The Magic of Dueling

by CrystalQueen

Chapter 2: Contact

Author's Note:

So, second chapter! That's like, twice as many as a majority of fanfics (Kinda sad really)
Had some troubles getting everyone where I wanted them, and I intended Red and Luna to Duel this chapter, but I guess that'll have to wait for next chapter

But on the bright side, I figured out how non unicorns/creatures without opposable thumbs can Duel, but it'll have to wait until later

“Ow, what the hell is going on?” Red thought to himself “It was just the middle of the night a second ago, now it looks to be the middle of the day? And then a teacup falls on my head out of nowhere, what’s going on? I don’t think there’s any card that’s based on the sun, but even if there was, not even Solid Vision with mass works this fast and effectively, it’s definitely the real sun, I should probably look around and see what-” as Red began to get up and see what was happening, a pink mare was suddenly right in his face, almost as if it had appeared from thin air.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“AAAAAHHHH! TALKING HORSE!” Red grabbed his D-Board off the ground and immediately jumped on it and kicked off to get as far away from the pink pony as fast as possible.

“Wait!” said Pinkie Pie, who was somehow running backwards fast enough to keep up with Red’s D-Board “Now, I know we got off on the wrong hoof, so let’s try again! My name’s Pinkie Pie! What’s yours?” Red was left speechless at her ability to keep up with his D-Board, but regardless, he made a motion as if he was kicking off again, increasing his speed even further.

“Later, bitch! I’m going somewhere that makes sense!” shouted Red, trying to get away as fast as possible so he could figure out what was going on “Alright, now I need somewhere to duck out and hide while I try to get a handle on the situation here, now let’s see...aha! The woods! I’ll figure this shit out there!”

“Wait! Don’t go there! That’s the Everfree...Forest…” Pinkie tried to warn him, but she was too late, for he sped off into it without hesitation and couldn’t hear her. “Oh well! I’ll go start preparing a party for him! I mean, everypony in Ponyville should get at least some kind of ‘Welcome to Ponyville I really hope you like it here!’ party! Lalalalalalalalala~”

“Ok, now I just gotta find out where the hell I am...What? No signal? Well, I am in the middle of a forest after all, I’ll just keep wandering around.” Red thought to himself as he walked through the forest, trying to ascertain his whereabouts on his Duel Disk. “It’s getting dark, I should probably find shelter for the night…Wait a second, is-is that a castle? Surely somebody’s gonna be able to give me some damned answers as to what the hell’s going on." he said to himself as he walked up to the castle "Yo! Anybody home?” shouted Red as he loudly slammed open the doors to the Castle of the Twin Sisters.
“Damn, this place looks like a war broke out in here...But the tapestry’s been maintained well...That must mean that somebody’s here!” Red said to himself, as he searched the castle for what seemed to be hours, but didn’t find anyone.

“Great, now it’s night, well even if nobody’s here, I better crash for the night. Ah! This must be the guest room! Well, I’m sure nobody will mind if I just sleep here tonight, and even then, if I get yelled at in the morning, it’ll be for the better, as I’ll be able to ask them for information…” as Red was talking to himself, he removed his D-Board from his back, placing it against the wall, hanging his hoodie, backpack, and goggles off the edge of the board, while taking off his Duel Disk and setting it on the table next to the bed he was commandeering.
“You know, that pink horse thing seemed to be rather friendly...Yeah, tomorrow, I’ll go back into town and try to talk with it if nobody yells at me in the morning…But now it’s time for sleep, I’ve had a hectic night…”

*******************************************************************

“Ah! Princess Luna! It’s good to see you up and about!” said a royal guard as Luna walked out of her room

“Yes, it is time for me to do my duties as Princess of the Night, but tell me, has Celestia gone to bed yet?” Luna asked the guard pony “I want to have a little talk with her, is all.”

“I’m afraid that she has gone to bed already, your highness.”

“Alright, dismissed! I’m bound to get a confession out of her in her dreams...”

“What was that?”

