> Hearts in Harmony
>  by Iris Heartfang
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 01. A Colorful Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

“Twilight Sparkle!”

The sound of my named being called by a shrill voice woke me from my sleep. I groggily grumbled as I tried to ignore it.

“Twilight Sparkle!”

My attempts to ignore it weren’t working so I rolled over and put a pillow over my head.

“Twilight!

Sparkle!”

I groaned miserably as I recognized the voice as that of my pal Pinkie Pie, yelling my name from outside my bedroom window. Why, or how, she was yelling in my second story window though, I dreaded to find out.

I woozily dragged myself out of bed, my clothes from the previous day still on me and my purple hair a frazzled mess that framed my dark tan skinned face the way a cloud of dust frames the remnants of an exploded ruin… or something to that effect.

There wasn’t a lot of space in the loft that acted as my bedroom so my eyes were barely open when I walked over to the window, only to find no trace of my noisy friend, until…

“TWILIGHT!!!”

Pinkie’s face suddenly appearing in the window and screaming my name was enough to startle me into a scream of my own, and I stumbled backward a few steps, misplacing my foot on the staircase to my bedroom and falling backwards down the stairs, tumbling like a slinky the whole way down.

“PINKIE!!!” I screamed in frustration.

“That’s me!” She replied.

I marched back up the stairs and opened the window, looking down to my front yard below to see a chubby, pink curly-haired and light brown skinned girl in bright pink clothing jumping from a trampoline on the lawn all the way up to my second story bedroom and then falling back down again, only to leap right back up.

“How are you jumping that high on an ordinary trampoline?” I leaned out the window and looked fascinatedly at Pinkie as she passed by me on her way back down from a jump.

“I dunno.” She said with a sunny smile as she jumped up. “I’ve learned not to question things.” She continued as she fell back down.

“Okay… well do you want to tell me why you’re jumping up and down outside my window on a trampoline?” I rubbed my temples, exasperated that I even had to ask that question. I loved Pinkie to death but she could give me one heck of a headache sometimes.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie said with another jump, continuing her sentence as she bounced right past me. “…let me in though?” was all I was able to make out.

“I’d love to let you in, Pinkie, but how are you going to stop bouncing on that trampoline without hurting yourself?” I was genuinely perplexed on how she managed to get herself into this peculiar scenario, but then again I wasn’t exactly surprised considering this was Pinkie Pie I was dealing with.

“Ummmmmm…” Pinkie put a finger to her lips as she tried to think. A couple bounces without a word, just that same thoughtful expression, or at least as thoughtful as Pinkie could muster, and then she beamed as she thought of an idea. You could practically see the lightbulb appear over her head. “Oh! I have a perfect plan, Twilight!”

“What is it?” I rested my elbow on the window sill and placed my chin onto my hand. I couldn’t wait to hear Pinkie’s insane solution to her trampoline problem.

“Catch me!” Before I could react to that ridiculous statement Pinkie thrusted herself forward as she sprang up to my floor and launched herself at me, charging through the open window and knocking me over, and pushing us both back with enough force to send us tumbling down the stairs yet again.

I was speechless. All I could do was glare bemusedly at the pink-haired chubby girl sitting on top of me, her big blue puppy-dog eyes staring right at me like she thought this couldn’t have gone any better. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Pinkie Pie… you’re so…” I chuckled as Pinkie helped me get to my feet.

“Random?” Pinkie helpfully finished my sentence. I nodded and she reacted with a big goofy grin. You couldn’t help but love this girl.

The first thing most people noticed about Pinkie Pie is that she was overweight. She was a short girl, in the ‘under five-feet club’ as Pinkie herself would put it, and she had more than just a small bit of belly fat. She didn’t mind it though and was pretty body positive. No surprise there considering that Pinkie Pie was positive about almost everything.

She had light brown skin and bright pink curly hair, and an impressive mane of it at that, rolling down her shoulders and framing her whole face, you would swear you could get lost in the stuff! She had a tendency to wear fairly loose clothing, her pink tank-top and pink striped leggings with a little balloon graphic on the hip being her favorite go-to outfit, plus of course her signature pair of pink croc shoes which I affectionately referred to as her clown shoes.

“So, why all the yelling and the trampolining and the barging through my window, Pinkie?” I took a look at the clock and was dismayed to see it read 10:31. “Especially this earrrrrly.” I groaned, dragging my hands tiredly down my face.

“Oh, is it early?” Pinkie said while bouncing around my living room. “I’ve been up for like four hours and I’ve had six cups of coffee so time and space have no meaning to me!”

“Of course, I should’ve known.” I made a tired groan as I walked into my tiny kitchen to get myself some coffee, only to have Pinkie hand me a cup from who-knows-where. “How did you…” I shook my head and took the coffee from her, sitting down on a stool at my little round dining table by the window. Like Pinkie said, sometimes it’s best not to ask questions.

“Are you excited, Twilight!? Are you ready to party!?” Pinkie slammed her hands on the table and looked me straight in the eye with a ferocious glare, or at least the happy-go-lucky Pinkie Pie version of a ferocious glare.

“For what exactly?” I took a sip from my coffee.

“The tournament quarter-finals of course!” Pinkie threw her arms in the air and scoffed dramatically. “By this time tomorrow you and I will be heading for our final match! A life or death struggle from which there can be only a single victor! The final battle of a lifetime, a match that will go down in the history books as one of the toughest, hardest, most grueling showdowns of all time!”

“Pinkie, it’s just a local tournament at our nearby bookstore.” I blew on my coffee to cool it a little. “The stakes aren’t exactly that high.”

“Oh where’s your sense of drama, Twilight?” Pinkie winked at me and stuck out her tongue. “Besides, the winner of the tournament gets to pick one of three rare cards, and I’ve got my eye on that Naturia Beast!”

“Really? Your deck doesn’t even use Synchro Monsters.” I arched an eyebrow, taking another sip of my drink.

“I know! But I wanna give the card to Fluttershy as a gift!” Pinkie said with a bright smile and held her hands in front of her, not unlike Fluttershy would do.

“Fluttershy? What do you mean? Why her?” I was puzzled, but intrigued. Fluttershy stopped playing Duel Monsters years ago so I wasn’t sure why Pinkie thought giving her a rare card was a smart idea.

“Fluttershy told me in confidence” Pinkie leaned really close to me as she said that “that she maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe wants to start playing again!” Pinkie was bouncing up and down in delight as she talked about this and I couldn’t tell if it was because she was genuinely excited, if it was all the caffeine she had or if she was just being Pinkie Pie. Probably all. “She says she’s been hearing us talk so much about our games lately that she’s starting to remember how much fun it is! Isn’t that awesome!?”

“Yeah, actually that is awesome, Pinkie!” I couldn’t deny that I was getting a little overeager about the idea of Fluttershy picking up Duel Monsters again. Nothing made me happier than connecting with my friends over shared passions, and there was nothing I was more passionate about than Duel Monsters!

“Then come on! We gotta go!” Pinkie started yanking on my arm. “Fluttershy’s gonna watch our matches today so we gotta pick her up before we get to the shop! Letsgoletsgoletsgoletsgoletsgo!!”

By the time I could even think to formulate words to respond, Pinkie had already dragged me halfway out the door.

“Hold on, Pinkie.” I dug my heels into the ground and got a firm grip on the front doorframe to stop Pinkie from dragging me kicking and screaming outside. “You know I need to freshen up before I leave the house.”

“Ohhhh right, because you’ve got that whole… thing…” Pinkie blushed from embarrassment. My whole ‘thing’ was that I’m transgender. So is Pinkie, and our whole little group of friends for that matter. It’s something we all had in common, something we bonded over that nobody else really understood. But Pinkie and I had very different ways of dealing with it; she hardly thought about it at all, or at least she didn’t talk about it often, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t afford to, especially when I left the house.

“Yeah, that whole thing.” I chuckled bashfully. Of the six of us, I’m pretty sure I was the most self-conscious about my gender. I liked to pretend I was normal and not… strange. That was one of the things that drew me to my group of friends, they didn’t make me feel weird or out of place because of it, they made me feel… safe.

“That’s totally fine! I’ll wait here.” Pinkie planted herself on my living room couch. “I can be patient.” She said with a kind smile, kicking her feet off the couch.

I smiled back and headed to the bathroom to put on makeup and stuff. Not two steps into that trek before Pinkie says “HURRY UP TWILIGHT!!” and making me jump. I looked back at her with a disgruntled glare. “Do you feel motivated yet?” She gave a glittery grin.

“Surprisingly, no.” I said with a soft chuckle. It was hard to stay mad at Pinkie Pie.

“Oh.” She nodded solemnly, before yelling again “HURRY UP AND FEEL MOTIVATED TWILIGHT!!”

“You know, you could wait outside.” I said teasingly. I couldn’t tell if I was actually annoyed or really found this funny, or both.

“I could!” Pinkie nodded and then went back to just kicking her feet on the couch. I gave her a bemused scowl for a few seconds and she looked back at me, getting startled for a brief moment before jumping off the couch with an embarrassed smile and saying “And I will!”

“I’ll only be a second.” I said to Pinkie as she headed out the door and I headed for the bathroom.

I groaned audibly as I saw myself in the bathroom mirror.

“Look at yourself, Twilight Sparkle.” I said dismally. “You’re just so… bleehch.”

My hair hadn’t been combed or cut in two years, it was starting to fall below my waist, without makeup on I looked like a tan-skinned troglodyte and my clothes were incredibly ugly. A plum colored sweater and gray sweat pants, an outfit that told everyone in the room ‘I am unattractive and I know it’.

The amount of effort it took to make all this presentable, and suitably feminine so as to pass as a ‘cis-lady™’ was almost not worth it. The only thing that made me bother with the whole routine was the constant worry of a lynch mob if even one person clocked me as trans. Then again, my anxiety being what it was, I worried about being violently killed for no reason even before discovering my gender identity. So usually I just never left the house.

But with a little moisturizer, some eyeliner, some brushing here and contouring there, and of course a high-necked sweater to cover up the gross man-lump in my neck, I was able to look like an incredibly frumpy and unattractive woman! Which was good enough! Time to attack the day, or at least wander through it and hope not to be noticed!

****

It was a lovely day in our hometown of Fillydelphia as the sun shone down on Pinkie and I during our trip to our friend Fluttershy’s house. Hers was a lovely suburban home with a sprawling front yard and even the oh-so-clichéd white picket fence.

Pinkie pranced up the red brick road to the door ahead of me, knocking several times on the dark green oak door in rapid succession before Fluttershy answered it.

“Oh, hello girls.” Fluttershy’s timid voice was barely audible to me as I walked up next to Pinkie in front of the door.

Fluttershy was short, although not as short as Pinkie. She had brown skin that made her aqua-colored eyes really shine, although she would never accept a compliment like that. Her hair was a pale pink and almost as long as mine, reaching the small of her back. Unlike mine, it was clean and kept up, tied in a neat braid that she sometimes wore in front of her over her shoulder. Her bangs almost covered her right eye and the red dot in the center of her forehead that symbolized her religious and family heritage.

Her fashion sense was similar to mine in that she wore loose, unflattering clothing so she could go unnoticed by most people. She wore an oversized pale yellow hoodie over white jeans, and dark blue sandals for some reason. Rarity would have hated that combination almost as much as she hated Pinkie’s propensity to wear leggings as pants.

“Hello Fluttershy!” Pinkie loudly exclaimed while waving her arms in the air excitedly. “Are you ready for a super duper spectaculariffic day of extremely awesome and amazingtacular fun times!? I said ‘tacular’ twice but that’s just how spectacular it’s gonna be!” Pinkie’s beaming smile was practically too big for her face and it amazed me that her cheeks didn’t hurt all the time.

“I think so, I just-” before Fluttershy could finish an annoying noise interrupted her.

“Fluttershyyyy, you forgot to cut the crusts off my sandwich!” Zephyr Breeze, Fluttershy’s obnoxious and lazy older brother, and also roommate, walked up behind her and whined.

“Oh, I’m sorry Zephyr.” Fluttershy bowed her head toward Zephyr and began to walk back into the house before turning back to Pinkie and I to say “Will you excuse me, girls? I’ll only be one second.”

“No problem!” Pinkie gave a salute.

“Yyyeah. Sure.” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, letting out a bemused sigh as Fluttershy disappeared inside her house and Zephyr took her place. Zephyr also had brown skin, although considerably lighter than Fluttershy’s, and his blonde hair was tied into a messy bun atop his head, his fuzzy caveman stubble not exactly helping his dignity.

“Heeey, Twilight.” Zephyr tried to lean against the doorframe but he misjudged the distance and almost fumbled to the ground, clumsily saving himself and making finger guns at me. “Come to see your old pal Zephyr Breeze, am I right? Well I’ve been preeeety busy lately, but I might be able to squeeze in some time for my favorite girl.”

“What have you been busy with?” I stated. “Taking a lot of great naps lately? Coming up with new excuses not to get a job? Reading books on how to be the most insufferable human being on the face of Equestria?”

“Ouch, harsh words, Twilight.” Zephyr put his hand up to his forehead and mock-swooned. “If I believed you really meant all those things, I would be hurt! But I know you’re just negging, am I right?”

“Yup. Negging.” I said through gritted teeth. “That’s a thing that I do all the time. All. The. Time.”

“Here you go, Zephyr.” Fluttershy said politely, handing Zephyr Breeze a sandwich cut diagonally with the crusts cut off.

“Ooh! Thank you Fluttershy!” Zephyr gave Fluttershy a little kiss on the cheek which made her smile. “I’ll catch you girls later. See ya, Twilight.” Zephyr went back into the house but not before winking at me a blowing a kiss my way, and I swear if it had any tangible form I would have caught it out of the air with my fist and crushed it.

“Now I’ve already made you dinner and wrapped it up in the microwave,” Fluttershy said to Zephyr as he was headed back to his lazy couch “and I’ve set up your DVR so you don’t miss your shows, and I’ve cleaned up your studio space. Now I’m gonna go out with my friends, okay?”

“Okay Fluttershy! I’ll try to go on without you while you’re out!” Zephyr said, melodramatically falling onto the couch. “Have a nice time!”

“Thank you, I will.” Fluttershy blurted with a smile, her fingers fidgeting anxiously. “Shall we?” She held out her hands for Pinkie and I to hold and we both gladly did so, walking hand-in-hand back to the sidewalk until Pinkie merrily pranced ahead of us.

“You know, you really should move out of that guy’s house.” I asserted, looking down at Fluttershy and still holding her hand as we walked down the sidewalk.

“But it’s our house.” Fluttershy wrapped a strand of hair around her finger, an obvious nervous habit. “Our parents gave it to the both of us.”

“That may be, but it’s not your things that take up all the space!” I shuddered as I thought about the mess that was Fluttershy’s house, clothes and toys and other unidentifiable objects constantly littering the ground. It was amazing that she didn’t trip constantly. I mean, my house wasn’t much cleaner but I was the only one who lived there. “He’s not the one doing all the cooking, the cleaning, the… DVRing, for some reason?”

“Oh, technology overwhelms him.” Fluttershy muttered and I let out an instinctive sigh. “But he likes his stories. And besides, they’re always on in the afternoons when he takes his naps, so if I didn’t DVR them for him he might miss them or have to choose between them and his naps!”

“Good gracious.” I commented, my tone completely flat. “Look Fluttershy, if you continue to let Zephyr Breeze push you around, he’s just going to take advantage of you forever!”

“No, that’s not true.” Fluttershy protested and squeezed my hand. I could tell she was legitimately upset by it was still cute how tender her grip was. “Zephyr and I love each other, he would never try to take advantage of me! And after all, he’s my brother and it’s completely okay to put up with some of his eccentricities.”

“He doesn’t have to try to take advantage of you, Fluttershy, when you so easily let him! And besides…” I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This conversation, and Fluttershy’s relationship with her brother in general, reminded me of some heavy personal stuff and I didn’t want to get too worked up. “Just because you love someone, and they love you, that doesn’t mean you’re good for each other.”

Fluttershy was quiet for a while and I started drifting off into my own thoughts, thinking about my family and wondering if I missed them at all.

“You could always move in with me!” Pinkie shoved herself in between Fluttershy and I, putting her arms around both of us.

“Um, but Pinkie, you can’t… um…” Fluttershy nervously stammered and tapped her fingers together, trying to find a polite way of phrasing her problem, but I was a lot more blunt.

“Pinkie, you can’t pay your own rent.” I mentioned. Pinkie’s hair briefly lost its poofiness and her eyes became distant for a second before her lights came back on and her hair sprung back to normal.

“Then Fluttershy can live with me until we get kicked out and then we can be box buddies!” She said cheerfully, turning to Fluttershy, who was taken aback but still cautiously amused by Pinkie’s enthusiasm, and grabbing her hands. “Then you can gather up all the alleyway critters like raccoons and bats and squirrels and bears and we can take over this city! Pinkie and Fluttershy, rulers of man and beast!”

“I don’t think that’s going to work, Pinkie.” Fluttershy said with a soft giggle. I decided not to rain on Pinkie’s parade by pointing out that bears don’t live in cities.

“Well, all that aside,” I cleared my throat, thinking that it might be good to change the subject “Pinkie says you’re interested in learning Duel Monsters again, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy nodded bashfully, stroking her braid.

“Shhhh!” Pinkie swiftly put her hand over my mouth and her face right up against mine, cheek to cheek, and side-eyed Fluttershy. “She told me that in confidence! You can’t just go around revealing other peoples’ secrets!”

“Pinkie, I was revealing it to herself.” I said, my voice muffled by Pinkie’s hand.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie giggled, taking her hand back and bouncing away. “Carry on then!”

“So what made you change your mind?” I gave my attention back to Fluttershy, more than eager to find out why she decided to start playing again.

“Well, it’s just that…” Fluttershy twiddled her fingers anxiously, staring at the ground instead of looking at me. It was okay though, I had a hard time making eye contact too. “You and Pinkie have so much fun, and I still remember how much fun I used to have before… before people started taking the game too seriously.”

“Yeah, we’ve all been there.” I put my hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder and rubbed up and down with my thumb. “Unfortunately, dealing with jerky players is a part of playing the game sometimes.”

“I know, and that makes me really nervous…” Fluttershy sighed, holding herself and rubbing her arms. She was clearly concerned about this decision but a smile was fighting its way back onto her face. “But… but you guys just get so… lit up about it! And… and… and I want to share that with you guys… again.”

“Well I think that’s great, Fluttershy!” I gave my friend a supportive pat on the shoulder.

“Me too!” Pinkie jumped onto and embraced Fluttershy out of nowhere in a big bear hug, taking the poor girl by surprising and completely knocking the wind out of her.

“It’s just that…” Fluttershy struggled to speak while being crushed by Pinkie but was too polite to tell Pinkie to stop, so I grabbed Pinkie by the hair and pulled her away. “I don’t really remember how to play.”

“Oh that’s easy!” Pinkie said excitedly… I say as if she doesn’t say everything excitedly. “There’s Monsters and Spells and Trap Cards, and you can only Normal Summon once per turn and you have to Tribute Monsters to summon Monsters Level 5 or higher and you can only play Spells on your turn, unless it’s a Quick-Play Spell, and you can only play Traps after they’ve been put face-down on the field for a turn, not to mention Synchro, Fusion and Xyz Monsters which are stored in the Extra Deck and you can summon them by…”

“I think that’s enough of the tutorial, Pinkie.” I laughed into my hand, seeing Fluttershy’s eyes widen unto infinity as she completely failed to grasp any of what Pinkie was saying. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy, it’ll all come back to you as you watch us, promise.” Fluttershy’s sweet smile responding to that was worth her weight in gold.

****

Our local Fillydelphia bookstore was cute and cozy, with dark hardwood floors at the entrance that lead into carpet in the main areas, and of course rows and rows of wonderful, fantastic smelling books! But it wasn’t just the musty book smell that made this place a treat for the nose, because there was a little coffee shop that operated inside the store that filled the air with the mesmerizing aroma of coffee.

There was an area in the center of the store that had been converted into an arena for the Duel Monsters tournament and many excited players and fans were buzzing about getting ready to watch the games, creating a larger crowd inside the store than usual, which was a little overwhelming for Fluttershy and I.

Pinkie’s eyes darted around eagerly as she scanned the crowd looking for something or someone specific, but I didn’t pay it much mind since Pinkie was always eager about something. I gave my focus to Fluttershy instead and wanted to make sure that she was okay in the big crowd.

“Are you going to be alright, Fluttershy?” I grabbed Fluttershy’s hand gently, partly so that she would feel safe and partly so that I would.

“Oh, um, yes.” She said meekly.

“You sure?” I inspected, raising an eyebrow. I could never take Fluttershy’s first yes seriously, because it was almost impossible to tell if she actually meant yes or was just saying it because she thought that’s what I would want to hear.

“Yes Twilight, I think I’ll be okay.” She said with a delightful smile, and now I could tell she was being genuine. “Thank you for your concern, but… I really want to watch you guys play, and besides, with my friends around me I don’t feel so overwhelmed.” I smiled at her kind sentiment and she blushed when she saw my smile of approval, then she looked around. “Speaking of, what happened to Pinkie Pie?”

“HEY GUYS!! OVER HERE!!!” Pinkie’s piercing shriek that sent shockwaves through the bookstore quelled any ambiguity over her location, causing everyone in the store to stop and glare at her.

“Not so loud, Pinkie! They’re like ten feet away!” A raspy woman’s voice chastised Pinkie. It was familiar and I immediately knew in my gut who it belonged to, but I didn’t want to believe it.

“Well I wanted to make sure they heard me.” Pinkie said with a giggle, causing the other woman to sigh.

As Fluttershy and I walked toward the arena and Pinkie I could see the woman she was talking to. She was a lean, muscular and athletic black girl with violet eyes that burned with intense passion. She was wearing a light blue midriff-baring tank-top and dark blue yoga pants that had the curious symbol of a cloud shooting a rainbow-colored lightning bolt on the hip.

The most striking thing about the girl though was her hair. It was shaved all on one side but wild and colorful on the other, it was bright yellow and orange that faded into red, and the long mane that fell behind her was various other shades of the rainbow.

“Rainbow Dash!” I exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?” My surprise quickly became annoyance once a flood of memories came surging back in.

“Twilight?” She said in disgust, stomping her foot and crossing her arms. “Ugh, Pinkie you didn’t tell me she was gonna be here.”

“I know!” Pinkie said with a smile, grabbing Rainbow’s hand and dragging her closer to me, then grabbing my hand. “Because I knew you wouldn’t come if I told you Twilight was gonna be here, but I think it’s about time you two talked through your differences and became friends again!” Pinkie had the biggest, most idiotically naïve grin on her face as she said that, staring at Rainbow, then me, then Rainbow again waiting for one of us to do something, anything, other than just glare at her.

Rainbow Dash and I had been childhood friends. Her and I, Pinkie and Fluttershy, and our other friends Rarity and Applejack, used to all play Duel Monsters together. In fact, it was Rainbow that introduced all of us to the game. But that was a long time ago and we all grew up, and while most of us stayed friends, Rainbow and I argued more and more the older we got until eventually we couldn’t stand each other anymore. I hadn’t seen her in four years.

“As if!” Rainbow exclaimed, defiantly turning her head away from me. “If Twilight’s still the same manipulative, argumentative, controlling jerk that she used to be, then count me out!”

“And if Rainbow’s still the same arrogant, pushy, callous and stubborn jerk that she’s always been,” I practically spit out those last few words “then I don’t want to talk to her either!”

Rainbow and I both turned away from each other and I could feel my anger and bitterness burning a hole inside me. I wondered which of us was going to cave and storm out of here first, and to be honest I was pretty sure it was going to be me.

“Rainbow, Twilight, please.” Fluttershy begged, standing between Rainbow and I and grasping both of our hands softly. “Can’t you two try to make peace? Talk things out and make amends? Please?” Fluttershy was on the verge of tears and neither Rainbow nor myself could ignore that.

“Fluttershy… I didn’t see you there at first.” Rainbow said quietly. “But look, I… I just can’t. Twilight and I are…”

“Look Rainbow… if Fluttershy and Pinkie’s insistence is anything to go on, it looks like we still have friends in common, and for their sake if nothing else…” I grumbled and rubbed my temples, having a brief flashback to one of my many arguments with Rainbow before forcing it out of my head. “I’m at least willing to try and make peace.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow looked at me with a gleaming grin. “Then prove it!”

“Prove it? How?” I tilted my head.

“With a duel!” Rainbow said as she brandished her Duel Disk, a light blue brick with a screen on it and a wrist strap attached, and attached it to her arm, putting her deck inside it.

“A duel?” I asked flatly. “How is that going to solve anything?”

“Are you kidding?!” Pinkie yelled, bouncing up and down as always. “A duel is a great idea! You guys can reminisce and play cards and work out your aggression and have fun and admire each other’s cool decks and-”

“Pinkie could go on for like another hour, Twilight.” Rainbow snickered. “You in?”

I folded my arms and grimaced thoughtfully, closing my eyes and tilting my head up as I considered the challenge. It wouldn’t be a bad idea honestly, it would give me some good practice before the tournament matches start and it might be a way for Rainbow and I to communicate without using words, if that makes sense. On the other hand though, I knew how competitive Rainbow could get and she was a sore loser, and to be completely honest so was I.

“I think a duel would be a wonderful idea, Twilight.” Fluttershy’s demure voice broke my concentration. “I mean, I’m trying to get back into the game and what better way to start than by seeing a duel between my two friends, especially since Rainbow’s the one who introduced me to it in the first place.”

“Yeah, Twilight!” Rainbow gave me a playful shove and an even bigger grin. “How could you deny Fluttershy this once in a lifetime opportunity?”

“Yeah, Twilight! What she said!” Pinkie grabbed my shoulder and started shaking me. “Duel! Duel! Duel! Duel!” Pinkie started chanting, and Fluttershy (quietly) followed suit, and soon we had gathered a small crowd around us of random people all chanting for Rainbow and I to duel. There was no backing out of it now, but I couldn’t say I minded all that much.

“Fine.” I released a soft sigh and then donned my own confident grin, getting out my lavender Duel Disk and putting my deck into it. “Rainbow Dash, I accept your challenge! It’s time to duel!”

-DUEL!-

Twilight Sparkle vs. Rainbow Dash

Rainbow and I walked into the arena, standing on opposite ends as the duel began, both of us starting with 4000 Life Points each and five cards in our hands. We activated our Duel Disks, a tray of solid light appearing out of each of them for us to put our cards on.

“I’ll go first,” Rainbow flicked her hair back “since I’m the coolest one here.”

“Sure.” I just rolled my eyes.

“I’ll summon Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger!” Rainbow exclaimed as her beast hit the field, a beautiful white tiger with a sharp horn and even sharper fangs. “And I’ll equip it with this sweet Spell card, Crystal Release, which raises my Monster’s ATK by 800!” Topaz Tiger was bathed in a rainbow colored aura and its ATK went from 1600 to 2400. “Beat that, Twilight!”

“I’ll try my best.” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

While formidable, Rainbow’s 2400 ATK Monster wasn’t much of a threat to me.

I started my turn by drawing a card, and then summoned my own Monster, calling out its name. “Strength of Prophecy!” A red haired magician clad in red robes with light black armor, wielding a mace with a giant lion’s head appeared on the battlefield, but with only 1500 ATK it was no match for Topaz Tiger, at least not alone.

“Now I’ll activate my Spellbook of Power!” I said proudly, playing a Spell card that gave my magician a bright red book in her hand that glowed with a glimmering magical aura. “Spellbook of Power raises my Strength’s ATK by 1000! Plus, I can activate Strength’s Effect, which lets me put a Spellbook card from my graveyard back into the deck to give her another 500 ATK!”

I could see the look of annoyed realization on Rainbow’s face as my move gave me the upper hand. My Strength of Prophecy shone in a radiant red light, her hair billowing in a powerful wind as she was surrounded by all this magical energy, her ATK increasing to 3000!

“Now attack that Topaz Tiger!” At my behest, my magician leapt into the air and swung her mace down on the tiger, shattering it into pieces. The difference between my Strength’s ATK and the Tiger’s ATK would be taken out of Rainbow’s Life Points, in this case 600 which meant Rainbow’s Life was left at 3400.

“Not bad, Twilight!” Rainbow sneered. “But my Topaz Tiger’s special ability allows it to turn into a gem and get placed in my Spell\Trap zone instead of being destroyed!” True to Rainbow’s words the tiger became a bright yellow crystal that rested in the air beside Rainbow. “Not only that, but when Crystal Release is sent to the graveyard, like when the monster it’s equipped to gets destroyed for instance, I can put another Crystal Beast from my deck into my Spell\Trap zone!”

Another gem materialized next to the topaz, this one a bright blue stone.

“Well I get to activate an Effect too, Rainbow.” I said, watching as the red book in my monster’s hand began to glow again. “When a monster affected with the Spellbook of Power destroys a monster, I get to add another Spellbook card from my deck to my hand, and I choose Spellbook of the Master.”

“That’s great, Twilight, but just remember that the effect of your Spellbook of Power wears off after this turn’s over, so your monster’s gonna lose 1000 ATK!” Rainbow explained smugly, as if I didn’t know what my own card did.

“Rrrright.” I said, trying not to roll my eyes so hard they fell out of my head. “That’s fine, I don’t even need the power boost anymore. My turn is over.” Just like Rainbow said, the bright red aura enveloping my magician dissipated once my turn ended, reducing Strength of Prophecy’s ATK to 2000. The 500 point boost she received from her own Effect though was permanent.

“Now it’s time to dash that thing out of existence!” Rainbow said with a satisfied smirk, drawing her card very melodramatically. “My turn!”

“Rainbow, if you don’t mind my asking,” I said tepidly, anxiously tapping my foot on the ground “why the change in decks? This deck isn’t like the one you used to use at all.”

“W-well, whatever.” Rainbow stammered defensively. “What difference does it make? Everybody changes decks.”

“I haven’t.” I said. “I’ve been using my magician cards since I was like five. And you adored your old deck. You always went on and on about how great it was and how much you loved it. So what happened?”

“I, I just like to try new things, alright?” Rainbow snapped.

“That sounds legit!” Pinkie yelled from the sidelines.

“Hey, no one asked the peanut gallery!” Rainbow yelled, Pinkie giggling at her obvious annoyance.

“The girlfriend put you up to it?” I ventured with a disgruntled scowl. “She not like your old deck?”

“She… hey, shut up!” Rainbow’s tone was harsh and abrasive and her cheeks were bright red. Clearly I had hit a nerve, but then again, arguments about Rainbow’s terrible girlfriend were the thing that really drove the wedge into our friendship in the first place. “The gf really likes gems and stuff, so I thought these cards would make her take an interest in Duel Monsters!”

“Did it work?” I asked listlessly, expecting an obvious answer.

“Um, no.” And Rainbow delivered. “Look, whatever! That’s not what matters right now! What matters is that I’m gonna clean your clock!” Rainbow took a serious look at her hand for a moment before smiling devilishly. “Yeah! And I’m gonna beat you into the ground on this turn!”

“Go ahead and try it.” I boasted.

“First I’ll activate Rare Value!” Rainbow exclaimed. “This allows you to choose one of my gems and send it to the graveyard, but then I can draw two cards!”

“Uh, the yellow one I guess.” I said, pointing at her topaz.

“Fair enough.” Rainbow drew her cards as her topaz shattered but then sported a devilish grin. “I summon Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus!” Rainbow summoned her monster, a glistening white Pegasus with brilliant gold wings and a horn made from pure sapphire. “Its ability allows me to put yet another Crystal Beast onto my Spell\Trap zone!” Sure enough, a shiny purple gem materialized in Rainbow’s backrow.

“Good gracious.” I said with faux concern.

“Laugh it up now Twilight, but this next card’s gonna…” Rainbow paused to think of something clever to say “…help me win!” She didn’t succeed. “I activate another Rare Value!”

“Wow, I’m really impressed.” I shrugged and batted my hand limply at Rainbow’s purple stone. “I guess I’ll pick the purple gem this time.”

“Awesome, now I’ll draw two cards and activate my Crystal Blessing!” Rainbow bellowed, sliding the card into the Spell\Trap slot on the tray. “This lets me put my Topaz Tiger and Amethyst Cat back onto my field as Spell cards! Not only that, but I’m gonna use this Crystal Beacon card to summon an Amber Mammoth from my deck!” Rainbow’s Mammoth was a big doofy gray elephant with coiffed white hair, two sets of tusks and an orange gem on its forehead, and with only 1700 ATK it wasn’t exactly a force to be reckoned with.

“I’m shaking.” I muttered.

“You should be, cuz my Pegasus is attacking your Strength!” Rainbow said proudly. The crowd gasped and I just arched an eyebrow because Rainbow’s Pegasus had 1800 ATK, compared to my Strength’s 2000. I half expected Rainbow to pull some crazy stunt to turn the attack in her favor, but my magician swung her staff at Rainbow’s charging Pegasus, smashing it into pieces and dropping Rainbow’s Life to 3200.

“Why. Why did you even?” I asked incredulously.

“All a part of my master plan, Twilight!” Rainbow congratulated herself as her Pegasus became a blue gem on her backline alongside her other three gems. “Because now that I have four Crystal Beasts in my Spell\Trap zone, I can play this! Crystal Abundance!”

“That card destroys all the cards on the field!” I gasped, but then I held my mouth open in stunned silence once I realized something. “But you have to tribute your four Crystal Beasts to do it, and the only card on my field is my one magician.”

Rainbow said nothing, only having a confident smile on her face like always, as her Spell card did its work. The four gems on her field coalesced and became one, then turned into a roaring rainbow flood that washed my magician and her mammoth away, and I couldn’t help but cringe as my monster was destroyed.

“Now since I took out one of your monsters with that card, I get to summon one Crystal Beast monster from my graveyard,” Rainbow explained “and I choose Sapphire Pegasus again!” Rainbow’s Pegasus returned in beautiful fashion, spreading its golden wings and realizing yet another gem, this one a shiny green, on Rainbow’s field.

“Still waiting for the part where I’m supposed to be blown away.” I said.

“I’m not done yet, Twilight!” Rainbow exclaimed, thrusting her fist at me. “I’m gonna activate my Foolish Burial, sending my Ruby Carbuncle from my deck to the graveyard, which puts all the pieces into place!”

“What pieces?” I asked, my eyes widening as I realized what she meant. “You have all seven Crystal Beasts on the field or in your graveyard now, don’t you?”

“That’s right!” Rainbow grinned from ear to ear. “Which allows me to summon the awesome, super cool, mega rad, ultra amazing and spectacular… Rainbow Dragon!”  The Rainbow Dragon was a giant serpentine dragon, gems of every conceivable color adorning its sleek white body and huge feathery wings stretching proudly outward from its back. Its horned maw roared at my empty field, ready to bite down on my Life Points with its awe-inspiring 4000 ATK… except for one thing.

“You already ended your Battle Phase.” I said drolly, slapping my own forehead. “You can’t attack me with the Rainbow Dragon this turn.”

“R-right, yeah.” Rainbow blushed and looked nonchalantly over to the side. “I knew that.” And with her hand now empty, there was nothing for Rainbow to do except end her turn. “Alright, my turn’s over… But next turn! Next turn I knock you out!”

“Unfortunately, Rainbow…” I scoffed as I drew my card very overdramatically. “There won’t be a next turn.” I took a look at my hand, gauging whether or not I could actually follow through on my claim. Turns out, if I played this just right, I could absolutely end things on this turn.

“Yeah?” Rainbow laughed. “If you think you’re so tough, then bring it on!”

“If you insist.” I smiled. After doing a little quick math in my head, I had my move planned out. Go from Magician to High Priestess to Eternity to Power to Master and then BAM! The game was mine. Now just to pull it off! “I summon Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, whose Effect allows me to add Spellbook of Power from my deck to my hand!” This magician was much younger looking than Strength, lethargic and bored with a big floppy blue wizard hat and a blue robe that almost looked like pajamas. That said, Magician’s ATK was a measly 500 so I needed to give him some backup and fast.

“Wow, now I’m shaking.” Rainbow said mockingly.

“You will be after I reveal three Spellbook cards in my hand to Special Summon my High Priestess of Prophecy!” I said, showing Rainbow the three Spellbook cards ‘Eternity’, ‘Master’ and ‘Power’.

My High Priestess appeared on the field in a dazzling shimmer of light. She had wild pink hair and a majestic, wise and calm air about her. She wore sleek form-fitting white clothes that bared her shoulders, with gloves that reached her forearms, and a cute white witch hat. But with only 2500 ATK she was no match for Rainbow Dragon, at least not in terms of combat. However…

“First I’ll give my High Priestess a boost with… this!” I showed off my Spellbook of Power. “I’m sure you remember how it works.” The red glow of the Spellbook washed over my Priestess, raising her ATK to 3500.

“But that’s not all!” I announced. “Now I’ll activate Spellbook of the Master, which copies the power of one Spellbook in my graveyard, and I bet you know which one I’m using!”

A black book fell into the hands of my Priestess, showering her with a black glow that soon shone red as it copied the Spellbook of Power, raising her ATK to 4500.

“Next I’ll activate her Effect!” I said dramatically, pointing at Rainbow’s dragon. “By banishing the Spellbook of Power in my graveyard, I can destroy your Rainbow Dragon!” My Priestess charged up a spell, creating a glowing red fireball in her hands before shooting it at the dragon and shattering it into pieces.

“W-what?!” Rainbow called out in shock. “How did you take out my dragon so easily?!”

“Rainbow Dragon doesn’t have any built-in defenses.” I chortled. “So taking it out isn’t that difficult with a card Effect. Honestly, the thing’s a little impractical.”

“Whatever.” Rainbow said in a huff, crossing her arms. “You still don’t have enough points to take out all my Life Points.”

“Don’t I, though?” I asked haughtily. Rainbow looked at my field and reacted with shock. She was focused on my 4500 ATK Priestess and forgot about my 500 ATK Magician, which was just as valuable to my strategy. “Now my Priestess, attack Rainbow’s Pegasus!”

High Priestess formed a glowing red spear in her hand that she threw into Sapphire Pegasus, destroying it instantly. Rainbow’s Life was reduced to 500.

“Gee it looks like you only have 500 Life left, Rainbow.” I said with a coy smirk, putting my pinky finger in front of my lips. I didn’t need to point out that my Magician’s ATK was 500 and that he now had a clear shot at Rainbow’s Life.

“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Just get it over with, egghead.”

“My pleasure.” I said. “Magician, attack Rainbow directly!” My Magician of Prophecy formed a ball of water in his little hand, limply throwing it at Rainbow and reducing her Life Points to 0.

“The winner is Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie screamed. “Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!”

Soon the whole crowd was chanting my name and it made me blush. I looked over at Rainbow who was trying not to smile even though she lost. I expected her to get mad, but she almost looked happy that I won.

“Good game, Twilight.” Rainbow walked over to me and extended her hand.

“Good game, Rainbow.” I said as I shook her hand, smiling like a goof.

“Wow that was amazing you guys!” Pinkie yelled excitedly as she charged at me and Rainbow, smothering both of us in a group hug. “Twilight was all like bam! And then Rainbow was like kaboom! Then Twilight was like kablowie! It was so cool!” She said, bouncing up and down and punching at the air.

“It was really fun to watch.” Fluttershy added, brushing some hair out of her face.

“It’s honestly been a long time since I had a duel that fun.” I said with a smile. “We should… do it again sometime?”

“Yeah. 100%.” Rainbow laughed, playfully hitting me on the shoulder. “Maybe next time I’ll be able to actually do some damage!”

“Against me? I don’t think so.” I scoffed, Rainbow laughing at my joke.

A moment of awkward silence passed before Rainbow said “Look, it was nice seeing you guys again, but I guess I should hit the road.” Without another word or even giving me or the other girls a chance to speak up, Rainbow dashed past me and headed for the door, Pinkie and Fluttershy looking expectantly at me. I sighed and ran after Rainbow.

“Wait, hold on.” I caught up to her on the hardwood entryway and lightly grabbed her forearm. “Do you want to get lunch this afternoon? We could… we could catch up?” I said with a big smile that I forced on my face.

“That sounds…” Rainbow looked at me skeptically, crossing her arms and frowning. I was starting to feel really awkward and vulnerable, like I wanted to kick Rainbow in the shin and run away or something, just to get the pressure off. Rainbow looked back at Pinkie and Fluttershy, causing me to look back at them too as they made enthusiastic supportive gestures. “That sounds awesome. I’m totally down for that.” She said with a smile, patting me on the shoulder as I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fantastic!” I cheered, extending my hand to Rainbow. “2:00 sound good? The Taco Town down the street from here?”

“Heck yeah!” Rainbow firmly clasped my hand. “Who can say no to Taco Town?”

“My thoughts exactly.” I couldn’t help but beam. I had no idea, but seeing Rainbow again in so long made me realize how much I missed her. We had a lot of arguments that turned into ugly fights but… I missed her. I missed all the adventures and laughter we used to share. “I’ll see you then.”

I needed to make things right this time.
> 02. Bubble Burster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-PINKIE PIE-

Sweat beat down my brow as I stepped into the arena, sizing up my opponent on the other side. He was a dark-brown skinned boy, looked only a few years younger than me, with red hair and one of those super cool propeller beanies. He was cute… but that just meant he was trouble!

I looked to my left and saw my good friends Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle cheering me on from the stands. As much as I appreciated their support, this duel was something I had to do on my own… a burden nobody else could carry but me.

But as I watched my opponent prepare his Duel Disk, I couldn’t help but notice one small thing… he was super goshdang cute!!! I could tell he was a new player cuz the way he was fuddling about with his cards reminded me exactly of how I used to be! So nervous!

“Have fun!” I said cheerfully, hoping to make him feel a little more comfortable. Judging by his smile and salute, I’d say I succeeded!

DUEL!

Pinkie Pie vs. Button Mash!

I drew my five cards to start the duel. They were good cards… I mean, I didn’t put any ‘bad’ cards in my deck, that would just be silly. Ahem, my point is… I needed to start this match off on the right foot.

“I summon Performapal Salutiger!” I exclaimed, summoning my mighty beast. He was a bipedal tiger… and he was saluting. He wore a soldier’s uniform (which was super cute! It had big tassel-y shoulder pads and he had a big tall red hat and a bunch of medals on him and pointy shoes and… eh never mind, I’m getting off track). Point is, with his 1700 ATK I was hoping he could stand up to whatever my opponent played on their turn.

Button Mash drew a card and studied each card in his hand intensively, no doubt rigorously thinking through strategies in his head. “I play a monster in face-down defense mode and two face-down cards.” He said, his voice soft, yet cool and confident at the same time. “Then I’ll activate Gravekeeper’s Servant. Now I give you back the floor, Pinkie.” Gravekeeper’s Servant, an interesting choice. A continuous Spell card that forced me to discard the top card of my deck every time my monsters declared an attack. Interesting.

“I’ll summon Performapal Handsome Liger!” I said with conviction. But before my monster could even hit the field, it immediately plummeted into a hole and was destroyed. Button Mash activated one of his face-down cards.

“My Bottomless Trap Hole destroys your monster as soon as it’s summoned.” He said with a coy smirk. Not bad, but now he only had one face-down card left. “Not only that, but I activate my Coffin Seller! From now on, as long as this Trap card is face-up on the field, you’ll lose 300 Life Points every time one or more of your monsters goes to the graveyard!” Ah, now I see. Using Coffin Seller and Gravekeeper’s Servant he plans to punish my attacks and take me out with chip damage! Well I’m not afraid of that!

“Then I guess I’ll just have to go on the offensive!” I thrust my fist forward to show how not afraid I was! “Salutiger, attack that defense monster!” After I discarded the top card of my deck thanks to Gravekeeper’s Servant (thankfully it wasn’t a monster!), my tiger slashed through Button Mash’s pitiful protector with his powerful paws and pummeled it into paste. However, it looked like that was Button Mash’s plan in the first place!

“When you destroyed my Danipon,” Button Mash said haughtily “its effect allows me to add one Insect-Type Monster with 1500 or less DEF from my deck to my hand, and I choose Aztekipede, the Worm Warrior!”

“Not bad, Button Mash. But my monster has an effect too!” I said proudly, pounding myself on the chest. “I can add a Performapal Monster from my deck to my hand, as long as it’s a Pendulum Monster! And I choose…” I looked through my deck of delightful darlings to find the perfect Performapal to power up my position. “Performapal Lizardraw!” And with that, I ended my turn, confident that my crew could stem the tide of my opponent’s assault!

“Now it’s my turn…” Button Mash said serenely, a sinister smirk sneaking on his… face. I ran out of alliteration… but only for now! “And I banish the Danipon from my graveyard to Special Summon Aztekipede, the Worm Warrior!” Aztekipede was a super cool blue and green centipede monster with giant teeth ready to chomp down on my unsuspecting monsters! “Not only that, but I’ll use my Normal Summon for this turn to summon Armored Bee!” Armored Bee was… well he was really just a big bee with a metal coat on his wings and face and stuff. Pretty self-explanatory, really.

“Ok, so what’s your big scary bug army gonna do?” I asked teasingly, measuring up the opposing forces. I may have been acting cavalier but Aztekipede’s 1900 ATK was gonna tear right through my tiger, leaving me wide open to the 1600 ATK of Armored Bee.

“My Armored Bee’s effect!” Button Mash declared, outstretching his hand to convey his confidence. “It cuts the ATK of your Salutiger in half!” I couldn’t help but think to myself at a time like this… that this was really bad! “Aztekipede, attack Salutiger!” Button Mash’s Worm Warrior wound its way to my worried tiger, wrapping it in its terrifying tail and chomping down with its mesmerizing mandibles, destroying my funny feline (and also reducing my Life Points from 4000 to 2950). “And don’t forget about the effect of my Coffin Seller, now that your monster’s in the graveyard!” (Make that 2650).

“Is that all ya got?!” I stuck out my tongue and pulled down on my eyelid to show my bold buoyant brazenness. But as it turns out, nope! That was not all he’d got!

“No actually.” Button Mash said coolly, flicking his hair back. “My Aztekipede sends the top card of your deck to the graveyard whenever its attack deals damage to you.” Not good! I sent the top card of my deck to the graveyard and cringed when I saw it was Performapal Momoncarpet, a monster, and took another 300 damage from Coffin Seller (leaving me at 2350). “Not only that, but my Armored Bee can now attack you directly!”

Button’s buzzing beast came at me with the speed of a sonic boom! Its insidious incision into my abdomen with its sinister spear making me groan in agony (after all, when you’re really invested in a game with lifelike holograms, sometimes it can feel a little too real) and reducing my Life Points to a mere 750! But no need to worry! Pinkie Pie wasn’t about to lose to a bunch of bugs! “And after I set one more card, now it’s your turn.” Button Mash said, bowing graciously as he passed the baton.

“Alright! My turn! Time for Pinkie Pie’s patented powerful comeback of power!” I clamored as I drew Bubble Barrier, a really good card. “And I’m gonna set up something really nifty! With my Scale 1 Performapal Gumgumouton and my Scale 6 Performapal Lizardraw, I set the Pendulum!” My amazing monsters appeared in columns of light beside me, Gumgumouton (a super silly stack of sleepy sheepies whose fleece were made up of gummy gumdrops!) was on my left and Lizardraw (a super dapper orange lizard with a top hat!) on my right.

Even though they were Monsters, because they were Pendulums I could put them on my Pendulum Zones as Spell cards and as long as I controlled them both, I could Special Summon monsters from my hand whose Levels were between their Scales, in this case I could summon monsters from Levels 2-5!

“So you finally played your Pendulum cards.” Button Mash said with a grin. He was up to something, and I suddenly had a bad feeling about his face-down card. Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

“I’ll Pendulum Summon my Performapals Bowhopper and Secondonkey!” No sooner do my grand grasshopper and dandy donkey appear on the field in a blaze of glory are they snuffed out by a sudden strike of lightning, evaporating the two beasts before my very eyes, leaving me staring, mouth agape, in stunned silence.

“I’m afraid you won’t be Pendulum Summoning just yet.” Button Mash laughed heartily, looking over the smoking ruins of my monster-free field with pride and amusement. “My Solemn Warning Trap card negates your summon and destroys your Monsters, albeit at the cost of 2000 Life Points. But I think it’s worth it, especially since your monsters are sent to the graveyard and you take another 300 damage.” That maneuver left Button Mash’s Life at 2000 and mine at 450.

“This duel isn’t over just yet!” I was talking pretty big but I had to be careful how I played this next move. One wrong card and I was a gonner. I couldn’t afford for even two more monsters to go to the graveyard or else it was game over! Fortunately, I had a plan! “I’ll summon a monster in face-down defense, and I’ll further that defensiveness with my awesome Bubble Barrier!” How could you not love Bubble Barrier? It was a protective shield… made of bubbles! So rad! Plus, it kept all my Performapal Monsters safe from harm once per turn as long as it stayed on the field! “Your turn!”

“If you think strengthening your defenses will save you, I’m sorry to say you’re mistaken.” Button Mash said with a grin. He was confident, and rightfully so. Anyone watching would say he had the advantage… but I was determined to win this!

“I Tribute my Armored Bee, sending it to the graveyard in order to summon Saber Beetle!” Button Mash’s Bee turned into a shiny ball of light and made way for a big scary beetle with a MASSIVE horn on its shield-like head that glowed with white lightning (plus it had a whopping 2400 ATK!). “Not only that, but after I activate my Foolish Burial to send a Monster from my deck to the graveyard, I can banish the two Insect Monsters in my graveyard to summon Doom Dozer!” Doom Dozer was another centipede creature. It looked just like Aztekipede only it was black and red, and also way bigger and nastier, complete with 2800 ATK. “How do you feel, Pinkie? Are you prepared to lose?”

“Nope! Not at all actually!” I said with a cheerful wink. “If you think your big bad bugs can take me down, then go ahead and try! I’m ready to turn this thing around!”

“I like your bluster, Pinkie.” Button Mash said with a laugh. “But this duel is over! Saber Beetle’s Effect allows it to deal Battle Damage even when attacking a defense monster! Saber Beetle, attack her face-down card!”

Saber Beetle charged furiously at my mysterious defense monster, ramming its lightning horn straight into the card, only to be stopped by a barrage of bouncing bubbles.

“Sorry, Button Mash!” I started giggling and even snorted as the Bubble Barrier came into play, covering my field with a wall of star-filled bubbles. “My Bubble Barrier protects my Performapals once per turn from battle, which means I’m safe! Not only that, but I don’t take any damage from battles involving my Performapals as long as it’s there!”

“Not bad, Pinkie.” Button Mash said with a proud smile, but I could tell he was a little mad. Even though I defended myself this time, my defending monster, Performapal Parrotrio, was now revealed and as cute as a trio of bowtie-clad singing birds was, their 500 DEF wasn’t gonna hold up to Button Mash’s other two monsters. “Alright Aztekipede, now it’s your turn!”

Button Mash’s Aztekipede charged my Parrotrio but were once again deterred, this time by a big delicious gummy shield!

“Sorry again, Button Mash!” I couldn’t stop laughing as my silly defenses kept getting in the way of Button Mash’s attacks! “My Gumgumouton’s Pendulum Effect allows me to save one of my monsters from battle one per turn!” The cool thing about Pendulum Monsters is that they have super unique Effects while they’re acting as monsters or when they’re acting as Spell cards! So good!

“That may be, but now you’ve run out of defensive tricks!” Button Mash said with a sneer! He was getting serious now! “Doom Dozer, attack those birds!”

Doom Dozer’s attack succeeded, tearing through my party of parrots in no time with its vicious jaws. That said, I still had the upper hand.

“Good news, everyone!” I said, addressing the crowd. “I don’t take any damage from Coffin Seller, since my Parrotrio was a Pendulum Monster! Pendulum Monsters are put face-up in the Extra Deck when they’re destroyed instead of going to the graveyard!”

“I think we all know how Pendulums work, Pinkie!” Twilight said from the stands.

“Actually, I appreciate the explanation.” Fluttershy responded. I heard Twilight sigh but the two girls made me laugh.

“But not only that, Parrotrio’s Effect activates when it’s destroyed by battle, allowing me to Special Summon a non-Pendulum Performapal Monster from my deck! And I choose Longphone Bull!” Longphone Bull was a goofy blue minotaur dressed like a hotel bellhop with a big telephone on his head where horns should be (what a cutie!) “Longphone Bull’s Effect also allows me to add another non-Pendulum Performapal from my deck to my hand, and I choose Stamp Turtle!” I said, waving the card around to show Button Mash and the audience.

“I guess my turn is finished.” Button Mash shrugged. “I’m impressed by how you weathered my attacks, Pinkie, but do you honestly think that a turtle and a telephone can defeat my awesome army of bugs?”

“Yup!” I nodded happily, Button Mash letting out a quick laugh.

“I’m eager to see it.” Button Mash said with a polite smile.

“I’ll be happy to show you! And to do that, I’ll start by summoning my Stamp Turtle!” Stamp Turtle was a cute little old man turtle clad in a bowtie and tophat, holding a stampy thingy! “His Effect allows me to raise the levels of two of my Monsters by one, turning my Level 4 Longphone Bull and Stamp Turtle into level 5 Monsters! And you know what that means!”

“Xyz Summon…” Button Mash said under his breath, the unease and dread in his voice a clear sign that he knew he was about to lose.

“That’s right!” I turned to the crowd, my arms open wide. “Ladies! And! Gentlemen! Please witness the amazing, spectacular, super terrific grand finale I’m about to show you today!”

“This is only the first duel of the day!” Some naysayer yelled back from the audience, but I decided to politely ignore him.

“Using my Level 5 Monsters, I’ll open the Overlay Network!” I clenched my hand into a fist and punched toward my monsters. “Longphone Bull! Stamp Turtle! Overlay! Using these monsters I’ll Xyz Summon the awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, totally fantasticariffic… Volcasaurus!”

Volcasaurus… one of my ace Monsters. He was a big scary red dinosaur with gold armor and massive claws, covered in glowing orange magma spikes and lava bursting forth from his maw. He was an Xyz Monster, which meant the two monsters used as his Summoning Materials are attached to him as Energy cards, and I can detach them and send them to the graveyard to activate his powerful Effect!

“I’ll detach one Energy card from Volcasaurus to use his Effect!” When I detach an Energy card it goes to the graveyard, which meant I took another 300 damage from Coffin Seller, but that still left me with 150 Life! Like a real hero! “I can target one of Button Mash’s big scary bug Monsters and Volcasaurus will destroy it, inflicting damage to him equal to that monster’s ATK!”

“That’s… not good.” Button Mash said with dismay, realizing that his Doom Dozer had more ATK than he had Life.

