Turn 35: Memories are Made of This
When Pinkie opened her eyes, she found herself someplace she never expected to be. A forest.
She let out a moan as she sat up and looked around, seeing trees all around her. Her head quickly cleared up and she looked down to see her sister besides her. "Maud!" She shook the girl and she began to stir, "are you okay?"
"Pinkie?" She pushed herself up, "where are we?"
"No idea," Pinkie shrugged. But as she continued to look around, she glanced at her hand and noticed something she had missed before. She was glowing.
Maud was too. It was faint, so it was easy to see why they hadn't noticed it before, but the two of them had a while veil of light surrounding their outline. "Maud," she cried in panic. Her sister turned to her as she held up her hand, showing her the light and making her look to see she was doing so too.
"What?" Maud asked as they stood up, "What's going on?"
Pinkie was still freaking out. "AAARRRHHH!" She cried while pulling at her hair, "we're dead. We killed ourselves trying to break through the Omega Field and now we're stuck in the after life." Maud couldn't help but panic and think that might be a possibility. But she had to stay calm, at least until they knew for sure if they were dead or not.
"Pinkie!" She got up and grabbed her sister's arms, pulling them away from her hair. "We have to calm down." Pinkie continued to breath heavily, clearly still hyperventilating. "Breath in," Pinkie did so and the two stayed like that for about five or ten seconds. "Breath out." Pinkie did so and appeared to be much calmer. "Better?"
"Better," Pinkie nodded.
"Good," Marble let her go and looked around. "Now let's just try and figure out where were are." It was then the two heard footsteps and turned towards them, bracing themselves for whatever appeared. And what did appear out of the trees shocked them.
"Gaia-Maiden!" They prepared to attack the Duel Monster, but she didn't seem to even notice them. She was looking terrible, her clothes wrecked, her hair filthy and the only thing appearing to be holding her up was a stick. She moved through the forest and passed the sisters without even giving them a glance. "Hey!" Pinkie reached out to her, "I'm talking-" She stopped when her hand phased through the women's shoulder, making her gasp and pull it back.
Maud hummed as she watched Gaia-Maiden continue to stumble forward, only now realising she looked a lot younger then the monster possessing her sister. "Are we in the past?" Pinkie looked at her funny as the two of them chose to follow her for a while, eventually reaching the edge of the forest.
There, they found a farm and it was here that Gaia-Maiden collapsed and the world around them seemed to go black. "What's happening?" Pinkie asked before the world returned to normal, the two finding they were now in a house and spotted Gaia-Maiden in a bed as she began to wake up.
"I think I know what's going on," Maud hummed as a young man showed up at the door and offered her a sandwich. There was a brief exchanged between the two, leading to the man giving her some clothes before leaving. The scene changed again to show her exiting the house and talking to the man, eventually agreeing to accept the name Daisy.
Then, in a flash, the two were back in the forest. "What happened?" Pinkie asked before they heard footsteps again and turned to see Gaia-Maiden staggering forward again.
"I knew it," Pinkie turned to Maud. "We're in a memory."
"Memory?"
"We're seeing into Gaia-Maiden's past." She thought for a moment. "The Omega Field was created by Gaia-Maiden, so if she's connected to it..."
"We somehow found a backdoor into her mind," Pinkie realised.
"Exactly," Maud nodded as the scene changed to the bedroom. "And it's also possible...Marble's in her somewhere." Pinkie's eyes went wide.
"MARBLE!" She cried out, "can you hear me!" The was no answer, "it's us! We're here to save you!" The two continued to listen, but heard nothing and frowned. But then
"Pinkie." The two gasped, "Maud."
"You hear that?" Pinkie asked.
"Barely," Maud looked around. "Where's it coming from?" They then heard the voice again and turned towards it, both rushing forward as the memory restarted. But as it played out the two spotted a wall of light through the trees. Looking up, they saw the light curved and formed some kind of dome around the area they were in.
"She's through there," Pinkie realised as they reached the wall and leapt into it.
The two felt themselves be blinded for a moment but the light soon faded, allowing them to find they were back at the farm. "Why are we back here?" Pinkie asked.
"We must have jumped into another memory." To prove her point, the door of the house opened before Scayer stepped out. He was looking several years older, his wispy stubble now a full on beard. After him, Gaia-Maiden exited the house and too their shock, she was about eight months pregnant.
"No way," Pinkie whispered as they watched Scayer preparing to work the farm.
"Are you sure I can't help with anything?" Gaia-Maiden asked, Scayer turning back to her.
"No way," he told her. "You've already got enough work on your hands, making sure our little girl arrives safely."
