Chapter 17: We Like to Have Fun Here
“Come on, honey, join us, it’ll be fun!” Mom says with a smile.
Unfortunately, Illustrious simply sighs and shakes her head. “No thanks, Mom, I’m good. I’m just gonna go back to my room.”
“Sweetie, your brother wants to show you this. He’s really excited!”
I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes.
“No, he doesn’t, he just wants to play his card game,” Illustrious says, deadpanning.
“Mom,” I start, “it’s fine. If s-she doesn’t wanna c-come, then I wouldn’t wanna force her. I’d rather her leave and have fun doing something else than watching me n-nerd it out with Spike outside.”
At least now I can finally touch grass.
After a moment of looking back at me in the doorway, Mom sighs and hangs her head slightly. “Fine.”
I nod and watch as Illustrious and Mom exit the large dining hall door. Their hooves make little noise as they seemingly glide over the carpeted floor. I give Illustrious a wave when she passes me. She waves back with a smile and turns left. Mom, on the other hand, stops just outside the door.
“Thank you for trying, at least,” I tell her.
Thankfully, she perks up a bit and smiles back at me.
“Of course, sweetie.”
“Aight, let’s go. S-Spike should be waiting outside.”
“Do you know the way?” she asks as we start walking.
“Yeah. T-They only t-took me down it one other time to watch some of the g-g-guard training, but I think I remember the-the way from that and watching them leave earlier.”
She nods. “And what game are you playing again?”
“Duel monsters,” I say with a smirk. “I’m still sur-surprised Spike was able to get his claws on the new duel-duel disks they made. Although, I guess I shouldn’t, really.”
“I’m sure you’re very happy he decided to share it with you, too.”
“True! It’s very exciting. I just gotta fall back on ol’ reliable for this duel. I’m not sure what-what Spike’s gonna be playing, but I can’t i-i-imagine I’m going to win this.”
“I thought this was just a friendly match?” she asks.
“Oh, it is, but still. I’m not concerned with ‘not having fun,’ so the next best thing to be concerned with is winning. Or would it be better to focus on giving a good show?”
“Honey, I still have no idea what I’m looking at or reading when this game comes up.”
I can’t help but smirk at that. “True, but you say-say you’re a vi-visual learner, so maybe this will be a better exp-experience for you. Especially since I don’t think C-Cadance, Twilight, and who-whoever else is j-joining us know the rules, either. Kind of a shame Celestia and Thorax won’t be joining us, though. Anyway, both Spike and I will be explaining things as we go, so n-no worries. Hopefully.”
“Alright, so how does this work?” I ask as my wings beat up and down to balance the extra weight on my forehoof. The thing in question is a five-pound hunk of metal frame that resembles a rectangle. The hoof strap is clasped to my front right hoof, and I can clearly see my limb through the frame.
I turn my hoof over briefly before looking up at Spike. “I fail to s-see how I’m suppo-supposed to put my cards into this.”
“That’s because you need your phone,” Spike replies in a knowing tone as he slides his wrist into his own duel disk’s strap.
“Wait…Ohhhhhh! The frame holds my phone, so it’s like ARC-V. Gotcha.”
“I dunno, I haven’t watched any of the animes.”
“Smh my head, bro.”
“Shut up.”
We share a laugh before I use my magic to grasp my phone, still in my brown faux leather strap around my body. The concentration instantly breaks my smile and laugh, but the result is worth it. With some difficulty, my phone slides into the metal frame attached to my hoof landscape style.
Almost instantly, the changes take place. A small cord extends out of the frame and plugs into my phone’s charging port before the frame itself shifts, bends, and shrinks down to fit the confines of my phone. A small slot appears on the side of the phone facing me and starts to glow bright gold. Similarly, the top part of my phone slides out and starts to glow the same color.
“Oh wow. I assume the ch-changes aren’t p-permanent?”
Spike shakes his head. “Nope, it’ll go back to normal once you unplug it.”
I attempt to nod, but something else catches my attention. Spike, with a single claw, double-taps the gems on his gold bracelet. After a split second, his phone materializes in front of him, and he swipes it out of the air greedily before sliding it into his own metal frame.
“This is so fucking cool,” I say in an almost whisper-like tone.
“I know, right? Since Twilight and I agreed I should be wearing this pretty much wherever I go, she decided to deck it out as much as possible. I love advancements in magitech.”
“Agreed, bro. Alright, h-how do you want to det-det-determine who goes first?”
“Well, first you should get your deck set in place.”
“Oh, true!” I say with a smile. I slow my wingbeats until I land. I then lean down to pick up my deck box from out of the thin grass. I slide it out and then slide it into the slot poking out of the side of the phone screen.
Fuck, I’m dumb.
“Second of all, we need to sync the duel disks up first. Then we can decide.”
I nod and resume flying. “Alright, how?”
“Hold your hoof out. Now touch it to mine.”
