Magical Girl Trixie: Revival

It was like a chain reaction as the two of us walked down the hallway. The moment we passed by a classroom, the students would open up the doors to see what all the commotion was in the hallway, creating more noise which would then lead to the next classroom opening their doors. Cupid Symphony was darting her eye all around the building, seemingly trying to piece together what was going on, even though there was no possible way she’d ever be able to figure out what was really happening.

“Great and Powerful Trixie, I understand that we don’t have much time for whatever you need me for, but… could you at least explain where we are?”

“Canterlot High School.”

“Erm… and what are we doing in Canterlot, again?”

I groaned in frustration, turning a corner and dragging her along as fast as we could go, ignoring the fact that she had asked one question that was obviously just going to lead to more. With the hallways becoming filled to the brim with students clamoring between themselves, apparently already realizing that there was a dead body in the school, the chances of them getting killed were at an all-time high. Literally all La Proxy would need to do is open up a portal and the students would be sucked in like a vacuum, which could have all been avoided if they had just stayed in their classrooms! Regardless, though, my main concern was getting them out as quickly as possible, just so we could resume our war with Everfree City without my classmates being used as leverage.

Finally, the two of us made it into the broadcasting room where the daily announcements were made, and since the class that was usually here was busy trying to figure out what was going on outside, that gave Cupid Symphony and I the perfect opportunity. I had never worked with broadcasting equipment before, but with everything that was on the line, I was pretty sure I could make a few fumbles along the way, just so long as everything worked out.

“Cupid Symphony, can you make a boy fall in love with you with just your voice alone?”

“I… I suppose? I’m sorry, Great and Powerful Trixie, but I’m afraid I’m going to need some context before--”

While Cupid Symphony was in mid-sentence, I forcefully grabbed her by the shoulders and stared angrily into her eye. “These kids are about to die, Cupid. If you don’t use your power right now, every single one of them is going to be killed by a group of magical girls. Please… Trixie needs you to use your power.”

The magical girl in front of me then gave me a concerned expression, her eye shaking until eventually, she nodded her head, looking around at the broadcasting equipment. “Alright. So what would you like me to do?”

“Make the boys at this school fall in love with you. Get them to go straight home immediately, and tell the girls that if they really care about that boy in first period, they’ll either follow him or go home too.”

Cupid symphony chuckled while grabbing the microphone that she would be using for the occasion. “My, my, Great and Powerful Trixie. You seem to know exactly how to toy with people’s hearts.”

Then, as soon as I flicked a switch, I saw a red light turn on, illuminating the control panel. “That might have been it! Try talking!”

The next moment, I was out the door, trying to hear the speakers from the outside while doing my best to prevent feedback from Cupid Symphony’s microphone as she spoke. “H-hello? Is it working?” With a giant smile on my face, I closed the door, giving her a thumbs up. “Oh, magnifique! Hello, my beloved bachelors! This is Cupid Symphony, and I’m looking for a certain man who can fix this aching hole in my heart. Ohh, how I’ve longed for someone just like you, to cherish and to hold in sickness and in health, to spend those warm summers lying next to you by the lake, or those frigid winters where we curl up in a blanket together, cuddling for warmth!”

As Cupid Symphony was getting a little carried away in her fantasies, however, I twirled my finger in a way to signal her to wrap things up quick.

“Oh, but I digress. I doubt that such a man like that exists in this world. In fact, if a man like that really cared for me, he would make his way home this instant, regardless of what his teachers or faculty may tell him, and girls, if you care at all about him, you might want to follow him.”

*SLAM!*

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!”

“Oh! I believe that’s all the time we have for right now. Travel safely, bachelors! Mwah~!”

As soon as she finished speaking those words, however, Principal Celestia walked up and grabbed the microphone out of Cupid Symphony’s hand just as she was signing off. “I don’t know who you two think you are, but this school has been in complete chaos this morning! There might be a dead body of a student who doesn’t even go to this school, and now two girls show up in costumes telling everyone to leave school grounds?!”

“Principal Celestia!” I intervened, trying not to accidentally give myself away, despite her eyebrow raising upon hearing her name. “You need to shut down the school today! These kids are in danger!”

“You’re damn right they are. I’m calling the police and having them escort the two of you off campus."

