Magical Girl Trixie

When my alarm woke me up the following morning, I quickly checked the time, curiously making sure that it was set correctly, but surely enough, it was set to the same time it was every morning. The weird thing about that, though, was that if I was just waking up now, it meant that my mother hadn't woken me up. Was she even home?

Silently opening the door to my room, I tiptoed my way over to the living room to see that lying on the couch with a bottle of vodka next to her on the ground was my mother. At first I feared that she might be dead, probably thanks to all the stress I put her through, but when I saw her chest rise and fall as she slept peacefully, I placed my hand to my chest, breathing a sigh of relief. She was thoughtful enough to let me sleep after the horrible day that I had yesterday.

“You're the best, mom,” I whispered to her in my quietest voice. The last thing I wanted to do was wake her up, though, so with the most nimble steps I could possibly take, I made my way over to the shower so that I could begin my day.

Once I was ready for school, I quickly made myself breakfast, checked the mirror to make sure that I was presentable and quickly gathered my things, but today, I wouldn't be going through the front door like I normally did. Once all my belongings were in order, I transformed into a magical girl and used my transportation gem, which suddenly sent me traveling through dimensions until I ended up at the gate of Platinum City.

Even though this was only my second time in this city, I could already feel the nostalgic smell of daisies and clean, rushing water, which made the area feel like a home away from home that would never cease to amaze me.

“Well, if it isn't the Great and Powerful Squirt?” Turning around to see where the sudden voice had come from, my shoulders were suddenly being pulled into someone's chest as she squeezed me with all her vigor. Then, pulling my face out of her cleavage, I looked up to see the girl with the green dress and steel shoulder pads, smiling down at me. “How are you doing? You look much less beat up today!”

“Thank you, uhhh…”

“Iron Maiden. I guess I never told you my name yesterday.” Just then, her smile disappeared into a look of curiosity as she looked down at what I was carrying. “Hmm? Are those textbooks?”

“Yeah,” I said, pulling a strand of hair behind my ear as the two of us walked. “I'm going to school after this.”

“How old are you, by the way?”

“Umm… Dreamdrop said that we shouldn't reveal our identities…”

“That's true, I guess. Well, that just means I'll never find out that you're really a middle schooler with glasses named Trixie.”

“...You may have a point there. Anyway, I'm only twelve. Do you know if there are any other magical girls my age?”

“Beats me. I'll tell you what, though. Since you just told me how old you are, I'll tell you that I'm twenty-three, but after this, no more sharing secrets!”

“Wow! You're almost twice my age!”

As soon as those words came out of my mouth, Iron Maiden's smile faded away, being replaced with a defeated gloomy expression. “You don't have to say it like that, you know.”

“Heeey! Wait up, you two!”

Looking back, we saw a magical girl with a hypnotic black and white dress, long, frilly blonde hair and a silver hairpiece racing towards us, but just as soon as she caught up, she immediately bolted into a sprint, passing us in her dust.

“I'll race you to the fountain!” she said, waving at us in her already sizable lead.

“Alright,” Iron Maiden said, pulling off her shoulder pads, crunching them together and forming a pair of cleats which she attached to her steel-toe boots. “Hang on, Great and Powerful Trixie. If she wants a race, we'll give her one.”

“Wha--AH!” I began to say before Iron Maiden suddenly had me in her arms, already closing the gap between us and the girl in the black and white dress. With the cleats she was wearing, she was able to almost skid across the ground, barely making contact with the earth beneath her as she zoomed her way forward. Then, right as we were hot on her tail, Iron Maiden jumped into the air, leaping over the magical girl who looked up at her in awe. The fountain was in sight.

“We're almost there! That's what she gets for thinking she can get a head start on--”

Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks, still holding me in her arms, but beginning to grow red in the cheeks. “Iron Maiden?” I spoke, trying to figure out what I was missing.

“Don't ask,” she replied, setting me onto the floor. “Let's just save it to say that her magic is being able to send messages through telepathy.”

As the girl in the black and white dress slowed her sprint into a peppy skip, she passed right by our noses while looking back at Iron Maiden and saying, “Polkadots!”

“What?” I said in confusion.

“I said don't ask!”