“Nothing! You heard nothing! Return to your post guard!” Luna then proceded to run over to the balcony of Canterlot Castle to enter the dream realm. "I can't believe that she would put a whoopie cushion on my seat during that delegation! What was she thinking!? If negotiations had fallen through, Equestria surely would have gone to war!"

The dream realm was a weird place, ponies would live out their wildest fantasies, only to almost immediately afterwards suffer their worst nightmares, in which case it was Luna’s duty to step in and deal with the nightmares, giving ponies safety in their dreams. As Luna was looking through the dreams of ponies across Equestria for nightmares, she couldn’t help but notice a dream of something nopony had ever dreamed of before, and she felt that it would quickly become a nightmare, so she went in to investigate, remaining ethereal so as not to interfere with the dream's natural progression.

SHOP CLERK 1600 LP
KID 1000 LP

“Alright, now you know how Tribute summons work, right?” a shop clerk asked

“Um, not really?”

“Oh, well it’s easy! To Normal Summon a Level 5 or 6 monster, you have to Tribute 1 Monster you already control and send it to the Graveyard, like this! I Tribute my Mystical Elf to Summon Shapesnatch!"
(Level 5, 1200 ATK 1700 DEF)

“But, it has just as much attack power as my Baby Dragon, how do you expect to deal with it?”

“Now you see, I knew my Shapesnatch couldn’t compete with Baby Dragon and live, which is why I’m playing my Spell Card, Shield and Sword!” As the card shop clerk played the card, both his Shapesnatch and the little kid’s Baby Dragon began to fuzz out as if the Solid Vision on their Duel Disks were glitching up, but they then returned to normal just as suddenly. “Now the Attack and Defence of all monsters on the Field are switched!”
(Shapesnatch 1200 ATK 1700 DEF -> 1700 ATK 1200 DEF)
(Baby Dragon 1200 ATK 700 DEF -> 700 ATK 1200 DEF)

“Oh no! Now that means…”

“Battle Phase! Shapesnatch attacks your Baby Dragon!” KID: 1000 LP -> 0 LP

“I-I just can’t beat anybody! Why do I even bother with Dueling! Wa-waaaaaaaaah!”

“Hey there, calm down! You were great! You even managed to beat my Silver Fang! Not many people have been able to do that!”

“R-really?”

“No! In fact, here, I want you to have this.” The clerk reached into his Duel Disk’s Graveyard slot and retrieved a card to give to the kid.

“Y-you’re really giving me your Shield and Sword card?”

“Yep, after the way you Dueled today, I’m sure you can use it to become a great Duelist one day!”

“Well, I’m not sure what these things that walk on two legs are, but they just seem to be playing a game of some sort, I have more important dreams to attend to.” however, just as Luna was about to leave the dream, the card shop door was suddenly kicked in with armored Police Officers running in. "What the-? This must be the sense of a nightmare I felt! Let's see how it develops form here though..."

“SECTOR SECURITY! Lance Higbee! You are under arrest for multiple accounts of stealing cards from Security HQ, humiliating Security Forces, resisting arrest, vigilantism, participating in Riding Duels and Riding Duel Gambling Rings without a license, unregistered teaching of Dueling to minors, and felony tax evasion!”

“Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if you're going to barge in like that, you’re not welcome in this shop, so please, leave!” while the Officer wasn’t looking, Lance slipped the deck he was using out of his Duel Disk, put it into his shirt pocket, produced another one from his back pants pocket, and slid it into his Duel Disk.

“Hey buddy, look!” called another Officer from another room. “Isn’t this that Red Rocket’s stuff?” as he held up Red’s D-Board and Duel Disk from the other room.

“Haha! That confirms it! I have you now, Red Rocket! Now you can either deactivate your Disk and come with us peacefully, or...” not allowing the Officer to finish his sentence, Lance readied his Duel Disk for another Duel. “Heh, I was hoping you’d do that!”

