The girls around me all froze up, leaving an awkward silence as Last Gambit was the only one left in the room smiling.

“You’ve… killed… other magical girls?” Midnight muttered, holding her shaking hands to her chest.

It wasn’t as simple as that, of course, but if I continued to pussyfoot around the subject, it would lead Last Gambit to continue manipulating my teammates into thinking I was a monster like her. “Yes,” I replied bluntly. “Trixie has killed nine girls over the course of her magical girl life, and I don’t even know who half of them were.”

At that moment, however, I summoned my spear and pointed it towards my enemy, who folded her arms and tilted her head back in curiosity.

“The one thing that I do know, though,” I continued, “is that I wasn’t the one who killed Divinity!”

Last Gambit continued to smile in my direction as I was nearly heaving in anger and anxiety. Panicity was probably somewhere close by, using her magic to make the situation even worse, but I needed to at least tell them the truth so they would know they could trust me once they calmed down. While I was busy trying to keep my shaky hands from lowering the angle of my spear, however, Last Gambit unfolded her arms, shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

“You see, girls?” she said arrogantly. “She’s already admitted to killing my teammates, but did she ever tell you about how she killed some of her own teammates too?”

“No…” Daydream said, turning her head to give me a soft scowl. “She coincidentally left that part out.”

As I looked around the room, all of my teammate’s expressions had changed from fearful to furious, except for one girl who shook her head in annoyance. Then, as she took a step forward, all eyes fell onto her as she looked confidently into Last Gambit’s eyes.

“I’ve been friends with the popular girls for a long time, dear,” Miss Monster said, folding her arms. “I know manipulation when I see it, unlike these girls who have lived a sheltered life where everyone was friends with each other for as long as they can remember. So now that I’ve uncovered what you’re trying to do here, why don’t you be honest with us? Why exactly are you trying to kill Trixie and release a monster to destroy all of Equestria?”

The scowls around me then began to fade, and the pompous smirk that Last Gambit had been wearing this whole time was slowly beginning to turn into an enraged glare. Then, she took in a deep breath and exhaled through her mouth, but her hands were still trembling in anger. She was now looking at the floor, standing in silence as we all awaited her answer.

“To bring her back…”

“I’m sorry?”

Finally, Last Gambit lifted her head, looking right at me with her teary face as she screamed, “SHE TOLD ME SHE COULD BRING DIVINITY BACK IF I KILLED YOU!”

“That’s insane!” Daisy exclaimed. “If Autumn Blaze could really revive your friend, then she wouldn’t need you to kill the Great and Powerful Trixie to--”

“No.”

Suddenly, Daisy Quake stopped talking. Everyone shifted their gaze back to me, waiting in silence for me to continue, but it was so hard to explain. If I told them the rest, would they still be my friend? If I told them that Last Gambit had been telling them the truth this whole time while I was keeping secrets from them, would they ever forgive me?

It didn’t matter anymore. Again, looking confidently towards my teammates, I said, “She’s right. By killing Trixie, she can bring back Divinity, and if that happens, then she could kill every single one of you with the snap of her finger… both in the game and in real life…”

The girls then looked back towards Last Gambit for clarification, but all she did was shrug innocently. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

“And you expect us to just stand back and let that happen?!” Daydream shouted, getting into a fighting position just like the others.

“Not really, but then again, none of you have a choice now, do you?”

“What did you just say?!”

While the five of us glared, however, Last Gambit smirked with confidence. “Ta-ta, bitches!” Then suddenly, at that moment, all the windows surrounding us shattered, bringing in a heavy wind that made her cape flutter, and as she folded her arms with a confident smile, the rest of us were now screaming and scrambling for our lives.

Where was the attack even coming from?! As I looked around at my surroundings, the only magical girls I saw were Last Gambit and the ones on my team! They were all shrieking at the top of their lungs, and every second that passed was another moment where any one of us could die without realizing it. I needed to act, even if it meant doing something risky.

“Daisy!” I cried out above the loud winds. “Destroy the city!”

The girl in the blue dress immediately turned towards me and flinched, her hand shaking near her chest. “B-but if I do that, we might not--”

“Hurry!!”

She bit down on her lip, her whole body shaking, but upon closing her eyes, she slowly lifted up her foot and--

“LOOK OUT!”