Well, regardless as to whatever they were going on about, we had made it to the fountain, and luckily for me, Dreamdrop was already there, sitting on a blanket in the grass and waving for me to come join her. She wasn't the only one who was there early, though. There were seven magical girls there in total, not including me, and the only ones whose names I knew were Dreamdrop, Night Seam, Iron Maiden, Cupid Symphony and Storm Rose, whose name I only figured out after seeing her carrying a wand that Dreamdrop had talked about the day before. The other girls included the one I had just raced with the black and white dress as well as one of the girls I had met the day before who was wearing a dress splattered in different colors. I knew that the girl I just raced had the power of telepathy, thanks to Iron Maiden tipping me off, but I had no idea what kind of magic this other girl could use, assuming it fit the theme of her colorful dress.

“Well, if it isn't the Great and Powerful Trixie,” Cupid Symphony said in her love-themed outfit. Her dress was white, but covered in pink and red hearts. She also had a heart eye-patch and heart-shaped hair ties that held up her frilly pigtails. “How was your first day as a magical girl?”

I had completely forgotten about the day before, and just remembering made me want to vomit. “I definitely learned a lot,” I said, trying to avoid the subject entirely.

“Don't worry! You'll get the hang of it soon enough. Then you'll learn about all kinds of creative ways to use your magic.” Pulling up her eyepatch, she gave me a wink, but knowing her magic, the ability to make any boy fall in love with her, I was afraid to ask what kind of creativity she was talking about.

“Hey, look!” Dreamdrop said, tugging at my cape and pointing towards the dirt path. “It's Marrow! MAAAARROOOOW! OVER HEEERE!”

Breaking my conversation with Cupid Symphony, I quickly looked to where she was pointing and saw… an outfit that totally clashed with what all the other magical girls were wearing. I thought I felt out of place for being the only one not wearing a dress, but this girl's black dress was covered in bones, almost like she was wearing a skeleton over her clothes, including a skull over her face. The only facial features I could see were her mouth and eyes, but even those were covered by the shadows that her skull cast on her face.

“Hmm?” Marrow said, now standing over me with one hand on her hip. “We have another new magical girl?”

“Yup!” Dreamdrop said, standing up and pulling me to my feet with her. “Go ahead and introduce yourself to her!”

From what I had heard about Marrow, she was supposed to be a pretty intimidating magical girl, and seeing her up close just solidified that image as she folded her arms in anticipation. “Yes,” I said, switching nervous glances between the encouraging Dreamdrop and the spooky Marrow. “I am the savior of Manehattan, the vanquisher of evil, the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrrrixiiieeeee!!!” I added an extra pose to the end, hoping it would make me not look like a total novice, but even under the skull she was wearing, I could tell Marrow was raising an eyebrow.

“Yup,” Marrow said. “You're a newbie, alright.” With an arrow striking me through my pride, I hung my head in defeat. “So,” she continued, “you decided to go with your real identity, I'm assuming? You look more like a superhero than a magical girl.”

“Is…” I began. “Is that bad?”

“Not necessarily, but I'm sure Night Seam must have given you slack for it.”

“I did,” called a voice in the background.

“What matters most isn't your outfit,” Marrow continued. “It's how you carry yourself about as a magical girl. When you're out there, you need to forget about yourself completely and focus solely on helping others in any way you can. You need to be willing to put yourself in a position where you could die, even if it means saving one life. You don't have to be ready for something like that right now, but eventually, I promise you that something like that will come up, and when it does, you need to be ready to decide whose life is more valuable.”

“She picked a really cool magical ability, too!” Dreamdrop bragged.

“A magical girl's ability is nothing but her will to bring about good in the world. Night Seam demonstrates that better than any magical girl I know.”

Actually, that brought up a question that had been on my mind basically from the moment I met her. “Night Seam,” I said, turning towards her, “what is your magic?”

Suddenly, Night Seam flinched with her cheeks beginning to glow a bright red. “My magic?” she said, no longer maintaining her confident demeanor that she had displayed this whole time.

“Don't be embarrassed,” Marrow said. “You should be proud of the ability that you have.”

With a sigh, Night Seam faced me again and said, “I can turn anything I touch black.”

Wait, what?

“I'm sorry,” I began, “but did you say your magic is that you can turn things black?”

“Yes, I did.”

“...”

“...”

“Just like her heart!” Dreamdrop shouted, breaking the silence.

“DREAMDROP!”

Suddenly, however, we all began to hear the sound of someone panting, and looking back at the dirt road, we saw Paradox, weakly running and visibly out of breath as she approached the group.

“Sorry, girls!” she said, putting her hands to her knees as she breathed in and out deeply. “I must have warped to the wrong gate.”

