//------------------------------// // Bright Future // Story: Duelists of the Friendship Cup // by DrakeyC //------------------------------// Duelists of the Friendship Cup Bright Future Sunset and Twilight stared at the fallen form of the Crystal Prep principal. Sombra lay on the grass across from them, moaning weakly. “Sombra?” The two turned their heads and watched as vice-principal Hope ran onto the field and knelt next to him. The Shadowbolts approached them and watched as the two spoke. Sunset’s friends clustered around her, chattering loudly. “What happened?” Rainbow’s voice rose above the others and they fell silent as they waited for Sunset to answer. “Sombra challenged me to a duel for my magic,” Sunset whispered. “But Twilight and I beat him together.” “Together?” Pinkie gasped. “Wowee, that must have been a heck of a show!” Across the field, Sombra, having stood up with Hope’s assistance, said something to Hope and then began walking toward Twilight and Sunset, the Shadowbolts behind them. The two tensed as he approached, but Sunset’s expression softened as she examined his face. He looks confused. “Twilight. Sunset.” Sombra bowed his head. “I see that you were able to conclude your duel.” The two shared a look before Twilight answered. “Yes. Sunset won.” Hope spoke up. “When those strange clouds obscured the duel and we couldn’t get a signal from it, Principal Sombra went to check on you. He said he was worried about you two.” I’ll bet he did. Sunset spread her arms. “Well, we’re fine.” “Evidently.” Sombra winced and reached to his head. “I regret that I was not able to make out much of the duel. I am sure it was quite a contest.” Sunset gasped softly, her eyes widening. He’s lost his magic. Then… “You didn’t see our duel?” “Not that I can recall.” Sombra frowned, his eyes looking away. “I am uncertain as to why. This tournament is quite important to me. But, if Twilight admits to her loss, I will accept her word.” He tilted his head and gave Twilight a knowing look. “She has been rather persistent in her efforts to overcome you, Sunset.” “Oh, come on!” Indigo Zap protested. “No way! We didn’t get to see the final battle? What a rip!” Sugarcoat frowned and looked at Twilight. “Twilight, is this true? What you said earlier—” Twilight cut her off with an awkward laugh and walked past Sombra to the Shadowbolts. “Yeah, long story, maybe let’s not get into it right now.” She glanced back at Sunset and the other girl gave Twilight a nod. Footsteps caused both groups to look over at Celestia and Luna stepping across the field. “It is unfortunate that once again some sort of weather disruption made us unable to witness the duel.” Celestia stopped. “Or, perhaps some sort of holographic malfunction.” “Indeed.” Sombra nodded. “Yet, there is no reason for my student to lie about such a thing. While we may not have witnessed it, clearly, a duel was held and won. And a victory has been found.” He smiled at Sunset and extended an arm. “Congratulations, Sunset.” Sunset stared at the offered hand, then up at Sombra’s face. She slowly reached out and wrapped her hand around his and let him shake it. “Thank you… Principal Sombra.” Celestia smiled at her as well. “You didn’t just win a duel, Sunset. You’ve won the Friendship Cup on the behalf of Canterlot High.” The stands of CHS erupted in cheers. Sunset looked up at them as Sombra let go of her hand and awkwardly waved, causing the cheers to grow louder. Rainbow Dash and Applejack whooped, Rainbow throwing her arm over Fluttershy’s shoulder. Chuckling softly, Celestia turned to Sombra and shook his hand. “Thank you for coming, Principal Sombra.” Sombra turned her hand and gently pressed his lips to it. “And thank you for hosting us, Principal Celestia. I look forward to next year’s tournament.” “As do I.” Sombra released Celestia’s hand and looked at the students behind him. “Be good sports. We are duelists, after all.” The Wondercolts and Shadowbolts looked at each other cautiously. They stepped toward each other, and the Shadowbolts looked at Twilight. “What really happened in there?” Indigo demanded. She glared at Sunset. “We know you guys have magic or something. Twilight told us everything!” Sunset looked at Twilight, her eyebrows lifting. “Twilight?” Twilight glanced at the principals, who were now talking among themselves. “Principal Sombra has magic. He infused me with some of it to try and get me to beat Sunset.” She paused and inhaled. “But… it was dark power. I couldn’t…” “It’s okay, Twilight—” Sunset put a hand on her shoulder and looked between the Shadowbolts. “Yes, we have magic. It manifests when we duel, granting us new cards. But none of us can control it, or at least, we can’t yet.” “How many of you cheated?” Sour Sweet snapped. “Just Rarity, Rainbow, and me,” Sunset said. “And we didn’t cheat!” Rainbow insisted, marching in front of Sour Sweet. “It’s not like we tried to magic our way to victory!” “Would it have stopped you?” Indigo replied, standing next to Sour Sweet. “You don’t seem too sorry about it now!” “We didn’t even have magic before this tournament, and we don’t know how we got it!” Rarity