"How bad," I ask the guard.

"Sir, reports are saying that the town is under attack by animals," he replied. "The small group there's already lost."

Damn it. "Twi, teleport me there. Now."

"You sure," the lavender alicorn asked.

"Positive," I say.

"If you're sure," she said before lighting her horn, but Chrysalis stopped the spell from charging.

"I'm coming with you, Josh," she said. "And don't think of telling Twilight to not cast it on me. I can teleport myself."

"I doubt anything could stop you, Chrysi," I say with a small smile. "Twi, mind doing the honors, and letting the others know?"

"Not at all, Josh," she said, relighting her horn before Chrysalis and I were blinded for a second by a flash of light. When our vision returned, we were in the center of Ponyville, and, well, the place was practically a zoo right now, with a huge variety of beast, winged-beast, and beast-warrior types running around, even a few civilians willingly following them to a location I don't know about. I think they were converted, or whatever the actual term is, but that wasn't the most interesting.

What was, though, was a mare in a yellow, leather, as opposed to the other, cloth cloaks, with a yellow and pink disk on her right arm, who, as I first looked at her, touched right hand, index finger, middle finger, and thumb in a triangle formation, index on the forehed of a mare, the other two fingers on her cheeks. The mare had- and it's Lyra, and I see Bonbon, or is it Sweetie Drops in this timeline, behind her. "May our lord's light bring you peace and safety from the corrupt light of Celestia's sun," the cloaked mare said, and I recognized it as Fluttershy's voice. Another thing happened too. As the last syllable left her mouth, I saw a blurred, yellow image behind her, but I couldn't make out details.

It's him. This is how they convert individuals to their side.

I couldn't help but agree with the Spirit. "Fluttershy," I yell, which got her attention. Not very surprisingly, her demeanor had changed a little.

"Oh, so the little pup who thinks he can defeat the Order has come to stop me," she said, stepping away from Lyra, and turned to her side, where two Gene-Warped Warwolves stood guard. "Take her and the others to the Camp in the forest. I shall be busy here." The two bowed, and, with a growl, ordered those that had bene in line followed them away from where we were. "Oh, and what's this," Fluttershy asked upon seeing Chrysalis. "You brought my winged pets a meal. How thoughtful." At that, a single Stealth Bird, the fucker, became visible, and swooped down at Chrysalis, but, to her credit, Chrysalis put a shield around her to protect herself, her and the others not having their own disk yet, the ones used in training being borrowed from Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity, and I quickly activated my disk, and put down a monster card.

A humanoid monster with a flaming skull, along with two flaming fists, with clawed feet, one point in the back of the foot, three in front, and wearing what one could consider samurai armor, with a purple cape on his back, appeared in the bird's path, and shot a blast of flame at it, which hit, knocking it out of the sky. "You should know better than to play with fire," I say in the tone reserved for those being an asshole. Something I enjoyed being. "Oh, and meet Fire Trooper." Said monster growled in reply. "What happened to you," I ask. "According to Twilight, you were kind, and, well. . . not what you are now, for the most part."

"I simply saw the light of our Lord," Fluttershy said. "His lightning-" hello interesting, "-helped give me courage and strength. I am no longer the weak and pathetic mare Twilight, who shall see the light, knew before the Order came-" and from here, I just tuned it out, as this was sounding more like a speech the Brotherhood, Order, what the fuck ever, of Light from GX, and I know what I'm talking about there, as that was the season that brought in my favorite warrior type, Neos. Oh, yeah, Society of Light, that's what they were called. Still, my point remains.

I was eventually tapped on the shoulder by Chrysalis. "You zoned out a little, Josh," she said.

"I was just ignoring the blatant religious speech," I said, turning to Fluttershy. "So, we going to duel, or what?"

"I just challenged you," she deadpanned, bringing her disk up.

"Again, I was ignoring you," I said, doing the same. "Mares first."

"Thanks," she said. "I activate my field spell, Gaia Power," she said, as a giant tree grew behind her. When it stopped growing, where it was well above the town hall, she said, "It gives every Earth attribute monster a boost of five hundred hundred attack, but they lose four hundred defense. And with that, I summon Silver Fang in attack mode." She put a card down, and a wolf with an elegant, silver white coat leaped into the battle area from a nearby alley. "And it also gains five hundred attack, giving it seventeen hundred attack. I also end my turn."

"Then I draw," I say, drawing. "And I can do math." I looked at my hand. "I lay one monster face down," I say, placing one card face down. "And then I end my turn with two facedowns," I say, placing two cards down. "Your go."

"Then I'll draw," she said, "and I place another Silver Fang on my field, along with two face downs." A second wolf appeared on her field from a rooftop. "Now, Fang one, attack his face down."

"I activate my trap, Draining Shield, which negates your attack, and gives me the attack points of your monster as life points."

Josh

9700

"Then I attack with my other wolf," Fluttershy said as the second wold charged, only to to knocked back by by a robotic shoulder. The one that knocked the wolf back was a humanoid in a footballer's, and I mean American football, for those in Britain.