“No! You don’t understand! We’re not the enemies!”

Celestia didn’t seem to believe me, though. With her demeaning eyes glowering down at us, we needed to find some kind of excuse to get out of the situation, preferably in a way that would allow her to escape along with the students. Thankfully, however, we didn’t even need to think that far.

“Sister!” a woman with dark blue hair and a matching suit said, standing at the doorway with panic on her face. “The children are leaving the school in droves! If we don’t guide them out safely, there’s a chance that they might trample each other to death!”

Celestia looked back at her sister, then back to us, sighing heavily and pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’ll be right there, Luna.” As soon as the vice-principal was on her way to guide the students out, however, Celestia turned towards the two of us with fire in her eyes. “I’m going to go make sure that those students make it home in one piece, and if the two of you are on school grounds by the time I get back, the both of you will be in handcuffs. Am I clear?”

“You mean you’re not going to follow them?!” I asked incredulously. “Principal Celestia, you need to get out!”

“Miss Celestia,” Cupid Symphony then added, taking place by my side, “I promise you that we only have your best interest at heart. If you trust us just this once, you may return safely tomorrow, and we will be gone. If you don’t, however, there are people who will use you as a hostage and try to kill you. You’ve already seen that there are lives at stake here, and this school needs you to be there tomorrow when the dust clears up. Please, mademoiselle, don’t give up on your students.”

Celestia’s indignant expression was beginning to fade, but only slightly. Finally, turning her body towards the door while her eyes remained locked on ours, she said, “Never come back to this school again,” and slammed the door in her exit.

I then immediately fell backwards into the wall behind me, sliding down to my haunches while exhaling a breath of relief. “Thank goodness that actually worked,” I said, trying to force myself to have the urgency I needed to get back to the girls rather than resting to catch my breath. I would have to join them in a minute, but right now, I just needed a second to enjoy the fact that things had gone according to plan for once.

“Erm… Great and Powerful Trixie?” Cupid Symphony said inquisitively. “Would you be able to tell me what’s going on now?”

I then sighed deeply, realizing that there were still a lot of uncomfortable details that Cupid Symphony didn’t know yet. “Do you remember the game?”

“You mean the elimination process? Is that all over now?”

“Yes. It’s been over for four years.”

Cupid Symphony’s expression twinged in complete bewilderment, making sounds come out of her mouth before they could form into coherent sentences. “Four years? I’ve been asleep for four years?”

“No… You’ve been dead for four years.”

“I’ve been… dead? I’m sorry, but I’m not quite sure I understand. How did I die? What brought me back?”

I then put my hand to my head and groaned, trying to find a way that would explain everything in as few words as possible so that I could go back to fighting the other three magical girls. “Mind Games killed you, but I brought you back. Right now, we’re fighting the Canterlot magical girls, and if I don’t get back there right now, everyone in Platinum City is going to die!”

“W-w-wait!” she cried, grabbing hold of my arm just as I had gotten back up to my legs. “How many cuts have there been? How did we end up fighting magical girls from a different city?”

“Trixie doesn’t have time to explain!”

“And when did you start referring to yourself in the third person?”

Before she could ask anything else, though, I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes, giving her the most urgent look I could possibly give anyone. “Cupid Symphony, Trixie needs you to help Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna get everyone off of school grounds. Then, she needs you to make sure that all the faculty make it home safely. You are literally the only one who can do this right now.”

“B-but if your lives are really in danger like you say, shouldn’t I be there to--”

“No, Cupid!! You have to--”

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Suddenly, both Cupid Symphony and I made our way out of the broadcasting room to see a female student running for her life, screaming at the top of her lungs while she cried hysterically. Then, coming behind the corner was another magical girl, wearing a blue dress and metallic skin, crashing into the staircase at the end of the hallway without putting so much as a dent into her body. At that moment, though, as the girl ran around the corner, the magical girl stood where she was, staring at the two of us and no longer pursuing the student she had been chasing after.

“Oh, greetings!” she said, raising her hand for a mechanical wave. “You must be the girl resurrected with Catastrophe’s spirit. I guess it would then only make sense to eliminate you next in order to bring back our fallen teammate while simultaneously reducing Platinum City’s supportline. I apologize for not getting the chance to introduce myself properly before you died. Good bye.”