“No sir, it definitely is not!” I said with a beaming smile as I snatched victory from the jaws of defeat! And feet don’t even have jaws! Unless you’re holding a copy of the movie Jaws in your feet but that’d be silly cuz you could just hold it with your hands! “Volcasaurus, let’s win this thang!” Volcasaurus opened his monstrous maw and shot forth a giant ball of molten magma, obliterating Doom Dozer with a single hit in a fiery explosion that wiped Button Mash’s Life Points right down to 0!

“The winner is Pinkie Pie!” The announcer yelled, filling me with joy and pride and other awesome feelings!

“Good game, Pinkie.” Button Mash said, shaking my hand.

“You too! That was a real close one!” I happily replied.

“Good luck in the rest of the tournament.” Button Mash said as he headed out of the arena.

“Thank you so much!” I said as I waved goodbye to him.

That was a real nailbiter… but I did it! I hoped the rest of the crowd got as worked up as I did, but either way I felt super proud of myself!

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

“Well done, Pinkie.” I congratulated Pinkie Pie as Fluttershy and I approached her while she was exiting the arena. “That was a good match.”

“Did you see me cheering you on?” Fluttershy asked bashfully, clasping her hands together in front of her. “I was cheering very quietly, but very passionately!”

“I did see you, and I appreciate it.” Pinkie said, wrapping her arm around Fluttershy and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “And thanks, Twilight. I think that duel really got the crowd pumped up at the end! A perfect test of my Entertainment Dueling specialty!”

“Pinkie…” I looked around at the crowd, some of whom were chatting amongst themselves and looked pretty excited but most were just on cell phones or talking with each other while looking kinda bored. “I’m not sure that Entertainment Dueling is going to become a thing.”

“You bite your tongue, Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie stuck out her tongue playfully and pointed her finger dramatically right at my nose.

“I’m just saying, I still don’t exactly know what makes ‘Entertainment Dueling’ different than regular dueling.” I continued.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy nagged me, gently tugging on the sleeve of my sweater.

“Like, aren’t duels supposed to be entertaining on their own?” I proclaimed. “So how is ‘Entertainment Dueling’ supposed to work?”

“It’s still a work in progress.” Pinkie smiled nervously and I could tell her posture had stiffened some but I elected to ignore that because I am a brain genius. “But, it’s something that I’m gonna make and popularize and everyone’s gonna love it! Just you wait and see!”

“I’m just not sure I see any future in it is all.” I shrugged.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy implored, her tugging at my sleeve getting a little more forceful.

“And after all, you don’t exactly have the best record of follow-through on your big grand ideas.” I rambled. “Remember when you were gonna run a hotdog cart? Or make a rap album? Or open a coffee bar to write screenplays in?”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy’s frantic shout immediately caught my attention with a jolt. Whenever Fluttershy raised her voice you knew the situation was serious. I turned to look at her and I could see her normally peaceful eyes glaring at me harshly. I wasn’t sure why she was suddenly mad until I turned back to look at Pinkie, who was shaking with her fists clenched and looking on the verge of tears, and suddenly I realized the immense insensitivity of my words and my own callousness hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Pinkie, I’m-” Before I could apologize I was cut off by Pinkie.

“I’m sorry we can’t all be as talented as you, Twilight!” She blubbered, wiping away tears that were rapidly filling her eyes. “I’m sorry that some of us have a hard time figuring out what we wanna do in life and that I like to follow whims and stuff and that that makes me a big fat failure!” Pinkie ran off, sobbing heavily while her eyes gushed like broken fire hydrants.

“I-I… I didn’t mean to…” I stuttered, completely taken aback. I had no idea that Pinkie felt that strongly about her failed projects.

“Twilight, you should know better.” Fluttershy’s voice was soft but stern and I couldn’t deny the truth in her words. “Pinkie’s just as sensitive as I am, in her own way.” With that, Fluttershy ran off to chase down Pinkie and make sure she was okay. I stayed behind because I felt that Pinkie might not want to see me right now, and honestly I had no idea what I could’ve said to make her feel better even if she did.

I just stumbled around the bookstore for a few moments before sitting down in a plush chair that was located in a seating area that was nooked into a corner away from the arena. Seeing Pinkie Pie cry was hard enough but making her cry was heartbreaking. I started to feel fire in my stomach and a poison wind in my throat, the onset of one of those ‘I can’t believe I just did that, I wish I was dead’ anxiety attacks.

My brain was burning with guilt and shame and pain and I was starting to quietly hyperventilate, tapping the arm of my chair furiously out of habit. I started to worry that Pinkie might not want to be my friend anymore, or that Fluttershy wouldn’t either, and even worse I started to think maybe that’s what I deserved.

I knew there was only one thing I could do, the only thing I could ever think of to do that helped me in the midst of an anxiety attack. I got out my phone and I texted Applejack.

****

-PINKIE PIE-

“Are you okay, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked, knocking on the door of the bathroom stall I’d barricaded myself inside to cry my eyes out. “Can I come in?”

“Oh yeah, I’m great.” I sputtered through my sobs. “It always feels good to be reminded by one of your best friends that you’re a complete failure! And yeah, you can come in.”

“Um, okay.” Fluttershy noticed that I hadn’t actually unlocked the door for her, but I didn’t notice! So she got on the ground and crawled under the stall. She looked pretty funny as she struggled to get through the gab in the door, which was just big enough for her to fit through, but not big enough for her to like really fit through, and that gave me a good laugh that I needed, which I think she realized because she ended up laughing too as I helped her get inside the stall.

“You’re not a total failure, Pinkie.” Fluttershy took my hand and gently caressed it. “You’re passionate, kind, optimistic, a good friend and a joy to be around. You follow the things that excite you with unwavering enthusiasm and you don’t let obstacles stop you from pursuing the things you care about. I think that’s amazing.”

“Y-you do?” I sniveled, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes and wiping tears out of my own. “You don’t think that I’m like… pathetic?”

“Not at all.” Fluttershy shook her head with a smile on her face, putting her hand on my cheek. “I don’t have a lot to be proud of in my own life, and seeing you doggedly chase after the things that mean a lot to you… it inspires me. It gives me hope, makes me think that maybe it’s not too late for me to pursue my own dreams.”

I could feel like my heart was being squeezed in a big bear hug by all Fluttershy’s kind words and I couldn’t stop the monsoon of tears pouring out of my face, or the big heaving sobs, and I pounced on Fluttershy with a big spine-breaking hug, tackling her to the floor.

“Take it from someone who knows, Pinkie…” Fluttershy said, her voice strained by me crushing her windpipe, but thankfully I realized that I was doing it this time and I let her go with an embarrassed smile. “You’re not a failure, Pinkie. You’re amazing. You are so much more than just your setbacks.”

“So are you, Fluttershy!” I said emphatically, embracing Flutters in another hug. Then I stood to my feet, dragging Fluttershy up with me, and said “I know you have the courage and strength to follow your dreams, because I’ve seen the depth of compassion and nobleness that’s in your heart!”

Fluttershy smiled the sweetest little Fluttershy smile I’d ever seen and her cheeks turned bright pink.

“And honestly,” I was on a roll so I just kept going “if you think that I’m great and all that other super nice stuff you said, it’s only because I have the amazing support of my friends! Without you guys… I dunno where I’d be! Certainly not following my passions so zealously, that’s for sure!” I paused to take a quick breath, and I noticed that Fluttershy was getting a little misty-eyed too, and I sure hoped they were happy tears! “That’s why it hurt my feelings so much when Twilight said all that stuff about me… cuz it’s only thanks to you guys that I have the excitement to keep going after all these crazy ideas that I love so much, so to hear her say that…” I started choking up again.

“Twilight does support you, Pinkie.” Fluttershy said, looking me in the eye for like half a second before she had to avert her gaze cuz, y’know, she’s Fluttershy. “She didn’t mean to be mean to you and she doesn’t think that you’re stupid or a failure, she just sometimes says things without realizing that they may be insensitive. She works real hard at making sure she thinks about her words before saying them, but sometimes she still messes up, like we all do sometimes. I didn’t have time to talk to her because I wanted to make sure you were okay first, but I could see in her face that she was really upset that she made you cry.”

“That’s not good!” I said with a start.

“It’s not?” Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion.

“No! If she’s upset than we’d better go find her and put a smile on her face, like you did for me!”

“I’m glad you say that, I was worried you’d still be mad at Twilight.” Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why would I be mad at Twilight?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“It doesn’t matter.” Fluttershy laughed, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Then let’s go make some amends happen!” I tried to kick the door to the bathroom stall open but it was still locked so all I did was really hurt my foot. I gently unhinged the lock and then tapped the door open with my non-hurt foot, pretending that I kicked it open super dramatically and cool-like. “Tally ho!”

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

As I hover above my phone getting ready to text Applejack, I’m struck by a resounding question.

What do I even say?

“Hey AJ how’re you doing I made Pinkie cry and I’m a horrible person and a horrible friend and I wish I could just crawl into a cave and wither away to nothing! Have a nice day!”

… no, that won’t work at all.

I shook my head vigorously, trying to think of anything better to say but I couldn’t stop thinking about Pinkie’s face, her eyes full of tears, and how it was all my fault. I didn’t mean to make her cry, I didn’t know she was so sensitive about her failed projects.

But why didn’t I know? I’m supposed to be her friend. I should know what’s going to hurt her feelings! But how could I have known? It was basic common sense, obviously! How could I be so stupid? Have I said other things to my friends that have hurt their feelings? Have I accidentally been a jerk to all of my friends? Are they really even my friends or are they all just humoring me because they hate me and are waiting for the opportunity to humiliate me?!

I took a loud wheezing gasp of air, releasing it with a small strained chuckle as I realized my hysterics had drawn the attention of a few of the fellow bookstore patrons.

I needed Applejack’s help but I didn’t know what to say to her so I just texted her a single word.

“APPLEJACK”

Was that good enough? Was that a stupid thing to text her? Is she going to see that? Is she going to know I need help? Is she going to care? What if she’s having a bad day? I shouldn’t be burdening her with my nonsense! Oh no, what if she’s completely miserable and my trying to nag her for help is what pushes her over the edge into some kind of regrettable decision she can’t take back? I can’t ask her for help! I just need to suck it up and face the fact that I have no friends and everyone hates me and I should find that cave to live in and-

Breathe.

I hear my mentor’s voice in my head. It soothes me. I take a deep breath, slowly… in through the nose… and out through the mouth. I’m feeling a little bit calmer now… but I still jump with a yelp as I hear my phone buzz.

Applejack responded to my text, saying “What’s up Twi? How ya doin?”

“I’m not doing so great.” My hands were shaking as I sent my reply. “I made Pinkie cry.” I tended to be a pretty blunt person, I didn’t really get pleasantries all that well, so I just decided to tell Applejack outright why I was texting her, get it out in the open quickly, like a pulling off a bandage.

“How’d ya do that?” She said. “Ya must’ve done something pretty bad to make PINKIE cry!”

“Thanks.” Even though I knew she couldn’t see me, I scowled at Applejack through the phone and I realized that I was squeezing it hard enough to hurt my palms.

Before I could finish texting my actual response, Applejack sent back a quick “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I quickly sent back. “Thank you.” I took another deep breath to get my thoughts in order so I could compose a decent reply. “Anyway, you know this whole ‘entertainment dueling’ thing Pinkie’s trying out? I maaaay have told her I didn’t think it would go anywhere.”

“Aw, Twilight.” I could practically see the facepalm Applejack made as she sent that text. “Why for?”

“I didn’t know it was so important to her.” I stood up and started pacing around the recreation area. No one else was really around, in nearby isles maybe but not in the sitting area itself, so I wouldn’t be bothering anyone. “And it’s not exactly taking off, so I guess I just don’t want her to get her hopes up too high and then be disappointed when it doesn’t go anywhere.”

“Twilight, take it from someone who knows.” I could hear Applejack’s voice, stern but supportive, in my head as I read her texts. “When ur startin out on any kinda project the only things keepin ya goin are ur hopes and the support of ur friends. You sayin you don’t think it’s gonna go anywhere robs Pinkie of both those things.”

“I know.” I groaned wearily and planted my head against the wall as I thought about what to say next. “I mean, I didn’t *know* but I knew that I made a huge mistake saying those things as soon as I saw Pinkie start to cry.”

“Ur a real detective! ;P” Applejack responded.

“Again, thanks. :p” I admit, Applejack’s words made me laugh a little. “I just didn’t understand *why* it was such a big deal to her, but that’s not really what matters, is it?”

“Not really.” AJ said. “When ur friends have stuff in their lives they’re excited about, it’s important to support ‘em, even if you don’t quite understand what’s so excitin urself. But here’s the thing, Twi. I think ur already at that point. I mean, you believe in Pinkie don’t ya?”

“Of course!” I said aloud as I typed it to Applejack.

“I thought so!” AJ said. “So in that case, just say ur sorry for hurtin her feelings. Tell her all the stuff ya told me and remind her that even when you don’t understand her she’ll always be ur friend and have ur support. And then y’know actually support her!”

“I think I can manage that.” I laughed softly and wiped some tears from my eyes, I didn’t even notice that I’d started crying.

“I know ya can, Twi!” AJ replied. “Cuz here’s the thing, I know ur actually a real good friend. Just take my word on this one.”

“I can do that.” I closed my eyes and breathed deeply for a few moments before sending another text, just letting the tears stream down my cheeks. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an apology I need to go make.”

“You do it, Twilight!” AJ said. “Have a great day!”

“Thanks, you too.” And with that, I closed my phone and put it away.

I really did feel better after talking with Applejack, even though she sassed me a bit… actually, I think it’s partly because she sassed me that I felt better. That was something I really admired about her, she always told you what you needed to hear, even if it wasn’t always what you wanted to hear.

As for me, I needed to find Pinkie Pie and make things right. I needed to make sure she knew how important she was to me, and how much I valued our friendship. I was never very good at apologies. Admitting to others that I was in the wrong, that I didn’t know better… it was hard. I had a lot invested in always being the smartest person in the room and when that bubble was burst it was easy for my anxiety to drag me into a downward spiral… but if swallowing my pride was what needed to happen for Pinkie Pie to know that I valued her, then I needed to do it! Anything for my friends!

****

-PINKIE PIE-

When Fluttershy and I got out of the bathroom we saw Twilight headed for that same bathroom at a pretty brisk pace! What are the odds? Anyway, she perked up when she saw us, like anybody would seeing me and\or Fluttershy, and ran over to us, grabbing me by the hands.

“Pinkie I’m so sorry about that stuff I said earlier!” She said frantically, bowing her head. “Just because I don’t understand what you’re trying to do with your Entertainment Dueling doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be supportive! You’re my friend and I care about you and I want you to know that I’m sorry for being an insensitive jerk and not realizing that I was.”

A second passed and I looked at Fluttershy for a second before bursting out laughing, Twilight taking a step back from me and looking at me with blushing cheeks and a puzzled scowl on her face.

“Sorry Twilight, I don’t mean to laugh,” I said through my giggles “but you’re laying it on a little thick, don’tcha think? Of course I forgive you!” I embraced Twilight in a big hug, which she happily reciprocated.

“Thanks… Pinkie…” She said, wiping tears from her face. “So you really forgive me? Even though I said that hurtful stuff?”

“Of course! You’re my friend, duh!” I giggled and smiled like a big goof, but then I got a little moody and I looked away from Twilight. “But I’ll be honest, it does kinda hurt my feelings that you don’t think I can make Entertainment Dueling a success.”

“I don’t think that, Pinkie.” Twilight said earnestly, grabbing my forearms and looking into my eyes, which was pretty neato, because Twilight’s beautiful violet eyes were really pretty to look at and it was a rare treat for her to make eye contact! “I can’t pretend like I understand what Entertainment Dueling is supposed to be, but I do understand you, Pinkie! I know that you’re resourceful, clever, smart, determined and creative! I have complete faith that whatever it is that you really want to do, that you’ll find a way to do it! And no matter what that is, as your friend I want to support you!”

“Even after all the stuff I’ve never been able to work?” I forced a modest smile on my face, even though thinking about all of my failures didn’t really make me feel like smiling.

“Yes, Pinkie.” Twilight said, her own smile shining beautifully. “You’re more than just your setbacks. Everything that you’ve failed to do has taught you and prepared you to chase your next dream, and even if you fail you’ll always get back up again, and that’s something that I find unbelievably admirable. You inspire me to be better than I am, and for that I’ll always think the world of you, Pinkie Pie.”

“I couldn’t do it without the support from my friends.” My cheeks were getting all rosy as my eyes filled up with maximum tearage, my words getting all blubbery and my legs all rubbery. This called for a group hug!

“And you’ll always have my support, no matter what.” It was Twilight who embraced me in a hug this time though and I more than happily returned the favor as I started unelegantly blubbering while an ocean of happy tears spilled forth from my eyeballs! “And Pinkie, keep in mind that if I ever give you guff for not coming through on your projects, I’m in my twenties and all I’ve accomplished is being good at card games.”

“I haven’t done that much either.” Fluttershy added.

“Yay! We’re all losers!” I said with a big laugh, putting an arm around each of my friends, the two of them joining me in my giggles.

I didn’t know how to say it to Twilight cuz I didn’t want to ruin the mood, but she was selling herself too short, just like Fluttershy did. Twilight’s smart and kind and cool and beautiful and creative and just as determined as me and also smart! She had a lot going for her and to have her support for my endeavors, and to have Fluttershy’s, who was also kind and beautiful and amazing and cool, meant the world to me.

I’m the luckiest girl in the whole world to have the best friends.
> 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.
> 04. Sea-ing Clearly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

When I got back from my disastrous coffee date with Rainbow to the arena, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were already celebrating Pinkie’s next win in the tournament.

“There you are, Twilight!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down. “It’s a shame you didn’t get to see my last amazing win! It was a doozy!”

“It was pretty great.” Fluttershy added, brushing some hair from her face.

“I’m sorry I missed it.” I said with a chuckle, trying to sound breezy.

“So how did it go with Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“Well, I think I made her feel like I thought she was stupid so she yelled at me and stormed off.” I sighed, falling onto a bench beside the arena. “So not great.”

“Yikes, that’s pretty terrible.” Pinkie sidled up next to me on the bench. “How’d you manage that?”

“Look, I tried to avoid talking about the girlfriend…” I said tersely.

“Ouch.” Pinkie cringed, Fluttershy adding “Now it makes sense.”

“Did you do that Twilight thing,” Pinkie bobbed back and forth as she spoke, gesticulating with her hands “y’know, the one where you’re like ‘I’m not gonna say anything but I’ll make my feelings of disapproval impossible to ignore!’?”

“Maybe…” I blushed and glanced aside.

“What about that other thing,” Fluttershy added “where Rainbow Dash objects to your opinion and you tell her you understand her opinion, but in a way that’s really condescending and rude?”

“This isn’t helping, you guys.” I bemoaned, covering my face with my hands as my cheeks burned red. “Pinkie, you don’t like Rainbow’s girlfriend any more than I do, but you’ve managed to rekindle a relationship with her. How do you do it?”

“I mainly don’t talk to her about it!” Pinkie shrugged. “We talk about other stuff that we’re both interested in, like candy and pranks and jokes and fun stuff, and on the ever-so-slight occasion that Rainbow does bring up the gf, I just kinda smile and nod and say ‘she sounds nice!’. That way we don’t get into a fight or anything.”

“I… could…” I struggled to get the words out. “I could try that.”

“No you couldn’t.” Fluttershy and Pinkie said in unison, making me hang my head.

“You’re right.” I grumbled and rested my chin on my palm. “I’m not very good at keeping my opinions to myself, am I?”

“Noooooooo.” Pinkie shook her head vivaciously, causing me to sigh in frustration and lean back, nearly throwing myself over the back of the bench. “But hey, maybe we should table this discussion until after you beat Sea Swirl!”

“Oh, right!” I said, springing to my feet. “My next duel is gonna start, I need to get to the arena!”

“It’s okay, Twilight.” Fluttershy put a hand on my shoulder and pointed to the arena that was clearly in view maybe thirty steps in front of us. “We’re not exactly in a different time zone from it.”

“Right.” I chuckled nervously. “Anyway, I had better go win this.” I didn’t feel like I really had my head on straight. Between Rainbow and Cherry Fizzy and now Sea Swirl and the duel, my head felt weighed down by too many things and it was hard to focus.

“Yeah you’d better win!” Pinkie grabbed me in a hug from behind, turning me around faster than I could tell what was happening and grabbing my hands, bouncing up and down with them. “If you win this one, then it’s just gonna be you and me in the finals! You’d better make that happen!”

“I will.” I giggled, amused at Pinkie’s exuberance. It was a nice reprieve. I felt a little jealous of Pinkie Pie, to be honest. She was always able to look at the bright side and find the good in everything. I wished I was like that. Anyway, I pried myself away from her and gave her and Fluttershy a salute and a weak smile as I headed into the arena.

On the other side of the arena from me was a black woman with light blue hair tied up in a ponytail, and wearing a pink tank-top and blue shorts. According to Pinkie her name was Sea Swirl. She looked super confident, wearing a haughty grin on her face, but I didn’t feel the same sense of smugness or animosity from her that I got from Cherry Fizzy.

“Sorry I’m late, Sea Swirl.” I mumbled, fumbling around with my cards as I readied my Duel Disk and deck.

“Don’t worry about it, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “But make no mistake, I’m the one who deserves to get those rare cards.”

“That’s unfortunate,” I said with a smirk, the urge to talk sass at this woman helping to distract me from my worries “because this tournament ends for you right here!”

“Ha! We’ll sea about that!” Sea Swirl said with a bright self-assured smile and a sassy wink. I just rolled my eyes and tried not to laugh at her bad pun.

DUEL!

Twilight Sparkle vs. Sea Swirl!

“I’ll go first, naturally!” Sea Swirl twirled around dramatically as she drew her opening hand, looking at the cards with an assertive sneer. Her self-assuredness radiated from her like warmth from an open oven and I knew right away that she was going to be far more challenging than Cherry Fizzy could have hoped to be. “First I’ll set two face-down cards, and then I’ll activate A Legendary Ocean!”

Sea Swirl’s Field Spell enveloped the playing area in a sudden deluge of water, covering us in an aquatic battlefield. Holographic fish swam by me and I watched in awe as a majestic city of stone rose from the ground behind Sea Swirl, the girl herself knowing full well how cool her card was and responding with the appropriate hubris.

“This card reduces the Levels of all Water-Attribute Monsters on the field and in our hands by 1, plus gives all of them 200 extra ATK!” Sea Swirl said with a satisfied smirk. “Which means I can now summon The Legendary Fisherman without a tribute!” The Legendary Fisherman was a well-muscled bronze-skinned man with an untamed mane of spiky blue hair, brandishing a harpoon and riding atop the back of a blue and white shark.

“The Legendary Fisherman can’t be attacked by your Monsters, or affected by Spell cards, although that unfortunately means he doesn’t receive the 200 ATK buff from A Legendary Ocean. And with that, I’ll graciously end my turn.”

Two face-downs and an 1850 ATK Monster I couldn’t attack. Nothing I couldn’t handle… at least I thought, until I looked at my hand. Strength of Prophecy and Charioteer of Prophecy, both of whom needed Spellbooks in my hand to be useful, and not a Spellbook to be found. Not to mention two Trap cards and a Fusion Spell I couldn’t use right now.

Oh well, I still had a way of turning her Field magic against her. “I’ll summon Chocolate Magician Girl!” My Chocolate Magician Girl was a devil-winged girl in a pointy wizard hat with teal hair that stretched down to her waist, scantily clad in a blue midriff-baring crop top and rocking a miniskirt and knee-high boots that matched. “She’s a Water-Attribute Monster, so your Field’s buff affects her as well!”

“Not if I activate my Forced Back card.” Sea Swirl said with a killer smile, making my eye twitch involuntarily. Forced Back negated my summon and sent Chocolate Magician Girl right back to my hand, but I still wasn’t allowed to Normal Summon another Monster this turn, leaving my field completely open.

“Ooooh… kay.” I grumbled, tapping my foot nervously and preparing myself mentally for a nasty hit next turn. “I’ll lay one card face-down… and it’s your turn, Sea Swirl.” My face-down card was Compulsory Evacuation Device, which would enable me to return one of Sea Swirl’s Monsters to her hand, so it was still a good defense, but having a nearly empty field this early in the game didn’t feel good at all.

“My turn then.” Sea Swirl made cooing eyes at her cards and flamboyantly set one onto the tray. “I think I’ll start by summoning my Elemental Hero Ocean!” Elemental Hero Ocean was a man dressed in a blue full-body aquatic superhero suit, an expressionless mask over his face and a cool sci-fi trident in his hands. He appeared and bowed to Sea Swirl, the duelist doing a curtsy in return before focusing back on me and pointing her fingers. “And thanks to my Field Spell, his ATK is increased to 1700! Now, my Monsters, attack Twilight Sparkle’s Life Points directly!”

“Not so fast!” I said feistily, revealing my trap card. “I activate Compulsor-”

“Trap Stun.” With a dainty flick of her wrist Sea Swirl revealed her own face-down, a card that negated all other Trap Effects during the turn, leaving me looking like a fool with my mouth hanging open in shock. It didn’t help when her Fisherman and her Hero rammed into me, goring me with their spears and taking a massive bite out of my Life, leaving me with only 450 left.

“I can’t…” I fell on my knees, clutching at my sweater collar and breathing heavily. “I can’t believe this…” I was starting to feel overwhelmed and Sea Swirl’s incredible pride in herself did not help matters at all… but then I noticed something; she only had one card in her hand left. She may have gotten a very good head start, but I still had Life left and I was still in this! If I could take out her current forces, it wasn’t likely she could mount a comeback, so it was time for me to turn things around!

I drew my card and smiled as I saw that it was the perfect card to enable me to take control of this duel!

“I summon Aleister the Invoker!” I shouted passionately, feeling very good about my Monster’s ability to help me win this. Aleister himself was a handsome young man with dual colored green and white hair, a diamond staff in one hand and a spell book in the other and covered head to toe in a white and green hooded robe. Also he had glasses, which was very cool. “His ability lets me add an Invocation to my hand from the deck!”

“Not if my Effect Veiler has anything to say about it.” Sea Swirl chuckled merrily, flaunting her card. Effect Veiler was a unique Monster whose Effect could only be activated by discarding it from your hand, and it negated Aleister’s Effect. Veiled it, you might say. And while that was pretty rough, it meant she had nothing left to use but her Fisherman and her Hero, which was perfect. “Now what a shame that you wasted your Normal Summon on a 1000 ATK monster who now has no Effect. A pity, really.” Sea Swirl laughed heartily, assured of her victory, which only made my next play that much more satisfying.

“True, you may have prevented me from searching for an Invocation…” I couldn’t help but form my own smug grin. “But not to worry, I have a spare!” As I proudly showed off the Invocation already in my hand I took a not-insignificant amount of glee from Sea Swirl’s shock and dismay. Invocation was a Fusion card, which allowed me to summon a powerful Fusion Monster by banishing Aleister and sending a Monster in my hand to the graveyard. “I’ll fuse Aleister the Invoker with my Chocolate Magician Girl to summon… Invoked Cocytus!”

A bright red glowing circle filled with mystical runes appeared on the ground around Aleister, who was then showered in bolts of red magical energy. Chocolate Magician Girl arose from the circle and was embraced by Aleister, who raised his staff into the air and the two were struck by one of the bolts, becoming bright blue energy themselves. Their ethereal form swirled around the circle as more of the bolts fired around and inside it until the energy became a surge of liquid, which quickly formed into solid mass as a new creature, a wicked dragon formed of crystalline ice! Invoked Cocytus!

“It’s an impressive wall, Twilight.” Sea Swirl scoffed casually, but I could see she was sweating a little. My Cocytus was summoned in defense mode and, thanks to Sea Swirl’s Field Spell, had a DEF of 3100. Nothing was getting past him. “But you’ll never be able to win by just playing defense.”

“You’re right,” I snickered evilly, grinning ear to ear “but thankfully Cocytus has the unique power to attack while in defense mode!” Judging by Sea Swirl’s gritted teeth and twisted attempt at a forced smile, she didn’t appreciate that at all. “Now my Cocytus, attack Elemental Hero Ocean!”

Cocytus roared and spread its giant thorny wings, leaping through the water surrounding the field and drawing in energy from it to charge a gem in its icy chest. The energy was funneled to the sea beast’s maw and was shot out as a beam of ice that crashed right through the Aquaman-wannabe and destroyed him instantly.

Hero Ocean and Cocytus were both being buffed by the Legendary Ocean, but Cocytus’ 2000 ATK was still higher than her Hero’s 1700 which was enough to damage Sea Swirl and reduce her Life to… 3700. Which… was not going to be good enough. But that’s okay! I had the upper hand now!

“My draw.” Sea Swirl whispered sternly, closing her eyes as she drew her card. She was feeling the pressure and was starting to take this duel more seriously.

“With no cards in your hand, I hope you drew a real lifesaver.” I teasingly wagged my finger at her, feeling ahead enough on board presence to act a little smug. I should probably have known better.

“Oh but of course.” Sea Swirl smiled and put the card up to her lips with her eyes still closed. “My deck can feel the beat of my heart and will provide only the very best for me!” Sea Swirl opened her eyes and they brightened instantly when she saw her card, which was really bad news for me and my 450 Life. “And in this case, the best is The Legendary Fisherman III!”

“The what?!” I exclaimed in shock. I had a bad feeling in my gut that this duel was about to go south in a hurry.

“The Legendary Fisherman III can only be summoned by sacrificing my Legendary Fisherman on the field!” Sea Swirl explained as her first Fisherman disappeared in a shaft of light. “So goodbye friend, and make way for your better!”

The new Fisherman looked similar to the old one but its blue hair became red as it framed his face and shoulders, growing wild to match the man’s feral smile. He traded in his shark for a giant blue dolphin with a red gemstone in its forehead and traded the spear in for a harpoon gun.

“My new and improved Fisherman is completely immune to Spell and Trap cards, and cannot be destroyed by either battle or Monster Effects.” Sea Swirl’s wicked smile matched her creature’s perfectly and I felt a pang of dread in my gut facing down such a rock-solid wall of determination.

“That’s… bad.” I forced myself to smile despite feeling like the walls were closing in and a very nervous laugh escaped my lips.

“Oh, it gets worse. For you that is.” Sea Swirl said. Of course it does. “When this card is summoned, he Banishes all the Monsters you control. Which granted, is just one, but that still leaves you with nothing.”

A chill went down my spine when I heard that last word and despite that I began to sweat when I saw Cocytus evaporated and become mist before my eyes. Now I was staring down a nearly invincible monster with no cards on my field to protect me. Was this it? Was this the end of the tournament for me? There was nothing I could do… I couldn’t believe that I could lose like this… I couldn’t breathe…

“There is some good news.” Sea Swirl’s faux-gracious voice brought me back to reality. “The turn this ability is used, my Fisherman can’t attack. So you’re safe, but only for this one turn.”

I breathed a small sigh of relief. It may have been only one turn but that may be all I needed. One turn at a time. I looked through my hand to try and find something useful to play, but there was nothing. No way to defeat her Legendary Fisherman, not even a way to stop it from killing me next turn. But if I could reach out beyond my hand…

“I activate the Effect of Invocation in my graveyard!” I commanded proudly, stomping my foot on the ground and digging my heels in.

“What does that mean?!” Sea Swirl exclaimed confusedly.

“By shuffling it back into the deck,” I elucidated with a haughty smile but I was still breathing heavy and could feel the sweat drip down my forehead “I can add the banished Aleister the Invoker to my hand! And not only that, but when he’s summoned” Aleister returned to the field as I explained “I can add Invocation from my deck to my hand! So with that, I’ll activate it!”

I banished Aleister again and discarded the Wind-Attribute Charioteer of Prophecy and declared “I summon Invoked Raidjin!”

A bright red glowing circle appeared around Aleister, magical bolts of red energy raining from the sky as a green-robed young man with disheveled blonde hair and his majestic white stallion rose from the circle and were embraced by Aleister, the Invoker raising his staff into the air and allowing one of the red bolts to strike him and his companions, turning them into sparkling green energy. This green energy swirled around and became a hurricane inside the circle, absorbing every last bolt of red until disappearing in a flash and leaving in its place a stalwart silver-armored soldier, a being of pure lightning whose ethereal form crackled through the vents in his suit and held aloft a bright yellow sword that sparked with furious electrical energy. Invoked Raidjin!

“Your Fisherman may not be able to be destroyed by card Effects, but my Raidjin’s ability doesn’t destroy, it just flips your monster face-down!” I was starting to get my breathing under control but now my hands were shaking. I punched my fist at the Fisherman to try and look cool, buuut I don’t think it worked.

My silver soldier shifted his feet like he was preparing to take a leap into the air and in one swift movement, too fast for anyone to track with their naked eyes, Raidjin had dashed through the Fisherman and flipped his card face-down.

“Big deal.” Sea Swirl shrugged. “I’ll just flip him up next turn and end you with him. And I know what you’re thinking; if my 2500 ATK Fisherman attacks your 2200 ATK Raidjin, that won’t wipe out the rest of your Life, but you’re wrong.”

“H-how am I wrong?” I stuttered nervously. She was right, I was just going through the math in my head.

“My Fisherman can return all your Banished monsters to the graveyard,” Sea Swirl raised a pinky to her lips as she spoke “and if he does, the next damage you take during that turn is doubled, meaning you’ll be down to 0.”

“Ah, I see.” I smiled and nodded, my eyes closed as I tried to make it look like I wasn’t sweating bullets and about to explode into a panic. “Then I’ll set two cards and end my turn.”

“Now then, let’s see what I can do…” Sea Swirl let out a single haughty laugh as she drew her card but quickly turned her focus to the field. “And now I’ll flip up my Fisherman and…”

“Not so fast!” I excitedly interrupted. “Raidjin’s ability can be activated during your turn as well as mine, so as soon as your Fisherman is flipped up, I flip him back down again! Now he can’t activate his Effect this turn!” True to my words, as soon as the Fisherman appeared from beneath his card he was greeted by the noble visage of my soldier staring down at him, stomping him back down underneath the card.

“Not bad, Twilight Sparkle. Not bad.” Sea Swirl sarcastically clapped her hands slowly. “But I’m afraid you have bigger problems now.” My eye twitched again and I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palms. “I activate Miracle Fusion! This allows me to fuse the Elemental Hero Ocean and Legendary Fisherman in my graveyard, Banishing them to summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!”

A suit of sharp white ice covered his entire body, a cape that glistened like fresh snow and flew passionately behind him, and a mouthless white mask whose green eyes pierced through the watery depths into my soul… Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!

“Absolute Zero gains 200 ATK by virtue of his Water-Attribute.” Sea Swirl said. “Which makes him 2700 ATK, so if his attack connects, then Twilight Sparkle it is game over. Now attack, Absolute Zero!”

Absolute Zero put his hand into the ocean field and crystallized a frozen lance from the water surrounding us that he gripped and threw into my Raidjin.

“I activate Forbidden Chalice!” I yelled tensely, revealing my face-down card. “This negates Raidjin’s Effect but increases his ATK by 400!” A golden chalice poured sacred shimmering wine all over my electrical warrior, the Monster grabbing Zero’s lance out of the air…

“Clever, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl let out a single mocking laugh. “Now you’ll only take 100 damage when Absolute Zero destroys your monster.” …but the lance is caught one second too late as the tip of it has already pierced through Raidjin’s helmet, killing him and reducing my Life to 350. “Your move.”

As I stood there with an empty field, again, facing down not only the 2700 ATK Absolute Zero, but also the nearly invincible Legendary Fisherman, I began to feel a sinking pain in my stomach. How was I going to survive this? How could I win with such impossible odds against me? I started thinking that I was going to lose, that I wouldn’t be able to face Pinkie in the finals, that she would be disappointed in me, that her and Fluttershy, and everyone else in the store for that matter, would see what a loser I was and how completely unworthy I was of their friendship.

My brain told me that if I lost this game that I would lose the respect of my friends, that they would see me as nothing more than the arrogant failure that I always knew I was deep down. My knees started to buckle, I felt a chill in the warm air, I grabbed my arms to stop from shaking but to no avail… my brain was starting to shut down from anxiety.

Breathe.

I heard her voice in my mind and I heeded her command, taking a deep, slow breath in through the nose… and out through the mouth. It helped me center myself just long enough to focus. I was still in this duel as long as I had Life left, and I could still win this!

“I will win this!” I screamed passionately, drawing my card from my deck so hard it practically left a stream of flame in its wake. It was Spellbook of the Rudra… interesting. “I activate the Invocation in my graveyard!”

“Oh, this again.” Sea Swirl rolled her eyes.

“Not quite.” I smirked. “I’ll still summon Aleister, allowing me to add that Invocation back to my hand, but then I’m going to sacrifice Aleister for Spellbook of the Rudra, allowing me to draw two cards!”

Aleister’s book that he normally held was replaced by a Spellbook that glowed with pink light. Aleister opened the book and magical tendrils struck out of it and grabbed him by the throat. He breathed a small sigh as he was absorbed into the book by the tendrils and the book vanished into the ether. I put Aleister into the graveyard and then gripped the two cards on top of my deck. I took a short breath and prayed that the cards would be what I needed to win this duel…

A second copy of Invocation, and The Book of the Law… PERFECT.

“One thing that’s interesting about Invocation...” I couldn’t contain the smile that crept onto my face as I prepared to explain my winning maneuver “is that I can fuse monsters that are in my graveyard!” Sea Swirl groaned, and the crowd started to murmur to themselves, eager to see what I would pull off. ”Now I’ll activate Invocation, fusing the Aleister in my graveyard with the Fire-Attribute Strength of Prophecy in my hand to summon… Invoked Purgatrio!”

That same bright red circle again, with my red-haired and black-armored Strength of Prophecy rising from it as red bolts rained from the sky. Aleister descended from one of those bolts and grabbed Strength by her hand, a bolt striking through the two of them and setting them ablaze with crimson fire until they were consumed by it and the fire spread throughout the entire circle, and then…

The first thing to pop out of the fire was a small, egg-shaped white creature with burning red eyes and a sinister smile that covered half its head, then a gaunt pink-skinned creature with a white face, a screw coming out of his head and blinded by a leather strap across his eyes, a grimace of howling pain ever on his face. Lastly was a robust purple bear-like creature with one vacant yellow eye on its white head and blue duck-like lips. These three creatures made up a single Monster… my Invoked Purgatrio!

“Purgatrio gains 200 ATK for each card I control…” Sea Swirl muttered and she counted her three cards. “That gives it an extra 600 ATK, making its ATK 2900.” She then laughed at my Monster, and at me, making my cheeks flush as I darted my eyes around to make sure she was the only one laughing. “Impressive, but it doesn’t help you against my Legendary Fisherman, and as soon as my Absolute Zero leaves the field his Effect will activate, which will destroy all of your Monsters.”

“That’s fine, I’m just using Purgatrio as a ramp.” I was tapping my foot against the ground and my nails against my Duel Disk; I needed to finish this before I melted into a puddle of anxiety sludge. “I activate another copy of Invocation! Fusing my Invoked Purgatrio and the Invoked Raidjin in my graveyard!”

“WHAT?!” Sea Swirl bellowed, wide-eyed and looking genuinely shocked. It was the first time during this whole duel that it seemed like she was seriously concerned about her fate in this game.

“I summon… the mighty Invoked Elysium!” I screamed, throwing my hand to the heavens.

When the red circle appeared around Purgatrio, Aleister did not come out to comfort it through the dance of fusion but instead Raidjin leaped out of the air above and crashed into the forms of Purgatrio, which were all laughing maniacally as they were absorbed into rainbow colored lights that shot out from the circle and began surrounding the entire arena, a heavenly choir backing their transformation.

How could I even describe the creature that was summoned? It was pure chaos and light, a holy transcendent body that shone with a radiant aura that could hypnotize the most dazzling of sirens, a creature that reflected the entire world in its mesmerizing form. It shone with a sacred brilliance that put every other Monster to shame. It was in many respects the apotheosis of the power of Invocation. It was my strongest card… Invoked Elysium!

“Now, Elysium! Attack her face-down Legendary Fisherman III!” My body was coursing with adrenaline as my ultimate creature descended on the battlefield and rained holy bolts down onto Sea Swirl’s face-down Fisherman.

“Are you kidding me?!” Sea Swirl cackled uproariously. “Did you forget that my Fisherman can’t be destroyed by battle!? All that buildup, all that gravitas, and you blow it on a rookie mistake!? What a joke!” Sea Swirl’s laughter quickly spread to the audience. It was enough to make me blush and almost make me doubt my choice, but this was still a part of my plan.

“Actually…” I said nervously, tugging at my sweater collar “I just needed your Fisherman to be face-up again.”

Elysium spread its massive butterfly wings and shot spears of shimmering gold at The Legendary Fisherman III, flipping it face-up but leaving no scratch on the creature. But then I was able to activate Elysium’s Effect. The world-beast sung its song, its hallowed voice echoing through the arena and even the bookstore, shaking the foundation of our aquatic battlefield before disappearing without a trace. A flash of white light and the sound of a single resounding ring, as if a bell had been struck by a needle, and suddenly there were no more Monsters on the field.

”Elysium’s Effect.” I proudly enlightened Sea Swirl to the ability of my Monster while she stared in shock at her now empty field. “By banishing it from the field, I can banish all Monsters you control. Your Fisherman can’t be destroyed by Monster Effects, but it can be banished by them!”

“Uh, that’s…” Sea Swirl stammered, blushing and fidgeting as she struggled with the realization that she had no more cards left to use.

“And since Elysium was my only Monster, your Absolute Zero’s Effect is irrelevant.” I shrugged.

“Well that’s all well and good Twilight Sparkle,” Sea Swirl cleared her throat and regained her pompous posture “but now neither of us have any Monsters on the field, and neither of us have a hand, except for you have one card. This duel is still anyone’s game.”

“I’m sorry, Sea Swirl…” I tried to make my smile come across as elegant and compassionate, but I worried that I just looked smug. “But I’ve already won. I have another face-down card… activate Omega Summon!”

A heavenly glow beamed across my field before turning into dark flames, four pentagrams appearing in front of me. Upon these runes arose my four formerly banished Monsters, Cocytus, Raidjin, Purgatrio and Elysium. “Omega Summon can revive all of my banished Invoked Monsters in defense mode!”

“B-big deal!” Sea Swirl said, starting to sweat. “They’re only in defense mode! I can still make a comeback!”

“I activate The Book of the Law!” I raised the card high in the air. “This card allows me to trade my Invoked Raidjin for another Invoked Monster from my Extra Deck, and I choose Invoked Magellanica!”

A black book with the runes of Invocation etched into it fell onto the field in front of Raidjin, covering him in those same markings. The runes glowed black and absorbed Raidjin into the book, the tome flying open and shining with mystical energy as a giant stone fist breached its pages and came crawling out of it, the entire body of the beast following quickly.

A mountain given animate form… a towering titan with an expressionless white sphere for a face whose entire enormous body glowed with the molten magma that coursed throughout it, a literal continent forged onto its back… my mighty golem! Invoked Magellanica!

“Magellanica doesn’t have any Effects, but what it does have is 3000 ATK!” I smiled proudly. “Now attack her directly!” Magellanica needed no flashy abilities or powers to use its attack, all it needed was to hover its giant hand over Sea Swirl and bright red lava dropped from its joints, falling atop my opponent and reducing her Life to a mere 700.

“That’s… still not enough, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl growled, breathing heavily and grinning, foolishly thinking she was safe. She should have paid more attention.

“Did you forget so soon?” I let out a single haughty laugh. “Cocytus can attack while in defense mode.” Sea Swirl’s eyes widened as my frigid dragon geared up for its blizzard breath, spewing a stream of freezing water directly at a screaming Sea Swirl and reducing her Life to 0.

“The winner, in this climactic and heart-pounding duel, is Twilight!! SPARKLE!!!” The announcer’s words couldn’t have brought me more joy and I dropped to my knees in relief. He wasn’t kidding when he called the duel ‘heart-pounding’, I felt like mine was about to explode out of my chest.

“Good game, Twilight Sparkle.” Sea Swirl walked over to me and offered her hand with a sincerely warm smile.

“Good game, Sea Swirl.” I happily accepted her offer to shake hands and also help me off the ground.

“I’ll see you around, Twilight Sparkle. Maybe we’ll have another duel someday.” With that Sea Swirl walked away into the crowd and I left the arena in a bit of a daze.

“You did grrrrrreat, Twilight!” Pinkie said as she ran up and hugged me, tackling me right to the floor. “I’m so excited! Now you and me are gonna be up against each other in the finals! Pinkie Pie vs. Twilight Sparkle! Best friend vs. best friend! Brain vs. brawn! Purple vs. Pink! Magicians vs. the circus! It’s gonna be so exciting and awesome and cool and I can’t wait!”

“Okay…” I said deliriously, pushing Pinkie off of me and standing to my feet, staring blankly for a second as I waited for the room to stop spinning. “I think I’m pretty excited too, but to be honest that duel took a lot out of me.”

“It was pretty intense.” Fluttershy said supportively.

“It sure was!” Pinkie cheered and her eyes were full of joy and excitement. She really couldn’t contain herself. “I was on the edge of my seat! Well, I mean I was standing so there wasn’t really a seat for me to be on the edge of, but it was still a real heart-stopper! I mean, not really because if your heart stopped that would be bad. Nail-biter?” Pinkie looked at her finger nails. “Nope, that’s not right either!”

“Pinkie I get what you mean.” I was exasperated but I had a genuine smile, which was a pretty standard reaction to Pinkie Pie. “Now girls, will you excuse me for one second? This duel reminded me of something… something I gotta take care of.”

“Is it about Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked. I nodded and the girls took the hint, Pinkie saluting and bouncing off and Fluttershy bowing her head and following suit.

****

I sat down on one of the chairs in the corner lounge of the bookstore and stared at my phone, looking through my tiny, tiny contact list. I still had Rainbow’s number, so I decided to give her a text, hoping that she hadn’t changed phones or her number in the last few years.

“Rainbow, can I talk to you for one second, please?” Every word that I typed felt like I was pressing my hands up against hot coals.

I waited with bated breath for what felt like hours but was really only a few minutes. My body felt hot, I was able to control my breathing but just barely, and I felt like there was a storm of locusts in my stomach… and then my phone chirped and I jumped, nearly dropping the phone on the ground and fumbling to grab it.

“wut do u want twi?” Rainbow texted me back.

“I want to apologize.” I took a deep breath… in through the nose… and out through the mouth. “I realize now that it was completely uncalled for to treat you like a moron because I didn’t agree with your choices. It is *not* my place to tell you who to love or what to do or who to hang out with, etc. I do NOT like your girlfriend, but that does not give me the right to treat you like a child or just be a huge jerk in general. So I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. And I hope that you can forgive me and we can give our relationship another try.”

Another several minutes passed with no reply and I felt a burning sensation in my stomach and in my cheeks, my eyes starting to sting as tears tried to well up. What was I thinking writing something so long and sappy? Ugh, I felt like such an idiot. When I heard my phone chirp again I felt like I was about to throw up.

“jeez twi u writing a novel or smth? ;p” I wasn’t sure how to take Rainbow’s words, whether I should laugh or throw up. “Ofc I 4giv u twi. & I’m not redy to giv up on us ether” I smiled so big that my cheeks hurt when I read that, giggling like a lunatic and immediately sent back another text.

“So what do you say to dinner tonight?” My breathing was still fast but now I was excited instead of nervous.

“no can do twi. me & the gf r goin out 2nite” And there went my excitement, Rainbow steamrolling over it and then dropping a grand piano on it.

I grimaced pretty epically when I read those words. A part of me wanted to text back something snippy and hurtful but I knew that was a stupid impulse that I needed to fight back. If I was serious about rekindling my relationship with Rainbow I needed to be able to have some grace and tact when the ‘gf’ was brought up.

Before I could think of a response, Rainbow sent another text saying “so how bout 2morrw 4 lunch insted?”

“I would love to!” I replied immediately, practically jumping for joy but then I thought about it for a second and got worried, slinking down into my chair. “But I have my final match with Pinkie Pie tomorrow, I don’t know how long that will take.”

“no problm” Rainbow said, and I could almost see the sassy shrug she probably did while typing that. “I’ll com by & watch u guys! It’ll be rad!”

“I would love that!” I said with a beaming smile. After my duel with Sea Swirl I was feeling a little down on confidence and enthusiasm for my duel with Pinkie, but the thought of Rainbow watching me made it feel much easier and made me excited again. “I’ll see you tomorrow around noon?”

“heck ya!” Rainbow said. “c u 2morrw twi!!!”

“See you tomorrow, Rainbow.” I sent back, sighing softly to myself as I felt a ton of stress leaving my body. Tomorrow was going to be a great day.

****

I was in my bed, wearing pajamas because I felt pretty good today and didn’t feel like just sleeping in my clothes as usual, with my deck splayed out across the sheets. I was examining it to make sure it was its very best for my duel with Pinkie Pie. My phone was on the nightstand and I was chatting with Applejack through a video call.

Applejack was super buff, which was the first thing anybody would notice about her. Second thing would be her amazing mane of blonde hair that fell around her face and down her back like a golden waterfall, glistening gorgeously against her dark tan skin and complimenting her dazzling emerald eyes. Ahem… she was pretty. ANYWAY.

“So today was a pretty interesting day for you, huh?” She said with a chuckle.

“It sure was.” I sighed contentedly, falling back onto my pillow. “Never in a million years would I have even considered the possibility that I’d see Rainbow again… but I’m glad I did.”

“I’m glad ya did too, Twi!” Applejack said enthusiastically, lounging on her own bed wearing a plaid red shirt and pretty much nothing else. “Honestly, I’d like to repair the damage to my own friendship with her, but we always butt heads way more’n you guys did!” She laughed.

“It’s true.” I laughed softly. “You guys always got into some pretty incredible arguments… but I don’t know, I’m feeling pretty hopeful.”

“I’m glad to hear it!” AJ said with a bright smile. “Sorry if I sound a little distracted, by the way, it’s been a long day plus I’m also chattin’ with Pinkie Pie at the same time.”

“Oh you are, are you?” I said with a sinister grin. “Tell her that she’s going to… uh, I want to say ‘get wrecked’ tomorrow! If you can think of some better trash talk though tell her that instead.”

“Hahaha.” Applejack said drolly. “I’m not gonna send insults to you guys back n’ forth… that said, Pinkie was just sayin’ basically the same thing.”

“Ha, I knew it!” I laughed. “That trash-talking charlatan! She’s going down tomorrow, mark my words!”

“I heard that, Twilight!” I was startled to hear Pinkie’s voice coming from Applejack’s phone… somehow. “You’re going down! Down like a clown! Or something like that anyway.”

“Oh yeah?! Well… hold on a sec…” I took a moment to call Pinkie myself and put her on group talk.

“Oh hey, Twilight!” Pinkie said with an innocent smile as she answered the phone. “Me and Applejack were just talking about you.”

“I bet.” I said with a coy smirk.

“Yeah, she definitely wasn’t trash talking you.” Fluttershy popped up from behind Pinkie. “Not at all.” Her and Pinkie giggled with each other.

“Fluttershy? You’re here too?” I said curiously.

“I’m staying at her place right now.” Pinkie nodded furiously and I was almost worried her head was going to fall off.

“Hey, is that Twilight!” Zephyr Breeze could be heard from the next room and I groaned audibly.

“No, Zephyr!” Fluttershy said tiredly, a dismal look of dejection on her face.

“You better watch out, Twilight!” Pinkie pointed her smudgy finger right into the phone camera, blocking out the rest of the picture. “Or I might sic Zephyr on you!”

“You wouldn’t dare.” I said drolly.

“I might!” Pinkie waved her arms around randomly. “I’m loooooopy! Who knows what I could do!” Her and Fluttershy got the giggles again and this time I couldn’t help but join in, especially when Applejack started laughing too.

“Hey AJ, you should get Rarity on the line!” Pinkie suggested. “We could get the whole gang back together almost!”

“That’s a great idea!” I perked up and sat straight on my bed, looking attentively at the phone on the nightstand. I hadn’t talked to Rarity in too long, I missed her.

“Eh, Rarity’s in another room.” Applejack said bashfully, putting a hand behind her head. “She’s prob’ly sleepin’.”

“You guys don’t share a room?” I disappointedly slumped back down against my pillow. “Isn’t that weird?”

“Nah.” Applejack shook her head and blushed. “We just don’t wanna rush things, y’know?”

“I understand.” I shrugged. I didn’t actually understand.

“Welp, in that case,” Pinkie yawned “I’d better go! I got a lot of deck editing to do to put together the perfect anti-Twilight deck! You’re gonna get dunked on, Twilight!” With that, Pinkie hung up the phone, the amused giggling of Fluttershy being the last sound I heard from her end.

“Man, I really wish I could be there to see you guys duel.” Applejack sighed sadly. “It’s gonna be quite a sight, I bet.”

“Absolutely.” I said happily, looking up at the ceiling. “I wish you and Rarity could be here too… but I guess you’ll just have to cheer for us from afar, just like Pinkie said!”

“Will do, Twilight!” Applejack pounded her fist against her palm. “Good luck to both of y’all!”

“Thank you, Applejack, for all your help.” I yawned and pulled all my cards together, putting them on the nightstand. “I really needed you today.”

“Nothin’ to it, Twilight.” Applejack gave a warm smile and I could see her blushing just a little, which looked adorable on her freckled cheeks. “I’m more’n happy to help.”

“I appreciate that a lot.” I yawned and stretched my arms upward and outward, combing through my hair. “But for right now it’s time for me to turn in.”

“You have a wonderful night’s rest, Twilight Sparkle.” Applejack said caringly, giving a two-fingered salute. “Goodnight.”

“Will do.” I said, a calm smile washing over me as I turned off the phone and laid my head down, closing my eyes. “Goodnight.”
> 05. The First Final Match!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-PINKIE PIE-

Today’s the big day!

Today was the day I dueled Twilight Sparkle for the title of World Champion! Or at least, world champion between the two of us, this time… for now. I mean, it’s not like this was gonna be our only duel or anything and no matter who won I’m sure the other would win eventually too and we were pretty evenly matched and…

Never mind! That’s not what’s important!

What was important was that I woke up next to Fluttershy, since she let me sleep in her bed last night, and threw myself out of bed with a hop, skip and a jump. I couldn’t contain my excitement and I was sure that Fluttershy felt the same way so I screamed her name right in her ear to wake her up, and judging by the way she jumped off the bed I’d say I was right about her being excited.

“Fluttershy! Are you ready to watch me totally own Twilight Sparkle!?” I jumped up on the bed and bounced up and down, totally unable to contain my excitement!

