A cluttered, messy apartment lies in the robust yet sleepy city of Fillydelphia, home to a young woman named Twilight Sparkle.
Obsessed with the card game Duel Monsters, she sees it as the only reason to get out of bed in the morning until, on her way to a local tournament, she crosses paths with an old friend she hasn’t spoken to in years: Rainbow Dash.
And as Twilight attempts to revive a relationship she had long thought was beyond repair, she finds that she’s much more damaged than she ever realized, and not all of her problems can be solved with card games.
Chapters (12)
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Yeah, as much as I love dramatic “save the world” type stories and the melodrama of the Yugioh shows, I thought it’d be a nice change of pace to see something more down to earth, after all a character’s personal stakes can be just as dramatic as the fate of the world. And the thing where they pull new cards out of thin air is just bad. Even if topdecking does sometimes win the day, I want the audience to be able to say “oh, I see what they did there” instead of “where the heck did that come from?!”
To try and answer your question, I'd say the story is all about the characters’ (albeit mostly Twilight’s) fears and feelings, and the game comes in as a sort of therapy for them; they learn about themselves through how they play and from their opponents (for example, Twilight seeing her worst aspects reflected in her opponent, or recognizing her own stubbornness by seeing how desperately she clings to winning card games). Larger society doesn’t factor in too much though, since the story is super focused on just the mane six.
Thank you for your comments btw and for taking an interest in my work, I hope you enjoy it very much!
Have not read the story yet, but I've a question: how come you decided to make twilight trans? Just curious, due to the fact i can't say I've seen any pony fics with transgender characters, so its a bit of a surpise to see one that's also a yugioh crossover ontop of that. Not a complaint, just genuine curiosity.
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Fair question! The short answer is pretty simple, and it's that I am trans myself. Twilight's story, both in the show and in this fic, mirror some of my own experiences so it just felt natural to write her as trans.
Incidentally, it's not just Twilight but all six of the girls that are trans in this fic, and the reason for that is because I didn't want Twilight to be the only trans character and when trying to work out who else should be, I couldn't come up with a single good reason to not make them all trans. Not enough trans girls in fiction so I'll write 'em myself!
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Fair enough, and i agree completely... especially not enough transgender characters written *by* transgender people. And for the record I'm trans as well, which was why i had to ask. Tbh i wanted to be sure that it wasn't a case of either someone not understanding the hardships we go through, or someone who's made up a caricature of what it is to be trans.
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Yup yup. And in my experience, alot of the good stuff written by and about trans folks is dramatic slice of life stuff which, while great, isn't my cup of tea. I want stories of trans ladies who go on adventures and\or fight each other with trading cards!
Asking about your concerns before reading is a good idea tbh. I know I've felt that burn before where it's like "oh cool this character is like me! but the author clearly has no idea what that means or is! this is bad actually!".
I hope you do read the story and enjoy it. It was definitely a cathartic experience to write, and I'd like to pass that catharsis on as much as I can. :>
I agree, that main characters should feel defeat just like anyone else will. It always bugs me incartoons or anime when there's a main character who never loses at anything. They don't learn any lessons that way, and it cheapens the story imo.
I can definitely relate to a lot of Twilight's issues in this story, being trans, on the autistic spectrum, and having 'general anxiety disorder'. Also regarding her family hits close to home too. In fact, i can't even tell my family that I'm trans thanks to the fact I've been told in rather harsh words that the response would be rather violent.
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I’m sorry about your family, that really sucks. I talk sass about my family (sometimes for good reasons), but I know a lot of other trans folks have it much worse than me.
Tbh I’m pretty sure anxiety and being trans are some kinda bogo special.
Old timey salesman voice: “that’s right folks, step right up and purchase some gender dysphoria and we’ll throw in an anxiety disorder FREE of charge!”
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Fluttershy is a badass, everyone knows. :>
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Thank ye kindly! It's the first story I've ever finished and honestly I'm really proud of it!
That said, the criticism of the resolution (or lack thereof) for Rainbow's arc with her gf is totally fair. Even I admit it feels a bit like a cop-out... mainly because it is.
Writing about an abusive romantic relationship was pretty out of my comfort zone, and I totally admit I just got cold feet. I couldn't think of a way to resolve the plotline that was both believable and respectful, so I got a little panicky and I dropped the ball on it.
Something to keep in mind for my next story, as well as for a potential sequel.
As for the lack of proper Whiplash appearances, that's also a fair criticism but that one was a conscious choice on my part. The story isn't really about Rainbow's relationship with Whiplash so much as it's about the effect that relationship has on her choices and her other relationships.
It was important for the audience to see Whiplash in person at least once so they knew what kind of person she really was instead of just hearing it from Twilight's biased perspective, and I felt the one scene she was in captured everything we needed to know about her so it wasn't necessary to see her again.
Again, totally fair to disagree with me, but that was my thought process.
And I'll just quickly say about Fluttershy's scene that it's a fave of mine cuz it actually surprised me. I thought it was gonna be much more antagonistic but it ended up being very soft and sweet, and that's neat.
Anyhoo, sorry for rambling a tad but talking about the creative process is almost more fun than the process itself sometimes, plus it's good to articulate stuff so it's clear in my head.
Thank you very much for reading my fic and for all your nice comments, and I'm very glad you enjoyed it!
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Why thank you so much! There may be alot of dislikes but all the actual feedback I've gotten has been very nice, which I'm really thankful for tbh!