Magical Girl Trixie

Later that night, the three of us went back to Iron Maiden's house just to have somewhere we felt like we could lie low, but since Basket Case's parents also lived there, it meant we all had to transform back into our normal forms. Of course, Dreamdrop was hesitant at first, but it was better than separating herself from our group and putting an even bigger target on her back.

The girl behind Dreamdrop wasn't as strikingly different as when Iron Maiden transformed into a six and a half foot goliath, and honestly, she didn't look too much different than her normal self. Instead of wearing a night-themed dress with bright blue hair, she wore jeans, sandals, a tight tank top and regular brown hair. The age was the same, the height was the same, and the weight was the same, but the one striking difference between the two was how much confidence she lost when she transformed back into a human, just like me.

“Well,” she began, not looking into either of our eyes, “I guess now you know who I am. My name is Summer Breeze. It's nice to officially meet you, Basket Case.”

“C'mon! Don't be like that!” the tallest girl said, slapping Summer Breeze on the back with a smile. “I'm still the same old girl as before, just with a lot less weight on my shoulders.”

“I guess so…”

Looking at her was almost like looking into a mirror and seeing myself. When she rubbed the back of her arm while avoiding eye contact, I thought of all my experiences at Manehattan Middle School and how much I wished I could have been invisible to everyone.

“Well,” Basket Case said with a smile that seemed to ignore the death she just witnessed, “what's our next plan of attack?”

“There is no plan of attack,” Summer Breeze said, still looking down at the floor. “Our plan is to hide until we all lose our powers! If they're all looking to kill us, the only thing we can do is hope that they don't find us!”

“And you really think that doing nothing is going to fix anything?!” I shouted, catching the other girls as well as myself off guard, but I wasn't about to apologize for what I just said. “You're talking like they're trying to kill you, when we both know that if they really wanted to do it, they would have done it when they had the chance!”

“Trixie--” Basket Case said with concern, trying to put her hand to my shoulder before I shrugged her off.

“There is no Trixie here anymore! You're speaking to the Great and Powerful Trixie, and she is not going to let those girls go when they're putting their magical powers over innocent lives!”

“Trixie,” Summer Breeze said while flinching. “You're starting to scare me!”

“There is no Trixie here!”

“Will you cut that out?!” Basket Case asked angrily. “You're not a magical girl right now, so stop acting like you're so high and mighty!”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is only stating the facts. If my life is on the line even in this weak and cowardly form, then Trixie will just have to be a magical girl at all times, and magical girls don't just let the people who killed their friend get away!”

At this point, Summer Breeze was cowering behind her hands while Basket Case was folding her arms with her face visibly upset. “So what's your plan, then, huh? Go after them? And then what? Kill them? Do you expect to just risk all of our lives so you can have whatever twisted justice you're after?”

“Trixie never said that you two have to accompany her. She can go alone if you don't think you can handle it.”

“Hang on! I don't even know who I'm talking to! Is it Trixie or the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“Trixie is always Great and Powerful.”

“AAAAARRRGGHHH! I'M SO CONFUSED!”

As Basket Case ruffled through her hair, Summer Breeze finally made eye contact with me, taking a deep breath before speaking. “What I think she's trying to say, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie, is that maybe you should at least sleep on it? Just for tonight?”

It didn't make sense to me that they could just let something like this go and wait until the morning. If we lost our powers, then none of us would be able to get justice for what happened to Cupid Symphony… and what happened to Paradox...

“Is this really what you want?” I asked. “You want to just go to bed and wait till tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Summer Breeze said, finally with a smile on her face. “Then, in the morning, if you still feel like you need to take action, the three of us can come up with a plan!”

I did everything I could not to click my tongue and give them a fiery glare, but it was obvious that no matter what I said, they weren't going to help me. Just like the rest of my life to this point, I would be alone, fending for myself while others hunted me down. Still, though, even through my anger, I appreciated how much they were willing to protect me, even if I really was the game changer.

“Trixie agrees. The three of us will sleep for now and come up with a plan in the morning. Basket Case, are you willing to let us stay?”

“Huh? Of course! You're both welcome to crash here for as long as you need.”

“Wonderful. Summer Breeze, Trixie hopes that you don't mind sleeping on the floor with her.”

“Y-yeah,” Summer Breeze said. “I don't mind. Um… you know, after the day we've had, if either of you need, I can use my magic to help put you to sleep. It may only last for five minutes, but the magic won't wear off if you wanna sleep longer.”

“Trixie doesn't need any help sleeping,” I said, laying out the blanket that Basket Case provided for us. “Hopefully you don't have any troubles falling asleep yourself.”

“Huh? Me? You know, I made putting others to sleep my magic just so that they could sleep as well as me! Heh heh.” The more she tried to bring Dreamdrop's bubbly personality into the room, the further the visual separation became between her and the magical girl inside her.

