“Sorry, Trixie.”

“Hey, no hard feelings, yeah?”

“Could we just forget about some of those things I said the other day? I didn’t mean them.”

“I baked you a cake as an apology!”

It looked like Cozy Glow actually followed through with the promise she made to get the kids at school to stop bullying me. I didn’t know what she told them--although I would probably find out later--but ever since I arrived at school, even after missing the first half of the day, everyone around me had started acting much nicer than the days before. Whereas they were calling me a bitch and throwing me to the floor just a day prior, now they were throwing their apologies at me, even offering to do me favors so that I would forgive them. It was nice, but it still didn’t feel like I deserved it. After all, my mom was the biggest victim of all, and I still had no idea what she would say when I eventually came home. The only thing I knew for sure was that I doubted it would be any good.

The one who was most happy to see me, however…

“Trixie! I’m so glad to see you!”

...was the person who never doubted me in the first place.

The moment Flash Sentry saw me walking into the cafeteria, he immediately attacked me with a giant hug, nearly making me fall over backwards in his embrace. I wanted to hug him back, but my arms were too busy sticking out like a tree, wobbling back and forth as I tried to keep my balance.

“I was so worried,” he continued, holding onto my arms as he looked into my eyes with concern. “I didn’t see you at school at all yesterday, and after I heard you weren’t here this morning, I--”

I wanted to let him finish, I really did, but seeing him so worried about me made me giggle hysterically, cutting him off before he could even tell me what he thought happened.

“Did you really think that I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, would let a couple bad days at school prevent her from gracing the school with her presence?”

“Then… why weren’t you here this morning?”

Crap! How did I not come up with an excuse for that yet?

“Well, you see… uh…”

“We missed ze bus!”

Not exactly the best excuse in the world, but it would have to do. “Y-yeah! What Photo Finish said. We missed the bus.”

Flash Sentry raised an eyebrow. “And it took you until now to get here?”

“Yes. Trixie was staying at Photo Finish’s house last night, and she lives really far away.”

“You know, you could have called. I would have driven--”

“But enough about us!” I intervened before he could accidentally walk us into a verbal contradiction. “Actually, Photo Finish and I were having a friendly debate about something we were hoping you would be able to answer for us.”

“We ver?” I quickly elbowed Photo Finish in the gut, causing her to suddenly get the clue before she ruined my plan. “Oh, yes! Ze debate! Er… Perhaps you would prefer to ask him, Mädchen.”

“Right. So, theoretically, if everyone in the school somehow gained magical powers and had to fight each other to the death, who do you think would win? Hypothetically, of course.”

Photo Finish palmed her face, shaking her head in embarrassment, even though I thought that my question at least put us on the right track. This way he wouldn’t know that we were specifically looking to recruit magical girls, but he could still point us in a direction we could use to find our next selection. There were still only two girls on the team other than myself so far, and we needed five if we wanted to stand any chance against Cozy Glow, who would no doubt have met the maximum number of girls she was allowed to select.

Flash Sentry, though, looked confused by the question. Understandable. It was kinda out of left field, but immediately afterward, he smiled wide with confidence.

“That’s an easy one. I think Twilight would win.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” I groaned through gritted teeth, clenching my fists in annoyance. Of course he had to pick my rival of all people. “Any particular reason you chose her?”

“Well, I guess now that you mention it, Sunset Shimmer would be a good choice too. I just chose Twilight ‘cause my mind automatically went to the Twilight from the other world, but now that I think about it, our Twilight hasn’t exactly been raised on magic like Sunset Shimmer has.”

I immediately turned to my side and looked over at Photo Finish, who put a finger to her mouth, thinking deeply until she eventually nodded her head. Come to think of it, he was probably right, even if I hated to admit it. Twilight and Sunset had more experience controlling real life magic than probably anyone else in Equestria, even if their version of magic came from a totally different world. Plus, as far as I knew, they were willing to help anyone who needed them, making them the best chance we had at putting together a legitimately powerful team.

“Thanks, Flash. Oh, and by the way, you wouldn’t happen to know where they are right now, would you?”

Flash then shook his head sympathetically. “Sorry. I can’t say that I’ve seen ‘em. Back a year ago, we’d usually be able to tell where anyone was during lunchtime just based on which table they sat at, but after Twilight united the whole school, it’s always a mystery who will be sitting next to who.”

Just as quickly as my hopes had grown, they were shot right back down, leaving me to slump my shoulders in disappointment. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if we at least had more time to work with, but the day was already halfway over on Friday. Once school let out that afternoon, I had no idea who I’d be able to talk to until Monday at the earliest, the day the game was set to begin!

