Twilight slowly turned around. Sunset leaned against the sinks, her arms crossed. She looked Twilight over and snorted. “I should have recognized you yesterday. I’m more surprised than I should be. I expected Celestia to send someone after me and the crown. I just didn’t think it would be her precious prized pupil.”

“Of course I’m here. You stole my crown from me,” Twilight replied, stepping closer.

“Ah ah.” Sunset wagged a finger. “In this world it’s my crown, four tournaments running.” She tossed her hair. “And soon it’ll be five, the biggest and most important win yet.”

“Not if I beat you it won’t.” Twilight held up her duel disk and pressed the button to activate it. “Let’s end it, right here, Sunset!”

“Oh please.” Sunset laughed and raised her arm to show her own duel disk, colored red and orange. “I saw your duel with Rarity. I admit, you have some minor skill. But you couldn’t even begin to imagine what lurks in my deck.”

Her deck. Twilight glanced down at it and then back at Sunset’s face. “Tell me.”

“Oh, you’ll find out. Assuming you make it to the finals.” Sunset lowered her arm. “Really, it’s even more perfect than I could have imagined. I get to win my crown directly from you by proving which of us is truly superior once and for all.”

Once and for all? “What are you talking about. I barely know you.”

“You think it’s all about what you know and want, Twilight?” Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Believe me, just because you don’t know me doesn’t mean I don’t know about you and your Element of Harmony.”

“You don’t know a thing about my Element.” Twilight glared back. “Even if you have it, it won’t do you any good. The Elements of Harmony choose their users, and the Element of Magic chose me. Stealing it doesn’t mean you can wield it.”

Sunset stared for a moment and then her eyes widened. “You don’t know, do you?”

Twilight was taken aback. “Know what?”

“You really don’t!” Sunset laughed out loud. “Magic in this world isn’t like in Equestria. Here, all that matters is power and proving your power. Magic obeys whoever is strongest and the same goes for magical items like that crown. It doesn’t care if you have some special destiny or mystical connection to it. It just cares about which of us is stronger.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. That can’t be.

Sunset leaned in when she saw Twilight’s expression. “See? The rules of the game have changed now. All I have to do is win this tournament one more time and that’ll be all the proof I need of my power.”

“You’re lying.” Twilight shook her head. “And even if you aren’t, it still doesn’t matter. Once we go—” Twilight stopped as she came to a realization.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Keep telling yourself that. It’ll make your defeat easier to swallow.” She stood up and approached the exit, stopping next to Twilight. She held Twilight’s gaze and glared. “You have one warning, Princess. Get out of my world and go back to Equestria where you belong. Stay here, get in my way? I’ll make you wish you’d never heard of Duel Monsters.” Sunset pushed the door open and stepped into the hall, letting it swing shut behind her.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that was something.”

“She can’t really think we would listen, can she?” Spike asked. “I mean, there’s no way we’re gonna go back to Equestria.”

“Not a chance.” Twilight lifted her arm and deactivated her duel disk, the arms compacting back into its horseshoe shape. “She was just trying to scare us off, shake our confidence. But it’s not going to work.”

“Good.” Spike looked at the door. “Too bad we couldn’t get her to tell us about her deck, though.”

Twilight began to reply, but paused. She slowly smiled. “We don’t need her to, Spike!” She looked down at him to meet his eyes. “If she wants to win this tournament, she has to be out there dueling, right? We just have to find someone who’s seen her dueling and ask what she was doing! She had to register her deck for the tournament, so she can’t change it to try and catch anyone by surprise.”

“Makes sense.” Spike hopped down to the floor. “Speaking of, maybe we should get back out there? Can’t risk not making the finals after all.”

“Good point.” Twilight took a breath. “We’re doing well, but we have to keep going.” She pushed the door open and stepped into the hall. “Rarity and Applejack are supporting us so we can count on them to probably make it. Fluttershy is with us, too. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are the last two to recruit.”

