As we predicted, we were the first ones to reach the battlefield. As soon as we arrived, the six of us formed a star formation, looking out for a sneak attack while Daydream Shimmer floated a few feet above us, looking over the plains in the direction of their base. There was no way to know for sure, but my guess was that they had split up their numbers, figuring we had done the same, to which we would be at an advantage. If there was one thing I knew, however, it was that Cozy Glow was smarter than I gave her credit for. She probably had something figured out that we didn’t.

“Are you sure zis is ze best strategy?” Palette asked, never taking her eyes off of the landscape in front of her. “After all, we only get five days to finish ze game. For all we know, zey could all be back at zeir base, stalling for time.”

“If they’re as smart as we think they are, though,” Midnight Sparkle began, “then they know how terrible of a strategy that is. It would only be a matter of time before we eventually went in and killed them all in one big sweep attack.”

“Can we even enter their base, though?” asked Daisy Quake.

I wondered the same thing at first, but Last Gambit knew better than that. “That would mean that Autumn Blaze would have influenced the game to work in their favor,” I told her. “If they tried stalling for time, the game would be rigged from the start. They’ll be here. We just need to give them some more time.”

“Uhh… Girls?” Daydream said from above, causing all of us to look upwards. “I don’t think we’re gonna have to wait very long to find them.”

They couldn’t have gotten there this early, could they have? That would mean they would have had to predict our strategy before we even made it, supposing they hadn’t searched in other areas too.

“How many are there?” I asked.

“Six. It looks like they’re all here.”

Then, within moments, the girls began to appear in our field of vision as well, allowing us to break our star formation and focus on the direction from which they were all coming. They hadn’t split up, which meant that they knew exactly where we would be, and seeing as how the plains were closer to our base than to theirs, the logical explanation was that they started making their way towards this exact spot from the moment the game began. Were they on their way to our base, assuming we would still be there? Were they all just that confident? Or had we unwittingly fallen straight into one of their traps?

They all took their time walking towards us, none of them using more energy than they had to until they were just a few meters away, all of them smiling with confidence. Mother Time, Panicity, Last Gambit, Onida, Bloody Mary, and Frost Lass. I had to remind myself of each of their powers, just in case one of them tried catching us by surprise, but if any of them as so much as moved, I was fairly certain that we would be able to counter them in an instant.

“Good to see you all in one place,” Last Gambit said with a sneer. “It would have been a pain if we had to search all over Everfree City looking for you girls.”

“How did you know where we would be?” I asked demandingly, to which Last Gambit shook her head with a giggle.

“You girls seriously don’t get how easy to read you are, do you? Of course you would all choose to stay together, seeing as how you’d be too afraid that by splitting up, you’d essentially make your team weaker against a group attack. Now, where would you choose to gather that would cater to the strengths of all six of you? I asked everyone on my team, and they all said the exact same thing. Why choose an area filled with obstacles when you could have an easy fight in the middle of a field?”

Shoot. She deducted our own logic to a level deeper than we realized. If we were going to beat these girls, doing so by strategy might have been out the window at this point, despite the fact that magical girls usually depended on outsmarting their opponents. We would have to beat them with sheer strength and willpower alone, and judging by the powers the other girls had, our combat skills were far superior to theirs. Our magic was made for head to head battling, whereas their magic was better suited for sneak attacks and mental games, meaning that in a situation like this where the six of us were going to be fighting close combat, we were in the ideal situation.

Then again, though, they probably already thought this far ahead. Either they were just that arrogant or we were going to have to adapt a lot quicker than what we were used to.

“So you have us figured out,” Daydream said, floating closer to the opponents. “Now give us a chance to figure you out. Why are you trying to destroy Equestria?”

“Destroy Equestria?” Onida asked. “Dude, what are you talking about?”

“Is that what your leader told you?” added Panicity, folding her arms with a smug grin. “If she’s really lying that openly to you, then I guess you all must be wondering what other things she’s been hiding from you.”

“Und we are just supposed to trust ze word of someone who was responsible for ze death of her mother? Or are you pretending like you had nozing to do wiz zat?”