Before she could even set her foot down, however, she found herself falling backwards, dodging an icicle that jettisoned right past her ribcage, barely missing it as Daydream shot a wave of fire towards it. Right when she landed, though, her hand slipped off the edge of the now shattered building, making her crawl back to safety while the rest of us desperately placed our backs to the remaining walls. We were lucky that Daydream managed to spot the attack before it was too late, but we still had no answer to their ambush.

“Daydream!” I shouted. “Give Midnight some of your powers! Quick!”

Daydream looked back at me and immediately nodded her head, holding out her hands towards Midnight who mirrored the girl in front of her, squeezing her eyes closed and turning her head away. Just as soon as she did so, though, Daydream fell to her knees, holding onto her gut with one hand while the other covered her mouth. Suddenly, blood was pouring out of her lips, and unable to hold the liquids back anymore, she found herself using her spare hand to hold herself up from the floor as she heaved in air between stream of vomit.

They were here. They were all here, and none of us could find them! All we could do was stand back and wait to die! As soon as Daisy looked towards me again, however, I gave her a nod. Even if she was cowering in the fetal position, all she needed to do was slam her hand down to create the exact tremor we needed, but right when we needed her most, she started shaking again.

“I… I-I-I don’t think I can do it!” she exclaimed, running her hands through her hair and sliding her knees up to her chest. “We’re gonna die if I do that! Don’t let me die, Trixie! Please!”

“Daisy! Get ahold of yourself!”

“I DON’T WANNA DIE!!”

This had to mean that Panicity was somewhere watching too. As I looked around, I saw that Daisy was trembling on the floor, Midnight Sparkle’s face was turning white from seeing Daydream Shimmer vomiting her own blood, but Miss Monster… was discreetly stepping away from everyone. The moment we made eye contact, she sent me a glare, causing me to immediately look away. At the same time, though, my curiosity got the better of me, and out the corner of my eye, I could vaguely make out the site of a black claw gripping her shoulder.

I had to be a distraction before they remembered that she was still a threat.

“Midnight! Bloody Mary is somewhere nearby! Trixie needs you to--”

Before I could even finish my thought, however, I immediately grabbed onto my neck, coughing up the insides of my throat as the inner coating began to gradually peel off. As tears dripped down my cheeks while my eyes continued to burn hotter, I did my best to maintain eye contact with Midnight, praying that she would understand through my agonizing coughs what I needed her to do.

‘Use your magic before she kills us!’ I thought loudly. Midnight’s trembling hands stayed close to her chest, but once she took a step forward, Last Gambit immediately stepped in, thrusting her spear between the two of us.

“Oh, no you don’t! We’re ending this right here! Now get out of the way and let me bring back my friend!”

“Midn--*cough, cough*--Heal Dayd--”

Suddenly, I was silenced yet again, not by the feeling of a scratching inside my throat, but by Last Gambit’s shoe striking across my face. I could barely see out of my eyes due to both the searing pain as well as all the water in my tear ducts, but I barely managed to make out the sight of Last Gambit’s enraged scowl just before she stomped her foot against my right temple. I was lucky that I hadn’t felt anything crack from the impact, but there was still a good chance that I had just not noticed it through my muffled scream.

“I’m so fucking done with you, you worthless bitch. Do you realize how long I’ve planned for this moment? Do you realize how much fucking anguish I’ve had to experience just to bring back my best friend?! This for Divinity and all the girls of Everfree--”

I quickly blinked as hard as I could to clear the tears from my eyes and turn my head upwards. For some reason, I couldn’t hear Last Gambit speaking anymore, and when I moved my head, the pressure from her boot had nearly disappeared. Then, my eyes went wide, but not nearly as wide as the horrified shock of Last Gambit, who looked down to see a black claw piercing through her chest, blood dripping down its talons. Suddenly, Last Gambit took a step back, her face turning white as she turned towards the magical girl behind her. Standing behind her with her arms folded and a smug grin across her face was Miss Monster, as well as a black creature extending from her back and slicing through Last Gambit’s lungs.

My breathing stopped almost as immediately as Last Gambit’s had. Was this it? Was the game over? Had we really just won already?

Then, just as I was getting ready to celebrate, a pair of black shoes with black and white knee-length socks entered my vision, leaping down from the floor above. I couldn’t look up high enough to see who they belonged to, but realizing the situation as well as the enchanting voice above, it didn’t take me long to figure out the rest.

“Well, I suppose now’s as good a time as any to make my appearance. Time Warp!”

