Magical Girl Trixie: Revival

Divinity
Powers: Omnipotence
Identity: Cross Stitch
Bio: Unknown

I continued tapping on my magical phone over and over again, trying to refresh the page as many times as I could, but no matter how many times I tried refreshing, the information on the page never changed. There was no way this was faulty programming or Discord simply not knowing anything about her, especially considering that Divinity was apparently his star pupil. It must have been a spell that Divinity put on my phone, preventing me from learning any details about her life other than what she had personally told me. There was a possibility that Discord would be able to undo the spell, but I didn’t want to take any chances when it came to Divinity. In the meantime I would have to just deal with whatever information I had.

As soon as I put my phone back into my skirt pocket, however, the bell rang, dismissing us all to the lunchroom where I would finally be able to discuss my plans with Photo Finish. Dreamdrop and I had more or less decided that Dokaeru would be the first target, but I still wanted to get Palette’s opinion, just in case there was something that we were missing. Our first kill would be the easiest one of all, but it would also be the most important one, seeing as how my mother’s life hung in the balance. I couldn’t mess up and get myself killed first thing, especially since that would leave Dreamdrop and Palette with one less magical girl as backup when they tried reviving me.

Once I made my way through the lunch line, grabbing my tray of slop from Granny Smith, I quickly sifted through the sea of students until I found Photo Finish sitting at our regular table, burying her face into her hands. Then, setting my tray down and sitting across from her, I quietly said, “Hey.” Rather than answer me, however, Photo Finish remained motionless, staring down at the table between us as she rummaged her fingers roughly through her bangs. “You OK?”

“I cannot do zis.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I cannot do zis! Have you even looked at ze profiles of these magical girls?”

“Trixie... looked at two of them, but she hasn’t really taken any time to look at anyone else.”

Pulling out her own phone, she scrolled through her encyclopedia of magical girls, spinning it to face me and pushing it right underneath my nose. “I’m guessing you did not look at La Proxy’s bio, zen.”

Looking down at the information on her screen, I immediately saw a picture of La Proxy, or rather by her real name, Top Notch, who was twenty-four years old, lived with her husband in southcentral Canterlot, and… was the mother of a three year old boy. She was also currently six months pregnant. As soon as I saw that message, I looked back up towards Photo Finish with a look of horror, and just like me, she was shaking vehemently, holding back tears. We were going to be taking a mother away from her child, and in the process, killing a baby who had nothing to do with us.

“I had no idea…” I began, but before I could continue, Photo Finish started shaking worse.

“Zat is not all. Look at Sun Shadow.”

Doing as she said, I backed out of La Proxy’s profile and scrolled down until I found Sun Shadow’s name. Then, pulling up her information, I was immediately met with a picture of her as well as one of her real identity… and nearly started to cry where I sat.

Sun Shadow
Powers: The ability to fall into her shadow and manipulate her form
Identity: Candycorn
Bio: Candycorn is four years old, living with her big sister Sweet Tooth (Catastrophe, age twelve) in northern Canterlot. She likes her friends, recess, her family, and chocolate ice cream. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, but she’ll happily do anything once she finds out what her special talent is. More than anything, she wants to be just like her big sister Sweet Tooth, who is her biggest hero.

I quickly shoved the phone back into Photo Finish’s hands so that I could cover my face with my own hands, trying to hold myself back from crying. I had been so caught up in bringing back my mom and keeping CHS safe that I didn’t even stop to think who these girls were behind their magical girl exteriors. These weren’t just teenagers or adults going through the exact same experiences as Photo Finish and I. We were going to be killing mothers and children, something that I hadn’t even thought about, and if it weren’t for Dreamdrop telling me the night before to hold strong to the moral compass I had already decided on, I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d be able to go through with the original plan either.

“You see how bad zis is, yes?”

“Photo Finish, we’re not killing them just to bring back my mom and the others. We’re trying to stop them before they attack Canterlot High School. Both Sun Shadow and La Proxy are going to be part of that, which means--”

“And how do you know zat?”

