Hearts in Harmony

by Iris Heartfang

03. Fizzing Out

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

“Hey Twilight, it’s almost your turn to shine!” Pinkie came up to Fluttershy and I as we lounged in the easy chairs in the bookstore seating area, Fluttershy reading a book and drinking tea while I looked through my deck.

“It’s about time.” I felt like I had been sitting in that chair for an eternity so I stood up and stretched out my cramped arms and legs. There were two duels in between Pinkie’s and my own and they had both taken longer than I had expected, which was irritating to me since now it was running up against my planned lunch date with Rainbow Dash. “Who am I up against? Hopefully I can knock them out quick so I can still make my lunch date with Rainbow in 36 minutes. I really don’t want to be late for my first opportunity to talk to her in four years.”

“Cherry Fizzy!” Pinkie said with a jump, pumping her fist into the air.

“Oh.” Fluttershy’s voice was like a lump of cold paste hitting a hardwood floor.

“’Oh’? What ‘oh’? What’s that ‘oh’ for, that doesn’t sound like a good ‘oh’!” Pinkie Pie chirped, dropping to her knees and sliding over to Fluttershy’s chair and resting her head on the armrest.

“I um, uh…” Fluttershy clutched the book she was reading and held it in front of her mouth, her eyes darting around nervously as she searched for the most polite words to use. “Cherry Fizzy is a friend of my brother, I’ve met him a few times.”

“Really? What’s he like?” I raised a concerned eyebrow and scowled. It wasn’t hard to pick up on Fluttershy’s tone; whoever this guy was, Fluttershy didn’t like him and for Fluttershy to not like somebody they must have been bad news.

“Yeah, is he mean?” Pinkie sprung to her feet and started punching into the air. “Is he a big meanie and that’s why you went ‘oh’ cuz like I said that didn’t sound like a good ‘oh’ and if this guy’s a big meanie who’s been mean to you I’ll give him a piece of my mind because nobody’s mean to Fluttershy not on my watch…”

“Alright Pinkie, I think she gets it.” I grabbed Pinkie by the shirt strap to drag her away from Fluttershy and started pushing her out of the lounge area. As I was pushing her I saw Cherry Fizzy in a crowd, talking to some other people about nerd stuff probably.

Fizzy was a tan-skinned man, dressed in slick casual clothes and with gelled back black hair, a trilby on top of his head. He carried himself like he owned the place, but a keen eye could tell that it was a front and he was trying too hard to look cool.

“Cherry Fizzy is…” Fluttershy walked up to me, standing just slightly behind me as if to use me as a buffer between herself and Fizzy. “Nice.”

“Nice?” I said with disdain, having a good idea what Fluttershy meant by that.

“Yes.” Fluttershy said bashfully, looking down at the ground and twiddling her fingers. “He’s a very… nice guy.”

“Ah. Say no more.” I rolled my eyes. Fluttershy was too kind but I understood what she was getting at. I already felt it in my gut looking at this guy, but Fluttershy cemented it; Cherry Fizzy was a real creep.

Fizzy saw our little band of three and started walking toward us, Fluttershy letting out a barely audible sigh and Pinkie starting to bob and weave around like she was getting ready for a boxing match.

“Pinkie, will you go wait for us by the arena?” I turned to Pinkie and asked.

“You sure you don’t want me to rough this guy up a bit?” Pinkie said, pounding her knuckles together. She seemed to pick up on Fluttershy’s feelings too.

“I’m sure, Pinkie.” I said with some seriousness in my voice. Even though I was pretty sure Pinkie was just joking around, at least as sure as one could ever be with Pinkie Pie, the last thing we needed was for her spontaneous antics to cause a scene with this guy. The faster I could get him away from Fluttershy, the better for her nerves and for my chances of achieving a punctual lunch date.

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said with a shrug, bouncing along toward the arena, just stopping long enough to glare at Cherry Fizzy as they walked past each other.

“Hey Fluttershy,” Cherry Fizzy said with a sickeningly sweet cadence as he approached Fluttershy and I, my shy pink-haired friend still standing mostly behind me, her hands lightly squeezing my forearm “fancy seeing you here. Did you come to watch me win?”

“Um, no.” Fluttershy said meekly. “I came here with Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie.”

“Gasp, I’m hurt.” Fiz said while dramatically clasping at his heart. “Haha, I’m kidding.” He wasn’t.

“So, Cherry Fizzy, looks like we should get to our match, don’t you think?” I chuckled, deliberately standing in Fizzy’s line of sight, between him and Fluttershy.

“Yeah uh-huh, in a second Twilight.” Fizzy ignored me lightly shoved me out of the way to take Fluttershy’s hand, a gesture that made her flinch and, judging by the look on her face, grit her teeth although she played it off to look like a smile. “Well even though you didn’t come to see me, I won’t hold it against you. You can still watch me win my next match.”

“Um… okay.” Fluttershy murmured politely, her eyes darting toward me as if to say ‘get me out of here’.

“Yeah, speaking of…” I tried stepping between them again but Fizzy just sidestepped away from me, still holding onto Fluttershy’s hand.

“And when I win this tournament,” Fizzy continued, oblivious to me or to Fluttershy’s discomfort “I will give you the amazing one-of-a-kind prize cards, and then I’ll take you to your favorite restaurant and I’ll teach you how to play Duel Monsters. Your brother’s said you’ve been thinking of learning the game, and I’d be happy to teach you how to play.”

“Oh… kay?” Fluttershy said, forcing a smile onto her face. This needed to stop.