“Stop pretending like you’re all the good guys in this battle!” This time, it was Bloody Mary who intervened, yelling angrily at Palette as she spoke. “All we want is to bring justice to a murderer who you all seem to support!”

“That’s not true!” Midnight replied with a shout of her own. “It’s obvious that Last Gambit has brainwashed all of you into thinking that Trixie did something that she didn’t. The only time when she would ever hurt anyone is to protect someone who needs her, just like she’s doing right now!”

Panicity smirked. “So you’re saying that Trixie has never killed an innocent person before? If that’s true, then we should hear it from her own mouth.”

“We get what you’re trying to do!” yelled Daisy. “No matter what you say, we’re not going to turn our backs on the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Uhhh… girls?” Suddenly, we all looked up at Daydream, who was now looking around the area with panic on her face. “Weren’t there six of them before?”

Now we were all panicking, looking back at the team of girls in front of us and noticing that she was right. There were only five of them now! Who had we missed? Who had disappeared? We had to find her quickly! If we didn’t catch her, we were going to die! My heart was racing. My hands were shaking. I couldn’t die this early. Was there even any hope left? I wasn’t going to bring my mom back. I was going to let everyone down. Equestria was going to be destroyed!

Just then, however, I realized what was going on.

“Panicity is using her magic! The battle’s already started!”

“Then you’d better all stand back!” Daisy shouted, lifting her arms as we cowered behind her. Then, with a loud battle cry, she slammed her fists into the ground, creating a shockwave that sent shards of rock flying out from the ground as a tremor headed straight towards the enemy.

The five of them then moved out of the way of the attack, either rolling to the side or running away to avoid falling into the ground that was opening up beside them. As they were dodging the attack, though, I quickly tried counting the girls once again, thinking much more clearly now that Panicity’s magic had been temporarily broken. Daydream was right that one of them had gone missing, so just to make sure we didn’t get hit by a surprise attack, I created a forcefield wall between Daisy Quake and the rest of us, shielding us from a straightforward attack.

“You really think that’s going to protect you?”

Suddenly, I felt a chill run down my spine, and immediately I got a grip on what was going on. Turning on my heels, I summoned my spear and slashed behind me, nearly hitting Palette in the process.

“Vut are you doing, Mädchen?!”

“Frost Lass is here somewhere, but I can’t find her anywhere!”

“That’s always the problem, isn’t it?” Then, in the next moment, she seemed to appear right in front of my face, a girl with a blue dress and a white hood over her face. “Even though I’ve been right in front of you this whole time!”

I didn’t even know how to attack anymore. She was so close that even if I tried swiping at her with my spear, I only would have ended up smacking her with my under arm. Any attacks that I would have tried to use would have been too awkward to work as a suitable offensive move, but if I tried moving backwards, I would have run right into Daisy Quake right as soon as she was reeling back for another tremor. At the same time, though, Frost Lass’s hand was raising up to the center of my chest, and if I didn’t act quickly, I would turn into an ice sculpture in seconds!

“Oh, no you don’t!”

Midnight then grabbed Frost Lass by the shoulder, her hands glowing a bright blue until the enemy jerked her whole body away, wincing from the feeling on her shoulder. “So you finally noticed me, huh, Twilight?”

The remark made Midnight’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Wait! You know who I am?!”

“Obviously! It’s not like this is the first time we’ve seen you turn into a monster!”

Just as Frost Lass reeled back to send a wave of ice towards her, however, a ray of heat shot down right where she was standing, causing her to jump back, freezing the ground behind her so that she could quickly slide away.

“Midnight! Trixie!” she shouted. “I’ll take care of Frost Lass! You two go after the others!”

“Right,” I replied. “Trixie will go after Last Gambit. Daisy Quake, can you keep the others preoccupied in the meantime?”

“Heh. With pleasure.”