“T-T-Trixie,” Cupid Symphony stuttered, hiding behind my shoulder. “Is this one of those magical girls you were talking about?”

“Yup!” I responded, getting ready to jump away, and just as I had predicted, in the very next moment, X Genesis leapt forward like a bullet, smashing her body into the wall behind us as I grabbed Cupid Symphony by the waist, pulling the two of us away just in time. Several pieces of wall toppled around Genny’s body in a billow of dust, but pulling herself back up to her feet, she wiped the debris from her arms as if she hadn’t experienced the slightest bit of pain. The moment she looked back in our direction, however, I turned my head in Cupid Symphony’s direction and whispered, “Go. Now!”

“Unfortunately, that is not one of your options.”

As soon as Genny spoke, Cupid Symphony started running as fast as her magical girl legs would let her while I summoned my spear, holding it out as if it could block a head-on attack. “You’re not going to hurt her. Trixie won’t let you hurt anyone EVER AGAIN!”

“I don’t quite understand how you plan on defeating me, especially if your plan is just to stab me with a flimsy utensil like that. In case you don’t remember, my body is unbreakable, even among the most destructive tools created by mankind.”

“Trixie will think of something!”

Genny, however, lowered her head and sighed pitifully. “I’m afraid that you have already stalled our invasion long enough. Divinity and La Proxy are on the other side of the school, awaiting the children to file out in an orderly fashion as if pigs on a conveyor belt to be slaughtered. I was sent here to eliminate students who were unsuccessful in making it out of the school in time while the others in Platinum City continue to fight pointlessly against my sisters. It is a shame that our encounter must be cut short, but I really must reunite with the others.”

Then, out of nowhere, she lifted her palm in my direction, opening a circle in the center of her hand to reveal a bright yellow light and a high-pitched hissing sound, as if something was charging up in her palm. “What…” I began, shaking my head in confusion. “What are you?”

“Ah,” Genny replied with a small smile. “Surely you didn’t believe that indestructibility was my only power. After La Proxy introduced me to Everfree City, I had plenty of magical girls with which I could base the premise of my ability. I then asked Autumn Blaze to turn me into the greatest war machine ever built, and along with my indestructibility came a variety of armaments for situations such as these. Likewise, my ammunition is charged by the magic pulled in by my surroundings, so I will never run out of power. Not that it’s ever taken more than one shot to begin with.”

The light in the center of her palm then continued to grow brighter and brighter until it enveloped the entirety of her hand in a blinding yellow light, causing me to lift my arm to protect my eyes. There had to be something I could use to defend myself! As I looked around at all my surroundings, however, the only thing that I saw was gravel from the wall that she had crashed into moments before, and there was no way that would be enough to protect or attack with. With the sound in her palm increasing to a level that sounded like it was ready to fire at any minute, I used my magic to put up a forcefield, knowing that there was no way my magic would be able to stand up to hers.

“Farewell, Great and Powerful Trixie.”

BOOM!

The light then released from Genny’s hand, filling the entire hallway in a bright light that destroyed the walls and lockers in a flash of energy, disintegrating matter itself as everything began to disappear around me. My forcefield didn’t stand a chance, and in the next moment, I felt my body being ripped apart, soaring backwards as the light began to encapsulate my body, sending fire into my nerve endings. With the rest of Canterlot High School becoming reduced to atoms around me, I finally gave into the light, allowing my body the sweet release from all the pain combusting inside my skin.

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Or, at least that’s what I thought.

As the dust finally settled, X Genesis Volume 9 slapped her hands together, beating the debris and gunpowder out of the hole in her hand until it closed back to its original state. “My condolences to your family, sister. Perhaps next time you choose to begin an assault on someone other than the girls of Everfr--Hmm??”

She had been so busy smacking the gunpowder out of her hand, however, that she had completely missed a girl standing right where the attack should have collided. I, on the other hand, was several feet behind her, with my cape and body torn all over, leaving burns and scrapes all along my skin as the girl in front of me finally got back up to her feet. Genny, however, tilted her head in curiosity, noticing that there was now an extra girl in the hallway, tearing her shield in half and placing both segments onto her shoulders.

“Sorry about the late timing,” the girl said, smiling down at me. “That La Proxy girl can do some scary stuff.”

