Dueling for a Chance

by Darthvalgaav

Night Flight

The sun had set some time ago, blanketing Equestria in darkness this night. Tonight was a new moon, meaning that Luna’s light was absent to those who sought it. To make matters worse, a memo had gotten lost within the weather team causing a thick blanket of dark clouds to hang over the town of Ponyville. There was no wind blowing in the trees nor was there a single light coming from any of the many homes and business. There was something uncomfortable about this dark stillness, like an emptiness that chilled the soul of anypony who might be out on a night like this. Right now there were only two such ponies who were not in the warmth and safety of their beds, instead across the street from the business of one of the Elements of Harmony.

“It should be late enough,” said Suri, causing the bat filly next to her to flinch. The elder mare hadn’t said much for a long time, her words breaking the stillness of the night. “Are you sure you know where she keeps the process?”

Gulping, Night Stitch nodded. “Y-Yeah,” she stuttered. Unlike earlier, she had on normal saddle bags instead on the ones holding spools of thread. Yet despite her skills, these bags were in horrible condition with various mismatched patches covering the grimy material. She was also wearing her duel disk which looked like it had seen better days. “She keeps all of her plans and stuff in the backroom. She showed me…” Night Stitch paused to wipe a tear from her eye while also taking several deep breaths. “She showed me earlier today when she was training me.”

“Excellent,” beamed Suri as she ignored the distress of the younger pony, her eyes glinting as she stared at Rarity’s home. “Then this should be simple. Just use the key that trusting fool gave you and grab the process for making her special fabric. Once you have it, met me at the train station before the midnight express to Manehatten leaves. If everything goes to plan, she won’t know she’s been robbed until it’s too late!”

“But,” began Night Stitch, her heart pounding so fast in her chest that it threatened to explode at any moment. “What happens if-” She got no further as Suri rounded on the small filly. She was not frowning and she did not appear angry. There was a smile on her face that did nothing to comfort the filly, only making her shirk more.

“Is this too difficult for you?” asked Suri with fake sweetness and concern as she towered over the filly. “Perhaps you should have tried harder to get Rarity in a good mood before I arrived. If you had managed to do that, then this wouldn’t have been necessary.” She then let out a sigh. “I suppose then if you’re not going to hold up your end of the deal then I don’t see why I should either. And it was so difficult to get my hooves on it too.”

“NO!” screamed the filly, her voice echoing through the town. Her body was still shaking like mad and tears were running down her face as she frantically moved in front of Suri. Her heart began to beat faster than ever while fear fueled adrenaline shot through her entire tiny body. “Please, I’ll do it. You promised!”

“Keep your voice down!” snapped Suri, her face morphing to match the bite in her words. “I don’t see why I should give you another chance. You’ll probably mess up again and then expect me to give it to you anyways.” Her words had the desired effect on the filly. Instantly, Night Stitch was shaking her head as tears continued to flow down her face. Her words were a jumble, making it sound like she was fighting a panic attack that would overtake her at any moment. Suri watched this, doing her best to keep a smile from forming on her muzzle. She knew she had this filly right where she wanted her. Willing to do anything she wanted no matter what.

“Very well,” said Suri after a good minute of pleading. A small smile graced her lips. “But I’m going to need some extra insurance on your part.”

“L-Like what?” asked Night Stitch as Suri began to circle her like how a shark circles its prey.

“Well, you told me you have two decks,” said Suri as she looked down upon the filly. “Give me the one you used to win those championships and-” Before Suri could finish, Night Stitch had already reached into her bag to pull out her deck before presenting it to the older mare. Suri calmly took the deck, fanning it out to make sure it was the real deal while also estimating its potential worth for later. Once it checked out she put it back in her bag. “Very well then. Remember to meet me at the train station with the process. If you’re not there when the train leaves then the deal is off.” Night Stitch nodded frantically before rushing towards the building, Suri smirking as she turned around to head to the train station.

-x-

Meanwhile, up in the room she used whenever she spent the night at her sister’s, Sweetie Belle was wide awake. Normally she wouldn’t be up as late as it was right now unless there was a slumber party…which could have happened tonight. Before the store closed, Rarity had asked Night Stitch if she wanted to stay for dinner as well as spending the night with Sweetie Belle. It was most likely a plan to help the two fillies become friends, something that the unicorn filly didn’t mind at all. She had never spent time with a bat filly before, her only real exposure to their tribe being that one Nightmare Night when Princess Luna visited. She was curious to find out more about Night Stitch like what she used to do for fun in Manehatten or if she knew Babs. Sweetie could also help Night Stitch make more friends by introducing her other fillies (and maybe a few colts) from school.