“We're all here, then,” Marrow said, looking around at the group. “Alright, Discord. What did you need us for?”

As if on cue, storm clouds began to cover the sky, just like they had the day before when Dreamdrop had summoned Discord, and taking the same path as he did before, the fountain sprayed upward until a shadow of the draconequus appeared behind it. Then, lifting his terrifying horns through the water, he emerged from the fountain, taking a step onto the ground with his buffalo hoof and alligator foot.

“Good morning, ladies! How good it is to see all of you again! It feels like just yesterday since the last time I got to see you.”

“Uhh, it was only yesterday,” said the girl with the colorful dress.

“Too right you are, Palette! My how time flies.” As soon as he said those words, a clock with wings began to fly around his face like a mosquito. “Get back here, you!”

“So what's up, Discord?” said the girl wearing the black and white outfit. “You didn't just want us here so that we could have a party, did you?”

“Oh, must you always cut to the chase, Mind Games?” Discord then winked at me and whispered, “This should give you all of their names without those awkward introductions, but just in case, I'll do a recap really quick.

“Alright, ladies. As I'm sure you know, we have a new friend with us. The Great and Powerful Trixie has been gracious enough to rise to the challenge of becoming a magical girl, and I would ask you all to open up your loving paws and give her a warm welcome.”

I blushed under the spotlight, but all the girls beside me gave me loving grins, making me forget momentarily about the butterflies in my stomach.

“However,” Discord continued, “you're right in assuming that I had more than one reason for bringing you all here today.”

“Finally!” shouted Mind Games heartily. “Time to find out what kind of challenge Discord has for us!”

“Hold it! Hold it! Before I get into that, I want to make 100% clear that we are all one big happy family, so just to make sure everyone is on the same page, let's all go through self-introductions, just in case anyone has forgotten anyone's name. Let's do this: we'll go in reverse-chronological order of when you became a magical girl, and you can just say your name, ability and something that makes you special.”

Suddenly, all eyes fell on me, making me realize that that meant I would be going first. Self-introductions were always a weak point for me, especially when I was the first one to stand up when I had no idea what I would say, despite Discord giving me an exact script to follow.

“Yes! Uh… Right! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, my magic is levitation, and… uh… I like… peanutbutter crackers?”

The girls in the group looked at each other in confusion, but still clapped for my courage in being able to get that much out.

“My turn!” Dreamdrop said, rising to her feet. “My name is Dreamdrop, my ability is putting people to sleep, and something special about me is my love for spanish soap operas. ‘¿Por qué, Ignacio?’ I think that's about it for me.”

Another awkward self-introduction down, and like before, everyone clapped, as she sat down and the next magical girl stood up.

“How's it going, everyone?” shouted the girl in the green dress and steel shoulder pads. “My name is Iron Maiden, my magic is bending metal, and I once managed to eat an entire bagel in two bites! Two bites!”

Again, everyone clapped, but if I were being completely honest, that one actually impressed me a little bit.

“Hey, everyone,” Paradox said, switching places with Iron Maiden. “My name is Paradox, my ability is to make people see illusions, and something you may not know is that although you may think we're in Platinum City, this entire time you've actually all been in my living room! Just joking. That's what makes me special. I'm a jokester. Next!”

“Ha! That means it's my turn!” shouted the girl with the black and white dress. “My name is Mind Games, my ability…”

“...is telepathy!” she continued with her mouth closed, making me flinch in surprise.

“And as for what makes me special, before becoming a magical girl, I used to run track, and I always won every event I ever did!”

Wow. Some of these girls were really impressive. Just being in their presence was beginning to make me feel inferior in one way or another.

“Next would be moi. My name is Cupid Symphony, I can make any boy fall in love with me, and something special about me is…” With dramatic tears in her eyes, she lifted up her eye patch, magnifying her theatrical sadness. “I've actually never once been kissed by a boy!”

“”””WHAAAAAAAT?!”””” We all exclaimed, floored by the sudden surprise.

“I know! Tragic, right?! They all tell me that they love me so much that they need to save their lips for marriage. Darn you, Discord! That isn't what I had in mind!”

“Hey, now,” Discord responded, holding up his hands in his defense. “If you wanted them to kiss you, you should have mentioned that in the request, but I think we get the picture. Thank you, Cupid Symphony. Palette, if you would be so kind.”

