Magical Girl Trixie: Revival

“Summer Breeze! Trixie is hoooome!”

As I undid my shoelaces and tossed my shoes to the side, a figure walked out of the kitchen, making my heart twitch, sending blood and adrenaline throughout my body. Rather than seeing Summer Breeze like I had been expecting, I saw her in her magical girl form, Dreamdrop, staring down at me with her hands on her hips. I could only imagine that Discord had tipped her off on something, making me click my tongue in my mind, but rather than give myself away, I held my surprised face as well as I could.

“What were you doing, Trixie?” Dreamdrop asked, folding her arms over her chest.

Shit! She does know! Keep cool, Trixie. You don’t know how much she’s figured out.

“What do you mean?” I asked as genuinely as I could. “Trixie has already told you. She went to work on a group project with Appl--”

“You’re lying.”

I furrowed my eyebrows, still trying to keep my cool while trying to figure out how exactly she knew, although I already had a pretty good idea. “And what makes you think Trixie is lying?”

“Oh, gee! I don’t know. Maybe the fact that you met with Palette on the roof again, or maybe it’s the fact that Autumn Blaze might be trying to kill you. OR MAYBE IT’S THE FACT THAT YOU’RE GOING ON A FUCKING MAGICAL GIRL HUNT!” At this point, Dreamdrop completely lost her cool, screaming louder than I had ever heard with a face that frightened me more than my mother ever had, but when the initial shock wore off, my own anger began to build up.

“HE TOLD YOU!”

“DISCORD DIDN’T TELL ME SHIT!”

I flinched in surprise, having lost the only credible idea that I had been able to come up with. If Discord didn’t tell her about the hunt--and I sincerely doubted Palette would have--then who even had the potential to know about something like that?

“Was it… Divinity?” I asked, still trying to come up with another logical solution, but Dreamdrop just sighed, shaking her head with a face of exasperation.

“No, Trixie. I found out on my own. I’m still a magical girl, remember?” Then, taking her phone out of her cleavage, she meandered through her menu until she showed me something displayed on her screen, seemingly from the inventory section. “You weren’t the only one who got a new item today.”

“Magic… contact lenses?” I asked in confusion.

“Yes. They allow me to see people’s underlying pasts. Paradox was saving up for these before she died, but it’s not like I haven’t been saving up brownie points too, you know. Four years I’ve been doing magical girl work to get these brownie points, and with you acting as weird as you’ve been acting lately, I guess today finally gave me something to spend it on.”

I took a step back, my head reeling from what I had felt was a total breach of trust. “You’ve been… doing magical girl work behind Trixie’s back?”

“I’m sorry. Was there some kind of rule established in our relationship where I’m not allowed to be a magical girl? Because if so, you’re doing a pretty bad job of it yourself.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has been trying to prot--”

“I NEVER ASKED YOU TO PROTECT ME!”

“Oh, so now that Trixie has been trying to help you behind your back, that makes her the bad guy? Why don’t you tell Trixie what exactly those contact lenses are saying about her underlying past? What did Trixie see that made her want to keep you out of this?”

“I told you that I don’t need your protection.”

“This isn’t just about you! Dreamdrop, my mom died. Paradox died. Night Seam, Mind Games, Cupid Symphony and Iron Maiden all died, and now Trixie has the chance to bring them all back! If you died… Trixie could bring you back too.”

Dreamdrop stared into my eyes for several moments before dropping her gaze to the floor, breathing in heavily as she made circles with her foot on the floor. “And what about you?” she asked. “What do you think I would do if anything ever happened to you?”

“Summer Breeze, that doesn’t--”

“I would kill myself.”

My heart sank. Even if I ended up dying in this magical girl hunt, if Summer Breeze died too, I would never be able to forgive myself, even if there was nothing after this life. As she stared into my eyes, visibly holding back her emotions welling up behind her eyelids, I fought with myself as to what I was even supposed to do in a situation like this. I couldn’t very well just say that she could join the fight with Palette and me, but at the same time, if I told her that I wouldn’t fight at all, then we’d all get killed, which she must have known at this point. She had backed me into a corner where the only possible way Dreamdrop would make it out of here alive was if she joined in the hunt.

“Fuck!” I shouted, slamming my fist against the wall in anger and hoping that I wouldn’t accidentally punch through the drywall.

“Yeah. That’s what I’ve been saying ever since you came home. Do you realize how much of a shock it was to see everything that’s happened to you these past couple of days over the course of five fucking seconds?! Can you even imagine how much panic I’m going through right now, which could have been much easier to deal with if you had just spoken to me?”