She rolled her eyes, "I'm not made of glass you know." She went over to a table on the porch and picked up a glass of water, only to suddenly gasp and let the glass go. Scayer spun around at the shattering sound and looked worried.
"What's wrong?" He rushed over to her.
"Nothing," she assured him. "It just slipped out of my hand." She looked down at the broken glass, "let me just clean that up."
"No," Scayer shook his head, "you go lie down. Clearly, you need to rest." She huffed and walked away, only to suddenly appear wobbly and have to grab the wall for support. "Daisy?"
"I'm fine," she assured him. "Just...dizzy. Pregnancy's knocked me off balance." But then the world around them all began to turn blurry, as she swayed from side to side before falling backwards.
"DAISY!" Scayer rushed forward and caught her, the world turning even more blurry before the memory reset.
Pinkie and Maud shared a look, wondering what else they would see as they delved deeper into Gaia-Maiden's memories.
Within the Omega Field, Rarity and Applejack found themselves in a battle against the final Omega Zealot. Marble smirked, looking overly calm for a girl facing off against two opponents at once.
The rules were simple. Applejack and Rarity had their own life points while Marble had twice as much. Rarity and Applejack would take turns Dueling but shared the same field, so they could use whatever card the other had placed. They also shared the same graveyard and could summon Pendulum Monsters from the other's Extra Deck.
"I'll take the first turn," Rarity reached for her deck and drew her card. "And I'll start with the Graceful Charity Spell card!" She announced before drawing three cards, smiling before she discarded two of them and grabbing another card. "Then, I'll Gem-Knight Alexandrite!" The silver gem encrusted knight appeared on her field, Marble frowning at the sight of that monster. (A1800/D1200/L4)
"Gem-Knights," she sighed. "I always hated those guys. Everyone always thinking they were the only knights who wielded the power of mighty crystals."
"Maybe people just didn't want to think about you guys," Rarity suggested. "A terrible leader can ruin a group's image." Marble turned her glared towards Rarity. "Anyway, I activate Alexandrite's ability." He was suddenly consumed by light, "I tribute him to summon Gem-Knight Sapphire from my deck!" The light vanished to reveal the blue armoured knight. (A0/D2100/L4) "Then I activate...a Spell named Gem Compression!"
Marble sudden felt the ground shake beneath her before it erupted and three gems shot out of it. "What's happening?"
"With Gem Compression, I can banish Gem-Knights from my graveyard in order to Fusion Summon. So now I banish Alexandrite, Tourmaline and Garnet." The gems morphed into their respective knight forms before getting sucked into a vortex, "I FUSION SUMMON!"
The vortex exploded, unleashing a light that quickly faded to reveal Rarity's best monster. "Gem-Knight Lady, Brilliant Diamond!" (A3400/D2000/L10) "Then, I'll have Brilliant Diamond use her special ability." The knight's chest gem glowed before two crystals flew out of it. "By tributing one Gem-Knight, I can summon a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster to my field."
Marble watched as the gems flew over to Sapphire before exploding into light, which began to wrap around the knight as a vortex appeared behind it and sucked him inside.
"I FUSION SUMMON!" Rarity cried as the vortex exploded, revealing Rarity's second Fusion Monster. "Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!" (A2400/D1000/L5) "And I'm not stopping there. I'm now using her ability, to send one Gem-Knight Fusion monster from my Extra Deck to my graveyard and deal you five hundred points of damage for every Special Summoned monster on the field." The ghostly image of Gem-Knight Topaz appeared infront of the robe wearing knight before it flew into the crystal on her chest, that then fired out a beam of light that struck Marble.
"AUGH!" She cried as she was sunburned.
Rarity: 4000
Marble: 7000
Applejack: 4000
"I'll place two cards face down and end my turn."
"Way to go Rare!" Applejack smiled. "First turn and she's already a thousand points behind."
"Maybe," Marble drew her card, "but I'm still three thousand life points ahead of you two." She looked through her hand and nodded. "I'll start with Reincarnation of Hope, to discard two cards from my hand in order to draw a new card in two turns. And with two Rock Monsters in my graveyard, I can banish them to summon a Gaia-Knight." The ground exploded infront of her before Gaia-Knight Beryllium leapt out of it, rocks flying out with him and slamming into a moon. That moon then shattered, revealing Beryllium's evolved form. "Behold a true knight of the earth. Gaia-Knight, Emerald!" (A1600/D3600/L8)
"Thirty six hundred DEF points?" Rarity asked as Emerald knelt down and raised its shield. "That'll be tough to break through."
"Don't fur-git," Applejack told her. "It gets a hundred DEF points for every Rock monster removed from play, An with Alexandrite, that's three." (A1600/D3900/L8)
"Excellent," Rarity sighed.
