Magical Girl Trixie: Revival

“And just where in the hell have you been?!”

I shrunk behind my shoulders, trying not to look directly into Summer Breeze's icy glare as she bore down into me with her fierce expression. I was lucky enough that Discord was able to transport me back to Canterlot rather than force me to take the public transit, which no doubt wasn't even running this late at night. Still, though, when I returned, it just meant that I would have to face Summer Breeze, who was still wide awake with eyes red as if she had been crying ever since I left.

“I've been worried sick ever since you left! Were you even thinking of calling me to let me know where you were or that you were alright? OH! And let's not forget that the spear you asked me to hold onto just magically disappeared! Do you have any idea how much of a wreck I've been?! I thought you were going to get yourself kil--”

Before Summer Breeze could berate me any further, however, I fell forward, wrapping my arms around her waist and burying my face into her shoulder as she weakly propped me up by my underarms. Then, bringing a hand up to comb through my hair, she gradually softened her demeanor, holding me closer as I held onto her like she was the only thing that mattered.

“Trixie is sorry, Summer Breeze,” I said calmly. “Everything is going to be OK now. Trixie promises.”

Suddenly, though, Summer Breeze put her hand to my shoulder, pushing me away so she could lift an eyebrow with suspicion on her face. “What do you mean everything is going to be OK? Discord told me your mom just died. Is there something I'm not getting here?”

Shoot! That was the wrong thing to say for sure! I couldn't let her know that I was about to get myself into another death game, but at the same time, it would also seem pretty suspicious if my mom just suddenly came back to life. I needed to find a way to play this off as if she had never died, which would be particularly difficult after I had just spent all morning convincing her that Discord never lied.

“Actually,” I began, “it just so happens that she's only… mostly dead.” Summer Breeze tilted her head in confusion, adding to the pressure I was under to ad lib even faster. “There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead! Now, mostly dead is slightly alive. Now, all dead… well, with all dead, there's usually only one thing you can do.”

“...What's that?”

“Go through her clothes and look for spare change.”

I hated myself. I was the most terrible liar in the world, and the way I was trying to turn the situation into a joke just made myself look like an even bigger joke.

“Well… that's good to hear?”

And somehow she bought it. I wasn't sure whether I should have felt relief or disappointment that she would believe such a ridiculous story, but if it meant that I could spare her from finding out that my own life was in danger, I wasn't going to ruin the opportunity. Instead, I wrapped my arms around Summer Breeze again, holding her close enough to feel her heartbeat, because in the morning, I had no idea whether or not I would end up coming back home from school anymore.

“Hey, Trixie? Can you do me a favor?”

“Hm? Like what?”

“Can you just… promise me you'll be safe from now on? I have no idea what I'd do if I ever lost you.”

I visibly cringed, but holding back my guilt, I put on a fake smile and said, “Trixie promises,” lying through my teeth once again to the one person left in my life who actually cared about me.

“Photo Finish!”

I slammed down my tray of food in front of the girl in the striped shirt, making her flinch in surprise, holding onto her chest as if it would help slow down her heartbeat. “Ach! Why must you alvays sneak up on me like zat?”

“Trixie needs to talk to you!”

“About vas?” she replied, digging her spork through her mushy lunch meat. “Now that we're basically no longer magical girls, I don't see anything urgent zat we should--”

“Do you remember when you almost killed me?”

Suddenly, Photo Finish dropped her spork, and even though I couldn't see her exact expression through her large glasses, I could tell that the look she was giving me was not very friendly. “You mean when you grabbed me by ze neck and almost choked be to death? Yes, I remember.”

“Right. Sorry. There's a point to this! Trixie swears!”

“Zen would you please make it?”

I cleared my throat, trying to ease the awkward situation that had played out much more smoothly in my head. “What Trixie is trying to get at is… You were really desperate to kill me, even though we all knew you weren't the game changer.” Her stare was hardening, which meant that I only had moments to get my point across before she lost her patience. “Basically what Trixie is trying to get at here is… why did you try to kill us? You knew we weren't going to hurt you.”