Then, reeling back her arms again, Daisy Quake released a yell as she slammed her hands down to the ground, creating another fissure along the ground headed towards Last Gambit’s magical girls. Most of them merely dodged by jumping out of the way, but Onida raced forwards, skating along the jagged rocks as they began protruding from the ground. As one boulder flew out of the air, she quickly tapped the stone with her fingertips, creating a bright yellow light as she made contact with its surface. Daisy Quake then tried slamming her foot down, causing the earth to cave in sideways, but again, Onida skated along the edges, circling around until she was within an arm’s reach of Daisy.

Suddenly, her fingertips began to glow yellow again, and reaching out to Daisy’s back, she shouted, “Tag! You’re it!”

Before any of us could react, though, both Daisy and the boulder that was touched a few moments earlier flew towards each other like a magnet, slamming together with a force that made her gag from the impact. She then fell to the ground motionless, making me fear the worst until I heard her moan in agony.

“Daisy Quake! Are you alright?”

She was slow to get up, but after pulling herself to where she was at least on her feet, she said, “Yeah. I can keep going.”

“Sike!”

Again, Onida rolled by, touching both Daisy and Palette with one long reach, and once she had skated past them, she clapped her hands together, making both magical girls crash into each other with a violent impact.

We seemingly had no answer to any of their attacks. As soon as we tried hitting them, they would just dodge and counter with their own magic. I couldn’t even concentrate on finding Last Gambit in the middle of battlefield seeing as how I was constantly searching for the enemy’s next move.

Then, out of nowhere, I started coughing, falling to my knees as I choked out a liquid building up in my windpipe. I could barely breathe in between bursts of gags, but looking down, I noticed something even worse. My hands were covered in blood, and the more I coughed, the more of it began to crowd in my throat, making breathing that much harder.

“Hang on, Great and Powerful Trixie! I’ve got you!”

I couldn’t see who was speaking to me, considering that my eyes were squeezed tight as I started throwing up, mixing blood with bile and creating a burning pain from my stomach to my mouth. In the next moment, though, I felt a hand on my shoulder sucking the magic out of my system. With a deep inhalation, I could finally feel myself breathing again, wiping the red liquid from my lips and getting the strength to get back to my feet.

“Thanks, Midnight,” I said, coughing out the remaining buildup in my throat. “Trixie owes you one.”

“You’re not getting away that easy!”

Finally, I saw the one who had attacked me. She had a black dress and pale white skin, glaring angrily at the two of us as the energy returned to my veins. Apparently she didn’t need to make direct contact to cause sickness, and the powers she used were strong enough to kill from where she was, supposing Midnight wasn’t there to save me.

“I’m tired of always being second best to you, Twilight Sparkle!” she shouted. “This time, you’re the one who’s going to come up short!”

Just when we were going to attack, however, Miss Monster charged in front of us, leaning forward as a black creature pushed its way out of her spine, roaring angrily as it escaped her skin. “I’ll take care of this lowlife,” she said once the monster was finally free. “Beasty! Attack that girl!”

“Raaaah!!”

The black beast didn’t waste a second charging towards Bloody Mary, reeling its massive arm back and throwing a harrowing punch towards the magical girl, but as she held out her arms in fear, before the beast could make contact, it froze right where it stood. Then in the next moment, it was moving as if in reverse, redoing all of its actions backwards until it was in the exact spot where it started in the first place. We were all confused as to what was going on until we noticed a girl standing off to the side, tilting her tophat down with one hand while the other had a magical circle hovering in front of her palm.

“Nice try, ladies,” she said, “but I’m afraid you just can’t compete with real magique.”

Before any of us could react, however, we felt the ground rumble beneath us, seeing a fissure appear in the earth in a straight line headed towards Mother Time, but just before it reached her shoes, she held out her palm again, causing the fissure to close back up as it rewound back to its owner.

How were we supposed to fight them now? It was bad enough that we were already stuck trying to combat them at long range, but there was no conceivable way to battle someone who could just turn back time and reverse all of our attacks! We were doomed! There was nothing we could do! No matter what we tried, they were just going to use their own magic to make everything we did pointless. I was going to die. I was really going to die!