"At least it can't attack," Applejack told her. "So ya'h monster's safe."
"Is it?" Marble asked before playing a card. "I activate the Equip Spell, Crystalline Blitzer!" The gem on Emerald's shield glowed brightly. "With this card, I can discard a card and then destroy one monster whose Level is less then the monster equipped with it." She discarded a card before a laser flew out of her monster's gem, hitting Lapis Lazuli and destroyed her before carrying on to hit Rarity. "Then it deals you two hundred points of damage for ever level your monster had."
The laser struck Rarity, making her feel the same pain her monster did. "AAARRRHHH!" She screamed as her body burnt, Applejack gasping at her friend's pain.
Rarity: 3000
Marble: 7000
Applejack: 4000
"There's more," Marble explained. "The card I ditched was a Trap called Different Dimension Salvage. It activates whenever it's sent to the graveyard and lets me draw cards equal to the number of Banished monsters, with a limit of five. Though that's just the amount removed from play right now." Marble drew five cards, then set two of them face down. "I end my turn."
Applejack continued to stare at Rarity, who was still bent over holding her stomach. "Ya'll K?" She asked, while Rarity grunted and pushed herself back to full height.
"I'm fine," she glared at Marble. "It'll take more then that to stop me."
"Good," Marble smiled. "Because there's a lot more coming and I'd really hate to take you down before too quickly. Though that will happen." She pointed up at the Void Cube, which was hovering above them. "And the moment one of your two's life points hit zero, your soul will be sucked into the cube and I'll be able to use it to grant Lady Midnight her full power."
"That ain't gonna happen!" Applejack yelled, "ma'h draw!" She took the card she had drawn along with one in her hand and held them both up, "and a'h start by settin' the Pendulum Scale!" She slammed the cards down on the Duel Disk. "Come, scale seven Apple Fairy and scale one Stag of Great Seedling!" The pillars of light appeared on either side of her and Rarity before the two monsters flew up into them. As they did, the portal began to form above the two girl's heads. "A'H PENDULUM SUMMON!"
The portal opened before a trio of lights shot out and struck the ground, exploding and revealing all of Applejack's monsters. "Apple Paladin!" (A1200/D600/L3/P8)
"Maiden of Vines!" (A1000/D1000/L3)
"And Thorn Knight!" (A2000/D2000/L6/P1)
"Then a'll use Apple Fairy's Pendulum Ability!" The fairy waved her wand and caused a light to fly out of it and hit Apple Paladin. "Now a'h can change the Levels of every other monster on ma'h field to match that of Apple Paladin." The light flew off Apple Paladin and hit the others, Maiden of Vines unaffected while Gem-Knight Lady and Thorn Knight were both transformed. (A2000/D2000/L3/P1) (A3400/D2000/L3)
"Not bad," Marble smiled. "But none of them can destroy my Gaia-Knight."
"Wait for it," Applejack smiled before all but Gem-Knight Lady began to glow and shot into the air. "Now watch, as a'h use these three monsters ta build the Overlay Network." The black hole appeared at her feet before the three monsters flew into them. "As the seasons bring fourth new growth, it can also bring fourth a new power!" The black hole exploded in a burst of light, "A'H XYZ SUMMON!"
The light faded, revealing AJ's Xyz monster. "Orchard Cowboy!" (A2100/D600/R3)
"I really hate to repeat myself," Marble told her. "That thing won't do any better then the monsters you used to summon it."
"Don't be so sure!" Applejack cried as she played the last card in her hand. "Go, Xyz Energy!" Orchard Cowboy held up his gun, as one of its Overlay Units flew into it. "By removing an Overlay Unit from ma'h Xyz Monster, a'h can destroy one monster on ya'h field." Orchard Cowboy fired at Emerald, a powerful explosion of light bursting out of the gun. That light struck the Gaia-Knight and vaporised it, leaving Marble to growl as her field was now monster-less.
"You'll pay for that."
"A'h don't think so," Applejack told her. "Especially since our monsters now have an open target." Her monster raised his gun again and fired it right at Marble, who didn't seem at all worried.
"TRAP SUMMON!" One of her face downs flipped up before a monster appeared out of the Trap, revealing a miner styled monster carrying giant hammer. "Quake Breaker!" (A1600/D1700/L4) The monster got between Marble and the bullet and took the hit, grunting as it got struck in the chest. "Augh!" She cried as he staggered backwards.
Rarity: 3000
Marble: 6500
Applejack: 4000
"Breaker's skill!" The monster slammed its hammer into the ground, causing it shake before he exploded.
"What's going on?" Rarity asked, only to see both Gem-Knight Lady and Orchard Cowboy suddenly switch into DEF position.
