I hadn’t been gone from the park for more than five minutes when I asked Discord to send me back, along with Dreamdrop, Palette, Night Seam and Mind Games. The latter three had been forcefully transported, completely unaware of what was going on, but with the powers that Divinity had (and La Proxy for that matter), I was sure it would only be a matter of seconds before someone showed up to attack Night Seam. I needed to make sure that Night Seam got all the protection we could give her, even if it meant pulling them away from their normal lives and transforming them into their magical girl forms without giving them any warning.

“Wha? What happened?” Mind Games said, seemingly confident that either Palette or Night Seam would have the answer.

“Perhaps it was a magical girl who brought us here?” Palette said, shrugging her shoulders.

“No,” Night Seam added. “The magical girls from Everfree City would have no reason to transport us here rather than somewhere in Canterlot. This has to be Discord’s doing.”

I knew she was going to get mad at me, but I really didn’t have much choice in the matter. Hesitantly, I raised my hand, making the three girls’ eyes fall back on me as I tried to find the best way to phrase what I was thinking in my head. “Actually, it was both. Trixie asked Discord to bring you all here.”

“Is this really that important?!” Night Seam asked with a bite in her tone. “I was having dinner with my family. I actually have a life again, and if you don’t mind, I would prefer not to screw it up this time. Now, what was so important that you couldn’t just send us all a group message?”

“Good question, Night Seam! Maybe just the fact that Divinity is sending over a magical girl to kill you right now!”

Night Seam gasped in fear, but then immediately scowled again. “YOU IDIOT! NOW MY ENTIRE FAMILY IS IN DANGER!”

“I don’t think so,” Dreamdrop intervened. “Divinity isn’t the kind of magical girl to kill innocent people. I think you’re the only target she has right now.”

“Just me?! What about you three?!”

Divinity was obviously referring to Dreamdrop, Platte and I, which was a very genuine question, seeing as how we were also responsible for the deaths of three of her teammates. In all honesty, I still wasn’t completely sure as to why she thought of the three of us as sisters whereas Night Seam was an outsider. Did it really just come down to the physical geography of where we lived? Did us meeting Autumn Blaze have anything to do with it?

“Trixie can’t explain it,” I began, “but we need to stick together to make sure you’re safe.”

“Divinity isn’t that stupid, Trixie,” Night Seam replied. “If she wants to kill me, she’ll wait until I’m alone. She’s not just going to attack me when I’m surrounded by reinforcements.”

Dreamdrop gritted her teeth, stomping up to Night Seam with a furious expression on her face. “If Divinity wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead! Have you ever once thought that maybe Trixie was making the right decision?”

“I did… but that was before she turned her back on Manehattan.”

“You have a lot of nerve, considering the fact that Trixie was the one who brought you back to life in the first place!”

Just as soon as things were starting to get heated, however, Night Seam jumped back, summoning her throwing knives into her hands while looking at Dreamdrop with sadness in her face. “I don’t need to take this anymore! Not after what you did to my friends!” Then, catching everyone off guard, Night Seam began throwing her knives towards Dreamdrop, which I had to levitate with my magic before they ended up cutting her to pieces.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, NIGHT SEAM?!” I shouted furiously, but without skipping a beat, she returned her knives back to her hands and sent them flying towards me, forcing me to summon my spear and deflect them into the ground. “Get a grip, will you?! We’re on the same team!”

“How can you say that?!” Mind Games yelled out of nowhere, tears streaming down her face as she summoned her rapier into her hand. “We trusted you, but you betrayed us!”

I quickly turned to Dreamdrop and then Palette, looking to see if either of them knew what they were talking about, but they looked just as confused and freaked out as I was, leading Palette to paint weapons for herself and Dreamdrop. “What are you two talking about?!” I exclaimed. “How did we betray you?”