“Duel disks synced,” a robotic voice came from the devices. “Please walk at least ten meters apart to begin the duel.”
“Ten meters?” I start, “it’s gonna be T-Tartarus to hear each o-other.” By the time I finish talking and looking up from my duel disk, Spike is already backing away from me.
“Luckily, they didn’t pull any punches when making these things.”
And I can hear Spike perfectly. Even as he continues to get farther from me.
“There’s long-range communication built into this? That’s SO fucking cool!”
Here we go! I can only imagine how wide the stupid grin plastered across my face is.
“It’s an area of effect that expands the more we exceed ten meters,” Spike says as he continues walking backward while gesturing with his chin over to our audience. Save for Celestia and Illustrious, everyone else that had been present at lunch is watching us from the bench of an ornate gazebo near the edge of the palace gardens.
The gazebo itself is basked in the shade of the massive palace behind it, allowing some reprieve from the mid-day sun that beats down on the surrounding grass, flower beds, and bird baths. Thin strands of a willow tree hang from the backside of the gazebo, swaying silently and softly in the breeze. I was momentarily entranced by the white flowers lining the rims of its roof in a sort of ritualistic dance.
In between the gazebo and the palace, just barely kissing the gazebo’s south side, is a full bed of roses. The roses themselves sit upright, unmoving, and in full bloom, as if perpetually frozen in time. They stand in stark contrast to the other beds sitting closer to the castle, and I eye them for a minute before turning my attention to the gazebo’s occupants.
I think Dad and Silent are here because they don’t have anything better to do right now. Oh well.
“Oh, true, let’s get them in here.”
After another five seconds of walking back: “Hey!” I call out. “T-T-There’s long-range com-communication built into these so we can all hear each other perfectly within this radius.”
A small twinge of anger makes itself known in the back of my head as I suck in some air. Shakily and slowly, I let out a breath.
Calm down.
The small pit in my stomach recedes.
“Oh, really?” Mom asks.
Dad gives a smile and a nod.
“Oh, what? That’s sick!” Silent Symphony exclaims.
“Imagine relying on such primitive magitech for communication, bah!” Discord says with a dismissive wave of his paw.
Twilight rolls her eyes with a smile before saying, “Ha-ha, Discord.”
“So, how is this going to work?” Luna asks.
“I’m also curious,” Cadance adds.
“Well, I was thi-thinking we j-just call out all our moves like a-a-anime protagonists, try and make this as en-engaging to watch as possible. Thoughts?” I say with a smirk.
“Seems dumb,” Silent quips.
“That seems like the best thing to do here. Even better is that for each monster summoned, its stats will be displayed to every creature individually. Not sure how that’ll work for the spectators, but for us, everything will show up on our phones,” Spike says.
“Oh, okay, easy,” I state. “Now then, let’s do this.”
“Yes, let’s. Accept the invite.”
“Huh?” I ask before looking down at my phone. “Oh.” I lower my left hoof down to the big green ‘Begin Duel?’ button on my phone.
“Roll my dice,” Spike commands, and right on cue, two huge dice materialize about three meters in the air and crash into the ground between us. “Eleven.”
I nod. “Oof, I’m not getting over that. R-Roll my dice.” After the dies crash and settle: “Seven. Yep, nope.”
“There was no way you were beating that.”
“You’re right, i-it was just a skill issue. You are simply the better duelist.”
Spike can’t help but laugh at my comment. “Absolutely. I’ll go first.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course, you will. Good luck, bro.”
“Good luck, duelist.”
“Ooooh, this is going to be fun! The suspense is killing me!” Discord exclaims.
“Just don’t go altering the game,” Spike says with a smile.
“We don’t want a ‘the monsters are real?!’ moment,” I tack on. “A-A-Anyway, to start off, we both d-draw f-five cards in our opening hands. There’re one, two, three, four, five—six phases of pl-play during each pl-player’s turn: draw, standby, main one, battle, main two, and end. The first-turn pl-player doesn’t draw a c-card during the start of their turn, and th-they don’t get a-a battle phase.
“Why are there two main phases? Shouldn’t you only need one?” Dad asks. Though, his smirk makes me doubt how serious he actually is.
I roll my eyes. “I dunno, Dad, that’s j-just the way it is. If you get a b-battle phase, then normally you’d get as many m-m-monsters with high attack as po-possible on board before attacking and then summon your big boss monsters in your second main phase with-with those monsters.
He nods and leans forward in his seat.
“There’re more restrictions in this game than how many you put on me during you girls’ ‘please-don’t-bother-us-or-so-help-me’ time,” Discord mutters.
Twilight gives a light titter and shakes her head. Discord, as the ever-wise and all-knowing chaos god that he is, recedes into the fabric of reality for a moment while sticking out his tongue.
“We’ll ex-explain the phases of pl-play more in-depth as w-we go, but for now, I’ll move on to card types. Stay with me, this is gonna be a lot but I promise it’ll be worth it,” I start.
