The girls and I decided that it would probably be for the best if we all stayed in Platinum City until Monday morning when we were obligated to return to our normal class schedules. Discord was gracious enough to provide the new girls with magical phones, despite the fact that none of us had the appropriate amount of brownie points, nor was our vision necessarily aligned with his. I was worried that their phones would malfunction as soon as we needed them most just so that I would lose and that he would be able to free Autumn Blaze, but I made sure that he promised not to do anything to get in the way of our game, similar to how we asked Autumn Blaze not to interfere as well.

“Oh, isn’t this wonderful, Great and Powerful Trixie?” he said, slithering down while I watched the new girls practicing their magic for the first time. “You got to recruit your own team of magical girls, just like Marrow before you and Divinity before her.”

“And apparently Trixie has killed all of them at one point of another,” I said annoyedly, trying not to make eye contact.

“Oh-ho! That’s right! Well, I wouldn’t say all of them, but you did manage to put quite the dent in both teams’ numbers. You know, I would have thought you would have been so grateful to have your powers when you first got them that you wouldn’t dream of hurting another magical girl, but you truly slaughtered those girls without a second thought! It was marvelous.”

Finally, I broke my eyes from the other girls so that I could send an icy glare towards the draconequus beside me. “Oh, so now you can apparently tell Trixie all about the details?”

“Well, my promise was to wipe your memories, not to keep all the details to myself after someone else spoiled it for you.”

“Then tell Trixie this. Who from Platinum City did I kill during our first death game?”

Suddenly, Discord had summoned a tub of popcorn, which he began eating as if the girls in front of him were putting on a show just for his own personal entertainment. “Guh-hah-hah. That Juniper Montage girl is such a character, and she really does know how to make the best popcorn. Extra butter and salted in thirds? Who even thinks of something like that?”

Of course, the girls all had the same reaction when they met Discord for the first time: they screamed. I was lucky enough that by showing them what Platinum City looked like, it softened the blow when they eventually met Discord’s terrifying appearance and zany personality. The girls recruited by Cozy Glow must have had the opposite experience, seeing as how Everfree City was a barren wasteland while Autumn Blaze herself was a beautiful, majestic horse.

“Focus, Discord!” I snapped, pulling the draconequus’s attention back to the question I’d asked him.

“Oh, right! All the sweet, innocent girls who you brutally murdered. Hmm… Who were they again…? Well, first was Storm Rose, then Mind Games, then--and you’ll get a kick out of this--Marrow, and finally Night Seam. You single handedly took first place in terms of kill count, well above the second place winner Mind Games, who had only killed two girls, but then you went and revived them all by killing Divinity’s team anyway. Ooo. That was a crunchy one. Munchmunchmunchmunch.”

I tried to hide how happy I got from knowing that I had proven to Marrow that I was the better magical girl, but there was probably no point in hiding anything from the god of chaos himself. “And what about Divinity’s team? How many did Trixie kill to bring our girls back?”

“Let’s see… One, two, carry the three, subtract by nine, multiplied by the square root of pi--Oh! That’s right. You killed five girls, even more than the first game! I’m impressed!”

“And I suppose one of them was Divinity.”

“Nope!”

I quickly jerked my head to look up at Discord, who was still eating his popcorn and watching the girls practice, ignoring my reaction like I had been ignoring him.

How could that be?! This whole event was started because I was supposed to have killed Cozy Glow’s friend, but I apparently wasn’t even the one who did it?!

“Who killed her?!”

Discord didn’t even seem to hear me, instead grabbing another clawful of popcorn and tossing it into his mouth with a large crunch. “Bah-hah-hah. Keep trying, Upper Crust! I’m sure you’ll get it this time!”

“DISCORD!”

“Hmm? Oh, right. Marrow killed her. Oh, my goodness! Look at Twilight! Baaahahahah! I just need to get a picture of this.”

My breathing stopped. My eyes went wide. Of course it had been her. Who else had turned my life into such a living nightmare as much as Lulu Lemon? And after the nerve she had to suggest that this was my problem, that I was the one responsible for all this…

“Does Marrow remember killing Divinity?”

“Hmm? No, I erased all that, just like she asked me to, which is quite strange considering that it was actually quite the accomplishment.”

“Accomplishment? What kind of powers did Divinity even have anyway?”

Finally, Discord finished his tub of popcorn and turned his head towards mine with a sly, sinister grin. I instinctively took a step back, just because any time Discord smiled like that, the answer always made me regret asking the question in the first place.

“I’m sorry. Did you ask me, ‘What kind of powers did Divinity even have?’ Oh, that is too priceless.”