“Alright Romeo, let’s get a move on.” I grabbed Fiz by the collar of his shirt and started dragging him toward the arena, after he tugged a couple times and I didn’t let go he eventually stopped resisting, but never actually turned around and walked to the arena himself.

“Root for me!” He yelled to Fluttershy as we approached the arena. I rolled my eyes and shoved him toward the steps into the stadium, Fizzy stumbling over a step and nearly tripping right onto his face, which honestly would have been perfect.

This guy was really getting on my nerves. It bothered me that he clearly didn’t get Fluttershy at all, like he didn’t really want to be with her, he just wanted her, period. I knew it was just a trifle, but I was going to enjoy besting him at this card game and making him look bad in front of this crowd.

DUEL!

Twilight Sparkle vs. Cherry Fizzy

As we drew our cards and Fizzy finally gave his focus to me instead of Fluttershy, he suddenly felt like a different person. He glared at me from across the arena, staring at me with intense anger. It was hidden behind a ‘polite’ smile, but I could see it in his eyes that he really didn’t like me.

That wasn’t important to me though. What did matter was that I had twenty minutes to beat this guy, that way I’d still have six minutes to reach my lunch date with Rainbow which would be just enough time for me to dash on down to the Taco Town.

“I’ll go first!” I declared and looked at my opening cards. Not a bad hand. By using my Spellbook of Secrets and Temperance of Prophecy, I could summon a powerful creature on my first turn! “I activate Spellbook of Secrets,” I said confidently, and I could see Cherry Fizzy’s brow furrowing as he took issue with my tone “allowing me to add a Spellbook of Power to my hand.

“Wow, I’m really impressed.” Fizzy rolled his eyes, prompting a dismissive scoff from me.

“Now I’ll summon my Temperance of Prophecy!” The magician I summoned to the field was a slender woman in simple brown robes with a hood that framed her face entirely in shadow, holding two gold chalices, one in either hand, connected by a chain. “Since I played a Spellbook card this turn, I can sacrifice my Temperance to summon a high level Spellcaster-Type Monster from my deck!”

Temperance held the chalices close to her chest as the cups overflowed with a black fog that quickly enveloped the magician. An orange light flickered inside the haze before a demon appeared out of it! The demon was a muscular humanoid with massive leathery wings stretching out from his back and equally imposing large horns jutting from the iron helmet atop his head which was wreathed in flames. He held aloft a sword that glowed orange with magical runes, representing his formidable 2500 ATK.

“The monster I choose is my Prophecy Destroyer!” I proudly announced. “And with one card laid face-down, I’ll end my turn.”

“Amazing.” Fizzy said coldly. “Now let a real pro show you how it’s done!” Fizzy flashed a sinister smile as he played his first card. “I summon Harpie Channeler!”

Fizzy’s monster was a bird woman with red ring-tailed hair, a bemused expression and black feathered wings on her arms, holding a majestic jeweled staff in one talon-esque hand and a chain attached to a large collar in the other. She was also a busty half-naked woman and somehow Fizzy’s taste in aesthetic was no surprise to me.

“By discarding one of the Harpie Monsters in my hand,” Fizzy said flippantly as he tossed a card into the graveyard “I can summon a new Harpie from my deck! And I choose Harpie Dancer!”

To call Fizzy’s new monster ‘half’ naked would be generous. She was basically wearing a stripper bikini, leaving most of her skin exposed. She had a seductive expression and long blonde hair, with white feathery wings on her arms, not to mention her hands and feet were talons. She was pretty cute, it was just a shame she was being used by a creep like Cherry Fizzy.

“Using Harpie Dancer’s ability,” Fizzy explained, and boy could you tell that he enjoyed the sound of his own voice “I can return one Wind-Attribute Monster I control to the hand,” Harpie Dancer made seductive motions while twirling around Harpie Channeler, making the latter disappear in a tornado of feathers “and I can then Normal Summon a new Monster from my hand! Come, Harpie Harpist!”

Another Harpie monster, similar to the last few. Stripper lingerie? Check. Long hair, this time red and straight? Check. Beautiful feathery wings? Check, they were green this time. The only thing that really was notable about this one was the ornate, antique looking harp she held and her sinister expression that matched Cherry’s.

“Harpie Harpist’s Effect activates when she’s Normal Summoned!” Cherry boasted, obviously feeling quite proud of himself. “By returning my Harpie Dancer to my hand I can also return your Prophecy Destroyer to your hand!”

“No can do, Cherry Fizzy.” With a coy smirk I shrugged nonchalantly, but like totally chalantly if you catch my drift, revealing my face-down card. “My Dark Renewal activates when your Monster is summoned, sacrificing both it and my Destroyer.” Cherry’s eye twitched in anger as he tried to turn his scowl into a strained smile. “But don’t worry, the Effect you used on your Dancer to return her to your hand? That still activates.” As my smile grew wider, Cherry grit his teeth so hard I could almost hear them grinding against each other.

Harpie Harpist played a tune on her harp that sent a cool breeze blowing through Harpie Dancer, sending her away back to Cherry’s hand. Meanwhile an ornate coffin with a jewel in the center and a silver cross emblazoned on the front absorbed Harpie Harpist and Prophecy Destroyer within it, before slamming shut on the void of purple energy they became.

“I have good news, Cherry Fizzy!” I stated with a grin while pointing at Cherry Fizzy. Cherry tried to keep a smile on his face but his eyes still betrayed his resentment. “Now that my Dark Renewal has taken its sacrifices, I can summon a Dark-Attribute Spellcaster-Type Monster from my graveyard!”