“Th-there are three main super-types of cards: monsters, spells, and traps. Mon-Monsters are, well, monsters. They’ve got attributes, like dark, light, wind, etc, levels, types, attack points, defense points, and some have effects. Th-those effects can activate in the-the hand, on the f-field, in the grave-graveyard, it all depends. Makes sense so far?”
“Yep!” Twilight quips with a smile, “Spike’s already explained most of this a hundred times anyway.”
Oh, well, guess they do already know. The others still don’t, though.
Cadance and Luna nod.
“Uhm, sure, honey, just keep going,” Mom says.
Right, right, I’m getting too excited. Fuck me.
“Alright, ne-next are spells. There are six-six types of spells: normal, quick-play, continuous, field, equip, and ritual, but y-you only need to wo-worry about four: normal, quick-play, and field. Normal and field spells can be played from your ha-hand to one of the spell and trap zones on the-the field. I’ll explain the field in a second.
“A-Anyway, field spells stay on the f-field after you a-a-activate them, their effects apply until they’re removed from the field. Simple! Quick-play spells are the ex-exception, which can be used in re-response to something the opponent does, pl-played like normal spells, or be set like trap cards.
I take in a huge gasp of air.
“Speaking of trap cards, I’m on a roll wi-with these transitions, there are thr-three different types of trap cards, but you don’t really need to worry about them. Just know that by default, unless a card effect says otherwise, you have to s-set trap cards face down on the f-field in the-the spell and trap zone and wait a turn before you can a-a-activate them.”
“What do you mean by ‘unless a card effect says otherwise’?” Dad asks, crossing his forehooves and leaning back in the gazebo’s seat.
“Haha, well funny thing is: as a general rule in this game, card effects trump game mechanics. If a card says it works a certain way, e-even if it's against the rules, then it just works that way. For instance, Infinite Impermanence is a t-trap card that allows you to negate a mo-monster’s effects, but also allows you to a-activate it from your hand, without setting it face down, if you control no cards on your field. It w-works that way because the c-card says it works that way, and nothing more.
“Anyway, I promise I’m almost done.
“Now for the field. E-Each player gets five main monster zones to su-summon stuff to and five spell and t-trap zones for their, wait for it, spells and traps. Imagine them like two rows of five rectangles; that’s where most of the gameplay takes place. Once cards are sp-spent, they go to the gr-gr-graveyard, or G-Y, also each player gets a f-field zone specifically for field spells, separate from the spell and trap zones.
“The only other ex-exception to this s-stuff is the ex-extra monster zone, located in between both pl-players’ fields. That’s where mo-monsters summoned from the ex-extra deck go, but we’ll explain that once it b-becomes relevant.”
“What do you mean by ‘Once cards are spent spent’?” Silent Symphony asks.
“Like when a monster gets destroyed, after you play a spell or trap card, stuff like that. Just think of the graveyard like a trash can: when you’re done with a card, that’s where it goes. Except where sometimes you can pull stuff out of the trash can and use it again.”
I stop for a moment and take a deep breath. “Alright, go ahead, Spike,” I say with a nod.
—----------------------------------------------
Mezzo: 8000 LP | Spike: 8000 LP |
—----------------------------------------------
Spike and I draw our opening hands and look down at them. I try my best to ignore the kaleidoscope of butterflies hatching in my stomach with a deep breath and drag my gaze across the cards in my magic.
Yes! I may not have drawn any hand traps, but I have drawn full combo. So, I just gotta figure out how to bait out Spike’s interactions once he passes his turn, whatever those interactions will be.
“You betcha! First off, we enter the draw phase, but nothing happens here, since it’s the first turn. And even though nothing is supposed to happen, that doesn’t stop me from activating cards such as my quick-play spell, Quick Launch, which lets me summon a ‘Rokket’ monster from my deck, but it cannot attack and is destroyed in the end phase. I’ll summon the level four, DARK attribute dragon monster, Rokket Tracer, in defense mode!”
After Spike slots the spell card into the bottom of his duel disk, a bright blue card materializes out of a sheen of light in front of Spike, reading “Quick Launch” in big bold letters across its top. From the center of the card comes a narrow beam of bright blue energy that crashes into the ground and materializes into a small creature.
The light then fades away to reveal a small red dragon with bright blue accented lines running across its body. It raises its bullet-like head to the sky in a defiant roar and swings its spiky tail like a scythe, cutting through the air with deadly precision.
I can feel my jaw hanging wide open as I gawk at Rokket Tracer. When I strain my eyes slightly, I can see Spike doing the same. A roaring inferno deep inside my soul rages up through my gut, burning everything in its path and making me smile. Obviously, the only place for such an inferno to escape is through my mouth, so: “No WAY, DUDE! This is AWESOME!” I shout.
“This is much more life-like than I would’ve expected,” he says. “Now we can have a proper game of duel monsters!”