“What? W-what was it?”

Then, leaning his snout to my ear, he whispered, “Omnipotence.”

My skin crawled, and suddenly the huge accomplishment I had felt from defeating Marrow had been for nothing. What good was defeating Marrow if I ended up bringing her back, just to lose to her in the end? That question, though, brought up a thought that I had been mulling over for the past couple of days…

“Discord, why did Trixie bring Marrow back to life anyway?”

Of course, as I should have expected, Discord guffawed until he fell over backwards. “You?! You think that you of all people brought Lulu Lemon back from the dead?! Gahaaaah! No, no. It wasn’t you. It was Night Seam, and you should have seen the look on your face when she did it, too! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that traumatized in your entire life, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot of trauma when it comes to your life.”

Things were beginning to make more sense, but that still didn’t change the fact that we were ultimately going to be responsible for what happened next. I may not have killed Divinity like Cozy Glow implied, but I had still killed five of her friends, an act that I would have to live with, despite my memories of it having been wiped. Whether or not I remembered any of it didn’t change the fact that Cozy Glow was mad, and willing to put the future of Equestria in the balance to get her revenge.

“Trixie,” Discord said, making me flinch. He had never tried to get my attention by saying my name before, and the way he said it was so… ominous. “When was the last time you saw your mother?”

“Huh? Around three days ago. Why?”

“...You should probably go back home right now.”

“Wait, what? What’s going on?!”

“Well, you know how you should never underestimate a magical girl?”

“Wait, are they coming here?!”

Were they seriously trying to get a head start on the competition with a sneak attack?!

“No, I put a special barrier around Platinum City that prevents her and her friends from coming in. You can rest assured that you’re safe here in Platinum City.” I put my hand to my chest, breathing a sigh of relief. “But your mother… is not.”

“...No…”

All of Discord’s goofiness disappeared in an instant as he grabbed hold of my shoulders and looked at me with urgency in his eyes. “I’ll teleport you to Canterlot. There’s no time to wait! They’re on their way right now!”

My whole body was growing tight from stress, especially my lungs, which felt like they were about to cave in on themselves as I began to hyperventilate. I was breaking out into a cold sweat. How did they know about my mother?! I couldn’t live without her!

Before I could think about it any further, however, I looked up to see that I was back home in Canterlot, teleported in an instant in my normal human form. I didn’t waste a second running through the door, sprinting as fast as I could to the living room where I was hoping I could find her watching TV. She wasn’t there. Everything was quiet. This wasn’t like her.

“Mom?” I turned my back and started walking into the kitchen, ready to turn into my magical girl form at the slightest sight of someone else in the room. Everything was dark, but not dark enough to where I wouldn’t be able to navigate through the rooms and hallways. “Mom, are you here?”

*Shing!*

I held my breath. My eyes went wide. There was heavy breathing beside me. Slowly turning my face to my left, I saw my mother with a butcher’s knife stuck in the wall right beside me, glaring at me while she heaved in anger, her breath reeking of whiskey.

“M-mom?”

“...Don’t you dare call me that you fucking bitch…”

She immediately pulled the knife out from the wall and started slashing towards me again, making me fall onto my butt, crab-walking backwards as I desperately tried missing every swipe at my jugular. Then she nicked my knee, but I couldn’t grab the cut to soothe the pain. I had to keep trying to push myself up, falling back down as she swung at me like her life was on the line.

“Mom! What are you doing?!”

“I’ve fucking HAD IT with you! You’ve had everything! A good home! Food to eat! What did I ever do deserve a daughter like you? AAARRGGHHH!!!”

She emphasized whatever word she was saying as she swiped at me again, but even after all the episodes she had put me through, she had never been this serious about taking my life. Was it because I hadn’t been home in three days? Was she still upset about the Cozy Glow rumor?

“Is this about that girl from school? It was just a rumor! She said so herself!”

“You think this is about some kid from school?”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been home the past couple of days! I just--I just--”

I couldn’t even speak anymore. Tears were falling down my face like a faucet, my chest growing so tight that I couldn’t make any of my words come out as anything but wails.

“You just WHAT?! You’ve had me worried sick! Do you not realize that until you turn eighteen, I’m the one who will be held legally responsible if you do something illegal? I heard you cut half your classes yesterday. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?!”

“Mom! Stop! Pleeease!”

Finally, just as I was getting my balance again, she dropped her knife and kicked me square in the chest, knocking the wind out of me and sending me to the floor as I wrapped my arms around the wounded area. Of course, she didn’t stop there, though. What happened next was probably the most pain I’d ever felt my whole life.

