Bright Future
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.”
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Huh. Not every day you see a Yu-Gi-Oh story where people acknowledge protagonist powers are inherently unfair. (There's still the "pay to win" issue with Crystal Prep, but at least that's only introducing new cards on the metagame level.)
Heh. Don't worry, Twilight. You didn't seal a city in crystal, try to flood a continent, send a wave of madness across said continent...
Suffice to say, there are far worse applications of magic than cheating at card games.
This story had some bumps, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for seeing it through.
Well, I enjoyed this fic. Not sure how many others did, but I know I did.
So...is Sunset also going to tear up her magic cards that she shouldn't have?
9996616
I did consider that, or her discarding them at least, but decided no. It would be very disrespectful to Princess Twilight's deck that she entrusted to Sunset, and goes against the theme of the two fics that the deck symbolizes their bond with their friends.
9996620
So...it's cheating when her friends use magic cards they can generate from thin air that nobody else can use, but not when Sunset does it? Or is Sunset going to put this deck away and never use it again to play "fair?"
9996622
Mostly the latter.
I know, it's a weak answer. There was no satisfying way to resolve that conflict of ideas.
9996632
Except of course she's a Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist so will have to use it again eventually. I'm assuming.
That was an enjoyable story. Thank you for this.
I liked this ride from beginning to end. And I'm interested to see if it goes on. If it doesn't, and this really is the end, it's fairly satisfying.
Maybe as a one shot or a min-series you could show us how Dueling affected Equestria and stuff, it could be fun or serious and even focusing on older deck-archetypes. Or not. All in all it was a good fic and I enjoyed it.
Well, this is awkward.
Now for a full review: Honestly, even though it's weaker than it's predecessor, this story ain't half bad. It addresses something that you don't see a lot: Exploring the ramifications of bullshit main character powers. What the story does is point out how bullshit main character powers can actually be kind of a problem, which is pretty unique. I feel like this is something Friendship Games tried to address, with Sunset trying to keep everybody from using magic, but it's done more successfully here.
Like I said before, I think having Sunset break down during her and Twilight's first duel was perfectly in character. This is a Sunset who never went through Rainbow Rocks, who never got the chance to find value in herself through trials or anything, so having somebody with Princess Twilight's face basically tell her she's worthless slime has got to be a pretty bad shock.
Which brings me to the only real problem I have with this fic: Sci-Twi's personality. She just seems unnecessarily cruel. Sure, she has a point about Sunset using not real cards, but she didn't have to basically insult every aspect of Sunset's being to get that point across. And there's not really an explanation as to why she's such a jerk, so it comes across as just more ammo to chuck at poor Sunset. And her personality flip at the end seems kinda forced. I mean, it would've been worse if she'd decided to transfer to Canterlot like in the movie, since there's no reason in this story, so it's good you didn't put that in, but it's still kind of an issue.
Other than that, solid sequel.
I know this sequel may have had a bumpy run but all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this story from beginning to end. Another fine crossover between Yu-Gi-Oh! and Equestria Girls with a tweak to the latter's third movie plot.
Excellent job all said and done and I’m looking forward to what may come next here.
Wait so EG Twilight Sparkle isn't staying in Canterlot High School?
Best line in the whole fic.
But seriously, this story was amazing. I loved it from start to finish. Most Yu-gi-oh fics I've read tend to be a bit cringey, but yours are fun, hilarious, and enjoyable. I will definitely be giving this another read-through at some point. /)
I definitely enjoyed this story for all the duels and character interactions. That being said, will there be a continuation of this story? Like another sequel?
9996635
Well, you have to separate "fair" in the context of playing a children's card game with an actual card list, rules, and governing authorities, and "fair" in the context of the real mystical game it's a knockoff of, which exists for people to share who they are with each other and whose only underlying rules are:
1) There's no need for a referee: your cards and abilities in the game are exactly what you should have and deserve to have, making cheating impossible.
2) There's no such thing as chance (actually, that one applies to the entire franchise outside the card game which took it over): every single supposed random event in life is a deeply meaningful reflection on your identity and the world at that moment. You could scry the state of world politics and the welfare of that childhood friend you lost touch with alike by repeatedly flipping a coin.
3) Therefore, a duel will and must consist of deeply revealing the duelists' personalities followed by a conclusive decision as to who, in the context of this contest, should rightfully win.
These elements work perfectly for a franchise plugging a children's game because both perfectly describe the universe as children (and our own inner children) crave it to be. (Note how Beyblades work: it's really, really easy to convince yourself the semi-random movements of a spinning top are the product of a familiar spirit and your will influencing reality. Similar effect.) ...It's also very hard to reconcile those rules of reality with the ones we know really apply to the card game.
I'm inclined to consider the people with magic powers as playing fairly when within the context of acting as a check on the card game to keep it more balanced with how it "really should be". Sunset wasn't really able to articulate her issues with Crystal Prep's policy due to them really being Princess Twilight's (as I've commented, her journey remains one of getting to where she's internalized her changes and the right lesssons to take out of the prequel and can finally stop trying to be a knockoff Twilight), but I'd say her issue with them having better access to cards isn't that they can afford more powerful cards, it's that this leads to the combination of Crystal Prep students using the "wrong" cards (ones which are mechanically powerful but don't suit them) and then actually winning duels using those cards (which violates the spirit of the game, since those cards should be functionally useless). At the start of the story, Sci-Twi represents an extreme of this position, actually believing that the game is an expression of mathematics and should be played through rational thought rather than instinct and trusting the universe to back you up.
I can believe that if the lesson observers are getting from Sunset's dueling is along the lines of how her cards and play fit her and they should be following that example, rather than simply that they need newer and more powerful cards, Sunset using her magic in regular games is sometimes fine. (Wrong lesson for real-life business interests, perhaps, but this is a crossover - we're selling dolls here, not cards, and the dolls are too small to sell decent disk and deck accessories for in any event.) And apparently there are enough professional duelists using magic, who don't utterly dominate professional play, that I can also believe examples of "ethical restraint" also exist.
...So I can accept it wouldn't be cheating. I'm a little uncomfortable with having to swallow that principle to work with this franchise, but the entire franchise basically requires it.
Skipped some of this and I still have my problems but was a good sequel.
Really enjoyed both this fic and the original, fantastic job
Also I know you've said you have no plans for a third fic, but if you ever change your mind (maybe using the simplified Rush Duels from Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens so you don't have to deal with any of the super complex mechanics like you talked about) I and many others will happily read it
That was pretty rad. I'd enjoy seeing a sequel (no expectation of one 👍) even without any card games because you expanded EqG1 & 3 in a way that was pretty engaging. The card games are cool, but what they're fighting for & the aftermath of climatic points were even cooler. The M6/7 characterization was handled well too & several one off joke lines got a chuckle or even a screenshot out of me.
11194894
Thank you. This was a sequel itself, if you hadn't read the first story before. But a third story is definitely not in the cards, pun intended.
11195189
Thank goodness, the age of three is a bit early to be driving.
11195279
XD whoops
Nuts I was hoping for a rematch between sunset and twilight to see how the sunsets changed and how twilight has adapted the game