DUEL

LANCE 8000 LP
SECURITY 8000 LP

“Oh, and to make this more interesting, I’ll be activating the Solid Vision with Mass function on my Duel Disk to see to it that all the damage you take is real! Surely, you’ll be doing the same won’t you? Oh wait, you can’t! You’re still using the Kaiba Corp Mass Production model from Yugi’s time! That was nearly 100 years ago! It’s a miracle that piece of shit still even turns on!”

“Shut up! All I need are these 40 cards to beat you senseless and throw you out of my shop! I’ll go first!” angrily shouted Lance “First I Summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands! On Normal Summon, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands allows me to add a Ritual Spell or Ritual Monster from my Deck to my Hand! I’ll search out my Super Soldier Synthesis! Now I activate the Field Spell Gateway to Chaos!” as Lance placed the Field Spell in his Duel Disk’s Field Spell slot, a light blue light enveloped the entire shop, except for Luna, who was still watching in an ethereal form.

“Hmm, It would appear that this dream could end happily, but still, I’d best remain to watch.”

“On activation, Gateway to Chaos lets me add a Black Luster Soldier Ritual Monster from my deck to my hand, and I choose Black Luster Soldier! Now I play the Spell Card Pot of Greed! This card lets me draw 2 more cards! Now I activate my Ritual Spell, Super Soldier Ritual! I tribute monsters from my hand or field whose total Levels exactly equal 8. I tribute Black Luster Soldier-Super Soldier from my hand! Appear! Black Luster Soldier!"
(Level 8 , 3000 ATK 2500 DEF)
"When a Monster is sent from the hand or field to the Graveyard, Gateway to Chaos gets a Spell Counter, up to a Maximum of 6! (Gateway to Chaos 0 SPC -> 1 SPC) Now I activate another Ritual Spell, Super Soldier Synthesis! I Tribute a LIGHT or DARK monster from my hand and a monster of the other Attribute from my deck to Ritual Summon a Black Luster Soldier monster from my hand or Graveyard!”

“Wait, from the hand OR Graveyard!? So that means-!”

“That’s right! My Soldier isn’t off duty yet! I tribute Beginning Knight from my hand and Evening Twilight Knight from my deck! When the stairway to Heaven and highway to Hell intersect, the Supreme Soldier of Chaos shall be born! Ritual Summon! Appear, my loyal servant! Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier!"
(Level 8, 3000 ATK 2500 DEF) (Gateway to Chaos 1 SPC -> 2 SPC)
"Now because my Super Soldier was Ritual Summoned using Evening Twilight Knight as a tribute, I can Banish one card from your hand face down until the next End Phase! I Banish the middle card!” with its master's command, Lance’s Super Soldier appeared to fire a laser from the tip of its sword, with the Officer placing it into the slot in the back of his Duel Disk. “Now I Banish Beginning Knight and Evening Twilight Knight from my Graveyard to Special Summon my Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!"
(Level 8, 3000 ATK 2500 DEF)
"Now, because Beginning Knight and Evening Twilight Knight were Banished, I can add a Ritual Spell and Ritual Monster from my deck to my hand! I search out Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier and Super Soldier Synthesis! I end my turn!”

LANCE 8000 LP
SECURITY 8000 LP

“Good! For now it’s my turn! I activate the Spell Card Raigeki! All monsters you control are destroyed!” With that, a lightning bolt appeared out of thin air to destroy all of Lance’s Monsters. (Gateway to Chaos 2 SPC -> 6 SPC) “And don’t think you’re going to be able to use that Ritual Spell you got there! Now, I activate my Pot of Greed! You know, that card that lets you go +1 by drawing two cards! I’ve both replaced the Pot in my hand, and the Raigeki I spent to wipe your field! I now activate Double Summon, letting me Normal Summon twice this turn! I Normal Summon Stygian Street Patrol!"
(Level 4, 1600 ATK 1200 DEF)
"Now I Normal Summon Stygian Security!"
(Level 1, Tuner, 100 ATK 600 DEF)
"Now, I Tune my Level 1 Stygian Security with my Level 4 Stygian Street Patrol! Synchro Summon! Appear! Stygian Sergeants!"
(Level 5, 2200 ATK 1800 DEF)
"Battle Phase! Stygian Sergeants attacks you directly!” With its master’s command, the monster rushed directly towards Lance, and hit him with a lead pipe that it was hiding, causing him to fall down to the ground. LANCE 8000 LP -> 5800 LP “Now I set two cards face down and end my turn! And with the end of my turn, that card you Banished last turn comes back to me! What’s wrong big man? Can’t get up? Need the nice medical staff in jail to help-”