“Um, okay.” Fluttershy was kneeling next to the bed covering herself with a sheet, and shaking with what I was pretty sure was anticipation. “But Pinkie, it’s…” Fluttershy took the sheet off her head and looked at the clock on the wall, groaning like a zombie when she saw it. “Pinkie, it’s six AM.”

“Right! Plenty of time to work on my deck so that I can destroy Twilight!” I jumped up with my fist raised in the air and bonked it into the ceiling which gave me a fright so I curled into a ball mid jump and fell back on the bed, hitting it hard enough to bounce off onto the floor.

“Don’t you need more sleep?” Fluttershy yawned, crawling back into bed. She just sorta belly flopped onto it, she didn’t even cover herself with blankets or anything.

“Nope!” I pounced on Fluttershy, who looked at me really weird and her eyes were all red and itchy looking for some reason. “Do you need eyedrops, Fluttershy?”

“No.” She said. “What I need is… breakfast. Can you go get breakfast from Taco Town?”

“Taco Town?” I replied spuriously. “Isn’t that like a forty-five minute walk from here?”

“Yup.” Fluttershy said while laying her head down on a pillow and recovering herself with blankets. “But I really like…” she yawned “their breakfast tacos. No meat, just eggs and cheese.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” I said with a salute, hopping over Fluttershy and onto the ground next to the door. “I’ll be back lickety-split with our breakfast tacos!”

“Thank you, Pinkie Pie.” Fluttershy said wistfully, almost like she was drifting off to sleep or something.

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

The first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning was how much nicer it was to sleep in my pajamas instead of in my clothes. I didn’t wake up all sweaty. The second thing was that I was gonna destroy Pinkie Pie! Well, maybe not destroy. But beat her at a card game, definitely.

I got up and walked to my kitchen, fixing myself a bowl of cereal and getting some early morning coffee, all the while looking at my deck to search for last-minute improvements to make. Had to make sure I considered every option.

Pinkie’s deck was based on Pendulum Summoning and Xyz Summoning, so Spell\Trap removal and Special Summon negation were key. That said, I didn’t have a ton of negation stuff, but even still I had some Effect negation, some Spell\Trap removal and good monster removal, and I was pretty confident that my monsters were by and large far stronger than hers. Pinkie was an excellent duelist and I was definitely a little nervous about our match today, but I was feeling pretty confident that I could beat her.

I was rather enjoying my early morning breakfast, and it was early morning, like the sun hadn’t completely risen yet. It was very uncharacteristic of me to up this early but it was nice today. At least until my mind started drifting toward Rainbow Dash.

I was over the shock of seeing her again at this point, but that just made room for surprise, and a little embarrassment, at just how happy I was to see her walk back into my life. After our duel cleared the air a bit, I remembered all the things I really liked about her, all the adventures we used to go on together and the fun we used to have.

These thoughts were quickly jolted out of my brain by the sudden slamming of Pinkie Pie into my window inches from my face. I was shocked but I didn’t even jump or scream, I just dropped my spoon into my cereal and stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, at Pinkie pushing herself up against my kitchen window.

“TWILIGTH SPWKLE!!”

“Yes Pinkie Pie?” I said, my expression still in ‘how is this possibly even my life’ mode.

“You wnanna go to Taco Town wif meh?!” Her voice was muffled by her face being pressed right up against the glass of the window. “Also you’re going down later today! Just thought I’d let you know!”

“Thanks for the heads up.” I stared unblinking into an unmoving, mashed up Pinkie Pie who still refused to step away from the window. Suddenly I just started laughing. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at but it made me happy to see Pinkie… just being Pinkie.

“Yeah, Pinkie.” I said, still giggling. Pinkie was laughing now too, but she was still smacked up against the glass. “I’ll go to Taco Town with you.”

****

After hitting Taco Town for breakfast, Pinkie Pie headed back to Fluttershy’s place to pick her up while I headed straight to the bookstore. I was sitting in the lounge area waiting for Pinkie and Fluttershy to show up, and in the meantime I texted Rainbow Dash to ask if she was still coming to watch the duel between Pinkie and I. But I didn’t get a response, which made me a little nervous.

“There you are, Twilight!” Pinkie said as she and Fluttershy approached me.

“Yep, here I am.” I said tepidly, trying to ignore the anxiety starting to build up over Rainbow Dash.

“What’s wrong?” Ever-observant Fluttershy immediately picked up on my anxiety though, which made it slightly difficult to ignore. “You seem a little tense.”

“I’m just… I want Rainbow to watch our duel.” I sighed in frustration, looking at my phone. “She said she’d be here but she isn’t picking up her phone at all.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll show!” Pinkie blew a raspberry and dismissively batted her hand. “If there’s anybody who’ll stand by a commitment, it’d be Rainbow Dash!”

“That’s right, if she said she’d show up, then we should trust her.” Fluttershy added with a bright smile, holding her hands graciously in front of her.

“I hope you guys are right.” I groaned and stood up, stretching my limbs and trying to get Rainbow out of my mind so I could focus on the duel. “But for right now, what’s important is our duel, Pinkie.”

“Heck yes!” Pinkie thrusted her fist at me and I hesitantly touched it with my own fist, assuming that’s what she was going for. “Let’s go have the most daring, dastardly, dizzying, daunting, dandy, decisive duel in the history of forever!”

“Let’s.” I said with a chuckle. How could I resist such an invitation?

As Pinkie and I stepped into the arena the crowd became tense. They were looking forward to this match almost as much as we were. It was a welcome feeling after the lukewarm response to Pinkie’s duel with Button Mash and the internal rollercoaster I had to deal with against Sea Swirl. I listened to the voices in the crowd for a moment and there were several people rooting for either of us, which was nice to hear. I looked toward the crowd to try and find Rainbow, but no luck.

“She’ll be here, Twilight.” Pinkie said with a smile and a thumbs-up.

“Yeah.” I replied pensively. I wasn’t convinced but I wanted to believe Rainbow’s promise and buy into Pinkie’s optimism. But for now, I needed to focus. “Let’s this do this, Pinkie!” I said, preparing my Duel Disk.

DUEL!

Twilight Sparkle vs. Pinkie Pie!

“I’ll start us off!” Pinkie said exuberantly, dancing around on her side of the arena before slamming a monster down on her Disk. “Performapal Handsome Liger!”

Pinkie’s monster was a bishonen with black Super Saiyan hair, red samurai armor, a katana the size of his upper body and a white sleeveless coat that flowed behind him like a cape. What a perfectly ‘anime protagonist’ move to start with.

“And that’s all!” Pinkie said with a skip and a prance. “It’s your move now, Twilight!”

The monster had 1800 ATK and its ability allowed Pinkie to search for a Pendulum card if it killed a monster in battle. Was she trying to set up a combo or just testing the waters to see what I’d play?

“Uh, Twilight?” Pinkie tilted her head, putting her hands on her hips and taking a step forward. “You there?” It was then that I suddenly realized I’d been silently staring down Pinkie’s field for like a minute and a half.

“Y-yes, Pinkie.” I stammered bashfully, nervously adjusting my glasses. “My move!” I drew my card and looked at my opening hand with contempt. High Priestess of Prophecy was decent, but with only one Spellbook card in hand she didn’t help me right now. That said, Spellbook of Secrets is always great to see and I could accept the Strength. “I summon Strength of Prophecy!”

My short-red-haired, red cloaked, giant-mace-wielding magician hit the stage in a blaze of glory, but with only 1500 ATK she wasn’t enough on her own to take down Pinkie’s Liger. So I used my Spellbook of Secrets to add Spellbook of Power to my hand.

“I activate Spellbook of Power!” I said, a mystical red glow bathing my magician and increasing her ATK to 2500. “Not only that, but with my Strength’s effect I can now return the Spellbook of Power to the deck and give her another 500 ATK!” 3000 ATK was more than enough to deal with Pinkie’s 1800.

“Twilight, I’m not sure you really considered my feelings with this move!” Pinkie said teasingly, making me smile.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Pinkie, but I’m going to win this duel!” I needed to win this. I needed to show Pinkie, show Fluttershy, and especially show Rainbow, who with a quick cursory glance of the crowd I could tell still wasn’t here, that I was smarter than anyone else, more skilled than anyone else, more determined… I needed to win this.

My red-haired magician ran at Pinkie’s shocked Liger with her mace, smashing the cool cat into smithereens with one swift swipe and bringing Pinkie’s Life down to 2800. Not only that, but because of Spellbook of Power’s effect I was able to add Spellbook of the Master to my hand, but I could use that on a later turn.

“I’ll activate Foolish Burial Goods, which allows me to send one Spell card from my deck to the graveyard.” I said. The card I chose was Galaxy Cyclone, which would come in handy later when Pinkie inevitably activated her Pendulums. “It’s your move, Pinkie.” I said with a confident smile, noticing Pinkie’s slightly dismayed expression as she probably began to realize that she was out of her league against me.

“That was pretty good, Twilight!” Pinkie said, resuming her natural exuberance. “But now it’s time for my amaaaazing comeback! I summon Friendonkey and, using his Effect, Trumpanda!”

Performapal Friendonkey was a small grey donkey with a shifty-eyed face, wearing a tiny top hat and a giant bow tie. His Effect let Pinkie Special Summon another Performapal from her hand or graveyard, and the Trumpanda she summoned with it was a doe-eyed panda bear with equally strange taste in fashion and a giant trumpet wrapped around its body. More relevant to me however, was the fact that both monsters were Level 3.

“Friendonkey! Trumpanda! Overlay!” Pinkie shouted, raising her hand triumphantly into the air as her monsters became starry black energy and ascended into a portal above her.

A beam of black and blue swirling light shot down as the portal closed, the mass of energy shifting and squirming around until it took the form of a snake-like blue dragon with six blue leathery wings stretching from its sides and claw-like horns on its head.

“Leviathan Dragon!” Pinkie yelled happily as her new Xyz Monster hit the field. “I’ll detach one Energy card from Leviathan Dragon in order to increase his ATK by 500, making him 2500 ATK! Now attack Twilight’s Strength of Prophecy!”

With the buff from Spellbook of Power ending at the end of my turn, my 2000 ATK magician was a sitting duck for Pinkie’s Leviathan Dragon. The serpentine creature opened its maw and crackling purple and blue electrical energy formed in its mouth as me and my magician braced ourselves for her destruction. A beam of bright lightning shot forth from Pinkie’s Leviatahn and tore a hole straight through Strength, causing me to wince in pain as my monster was killed and my Life was reduced to 3500. I was still in a good position, but losing my only monster was pretty rough.

The crowd cheered for Pinkie’s powerful card and the party girl lapped it all up, waving and blowing kisses to people in the crowd. It made me angry… no, it made me jealous. I wanted that attention… at least, I thought I did. I wanted something, some kind of recognition of my ability… some kind of validation of my value.

I felt like if I didn’t win this duel that everyone would know what I already did, that I was worthless, not worth their time or attention; a frail, pitiful person only worthy of derision and mockery. I needed to win… although I was disheartened when I once more looked into the crowd and found no sign of Rainbow. She definitely wasn’t coming.

“My move!” I shouted angrily, gritting my teeth. It was time for me to get serious, and in a roundabout way the Spellbook of Eternity I drew was the perfect card to enable that. “I summon Temperance of Prophecy!” My slender, brown cloaked magician appeared in a mysterious light, holding a chalice in each hand and her face framed in shadow by her hood. “Now I’ll activate Spellbook of the Master!”

By revealing the Spellbook of Eternity in my hand I could copy the effect of the Spellbook of Secrets in my graveyard, adding Spellbook of Power back to my hand.

“Now I’ll activate the effect of my Temperance.” I said coldly, adjusting my glasses.

“Uh-oh!” Pinkie said, taking a step back and looking on in dismay.

“That’s right, Pinkie! You should be pretty nervous right about now!” I declared as my hooded magician raised her chalices into the air and they started overflowing with black mist, enveloping her and destroying her before dissipating into thin air, only to be replaced by a flicker of black flame, and from that my leathery winged, skull-faced giant demon with a glowing orange sword. “By sacrificing Temperance on the turn I use a Spellbook Spell Card, I can summon Prophecy Destroyer from the deck! Now I’ll add to his power with the Spellbook of Power!”

My demon was bathed in an eerie red glow that washed off of him like a crimson mist. He growled and snarled as he lurched forward and sliced Pinkie’s dragon in twain from the bottom up, reducing her Life to 1800. And due to Spellbook of Power’s effect, I was able to add Spellbook of the Rudra to my hand.

“Your move, Pinkie.” I said intensely, staring Pinkie down. I knew needed to relax, I could feel it. I was getting too worked up over this game and I needed to remember that this duel was supposed to be fun. But I wanted to win so badly, no, I NEEDED to win. There was no other option for me, I had to win to assert my value. I felt the same way against Rainbow, against Cherry Fizzy and Sea Swirl, but for whatever reason I felt it even stronger against Pinkie.

Perhaps it was simply that the more duels I won the more intense my need to win again became, or maybe it had something to do with proving that I was the best player in our friend group, as if that meant something. Either way, that attitude wasn’t going to end well for me, but in my blind lust for victory there was no way I could see that.

For her part, Pinkie took a deep breath as she began her turn. Instead of bursting out into theatrics she slowly, calmly looked at her hand… and then cracked a big smile and started dancing all around her side of the arena.

“Ladies! And! Gentlemen!” She shouted, raising her arms to the crowd as if to embrace them all in an enormous hug. “Watch as the grand and spectacular super-duper amazing Pinkie Pie wows and shocks you with her fantastic and unbelievable comeback! We’re gonna start the finale right here, right now, on this turn!” Pinkie turned back to me, her eyes burning with confidence and determination. “Show must go on!”

Pinkie activated her Pendulum Scales, setting Performapal Guitartle in one and Performapal Lizardraw in the other, destroying Lizardraw and using its Effect and Guitartle’s Effect to draw two cards. It was a strategy I had seen her use countless times. All the while, she’s entertaining the audience with dramatic speeches, dances and over-the-top performative gestures. The crowd’s loving it, cheering along with her and watching her moves with bated breath.

A part of me wanted to join in on the fun as well, but all I could do was shake with conviction. I felt a surge of red hot energy coursing through my body, burning me up inside. I even started to become angry with Pinkie Pie for all her dramatics, even though I knew how important they were to her. But I just didn’t care, all I wanted was to win this tournament and prove I was the best.

And the more times I repeated in my head ‘I need to win this’ the more tired of the phrase I became. I was slowly starting to resent that feeling of needing victory at any cost but instead of taking any kind of measure to work through those feelings all I did was become bitter and angry with myself for having them.

I knew that looking at one of my best friends as an obstacle between me and a fleeting feeling  of self-worth was horrible, but I didn’t think I could stop myself from feeling that way, I couldn’t see any way out of that mindset. To me, the idea that if I failed to defeat Pinkie I was a loser and she and Fluttershy would laugh at me and not want to be friends anymore was true, something inarguable that I just needed to deal with, but I was well aware how poisonous that thought process was despite not having the tools to change it so now I just had a burning feeling of anger and need-to-win-at-any-cost-determination along with a gross sinking feeling of bitterness and self-loathing.

As you can no doubt tell, I am very good at dealing with my emotions.

“Now I’ll set Performapal Gumgumouton in my other Pendulum Scale!” Pinkie said as she placed her gumdrop sheep onto the field. “Which allows me to Pendulum Summon monsters from Levels 2 to 5! Come forth, my friends!”

Three bolts of light shot down from another portal hovering above Pinkie Pie, the lights of those bolts taking shape and becoming a dark brown doofy looking donkey with big googly eyes, a knife juggling man in a purple suit with a giant top hat that covered his eyes, and an orange lizard in a dapper red suit with, like seemingly all of Pinkie’s monsters, a bowtie and top hat.

“Performapals Secondonkey, Dag Daggerman and Lizardraw hit the field!” Pinkie proudly declared. Since destroyed Pendulum Monsters go to the Extra Deck instead of the graveyard, Pinkie was able to Pendulum Summon Lizardraw even though she destroyed it with its Effect. “Using Secondonkey’s effect I can add a Performapal from my deck to my hand, and I choose Stamp Turtle!”

Pinkie summoned her new monster to the field; it was a wrinkled, bearded old man turtle with a big stamp and round orange glasses. As weird looking as the monster was, it was a key card in Pinkie’s deck that allowed her to easily summon her best monsters, seeing it made me very nervous because it meant I was in trouble.

“I’ll use my Stamp Turtle’s Effect!” Pinkie said proudly, dancing across her side of the arena. “It raises the Level of itself to 5, and of Lizardraw to 4! Now with the Level 4 Secondokey and Lizardraw, Overlay! And using the Level 5 Dag Daggerman and Stamp Turtle, Overlay!”

The monsters became that same starry black energy from before, joining together and being absorbed into a galactic portal, two bolts of black energy bursting forth from it. The first monster became a brilliant white knight in golden armor holding two mighty swords. The other was a red dinosaur with enormous orange claws not only on its hands but on its shoulders and legs as well.

“Everyone, please welcome Utopia and Volcasaurus!” Pinkie said, the crowd going absolutely nuts for her two Monsters. “Now then, I could use Volcasaurus’ effect to destroy your Prophecy Destroyer, but my poor dinosaur can’t attack directly if it uses that effect and you only have one monster, so let’s make this more exciting! Utopia, attack Prophecy Destroyer!”

Utopia’s 2500 ATK matched my Destroyer’s ATK point for point, it was a standoff. My devil met the blade of Pinkie’s knight with his own sword, standing his ground and ever-so-slightly pushing back against the knight, making a breakthrough against him and charging at him. It looked as though Destroyer slashed through Utopia until it was revealed that what he sliced was actually a gumball shield created by Gumgumouton, whose ability was able to save one of Pinkie’s monsters from battle once per turn. My Destroyer was not so lucky to have a defense like that, and Utopia made quick work of him by slashing through his torso and bifurcating him.

All the while, Pinkie’s Volcasaurus was charging a blast of superheated magma in its mouth, the bursting ball of boiling lava shooting forth from its maw directly at me, blasting me in a holographic explosion which still caused me to wince, not helped by the fact that I was now reduced to a mere 1000 Life.

“I’ll set one card!” Pinkie said with a wink. “Your move, Twilight!”

I needed to turn this around, now. And as usual, I drew just the card to do it; Spellbook Star Hall. With this and my Spellbooks of Rudra and Eternity, I could make a comeback!

“By revealing three Spellbook cards in my hand,” I said, a prideful grin creeping onto my face “I can Special Summon my High Priestess of Prophecy!”

My gorgeous ace monster hit the field in a glow of dazzling light. Adjusting the white wizard’s cap upon her wild mane of pink hair to be just so, and cloaked in radiant white garments, she lit up the field with her amazing presence. I felt calmer with her by my side, and I knew we could win this.

“Now I’ll banish three Spellbook cards from my graveyard to revive my Prophecy Destroyer!” I said, banishing the Spellbooks of Secrets, Power and the Master.

A mad cackle was heard as a glowing sphere of pitch black energy hovered in the air next to my Priestess, eventually forming into the sword-wielding devil we all knew and loved.

“Next, I’ll banish the Galaxy Cyclone in my graveyard!” I said, Pinkie jumping in shock. I couldn’t exactly blame her for forgetting that I sent this card to my graveyard on my first turn. “It allows me to destroy one face-up Spell or Trap card on the field, and I choose your Gumgumouton!” Pinkie’s gummy sheep’s ability to protect her monsters was going to put a huge kink in my plans if I let it slide.

“Now I’ll activate Spellbook Star Hall!” I exclaimed. A wall of mirrors surrounded the arena, a pitch dark sky reflected in their screens and one shining beacon of light hovering in the air above. “Let me explain how this works. For every Spellbook card I play, a star will shine in the mirrors of my Star Hall, and for every shining star my Spellcaster monsters gain 100 ATK.”

“Wow, Twilight!” Pinkie said gleefully, hardly able to contain her excitement as she bounced all around. “You’re really pulling out all the stops! I’m so honored to be having such an intense duel with you!”

At first I didn’t know what to say, it almost felt like Pinkie wasn’t taking this seriously, which frustrated me and even made me a little angry. But I could see the passion in her eyes, the electricity that sparked through her as she scanned the field and the light shining in her as she waved to the crowd.

“Thank you.” I said with a genuinely warm smile. “Now let’s finish this!”

“Let’s see what you’ve got!” Pinkie nodded fiercely.

The only problem though… Pinkie’s face-down card. I could use the effect of my High Priestess to destroy one card on Pinkie’s field. While her two 2500 ATK monsters would soon be weaker than my monsters thanks to the Star Hall, her Utopia had the ability to completely negate attacks by detaching Energy. It had two Energy cards and I had two monsters, which meant I had no choice but to target it with Priestess’ destruction effect.

The cards in my hand were mostly not great. Invocation, Spellbook of the Rudra, and Spellbook of Eternity. I could take the gamble on using Rudra, drawing two cards at the cost of my only other Spellbook, but there was no guarantee I would draw anything I could use. Or I could use the Spellbook of Eternity to return one of my banished Spellbooks to the hand, regaining the book of Power and dealing massive damage to Pinkie’s Life… provided that her face-down didn’t wall me.

I had to go with my gut. And my gut said…

“I use the Spellbook of Eternity!” I declared. “I can use this to revive one of my banished Spellbooks, such as Spellbook of Secrets!”

I activated the Spellbook of Secrets, adding Spellbook Magician of Prophecy to my hand. I summoned him to add Spellbook of the Master to my hand, using its effect to add Spellbook of Power to my hand, then I used the Spellbook of Rudra to sacrifice my Magician and draw two cards. Charioteer of Prophecy and Chocolate Magician Girl, neither of which could I use this turn.

“Wow!” Pinkie said, grasping her cheeks. “Color me impressed, Twilight! My head’s spinning a little bit!” My two monsters’ ATK, after all those Spellbook shenanigans, was raised to 2900, more than able to contend with Pinkie’s two monsters, and I still had one more Spellbook to play.

“Thank you, Pinkie.” I said with a smile and adjusting my glasses. “But you haven’t seen anything yet! I activate my Spellbook of Power Now I’ll use my High Priestess’ Effect, banishing the Spellbook of Power, increasing the ATK of my Prophecy Destroyer to 4000!”

My devil was bathed in the red glow of the Spellbook of Power as several shimmering stars glistened in the mirrors of the Star Hall.

“Next, I’ll use my High Priestess’ Effect, banishing the Spellbook of Power from my graveyard to destroy… Utopia!” My Priestess held her hand aloft, magical green energy flowing into it until it formed a small sphere which she then shot forth into Utopia’s chest plate, shattering him to pieces. “Prophecy Destroyer, attack Volcasaurus!”

My devil blitzed toward Volcasaurus, jumping into the air and striking down on the dinosaur, slicing it clean in half, the two sides of the destroyed beast falling limply to either side of the Destroyer before disappearing, reducing Pinkie’s Life to 300.

“Now, High Priestess!” This was the moment of truth… time to see if Pinkie really did have an ace in the hole! “Attack her directly!”

My Priestess leaped into the air and gathered magical energy around her, charging a beam of lightning and shooting it directly at Pinkie Pie… but then being stopped by a golden shield. It was Utopia.

“I activate Xyz Reborn!” Pinkie cheered, and the crowd went absolutely wild. “This card allows me to revive Utopia from the graveyard, with the Reborn card attached to him as Energy! So by detaching it, I can negate your High Priestess’ attack!”

“Clever, Pinkie…” I said, breathing tensely. “That was a good move.” Still though, if I could make it to next turn there was no doubt in my mind that I would win. And I could still fortify my monsters’ ATK with the Star Hall. “My Spellbook of Power lets me add a new Spellbook to my hand since my Destroyer killed your monster, and I choose Spellbook of Wisdom, which I’ll set face-down. My turn’s over, Pinkie… let’s see what you can do.”

 Looking over the field it appeared that I was at an overwhelming advantage. I had two 3000 ATK monsters on my field, the Spellbook of Wisdom I had face-down would make both of them immune to either Spell Effects or Trap Effects for the turn, and not only did Pinkie have but one Monster on the field, one that couldn’t even use its Effect now, but she had zero cards in hand.

But this duel wasn’t over until it was over.

The way Pinkie’s deck worked, her Monsters almost never appeared alone. She had so many creatures that searched for other allies or revived them from the graveyard or some such that they must have taken up half her deck. It was entirely plausible that she topdecked a winning card right here.

“Final turn!” Pinkie said confidently, drawing her card and hoping for a miracle. She looked at the card with a blank expression for one second before bursting into a beaming smile. “Ladies! And! Gentlemen!” She declared, reaching her hands toward the audience again. Not good for me. “I hope you’ve enjoyed this epic duel between two best friends, because now it’s time to ride into the finale!” Pinkie looked at me with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, and I still wasn’t sure if she was about to win this or not. “And Twilight… good game.”

And that was the moment I knew that she won. My heart sank like a stone as I waited for the inevitable.

“I summon Performapal Skullcrobat Joker!” Pinkie said with palpable excitement. Her monster was another stage magician, with wild blonde hair, a black and purple clown getup and a big ratty old top hat. “When this card is Normal Summoned I can add a Performapal from my deck to my hand! Now, Dag Daggerman, set the Scale!”

A second copy of Dag Daggerman? I wasn’t overly familiar with Pinkie’s purple-suited trickster’s effect, but since she placed him onto the Pendulum Scale it enabled her to Pendulum Summon monsters with Levels 3 to 5… but she had no monsters to summon.

“So now what, Pinkie Pie?” I asked, starting to tremble with anxiousness.

“Dag Daggerman’s effect.” Pinkie said, fighting back tears. “When he’s place on the Pendulum Zone I can add a Performapal from my graveyard to my hand. So come on back, Performapal Handsome Liger!”

I chuckled softly as I saw Pinkie Pendulum Summon a second Level 4 Monster. I didn’t know exactly what she was planning but I knew this was over. It didn’t take long for my laughter to turn into gritted teeth and clenched fists however as I waited for Pinkie to end this.

“Handsome Liger! Skullcrobat Joker! Overlay!” Pinkie shouted. Another burst of starry energy, another portal, etc. This time her monster was a pitch dark dragon with blades adorning its arms and wings, and a very snakelike head. “Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! I activate my Dark Rebellion’s Effect! By detaching both his Energy cards, I can absorb half the ATK of one of your monsters, like your Prophecy Destroyer for instance, and add that ATK to my monster!”

Dark Rebellion’s wings opened up and started crackling with purple electricity. It spread its wings and a bright light shone as the lightning shot towards my Destroyer, weakening him and bringing him to his knees as Dark Rebellion absorbed his power, reducing Destroyer’s ATK to 1500 and increasing Dark Rebellion’s to 4000.

“Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, attack Prophecy Destroyer!” Pinkie said. The dragon lunged forward, its wings and arms glowing with that purple lightning again, and it dashed right through my devil, showering it with electricity before blowing it up and destroying it… reducing my Life… to 0.

I fell to my knees as the announcer declared Pinkie the winner. I punched the ground and felt tears start to form in my eyes. How could I let myself lose? I was so angry and disgusted with myself, I know it was irrational, I knew in the moment that it was, but I couldn’t help feeling completely useless, and the self-awareness that those feelings were poisonous did not help in the slightest, in fact that just made it worse.

But then Pinkie walked up to me, offering her hand.

“That was a great duel, Twilight.” She said with the kindest, warmest, brightest smile on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. She really had a lot of fun, and I could see in her eyes and her smile that she saw me. She didn’t look down at me for losing, to her I was still the same Twilight Sparkle now that I was when the duel started. It was okay that I lost, it didn’t affect her view of me one bit. I needed to hold onto that realization because I knew it was going to be fleeting.

Pinkie’s smile shone over me like the first ray of sunlight after a thunderstorm and it made me remember for just a moment why I loved this game so much. Yes, I was still upset that I lost, but I could be happy that Pinkie, one of my best friends, won. And I knew I would have to really look inward and find out why winning a gosh darn card game was soooo important to me, but for right now it would be enough just to happy for Pinkie Pie.

“Congratulations, Pinkie.” I said, taking her hand and getting off the ground to wrap her up in a big hug, one which she happily reciprocated, as I began to cry as well. “That was a great duel.”

****

While Pinkie was getting her rare cards from the tournament manager, I decided to steal a moment away for myself to check in on Rainbow Dash. I headed over to the lounge area and sat in one of the plush chairs, grabbing my phone.

“What the heck, Rainbow Dash?!” I texted her. Maybe a softer approach would have been better, but I couldn’t deny that I was really mad. “You said you would show up for my duel with Pinkie but you completely bailed on us! What gives???”

I waited a few minutes, expecting some simpering non-apology, but hoping for a more reasonable excuse. Then I started worrying that maybe something bad happened to her and I began freaking out. I took some deep breaths and remembered how strong, smart, resourceful and clever Rainbow is, then remembered how flighty, irresponsible and brash she is and suddenly her just bailing on me became a much more reasonable answer than that something happened to her.

Five, maybe ten minutes passed. No answer. I looked at my phone again and became livid when I saw the little ‘seen’ checkmark next to my message. I was about to send another volley of angry texts, jamming on the keys and making typos left and right, but then I realized, who cares? My anger wasn’t going to endear me to Rainbow Dash nor was it going to help me in anyway. Not only that, but at least it was a relief to confirm that she was still okay.

I sighed heavily, throwing my phone onto the ottoman in the center of the lounge area and cradling my face in my hands.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Fluttershy walked up to me and timidly put her hand on my shoulder for a brief moment, before I looked up at her and she instinctively took her hand back.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I groaned, grabbing Fluttershy’s hand softly. “I’m miffed at Rainbow for ditching her promise.”

“That is awfully unfortunate.” Fluttershy knelt down beside my chair and put her other hand on top of my hand, making a kind of hand sandwich. “And it doesn’t really seem like her at all, at least not the Rainbow I remember. She always took commitments very seriously.”

“I know.” I grumbled, squeezing Fluttershy’s soft, thin fingers. “Maybe she’s just changed for the worst because of her obnoxious girlfriend.”

“Maybe…” Fluttershy said in order to humor me. She didn’t like to say mean things about Rainbow’s gf, preferring to give her, and everybody else for that matter, the benefit of the doubt. “But I think Rainbow is just going through a rough time.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked curiously. I mean, anybody would have a bad time being shackled to Whiplash but I wondered if Fluttershy saw something that I didn’t.

“Um, well…” Fluttershy looked away bashfully, reclaiming her hands and twiddling her fingers. “I don’t know.” I hung my head and sighed. “I think it’s just a feeling I have in my gut.” I looked down at Fluttershy and saw the conviction in her eyes. She still looked meek and unassuming but I could tell she knew what she was talking about and she believed it. And I trusted Fluttershy’s gut, as long as she believed it, I believed it.

“You may be right.” I muttered with a half-smile on my face, leaning back into my chair and wishing I could disappear inside it. “So what do I do then? Where’s my part to play in all this, and how do I fix what Rainbow and I broke?”

“If we’re still Rainbow Dash’s friends,” Fluttershy said “then we should support her through her tough times. But it’s important that we support her in ways that she actually wants to be supported in. We can’t just help her in our own ways and ignore her feelings.”

“Alright, I get it.” I said drolly. “You don’t have to lay it on so thick.”

“Sorry.” Fluttershy toyed with her braid.

“And sometimes you have to support your friends in ways they don’t want! Or at least, in ways they don’t know they want to be supported yet!”” Pinkie added, coming up from behind Fluttershy and putting her arms around the small girl before picking her up off the ground. Fluttershy looked surprised by the sudden glomping but she didn’t seem too concerned, in fact I could see a hint of a smile as Pinkie wrapped her arms around her.

“I’m… not sure that’s great advice.” I said with a nervous chuckle. I mean, that’s pretty much what I was doing with Rainbow and it wasn’t working. “So Pinkie, how did it go with the prize? Did you give Fluttersh-” as I was speaking Pinkie started making very unsubtle gestures behind Fluttershy’s back, instructing me to stop talking, and stopped as soon as Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at her.

“Give me what?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes lighting up as she turned around to Pinkie Pie.

“Give you…” Pinkie stuttered, but then you could see the lightbulb come on in her head when she smiled. “Give you a great big hug for coming out and watching me and Twilight duel!” Pinkie embraced Fluttershy in one of her patented spine-crushing bear hugs. “You’re the greatest!”

“Um… thank… you.” Fluttershy grunted between struggled breaths for air.

“Uh, Pinkie? You’re crushing Fluttershy again.” I said.

“Oops!” Pinkie dropped Fluttershy and backed away from her, leaving Flutters panting and bending over with her hands on her knees. “Sorry Fluttershy!”

“It’s okay.” She said with a smile. She regained her composure and stood to the side to look at both of us. “You know, I’m very proud of both of you girls.”

“Really? How come?” Pinkie said enthusiastically, dancing a little jig back and forth.

“You both did your very best, even against each other.” She said. “And you both fought very hard against some really tough opponents to make it to the finals of the tournament. I know it was just a small local tournament in a bookstore, but it was still a series of really difficult fights! And you both did amazing.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy.” I said earnestly as I wrapped a strand of hair around my finger, feeling very touched and a little bashful by Fluttershy’s heartfelt and kind words.

“Oh Fluttershy…” Pinkie said, bawling her eyes out. “You’re so kind!” Pinkie charged at Fluttershy to wrap her up in another hug, but Flutters dodged to the side just in time and Pinkie fell face-first to the ground. “It’s okay! I had this coming!”

“And Twilight, I know you’re upset about missing your date with Rainbow,” I averted my gaze in embarrassment as Fluttershy spoke “but if it’d be alright with you guys, I’d like to take you both out to lunch to celebrate.”

“That would be really kind of you, Fluttershy.” I said with a smile. “I’ll happily take you up on that offer.”

“Me too!” Pinkie added, springing up off the floor and startling both me and Fluttershy.

“Can you just give me one second alone with Pinkie Pie first?” I asked, standing up out of my chair and dusting off my legs.

“Of course.” Fluttershy bowed. “I’ll slowly head outside and wait for you guys, but please don’t be long, okay?”

“We’ll be there quicker than a cheetah with a jetpack!” Pinkie said with a salute. “That’s a Pinkie Promise!”

“Thank you.” Fluttershy laughed and walked off, Pinkie staring at her as she walked away, not even noticing as I sidled up beside her.

“Couldn’t do it, could you?” I asked teasingly, a catlike grin on my face.

“Oh Twilight, I tried!” Pinkie exclaimed tearfully in a panic, grabbing me by the sweater collar and shaking me. “I tried to give Fluttershy the rare card but I choked! She was just standing there, so cute and beautiful with the red setting sun behind her, perfectly framing her white dress that billowed in the light breeze…”

“You have a crush on Fluttershy, don’t you?” I asked, looking at Pinkie who responded first with a sudden jolt in her body. “Also she’s wearing jeans… and a hoodie.”

“Do… youuuu have a crush on Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked inquisitively, stroking her chin and looking at me with a squint. “I mean, it’s not really a crush so much as one of those girl crushes that lesbians get on other lesbians when they’re not sure whether they want to be a girl or be with them, y’know what I mean?”

“Not even remotely.” I scratched my head. I didn’t feel attraction all that often so I was sort of out of my element when discussing crushes. “But it seems like you might have a crush. You wanted to give her those super rare cards, you couldn’t because she was so ‘cute and beautiful’ that it distracted you, and seemed to alter your memory for some reason but that could just be you being Pinkie Pie.”

“Remember that time we all turned into cheez doodles so we we could go into Arnold’s mouth and save him from the chest demons?” Pinkie said, not skipping a beat even to blink.

“Uh, is my point.” I said, baffled by Pinkie suddenly bringing up… The Magic School Bus? For some reason? “Well, whatever. It’s none of my business. Still though, you should give her the rare cards if you want to give them to her.”

“Maybe you could give them to her for me?” Pinkie said with a precious smile.

“I could?” I replied incredulously. “Wouldn’t it mean less coming from me?”

“Not really!” Pinkie shook her head vigorously. “All that’s important is that she have the gift, not that it’s given to her by me! It’s not like I want her to like me or anything, we’re already friends it’s fine!”

“What did you just say even?” I tilted my head. I was starting to have trouble understanding what Pinkie was getting at and I couldn’t figure out if it was because of Pinkie or because of the four hours of sleep I got last night catching up to me. “Never mind. If you want me to give her the cards, I’ll take them off your hands.”

“No! No!” Pinkie was about to hand me the cards before suddenly yanking them back. “I changed my mind! Maybe! I dunno!”

“Then for now,” I said with an amused smile “why don’t we just go have a nice dinner with our mutual gal pal Fluttershy?”

“That’s a good idea.” Pinkie put the cards back in her deck box and breathed a sigh of relief. “I like that idea!”

“So do I.” I grabbed Pinkie by the hand and headed for the exit. “Let’s go, Pinkie.”

“Right behind you!” Pinkie slid her hand out of my grasp and put her arm around me instead.

As it turns out, I couldn’t stay mad at Pinkie for winning our duel, she was great. I realized that putting all your self-worth into a game is ridiculous and that just because you lose every once in a while doesn’t mean your friends won’t respect you or that you’re some kind of loser. Loss happens to all of us. Better to just accept it and move on, I say. And hopefully I’ll remember that for the next loss.
> 06. The Only Way Forward Is Through
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

When Pinkie Pie gave me the address of Rainbow Dash’s house, I expected something much more impressive than the dilapidated mess that now stood in front of me. Decaying, off-white metal paneling that was peeling from the walls, identical paneling on the roof that looked ready to collapse any day and had holes in it that were patched with ply wood, duct tape on the broken windows… this place was a hole.

I felt uneasy as I walked up the gravelly driveway and onto the wooden deck in front of the door, holding my hands together tentatively. I had planned to give Dash a real earful, let her know how mad I was that she didn’t show up yesterday, but seeing this scene reminded me of how Fluttershy’s gut said that Rainbow was going through some hard times, and how could you live in a place like this and not be having a rough time?

I took a deep breath to calm myself. I came all the way out here to see Rainbow Dash and I wasn’t going to turn back around without doing so. I raised my hand to knock on the door and steeled my nerves, giving the door a polite knock.

No answer.

Should I leave? I shook my head. Like I said, I wasn’t leaving without talking to Rainbow.

I knocked again.

No answer.

I took another deep breath, a swirling feeling of doubt started to become a torrential uprising in my stomach that made me want to throw up, but I could tell that it was only the anxiety. I’m stronger than the anxiety. It’s nothing to be afraid of. Just breathe.

I took another deep breath and was about to knock on the door again when I heard the latch open from the other side, the door creaking open to reveal not Rainbow Dash, but a pale skinned woman with long cherry red hair held up in a bun, wearing nothing but an oversized rainbow hoodie. My heart sank into my stomach like a stone and I couldn’t help but scowl. It was Whiplash, Rainbow’s girlfriend.

“What are you doin’ here?” Whiplash asked drolly, staring daggers at me. “I thought I told Dash not to see you anymore.”

“I must have missed that memo.” I said flatly, crossing my arms and shifting my weight to one side in order to pull off like a sassy stance. “Where’s Dash?”

“What’s it matta to you, sugah?” She said, leaning against the door frame. This made me mad because there was no way I was going to let her out-sass me! “She doesn’t want to see you anymore. Is that not clear? Can you not get that through that thick head of yours?”

“She doesn’t want to see me?” I sneered, losing my sassy composure and stepping up to Whiplash’s face. “Or do you just not want her to see me? What’s wrong, Whiplash?” My tone became dripping with mocking sarcasm. “Are you wowwied that Wainbow Dash isn’t gonna wike you anymoah?”

“Get off my property, now.” Whiplash growled, grabbing the door and getting ready to slam it in my face before being stopped by a familiar voice.

“Hold on, babe!” Rainbow said from down the hall, hastily putting on a light blue tanktop that matched her light blue sweat pants. “Give me a second to talk to her.”

“You don’t think you’ve talked enough with her?” Whiplash snarled at Dash.

“Well I didn’t exactly tell her what was going on.” Rainbow was annoyed, but I could tell she didn’t want to agitate Whiplash so she was trying to reign it in. “I at least could give her an explanation.”

Whiplash gave Rainbow an icy glare, but my friend stood firm and just scowled back at her. Rainbow’s arms were crossed but I could tell her fists were clenched, and she tapped her foot on the ground nervously.

“I’m goin’ to the ladies’ room.” Whiplash said, walking past Rainbow. “When I get back, she’d better not be here.”

“No problem, babe.” Rainbow said with an obviously forced smile.

Whiplash went back down the hall and disappeared from sight, Rainbow coming outside and taking my hand as we walked back across the wooden deck and gravelly driveway, over to the street adjacent to the house. It was on top of a hill so there were no neighbors or traffic in sight.

“She’s charming.” I said drolly, pushing up my glasses. In retrospect, maybe biting sarcasm was not my best opening move.

“What are you doing here, Twilight?” Rainbow asked irritably, a harsh sigh coming from her mouth as she paced back and forth in front of me, not really looking at me.

“What am I-” I stuttered in frustration. “Oh I dunno, Rainbow! What am I doing here? Is it weird that I’m not where you’d assume I’d be? Like would it be weird if I said I was gonna be one place and then ended up being somewhere completely different? Man, that is strange, isn’t it?”

“I get it, Twilight.” Rainbow said through gritted teeth and glared at me. “Look, Whiplash doesn’t like you any more than you like her. I have to pick sides here, you or her, and I’m gonna pick her.”

“Why?!” I snapped, stomping the ground and slamming the back of my hand into my other palm. “She seems soooo great, she really seems to have your best interest at heart!”

“You’re right, Twilight.” Rainbow grimaced, her tone dripping with vitriolic sarcasm. “I dunno why I don’t want to just drop down at your feet, clearly you’re the superior one here, what with all your yelling at me and assuming that I’m an idiot.”

That one really stung, and I flinched when she said it. I thought I was going to do better, that I was going to give Rainbow a fairer shot but here I was being a jerk again.

“I’m sorry.” I said with my head down. “You… you’re absolutely right, I’ve been acting like a really bad friend. And I’m sorry.”

Rainbow looked a little surprised and took a step back, letting her arms hang at her sides and putting one in her pocket.

“Well, I get that it’s not totally your fault.” She started blushing a little and looked up at the sky. “The gf can be pretty hostile at times.”

“Then answer me an honest question, Rainbow.” I pleaded, looking Rainbow right in the eyes for about one second before that overwhelmed me and I looked over her shoulder instead. “Why are you with her? She seems terrible.”

“We’re all going through some bad days right now, Twilight.” Rainbow said sadly, heading back to the driveway and kicking at the gravel. “Whiplash… she’s really stressed out. I mean look at this place! Do you think this was the life either of us had in mind? And… to be honest, it’s my fault we’re in this mess. I need to fix it.”

“You need to take care of you, Rainbow.” I said.

“And what, just abandon Whiplash?” Rainbow scoffed. “I could never do that! She’s my girlfriend, it’s my responsibility to take care of her!”

“Not if she doesn’t take care of you in return.” The pit in my stomach was getting bigger the more we talked about this. I couldn’t even look at Rainbow so I was looking down at the hem of my sweater as I fidgeted around with it anxiously. “If she’s doing nothing but berating you, telling you who you can or can’t see, what you can or can’t do, then you need to get away from her.”

“It’s not…” Rainbow growled. She sputtered about for a second before taking a huge lunging kick at the gravel, knocking the stuff everywhere. “It’s not that simple, Twilight! I need to take care of her. I need to fix this mess that I’ve made!”

“How is this your fault, Rainbow?” I asked, trying to remain calm as the nausea in my stomach boiled me alive from the inside.

“I made promises I couldn’t deliver on.” Rainbow grabbed herself by the arms, digging her rainbow-painted nails into her dark brown skin. “I told Whiplash, I told myself, that I could do things that I… I just can’t.”

“You’re talking about Duel Monsters, aren’t you?” I sighed, lowering my head and rubbing two fingers across my temples. When Rainbow and I were teenagers Rainbow started getting into the competitive dueling scene, and she was really good. She wanted to become a professional and started making some waves around our town’s local pro scene, and that’s about the time Whiplash showed up.

“I really thought I could make it.” Rainbow let out a single acerbic laugh, on the verge of tears.

“I think you could,” I said wistfully “if you just have the right support.”

“You think you know everything, don’t you?” Rainbow shook her head and scowled.

“Rainbow!?” The pleasant sound of Rainbow’s wonderful girlfriend interrupted our conversation.

“Look, Twilight, I’ll text you later. I promise.” Rainbow grabbed my hand tenderly, her eyes shut as she indulged in a rare moment of gentleness. “But you gotta get out of here right now or I’ll get in trouble.”

“Okay.” I bowed my head and ran off down the street, no questions asked. I didn’t know if I believed Rainbow’s claim about texting me or not, but I couldn’t just be belligerent and let her get grilled by the gf because of me.

I took a deep breath as I reached the bottom of the hill, looking around at the thicket of trees by the side of the empty road, and I thought about Rainbow Dash, and how I really wanted to believe that things would be alright between us. “I still believe in you, Rainbow.” I said under my breath as I headed back home.

****

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do.” I said dismally, resting my head on the table that Pinkie and I were sharing breakfast on, though granted ‘breakfast’ to me was at like five in the afternoon.

We were in a diner, a little bit dingy, but it was cozy. It was after the lunch rush so only a few people were still seated around the place, which was good because every time Pinkie and I went out to eat one or both of us ended up causing a scene for some reason.

I had a cheeseburger, bacon cheddar tater tots and an order of nachos while Pinkie had a seemingly endless supply of pancakes with at least three different kinds of syrup on them and… a quesadilla. My arch enemy of the whole food kingdom. So cheesy… so horrifying.

“I mean, Rainbow clearly doesn’t want to be there!” I explained desperately to Pinkie Pie, tapping my nails on the table as she stuffed her face with pancakes. “She’s just staying there out of some sense of stupid obligation to Whiplash! She’s so dense!”

“Y’know, I’m not an expert on relationships or anything, but I think that’s exactly the kind of attitude that keeps getting on Rainbow’s nerves.” Pinkie said before stabbing a stack of four pancakes with her fork and shoving them all in her mouth, to my eye-twitching horror. Even more agonizingly, she didn’t wait until she was done chewing to start speaking again. “You gotta be patient with her, Twilight. We’re Rainbow’s friends and we need to support her, not antagonize her and make her feel bad for the situation that she may or may not have gotten herself into.”

“But Whiplash told her directly that it was her or me.” I steepled my fingers in front of my face. “How am I supposed to support that?”

“Maybe keep your distance for a while?” Pinkie suggested with a shrug. Not helpful. “Let me and Fluttershy handle ‘Operation: Support Rainbow Dash’ while you sorta work on your own stuff?”

“So what, I’m just supposed to wait on the sidelines?!” I stood up and slammed my hands on the table. “Wait around twiddling my thumbs while you and Fluttershy support Rainbow with vague platitudes about friendship that don’t do anything to change the bad situation?!”

“Twilight, you said it yourself,” Pinkie sprung to her feet and got in my face, staring me down with disapproval “to have a happy relationship with someone, you need to work on your own baggage first. I know you were talking about like a romantic thing, but it still applies here, I think!”

I lifted my arms off the table and dragged them down my face. I looked away from Pinkie with a scowl on my face before relaxing my shoulders with a sigh and sitting back down.

“I know…” I said begrudgingly, adjusting my glasses. “I know that you’re right. Old habits die hard I guess, but that’s… that’s no excuse to not try and be better.”

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie plopped back down onto her booth. “I mean, a little bit dour, but for the most part that’s the spirit!”

“But I don’t think I can just sit by and do nothing while you and Fluttershy do… whatever it is you and Fluttershy are planning to do.” I placed my elbow on the table and rested my chin in my hand as I looked out the window.

“Me and Fluttershy aren’t really ‘planning’ to do anything.” Pinkie said as she picked up a pancake and a quesadilla slice and made them fight. A big, floppy food fight. “Just be friendly toward Rainbow, offer a non-judgmental ear if she needs it and give her vague, unhelpful platitudes about friendship.” I couldn’t tell if Pinkie’s smile at that last remark reeked of mocking sarcasm or if she was being genuine. She could be really feisty when she wanted to be and it was hard to tell what was going through her head at any given time.

“But that’s not going to get her away from Whiplash!” I pounded my fist on the table.

“You may be right, Twilight.” Pinkie took another forkful of pancakes and stuffed them into her mouth, continuing to talk before swallowing them. “But relationships are complicated, and even if Rainbow’s in a bad situation with Whiplash,” Pinkie paused to swallow her pancakes before continuing “it might not be the best thing for her if you just yank her out of that situation! These matters are delicate and require time and patience.”

“I don’t have a lot of time or patience!” I snapped, standing back up. “Look Pinkie, I get what you’re trying to say but I need somebody else to see that the top priority is getting Rainbow away from that horrible woman! And if you aren’t going to give me that opinion, I’ll just get it from somewhere else!”

I began to storm off to find Fluttershy, thinking that maybe she would listen to reason. I took a few angry steps toward the door and then stopped. I turned around and bashfully walked back to the table, handing Pinkie a few dollars for my part of the meal we just ate.

“Um, I figured you could just…” I stammered, my cheeks blushing.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay for this.” Pinkie giggled.

“And if you could just get this stuff boxed up for me…” I said, motioning to my various leftovers.

“No problem!” Pinkie said with a smile and a thumbs-up. I gave a weak smile in return and then turned around and headed back off, only stopping to turn back when Pinkie said my name. “Hey Twilight, hold on a sec!” I walked back to the table where Pinkie took a slice of her quesadilla, still dripping with eerie gooey cheese, and waved it in front of my face, causing me to recoil. “Are you sure you don’t want any of this quesadilla?” She said with a sly smirk.

“N-no, I’m good. Thanks.” I said warily, stepping back from the cheesy monstrosity.

“It’s gooooood!” Pinkie said, taking an enormous bite out of it.

“No thanks, Pinkie.” I said with a laugh.

****

Fluttershy and I met in the Fillydelphia city park, sitting on a white bench watching the city folk play with their dogs, or kids, or tend to the gardens or have picnics. It was quiet except for the easily ignorable chatter of people in the background or the chirping of birds in the trees above and around us.

“So what do you think, Fluttershy?” I asked, having explained to her the conversations I had with Rainbow and Pinkie.

“Oh, um, well I really don’t want to take sides.” Fluttershy mumbled, looking away suspiciously and twiddling her fingers.

“Fluttershy.” I said flatly. “I know you have an opinion on this and I honestly want to hear it. I respect your judgment. I won’t get angry if you disagree with me.”

“Uh, okay… I guess.” Fluttershy sighed and then looked at me. “Twilight, I disagree with you.”

My eye twitched and I felt the bubbling heat of anger start to fester in my stomach. I took a deep breath and sighed, letting go of that tension. I really wanted Fluttershy to side with me on this, but I can’t say I was all that surprised that she didn’t.

“See? Not mad.” I said with a forced smile.

“Twilight you’re not a very good liar.” Fluttershy said meekly, scooching away from me a couple inches.

“I know.” I growled and ruffled my hands through my hair. “But I’m honestly not mad at you, I’m more mad at myself… and Rainbow.”

“Well you know what I think.” Fluttershy said sternly, closing her eyes and planting her arms on her thighs. “I told you as much yesterday. It’s our job as Rainbow’s friends to support her, and maybe the best thing for you two right now is some distance… at least until she’s ready to make the next move.”

“Urrrrghhh…” I leaned back and covered my face with my hands. I couldn’t deny the sense that Fluttershy and Pinkie were making, but it just didn’t seem right to completely step back from this situation and do nothing for who knows how long, especially since we just had distance! For four years! “I just… I… ughhh…”

“Do you want to talk about something else for a bit?” Fluttershy said compassionately. “Maybe let this stuff simmer in your head for a while?”

“That’s a good idea.” I groaned.

“Did you hear Applejack and Rarity are coming back to town?” Fluttershy reached into a bag by her side full of defrosted frozen peas and grabbed a handful of them, tossing them out to the ducks that were starting to gather in front of our bench. I guess bread was bad for them so she brought them peas instead.

“Wait, what?” I lurched forward and looked at Fluttershy in shock.

“Mm-hmm.” Fluttershy nodded, tossing out some more peas for the happily feeding ducks. “They’ll be back in just a couple of days. They apologized for the short notice but said that it was kind of unavoidable. I don’t know why though. Neither of them would discuss what made them decide to come back.”

“Man, I can’t believe Applejack!” I said in frustration, crossing my arms in a huff. “I could understand Rarity casually forgetting to tell me they were coming back, or trying to make it a ‘surprise’ or whatever, but Applejack’s supposed to be like my best friend and she doesn’t even tell me that she’s coming back to Fillydelphia?!”

“She just told me this morning.” Fluttershy said, kneeling down to handfeed some of the ducks. That seemed pretty dangerous, but then again Fluttershy would handfeed a bear if given the opportunity and it would probably lap the food out of her hand like a happy puppy.

“I’m going to give her a piece of my mind real quick!” I grabbed my phone out of my pocket. I was ready to give AJ a really sternly worded text when I saw that I had an unread message from her that I got this morning, and I remembered ignoring it since I was already on my way to Rainbow’s house when I saw it. I opened it up and read it and it said that she and Rarity were coming back to Fillydelphia and that she’d tell me more in the evening. “Oh.” I said flatly, Fluttershy giggling as she read the message over my shoulder.

“I’m glad they’re coming back, honestly.” Fluttershy said. “I’ve missed them.”

“Same here.” I lied down across the bench and looked up at the late afternoon clouds. “And maybe they’ll be able to talk some sense into Rainbow Dash.”

“Sure. If there’s anyone who could talk sense into Rainbow Dash, it would be Applejack.” Fluttershy said with a silly laugh. Applejack’s relationship with Rainbow was even more of a disaster than mine was.

“Well…” I stuttered about for a response. “Yeah okay, wishful thinking.” Even Rarity wouldn’t have been much help since Rainbow often teased her for being persnickety and uptight all the time. She wouldn’t likely listen to reason from her either. “Still though… maybe they can help me figure something ou-”

Just then my phone started buzzing.

“It’s Rainbow Dash!” I said in surprise, lurching upwards while Fluttershy perked up and stood at attention.

Rainbow sent me a text that said “Yo, can u meet me at pastabilites in like 40 minutes???”

I looked over to Fluttershy who nodded her approval. “No problem. I’ll be there.” I sent back.

“K. cool.” Is all Rainbow replied with. Pretty typical of her, to be honest.

I took a deep breath and stood up, pacing back and forth in front of the bench as I felt the nervousness coming back.

“It’ll be okay.” Fluttershy softly took my hand as I walked by her, smiling warmly at me. Something about Fluttershy’s smile had a real calming effect, like nothing else could be wrong in the world as long as Fluttershy was happy. And I really needed that calming feeling honestly. I don’t know how I would survive without the support of my friends.

