Draw 2 cards.

Cards and effects cannot be activated in response to this card’s activation.

“Holy shit! A Pot of Greed effect with no drawbacks!” Red said, looking over the card Celestia gave him. “Yeah, I’m totally using this from now on, thanks!”

Just then, a series of loud explosions was heard from the city. “What was that?” Spike asked.

“It sounded like a bunch of explosions, that must mean there’s Duelists about!” Red said.

“Alright, we should spread out and check the entire city!” Twilight said. “Red, you don’t know the city, so you just patrol the castle!”

“Understood!”

“Pinkie, you go make sure Restaurant Row is safe!”

“Okey dokey lokey!”

“Rainbow, you go to the Cloud Stadium!”

“You got it!”

“Rarity, you go check out the commercial district!”

“It shall be done, darling!”

“Applejack, you and Fluttershy go around the town and help anypony you can!”

“You got it sugarcube!”

“Me and Spike will stay here and keep the princesses safe!”

“Alright everyone, let’s go!” Red said as he and the five ponies ran out of the room to deal with the attacks on Canterlot.

Author's Note:

It's less than half an hour past midnight at the time of uploading this, so I'm counting it as being on fucking time for once.
Sorry for such a short chapter this time, I'm just experiencing a bit of writer's block at the moment.
I'm also gonna start putting these at the bottom because I think they kind of spoil the chapter a bit when they're at the top.

Comments

[nightshroud96]

So Discord and Twilight are able to beat Red on their very first duels ever but Luna can't?
I feel like this added salt to Luna's wounds there..