“Mind Games, you go after Palette and Dreamdrop,” Night seam said, raising her hand into the air. “I’ll take care of the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

Then, touching her hand down onto the ground, the entire scenery of the park began to turn black, bringing back memories of the events that had happened four years ago, only this time, Palette was busy trying to fight them off as well. I quickly jumped back into the air, trying to figure out what they meant by killing their friends while simultaneously attempting to hide myself in the blackness before she could use it to her advantage. Were they talking about Marrow and Storm Rose, and if they were, why did it matter so much right now? Was the stress of the hunt beginning to wear on them?

I then quickly moved my attention towards Palette and Dreamdrop, who were both trying desperately to block attacks from Mind Games using their own makeshift rapiers. My body almost instinctively moved to protect Dreamdrop, but Night Seam had actually given me the perfect set up, allowing me to pull Night Seam’s attention away from the others while Palette protected Dreamdrop in my place. Just as soon as I thought that I had managed to get a good distance, however, I felt a sharp pain jetting from my leg, causing me to land my jump awkwardly, holding onto my aching shin. She had managed to camouflage her knives to blend in with their surroundings, and before I even had the chance to pull them out of my leg, Night Seam had already summoned them back into her hands.

“Night Seam! Will you just stop attacking for a second and explain what you two are so mad about?!”

“Your magical girl hunt! That’s what!” I raised my eyebrow in suspicion, dodging what I imagined was another set of her throwing knives, although I really had no idea when those would strike considering the environment I was in. “I’m done hearing your excuses, Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Wait, I thought to myself. Had she always referred to me as ‘the Great and Powerful Trixie’?

Before I could think much harder about these questions, however, I felt another knife piercing through my skin, only this time, it hit me in the shoulder, not too far away from my heart. If I continued to dodge like this, it would only be a matter of time before I was dead, but first I needed to figure out why the magical girl hunt--which she was also a part of--was suddenly making her so angry. Plus, she had mentioned something about us attacking her friends, which didn’t seem to make sense either.

Then, everything hit me all at once. “GIRLS!” I shouted, hoping that Dreamdrop and Palette would be able to hear me over their own fight. “Trickster is here in the park somewhere! She’s manipulating their memories to make them think that they’re part of Everfree City!”

“Trickster is our friend!” Night Seam yelled back. “She would never do something like that to us!”

I was relieved that my theory was basically confirmed, but I was still nervous about Trickster being hidden somewhere in the background, hiding from the action while Mind Games and Night Seam did all the real work. Plus, with our own allies being used as pawns, we had no way of fighting back, instead being left to flee from their attacks the whole time while we looked around for where the enemy magical girl would be. Not only that, but if Divinity were also here, that would make it possible that Trickster could even be invisible, leaving us with no choice but to kill the team members we had just barely brought back to life.

“Night Seam! You are a member of Platinum City!”

“Don't try confusing me, Great and Powerful Trixie! I've always been one of Everfree City's magical girls!”

“Then what are you doing here?! Everfree City is all the way in Canterlot! What are you doing here in Manehattan?”

“Trying to take care of you!”

As Night Seam spoke, she threw more of her knives towards me, which I blocked with a telekinetic forcefield at just the right moment, allowing me to get away again while I searched desperately for a girl in a tight, green outfit. With all of our surroundings being black, her outfit should have been easier to spot than ever, but no matter how hard I searched, all I could see was a sea of darkness with no trace of Trickster. I was starting to doubt whether or not my original theory was right until, at that moment, an idea struck my mind. It wasn't a very good idea, but it may have been exactly what we needed to gain an advantage.

Then, pulling out my anti-magic orb, I immediately threw it towards Night Seam while shouting, “Catch,” making sure that I threw it in towards her body, just so she wouldn't dodge it and make my attempt pointless. Fortunately for me, my plan worked, and in that moment, I saw Night Seam's eyes grow wide as the ball landed in her hands, but almost immediately, my own mind began to grow fuzzy. I could see her yelling something, but the pain in my head was starting to become unbearable, like my brain itself was sizzling in agony. I suddenly couldn't remember anything, who I was or what I was doing there until finally, everything began to come back to me at once.