“Fuck yeah! K-Keep going, I wanna see how g-good this gets!”
“I know what else we can test out. Ya ready?” he says with a smirk, his voice dripping with anticipation.
“Absolutely. Come at me!”
“Now we enter the standby phase. I have nothing to activate here, so priority then passes to Mezzo for any effects he might want to activate. Anything in the standby phase?”
“Nope, continue! Come on!”
“Alright, alright, chill. Now we’re in the main phase. Here I can summon monsters, activate normal spells and the like, and set trap cards. But another special thing I can do is summon from my extra deck! I’ll set Rokket Tracer in the link arrow!” Spike shouts.
He pulls Rokket Tracer’s card off of his glowing duel disk and slots it into the bottom of the duel disk’s screen. On the right side of the screen, a new port opens up to reveal a single face-down card. Spike snatches the card and slams it down onto his duel disk.
Let’s GO!
“YES!”
We both watch in awe as Rokket Tracer fades back into a narrow beam of blue light, but this time it rises up into the sky. As it ascends, a box-like circuit board appears in the sky, glowing a bright blue with eight greyed-out arrows surrounding it.
“What’s that?” Mom asks.
Her voice manages to cuts through my focus, and I turn my head toward her for a moment.
“This is a link summon! I’ll e-explain in a second.”
Rokket Tracer then slams into the leftmost arrow, turning it red, and forcing the circuit to explode in a supernova of blue light. Strangely enough, in the brief moment in between the flash and my hoof coming up to block my eyes, I don’t feel any pain.
“I link summon! Link 1, Striker Dragon!
A sharp, robotic-like PPEEWWWW sound emanates all around us as the light fades to reveal a fully blue dragon with gray accents and no arms. Its vibrant and almost translucent double wings extend out as it gives its own roar to the heavens above.
“What’s a link summon?” Mom asks again.
“It’s one of the m-many what’s called ‘ex-extra deck summoning m-mechanics,’” I start, “Each player gets their m-main deck of cards, wh-which can have 40-60 cards, but the extra deck is an ex-extra set of 15 cards that ex-exclusively houses special kinds of m-monsters which can be su-summoned when you-you meet the right conditions,” I explain. “Thi-th-thi-holy SHIT!”
I take a comedically oversized breath and lick my lips.
“This is one of those m-mechanics: link summoning. Since S-Spike had a level four or lower dragon on his field, the-the extra monster zone was o-open, he was in his main phase, and n-no card effect was stopping him, he could link s-summon Striker Dragon.”
“Exactly, and now that it’s been summoned, Striker Dragon’s effect activates! It allows me to add the field spell, Boot Sector Launch, from my deck to my hand. Anything in response?” He asks, his claw clenched on the top card of his deck and his elbow bent back.
“Nope, I drew no interactions, go nuts.”
“Aw yeah!” Spike exclaims.
“Why would you tell him that? Shouldn’t you want to keep your hand a secret?” Dad pipes up.
“Normally, yes, b-but this is just a friendly match. Since w-we’re gonna be a-announcing all our moves, it’ll save a bit of t-time if Spike doesn’t have to worry about asking for a-a response after every m-move he makes, which is standard practice.”
Dad nods, and Spike resumes his turn.
“Then, I’ll activate Striker Dragon’s second effect. It targets itself on the field and Rokket Tracer in my graveyard. It then destroys itself to add back Rokket Tracer to my hand!”
A bright yellow light erupts out from the core of Striker Dragon’s chest, shattering it into a million little pieces like a smashed window. A card then slots out of Spike’s duel disk, and he adds it to his hand.
“Next, I’ll activate Boot Sector Launch!” he shouts, slamming the card from his hand into a special port that slotted out from the top of his duel disk. The slot then slams closed, and I can’t believe my eyes.
“Ay yo? Ay YO!”
All around us, the castle, the sky, and the grassy gardens of the palace fade away. In their place comes a huge sprawling network of bright blue lines embedded into a completely metallic structure, as if we were swallowed by a mountain and dumped in a vast mile-deep cavern.
The pathways through the gardens fade to blue lines, while the grass fades into the gray metal that now consumes the area. Out towards the edge of Canterlot, I spot what looks to be a bright red spinning barrel of…something. The black metal strip that outlines the thing obscures my view of it, only the small blue holes on either side of the strip embedded into the thing are visible.
“Woah, what’s happening?” Mom says, panic now invading her voice. “Honey?”
“It’s o-okay, Mom, this is j-just a field s-spell.”
That’s not a very helpful response.
“It’s just an illusion,” Spike chimes in.
Oh, thank harmony.
“What you’re seeing around you is Boot Sector Launch. It’ll go away once I remove the card from my duel disk or the duel ends.
“Now I activate Boot Sector Launch’s effect! This lets me special summon up to two ‘Rokket’ monsters from my hand in defense mode! Now appear once again, Rokket Tracer!”