I couldn’t move anymore. I was paralyzed. I just couldn’t find the strength inside me to use my body anymore. What was the point in trying? We were all going to lose anyway. At least if I stayed where I was, it would be over that much quicker. I didn’t want to keep fighting if I was just going to lose eventually!

“Trixie!” Daydream shouted in the background. “Your magic is the only one that will stop Mother Time! You have to use it!”

“I can’t move… I-I-I-I can’t do anything! We’re going to lose! WE’RE ALL GONNA TO DIE!”

Then, in the next instant, a lion made out of a rainbow of different colors charged forward, leaping on top of another magical girl who I hadn’t noticed before, and out of nowhere I could feel my heart regaining its rhythm again. I could think clearly now!

With my mind returning to normal, I noticed that Panicity was busy fighting off one of Palette’s creations, Bloody Mary was hiding behind Mother Time, Daydream Shimmer was holding off Frost Lass and we were all busy trying to dodge Onida whenever she skated by. This was good. We were still managing to hold up on our own, despite how bleak things had looked just a second ago. That meant that there was only one magical girl left who hadn’t been accounted for, but she had the scariest magic of all.

I turned around to make sure she wasn’t right behind me, but that just meant she was somewhere else I wasn’t looking. She managed to escape in the commotion, and I couldn’t turn my back away for too long without Onida tagging me and sending me on a collision course with something else she touched. If I baited her out, though, maybe someone would be able to come in and take care of her before she took any of our powers away.

I then turned back towards Mother Time, using my levitation magic to grip her by the neck, strangling her in midair while she kicked her feet, struggling to break herself free. The other girls would try to intervene, but they would have to break through our own team of magical girls if they wanted to save her.

“Don’t worry, Mother Time! I’m comin’ to get ya!”

Suddenly, Onida zoomed past us on her roller skates, tapping Mother Time in the back and racing away from the action until she had reached a safe distance away from us. Then, slamming her hand down to the ground, her finger glowed yellow, snapping Mother Time away from my magic as her body catapulted in Onida’s direction. My one mistake was not trying to grab both of them at the same time, but right when I was about to go after them again, I was met face to face with another magical girl, the one I should have been looking out for the whole time.

My eyes went wide in shock. She was legitimately inches away from my face, smiling from ear to ear, raising one hand into the air. “Nice powers you’ve got there. It’d be a shame if someone were to take them!”

She then thrust her thumb and middle finger towards my forehead, which I was just barely able to move away from in time, although she had come so close that I could actually feel the air between us whipping across my face. Even as I was falling backwards, however, I had just enough concentration to put my hand out and push her away with my levitation, causing us to both fly backwards from the impact. I was safe for the time being, but I needed to focus. Another close call like that could mean the difference between winning the game and losing my powers forever.

I quickly bent over to pick up my spear just as she was pulling herself up, rubbing her back after the impact had knocked her onto her spine. She was completely defenseless, and I didn’t waste a moment lunging towards her, reeling back my spear and swinging it towards her at full strength. There was no one to save her now. Both Onida and Mother Time were too far away to do anything, and even if Panicity or Bloody Mary tried using their powers against me, they’d be too late for it to work. This game was as good as over… at least that’s what I thought.

*Cling!*

“Huh?!”

But before my spear could touch her, she had blocked my attack with a spear of her own.

“I wouldn’t get so cocky if I were you, Great and Powerful Trixie. You’re not the only one who has weapons besides magic!”

Shoot! She had a spear like mine?! This meant that I would have to spend all of my focus fighting her! How else were we supposed to fight Mother Time if Last Gambit was keeping me preoccupied?!

“Hang on!” Daisy Quake shouted. “I think I have an idea! Can anyone lift me into the air?”

“Trixie is a little preoccupied at the moment! URGH!”

“Give me one sec!”

As I was busy grappling with Last Gambit, however, Daydream Shimmer released a giant fireball towards Frost Lass, leading her to slide away as fast as she could, giving Daydream just a split second to speed over to Daisy. Right as soon as Frost Lass had moved out of the way completely, though, Daydream grabbed Daisy by the hand and shot up into the sky, carrying her teammate with her.