My name was the Great and Powerful Trixie. I was one of Autumn Blaze's top magical girls, and these girls were trying to kill me and my friends, which was further reinforced by the sight of Mind Games, another one of my teammates, being attacked by two girls at once. I would join her in a second, but first I had to deal with the girl in the black dress, whose power stood no chance against my own. I was going to enjoy seeing her die, especially after what she had done to Lucky Star, Sonic Boom and Dokaeru.

“Mind Games!” she announced, throwing the orb towards her. “Use your powers on us! Quick!”

Was she trying to hurt Mind Games? What was that orb supposed to do? The only thing I knew was that this Night Seam girl needed to be stopped at any cost, just so she would never hurt another magical girl ever again… or, at least that's what I thought. As soon as I saw Mind Games catch the orb that Night Seam had thrown to her, I began to somehow realize that Night Seam had really been on my side the entire time! It must have been Mind Games playing tricks on me! I wouldn't let her get away with killing my friends! She would be the one to die this time!

Just as I charged toward her, however, I heard a voice inside my mind yelling, ‘Stop! This isn't who you are!’

Yes it is! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, one of Autumn Blaze's strongest magical girls!

‘It's all a trick! You need to find Trickster and get her to break the spell she's using on you!’

Trickster isn't casting a spell on me! She's my best friend!

‘I thought Dreamdrop was.’

Dreamdrop… Wasn't that one of those traitors that came to Everfree City and helped murder my friends? But, for some reason… I didn't feel as upset as I should have been towards a girl that had supposedly betrayed me, a girl who I had dedicated my life towards killing. I had to, though! Why would I waste a second killing someone who was just going to kill not only me, but every girl in Everfree City if I didn't stop her immediately? Why was I suddenly feeling this confliction in my heart, like I somehow felt some kind of underlying love for this girl, even though I didn't know two things about her?

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD, MIND GAMES!”

“Trixie, you need to snap out of it!” said the girl with the sparkly, star-themed dress. The way she spoke to me made my heart beat faster, as if the sound of her voice had a certain magic to it that made my hair stand up. No! She was the enemy! I couldn’t allow her to have any kind of control over me… but at the same time, even though I honestly believed that she had killed my friends, I didn’t know if I would be able to do anything to her.

As I was feeling at war with myself, however, leaving Night Seam to deal with Palette and Dreamdrop while I battled against Mind Games, I heard the sound of a dog barking in the distance. Turning my head momentarily, I saw a bloodhound, painted using a variety of unnatural colors, calling out like it was trying to alert them about something. In the brief seconds that followed, however, its neck was slit open, causing it to yelp while colors shot out of its body until it fizzled to the floor in a puddle of brown.

“Zat is where Trickster is!” Palette shouted. “Mind Games! We need you to attack her while we hold Night Seam back!”

Mind Games looked back and nodded. “I’m on it!”

“Like hell you are!”

Just as Mind Games started racing towards the puddle left by Palette’s dog, though, I quickly made my way in front of her again, clashing at her with my spear in a desperate attempt to keep my friend safe. Trickster had helped save my life on multiple occasions, and if I couldn’t even protect her from one magical girl trying to get into my head, what kind of friend could I really say that I was?

‘Your mind is being controlled, Great and Powerful Trixie!’

Yeah, by you, Mind Games!

‘Try to think! What brought you here in the first place?’

Her question slowed me down a little bit, making my attacks weaker than before, but if I could remember what I was doing there in the first place, maybe I could heighten my resolve and get her out of my mind. We came here to ambush Mind Games and the others for what they did to Lucky Star, Sonic Boom and Dokaeru! Night Seam, Trickster and I came along together, but now that Trickster was in trouble, it was up to me to stop Mind Games before she killed another one of my friends.

‘Think, Great and Powerful Trixie! If Trickster is here, then why would she need your protection? Why wouldn’t she be using her powers right now against us?’

I… I had no idea why she wouldn’t be using her powers to help us, especially since she had used her powers every time she had saved my life before. Just as my spear grew even slower, though, Mind Games’s eyes went wide as she called out, “Girls! Trickster can’t read minds! She can only manipulate memories!”