No! No, no, no, no! We had her! We were so close! As I felt my nerve endings slowly coming back to their senses, giving me just enough energy to painfully push my torso off of the ground, I saw Beasty’s claw fall back into Last Gambit’s chest, sealing the wound as the silhouette of a clock’s hands revolved counterclockwise. Finally, tipping her tophat and spinning her cane, she turned towards me with a sadistic smile on her face.

“Sorry about that, love, but I can’t just allow you to win, now can I? Although brava on that little diversion of yours. If I had waited another second, you might have actually succeeded.”

What did this mean now? Was I going to die? Was Equestria going to fall into chaos, all because of me? With my fist clenched, I closed my eyes again. Unless Midnight acted fast, I was as good as gone, and with Panicity having as much influence over her mind as she did, I couldn’t see any way out anymore. Maybe her magic was clouding my own judgement as well, but no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t see us coming back from this one.

With my eyes returning to the floor once again, the only thing left in my vision were Last Gambit’s shoes and spear, whose tip was just an inch above the ground. Just as soon as it entered my field of view, though, it had quickly disappeared. I couldn’t see exactly where it had moved, but I could very faintly hear Last Gambit breathing above me.

“Trixie…?”

Midnight’s voice was soft, scared, and flustered. She had probably never seen a girl die in real life before. Now she would get to experience firsthand what kind of dangers magical girls dealt with in the real world. Even though my memories were blurry, I could still make out the face of the first person I’d ever seen die, a drug lord who took his own life right in front of my eyes. Would she be as traumatized as I was that day? Would she handle herself better than I did? Or would she blame herself, like I did every day since it happened…?

‘Mom…’ I thought to myself, holding back a stifled tear before my life came to an end. ‘I’m sorry I had to join you so soon. You probably wanted some time to be away from me for a little bit, but I messed up like always. I promise I’ll go to the other place, just so you’ll never have to deal with me again, so please... don’t be mad.’

“Trixie!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Right when I thought that I would feel something sharp slice through my neck, however, I felt the ground begin to rumble. It hadn’t been Midnight’s voice crying out like I had expected, but at the same time, the tense pressure in my throat had suddenly disappeared as the vibrations against my body amplified in severity. I then quickly pushed myself up, just to fall back onto my butt along with the other girls in the room, which started shaking back and forth, causing the floor and ceiling to begin to crack under the pressure.

“What the heck are you waiting for?!” Last Gambit screamed, facing the magical girl in the tophat while they both tried to keep their balance. “Do something before she kills us!”

“I can’t! The range is out of my control!”

Wait! Mother Time had a weakness?!

Before I could think any further, however, the floor caved in, sending all seven of us on a downward spiral towards our death. High-pitched screams filled the air, which I could gradually feel growing colder and thinner. Despite how terrifying the situation was, however, both Panicity and Bloody Mary’s magic had completely disappeared, and with adrenaline rushing to my head, I had just enough time for one last-ditch effort to keep ourselves alive.

“I’ve got you, girls!” shouted a voice that had seemingly come out of nowhere, creating an icy platform that caught Mother Time and Last Gambit before they could fall any further. Now it was my turn.

I had never used this much magic in my life, but with all of my strength and focus, I released a giant forcefield, gripping onto everyone’s bodies and freezing the five of us in midair. The screaming had stopped, but we weren’t out of the clear yet. Before we even had time to catch our breaths, a maelstrom of icicle shards plummeted towards our bodies at a volume we’d never be able to dodge, and if I tried using my own magic, we’d just go right back to a fatal freefall.

Then, as if on cue, the frigid temperature disappeared as a blinding light combusted towards the storm of ice shards. Once it was safe to open our eyes again, the translucent barrage of snow was nowhere to be seen, but we weren’t out of the clear just yet. The disadvantage state was gone. Now we just had to play in neutral.

I then lowered the five of us down to the pile of rubble on the ground as quickly as I could, and as if on cue, the air once again dropped to subzero temperatures, filling the sky with a white blizzard. Almost immediately, the entire city was covered in a flurry of snow, and just behind a thin sheet of frosty fog stood six magical girls with Last Gambit in the middle, folding her arms as she calmly glared us down. We each had our own assignments, and now it was time to put our plan into action.

“Kill them.”

The moment the words escaped Last Gambit’s mouth, the city turned into a warzone filled with fire, ice, earthquakes and chaos. The first one to move was Onida, who moved so fast that we almost didn’t have a chance to react, but out of reflex alone, I managed to put up a forcefield right as she lunged forward to tag me. Reading the situation almost immediately, Midnight reached out to steal her magic, but in the next flash, she was gone, replaced by Last Gambit, sneaking the other way, reaching her glowing, red hand out to grab me. Just as she was an inch away from touching my face, however, she clicked her tongue and somersaulted backwards, barely dodging an earthquake that would have pulled her under. Finally, with just enough space for us to breathe, the Platinum City girls and I all nodded our heads, and with our assignments in our minds, the five of us split up and charged towards our targets.