“You don’t have any of those!” Cherry exclaimed with a condescending laugh, only to realize… “Except…”

“Ah but I do, thanks to you!” My smile beamed brightly as the coffin opened up and out of it came my revived Prophecy Destroyer, spreading his wings and cackling madly. Thanks to the peculiar wording on Dark Renewal’s Effect, my Prophecy Destroyer was technically already in the graveyard when it came time to choose a Monster to revive, making him a perfect candidate.

The crowd cheered for my excellent reversal against Cherry’s combo and that made him very, very mad. He seemed to be taking every move I made as some kind of personal insult. I could understand getting invested in a duel but this guy really needed to lighten up.

“That was awesome, Twilight!” Pinkie yelled from the stands. I looked over to her and saw her and Fluttershy both laughing, Pinkie bursting out in a loud guffaw and Fluttershy giggling into her hand quietly. I could immediately tell that Fizzy wasn’t going to like that at all.

“You think you’re so clever just because you got one good move in!” Cherry yelled brusquely, waving his hands in striking motions at me. “You played one trap card and now you think you’re oh so smart and have this locked in! One lucky move, that’s it! You probably don’t even know how to play!”

“Ha! We’ll see about that, Fizzy.” I laughed while holding a pinky finger up to my mouth, putting my other hand on my hip and trying to make my laugh as irritating to him as possible. I couldn’t even believe this guy’s bluster. What a maroon.

“Whatever! I set two cards!” Fizzy said angrily, throwing his cards down on the tray in a huff. “Because Harpie Harpist was sent to my graveyard this turn, I can add Harpie Lady I from my deck to my hand at the end of my turn.” Fizzy showed me the card and put it in his hand. Now it was time for my counterattack. Granted, it wouldn’t be much of a counter since Fizzy’s turn wasn’t much of an attack.

As I drew my card and began my turn, I carefully examined Cherry Fizzy’s field. Two face-down cards, no Monsters. It seemed like an easy move, just attack directly and that was it, Fizzy would take the entire value of Destroyer’s ATK as damage. I could’ve played my Magician of Prophecy and gotten a new Spellbook, but I didn’t need any particular book this turn so it would’ve been a waste of his Effect, not to mention left a 500 ATK monster on my field ripe for attack.

Oh well, I had a better plan anyway. “I’m going to buff up my Destroyer with the Spellbook of Power!” I held the card high as I activated my Spell, bathing my devil in the red glow of its empowering energy as it raised my Destroyer’s ATK to 3500. “Now attack directly!” If this attack connected it would’ve been almost all of Fizzy’s Life. So of course, it did not connect.

“Not so fast, Twilight!” Fizzy flipped his hair and activated his trap with confident bluster. “You didn’t think I’d roll over and let you beat me so easily did you? Ha! What kind of loser guy do you take me for?” I elected to let that easy opportunity for a witty retort slip by, but I was definitely beginning to get tired of Fizzy’s babbling. “My trap card Hysteric Party activates! And with it, I can summon as many of my Harpie Monsters as possible from my graveyard by discarding one card from my hand! So return, Harpie Harpist! Harpie Dancer! Harpie Lady I!”

That was more Harpies than I expected and I had to take a second to parse how they all got into Cherry’s graveyard. He must have discarded one to activate his Harpie Channeler’s Effect, and the other he probably discarded just now to activate the card, and of course the one that was sent by my Dark Renewal. Not a bad move, all things considered.

Also his Harpie Lady I was just another half-naked bird woman, this time with straight pink hair and green wings, although she had a much more predatory look on her face. She had a passive Effect that boosted the ATK of all Fizzy’s Wind-Attribute Monsters by 300 while she was on the field, and naturally all of Fizzy’s monsters were Wind.

“Clever, Fizzy.” I stroked my chin and smirked, begrudgingly impressed by his strong defense. “But none of your monsters even come close to matching my Destroyer’s power!” The strongest monster Fizzy controlled, Harpie Harpist, only had 2000 ATK and that was counting the boost from Harpie Lady I.

“So which one are you going to attack, Twilight?” Fizzy looked contemptuously over at me with crossed arms and an upturned nose.

It was a good question though. On the one hand, Harpie Lady I’s boost, while not a lot right now, could mean the difference in taking out my Destroyer on a later turn. I couldn’t attack his Harpist since her Effect that activates in the graveyard would just give him advantage. Then there was Harpie Dancer, whose Effect to switch monsters between Fizzy’s hand and field was pretty unpredictable so I had no idea how much advantage Fizzy could really glean from it, which to be honest made the choice pretty clear.

“My Prophecy Destroyer will take out your Harpie Dancer!” I declared and my devil monster rushed toward the blonde haired dancer and slashed through her, cutting her clean in half and shattering her into shards of energy. Since she was in defense mode though, Fizzy took no damage. But… “You may have avoided damage, Fiz, but my Spellbook of Power has a second Effect, allowing me to add Spellbook of the Rudra to my hand since the buffed monster destroyed one of your Monsters this turn. I’ll set one more card face-down and end my turn.”

Now to see what kind of nonsense Fizzy could make with his new and improved Harpie squad. As I contemplated that thought, I was distracted by the sound of my name being chanted. I looked over to Pinkie Pie to see if it was her chanting my name, and it was, but to my surprise she wasn’t alone. A pretty decent sized portion of the crowd had gotten in on the chant, repeating my name over and over and cheering me on! I guess my amazing skills were pretty impressive, or maybe Pinkie’s just an excellent and persuasive cheering section, but either way it was actually kind of elating! Shockingly though, Cherry Fizzy didn’t seem too impressed.