I tilted my head in confusion, furrowing my eyebrows. “What do you mean how does Trixie know that? She saw it for herself!”

“Did you see ze attack for yourself?”

I flinched at her sharp words, realizing that all I saw was the aftermath of the attack rather than seeing all the details in real time, but even though I didn’t have much to go on, I still knew one key detail. “Trixie may not have seen everyone who was part of the attack, but Discord gave me the impression that all of Autumn Blaze’s magical girls were in on it.”

Photo Finish scoffed, looking away as she leaned her shoulders over the table. “Because we can always count on ze impressions zat he gives us, yes?”

“That’s not all.” As I paused briefly, I waited for Photo Finish to look back into my eyes before I delivered the one key sentence that would hopefully get her motivation back. “I know who killed you.”

Photo Finish froze in her seat, her jaw dropping gradually until she finally muttered, “How do you know zis? Who vas it?”

“When Discord was showing Trixie all the dead bodies at the school, it looked like someone killed you by shooting a purple dart into your eye.”

“A purple dart? You mean--”

“Dokaeru. Dreamdrop and I are going to go to her house after school. We’ve decided that she’s going to be our first target.”

“Does… zat mean…?”

A long silence fell before I took in a large breath through my mouth and out my nose, staring down at my hands. “Yeah… We’re going to kill her…” Photo Finish then dropped her eye contact back to her own hands, leaving the two of us in another awkward silence as we tried to find the moral silver lining to what we were planning to do. “So… will you come with us?”

Photo Finish sighed, and after a few moments, she said, “Yes. Do you think she vill have any backup?”

“No. She’s mostly a loner. Also, Divinity gave Trixie her word that she wouldn’t intervene, and from what she said, Autumn Blaze can’t see or hear anything that we do outside of Everfree City unless we contact one of her magical girls through our phones.”

Quickly, Photo Finish jolted up from her seat before quietly sitting back down, looking around to see if anyone was giving her weird looks. “You spoke with Divinity?!”

“Trixie believes we can trust her. She’s made it clear that she’s not on our side, but it also sounds like she won’t get in the middle of it either. It should just be the three of us versus Dokaeru today, and after that… it’ll be the three of us versus the eight of them.”

“If we are going to be doing a surprise attack, should we not be trying to attack one of ze stronger magical girls before she realizes zat we are up to something?”

“Trixie has already thought of that, and it always comes back down to the same thing. If we fail the first time, she’ll let the others know what we’re up to, and then it’ll be nine against three. La Proxy sounds like the strongest magical girl next to Divinity, but if she goes through another dimension before we can kill her, the entire purpose of our surprise attack will be pointless.”

“But she has a child to attend to. Do you not think zat she would be too preoccupied to notice an ambush? Zis may be our only chance, you know.”

“It’s still too risky. We need to think of a plan with her, but Divinity told me that Autumn Blaze is already getting her girls set to kill us too. Today is our only chance to make a first strike. Genny is another option, but I feel like she’s more defensive than offensive, which means that if we leave Dokaeru alive, she might have a higher chance of killing us than if we went after her first.”

Photo Finish sat back in her seat, folding her arms as she tried earnestly to ponder over all the girls, what their powers were and what the best plan of attack would be for each of them. “Sun Shadow and Catastrophe would be too difficult to plan for a sneak attack,” she began. “We vould have to separate zem somehow, and if zere is any way to spare zeir lives, I would prefer to do zat.”

“Trixie agrees.”

“Divinity is off-limits for obvious reasons. Trickster poses no real threat to us so long as we have ze orbs zat Discord gave us, and Lucky Star has a power zat is totally unpredictable. I think zat we should see vut she can do before we plan on attacking her.”

“And Trixie can’t battle Sonic Boom if Dreamdrop will be there. I can’t risk her tricking me into thinking that she’s in danger.”

