I couldn’t sleep.

To ease Summer Breeze’s worries, even if only slightly, I pretended to be sleeping with no problems, but in reality, there was no way I would be able to keep my eyes closed for long. When Summer Breeze had to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I closed my eyes for as long as I could, but they immediately shot open the moment I heard the sound of the bathroom door click. I couldn’t bear the sight of the inside of my eyelids. If I wasn’t looking at something right in front of me, I would begin to see the bodies again, strewn out along the school grounds with faces filled with terror, never reaching the safety they so desperately sought after.

The door opened again, and I quickly shut my eyes just long enough for Summer Breeze to walk in and lay down on her bed before my eyelids opened wide again. Even in the few moments where I was pretending to be asleep, I saw each of their faces once again, as if their lives were taken mid-scream, but I couldn’t let that bother me too much. If I began to panic again, or worse, if I began shrieking like I had before, Summer Breeze would spend the rest of the night worrying about me. I needed to keep her as far away from this scenario as possible. If I didn’t…

I slapped my face with all of my strength, hoping the sound wouldn’t accidentally wake Summer Breeze, but luckily for me, sleep really was her special talent. I had to keep my thoughts away from what I had seen the night before, even though I still had so many questions. Why would Autumn Blaze do something like that? What kind of dispute was she having between her and Discord? How did Summer Breeze, who wasn’t even a student at CHS, get caught up in all this? As I began to think deeply about all the questions swirling around in my mind, however, the stress and fatigue were beginning to take their toll on me, and before I knew it, I was staring at the inside of my eyelids once more, gently being taken back into my dreams.

*Beep, beep, beep!*

“No school today,” I mumbled, slapping my hand over my alarm clock. “Trixie doesn’t believe in education.”

“Oh, no, you don’t!”

Just as I was about to be pulled back into my deep slumber, I was being pulled in another direction as my blankets were suddenly yanked off of my body, flipping me onto my stomach. Of course, looking up, Summer Breeze was standing above me with a beautiful smile, complemented by her adorable bedhead and signature teddy bear pajama bottoms. There was no way I could be mad at her, but at the same time, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about being forcefully woken up after two or three hours of sleep.

I rubbed my eyes, yawning loudly as I grumbled, “What happened to sleep being your special talent?”

“What happened to graduating at the top of your class with the most dazzling grades the world has ever seen?”

“Alright, alright! Trixie gets your point!” With another yawn, I swung my legs over the ledge of the bed, but I couldn’t help noticing that even though Summer Breeze was smiling, there was something that was on her mind. Of course, I didn’t need three guesses to figure out what she was thinking about, but that didn’t mean I particularly wanted to talk about it first thing in the morning.

“So…” she began. “About last night…”

“Do we really need to talk about this right now?”

Summer Breeze bit her lip, dropping her eye contact, but with another wave of determination, she looked back into my eyes and said, “I think you should do it. At least this way one of us can get away from Discord.”

Me? By myself?

“What about you? Trixie doesn’t want to do this by myself.”

“I know, but I don’t exactly have that option. My magic would ruin Everfree City.”

Oh, right. Then we would probably be put through another death game like the one Discord did, only for some reason, I didn’t feel as though Autumn Blaze would go as easy on us as Discord. Fortunately, though, not only did this mean Summer Breeze would stay away from her, but it also made it easier for me to come up with an excuse as to why I wouldn’t be joining Everfree City. Summer Breeze didn’t need to know the whole truth, at least not yet.

“Actually,” I began, “Trixie doesn’t know how she feels about becoming part of Everfree City either.”

Summer Breeze folded her arms, lifting one eyebrow. “Why’s that? I thought you’d be thrilled about being done with Discord. I mean, I know we haven’t seen him for a while, but--”

“Has Discord ever lied?”

“...I’m sorry?”

Rising to my feet and grabbing hold of Summer Breeze’s shoulders, I exclaimed in a half-shout, “Answer me! Has Discord ever lied?”

“Not that I know of, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dishonest!” Having my suspicions more or less confirmed, I fell back onto the bed, slumping forward while rubbing my temples. “What’s going on, Trixie? Is this about… the game?”

For once, it wasn’t, but I couldn’t let her know that.

“No. Trixie is just… concerned that maybe Autumn Blaze is more similar to Discord than we think.”

“Why would you think that?” With a concerned look of her own, she sat down on the bed beside me, running her fingernails against my back. “We both met the same pony, right? Did she really give you the impression that she was anything like Discord?”

“Did Discord give you the impression that he would get us all killed?!” Summer Breeze flinched, making me feel even worse than I already did. Not only did I not need to snap at her like that, but what I said wasn’t even entirely true. Discord never asked me to kill anyone. I did it out of my own anger. “I’m sorry, Summer Breeze. It’s just… At least with Discord, we already know what we’re getting ourselves into. With Autumn Blaze, we have no idea what to expect.”

Summer Breeze’s eyebrows furrowed, giving me the feeling that what I said may have been the wrong thing to say. “Are you saying you trust Discord?”

That was what I was saying, wasn’t it? I hated to admit it, but with a gulp, I looked into Summer Breeze’s eyes and said, “Yes.”

“...OK, then. I’ll trust in your judgement.” To my surprise, rather than getting angry, she hopped up to her feet, held out her hands and helped me back up to my own. “Now, you’d better start getting ready for school! We don’t want you to be late for your second day of classes!”