He slaps down Rokket Tracer’s card onto his duel disk with a mighty SLAP! In the same instant, the red barrel in the distance releases a narrow geyser of blue energy jets out from one of its holes. The beam flies out towards the field like a javelin and crashes into the ground, which then forms itself back into Rokket Tracer.
“As an added bonus, Boot Sector Launch’s continuous effect boosts Tracer’s attack points by 300!”
Rokket Tracer’s Attack: 1600 ATK -> 1900 ATK
“But that won’t matter, for now, I activate Rokket Tracer’s effect!” Spike exclaims, pointing a claw out in front of him.
“In exchange for targeting and destroying a card I control and locking me into only summoning DARK attribute monsters from the extra deck this turn, it summons a ‘Rokket’ monster from my deck! I’ll destroy Boot Sector Launch to summon level four Rokket Recharger!”
A dark purple aura surrounds Rokket Tracer as it gives a mighty roar. The aura then transfers itself to the entirety of the surrounding area, bathing the metal walls, floors, blue-accented energy lines, and the big red barrel all in the same dark aura.
I blink, and the illusion shatters into a million tiny little triangles.
Rokket Tracer’s: 1900 ATK -> 1600 ATK
Instead of dissipating this time, the tiny triangles fly around and coalesce onto a single point on Spike’s field next to Rokket Tracer, forming a solid mass of light. The light then fades away to reveal a similar dragon to Tracer, except with a more menacing color palette: a smattering of blacks and reds with the same ethereal turquoise accents. It’s almost as if its presence alone is sapping the life and color out of the surrounding area.
How fitting.
I smirk.
“What’s the point of summoning all these monsters when they’re all so weak? I mean, Tracer only has 1600 attack points now that you’ve destroyed your field spell or whatever. How much can that do?” Silent Symphony says with a cocked eyebrow.
“The point,” Spike says quickly, “is that I can use them to summon much stronger monsters. The extra deck isn’t just about further advancing my plays, it’s also about big strong bungus boss monsters. For instance…”
He clears his throat.
“For those who are unaware, Rokket Tracer is a special kind of monster. In fact, it is a tuner monster, meaning I can do this! I tune level four Rokket Tracer with level four Rokket Recharger!” he shouts. Instantly as he says that, both Tracer and Recharger dissolve back into light before our eyes. From out of their purple incandescent bodies float four small bright orbs.
“Is this Savage Dragon?” I ask, anticipation dripping from my voice.
Spike smirks, “Yep!”
The orbs dance around each other like me at my high school prom as they float into the sky. Rokket Tracer’s orbs transform themselves into four green rings that line up like a tube.
“Are you gonna do the chant?”
“What chant?”
“I got this!” I shout with the biggest grin on my stupid ass face. “The fuel of cosmos mixes with the boundaries of speed to transcend the beyond! Now you go!”
Rokket Recharger’s orbs fly inside of them and collapse into a beacon of light. The light expands to consume the rings around it, forcing my eyes to shut.
“Uh, I synchro summon! Level 8 Borreload Savage Dragon!”
The light fades to reveal a truly hulking beast. The two huge hunks of metal protruding from its back give way to an impressive array of matching almost turquoise translucent wings that loom over the entire garden. Its silver tail whips around, the spiked end just barely grazing its box-like feet that hover in place, as if to balance itself against nothing.
Its red and silver body shifts around as the spiked, almost hair-like protrusions from its head point at the ground when the dragon lets out a piercing roar. It extends its wings as much as possible in a take-a-step-back-inducing display and gives them one mighty flap, sending a small gust of wind in every direction.
“Holy shit! That was AWESOME!” I shout, taking a step back.
Spike recovers first and explains, “This is another extra deck mechanic. Rokket Tracer was a tuner monster, which is one element that all synchro monsters require. Since Rokket Tracer was on my field, along with a non-tuner monster, and both of their levels added together totaled eight, which is Savage Dragon’s level, I could send both of them to the graveyard to synchro summon Borreload Savage Dragon. Speaking of, Savage Dragon’s effect now activates!
“Since it was synchro summoned, I get to target a link monster in my graveyard. I’ll target Striker Dragon. Striker Dragon now equips onto Savage Dragon as an equip spell card, granting Borreload extra attack points equal to half of Striker’s attack points. Striker had 1000, so Savage gains 500 attack.
Borreload Savage Dragon: 3000 ATK -> 3500 ATK
“But that’s not all! Savage Dragon gains a borrel counter for every link that Striker Dragon had. Striker Dragon is link 1, so Savage Dragon gains one borrel counter!
From the bottom slot of Spike’s duel disk flies a golden orb of light. It circles around Borreload, as if trying to get the dragon to dance, before settling itself in the small hole protruding out of Borreload’s barrel-like chest.