Finally, after several moments more of silence, Photo Finish lifted her head with confidence, looking into my eyes as the two of us sadly felt a wave of relief wash over our minds. Even though we weren’t happy about what we had to do, we at least felt better knowing that we had both come to the same conclusion, which we hoped meant that we had made the right decision.

“It is settled, zen,” she said. “We vill go to Dokaeru after school today and bring back your mother.”

“Thank you,” I said, looking down at my hands again.

As the bell rang and all the students began making their way back to their classes, Photo Finish and I remained at our table, looking down at our hands without even realizing what was going on around us. We couldn’t hear the sounds of the bell ringing or the students walking in a uniform path outside of the lunchroom, as if we were in a bubble where we couldn’t comprehend anything on the outside. There was no spell cast on us, nobody using any magic to dull our senses, but it felt like there was something physically keeping us from moving, as if once we did, life would resume as normal, forcing us to return to our responsibilities.

Finally, though, Photo Finish stood up once everyone else had already made it out of the cafeteria, and that’s when I realized that no matter how much I wished I could ignore everything, life continued to move on, whether I was ready or not.

1926 Filly Court, Canterlot. Dreamdrop, Palette and I were waiting on a rooftop half a block away, watching through a window of Lilypad’s house to see a girl with greasy hair playing on her game console, completely alone. She looked almost bizarrely different when she was in her normal form. Instead of being a feminine beauty in a wetsuit, she had bags under her eyes, disheveled hair, baggy clothes, and a small, normal-sized tongue that stuck out as she focused intently on her video game.

“This is it,” Dreamdrop said, sighing loudly. “Should we just… walk in through the front door?”

“Ach! Are you insane?!” Palette replied. “Vut if one of her brothers noticed us?”

“Hold on,” I said, pulling out my phone. “Let Trixie ask Divinity something really quick.”

“Trix--I mean, Great und Powerful Trixie, do you not think zat maybe we should try zis wizout Divinity’s help?”

“Yeah,” Dreamdrop agreed. “After all, if you send a message to Divinity, Autumn Blaze will be able to see it. Plus, are you really sure that Divinity won’t try to stop us?”

They were right that Autumn Blaze would be able to see anything that I sent to her, but I needed to see if there was anything that she would be able to do to help us. Maybe a part of me wanted her to stop us, but either way, asking her for some last minute help seemed like the best decision to make, regardless of whether she would assist us or not.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie knows what she’s doing,” I said, beginning to write my message. “At least… I hope I do…”

The other girls watched me with hesitancy on their faces, obviously doubting my judgment, but still trusting me enough to allow me to finish writing my message. “Divinity, this is the Great and Powerful Trixie. Would you be able to meet with me right now?” The moment I hit send, I expected her to already have a message sent back, but to my absolute surprise, I was standing there, staring at my phone waiting for something to happen. I was suddenly panicking, wondering if the others were right and she was going to stop us, possibly even kill us to defend the other magical girls. What if Autumn Blaze convinced her to kill us? What if this whole thing was a mistake?

Just as I was about to experience an overwhelming panic attack, Palette quickly pointed to Lilypad’s window and shouted, “Look!” As Dreamdrop and I fixated our gaze to the window, we saw Lilypad looking up at something with total surprise on her face, and as she weakly got to her feet, we saw her becoming embraced in a big hug, although we couldn’t see by whom. There was obviously somebody there talking to her, to which she was nodding her head, and after about a minute of listening, she put her controller down, seemingly turned off her game console and switched into her magical girl form.

Shit! She ratted us out!