Once I was back up to my feet, I wrapped my arms around Summer Breeze’s waist, pulling her into the biggest hug I could imagine, and unlike what my mother had ever done for me growing up, she actually hugged me back. As I placed my face into her shoulder, getting a whiff of her natural scent, I felt a wave of comfort knowing that being in her arms was exactly where I could call my home. It was almost strange to think that had anything changed four years ago, I wouldn’t be able to spend every day with her like I was in that moment. Pulling myself out of her shoulder, I stood on my toes and planted a kiss on her lips, showing her in a way that words couldn’t express how much I loved her and how happy I was to be with her.

Unfortunately, however, when that moment passed, I would never feel this happy ever again.

*****

“Alright, class. Don’t forget that you’re starting your group projects today. If you don’t like your partner, welcome to the club.”

“Mr. Doodle, Trixie must object!”

“HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME MR. DOODLE?!”

“How can you expect Trixie to get a proper grade in your class when you pair her up with a southern bumpkin?”

“Say hwat now?”

Before the argument could escalate any further, however, the bell rang throughout the school, dismissing us for lunch as a sea of students made their way into the hallways. Of course, Applejack gave me a fierce glare as she walked out of the classroom, which I had a feeling wasn’t going to help out much when we started on our group project. With all that we had going on, though, I needed to make sure that I had someone who would be able to help carry some of the weight for me academically, especially if I got called away for some kind of magical girl business. After what Discord had shown me the previous night, I had a feeling that I was going to need a couple nights free from schoolwork. I was praying to myself that what I saw wouldn’t come true, but everyone’s life, including my own, was riding on me being able to stop it if something happened.

As I walked through the lunch line, receiving a scowl from Granny Smith (who gave me the least appetizing applesauce available), I didn’t even notice that I was staring down at my tray, barely looking up enough to continue my autopilot routine. After making it through the lunch line, I finally realized that several students were staring at me with concerned expressions, some of them even whispering into their neighbor’s ear. They were looking at me just like the kids at Manehattan Middle School did, which immediately broke me from my stupor enough to point my nose upwards, projecting an aura of confidence that I hoped the students would believe. No matter what problems I had, I still had a reputation to worry about. After all, it wasn’t like I could tell anyone else what was going on.

Then it hit me! I quickly looked around until I saw Photo Finish eating lunch by herself and hurriedly made my way over to her table, slamming my tray down and making her yelp in surprise.

“Photo Finish! Trixie is so glad she has someone to talk to!”

“Do you not… usually have friends to sit with during lunch?”

“No, but that’s beside the point! I need to talk to you about the… other thing.”

Photo Finish quickly looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and once the coast was clear, I sat down in front of her, leaning in to where we could speak quietly without being noticed within the roar of the lunchroom. “I’m guessing zis is about Autumn Blaze’s proposal, yes?”

“Yeah, about that…”

“Ach, isn’t this wunderbar! We can finally be freed from Discord and once again be magical girls! It vill be just like before we--”

“Trixie has decided not to join Everfree City.”

Photo Finish stared at me for several moments, pulled her glasses off of her ears, rubbed her lenses with her frilly sleeves and placed them back onto her face. “You are joking, yes?”

“No. I’m not. Something just seems… off about Autumn Blaze. At least with Discord, we know what we’re dealing with.”

Photo Finish sighed, resting her forehead in the palm of her hand. “And Dreamdrop is OK with this?”

“Yes. She’s also decided to remain loyal to Discord.”

With a loud groan, the fashionista began rubbing her temples, undoubtedly feeling the same conflicting emotions that I had been dealing with all morning. “And I suppose zat you vould like me to remain with ze two of you?”

“Listen, Pale--I mean, Photo Finish. Discord never lies. We don’t know that about Autumn Blaze. Sure, Discord may try to mislead us, but he will never tell us something that isn’t true. I think we can use that to our advantage. Also, Trixie saw some… things… last night…”

“Things?” I couldn’t bring myself to make eye contact anymore, knowing that if I did, she would pressure me into giving her all the gory details, but nonetheless, I nodded my head, at least giving her a response. “Do these things have somezing to do vith Autumn Blaze?”

“Photo Finish…” I took a deep breath. “...Trixie thinks she’s going to try and kill everyone at CHS.”

“VAS?!”

“SSSSHHHH!!!!!” I whispered as loud as I could, reaching over the cafeteria table and placing my hand over Photo Finish’s mouth. As I looked around, fortunately, everyone was too immersed in their own conversations to notice her outburst, allowing me to take my hand off of her mouth and place it over my chest with a deep breath.

Photo Finish then looked around the room herself, closing the gap between us so that I would hear her as she whispered. “What did you see?”

“Trixie would… much rather not talk about it, although it’s safe to say that Autumn Blaze is the perpetrator, according to Discord.”

“You met with Discord?! Ach, it’s no wonder he doesn’t want you to join Everfree City! Can’t you see he’s manipulating you into believing that--”

“Palette.” Photo Finish cringed upon hearing her magical girl name in a public setting, but she couldn’t look around to see if anyone heard with my fierce gaze locking her in. “Discord. Never. Lies. He told me pointblank that Autumn Blaze is going to order her magical girls to murder the entire school. I saw the aftermath.”

Photo Finish frowned wider, but my stern stare wouldn’t break for a second. “You’d… prefer not to talk about what exactly you saw?” I shook my head, leading her to slump back in her seat, holding her chin up with her elbow on the table. “And I’m guessing zis means zat I won’t be able to join Autumn Blaze either, yes?”

“Do you still want to?”

“I don’t know! Scheisse! I was so excited to actually go back to being a normal magical girl again.”

“Photo Finish, you know as well as Trixie that there’s no such thing as a normal magical girl. We’re not here to spread hope, love and justice like we thought when we signed up. Our job is to kill, and that’s not going to change no matter who we take orders from.”