“What does that have to do with anything?!” I yelled, finding a new resolve as I slammed by spear against her rapier.

‘It means that if I can get in your head, maybe you’ll be able to see what you’re really doing here. We are not your enemy! Trickster is!’

No! She was wrong! In fact… now that I thought about it… I was the enemy all along. I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t thought of it before, but it wasn’t Mind Games, Palette or Dreamdrop who had killed my friends. It was me! I had killed Dokaeru, Sonic Boom and Lucky Star with my own hands, even though we were sisters from the beginning. Why had I done that to those girls that were supposed to be my teammates, the girls who had introduced me to Autumn Blaze and allowed me to become a magical girl in the first place? I was beginning to feel a sudden wave of guilt flash through my mind, knowing that I had committed the unforgivable sin of betraying an Everfree City magical girl. I had to do something about it, but when it came to betraying a citizen of Everfree City, there was only one way to ever atone for that kind of transgression.

I stumbled backwards a couple of steps, pulling away from Mind Games entirely before pulling my spear away and turning it towards myself, pointing it towards my throat. The act of committing suicide was probably the most terrifying thing in the world, but if I didn’t kill myself where I stood, there would be no way for me to ever repent of what I did to my teammates. Before I could make any moves, however, Mind Games quickly leapt forward, grabbing my spear and trying to remove it from my hands. Why was she trying to save her enemy? Was she just trying to keep myself from getting any kind of closure for the acts that I had committed against Everfree City? Was this girl petty enough to prevent me from repenting in my final moments?!

“DON’T LET NIGHT SEAM KILL HERSELF!” Mind Games shouted towards Palette and Dreamdrop. “Trickster is trying to turn them on themselves now! They think they betrayed Everfree City!”

“LET GO OF ME!” I screamed, trying desperately to wiggle my spear out of Mind Games’s hands. As Mind Games tried to break my spear away, however, she saw something out of the corner of her eye, causing her to pull out some kind of crystal orb.

Then, holding the orb up for me to see clearly, she said, “Listen to me, Great and Powerful Trixie. I’m going to give you this orb and jump away as far as I can. While I’m in the air, I won’t be able to change directions, so it’ll be up to you to chase Trickster down before I land. I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself after that. She’s right over there, now GO!”

Mind Games pointed her finger behind me, causing me to reflexively turn my head back, but the moment I was no longer facing her, I felt something hit my hand, causing me a decent amount of pain in my knuckles. Just as I grabbed the orb instinctively, however, I saw that Mind Games had jumped several stories into the air at the same time as my memories turned back to normal. I then quickly turned my head to where Mind Games had pointed earlier, seeing a flat-chested girl running as fast as she could away from the action, trying desperately to escape, but I wasn’t going to let her get away so easily.

“Dreamdrop!” I shouted. “Put Night Seam to sleep so she doesn’t hurt herself! Palette, see if you can take Mind Games’s weapon away from her!”

Then, turning my attention back towards Trickster, I catapulted myself into a sprint, trying desperately to catch up with her before she got away. With her head turning back slightly to see how much distance was between us, Trickster quickly threw a knife in my direction, not a throwing knife, but a regular butcher’s knife that she probably found in her kitchen. She had no magical items, which meant that when I finally caught her, she would be totally defenseless so long as there were no other girls waiting to ambush us. If there were other magical girls there, however, I could only assume they would have attacked us by now, especially based on how frantically Trickster was trying to get away.

Finally, though, her luck finally turned for the worst. With the entire environment turned black, she didn’t even notice a baseball, probably left behind by some schoolboy, right underneath her feet, causing her to stumble forward and lose her balance, leaving her facedown in the grass. I turned my eyes just barely to see if Mind Games was still chasing after me, but luckily, Night Seam had been put to sleep, leaving Mind Games to deal with both Dreamdrop and Palette. I had a maximum of five minutes before Night Seam woke up and started to attack either herself or the others, so I had to finish this quick. As I looked down at Trickster, however, I saw the same cowering face that Mind Games had shown me right before I killed her four years ago. It was probably the face that haunted me more than anything since the death game had ended. Would I really be able to just take away her life when she looked so helpless?