Marble smirked. "When he's destroyed, he changes the battle position of every ATK position monster on the field." Rarity and Applejack frowned, "so much for having an open target."
"Ahh," Applejack sighed, "fine. A'h guess a'h got no choice but to end ma'h turn." Applejack and Rarity shared a look. Despite having the stronger monsters, they couldn't help but feel like they were the ones holding on to this Duel by the skin of their teeth. If they weren't careful, Marble would likely do something that would having them on the defensive. "We gotta watch our step."
"Yes," Rarity nodded. "Everyone else is depending on us." They both turned back to Marble and glared at her, "we'll fight."
"And win," Applejack stated.
"FOR THEM!"
Outside the Omega Field, Sunset was rushing through the destroyed building.
She leapt over the debris and crawled under fallen beams as she made her way towards her destination. She had managed to get most of the security systems back online, including the self diagnostic and repair functions. Now the system should be able to finish the repairs itself. And it was a good thing too, since something had caught her attention.
"PINKIE!" She cried as she turned the corner into the final generator's location, spotting the Omega Field between her and it. And laying infront of the Omega Field, were the two girls she had seen collapse on the monitor. "Maud!" She rushed over to them and knelt down before reaching out to check their pulse, only to need to pull her hand back. "Ahh!"
The two girls were giving off a strange static, just like the Omega Field. She couldn't see it and it didn't seem to have any physical effect on the girls, but she could feel it. "What happened to you two?"
"Sunset?" She heard Cadance ask through the coms, "what's happening? Are they alright?"
"I don't know," Sunset tried to check them without getting too close. "I think they're breathing. It's hard to tell. I can't even touch them without getting zapped."
"That's bad," Cadance realised.
"What about what's happening on your end?"
"Not much here either."
Cadance frowned as she stared at the Omega Field, which had appeared inside the room holding the Zenith Dragons.
Her husband and sister-in-law were in there, but there was no way of communicating with either of them. "Shining," she whispered before hearing the door behind her open.
"Hey!" She spun around and saw Starlight step into the room, Sunburst behind her struggling to piggyback carry Trixie. "What's going on?" She then spotted the Omega Field, "that can't be good."
"It's not," Cadance assured her. "But at least there's one less Omega Zealot to worry about," she smiled at the sight of Trixie, "she okay?"
"She should be fine," Sunburst stated as he put her down. "Now who's in the Omega Field."
"Shining," Cadance replied, "and Twilight." This got the teen's attention, both staring at the orb while wondering what could be going on in there. A Duel, sure, but who was winning? If Shining could pull this off, they could put an end to Zeronull right now. "Stay strong."
Inside the Omega Field, Midnight Sparkle and Shining Armour continued to face off.
Up above them, Midnight Archangel and Royal Paladin Commander charged at one another. Light flashed as they collided, only to both be thrown back due to card effects and land infront of their users. At the same time, Shining simply stared at his possessed sister.
"Twilight," he sighed, "I should have protected you. I should of protected all of you. I shouldn't have let the Zealots take you to Void, or Spike, or Flash or...anyone." He took a deep breath to keep himself under control. "I can't change the past, but I can work for a future where you're free and the world is safe from Zeronull." He reached for his deck, "I draw!"
"So where's Sunset?" Starlight asked as the three stepped back into the control room.
Cadance replied by pointing to one of the monitors, the two turning towards it and gasping when they saw Sunset sitting besides the unconscious Pie sisters. "What happened?" Sunburst asked while taking a closer look.
"We're not sure," Cadance explained. "She can't seem to touch them, but they are alive. They fell unconscious after they tried to force their way into the Omega Field."
"Are Applejack and Rarity the one's inside?" Cadance nodded. "Hopefully they can beat Marble and free her." Starlight turned to the desk and spotted a card, moving over to see it was Fabulaqua. She then took out the Zenith Dragon she had won from Trixie. "If they can, we'll have all but one of the Zenith Dragons."
"And Marble will be free," Sunburst continued. "I'm sure that'll be a great comfort to Pinkie and Maud." The girls nodded, though they hoped the two would soon wake up and see that their sister was alright. Whatever was happening to them, they hoped it was only temporary.
Pinkie and Maud were still within Gaia-Maiden's memories.
They had watched the memory of Gaia-Maiden collapsing three times now and wanted to returned to finding their sister. If only they could figure out where she was. "MARBLE!" Pinkie cried, listening out for an answer from their captured sister. "Can you hear us?"
For a few seconds, nothing. But then, they heard it. "Pinkie." They turned towards the voice and rushed forwards, "Maud." The voice was clearer then before, and it sounded like it was yelling, but it was still quiet.
"We're getting closer to her," Maud explained. "The voice is louder. But I doubt she's close."