In the next moment, Divinity was now staring over us, hovering in the air with a pair of wings that we hadn’t seen her use before, giving her an extra dose of the total angelic package that we’d come to fear. She didn’t look angry, but she didn’t look especially pleased to see us either. Then, calmly, she descended to the roof in front of us, folded her wings back into her spine and softly asked, “What did you need to talk to me about, Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“Uh…” I was at a complete loss for words. I was now debating whether the three of us should turn back with our tail between our legs and find some way to leave town before she tried anything that would destroy us in a heartbeat. Just then, however, I realized that I still had Discord’s orb, which at least made it to where I would be safe from a snap death like she could do to anyone else. “Actually… Trixie was wondering… if you could give us some advice…”

“Oh?” Her eyebrow was raised, but it was still terrifying to look directly into her eyes. “Advice on how to kill my friend, I’m guessing?”

“It’s not like that! Trixie didn’t mean--”

“Please don’t lie to me, Great and Powerful Trixie. You’re here to kill Dokaeru and to bring your mother back, and now you want me to help you do that.”

“Did…” Dreamdrop began, shaking vehemently the moment she began to speak. “Did you tell her that we were here?”

“I told her that she needed to be on her guard, to keep her brothers safe, and to keep an eye on her doors and windows for the next thirty minutes. If you’re going to attack her, I want it to be a fair fight. If you wait any longer than that to ambush her, then I will protect her.”

“Does zat mean you are not going to fight against us if we attack now?”

As Palette spoke, Divinity looked off in the distance, sighing as if she were tired of having to answer our questions. “This is not a fight between magical girls. It is a fight between Discord and Autumn Blaze. It doesn’t matter who wins, but at the same time, I don’t want to see my sisters get hurt.” Finally, she looked back to the three of us and slowly walked towards Palette, making her stumble backwards before freezing completely. Then, placing her hand atop Palette’s shoulder, she said, “When the three of you first entered into Everfree City, I felt like I could consider the three of you my sisters as well. We all share the same backstory, after all.”

Divinity smiled, and even though Dreamdrop and Palette both flinched, I felt like she legitimately meant what she said, like she would protect us if any of the others tried to ambush us as well.

“I can’t help you,” Divinity continued, “but I’m not going to stop you, either. Regardless of who wins, I will miss whomever does not survive. I’m sad that it has to come to this, but I don’t blame any of you for acting on your best judgement. All I can say is good luck, and if you win, I will be there both to congratulate you as well as to mourn for my comrade. Just please promise that you will not harm her brothers in any way.”

“We promise!” Dreamdrop exclaimed before Palette and I even had the chance to register what she said. Then, with a smile, Divinity extended her wings again, and bowing her head, her body began to disappear, turning into an angelic light that dissipated into a stream of sparkles.

Once she was gone, the three of us then turned our attention back to Dokaeru, who was looking around her room anxiously, taking in deep breaths as she once again checked her door and window. It would only be a matter of time before she saw us, which meant that if we really wanted to have the best advantage possible, we had to act in that moment. Before Dreamdrop or Palette had the chance to hesitate, I jumped off the rooftop, landing on the adjacent side of her house where she wouldn’t be able to see us coming. The other two quickly followed as I tiptoed my way to beneath her windowsill on the floor below.

“OK, girls,” I said. “On three, we’re just going to break through the window and try to keep her darts as far away from us as we can. Palette, I need you to keep Dreamdrop safe while she tries to put her to sleep. I’ll try to keep her attention towards me, and if I get an opening…” I then summoned my spear, gripping it tightly in my right hand. “...I’ll go for the kill. Agreed?”

Dreamdrop and Palette both nodded, and trying to keep myself from waiting any longer, I held out three fingers… then two… then one… and then… we broke through her window.

Almost instantaneously, poison darts came soaring towards our heads, which Palette blocked with a colorful shield she had painted just moments earlier. I then tried to quickly pull the darts out with my magic, but when I tried to grip them, it was almost like trying to pull water out of a tub with my fingertips. The darts had an elasticity that was more liquid than solid, along with the fact that there was an additional magical component that slimed them to the point where I couldn’t hold on with my magic.

“TRIXIE! LOOK OUT!”