“You got it, boss!” the girl with the colorful dress said, standing up and saluting Discord. “My name is Palette. My magic is…” Then, pulling out a paint brush from her pocket and dipping it into one of the colors on her dress, she began drawing a picture of a bird in thin air, and as soon as she added the finishing touches, the bird began to take life and fly away into the sky. “...being able to make anything I draw come to life! Something you girls may not know about me is that this one time at band camp--”

“Alright! That's quite enough!” Discord said, silencing her before she could finish her story. “I don't think anyone needs to hear about that one. Thank you, Palette. Storm Rose, if you would.”

“Yes, Discord,” said a girl with black hair and blue highlights. Her dress was yellow with blue frills and a design that appeared as if lightning was striking from all directions. “My name is Storm Rose, my ability is projecting electricity, and I live solely to be a magical girl. I have no friends in Manehattan, and my entire family was killed in a traffic accident when I was eight years old. I was living on the streets until Marrow found me and helped me become a magical girl. I now live here in Platinum City, only ever leaving to take care of my duties as a magical girl. Thank you for having me.”

This time, when all of us clapped, we honestly meant it from the bottom of our hearts. This girl had made all of the problems I had look no different than a little girl who wanted a toy that she couldn't afford. Next, however, was Night Seam, which made me hold in my breath just so I wouldn't give her any reason to be upset with me.

“I'm Night Seam. This is my magic.” Then, putting her finger to the fountain, the stone began to turn into a black shadow, now projecting a dark liquid rather than the beautiful clear water from before.

“Ohhhh, Night Seam, I wish you wouldn't do that!” Discord said, snapping his fingers and making the dark color retreat back to her finger tips. “And what is it about you that makes you special?”

“I'm not special.”

“Cop out!” Paradox shouted from the crowd.

“What do you want from me?! I turn things black and I like puppies. Does that make you feel better?”

Again, we all clapped as Palette turned to me and said, “That's a good one!” Finally, however, it was Marrow's turn, and it seemed that all of the magical girls were just as interested in hearing about her as I was.

“My name, as you should all know by now, is Marrow. I can manipulate the bones on my body to detach from my outfit and become its own sentient being. Like so.” Suddenly, the bones on her body began to rattle and shake until they separated from her dress and reconfigured themselves into a lifesize skeleton. “I can see everything it sees, hear everything it hears, and if I need to, I can toss it aside completely and grow new bones in its place.” As she said those words, the skeleton began to turn to dust, being carried into the wind as new bones grew from her dress, giving her the same outfit as before.

“Very interesting,” Discord said as if this were his first time seeing it. “Now, what's something interesting about you?”

Marrow took in a deep breath as the rest of us held ours.

“I have killed exactly thirteen men and one child. Being a magical girl is not easy, and I have been forced to make difficult decisions with only an instant to weigh the options. I do not, however, regret any of the decisions I have made as a magical girl, and I believe that more lives have been spared thanks to the decisions that I have made. I don't need your pity or respect. I just hope that all of you can learn from me so that when you are placed in situations that I have been in, you will be able to make the correct decision as well.”

Several seconds passed with none of us knowing whether or not we should clap, but as soon as Dreamdrop started, we all followed along after her. With a light bow, Marrow took her seat along with the rest of us in the grass by the fountain.

“Very good, everyone!” Discord cheered. “I'm so glad that everyone is getting along so nicely! Now, as I'm sure you all realize by now, I have some exciting news! Now, let me preface this by saying that I care about each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart.”

Uh-oh. This didn't sound good.

“As I'm sure you know, magic is something that keeps Platinum City running, and as you all realize, there's not a grander place in the world than right here. Now, it turns out that I may have made a teensy weensy little miscalculation of how much magic it takes to keep Platinum City running.”

“So you need us to give you some of our magic to keep it running,” Night Seam said, deciphering his words for the rest of us.

“Wellllll, not exactly. How should I put this? The problem isn't that I need your help to keep it running as much as… you're what's causing it to lose its magic in the first place.”

“What?!” The ten of us all began clamoring together, nervously exchanging theories on what this meant.

“So, let me explain further,” Discord continued. “It is with great sadness that we must make a decision. Either we make some cuts as to how many of you can be magical girls, or Platinum City disintegrates, and none of you can be magical girls.” Our worst fears were becoming true, and as we began to discuss with each other once more, Discord quickly intervened. “However, I think I've come up with a great plan! Why don't we turn it into a game! The losers will give up their powers, and Platinum City will continue to go on!”