“Why…?” Trickster asked with a tear falling down her face. “Why are you doing this to us?”

I couldn’t let my emotions stop me from taking care of business. I needed to stay strong.

“How did Sonic Boom know Trixie’s real identity?” I demanded, pointing my spear at Trickster and making her flinch with a yelp.

“I--I--I--I dunno! I swear! Maybe she knows you in real life?”

“Trixie saw her real body. She wasn’t anyone who I know personally, which means that somehow she found out who I was. Did Divinity tip her off? Do you also know Trixie’s true identity?”

I then put my spear closer to her neck, making her scream in fear with tears now pouring down her cheeks. “I swear I don’t know! Divinity hasn’t told me anything! She just sent me here to kill Night Seam! She didn’t say anything about you!”

I knew how close the girls in Everfree City were, but based on how badly Trickster was falling apart emotionally, it didn’t seem like she was covering for anyone. It seemed like she was legitimately telling me the truth, which was going to make it that much harder when I would inevitably kill her, especially since over a minute had passed by since Night Seam had been put to sleep. As I tried thinking about anything else I would need to interrogate out of her, however, she fell to my feet, gripping my ankles as if her life depended on it.

“Please, Great and Powerful Trixie! Please stop killing us!”

“It’s… It’s not like that…”

“Whatever we did to hurt you, we didn’t mean it! Please! JUST LEAVE US ALONE”

I then bit my lip and closed my eyes, hoping that what I was about to do next wouldn’t haunt me for the rest of my life. With my arm raised up, I quickly swung across my body, feeling my spear slice through something as my arm traveled to the opposite side of my waist. When I eventually opened my eyes, however, I saw a pool of red covering my legs along with a severed head looking up at me with terror in her eyes, causing me to stumble backwards, falling onto my butt in the puddle of blood. The worst part, though, was when her body reverted back to its original form, it left behind a girl probably the same age as me in her place, her face still looking up with an expression of tremendous fear. I had to cover my face with my hands, both to shield myself from the sight of her mangled body as well as to physically try to hold back the tears in my own eyes.

Just like that, it was over, immediately breaking the spell that Mind Games and Night Seam were under, although Night Seam probably still had a good three minutes before she would wake up again. As I sat there with my hands over my face, I waited several moments, not moving an inch until I heard someone slowly walking up behind me, falling to their legs and wrapping their arms around my knees to engulf me into a big hug. Now, even with my hands over my face, there was no holding back the tears that started streaming down my cheeks, making me feel even worse, like somehow I was the victim even though I was the one who had just murdered someone. Another someone. My third so far in this magical girl hunt.

“I’m sorry, Trixie,” I heard Dreamdrop’s voice say behind me. “It’s gonna be OK.”

“No, it won’t!” I yelled, crying even harder. “Trickster is dead! She’s never coming back!”

“But maybe someone else can,” Palette said, joining our conversation. “We should probably summon Discord while we still have ze chance.”

Discord was probably the last being on earth that I wanted to summon at this point, but Palette had a point. Even though I was feeling angry at myself, I still knew that there were more important things that I needed to take care of before I let the opportunity slip away. Finally, nodding my head solemnly and rising to my feet, I reached out my voice and shouted, “Appear, o spirit of chaos! Discord!”

Then, just like I had come to expect, the dusk sky began to turn overcast with storm clouds surrounding the air above us as a deep fog covered the ground around our knees. Thunder roared throughout the park as a shadow snaked its way across the trees until finally, with the ground rumbling like an earthquake, the marble statue in the center of the park began to crack, allowing a terrifying monster to break free from its stone prison with an ear-shattering cackle.