“Ah,” Genny continued. “Iron Maiden, correct? I see that you have managed to escape my sisters. No reason to fret. I shall simply dispose of you as well.”

“Just kidding!”

Suddenly, Genny’s mechanical eyes went wide, turning around to see another magical girl with blue hair and a night-themed dress pinching onto her neck, making X Genesis freeze momentarily. Then, after a few moments had passed… she tilted her head in curiosity again. “I’m sorry if you thought you could put me to sleep, Dreamdrop, but unlike normal magical girls, I do not require rest. The magic in the air is perfectly suitable to give me the revitalization I require.”

“What?!” Dreamdrop screamed, releasing Genny from her grip and stumbling backwards. “You’re not human!”

“Correct. I am a magical girl.”

With Dreamdrop stepping away in fear, however, Genny’s palm opened again to reveal a long needle extending out of her hand, moving towards her while she trembled in fear. I was barely able to get my magic off in time, pulling Genny’s arm into the air long enough for Iron Maiden to jump in with her steel plates, shielding Dreamdrop from any attack Genny could throw at her. I then tried to pull myself back up to my feet, but it was a struggle just to prop myself up after all the damage I had taken. Still, though, I couldn’t just watch X Genesis bombard my teammates with attack after attack until one of them grew too weak to continue, especially since Genny’s ability to pull magic from her environment meant that she would never get tired.

“Stay down, Trixie!” Iron Maiden called. “I’ll take care of metal chick over here. Dreamdrop, stay behind me.”

“Oh?” Genny asked in awe. “And how exactly do you plan on defeating me?”

“I… I don’t know yet, but I’m not just going to sit back and watch my friends get hurt while you pretend to be some hero of justice!”

“Hmm… ‘Hero of justice’, you say? Why would you assume I would label myself with such a title?”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE A FREAKING MAGICAL GIRL!”

“Correct, but you seem to misinterpret what justice truly is. You see, in the minds of Everfree City, the murder of every single man, woman and child at this institution would be justice, seeing as how it would result in an equal amount of pain that you have placed on us as well as restoring that which you have taken away from us. In your minds, justice would be preventing us from carrying out our fixed objective, despite the fact that no one in Everfree City has ever harmed a Platinum Citizen under any mode of reasoning.”

“Are you kidding?! Just look at the Great and Powerful Trixie! Are you seriously trying to tell me that’s not harming her?!”

“The message I am attempting to communicate is that justice is a matter of usurping personal ideals into justifying actions that you deem to support an overarching subjective value. The whole concept is far too partisan to give oneself the title of ‘hero of justice’ in a serious, respectable manner. Nevertheless, it appears as though our discussion has no purpose other than to extend time, which has no benefit to myself or my sisters. I wish you the best in the afterlife.”

In a matter of seconds, Genny had rescinded her needle and had opened up her chest, revealing another powerful reactor beginning to light up in a blinding flash. With all the energy in my body combined, I tried my absolute best to get back onto my feet, but the pain from her last attack was too much for my body to handle on its own. There was only a split second for Iron Maiden to think, and doing what appeared to be a last minute ditch effort, she stuck her steel plates into Genny’s chest where the reactor was just before it exploded. A dark red shadow suddenly fell over the remains to the school's interior, encompassing us in an almost apocalyptic light as the explosion sent Iron Maiden shooting backwards like a cannon, causing her body to smash through the walls behind her.

“Iron Maiden!” Dreamdrop shouted, just as another shadow loomed over her head. Then, turning her head slowly and timidly, X Genesis Volume 9 appeared over her once again, this time slamming her hand to the ground next to her feet with several mechanical sounds echoing throughout her body. “N-no! NO! TRIXIE!”

“DREAMDROOOOP!!!!!”

Now, even despite the pain, I was rising to my feet, pushing my aching body as quickly as it could move, but even while moving my body as fast as I could, a light began to rise up from the ground in a circle around the two magical girls. In the next moment, both girls were covered in a cylinder of combustion, rising from the floor to the ceiling as flames blinded their bodies from view, circling around them in a way that only Genny would be able to survive. I had been too late to save anyone. If Iron Maiden had survived her own fall, it would only be moments before Genny would come after her and use another one of her weapons, and I was in no condition to fight anymore. It seemed pretty safe to say that barring some kind of miracle, the girls of Platinum City were finished.