“Don’t forget Flash,” Spike said as they headed down the hall. She gave Twilight a grin. “I think we can count on him supporting you.”

Twilight blushed slightly and cleared her throat. “Likely, yes. So, that’s six allies we can count on. For the ones that will make it to the finals we can count on at least three, likely four, possibly five.” She frowned. “I hate to say it but seeing some of the other duelists here I’m not sure Fluttershy will make it. Can’t say either way about Pinkie. Applejack, Rainbow, and Flash are sure things, given their reputations. Rarity is strong.” Twilight smiled again. “Five out of sixteen, and presuming none of us are matched against each other, we can be reasonably sure we’ll make it to the next round, making it five out of eight. I like those odds, Spike.”

“Better than one of sixteen, anyway.”

“I attack Bloom Diva with Steamroid!”

Twilight paused in the hallway. “What was that?”

“Steamroid gets 500 extra attack points when it attacks, and thanks to Forbidden Chalice, Diva is going bye-bye!”

“Aw come on!”

Twilight approached one of the classroom doors ahead, noticing it was slightly ajar. She pressed her face to the edge of the door.

Sitting at a desk with several duel monster cards laid out in front of her was Scootaloo. Opposite her on a desk turned to face her was a girl with pale purple and pink hair and pale white skin. A third girl with yellow skin and red hair sat on a third desk to the side, a pad of paper in front of her that she was writing on.

Twilight saw the pink bow in the girl’s hair. Apple Bloom? Then that other girl must be Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. “I end my turn.”

“Gotcha.” Sweetie Belle picked up a card from her deck. “Perfect draw. I activate the Spell card ‘Celestial Transformation’. This lets me Special Summon any Fairy monster from my hand, but it has half the stats and will be destroyed at the end of turn.” Sweetie Belle slid her card into place on her desk. “I summon ‘Mozarta the Melodious Maestra’. Then I activate Mozarta’s effect, letting me Special Summon another Fairy from my hand.”

Twilight knelt to whisper to Spike. “I guess they’re dueling.”

“Yeah.” Spike tilted his head. “Kinda weird seeing it without the fancy holograms. Not to mention all the shouting and dramatic hand waving.” He looked up at Twilight. “Even you’re getting into that habit.”

Twilight’s face reddened. “I’m just getting into the spirit, I guess.”

“I summon ‘Tamtam the Melodious Diva’. Since it was summoned by the effect of a Melodious monster, Tamtam’s effect lets me return ‘Polymerization’ from my graveyard to my hand.” Sweetie Belle picked up a stack of face-up cards and began to riffle through them.

Scootaloo pouted. “I just got rid of that stupid Bloom Diva fusion last turn!”

“And now you’ll deal with a new fusion,” Sweetie Belle said sweetly. “I activate Polymerization, and fuse Mozarta and Tamtam into ‘Bloom Prima the Melodious Choir’.” She swept the two monsters aside and picked up a small stack of cards from the right side of her field. She shuffled through them and set a Fusion monster from them on the field. “Prima gets another 300 points for each monster I fused to summon her, bringing her to 2500. Further, she gets to attack twice each turn.” Sweetie Belle put a hand on her card and jerked it across the field twice. “I attack Steamroid and Submarineroid.”

“Darn in.” Scootaloo picked up her cards. “Steamroid loses 500 points when attacked, so it’s down to 1300. At least the sub was in defense.” She added her cards to her discard pile and turned to Apple Bloom. “What’s the score?”

Apple Bloom wrote on her pad of paper. “1700 for Sweetie Belle, 1400 for you.”

“Sounds like it’s time for a comeback.” Scootaloo drew. “And that’s just what’ll do it. I summon ‘Expressroid’ and activate its effect. This lets me return Stealthroid and Truckroid in the graveyard to my hand. Then I activate a Spell of my own, ‘Vehicroid Connection Zone’!”

“No way!” Sweetie Belle’s jaw dropped.