“And how was Trixie supposed to do that? ‘Oh, hey, Summer Breeze! Did you know that Autumn Blaze is trying to kill us? Don’t worry. Trixie is going to kill them before they can hurt us, and oh, by the way, you’re not allowed to fight because Trixie doesn’t want you to get involved.’ Yeah, because that would have definitely worked.”

Suddenly, Dreamdrop fell to her knees, crying into her hands and making me instantly regret my word choice. “Why don’t you trust me?!” she asked behind her sobs. “I made it to the end of the game too, you know, even though I was the game changer! The game was only supposed to end after I died, but I still survived! I know I made it that far because I had you with me the whole time, but I’m going to have you here too, and if anything happens to you, I can bring you back! Why can’t you just trust that I know what I’m doing?!”

After watching Dreamdrop cry for a few more moments, I breathed in through my nose and exhaled all the tension I could through my lips, doing my best to calm myself down before what was bound to be another stressful conversation.

“Dreamdrop, how many people did you kill in the death game?”

Dreamdrop looked up at me with confusion, but almost as soon as she made eye contact with me, she seemed to suddenly realize what I was getting at. “N-none.”

“Trixie killed four girls. This time, we’re going to have to kill nine, and if you can really see Trixie’s underlying past, you can imagine how laughably outmatched their magic is compared to our’s, Marrow’s or Night Seam’s. If the Great and Powerful Trixie dies, then how do you plan on killing even one of them to bring me back to life?”

“I… I dunno! But I can still do it if you trust me. If we work together on this, then maybe we won’t even need to bring anyone back to life other than your mom and the girls from the game.”

I then sighed, grabbing her hand to lift her off of the floor and quietly lead her to our bedroom, where we both sat down on our bed. There was silence for several moments, both of us aware of each other’s arguments as well as the decision we were no doubt both going to come to. It didn’t matter anymore whether or not I wanted Dreamdrop to participate in this magical girl hunt; she was going to be there whether I liked it or not, and I definitely didn’t like it.

Finally, pulling out my magical phone, I opened up my newest app and began scrolling through the list of magical girls, once again being reminded of their powers so that I could plan accordingly.

“What are you doing?” Dreamdrop then asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You weren’t there last night, so Trixie is going to have to go over who all the girls are as well as the powers they have.”

Catastrophe, the girl who could change her body to become whatever she wanted, animate or inanimate. Trickster, with the ability to manipulate people’s memories, erasing them completely if she wanted to. Genny, the indestructible magical girl. La Proxy, who could create or travel through alternate realities, whose power was so vast that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what she was capable of. Sun Shadow, with the ability to sink into her own shadow and change her form to mimic someone else’s. Lucky Star, who had the power to change someone’s luck, a power which I would have to see to really understand. Sonic Boom, who could manipulate and create sounds. Dokaeru, the poison dart frog. Then, finally, there was Discord’s most cherished creation: Divinity, who could use literally any power she could think of.

“Which do you think we should go after first?” Dreamdrop asked, staring over my shoulder. The fact that she was beginning to grow accustomed to the idea of killing people was beginning to make me worry, but maybe after seeing death in the face again, she would want to stay out of it as much as possible.

“Trixie thinks that out of all of them, Dokaeru would be a good place to start. Her powers are meant for direct combat, which means if we can avoid being hit with her poison darts, we’ll survive.”

“That’s a good idea! Do you know if she normally hangs out with any other magical girls?”

I shook my head. “She wasn’t there when you came to Everfree City with me, which leads me to believe that maybe she’s a loner.”

“What does her profile say about her?”

That was right! Discord added all the information we needed to know about these magical girls and their real identities! We suddenly had a huge advantage over all the girls we were competing against!

“Let’s see…” I said, scrolling through her bio. “Her name is Lilypad, and she lives in Northeast Canterlot along with her two younger brothers. She’s nineteen years old and spends most of her day watching TV and playing video games. She doesn’t have a job. She’s not in school. She’s still a virg--Discord, Trixie didn’t need to know that!”

“She seems like the perfect candidate!” As Dreamdrop’s face lit up, mine cringed with discomfort.

“Dreamdrop… you realize that we’re about to murder a girl with no friends and two younger brothers just because she’s an easy target, right?”

Dreamdrop flinched, holding up her hands as if to shield how much my words stung. “That’s not what I’m saying! I mean… I guess it is, but… But we’re doing this so that she won’t hurt you or your friends, right?”