There was something else and Sweetie had to admit it was a bit selfish. She had hoped that maybe Night Stitch could give her a few pointers to becoming a better duelist. Twilight was a good teacher; there was no doubt about that. However, Night was the closest thing to a pro that Sweetie had ever come across. Perhaps she could help Sweetie figure out what she was doing wrong or give her some insight on how to improve.

Sadly this was not meant to be. Night Stitch politely refused the offer, saying she had to be home tonight. She never gave any reason beyond that and looked relieved when Rarity dropped the subject. Sweetie Belle, on the other hoof, thought that if it was a family matter they could have gone over to Night Stitch’s home and asked her parents if it was ok. It wouldn’t take too long. But she never voiced this, allowing Night Stitch to leave.

So now here she was, up late at night with her duel disk on practicing by herself. One of the neat features of the duel disks were their practice modes, each one having several saved decks to practice your skill. Right now she was playing on easy mode which was just a step above beginner, staring down a mean looking Vorse Raider in attack mode that had just destroyed her monster. With a frown on her face, Sweetie looked at the cards held in her magic. Scootaloo’s words came back to her about giving herself a penalty if she lost. Maybe she could give it a try and see if it worked. A small one like only having one scoop of sugar in her oatmeal instead of two.

“Ok,” said Sweetie. “I dra-” A clang from downstairs interrupted the filly, causing her ears to twitch. Slowly she moved over to the door and opened it a tiny crack. Once open, Sweetie closed her eyes to listen. The first thing she heard loud and clear was the snoring coming down the hallway from Rarity’s room followed by the sounds of hoofsteps across the floor downstairs. Eyes opened wide, Sweetie wondered who it could be. It couldn’t be a burglar because Rarity had gotten special alarms that would sound if anypony tried to open the lock with magic, teleport in, or break down the door. If any of those things happened, Ponyville police would be here in time to see Rarity blasting whoever it was with her magic. The only way whoever was down there could get in without setting it off was if they had a key. Was it Pinkie Pie setting up some sort of party? Curious, Sweetie Belle left the safety of her room and walked down to the main floor.

At first, the place looked void of anything out of the ordinary. There were no streamers or party balloons to be seen. There were no animals meaning that Fluttershy wasn’t here to ask them to look after one of her furry friends. Rainbow Dash, well, she would have knocked loudly or crashed through a window. Applejack would have-

A noise interrupted Sweetie’s thought, coming from behind her in Rarity’s workshop! Springing into action on instinct the young unicorn raced towards the veil that separated it from the main room, her horn lit brightly to see who it was. There she discovered to her great shock Night Stitch with a scroll in her mouth and Rarity’s secret hiding hole next to the safe uncovered. Sweetie stood there looking at the other filly with both shock and betrayal. She couldn’t believe it! Why in the wide world of Equestria would Night Stitch steal from Rarity? It just didn’t make any sense. She had seemed so happy to be working for Rarity so why was she throwing it all away to steal from her? Had she expected not to be caught? Her shock quickly turned to confusion as she realized something. Night Stitch looked like she had been crying, perhaps she was still crying, as her body continued to tremble. Her eyes no longer contained the same warmth filled joy that they held when Night had when she had been helping Rarity. Instead the pupils seemed smaller as they trembled along with her body.

Sweetie opened her mouth, but before she could utter a sound, Night Stitch opened her wings. With a single powerful beat she rose into the air and soared through the air, over Sweetie’s head, and out the door. Sweetie shouted after her as she raced after the bat filly as she flew through the dead streets. Thankfully, Night Stitch was weighed down by her saddle bags and duel disk. It looked like perhaps she had planned on leaving town tonight after this heist. If this was the case, the added weight allowed for Sweetie to keep up on hoof.

As she followed Night Stitch through the marketplace, Sweetie began to feel her legs grow weary ever so slightly. She knew she was not an athlete like Scootaloo and that sooner or later she would begin to slow down. The filly also knew that there was a better way to handle this. All she had to do was start yelling at the top of her lungs and/or starting firing magical blasts into the air until somepony woke up. Heck, it might even get the attention of whatever officer was on patrol tonight. What kept her from doing that, however, was the look in Night Stitch had given her. She was clearly scared out of her mind for some reason. In fact, she had looked similarly like this back when Suri had shown up! Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened as she realized this thinking that there must be some connection. Problem was, with all this running, Sweetie was having a hard time thinking about what it could be.