“This is it! Let me go right up here!”

“I hope you know what you’re doing!”

The two of them must have been dozens of storeys into the air, but Daydream Shimmer let her go regardless, and as Daisy fell towards the ground, she flipped herself forwards, falling headfirst towards the ground. We were all holding our breaths, waiting to see what she was going to do before any of us made a move. What she was doing looked on the outside like suicide, but once she was a few feet away from the earth, she reeled her arm back and punched through the ground, causing the entire plains to rip into two squares, plunging all of us into the cater beneath it while the ends of the squares caved in upwards. Then, while everyone else was falling down below, I quickly used my magic to catch all of my teammates in mid air, moving them away from the crater and waiting for the others to fall to their deaths.

Of course, however, as I should have noted, things are never that easy.

Before any of Last Gambit’s girls fell down into the gaping hole below, Mother Time held out her hands, creating large magical circles in front of her palms that caught the two squares of land as well as her magical girls before they fell into the abyss. The amount of magic that she needed to use was causing her veins to bulge from her skin, which must have meant that she was doing everything she could just to keep her momentum going. It was like she was lifting a weight that was too heavy for her, but if she didn’t hold it up long enough, she was going to die. Gradually, the land began to slide back to its normal position, but not if we had anything to say about it.

“Daydream!”

“Already on it!”

Fortunately for us, she was still in the air from carrying Daisy, and winding up both of her arms, she outstretched her palms and released a giant blaze of fire headed directly towards Mother Time. In a different scenario, she would be able to use her magic to stop the attack, but with the amount of focus she was using to pull the two giant land masses back together, there was no way she could block the attack and save her friends.

“Keep going Mother Time! I’ll save you!”

But, of course, I had underestimated Last Gambit’s team yet again.

Frost Lass was now using her ice powers to slide herself into the air above her teammate, and before the fire could collide with Mother Time, she held out her hands and screamed, sending a giant flurry of white and blue powder into the fiery blaze. The fire was melting the ice, but the ice was cooling the flames, creating an equilibrium where even the water evaporated before it could drop more than a few inches. Frost Lass was still outmatched, but she was still able to hold her ground, holding Daydream’s magic back just long enough for Mother Time to put the ground back to where it was.

“Good work, Frost Lass!” Mother Time shouted. “Now let me help you!”

Now, with both magical girls extending their hands towards the pillar of fire, the flames began to gradually move backwards, seeping back into Daydream’s hands no matter how much she struggled to keep it going. With the ground back to where it was, though, I no longer had anything holding me back from using my own magic. Then, once the flames had completely disappeared from Daydream’s hands, I grabbed Mother Time with my magic and forced her into the ground, causing her to flail as she grabbed at her neck. I was already beginning to feel myself become nauseus again, however, no doubt thanks to Bloody Mary’s magic, but I had to stay strong, at least long enough to get rid of one more magical girl.

“H-help! *cough* Somebody!”

Almost immediately, however, Miss Monster picked up on what was going on and pointed her finger towards Bloody Mary. “Beasty! Kill her!”

Nobody even had time to react. Frost Lass was still preoccupied with Daydream Shimmer. Mother Time was struggling to get out of my magic. Onida wouldn’t be able to get there in time, and both Last Gambit and Panicity were too late to do anything. Even Bloody Mary had barely any time to respond, but in the next moment, Miss Monster’s beast was already in her face, roaring at her in anger.

Just as she held up her arms in a vain attempt to protect herself, though, the monster shoved its pointy fingers into her chest, ripping out her heart and crushing it in his bare hands. Her eyes went wide, looking down at the hole in her torso before her vision went out entirely. Blood was now pooling out of her chest, covering the floor beneath her feet until she wobbled back and forth, falling to her knees and eventually falling backwards with her eyes and mouth wide open.