“Topdeck for the win!” Scootaloo pumped her fist and flipped the cards in her hand onto the table one by one. “I’ll fuse Expressroid, Stealthroid, Truckroid, and Drilloid, to Fusion Summon ‘Super Vehicroid – Stealth Union!” Scootaloo grabbed her card from her Extra Deck and held it in the air with a grin before slamming it down on the desk.

“That’s more like it,” Spike whispered.

Twilight smiled softly as Scootaloo continued her turn, Sweetie Belle picking up her monster and holding it out. “I think we should leave them alone.” She stood up and turned to walk around. As she did the heel of her boot nudged the door and the hinges let out a small squeak.

“Hello?

Twilight stopped at the sound of Apple Bloom’s voice. She slowly pulled back and gently pushed the door open. The three girls were staring. “Um, hi.” She smiled awkwardly and held up a hand.

“Hey, I know you.” Twilight turned her attention to Scootaloo. “You were registering the same day as me, right?”

“Yeah.” Twilight pushed the door open more and came in, Spike by her feet. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“I remember. That’s Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.” The other two girls waved.

“Were you spyin’ on us?” Apple Bloom asked.

Twilight shook her head. “No. Well, sort of. I just overheard you guys playing and was watching.”

“Well you’re just in time, because this is the finishing move!” Scootaloo grinned and looked at Sweetie Belle. “Stealth Union’s attack power is halved when it attacks, but that still leaves it at 1800, just enough to end it!” She thrust her hand over the desk. “Stealth Union attacks directly!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sweetie Belle groaned and reached across the desk to take back her monster card on Scootaloo’s field. “Good game.”

“You too. That’s two out of three for me, right?”

“Ah called winner, remember.” Apple Bloom took her deck out of her duel disk and began to shuffle it. “An now Ah’ve seen all your tricks, Scoots.”

“You just tell yourself that.”

Twilight watched Sweetie Belle put her cards back in her duel disk. “How come you girls aren’t using your duel disks?”

“Because we don’t have enough room to use them here,” Sweetie Belle replied.

“You could duel outside.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “With the tournament going on? We’d never find privacy.”

Twilight looked at Scootaloo’s duel disk. “But, aren’t you registered?”

The girl shrugged. “Eh. Rainbow Dash made me sign up. I surrendered a few duels before coming in here. Hopefully she’ll just think I sucked today and not ask why I backed out.”

Twilight watched Scootaloo and Apple Bloom set their decks up on their desks and draw their opening hands. Sweetie Belle, the pad of paper on her desk now with the old sheet torn off, made a fist and put a coin on her thumb. “Scootaloo, call it in the air.” She flipped the coin.

“Heads!”

“Tails. Apple Bloom picks.”

“Ah’ll go first, thanks.” Apple Bloom drew her first card. “Ooooh, a nice hand here.”

“Just play!”

“They’re playing for fun. They don’t even care about the tournament.” Twilight watched Apple Bloom set a Spell card on the desk and then play a monster. A thought occurred to her. “Hey, Apple Bloom?”

“Yeah?”

“Does Applejack know you’re here?”

“Nah.”

“Me neither.” Sweetie Belle held up her hands. “Rarity takes this tournament thing way too seriously.”

“You think she takes it seriously?” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Rainbow Dash made me duel a picture of Applejack last week!” She scrunched her nose. “She didn’t have all the cards Applejack does so the deck was kinda lousy, but it was still weird.”

“Applejack has a victory speech prepared for her win. Not for the tournament, just for Rainbow Dash.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “As far as Ah’m concerned they can all duel each other to heck and back as much as they like. Ah don’t need some fancy crown tellin’ me Ah’m better than everybody else to be happy.”

“You said it.” Scootaloo reached across the table and the two bumped fists. “Now come on, I got a sweet move to bust out!”

“Sure. Ah use the effect of mah ‘Aroma Garden’ Field Spell to gain 500 Life Points. That triggers the effect of ‘Aromage Jasmine’, lettin’ me draw another card.”