Suddenly, Night Stitch took a sharp turn down an alley. Reacting more than thinking, Sweetie used her magic to grab hold of the other filly’s leg. It worked, acting like a magical rope connecting the bat filly’s leg to Sweetie’s horn. Sweetie felt a tug that nearly sent her face down into the pavement and causing her to cry out in surprise. Thankfully she managed to dig in her hooves just in time. Slowly, Sweetie was dragged forwards down the alley as she fought to keep Night Stitch from running away. So that they could talk and maybe find a way to help her. But Night Stitch seemed determined to fly away and was getting more frantic with every second she was chained down.

“Let me go!” cried the flying filly as she swerved from one wall to the next in the hopes that Sweetie’s hold would break.

“I’m not going to let you steal from my sister!” stated Sweetie.

“I have to do this!” pleaded Night as she turned her head to shout at Sweetie, the fearful look more intense than ever. “Please, just pretend you never saw me.”

“I can’t do that,” grunted Sweetie as Night Stitch tried to tug even harder, dragging the unicorn filly ever so slightly.

“I don’t have time. I don’t have time,” repeated Night Stitch as she tried to fly forward, seemingly with all her might in an attempt to free herself. All it did however, was cause Sweetie to cry out in pain as more pressure was put on her horn while dragging her several feet. After this failure, Night Stitch landed on the ground before spinning around to look at Sweetie while dropping the scroll next to her. “Fine then, I challenge you to a duel! If I win you let me go!”

Sweetie opened her mouth, ready to say no. Night Stitch was a former pro after all. She had a better chance of defeating Tirek without any of her magic than defeating her in a duel. Yet as she looked at the filly again, her body shaking and tears still rolling down her eyes, made her reconsider.

“Alright,” said Sweetie as she activated her duel disk. “But if I win, you have to return what you stole.” Night Stitch didn’t reply, just closing her eyes as she nodded as if doing so was causing her unimaginable pain. Sweetie Belle then watched as her opponent reached into her saddle bag and pulled out a deck with she then inserted into her duel disk.

Once both of their auto shufflers began, a double sided holographic picture appeared in the air between them. Quickly it began to flash between Sweetie Belle’s picture to Night Stitch’s in order to determine who would go first. As it did, Sweetie stared at her opponent as she dried her eyes. With Night Stitch in such a frantic state, there was a good chance her game play would be sloppy and give the unicorn the edge she needed. But more than that, this duel could keep them in place to allow Sweetie to talk to Night. The longer this duel went on, the greater the chance she would have to get through to Night. To find out what was wrong while offering her hoof in friendship.

Hearing her duel disk beep caused Sweetie to raise her eyes upwards. The holographic picture had finally stopped on her portrait. Gulping, Sweetie drew her six cards and looked them over.

“O-Ok,” said Sweetie nervously. “I’ll start with a couple of spell cards: Supply Squad and Backup Squad!” As she said this, two spell cards appeared on either side of her. “I’ll then place one card face down and a monster face down. That’ll end my turn.”

“I draw!” yelled Night Stitch. She took only a moment to look at the new card she drew, panting in a desperate attempt to keep herself under control, before putting it with the other five cards she had. With her hoof still shaking she then took one card in the middle and held it up. “I’ll start by playing Terraforming which lets me add any field spell in my deck to my hoof. I pick The Hidden City and then play it.” As Night Stitch set her field spell in its slot, the ground around the two began to shake violently until cracks appeared in the street. Once the cracks formed a very jagged circle around them the ground seemed to give way and began to sink down into the earth. What waited below them was not a sewer, but a massive cave that looking like it could fit a hundred Former Fire Lord Torch’s with plenty of room to easily move about. Lower and lower they sank as glowing green rock and a castle made of stone came into view. Eventually they landed on the ground with the image of the castle behind Night and the green glow illuminating Night’s frame. “Now that it has been successfully activated, I can add one Subterror monster to my hoof. So I’ll add Subterror Fiendess and then summon her.” A bat pony much like Night appeared in front of her, only this mare had an almost neon purple mane with two curved horns stick out and her wings were mostly red with hints of both green as well as black. “Next, I’ll activate her effect and flip her face down.”