We couldn’t believe that our plan had actually worked, but there was no denying it. Last Gambit’s first magical girl had been killed, and in the next few seconds, she reverted back to her original form, revealing a girl in a Crystal Prep uniform with her hair tied up on her head and glasses held together by tape tilting off of her face.

We did it. We took the first life!

“Frost Lass!” Last Gambit shouted with fury. “We need you down here!”

“On my way!” the girl replied, and after dodging a pillar of fire from Daydream Shimmer, she shot a glacier straight towards me, causing me to jump away, breaking Mother Time free from my magical grip. Mother Time then rolled over to her side quickly, holding onto her windpipe and choking, but breathing nonetheless.

“Mother Time! Now!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

In the next moment, the newly freed magical girl pointed her palms towards the lifeless girl on the ground, and with her body glowing a bright green light, the blood on the floor gradually returned to her body, bringing her back up to her feet as even her crushed heart found its place nuzzled behind her broken ribcage. The girl with the red and purple hair was being encompassed in the same light that shone when she reverted back to her normal form, and in the next moment, we saw a girl with white snow white skin and a black dress, inhaling deeply from her mouth as she once again breathed life into her system. There was no way her magic was that powerful…

...but there was no way to deny what we saw.

Mother Time had the ability to not just turn back time, but also to bring people back to life.

“I’m sorry, Last Gambit,” Bloody Mary said, coughing up some blood, but otherwise wiping the dribble from her lips. “I got cocky. It won’t happen again.”

“How is zat fair?!” Then, everyone’s eyes suddenly turned back to Palette, who was screaming in anger at the newest revelation. “How are we supposed to compete ven you can just bring your teammates back from ze dead?!”

We were all just as anxious and mad as Palette was, but Last Gambit seemed to laugh at our misery. “Hey, don’t blame me!” she said. “You were the one who agreed that we should be allowed to use the full extent of our magic. I’m just playing by the rules. Rule number nine, to be exact.”

We were now at a complete loss. We were already having a tough time as it was, but now that they added a bring-a-teammate-back-to-life button to their arsenal, we looked completely outmatched. We were barely hanging on, despite how well we had played so far, and they seemed to have an answer to everything we threw at them.

“Oh, and Palette?”

“Vas?”

“You should really look behind yourself every once in a while.”

*Slice!*

Nobody saw it coming.

Our mouths were low.

Our eyes were wide.

We thought we had accounted for all of our enemies.

We were wrong.

We thought we knew what was going on.

We were wrong.

We thought we were paying attention to our surroundings.

We were wrong.

Once Palette knew what was going on, it was already too late. Then, looking down at her chest, she saw a blue shard of ice protruding from her torso, covered in blood. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. We all just stood there watching in horror until Palette finally wobbled her body away from the icicle piercing through her ribcage and fell to her knees, grabbing at the sudden gaping hole in her chest.

Standing behind her the whole time was Frost Lass, but for some reason, we had all missed her. Somehow, she had gotten away from our focus. She somehow snuck past Daydream Shimmer--whose expression was probably more traumatized than anyone else--and managed to get behind Palette, cutting through her body in a perfect sneak attack.

Finally, Palette fell onto her side, her body going limp until her beautiful dress covered in different paint blotches turned into a black and white dress, a pink scarf and a pair of tinted glasses falling off of her ears.

“That’s what happens when you never pay attention someone.”

Our first teammate was dead, and unlike the other team, there was no way of bringing her back.

I couldn’t believe it, but the magical girl with the most experience out of anyone on this team… wouldn’t be competing in this game any longer…

Last Gambit, meanwhile, smiled from ear to ear.

“One down, five to go.”

Author's Notes:

Twelfth day of Trixmas! Happy Hearth's Warming!

Wow! Can you believe it? 12 straight days of chapter updates! It's been so much fun (albeit
a little stressful sometimes) adding a new chapter to MGT:LG every day for the past twelve days, but now I need a break. The story will continue, but now with more than just a couple of hours between chapters updates. A big thank you to everyone who's been reading! I hope you're enjoying the story, and I hope you liked the first battle between Trixie and Last Gambit!