“Right!” I quickly replied. “But--”

“No buts! We’ve already decided that we’re going through with this. If we start to doubt ourselves at any point, that’s when we’re going to get killed. I need you to promise me that no matter what your conscience is telling you that you won’t let it stop you. Innocent lives are at stake here.”

Of course, until Dokaeru or any of the other magical girls did anything to hurt us, they were technically innocent lives too, but Dreamdrop had a point in saying that I couldn’t let my conscience get in the way of my better judgement. With a nod, I simply said, “Right,” while trying to brainwash myself into honestly believing that the two of us were doing the right thing. “Once she’s been eliminated, though, then the real challenge will begin.”

Dreamdrop tilted her head with an eyebrow raised. “What do you mean?”

“What Trixie is trying to say is that once we kill one girl, then the other eight are going to come after us.”

“Oof. You’re right. Do you think maybe we should start with someone else, then?”

Dokaeru was the perfect target, but now that I thought about it, that would make her easier to deal with down the road once the others knew what we were up to. Pulling out my magical phone one more time, I scrolled through the list of possible candidates, taking a look at their powers and backgrounds. Catastrophe was another good option, seeing as how her powers would allow her to be a much better option for an ambush attack when she didn’t know what was coming than an upfront battle. Then again, though, her little sister was Sun Shadow, and if we tried to ambush one of them, it would only be a matter of time before her shadow crept up on us before we knew it.

“What about Sonic Boom?” Dreamdrop asked, pointing to a name that I was scrolling past. “If all she can do is manipulate sounds, then we just need to promise not to say anything when we fight her.”

“She’s going to be able to do more than just manipulate our voices. What if I heard you scream? I would never know whether or not it was real--and don’t tell me to ignore it, because we both know that I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

“Well, who’s the strongest? Maybe we could go after her first before she expects us.”

The girl with the strongest power was obvious, but I had a hard time believing that she wouldn’t be expecting us. For all I knew, she was watching our every move, ready to snap her fingers and kill us at a moment’s noti--

“DISCORD! GET OVER HERE NOW!”

“Trixie? What’s going on?”

“Don’t talk!” I shouted, summoning my magical girl form and pushing my anti-magic orb into Dreamdrop’s hands. “Discord! Where are you?!”

As if I had spoken some magic words, a figure appeared in front of us with a poof! revealing an angry draconequus with yellow pajamas decorated with sheep, holding his paws to his hips as he stared at me in anger. “What is it?!” he exclaimed. “Here I was, about to drift into the most stunning nightmare I’d ever seen, but nooooo! You just had to--”

“Discord, Trixie needs you to give Dreamdrop a magic orb! NOW!”

Discord lifted one of his angry eyebrows, picking a giant wad of earwax out of his ear and flicking it off to the side. “I’m sorry,” he began. “I’m not sure if I heard you right. Were you telling me to give Dreamdrop one of my orbs of chaos? In case you weren’t aware, those cost twenty-six brownie points each, and last I checked, you were completely out.”

“Fine! Whatever! Dreamdrop, Trixie needs you to buy one of these crystal balls. Now.”

“But--” Dreamdrop began before I cut her off abruptly.

“Don’t argue with me! Just do it!”

As Dreamdrop tried to make words come out of her mouth, however, Discord began to roar with laughter, causing a shadow of dread to grab hold of my heart, and as I slowly shifted my gaze from Dreamdrop’s to Discord’s, I was met with a pair of large, yellow eyes filled with sick jubilee. “I’m sorry, Great and Powerful Trixie,” he said, “but unfortunately, Dreamdrop spent the last of her brownie points on her own magical item today as well. You weren’t the only one to capitalize on one of my last-minute deals.”

“Discord, you know that Trixie is just going to give Dreamdrop her own orb, so it would be in your best interest if--”

“No,” Dreamdrop said, cutting me off and completely ruining my negotiation strategies. I tried to communicate with my eyes what a bad decision it was for her to keep talking, but nonetheless, she continued as if I weren’t even there. “Trixie, you obviously need it far more than I do. I want you to have it back.”

“Dreamdrop, no! Trixie can’t take it! Look into my eyes! Try seeing my past and understanding why I can’t--”

“I’ve already done that, and that’s why I think you need it more than I do.”

As the two of us continued to argue, Discord rolled onto his back in laughter, making it painfully obvious that Discord wasn’t going to be cutting us any more deals tonight, but there was still one question that I couldn’t figure out the answer to.