Borreload Savage Dragon’s Borrel Counters: 0 -> 1
“As a bonus, whenever you activate a card effect, once per turn I can remove one borrel counter from Savage Dragon to negate it! Now, I end my turn.”
“Finally. Let’s go, I draw!” I shout, putting my hoof onto my duel disk and pulling it back in as dramatic a fashion as I can muster. After relaxing my stance, I float the card from my hoof into my magically-supported hand. “Phew, alright, now let’s see here…”
What can I do? Special Thrasher, then summon Vanisher, overlay into…
A knot starts to form in my head, right below my horn. I swallow the lump in my throat and take a shaky breath.
Overlay into…special thrasher, then vanisher, then…UGH!
The knot seems to grow like a black hole, eating my energy and surrounding muscle tissue.
Dammit! I can’t keep this up.
With a small breath, I unfurl my wings and propel myself up with a single strong flap. I’m then free to set the card in my hooves and breath a sigh of relief.
“Alright, I know wh-what I can do. I have a p-plan.” I take a moment to suppress a chuckle. “It’s evil. It’s d-diabolical. It’s lemon-scented! THIS PLAN Z CAN’T POSSIBLY FAIL!”
A snort echoes from the gazebo.
“What?” Spike asks incredulously, cocking an eyebrow.
“If you d-don’t stop me, I c-can game you this round.”
“No way. No shot you have lethal. What’re you even playing?”
“Galaxy-Eyes.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes, I t-totally have lethal. Those 8000 life points are going d-down the drain! Unless, of course…you negate the right thing with Savage Dragon. To start off, since I control no monsters on my field, I can special summon Photon Thrasher!”
I take one card from my hand and slam it down onto my duel disk. In the same instant, a swirl of light appears on my field in front of me. Like a distant spinning galaxy observed through a telescope, the light then spirals in on itself until a small explosion of light occurs. I blink away the bright spots in my vision to reveal an azure translucent warrior that shines as bright as a star.
As if sentient light itself were wearing armor, Thrasher stands defiantly on my field, looking up at Borreload Savage Dragon. The long, one-sided blade it wields doesn’t do much to help it stand against the beast.
“Then, since I control a monster with ‘Photon’ in its name, I can special summon Photon Vanisher from my hand!”
Same as last time, a new spinning galaxy appears next to Thrasher. Thrasher looks at the swirling cluster of light, tilts its head, then dives away at the last second before it implodes. Out from the blinding light appears a similar black warrior to Photon Thrasher.
The robot's body was covered in a layer of protective armor, made up of black and gray plates that covered most of its body, with the joints remaining exposed to facilitate movement. The joints themselves shine brightly like the righteous light from a shining star! Vanisher aims its weird contraption with an elongated barrel up at Borreload Savage Dragon, floating there menacingly.
“Now, l-let me show you another su-summoning technique. Since I control two monsters with the s-same level, I can o-overlay them! I now overlay level four Photon Thrasher a-and Photon Vanisher! With these two monsters, I build the overlay network!”
Both warriors of light fade back into swirling galaxies of wonder. A swirling black hole then forms out of nothing on the field below where Savage Dragon is floating. Thrasher and Vanisher’s galaxies then fly like whizzing arrows into the center of the black hole.
“The boundaries between harmony and chaos break down to manifest as a shining beacon of light!” I chant, raising a hoof to the sky.
It’s enough to make a grown stallion cry!
The black hole then explodes in a blaze of glory, and my shit-faced grin grows even wider! A warm feeling permeates my entire body, and I momentarily lose myself.
Fuck, this is exhilarating!
“I XYZ summon! Rank 4 Starliege Photo-”
“Princesses! We have a situation!”
The fire in my soul freezes over in an instant.
One of the sliding doors attached to the castle opens up to reveal a frantic hippogriff staff member, clad in their signature shirt filled with enough swirling colors to make your eyes bleed. He flies, literally and figuratively, out of the entrance and up to the three Princesses on the sidelines. After a lightning-quick bow, he continues.
“Princess Celestia sent me as soon as she became aware of the situation. There seems to be a gathering of concerned citizens outside the palace gates. There’ve been reports of huge flashes of light, loud thumps, and roaring. The press is also lining up outside and have been interviewing some of the citizens.”
“What? I thought they fixed that bug! Only those within the radius are supposed to be able to interact with this!” Spike shouts.
“Thank you, we’ll deal with this,” Twilight says to the staff member, her face expressionless.
The staff member nods, bows again, and runs back into the palace.
Twilight sighs.
“I’m really sorry, Twi,” Spike says while walking over to her.
Twilight smiles a tired smile and speaks. “It’s alright, Spike, you didn’t know. Besides, this isn’t hard to deal with.”
“Indeed,” Luna chimes in. “It’ll be dealt with in no time.”
Spike nods, then turns to me. “Hey, sorry, we can-”
“Yeah, I get it, I’ll surrender,” I cut him off before sighing. I fold my cards back into one before slotting them back into the duel disk. I then tap the upper right corner of the screen and tap the big red “Surrender” button. “Just wish I didn’t get cut off, that wa-was a lot of fun.”