“How many losers will there be?” Storm Rose asked in panic.

“You see… that's the thing, isn't it? I don't know the exact number. I was thinking we just…” Again, as if he didn't feel pain, he pulled off his ear and placed it on the other side of his head. “...play it by ear?”

“This is ridiculous!” Night Seam shouted, rising to her feet. “Why can't we just cut the last couple of girls who got their powers until Platinum City has all the magic it needs?!”

“Oh, don't be so full of yourself, Night Seam. You think you're better than everyone else just because you got your powers before them? Who says you're more qualified than they are to be a magical girl?”

Night Seam clicked her tongue angrily, clenching her fist and dropping eye contact with the draconequus.

“Speaking of which, let's make that our game! Whoever can use their magic to the best of their abilities will be able to keep their powers and remain magical girls! Now, there's only one catch: I don't want any of you sacrificing your powers for what you may feel is the greater good of the group. You must all participate in this game, or else you all lose. That's why I wanted to make sure you were all a big, happy family! Maybe you could even work together to bring out the best in each others’ magic!”

“But who's going to be the judge in all this?” Palette asked. “You?”

“Me? Oh, heavens no. I'm hardly qualified for something this serious. No, I felt it would be better if you judged each other.”

“But how will we do that?” asked Cupid Symphony.

“Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something. Anyway, I really should get going. How long do you think you need to make your first cuts? Does three days sound like enough time for you? Let's shoot for that, and remember, if you can't make a decision, you all lose.”

With a loud and boisterous laugh that called the thunder clouds back into the sky, lightning flashed all around him, concealing him for just enough time for him to vanish. The ten of us then stared long and hard at the fountain, too upset to face each other knowing that we would now be competing to keep our magic. Instead of talking about what we should do next, we all just sat there in silence, dreading whatever came next.

“DAMN IT!” Night Seam shouted, pounding her fist on the fountain and making it turn black again. “This is exactly what I tried warning you all about!”

“Oh, quiet, Night Seam,” Mind Games retorted. “It's not like you knew something like this would happen.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, why didn't you, Ms. Mind-Reader?”

“Will you quit being a baby,” Paradox added. “You're acting like you've already lost.”

“Actually, girls,” Dreamdrop said, intervening gently. “Can we all just take a break for a little bit? Discord said we had three days, right? I don't think we need to make any decisions right at this very minute.”

“Dreamdrop is right,” Marrow chimed in. “If our magic is draining Platinum City, using more of it right now might mean more girls getting cut right of the bat. Let's take the day to recompose ourselves and come back tomorrow ready to take on Discord's challenge.”

Upon hearing Marrow's words, we all looked at each other and nodded our heads. This meeting was a lot to take in, and I had just barely become a magical girl. I couldn't even imagine what some of the other girls who had had their powers for much longer than I did felt.

With the meeting over, we all went our separate ways, leaving through the gate to our own specific destinations. As for me, I left the gate and ended up in an alley right next to the school where I could transform back into my regular self and walk into the building without anyone suspecting a thing. However, as soon as I got into the building and began walking to class…

“I knew you couldn't run forever.”

There she was again. No matter what I did, I couldn't escape from her! She had some kind of sick and twisted grudge against me that consumed her, and the only way that she would ever feel satisfaction in her life was by torturing me!

“Why do you keep following me?!” I shouted, causing several of the passersby to flinch at my unexpected outburst, including me.

“You wanna know why?” Lulu then approached me slowly, staring angrily into my eyes as she did so, making my already weak knees begin to tremble. Even though we were in the middle of the hallway, I didn't feel safe, especially seeing as how she had beaten the living shit out of me several times in this same place already. Then, once she was less than a foot away from me, she leaned into my ear and whispered, “Because I'm Marrow.”

"...W-what?"

Then, I suddenly felt a sharp pain going through my abdomen. Looking down, I saw her switchblade penetrating through my skin as blood began to trickle down. Then, looking up once more at the sadistic psychopath that had tormented me for as long as I could remember, I could see a smile and eyes that seemed like I had seen them somewhere before.

“Help!” she screamed as my vision began to grow blurry. “Trixie is trying to kill herself! Somebody help her!”

So this is what she had in mind… One less magical girl for her to worry about…

Then, with my vision disappearing completely, I fell to the ground, holding my wounds as the blood continued to pour… and then everything went black...