“But… I’ve met zose girls before. Zey don’t seem like zey would kill anybody, even if Autumn Blaze asked zem to.”

I put my hand onto Photo Finish’s shoulder, just so she could feel how much I was trembling.

“Neither did we, but we did what we had to do. I have no idea how Autumn Blaze is going to convince her team to kill a school full of kids, but I saw what it looked like. For some reason, she has some kind of vendetta against Discord, and she’s going to take that out on all of us, not leaving any survivors.”

“Wait… does zat mean…?”

I nodded my head.

“We’ll die too.”

Photo Finish looked down at her tray of food, stirring her fork around her applesauce until she lost her composure and threw the entire tray behind her, seething with anger. “I thought we could all be done with zis, but our problems just followed us here!”

As Photo Finish looked up to see my face, though, she noticed that rather than staring at her with the gaze I had been holding for the past several minutes, I was looking directly behind her. Then, once she turned around to see what I saw looking at, she saw a boy with a bright red mohawk, covered in applesauce and slamming his fist on the table, but just before he could find out who the perpetrator was…

“FOOOOOOOD FIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!”

...the entire cafetaria stood up and began throwing their entrees, leaving Photo Finish and I to shield our heads with empty food trays.

“Meet me after school tonight, same place as last time. We’ll go see Autumn Blaze and talk with her a little bit before giving our answers. Oh! And also, Summer Breeze says that she prefers seven thirty to midnight.” Before Photo Finish could answer one way or the other, however, a shiny red apple flew past our faces, cutting our conversation short. “I’ll see you then!”

Time seemed to fly by after speaking with Photo Finish. For some reason, having both of the remaining magical girls from Manehattan siding with me on such a sensitive issue put my mind at ease to the point where I almost forgot about it. Upon getting home, I filled Summer Breeze in on the details, and it sounded like she was thinking about the exact same plan. We would all go to Autumn Blaze, tell her that we would politely decline, and look for any signs that might hint that she’d want to take action against us. From there, if we were careful and observant, we might be able to prevent anything from happening to the students at Canterlot High. Summer Breeze didn’t need to know all the details just yet, but just so long as she knew that Autumn Blaze was trouble, she hopefully wouldn’t need to know the rest.

Before the three of us made our way back to Everfree City, I debated with myself as to whether or not I should talk with Discord about what we should do or say. Eventually, though, I decided against it, knowing that he would give me some kind of biased judgement that would work in his favor rather than ours. Not only that, but I was honestly frightened to ever see him again. It seemed like every time I spoke with him, something bad ended up happening, and for just once in my life, I just didn’t want anything bad to happen.

Before we made our way over, however, I pulled out my magical phone, remembering that before we left Everfree City, Autumn Blaze gave us a way to contact her as well as all the other magical girls. The last thing I wanted to do was message Autumn Blaze directly, but I also had a feeling that whatever message I sent to any of the other magical girls would probably be seen by both Autumn Blaze and Discord. I still wanted to get some answers, though. I would just have to be discreet about it.

Sifting down the names, I came across a name that I had heard the previous night, a name that peaked my curiosity. “Divinity,” I said to myself, reading the name aloud. “Maybe you can be of some service to Trixie.” Placing her name as the recipient of a text, I shakily moved my fingers, typing out a message that I knew was been watched by two mythical beings.

“Hey, Divinity. This is the Great and Powerful Trixie. I’m planning on coming back to Everfree City again tonight, but I had some questions first.”

The exact moment I had hit the send button, however, I immediately received a reply that read, “Ask whatever you’d like.” It was literally an instantaneous reaction, as if the message had been waiting for me, and all I had to do was hit send to receive my answer. With my nerves a little more on edge, I continued to type.

“How long have you known Autumn Blaze? When did you first receive your powers?”

Again, the exact instant that I sent the message, I already had my reply.

“I received my powers ten years ago. If you’d like to know more, I’ll make sure all the other girls will be there when you arrive tonight so that we can go over our powers and abilities with you. I think it would be preferable for you to know more about the girls of Everfree City before you decide whether or not you would like to join us. The three of you were planning on seven thirty, correct? Just say the word and I’ll make sure everyone is there.”

How did she know when we were planning on coming? Had Palette tipped her off already? Well, Palette did seem to know these girls a little already, so it would make sense if she did, not that it mattered much either way.

“Yes, Trixie would really appreciate it if everyone could be there.”

“Perfect. We’ll be expecting you. Also, the draconequus is right behind you. Don’t scream.”

Even with her warning, I could help but let out a shriek as I turned my head to see Discord laying in a hammock in my room, sipping on a beverage straight from the center of a pineapple. “Whoa! Calm down, Trixie!” he said holding up his paws. “It’s only me! It’s not like you didn’t know I would be here anyway.”

“What are you doing here, Discord?” I asked, holding my hand to my chest as I heaved air back into my lungs.

“Oh, why is that always the first thing anyone ever asks me? I’m here to spy on you, of course!” He then slurped through his straw so powerfully that the entire pineapple sucked straight through, which he gulped down with a satisfying sigh, picking his teeth with the straw before he swallowed that too. “So, I presume you’ve been thinking over what I showed you last night.”

“Yes, and Trixie would like to know a few things about that.”

“Oh? Is that a demand I hear?”

With my lips suddenly curling downward, I fell down to my knees, prostrating myself humbly before the god of chaos and finally getting a good grasp on what humility really meant. I hated myself for ever bowing to a monster like him, but if he could save both my friends and myself, then it would hopefully all be worth it in the end. “No,” I said sorrowfully. “Trixie is asking you for a favor.”