“B-But why would you do that?” asked Sweetie Belle, her voice echoing all around her. She shuttered a bit because of this. She knew that it was because of the magical holograms making everything seem real, but this was an added effect that made it feel…too real her tastes. It made the place feel so eerie.

“Because of this!” announced Night Stitch as she revealed a card from her hoof. “When a monster I control is flipped face down and there are no other face up monsters, I can then special summon my Subterror Behemoth Dragossuary in face up defense position!” The rocky ground behind Night Stitch opened up as a giant skeleton of a dragon erupted upwards. Standing up on two legs, it towards over the two fillies with its black wings outstretched while a red glow filled the gaps between its bones. It’s defense points were 1600, but had 2400 attack points. “Now I’ll use it’s special ability to flip it face down so I can special summon another Subterror Behemoth! So I’ll pick my Stalagmo!” Dragossuary sank back into the earth, leaving only a mound of rubble to indicate where he was on the field before the ground cracked open again. Another creature erupted upwards to dwarf both fillies. Only this creature seemed to be made of rock, standing on two legs with a massive set on wings. Sweetie was glad it was in defense mode with 2100 points, because its massive fists that could dish out 2800 points of damage looked like they would hurt.

Night Stitch took a deep breath before continuing. “Before I end my turn, I will activate Stalagmo’s effect so it can be flipped face down.” Like the bone dragon, Stalagmo sank into the earth leaving only a pile of rubble. “Finally, I’ll active the spell card Shifting Shadows! Once per turn I can pay 300 life points to rearrange all my face down cards which I’ll do right now.” A black, shadow like mist swept across Night Stitch’s side of the field only to leave just as quickly. “I end my turn.”

“Ok,” said Sweetie, trying her best to sound confident. As she drew her third card, Sweetie knew she was at a huge disadvantage. All of her opponent’s monsters were in defense mode meaning she couldn’t deal any damage nor did she know which monster was where. She had to play this carefully and not attack with a monster with anything less than 2100 attack points. If she did, then it might be bad news for her life points. It seemed like that pressure thing Scootaloo had mentioned was working for her. Seeing no other option at the moment, Sweetie did the only thing she could do. “I end my turn.”

“F-Fine then,” said Night Stitch as she quickly drew her card. “I now flip both my Dragossuary and Stalagmo into face up attack position.” Both monsters shot up from the ground, roaring so loudly that it rattled Sweetie Belle’s teeth. “Since I flipped Stalagmo, I will use his ability to discard one Subterror monster from my hoof and then draw two cards.” Night Stitch almost seemed to jam her discarded card into the graveyard slot before taking her two new cards. “Now Dragossuary, attack her face down card!” Dragossuary opened its mouth to launch hundreds of spikes that look like they were made from bones with enough force that they pierced the ground where they struck. When they hit Sweetie’s face down card a snowpony appeared in its place as it too was impaled.

“You destroyed my Snowpony Eater,” said Sweetie as her card exploded. “Now the effect of my Supply Squad activates, allowing me to draw a card every time a monster on my side of the field is destroyed.”

“Stalagmo, attacked!” shouted Night Stitch as Sweetie drew her card. The rocky giant did not swing down at Sweetie but instead punched the roof of the cave. As the entire cave seemed to shake, large rocks fell down where the white filly was standing. Seeing them, Sweetie jumped to the side just before they hit her but the force from the impact sent her flying farther than she intended, stopping when she hit the wall that the holograms covered.

“Backup Squad now activates,” breathed Sweetie as she got to her hooves and her life points dropped to 5200. “Every time I lose life points, for every thousand I lose I get to draw a card. Since I lost 2800 I can draw two cards.” Sweetie swiftly drew her cards before activating her last one. “I also activate my face down card: Damage Condenser! Thanks to this card, I can discard one card from my hoof and then summon a monster from my deck that has less attack points than the damage I just took. So I’ll discard my Cold Enchanter to special summon my Ice Master!” In front of Sweetie grew large, spiky ice crystals. Once they were double the size of the filly they shattered to reveal a unicorn mare standing in the middle. Ice Master wore clothing of white and pale blue that Rarity would have loved to create. Her mouth was covered with a similar pale blue cloth and had a headdress that had dozens of ice crystals sticking out. Floating next to her in her icy blue magical aura was a staff that was topped with a four point snowflake. Her attack points were 2500

As Night Stitch looked over Ice Master, Sweetie spoke up. “Night Stitch, please don’t do this,” she pleaded. “I know you don’t really want to steal from my sister.”