As Twilight watched Apple Bloom play, she saw Sweetie Belle reach out to gently tug on her sleeve. “Hey, you wanna duel?”

“I call winner!” Scootaloo said immediately.

Twilight looked down at Sweetie Belle’s deck on the table. She then looked up at the clock on the wall. She frowned and shook her head. “I’d like to, really. But I have to go. I’m in the tournament too, and it’s important I win.” She smiled softly. “Not to prove anything. I just have to. It’s hard to explain.”

“Hey.” Apple Bloom looked up and held up a hand. “Ya gotta go do what ya gotta do, right?” The other two nodded. “Just, don’t tell our sisters we’re here, ‘kay?”

“Of course.” Twilight stood up and waved. “Have fun.” She turned and approached the door, pausing when she reached it to look back at them.

“Those tournaments used to bring students together. Kids that never would have spoken to each other met and mingled for the tournament, they made new friends, traded cards, shared strategies, cheered for each other.”

Twilight smiled and pulled the door open, letting Spike run out before she followed and closed it behind her.

Three hours left. I have to find another opponent. Twilight scanned the field. Numerous students were dueling, crowds watching them. She paused. I don’t even know where to begin. Does it matter?

“Twilight!” She turned her head. Fluttershy ran up to her and stopped when she was close. “How have you been doing?”

Twilight tapped her duel disk screen a few times. “Five and zero. You?”

Fluttershy bit her lip and shook her head. “One and two. I’m sorry. I told you I’m not very good.”

“Don’t say that.” Twilight put a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “It still means a lot to me that you’re here to support me.”

“Thank you.” Fluttershy smiled at her. “You’re doing good, though. I saw Rainbow Dash, she’s up to seven wins. She’s one of the best duelists in the school. As long as you can keep up with her you should make the finals just fine.”

“Right. Still a few behind though.” Twilight sighed. “I’m not sure who to duel next.”

“I know a few people looking for opponents. Follow me.” Fluttershy turned and led Twilight through the crowds.

Aqua eyes narrowed as they watched the two from around the corner of the school. Sunset looked down at her duel disk and tapped a button on it. An error code appeared and a quick wave of her hand dispelled it. The tournament standings popped up and she scrolled down them.

“Twilight Sparkle is on track to make the top sixteen.” She frowned and kept looking over the list. “A loss to me won’t derail that, not with these losers filling the ranks.”

“So what?” Sunset looked up at the two boys standing in front of her. “She’s just one opponent, right?” The orange-skinned one asked.

“Yeah.” The blue-skinned one nodded. “What’s so special about her?”

“Given the choice, she’s a risk better avoided.” Sunset called up the tournament rules and looked through them. “Snips, Snails. You two are my trump cards.”

Snips tilted his head. “Whaddaya mean?”

“Tag duels are allowed and count as a double win or loss.” Sunset looked over the crowd and smirked. “That little wimp is easy pickings, letting you two focus on Twilight. Two losses will drag her out of the rankings.”

“I dunno, Sunset.” Snips frowned and rubbed his shoulder. “I really didn’t come here to duel much, ya know?”

“Yeah.” Snails nodded. “We was just, you know, puttin’ on a show.”

Sunset rolled her eyes and walked up to them. “You two underestimate yourselves.” She faked a sweet smile and turned them around, putting an arm around either of their shoulders. She walked forward to make them look at Twilight and Fluttershy. “It’ll be a snap. Just go out there and beat them.”

“Really?” Snails furrowed his brow. “I mean, Fluttershy beat me before.”

“And Twilight beat Rarity,” Snips chimed in. “I don’t think we have it in us.”

“Oh, you do.” Sunset’s smile grew wide and she held her hands up over their shoulders. “You two are better duelists than you know.” Behind them, her hands lit up in a dark red aura.

“You just need a little pick me up!”

Sunset sneered and slammed her magic-charged hands into their backs. The two boys cried out and their eyes lit up bright red.