“You think you’re so gosh-darn special, don’t you Twilight?” Cherry growled, practically spitting the word ‘special’. “You think because you’re popular or attractive or whatever that guys like me are beneath you, is that it?”

“You wanna spare me the self-pitying rant? I have things to do.” I rolled my eyes and looked up at the clock, seeing that I only had nine minutes left to wrap this up.

“Ugh, I’ve had it with your type!” I guess that was a ‘no’. “Arrogant girls like you are the reason nice guys like me have such a hard time finding someone!” I just stared blank-faced at Cherry Fizzy, resisting the urge to throw up in my mouth. “Whatever, I’ll put you in your place!”

What a charmer.

“I summon Harpie Channeler!” Fiz screamed, throwing his monster onto the field. “With its Effect, I’ll discard a card to summon Harpie’s Pet Dragon from my deck!” The dragon Fiz summoned was a red serpentine monster with giant black claws that gnashed its enormous fangs at my Destroyer, ready to spill its blood, which it was going to have a hard time doing with only 2300 ATK, counting the boost. “The monster summoned by Channeler is automatically placed in defense mode, but I can fix that with my Final Attack Orders card!”

Fiz revealed his other face-down card and the sound of a war horn blared, switching his dragon and three Harpies into attack mode.

“Not only that,” he continued with a wicked sneer “but my dragon gains 300 ATK for each Harpie on the field, and with the added boost that Harpie Lady I gives all my Wind monsters, my dragon’s ATK is 3200! Much higher than your pitiful Prophecy trash!” I tried to keep a stone-cold poker face but I couldn’t help but let a smirk crawl onto my face. “Now, Pet Dragon! Attack her Destroyer!”

“I activate Compulsory Evacuation Device!” I burst out into a gut-busting laugh. “You know how ‘bouncing’ works, don’t you Fizzy?” I asked sarcastically with a giant smile. “Let me explain, because I’m not sure that you get it.”

“I know what it means.” Fiz snarled, his anger reading clear as day on his face for everybody to see.

“I’m not sure you do so I’ll explain it.” I admit I took a bit of sadistic pleasure from teasing Cherry Fizzy, but he made it too easy. “When a card is ‘bounced’ that means it’s returned to the hand! Do you get it now? Because that’s what’s happening to your dragon!”

“I know!” Fiz roared, making Pinkie Pie laugh in the stands. “Shut up!” He snapped at her, but although it did make her jump for a second it didn’t stop her from chuckling into her hands. Fizzy’s dragon charged at my Destroyer and right into a cannon, which instantly launched it back into Fizzy’s hand.

“Without that dragon,” I said, covering my face with the cards in my hand like a paper fan “the rest of your monsters are far too weak to go toe-to-toe with my Prophecy Destroyer.”

“You don’t say.” Fizzy fumed. “Then I’ll Overlay my three Harpies, combining their Energy to summon Harpie’s Pet Phantasmal Dragon!” Fizzy’s three Monsters dissipated into starry black energy and ascended into a galactic portal opened up above Fizzy’s head. The new Xyz Monster the portal spat out in their place looked almost identical to the dragon I just removed, but this one was blurry like a mirage and it flickered from place to place at random, making it hard to keep track of.

“My new dragon cannot be attacked by your monsters,” Fizzy explained coldly “but it doesn’t allow you to attack directly either. However, it can attack you directly no matter how many Monsters you have. That said, at the end of my turn I have to detach one of its Energy cards, but since I can just detach Harpie Harpist, that means I can also add another Harpie Channeler to my hand. Your move.”

I drew a Spellbook of Secrets. Not bad, but none of my Spellbook cards were going to get through that dragon. I figured it might be best to just hold onto it for now. But that didn’t mean I would do nothing. On the contrary, I had another card in my hand that would be perfect to deal with his Phantasmal Dragon.

“I’ll set one card face-down.” I smiled coyly and shot a defiant glance at Cherry Fizzy. “It’s your move.” I said softly, daring him to come at me.

“Haha! This is the end, Twilight!” Cherry Fizzy grinned manically as he placed a card into his Field Zone. A gust of wind blew through the bookstore as the hologram of the Field Spell took over our surroundings, changing the scenery to a blue ravine with a rainbow colored stream underneath our feet, little orbs of light floating throughout the air. “I activate Divine Wind of Mist Valley! Now the first time a Wind Monster is returned to my hand I can replace it with a level four or lower Wind Monster from my deck, greatly bolstering my forces!”

“Do you think that scares me, Fizzy?” I chuckled. “Don’t. Make. Me. Laugh.”

“I’ll show you…” Fizzy’s growling soon turned into more of a snarl as he barked his words at me. “I’ll defeat you in front of Fluttershy and expose you for the loser that you are!”

“Good luck with that.” I said with an indifferent shrug.

“I summon Harpie Channeler!” Fizzy hissed. I was almost getting used to seeing this vermillion-haired, black-winged bird woman, she was practically as familiar as the Monsters in my own deck at this point. “By discarding my Pet Dragon I can summon Harpie Dancer from my deck!” Ditto Fizzy’s blonde Harpie. “Dancer’s ability allows me to return Channeler to my hand and activate the Effect of Divine Wind, which lets me summon Harpie’s Pet Baby Dragon from the deck!”

Fizzy’s new dragon was an adorable, pudgy child version of his first dragon, with glowing green eyes and a red serpentine body. I heard Fluttershy go “Awwww” as soon as it appeared, and I couldn’t blame her. But as soon as the creature hit the field it started getting bigger and meaner looking, culminating when Fizzy summoned another monster.