Of course, Discord immediately roared with laughter, floating in mid air while he clenched onto his sides. “Isn’t this something! The Great and Powerful Trixie is on her hands and knees! Ohoho! This is priceless! I have to take a picture of this!”

“Discord!” I shouted, losing my composure just as he grabbed a camera from behind his back.

“Fine. What exactly would you like to know?”

The question caught me off guard. I was so sure that he would lead me straight into a riddle that I hadn’t even thought of a good question to ask. “How about… What exactly caused the events to transpire that you showed me last night?”

“I already told you. Autumn Blaze used her magical girls to attack Canterlot High School and everyone in it.”

“But why?”

“Because she hates humans. That’s why she was banished to the magic realm in the first place.”

With every question Discord answered, two more popped up in its place. “What’s the magic realm? Who banished her? Why does she hate humans? Why Canterlot High in particular?”

“Whoa! Calm down! All these questions are making my head spin!” As Discord spoke, his head began swirling in circles comedically, and even when he grabbed hold of his horns and chin, his eyeballs continued to spin in opposite directions. “The only thing I can tell you is that the only way to stop the events I showed you from happening is by killing Autumn Blaze.”

No. Not again. Why did everything have to revolve around death?! Why was it that every time I spoke with Discord, he had some kind of agenda for someone to die?! There was no way I could kill again, even with my friends’ lives on the line. I would figure something out eventually, but as for right now, I wasn’t done with the draconequus in the room just yet.

“Trixie has just one more question.”

“Oh? And what, pray tell, would that be?”

Finally, I lifted my gaze from the ground, glaring straight into Discord’s large, yellow eyes.

“Why can’t you tell Trixie anything else?”

His lips then suddenly curled into a small smile, reminding me once again that I was dealing with someone who never answered questions with a serious response. “Because I want to see you grow, of course!” It sounded like he was lying, which would have disproven my earlier theory, but there was still probably some semblance of truth to his statement. Of course I would grow if I had to figure everything out by myself, but what good was having a living deity around if he never gave me any answers?

“Come on, Discord! There are lives at stake here!”

“Then you’d better take care of Autumn Blaze quick, before she goes after someone you love.”

I grit my teeth in anger, seething with so much fury that I grabbed the next closest thing to where I was kneeling (which, in this case was a pair of scissors) and immediately threw it towards the god of chaos, who disappeared without warning. “DAMN IT!” I shouted, pounding my fists into the floor after having let Discord slip away so easily, but no sooner had I done so when I began to hear footsteps racing up the stairs with urgency.

“Trixie, are you o--” Summer Breeze exclaimed, opening the door to our bedroom but freezing in place as she examined the room. “Is there any reason you’re kowtowed in front of a pair of scissors which are sticking out of our freshly painted wall?”

“Trixie can fix that!” I replied, getting back to my feet. “Sorry. I think I got a little emotional all of a sudden.”

Summer Breeze lifted an eyebrow, which was the proper response, even though I knew that this meant she was going to start asking questions that I really didn’t want to answer. “You’ve been acting strange all day. Does this have something to do with Autumn Blaze?”

“Trixie… can’t tell you that… I’m sorry…”

I couldn’t look her in the eye anymore, but I could still feel a wave of concern on her face as she placed her hands on my shoulders, gently running them down my arms until she was holding my hands. “Why can’t you talk to me, Trixie? You know that there’s nothing you could possibly say that would make me judge you.”

“It’s not that!” I wanted to tell her everything, and at this point, she really did deserve to know. Now the only thing keeping me from telling her was my own weakness. I was so afraid to bring it up, like talking about it would somehow make it real rather than fantasy. “Can it just… wait until after the meeting tonight?”

I still wasn’t looking at Summer Breeze’s face, but I could still tell that she was at least a little devastated. “Yeah… After the meeting… Actually, would you mind if I stayed home tonight? Since I’m not joining Everfree City anyway, there’s no real point in both of us going, right?”

NO! That’s the exact opposite of what I wanted! If you stay home, that would give Autumn Blaze the perfect opening! There would be no one left to protect you!

“Trixie thinks it would still be best if you came alo--”

“No. I’m staying home.”

My heart dropped. How was I going to talk my way out of this one? If I didn’t convince her to come with Palette and I, there was no telling whether or not she would even be here when I got back! My arms were beginning to literally shake, which I genuinely hoped Summer Breeze wouldn’t see, but I was so scared that I was close to falling back onto my knees and begging her to come along. Unfortunately, if I did that without telling her what was going on, I would just end up putting more distance between us emotionally, and as much as I feared for her safety, I could at least realize that there wasn’t a huge chance of anyone making any sudden moves on her. For all they knew, Palette and I would be joining, which meant that if they were going to retaliate, it would most likely be after the two of us gave our answers.

“Fine,” I said, trying not to sound too emotional, “but… could you do me a favor?”

Summer Breeze folded her arms. “Yes?”

“Trixie wants you to stay transformed the entire time she’s gone.”

Summer Breeze raised an eyebrow. “Just what exactly are you--”

“PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF DISCORD, WILL YOU JUST DO THIS ONE THING FOR ME?!”

The girl in front of me flinched, holding her hands timidly to her chest as I heaved out in frustration. It was heartbreaking to see how terrifying I had become, but hopefully in the end, it would all be worth it. Hopefully I would be able to find out what Autumn Blaze was planning so I could prevent it from happening and go back to making Summer Breeze happy again. I wanted this all to be over, but I had a burden to bear that nobody else needed to be involved in.