"What do you mean?" Pinkie asked.
"I mean she's most likely trapped behind some more of these memories. It's like she's on one side of a building and we're on the other. We're not going to be able to get to her unless we passed through the other rooms first." It was here that the two found the edge of the memory and grasped one another's hands.
"Let's do this," Pinkie told Maud.
She nodded. "We'll find our sister and hopefully find something useful that'll help us take Gaia-Maiden down." The two nodded before they leapt through the light of the dome, forced to shut their eyes for fear of getting blinded by it.
When the light faded, the two found they were back in the bedroom. And laying in the bed was the still pregnant pregnant Gaia-Maiden. The women was laid on her back, breathing heavily and sweating up a storm. Whatever she had, it was clear it was more then just a common cold.
"What's wrong with her?" Pinkie asked.
"I don't know," Maud said. The look on her face showed the woman was suffering. Despite the terrible things she had done to them and their sister, the two felt sorry for her. They also hoped her baby survived.
Their attention was pulled to the door when it burst open and Scayer rushed inside, carrying a try with a wet towel on it and some water. "Here," he dabbed the cloth onto her head before making her sit up so he could drink the water. "You have to stay strong."
"I'm fine," she told him.
"No," he shook his head, "you're not. You're not getting better. You're getting worse." He placed a hand on her hand, moving it towards the woman's extended belly. "You have to stay strong for our little girl."
She nodded, though they could still tell she was having trouble breathing. "I will. And...I've been thinking. Her name. Why don't we give my fake name to someone real. Daisy. Let's call her Daisy." Scayer couldn't help but let out a scared laugh before nodding.
"Sure. Daisy it is." The two stared at one another for another second, Gaia-Maiden clearly noticing something.
"You're thinking of doing something stupid, aren't you?"
Scayer took a deep breath. "I have too. You need a cure. I've been looking through every book I have on illnesses and I think I know of a way to make you better."
"But..."
"But it involves going up Skyle Mountain." This statement caused Gaia-Maiden to grab his hand, looking scared to let go.
"You can't!" She told him, "Skyle Mountain is dragon territory. Luster, Spear, Blizzard, and those are some of the weaker ones. If one of them finds you in their territory-"
"I won't go anywhere near them," he assured her. "There's a fruit that grows on the south side of the mountain that's suppose to be able to cure any diseases."
"And the reason you can't buy it is because nobody's stupid enough to go up Skyle Mountain and get one," she reminded him.
"I won't go that high up. I'm sure there's a tree close the summit. Only low Level Dragons live around there. Baby, Petit, Decoy."
"Please," she squeezed his hand, "don't do this."
"I have too," he told her before pulling his hand from her and kissing her forehead. "I won't be long. Just stay strong." With that, he rushed out the room and left them alone before the scene reset itself.
"He doesn't make it...does he?" Pinkie turned to Maud, who was frowning.
"Remember what Amphitrite said," Maud told her. "She said she tricked her husband into thinking she was sick so he would kill himself climbing a mountain." She turned back to Gaia-Maiden as the scene played. "What if it wasn't a trick." The two continued to stare at the scene and watch it come to an end one more time before leaving to find Marble again.
"I draw!" Marble pulled a card from her deck and smiled. "And I'll start by activating my face down," the card flipped up to reveal a Trap. "Stone Blockade!" Rarity and Applejack's eyes went wide, both remembering this Trap from when she Dueled Flash in the Double X.
"Not good," Applejack frowned and saw no choice. "A'm using Orchard Cowboy's skill!" One of the Overlay Units flew into her monster's gun, which he then fired and hit the Trap card before destroying it. Applejack hoped she wouldn't regret that.
"You're going to regret that in a minute," Marble explained before playing her card. "Go, Painful Choice!"
"Dag-nabbit!" Applejack cried as five cards slotted out of Marble's deck, the girl taking and placing them all on her Duel Disk.
"Take your pick. Whichever card you chose will be added to my hand while the others are sent to the graveyard." Applejack looked up and saw she had a copy of Gaia-Knight Corundum, Coal, Ruby, Sapphire and Diamond.
She and Rarity shared a look, both unsure which one to pick. Rarity then nodded to tell her to pick, Applejack looking back and pointing at one of them. "Corundum. You can keep that one."
"Excellent," Marble smiled as she took the card and placed it in her hand while discarding the others. "Next, I'll discard one Rock-type monster from my hand in order to summon Gaia-Knight's Sage!" Applejack and Rarity's eyes went wide as she discarded Corundum, both realising it didn't matter what they picked.