“Discord,” I began, “it’s in your best interest to keep Dreamdrop alive. Why aren’t you giving her an orb like you did with me and Palette?”

“Who said keeping her alive was in my best interest?” he asked, making the blood in my body boil with rage. “Dreamdrop will hardly be able to help in your hunt, and if you decide to bring more magical girls back from the dead, we’re going to be back to our original dilemma of keeping Platinum City at full capacity with her magic draining all of its resources. If you want my honest opinion, it would probably be better for all parties involved to--”

I didn’t let him finish. Before he could say another word, I summoned my spear and threw it towards the center of Discord’s forehead, but not to my surprise, before the blade could connect, his head split into two pieces along his neck, causing the blade to slip past the two halves of his face. Then, with annoyance in his face, he snapped his claw, making the spear disappear as he put the pieces of his head back together. I tried summoning the spear back, but I could feel a block in my veins, physically preventing me from calling upon the magic I needed to bring it back. As Discord approached me, I did my best to not allow the fear inside me to show up on my face as I desperately tried to wiggle my muscles to get the knot out of my veins.

“I’m not going to let Dreamdrop die!” I screamed. “You’re not going to take her away from me! I’ll let those girls kill me! Then you’ll have no one to--”

“Fine.”

I stopped what I was saying, but I had to blink twice before the message processed through my head.

“W-what?”

“I’ll tell you what I can do.” Discord then dropped his glare and slithered over to Dreamdrop, making her reflexively coil back in timidity. “Dreamdrop, I would like to make a pact with you. As much fun as I would get from seeing you die, Trixie is right in saying that I do need as much help as I can get. What I can do is give you a temporary protection. I don’t have much magic left to operate Platinum City, so I can’t give you exactly what Trixie has, but I can give you something that will at least transport you back to Platinum City if anyone tries to harm you in any way. The only caveat is that you can only use it once, so don’t waste it.”

Shaking, Dreamdrop asked, “What happens when I use it the first time?”

“Then you’ll be under my protection. Not even Divinity or La Proxy would dare challenge me in my own domain, but once the hunt is over, you have to promise me that you’ll surrender you powers to me forever.”

“DREAMDROP! NO!”

“I’ll do it.”

The minute she said those words, Discord grabbed hold of her hand, eliciting a bright light emanating from their grips, filling the entire room with brilliance. I had to hold up my arm over my eyes to keep myself from going blind, but what little I saw of Dreamdrop was a face of full determination, making my heart sink from the obviously one-sided trade off. Then, the two of them lowered their hands, and the deal was done. Once this hunt was over, whether or not we ended up winning, Dreamdrop would lose her powers forever, leaving her with that much less protection in the future.

With a sly smile, Discord raised his paws and exclaimed, “Would you look at that? We all got what we wanted! Dreamdrop will be safe, and Platinum City will once again become my utopia for magical girls! Now, Great and Powerful Trixie, was there anything else you wanted to say?” I was so upset at this point that I couldn’t feel emotions anymore, and rather than answer him verbally, I slouched back on my bed, holding my hands to my face as I woefully shook my head. “Wonderful! The hunt will begin tomorrow! Oh, and Trixie…” Discord’s lips curled up again as his eyebrows furrowed menacingly. “...You have a visitor.”

In the next instant, he vanished, and immediately turning my attention towards Dreamdrop, I saw that she was looking at where Discord disappeared with a puzzled look on her face. “Do you have any idea what he was talking about?” I asked, but rather than respond, Dreamdrop held her stare in place, her eyes never deviating from the spot she was so focused on. I turned towards her line of sight to see if I could make out what she was supposed to be looking at, but from her viewpoint, it seemed like she was just staring at an empty wall. “Um… Dreamdrop?”

“She can’t hear you.”

My whole body jumped, elevating my blood pressure to dangerous levels. Turning towards the entrance of our room, I saw that standing in the doorway was a girl with greek sandals, golden laurels and a beautiful white dress. Quickly, I turned back to Dreamdrop, waving my hands in front of her face, but still, she remained motionless and unresponsive. “What did you do to her?!” I exclaimed, a little louder than I should have towards a girl who could kill me with her eyes closed. Fortunately, though, she didn’t seem upset with me in the slightest, keeping her calm demeanor and making my hair stand on edge.

“I froze time. She’ll be back to normal as soon as I leave the room. I just didn’t want any interruptions while I had my chat with you.”