“Of course I don’t want to steal from Miss Rarity,” cried Night Stitch as she jerked her head to look at Sweetie. “You have no idea how this is making me feel right now. Every part of me hurts. I feel like I’m fighting to keep from throwing up. I don’t want to be a bad pony and hurt Miss Rarity after she was so nice to me. But I have to!”

“Night, I know Suri is behind this,” pressured Sweetie as she took a small step forwards. “Whatever she has on you to force you-”

“No, that’s not it at all,” yelled Night Stitch as she stomped a hoof onto the ground. “M-Miss Suri is helping me.”

Sweetie frowned at this. “Night, my sister told me all about Suri. She uses ponies so she can get ahead.”

Night Stitch shook her head while closing her eyes tightly. “Maybe she is using me…but that’s okay as long as she keeps her promise.” Night then opened her blood shot eyes, her pupils trembling slightly. “She promised to help me if I helped her. N-Nopony else would even lift a hoof no matter how hard I begged. B-But it’s my fault it came to t-this. I was s-supposed to get her in a g-good mood before Miss Suri came by.” Night Stitch paused to take several deep breaths. “Maybe if I had, then I could have stayed with Miss Rarity after-” Again, Night Stitch shut her eyes tight as another tremble raced down her body. “B-But I failed. If I don’t do this or mess this up then I’ll lose everything.”

“Night,” began Sweetie only to stop when Night Stitch gave her a piercing look.

“No more wasting time!” the bat filly shouted. “I flip Dragossuary face down and then I’ll do the same for Stalagmo. Then I can special summon Subterror Behemoth Stygokraken in defense mode!” The ground cracked once again and, with a slash of water, arose a massive snake like creature that reminded Sweetie of the sea serpent that lived in the Everfree Forest. Only this one had black scales and massive glowing red tusks. Its defense points where 2600. “I then activate his effect to flip him face down so I can then summon my Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus!” As Stygokraken sank back into the earth the ground began to shake until lava erupted onto the field. However, the lava took form into a long neck while the earth around it became a shell. Sweetie watched in amazement as a long neck turtle with 3000 attack points and 1600 defense points towered over her. “I then activate his effect to flip him face down. Then, before I end my turn, I activate the effect of Shifting Shadows. I’ll give up 300 life points to move around my face downs.” As Night Stitch’s life points dropped to 7400, another shadow like most swept over her side of the field swiftly before vanishing.

“Ok then,” said Sweetie as she drew her sixth card. She knew she had to go on the attack right now. Stalling wouldn’t help her right now. Thankfully, she had all the cards she needed in her hoof right now for a great move. One that was sure to put the tide of this duel in her favor. “First I’ll play the spell card Monster Reborn to bring back my Cold Enchanter to the field.” Ice began to form once more in front of Sweetie, shattering to reveal a less elaborately dressed unicorn holding a smaller staff than Ice Master. “But she won’t be on the field for long because I’m going to tribute her to bring out my all time favorite card: Blizzard Princess!” Ice reformed around Cold Enchanter, encasing the spellcaster completely. It then exploded revealing a young looking alicorn with a like blue mane and wearing a white dress. There was a crown upon her head while a staff was held in her magical hold ending with a massive ice ball and chain. Her attack points were 2800. “Normally a monster with this high of a level would need two tributes, but her special ability allows me to normal summon her by tributing one spellcaster. And when she is summoned this way, for the rest of the turn, you can’t activate any spell or trap cards!

“Next I’ll play Double Summon which lets me normal summon again,” continued Sweetie. “So I’ll summon my Tin Goldfish.” A small red fish appeared on the field. “This card allows me to special summon one card from my hoof. So I’ll use it to bring out my Snowpony Creator!” A blue machine shaped like a snowpony appeared on the field. It had a red flashing light on the side of its head like a hat and teeth that were like jagged fangs. “When this card is summoned I can add one Ice Counter to any monster or monsters on the field equal to the amount of water monsters I control. As you can see, I have four! So I’m placing them all on my Ice Master!” As Sweetie spoke, a conveyor belt appeared in front of Snowpony Creature and soon four snowponies were rolling along it. All four of them then transformed into ice gems which flew towards Ice Master, resting on her chest like metals. “Also, if I create three or more ice counters this way; I can destroy one card on the field. So say goodbye to The Hidden City!” Snowpony let out a flash and when it faded both fillies found themselves back in the alleyway.