Four of us immediately jumped into the air while Daisy Quake slammed her fists into the pavement, creating a ripple that headed straight towards Onida’s direction. The pink-haired magical girl quickly skidded on her rollerblades, dodging the attack and immediately raced along the edges of the jagged rocks sticking up in the aftermath. As Onida got closer, however, Daisy reeled back her arm, clenching her fist while squaring her legs. Then, once the target was close enough, the girl in the blue dress sent a violent punch in Onida’s direction, just for her target to move her head off to the side at the very last second, reaching her glowing yellow hand out and slapping Daisy on the back.

“Tag! You’re it!”

In the next moment, Daisy was launched away from the city, on a collision course that was probably headed to the other side of the map, but just before she could leave the area, Midnight Sparkle leaped in at the last second, wrapping her arms around Daisy with her hands glowing a bright blue. The two then slammed into the ground, skidding across the pavement while Mother Time leapt in like a vulture. With a clock appearing in front of her, its minute hand turning counterclockwise, the two girls started moving in reverse, but right when they were about to reach the moment before Midnight was able to use her magic, a black monster swooped in, slamming its fists and screaming wildly, causing Mother Time to break her focus just enough to leap away from a surprise punch to the neck.

“Midnight! You take care of the rest!”

Once the purple-skinned magical girl could reenact her previous fall to the ground, she immediately nodded in Miss Monster’s direction before turning towards Mother Time. The girl in the tophat, however, lifted her chin with a haughty smirk.

“Good luck, love. You’ll need it.”

“I’ll take care of you in a minute,” Midnight replied, her hands glowing a bright blue once again. “You’re not my only assignment, you know.”

Suddenly, with Mother Time’s smirk fading, Midnight Sparkle and Daisy Quake darted off in separate directions, neither one charging towards the time-turner. Instead, Midnight leapt straight towards the girl in the red dress with long, purple hair who had been evading the battle on the outskirts, no doubt trying to manipulate Daydream as she battled against Frost Lass. The moment Panicity noticed Midnight charging towards her, however, she quickly dodge rolled to the side, lifting her hand with her eyes glowing a bright green.

That, however, was the last thing I saw before Last Gambit completely pulled my attention away, swiping her spear towards me, which I barely managed to deflect at the last minute with my own. I then lifted her into the air with my magic, squeezing her arms into her waist as she flailed helplessly above the ground. It looked like I had a clear shot, but right when I swung my spear to slice through her abdomen, I felt my entire body being pulled in the opposite direction, crashing into a building behind me, causing a surge of pain up my spine. Last Gambit didn’t waste a second. The moment she was free of my magic, she ran towards me at a speed only a magical girl had, but just like my plans had been ruined by one of her magical girls, she was forced to stop short as the ground in front of her was severed by a trail of jagged rocks protruding from the pavement.

With a growl, Last Gambit shouted, “Onida! Can you please take care of her already?!”

“I’m trying, boss, but Twilight ruined my best shot!”

Last Gambit grumbled under her breath, brushing the dust off of her dress. “Change of plans, Trixie. You’re gonna have to wait a couple minutes.”

As soon as I realized what she said, I reached out my hand to grab her again, but by this point, she was already out of my magic’s range, racing to aid in the fight between Daisy Quake and Onida. Daisy was already having trouble with her opponent, but there was no way I’d be any help by constantly chasing after Last Gambit. I would have to switch to someone else and hope that she’d be able to handle two opponents for the time being.

Luckily for me, however, I picked the perfect time to look away from my target. No sooner had I turned my head when I found myself leaping into the air, avoiding a boulder that looked like it was on a collision course with the opposite side of the city.

“Aww, not thinking straight, are we? That’s too bad. You had the perfect shot, too!” Upon looking in the direction from where the boulder had nearly taken my head off, I noticed Panicity standing triumphantly with her hands on her hips while Midnight punched the ground angrily.

Maybe she could be my next target! She was already busy trying to fight off one opponent, and Midnight Sparkle would probably need my help anyway. Before I could run after her, though, I felt a sudden pain in my gut, causing me to fall to my knees, covering my mouth with my hand before I started vomiting all over the asphalt. It wasn’t just my stomach that was in pain, either. My muscles were so weak that I couldn’t physically get enough energy to move my arms anymore.