As the flames rescinded into small embers, only X Genesis remained, not even a small trace of Dreamdrop’s body surviving the heat of the blast. Just as quickly as I had gotten to my feet, I found myself falling back onto my knees with a painful tear dripping down my charred cheeks. My lip was trembling and my chest beginning to bounce from the sobs that I was still in too much trauma to release from my body. There was no way that she was really gone, just like that. I couldn’t bring myself to believe that she hadn’t survived, even though the emotions in my eyes were telling a different story altogether.

Rather than celebrate, however, Genny glared at the ground where Dreamdrop had once stood, smacking her hands once again to brush off the ash and debris from her attack. My blood was beginning to boil to a level I had never experienced before. She wasn’t even respecting the ground where Dreamdrop was killed, instead turning it into her own personal ashtray while she focused her attention back onto Iron Maiden.

“I suppose your friend should be getting up any time now,” Genny said. “Perhaps I should eliminate her before she becomes a problem.”

“Don’t… touch… her…”

X Genesis then looked back at me with confusion in her robotic eyes. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that you are in any position to be making demands. Perhaps I should dispose of you first?”

“GO AHEAD AND TRY!”

Before I even got back up to my legs, I summoned my spear into my hands again, holding it out like I could somehow pierce through Genny’s indestructible skin. The metallic girl in front of me, however, shrugged while shaking her head and exhaling in pity, taking small steps towards me until she was right above my head. Then, lifting her palm right above my face, she opened up the center of her hand to reveal the barrel of a gun, emerging from her palm and pointing directly at me between my eyes.

“Trixie!” Iron Maiden shouted as she attempted to get back up to her own feet. “Get out of there!”

With a last minute burst of energy, I was able to summon just enough strength to get my magic to pull her arm away from my face, angling it up in the air just as she had shot her bullet. “You realize that you are postponing the inevitable, correct?”

“I just have one thing to do first!” I shouted, pulling out my anti-magic orb. “Iron Maiden! Use this and go help fight off Divinity!”

Then, reeling my arm back as much as my body would let me, I threw the orb towards Iron Maiden, making sure I used as much of my magical girl power as I had in my system.

“Hmph. Quite intriguing.”

But even after putting all my strength into that one throw, X Genesis was able to snatch it out of the air like it was nothing. That was literally the only thing left that I could do to fight off Genny. Dreamdrop was gone, Iron Maiden would only be able to defend herself for so long, and my body had been reduced to a carcass that barely kept me alive. I had hoped that if Iron Maiden were able to get that orb back to Night Seam or Marrow, they would be able to stop Divinity and focus all their attention on the two less powerful magical girls, but I was wrong to think that Genny wasn’t on the exact same level as either Divinity or La Proxy.

“What?! WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?!”

...Or maybe I was wrong to think that we didn’t have a shot.

X Genesis suddenly dropped the orb out of nowhere, taking several steps away from it and holding onto her wrist while her eyes went wide. Rather than the familiar metallic hand that we were used to seeing, however, we saw a regular, yellow hand like the kind that would belong to any normal human being. Once she dropped the orb, however, the metallic color began to attach itself back to Genny’s skin, leading her to twiddle with her fingers just to make sure they were functioning properly.

That was it! The orb Discord gave us reflected magic from the outside entering into someone else’s body, which meant that if Genny touched that orb, all the magic that she absorbed wouldn’t be able to keep her body functioning! She would then revert back into her normal form!

“Iron Maiden! Keep Genny from getting away!”

“Wait! Aren’t we supposed to be escaping right now?”

As Genny looked back at me with fear in her eyes, however, she wasted no time in making a run for it, which I was barely able to stop by using my magic to trip her up. Once she was on the floor, however, I was totally immobile, using every drop of energy I had to keep her on the ground for as long as I could. Iron Maiden still didn’t seem to know what was going on, but regardless as to whatever she was thinking, she chased after X Genesis and held up her steel shoulder pads to block her from proceeding further. The moment I released her from my magic to grab my orb again, though, she rose back up to her feet, pointed both of her palms towards Iron Maiden and released an explosive jet, sending her halfway across the room before we could catch up to her.

Then, as soon as she turned around, my jaw dropped.

“Hey, Genny. Discord says hi.”