After that, none of us said a word to each other, not even to say good night. Once Summer Breeze and I were lying down on the floor with a large blanket for the both of us, Basket Case turned off the lights and we all did our best to go to sleep… At least, that's what I wanted them to think.

Truth be told, I wasn't going to wait anymore. Once they were all asleep, I transformed back into my magical girl self, held onto my teleport gem and traveled through dimensions to the gate of Platinum City. I was not about to let any of those girls get away for what they did to Cupid Symphony, an innocent girl who lost her life trying her best to protect me.

Looking around the gate, I didn't see anybody waiting to ambush me, or at least if they were, they were doing a good job concealing themselves. Fortunately for me, however, even though Manehattan would be pitch black right now, Platinum City was still as bright as ever. Without wasting anymore time, I pulled out my magical phone and whispered, “Discord! I know you can hear me, but could you not do the whole thunder and lightning when you come out this time?”

Instead, a twin-sized bed landed in front of me with Discord wearing flannel pajamas and a matching nightcap, yawning as he lazily opened his eyes. “Trixie, is that you? What could you possibly want at this hour?”

“Can you tell Trixie if there are other magical girls in Platinum City right now?”

“Oh, that's a cute little persona you're putting on. If you survive to the end of the game, I really do hope you keep it up.”

“Discord!”

“Alright, fine. Fine. There are only two girls in Platinum City right now, but I'm not at liberty to say which ones.”

“That's fine, but… I have one more question.” It had been on my mind since Summer Breeze had spoken about all of us losing our powers, but even in that moment, I was afraid of what the answer would be. “If… If someone forfeits the game by willingly sacrificing herself and everyone loses… what will happen to us without our magic?”

“Are you asking if you would die if I were to strip your magic? Hmm… I guess I never really thought of that before.” My heart began to plummet as Discord stroked his beard in deep thought. “I guess it's a possibility. I've never really tried it out before. Oh, well. Hopefully you'll figure out who the game changer is before that happens.”

“That's it? That's all you know?”

“Alright! Since I can't be of more help this way, I'll tell you one more useful bit of information, but after that, I'm going back to sleep.”

With a sneaky grin, Discord slithered his way out of bed, put a claw around my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

“Your mother is on her way to the hospital right now. You should go see her… before it's too late.”

I didn't have to think twice to know what he meant. Grabbing onto my teleport gem and squeezing my eyes closed, I traveled back through the dimensions and landed on top of my hospital bed. Without taking another moment, I used my magic to pull anything I could around me like a giant bubble, and as luck would have it, that was exactly when an electric shock struck against an object behind me.

She's not even going to attempt to make this a fair fight? Too bad you just gave away your hiding place, Storm Rose!

Using my magic to gather all the objects around me, I turned my waist and sent them on a crash course towards the enemy, who used her own magic to blast the hospital equipment away. Once the objects were all out of the way and I finally got a good look at Storm Rose's face, I didn't see any hint of surprise, anger or fear. It was as if she were programmed to do one thing: kill.

“How long have you been waiting here?” I asked in an almost condescending way. “Has it been since Trixie let you live back in Platinum City?”

“You didn't let anyone live! You ran away like a coward!”

“Trixie isn't running away now.”

Despite my smirk, Storm Rose's expression didn't change. Instead, she let out a sigh, took a seat on the bed next to me and said, “Did anyone ever tell you about why I became a magical girl?”

“You told us yesterday, remember?”

Finally, Storm Rose smirked herself. “It's true that Marrow helped me get my powers and introduced me to Platinum City, but nobody ever told you about who I was before that, did they?”

“You're not fooling anyone!” I shouted. “I know you're trying to distract me!”

Then, pulling out of her wand, she approached the garbage can near the door and dropped it inside while taking a seat on the counter next to the sink. “There,” she said firmly. “There is now no way I could possibly hurt you.”

I didn't trust her. She had to be up to something. This all had to be some kind of plan of hers… but whatever that plan was, I couldn't figure out how she could possibly hurt me. Finally, taking a seat on my hospital bed, I folded my arms and listened to her story.

“I was nineteen the first time I killed anyone. I guess you could say it's in my blood. My father was a navy seal; having to kill dozens of people was just part of his job. He told me to carry a gun on me at all times, just in case some lowlife thug tried to do anything to me. You can imagine what his surprise would have been if he ever found out that I was the lowlife.

“I dropped out of high school at age seventeen to join a gang called the Equestria Girls. We broke just about every law you could think of. We vandalized public property, we stole from every shop we could get into, we did every drug imaginable. Then, one day, a rival gang showed up saying that they wanted to expand their territory. I wish that could have just ended with a fistfight, but somebody pulled out a gun.

“Have you ever held a gun, Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“No.”