Photo Finish sighed, finally looking away as I brought up the painful memories that she had undoubtedly been trying for years to forget about. “Zere is… no good way to answer zat,” she replied, looking off in the distance. “I was young, and I wanted to keep my powers. Everyone thought zat you were ze game changer, and if we were going to keep our powers, it meant zat you had to be eliminated one way or ze other.”

“So… it was all about keeping your powers?”

Again, Photo Finish sighed. “No. Even though I loved mine powers, what I really vanted was to protect my friends. Mind Games and Night Seam were my closest allies in zat game, and ze last thing zat I wanted was to lose a friend in a time where we could not trust anyone else. I thought zat if you died, ze game would end and zat life vould go back to normal. Unfortunately for me, however, I lost both of zem.”

The mood had somehow gotten even more depressing as Photo Finish looked like she was on the verge of tears, but even then, she lifted her head up and looked me in the eye once again.

“Trixie, I understand why you did vut you did. Even though I miss zem both dearly, I vill not judge you for protecting yourself as vell as Dreamdrop.”

“What if Trixie told you… she could bring them back?”

“DO NOT INSULT ME, MÄDCHEN!” Photo Finish slammed her hands down on the table between us, and looking around the cafeteria, all eyes were suddenly on the two of us. Her face was angrier than I had ever seen, but if she just listened to me a little bit further, she would understand!

“I mean it!” I whispered. “Trixie spoke with Discord last night, and--”

“Ohhhh no, no, no, no, no! Not zis again! Do you turn to Discord for everyzing?!”

“Photo Finish, my mother died last night.”

Suddenly, her face began to relax, and everyone who was staring at the two of us awkwardly began to look away, giving us the space we needed as Photo Finish sat back down at the table.

“I’m so sorry to hear zat,” she said, much more calmly than before. “Zis is ze person you spoke of ven you received your powers, yes?”

“Yes. Trixie understands why you don’t trust Discord, but even though he’s shady and manipulative, he never lies, and he never goes back on his deals.”

Photo Finish raised an eyebrow. “Vut do you mean ‘deals’?”

Of course she wouldn’t know. The only ones who knew the truth were myself, Dreamdrop and Night Seam just before she died. “After you left Manehattan, Trixie made a deal with Discord, and it’s because of that deal that you still have your powers.”

Photo Finish’s face looked shocked behind her glasses, which hopefully meant that she was gradually beginning to trust in my judgement of Discord. “And just vut kind of deal did you make with him?”

“I made a deal with Discord that allowed the game to end so long as there were only three girls left. I tried talking to Night Seam, but--”

“Did you really?”

Her question caught me off guard. Of course I had spoken with Night Seam before our battle, even having a heart to heart with her, but her point still stood that I didn’t exactly plan on trying to convince her to give up her powers. The two of us knew going in that only one of us would be walking out of there alive, and I was fortunate enough to be the one who actually survived. Talking was basically only a formality, a way for us to get our last words in before we tried to kill each other.

“No,” I replied, looking away, “but Trixie can fix this.”

“And you plan on doing zat with Discord’s help, correct?”

“Yes. It’s going to be dangerous, and Trixie could end up getting killed in the process, but there is a way to bring everyone back, including my mother.”

Photo Finish shook her head. “Ach… You alvays seem to put yourself in danger, don’t you, Mädchen?” I smirked sheepily, finally giving Photo Finish the opportunity to smile as the tension from earlier had seemingly subsided. “I may be interested in your plan, but you’ll need to tell me exactly what I’m getting into first.”

“Trixie isn’t going to sugarcoat this. It’s going to be almost the exact same as the game we were in before. Discord said that for every one of Autumn Blaze’s magical girls we kill, he can bring one of our friends back from the dead.”

“Vas?!” Photo Finish jerked back in surprise. “Were you not zer last night?! Zose magical girls have powers zat could kill us in zeir sleep!”

“I know. Trixie understands, but it’s either that or wait for them to kill us with no chance of ever getting our friends back.”

Just as the conversation was beginning to go right where I wanted it, however, the bell rang, ending lunch and sending us back to our classes. Before either of us began making our way back to class, though, Photo Finish grabbed me by the arm, leaned into my ear and whispered, “Meet me again on ze roof tonight at ze same time.”

“Are we really going to the roof again? We’re going to end up getting caught eventually.”