protested. “How could we have known what was going to happen?” “Enough!” Sunset pushed her way between the two and forced them apart. She looked between the two groups angrily. “Don’t you see? This is the kind of attitude that made this tournament so hated at Canterlot; anger and bitterness over losing!” She took a breath to compose herself and gave the Shadowbolts a calm look. “A few months ago, my friends were connected by magic, and I was touched by that same magic. I got a good look at myself and what I had let my magic become. I had become someone cruel and selfish, someone that used their power to hurt others. And I was given a chance to change.” Sunset looked at her duel disk, smiling softly. “This deck used to belong to a friend. She trusted me to take care of it. I don’t think she intended to, but however she did it, she left some of her magic behind with us. Maybe it was sleeping within my deck, or within me, or all of us. But we have it now, and we have to make the decision of what to do with it.” She raised her head and looked at her friends. “I don’t know the answer to that question yet, but I do know that using it like we did today, like Sombra did, is the exact wrong thing to do. Using magic to win duels for you, it doesn’t matter why you do it, or if you can control it, or if you hurt anyone. It’s not right.” “You still did it!” Indigo said. “So, what? It happened, you didn’t mean it, but you’re really sorry?” “Yes.” Sunset shook her head. “If that’s not good enough, I understand. But it’s all I can offer.” She put a hand on her deck and took a deep breath. “My deck symbolizes the bonds I share with my friends. Our magic is the magic of friendship. And that’s a power that should never be used like it was today. I can’t fix the mistakes I’ve already made. All I can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.” She lowered her duel disk. “We all dueled our best. Some of us won, some of us lost. And no, it wasn’t always fair. But if we keep nursing that grudge until next year, we’ll all end up the same kind of person I used to be, someone who just wants to win and doesn’t care how.” She turned her head between the two groups. “I know my friends won’t let that happen, and I don’t think Crystal Prep would either.” She spread her arms to gesture to the two. “So, do we want to go home angry, or do we want to agree to do better next year, whatever that means for each of us?” A moment of silence passed. Then, Rainbow Dash took out her deck, flipped through it, and thumbed out a card. She then reached into the other side of her duel disk and pulled out another. “Sucks that cards this cool aren’t real…” she muttered. She gripped the paper between her fingers and pulled, tearing the card in two. The halves of her new U.A. cards fluttered to the ground, and she stepped over them and extended an arm to Indigo Zap. “You’re a hell of a duelist.” Indigo eyed the offered hand carefully, then smirked and gripped it tightly, pumping hard. “You too. Kept me on my toes, at least. When I come back next year, you’d better beat me fair and square.” “Why wait, let’s go right now!” Rainbow shot back. “Oh, please.” Sugarcoat rolled her eyes and approached Applejack. “You didn’t use magic, correct?” “Nope, y’all got me good.” Applejack smiled and the two shook hands. “You were a worthy opponent,” Sugarcoat said, returning the smile. As the two pulled their hands back a rush of pink blew past them. “You gotta come back some time!” Pinkie wailed, wrapping her arms around Lemon Zest and squeezing tight. “I wanna see more of your cool transforming super fighting robots!” Lemon laughed and gave a hard noogie through Pinkie’s hair. “And I wanna see more of those crazy Toon monsters!” “Oo, oo, I’ll see if I can get some of the Machine-type Toons! We can have a giant cartoon robot battle!” “Dude, awesome!” Sour Sweet stomped up to Fluttershy, the other girl shrinking back from her. Sour Sweet crossed her arms and glared down at her. “You almost beat my Amazon deck with a bunch of namby-pamby little animals!” “Um, yes… but, you still won…” Fluttershy squeaked. Sour Sweet smirked and held out a hand. “But it was still pretty close!” Fluttershy cautiously extended her hand. Sour Sweet grabbed it and pulled her forward. “I will see you next year!” she hissed. She then grinned again and enthusiastically shook her hand. Sunny Flare turned her head as Rarity walked up to her. She sniffed and tossed her hair. “If you’re expecting a handshake and a pat on the back for cheating, you can think again!” “Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted the distinction of tearing up my Crystal Overfusion.” Rarity held her hand up, the card between her fingers. “I won’t be needing it in the future.” Sunny frowned. “Is tearing it up supposed to make me feel better?” She slumped and sighed. “It won’t… just because that card was fake, doesn’t mean all the other cards you used to beat me down are, too. You easily could have beaten me if the cards went another way.” “Indeed.” Rarity gave a small shrug and smile. “But, that’s the nature of the duel, isn’t it? A duel isn’t worth playing if there’s