For the next twelve minutes, she beat the shit out of me until my vision started going blurry, and not just because she knocked out both of my contacts in the process. She had thrown so many cross punches to my mouth that I actually felt it snap, my jaw now dangling off its hinges. Her knuckles were getting bloody not just from the blood pouring out of my mouth, nose, skin and even eyes, but also because her knuckles were getting ripped apart just from all the wear and tear of her attacks. If I ever started falling backwards, which was happening more and more due to how dizzy I was getting, she would grab me forcefully by the hair, pulling me back up, and if my hair fell out in the process, which happened almost every time, she would force the hair into my mouth, trying to get me to suffocate from my own hair and blood.

Everything was going black. Finally, I fell down motionless, not quite unconscious, but getting close to it. Then she started stomping on me with all the fury she had been holding back my first seventeen years of being alive. She started by jumping onto my ribcage, making me vomit all the hair from my mouth, covering the floor with blood, hair and bile. Of course, though, this just made her even more angry, responding with several stomps to my breasts for good measure, amplifying as much pain as she could possibly give me. I just wanted her to stop. I wanted to tell her that I was sorry. I wanted to tell her that I loved her and that I would never make that same mistake again, but even if I could prevent myself from screwing up again, I physically couldn’t speak anymore. I couldn’t move anything from my feet to my hands, but I was still awake, still conscious, waiting for her tirade to be over while the pain continued to sear through my senses.

Stomp. Kick. Punch. Grab. Punch. Knock. Grabbing my bloodstained hair from the floor and shoving it back into my mouth, breathing heavily while she tortured me to the best of her ability.

Was I really that bad of a kid?

I tried to be a good girl.

I really did.

Was this what I deserved?

No.

I deserved worse.

She should have killed me when I was younger.

That way she wouldn’t have had to deal with a daughter as defective as I was for as long as she had.

She was a good mom, and I was a terrible daughter.

No matter how much I wanted to prove to her that I loved her, that even though sometimes she hurt me, even though I had always forgiven her--and I always would--I would just never be able to make it happen.

I would never be able to give her the life she deserved.

Her strikes were beginning to lose some of their power, growing weak from all the overexertion she had put her muscles through. Once the adrenaline started to die down, what were once powerful punches turned into weak slaps until even her breathing had descended into traumatized sobs. Tears fell down her face onto my skin, breaking my heart with every droplet. Then, with all the stress she had been under, she collapsed onto my body, burying her face into her arms as she wailed out her misery. It hurt to keep my eyes open, it hurt to close them, but it hurt even worse when I started crying myself, mixing water with blood as even more of it fell down my own cheeks. She didn’t deserve to feel this way. This was all my fault, but I couldn’t even tell her that with my dislocated jaw.

“Why…?” she sobbed. “WWHHHYY??!!!! Why couldn’t I just have a normal life with a normal daughter?! Why did it have to be me?!”

It was true that I had never been in as much pain as I was in at that moment, but not because of the cuts, not because of the bruises, not because of the blood or the broken bones. It wasn’t until then that I realized for the first time how truly, deeply, and horribly I had hurt her.

“I can’t do this… *sniff* I can’t! I just can’t do this anymore, Trixie. I’m sorry.”

She was sorry? She had never said she was sorry before! She wasn’t planning to hurt herself was she?!

Finally, my mom pulled her weight off of my body, limping weakly in her drunken stupor towards the kitchen drawers, and even though it caused me an insurmountable pain, I lifted my neck up to see what she was doing. She then put her hands into her pockets and shakily pulled out a set of keys, wobbling them to the keyhole, trying over and over again until they made it into the slot successfully. I had never seen her open that drawer before, and in the next moment, I would know exactly why.

The object she pulled out was a 9 millimeter pistol, and her finger was beginning to wrap around the trigger. She wouldn’t try killing herself would she?! NO! I couldn’t let her!

I tried moving my mouth, desperately doing my best to at least mouth the words, “Don’t do it, mom!” Unfortunately, however, I could barely lift my neck, let alone try to speak.

“You know something, Trixie? I’ve been thinking about killing myself for years now. You have put me under that much stress.”

I’m sorry, mom! I love you! Please stop!

“I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to, that you’d turn eighteen and become society’s problem at that point, but I just can’t take it anymore. The stress is too much! I just--I--I can’t! I can’t do it anymore.”

Again, she covered her mouth with her free hand and started crying, and all I could do was whimper on the floor, unable to do anything about it. She didn’t deserve to die! I did! Please, mom! DON’T DO THIS!