“Hello, girls!” he shouted with a much more blissful tone than I could handle right now. “I guess there would only be one reason why any of you would ever want to see my face again.” Then, snapping his fingers, a checkered blanket spread out along the black grass, decorated with a basket filled with deserts and several plates of fruit and sandwiches lined along the fabric. “A picnic! Am I right?”

Everyone glared at him, especially me, leading him to return a dull expression while snapping his fingers again, making everything he had summoned disappear in a flash of light.

“Fine. Fine. I can take a hint. Good job, Trixie, eliminating yet another one of Autumn Blaze’s pesky pests. Now, I believe you already have an idea of whom you would like to bring back to life?”

“I-I-Iron Maiden,” I said, still trying to regain my composure.

“Ooooooo! A crowd favorite! Of course, you wouldn’t have any problem with that, would you, Mind Games?” Mind Games flinched in her spot, knowing well enough that she was the one who had killed her in the first place. With her head shaking in a mix of fear and embarrassment, however, Discord turned his attention back towards me. “And I’m assuming you would like me to resurrect her with all of her powers still intact?”

“Yes, but Tixie will leave it up to her whether she wants to help us fight Autumn Blaze or not.”

Discord then chuckled loudly, making me more angry than disturbed. “Works for me! Oh, and isn’t this convenient? Iron Maiden died just right over here. Isn’t that right, Mind Games?”

“Can you stop, please?” Mind Games replied with an aggravated look in her eyes.

The draconequus, however, shrugged and snapped his fingers, disappearing into the wind to reveal a woman with a green outfit lying down in the distance, trying to push herself up weakly. Her steel shoulder pads seemed to be weighing her down, but steadily, she managed to at least prop herself up to a sitting position, although she still looked exhausted as her back arched forward.

“Iron Maiden!” Dreamdrop shouted, running towards her in a sprint. The minute Iron Maiden opened her eyes, however, she was immediately engulfed by a pair of breasts as Dreamdrop comedically hugged her as tight as she could, rocking back and forth while laughing hysterically.

“MFFMM!” Iron Maiden exclaimed, tapping Dreamdrop’s shoulder.

“Huh? Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

Dreamdrop then pulled her body away from Iron Maiden’s face, leaving her to gasp for air, holding her hand to her chest as she heaved in and out. “Dreamdop? Wait… Did we win?”

“Weeeell,” Dreamdrop began, scratching the side of her cheek. “About thaaaaat…”

Iron Maiden then turned to see Palette and Mind Games next to each of my shoulders, smiling awkwardly at the girl who they had either tried to kill or successfully killed, making Iron Maiden jump to her feet. “Wait! What the hell?!”

Then, just as if things couldn’t get any weirder, Night Seam grumbled from the floor behind her, lifting herself up weakly as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. “Did we win?” Night Seam asked, suddenly making eye contact with Iron Maiden. “Wait! What the hell?!”

“That’s what I said!”

“I’M SORRY!” Now, everyone’s eyes were suddenly on Mind Games, who had fallen to her knees, prostrating herself in front of a very confused Iron Maiden. She was shaking, appearing as though she might have been fearing for her life, but even if she believed that Iron Maiden would retaliate by killing her, she would still beg for forgiveness for what she had done. “I know I can never ask you to forgive me, but I need to at least tell you how sorry I am!”

“Uhh… it’s OK? Wait! Hold on a second! Didn’t you…”

Iron Maiden then appeared to have remembered her last moments alive, making this situation that much more awkward, although Night Seam still looked like she was trying to figure out what was going on.

“We brought you back to life,” I finally said, breaking the silence. “Mind Games helped probably more than anyone, and if it weren’t for her, we would probably all be dead right now.”

Iron Maiden scrunched her eyebrows. With every question we answered, it seemed like another one popped up in its place. “I don’t really get what’s going on here. Are we even fighting each other anymore? Who almost killed you?”

Dreamdrop then sighed, slowly wrapping her arm around Iron Maiden’s shoulderpads as she quietly said, “Let’s all go back to my place. We have a lot of explaining to do…”

Next Chapter: Chapter 14 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 50 Minutes