“OK, Trixie,” Summer Breeze finally responded, softening her frightened face. “I don’t understand what’s going on, but… I still love you. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”

In that moment, a bright light encapsulated Summer Breeze’s body, enveloping her entire figure in a shell of luminescence until fading into the form of a magical girl with bright blue hair, a night-themed dress and a moon-shaped necklace. With her hand reaching out beside her, a large spear appeared in her grip, the exact one that she had bought me to stay safe four years earlier. I still wouldn’t be able to rest easy being in Everfree City without her, but at least now I knew that she would be as safe as possible.

“Well…” I began awkwardly. “Trixie supposes that she’d better meet up with Palette now. It’s about that time.”

“Yeah… See you later…” It didn’t seem like she was intentionally trying to be cold, but as she made her way downstairs, dragging her spear down the steps as she went, she had definitely lost the bubbly personality that I had gotten so used to. Of course magical girl duties would be making her upset, or maybe that was just me looking for any justification I could to blame her sadness on anything other than me.

With one final glance in Dreamdrop’s direction, I transformed into the Great and Powerful Trixie, grabbed hold of my teleport gem and made my way to the entrance of Everfree City. Hopefully in the end, this would all be worth it.

*****

The moment I arrived in Everfree City, Palette was already there, jumping from my sudden arrival.

“Ah!” she shrieked. “Oh, it is only you.”

“There is no ‘only’ when referring to the Great and Powerful Trixie. Are you still certain that you want to do what we planned on?”

“Only because you scared me out of it! Ach, and I was so looking forward to having new magical girl friends again.”

“Hopefully Trixie is wrong about them, but we can’t take any chances. I made sure that every magical girl in Everfree City will be here tonight, so we need to make sure we know what all of their powers are, just in case we need to stop them.”

“Speaking of which,” Palette replied, looking over my shoulder, “where is Dreamdrop tonight?”

“She… won’t be coming…”

“Oh? Did the two of you have a fight? Do you need couples therapy already?”

I gritted my teeth, trying not to let her get under my skin as she began to chuckle to herself. “Come on. Let’s just get this over with.”

As the two of us began walking towards the center of Everfree City, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching us the entire way, whether that be Autumn Blaze, Discord or one of the magical girls. There was no doubt that someone was spying on us, and it wasn’t out of the question to consider the idea that maybe all three were keeping eyes on us, watching our every move, listening to every word we said. The whole time, whenever Palette tried speaking to me, I tried to respond with one-word answers, just to make sure that everyone was kept in the dark as much as possible. Nobody needed to know more details than was necessary, not even Palette, just in case Autumn Blaze would be able to sway her to her side.

Once we arrived at the fountain of Everfree City, we were greeted by a bright rainbow of girls in colorful outfits, waving and smiling as the two of us made our way forward. I couldn’t remember anyone’s names other than Catastrophe, X Genesis volume 9 and Sun Shadow, but the second I made contact with a girl wearing a beautiful white dress and golden laurel wreath along her glossy blonde hair, I could tell immediately that this was the girl whom I had spoken with earlier. Her outfit was nothing short of angelic, including greek sandals, golden bracelets and long sleeves that fell down her wrists, and the confidence that she carried with her gave me the impression that she was the leader of the group, not unlike what Marrow was to us.

“I’m glad the two of you could make it,” she said, breaking the throng of girls that had gathered around Palette. “Although, it’s a shame that Dreamdrop couldn’t be here today.”

“Dreamdrop won’t be here?” replied the girl with metallic skin. “That is a shame. We were looking forward to all of you joining us, but I guess two girls will still add an enjoyable experience.”

“Actually, about that…” Palette began, looking to me for guidance, to which I shrugged reluctantly. I wasn’t ready to spill the beans before I got the chance to study up on the other girls here, just in case they kicked us out of Everfree City the moment we said we weren’t interested. I needed to make sure that I learned as much about them as I could within two weeks, just in case I needed to use my powers again for the first time since Night Seam’s death.

As Palette continued to look in my direction for advice, I rolled my eyes, taking a step forward so that everyone could acknowledge me as the new center of attention. “Trixie believes what Palette is trying to say,” I began, “is that before we join, we would just like to know a little bit more about all of you first.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” called a voice similar to the sound of wind chimes. Both Palette and I flinched, but the other girls in Everfree City turned towards each other with smiles on their faces. Suddenly, in the center of the throng of girls, a wind began to pick up, sending the leaves along the ground swirling up in a cyclone until a figure about half their height with a goldish gray coat and grayish green scales stepped out, smiling at us with a smug grin. “Hey, girls! It’s so good to see you again! I know, it’s only been a couple of hours since the last time I saw you, but I have been so excited to see you back here again! I didn’t sleep a wink last night, not that I do sleep, seeing as how I’m an eternal being and all, but if I could sleep, I wouldn’t have been able to do it for one s--”

Then, out of nowhere, Autumn Blaze stopped talking, or, rather, she continued to talk, but for some reason, her lips were moving without any sound coming out. “Don’t mind Autumn Blaze,” said a girl wearing a dress with a round speaker in the center of her chest. “If I didn’t do something about her, she’d just go on and on, as you’ve probably noticed by now.”

Once she turned back towards the equine, however, she noticed that Autumn Blaze had stopped talking, motioning with her hoof towards the magical girl who had just spoken. “Aaaaaaanywaaaaaay,” Autumn Blaze continued, finally being able to speak again. “I think you’re right. If you’re going to be a magical girl here, I just want to make sure that you feel comfortable with all the girls here. After all, teamwork is my number one focus!”

