Twilight's Duel School of Friendship: Freshman Year

by k00l

Chapter 8: The Tree of Harmony Part 1

Chapter 8: The Tree of Harmony Part 1

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The six were hanging out together by the pond, talking and gossiping to each other and making each other laugh.
"You have no idea how badly I needed this weekend. Professor Fluttershy's class has been so tiring." Says Gallus.
"Are you kidding? It's the easiest class there is" says Ocellus.
"Yeah right, Monster Card Appreciation? Don't get me wrong, I love my cards, but she acts like they are really alive or something." Says Gallus.
"Well, we should respect our cards." Says Sandbar.
"I'm not say I don't respect my cards, but come on, they are still just cards. Why must she act like they are some supernatural beings that demand respect or something." Said Gallus.
"Heh, your still mad that she gave you an F for your card maintenance exercise because she found some of them covered in Ranch Sauce." Said Smolder with a chuckle.
"I was eating some Carrots ok! I didn't know I spilled some ranch on them!" Exclaimed Gallus in his defense. The group then bursts out in laughter at their friend.

Just as they were getting comfortable, slowly, the winds started to pick up, and the sky begins to darken with clouds.
"Huh? a storm? I thought the storm was scheduled for tomorrow." says Ocellus.
"It's supposed to....Weird. I can't see any Pegasi in the sky either." Says Sandbar looking at the sky.
"Well, if it's gonna storm, I'm not gonna let my cards get ruined." Says Smolder getting up off the ground. The others agree and start to stand up as well. Just as they do, a strong gust of wind blows hard, and manages to knock a card loose from Gallus's deck and begins to blow away in the wind.
"GAH! Oh no! my card! That's my favorite, Gram! I can't loose it!" Shouts Gallus as he begins chasing it.
"Gallus! this is why you NEED to pay attention in Professor Fluttershy's class!" Shouts Ocellus as she starts to chase after the card too. The rest goin in to help Gallus catch his card. The card floats up into the sky as the wind carries it more and more, heading for an old well. the card passes over it before being sucked by the downdraft of the well, plunging down in it.

"SQWAUK!!! Gram!!!" Shouts Gallus running over to the well and looking down it. All he saw was pitch black darkness
"Dude, I'd hate to say it, but that looks gone bro." Says Sandbar.
"No way! I'm not leaving it down there!" Exclaimed Gallus.
"Oh, so now you want to respect your cards more. Maybe this will teach you a lesson Gallus." says Smolder.
"You don't understand! That card means everything to me!" Gallus shouts. "It's the last thing I have to remember to remember them with!"
"Wait? Remember? Remember who? what do you mean by that?" asks Silverstream. Gallus looks at her, and then all of them before looking away from them. He didn't mean to say that out loud.
"....I don't want to talk about it right now ok, Just... just help me get it please! I don't care if the water ruined it, as long as I still have it." Gallus begged. Sandbar had some sympathy for Gallus. Almost all of his deck came from his dad, and he treasures it. But Gallus, though he didn't admit anything, he felt his sentiment runs deeper than that.
"Alright bud, I'll help you" Says Sandbar, putting his front hoof on the well and looking down it.

It was dark, very dark. You couldn't even see the bottom, Sandbar squints his eyes to try and see if the card could be floating on top, but he couldn't
"Hey Smolder, Could you breathe some fire down the well to give us some light?" asks Sandbar.
"Fine, scooch over you two." Said Smolder approaching the well.
"but not too much so you burn the card!" Exclaimed Gallus.
"All right, I got you!" Said Smolder, a little annoyed. She looks down and huff a bit of fire to light the well up a bit, still nothing to be seen.
"Is there even water down there?" asked Gallus.
"Lets find out." Says Sandbar knocking a rock down there.
"WAIT! What if you hit the card!" Shouts Gallus.
"SHHHH! listen" Says Smolder. They listen closely, to their surprise, they could hear the rock hit solid ground.
"Hey! there is no water down there. So the card could be alright!" Says Gallus in a gleeful tone.
"Now how are we gonna get down there?" Says smolder puzzled. Slowly however she pans to Ocellus who was just watching them.
"W-what? why are you staring at me?" asked Ocellus.
"Come on Cell, you are the smallest out of anyone, and you can change into something smaller. You could fit down there no problem." Says Smolder.
"Are you crazy!? There is no telling what could be down there, snakes, bugs, spiders, What if there are dead animals that have fallen down there!?" exclaims Ocellus.