Where was Miss Monster?! She was supposed to be taking care of Bloody Mary!

Finally, I couldn’t hold it in anymore, and with my throat gagging on itself, I started throwing up everything in my system, burning my insides on the way out. If Last Gambit saw me like this, there was no way I’d be able to make it out alive, but fortunately, before anyone else was able to take advantage of my moment of weakness, Daydream descended to the ground in front of me, creating a pillar of fire that encapsulated the surrounding area.

“You alright, Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“Trixie will--mmf--be fine. Where is--”

“I’m taking care of it. I just wanted to make sure you were OK first.”

“Don’t worry about Trixie! Just take care of--”

“How can I not worry about you?! You’re literally the only one whose life matters here! Just hang on for a second, OK? Let me just take care of Frost Lass real fast and I’ll be right back to help you out with Last Gambit.”

I hated that I had to be the one that needed to be saved, but I was still grateful to have someone as dependable as Daydream Shimmer on my squad. Nodding my head, the flame-haired magical girl released her pillar of fire and ascended back into the air, shooting a ball of fire towards a ghost-themed magical girl sliding on a track of ice high up in the sky.

Now that I was alone again, I quickly surveyed my surroundings, looking for whoever needed my help most. It appeared that Miss Monster was leading an attack against Bloody Mary again, although Beasty was half-decorated in icy crystals, moving much slower than he usually would. In an effort to contain Onida, Daisy Quake had created a giant crater between herself and the rest of the girls in the city, making it nearly impossible for Onida to make it back to the battle without any outside help. Last Gambit was now fighting alongside Panicity, but Mother Time was nowhere to be seen.

‘Shit!! She got away!!’

There was the chance that she was still somewhere nearby, waiting to use her powers in case someone died, but there was a much better chance that she had escaped the fight entirely. She was their most powerful weapon, after all, as well as our biggest target. It made sense that they would fight five on five for the time being and wait for a sneak attack to utilize her when we weren’t expecting it, especially given how they had utilized her powers so far.

I didn’t have time to worry about that for the time being, though. Out of all the magical girls in Everfree City, Panicity and Last Gambit were easily Midnight’s worst matchup, and they knew that just as much as I did. Then, without taking another moment to think about it, I pushed myself back to my feet and ran to help my teammate, but before I could close even half the distance between us, a flurry of ice crystals cascaded in front of me, blocking me in a similar manner to Daydream Shimmer’s pillar of fire just moments prior.

“Hold it right there, murderer!” shouted a magical girl wearing a spooky outfit, descending to the ground from her diamond path above. “I’m not going to let you get in Last Gambit’s way!”

As much as I wanted to help out with Midnight, however, there was no way for me to take my eyes off of Frost Lass without her turning me into an ice sculpture. I would just have to hope that Daydream was using this opportunity to help Midnight in my place now that Frost Lass had switched targets. Besides, this would give me the chance to get inside the head of one of Autumn Blaze’s magical girls.

“Funny you should mention that. Wasn’t it you who killed Trixie’s teammate earlier?”

Frost Lass flinched in surprise, but quickly regained her composure, along with a glare that I could see even behind her mask. “Don’t try to compare me to you! We both know she’ll come back once the game is over!”

“But Trixie won’t. Although I’m sure Cozy Glow has managed to trick you into believing that murdering me would somehow make you different from Trixie.”

“That’s… That’s not the same!”

“Don’t you realize how many people will die if Autumn Blaze is released?!”

“Autumn Blaze isn’t the monster! Discord is!”

This was going nowhere. I was just wasting time at this point. In the next moment, the two of us were leaping towards each other, and I was now using my magic to block as many ice shards as I could. Out of all of Last Gambit’s magical girls, Frost Lass was easily their best fighter, and if I managed to kill her when I had the chance, they had no shot of winning the game anymore.

The closer I came, the colder I got, feeling my body moving slower, my skin changing color, and even even turning to ice in my legs and arms. Even if she completely paralyzed my body, though, I still had my magic. Once I got close enough, I started squeezing onto her ribcage, gripping it as firmly as I could, feeling her bones begin to collapse in on themselves. Frost Lass was now struggling in pain, but the ice beginning to surround my body wasn’t slowing down one bit. My consciousness was starting to fade, and now there was no way for me to escape anymore. I had to kill her right here or the game was over. As I struggled to hold onto my senses for as long as I could, I forced my entire being into shattering her bones, and after a small snap, the magical girl in white fell to her knees, grabbing onto her side.