“Shut up! I still have Life Points remaining and cards in my hand, so I can still win this! My turn! Draw!”

LANCE 5800 LP
SECURITY 8000 LP

“Yes! Evening Twilight Knight!” This is perfect!” Lance thought to himself “I activate Super Soldier Synthesis-”

“I activate Dimensional Barrier!" the officer interjected "I declare a type of monster, either Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, or of course, Ritual, and the declared type of monster cannot be summoned, and effects of monsters of a declared type cannot be activated this turn! I declare: Ritual! Your Ritual just got canceled!” Lance looked in shock as his Ritual Spell sparked itself out of existence, a look of defeat on his face

“...I set one monster in face down defense position and end my turn…” a giant card appeared in front of Lance, oriented length wise horizontally instead of lengthwise vertically like a face down Spell/Trap

“Heh heh! You’re getting everything you’ve been deserving, punk! It’s my turn, so I draw!”

LANCE 5200 LP
SECURITY 8000 LP

“Now, I activate my face down card: Call of the Haunted! This continuous Trap lets me Special Summon a Monster from my Graveyard and equip it with this card! I Special Summon Stygian Street Patrol!"
(Level 4, 1600 ATK 1200 DEF)
"Now, do you wanna know a secret? That card you Banished on your first turn? It was this! Monster Reborn! Which I now activate! I Special Summon Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier from your Graveyard!"
(Level 8, 3000 ATK 2500 DEF)

“What!? I-Inconceivable!”

“Oh it’s very conceivable! I now activate my Book of Taiyou Spell Card! This lets me flip a monster from face down Defence Position to face up Attack Position! Let’s see what that monster of yours that you’re hiding is!” a book appeared over Lance’s face down Monster, flipping it to reveal Evening Twilight Knight, now in Attack Position
(Level 4, 500 ATK 2000 DEF)
“Well well well! I spot a win! Battle Phase! Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier attacks Evening Twilight Knight!”
LANCE 5200 LP -> 2700 LP
“Now tell me, doesn’t something happen when Super Soldier destroys a Monster by battle?”

“Grr, when Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier destroys a Monster by battle, the opponent...loses life points equal to the Attack of the destroyed monster…”
LANCE 2700 LP -> 2200 LP

“Time to finish this! Stygian Sergeants attacks directly! You’re not getting out of this!” as Stygian Sergeants was speeding up to drop Lance’s Life Points to 0, the kid ran up in front of him, intending to use his body as a shield to prevent any harm that would be done to Lance from the Solid Vision with mass. “Oh? This kid’s going to try and save you? Well I’ll take his head off too! Stygian Sergeants! Hit him even harder!” as Stygian Sergeants got closer to the kid, it only got fast and faster, yet seemed to take an impossibly long time to actually reach its target.

“Wait, Kevin! NOO!!!” Lance called out as he tried to reach out to Kevin, but no matter what he did, Kevin seemed to be just out of reach.

“ENOUGH!” shouted Princess Luna, fully in the dream as a physical construct within its limits as she stomped her front hooves on the ground, causing Stygian Sergeants and Black Luster Soldier - Super Soldier to explode into mirror shards as if they were destroyed in the actual game, with the Security Officers, then the shop following suit, with Kevin simply fading from reality without Lance noticing.

“Huh? W-what happened? Where am I? What happened to my Disk? I-is that...a unicorn...with wings?”