Ocellus thought she had made up her mind, she did not want to go down there. But she looks over at Gallus who was looking at her with a very sad expression. She let's out a long sigh and then agrees.
"Fine...I'll go, But you owe me BIG time Gallus!" she demanded.
"I'll do anything you want for a whole week!" He said.
"Good, now, I'll be right back." Said Ocellus, using her magic to turn herself into a butterfly and then slowly making her way down the well. The group wait paitently for her. But soon a half hour has passed and they hear nothing from her.
"Cell!?" Smolder shouts down the well "You ok down there!? You should be up here by now!" There was no response. "Cell this isn't funny! Get up here now!"
"Is Ocellus lost down the well!?" Shouts Yona in a panic.
"CELL!!! OCELLUS!!!!!" Shouts Smolder even louder.
"Ok, Now one us have to go down and get her" Says Sandbar, starting to lose his cool.
"I'll go! I'm the one who told her to go down." Says Smolder starting to climb over.
"Hey, then how do we get you out then!?" Exclaims Silverstream.
"Have Yona lower me down in the bucket, Once I got both her and the card, I will yank on the rope to be let up. Sound Ok?" asked Smolder.
"Yeah, that sounds good, we don't have any other options" Says Sandbar.
"You know what, you can forget the card, just get Ocellus up here safely." Says Gallus, he tried to sound fine but there was some sadness in his voice.
"Oh no, we are working hard to get, by the Dragon Lord we are gonna get it!" Says Smolder.

Smolder then climbs into the bucket and gives Yona a thumbs up, signifying to lower her down. Very slowly, Yona begins to lower her down. She keeps going till she thinks she hit the bottom. After about five minutes, She feels the rope begin to tug.
"Wow, Smolder was fast! Alright, pulling up!" Shouts Yona and begins to pull the rope to bring the bucket up. But suddenly the rope tugs back harder. "Huh!? Smolder Yona knows! Yona is pulling up, stop tugging!" But it doesn't stop, tugging so hard Yona almost looses balance. "Whoa!"
"Yona!" Shouts Sandbar and holds onto Yona. The rope still tugs hard, pulling them towards the well. In a panic, Gallus and Silverstream also latch onto Yona to try and keep her steady. But closer and closer, they are being pulled towards the well. With one final hard tug, The rope pulls so hard, it causes Yona's horns to bash through the stone wall, causing all four of them to fall down the well while they all scream, Then It all goes black.

Slowly, one by one, they all start to open their eyes. Sandbar being the first. He sits up and rubs his head, he then looks around. he appears to be in some sort of cave. On the ground, he sees all of his friends, Including Smolder and Ocellus
"Hey, Guys, wake up." He said groggily.
"mmmm... Oh boy, where are we?" Asked Smolder sitting up.
"Yona's head..." Said Yona rubbing the front of her head as she wakes up. "Is Yona and friends down the well?"
"I don't know." Said Sandbar. "I think we-"
"GRAM! You're ok!" Shouts Gallus finding his card on the ground. He immediately dusts it off and puts it back in his deck. He turns to look at his friends who were all glaring at him. "What?"
"We are stuck down a well, all because you couldn't hold onto a card!" Shouts Smolder.
"I told you to forget it, but "by the lord of dragons" or something you still wanted to get it." Gallus shouts back.
"Guys! don't fight, we need to find a way out of here. It looks like there are multiple paths leading into an underground tunnel" Says Sandbar.
"Fine, but you don't just owe Ocellus now Gallus, You owe all of us now!" She says standing up and dusting herself off. Gallus rolls his eyes at her.

They all stand up and begin to explore the twisting curves of the cave, they walk for quite awhile before entering a huge chamber, this time with no other paths to follow.
"Oh no! It's a dead end!" shouts Silver.
"Great! This is just great!" Smolder shouts throwing her hands up in the air "All because of you!" She then points at Gallus.
"Me!? what did I do!?" Gallus yells back.
"You didn't take care of your card, And you just had to get it back!" Smolder yells back.
"You have no idea how much this card means to me! Besides, you were the one who climbed into the bucket! No one forced you to do it. In fact, I said you could just leave it!" Gallus Rebuttable.
"Oh no, She had to! Because I was stuck down there after she made me go down there!" Ocellus said joining the argument.
"Yeah! And why Smolder tug on the rope so hard!? Smolder pulled all of us down with her after tugging too hard!" Yelled Yona.
"What are you talking about about!? Your clumsy maneuvering of the bucket caused me to fall down not 2 minutes after you lowered me!" Smolder yelled back. The whole group then begins to start arguing with each other.