****

By the time Rainbow arrived at Pastabilities I was already seated at a table in their outside eating area waiting for her, the orange glow of sunset shining down on a box of pizza sitting in front of me unopened.

“Y’know,” Rainbow said with a cheeky smile as she sat down in the metal chair across from me “I thought by getting here five minutes early, I’d be able to beat you here.”

“You’re going to have to try harder than that!” I said with a smile, opening the pizza box and taking out a slice. “Is white sauce okay?” I asked as I shoved the slice into my mouth.

“Yeah, no problem.” Rainbow chuckled as she grabbed a slice and took a bite out of it. “I’m surprised you do cheese on these things, considering the whole thing you have with quesadillas.”

“Cheese is fine!” I said with a jump, then looked around to see if people were staring at me. “It’s just quesadillas I can’t stand. They’re just… so…” I sighed sharply. “They’re an abomination.” Rainbow’s laugh at that comment made me smile and feel warm in my chest. “So what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked attentively, really hoping for good news.

“Okay, so you know how my girlfriend told me not to see you anymore?” Rainbow said enthusiastically, waving her half-eaten pizza slice floppily in the air.

“No, I must’ve missed that.” I said drolly, staring at Rainbow with a snide smirk on my face.

“Right, it was pretty subtle. Anyway,” Rainbow said without missing a beat “I don’t want to lose my relationship with you, but I don’t want to lose her either. You see where the conundrum comes in?”

“Rainbow, why are you still with her?” I asked incredulously. “It seems like the only reason to stay with her is out of obligation, but you don’t owe her anything.”

“You’re wrong, Twilight.” Rainbow groaned, putting two fingers against her temples and glaring at me.

“About you only staying with her out of obligation?” I leaned back in my chair. “Or that you don’t owe her anything? Actually it doesn’t matter I’m right either way.”

“I care about Whiplash.” Rainbow sighed, putting the pizza slice back in the box.

“Yes, but do you like her?” I tapped my finger on the metal grated table. “Do you enjoy her company? Do you get anything out of that relationship? Or does she get someone she can boss around who’s wrapped around her finger because of a sense of misattributed guilt?”

“Twilight…” Rainbow said agitatedly. She put her elbows up on the table and cradled her face in her hands, shaking her head. “I can’t just leave her.”

“Rainbow, you’re only making a bad situation worse the longer you stay.” I pleaded.

“You don’t understand, Twi…” Rainbow stared daggers at me and clenched her fists. “I need to make this right. Whiplash put her faith in me and I…” Rainbow, her elbow still on the table, pounded her head against her fist. “I blew it. I can’t just bail on her now, I need to make things right.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Whiplash took out a loan so I could compete in a tournament.” Rainbow explained. “I told her I could win and she believed me. We… I thought I could win, make us a bunch of money… but I completely choked. I didn’t even make it past the first round.”

“That isn’t your fault, Rainbow.” I said sadly, slowly shaking my head.

“How is that not my fault!?” Rainbow pounded her fist on the table and started breathing heavily. “I already had next to nothing! Whiplash put her future on the line, gambled everything on me, and I blew it! Now we’re in debt up to our eyeballs, squatting in an abandoned house… all because…” Rainbow quieted down and started trembling, staring at her hands with a forlorn grimace. “…all because I had some stupid stage fright or something.”

“So now what?” I sniped, grabbing the table’s edge and having half a mind to pick the dang thing up and throw it I was so angry. “If you really believe you need to make amends, what do you do now?”

“I got a job as a waitress.” Rainbow said, blushing and covering half her face with one hand. “It’s super embarrassing, but at least it’s work.”

“You honestly believe you can pay off your debt as a waitress?” I scoffed.

“It’s better than nothing!” Rainbow snapped back, slamming her palm on the table and wincing at the pain.

“So what does Whiplash do?” I turned my nose up unconsciously.

“She…” Rainbow paused. That was telling. “She stays home. It’s stressful for her, y’know?”

“Like it isn’t for you?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Whiplash isn’t the one who made a huge mess of everything!” Rainbow yelled.

“Is that what she tells you?” I asked.

Rainbow paused again. She darted her eyes back and forth before narrowing them at me with a scowl.

“Look,” her words were less ‘spoken’ and more ‘snarled like an angry beast’ “I just do what Whiplash tells me to do. She said get a job, I got a job. It’s the least I could do after I ruined her life.”

“But what about your life, Rainbow?!” This time it was me heaping physical abuse on the table.

“What about my life!?” Rainbow stood to her feet, hammering her fist into the table yet again, which at this point was really more punching bag than table. “What about it?! My life is over now! It ended the second I choked in that tournament and cost us everything! You think I can just move back in with my parents or something?! Like they got all the money in the world!? Whiplash gave up everything to take a chance on me, it’s only fair I do the same for her.”

“That tournament was four years ago.” I said sternly, standing up to face Rainbow. “Whiplash has been pulling your chain for four years. And for what? You work your butt off to pay off someone else’s debt, meanwhile she stays home wearing your clothes lounging around doing nothing.”

“It’s not her fault that things ended up this way.” Rainbow growled. “It’s my fault. I’m the one who needs to make it right.”

“There is no ‘making it right’, Rainbow.” I said. “Only ‘making it worse’.”

“Coming here was a mistake.” Rainbow sneered, turning around and walking away.

I sighed dismally and slunk back into my chair as I watched Rainbow disappear into the distance of the darkening twilit sky. I took a deep breath and hoped she would be okay… and then I finished eating our pizza. No sense letting it go to waste after all, and eating an entire pizza to get distracted from feeling depressed wasn’t exactly a new experience for me.

****

I sat on my bed in my pajamas, phone in hand, to text Applejack and tell her what happened with Rainbow and to ask for her advice. Not five minutes after sending that text, my phone rings. It’s a video call, not from Applejack, but from Rarity!

“Hello, darling!” She said happily, waving enthusiastically. Rarity was a tall, gorgeous woman. Her long, kinda curly but mostly fluffy purple hair and her dazzling blue eyes accentuated her dark brown skin beautifully. She was wearing a rather skimpy white nightgown as she sprawled out on Applejack’s bed. “Applejack’s in the shower right now. She left her phone on the bed and I saw a text from you come in, so I thought I’d give you a call instead. Isn’t this much better than texting?”

“Not really, but I’ll make an exception for you.” I said with a tired smile. I was very exhausted but seeing Rarity, her eyes gleaming, her demeanor lighting up the room… it made me feel better. “I like to be able to think my words through before saying them. Texting helps, especially when I’m this wiped out.”

“Well you can take all the time you like with me, darling. I don’t mind.” Rarity said kindly with a bright smile and a flick of her hair. “Now why are you exhausted? Not getting enough sleep?”

“I don’t suppose AJ, or one of the others for that matter, has filled you in on the whole Rainbow Dash thing?” I said.

“Oh, is this about Rainbow Dash?” Rarity said with a bemused frown, sitting upright. “I’m sorry dear, I thought you and her were starting to get along again?”

“We were? And then… we weren’t.” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, getting stuck in a rat’s nest and struggling to get my hand out without massively hurting myself. “I don’t know where I went wrong… am I just supposed to OW!” I cringed as I untangled a knot in my hair and yanked a small clump of it out, me and Rarity both looking at the purple hairs in my hand with disgust. “Anyway, am I just supposed to hide my feelings? Keep quiet to preserve the peace?”

“Sitting on hurt feelings never did a relationship good for long, Twilight.” Rarity said sadly, shaking her head. “And you’re entitled to your feelings. What’s important is how you communicate them, and that both you and the person, or people, to whom you’re speaking feel heard.”

“Right, I just…” I curled up into a ball and threw a blanket around me. “I feel… alone.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Rarity asked caringly and picked up her phone, staring right into the camera to give me her full attention. “You’ve got Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie down there, not to mention me and Applejack on the line whenever you need us! What is it that’s bothering you so, Twilight?”

“It’s…” I started to tear up a bit. All this stuff going on with Rainbow had caused me to look inward more than I ever had in my lifetime before, and I didn’t like all the things I was discovering. “It’s not about you guys. You’re all the best friends I could ever ask for… heck, it’s not even about Rainbow Dash. I’ve felt alone for a long time… longer than I realized. I thought moving to Fillydelphia, getting a fresh start and being near my closest friends, would help me but… I still feel alone.”

I fought back tears, Rarity sitting quietly and letting me work through my process without interrupting. I was able to hold back the waterworks for now.

“You know I don’t have the best relationship with my family.” I said coldly.

“I do know this.” Rarity nodded solemnly. “They haven’t exactly been a stellar support system for you.”

“Right.” I whispered, chuckling darkly at Rarity’s pointing out the obvious. “I know they love me, I know they truly care about me, heck they even say they accept who I am… but I still get misgendered and deadnamed by them constantly. Every day, literally every single day, this would happen so many times per day I couldn’t count… I know they try their best… but do they? Do they really? Do they even try? Do they even care?”

My shoulders slumped and I couldn’t stop myself from frowning as I buried my face into my arms. My hair fell over my face and the tears stopped completely. I was so sad I couldn’t even cry.

“The five of you…” I continued, trying my best to look at Rarity but my gaze ended up centering toward the ceiling, and my voice was reduced to merely a whimpering whisper. “The five of you were my family, and when Rainbow left… it really hurt me deeply. I’m not sure I ever really got over it. Heck, I’m not sure I ever got over leaving my parents’ place. I’ve just been holding on sub-consciously to all these hurts and heartaches without ever really dealing with them because to be frank, I don’t know how. Seeing Rainbow again, seeing the faintest glimmer of hope that we might reconnect, it reignited a light inside me that I thought had died out. And now… for this to happen… to see her walk out of my life again and leave me… alone…”

Remember that thing I said about being too sad to cry? Welp, I was wrong. The tears suddenly came back like the bursting of a dam and I sobbed that ugly nasally sob, throwing myself into my pillow, wailing and practically screaming muffled sobs into it.

“I’m here for you, Twilight.” Rarity’s kind voice was like water in the desert. “I wish very much that I could reach through this screen and give you a hug and a kiss, but I’m here for you on the other side of this phone nevertheless.”

“Thank you.” I wept. Through a bunch of ugly snorts and sniffles I managed to control my crying, not the flow of tears mind you but the sobbing at least, just long enough to put together another coherent sentence. “I’m so afraid that you all will leave me. You all tell me we’re the best of friends and for the most part I believe you but I… there’s a part of me that doubts it. A part of me that knows I’m unworthy of friendship, that believes you’re all just pitying me or humoring me or using me for something, or worst of all that our relationship is just one big long sick joke and you guys are going to make me the punchline any time now.”

“Twilight, that’s not-” Rarity said.

“I know.” I cut her off. “I know how it sounds, I know that it’s completely ridiculous but I… I’m so afraid of being truly alone again, that I can’t let my heart be free. I couldn’t bear the devastation and the heartache if my fears turned out to be right and I was unprepared. My anxiety’s greatest trick, the thing that really keeps me under its grasp more than anything else, is the phrase ‘what if it’s right this time?’ My fears only have to be right once to ruin my whole life, and what if ‘this’ is the time, but ‘this’ could refer to literally anything that I’m afraid of.”

I took some deep breaths, an ugly sniffing snort through the nose and a heaving weepy sob through the mouth, all the while Rarity was calmly breathing in with me.

“I know you guys won’t abandon me…” I cringed as I heard those words come out of my mouth. “At least, I believe. I mean I think I do… do you see what I mean? I can’t let myself fully believe that you all will be there for me because I can’t ‘let my guard down’, so to speak. I can’t bear to let myself be… defenseless. Vulnerable. Rainbow leaving the first time didn’t help this feeling at all but to be honest I think I’ve felt this way ever since…”

I thought about the time I lost my first childhood friend. I remembered the heartache I felt when she moved away to another town and I thought maybe that’s where all this started? But then I thought even farther back, to my brother’s childhood friends when we were both reaaaally little.

I remember a time, very vaguely, being a kid, younger than five, and being with my brother, only a couple years older than me, and a couple kids his same age. They didn’t want me there. I was annoying to them I guess, which I mean, that’s how pretty much every older kid feels about younger kids, but I remember feeling… knowing, or at least believing, that I wasn’t wanted. And I think to some degree I’ve felt that way my entire life.

“Twilight?” Rarity said concernedly. I had been pretty quiet while I worked through all that stuff in my head.

“I’m still here.” I said absentmindedly.

“I’m still here too.” Rarity responded, her voice soft and warm.

“Thank you.” I said.

“Any time.” Rarity replied.

“I need to go to sleep.” I took my glasses off and placed them by the nightstand, refusing to look at my phone and let Rarity see the dingy red mess my eyes had become.

“Okay.” Rarity said softly. I paused and just stared off into space.

“Rarity?” I asked, still not looking at the phone.

“Yes Twilight?” Rarity replied.

“Can you…” I didn’t know how to choke the words out of my mouth.

“Do you want me to stay on the line with you while you fall asleep?” Rarity asked cheerfully, taking the words out of my mouth and saying them better than I ever could.

“Yes please.” I said vacantly, trying to hold back tears again.

“Consider it done.” Rarity said with a giggle. I halfheartedly smiled back and that didn’t express the enormous amount of gratitude that I felt, but it was all I could muster.

I laid my head on my pillow, placing the phone on the nightstand and closed my eyes.

“Goodnight Twilight.” Rarity’s soft, beautiful voice was like a lullaby helping me to feel at peace despite the dark well of sadness that was absorbing my thoughts. “Get some rest. You deserve it.”
> 07. Rocks Fall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-PINKIE PIE-

“Rocks fall, everyone dies.” Twilight said to me as we walked along the sidewalk in the sunny morning.

“Eh?” I said with a head tilt, walking alongside her on a small ledge. All I’d asked was ‘how’re you feeling?’

“Rocks fall, everyone dies.” Twilight repeated with a tired sigh, pushing up her glasses. “It’s an RPG term. When the Dungeon Master gets fed up with obnoxious players, they’ll drop a mountain on the players’ characters to kill them all. Rocks fall, everyone dies. It’s like a metaphor for sudden, abrupt and overwhelming destruction.”

“That’s… grim.” I said with an eye twitch.

This wasn’t what I wanted to hear today. When I got up this morning I got the ‘you haven’t paid rent this is your last warning before we kick you out’ message from my landlord, and I didn’t have rent money. I started panicking and didn’t know what to do so I did what I always did when I felt overwhelmed, hang out with my friends. Even better if they had problems going on I could help them with to distract me from my own stuff and I knew Twilight did, but… I was hoping she was in a better mood than she was in.

“That’s how I feel right now.” Twilight said, kicking at the ground as we walked. “Like everything’s fine, I’m moving along, and suddenly everything’s falling apart. Rocks are falling and everyone’s dying. I realize that’s all kinds of overdramatic but…” Twilight shrugged and sighed through her nose “I can’t help it. It’s how I feel.”

“What you need to do is turn that frown upside-down!” I said, making a smiley motion with my fingers while also smiling brightly. Twilight wasn’t very receptive.

“Pinkie, you can’t become happy just by smiling.” She shook her head sadly.

“Maybe not, but it can help!” I hopped in front of Twilight so she couldn’t ignore me and started smiling even bigger than before.

“I really don’t think pretending to be happy will help me.” Twilight made a big frown and gently pushed me out of her way, which made me make a big frown.

“You don’t know unless you try!” I chirped, merrily hopping alongside Twilight.

“Pinkie…” Twilight grumbled and rubbed her temples. “I’m not just sad, Pinkie. I’m depressed. And that’s not going to go away just because I’m smiling or thinking positively.”

“But it can help at least!” I argued, a sliiiight twinge of desperation in my voice. I maaaay have been trying to convince myself more than Twilight.

“That’s not the kind of help I need right now!” Twilight barked, glaring at me and making me jump back as tears formed in my eyes. “I’m sorry, I just…” Twilight exhaled softly, trying not to make another loud sigh. She put her hand on my shoulder, gently rubbing it for a sec before her hand slid off and fell back to her side where it hung limply. “I just need you to leave me alone for a bit. I’m going to go talk to Fluttershy.”

“Um, okay…” I tried not to sound hurt but I sounded very hurt. “I’ll, um, see you later, Twilight.”

Twilight didn’t say anything as she walked away, her body all slumped and sad. Seeing her like that made me sad, which made me think of rent, which made me even more sad and I got all slumpy and my hair deflated, hanging down in front of my face.

But then I had an idea! Maybe if I fixed Twilight’s fight with Rainbow, I could make Twilight happy again and that would make me happy again! Great idea, Pinkie! I mean, it does kinda run contrary to all that stuff I told Twilight before about how we should let Rainbow deal with her stuff and support her decisions and such, but now everybody was sad so never mind all that junk!

Time to singlehandedly fix Twilight and Rainbow’s entire relationship!

****

I walked up the hill to Rainbow’s place and really took in the uh, ‘décor’ of her home as I approached it. It looked like a tornado had hit it and blown it up, then dropped the remains in a vaguely house-shaped pile. It was pretty bad.

I’d texted Rainbow beforehand to let her know I was coming, and to make sure Whiplash wasn’t there since I wanted to talk about Twilight. I saw Rainbow loitering in the gravel driveway, kicking little pebbles all around, and I sprinted toward her. She looked pretty surprised to see me running at her with such speed, but not for long since I gave her a big jumping hug that nearly knocked us both over.

“Pinkie, maybe don’t do the whole glomping thing on top of gravel, ok?” Rainbow said concernedly, putting her hands on my forearms and gently pushing me back a few steps.

“Sorry!” I said with a bright smile, grabbing Rainbow’s hands. “I couldn’t help myself, I’m just so happy to see you!”

“Why?” Rainbow scoffed, pulling her hands back.

“Because you’re my friend! Obviously!” I scoffed back and rolled my eyes, throwing my whole head back. “You’ve been gone for so long that I’m just soaking in the fact that it’s really you! You’re really here!” I’d been texting with Rainbow for a few months but it hadn’t been until a couple weeks ago that we started seeing each other in person.

“Well I didn’t really go anywhere.” Rainbow shrugged and started pacing around the driveway. “We just sorta lost touch.” Rainbow threw her hands into her hoodie pockets with her eyes glancing away from me. “It happens…” Rainbow groaned in frustration and looked up at the cloudy sky. “But I’m glad to see you too, Pinkie… Twilight, on the other hand… ugh.”

“Funny you mention Twilight…” I said innocently, tapping my fingers together. “Because that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about!”

“What’s to talk about?” Rainbow sneered and started walking over to her wooden deck. “Twilight and my girlfriend hate each other. I have to choose between one or the other, and I have obligations to Whiplash, so she gets the nod. Nothing more to it.”

“I don’t think that’s true!” I stamped my foot on the ground and followed Rainbow onto the deck.

“Think what you want.” Rainbow shrugged, placing her elbows on the deck railing and looking out over her mostly dirt but also some brown grass lawn.

“What kind of ‘obligations’ do you even have to Whiplash?” I walked up behind Rainbow Dash and wrapped my arms around her, swaying back and forth slowly. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem to mind. “And how are they more important than your friendship with Twilight?”

“It’s not just Twilight’s distaste for my girlfriend, Pinkie!” Rainbow snapped, grabbing my wrists and shoving me away from her. “Twilight treats me like I’m a freakin’ idiot! I can’t have a conversation with her without her turning her nose up at me or rolling her eyes or insulting my intelligence! It’s infuriating!”

“But don’t you remember all the good times we all used to have together?” I pleaded, tears starting to happen again.

“Of course I do, Pinkie.” Rainbow lightly tapped her fist against her forehead. “One time, the snobby rich kid at our school made some crack about my skin color so me and Twilight took all the dead frogs from science class and put them in the kid’s locker. It was hilarious!”

As Rainbow laughed at her recollection, she decided to hop over the railing of the deck down onto the lawn. I decided what the hay and to jump after her but I wasn’t quite as athletic as she was so my legs immediately gave out once they hit the dirt, causing me to collapse into a heap. Rainbow giggled under her breath and tried to hide it so I wouldn’t see but she didn’t do a good job, and that made me start laughing too.

“Then there was a time when we broke into the school late at night as teenagers, and we accidentally set the building on fire and set off the fire alarm!” Rainbow continued her reminiscing as she walked over to me and helped me back to my feet. “We had to run for our lives, completely drenched, to make sure we didn’t get caught, and the cops and school officials never found out it was us!” Rainbow was beaming as she recalled these memories and that made me super happy, but then her smile faded away and she was left with a depressed frown. “Good times.”

“See? Don’t you think your friendship with Twilight is worth fighting for?” I tried to do a little swaying hop but as soon as I shifted my weight to my right ankle a shiver of pain shot up through my entire body and I figured I it might be best to give Rainbow this speech in a slightly more stationary way than usual. “Twilight maaaay have some problems with being a know-it-all, and maybe she says stuff without thinking about tact, but she really is trying to be better! And it would be really nice if you could just give her a little bit more of a chance.”

“The answer’s no, Pinkie.” Rainbow said harshly, walking past me and leaping back up to her deck, grabbing the side and then climbing over the railing. “And if that’s all you came here to talk about, then we don’t have anything else to say to each other either. So goodbye. I’ll talk to you later.”

I tried to chase after Rainbow on my busted ankle but as soon as I got to the door she just shut it in my face, making me feel like a big jerk. My hair deflated again and fell in front of my face and I just wanted to cry. So I did. But I made sure to do it away from Rainbow’s home. I wouldn’t want her to slip on a puddle of my tears.

****

-FLUTTERSHY-

I awoke and jolted upright with a gasp as I felt a lumpy object hit me in my sleep. It was a pillow. I scowled in annoyance and looked over to the door and saw my brother Zephyr Breeze standing with a goofy grin on his face.

“Wakey wakey, sis!” He said, clapping his hands at me. “It’s another beautiful day! Plus I’m ready for breakfast!”

I sighed and fell back into bed. I loved my brother very much, and I knew he had some… eccentricities, but his behavior was starting to get on my nerves. It’s funny, nothing about him had changed since we first moved into our new house together and all his antics and all the work that I had to do for him never bothered me before. It was only recently that I started feeling tired of it… ever since I watched Twilight’s and Pinkie’s duels at the bookstore tournament.

The two of them both seemed so confident and ready to take on anything while they dueled. I remembered Twilight’s last second win against Sea Swirl using her incredible Invoked monsters, and Pinkie’s amazing come from behind victory against Button Mash. And the way Twilight stood up to Cherry Fizzy, something I could never do despite how I felt about that man… Zephyr hadn’t changed, but I had changed. And I worried that was going to be a problem between my brother and I.

“So, Zephyr…” I said as I set breakfast on the table and sat down to eat across from Zephyr at our dining room table. “Any big plans for today?”

“Weeeeell, I was thinking I would take a nap later, and then watch some stories.” He said proudly. Same as every day.

“Zephyr, you have so many grand ideas and dreams.” I said exasperatedly. “You really need to do something to follow them.”

“Oh but I am, Fluttershy!” Zephyr said unconvincingly, batting a hand at me. “Watching all these soap operas are giving me a ton of ideas for… stuff! And things!”

“Stuff… and things.” I said flatly, narrowing my eyes at my brother.

“Yeah, yeah. Stuff and things.” Zephyr said nonchalantly, not even bothering to look at me as he took a big bite of one of his pancakes and didn’t swallow it before speaking again. “Y’know, cool guy stuff. Stuff that’s gonna be cool. I just need to let these brilliant ideas of mine percolate, y’know what I’m saying?”

“And when do you expect these ideas to be finished percolating?” I asked bemusedly with an arched eyebrow, harmlessly poking my pancakes with my fork. “When do plan on actually doing something with all of your brilliant ideas?”

“You can’t rush genius, sis.” Zephyr shrugged, making me very… um, not mad exactly, that would be mean. Peeved. I was a little bit peeved. “When the time is right, everything will fall into place.”

“That isn’t…” I sighed. I didn’t know if I had the heart, or the guts, to tell him the truth. “That isn’t how life-”

I was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Now who could that be?” Zephyr asked, lifting his head up like an excited puppy. “Sis, will you go get that please?”

“Of course, Zephyr.” I said with a tired frown. As I walked to the door, careful not to trip on Zephyr’s ‘stuff and things’ that I kept telling him to pick up off the floor, I reminded myself to take deep breaths. “Zephyr’s my brother and I love him,” I said to myself “it’s totally okay to put up with some of his…” I sighed irritably “eccentricities.”

I opened the door and was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face.

“Oh! Twilight Sparkle!” Seeing a friend always put a smile on my face. “How can I help you?”

“Do you want to hang out for a bit?” She muttered. She looked distracted and a little dazed. I don’t think she had brushed her hair, although come to think of it I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen Twilight with brushed hair, and her clothes were a bit messy, like she just threw them on before leaving the house. “I know it’s early and you probably have stuff to do but I got into a little bit of an argument with Pinkie Pie and all this stuff with Rainbow Dash is a real downer and I keep freaking out thinking about her, or even about Rarity and Applejack and they’re coming home tomorrow and I just don’t know how to-”

“Twilight.” I raised my hand to put a stop to Twilight’s rambling before she worked herself into a panic attack. I knew what that was like and it was not fun at all. “It’s okay. I’d love to hang out with you. Just give me a second, okay?”

“No problem.” Twilight said politely with a little bow. “Thanks Fluttershy.”

“My pleasure.” I chirped happily. “Feel free to come in, by the way. Just mind the mess.”

I went back to the dining room to talk to Zephyr, finding he had finished the food I had left on my plate.

“Oh sorry, sis.” He said with a shrug. Again, unconvincingly. “I thought you were done.”

“It’s fine.” I forced a big smile on my face and closed my eyes so Zephyr couldn’t see them twitching in frustration. “I’m going to spend some time with Twilight and I-”

“Ooh! Twilight’s here?” Zephyr sprung up from his chair, coiffing his hair and practicing his debonair smile, which was… um, not to be rude or anything but, it was bad.

Zephyr ran out to the living room, tripping on one of his things and falling flat to the ground. I couldn’t help but shake my head in awe. He brought himself back up to his feet, fumbling a little as he almost tripped again, all in plain view of Twilight standing in front of the open door.

“Soooo, Twilight.” Zephyr said quote-unquote ‘suavely’. “How’s my favorite girl doing? I’m happy to see you. Coming to visit your old pal, Zephyr Breeeze?”

“Not really.” Twilight said flatly, crossing her arms and staring daggers at my brother.

“No need to be shy, baby.” Zephyr said, pointing finger guns at Twilight.

“Fluttershy, you ready to go?” Twilight shoved Zephyr out of her way to look at me.

“I am.” I said with a smile, walking past Zephyr and ignoring him.

“But, but Fluttershy!” Zephyr said with a whiny voice. “What about my stories?”

“It’s a weekend.” I said huffily. “You can catch up on some of your DVR’d episodes and as per our weekend tradition, there are frozen pizzas you can microwave in the freezer.”

“Oh alright.” Zephyr sighed overdramatically, putting a hand over his forehead. “I guess I can spare you for one day.” Zephyr looked back at Twilight. “I really appreciate you looking after my baby sister, Twilight, but you don’t have to do it on my account.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t just hear that.” Twilight slapped her forehead and shook her head. “And that I don’t feel like barfing now.”

“Let’s go, Twilight.” I took Twilight by the hand and we left my house together.

“Goodbyyyyye, Fluttershy!” Zephyr said, waving at us while hanging out the door. “Goodbyyyyyye, Twilight! Have a great time together you two!”

Twilight and I headed to the city park, my bag of defrosted frozen peas in hand to feed to the ducks. We sat on a white bench near the edge of the park, like always, and I fed the birds and other critters while Twilight people-watched.

“How on earth do you put up with him?” Twilight asked irritably out of nowhere. She hadn’t spoken a word since we left my house, but  I hadn’t said anything either because I figured that she was just having a rough time of things and needed someone to keep her company and not necessarily talk to her, which I was a-okay with. “I know he’s your brother but man, that can’t be easy.”

“He’s my brother and I love him.” I said quickly. “It’s totally okay to put up with some of his eccentricities.”

“Gee, that doesn’t sound rehearsed at all.” I couldn’t tell if Twilight was just teasing me or if she was actually criticizing me. She wasn’t wrong either way, but I didn’t like it.

“Well I do love him.” I said defensively. “And he’s soft. I honestly think he’s softer than I am.”

“Wow.” Twilight said.

“I know.” I chuckled nervously and nodded. “So he needs a support system to lean on, and he was driving mom and dad crazy, although they would never admit it. They were never going to kick him out of the house, so I had to take the… I had to take him off their hands, I guess.”

“But doesn’t he have friends?” Twilight asked. “Didn’t you tell me he has an active social life?”

“He does.” I said.

“And isn’t he like, an adult?” Twilight said in annoyance. “Can’t he at least feed himself on his own?”

“Well, yes.” I said meekly.

“So… why do you put up with him again?” Twilight sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You could move in with me if you wanted to.”

“Maybe…” I appreciated Twilight’s offer but I felt that maybe she was a bit too intense to be my roommate. “But I don’t suppose we could drop the subject of my brother for right now?”

“Fair enough.” Twilight shrugged. “So is there anything you want to do? I’m feeling a little directionless right now.”

“Well, I’m still hungry.” I grumbled, remembering how Zephyr had swiped most of my breakfast. “Do you want to get lunch? And after, I thought maybe we could…” I started feeling self-conscious about what I wanted to ask Twilight and mumbled most of my sentence.

“What was that?” Twilight sat up straight and looked at me, a curious smile on her face.

“I was hoping we could…” I blushed and stammered and was about ready to have a nervous fit so I just blurted the words out as fast as possible. “Can you help me make a Duel Monsters deck?!”

“Of course!” Twilight said excitedly, her eyes lighting up and her entire posture becoming brighter. “I’d love to help you make a deck, Fluttershy!”

“Oh, good.” I said with a sigh of relief. “I was worried you wouldn’t want to help a newbie like me since you’ve been playing for so long.”

“You remember we used to play together, right?” Twilight said with a coy smile.

“I do.” I twiddled my fingers together and blushed. “I have a few cards in my pack that I want to use but there are too many of them and I don’t know how to make a deck so I got overwhelmed and I started panicking and then I thought about your duels and how great your deck was and how cool it was and how much you must have studied and worked to make it just right and I thought that was amazing and thought maybe you could help me make a deck but then I thought you might be busy or might not want to help someone like me since I barely remember how to play this game at all and I-”

“Fluttershy.” Twilight put her hand on my shoulder to stop my rambling. “It’s okay. I’ll help you make an amazing deck. There’s nothing I’d rather do, to be honest.” I heard a weird grumbly noise and wondered where it came from until I saw Twilight looking at her own stomach in surprise, and then I giggled. “But first let’s get some hotdogs.”

“It’s a deal.” I said with a smile.

****

-PINKIE PIE-

I tried to make some desperate headway with Rainbow Dash one more time, but after a tense and frankly short conversation about Twilight, she slammed the door in my face… again. I tried to tell her that Twilight was just doing what she thought was right and that maybe she had a point about Whiplash being maybe not the nicest person around, and then SLAM! I guess she’d already heard that stuff before.

I got out my phone while walking back down the lonely downhill road away from Rainbow Dash’s house. I’d been texting my sister Maud all day. I always did when I was having a bad day, or a good day too but today was a doozy of a bad day and it just kept getting worse.

“Maud I just don’t know what to do! OTL” I texted from underneath a tree just down the road from Rainbow’s place.

“Listen to your own advice.” Maud replied, and I could hear the passion and emotion of her voice in every word she wrote. “Don’t try to force them to come to a resolution they aren’t ready for.”

“But everybody’s so unhappy! ;-;” I shot back, getting so upset that I punched the tree I was sitting under. Well not punched so much as lightly touching it with my palm and pretending that I had explodey powers that could blow up things.

“Sometimes people just need to be unhappy.” Maud’s terrible words made me gasp loudly and dramatically, but she couldn’t hear it cuz she wasn’t on the phone we were just texting. “Sometimes the only way to the light is through the dark tunnel.”

“BUT I DON’T LIKE WHEN PEOPLE ARE UNHAPPYY!!!!!! :(” I said. I felt like the sad face emoji really captured the emotion I was trying to get across.

“I know.” Maud said. “Meet me at the train station.”

“WHAT!?” I texted but also said out loud. Very loud. There were some people walking by that gave me weird looks so I smiled and waved at them, whoever they were. “You’re coming here!? Since when!?”

“Since this morning.” Maud said. “I was already headed to the train station, and I was just one quick train ride away from Fillydelphia, so I figured I’d pay you a visit. Cheer you up.”

“YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!” I cheerily jammed the buttons on my screen, happily dancing back and forth underneath the tree and kissing it, and apologizing for pretending to blow it up. “WE’RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!!! I’M GONNA INTRODUCE YOU TO MY FRIENDS AND YOUR GONNA LOVE EM AND IILL SHOW YOU MY HOUSE WHHCIH IM GONNA BE EVICTED FROM PRETY SOON AND WER GONAN HAVE A GRETA TIIMIMMMEMEMEMMEM!!!!!!!!!! XD XD XD”

“No offense Pinkie, but I’d prefer to keep things between just us right now.” Maud sent back quickly. “I want to meet your friends, but I’d rather do it when everybody’s in a better frame of mind. Especially you. I’m coming down there to see *you*.”

I slumped a little and frowned, falling on the ground. I heavy sighed but agreed that she made a good point.

“You make a good point.” I agreed.

“Great.” Maud said. “Then see you at the train station. Five minutes.”

“I’LL BE RIGHT THERE!” I said, springing up from the ground and bolting toward the train station.

Fillydelphia’s train station was mostly underground like a subway station. It was full of green and white tiling and was super dingy and gross, with overflowing trash cans and vandalism everywhere, and not like the cool kind of ‘this is a monument to my culture’ type vandalism but more like the ‘jerry sucks insert profanities here’ type of vandalism.

The whole place looked like it could be a set from the 1989 film The Wiz directed by Joel Schumacher which was a really weird movie and I felt like they could’ve done a way better job with it especially with the casting and performances cuz they have Michael Jackson in the movie but he only gets one solo song(!) and he doesn’t even get to dance during it for some reason(?????) meanwhile they give two(2!) songs to the guy who plays the tin man but I can’t remember his name anyway that guy can’t sing very well certainly not as well as Michael Jackson so it’s just kinda weird that they gave him two songs also the girl playing Dorothy is weirdly old for the part I mean she’s not bad and I’m all about older actresses getting work but it just seems a weird fit and you’d think they’d be able to find a younger actress to play Dorothy of all roles but I think she was in a relationship with one of the high-level crew members too or maybe I’m misremembering that or jumping to conclusions and all of these thoughts were going through my head as I waited for Maud’s train to come in and then I saw her and it was great!

Maud was standing on the train platform looking around for me and her eyes lit up like fireworks when she saw me! We looked a lot alike my sister and me, we were both overweight and had caramel colored skin, but she was taller! Also she had straight purplish-grey hair as opposed to my curly pink, and her sense of fashion, which basically boiled down to a simple gray dress that she always wore, was a lot more dramatic and striking than my bright hues and pastels.

“MAAAAAAAAUUUUUD!!!!” I yelled, embracing my sister in a leaping tackle hug.

“Pinkie.” She replied as we hit the ground.

“It’s so good to see you!” I said, rubbing Maud’s face with my face.

“It’s good to see you too, Pinkie.” She replied, pushing me off her with her hand. “Now get off me.”

“You got it!” I leaped up and stood on my feet, offering my sister a hand and helping her to stand up too! “I’m so glad you’re here, Maud! We should get donuts!”

“Sure.” Maud said, my eyes getting all bright and glittery from hearing that.

Maud and I sat down at a booth in the donut store, a fresh box of donuts sitting in front of us that I was inevitably going to eat most of.

“You can’t force people to be happy, Pinkie.” Maud said.

“But why not?” I asked, stuffing my face with a donut. “Happiness is a choice! Everybody should choose to be happy!”

“It’s not that simple, Pinkie.” Maud explained. “There’s more to being happy than smiling and thinking good thoughts. More to it than just pretending nothing’s wrong.” I frowned as Maud said words to my ears. I didn’t like what I was hearing.

“Yeah but, but… but Rainbow and Twilight aren’t being reasonable!” I said, pounding my fist on the table. “They’re just deciding that their relationship is over without really fighting for it! That’s-”

“This isn’t about your friends, Pinkie Pie.” Maud said, looking right through me. “This is about you. You know this about you.”

There was a moment of awkward silence as me and Maud just looked at each other, the only movement of either of us was Maud grabbing a donut and taking a small bite out of it. After a few seconds the silence was broken by the sound of me crying.

“What am I supposed to do, Maud?!” I blubbered, throwing my face into my arms on top of the table. “I’m gonna lose my home!” I’d known that I was going to lose the apartment for months, I knew I couldn’t keep up with the payments. I think that’s why I reached out to Rainbow Dash in the first place and tried to help her and Twilight get back together. I couldn’t deal with my own stuff so I looked at ways I could fix my friends’ stuff. I think that’s why I started trying to convince Fluttershy to get back into Duel Monsters too, but I dunno. It’s hard to tell what’s real sometimes.

“I wish I knew, Pinkie.” Maud said, shaking her head sadly.

“Why can’t I just travel around with you?” I sobbed.

“Because I can’t study for my degree and look after you.” Maud said.

“I know. I just…” I couldn’t help but start bawling my eyes out, my eyes shooting out tears like firehoses. Maud stood up and walked over to my side of the table, sitting next to me in the booth and putting her arm around me, letting me rest my head on her shoulder. “I don’t know what to do, Maud…”

I couldn’t move back in with my family either. As much as I loved all of them (and I really, really do!) being in that boring, stuffy old place was suffocating me. I needed to be in the city, with my friends. But now… it looked like that was the only other option but being homeless. I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my friends anymore…

I couldn’t stop crying and Maud embraced me in a big hug, patting me on the back and telling me that everything would be okay.

“Everything will be okay, Pinkie.” She said. “I’ll stay here as long as you need me to.”

“But your degree…” I said tearfully.

“Don’t worry, I have plenty of time.” Maud said.

“Are you sure I can’t come with you?” I asked desperately, my tear-filled eyes locking with Maud’s.

“Yes Pinkie.” She said. “I miss you all the time, but I need to do this. Getting this degree is important to me.”

“I know…” I sniffed loudly, leading to a snort. “I just… I’m scared. It’s like I’ve been waiting for a train to hit me in slow motion and I’ve been trying to ignore it, now I can’t anymore. Everything feels like it’s falling apart, like… rocks fall, everyone dies.”

Maud took a deep breath and put her hand on my head. “Tell you what.” She said, piquing my interest. “If you can beat me in a duel, I’ll let you come with me.”

“Really?!” I said excitedly, slipping under the table and appearing beside the booth, grabbing Maud by the hand and dragging her out the door. “Let’s go!” I slammed on the brakes as I remembered I left behind a bunch of donuts. I ran back to the table and stuffed all the donuts in my mouth. “Okay!” I said, mouth full of donuts. “NOW let’s go!”

DUEL!

Pinkie Pie vs. Maud Pie!

A climactic duel between sisters, between best friends. One woman’s dream on the line, another’s future… a duel for the ages.

“Pinkie, are you ready?” Maud said, a slight look of bemusement on her face. “You’ve been standing there talking to yourself for five minutes.”

“I’m trying to make things dramatic!” I yelled. “Gimme a sec!”

Maud and I were dueling in the food court of the local mall. Since malls weren’t exactly ‘in’ these days the mall was a great place to have a whole big duel with the holograms and everything, and the management didn’t mind since a lot of people ended up coming in to watch these random duels so it was kinda good for drumming up business!

“I’ll go first.” Maud said, drawing her opening hand from her cute gray Duel Disk. “I’ll summon Doki Doki.”

Maud’s monster was an adorable little clay pot with a scary face on it… and it was dangerous... at least, I think it was dangerous? It only had a measly 500 ATK so I dunno why Maud summoned it in attack mode, but she’s smart so I’m sure she had a great reason.

“Doki Doki’s Effect: I discard a Rock-Type Monster and summon another Rock-Type Monster from my deck with the same Attribute and Level.” Maud said. That was a pretty great reason. “I discard Gogogo Gigas to summon… Gogogo Golem.”

Maud’s new monster was a stout stone golem that kinda looked like he was made of toy bricks, with a stubby green center and beefy blue and white arms, and a glowing red eye! Spooky!

“When a Gogogo monster is summoned to my field, I can revive Gogogo Gigas from my graveyard. So I’ll do that.” Maud said.

Another monster rose from the earth in front of Maud, and it was another golem! This one had a square golden center with rectangular brown beam-like arms. Very modern looking… and very dangerous.

“Overlay. Gogogo Golem, Gogogo Gigas…” Maud raised her hand to the sky as a black galactic portal opened up overhead and absorbed the two monsters, spitting them back out as one. “I summon Gogogo Goliath.”

Gogogo Goliath… the enemy that I had to defeat. It was enormous, more like a fortress than a monster, with formidable green brick center and giant copper and blue metal arms, one punch from this mighty creature could likely level an entire mountain. And with its 2400 ATK, I had to be wary.

“Gogogo Goliath’s Effect allows me to detach an Energy card to grab a Gogogo monster from the graveyard. So I’ll do that.”

“You don’t have any Gogogo cards in the graveyard anymore!” I protested.

“I don’t have to have one to activate the Effect and detach an Energy.” Maud explained. “And once I detach the Energy, that card will be in my graveyard, so I can basically just add one of his materials back to my hand… so…”

“You’ll do that.” I said flatly.

“Right.” Maud nodded. “I add Gogogo Gigas back to my hand. Two cards face-down. Your move, Pinkie.”

“Alright! Time for Pinkie Pie to take the stage!” I proudly declared. Just because we weren’t in an ‘official’ duel didn’t mean I could stop being entertaining and fun! “Using my Scale 1 Gumgumouton and my Scale 2 Parrotrio, I set the Scales!” Just as my stalwart squishy sheep and my stylish singing songbirds set up beside me in the Pendulum Zones, they were both wiped out by a piercing gust of wind, leaving me in shock.

“I activate Twin Twisters.” Maud said. “By discarding my Gogogo Gigas I can destroy both of your Pendulums. Sorry, Pinkie.”

“Ehhhhhhh it’s fine.” I said as my eye started twitching. It was definitely not fine!!! “I’ll just have to mess up your strategy too! I summon Longphone Bull!” My adorable bovine bellhop buddy took center stage and charged at Maud’s evil porcelain pot! “I’ll have him attack Doki Doki!”

“Book of Moon.” Maud said, revealing her other face-down card. The book absorbed Longphone Bull in its pages and slammed on him, forcing him to be flipped face-down into defense mode. “Did you think I’d just leave my Doki Doki unprotected?”

“Uhhhhhh…” I stammered for a response. Uh, I mean I was just testing her defenses. Now with her face-down cards all used up, I could go for the offensive! Or at least I could if I had any more monsters left in my hand other than Lizardraw, who wouldn’t help me as a monster right now. Heck, he wouldn’t even help me as a Pendulum since I needed another Monster in the Pendulum Zone to use his draw Effect!

“I’ll set one card face-down and activate my Bubble Barrier!” A host of bubbles with little stars inside rose out of the ground to surround my defending creature. “Now my Longphone Bull is protected once per turn! Your move, Maud!”

“Okay.” Maud drew her card. “Goliath’s Effect detaches Golem and adds him back to my hand. Then Doki Doki’s Effect lets me summon another Golem from the deck by discarding a monster.” Another Gogogo Golem appeared, rocking 1800 ATK… hehe, ‘rocking’, that was a good one. Way to go, Pinkie. “Now I’ll summon Gogogo Giant.”

A towering copper structure with a single glowing orange eye looked down at me, its amazing rook-like shoulder attachments and hip cannons truly striking fear into my beating heart.

“When Giant is Normal Summoned,” Maud explained “it can go into defense mode to summon a Gogogo Monster from the graveyard. I’ll summon the monster I just discarded, Gogogo Goram.”

A stout red rock-man with beefy grey fists, one holding a silver club, and a piercing blue eye.

“Goram changes battle positions when he’s summoned.” Maud said. “Since I summoned him in defense mode, he switches to attack mode.” It had 2300 ATK, so that wasn’t good for me! Not only that, but Maud also had the 2400 ATK Goliath and the 1800 ATK Golem… and also the 0 DEF Giant and 500 ATK Doki Doki, but those were just kinda ehhhh. “Golem will attack your Longphone Bull.”

Gogogo Golem punched my poor pitiful prowler with his powerful pillar punch, but was stopped short of destroying him by my Bubble Barrier!

“Now Goram will attack it.” Maud said as her other stone soldier brandished its club against my mighty minotaur, mashing him with his mace and murdelizing him to macaroons.

“It’s okay, because now I can activate this!” I declared, flipping up my set card. “Illusion Balloon! I can check the top 5 cards of my deck, and then summon one Performapal monster to protect me, and the monster I choose is Skullcrobat Joker!” I said, summoning my giant-hatted, purple and black clad jester to the field. Of the five cards I drew, none of them were super great. The strongest of the few monsters I got was Skullcrobat and he only had 1800 ATK!

“Goliath will attack it.” Maud said. Her Goliath pounded my Joker with its giant stone fist, but Joker was still protected from destruction thanks to my Barrier. “You didn’t take damage.” Maud said.

“Oh that’s right!” I said, slapping my forehead. “I totally forgot! Bubble Barrier protects my Life from any damage during battles involving my Performapals! That’s super helpful!”

“Good card.” Maud said.

“Thanks!” I smiled and blushed and Maud’s praise.

“I’ll set one card face-down.” Maud said. “Your turn, Pinkie.”

“Alright! Let’s turn this duel aroooooound!” I said, drawing my card and doing a spectacular spinning dance maneuver. The card I drew was Performapal Guitartle and I couldn’t believe my luck! “With my Scale 6 Guitartle and Lizardraw, I set the Scales!”

On my left, a happy blue turtle that also doubled as an acoustic guitar. On my right, a dapper orange lizard in a fancy coat. Together they allowed me to replenish my resources and rally my forces to do damage from multiple sources so the winner of this of course is… Pinkie.

“Now because of Guitartle’s Effect, I can draw one card! And by destroying Lizardraw and sending him to the Extra Deck, I can draw another card! Here goes nothing!” A happy strum of Guiturtle and Lizardraw making himself disappear with a smoke bomb refreshed my hand and as I looked at my new powers I breathed a sigh of relief. I could win this.

“Maud, thank you for this duel.” I said gracefully, brimming with confidence as a winning smile came to my face. “I’ll try not to be a burden to you if we go travelling together.”

“You can’t escape your problems by running away from them, Pinkie Pie.” Maud said, looking right through me yet again. “Not by filling your life with distractions or pretending your problems don’t exist. You need to face them head-on. And you can’t do it by coming with me.”

“We’ll see about that after I beat you!” I yelled defiantly. “I set the Scale 2 Dag Daggerman in my other Pendulum Zone!” Another dapper man in a purple suit, juggling sharp knifes while his face remained shadowed by his amazing head fashion… that was Dag Daggerman. “His ability lets me add a Performapal from my graveyard to my hand and I choose Longphone Bull! Now, Pendulum Summon!”

My forces returned to my side of the field, my gumball sheepies, my trio of vested parrot pals, my bellhop minotaur and my magical lizardman. All of them ready to seal my victory against Maudlina Daisy Pie.

“Longphone Bull’s ability also allows me to add Stamp Turtle from the deck to my hand!” I proudly stated. “Now I’ll Overlay my Level 4 Skullcrobat and my Longphone to summon Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! And I’ll Overlay my Level 3 Lizardraw and Parrotrio to summon Giga Brilliant!”

My magical jester and gentlemanly minotaur ascended into black starry energy and rose into the portal above me, coming back down as a slithering black dragon with fangs of wicked obsidian, wings of jet black annihilation and powerful claws of pitch black terror.

Meanwhile my silly songbirds and ludicrous lizard also became black starry energy, ascending to a portal etc. and came back as a giant silver and red ant creature that shone with a dazzling radiance, his powerful light illuminating and raising the strength of my whole team! But this combination of light and dark was not enough! I needed… FIRE.

 “Then I’ll summon Stamp Turtle and use his effect to increase his own Level to 5, matching my Gumgumouton! So I can Overlay them to summon Volcasaurus!”

With my old man turtle and my gooey fleecy friends being absorbed into the portal they came back as my ultimate creature. A mesmerizing hybrid of powerful prehistoric beasts, the head of a brontosaurus, the claws of a velociraptor, the legs of a stegosaurus and the tail of an ankylosaur… all wrapped up into an amazing blazing beast of fiery fury that dripped with molten magma and brandished sharp claws of deadly doom.

“I’m impressed.” Maud said.

“You should be!” I threw a fist into the air and then pointed stoically at Maud’s Gogogo Goliath! “Because now my Dark Rebellion can cut the ATK of your Goliath in half!” Dark Rebellions wings shrieked with the thundering power of purple electricity, shooting beams of lightning at Maud’s Goliath to weaken it and absorb its strength. “Then my Volcasaurus can just destroy your Goram, inflicting damage to you equal to its ATK!”

Volcasaurus charged a ball of super-heated magma in its maw, blasting it at Gogogo Goram and it exploding on impact into a giant fireball and enveloped Maud’s monster in flame! Maud was unfazed even as her Life was reduced to 1700! She’s so cool!

“Now my Giga Brilliant will increase the ATK of all my monsters by 300!” I stamped my foot onto the ground as I prepared for my victory celebration as the brilliant light from my Brilliant ant spread out to cover my entire force! “Now Dark Rebellion, attack Gogogo Goliath!”

“Quaking Mirror Force.” Maud said.

“Huh?” I asked quizzically, dreading the answer.

“Quaking Mirror Force.” Maud repeated. “All your monsters go face-down. They also can’t be flipped back up.”

As Dark Rebellion moved in for the kill Maud unleashed a torrent of sand and mud on all of my creatures, burying them under all manner of dirt and mud and rocks and stuff. My field was basically empty now, ready to be picked off at Maud’s leisure.

“Oh.” I said, my posture drooping and my hair deflating as I realized the implications here. “I’m about to lose, aren’t I?”

“Yes, Pinkie Pie.” Maud said.

“Okay.” I sighed sadly. “It’s your turn.”

“Pinkie.” Maud glared at me, and she almost never glared! Her face was usually full of joy and compassion and heart, brimming with powerful emotions! So when she got mad it forced me to snap to attention! “You can’t force others to be happy just to make yourself more comfortable. Not only will that just not work, it’s also cruel. To tell others their happiness is a priority when all you care about is your own feelings… that’s cruelty.”

Maud’s words fell on me like a ton of rocks. It hurt to hear such brutal things from my sister… but she was right. I cared about Twilight and Rainbow a lot, but I wasn’t really seeing them or trying to understand their feelings past my own worries and pain and fear. I did them a disservice trying to butt into their relationship… especially Twilight.

How could I go through all the trouble of getting Rainbow to talk to her again, and then when Twilight asks me how she should proceed with Rainbow, I told her to leave her alone? That doesn’t make any sense! But I just didn’t like the conflict. But telling Twilight not to see Rainbow didn’t solve the conflict, it didn’t make it better at all! Twilight was still miserable and angry either way, and yet all I could see was that her feelings were making me uncomfortable. That’s just bad friendship.

“I’m sorry, Maud.” I sobbed as tears began flowing down my cheeks like a big waterfall of sadness and relief. “I guess my head just hasn’t been in the right place lately.”

“Don’t apologize to me, Pinkie.” Maud said.

“Right.” I managed to smile despite myself. “Let’s end this, Maud.”

“I activate Doki Doki’s ability. Again.” Maud said. “By discarding a Rock-type monster I can summon another Gogogo Goram from my deck. It’s summoned in defense mode, but then its effect switches it to attack mode. I’ll also switch my Giant into attack mode.”

Maud controlled FIVE monsters now. Her Doki Doki had 500 ATK, her Golem had 1800 ATK, her Goram 2300 ATK, her Giant 2000 ATK and, thanks to Dark Rebellion, her Goliath only had 1200 ATK. My monsters’ DEF were 2000 for Dark Rebellion, 1800 for Giga Brilliant and 1000 for Volcasaurus… theoretically I could still come back after this turn, but something told me Maud had other plans.

“This is it, Pinkie.” Maud said. “I play Solidarity. As long as this Spell card remains on the field, and as long as my graveyard only has one Type of monster in it, all my monsters on the field of that Type get an ATK increase of 800. All of my monsters are Rock-Type.”

“Ohhhh… dear.” I said dreadfully. That went from ‘I can maybe come back from this’ to ‘I’m about to get absolutely creamed’ in like two seconds flat!

“Golem attacks Giga Brilliant, Goliath attacks Volcasaurus, Giant attacks Dark Rebellion.” Maud said, her rock monsters carrying out her orders and crushing my monsters into paste one after another. “Now Goram can attack you directly.” Goram threw his club at me and even though it was a hologram and harmlessly phased through me, it felt painful just because I didn’t want to lose, and it reduced my Life to 1100. “Now Doki Doki attacks you directly.” The little clay pot monster hopped toward me, a spooky ghost jumping out of the pot and scaring me, which reduced my Life to 0.

“I lost…” I said sadly and fell to my knees, staring vacantly into space. I chose to put a smile on my face though and that reminded me… that was a fun duel. I got a little too caught up in the stakes but… how could I not enjoy a duel with my sister?

“Pinkie, I love you.” Maud walked over to me and got on her knees, delicately taking my shaking hand in her big strong hand. “And I’ll do whatever I can to help you. Even if that means I have to drop my own stuff for a bit.”

“And I love you, Maud.” I said, giving her a big hug, squeezing her like candy was gonna come out of her. “And I’ll make sure that you never have to do that for my sake. Dueling with you was so much fun, and I’m touched that you care so much about me. It’s made me think… I really did have my heart in the wrong place, didn’t I?”

“Maybe.” Maud said. “But now you understand.”

“I do.” I nodded and wiped tears out of my eyes and off my cheeks. “After having so much fun with that duel, and hearing the lessons you’ve taught me and really understanding how much you care about me, I feel a lot better. And I know that Twilight and Fluttershy and the others care about me too. We’re a family.”

Suddenly a light bulb went off over my head!

“I just got a great idea!” I sprung to my feet, dragging Maud up with me. Maud arched an eyebrow and waited for me to continue. “I can’t force Twilight to be happy, but I can remind her of the things in life that are good! I can surround her with love, support and encouragement, and even if she still can’t be happy, she’ll at least be safe and know that she’s care about!”

“So what are you going to do?” Maud asked.

“Throw a party, of course!” I said with a jubilated jump.