“Lastly, I’ll build the Overlay Network,” announced Sweetie as a dark vortex appeared between the two. “I overlay my two level four monsters to create Snowdust Giant!” Both of Sweetie’s weaker monsters were sucked into the vortex followed by a massive ice spike shooting out of its center. It then shattered to reveal a large blue dragon like creature with no wings holding a spiked club made of ice. This 2200 attack point creature roared as two orbs of light circled it in orbit. “As long as this monster is out on the field, all non water monsters lose 200 attack points for every counter. Right now there are four counters, but I’ll activate Ice Master’s effect to add another counter on her bringing it to five!” Ice Master’s staff flashed light blue before another gem appeared on her chest.

“Now onto my battle phase! Blizzard Princess, attack the face down card to the far right!” Blizzard Princess grinned, swinging her weapon as she flew through the air before smashing the ground where Sweetie had indicated. As the weapon hit the ground Subterror Fiendess was revealed, screaming before it vanished. “Ok then. Ice Master attack the middle card!” Ice Master lifted her staff in order to create dozens of large snowflakes the size of pancakes, each looking razor sharp. With a wave of her staff, Ice Master sent them flying in the desired direction and hitting the earth to reveal Ultramafus who was destroyed.

“You activated my monster’s flip effect,” announced Night Stitch. “All other monsters on the field are now flipped face down in defense mode.” Sweetie’s eyes widened as her monster where flipped over, showing only the back of the cards.

“I…guess I end my turn,” said Sweetie. She knew she was in a bad position as all of her monsters were going to be destroyed. The only positives were that she was going to get to draw three more cards as well as knowing her life point damage would be minimal. After all, all of Night’s best monsters had to be special summoned in defense mode.

“Then I draw,” said Night Stitch as she drew her card. “Time to finish this. First, I flip both Dragossuary and Stalagmo face up in attack position!” Both monsters erupted from the street behind Night Stitch, peering down at them above the buildings. “Next I flip my Stygokraken to activate his flip effect. I can target all set cards on the field equal to the number of Subterror Behemoths on my side of the field and destroy them. That means I can destroy all three of your monsters!”

“What?!” shouted Sweetie as Stygokraken too appeared above her. The sea serpent opened its mouth as a green mist poured out to cover the field. As the mist touched her cards they exploded leaving Sweetie Belle defenseless to the three monsters that would surely end the duel with this next attack.

“Night, I know you’re a good pony,” shouted Sweetie in one last attempt. “There are ponies out there who will help you without making you do things you don’t want to do! We can go back to Rarity’s and wake her up. You could tell her what’s wrong and I know she’ll help you.” At that, Sweetie saw Night Stitch stop her shaking. “Or…Or we could talk to Princess Twilight. She’s always willing to help ponies in need. All you have to do is stop this before it's too late!”

“They…would help me? Just like that?” The way Night Stitch said this was almost heartbreaking. Like it had been so long since something like this had been offered to her that it had become a foreign concept. Yet even in the low light, Sweetie Belle could see a change in the filly. Her pupils had widened as they filled with hope. Night’s body was no longer shaking as much while a small smile appeared on her face. Sweetie could tell her words were having an effect. Even if they carried on the duel, the outcome didn’t matter. Night Stitch was going to do the right thing and get the help she needed. She-

Suddenly, Night looked nervous. She placed a hood on the side of her head as she began to shake it around, as if there was some sort of thought she was trying to get rid of. The shaking had started up again and when Night opened her eyes they were once more filled with terror.

“I-I can’t risk it,” said Night with a shutter. “What if Miss Rarity is too angry to want to help me? W-What if it takes too long for them to get it? Time m-might run out! Miss Suri already has it. I can get it tonight.”

“Night,” began Sweetie, but Night Stitch wasn’t listening. Her free shaky hoof hit a button on her duel disk before she pointed it at Sweetie and ordered her monsters to attack. Bone spikes, boulders, and a jet of green mist hit Sweetie Belle all at once. Only the impact was far stronger than it normally was, sending the filly flying backwards and rolling as she hit the road. Her entire body hurt, so much so that it was hard to think anymore. She could feel her eyelids growing heavy.