Twilight scanned the crowds, biting her lip. I have to be careful who I challenge. I have to keep up a win streak to make it into the finals, but I don’t know the school enough to know who I’d stand a good chance of beating. Maybe I could go back into the computer lab and look up some profiles of weaker students… She stopped and frowned at her own train of thought. I think I’m starting to understand how a card game can become so viciously competitive and elitist.

“Twilight!”

She turned at the sound of her name and smiled at the familiar face coming through the crowd. “Flash!” She waved at him as he stopped in front of her. “Fluttershy, this is Flash Sentry.”

“I know who he is,” Fluttershy whispered. “Everyone knows who he is.”

Flash held up a hand. “That’s kind of an exaggeration. I haven’t been champion for a while now.”

“You’re still favorite to win.”

“Was last year too, didn’t work out did it?”

“How are you doing so far?” Twilight asked.

Flash smiled. “Eight and zero. You?”

“Five and zero.”

“Nice.” Flash nodded. “Tough part for me is finding duelists willing to take me on.” As he spoke, Twilight saw the other duelists around them slowly edging away and whispering among themselves.

“Yeah. I bet no one is lining up to duel a former champion, huh?” Twilight replied.

“Nope. The ones that might be good enough to actually be me are playing it safe until the top sixteen.” Flash held up his hands. “Not much to do for it, though.”

“I’m having sort of the same problem. I don’t know anyone here well enough to challenge them.” Twilight shook her head. “I have to make the finals but I can’t be reckless, or my record suffers.”

“Hey, no worries.” Flash gave Twilight a thumbs up. “I know a couple easy pickings. Well, not easy, but they’ll give anyone a shot.”

Twilight’s face brightened. “Sure! Fluttershy, you in?”

“Um… well…”

“Twilight Sparkle!”

The three stopped and turned towards the source of the voice. Two boys stood a distance away, duel disks held up in front of them. Twilight peered closer at them. They seem familiar…

“Yeah, these two guys, they’re not those kind.” Flash crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Snips. Snails, go back to Sunset and tell her that if she wants to see me lose, she can come try it herself.” Twilight’s eyes widened at the names.

Snips raised a finger and pointed. “We challenge Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy! A tag duel!”

The crowd gasped at the remark. Twilight looked up at Flash. “Can they do that?”

“Yeah, there’s tournament rules for it. Most just don’t care for teamwork.”

“I can’t!” Fluttershy shook her head and shrank back. “I’d just hold you back, Twilight.”

“Two-on-one!” Snails called. “Face us, Twilight!”

Twilight tensed. They’re acting a lot more serious than the Snips and Snails I know. Their faces were stern, their voices confident. She took a breath. If they are just Snips and Snails, this should be easy. “I accept!”

“And so do I!”

Twilight turned her head. The crowd began to cheer as Flash stepped up beside Twilight and raised his arm, activating his duel disk. “Flash, are you sure?”

Flash gave her a sideways look and smirked. “Think we can’t handle these two chumps?”

Twilight gave a quick chuckle at the look. “Actually, we might be too much for them.”

“Sunset Shimmer wishes to see Twilight Sparkle fall!” Snails said.

“Team up with anyone, we’ll beat you just the same!” Snips continued.

“Sounds like we have a duel.” Flash pressed the button on his duel disk.

“Opponents detected! Streaming data.” Twilight’s holographic display came to life on her duel disk and displayed the four portraits of Flash, Snips, Snails, and herself. A glowing icon appeared in the corner of Flash’s profile. “Tag duel invitation detected.”

“Just press the accept button your screen,” Flash called over. Twilight nodded and did so.

“Invitation accepted. Opponent team designated.” Snips and Snails’ portraits gained a red background while Twilight’s and Flash’s turned blue. “Duel mode set. Initiating.” The display of the fields appeared with the four portraits. “Commence duel?”

Twilight looked at Flash. He looked back and nodded. She swung her arm through the air and drew her opening hand.

“Let’s duel!”