• Published 12th Sep 2022
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An Equestrian Element - Quillion9000



After the Anon-a-Miss incident, Sunset ends up moving to Domino City, Japan.

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Canterlot Check In

Outside Canterlot City: Apple Farm
With all her chores done for the day, Applejack was on the family computer looking into Sunset’s progress within Duelist Kingdom. Despite it starting 3 days ago now, with the footage of every competitor being shown, the duels hadn’t started coming in until the day after.

Even then, no duel from the second day had been posted in any form until today meaning the events of the third day would likely be up come tomorrow if this trend continued. Even then, Sunset had clearly done well for herself earning the ten-star chips she needed.

While Applejack didn’t recognize most of the people the hero user had dueled with, one name was quite well known in Mako Tsunami. He was the top duelist when it came to the water attribute. As a bonus, everything pertaining to this duel could be seen.

Apparently, Maximillion Pegasus had decided to randomly show duels in two ways. The first was a simplistic format with a board showcasing the plays of the duel while the second allowed you to see the duel in full. See the competitors and hear what they were saying.

“Wherever Sunset’s been since leaving, her skills have improved.” AJ noted. “She’s pulling off more complex plays, and those new friends of hers are just as good.”

Considering Sunset was standing with that group, Applejack became curious enough to see any more that she could of them. Beyond the skills they had at the game, the group seemed rather close. Kind of like how they had been before…

AJ sighed as a somber look graced her face. “Sunset told all of us Anon-a-Miss wasn’t her, yet we didn’t listen.” She shook her head. “If only we’d…”

Suddenly, Applejack managed to hear Apple Bloom’s voice. “Bye Granny Smith!”

AJ suddenly stood up and gazed out the window to see her little sister clambering into Flash Sentry’s car before it took off down the road. This prompted Applejack to rush out of the room and down the stairs where she saw granny coming in from outside.

“Granny Smith, what’s going on with Apple Bloom?” AJ asked frantically. “I thought you grounded her, so why did she just go with Flash?”

“That boy, Flash Sentry, showed up after school on Friday.” Granny shrugged. “I still don’t understand this duel monster game you kids are into, but he was quite persuasive when it came to how important it could be in at least attempting to make what they’ve done right.”

“Granny, what are you talking about?” AJ asked.

“Flash will be teaching Bloom and her friends how to duel better, so they can hopefully enter the next big tournament since that’s their best bet at seeing Sunset.” Granny Smith informed. “They want to apologize to her for Anon-a-Miss.”

“I get apologizing to Sunset, but I don’t get why you’d agree to this when Bloom is supposed to be grounded.” AJ responded.

“Her punishments are still in place.” Granny assured. “She must still finish every chore before being allowed to duel, he’s to ensure all of them do their homework, and they are to go from the school to here. Myself, Hondo, Cookie, Holiday, and Lofty ran a trial run yesterday.

The other four confirmed through that tracking what’s it that they were at the school. They even sporadically called to make sure, and we all checked their homework upon returning home. Flash has even subjected himself to the same checks on all his electronics like the girls.”

“Well, I guess it’s okay then.” AJ crossed her arms. “I just don’t know why she couldn’t have asked me.”

“Despite you letting her know you’ll always love her, things are still tense, and it’ll take time before she probably asks you for anything.” Granny voiced. “Could you honestly say that any conversation like that between the two of ya wouldn’t be awkward?”

AJ sighed. “I suppose so.”

This was just another reason why Applejack wished Anon-a-Miss never happened. It would have been bad enough losing Sunset like they all did, but to learn that her own sister was behind it. No matter how much she still loved Apple Bloom, the trust between them had been broken.

No matter how much she wanted that back, trust took time to rebuild. Maybe it was better she went to Flash with this than her. Even then, even if she accepted this, it still didn’t feel all that good. AJ didn’t think anyone, especially her and the girls, deserved to feel good about this.

“Hm.” Granny sighed. “I know things have been hard AJ. Quite frankly, I don’t know what lessons I failed to impart on your or Bloom with some of the things that have happened from this Anon-a-Miss business.”

AJ very well couldn’t forget that Granny was also disappointed in her, and she had every right to be. While Apple Bloom created Anon-a-Miss with her friends, how Applejack treated Sunset was all her doing. That very much wasn’t how an Apple treated a friend.

“In the end, if anything’s going to make it through this, it’s an Apple.” Granny nodded. “No matter how bad things seem, I know we’ll all eventually make it out the other side.”

“I sure hope so.” AJ responded.