Shoot! Did she know what we were planning?! Of course she did! She’s all powerful! I had to discreetly pull my orb out of Dreamdrop’s hands, futilely hiding it behind my back, and doing my best to crack a smile, I asked, “S-so what did you w-wanna talk about?”

“Your magical girl hunt.” The way she said it so bluntly made my heart nearly implode with anxiety, a feeling only made worse as she slowly walked towards me, taking a seat directly to my left. Even with my anti-magic orb, there was nothing stopping this girl from stabbing me where I sat. This was the perfect opportunity to kill me, but instead, she just sat there, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. “I’m guessing I’m one of the targets as well?”

Yes.

“N-no! Trixie could never--”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Of course, I was just trying to do anything I could to keep her from killing me, but there was no way she didn’t know what we were planning already.

“Well… you… um…”

With a sigh, Divinity lifted her hands up just enough to rest her chin as she rocked back and forth on my bed. “I understand why you’re doing it, and honestly, I don’t judge you for it.”

“You… don’t?”

“No. I saw what Discord showed you, and you know as well as I do that he wasn’t lying to you. Autumn Blaze is already getting the girls in Everfree City set to kill the three of you.”

I rose from my bed in anger. “WHAT?!”

“Sit back down, Great and Powerful Trixie. We have a lot to talk about.” I raised an eyebrow, but realizing my place in this situation, I sat back down without any further comment. “As you can imagine, the girls are a little hesitant about killing, especially innocent people. Personally after ten years of being a magical girl, I’m immune to it, but the others are going to need at least another day or two for Autumn Blaze to convince them to go through with it.”

By this point, the gears in my head were starting to turn. “Wait. Does this mean… you’re on our team?”

“Unfortunately, no. I take my loyalty to Autumn Blaze very seriously. I will be watching from the sidelines until it’s my turn to intervene.”

“Then… may Trixie ask you a question?” Rather than answer me, however, Divinity sat there looking at me, filling the room with an uncomfortable silence as if she were already waiting for me to continue. “Oh--Uh… If you’re going to be fighting us… then why are you here?”

Divinity smiled with a soft giggle. “Because I don’t hate you. You and I are alike in many ways, you know. I mainly just wanted to wish you luck and ensure that there’s no hard feelings between us. Even though we’re trying to kill each other, that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends in the meantime, does it?”

“We’re… friends?”

With another smile, Divinity rose to her feet, stretching her arms and back with a satisfying sigh. “Again, I really hope you don’t judge my loyalty to Autumn Blaze. I know she may come off as violent and amoral, but can you really say that Discord isn’t?”

“This fight is happening because you left Platinum City, you know.”

“Yes… it is, isn’t it? Or, rather, it’s happening because Discord sealed Autumn Blaze in an alternate dimension for all eternity. Wouldn’t that also be correct?”

“Wait… what did he do?”

With a sigh, Divinity looked up at the ceiling with sadness, almost as if she were looking into the past, which she very well could have been. “Autumn Blaze can’t see or hear anything that happens outside of Everfree City due to Discord punishing her for all eternity. Of course, he’s punishing her because I left him, but that only makes me support Autumn Blaze even more. I have to be her eyes and ears for everything that happens in this dimension, except for when anything happens on our magical phones.” She then pulled her magical phone out of thin air, holding it up in front of her. “Just remember, if you, Dreamdrop or Palette try to contact any of us through our phones, Autumn Blaze will see it.”

I quickly pulled out my own magical phone, rummaging through any of the messages I sent to make sure I didn’t accidentally send anything incriminating, but with a breath of relief, I looked back at her and said, “Thank you, Divinity. The Great and Powerful Trixie is thankful that you came to talk with her.”

With one final smile, she held out her hand and said, “My name is Cross Stitch. It’s nice to officially meet you, Trixie Lulamoon.”

I suddenly found myself grinning, rising from my bed once again and taking hold of her hand as if neither of us would ever hurt each other. Then, with the snap of her finger, she disappeared, bringing time back to its normal course.

“A visitor?” Turning my head to the side, I saw Dreamdrop looking at me with confusion in her eyes. “What do you think he meant by that?”

I couldn’t help but smile at her, sitting back on the bed and running my fingers up Dreamdrop’s back. “Who knows?”

Dreamdrop would be able to figure it out with her magical contacts eventually, but for right now, the two of us needed a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, the magical girl hunt would finally begin, putting both of our lives in jeopardy, but until then, I wanted the two of us to enjoy our evening with as much peace as we could possibly have.

...And hopefully by this time tomorrow, my mother would be brought back to life.