"Yeah, um Battle Footballer has twenty one hundred defense, and your wolves have seventeen hundred attack, which means you take four hundred points of damage."

Fluttershy

7600

"I end my turn then," Fluttershy growled.

"I draw, then," I say. "First off, I activate my face down, Reigeki Break, which allows me to destroy one card on the field, so long as I discard something from my hand." With that, I sent a card to my graveyard. "And I choose one of your wolves." With that, a burst of lightning shot from the card, and struck one of the two wolves, making it, disappear in an explosion of electricity. "I then summon Barrier Statue of the Inferno, then equip it with mist body, which prevents it from being destroyed in battle, and then I'll activate Molten Destruction, a field spell that decreases all fire monsters defense by four hundred, and raises their attack by five hundred. And since it's a field spell, your Gaia Power is destroyed. Then I'll attack your wolf with Statue. Barrier Statue, attack with flame wall." The eyes on the statue lit up, and a wall of flame encircled the wolf, which howled in pain, and, upon receding, left but a pile of ash.

Fluttershy

7300

"With that, I end my turn."

Fluttershy growled. "I draw, then activate Monster Reborn to bring back one of my Fangs." She put the card down, but nothing happened.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that my Barrier Statue stops special summons for anything but fire types, so thanks for showing me that card."

She growled, putting the card back in her hand. "Then I lay three cards and a monster face down to end my turn."

"Then I draw," I say. "I then play the card I just drew, Cup of Ace. I toss a coin, and if it lands on heads, I draw two cards. Tails, you draw two cards. Now, anyone got a coin?"

"Here you go," Chrysalis said, flipping a coin over to me, which I caught.

"Thanks," I say, before getting it into a position to flip it. "Remember, heads:I draw. Tails:you." With that, I flipped it, and it seemed to flip through the air in slow motion as it went up, then came down to land in my hand before putting it on the top of my other hand. Please be heads. I lifted my hand, and looked down. "Heads," I say, putting the card in my graveyard, then drawing two cards. "I then switch my Barrier Statue to defense mode. I then play Hinotama, which does five hundred points of damage to you."

Fluttershy

6800

"I then tribute Battle Footballer to summon Chthonian Emperor Dragon, which is my final move this turn."

"I draw, then," Fluttershy said. "I lay one monster face down, and end my turn."

"I draw then, and summon Chthonian Emperor dragon a second time."

"But he's a level six."

"Who said I was bringing him from my hand," I say. "He's a Gemini monster, which allows me to summon him while he's already on the field, which gives him an ability. In this case, he can attack twice per turn. I then end my turn." I saw a small snarl come to her face. She wants me to attack. Noted.

"I draw," she said, bringing her hand to two. "I put another monster on my field, face down, and end my turn."

"I draw," I say. "And I then end my turn." All I need is one card.

"I draw then." She looked at her cards. "I lay one facedown, and end."

"I draw then lay one card face down, and then activate double summon, and then tribute my facedown and Barrier statue to summon Tyrant Dragon." I put the card down, and a dragon that stood on four legs with reddish-brown scales, blue wing membranes, and dagger like teeth showed up on my side of the field. "Now, Emperor dragon, attack her center face down."

"I activate my trap, Sakuretsu Armor, which destroys your monster and negates the attack."

"Damn it," I say as Emperor Dragon is blasted to bits. "Then I attack with Tyrant."

"And I activate a second Sakuretsu armor."

"Which is negated by Tyrant's effect. Any traps that target it are negated and destroyed. Now Tyrant, destroy the central card with dragon crush." The dragon roared, and jumped onto the central monster card. "Now, destroy the one on your right with flame breath." Tyrant looked in that direction, opened its maw, and roasted the monster there. "Did I forget to mention that if you have a monster card after his first attack, he can attack twice."

Fluttershy snarled as Tyrant flew back to my side. "May our lord curse you."

"And Ra can go to hell."

She seemed to grin at some kind of inside joke. "Oh, you will meet our Lord soon enough," she said. "But for now, I draw." She got an even larger grin. "I flip my Hane-Hane face up, which activates its effect of me being able to send one monster to the owner's hand, and I choose to send back you Tyrant. I then tribute my Hane Hane to summon Behemoth the King of All Anmials. Though, me using only one tribute lowers his attack to two thousand, not that it matters, seeing as how you don't have a monster. Oh, and his other effect allows me to bring a monster from my graveyard to my hand for the amount of tributes used. In this case, one. And I choose King Tiger Wanghu."

Said card came out oh her graveyard, and she picked it up. "Now, Behemoth, attack directly." The giant animal, which came out from behind town hall, growled, and unleashed a large growl, which smelled really bad, by the way, and even a few buildings were torn apart by it.

Josh

7700

"And with that, I end my turn."

"I draw then," I say. This is not good. No monster that's level four in my deck can take out Behemoth, even with his lowered attack points, and come next turn, Fluttershy will summon Wanghu, which automatically destroys monsters that have been special or normal summoned if they have one thousand four hundred or less attack. I then look at my card. Well, nothing can destroy Behemoth, but I just nee dot hold him off. "I summon Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective." The sphere of magma with an eye in the middle, floated off the ground, and hovered. "And since her attack is the same as Behemoth's, you can't destroy it right now. So, for now, I end my turn."