All of them begin to turn on each other to the point it feels like they are screaming at each other just scream. As their arguments continue, there was a low rumble in the cave that gets louder and louder. Soon it gets so loud that it deafens the group's argument, slowly they all quiet down and look to the ceiling which by now is shaking do to the rumbling. Eventually, huge rocks from the ceiling break loose and begin to fall. All six panic and quickly dive out the way before they're crushed. as the dust clears, all six of them discover that they have been sealed off in their own chamber, separate from each other.
"H-HEY! Guys! are you alright!? Please tell me you're alright!" Gallus yells into the rock wall, hopping his voice could be heard by them.

"I'm ok!" yells Sandbar, but just like Gallus, his voice is muffled by the rocks.
"Yona fine, but Yona all alone!" yells Yona.
"I'm here! It's way to dark in here!" Yells Silverstream.
"I'm fine!" Yells Smolder.
"How are we gonna get out of here!?" Yells Ocellus in a panic.
"Stay calm, maybe we can dig our way out!" Yells Sandbar.
"Everywhere around us is solid rock! How do you possibly think we can dig out of this!?" Yells Smolder.
"Oh my gosh! Are we gonna die down here!?" Yells Silverstream.
"No, We're gonna get out, we have to try something!" Yells Gallus.
"Wait, Yona hear something! quiet down!" Yells Yona.

The rumbling returns, but this time, each chamber one of the six are stuck in begin to glow, For Sandbar, the glow was yellow. For Smolder, it was blue. For Ocellus, it was Purple, For Silverstream, it was pink, For Yona, it was Orange. And for Gallus, it was white. With each color, a manifestation of each of their professor's appear before them in a magical glow. The yellow glow turned into Fluttery, and the Orange into Applejack and so forth. Each student is left in Awe as they see their professor in front of them.

"Professor Fluttershy!? How did you find us!? how do we-" Says Sandbar before he is cut off"
"Quiet! Your Friendship has hit a block, and has disturbed the destiny that has been laid before you!" All six manifestations spoke all at once. "You six have a great future ahead of you, but that future now is unstable, to put you six back on your paths of destiny, Each one of you will be given a single task, a Duel!"
"What destiny? What future!? What duel!?!?" Questioned Gallus.
"All of that will be apparent in due time, for now, we will tell what kind of duel you will have!"

The six sat down, in Awe as they listened to the manifestations. They had the feeling that these were not their professor's but something far greater than any of them can imagine.
"These will not be the regular duels you will be used too, you will be in Deck Master duels!" Said the manifestations
"Deck Masters? what are those?" asked Ocellus.
"In these duels, you will select one card in your deck or extra deck, that card will be your Deck Master, They will stand by your side and will have a special ability for you to use anytime. If you wish at anytime to summon your deck master to the field, you may ignoring any summoning mechanics they have. But beware, If your deck master is destroyed, You will instantly lose, regardless of how many life points you still have."
"Whoa! What if we use them for a tribute summon?" Asked Smolder
"If at anytime you use your Deck Master in tribute summon, or any extra deck summon, that new monster will become your new Deck Master." Replied the manifestations. "You may search your deck to select a card you want to be your Deck Master, When you are done, please follow the path to the next chamber."

The manifestations step to the side, the back most wall in each of the six chamber slowly slides down into the earth to reveal a passage in each chamber. The student's eyes widen upon seeing a possible way out.
"Good Luck, You will all need it." The manifestations slowly seep away into nothing, Leaving the six alone, separated still by the cave in.
"I'm assuming you all just witnessed what I witnessed?" Asked Gallus.
"Yep... What should we do? should we really do this?" Asked Silverstream.
"At this point, I don't think we have a choice." Said Sandbar Standing up. "Good luck guys, I'm going through."
"Good luck!" Said Ocellus, also going through her own passage. Eventually all of them stand up and enter the passage, awaiting whatever the tasks had in store for them.

End of Chapter 8

Comments

[Star Sage]

Okay, a good way to setup the Deck Master bit, without going the child's brain in a computer...who makes cenobite dogs...I don't think they ever explain why Noah did that to the dog...like I can get making it cuter or something, but not the gimp mask. That was creepy, and probably a sign of something.

Anyway, back to this story. Interesting to see you're giving the teachers actual courses that fit them, rather than just keeping it in a general 'teaching' category. That, and it's nice to tie the game directly into the Destiny and Harmony magic that exists within the world. Curious if there's any locked away souls or something inside magical puzzle boxes. I mean, that would have been what Twilight and the Gang went through...Rainbow Dash is Joey.

That said, I do like that this is a unique plot to this one. You can see the references to episodes of Yugioh in all of the previous chapters, but this one is one more in line with the MLP side of things, and will lead into an arc that works within the confines of it. Curious to see if you juggle the duels, or do one at a time. The former can get confusing, but the latter can drag a plot.