With that, she walked back up the stairs.

Sugar Cube Corner
Rainbow and Fluttershy currently sat at a table across from each other. Despite it being Saturday, there weren’t many customers. That was par for the course when not many teenagers in the area felt up to being out. They were still dealing with what happened during Anon-a-Miss.

“Let’s Duel!”

(Rainbow 2000/Fluttershy 2000)

Per their agreement to build up their skills, decks, and reputations, the two girls weren’t merely here for drinks and snacks. That’s not to say they hadn’t bought any though considering they’d be dueling here. The main purpose was this current duel.

“I’ll go first.” Rainbow drew. “I’ll send Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle from my hand to the grave to add any Crystal Beast from my deck to the hand. I choose Crystal Beast Saphire Pegasus(LV 4/1800/1200) and immediately summon her.

A pegasus with sapphires in its wings was depicted on the card. “When this monster is summoned, I can place a Crystal Beast from anywhere, but the banished zone, in my spell/trap zone. I’ll choose Crystal Beast Beryl Boar from my deck. I think I’ll end my turn there.”

“The longer this duel goes on, the more advantage Rainbow can acquire meaning I’ll need to be fast.” Fluttershy drew. “I’ll summon Kuribandit(LV 3/1000/700).” A dark blue, pirate fluffball was depicted. “I’ll then set one card and move to end my turn.

Because I normal summoned my Kuri this turn, I can tribute him to excavate the top five cards of my deck, add any 1 spell/trap among them to my hand, and send the rest to my grave.” Fluttershy drew her five cards. “I’ll take this one.” She sent four cards to the grave. “Your move.”

Not bad, but a lack of monsters doesn’t mean you’re safe.” Rainbow drew. “I activate Cystal Fusion to combine Saphire Pegasus on the field with Amythest Cat from my hand. I call the cat of destruction. Fusion summon Crystal Beast Alluring Amythest Cat(LV 6/2000/1000).”

A dark purple furred cat with an amethyst gemstone in its chest and gold armor was depicted. “She can attack you directly for half her current ATK (Rainbow 2000/Fluttershy 1000). Whenever this cat deals battle damage, I’m can target one card you control and destroy it.”

“Sorry Rainbow, but I’m simply going to activate the only card on my field Damage Vaccine Ω MAX.” Fluttershy countered. “No matter how I’ve taken the damage, this card gives me life points equal to that damage (Rainbow 2000/Fluttershy 2000).”

“Dang it, now we’re practically back to where we started.” Rainbow commented. “I set one card and end my turn.”

“It’s my move.” Fluttershy drew. “I’ll summon Clear Kuriboh(LV 1/300/200).” A purple fluffball was depicted.”

“Unless that monster can attack directly, I think you forgot to put it in defense.” Rainbow commented.

“That would be true if I didn’t have Creature Swap in my hand which forces us to swap control on one monster we control permanently.” Fluttershy declared. “Considering we both only have one monster, there is no choice to make.”

“Whoa, Fluttershy is starting to up her deck since I don’t recall her ever using that before.” Rainbow thought impressed as they swapped monsters.

“Now, I’ll have my Alluring Amythest Cat destroy your Clear Kuriboh.” Fluttershy declared.

“I activate the effect of my face down Rainbow Path.” Rainbow countered. “By sending a Crystal Beast from my spell/trap zone to the grave, like Beryl Boar, I can target your monster, negate the attack, and add a Rainbow Dragon from my deck to the hand.”

“Oh dear. The only saving grace is that she doesn’t have a total of seven Crystal Beast across her field and grave; otherwise, this would be worse.” Fluttershy noted. “I set one card an end my turn.”

“Alright, my move!” Rainbow drew. “I’ll activate Monster Reborn to bring Crystal Beast Beryl Boar(LV 1/800/800) to the field from my grave.” A red furred boar with beryl gem stones all around its head was depicted.

“A tuner monster?” Fluttershy questioned stunned.

“Back on that day, I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve managed all three extra deck methods.” Rainbow declared. “First, Beryl Board has an effect where I can declare a number from 1 to 4 and make this card’s level that number until the end of the turn. I’ll declare 4.

Crystal Beast Beryl Boar(LV 4/800/800)

“That means you can Synchro summon a level 5 monster now.” Fluttershy stated.

“That’s what I intend to do through Boar giving the Kuriboh you supplied me with a tune up.” Rainbow declared. “Synchro summon Crystal Beast Tanzanite Griffon(LV 5/2000/2000).” A purple griffon with blue tanzanite shards embedded in the wings was depicted.