“Oh,” I said mournfully. “I guess you wouldn’t know where everyone is all the time, huh?”

Flash could probably tell how anxious I was, however, since his very next words were, “But I can tell you where they’ll probably be after school!”

“Really? Where?!”

I had changed my demeanor so quickly that I had probably made Flash uncomfortable, but at the same time, I couldn’t hold back my enthusiasm. If we got both of them to join us, we would only need to find one more girl to join us, and there was a good chance that one of them had to have another idea of who else could join our team.

“Sunset Shimmer is the head of the yearbook committee. They normally hold their meetings after school on Fridays, so you’ll probably find both of them there this afternoon.”

“Thank you!” I then leapt forward, embracing him with all the emotion that had been building up over the past couple of days, but once I saw his face blushing while he combed his hand through his hair, I quickly pulled away, tracing circles on the ground with my foot. “I mean, *ahem* the Grrrreat and Powerful Trixie owes you her gratitude. Come, Photo Finish. We have work to do.”

“Uhh, can I ask one thing, though?”

Just as Photo Finish and I had begun walking away, though, we turned to see Flash scratching his head, deep in thought. “Was there any particular reason you asked me who would win a fight to the death?”

Shoot! How was I supposed to respond to that? Was the fact that it was theoretical not good enough for him?

“Because… Um… Uh… No. We had literally no reason for asking that question.”

Flash Sentry blinked in confusion.

“O… K…? Well, I hope you guys find them alright. I gotta go eat before lunch is over. I’ll catch you guys later.”

It wasn’t exactly the greatest way to end a conversation in the world, but it at least settled things without us giving away the idea of an actual death battle in real life. With both of us waving to each other, Flash left to sit down with some rocker kids while Photo Finish and I sat down at the only unoccupied table in the cafeteria, taking out a piece of paper so that we could brainstorm other ideas of who to add to our magical girl troop. We were on the right track… I hoped. All we could do was plan to the best of our abilities and hope that Sunset and Twilight agreed to join our game.

If they didn’t, though, we would be severely and hilariously outmatched come Monday.

By the time the final bell rang, I had probably experienced--and this isn’t an exaggeration--over one hundred apologies from all the students at CHS over how they’d acted over the past couple of days. Some of them just said they were sorry whereas others went to lengths such as offering to buy me gifts as reparation for the names they’d called me or what they said about me. As it turned out, Cozy Glow sent a mass text to as many people as she could, saying that someone else spread the rumor about her as a joke and that she was totally fine. I hated to admit it, but I was actually enjoying all the attention I was getting now that the torment was over.

Moving beyond that, though, Photo Finish had created a list of a little over a half dozen names of girls who we could potentially add to our team, two of which we were already on our way to see. If the other names didn’t work out, though, we had no leads for any other girls we could possibly recruit. We needed at least someone to pull through for us right here and now.

Once the two of us arrived at the classroom where the yearbook club met, I immediately burst through the door and exclaimed, “The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to speak to the yearbook editor immediately!”

I was hoping my entrance would garner some attention, but sadly, there were apparently only two people in the room to even notice me. The good news, though, was that these were the exact two people I wanted to find, even though they both seemed less than enthused by my great and powerful entrance.

“Unfortunately for me, that’s me,” said Sunset, putting down a sheet of paper and walking towards me with a sigh. “What do you want, Trixie?”

I was a little nervous that the two of them might have still been mad at me about the whole event with Cozy Glow, but luckily, it seemed like they were more unimpressed than they were angry. I just needed to not screw up the presentation to get them to join Team Trixie, which was already beginning to make me nervous.

“As you may know, Trixie is the most talented magician in all of Canterlot High School--”

“We know. Sorry, but does this have something to do with the showcase? Because we’re trying to get a lot done right now. Everyone else in the yearbook committee needed to take this whole week off, so we’re kind of shorthanded around here.”

“Oh! Sorry. Did you two need any help?”

Sunset started looking over all the pages scattered around the room, but Twilight seemed to have a better idea on how everything was organized. “We should be fine,” Twilight said, “just so long as we stay focused. Honestly, we would probably be saving time just by not having to explain what to have you work on. Oh, and thanks for all the work you’ve done, Photo Finish. We really appreciate having all these pictures for the yearbook.”

“Actually,” my friend said, turning everyone’s heads towards hers, “we were hoping zat we could ask ze two of you a favor.”