“Dancer’s Effect also lets me Normal Summon again,” he said “and I choose to bring back Harpie Channeler!” Fizzy’s dragon began to slobber and gnash its teeth that were growing to almost be too big for its mouth. The creature became grotesque, hideous and enormous before everyone’s eyes. “My Baby Dragon gets new abilities for every other Harpie I control. Since I have at least two, its 1200 ATK doubles and becomes 2400. And since I have three others, I can destroy one card you control! And I choose Prophecy Destroyer!”

The Baby Dragon let loose a stream of acidic breath, liquefying my devil right in front of my eyes, to my shock and disgust. It may have been better for Fizzy to destroy my face-down card, but since he used Harpie Lady I to summon his Phantasmal Dragon his monsters weren’t getting boosted anymore, so his dragon wasn’t strong enough to defeat my devil. Oh well, too bad for him.

“Now attack her directly!” Fizzy screamed. “End this duel in my favor!”

I didn’t say anything. I stared head down at the ground with my bangs covering my eyes as Fizzy’s dragons attacked me… right into my trap. I couldn’t even say the name of the card, I just flipped it over and started laughing uproariously, one might even say maniacally.

As Fizzy’s first dragon hit a wall of water his eyes widened in shock and his face twisted in rage. As that wall of water crashed through his field, washing away his entire force of Monsters and leaving his field empty, he looked about ready to pop a blood vessel.

“Drowning. Mirror. Force.” I regained my composure enough to speak, boasting the name of my winning card with such pride. “You mentioned that your Phantasmal Dragon could attack directly so I readied this Trap. When one of your Monsters declares a direct attack on my Life Points, it activates and sends all your attack mode Monsters back into the deck! And thanks to your Final Attack Orders, all of your Monsters were in attack mode, whether you wanted them to be or not.”

The crowd began to cheer and clamor, with applause and laughter being heard in equal measure. “Great job, Twilight!” I heard Pinkie and looked over to see her jumping up and down and waving little flags with crudely drawn cartoons of me on them.

“Stop laughing at me!” Cherry screamed, but no one was listening to him. “I’ll destroy you! I’ll kick your…”

“With what, Cherry?” I asked smugly, waving a hand dismissively at his empty field. “You have two cards left in your hand and you already Normal Summoned. Twice even. How are you going to come back from this?”

Cherry Fizzy just stood there, silently shaking in anger. After a minute or so of this the referee watching the match gave me the go ahead to begin my turn.

Looking at my hand, at the Spellbook of Secrets, Spellbook of the Rudra and Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, I knew exactly how to end this and I could do it this turn.

“I summon Spellbook Magician of Prophecy!” My lazy, blue-clad mage hit the field with a lethargic hop and a yawn. “This allows me to add Spellbook of Power to my hand from the deck! Not only that, but I can now activate Spellbook of Secrets, which lets me grab Spellbook of the Master to my hand!”

Cherry had nothing to say, he was still just glaring at me and seething.

“Next I’ll sacrifice my Magician to activate Spellbook of the Rudra, letting me draw two cards!” I drew the cards extra dramatically and did a twirl, trying my best to emulate the kind of dueling I thought Pinkie Pie would enjoy, and judging by the hollering I heard from her I’d say I did a good job. The two cards were a nice bonus I guess, but they weren’t the reason I did that. No, now there were exactly four Spellbook cards in my graveyard. One for the Master book, and three… “by banishing three Spellbook cards from my graveyard I can revive my Prophecy Destroyer through his own Effect!”

“No!” Cherry shrieked. “I hate that card! Why is it back?! I destroyed it!”

“I think it’s fitting, honestly.” I said sternly, dropping my smug grin and haughty laughter to get serious for a moment. “Cherry, you think that every girl should fall at your feet to please you because you fancy yourself a ‘nice guy’, forgetting that basic human decency doesn’t entitle you to a prize. You treat those girls that you pine for like nothing, like they’re property.”

Cherry Fizzy’s cheeks were becoming a bright red as he gritted his teeth and glared at me furiously, meanwhile I could practically feel the soapbox underneath my feet, but I continued my speech.

“And when a girl laughs at you or expresses confidence, you can’t take it. You lash out like a child because you somehow feel less than and you can’t handle a woman acting like she might know better than you.”

Cherry was breathing heavy and his whole face was red now, but he was starting to tremble. Something in him recognized the truth in my words.

“Your issues lie deeper than just a disrespect of women, and it’s no one’s fault but yours that you’re wrestling with these issues. And just like my Prophecy Destroyer, your demons will continue to haunt you until you confront them head on. And if you continue to run and hide and try to pretend like these demons don’t exist, then just like my devil… they’ll destroy you.”

“And how is your measly devil going to do that, fool?” Cherry sneered, emitting a nervous laugh to try and stifle his fear. “Your stupid creature doesn’t have enough ATK to knock me out, and on my next turn I’ll-”

“That’s a lot of big talk for someone who isn’t getting a next turn, Cherry!” I cut him off. I’d had enough of his egocentric rambling for today. There was only room in this arena for one egocentric rambler, and it was me! “I activate my Spellbook of the Master! It allows me to copy a Spellbook in my graveyard and activate its effect, and the only Spellbook I left in there was the Spellbook of Power! But I do have to reveal a Spellbook in my hand in order to use this ability, so what if I were to reveal… a second Spellbook of Power?! And what if I were to use it on my Prophecy Destroyer?!”

Cherry’s eyes widened in horror as my Prophecy Destroyer raised the two books into the air, one glowing with shining red energy, the other with inky black energy, both enveloping my Destroyer in a powerful radiance that increased his ATK to 4500.