“That monster is just as strong as your fusion.” Fluttershy commented.

“In terms of stats, yet their effects are different.” Rainbow declared. “Griffon allows me to draw 1 card. I must then reveal that card, and an effect activates depending on what type it is.” she drew. “I got the spell Crystal Bond which grants my monster 500 ATK.”

Crystal Beast Tanzanite Griffon(LV 5/2500/2000 effect). “Now, I’ll activate the effect of Crystal Fusion from the grave. Since you control at least one monster that was special summoned from an extra deck, I can add it to my hand. I’ll now attack your Cat with Griffon.”

“In response to that, I activate my face down Flute of Summoning Kuriboh allowing me to summon to the field or add to my hand 1 Kuriboh or Winged Kuriboh. I’ll choose to summon Winged Kuriboh(LV 1/300/200) in defense. I’ll combo off that, since you are attacking, by activating the effect of Kuribohrn in my grave.”

“Kuribohrn?” Rainbow questioned. “How did that get in there?”

“Kuribandit’s early effect sent it along with three other cards.” Fluttershy reminded. “Now, Kuribohrn is banished from my grave allowing me to special summon any number of Kuriboh monsters in my grave to the field.

I special summon Kuriboh(LV 1/300/200), Clear Kuriboh(LV 1/300/200), and Ankuriboh(LV 1/300/200) in defense mode.” A brown fuzzball, the purple fuzzball, and a purple fuzzball with ankhs all over it were depicted.

“All that still doesn’t halt my attack (Rainbow 2000/Fluttershy 1500).” Rainbow declared. “Now, I’ll set one card to end my turn.”

“Alright, I’ll go now.” Fluttershy drew. “I’ll overlay Kuriboh, Clear Kuriboh, and Ankuriboh to construct the overlay network.”

“Whoa, you found Xyz monsters you were willing to put in your deck?” Rainbow asked.

“I found a few, but this monster is one that I’d count among my deck’s aces.” Fluttershy declared. “I call upon the bestial warrior that defends me staunchly. Xyz summon Lion Heart(R 1/O 3/100/100).” A gladiatorial, bipedal lion was depicted.

“Whoa, that monster is sick.” Rainbow commented before noticing its stat line. “To bad it’s even weaker than your Kuriboh.”

“Most Xyz monsters of this rank don’t even break 1000, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be useful.” Fluttershy retorted. “Just watch as my Lionheart now attacks your Griffon.”

“What are you doing?” Rainbow questioned. “All that will do is reduce your own life points.”

“It would unless I activate Lionheart(R 1/O 2/100/100).” Fluttershy declared. “By detaching one overlay unit, you take all the battle damage I’d have taken from this battle.”

“That is a really good ability to the point I’ll have to use that card I set for one of her other monsters.” Rainbow flipped her face down. “I activate my face down Damage Diet which halves all damage I’d take this turn (Rainbow 1050/Fluttershy 1500).”

“You staved off half the damage; however, my monster can activate his effect no matter who initiates the battle with him.” Fluttershy informed. “For now, I’ll set one card to end my turn.”

“Get read because this next turn is bound to be awesome.” Rainbow declared as she drew. “I’ll activate Crystal Fusion to combine Crystal Beasts Ruby Carbuncle and Carbon Wolf from my hand to fusion summon Crystal Beast Spiritual Ruby Carbuncle(LV 5/900/900).”

An ethereal, blue glowing carbuncle with a ruby attached to its tail appeared. “Now, I have over seven Crystal Beasts in my grave meaning I can call upon my deck’s primo monster Rainbow Dragon(LV 10/4000/0).” A long white dragon with seven gems along its body was depicted.

“I now activate one of Spiritual Ruby Carbuncle’s effects allowing me to target 1 monster you control and negate their effects until the end of this turn. I’ll use it on Lion Heart before now ending this with Rainbow Dragon.”

“I activate my face down Transcendent Wings.” Fluttershy declared. “I now send one Winged Kuriboh from my field to the grave along with two cards from my hand. In return, I can special summon Winged Kuriboh LV 10(LV 10/300/200) from my hand or deck.”

A Kuriboh with massive white wings and a golden dragon was depicted. “His effect can then be activated during your Battle Phase allowing me to tribute him to take every ATK position monster you control to the grave. Then, you take damage equal to their combined ATK.”

“It’s time for Carbuncle’s second effect.” Rainbow declared. “I can target any one monster I control and make them unaffected by card effects once this turn. I also activate the graveyard effect of Damage Diet.