“Sure,” Sunset said, putting all of her papers back down on her table. “What can we do to help?”

“You might want to hear what the favor is before the two of you decide to say yes,” I added, rubbing my knuckles anxiously.

Sunset Shimmer and Twilight both raised an eyebrow, but smiled nonetheless. “Honestly, after all that Photo Finish has done to contribute to the yearbook, there’s no way we could say no, even if it does end up keeping us here longer.”

“Heheh. Heheh. About that…”

I slowly began to back up behind Photo Finish, allowing her to make our pitch before I completely screwed things up for the both of us.

“We can use magic,” Photo Finish said bluntly, making both of the other girls’ eyes widen. “It is a special kind of magic, unlike ze magic zat ze two of you are used to from ze other world.”

“Wait,” Sunset said, rubbing her forehead in confusion. “You mean you can use magic, but not like the kind from my Equestria?”

“I’m suspicious as well,” Twilight added, tilting her glasses. “Not only am I curious about where your magic came from, but I’m also wondering how you can use it.”

I still wasn’t so sure exactly how we’d be able to explain it to them. We couldn’t very well show them in the middle of the school, but I doubted we would be able to tell them that some magical dragon thing gave us powers after we told him who we had a crush on.

“Well, do you remember the friendship games?” I asked, making Twilight flinch from the memory. “Right, well, it’s kind of like that, only we just get one power, and that power stays with us for the rest of our lives. The two of us got our powers from a magical creature from a different dimension, kind of like how Sunset came from a dimension of her own.”

“And unfortunately,” Photo Finish continued, “zer are more dimensions zan ze two of you may realize. One of zem is connected to Canterlot, and it is currently holding a creature much like ze one who gave us our powers. If she manages to break loose, however, we believe zat she will destroy everyzing in her path on her way to Manehattan, and if zat happens, ze entire world could be her battlefield.”

“Why Manehattan?” Twilight asked.

“Because that’s where Discord lives,” I replied.

“Who’s Discord?” Sunset asked with her head tilted to the side.

“Ugh. Trixie is starting to get a headache.”

As soon as we answered one question, it just led to the next. The easiest way would just be to show them, but we couldn’t just call Discord over to explain everything while we were still at school! We needed to get them to say yes now and explain everything once we got them to Platinum City, but how would we do that when they were still so stuck in the dark about what magical girls even were?

“I think I understand,” Twilight said, making my stressed brain breathe a sigh of fresh air. “So what you’re saying is, there’s a monster with magic unlike normal Equestrian magic who’s on the brink of attacking everything from Canterlot to Manehattan, right?” I nodded vigorously, but Twilight was still rubbing her chin pensively. “Well, what did you need our help for? If it’s in another dimension, I don’t know how we would go about stopping it, even if we did know how to access Equestrian magic on our own.”

“But what about what you did at ze games?” Photo Finish asked, turning towards Sunset Shimmer.

“It’s true that the magic of friendship has been able to solve all of our problems so far, but I don’t know if we would be able to stop a monster from another dimension using that alone. I guess it could work in theory, but I’m nervous about putting the fate of Equestria in the hands of magic that has only been used to stop minor problems. We’ve never tested it on a scale that big before.”

“Und unfortunately, we do not have much time to worry. Starting Monday, Trixie and I will be competing in a game zat will determine whezer or not ze creature vill be set free, and seeing as how you two know about magic more zan anyone else here in Canterlot…” Then, bowing down on one knee and bowing her head, Photo Finish humbly said, “...we need your help.”

Both Sunset and Twilight bit their lips nervously, looking back at each other and back to Photo Finish over and over. I wanted to tell them not to worry about it, that we could just find someone else, but the fate of Equestria really did depend on the two of them joining our team. We needed them if we ever hoped to win. There was just no other way around it.

“What exactly do you want us to do?” Sunset asked.

“Become magical girls like us,” I pled, grabbing hold of Sunset’s hands. “You’ll each get a power just like the kind we have. Trixie doesn’t want to sound desperate, but without you two… we don’t know if we’ll be able to win on our own.”

“And I’m guessing this game isn’t something easy like chess or tic-tac-toe,” Twilight said with a nervous laugh.

“No… It’s a death game.”

““WHAT?!””