****

-FLUTTERSHY-

Twilight Sparkle’s home was very quaint and cozy, if a little bit, um… messy. There was quite a bit of clutter littering the tables and furniture, and dishes piling up in the kitchen sink. All of this was really odd to me because I always remembered Twilight’s house being so neat and tidy, but then I remembered I hadn’t really been over to her place since Rarity moved out of it.

“It sure is, um…” I tried to find the right word so as not to be rude. “Interesting in here.” That wasn’t a very good one.

“Uh, yeah.” Twilight said bashfully, ruffling her hair. “You’re talking about the mess, right?” I nodded with an apologetic smile on my face. “Egh, sorry about that.” Twilight sighed. “I haven’t been feeling like myself lately… I guess I kinda just lost control of the mess and now I don’t even notice it.”

“It’s not a big deal, Twilight.” I said. “My house is a mess too.”

“True, but I live alone and you don’t.” Twilight sighed. “So that makes it a little weird for me to have such a gross house. Anyway, the loft is very neat so we’ll just go up there.”

“Okay.” I said cheerfully, following Twilight up the stairs to her loft. The loft was very neat and tidy, like Twilight said, but to be fair there wasn’t a lot up there. Just a bed, a nightstand and a big window that let the late afternoon sun into the room.

“So, what kind of deck are you thinking you want to make?” Twilight asked, sitting on the floor next to the bed.

“Well that’s just it…”  I pulled my tin full of cards out of my satchel and opened the lid. “I have a bunch of cards that I want to use, it’s just that there are so many of them I don’t know which ones to choose from!”

“That’s quite a conundrum.” Twilight said, stroking her chin. “But you know what I think might help?” I shook my head and eagerly awaited Twilight’s answer. “More cards!” Twilight said with a beaming smile, pulling out a large binder from under the bed.

“Um, thank you Twilight.” I said meekly. That wasn’t the advice I was expecting… or hoping for. “But I don’t think I need more cards, I really like the ones that I have.”

“Oh don’t be modest, Fluttershy.” Twilight said, batting her arm dismissively at me. “You could always use more cards. And I’ve been collecting these for years, so there’s a ton of them in here that are really good. I’m sure they’ll go great with the cards that you collected.”

“Um, okay… I guess.” I said with a concerned smile.

I pushed my tin over to Twilight so she could take a look at the cards. She grabbed a stack and shuffled through them, examining each one with a progressively more disgruntled face.

“So what kind of deck are you trying to make again?” Twilight asked, looking puzzled at me. “Because a lot of these cards are super weak, I’m not sure you could really put together a winning deck using just these.”

“It doesn’t have to be the best deck ever.” I tried to explain, but Twilight just looked very skeptical. “I just want it to be fun. I really like Beast-Type monster, like this one.” I showed Twilight one of my favorite cards, Valerifawn, Mystical Beast of the Forest. “Isn’t it cute? And it has an effect that lets it support its friends, which is just precious.”

“I guess?” Twilight said, snatching the card out of my hand and looking at it. “But it can only revive Level 2 or lower monsters, which isn’t very strong, especially since it requires a discard cost.”

“It doesn’t have to be strong, Twilight.” I said with a strong expression on my face as I started to feel a little bit huffy. “I like it and I want to use it.”

“But why though?” Twilight shrugged, tossing my card back into the tin. “There’s a ton of good Beast monsters you could use.”

“But I like that one.” I argued.

“But you’ll never win with that one!” Twilight replied flippantly.

Twilight was starting to get on my nerves a little bit. I felt like just because I hadn’t played in a long time she was speaking down to me, but I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt that she really didn’t understand what I was trying to say, so I tried explaining it better.

“I don’t need to win all the time, Twilight.” I took a deep breath and sighed peacefully, regaining my composure. “I just want to have fun with Duel Monsters, so I want to use my favorite cards.”

“How are you going to have fun if you don’t win?” Twilight scoffed. “Nope, if you ask me I think you need entirely better cards. Let’s see here, I think I have-”

“Twilight!” I yelled sternly. “I came here because you said you were going to help me with my deck. I want to use the cards that I like, and if you can’t help me with that…” I was starting to get teary eyed. “Well then maybe I should just find somebody else to help me!”

I grabbed my tin away from Twilight and shut the lid, running down the stairs and toward the door with tears pouring down my face. I heard Twilight call out to me and try to apologize but my feelings were already too hurt to talk to her anymore so I just kept running, until eventually I sat down at the foot of a tree a couple of blocks away from Twilight’s home, breaking down into tears.

I knew somewhere deep down that Twilight really was just trying to help me in her own way, but the fact that she wouldn’t listen to me and kept talking over me like my opinion wasn’t even worth anything… it really hurt my feelings.

But even with that said, as I sat beneath that tree crying my eyes out all I could think was “I’m sorry, Twilight”.
> 08. Welcome Home!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-PINKIE PIE-

It was almost noon o’clock when I went on a visit to Twilight’s house. I wanted to tell her about the welcome home party I was throwing for Applejack and Rarity today, but after getting a tearful call from Fluttershy last night where she told me that she and Twilight got into a big argument, I figured I needed a quick change in priorities.

“Twilight!” I called as I knocked on the door. “Twilight?” No reply.

I stroked my chin in a puzzled manner. Twilight wasn’t a very early bird, but she should have at least been having her morning coffee by now. But for some reason she wasn’t answering the door. Now the thought did cross my mind that she was just really upset and still in bed because of that, but I couldn’t take the chance that something had happened to her and I wouldn’t know about it until it was too late!

So, it was time to break into her house!

“Twilight!” I called out as I jumped up to her bedroom window from my trampoline, still in the same place I left it a few days ago when I was at Twilight’s. “Twiiiliiiiight!!” Still no reply! Time to get serious!

As I jumped up to the bedroom window I grabbed hold of the ledge jutting out and gently maneuvered myself on top of it so as to have leverage against the window, pushing the glass up just enough to get my stubby little fingers under it and lift it up, allowing me entrance into Twilight’s room!

Unfortunately I missed that the blinds were still closed and a curtain drawn over the window so as soon as I put my feet into the building I slipped and fumbled into the blinds and the curtains, knocking both off the wall as I tumbled to the ground in a heap.

“What the hec-” Twilight arose from her bed with a start, frantically looking around the room until she saw me on the floor, peeking out from a pile of curtains and blinds. “URRRGH! Twilight slapped a hand over her face and dragged it down as she made her signature grunt of frustration. “Pinkie Pie, what are you doing in my house?!”

“You wouldn’t answer the door so I thought something bad might’ve happened to you so I used my trampoline from before, y’know the one that I jumped up here a couple days ago when we were fighting in the tournament can you believe that was only a couple days ago it feels like months and yet here we are-”

“PINKIE!!” Twilight yelled, cutting off my rambling. To be honest I’m surprised I got that far. Twilight closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, releasing it as a sharp exhale from her mouth. “As you can see, Pinkie, I’m fine. So please leave.” Twilight threw herself back into the bed and covered herself in a blanket.

“You seem really really down, Twilight.” I said sadly, kneeling near the bed. No response. “I talked to Fluttershy. I heard you guys got into a scrap!”

“If by ‘scrap’ you mean ‘I’m the worst friend ever’, then yeah we did.” Twilight grumbled from underneath the blanket. “I’ve made both of my two local friends cry in less than a week, never mind the stuff going on with Rainbow… honestly I feel like you guys would be a lot better off without me here.”

“That’s not true, Twilight!” I said emphatically. “You’re smart, funny, a good leader, really good at card games, insightful and all these other great things! And more than that, you’re our friend, Twilight! And I know Fluttershy doesn’t want to lose you over a petty argument.”

Twilight stayed silent and I couldn’t tell what she was thinkin’ about cuz she was under the blanket. It seemed needlessly mean to just take the blanket off of her, so I did the thing I always did when I felt awkward, I kept talking.

“Maybe a paaaarty would make you feel better?” I said, rocking back and forth in the fetal position beside Twilight’s bed. “A welcome home party for Applejack and Rarity, perhaps?”

“I’m not in the mood for a party, Pinkie.” Twilight said somberly. “Now please leave.”

“But you’re all sad and a party is great for cheering me-” I said.

“No, Pinkie.” Twilight tossed the blanket off her face and stared daggers at me. I honestly thought that a party, plus seeing AJ and Rarity again, would make Twilight happier, but I guess not. I needed to make a different choice this time than I’ve done before… but it’s hard.

“Okay.” I said sadly and started getting the shakes. “I’ll go. But later I’m gonna send you a text to check up on you and you’d better answer it!”

“Okay, I will.” Twilight said, falling back down into bed.

“Do you Pinkie Promise?” I said, pointing at my own eye and leering intensely at Twilight.

Twilight sighed irritably and glared at me, but I just stared unblinking back at her and she lightened up ever so teensily. “Yeah, alright, Pinkie. I Pinkie Promise.”

“Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?” I said, crossing my hand over my heart and then putting my fist right up close to my eye.

Twilight groaned. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight also did the gestures but they were pretty halfhearted. I could tell she wasn’t feeling well though so I cut her some slack.

“Alright.” I nodded confidently, crossing my arms. “In that case, I’ll see you later, Twilight. I hope you feel better!”

“Thank you, Pinkie.” Twilight threw the covers over her head again as she spoke.

I sighed dismally as I headed out the door. This didn’t feel right, just leaving Twilight behind like this… but Maud was right. I couldn’t force anyone else to be happy and I knew Twilight, she needed some time to herself to work things out. And she did Pinkie Promise to answer me if I checked in on her later… it was okay to let her do stuff at her own pace, but I didn’t have to like it!

****

-APPLEJACK-

As I was watchin’ out the window of the train headed back to Fillydelphia, seein’ the clear green view of nature gave way to the smoggy and dusty view of the city, and I couldn’t help but thinkin’ it was good to be back.

“It’s been a long time. Huh Rarity?” I said to my girlfriend sitting across from me.

Rarity was the apple of my eye, and there weren’t nary a prettier sight to be seein’ all of the time during an eight hour train ride. Dark skin, curves for days and a sense of elegance and flair, that was my Rarity. She was dressed in stunnin’ white jeans and a matchin’ blouse, a powder blue cardigan and with a burgundy headscarf wrapped around her head, leavin’ just enough room for her flowin’ bangs to peek out and cover one of her eyes. And the fact that I noticed all of that was proof positive that she was rubbin’ off on me!

“It certainly has been.” Rarity said with a beamin’ smile, staring lovingly out the window, her eyes all aglow. “And the city looks just as breathtaking as the day we left. Not a thing has changed!”

“Yup, same ol’ Fillydelphia.” I said as I tipped my hat in front of my eyes to look cool. “It’ll be nice t’see the others in person too. S’been too long since I been able to hug my sisters-in-arms.”

“I wouldn’t refer to our dear friends with such a tacky term, but I agree with your point.” Rarity said with a cute giggle. “That said, I still think you could have dressed up just a tad for our reunion.”

“What’s wrong with what I got on?” I said defensively, lookin’ at my outfit. Let’s see, red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans… hat. I don’t know what she was complainin’ about, I looked perfect!

“Well at any rate…” Rarity chuckled at me as I inspected my outfit, and her laugh always put me in a good mood. “It will be lovely to see the others, to look at Fluttershy’s garden again, taste Pinkie Pie’s baking, hear Twilight go on and on about the latest book she read. I’ve missed them all…”

“Yeh, all of ‘em.” I said distantly, still starin’ out the window.

“Do you think we’ll be able to see Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked.

“Uh, I dunno.” I shook my head with a scowl, restin’ my elbows on my knees and steeplin’ my fingers. “I heard she and Twilight almost got a reunion goin’, but that they’re already on the outs again.”

“I heard the same.” Rarity sighed, resting her chin on her hand and her elbow on the windowsill. “I had a discussion of some length with Twilight about it. It’s a shame really, the two of them used to be thick as thieves.”

“True, but the closer y’are to somebody, the more it hurts when they do ya wrong.” I said.

“Perhaps.” Rarity sighed huffily. “But I’d still like to see her if given the opportunity. I miss the days when the six of us could just spend all day together. I miss when we used to play Duel Monsters all the time. Ooh! That’s another thing we need to do when we get to see the girls again! It’s been too long since I’ve played!”

“Well, I’ve been keeping my skills sharp.” I boasted, Rarity rolling her eyes at my theatrical egotism with a snide smile. “But yeah, it’ll be fun to play with the others, like old times.”

“Agreed.” Rarity nodded and flashed a perky smile. Just then the train pulled into the station, the conductor soon announcin’ that we’d reached our stop and it was time to get off the train. “Ooh, here we are!” Rarity said gleefully. She was so beautiful when she was happy. I mean, she was always beautiful, obviously, but especially when she got real happy. “Are you ready to hand out big, muscly bear hugs to everybody?”

“I… I wouldn’t put it like that.” I said, blushing and tryin’ to cover my face with my hat.

“Big, muscly, sweaty, bear hugs where your soft, tender, well-muscled flesh will softly caress the smooth, warm skin of our nubile female companions?” Rarity said teasingly, leaning close t’me and putting her hand on my arm, rubbing my biceps up and down as she spoke in a soft, breathy whisper. Sometimes this girl was too much. “Kidding, of course.” Rarity planted a smooch on my lips and headed out of our cabin, daintily walkin’ toward the train door with me followin’ right behind her… soon as I managed to put my head back on straight anyway.

“RAAAAARITYYYY!!!” Me and Rarity heard a piercing wail assault us as soon as we stepped off the train. “AAAAAPLEJAAAACK!!!!” It was Pinkie Pie, because of course it was Pinkie Pie. We looked around fer a sec to find her and to be honest it didn’t take long, there were only like five other people in the train station other’n Pinkie and a very embarrassed-looking Fluttershy who was holding a giant card that had a crayon cartoon of me and Rarity on it.

Rarity got the giggles from Pinkie’s display of affection and we walked over to the two of ‘em, and I tried to talk sense into Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, is all that clamorin’ really nece-”

“-ssary?! YES! It is!” Pinkie loudly replied. I guess I should’a figured how well that ‘talkin’ sense into Pinkie Pie’ thing was gonna work out. Pinkie glared at me for about two seconds, Fluttershy’s eyes nervously darting around the room, before Pinkie jumped on me and Rarity with a hug. “I’m so glad to see you guuuuuys!” She said, the waterworks startin’ to come on.

“Shucks, Pinkie, it ain’t like y’all haven’t seen us at all since we left.” I said, squirming out of her hug which was enough to even crush my spine, but then I just embraced her in a big hug of my own, lifitn’ her up off the ground.

“I know!” She sniffled as I put her back down. “It’s just that… you guys are back! In Fillydelphia! You’re back home forever! This is a moment to celebrate!” Pinkie pulled out a party blower and blew on it, which was cute. Then she pulled out an airhorn and blew on that, which was less cute.

“It’s good to see you too, Pinkie.” Rarity said, starin’ off into the distance, eyes wide as she tried to re-center herself from the blare of the airhorn. “And to you too, Fluttershy darling.” Rarity took Fluttershy’s hand and gave it a tiny kiss, making Fluttershy recoil her hand and blush.

“Th-thank you.” She said bashfully. “I mean, it’s really great to see you both again.”

“It so is!” Pinkie hopped up on my shoulders. “And we’re gonna throw a welcome home party! There’ll be snacks and games and fun times and all kindsa stuff! It’s gonna be so rad!!!”

“Sounds like a good time.” I said cheerfully. “Just one question though. Where’s Twilight?”

Pinkie’s exuberance went away pretty quickly and she dropped to the ground again, and Fluttershy looked over to the side suspiciously.

“That’s a good question.” Rarity looked around and put her hands on her hips. “You’d think if anybody would want to see Applejack and I as soon as we got back, it would be Twilight. It’s quite odd that she’s not here for her oldest friend and favorite sister-friend.”

“Yeah, um…” Pinkie said, twiddling her fingers. “Well she’s at home. In bed. With the covers over her head. Like, forever.” Pinkie paused a second before a lightbulb went off above her head and she started ramblin’ a bit. “I mean, I don’t mean that she’s dead or anything! That’s not what I meant at all even though it kinda sounded like that’s what I meant but it isn’t because what I meant was that she’s sleeping like the dead okay that was a bad time for a pun I’m sorry and also she wasn’t really sleeping at least I don’t think she was sleeping maybe she was before I-“

“Alright Pinkie, we get it.” I put my hand on Pinkie’s head to stop her incessant crazed rantin’. That’s just something you gotta get used to when yer friends with Pinkie Pie.

“So she’s depressed?” Rarity said seriously. Pinkie Pie nodded. “Whatever for?”

“She and I got into a fight.” Fluttershy said sadly.

“Over what?” Rarity asked.

“I wanted help making a Duel Monsters deck.” Fluttershy explained, lookin’ down at the ground and lightly kicking up dust. “I asked for her help with it and when I went to her place and showed her my cards she said they were really bad, so I explained to her that I didn’t want a ‘strong’ deck, I wanted one with my cards but she wouldn’t listen so I tried explaining again but she still wouldn’t listen so I got impatient with her and yelled.”

“Whoa, it must’ve been serious if you yelled.” Pinkie said, mirroring my thoughts exactly.

“She kept talking over me and insulting my cards.” Fluttershy said as the tears started flowin’. “I was really upset but as I was leaving I started crying because I didn’t want to make Twilight upset and I did anyway and now I’m even more sad.” Fluttershy held herself and tried to keep the waterworks in but tears were already streamin’ down her cheeks.

“Shh, it’s okay.” Rarity embraced Fluttershy in a hug and gracefully caressed her hair as Fluttershy cried into Rarity’s chest. “It’s okay to speak up for yourself when you feel you’re not being heard. It’s not your fault if that upsets someone else.”

“But Twilight’s been feeling so down recently.” Fluttershy sniffed. “Over everything going on with Rainbow Dash.”

“Exactly.” I said with a shrug. “Twilight’s got a lot on her mind, it’s been a rough few days for her, so if she’s holed up in her bed or what have you then there’s more to it than just gettin’ in a fight with you. So don’t blame yourself.” Fluttershy looked at me like I was speakin’ a different language then looked up at Rarity who nodded in agreement, and Fluttershy looked back at me and did the same.

“Do you have your cards with you, by any chance?” Rarity gently took hold of Fluttershy’s chin with two fingers, tilting her head upward to look at her. Fluttershy nodded with a smile and got her cards out of her backpack. “Let me take a look.” Rarity said, Fluttershy handing her the cards to look through. “Well these cards are positively precious! No wonder you want to make a deck with these, Fluttershy!”

“That’s what IIIIII said!” Pinkie said musically.

“They’re not tier 1 or anything,” I added, lookin’ over Rarity’s shoulder at Fluttershy’s cards “but who cares? My cards are underpowered too. You should play with whatever cards you like, Fluttershy, and don’t let Twilight or no one else tell ya otherwise.”

“Thank you all.” Fluttershy said with a smile, wiping tears from her face. “It means a lot that you’d all say that, but I still feel bad for Twilight.”

“Don’t you worry about ol’ Twilight.” I said with a grin, poundin’ myself on the chest. “Leave her to me.”

“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked suspiciously, then she gasped. “Are you gonna fistfight Twilight?!”

“No.” I said.

“Wrestle her?” Pinkie asked.

“Nope.” I shook my head.

“Caress her soft, tender chest and pronounced feminine hips?”

“Wh-what?” I fumbled backwards, feelin’ completely dumbstruck and caught off guard. Also it suddenly felt very hot in the train station and I think my cheeks were turnin’ red.

“Oh nothing.” Pinkie said with a shrug and a coy smile. “Just thinking out loud.” Rarity and Fluttershy were giggling but I was still lost and for some reason a little embarrassed.

“Point is, I’m gonna go talk to her.” I cleared my throat in an attempt to get the conversation back on track.

“But she wouldn’t open the door!” Pinkie said. “When I went to visit her I had to break in through the window!”

“Pinkie Pie, darling, maybe don’t admit to breaking and entering in public, okay?” Rarity said, delicately takin’ Pinkie’s hand.

“Ok fine.” Pinkie grumbled, crossin’ her arms in a huff. “Take all the fun out of everything.”

“At any rate,” I cleared my throat even louder and more obviously in order to get back to the topic at hand “Pinkie, Twilight may not have opened the door for you, but I think it’ll be a different story for me.”

“Why’s that?” Pinkie asked innocently.

“Twilight and I have a special bond between us.” I explained. “Heck, we been friends practically since we were babies. She’ll listen to me. Plus it’s been two years since we’ve seen each other in person so she’s not gonna say no t’seein’ me. But to be honest, I’m just stubborn.” I shrugged with a smile. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

“She’s not wrong.” Rarity said with a giggle. “If there’s anyone who can talk sense into Twilight Sparkle, it would be me or Applejack, and let’s be honest, Applejack is far better at talking sense in general than I could ever be.”

“Exactly.” I said, plantin’ a kiss on my gf’s cheek. “So jus’ leave Twi to good ol’ Applejack.”

“And while Applejack is helping Twilight,” Rarity put her arm around Fluttershy, makin’ the little cutie blush “how would you like my help building a deck, Fluttershy? We can use all of these cards if you want.”

“Well actually I needed some of the cards trimmed out, that was the problem I was having.” Fluttershy murmured. “There were too many cards there for one deck…”

“Then it’s settled.” Rarity said proudly. “I will help Fluttershy make a great Duel Monsters deck, Applejack will help Twilight get back on her feet…”

“And I’ll write lesbian fanfic about all my friends!” Pinkie said excitedly, throwin’ her hands in the air and causing the three of us to stop and stare blankly at her. “I’m kidding.” She said with a smile, her cheeks red.

“Alright, sounds like a plan.” I chuckled.

I took Rarity by the hands and looked into her eyes. She leaned into me and planted a kiss right on my lips and said “I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”

“Um, eeyup.” I replied, my cheeks burning red hot. I didn’t know what else to say. It’s not that I didn’t lo… er, care about Rarity, I just couldn’t say it… and I dunno why. “I’ll see ya tonight.” I said, taking off for Twilight’s place.

****

“Twilight!” I banged on the door of Twilight’s house. “Twilight I know yer in there! Y’should answer the door! It’s me Applejack!” I banged on the door another couple of times but no answer. I was startin’ to feel a little peeved. “Honestly, of all the bad manners…” Just then somethin’ occurred to me.

Twilight’s house stood pretty much alone in this neighborhood, no surprise considerin’ Twilight’s tastes, but the interestin’ thing about it was its backyard led directly into a big patch of trees. I circled around the house to Twilight’s backyard, grass as green as you’ve ever seen it, majestic trees standing guard around the edges and a beautiful crystal clear river runnin’ straight through… and who do I see sittin’ on a big stone by that river? Why none other than Twilight Sparkle herself.

“I guess you actually couldn’t hear me, could ya?” I chuckled as I approached Twilight.

“No, I did.” Twilight said without lookin’ back at me. “I figured you’d find me back here if I didn’t answer.”

“Could’a saved me some trouble.” I said teasingly. Twilight didn’t respond, which made me a little uneasy. Nothin’ unusual ‘bout me and Twi ribbin’ each other a bit, but when she wasn’t havin’ any of it that’s when I always knew things weren’t right with her. “What’s goin’ on, Twi?” I said as I sat down next to her on the stone by the river. “How come you didn’t come to see me and Rarity at the train station?”

“I… I couldn’t… I didn’t want… I…” Twilight groaned in frustration, throwin’ her face into her hands. “I don’t know. I just… I don’t know.”

“I heard what happened with Fluttershy…” I said, putting my hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“It’s not just Fluttershy!” Twilight snapped, battin’ my hand away. “I have made all of my friends cry over this last week! And Rainbow Dash waltzing back into my life didn’t just bring up a whole heap of new problems, it also made me realize how much pain I still had over her leaving… how much that pain is still affecting me day to day… I… I haven’t been the same since she left.”

Twilight folded her arms over her legs and buried her face in ‘em while I tried to gently rub her back.

“Losin’ a friend is…” I sighed, tryin’ to think of the right word. “It’s tough. I know that’s a real speakeasy way to put that, but I dunno what else to say. It hurts like… like gettin’ bit by a rattlesnake. And just like a snake bite, it can poison you. It can leave wounds that take years to heal, if they even do…”

“This is a really bad inspirational speech.” Twilight said, her words muffled since she was still hidin’ in her own arms.

“No, this is just the part where I empathize.” I chuckled, pattin’ Twi’s back. “The inspirational part comes after. The thing is, you can extract the poison out of a snake bite. You can patch up the wound, stop the bleedin’, suture up the skin, all that stuff. And there may still be a scar left over, but that scar ain’t gonna stop ya from livin’. You’ve been through a lot, Twilight. And we’ve all done dumb stuff that made our friends mad at us, or hurt their feelings. But true friendship is stronger than a few angry words, and I promise ya that yer stronger than a couple of snake bites.”

Twilight sat back up and looked at me, a pretty vacant expression on her face. Her eyes were still red from cryin’ and she had bags under her eyes like she’d slept maybe three of the last twenty-four hours.

“How do I keep going when I just seem to keep hurting people?” She whispered.

“You try to make it right.” I said seriously. “And whether you can do that or not, you learn from it and move on. That’s the golden rule of life, sugar cube.”

“The golden delicious rule?” Twilight said with a coy smirk. Atta girl.

“You’re startin’ to come back, huh?” I said with a beamin’ smile.

“Maybe.” Twilight smiled for a moment before it disappeared and she sighed, buryin’ her face right back in her arms again.

“Let’s walk around a bit, Twi.” I said, helpin’ Twilight to her feet.

“Okay.” She said coldly. I could tell she wasn’t all there, either from the lack of sleep or the depression or both, but I figured gettin’ her blood flowin’ would help her out.

“You remember when you texted me the other day,” I put my arm around Twi as we walked along the river, ‘tween them and the trees “askin’ me about what to do cuz you made Pinkie cry?”

“Urgh, don’t remind me.” Twilight shook her head in frustration.

“You remember what I suggested?” I kicked a rock that we passed by into the river. “That you apologize? Did you?”

“Of course I did.” Twilight broke away from me and leaned back against a tree.

“How did it feel?” I asked, walkin’ up to the tree next to hers and leanin’ against it.

“Painful.” Twilight grumbled, her hand over her face. “But… Pinkie forgiving me swept that pain away pretty quick. But how many times are my friends going to accept my stupid apologies if I just keep on hurting them?”

“You’d be surprised by the power of a genuine, heartfelt apology.” I said with a smile and a pat on Twilight’s shoulder. “And Twilight, you have good friends. Good friends who want to be friends with you. Don’t let that go to waste.”

Twilight took a deep breath and then slowly sighed.

“I’m not sure I can apologize to Fluttershy…” Twilight said distantly, turning toward the tree and resting her forehead against it. “I just feel like I screwed up too badly this time.”

“Honestly, Fluttershy’s more upset that you’re upset than she is about the cards thing.” I shrugged, pacing back and forth behind Twilight.

“I’m not sure that makes it better.” Twilight groaned, hitting her head against the tree.

“But this isn’t about Fluttershy, is it?” I tapped Twi on the shoulder so she’d turn around and look at me, then stared her right in the eyes. “This fight with Fluttershy is just one more brick in the pile, ain’t it?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight took her glasses off and looked down at them, probably tryin’ to avert eye contact in a way that didn’t scream ‘I don’t wanna make eye contact’… not sure it was workin’ that well.

“You said that Rainbow comin’ back into your life revealed a whole bunch of nasty stuff for you to deal with, right?” I tilted Twi’s head up by her chin as she put back her glasses and nodded. “I think, and this is just a theory, but I think that you blame yourself for what went wrong with Rainbow Dash. I think you blame yourself for the failure of that relationship and that you’re tryin’ to punish yourself by cuttin’ yourself off from your other friends, the guilt is makin’ you think that you deserve to be hated by them, or by us.”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably and blinked a couple times, but she didn’t say anything or try to interrupt, or even look away from me.

“And I think,” I continued, puttin’ my hand on Twi’s head and gently brushin’ her hair “that the self-esteem issues you have, stuff with your family, stuff with your school days, stuff with your old Canterlot friends…”

“Friend.” Twilight interrupted. “Singular.”

“Right, friend.” I said. “…point is, I think that stuff’s messed with your self-esteem to the point where you don’t feel like you can afford to make any mistakes, otherwise your whole self-image comes crashin’ down and that’s why you can’t apologize. Because you can’t admit ya done wrong without takin’ that to the extreme conclusion that you’re just a bad person, and thus you deserve to be alone, and because that’s your hidden emotional truth you sabotage yourself to make that a reality.”

“When did you become such a philosopher?” Twilight scoffed, wigglin’ away from me and walkin’ back to the river.

“I know my friends, Twilight.” I hugged Twi from behind, rockin’ back and forth slowly. “And Twilight, I know what you need. You need a distraction.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“You need somethin’ that’ll occupy your conscious mind so that you can work through these issues with your subconscious…” I chuckled, really havin’ no clue if what I was sayin’ made sense. “Or somethin’ like that. Point is, let’s duel.”

“What? Why?” Twilight said flippantly, spinnin’ around to face me and nearly fumblin’ backwards into the river, lucky I managed to catch her in time, bringin’ her in close to me.

“Cuz, Twi.” I looked down at Twilight as I held her close. “Focusin’ on the duel will give your brain time to, like… marinate on these issues. I said a buncha stuff out loud that you’ve been thinkin’ to yourself this whole time but were too afraid to admit it, and now your brain needs time to deal with the fact that you can’t hide from it anymore.”

“You…” Twilight looked at me angrily for a moment but then her expression softened and she let out a sad sigh and she looked away. “You’re not wrong. I don’t… I don’t know if I really considered all that stuff you said, heck, I’m not sure I entirely understand it even now.”

“Which is why we duel.” I took a few steps back and got out my red Duel Disk. “Plus I’ll throw in a bonus, t’make it interestin’. If I win, you apologize to Fluttershy. But if you win, I’ll apologize to her for ya on yer behalf. Sound good?”

“Those are good stakes.” Twilight laughed, tryin’ to fight back some tears. “Alright, Applejack. Let’s duel.”

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

DUEL!

Twilight Sparkle vs. Applejack!

I appreciated what Applejack was trying to do but I wasn’t sure a duel was really going to put me back in the right place. My head was a foggy mess, everything felt so dark and unclear and I just… ugh. I had reservations but maybe AJ was right, maybe all I needed was a little distraction.

Applejack and I stood between my house and the river, the house to my back and the river to Applejack’s, with nothing between us but a few rocks and sticks on my too-grassy-needs-to-be-mowed-like-seriously-it’s-a-jungle-out-here lawn.

“I’ll go first.” I said, drawing my opening hand. “And I’ll start with my combo of Spellbook of Secrets and Temperance of Prophecy.” My slender brown-robed, shadowy-hooded magician appeared on the field, brandishing the bright blue Spellbook of Secrets.

“So now you can add a Spellbook to yer hand,” Applejack said “and summon a high-Level Prophecy monster.”

“That’s right.” I nodded. “And I choose to add Spellbook of Power, and because I played a Spellbook this turn, I can sacrifice Temperance to summon Prophecy Destroyer from the deck!”

Temperance held aloft her two chalices and they both glowed with a blue light as dark mist frothed atop them, spilling out and absorbing my magician. From the dark mist that formed around her body came a flickering orange light and then a leathery-winged, skull-faced, glowing-sword-wielding demon… Prophecy Destroyer!

“I’ll add one more face-down card and end my turn.” My face-down card was Drowning Mirror Force, which I could use to defend myself in case things went south for my Destroyer.

“Well Twilight, I’m about to blow yer mind with this move.” Applejack spoke with fire in her eyes and a confident smile on her face “I summon a face-down defense monster and one set card. Yer move.”

I was awestruck. I think my mouth started hanging open.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Yup.” Applejack put her hands on her hips and nodded proudly. “That’s all I need.”

“Fine then.” I said. Applejack’s move may have looked pretty pathetic, but I didn’t doubt that she had some strategy up her sleeve. “I’ll summon my Strength of Prophecy!” My short-red-haired, black-armored, giant-mace-wielding magician appeared alongside my Destroyer, giving him a loyal salute. “She can put my Spellbook of Secrets back into the deck to raise my Destroyer’s ATK to 3000. And not only that, but I can further increase my Destroyer’s ATK with the Spellbook of Power! Now he has 4000 ATK!”

“That’s mighty impressive, Twilight.” Applejack chuckled like it was no big deal, but I could see her starting to sweat a little bit. I couldn’t blame her, one hit from my Destroyer and she was as good as done. “But let’s see if you’ve got what it takes to hit me that beast of yers.” Applejack smiled devilishly and I couldn’t help but smile back, accepting her challenge.

“Strength of Prophecy, attack Applejack’s face-down card!” I declared.

My wild-red-haired lady leapt into the air and came crashing down on Applejack’s mysterious Monster with her mace. The creature turned out to be Sylvan Bladefender, a wandering bearded samurai with leafy clothing and a big rice hat, but its 700 DEF was no match for my Strength’s 1500 ATK and my Monster’s attack crushed it into dust, leaving Applejack’s field wide open… or so I thought.

“Now ya’ve done it, Twi!” AJ threw her head back in laughter. “When one of my Sylvan monsters goes to the graveyard, I can summon this beauty from my hand! Sylvan Sagequoia!”

Sagequoia was a tall, thin leafy tree with tiny spectacles on his face, a dainty thin mustache and a braided leafy beard. Despite his unassuming appearance, the creature boasted an impressive 2500 ATK!

“Okay, good comeback.” I smiled graciously and nodded, impressed but not deterred. “But not good enough to stop my Destroyer! Attack her Sagequoia!” My devil ran toward the enemy and jumped into the air, slicing through Applejack’s tree vertically and cutting it right in half, destroying the monster and reducing Applejack’s Life to 2500, plus I was also able to add my Spellbook of Secrets back to my hand for next turn thanks to the Spellbook of Power’s Effect. “Your turn, Applejack!” I said confidently.

Applejack drew her card and looked at her hand, her smile widening from ear to ear, making me a little nervous. I dug my feet into the ground and glared at Applejack as she considered her options. I was feeling tense about losing this duel… but then I remembered my duel with Pinkie Pie. Losing wasn’t the end of the world.

Losing a duel didn’t make me a bad person. It didn’t make my friends want to turn on me or hate me or think I was a loser. Losing that duel… honestly it didn’t really mean anything. It’s just a game, and my self-worth doesn’t need to be completely wrapped up in my ability to play a game well.

But not only that. Just because I got into a fight with Fluttershy, or Pinkie Pie, or even Rainbow Dash… just because we fight sometimes doesn’t mean we aren’t friends. Just because we get mad and we may yell at each other sometimes doesn’t mean I don’t care about them and they don’t care about me. I’ve known these girls almost my whole life, they weren’t merely friends, they were family and I care about each of them so very much and yes, even Rainbow Dash, even still after everything, I still cared so dearly about Rainbow Dash.

Just because I lose a fight, doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. Just because I lose a game, doesn’t mean that I’m worthless and just because I argue with my friends doesn’t mean those relationships are at an end.

“Applejack, you were right.” I said with a smile, clutching at my heart. Applejack looked up from her cards to look at me.

“How so?” She said with a smile of her own.

“This duel did help.” I answered. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad to hear that…” Applejack said with a kind smirk, her expression softening for one moment before putting her game face back on. “Cuz I’m about to end it.”

“Bring it on.” I said with a huge grin. Honestly, I kinda wanted Applejack to win. I was excited to see how she would pull it off, especially considering my Drowning Mirror Force was still on the field.

“I activate my face-down card, Sylvan Blessin’!” Applejack declared. “By puttin’ one card in my hand on top of the deck, I can summon Sylvan Bladefender back from the graveyard! But that’s not all, I’m gonna tribute Bladefender to summon Sylvan Guardioak!”

In exchange for the samurai Applejack summoned a big stout green ogre, with leafy hair and tree branch limbs, holding a massive wooden club across his shoulders.

“Guardioak’s ability lets me Excavate three cards off the top of my deck.” Applejack’s deck relied on ‘Excavating’ her cards, which basically meant looking at them and then putting them back in the deck, except… “And I’m sure you remember this, Twi, but when my Plant-Type Monsters are Excavated, they go to the graveyard and their Effects can be activated.”

“I do remember that…” I said tensely, remembering that Applejack just chose a card from her hand to go on top of the deck.

“Now I wonder what card could be first?” AJ said teasingly, looking at the first of her three Excavated cards. “Oh lookie here, it’s Sylvan Princessprout!” AJ looked at the second card, an irrelevant trap card which went to the bottom of the deck. AJ looked at the third card and laughed. “Ha! Sylvan Peaskeeper! I couldn’t’a asked fer a better card than this’un!”

As Applejack sent her two Plant monsters to the graveyard, their Effects were activated.

“Peaskeeper’s Effect goes first, allowin’ me to revive my good ol’ buddy Bladefender!” Applejack said, Bladefender returning to the field yet again, this time from inside a pea pod. “Then my Princessprout’s Effect goes off, and it’s pretty special! Not only is she summoned back to the field, but I get to choose her Level! And I choose 7!”

I couldn’t deny that Applejack’s Princessprout was adorable. She looked like a little shrine maiden with a flower bud face dressed in an ornate, flowery gown.

“Now I’ll return Bladefender to my hand,” Applejack said “to summon Fallen Angel of Roses!”

A war-worn woman with grey skin and pale eyes, long black hair and majestic wings with black rose petal feathers. In her hand she held a thorny whip and she was dressed to the nines like a dominatrix… Fallen Angel of Roses!

By the way, it may seem like Applejack’s taking an absurdly long time to make all of her moves, but this was pretty standard for her and her bizarre hand-and-deck-manipulation-combo deck.

“Now then, Twi…” Applejack pounded her fists together, which she often did when she was certain of victory. “Are you ready to end this? Cuz I Overlay my Level 7 Fallen Angel and Princessprout, to summon… Orea! The Sylvan High Arbiter!”

Orea, Applejack’s favorite card, was a majestic green bird of prey whose radiant wings glowed with green, yellow and red feathers. She had palm fronds as a tail and a wreath of red lilies around her neck, giant red braids flowing behind her head and a garden of blooming red flowers crowned her. She was beautiful, graceful and powerful, and as soon as I saw her I knew as well as Applejack did that this duel was hers.

“Orea’s Effect allows me to detach an Energy card to Excavate three cards off the top of my deck.” Applejack said. “And for each Plant Monster Excavated, I get to bounce one card on the field back to the hand!”

“What are the chances of all three being Plant Monsters?” I scoffed, referring to the fact that my field had three cards on it.

“Pretty good, considerin’ more than half my deck is made up of Plant Monsters.” Applejack said confidently. “Now let’s take a look! One!” Applejack looked at the first card, it was a Plant monster. Orea’s feathers began to bristle with anticipation. “Two!” Another Plant! Orea’s gaze fixed on me and it gave me chills. “And three!”

Another Plant. Orea rose into the sky and flapped her wings, blowing a mighty hurricane across my field and sending everything on it flying away, back into my hand.

“Good game, Twilight.” Applejack said, putting her fist forward.

“Good game, Applejack.” I sighed.

Applejack’s Guardioak threw his club my way, making me wince and reducing my Life to a mere 1600, and then Orea charged up a beam of green solar energy in her mouth, blasting it at me and reducing my Life to 0.

“Alright, you remember the deal?” Applejack said as she walked toward me.

“I remember.” I nodded. I walked over to Applejack and stood in front of her, motionless. She took the hint and embraced me in a hug, which I hesitantly reciprocated. “And a deal’s a deal… but will you come with me?”

“Of course.” Applejack said, swaying back and forth with me in her arms. The best part of my day, to be honest.

****

I stood on the entry step in front of Fluttershy’s house, feeling nervous enough to throw up, with Applejack standing behind me. AJ prompted me to knock on the door and I took a big deep breath and did so, tapping several times quietly on the door. After waiting a moment or two, Fluttershy answered.

“Oh! Twilight… it’s you…” She looked excited for less than a second before becoming downtrodden. That didn’t make this any easier.

“Fluttershy… “ Getting the words out felt like choking out hot coals. “I’m sorry.” I said with a bow. Like ripping off a bandage. “I didn’t listen to you and I talked over everything you said, and I turned something that was supposed to be fun into something ugly and stupid. And I’m very, very sorry.”

“Oh Twilight, I forgive you.” Fluttershy said, opening her arms for a hug that I happily accepted. “I’m just glad you’re okay. I was worried about you.”

“Yeah, Applejack helped me get out of the hole I was starting to fall into.” I said with Fluttershy still in my arms, smiling at Applejack who gave a hearty thumbs-up in response.

“Wow, she really did have the mojo!” Pinkie Pie said happily, walking into Fluttershy’s living room from the kitchen or someplace.

“I told you, Pinkie.” Rarity added, following behind Pinkie. “Never doubt Applejack once she sets her mind to something.” Rarity walked over to me, Fluttershy opening the door wider and stepping aside so Rarity could stand before me. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, darling.” Rarity said as she embraced me in a hug.

“Me too.” I replied with a happy smile, tears a-flowing. “It’s good to see you.”

“The pleasure is mutual, I promise you.” Rarity couldn’t hold back tears either.

“So Fluttershy,” Applejack interrupted the sentimentality, as she was wont to do “how’d that new deck come along?”

“Oh! Did you put together a deck?” I said, wiping away tears and glad for the distraction from all the crying and nostalgia. “Sorry I couldn’t help you with it.”

“Rarity and Pinkie helped me put it together.” Fluttershy said happily, holding the deck close to her heart. “I’m actually really excited for it.”

“That’s fantastic, Fluttershy!” I clapped my hands happily. I was a little jealous and sad that Fluttershy made the deck without me after I blew it, but I was mostly just glad that Fluttershy could play now and  I couldn’t wait to see that! “You want to give it a test run?” I said with a sly grin.

“Twilight Sparkle, are you challenging me to a duel?” Fluttershy replied with a smirk.

“I am acutall-” I was interrupted by the sound of my phone and everybody staring at the pouch on my belt that held it. I took the phone out and looked at it and my eyes widened. “It’s from Rainbow.”

“What does it say?” Applejack asked gravely.

“It says ‘Meet me at the airplane graveyard. You know the place’.” I was starting to get chills and had a burning feeling in my gut. This was important and I needed to go there. “Sorry again, Fluttershy, but can I postpone our duel for a moment?”

“Of course!” Fluttershy nodded vigorously.

“You need to go, Twilight!” Pinkie added, waving her arms frantically. “Go go go!”

“She’s right, sugar cube.” Applejack said, her hand on my shoulder. “I can go with you if you need.”

“No, I need to see her alone.” I said. “I have something for her anyway.” I placed my hand over the second deck box hanging off my belt. “Guys, I’d better go.”

“Well why are you still standing here?” Rarity pushed me down the brick path of Fluttershy’s yard. “You had better hurry!”

“Right!” I ran off and bolted down the sidewalk as fast as I could, which admittedly wasn’t fast since I had no athletic ability and got winded after ten minutes of running. “I’ll catch you guys later!”

Everyone waved and said kind words of encouragement as I headed off to confront Rainbow. It was nice… and then I felt something wet hit me on the head. It was a raindrop.

Because of course it was.
> 09. Airplane Graveyard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-FLUTTERSHY-

“Oh, I hope Twilight and Rainbow Dash can work things out.” I said softly, kicking my feet in the air as they hung off my living room couch, more thinking out loud than trying to engage my three friends sitting around the living room with me.

“I think they will.” Applejack said confidently, lounging in the easy chair on the far side of the room. “The two may have a lot of differences, but honestly I think the two of ‘em are good for each other, and I think they can see it on some level.”

“I don’t want to get too optimistic,” Rarity was pacing around the room, picking up piles of my brother’s clothes and things and putting them into boxes in the corner of the room to be sorted later. “I’d hate to be disappointed… but to be perfectly truthful I’m feeling rather hopeful myself.”

“Yay optimism!” Pinkie added as she brought more empty boxes from the other room.

“Rainbow said she wanted to talk to Twilight at the old airplane graveyard.” I said. “That was their old hangout when they were kids, so that’s gotta be a good sign, right?”

“Yep!” Pinkie jumped onto the couch next to me, giving me a bit of a fright. “I bet Rainbow’s waiting there for Twilight and thinking about all the good times they had then when Twilight gets there Rainbow will start crying and be like ‘I’m sorry I was a big dummy for wanting to leave you and the others for Whiplash! Oh boohoo!’ Yep, that’s definitely what it’ll be like.”

“Now who’s too optimistic, Rarity?” Applejack chuckled and Rarity laughed softly into her hand in response, and Pinkie started guffawing too because when somebody starts laughing around Pinkie Pie she can’t help but join in. “Hey Fluttershy, not to be a bother or nuthin’, but do you got anything to eat around here?”

“Well, I’ve got frozen pizzas.” I said modestly, twiddling my fingers. I knew that wasn’t a very good suggestion but everything else in my house needed to be cooked and I didn’t think I was up to that. “You’re welcome to have some. My brother didn’t eat them since he’s off mooching off one of his guy friends.”

“I like pizza!” Pinkie said enthusiastically, pulling me in for a hug.

“All pizza is good pizza, that’s what I say.” Applejack laughed, sitting upright in her chair.

“That sounds delightful to me.” Rarity stood over Applejack and gave her a kiss on the head, which made Applejack blush. “Fluttershy, would you accompany me into the kitchen and we can get those ready?”

“Well they just go in the microwave…” I said. I don’t know why I was arguing though against quality time with Rarity, it had been far too long since we’d been able to spend time together and I missed her. Applejack too, I needed to make sure I got to spend time with her as well. “But sure!”

Rarity and I headed into the kitchen and made some small talk as we prepared the pizzas. ‘It’s so good to see you’ ‘How have you been’, stuff like that. The whole time though something is nagging at me, a question that I want to ask but feel might not be appropriate. Eventually though, as Rarity was taking the third pizza out of the microwave and putting in the last one, my curiosity got the better of me.

“So Rarity, if it’s okay to ask this, if you don’t mind…” I stuttered and almost considered backing out of asking but now I felt like I had to since I had already started. “Why did you leave school?”

“I’m sorry Fluttershy but if it’s all the same,” Rarity sighed, placing her hand on the counter and tapping her fingers against the marble “I’d rather avoid talking about that right now.” Immediately I felt a pang of shame and embarrassment wash over me.

“I’m sorry.” I said instinctively.

“It’s quite alright, darling.” Rarity said with a smile, gently brushing some hair out of my face. “It’s natural to be curious. It’s just that… well, truth be told, I haven’t even been able to tell Applejack about why we needed to leave.”

“Not even Applejack?” I said in surprise. “Why ever not?”

“Like I said, darling,” Rarity chuckled nervously “it’s not a topic I wish to broach at this time. Although I do fear that Applejack resents me for keeping it to myself.”

“No, Applejack wouldn’t be like that.” I argued. “She’s kind and loyal, and you’re her girlfriend, she’d support you no matter what!”

“That’s what I expected as well.” Rarity said distantly, walking over to the window above the sink and staring out into the rainy night sky. “But she acted very strangely when I wouldn’t tell her what was wrong, she even got a little short with me.”

“Well… I’m sure it was just a stressful situation.” I said hopefully, tapping my thumbs together. Rarity and Applejack were so good to and for each other, that it made me nervous to think of them getting into an argument… even though on some level I knew that it happened to everybody. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything, and I’m sure that she trusts you no matter what.”

“You’re probably right.” Rarity said with a cute giggle, making me feel a little more at east. “At least, I hope so anyway.” Rarity perked up as the microwave timer beeped. “Ooh! Pizza’s ready!”

****

-APPLEJACK-

While Fluttershy and Rarity were off gettin’ pizzas from the kitchen, me and Pinkie were left alone in the livin’ room, Pinkie starin’ at me the whole time with her big Pinkie puppy-dog eyes.

“What’s up, Pinkie?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m just happy to see you guys again!” Pinkie clapped her hands and fell onto her side, lyin’ down on the couch. “You and Rarity make such a cute couple! I’m a little bit jelly to be honest!”

“You shouldn’t be jelly, Pinkie.” I blushed, tippin’ my hat down over my eyes. “It’s really not… we’re not that… we’re just like anyone else, I guess is what I’m tryin’ to say.”

“Sure, sure.” Pinkie sprung back to an upright position and dismissively waved her hand around. “But you guys made it! You’re an item! Despite all the odds, despite your huge differences, despite everybody saying it wasn’t gonna work out… you guys did it!”

“We’re not married or anythin’, Pinkie.” I chuckled nervously. I tried fidgetin’ with my hat to ignore the stressful feelin’s of this here conversation but it wasn’t workin’ so I got up and started pacin’ around the room. Rarity did an amazing job cleanin’ it up, Fluttershy’s brother left the place like a pig sty but Rarity got it back in tiptop shape in no time at all! “We’re not even livin’ together or anything.”

“Really? I thought you were.” Pinkie said curiously, puttin’ a finger to her lips.

“Nah.” I shrugged, absentmindedly kickin’ at the boxes full of Zephyr’s stuff. “I don’t really wanna move things along too fast, y’know what I mean?”

“No.” Pinkie shook her head. “I say, if you like somebody, just dive right in with both feet!”

“That may be fine fer you, Pinkie…” I exhaled sharply, startin’ to feel a little tense, like Pinkie was tryin’ to put me in a pressure cooker or somethin’! “…but I’m a more traditional gal. I just don’t want to get too ahead of things.”

“Haven’t you guys been together for like three years?” Pinkie said flatly.

“In a couple weeks, yeah.” I sighed in frustration, takin’ off my hand runnin’ a hand through my hair. “I just… never mind, Pinkie. Me and Rarity are doin’ fine, I’m just a little wary about takin’ the next step, I guess.”

“Say no more!” Pinkie jumped up to a standin’ position and hopped over to me, puttin’ an arm around my shoulder… or at least she tried to but her arms didn’t reach my shoulders cuz of the height difference, so she just held my hand instead. “I’ll drop the subject! Instead let’s talk about your guys’ trip to Canterlot! How was it? How did Rarity’s school stuff go? How come you guys are back early? Did something happen? Did you get involved with any gangs? Any cults? Were there knife fights? Did you punch anyone? Did you get involved in a political assassination?”

“Pinkie.” I said sternly and glared at her in order to stop Pinkie’s rambling.

“Oh, sorry.” Pinkie chuckled nervously and backed off a bit.

“To be entirely honest,” I growled, puttin’ my fist against my palm “I dunno why we’re back early. One day out of the blue Rarity just said she was ready to go home and before I knew it we were packin’ our bags and headed back.”

“That’s… ominous.” Pinkie said.

“I know.” I grumbled.

“And she didn’t tell you why or anything?” Pinkie asked.

“Nope.” I shrugged, puttin’ my hand up against the drywall. I wasn’t super happy with how things were goin’ with Rarity on this front. She was still my babe and I liked her a lot and cared about her… but the fact that she couldn’t be honest with me was really troublin’ fer me, for obvious reasons. “I asked her a couple times and she just kept dodgin’ the question or tellin’ me that it wasn’t important and that I should just ‘trust her’ but how’m I supposed to trust her if she ain’t even gonna tell me what’s goin’ on?!”

“Oh, are we still doing this?” Rarity said agitatedly as she and Fluttershy walked back into the livin’ room with the pizzas. “I thought we agreed to drop this.”

“Yeah, we did.” I sighed irritably and put my hat back on. “But Pinkie asked what was goin’ on with us comin’ back and I answered her. Plain as that.”

“Girls, please don’t fight.” Fluttershy said meekly but Rarity was already too wound up to hear her.

“Is it so troubling that your girlfriend asks you to just trust her judgment?!” Rarity yelled, shovin’ the pizzas she was holdin’ into Fluttershy’s hands, but Pinkie came over and took ‘em from her, the two girls standin’ off to the side so Rarity and myself could have an uninterrupted shoutin’ match. “Is it sooooo hard to just believe that maybe I have things going on that I can’t talk about, that don’t concern you?! Do you really need to be a part of every thought I have and choice I make!?”

“Well when it’s a choice that has me uprootin’ my whole life in Canterlot to move back to Fillydelphia with less than two weeks’ notice, then yeah maybe you should tell me what’s goin’ on!” I yelled back, half a mind to put a hole in Fluttershy’s wall but that would be extremely rude and just not good anger management in general, so I didn’t bother.

“You didn’t have to come back with me… if you didn’t want to.” Rarity said coldly.

“And what, leave you alone do deal with…” I sighed sharply, grabbin’ my forehead. “Whatever it is yer dealin’ with that’s so dang worrisome for ya? What kinda girlfriend, heck, what kinda friend would I be if I just let ya walk outta my life with barely a word?”

“Applejack, I…” Rarity stuttered, holdin’ her arms. “I wish that I could… I wish you could believe that I… I don’t know what to say. I just… I can’t talk about this… I’m sorry, I wish that I could… I’m sorry.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust ya, sugar cube.” I walked over to Rarity and wrapped her up in my big ol’ arms. “Of course I do. It’s just a little frustratin’ is all, to be so close to somebody and not bein’ able to do a darn thing to help ‘em. And if yer thinkin’ that I’m ventin’ that frustration at you, then I’m sorry too. Cuz I may be a little peeved, but not at you. You’re my darlin’ and I’ll always stand by ya, and if I make ya feel unsafe or unhappy, then that’s on me and I apologize, and I’ll do my darnedest to make it right by ya.”

“Oh, Applejack.” Rarity said, returnin’ my hug and snuzzlin’ herself into my chest. “You’re my darling too. And I promise I’ll tell you everything at the right time. I couldn’t ask for a better protector to be at my side than you.”

“Heh, I try.” I said, kissing Rarity on the forehead.

“I love you, Applejack.” Rarity said, kissing me on the lips.

“I uh, I do too.” I said, blushing and with a nervous smile.

“Close enough.” Rarity chuckled.

“And I love pizza!” Pinkie cheered. She got us both in a group hug and said “And I love you guys too, of course! Get in here, Fluttershy!”

“Sorry we had that ugly spat in your home, darling.” Rarity said as Fluttershy walked up to the group hug situation.

“Don’t worry about it.” Fluttershy said, getting sucked into the hug by Pinkie. “I’m just glad…” Pinkie was startin’ to squish Fluttershy and Rarity which meant it was time for me to drag Pinkie away from the others. “I’m just glad everything’s alright between you two.”

“Yes, I hope it is.” Rarity said, lookin’ at me.

“No problems here.” I shrugged. “Now let’s have some pizza.”

“Let’s.” Rarity said with a smile, the four of us sittin’ on the floor and chowin’ down on some microwaved pizzas.

To be honest, while I stood by everything that I told Rarity, it was hard for me to let go of my annoyance, even anger, at the situation. It bothered me that Rarity couldn’t just be honest with me about whatever it was that was goin’ on, it bothered me that she had secrets I couldn’t know about. And honestly, it even bothered me that it bothered me.