My mind had been so busy trying to analyze her darts that I didn’t realize that she had gripped herself to the ceiling, taking in air and getting ready to spit again. The three of us then tumbled in all different directions as her darts began to rain on us from above, and honestly, it was a miracle that even with our magical girl speed we were able to barely dodge in time. Once the onslaught had ended finally, we looked up at Dokaeru, who had a look of both sadness and panic on her face as she shakily tried to keep her grip on the corner of the wall and ceiling.

“Are you girls for serious right now?!” she asked in a tone of disappointment. “I don’t get it! We tried to invite you into our home and let you become a part of our family, and now you’re trying to kill us?! Dude, this is messed up on so many levels.”

“We’re sorry we have to do this, Dokaeru!” Dreamdrop shouted. “Please forgive us!”

“What the hell, dude! Why would I forgive you for trying to kill me?! I didn’t do shit to you three!”

“Then don’t forgive us!” I replied, trying to find the right angle for me to jump without getting a neck full of poison darts. “It’s not like Trixie isn’t living with regrets already!”

Finally, I got an idea: I would jump towards her, but then I would dig my spear into her wall, changing my trajectory before her darts would be able to touch me. With my plan in motion, I quickly jumped with my spear winding up, but right as soon as I was about to continue with my plan, rather than spitting out poison darts, she spat out an entire puddle of purple liquid. Doing the only thing I could think of, I wrapped my cape around my body as if it could protect me from her acidic saliva, and fortunately, Palette had managed to throw her shield at just the right moment, causing the paint to disintegrate as my trajectory sent me crashing into her body and bringing us both down to her bed, cracking her bed frames.

“Lilypad?” a voice called from outside her room. “Are you OK?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Dokaeru leapt off of her bed, grabbing a chair on the way and stuck it underneath her doorknob, just as soon as someone tried to make their way inside.

“What did I tell you brats about coming in my room?” she shouted angrily. Then, giving us the most pissed off glare she had, she mumbled, “If any of you pricks even think about going after one of my little brothers, I swear to Autumn Blaze, I will make you fucking suffer.”

“If you give yourself up, we won’t go near them,” I replied, hoping that saying that wouldn’t make Divinity intervene by mistake. I didn’t have any plans of hurting her little brothers, of course, but maybe if she thought I did, she would give herself up a little bit more easily.

“You really think I’m gonna believe that when you come into my house and try to kill me out of nowhere?!”

Once again, she took in a mouthful of air, and leaping to the side, I levitated her TV with my magic, snapping the cord out of her wall and using it to block all of her darts as they left her mouth. Unfortunately, I landed pretty close to Palette, who quickly had to jump away, painting another shield as more poison darts made their way towards her. The more distance between the three of us the better, especially if all of her attention was spent on Palette and I so that Dreamdrop could make a surprise attack, which was especially difficult with Dokaeru’s back always next to a wall. This meant that in order to keep Dreamdrop safe, both Palette and I would have to consistently charge forward, putting ourselves in even greater danger.

“Palette, can you shield and attack at the same time?” I asked.

“It depends on how many of her attacks are focused on me. If you can help take some of ze pressure away, I can attack when she’s focused on hitting you.”

Great. I just had to make myself an easier target, especially when my magic was next to useless against her darts… but not against my spear! Without taking another moment to think, I shouted, “Dreamdrop, get down!” and threw my spear towards Dokaeru, which she dodged by jumping off of her chair, sticking to the ceiling and sending a barrage of darts in my direction. I had to once again leap for my life, but by this point, Palette had already drawn another shield and tossed it into the air, blocking most of the darts headed towards me. Then, with her attention taken away from my spear, I used my magic to pull it towards Dokaeru’s direction again and sent it flying. Dokaeru was now the one on the defensive, and all we had to do was keep it that way until she unknowingly fell into Dreamdrop’s reach.

“Leave. Me. ALONE!”