In a flash of light, a new monster appeared. It was was made entirely out of purple crystals and had a hooded robe over it. It's upper half was humanoid while its lower half was just a spike pointing towards the ground. It was carrying a stuff made out of purple crystal. (A2100/D1200/L5)
"There's more," Marble explained. "For every Earth Monster removed from play, my Sage gains three hundred ATK points. (A2700/D1200/L5) "Next, I play the Continuous Spell Card Land Slide."
"What's that do?" Applejack asked.
"Nothing you need concern yourself with...for now." She pointed at Rarity's monster. "Now attack Gem-Knight Lady!" The creature raised its staff as light began to shine out of it.
Applejack glanced at Rarity, who nodded back. Applejack turned back to Marble and hit the button on her Duel Disk, "A'm activating our Trap!" Her face down flipped up, "Gem-Knight Polish!"
Rarity smiled. "Now the Gem-Knight you just targeted isn't destroyed and its ATK points go up by one thousand!" The light flew out of the Sage's staff and flew towards Gem-Knight Lady, but the knight suddenly became extra shiny and the light simply bounced off it. (A4400/D2000/L10) "Too bad."
"Yes indeed," Marble nodded while still smiling.
"Why is she smiling?" Applejack asked, "it's never good when she smiles."
"I'm smiling because of my Sage's skill," Marble explained. "If there's a monster on your field after he attacks, I can take a banished Rock monster and send it to the bottom of my deck." She did so, the sage losing power as she did so. (A2400/D1200/L5) "That allows it to then attack again."
The girls gasped as the Sage fired another blast of light, aimed once again at Gem-Knight Lady. Applejack checked their other face down and saw it wasn't something they could use. That meant there was no way to protect Gem-Knight Lady as she was struck by the light and destroyed.
"And now, the effect of my Land Slide Spell activates!" The Spell glowed and suddenly, out of nowhere, the remains of Rarity's Gem-Knight appeared above Applejack before turning into a bunch of mud. "Whenever an Earth Type monster is destroyed, you'll take three hundred points of damage."
Applejack gasped as the mud suddenly slammed down on her, "augh!"
Rarity: 3000
Marble: 6500
Applejack: 3700
"And don't forget about my sage's skill," Marble took her other banished monster and placed it at the bottom of her deck. Making Sage become weaker. (A2100/D1200/L5) It then fired another blast of magic, hitting Orchard Cowboy and destroying it. "Now, for my Land Slide card." Mud once again slammed down upon poor Applejack, half burying her.
Rarity: 3000
Marble: 6500
Applejack: 3400
"With that, my turn has come to an end."
"Then it's my turn," Rarity turned to share a smile with Applejack and then turned back to Marble. "Thanks to the Stag of Great Seedling's Pendulum Ability, I can draw an additional card for every Pendulum Monster in our graveyard. And with Apple Paladin and Thorn Knight in there, that's an extra two cards I can draw." She did so and smiled when she saw what she had gotten.
"Clearly, one of the cards you got was good."
Rarity turned to Marble, "more then one. But let me show you." The portal began to form above the two girl's heads. "I PENDULUM SUMMON!"
The portal opened before a light shot out and struck the ground, exploding to reveal Rarity's monster. "Arise, Gem-Unicorn!" The ponified version of Rarity swept her mane as she appeared infront of the girls, its horn shining with a blue light. (A1600/D1400/L4/P5)
"That's your big card?" Marble asked. "It's nothing."
"But her special ability isn't," Rarity explained before reaching for her deck. "Whenever she's Special Summoned, I can look at the top five cards of my deck. And if any are a Level four or below Gem-Knight, I can summon it." She closed her eyes and prayed to her deck. "Now, let's take a looksy." She drew the cards and opened her eyes, smiling when she saw that two of the qualified. "Perfect. I summon Gem-Knight Lapis and Gem-Knight Lazuli!"
Gem-Unicorn fired blasts of magic that struck the ground, causing it to break apart and allow two small Gem-Knights to fly out and land on either side of the unicorn. (A1200/D100/L3) (A600/D100/L1)
Marble still wasn't impressed. "Unless your Unicorn gets a power boost from them, they can't help you. Or are you planning to fuse them."
"I'd like too," she stated while looking down at her hand. Unfortunately, she didn't have a fusion card to use. That meant she had to play this another way. "I sacrifice Lapis and Lazuli!" The two monsters morphed into balls of light that flew into the air and merged together. "In order to summon my Gem-Knight Crystal!" The light took shape and faded to reveal a large knight covered in diamonds. (A2450/D1950/L7)
Marble frowned. "Okay. But don't forget, when you attack you're really hurting yourself. Since I have my Land Slide card, you'll take damage when you destroy one of my monsters."