“This is it!” I declared with an outstretched hand. “Prophecy Destroyer, direct attack!”

My Prophecy Destroyer charged at Cherry and leapt above the glowing river between us and into the air above him, coming down on top of him with a fierce slash of his blade that caused Cherry to scream and reduced his Life to 0.

“The winner is Twilight Sparkle!” The announcer yelled, the crowd erupting into cheers and chanting my name again.

I walked over to Cherry Fizzy, who was slumped on the ground and taking his loss about as well as you’d expect. I reached my hand out to him.

“You need to ask yourself something, Cherry.” I tried to sound calm and supportive. For all my annoyance with Cherry Fizzy, he was still just a man and I couldn’t fancy myself too superior to him. We all had demons and everyone deserves the chance to fight back against those demons, to make a better choice.

“What do you really want?” I continued. “Because if you just want a puppet girlfriend who will do whatever you say and never question you, then you can go jump in a lake. But if you want a real partnership with a woman, then you need to fix your relationship with yourself first. Self-pity, self-importance and self-loathing are all easy to see, and nobody wants to take on that sort of baggage. It lies on you to fix what’s broken within you, but you can fix it. Hopefully you’ll have the support of some good friends, but at the end of the day, the onus is on you and no one else.”

Cherry took my hand and stood up, and I could see tears welling up in his eyes. He couldn’t stop himself from crying profusely as he ran off without saying a word. I felt bad for him, almost, but I couldn’t sugarcoat the truth to make him comfortable. I just hoped my words got through to him, but like I said, it was up to him now.

“Wow, you sure gave him a stern talking to.” Fluttershy commented as she and Pinkie approached me.

“Yeah, I almost feel a little bad for him.” Pinkie Pie added, sighing dramatically.

“I don’t.” I scoffed, looking at the clock and seeing that I was already ten minutes late for my date with Rainbow. “I only told him the truth, and it’s up to him whether he accepts it or not.” I shrugged kicked at the ground irritably as the three of us walked out of the arena.

“I’m sorry you missed your lunch date with Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy muttered, lightly touching my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me.

“Maybe if you run really fast you can still make it in time!” Pinkie, ever the optimist, added.

“No, Pinkie.” I grumbled, rifling through my unkempt hair. “The Taco Town’s a couple blocks down the street and I’m already late, I’d better just…” I pulled out my phone and felt my chest seizing in anxiety as I moved to try and text Dash. “I’d better just cut my losses.”

“Cut your losses?” I heard a gruff woman’s voice coming from the crowd behind us as my friends and I walked away from the arena. I turned around and saw Rainbow standing by the arena with her hand on her hip. “C’mon Twilight, you’re just gonna give up that easily?”

“Rainbow!” I exclaimed and put away my phone. “What are you doing here?”

“I figured you might get stuck in a match and miss our date, so I figured I’d meet you here.” Rainbow boasted. “Besides, I wanted to see your duel, see if you still had guts. It wasn’t a bad duel, to be totally honest.”

“That’s because I’m the best.” I said slyly, mimicking Rainbow’s hand-on-hip gesture.

“Sure, Twilight.” Rainbow laughed. “You keep telling yourself that.”

“Well I beat you.” I stuck my tongue out teasingly.

“Ha! Only because I wasn’t using my real deck!” Rainbow pounded her fist against her palm and closed the distance between us, staring me right in the eyes. “If I had been I would’ve creamed you!”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself to help sleep at night, Rainbow.” I said with a wink, Rainbow giving a single prideful laugh in response.

“Girls, you shouldn’t be arguing.” Fluttershy stood between us and held out her hands timidly to separate us.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy pal.” Rainbow gave Fluttershy a firm pat on her bare shoulder, the pink-haired girl jumping ever so slightly and her cheeks became flushed. “Me and Twilight are just negging each other. Right, Twi?”

“Negging?” I groaned, putting a hand over my face. I wasn’t sure Rainbow knew what that word meant.

“Yeah, y’know, poking each other in the ribs.” Rainbow added to this explanation by actually poking Pinkie in the ribs, which made her giggle. “Making fun, teasing each other, that sorta thing. It’s all in good fun, Fluttershy.” Rainbow ruffled Fluttershy’s hair and the shy girl looked a little annoyed for a second before she blushed again and stepped away from us, standing behind Pinkie Pie.

“Well I for one, love fun!” Pinkie put her arm around Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and pulled both of them into her bosom. “And I love that our whole gang is coming back together! Except for Rarity and Applejack, obviously, who are still on their own epic quest.”

“Hold on, Pinkie.” Rainbow squirmed out of Pinkie’s hold a took a few steps back from her. “Don’t jump to getting that six-person tandem bicycle just yet, Twilight and I have a lot to catch up on first. Right, Twi?”

“Right.” I nodded determinedly.

“Tandem bicycle…” Pinkie became lost in thought as Rainbow and I began to depart, Fluttershy still stuck in her hold.

“See ya later, Fluttershy.” Rainbow grabbed the hood of Fluttershy’s hoodie and tugged on it to free her from Pinkie, Fluttershy giving a shy wave in return as Rainbow and I headed to the coffee shop. “C’mon Twi, let’s go!”

“I’m right behind you.” I sighed nervously.

****

Rainbow and I sat around a table in the corner of the bookstore coffee shop, taking in the heavenly scent of fresh coffee as we got comfortable with our sandwiches and drinks, ready to have a real conversation for the first time in years.

“So what’ve you been up to these days, Twi?” Rainbow asked, taking a loud slurping sip of her coffee. “You still living by yourself? Living the dream, unfettered by anyone else? That kinda thing?”