"I draw, then summon King Tiger Wanghu in attack mode," she said. The armored, white tiger leaped off of a still intact rooftop. Looks like all of her monsters are real. Oh. Oops. "I then end my turn."

"I draw," I say, looking at my card. "I then summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4, with which I attack your tiger with black flame burst." Horus cawed, not rooster, but eagle like, and blew black flames over the tiger, which was burnt down to ash, before the flames encircled Horus.

Fluttershy

6100

"With that, I end my turn, and activate Horus' special ability. At the end of a turn he destroyed a monster, I can send him to the graveyard for Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6."

The flames intensified, and a minute later, a mix between a roar and an eagle call was heard, and the flames dissipated, revealing a larger version of Horus, though with a longer tail, his wings spread, and razor sharp talons. It was here I remembered Gaia was affected by my field spell. The name threw me off, alright.

"I draw," Fluttershy said, growling. "I lay one card face down, and end my turn."

"I draw, then," I say, smirking upon seeing the card.

"I activate a second Cup of Ace," I say, flipping the coin Chrysalis had given me earlier into the air, and then catching it as it fell. "Heads, so I draw two." That's three, for those who lost track of the cards, in my hand. "I lay one monster face down, and attack with Horus to destroy Behemoth. You're lucky, too, as Horus is unaffected by all spell cards, so only six hundred points. Horus,(1:25) burn him to the ground."

Horus roared, and unleashed a torrent of flames on Behemoth, who roared in agony as he was burnt to a crisp, some of the heat burning away Fluttershy's cloak.

Fluttershy

5500

"Gaia, attack with magma flow." The orb seemed to swell at the order, before it unleashed a stream of magma at Fluttershy's hooves, burning away more of her cloak, revealing a pair of jeans.

Fluttershy

3000

"And with that, I activate Horus' ability, which allows me to level him up to Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8." With that, Horus was yet again engulfed in his own flames, before coming out standing as a tall, armored being with clawed fingers, and arms that went to his waist, reverse jointed knees ending in triangle shaped, clawed fingers, red eyes, metallic feathers. "That, of course, marks the end of my turn."

"I draw, then," Fluttershy said. "I end my turn."

"Then I draw," I say, looking at my card. "I then tribute Gaia to summon the flame king, Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch," I say as Gaia fell to the ground, burning where it had landed, only for a pillar of flame to launch up, and for a being in steel armor to appear, his entire face, excluding his mouth, being covered by a helmet adorned with spikes at the top, and a blue cape fastened by his collar piece. "It is about time you summoned me, Josh," he said, crossing his arms.

"Not like I had much of a choice," I said. "Now, how about your effect?"

"Of course," he said, before pointing a finger at Flutterhsy's hand, more specifically, the central card, launching a small jet of flame at it, destroying it.

"You see, Thestalos' special effect is that when he's tribute summoned, you discard one card, and if it's a monster, you take damage equal to the monster's lever times one hundred. So, Thestalos, what was it?"

"Level four monster," he said. "Which means she takes four hundred points." He uncrossed his arms, and lit one with flames before thrusting it at Fluttershy, which resulted in the complete burning of her cloak, revealing a dark green shirt.

Fluttershy

2600

"Thestalos, attack her with flame malestrom."

He nodded, before pointing a palm at her, and unleashed a torrent of flames at her, which burnt the ends of her hair.

Do I even need to do the addition here?

Fluttershy fell to the ground as the last of the flames died away and I took the cards off my disk, rushing over to where she fell, and I made my way there, along with Chrysalis. I caught just before she hit the ground. She had ashes on her face, to be expected, and felt her neck for a heart beat, which there was. "We need to get to Canterlot," I say.

"What about here," Chrysalis asked, concern in voice.

"They deal with stuff like this every week," I say. "They can get it repaired. Now, how about you teleport us to Canterlot so we can make sure she's alright?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said before she lit her horn, and the three of us vanished.

Osiris smiled as the view of the most recent duel finished, and chuckled. "That fool," he said. "It seems as if my failsafes are working." A smile appeared on his face. "And those practice duels are helping." He then looked at the card, and saw the picture take on it's real form. "Now, Lord Hamon, we can take Canterlot." He took a deep breath, and sent a magical message to the remaining Order duelists, Pinkie Pie, Shining Armor, and the one he had converted first.

"You called for us, Lord Osiris," Shining Armor asked as he and the others appeared.

"Indeed," Osiris said, standing up. "The foolish princesses and queen's attempt to stop us has brought our victory sooner than I had thought. You three shall attack Canterlot."

"Of course, master," Pinkie said. "What of agent De Lis and and agent Elegance?"

"Tell them to keep all of them in the castle," Osiris said, turning around, and facing the center pony. "And what do you feel of bringing your sister to the light?"

The mare pulled off her hood, revealing a white, almost alabaster coat, and an etheric mane colored light green, pink, blue, and purple. "That she has been in the corrupted light for too long, and will soon be freed," Celestia said.