“Yes, you are correct. Perhaps your home would be preferable. I’m sure zat it is clean and presentable, yes?”

“...Trixie will meet you on the roof at seven-thirty.”

With a smile, Photo Finish picked up her tray of uneaten food and made her way to class in the opposite direction of me.

I thought that having the top grades in my class was already pressure enough, but once I added the stress of getting all my homework done by seven-thirty on a continual basis, it became obvious that I might have to begin sacrificing a little bit more than just my leisurely reading time. I was happy that Photo Finish seemed like she would be joining me in my new magical girl hunt, but at the same time, knowing that she would both be putting her life of the line as well as potentially adding the burden of taking away someone’s life made me feel guilty all over again. With a bittersweet smile on my face, I laughed at myself for ever thinking that my grades would be the height of my high school anxiety.

7:15

“Summer Breeeeeze! Trixie is going out!”

Suddenly, a girl with brown hair made her way out of the kitchen, wearing a frown that contrasted with her beautiful light blue apron, making me internally prepare for another argument. “But I just got started making dinner for us,” she said with disappointment in her voice. “I was going to cook us chicken pesto!”

I then gulped, trying to find a way to ease myself out the door with an excuse that would somehow justify me leaving. “Trixie has… a group project! It’s probably going to take more effort than expected, seeing as how Trixie’s partner can’t spell her way out of a haystack, so I might not be home until late.”

Slumping her shoulders forward and sighing with sadness, Summer Breeze turned back towards the kitchen and said, “Alright. I’ll leave some in the fridge for you to have later. Here I was thinking that since you turned down being a magical girl again, we’d have more time to spend together.”

I felt a pain in my chest, physically hurting from having to lie to Summer Breeze over and over, but if she knew what I was planning to do, there would be no way in hell that I’d be able to talk her out of joining me. In the vision that Discord showed me, all three of us, Palette, Dreamdrop and myself were all killed by Autumn Blaze’s magical girls, which meant that I had to do everything in my power to keep her away from them. Even if I could end up bringing her back to life, I didn’t know how I ever would have been able to take losing the one person I had left in this world.

“Trixie is sorry…”

Suddenly, Summer Breeze lifted her head with a beaming smile. “Aww, don’t worry! Just remember, you owe me a night for just the two of us, OK?”

I couldn’t help but mirror the smile myself. “Trixie promises.”

Honestly, there was nothing that I wanted more than to spend a night with just Summer Breeze and myself, having a relaxing evening where I didn’t have to worry about school or magic. As I made my way towards the door, I looked back one more time to see her beautiful visage waving at me, seeing me off like a wife sending off her spouse for work in the morning. My heart skipped a beat, mentally preparing for how amazing the day would be when I could be done with this magical girl hunt and finally be able to settle down with the girl I loved.

That day, though, would never come.

*****

“You are late.”

“Hey, Trixie is still a magical girl! When she sees a little boy looking for his ball, it’s still her responsibility to help him in his time of need!”

“Und how many brownie points did you get?”

I quickly pulled out my magical phone to check, seeing my number go up from the twenty I had before to the new number displayed on my screen. I knew that it wouldn’t be much, especially in comparison to how much things cost in Platinum City, but even this was embarrassing. With my cheeks burning a bright red, I looked away, stashing my phone in my pocket as if Palette hadn’t seen me pull it out.

“Come now, Great und Powerful Trixie. If you really were just doing your job as a magical girl, I’m sure you have been rewarded accordingly.”

“The amount of brownie points Trixie has is none of your concern!”

Just as I had put my phone back into my pocket, though, it began to buzz loudly, making both Palette and I cut our conversation short as I pulled it back out to see who was calling. My original thought was that it was one of the magical girls from Everfree City, seeing as how Summer Breeze would have just called me on my regular phone, but why would a girl from there try getting ahold of me again? I thought we had burned that bridge when we decided not to join Autumn Blaze. Of course, however, upon looking at the caller ID displayed on my screen, I realized how silly I was for thinking it could have been either of the other two options.

Pressing the answer button, I held the phone up to my ear and grumpily replied, “What is it, Discord?”