“Not exactly.” I was anxiously nibbling on my sandwich, taking it apart piece by piece and taking small bites of each piece. “I’ve been playing a lot of Duel Monsters, reading a lot and… well that’s about it really.” I felt embarrassed by how pathetic that sounded. “How about you?” I smiled nervously, trying to quickly divert attention from myself.

“Oh, I’ve been doing great.” Rainbow leaned back in her chair, raising it on its hind legs and whipping a hand through her hair. “Haven’t been playing that card game for eggheads and haven’t been reading at all, so I’ve had a lot of time to devote to like, relationships and experiences and stuff.”

“Uh huh.” I said dryly, tearing a piece of bread in half. “Have you kept up with any of our old friends?”

“Well, Pinkie Pie, yeah…” Rainbow suddenly got quiet, bringing her chair back down to the ground with a hard CLACK. “I mean, she contacted me out of the blue a few months ago… and uh…” Rainbow got silent and tapped on the table with her fingernail before taking a huge bite out of her sandwich.

“So what kind of ‘experiences’ have you been having?” I said to try and steer the conversation back on track.

“Well y’know, been hanging out with the gf a lot…” Rainbow cleared her throat and took another big bite of her sandwich, continuing to speak with her mouth full. “We’ve even moved in together. She’s super hot and cool, so it’s pretty rad.”

“Mm-hmm.” I grit my teeth and forced a smile on my face. I couldn’t stand Rainbow’s girlfriend. She did nothing but berate our friends, and Rainbow for that matter, when Rainbow started going out with her a little more than four years ago, but I needed to bite my tongue. Arguing about her was what ruined my relationship with Rainbow in the first place, so I needed to change the subject. “I guess you didn’t hear that Applejack and Rarity started dating?”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow nearly choked on her coffee as she jolted upright from a relaxed position. “Are you serious?”

“Yup. They’ve been going out for a little over two years now.” I blew on my coffee to cool it off and took a tiny sip. “Rarity left Fillydelphia two years ago to go to some fancy school in Canterlot and Applejack went with her. I guess AJ wanted to expand her horizons some, plus she was the only other member of our group who had the means to travel to Canterlot.”

“I heard about that… but I didn’t get to say goodbye to them or anything.” Rainbow grumbled under her breath. “I could’ve gone to Canterlot…”

“Maybe, but you were too busy with your girlfriend.” I shrugged, sliding a torn-off shred of ham onto my tongue. “We all figured you just chose her over our group.” With the glorious blessing of hindsight I can now see that saying that miiiight have been the worst possible decision I could have made in that moment. If I had actually thrown my coffee in Rainbow Dash’s face I think she would have been less offended.

“Yeah, well, I’m glad I did!” Rainbow slammed her palm on the table, making me jump. “Whiplash is hot, and smart and… and she likes me for who I am!”

“She made you stop playing your favorite game and ditch all your friends!” I said incredulously. “She insulted your interests, fashion sense, jokes and mannerisms constantly!”

“Whatever!” Rainbow stomped to her feet. “You think you know everything, Twilight?! You think you’re soooo smart, like you never make any mistakes?!”

“I never said-”

“Well not everyone can be as perfect as you!” Rainbow snapped. “Whiplash gets me! She’s the only one who does!” Rainbow scoffed and turned to leave. “Whatever. This was a mistake.”

As Rainbow stormed out of the coffee shop I almost stood up to chase her down but I was brimming with anger at her callousness and stupidity. How could she not see that Whiplash was a terrible person? How could she be so thoughtless to think that Whiplash ‘got’ her, or even cared about her? I wanted to stop Rainbow from leaving but I knew I had nothing to say that would change her mind, and there was a part of me that was glad to see her go…

But as soon as she was gone I started missing her. There had to be a way to fix what was broken between us, some way to rekindle the relationship we had when we were younger. Back when we used to play Duel Monsters together, or play pranks on our parents, or completely fail at flirting with other girls. I missed Rainbow and the adventures we used to have, and seeing her again after all these years reminded me of how much she used to mean to me and how important she was to me growing up. I couldn’t stand to lose her again.

And if there was anyone who would know what to do, it would be Applejack! So I got out my phone and gave her a text.

“Hey, AJ, do you have a minute?” I typed furiously into the keypad.

It didn’t take too long for Applejack to get back to me and she replied “Sure Twi. How’d it go with Pinkie?”

“I apologized. We hugged it out. Thanks so much for your advice.” I thought for a moment about my spat with Pinkie. It wasn’t as bad as my anxiety was making it out to be, and it really did just take an apology and an explanation to make things right again. If only things with Rainbow could be that simple, but I couldn’t apologize to Rainbow if I didn’t feel sorry about the arguments we had. How could I? I was right!

“No problem at all.” She replied. “Happy to help.”

“You would not *believe* the guy I dueled today.” I laughed as I explained to Applejack. Cherry Fizzy was the exact kind of person that she could not stand. “He was this super creepy ‘nice guy(tm)’ that was trying to hit on Fluttershy. When I started beating him he got super mad and yelled a lot. Did not take losing well.”

“Ha! Did he throw a fit?” I could imagine Applejack’s satisfied smile from reading her text.

“A bit.” I smiled and felt somewhat proud of myself as I relayed the events. “I gave him this whole lecture about how he needs to fix his relationship with himself before trying to get into a relationship with a girl, and if he wanted to be respected by women he needed to respect their agency and intelligence.” I thought about it for a second and then added “Dang, I should have said it like that! That sounds really smart!”