I could breathe a sigh of relief, or at least I was pretty sure I could. It didn’t seem like Autumn Blaze had any idea that Palette and I had decided not to join, or at least if she did, she was extremely good at hiding it. Maybe this meant that she couldn’t see or hear things that happened in the outside world like Discord could, but just in case, I decided that I should still probably keep my guard up for the time being.

“So, why don’t we start out with you, Sonic Boom, seeing as how you’ve so graciously given us an idea of your power already?”

The girl with the speaker on her stomach scratched her head. “Huh? Oh, sure. My name’s Sonic Boom. My magic is sound manipulation. Uh… yeah… That’s about it.”

“You’ll have to forgive Sonic Boom. She isn’t very talkative, at least not as talkative as me. I’m guessing that’s why she made sound manipulation her power, so that everyone else could be as quiet as her. Not that it ever works on anyone here. Except Sun Shadow, but she was never really much of a talkative person either, right, Sun Shadow? Why are you giving me that look, Sun Shadow? I’m just going to ignore that for a little bit, but anyway, the point that I’m trying to get at is that just learning someone’s name and powers is kinda boring, don’t you think? I was thinking that maaaybe we could throw in one more little fact! Oh, like how long you’ve been a magical girl! That sounds like fun! So, Sonic Boom, back to y--”

Before Autumn Blaze could go on any longer, even though it seemed like she was getting close to wrapping up anyway, the words coming from her throat vanished in the winds, leaving her once again flapping her jaw without any audible sounds. “OK. Um… Let’s see… I’ve been a magical girl for six months now. It’s kinda fun. I’m enjoying it so far.”

The girls around us began to clap, making both Palette and I feel compelled to join in. Six months didn’t seem like a very long time, but then again, when I first joined Platinum City, it didn’t seem like many of the girls there had much more experience than that. I had to remember that even though I had technically been a magical girl for four years, I had only used my powers over the period of about three days, which meant that even the newbies probably had an edge of experience over me.

“Thank you, Sonic Boom!” Autumn Blaze continued once sound finally returned to her lips. “Now, let’s see… Who should go next? Oh! What if we went around in a little circle! Now do we want clockwise or counter-clockwise? You know what? I feel like breaking the norms today. We’re going counter-clockwise. Genny, if you would be so kind!”

“Certainly,” the girl with metallic skin said, wearing a light blue dress with matching arm warmers, stockings and high heel boots. “My name is X Genesis Volume 9, but as you may have seen, most of the girls here simply call me Genny. My power is indestructibility. I can endure fire, lava, shotgun shells, spears, swords, canon balls, even nuclear warheads if it came down to it. I am the newest magical girl in Everfree City at seven weeks after being introduced by La Proxy. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Once again, the girls all clapped, leaving me once again to analyze. If she were to try and attack anyone at Canterlot High, what could I possibly do to stop her? I felt relieved knowing that even if I wanted to kill her, I wouldn’t be able to, but how would I keep everyone safe if I couldn’t even pretend like I was a threat to her?

Before I could let my thoughts get too off topic, however, another girl I hadn’t seen the night before stepped forward. What she was wearing was a complete stark contrast to everyone else. Rather than being dressed in a pretty skirt with leggings, her outfit seemed more like a blue and black wetsuit, complete with a pair of goggles for swimming and spots all over her hands.

“Wassup, girls? The name’s Dokaeru. My magical talent is spitting. Like, that’s not even a joke.” As a special demonstration, she tilted her head back, spat a purple liquid into the air and caught several hardened needles between each of her fingers, and without a moment’s hesitation, she flung them at our feet, making Palette and I jump back with a surprised shout. “Those are poison darts. I can make ‘em weak enough to incapacitate someone or strong enough to kill them, and they’ll always hit their mark. Always… But yeah! Pretty sweet power, eh, ladies?”

“And how long have you been with us, Dokaeru?” Autumn Blaze asked, to which Dokaeru put her finger to her lip as she thought.

“Heck, it must be close to five years now. Dude, I feel old now. Anyway, good meetin’ you.”

The other girls clapped, but this time, Palette and I were a little more hesitant to applaud along, switching nervous glances between each other from Dokaeru’s surprisingly violent power.

“My turn meow!” shouted the girl with cat ears, cat paws, a short black skirt and an even shorter white top. “My name’s Catastrophe, and my power is…”

Suddenly, her whole body changed colors in a vibrant display of light until finally, she wasn’t there anymore. Insead, in place of where she used to be was… me?

“Are you not impressed?” she asked, imitating my voice. “Feast your eyes on the most stunning feats of magic that the world has ever seen!” Then, in another flash, she changed back, striking a cute pose. “I can body morph! I can change into whatever I want, whether that be people, animals, or even just everyday household appliances! I’ve been a magical girl for about a year now ever since my little sister Sun Shadow showed me how much fun it could be! That’s all for me. I hope you to decide to join the family!”

As everyone clapped again, I raised an eyebrow, wondering how on earth the most peppy member of the group could be sisters with the most obviously depressed magical girl in the circle. As Catastrophe went back to the circle, however, she gave a big hug to a girl in a pink dress, who she then pushed into the center of the fold. She had thick black eye shadow, long white gloves and long pink knee socks that worked perfectly with her bright blonde hair, but contrasting with that image was her menacing scowl as she folded her arms close to her chest.

“My name’s Sun Shadow,” she said in a little more than a mumble. “I’ve been a magical girl for thirteen months, and I can do this.” As if gravity were pulling her down, Sun Shadow then fell into the ground, being sucked into her own shadow, which then traveled along the length of the ground until it joined alongside my own. Then, popping out of the ground, she placed her hands at the center of my shoulders, making me flinch in fear. “Did I scare you? Don’t be embarrassed. I scare almost everyone. Can I be done now, Autumn Blaze?”