“Hello there. My name is Luna, I am the Princess of the Night here in Equestria, and this is just a dream. Would you be so kind as to tell me what your name is?”

“Wait, this is all just a dream? It feels so real…”

“Yes, if I had a bit for every time somepony told me that I’d hold about half of the bits in circulation…”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing, just talking to myself. Say, what was that game you were playing?”

“Duel Monsters, it’s easily the most popular game ever designed back where I’m from, I help out at my card shop by teaching it to little kids, you want me to teach it to you?”

“Why yes, I found it quite interesting.” is what Luna was saying, but in her mind, all she could think was “I lack the proper context for the nightmare this...thing was having, so I’ll play along with it for now, but I’ll also cast a spell that will tell me what it’s thinking so that I can following in the waking world and interrogate it, I don’t trust this unknown being that much, so I’m not taking any chances in case it wants to do anything bad to Equestria and its inhabitants.”

“Well alright, to start off, in order to play, both players need a deck of anywhere between 40-60 cards…”

*******************************************************

“And that just about wraps it up!” said Lance “Anything you want to ask about? I noticed you were mostly pretty quiet.”

“No, I believe I have a thorough understanding of how Duel Monsters is play-” before Luna could finish her sentence, both parties could feel the entire world shaking.

“W-what the hell!?”

“Ah yes, my sister is raising the sun, I must be going now, for you are about to awaken. We shall meet again, Lance Higbee.” Luna said as she began to fly off into the horizon

“Wait, what do you mean we’re gonna meet again?” Lance tried to question her further, but as suddenly as Luna entered his dream, she left, and a flash of light ended the dream. “Wait!”

****************************************************

“Ah! Good morning Sister!” Princess Celestia cheerily greeted her sister “Care to join me for breakfast? I made pancakes with fruit faces on them!”

“I’m sorry, but I saw something pressing in the dream world last night, some strange creature with two legs is in Equestria, I’m going to interrogate it to see what it intends to do here.”

“Wait, what did you say it looks like?”

“It had two legs and two arms, imagine Spike, but taller than even me, while I was in its dream, I cast a spell to tell what it’s thinking, so I’ll use that to track its location.”

“Okay, I think I have an idea of what you’re talking about, it sounds like the inhabitants of the world beyond the mirror Sunset Shimmer ran off to. I would come with you, but you know how busy my daily schedule is.”

“The thought is appreciated, but I know I must do this myself, now if you’ll excuse me, I must set off to prepare a chariot.”

As soon as Luna’s back was turned to Celestia, she heard a voice calling for her. It sounded similar to that of Celestia, but slightly different. “Luna...Luna…” Luna turned around to see that the voice beckoning her were the pancakes Celestia made, with Celestia’s mouth moving in tandem with that of the pancakes “Luna, you can’t go save Equestria on an empty stomach, can you?”

“Aw, how cute! You’re nice, so I suppose I’ll spare you.”

“Uh, what I mean to say is that we pancakes hate you and think that your big sister Celestia is much prettier than you Luna! Nopony loves you! Go back to the moon!”

“Oh really now?” asked Luna, grabbing a knife and a fork from the table with her magic “Well how do you like this!?” Luna stabbed into the pancakes with her fork, using the knife to cut off a bite.

“AH! No, please! Anything but that!”

“HAHAHAHAHA! You should have thought things through when you decided to insult me, Luna! Destroyer of pancakes! Oh alright Sister, I’ll have breakfast with you, I’ve put myself into a rather reactionary position anyway.”

*********************************************************

“Wait!” Red called out as he woke up “Huh? Man, what a weird dream...I think I taught a horse how to Duel...Oh well, if I’m gonna find out what the shit is going on, my best bet is to go back into town and find that pink horse thing.” Red put his hoodie, backpack, goggles, and Duel Disk back on as he grabbed his D-Board and proceded to head for the castle entrance. “That horse may just be my ticket out of here and back home, wherever ‘here’ actually is, so I don’t have any other options."