“And then…” She gulped, taking a deep breath through her quivering lips. “...And then I thought why should I?”

...What?

“Why should I, who has done nothing wrong, have to die for some little cunt who has never done anything right?” In the next moment, she cocked the gun and pointed it in my direction, making my eyes grow wide in fear. She wasn’t going to really… Was she? “No, this bullet isn’t for me, Trixie. It’s for you, so you’ll finally leave me the fuck alone forever. Maybe then I can be happy. Maybe if you just weren’t here anymore, I wouldn’t have to go about this shitty life every day after day. I would have more money. I would be able to travel the world without worrying about the mouth at home that I’m not feeding. I might be able to meet a nice man knowing that I don’t constantly have to check up on you. You know what? Let’s cut the bullshit. I have tried so hard, but you’re just never going to be good enough, Trixie. I’m sorry.”

She… she was really going to kill me! She wasn’t joking!

Again, I wanted to scream, to tell her not to do it, that I could be better… but she was right. I was never going to be the daughter she wanted me to be. She was better off without me.

With one last tear streaming down my cheek, my eyes squeezed shut from pain both physical and emotional, I finally said my last prayer to whoever was listening.

I’m sorry, mom. I understand, and I love you so, so much. Goodbye...

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‘Nice to meet ya, little girl! My name’s Dreamdrop! I’m a magical girl!’

Dreamdrop?!

In the next moment, I transformed into my magical girl form, causing all of my mortal wounds to disappear in the process. Then, leaping up to my feet, I held out my hand, just in time to catch the bullet that had shot out of her gun, now levitating just an inch away from my heart. I would have to apologize to my mom later, but I couldn’t die yet. Equestria was depending on me to survive, and I couldn’t let the whole world down like I had done with my mother.

The woman in front of me then fell backwards, using the kitchen counter to hold herself up as she shot bullet after bullet, completely cleaning out her magazine in the process. One by one, I sent the bullets to another direction until any time she pulled on the trigger, she was left with an empty click. She must not have recognized me in my magical girl form, but even if she did, it wouldn’t have changed the expression of absolute terror on her face.

“Trixie?” she said between horrified breaths. “I always knew you were a monster!”

“Mom!” I shouted desperately, not caring whether or not I gave up my cover. “You don’t understand!”

“Oh, I understand perfectly. I’ve known your whole life exactly what you are… a freak! A freak who doesn’t deserve to live!”

“Mom, you’re drunk! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Rather than confronting me any further, however, she stomped her way over to the front door, turning the lock and kicking the doorknob off of its hinges. Once she eventually did look me in the eyes, however, she said, “We’re finishing this tonight, Trixie. You don’t get to run away like you always do. I CAN’T KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS!”

What was I supposed to do now? I could have broken down the door if I needed to, but that wouldn’t stop my mom from trying to murder me!

In the next moment, though, she pulled her bottle of haynnessy off of the coffee table and smashed it against the wall, leaving just the handle and a circle of jagged glass. It was obvious that she wasn’t giving up.

“Mom, don’t. Please!”

She wasn’t listening, though. She was just approaching closer and closer, and I had run out of room to back up.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie commands you to STOP!”

Then, acting on instinct alone, I lifted up my mother into the air with my powers, making her dangle in the air as she clenched at her throat. What was I doing?! As soon as I realized that I was choking her, I gently set her back down to the floor, releasing her neck so that she could breathe, though she was still bending over and coughing out the built up saliva.

“Mom! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to--”

“Die.”

“Huh?”

Everything that happened next was a blur. Glass was coming towards me, but for some reason, blood was starting to spurt out of her neck. I had summoned my spear to protect myself, but it was suddenly covered in red liquid. I was the one who was trying to keep myself from getting killed, but my mother was the one falling onto the floor, seizing uncontrollably like a fish out of water, grabbing onto her windpipe as blood sprayed out all over the furniture. Finally, I looked at my spear, then back at my mom…

...and then everything made sense.

“MOM! NO!”

I dropped my spear and fell to my knees by her side, grabbing onto her hand while her body convulsed violently. This couldn’t be happening! It couldn’t end this way!

“DISCORD! HELP ME! PLEASE!”

But he wouldn’t come. My mother turned her head towards me, blood spewing out of her neck while her mouth frothed, and the whole time, she was looking at me with fear, something I’d never seen from her before. I couldn’t stop crying, trying to use my powers to prevent the blood from leaving her neck, but they just ended up spilling out of her mouth instead, making me scream even louder.