“True.”
Luna and Twilight make their way back towards the palace entrance with a confident, albeit steady, stride. They’re now passing the large bed of roses. Almost the entire bed of roses is in full bloom, like a beautiful cascade of red water.
Cadance then turns to Dad, Mom, and Silent Symphony. “Please return to your rooms for now. We’ll send for you all when dinner is ready.”
All three of them nod without a word and march in the same direction. Cadance hurries in the same direction to catch up with Twilight and Luna, who’re now passing the bed of lilies. Most of them are fully in bloom, but some are wilted—like they’re the physical embodiment of disappointment. Or maybe sadness?
Once she catches up, however, Twilight leans down and whispers something in Cadance’s ear. She then stops in her tracks with Twilight looking down at her, a small smile on her face.
Cadance nods before continuing at a slower pace. Luna and Twilight eventually overtake her, disappearing into the palace.
She’s passing the bed of violets now.
Cadance frowns.
The final, curled-up violet in the otherwise fully bloomed bed stirs. A single pedal unfurls like a pegasus wing, about to take flight.
I start walking over to Cadance. I can hear her sigh. It makes my ears fold back and my expression deepens, but also makes me walk faster.
“Hey, a-are you okay?”
She stops again and turns back to me with a disappointed sigh and frown.
“Yeah, I’m j-he-!”
I sit down, wrap my hooves around her, and pull her into an embrace. After a small instant that lasts a lifetime, she lets out a small sigh, sits down, and reciprocates.
“Thank you, Mezzy,” she whispers.
I wrap my wings around her and squeeze a bit harder.
If any of you are interested in the cards used in this chapter, here are their entries in the official Yu-Gi-Oh! card database:
(In order of appearance)
Quick Launch
Rokket Tracer
Striker Dragon
Boot Sector Launch
Rokket Recharger
Borreload Savage Dragon
Photon Thrasher
Photon Vanisher
Starliege Photon Blast Dragon
Got most of this written over winter break after recovering from surgery, just had to finish the final stretch after classes started last week and have my editors look over this.
I hope the explanations were bearable. I rewrote and cut out a lot of them while working on this. Spike's turn used to be much longer, but that eventually got too long and boring. Modern Yu-Gi-Oh! does not translate well into writing, especially when I know not all of my readers would be a fan of watching someone essentially play solitaire by themselves.
Let me know if anything didn't make sense, I'd be happy to explain. (Although, I'm sure that's obvious at this point. God I love this silly anime card game)
Maybe one day we'll get to see Mezzo's full turn. I hear his deck can be quite, ahem, explosive.
ALSO: one of my editors, DarthBall, commissioned some art for me for Christmas, marvel at its beauty!
Drawn by CrimsonWolf360
Finally, as always:
Constructive criticism is encouraged and appreciated!
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So Spike uses a Vullet deck?
Cool
11481944
Gotta love the 1 card combo
11481971
By coincidence I made a Vullet deck in Link Evolution recently
11481978
:O
Is Vullet the sub name for Rokket?
Also I think you'll be able to do the same for DL at the end of the month, I think the Varis(Revolver) unlock is coming.
11481981
Yep, its their OCG name
Yeh, gonna have fun with Revolver's cards(especially since Mirror Force is officially out)
As always, good job
11483507
Thank you!
Where is next chapter
Give
11517139
:P
11531817
Easing meaning that HE gets to know them ALONGSIDE US. As it stands he KNOWS them, READERS don't.
-"Hey Bob, long time no see. Let's play in a band"
-"Sure thing, Max".
I don't know Bob. His character, what he does, his other friends, maybe. While it seems to be expected that we should know Bob, along with main character Max.
Problem with this story is it doesn't INTRODUCE us to the wrold. We are THRUST into MIDDLE of it. How did this technology came to be? Equestria is not usually known for Information Technology. Early Industry is what it is. Some electricity, steam locomotives, dams...
11531810
Doesn't get pissed? Could have fooled me. I mean, with all the "fucks" around I couldn't tell.
11531893
All those "fucks" aren't out of anger, one of the few shortcomings of tone being difficult to convey through text. As an author, I'm not the best at is still
11531891
Yes, we are thrust into the world because I didn't want a slow start that went on for more than a chapter or two, so I made the decision to jump in and explain things or leave context clues as we went (like the big ass generator, Mezzo's birth year, or even just the entire long description of this story). Taking a while to start the meat of this story and sacrificing that in the name of slowly introducing everything would've been boring, at least in my opinion.
To me, the real story starts at the end of chapter 1 and gets good once we get to around chapters 3/4.
As for the chapter 1 characters, no you're not expected to know them ahead of time. Perhaps I went about it in the wrong way, I'm not sure, but they're there so we can see Mezzo's personality, they're not major characters. I'd understand the criticism more if these were recurring characters, but they're not.