“Calm down, ladies,” Photo Finish said, rising to her feet. “You vill both be brought back to life by ze end of ze day if either of you die. Trixie, on ze other hand, vill not be so lucky…”

Both Sunset and Twilight turned their heads urgently towards my face, but I couldn’t look at them. I couldn’t force them to join a game just because my life was on the line; I had too much pride for that. I wanted them to join because they wanted to save Equestria, the exact motivation that everyone should have before becoming a magical girl. Unfortunately, though, now they knew, and even if it meant helping the world in the long run, I would still feel guilty about pushing them into my problems, no matter how severe they were.

“Oh, my gosh…” Twilight said, walking towards me while I continued looking away. “Trixie… I had no idea…”

“And Photo Finish shouldn’t have brought it up!” I exclaimed, glaring at Photo Finish, whose expression never changed. “Girls, if you do this, I don’t want it to be because of me.”

“How could it not?” Sunset asked, wielding an empathetic smile. “We can’t just turn our backs on someone who could potentially die without our help, especially if she’s a friend.”

Finally, I looked up at Sunset Shimmer, not because of what she said, but because I could feel her hand on my shoulder, smiling down at me with the most comforting expression I could imagine. I had to hold myself back from crying, just because in the over seventeen years that I had been alive, I had never had someone who was truly there for me when I needed them. I had always felt like I was a problem, an outcast, a narcissist, but right there, in that moment, I finally knew what it was like to have a true, true friend.

“We’ll help you, Trixie. We both will.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I immediately wrapped Sunset into the tightest hug I could muster, crying into her shoulder while she patted my back, holding me just as tight as I was holding her. Then, in the next moment, Twilight was joining in on the hug, making me bawl even louder. I felt so vulnerable, like I would be completely destroyed if they said this was all one big prank, but by the same token, I was ready to take that chance. I wanted to feel this happy for the rest of my life.

Finally, once I released the two girls from my grip and wiped away my tears, Sunset put her hands to her hips and said, “So where do we start?”

Oh, right. That was gonna be another hurdle.

“Weeeeeelllll, you could start by coming with us to Manehattan.”

““WHAT?!””

“We vould not ask unless it was necessary,” Photo Finish replied, but Twilight and Sunset’s mouths wouldn’t move from their place on the floor.

Eventually, though, Sunset was able to compose herself enough to sigh and say, “Well, can we at least get our yearbook stuff done first? We’re kind of on a time crunch here.”

“Of course!” I said, bashfully tiptoeing away, but before I made my way out the door, Photo Finish tapped me on the shoulder, reminding me of one more key details. “Oh, right! Before we leave, could you two just look over our list of potential magical girls and see if any of them stick out to you?”

I then pulled a sheet of paper out of my backpack, handing it to the two girls while they examined the paper closely. Sunset grabbed onto the paper with a raised eyebrow, physically jerking her head back as Twilight squinted her eyes and readjusted her glasses.

“These are…”

“Yeah…”

Sunset ShimmerTwilight SparkleRainbow DashApplejackPinkie PieRarityFluttershy

“These are all our friends,” Twilight said, reexamining the paper.

“Do you think any of them would work?” I asked. “We only need one.”

Again, they looked over the paper, but the more time they looked at the list, the more they shook their heads.

“As much as we trust in our friends,” Sunset began, “they each have their own flaws. If it’s something this serious, maybe if we got them all to come together--”

“No,” Photo Finish said, cutting her off. “Ze rules of ze game say zat we may only have five players on each side, not including Trixie.”

I seriously regretted not accepting Cozy Glow’s original ruleset of allowing ten players, but there was no way to take that back now. There was no way I could have known that it would come back to hurt me, and for all I knew, maybe it was even better this way somehow. The only problem was that Sunset and Twilight were both scratching their heads, trying to pick a single name from the list now that their options had been severely limited.

“I’ll tell you what,” Sunset said, handing the paper back to me. “I’ll talk to Princess Twilight tonight and see what she says about it. Then we can meet up tomorrow and go over what our strategy is. Does that sound alright with you two?”

That sounded perfect! But I couldn’t break my character again. I gave myself the rule that I would only allow myself one emotional episode per day maximum.

“Trixie supposes that will do,” I said, putting my hands to my hips. “Very well, then. We’ll meet you out by the courtyard as soon as the two of you are finished with your yearbook activities. In the meantime, Photo Finish and I will be mulling over more possibilities that we could add to the list. Are you ready to go, Photo Finish?”

“Yes. We go.”

Photo Finish and I then turned towards the door to leave, but before I left, I saw Twilight rubbing her chin, thinking very deeply about something.

“Are… you OK, Twi?” I asked hesitantly.

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… have any of you girls heard anything?”

I tried thinking of any point in the conversation where I would have heard something out of the ordinary, but nothing came to mind.