Then, to my surprise, rather than dodge my spear, she jumped towards it, grabbing it with her sticky hands and landing right in front of Palette, who was currently in the process of trying to paint another shield. Suddenly, both Palette and I froze, knowing that no matter how we tried to react, we wouldn’t have enough time to respond before Dokaeru stabbed her in the neck. Rather than doing just that, however, she just stood there with my spear hovering over Palette’s head, and even though we both wanted to use this as an opportunity to get Palette out of there, we knew that any sudden move could end up in a reaction we didn’t want.

As we stood there, time seemingly frozen, the only thing that moved was Dokaeru’s chest bouncing forwards and backwards as she openly sobbed, still holding my spear menacingly over Palette’s head. “What’s your deal, man?” she asked weakly with tears streaming down her face. “I just wanted to stay at home today. No magical girl stuff, no justice, no being a hero. Autumn Blaze told us that since you three work with Discord, you’d probably just be trying to cause problems in Canterlot, but I didn’t want to believe her!”

“You don’t understand!” I began, but Dokaeru looked straight at me with fury in her eyes as she shouted again.

“QUIET! Just… stop, dude…” Finally, Dokaeru lowered my spear, still at an angle to where she could slice Palette’s jugular vein in an instant, but using her other hand to catch the tears pouring out of her eyelids. “I trusted you! I didn’t think you would actually go this far…”

“Dokaeru, please! Let Trixie explain!”

Suddenly, Dokaeru lifted my spear again, pointing it directly at my face, making me inadvertently step back before she made any hasty moves. “No! I’m fucking done! I’m gonna take out the artistic chick first, then I’m coming after you, you hear me? This is what you get for putting me and my family in danger! This is what you get for trying to sneak up on a girl while she’s trying to play video games in peace! And if you even think of escaping, I’ll get the rest of Everfree City to come looking for you, and we won’t stop until we’ve finished you three once and for--”

Then, without warning, her eyes went into the back of her head, and dropping the spear to the floor beside Palette, she lost her balance and collapsed onto the ground, motionless. She had finally put herself in a position where her back wasn’t against a wall, which gave Dreamdrop the perfect opportunity to sneak up behind her and use her magic to put her to sleep. We only had five minutes to finish her off before she woke up again, but from where we stood, it looked like we had actually managed to win. We were able to beat Dokaeru without any casualties.

“Lilypad! Can we come in?” a voice shouted from behind the door again. “C’mon! You promised you’d let us play your game!”

Dreamdrop quickly looked back at Palette and I, searching for an answer on what to do next, but when I turned to Palette, she had the same look on her face as well. It was obvious that I would have to be the one to take care of Dokaeru, and if I didn’t act fast, she would either wake up or her brothers would find some way into her room. The last thing I wanted was for them to see what was about to happen next.

Finally, I used my magic to lift my spear back into my hands, and raising it up over her head, I swung at an arc across her neck, severing her head from her shoulders and making it fall to the floor. I was secretly praying that I had somehow messed up and that what I had attacked was an illusion or a dummy, but in the next moment, her magical outfit sparkled until it disappeared, revealing her true form as blood began to pool out onto her carpet. Dreamdrop quickly covered her face at the sight while Palette looked away with a disgusted look on her face, but even though we were all repulsed by our own actions, unfortunately, our job was not done yet.

“Great und Powerful Trixie. It is time.”

Looking over at Palette, I quickly understood what she was saying and nodded my head. Then, taking out my magical phone, I exclaimed, “Appear, o spirit of chaos! Discord!”

In his usual manner, the room began to darken as fog covered the floor of the room and a shadow of a snake-like creature made its way through the gas. Finally, with a roar of laughter, the draconequus whom I had summoned stretched his eagle claw and lion paw, once again filling my heart with dread, an effect that I experienced seemingly every time I summoned him.

“Good afternoon, ladies!” he said with glee. “Goodness gracious! This is the first time I’ve seen all three of you together since I first announced that little game of ours four years ago! Isn’t this nostalgic?”