no element of chance.” “…No, I guess not.” Sunny reached out, plucked the Spell card from Rarity, and tossed it away to grip her hand. “When next we duel, you’ll give me a fair match.” “I shall.” Rarity giggled. “And I do look forward to seeing those Hazy creatures again. They really are quite dazzling.” “Thanks. Your Crystal Beasts, too.” Apart from the two groups as they began to talk and mingle, Sunset walked up to Twilight. Twilight perked up and turned towards her as Sunset stopped. “Thank you.” The two paused as they each said the same thing. Twilight coughed. “You first.” “Thank you, for calling me out.” Sunset sighed. “I have a long way to go to be a better duelist, and a better friend. And if you kicking me in the pants is what it took to make me realize I wasn’t doing as good as I thought, it was worth it.” “I was going to say, ‘thank you for saving me’.” Twilight shook her head. “I can’t thank you for what happened. But I know now that there is a lot more I still have to learn with this game. If I want to be a card designer, I have to start expanding my horizons, right?” “Right.” Sunset nodded. “You’re off to a good start with those Twilightsworn cards. Evil magic aside, they seemed pretty cool.” “They are a good start, but I’ve got a lot of ideas for new cards that can be fun and competitively viable. Twilightsworns are just the beginning. And aside from them...” Twilight stepped towards the group on the field and knelt, picking up the torn pieces of Rainbow’s  cards and the discarded Spell card Sunny had tossed away. “I was thinking these could work, too.” “Really?” “Why not? They’re not ridiculously overpowered, and they helped your friends beat duelists who, abstractly speaking, have more advanced decks.” “Good point.” “Also, the mechanics for Pendulum Monsters aren’t so complicated once you get used to them. I had a few ideas for other archetypes that might benefit from Pendulum Monsters being added.” Twilight looked at Sunset. “If it’s okay with you?” Sunset turned away and thought. “Twilight Sparkle, taking something magical and mysterious and figuring out how to make it available to everyone?” She grinned. “Yeah, somehow that sounds right.” “I still have to actually become a card designer someday. But, now I have a lot more ideas for what to make when it happens.” Twilight extended her arm. “I’ll come back next year and show you what I’ve come up with.” Sunset shook her hand. “Deal.” The two shared a smile, breaking eye contact when someone clapped their hands loudly. “Well, good to see you two are getting along.” The two turned their heads as Shining Armor came up to Twilight and affectionately rubbed her hair. He gave her a suspicious look. “What’s with the change of heart, Twily?” “Nothing. I just…” Twilight shrugged. “Sometimes what you think you want, isn’t what you need.” “I like that, but save it for the yearbook,” Shining quipped. Looking over the group, Sombra swept his arm to gesture to the stairs off the field. “Come along, students. We should get going.” The Shadowbolts slowly migrated towards Sombra and fell in line with Hope leading them away. “That’s our call, Twily. Let’s go home.” Shining jerked his head the way of the others. Twilight took a breath. “I guess this is goodbye, then.” “Nah; it’s just goodbye until next time.” “Right.” Twilight nodded, smiled again, and followed her Shining away, glancing back occasionally. Sunset waved to her until she looked forward again to climb the steps to the parking lot. “Well, that’s that.” Applejack tipped her hat and smiled at Sunset as the five came closer. Sunset noticed Flash coming up with them, too. “I can’t believe we did it,” Fluttershy whispered. “Well, some of us did it, others just, well, you know…” “No, we all did it.” Sunset put a hand to her chest. “During our duel, Twilight erased my memories of you. But I could still tell there were people counting on me. And if it wasn’t for you guys, I never would have gotten this deck in the first place.” She beamed and pumped her fist, her duel disk shining on her arm. “As far as I’m concerned, every one of us won that duel.” “Very inspiring.” Sunset paused and turned around to see Celestia behind her, giving a short, shallow clap. “I’m quite impressed with how you’ve turned yourself around, Sunset Shimmer. I only wish that this true duelist that stands before me now had been here in prior years.” “So do I. But, better late than never, right?” “Indeed.” Celestia nodded and looked over the field. “Students of CHS, let’s hear another cheer for your winners of the Friendship Cup!” The stands cheered, dozens of students descending to the field and running at Sunset and her friends. Sunset backed up, bumping into Flash, as many of them came up to her. “Was beating Twilight Sparkle the most amazing comeback ever?” “Are you going to complete in the next Friendship Cup?” “Would you help advertise my grandfather’s game shop? He’ll pay you.” Sunset chuckled nervously, her eyes darting between the students around her. Flash leaned toward her. “Feeling better about being a leader to this school, now?” Sunset looked back at him. “It’s growing on me.”