Ech, what a mess. Oh well. I loved Rarity and would do anythin’ to see her smile, so if I had to choke down some anger and bitterness for right now to make her happy then I had no choice but to do it.

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

The airplane graveyard; a grassy, gravelly field holding the desiccated remains of several old airplanes. It was raining lightly and the sun had just set as I came here, seeing Rainbow staring at one of the old planes.

This place held special significance for Rainbow and I. When we were kids we used to get into all kinds of trouble and then we would run off here and hide. Rainbow would look at all the old planes and dream of being a pilot, and I’d joke around about being a stewardess but then she’d tell me she didn’t want to be that kind of pilot and I’d still say that having a stewardess onboard your plane was a good idea, just in case you needed snacks or something.

We were kids. Those were good times.

“Rainbow Dash.” I said solemnly, standing across a gravelly stretch of field from Rainbow.

“Twilight.” Rainbow sighed, looking up at the dilapidated remains of what was once a fancy passenger jet. “You remember when we used to come here all the time as kids?”

“Of course.” I said. I had just been reminiscing about it! “I still think you could use a stewardess!” Rainbow laughed and it made me happy that she still remembered our jokes. “What happened Rainbow? We used to be really close.”

“I dunno.” Rainbow turned around to face me and shrugged. “Maybe we’re just too different.”

“Pinkie Pie’s not any less different from me than you are.” I argued.

“Maybe it…” Rainbow kicked some of the gravel, sending it flying in a bunch of directions. “Maybe it just wasn’t meant to work out, Twilight.”

That answer didn’t sit right with me, it made me grimace and shuffle around a little bit.

“I don’t think so…” I shook my head and stopped myself before I went on another tirade. “You know, I’ve learned a lot in this past weekend since you came back into my life. I’ve done a lot of soul searching. I know that I can’t force you to make up with me, or to break up with your girlfriend.”

“Twilight…” Rainbow said uneasily.

“But! I’m not finished yet!” I held up a finger to remind Rainbow to hold on while I finished my speech. “But I do know I can offer you two things. The first is an apology. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash.” I bowed my head low, bending at the waist. “I’m sorry that I took you for granted, that I didn’t listen to you or consider your feelings. I’m sorry I devalued your relationship with your…” I cleared my throat and tried to choke out the word “girlfriend. I’m sorry for all the dumb fights that we didn’t need to get in, I’m sorry for making you feel stupid… and I’m sorry… I’m sorry that we’re in this mess at all right now, instead of laughing and having a good time like when we were kids.”

“Wow, Twilight…” Rainbow said. As I returned to a standing position I saw that she looked honestly stunned, she definitely didn’t see that coming. But to be fair, neither did I. “That’s… I’m not really sure what to say.”

“That’s fine.” I laughed anxiously. “You don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to, but I wanted you to know how I feel. How I really feel. I miss you, Rainbow Dash.” A moment passed where Rainbow and I said nothing, just stood silently as the rain came pouring down upon us. “The second thing I have for you is this.” I pulled out a deck from a second deck box hanging from my belt next to my own deck, all of our cards were in little flexible plastic card sleeves, so the rain wasn’t a factor for them.

“A Duel Monsters deck?” Rainbow scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. “What am I supposed to do with-”

“It’s not just any old deck.” I said with a cautious smile. “It’s a replica of the deck you had when we were younger, the one you loved so much. I recreated it as best I could, and I want to give it to you.”

“Twilight…” Rainbow said with a cold smile. “Thanks, but no thanks.” My heart dropped and I almost dropped the deck in the a muddy puddle on the ground as she said those words, but then… “Why would I need a replica, when I’ve got the real thing right here?” Rainbow got out her pale blue Duel Disk with her deck already inside.

“You still have your old deck?!” I said in with surprise and joy, my eyes lighting up.

“Of course!” Rainbow scoffed. “What, you think just because Whiplash says I can’t duel anymore that I’m gonna just stop? Screw that! I’ve still been playing in a local underground circuit.”

“Using your old deck!” I said happily.

“Not exactly.” Rainbow chuckled. “You see, I did start using the Crystal Beast deck for the reason that I said, that I thought Whiplash would like it, but I didn’t win with it. I lost a lot of matches, and a lot of money. Losing to you though was the last straw… and I dug up this old thing.”

“Have you been using it since?” I asked curiously, putting the replica deck back into the box at my side.

“Yep.” Rainbow flashed a cocky grin at me. “Undefeated, just like always.”

“We’ll see about that.” I readied my own Duel Disk.

“Why do you think I called you out here?” Rainbow smiled, getting ready to duel.

“Then…” I took in a deep breath, grinning like an idiot the whole time.

“Let’s duel!” We both said in unison.

DUEL!

Twilight Sparkle vs. Rainbow Dash!

“Tell you what,” I said “if I win this duel, you accept my apology and we become friends again!”

“Twilight, I can’t just…” Rainbow started to talk but I interrupted her.

“Rainbow, you’ve been gambling all your money away in underground dueling tournaments.” I argued. “You’re already going against her wishes! I promise, I won’t push you or try to convince you to stop seeing her, but we become friends again if I win.”

“And what about if I win?” Rainbow asked with a smile.

“Then I’ll leave you alone and we can pretend like this whole week never happened.” I said coldly.

“Fine then.’ Rainbow said, similarly cold. “Let’s do this then! I’ll go first!” Rainbow looked at her options and grinned. “I’ll summon Mecha Phantom Beast Tetherwolf!”

Tetherwolf was a black and white helicopter with a wolf’s face and two miniature laser cannons attached to its sides by lengthy steel cords that gave it an ATK power of 1700. My heart skipped a beat seeing it again. It really was one of Rainbow’s old Monsters, she really was still using her old deck! It brought back a flood of memories and it made me happy beyond words.

“When Tetherwolf is Normal Summoned,” Rainbow explained “he brings along with him a Mecha Phantom Beast Token!” The token took the appearance of a colorful phantasm of Tetherwolf, but it had 0 ATK or DEF. “Now I’ll set one card face-down and it’s your turn, Twilight!”

“I’ll summon my Temperance of Prophecy!” My stalwart aide, a slender brown-robed magician with a shadowy hooded face, took center stage. “And I’ll activate Spellbook of Secrets! This allows me to add-”

“I know what it does, Twi.” Rainbow laughed. “You used to use it in every duel.”

“I’m pretty sure I still do.” I chuckled bashfully.

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” Rainbow rolled her eyes teasingly.

“Point is,” I said, regaining my composure “I can add Spellbook of Rudra to my hand and sacrifice my Temperance to summon… Prophecy Destroyer!”

The twin chalices held by Temperance emitted a dark haze that enveloped the mysterious magician, and out of that mist came a flickering orange light that burst into a bright blaze, revealing a fiery-faced devil with huge leathery wings and big black horns, holding a sword emblazoned with shining orange runes.

“Prophecy Destroyer!” I declared. “Attack Rainbow’s Tetherwolf!”

As my devil charged forward, ready to cut Rainbow’s dog-copter into scrap metal, it was stopped by the appearance of a second phantom visage.

“I activate my face-down!” Rainbow said proudly. “Aerial Recharge! This card allows me to summon a new Phantom Token every turn as long as it stays on the field, and now I’ll use Tetherwolf’s ability to sacrifice one of my tokens to increase his ATK to 2500!”

“I… I call off my attack.” I said irritably. Since Rainbow summoned a monster during my attack, in this case the Phantom Token, it caused a replay and allowed me to call off what would have been a disastrous attack for my monster.

Since Destroyer and Tetherwolf now had the same ATK power, it should have been a draw and both Monsters would be destroyed if they did battle, but Rainbow’s Mecha Phantom Beast Monsters had the ability to become immune to destruction while she controlled even one of those Phantom Tokens, and even after sacrificing one she still had one left so only my Destroyer would’ve been killed.

“I’ll lay my own face-down card.” I said. “And now I’ll end my turn.”

“Well just so you know,” Rainbow said flippantly, a smug smirk on her face “to keep my Aerial Recharge on the field, I have to sacrifice a Mecha Phantom monster once per turn, including your turns, but I can just sacrifice the token it summoned since I don’t need it anymore!” Rainbow laughed, clearly proud of herself.

“Good for you Rainbow, you learned how to kahm-boh.” I said mockingly.

“Heh heh heh.” Rainbow stuck out her tongue. “Now it’s my turn, and I’ll summon… Mecha Phantom Beast Megaraptor!”

A steel blue jet plane with the distinct image of a velociraptor roared past me to take to the stage alongside Rainbow’s Tetherwolf.

“Then I’ll use Aerial Recharge to summon another token!” Rainbow said, another phantasm of Tetherwolf appearing on her field, but to my chagrin a second phantasm, this one of Megaraptor, also appeared! “And hey, here’s something cool.” Rainbow said with an obnoxious smirk. “When a token is summoned on my field, Megaraptor summons a Phantom Token of his own!”

“Cool. Now you’ve got a little menagerie of useless monsters.” I taunted.

“Ha! Not hardly.” Rainbow laughed. “Megaraptor’s ability lets me sacrifice one of the tokens…” Megaraptor’s phantasm was absorbed into the engines of the jet monster, the creature’s eyes glowing and its mouth fuming with energy. “This allows me to grab a Mecha Phantom from my deck and add it to my hand, and I’ll choose… O-Lion!”

“Okay?” I arched an eyebrow. “I remain unconvinced.”

“Well then how about this?” Rainbow smirked. “I activate Foolish Burial! This card allows me to send a monster from my deck to the graveyard, and I’ll choose a second O-Lion! But get this! Once O-Lion goes to the graveyard, it summons another Phantom Token!” Yet another phantasm of Megaraptor appeared, giving Rainbow two Mecha Phantom monsters and two Phantom Tokens.

“Wow, you’re really obsessed with summoning these tokens, huh Rainbow?” I laughed. “Are you going to give me a heads up for when they start actually contributing something?” While it was fun to taunt Rainbow, I was well aware of how vital the tokens were to her deck’s strategy. Heck, she already used them pretty effectively so far and I’m sure that O-Lion she added to her hand was going to come in handy sooner rather than later. Hopefully I would have some good countermeasures before it did.

“How about this for contributing?” Rainbow said confidently. “Tetherwolf is going to attack your Prophecy Destroyer, and by sacrificing one of my tokens I can raise my monster’s ATK to 2500, making him equal with yours!”

Tetherwolf’s cannons stood at attention, blasting my devil with rainbow-colored laser blasts. My Destroyer took the hit and started decaying rapidly from the attack but countered with a vicious sword swing that was stopped dead by Tetherwolf’s impervious frame, leaving my devil to slowly fall apart into a smoking heap.

“But because you have another token,” I grumbled “your Tetherwolf is unharmed.”

“You got it!” Rainbow said with a smile. “Now I’ll have my Megaraptor attack you directly!”

“And that’s where I get to use this card!” I said, happily revealing my face-down card. “Drowning Mirror Force! It sends all your attack mode monsters back into the deck!” A surging tidal wave blocked Megaraptor’s attack, rushing toward Tetherwolf and Megaraptor and washing them away, sending them back into an angrily glaring Rainbow Dash’s deck. Her token, which was in defense mode, was unaffected but it was her last one and… “Don’t forget, Rainbow, that your Aerial Recharge needs you to sacrifice a Mecha Phantom to stay on the field!” I said in a mocking sing-song voice.

“Yeah, I know.” Rainbow sighed irritably. She shook her head and the anger melted away as she returned to her confidently smiling self with a shrug. “Whatever! This is just gonna make my awesome comeback like 20% cooler!”

“You did not just say that.” I said dismally, Rainbow laughing.

“I’ll set two cards,” Rainbow said, throwing the cards down dramatically “and end my turn!”

Rainbow’s last Phantom Token disappeared as her turn ended, leaving her field open for me to attack! I needed to make sure I took full advantage of this opportunity.

“I summon Aleister the Invoker!” I said with a smile. Aleister was a nerd, you could tell because he had glasses, with a green pointed hood on his white and green robes. “I’m sorry about that comeback, Rainbow! It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen!” Rainbow just shrugged. Of course she’d try to play it cool. “I activate Invocation!” I beamed at Rainbow as I activated my card and reveled in the little eye twitch I saw her make. She always hated it when I did this. “By banishing my Invoker… and your O-Lion in the graveyard…”

“Aaagh!” Rainbow grabbed her face in anger. “I hate that card! So much!”

“…I can summon Invoked Raidjin!” I said proudly, my armored electrical warrior hitting the field!

“Well whatever I activate Bottomless Trap Hole.” Rainbow said flippantly with a shrug.

I just stood there in silence, my mighty warrior falling right into a hole in the ground, a Goofy-esque scream resounding in my head.

“O… kay.” I said flatly, not really sure how to mentally grapple with what just happened. A bit anticlimactic to be entirely honest. “Moving on…” I totally had a plan! Yup! No monsters in my hand, but a plan! Then I realized a great move I could make and it made me smile. “I activate Spellbook of Rudra! I can sacrifice a Spellbook card in my hand to draw two cards, and I’ll sacrifice Spellbook of Eternity!”

I drew my two cards and one of them was my High Priestess! But since I just lost two Spellbooks from my hand, I didn’t have the three in my hand I needed to summon her with her own Effect, which irritated me. Still, I drew the Spellbook of Wisdom and already held the Spellbook of Life, so I just needed one more… provided I didn’t need Wisdom’s protective Effect this turn.

“I banish three Spellbook cards from my graveyard!” I said. “Secrets, Rudra and Eternity… in order to revive my Prophecy Destroyer!”

A sphere of wicked dark flame hovered in the air as the chilling cackle of my devil echoed across the field. The black flame became orange and out of it returned my Balrog, Prophecy Destroyer!

“Wow! Nice move, Twilight!” Rainbow said. “So to defend myself, I’ll activate my Aerial Recharge and summon a new Phantom Token.” Another phantasmal Megaraptor appeared to defend Rainbow’s Life, but I was feeling pretty confident that my monster could take out a creature with 0 DEF.

“That token won’t provide much defense against my Destroyer!” I said, reaching my hand out in a declarative manner. “Destroyer, take out Rainbow’s token!”

My devil charged at Rainbow’s phantasm and swung its mighty blade, hitting the Phantom and… the blade was resounded with a clang, shivers going through my devil’s body as its attack had no effect.

“Draw Muscle!” Rainbow said, cheerfully revealing her face-down card. “This allows me to make one of my defense mode monsters with less than 1000 DEF invincible for this turn, plus I get to draw a card! Go me!”

“Nicely… done.” I grumbled, smiling through gritted teeth. “I’ll end my turn here then.”

As annoyed as I was by Rainbow’s constant attempts to dodge my attacks, I couldn’t deny that I was having so much fun! It was a blast to be able to play against Rainbow again, for real this time, after so many years! And this was a great duel, with neither of us willing to give an inch and still having a ton of steam left! I must have been smiling like an idiot the entire time.

“My move!” Rainbow looked at her cards and grinned savagely. This was going to be a major turning point, I could already feel it. “I summon Mathematician!”

Mathematician was a card unlike any other in Rainbow’s deck, a bespectacled old man in a graduation robe with the matching hat, and a beard that stretched down to the ground, tied at the bottom with a little red ribbon.

“Really? But you hate math!” I said.

“I sure do! But not this guy, he’s rad!” Rainbow said. “His effect allows me to send a monster from my deck to the graveyard, so I think I’ll get a replay on the last card I sent… O-Lion!”

“And O-Lion’s Effect…” I said with some dread.

“Lets me summon a Phantom Token!” Rainbow cheered. “And Aerial Recharge lets me summon another, but not only that! By banishing O-Lion from my graveyard, I can summon another Mecha Phantom from my hand! And I choose… O-Lion MKIII!”

O-Lion was a small silver satellite with, you guessed it, the face of a lion. I couldn’t decide if its lion face was spooky or adorable.

“Another O-Lion?” I said, flabbergasted. “What is that, like your favorite card or something?”

“No…” Rainbow couldn’t contain her excitement as she readied her next move. “But this is! I Tune my Level 2 Tuner O-Lion with my Level 3 Mathematician and Level 3 Phantom Token! Synchro Summon… Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!”

Despite the rainfall pelting the earth, I could feel the air getting warmer as Rainbow summoned her ace monster, yet I still got a shiver in my spine. A huge bipedal black and red dragon with giant leathery wings, fearsome claws and three imposing demon horns sprouting from its head, its 3000 ATK power wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

“That’s… not good.” I said nervously.

“That’s right, Twilight!” Rainbow laughed maniacally. “Hot Red Dragon! Activate your Effect!”

The red markings all along the body of Rainbow’s dragon glowed with a bright red light and that energy began surging from its wings with a strong, resonating sound. A wave of red fiery energy blew forth from the monster’s aura, annihilating my Prophecy Destroyer.

“My Red Dragon’s ability lets me destroy all other monsters in attack mode on the field!” Rainbow explained. “Now Red Dragon, attack Twilight directly!”

The Red Dragon inhaled deeply and shot forth a blazing stream of red flame that enveloped me, its roaring noise swallowing my scream. The monster’s direct attack to my Life Points left me with a meager 1000. Another hit like that and this duel was over.

“I’ll lay one card face-down, then it’s your move, Twi.” Rainbow said, her last Phantom Token dissipating to pay Aerial Recharge’s maintenance cost. “Good luck trying to defeat my most awesome monster!”

“Thanks, Rainbow.” I stared down Rainbow’s Red Dragon bravely and dramatically drew my card. “But I don’t need luck to beat you!”

That said, this might be pretty tricky. If that face-down was another Bottomless Trap Hole, I was pretty sunk. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained!

“I reveal the Spellbook cards Life, Wisdom and Power in my hand!” I said. “In order to summon High Priestess of Prophecy! My favorite card!”

I felt relief wash over me as my wild-pink-maned, white-robed magician descended from the sky in a radiant surge of light. She politely tipped her wizard hat to Rainbow’s dragon as she readied her magic to take back this duel for me.

“Then I’ll summon Spellbook Magician of Prophecy,” I said “allowing me to add Spellbook of Rudra to my hand. I can then use that card to tribute my Magician and draw two new cards!” My lazy blue-robed magician appeared on the field holding a bright pink spell book that reached out to him with glowing tendrils, absorbing him into the book and slamming shut, only to evaporate seconds later.

“Great, while you’re doing all that,” Rainbow said “I’ll summon a new Phantom buddy with my Aerial Recharge.”

“I banish Spellbook of Rudra from my graveyard,” I said “to activate High Priestess’ Effect and destroy your face-down card!” While it may have been tempting to destroy Rainbow’s Dragon with the Effect, I couldn’t risk letting that face-down card stop my advance.

“It’s Draw Muscle, and I’ll activate it.” Rainbow shrugged. “You know the drill.” Rainbow drew her card and now her token was invulnerable. Annoying, but no big deal, I wasn’t after her token this turn.

“I activate Spellbook of Power!” I said, my High Priestess being bathed in a pure red glow. “Now that she’s buffed by 1000 ATK, she’s stronger than your Dragon! So my High Priestess, take out Rainbow’s Red Dragon!”

High Priestess raised her hands into the air as green flaming magical energy began surging in them. She shot out a fireball at Hot Red Dragon Archfiend and the beast gnashed its intimidating fangs and crushed the fireball, but the green flame erupted and burned the beast to cinders from the inside, reducing Rainbow’s Life to 3500.

“I’ll set two cards and end my turn.” I said, breathing a sigh of relief now that Rainbow’s Dragon was gone. Rainbow’s Phantom disappeared to keep Recharge on the field and Rainbow began her turn.

“Ha! What an awesome draw!” Rainbow said exuberantly. “I activate Return of the Dragon Lords! This Spell allows me to straight-up summon Red Dragon Archfiend back from the graveyard! How do you like that, Twilight!?”

“Compulsory Evacuation Device.” I said with a coy smirk. Rainbow just looked at me dumbstruck, still holding her revival card loftily in the air. As soon as Rainbow’s Dragon returned to the field in a blaze of glory, it was immediately snatched up into my Trap card’s cannon and blasted off into space, returning to the Extra Deck.

“Alright! Fine then!” Rainbow sneered, gritting her teeth and forcing a smile. “I bet you I summon him right back this turn!”

“Go for it!” I was excited to see if Rainbow could really pull that off.

Rainbow looked at her hand, closing her eyes for a moment to concentrate, and then her eyes shot open and she smiled ear to ear.

“Yeah, I can do it.” She whispered. “I summon Megaraptor! You remember him, right? Well when I use Aerial Recharge to summon a new token, his ability gives me a second token for free!”

“Not bad.” I said as the steel blue dino-jet took back the field and was surrounded by two ghostly visages of itself. “And now what?”

“By sacrificing a token,” Rainbow said, her Megaraptor absorbing one of the phantasms into its maw to power its ability “I can add Mecha Phantom Beast Warbluran to my hand! And you remember the third O-Lion in my graveyard, right? Well by banishing him like I did the second one, I can summon Warbluran right now!”

A small green spacecraft shaped like a tiny birb appeared on Rainbow’s field.

“Ha! So now you can Tune the Level 1 Warbluran with the Level 4 Megaraptor and Level 3 token!” I said excitedly. Despite how bad it was for my game, I couldn’t contain my excitement at Rainbow being able to re-summon her favorite creature. “That’s genius!”

“Not quite, Twilight.” Rainbow said with a smile, wagging her finger. “All my non-Tuner Mecha Phantoms have their Levels increased by the combined Levels of all my Phantom Tokens, so Megaraptor’s a Level 7!”

I couldn’t help but smile. This might’ve been pretty bad for me but I couldn’t help but delight in Rainbow’s joy… it was so good to see her in her element again after all these years.

“I Tune my Level 1 Warbluran and my Level 7 Megaraptor!” Rainbow declared. “Synchro Summon! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!”

…too bad I had to ruin it.

“I activate Dark Renewal!” I said. Rainbow barely even reacted, just looking at me stone-faced like she practically expected this to happen. The ornate coffin of my Trap card absorbed both High Priestess and Hot Red Dragon Archfiend into its grip, sealing them both inside and releasing Prophecy Destroyer from my graveyard in their place.

“Welp!” Rainbow gave a melodramatic shrug. “I guess I’ll just lay one face-down and end my turn! You know the drill with Aerial Recharge!”

“I sure do.” I said, trying to hide my amusement at Rainbow’s circumstances. “Now I activate the Spellbook of Life! By banishing the Magician of Prophecy from my graveyard and revealing the Spellbook of Wisdom in my hand, I can revive my High Priestess of Prophecy!”

“Wow, you had this all planned out, didn’t you?” Rainbow scoffed.

“All according to keikaku, Rainbow…” I said. “Keikaku means plan.”

“Of course it does.” Rainbow rolled her eyes but I could see that she was stifling a laugh.

“I banish Spellbook of Power from my graveyard,” I said “so that my High Priestess can destroy your face-down card!”

“Joke’s on you, Twilight!” Rainbow declared. “I activate it! Call of the Haunted! This card allows me to revive Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!”

“But Call of the Haunted is a Continuous card.” I said, confused. “It only allows the monster to be revived as long as it stays on the field, and when it leaves the revived monster will be destroyed. High Priestess’ Effect still goes off and destroys the card, so while yes you can revive your Red Dragon, it’ll be destroyed immediately after!”

“That’s what you think!” Rainbow said. “But by banishing the Return of the Dragon Lords from my graveyard, I can protect one of my dragons on the field from being destroyed!”

A smoking haze sprung from the ground, Red Dragon Archfiend crashing its fist through the earth and dragging itself back to the world of the living. My High Priestess shot a pink lance of magic energy at the dragon but Rainbow’s creature just snatched the weapon out of the air and snapped it in two.

“Wow…” I said. “Well played, Rainbow.”

“Of course.” Rainbow said smugly. “I am the best duelist after all.”

“We’ll see about that…” I said. “I summon Aleister the Invoker! His ability allows me to add Invocation to my hand, and I’ll activate it, banishing Aleister and the Temperance of Prophecy in my graveyard to summon… Invoked Magellanica!”

A red circle appeared on the ground underneath Aleister and my slender hooded magician rose from it and welcomed the embrace of Aleister, who took her in his arms as red bolts of magical lightning shot down from the sky, striking the pair and turning them to stone. Their stone bodies fused together and began leaking lava, then growing to enormous proportions.

A colossal towering golem of stone and magma rose from the depths onto the field, an entire continent saddled to its back as it hovered over all of our other monsters.

“It’s pretty beefy,” Rainbow said, hands on her hips and sizing up my giant creature “but it’s got no effect and it’s just as strong as my Dragon.”

“Not after I activate Invocation’s second ability!” I said. “I can return it from the graveyard to the deck in order to return a banished Aleister from my hand! And Aleister also has a second ability! By discarding him from my hand, I can increase the ATK of one of my Fusion Monsters by 1000! Now Magellanica! Attack and destroy Rainbow’s Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!”

Magellanica grabbed Red Dragon Archfiend out of thin air like it was nothing, crushing the beast without even trying and reducing Rainbow’s Life to 2500.

“I activate Aerial Recharge!” Rainbow said. “I can summon a Phantom Token to protect my Life!”

“It won’t be enough!” I declared. “Prophecy Destroyer attacks your token!” This time, when my Destroyer swung his blade through the phantasm, the token’s ethereal form vanished, destroyed by my mighty devil, and it was about time Destroyer caught a break during this duel. “Now High Priestess, it’s your turn! Let’s end this duel! Attack directly!”

High Priestess raised her hand into the air as magical swirling flames of every color descended onto her palm, uniting together to create a stream of rainbow flame that bore over Rainbow Dash and reduced her Life to 0.

Rainbow was lying on her back on the grass after the duel, looking up into the cloudy night sky even as it rained on her face. I walked over to her and offered her my hand.

“That was a great duel, Rainbow Dash.” I said with a bright smile.

“Yeah.” Rainbow agreed distantly, taking my hand and jumping back to her feet. “I’m glad we could have this experience… but…”

“What? What’s the matter?” I asked concernedly.

“Twilight, I don’t want to see you anymore.” Rainbow said coldly, turning away from me and beginning to walk off.

“What?! Even after all that?” I asked frantically, grabbing Rainbow’s shoulder and forcing her to turn around. “Even after all the fun we just had? After my apologies? It’s still not enough?!”

“Twilight… seeing you again…” Rainbow sighed agitatedly and paced back and forth, kicking mud, dirt and gravel around with each step. “It’s just been too hard to keep myself focused. I had a plan, a plan to work hard and eventually help Whiplash and me get out of debt… but seeing you again has thrown a monkey wrench into everything.”

“How has…” I tried to speak but Rainbow interrupted.

“Whiplash hasn’t been herself since we started talking again.” Rainbow ran a hand through her hair and then started mussing it up like crazy. “She’s been mad, distant, even hysterical sometimes! I’m all she’s got, she’s depending on me to help us get out of this situation… that I put us in.”

“What about all those times she’s away?” I said in disgust, frankly tired of all Rainbow’s pussyfooting around and making excuses for that woman. “Pinkie Pie told me that… that Whiplash just leaves for a while and doesn’t say where she’s going. Isn’t that weird?” There I was going back into ‘condescending Twilight’ mode. And I was making such good progress too.

“That…” Rainbow stuttered, an angry grimace on her face. “That isn’t… that doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t it?” I scoffed and walked toward her. “You don’t think she’s probably seeing someone else of the si-”

“That’s enough, Twilight!” Rainbow snapped, lurching forward and scaring me enough to jump back. “I can’t just turn my back on Whiplash! What would you have me do? Just abandon her and my commitments?!”

“Yes!” I slapped my palm with the back of my other hand. “Yes, I would.” Rainbow just glared at me intensely, like she was going to melt me with heat vision or something. “You don’t owe her anything, Rainbow. She doesn’t give you anything, all she does is berate you and guilt you. You don’t think I remember the tournament that you entered? The last time we spoke as friends? You don’t think I remember how we argued then about Whiplash taking a huge loan to pay for stuff, for herself, justifying it by saying you would win the tournament?! Remember that, Rainbow!? How is that in any way your fault?!”

Rainbow stood silent for a few moments that felt like hours, the sound of rain hitting the rusty old airplanes the only sound for miles in the pitch-dark graveyard.

“Goodbye, Twilight.” Rainbow finally said, turning her back on me and walking away into the darkness.

I stood there, soaking wet, for a few moments before breaking down into tears.
> 10. A Strong Breeze
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-FLUTTERSHY-

I was taking a morning shower and thinking about my friends and Duel Monsters… thinking about how that card game is what first brought us together. Rainbow used to brag about how cool her cards were back when we were all kids living in the same neighborhood, we’d all see her around talking about how good she was and how much fun the game was and eventually we all asked her if we could play with her and she taught us, all five of us, how to play Duel Monsters.

I also remembered how I used to win almost every single game.

The six of us used to attend local tournaments in Fillydelphia and even some in Canterlot. They were tournaments usually for older kids than us but we would all join, and usually I was the only one to get past the first one or two rounds. Eventually I asked Applejack why the others always insisted on joining in even though they kept losing and she said it was because they all knew how much fun I had at these tournaments, fighting against other players closer to my skill level, and they all knew I’d never enter a tournament by myself. It was really nice of them.

But it got to be a bit too much. Soon ‘let’s all give Fluttershy a chance to play against other people’ became ‘let’s all watch Fluttershy play against other people’ which became ‘let’s watch Fluttershy beat the older kids’ which became ‘let’s watch Fluttershy win this tournament’ which became ‘Fluttershy better win this’ and on and on… so much pressure to succeed.

Even worse though were the other players. Most of the older kids who I played against were boys and they didn’t like losing. They would say really mean things to me or accuse me of cheating somehow, and they acted even worse when they won, saying that I had no business playing because I was a kid or because I was a girl. Eventually I started to believe them, and eventually I just stopped playing.

My brother’s attitude about it didn’t help. He always agreed with the older kids. He never understood why I loved the game so much and always thought it was weird that I put so much time and thought into it, especially since I was a girl. He thought that ‘nerd things’ were for boys. He even said as much to me once, and I haven’t really forgotten that.

But now, seeing Twilight and Pinkie and Rainbow all playing again, really watching them go at it and having so much fun, it started reminding me of how much I enjoyed playing, how much I enjoyed being good at something. Winning a game of Duel Monsters, especially against the older kids, always made me feel so confident and cool, and even losing a tough match was exhilarating and fun. I love Duel Monsters and go figure that it took the same girl who taught me how to play in the first place to remind me of that.

All this reminiscing was tough but also important and it was made much easier by the hot water of the shower running down my body, which made it very upsetting when my hot shower suddenly and without warning became a freezing shower.

“ZEPHYR!!!” I screamed as my body was suddenly assaulted with freezing water and as I scrambled to get out of it I tripped on the lip of the tub and fell down onto the bathroom rug.

I wrapped a towel around me and marched downstairs to the other bathroom, tripping and falling at least one more time on some piece of junk that Zephyr left lying around in the hallway. I got to the bathroom door and was just about ready to pound my fist on it when I realized that would be loud and rude so I just tapped slightly with my fingernail instead.

Zephyr didn’t answer, and I could hear him singing in the shower and the water running so I knew without a doubt that he was using it. I tapped on the door again but no answer.

“Zephyr Breeze!” I tried to sound stern but not mean.

“Whaaaaaat?” Zephyr whined as he turned off the shower water to be able to hear me.

“It’s Monday, Zephyr!” I said through the door, stamping my foot down. “You know that means it’s my morning shower day!”

“Yeah but I worked up a sweat yesterday!” Zephyr moaned. “I cracked open a cold one with the boys and everything got all crazy! I really worked out!”

“Playing Wii Bowling doesn’t count as a workout, Zephyr.” I sighed, placing a finger on my forehead and shaking my head. “Besides, this isn’t fair! You always do this! We agreed that Sunday is your early shower day because you want to be all fresh and clean to hang out with your friends, and Monday is my early shower day so that I can start the new week in a good headspace!”

“Yeah but just this once I gotta-”

“This is the third time this month!” I yelled, losing my temper a bit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, but I-” I was interrupted by the sound of somebody knocking at the door, which was exactly what I needed to hear right now to really make me mad.

“Will you get that, Flutters?” Zephyr said cheerfully. “I’m indecent.”

“URGH!” I grumbled, stomping away from the bathroom. I heard another knock at the door as I rummaged through the dresser in the hall closet looking for clothes to quickly put on. “JUST A SECOND!!” I screamed as I accidentally dropped my towel and also found that Zephyr had been putting his old dirty clothes in with the clean hamper clothes. …I was starting to lose it a bit.

I managed to find a clean too-big-teeshirt and sweatpants that I could put on and hobbled my way to the door. Thankfully the living room was still nice and tidy from Rarity’s helpful cleaning yesterday, otherwise I probably would have tripped at least six more times.

“How can I help you?” I said in a daze as I opened the door, not even looking up to see who it was who was knocking.

“Uh, if it’s not a good time I can come back.” Applejack chuckled apprehensively. It was just her, no Rarity or the others in sight.

“Oh, no. You’re fine.” I sighed in relief, seeing a friendly face. “I’m in the middle of an argument with my brother.”

“Who is it, Flutters?” Zephyr yelled from the hallway.

“I thought you were taking a shower!” I yelled back.

“All your negative energy ruined my mojo!” Zephyr replied and I could practically hear the melodramatic shrug. “I’ll have to take one later.”

I slapped my forehead and dragged my hand all the way down my face.

“Did you hear from Twilight?” I asked, turning my attention back to Applejack. “How did things go with Rainbow?”

“Not good, I heard.” Applejack said sadly. “She didn’t give me all the details, just said that she’d be in bed for a little bit but not to worry about her, that she just needed some time to think things through. Rarity decided to go over and check up on her anyhow, so hopefully she’ll be able to cheer Twilight up some.”

“I hope so.” I sighed gloomily, putting my hands in my pockets and kicking some dust. “I hate that Twilight and Rainbow are fighting. I hate that Rainbow left in the first place.”

“Same here.” Applejack said sadly, but she shook off that energy pretty quick with her amazing smile. “But hopefully the two’ll be able to works things out. I still got faith in ‘em.” I nodded along, feeling encouraged by Applejack’s optimism. “But hey, that’s not what I came to talk to ya about. You wanna go apartment huntin’ with me? I’ve never done it before and I don’t really wanna go by myself. That said, Pinkie’s already signed on to help out so you don’t have to if you don’t want to, not that you had to anyway of course. Point is, you wanna come?”

“Sure that sounds like…” I lit up a little at the idea of home shopping with Applejack and Pinkie Pie but then I thought about all my responsibilities at home and I got sad. “Oh, but I can’t. I have to take care of my brother. Cook breakfast, do laundry, record his shows… that sort of thing.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Applejack asked.

Before I could answer Zephyr came into the living room, only wearing a towel around his waist.

“Ohhh, Apple…” Zephyr tried to be smooth but then he forgot Applejack’s name. You could see the wheels in his head turning as he tried very hard to remember it and came up with “Applejohn. My favorite lady.”

“My name’s Applejack.” Applejack was clearly not amused by my brother’s antics.

“Right, Applejack.” Zephyr said, pointing finger guns at Applejack. “That’s what I said.”

“Zephyr I have to help Applejack with something.” I said flatly, a bemused frown on my face. “It’s urgent.”

“But, but my breakfast!” Zephyr bemoaned.

“There are still a couple pizzas in the freezer.” I took in a deep breath and tried to talk sternly but my anxiety was causing a storm in my stomach.

“But my stories!” Zephyr stamped his foot on the ground.

“Just skip your afternoon nap for once.” I crossed my arms and looked at Zephyr very seriously “It’s really not that big a deal.”

“What if I need something?” Zephyr pleaded.

“Have you considered doin’ it yerself?” Applejack laughed.

“What she said. Look, I have to go. Come on, Applejack.” I took Applejack by the arm and walked out the door with her, not even bothering to change into more comfortable clothes before leaving. “And yes Applejack, I would love to go home searching with you.” I said, smiling up at her. Applejack’s beaming smile and humored chuckle, both at me accompanying her and for blowing off my brother the way that I did, made my day.

****

“…and he never picks up his clothes, plus he’s always leaving stuff around for me to trip on!” I said breathlessly. I’d been ranting nonstop about my brother to Applejack, who was very graciously letting me vent some lingering frustration to her, for almost an hour. “I just… I love him, but… I worry that his behavior is just getting worse.”

“Of course it is.” Applejack said with a shrug, the two of us sitting on a bench on the sidewalk in front of the towering apartment building we were waiting to meet Pinkie at. “People don’t change cuz they want to, they change cuz they have to. If everybody in your brother’s life keeps tellin’ him that his behavior’s okay, why would he ever change his behavior?”

“Then… what do I do?” I said sadly, slumping next to Applejack on the bench and leaning my head against her shoulder.

“I say y’gotta let him walk on his own two feet.” Applejack said confidently, putting her arm around me. “Ya can’t keep holdin’ his hand forever, ya gotta let him go on his own.”

“But… what if something happens to him?” I gasped and lurched away from Applejack.

“What’s gonna happen?” Applejack scoffed, gently taking my hand. “He lives rent free in a fancy house in a nice neighborhood with his parents givin’ him free money every month. He couldn’t be more pampered.”

“I dunno…” I shook my head and felt tears coming on. It felt so drastic, I didn’t know how to handle such an idea, or how I even really felt about it. “It just seems so… harsh. Am I just supposed to leave him? So suddenly?”

“There’s somethin’ you gotta ask yourself, Fluttershy.” Applejack patted my thigh as she spoke. “Somethin’ that I don’t think you’ve asked yourself in a long time. What do you need?”

“What do I need?” I repeated distantly. Applejack was right, I hadn’t ever really considered it. When our parents moved back to Cloudsdale and Zephyr made a big stink about staying in Fillydelphia I volunteered to stay with him because I thought that he needed me. That was years ago now and I… I’ve never ever considered what I needed. “That’s… I don’t…”

“You don’t need to answer right now.” Applejack wrapped her arm around me and dragged me back to lean on here shoulder and I nestled into her chest. “Just somethin’ to keep in mind.”

“Okay. I’ll think about it.” I smiled up at Applejack, and she smiled back, and then I got really comfy with her, with my legs pulled up in front of me and feeling very cocooned within Applejack’s strong, defensive presence.

“Heeeey guyyys!!” We heard Pinkie yelling for us as she ran down the sidewalk waving. “Hey, did I miss anything yet? Are we starting the tours yet?” She said, panting as she hit the brakes and stopped in front of us.

“No, Pinkie.” Applejack chuckled. “We’ve been waitin’ on ya only a couple minutes. We’re about to head inside, if yer ready that is.”

“Oh I was born ready!” Pinkie punched her fists together and immediately regretted it thanks to the pain. “I love house hunting! I watch all those shows on the TV about it! Plus, anything beats staying cramped up in my empty old apartment I’m gonna lose in three days! That is lonely as heck!” AJ and I didn’t know what to say and just stared concernedly at Pinkie Pie. “Aaaaaanywho, let’s go inside and check out some apartments! WOO!”

Pinkie hopped and skipped into the apartment complex, Applejack and I walking behind her.

“Y’know, Fluttershy…” Applejack laughed. “If you want to, you can always move in with me.”

“W-what?” I said bashfully.

“I’m lookin’ at two bedrooms anyway, maybe even three.” Applejack said with a kind smile and a hand on my shoulder. “And if you need some time to get away from your brother, to help him stand up on his own or just to stand up on your own, you can stay with me.”

“I… I don’t know what to say…” I stammered. Living with Applejack was… well I dunno, it’s not something that ever even crossed my mind! I didn’t hate the idea though, in fact… I think I really liked it.

“Like I said before,” AJ said “just somethin’ to think about.” She said with a wink, making me smile.

****

-APPLEJACK-

I stood in the big ol’ livin’ room of an empty third story apartment, looking out the giant canopy window at the view of Fillydelphia at sunset. Me, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had been lookin’ at places all day but I was thinkin’ we finally found one. But as I looked out at the sunset dippin’ over the city I grew up in, my mind couldn’t help driftin’ to Rarity.

I started thinkin’ about a couple weeks ago when she told me we had to move back to Fillydelphia in a hurry. I asked her what was wrong and she refused to tell me, and that made me so mad. Things with us were already rocky. I love Rarity but I… I don’t know if I’m her type. I dunno if I’m the gal she needs, or if I can really take care of her. And what’s worse is that I dunno if I’m worried about that for her sake or for mine.

Rarity’s kind, generous, smart, creative… she’s burstin’ at the seams with talent and potential… and I’m just… me. Simple, plain ol’ Applejack. Rarity shines like a star, and I shine like a lightnin’ bug. I was scared of losin’ her, but on some level I saw it as bein’ inevitable, even deserved.

“Wow, this place is awesome!” Pinkie Pie said as she and Fluttershy came out of the master bedroom, snappin’ me back to reality. “It’s so big and fancy!” Pinkie stomped on the floorboards to hear the thud they made against her boots. “And it’s got hardwood! Which is almost as cool as tacky carpets!”

“The hardwood looks really nice.” Fluttershy said with a giggle.

“Yeah, and it’s just in my budget too.” I chuckled fretfully. I knew the others didn’t know what I was thinkin’ about or anythin’ but a part of me worried that they could totally read it on my face or somethin’, and if anybody knew about all my fears regardin’ Rarity I think I’d probably die of humiliation.

“It’s even three bedrooms like you wanted.” Fluttershy said. “It’s perfect.”

“Yeah, it is.” I said distantly, lookin’ back out the window a sec. “It really is.”

“Are you okay?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head to the side. “You seem a little… uh, ‘eghwbleh’. Y’know what I mean?”

“Pinkie’s right, Applejack.” Fluttershy said concernedly. “You don’t seem yourself. You seem tired, and a little distracted.”

“I am tired, Fluttershy.” I looked up to the ceiling and groaned, my hat coverin’ my embarrassed face. “It’s been a long two weeks, plus we’ve been lookin’ at houses all day and I’m kinda over it. But this place…” I looked around at the empty room. It was big and fancy and nice, and all I could think was how much I didn’t deserve to be here, that I hadn’t worked hard enough to earn it. It was too big for me, too clean, too fancy, too nice… it was too good for me. “This place is perfect, and I want it… I’m gonna go sign some papers.”

I didn’t know how to make myself feel like I deserved this place, but I did know that those feelin’s were crazier than Christmas trees in July, and I knew the importance of actin’ on yer best good, even if ya had a hard time believin’ in it.

“Hooray!” Pinkie Pie yelled, jumpin’ in the air.

“That’s great news!” Fluttershy added happily.

“But before I do…” As I was walkin’ out the door to go talk to the realtor, I suddenly had a naggin’ feelin’ in my gut that I oughta say somethin’ to the two of my friends. “I wanna ask you guys somethin’.” The two stood at attention, waitin’ for me to say somethin’. “This place is pretty big, and it’s three bedrooms. Rarity’s not movin’ in with me, so it’s gonna be a little lonely by myself… now y’all don’t have to say yes, but… do y’all wanna move in with me?”

Between Fluttershy’s stuff with her brother and Pinkie about to lose her place, the two both could use some new scenery. I picked out places with multiple bedrooms specifically because I wanted some place that one or both of the two could use if they needed to, even if not permanently. It was just good fortune that I fell in love with the place that was perfect for them.

I picked out my apartment based on how well it could be used to help Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. After givin’ Fluttershy the whole ‘ask yourself what you need’ spiel it seemed almost a mite hypocritical, but honestly helpin’ others did help me. It reminded me that I was worth somethin’, helped affirm my value in the universe… when I really thought about it I wondered how healthy that was, but I didn’t have the energy to dig into that whole thing right now.

“Wow, you really are serious…” Fluttershy said nervously. “Aren’t you, Applejack?”

“Of course I am.” I smiled bigly and tried to seem confident but on the inside I was a nervous wreck “Like I said, I don’t wanna make any decisions for y’all, if this makes y’all uncomfortable…”

“It’s not that…” Pinkie said, soundin’ uncharacteristically morose. “Ever since I knew that I was gonna lose my place, I keep thinking about what my dad would say, over and over again. He’d say ‘Pinkamena Diane Pie, you couldn’t keep a steady job, you couldn’t cultivate any skills or resources, you couldn’t even focus on a single task! What makes you think you even deserve to stay in a house if you can’t even work for a living???’… Now don’t get me wrong, he’d never actually say that, cuz he loves me and only wants the best for me… but I know he’d think it. I just keep thinking about my parents and my sisters back on the farm, and even my sister Maud who’s studying to be like the world’s best geologist… meanwhile I’m…”

“Pinkie, I grew up on a farm just like you did.” I walked over to Pink and grabbed her softly by the shoulders. “Here in Fillydelphia even, owned by my ma’ and pa’ and my dear ol’ Granny Smith, I know how much stock us farm folk put into hard work. And I know that sometimes when somebody offers ya somethin’, it can feel like a cheat if you just take what they’re offerin’ without givin’ back some kinda work in return… but trust me, those thoughts is poison. Sometimes to be your best, to really shine in this world, you just need a little bit of a helpin’ hand, and you just need to take it when it’s offered to ya, without worryin’ about whether or not you’ve ‘earned’ it.”

Pinkie looked at me with her big, soulful Pinkie Pie eyes full of tears.

“I… I dunno if I…” She sniffled, but then suddenly she immediately got over it and was all smiles again. “Hey, I know! What if we had a duel!?”

“A duel?” Frankly, I was gobsmacked by her sudden mood shift. “What for?”

“Just for fun!” Pinkie said with a big smile and a shrug, jumpin’ up and down like she always did. “Just as a little distraction, to help us, like… work through all our distract-y problems in our subconscious, y’know what I mean?”

“Yeah, actually.” I chuckled, notin’ the similarity between this and my duel with Twilight. “I know exactly what you mean. Alright, Pinkie, I’m in. Let’s duel.”

“Um, excuse me…” Fluttershy said meekly. She’d been so quiet durin’ my talkin’ with Pinkie I’d almost forgot she was there! “Could I maybe, um… if it’s not too much trouble… could I perhaps… maybe join in too?”

“Ooh, like a three-way?” Pinkie said eagerly, wagglin’ her eyebrows.

“Pinkie, don’t call it that.” I blushed and put a hand on Pinkie’s head. “But sure, sugar cube, we can do a… like a three-for-all.”

“Okay.” Fluttershy said with an adorable smile. “Thank you.”

Me vs. Pinkie vs. Fluttershy. This was gonna be a fun duel. I hoped that by the end of it the two would accept my offer, partly cuz I honestly thought it would be a hoot to live with the two, at least for a while. And besides, helpin’ others helps me… at least, I think so… either way, gettin’ a distraction from my thoughts was a good call.

****

-FLUTTERSHY-

DUEL!

Fluttershy vs. Applejack vs. Pinkie Pie!

Myself, Pinkie Pie and Applejack all stood against each other in a little triangle in the big empty apartment living room that Applejack was about to buy, facing off against one another in a three-for-all duel.

It had been years since I played this game and I was really nervous, but I wanted to do this. I wanted to get back into this game that I loved so much, to play with Applejack and Pinkie as they played together, and because I had to think about some stuff… regarding my brother, and Applejack’s offer.

“Go easy on me…” I giggled, holding my cards close to my chest. “Okay?”

“Sure. I’ll destroy Applejack before going after you!” Pinkie said with a wink.

“We’ll see about that, Pinkie. I’ll go first!” Applejack chided, drawing her cards. “And I’ll start by summonin’ Sylvan Peaskeeper!” Applejack started with the cutest wittle Monster! It was a little peapod with three cartoon peas coming out, one of them had a tiny flower megaphone and another had binoculars! “And when he’s summoned, he Excavates the top card of my deck… and lookit that! Another Peaskeeper! When this guy’s Excavated, he’s sent to the graveyard and then I can summon him to the field!”

“Oooooh! Now you’ve got two 100 ATK monsters!” Pinkie said teasingly, making faces at Applejack, who couldn’t help but laugh at them. “I’m sooooo scared!”

“Yeh, well check this out! Overlay!” Applejack raised her fist into the air and her Monsters became swirling black energy, being sucked into a portal above AJ’s head and then coming back down as a new Monster. “Rank 1! Sylvan Princessprite!”

Princessprite was a beautiful lady in a stunning green dress with gorgeous green hair that went on for miles, and she was holding two cherry blossom branches. She had 1800 ATK.

“So what does she do, Applejack?” I asked excitedly. You would think that a Rank 1 Monster wouldn’t be very powerful, but I had faith that Applejack knew what she was doing.

“I’m glad you asked, Fluttershy!” AJ said with a smirk, pointing a finger gun at me. “By detachin’ one of her Energy cards, I can Excavate the top card of my deck, and if it’s a Spell or Trap card it goes to my hand, if not… well y’all know the drill.” Applejack looked at the top card of her deck with anticipation, which soon turned to disappointment and annoyance when she saw what it was. “Sylvan Marshalleaf. A Monster. When he’s Excavated I can destroy a Monster on the field… I’d rather not.”

“Are you sure?” Pinkie giggled so hard that it became more of an adorable snort. “Cuz I think it’d be a pretty bold strategy to blow up your own monster!”

“Har har.” Applejack was bemused but she was laughing a little too. “I can still use Princessprite’s other Effect, which lets me trade Plant-Type Monsters in my hand to summon ones from my graveyard!”

“Are you going to summon Peaskeeper again?” I asked.

“Nope!” Applejack grinned proudly. “Y’see, once I discard the Plant Monster for the cost, it counts as bein’ in the graveyard, so I can just summon the same Monster I traded in, basically lettin’ it hit the field straight from my hand.”

“Wow, that’s a neat trick!” Pinkie said jubilantly, as she often said things.

“Thanks, Pinkie.” Applejack replied. “Now I’ll discard, and summon, Sylvan Hermitree!” Hermitree was a big thick tree with the face of a mustached old man, many red flowers blooming from his incredible foliage. He had 2700 ATK. “This guy’s Effect lets me Excavate the top card of my deck and if it’s a Sylvan Monster I can draw another card!” Applejack checked the top card of her deck and smiled as she saw it. “The monster I’m Excavatin’ is Sylvan Bladefender, whose Effect lets him go to my hand instead of the graveyard, plus I draw one card! That’ll be my turn!”

“My turn then!” Pinkie said with a hop, skip and a jump. “Hey since I’m going second, do I get to draw a sixth card?” Pinkie raised a good question. In Duel Monsters, when you go first you only get to draw five cards for your opening hand, but the second player gets to draw six.

“Uh, I’m not sure what the official rulin’ would be,” Applejack considered with a shrug “but I’m gonna just say sure.”

“Skippy!” Pinkie cheerfully drew a sixth card. “I’m gonna set my Pendulum Scales with Gumgumouton and Lizardraw!” Pinkie’s two Monsters appeared beside her in columns of light, a big green sheepy with a little tiny pink sheepy sleeping on top of him on one side, and an orange lizard dressed as a fancy stage magician on the other. “But I’m gonna immediately blow Lizardraw up to draw one card,” Lizardraw pulled out a cartoony box that said TNT on it and pressed the big red button on it, blowing himself up in a big puff of smoke “and I’ll replace him on my Scale… with Parrotrio!”

I swore then that every Monster summoned just seemed to be cuter than the last! Three tiny little parakeet friends in precious little vests, all singing a wee song! They were the best!

“Gumgumouton’s Scale is 1, Parrotrio’s, thanks to his Effect, is 7!” Pinkie explained. “Which means I get to Pendulum Summon Monsters whose Levels range from 2 to 6!”

“We all know how Pendulums work, Pinkie.” Applejack said impatiently.

“I actually appreciate the reminder.” I said bashfully, putting my hands behind my back and feeling a little self-conscious. I didn’t like disagreements.

“Yeah, Applejack!” Pinkie said with her tongue out and pulling down her eyelid. “Not all of us are super mega experts or anything!”

“Fine, fine.” Applejack chuckled.

“Now then!” Pinkie raised her fist again as she prepared for her awesome move! “I’m gonna Pendulum Summon Stamp Turtle and Longphone Bull from my hand, and Lizardraw from my Extra Deck!”

In a flash of colored lights Pinkie’s Lizardraw was revived! Not only that, but he was joined by a big blue bashful bellhop bull and grumpy gremlin grampa turtle!

“How did you bring back Lizardraw?” I said in amazement.

“Well, my dear sweet Fluttershy,” Pinkie turned toward me with closed eyes and a smile, pointing her finger in the air while she explained “when my Pendulum monsters are destroyed, they don’t go to the graveyard, they go face-up in the Extra Deck! Then if their Level is within my Pendulum Scales, I can bring ‘em back!”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” I cheered excitedly, hopping up and down a wee bit and softly clapping my little hands. “You’re both so good at this game!”

“It’s a gift!” Pinkie made a great big smile and I could almost hear the squeaky toy noise or the shiny ‘DING’ that could accompany it.

“Thank ye kindly, Fluttershy.” Applejack said, tipping her hat.

“Now then!” Pinkie resumed her bombastic display. “My Longphone Bull lets me get a new Performapal to my hand, and I choose…” Pinkie looked through her deck, seriously thinking for a moment about what the right choice would be for her game.

“Pick any one you want, Pinkie.” Applejack put one hand on her hip and looked haughtily at Pinkie Pie. “None of yer cards are gonna be able to get through my big ol’ Hermitree here.” Applejack paused for a second and said “Oh and remember, only Fluttershy can attack on her first turn, since she’s goin’ last.”

“Got it!” Pinkie said, picking out a card from her deck and lifting it triumphantly into the air. “Both my card and what you said, Applejack! Anyhoo I choose Secondonkey! So he goes to my hand and now I can use my Stamp Turtle’s ability to increase his Level and Longphone Bull’s to 5! Now I’ll Overlay them! Xyz Summon… Volcasaurus!”

Longphone Bull and Stamp Turtle evaporated into black energy, just like Applejack’s Monsters, leaving poor Lizardraw all by himself. He wasn’t alone long though because once the energy of Pinkie’s Monsters swirled up into the portal it got shot back down onto the field as this big fiery dinosaur with giant claws that oozed magma from its pores and breathed smoke and flame from its intimidating maw, and 2500 ATK to back up all this flamey goodness.

“I might not be able to attack, but…” Pinkie said ominously, waggling her eyebrows at Applejack.

“You can still use effect damage.” Applejack gritted her teeth.

“That’s riiiiiight!” Pinkie said in a singsong voice, hopping back and forth on either foot. “And by detaching my Stamp Turtle from Volcasaurus, he can blow up your big tree and force you to take its ATK in damage! That’s 2700 points!”

A blast of lava shot forth from Volcasaurus’ mouth, decimating Hermitree in a big bursting blaze of brutality, and some of the magma splashed onto Applejack, making her grunt from the shock of it and reducing her Life to 1300.