This was it! Just a little bit more!

I now had more energy than ever, and now that her attack was only at half its power, I was gradually starting to get feeling back into my nerve endings. Once she saw how quickly I was approaching, however, she squeezed her eyes shut, wincing in pain as both of her wrists pointed towards me, showering my body with a white mist that was even stronger than before.

Killing her with my spear wouldn’t be an option anymore. I had to do it with my magic, but crushing her ribcage was taking too long.

Finally, once I had basically lost all feeling in my fingers, now just moments from going unconscious, I switched my target from her torso to her neck, and once she knew what was going on, her eyes went wide and her attack stopped completely. She quickly brought her hands up to her neck, struggling to get a grip on the invisible force that was attempting to choke her to death. I then looked around for any other threats, but to my relief, everyone else was so immersed in their own battles that they didn’t even notice what was going on.

With my eyes falling back onto Frost Lass, all I could see was total despair and panic as she held onto her neck for dear life. Every once in a while, she would take her hands off to try and fight me off, but any time she tried, I would grip even harder, reflexively bringing her hands back to her throat. Just a few more seconds, and she’d be dead. Just a few more seconds!

Her eyes were now beginning to close, her face turning a deep blue underneath her mask. Her flailing body was getting weaker and weaker, kicking her legs and gripping her neck with less and less energy as the seconds passed. This was it! She was about to d--

“Time up. Redirecting.”

Then, out of nowhere, Everfree City disappeared.

Before we knew what was going on, Twilight, Sunset, Photo Finish and I were now in the middle of a dark hallway within Canterlot High School, back in our normal bodies. We were in the most awkward positions, and if somebody were to walk by and see us, they’d no doubt be suspicious. Besides us, however, there were no signs of life anywhere in the school that we could tell.

As soon as I realized what was going on, I immediately pulled out my phone to check the time, and like I expected, the number read 12:01, Tuesday morning. I couldn’t believe it, but the first day of the competition was already over. We hadn’t been able to kill even one of Last Gambit’s teammates, and right when I was about to even out the score, I ran out of time at the very last second. We had been completely outplayed, outmatched and outstrategized at every level.

In short, we had completely fucked up.

SLAM!

Twilight, Sunset and I jumped reflexively. Before we could get rhythm back to our hearts, we heard the same sound getting louder and louder, making us instinctively flinch every single time. Slam! Slam!! SLAM!!!

“Scheiße! Scheiße, Scheiße, Scheiße, SCHEIßE! I cannot believe it. I cannot… I… RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”

Again, the three of us jumped from hearing Photo Finish scream at the top of her lungs, leading Sunset to quickly place a hand onto her shoulder. “Whooooa! Calm down, girl. Let’s just take a second to breathe real quick, OK?”

“You zink I can just calm down after vut happened today?!” Photo Finish screamed, shaking Sunset’s hand off of her shoulders. “I vas completely useless! Don’t you get it?! I have been a magical girl zan any of you, yet I vas ze first to die! If zey free Autumn Blaze, it vill be on my shoulders more zan any of you! Und you expect me to be calm?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

Again, Photo Finish punched the locker in front of her as hard as she could, and even without her magical girl strength, she was able to put a small dent in the sheet of metal, making us all take a step back in fear. After that, however, she immediately slammed her head against the depression she had made, banging her fist against it much more lightly while she bawled her eyes out. Sunset reached out to put her hand onto her shoulder again, but right before her fingers made contact, she froze, pulling her palm back to her own chest and dropping her eyes to the floor.

“Scheiße! Scheiße! Scheiße! Scheiße! Scheiße! Why… Why did I have to lose? After all zese years of being a magical girl… Have I learned nozing?! I… I’m sorry, Mädchen. I am so sorry…”

After waiting several moments, watching her heart break in front of me with no clue what to say, I did the only thing I could think of. Finally, she stopped crying, although she didn’t turn around. She didn’t move a single muscle, but she didn’t need to. With my arms wrapped around her waist and my face pressing into her shoulder, I began to cry right along with her.

This was my fault just as much as it was hers, and now, our chance was gone. The first day was over… and we had failed…

Author's Notes:

Fun fact: magical girls vomit rainbows. Hopefully that makes it less gross as you continue reading about sickness-induction. Sorry again for taking so long to update. If you can, though, let me know your thoughts on the story so far!