“Like what?” Sunset asked, to which Twilight just shook her head.

“No, I’m sure it was nothing. We’ll talk to you in a little bit, Trixie.”

I wanted to ask her further about it, but at the same time, they were obviously in the middle of a time crunch. I would be able to ask her about it later, and maybe by then she would know what it was. Instead, I waved good bye and started walking out the exit again, just to see Photo Finish standing a few feet outside the doorway.

“Hm? Something the matter?”

“Hello, Great and Powerful Trixie.”

I should have guessed.

Turning my head to the side, I finally noticed a small freshman girl leaning on the lockers beside the door to the yearbook club. She was folding her arms with a large smirk on her face, and there was little doubt that she had been listening in on our conversation.

“What do you want, Cozy Glow?”

“Me?” she asked innocently, pointing a finger in her own direction. “Gosh, I don’t really need anything. I was just hoping to say hello and maybe even catch up! Did you two manage to find any new team members since yesterday?”

“Do not answer her, Mädchen.”

Photo Finish held out her hand to stop me, but now that I only had one girl left to find, I wanted to rub it in her face. She probably hadn’t expected me to find a single girl in the span of one day, and I was about to show her just how great a job the two of us had done.

“Actually,” I began, “the two of us have already found four girls for Team Trixie. You have permission to be amazed now.”

“Really? You have that many?” She was speaking with such excited bewilderment, but in the next moment, her tone returned to the normal snarky Cozy Glow that I knew was beneath it all. “Tough titties, ladies. I’ve already found all five of mine.”

“What?!”

There was no way! I knew that she was good at getting people on her side, but she’d already found all five of her teammates?!

“Who are zey?”

As Photo Finished posed the question, Cozy Glow wagged her index finger back and forth, shaking her head. “Can’t tell you that, and actually, I’d like to make an addendum to our ruleset.”

“You can’t just change the rules!” I exclaimed. “We’ve already agreed on them!”

Cozy Glow groaned. “Relaaaax! I’m only going to change the rules if you both agree on them.”

“So what are zese rules you speak of?”

“I’m glad you asked, Palette! The new rules are simple: before the game starts, we give each other a descriptive list of each girl’s powers, but we’ll keep their identity hidden behind their new names, just like regular magical girls. If they want to give away their identity like you did, that’s fine, but they’re not required to.”

Photo Finish scoffed. “You really think zat we vould just give you a list of our teammates’ powers?”

“Hang on a second Photo Finish,” I said, holding out my hand while I thought deeply about all the different variables. “Trixie thinks we should agree to this idea.”

“Vas?! Why vould we do zat?!”

“Think about it. This is a game of strategy, not power. If we want to out-strategize them, it behooves us to get as much information about them as we can, even if it means giving up some information ourselves.”

“If I were you, I’d listen to Trixie,” Cozy Glow said snarkily. “From what Autumn Blaze told me, she was the top killer in that death game that Discord put you girls through a couple years ago.”

Photo Finish glared, but ultimately looked towards me for approval. Even if this was walking right into Cozy Glow’s hands, I couldn’t say no to an opportunity to learn more about who our enemies were supposed to be.

“Fine. We vill accept ze terms.”

“Oh, that’s just super dee duper! I’ll send an update for our magical phones as soon as your team is complete. Oh, and this just goes without saying...”

Cozy Glow’s face then contorted into the most sick and twisted grin I’d ever seen.

“...If Trixie or I die any time between now and when the game ends, her team immediately forfeits.”

It wasn’t an additional rule; it was an extension of one of the rules already set in place. The rule was that the game ends when either Cozy Glow or I die, but that meant that if either of us died before the game even started, the results were official before anyone could even fight. The same logic also applied to dying in between game sessions. I knew that she was planning something, but this was probably why she wanted us to keep the girls’ identities secrets. That way they couldn’t be used as bait to draw out their captain.

“Trixie understands, and if that’s all you have to say, we’ll be leaving now.”

“Toodaloo! I’ll see you girls Monday!”

Photo Finish was hesitant about leaving things unsettled like that, but I continued walking away until she finally decided to catch up with me. There was really nothing left to resolve anyway.

Starting tomorrow, we’d have our fifth magical girl. I would make sure of it.

Author's Notes:

Seventh day of Trixmas

G&PT: 4 magical girls (Photo Finish, Upper Crust, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer)
Last Gambit: 5 magical girls (Vignette Valencia, Adagio Dazzle, Moon Dancer, Lemon Zest and ????)