“Yes you may,” she responded with a smile. “Thank you for participating. Trickster, if you would be so kind.”

“AW YEAH!” a smaller girl with a flat chest and a tight green outfit then jumped into the center of the circle. “Bet you girls couldn’t wait to meet me! The name’s Trickster, and I have the coolest power of all!” The, with the snap of her fingers, she--

…

“Ugh…” I moaned, opening my eyes with dirt on my face.

Suddenly, I found myself rising from the ground, falling back onto one knee and rubbing my head to soothe my throbbing headache. Then, turning around, I saw her standing behind me, folding her arms and laughing boisterously. What happened in the microsecond between her snapping her fingers and me collapsing to the floor? How did I even end up on the floor?

“Go ahead and try to remember what happened after I introduced myself. I bet you won’t remember it. That’s because my power is memory-manipulation! I can alter or erase any memories you have, making it to where you forget everything you’ve ever known or even giving you a completely new identity. I’m still kinda new, only having been a magical girl for the past 9 months, but I’d still like to think that I’m the most powerful magical girl here! Nice to meet ya!”

Again, the girls clapped, but their powers seemed to be getting more and more terrifying. If any of them decided to turn on me, Palette or Summer Breeze, there was little chance of us coming out on top. Before I could think too hard about it, however, a girl on the opposite side of the semicircle made her way forward, wearing a red and black top with white frills and a green skirt with the patterns of numerous playing cards.

“Very nice to make your acquaintance, girls,” she said with a haughty, bourgeois accent. “My name is Lucky Star, and rather than demonstrate my powers myself, I’d prefer to give you the opportunity to see my magic firsthand.” Then, flicking her wrist outwards, she held out her hand, revealing a pair of six-sided dice. “Would you like to roll them? If you manage to roll any even number, I will have Autumn Blaze give you my power as reward.”

There was obviously something she was getting at, but rather than think too hard about it, I held out my hand and grabbed hold of her dice. Then, throwing the dice onto the floor, I watched them tumble along the dirt until one of them flipped onto its side, revealing four red dots engraved in its surface. This meant that in order to win, I needed the last die to turn over with either a two, four or six, but as I predicted, when it finally stopped rolling, it turned over on the number three, giving me a seven and ultimately losing the challenge.

“Oh, how unfortunate! Perhaps I’ll have better luck.” After bending over to pick her dice off of the floor, she rolled them for herself, revealing a perfect twelve once they finally stopped moving. “I guess this means I’ll be able to keep my power to myself for a little while longer. In case you haven’t noticed, my power is luck manipulation. It almost feels like I can control the whole world if I wanted to, but I guess using them for the good of the human race will have to suffice for now. I’ve been a magical girl for two years now, after meeting Divinity in a fortunate encounter. I almost can’t imagine what’s it’s like to go back to being ordinary girl anymore, but I digress. I hope for a prosperous relationship between us from here on out, ladies.”

Again, another magical girl with a tremendous power. This just left two more girls, however: Divinity to Autumn Blaze’s left and a girl with a bubbly light blue dress entering the center of the semicircle.

“Hey, girls,” she said in an almost menacing tone despite her soprano voice. “My name is La Proxy. I’m not going to demonstrate my power, and if you’re lucky, you’ll hopefully never have to see it. I have the power to alternate dimensions. I could combine Everfree City and Canterlot into one entity if I so pleased, but again, this is only a power I use under circumstances that call for it. I’m not proud of my power, nor am I proud of what I’ve had to use my power for. All I can do is hope that when we die, I won’t have to pay the consequences for what I’ve done in this life. I’ve been a magical girl for eight years, also having been discovered by Divinity herself. If the two of you joined, maybe it would mean I would need my powers that much less, so I sincerely hope the two of you join Everfree City.”

Her description was nothing short of terrifying, but with the ability to manipulate dimensions, I could see how she would feel a little uncomfortable with the power she possessed. Even with just the power of levitation, I wondered if my magic was too strong for my own good, especially after seeing what I had been able to do with it. The girls and I then clapped as La Proxy made her way back to the circle, leaving just one more girl to introduce herself.

With a large breath through the nose, the girl with the angelic outfit stepped forward and said, “My name is Divinity… and my power is…”

Palette and I held our breaths, wondering how her power could possibly compare to those of the other girls in the group.

“...omnipotence.”

Palette and I turned our heads towards each other, not able to grasp exactly what she meant.

“I’m sorry,” Palette began, “but vut exactly do you mean…?”

“I mean exactly what I said. I have any power I can think of. I can use literally any power ever conceived as well as those that have not yet been imagined. I can see the past, present, future, as well as things that don’t even exist in this continuum. I can read your thoughts, your desires, your moods and your goals, and I can turn them on their head before you even realize that you thought them. I can bend gravity, take over people’s bodies and cause the heat death of the universe without even snapping a finger.”

My eyebrows rose in fear while my heart began beating at a dangerous level as the amount of adrenaline filling my body began to pump perilously. If this girl had the powers that she claimed (which I had already seen glimpses of earlier), there would be nothing I could do if she ever decided to turn against me. I would die in literally the blink of an eye, losing my life before I could even decide on a plan of attack.

“I know what Discord showed you,” a voice in my head said as Divinity stared straight into my eyes. “Don’t let him make your decisions for you. You need to decide for yourself what you want to do. I can tell you that Autumn Blaze isn’t any worse, but ultimately, I’m going to leave the decision up to you.”