“I told you that you wouldn’t want to be my friend,” she heard Night sob. “I wouldn’t even want to be my friend.” And with that, Sweetie drifted off to the realm of dreams.

-x-

Suri paced back and forth as she waited for Night Stitch. Besides her was the train, refueling before heading off to its next destination. While this was happening, the few ponies who were up right now at the station were slowly boarding the train. As for Suri, her luggage was already on the train even though it wouldn’t leave for another half hour. She just stood there waiting for the filly to arrive.

Thankfully she did not have to wait long as she heard a flutter of leathery wings in the night behind her. Turning around she saw Night Stitch with a scroll in her mouth while still crying. Doing her best not to sigh in irritation she approached the filly.

“It’s about time,” she said. “I was about ready to think that you failed. Is that the scroll?”

“Y-Yes,” said Night Stitch as she dropped the rolled up paper. Suri wasted no time and snatching it up with her hooves. Without a care about the world around her she greedily opened it up, her eyes widening in delight as she saw that this was the scroll she wanted. Night Stitch had succeeded! Every detail was elegantly written and easy to make out. Rarity had also gone through the trouble of making drawings depicting each and every step!

“So what took you so long?” demanded Suri, forcing herself to frown as she rolled it up. She glared down with at the filly with well practiced eyes causing Night to flinch.

“Well Sweetie Belle was still awake so I had to-” Night Stitch stopped talking, cowering under the intensified.

“She was awake?” hissed Suri.

“I didn’t know,” pleaded the filly loudly, her voice filled with panic. “She tried to stop me, but I beat her in a duel with the holographic safeties off. I d-don’t think she’ll be up for a while.” As the filly spoke, Suri gritted her teeth. This was a sad turn of events. Suri knew there was no way that either of them could have known that Rarity’s bratty sister would still have been awake. But now, because of this, Suri was on a tighter deadline than before. It would only be a matter of time before Rarity came knocking at her door since she was the only one who would want that fabric. Hopefully she could learn or copy the process in time.

Still glaring at Night Stitch, Suri pondered what to do with her. She considered not giving the filly what she had promised. Perhaps making her work for Suri a bit longer. However, the last thing she needed right now was for the little cryfilly to make a big scene. Plus, they were both on their own deadlines. There was no point in keeping her any longer.

“I don’t think you deserve this for your utter incompetence,” sneered Suri as she pulled out an orange bottle with a white cap on top. The filly’s eyes became fixated on it, the rest of the world forgotten. “But I suppose a promise is a promise. However I will be keeping that deck-” Suri got no further as Night Stitch sprang forwards to take the plastic bottle in her teeth. Without any argument she flew off into the night towards Manehatten as fast as her wings could take her.

Author's Note:

Part of the reason I wanted to write this story like this is because of a problem I had when Suri was introduced. It just felt like Suri got away with it. Sure she didn't win the fashion show, but that was it. Maybe its just me

Next time Suri vs. Rarity

Comments

[Mr-Astounding]

so, Sweetie uses a Snow deck and Night Stitch uses the Subterror archetype (at least for this duel: don't think I didn't notice how you mentioned she has TWO decks)? ...have to admit, I didn't see that coming; that doesn't make it a bad thing, but it threw me through a loop, you know?

[Darthvalgaav]

9233650
I wanted to do something different for Sweetie like I do with all the characters. I know she wants to be a bit like her sister while maintaining her own identity. Plus not a lot of people use ice counter blizzard decks. Night was given a Subterror deck due to being a bat pony as well as feeling like she is in a dark and scary place

[Mr-Astounding]

9233701
(nods) fair enough on all counts: I mean...wait, what did you say?

I know she wants to be a bit like her sister while maintaining her own identity.

...congratulations: you've officially made me curious about what sort of deck Rarity is using

[Brony-wan-kenobi]

Wow Suri, that's just low. Good duel. Never seen a snow counter deck before

[Darksymphony777]

so sweeite ue a snow deck......instead of melodious....i would have said orphgal but that archetype most likely didn't exist when you made this.

hen that means.....ADAGIO HAS THE MELODIOUS DECK

media.tenor.com/images/e80e86abfae2777686da19b70f60cf2e/tenor.gif

[Darthvalgaav]

9286198
Well I wanted to do something different with her. Most people give her Melodious or Aqua Actress. I thought about it and decided to give her something different with an elegant appearance to them since in the show one of Sweetie's things is trying to emulate her sister while keeping her own identity