Out of nowhere, Dreamdrop had appeared in front of her, blocking her path from running the other way. Genny, however, was in too much of a panic to speak any further, immediately taking that opportunity to open her chest again while placing both of her palms onto the ground, but I wasn’t going to let her get away with doing that again. Using my magic, I flung the orb directly into the opening on her chest, making her back away slowly while coughing vehemently, reaching into her chest to pull out the orb before it killed her.

“Dreamdrop! Catch!”

Suddenly, the girl in the night-themed outfit reached out and grabbed my spear while I used my magic to move the orb around the inside of her chamber. Her whole body was changing from a robotic silver to a light yellow, replacing her shiny, blue hair with mossy green and her hard, blue dress with regular female attire. By the time Genny had managed to pull the sphere out of her chest, however, her entire body was now in its original form, and before she could get rid of it to return back into a magical girl again, Dreamdrop was raising my spear above her head, swinging it in an arc towards her neck.

“Dreamdrop! No!” X Genesis shouted, but in the next moment, without holding back, Dreamdrop swung her spear directly through Genny’s throat, severing her head completely off of her body. The orb then dropped out of her hand, rolling on the floor by her head as blood started to spray like a fountain into the air. Dreamdrop’s face, though, was especially heartbreaking once she finally realized what she had just done, falling onto her butt and backpedaling away from the body oozing blood around her hands. It was something I was hoping she would never have to experience, but now she knew firsthand just how terrifying it was to take another human life.

My body was now beginning to allow me to stand up again, but walking was still a chore with no way I would ever be able to fight the other girls in my condition. Iron Maiden, likewise was wobbling as she approached the body lying on the floor, trying not to look directly into the girl’s eyes as she arrived by Dreamdrop’s side.

“It never gets any easier, does it?” Iron Maiden asked, looking straight into my eyes. “I thought just seeing Cupid Symphony die was bad, but I’ve seen it happen two more times since then and not once have I been ready for it.”

“What was her name?” Dreamdrop asked, catching us off guard as she placed her hands to her chest and shook violently. “What was Genny’s name? Her real name! Tell me her real name!”

I then summoned my magical phone, scrolling through the names of the magical girls until I saw a picture with X Genesis Volume 9’s face crossed out in a red X. Upon pulling out her personal information, I read the words aloud, hoping that it would calm down Dreamdrop at least a little bit.

“Her name is Tropical Beach. She’s twenty years old and lives in Central Canterlot with her husband of one year. It says here she was busy trying to work to help put her husband through law school until she could hopefully one day become a stay-at-home mom.”

“Of course…” Dreamdrop said, biting down on her lip, nodding her head as it grew angrier and angrier. “Of course we had to pull a woman away from her fucking husband!”

“Whoa!” Iron Maiden said, taking a step back. “Did you not see her going after innocent kids back there? She needed to be stopped!”

“But it just had to be us to stop her, right?”

Iron Maiden tried to respond, but Dreamdrop just put her face into her hands and began bawling, letting out all the emotion that comes from killing a human being. I wanted to hold her, to stroke through her hair, to run my fingernails down her back, to tell her everything would be alright, but even if I did have the energy to do any of that, it was obvious that she wanted to be left alone. There is no easy way to tell a person to calm down right after they’ve seen someone die in front of their eyes, and it looked like Dreamdrop had severely underestimated how much worse it is when you’re the one with the weapon.

“Dreamdr--”

Before I could finish my sentence, however, a shadow ran along the floors, circling around the area until eventually, a large, dragon-like creature ascended from the puddle of blood, spitting the red liquid out of his mouth like a fountain. In fact, while we were lamenting over someone’s death, Discord was literally bathing in her blood, materializing a loofah so he could scrub underneath his armpits. All three of us had to hold back our anger, knowing that we still needed him if we were going to have any chance of surviving till the end. He had just saved Dreamdrop, after all.

“You know,” he began, materializing a showerhead and spraying himself further, “I find that when you turn the knob on these showers even the teensiest bit, it goes from freezing cold to squelching hot.”

“Discord, please…” Dreamdrop said, wrapping her hands under her knees and pressing them to her chest. “Can we just revive someone now?”