“I’ll lay one card face-down.” Pinkie looked pretty proud of herself for that one, not that I could blame her because it was a really cool move. “And that’ll be that! Go on, Fluttershy! Let’s see what you’ve got!”

“Wow, you both had such impressive opening turns!” I said in awe. “You’re both really inspiring to me right now…” I looked in my hand to weigh my options and, knowing what I knew about Pinkie and Applejack, and about this game, I had an idea about what the best move for me to make should be… “I set one monster in face-down defense mode. That’s all.”

Applejack and Pinkie Pie both looked at me in shock, eyes widening and mouths hanging open, Pinkie even stuttering in confusion.

“Are… are ya kiddin’?” Applejack asked earnestly, giving me a second look.

“Nope.” I shook my head with a smile on my face.

“That’s… really all you’re gonna do?” Pinkie asked hesitantly, ruffling her hair behind her head.

“Yep.” I nodded. “It’s your turn, Applejack.”

“Uh, okay then.” Applejack cleared her throat and got ready for her move.

With the cards in my hand, I probably could have done a much more robust and showoffy move like the two of them made, but in a duel with three players I thought that maybe not causing trouble, playing defensive and flying under the radar, would be a better strategy. Plus the two were likely to underestimate me anyway, and it’s not like I left myself defenseless. As soon as my Monster would be flipped face-up I would get a new creature from the deck. So it was all good!

“Y’know, Pinkie…” Applejack turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie, she probably didn’t give my move another thought, which was in line with what I was expecting. “That Gumgumouton of yers is a real troublesome little bugger. He lets one of yer monsters be safe from destruction once a turn.”

“That’s right!” Pinkie got a big smile on her face.

“I guess I’ll just have to get rid of him… with this!” Applejack placed a Field Spell card onto her Disk, turning the fancy apartment we were dueling in into a beautiful forest scene with sparkling rivers running all around us and a giant snowy mountain in the distance. “Mount Sylvania!”

“This is so beautiful, Applejack!” My eyes were gleaming from the beauty of it all, such a majestic landscape. It was definitely my kind of Field Spell. “What does it do?”

“I’ll show ya!” Applejack said brashly, shooting a menacing look at a worried Pinkie Pie. “By sendin’ one of the Plant Monsters in my hand to the graveyard, I can put any Sylvan card in my deck at the top of the deck.”

“So you’ll know what it is when you use one of your Excavation effects!” I did a little jump and clapped my hands as I put the pieces of her plan together.

“That’s right!” Applejack replied. “But I’ll do ya one better! The card I’m sendin’ to the graveyard as the cost is Snapdrassinagon, who Excavates the top card of my deck as soon as he’s sent!”

“So basically,” Pinkie said, a bead of sweat running down her forehead “you get to activate the Excavation Effect of any monster in your deck with this combo.”

“Darn straight.” Applejack said with a grin, tilting her hat forward. “And the card I choose is Komushroomo! He lets me destroy a Spell or Trap on the field when he’s Excavated and I choose your Gumgumouton!” A little white and orange mushroom man suddenly sprouted atop Gumgumouton’s head… and then it caught fire! It ignited the poor little gummy sheep and burned it to ashes, the strange gumball animals cackling wildly the whole time. Very odd.

“That’s… not great for me.” Pinkie bit her thumbnail, feeling the pressure of an intense duel!

“It gets better!” Applejack replied with a gleaming grin. “By sendin’ the Bladefender in my hand to the graveyard, Princessprite can revive my ol’ buddy Hermitree!” Applejack’s old man tree sprouted from the grassy field in front of her, next to her Princessprite who was oh-so-happy to see him. “Now I’ll use his Effect…” Applejack smiled ear to ear and burst out laughing when she saw the card she Excavated. “The card is Sylvan Princessprout! And her effect lets me summon her to the field!”

Princessprout, true to her name, looked like a younger Princessprite. A little girl in a marvelous green dress with long, long green hair. She looked up to the Princessprite like a little sister, the latter creature wrapping a protective arm around her as the two stood in the shade of the Hermitree. How cute!

“Okay, that’s pretty good, but one measly little sprout can’t take out my Volcasaurus!” Pinkie stamped her foot on the ground and pointed to her majestic beast.

“Yeh well, my Princessprout does more than just summon herself when she’s Excavated.” Applejack explained. “I also get to choose her Level, and I pick 7. Now I summon Copy Plant!” Applejack summoned what looked like a sentient thumb made of gnarled roots but with angry green eyeballs. “Copy Plant, like his name suggests, copies one of my Monsters, specifically their Level. So now, just like Princessprout, he’s Level 7!”

“Which means you can Overlay!” I said excitedly, eager to see one of Applejack’s Xyz monsters.

“Yer darn right I can!” Applejack said, to an ever increasing look of dread and dismay in Pinkie Pie. I was looking forward to it though. “My Level 7 Princessprout and Copy Plant, Overlay! Xyz Summon… Orea, the Sylvan High Arbiter!”

Applejack’s favorite Monster… I remembered it from when we were kids. I loved this creature almost as much as she did. A majestic bird of prey with flowery hair, beautiful glittering wings that shone with green, red and gold, giant foresty plumage for her tail… everything about her spoke of wonder and beauty… she was so cool! And with 2800 ATK, there weren’t many Monsters that were going to say no to her!

“Orea’s effect…” Applejack was feeling pretty good about her chances now that her ace Monster was on the field…

“Is negated! Thanks to my Breakthrough Skill!” …but Pinkie had other plans and revealed her face-down Trap card. “I thought about negating Copy Plant’s effect, but I had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t stop you from Xyz Summoning, so I thought I’d just stop your Arbiter’s effect. How’d ya like that, Applejack!?”

“Not bad, Pinkie.” Applejack chuckled. “Unfortunately for you, my monster’s still got more ATK than yours. Orea, attack Volcasaurus!” Orea launched herself into the air and blew a cyclone at Pinkie’s Volcasaurus, tearing the poor flaming creature to shreds. “Now Princessprite attacks Lizardraw…” Lizardraw was tiny compared to Princessprite, who was only average size herself, and his weak and tender defenses were no match for her cherry blossom attack. “And last but not least, Hermitree attacks you directly!”

Hermitree didn’t move (of course he didn’t because he’s a tree!) but all the blooming red flowers on his branches burst into flames and shot fiery bullets at Pinkie Pie, and while she danced around them effortlessly, they still reduced her Life to 1000 because that’s how the game works.

“Wow, now we’ve both taken Hermitree’s ATK total in damage!” Pinkie laughed.

“Yeah, I guess so!” Applejack laughed too, and the two of them laughing made me laugh, or at least softly chuckle into my hand so as not to draw attention to myself. “Sorry yer gettin’ left out Fluttershy, but I’ll be sure to attack you with him too once I beat Pinkie!”

“No worries. It’s totally okay if you don’t feel like attacking me.” I bat my hand at Applejack.

“Besides Applejack, you won’t be getting a chance to take down Fluttershy!” Pinkie declared, dramatically drawing her card. “Cuz I’ll be doing that, thank you very much! First, I’ll throw down a face-down card. Then I’ll put Dag Daggerman in my open Pendulum Zone!”

Despite the shifty looking goatee of Pinkie’s Monster and its lack of visible eyes, it was still pretty cute, with a goofy blue suit and big giant top hat, and cartoonish knives in either hand.

“On the turn Daggerman is activated, I can bring a Performapal buddy from my graveyard back to my hand…” Pinkie said, happily showing off her recovered card. “So come on back, Stamp Turtle! Now I’ll just do a little Normal Summon… for Secondonkey!”

Secondonkey was precious! I felt like I was going to get a sugar high from watching Pinkie’s adorable creatures! This one was a brown donkey with very big soulful eyes and a comically large bowtie that contrasted his equally silly teensy weensy top hat. So good!

“He lets me put a Performapal from the deck into my hand, and I choose Momoncarpet!” Pinkie said proudly. “Now then, with my Scale 2 Dag Daggerman and Scale 7 Parrotrio, I can Pendulum Summon! From my hand, I summon… Stamp Turtle and Momoncarpet! And from my Extra Deck, be reborn! Lizardraw and Gumgumouton!”

Pinkie’s field went from being totally empty at the beginning of this turn to having five monsters on it! In addition to the revived gummy sheep and dapper lizard, there was also Pinkie’s old man turtle and now a new monster! Momoncarpet was a purple flying squirrel with a turban on his head whose back was designed to look just like a flying magic carpet. I could’ve sworn the design looked eerily familiar, like I had seen it in a famous movie or something… probably a coincidence.

“I’m gonna do something totally reckless!” Pinkie punched her own palm with a giant smile on her face. “But it’s gonna be super cool and that’s what counts!”

“Go for it, Pinkie!” Applejack thrusted her fist in the air to encourage Pinkie’s reckless behavior. Even though Pinkie was her opponent, Applejack still wanted her to give all she had and pull off cool techniques, regardless of how they affected Applejack’s own game. What a great friend!

“I Overlay my Level 3 Lizardraw and Momoncarpet!” Pinkie said, her Monsters becoming swirling black energy and entering a sky portal again. “Xyz Summon… Giga-Brilliant!” Pinkie’s new Xyz Monster was a giant silver ant with big blade-like pinchers that glowed with a mystical twinkling light. “And with Stamp Turtle’s Effect making them both Level 5, Overlay my Stamp Turtle and Secondonkey! Summon… Greedy Sarameya!”

THIS ONE WAS THE CUTEST ONE YET!!! TOO CUTE TO HANDLE!!!

This precious pupper was a big blue fiery Cerberus, with three determined snarly heads and a flaming mane and big floppy ears and cute wittle fiewy tail! It was too precious! Would let guard my bedroom, 14\10!

“Huh. Not gonna lie, Pinkie, didn’t imagine a card like that’d be in yer deck.” Applejack looked the great doggo over curiously, clearly less impressed than I was. “Then again, considerin’ how often you use Volcasaurus, I shouldn’t be shocked.”

“Greedy Sarameya is super cool and I won’t be hearing any of this backchat.” Pinkie said, turning her nose up comically at Applejack. “Now then! Giga-Brilliant’s Effect buffs my whole team by 300 ATK by dropping an Energy card! Now my Sarameya’s attack is equal to your Orea’s at 2800!”

“And because of Gumgumouton…” I said aloud, brimming with excitement.

“…he won’t be destroyed by the battle…” Applejack finished my thought, less enthused.

“It gets better!” Pinkie said exuberantly. “Sarameya! Attack Orea!”

Pinkie’s Cerberus lunged at Applejack’s mighty bird, tearing into its neck with its mighty jaws. Orea fought back with a gust from its wings and a green beam of light from its beak, but the attacks were deflected by the gummy shield given to Sarameya by Pinkie’s sheep. Sarameya charged a blast of energy in its three mouths and released them all at once, the three spheres of fiery power converging into one massive fireball, detonating once it hit Orea and exploding, completely annihilating every monster on the field except for mine.

“What… what happened?” I asked in shock, my eyes staring widely at the smoking ruin that remained of our field. Applejack’s Field Spell was still active though, so it was a very picturesque smoking ruin.

“Sarameya’s effect happened.” Applejack said grimly.

“Yupyupyupyup! Yup yup!” Pinkie said, doing a little dance. “When Sarameya beats an enemy monster, I can detach an Energy from him to wipe out all the monsters on the field who have ATK equal to or less than the destroyed monster! Orea had 2800 ATK and no Monster on the field had higher than that! But don’t worry, Fluttershy, it doesn’t affect face-down Monsters, so your guy is safe! Plus it’s your turn!”

“That’s good.” I breathed a sigh of relief. What an exhilarating match! “I will…” I looked at my hand again and smiled. “…do nothing. Your turn Applejack.”

“Wow, that really…” Applejack sighed in frustration. “That’s not much of a strategy, is it, sugar cube?”

“I guess you’ll find out once you beat Pinkie Pie.” I said, my eyes closed and a perfectly innocent smile on my face. “That is, if you can beat Pinkie Pie.” I opened my eyes and gave Applejack the sassy look.

“Thank you!” Pinkie Pie said.

“Ha! Of course I can beat her!” Applejack scoffed. “Heck, I’ll do it this turn! But before I do, at the end of your turn, Fluttershy, I can activate the second effect of my Mount Sylvania, Excavatin’ the top card of my deck.”

“Wait, couldn’t you have done that at the end of my turn too?” Pinkie curiously cocked her head to one side.

“Yeah, but that wouldn’t be right.” Applejack shrugged. “Just doesn’t feel very fair to do it more than once per round.”

“That’s nice of you.” I chirped.

“Heh, thanks.” Applejack tipped her hat bashfully toward me, making me giggle. What a lady! “Anyhow, the card I Excavated is… a Spell card. It’s Miracle Fertilizer.”

“Oh, is that no good?” I said concernedly.

“Actually, that’s pretty perfect.” Applejack said with a smile. “If I Excavate a non-Sylvan card with this effect I can put it at the top or bottom of the deck, but in this case I’m choosin’ the top, which means I can draw it this turn.”

“Come at me, Applejack!” Pinkie started punching wildly into the thin air. “I’ll knock you out!”

“No way, Pinkie…” Applejack grinned proudly, looking at Pinkie like a hawk staring down a rabbit. “For you, this is… the Final Turn!” An air of tension shot through the room as Applejack made that announcement and drew her card. “First I’ll activate my Miracle Fertilizer! This allows me to summon any Plant I want from my graveyard, but I can’t Normal Summon this turn. I’ll use it to revive… Hermitree!”

Applejack’s Miracle Fertilizer took the form of an aerosol can that appeared on the empty plain of her field, and as it shot out its spray a magical red flower bloomed and from that flower Applejack’s old man Hermitree was reborn yet again.

“Wow, you’re really committed to that card, huh?” Pinkie said.

“It’s a good card, Pinkie.” Applejack replied. “I can send one Plant Monster from my hand to the graveyard to put one Sylvan monster from my deck on top of it, and by using Hermitree’s effect I can now Excavate that card… so say hello again to Sylvan Princessprout!”

“Ooh, I like that one.” I said as the tiny little flower princess came to be, sitting on Hermitree’s mustache. “But then again, I like all you girls’ cards.”

“Your cards are pretty cool too, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said happily before stuttering a little bit. “I mean, I think? We haven’t really seen them.”

“I have a good feeling that we’re about to.” I held my cards in front of me like a fan, covering my face.

“Princessprout’s Effect lets her hit the field at Level 8.” Applejack explained. “Which means I can Overlay with her and Hermitree! Xyz Summon… Aegaion the Sea Castrum!”

Out of the galactic portal came a giant blue machine, no it was more than that, it was a fortress! With enormous metallic cylinders all connected by steel beams and bridges and a ton of high-tech yellow lights adorned the top of each cylinder and red glowing circles were on each of the arms and legs of the moving mechanical marvel, with a giant red mechanical eye right in the center of the thing! Spooky!

“Aegaion’s ability lets me banish one card at random from your Extra Deck, Pinkie!” Applejack made a punching motion at Pinkie Pie. “I don’t even need to release an Energy to do it!”

“Y’know, that really doesn’t take into account my feelings on this situation.” Pinkie said, taking a random card from her Extra Deck and banishing it. It was Leviathan Dragon.

“Leviathan Dragon’s ATK is 2000,” Applejack said “so that’s what my Aegaion’s ATK becomes as well. More than enough to take you down! Attack directly!” All the yellow lights on the creature began to glow and then it was consumed by a blazing yellow aura. The moving fortress slowly made its way toward Pinkie Pie, readying an attack.

“Not so fast!” Pinkie celebrated. “I activate Xyz Reborn! This revives my Volcasaurus with the Reborn card attached as an Energy!” The flaming dinosaur was revived with a medal of honor attached to his chest, but then the red circle lights on the flanks of Aegaion started to glow.

“I activate Aegaion’s effect!” Applejack said without missing a beat. “By returnin’ the Xyz Monster I banished back into the Extra Deck, and detachin’ an Energy card, I can destroy an Xyz Monster you control! So Aegaion’s attack goes through!”

“Also not good!” Pinkie said.

The red lights shot out beams of energy that disintegrated Volcasaurus instantly and Aegaion continued its slow march toward Pinkie, the yellow lights flashing again and blaring down at Pinkie Pie with a great yellow beam that reduced her Life to 0.

“Darn.” Pinkie snapped her fingers in frustration. “Avenge me, Fluttershy! Aveeeenge meeeee!!” Pinkie dropped to her knees and raised her fists into the air as she shouted before slumping over onto her side with her tongue sticking out.

“Yer move, sugar cube.” Applejack chuckled at Pinkie’s antics.

“Thank you.” I giggled and looked at my cards. I had everything I needed… “I’m sorry, but… I’m going to win this turn.”

Applejack’s eyes widened in shock and Pinkie immediately sprung up off the ground to stare at me also, which made me a little self-conscious and almost had me second-guessing myself… but I knew that I could win.

“I flip my Baby Racoon Tantan into attack mode.” I said, revealing one of my mysterious defense monsters, a pudgy wittle waccoon fwiend with a big tummy drum. “His Effect lets me summon a Level 2 Beast Monster from the deck… and I choose Valerifawn, Mystical Beast of the Forest.”

Valerifawn was my favorite card, a small little deer princess with a wreath of flowers around her head and a patch of white sunflowers blooming on her back.

“Then I’ll activate Foolish Burial,” I said “which lets me put Uniflora, Mystical Beast of the Forest into the graveyard. Now with Valerifawn’s effect, I can discard a card from my hand to summon a Level 2 or lower Beast from my graveyard.”

“So yer gonna summon Uniflora?” Applejack guessed.

“Nope!” I chuckled nervously. “I’m gonna use your trick where I summon the Monster I’m using as a cost! His name is Kalantosa, Mystical Beast of the Forest!”

Kalantosa was a serene white bunny rabbit with a garden on his back that was as big as his body was.

“His Effect is very cool. It lets him eat your Sea Castrum.” I said peacefully.

“It lets him what?!” Applejack exclaimed. Kalantosa just ever-so-slightly opened his little mouth and a gravitational force was released from it, breaking down Applejack’s Aegaion into particles that soon faded from existence. It was a good Effect.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” I said happily, placing another Monster on my Duel Disk “I can Normal Summon my Lock Cat, which allows me to revive the Level 1 Uniflora from the graveyard, but with his effect negated.”

Lock Cat was a slender white feline with a long majestic tail and a BIG gold padlock around his neck. Uniflora was a gentle, old grey unicorn whose body was covered in moss.

“Hoo boy, Fluttershy. That sure is an awful lot of tiny creatures ya got there, huh?” Applejack said nervously, looking at my full field that had five little friendly faces on it. “What’re you gonna do with all of them?”

“Synchro Summon.” I said, Applejack immediately cringing as she realized the bad implications that had for her game. “My Valerifawn is a Tuner, and by Tuning her, a Level 2 monster, with my Level 2 Kalantosa, my Level 2 Racoon Tantan, my Level 3 Lock Cat and my Level 1 Uniflora, I can Synchro Summon the Level 10 Leo, the Keeper of the Sacred Tree!”

Leo was a fearsome lion with a beautiful orange flowery mane, covered head to toe in magical white armor. He stared down Applejack’s empty field with a protective fire in his eyes, determined to follow my orders and keep me and my companions safe at any cost. What a treasure.

“And he’ll attack you directly, which is more than enough to end your Life… if that’s okay with you.”

Leo didn’t wait for Applejack to say she was okay with it, he just pounced toward her and roared, letting out a series of laser attacks from his armor that barraged her nonstop until her Life was reduced to 0.

“Applejack…” I looked at my trembling hands and smiled. I was so amazed and felt so empowered that I actually won that duel. “I want to move in with you.”

“R-really?” Applejack sounded surprised but also really happy, and that made me really happy.

“I do.” I nodded with a smile. “Not only because my brother needs to stand on his own two feet… but because I do too. And I can’t stand on my own just yet, but my brother can’t help me learn either. But I think you can.”

“I… I’m touched, Fluttershy.” Applejack took off her hat and took a bow. “And I’ll do my darnedest to be worthy of that trust.”

“Hey, uh, don’t forget about meeeee!” Pinkie said, sliding across the hardwood floor to stand between me and Applejack, but she couldn’t stop herself and ended up sliding right into a wall, crashing into it and falling on the ground as me and Applejack cringed.“Uhhh, anyway!” Pinkie stumbled back to her feet. “I think that I’ll… yeah, I’ll definitely also take you up on that offer, Applejack. If that’s okay with you, Fluttershy!”

“Of course!” I chirped. I really wanted to give Pinkie a hug but I didn’t want to impose.

“That’s great, Pinkie Pie!” Applejack said enthusiastically. She was trying to hide it but I could tell that she was really happy that the two of us agreed to move in with her, and seeing her try to act cool about it was really adorable. “What made ya change yer mind?”

“It may be embarrassing to need help sometimes,” Pinkie said seriously “but it shouldn’t be shameful to lean on your friends when you need them! And I can’t lie… I need help. I don’t want to admit it! And… I dunno… what I’ll tell my family… I might not tell them anything yet. But whatever! I really do want to live with you guys! It’ll be way more fun than living by myself anyway!”

“And what about yer brother, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. “When’re you gonna break the news to him?”

“Tonight.” I didn’t know what else to do but shake my head slowly. “But I’ll deal with that later. Right now, I just want to enjoy this. I want to just think about how happy I am to be living with two of my best friends.”

“Yay! Group hug!” Pinkie said, wrapping both me and Applejack into a big hug. Amazingly, she managed not to crush me this time! Less amazingly, she ended up toppling us all down onto the hardwood floor. Ouch. Gods bless you, Pinkie Pie.
> 11. Sparkling Like Diamonds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

I was lying awake on my bed with the blanket over my head, clothes from yesterday still on and drowning in a pool of my own sweat and angst. I really tried… I really tried to be better, to work on my problems and fix my relationship with Rainbow, but still…

Honestly, while that alone was reason enough for me to be depressed, what made it head-under-blankets bad was how it reminded me of growing up with my family. Trying my hardest to do what I thought was right only to have it blow up in my face. Definitely sounds familiar.

My mom would go into hysterics, my brother would go into his room, my dad would be no help, so who ended up having to fix things every time?

Thinking about my mom’s mood swings was giving me stomach cramps and I had to go to the bathroom anyway, so I dragged myself out of the bed. On my way to the bathroom I thought about how my life had changed since I moved back to Fillydelphia. I thought getting away from my parents and being on my own, with the support of my friends, would be the best thing for me… but all I’ve done is wither away into nothing. I’m still grappling with the baggage from childhood, still trying to fight the same demons and getting nowhere.

Every time I start to feel hungry I still get that sense of nausea and think ‘what’s going to go wrong this time?’ even though I’m on my own now and I always have the food that I need. Whenever somebody starts to raise their voice I cringe, whenever someone says their feelings are hurt, even as a joke, I start feeling sick. I wish I could just throw all this baggage away and start over… or, conversely, go to bed and never get back out.

On my way out of the bathroom I heard a knock at the door.

“Twilight! It’s your good friend Rarity!”

****

-RARITY-

‘I don’t feel well. It’s nothing to worry about, I’ll be fine, but I need a little time to get my head on straight.’ That was the text that Twilight sent Applejack early in the morning after her fateful encounter with Rainbow Dash at the airplane graveyard. No other details but based solely on that it wasn’t hard to guess how it went.

“Should I go talk to her?” Applejack asked me, sitting on the edge of our bed looking at her phone.

“You don’t have to drop everything to go running to Twilight.” I was still lying in bed but I reached out and grabbed my girlfriend’s hand. “Or anyone else for that matter, not even me.”

“I know.” Applejack sighed, lightly squeezing my hand. “It’s just that… I know she’s goin’ through a lot right now…”

“And she’s not your responsibility.” I sat up and wrapped my arms around Applejack, giving her caressed a kiss on the head. “Plus, you’re not her only friend. Let me go talk to her. I lived with her for a long time, you’re not the only one who understands her.” When Twilight needed to move out of her parents’ house many years ago, my family graciously took her in. We were like sisters for a few years!

“Yeah, I guess.” Applejack whispered fretfully. I dragged her back down into the bed where we lied next to each other and looked into one another’s eyes. “I… I trust you, Rarity.”

“Have I ever given you reason to doubt me?” I said with a smile, brushing some of her gorgeous golden hair out of her stunning bronze face and staring deeply into her dazzling emerald eyes. Never had there been a woman more gorgeous than Applejack… except me, of course.

Applejack rolled over and looked at the ceiling for a moment in silence, making me fret slightly, but all my worry went away when she looked back at me with a heart-melting smile and said “Nope”, then she planted a tender kiss on my lips.

“Besides, you have house hunting today.” I rolled out of bed and perfectly onto my feet. As much as I would have liked to stay in bed with Applejack for an eternity, the two of us both had responsibilities to tend to. Such was life.

“Yup.” Applejack lifted herself out of the bed as well. “Gonna see if I can wrangle Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie to help out, maybe look for some roommates.”

“You should ask Pinkie Pie.” I put on one of Applejack’s big shirts, just so that I could be relatively modest while I went about my morning routine. “I heard she isn’t going to be in her own place much longer.”

“Yeah, I was thinkin’ the same thing.” Applejack got dressed, plaid shirt and jeans like always, and of course her trademark hat. At first I couldn’t have imagined a tackier headpiece but the thing had absolutely grown on me in the last few years, go figure. “I’ll see ya tonight?” Applejack walked over to me and pulled me in with her big sturdy arms, holding me close to her chest.

“Of course, darling.” I smooched my beloved and bid her a fond farewell as she headed out of the bedroom toward the front door, and I prepared for my own set of tasks for the day. Task number one; look cute. Check! Task number two; prayer, and after that, coffee!

Once my morning routine was finished, consisting of prayer, coffee, a shower, breakfast and then another quick prayer, it was off to Twilight Sparkle’s house! Twilight’s home was small, maybe even a little quaint, but it was comforting. It was the kind of place where you would want to come home after a long day’s work and lounge in front of a warm fire.

It brought back memories too. I used to live here for the last few months before I left Fillydelphia. I still remembered the day my parents bought the place and Twilight and I moved in, it was so empty inside but we were excited to make it our own, even if only briefly because we already knew I only had a few months before moving to Canterlot. I couldn’t help but think… I miss those days, when everything seemed so simple and the future held such promise. Now everything feels uncertain… oh well, no sense dwelling on it now!

I knocked on the door and there was no response. I figured it would take more than one knock, that Twilight would either be in bed or in the bathroom or something, so I knocked a second time.

“Twilight! It’s your good friend Rarity!” I said in a singsong voice as I knocked a third time.

This time it wasn’t long before the door opened, revealing Twilight standing behind it… and she looked atrocious. Clothes on from the previous night, hair bedraggled and a complete mess, not helped by how long her hair had gotten, bags under her eyes which were red from either crying or just staying up too long. The poor girl was a mess. She needed more than just a makeover, what she needed was divine intervention. Thankfully, here I was.

“Rarity?” Twilight said drearily. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see you, obviously.” I laughed softly, attempting to put my friend’s mind at ease. “How could I let my little sister be alone on a fine day such as this one, when I know how miserable she’s feeling?”

“Oh? And where is Sweetie Belle?” Twilight said teasingly.

“Haha, you know what I mean.” I took a step forward and grabbed Twilight’s hand. “In all seriousness, Twilight, I came to see if you needed to talk about whatever happened last night.”

“I guess…” Twilight grumbled, recoiling her hand. “I mean, not really. I don’t want to talk about it. But I want to talk to you. It’s been two years. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, Twilight.” I said. “So very much. May I come in? I miss this place, too.”

“Sure.” Twilight said, opening the door and letting me into her home. “Just mind the mess.”

“Oh… my…” My jaw dropped as I entered Twilight’s home. Dishes piling in the sink, clothes on the floor and trash on the countertops… everywhere I looked there was junk, junk, junk, JUNK! It was… probably one thousand times as bad as Fluttershy’s house. “Twilight… what happened here? You’ve always been so organized!”

“I haven’t been really feeling like myself lately…” Twilight mumbled.

“How long has ‘lately’ been?” I asked inquisitively.

“Oh, just a couple of…” Twilight looked away and tried to bury her face in her hair as she spoke. “…years. Besides… I was never that good with housework, that was always something that… you always took care of those things.”

“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to tell that Twilight was still hurting from my moving away.

“It’s not your fault.” Twilight chuckled sardonically. “You needed to go. I know that feeling, and I have never once begrudged you for it, I promise.”

“Thank you.” I wanted to believe that was true, but how could Twilight not begrudge me when I so easily begrudged myself? I don’t think anyone was happy for me to move to Canterlot but I was so sure it was the right thing to do… considering how it ended up I was beginning to wonder why I bothered in the first place. “But I must take some responsibility. I knew then that you weren’t doing well, and I left you anyway.”

“You needed to go.” Twilight implored. “It’s okay.”

“I could have postponed, I could have…” I shook my head, trying and failing to think of anything to say. “I could have done something.”

“Rarity… you did the best you could.” Twilight fell limply onto the living room couch, pushing a pile of garbage off of it onto the floor. “And my issues and my baggage are neither your fault nor your responsibility. I don’t think there’s anything else you could have done.”

“Perhaps… but I’m here now.” I sat down beside Twilight on the couch, pretending like there wasn’t a huge stack of disgusting garbage on it seconds ago. “I can do something now. Get a broom, Twilight. We’ll have this place sparkling like diamonds by midafternoon!”

Twilight stared blankly at me and blinked a few times in lieu of saying anything. It had been so long perhaps she forgot that having a clean house was a possibility. But then she smiled and I saw the lights flashing on in her eyes as she cheerfully said “Okay… but do I get to sing my sweeping song?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, darling.” I laughed softly, cupping Twilight’s beautiful face in my hands.

****

In only a few hours the cleaning was finished and Twilight’s home was the majestic castle it once was and needed to be! By the end of it though we were both famished, and neither of us were particularly stellar cooks so I had some pizzas delivered to the home. While we waited on them however, I had a very important question that I needed to ask Twilight.

“Twilight, darling…” I said, lightly putting my hands on Twilight’s shoulders while she sat in one of the kitchen chairs. “Would you mind it terribly if I asked you… to allow me to cut your hair?”

“You wanna cut my hair?” Twilight asked confusedly. “Why? What’s wrong with it?” Twilight grabbed a handful of her hair, which seemed to stretch on for miles.

“Twilight, stand up for a moment.” With a slight groan Twilight did as I asked and I got a better look at the whole situation she was dealing with. “Darling, your hair reaches down past your butt.”

“Oh yeah, I guess it does.” Twilight said, turning her head awkwardly to look behind her. “So? You have long hair too.”

“Yes but my hair is exceptionally voluminous.” I said, puffing up my hair and turning around so Twilight could see the back of my luxurious mane. “And it only reaches down barely past my neck. Twilight, you don’t have to let me do it if you don’t want to, I’m certainly not going to go chasing after you with a pair of garden shears or anything like that.”

“That would be pretty funny.” Twilight giggled, which encouraged me to do the same. She looked into the distance for a second, and I briefly turned around to see if there was something behind me that she was looking at but there was not, and then she said “Ok. Go ahead.”

“Chase you around with garden shears?” I said confusedly but then slapped my forehead when I realized what she was obviously talking about. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Twilight nodded, turning her back to me and sitting back down in the chair. “We can just do it here. I’ll sweep again afterward… and Rarity?”

“Yes, Twilight?” I asked as I procured some scissors.

“Don’t keep it long.” Twilight said. “Cut it all off. Not like, all all of it, but most of it… down to like… just past my ears, I guess?”

“That is… very short.” I said, worried slightly that she would be horrified if she actually let me go through with that.

“I know…” Twilight sighed, pulling lightly on her hair. “But… with this house, everything that I’m working through right now, seeing you again… it’s like I’m being reborn in a way. I haven’t cut my hair in more than two years, heck I’ve barely even brushed it in the longest time!”

“That’s going to make cutting it slightly difficult.” I said drolly. “But it might make cutting it short a little easier, so I guess it cancels out.”

“My point is,” Twilight continued “I want this haircut to be drastic. I don’t want to even recognize myself… at least, not as who I was.”

“Then Twilight?” I said with a gleam in my eye.

“Yeah?” She said, looking back at me.

“You’re going to have to let me pick you out a new wardrobe!” I said gleefully.

“I’d like that.” Twilight said with a smile.

I went to work cutting Twilight’s hair, slicing out long strands and large clumps alike. It was a real rat’s nest in there, and it was both amazing and horrifying that she managed to survive with it like that for so long. As I was working, Twilight and I were of course making small talk but then Twilight asked me something that struck a chord with me and made me flinch.

“So how are you and Applejack doing?” An innocuous enough question from her perspective but one that I had been wondering myself for the past few weeks… maybe even months?

“Um, it’s great.” I said cheerfully.

“Well that sounded convincing.” Twilight said mockingly and I’m sure she rolled her eyes.

“What? It is great.” I said, doing my best to sound relaxed and carefree. Breezy, if you will. “I love Applejack and she loves me. What could be bad about that?” I may have laid it on a teensy bit thick, the nervous laughter that followed my statement not helping in the slightest.

“Rarity.” Twilight said sternly. “I know you have a lot invested in appearances, but you can be honest with me.”

I thought for a moment and sighed sadly as I realized Twilight was right. No matter how much I wanted to hide it and ignore it and pretend there was no problem, I wasn’t even fooling myself let alone anybody else.

“Then to be honest, Twilight…” I said. “I don’t know. Things were going swimmingly for us for a long time but somewhere, somehow, we started to get distant with one another. I don’t even know when it started happening but I remember, only about a month ago, the first time I realized I had some big news and I just didn’t want to tell her about it.”

“You tell each other everything?” Twilight asked.

“More or less.” I put the scissors on the kitchen counter and walked over to the window to look outside. Twilight had a dining area in the kitchen with a window almost as big as the wall, and it was a beautiful sunny day outside. “We don’t need to nose around in every single second of each other’s personal lives but for the most part we don’t keep secrets from each other.”

“For the most part?” Twilight asked.

“Like I said, I didn’t want to tell her what happened…” I placed my hands inside my pants pockets, I don’t know why. “I don’t want to tell you either, no offense. I don’t want to tell anybody, I just want to keep this a secret and bring it with me to my grave.”

“That’s dramatic.” Twilight said concernedly.

“Hi, I’m Rarity. Have we met?” I said teasingly, giving Twilight a preening look, and giggling as she laughed in response.

“Did somebody hurt you?” Twilight asked seriously.

“No, no, nothing so dire.” I batted a dainty hand at Twilight. “If it had been something like that… something I thought Applejack or anybody else could understand, I would tell her in a heartbeat. But this is… never mind, it’s not important. I left it behind in Canterlot and it can stay there.”

“Is whatever this thing is, is it why you left?” Twilight asked.

“It is.” I said sadly, placing my head against the window. “When I told Applejack that we needed to leave, and that I couldn’t tell her why, I remember the look she gave me. She looked so… offended. So attacked. Like she believed I wasn’t allowed to have secrets of my own.”

“So any idea why you two were getting distant with each other?” Twilight said, ever the little detective.

“On second thought, distant isn’t the right term.” I shook my head and began pacing around the island in the center of the kitchen. “There’s no loss of communication or affection between us, far from it. Whenever I see her my heart still pitter-patters away and I feel that warmth inside my bones… I don’t know how else to describe it.” I laughed. Even now just describing my feelings for Applejack was giving me the warm fuzzies.

“So what’s the problem?” Twilight asked.

“I love Applejack.” I said sadly and placed a hand softly on the island but I couldn’t help clenching my hands into fists. “I love her unlike I’ve loved anyone else before her and I care about her and want to be with her… but I worry that being together will be stifling for me. Applejack is very… old-fashioned, and I am a bit more free with who I choose to share my affections with, as I’m sure you’re aware.” No one other than Applejack saw my affectionate side quite as much as Twilight did.

“I am.” She said with a blushing chuckle.

“Applejack is more rigid.” I began tapping my fingernails agitatedly against Twilight’s granite island, which was going to be absolutely horrid for my manicure, but I was so stressed recounting all of this that I didn’t even care! Imagine that. “She sees all these rules about being in relationships and I try to concede to her most of the time, I want her to be happy and comfortable, but I’m beginning to worry if I’m conceding too much. I keep waiting for her to change her mind but she’s Applejack, darn woman is as stubborn as a mule!”

“She is that.” Twilight nodded. “So you guys are hitting a rough patch because you want to date other people?”

“I don’t want to ‘date’ other people, necessarily.” I said. “Although I certainly wouldn’t mind it. But what I want is to be able to express my affections freely, without having to worry if Applejack might be concerned or put off, or give the evil eye to whoever I’m speaking with. But if I keep waiting and hoping that Applejack will change her mind I’m eventually going to become miserable. I don’t want to lose her but I can’t seem to get what I need being with her either… and I believe when I realized that, and realized that what I have with Applejack will not and cannot last… that’s when things began to slowly go downhill. Because I know that Applejack and I can’t stay together forever, at least not as we are now, and that is terrifying and deeply saddening to me, so I prefer to not think about it… but it still comes across in my actions with her…”

“Do you want to duel?” Twilight said, apropos of nothing.

“Excuse me?” I asked confusedly.

“Do you want to play a game of Duel Monsters with me?” Twilight said. “It sounds like you’re dealing with some really heavy stuff, and so am I. Usually a game of Duel Monsters helps me clear my mind and figure out my stuff so I was thinking it might be the same for you.”

“I suppose… it’s worth a try.” I said with a smile. “But first… what do you think of your new hair?”

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

“Wow.” That’s all I could think to say as I looked at the new me in the hand mirror Rarity lent me. My hair was now really short, down just past my ears just like I asked for. I’d never seen it this short in my life… and I kinda loved it.

“How does it look?” Rarity asked nervously.

“I… I really love it.” I said, Rarity breathing a sigh of relief. “I think I’m going to like the new me.” I said with a smile, playing around with the edges of my hair.

“I think I already do.” Rarity said kindly, giving me a kiss on the head. “Now then, I believe you had been talking about a duel, darling?”

“Yes! Just let me grab my Duel Disk…” I sprung up out of the chair and looked around my house for the thing. The place was practically spotless now and I got to be honest, that was a tad bit disorienting for me.

“Actually, I was thinking we could just play the old-fashioned way this time.” Rarity pulled her deck out from the powder blue deck box hanging at her belt and placed it on the kitchen island. “No holograms, just a table and some cards.”

“That’s… going to be a little bit weird, but I’m down for it!” I said enthusiastically. I was super hyped to fight Rarity for the first time in two years. We used to play together all the time, but then again so did all of us. But Rarity and I… I dunno, I just missed her.

Rarity and I sat at the kitchen island, cards all neatly set up in front of us on the granite. No holograms, just cards. It really was strange to be playing this way after being used to the other way for so long, but it was cool.

“I’ll go first.” Rarity said. “It’s not polite to keep a woman of refinement and class such as myself waiting after all, is it?”

“Sure.” I rolled my eyes. “And after you’re done boring me to death with your tired speeches, I’ll take my turn and absolutely decimate you.” I said teasingly, giving Rarity a cocky smile.

“Harhar.” Rarity said. “I’ll start by placing this Gem-Armadillo on the field.” Rarity put the card on the table in front of her and even without holograms I could still imagine the creature coming to life, an armored armadillo with rockets attached to his back and sparkly orange gemstones peeking out from his hardened shell. “When this monster is normal summoned, I can add a Gem-Knight monster from my deck to my hand. And I choose…” Rarity searched through her deck and delicately took one card from it, placing it in front of her. “This one! Gem-Knight Obsidian.”

Obsidian was a towering man made of shiny black stone, a huge strand of black prayer beads wrapped around his body.

“Wow, how edgy.” I said drolly.

“Well Twilight, make jokes now because in a moment you will be too overwhelmed by my radiant and stunning power to even think straight!” Rarity said melodramatically, breaking out into a haughty evil laugh immediately after. “I activate Gem-Knight Fusion, which allows me to discard Obsidian along with my Gem-Knight Sapphire from my hand, to Fusion Summon one Gem-Knight Aquamarine from my Extra Deck, in defense mode.”

Aquamarine was definitely a defensive Monster, with 2600 DEF and only 1400 ATK. But not only that, he was encased in full blue plate armor that covered him entirely. It was hard to tell where the armor stopped and the Monster started. Plus he had a big shield with a dazzling blue gemstone in the center.

“Rarity, I think I know how Fusion Summoning works.” I teased.

“I see. Well then do you know my Gem-Knight Obsidian’s special ability?” Rarity placed her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand, looking at me and batting her eyelashes while smiling adorably. I sighed and nodded sadly.

When Obsidian went to the graveyard from the hand, Rarity was allowed to Special Summon a Normal Monster, aka a Monster that had no Effect, from her graveyard, such as her Gem-Knight Sapphire. Rarity placed Sapphire, a skinny blue lizard-looking man made of icy stone, next to Aquamarine in defense mode.

“But wait, there’s more!” Rarity said dramatically “Now watch, and be amazed, as I banish Obsidian from the graveyard to return Gem-Knight Fusion to my hand! And by playing it again, and fusing my Sapphire and my Gem-Armadillo, I can summon my Gem-Knight Zirconia!”

Zirconia was another stone man in full platemail but he was much thicker and beefier. Also both her Fusion Monsters had stylish capes and it made me wonder if I would look good in a cape. Food for thought.

“I’ll banish Sapphire from the graveyard to return Gem-Knight Fusion to my hand once again, and that will be the end of my turn. See if you can top that, Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity said with a polite yet haughty smile. I looked forward to wiping it off her face!

“I think I can.” I said with a grin. Looking at my hand, it wasn’t great. Prophecy Destroyer and High Priestess, but with two Spellbooks that I couldn’t use, specifically Eternity and Wisdom, not to mention Temperance, who was super bad since all of my high-Level Spellcasters were already in my hand.

That said, the last card in my hand was the one that was really interesting.

“I summon Aleister the Invoker!” I said proudly, placing my summoner on the field. “And when he’s Normal Summoned, I can add one Invocation to my hand. And now I’ll activate it! Hey Rarity, do you know how Fusion Summoning works?”

“I’ve never heard of it, darling.” Rarity said drolly. “Why don’t you explain it to me?”

“I will!” I said, sticking my tongue out. “By banishing my Aleister and your Gem-Armadillo in the graveyard, I can Fusion Summon Invoked Magellanica!” To be honest, Magellanica was one of my favorite cards, a giant mountain animated by magic? Super cool! Plus, you couldn’t go wrong with 3000 ATK! “I’ll have him attack your…”

I looked at Rarity’s two monsters and pondered. Zirconia had no Effect but 2900 ATK, it wouldn’t take much additional power for him to run over Magellanica, not to mention that Aquamarine was in defense mode so Rarity wouldn’t take any damage if he died. That, and he had an ability that activated when he was killed, so it stood to reason that hitting Zirconia was the right call.

“I’ll attack Zirconia.” I said confidently, tapping on Rarity’s card. Now normally, it’s considered super rude to just touch your opponent’s cards without asking, but Rarity was one of my best friends so it was fine in this instance. Rarity nodded and took Zirconia, dropping him off into the graveyard, her Life being reduced to 3900. Not seeing the whole ‘kaboom! Kablowie!’ thing when Monsters did battle was still something I needed to adjust to. “I’ll use Invocation’s ability to return itself to the deck and my banished Aleister to my hand, and then it’s your turn, Rarity.”

“I see you didn’t go for my Aquamarine.” Rarity chuckled as she drew her card. “Which makes sense, but unfortunately for you his effect doesn’t specify how he needs to go to the graveyard to activate it.” Rarity began to smile devilishly.

“You’re going to fuse it.” I said dreadfully.

“Why of course, darling.” Rarity said, placing a card face-down. “What else would I do? But first, I’m going to activate my Pot of Desires. By banishing the top ten cards of my deck, face-down, I can draw two cards.”

“That’s a little extreme.” I said in surprise.

“Sometimes you just need a little shot in the arm.” Rarity shrugged. “I’ll place the two cards I drew face-down, and now I’ll flip up my Gem-Knight Fusion to fuse my Aquamarine with the Tourmaline in my hand, allowing me to play Gem-Knight Topaz!” Topaz, a thin stone man in golden armor with lightning-bolt-shaped blades held in either arm.

“He’s weak.” I laughed. “With only 1800 ATK he’s no match for Magellanica… which should matter, but it doesn’t.” My smile evaporated as the realization dawned on me.

“Not with the effect of my Aquamarine it doesn’t, no.” Rarity said with a bold smile.

Aquamarine’s ability activated when it went to the graveyard, and it returned one card I controlled back to my hand, or in Magellanica’s case the Extra Deck. Either way, it left me with a completely empty field.

“It’s also worth noting that while Topaz may have only 1800 ATK,” Rarity raised a pinky finger to her lips… “he can attack twice.” …and started laughing haughtily.

“Aw, crud.” I grumbled. Topaz laid two attacks into me, reducing my Life to a measly 400. “I’m still gonna make a comeback, you know.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Rarity nodded approvingly. “And it begins now, for my turn is now over.”

“Then I’ll start by summoning Aleister the Invoker.” I said, placing him on the field yet again. “And I’ll play Invocation, which lets me-”

“Yes I know, you’re going to steal one of my monsters.” Rarity flipped over one of her face-down cards. “Unfortunately for you, I have this trap card. Fragment Fusion. It allows me to banish all three Gem-Knight monsters in my graveyard in order to Fusion Summon Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond, who has a grand total of 3400 ATK. Plus, you can’t steal my monsters if they aren’t in the graveyard.”

Lady Diamond… a really good card for Rarity right now. She was a dazzling and slender knight made out of diamond, with a daring red cape and a thin white blade.

“Pretty smart, Rarity.” I said. “But I have my own Monster I can use.” I revealed the Earth-Attribute Temperance of Prophecy in my hand and sent it to the graveyard, banishing Aleister alongside it, to re-summon Invoked Magellanica, placing him proudly on the field!

“Your monster’s tough, Twilight.” Rarity fanned herself with the one remaining card in her hand. “But mine’s tougher.”

“Not for long.” I said. “But first, let’s deal with that pesky face-down card. I activate the effect of my High Priestess of Prophecy! By revealing three Spellbook cards in my hand, Eternity, Wisdom and Star Hall, I can summon it to the field! Now with High Priestess’ effect, I’ll banish Spellbook of Wisdom to destroy your face-down card!”

I was very pleased to see Rarity’s face-down card was a Mirror Force, which would have destroyed both my monsters as soon as I tried to attack hers.

“Now I’ll activate Spellbook Star Hall.” I explained. “Every time I use a Spellbook from now on, all my Spellcasters gain 100 ATK.”

“But Magellanica is not a Spellcaster, correct?” Rarity asked.

“He’s not.” I shook my head.

“Then how are you going to overcome my monster’s ATK?” Rarity scoffed. “You would have to play no less than nine Spellbook cards to raise the ATK of your High Priestess from 2500 to 3400, and I know you don’t have that many, you just showed them to me.”

“But you’re forgetting one other ability I haven’t used this turn.” I said confidently, Rarity arching an eyebrow. “Invocation! By returning it to the deck I can return Aleister to my hand, and his second ability allows me to discard him to buff one Fusion Monster that I control by 1000 ATK!”

“Ah.” Rarity said with a pang of dismay in her voice. “That’s how you’re going to do it then.”

“Yep, but that’s not all.” I said, placing my Spellbook of Eternity on the field. “With this card I can return my Spellbook of Wisdom to my hand, and then I’ll activate it as well, giving my High Priestess an extra 200 ATK thanks to Star Hall.”

“I’m shaking in my boots, Twilight.” Rarity said flatly, a coy smile on her face.

“You should be, because I’m about to leave you with an empty field and one card in your hand!” I said excitedly, pounding a soft fist on the table and really just hurting myself. “Magellanica attacks Lady Brilliant Diamond, and High Priestess will attack your Topaz!” Both of Rarity’s monsters were sent to the graveyard, sure enough leaving Rarity with an empty field and reducing her Life to 2400. “Your turn, I guess. I’d love to see you come back from this.” I said, acting a little bit pompous.

“Oh, Twilight.” Rarity laughed softly. “You don’t understand that I already won.”

“Say what?” I said flatly.

“I’ve been holding on to my ace card this entire duel.” Rarity explained, revealing the last card in her hand to be Brilliant Fusion. “With this card I can send Gem-Knight Lapis and Gem-Knight Lazuli to the graveyard, and in exchange I can Fusion Summon Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!”

Lapis-Lazuli was an angel-eyed woman made of white stone in blue flowing robes… also made of stone somehow.

“And that does what exactly?” I’d never seen that card in Rarity’s deck before. She must’ve added some new tricks since we last played.

“By sending Gem-Knight Garnet from the deck to the graveyard,” Rarity said “I can deal 500 damage to you for every Special Summoned monster on the field. There are three, that equals 1500, since your Life is only 400 Lapis Lazuli could be the only monster on the field and I would still win.”

“Well then.” I said as Rarity put the card in the graveyard, activating the effect that reduced my Life to 0. “Good game, Rarity.” I picked up my cards, smiling like a doofus the whole time. Even though I lost, it was just really fun to play with Rarity again after so long.

“Good game, Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity stood up and walked over to me, kissing me on the top of the head and making me blush.

****

I was blushing pretty intensely as I looked at myself in the new outfit that Rarity picked out for me, still hiding in the dressing room at the store. A loose, midriff-baring lavender dress shirt, purple miniskirt and dark-purple-almost-black thigh-high socks. Very feminine, not what I was used to at all.

“Are you sure about this?” I said nervously to Rarity who was sitting on the ledge behind me inside the dressing room.

“Do you like the way that you look in it?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t especially like the way that I look in general.” I said grimly. “Side effect of being transgender, I guess.”

“You’ve spent a long time hiding from your femininity, Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity stood up and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m simply suggesting that you embrace it instead.”

“And you don’t think, like… everyone will immediately know that I’m trans?” I said worriedly.

“I don't think so.” Rarity said with a breathy sigh. “Take it from another trans lady, I know that looking beautiful can help you to feel beautiful, and that’s what I want for you. If anyone tries to start something with you, to tell you that you’re less than you are, I will protect you. I won’t let you be hurt for being true to yourself, darling.”

“Thank you, Rarity.” I said as Rarity sat back down. I did a little spin and was slightly hypnotized by the swaying of my skirt. I really did look good, and I liked how it felt to be dressing so girly. “I really do want this… I want to feel like myself again.”

“And that’s why I’m here.” Rarity said proudly. “To help guide you back to where you need to be, and to help shoulder the burden of life while you get there… in fact, if you’d like… I could stay with you full time.” Rarity gave a coy smile.

“What do you mean?” I asked tentatively.

“Applejack is going house hunting today with Pinkie and Fluttershy.” Rarity explained. “She’s hoping to find a place for herself and is thinking of asking one or both of those girls to be her housemates.”

“But not you.” I said.

“Correct.” Rarity nodded her head. “We both agreed that the ‘living together’ portion of a relationship was a step too fast for us right now. Sharing a bed every so often? That’s fine. Even spending a couple of nights in the same hotel room and such, totally fine. But living together is a whole new… thing.”

“And since you’re having doubts…” I said.

“I’m not the only one.” Rarity sighed. She shook her head and redressed her smile. “My point is, I’m in need of a living space also. Naturally, considering my funds, I have no shortage of options, but I would very much like to begin again where we left off two years ago and move back in with you.”

“We’d be like sisters again.” I said, trying to hold back my excitement and also tears.

“Yes.” Rarity nodded with a serene smile on her face.

“Cute sisters who flirt with each other and occasionally have sexy pajama parties.” I added with a cheeky smile.

“Of course.” Rarity laughed into her hand.

“I would love for you to move back in with me, Rarity.” And with that the tears started flowing and I grabbed onto Rarity, holding her for dear life. She returned the affection.

“You have a long road ahead of you, Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity said as I nuzzled my head against her shoulder. “We all do. And I would very much like to travel it together from here on out.”

“Nothing would make me happier…” I said serenely. “Except…”

“What’s that?” Rarity tilted her head.

“Rainbow Dash.” I growled, standing back up and tapping my foot on the ground. There wasn’t enough room to pace inside this dressing room which was making me even more agitated than I already was!

“You can’t let her go, can you?” Rarity said.

“Everything in me is telling me I need to keep fighting for her.” I said irritably, half a mind to punch the mirror and shatter the glass all over my fist. “My gut just keeps shouting at me that I need to dig my heels in until she sees how bad Whiplash is for her, how bad her life is for her, and how she can escape from it! I… the six of us need to come back together again, I can feel it…”

“So can I.” Rarity said, and to be honest nothing could have been more relieving than to hear her say that, to finally have someone agree with me about Rainbow.

“I… I need to talk to her one last time.” I said pensively. “Is that the stupidest thing in the world?” I laughed nervously. “She’s already told me, more than once, that we need to stop seeing each other… and yet, here I am, ready to track her down at her house if that’s what it takes… am I just the dumbest person on earth?”

“No, although this is a fairly terrible choice.” Rarity said. This time her words were not quite as comforting. “But it is the same choice I would make in your position. And if it helps, I can go with you to make sure you don’t do anything too stupid.”

“I would like that.” I said. “And if it doesn’t work out this time, if Rainbow still refuses to listen to me, not that I could blame her at this point… then that’s it. That’s the end and it needs to be finished. This is the last time I will be going to try and convince Rainbow Dash to come back to us.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Rarity smiled.

“Let’s go get Rainbow Dash.” I said, hesitant but strangely confident. This time would be different… I hoped.
> 12. Listen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

I walked up the hill to Rainbow Dash’s house as grey clouds began to roll over across the sky. Pinkie had been texting Rainbow and told me that Whiplash wasn’t around so now was the time to do this. Rarity was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. She wanted to come with me for emotional support, and also be there just in case things got bad between Rainbow and I, but this conversation between Rainbow and I needed to be just between us without any interference.

Rainbow, standing on the gravelly driveway outside her house, wasn’t happy to see me walking up the hill.

“What are you doing here?” She said coldly, arms crossed and looking down at me.

“We need to talk.” I said, adjusting my glasses and trying to look brave.

“Hey, you cut your hair.” Rainbow said suddenly.

“Uh, yeah.” I’d almost forgotten that I did that and felt the empty space behind my ears where hair used to be, and started feeling self-conscious.

“It looks really cute.” Rainbow said. Then she looked away and started blushing. “I mean, it looks cool. You’re c… uh, you look, it looks good. It’s a good look. You did… you’re good. With the hair I mean, it looks fine. And good. Or whatever.” Rainbow started coughing as a transparent method to distract from her nervous rambling.