11532057
If they were RECURRING characters I wouldn't argue. We would have had time to get to know them alongside Mezzo.
11532052
Again, could have fooled me. First chapter. Angry at his own story I think. "Fuck". Angry at a password/account. "Fuck". Alarm. You guessed it. "Fuck". Do I need to go on? Or are those not anger? Anger doesn't mean deep hatred. Anger means having even a little bit of a "proactive" dislike, to wanting to do something with the object of your anger. Delete story. Not have a password. Wishing for an alarm to stop.
I don't know the character better than you do, author, but it is how I see it. This guy gets angry, then angry swears start flying.
11532062
No, you’re right, I simply forgot. It’s fresher in your mind than it is in mine, I was remembering other instances.
Yes, Mezzo gets angry, but I meant the anger doesn’t show itself. That’s why he’s always taking deep breaths, always shaking his head, mostly keeping the curses internal.
From what I remember, he doesn’t vocally shout in anger, it’s an internal problem he keeps to himself to his own detriment.
11532599
Still, my points stands. Mezzo DOES get angry. And I'm not sure how he didn't when he was basically "accused" of trying to usurp power or something. After all, he did argue about "intense questioning" vs interrogation. That was my point. How did he let go, if he actually gets angry?
11532615
And I’d argue my other point still stands: “there’s something to it and he recognizes that, the details of which will be explained next chapter.”
It’s not always smart to be so willing to believe that you’re wrong, but it’s also a good thing. He’s more confused than anything, recognizes that Twilight seems to share his confusion, and even if he were to get angry, it wouldn’t have been external nor would I have solved anything.
He’s not in a position of control right now. Right now, he’s stuck in a room with two Goddesses. He’s more concerned with trying to diffuse the situation, as evident by that dumb SpongeBob reference he made in his head.
Either way, he hasn’t had a lot of time to process all the implications of what’s happening to him. He knows it’s bad, but he doesn’t feel it in his heart yet, nor has he allowed himself to, since he kept trying to calm himself down back in the cell.
Just realized I type a whole 5 paragraph essay😅
11532866
There is a BIG difference between LOGIC and EMOTION. Many people would love to understand the other side, but they are angry, or sad, or distraught, or ANYTHING. So no, I pull an Uno reverse card, and STILL say, that this guy should not have gotten over it. He should have been running on EMOTIONS, not LOGIC. And emotions would tell him to get angry at not believing him, or "betraying" him. Because it doesn't matter what he was told AFTER. At the TIME he THOUGHT that Twilight KNEW about how he ascended. He learned LATER that she did NOT. At the TIME he should have thought:
"OK, Twilight told me to touch the magic. Why is she acting that way? Why is she asking me about it? Is she accusing me? What the hell?! Have I been betrayed and led into a guilty position?!"
"Hindsight is 20/20." Meaning that when we look at what has already happened we see a million ways it has gone right or wrong, we see what has actually happened, and what everyone was thinking. We have NOTHING at the TIME of action. We likely have emotions, that have overtaken us.
11532872
You’re right to an extent. I want to push back completely but I can’t.
Mezzo should have had more of an emotional reaction. But even if he did it definitely wouldn’t have been to the extent that you outlined. He would not instantly jump to the conclusion that he was betrayed for the reasons I’ve outlined before.
Just remember that you and Mezzo are two completely different people
11534177
I'm aware. I just exaggerated to make an example. The thing is nobody is perfect, and I cannot see how Mezzo would have let it slide. Yeah, I know there is the four churches, and the leaders of those would brainwash ponies to join if they could get away. But still, even if Mezzo didn't outright say it his view of the Princesses would have been soured. Even if he didn't felt betrayed, he should have stopped trusting them so much. How do I say it... He should have become "disillusioned"? "Princesses are not nice, so you should be careful, they might punish you" - or something along those lines.
Where is chapter :(
11556104
No worries, sorry you didn't jive with it! Hope you find something you like better
I'd just like to say that I've been greatly enjoying this story so far! This AU you've built has been very intriguing and I can't wait to see more of Mezzo and Cadance
The very idea of this story is great. Especially AU. But specifically fan fanfic is average for my taste. The character of the main character is a little infuriating. He is an alicorn of music (sort of), but something is not visible yet... the level of the alicorn. Special magic or something like that. And because of focusing on one Cadence, a large number of opportunities with other characters disappear. They show some pieces like Twilight lab, Celestia constantly looking at something on the phone and sometimes dreams with Luna, but not enough. Maybe a POV on their behalf wouldn't hurt. Some flashbacks. Well, something in general. There is a whole chapter about Mario Kart for God's sake. Why not show how Twilight got together with Discord? Or why did the princesses decide to go on vacation? To summarize. Average fan fiction. And if anyone knows if there are fanfiction with the same AU?