Then, suddenly, my phone was pulled away from my hand, not by Palette, but by some magical force that held it up in the midair, and in an almost comedic fashion, Discord pulled himself out of the screen, struggling to push his gut through the narrow display until he was finally all the way out. “I really need to make your screens bigger,” he said, glaring angrily at the floating phone before happily turning his attention towards Palette and I. “Hello, girls! Goodness, Palette! How long has it been? Four yea--”

Before Discord could even complete his sentence, Palette had painted a gun in midair and shot Discord in the head, causing him to fall backwards as if there were an invisible floor underneath him. “Not long enough,” she said, cocking her gun for the added effect, but as we both suspected, Discord then rose back up to his feet, wiping the multicolored paint off of his head.

“Well, I’m glad to see you too! Anyway, I’m sure by this point Trixie has told you about the new game we’re going to be playing?”

“Ze magical girl hunt? Yes, ze Great und Powerful Trixie has made me aware.”

“I wouldn’t call it a hunt per se.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t care what you call it,” I added with my own frustrations. “What do you want, Discord?”

With the snap of his claw, he then returned to normal size, hovering over both Palette and I and placing his paws over our shoulders, making us share uncomfortable grimaces between ourselves. “I’m just here to give you a little bit of a head start. You two are helping me out a bunch here!”

“Und what information do you have that we wouldn’t?”

“Oh, no, no, no, no! I’m not here to give you information. I’m here to give you these.” Discord then opened up his paw and manifested two small, crystal orbs hovering in the air, shining with a brilliance that could only be described as magical, subtly calming our moods down for just a moment. “You see, I’m having a special sale today. These orbs are going for… how many brownie points do you have again, Trixie?”

I turned my face away from Palette as I mumbled in frustration. “Twenty-six.”

Discord held his claw up to his ear. “Come again?”

“Twenty-six, alright?!”

Palette tried holding her hand to her mouth to hide her giggles, but I could still see how much her body was bouncing forward in laughter, making my cheeks grow an even brighter shade of pink. “You mean in four years all you’ve been able to get is that many?” he asked incredulously, no doubt just to piss me off even more. “Well, luckily for you, that’s exactly the sale I’m having today, and it’s buy one get one free!”

Suddenly, I saw my phone--still floating in midair--start to display the number twenty-six, rapidly falling down until it reached zero when the two orbs fell into the palms of my hands. Just by holding them, I could feel the magic flowing through my veins begin to grow hotter, almost like a shot of steroids that somehow increased the amount of magic within my body.

“What do these things even do?” I asked, handing one over to Palette.

“Oh, I’m so glad you asked! You see, these orbs are my own special creation. They prevent outside magic from affecting the inside of your body. Think of it like a spell repellant.”

“So does zat mean zat my magic cannot hurt her?” Palette asked, looking into her orb as she tossed it into the air.

“Actually, your magic would be too tricky to be deflected by one of these little doohickeys.”

“So they’re useless, then?” I retorted, raising an eyebrow.

Discord then slid his paw down his face, pulling his skin down to the floor while he gave the two of us an aggravated stare. “These orbs are here to prevent anything from happening inside your body. If someone tries to stab you or poison you--you know, with a poison dart--then it won’t be able to stop the magic from getting inside your body. However, if someone were to try and manipulate the magic in your body, like crushing your organs without touching you, then the orbs will be able to protect you.”

Even though it was still a little difficult to determine what exactly could still kill us, a light bulb began to go off in my head, making things at least a little bit clearer. “So, basically these orbs are just here to protect us from Divinity?”

“Precisely! And Trickster too, but I doubt you’ll need to worry about her too much. As long as you keep these orbs on your persons at all time, she won’t be able to use her magic to kill you on the spot. She’ll have to fight you the old fashion way.”

“Und why couldn’t you just create orbs that protected us from all magic?”

“Ughhhh! Did you not pay any attention to your magical theory classes in middle school? If I did that, keeping the orb on you would prevent you from using your own magic! Now will you take the darn things and get started with the game already?”