“Upupup! Now hold your horses, Dreamdrop! I believe the Great and Powerful Trixie and I have something to discuss.” Then, turning his face towards mine, smiling smugly with his large, yellow eyes piercing into mine, he said, “I followed exactly what you said. The first time anyone tried to harm Dreamdrop in any way, I teleported her immediately back to Platinum City and only sent her back once it was safe to do so. Now, she’s not going to get another chance, so you’re going to have to protect her from now on.”

I wasn’t happy about what he said, but I was still appreciative that he had done so much for us so far, which seemed to go against every grain of character that I had come to expect from Discord. With a gulp and a nod, I said, “Trixie will protect her with my life.”

“Good. Soooo! Dreamdrop, since you were the lucky one to finish her off, you get the prize! It can be whoever you’d like from celebrities to historical figures to distant relatives to--”

“Paradox,” Dreamdrop replied without hesitation. “She was my first friend in Platinum City and the first one to die. I want her back! Bring Paradox back!” As she struggled to make the words come out of her mouth, she buried her face into her knees, crying even more from the guilt she must have been feeling. Taking away a life to bring someone else back to life may seem balanced in theory, but when you’re the one to do it, it feels like the most selfish, despicable thing in the world.

“Well,” Discord said, putting his claw to his lip as he thought deeply, “I guess that works too. Funny how that just leaves Storm Rose as the last girl from Platinum City who has yet to be reunited with her body, but I guess she was never one to make many friends anyway, was she? Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself. Paradox! Wakey wakey!”

As Discord clapped his hands, thunder and lightning crashed around us, shining in a bright white light until he had disappeared completely. The moment he was gone, however, the three of us searched desperately to find where Paradox had ended up, splitting up in different directions and ducking around heads behind walls.

“Girls! Girls! I found her! I found her!”

Iron Maiden and I then rushed into a sprint, following the sounds of Dreamdrop’s voice until we reached the girls’ bathroom where Paradox was lying down in Dreamdrop’s arms. We couldn’t tell whether or not she was opening her eyes thanks to the goggles over her face, but we could at least see her lower lip moving, bringing a smile to all of our faces.

“Ugh…” she groaned, trying to get the strength back in her body that had been electrocuted out of her four years ago. “My head… I just had the weirdest dream. Discord was making cuts to Platinum City, and out of nowhere I just felt this weird jolt! Almost like I had peeved off Storm Rose during her time of the month and turned her into Typhoon Rose. I’m sorry. Bad joke. Why are we in a bathroom, by the way?”

“Because it’s where Discord put you when he brought you back to life after Storm Rose killed you because she didn’t want to get her powers taken away.”

“...Dreamdrop, leave the jokes to me.”

Just as she had spoken those words, however, the four of us were being sucked through a portal, and on the other side was the back entrance to CHS along with both the Platinum City and Everfree City magical girls. The environment looked like it had taken a beating with several craters carved into the ground, but fortunately, there were no bodies anywhere to be seen. Night Seam looked like she had been through just as much as I had, and Mind Games was busy holding her arms out to protect Cupid Symphony as she cowered behind her shoulders. The scariest part, though, was Divinity rising into the air, looking down on us with fury. Suddenly, Paradox was beginning to shiver as well, grabbing onto Dreamdrop’s outfit while everyone waited for the goddess of magical girls to make her move.

“NO MORE!” Divinity yelled, piercing our ears with her booming voice. “I WILL NO LONGER ALLOW YOU TO TAKE MY SISTERS AWAY FROM ME!”

“Then end this fight before it’s too late!” Marrow shouted confidently.

Marrow’s resolve, however, only succeeded in pissing Divinity off, making her scowl angrily as she lifted her hands into the air.

“Oh, I’ll end it! La Proxy, if Discord takes them anywhere, I want you to bring them back to this spot!”

“Vut are you planning on doing?!” Palette asked with panic in her voice.

Then, with a smile on her face as she descended down to the ground beneath her, she slammed her hands onto the concrete, and in the next moment, the heavens opened up, revealing several meteors making it into the atmosphere. There was no way she was actually doing this! There had to be some kind of trick! She was just trying to get us to do something brash! As I looked around at the other girls, however, they were in just as much fear as I was, and Divinity did not look like she was bluffing.

“I’m ending this war, AND THIS MEANINGLESS PLANET WITH IT!”