This couldn’t be happening! She wasn’t supposed to die before me! She just needed to live for just one more week and she’d finally be done with me! But it wasn’t stopping. The blood wouldn’t stop until her heart stopped beating.

“Please, mom! Hang in there! We’ll get you help! You’re gonna be OK, you hear me? We’re gonna get you to a doctor, and they’re gonna fix you up. Just please stay with me. Mom? No! No, please don’t go! Stay with me, mom! I’m begging you! PLEASE! STAY WITH ME! MOM! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

No matter how much I begged, no matter how much I cried, I couldn’t do anything to save her. Finally, after several moments of convulsing on the floor, her body laid limp, her skin turning white as the last remaining droplets of blood dripped down her neck and chin. She was gone…

...I had just killed my mother…

“No!”

I put my hands to my eyes as I sobbed uncontrollably, falling onto my mother’s body as if it could somehow bring her back. I wasn’t ready for her to die. I didn’t get to show her how much I really loved her, how even though she hurt me, I would never be the girl I was without her. She put up with so many of my shortcomings, but I wouldn’t be able to tell her what I was hoping to tell her on my eighteenth birthday.

Then, raising my head with a sniffle, I looked down at her and said one last thing before she was gone forever.

“You were a good mom. Thank you… for everything.”

Suddenly, however, I heard something from just outside the window, and without wasting a beat, I jumped across the room to see what it was. When I looked out the window, however, I saw someone running away whom I didn’t recognize, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t know exactly who it was. A normal person wouldn’t be able to run that fast, nor would they be able to jump from roof to roof like it was second nature. Someone was watching me, and that someone was a magical girl. Unfortunately for her, though, she picked the wrong time to piss me off.

“...I’m going to fucking kill you.”

I once again grabbed my spear and jumped through the window, sprinting in the direction she had run off in. She was new to being a magical girl, which meant that she wasn’t used to running away the same way we normally did. She didn’t know the routes, when the roofs would stop, how far she could jump, and it was only going to be a matter of time before I finally caught up with her.

Suddenly, I found her. It was hard to see what kind of outfit she was wearing in the dark, even with the lights of the Canterlot streets, but there was no doubt that it was the same person from before. If they hadn’t tried stalking my mom, maybe she wouldn’t have had to die, and I was going to make them pay, whether or not they had anything to do with it.

I was right there, so close to being able to use my magic to pull her towards me, but she knew I was right behind her. She was taking odd routes, hoping that she would be able to ditch me, completely forgetting that I knew the Canterlot backstreets like my own front yard. She looked back towards my face in fear, knowing that once I caught up to her, she would be dead, and it filled me with a bloodlust that I didn’t even know I had. Was this the bloodlust that had led me to kill nine magical girls over the course of my life? Because it was this feeling rushing through my veins that was going to add my tenth victim.

But then…

“Panicity! Now!”

Another magical girl came out of nowhere, zipping by on roller skates and holding out her hand. I didn’t know what they were planning, but it wasn’t going to work. Just then, though, the magical girl that I had been chasing stuck out her own arm, slapping hands with the magical girl on her rollerblades, and right when I was about to catch up with her, some magical force pulled her away, taking her at a speed that I would never be able to catch up with. There was still the other, girl, though.

I turned on my heels, now heading towards the magical girl skating away. She suddenly looked behind her, and seeing that I was following just a block away, she sped up her pace, zooming past buildings like it was nothing. She was using the speed of both a magical girl and her roller skates, moving faster than I would ever be able to catch up with. Finally, I stopped once I landed on a nearby building, trying to catch my breath, even though my heart wouldn’t stop pounding.

I… I lost.

And then, just like before, I fell to my knees, bending over as I bawled my eyes out. I lost twice tonight! No, three times! I had failed in every single responsibility I had as a magical girl! Not only had I failed to keep my mom safe, but I couldn’t even catch the bad guys, the ones whose fault this really was! If they hadn’t been there…

Out of nowhere, however, I felt something on my shoulder. Then, jerking my head back, I saw Discord with his paw on my arm, trying to console me and giving me the rare image of the god of chaos actually displaying a moment sympathy.

“I couldn’t do it,” I sobbed with a sniffle. “I lost… I lost!”

“You’ll get them next time, Great and Powerful Trixie. Come on. Let’s get you home.”

“Discord…?”

“Hmm?”

“...Who’s Dreamdrop?”

“...Don’t ever tell Marrow that I showed you that memory…”

Author's Notes:

Ninth day of Trixmas

For the next several chapters, the story will be narrated by the Great and Powerful Trixie. I'm going to stop adding the names at the top of the chapter until a new narrator comes in, which won't be for a while.