Palette cocked an eyebrow as she stared suspiciously at the orb in her hand, but with a shrug, she painted a necklace in the air and attached the orb around her neck. “Just one more question,” Palette began, taking her eyes off of the magical ball. “What exactly are we supposed to do now? In ze last game, we already knew most everyzing about each ozer, and vut we didn’t know, Night Seam did. How do you expect us to kill nine magical girls wizout knowing a single thing about zem?”

“Fine.” Then, with the snap of his fingers, my phone began to vibrate, displaying a new message which Discord announced aloud. “Your phone has now been updated. Everything you could possibly want to know about the girls in Everfree City--from what their names are to where they live to how much milk they drink a day--is going to be in a handy encyclopedia in your apps. Oh, and just between us, Trickster drinks the most milk out of all of them. She thinks it’ll help her around the bosom area, which she’s super self-conscious about. NOW! I’m going to head back to Platinum City before either of you two have the chance to ask me anything else. All these questions have turned my brain into noodles.” Discord then opened his head as if there were a hinge on the side of his forehead, pulling a spoon out from behind his back and scooping out a piece of his brain, slurping the strands like spaghetti followed by a satisfying sigh. “Toodaloo, ladies, and may the odds be ever in your favor!”

The moment he disappeared, I had to stumble forward to catch my phone as gravity finally began to drag it to the ground, but when I looked up at Palette, she was shivering with goosebumps all over her arms. “Why do I feel like Discord expects us to lose?” she asked in a little more than a mumble.

“I… I don’t know…” I replied, “...but Trixie thinks that he really does need us just as much as we need him.”

“I… don’t think zat I need to ask zis, but I just want to be completely sure before going zrough with any of zis.” With sadness, Palette looked directly into my eyes. “If I die, you promise zat I vill be ze very next person you bring back to life… right?”

I suddenly felt a pain in my chest, looking at her face filled with any fleeting hope she could find, but I knew that no matter what happened, my mother would be the first person I brought back to life. Period. By the same token, though, I couldn’t let her know that I had someone that I wanted to revive before her and expect her to do the same for me if I ended up getting killed.

“Trixie promises, just so long as you promise to bring her back first thing if she dies.”

A small smile crept over her face as she released a sigh of relief, causing me to curse myself on the inside again. “Of course. Perhaps now vould be ze best time to go over ze order of ze girls we vould like to bring back?”

I had forgotten that the whole purpose of actually meeting her on the roof was to convince her to join the hunt with me, but now that she had actually agreed, it was time to actually negotiate the incentive for her actually being part of it. “Oh, right. Should we take turns?”

“Not exactly.”

What the hell? Was she trying to haggle for more rewards with my life on the line as incentive?

“Since you just lost you mother, you deserve to have ze first opportunity to bring someone back to life. However, seeing as how you killed both of my best friends, I think zat ze next to be brought back to life should be Night Seam first and Mind Games second.”

I had to hold myself back from clicking my tongue, but she did had a very good arguing point. “Alright. Trixie agrees. Then after that, Trixie would like to bring back Iron Maiden and Cupid Symphony, both of whom were killed by your team.”

“Zat is fair. Any more requests? I believe we should save some wiggle room, just in case we experience a death somewhere during ze hunt.”

She was right. My mother had already died once already. If any of them wanted to use her as hostage and kill her a second time, I would need some room to spare, but I still needed to bring back at least one more girl from the previous game.

Doing the math in my head, I said, “There are nine magical girls in Everfree City, right? If we bring back all the girls we mentioned, that gives us room for four more girls. Trixie would like to bring back Storm Rose as well, just to give her a second chance at life… but Paradox comes first. We can bring back Storm Rose if we don’t experience any casualties.”

“I see you did not mention Marrow.”

I paused momentarily, glaring at her for even bringing up her name. “...Those are Trixie’s terms. Do you agree?”

I was not in the mood to play moral gymnastics in my head, going back and forth between reviving a girl whom I had killed or keeping her dead after all the torment she had put me through. Palette, however, seemed to shrug it off, holding out her hand with a smile on her face, and with a smile of my own, I took her hand and shook, finalizing our deal and officially beginning our hunt.

“Let’s win another one,” I said. “Only this time, we’ll make up for everything we did the last time.”

Palette nodded her head, holding her shoulders up with an energetic confidence. “Here’s to anozer victory! It’s time to make… de magics!”