"Except we won't be the only one," Rarity announced before playing a card. "I play Gem-Knight Mirror!" In a flash of light, a large mirror made of crystals appeared. "With this card, I can select a face-up Spell on your field and copy it's abilities." She pointed at Marble's Spell, "so I'll be copying your Land Slide Spell." Marble frowned. "Now, Crystal, destroy Gaia-Knight Sage!" The knight rushed forward and punched the crystalline entity, smashing it to pieces.
Rarity: 3000
Marble: 6150
Applejack: 3400
As this happened, Land Slide and Gem-Knight Mirror both activated and caused a load of mud to appear above Rarity and Marble, then fell down upon them. "AUGH!" They both cried as they were slammed by the dirt.
Rarity: 2700
Marble: 5850
Applejack: 3400
"You okay?" Applejack asked while Rarity brushed the dirt off of her.
"I'm fine," she assured her. "Especially since Gem-Unicorn now has an open target to attack Marble directly!" Her monster's horn glowed before it unleashed a beam of blue magic that struck Marble directly.
"AUGH!" She screamed as he blast struck her stomach.
Rarity: 2700
Marble: 4250
Applejack: 3400
"I place two cards face down and end my turn." Rarity watched as Marble straightened herself up.
"Now," she reached for her deck, "the real Duel can begin."
Within Marble's mind, Pinkie and Maud had just found the edge of the memory and pushed through it.
Once again, they were blinded for a moment until the light died down. When it did, they opened their eyes and found themselves in the bedroom once again. They turned to the bed and found Gaia-Maiden laying in a bed that was soaked with sweat, the two guessing that at least a couple of days had gone by.
"Ahh!" She cried out while clutching her stomach, Pinkie and Maud fearing the illness might be doing something to the baby. She saw tears in her eyes as she fought through the pain, clearly scared of what was happening and being alone.
But as her pain appeared to be vanishing, footsteps could be heard and they turned to see Scayer stagger through the door.
Gaia-Maiden smiled at him, appearing relieved, but then gasped when she saw the left side of his shirt was torn and soaked in blood. He was clutching his side with a bloody hand and staggering over to her, falling to his knees as he showed her what was in his other hand.
"Here," he whispered, "you have to eat it." It was an odd looking fruit, being round and a pinkish red with some kind of veins surrounding it.
"You're injured," she told him.
"I'm fine," he told her. "A Hunter Dragon...decided to have a go at me. Eat!" She opened her mouth as he began to feed her the fruit, the look on her face telling the others it did not taste good. Eventually, the whole thing was eaten. "Good," Scayer staggered backwards and hit the wall before sliding down. "Now, I'm just gonna...take a...rest."
"Scayer!" Gaia-Maiden cried as she tried to reach out and touch him, but he was too far and he appeared to have fallen asleep. Pinkie and Maud had a feeling he wouldn't be waking up.
But before Gaia-Maiden could realise that, she suddenly felt another burst of pain as the bed suddenly got a lot wetter. Her water had broken. "NOOOOO!" She cried as the scene appeared to jump ahead.
Once again, they were in the bedroom and everything was the same. But it was likely hours as past as Gaia-Maiden appeared to be in the final moments of childbirth. The sisters chose to look away from this, not wanting to see this. And after a few more seconds and a massively loud scream, Gaia-Maiden suddenly looked like she had done it. She fell backwards and laid on the bed, panting in exhaustion.
But something was wrong.
The room was too quiet. The sisters had expected her screams of pain to be replaced with another type of scream, from another life form. But there was nothing. "Don't tell me," Pinkie whispered in horror. She might have known about Scayer's fate, but she had been hoping the baby would survive.
Alas, Gaia-Maiden pushed herself up and looked down. And when she did, the look on her face was one that of someone whose world had completely shattered.
The memory began to reset, but not before she let out the loudest most gut wrenching cry of anguish ever.
"I-" Marble suddenly stopped as something happened. An image appeared on the forefront of her mind, one that made her entire body freeze. "What?"
Applejack and Rarity shared a look, both wondering what had caused her to stop in the middle of her turn. And when they glanced back, they both saw something that shocked them. A tear. "What the hay?"
Marble grunted as she wiped her eyes, the two seeing her force a glare over a sorrowful look. "I draw!" She drew her card before another card slotted out of her Deck. "It's been two turns now since I activated Reincarnation of Hope. So now I can add a monster from my hand to my deck."
"Great," Applejack, "a'm bettin' a'h know what monster it is." And just as she assumed, Marble held the card up before the ground starting shaking. The floor the the Omega Field was ripped apart before rocks flew out and began forming a giant moon above Marble's head.