By banishing it, I can cut any effect damage this turn in half (Rainbow 600/Fluttershy 1500). This means my dragon can still destroy your Lion Heart to end this duel (Rainbow 600/Fluttershy 0)!”

“Oh, I lost.” Fluttershy lamented.

“You did, but that was a much better duel then I’ve had from you before.” Rainbow declared.

“R-Really?” Fluttershy asked.

“For sure.” Rainbow nodded. “You’ve really upped your game. Whenever we’ve dueled prior, you could never get my life points below 1700 let alone below 1000 thousand like this time.”

Fluttershy sighed. “Well, it’s good to know I’m getting better at the game, but I’m not sure it’s enough with what we want to do.”

Rainbow noticed this. “So, how exactly have you been feeling since we learned the truth?”

Perhaps a stupid question to ask considering no one at Canterlot High felt all that good. Even knowing Sunset was still on Earth rather than somehow back in Equestria, which was a popular theory despite what that Kev guy said, had only slightly bolstered morale.

“I feel terrible.” Fluttershy stated. “We told Sunset she was forgiven and our friend. At the first sign she did something bad, we tossed her aside. Some representation of the elements we turned out to be.”

“Yeah, I hear you.” Rainbow nodded. “Looking back on it, that stupid blog was too obvious to ever be Sunset. No one seemed to see it, and everyone was involved in undoing everything Princess Twilight helped fixed.” She sighed. “I can’t believe the squirt was involved.”

“How are things between you and Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked.

“Same as they have been.” Rainbow sighed. “I want things to go back to how they were, but we both messed up. Somewhere along the way, I gave the impression she couldn’t talk to me. In return, Anon-a-Miss was created bringing us to where we are now.

I still love her like AJ and Rarity love their actual sisters, but how can I be her big sister figure when I clearly failed?” She shook her head. “Recently, I’ve been thinking none of this would have happened is she’d just latched on to you.”

“Why would you say that?” Fluttershy questioned shocked. “I’m just as at fault as any of us.”

“I know.” Rainbow sighed. “I just can’t help but think that had you been the one she latched onto; she’d have never felt unable to speak to her big sister figure. You’re easy to talk to unlike an athlete, a sibling who could be seen as a parental figure, and an assertive person.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out Rainbow was talking about herself, AJ, and Rarity.

“Rainbow, do you really mean that?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“No, they’re just things that have been running through my mind lately, but I don’t actually think much would have changed about where we are now had she not latched onto me.” Rainbow responded. “I just…I can’t help thinking about the alternatives.

In the end, I’d never want them to be real. Even with everything utterly sucking right now, it doesn’t change the fact that Squirt is an awesome kid. She just made mistakes like all of us have. I’m just frustrated we drove Sunset off.”

“That’s why we’re trying to become better duelists in hopes of meeting her again, right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Rainbow agreed firmly. “In the spirit of that, let’s run through another duel.”

Pinkie’s Home: Pinkie’s Room
Pinkie wasn’t doing the best…After Sunset left, her hair managed to remain poofy; however, the negative feelings associated with that had recently been heightened by seeing her with what appeared to be new friends. While that was deserved, especially after what she did, it still hurt.

Now her hair was straight against her wishes. No matter what she tried, it wouldn’t remain poofy leading to her reluctantly putting it in a pony tail to keep it out of her eyes as she spent this weekend working on the ‘Get Sunset Back’ plan.

You couldn’t even see her desk or bed since duel monster cards, mostly Performapal, were scattered all over. There was also a bulletin board with string connecting various ideas on what exactly she could say and do to make up for taking away Sunset’s smile.

“Okay, if we do that then…no that wouldn’t work.” Pinkie mumbled.

She was currently darting between her bed, desk, and bulletin board. At that moment, Maud entered the room. Even though most would look at her and not think it, she was clearly concerned.

“Pinkie.” Maud stated.

The Performapal user didn’t notice her as she began moving around cards. “Maybe this one…That one…no, none of this works!”

“Pinkie.” Maud spoke.

“That card will help bring Sunset back because it will…” She was beginning to mix up objectives between the plan and building her deck.

At this point, Maud grabbed her sister by the shoulders catching her attention. “Pinkie.”

“Oh, Maud.” Pinkie stated. “What do you need?”

“You’re being foolish again.” Maud stated.

Pinkie deflated at that as foolish was exactly what her sister called her back when she thought Sunset had reverted to her meany-pants ways. At the time, what she had felt about the situation outweighed the fact that her sister generally had a good head.