“Divinity has meowst awesome power of all!” Catastrophe shouted, breaking me from her trance. “I just wish I’d have thought of that when I chose my power!”

“No way,” Dokaeru chimed in. “I don’t want that kinda responsibility. Can you even imagine having the fate of the entire universe in your fingertips? Dude, I don’t even wanna think about it…”

“Don’t you girls think you’re being a little rude?” Autumn Blaze chided while never losing the pleasant timbre in her voice. “After all, she hasn’t told us the best part.”

Even without her omnipotent powers, Divinity could easily see what Autumn Blaze was trying to allude to. “Of course,” she responded in an almost emotionless tone. “I have been a magical girl for ten years. However… I have only been a citizen of Everfree City for a little over eight years. Before that…” Again, she looked straight into my eyes. “...I was a citizen of Platinum City.”

She knew Discord! She turned against him and joined Autumn Blaze!

“Why did you leave Platinum City?” I asked, hoping I didn’t accidentally step over any boundaries, but to my surprise, a small smile broke out on Divinity’s face.

“I moved.”

“...You… moved?”

“My parents did, I should say, and they brought me along with them when they decided to leave Manehattan. Once I came to Canterlot, I decided to settle into Everfree City. It wasn’t like I could just go to Platinum City whenever I wanted anyway.”

She was lying. I didn’t know why, but for some reason, she wasn’t telling us the full truth of what happened to make her become one of Autumn Blaze’s magical girls. With her power, she could move between both dimensions without taking a single step, which meant that the reason she came here probably had something to do with Discord. The weird thing, though, was that I thought Marrow whad been Discord’s first magical girl. How many more had there been?

“So!” Autumn Blaze exclaimed, pulling me back to reality. “Now that you’ve had the chance to meet everyone, what do you say?”

Everything made sense now! The reason why Autumn Blaze had allowed everyone to introduce themselves before getting our answers was to intimidate us, to show us how disgustingly outmatched we were against magical girls of their calibur! I wanted to join less than ever, but at this point, did I even have a choice?

“Actually,” Palette began, taking over the conversation, “now zat I think about it, we can’t just leave Dreamdrop by herself in Platinum City.”

She was coming to my rescue! This was perfect! “Trixie agrees. Since Dreamdrop’s power is putting people to sleep, there would be no way for her to join, and it’s not like you don’t have plenty of magical girls here in--”

“Are you telling me no?”

The blissful tune to her voice was gone. Now, Autumn Blaze was full-on glaring at us, her eyes beginning to glow as smoke rose from her mane and tail. She didn’t even look like the same being anymore, especially as the flames began to envelope her entire body.

“Are you saying you’d prefer to stay with Discord than to join me?!”

Suddenly, I fell to my knees, feeling just as powerless as I was when faced with middle school bullies. “I’m sorry!” I pleaded. “I just can’t leave Dreamdrop alone! I promise Discord has nothing to do with this!”

Looking around, however, I saw that time had been frozen, with the only people able to move being Divinity, Palette, Autumn Blaze and myself. Then, after a few more moments of black and blue flames searing through her coat, she returned back to a remnant of her joyful demeanor, but only a small portion of it.

“Girls, I think it would be best for the two of you to leave Everfree City.”

“Awwww!” Catastrophe cried out once time began to move again. “You mean they can’t stay?!”

“It seems logical,” Genny replied. “The two of them did insist that they would prefer to be members of Platinum City rather than Everfree City.”

“No way!” Trickster added. “So just because they decided to stick with their hometown, they can’t even visit?!”

“Girls.” Divinity spoke, and the others fell silent. “I think it’s best that we allow them to leave. It was nice meeting the two of you, but this is a sacred place. We would ask that you respect our home as we respect yours.”

Taking a look around, it was obvious that when Divinity spoke, the other girls would give her their unwavering loyalty. It wasn’t like there was much else to talk about anyway, but it was still a little bit of a shock being deported on the spot.

With a bow, I said, “Thank you, girls. The Great and Powerful Trixie appreciates your hospitality, and we’re really sorry that we couldn’t join your city.”

Before I even lifted my shoulders back up, however, I was back home at my house in Canterlot, standing alone in my bedroom. Turning my head in every direction, it looked like Palette wasn’t here anymore, which meant that rather than being transported by teleport gem, we were more than likely forced back to our own realm by Divinity’s magic. I then took a deep breath, glad that I was able to get the decision over with, but still scared about what would happen from now on.

Before I could think much further, however, I heard the stifled sounds of someone crying from downstairs.

“SUMMER BREEZE!” Without taking another moment to think, I jolted out of the bedroom, stammered my way down the steps and made my way into the living room to see Dreamdrop sitting on the sofa, spear in one hand and crying into the other. “Summer Breeze,” I said softly, falling to my knees beside her. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”

“Trixie,” she said, covering her eyes with her hand as she cried harder. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”

“It’s OK, Summer. Just tell Trixie what happened.”

“I’M SORRY!”

Out of reflex alone, I pulled Summer Breeze’s hand away from her face, holding on tight as I forced eye contact. “Listen, Summer Breeze. Trixie needs you to tell her what’s going on. Are you OK? Did anyone try to hurt you?”

“It’s not me, Trixie… It’s…”

“Yes?”

“...your mother…”

With my eyes going wide, I gently began to let go of Dreamdrop’s hand.

“...She’s dead.”

Now, my hands had completely fallen away as my entire body went numb.

“.................M-mom?”

Author's Note

Sorry about this chapter being so long. I promise I'll start whittling them down to more digestible chunks from here on out.