Marble smiled as she pointed at the moon. "Queen of the earth, grace us with your glorious majesty!" An opening appeared in the moon that then transformed into a staircase like construct, with a familiar monster stepping out of the moon to make her way down them. "Gaia-Maiden, Lady Marble!" (A3000/D2500/L8)
"Not good," Rarity realised.
"Now, witness her skill." Gaia-Knight Ruby suddenly appeared infront of the Gaia-Maiden before breaking into eight pieces, which were sent flying through the air. Those pieces struck Gem-Unicorn. "By banishing an my earth monster from the graveyard, your monster's ATK points are lowered. (A800/D1400/L4/P5) "With this attack, you'll barely have any Life Points left!" Gaia-Maiden tapped her staff on the ground and summoned a large chunk of rock that she threw at the unicorn.
"I activate my Trap!" Rarity cried as her face down flipped up, "Shift!" Suddenly, Crystal and Unicorn magically swapped places and the Gem-Knight was destroyed.
Rarity: 2150
Marble: 4250
Applejack: 3400
Seconds later, Land Slide and Gem-Knight Mirror activated and the girls were once again bombarded by dirt. "AUGH!"
Rarity: 1850
Marble: 3950
Applejack: 3400
Rarity fell to her knees while Marble stood limply, both girls flinching from the damage they had taken. Marble then stood tall and placed a card face down. "You two should just give up. There's no way you can defeat me."
"You don't know that," Applejack told her. "An neither do we."
"But we're gonna give it our best try," Rarity pushed herself back to her feet. "For Pinkie's sake. For Maud's sake. And for the whole world's sake."
"Because that's what humans do," Applejack explained. "We keep pushing forward, no matter the odds."
Marble frowned. "Well eventually, you're going to find yourself pushing against an unmovable object. And when that happens, all you can do is watch as your strength crumbles into nothing." Applejack and Rarity didn't believe that. They would win and free Marble, even if it seemed impossible. No matter what.
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Wow i hate villians backstorys but this one was cool and epic
Oh my gosh! That was heartwrenching.
Wait. Those two gravestones in her memories...
Oh my gosh! She didn't fake her death! That other gravestone was her daughter's. Something tells me that having Pinkie and Maud inside her head is going to affect how she duels, which means she thinks she's dueling two on one, but she's actually dueling four on one, five on one including Marble.
Gaia Maiden’s backstory is clearly one of the most tragic of all the Zealots. It makes sense that she would be the most sadistic of them all. And the worst part is that it wasn’t even her fault.
But even so... I just cannot reconcile what I’ve seen here today with all of the horrible things she’s done to our friends in the past few months. Nothing has changed my opinion of her. She has crossed so many lines. She needs to be stopped.
I’m sorry, I just have to get something off my chest.
I have spent over the past year in real world time hating this spirit, this being, for what she did to Marble, and her sisters, and Flash, and Twilight. I waited so long to see her go through a breakdown. I wanted to see her feel the weight of all the horrible things she did, all the suffering she took pleasure in causing. I wanted to see her hurt.
But this?
...
I would never wish that upon my worst enemy.
I can’t help but feel some sympathy for her, but I don’t want to feel that way. Is that wrong to say that?
I had suspected something like that. There have been a few small hints that Lady Marble was pregnant ever since Midnight first appeared, and that she didn't actually trick her husband into walking to his death. I didn't expect the baby to die at childbirth though, that's just cruel and sad.
I feel pity for Lady Marble, same I do for the other Zealots for resorting to this due to their tragic pasts. But just because I feel bad for them that doesn't mean it excuses anything they have done. I've lost people I love too, but I don't use it as an excuse like they do. To borrow a quote from Rocket Raccoon "Everybody's got dead people! That's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!"
It seems interesting that Pinkie and Maud's trip through Lady Marble's memory seems to be having an effect on her in the real world. That might be the key to freeing Marble. If they go further into her memories, they might weaken her in the real world, which will let Applejack and Rarity beat her and free Marble.
hear
Delete that ending quotation.
there's
went
I think you forgot to put "to" between "comfort" and "Pinkie".
she's
these
every
Too
something
hay
reading Gaia-Maiden's backstory:.....
I know this doesn't make up for what she's done, but I can only feel sorrow for her, unlike the other Omega Zealots, she didn't actively contribute to her state before the deal...
I doubt she is truly reform able, but in my heart I can only find hope that she will turn on Zeronull...
other than sorrow over what befell her, I don't know how to feel about this chapter... which is most likely a good thing
Recently I saw the 1998 movie Good Will Hunting and I can help but picture Pinkie doing something like this scene
... of course Pinkie is in the role of Sean as portrayed by the late and great Robin Williams with Gaia-Maiden in the role of Will as portrayed by Matt Damon
I doubt it will happen, but it's just a thought