“Discord.” The way Palette spoke to him was more of a command than anything else. She was the only one looking Discord in the eye, while Dreamdrop and I were trying not to look at Lilypad’s body, the blood flowing out of her neck or anyone’s eyes. “We had a deal, yes?”

“Too right you are, Palette, and would you look at that! Her spirit is still in one piece, which means I should have no problem delivering it into whomever you choose. I’m guessing that the three of you came to a unanimous conclusion on who you would like me to revive?”

“My mother.” As I spoke, I began to shake, still not looking into Discord’s eyes as I tried to avoid looking at the body by my feet while a wave of guilt began to wash over me anew. I had just killed an innocent girl so that I could selfishly bring back someone to life that I valued more than her, and even though I could justify it by saying that she would have killed us later down the road, I knew that this would be another regret that I would carry with me for the rest of my life. “Bring back my mother, Discord!”

“Your wish is my command, o Great and Powerful Trixie. In thirty seconds, your mother will be revived and waking up in her bed in Manehattan, completely unaware that she was ever killed. All memories of those associated with her will be altered so that she can continue her life exactly where she left off. Is everyone in accordance?”

I looked back up to Palette and Dreamdrop to make sure that everyone agreed to the terms, and with the three of us nodding our heads, Discord smiled maniacally and snapped his fingers. Then, in the next instant, he was gone without a trace, leaving the three of us once again alone in Lilypad’s room over a body that would never again be reunited with its spirit.

Before I could even speak, though, Dreamdrop put her hand on my shoulder and quietly said, “Go to her.”

“Yes,” Palette agreed. “We should all go. This is ze last place I want to be when her family discovers her.”

Nodding my head, I said, “Yeah… You’re right. I’ll be back tonight.”

Then, without saying another word, the three of us jumped out of her window, trying not to look back at Lilypad’s body, especially if her brothers were to walk in right as soon as we left. Palette and Dreamdrop both headed towards their respective homes, but I had a train to catch. In just a few hours, I would once again be reunited with my mother, even if only for a few moments before I came back to Canterlot. I wished that I could have run away to Manehattan and stay there forever, but the girls were counting on me now more than ever, especially now that all of Everfree City was probably gunning for us already. I had to make this trip short, but I would make it worth it.

I hadn’t been on that doorstep in four years. The last time I walked through that door, I had experienced my first real day as a magical girl, watching a drug lord shoot his brains out after Paradox, Dreamdrop and I had tried to save him from his own men. I almost didn’t want to knock, as if I were afraid that I had somehow traveled back to the past and any alteration I made would affect the future, but shaking my head, I raised my fist and gently, steadily, knocked on the front door.

*Creeeeeak*

My heart stopped. Was this really happening? Was this actually her?

“Who is it? Do you have any idea what time it--”

Then, for the next several seconds, there was silence as the two of us looked each other in the eyes and tried to make words come out of our mouths.

“...H-hi, mom.”

Standing there at the doorstep was a woman I hadn’t seen alive since the day I left for Canterlot, her shoulders shaking as tears began to fall down her face. Finally, as she lifted her hands over her mouth, the floodgates began to open up, and just like that, the two of us were embracing each other, holding each other as tight as we possibly could. This was the first time I could ever recall experiencing my mother truly giving me a hug, but the way she held me felt like she had hugged me every single day throughout my entire childhood.

“I love you, mom,” I said weakly as tears began to flow down my own cheeks as well. “I love you so much!”

Finally, pulling herself off of me so that she could look back into my eyes with a smile on her face, she said, “I love you too, Trixie. I love you too.”

I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay long, but this whole experience was worth every moment. I knew that if I ended up staying even one day longer, she would fall back into her old habits of using me as her own personal punching bag, which honestly at this point wouldn’t even bother me anymore. If I didn’t have to protect Canterlot from Autumn Blaze’s magical girls, I would have stayed there forever, but at least for the time being, I could hold my mom like everything was going to be OK. Tonight, I would get to be happy, but the next day, it would be back to work.

Fleur de Lis… You’re next.