“Thanks. I ran my hand through what was left of my hair and I was starting to blush myself. I took a quick deep breath to re-center myself and remember why I came here. Then I just started talking, and talking so fast that I didn’t have time to question the things I was saying, otherwise I was going to second guess and overthink everything until the truth of what I had to say was gone.

“You can’t stay here anymore, Rainbow. You can’t stay with Whiplash.” Rainbow growled and rolled her eyes then glared at me irritably, but I kept at it. “You deserve better! You deserve to live in a house that isn’t falling apart! You deserve to have food in your stomach every day! You deserve to be surrounded by friends who care about you! You deserve to be with someone who treats you like you’re a champion! Because you are! You deserve so much better than what Whiplash can give you… so please, come back to us. All of your friends are waiting for you.”

“Twilight…” Rainbow sighed, pounding her forehead.

“Have a duel with me.” I said, interrupting Rainbow’s retort.

“What?” Rainbow said confusedly.

“Duel me.” I repeated. “And if I win… agree to move in with me and Rarity.”

“Twilight, you can’t…” Rainbow grimaced and pinched the bridge of her nose but then something dawned on her and her demeanor completely changed. She became softer, her voice trembling ever so slightly. “Rarity? She’s back from Canterlot?”

“Yeah, you didn’t know?” I asked in mild surprise. “She and Applejack got back the other day, they’re still settling back into Fillydelphia.”

“They’re back for real?” Rainbow asked, a quiver of excitement just barely detectible in her voice. “Like, they’re staying?”

“Seems like it.” I said. “And they both want you to come back to our group too.”

“Applejack doesn’t.” Rainbow scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“I don’t think that’s true.” I said. “I know you guys used to get into a lot of arguments, but she’s changed. You have too! And I think that you and I, and you and Applejack, can set aside our stupid conflicts from four years ago and start a new chapter in our lives. Walk down these new paths of ours together. So what do you say, Rainbow? Duel?”

“Twilight, you can’t solve every problem you have with card games.” Rainbow said in annoyance.

“Well, when all you have is a hammer…” I said with an anxious smile and a light shrug. “Besides, wouldn’t you do the same thing in my shoes?”

Rainbow just stared blankly at me, trying not to admit that I was right.

“Fine.” She groaned. “But if I win, you have to leave your deck here with me.”

“What?! Why?!” I said defensively, holding my deck to my chest.

“Because something needs to be at stake for you too!” Rainbow snapped. “If I say ‘oh and if I win don’t talk to me again’ you’ll just ignore it whenever it suits you! Whenever you feel like you’ve got some new kernel of wisdom that’ll suddenly change my mind and make me leave my girlfriend! So if I win, I’m taking your deck.”

I looked at my cards and felt a pang of dread in my stomach. It was an easy decision, but one that was painful to make.

“It’s a deal.” I said, loading my deck into my Duel Disk.

“Then let’s end this.” Rainbow said, doing the same thing.

DUEL!

Twilight Sparkle vs. Rainbow Dash!

I needed to get through to Rainbow Dash in this duel. If my words weren’t going to convince her, maybe I could do it with… I don’t know, pure conviction or something. Plus, now my deck was on the line so I really needed to win this duel. And aside from all that, it would just be really embarrassing to lose after that whole speech I gave Rainbow.

I drew my opening hand. Invocation, Spellbook of Secrets, Fool of Prophecy, Charioteer of Prophecy, and High Priestess of Prohecy. I groaned quietly, hoping Rainbow couldn’t hear me or see the look of consternation on my face. I kept drawing really bad opening hands lately.

Oh well, since I could only use two of these cards, I may as well make the most of them!

“I play Spellbook of Secrets!” I looked through my deck for a card to retrieve. I needed new cards in my hand, so I thought maybe Spellbook of Rudra? But then, that would require me to leave my field empty since I didn’t have any other Spellbook cards, and that would pretty much be a death sentence. Then I remembered I had an even better draw engine in my deck, at least for the long term. “I choose to put The Grand Spellbook Tower in my hand!” I said proudly, then placing the card on the field.

Rainbow and I were surrounded by quaint, vintage houses on all sides as I played my Field Spell, but the real star of this show was the giant silver tower academy the rose from the ground to touch the sky beside the field. Its magical powers allowed me to recycle Spellbook cards from my graveyard at the start of my turn, putting them back into the deck in order to draw a second card that turn. It wouldn’t take long for that ability to start raking in advantage for me, even with my sub-par opening selection.

“Now I summon Fool of Prophecy!” I said. The Fool was a messy-purple-haired lazy slacker of a mage with baggy green pants and a matching shirt, and with a yellow robe draped across his back and a twig in his mouth like he thought he was cool. “His ability allows me to put one Spellbook from my deck into the graveyard, so I’ll choose Power.” I wanted to build up my stockpile of Spellbooks in the graveyard so I could use the Tower’s Effect as many times as possible. “Now I end my turn.”

“That’s it?” Rainbow scoffed. She had been oddly quiet during my turn, not throwing out any quips while I made my moves. I didn’t like it. “After all that buildup, you’ve got a Field Spell and a 1600 ATK monster?”

“I’m thinking long term here!” I said defensively.

“There isn’t going to be a long term, Twilight!” Rainbow growled. “I ain’t messing around! I summon Mecha Phantom Beast Megaraptor!”

I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw the steel blue dinosaur jet as Rainbow’s first move. Megaraptor’s Effect only worked in tandem with her other Phantom cards, so playing it first was an odd choice. But like Rainbow said, she wasn’t about to mess around, she had a plan and it wasn’t going to be good for me.

“Next I’ll lay two cards face-down, and I’ll activate Foolish Burial!” Rainbow said. “This lets me put one monster from my deck into my graveyard.”

“…O-Lion.” My voice was weak with dread.

“How’d you guess?” Rainbow sneered. “And when O-Lion’s sent to the graveyard, he summons a Mecha Phantom Token, and whenever a token is summoned, Megaraptor summons one too! Now I can drop one of these two tokens to activate Megaraptor’s ability, which lets me add Mecha Phantom Beast Warbluran to my hand!”

“And now with O-Lion’s effect…” I sighed and put a hand on my forehead. I saw exactly where Rainbow’s strategy was heading and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it.

“I banish O-Lion from the graveyard in order to summon Warbluran!” Rainbow said, a pale green spacecraft in the shape of a smol birb gracing Rainbow’s field. “And since I control one Mecha Phantom Token, Megaraptor’s Level is increased to 7, which means I can Tune my Level 1 Warbluran to my Level 7 Megaraptor in order to Synchro Summon!”

Time almost seemed to slow down as I watched Rainbow’s monsters disappear for her Synchro Summon, Megaraptor dissipating into seven stars and hovering in the sky in a circle while Warbluran became pure white energy and shot through the circle, creating a dazzling clear portal. I couldn’t even bring myself to believe it until I saw her monster with my own eyes, and even then it was pretty hard to swallow.

“Scorching Scarlet Dragon! Envoy of my power and avatar of my very soul!” Rainbow declared, raising her fist and I almost swore I saw flames licking the ground around her feet. “Appear now and burn everything down! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!”

Rainbow’s ace monster. A muscular, bipedal black dragon with a serpentine tail, great leathery wings, vicious claws and a roaring maw with three intimidating demon horns on his head, his entire body covered in ancient red runes.

“Red Archfiend’s Effect.” Rainbow growled coldly, staring daggers right into my heart. “He can annihilate every other attack mode monster on the field.” The dragon’s markings glowed red and a powerful aura began emanating from it. it spread its wings and a burning red light shone through the whole field, making me cringe and shattering my Fool to shards. “Now attack directly!”

The Red Dragon roared and flew up into the sky, surpassing the height of my Tower and inhaling deeply before shooting a massive crimson fireball directly at me that quickly overwhelmed me as it closed in and covered me in holographic flames, causing me to scream bloody murder as my Life was reduced to 1000. On turn TWO.

I fell to my knees and started breathing heavy. My vision was getting blurry as tears formed in my eyes. It was turn two and Rainbow already had her ace monster on the field and reduced my Life Points to a pitiful 1000. I had no idea how to come back from that, especially with the meager hand that I had.

Breathe.

I heard her voice in my head.

“Breathe.” I whispered to myself, heeding the instruction and breathing deeply… in through the nose… and out through the mouth.

I took some deep breaths and looked at my hand again. It was my turn now so I needed to make a comeback. Using my Grand Spellbook Tower’s Effect I was able to return a Spellbook to the deck from the graveyard and draw an extra card, so now I had five cards in my hand. The two cards I drew were Chocolate Magician Girl and Drowning Mirror Force. I could work with these.

“I’ll set one card face-down, and summon Chocolate Magician Girl!” I could only describe Chocolate Magician Girl as a cute anime witch in blue stripper clothing, with bat wings on her back and a killer sassy smile. “Her Effect lets me discard one Spellcaster from my hand in order to draw a new card!” I discarded the High Priestess of Prophecy, a move I hoped would come in handy later.

This was it. The moment of truth. While I could hope to defend myself next turn with my trap card, what I really needed was for this draw to give me something I could use. Something really good. I drew the card and hesitated to look at it, but I got a good feeling in my gut. Then I saw what it was.

Aleister the Invoker.

I smiled brightly and said “I activate Invocation!” Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock. She couldn’t believe I drew into such a great card either. “By discarding Aleister the Invoker from my hand and banishing the Mecha Phantom Beast Megaraptor from your graveyard, I can Fusion Summon! Hit the field, Invoked Raidjin!”

A red circle appeared on the line between Rainbow’s field and my own and red lightning began to shower down upon it. From above Aleister, the nerdy white-and-green-robed mage, descended gracefully. From below Megaraptor was dragged in mystical chains, struggling for freedom that could not be earned. Aleister touched the chains with his index finger and they broke apart then put his hand on Megaraptor’s steel nose, calming the beast.

The circle began to glow as the two creatures were struck by the red lightning, becoming a swirling vortex on green energy that started brewing out of control into a mighty tornado! From this cyclone jumped an armored soldier, his body made entirely of electrical energy that was contained within his majestic silver armor! He carried a sword that could cut storms! Invoked Raidjin!

“Your Archfiend can’t hold a candle to this, Rainbow Dash!” I said nervously. Rainbow didn’t react to me stealing her monster this time so I was starting to get worried about her. To her, trash talking was half the game. The fact that she was ready to end it so soon and she hasn’t made a snarky comeback even once had me seriously on edge. “Raidjin’s effect allows me to flip your monster into face-down defense mode! Now Raidjin can attack it and destroy it!”

Raidjin’s ATK was 2200 and while Red Dragon’s ATK was 3000, its DEF was only 2000, making it a prime target for my soldier’s ability. The warrior sliced his sword swiftly enough to cause a gust of wind to charge at the Red Dragon Archfiend, forcing it to heel and be flipped into face-down defense mode. Then my knight leapt at the creature, falling downward onto it and piercing its heart with his mighty blade, an electrical storm crackling out of the dragon’s wound and consuming it.

“Don’t start getting a big head just because you killed my dragon, Twilight.” Rainbow scoffed. “I have way more tricks up my sleeve.”

“If you say so.” I said with a forced smile. Rainbow didn’t seem to be enjoying this duel. I needed to change that. I needed her to remember our last duel and how much fun it was. I couldn’t convince her to come back to us if all she was feeling was anger and resentment. “Now then, Chocolate Magician Girl will attack you directly!”

Choco Girl did a little dance with her magic wand, summoning a stream of water and then throwing it at Rainbow, the water becoming shards of ice in midair, but the attack was stopped by a rainbow-colored phantasm of Megaraptor.

“You used…” I grumbled, recognizing the combo Rainbow pulled.

“Aerial Recharge and Draw Muscle.” Rainbow said smugly, drawing a card. “One summons a Phantom Token, the other makes that token invincible for the turn and draws me a free card.”

“Right then…” I sighed irritably. As important as it was for Rainbow to enjoy this duel, it was also important that I win. Killing Rainbow’s Dragon was a good start but it was annoying that I couldn’t do any damage. Oh well, at least Rainbow’s field was empty now since she had to sacrifice her token to keep up Aerial Recharge’s maintenance cost. “It’s your turn.”

“Like I said, Twilight…” Rainbow smiled wickedly. “It’s too early to be celebrating. I activate Return of the Dragon Lords!”

“Oh! That’s… that’s really bad for me!” I cringed worriedly. Return of the Dragon Lords did one thing: revived a high level Dragon from the graveyard. It wasn’t hard to guess why Rainbow put it in her deck or what she was about to use it for.

“Be reborn! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!” Rainbow screamed as her dragon returned to the field in a blaze of destruction, roaring at my creatures that paled in comparison to it.

“Take this! Raidjin’s Effect activates, putting your monster harmlessly in defense mode again!” I said proudly. Raidjin threw another gust of wind from his blade that covered the Red Dragon and flipped into defense mode again. I honestly wasn’t expecting it to work, I thought Rainbow was going to pull some combo or something, but nope! Good for me.

“That’s fine with me.” Rainbow shrugged. “First I’ll activate… Void Expansion!”

A mysterious gate with eight colored stones on its face hovered in the sky above Rainbow. The bright yet cloudy sky we dueled under was covered up by a thick grey fog and all the little houses surrounding us from my own Field Spell were hidden by a wall of blue flame which now encroached around the entire field.

“Now I’ll summon Mecha Phantom Beast Tetherwolf!” Rainbow said as she summoned her black and white dog-copter, a colorful illusory version of the same beast following it into battle. “By sacrificing the token it created, Tetherwolf’s ATK raises from 1700 to 2500 for this turn, making it just strong enough to run over your Raidjin!”

Tetherwolf had two laser cannons attached to it by steel cords and the creature readied those cannons to fire at Raidjin, absorbing the phantom version of itself into the cannons and blasting rainbow laser bullets at my silver soldier, eradicating him and reducing my Life to 700.

“Rainbow, do you remember how much fun our last duel was?” I said.

“Yeah, because I wanted that one to be fun.” Rainbow said in frustration. “I wanted to have a fun duel with you one last time, and then I wanted to move on from all this. But this? This is just a chore.”

“But why, Rainbow?” I asked desperately, tears starting to fall down my face. “Why do you keep turning your back on me? On our friends? Why do you keep choosing Whiplash?”

“You act like I have some kind of real choice in the matter, Twilight!” Rainbow yelled back. “I told you that I made a commitment! I’m loyal to my friends and I keep my promises!”

“Then why did you turn your back on us?” Saying that… was a mistake.

“You guys turned your backs on ME!” Rainbow snapped. “When I found out how badly I needed to win that tournament four years ago, where were you guys? When me and Whiplash went into debt and I needed to find some way to pay it off, where were you guys? I thought you guys would have my back, I thought that together we could come up with some way to save Whiplash, but all I got were ultimatums. ‘Choose Whiplash or choose us’, that’s what everybody said! Nobody ever thought about how I might be feeling, nobody ever considered why saving Whiplash was important to me, all anyone said was ‘oh Whiplash is such a jerk you should leave her’ like that was something I could just do. Now it’s four years later and all I’m getting are lectures! Screw that! Get bent, Twilight! If you were really interested in helping me, instead of just making yourself feel better or soothing your own guilt, maybe you could freaking LISTEN!”

Rainbow started panting, her hands clenching into fists so hard I swore she was going to draw blood on her hands. I was speechless. I felt completely torn up… that kind of embarrassment where you feel naked even when you’re fully clothed.

“I… I’m sorry, Rainbow.” I said tearfully, not knowing what else to say. “I’m sorry. Four years ago I was… not in a good place. I don’t honestly know what I could have done differently, and I can’t speak for any of the others.”

“Good apology, Twilight.” Rainbow said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m not done!” I snapped, but then cleared my throat to remind myself to stay calm. “What’s done is done, but none of that excuses my behavior now. I’m still acting like I’m 100% right, like you’re just ‘misguided’ or ‘confused’ and that if you just saw things my way that you’d agree that I’m right and everything would be okay.” I mean, that is what I honestly thought, but still… “I haven’t even considered that you may really have thought all this stuff through and that you’re truly doing what you believe is the right thing. And for that, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that we weren’t there for you when you needed us. I’m sorry that no matter how I try, I can’t seem to figure out how to break through to you… no, that’s not… that’s still the same stupid thinking that got me into this mess. I just… ugh…”

“Just take your turn, Twilight.” Rainbow said coldly. “I have to summon and tribute a token to keep Aerial Recharge around, but now it’s your turn.”

“Right.” I was on the verge of tears again but I was so tired of crying. After returning a Spellbook from my graveyard to the deck, the Tower allowed me to draw a second card for this turn, but that was the last Spellbook in my graveyard so if I couldn’t play any Spellbooks this turn I couldn’t use its Effect next turn.

The cards I drew were Strength of Prophecy and Spellbook of the Master. I discarded Strength with Chocolate Magician Girl’s Effect and drew Spellbook of Eternity. I couldn’t use Master because I had no Spellbooks in the graveyard to copy, and I couldn’t use Eternity since I had no banished Spellbooks.

“I change Chocolate Magician Girl into defense mode…” I said hesitantly. “And I’ll end my turn.”

“My turn.” Rainbow said. After Rainbow drew her card a small vial of black liquid appeared on her side of the field next to her Tetherwolf and face-down Archfiend. Void Expansion’s ability allowed Rainbow to summon a token like that every turn. “First thing’s first, I’ll use Pot of Desires.”

“So you can draw two cards…” I said. “… but you lose the top ten cards of your deck first.”

“No risk no reward, right?” Rainbow sneered. “Now I’ll summon Mecha Phantom Beast Coltwing!”

Coltwing looked like a first-class passenger plane but with helicopter rotors on either wing and an extended head section that reached out of the nose of the plane that looked like a birdy.

“I use Aerial Recharge to summon a new Phantom Token.” Rainbow said, the token being her fifth monster on the field, not that it was about to matter. “Now by sacrificing the Phantom and Infernoid tokens on my side of the field,” Rainbow said, pointing at my face-down card “Coltwing can destroy and banish one card on the field!”

The rotor blades on Coltwing’s wings began spinning wildly, the inky jar and phantasmal version of Coltwing being absorbed into the blades and transformed into green energy then shot out at my face-down card like a missile, destroying it.

And just like that my Drowning Mirror Force, my one hope for defending myself, was gone. Between Tetherwolf, Coltwing and Rainbow’s Dragon my field was going to get decimated this turn. I only had one meager hope left with my Chocolate Magician Girl…

“Now I flip my Hot Red Dragon Archfiend back into attack mode!” Rainbow said. Thankfully my Choco Girl was in defense mode otherwise Rainbow’s Dragon could kill it with its Effect, but no such luck for Rainbow this turn! “Coltwing attacks your Chocolate Magician Girl!”

“I activate her Effect!” I said, a little disappointed that Rainbow remembered what the Effect was and chose Coltwing as her first attacker. While Choco Girl being in defense saved her from Red Dragon, her 1000 DEF made her an easy target for the 1600 ATK Coltwing. “When my Magician Girl is targeted for an attack, I can revive a Spellcaster in my graveyard and make them the attack target instead! And not only that, but the attacking monster’s ATK is cut in half! So be reborn, High Priestess of Prophecy!”

A stream of water surrounded my Chocolate Magician Girl and out of it came my wild-pink-maned white coat magician, my High Priestess of Prophecy! Her calming effect on my nerves as she came to the field would only be temporary so I relished it while she was here. Coltwing’s rotors spun out of control and it launched them at the Priestess, who simply grabbed them out of the air and threw them back at Coltwing, piercing its armor and causing it to explode, reducing Rainbow’s Life to 2200.

“Next, Tetherwolf will continue the attack on Chocolate Magician Girl!” With Choco Girl’s Effect already activated once this turn there was nothing to defend her from the barrage of bullets unleashed by Tetherwolf, so she was destroyed. “And now, last but not least, Hot Red Dragon Archfiend! Kill Twilight’s High Priestess!”

The Red Dragon stormed toward my Priestess and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground as she struggled against him to no avail. Her wailing scream as the dragon burnt her to ash, and reduced my Life to 200, haunted me as it resounded in my mind. No matter how many times it happened I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t devastated to see my High Priestess get destroyed.

“Next up I’ll use Iron Call.” Rainbow said flippantly. “This allows me to revive Coltwing from the graveyard, but his effect doesn’t work and I have to destroy him at the end of my turn. But, I can sacrifice him to keep Aerial Recharge on the field instead, so I’ll do that and end my turn.”

I wanted to say something to Rainbow but the knots in my stomach prevented me from focusing enough to make coherent words. I needed to make a comeback this turn or else this duel was effectively over.

“My turn!” I whimpered. The card I drew was Charioteer of Prophecy… not good enough to make a comeback, but I wasn’t about to give up! “I activate Spellbook of Rudra, and I’ll sacrifice…” My heart jumped up into my throat as I announced the sacrifice, but it needed to be done. “…my Tower to do it!”

It was heartbreaking to sacrifice the Tower, watching it crumble into dust as the village houses around us were swallowed up by the dismal blue flames of Rainbow’s Field, the once great Tower no longer providing a small glint of hope against the cold gray sky that Void Expansion produced. But still… Rudra could be a life saver for me if I could just draw two Spellbook cards. Any two Spellbook cards.

I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked at my drawn cards, Spellbook of Power and Spellbook of Rudra!

“I summon the Charioteer of Prophecy!” I said joyfully as a blonde man in green robes and a teal cape, riding a stunning white horse, appeared before me. “His Effect allows me to discard the Spellbook of Rudra in my hand to put High Priestess back in my hand, and now her Effect! By revealing the three Spellbook cards in my hand, Eternity, Master and Power, I can summon her to the field!”

In a storm of paper and rays of white light, my High Priestess descended from the sky, confidently taking her place on the field as my vanguard against Rainbow’s forces. It was good to see her again.

“Now I’ll use her Effect!” I said. Her Effect required me to banish one of my Spellbooks, either in the hand or in the graveyard, but which one I banished could have consequences… especially since my Spellbook of Eternity could just return whichever one to my hand to use again. I could return my Tower, but I wanted to keep my Spellbooks in the graveyard at this point so High Priestess could use them. Maybe Master? But what would be the point of that? Rudra? I couldn’t use it again this turn, but maybe next…

“C’mon, Twilight. Pick a card.” Rainbow said agitatedly.

“Uh, right! I’ll banish Spellbook of Eternity!” I couldn’t think what to do and was starting to seriously overthink so I just needed to narrow my options. I had a feeling I would regret that decision later though. “Now High Priestess can destroy your Red Dragon Archfiend!”

My High Priestess took the white book of Eternity in her hands, absorbing the power from it into a sphere of white energy as the pages crumbled to dust between her fingers. She held the sphere against Red Dragon Archfiend and fired it, the energy exploding into a ball of white flame and enveloped him, but once the flames passed he was completely unharmed!

“Not so fast!” Rainbow said. “I banish Return of the Dragon Lords from my graveyard, and that protects one Dragon-type monster I control from destruction once this turn!”

 “Fair enough.” I smiled roughly. “Then I guess I’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way! I activate Spellbook of Power! This raises my High Priestess’ ATK to 3500, allowing her to stomp your Red Dragon!”

High Priestess was bathed in the mystical red glow of the Spellbook of Power, turning the energy into a sword which she held aloft, jumping into the air and cleaving Red Dragon Archfiend down the center, cutting it in twain and destroying it, reducing Rainbow’s Life to 1700.

“When a monster buffed by Spellbook of Power destroys another opponent’s monster,” I said “I can add another Spellbook to my hand! I choose… Spellbook of the Master!” My head was such a mess that I literally just picked the first Spellbook I saw, not even remembering that I already held a copy of Master in my hand. “Now then, Charioteer! Attack Rainbow’s Tetherwolf!”

Charioteer stormed across the field on his mighty steed, brandishing his magical sword and slicing through Tetherwolf with its 1800 ATK and reducing Rainbow’s Life to 1600. Because Rainbow activated her Aerial Recharge before the battle, Tetherwolf survived the attack.

Looking at my hand, I now had two Spellbook of the Master cards in it. Probably one too many. Why did I put another one in my hand when I already had one?! One more boneheaded mistake like that and this duel was over, but I wasn’t exactly playing at my best in this game. I was so distracted by Rainbow’s anger and my own guilt. I needed to step up my game if I really wanted to win this, to get through to Rainbow and to keep my deck.

“I activate Spellbook of the Master!” I said. “By revealing the other Spellbook of the Master in my hand I can copy the Spellbook of Rudra in my graveyard, sending Charioteer of Prophecy to the graveyard to draw two cards.”

The pink Spellbook of Rudra fell into the hands of the Charioteer who silently nodded as the tendrils absorbed him and his horse into the book which disappeared thereafter.

I couldn’t risk a monster as weak as Charioteer staying on the field, not with only 200 Life left. The two cards his sacrifice enabled me to draw were Dark Renewal and Foolish Burial Goods, a Spell card that would let me put one of my Spellbooks in the graveyard, which was an effect that I didn’t want to use since I needed to actually draw one of my Spellbooks.

“I set one card face-down and end my turn!” I said. Rainbow sacrificed a token to keep Aerial Recharge, leaving her Tetherwolf as her only monster on the field and no cards in her hand.

At the start of her turn, the inky black Infernoid Token appeared on Rainbow’s side of the field.

“I’m gonna tribute my Infernoid Token to power up my Tetherwolf!” Rainbow said, her monster’s ATK becoming 2500 again. “Now I’ll use Aerial Recharge!” As Rainbow’s Phantom Token was summoned, it was suddenly swallowed up, along with my High Priestess, by an ornate coffin, which opened to reveal Prophecy Destroyer in their stead, my grinning devil’s face mocking Rainbow’s disrupted strategy.

“Sorry, Rainbow.” I said with a coy smile. “Dark Renewal lets me sacrifice your token and my Priestess to summon Prophecy Destroyer from the deck! And with no Phantom Token, Tetherwolf doesn’t get to remain invincible, plus you have to choose between him and Aerial Recharge.” Not only that, but she couldn’t just attack Destroyer with Tetherwolf to kill them both because Destroyer could just revive himself. I felt pretty proud of myself, and for the first time in this duel I was pulling ahead!

Rainbow growled under her breath and looked at the only card in her hand. “I’ll play a monster in defense mode… and sacrifice Tetherwolf.”

“I summon Chocolate Magician Girl!” I said happily as my cute little anime stripper witch hit the field anew. What a perfect card to draw into. With Rainbow summoning new tokens every turn with Aerial Recharge and Void Expansion I needed another monster to keep up, and Choco’s effect allowed her to stay safe and not be unceremoniously killed. “Choco will attack your face-down monster!”

“I activate Aerial Recharge and summon a Phantom Token!” Rainbow said.

“Then…” I pondered for a second. When a monster was summoned during a battle, it caused a Replay which allowed me to change my attack target. If Rainbow was willing to summon her token now, instead of at the end of her turn so she could keep Recharge on the field, then her face-down monster must have been a Mecha Phantom and she was planning on using the token to keep it alive. In that case… “Chocolate Magician Girl will attack the Phantom Token!”

Choco Girl’s water-to-ice attack tore through the illusory Tetherwolf Rainbow summoned easily. After all, the Phantom Tokens didn’t have any DEF.

“Now Prophecy Destroyer will attack your face-down monster!” The fiery devil dragged his sword behind him, slowly speeding up into a running blitz and slicing through the mysterious defender as he passed by it.

“The monster you destroyed was my Hamstrat,” Rainbow explained “and when he’s flipped face-up, he summons two Phantom Tokens!” Two rainbow colored phantasms of a passenger jet with a hamster’s face appeared on Rainbow’s field. There was a lot Rainbow could do with two tokens, even if they were all she had on the field.

“Hm… fair enough.” I started biting my nails. Even with no cards in hand Rainbow’s field looked good. There were a lot of cards she could draw into that could help her turn this around, and I already lost a duel this week to an incredible topdeck, something that I did not want to make a pattern out of. “I end my turn.” Rainbow sacrificed one of the tokens for Aerial Recharge.

Rainbow drew her card and a weary smile appeared on her face as another inky jar appeared to replace the sacrificed Phantom Token. “This is perfect. I summon Mecha Phantom Beast O-Lion!”

O-Lion. That card was a nightmare to deal with in our last duel. Despite only being a small bronze satellite with a lion’s face, and I was starting to lean towards ‘cute’ by the way, he was a real troublemaker for me!

“Now with Aerial Recharge, I summon another Phantom Token!” Rainbow said, summoning another hologram of O-Lion. “And I’ll Tune my Level 2 O-Lion with my two Level 3 Phantom Tokens to Synchro Summon! Bright shining light… avatar of my heart… spread your glittering wings and protect my forces from evil! Fly! Stardust Spark Dragon!”

I was awestruck by Rainbow’s monster. A slender white dragon with beautiful feathery wings whose entire body glittered like gemstones and offered a radiant aura of protection across Rainbow’s field.

“You still have it.” I said in amazement. Stardust Spark Dragon was a card that I gave to Rainbow many years ago. I remembered giving it to her as a gift because I thought she needed some new tricks other than Red Dragon Archfiend. We were still kids then and I got so giddy whenever she played it… and here it was, so many years and a friendship-ruining fight later… still in her deck and by her side. “You’re still… you’re using it!” I said tearfully.

“Yeah… I am.” Rainbow said distantly, staring at the ground and kicking some gravel. “We had a lot of good times, Twilight. I still treasure our friendship… the memory of it anyway.”

“We can make new memories, Rainbow.” I pleaded. “We can pick up where we left off…”

“It’s too late for that, Twilight!” Rainbow snapped.

“Rainbow, tell me honestly that you don’t want to be friends anymore!” I dug my feet into the ground and stared sharply at Rainbow, even making eye contact… very briefly. “Can you really say to my face, and honestly believe in your heart, that we can’t be friends?! You know, deep down somewhere you know, that you miss what we had…”

“Of course I miss it!” Rainbow yelled as tears formed in her eyes. “Of course I miss what we had! But that’s the past, Twilight! You can’t just sweep everything that’s happened under the rug and pretend like it didn’t exist! We both hurt each other, Twilight, I know this. I know I haven’t been a saint, or even close to it! But what’s done is done, like you said, and there’s no turning back from it.”

“Rainbow…” I shook my head sadly. “You’re right. You leaving, choosing Whiplash over us… it hurt me. It hurt me really badly. It was the last straw on a pile of weights and anvils that were waiting for any opportunity to come crashing down on me. I still haven’t recovered from the downward spiral of it all… but to be honest that spiral started way more than four years ago. You leaving just gave me something I could focus all of my pain and anger into. I’ve hated you for four years, thinking about how selfish you are and how your decision hurt all of our friends and how stupid it was and all this other nonsense… but none of that matters… none of it was even real. Just a bunch of smoke and mirrors so that I didn’t have to face why I was really angry, why I was really spiraling. It’s not your fault that I’m still in pain Rainbow, and I forgive the hurt that you did cause me. I just want my friend back.”

“Twilight…” Rainbow started to break down crying but she inhaled sharply and went back to staring daggers. “This duel isn’t over yet. Stardust Spark Dragon attacks Prophecy Destroyer! Their ATK is both 2500, but once per turn Stardust Spark Dragon can protect a monster on my field from being destroyed and he’ll use that effect on himself!”

Stardust Dragon zoomed toward Prophecy Destroyer and lifted it off the ground before it could react, taking it into the air before spinning wildly and crashing toward the ground, protecting itself with an armor of light as the two creatures crashed, the impact eliminating my Destroyer.

“I know you’re gonna want to revive your Prophecy Destroyer, Twilight.” Rainbow said. “So I’ll nip that in the bud with D.D. Crow!” I cringed. By discarding the Crow, Rainbow could banish one monster from my graveyard, so that was the last I was going to see of Destroyer. “Your move, Twilight.” Rainbow sacrificed her last Phantom Token, the one summoned by O-Lion when it went to the graveyard, to keep Aerial Recharge.

“Okay, I can do this…” I whispered to myself as I drew my card. Amores of Prophecy, a monster with 1000 ATK whose Effect I couldn’t use. Completely useless right now. I discarded it with Chocolate Magician Girl’s Effect… and drew Stoic of Prophecy, a monster which 300 ATK and an ability I couldn’t use. This. Is actually. WORSE!

“I activate Foolish Burial Goods!” With this card I sent Galaxy Cyclone to the graveyard. I have no idea how I forgot about this combo! I swore this duel was going to be the death of me. Next turn I could use my Cyclone to destroy either Rainbow’s Aerial Recharge or her Void Expansion! But for now… “I switch Chocolate to defense mode, and end my turn.” No point in summoning another monster, if Rainbow was going to attack something I wanted it to be Chocolate Magician Girl so that I could revive High Priestess.

Rainbow summoned another Infernoid Token, giving her two of them alongside her Dragon. “I set one card face-down.” Rainbow said. “And that’ll be that. I’m not falling into that Magician Girl trap, Twilight.”

“Fine by me.” I sighed wearily. This duel was draining me and I needed it to be over soon. My eyes widened in shock and happiness as I drew the card that could indeed end this for me! “I activate Invocation!” I declared, Rainbow gritting her teeth. “I discarded Aleister to the graveyard last time I played this card, which means I can fuse him from there! I’ll also use the Chocolate Magician Girl in my graveyard to summon… Invoked Cocytus!”

The red circle appeared on my field as Aleister and the second Magician Girl rose from the ground inside it, clutching each other in a tender embrace as the red lightning rained down, striking them both and turning them into water energy that swirled inside the circle until it froze over, a wicked dragon made from ice slowly forming from that frozen energy and roaring at Rainbow’s Stardust Dragon.

“Next I’ll activate Invocation’s second Effect!” I returned Invocation to the deck to put Aleister back in my hand, then summoned him back on the field.

“I activate Torrential Tribute!” Rainbow shouted triumphantly as a deluge of water ripped through the field and crushed every single monster on it except for the two dragons. “When a monster’s summoned, I can use this card to wipe out all the monsters on the field! Naturally, my Stardust Spark is saved by his own Effect…”

“…and my Cocytus is saved by his.” I said. Cocytus just couldn’t be destroyed by card Effects at all, that was kind of his thing.

“But what now, Twilight?” Rainbow asked smugly. “With your monster’s 1800 ATK and 2900 DEF neither of our monsters can beat each other!”

“That’s fine.” I said with a serene smile. “Even though Aleister was destroyed, his Effect to search out Invocation can still activate… and I’ll use Invocation to fuse Cocytus and Raidjin!”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Raidjin jumped out of the red circle into the air, his body pounded by the red lightning and torn asunder as Cocytus shrieked in excitement as it too was disintegrated by the magical energy, turning them both into rainbow colored magic that swirled around to form my ultimate beast.

A monster that defies description… a holy guardian that watches over all with glittering wings and the eyes of an entire world… Invoked Elysium!

My monster descended on the battlefield in all its glory, its glittering body completely outmatching Rainbow’s dragon.

“Elysium attacks Stardust Spark Dragon!” I said. “Since your dragon already used its Effect this turn, you can’t use it again to save it!” Elysium shined with a holy radiance that wiped Stardust Spark Dragon away and reduced Rainbow’s Life to 900. “Before I end my turn, Rainbow, I’ll activate Galaxy Cyclone. By banishing it from the graveyard I can destroy your Aerial Recharge.”

“That’s fine, I can activate it one last time before it goes!” Rainbow said, summoning a phantom visage of O-Lion.

“It’s your turn, Rainbow.” I sighed. “Make it a good one.”

Rainbow looked at the card she drew and laughed. “I summon Mecha Phantom Beast O-Lion!”

“Are you kidding?!” I exclaimed in disbelief and frustration as the little satellite beast hit the field. Here I am just praying for a decent card, like I dunno, any Spellbook, and Rainbow topdecks a THIRD O-Lion!?

“This is your only chance to stop me, Twilight!” Rainbow laughed. “Use Elysium’s Effect now or you won’t get the chance!”

Rainbow’s field contained one Level 2 Tuner, a Level 3 Phantom token and two Level 1 Infernoid Tokens. I could wipe them all out with Elysium’s Effect but that would leave my field empty. No, I was going to call Rainbow’s bluff. After all, I could use Elysium’s Effect in an emergency to counter one of her Effects!

“Go for it, Rainbow!” I said confidently.

“I’m Tuning my Level 2 O-Lion with my Level 3 Phantom Token and my two Level 1 Infernoid Tokens… Synchro Summon! Harbinger of disaster! Ill omen that ruins weak hearts! Burn this hideous world to cinders! Black Rose Dragon!”

Rainbow’s monster was a serpentine black dragon with massive wings, covered head to toe in rose petals. It roared as it appeared and the petals began to fly off its body, a storm of them enveloping the field and engulfing in flame.

“When Black Rose Dragon is summoned, it can destroy all cards on the field!” Rainbow said.

“I activate Elysium’s ability!” I yelled. “By banishing it I can banish all of your monsters as well!”

Elysium sang its hallowed song as Black Rose screeched and the fire roared around them. Time slowed down and everything became white for a second and when I opened my eyes the two monsters were just gone.

“Your turn, Twilight.” Rainbow smiled, and it melted my heart a little bit. “Let’s see if you can end this.”

“We’ll see…” I inhaled nervously. “I need to summon a monster with 900 ATK or more…”

“Can you?” Rainbow asked with a confident smile.

I drew my card. It was a Spell card. Not even a Spellbook Spell either. Just a Spell card… which meant my only monster was… “I summon Stoic of Prophecy…” I said gloomily. But then I looked at the field again and I looked at Rainbow. Determination filled my heart and I pointed right at Rainbow Dash as I made my declaration. “Rainbow Dash! This card represents my stubbornness and determination! It represents my unbending will and desire to see us reunited! With this card, I’ll defeat you!”

Stoic of Prophecy attacked Rainbow directly, reducing her Life to 600.

“It’s your turn, Rainbow Dash!” I said.

Rainbow drew her card and her eyes widened. She looked at me and paused, then looked back at the card. I had a bad feeling but Rainbow simply shrugged and ended her turn.

“I got nothing.” She said.

“Then it’s my turn.” I took a deep breath and drew a card… it was Spellbook of Life. I couldn’t hold back my excitement as I realized my victory. “I activate Spellbook of Life! By revealing the Spellbook of the Master in my hand and banishing the Aleister the Invoker in my graveyard, I can revive… High Priestess of Prophecy!”

The spirit of Aleister appeared on the field holding a bright purple spell book. He held it in the air and it glowed with purple energy, turning his ghostly form the same color. The book and his spirit fused together and the energy took the form of my High Priestess of Prophecy!

“Good job, Twilight.” Rainbow said with a smile. “You pulled it off.”

“I sure did!” I said gleefully. “Now I’ll activate my High Priestess’ Effect! By banishing the Spellbook of the Master in my hand, I can destroy Void Expansion!”

I was so sick of this gloomy Field Spell so I smiled as my Priestess clasped her hands together in prayer and a black energy spread outward from her and covered the entire field. The blackness shattered into shards of glass, falling to the ground and returning our surroundings to a bright cloudy day in Rainbow’s gravelly driveway. What a relief.

“High Priestess! Attack directly!” I declared. My beautiful Priestess jumped into the air and the clouds gathered behind her, filling her with electrical energy and flowing through her, allowing her to release a charged bolt of lightning directly at Rainbow Dash, reducing her Life to 0.

A moment of silence passed between Rainbow and I, broken up by a clap of thunder and the pitter patter of rain starting to fall.

“So what now?” I asked.

“A deal’s a deal.” Rainbow shrugged. “If you still want me to… I’ll move in with you and Rarity.”

“What?! Really? Why, what changed your mind?” I said, trying to reign in my excitement.

“This duel sucked.” Rainbow said, making my shoulders slump in disappointment. “Way worse than our last one. If that last duel represents us as friends, and this one represents us as… I dunno, whatever we’re becoming… then forget that. I liked that other duel better.”

“You miss me.” I said coyly.

Rainbow got silent and started looking up at the clouds. I couldn’t help but do the same thing and wonder what she was thinking.

****

-RAINBOW DASH-

I was thinking about Whiplash. Five years we’d been together, and for what? Every second I spent with her was miserable. It didn’t start that way, she started out being so cool and affirming, always telling me I was great and that I was a champion and that I could do great things and propping up how cool I was. She came into my life at a time when I really needed to hear those things and she gave me exactly what I wanted.

Until she didn’t.

I couldn’t pretend I didn’t notice. I mean, I could, I’d been doing it for four years, but I couldn’t anymore. I knew that Whiplash took out an enormous loan and forced me into that tournament to repay it. I don’t know if she really expected me to win, but it doesn’t matter. She was screwing around with me and using me… and for what again? Why did I stay so long?

Because I couldn’t admit I was wrong.

Everybody warned me about Whiplash, everybody told me she was bad news, but I refused to listen. She told me what I wanted to hear and propped me up in a way no one else did. Plus she’s like, super hot. She made me feel good, but then every once in a while she’d let some comment slip, notice some flaw of mine or make some coy comment that ripped through my self-esteem. Like clockwork, all the time. And I pretended not to notice because I couldn’t admit that everyone else was right and I was wrong, I couldn’t admit to anyone why I needed someone like Whiplash in my life… I couldn’t admit how pathetic I was.

But now everybody could see it. I was broke, starving, living in a house that was falling apart all the while Whiplash wasn’t even pretending to compliment me anymore, just reminding me constantly of how I screwed up and how I kept screwing up to make me feel guilty about what she did, playing on my sense of loyalty and commitment to keep me trapped.

Screw her.

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” I said distantly, tears filling my eyes as I looked up at the cloudy skies. I couldn’t help but start laughing through the tears as I realized what I needed to say. “You were right all along… and I’m sorry I was too bullheaded to see it.”

“So… what changed your mind?” Twilight asked.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about our duel at the airplane graveyard.” I said. “Every day since then I’ve thought about it…”

“Rainbow it was two days ago.” Twilight said flatly.

“Right, well, it’s felt like a lot longer.” I stammered, blushing nervously. I started pacing around the gravel driveway and kicking up stones and stuff. Last time I was gonna get the chance probably. “Point is… man that duel was good. Laughing with you, having fun… I miss it so much…” I started tearing up and did that little whimper you do when you’re about to cry but I clenched my fists and demanded of myself that I didn’t cry. This was already humiliating enough as it is! “I keep pushing you guys away, keep insisting that I know what I’m doing, but you keep saying you want me back. Even Pinkie and Fluttershy, I know they’re just waiting on me because they don’t want to push me like you do.”

“Rarity and Applejack have been nothing but supportive of my efforts to reach out to you.” Twilight said.

“Applejack… Rarity…” Welp, couldn’t hold back the crying after all. Other than Twilight, those two inspired the strongest emotions in me of our gang, for entirely different reasons. “I’m sorry I’ve been acting like a freaking idiot, Twilight.”

“You haven’t been, Rainbow.” Twilight shook her head. “Like I said before, I understand why you made the decisions you did.”

“Maybe…” I groaned loudly and dug my nails into my forehead. “I wanted so badly for somebody to see things my way, to tell me I was doing the right thing even though I knew that I wasn’t. But I got so focused on the path I was on that I couldn’t admit that it might be wrong, I just had to keep digging in until I eventually forced it to become the right decision… how stupid is that?”

“I… I can relate.” Twilight said tensely.

“I can’t keep digging my own grave, Twilight.” I said coldly before getting mad again and kicking a big pile of gravel out of the driveway, watching it splatter all over the road beside the house and some of it tumble down the hill. “I can’t keep denying what I really feel… and what I really feel is that I miss you guys, I even kinda miss Applejack… I miss you guys so badly. So yeah, please let me move in with you and Rarity, and for heaven’s sake please get me something to eat!” At this point my dignity was completely shot so I just went the extra mile and got down on my hands and knees, bowing flat against the ground toward Twilight.

Twilight didn’t say anything for a moment, but then she got on her knees as well and copied my bow. As I sat up feeling confused, she looked at me with a big smile and tears in her eyes before jumping at me and embracing me in a tackle hug, knocking me on my back.

“Of course, Rainbow!” She said joyfully. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“Oh, and Twilight…” I said, wrapping my arms around her in a hug. “I forgive you too.”

“I’m glad…” Twilight said softly with a smile. She got comfy on top of me, resting her head against my shoulder… it actually felt kinda nice. But then we both remembered our crippling intimacy issues and she couldn’t have gotten off of me faster. As she helped me up off the ground she said “Oh hey, what card was this anyway?” I was still holding the last card in my hand this whole time and Twilight snatched it right out of my hand. “You were looking at it pretty intensely before you didn’t play it!”

“Uh, it’s nothing!” I grabbed the card back as quick as I could but Twilight saw it before I did. “Like I said… I didn’t have anything.”

Twilight stared blankly at me, her eyes wide open. I shifted around nervously and said “Anyway… I’m gonna go grab my things.”

“Yeah…” Twilight said distantly. She smiled at me and said “Good game, Rainbow.”

“Good game Twilight.” I said to her as I ran up the porch to the front door. “And hey… thanks.”

“You’re welcome Rainbow…” Twilight said, smiling brightly. “And thank you.”

The last card in my hand that I drew… was Return of the Dragon Lords.

****

At the bottom of the hill to my old house stood a familiar face. Dark skin maned with purple hair, covered in part by a sick burgundy headscarf, stunning blue eyes and a fashion sense sharp enough to cut diamond… Rarity.

“Uh, Rarity!” I said as me and Twilight approached her. I was not expecting to see her so soon after making amends with Twilight.

“Oh Rainbow Dash!” She said happily, a gleam in her eyes. “It’s been positively ages! You look… well, I suppose ‘dashing’ would be too on the nose.”

“I’ll take dashing.” I said with a bright smile. Rarity hadn’t changed, but in a good way I mean.

“Did Twilight offer the proposition?” Rarity put her pinky finger against her lips.

“Yep! And she accepted it!” Twilight beamed, putting an arm around me. “She’s moving in!”

“That’s marvelous!” Rarity said, clasping her hands and showing her beautiful smile. “We’ll have to have one of those sexy sister pajama parties we talked about to celebrate!”

“I am in love with that idea,” Twilight said “but would you be comfortable with it, Rainbow?”

“Uh, seeing Rarity in her pajamas?” I laughed nervously. “Yeah, I think I can handle that.” YES DEFINITELY.

“I don’t know, Rainbow Dash…” Rarity said with a coy smirk. “I might dazzle you too hard and put you into a fabulosity coma!”

“Pretty sure that’s not a real thing.” I said with a chuckle.

“I guess we’ll see later tonight!” Rarity said, flicking her bangs. “But until then… let’s go home, you two.”

“Yeah…” I said. “…and let’s eat.”

****

-FLUTTERSHY-

Controlled breathing… it’s going to be okay.

Those were the words that I kept repeating to myself, kept reminding myself, as I walked into my home… my brother’s home. It was time to tell him that I was moving out. I wasn’t even in the door yet and I was already on the verge of tears. I looked back to the road and saw Pinkie Pie and Applejack supporting me, giving me smiles and thumbs-up, and I knew that I had the courage inside me to do this, and I knew it was the right thing to do.

Controlled breathing. It’s going to be okay.

“Heeeey, where’ve you been sis?” Zephyr said, sprawled out on the couch in front of the TV, the living room covered in discarded pizza boxes that were only illuminated by the light of the television. “I saved you some pizza!” He pointed over to a stack of closed pizza boxes, far too many for me to eat on my own but I smiled at the gesture.

“Thank you.” I said cheerfully. Despite all my aggravation with him, I was going to miss him. He was still my brother after all. I needed to remind myself that just because I was moving out didn’t mean that I couldn’t see him anymore. “Zephyr, I need to tell you something.” I needed to do this, and it needed to be quick. I couldn’t stand a long, drawn-out conversation.

“What’s the matter, Flutters?” Zephyr asked concernedly, sitting upright on the couch.

“I…” Take a deep breath in… through the mouth, and out… through the nose. Wait, no that’s backwards. At any rate… “I need to move out!” I said, immediately following it with some sad whimpers as tears formed in my eyes.

“W-what?” Zephyr said, looking at me like a lost puppy. “Move out? B-but why? We have good times here, right?”

I couldn’t stop myself from crying but I tried to hold it together enough to speak clearly. It was hard not to break down into hysterical sobbing though. Admitting the truth to Zephyr, admitting it to myself… it was excruciating.

“No Zephyr, you have good times here.” I said firmly, finding a brief moment of clarity through all the tears. “I run around after you, taking care of you and cleaning up your messes. The only times we have fun together is when we leave the house and I don’t have to babysit you all the time.”

Zephyr didn’t say anything but I could tell how he felt. He was heartbroken, he had no idea I felt this way. How could he? I wouldn’t even let myself know that this was how I felt. But it was, and I was entitled to my feelings, and so I needed to speak up, say my truth… and I needed to leave.

“I love you, Zephyr.” I whimpered. “But we’re terrible for each other. Living with me, you’ll never learn how to take care of yourself, or be motivated to follow the dreams that I know are in your heart. And living with you, I’ll never be able to live my own life, become my own person, stand on my own two feet and find the strength that I need to find to support my friends and follow my own dreams. So I’m sorry, but I need to leave.”

Zephyr still said nothing. He looked at me for a few moments, then at the TV, then down at the floor, his arms hanging limply across his knees on the couch. He stood up and walked over to me, giving me a firm hug, which I reciprocated gladly. Then we both started sobbing uncontrollably.

“I love you, Fluttershy!” Zephyr said through the sobs.

“I love you too, Zephyr!” I said similarly.

“I wish you didn’t have to go!” Zephyr wept.

“I do too!” I snuffled.

“But I know you have to!” Zephyr said clearly and wiped the tears out of his eyes. He grabbed my shoulders and looked me deep in the eyes as tears ran down both of our faces. “I know you gotta become the awesome, strong, cool pony that I always see you as. And if you believe that you can’t do that here… then you gotta go… but I’m gonna miss you so much!” Zephyr dragged me back into the hug and sobbed again and I hugged him back.

I thought Zephyr was going to be mad. I thought he was going to try and guilt me into staying with him, I even practiced a whole bunch of other speeches just in case. This was better though. Even with all his flaws, I couldn’t ask for a better brother.

“I gotta go, Zephyr.” I said with a tearful smile.

“Here, take these.” Zephyr handed me a stack of pizza boxes, my arms nearly crumpling under the weight of all of them. “Take these to your new housewarming party, share ‘em with your friends. And don’t you worry about me any! I’ll find my own happiness! And by that I mean I have a lot of money and can sit on the couch eating pizza all day.”

“Zephyr… please…” I said, my breath short from trying to hold all the pizzas. I put them down for a second so I could talk. “Please… you have so many dreams that you want to follow… please don’t waste all your time watching TV and eating pizza.”

“Relax, Flutters.” Zephyr scoffed and batted his hand at me. “I can also go over to my friends’ places and play video games.”

“Zeph-” I was about to give him a whole big speech about how he needed to stand on his own two feet, but I’d already given that speech to him. Several times. I was not responsible for Zephyr Breeze. “I love you, Zephyr.” I said with a caring and hopeful smile. I honestly did have faith in him that he would be able to figure himself out. And with that, I turned around and headed out the door.

“Wait, Flutters!” Zephyr called out to me and I turned back to look at him one last time. “I love you too.” I smiled at Zephyr and walked out the door.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack were waiting for me outside, Pinkie rushing to hug me as soon as she saw me and wiping tears from my cheeks.

“Y’did the right thing, sugar cube.” Applejack said, patting me on the shoulder.

“Thank you.” I sniffled. “I know you’re right… also, can you go in there and grab the stack of pizzas?”

“Yeah. I can do that.” Applejack said with a laugh.

“Pizza party!” Pinkie screamed in excitement, raising her hands in the air. I couldn’t help but laugh. I had the best friends in the whole world. With them by my side I knew that I was going to be okay.

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

Rainbow, Rarity and I sat around my living room table, discarded pizza boxes thrown neatly in the trash. Rarity was wearing her nightgown and I was in my pajamas, and even Rainbow had gotten into the spirit of things and was in her underwear… which was pretty hot to be honest.

We were all laughing about silly, random nonsense and making big plans for the future.

“Well you guys,” Rainbow yawned, stretching her buff arms over her head “it’s been real, but I think it’s time I hit the hay. I haven’t slept in a bed that doesn’t have a bunch of like, metal springs and stuff sticking out of it in years, so I’m gonna go sleep for like sixteen hours.”

“The guest room is right down that way, down the hall.” I said, pointing to the hall in question. “Goodnight Rainbow. And thanks again for coming back with us.”

“Alright Twilight, don’t lay it on too thick.” Rainbow said teasingly and I stuck my tongue out in response which made her laugh. “Goodnight you guys!”

“Goodnight Rainbow!” Rarity and I said, roughly in unison.

“So… what do you think?” I asked Rarity, lounging in my chair and throwing my legs over one of the arms.

“About what?” Rarity asked, sipping from her mug of tea. The mug said something cute on it.

“About Rainbow living here.” I fidgeted my fingers about nervously. “Do you think it’s gonna be okay? I’m worried it won’t work out and all this will be for nothing…”

“Twilight, with as hard as you’ve worked to regain Rainbow Dash’s trust, and with as willing as you’ve been to try and make concessions and to improve your own ability to step outside yourself and listen to her and all these things… yes, I think it’s going to work out.” Rarity chuckled heartily, and that made me breathe a sigh of relief.

“And if we get into fights over inconsequential nonsense, you’re here to break it up!” I said cheerfully.

“Ah yes, because if there’s one person who would never get into a fight over inconsequential nonsense, it would be Rarity.” Rarity said jokingly, making me laugh. “It’s been four years since Rainbow Dash left. None of us are the same people we were back then.”

“I know.” I sighed, partly out of nostalgia and partly from weariness. “The work doesn’t end here, does it? This isn’t a case where I can rest on my laurels and be like ‘oh I did it!’ and pretend like everything’s going be sunshine and happiness forever now, is it?”

“No.” Rarity shook her head. “We all have damages, we all have broken edges, and they’re inevitably going to rub up against each other. But that’s okay! We’re friends. We listen to each other, we respect one another, we apologize and forgive, we move on together. It won’t always be easy, but we’ve got each other, and it will be okay.”

“Good…” I yawned and started having trouble keeping my eyes open. “I’m glad.”

“As for you…” Rarity stood up and walked over to the chair I was slowly falling asleep in. She picked me up, much to my shock, and I wrapped my arms around her to stay balanced, looking in her stunning blue eyes. “You’ve had quite the eventful few days, and you deserve to rest. Leave all the hard work and stuff to me for right now, and you take some well-deserved time to relax.”

“Thank you, Rarity.” I said closing my eyes and resting my head on Rarity’s shoulder.

“Twilight Sparkle…” Rarity’s soft voice was the last thing I heard as I drifted off to sleep. “You’ve done an excellent job.”