“All sounds like good advice t’me!” AJ said. “And ur always sayin I’m the one who’s good at advice. ;p”

“You are!” I laughed. I never laughed so much as when I was talking with Applejack. She was my oldest friend, and something about us just clicked, I always felt super comfortable around her.

It was her coming out as trans that gave me the courage to do the same, because I figured that if someone as brave and kind and smart and cool as Applejack could go through dysphoria, then it wasn’t something I needed to hide or feel ashamed of.

“And I kinda need some again (sorry).” I took a deep breath, breathing in the divine coffee smell, and thought for a moment about how to explain to Applejack the situation with Rainbow Dash. “I ran into Rainbow today.”

“Woah how’d that happen?” AJ said and I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see the surprise on her face when I told her.

“Pinkie set it up.” I explained.

“Ha that sounds like somethin’ she’d do.” AJ said. “So how’d that go?”

“Not… the worst?” I sighed grumbly and added “But really not great. I couldn’t avoid the topic of her girlfriend and as soon as we started talking about that she got really mad.”

“And what exactly did you say about her girlfriend?” AJ said, and I could practically see her rolling her eyes.

“What do you mean?” I started tapping my finger against the table, feeling indignant. “I didn’t say anything about her!”

“Did ya do that Twilight thing where you respond to someone with an exasperated sigh or a ‘mm-hmm’ through gritted teeth? Cuz everyone knows what that means.” AJ said.

“I…” I groaned agitatedly to myself as I picked at the keys on my phone. “I might have said something like *that*. I guess. But what am I supposed to do? Just not say anything about her stupid girlfriend? You and I both know Whiplash is a complete tool and Rainbow Dash is being idiotic for going out with her!”

“See that Twilight?” I just knew that Applejack was glaring at me through the phone, I could feel it. “That right there is kinda the problem.”

“???” I didn’t understand what she was getting at. “Elaborate.”

“Based on my brief tiem talkin with Whiplash I’d hafta say I agree that she’s pretty obnoxious and cruel.” Applejack articulated. “I wouldn’t want Rainbow or any of my friends for that matter goin out with her. But I wouldn’t treat Rainbow like a child or like she was too dense to make her own decisions. You should support her and lend an ear or a helpin hand when Rainbow needs it, maybe even *subtly* convince her to get away from that girl but ya can’t be actin like Rainbow’s a moron for not seein thins ur way.”

“So you’re saying…” I typed, growling at the irony and dragging my hand down my face. “I shouldn’t expect Rainbow to respect me if I don’t respect her agency and intelligence.”

“That is EXACTLY what I’m sayin.” AJ sent back, adding “:)”

“Tahnks, Applejack.” I groaned loudly and frustratedly, leaning back in my chair. “You’re really a big help.” I cringed when I saw the typo though so I added “Thnaks” then smacked myself on the forehead when I realized I sent that and added again “THANKS. UGH.”

“Ur wlecmoe. ;)” AJ said, making me laugh loudly.

Talking with Applejack gave me some hope. I was still angry at Rainbow for her stupid… I mean, for what I considered to be pretty bad decisions vis a vis her taste in girls. But Rainbow was clearly angry at me too, and it wasn’t fair at all to just ignore her and pretend like I wasn’t an active participant in this relationship. The truth was, as hard as it might have been to admit it, that we were both responsible for the degradation of our relationship. And if I wanted to rekindle it, I needed to do better. I needed to be better. I just hoped I could do it, for Rainbow’s sake and for mine.

Author's Note:

Y'know, re-reading some of this as I'm putting it up, I gotta say... I really like this chapter??? Like holy hell, Cherry Fizzy is such an asshole! Are "nice guys(tm)" still a thing? Like, have they all moved on to being aggressively racist gamer-gaters now?

Anyway, as a trans lady I can kinda empathize both with the "nice guy(tm)" and the woman who's unfortunate enough to be in his path, which makes writing the character extremely satisfying and cathartic. The way he switches from being sleazy but at least feigning politeness when talking with Fluttershy to becoming just a snarly, condescending prick when he talks to Twilight (a woman who challenges his authority) is *kisses fingers* it's good. I like this chapter.

I should probably talk though about why I decided to use an established background pony for this one-note jerk and why Cherry Fizzy in particular. Well to be honest, I had the plot of this story roughed out for a while before deciding to make it a pony fic, so the "introverted protagonist girl vs. nice guy(tm)" thing was already established.
And the reason why I tapped Fizzy for the role is, well... he just kinda looks like a jerk??? The slicked back hair, the smug default expression, oh and the fact that one of his alternate names is "CHERRY POP", which is 1000% the name of a creepy womanizer, no doubt about it.

I also really like Twilight's speech in this episode. To be honest, it's a big part of why I decided to write this story. The idea of doing like "friendship lessons for adults" is something that really appealed to me (like in the last chapter where Twilight learned not to dump on her friends' aspirations) and it's interesting to write about stuff that I myself either am struggling with or have struggled against and overcome.
It's cathartic to read about characters going through the same obstacles I am and seeing how they get through them (and I also learn about myself by reading how I write the characters' solutions to these obstacles) and it's comforting to read about stuff that I've put behind me and to see how far I've come.

ANYHOO, I didn't mean to ramble on for so long this time, but I really enjoy talking about the nuts and bolts of the writing process! It's fun! The last thing I'll say is that whereas in Rainbow's duel Twilight not taking damage was a mistake on my part, I think it actually works well here to show how pathetic Fizzy's attempts at dominance are (and her pulling out the relatively obscure but super badass card Drowning Mirror Force is something that I just love). Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you continue to read and enjoy my work! Take care! <3