“But Maud, I really messed up.” Pinkie tried. “I took away Sunset’s smile and drove her away. Now, I got to at least try my best to make it up to her, and this is the only avenue left to my friends and I.”

“Pinkie, I get you feel strongly about this, but your usual ways are failing you with the state you’re in.” Maud stated. “If you’re really serious about this…”

“I am!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Then, I will help you.” Maud gently guided her sister over to the bed. “The first step will be to organize your cards before we then focus solely on putting it back together better than ever.”

Despite how Maud was disappointed in her sister, they were still family at the end of the day. She wasn’t about to let Pinkie run herself ragged over this. Maud would help her, one step at a time, to prevent anything bad from potentially happening.

Rarity’s Home
Rarity had been dealing with similar issues concerning Anon-a-Miss as all her friends. It wasn’t to certain extremes, but there were parts from every aspect to this that served as a reminder of what they’d done. That even included some things Flash had been feeling about this.

After all, Sunset had stolen that title from her. While she was conflicted at the time, a part of her, a most uncouth and unrefined part, took a sense of satisfaction over what was happening. Unlike Flash, even if she didn’t know it, she did think Sunset was guilty.

Still though, such a barbaric mentality was most unbecoming and in great conflict with the generosity she generally wanted to spread. Beyond that, it is something she had come to realize as quite the rotten part of herself that she would need to work on.

“I am truly sorry for everything Sunset, and when I see you, I will say this to you in person.” Rarity thought before she dove into working on her own deck.

Canterlot High:Library
Flash brought out three card binders, black, white, and blue, and set one before their respective owner along with whatever money was left.

“After our first meeting, I was able to determine what cards would likely boost your decks in the best ways. I took the funds you provided to acquire a good deal of what you’d need. Sweetie, your deck has Xyz monsters; however, throwing your all into that ignores pieces.

I’m talking about your level seven Mermail monsters which in turn can grant you access to your rank 7 monster. Your main problem is getting them on the field. A card like Underwater Treasure can help you get cards in hand to special summon them.

Scootaloo, your Vendread deck is an interesting ritual deck because they are zombie monsters. That opens your deck to the generic zombie support which grants a lot of ways to garner materials for ritual summoning. Apple Bloom, your deck was the most solid.

That said, you were ignoring a rather potent monster. Your deck’s Colossal Fighter is a prime candidate to be the ace, but it’ll work even better with its Assault Mode in that. That is why I bought it, the required trap, and a few goodies to help your deck over all.”

All three crusaders were looking at the cards in amazement.

“I didn’t really consider them too much since it seemed hard to achieve.” Sweetie voiced.

“Looking at these, you make a good point.” Scootaloo smiled. “Plus, these monsters are really cool.”

“Whoa, I didn’t even know this was a monster.” Apple Bloom voiced.

“With these new cards, we’ll be spending time refining your decks. Ensuring they are balanced to your specific deck’s needs with appropriate monsters, spells, and traps.” Flash informed. “Then, we’ll start with the basics before ramping back up into the more advanced plays.

I want to ensure each of you truly have the fundamentals down because they are the buildings blocks necessary to performing the more advanced summons. When we eventually have those down, it’ll be all about tweaking decks and dueling with each other. Understood?”

“Yeah, we understand!” The crusaders declared.

“Good.” Flash nodded as he pulled up a chair. “Then, let’s get to work.”

Author's Note:

As I've said before, there are some duels Pegasus wouldn't want seen in full, so he compiled those with a random assortment of other duels. Those are simply put up as videos of a board like how those GBA and DS Yugioh games portray duels.

As indicated by this chapter, there are duels that are seen in full as well. As for the rest of this chapter, I've seen little of Granny Smith being disappointed in AJ. It's out there, but I just personally feel it's rare.

Like AJ here isn't in trouble, but she still disappointed her family by how she handled the situation. At the end of the day, they're family, so they'll eventually come out of this alright. The same can be said for Rainbow even if things are complicated with Scootaloo.

Pinkie fortunately has a sister like Maud, so she won't go over the deep end. By the way, I didn't initially intend on giving her Performapals considering I thought of it as more of a Pendulum deck, but I was able to construct a full deck with no Odd-Eyes or Pendulums.

As for the Rarity part, I struggled on what to do considering a lot of the negative feelings associated with this situation were covered. Then, I just decided to make her a hodge podge of those feelings. Finally, Flash now begins to instruct the crusaders.

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