“Well, I can tell you that it is the most powerful feeling in the world. When you feel the weight of a fully loaded pistol in your hands, you realize that you have the power to control whether someone lives or dies. You see, when that girl pulled out a gun that day, she didn't realize that I had been preparing for that moment my whole life. Then, when she wasn't looking, I pointed the gun at the back of her skull…” Storm Rose lifted her hand like she was holding a gun to reenact the scene. “...and I pulled the trigger.”

“Did you feel terrible afterwards?”

Storm Rose shook her head with a calm smile on her face. “To be honest, I thought I would, but when it happened, it was almost a lackluster experience. I expected to feel disgust, fear and sadness, but I didn't feel anything. Life continued to move on in real time, as if nothing had even happened.”

The way she talked was beginning to make me worry, but so long as her guard was down, I still had the possibility of striking first. I just needed to wait until she was looking away, and then I'd summon my spear and kill her, just like what she did to Paradox.

“Well,” she continued, “after that, the police started looking for me. I was living in Fillydelphia at the time, but even with all the crime they had going on there, they still had plenty of time and resources to go searching for me. Needless to say, I would have been locked up forever if they found me, so I escaped here to Manehattan. Then, without any family here, I had nowhere to go, and since I never graduated from high school, finding a job was next to impossible. That's when Marrow found me.

“Trixie, did it scare you when Marrow said she killed as many people as she said?”

“A little,” I said, silently lifting the garbage can off of the floor with my magic and drifting it away as discreetly as possible. “Trixie didn't know magical girls killed people.”

“Honestly, the only reason Marrow hasn't killed anyone else is because she hates killing more than anything in the world.”

I scoffed. “She sure didn't have any problem trying to kill me yesterday.”

“I know it's impossible to ask, but hopefully you don't judge us. Marrow truly has only the best of intentions for Platinum City and the magical girls who reside there, and as for me…” She began to drift off, taking her eyes off of me completely, which I used to my advantage by pulling in Storm Rose's wand and placing it behind me. “...As for me, I'm really just being selfish. You see, I've killed more people than Marrow has.”

Gritting my teeth at her almost proud way of displaying her achievement, I asked, “How many people have you killed?”

“Honestly, I don't know anymore. Marrow asked me to take care of any missions that involved assassinations. I want to say at least fifty, but it might be more. You see, killing has just never been a struggle for me. In a way, I actually see myself in the people I kill. If I were to die, life would just go on without me, and when it's all said and done, I’m not here to make anyone happy but myself. That's why protecting what I have in Platinum City is so important to me, and that's why Marrow and I have been coming after you and your friends."

“Storm Rose…” I said, clenching my fist. “Why does everyone think they'll be happy if I'm dead?”

Closing her eyes and sighing again, she said, “Because it's true. If someone killed you right now, the world would be a better place, which is why I have… to…”

As Storm Rose peeked into the garbage can and realized nothing was there, I finally saw an expression of fear as she slowly turned her head to see her wand in my hand and a bright smile on my face.

“Looking for this?” I asked, waving the stick in front of her, but just as soon as she lunged forward to grab it away from me, I used my magic to pin her into the wall, holding her back by the neck. “Trixie isn't going to die without taking someone with her first.”

Storm Rose tried to speak, but with her neck completely closed under the pressure of my magic, all she could do was mouth words painfully while my magic held her in place. Then, I began lifting her up the wall as she scratched at her neck, flailing her legs in any attempt she had at freeing herself from my spell, but nothing she did worked. Her face began to turn blue, her eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets, and as she looked down at me, all I could see was a panic that contrasted with the usual upheld demeanor I was used to.

“This time the one who has all the control is the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrrixiiieeee!!”

With no more oxygen left in her lungs, her frantic flails turned into nothing more than pathetic twitches until finally, her head fell to the side and her body went limp. Urine began trickling down her legs, which was a signal to me that she wouldn't be waking up, and the worst part of it all was that Storm Rose had been right all along.

The feeling really was lackluster.

“How could you lose her?!” a voice from outside the door shouted.

“I'm sorry, ma'am, but she must have gotten out somehow,” replied another.

Suddenly, I realized that my mom must have been standing outside the door, yelling at the hospital staff. I was so excited to see her, especially after the day that I just had, but as soon as I looked down and saw a dead girl with clothes that looked like she hadn't changed outfits in three years lying in a pile of her own urine, I knew that she couldn't see me. I would think of some excuse later, but this was not the time or place.

“Ma'am! You can't go in there!”

“I want to see if my daughter's come back!”

With a tear in my eye and more sadness in letting my mom down than in killing another human, I opened the window and jumped to the roof of the closest building, just barely escaping before she walked into the room. As I looked down from the rooftop, I saw her notice the dead body in the room and collapse onto the floor while the staff ran in search of a doctor. I couldn't take another moment of this, and while wiping my tears, I grabbed onto my teleport gem and went back to Platinum City.

Hopefully the girls hadn't noticed that I was away yet, but they would find out soon enough once the morning came around.